Friday, February 20, 2009
Don't Forget!
Don't forget to check out the latest episode of the That's A Wrap Podcast!Seriously, Garrett will cry if you don't listen.
I'm not kidding.
Shit, there he goes again.
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Thursday, February 19, 2009
¿Este episodio agujereaba? Sí, estaba sí.
Lost: 316Season 5 Episode 6
While I do think that it's somewhat sad that this week's episode of Lost was memorable mostly because of the reveal that Hurley has im-fucking-peccable taste in comic books. It wasn't a complete loss.Some thoughts and spoilers after the jump.
I think I've been fairly consistent with my critique of this season. Namely that the story of the people on the mainland just has not been as interesting as the time-jumble happening on the island, so when I say that the entire episode covers the gang in L.A. AND it focuses mostly on Jack...yeah, I think you can see where this is going.
The big news was that old school fan theory that the island continually moves(and that would be why the Oceanic survivors were never rescued) was proven true by Ms. Hawking. We also got our first look at a mainland Dharma station: The Lamppost. The Lamppost is a magnetic station tasked with finding the island.
Desmond finally has his face-to-face with Ms. Hawking after she prevented him from mucking up the timeline in "Flashes Before Your Eyes."
The other big news? The gang(well, at least Hurley, Jack and Kate) make it back to the island! It seems that the gang all boarded Ajira airlines flight 316 near the end of the episode. Hawking tells Jack that this particular flight will fly right over the island. So with that question answered(and the return of Frank Lapidus as the Ajira pilot) what else did we learn? Not a whole lot as it turns out.
Things we don't know:
- What the hell happened to Aaron. Did Kate pawn him off on Claire's mother?
- Why does Sun feel that finding Jin is more important than being a mother to her daughter?
- Why was Ben covered in blood when he boarded the plane. Did he make good on his promise to kill Penny?
- Why was Sayid being escorted air marshal-style onto the plane by Zuleikha Robinson(who I last saw in "The X-Files" spin off "The Lone Gunmen").
- How did they convince Hurley to come back to the Island, when did he have time to pick up the awesome Spanish language copy of Y: The Last Man? And why the hell didn't Hurley just charter a private fucking jet to take the group to the island instead of dooming some poor schmucks to Crap-hole Island.
Oh, and Jack's grandfather was Senator Matheson from "The X-Files." Man, two X-Files references...I dearly miss that show.
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Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Wow Them in the End and You've Got a Hit
The New Thunderbolts team make some very well-shaded Avengers and yet another Bat-book shuts down for the indefinite future. Robert Kirkman takes a nice break from the ongoing arcs in Invincible and one of two X-books we review this week sufficiently blows my mind-hole for a second month in a row.As always, spoilers below the post, but in an effort not to get on Peter David's bad side I won't mention the big one.
Comic Reviews for Week of 02/18/09
DARK AVENGERS #2Written by Brian Michael Bendis, Art by Mike Deodato
In the latest Bendis take on Marvel's mightiest franchise, I just can't help but think of it as the flashier and less substantive evolution of "Thunderbolts." That series' penciller Mike Deodato's still here with his overly prevalent shadows, which certainly helps this Avengers book live up to its moniker visually. There's not an easy way to voice my problems with this book without being a bit hypocritical, but Bendis moves things too fast. After dragging out the start of "New Avengers" for more than a year assembling his "original" line-up, here Bendis throws them all together into their new status quo and jumps straight to the requisite big fight.
The difference was that in "New Avengers," we were dealing with a more established rosters of stars like Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine, etc. that we had known for years and the more marginal members like Ronin and Sentry were advanced over time... a lot of time. Here, we have a new Wolverine who has only been introduced in a book that nobody reads, a new Captain Marvel only seen in a pair of miniseries, a war god whose paper-thin character was never fleshed out in the "Mighty Avengers" title and numerous other characters in new uniforms. And there just isn't much time to get the characters down.
