Community “Alternative History of the German Invasion”

After weeks of being dismissive about Community I’m almost satisfied with a sub-par episode only because it was slightly funny and was close to Community’s old glory.  The gang’s normal study room is under attack as the German students move in on their territory.  The school soon stands behind the Germans finally tired of the Greendale 7 getting special treatment.  The gang eventually learns that they need to give back to the school that has given them so much and they help fix the other study rooms.

This episode has all the fixings of a good Community episode.  They have a clear enemy that pits them against the school, they learn a lesson as a group, and there is the capacity for comedy.  Unfortunately, this episode suffers from a very serious problem.  It takes the main characters, which we should be rooting for, and makes them assholes.  All throughout the earlier episodes I never questioned their right to be in the study room all the time, but this episode makes clear that they never signed in for the study room and never let anybody else use it while they were up to the hijinks of earlier episodes.  I’ve been to college I know how it is when you have to work on a group assignment and you are trying to find a place to gather and get work done so you reserve a room in the library.  If everything goes right and society functions as it is supposed to the room should be clear when you are scheduled to use it.  In this case, you have left your house, driven to the school, met up with your group and start to enter your study room when you find out the room is full of people.  They’ve never signed up for the room and they are taking up your time because they lost a pen.  Now you have to find a new place to work.  The study group that we are supposed to root for has been the cause of annoyance and inconvenience.  In short, they are assholes.  All of a sudden, I don’t care about their plight.  In the end they do learn the right lesson, but for the wrong reason.  They don’t learn to pick whatever room is open, they fix the other shitty rooms so other people have a place to study and they can have the room they always have (still assholes).

Other than that major problem, I thought the episode was pretty funny.  Pierce actually had some decent moments, which doesn’t happen very much anymore.  I hope it gets better from here, but I’ve heard that it doesn’t get better until the last episode.  I’m not exactly sure how this show lost its soul, but it did.

3/5

R.I.P.D.

I wanted to like “R.I.P.D.”  I really did.  The first trailer was lack-luster, sure.  The only thought I took from it was “This is Men In Black with ghosts,” and I knew I was right, but I hoped they could create a good movie from that formula.  The next couple of trailers built upon my hopes.  They showed a world that, yes, was almost the exact same as M.I.B. except with ghosts, but was fun and engaging and imaginative.  Unfortunately, “R.I.P.D.” is at best forgettable and at worst illogical.

Part of the appeal for this movie is the cast.  Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds, and Mary-Louis Parker?  Sign me up.  Add Kevin Bacon to the mix?  I have to go.  But the problem with this movie isn’t the cast, the problem is the script.  I didn’t actually feel very many emotions that are supposed to be important for the film.

The emotional impact of the movie hinges on Nick (Ryan Reynolds) taking gold from a drug bust and burying it in his backyard.  Nick is supposed to be a good cop who only took the gold to make his life…easier (?) for him and his wife.  But, isn’t that how most good cops turn bad?  Anyway, he regrets taking it and tells his partner they should turn it in.  His partner, Hayes (Kevin Bacon), has a better idea than turning it in, he’ll just kill Nick and be done with it.  Unfortunately this is predictable, even though the filmmakers didn’t really give anything away, I just figured it would happen.  This leads to Nick becoming a part of the Rest In Peace Department because he is one of the best policemen in Boston…which I never saw, but I’ll accept. 

That’s all well and good, but I have a question.  Now, I’m dipping into spoilers (no surprise), but stick with me.  Hayes is an evil spirit that is trying to piece together a golden statue that will allow the dead to come back to the earth.  Now, the gold pieces they picked up from the drug bust are part of this statue.  Why on Earth would Hayes give Nick any of this gold?  Nick obviously didn’t want it, and I’m assuming Hayes talked him into it at the bust, why wouldn’t Hayes just take the gold?  Was he afraid that Nick would tell?  Did he push the gold on him so he wouldn’t be able to?  I can see that, I guess.

I think what would make this movie better is if we actually saw this drug bust where they found the gold.  With this scene we can set up Nick as a great policeman who doesn’t want the gold, but is talked into it.  Then later when his wife learns about the gold and becomes angry that her husband was a crooked cop we would feel properly hurt that his reputation is despoiled.  The way it is I didn’t really care.

Later, Nick and Roy (Jeff Bridges) find a ghost who has pieces of gold very similar to the gold Nick buried behind his house.  They turn the gold into the evidence chamber at the R.I.P.D. and learn that they make a statue that allows the dead to come back.  The bad guys need all of the pieces to complete the statue, but instead of hiding the gold somewhere else or being extra careful that the ghosts would try to steal the gold, the R.I.P.D. don’t do anything.  In a twist that doesn’t surprise, Hayes allows himself to be caught so he can get the rest of the gold from R.I.P.D.  Dumb.

Ultimately, the movie disappoints.  I wanted to like it, but glaring holes in the plot raise too many questions.  One that bothered me through the whole movie was the secrecy conundrum.  Men In Black succeeds as a fake secret bureau because they have a plan to keep themselves secret.  The world would go crazy if they learned that aliens live among us.  In a similar situation, the world would go crazy if they learned about evil spirits that refuse to die wreaking havoc in our everyday lives.  M.I.B. takes care to erase the memories of anyone who sees an alien or witnesses the agents of M.I.B. taking care of an alien threat.  R.I.P.D. on the other hand will break windows, knock pieces off of buildings, and generally destroy things in front of people, but take no care to retain their secrecy.  Of course, I’m judging this from their first case as their antics are soon seen on TV during the finale, but how can they stay secret with that laissez faire attitude toward destruction?  The broken windows and cat walks would be noticed by somebody, like maybe the people who fix said things.  How do they explain that?  The movie doesn’t explain it at all, which has caused me hours of irritation.  If you want to watch a mildly entertaining movie with some decent jokes, check this out.  If you like Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges, check this out.  If you want an enjoyable movie about stopping the destruction of the world from something not human, check out  Men In Black.

