Tag Archives: TV

DVD

Firefly: The Series

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One of the great uses of DVD technology is the ability for those of the TV age to collect those series that we connected with and enjoyed. Additionally, it gives us the chance to revisit some series that were critical successes, but could not find an audience. Firefly is one such series.

Firefly is a western series set in space, and comes from the mind of Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. This is actually a smart concept, not just from originality, but from a business standpoint. Very few sci-fi special effects were needed and the Western U.S. became his backlot.

So why did it not last?

Well, Fox refused to air the show in the correct order. For a show like CSI, this is not a big deal; but imagine watching Lost out of sequence. Then Fox scheduled it for Friday nights, not the place for a series to catch on. Finally, Fox would air for 2 weeks and then take it off for 5 weeks.

With the release of the series on DVD, people could now see the show as it was intended to be watched. Thus, the demand grew for more — that led to the creation of a major theatrical release. Only one other show generated enough buzz from DVD sales to be brought back in any form and that was Family Guy.

The show centers around a ship and her crew. Much like Han Solo and Chewie, the crew of Serenity travels around, providing services such as transport and smuggling to those that want to avoid attention from governmental entities. At one of their stops, they take on some passengers that become part of the crew.

All 12 episodes are strong with story and do a good job with character/relationship development. I wonder how deep the series would have gotten had it been allowed to build. The cast was well-picked and directed.

The DVD box also includes:

  • Theme song video
  • video of Joss Whedon singing the theme
  • deleted scenes
  • gag reel
  • some commentaries for certain episodes
  • quick interview clips

My advice: Find the time to watch this series. It will show you what Fox passed on to bring you the latest iteration of So I Want to Marry My Farmer’s Pig…

Movies

The Simpsons Movie

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I know, I know — I still have a pile of reviews to write, but I am going to write this first…

1989 was an interesting year.  It ushered in the era of Macaulay Culkin, the beginning of Tim Burton’s vision of Batman, and the beginning of a 6-year hiatus for the James Bond series.

1989 was also the year I discovered Fox TV programming.  Due to a series of unfortunate events, I found myself in a hospital where Fox was one of the stations.  It had only been a national network for about three years, marking success with Married….With Children and The Tracy Ullman Show.  In watching The Tracy Ullman Show, I, along with the rest of the country, was introduced to an animated family that seemed to take the antics of the Bundys a step further.

After returning home, I was greeted with two pieces of news that would have a huge impact on my TV viewing habits: 1) Fox was finally being offered in Panama City; and 2) The Simpsons would become its own series in December, 1989, with a Christmas special.  Over the next two years, the country was caught in Simpsons mania, with its merchandising battling New Kids on the Block for parents’ hard earned dollars.

As with all things, the hype died down and most people expected the show to only last another season or two.  After all, The Flintstones had only lasted 4 seasons and that was considered the hallmark of animated, prime-time series.

Fast-Forward to 2005…

Seven years after the release of the South Park movie, based on the show that could be the heir to the Simpsons’ crown, it was announced that a movie would be finally made of Bart and the gang.  A lot of fans went into worry mode.  I asked one friend what the worst that could happen and they reminded me of the Flintstones/Jetsons animated movie featuring Tiffany as Judy from years ago.  I simply shuddered.

Fast forward to last weekend…

Due to other commitments, I had to delay seeing the movie.  I finally was able to head to Altamonte AMC to check out the first showing of the day.  I walk in just as the trailer for the live-action Chipmunks is playing and I shake my head.  Jason Lee — where has your movie career gone?  Better not walk away from TV anytime soon.

The movie starts up and for the next hour and a half I am with the residents of Springfield.  Lots of sight gags, movie parodies, and they even got Green Day to perform the theme song.  The animation was beautiful and the story was actually fairly strong.  My fears were for naught — Groening and company delivered.

My advice: see it on the big screen — to wait for DVD is idiotic.  This one is good for everyone and worth the time in the theater…

Movies

Transformers

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In the mid-80s, afternoon TV programming consisted of 2 genres: Oprah/Springer/Geraldo and cartoons made by toy manufacturers.  Such classics were made like He-Man, She-Ra, Care Bears, and GI Joe.  In an effort to woo young boys into toy stores, one company came up with the idea of combining Legos and Matchbox cars — this was the birth of The Go-bots.  A poorly made cartoon series was made.  Then a second company said “We can do better!” and did.  The Transformers were born, with toys, cartoon, and catchphrase (More than meets the eye).  Transformers did so well that an animated movie was rushed to theaters and was received with mixed feelings; the die-hard fans were not happy to see Optimus Prime killed off.  Ratings for the series fell until Prime was brought back, but it was too late — America had lost interest in Transformers.

Interest started being renewed in 2002 as those children of the 80s started having their own children and wanted to relive the good ol’ days.  Speilberg agreed to produce, which had everyone excited.  Then the director was announced….

Michael Bay…..

There is no in between among movie-goers for Michael Bay; you either love his work or hate it.  I am more forgiving than some of my friends: I liked The Rock and Armageddon, but agree that Pearl Harbor was the beginning of the end.  Of course, Matt Stone and Trey Parker summed it up well in Team America with their ballad about Pearl Harbor.  Bay is at a point where he thinks that he is making the most important films ever, as if he was at the head of the James Cameron-produced “Bow to me for my ego is larger than anbody’s bank account” class.
So I found myself cruising home one Sunday afternoon after losing in poker early and decided to stop by AMC Altamonte for a movie.  Transformers had just come out so I walked up and grabbed a ticket.  After waiting an hour in line outside, we finally made our way into the theater.  The previews did not do much for me and I was glad to see only a few.

