Recap. Rewind. Rewatch.

Lucifer Morningstar Is the Name

11:37 PM | By Shay Nic

Someone really likes Tom Ellis. And when I say likes him, they must really love him. In the past three years are so, he has headlined a number of new shows every fall or mid season and though the shows don't make it, they keep giving him chance after chance. Or maybe he just has a really good agent.

Tom Ellis is the star of another show that just premiered called Lucifer. The show is based off a comic book character that is a supporting character in the comic, The Sandman. The Sandman has been trying to get made into a show or movie for years but it just hasn't found the right actors or creators, so instead they built a show off of Lucifer.

You may have heard the jokes in other shows like Supernatural, but the basic premise is that Lucifer is a little sick of Hell. There's no thrill or fun in it anymore so he decides to take a vacation. Where would Satan take a vacation, you might ask? Well, Los Angeles of course!

While in LA, he opens a club and is the hottest, British bad boy to have ever graced the streets of LA. But one night, an old friend comes to talk to him and he helps her out with her problems and walks her out. In a blink, she's killed by bullets and he's more than pissed off. Since he blew off Hell, there's no one there to punish the guilty. So he has to do all of his punishing while the culprit is still alive.

Then enters a detective, fresh off of leave after a dark past in the department, and she tries to solve the crime. Lucifer tries to butt into the investigation because that was his friend, but he is constantly rebuffed by the detective, played by Lauren German.

Lucifer, being Lucifer, has a gift. He can make people confess their deepest, darkest desires. It usually helps with suspects, definitely makes for entertainment in the show, but it doesn't work on the detective. I know, surprise, surprise, but that irritates him and he doesn't know why.

During one such case, he visits a therapist's office and she offers some insight to what is bothering him. So there are some moments when he's on the couch, talking it out.

Tom Ellis plays Lucifer with all the arrogance, smugness, and playfulness that his character demands. But get him angry? And truly, the devil comes out. He drives people insane, makes them fear for their lives, as he now has to do his punishing up top.

And I have to admit, he does a damn good job. Maybe it's my bias towards British actors but they are just so very good at their job. The accent helps too in fleshing out this character because there is an unfair stereotype that some British people are stuck up or arrogant. And that's all Lucifer is. He's blunt and rude, often saying all the wrong things. There is no subtlety to this guy. He ruins undercover missions and has zero shame. But if you're the Prince of Darkness, do you really care?

The biggest draw for him is the detective, Chloe, who seems resistant to all of his charms and he wants to figure out how to crack her. Chloe, in turn is a woman who got on the police's bad side. If that weren't enough, she is separated from her husband played by Kevin Alejandro. She's the daughter of a movie star and her one and only foray into acting meant a jacuzzi scene to rival Phoebe Cates in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. (A very good movie in its own right.) And she has a very young daughter who is, naturally, precocious and wiser than any 5-7 year old should be.

Despite Lucifer being more than clear that he's the actual devil, all evidence leading her there like the immortality or inhuman strength, she doesn't want to believe him. She's an atheist so that doesn't help, but she still doesn't want to believe that he's the actual devil from the Bible and the movies, and he's risen from Hell. Any sane person wouldn't believe it, but the evidence is overwhelming. And for someone who's supposed to follow the evidence, she does a poor job of it.

What I Like:

What I like about the show is that it's fun. Like I said in a previous post, there's an abundance of shows that take themselves too seriously, so it's always nice to have the occasional light fare.

The concept is intriguing because one of my favorite movies is Meet Joe Black, the 90s movie with Brad Pitt in it. Where the devil takes a vacation and decides to learn more about the humans he tortures in Hell. And this show is sort of the same thing. Lucifer is done with torturing people and wants to learn more about them. There are plenty of times in the show where Lucifer makes observations about humans and human nature, often cracking a joke. Like oh, look at the silly little humans!

And of course, Tom Ellis. A natural Brit, the role was almost tailor made for him. Almost like they wrote the show with him in mind and they're writing to his strengths as an actor. He just pulls off the whole arrogant charm. Plus at a towering 6'3, when he gets that murderous look in his eyes, it's like...back away as slowly as you can. You can feel the intensity even through the TV.

I also liked the threat he faces from an angel who keeps telling Lucifer that he needs to go back to Hell. Taking the whole saying literally! Time slows down when the angel comes around and it's clear that there are things in Lucifer's past that made him want to leave, not just being bored. It's unfortunate that the writers have waited until the 4th episode to glean some insight into who Lucifer is and how he feels about dear old dad, (God). Lucifer is always all jokes and fun until he sees a guilty person that needs to be punished.

I also liked that it's set in LA. There really aren't a lot of shows set in LA so it's always nice to see how they reflect the city. I always try to look for things that represent how I view the city but like with all shows based in LA, they stick to downtown, Hollywood, or the Valley. There are other places in LA!! But I digress.

What I Didn't Like:

I really, really, don't like the detective. She's dry and boring and spends so much time being cutely flustered at Lucifer, trying to ignore his charms, and put on a tough face to solve this big old crime by herself. The actress just doesn't work for me.

