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Dexter – Did Breaking Bad’s final season ruin Dexter’s?

It seems any of those drawn to watch Dexter have also been watching AMC’s Breaking Bad. What’s interesting about it is that we’ve got two villain-heroes at work here: one is a serial killer who’s “doing good” by only (usually) offing guilty murders; the other is a once-chemistry-teacher/now-meth-dealer “doing good” by providing for his family. Both are (or, at least, have been) brilliantly written, quality shows, though one wonders why the draw of the villain-heroes is so compelling.

By drawing in viewers with similar tastes, each show was — perhaps unknowingly — drawing comparisons to the other, especially during its final season. This has not worked out in Dexter‘s favor in the least.

Before this last season of Dexter, I thought the show had gone downhill since season five or six. I had grown invested in the show and still wanted to be sure to watch every week, but the excitement of it being Sunday night had waned. The show took a serious downhill turn at least partway through season seven, only to continue to tumble through its final, eighth season. The writers didn’t seem to know what direction they were going to go (Deb’s love for Dexter? What the …), and they all but gave up in the show’s final moments. Perhaps the writers moved on to the rumored Dexter spin-off? Did they give up, too, when they had to drastically switch gears from that really, really odd Deb-loves-Dexter story?

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Battle of the Year puts B-Boys back in the spotlight

Dance was absent from movie screens this summer when there was no new Step Up film to dazzle our senses. But fall brings a new dance movie, and a potential new series, with Battle of the Year, the story of a worldwide B-Boy dance competition that the Americans have yet to crack.

In Battle of the Year, hip hop mogul and former B-Boy Dante Graham (Laz Alonso) needs a new trainer for his crew. He enlists the aid of an old friend, and also former B-Boy, Jason Blake (Josh Holloway). Blake has been down on his luck since his wife and son died in a tragic car accident, but Dante knows that Blake’s experience coaching basketball is just what his crew needs to get them in shape for the competition.

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Prisoners forces viewers to question their morals

What lengths would you go to if your child disappeared and the only suspect was released by the police due to lack of any tangible evidence? That is the question the audience must answer as Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman) and his friend Franklin Birch (Terrence Howard) take matters into their own hands in Prisoners.

After the daughters of both Dover and Birch disappear on Thanksgiving, after being told not to go near a battered old motor home parked in their neighborhood, and after the driver of the motor home, Alex Jones (Paul Dano), is released into the custody of his aunt (an almost unrecognizable Melissa Leo), Dover abducts Alex, takes him back to an abandoned apartment building (where Dover grew up), and begins various methods of “interrogation” to find out where the girls are. Dover drags Birch along for backup, but the police then find another suspect with much stronger evidence connecting him to the crime.

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Dancing with the Stars season 17 starts off with a bang

Dancing with the Stars Season 17 got started in grand style with the pros, troupe, cast, judges and hosts doing a big dance number to “A Little Party Never Killed Nobody” which was one of the songs from The Great Gatsby. Love the song, loved the whole number but … I believe they did pretty much the same thing on the first live show this season on So You Think You Can Dance. Sometimes it was a hot mess, but it still got the party started. And they wasted no time in getting started either! No long intro for the stars, we just got into the dance. That was just the first of many of this season’s changes.
Kim: I was slightly disappointed with the Season 17 premiere. I’m not sure why exactly – I think this season has a really strong, competitive cast. Maybe their costumes just weren’t glitzy enough for me. Maybe I missed seeing more of Harold Wheeler and the house band. Maybe I was bothered by the fact that everything seems to take place on or near the dance floor now. Maybe it’s because I know I’m only going to get my dose of glitter once a week now instead of twice. I can’t say for certain what it was that caused me to feel less than stellar about it. There were standout performances of course, but it felt like for each of those there were about two equally lackluster numbers in-between. Hopefully my mood improves next week!

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1963’s The Courtship Of Eddie’s Father holds some surprises

Simply put, The Courtship Of Eddie’s Father is nothing more than the selfish, manipulative dealings of a child using subterfuge to steer his father in the direction of his own ulterior motives.

But … how can that be? Because the titular Eddie of this flick is played by the ever-delightful Ron Howard. Yes … that Ron Howard. The same Ron Howard who brought us the clean-cut Steve of American Graffiti and the even more clean-cut Richie Cunningham of Happy Days. And way before that? Opie from The Andy Griffith Show.

Yup. One and the same. That’s him all right. But this time, in this 50-year-old film that later spawned the short-lived television show, Howard is an evil genius hell-bent on driving his father insane. He’s out for his own personal gain and bubbles over with such scheming and wily ways that his father barely has enough time to think for himself. (All right. I might be going overboard with this, but these are some of the things I was thinking throughout the film. Watch it for yourself and you’ll see I’m not so left of center as I sound. And, while I might make this claim with tongue firmly planted in cheek, I want to come back to it a bit later. Trust me … it’s worth it.) Continue reading '1963’s The Courtship Of Eddie’s Father holds some surprises' »

Survivor, I think we need a time out

Dear Survivor. We’ve been together now for 26 seasons but I think you’ve finally tested my limits with season 27, Blood vs Water. First of all, the title is just ridiculous. Blood versus water? What in the heck does that even mean? I know, I know, it’s supposed to be a reference to “blood is thicker than water,” but blood versus water doesn’t make a lick of sense. Besides the title, I’m just not happy at all with, yet again, bringing back a slew of former contestants … one in particular for the fourth time, and another whom Jeff Probst proclaimed would never be asked to return because of his vile behavior. I guess the only thing to be thankful for is that there are no Hantzes in sight.

