Television

What I Watched in March 2016

/ skoce / 1 Comment

I saw a lot of movies in March, I don’t expect that to be repeated in April. For one thing, I am running out of unwatched DVDs to toss in and finally clear off my list. For another, I’m feeling a little burnt out. There will likely be an uptick in TV entries, though, with new seasons of Trailer Park Boys and Bob’s Burgers hitting Netflix, and my resolve to start clearing out the TV portion of Netflix queue. I will have more to say about some of the stuff here. Once their seasons end I am going to do a round-up of this year’s superhero shows. And once I watch Life Aquatic and Bottle Rocket, the last two Wes Anderson movies I haven’t seen, I’ll want to write up something about his work.

Movies

  • Whiskey Tango Foxtrot – read my review here. ***
  • Blade Runner – This movie is great. I don’t know how I hadn’t seen it until last month. I saw, I believe, the theatrical version; whichever one was on Netflix. The voiceover doesn’t quite work sometimes, but the rest is comfortably excellent. It is one of the greatest true science fiction movies. *****
  • The Eagle – A somewhat labored story about a Roman legionnaire’s quest to redeem his family name. It is just another example of movie in which Jamie Bell is the best part of something that is otherwise mediocre. **1/2
  • Justice League War – read my review here. **
  • Man Up – A fun little romantic comedy starring Simon Pegg and Lake Bell. Bell’s character takes the place of a woman who is supposed to be meeting Pegg’s for a blind date. From there things proceed just about how you’d expect them to. Still, it is well executed and funny, largely thanks to the likeability of both Pegg and Bell. Definitely worth a look on Netflix. ***1/2
  • Moonrise Kingdom – I watched a ton of Wes Anderson movies this month, starting with this one. It is his usual idiosyncratic style focused on a much younger set of protagonists. The intense stylization works well recreating the slight unreality of childhood. Movies about children often rest on the shaky acting performances of children, but the two stars of this one do great. The subject matter here is a great fit for Anderson’s style. *****
  • Grand Budapest Hotel – another Wes Anderson movie that has a setting the perfectly fits his visual style. A Hotel Concierge inherits a valuable painting from a wealthy patron and must fend off a murderous relative of hers to claim what is his, all set against the backdrop of the start of the second world war. It is playfully, yet dark at times. Really, just a stupendously entertaining film. *****
  • Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox – read my review here. **
  • Kung Fury – A delightful little experiment in how much craziness someone could shove into 30 minutes. It is high weird, but fortunately it doesn’t overstay it’s welcome. To those with the right sensibility it is hilarious. ****1/2
  • Turbo Kid – This operates along a similar premise to Kung Fury, but it is actually a good movie on top of being a spot on pastiche of the stuff like Mad Max. It wears its inspiration on its sleeves, but underneath the jokey premise and absurd gore is the core of a very good movie. *****
  • Son of Batman – read my review here. ***
  • Killing them Softly – A brutal takedown of the American spirit, as expressed by our love of Capitalism. This is a movie about bad people doing bad things. But most of them do it with a quiet dispassion that makes it all the more awful. ***
  • Bronson – A pitch black look at the mind of a criminal. I didn’t like it. There is no story here, just the vile acts of a vile man. **
  • In the Name of the King – Dear God this movie is terrible. It is full of people who wanted some of that LotR money (Or who got it, John Rhys Davies) but made by someone with no clue how to tell a story. It is comically terrible throughout, with little or no attempt made to be anything other than complete, unrepentant shit. 1/2
  • American Hustle – Great movie. The all-star cast really plays off each other well. Bale and Adams play small time grifters who get caught up in an FBI sting that keeps getting bigger and bigger until it gets completely out of hand. It moves from catching a Mayor to congressmen to the mob, and the protagonists are just trying to find a way to extricate themselves. It is great. *****
  • Kingdom of Dreams and Madness – This isn’t something that would normally be up my alley, a nearly two hour long foreign language documentary, but I am a big fan of studio Ghibli and it is all but impossible for me to pass up. It is full of insight into how they do their business. Knowing that the studio is currently winding down production makes this all the more touching. This is just a great look into the workings of maybe the best animation studio to ever exist. ****
  • Enemy at the Gates – This is a highly uneven movie. There are some truly great scenes, but there is also some generic crap mixed in. I loved most of the sniper fights. They were tense and riveting. On the other hand, the love triangle and romance were poorly done. It makes for an uneven but not unenjoyable viewing experience. ***
  • Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – read review here. ***
  • Rushmore – Anderson again, this time dealing with the difficulty of growing up. In it a student falls for an elementary school teacher and ends up competing for her affections with a disillusioned businessman. Things end up getting kind of nasty before it ends, but it is ultimately a story about growth. *****
  • The Darjeeling Limited – this is widely considered one of Anderson’s lesser films, and I can see that, but the interplay between the three central brothers in the movie rings very true to me. It is much like how my brother’s and I get along when we haven’t been together for some time. It does kind of meander and not really get anywhere, but it is an enjoyable trip. *****

