Movie Review: Gulliver's Travels

Whenever I saw the previews for this movie I usually enjoyed it until it got to the “Guilliver and the tiny people” part. To a less extreme degree that’s how I felt about the movie overall. I really enjoyed the opening and closing sections with Jack Black, Amanda Peet and T.J. Miller just riffing and being casually funny. The bulk of the story deals with Gulliver in Lilliput and while I still would have liked more of the workplace humor, it ended up being a lot better than I’d expected.

Normally Jack Black’s schtick is the “hey look at me I’m crazy and in my underwear. Also, I’m chunky” kind of thing. That’s funny enough, but gets old quickly. He also has a lesser seen subtle brand of humor which I really like. (I thought he was great in Be Kind, Rewind. Check it out if haven’t seen it. It’s very good.) Luckily Gulliver’s Travels had a decent blend of both. Even though most of the humor came from the size difference between him and the Lilliputians, he had a lot of nice moments where he demonstrated his more reserved kind of humor. He and Amanda Peet were pretty good together. I love the bit early on with the two of them in the elevator. Also, it was fun to see Emily Blunt pop up as Princess Mary. Another stand out moment was when Gulliver had the Lilliputians act out popular films like Star Wars or Titanic and claimed they were his life story.

Overall I’d say this was a pretty decent movie. (Heck, it was Citizen Kane compared to Skyline!) There weren’t a lot of laugh out loud moments, but it was funny, light and pleasant. It was perfect for a lazy Saturday night.

Pessemist

We just had a week off of work because of the Easter holiday. I think it’s their way of saying “Hey, sorry for the pay cut!”, but vacation is less fun when you have zero cash. We ended up spending a lot of time at home, but even so it was a great break. We did some work on our upstairs remodel project, and we also tackled some landscaping. Mostly we just sat around together watching TV. It was nice. We needed some time to recharge.
In the past when we’ve had a break, or even a long weekend, I end up ruining a bunch of free time by thinking about how the break is almost over. It’s destructive. I’m pretty pessimistic by nature. This time, however, I made a conscious effort not to think about it like a clock counting down my last hours of freedom. Instead I tried to just take every day and enjoy it. One of my biggest faults is that I devote too much time to dreading things that haven’t even happened yet. Because of this, I end up squandering a lot of the free time I have. In this way, I am my own worst enemy. So anyway, I tried to alter my thought process regarding this break and it actually worked! By the time Sunday night rolled around I was a peace about going back to work. I wasn’t filled with dread, I didn’t ruin Sunday night by moping, and when Monday morning hit I was ready for work.
So to all of you pessimists out there, here’s proof that there is hope. I’m not saying you can change your whole way of thinking, but my little experiment worked out for me. Baby steps, I guess.

Move Review: The Airport Series

A few years ago my pal Chris called me up because he’d discovered gold. He randomly pulled into a garage sale only to find a huge collection of CDs, DVDs, and VHS Tapes for sale. He picked me up, and we went in hoping to find treasure. We each left with large stacks of booty. One of the things I unearthed was the Airport Terminal Pack, a DVD set containing all four the classic Airport disaster movies from the seventies. I always have been a fan of these kinds of movies, my favorite being The Poseidon Adventure with Gene Hackman and many others. The Airport series is made up of four films, each film deals with an airplane disaster and boasts a star-studded cast.

In the years since I’ve bought the set my wife I have randomly popped one in the DVD player when nothing else seemed right. While it’s true that they are dated and regularly cheesy they are almost always exciting and suspenseful. This past weekend we finally finished the series. Overall we really enjoyed them. The original is a classic led by Dean Martin and Burt Lancaster. It keeps you on the edge of your set and manages to keep all of the various storylines distinct and cohesive. The second film Airport ’75 led by Charleton Heston stumbles a bit. You can’t help but feel you are watching the same movie again. The plot and actual disaster are different, but it isn’t as engaging as the original. Though it does hold the distinction of beginning the now cliché plot device of the stewardess (sorry, flight attendant) flying the plane. Number 3, Airport ’77 (clever name, right?), in my opinion gets us back in track. In this one the capable pilot played by Jack Lemmon is forced to make a water landing, submerging the plane. Now things are different. It’s Airport, but under water! (Actually, now that I write that it occurs to me that it’s Airport meets The Poseidon Adventure. Maybe that’s why I like it so much). This poses a new set of problems, making this the most unique of the series. It also randomly co-stars an ancient Jimmy Stewart. This brings us to the final entry, The Concorde: Airport ’79, which was a total turd. Completely boring, not suspenseful and even now I don’t actually know what happened. It ended the series on a real low note which was a shame. As much as I like Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner, this lacked the star or the original trilogy. (Charro and Jimmie Walker… really? I guess La Toya Jackson was busy or something.) The only actor to go the distance was George Kennedy as Patroni. He was always entertaining and seemed to have an endless list of careers. He started out as a mechanic, moved up to VP, then was a disaster consultant and finally an experienced pilot. What a resume. Overall this was a fun series. I say skip #4, but watch the first 3. Even though #2 is a bit of retread it’s still enjoyable. 1 and 3 are excellent. Also watch The Poseidon Adventure (the original, not one of the remakes with Steve Guttenberg or Josh Lucas) and its sequel Beyond the Poseidon Adventure. Oh, also, Earthquake… and The Towering Inferno... and, well just go to Wikipedia and pull up a list of 1970s disaster movies. They are awesome in their own special way.

