Here I go ... on the blog again ... here I go ...
- What's up, humanoids? Luckily for all of us this is a short week, and man do I need it. I cannot wait for the glorious days ahead of lying around, watching movies, sleeping late, playing videogames, etc, etc, etc. Why do kids get so much vacation time? We're the ones who need it? I want Spring Break! I want month-long holiday vacation! I want random Monday holidays and three day weekends, dammit all.
- A good weekend was had this weekend, even if various plans seemed to go awry and things didn't quite work out smooth as silk on a few occasions. But, despite some craziness, I managed to see the new Bond on Friday. Saturday was a farewell party for my former colleague in the Royal Order of the Navy Peacocks (aka the NBC Page Program), Megan. And Sunday a great time was had as a few dozen Boston-ites and other random peeps gathered in West Hollywood for Jason/Amanda/Lisa's pre-Thanksgiving feast ... and what a feast it was.
- Plus, this morning bright and early my Apple MacBook arrived via FedEx! I haven't even had a chance to give it a test drive yet but I am psyched. Such a sleek package - Apple really knows how to do presentation, that's for sure. I can't wait to come home, lie down on my bed, and get some real creativity goin' on with the MacBook's ultra-bright screen, sleek design, and overall coolness factor. Still, I am hoping to upgrade my desktop sometime in early 07, possibly when Windows Vista rolls around.
- Oh man - WHY, COSMO, WHY? I can't believe Michael Richards of all people went on a crazy, rascist tirade at the Laugh Factory. Sure, he has always played off-kilter characters, but Richards always struck me as a really nice guy, the last person I'd expect to go off on a bout of hate-filled insanity like this. Aside from how offensive this outburst was, it totally ruins my ability to fully enjoy Seinfeld reruns and comedy classic UHF, at least for now. Maybe someone should have shut off the man's mic before he lost it like he did? Or maybe, it was time he got ... THE FIREHOSE~! Honestly I kind of just feel bad for Richards, because it does seem like an uncharacteristic moment and it's too bad that his career is going to be so tarnished after this stupid incident.
TV STUFF:
- Wow, last night,THE SIMPSONS was good! Really good! Definitely best episode of the season last night, as Moe's foray into the world of literature made for a fun, smart, and consistently entertaining ep. Hilarious use of writers like Michael Chabon and Jonathan Franzen as guest stars proved to be the best use of guest voices on the show in quite some time, bringing to mind the all-star jam-session style of eps like the Rock n' Roll Fantasy Camp one and Homerpalooza. This ep was filled with old-school style high-minded humor, classic physical comedy (Homer falling down the steps while simulataneously making fun of Moe), and a good plot that ran the entirety of the episode. Plus lots of good Vermont / New England jokes to boot. And a Haystacks Calhoun reference! Damn, to all the Simpsons haters (like me, frequently) who wonder why keep watching, it's episodes like this one that remind me why it's still worth it to tune in every week - you never know when you might stumble upon a good one. It's like Wizards-era Jordan having one more vintage Air Jordan night, there's been a lot of C-level mediocrity from The Simpsons lately, but finally, here is an ep worthy of an A.
My Grade: A
- FAMILY GUY was also pretty decent last night, which though not great still marks an improvement over the last few weeks of really, really poor quality. At the least, the ep was built around a somewhat funny premise of Meg and her high school friends all taking vows of abstinence, a plotline which led to some good lines from Lois, Peter, and Chris. Many of the jokes still seemed to miss the mark, and the cutaways were mostly forced-seeming, as has been the norm of late. But still, a good amount of funny and prob the best overall ep of the last several weeks.
My Grade: B
- Funny how just as HEROES gets to its hyped-up "Save the Cheerleader" episode, the new and long-delayed new issue of JMS' Squadron Supreme comic finally hits stands. Readers of Squadron Supreme will see characters in a very real-world setting dealing with the horrifying effects of a super-powered serial killer, a government agenda to reign in and control people across the globe with emerging metahuman abilities, and a lead character with mysterious parentage who was raised by adoptive parents privy to the government's shady super-powered plans. Sound familiar? Not to diss on Heroes, it's just jarring to see a hit TV series (admittedly, an increasingly well-made and entertaining one to boot) that shares so many similarities to long running stories in other mediums. But my real point is, if you like Heroes, go to a bookstore and check out Supreme Power and its follow-up, the ongoing comic series Squadron Supreme. Awesome, kickass stuff.
MOVIES:
CASINO ROYALE Review
The latest entry in the James Bond franchise, essentially a reboot of the series, kicked off with a bang. The opening teaser, shot in moody black and white, featuring ultra-stylish dialogue and film-noir style snappiness, immediately pumped me up for the movie ahead. And the film's opening big-action-sequence didn't disappoint - as Daniel Craig, the new actor behind 007, engaged in an awesome chase sequence where he pursued a Ugandan terrorist through an industrial cityscape, forced to use the deadly precision that comes with having a License to Kill to hunt and take down his gravity-defying, girder-leaping quarry. Craig was immediately established as a take-no-prisoners, badass take on 007, far removed from the smirking, quipping caricature that Pierce Brosnan had become. From the ultra-cool B&W opening to the thrilling climax of that first big action scene, Casino Royale seemed poised to be an action-espionage thriller to be reckoned with.
