TV: Chuck

STARRING: Zachary Levi (Less Than Perfect), Yvonne Strahovski (newcomer), Adam Baldwin (Firefly, Daybreak, The Inside, X-Files)
CREATORS: Josh Schwartz (The OC, Gossip Girl) & Chris Fedak (newcomer)
PLOT: A computer geek is accidentally implanted with all the government’s secrets and now must be protected while living out his regular retail life.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS
4 This show just keeps getting better and better. Zachary Levi is superb as Chuck, and nicely balances geeky, freaked out and grounded. He holds the show together beautifully.
4 I understand that many wrote off Chuck based on his best friend, Morgan. True, he was annoying, but this season he is just a minor character along with the rest of the Buy More staff. Their side stories are highly entertaining and usually link nicely with the main plot.
4 The writing is fantastic. All the storylines come together well. The love story is moving along pretty nicely. The one-liners are frickin’ hilarious, and usually given to Casey.
4 Adam Baldwin steals almost every scene he’s in. I’m glad Baldwin found a role reminiscent of Jayne from Firefly. Give this guy an Emmy.
4 Chuck is a much “funner” version of Alias mixed some Office antics. Not bad company to be with.

RECOMMENDATION
Must See

COMING SOON
TV reviews of Heroes, My Own Worst Enemy

TV: Life on Mars

STARRING: Jason O’Mara (Men in Trees), Harvey Keitel (Reservoir Dogs), Michael Imperioli (Sopranos), Gretchen Mol (Rounders)
CREATORS: Josh Appelnbaum, Andre Nemec, Scott Rosenberg (Alias, October Road) & based on a BBC series
PLOT: In 2008, Detective Sam Tyler is hit by a car and wakes up in 1973. Now he continues to solve crimes while trying to figure out why he’s stuck in the seventies.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS
4 Jason O’Mara plays the lead role perfectly. He is totally believable with his confusion of being in this time warp while still being the tough-guy cop who knows how to get his man.
4 The ‘outdated’ prejudices and procedures demonstrated by Keitel and Imperioli are really fun to watch. As are the clothing and hairstyles; Imperioli’s moustache rocks!
4 Talk about a kickin’ soundtrack. There are plenty of tunes to choose from and they really keep the show movin’ with perfect song choices time and time again.
4 The first two episodes has Keitel punching his own officers a little too much. The third ep. he's toned down a bit. Thank goodness.
4 The crimes-of-the-week are compelling enough and the mystery of why Tyler is stuck in 1973 is even more intriguing. I’m curious to how it will play out.

RECOMMENDATION
Casual View (for now)

COMING SOON
TV reviews of My Own Worst Enemy, Chuck, Heroes

Film: W.

STARRING: Josh Brolin (No Country for Old Men), Elizabeth Banks (Definitely, Maybe), James Cromwell (The Queen)
DIRECTOR: Oliver Stone (JFK, Nixon, Alexander, Wall Street, Platoon)
WRITER: Stanley Weiser (Wall Street)
PLOT: While focusing on George W Bush’s ultimate decision to go to war, we see his rise from college years to the presidency.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS
4Good and bad impressions. Thandie Newton (Crash) is terrible as Condoleezza Rice. She’s trying too hard to do an impression, which doesn’t work and doesn’t display any realism. Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws) and Jeffrey Wright (Shaft) do great jobs as Cheney and Powell; they also seem to be the smartest of the bunch. James Cromwell doesn’t even bother to do any George Bush Sr. mannerisms.
Almost wished they cast Dana Carvey.
4 Josh Brolin is fantastic as W. While sometimes a dead-ringer and sometimes not, he manages to create a multi-layered character which commands the screen every time he’s on it.
4 I thought Stone would be more brutal but he basically makes George W look quite pathetic and even sympathetic at times.
4 The story tends to drag too many times and is a bit long. I wouldn’t expect much more from Oliver Stone though.
4 The soundtrack was awful. It’s like he was going the Michael Moore route using songs like “Robin Hood” and “Yellow Rose of Texas” ad nauseam.

RECOMMENDATION
Wait for Movie Central

COMING SOON
Film reviews of Blindness, Role Models

TV: Pushing Daisies

STARRING: Lee Pace (Wonderfalls), Chi McBride (Boston Public), Kristin Chenoweth (West Wing, Wicked)
CREATOR: Bryan Fuller (Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, Heroes)
PLOT: A pie maker, who has the ability to bring people back to life for one minute, solves murder cases with a private investigator who knows his secret.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS
4 Hands down the strongest returning show of the season. There is no sophomore slump for this show.
4 Emerson Cod and Olive Snook have been given some of the most funny lines and emotional moments this season. They both possess an astounding range.
4 Its rich musical score and high-production cinematography make Pushing Daisies seem like a mini fantasy fairy-tale film, every week.
4 I’m loving how the mystery of the week is often a metaphor for what is happening in the main characters’ lives.
4 For some strange reason, the viewership for this show is down this season, which may get it cancelled. What’s up with that? This is the perfect escapist show after a hard day at work.

