What's Happening On Television These Days? (Part 1)

Tweet It has been a really long time since I've done a serious 'entertainment' post. On a blog that prides itself on writing about sports and entertainment, you would think something like this would be written more often. In my defense, there really has not been anything interesting to write about entertainment-wise, since breaking bad ended. Yes, there have been a few movies that have come out but are you really going to care about our reviews when you have websites like collider, rottentomatoes, and IMDB? I thought so. Luckily for you (all six of you that care about my TV opinions), there has been a flood of watchable shows on television recently, well... maybe not a flood, but enough to give me material to write about. So without further ado, here is a mini rundown of some shows that I have been watching. There maybe some minor spoilers ahead so be careful.

Dexter

With Dexter seasons you just know. Seasons one, two, and four were good; the other seasons either sucked or were very forgettable (with season 6 being being just mediocre at best). This season, I am happy to say, falls in the 'good' category, at least so far. I wont get too much into it as I am considering doing full out reviews for the rest of the Dexter season, but I will point out some things that I like about this season. In no particular order, here are the things that are making this season click, presented in note form:

-The main villain is actually pretty interesting

Who would have thought that Isaac would make for a really decent 'main' bad guy? He is smart, ruthless,and the king of some weird human exploitation empire. He already found out that Dexter killed one of his henchmen (and we are not even at episode four yet), and who ever the actor is that is playing him, is doing a really good job. We have not had a villain this interesting in Dexter since season four (the trinity killer), which was easily the best season, so these are all good things!

-The supporting characters actually have things to do

Whereas in past Dexter seasons, particularly the brutal third season, LaGuerta, Quinn, and company had really dull and useless side-plots (usually culminating in personal problems and self-rediscovery) this season there is actually *gasp* development! LaGuerta actually acts like a police officer and starts investigating a Dexter mistake (a forgotten blood slide) which is leading her to re-opening the 'Bay-Harbor Butcher' investigation. This is a genuinely interesting side-plot that does not make you groan when it comes up. Louis was shaping up to be an interesting character (more on him in the future), Quinn's story-line is just asking for trouble. For the first time in a really long time, Dexter episodes are complete and not just 20 minutes of content you care about with the rest being fast-forwarded.

-The story is developing at a good pace

A lot of people who watch the show complained that the second episode of the season was a major disappointment. In some sense they had a point. The episode did not really have much action and focused more on the characters and their development. So why did I still enjoy it? Because unlike other seasons' this was actually interesting. It is fun watching a story grow into something bigger (a simple 'Dexter' kill that leads to Ukrainian mob bosses coming to Miami for example).

That is all I will choose to comment on at this time about Dexter, as you can see, I will probably write about the show a lot more.

Arrow

Based on the popular DC comics character "Green Arrow" This is a new show on the CW (think Smallville) that takes a darker and more gritty approach to a super hero story (I know, I know shocking). To be fair, the original story is pretty dark in itself so this is not much of a reach at all, in fact, it works really well. For those of you who don't know: "Green Arrow" is the super-hero identity of one Oliver Queen (Bruce Wayne without the dead parents). There are a lot of variations to his origin so I will keep it basic. Essentially, Queen is left for dead in the middle of the Ocean, betrayed by the same men who betrayed his father, he washes up on an island and has to learn how to survive. For five long years he hunts, builds arrows, and forages on the unknown island until he notices a ship and promptly signals to be rescued. The experience on the island changed him vastly. No longer will he squander his wealth on partying, but will instead seek to avenge his father by bringing an end to the corruption of Star City (basically Gotham). Sounds cool right? Here is a trailer if you aren't convinced.

The best part? The writers have promised that other DC universe characters (Batman, Superman, Flash, Green Lantern to name a few) will be making appearances in the show and will probably be significant parts of the story. For now I am definitely in on arrow.

So this took up a lot more space than I initially imagined, so I will make this a 2-part feature! I will leave you with this clip from South Park that just screams awesome.

The Dark Knight Rises Review

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Thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the victims of the Aurora shootings. Such a senseless and horrific act should have no place in this world.

Is there a better slogan than 'The Legend Ends'? Just awesome.

