It's Upfronts week and yes, its action-packed (so to speak)... As I'd mentioned in my Season finales post last week, my TV appetite is ginormous & is definitely being fed this week...
Shows that I watch that have been renewed:
> Bones - for TWO seasons, baby! yeah! (btw - for those of you interested, the whole amnesia thing in the finale - well, it doesn't seem to be amnesia anymore - I found this after days of trolling spoiler blogs & other sites - Hart Hanson has tweeted that "everything was done for a reason" - it better be good sir!)
> Fringe - whooohoo
> Grey's Anatomy - anybody doubt this?
> Castle - surprise, surprise - yes.
> Private Practice - thank god, I can't stand not knowing what happens to Violet
> The Big Bang Theory - also for two seasons. Live long and prosper.
Shows that I used to watch and are now canceled:
> Life - sad.
> Eli Stone - old news, still.
> Dirty Sexy Money - old news, still.
> Pushing Daisies - old news.
> Samantha Who? - what the frak?! I loved this show.
Shows that I used to watch that are now renewed:
> Brothers & Sisters
> Ugly Betty
> Scrubs
> House
> Smallville
> Heroes
Popular shows that I don't watch that are renewed/cancelled:
> How I met your mother (HIMYM) - I missed the train on this one, but will watch it at some point of time - thank god for NetFlix - renewed.
> Lost - renewed - only 13 episodes left, it's back in Jan 2010.
> Prison Break - canceled
> Sarah Connor - canceled
> The Office - missed the train on this one too - renewed
> Friday Night Lights - renewed
> Gossip Girl - renewed
> One Tree Hill - renewed
Ausiello keep his Fall TV Cheat Sheet continually updated - click here. You can also follow Ausiello on Twitter - in his own words "If you can't wait for the page to refresh, you can stalk me on Twitter."
It's funny how I remember the PR for a lot of the newer shows - Kings, Kath & Kim, The Unusuals etc. And now they're canceled - talk about 15 mins of fame!
I'm gonna miss Samantha Who? - really. It was hilarious. But the rest of my TV schedule for fall seems safe now. Fox is pairing Bones & Fringe on Thursday nights - talk about a double whammy. Also, given the fact that Grey's and Private Practice are also on ABC on Thursday nights during the same time slot - the competition is fierce!
Of course, a lot of fall premieres too - Peter Krause, Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, Courtney Cox all have new shows coming out - we'll just have to wait and see...
Oh and also, soon Hulu will have content from ABC too - maybe that will help pass the summer...
Any shows on your must-list that you think I should watch? Sound off below! Later then, ta!
Showing posts with label Bones. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bones. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
About those season finales...
This week was a big one - well, TV-wise - lotsa season finales. For the uninitiated, my appetite for TV is ginormous (fodder for another post, another time) - and this week saw a lot of seasons come to a close.
Now I'm only gonna harp about the shows I follow closely - there are a lot of popular shows out there that I don't watch - either 'cause I missed the train on those or because of excessive hype around them (a big turn off for me).
Having said that, here are the finales I'm gonna vent about: Bones, Fringe, The Big Bang Theory, Castle, Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice (even though this finale was a couple of weeks back). For the uninterested, feel free to wander off at this point - have a drink on me.. and c ya!
*SPOILER LINE: DO NOT CROSS. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN PERIL*
The phrase that comes to mind, about these finales (in both a good & bad way) is - 'What the frak?!?' I'm not one for profanity - but yeah, those are my sentiments. Here's why --
Bones: This was my reaction to the last 3 mins or so of the S4 finale (repeat said phrase atleast 3 times at the top of your voice or through gritted teeth) With the Zack thing in the Season 3 finale - HH shot my puppy. And now this? Amnesia? Really? Really? First thing that came to mind was, man, this is a bad fanfic played out. HH, dude, this was so not a 'love letter' to the fans. Na-ah. Please don't plan any such gimmicks for Season 5 finale. Please. And do try, very very hard, to recover gracefully at the beginning of S5 - carefully tread these waters now. We've gone two steps back with the last 3 mins of this finale. Recover. Well.
Now that I got that out of my system - I actually loved the rest of the finale - except for the last 3 mins that is...
After I calmed down and re-watched the ep again, I came to the conclusion that I dont hate all of it - just the last few minutes... So, here we go...
The rotating interns - well, all of 'em where there - Wendell as the bouncer was my fave - totally cracked me up. Mr. Nigel Murray came a pretty close second as the 'pasty' err.. too lovely to be in jail, Brit DJ. Other surprises included Arastu Vaziri as the relentless businessman who wanted to buy 'The Lab' - I'm so glad he lost the 'accent' and Grayson Barasa as C-Sync's (Clark's) gangsta bro :) and of course Fisher & Daisy with their thing that wasnt a thing and last but never the least - Zack. Zacko. Our fave Vulcan robot - with unfortunately little screen time. Loved it all.
