The following review, while containing no major spoilers, may reveal some plot details. If you’ve yet to see the movie, read at your own risk.
Man of Steel has been a divisive movie. A quick look at the movie's Rotten Tomatoes scores reveals a pretty big gap between critics' (56% fresh) and the general audience's (82% fresh) scores. Even within the two groups, reactions range from awesome to awful. But I think we can all agree on one thing: Henry Cavill is a very attractive man.
There’s some enjoyment in just watching an attractive man on the big screen, and Henry Cavill certainly provides that. With a dashing performance and good looks, Cavill is the perfect Superman, and that’s a pretty big part of the puzzle when you’re making a superhero movie. However, it’s not the only piece of the puzzle, and Man of Steel falters when it came to some of the other pieces.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
7 Reasons to Watch Hannibal
I'll admit it; Hannibal sounded like a terrible idea for a TV show. A prequel to Silence of the Lambs? Really? Upon hearing the premise, I rolled my eyes and prepared myself for some snark upon its premiere. Then I read that Bryan Fuller was the creator. And it was starring Hugh Dancy. And then an intriguing trailer was released. And then positive reviews started rolling in.
So I entered the pilot with pretty positive expectations, but even so, I've been blown away by how good Hannibal is. Not only is it absorbingly entertaining, but it's also a really high quality show. Rather than just focusing on Hannibal the cannibal (Mads Mikkelsen), the show also pushes Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) to the forefront as a special agent to the FBI who uses his ability to empathize with murders to help solve their crimes. Hannibal serves as Will's unofficial psychologist, helping him deal with the emotional toll of the job. The dual leads provide variety to the show and have led to a far more interesting story arc than I'd expected.
Unfortunately Hannibal's ratings haven't correlated with its quality. For some reason, a lot of people just aren't watching. If you're one of these people, I'm here to convince you why you should start watching.
However, I will give one caveat; if you can't handle gore, don't watch Hannibal. It's such an excellent show that I don't mind a little bit of cringing, but if you're easily grossed out, Hannibal probably isn't the show for you. That being said, if you can handle some gore, Hannibal is excellent and well worth your time for many reasons including these seven.
1) It's visually beautiful.
So I entered the pilot with pretty positive expectations, but even so, I've been blown away by how good Hannibal is. Not only is it absorbingly entertaining, but it's also a really high quality show. Rather than just focusing on Hannibal the cannibal (Mads Mikkelsen), the show also pushes Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) to the forefront as a special agent to the FBI who uses his ability to empathize with murders to help solve their crimes. Hannibal serves as Will's unofficial psychologist, helping him deal with the emotional toll of the job. The dual leads provide variety to the show and have led to a far more interesting story arc than I'd expected.
Unfortunately Hannibal's ratings haven't correlated with its quality. For some reason, a lot of people just aren't watching. If you're one of these people, I'm here to convince you why you should start watching.
However, I will give one caveat; if you can't handle gore, don't watch Hannibal. It's such an excellent show that I don't mind a little bit of cringing, but if you're easily grossed out, Hannibal probably isn't the show for you. That being said, if you can handle some gore, Hannibal is excellent and well worth your time for many reasons including these seven.
1) It's visually beautiful.
Friday, February 1, 2013
4 of the Worst Wigs on TV This Season
If you've read much of this blog, you've probably come to realize that I love to make fun of things. One of the things I've enjoyed laughing at this television season is bad wigs. I'm definitely no hair expert, so if I've managed to notice someone wearing a wig, it's got to be pretty bad. I've put together a short list of some of the latest fake hairdos I've enjoyed mocking.
1. Carrie Bradshaw from The Carrie Diaries
"What? This one's not that bad," you may say. Don't worry. I thought I'd ease into some of the more horrific hair. Carrie's bouncy curls from The Carrie Diaries pilot looked notably different by the second episode. That's because Carrie's wig first made its appearance then. Admittedly, the wig looks okay enough to me in some scenes (although see my "definitely no hair expert" comment above), but when it's clearly standing apart from her scalp, as in the still above, it's hard to take it seriously.
