Animation Wednesday: Steven Universe
This post is part of the Animation Wednesday series, a regular column which looks at animated TV series and movies of the past, present and future.
One of the highest bits of praise I can give an animated series is that it provokes a genuine emotional response from me. Now, I’m a soft touch when it comes to these things. Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Gravity Falls have all had episodes here and there that have pulled on my heartstrings. But in terms of making me feel, really feel, I have to tip my hat to Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe, one of the best new shows of last year.
After Breaking Bad: Five Dramas Worth Watching
It’s only been a week since Breaking Bad ended, but at least for me, it feels much, much longer. Far better writers than I have written at length about the finale, so I’m not going to waste time on that (okay, real quick: I liked it a lot. It did a good job of wrapping up various storylines in a satisfying way. And no, it wasn’t a dream, no supernatural deals with the devil were involved, or any other silly theories like that.). No, I’m writing because I’ve seen a lot of people since then bemoaning the end of Breaking Bad as the end of good drama television. While it’s true Breaking Bad is an exceptional show, the likes of which we probably won’t see again for a while, it’s far from the only drama on TV right now worth making time for in your week. Thus, I’ve put together a list of shows for Breaking Bad faithful to check out.
RULES: All of the shows I’ve listed are either ongoing, or planning new seasons or series in the future. The Sopranos is great, and well worth checking out, but these shows are listed because they give viewers a chance to discuss and react in real time, as they premiere. I also picked shows I think would appeal to this demographic. There are plenty of good shows not on here, from Orange is the New Black to Shameless, but these shows share at least some of the DNA that made Breaking Bad so appealing.
TV Review: The Blacklist
I am a guy who watches a lot of television. I try to follow a ton of shows, via watching them when they air, catching up with them online a week or two later, or marathoning entire seasons in one sitting. And I’ll be honest: the sheer variety and amount of TV shows out there has also turned me into a bit of a snob. I follow around a dozen or so drama shows pretty devoutly, but all of them are at least on basic cable channels, if not premium channels or alternative content providers like Netflix. I firmly believe that there is value to the kinds of procedurals that broadcast networks put out: sometimes people don’t want to spend hours mentally unpacking or recovering from the events of an episode, and sometimes people just want the comfort of watching characters they’ve come to care about solve a problem. But the fact remains that I’ve grown accustomed to a certain level of narrative freedom and complexity that usually comes with cable television, and is a bit more rare on network TV.
Guest TV Review: Hannibal, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Embrace the Suspense
Adam Dietz is a regular contributor to Filmophilia.
In early January I made my mind up. I was going to make a concerted effort to follow the Kevin Bacon driven vehicle The Following. This decision was made partly out of devotion to Bacon for his excellent work in the (highly underrated) film “The Air Up There” (arguably the seventh best basketball film ever made) and partly because I wanted to make a genuine effort to add a bit of suspenseful programming to my life. I guess I am the type of person who considers watching hour long thrillers to be a legitimate and worthy goal, as opposed to getting myself in better shape or learning a new language. All three are, indeed, worthy of setting my sights on, but The Following was going to be first.
I oft myself often seeking refuge in the serialized 21 minute situation comedy and, I mean, why wouldn’t I? The plots are easy to digest and the characters are all attractive, funny, and smart. Situation Comedy stars are capable of coming up with more one liners in a two minute conversation than I could in an entire year and are intelligent/talented enough to land high paying jobs that afford the luxury of living in hip lofts, yet allow them plenty of time for their trivial escapades.
WIREd In: The Inaugural Post
Adam Dietz is a regular contributor to Filmophilia. He’s graciously agreed to chronicle his The Wire-watching experiences here on Gentlemen, Behold!!
I don’t feel well, blogosphere. Things are not right in the world of your (noble, handsome, humble) narrator.
