Update
It's been a while since I've updated, for a variety of reasons (okay, two, laziness and thesis) so I figured it's as good a time as any to update. And what better thing to talk about that the vast amount of entertainment I've consumed, since I'm a pop culture sponge?
Music:
Emily Smith, Too Long Away
I usually don't talk too much about music since I'm apparently tone deaf as well as having a slightly eclectic taste in music. Regardless though I figured I'd give it a shot. Emily Smith is a Scottish folk singer who does a mixture of traditional ballads, popular folk songs, and her own songs in her native and lovely Scottish accent. Even the lyrics are written with the accent, making deciphering some of the text a pleasant little game. It's a really good album, with a couple of songs that are good, just not what I personally like. The best songs on the album are Audience of Souls, May Colven, and The Mermaid of Galloway (heh), though Old Mortality is a song I like a lot, which surprises me. So I'd say hit up Pandora to hear stuff off of Too Long Away, or I suppose email me, but I highly recommend her.
TV:
I end up watching more TV shows than movies lately, probably because I don't have TV access so previews and the like are somewhat mythical for me, meaning I forget what's coming out or has come out, and consequently just come up with more TV shows to put on the list.
Justice League/Justice League Unlimited
I'm a huge fan of the DCAU and for me, Justice League is actually a lot more enjoyable to me than Batman the Animated Series (heresy, I know). Part of that is because of my... almost distaste of Batman. Before I get lynched or anything, I want to say that I do like the character, I just highly dislike the Batgod status that he has now, where basically Batman can beat anyone since he's super smart. It takes a grounded, more "realistic" hero and makes it a farce since he goes up against frickin' Darkside. It also has to do with my hatred of the lazy man's way to write Superman (make him a conservative prick, thank you Frank Miller). To be fair, Justice League falls into this trap as well, moreso than Batman the Animated series, I guess it actually comes down to me liking Supes better than Bats.
As far as the actual series, Justice League does a lot more right than it does wrong, though I feel the Cadmus arc wasn't nearly as brilliant as most people think. Basically JL/JLU has a bit of a darker edge than their previous shows, in that death happens and superheroes aren't exactly always the best answer. I really enjoyed the series, my only real complaint is that Batman really steals the show, and that irks me, and Clash, where Captain Marvel and Superman fight, annoys me since they made me actively hate one of my favorite characters (Superman).
I'd recommend the series to any fan of comics, though, as when the series starts focusing on lesser known heroes, the episodes are (okay, the first 13 episodes of Unlimited are for the most part, forgettable) fantastic. The Question is one of the most entertaining characters to grace the DCAU, and Green Arrow makes a good contrast to Batman, despite having the same backstory. Good series, though flawed because I think they hurt the big names a little too much, in defense of Batman. Well, except the Flash, he stayed consistently cool, and Michael Rosenbaum did a great job voicing him.
Castle Season 1
My first thought on the show was that it was good to see Nathan Fillion getting work, and even better to see him being entertaining. Castle is pretty much your standard police procedural, though it harkens back to the shows during the 80s for the most part, where the focus is more on the character, less on the crime, and there's a bit of light-heartedness to it, and less tortured angst. I enjoy the show immensely, and it's kinda neat having the main character be a single father who's obviously a good father despite appearances (Fillion is very good at being sleazy).
Probably what I like most about the show, however, is that it's not afraid to make other characters smart. Sure, Castle ends up solving most of the cases, but it's usually something of a team effort, unlike shows like Monk or Psych, where the main character is the only important one really. It always pisses me off when a series has one character being the smart one, or the powerful one, and all the other characters are just spectators, so it makes me happy that Castle did not fall into this trap.
Life on Mars (British version)
Hey, another police procedural, with a twist. The basic concept is that Detective Sam Tyler is hit by a car in the present day, and wakes up in 1973, is he in a coma, did he travel back in time? It's a pretty good show with good 70's music (as well as some good British music from 2000ish, never did I think I'd hear Disco 2000 in a show) with good acting. The show does sorta end up mainly being a somewhat politically incorrect standard police procedural, but the basic concept is great, and there are some great twists in it.