First of all, her husband constantly belittles her and tells her to leave cases alone. He tells her to drop it, not draw attention to herself, and basically shrink and blow away. The whole point of her being a detective and not an officer is so she doesn't have to prove she can be good police. She was already good enough to get her gold shield, she doesn't have to "bend the rules" or "fly solo" just so she can prove a point. Then, just recently, he gets upset that Lucifer is hanging around. Not because he's a civilian with zero police training, but because he thinks Lucifer is going to steal her away. I mean, YAWN. I expected better from Kevin Alejandro.

Second of all, the whole idea of someone having powers and finds a person that is immune to them is an overplayed concept. So what if she's immune?? It's like the writers were like "hey, in case you didn't know that these two were sexually attracted to each other, here's a cliche so that Lucifer will give her the time of day". Like come on, what year is this?

Third of all, the actress is so reserved and off putting in her performance, that she's just another female trying to decipher the men in her life. Obviously, she's obsessed with Lucifer since he saved her life and she can't figure out how he does what he does, despite him telling her that he's the devil, but she spends the entirety of the show rolling her eyes, getting angry at him, and needing his help but hating that she needs it. The Superhero Girlfriend Complex.

Fourth of all, she has a female boss which I didn't know and haven't even seen until the latest episode but even she is fawning all over Lucifer. I mean..??? Seriously, what year is this? There is more to women than how they react to a man.

I also didn't like how this show started out with a good premise but ended up being another procedural. They did not market it that way and though I was disappointed, I still ended up watching it, because no show really gets their footing until the back half of the show when people have started saying what they like and dislike.

It's almost like Fox hates their high concept shows so they think adding a procedural element to it, that it'll soften the blow. It happened with Minority Report and now it's happening again with this show. If they believed in it enough to put it on air, they should believe in it enough to find their audience. Not all shows will cater to all people and I think that's why a lot of shows suffer.

There's so much they could have done with this show and they completely missed the mark. They're not even on the board.

I do not see this show hanging around too much longer because this is Fox. They're like the Alpha when it comes to axing shows before they've had a chance to thrive. Almost Human anyone??

Which is a shame because this is a genuinely good show. I honestly laugh at Tom Ellis and I'm hanging on like a trooper once we get into these character's backgrounds. In case you haven't noticed, I'm a huge fan of character development. If a show really builds it's characters, I'm the biggest champion they have.

Honestly, turn on your TV and watch this show. It's well worth it and I really hope it sticks around. Fingers crossed?

Well that concludes another review. Don't forget to find me on Facebook! Or comment below!

Sit Down and Start Watching The Magicians Now!

10:17 PM | By Shay Nic

If you're a true fan of magic and fantasy and you have a Harry Potter sized hole in your chest, then this show will hit that sweet spot.

The Magicians is an adaptation of a series of books about a group of new adults who get pushed into taking a test at a gorgeous university called Breakbills. It's like Yale or Harvard for Magicians. After the test, the ones who passed are greeted by the dean who explains what they're all doing there. The ones who don't pass, get their memories erased and a convenient alibi for those missing hours they were gone.

Really, the main character is Quentin played by Jason Ralph, but it does follow three other characters. Quentin's your typical nerd who's into books, fantasy, and little magic tricks with playing cards. His friends love him because of his weirdness but you can tell he's one of those damaged souls who hates the mundanely boring real world and would rather be in one of the worlds he reads about. He feels lonely in a crowd and among friends. He'll stop talking in the middle of a story because he realizes no one's listening. I know, because I'm one of them.

So his ultimate wish came true. Magic is real. How many of us geeks out there would leap at the chance to run away with the Doctor, win the Hunger Games, become Divergent, go to Hogwarts, or travel to Narnia in the back of our closets? I know I would. I would leave this boring world so quick, it'd make my head spin.

Before you start thinking that this show is cheesy or for little kids, I can assure you, it's far from it. It airs on SyFy and I don't know who they have in charge of programming, but they deserve a raise. Lately, they've realized that they've entered camp and light fare and that they're missing that Battlestar Galactica spark. Ever since they changed their name, people were making fun of them. But in the last three years or so, they have updated their slate of shows to reflect more space operas like Ascension, Killjoys, and Dark Matter, and science/horror like Helix which is currently cancelled but still worth watching. Or first contact with aliens in Childhood's End.

The Magicians is part of that new direction meaning it's more serious, more darker, more attention to detail or production design. It's a grown up sort of hard core science fiction. And they are churning out really good content.

Quentin is in this world of magic and the message the show is trying to push is that magic comes from pain, not fairy dust and lollipops. Most people find out they can do magic because of something dark they ended up doing with it. It's a drug and it can turn people rotten. The school is just there to teach magic, what people do with it after is on them.

But there's a problem. Quentin actually kind of sucks at magic because he's so concerned with not failing. Failing at Breakbills means getting your memories erased. It's a very steep price for someone who just discovered that they could do magic. So his eagerness is understandable.

