Rewind Theater: Shameless - season 1

From time to time a TV show, movie, book (who am I kidding, a book?), comic book, music or piece of pop culture gets lost in the shuffle.  There are only so many hours in the day and I have yet to perfect the art of never sleeping.  This is my chance to take a look back and see whether it was good or bad that I missed the boat the first time an item came around.  Today’s topic:

Shameless, (Showtime TV series) - Season 1

As you may have noticed, I like to rank things.  With its cast of characters and multiple storylines, Shameless lends itself perfectly to a Top 10 Characters Power Ranking each season.  I’ll keep the spoilers to a minimum until we get to the Rankings at which point all bets are off.  You’ve been apprised of the rules.  Enjoy…

Initial Take: 

I’ve been urged by many people to watch Shameless, no more so than by my girlfriend, who have been telling me that I will love the characters, the humor and just how screwed up the Gallagher family is.  The problem?  If I wanted to see broke people scrounging around, having life shit on them and wondering how they’ll make it through the day… I’ll just look in a mirror and save myself 50 minutes a week.  Nevertheless, I agreed to watch the first episode, if only to shut the old lady up and to see what all the fuss was about.

Now, if you people (YOU PEOPLE!?) would have just described the show better, I’d have been all-in since day one.  The log line should have just said, “A total smoke-show, and girl you’ve never seen before, Emmy Rossum is naked and screwing guys while William H Macy (one of the top five underrated actors) does WHM-things.”  I wouldn’t have waited this long to check it out.

Normally, I’m not a Showtime guy.  Aside from Masters of Sex (probably the MOST underrated show on TV) and the new Penny Dreadful (second season starts soon and the jury is still out), I find most of their shows enjoyable but formulaic once they get past the first season or two.  I know Weeds and Dexter have diehard followings and everyone assures me that as the seasons go on, the shows get better.  The key word there is SEASONS.  Breaking Bad wasn’t BREAKING BAD until halfway through the second season but the first year was only six episodes and I’d put the worst Breaking Bad episode up against the best Weeds / Dexter episode in a Pepsi Challenge any day.  If you want me to watch SEASONS before it gets a slot on my dance card, it better be “Awesome with a capital A, baby!” (sorry, it’s getting near NCAA tournament time - props to my man Dickie V!).

The first word I thought of while watching Shameless was “frenetic”.  From the storytelling to the directing to the writing, the show moves fast and furious.  It’s hard work keeping up with the Gallagher clan.  They cram more into six episodes than most series will do all year.  By the 12th and final episode, you’ve forgotten many of the smaller storylines that helped build the main characters.  This isn’t a throwing shade on Shameless because you know what other show does this, Game of Thrones.  Granted both are about dysfunctional families, I certainly wouldn’t put the two shows in the same league, ballpark or even sport.  But both take the same muscle memory to keep track of who’s who and what they’re up to.  The key is that the important arcs stay and the ones that don’t matter get resolved, usually with a fist or a drink.  It’s an excellent show, that once you’ve gotten your sea-legs and know who everyone is, every episode is very enjoyable.  The show burns through so much, so fast that you don’t have time to tire on any one plot.  Everyone is so beautifully fucked up on this show.

I present to you the Top 10 characters of Shameless - Season 1:

