Category: Reviews (Page 43 of 120)

“Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” and stuff

June 17, 2009 /

I don’t care about the upcoming “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” which comes out one week from today. I’m a bit too old to have watched the original cartoons as a kid or played with the toys. I literally walked out of the 2007 movie, which I had used a hard earned frequent movie-watcher free ticket too see.

Nevertheless, I know a lot of you liked “Transformers” and are looking forward to “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.” So, instead of raining on your parade, I’ll keep my personal critic hat mostly off and simply report that some of the early reviews are out already. Variety’s Jordan Mintzer has a fairly positive review up and, the word is, if you dug the first one, you’ll probably dig this one. THR’s Ray Bennett says somewhat the same thing, but on the negative side (and sounds a lot like what I said after I saw the first one). IGN UK’s Orlando Parfitt confesses to Michael Bay love, but thinks it may all just be a bit too much of a good thing. And so it goes at Rotten Tomatoes.

Also, in the spirit of yesterday’s post on celebrity oddness, via Anne Thompson comes that Parade interview with “Transformers” star Shia LaBeouf you might have seen excerpted. Assuming he actually said everything he’s supposed to have said, this wasn’t a profile but a cry for help, which begs the question: If Steven Spielberg and company can’t find the right shrinks/clinics to get a talented young actor’s head on straight, who can? I suppose it’s like the old joke asking about how many psychologists it takes to change a light bulb. (Only one, but the light bulb really has to want to change.)

It’s a little weird considering he’s pretty much the hottest young actor in Hollywood, etc., but I actually feel sorry for the kid. That is not like me.

But forget all that, here’s a “Transformers” trailer. Stuff blows up good — but for some reason, not the Eiffel Tower.

Action Movies, Actors, Movies, News, Reviews, Sci-Fi Movies

True Blood 2.1 – What Can Wash Away My Sin?

June 14, 2009 /

Welcome to the “True Blood” blog, the first time Premium Hollywood has deigned to tackle HBO’s top-notch vampire series on a weekly basis. If you’re a regular reader, then you know that I ventured into the first few episodes of the show and enjoyed what I saw, but other responsibilities kept me from delving any further into the adventures of Sookie Stackhouse and company until the Season 1 DVD was released. After absorbing all twelve episodes, I was definitely chomping at the bit to see the Season 2 premiere, so when the call went out for someone to blog the second season, I figured I’d accept. Hey, at the very least, it’s a series that my wife and I both love…and as I’m sure many readers know, it goes a long way toward maintaining marital bliss when both of you enjoy watching the same series.

So let’s get rolling, shall we?

For those who’ve been waiting in suspense ‘til the end of last season to find out whose body was in the car, the mystery is solved almost immediately…and it ain’t Lafayette. Of course, that was always gonna be a little too easy, anyway, but I still didn’t expect it to be Miss Jeanette, the exorcist from season 1. And based on her scream, Tara didn’t, either. She starts off in denial, claiming no knowledge of the woman, but with Sookie barely able to tune out her frantic thoughts, she eventually concedes and reveals who the woman is. “My mama’s gonna fall to pieces when she finds out,” says Tara. (Was I the only one who briefly thought that her mama might’ve been the one who did it? I thought maybe she’d figured out the woman was a fraud, gone on a bender, and killed her.)

Not long after the case gets underway, it looks like Andy’s going to call it a night, but after his protestations that he’s not overworked (nice lack of denial about his state of inebriation, though), he ends up sticking around, despite the sheriff’s annoyed reminder that, “at best, you’re a material witness to a homicide; at worst, you could be a suspect.” Yeah, but there’s one big thing keeping me from buying into Andy as the killer: does anyone see that hillbilly as the kind of guy who’d be able to pull off that kind of acting performance? Once the crew get back to the station, Mama Thornton comes by and gets the grisly details about Miss Jeanette’s demise, which she takes about as well as her daughter had expected. Still, she refuses to concede that the woman may have been a fraud, and as she and Tara are departing the station, Mama starts in on Tara…until Maryann Forester turns up. Man, talking about giving someone the verbal smackdown. Oh, snap! Well, if there’d been any doubt about whether Tara had fallen for Maryann’s schtick before, you can’t blame her for being squarely in her camp now.

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External Entertainment, External TV, Reviews, True Blood, TV, TV Dramas, TV Sci-Fi

Land of the Lost – Season Three: Enik the Dick

June 5, 2009 /

The third and final season of “Land of the Lost” is often considered the ugly, misshapen, redheaded bastard stepchild of the series. Indeed, if the 13 episodes of which it consists were the only “Land of the Lost” ever created, the show would have been long since forgotten. But it’s worth mentioning that the initial impetus for doing this three part retrospective came from the desire to come to the defense of Season Three, and try to give a little bit of respect to the episodes that are routinely shunned even by the people who display their love of this show as a badge of honor.