2.5/5

Under the Dome “Blue on Blue”

Finally!  Big Jim Rennie is starting to come out of his shell.  He’s finally becoming the force of power he embodies in the book.  This episode has its problems.  The writers still don’t understand how teenagers actually talk, and the visitor’s day was difficult to watch because of some of the awkward moments, but hopefully the shocking last moments of this episode is a harbinger for things to come.  Hopefully “Under the Dome” can make a turnaround.

“Blue on Blue” starts with one of the most stunning visuals this show has to offer so far as the electromagnetic nature of the Dome has attracted a swarm of Monarch butterflies.  The beautiful orange and black creatures coat the invisible field of the dome creating a fluttery, breathing, fluctuating wall that hangs in the air like a surrealistic curtain blocking Chester’s Mill from the rest of the world. 

This magical moment was slightly scarred by the horrendous arrival of Joe and Norrie.  I don’t blame the actors for their characters, really.  I think they are doing a somewhat decent job of what they are given, but my main problem is they don’t talk or act like real people, let alone teenagers.  Their dialogue is stinted and makes no sense most of the time.  Take this episode for example.  Joe’s sister, Angie, has been missing for five days.  He hasn’t seen her since the Dome came down because she’s been locked in Junior’s underground shelter.  With his parents trapped outside of the Dome and his sister missing, wouldn’t he try a little harder to find her?  For the last four episodes Joe hasn’t seemed bothered that his sister is nowhere to be seen.  He’s spent his time at the skate park, having parties at his empty house, and following Norrie around.  In his defense, he has had a lot on his plate.  He began having seizures when the Dome appeared and has been trying to solve that mystery (sometimes?) with seizure buddy and budding romance, Norrie.  But I have one question; Joe was at the edge of the Dome when it appeared shearing cows in half and crashing a plane.  He witnessed the destruction the appearance of the Dome can create and for four days he’s just assumed his sister was okay?  Wouldn’t he want to know she wasn’t cut in half like the cow?  Maybe somebody would have found her if that was the case, but I think someone would still worry about it.  I don’t know, I just think the fact that he didn’t even look for her before the final act of this episode is unbelievable. 

As mentioned earlier, the characters of Big Jim and Junior are finally coming around to the evil they represent in the book.  Big Jim has been covering up a drug operation to help bring money in for the town, which was real nice of him and all, but his role as the leader of the town is threatened when the reverend thinks he should repent his sins and tell the town what they did.  Big Jim has said many times that Chester’s Mill is his town, but I haven’t witnessed him making any huge power grabs so far in the show.  He’s used his respect amongst the town’s people to help get things done, but he hasn’t made any definite power plays…until this episode.  When the reverend starts cracking under the pressure of hiding the drug ring Big Jim kills him in an awesome way, finally, FINALLY doing something on par with his book character.  Junior looks like he’s going to do something crazy next episode so stay tuned for that.

This episode was better than what has come before, but I think the show has quite a way to go if it wants to impress me.  The main problem I’m having is questionable character motivations and clunky dialogue.  The visitor’s day scene in this episode was difficult to watch because of the cringe inducing dialogue.  Also, a moment that made me angry; Linda puts up police tape to keep people from touching the Dome and then, before Barbie even gets done tying off the police tape, she crosses under the tape and makes out with her husband through the Dome.  What the hell?  You should be leading by example!  If you put of tape and tell people to stay away you can’t just disregard your own rules!  That was annoying, and probably started off the scene on a bad note which might have led to my dislike of it, but there you go.

Decent episode, but I expect better work.

3/5

An American Werewolf in London

I decided to dip into the trove of classic movies that I need to see for tonight’s blog and landed on “An American Werewolf in London.”  Even being a classic in the horror genre and a milestone in practical effects, I didn’t know much about the movie other than the nationality of the werewolf and his location.  American Werewolf succeeds on giving us real, interesting characters that get caught in an unbelievable situation.  The almost tongue in cheek tone and likable characters draw the viewer into caring so when David Kessler turns into a werewolf, in that famous scene, the audience is appalled and feel his pain, both afraid and anxiously awaiting what destruction he will cause in the crowded streets of London.

And destruction he does cause, beautifully rendered practical effects that stand up in light of digitized special effects bring the werewolf into the streets of London in a frightfully believable way.  Of special note is the transformation scene.  Done in full light of a living room, Kessler’s first transformation blows the mind.  In today’s world of computer generated effects, I had to keep reminding myself that all of these skin-stretching, bone-bulging effects were done in camera with a real actor and crew working the illusions.  Watching this scene is like watching a good magic show, you know there is a slight of hand here, a distraction there, but you can’t quite work out how all of the tricks are done.  I’m actually considering going out and buying the special edition Blu-Ray so I can watch all of the special features on Rick Baker’s work in this film.

I did find some parts of the story telling unique.  I wasn’t expecting Kessler to be able to see the dead, or at least people in limbo, so when those scenes started popping up I didn’t know how to take them at first, which was brilliant.  I believe the point of the scenes was to have us as off-balance by the appearance of the late Jack Goodman as Kessler, which I was, so I really enjoyed the experience of wondering if he was hallucinating while he wondered the same thing.  After that the nightmares of the Nazi Werewolves was really cool.  I’ve never in my life seen a Nazi Werewolf so it was kind of a shock to see these grotesque depictions of the Nazis killing kids and slitting throats.

If I had to pick on one aspect of the movie to pick on it is the ending.  To be honest I feel it is a bit sudden.  One minute the werewolf is ransacking London and next he is cowering in an alley.  Then Kessler’s new girlfriend, Jenny, comes into the alley and professes her love.   A glint of recognition in the monster’s face gives a sliver of hope, then BAM, he is blown to bits by the cops.  In a spray of bullets that somehow didn’t hit Jenny, which I don’t believe for a second considering she was standing directly in between the wolf and the cops.  I don’t know a better way to end the movie right off the top of my head, and I might even respect them a little bit for rejecting the formulaic ending, but it still felt sudden and almost unsatisfying.  Although that was a shocking moment, the gunfire, the shot of human-Kessler dead, then slamming into the credits to the tune of “Blue Moon.”  Maybe unsatisfying, but pretty brilliant none the less.