My current state of dissatisfaction has two contributing factors that have brought me to where I currently am. The first involves a weekend of debauchery in the windiest of cities. CHI-town (as the locals call it) has me in a state of zombie like benevolence. The establishments I frequented last evening ate me alive, and I was all too happy to supply the required utensils. It’s been the kind of day where you realize that you’ve put your shirt on inside out, but the prospect of turning it the right seems too exhausting to consider.
Adam Dietz, probably
The second, and far more relevant, cause of my grief is not an ailment, per se, but is an experience that I have deprived myself from. As a (self-proclaimed) television aficionado, I take pride in my knowledge of current and past television shows and genuinely enjoy the experience of watching episodes, seasons, and entire series of shows. With all of this said, I am missing an important piece to the popular culture puzzle. It seems that through inexplicable circumstances, I have not tasted the sweet dish that is/was HBO’s The Wire. How is it possible that a man with such love for television and popular culture hasn’t seen a show of such high acclaim? I have decided to right this wrong and cure this injustice. Tonight and for many days and nights to follow, I will be watching this former premium cable darling and writing posts that will detail my journey.
Animation Wednesday: Gravity Falls
People have kind of a weird perception of Disney. Specifically, everyone hates them, but no one knows why. News that Disney has bought entertainment properties like Marvel or Lucasfilm is always met with groans and hand-wringing, but Disney’s done alright by Pixar, The Muppets, and their other acquisitions. People derisively refer to “Disney kids stuff” but wax poetic about the animated films of the 90s. Even their TV offerings like DuckTales or Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers, which don’t quite hold up under a modern eye, are the subject of countless Facebook pages and tumblr blogs about how “the golden age of cartoons” is over. (False. Just check the Animation Wednesday category. Cartoons are only getting better.) I think a lot of it has to do with conflating the Disney Channel teen sitcom brand (Hannah Montana and the like) with the rest of the global media corporation that is Disney. If we’re going to claim that anything owned by the corporation is “Disney,” then that makes No Country for Old Men a “Disney movie.” I guess what I’m saying is that a movie or TV show being associated with Disney doesn’t make it something saccharine or lowbrow. Case in point: Gravity Falls!!
Parks and Rec Talk: “Leslie and Ben”/”Correspondents’ Dinner”
Joe Stando is the writer and proprietor of Gentlemen, Behold!! (He’s writing this sentence, actually.) Adam Dietz is a writer for Filmophilia. Parks and Recreation is a long-running, critically-acclaimed comedy series on NBC. They (we) sat down together over the weekend to talk about last week’s episodes, in what will hopefully become a regular column. Here goes!
Block Talk: Lego Ninjago The Golden Dragon
Joe Stando has entirely too many Legos (and similar building brick brands). Block Talk is a regular column in which he discusses the good, the bad, and the painful to step on of some of those sets.
Welcome to Block Talk! This is a relatively new idea, spurred by a sudden influx of Lego purchases. I figured I may as well get a little more mileage out of them and post some reviews. The concept of Lego reviews isn’t new; YouTube is choked with video reviews of varying degrees of quality, but the Brothers Brick, a fanblog I follow, has done some nice ones in the past. Without further ado, let’s get into the meat of it!
Animation Wednesday: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)
This post is part of the Animation Wednesday series, a regular column which looks at animated TV series and movies of the past, present and future.
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are older than I am. Conceived in 1984 as a parody of current comic trends (particularly those of Frank Miller), the resulting movies and TV series launched its heroes to international stardom. The adventures of Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo were the biggest thing in the world for children in the early 1990s, rivaling Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny in name recognition. Since then, there have been numerous reboots and remakes, from an early 2000s cartoon to a CGI feature film. With the threat of a Michael Bay movie looming on the horizon, you might think that all of the juice has been squeezed out of this admittedly flimsy premise. But as Nickelodeon’s new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles take proves, there’s still some new tricks in this old dog.
