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This week I go on location for a chat with Brian Hewitt about his upcoming film, Transformation. Guest starring Michael Alan Fitzgerald, because you can never have too much Fitz!
Opening theme is: Opportunity by Jamus Breed*
Closing Theme is: Bucket by Jamus Breed*
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Southpaw is a movie that was written by Kurt Sutter and Directed by Antonie Fuqua. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Billy Hope. This movie is about having everything that you want and then losing it all and trying to get it all back.
Billy is the World Lightweight Champion and is defending his title at Madison Square Garden. Billy grew up in an orphanage in Hell’s Kitchen. This is also where he met his wife Maureen (played by Rachel McAdams). After the fight Billy shows signs of taking too many punches. His wife convinces him that it is time to retire. At a charity event for the orphanage Billy is taunted by another boxer’ Miguel “Magic” Escobar that wants a shot at his title. When Miguel makes a rude comment to his wife, Billy gets mad and starts to walk towards Miguel, the whole time his wife is trying to get him to walk away but he does not and starts a fight with Miguel. During the fight Miguel’s brother Hector pulls out and gun and shoots Maureen in the stomach. She dies on the floor in Billy’s arms.
After the funeral Billy starts to abuse alcohol and drugs as he looks for the Hector. He gets a tip to where Hector might be, but when Billy shows up he learns that Hector is a father and walks away. After sometime he is encouraged to get back in the ring by his manager. During the fight Billy is taking a brutal beating. When the referee stops the fight Billy head butts the ref and is suspended leaving him indebted, leading to his house and all his belongings being repossessed. One night he is nearly killed while driving drunk. This causes him to lose custody of his daughter Leila, who is placed in CPS care.
Billy gets sober after this but his daughter begins to cut him out of her life blaming him for what has happened and telling him that it was Billy that should have died and not Maureen. This hurts Billy but helps him get his life back together. As court ordered he needs to get and keep a job, find suitable living arrangements. Billy takes a job at a seasoned boxer Titus “Tick” Wills gym as a janitor. Tick becomes Billy’s friend and eventually new trainer. As Billy starts to progress and learn and even teach other boxers to fight. He is offered a boxing matching for charity. Billy does well in the boxing match and with his former manager in the audience he is offered a shot at the title which is now held by Miguel. Billy asks Tick to help him but Tick refuses to train pro boxers anymore. After the death of one of the pupils from the gym Tick decides to help Billy get his daughter and career back.
Leila begins to let Billy back into her life and ask that she be able to watch the fight just like mom used to but Billy says that it is too violent and her mother would not approve. Leila keeps asking and finally Billy says yes but only from the locker room on TV. In the beginning of the fight Miguel has the upper hand winning the first couple of rounds easily. The middle rounds with Ticks help Billy starts to come back using the Philly Shell Defense. Which basically covers up the face protecting the head and allows for counter punches. In the final minutes of the final round Billy is able to land a powerfully upper cut that knocks Miguel down although he is able to beat the bell, Billy is declared the winner in a split decision and regaining the title and his daughter who forgives him for his past mistakes.
It’s finally here! After all of the hype, The Flash is finally here. I just watched it and…. It was Outstanding!!!!! One episode in and it’s already surpassed Arrow. For those who don’t know and haven’t watched ( and if that’s you… seriously, shame on you! why the hell are you on a g33k site if you’re not watching the g33k shows.) This is the story of Barry Allen (Grant Gustin ), a CSI-in-training forensics police officer and all around nice guy/ uber-nerd. Due to a wildly pseudo-scientific lab accident he gains fantastic abilities that he uses to fight crime.
That’s not everything though, they took this 4 color concept and quickly humanized it. Barry is the affable everyman that the audience needs to identify with, having day to day troubles like being perpetually late fr work and pining for the girl of his dreams Iris West (Candice Patton ) but it appears he is doomed to remain in the friend-zone, since they grew up as best friends. Barry’s accident and subsequent super-powers are skillfully explained with sound comic book techy logic that sounds just plausible enough to keep the audience engaged and it’s alluded that the accident has resulted in the creation of the other Metahumans we will meet as the “freak of the week” villains (The format made famous by Smallville ) that our Scarlet Speedster will go up against throughout the rest of the season. Speaking of villains, it really says something for the creative team that they rolled out Weather Wizard as the first villain and actually made him creepy-cool! Imagine what they’re going to do with some of the more awesome rogues!!!