“An American Werewolf in London” is a great horror film and I don’t know how I went so long without seeing it. 

4/5

Orphan Black “Effects of External Conditions”

Nature versus Nurture is one of the main themes of “Orphan Black” as a whole and is really interesting to consider while watching Tatiana portray many different personalities within identical bodies.  Sarah, Tatiana Maslany, has already been established as a clone so all of her other embodiments (Alison, Corina, Helena, and Katja) are genetically identical copies.  So all of the clones should have turned out exactly the same, but they in fact they are drastically different due to how they were raised and what they have experienced.

This week we learn more about the n/.0ew clone, Helena.  Last episode ended with her sewing up the wound she received from Sarah.  Helena has been hunting down the clones in Europe for some time and has presumably followed Katja over into Canada.  She is bent on killing the clones because she sees them as atrocities towards God. 

Sarah stays undercover with the police as a way to help within the group of clones.  Beth used the police resources to help the clones hunt down others like them before and now the group needs Sarah to stay on the inside to help hunt down the one killing them.  But as the case grows more intense, Sarah’s personal life becomes dire.  Mrs. S has allowed Sarah to visit Kira, but Sarah is too busy hunting down Helena to get there so Alison has to fill in for her.   This is one of my favorite scenes of the episode because it creates a bond between Alison and Sarah.  Ever since they met they’ve had problems.  Alison saw Sarah as a hot-headed, irresponsible punk who doesn’t think actions through, like when Sarah showed up to soccer practice.  Sarah saw Alison as a stuck-up, pretentious bitch.  Now, Alison has a new respect for Sarah because she has a kid and Sarah appreciates Alison because without her help she would never see Kira again.  I like how their relationship is progressing.

The end reveals a few secrets about the lives of the clones.  Katja was coughing up blood at the end of the first episode.  Likewise, Helena seems to have a liver problem, I assume this because of her pale skin, and she mentions to Sarah that she is sick.  The apartment where Helena has brought Sarah is the apartment of Maggie Chen, the woman Beth shot.  Helena explains that Maggie helped create the clones, but had a change of heart and began eradicating them.  Sarah almost kills Helena, but lets her go as Art breaks into the apartment.  Later, Helena collapses and her body is picked up by a mysterious van.  This is another example of why this show excels.  Every answer, every plot point, drives the story forward and answers questions, but the answers always lead to more questions and, more importantly, more plot points.  Every episode brings us deeper into the story and the mythology, but always hints at something even deeper.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “Orphan Black” is one of the best shows I’ve watched recently and belongs right alongside “Hannibal” and “Game of Thrones” as this year’s best shows.

5/5

The Following “Guilt”

"You don't need more people?" "Nope, just us two. The FBI couldn't protect a kitten in a room full of marshmallows."      

Bad.  So, so, so, so bad.  Watching this show is painful.  I want to like it so much, but it makes absolutely no sense.  Even worse, the show has some really nice character moments and arcs, but the details make no sense.

Last episode, Joe Carroll stepped up his search for Claire and tried to draw her out of hiding.  That plan didn’t work, but he got his cult did hack into the FBI’s phone records and triangulated her position.  They surmise that she is being kept in…wait for it…a motel.  The FBI is keeping a person who is in extreme danger in a motel.  Now, I’m not an FBI agent, I’m not trained in the field of protecting endangered persons, but if I was going to find a safe house, a place that needs to be secure and guardable, I wouldn’t pick a motel.  That would be almost the last place I would put someone (the last place being a street corner).  Motels have customers coming and going day in and day out.  What happens if someone checks into the motel and they mean to do the person you are protecting harm.  Now, they walk in, check in with the front desk clerk, and go to their room.  Now they have as much time as they want to find out where you are keeping them and they can get pretty close considering you have to deal with constant foot traffic. 

“Hold on,” you might be saying, “The FBI closes down a whole wing of the motel that they secure and watch with cameras.”  But let me pose a rebuttal.  Let’s say you decide to hole up in a house in the woods.  The house is surrounded by a seven foot wall and can only be entered through a gate.  You can post security and surveillance equipment all through the gravel drive to the gate and along the wall.  If someone pulls into the gravel drive that isn’t cleared to be there, BOOM, they’re dead.  If someone sneaks through the woods and climbs the wall, BOOM, they’re dead.  The FBI has large amounts of money and resources and you are going to tell me they don’t have similar establishments, or at least something as secure?  Bullshit.  Holding an endangered person in a motel is moronic on a level never before reached.  No wonder it was easy for the TWO MAN SQUAD to almost catch Claire and Ryan.  Two men, that’s all they needed to foil the FBI.

Ryan and Claire get away and Ryan goes to a real safe house, the house of an old friend who is in witness protection and has a lot of guns.  Everything seems okay as the show slows down to show us a couple of meaningless flashbacks and exposition about Ryan and Claire’s relationship until Claire realizes that one of the men at the motel put a bug in her clothes.  Apparently everyone in the cult is a master at sleight of hand considering all of the crazy shit they get away with.  After they find the bug they decide to stay a little bit longer.  You know, because that’s what you do when you know bad people know where you are.  The bug is found in the daytime, but the bad guys don’t show up until nighttime.  Why couldn’t they run in those few hours?  The bad guys can track the tracer down to meters (they send a guy out to look for a house even though they can see the house on their tablet, but we’ll leave that one alone for now), so why not take the bug and leave.  Drop the bug off somewhere else, and skip out?  You have literally hours to fool them apparently.

This show continues to have logical issues and weird character choices which blow my mind with their stupidity.  I didn’t even get to half of the things wrong with this episode, only the two biggest grievances.  I got around to reading some reviews on IMDB over the week and I’m glad to see that at least some people can tell how stupid this show is.  I’m still astounded by the booming success of this show while a similar yet better made (near perfect?) show like Hannibal struggles to take off.  All I can hope is that NBC gets more of an audience on Wednesday nights so Hannibal will get some more viewers.  Now I’m talking about another show…I better stop.