Bendis decided to dive into the deep end of the pool here with rather unestablished characters. To take that road, you better have a kick-ass villain to take down. And let's just say that Morgan Le Fay (wearing a dress that can never cover more than one hip at a time) isn't that much more interesting than the naked female Ultron that kicked off the similar approach of "Mighty Avengers."
Back to Deodato's art for a moment, while it's obviously a very detailed and impressive effort, the attempt to darken the mood is taken about three steps too far. The shadows do more to obscure the characters and their expressions than set the mood. And of course, I'll be the 5,000th review to mention that his Norman Osborn being played by Tommy Lee Jones still pulls me out of every issue.
Final score: 1.5 stars out of 5
INVINCIBLE #59Written by Robert Kirkman, Art by Ryan Ottley
Rather than spending an issue setting up the Image crossover event taking place in issue #60, Kirkman takes a side trip to tell a relatively compact story from the perspective of a new villain. A very nice job is done setting up the motivations of Powerplex and we can understand how he was driven to become a "villain" and how he remains a hero in his own eyes, as most well-developed antagonists are. But the idea of his happy and picturesque suburban family being down with the plan as well and so... cute about it... comes off as untrue.
Of course the eventual payoff of that somewhat unrealistic part of the story doesn't have the impact emotionally that it could. It hurts that his wife doesn't have any of the same anger towards Invincible until the final scene. If she felt some more of her husband's pain convincingly enough, we'd be able to be more invested in it. I do have to credit Kirkman for showing a similar amount of guts in showing the same maturity of plot here as in the far more violent "The Walking Dead."
And I do enjoy that unlike the last few issues before number 50, the next big event in the title isn't taking over months of storyline. And it's a credit to the universe that Kirkman and Ottley have built up that they can so often break away from the title character more often than you might think they could.
Final score: 2.5 stars out of 5
ROBIN #183 - "Robin Dies at Dawn"Written by Fabian Nicieza, Art by Freddie Williams II
Like the recent conclusion of the "Nightwing" title, another of the Bat-books wrapped up this week. A couple did actually, but since I left "Birds of Prey" shortly after Gail Simone, we'll stick with the Boy Wonder this week. The mostly introspective vibe of the Bat-books recently continues without getting too deep into their relationship with Bruce. Nicieza sets up his story behind Tim Drake reflecting on the friends and women in his life before a battle with Lady Shiva.
Not to be all spoiler-ish and shit, but Tim lives and the resolution to the fight is a nice nod to where Tim's greatest strengths lie. He isn't the martial artist on par with Shiva, or Batman or Nightwing either for that matter. But he's now the best detective in the DC Universe... that isn't stuck in the Cretaceous period.
Williams has been a staple for this title for a few years now and maintains his normal standard of adequate, but somewhat cartoon-ish appearances. And two big bonuses to Nicieza are reverting the Bat-signal that was stupidly transformed into a Robin-signal at the end of the last issue and actually making his Origins and Omens back-up story stand up on its own.
Final score: 2.5 stars out of 5
UNCANNY X-MEN #506Written by Matt Fraction, Art by Terry and Rachel Dodson
Since Whedon and Cassaday checked out, "Astonishing X-Men" has failed to impress in even the slightest. The formerly adjective-less book now follows the mostly isolated adventures of Charles Xavier and most of the others have just been painful. The one standout in quality has been this title with storylines that significantly effect the remaining mutants of the Marvel Universe as they settle in San Francisco. The recent change from Greg (The Tracer) Land to the Dodsons for the full-time art duties has resulted in one of the better looking books on the shelves.
Fraction continues to balance several intriguing threads between Colussus getting over the loss of Kitty Pryde, the future of the mutant race in society and Emma being torn between being standing besides Cyclops while leading the mutant race and signing on with Norman Osborn's Dark Reign shenanigans. The dual journeys of these two characters questioning themselves has paralleled one another nicely and its refreshing to see these characters team up by the end of this month's issue.
However, Beast's assembling of a rogue coalition of mad scientists to solve the problems of creating a new generation of mutants, has been a little distracting. Those scenes would probably play a lot better if they weren't so condensed amongst everything else going on the last few months. The characters could use a little more time to breath and honestly inter-cutting this storyline with the events in San Fran distracts from both.