The show also follows his best friend Julia played by Stella Maeve, off a fresh arc on Chicago P.D. She shows up at the school to take the test with Quentin but she fails it. Julia is the type of overachieving know it all who'll cry if she gets anything less than a A- on a test. She hates to fail at life or come in second place. She and Quentin grew up together reading all about magic. The difference is that Julia grew out of it after high school and got with an equally serious and overachieving pretty boy, played by Michael Cassidy, the kind that always gets the girl.

Not one to take failure, she forces herself to remember Breakbills and falls into a deep depression. Her boyfriend doesn't know what to do, but Quentin doesn't want to help because finally, he feels like he belongs somewhere. He's found his tribe and it helps that it keeps him from pining after Julia. Still not satisfied, she meets up with a group of other people who failed the Breakbills test but know they can do magic. Finally, she's found people who don't think she's crazy and she practices magic with them but they're more like a fringe group following their leader, Marina played by Kacey Rohl, who is a little eccentric but all Julia cares about is that she gets to practice magic.

The other story is Alice played by Olivia Taylor Dudley, and the search for her brother. In magician lore, she's like royalty. Her parents were really good Magicians which means she grew up knowing magic was real and how to use it. But she's a shy, closed off girl who's used to people talking about her and being fake, so she keeps to herself. But Quentin and Alice are cut from the same cloth and find unlikely allies in each other.

Previously, Alice's brother went to Breakbills but shortly disappeared. All she wants to do is find out what happened to him because he was the reason she knows magic. Not her parents. For a chance for her to help him not fail, Quentin goes along with whatever Alice conjures up to try and find her brother.

But it's not all casting spells and cracking jokes at Harry Potter. In an effort to summon her brother, Alice and Quentin and two other students open a window through a mirror but nothing happens. During class, a man steps out of the mirror whose head is completely surrounded by moths. Its impossible to see his face and he basically terrorizes the classroom. He's defeated of course and sent back through the mirror, but it's more than clear that's not the last we'll see of him.

Quentin is just trying to keep his head above water with his two new friends, Eliot and Margo played by Hale Appleman and Summer Bishil respectively, who immediately accepts his eccentrics. And those two are just awesome. They pass no judgments on Quentin, they try to help him out, and they just exude confidence and coolness that Quentin gravitates towards. He almost feels reluctant, like why do these two care about him? But they do and they understand what Breakbills means to Quentin. It means never having to be an outsider again.

Quentin also keeps getting visions of this other world with a strange mid 20th century British girl who tells him that what he should be focusing on is so much bigger than passing a final. The show makes this huge deal about a place called Fillory. I had to do a little research because I didn't know anything about the books. I don't know how accurate the wiki is, but basically the author of the books, Lev Grossman, was disappointed in C.S. Lewis' version of Narnia. He felt like there were no clear rules to Narnia. Lewis would bring in all kinds of magical creatures that suited his needs. There were talking animals, elves, fauns, etc, with little to none structure of how their ecosystem existed.

So he created Fillory as a sort of Narnia with a tighter structure and clearer rules. He even put the story of two boys and a girl from England who went through a grandfather clock and haven't been seen since. Quentin thinks the girl that's been talking to him is that same English girl and he believes Fillory is real. Whether it is or isn't remains to be seen because I'm only 5 episodes in but it's an expansive world that has many turns and twists and the minute you think you have something figured out, it changes on you.

The characters are deeply complex and the storytelling is rich and builds on itself as the show progresses rather than introducing more concepts or raising questions but not answering any of them. You can follow along in this show while it still surprises you and you don't feel lost. It's a really good show that I highly recommend watching.

I deviated from the norm a little bit because I can't really say that there's anything wrong with this show. It's serious and its funny. There were moments where I had to pause the TV to genuinely laugh out loud for a good two minutes. Mostly at the hands of Penny played by Arjun Gupta who had bit roles in How to Get Away With Murder and Limitless, who is gorgeous and just the type of guy I love in fictional characters. He's angry at life and with everyone, sarcastic, arrogant, mostly self serving with a very small gooey center. Le Sigh.

The only problem I have is with Julia's character. I rather like Stella as an actress but some of the things she does or says and the way she tries to justify it is just.....I won't spoil it but if you comment on here or post a message on Facebook, I'd be more than happy to discuss it with you.

That's all for the Magicians folks! I really do hope you give the show a chance and if you liked my review or if you didn't, let me know! Don't hesitate to comment or follow me on Facebook! You can find the link below or under the linked button!

https://www.facebook.com/Recap-Rewind-Rewatch-751814448187535/

Knockout, Dragout, SHOWDOWN: Limitless

3:09 PM | By Shay Nic

It's the moment we've all been waiting for: THE MOVIE or THE SHOW? Which one reigns supreme? Which one was better? Which one tickles your fancy? The smooth buttery voice of Bradley Cooper or the guttural playfulness of Jake McDorman?

Limitless: The Movie

If you haven't seen the movie, it's basically about smart pills. There is a new drug called NZT out on the streets that allows people to recall everything they've ever heard or read or said. Bradley Cooper stars as Eddie Morra, a burnt out loser with long hair, nasty grungy clothes, and a disgusting apartment. His girlfriend left him, because he had no ambition or motivation to finish his novel. By pure coincidence, he meets up with an old friend who used to be where he was. This friend gives Eddie a pill and tells him everything will be okay once he takes it.