The movie wasn’t bad — here are the bullet points:

  • Shia LaBeouf — good choice; this kid is going to have a long career as long as he stays grounded.
  • Special Effects – One thing Michael Bay does do well is realistic special effects.  The robots looked great and it was hard to tell the CGI from the rest of the movie (of course ILM was in charge).
  • Damn Meadow shot — In Armageddon, Bay used this field with one tree at sunset for scenes between Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler.  Being someone who does not do creativity, what does Bay feature TWICE in Transformers?  The same daggum meadow and tree — I kept waiting for Steven Tyler to start talking about “not missing a thing”, but then I relaized he wouldn’t be singing that since he had already seen that scene 9 years previously….
  • StarScream’s Whiny ass — One of the highlights of the cartoon was the regular attempts by StarScream to overthrow Megatron and his whiny voice when it didn’t happen.  The movie gave us no whiny voice and only a slight nod to Megatron’s disdain to StarScream’s ability.
  • Decepticons can’t talk? — Even while transformed, all of the robots had voices — that was what made them real.  The decision to not have them speak was idiotic.

So, does this mean I hated the movie? Nope.  Even with the second hour not being as good as the first, it was still enjoyable.

My advice: see it on the big screen — even with a large-screen HD TV, you will miss stuff from being overwhelmed.  Between this and Die Hard, my hopes are being raised for a better second-half of summer at the movies….

Obituaries

Joel Siegel, 1943-2007

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It has been said that everyone has an opinion on any given topic.

That is especially true in the world of entertainment, where we have critics for almost every minutia. But there are some critics that survive over time, ones that we tend to trust. Growing up, it was Siskel & Ebert and Joel Siegel. Gene Siskel passed away in 1999, and Roger Ebert is struggling with health issues now.

Joel Siegel was Good Morning America’s answer to Gene Shalit; albeit, a more intelligent and knowledgeable answer to Shalit. My lasting memory of Siegel was his review of Raiders of the Lost Ark. After seeing his review, my parents said ok to going to see Raiders. After that, my parents and I trusted a majority of his reviews. He continued to prove himself as a fair critic. Did he have some less-than-desirable moments? Yes, his review of Clerks II is what recent moviegoers have as a lasting impression.

For me, I will remember that day when he described a movie to a rollercoaster and reminded us how going to the movies was supposed to be fun…

Uncategorized

AFI’s 100 Years, 100 Movies — 10th Anniversary Edition

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When you give 100 people a sheet of paper and ask them to create a Top 10 list on any topic, the only thing you will get for certain is 100 lists. I take that back — you also get another thing: everyone else hating the list created.

Over the past ten years, AFI has made itself visible to the movie-going public through the use of specials on TV. These specials are meant to celebrate film, but often cause discourse amongst those viewing the specials. In 1998, as part of the celebration of the invention of motion pictures, AFI released a list of what it deemed the “100 greatest movies of all time.” Each year saw a more specific list created, with more controversy.

For 2007, AFI chose to reevaluate its original list. I applaud the sentimentality, but again the list is flawed, as it was ten years ago.

Much has been made this week over the details of the list, so I am going to focus on broader subjects.

The voting body is made up of actors, directors, and some critics, same as it was ten years ago. But how much has this cadre actually changed in ten years? I would argue very little. So was it a surprise to me to see the same basic list as before? No. The same influences are there, just a bit of reshuffling to allow for a few new entries.

Much has been made of the lack of recognition within this list, as well as annual award ceremonies, of the comedy. Since they are meant for light entertainment, the comedy is dismissed due to its lack of impact on political or dramatic issues. Acting in a comedic way means accepting the reality around you and exploring its full potential. Very few actors can genuinely make people laugh; yet, in order to be recognized by their peers as great actors, they turn to dramtic pieces. If you question this, then examine the careers of Robin Williams and Jim Carrey. Is it any wonder that Adam Sandler and Will Ferrell are looking towards dramatic pieces?

Two other genres seemed oddly lacking representation on the list: Horror and Sci-Fi.

Horror had three notable entries: Jaws, Silence of the Lambs and Psycho. I could argue that each is more suspense/thriller than horror; however Jaws is probably the closest to horror. Where are the entries of the classic monster films of the 30s that are still revered today? Where are the slasher films that opened the door for today’s Hostel and Saw? While I may not be a fan of this genre, I can certainly tell that it is underrepresented here.

Sci-Fi gave us the usual entries of ET: The Extra-Terrestial, Star Wars and 2001: A Space Oddessey. I can not believe that in 100 years we have not had more than 3 movies that would qualify for the list. Interestingly, Close Encounters of the Third Kind did appear on the list ten years ago. I can only assume that AFI felt the Lord of the Rings counted in this genre as well.

I was happy that I at least knew a majority of the movies on the list and could count a number of them as some of my favorites.  I have to say that the retrospective did not feel special.  Other than Morgan Freeman hosting, everything else was left over from 10 years ago.  To show those who died, they added a color filter lens.  All in all, a poor showcase for the finest of the finest.

My only advice to AFI’s voting group: do not feel guilty for picking comedies over dramas.

To see this list and the others, go to www.afi.com .