Unfortunately, it was pretty much downhill from there ... not to say that there wasn't a lot of fun entertainment yet to be had, just that the movie reaches a high point in its opening that it never again matches. The fast pace in the intro is often brought to a crawl in the sequences to come, and the bold simplicity of that first action scene is soon replaced by a number of action sequences that feel completely pointless and nonsensical.
Take the big airport scene. While there was a lot going on - lots of cars screeching and people yelling and alarms going off ... I really couldn't tell you what Bond was trying to accomplish, who exactly he was persuing, or what, exactly, that person planned to do that was so dastardly, or even why, after the sprinkler system went off i nthe airport, did the crowds erupt into chaos as if a bomb had just exploded?
My point is this - this movie does a lot right, as I'll elaborate on in a minute - it has the right look, the right feel, the right sensibilities, and the right lead actor to potentially be one kickass reimagining of the James Bond mythos, that is different from what's come before but also true to the spirit of the Ian Fleming novels. But as a standalone movie, it never quite holds up. The plot is messy and all over the place, the action scenes often random and hard to follow, and the twists and turns of the plot at once confusing and yet obvious. The beats of this movie are easy to spot - James Bond meets a woman who isn't easily swayed by his charms, they falls in love, he is betrayed, and so on. But the manner in which these things happen is never all that convincing, and the various betrayals and counter-betrayals end up detracting from the cohesiveness of the plot. Pacing-wise, a LOT of time is spent on the various card games that Bond engages in, which definitely slows things down and kind of lowers the stakes of the movie, so to speak. I mean, winning a card game is impressive, but this is James Bond here - shouldn't he be saving the world in a slightly cooler way than winning a game? As for Bond's villain, a numbers whiz who cries tears of blood, not bad as far as adversaries go, but he never really feels like a Big Bad, and even in the context of the movie he is really just a pawn for larger forces. When this somwhat meek-seeming badguy eventually shows his sadistic side by stripping Bond naked, tying him up, and, um, whipping him in the grapefruits with a knotted rope -- well, the whole scene to me just came off as kind of silly. I mean, sure, the sight of James Bond screaming in pain as a freakish looking villain repeatedly whips him in the nuts is a memorable one - but it's just, I dont know, weird, and almost as torturous for us to watch as it is for 007 to endure. I mean, geez, what happened to being strapped to an operating table while a suspended lazer beam slowly creeps up towards our hero's crotch? Now that's how you dispose of MI:6's finest ...
In the plus category, Daniel Craig is about all you could hope for in creating a kickass Bond. He pulls off the whole tuxedo-wining-and-dining thing, but also has that added element of badassness where he seriously looks like a man not to be messed with, somewhat in the vein of Sean Connery back in the day. Craig delivers his lines with restrained aplomb, and gets off a ton of good one-liners that have plenty of zip but never feel cartoonish or over the top a la the late Brosnan era. Eva Green is also excellent as the latest Bond Girl, a far cry from the grrrl power chicks of the recent flicks (see Michelle Yeaoh and Halle Barry as Jinx), and instead does a good job as the classic serious-minded-stiff-upper-lip-British-career-girl with a hidden thing for the bad boys (a kind of non-parody version of Elizabeth Hurley in Austin Powers). Also, it must be said that, as I mentioned above, the look and feel of the movie is great - it has a modern sleekness mixed with an old-fashioned, filmic style that brings to mind the exotic locales and technicolor sets of the old Bond films. The classic 007 theme is skillfully mixed into the soundtrack as well, and you'll be humming it for hours after seeing the movie.
So in the end, this is a Bond film well worth your time to check out, and judged solely as a restart for the series, it pretty much hits a homerun. Again though, as an action-thriller movie in and of itself, things get muddled by some odd pacing and editing choices, a plot that never quite holds together, and a number of scenes that don't quite gel with what the movie is trying to accomplish. If only the entire film had that same level of awesomeness as the opening teaser - now THAT gave a true glimpse of how cool a Bond movie could be. As it stands, I'd place this 007 somewhere on par with Mission Impossible III and slightly below Miami Vice (a divisive movie, I know, but I really enjoyed it and it covered much of the same ground with more style and clarity). That being said, I can't wait to see what the next adventure will hold for Daniel Craig's exciting and refreshing new take on Bond, James Bond.
My Grade: B
- In other movie news, I just read the notice from Peter Jackson and co that it appears as though New Line and MGM will proceed with making The Hobbit and another LOTR prequel movie sans Peter Jackson and co. If so, this can't be seen as anything but a huge, huge mistake. It sounds like the whole issue is tied up in Jackson's ongoing lawsuit against New Line, and that he took offense to them including directing new LOTR movies as part of terms to settle the suit. I can only hope that New Line makes ever effort to reconcile with Jackson, because I can barely think of any directors who would even approach his passion and grasp of the source material. Jackson lived and breathed Tolkien for years, and his original cast andcre clearly has great admiration and affection for him and his work. If The Hobbit was made with anyone but Ian McKellan as Gandalf at this point, for example, it would just feel wrong. But yeah, Peter Jackson is one of those guys who at this point should have a little pull, not be screwed over by a studio that is potentially killing one of the best movie franchises ever by giving it the Dumb and Dumberer treatment. Please guys, come to your senses. A PJ-directed Hobbit is MONEY IN THE BANK. Anything else short of getting Ridley Scott or Terry Gilliam in the director's chair would be a potential disaster of epic proportions. Not good at all.
- Alright, I am out. As the man with a license to blog, come back next time for the blog that is always shaken, never stirred.
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