January 2010 Archives
Adama sucks up his pride and flies down to Kobol to patch things up with Roslin. Once the ex-enemies decide to play nice, they discover the Tomb of Athena and a surprising mutiny. Back on Galactica, Head Six has enough of Gaius' lip and tells him the truth: she doesn't live in his head, he's just crazy.
A note to first time BSG watchers; these aren't the reviews for you. I plan to write about the show with the ending in mind. If you haven't seen the show, you will be spoiled on stuff that happens at the end. You've been warned.
This is a bit of a hard review to write.
On one hand, I liked a lot of "Funny People,"* Judd Apatow's look at death and dying. Adam Sandler gives a great performance as schmuck comedian George Simmons, who discovers that he's got a rare blood condition that will kill him.
George is a wildly successful actor, but once he gets his diagnosis, he returns to his roots as a stand-up and discovers Ira Wright (Seth Rogen), a struggling comic who is still trying to find his style (and become wildly successful himself).
George hires Ira to write some jokes for him, which quickly turns into George paying Ira to be his buddy/personal assistant. There is a good friendship there, but there's also a lot of tension, because Ira wants to be honest with *friend,* but you can't always be honest with your boss.
That evolving relationship (and its turbulent ups and downs) is the best part of the movie, but like other Apatow movies, the side characters and their stories just don't interest me. Ira's buddies and his crush on a comedienne really drag the film down, contributing to one of the bigger faults: at 2½ hours, "Funny People" is just way too long.
Most of the excess comes from the side plots that really don't need to be there and over-indulgence in comedy scenes, which are supposed to be painfully unfunny (and are unfunny). It's a flaw he keeps going back to in his films, and I hope he can eventually get it out of his system. He's a decent storyteller, and pretty funny one, but success is not helping him grow.
Better luck next time, Judd.
"Funny People" (2009)
Written and directed by Judd Apatow
Starring: Adam Sandler (George)
Seth Rogen (Ira)
*Spoilers ahead in my review addendum
And like "Planet of the Apes," I didn't really like this one too much, but I don't think that's the point of "Wall Street."
A note to first time BSG watchers; these aren't the reviews for you. I plan to write about the show with the ending in mind. If you haven't seen the show, you will be spoiled on stuff that happens at the end. You've been warned.
Long story short, I really didn't enjoy "Planet of the Apes."
I saw the remake on the theater way back in 2001, and while I had fun making fun of it (and nearly got myself kicked out of said theater), I never really felt the need to go back.
But I did. I'm not entirely sorry I watched the original, but this is a film that is so familiar, it almost feels unnecessary to watch it.
There is good potential here, and like all good science-fiction films (and TV shows), "Planet of the Apes" takes the fears of the day and paints a picture of the worst-case scenario. The problem here is that while the message still largely holds up (we are quite capable of destroying everything we are), there is no suspense to this story.
Everybody knows how it ends; the big reveal has long since passed into the pop culture collective unconscious, and while movies aren't always about the ending, when the journey itself is not that exciting (and at times very heavy handed), it's hard to get invested in the story.
Like the original "King Kong," I really would have liked to have seen this when it came out, before it was a massive hit and all the secrets were revealed.
Pop culture backlash really bites.
"Planet of the Apes" (1968)
Written by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling
Directed by Franklin J. Schaffner
Starring: Charlton Heston (Taylor)
Roddy McDowall (Cornelius)
Kim Hunter (Zira)
With Adama back in charge of the fleet, Roslin makes a religious appeal to the people to follow her to Kobol, which produces some surprising results. On Caprica, Kara is injured in an ambush, and she wakes up to a shocking discovery.
A note to first time BSG watchers; these aren't the reviews for you. I plan to write about the show with the ending in mind. If you haven't seen the show, you will be spoiled on stuff that happens at the end. You've been warned.
It's that time of year again at Film Cannon where I pick out my top films of the year and try my damnedest to get you see them.
When I was looking over my movie list of the year, I was surprised to discover that I don't have a top ten this year.
At first, I thought it was because I just watched a lot of crap movies this past year, but that's not really the case. Yes, I saw some bad ones (looking at you, "She Wore a Yellow Ribbon"), but mostly, I didn't see a lot of movies that moved me.
Part of that is that while I didn't watch a lot of *great* movies, I did watch a lot of really, really good TV.
Over the year, I watched the entire run of "Stargate: SG1," new "Doctor Who," "Torchwood," "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles," "Dollhouse," "Cosmos," "Sanctuary" and probably some other shows I'm forgetting too (plus new episodes of "Lost" and "Battlestar Galactica"), and while this is primarily a movie blog, I must admit that television delivered for me while the movies just kind of let me down.
Granted, television has a clear advantage in that fight, but usually they come out even. Oh well, enough of that talk; the list is short this year with just eight entries, but all the films are worth seeking out.
Col. Tigh, ignoring his better angels and listening to his wife instead, cracks down on the resistance to martial law in the fleet and tragedy ensues. Seeing just how bad things have gotten, Roslin and Lee Adama plan a jailbreak (with some surprising help). Having returned from Kobol, Chief is thrown in jail with Boomer on suspicion of being a Cylon. On Caprica, Helo and Starbuck meet up with a group of resistance fighters.
A note to first time BSG watchers; these aren't the reviews for you. I plan to write about the show with the ending in mind. If you haven't seen the show, you will be spoiled on stuff that happens at the end. You've been warned.
I liked it. I really, really liked it.
Those were my thoughts upon finishing Stargate: SG1 the series and the two movies, "Ark of Truth" and "Contintuum." I decided a couple months ago that since I liked the first two episodes I saw, "Window of Opportunity" and "Prometheus," plus "Continuum," I wanted to go back and watch the whole series, all ten seasons, just to see what it was about.
And to get this out of the way early, yes I am a crazy person. And no, I don't have a life.
Everybody decides to go a little bit crazy; leadership pressures begin to get to Tigh, as he starts hitting the hooch extra hard and making bad decisions left and right. Roslin's coming down from Chamalla and people are beginning to notice her withdrawal symptoms. On Kobol, their subplot gets some resolution as Crashdown finally gives in to his demons.
A note to first time BSG watchers; these aren't the reviews for you. I plan to write about the show with the ending in mind. If you haven't seen the show, you will be spoiled on stuff that happens at the end. You've been warned.