1. Frank Gallagher (William H Macy) – Oddly, he’s not the “star” of this show but he’s the character and actor that keeps his foot on the gas of the show’s engine and makes up for the young cast’s inexperience.  The producers, writers and show runners were smart to fill in the more outrageous parts and storylines with veteran actors.  There’s no way that Frank would be a functioning, let alone accepted, person in society but WHM sells you to the fact that he’s still everyone’s best friend (even after screwing them all over at some point) and that he’s able to still fuck his way across town.  He’s William ‘fucking’ H Macy for christ sake.  When has he not been great?    
2. Fiona Gallagher (Emmy Rossum) – Every time I would see Emmy Rossum on a Red Carpet event or in the gossip rags, I’d have no idea who she was but thought she was a cute girl.  Everyone would always say, “That’s the girl from Shameless.”   Okay, fine, but every show has some hot young girl on it, what makes her so special?  Maybe it’s because she can act the fuck out of some of the series most emotional sequences.  When she goes toe-to-toe with actors that have more experience than she is old, it’s Fiona that is the MVP.  There was one scene when the entire Gallagher clan confronts the mother who abandoned them years ago and it’s not WHM who carries the load but Rossum who does all the heavy lifting.  From happy to sad, from sober matriarch of the house to 21-year-old party girl, from looking like a crazed hungover homeless person to the sexiest woman in the room, Rossum can flip the switch and pull it off.  The oft overused term “revelation” is the only word that fits when talking about Rossum’s performance.  She’s as good as advertised.  Oh, and did I mention she’s SUPER fucking hot.  That’s never a bad thing.  My only gripe is that she could work on her Windy City accent.  She sounds like she’s from the Bronx part of Chicago.  
3. Phillip ‘Lip’ Gallagher (Jeremy Allen White) – This is the guy everyone who knows me said that I would love.  I’d never heard of this actor before.  At first glance he’s odd looking and didn’t seem all that interesting.  Well… everyone was right.  Lip is the shit and I love him.  At times I worried that he’d fall into the trap of being the reluctant genius and Shameless would repeat tropes that we’ve seen before.  It’s hard to avoid a few threads of that archetype in Lip’s storylines but White and the writers do a great job of always making you feel there are 1,000 unspoken thoughts running through is mind while he’s silently staring though someone or off into space.  The show runs through these tropes, not around them.  It would be easy to repeat a theme like Prof. Gerald Lambeau wanting to “help” Will Hunting.  Unlike in Good Will Hunting, Lip doesn’t need to prove he’s the smartest guy in the room.  Although that could come from Lip being told / treated like he’s white trash vs Will being beaten and abandoned like trash.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Good Will Hunting.  This is the first time a “genius” character has been played like a regular human since Good Will Hunting.  White plays Lip as someone who embraces being smart and uses it to help people in need and of course if it can put money in his pocket, all the better.  Lately we get train wrecks like Scorpion on CBS (aka McPhee and The Nerd Herd) where they’re all a bit kooky but they have to tell you how smart they are every 10 minutes and each genius knows their exact rank on the MENSA pop charts.  
4. Sheila Jackson (Joan Cusack) – We all know she can play the oddball character but Cusack takes it to the next level in Shameless.  As an agoraphobic, emotionally beaten down, sodomizing, BDSM and Food Network obsessed housewife, she’s the ying to Frank’s yang.  While not completely aware of the destructive consequences of allowing Frank into her house and bedroom, she’s also not completely stupid.  There isn’t a character on this show that doesn’t have their issues but Sheila is the one with the most sincere heart.  Even if that heart is locked inside a box of Martha Stewart brand dildos.  
5. Debbie ‘Deb’ Gallagher (Emma Kenney) – I couldn’t stand Deb through the first few episodes but then you realize that she might be the most savvy Gallagher of them all.  For every glimpse we see that Deb is smarter and wiser beyond her years, we’re also reminded that she’s not even a teenager yet and cannot comprehend the emotional spectrum of the adult world where nothing is truly black or white.  
6. Karen Jackson (Laura Wiggins) – Initially we’re to believe she’s the wholesome daughter of Sheila and Eddie Jackson, and friend to Lip, but it immediately becomes apparent that she might be more screwed up than any of the Gallaghers.  She will be remembered for two thing; 1) making every man run to IMDB.com to verify that she and her beautiful body are over 18 (because she too is naked… a lot) and 2) had one of the best throwaway lines by calling WHM’s character “Daddy Frank” after he takes residence with Sheila Jackson.  Just like Rossum, she isn’t just a pretty face.  She’s tasked as the centerpiece of the Jackson family in this first season.
7. Steve / Jimmy Lishman (Justin Chatwin) – There’s an alternate universe where Justin Chatwin plays Jessie on Breaking Bad and Aaron Paul plays Steve / Jimmy.  The “Steve is really Jimmy” twist isn’t so much of a surprise but the fact that Shameless didn’t play it safe by making Jimmy’s family a cookie-cutter affluent family is.  We only see a glimpse of Jimmy’s family but as Steve / Jimmy put it, they’re the Gallaghers of north-side Chicago.  We’ve only scratched the surface on the Fiona & Steve / Jimmy relationship.  By the end of the first season, all you want is for Fiona to run off with Steve and leave the Gallagher tribe forever.  Alas, Fiona chooses family over passion.  The good news is that IMDB.com tells us this is not the last we see of Steve / Jimmy.  The bad news is that once you get past his charm, what dark secrets are we going to find and will they be yet another burden to Fiona.  But like the great romances of years gone by, such as Angela Chase and Jordan Catalano, all We want is to see them together.
8. Veronica ‘V’ Fisher (Shanola Hampton) – As Fiona’s best friend and neighbor to the Gallagher family, V is also a jack-of-all-trades which includes being the purveyor of a fledgling online fetish porn website.  She’s also Fiona voice of reason but she would be wise to listen to her own advice at times.  
9. Kevin ‘Kev’ Ball (Steve Howey) – V’s long time boyfriend is the only character with a steady job.  I supposed it’s easy to keep a job as a bartender in a town full of drunks.  I can’t tell if Steve Howey is the best actor on the show or the worst.  While he plays V’s big dumb boyfriend with the heart of gold during the day, he’s acts as the wise sage at the Alibi Bar where he is often seen taking confessionals from the likes of Frank and the other drunks at night.  He and V are the closest thing Shameless has to a stable relationship, which isn’t setting the bar high considering in the same episode in which Kev proposes to V, you find out he’s still married from a previous relationship.
10. Ian Gallagher (Cameron Monaghan) – The Gallagher that wants to do right is also the Gallagher that has the most secrets.  He finds solace and purpose in the ROTC.  He’s got a job and doesn’t fool around with any girls.  He’s the well adjusted one, right?  NOPE.  He’s gay and is having sex in the freezer with his married Muslim boss.  He comes to an agreement with his best girlfriend, Mandy, that they’ll pretend to be a couple to hide each of their various indiscretions and have alibis for each other.  Let’s not forget in a weird twist of fate, the youngest Gallagher, Liam (who is black), turns out to actually be Frank’s son while Ian turns out NOT to be Frank’s biological son?  Yeah, don’t hurt yourself trying to wrap your brain around that, you’ve just got to watch.  Meanwhile, Mandy’s brothers and father are lunatics but in yet another strange twist, Mandy’s most lunatic brother, Mickey, is also a closeted homosexual.  While you see Ian slowly come out to a few of his family members, Mickey cannot afford the same luxury.  At the end of the day, The Gallaghers love each other no matter what.  Monaghan's acting isn’t on the level of some of the older cast members but I assume his skills grow as the show continues.