TV

  • Daredevil S2 – I was initially wowed by the first season of Daredevil, but I cooled on the show considerably before it ended. I still came out with largely positive feelings, but gore and violence got to me. And its utter self-seriousness. This is a TV show about a blind ninja lawyer who fights crime; there is room for levity. These are all problems that the second season could have and looked to fix, but it didn’t. The gore was, if anything, even worse. I tapped out during The Punisher’s prison fight and stopped watching the show for more than a week. Despite adding a host of downright silly elements, like warring ninja factions and reviving ninja magic, the show still treated every element with the utmost seriousness. The parts of the first season that were unimpeachably good, like the strong plotting, were lost. The last few episodes of this were nonsense that barely even attempted to pull the various plotlines this season set up together for a conclusion. Maybe the biggest problem is that Matt became the least interesting, most static character on the show. Everyone around him is growing and changing, but he is stuck where he is. With its second season, the show lost both me and its main character.
  • Poirot S10 – Another month, another series of Poirot finished. This one had an episode with Michael Fassbender, which was a highlight. I don’t really have anything new to say about this show. It is well-made but largely unexciting. I’ll finish up the last few series shortly.
  • Broadchurch S2 – The first season was a gripping murder mystery, this season spent its time tearing everything the first season built up to down. It ends up being largely unsatisfying. The court stuff mostly seems like an excuse to wallow in misery, something even the first season was prone to do but it was especially bad here. The other half of the season had the two stars looking back into the murder that Det. Hardy supposedly messed up before the first series. That portion of the show mostly works, though it does have some ridiculous twists.
  • Flash – Only two episodes this month, and they were fine. Nothing too mind blowing in either of them, but still solidly entertaining hours for the show. The first one had the team coming to the realization that Jay was Zoom all along and the second has another attempt by Barry to learn to go faster with time travel. They do skirt around the rules of time travel, but both episodes work. Now it’s another two week break before the show comes back for its last half dozen episodes.
  • Arrow – Two good episodes of the show this month, despite dealing with a frustrating plot twist in the break-up of Oliver and Felicity. This show has pivoted into being more like the Flash this season and the results have largely been good even if it has been uneven.
  • Legends of Tomorrow – The March episodes of this were strong; it really felt like the show finding somewhat stronger footing. They fought time pirates and the league of assassins. There are still flaws, Vandal Savage has never lived up to his potential and characters keep getting lost in the shuffle, but it is still more entertaining than not.
  • Supergirl – After the series low point in in Solitude, the last three episodes have been really strong. The little too quick fall of Siobhan Smythe was actually a fun bit and the status quo has been shaken up in a good way. The real highlight was Worlds’ Finest, the crossover episode with the Flash, which didn’t do a lot with its villains but was otherwise completely delightful. This show still hasn’t been picked up for another season and it will be a damn crime if its not.

What I Watched in February 2016

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Movies

Jane Eyre – This is a good adaptation of one of my favorite classic novels. Fassbender and Wasikowski give really good performances as the lead characters and it is moody without being completely oppressive. Like all adaptations, it is missing some things from the book that I love, but it is still a very good version of this story that retains the core. ****

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies – review here. **1/2

Hail, Caesar! – review here. ****1/2

Zoolander 2 – review here. **1/2

Snowpiercer – This is an amazing film. The world it presents is just so weird and awful that it is hard not to get caught up in the protagonists’ quest. It’s got some really great action scenes and Tilda Swinton is perfectly awful as the villain early in the film. You should see this movie. ****1/2

Man of Steel – I rewatched this because with Batman v Superman coming up people are letting fly remembering how shitty it was, which didn’t match my recollection. While I have some fundamental problems with this version of Superman, this is still a largely enjoyable movie. If it weren’t for the pointlessly destructive fight at the end and the worst possible Pa Kent, I would call it damn good. ***1/2

Deadpool – review here. **1/2

The Wolverine – This movie oscillates between being a somewhat thoughtful, interesting superhero adventure and the goddamned dumbest thing I’ve ever seen. It comes really close to being the Wolverine solo movie that everyone has wanted since the first X-Men movie, but the last big action scene is just painfully bad and stupid. The rest is too somber for a the campy action movie it is and too stupid for the mournful action drama it wants to be. I might be tickled to see Wolverine give himself open heart surgery while people swordfight on top of him, but it is really, really dumb. ***

The Punisher (2004) – It is a bloody, violent cartoon. It is set up much like a call back to revenge movies of the 70s and 80s, but it also has a lot of Western overtones. But it is just too stupid to really pull it off. The darkness of it is constantly offset by stupid one liners and clownish characters. Not much to recommend here. *1/2

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny – see review here.  ***

TV

Marco Polo – This show has a lot going for it, from a great concept to really high production levels, but it just isn’t that good. The protagonist doesn’t quite sell the emotion and the show takes way too long to establish its characters. It sort of meanders through some vaguely interesting scenarios without ever really giving anything any personal stakes. I think Netflix renewed it for a second season, I hope they work out some of the kinks.

Mad Men S7 Part 2 – If I didn’t know that everything I would want to write about this show has already been written I would try to examine this show in depth. It is worth it, but it has also been done and by better writers than me. This last batch of episodes is an odd yet oddly perfect ending to the show. It gives the characters an ending without actually making it an ending because life goes on. I like to think that Don has found some peace by the end of the series, after spending the whole show avoiding the lie that has defined his life. Great, great stuff.