Sweets, Caroline, Max, Jared & Cam rounded up the rest of the cast for the finale - if only Gordon Gordon had been there - that would've been the icing on the cake.
Yeah, it was nice to see Booth & Bren together, as in together - albeit in an AU. All this was fine - I was along for the ride. Till the last danged minute of the finale. And then they pulled the amnesia stunt! Not gonna let go of that one for a while.
One thing I will give credit to the writers for, was the fact that everyone was pretty much in character, even though they were someone else (occupationally, that is). Sweets with his, "I'm the bartender here - practically a psychologist" and Cam playing the cop she's deep down inside anyway. Angela still running to Bren before anyone else. Caroline Julian - gosh I love it when she's around - that dry humor gets me every time :D. Bren being the pragmatic and rational one, even as one of the owners of the nightclub and 'Mr.B' - Booth - in all his protective, funny, makin-eyes-at-Bren glory. I'll say it again - Loved it. Except for the amnesia thing.
Fringe: (happily chant said phrase any number of times) Now that's packing a one-two. J.J.Abrams - you're da man! ok and Robert Orci & Alex Kurtzman too. Season 1 (that's right!) went out with a bang. Highlights: the 'special' gravestone (my face went :-O for a few mins), John Noble (I wanted to give his Walter Bishop a big hug at the end) - in front of said gravestone and finally, ladies & gentlemen - Leonard Nimoy as William Bell - there's a casting coup if there ever was one.
I almost did the Vulcan hand gesture when he introduced himself to Dunham - tee hee. And yes, like I said in the Summer Movie Mania post - I did catch the latest Star Trek last weekend. So, a good week for Mr. Nemoy - definitely. And for a change, I am actually more invested in the whole ZFT mythology than the 'chemistry' (I am beginning to hate that word after the Bones S4 finale fiasco - see above. Yes, Bitter - party of one.) between the lead characters. Not that Joshua Jackson isn't easy on the eyes :)
And strangely enough, both during the finale and the Star Trek movie, I kept thinking - how Sheldon would react to a double dose of Spock (I heart Jim Parsons, in case I haven't said that before). Can't wait for Season 2. And I haven't said that about any new show so far.
Oh and did I mention the Twin Towers in Bell's AU? Sweet.
The Big Bang Theory: (smile gently and repeat said phrase a couple of times) 3 months in the North Pole? Nice. It was good to see Sheldon, Leonard, Raj & Walowitz actually be scientists out in the field. And Penny? sweetie? it's gonna be ok.
I was happy when CBS picked up BBT for two more seasons - I can't get enough of these guys. And frankly, I'm not afraid to get my geek on when I watch BBT - those references to String Theory & Schrodinger's Cat & Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle & Einstein (of course this list isn't exhaustive) - love it, love it, love it. Makes total sense to me and I love that science is such wonderful fuel for comedy. Someone buy me that Caffeine molecule t-shirt please? More nerdy shirts here.
Castle: (whisper said phrase once) Ok - so I started watching this show only cos I wanted to laugh off the comparison between Booth & Bren's chemistry in Bones and Castle's & Beckitt's chemistry in Castle. But I stayed. And continued to watch. Its a good filler on Monday nights.
So why did I say wtf at the finale? Cos Castle crossed a line and Beckitt should hang him dry for it. Only kiddin - I love Nathan Fillion too much to have him hung dry (Fillion, btw, is David Boreanaz's buddy supposedly). Castle did invade her privacy - her mom's murder case to be exact. The road to hell is paved with good intentions - right? And although the cast is not as good an ensemble as Bones, they're still entertaining - not interesting - just, watchable.
Grey's Anatomy: (hyperventilate and repeat said phrase about a 1000 times) Seriously?
Last week was a good run up to the finale and the 2 hr finale itself was solid - everyone - every single person of the cast got decent screentime - yes, even George. Solid story lines - from the Chief getting the Da Vinci to lure Bailey, to Mark & Lexie's little gender-role-bender, to finally the Mer Der wedding, to Christina & Owen's 'Yes' and of course the great Izzie saga.
Few scenes that stood out:
> When Bailey asks the Chief if there was still a spot open in General Surgery (Chandra Wilson was brilliant)
> When Mer and Christina 'hug' - it's lovely to see how far these characters have come. Mer is whole and healed (something that was apparent even last week) and Christina's being able to admit that she has feelings, intense ones at that for Hunt. I gotta say, this season, these Hunt & Christina are the couple that kept me coming back - more than Mer-Der. I think their romance was dealt with well - not in the roller-coaster fashion that the Mer-Der romance was.
