Battle for the Planet of the Apes

Impressions before seeing it
Part 3 was a slight low point and part 4 was an improvement, so I figured this one could go either way.

How was it?
I was hoping for an epic, climactic battle, but I ended up being bored for most of it, and for a series conclusion, the big battle was on a small scale and really not very exciting. Let me back up by saying the plot feels stretched and drawn out. You could probably explain everything that happens in about three sentences. Some of the series mythology was filled in and explained, and that was good, but Battle's ultimate purpose and relevance to the Apes saga was unclear because their explanation of it was in the form of a rhetorical question at the end of the movie. They try to bookend it with the Lawgiver ape hundreds of years in the future telling the story we're seeing, but that future doesn't really solidify any outcome one way or the other, rendering the entire battle moot. The battle doesn't have a winner, because the movie is about whether apes and humans can get along, and instead of trying to answer that question, it just goes, "Can they?" I suppose you can pretend that it's trying to throw the question at the viewer to get them thinking about apartheid and equality, but I personally was not satisfied. I'm perfectly fine with ambiguous endings if they are appropriate, but this one was ambiguous in a bad way. Even the titular battle cannot really be described as a "battle for the planet", because that makes it sound like the entire planet is at war when in reality it's only a couple hundred (if that) humans and apes in one location. Yawn.

Recommendation
To recap: Movies 1 and 2 are really cool, 3 is kooky but watchable, 4 is dark but has some cool moments, and this one (5) is just plain underwhelming. I would recommend the first four without hesitation, but the last one need only be seen by completionists.

This Week in Television - Apr. 18-22, 2011

Glee
The stuff with Sue's League of Doom was great, though it's getting harder to believe that no one likes glee club given the popularity of Glee itself and shows like American Idol. Even if nobody wants to join, I'm sure they would at least want to watch them perform. And being a high school, I don't think they would reward Mercedes' spoiled behaviour by giving in to her demands. The teachers would discipline her or boot her out of the club. More game shows should have categories like "Hermaphrodite Nazi Sympathizers".

Survivor: Redemption Island
Even if Phillip's accusations of racism were legitimate (they weren't), he says sexist things all the time, and to me there's not much difference. I also find it funny that he apparently has trouble remembering/pronouncing big words, and that Ralph probably has never spelled a single name correctly when voting at Tribal Council. I mean, really, an "E" on the end of "Phil"? Even spelling it "Fill" would have made him look less uneducated.

Community
See, this is the kind of thing I love about Community: a clip show that does not induce eye-rolling or waste viewer time, because it's full of clips and "memories" that we've never seen (and, in some cases, look more fun than what we've seen). It's kind of playing a joke on the people who haven't been watching, because they'll think they were from actual episodes, while the rest of us laugh at those tearing their hair out and screaming, "Why can't I find the St. Patrick's Day rafting adventure episode?!" My favourite part, though, was the Jeff/Annie Youtube fan video parody, followed by a Pierce/Abed video using the exact same song. No, wait, Dean Pelton's animated short, in which he did all the voices and wrote a one-sided script based on his fantasies, was also crazy hilarious. Some episodes of this show fall more toward cool than funny, but this week it was both.

The Office
We only saw one Dundees ceremony back in season two, so I was glad to see another one because that was a fun episode. I loved Michael's take on the standard Academy Awards intro, and his terrible but hilarious impressions of some of his co-workers. Will Ferrell was a lot funnier this week than last week, a good sign if he's going to be around for a few episodes without Steve Carell, though Deangelo of course doesn't have the same energy as Michael Scott. Erin breaking up with Gabe in her acceptance speech was also really funny in a cringe-worthy way. Those two never felt right to me anyway because they don't seem like they have anything at all in common, much like Roy and Pam if you subscribe to the "Erin and Andy are Jim and Pam 2.0" theory.

Parks and Recreation
Everyone's actions in the health food store were a lot of fun, even if they were technically predictable due to being perfectly in line with their established personalities: Chris being excited about good health, Andy looking at everything with childlike wonder, Ron looking at everything with contempt and throwing the bacon substitute in the trash, and April throwing the bacon substitute in the trash simply because she enjoys that kind of behaviour. Leslie's attempt at a date with Tom was also good stuff. For the record, Point Break would be a better movie if Tom Haverford played both roles.

