The Flash: Season 1, Episode 1

The Flash

Episode Title: “City of Heroes”

Channel: CW

Director: David Nutter

Writers: Greg Berlanti, Geoff Johns and Andrew Kreisberg

Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Runtime: 45min

Rated: TV-PG

Original Air Date: October 7, 2014

The Flash is a spin-off of the popular CW show Arrow. They share some of the same writers and showrunners, and it shows. Although this is still based on a comic book, and as such will always feature some corny dialogue, it's no where near as painful as some of the dialogue written for the first season of Arrow; Kreisberg and crew have learned a lesson there it seems. Also, while the mission and action are important, what keeps viewers tuning in every week is the relationships between the hero and those around them, good and evil. Smiting a monster a week is all well and good, but in a long running show the characters are important, and the writers seem to realize that already.

When Grant Gustin did his guest stint on Arrow I wasn't a huge fan, I didn't hate the guy, but there wasn't much there to make me excited to see him playing the Flash. In “City of Heroes” he did a great job, I believed and bought into just about every emotion they were trying to evoke from the audience. Aside from the overdone hand on the glass in the scene with his father at the end, that was a pretty impressively acted moment.

The villain in this one was hopefully a throw away that we don't see again. Not that the power isn't interesting, controlling the weather could be used in all sorts of nefarious ways, but the actor playing him was just about as one-note as they come. Also, maybe it's just me and admittedly I don't know a lot about Barry Allen, his backstory or his personality, but it seemed to me that he might be just a little too Peter Parker. I hope going forward that they can show us how this lovable geek it different from the other comic lovable geek we've already come to know.

One last note. I'm very excited about how hopeful this show seems. Barry is idealistic and ready to really make a difference. With the other comic related fair I watch on television the situation is already dark and covered in grime, and the hero is just trying to clean it up in one spot after another. The Flash has me believing that Central City is no where near the cesspool that some of its contemporary cities are, and Barry stands a chance to keep it from becoming so.

Conclusion: This was actually a really good pilot. I felt like just enough time was spent setting up and origin and introductions, leaving enough time for Barry to take out a low level baddie and spread some feel good vibes. The tone of the show is so different from Arrow and Gotham that it's a breath of fresh air, every comic book city doesn't have to be a dark and dirty sinkhole of corruption.

Rating: 7.5/10

The Strain: Season 1, Episode 13

The Strain
Episode Title: "The Master"
Channel: FX
Director: Phil Abraham
Writers: Carlton Cruse and Chuck Hogan
Genre: Drama, Sci-Fi, Horror
Runtime: 60 min
Rated: TV-MA
Original Air Date: October 5, 2014

All right, this is still not great television. Most of the characters are just cardboard cutouts for what the audience expects in such a situation. They do all of the things that they're supposed to do to keep the story going forward. Unfortunately for the audience, most of the time there's very little reasoning put into those actions by the characters, so everything feels like something you've seen before. Oh, you need an inhaler, lets go to the one place that someone hunting us would try to find us; instead of stopping at any of the dozens of pharmacies along the way. Why? Because, drama!

So, a prerequisite to enjoying an episode of The Strain is not just to suspend disbelief; take disbelief down to the basement and tie it to the furnace. I know it seems a little harsh, but doing so will allow you to at least mindlessly enjoy the finale. This episode is entitled “The Master” so it should come as no surprise that there's a confrontation with him at the end. Honestly, I enjoyed the lead up to that face to face. Sure you had some of the silliness we've come to expect from The Strain, such as characters scoring headshot after headshot, only to be confronted with a bad guy six feet away, who the heroes proceed to shoot in both shoulders, completely losing their previously exemplary marksmanship.

(Disbelief! I told you, the basement! Don't make me get the duct tape.)

Of course, we knew that the Master couldn't fall at the end of season one, I don't consider that a spoiler, but if you do, don't read the rest of this paragraph. The way to make sure he didn't should have been to build a choice into the showdown, some way to exploit the humanity of the humans. The heroes very stupidly brough Zach into the fray, perhaps the Master could engineer a way to force a choice between ending the threat and saving the boy. I know it's cliché, but it would have been better than what happened. The Master flees, Setrakian has him at his mercy, stops to talk (I bet you though that was something only villains do) and then...The Master breaks one of the most basic rules that the show had set up for its vampires and scurries away.

Conclusion: Brain-off: Some decent action and it allows for the next season. Brain-on: Why is most every character so stupid, and even the previously intelligent ones so prone to moments of absolute idiocy? I hate delivering ultimatums here, but I can't see myself continuing very far into season two if some changes aren't made.

Rating: 6/10

Gotham: Season 1, Episode 3

Gotham

Episode Title: “The Ballonman”

Channel: Fox

Director: Dermott Downs

Writer: Bruno Heller

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Runtime: 45 min

Rated: TV-14

Original Air Date: October 6, 2014

“The Ballonman” rejoins the denizens of Gotham almost immediately after the previous episode. What struck me most was one line that I'll paraphrase as, “since the Waynes died, everything in Gotham has gone to hell.” If their death had that much of an impact on Gotham maybe the audience should've been shown what they had been doing to keep it from being that bad! I know I've mentioned it before, but here it seems like the writers' admission that they didn't pick the right starting place for the series. Now they're going to be forced to use these oblique references instead of showing us the Waynes' work. I feel like this will be a recurring theme in these reviews, and it wouldn't surprise me if we see a flashback episode or two that tries to correct this.

