Monthly Archives: December 2018

2018 Finale

Life, NY Rangers, The Darkest Winter

We made it another year everybody! It’s been a weird one.

I achieved my big goal, to become a published author. The Darkest Winter became available to the public in September and the response has been all positive. It was a mountain of work but the satisfaction in getting it done, and done well, makes it worth it. I learned a lot, have a lot more to learn, I’ll do some things differently, and I’ll take that all with me into 2019. I’m more or less ready to move on from TDW, new stories need my attention. I have a speaking engagement on January 8th, so around that time I’ll probably write my final pure TDW update.

I have some ideas but nothing tangable has come from it yet. Two sequels to TDW and a original idea. The new idea is most intreging to me, it’s got the most potential I think (translation: the idea interests me the most right now) so I’ll probably work on that exclusively to see if I can turn it into an actual story that works (it’s ambitious).

Aside from that, I’m ready for 2019. I think this year has been weird for all of us and we all just want things to get better from here. Also, I’d like the New York Rangers to stop shooting themselves in the foot all the time so they can show everyone they are competitive.

Take care yourself and each other. Talk to you again soon.

Three Piece Movie Combo

Movies, Netflix Original

It’s a mix of genres for this post. I’ll start off with the biggest title.

Bird Box

This one is getting a lot of attention online. As a Netflix exclusive that stars Sandra Bullock, that’s not too surprising. Thriller/horror movies get a lot of buzz these days so hopes were high for this book translation. Bullock plays Malorie, a woman on her own who is expecting her first child in a few months. One day an epidemic breaks out, some kind of creature that compels people to commit suicide when they see it. These beings quickly devastates the world population and as the movie jumps from past to present, the invasion continues for 5 years with no reprieve.

I had high hopes going into this and it was more or less a let down at every turn. It was surprisingly boring which was really weird considering the premise. First and foremost, every character comes off as a character, not a real person. Everyone clearly has their typecast role and no one deviates from it. Bullock does a fine job with her acting, but it’s not enough to save the movie. When you first meet her character, she’s obnoxious and vapid, so I never connected with her. Despite being the heroine and doing truly heroic things at times, I didn’t care what happened to her.

The film is very conservative in its horror too as it never dares to show anything that intense or gruesome. A lot happens off camera. The creatures are seemingly ethereal, they can’t interact with solid objects (can’t open doors, break things) so the basic survival method is, cover the windows and stay inside. That’s not too interesting. The interest would be survival in such conditions and the stress it puts on the people who are together. Again, that all falls rather flat as while there is in-fighting, it never seems like a threat. Running out of resources never felt like a problem. While scenarios are made to throw chaos and surprises at you, all of it is predictable so again, there’s no weight to it. The creatures are shown as little more than a shadow so that’s disappointing as well.

The ending felt all wrong too as you watched someone being chased basically the entire time get a “don’t worry, it’s cool here” break. The whole thing just isn’t interesting. A few days ago I read a theory that the movie is a metaphor for racism (if you stick your head in the sand, racism doesn’t exist because you can’t see it) which is way more interesting and thought provoking. Considering how paper thin the entire movie is, I don’t think that idea crossed anyone’s mind in the making of this.

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle

Hollywood tends to run with a hive mind. A theme or genre becomes the thing to do and similar projects get worked on at different studios. In this case, it’s the Jungle Book. Disney got their reboot/re-imagining out first to great fan fair. This version, directed by Andy Serkis, took longer and ended up not getting a theatrical release. Enter the Netflix pick-up crew.

I liked Jon Favreau’s take. It was a gorgeous movie at times and it played it more or less safe in the Disney mold. Mowgli is a bit more grounded, certainly less bombastic. I might even like it a bit more as I thought Jungle Book dragged on for too long. I definitely felt more of a connection with this version of the Mowgli character. You rarely leave his side and his story arc, being orphaned and raised by wolves, accepted on the fringes but still very much alone, to be very compelling. A kid trying to fit in a world he doesn’t exactly fit into and being shoved into another world he wants no part in. I really liked watching his guardians Bagheera and Baloo do their best for him, to the point where they both fight over his well being. When Mowgli gets cast out of the pack, I felt heartbroken over it. Then, when he interacts with people for the first time, it’s horrible but he’s soon shown compassion and there’s an interesting angle there about being accepted. Because he looks like everyone else for the first time in his life there’s is a level of basic need and comfort there.