Final score: 3.5 stars out of 5
X-FACTOR #40 - "Slings and Arrows"Written by Peter David, Art by Valentine de Landro
Ay Caramba! I have to tip my hat to Mr. David here for salvaging the book. The last several months before issue #39 came out, "X-Factor" had become unreadable. The art by Larry Stroman was perhaps the worst I've ever seen in a comic. I couldn't comment too much on the story since I really couldn't get through the once fantastic book on a monthly basis. But I wasn't counting on one thing... our old buddy Peter David.
Big spoiler alert for the previous issue: this month picks up some time after David revealed Siryn and Madrox's newborn son, Sean, as the spawn of a duplicate which he promptly and permanently reabsorbed. Outcast from his former friends and teammates at X-Factor Investigations, our now beard-sporting former fearless leader Madrox has apparently walked from Detroit to St. Paul. As much as I'd like him to have adventures wandering the earth like Kane in Kung Fu... David has been all about pushing the story forward as promptly as possible lately. The premise of the issue, that Madrox goes to confront the dupe he left to be an Episcopalian minister about the child he was able to touch, confirming it seems that the child is not actually the dupe's son. And even if the preacher isn't a real person... he still carries that Multiple Man-angst fairly well.
The art by De Landro might be nothing exceptional, but compared to what this title has suffered through recently can't help but appear spectacular in comparison. I honestly hope he remains indefinitely since the quality of art in the book hasn't been this high in at least a year.
The final twist... for the second straight month, David pulls something and begs us not to reveal. While this month's ending is properly built up throughout the book so it isn't just coming out of nowhere, it is something a bit more common than the baby's fate was. We've seen this kind of surprise moment before, so it isn't exactly breaking any new ground. And this new twist is a set-up for a continuing story, and lacks both the instantaneous emotional payoff and the sense of resolution we had before. To sum it up, last month was WOW, this month is wow. But still... wow.
Final score: 4 stars out of 5
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Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Circling the Drain
Heroes: Building 26Season 3, Episode 16
I suppose something has to be said for being consistent with your approach. No matter how many people complain, no matter how far the ratings plummet and no matter how many times they ignore the trappings of common sense, this show keeps bashing its head against the metal wall. And that's the most positive thing I've been able to say about Heroes in more than 20 months. They are consistent in their suck. As always, there's spoilers below the cut. Not that it matters. Think of the most repetitive and stupid thing the characters could do. That's what they did.This morning I was considering having a few things to say in praise of this week's episode. Then I talked to Billy for 15 seconds and remembered that just because something seems only sorta sucky when you aren't really paying attention doesn't mean it isn't mostly sucky if you think about it for a minute. Thanks, Billy, ya helped me dodge a bullet there.
Hiro was the same petulant child with a delusion of grandeur that he is every week. I must admit that I try not to pay attention to Hiro and Ando's scenes anymore. The rantings of destiny and managing to feeling petty that Ando might get to do something good, but mostly pointless before he could. Every so often I hear him yell "Ya Ti" and cringe... as expected, Hiro's moronic plot of showing up and saying, "No, you must not do this. You are evil. I am supercool and only express myself using the most extreme terms possible." And it works mostly because of the bad guy, in this case a man pressuring a woman to marry him, giving up. That this plot involves a man knocking Ando out with a frying pan and carrying him off cavewoman style is at least left off screen... if only it was left out of the script.
The wonderful Moira Kelly shows us all how far she's fallen from her glory days (see The Cutting Edge) by guest starring as a woman who threatens to shut down Nathan's program. She yells this at him and a chained Tracy. Rather than being glad someone is going to save her, Tracy gets really bitchy, escapes, realizes they are letting her escape and STILL kills a man right in front of the woman who was just talking about getting her released because... um... she's really bitchy.