This series looks to be a fanboy’s dream come true. There were a TON of easter eggs sprinkled throughout the episode ranging from the glaringly obvious ( Star Labs, The Arrow’s appearance ) to the deftly subtle ( Grodd, Ferris Air ) . I literally chuckled and “oohed” throughout the show, much to my wife’s displeasure.
All in all, I give it a 5 out of 5. It was THAT good. I’m in for the entire ride already. Bring on the Rogues!!!!
As we are revving up the TV season I find there is something nagging at the back of my mind. Something that has not always been there but seems to fill me with dread especially as October draws near. I look forward to new seasons of all my favorite shows, but I hate wondering who they are going to decide to kill this year.
I suppose some may blame this on Joss Whedon. He has developed a reputation for killing off beloved characters. A bit undeserved as if you look at it he only killed off a few out of a much larger cast. It was, for some in this generation of TV watchers, possibly the first time they had to deal with death on a TV show before.
If you look to TV in the past, yes there was the occasional death. They were rare though. Lots of people were shot, but few actually kicked the bucket. I seem to recall it being a big deal when someone died on Hill Street Blues when I was a kid, and that is the only memory from my past involving that. The few advertised deaths that were in the news either were changed (Mangum PI), or retconned (Bobby Ewing, Dallas).
Then came along the Buffy episode “The Body”.
Suddenly, here was an out of the blue death. No foreshadowing, no plot line, no dramatic build up. And why not? Because if you are a survivor, is there anything more dramatic than the death of a loved one? On TV everything usually has meaning or a plot purpose. In real life however, people just die. The aftermath of how you live now that they are gone can overshadow how they died or even how they lived. This did not generally happen on TV, and it might be cited as the start of a trend that continues today.
If you count all of those who stayed dead in the Whedonverse who were major protagonists and not turned into omniscient beings and whatnot, without consulting Google, I count seven deaths. Over three series, 12 seasons and one movie. I almost wonder if it is deserved as that is not a bad record if you look at the current landscape.
We are heading towards a new season of The Walking Dead and rumors are that we might lose four of the cast in the first episode. Somewhere along the line someone decided that gritty and realistic means we have to kill lots of people. By no means do I think that TV should be afraid to kill off beloved characters, but I also feel that instead of writing a death that makes sense, now they decide who and how many have to die, then write the stories around that. As if it won’t be dramatic and have impact without lots of death.
Using The Walking Dead as an example is funny, because both my wife and I experience a high level of stress as we sit down to watch each episode. What they are doing is working. Something else, however, works as well. The past two season finales did not have a ridiculous amount of death (Just Andrea and I think we all were relieved when that happened). When the credits rolled, we felt like we had made it. We could breathe again. No one died but we were emotionally exhausted. That was good storytelling. Yet, if you go online, there are thousands of people complaining they didn’t kill everyone. I have to wonder why they watch the show at all.
There are other examples of this in the years between Buffy and The Walking Dead, and it feels like this is becoming a normal convention of television. How many shows use this uncertainty to boost ratings? True Blood, Dexter, Sons of Anarchy, and Arrow have all had major deaths in the last few years. While I am sure some of them were driven by plot and dramatic tension, I wonder if we would have gotten as many of them if showrunners did not feel like a hallmark of good television these days was a body count.
At least we still have Supernatural. Dying on that show pretty much means you absolutely will be back in some form.
Ok, so I just finished watching the pilot episode of Gotham ( Mondays 8pm est on Fox) and out of the gate, it didn’t measure up to all of the hype. Was it bad? absolutely not. It certainly wasn’t great but definitely worth a watch.
First of all for the uninitiated, Gotham is the story of Gotham City before Batman, it’s already a seedy place and it looks to be falling into worse shape. We are invited to follow along as rookie detective James Gordon ( Ben McKenzie shines in the role ) begins his legendary career with the Gotham City Police Department. Jim is portrayed here as “The most honest man there is” as his fiance literally spells out for us. He is a idealistic former soldier and a heroic golden boy, oh and apparently he’s a legacy in Gotham, his dad was the District Attorney back in the day. Gordon is partnered up with a grizzled veteran of the streets, Harvey Bullock ( portrayed here by Donal Logue ). Bullock understands how the game works in Gotham and tries to make Gordon see this throughout the episode but Gordon isn’t hearing it ( at least until the end of the episode, naturally ). The motivating factor for the series seems to be the most famous double murder in comic book history, which we are forced to watch play out in the opening minutes of the show. It’s brutal, tough to watch and expertly handled.