I also like that the show doesn't really hide what exactly the twist is, and they don't try to make it something else, just to throw people off. John Simm (also known as the Master from the new Doctor Who) plays Sam Tyler mostly well, but the series does fall into the trap of the displaced character being idiotic, talking about things that can't be true, like "that lady's me mum" when she looks roughly the same age. More blurting out stupid things and the like.
Leverage
Leverage is a heist show. That's really about all you need to know, it has entertaining characters (Eliot, played by Christian Kane, who was Lindsey in Angel is quite amusing), entertaining plots, and that's about it. The "all corporations are cartoonishly evil" gets a little old, as well as the stakes (knowing the team always wins is kinda blah), but it's a good time-waster. Really the only part that I actively dislike is the computer stuff, but that's because it's my field. Essentially imagine a smaller budget, weekly Ocean's Eleven with more technogadgets, and you got Leverage.
Movies:
The Invention of Lying
'shelle wanted to see it, and I thought the idea was interesting, but the movie itself was mainly just okay. They had an interesting idea and all, and good actors, but a couple of the basic conceits of the setting weren't really spelled out, so things sorta came out of nowhere. And the second act seemed wasteful, as a whole movie could have been made out of the premise of someone making up the first religion, but it kind of went no where. Decent, but nothing outstanding.
Shutter Island
I have two reviews for this, one with massive spoilers (highlight the text after the colon):
The one line review: I've seen it done better in Silent Hill 2
The longer review: I really wanted to really like Shutter Island, the setting was great (insane asylums are awesome), the acting was good and the music ranged from subtly enhancing the scene to being hit around the head with a sledgehammer (okay, that's not so great), and the imagery and flashbacks were really well done. It's just the story... argh, it's something that I'm fine with seeing once, and maybe to see one more time, but... it's bad when what they wanted you to think which was implausible, is just as implausible as the actual ending. I guess I liked it, but it's not quite as good as I'd hoped it would be, and really, that's only because of the plot. Everything else about the film was pretty fantastic, and I'll admit, the ending line still chills me when I think of it.
Music:
Emily Smith, Too Long Away
I usually don't talk too much about music since I'm apparently tone deaf as well as having a slightly eclectic taste in music. Regardless though I figured I'd give it a shot. Emily Smith is a Scottish folk singer who does a mixture of traditional ballads, popular folk songs, and her own songs in her native and lovely Scottish accent. Even the lyrics are written with the accent, making deciphering some of the text a pleasant little game. It's a really good album, with a couple of songs that are good, just not what I personally like. The best songs on the album are Audience of Souls, May Colven, and The Mermaid of Galloway (heh), though Old Mortality is a song I like a lot, which surprises me. So I'd say hit up Pandora to hear stuff off of Too Long Away, or I suppose email me, but I highly recommend her.
TV:
I end up watching more TV shows than movies lately, probably because I don't have TV access so previews and the like are somewhat mythical for me, meaning I forget what's coming out or has come out, and consequently just come up with more TV shows to put on the list.
Justice League/Justice League Unlimited
I'm a huge fan of the DCAU and for me, Justice League is actually a lot more enjoyable to me than Batman the Animated Series (heresy, I know). Part of that is because of my... almost distaste of Batman. Before I get lynched or anything, I want to say that I do like the character, I just highly dislike the Batgod status that he has now, where basically Batman can beat anyone since he's super smart. It takes a grounded, more "realistic" hero and makes it a farce since he goes up against frickin' Darkside. It also has to do with my hatred of the lazy man's way to write Superman (make him a conservative prick, thank you Frank Miller). To be fair, Justice League falls into this trap as well, moreso than Batman the Animated series, I guess it actually comes down to me liking Supes better than Bats.
As far as the actual series, Justice League does a lot more right than it does wrong, though I feel the Cadmus arc wasn't nearly as brilliant as most people think. Basically JL/JLU has a bit of a darker edge than their previous shows, in that death happens and superheroes aren't exactly always the best answer. I really enjoyed the series, my only real complaint is that Batman really steals the show, and that irks me, and Clash, where Captain Marvel and Superman fight, annoys me since they made me actively hate one of my favorite characters (Superman).