Honorable Mentions: 

Carl Gallagher (Ethan Cutkosky) – Other than Liam, Carl doesn’t really have much to do in the first season.  It took me a few shows to even realize who he was and that he was one of the Gallagher children.

Monica Gallagher (Chloe Webb) – The biological mother to all of the Gallagher children.  At first, I thought no matter how screwed up she was, the backstory of her leaving her family would make me feel sympathetic towards her.  It turns out she’s a cancer to this family and even with Frank as the sole parent, they’re much better off.  Her lesbian lover “Bob” has a few dark comedic moments (no pun intended).  Baby Liam isn’t winning an Emmy anytime soon but being dangled as a prop was much more dark than comedic.  I suppose you’re going to have to be a truly heinous person to out Shameless the Gallaghers.  Seeing her drive off couldn’t come soon enough.

Eddie Jackson (Joel Murray) – I’ll always love Joel Murray as George from One Crazy Summer.  It’s funny to see the circle of life in Hollywood because 30 years ago he was playing John Cusack’s best friend and now he’s Joan Cusack’s husband.  Maybe Hoops introduced them after their big win at the regatta race?  Wouldn’t it be great if Hoops is now a struggling comic book artist and is forced to move in with Sheila after his divorce from Cassandra?  Okay, if you’re reading this and understand the connections I’m making, you’re just as big of a loser as I am and we both need to get a life.  But seriously, it’s not like Hoops was going to move in with the Stork brothers and for sure Uncle Frank burned through all his radio call-in winnings by now, right… RIGHT?!

Well, that’s it for season 1.  I’m excited for season 2.  I’ll let you know how that goes.  Until next time…

WK

@wkbear

BEARcast - ShowCast 2/17/2015

BEARcast - ShowCast with Larry T

The return of BearCast favorite, Larry T.!  If you like Dodgers superfan pre-season talk, TV, Movies and how to do Valentine’s Day with four kids, you’ll love today’s show! Enjoy.  

Please check us out at www.worldofbear.com and on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/world-of-bear/id828777439?mt=2 and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE!  Enjoy and please share the show with Friends, Family and Fans.

Thanks,
WK
@wkbear on Twitter or email the show at WorldOfBearBC@gmail.com to comment or send in ideas.