In time he sees the ugly side of humanity and that forces Mowgli to make up his own mind about what family means to him and what his purpose in life is. Shere Kahn is kept as a better menace in this one too (JB veers off to the monkey king for a while with a massive action sequence, one of the scenes I think Mowgli does better) and I really liked Mowgli’s relationship with Bhoot, which I think is something JB is lacking.

Jungle Book does look better though, it’s much more majestic. The animals in Mowgli look off and it took me a while to figure out why. In the animated and Favreau versions of this story, the animals are romanticized versions of wild animals. They all look healthy and happy. In this version, the animal’s fur is matted with grime, and they are malnourished. They look like they live in a jungle and for the time at least, food isn’t plentiful. You see it most on Baloo, who in the animated version looks like he’s had his fair share of honey (he might have a sharecropping deal with Winnie the Pooh). Serkis Baloo looks like he could use another 150 pounds or so.

A strong ending put the finishing touches on a movie I enjoyed way more than I thought I would.

The Package

It’s important to go into a dumb comedy knowing it’s a dumb comedy. It sets expectations. The title and synopsis of the move make it pretty obvious as to what’s going to happen and the movie delivers (the package) on that. Four teenage friends go on a camping trip and an accident forces the crew to help their friend save his most precious body part.

Produced by the guys who made the show Workaholics and the movie Game Over, Man! you can guess the levels of cursing, situations, and absurdity this movie goes to. It actually goes much father in visuals than Bird Box does which is funny in itself.

I got what I wanted out of this. There are laughs sprinkled throughout with one standout scene that I thought was hilarious. The cast is great and every character gets a backstory and the time to be more than just window dressing. Yes it’s dumb, yes it’s gross, but that’s the goal and I think it’s a well made movie. The escalation of terrible events is done just right and with a 90 minute run-time, it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. Watch this instead of Bird Box, you’ll probably get more out of it.

Media Lull Round UP

Movies

It’s been awhile! For everything! We’re in the thick of the holidays so there’s a lot of slowdown. Great time to catch up on movies with TV on haitus but that ends next week.

It’s been some time since I’ve watched a movie I really liked. I’ve watched 3 this week and I’ll be doing quick hits of those this weekend. I plan on getting out to see Aquaman in January, which I’m looking forward to.

Netflix keeps putting out shows I like so a lot of my free time has been put there. Let’s go over some stuff.

Ink Master finished another season and this year was themed to a Grudge match. Cleen and Christian coached teams and overall it was a fun watch. The final 4 were tremendous talents but good lord do I hate the finales of this show. So much back-biting and trash talking makes it such a drag. I jump ahead to see the final pieces and the results.

On SYFY I completely missed Nightflyers and the new season of Channel Zero. I’m halfway through Nightflyers (if you can use the SYFY app on a media device instead of their website. The video player on the site is not good). I like but do not love Nightflyer. It looks gorgeous, the cast is great but there’s something about it that doesn’t make me seek it out like other similar-ish shows like The Expanse. I don’t like most of the characters, I think that’s why. I’m hoping it all comes together. When I finish, I move on to Channel Zero. I think Happy! starts soon and the ads for Deadly Class are interesting so that’s two more for SYFY.

The final season of Gotham starts on the 4th!

I was fortunate enough for DC to gift me a year subscription to their new DC Universe service. That gave me access to the first season of Titans which I have been looking forward to. First and foremost, it isn’t Teen Titans which the fan base knows and loves the best. The tone of this show is much different and the only thing they really have in common (so far) are the main characters of Robin, Raven, Beast Boy, and Starfire. I think you need to drop the expectations for a live-action Teen show coming into this, that’s how much different they are (Titans is a very dark, adult take on the property). It’s a little slow to get going but overall I like it. Cliff hanger ending, but I think the casting is right on and they sell the story well. Robin is pretty fresh from leaving Batman behind due to (mostly) ethical reasons. Beast Boy has been living an isolated life so finding this group of misfits is the start of something great for him, even if it is dangerous and challenging. Raven’s powers are just starting so she has no idea what’s going on and that’s the main arc of the season. Starfire is the most different. We meet her “on the job” but she doesn’t know what that job is. She can’t remember what she’s here for only that she’s looking for Raven. Dressed as a prostitute, it means she’s been in some shady places trying to put things together. She’s comfortable on Earth, having no idea she’s not from here. Her childish and goofy charm isn’t part of this take which I don’t mind. I think her fish out of water mistakes/comments would have gotten old fast. It’s a short season so it moves at a good clip and teases a lot of DC tie-ins which I like so I’m invested in what happens. This is just the start of their original programming and there’s a great promise. Doom Patrol is next, the return of Young Justice should be fantastic (it never should have been canceled, it’s easily one of the best animated DC shows) and Swamp Thing is filming now. There’s more coming down the pipe but those shows are a ways off.

