Category Archives: TV/movie

Bionic Woman, etc

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I liked La Femme Nikita (the tv series, I mean), so I should like this new version of the Bionic Woman.  Maybe.  I kind of wanted the sister to die in this episode to simple things up.  (On the other hand, I don’t want Sarah to prove to be a cold stone killer, even though that is pretty much a given after her sniper activity in the pilot.)

Not sure what to think.  It looks like there is a parade of abusive men manipulating the women (both bionic women).  Could be a theme (pretty much straight out of Genesis 3 where Adam is right with Eve letting her take on the serpent to see what will happen if she eats.)

I’m actually liking Proson Break even though it almost seems like a different show now.  I guess they could have Michael imprisoned in different places all over the world by various groups wanting someone extracted….  Which would be very lame.  I hope the season is good because I fear the rationale of the series is fading.

Heroes seems OK, thought the flying boyfriend was too easy to write into it.  I’m sticking with it.

Moonlight.  Ugh.  I’ll view the rest of the second show and decide what to do next.  But so far it looks like it is built entirely of cliches.

Happily, I have season 5 of Angel, of which I only originally viewed four or five episodes when it was on the air.  I think watching it through this year would be my best revenge on NBC.

Illegal movie downloading on the internet

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I think that the motion picture industry is right to be worried about this. But when they act like the people who download movies are taking money out of their pockets, they are simply wrong.

The only way that is true is if and only if, every decision to download a movie is also a decision to not view the movie through other means.

And that is just nonsense. People would rather they could afford Satellite TV and Tivo. The numbers who are deciding not to purchase DVDs in preference to making illegal downloads has got to be marginal.

Who is really getting hurt by what is so easy to download? Probably the local networks. They are the ones who are losing viewers, I would guess.

Like I said at the beginning. The motion picture industry needs to make sure they are not losing their investments. But the claims I see seem to use a model that cannot be true. If I owned a local TV station though, I would be really upset about how easily more sought after content can be acquired.

I was thinking about some neat TV shows someone should produce…

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One would be about a girl who is a grad student and a financial services employee who has to travel alot–except that she is really a CIA spy. The story revolves around the discovery that her father is also in the CIA except that neither of them are working for the CIA but for a crime group that pretends in order to get cooperative agents. The story is further complicated by discovering dark truths about her mother…

What’s that you say? Already done? Alias?

No, no. That was about a girl who was a grad student wanting to teach literature who worked for the CIA that used a bank as a cover employer. This girl wants to teach English, see? It is an entirely different story. And besides, she spells her name with a C–Cidney. Totally separate set up. No connection.

On a completely unrelated note. Anyone planning to give Moonlight a try?

Why can’t TV execs think ahead?

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This pretty much sums up what is wrong with Television dramas and the decision-makers:

Spike TV is hoping “A.M.P.E.D.” can build on “Blade: The Series,” which drew solid ratings for its premiere in June but fell off as the summer progressed. The network has decided not to pick the show up for a second season.

OK, I am no expert on TV or anything, but I’m pretty confident that you don’t build on a show by canceling it.

TV shows have the ability to be so much interesting than movies.  But at least I know my average movie is not going to stop end at the beginning or in the middle.

TechDirt: Ridley Scott the rioting tailor raging against the sewing machine?

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It strikes me as odd that this could come from the guy who gave us Blade Runner:

Famed director Ridley Scott has apparently stated that watching films on mobile phones and computers is killing cinema. Unfortunately, it seems that he has it backwards. He’s blaming the wrong thing when he says things like: “We try to do films which are in support of cinema, in a large room with good sound and a big picture. But we’re fighting technology.” As we’ve pointed out time and time again, people want to go out to the theater, but they want the experience to be enjoyable. They don’t want to be treated as if they’re criminals. So, the problem isn’t that people can watch movies on gadgets like mobile phones and computers — but that the theater industry has done its best to drive people away from actually wanting to go to the theaters.

Read the whole entry with comments at the TechDirt blog: “Ridley Scott Warns That Gadgets Are Ruining The Movies”

Another issue: this is a “world is flat” sort of triumph. If I had my wishes, every movie I see would be in the theatre. But do the math: I have four children. Watching a movie together takes a lot of money. I can rarely afford this place. So the people who can afford it, go to the theatre, and the rest of us use the falling costs of digital technology to compensate for what we can not afford.

By the way, movies started out cheap. That’s why people all got used to them. In fact, I think they were even more affordable during the Jimmy Carter stagflation era, though I’ve done no research to back that up. Theaters are increasingly out of reach for families with children. So they stay home and make do.

John Woo is getting more than a movie

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I’v had a slight fascination combined with repulsion for John Woo’s movies. I like the action for awhile but eventually get quite bored (I’m not joking or exaggerating; I had to fast-forward through parts of hard-boiled and face-off). But I keep thinking his pacing will improve and a World Magazine article from the nineties got me into his camp because he credited a Christian group with his survival as a child.

All that is to say, I’m more than a little intrigued about his new movie, and especially his associated new MMORPG.

The Bridge to Terabithia

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Calvin: Stunk!

Nevin: The movie stunk!

Calvin: He never even got to defeat the Dark Master.

Me: Well, he couldn’t Calvin.

Calvin: Why not?

Me: Because the Dark Master was death.

Calvin: So? What about Harry Potter? “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

Me: But in Harry Potter they never beat death. The whole point was to admit that they couldn’t yet?

Calvin: But he will be defeated eventually! Why not show that?

Me: Because then the story would have to be about the end of the world.

Calvin: But the story was pointless! It gets an F.

Nevin: Yes! An F-F-F…. (begins singing and dancing as he says the letter grade for the movie over and over.)