2/5

Mad Men “The Wheel”

“Mad Men’s” season finale snuck up on me.  Normally shows (or movies) have a specific plot that escalates until the climax in the finale, but the minimalistic structure of “Mad Men” moves at a less obvious pace.  The characters move through many different events, as opposed to one specific plot, and grow as most humans do, slowly and in miniscule increments.  This slice-of-life feel makes “Mad Men” unique in most of today’s television fare and makes me like it even more.

Many major character arcs are moved forward considerably in this episode.  Betty becomes suspicious of Don’s fidelity when a fellow housewife comes over distraught over learning that her husband has been calling other women.  She becomes more disconnected from Don when she learns he’s been taking phone calls from her psychologist, which is a breach of privacy, and she decides to leave for Thanksgiving early. 

Don, on the other hand, is asked to create an advertising strategy for Kodak’s new projector that makes it easier to look at pictures, they call it The Wheel.  While devising the strategy, Don unearths pictures of his family being happy together.  Thinking of his own family, he calls a motel trying to find his little brother and learns that he committed suicide.  Don makes a decision that he hasn’t made all season, he decides to put his family over his work and his mistresses.  He envisions going home to announce he is going to Thanksgiving with them, only to arrive at an empty house.  He sits alone.  Abandoned.

Peggy works on the ad for the “Relaxicisor.”  She has some troubles while recording the radio ad, but she gets her big moment later in the episode.  After the success of Don’s pitch to Kodak, he suggests that Peggy write copy for Pete’s new account, Clearasil.  Pete takes offense and refuses, but Don promotes Peggy to Jr. Copy Writer and assigns her to the account.  As she is moving her stuff to her new office, she begins to feel sick.  She goes to the doctor after work only to learn that her recent weight gain is due to pregnancy.  Afterward she gives birth to the baby boy the nurse asks if she wants to hold him, but Peggy resents the child because it’s Pete Campbell’s child, and refuses. 

This episode was really good, but I couldn’t believe that Peggy never knew she was pregnant.  I’ve never been pregnant but I’m pretty sure you know when you are.  From morning sickness to the weight gain, and wouldn’t the baby kick at some point?  Everybody always talks about their babies kicking while in the womb.  If Peggy was pregnant and didn’t know it and the baby kicked…wouldn’t she freak out?  I know I would if all of a sudden my innards are being beaten by an entity inside my abdomen.  She would at least get that checked out.  Other than an impossibly missed pregnancy, this was a solid episode to end a solid first season.

4/5

Community “Conventions of Space and Time”

Season 4 hasn’t started with the same quality that I praised the show for in earlier seasons, but there are some gems that stick out, while minor, that are rather interesting decisions to discuss.  Take the relationship of Troy and Britta for instance.  We have seen their relationship become more than platonic over the last couple of seasons, but the writers have decided to keep that arc in the background.  I find this decision increasingly interesting considering the original conceit of the show revolved around Jeff creating the “study group” in order to woo Britta.  So, originally, the show revolved around Jeff and Britta’s relationship and whether or not they would come together.  In that light the relationship between Troy and Britta should be a huge turn in the show, but the show has evolved enough that the whole study group is important.  They’ve even stated before that Britta and Jeff would never work out together, essentially killing that idea and allowing the show to move past that story point.  Now, this wouldn’t exactly stop another show from re-enacting this tired scenario of the love triangle so I find it refreshing that the writers of “Community” decided to allow their relationship to grow naturally without devoting episodes to it.

Another nice detail I enjoyed this episode is the repercussions of the first episode driving Abed’s motivations for this episode.  Normally episodic comedies like to tell stories that are contained within their twenty minute time limit.  Mostly this is to allow for more flexibility when the show becomes syndicated so networks don’t have to air every episode in order.  And comedies have created arcing stories that don’t NEED to be viewed in order, but I always like to see this happen. 

This episode wasn’t strong, by any means, but I’m tired of being negative toward “Community.”  Sure, they haven’t been very funny this season, and I am disappointed that these episodes don’t seem to have the heart of the earlier seasons, but there were some good moments in this episode.  I like the idea that Troy gets insecure about his friendship when Abed starts making friends with another Inspector Spacetime nerd.  I thought think this a great story solidifying the friendship between these two characters and explains why they need each other, or more-so why Abed needs a constable like Troy.  I found Britta’s reaction to everything a little awkward.  She understands Troy and Abed’s relationship so I didn’t expect her to get angry at Troy’s jealousy, but her eagerness to act as if Troy is a girl having boy problems seems a strange.  I don’t think anybody would act like that.  I would expect annoyance, but then again this girl is sneaking in and out of a grown man’s apartment because his roommate wouldn’t be able to handle the news that they are sleeping together so I guess her actions don’t seem too outrageous.  I do like the scene where she buys him the Inspector Spacetime toy.  She obviously doesn’t know anything about or even care about Inspector Spacetime, but Troy’s love of the show is enough for her to try, which I find a really redeeming quality.  She could have let Troy and Abed go to the even by themselves while she did something else, but she’s there for him which is always nice.

I also like how Jeff and Annie end the episode.  They are really good for each other in that opposites attract way.  Annie’s naiveté clashes with Jeff’s up-front personality, but it in a playful way that keeps Jeff light.  A person with Jeff’s view of the world can easily become a cynical person, which Jeff has been known to be, but Annie’s brighter view of life keeps him young and happy.  The appletini scene showcased this very aspect of their relationship (and seriously, who can say no to that adorable face?  Alison Brie steals my heart).

This episode is still under par from what I expect from “Community,” but it has its gems and an occasional laugh.  If you are just jumping into the series I would suggest going back to an earlier season as this won’t draw you in quite as well. 

3/5

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone

Burt Wonderstone has gotten some flak from critics over its safe and predictable plot, but I think in spite of its formulaic design and the obvious character turns Burt Wonderstone succeeds at what it tries to do.  Wonderstone doesn’t aspire to change lives with its compellation or inspire life choices with its character development.  Instead it focuses on giving us a familiar formula thick with jokes with a little bit of heart.