TV Review: House of Cards
We are living in a golden age of television, specifically of drama television series. The rise of cable and premium channels has allowed creators to present their visions for series with less oversight from networks and advertisers. These shows are made with fewer strictures; rules like ease of entry and stable status quo that make things easy to sell in syndication don’t matter as much. But now Netflix has taken things a step further, with original programming produced by them, for them, a TV show that never airs on TV. They have new Arrested Development episodes in the pipeline and a couple more prospects after that, but they opened with House of Cards, a gripping, visually stunning adaptation of the U.K. series of the same name.
Rundown: The Five Best and the Five Worst Christmas Movies
As a connoisseur of films, I’ve seen a lot of Christmas movies, special episodes, and the like. A lot of them serve their purpose of spreading good cheer fairly well, and most are kind of treated as background music (hence the 24 hour marathons of A Christmas Story, among others). But just because there’s a smorgasbord of holiday entertainment out there doesn’t mean that there aren’t a few special ones you should check out- or avoid. Below, I’ve put together a list (in no particular order) of the five best and five worst Christmas themed features. It wasn’t easy; I love theChristmas episodes of everything from Frasier to Scrubs to Adventure Time, and Lifetime has enough Yuletide garbage to make a “Bottom 50” list. But consider this introductory list my gift to you!!
Animation Wednesday: Adventure Time
This post is part of the Animation Wednesday series, a regular column which looks at animated TV series and movies of the past, present and future.
While I was posting about Regular Show, Adventure Time was unquestionably the elephant in the room. Adventure Time is one of the most popular cartoons on Cartoon Network, nay, on television, and has achieved probably the largest crossover appeal among adults of any children’s cartoon currently running. (The only competition I can think of would be My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, but Adventure Time has greater mainstream popularity outside of its fandom.) It’s emblematic of if not a revolution, at least a movement within children’s animation towards clever, distinctive design work, created by indie animators and zine comic artists to satisfy themselves, not their corporate bosses. Why had I jumped to Regular Show while ignoring Adventure Time?
Movie Review Lightning Round
So, I’ve actually seen a ton of movies lately. Not all of them fit the pop culture/”geek” vibe I skew towards on this blog, but I figure I’ve sunk enough money into ticket sales that it would be a waste not to get another blog entry out of it. And besides, I know hearing my thoughts on films is what you guys live for. So without further ado, here’s Movie Review Lightning Round!!
CLOUD ATLAS
I liked Cloud Atlas quite a bit for the sheer scope of it. It’s best synopsized as “Six visually stunning short films with broadly similar themes and the same cast in variously garish makeup, running together simultaneously.” The diversity of locations, effects, and especially tones (the story set in 2012 is largely a comedy in the vein of Monty Python, while the next story chronologically is a technicolor dystopian romance/tragedy) could have been too schizophrenic, but deft editing ties all of them together continuously while maintaining the right emotions for each. My only complaint is that after the wonder of these characters interacting and influencing one another over and over in different contexts wears off, the film is somewhat hollow. Statements like “love is good, freedom is good, selfishness is bad” apply here, but it’s not exactly groundbreaking stuff, and a film of this magnitude deserves themes that will be talked about along with technical proficiency. Still, it’s one of the most interesting film experiences I’ve had all year, and I’d definitely recommend checking it out sometime.
RATING: THREE STARS (OUT OF FOUR)
ARGO
As a fan of the Canadian Caper, I was really looking forward to this movie, and it did not disappoint. Argo captures the tension and stakes of the operation perfectly, and managed to keep me hooked and on edge even as I knew from the get-go how it would end. Ben Affleck’s eye for detail and period elements is great, and there are a number of phenomenal performances, especially by bit players like Bryan Cranston, Alan Arkin and John Goodman. Affleck’s acting is good but not great, but if a starring role for him is the price we have to pay to get movies like this and The Town, I’m more than willing to pay. A clear Best Picture contender.