30 Rock
It's slightly unfortunate that we got two clip shows on the same night, but it went well because Community's clips were 90% new footage, and 30 Rock's were short and not too frequent. I especially like the gag about Danny not "seeing" the flashbacks because he wasn't there, and then the payoff at the end of the episode where he thinks he was there after all, but the montage is all clips of Josh. I believe this is 30 Rock's very first one-hour episode, and it was a joy to see what they did with twice the length. Great stuff from guest stars Michael Keaton and Tom Hanks, and a bit of meta humour with Jenna wanting a baby (Jane Krakowski was pregnant during the filming of that episode) and Jack's speech about respected actors going into television that seemed to describe Alec Baldwin. Also Tracy's backfiring attempts to throw himself under the bus were funny and seemed to be in true Tracy Jordan fashion, though I think in real life the media jumps at any chance they get to damage a celebrity's reputation. Also nice to see the little throwbacks to season one, like the blue man, Alan Gargle, and Jack's policy on tuxedos after six.

Fringe
I'm thinking that the doomsday machine can only be controlled/powered by Peter when it's in the other universe. While we've seen them do a lot of studying and building, I think we only saw the device react to Peter when he was over there; I could be wrong, though. I like the idea of the "events" coming more frequently, accelerating things as we move toward the finale.

Hero of the Week: Dean Pelton from Community, for his cartoon in the tag. It may have been completely wrong and crazy, but it was hilarious. Runner up: Tom Hanks on 30 Rock, because that scene was also amazing.

Douchebag of the Week: Sandy (A.K.A. "the Pink Dagger") from Glee, because his love of Aretha Franklin ruined Sue Sylvester's plan to take down the glee club. YOU JUST GOT POKED, SANDY! POKED BY THE DAGGER!

This Week in Television - Apr. 11-15, 2011

Survivor: Redemption Island
I liked David's attempt to make his vote count as four. After Phillip's complaining that Rob gets special treatment and Rob doesn't trust him, he was way too happy about having earned Rob's approval. What a sucker. Looks like it will be a three-way challenge at Redemption Island next week.

Community
Wasn't really a fan of the Troy storyline because Curb Your Enthusiasm already did the gag about making up an uncle molestation story (and they did it funnier), but it was cool to see "Professor Professorson" back and interesting that the writers decided to create sparks between Troy and Britta. Abed's storyline was a little commentary on extreme nerd fandom and reading way too much into simple entertainment, the point being that the professor did not consider himself a fan and only studied Who's The Boss analytically, and Abed being a fan was the trump card because he actually enjoyed the show while also studying it analytically because it's his nature to approach things that way anyway. The fake-out at the end was kind of funny, but to me it would have been funnier if the professor had shot himself over it. I think giving Pierce a love interest (assuming she'll be around for a bit) may be the right step toward him being less of a villain and the group forgiving him for being a douche. The tag with Troy in "Fiddla Please" was hilarious.

The Office
Will Ferrell's character wasn't so much funny as everyone's reactions to him were funny. Really enjoyed Andy stuck trying to fit into the "funny guy" role and having to resort to painful, undignified slapstick. I'm not entirely sure about the Michael side of this episode, though, because after all of the growing he's done, the petty jealousy and the disdain for being outshined just makes him seem like old Michael again. Or maybe it's just because, when it seemed like they finally cared about him, his co-workers are not making a big enough deal about him leaving.

Parks and Recreation
This might go up there as being one of my top favourite Parks and Rec episodes. A lot of really funny moments, a few sweet ones, and every single character being awesome at some point. The subject matter walks a fine line, though, that I fear not everyone will get. Personally I think young, impulsive marriages are a bad idea that often end in divorce and/or the conceiving of children that probably shouldn't be raised by such parents. This episode appears to glorify that, but I think it is only being applied to the specific case of April and Andy. Leslie was right in her opposition and her assertion that they should think it through, but they didn't need to think because they knew. Most young people will think they know that soon, but they don't. And I don't expect them to divorce during the course of the series, because this show is not a soap opera where no couple ever stays together forever.

30 Rock
Loved the Owl Creek Bridge plot twist in Pete's storyline, and how, just like the Janis Joplin biopic, Jenna's torture porn movie kept getting worse. This episode had a lot of really good jokes - for instance, the translucent candy safe ("The worst part is being able to see the candy!") and how easy it was to obtain customer information at that pizza place under the guise of being from the "New York Pizza Academy".