BEARcast - ShowCast 8/07/2014

BEARcast - ShowCast 2014-08-07 with Larry

Spoilers!  BEARcast - ShowCast time again.  Larry T visits the BEAR and we sit down to talk summer movies and television shows.  Lots of fun.  Get our hot takes on Guardians of the Galaxy, Snowpiercer, Pixar movies, Game of Thrones, Chronicle, The Wire and much more.  

Please check us out at www.worldofbear.com and on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/world-of-bear/id828777439?mt=2 and don't forget to SUBSCRIBE!  Enjoy and please share the show with Friends, Family and Fans.

Thanks,
WK
@wkbear on Twitter or email the show at WorldOfBearBC@gmail.com to comment or send in ideas.

BEARcast - ShowCast 3/06/2014

BEARcast - ShowCast 3/06/2014 with Ethan

Welcome to a very special BEARcast as we have our first all entertainment ShowCast.  I'm joined by Ethan "(censored)" to discuss sports, movies, comics, previews and so much more!  To find out why Ethan's nickname is censored, you'll have to listen.

The show was a lot of fun and we hope you enjoy it.  Please listen and share with friends, family and fans.

www.worldofbear.com

You can find the BEARcast on iTunes here https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/world-of-bear/id828777439?mt=2

Please remember to SUBSCRIBE.


Thank You,
Willie Kinoshita
@wkbear on twitter

Banshee, let's get filthy...

Shhhhhh…I’ve got a secret.  Warning, hide the kids, it’s a nasty good R-rated secret.

Let’s go back to the beginning of 2013.  While housesitting for my parents, I’m stuck sitting alone in a once familiar home.  I lived in this house with them for over six years but it’s been almost ten since I moved out.  My parents keep their house very clean and immaculate.  It was the Saturday morning of the second weekend that they had been gone.  Bored, trying not to cause any disturbance in the zen of their unsullied home, I started flipping through the On Demand section of their cable provider.  That’s when the television gods poisoned my brain with the loveliest secret.  

It’s important to note that when I lived with my parents, my stay included the 18th through 23rd years of my life on the planet Earth.  These are a young man’s prime debauchery years.  Let’s just say, I’ve desecrated every room in that house in one manner or another.  Having said this, I never felt dirtier than when I sat down that Saturday morning and got my first taste of Banshee.  Their house was desecrated once more.

My life has never been the same again.  

I’d heard about this show vaguely.  I knew the creator of True Blood and Six Feet Under, Alan Ball, had gone off to Cinemax to produce a new show.  Cinemax?  The only original programing that I was aware that Cinemax produced was a show called Strike Back (which my mother and girlfriend like) and of course their variety of fine late night soft-core “Skin-a-max” fare.  What was this Friday night show called Banshee?  Friday night?  No good show comes out on a Friday night.

Having nothing better to do than to sit quietly and wait another week until my parents returned, I figured I’d give the first episode a try.  Banshee had already aired its fifth episode but I’m a respecter of art and will start at the beginning.  I had nothing to loose.  Little did I know, I’d have everything to gain.

Halfway through the first episode, there was blood, fucking, killing, fighting and more fucking.  What did I stumble upon here?  The story is about a thief that recently gets released from prison after a 15 year sentence and tracks down his ex-lover / partner-in-crime to the small Pennsylvania Amish town of Banshee.  When he arrives in Banshee, the unnamed thief stumbles into a bar where after a series of events a fellow patron is killed, who just so happens to be Banshee’s fresh from out-of-town new sheriff.  What better way to join a new community than to impersonate the new sheriff that no one has met yet and no one knew he was in town a day early.

I wouldn’t blame you for calling bullshit on me right now.  Just typing this out makes the whole show sound totally absurd.  What I’m going to type next is even more crazy.  Banshee was probably the second best show on television, behind Breaking Bad, in the year 2013.

New sheriff Lucas Hood (Antony Starr) is Wolverine in this non superhero world.  He’s an emotionally carnal rage driven animal trapped inside a master thief.  His years in prison has made him a hardcore fighting machine who’s just as likely to follow his “little brain” between his legs than the “big brain” on top of his shoulders.  Every episode, he’s getting the crap beat out of him, beating the crap out of other people and wakes up the next morning without a scratch.  Also, in every episode he’s fucking the hottest women who all seem to be stuck in this tiny, off the map, part small-town USA / part really small-town Amish community.  