1. Carrie Bradshaw from The Carrie Diaries
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Some Thoughts on The Following 1x01, "Pilot"
If you're planning to watch The Following but haven't yet, this isn't the review for you. There are spoilers in this post for the first episode, and it doesn't contain a rehash of the show's plot. If you have watched the first episode, please read along and share your thoughts.
Even though the trailers weren't particularly appealing to me, I was excited for The Following. The premise of a serial killer leading a cult intrigued me, the show seemed to generate a fairly positive buzz early on (although that buzz has become more divisive in the past few weeks), and most of all, Kevin Williamson, known for Scream and The Vampire Diaries is the show's creator.
The Following wasn't as original as I was hoping it would be (especially given Scream's fresh take on the horror genre), but I feel like it's still different from a lot of shows on television at the moment. In fact, it had a cinematic feel to it. The show is largely a crime thriller, but it also has a dash of horror movie in its DNA. The scene where Kevin Bacon's Ryan Hardy searches for Sarah in her house and then her neighbors' house genuinely held me in suspense. While I suppose it could veer off into disjointed follower of the week stories, The Following appears as if it's going to stick largely to an cohesive and overarching story of Joe Carroll and his followers. If so, the shortish episode order (I believe the promo said fourteen or fifteen episodes) could lead to an solid, connected story told in weekly increments.
Even though the trailers weren't particularly appealing to me, I was excited for The Following. The premise of a serial killer leading a cult intrigued me, the show seemed to generate a fairly positive buzz early on (although that buzz has become more divisive in the past few weeks), and most of all, Kevin Williamson, known for Scream and The Vampire Diaries is the show's creator.
The Following wasn't as original as I was hoping it would be (especially given Scream's fresh take on the horror genre), but I feel like it's still different from a lot of shows on television at the moment. In fact, it had a cinematic feel to it. The show is largely a crime thriller, but it also has a dash of horror movie in its DNA. The scene where Kevin Bacon's Ryan Hardy searches for Sarah in her house and then her neighbors' house genuinely held me in suspense. While I suppose it could veer off into disjointed follower of the week stories, The Following appears as if it's going to stick largely to an cohesive and overarching story of Joe Carroll and his followers. If so, the shortish episode order (I believe the promo said fourteen or fifteen episodes) could lead to an solid, connected story told in weekly increments.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Review: The Mindy Project 1x04, "Halloween"
They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder; in the case of The Mindy Project, that cliche held true for me. When the show finally returned last night after a two week break, I was pretty pumped for a new episode.
"Halloween" focused on two storylines. The A story dealt with Mindy's relationship with Josh and her quest to find the perfect costume to wear as Josh's date to a Halloween party. The B story consisted of Danny and Jeremy's quest to get their driver's licenses.
I feel like being mean, so let's talk about the B story first. There was almost nothing I liked about this storyline. I mentioned in my last review of The Mindy Project that Danny is growing on me, and I didn't necessarily dislike the idea of his character in this episode. In practice, however, he just wasn't that fun to watch. I suspect that this was largely due to his sharing the storyline with Jeremy.
"Halloween" focused on two storylines. The A story dealt with Mindy's relationship with Josh and her quest to find the perfect costume to wear as Josh's date to a Halloween party. The B story consisted of Danny and Jeremy's quest to get their driver's licenses.
I feel like being mean, so let's talk about the B story first. There was almost nothing I liked about this storyline. I mentioned in my last review of The Mindy Project that Danny is growing on me, and I didn't necessarily dislike the idea of his character in this episode. In practice, however, he just wasn't that fun to watch. I suspect that this was largely due to his sharing the storyline with Jeremy.
Saturday, October 20, 2012
Review: Grey's Anatomy 9x03, "Love the One You're With"
Grey's Anatomy has had its ups and downs over the years. Those downs have been pretty low at times, but it's always, in my opinion at least, been able to recover. After the first two episodes of this season, I was started to wonder if it had finally hit a bottom it couldn't come back from. The episodes bored me, and I couldn't bring myself to care about what was happening. I liked both Sloan and Lexie a lot, but their deaths didn't even affect me.