Wonderstone starts with…well, Burt Wonderstone of course!  The year is 1982.  Burt is beat up by some kids who tell him he will never be loved.  Upon arriving home to an empty house because his mom couldn’t be bothered to be around on his birthday, he opens his gift to find a magic set by the famous Rance Holloway who tells him everyone loves someone who does magic, and thus Burt Wonderstone’s journey is set before him.  Impressed by his disappearing handkerchief trick, a young Anthony Marvelton becomes Burt’s only friend, and their friendship is magical.

Years later they are signed as the headlining at a Las Vegas hotel where they are successful for ten years, before they fall out of love with their passion.  Ticket sales plummet and the two friends are at each other’s throats.  Compounding their situation is street performer Steve Grey whose dangerous acts of “magic” is stealing the audience from Burt and Anthony.  Burt soon loses everything as his friendship disintegrates and his show is cancelled from the hotel.  He moves into a motel and begins entertaining old folks at a retirement home as a last resort.  While there he encounters none other than Rance Holloway who restores his passion for magic.  He then becomes entangled in a magic battle with Grey over the show at the Bally Hotel, where he previously worked.  Anthony returns and the friends are back together and joined by their old assistant as they do their most daring trick yet and win back their spot at the hotel.

Obviously, the script is pretty paint-by-numbers.  The twists are expected and the characters are predictable in their actions, although they are surprising enough to elicit laughs, and often times (for me) guffaws.  Yes, full blown guffaws.  I actually think this predictable script was a stylistic choice.  All throughout the movie, Burt and Anthony’s magic tricks are safe and predictable, devoid of actual magic or wonder.  As the movie goes on we see Wonderstone struggle with his relationships and his pride, but when he meets Rance and begins to believe in magic again and he begins to have passion again his tricks become inspired and almost shocking.  When Anthony re-enters the picture and the magic duo decide to do the trick they could never master, their magic is truly awe-inspiring, Illegal, but awe-inspiring.  So the form of the script almost matches the arc of Burt Wonderstone.  I like that idea, that a writer shouldn’t always worry about what’s new and flashy, but tell the story in a way that is informed by the characters.

“The Incredible Burt Wonderstone” isn’t going to blow your mind or make it into the leagues of great comedy, but it does its job quietly and efficiently while making the audience (a.k.a. me) laugh out loud on multiple occasions.

3.5/5

Under the Dome “Outbreak”

I’m confused.  I was under the impression that “Under the Dome” is a mini-series (or limited series or whatever euphemism networks are using to describe a television show with a finite amount of episodes), but the story is unfolding at such a slow pace I don’t know how they can wrap everything up in the next nine episodes.  So far, if I understand the timeline correctly, every episode has represented a day under the Dome.  So this episode was the fourth day under the Dome, and this theory is reinforced with Barbie’s voice-mail from Peter Shumway before he died.  Barbie played the tape for Julia and stated that it was left “five days ago.”  Peter left the message one day before the Dome encapsulated the city.

If every episode is a day then logic runs into another obstacle.  Stephen King wrote a letter on June 27^th reassuring the fans of his book that changes to the story are justifiable and a necessity considering Brian K. Vaughan’s “plan to keep the Dome in place over Chester’s Mill for months instead of little more than a week, as in the case in the book.”  So, given the show’s current structure, where are these extra months coming from?  The story could shift forward in time, but what is the point of changing the story if you aren’t going to chronicle the changes that you’ve made?  I would surmise that they were advertising the show as a mini-series with hopes that the story could continue past their initial thirteen episode sell.  This theory is backed by some of the character work I’m noticing in the show compared to how the same characters are presented in the book.

Stephen King gave Chester’s Mill a little over a week under the Dome as he mentioned in his letter.  In that week everything went crazy in Chester’s Mill, Big Jim Rennie took over the town and became a tyrant, Junior killed two girls and went crazy due to a brain tumor THEN was enlisted to the police force because his father, Big Jim, was desperate to keep the peace in Chester’s Mill, Barbie is framed and imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, broken free, and assisted in finding the device creating the Dome, a gun fight occurs at a meth lab and the radio station causing a huge fire that threatened to suffocate everyone under the Dome.  If you didn’t read that laundry list of plot points I don’t blame you, but the point is the book is fast paced and covers a lot of ground for the short time that Chester’s Mill is trapped under the Dome.  And that is the perfect amount of plot for a thirteen episode mini-series.  The main strategy King used to fit all of that danger and suspense into his book was creating characters that were clear and concise.  Not to say they had no depth, but they didn’t flounder around their goal.  Every character was introduced with their main objectives intact.  Jim Rennie didn’t wait around and talk about taking over the town in the book, he did it.  He got everyone together and convinced them that they needed him and proceeded with this evil plots.  While I applaud the writers of the show for striving to create more complex characters I think the story would be more involving if they would have used more influence from the books.  Right now we have a Big Jim who is talking about taking charge of the town, but he is being quiet about it.  The book’s Junior killed two girls and went crazy on top of being a spoiled brat and a bully so when he was asked to join the police force with his punk friends I was terrified at the prospect of this kid being in a position of power.  This Junior isn’t that bad, sure he kidnapped his girlfriend and locked her in a bunker because he believes she’s cheating, but outside of that he hasn’t put anyone in danger.  In fact, in this episode he talks gently to a riot of people trying to leave the hospital where they were quarantined and convinces them to stand down.  The book’s Junior would have shot someone with no repercussions because his father ran everything.

I’m still waiting on “Under the Dome” to wow me, but it hasn’t yet.  Maybe I’m too close to the source material though, in spite of being two or so years out from reading it.  This episode had some interesting moments, with Big Jim finding Junior’s girlfriend and Julia learning about her late husband’s problems.  On the flip side, I scratched my head a bit at how quickly everyone recovered from meningitis.  Linda was deathly ill halfway through the episode and at the end she was back at home.  Granted, I don’t know much about meningitis, or how long it takes to recover from it, but I think recovery takes more than a day, and judging by the aforementioned rule on one episode equaling one day I would like to call bullshit.  If I’m wrong, let me know in the comments.

