Category: Feature

Direct Beam Comms #128

CategoriesDirect Beam Comms, Feature, TVPosted on

TV

Barry

The first season of the HBO series Barry ended last week and I’ll come right out and say it — Barry is the best new series of 2018 so far.

About a hitman of the same named played by Bill Hader, the character lives in Cleveland but winds up in Los Angeles to kill a wannabe actor who’s sleeping with a mob bosses wife. When the hit goes wrong and some of the bosses goons try and take out Barry but are gotten the better of, Barry ends up having to stay in L.A. to make up the hit but falls in with an acting class where he realizes he’d rather be an actor than a hit-man, even if he’s a much better hit-man than actor.

Barry
Barry

The tone of Barry is something that I don’t think I’ve seen before on TV, or even in the movies. At times the series is genuinely funny yet at other times it’s terrifying as Barry plies his trade or as others try and ply the same trade on him. The show never pulls its punches when it comes to the violence as it all feels very real, unlike what I would’ve expected Barry to be in what would seem to be a comedy. And the characters too range the gamut from mob underling NoHo (Anthony Carrigan) who’s got a man-crush on Barry but isn’t afraid to use a chainsaw in order to get his bosses way or acting class student Sally (Sarah Goldberg) who’s so self-centered she doesn’t realize how self-centered she is, even if Barry’s in love with her.

All throughout this first season I rooted for Barry. He’s a great, conflicted character who wants to move from his old murderous life but who’s uncle and manager (Stephen Root) won’t quite let him move on. But every time we think we know who Barry is he does something terrible. I don’t want to spoil things but Barry does things in the series that are so reprehensible that in any other show he’d be the bad guy. Barry is able to justify these things by telling himself that it’s all about him extracting himself from being a hit-man. Yet I think that it’s worth remembering that Barry’s a dangerous guy with a set of skills that includes murdering people and covering his tracks.

I almost feel like if Barry goes on a few more seasons, which I really hope it does, I’ll be rooting against Barry as much as I started out rooting for him.

Upfronts

Honestly, this year’s TV Upfronts was one of the most bland in memory. Coming out of the Upfronts last year there were eight network series that I was interested in checking out. This year there’s just three. For the most part, it seems as if the TV networks are going back to the old “standards” of multi-cam sitcoms, cop shows, lawyer shows and medical shows. The stuff that’s dominated TV screens for years now is going to dominate the networks even more in 2018.

The Passage
The Passage

I think the biggest thing to happen at the TV Upfronts actually happened a week before the Upfronts, with two shows Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Last Man Standing switching networks. Nine-Nine was a FOX show but next season will air on NBC and Last Man was cancelled by ABC but has found new life on FOX. This does happen with series from time time to time, the last time I remember it happening with scripted series was when Stargate moved from Showtime to The Sci-Fi Channel. It does make sense for Nine-Nine and Last Man to switch networks since in actuality even though Nine-Nine aired on FOX it was being produced by Universal Television, which is a subsidiary of NBC, and Last Man was being produced by 20th Century Fox. So by those series moving networks means a few more episodes of them for syndication and streaming which would mean a few more bucks for their production companies down the line.

The shows I’m looking forward to are, Roswell, New Mexico on The CW but only because I was a fan of the original Roswell series, Manifest on NBC that looks a whole lot like a take on Lost and the post-apocalyptic vampire drama The Passage on FOX that’s been in development for a few years but will finally make it to TV screens this fall.

And that’s about it. I was interested in checking out the Magnum P.I. reboot on CBS until I saw the trailer where apparently in the world of Thomas Magnum physics are optional, and the Murphy Brown continuation also on CBS looks interesting even if it’s been so long since the last time I’ve seen an episode of that show it feels like a lifetime ago.

I’ve been disappointed before in the past with a lot of the network TV fare and it looks like in 2018 and 2019 I’ll continue to be disappointed.

Movies

Bohemain Rhapsody movie trailer

Mission: Impossible – Fallout trailer

The Reading List

Cool Movie Posters of the Week

Posters of the Week

A Star Wars Story

CategoriesFeature, MoviesPosted on

Here’s the thing — I like the new Star Wars movies. A lot. If I had to put all of the Star Wars movies in order I’d start with the original IV-VI trilogy, then the newest films and then the I-III prequels. I almost cried at the end of The Last Jedi and I think that Rogue One is a great movie, Star Wars or not. That being said, after watching some of the original Star Wars movies again on TV I started wondering — do the new Star Wars movies including The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi spoil the story/message of the original ones?

“Tell your sister you were right.”