RATING: FOUR STARS (OUT OF FOUR)
WRECK-IT RALPH
You can read my review in full here, but suffice to say I enjoyed Wreck-It Ralph immensely. Great characters, fun concepts, and although I think it loses a bit of imagination as it goes on, it’s a worthy addition to the Disney Animated Films legacy.
RATING: FOUR STARTS (OUT OF FOUR)
SKYFALL
I didn’t review Skyfall as much as I philosophized on it at length. If it wasn’t clear, I loved it. It’s the best Bond film in about two decades, and one of my favorites overall. Daniel Craig finally “becomes” James Bond, and the film establishes a clear way forward for a franchise which struggles to stay relevant. A treat for the eyes and ears.
RATING: FOUR STARS (OUT OF FOUR)
FLIGHT
I was glad to see Robert Zemeckis finally let go of his dream for all films to involve weird motion-capture animation, at least for now. That said, I was a little disappointed with Flight. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what I got. This may have been as much my fault as the movie’s, but there it is. Denzel Washington does a great job portraying the realities of alcoholism, and the meditations on religious faith were interesting (and not something I’ve seen often in Zemeckis’ work), but overall this felt like a film taking a lot of time to say very little. The plane crash scene may be the most gripping sequence I’ve seen in theatres this year though, and I can’t stay mad at a movie with John Goodman as a freewheeling drug dealer for too long. (As a sidenote, can we get John Goodman as a small but scene-stealing role in every film from now on? Cool, thanks.)
RATING: TWO STARS (OUT OF FOUR)
LINCOLN
There’s a lot to like in Lincoln. Great performances by Daniel Day-Lewis, Tommy Lee Jones, and Sally Field, among others. A great score. Some beautiful cinematography. But at the same time, it felt like this movie was lacking something important. It’s rather myopically focused on the passage of of the Thirteenth Amendment, and it lacks the varied viewpoint characters teased by the opening scene, in the aftermath of a battle. It dives quickly and deeply into a political landscape almost totally alien to viewers in 2012, and is a bit dry and heavy to follow easily. My brother offered the comparison of “a really weird period episode of The West Wing,” which isn’t too far off. I didn’t come away from it feeling like I had any greater insight to Lincoln, the president, nor Lincoln, the man. But it does contain a number of rousing speeches and great character moments, and these are worth seeing at least the one time.
RATING: TWO STARS (OUT OF FOUR)
Shaken, not stirred: Skyfall and the legacy and future of James Bond
Skyfall, the 23rd entry into the James Bond film franchise, had a rough development initially, due to MGM’s bankruptcy. More than that, though, it followed the comparatively poorly-received Quantum of Solace. Skepticism abounded after rumors of Bond forgoing a medium dry vodka martini for Heineken. What was Sam Mendes thinking? But thankfully (so, so thankfully), Skyfall is another entry into the core Bond canon, one that understands and respects the character and franchise’s lineage as it goes forward.
James Bond was created out of Ian Fleming’s military experience as a superman to fight the Russians on the stage of popular culture. He is the quintessential secret agent, defined as much by his tastes and his proclivities as his actions. The tuxedo, the martinis, the women and the quips; these are James Bond in the same way Connery or Moore or anyone else is. It’s the trappings of the story that capture our imagination. The sexy, smooth secret agent fighting the bad guys.
Movie Review: Wreck-It Ralph
Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph has reportedly been in some stage of development since the late 1980s, which is something I can’t help but marvel at. Video games and their effect on popular culture have changed so much in the past few decades that it’s clear Wreck-It Ralph has been a number of films, and it’s interesting to imagine how different it would’ve been had it come out ten or even five years ago. But that’s neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is that Wreck-It Ralph is a clever, stylish love letter to video games that both longtime fans and casual audiences can enjoy.
