Weekly TV Watch (Oct. 20-26)

Sunday October 21st

Once Upon a Time - "The Crocodile"

I really didn't like this episode very much. Here's the thing, I'm not a very big fan of the decision to replace fairy tale character roles with Rumpelstiltskin all the time. I don't want him to be Belle's beast. I don't want him to be Cinderella's fairy godmother, and I don't want him to be Hook's crocodile. Well, to be fair, I could almost handle the fairy godmother and crocodile thing, but the Belle's beast thing still just doesn't work for me. Here we have an episode where we get to learn more about Rumpelstiltskin's life in the flashbacks as well as how he's trying to redeem himself in the present. I'm all for stories of redemption, but I'm never quite certain if Rumpelstiltskin is trying to redeem himself, or if he's just playing everybody all over again. The other thing that bothered me was the age of Captain Hook. Captain Hook is supposed to be a much older guy. That's why he detests Peter Pan for his youthful spirit. Having Captain Hook look like some 20 something is one of the worst casting decisions since Kate Boswell for Lois Lane (and for the same reason). I also thought the blue screen effects during the Hook/Rumpelstiltskin duel were distracting. Overall, this has been the worst episode of the season for me so far.

D

Comic Book Men - "My Big Fat Geek Wedding"

I really do think that Comic Book Men is suffering from the reduced runtime. I think there were only two over the counter segments this week. The first was a man who came in with 5 long boxes of comic books. We didn't learn much about the books themselves, but we did get a lesson on how smoking can ruin the collection value of comic books. The other segment was for a man who came in to buy The Punisher's first appearance in Spider-Man. Here, we got a little background on the Punisher, and I did like Kevin Smith's observation that Marvel may have created Punisher in answer to DC's Batman to some degree. Other than that, we got to witness the guys head to an auction house to make a bundle buying things under their value to sell back at the store. It turns into a competition where the loser has to reenact the wedding scene between Reed Richards and Sue Storm from The Fantastic Four. It's not that any of these bits in the episode are bad, but I just feel like I'm not getting as much of the show as I used to get. Season 1 would have the auction house stuff, and at least 4 segments of over the counter trades complete with fairly detailed explanations of the items being traded. One of the reasons I do watch the show is to learn more about the world of comics, and this week felt a little disappointing in that respect.

B

Tuesday October 23rd

Go On - "Any Given Birthday"

I recently caught up with Go On because I felt like giving a new comedy a chance in lieu of the Community delay, and I figured Go On had the advantage of having Matthew Perry. It turns I actually really like the show. It can feel a lot like Community in the way it sort of makes touching moments of sentiment out of a cynical character. It's also got that ensemble production feel going for it. For those that don't know, it's about a sports broadcaster for radio that starts going to group therapy to deal with the loss of his recently deceased wife.

This week's episode was about how the group tries to throw together a scavenger hunt for Ryan (the sports broadcaster played by Matthew Perry) to celebrate his birthday. Ryan protests noting that his wife used to make elaborate birthday plans for him every year, and he always dreaded it. Eventually after urging from the group leader, Ryan decides to join in for the sake of the group. The evening sort of backfires when they accidentally stumble into one of his wife's actual birthday plans that she was planning before her death, and the group makes an effort to hide this news from Ryan.

This episode was actually really good. I know Go On is a comedy first and a drama second, but I feel myself drawn in a lot more by the dramatic bits. This week, there was a moment when the group leader, Lauren, told Ryan that he can use the group not only to recover from his loss but to become a better person than he was before the loss. Later in the episode, after making some breakthroughs in learning to be a better person for the group, Ryan imagines talking to his wife and mentions how he wishes he had been a better person when she was alive. It hit me then why he probably didn't like the elaborate birthdays she planned for him. In his heart of hearts, he may have felt undeserving of such expressions of love, and now he holds on to the guilt for not being a better man for her when it mattered. Ryan is a layered character that really does need this group to heal not only over the loss of his wife, but to work towards fixing a piece of him before the loss.

And yes, there were also funny bits in this episode, but those points of drama were especially strong this week. Hence...

A

Wednesday October 24th

Arrow - "Lone Gunmen"

It's the third week in for Arrow, and so far it seems to be sustaining the level of quality promised by the pilot episode. What I'm looking for from a really good superhero story is a blend of character attention along with the incredible action. Arrow seems to do just that.

This week, while Oliver Queen was trying to track down an assassin known as Deadshot, we had a not insignificant amount of time paid to developing the relationship between Thea and her mother (as well as her relationship with Oliver). I do like what the show runners are doing with Thea because she seems to be traveling down the same path that we know Oliver once went down. It's hard for Oliver to lecture Thea about her actions because he seems hypocritical, and it's difficult for her mother to lecture her because she's spent her whole life letting her daughter get away with murder. As much as I'm looking forward to seeing how Oliver Queen tackles the problems of the corruption in his city, I'm equally curious about how the relationship between him and Thea develops. That is the sign of a successful superhero show for me.