I’m not going to ruin the majesty of the show by giving it a recap and running down what the show’s about.  Quite frankly, it is batshit crazy and I wouldn’t do it justice.  You have to watch and let it roll over you like a good heroin high.  

The thief’s beautiful ex-lover Carrie / Anastasia (Ivana Milicevic) is now married to the local District Attorney Gordon Hopewell (Rus Blackwell) and has two kids of eight and fifteen years of age.  Wait fifteen?  Duh-duh-dummmm.  The plot thickens.  AND THAT’S AT THE BOTTOM OF CRAZY SHIT HAPPENING ON THIS SHOW! 

You’ve got his new “partner” / landlord / washed up boxing legend turned bar owner in Sugar Bates (Frankie Faison) and his transsexual best friend / computer expert / still partner in the singularly named Job (fabulously played by Hoon Lee) which rounds out his crew and the only people who know that this sheriff is not THE sheriff Lucas Hood.  

Did I mention an Amish community?  Well, they’re just as wonderfully screwed up too.  Excommunicated Kai Proctor (Ulrich Thomsen) initially comes off like the evil local businessman Brad Wesley from Roadhouse but by the second episode you realize he’s much more evil, much more of a badass and much more than just a businessman.  Kai takes in his rebellious niece Rebecca (Lili Simmons), who Hood fucks.  Kai also has a creepy mostly silent lunatic righthand-man Clay (Matthew Rauch) who looks like he may want to join the sheriff Hood fuck train.

There’s backwoods hillbillies that serve as Hood’s first test as sheriff.  The result of which is that Hood leaves one of them dead, and fucks his wife.  

We haven’t even gotten to the Evil mob boss back in New York who has personal and emotional ties to multiple characters in the show.  This USSR mob boss named Rabbit (Ben Cross) has one thing on his mind; find the thief / ex-con pretending to be Lucas Hood and kill him.  A blood vendetta that started before and through the thief’s 15 year prison sentence.  

And if all that wasn’t enough for you, there’s the dispute between Kai and the Amish vs the nearby Native American Indian tribe’s casino bosses (who of course have their own crazed killers on their side).  Not to mention the inner turmoil of the local police who are not all too happy to see this “new” sheriff, especially as they see how this sheriff approaches the law.

It’s truly incredible.  I was hooked from the first episode and sat there and watched all five available episodes that Saturday morning which turned into night.  I had to take a shower after watching Banshee but it was the best kind of after sex, sweat dripping, blood on your hands type of shower.  Each week I couldn’t wait for the next episode to come out.  By the end I didn’t want to wash the filth off.  

January 10th, 2014 is the first episode of the second season.  I couldn’t be more excited.  While I readily would scream from the rooftops that The Tomorrow People is the best new show of 2013, I have been trepidatious about what people may think of me if I told them secretly my favorite show is this hidden gem called Banshee.  I’m ready to come out of the preverbal closet and force people to watch this show.  

This show has everything you’d want in a dirty, grimy, mob, heist, cop, criminal, sexy, thriller, speedball of crack type of show.  It’s fucking awesome.  Literally.

So let’s review.  You’re going to catch up on all ten episodes from season one and then be glued every Friday night (or have your DVR set) to Cinemax for the most fun show on TV. 

You’ve now been introduced to the Banshee drug.  Good luck detoxing from it.  You’re welcome.

Oh yeah, and there's this guy...

The Tomorrow People, start watching it NOW!

Wednesday night fun with The CW.  

Quickly becoming the best one-two punch on network television, The CW has two unlikely hits in Arrow and The Tomorrow People which are turning Wednesday nights into must see TV.  

Mostly known for schlocky teen melodrama, The CW (or just CW forsake of my typing prowess) is locking down the nerd / action contingent.  Arrow which was their first surprise hit from last season is back and now they’ve struck gold again with another surprise hit.  The Tomorrow People is an awesome new show that may soon surpass Arrow in nerd TV rankings.  

Arrow is back for its second season and is stronger than ever.  Led by Stephen Amell (Oliver Queen / Arrow), David Ramsey (Diggle), Emily Bett Rickards (Felicity Smoak) and the rest of its tremendous cast (click to see the shows IMDB page) Arrow hit the new season with a bullseye and is lobbing hot fire arrows at the competition each week.  What was once a fledgling drama that hoped to retain the CW’s past Smallville audience, Arrow has darted past the non-caped Superman teen series as best comic book show on TV, possibly ever.  