Eddie takes it and suddenly his whole world has opened up. Colors are brighter, sounds are better, and he has better awareness of his surroundings. He finishes his novel in a day, he cleaned up his apartment, and he gave himself a makeover. However, being on this pill makes him realize that there's so much more to life than just being a writer. He gets into the finance game and that's where he runs across Robert De Niro.

What follows is Eddie getting into a whole heap of trouble all because of this pill that keeps falling into the wrong hands. His morals and his ethics constantly gets called into question as he keeps interacting with bad people. All in an effort to keep taking those pills because he becomes a better version of who he used to be.

To learn more and how Robert DeNiro fits into all of it, you'd have to watch the movie.

Limitless: The TV Show

Because it's an adaptation of the movie, it pretty much starts out the same. Jake McDorman stars as Brian Finch, pretty much a burnout as well. He's the baby of a big family where his brothers and sisters are all doing well. He was always the creative kid with big ideas but little motivation. He used to be in a band with his buddies but now it's just him and a guitar. It seemed like everyone was moving on without him.

His dad fell ill because of a heart condition that the doctors couldn't explain. Brian felt useless because he has a very strong connection to his dad. Also through pure coincidence, Brian is doing temp work at a firm where his old bandmate now works. He gives him a pill and tells him that everything will be okay. Brian takes it and realizes that there is a whole world he was missing out on.

Because it's CBS and network television, there has to be a procedural element to it. So while on the pill, Brian figures out what's wrong with his dad. Knowing he becomes a better version of himself he has to find his friend in order to get more pills. In doing so, he gets caught up in a murder and becomes the number one suspect.

I'm not going to tell you the whole sordid details, but basically FBI figures out what Brian is on and recruit him to be an analyst. He tells them he won't do it until they give his father a new liver. At the same time, Bradley Cooper's character from the movie shows up and tells Brian that he developed a sort of booster shot to make people immune from the nasty side effects of the pill. In return for the booster shot, Brian has to take the job with the FBI to find out how far they've gotten with their research into NZT and report back to him. The FBI wants to figure out how Brian can be immune to the side effects.

What follows is the same moral conundrum that Eddie found himself in in the movie. Brian is constantly pulled between the agents at the FBI and what Eddie puts him through.

In order to learn more, you'd have to watch the show.

What I Liked About It:

What I liked was that it wasn't a direct adaptation of the movie, where they basically retold the movie in TV show format. This show and the movie have the same origins, like how a loser got a hold of smart pills and then it led to nothing but trouble. But how that trouble manifests is where they differ.

What I also liked was how they used the same stylistic choices in order to tell the story. At first the real world is dank and gray and cold and it just looks like a harsh place to live in. It has a bluish tint to it which is a trick Hollywood uses to symbolize that a world is cold. But once you take the pill, the world becomes warm which basically means the world has more color and has a orange tint to it which is reminiscent of the sun. In that subtle shift of color, visually we are able to recognize that these characters have entered a new world. They are able to notice more things and act on that information.

They can recall what they read five years ago almost verbatim, they won't get stuck on a name from a friend 10 years ago. The pills themselves doesn't make you smarter, they are more like a tool to help you learn things faster, understand things faster, and just recall it at a later date. Learning a new language would take less than six hours. Understanding math problems that could help with stocks would be a no-brainer.

The movie kept those stylistic choices contained whereas the show can play around with it a little bit more. There are moments in the show that border on silly. There are scenes where Brian builds scale models of a crime scene in order to understand how it happened. There are scenes where he's literally talking to manifestations of himself, almost like angel and devil on the shoulders, where he tries to work through the moral conundrums that I mentioned.

There was one episode where he trained his brain to have smells manifest as colors in order to track down a suspect that smelled like a combination of sweat, dirt, and one more thing. There is even an episode where Brian uses ice cream flavors to describe hard-core murderers and rapists and uses hugging and cuddling instead of strangling and killing. So for example, he would say Mr. Pralines and Cream hugged a woman in her apartment.

On the outside the show can be silly and border on camp, but I think too many cop shows take themselves too seriously when they don't have to. The subject matter is obviously dark and twisted, but under the right circumstances like with this show, they don't have to take themselves seriously and it works. I'm not saying this is a light show where they can't be serious, but Jake has the same quality as Bradley Cooper when they act and it's almost like you want to be their best friend. Their energy and their vibe makes them seem like really cool dudes that you just want to be around.

Jake McDorman is joined by Jennifer Carpenter who also played on Dexter and Hill Harper who's been in multiple roles like Covert Affairs. Their dynamic may seem weird because Hill Harper is a very serious actor. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen them crack a smile or a joke in any of the roles that I've seen him in. I'm not a big fan of Jennifer Carpenter, there's something a little off about her acting, almost like it's the same character over and over again. But these three together kind of work.

