Thoughts on the latest episode of Walking Dead.

T-Dog: You were too good for this world, sweet prince. Just when it looked like you were going to become Dale 2.0 you...well, kind of did, right down to the intestinal munching. Carl: Epic fail as far as first vajayjay exposure, but handles death and imminent zombiefication of mom like a boss. Becoming my favorite character. Looks more commanding in the hat than Rick ever did. Woodbury Tea: What's in it? Zombie head tank juice? Gatorade left in the sun to ferment (no joke, try it...it's the only high that replenishes your electrolytes)? Whatever it is, it seems to be the taste that satisfies. Headshot Bonus: With fucking golf balls? Really? Does everyone roll a natural 20 to-hit? If you know what that means you had the same sad, swirly-filled childhood that I did. Love is in the air: Maggie and Glenn sitting in a...uh, guard tower, 'F', 'U', 'C'...ok, this worked better in my head. Seriously though, having sex while your friends are collecting wood for a big zombie bonfire and smores party? Not cool. Timelines: If 8 months have passed from Farmpocalypse to Martha Stewart's Prison Living, how much time did Seasons One and Two take? Lori's pregnancy seems to have lasted a long time. Maybe in stressful situations women are able to...I don't know...clamp down...serve as flesh bunkers...something. Michonne's Special Wackiness: Let's see how this works: "I am suspicious of man with private town and matching army. So I get in his face and tell him I am suspicious of him, his town, complimentary army....while I'm alone with him." Yes, that makes sense. Bonus points for fetishy gun-stroking. Are you trying to seduce me, you saucy minx? Andrea and Merle: Just hookup, dammit. I wanna see your little Waspy/redneck mutant babies inherit the earth. Rick and the Cons: Was he being more alpha-male douchie than usual? I mean, he should know that with T-Dog dead, we need a new T-Dog. Hopefully, when Merle finally encounters our merry band of survivors, the first thing he'll say is "T-Dog, you lost weight." Lori's demise: So sad...and yet, so wonderfully satisfying to the point I was squealing with glee. Only downside: no zombie Lori for Rick to chain up and reconcile with... Herschel's Daughter Who Is Not Maggie (HDWISM): She gets a line! "Daddy, zombies!" "No shit, honey, they cut off my leg, they didn't...umm..cut off my eyes..." But, that does lead to... Best kill: Herschel with the Crutch Fu. He's so bad, spoiled milk uncurdles when he walks by...yeah, you heard me... Andrew's Super Fun Zombie Vengeance Plan: It all would have worked if it weren't for those meddling kids. Seriously, what was he going to do with a zombie-filled prison? Or is the question, what wouldn't he do? Anyway, fun episode. Liked the death of Lori. Fans of the comic now have no idea what's going on. Well, as long as somebody does.

Want To See The Original Ending of Little Shop of Horrors?

Of course you do. Go to Entertainmnet Weekly to see the clip of a swarm of hungry Audrey 2s wiping out New York City.

ComicCon Day Two - Exhibitor Hall Madness

I have looked into the belly of the Beast...maw of the Beast...some part of some Beast. And it is full of dealers hawking overpriced knick-knacks, the effluvia of a culture gone pop.

Feelings are mixed here at the gooey center of geek capitalism. Soviet style lines - "why are standing here...because everyone else is." things for sale that no human being could ever use. A thousand dollars for a Halo costume. Why?

But, then again, people pay 10 times that amount for a watch and it is seen as a sign of success, not consumer derangement.

And the costume was kind of neat.

True confession: if I hadn't planned ahead and not had any excess space in my luggage, a couple of graphic novels would probably be coming home with me (but see, they're novels, not comic books...so, it's literature, right?).

On a side note, if you are cosplaying a character wearing a skintight or reveling costume, please, have the body for it. Some of the people here do...some really do not.

Well, off to a panel. More later.

ComicCon Day One - Cult

Meta, thy name is Cult. Cult is a TV show about a TV show that has spawned a cult of killers. Some clunky writing...inorganic info dumps are never welcome. And there is way too much "story" packed into one episode.

Still...

This kind of multi-layered, hidden world, paranoia story appeals to me. There's an interesting theme of how reality and fantasy are blurring in the 21st century. And it doesn't hurt that the lead actress is stupid hot.

The idea is intriguing enough to watch a few more episodes. Hopefully, as the series progresses the clumsily handled presentation of the back-story will improve. If not...well, then this is one cult I'll be easily deprogrammed from. Sorry, best I can do after being up for lots of hours.

