CliqueClack

Could The New Normal become just the norm?

It’s been quite some time since a TV series has featured a gay character as its lead, much less two of them … and I can’t think of a time when the two were a committed couple. Ryan Murphy’s new sitcom, The New Normal, breaks all kinds of new ground with its premise, even while sticking to tried and true sitcom tropes — the sassy sidekick and the mature beyond her years child among them. Some of the hoariest sitcom cliches were on display in the show’s pilot — and our own An Nicholson felt these cliches really needed to be addressed for the show to truly succeed — and I’m happy to say that things started to smooth out a bit with the second episode. Personally, I felt both episodes that have aired delivered on the set-up and the comedy, and managed to have some touching moments as well.

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Ultimate Spider-Man becomes Ultimate Spider-Ham

Ultimate Spider-Man has become a rather controversial part of Disney XD’s Marvel Universe line-up. I’ve heard from a few different Marvel fans that they’re put off by the occasionally chibi art style and breaking the 4th wall writing. I also know  fans of The Spectacular Spider-Man were disappointed their show wasn’t continued. But for what it’s worth, I enjoyed the hell out of Ultimate. I like the 4th wall narrative stuff, I like the jokes and I like that he’s a part of a team instead of just working on his own. On top of that, I like how they’ve connected him to S.H.I.E.L.D., which gives him plenty of opportunities to work alongside the Avengers. But on top of that, I like that the show is never afraid to go silly … and hence we have “Run Pig, Run.”

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Homeland season one Blu-ray giveaway

To celebrate not only the imminent return of Showtime’s Homeland (September 30, 10 PM) but the recent release of the show on Blu-ray and DVD late last month, we’ve been given a couple of copies for giveaway to two luck, random commenters to this post. They even threw in some Homeland-branded keychain/USB keys to go along with them.

Oh, and if you Tweet that you entered, with the following:

I’m entering the #homeland Blu-ray giveaway via @CliqueClack https://clak.us/p5j

We’ll pick two recipients completely at random and alert them after the giveaway ends on Monday, September 24th at Midnight ET (make sure your spam filters aren’t blocking mail from @cliqueclack.com!). Only one entry per person per method and you must have a valid U.S.-based mailing address. This giveaway is open to U.S. residents of 18 years of age or older only. Not following these guidelines voids your entry. Good luck!

[easyazon-image align=”none” asin=”B005LAJ16I” locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”https://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51HwoQlzsoL._SL160_.jpg” width=”120″][easyazon-image align=”none” asin=”B005LAJ17M” locale=”us” height=”160″ src=”https://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51L6Kk2ZnmL._SL160_.jpg” width=”130″]

Welcome to the new CliqueClack

Take a look around. If you’re new here, you can safely disregard what I’m about to say below and just go on enjoying our great new content here at CliqueClack. You old regulars: come with me. You’re about to read about some very good and much-needed changes happening around here!

When CliqueClack started four years ago — almost to the day — our first priority was to give readers episode reviews of TV shows that were no longer being offered at TV Squad. Sadly, everything that remotely resembles the TV Squad of old has been completely obliterated, so some of you may have no idea what I’m talking about. What was TV Squad became AOL TV, and what was AOL TV became part of Huffington Post. But I’m getting off track here. Let me start with the TV side of things, because that is where we started out here at CliqueClack.

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Vin Scully is the voice

What’s the deal? Why did I find myself getting more and more teary-eyed as the Vin Scully report on CBS Sunday Morning progressed?

Maybe it’s because I’ve been doing one thing consistently for a good part of my life — relentlessly attending Dodger games at Chavez Ravine. As a kid and a teenager and an adult, I’ve attended literally hundreds of games. In the beginning, it was a few here and there with my father. Later, I accompanied a friend’s mother to games several times a week … driving with her, meeting her at the Ravine, sitting with her and cheering with her at every hit and strikeout. It must have been a strange scene now that I think about it: Some young upstart attending game after game after game with my “other mom,” the two of us yelling our heads off and, quite often, leaving the game horse and unable to speak.

Why The Dark Knight Rises failed

Failed! Of course, failure is a relative term — the movie has already made over a billion dollars worldwide. But it’s not so simple — adjusted for inflation, the movie made less than The Dark Knight or even the first modern Batman movie (via BoxOfficeMojo). Additionally, the movie hasn’t recieved anything close to the same level of enthusiasm or critical favor the previous two Nolan movies received. And although most people leave the movie with a feeling of “that was fun,” the previous movie was more along the lines of “that was awesome.”