Brian plays around a lot which makes Jennifer's character and Hill's character frustrated so you have that odd couple thing going on which is little overplayed, but again it kind of works.

I also liked how they weaved the movie into the show and had Bradley Cooper's character on it intermittently. That's how an adaptation should be rather than a direct copy with barely any, if at all, deviances from it. Because then it makes a show not worth watching since you've already seen it in the movie.

And what's not to like about Bradley Cooper? He is a genuinely talented artist who brings something fresh to every role that he plays. He has an earnest face which makes you believe the words that he speaks and it's not just words on a script that he had to memorize. The movie also had Robert De Niro and how can you not like him? He's so good that I don't have to tell you how good he is. It's just plain name recognition.

And I think that Jake is a worthy successor to Bradley Cooper. He has that same earnestness even when it seems like he can't take anything seriously, you could see in his eyes that he is. So the show works on multiple levels in tandem with the movie.

What I Didn't Like:

There were times in the movie where some of the cause and effect didn't match. Like how Eddie made the jump from writer to finance. It just sort of seemed too fast for me. It almost made it seem like him being a writer was just an excuse to sit around all day and pretend he has a job. Which would be fine but he already had an advance from a publishing company making it seem like he was serious about it so that didn't make any sense. Maybe I'm harping on it because I'm a writer and I take it very seriously like I'm sure most writers do, even if they haven't written anything in a long time. Writing is a passion that a lot of people share so to just to give it up to get into the numbers game seems like a conflict.

You've heard the old saying, "I'm right brained, not left brained." Which basically means I am more creatively inclined and work better with art or writing and not numbers or math or science. It suggests that one person can't work with both which of course is false, but personally I suck at math and science and I'm much more comfortable with writing and imagination. Things that aren't necessarily contingent upon fact-based problems. So it just seemed odd that he switched from one to the other. Because even if the smart pills made you understand the finance game, outside of making a quick buck, I just don't think he would have made that leap so quickly.

The progression of the movie pretty much works but again I didn't like how he just kept jumping from career to career. Because after finance he got into politics. How those two are connected I don't know, maybe just through power and that search for it. Bradley had to square off against Robert which is a fun thing to watch because again, this is Robert freaking De Niro that we're talking about. And Bradley does hold his own against him but I won't tell you my favorite part of it, you'll just have to see it for yourself towards the end of the movie.

In the show, the trick that carried over from the movie was when the character takes the pill and the colors of the world shift. There are times in the show where I get a little confused because I know the character is on the pill, yet the world is still gray. And almost like an afterthought, from one shot to the next, the world is brighter. I don't know if it's just a mistake, if the editor didn't know when he took the pill or if he's still on the pill, or the studio wants to save money on the effect, but it happens multiple times over the course of the show.

I get that Bradley Cooper is busy but if you're going to have him on the show I don't see why it seems like his character has completely changed. He speaks through somebody else, obviously because he's a senator, but it's like he grew malicious between the end of the movie and the start of the show. He tests Brian for his commitment to staying quiet about Eddie's role in the pill almost to extreme lengths just for Brian to prove that he's not a killer, or a snitch, or that he does have a line that he won't cross. Which seemed at odds with his character in the movie. He was never a bad guy and he didn't cross too many lines that corrupted his character but now it seems like he sold a piece of his soul in order to protect his secret.

Like I said, I also have a problem with Jennifer Carpenter's character. She's a good agent, but she spends the whole time rolling her eyes at Brian. Which I get because he plays around but she's just another caricature of the suffering girlfriend in any romantic comedy or superhero movie. Her back story is interesting because her character has a father who may have been on the pill but he died before she even knew about the pill. That got resolved in like two episodes and she hardly mentions it. It only took Brian to be nosy and pester her for questions that she even opened up and talked about it. And her character bottles up so much and keeps so many things to herself that it's like pulling teeth to get anything from her.

I'm not saying she has to constantly talk about her feelings or what's going on with her because not all women do that and that's fine. But then it makes her seem like a supporting actress rather than the female lead. They tried to give her a relationship with a coworker but she was never affectionate or even seemed like she liked him, it was more like they tried to soften her character but it was clunky and didn't work. She just always has a neutral expression and I never know where her emotions are. Which again is fine, not all women show every emotion, but not showing any is just weird on a TV show.

The same thing goes for Hill Harper's character. It was only just recently that we got to his background and what he has to work with when he leaves the office. The whole show is built around Brian and what he gets up to in his off hours and how many lines he has to blur working with his double spy persona. It also focuses on the case of the week but we have to care about these characters if we're going to keep tuning in week after week. Jake could probably carry the show on his own but then that would be a very boring show.

The whole concept of a show is to live with your favorite characters season in and season out and care about what they're doing. A movie only gives you two hours to focus on your favorite character but then that's it. You have to wait a year for a sequel to come out if enough people go and see the first movie and sometimes it's not a worthy sequel because it's rushed. But a show gets to take its time and really get to know these characters. But how can we do that if on this show they won't tell us anything about these characters to get to know them.

The Results Are In:

If I absolutely absolutely had to choose a winner between the two, I would have to go with…*Drum roll please*… THE MOVIE!