3/5

John Dies at the End

I finished this movie a couple of hours ago.  I often take some time after a movie to think and ponder on what I watched, but even after this time thinking I’m not really sure what just happened.

“John Dies at the End” is twisted and funny, a little creepy, original, unnerving, confusing, revealing, confusing again, and highly enjoyable.  I’ve never been so happy to watch something that makes me so confused about what’s going on.  Even after this time I’m not sure what Marconi is all about or even who he is other than a mentalist who knows about the other universe.  Doug Jones, who I love to see in movies because he is an Indiana native and a Ball State grad much like myself, plays Roger Smith who is…I don’t actually know, but I love it. 

In this world a new drug has hit the streets, Soy Sauce.  It creates violent hallucinations that aren’t actually hallucinations.  After watching craziness happen for thirty minutes you learn that Soy Sauce allows the user to see entities that always surround us, but we never see.  The detective in the movie described it as “hell,” but if I understand everything correctly they are beings from a parallel universe…or something.  Either way, David and John, our main characters, are chosen to defeat Korrok, a genetically crafted super computer/creature that gains information by eating people.

In a movie this confusing, the simple mission of the main characters, although it isn’t fully established until most of the movie is over, is important to keep the audience interested.  I don’t count myself as brilliant, but I believe I’m decently intelligent and I didn’t understand everything that was thrown at me in this movie, so I suspect other people will have similar troubles.  The simple plot is important to ground the movie and give the audience something to understand.  If it was just craziness for an hour and a half I would have lost interest and eventually zoned out. 

I did have a problem with the amount of dick jokes in this movie though.  And I’m not a stickler on dick jokes, I make enough of them myself, but this movie seemed to use phallic comedy as a crutch, or kick-stand if you will.  Random penis references are dropped everywhere, some are funny but many left me scratching my head and wondering if they could’ve found a bigger joke.  Case in point, when David and John first enter Korrok’s layer Korrok says “Your dick is smaller in person.”  It is kind of funny that an omniscient being’s first words to someone would be something so trivial, but the joke turns on the assumption that saying the word dick makes me laugh.  In middle school that would have been brilliant writing, but now you’re going to have to try a little harder than that creepy guy only wearing a trench coat.

3.5/5

Orphan Black “Variation Under Nature”

“Orphan Black” continues to find creative ways to keep the mystery going through entire episodes.  The twists and turns of the show expertly compound the tension while holding off reveals keeping the mystery alive while pushing the pace forward at neck breaking speeds.  Every episode feels packed with information and reveals, but the story itself moves forward slowly.  Sarah’s goal from the first episode was to obtain Elizabeth’s money to run away with Kira.  Up until this point she has been working toward this goal, but obstacles have gotten in her way.  First, she had to give a statement about shooting a civilian, then Art wouldn’t give her the money until she’s returned to service.  This postponing of success keeps the shows pace moving forward without using all of the plot points too quickly. 

This week, Sarah gets pulled off probation to work a case.  This has been her goal since last episode when Art held onto the money, but this isn’t success for Sarah.  Just when she thinks she’s won, Art tells her he isn’t forking over the dough just yet, he wants to make sure she’s okay.  On top of that, the crime scene Sarah is assigned to is Katja’s grave.  Sarah buried her too close to a quarry and a back-hoe dug up her body, doing a lot of damage in the process.  Not only did Sarah not achieve her goal as expected, her situation just got worse.  If Katja’s a clone, her fingerprints will match not only Elizabeth Childs’ but also Sarah Manning’s fingerprints.  How is she supposed to convince the police department she is a clone? 

“Orphan Black” gets better every episode.  Every clone that is revealed also reveals more of Tatiana’s bottomless talent.  Every role she takes has not only a different voice and look, but different movements and feels.  I don’t know how she does it, but from the bubbliness of  Cosima to the stick-up-the-ass nervous aura of Alison, Tatiana imbibes all of the clones so far with their own different character in subtle effective ways that never cease to amaze.  “Orphan Black” is easily in my top five favorite shows right now and every episode proves why.

4.5/5

The Following “Love Hurts”

An interesting development has started evolving in “The Following” over the past couple of weeks.  I touched on the subject last week, but I don’t think I went in depth on my thoughts. 

During the first half of this season I often complained about the inept people inhabiting the world of “The Following,” the people most were the FBI.  I blamed the writers for the mistake of making the “heroes” so dumb they were unlikable and wondered how they could be so lazy.  Recently though, since Carroll escaped inexplicably in a helicopter, the show has admitted the FBI have been running a shoddy investigation by bringing in an agent to take over the case because of Hardy and Parker’s failures.  The two agents even faced an inquiry at the beginning of this episode taking responsibility for how badly they have run the investigation.  So the FBI being insanely stupid wasn’t an accident of bad writing, it was specifically crafted into the show to reach a major plot point.  Are the writers trying to discredit the FBI in general or are they trying to make the audience dislike Hardy and Parker?  I don’t fully understand this decision, but I thought it was important to bring up.  I would be interested to see a discussion on the subject in the comments.

Also this week we saw our second sacrifice in a row from within the cult.  Last week one of Carroll’s followers gave himself up for sacrifice because he failed in a task.  This week Paul asks Jacob to kill him.  Paul, seriously injured from the raid on the house (I think?), is taking refuge with Jacob in Jacob’s parents’ cabin.  Jacob’s mom finds them and, for some reason beyond me, helps clean Paul’s wound, but urges Jacob to get his friend to a hospital before he dies.  Jacob obviously can’t because they are fugitives and would be noticed immediately.  With nowhere to go, and Jacob’s dad coming home soon (because I guess his dad would have the intelligence to call the cops), Paul asks Jacob to kill him so his life would have meaning.  It is a big moment for Jacob because it is his first kill, and the meaning it takes is compounded because Paul is Jacob’s closest friend besides Emma and was previously his lover. 