Poirot S7-9 – This show gets a lot stronger when the episode length gets trimmed by about ten minutes here. It just feels snappier. I don’t know that I have much more to say about this show. Its good.

Broadchurch S1 – It plays out its mystery slowly, really letting the viewer come to know each character and formulate theories about who the killer is. Broadchurch succeeds more on the quality of its performers than anything else, though. It probably didn’t help my enjoyment that I saw the somewhat mediocre American remake first, but I liked this well enough that I’ll be back for what I’ve heard is the disappointing second series.

Fuller House – Terrible, corny schmaltz. It isn’t even on the level of the original series, which was never good but did occasionally provide some corny entertainment. This is incredibly badly, lazily written. The bones are here for a moderately good show and all the adult stars are capable, but the material and the children really let them down. Those with fond memories of the show should likely check out the first episode, but know that miserable half hour is the pinnacle of the series.

Supergirl – This show isn’t quite Flash good, but it is charming and Melissa Benoist is amazing. The first episode after the initial 13 order felt like a little bit of a realignment, which I think this show needs. It has a few too many characters that aren’t really connected.

The Flash – Hoo boy, this months’ worth of episodes were something else. While the Zoom story in this season is turning out to be an inferior retread of last season’s Reverse Flash, the individual episodes have been largely very good. Take the most recent one, where the Flash faced off with King Shark. It was amazing to see King Shark on TV, but it was also just another monster of the week episode. The Earth 2 episodes, though, were great. I can’t wait to see this one come down the home stretch.

Arrow – This is turning into a bounce back season after the disappointing last season, but it still isn’t on the level of The Flash. The Vixen episode was pretty good, but the quality of this season is going to hinge on how well the central arc with Damian Darhk is tied up by the end. I do have to say that the flashbacks have become incredibly pointless and disconnected from everything else. I hope they drop them entirely next season.

Agent Carter – I missed the last two episodes, but the rest of this mini-series has been excellent. I don’t know that I like it as much as Supergirl, but it is more focused and it is certainly better than Agents of SHIELD.

DC Legends of Tomorrow – This show is not good in any real sense. It provides remarkable action on a TV show budget and has a handful of performers who are just a blast to watch, but it doesn’t really feel like doing anything with all of its characters. It has lots of action and brings in an absolutely absurd number of great concepts, but a lot of the plotting feels like unfocused wheel spinning. Really, it is the TV equivalent of a middle of the road crossover event. While I acknowledge its flaws, I am still enjoying the crap out of this show. It is some great cheesey entertainment.

What I Watched in Jan ‘16

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Movies

Star Wars The Force Awakens – see review here. ****1/2

The Revenant – see review here. ****1/2

The Hateful Eight – see review here. *****

The Ladykillers – This is not a Coens’ movie that gets a lot of attention. After watching it, I would say that it doesn’t really deserve much attention. It isn’t bad, but it is slight. There just isn’t a lot here. It’s a well-executed farce, with JK Simmons and Marlon Wayans, of all people, giving really good performances. Fun, but forgettable. ***1/2

Shawshank Redemption – Yeah, it’s great. I don’t have a lot to say. *****

Hot Rod – I am not always a fan of Andy Samberg, but he is really great here. This movie kind of meanders around and loses momentum at times, but it has a lot of really funny people and some really funny scenes. This is a great movie to watch on a lazy Saturday afternoon. You don’t really have to pay attention and each little bit is entertaining on its own. A solid little comedy. ****

Galaxy Quest – Alan Rickman’s passing made me want to revisit my favorite of his films. This Star Trek pastiche is simply great. It is that oddly prevalent mixed up take on the Magnificent Seven with actors taking the place of the fighters, like A Bug’s Life or The Three Amigos. Galaxy Quest might be the best executed of those, and Rickman’s utter contempt for everything with his old TV role is one of the highlights. This is just a great comedy. ****1/2

The Four Falls of Buffalo – I love 30 for 30. The tale of these Buffalo Bills, the best team to never win the Super Bowl, is kind of heartbreaking. This is pretty well made, since they got most of the big players in to talk about it. To come that close that many times and not come away with a victory is crushing. ***

Pride and Prejudice – This 2005 adaptation of Austen’s novel is really good. It is solidly acted all around and as true to the source as a two hour version of a novel can be. Kiera Knightley is just about as Elizabeth, with the right amount of satisfaction in her witty retorts. It also establishes a sense of scene and time that goes beyond what would be expected. Really, there are some great shots and settings in this film. ****

Paprika – This was recommended to me in a list of the 50 best animated films decided by people voting in their personal top 25. This was one that made the list that I had never seen, so I picked up the Blu-ray on the cheap. It is really good, kind of like Inception (which I have to assume took at least some inspiration from this) without the need to be tethered the reality of having to be filmed. It is also lacking Inception’s explanations. The whole movie is just sort of strange and simply dropped on the viewer. Paprika is excellent. The English dub does not have the most natural translation, but point gets across. Also, some of the sequences are perfectly mind bending. I think some of the character work is either lacking or was lost in translation, but other than that I really liked this movie. ****1/2

TV

Detectorists – For a show that never goes too far in any direction, this turned out to be a complete delight. Andy and Lance are detectorists, guys who spend their free time with metal detectors. Their devotion to their hobby can be a little pathetic at times, but they know that. The show flits from being mildly pleasant to somewhat uncomfortable at times, never being a complete delight or a total drag. The show doesn’t want to beat its protagonists down completely, but it also isn’t going to have them realize all of their dreams. It ends up feeling real, mostly on the back of some strong writing and performances. I can’t wait to see the second series.