A bit of a difference.

So with that in mind, how could the movie have exceeded its expectations and truly succeeded past the seemingly insurmountable shadow of its predecessor? A few ways. As you might imagine, there are extreme levels of SPOILERS to follow.

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One Tree Hill’s Nathan Scott makes me eat my words

I recently underwent the daunting task of starting to watch One Tree Hill — in its entirety — for the very first time. In the first installment of my Virgin Diary, I noted my utter distaste for two out of four members of the Scott family: Dan and Nathan. While Dan’s “redemption” is debatable (and is perhaps fodder for an entirely different post), Nathan becomes an entirely different character in the time that spans between the series’ pilot episode and its finale.

After watching One Tree Hill’s pilot episode, I jotted down my initial reactions to each character. I had described Nathan as “vile, disgusting, self-centered, arrogant, [and] cruel.” I don’t think any OTH fan would say that those words are appropriate for the mature family man of the later seasons, particularly the last two. Nathan made some mistakes in his life, such as throwing a basketball game for the guy who loaned him money, or getting into a bar fight or two when his buttons were pushed. But none of those things seemed to matter at the end of the series, when Nathan is seen as the hero of the show. (And this isn’t only because he was kidnapped and nearly killed.)

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Iron Sky – Nazis on the Moon!

To be honest with you, I’m a terrible movie goer. I seem to get to one new movie for about every 35 or 40 plays I go to, which means I’ve only seen four movies this year. With such a limited movie-going schedule, it is often the strange and/or bizarre that gets me back to the cineplex. Which is how I ended up at a screening of Iron Sky.

To be a little more specific, interest was sparked from that simple, four word, synopsis that I used in the post title. Nazis, on the moon. Do you really need to hear more than that? If so, the trailer is the sealer of the deal.

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The disturbing trend of one novel, many films

Remember when one novel could be made into one film? Well there was a time — a time before studios insisted on splitting single books into two or even three different movies. With the recent news about The Hobbit becoming three films, it’s time to address this trend.

The problem with this practice is that, like so many things, it’s motivated purely by money. What’s particularly cynical about it is that filmmakers deny this, claiming that the decision to make one novel into several films is somehow an artistic one.

Peter Jackson claimed that the reason for The Hobbit becoming a trilogy of films was to get more of the book onto the screen; “Do we take this chance to tell more of the tale? And the answer from our perspective as the filmmakers, and as fans, was an unreserved ‘yes.’” What about as business people? Of course they want to make as much money as possible, and The Hobbit is a cash cow. Or a cash … oliphaunt? I don’t know, I don’t really like The Lord of the Rings. The point is, it’s a guaranteed money-maker, so obviously they want to milk it dry. But what’s objectionable is claiming that it’s for the benefit of the fans, when the reality is that the fans are just being used; there’s something quite deceptive and even nasty about that.

Those who defend the decision to split single books into multiple movies argue that it is important to be as faithful to the book as possible, and one film is simply not long enough to do justice to the detail of the novel. This does make for an interesting debate about just how faithful a movie adaptation needs to be. This is often made difficult by confusion over what we mean by “faithful.”

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Arguing the Classics – A Few Good Men

I’ve seen a lot of movies over the years, and I have my favorites. But not everyone agrees with me. Meet Jon:

Jon’s a friend who hasn’t seen nearly as many movies as I have, and not as many of “the classics” (anything before 2002). Recently we’ve seen some movies he’s never seen before, which gives us a great chance to argue about them. A Few Good Men is one of the first DVDs I ever purchased, along with Airplane! and A Clockwork Orange. If you’re thinking I had an alphabetical list of movies that I was looking at, you are correct; but it was still a list of movies I would watch again and again. Something about the dramatic buildup is surprisingly easy to watch, even with the over two-hour running time.

And, of course, everyone’s familiar with the movie’s big moment of “You can’t handle the truth” — but maybe that’s a problem in rewatching it. There’s no tension to that moment, because you know it’s coming.

: If I hadn’t known that scene was coming, I probably would have appreciated the sentiment more. As it is, the movie seems overly dramatized and unrealistic — sort of a precursor to the more realistic Law & Order courtrooms. And Tom Cruise wasn’t subtle enough to pull off his legal performance.

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