I think these scenes with the members of the cult have been really cool due to the amount of humanity within the cult.  They are literally a cult of killers that have more humanity than the FBI agents hunting them.  This goes back to my previous point of the writing of the FBI agents.  I wonder if they were written as inept so that we would become more emotionally invested in the cult, which has all the points on the intelligence scoreboard, instead of the quintessential heroes chasing the obvious bad guys.  This definitely brings an interesting dynamic to this show, but I wonder how much better it would be if the FBI agents would have been formidable foes for Joe Carroll and his rag-tag gang of murderers.

“The Following” is recovering from the complaints I had about the series early on, but were my complaints misguided because I couldn’t see the intention of the writers?  Or were their decisions well placed?  I want to wait until the end of this season to decide, but I am interested in what you guys think.  All in all, I enjoy the direction this show is going in as long as they can fix some moments of weak writing.  I did really enjoy the killer this episode though, she was delightfully creepy.  I hope the season keeps improving.

3.5/5

Mad Men “Nixon vs. Kennedy”

Donald Draper has always been a mystery.  He keeps to himself and while he gets physically close with a few women he always distances himself emotionally, even from his wife.  This week the veil hiding Don Draper’s past gets pulled back revealing how he became Donald Draper.

The election of Kennedy is very important in this episode and is paralleled in a smaller scale by Don’s decision to hire Duck Phillips to be head of accounts.  Don is parading around an advertiser just back from London who has experience in the business.  Pete contacts Don to try and get the head of accounts position, but Don turns him down.  Desperate for the job, Pete blackmails Don with the knowledge of his old identity.  Don struggles with whether to give into Pete, when he finds Peggy in his office crying.  She is tired of everyone in the office breaking the rules.  The men in the office stole money from her locker then the janitor and elevator operator get fired for the crime.  This spurs Don to hire Duck in spite of Pete, to keep a cheater from winning.  He enters Cooper’s office to inform him of the hire and Pete follows telling Cooper about Don’s past.  Cooper is disinterested and quotes an old Japanese proverb which I found really cool about how a man is only who is standing in the room, not his past.  Obviously, I paraphrased, but you will forgive me.  The point is, Cooper’s nonchalant attitude toward Don’s past is a great character moment, and I think speaks volumes to Cooper’s faith in Don and Don’s position in the company.

The big point of this episode is the flashback to Don’s past and how Dick Whitman took the identity of Donald Draper.  Dick Whitman was stationed in a medical camp during the Korean War.  The only other person in the camp, and his commanding officer, was the one and no longer only Donald Draper.  After a small skirmish with a passing Korean host, Dick accidentally drops his lighter lighting a trail of gas along the ground.  The camp explodes in a giant fireball killing Donald Draper immediately, burning him beyond recognition.  Dick drags himself to the burned corps of Donald and steals his dog tags.  Afterward in a hospital bed, the new Donald Draper is awarded a purple heart and put on the reserves until he leaves the military. 

4/5

Community “Paranormal Parentage”

Season four isn’t looking too good as another weak episode wafts out from the creative team behind “Community.”  Maybe it is the lack of original show runner Dan Harmon, but “Community” is missing its heart.  “Paranormal Parentage” primarily failed for me because it is a storyline I’ve already seen multiple times in the last four seasons.  Pierce seeks attention by pretending to be in trouble so his friends (who must be slightly brain dead to keep falling for this) will come to his rescue, then at the end of the episode he reveals himself as the mastermind and the gang comes together in a heartwarming scene. 

I think the show would be greatly improved if they did a little character work.  The jealous, diabolical Pierce is getting old.  I remember when he was the goofy, sometimes racist old man who could be wise.  He was a fun character and fit in with the group.  Now that he’s a jealous darker character I don’t think he fits.  Why would the gang still keep him around as a friend after all that he’s done, running them around, making them feel bad for him?  I could even understand it if he was somewhat charming or fun to be around when he isn’t causing trouble, but he’s not.  He sits around like a guy with head trauma and says random just mainly based around his lack of intelligence.  I want old Pierce back.  The Pierce that was goofy enough to believe he could hypnotize people.  And who helped Annie out when she couldn’t make ends meet.  Seeing how they are treating his character makes me understand why Chevy Chase ended up leaving the show.

I just hope the fourth season finds its grip.  The first two seasons were amazing and had great character work, but under new show runners “Community” is falling apart.  After this season, I’m holding out hope that the return of Dan Harmon will bring in a rebirth of this show that I loved so much.

This episode: 2/5

Identity Thief

“Identity Thief” wants to be a smart, heartfelt comedy, but it’s not as smart as it tries to be and is only heartfelt and comedic because of the two main actors.  Jason Bateman’s straight man plays perfectly against Melissa McCarthy’s physical comedy, but the script holds this film back.  The premise holds promise, but decisions made throughout the story make this movie weak, not unenjoyable, just don’t use your brain while watching it.

A major problem is Sandy Patterson.  Inconsistencies with his character blow gigantic holes in this movie.  First of all, Sandy is an accountant for a big company.  Not only that, but he is called “the best in the business,” so I think it is safe to assume he is good with money.  This leads to a major problem.  Sandy would be smart and careful with his money and I feel like he would be more careful with his personal information than to give it out at will to a random person on the phone.  Sure, Diana assured him he almost had his identity stolen and was offering to protect him, but he as much as anybody should know that nobody sits around and watches random people’s accounts.  That, I think, is highly illegal.  This one moment, within the first couple minutes of the movie, is a passing moment so it shouldn’t make much of a difference, but it is the moment upon which the whole movie is based.  If Sandy would’ve noticed the ruse, which I believe he would have, the whole movie wouldn’t have happened.

Other small inconsistencies trail through the movie.  When Sandy’s rental car is hit by the semi the semi doesn’t stop.  I liked the joke, but then I started thinking.  A semi driver doesn’t just hit a car and not stop.  Early in the movie Diana tries to run away from Sandy but only makes it about 20 yards before she runs out of breath, then later in the movie she carries Sandy for a half mile after he’s passed out from a snake bite.  If she can’t run more than 20 yards I don’t believe she can carry a grown man for a half mile.  It is possible that she isn’t telling about the rests she had to take, but even if I am being harsh on this plot point it leads me to my next complaint.  Sandy gets bitten by a snake and passing out from the poison, but the next morning he is fine without any hospitalization.  That is nonsensical.