Now for Netflix. Voltron is finished and I liked it a lot. They put a lot of work into wrapping everything up and I think they did an admirable job. The timing of seasons coming out felt random so there is disjointed feeling I got from watching each chunk. There’s a lot I didn’t remember right away (I never went back to rewatch) but this show really scratches that sci-fi itch. Great characters, great animation, and some terrific sound design make it the total package. The ending had some serious weight to it, glad I watched it.

3Below: Tales of Arcadia. The spin-off series from Troll Hunters. I forgot all about this so when it popped up about a week ago, I dove right in. The tie-in to TH turned out great. Fun and inventive way to spin out this universe into another one about an alien prince and princess. It maintained the quality of animation and I really like Aja, Krel, and Varvatos Vex. The fish out of water stuff was often really funny, the writing on this show is really good. My only problem was with their pet, Luug. Why does this alien animal sound exactly like a dog? Sure you have to suspend your disbelief to make a lot of this show work (everyone speaks English, for example) but this doesn’t match the creativity put into the rest of the show.

I’ve been away from anime for a long time so I was happy to see a new batch of Seven Deadly Sins episodes. This show is basically a version of Dragon Ball Z but with way better pacing. All the problems are unsurprisingly still there though. Some really horrific dialog, which I think is mostly from directly translating Japanese to English so the syntax is all wrong. Another annoyance is when something happens on screen (like a monster getting cut with a sword) and a character will say exactly what happened. Nothing that ads context or background, but a literal replay in dialog form (“The sword cut the monster, it must be a sharp blade”). It’s the weirdest waste of time. The other problem is this show can get really uncomfortable to watch. The main character, Meliodas, gropes Elizabeth’s chest, looks up her skirt, and she does not like it. He basically ambushes her randomly and she recoils in horror every time. Saying it’s perverted is an understatement and it ruins every moment. Crazy costumes that exploit female bodies is a long staple of this genre but this stuff is mind-bogglingly stupid. I don’t know why they still do stuff like this. It serves no good purpose and is such a slam-on-the-breaks blight to an otherwise good show.

I can’t remember if I wrote about the second season of Castlevania, but I’ll say it’s totally worth watching. Some of the action is killer and the final fight is especially fantastic. The best choreography I’ve seen since the end of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles last year (the CG one).

I just started Sirus the Jaeger which has something to do with vampire hunters so I’m hoping it’ll be cool. I’m dying for some good anime, it’s been so long since I’ve seen a good one worth recommending.

I went through the entire The Great British Baking Show collection (except for Masterclass) in like 3 months and if you need something to kick back to, this is it. You can have it on the background while you do stuff and it’s just as enjoyable. One of my favorite competition shows, there’s a lot of jolly vibes in every episode.

I just started Sick Note which stars Rupert Grint and Nick Frost. I saw Rupert on the thumbnail and had to give it a try. Rupert plays Dennis, a 20 something shlub who is lazy and takes everything good in his life for granted. On his worst day ever. his girlfriend kicks him out, his job is threatened, and to top it off, he’s diagnosed with cancer. The hook is, due to stupid Dr. Glennis (Frost), Dennis is given the wrong info, he doesn’t have cancer. Dennis notices a rather nice upswing in his life when he told everyone he had cancer and instead of telling the truth, he doubles down to milk it for a few months and everything spirals from there. I’m on episode 2 (of 12, don’t know if there is more) and it’s great. It’s obviously a dark comedy and man, by the end of episode 1 they go to places I didn’t even think of.