TV Review: Revolution
Revolution, NBC’s dystopian adventure drama, premieres tonight at ten. It’s the latest in a long line of attempts to capitalize on the post-Lost market for genre TV. The path is fraught with peril; the past few years are littered with high concept sci-fi mystery stuff (The Event, Flash Forward, and Terra Nova being examples which spring to mind). Revolution has an impressive pedigree, with J.J. Abrams serving as an executive producer and Jon Favreau directing the pilot. But does Revolution have what it takes to become the next Lost? (Or at least the next Fringe?)
Animation Wednesday: Regular Show
This post is part of the Animation Wednesday series, a regular column which looks at animated TV series and movies of the past, present and future.
Absurdism is in. I suppose, in a way, that’s always been the case. Looney Tunes and early Disney stuff featured talking animals beating each other up. But for a long time, cartoons have stuck to a high concept and tied most weirdness back to the premise. Shows like Animaniacs or The Powerpuff Girls featured their share of strange characters and situations, but things flowed naturally from the premises (zany cartoon characters causing a ruckus and preschool superheroes fighting parody bad guys, respectively). Show which got weird for weirdness’ sake, like Ren & Stimpy or Cow and Chicken, struggled to find audiences. I’d place Spongebob Squarepants as the first show which involved jokes that were as much non-sequitor oddities to puns and punchlines that really caught on. Since then, randomness has been the word, and while the biggest of these shows (and probably the subject of a future post) is Adventure Time, the one closest to my heart is Regular Show.
Regular Show follows the ersatz adventures of Mordecai and Rigby, two twentysomething slackers who happen to be a blue jay and a raccoon, respectively. They work as groundskeepers with Benson (a gumball machine), Muscle Man (a fact green guy), High Five Ghost (a ghost), Skips (a yeti), and Pops (a lollipop…shaped…guy?). Most episodes revolve around their attempts to take care of a basic chore, or go perform some kind of activity. These inevitably result in trips to space, summoning monsters, time travel, and the like. Why?
Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises
It’s kind of hard to talk about The Dark Knight Rises without the context of the rest of Christopher Nolan’s Batman series, and the reaction to them. Nolan’s hyper-realisitc take on the Batman mythos began with Batman Begins, but it was the 2008 sequel The Dark Knight which received widespread critical acclaim, in large part for the late Heath Ledger’s gripping portrayal of Batman’s nemesis the Joker. Personally, I believe that The Dark Knight is a good movie which is largely carried by Ledger and Aaron Eckhart’s (Two-Face) performances. However, I think it’s reached a level of deification among fans that it doesn’t deserve, and I wasn’t hugely excited for TDKR, since it lacked the elements which drew me to The Dark Knight.
BOY, was I wrong. The Dark Knight Rises is phenomenal, a fitting end to the series which ties elements of Batman Begins to themes explored in The Dark Knight, while simultaneously adapting and homaging a number of seminal Batman storylines. It’s the kind of thing I wouldn’t believe if I hadn’t seen it, since historically the execution of a lot of these things has faltered. But as far as I’m concerned, TDKR tops The Dark Knight. Let’s take a look at why. (Mild spoilers ahead. Nothing too terrible, but don’t read if you want to go in completely cold.)
Movie Review: The Amazing Spider-Man
This summer, a lot of people have asked,”Do we really need another Spider-Man movie?” This is a ridiculous question. Of course we don’t need another Spider-Man movie. We also don’t need another Batman movie, or air conditioning, or multiple pairs of shoes. But all of these things are available to us, for one reason or another (in this movie’s case, it’s thanks in no small part to Sony’s desire to keep the movie rights to Spider-Man rather than letting them revert to Marvel Studios), so we may as well take advantage of them. So, is Amazing Spider-Man better or worse than the Sam Raimi Spider-Man trilogy?
The Revengers!!