Star WarsThe original films, known as A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, essentially follows Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) as he goes from farm-kid to Jedi Knight while at the same time alternately battling the evil Darth Vader and trying to save his and Vader’s soul from the dark side. Battles are fought and sacrifices are made, but in the end Luke and the rebellion against the evil Empire win the day by destroying a new Death Star, killing the Emperor and turning Vader back to good which restores order to the galaxy. In the expanded editions of the movie, the ones that were re-released in 1997 with additional footage, there are scenes of celebration from around the galaxy of people cheering the demise of the Empire and the return of the Republic at the end of that trilogy.

Even if the original films didn’t originally have this galactic-wide celebration, none-the-less at the end of Return of the Jedi there is the sense that for the most part, if the Empire hasn’t been totally destroyed, that after such an immense defeat with the deaths of their leaders they’re close to annihilation. And, most importantly, Luke Skywalker is now the first Jedi in decades which means he can begin training a new generation of Jedi Knights.

Except in the next movie chronologically The Force Awakens (2015) we learn that all of what’s come before — this great victory and order being returned to the galaxy — was for naught.

The Force Awakens
The Force Awakens

Here, it’s 30 years after Return of the Jedi and the Empire has been replaced by the First Order, who are the Empire in everything but name. They have a seemingly limitless supply of soldiers, ships and equipment and aren’t afraid to use them against anyone or any planet that gets out of line. And instead of the Emperor to terrorize the galaxy, there’s Supreme Leader Snoke (Andy Serkis) and instead of Darth Vader there’s Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). The rebellion has been replaced with the “Resistance” who are still waging a galactic war decades on. Where’s Luke Skywalker and his cadre of new Jedi Knights? He’s no where to be found, having left and hidden himself on a far-off planet abandoning his teachings.

The First Order
The First Order

So, essentially nothing that took place in the original trilogy matters much in the new. Luke could’ve stayed at home and never joined the rebellion, Leah could’ve run away and hidden on some forgotten planet and Han could’ve stayed a smuggler in the original trilogy and not much would’ve changed in the new films other than some semantics like “Empire” instead of “First Order.”

Terror still reigns supreme with good stuck fighting on it’s fringes.

I get why Disney decided to go they way they did with the with the new movies. It’s more of what the audience wanted and has come to expect from Star Wars. I just don’t think it fits very well with what’s come before. Especially knowing all of the post-Return of the Jedi stories that came out in the novels/comics before The Force Awakens. Interesting stories can be told that doesn’t essentially retell the original trilogy all over again. There can be stories about shifting powers, different alliances and new characters. But with the new trilogy we’ve gotten more of the same.

Don’t get me wrong — it’s really good “more of the same,” it’s stuff I really dig and watch whenever it’s on. But have no doubt the new trilogy is simply “more of the same” of what’s come before and is lesser because of it.

Direct Beam Comms #127

CategoriesDirect Beam Comms, Feature, TVPosted on

TV

The Expanse

So SyFy channel cancelled the wonderful TV series The Expanse Friday and I have to admit that came as quite a shock to me. The show which has consistently been the most critically acclaimed series on the channel since Battlestar Galactica is one of my favorites on TV and this season in particular has been the strongest yet. For a channel that’s supposedly devoted to fans of science fiction, their slogan is “It’s a Fan Thing,” for them to cancel the best sci-fi show in years that the fans adore doesn’t make sense. 
Maybe SyFy was concerned airing something like The Expanse would make room for more airings of their crappy movies like the Sharknado franchise that for some reason people keep watching.

The ExpanseI should’ve known something was up last winter when SyFy didn’t promote The Expanse as heavily they did in years past. For Krypton we got loads of posters and a TV commercial every break promoting that show, for The Expanse there was one poster and just a single TV spot I can’t ever remember airing. I had to find it myself on YouTube.

Now that I think about it, it’s been a while since the last time a show I was into was cancelled like this. To be sure shows I liked have been cancelled in the past, but it seemed as if they either didn’t work from the start and didn’t get a second season, or they were cancelled but given one more season to wrap things up. For SyFy to kill this show in the middle of the third season, which I can only imagine is going to end on a bit of a cliffhanger with no end to the story in sight is extremely frustrating.

The ExpanseThe Expanse will join other shows that got cancelled after three seasons like Deadwood, Ash vs Evil Dead and a little show I don’t think many people have ever heard of called Star Trek that were all cancelled after year three.

The one hope for The Expanse is that some other network or streaming service will pick it up and to give it a few more seasons of life or at the very least give the creators of The Expanse a chance to finish the story. I can see this happening especially since sci-fi series are so popular these days and The Expanse already has a built in fanbase and critical acclaim.