Arrow, which stands for Green Arrow who a poor-man’s Batman, was a surprisingly great show last season.  At first it stumbled along and risked cancellation but once it was green lit for a full season, it found its legs and by the finale the show had solid footing and understood what it did best.  Arrow hit all the beats of a CW show, with love triangles and family drama, but also gave ample nods to comic book fans.  While you’d wait entire seasons from Smallville to give you a Blue Beatle reference, Arrow would throw in DC universe easter eggs at a rapid pace.  Arrow was based on the outstanding Andy Diggle / Jock re-boot of the character from 2007 and includes insider comic book references in almost every episode.  Constantly last year, I would have gleeful chuckles from moments like when it was mentioned that so-and-so would be back from Central City in a ‘flash’ (see, because The Flash is from Central City) or Oliver Queen (Green Arrow) would joke that his sister’s nickname was Speedy (which in the comic book was his eventual sidekick’s nickname, a poor-man’s Robin).  The show not only proved that you could service the hardcore comic book fan but also tell good stories and have great action.  

The show that was paired up with Arrow last season was the long running Supernatural.  Out of all the remaining shows on CW, Supernatural was the closest in tone and demographics to Arrow but it never seemed to work.  

With little fan fare The Tomorrow People was promoted to be Arrow’s new companion on Wednesday night.  As someone who reads comics, visits comic book websites and basically tracks all there is when it comes to super-powered beings and their chronicles, I was vastly unaware of this new show.  Unlike ABC’s “Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD” which dominated the fall preview landscape, no one was talking about The Tomorrow People.  Not even CW made a major push for this show.  They were smart by showing a few quick clips of good looking people making things move and giving off a Push movie vibe.  I’m a HUGE Push fan so what could it hurt to set the ‘ole DVR and see what this The Tomorrow People was all about?

Let me tell you, it’s about the most awesome show on TV.  If I were tasked to give it one word, fun, would be the adjective to describe Tomorrow People.  If Arrow is the poor-man’s Batman, TP is the poor-man’s X-men.  Essentially, The Tomorrow People is X-men except all the mutants have the same three superpowers (telekinesis, teleportation, telepathy).  The premise is the same, mutants get their powers as they reach maturity and ULTRA is an evil government / corporation complex that is tasked with killing or recruiting said mutants because they’re a threat to us regular humans.  There’s even a super computer, TIM, which is a poor-man’s Cerebro.

The show stars Robbie Amell (yes, Arrow’s Stephen Amell's real life little brother) as the “Neo” of this world (I know that’s a Matrix analogy but it’s the quickest comparison.  If you wanted to stay within the X-men world he’d be a very poor-man’s Wolverine and really not accurate, trust me on the Neo comparison.  Stop distracting me.), Luke Mitchell as the “Cyclops on the real X-men” and leader of the mutant underground and then the beautiful Peyton List as the “Jean Grey” of the group.  It’s the CW so of course there has to be a love triangle involving the three leads.  It’s unnecessary but I think that’s in the CW bylaws, “All shows shall have love triangles.”  The other two standout actors are Mark Pellegrino from Lost fame and Aaron Yoo from Disturbia and “Oh yeah, that Asian kid” fame.  They’re both personal favorites if not crowd favorites and do so much to make this a well rounded show.  If they’re your 7th and 8th hitters, you’ve got a World Series contending batting order.

TP is still in its infancy, just 7 episodes in, and we’re just now getting to know all the characters and learn their backgrounds and more importantly their secrets.  Since the first episode the special effects have been used efficiently and correctly.  This is a CW show and there’s no doubt that there are budgetary constrains (which is probably why all the mutants have the same three powers) but except for one shot in the first episode, where time is stopped and our heroes are allowed to escape certain capture, the character’s powers are used within the means of telling the story.  If you’re a hardcore sci-fi junky like myself, you’ll recognize the use of some of the effects but like the Matrix, it’s not always the most innovative or new SFX but how you use those effects.  We’ve seen teleporting characters before but TP uses it as a great tool that enhances fighting or chase sequences rather than making the chase or fighting sequences about the teleporting.  It’s all so seamless and a joy to watch.