Graphic Novel Review: Reckless Youth

It seems like every couple of years DC Comics has an event that “changes everything” in the DC Universe. There was Crisis on Infinite Earth, Zero Hour, Infinite Crisis, Final Crisis and now Blackest Night/Brightest Day. I don’t usually go for these somewhat melodramatic “epic” plots. However, there was a development that began in Final Crisis and continued to play out through Brightest Day that caught my eye. It was the resurrection of the classic Flash, Barry Allen. Allen was last seen alive in 1985 when he supposedly died while working against the Anti-Monitor. (Google if you want. It’s not that interesting.) Everybody knows that no one really dies in the world of comic books, but most people thought Barry Allen would go the distance and prove to be the exception. He was not. Anyway, the point is that the return of Barry Allen intrigued me. Having never read Flash before, I decided to pick up Geoff Johns’ Flash: Rebirth. Even without context I really enjoyed the story, but I realized that there was a lot of history I needed to catch up on in order to really appreciate a new Flash series.

I know the basics of the Barry Allen era so I decided to go back and start reading where Wally West picks up the mantle of Flash. The first trade in the Wally West era was Born to Run; next came The Return of Barry Allen (a misleading title that deals with a Barry Allen imposter). That brings us to the subject of this review, Impulse: Reckless Youth. This title begins with the next installment of the Wally West era and also includes the first 6 issues of Impulse’s solo series.

A little background first. Wally West is the nephew of Barry (the previous Flash) & Iris Allen. Iris is actually from the 30th century. It is in that time that she and Barry have children and ultimately a grandson named Bart Allen. This makes Bart/Impulse the cousin of Wally/Flash. Bart is born with Barry’s powers and is taken from the Allens and studied. Iris eventually steals him away and returns to the past so that Wally can train Bart to control his powers. Due to his rapid aging and unconventional education, Bart has intelligence but lacks common sense. In the Flash issues Bart gets separated from Iris and it’s up to Wally to catch and help him.

The Impulse section picks up much later with Bart now in control of his powers, using the Impulse alias and living with another speedy hero, Max Mercury. A page in between explains what’s happened in the meantime. I found this second half to be pretty weak. It lacked the complexity of the Flash issues and played more like a dull issue of Teen Titans or a watered down Robin rip-off.

All in all I’d say this trade was a mixed bag. The Flash half was interesting and necessary to the overall storyline, while the Impulse section was neat to see a sample but ultimately forgettable. What I was really interested in was Wally training Bart and the formation of that relationship. Sadly that was all missing. Hopefully it’s collected in some other trade. As for Impulse: Reckless Youth as a whole I’d say borrow it to read the Flash issues and stop there.

TV Review: The Paul Reiser Show

Yikes. I loved Mad About You back in the day and have always been a big fan of Paul Reiser. I did not, however, enjoy his latest sitcom attempt, The Paul Reiser Show. Mad About You (1992-1999) premiered at a time when NBC was at the top and sitcoms were the way to go. It was a clever show about a modern couple living in New York City. The writing was snappy. Paul and co-star Helen Hunt had great chemistry. It fit well with its contemporaries, even crossing over with both Seinfeld and Friends. (Surprisingly, it also crossed over with The Dick van Dyke Show which was completely awesome.) Given Paul’s excellent writing and unique humor I was excited to hear he was coming back to TV. My excitement was short-lived, but I haven’t given up all hope just yet.

The Paul Reiser Show premiered last night (4/14/11). It’s Curb Your Enthusiasm-esque premise revolves around Paul Reiser being Paul Reiser. Clearly, Paul was smart enough to realize that everyone would make the Curb comparison so he decided to just do it for us with guest star Larry David. The scenes between Paul and Larry were genuinely funny, but unfortunately they just made me realize I’d rather be watching Curb. With the exception of Ben Shenkman (who did much better work in Lights Out), the supporting cast fell pretty flat. There were some funny moments but for the most part it felt forced and, worse than that, dated.