> Bailey and Torres talking to the rest of the gang about the 'intervention' - there wasn't one bit of that scene that I could not pay attention to.
> Christina & Mer's 'something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue' scene - Shonda is great at putting a twist on the conventional. Blue post-its and a grocery list - hilarious!
Now, Bones was supposed to have ended with a cliffhanger - ok I will say it - Booth has amnesia. But we all know how that has to end right? Booth has to come back or there is no Bones. But compared to what Shonda has done at the end of GA S5 - the Bones cliffhanger faded into insignificance. Its so far away, its a dot.
On the Grey's Writers blog - last week Shonda had posted that it would be the last post of the season (the post for the 100th ep). Now I know why. No way they could have posted about this and not ended up with an avalanche of wtf's. No way.
The real life tabloid rumors about T.R.Knight & Katherine Heigl continuing on the show, seem to have been written right into the story. The best part? We still don't know at the end of this finale if they'll be back. I thought this finale would put to rest all those rumors. But no siree. Ain't gonna happen. So there. You got me waitin for S6 - even if its just to find out what happened.
Private Practice: (say above phrase once. quietly) Ok so I started watching PP cos of Addison - as I suspect many ppl did. But the overall cast has really grown on me. All of 'em. And that stab-you-in-the-arm-to-make-you-unconscious-and-cut-out-your-baby thing - definitely - wtf!
Amy Brenneman wasn't kidding when she said the finale for her character was going to be like a Quentin Tarantino movie. Honest.
Although, as much as I like Josh Hopkins (he did come on Bones and Brothers & Sisters too - guest spots) - I am a little weary of that whole Addy-Noah storyline. Yeah, life is filled with shades of gray. Still.
*END OF SPOILER LINE*
Other finales I could have watched - cos I used to follow these shows at one point of time - Life, Brothers & Sisters and House. I started watching Cupid but dropped it like a hot potato, like I did with Life and Brothers & Sisters and (and its painful to say this) Heroes. Heroes S3 simply failed to make me care. The only saving grace - Sylar. I heart Zachary Quinto (esp after Star Trek).
In other news, Eli Stone and Dirty, Sexy Money are going to air their final episodes this June-July. In case you haven't heard, ABC officially canceled these shows. Why isn't Pushing Daisies in this list of things that I used to watch? Well I saw too little of it, to merit a mention - I did like it though, a lot. And DSM - for Peter Krause and of course Donald Sutherland - he played Trip Darling painfully well.
And now my biggest gripe about this TV season - what's with the hallucination/dream state/alternate universe (AU) thing people? Did they all just have a single meeting together and decide, 'Seeing dead people and general hallucinations are the theme for this season'? Case in point - Bones, House and Grey's Anatomy. Tiring.
If you've made it this far - congrats - you are as crazy about tv as I am :D. And so begins the loooong summer hiatus. Off I go, back into my TV bubble... see ya later, alligator!
Now I'm only gonna harp about the shows I follow closely - there are a lot of popular shows out there that I don't watch - either 'cause I missed the train on those or because of excessive hype around them (a big turn off for me).
Having said that, here are the finales I'm gonna vent about: Bones, Fringe, The Big Bang Theory, Castle, Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice (even though this finale was a couple of weeks back). For the uninterested, feel free to wander off at this point - have a drink on me.. and c ya!
*SPOILER LINE: DO NOT CROSS. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN PERIL*
The phrase that comes to mind, about these finales (in both a good & bad way) is - 'What the frak?!?' I'm not one for profanity - but yeah, those are my sentiments. Here's why --
Bones: This was my reaction to the last 3 mins or so of the S4 finale (repeat said phrase atleast 3 times at the top of your voice or through gritted teeth) With the Zack thing in the Season 3 finale - HH shot my puppy. And now this? Amnesia? Really? Really? First thing that came to mind was, man, this is a bad fanfic played out. HH, dude, this was so not a 'love letter' to the fans. Na-ah. Please don't plan any such gimmicks for Season 5 finale. Please. And do try, very very hard, to recover gracefully at the beginning of S5 - carefully tread these waters now. We've gone two steps back with the last 3 mins of this finale. Recover. Well.
Now that I got that out of my system - I actually loved the rest of the finale - except for the last 3 mins that is...
After I calmed down and re-watched the ep again, I came to the conclusion that I dont hate all of it - just the last few minutes... So, here we go...
The rotating interns - well, all of 'em where there - Wendell as the bouncer was my fave - totally cracked me up. Mr. Nigel Murray came a pretty close second as the 'pasty' err.. too lovely to be in jail, Brit DJ. Other surprises included Arastu Vaziri as the relentless businessman who wanted to buy 'The Lab' - I'm so glad he lost the 'accent' and Grayson Barasa as C-Sync's (Clark's) gangsta bro :) and of course Fisher & Daisy with their thing that wasnt a thing and last but never the least - Zack. Zacko. Our fave Vulcan robot - with unfortunately little screen time. Loved it all.