Oh! Hey, did you realize that four people sitting in an office somewhere can simultaneously monitor every traffic and security camera in the continental United States, running facial recognition software on hundreds of millions of people every second just to find Sylar driving in a car and Claire in a parking lot. Gotta love that Patriot Act and the suspension of reality... I mean suspension of disbelief... I guess.
I could blame the characters for being so stupid, but can I really hold it against them that they are written by morons? This episode involves Claire meeting Aquaboy, formulating a plan to escape the two aisle comic shop from her father (who luckily doesn't hear her talking when standing 17 inches away from her) that basically amounts to, "Hey, look over there! Run!" Then she takes Aquaboy home to live in her closet. Hmm, I guess you could make this stuff up.
The mysterious Rebel, that is sending out messages in a rather Oracle-like role, is a nice mystery. But the fact that their clues and leads are being executed by people like Claire make them seem stupider than they are. By the way, is their any chance that Rebel's last name isn't Petrelli? Nope, didn't think so.
This show is in serious danger of bursting past the level where I therapeutically bash it to becoming just a pain to rant against the same illogical decision and patched-together plots week after week. And I didn't even mention Sylar turning on a radio in the middle of "Psycho Killer." Yeah, that happened.
Final score: .5 stars out of 5, just because I liked the like "Okay, technically I am a serial killer."
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Killin' Time With 24
Welcome to "Killin' Time With 24." A weekly morning-after 24 discussion hosted by your faithful That's A Wrap editors, Billy and Jim.Every Tuesday morning we get together to discuss the previous evening's episode of 24. What we liked, disliked and where we would like to see the series go while avoiding any real work. It's like a virtual coffee break.
Sit back and let us do the complaining for you.
Also don't forget to check out the first regular episode of the That's A Wrap Podcast
24: 4:00P.M.-5:00P.M.
Season 7 Episode 9
(10:15:08) Billy: such excitement!
(10:15:28) Jim: well, not how I'd phrase it
(10:15:42) Billy: No, not at all.
(10:15:51) Jim: a time killer episode
(10:15:57) Jim: built around the mole fake out
(10:16:18) Billy: I'd like to refer back to the first one of these talks we did where I called this 24: Greatest Hits
(10:16:26) Jim: this shit's like battlestar - it's all happened before and will all happen again" only, you know... not as good.
(10:16:33) Billy: because we've done this before
(10:16:37) Billy: RIGHT!
(10:17:32) Billy: How long before Dubaku's girl shivs him?
(10:18:02) Billy: I'm seriously waiting for Jack to turn to Renee and ask her if she's ever had deja vu.
(10:18:27) Jim: I never did trust that guy from Entourage... he was a dick on that show too
(10:18:38) Jim: never trust characters played by people that only play dicks
(10:18:59) Billy: never trust characters with slicked back hair!
(10:20:03) Billy: I just wish for once that the mole was someone we DIDN'T know
(10:20:15) Billy: How many goddamn moles can there be?!
(10:20:40) Billy: Back in season 3 it was cute to joke about the number of moles, now it's pathetic.
(10:21:51) Jim: well, we were being set-up for this since the main goal of the season has always been finding the moles
(10:22:15) Jim: but you are right, not a good idea to revolve virtually the entire plot of the season around your most laughable cliche
(10:23:11) Billy: Sure, high level moles, not slicked back hair moles in our SMALL inner circle, and by the way, having a combination lock on you desk drawer SHOULD be a huge clue to who the mole is.
(10:25:58) Billy: It was nice to see some familiar faces from the past(though Aaron Pierce being in DC on this particular day is a stretch, since we last saw him living with Martha Logan in L.A!)
(10:26:49) Billy: Seeing Morris was cool, but the kid...Prescott? Really? Palmer's VP was Jim Prescott...maybe he's named after him for some odd reason.
(10:27:09) Jim: wow, i did not catch that
(10:27:58) Jim: yeah, when aaron piece showed up Nick raised his hand for a high five and I literally ignored him and went "Ugh."