I’ve written before about the dreck that SyFy currently airs and their cancellation of The Expanse only solidifies my low opinion of them. Their new series Nightfliers does look interesting, but it doesn’t start up until the fall and I’ll check that one out when it airs. But until then I don’t think I’ll be watching much of any thing on SyFy in the near future.

Upfronts

This weeks marks the beginning of the TV Upfronts, or when all the networks debut what new series they’ll be airing next fall/winter. For the series that are picked up this week it means a lot of work for show creators over the summer getting ready for their series to start airing this fall/winter. For those shows not picked up it probably means a long vacation in Hawaii for all involved before starting the process over again in a few months.

This week is an exciting time for me, it’s always cool to see what new shows I’ll be checking out in a few months and to start tracking them now.

One thing I’ve learned is that even if a show sounds interesting during the Upfronts, it doesn’t mean that it will actually be any good next fall. After the Upfronts last year I was really excited about shows like Ghosted, The Gifted, Inhumans and The Crossing. Yet after having actually watched a few episodes of them I quickly lost interest and moved onto other things.

The Orville
The Orville

But the opposite is true too. Last year at this time I was lukewarm over the Seth McFarlane sci-fi series The Orville, yet that show quickly became one of my favorites of this TV season and even made it to my “best of” list last year.

While I do get excited over the Upftonts, I honestly don’t watch too much network TV these days. I can only think of a handful of shows there that I watch, Roseanne, The Good Place, the mentioned The Orville… and that’s about it. And don’t get me started on the dreck that CBS airs years after year after year.

For the most part I get my entertainment from cable and streaming services. Those outlets don’t really have big Upfronts like the networks do and instead release series year round. So while I might get excited about some new sci-fi/horror/superhero show that’ll be airing on FOX in October, chances are when that time comes I’ll be much more interested in what’s airing on AMC, or FX or HBO.

Arrested Development season 5 teaser

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXg2_yExgVY&feature=youtu.be

Movies

The Predator teaser trailer

The Reading List

Cool Movie & TV Posters of the Week

Posters of the week

Direct Beam Comms #126

CategoriesDirect Beam Comms, Feature, TVPosted on

TV

Are TV season finales important now with streaming series? They still are somewhat important for shows that air on network or cable channels, even if people still watch those shows time-delayed on their DVR. But for streaming services, since viewers can watch the shows at their own pace, be it binging an entire season the night it premiers, doling out one episode a week at a time or even waiting months/years to start watching, no one is watching the finales at the same time. And while I love streaming series I feel a bit of a loss for shows that air there.

Stranger Things
Stranger Things

Let’s look a Stranger Things. The second season of that show premiered on October 24 of last year at midnight Pacific. By the time I was checking the news sites that morning there were already in-depth reviews for a good chunk of the season. And by the end of the day many sites had posted reviews of the finale. So, before most people even had a chance to start watching Stranger Things there were a few people already discussing the finale. I’d guess that by the end of the premiere weekend a good percentage of Stranger Things fans too had binged through the show and were done too.

But for people like me who were watching one episode a week it meant we weren’t finishing until sometime in late November/early December. And by that time most of the talk about the show was done. When I’d talk with friends who’d already binged the show I was met with, “Oh yeah, I think I remember that. It was so long ago… I’m not sure.”

So that collective discussion pop-culture fans used to have about shows mostly isn’t happening for streaming series since everyone’s finishing at different times. For a show like Stranger Things that debuted around Halloween I’d say talk about it online was pretty much over by the end of November.

Shows like Stranger Things don’t so much as have a finale as they do a spectacular, exciting launch and then after a few weeks they pretty much just go away from public consciousness. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing or a good thing, it’s just the reality of modern-day TV watching.

Westworld

Still, shared experience finales aren’t totally dead. Series that run on network or cable platforms air on a week-to-week basis. A show like Westworld can debut at the start of October and since viewers can’t binge it until the season’s complete they have to watch it week-to-week. So, as the first season of Westworld started winding down towards the end of November there was still excitement about the show online with viewers spending the week dissecting each episode and having theories about where the story was going and how things were going to end.

I know that for most people binging is the preferred way to watch TV. If you’re enjoying something why stop, why not plow through the story and find out how it ends? Which is true, but to me I’d rather savor the story for as long as possible. I think binging a show means you’re not catching the details, you’re not paying attention to what’s all happening and you don’t have time to digest what’s all going on in the story. You’re just going as fast as possible to make it to the end like a race car driver.

And it makes the finales of the shows less and less important. How can they be important when some people will be watching them a few hours after the series premiered while others might not be seeing it for months?