Season Three again saw shifts in the production team, and even more noticeably, in front of the camera. As I understand it, Spencer Milligan couldn’t reach an amicable contract agreement and so he abruptly left the show. With his departure came new lyrics for the opening credits:

Will and Holly Marshall
As the earth beneath them trembled
Lost their father through the door of time
Uncle Jack went searching
And found those kids at last
Looking for a way to escape
From the Land of the Lost

Uncle Jack replaced Ranger Rick, and he was played by Ron Harper, best known to genre fans as astronaut Alan Virdon in the TV series incarnation of “Planet of the Apes.” He was a true uncle, rather than a father – instead of being preachy and bestowing wisdom, he was more often than not a man of action; a guy trying to get things done. I like Ron Harper, and if there’s a reason I’ve got some love for Season Three, much of it’s due to his presence. Would Spencer Milligan’s Rick have been as believable in many of these situations? Likely not. He’d accrued too much info during his time in the Land for these stories to work. In contrast, Uncle Jack was experiencing this madness through fresh eyes, and so he was more accepting.

Behind the scenes, Jon Kubichan and Sam Roeca took over as producer and story editor respectively, and between the two of them, they scripted the majority of the season. Their vision of the series was quite the departure from the two seasons that came before. Nearly everything – including the iconic elements such as the Sleestak, the Pakuni and the ubiquitous dinosaurs – got a major overhaul.

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External Entertainment, External TV, Reviews, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV DVDs, TV Sci-Fi

Land of the Lost – Season Two: “Mysterious Forces”

June 3, 2009 /

Before jumping into Season Two, allow me to discuss the “Land of the Lost” movie for a bit. As you might glean, I’m a pretty hardcore fan of this show. Yes, believe it or not, we do exist; “Land of the Lost” has a small, but fervent cult following. The last thing fans of this series ever wanted to see was a comedy send-up of the premise. No, most fans had minor dreams of someday seeing a big-budget, sci-fi movie created by people that took the concept as seriously as David Gerrold did back in the day. But, alas, that did not happen, and instead we’re getting a movie that’s likely closer in tone to some of the other Krofft properties, rather than the one it’s actually based on.

All that said, any amount of money that can be made by this movie must be positive for “Land of the Lost” as a brand name, and if the movie does well, you never know what the future might hold. Personally, I’d like to see the movie do so well that somebody decides to greenlight a new version of the series for Sci Fi, which would be the obvious network for it to end up on (indeed, Sci Fi has even been running “Land of the Lost” marathons as of late). I mean, really, how many steps away from “Primeval” – an enormous success for ITV in England, as well as here in the States on BBC America – is a serious version of this concept? So if you’re a fan of the series, don’t be so quick to skip the movie, simply because it isn’t what you envisioned. Grab some friends and a few beers and head out to the movie theatre this weekend, because the future of “Land of the Lost” probably rests in the obnoxious antics of Will Ferrell. (That is, admittedly, a sentence I never in my life thought I’d have to type.)

Now back to your regularly scheduled breakdown of Season Two of “Land of the Lost…”

David Gerrold left the series after the first season, and so a new story editor was hired in the form of Dick Morgan, who’d written such Season One offerings as “Album” and “Follow That Dinosaur.” Clearly Morgan had a lot of respect for what Gerrold had laid down, but it seems that he perhaps didn’t have a big vision of his own. (In all fairness, this is an unfair supposition on my part; as with any TV show there are many fingers in the pie, and who’s to say who’s to blame?) Part of the problem with Season Two is that it frequently tries to expand on ideas from the first season, often without success. This isn’t to say that the season isn’t any good; in fact, you’ve got to be a bit obsessive about the show in order to notice a big difference from the first season…but, then again, that’s why I’m here sharing my insights with anyone who cares to listen.

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External Entertainment, External TV, Movie Comedies, Reviews, Sci-Fi Movies, TV, TV Action, TV Dramas, TV DVDs, TV Sci-Fi

…but, on the other hand, IFC’s “The Wrong Door” is all right

June 2, 2009 /

Proof positive of the “you win some, you lose some” scenario, IFC has added “The Wrong Door” to its lineup, and unlike “Food Party,” it actually is pretty damned funny. You can possibly chalk a certain amount of that up to the fact that the sketch comedy series originally aired on BBC Three (everyone knows that comedy is 64% funnier when delivered in a British accent), but come June 9th at 11:30 PM EST, you’ll be able to determine for yourself if it’s just my Anglophile tendencies that are making me laugh. Or, of course, you could just check out a couple of clips:

And while this last one is sanctioned neither by BCC Three nor IFC, allow me to nontheless steer you toward this sketch about the inherent dangers of buying a star in someone’s name, which someone has kindly posted for your viewing enjoyment:

Sci-fi aficionados will hear that the producers have borrowed the theme from “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” but most of you will just be thinking, “Holy crap, whoever heard of a sketch comedy series with these kinds of production values?” Yep, “The Wrong Door” looks great…and, even better, it’s actually quite funny. Sadly, there are only a half-dozen episodes, but the two I’ve screened left me chomping at the bit to see the other four.

External Entertainment, External TV, Reviews, TV, TV Comedies, Video

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