This review will be mostly spoiler-free but may (probably will) contain some spoilers, (no major ones though, that is a promise) you have been warned.


After 2008's masterful 'The Dark Knight' (a movie I have watched too many times to count) nobody knew whether or not director Christopher Nolan would be able to direct a sequel that would even come close to it. The Dark Knight featured what was arguably the late Heath Ledger's best performance in a movie ever, the psychopathic Joker, Batman's arch nemesis. The Dark Knight had a great story, phenomenal acting, great action scenes, and way too many fantastic quotes to count; asking someone to make a sequel to that movie was basically asking for an absolute flop. Nolan however came through, and he came through in a big way. Not only was 'The Dark Knight Rises' a good film, it somehow managed to meet expectations and match the ridiculous hype that had been building up prior to the movies release.So did Nolan do the unthinkable and make a better movie than the Dark Knight? That is a question I will save for the end of this review.

Seeing as I don't really want to rehash the plot, or summarize the movie, I will just break this review down into some categories and talk about what I enjoyed.

Style

The film relies on the use of flashbacks to a much greater extent than the other movies in the trilogy. While different, it did not really take anything off of the table in terms of how the movie flowed. In fact, I have no idea how some of the plot twists (ones that I will not touch upon in this review, but will say were really a lot of fun) would have worked without using flashbacks; as always, in Nolan we trust. The main problems that most people seem to have with this movie is that 'the set up is too clunky' and 'too many new characters are introduced'. While there were many shorter scenes in the opening act of the movie, I did not really find them to be 'clunky'. I actually liked how all sides of the story were being shown at once, rather than doing them individually.As for the characters, this movie introduces Bane (the main villain), Miranda Tate (business partner with Wayne Enterprises), Selina Kyle (Catwoman), and Jason Blake (a rookie cop). The movie actually introduced a few more, but those characters that I did not mention only served to move the story forward, rather than directly impacting it (as the characters I mentioned did). Again, I did not really find this to be an annoyance and criticizing the movie for its character selection would be nitpicking at best. What nobody should have an issue with is the action scenes. Put simply: you will not be bored during this movie. The bat-gadgets and vehicles were also really cool and it was nice to see Bruce Wayne display his intelligence in certain scenes.

Acting

There really is not much to point out here other than the fact that all of the actors and actresses did a really, really good job. Tom Hardy was fantastic given the fact that half his face was covered by a mask for the entire movie, Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Inception) did an admirable job of playing a hot-headed rookie police officer, but the star of the show was Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. I have to admit, when I heard about Hathaway being cast for this role I was very skeptical. After seeing some of the previews, my skepticism subsided a bit, and after watching the movie I can't believe I ever doubted her.  Anne Hathaway's portrayal of Catwoman was probably just as good as Ledger's portrayal of the Joker in the overall scheme of the Batman universe. I really think that those two performances will be hard to top in future Batman movies. Bottom line: this movie would not have been as good without Anne Hathaway's incredible performance, that is a fact.

Score

The music for this film sensational, you can't really go wrong with Hans Zimmer.

Story

The movie is basically an incredible roller-coaster ride (except with no down points) that is a lot of fun to watch. Many were disappointed that batman (Bruce Wayne wearing the actual suit) does not appear as much as he did in the other two movies. (Ironically enough, this is one of the few batman movies that actually makes things about Bruce Wayne, who appears a whole lot in the film). Although Batman did not appear as much as the comic book nerd in me wanted him too, it was not that much of an issue, as there was plenty of material to fill in that void.

So how did this movie stack up to the Dark Knight?The problem with reviewing The Dark Knight Rises is that people will inevitably try to compare it with its predecessor. In this era people seem obsessed with;the next 'thing' (for lack of a better word) always surpassing the thing that came before it. When it comes to movie sequels, this obsession creates an unfair perception and ultimately detracts from the movie going experience of the sequel. For example, upon exiting the theater both of the times I have watched this movie, I heard people talking, not about what they just saw, but how it compared to the Dark Knight. Some people believed that it was better, some thought it was much worse, but the point is that they were not talking about the movie, instead they were comparing it. By automatically trying to argue (for or against) whether or not 'Rises' is better than the Dark Knight, people don't give 'Rises' the chance to be better. That's not to say that I think that 'Rises' is better than the Dark Knight, the truth is that at this point: I don't know. Until some time passes, and I am able to enjoy 'Rises' a few more times I wont know the answer, nor will I try to find it. All I know is that we as fans, have been incredibly lucky to be able to experience such great super hero flicks, for now we should just sit back and enjoy them, not compare them.