Like Arrow, TP does the action well but it’s the characters that make the show turn.  Amell’s “Neo” character could be the savior or the demise of the mutants.  He wants to find the truth about his long lost father’s death / disappearance and the only way is through working with his uncle, Pellegrino, who runs the evil ULTRA – bum-buh-baaaa.  See, it’s cheesy but it’s fun.  TP also makes the extra effort.  Mitchell’s leader character, Young, isn’t just a hard-nosed jerk “because that’s what leaders who have the hot girlfriend at the beginning of stories do,” there’s reason behind it.  He was originally taken and trained by ULTRA which he escaped.  One of his secrets is that unlike his fellow mutants, who can’t kill (don’t ask me how that exactly works), ULTRA experimented on him so badly that he does have the ability to kill.  You can understand his hatred of ULTRA and fear of them but the show also tells how ULTRA and Pellegrino’s Jedikiah character saved Young from an abusive and horrible childhood.  Jedikiah and Young still have a father / son bond, albeit very messed up bond (but who doesn’t).  I’m just scratching the surface of what we know and it only gets deeper AND we’re only in the first seven episodes.  It’s a great show.  

While Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD has Disney money behind it and is shepherded in by a multi-billion dollar franchise, I don’t know nor care about any of the characters on that show.  For all of the money and tie-ins that SHEILD could have, we’ve barely seen a superpower used?!  There’s more action and abilities used in one episode of TP than the entire run of SHIELD.  Both shows are still not even half a season in and I hope for both’s success but so far TP has lapped the ABC juggernaut.  I’m usually a “young savior get’s the girl” guy but I was so upset at the recent secret kiss between Amell and List’s characters that I continued to be upset hours after the show.  Mitchell’s Young is a bad-ass good leader and doesn’t deserve to loose his girl.  Not to some high school punk savior!  Just because he didn’t want the rest of the mutants to know he could kill?  See, I’m still worked up about it.

And did I mention the action?  Oh yeah, I did.  Well, it deserves to be said again, it’s fantastic.  Even the characters have fun with their powers.  Do you need to get across country, let’s just teleport.  Do we need some extra spending cash, let’s be pool sharks with our telekinesis.  Even when the group of mutants want a night out above ground and their leader is against it, he eventually turns around and shows up (of course, it helped that Ms. List was dressed to kill with her “assets” on full display).  It might get a little predictable here and there but it’s not formulaic, boring or monotonous like SHIELD or Dracula (which is a spectacular mess) or tiresome like Revolution has become.

As you can see, I could go on and on about my love and excitement for both shows, especially The Tomorrow People.  I can understand if you're intimidated by Arrow because of the deep DC references it makes but it does a fine job of creating two levels of viewing.  While I’m geek-ing out over the boat called Amazo, Dr. Ivo, the future of Roy Harper (and his obsession with red hoodies) and SPOILERS when will Deathstroke turn on Queen; just to name a few of the nods to the Green Arrow comic history.  My girlfriend, who knows nothing about comics, can watch and enjoy Arrow for what it is.  TP has even more appeal to general audiences because there isn’t source material that goes back 50 years.  I’m going along for the ride of TP just like the rest of the world and I’m loving it!

Spread the word.  These shows need our support.  They might not have the reach and traditional network machinery backing them as if they were on one of the major four networks but Arrow and The Tomorrow People deserve the same chance to succeed.  There’s not enough fun being had on TV.  Everyone is either trying to be the next Breaking Bad or push the violence bar like Hannibal or The Walking Dead (all of which I’m a fan of) but there’s a space and need for good fun television as well. 

Watch Arrow and please give The Tomorrow People a try, which you can start from the beginning by clicking here.

Enjoy...

Gravity Review 10/04/2013

Gravity is a movie about Science and Trust.  Whether it’s a description, recommendation or execution of this movie, science and trust explains it all.  Trust me, go see this movie and you’ll be amazed by the science behind it all.  It’a akin to a wonderful magic trick where you don’t want to know how they did it, you just want to enjoy it.  Although it’s so incredible, you'll want to know how it was made because the visuals are so unbelievable. 

This is not a George Clooney movie.  This is not a Sandra Bullock movie.  This IS an Alfonso Cuarón movie. A more accurate word would be “production.”  Cuarón is the captain of this remarkable movie and there is no doubt that this was a massive undertaking by hundreds of artists.  An undertaking that few would choose and even fewer would succeed.  Fear not, Gravity lives up to the hype.