The weak pilot aside, I think it has a few other things working against it. The first is the title. “The Paul Reiser Show” would have meant something 10 years ago. Now it comes across as uninspired and old-fashioned. It doesn’t make you curious or interested. It’s just, “Oh, that Paul Reiser show. No thanks.” Another few nails in the coffin are both the timeslot and the network. Right now it airs Thursday at 8:30pm, smack dab in the middle of Community and The Office. It doesn’t fit there at all. They appeal to completely different audiences. The types of humor completely clash here. Then there is NBC, a network which has no patience for shows that don’t fit their (cough, last place, cough) mold. If it’s on NBC, it’s probably going to get cancelled. I think it is probably more similar in style to the CBS sitcoms, but the smartest bet would have been TV Land. They are building a brand of new shows based on nostalgia. Hot in Cleveland is an ensemble full of sitcom vets led by Betty White. Retired at 35 stars Just Shoot Me’s George Segal and Arrested Development’s Jessica Walter. Pretty soon they’ll be taking The Nanny’s Fran Drescher out of mothballs for a new show. Paul Reiser would thrive at TV Land. They would provide him with time he needs to fine tune his show. The show has potential, but I’d bet my signed Kirk Douglas photo that NBC will pull the plug in about 3 episodes.

I’ve read Paul’s writing. I’ve seen his stuff. He’s a talented and hilarious guy. I’m going to stick with The Paul Reiser Show while it lasts because I think he can get it back. He’s rusty. It’s been a decade. He can get it back. He just needs the time NBC won’t give him. Now if you’ll excuse I’m going to go buy Mad About You season 4.

TV Review: Lights Out

When it comes to TV there isn’t much I hate more than getting super invested into a series only to have it be abruptly cancelled. I first felt the sting of this unsettling trend one Saturday morning in 1986. I came inside at 10am because it was time for the Super Friends only instead of Super Friends it was something else entirely. Over the next 25 years I experienced this again and again. Even so, I’m always surprised and upset when it happens.
My most recent run-in with this phenomenon was with the FX series, Lights Out. This great boxing/family drama starred Holt Mcallany as a former heavyweight champion Patrick “Lights” Leary who was struggling with the notion of coming out of a five year retirement for a rematch and a chance to take back the title. Obviously, the setting of the show was the world of professional boxing, but Lights Out went much deeper than that. The real focus of the show was the Leary family and Lights’ struggle to find meaning in his post boxing life. Despite the premise there wasn’t a whole lot of boxing in the series. However, when the boxing was showcased it was well done and exciting.
I was initially uninterested in watching the show, but changed my mind and gave it shot after hearing all of the high praise from the critics. It quickly became my favorite, and for my money the most intriguing show on television. In all the series lasted 13 episodes, long enough to see Patrick train and ultimately have his rematch with his arch rival Death-row Reynolds. Despite the quick cancellation (due to low ratings, according to Tvline.com) the ending was for the most part satisfying. However in the final two episodes some new characters were introduced and some interesting developments were simmering in the background. You could see hints of where they would have gone in season 2 and I am very disappointed not to be able to see those come to light.
In its short time on the air Lights Out boasted excellent acting by its talented cast, most notably Mcallany and Stacy Keach (as Leary patriarch Robert), had writing that was always top notch and original and delivered an intense and compelling story. My advice is to watch the show any way you can… buy or Netflix the DVD, track it down on Hulu, whatever works best for you. You won’t be sorry. I already miss this great show.

What this is all about

So, I’m a pretty modern guy… though if you were to look at my collection of vintage comic books or LPs you might question that statement.  I have a wife, a house, a dog, a stack of bills, a job, a cat and plenty of Cap’n Crunch.  I read a lot.  I’m a big TV guy.  I love going to movies.  I get bored at work.  I don’t want to mow the lawn.  I believe exercise is a necessary evil.  I like my friends; I miss my younger days when we were all together in high school or college.  I think to that all of that is pretty typical.

I’ve hit an age where I’m no longer young, not old of course, but not twenty either.  I need more sleep than I used to.  I can’t eat whatever I want anymore.  I’ve reached the age of characters on TV, which is really strange.  I think a lot of us are in the same boat.  Sometimes it strikes me that I’ve a grown-up.  I’ve made it.  I thought I would feel different or even notice it happening, but I didn’t.  All of a sudden, without warning, here I am… an average, everyday, modern guy.  This is a place for my thoughts, my suggestion, my tips.  Enjoy.