Tomorrow...more ComicCon fun!

Worth following for a while. It may get all 'Losty' in which shit is just dropped into the story just to have something "

ComicCon Day One - Revolution

One day, all electricity fails...everywhere. Civilization collapses and the survivors eek out an existence in the ruins.

How come all the chicks in the post-apocalyptic world look like supermodels? Where do they get haircare products?

Whatever.

So, will the plucky young warrior babe avenge her father's death at the hands of a local warlord right out of The Postman? Will she rescue her brother? Will I watch long enough to care? Where does the strapping young archer stud get his hair cut in a world where everyone has been reduced to subsistence farming or banditry?

There are some nice effects - scenes of a ruined O'Hare and downtown Chicago. But...God...terrible acting. A stupid story. A deus ex machina every five minutes. Blah.

I know what this is: someone really liked the show Life After People...and added some people. So, life after most people. Take a story that consists of every staple of post-apocalyptic fiction. Add in a heroine who seems patterned after Katniss from The Hunger Games. Shake well. Pour into a glass. And there you have it...a Suck Shake. Really.

There are good post-apoc series out there: The Survivors (original), Jericho, Jeremiah. This isn't one of them.

Pass.

ComicCon Day One - The Following update

Ok, it's still Bacon vs Purefoy...but at the end of the first episode, Purefoy is back in prison...but has an army of serial killer minions doing his bidding...which is to spread murder and mayhem.

So, the premise is both more interesting and more outlandish...and still a pass.

ComicCon Day One - The Following

Clarice Starling (sorry, Kevin Bacon as former FBI guy Ryan Hardy) tracks Hannibal Lector (sorry, James Purefoy as poetry obsessed serial killer Joe Carroll) after he escapes from prison.

That's pretty much the series. If that appeals to you, enjoy. For my part...pass.

ComicCon Day One - Preview Night, Arrow

'Arrow' is the new Green Arrow series. There's a nice Deathstroke nod tight off the bat, so I'm immediately geeked.

Okay, a dig at Lost "they were all dead...I think."

They are definitely going the Dark Knight route with Oliver Queen and it works. This Green Arrow has no problem killing bad guys, is driven by a mix of remorse, duty, justice and revenge.

While it takes place in the fictional Starling City, there don't appear to be any other superheroes or villains. So, this is basically about a normal man with extraordinary fighting skills and a lot of money (Queen's family is rich). In many ways, the Bruce Wayne/Batman/Dark Knight is being dressed up in green.

Based on the strength of the acting and the writing...which isn't spectacular, but works well given the genre and shows a nice level of intelligence and wit. The action sequences are well shot and choreograph.

Maybe not a an automatic "must watch" but I'll at least give it a few episodes and see if the quality of the pilot is maintained. Check it out.

ComicCon Day One - Preview night

At the WB Tv preview night. I'll provide some commentary on what were seeing. First up 666 Park Avenue.

So, Terry O'Quinn is Satan...or something. And he owns an apartment building of the damned. The protagonists are an ambitious couple that are hired to be resident managers.

The plot establishes that most of the residents are various types of either those who sold their souls or the morally suspect (like one guy who our plucky heroine meets with hands covered in blood...he has twitchy killer written all over him). Oh, and there are ghosts in the laundry room...which explains where all those missing sock go.

Kinda of a yuppie version of the apartment building in Rosemary's Baby. Lots of stereotypes, cliched dialogue, cheap jump shots...but, there are also naught cults, hot blondes, killer elevators, some monkey paw shit...

Ultimately, it just has a been there, done that feel to it. There's really nothing about it that stands out. Terry O'Quinn does seem to be having fun as Satan or whatever, but that's about it.

Oh, and there's one moment I wanted to yell "I am Gozer the Gozerian.". I refrained. Inside though, I know, this bitch is toast.

Pass.

ComicCon Day One - Update

Well, it looks like I've been sucked into the maw of the very line beast I had hoped to avoid. But, it was so enticing. An actual end of the line with hopeful people joining it. How could I say no? Will my innate hatred of being squished in with thousands of sweaty fellow humans overtake my desire to watch TV programs that I probably won't ever see again? Stay tuned...

Day One ComicCon - Lines...So Many Lines

So, it's my first time at ComicCon. And...there are lines...lots of lines. Some, like he registration line move rapidly and efficiently. Others - the line to get into the TV premiere night - are dauntingly long. Perhaps if I hadn't stopped off for lunch - at a nice Mexican barsteraunt called La Puerta in Gastown - I'd have found it worth waiting in. However, there appear to be about fifty thousand people already camped out...to watch a few TV premieres that I should be able to catch later this week. Pass.