From that point on, we begin to meet many of the other players that will have a part in the ongoing narrative and there are A LOT of them. Almost too many for the first outing. The writers apparently really wanted to toss easter egg cameos at us. In the span of the first 30 minutes we’re introduced to Gordon, Bollock, Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Edward Nygma ( The riddles getting shut down was funny but working for the GCPD? Seriously? ) Ivy Pepper ( I’m sure they meant Pamela Isley since, y’know, every time we saw the little redhead she was surrounded by plants ), Oswald Cobblepot ( if they made one more penguin reference I was going to scream…. WE GET IT, He’s the fricken Penguin! ) Renee Montoya and Crispus Allen and then there was that little unnamed CAT burglar girl who kept showing up… wonder who THAT is?
I initially said it didn’t live up to the hype and that’s definitely true. Some of the plot seems weak and then there were some of the storytelling choices that were made that left me cringing ( why the hell were we getting those extreme close up shots of Gordon’s face when he was chasing Pepper? that looked terrible and was just weird!)
All in all it was still a cool show. One that I’ll keep watching for now. It has it’s issues but I’m optimistic that they will work themselves out ( Just like Arrow did, so settle down out there haters )
Here’s a look at episode 2 : “Selina Kyle”
I need to start this off with a disclaimer: I’m a HUGE fan of these characters. The Cosmic heroes are my thing. When I first heard they were going to adapt the Guardians for the big screen, I was cautiously optimistic. I’d been burned before , Green lantern broke my heart, but this was Marvel Studios, they hadn’t disappointed me yet. Initially deemed as a risky endeavor, this looked like it was going to have an uphill battle from the start. With that in mind I closely monitored every detail as it unfolded. As the Marvel / Disney Hype Machine throttled into high gear, I let the excitement overtake me and I actually forgot the misery that was my Green Lantern cinematic experience. It wasn’t until I was sitting in that darkened theater last night that I started to get nervous again. Would I be let down again? Well let me shoot straight with you:
This movie was phenomenal! My personal favorite comic book movie to date! It’s not without fault ( I’m looking at you after Credits scene ) but I was glued to the screen the entire time, aside from the 3 minute pee-break I was forced to take during what my buddies tell me was the “most hilarious: part of the film ( “and I need that guy’s eye” ) So on to my honest mostly spoiler-free review of Guardians of the Galaxy:
This isn’t your typical Marvel movie. This is definitely a bona fide big budget Space Opera but it’s so much more than that. This movie is a gold mine of goofy humor and sci-fi action… and heart a lot of heart. You are made to care about these characters almost instantly. The opening scene is a real tear-jerking heart wrencher for D’ast* sakes! The main cast are smartly written three dimensional characters. These are ordinary ( by comic book standards ) people that are realistically flawed and pushed into extraordinary situations. You quickly come to care about them, you’re invested in their journey.
What a journey it is! Adventure, dramatic tension, exotic locations ( Xandar!, The Kyln!!, Knowhere!!!! ) , Epic Space battles, Dance-Offs ( No, really. ) and the Nova Corps. The character and environment designs were outstanding, the villains instilled a real sense of danger. Ronan radiated a sense of fear and all kinds of bat shit-crazy and then there was Thanos…. His brief appearance was enough to whip the audience into fangasm!
This film was a cosmic comics fan’s dream come true. It shattered all of my expectations. It was a nearly perfect movie with the perfect mix of fun, action and heart. It gets a 4 ½ stars instead of a perfect 5 only because I was severely disappointed with the after credits scene.
Final Thoughts: Go see this movie, you will not be disappointed! I’m heading out again this weekend for at least one more viewing!
It looks like the fall TV line-up is going to be G33ktastic! Just sticking strictly to comic book based stuff, there are 5 new shows debuting across 4 networks! That’s not even counting returning G33k faves like Walking Dead, Agent’s of SHIELD and Kevin Smith’s Comic Book Men! Keep reading to get the scoop on all of the new stuff coming to the small screen this year.
First up is Gotham. Set to air at 8 p.m Mondays (FOX ), right in front of the fantasy hit, “Sleepy Hollow. Gotham is an origin story of the great DC Comics super villains and vigilantes, revealing an entirely new chapter that has never been told. From executive producer/writer Bruno Heller (“The Mentalist,” “Rome”), “Gotham” follows one cop’s rise through a dangerously corrupt city teetering on the edge of evil and chronicles the birth of one of the most popular super heroes of our time.