(10:28:20) Jim: we do not need to repeat the mistakes of previous years by bringing everyBODY back in completely unnecessary ways
(10:28:28) Billy: I LIKE Pierce...but this stretches credibility
(10:29:13) Billy: Plus, I particularly loved how the President's daughter knew that Pierce was retired from active duty just from his name...
(10:29:27) Jim: she mentioned "his credentials"
(10:30:43) Jim: but yeah, just happened to be in dc... how nice. See in the last couple years He started in LA caring for the mentally unbalanced former first lady, then on Friday Night Lights he ehlped his son torch the family station wagon to cover up a murder, now in DC... I wonder what other adventures he had crossing this great nation of ours?
(10:31:48) Billy: Well, he did get attacked by the Decepticons a few years back at a military base.
(10:31:55) Billy: The dude has been around.
(10:35:10) Billy: I'm begging the writers to quit with the emo-Renee crap.
(10:35:40) Billy: Everytime she looks in a mirror or talks to HeadFBIGuy she gets all sullen
(10:36:22) Jim: Yeah, the why, oh why am I doing this angle is really grinding my last nerve
(10:37:16) Billy: We get it, you hate what you've become. just follow Homer Simpson's advice "Just squeeze your rage into a bitter little ball, and release it at an appropriate time. Like that day I hit the Referee with the whiskey bottle. Remember that?"
(10:37:32) Jim: since none of the actors really sell it, it's all the more worse... what part of escapist entertainment don't you get, people? We knew back in year two in reality we would never support a government agent doing most of what Jack does... but IT. IS. FICTIONAL.
(10:41:37) Billy: Well, I don't mind the creators trying to imbue a little leftist morality into what is essentially a conservative wet dream
(10:41:51) Billy: I just can't stand how it's being handled
(10:42:09) Billy: especially since I want Renee and Bauer to end up together
(10:42:29) Jim: Yeah, I can't stad it being presented through the same four or five lines repeated ad nauseum by every character and Renee looking heartbroken
(10:42:56) Billy: right
(10:43:22) Billy: Was last night the eighth episode of the season?
(10:43:48) Billy: I'm wondering when we are finished with the pre-strike episodes.
(10:44:29) Jim: I thought it was last week or this.
(10:44:30) Billy: My hope is that the season picks up with the post strike episodes, but if THIS was a post strike episode...eep.
(10:45:29) Jim: Yeah, not a good sign... hopefully this one was pre-strike... because if this is the level of the remainder of the season, they are pushing me away from this show with everything they got
(10:46:06) Billy: Agreed, I turned to Melissa after the totally obvious mole reveal and said I was done.
(10:46:36) Billy: Of course, I'm like an abuse victim
(10:46:39) Jim: That's a bit reactionary. I mean you're still going to watch it every week.
(10:46:42) Billy: always coming back for more
(10:47:12) Billy: But, I'm to the point where I probably won't buy this season on DVD
(10:47:17) Jim: Yeah, I've really felt that way the last couple weeks on Mondays with 24 and Heroes... How I Met Your Mother really needs to hurry back into my life
(10:47:44) Billy: or at least not until its super cheap...like $15, like season 6 was when I bought it.
(10:48:02) Billy: Certainly not ponying up for Blu-Ray.
(10:48:43) Billy: Though between the two shows you mentioned, 24 is way more tolerable.
(10:51:13) Jim: True, but it fell from a loftier position
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Monday, February 16, 2009
That's A Wrap Podcast Episode 1: 3-2-1 Contact
Here it is. The official first episode of the That's A Wrap podcast. Listen in awe as we stumble over words, mangle common phrases and make general asses of ourselves!Hit the jump for the link!
In this episode we talk about 80's cartoon's returning as movies, we recap the last week in review, review the new Friday The 13th and oh so much more.
Click this link to download the new episode! (1:17:00)
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Saturday, February 14, 2009
Like A Pair Of Old Socks
I have a theory. Something I've been formulating for more than a decade. In the Friday the 13th movies psycho killer Jason Voorhees stalks the woods surrounding Camp Crystal Lake(and sometimes Manhattan if you want to get technical) and picks off any pesky youngsters who wander near. Of course, the horror movie laws dictate that anyone caught performing an illegal or morally corrupt act will die. Look, I don't have to explain this to you. I'm sure you've seen Scream. It's such a well known idea that it's a damned cliche.