Fringe
That was a trippy one. Olivia's subconscious started off like The Matrix (trenchcoats and shades, walking through a crowded street in the establishing scene, sterile white hallways) and then became A Scanner Darkly (rotoscope animation). Keanu Reeves much? Maybe we can also throw Johnny Mnemonic in there because it involves something being trapped in her brain. Broyles on LSD was funny but also a tad creepy, and Astrid is awesome for calling Walter "Wally" as payback for always getting her name wrong.

Hero of the Week: Tom from Parks and Recreation, for the way he made fun of Jerry's shirt, fainted at Ron's tooth, and tried to be the best Best Man.

Douchebag of the Week: Deangelo (Will Ferrell) from The Office. Making Andy drink the soap was going too far... Though still funny.

Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

Impressions before seeing it
While I ultimately liked the previous movie (Escape From the Planet of the Apes), its bizarre embracing of comedy in an otherwise dramatic series had me concerned for the quality of the next two. In other words, expectations were low.

How was it?
Ah, that's better: back to something dark and serious. In fact, Conquest may be darker than the first three put together - I watched the unrated version, which apparently included violent scenes that were removed from the theatrical version. But it should be dark and grim, because it's about oppression leading to an uprising. I suppose all of the Planet of the Apes movies are technically about that, but this one puts it on a larger scale. However, it feels like this movie is only here to set up the fifth and final installment. I mean the poster basically tells you all the information you need to acquire from this one: the apes revolt... and that's about all that happens. There isn't even a plot twist or reveal at the end. I'm not complaining, there is some good action and I liked it more than movie number three, but is it necessary to use up a whole movie on a premise that can be explained by its poster? Well, maybe as long as there's another one coming, then this one can serve as a decent bridge to the conclusion. The other thing that makes this one memorable is Roddy McDowall's (returning as a new ape character) cool monologue at the end. I liked his performance, too. Since the ape makeup covers the entire face, he has to do a lot of acting with only his eyes, but he pulls it off and human expressions come through easily.

Recommendation
People seem to hate the sequels (the first two movies are still the best), but I felt this was an improvement over the last one and a welcome return to form. In the Escape post I said you may want to stop after the second one, but now I will say it's okay to keep going if, like me, you are entertained by the apes and their ongoing oppression/domination battle with mankind. It's not a perfect movie, but it works.

Double Feature: Tron and Tron Legacy

I'm combining both of these movies into one post not only because I watched them back to back, but because I don't have too much to say about the original. Maybe I was too impatient to get to the much cooler looking sequel, but I was a little bored in parts. The story was nothing special and the characters felt flat except for Jeff Bridges' Flynn. The special effects, while outdated, do give the film its own unique look and were probably revolutionary at the time. Or maybe not, because the black and white characters with their superimposed coloured light suits reminded me of silent film director Georges Méliès' hand-painted frames back in the days before they had actual colour film. It wasn't a bad movie, but the danger of making something about technology - especially computer technology - is that it becomes easily outdated. I don't even think you'll be missing much if you skip it and go straight to the sequel.

One reason for that is because Tron Legacy has been put so far into hyperdrive that it bears very little resemblance to Tron. The entire digital world has been redesigned to look cool and sleek, and new vehicles and locations have been added that were not even hinted at in the original. I'm not complaining, I thought this was an improvement, though die-hard fans of the original might be appalled that the only connection between the two movies is pretty much the characters of Flynn and Tron (Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner, both reprising their roles, which is good because I hate seeing roles recast). However, Tron Legacy is definitely a blockbuster and not, say, an art film. Like the first one, the special effects and action take more precedence over story and character (though I did feel that characters were more fleshed out and sympathetic this time), but my biggest problem was that the main character had a bad case of "Action Hero Syndrome". What I mean is that at every opportunity, Sam (Garrett Hedlund) has a catchphrase or a one-liner or a cocky remark ready, and many of them were actually bland and generic. In a way, that may have made it more realistic because not everyone is that sharp and quick, and normally I praise accuracy, but I don't think it should apply to one-liners. If you're going to spam your audience with hero-isms, at least make them witty or funny. Also present in the sequel is a younger, computer-animated Jeff Bridges playing the villain, which fooled me at first (I thought they were simply using the wrinkle removal technique used in Benjamin Button, but maybe Evil Flynn was in too many shots for that to be practical) but then became more noticeably fake-looking later on. That is probably the only thing that might date the special effects of Tron Legacy in a few decades, when we have perfected the art of photo-realistic CG humans. We're getting close, but we're not there yet.