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Sons of Anarchy – The aftermath of a shooting

The Sons of Anarchy season 6 premiere had no shortage of horrors. Every terrible thing that happened in the first 85 minutes though, was quickly eclipsed by something even worse: a school shooting. With Sandy Hook still fresh in everyone’s mind, tackling a school shooting in a television series is a risky move. It’s so easy to look like you’re exploiting the events that ended many lives and ruined even more. However, as a long-time fan of Kurt Sutter‘s work, both on Sons of Anarchy and The Shield, I was confident that he was doing this for a reason; that instead of looking to cash in on a national tragedy, he was trying to make a very specific point.

In my review of the premiere, I talked about how such an event was likely to shake Jax and the club to the core and change both SAMCRO and Charming forever. Kurt Sutter himself seemed to confirm this in the latest edition of his YouTube show, WTFSutter. In it, he talks about the larger narrative and how naïve it is to think that there would be no repercussions from the club’s gun running.

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Brooklyn Nine-Nine – Comedy shouldn’t be this forced

So here’s what’s going to happen in this post:

You might learn a few things about me. Maybe some revealing, eye-opening things. It might help explain why I like some of the things I like. At least … I think it will. You may not agree. And that’s okay. I can’t please everyone. And I can’t put stuff out there that makes sense to me but might confuse you. I figure so long as there’s that basic  understanding — possible revelations which may not make sense to you — then I’m pretty certain you can at least wrap your head around some of what I’m going to say.

By nature, I’m not a comedy-watching kind of guy; that might come as a surprise. I shy away from comedy films and I routinely avoid comedy television programs. The Big Bang Theory? Puzzles me to no end. I don’t get it. Brainiacs who make fools of themselves or who find themselves out of their element socially. Not funny to me in the least. Adam Sandler films? Will Ferrel movies? I don’t watch them and wouldn’t voluntarily go to one. You couldn’t entice me to one of these men’s flicks with free popcorn, soda and Jujubees. They’re inane and pointless to me. (The films, not the Jujubees.)

Comedy I like? Hit me up with The Blues Brothers. Sixteen Candles. Dark Star. Bob’s Burgers. Even the Charlie Sheen years of Two And A Half Men in small doses. (I don’t care what anyone says about Sheen or the show back in those days; there was some smart writing goin’ on.) Continue reading 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine — Comedy shouldn’t be this forced' »

Does Sleepy Hollow stand a ghost of a chance?

The 2013 Fox fall season is off and running with the premiere of Sleepy Hollow from a bevy of producers including Alex Kurtzman (Fringe), Robert Orci (Xena, Alias, Fringe) and Len Wiseman (the Underworld films), who also directed the pilot. I think, though, that the show was sold as kind of a police procedural with a fish out of water, Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison), somehow transported 250 years into the future — our present — to help solve crimes. And deal with that pesky Headless Horseman. But it turned out to be much more than I bargained for … but probably should have expected considering the pedigree behind it.

Whereas I thought the show was going to be “CSI: Sleepy Hollow,” it’s actually more like a cousin to Supernatural, especially when you see the preview for what’s coming this season. What this definitely isn’t is Washington Irving’s tale of Ichabod Crane. In the original story, Crane is a schoolmaster in 1790 who is trying to win the affections of socialite Katrina Van Tassel, who also has another suitor in Abraham Van Brunt, aka “Brom Bones.” Failing to win Katina’s hand, Crane returns home after a night of ghost stories that play on his imagination. He is confronted by a headless horseman (who hurls his detached noggin at Crane) and never seen again. It’s implied the horseman was Brom as the only things found in the woods are a smashed pumpkin, his horse and a trampled saddle. The locals believe Crane was taken by the evil spirits in the forest.

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Why Christian Grey is more dangerous than Jax Teller

Charlie Hunnam is hot. That fact is already in evidence. He’s also a talented and charismatic actor. So casting him as the lead in the film adaptation of one of the most popular book series of all time seems like a win for Charlie Hunnam fans, and by extension, humanity (especially since he’s bound to get naked). However, when I heard the news that Hunnam was cast as Christian Grey in the 50 Shades of Grey adaptation, I wasn’t pleased. In fact, My reaction was more on par with this:

Why wasn’t I pleased that one of my favorite actors from one of my favorite television shows got this huge break? Because even though Jax Teller, Hunnam’s character on Sons of Anarchy, is an adulturing, drug-running, arms-dealing murderer, he’s less dangerous as a character than Christian Grey. Grey’s crimes are more insidious, smaller: Emotional abuse. Taking away a woman’s autonomy. Physical abuse. But even though Grey isn’t murdering people in cold blood, the key difference is this: Teller’s actions aren’t excused. Grey’s actions are sold as romance.

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