Overall Rating for 'The Dark Knight Rises' 9.7/10 Bonus points for the fact that it did not miss a beat, even on the second viewing. Up next for Christopher Nolan: an executive producer seat on this.

Chills every time I watch it.

The Dark Knight Rises vs. The Avengers

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Last year, everyone would have told you The Dark Knight Rises was going to be the must-see movie of the year and the highest grossing as well. It has a lot to live up to, but Nolan is a trustworthy director who has yet to disappoint his audience. The Dark Knight was one of the most hyped movies of all time when it was released and until the final Harry Potter film came out last year, it held the top spot on the opening weekend chart. As everyone knows, The Avengers abolished both opening weekend amounts, besting Harry Potter’s by nearly $40 million.

So how was The Avengers able to overcome even the most generous estimates and perform so well at the box office? Aside from being the biggest blockbuster of all time, combining four Marvel franchises into one movie, Marvel initiated a marketing campaign that probably had a budget equal to that of the entire film’s production. They released countless TV spots and clips, and as many people joked, you could have combined all the released footage and watched the entire film at home. Regardless, people still showed up and are still showing up to watch the film in theaters.

The Right Decision for DC Comics

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A few years ago during a reading of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling revealed to all of her fans know that one of her most beloved characters, Albus Dumbledore, was gay. This didn’t affect anyone who had already read the books because Dumbledore was such a lovable character and a favorite to many readers, including myself. Of the people who hadn’t read the series, it probably had the greatest effect on the gay community (now that the best character in one of the most popular series of all time was a homosexual).

Let me explain why I don’t care about J.K. Rowling’s announcement, and why you shouldn’t either. Rowling said that it was apparent in the books that Dumbledore had been a homosexual all along… What? There was not a single line in the book that even remotely suggested that Dumbledore was gay. It’s evident that Rowling’s decision to make Dumbledore gay was simply an attempt to gain publicity from the gay community, and I’m sure it worked to some extent. It didn’t really affect the future of Harry Potter because Rowling had finished writing all the books and Dumbledore’s sexual orientation was meaningless.

Just recently, DC Comics announced that one of their “iconic” characters was coming out of the closet. Evidently, this is an attempt to gain publicity in the same way J.K. Rowling did, and with U.S. President Barrack Obama recently stating that he supports gay marriage, there is no better time for DC to convert one of their lead males to the other side. But is it a good idea? Will it generate publicity in the same way Harry Potter did? I don’t think so, unless DC chooses the right character.

Billion Dollar Movies and Future High Earners

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It doesn’t seem like a major accomplishment for a movie to surpass $1 billion at the box office anymore. Before The Dark Knight was released in the summer of 2008, there were only three movies to reach that milestone: Titanic, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. Now the list contains ten films.

Avatar – I’m not sure if this comes as a surprise because I had no idea how people would accept a fully computer generated film. I knew the movie would make money because James Cameron had taken a 12 year hiatus from the movie industry in order to work on the film, and it promised a great experience. No one probably expected it to make $2.7 billion worldwide, and no movie will even have a chance of beating it until Avatar 2 is released.

Titanic – I really don’t see why Titanic was so incredibly popular. Everyone knew about the sinking ship, but what made it better than all the movies back in the 1990s? I read in a demographic novel that it was helped by girls who had seen the movie countless times just because of Leonardo DiCaprio, but it still seemed like a random film to be the first to reach $1 billion.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 – This one is not a surprise because all of the other films had made close to $1 billion and besides being the last chapter in the series, it was helped by its post conversion to 3D which boosted ticket prices.

Lord of the Ring: The Return of the King – Again, the previous parts had made hefty amounts at the box office and this was the concluding chapter. It was praised by critics and was greatly successful overseas.