Recommendation
I think Tron should be seen at least once, if only for the look back at what used to be considered an amazing, technologically advanced work of art, and Tron Legacy is a nice follow-up because of the huge leap in special effects proficiency. Both movies have a pretty high nerdiness factor, but in spite of that they're only here to be fun and look good, and of course the sequel is much better at accomplishing that.

This Week in Television - Apr. 4-8, 2011

Survivor: Redemption Island
I guess they're going to keep Redemption Island going up until the finals. I can see Matt winning the entire game at this point. Or if not, he will at least be Jeff Probst's man-crush this season for his domination of the Redemption Island challenges, which we all know Jeff cares about way more than a strategic game. Phillip sure loves that "red-headed stepchild" expression.

Hang tight, stuff comes back next week!

The Good, The Bad, The Weird

Impressions before seeing it
I vaguely heard about it somewhere, and then I saw a trailer on one of my other Blu-rays and it looked like fun. Also the idea of a Western movie made in the East was interesting to me.

How was it?
As the title suggests, this movie follows three characters - one good, one bad, and one who is weird - as the latter comes across a treasure map and a wild adventure begins when the three of them chase each other across the type of desert landscapes we're used to seeing in Westerns. I liked the performances here, each of the three leads bringing little character nuances to their roles. Kang-ho Song (he plays "The Weird"), was especially interesting because I had seen him before in two of Park Chan-wook's "Vengeance" movies as serious, subdued characters, and here he played a goofy, Jackie Chan-like slapstick prone character and still managed to be believable.

As I said of True Grit, the old fashioned Westerns were never meant to be deep or thought-provoking, only pure entertainment, and The Good, The Bad, The Weird follows this rule, too. It is packed with quite a lot of action, gunfights, and explosions, and supported by some good acting and a few laughs. When done right (and it was), these things can make for a great movie without needing anything more. Being from Korea was surely a factor, because this probably would have been forgettable had it been a Hollywood blockbuster.

Recommendation
Fans of Westerns will likely enjoy it, or even just fans of action. If you like more substance, you might be too pretentious for this one anyway.

Sucker Punch

Impressions before seeing it
Badly wanted to see this after I first saw that crazy awesome trailer. Then when it was released, I heard people saying it was bad but without giving a reason. Read a bit of Richard Roeper's review (not the whole thing, to avoid spoilers) and he said it was basically a confusing mess, but I wanted to see for myself.

How was it?
Okay, I can see why people wouldn't like it: the fantasy action sequences are technically unnecessary because they don't advance the plot and only serve to draw out very simple actions taking place (though they are very cool and the best thing about the movie); the feminist message is slightly cheapened by a cast of hot young girls in skimpy outfits (though I'm always glad to see female leads - the ratio of movies with male leads to female leads is highly unbalanced); and while the visual designs might be original, a lot of the story and execution doesn't feel like it (it can be cliched and predictable at times). Some also said the acting was bad, but I would say it was adequate at worst. But confusing? Not unless you've never seen a movie before. It's called "frame narrative," and there are two or three inside of each other for most of the movie; it's the same thing as Inception's multiple dream layer structure.

A lot of the movie feels very much like a video game. Not in the same way as Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, but in the way everything seems to be set up like mission objectives (namely collecting important objects) and boss fights. I could see all of it still being done exactly the same way if it had been a game instead of a movie, and if you don't play video games then you might not even make that connection (it's not as apparent as in Scott Pilgrim) and maybe that's part of why some people don't get it. Sucker Punch does have some minor problems, but I enjoyed it and by no means is it a total stinker.

Recommendation
I'll leave it up to you, because I think this movie can rub people the wrong way. Zack Snyder knows how to direct action, and those scenes alone make it worth watching at least once if you like action. But Sucker Punch tries to be just a little bit more than pure entertainment with its underlying feminist message, failing at that which it should not have tried.

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan

Impressions before seeing it
What I had heard was basically that it was a pointless collection of flashbacks looking at some major events in the series from the Cylon point of view. Sounded worth watching, anyway.