You can just tell that they spent time on the movie to get it right, the style choices, the editing choices, the characters and their story, and obviously Bradley Cooper. The story is much more contained and tight and they took care with the type of story they wanted to tell. I adore the show and prefer it but when compared to the movie it seems lacking only because of the style, and the lack of attention to character.

The movie took you on this journey about this loser becoming a somebody and even though some things got murky, I'd like to think that Eddie's character remained the same. The TV show does the same thing but because you're introducing more characters you have to include them and their journey even if they're not the main character.

Well I hope you enjoyed this showdown and if you did, please let me know here in the comments section or follow me on Facebook and let me know there. You can find the link below and don't forget to check out the movie or the show. It's worth it, I promise!

https://www.facebook.com/Recap-Rewind-Rewatch-751814448187535/

Daredevil Is The Hero This City Needs

11:50 PM | By Shay Nic

By now you've probably heard about the Netflix original series, Daredevil, and how amazing and gritty and adult it is. All you need to know is that you need to watch the show. It's that simple. You've probably heard a lot about the show and it has probably gotten on your nerves about how many people who have talked about it. Believe me, I was one of these people. I didn't want to see it at first, I was just as burned by the movie version as anyone else.

If you ask anyone who knows me they can tell you that I have a love-hate relationship with Ben Affleck. I think he is a phenomenal director since Argo literally had me shaking in my chair with goosebumps up my arms. Even The Town was a good movie and I wasn't as disappointed by that performance as I was by others. But he is a terrible actor. And I do mean a terrible actor. The few movies that I have seen weren't terribly bad, but his acting literally had me cringing. So when I got around to seeing Daredevil the movie it wasn't extremely bad, in fact I liked it, but it wasn't great.

However, I was interested to see what a new vision would do for the franchise. I had never heard of Charlie Cox but I had seen him in different interviews on different talk shows and I'll admit that he intrigued me. And no, it had nothing to do with his amazing accent or my completely healthy obsession with British actors. *wink wink* So one day I finally decided to sit down and watch Daredevil. And I was not disappointed.

A lot of the reviews that I read about it all had one thing in common: they all talked about how adult it is. At first I was confused, I thought comic books was mostly for everyone and I thought that studios like Marvel understood this. So in shows like Agents of Shield where they have adventures that's fun for everyone, both young and old, they get negative reviews and it hardly seems fair. Agents of Shield is a very good show, yet no one gives it the time of day because it's on broadcast TV so they have certain rules that they have to adhere to. But because Daredevil is on Netflix, which is basically a view at your own discretion streaming service, and it's binge worthy, they play by a different set of rules. They can curse, they can show more violence, they can talk about more adult themes, the jokes are a lot raunchier, and you control when and where you want to watch it.

While this is all fine and dandy, I have yet to discover why superheroes need to be gritty these days. It's almost like people aren't happy unless their superhero is suffering, moody, brooding, against a drab background, and looking up into the sky like it holds all the answers. It's like Christopher Nolan started a whole trend that every director or every showrunner wants to emulate. The Dark Night saga was a visual masterpiece and a true lesson in filmmaking, but it shouldn't be the standard. But now every superhero movie or TV show has to be weary and gray and dark. And I don't know why that is. Superheroes are supposed to be fun, they're supposed to excite people and garner a fan base. It's why we love them in the first place.

It's why I like shows like Agents of Shield or Agent Carter, it's because they're fun. They don't take themselves that seriously. But I digress.

I didn't have a lot of expectations going into the show but immediately from episode one I was intrigued and hooked. What they did with the show was mix past and present between Matt Murdock as little boy and as a grown man. So while you get the origin story of how he was blinded and about his father, right away you're introduced to him as superhero. You're not bogged down by his training or his moral implications about lying to his friends. Plus he's not running around in a red suit just yet. It's a much more practical sort of superhero and I think that's what sets it apart from its counterpart. We are first introduced to Matt Murdock and his partner who are looking for a law office and their first client.

From there, it's one big exploration of who Matt Murdock is. And Charlie Cox does a wonderful job of making the role his. He's a down-to-earth guy, he's not classically handsome like most superheroes these days, and while it is awkward when people finally notice that he's blind he has a good attitude about it. Immediately at night he's out hitting bad guys and taking names. What I also thought was interesting was how they handle his extrasensory powers. Everything that makes him unique, they use pure auditory cues to let you know that what he's experiencing is something new. Don't get me wrong, I liked what they did with the movie version but this was cool too.

And what I also liked with how they don't give you all the answers right away. That's why TV shows usually work a little bit better than movies because movies have to cram every piece of information in a certain amount of time. But TV shows allows for more character development and plot development so that you're discovering things with the character. So while Matt Murdock is doing all of these amazing fight scenes, you already know that at some point he had to receive training. But that's not explained in the first episode. It's world building at its finest. And I liked his relationship with his father. Of course we all know the story about how his father was a boxer, a crooked boxer, and he wanted his son to be smarter than what he was.

