There were a lot of things going on this week while our “fearless” leader, Jesse Edmond was off
gallivanting around the country with a woman who is obviously far too good for him. I was stuck here, continuing to work, and pulling my weight the best I could. I hope it was all worth it for him. Here’s what I have for this week:
1. One thing I have never been described as is a fanboy. People have called me many a thing, but fanboy was never one of them. I certainly got into geeky things growing up, but never obsessively locked in onone thing. This was of course until I met the temptress known as Netflix.
I’m sure you have been able to ascertain the fact I spend entirely too much time geeking out about everything they do. This week was no exception.
• It started with finishing Bloodline, the family drama was just spellbinding. I had trouble turning it off. When the little menu would pop up stating the next episode would start in 15 seconds, I would struggle internally as to whether or not sleep was more important than seeing what happened next with the Rayburn family. Everything about this show is captivating. I’d recommend starting it when you have a few days off of work, you won’t want to turn it off.
• News started flooding in about new programming coming in the future. Ricky Gervais, who already has a working relationship with the streaming service (his award winning show Derek), has sold them the rights to his upcoming film Special Correspondents, starring Eric Bana (http://deadline.com/2015/04/netflix-ricky-gervais-movie-special-corrspondents-eric-bana- 1201405057/). The film is said to be a satire around war correspondents who never actually see the war zone, sound familiar? With the Hollywood system so dead set on finding the next big franchise, films like this are flying under the radar and arguably finding very comfy landing spots on streaming networks. With the recent success of The Interview going straight to video on demand (although originally not intended to be the case), never has the overpriced cineplex ever been needed less.
• The Gervais news was followed up by an Arrested Development bombshell (http://www.buzzfeed.com/emilyorley/arrested-development-executive-producer-says-there-will-be-1#.nmXDjb1Zx). Did you read it? Yes that’s right, 17 new episodes of Arrested Development. Now Netflix was unwilling to confirm this one, but Brian Grazer said it’s happening, so guess what? IT’S HAPPENING! The greatest comedy ever on television will be back for a fifth and hopefully not final season. And if you are one of the people who was unhappy about the fourth season, read about what Mitch Horowitz had to go through to make it happen, and then watch the season again; it was brilliant!
• Then on Friday of this week, Netflix dropped Daredevil, a collaboration with Marvel Television. I had read a review of the inaugural season of the super hero series in Entertainment Weekly, and the biggest compliment they gave the show was it didn’t feel like a cartoon like most of it’s contemporaries and I couldn’t agree more. The reason this Daredevil works is because it does not feel like a comic book brought to life. This version of the blind vigilante feels much more like a martial arts film taking place in the underbelly of New York City. The choreographed fight scenes are comparable to the largest budget films you have ever seen and never once, do you feel like you are watching a man in a cape. It also doesn’t hurt that there are no gimmicks here. You could argue this Daredevil doesn’t actually even have a super power, only heightened senses, compensating for his inability to see. If you hadn’t seen the terrible Ben Affleck film of the same name, you might even be unaware Daredevil is a member of the super hero universe. (If you haven’t checked it out yet, listen to the most recent Doc Palindrome podcast, where they debate the merits of what constitutes a superhero: http://docpalindrome.libsyn.com/superhero-talk-with-brent-thomas) At this point, HBO seems like the only competition for programming supremacy. Their new standalone streaming service will help, but in the immediate future, there’s Netflix and then everyone else.
2. From that high note, we lead into the lowest of the low. For years, and for some unknown reason, people have been trying to force a Rocky Horror Picture Show remake of some sort. It appears that doomsday is here (http://nerdist.com/fox-is-remaking-the-rocky-horror-picture-show fornetwork-tv/). Fox in their infinite wisdom, feel this will be a good idea for network television. I don’t need to explain why this is bad right? Can we just call this the worst idea ever and move on?
3. In other things I wish didn’t exist, a 3rd installment of Human Centipede will be coming to a vomitorium near you (http://news.moviefone.com/2015/04/07/human-centipede-3release-date- synopsis/). There is nothing artistic about making a theater full of people nauseous. I haven’t seen the first two and have made the conscious decision to not support a concept so revolting. I’ve said before, I’m not a prude, but you have to draw a line somewhere, and I guess my line is people getting sewn together mouth to rectum.
4. In another ill-advised but who didn’t see this coming move, a Five Night’s at Freddy’s film is happening (http://www.pcgamer.com/fivenights-at-freddys-is-coming-to-the-big-screen/). The wildly popular game is coming the big screen and it has me scratching my head. To my knowledge, no movie based on a video game has ever been received well at least critically and Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_films_based_on_video_games) in all of their infinite wisdom seem to concur. What makes this even more perplexing is that children weren’t playing games like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, etc., in as large a numbers as they play Five Night’s; do they make this a PG13 film so this audience can attend (which I believe would spell absolute failure), or do they attempt to make a truly scary R-rated film (which could be the only path to an actually watchable film)? My guess is a PG13 version will be most palatable to financiers and we will have at least 3 films that will go largely ignored.
5. Can I ask you (yes you, the one guy who reads this other than mother) is there anything more frustrating then the film adaptations of Stephen King’s novels? You have the greats like The Shining, Misery, Carrie, Stand By Me, and The Shawshank Redemption; then you have the awfuls like It, Maximum Overdrive, Thinner, The Mangler, and Cujo. I guess when you have as many stories as King, you’re going to have some who don’t adapt well to moving pictures, but you’d think the awfuls wouldn’t be so… awful. King is arguably the greatest horror writer of all time, which in theory would make a filmmakers job easy, but theories don’t always work in practice. This week Sony announced they were working on an adaptation of the Dark Tower series (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat- vision/stephen-kings-dark-tower-alive787758). This is barely news, as studios have been trying to do this for years, but I guess my point is, can Sony set the bar high enough so this doesn’t end up in the awfuls? It is rare a King film is just “ok.” They are worthy of either an Oscar or the bargain bin, and I’d really prefer they don’t screw this epic up. 6. I’m just going to leave the trailer for the second season of True Detective here for your viewing pleasure. We will most certainly be talking about this soon! https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=4OfU7CGY5DQ 7. Lastly, in what seems to be a weekly David Lynch watch, Showtime is putting on a full-court press to bring the director back to Twin Peaks after quitting the series among budget concerns. Thankfully, actors in the show and it’s hardcore fans have spoke out against the idea of doing anything more in the Twin Peaks world without Lynch at the helm. I’m glad there are sane people in the world.
Thanks for reading and see you next week!