Sweets, Caroline, Max, Jared & Cam rounded up the rest of the cast for the finale - if only Gordon Gordon had been there - that would've been the icing on the cake.
Yeah, it was nice to see Booth & Bren together, as in together - albeit in an AU. All this was fine - I was along for the ride. Till the last danged minute of the finale. And then they pulled the amnesia stunt! Not gonna let go of that one for a while.
One thing I will give credit to the writers for, was the fact that everyone was pretty much in character, even though they were someone else (occupationally, that is). Sweets with his, "I'm the bartender here - practically a psychologist" and Cam playing the cop she's deep down inside anyway. Angela still running to Bren before anyone else. Caroline Julian - gosh I love it when she's around - that dry humor gets me every time :D. Bren being the pragmatic and rational one, even as one of the owners of the nightclub and 'Mr.B' - Booth - in all his protective, funny, makin-eyes-at-Bren glory. I'll say it again - Loved it. Except for the amnesia thing.
Fringe: (happily chant said phrase any number of times) Now that's packing a one-two. J.J.Abrams - you're da man! ok and Robert Orci & Alex Kurtzman too. Season 1 (that's right!) went out with a bang. Highlights: the 'special' gravestone (my face went :-O for a few mins), John Noble (I wanted to give his Walter Bishop a big hug at the end) - in front of said gravestone and finally, ladies & gentlemen - Leonard Nimoy as William Bell - there's a casting coup if there ever was one.
I almost did the Vulcan hand gesture when he introduced himself to Dunham - tee hee. And yes, like I said in the Summer Movie Mania post - I did catch the latest Star Trek last weekend. So, a good week for Mr. Nemoy - definitely. And for a change, I am actually more invested in the whole ZFT mythology than the 'chemistry' (I am beginning to hate that word after the Bones S4 finale fiasco - see above. Yes, Bitter - party of one.) between the lead characters. Not that Joshua Jackson isn't easy on the eyes :)
And strangely enough, both during the finale and the Star Trek movie, I kept thinking - how Sheldon would react to a double dose of Spock (I heart Jim Parsons, in case I haven't said that before). Can't wait for Season 2. And I haven't said that about any new show so far.
Oh and did I mention the Twin Towers in Bell's AU? Sweet.
The Big Bang Theory: (smile gently and repeat said phrase a couple of times) 3 months in the North Pole? Nice. It was good to see Sheldon, Leonard, Raj & Walowitz actually be scientists out in the field. And Penny? sweetie? it's gonna be ok.
I was happy when CBS picked up BBT for two more seasons - I can't get enough of these guys. And frankly, I'm not afraid to get my geek on when I watch BBT - those references to String Theory & Schrodinger's Cat & Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle & Einstein (of course this list isn't exhaustive) - love it, love it, love it. Makes total sense to me and I love that science is such wonderful fuel for comedy. Someone buy me that Caffeine molecule t-shirt please? More nerdy shirts here.
Castle: (whisper said phrase once) Ok - so I started watching this show only cos I wanted to laugh off the comparison between Booth & Bren's chemistry in Bones and Castle's & Beckitt's chemistry in Castle. But I stayed. And continued to watch. Its a good filler on Monday nights.
So why did I say wtf at the finale? Cos Castle crossed a line and Beckitt should hang him dry for it. Only kiddin - I love Nathan Fillion too much to have him hung dry (Fillion, btw, is David Boreanaz's buddy supposedly). Castle did invade her privacy - her mom's murder case to be exact. The road to hell is paved with good intentions - right? And although the cast is not as good an ensemble as Bones, they're still entertaining - not interesting - just, watchable.
Grey's Anatomy: (hyperventilate and repeat said phrase about a 1000 times) Seriously?
Last week was a good run up to the finale and the 2 hr finale itself was solid - everyone - every single person of the cast got decent screentime - yes, even George. Solid story lines - from the Chief getting the Da Vinci to lure Bailey, to Mark & Lexie's little gender-role-bender, to finally the Mer Der wedding, to Christina & Owen's 'Yes' and of course the great Izzie saga.
Few scenes that stood out:
> When Bailey asks the Chief if there was still a spot open in General Surgery (Chandra Wilson was brilliant)
> When Mer and Christina 'hug' - it's lovely to see how far these characters have come. Mer is whole and healed (something that was apparent even last week) and Christina's being able to admit that she has feelings, intense ones at that for Hunt. I gotta say, this season, these Hunt & Christina are the couple that kept me coming back - more than Mer-Der. I think their romance was dealt with well - not in the roller-coaster fashion that the Mer-Der romance was.