How was it?
The above description pretty much sums it up. Some footage from the series is re-used, but we also get new stuff because, of course, we didn't see a lot of the Cylon side in earlier episodes. Though I don't know if I would necessarily say it's about the Cylons so much as it is about model #1, the arrogant and ruthless model known as Cavil. Apparently, most of what the Cylons did was all his idea, and while this final movie doesn't really give us new answers to anything, it gives us his motivations and everyone else's reactions to them, making it a good character piece. I think that, in his pride, Cavil wants to be loved without having to feel love in return, without understanding what it is, because he thinks it's a human weakness to feel it. He just wants to be God's favourite, and he wants to do it by exterminating those sinful humans because, you know, God hates all sinners and everything is a sin. I think some of this was already touched on in the series anyway, but here we get the expanded version. Again, there's no shocking revelations. Like the Lost webisodes (yes, I'm comparing this show to Lost again), or even the Ben Linus epilogue scene to some extent, it fills in blanks that weren't necessarily begging to be filled but are still interesting to see for the sake of completion.

However, and I alluded to this in the season four post, one thing has been bothering me since season one that was still not answered here. I may have to watch that episode again in case I missed something, but the circumstances under which Ellen Tigh first arrives on the Galactica were strange to me. Adama suddenly takes off in a Raptor without telling anyone where he went, comes back with Tigh's wife, then resumes his usual duties without a peep and has no interactions with her for the rest of the episode (that I can remember)? Just felt like something was missing...

Recommendation
Much better than Razor, because at least the Cylons are characters we've known the whole time, but like Razor it doesn't really add much to the series. I'd still recommend it for fans of the show, though, if only for the chance to spend a little more time with these cool characters we've come to love. The absence of President Roslin does sadden me a little, though, being one of my favourites.

Battlestar Galactica - Season Four

The fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica was split in half by the writer's strike (and subsequently released that way on DVD), but to me half a season is stupid, so this post pertains to all of season four.

In last season's amazing finale, we had discovered all but one of the Cylons (or, rather, they discovered themselves) and ended with another reveal that wasn't necessarily all that surprising, but still cool. Now, as the series draws to a close, the crew is closer than ever to finding earth, the Galactica is falling apart, President Roslin's cancer is getting the best of her, humans cooperate with Cylons (though that war is not over), Cylon history - and the identity of the last model - is revealed, and a mutiny is started. Also, people die. Things have to get worse before they get better, and it sure makes for some great entertainment.

After certain events in the season, I started to form a theory that maybe everyone was a Cylon and there was no such thing as human beings. In one way it might have been a cool plot twist, but it also would have been a cop out and anyway I was wrong. It turned out that many events, apparently, were related to God. I guess I should have seen that coming, as religion has been a part of the series since the beginning (especially from the preachy, monotheistic Cylons), but it almost seems contradictory for God to play such a role in science-fiction. I'm not labeling that as a flaw, though; I like that it's something to set Battlestar Galactica apart from other sci-fi stories.

The finale, while maybe not exactly what I was expecting, was more wholly satisfying than, say, the series finale of Lost. While Lost's ending mainly serviced its characters and left several mysteries unsolved (still partly satisfying, though), I felt that Battlestar managed to do both. Some of its answers may be a bit vague, yes, but at least there are answers, and its ending waxed closer to mindblowing (but not quite) than I'd always hoped Lost's would. However, I didn't find it as moving as the Lost finale, so there's that. Still, it's been a wonderful journey with wonderful characters, and it's not over yet because I still have The Plan to watch, which I'm hoping will explain one specific plot point from the first season that has been bugging me all this time... More about that when I write that post.

Best Episode: "The Oath" and "Blood on the Scales", an exciting two-parter in which Gaeta and Tom Zarek start an uprising and take over the Galactica. I was kind of hoping the finale would top that one, but it didn't.

This Week in Television - Mar. 28-Apr. 1, 2011

Seems everything is off again for another couple of weeks, so short post.

Survivor: Redemption Island
Wow, even with Russell gone the show is still biased toward him. He was voted off like three episodes ago, yet they still included him in the recap and then insinuated that his departure caused his tribe to fall apart. I think that's just the producers being so in love with the ratings he garners that they want the audience to miss him. I get what Phillip was saying about Rob getting special treatment, it may be true, but that was still his portion of rice, you can't just take someone else's portion. Rob throwing the idol clue in the volcano was classic.