This episode was all about showing how the different characters react to vigilantism. The general feeling in Gotham is that someone ought to do it, Jim Gordon isn't ready to accept it, and it appears to young Bruce to be a novel idea. Some of the dialogue in regards to those ideas is really bad. I think that has been one of the bigger disappointments through the first three episodes. The writers need to decide if they're going for a gritty, Nolan-esque version of the story or if they're going to keep with the comic-y camp, toeing the line isn't working.

I'm warming up to the Harvey Bullock character, Donal Logue seems to have gotten his feet under him and know what he's about now. Robin Lord Taylor is giving us a good look into the descent of Cobblepot into the villain he'll become. The character I'm enjoying the most though is Alfred. Sean Pertwee is bringing something we haven't seen in tv/movie versions to the character, an edge that perhaps hints at a past that is far more intriguing than the common Alfred origins.

Conclusion: This episode featured a forgettable villain whose sole purpose was to allow everyone to opine on vigilantes. A few strong performances kept what was a rather weak script from slipping into something groan worthy. There are past events that the writers seem to think the audience will need to know, and I hope we get to see them soon.

Rating: 6.5/10

Doctor Who: Season 8, Episode 7

Doctor Who

Episode: “Kill the Moon”

Channel: BBC

Director: Paul Wilmshurst

Writer: Peter Harness

Genre: Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Runtime: 45 min

Rated: TV-PG

Original Air Date: October 4, 2014

“Kill the Moon” seemed like two episodes mashed together into something that just didn't really work. A fairly creepy set up with skittering aliens, corpses and a dilapidated moon base could have made for an interesting story. Hit a commercial break and then you're watching an overwrought melodrama, belaboring the value of one life versus many. I'm not sure if the audience was supposed to view the situation as an abortion metaphor or not, but if so previous Doctor Who episodes that have contained some sort of social commentary have done so in much more subtle ways, without smashing the viewer in the face with it.

Clara is tasked with making what is presented to her as a huge decision, perhaps sacrificing humanity for the sake of one life. She makes it thinking there will be dire consequences, and instead everything is right as rain. What follows is a huge argument, one in which their relationship may be irrevocably damaged. I'm not going to tackle which side was right and which was wrong, I will only say that the whole thing felt contrived and misplaced; in the episode as the first half was presented to us, and in relation to what the audience knows about the characters.

We've now passed the midway point of the season, Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman are both holding up their end of the bargain by delivering on the acting front, but so far the writing is letting them down. I know they're trying to show the audience what kind of Doctor number twelve is, but they're doing it in a haphazard fashion, through forced emotional blow ups. How about letting things happen, tidbits through the course of their adventures, and let the audience form their own opinions?

Conclusion: A promising start comes to a catastrophic end. Not for humanity, or physically for any of the principle characters involved; there were actually no consequences to be found there really, only the fates of a couple of extras early on. Day-time TV level melodrama shows up in the second half to really drag this episode down.

Rating: 5/10

Saturday is Haul Day 12!!

A little comic book crazy this week.  Lets start with the 'other' category first though.  First there is Naomi Novik's Empire of Ivory which is the fourth book in here Temeraire series.  Then we've got Jacob's Ladder a 1990 film staring Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Pena and Danny Aiello.  It's a movie that I've heard a lot about, and when I found it on sale for five bucks it had to be mine.

On the comic book front there's a ton of stuff.  Cloak #2 of 4 by Caleb Monroe and Mariano Navarro, Death of Wolverine #3 of 4 by Charles Soule, Steve McNiven, Jay Leisten and Justin Ponsor, Green Arrow #35 by Andrew Kreisberg, Ben Sokolowski and Daniel Sampere,  Moon Knight #2-6 by Warren Ellis, Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire and Moon Knight #7-8 by Brian Wood, Greg Smallwood and Jordie Bellaire.  Rat Queens #8 by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch, Thor #1 by Jason Aaron, Russel Dauterman and Matthew Wilson, and finally The Woods #6 by James Tynion IV and Michael Dialynas.

Obviously I'm going to have to track down Moon Knight #1, but I'm excited to get into that series, as I've heard only good things!

 

Gone Girl

Gone Girl (2014)

Producers: Leslie Dixon, Bruna Papandrea, Reese Witherspoon, et al.

Director: David Fincher

Rated: R for a scene of bloody violence, some strong sexual content/nudity, and language  
Runtime: 149 min

Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller

The first thing to do when reviewing a movie based on a book is to remove one's feelings about said book. Movies and books are separate forms of entertainment, what works in one may not necessarily work in the other. A movie is not reviewed by comparing it to the novel, it must stand on its own. Its merits and inadequacies in regards to a movie review are only the movie's and bear no relationship to the source material. If there's interest in it at a later date I might compare the two, but this is not the place for it.