Next stop: I'll try the Marriott and see if I can get into the anime fest going on. Nothing beats cyborg ninja school girls.

Movie Review: Prometheus or Why Writing Matters

The one word that best describes Prometheus? Disappointing. When it was announced that Ridley Scott was returning to the 'Alien' series he had started, there was a general consensus that the film that whatever he did would be great. An A-list director was returning to the genre in which he had largely created the modern visual language. Surely, after 30 years of experience and with the clout to command a budget that would be orders of magnitude greater than the original, Scott would deliver the ultimate science fiction/horror film experience.

Were expectations unreasonably high? Probably. Alien came out near the end of a period of experimentation and boundary pushing in American films. It's relentless nihilism, it's bleak view of space, humanity, and the future was a reflection of the world the film was was created in. While technology has advanced, mankind has not changed, with the main motivations being greed, mistrust and fear. After the trauma of the Vietnam war, the civil rights movement (and it's exposing of the dark underbelly of America), political scandals galore and a general feeling of social exhaustion, the future of ignorance and terror conjured up by Ridley Scott, HR Geiger, Dan O'Bannon and the rest of the creative team seemed to be a perfect fit. The sequels carried forward these themes, while also reflecting the times they were made.

Unfortunately, Prometheus is a pale imitation of the first three films (and only surpasses the fourth, due to Prometheus looking better). The main themes - where did we come from and what is existence about - could have been interesting and the genre is a good venue for examining weighty issues. However, they are handled so poorly and never addressed in a thoughtful way, that little of interest is said about them. All that's left is the nihilism and a vague discomfort with technology - as well as the always popular mistrust of corporations.

Set less than 100 years in the future, the film deals with a corporate expedition to distant world (LV223...not the planet featured in Alien and Aliens for those keeping track). The ship's crew is made up of a mix of scientists and the rougher "working class" spacemen popularized in the first film. The purpose of the trip: to meet an alien race that visited Earth over the course of thousands of years...and may be responsible for the creation of life on Earth over a billion years ago. Of course, what they find on LV223 is less than friendly.

Even with little thematic core, a film can still be entertaining. Here too, Prometheus fails. While it has a capable cast, they have little to work with in terms of dialogue or characterization. The motives of the protagonists are poorly developed, and, at times, incomprehensible. For example, the protagonist - Elizabeth Shaw played by Noomi Rapace) believes that mankind was created by whatever they will find on LV223. Why? There is never any evidence of this presented prior to the characters arriving on the planet and Shaw never really explains how she came to this conclusion, other than she has faith. The problem; because Shaw never explains what led her to this conclusion, no matter how cursory the evidence, her faith - and primary motivation - has no basis and is meaningless. If the point were a negative commentary on faith (basically, that faith in any creator is wholly irrational), then the lack of a rational might be acceptable. However, the character's faith is later rewarded, in that she finds evidence supporting her beliefs. So, then blind faith is good? Even if this is the message, which I doubt given the outcome of humanity meeting it's maker (it's not happy), the problem of basic motivation of characters is widespread.

The supporting characters are worse; calling them one dimensional would be giving the screenwriter too much credit. They are a collection of tics and plot devices. Characters do stupid things to advance the plot. A perfect example: the team biologist, upon seeing a slimy, snake-like alien with a nasty looking mouth...repeatedly pokes his finger at at it, under the notion (delusion?) that it's friendly. Of course, nothing good comes of this. It is such a transparent plot device - an action scene is needed and cannon-fodder characters need to die - that it is, quite frankly, insulting to any audience member who is more advanced than a drooling moron. It is particularly noteworthy because the same character, discovering the body of an alien - something you assume most biologists would be eager to examine - begs off, saying he doesn't like bodies and wants to go back to the ship. So, dead body is scarey, living alien snake monster...is just like a puppy. Such moments are common.

In the end, you have a solid cast, a proven director, a huge budget, a great team of effects artists, all at the service of a terrible script. Ultimately, the blame has to lie with Scott and the producers. The screenplay is so laughably bad that there is no excuse for them reading it and saying, "yeah, let's shoot this." If this were some no budget, no name, shot in ten days, SciFi (sorry, SyFy) Channel exercise in tedium, it would be excusable. Given all the talent and resources this film had, no such excuse can be made. At some point, the pretty pictures have to be in the service of a story worth following. Otherwise, what's the point?