Making a Murderer – This is pretty chilling. A great, entertaining documentary. It didn’t convince me one way or the other about Steven Avery’s guilt, but it did leave me questioning the idea of fairness in our justice system. It is rather chilling how they lied to and railroaded the younger of the accused. The whole thing illustrates how the justice system is not after justice, but after a conviction. Really, it is just really well-made.

Poirot Series 5 & 6 – I need to be more considered when writing about this. It is still good, if dry. It is very slow paced, letting the mysteries unfold in their own time. It is a big change from current TV and takes a little getting used to. It also switched from hour long episodes to episodes that are nearly two hours long, which is just a little too long. Still, Suchet does a great job in the title role and they are largely well acted and made. I am going to stick with it until the end.

Galavant – God, I love this show. I hope that we get more of it. I missed about half the episodes when they aired; catching them later on Hulu, but this show is still just delightful. It is lightweight, but it is also thoroughly enjoyable. I don’t really have very much to add, other than hope for a DVD release.

Always Sunny Season 10 – This show somehow keeps getting better and better. This season got really dark at times, in the best possible way. The stars have honed their characters into increasingly deranged collections of neuroses. They react to the situations they are put in in natural and hilarious and awful. That is pretty much this show in a nutshell: hilarious and awful. Just really great stuff.

The Spoils Before Dying – I really liked the sheer goofiness of The Spoils of Babylon and this follow up is more of the same. The same sort of overblown artiness and complete incompetence is on display, along with some wonderfully off performances. It is just so absurd and ridiculous. It can be a lot to take all at once, but it is mostly delightful. Some of Will Ferrell’s episode opening and closing rants by Eric Jonrush were misses, though. The good ones are some of the best parts of the show, but the others are sadly not funny or interesting.

Parks and Rec Season 7 – I thought the end of season 6 was a fitting ending to this show. While I wasn’t going to say no to more Parks and Rec, I really felt like the show had already gone out on a high note. Season 7, though, proved me wrong. This was the perfect ending to the show. It was a well-deserved victory lap for one of the best shows of this last decade. A show as consistently upbeat as this one needed an ending that was equally upbeat.

Super Hero TV Shows: With only a few weeks of shows, I don’t have much to say about the panoply of superhero shows currently airing. I will say that the Flash is still great; it feels like they are building some good stuff here. Supergirl is really coming into its own, with Martian Manhunter really being the perfect mentor and ally for Kara and Cat Grant is getting more focused. Agent Carter came back this year with some great episodes and Arrow has largely recovered from the scattered third season.

What I Watched in December 2015

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Movies

  • The Master – This is a case of a movie that is clearly excellent, but somehow I didn’t end up liking it.  Part of that is due to how good some of the performances are.  Joaquin Phoenix does an outstanding job, but his character is too convincing at being off-putting and uncomfortable.  He is hard to watch.  He is also the center of this film, Hoffman’s turn as the titular Master notwithstanding.  Having a character that makes everyone, the viewer included uncomfortable makes for a hard movie to watch. ****
  • Forgetting Sarah Marshall – This wasn’t anything outstanding, but it was a funny movie full of generally funny people.  I just think it hovered between trying to have some kind of real heart and being really funny, without committing fully to either idea.  The result is pleasantly enjoyable, but not outstanding.  ***
  • Punch Drunk Love – I started to watch The Ridiculous 6, but after a few excruciating minutes I switched over to this. I doubt any would call this Paul Thomas Anderson’s best film, but it is likely Sandler’s.  He plays a business owner, henpecked by his numerous elder sisters who occasionally have violent outbursts.  He meets a woman, finds a harmonium and makes a call to a phone sex line.  While his relationship with the woman deepens, he has to deal with blackmail attempts. It is a strange, off kilter romance that is highly enjoyable.  ****
  • In the Heart of the Sea – see review here.  **1/2
  • Star Wars: The Force Awakens – see review here.  ****1/2
  • Kill Me Three Times – This movie really wants to be some kind of Tarantino, or at least Guy Ritchie, crime movie, but it just isn’t that good.  That is not to say there is nothing to like in what is mostly a limp, mean effort.  Simon Pegg is clearly having a lot of fun playing the villain and the way everything twists around to everything together. Still, too much of it is just poorly explained.  It isn’t a good movie, but there is some enjoyment to be gleaned from it. **1/2
  • Mission Impossible Rogue Nation – Just as good on DVD as it was this summer.  It is certainly better than the limp Bond offering from this year. ****
  • Whisper of the Heart – A Ghibli movie that had slipped by me until my brother got it for Christmas.  This movie is amazing, a perfect expression of the yearning and dreams of childhood.  One of Ghibli’s best, and that is saying something.  *****
  • High Road to China – This is something of a bone thrown to Selleck after he was forced to pass on Raiders of the Lost Arc, and while it does have some superficial similarities to Indy’s first outing, it is something else entirely.  While it is an adventure movie, it is not much of an action movie.  It does feature some great biplane action, I guess.  I think it is telling that at the end it is not Selleck’s O’Malley that gets the triumph, but his love interest.  Still, it is a fine, unfairly forgotten film. ***1/2
  • Quigley Down Under – Tom Selleck plays a cowboy in Australia, first hired then hunted by Alan Rickman’s villain.  It is a well-done western that somewhat updates the formula, if only by setting it in Australia rather than actually in the west.  Rickman’s villain is a conscious lover of the west, but Quigley shows him that all his aping of cowboys doesn’t make him one.  It also allows the main character to call out the racism of the west without actually doing so.  It is not a great movie, but I would definitely call it a good one. ***1/2
  • Electric Boogaloo – I was not super knowledgeable about Cannon Films going in, but this documentary was great.  It perfectly shows what made them interesting even if it didn’t make their movies any good. They churn out schlock, desperate to make it in Hollywood.  Their occasional hits seem to be more the result of just how much they throw against the wall than any sort of plan, but they did have them.  Still, I think the film world was better off with them churning out schlock than without them.    ****