What I also liked was that the flashbacks to the past weren't in every single scene. It was spread out over multiple episodes so that it was more like quick memories than anything else. And Charlie Cox's acting made it seem like it was something he had to do not that he was just running around in a mask doing it for fun. He wasn't burdened by it, he didn't hate to do it, it was more like he liked doing it. Like he says in the show when he was talking about his grandmother about how the Murdock boys have a devil inside of them. So it made sense that his rage came out in every villain that he encountered. So often superheroes feel the need to do what they do out of a sense of justice, past experiences, or because it was given to them by a mentor or an authority figure. They never seem to enjoy what they're doing which they shouldn't but that's what makes Daredevil on Netflix so compelling. It's the simple fact that he enjoys it that adds an extra delicious part to his acting and to the character and makes you see him as more of a antihero than a hero. But he is a hero considering all the people that he helps in just 10 square blocks of New York City.

His friend Foggy, played by Elden Henson, adds a funny element to the show. So it's not all doom and gloom, for the most part. And he's not just the goof, he has some interesting bits about him. He has some interesting stories and interesting facts that pop up throughout the series that makes him a three-dimensional character and someone you want to root for. Someone outside of the title character and that adds to the show. And his relationship with Matt is so special that you can tell that they're friends. They don't seem like they were forced into the situation or that they are just two actors acting. They seemed like genuine friends and again that adds to the show. It's not like regular superhero movies where the new thing now is to hate your opponent until you need them.

It sucks because I want to tell you guys everything that happens in the show, but I can't go any further without giving too much away. So like I always do with spoilers, highlight in between the asterisks if you're not afraid of spoilers.

*
What I really liked about this show, was that even though Matt has this big secret his friend Foggy does eventually find out about it. It was by pure accident that Foggy had went over to Matt's apartment looking for him, and Matt stumbles in completely bashed. Matt had just got into a fight with a ninja, yes you read that right, and he was out of it. He didn't even realize that Foggy was there. And I thought that was so interesting because here was Foggy who was his best friend, who didn't know Matt had this big secret. And the creators didn't wait until the next season or the season after that to unveil that.

There was this whole big scene where Foggy had to come to terms with who Matt really is at night. While Matt is at his lowest, having just gone against the kingpin, Foggy lays into him about being the masked vigilante he was just talking about at the office. And this scene was so electric and so interesting that I could not tear my eyes away and I was happy that they didn't wait so long for this reveal. That just makes this show one of the reasons why it's so different from the movie or any other superhero show that we've been introduced to. From that point on their whole relationship was turned upside down.

Matt had to fess up to how blind he really is, which is very, but as we know he has extrasensory powers that allows him to sort of see. How he describes it in the show is a ball of fire. The world seems like it's on fire. And for one brief scene between him and nurse Claire, played by Rosario Dawson, we saw how Matt saw. And because it was only one scene it made it that more powerful.

He dropped so many truth bombs that Foggy had to leave. And for a couple of episodes they wouldn't talk to each other leaving their secretary, Deborah Ann Woll of TrueBlood fame, bumbling around wondering why they are not talking to each other. And it sort of breaks your heart because you've invested all this time in their friendship only for them to skirt around each other. *

This show wasn't just about the evolution of Matt Murdock into the Daredevil we know today. It was about the evolution of every body, including the kingpin. Wilson Fisk is played by Vincent D'Onofrio who has made an astounding comeback in his career. We all know where Wilson Fisk is going to end up yet Daredevil doesn't give you the chance to paint anybody as a hero or villain. Yes Daredevil is supposed to be a hero but he likes to fight just like yes Wilson Fisk is supposed to be a villain yet he has a softer side. We get his back story as well as his involvement with a woman that's actually sort of sweet. I'm not saying root for the guy as you will find out when you actually watch the show but don't paint him as a villain just because that's what he is in the comic books.

All in all, this is a very well thought out gritty show. It's firmly for the adults not because of any violence or sexual behavior; it's smart and dark and tackles a lot of adult themes that will go over a kid's head. This is not your kid's Daredevil and I think that's why it excels so much. That's why so many people talk about it. And that's why you should go watch it right now.

Unfortunately for The Slap

3:24 PM | By Shay Nic

I was very on the fence about seeing The Slap, as I'm sure most people were judging by the ratings it got. A whole show centered around a kid getting slapped by an adult that's not his parent? That can be summed up in one episode, not however long NBC plans on airing it. I only watched one episode and that's all I'm basing this review on.

First of all, that kid deserved it. If you decide to watch it or have already watched it or you don't plan on watching it, let me be clear: that little boy deserved what was coming to him. If I even attempted half the stuff he did, I would not be here today. Now, he shouldn't have been slapped by another adult who's not his parent, but he did deserve it. I won't tell you what he did, but again, the brat deserved it.

It's so hard to talk about this without wanting to tell you everything he did leading up to it, so for the sake of spoilers, highlight over the next part in between the asterisks for my thoughts on it.