Hey all, sorry the updates have been few and far between lately. I’ve been working on a couple of different projects, one of which I’m proud to share with you today!! About a month ago, a group of friends and I participated in the Guerrilla Film Challenge, where we wrote, shot, and edited a short film in 48 hours. Our genre was “mockbuster,” the proud tradition of low-budget B-movies pioneered by The Asylum. We selected summer blockbuster The Avengers. Thus, THE REVENGERS!!
To help us have at shot at winning the $1000 People’s Choice prize, please click on the video’s “like” button on the YouTube page. I’m not entirely sure whether they’re tallying “likes” or views or both, so doing both is the best way to help us out. Thanks so much!!
P.S. While you’re there, why not check outMiddleman: The Don DeFalski Story, another short film by a bunch of my friends? Voting isn’t a zero-sum game, so “liking” them doesn’t hurt us. Support good movies!!
Animation Wednesday: The Spectacular Spider-Man
This post is part of the Animation Wednesday series, a regular column which looks at animated TV series and movies of the past, present and future.
Sometimes I think about doing a kind of a backwards version of Animation Wednesday, where I list terrible cartoons of the past, present and future and explain why they suck. I do a rundown of a couple of notably bad ones in the future, but generally I try to focus on stuff I like, so people who are interested in animation have some good recommendations. But for this post, I have to focus on something pretty bad to lead into something really good.
Movie Review (and some musings): The Avengers
As of right now, The Avengers has had the largest opening weekend of any film in history. It’s received rave reviews, and generated its share of controversy. You probably have an idea of whether or not you’re going to see it, if you haven’t seen it already. But in case you need my take on it to convince you, here it is: The Avengers is really, really good. Not perfect, not the best movie I have ever seen in my life, but a genuinely enjoyable, funny, well-written and acted summer blockbuster which is definitely worth seeing.
Animation Wednesday: The Legend of Korra
This post is part of the Animation Wednesday series, a regular column which looks at animated TV series and movies of the past, present and future.
As you may recall, I’m a pretty big fan of the original Avatar: The Last Airbender animated series. So when I heard that Nickelodeon would be airing a sequel series, set 70 years after the original, I was equal parts excited and nervous. There weren’t any glaring problems. The creators who worked on the original series were all coming back, and the integrity of the project hadn’t been affected by the abysmal movie adaptation. But one of the strongest things about the series was the fact that it had a beginning, middle and end, and that the story followed a logical progression dictated by story needs, as opposed to being used to sell things. This new series would need a strong sense of place, interesting, relatable characters, and a compelling conflict to live up to the standard set by A:TLA.
Well, four episodes into The Legend of Korra, and I can pretty confidently state that it doesn’t only live up to the standard, it may actually exceed it. The Legend of Korra is a beautiful, intriguing series which firmly stands on its own while referencing the greater framework of the Avatar universe. There’s plenty in it to reward old fans, but it’s accessible enough for new viewers to jump on.
A Discussion of The Cabin in The Woods (with plenty of spoilers)
I’ve seen The Cabin in the Woods twice now, and I’ve enjoyed it quite a bit. As most of you are probably aware, it relies heavily on the audience being unaware of a lot of the elements going in (I’d say “twists,” but that’s not exactly what’s going on here, at least not in the usual M. Night Shyamalan sense). Most reviews have focused on broad strokes, giving a rough appraisal without spoiling anything. I think that’s good, but I’m also interested to hear what people thought of specific elements and choice the film made.
SPOILER: At no point does the cabin literally change shape like a giant Rubik's Cube.
Thus, I’m posting a recap/discussion of some of the elements of the film. Obviously, it’s going to involve spoilers. If you haven’t seen The Cabin in the Woods yet, stop reading this and go out and see it. Don’t read any other reviews, don’t even watch the trailer, just see it. It’s not really very scary, and it’s definitely worth seeing. You won’t really have much of an opinion or anything to discuss regarding what I’m about to say if you haven’t seen it.
So seriously, spoilers ahead. Don’t read unless you’ve seen it.
Ok?
Gentlemen, Behold!! 