> Bailey and Torres talking to the rest of the gang about the 'intervention' - there wasn't one bit of that scene that I could not pay attention to.
> Christina & Mer's 'something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue' scene - Shonda is great at putting a twist on the conventional. Blue post-its and a grocery list - hilarious!
Now, Bones was supposed to have ended with a cliffhanger - ok I will say it - Booth has amnesia. But we all know how that has to end right? Booth has to come back or there is no Bones. But compared to what Shonda has done at the end of GA S5 - the Bones cliffhanger faded into insignificance. Its so far away, its a dot.
On the Grey's Writers blog - last week Shonda had posted that it would be the last post of the season (the post for the 100th ep). Now I know why. No way they could have posted about this and not ended up with an avalanche of wtf's. No way.
The real life tabloid rumors about T.R.Knight & Katherine Heigl continuing on the show, seem to have been written right into the story. The best part? We still don't know at the end of this finale if they'll be back. I thought this finale would put to rest all those rumors. But no siree. Ain't gonna happen. So there. You got me waitin for S6 - even if its just to find out what happened.
Private Practice: (say above phrase once. quietly) Ok so I started watching PP cos of Addison - as I suspect many ppl did. But the overall cast has really grown on me. All of 'em. And that stab-you-in-the-arm-to-make-you-unconscious-and-cut-out-your-baby thing - definitely - wtf!
Amy Brenneman wasn't kidding when she said the finale for her character was going to be like a Quentin Tarantino movie. Honest.
Although, as much as I like Josh Hopkins (he did come on Bones and Brothers & Sisters too - guest spots) - I am a little weary of that whole Addy-Noah storyline. Yeah, life is filled with shades of gray. Still.
*END OF SPOILER LINE*
Other finales I could have watched - cos I used to follow these shows at one point of time - Life, Brothers & Sisters and House. I started watching Cupid but dropped it like a hot potato, like I did with Life and Brothers & Sisters and (and its painful to say this) Heroes. Heroes S3 simply failed to make me care. The only saving grace - Sylar. I heart Zachary Quinto (esp after Star Trek).
In other news, Eli Stone and Dirty, Sexy Money are going to air their final episodes this June-July. In case you haven't heard, ABC officially canceled these shows. Why isn't Pushing Daisies in this list of things that I used to watch? Well I saw too little of it, to merit a mention - I did like it though, a lot. And DSM - for Peter Krause and of course Donald Sutherland - he played Trip Darling painfully well.
And now my biggest gripe about this TV season - what's with the hallucination/dream state/alternate universe (AU) thing people? Did they all just have a single meeting together and decide, 'Seeing dead people and general hallucinations are the theme for this season'? Case in point - Bones, House and Grey's Anatomy. Tiring.
If you've made it this far - congrats - you are as crazy about tv as I am :D. And so begins the loooong summer hiatus. Off I go, back into my TV bubble... see ya later, alligator!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Wicked!
ok ok... so I swore I would not gush all over my blog about summer movies .. cos, you know, they are summer movies... pure summertainment - not real movies, right? ... but a couple of summer movies I have watched this summer, have changed my mind and I don't mind saying that I've been pleasantly surprised...
*WARNING*: long post ... hear me out people...
the movies that changed my mind? Ironman and The Dark Knight... now, now, before you roll your eyes, let me lay it out for you - a) I am NOT a comic book fan and b) my stand on superheroes so far - meh.
So, the fact that I am here, writing about two superhero movies - well, even I am surprised...
For those of you who haven't seen these movies yet - please stop here - major spoiler alert - but take my word for it, go and watch them - these movies will leave you quite entertained and satisfied that you got your money's worth - and nowadays, that saying a lot...
And for those of you who think I must probably be a blind fan of the actors in these movies - well, you're wrong...
First - Ironman... I had zero info about what the character/comic book was about - only what I'd read in the summer previews that it was about a normal guy who Macgyver's together a suit and becomes Ironman...
That being said, I also knew Robert Downey Jr. was playing the lead... and I knew him from - don't roll your eyes - Only you and I've always thought of him as handsome, you know, easy on the eyes, great smile... Haven't really followed any of his other work, although I have heard of his drug problems and arrests...
So anyways, as the movie progressed, I realized I was quite won over by the intelligent script, not to mention top of the line action sequences (no, I am not going to squeee about the sexy Ironman suit) , Robert Downey Jr's deadpan delivery of some of the funniest lines in the movie and good old fashioned solid acting... and the movie made quite a statement about war too - it is all about who's got the biggest guns...