* When I say that kid deserved it, I mean that kid deserved it. He was tugging on his mother's dress, he threw and broke Peter Sarsgaard's character's vinyl records, pulled up his rose bushes, hogged the gaming tablet, swung a wooden bat dangerously close to the other kids, and kicked an adult in the shin. I would never be heard from again if I threw someone's vinyl records, let alone get picked up and shuffled off into another corner where I could do more damage.

And the parents were the most self indulgent, hippie, "I believe in time-out" BS that messes up kids nowadays. They should have been the one to whoop their kid and instead just kept casually telling him to stop. Um, if he didn't stop the first time you told him, or the fifteenth time, then he should get his ~~ass~~ beat. But they just sat there, leaving it to someone else to do it and then they want to sit there and cry foul. What? *

Second of all, this show was adapted from a book, then an Australian format, so that's where they also made a mistake. Nothing against Australian tv, but they have a slower format than Americas 'gimme now' format where a shocker or scandal has to happen every two seconds so viewers will stay tuned in. I'm kind of on the fence about adapting shows from overseas only because I have a great love for British shows, but they tend to be a lot slower in pace and content than its American counterparts. While AMC tries to bring us back to that sort of slower storytelling, and I'm all for it, some content just can't be that way. So when a show makes its way over here, the producers like to copy it shot for shot. Gracepoint and Broadchurch anyone?

Again, I'm all for the slower format if it's justified. NBC centered this entire show around the premise of a kid getting slapped and the ethical and moral corners it sticks people in as they decide who was right and who was wrong. But it's clear from the very get-go that this show has more to do with the lives of the adults. Suffice it to say, been there done that. None of these storylines are anything new and there are plenty of ways they could have gone. Let me explain:

Roll over in between the asterisks for the spoilers:

* Peter Sarsgaard plays a guy named Hector who is just reaching his 40th birthday. His coworkers throw him a party but then comes the hammer from the big boss that he didn't get a promotion. So now he's upset. He goes home to where we see he has a biracial family, his wife is black and English, and their kids are mixed. Okay, that's new and I'm digging it, but it's obvious he's an overworked dad.

He goes upstairs, puts on some jazz, the only thing that makes him happy, and he's dreaming of some young girl who barely looks old enough to drive, and he's fantasizing about her and making excuses to go and see her at some clinic. Apparently, she's the nanny for his kids...I mean the list goes on and on. They're not actually doing anything, yet, but how cliche can you really get? Boo hoo, his mortality is staing him in the face so now he wants to entertain the idea of some new girl who actually wants him while his wife slaves over making food for his birthday and taking care of his kids to stop and give him birthday sex in the morning. Puh-leese!!!!

Then, Uma thurman is dating some younger actor guy who she's all in lurve with, but judging from the other previews, she's scared of how much she likes him which only means she's going to mess it up somehow. Need I go on? *

Third of all, I was confused by so many relationships in the episode that I focused more on that at times rather than why the kid wasn't getting disciplined by his hippie mother, Rosie played by Melissa George who was also on the Australian show in the same role. Far as I know, Peter Sarsgaard as Hector is the guy we start out with. He has a black English wife Aisha, played by Thandie Newton, and they have two kids together who never stop arguing. Hector has an overebearing mother and a tired father and they're Greek, and Aisha doesn't like the mom very much. Then there's Harry, Hector's cousin played by the gorgeous Zachary Quinto, who's rich as he's rolling around in a range rover and worried about it getting stolen. He has a wife, Marin Ireland, and a son, but that's where I lose it. I have no idea how Rosie and Gary, Thomas Sadoski, fits into the family. Maybe I just didn't catch it, I don't know. And then there's a completely anonymous black couple way in the peripheral who I can only assume is related to Aisha, but they serve no purpose other than to fill out the party. Again, unclear with that relationship. And then there's Uma Thurman who plays Anouk, and I have no idea what her relationship is. Maybe she's Hector's sister?? I don't know, but judging by the name, I'd say she's related some kind of way.

Honestly, the only thing this show had going for it was the Greek aspect and the actors actually speaking Greek and that whole language divide because Harry and Gary already hated each other. Harry slapping Gary's kid, Hugo, was just icing on the cake and a catalyst for them to come to blows. Though they never actually do, that would have at least livened things up a bit.

And unfortunately for The Slap, they had some top tier talent. People who may not have the global box office domination but have a strong enough fan base who will tune in to their projects. So it's a wonder why they even signed on to this thing. Peter Sarsgaard is just coming off of The Killing, Zachary Quinto off of Star Trek, Uma Thurman, Thandie Newton, Brian Cox from the RED movies, and Thomas Sadoski off of The Newsroom and guest spots from Law and Order: SVU. It just really makes you wonder.

I won't be tuning in for any more of this drama despite the talent. Because I'm sure in another universe, Peter Sarsgaard, Zachary Quinto and Thomas Sadoski are my soul mates. Le Sigh.

Lucifer Morningstar Is the Name

Sit Down and Start Watching The Magicians Now!

Knockout, Dragout, SHOWDOWN: Limitless

Daredevil Is The Hero This City Needs

Unfortunately for The Slap

Binge Watch List

Obsessed With

Recent Movies

Facebook Page

Blog Archive

About Me

Labels

Facebook