I think my biggest problem with the current state of Grey's Anatomy is there's far too much trauma. Look, I appreciate some trauma on Grey's Anatomy from time to time. I loved the Denny storyline, and the season six finale with the hospital shooting was what convinced me to go back and watch from the beginning.
However, the trauma has reached a point of saturation on the show. A lot of beloved characters have died: Denny, George, Lexie, Henry, Sloan and for a brief period of time Meredith (Remember that time she drowned? Although I can't quite remember if she technically died.). There's been a shooting at the hospital, a bomb, a car crash for Arizona and Callie, a plane crash and worst of all a musical episode. I won't even go into all of the relationship drama that has taken place of the course of the show. I feel like I'm drowning in the trauma, and I need some fun and humor to keep me from becoming overwhelmed.
That's why I mostly enjoyed last Thursdays's episode, "Love the One You're With." While it wasn't a perfect episode and was still bogged down with some drama, it was a breath of fresh air compared to the first two episodes of the season.
I think my biggest problem with the current state of Grey's Anatomy is there's far too much trauma. Look, I appreciate some trauma on Grey's Anatomy from time to time. I loved the Denny storyline, and the season six finale with the hospital shooting was what convinced me to go back and watch from the beginning.
However, the trauma has reached a point of saturation on the show. A lot of beloved characters have died: Denny, George, Lexie, Henry, Sloan and for a brief period of time Meredith (Remember that time she drowned? Although I can't quite remember if she technically died.). There's been a shooting at the hospital, a bomb, a car crash for Arizona and Callie, a plane crash and worst of all a musical episode. I won't even go into all of the relationship drama that has taken place of the course of the show. I feel like I'm drowning in the trauma, and I need some fun and humor to keep me from becoming overwhelmed.
That's why I mostly enjoyed last Thursdays's episode, "Love the One You're With." While it wasn't a perfect episode and was still bogged down with some drama, it was a breath of fresh air compared to the first two episodes of the season.
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Review: The Mindy Project 1x03, "In the Club"
When I reviewed The Mindy Project's pilot a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that the show didn't quite live up to my expectations and that I was hoping for improvement in future episodes. While The Mindy Project still has some growing to do, I do feel that the show has made some strides in the two episodes following the pilot.
Last's night's episode, "In the Club," featured a club night outing for Mindy and her coworkers. I didn't completely love the episode, but it was pretty fun and wisely fleshed out some of the supporting characters. Because "In the Club's" primary accomplishment was allowing us to get a better idea of who these characters are, I'm going to spend most of this review talking about them.
One of the biggest surprises to come out of last night was that I realized I'm warming up to Danny. I was pretty harsh on him in my review of the pilot. While he was somewhat more likeable in the second episode, I enjoyed Danny far more in this episode. I was expecting him to spend the whole episode feeling like a fish out of water in the club setting, but it was a good choice to let him dance and show off his fun side. Given that The Mindy Project is deeply rooted in the romantic comedy genre, it's important that the leading man be likable. While the writers have some work to do before I'm fully team Danny, "In the Club" proved that Danny can be more than a jerk who tells Mindy to lose fifteen pounds.
Last's night's episode, "In the Club," featured a club night outing for Mindy and her coworkers. I didn't completely love the episode, but it was pretty fun and wisely fleshed out some of the supporting characters. Because "In the Club's" primary accomplishment was allowing us to get a better idea of who these characters are, I'm going to spend most of this review talking about them.
One of the biggest surprises to come out of last night was that I realized I'm warming up to Danny. I was pretty harsh on him in my review of the pilot. While he was somewhat more likeable in the second episode, I enjoyed Danny far more in this episode. I was expecting him to spend the whole episode feeling like a fish out of water in the club setting, but it was a good choice to let him dance and show off his fun side. Given that The Mindy Project is deeply rooted in the romantic comedy genre, it's important that the leading man be likable. While the writers have some work to do before I'm fully team Danny, "In the Club" proved that Danny can be more than a jerk who tells Mindy to lose fifteen pounds.
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