TV

  • Daredevil – As with Jessica Jones, there is a sense of diminishing returns with Daredevil.  There is a lot of really good show here, but I can’t help but think it would be better if it was ten episodes instead of thirteen.  I’m not sure Daredevil really uses its running time wisely, since despite all the buildup they had for the Kingpin, he falls rather easily.  The second half never touches the heights of the beginning, but it is never really bad.
  • Poirot S3 & 4 – I really like this show, even though it can be slow and dry.  They are well done adaptations of Christie’s stories, with little frills or flash.  Suchet does a great job as Poirot, and most of these are really good stories.  Solid is, I guess, the best way to describe this show.
  • Fargo S2 – This is the best show on Television, even with its all too frequent references to Coen Brothers films, not just Fargo.  This season jumps back to the early eighties, and has a hapless couple accidentally pitting a local crime family against a big one from KC.  It nails pretty much every character and story beat perfectly.  The show is just great.
  • Supergirl – There are still flashes of greatness here, especially Melissa Benoist in the lead role, but it still hasn’t managed to pull all of its various characters and setting into a cohesive whole.  It is getting closer, though, and the good has always outweighed the bad.  Hopefully the second half of the season brings it all together.
  • Flash & Arrow – I’m putting these two together because the big episodes for each in December were the crossover episodes.  And man, what a crossover that was.  The Flash still manages to delight at every turn, and Arrow has been much better this season that last.  I’m not sure how much I like Hawkman and Hawkgirl, but still, seeing both gangs together to fight Vandal Savage was great.

What I Watched in November ‘15

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Movies

Spectre – review here. **

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – I queued this up right after finishing the book.  It is a tense and understated spy movie, with the focus being more on the psychological battles instead of action scenes.  It is well acted and completely engrossing.   ****

The Peanuts Movie – review here.  ***½

King Kong – I love Peter Jackson’s King Kong.  It is long and it has some really terrible effects shots, but there are just so many great scenes that I can’t help but love it. I love Jack Black’s slimy Carl Denham and Kong himself. Denham just can’t help but be the worst person, you never get the feeling that he is lying to anyone more than he lies to himself. ****

The World is Not Enough – The action scenes are really rough, but this is the sort of Bond movie I enjoy, warts and all.  It is nothing to write home about, but it is certainly entertaining.  ***

The Man from UNCLE – I really enjoyed this, so I bought the DVD. It holds up to repeat viewings.  ****

Dinner for Schmucks – This movie gets by on some really funny leads in Rudd and Carrell, but it is still either too mean spirited or not mean spirited enough to really fly.  Because it has just enough of a cruel streak to be uncomfortable but not enough to go all the way. Still, there are a lot of really funny moments and characters.   ***

The Cobbler – I had heard this movie was bad, but I wasn’t really prepared when I watched it.  It starts fine, despite Sandler being a complete nonentity in the title role, but as soon as it establishes its concept, that when Sandler’s character Max puts on the shoes he’s repaired he becomes that person, it veers off into crazy town.  Really, little once he starts changing to movie is just unbelievably bad. What Max does with his powers tends to the inexplicable, moving from one laugh-less adventure to the next with little rhyme or reason until it gets to the even more ludicrous conclusion. *

Mad Max Fury Road – My family in for Thanksgiving hadn’t seen it, so we watched it.  Still the best movie of the year.  *****

Creed – review coming soon. ****½

Rocky 2 – It is Rocky 1 again, only this time not quite as good.  Still, it is highly entertaining.  ***1/2

Rocky 3 – This is the movie that turns Rocky from character drama with boxing to cartoons about boxing.  Still, it is a super fun cartoon.  ****

Rocky 4 – This one goes further down the road to crazy town, but doesn’t stop being super entertaining.  ***1/2

TV

Supergirl – I won’t deny that the show is experiencing some growing pains.  Its seems to be spreading its characterization around a bit too thinly, with no one but Kara and maybe Jimmy Olsen getting enough development to be memorable.  Still, the good parts of the show have been really good.  I think it has the potential to be as good as The Flash, but it’s not quite there yet.