When I’m done with Sick Note I’ll stay on that side of the pond with Derry Girls. That or the final season of A Series of Unfortunate Events. That drops on January 1st so I’m not sure which will pull me in first.

Three Piece Action Movie Combo

Movies

Pacific Rim: Uprising– I’m a fan of the first movie that came out in 2013. Guillermo del Toro making a sci-fi giant robots fighting giant monsters action movie was basically made for me. While it had its faults with a simple plot, I think it did what it wanted to. It set up a new universe and showed audiences giant robots fighting giant monsters in spectacular fashion. The sequel starts 10 years later with the human race largely recovered from the alien beings invading through the dimensional rift that opened in the Pacific Rim. Wealthy countries rebounded much faster than other locations, but as far as everyone is concerned, the war was won. The aliens had an ace up their sleeve though and as time has passed, they have quietly been setting up the next invasion. A young generation of Yaeger pilots is introduced, including Jake, the son of Stacker Pentecost, one of the heroes from the original. As a whole, I liked this new one has it showed me more of what I liked. That’s a basic need for any sequel. Many more robot and monster types and more action (that’s set during the day with no rain!) that show off how mankind has pulled together to defend the planet. But it also doesn’t do anything new or daring. There’s very little lore added to the universe (I don’t think they even mention what happened to Charlie Hunnam’s Raleigh Becket) and the movie boils down to the exact same arc of the first movie: the best defense is with teamwork. Now the set up for a sequel looks to do more, but it’s disappointing that more wasn’t done with this story. Meet the new team, show them training, the threat grows, the threat comes out, the final fight, credits. While I did enjoy it, Uprising is a rote adventure that hangs its hat on giants for its action scenes in an attempt to stand out.

Hotel Artemis– A really neat premise of a movie with a stacked cast. In the not too distant future, Los Angeles is in a state of chaos over fresh water. In the city is the Hotel Artemis, a secret hospital for criminals that is run by The Nurse. She’s been running this members-only facility for around twenty years and she’s pushed to her limit when a volatile mix of clients come knocking. There are strict rules set up for the Artemis to function and things fall apart when those rules are broken. If you’ve seen John Wick, this idea may sound rather familiar. I think it’s safe to say the idea for Hotel Artemis was taken from the assassin hideout in the Wick series. While the general idea of the facility is similar, the story is quite different. The Nurse is the main character and as the movie progresses we learn more about her and the hotel. I liked this a whole lot as I was always surprised at how many story layers there are (something that Pacific Rim: Uprising is sorely lacking) and was happy to see each layer get pulled back. I’m a fan of assassin movies and Artemis gave me my fill. Fun characters that are put into a pressure cooker, each with their own motives and histories. Some have met, others have not. Check out this cast list: Jodie Foster, Dave Bautista, Sterling K. Brown, Jeff Goldblum, Charlie Day (I don’t know what the odds are of watching two movies that Charlie is in back to back unintentionally), Zachary Quinto, and Sofia Boutella. It looks cool, it’s acted slick and the action was surprisingly on point. I give the action set piece gold star to Sofia Boutella’s hallway gauntlet. A lovely mix of vicious and sexy. I even liked the ending so I’m happy to report that the Hotel Artemis was a pleasant surprise.

Tomb Raider (2018)- I wanted to like this. The one sentence review is this was a disappointment. It’s not a bad movie, it just sits somewhere in the middle with nothing there to elevate it to greatness. The plot follows closely to the recent game reboot: a young Lara Croft, with no adventures under her belt, follows a path left behind from her father’s disappearance and assumed death to a remote island that hides a legendary power. So we have some globe-trotting, a bunch of chase sequences, gun and fist fights, and a little bit of bow and arrow work from Lara. It’s all well made too. Well shot, special effects are good, editing and acting are fine. It all falls flat though, there’s just no meat to bite into. I think Alicia Vikander does a fine job as Lara but with so many action movies coming out every year, you need to do something to stand out from the rest. I don’t think Tomb Raider does. I can compare it to Mission Impossible: Fallout. While that movie leans heavily on what’s come before, the whole “we’ve been abandoned by the government, again!” angle, the action on display is mindboggling exciting and unique. Tomb Raider just doesn’t reach the bar set by its peers. If you skip this, you aren’t missing out on anything.