Before I pontificate, let’s get the business end of this review out of the way.  Go see this movie.  Go see this movie on the biggest, best and truest IMAX 3D that you can find.  The price of movie tickets go up and up, and many times spending money on 3D, IMAX or 3D IMAX is a complete waste of hard earned dollars.  It’s usually just a way for movie studios and theaters to charge you more money.  Gravity is worth the money.  My price was $21 per ticket and it was worth every cent.  You could spend $100+ for a ticket to Disneyland and spend all day going on each ride and you wouldn’t accumulate 90 minutes of actual ride time.  Gravity is a 90 minute roller coaster that is just about as perfect of a ride as you could hope for.  There is no fat on this movie.  From the beginning credits you’re going up a 20,000 mile hill and you don’t stop until the final minute.  Like every great roller coaster, there are moments where you can catch your breath, stabilize and then are sent on to the next set of twists, turns and loops.  Unlike recent movies that try to be a “thrill ride” from beginning to end, such as Star Trek: Into Darkness, this movie does it right.

Both Science and Trust are key elements in this film and to the making of this film.  

The Science in this film is obviously pushed.  I’m assuming this film takes place in current or a near current time.  This isn’t a sci-fi / futuristic movie.  If all of what went on in this film were to actually happen, I’d assume everyone would be dead within seconds.  If not by the events that took place, then the shitting-of-their-space-pants would quickly suffocate them.  If I saw even one space rock fly by me at the speed of bullet, I’m taking off the helmet and going out on my own terms which would be as quick and painless as could be.  Let’s move on from my fears.

The science of this movie is standard for a modern space adventure.  Science is all around and is what makes the movie what it is.  We start out with the line, “Life cannot live in space” (or something like that).  It’s science that keeps the characters alive and what allows us to have a movie.  The science of film making is the other meaning that I think of.  The spectacle of this movie is the real science here.  It feels like there are less than 25 “cuts” in this movie.  That’s not to say there aren’t a few tricks that could be used to add edits but it seemed as though you were watching one 5 - 10 minute scene after another.  Cuarón’s other film, Children of Men, has one of the best single shot scenes of all time.  It’s the scene where Clive Owen’s character has to enter a run down hotel in the middle of firefight between insurgents and the police in order to retrieve the woman and baby he’s sworn to protect.  It’s a ballet and whether you liked the movie or not, the sheer skill involved to pull off that scene is breathtaking.  Well, times that by 20 and you’ve got Gravity.  Every shot is a beautiful painting and you can tell that the 80 million dollar budget was poured into making this film look like the best movie ever created.  “Spectacle” and “this is what movies are made for” are often thrown around too easily but this movie earns that type of praise.  

The science, technology and skill it took to make this movie completely outweigh the on screen science.  This movie is an unbelievable feat of movie making, which leads me to my second thought...

Trust.  There’s an unbelievable amount of trust needed between the characters in this movie.  What took more trust is from the movie studio to make this movie.  My biggest question leaving the theater was, “How did this movie get pitched to the studio and how did it get green lit?”

There’s really no plot.  There’s a story but there’s not a plot.  Bullock’s character is the closest thing to an arc that you’ll find.

There’s no star to this movie.  While Bullock was great and Clooney was Clooney, they were not the “stars” of this movie.  The star of this movie is Cuarón and his production team.  Clooney has about 10 minutes of face time and Bullock has the torturous task of being the main character.  What she must have gone through was less acting and more like winning the world cross-fit championship.  

The trust involved by the actors and even more so by the studio that Cuarón and crew were going to make a perfect movie is unimaginable in these days of box office tallies and actor recognition.  It takes a tremendous amount of trust by two very well known actors to essentially do their job and not know how the movie is going to come out.  Their acting was great but it was not going to be what made or broke the end product.  The studio and its executives could not have imagined what the results of this movie were going to be.  The 80 million dollar budget doesn’t fit into the current studio trend of mega-blockbuster or small indie-type movie.  

I really can’t explain the movie in just a few words.  It’s an experience.  It’s not a perfect story but it is a perfect movie.  By the end, you’ve travelled thousands of miles and you feel each one.  You’re heart will stop, your breath will be taken away and at times you’ll feel queazy.  It’s a spectacular ride.  

I feel like I’ve told you everything it’s not.  What the movie is, is great.  Go see it.  Get out of the house and see it on the biggest and best possible screen that you can.  The trip, time and money you’ll spend is well worth it.  Gravity is an awesome movie experience.