Yeah - predictable story - rich, I-don't-give-a-*** industrialist, weapons innovator (that pic of RDJ with Bill Gates had me in splits) gets kidnapped by his biggest customers - Middle-Eastern terrorists - builds himself a suit from scrap parts of his own weapons and escapes.... turns around 180 and goes back to save the villagers in the area he was kidnapped in... vows to stop building weapons... so what if it takes his own grenade that blows up on him and causes a million pieces of shrapnel racing towards his heart - to change it!
RDJ is absolutely charming and suave as Tony Stark - the industrialist-playboy-innovator-indifferent rich guy turned super hero...
Highlights of the movie for me - his scenes with Pepper, played by the beautiful Ms.Paltrow, his scenes in his lab while coming up with his suit, his test drives of them and most importantly - the fact that in spite of being an the industrialist-playboy-innovator-indifferent rich guy, he was still in touch with his craft - his ability to invent things, be it in his lab or in the caves - he was still hands-on with the thing that made him who he was ... not some - oh-I-am-so-rich-I-don't-even-care-about-how-I-got-here types....
Very intelligent - that too for a summer movie... screenplay was tight, acting was top notch, effects were so good, you wouldnt know that the suit he puts on is all effects and not a real suit...
I found a theme here that seems to be recurring nowadays - more about that later...
Onto The Dark Knight... ok so I havent really cared for Christian Bale's work... may have even seen a couple of movies of his I dont remember... and the man everyone's talking about - Heath Ledger - who I first saw in, wait for it, 10 Things I hate about you ... heard about him in movies I never saw - A Knight's Tale, The Patriot, Brokeback Mountain...
But yes, I do have a past with the Batman comics/movies/tv in the past - I grew up on the 60's Batman TV Show featuring Adam West - my 10 yr old self was so in love with him ... anyways, that show was more comedic than serious about crime-fighting and I rofl now thinking of the dialogues and the execution...
Annnnyways, yeah, so I did see a couple of Batman movies - the ones with Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney - oops, that's one more than a couple - so yeah, that's all I had on Batman so far and all I knew about Batman Begins was that it had Christian Bale in it along with, wait for it, (rolling my eyes) Katies Holmes - and after watching such suave, charming men play Batman, watching Christian Bale as the caped crusader in Batman Begins, was NOT a priority...
Anyways, so I heard all about the Dark Knight and how Heath Ledger is so darn amazing in it - and yes, I am one of the people who went into it having heard all the hype about a posthumous Oscar for Ledger (what with his recent death and all)... I had this line in my head from some review I read - "people may just watch it for the fact that they are seeing Heath Ledger's ghost on screen" - I was all, wow this is so cool, this has never happened to me and all that jazz...
But you know what, that lasted for like 2 seconds - Ledger is that darned good - you forget all about the real him and get lost in the madness that is the Joker... And yes, I am an ardent Jack Nicholson fan - I think he is one of the finest actors of my time - my fave movie of his so far, As good as it gets - till date, his performance as the Joker is the one I've measured quite a few villians upto...
But Ledger, my god... his performance was all it was cracked up to be and so much more... only adjectives come to mind - chilling, riveting, brilliant... the singularity of the character's purpose - to watch Gotham city burn ( no no, definitely not for money - he *gasp* burned a room-high pile of greenbacks) and two memorable lines - "Why so serious?" and "If you are good at something, never do it for free" - now that's what I am talkin about!
yeah, so I did sit there cringing through most of the havoc that the Joker unleashed on the city... but you just have to give the guy credit - this line comes to mind - If you wanna be bad, yeah, you gotta be good ...
And yes, I'm gonna say it - his performance as the Joker was more chilling than Mr. Nicholson's... his scenes with Batman - where he so clearly points out that he has brought Batman to the point where he cannot do anything even with all his strength and has absolutely nothing to threaten the Joker with - sheer genius ... and towards the end, where he talks about how incorruptible Batman is, how noble he is in not killing the Joker out of self-righteousness and how they may be destined to do this good guy-bad guy dance forever... some of the best lines ever... right up there with Casablanca quotes...
Why am I not talking about Bale, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman (another fave of mine) and Michael Caine? The story and screenplay + Ledger = little reason to talk about these other elements... fine performances, yes - esp. Eckhart & Freeman... but the overall wow-ness is the story and Ledger more than anything else... I'll take an intelligent villain over a mildly-interesting superhero any day...
Both these movies left me thinking - which not very many movies have made me do ... that was a pleasant surprise... thinking about what makes us human and more importantly, good, bad or somewhere inbetween ... As the Joker says, people are only as good as they are allowed to be by society and don't even get me started about his rant about plans - man, the stuff really hit home ... here's the link for quotes from the movie - go on and read a few, you won't regret it and I'll wait right here for you...