Comics

Robotech Archives: Macross Saga Volume 1

Robotech Archives: Macross Saga Volume 1
Robotech Archives: Macross Saga Volume 1

Titan Comics is set to republish the collection of Robotech comic books that originally ran in the 1980s and 1990s starting with Robotech Archives: Macross Saga Volume 1. Covering the first third of the Marcoss series originally published by First Comics, these editions are a, shall we say, “maybe buy” for me. I’m a huge fan of all things Robotech and I collected some of the original Robotech comics when I was a kid. I say “maybe buy” since I’m not sure if the comics are any good or not? I’m worried that I wouldn’t be buying the collection to read, but for the nostalgia factor alone and they’d just be another thing taking up room on a shelf somewhere.

Not that I haven’t done that many times before with many other things!

Movies

Ant Man and The Wasp trailer

Teen Titans GO! To the Movies trailer

The Reading List

Cool Movie Posters of the Week

Posters of the Week

Captain Deadpool? Nah, just Deadpool

CategoriesFeature, MoviesPosted on

To be honest, I’ve never been a big fan of actor Ryan Reynolds. For whatever reason I’ve just never cared for him and tend to skip movies he stars in at the theater. Sometimes this pays off like with the dreadful Green Lantern but sometimes it almost “bites me in the butt” like with Deadpool. I very nearly didn’t go see this hilarious, raunchy superhero comedy that’s got a ton of heart when it came out in 2016 and only happened to go one night when I tagged-along with some friends. And while I hold that I still won’t go see any Ryan Reynolds movies in the theater, the one caveat to that rule is, “Unless he’s starring in a Deadpool film.”

Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool
Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool

In Deadpool, Reynolds plays Wade Wilson aka Deadpool, an ex-military mercenary who meets the girl of his dreams Vanessa (Morena Baccarin) and then soon after finds out he has inoperable cancer. But, since this is a superhero movie and not a romantic comedy, Wilson goes off to get an experimental treatment to try and cure his disease. This treatment works but has some side-effects like making him look a bit like Freddy Kruger in addition to giving him super-regenerative powers. Shoot him and he heals, cut off a hand and it’ll grows back.

Angry that he’s lost the girl of his dreams Wilson vows to hunt down those who gave him the treatment while at the same time trying to introduce his new Kruger face to Vanessa.

I think the reason that Deadpool works is that it’s highly quotable, the action is completely over-the-top and it sends up the last decade of superhero movies in a fun way. Whereas most superhero movies are at least outwardly family friendly, Deadpool is not. It’s R-rated, there’s gore, nudity and lots of swearing. While in most superhero movies the heroes are out to save the world from some menace, in Deadpool Wilson’s just trying to get his girl back.

Zazie Beetz as Domino
Zazie Beetz as Domino

Ironically, for being R-rated Deadpool is probably a teenagers ideal superhero. Wade’s fearless since no one can really hurt him and he always has the right thing to say. It also helps that his girlfriend is drop-dead gorgeous.

In many ways Deadpool is more villain than hero. He doesn’t have any problems with causing accidents on major highways or bringing down a gigantic construction site when he does battles with the bad guys. If in other films the superheroes take pains to establish that their fight is about to take place in an abandoned part of the city, then one of the major fights in Deadpool takes place on a busy freeway with cars crashing, body parts being severed and villains going “splat” on highway signs.

Because of the huge success of Deadpool, the movie reportedly cost less than $60 million to make yet earned back something like $780 million at the box office, comes Deadpool 2.

This time Deadpool’s out to save a kid (Julian Dennison) with superpowers whom superhero from the future Cable (Josh Brolin) is out to eliminate. But Deadpool’s got help from both Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebran) and Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapicic) from the first movie along with a new X-Force including Domnio (Zazie Beetz), Bedlam (Terry Crews), Shatterstar (Lewis Tan) and fan-favorite from the trailer alone regular-guy Peter (Rob Delaney).

Josh Brolin as Cable
Josh Brolin as Cable

Ironically, when the character of Deadpool first appeared in the pages of New Mutants back in 1991 no one cared too much about him. He was just another 1990s style super-powered killing machine of which there were loads of. Back then, everyone was too concerned with picking up a copy of the comic with the first appearance of Cable than anything Deadpool was in since Cable was the most popular Marvel character of the early 1990s.

Now things have changed, so much so that, if the amount of t-shirts I see people wearing is any indication, Deadpool is one of the most popular superhero characters out there while poor Cable is lucky to land a guest-starring role in a movie of a character he first helped introduce some 27 years ago.

I guess there are worse fates, just ask Howard the Duck.