Aside from that, I was pleasantly surprised to see Dinah show off her 'self-defense' abilities. I know enough about the DC universe to know that traditionally Dinah is supposed to be The Black Canary, and this has been the first indication by the show that they may actually come through with that transformation. I imagine she'll be inspired by the Green Arrow's actions whilst being frustrated by the failures of the city's own legal system. In any case, I look forward to it.

If there was one thing that I was disappointed with in this episode, it was Dead Shot. For a character as big as Dead Shot, I was expecting a little more development. I'm hoping that his supposed 'death' at the end of the episode is a fake-out (I'm pretty sure it is) because I just don't think they milked that character for all that he was worth really.

A-

Thursday October 25th

The Office - "Here Comes Treble"

This year's Halloween episode was a delight to watch. I liked how they found a way to incorporate Stephen Colbert as a guest star. I liked seeing the conflict between Pam and Jim because I think it adds some much needed friction between the couple. I thought the cold open with Dwight's pumpkin head was pretty funny. I enjoyed seeing Toby's reaction to Nellie's Toby costume. Overall, this episode kept me entertained throughout in a way that almost reminds me of an older season.

A

Weekly TV Watch (Oct. 13-19)

Sunday October 14th

Lancelot

Once Upon a Time - "The Lady of the Lake"

I'm a bit of a newcomer to the Once Upon a Time television series. I only recently got caught up with the show when the first season was added to Netflix. I'm also a somewhat conflicted viewer of the program since I don't exactly love it or hate it. I think the premise carries great potential, but in many ways, I get some of the same feelings I got during all of my years watching Smallville. Still, trying to stick with it.

"The Lady of the Lake" was actually a pretty decent episode. Between the flashback and the present day storylines, it was clear they were going for this parents will sacrifice anything for their children motif. The flashback was particularly touching in how Charming's mother was able to meet her daughter-in-law and give her quite a gift by the end. The Snow/Emma story in present day also carries some interesting dramatic points. It is a little bizarre to see a mother and daughter who are approximately the same age run through mother/daughter dramatic points. To contrast it all is the reminder of Regina's own evil mother. I'd say the weakest part of the episode was the StoryBrooke stuff.

B-

Comic Book Men - "Stash Bashes"

Unlike, Once Upon a Time, I've been watching Comic Book Men since around the time that it premiered the first season. Now the second season has started up, and I'm watching it once more.

It's hard to say how I feel about an episode of reality television. I'll just say that when I'm watching an episode of Comic Book Men, I expect to hear geeky superhero discussions dripping with hypotheticals, interesting bits of trivia on the items brought into the store, and I'd like to laugh a few times as well.

That being said, I was disappointed to find that this season of Comic Book Men has a shortened runtime. The first season episodes all clocked in at an hour with commercials, but not it's a half-hour show. On the other hand, the debut episode did seem to fulfill most of what I've come to expect from the show. It did spend a lot of time setting up the story for hosting a children's birthday party inside the comic book store which goes just as you might expect. I'm a little disappointed by the reduced runtime since it means less scenes of people coming in with their collectables to make way for the story of the week (in this case the birthday party).

B

Wednesday October 17th

Arrow - "Honor Thy Father"

If you had told me a couple weeks ago that a new program on The CW would become one of the most anticipated shows of my weekly watch, I would have laughed in your face. Sure this is the network that once under the names The WB and UPN carried such personally adored programs as Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Dawson's Creek, Angel, Veronica Mars, and even Smallville (for the early seasons at least), but lately the network hasn't stood out as offering me anything that looked the least bit appealing. The news that this new show being about a DC superhero wouldn't exactly win me over after my experience with Smallville, and yet... It is incredibly entertaining.

The second episode of Arrow was around the same caliber of the first episode, so it doesn't look like Arrow is one of those shows where the pilot is the best thing they'll ever do (looking at you Glee). Oliver Queen continues his quest to rid his city of the injustice that plagues it whilst trying to find a way to balance his new calling with his public face and personal relationships. It's still great drama and great action. I look forward to learning more about how Queen acquired his talents as well as where he will take us week after week. The CW, you've done really well here.

A-

Thursday October 18th

The Office - "Work Bus"

Still loving The Office. This episode had Mr. Bryan Cranston on as a guest director. I know guest directors don't really have that much influence on a show like The Office, but it's a nice detail nonetheless. I did think this episode was pretty good. It got a few laughs out of me, and I liked the dramatic points between Jim and Pam, Jim and Dwight, and Andy and Nellie. A pretty solid half hour for The Office.