And yet, this is a Batman movie, so it still is about him and why he is the Dark Knight as opposed to Eckhart's white (D.A) knight... A tad bit long - honestly, I was ready to pack up and leave at the 2 hr mark - I really did think the movie was over, but noooo, there was more to be seen & heard... brilliant...
Other Dark Knight links:
http://www.themovieblog.com/2008/06/the-dark-knight-review
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/08/04/mondaymoviebuzz.darkknight.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_dark_knight/
And here's the theme I was talking about - deconstructing the classic hero - he is not indestructible, he is not all powerful and he is certainly not a one man army...
I mean look at Tony Stark & Bruce Wayne - the "heroes" - the bleed, they burn , they hurt and *gasp* have real emotions... and yeah, they are flawed and they're not afraid to show it - but that's what makes them all the more relatable.... right? I don't mean that in a 'now I think I can also be Ironman' sort of way... I'm just saying - they've made it ok for heroes to be as human as any of us...
This is also a theme I ave noticed in two of my (don't yawn) fave TV shows - Bones & Heroes - yes, Booth is a knight-in-shining-FBI-standard-issue-body-armour but he is also a normal guy who loves his kid to death and loves his beer & apple pie and doesn't want to hurt his shoulder breaking down a door (Season 3, last ep. Pain in the heart) ... and in Heroes - all of 'em - Bob, Peter, Noah, *gasp* Elle, Nathan, Peter, Hiro and yes, even Adam - all with superpowers but driven purely by their own humanity...
Wicked awesome these movies... loved them... And so comes an end to a weekend I managed to pack in 7 movies into (including the latest Mummy movie) ... probably won't be back here for a while though ... till the next post then... ta!
*WARNING*: long post ... hear me out people...
the movies that changed my mind? Ironman and The Dark Knight... now, now, before you roll your eyes, let me lay it out for you - a) I am NOT a comic book fan and b) my stand on superheroes so far - meh.
So, the fact that I am here, writing about two superhero movies - well, even I am surprised...
For those of you who haven't seen these movies yet - please stop here - major spoiler alert - but take my word for it, go and watch them - these movies will leave you quite entertained and satisfied that you got your money's worth - and nowadays, that saying a lot...
And for those of you who think I must probably be a blind fan of the actors in these movies - well, you're wrong...
First - Ironman... I had zero info about what the character/comic book was about - only what I'd read in the summer previews that it was about a normal guy who Macgyver's together a suit and becomes Ironman...
That being said, I also knew Robert Downey Jr. was playing the lead... and I knew him from - don't roll your eyes - Only you and I've always thought of him as handsome, you know, easy on the eyes, great smile... Haven't really followed any of his other work, although I have heard of his drug problems and arrests...
So anyways, as the movie progressed, I realized I was quite won over by the intelligent script, not to mention top of the line action sequences (no, I am not going to squeee about the sexy Ironman suit) , Robert Downey Jr's deadpan delivery of some of the funniest lines in the movie and good old fashioned solid acting... and the movie made quite a statement about war too - it is all about who's got the biggest guns...
Yeah - predictable story - rich, I-don't-give-a-*** industrialist, weapons innovator (that pic of RDJ with Bill Gates had me in splits) gets kidnapped by his biggest customers - Middle-Eastern terrorists - builds himself a suit from scrap parts of his own weapons and escapes.... turns around 180 and goes back to save the villagers in the area he was kidnapped in... vows to stop building weapons... so what if it takes his own grenade that blows up on him and causes a million pieces of shrapnel racing towards his heart - to change it!
RDJ is absolutely charming and suave as Tony Stark - the industrialist-playboy-innovator-indifferent rich guy turned super hero...
Highlights of the movie for me - his scenes with Pepper, played by the beautiful Ms.Paltrow, his scenes in his lab while coming up with his suit, his test drives of them and most importantly - the fact that in spite of being an the industrialist-playboy-innovator-indifferent rich guy, he was still in touch with his craft - his ability to invent things, be it in his lab or in the caves - he was still hands-on with the thing that made him who he was ... not some - oh-I-am-so-rich-I-don't-even-care-about-how-I-got-here types....
Very intelligent - that too for a summer movie... screenplay was tight, acting was top notch, effects were so good, you wouldnt know that the suit he puts on is all effects and not a real suit...
I found a theme here that seems to be recurring nowadays - more about that later...
Onto The Dark Knight... ok so I havent really cared for Christian Bale's work... may have even seen a couple of movies of his I dont remember... and the man everyone's talking about - Heath Ledger - who I first saw in, wait for it, 10 Things I hate about you ... heard about him in movies I never saw - A Knight's Tale, The Patriot, Brokeback Mountain...
But yes, I do have a past with the Batman comics/movies/tv in the past - I grew up on the 60's Batman TV Show featuring Adam West - my 10 yr old self was so in love with him ... anyways, that show was more comedic than serious about crime-fighting and I rofl now thinking of the dialogues and the execution...