Next up on Tuesdays at 8 p.m.”The Flash,” (CW) based on the popular DC Comics hero, focuses on Barry Allen (Grant Gustin), who after being struck by lightning, morphs into the fastest man alive. The character was introduced on “Arrow” earlier this season.
What appears to be decidedly darker and horrific on Fridays at 10 p.m. “CONSTANTINE” (NBC) Based on the wildly popular comic book series Hellblazer from DC Comics, seasoned demon hunter and master of the occult John Constantine (Matt Ryan, Criminal Minds) specializes in giving hell… hell. Armed with a ferocious knowledge of the dark arts and his wickedly naughty wit, he fights the good fight — or at least he did. With his soul already damned to hell, he’s decided to leave his do-gooder life behind, but when demons target Liv (Lucy Griffiths, True Blood), the daughter of one of Constantine’s oldest friends, he’s reluctantly thrust back into the fray – and he’ll do whatever it takes to save her. Before long, it’s revealed that Liv’s “second sight” — an ability to see the worlds behind our world and predict supernatural occurrences — is a threat to a mysterious new evil that’s rising in the shadows. Now it’s not just Liv who needs protection; the angels are starting to get worried too. So, together, Constantine and Liv must use her power and his skills to travel the country, find the demons that threaten our world and send them back where they belong. After that, who knows… maybe there’s hope for him and his soul after all
Now we also have a couple upcoming shows scheduled for midseason debuts. On a very limited basis of 8 episodes we have “Agent Carter” (ABC) Marvel’s Agent Carter,” starring Captain America’s Hayley Atwell follows the story of Peggy Carter. It’s 1946, and peace has dealt Peggy Carter a serious blow as she finds herself marginalized when the men return home from fighting abroad. Working for the covert SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), Peggy must balance doing administrative work and going on secret missions for Howard Stark all while trying to navigate life as a single woman in America, in the wake of losing the love of her life—Steve Rogers
Also debuting during the
midseason: “iZombie,” (CW) another DC-based series about Olivia “Liv” Moore (Rose McIver) was a rosy-cheeked, disciplined, over-achieving medical resident who had her life path completely mapped out…until the night she attended a party that unexpectedly turned into a zombie feeding frenzy. As one of the newly undead, Liv is doing her best to blend in and look as human as possible. Her appearance now passes for “Goth,” with shockingly pale skin and nearly white hair, and her demeanor has gone from exuberant to exhausted. The change in Liv is baffling to her mother, her former fiance, Major, and her best friend and roommate, Peyton, who still has the high-energy, Type-A personality that Liv has completely abandoned. Despite her post-traumatic ennui, Liv has devised a way to resist her baser urges to devour fresh human brains – she’s taken a job in the Seattle coroner’s office. In this appropriately dead-end job, Liv can secretly snack on the brains of the many Jane and John Doe corpses that make a final stop in the morgue. Despite carefully covering her tracks, Liv’s boss, Dr. Ravi Chakrabarti, discovers her secret and is surprisingly excited about the scientific possibilities. Even with her boss’ enthusiasm, Liv remains resigned to an eternity without hope or purpose, until she realizes that with every brain she consumes, she retains a portion of that person’s memories. Liv begins to experience visions from the point of view of the murder victims. Much to the surprise of Dr. Ravi and homicide detective Clive Babineaux, Liv often has detailed knowledge of crime scenes and motives that she can’t easily explain. Posing as a psychic, she works with Detective Babineaux to investigate these crimes and discover who is responsible. It’s not the same as being alive again, but at least Liv can find purpose in her undead existence by helping Clive solve the murders of those who are indeed fully dead.
Not to mention all of our g33ky goodness returning from previous seasons:
The Walking Dead (AMC ) returns for it’s 5th season in October on Sunday nights at 9pm.
Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D (ABC )returns to Tuesday nights but an hour later at 9 pm.
and finally back on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. “Arrow” Season 3 (CW) After a violent shipwreck, billionaire playboy Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) was missing and presumed dead for five years before being discovered alive on a remote island in the Pacific. He returned home to Starling City, bent on righting the wrongs of his family and fighting injustice. To do this, he creates the persona of the Arrow and allies himself with former military man John Diggle (David Ramsey), computer-science expert Felicity Smoak (Emily Bett Rickards), street brawler Roy Harper (Colton Haynes) and international assassin Sara Lance (Caity Lotz), while keeping his secret from those closest to him including his sister Thea (Willa Holland), who has allied herself with his most deadly enemy. Rivalries and allegiances will shift as Oliver faces his most difficult challenge yet.