A-

Hopefully when I continue this feature next week, I'll remember to take notes on these episodes to make these 'reviews' actual reviews. I may also expand it to include any shows I'm watching on Netflix as well.

Coming Soon: Backwards

Callin' this one a maybe. It's on my radar, but I'll have to wait to either see more of it, see how it's received critically, or see if a friend recommends it. Not often I get to see Dawson Leery anymore.

OWENS: Limitless (2011)

I've said this time and time again, it's pretty fun to go into a movie that you haven't seen any promotional material for. That was certainly the case with this week's OWENS entry.

Limitless (2011)
Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro, Andrew Howard, Anna Friel

As I hinted at just above, Limitless is a movie for which I somehow managed to avoid all the trailers and tv promos for. It slipped right under my radar until I kept hearing it somewhat enthusiastically praised by various people in my social circles. There was even an episode of The Office where they watch the movie on the way to Gettysburg where Phylis asks "Isn't that the one with the guy who's limitless?" Going in, I wouldn't say I was ignorant of the film. I certainly knew the premise and that it starred Mr. Bradley Cooper, but the details and visual style were all a mystery. Anyway, I've stalled long enough. This is Limitless.

Always (1989)

Pretty sure this isn't much of an announcement, but I'm a pretty big fan of filmmaker Steven Spielberg. That being sad, it's a little pathetic just how many of his movies I haven't seen. Today, I'll be writing about one of the movies I recently was able to check off the Spielberg to-watch list. Always was a pretty unique viewing experience because I really knew nothing about it going into it. It's rare for me to get that opportunity, and even rarer when it's Steven Spielberg at the helm. I mean, confession time, I still haven't seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but I've seen enough of it to have a general idea of what's going on. Not the case here, but I'm unsure if that worked to the film's advantage or not. This is Steven Spielberg's ethereal romance Always.

Without knowing much about this movie going in, it's difficult for me to gage just how much one of the main plot points would be considered heavy spoiler material. I'm going to assume since the plot point in question happens about a quarter of the way in that it's not too major. That being said, if you have your heart set on avoiding one of the major plot turns early in the movie, I suggest you stop reading. Still here? Good.

The Green Hornet (2011)

I had mixed feelings going into The Green Hornet a year after it's initial release. On the one hand, you've got Michel Gondry helming the project, but on the other you have Seth Rogen tackling the script. It's not that Seth Rogen is a terrible writer, it's just that his brand of humor doesn't land with me the same way that it does with others. When you mix in the lackluster response from critics, The Green Hornet soon became a "skip it" when it came out in theaters. However, I recently watched the movie and figured I'd try to write about it for a little bit on here if that's not too much trouble. This is The Green Hornet.

One disclaimer before I start: I had no familiarity with The Green Hornet characters before going into this movie, so any nods, winks, or homages to the previous incarnations would have been lost on me.

Coming Soon: Jack Reacher

Seems a lot of people out there don't like Tom Cruise. Actually, that's putting it kindly. In my experience, there's a seething hatred for the guy. Still, I consider him an actor that will get me into the theater. I really love the choices he makes for the most part. He makes for a really good action star, and I look forward to Jack Reacher even though I know so little about the book series that this is apparently based on. Count me in for this one.

Coming Soon: The Great Gatsby

What's there to say? The end of this year should be very fun for filmgoers. Between The Hobbit and the new Bond flick, I'm already a pretty happy camper. Add to that a new Luhrmann movie, and I'm completely satisfied. The Great Gatsby looks like a return to form after the very different feeling Australia (which I actually liked). I hear complaints that the music feels out of place in the trailer, but at the same time, two of Luhrmann's films (Moulin Rouge! and Romeo + Juliet) made good use of seemingly odd juxtaposition, so whether the music is actually in the movie or not matters little to me. All in all, I'm excited about this one. Time to reread Gatsby.

Triple Feature: Movies for which I'm probably not the target demographic

This past weekend, I started taking advantage of the Free On Demand feature of my cable provider. As a result I ended up watching three movies that I had not seen before. After I finished the last of these three, I couldn't help but reflect on my choices and how I seemed to have picked three movies that my gender traditionally does not watch. In any case, I thought I'd come here and post something for a change. Here are some brief thoughts followed by a grade for each of the movies I saw.