With that out of the way, on to the movie!

Lets begin with the cast. Ben Affleck is the perfect Nick Dunne. He's charming and arrogant, at times you feel great sympathy for him, then he does or says one thing and the audience just can't stand the guy. Even after the midway point of the film, when one would think that the audience's perception of him would shift, he keeps walking that line between good and bad guy. Nick Dunne is just a guy, worse than some and better than some. Maintaining that image throughout the film is quite a feat from both David Fincher and Ben Affleck. Preventing the classification of the two leads into a familiar cinema archetypes is the most powerful part of the story.

That leads us to Rosamund Pike's Amy Elliot Dunne. It's very hard to talk about her character without getting into spoilers that might ruin the movie for anyone that hasn't read the book. When her casting was announced I was skeptical, sure she looked the part, but a lot was going to be required of her to play the character; things I hadn't really seen her do before. Those doubts were completely unfounded. Within the screenplay for this story she does everything required of her, she brings Amy to life just as she had to be to drive this film.

Another casting decision that had me scratching my head initially was Tyler Perry. No worries there either, after his first appearance and my “Oh look, there's Tyler Perry,” immediate reaction he became the character in my head. The remaining supporting cast all shined in their moments, without overshadowing the lead characters. David Fincher was David Fincher; doling out information in an inexorable crawl, causing the audience to feel like they're being pulled through the whole uncomfortable thing right along with Nick. There is a time about halfway through when the movie seems to slow down a little too much, treading water for fifteen minutes or so, then it picks back up. Aside from that one pacing misstep I never felt the need to check the time or wonder how much was left. Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross crafted a score that felt as irresistible as the rest of the film, magnifying the tension in all the right places. Reznor's trademark industrial sound was a little overbearing at times, through no fault of his own, as the sound mix was a little off during some of the dialogue.

Gone Girl also contains some interesting commentary on life and the nature of the media. What should we fake, if anything, in a relationship to make it work? How does the media and public perception sway the course of an investigation and the lives of those affected? Why are we so willing to vilify people that we don't know, and about whom we know only those things that various news outlets have decided will boost ratings? All important questions that this film raises.

Conclusion: Great performances from everyone involved, with masterful direction, allow Gone Girl to elevate what initially seems like a run of the mill whodunit into something else entirely. Any quibbles I might've had are insignificant when held up against the movie as a whole. It is a relentless slow burn of drama and tension that leaves the viewer unsure of who to root for, or whether any of the characters even deserve your sympathy.

Rating: 8.5/10

Black Powder War by Naomi Novik

Black Powder War

Temeraire – Book 3

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group as Del Ray (2006)

Author: Naomi Novik

Genre: Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Pages: 365

Price: $7.99

After their fateful adventure in China, Capt. Will Laurence of His Majesty's Aerial Corps and his extraordinary dragon, Temeraire, are waylaid by a mysterious envoy bearing urgent new orders from Britain. Three valuable dragon eggs have been purchased from the Ottoman Empire, and Laurence and Temeraire must detour to Istanbul to escort the precious cargo back to England. Time is of the essence if the eggs are to be borne home before hatching.

Yet disaster threatens the mission at every turn – thanks to the diabolical machinations of the Chinese dragon Lien, who blames Temeraire for her master's death and vows to ally herself with Napoleon and take vengeance. Then faced with shattering betrayal in an unexpected place, Laurence, Temeraire and their squad much launch a daring offensive. But what chance do they have against the massed forces of Bonaparte's implacable army?

Black Powder War picks up shortly after the events of Throne of Jade. The driving events in the story occur early and there's very little superfluous content before the adventure gets underway. This time around Laurence and Temeraire are trying to get from China to Turkey, my immediate concern over another book bogged down by unnecessary travel descriptions were unfounded. There are stops and complications during the course of the journey but, unlike the previous book, these pit stops seemed to serve the story. They didn't feel like placeholders, there simply because too much time had gone by since the last bit of excitement occurred.

The first two-thirds or so fly by as many factors work against Laurence and Temeraire. There's also a bit of fun we've all come to expect from historical fiction, given the opportunity to dramatically change the course of events as the reader knows them, how much would one ignore their basic values in order to alter history? Upon completing half of their mission Laurence and Temeraire get caught up in Prussia. Unfortunately this is where the pace of the book slows down, with a lot of time being devoted to the description of military maneuvers and the difficulties of managing an army, logistically speaking. Most likely the latter was included in an attempt to heighten the desperation evident in the characters, but it occasionally seemed a chore to continue.

The ending was not quite what I expected. Given the deceleration of the plot going into the final act of the book I was convinced that an epic battle awaited me. While this wasn't the case, the ending was still satisfying for the reader. Laurence's evolving opinion on the social plight of dragons is an interesting facet of the story that gained a lot of momentum going into the end of the book. We may soon see a reconciliation between Laurence and his father, due in no small part to their similarities in view regarding two different down-trodden populations.

Conclusion: Black Powder War corrected in style some of the issues from the previous book. It suffered from a final act that seemed to bog the story down, but a satisfying conclusion and a number of possibilities going forward help make this a series I will continue.

Rating: 7.5/10