The Flash – This is still the best superhero show.  On TV or anywhere.  Still, this season has not been quite as smooth as the first one.  It is spending a little too much time setting up pieces for the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow, but the rest of it still coming along nicely.  Plus, it just did a Gorilla Grodd episode that set up Gorilla City.

Arrow – Still not as entertaining as its little brother, but the show seems to be more focused than last season.  It also has a somewhat lighter tone, which works better for what this show has become four seasons in.  The show just feels really comfortable right now.

Jessica Jones – I plan to have a full write up on this show coming soon, but for now I’ll just say that is it very good.  It gets dark, occasionally stupidly so, but it is largely well acted and written.  Most of the attention had been paid to David Tennant’s villain, for a good reason, but just as strong was the central relationship between Jessica and her best friend/adoptive sister Trish.  That is the real emotional heart of the show and it works flawlessly.

Master of None – I’ve loved Aziz since first seeing him on Parks and Recreation, and then seeing his stand up.  This show it just short of a masterwork.  It manages to be really funny and really heartfelt at the same time.  Many of the situations Aziz’s Dev finds himself in are ridiculous, but the larger problems he deals with, like relating to his parents or weighing the choice of becoming a parent, are real.  Any show that can be this real and this funny is something to be treasured.  

What I Watched in October ‘15

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Movies

Back to the Future – I watched it last month, but it is still great.  *****

Back to the Future Part 2 – In the midst of the internet’s love for BttF a week or so ago was some very strong hate for this movie.  I don’t get it.  Some of the effects look bad today, yes.  But the movie is a ton of fun and a necessary bridge between the first and third movies.  The fact that scenes riff on the first movie is not due to lack of imagination but a storytelling conceit.  I will agree that it spends a little too much time in 1955 and not enough time in the future, but it is still a great movie.  *****

Back to the Future Part 3 – Yup. I still love it. *****

My Cousin Vinny – This movie is just really well made.  It has a lot of good actors doing good work.  I don’t know what else to say, this is just a very good legal drama/comedy.  ****1/2

42 – I don’t remember how much I liked this movie when I saw it in theaters, but I would guess it loses some impact on the TV screen.  It is a fine telling of this story, with good performances all around, but it is also very easy to shut off.  ***1/2

The Martian – review here ****1/2

X-Men Days of Future Past – I remember liking this movie a lot, but watching it again, after seeing First Class and being really disappointed in how it held up, reinforced how much I like this movie.  It still has some strangeness, like how they recruit Quicksilver to bust out MAgneto but then he just disappears for the rest of the movie, but otherwise it is pretty great.  ****

Goosebumps – review here ***

The Addams Family – Such a great cast and such a funny, macabre movie. The pairing of Christopher Lloyd and Raul Julia is just too much fun to watch, and everyone else is great too.  There is only one reason not to recommend it: the sequel.  ****

Addams Family Values – This movie is just better than its predecessor in nearly every way. Maybe it has just a little too little Julia, but it makes up for it with more laughs and a more nutty Lloyd.  The kids a summer camp is just delightful and Joan Cusak’s character is a nice addition.  That rap that plays over the end credits, though, is impossibly terrible.  ****1/2

Centurion – This is a decent movie about a Roman Centurion in Britain starring Michael Fassbender.  It is an okay action movie, with a handful of Roman’s trying to get back to their fort after being stuck behind enemy lines after a battle with the Picts. It never really rises above being alright. It is fast moving, which keeps it entertaining, but it also keeps things really simple and there isn’t a lot of spectacle.  **1/2

TV

Flash – In its first month back on the air, Flash has picked up right where it left off.  There have been moments that seem to exist just to set up the upcoming Legends of Tomorrow series, but the rest has been solid.  The latest episode even ended with King Shark.  A live action King Shark. On TV.  This show is just he best.

Arrow – While it is the older show, Arrow seems to have taken a page from Flash with its tone so far.  They are moving away from the brooding attempts to emulate the Nolan Batman movies and are moving more into superhero fun.  It is a great development, as long as the long term plotting is better than last season’s.


Supergirl – It was only the pilot, a pilot that I took the dirty pirate route to watching a few months ago, but this show is still looking really good.  It has the perfect tone, being upbeat and hopeful instead of dour and brooding like DC’s movies.  Hopefully the rest of the show it this good, and gets rid of some of the clunky dialogue that seems to be the result of being a TV pilot.

Superhero TV Show Round Up

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Much like they have taken over cinemas over the last few years, superheroes are also taking over television.  This isn’t a new trend, some of the shows are starting their 3rd or 4th season, but last year marked the start of a full takeover and this fall shows the trend growing in strength.  The stalwarts of the genre are CW’s Arrow and ABC’s Agents of SHIELD, they were joined last year by The Flash, Gotham, and Agent Carter.  This year has already added Daredevil, and will see Supergirl, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Legends of Tomorrow and Heroes Reborn.  That’s a lot of TV superheroes.  To help out viewers that don’t have the time or inclination to sort through the chaff to find wheat, I will lend my largely non-existent expertise to point out the shows most worthy of your time.