I'd recommend the series to any fan of comics, though, as when the series starts focusing on lesser known heroes, the episodes are (okay, the first 13 episodes of Unlimited are for the most part, forgettable) fantastic. The Question is one of the most entertaining characters to grace the DCAU, and Green Arrow makes a good contrast to Batman, despite having the same backstory. Good series, though flawed because I think they hurt the big names a little too much, in defense of Batman. Well, except the Flash, he stayed consistently cool, and Michael Rosenbaum did a great job voicing him.
Castle Season 1
My first thought on the show was that it was good to see Nathan Fillion getting work, and even better to see him being entertaining. Castle is pretty much your standard police procedural, though it harkens back to the shows during the 80s for the most part, where the focus is more on the character, less on the crime, and there's a bit of light-heartedness to it, and less tortured angst. I enjoy the show immensely, and it's kinda neat having the main character be a single father who's obviously a good father despite appearances (Fillion is very good at being sleazy).
Probably what I like most about the show, however, is that it's not afraid to make other characters smart. Sure, Castle ends up solving most of the cases, but it's usually something of a team effort, unlike shows like Monk or Psych, where the main character is the only important one really. It always pisses me off when a series has one character being the smart one, or the powerful one, and all the other characters are just spectators, so it makes me happy that Castle did not fall into this trap.
Life on Mars (British version)
Hey, another police procedural, with a twist. The basic concept is that Detective Sam Tyler is hit by a car in the present day, and wakes up in 1973, is he in a coma, did he travel back in time? It's a pretty good show with good 70's music (as well as some good British music from 2000ish, never did I think I'd hear Disco 2000 in a show) with good acting. The show does sorta end up mainly being a somewhat politically incorrect standard police procedural, but the basic concept is great, and there are some great twists in it.
I also like that the show doesn't really hide what exactly the twist is, and they don't try to make it something else, just to throw people off. John Simm (also known as the Master from the new Doctor Who) plays Sam Tyler mostly well, but the series does fall into the trap of the displaced character being idiotic, talking about things that can't be true, like "that lady's me mum" when she looks roughly the same age. More blurting out stupid things and the like.
Leverage
Leverage is a heist show. That's really about all you need to know, it has entertaining characters (Eliot, played by Christian Kane, who was Lindsey in Angel is quite amusing), entertaining plots, and that's about it. The "all corporations are cartoonishly evil" gets a little old, as well as the stakes (knowing the team always wins is kinda blah), but it's a good time-waster. Really the only part that I actively dislike is the computer stuff, but that's because it's my field. Essentially imagine a smaller budget, weekly Ocean's Eleven with more technogadgets, and you got Leverage.
Movies:
The Invention of Lying
'shelle wanted to see it, and I thought the idea was interesting, but the movie itself was mainly just okay. They had an interesting idea and all, and good actors, but a couple of the basic conceits of the setting weren't really spelled out, so things sorta came out of nowhere. And the second act seemed wasteful, as a whole movie could have been made out of the premise of someone making up the first religion, but it kind of went no where. Decent, but nothing outstanding.
Shutter Island
I have two reviews for this, one with massive spoilers (highlight the text after the colon):
The one line review: I've seen it done better in Silent Hill 2
The longer review: I really wanted to really like Shutter Island, the setting was great (insane asylums are awesome), the acting was good and the music ranged from subtly enhancing the scene to being hit around the head with a sledgehammer (okay, that's not so great), and the imagery and flashbacks were really well done. It's just the story... argh, it's something that I'm fine with seeing once, and maybe to see one more time, but... it's bad when what they wanted you to think which was implausible, is just as implausible as the actual ending. I guess I liked it, but it's not quite as good as I'd hoped it would be, and really, that's only because of the plot. Everything else about the film was pretty fantastic, and I'll admit, the ending line still chills me when I think of it.