Anyways, my theory is that Jason Voorhees is actually a fundamentalist christian gone insane from isolation. Think about it! Seriously, he only kills people who have either A.)done recreational drugs or had intent to sell illegal substances, B.)have had pre-marital sex, C.)were dicks or D.)all of the above. The innocent ones might be attacked, but rarely die. Because Jason realizes that they are really good and let's them live, until the sequel at least.
The recently release Friday The 13th rebirth not only reaffirms my theory but takes it to absurd heights.
Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes horror movie label is usually a kiss of remake death. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and The Amityville Horror have gotten the Michael Bay touch earlier this decade and I was fairly strong in my hatred of those two movies.
I didn't have much faith in Platinum Dunes and when I heard that they were doing a remake of Friday the 13th I was at first skeptical. But then I realized something, aside from the first movie in the series(a genuinely scary thriller) all the other Friday films were fun but in no way good. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the Friday movies, but in much the same way that Owen Wilson's mother probably loves her son. Let me be brutally honest, there isn't much that can be done hurt the series any further. I mean, they've already taken Jason into space!
So with that being said, this Friday the 13th is an admirable entry into the series that corrects some of the missteps that the later films made while missing some of the charm that the earlier films contained.
This film is being marketed as a remake/reboot of the series but in the opening flashback teaser(a retelling of the original film's ending with Star Trek Deep Space Nine's Nana Visitor playing Mrs. Voorhees) it is clear that it's NOT a remake but actually could reside within continuity. It's much the same way that Bryan Singer's Superman Returns is a sequel the first two Supes films while ignoring the latter two. This Friday could conceivably exist after Part 2(Jason even begins the film wearing his hillbilly bag from Part 2!).
This is important for one big reason, it allows the filmmakers to dial back the supernatural elements that became so prevalent in the later films and make this just a back-to-basics scary slasher film. It's done well enough that Jason could be shucked from the narrative and replaced with a random crazy killer and the film would have still worked fairly well.
Which probably answers your big question. Is the new Friday the 13th a good movie. Yes and no. If you like slasher horror films then undoubtedly,yes, you will like this movie. It's got some very interesting kills, some very funny lines and most importantly it doesn't shit on the source material. There's a fairly well done dramatic plot with Clay Miller (Jared Padalecki best know from TV's Supernatural) looking for his sister after she disappears near Crystal Lake.
But, if you don't like movies of the horror variety then you probably won't find much here to like. The direction is competent if bland. The only real attempt at a stylistic direction is the shaky cam. Yes, the hand-held camera shakiness that destroyed the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake is back in this. Thankfully it's kept to a minimum here, but still rears it's ugly head now and again. When it happens it's very distracting. Director Marcus Nispel is responsible for both films, so I'm glad that he at least had some restraint in this one.
The acting is pretty bad. Aside from Padalecki, Amanda Righetti(CBS's The Mentalist) does a fairly good job slumming it in this as Clay's sister. Other than these two the rest of the cast is forgettable(unless you notice some random actors from other productions, like Dick Cassablancas from Veronica Mars or the Faux Alan York from 24).
Most of the "scares" come from music cues that are fairly predictable and from people turning around to find Jason standing behind them, so it's not a very frightening movie. But, come on, it's a slasher horror flick, it's not supposed to be SCARY!
And, of course, it's an EXTREMELY cliched movie. It uses every horror movie trope. It's both a boon and a curse. It's like slipping on your favorite pair of socks. They are so damn comfortable until you notice the giant hole that your toe sticks through. You can still wear them, but that hole is going to be nagging you all day long.
So this one is for the fans(Jim, Garrett, sorry!) only. If you love slasher horror films or just the old Friday movies, then rest assured you will probably like this. If those descriptions don't fit you then this is certainly not the movie for you.
2.5 snowcaps out of 5!
'Till next time!
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