  • Agents of SHIELD:  This show is starting its third season and has yet to show any of the energy or excitement that makes Marvel’s movies so popular.  It gets by on a tenuous connection to those movies, but is otherwise completely dull and forgettable.  I guess you can give a shot on Netflix, but I would recommend skipping it.  Watch it: No
  • Agent Carter:  Unlike the show that this spun off from, Agent Carter does possess much of the energy of its big screen cousins.  Hayley Atwell does a great job with title character and the period setting gives it a hook.  The first season was a solidly interesting mini-series; hopefully this year’s will be more of the same.  Watch it: Yes
  • Arrow:    Starting its 4th season, Arrow is the elder statesmen of this crop of superhero TV shows. It has its strengths, like surprisingly well shot fight scenes for broadcast TV and some interesting original characters; it is also a show that occasionally (i.e. frequently) overplays the melodrama.  Last season was considered by many to be the show weakest, though it did have its moments, but this season appears to be somewhat brightening the tone and changing things up a little.  I don’t know how attentive I will be.  Watch it:  Yes, probably
  • Daredevil: Season 1 is already up on Netflix and Season 2 is due sometime in the first half of next year.  Much like the Daredevil comic, the show is self-serious and almost comically dark, but it also is easily the best made show on this list.  This feels like a superhero show with prestige budget of something like Game of Thrones, as opposed to The Flash’s Dr. Who-like cheesiness.  If that is your thing, go for it.  Watch it: Yes
  • Flash:  The Flash is doing true superheroics, not just costumed karate-man stuff like Daredevil and Arrow, on a limited budget. Instead of trying to mask its cheesiness, it revels in it, making it one of the most entertaining shows on TV right now.  This is the show that best captures the blue skies heroics that make best comics so much fun.  Watch it:  Yes
  • Gotham:  A Batman show without Batman. That should tell you all you need to know about this show.  Despite some solid acting performances, the show can’t hide that it is all prologue.  The end is that Bruce Wayne becomes Batman; everyone knows that.  While a good show could be crafted out of this, so far there is no fun to be had watching the sausage being made.  Watch it: No, aside from some hate watching
  • Heroes Reborn: Didn’t we all learn our lesson last time as the solid first season imploded at shocking speed?  There is no reason for this, the first show thoroughly eradicated any goodwill anyone felt for it.  Watch it: Not a chance
  • Jessica Jones: This is Netflix’s second dose of Marvel goodness and despite some reservations I have about Daredevil’s tone I see no reason not to expect this to exhibit a similar level of quality.  I do wonder how well the shows will connect, considering that the original plan was that they would be 4 mini-series leading to a Defenders show, but when this hits in November I will be jumping right on it.  Watch it: Yes
  • Legends of Tomorrow: The third of the CW’s superhero shows, this one looks to be the most ambitious.  All of the other shows either star one hero or even a team of not actually super powered character.  This appears to be the first attempt at a genuine super team show.  Can they possibly do the Avengers on a CW budget?  Not likely, but the attempt will be interesting.  I also really like the proposed team they’ve set up.  It could be a train wreck, but it could also be great.  Watch it:  Yes, at least initially
  • Luke Cage: This one likely won’t be on until February or March, but much like the other Netflix shows, it should be at least well-made if not actually any good.  It also stars a better character than the previous two. (Yes, Luke Cage, Power Man is a better character than Daredevil) Watch it: Yes
  • Supergirl:  The early returns on this show make it sound very Flash-like.  That is a good thing.  Unlike recent Superman movies, this seems to actually be letting a Super-character be light.  This looks really, really good.  Watch it: Yes


That looks like a lot of TV watching, but only Arrow, Flash and Supergirl are full seasons.  The Netflix stuff is easy to marathon over a weekend or two and Agent Carter and Legends are both going to abbreviated runs.  It is more than likely that I don’t keep up with any of them beyond the Flash.  Still, it is a good time to be a superhero fan.  

What I Watched in September 2015

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Just about everything I watched last month was something I had already seen before. Next month I should make a trip or two to the theater and see something new.

Movies:

Mad Max Fury Road ― Yup, this is still excellent even on the small screen *****

God’s Not Dead ― A complete disaster of a movie. It in no way represents any kind of college or human experience, instead just spiraling further and further into insanity.  I don’t have anything against Christian movies, but this one is just not good. *

Back to the Future ―One of the greatest movies of all time. The attention to detail is amazing, as are the performances by all of the cast.  *****

Back to the Future 3 ― I missed 2, but 3 is the better sequel anyway.  It takes the same basic set up and puts it in the Wild West.  It works while changing it just enough to be fresh. I love it. *****

The Adjustment Bureau ―A great cast and an interesting premise that doesn’t quite live up to its potential. I actually really like this movie, and I love that it has a big concept but keeps the focus fairly grounded but somehow it just feels a little lacking.  Still, it’s not bad.  ***

First Blood ―This movie is not what anyone thinks about when they think about Rambo, but it is still largely an excellent movie.  It is a much more somber film than the others.  Rambo is less an incredible badass and more a completely broken mess of a person.  ****

Cliffhanger ―This was more fun than I remembered.  It is real dumb, but I still greatly enjoyed it.  It is not Stallone at his best, but it is still prime Sly.  ***

The Search for General Tso ― A very interesting documentary about the origins of General Tso’s chicken, a Chinese food dish that doesn’t appear to originate in China.  Good stuff. ****

Rocky Balboa ― This is an excellent farewell to Stallone’s iconic boxer.  A much better film than the dreadful Rocky V.  This one actually manages to get back to the tone of the original while also having something new to say.  ****

TV:

Gotham ― It came to Netflix, so I tried to watch it again.  Despite some good performances, this show is a complete mess. It wants to be Batman, but since its premise makes that impossible it doesn’t know what to do, so it just flails along for 22 episodes.  Maybe things will be fixed in the second season.