RECOMMENDATION
Must See (people might not be talking about it, but you could)

COMING SOON
TV reviews of My Own Worst Enemy, Life on Mars
(I need at least three episodes to properly review them. Stay tuned.)

TV: Fringe

STARRING: Anna Torv (newcomer), Joshua Jackson (Dawson’s Creek), John Noble (Lord of the Rings)
CREATORS: JJ Abrams (Lost, Alias), Alex Kurtzman & Robert Orci (Alias)
PLOT: A female FBI agent works with a former institutionalized scientist and his genius son in order to rationalize a string of unexplained phenomena (called The Pattern) using fringe science.

FIVE OBSERVATIONS
4 Pretty good X-Files substitute. They need to have a little more humour to pull it off though.
4 The show has an interesting mythology, unfortunately, they are having trouble naming things within the mythology (The Pattern, The Observer)
4 Joshua Jackson isn’t given much to work with as he is consistently annoyed with his father and never believes him. Cut him some slack.
4 John Noble is pretty awesome as Walter Bishop. He gets to have some fun crazy lines in every episode.
4 I’m a big fan of the seriousness and intrigue brought to the series by Lance Reddick (The Wire, Lost)

RECOMMENDATION
Casual View (for now, unless the mythology begins to pick up)

COMING SOON
TV reviews of My Own Worst Enemy, Life on Mars

Film: Hamlet 2

STARRING: Steve Coogan (Tropic Thunder), Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich), Elisabeth Shue (Leaving Las Vegas) DIRECTOR: Andrew Fleming (Nancy Drew) WRITER: Pam Brady (Hot Rod) PLOT: A clueless, yet passionate teacher tries to save the drama department by putting on his own controversial musical. 

FIVE OBSERVATIONS 4 Steve Coogan's awkward teacher role reminded me of Steve Carrell's Office performance, but more painfully pathetic than funny. 4 There's a point when the Dangerous Minds-type students suddenly stick up for their teacher with zero justification. 4 As a drama teacher, I took great joy in the symbolism of filming the announcement of the cancelled drama program in front of the athletics trophy display. 4 The final musical is sacriligious, silly and fun. I also loved the simple set of scaffolding. 4 During the performance, an audience member sitting on a couch shows his appreciation. Very funny. RECOMMENDATION Wait for Movie Central COMING SOON TV reviews of Fringe, My Own Worst Enemy, Life on Mars

New Blog Format

So, I’ve decided to make my blog entries shorter. If I look back at how much I’ve written about certain movies, I could have had a book made by now. Due to time and energy, I’ve decided to streamline the review process. It’ll be a lot shorter so you don’t have to read as much. Of course, if you want to discuss a movie a more length, feel free to add a comment or two, I usually respond to direct questions concerning films and television.

The new format will include the names of who are responsible for the media in question, a one line plot summary, five observations (good or bad) about the piece and a recommendation if you should watch it or not.

The film recommendation categories are:
4 See in Theatre (You need to experience it on the big screen)
4 Wait for DVD (Watch at home where you can pause it)
4 Wait for Movie Central (Canadian’s HBO, longer wait, still unedited)
4 Wait for TBS (Movies on network TV, do others thing while you watch)
4 Avoid at all costs (Don’t waste a single second of your life on this)

The television recommendations categories are:
4 Must See (Watch it the night of, people will be talking the next day)
4 Schedule It (If you miss an episode, you’ll miss a lot)
4 Casual View (Watch it if it’s on, missing one or two won’t make a difference)
4 Avoid at all costs (Don’t waste a single second of your life on this)

By doing the reviews in this format, I hope to write a lot more entries in consistent intervals. Hope you still tune in.

Emmy Awards 2008, Part III

The format of this blog will be changing. Hopefully this weekend.
But til then . . .

Quick Emmy Review:
- Reality Hosts sucked as Award Show Hosts
- My hatred for Howie Mandel continues to grow
- Loved that Pushing Daisies, Zeljiko Ivanek & Stephen Colbert won
- Voted for memorable moments and never heard the results
- Liked the Ricky Gervais/Steve Carrell bit (Gervais may host the Oscars)
- Got 12 categories right and 7 that I wanted
- Actually liked Josh Groban singing the TV theme songs
- Surprised they didn't do more for the 60th Anniversary
- Loved Jimmy Kimmel's reality host results bit (he shoulda hosted)
- Mary Tyler Moore should wear long sleeves
- What the hell was up with that Laugh-In reunion? It was sad.
- Despite a couple of nice moments, the worst Emmys in a long time