Annnnyways, yeah, so I did see a couple of Batman movies - the ones with Michael Keaton, Val Kilmer, George Clooney - oops, that's one more than a couple - so yeah, that's all I had on Batman so far and all I knew about Batman Begins was that it had Christian Bale in it along with, wait for it, (rolling my eyes) Katies Holmes - and after watching such suave, charming men play Batman, watching Christian Bale as the caped crusader in Batman Begins, was NOT a priority...
Anyways, so I heard all about the Dark Knight and how Heath Ledger is so darn amazing in it - and yes, I am one of the people who went into it having heard all the hype about a posthumous Oscar for Ledger (what with his recent death and all)... I had this line in my head from some review I read - "people may just watch it for the fact that they are seeing Heath Ledger's ghost on screen" - I was all, wow this is so cool, this has never happened to me and all that jazz...
But you know what, that lasted for like 2 seconds - Ledger is that darned good - you forget all about the real him and get lost in the madness that is the Joker... And yes, I am an ardent Jack Nicholson fan - I think he is one of the finest actors of my time - my fave movie of his so far, As good as it gets - till date, his performance as the Joker is the one I've measured quite a few villians upto...
But Ledger, my god... his performance was all it was cracked up to be and so much more... only adjectives come to mind - chilling, riveting, brilliant... the singularity of the character's purpose - to watch Gotham city burn ( no no, definitely not for money - he *gasp* burned a room-high pile of greenbacks) and two memorable lines - "Why so serious?" and "If you are good at something, never do it for free" - now that's what I am talkin about!
yeah, so I did sit there cringing through most of the havoc that the Joker unleashed on the city... but you just have to give the guy credit - this line comes to mind - If you wanna be bad, yeah, you gotta be good ...
And yes, I'm gonna say it - his performance as the Joker was more chilling than Mr. Nicholson's... his scenes with Batman - where he so clearly points out that he has brought Batman to the point where he cannot do anything even with all his strength and has absolutely nothing to threaten the Joker with - sheer genius ... and towards the end, where he talks about how incorruptible Batman is, how noble he is in not killing the Joker out of self-righteousness and how they may be destined to do this good guy-bad guy dance forever... some of the best lines ever... right up there with Casablanca quotes...
Why am I not talking about Bale, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman (another fave of mine) and Michael Caine? The story and screenplay + Ledger = little reason to talk about these other elements... fine performances, yes - esp. Eckhart & Freeman... but the overall wow-ness is the story and Ledger more than anything else... I'll take an intelligent villain over a mildly-interesting superhero any day...
Both these movies left me thinking - which not very many movies have made me do ... that was a pleasant surprise... thinking about what makes us human and more importantly, good, bad or somewhere inbetween ... As the Joker says, people are only as good as they are allowed to be by society and don't even get me started about his rant about plans - man, the stuff really hit home ... here's the link for quotes from the movie - go on and read a few, you won't regret it and I'll wait right here for you...
And yet, this is a Batman movie, so it still is about him and why he is the Dark Knight as opposed to Eckhart's white (D.A) knight... A tad bit long - honestly, I was ready to pack up and leave at the 2 hr mark - I really did think the movie was over, but noooo, there was more to be seen & heard... brilliant...
Other Dark Knight links:
http://www.themovieblog.com/2008/06/the-dark-knight-review
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/08/04/mondaymoviebuzz.darkknight.ap/index.html?eref=rss_latest
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_dark_knight/
And here's the theme I was talking about - deconstructing the classic hero - he is not indestructible, he is not all powerful and he is certainly not a one man army...
I mean look at Tony Stark & Bruce Wayne - the "heroes" - the bleed, they burn , they hurt and *gasp* have real emotions... and yeah, they are flawed and they're not afraid to show it - but that's what makes them all the more relatable.... right? I don't mean that in a 'now I think I can also be Ironman' sort of way... I'm just saying - they've made it ok for heroes to be as human as any of us...
This is also a theme I ave noticed in two of my (don't yawn) fave TV shows - Bones & Heroes - yes, Booth is a knight-in-shining-FBI-standard-issue-body-armour but he is also a normal guy who loves his kid to death and loves his beer & apple pie and doesn't want to hurt his shoulder breaking down a door (Season 3, last ep. Pain in the heart) ... and in Heroes - all of 'em - Bob, Peter, Noah, *gasp* Elle, Nathan, Peter, Hiro and yes, even Adam - all with superpowers but driven purely by their own humanity...
Wicked awesome these movies... loved them... And so comes an end to a weekend I managed to pack in 7 movies into (including the latest Mummy movie) ... probably won't be back here for a while though ... till the next post then... ta!
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