What I Watched August ‘15

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Movies

X-Men First Class – This movie has not aged as well as I had thought it would.  I remember really enjoying this movie when I saw it theaters, but watching it for the first time since I found it incredibly disappointing. Other than Fassbender’s excellent take on Magneto, it mostly just jumps from scene to scene without telling much of a story. ***

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation – see review here ****

The Three Amigos – A family favorite. This farcical western is delightful, with Chase, Short and Martin all giving funny performances.  It is just a delight. ****

Fantastic 4 (2015) – see review here *1/2

Goldeneye – I know this is an unpopular opinion right now, but I prefer the Brosnan Bond movies to Craigs.  I like Craigs, but I grew up with Brosnan.  Goldeneye is his first and best.  Trevelyan doesn’t quite live up to his billing as an evil Bond, but the rest of the movie works almost perfectly. ****

Tomorrow Never Dies – This is the one of Brosnan’s films that I didn’t see more than once.  It tries to be future looking, dealing with China and powerful media empires. I don’t think it is quite as engaging as Goldeneye, though.   ***½

The World is Not Enough – In some ways this is movie has the wheels starting to fall off the Brosnan as Bond train.  Things are getting really dumb and they weren’t that smart to begin with.  Still, Brosnan remains as charming as ever and some of the set pieces come off well. Uneven, but fun. ***½

American Pie – I don’t know why I sat and watched this Saturday morning while doing laundry. It wasn’t any good 15 years ago, and it isn’t any good now.  There are some brief glimmers of comedy here, but it isn’t enough to sustain it. **

American Pie 2 – Pretty much the same as the first, just a little more strained and unnecessary. *½

American Wedding – This one at least tries to do something new and interesting, but letting the characters age at least somewhat, but it still has little to recommend. Like many things people liked about high school, it is kind of embarrassing looking back on it. *½

The Man from UNCLE – see review here ****

TV

Psych S2 – There is just something soothing about this show to me.

Wet Hot American Summer – There is a hard to accept air of unreality about this show.  It has actors, many of them very good and/or famous, playing characters that are upwards of a quarter century younger than they currently are. This is compounded by them playing characters that they played 15 years ago. The show really runs with the weirdness of its set up.  And with the pointlessness of being a late comer prequel to a movie that just didn’t need one.  That doesn’t stop them from adding an origin for nearly every element from the original movie.  This is a strange, entertaining beast.

What I Watched in July 2015

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July was a busy month, and I really didn’t make time for a lot of movie watching.  Even the ones I wanted to see in theaters I ended up missing.  I ended up only seeing a bare handful of movies, though at least three of them are widely regarded as classic movies.  My only trip to the cinema was to see Ant-Man, which was definitely worth seeing, even if it wasn’t the best movie of the summer.  I have some high hopes for next month’s cinema viewing.  I want and expect Mission Impossible Rogue Nation to be great, as well as The Man from UNCLE.  I will be seeing Fantastic 4, though I am still unsure of how that one looks.  I really, really want to see a good version of that superhero family, as well as Dr. Doom, but most of what I saw early suggested that this would not be it.  There might be another or two that tempt me, but I’m not too sure.

Movies

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure – I think I might have had this on the list before.  It is completely delightful.  Bill and Ted are great characters, and their adventures through time never stop being fun.  ****

Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey – With the sequel to Excellent Adventure, B&T went really weird. This movie is strange.  They die; get stuck in hell and heaven while evil robot versions of themselves try to ruin their lives.  It still mostly captures the magic of the first film, though it is occasionally a little more mean spirited.  I would call it one of the great comedy sequels.  *****

Rocky – I had meant to watch Rocky 4, my 4th of July ritual, but I couldn’t find my DVD, so I watched the first one instead.  It remains one of my absolute favorite films. *****

The Great Escape – Another classic that I just happened to watch in July.  It might be a little too long, running nearly 3 hours, but that doesn’t stop it from being completely amazing.  Really, that is a nit picking complaint.   Steve McQueen is the coolest guy ever.  *****

Ant-Man – review here ***1/2

Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels – yup, I still love it.  I hope Ritchie still has it with The Man from UNCLE next month. *****

The Big Lebowski – I don’t think this is my favorite Coen Brother’s movie, but I couldn’t resist the chance to show it someone who hadn’t seen it before. I think people know what this is and why it is great.  They are right, it is. *****

TV Shows

Magnum, PI – Goodbye, greatest show of the 80’s. I hope you come back to Netflix soon, so I can finish up the last couple of seasons.  

Psych – Aside from being one of my favorite shows, this is also the show I use to fall asleep. Not because it is boring, but because it is comfortable.  It is so easy to just watch, especially as reruns.