I don’t want to be too harsh on the movie, because it was very fun and enjoyable, but when you are spending millions on a film I expect you to put enough thought into your story that plot-holes that big don’t exist.  So watch the film, it is funny, but don’t think.  Not a thought.

3/5

Under the Dome “Manhunt”

Watching “Under the Dome” has been somewhat frustrating.  I was willing to go along with the character and plot changes as long as the story held the same excitement and tension as the book, but the last two episodes have moved along at a snail’s pace without any consequences on the actual story.  This telling of the story so far holds none of that drama and danger other than vague hints at the danger of the propane deliveries. 

This episode sees a rogue police officer on the run for some reason that isn’t explained and Junior trying to find a way out through the underground tunnels.   One of the biggest disappointments so far in this show is the lack of “crazy Junior.”  Sure, this incarnation of Junior is fairly crazy, but compared to the nut in the book this Junior is a Sunday School choir boy.  The book’s Junior was in the process of killing a girl when the dome came down and went on to kill a couple more and slowly devolved into total craziness which ramped up tension considering Big Jim deputizes him during the course of the book.  The show’s Junior is a confused boy who has trapped his “girlfriend” in a cellar when she tried to dump him.  He isn’t even close to being as scary as the book’s Junior, which is unfortunate considering Junior created a lot of the tension in the book.

Probably the most disappointing part of this episode was the teenager’s subplot.  I liked the idea that this one kid had a generator and that made him popular, it makes sense in the world we live in, but all of the kids are so annoying.  I kind of want them all to be killed in an accident.  “Under the Dome” was originally written as a social commentary so I’m sure that’s what the writers are striving to depict, that today’s kids are dependent on cell phones and are horrible people, but I think their handling of these characters was sloppy.  The commentary about today’s teenagers should be a little outrageous and funny, since it is a darkly comedic social commentary, but I feel like the characters should still be a little believable and maybe even likable.  Instead they are caricatures of modern teenagers who speak as if their lines were written by a sixty year old man who hasn’t talked to a teenager since the seventies.

The worst part about “Under the Dome” up to this point is I really don’t care about many people that are under the dome.  I think I like Linda, her strength and determination to do what’s right makes her a lovable character, but nobody else has done anything.  One cop goes rogue after accidentally killing his partner by ricocheting a bullet off the dome.  Big Jim’s schemes have caused problems, but he isn’t as powerful as he is in the book.  Junior isn’t nearly as dangerous, instead he’s soft and confused who has done something crazy because of love.  Dale isn’t a likable guy in the wrong place at the wrong time, he is a possible killer, which is interesting but ultimately it muddies the aspect of his character that I liked the most.

Stephen King was right when he said changing a story from book to screen doesn’t ruin the original story, but instead gives a new take on the premise.  But I would argue that one must understand what made the book work so they don’t change what is at the heart of story, but instead takes that heart and creates something new that expresses similar emotions and themes.  So far “Under the Dome” is not successfully recreating the power of the original story that kept me burning through pages and chapters.  Instead they seem to be watering down the powerful characters and giving the righteous characters more dangerous back stories, which makes for more complex characters in theory, but does it create a more powerful story?

2.5/5

Evil Dead

I don’t remember much about the original “Evil Dead,” seeing as how I watched it four years ago and haven’t delved into the series since.  Not out of dislike or anything, I just haven’t gotten a copy of Evil Dead II, more laziness than anything, but what I do remember was quite different from the re-make.  That is, if it IS a re-make, I’ve heard this might be a storyline that intersects with the storyline of the original, I don’t know how that will work but who am I to judge?  Either way, this movie has sticks with the strategy of the first movie which is trade in memorable characters for gore, gore, gore.

Most critics say this like it is a bad thing, but I’m not completely in the same boat.  I won’t completely hate a movie because of shoddy character work, but if a movie can make me care about the characters in the story I will like the movie indefinitely more.  Now, that being said, I didn’t like the characters in this movie.  The nurse was probably the only interesting character, but that’s only because I was busy wondering if she took time off work?  Did she resuscitate Mia when she O.D.’d at the hospital?  But all of the other characters were pretty bland.  Mia was a druggie who’s had trouble quitting before, and her brother is a one note character always remembering the bad times with his family.  The girlfriend is pretty much non-existent, and the long-haired teacher’s only redeeming quality is he could get stabbed 2,700 times before dying.  The movie lacked punch most of the time because I didn’t really care.  I “oh’d” and “ah’d” at the gore or the vicious deaths, but at no time was I worried about the character’s livelihood.  The only moments that made me wince was the machete scene, the hand trapped under the car, and the needle in the eye.  Other than that I was only watching a movie unfold.

On a good note, the end did surprise me.  I expected a different character to make it to the end and I feel the movie did a decent job of twisting the story and making a surprising end.  But, even though I liked the twist, I felt that Mia’s miraculous healing was absurd.  Even though she was possessed, her body was still badly disfigured.  Demons don’t damage an alternate body when they are inside of you.  That is ridiculous.  Although, I shouldn’t judge this movie based on other movies or my own thoughts on the subject, because this is the writer’s universe and up to that point they didn’t have a precedent on the subject so if they want that to exist in their universe, more power to them.

I thought “Evil Dead” was entertaining in spite of being empty of character and to some extent, emotion and logic.  Even though I liked the twist at the end, and this complaint was integral to the twist, I still believe that David would go through all of that trouble to save his obviously beyond help sister.  The fact that she came back fully healed was a fluke.  Anybody in their right mind would’ve burned down the house.  No questions asked.  Even with these complaints I enjoyed it, so watch it.  Enjoy this bloody movie!  Yeah, I enjoy saying bad jokes.

3/5

Would you have handled Mia’s situation differently if you were David? 

Comment with your thoughts.