You Again (2010)

Director: Andy Fickman
Writer: Moe Jelline
Starring: Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman, Betty White

To summarize it about as concise as I can, You Again is about how traumatic experiences in high school can follow you around for the rest of your life. In the case of You Again, the traumatic experiences literally seem to be following our leads around. Kristen Bell plays a young woman who was bullied pretty heavily in high school by Odette Yustman. Even though years have passed and Kristen Bell is being promoted to Vice President of a pretty successful PR firm in New York, it's not long after her old bully shows up that she starts to revert back to her less empowered self. Meanwhile, Jamie Lee Curtis has to deal with Sigourney Weaver's return into her life. They were friends/rivals in high school and that feeds into how they interact throughout the course of the film.

I will say this about You Again. I like the leads. Bell, Curtis, and Weaver are already actors whose talents I appreciate in any given film. There's only so much talented actors can do with an awkward  script (see: Star Wars prequels/Twilight).

At the heart of You Again is something worth exploring, the way in which some people let what happened to them in high school follow them around. There can be a sense of empowerment when we see what bothered us so much then being reduced to so little now. I wonder if You Again's thematic content might have been better served if it had been approached from a much more dramatic point of view instead of as a comedy with mostly physical humor and an out of place romantic element for Kristen Bell's character.

Overall, I would not really recommend You Again to anybody. It's not completely terrible, but it's probably not worth seeing.

Grade: D+

13 Going on 30 (2004)

Director: Gary Winick
Writers: Josh Goldsmith, Cathy Yuspa
Starring: Jennifer Garner, Judy Greer, Mark Ruffalo, Andy Serkis, Kathy Baker

Moving on, let's go back 6 years to a movie that seemed like a spiritual remake to Big. Jennifer Garner's character is a 13 year old girl in the 1980's wishing she could be 30. She gets her wish, but the ol' "be careful what you wish for" expression suddenly becomes very apt. Garner is now 30 years in the present day (2004 that is), but her last memories before the transformation are of herself at 13. The result is a bit of a fish out of water story with many elements that do indeed play out a bit like Big.

After You Again, 13 Going on 30 was a very refreshing film. Unlike You Again, the comedic bits in 13 Going on 30 actually made me laugh. I liked the small twist on the Big idea by having her actually live her life up to 30 but just not remembering it (whereas Big was an instantaneous transformation to Tom Hanks adult mode). Both Big and 13 Going on 30 seem to emphasize the theme of appreciating youth. In 13 Going on 30, Garner focus on bypassing youth to arrive at 30 has more consequences than simply the fish out of water element. It's safe to say that the 13 year old version of her character doesn't like the 30 year old version of herself. It's very much a discover your inner child for self-improvement kind of movie.

I did really like 13 Going on 30. The dramatic points felt poignant, the comedic elements were often successful, and it includes a "Thriller" dance sequence. I'd watch it again.

Grade: B

Mean Girls (2004)

Director: Mark Waters
Screenplay: Tina Fey
Starring: Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Lizzy Caplan, Lacey Chabert, Amanda Seyfried, Tina Fey, Tim Meadows

I don't know if it's coincidence or these movies were gradually wearing me down, but it would appear that the final movie was the best.

Mean Girls is most easily summarized as a movie about cliques. Our central character played by Lindsay Lohan was home schooled in Africa and now attends an actual high school for the first time in her life. In the beginning this makes her an objective observer of the whole system, but it isn't long before she gets caught up in the heated social environment.

Mean Girls is the only movie in this triple feature that I actually feel like I learned something from. There's a bit of clique deconstruction going on here as well as an analysis of female aggression in high school. It was something I had to learn about in one of my many education courses to become a mathematics teacher. Whereas male aggression is much easier to spot via the violence, female aggression is a lot of behind the scenes talk which can often times be just as damaging (if not more so in some instances). Because of the subject it tackles, Mean Girls is already a pretty engaging film for me.

I really liked the evolution of Lindsay Lohan's character. The move from objective bystander to mean girl happens gradually but believably. I feel one of the strongest features of the movie is the way in which it shows how easy it is for these girls to fall into these roles. It creates a sympathetic character in Lohan despite her fairly unsympathetic choices. I also really liked the cast in general. The most stand-out side character for me was Amy Poehler as the 'cool' mom.

I think Mean Girls is the only movie of these three that I would actively recommend to people. I think the clique deconstruction is spot on if not educational, and not many movies get to show how cool a math teacher can be. Thank you Tina Fey!

Grade: A-

Coming Soon: Skyfall

Pretty excited about this one. I have a bit of a relationship with the Bond movies. My high school years featured a fanatical obsession with the character that eventually faded over the years, but the reboot of the character via Casino Royale managed to keep my fanaticism from completely disappearing. I'm one of the few who even thought Quantum of Solace was a pretty decent Bond flick. As for this film, it definitely looks impressive so far. I wouldn't expect anything less from director Sam Mendes. I do find it interesting that the teaser is going The Dark Knight Rises route of dramatic silences.