Not to mention a bunch of rumored stuff to be in development…. Stay tuned to G33kPod for updates at info solidifies!
First of all, I’ve been tracking this film’s progress since I first heard Matt Johnson ( Writer, Director and Star of the movie) interviewed about it on Kevin Smith’s Smodcast podcast (Episode # 273: “The Kevin Smith Movie Club Presents The Dirties”). The concept of the movie piqued my interest immediately. I had to see this movie. Well, I finally got my chance tonight and it didn’t meet my expectations, it surpassed them.
The Dirties is presented as a Found Footage style low budget/ no budget flick. It really does appear to be a movie shot by high school kids. It’s the story of two dorky high school friends, Matt and Owen, who are tormented incessantly by the “cool” kids at school, who our boys have dubbed The Dirties. When we meet the boys they are in the midst of shooting a movie for a class project, but as the minutes tick by and the bullying get progressively worse, Matt and Owen decide to turn their film about killing the Dirties, into a movie about a true-to-life School Shooting. There’s the hurdle, These guys have done the unthinkable, they made a School Shooting movie, not only that but they made the shooters sympathetic, you care about these guys and you’re actually rooting for them. They aren’t monsters.
From the onset the movie is powerful, haunting and unnerving all at the same time. You become immediately emotionally invested in these poor guys. You truly feel for them because you can see yourself in their predicament. They’re likable outcasts who do not deserve the harsh treatment that’s handed to them daily, The bullying scenes are tensely realistic and uncomfortably brutal, they made me squirm in my seat.
Now, I definitely want to discuss some of the plot points but don’t really want to spoil anything for the masses who haven’t had the opportunity to experience the film, so I’m going to try to stay a little vague here, but to be honest, within the first 10 minutes of the movie you know where it’s headed. It’s so brilliantly done that you actually get to see the moment that Matt get’s the idea for his plan, you see the thought spread accross his face and it’s incredibly chilling! and by then you’re already invested in these guys so you find yourself talking to them like “C’mon man, No…. just …. No” at least that’s what it was like for me, I knew for a fact where it was heading, and there’s no way out of it. You are forced to watch Matt spiral out of control and careen towards the obvious conclusion but you still pray that somehow he can stop and come back before it’s too late, but you witness it, just how committed Matt is to making his plan a reality but at the same time, you can see Owen is extremely conflicted. There are points throughout the movie where you’re begging for someone to catch onto what Matt is doing but you’re made to sit back and watch in horror as he pulls it all together in an extremely simple manner. The climax of the film plays out as to it’s unfortunately natural conclusion. The slow build up and finally abrupt ending leaves you with a longing for answers and I believe that was a beautifully illustrated point. That was the statement being made about these tragedies, Sometime there are no answers.
Would I recommend this movie? Hell yes. The film is up for pre-order right now as a limited edition Blu-Ray/ DVD triple disc combo pack. I’ll even save you the leg work hit the link and order a copy for yourself, It ships on April 29th : The Dirties DVD
I strongly believe this a movie that belongs in everyone’s collection, I’ve already reserved my copy.
For more information about The Dirties, check out their website: TheDirtiesmovie.com
and check out the original Smodcast episode here
G33kPod gives it: 2 and a Half Stars
First, I’d like to acknowledge and thank Universal studios and DestiNY USA for affording me the opportunity to attend the advance screening of this new comedy. The plan is to invite folks for a free screening of an upcoming movie so they will go back out to the wilds of Social Media and sing the movie’s praises, ultimately to get more asses in theaters.
In case you’re not familiar with the upcoming Seth Rogen comedy, here’s a quick synopsis, courtesy of Fandango.com for the film:
“Seth Rogen stars as a father who moves his family right next to a frat house run by an obnoxious student (played by Zac Efron)”
Short and to the point and not entirely accurate. Seth Rogen’s family already lives there, it’s the frat that moves in and the hijinks ensue, but the hijinks have all been done before. The frat guys are too loud and the family gets on their bad side. Both parties scheme to take down the other…. yadda-yadda-yadda. It just didn’t work for me personally. Yes there were some funny parts but most of it was met with eye rolls and deep sighs from me. It’s a tired rehashed story for a new generation, and that’s the key here. I am not a member of the target audience for this flick. It’s meant for the Late teens, twentysomething crowd, not a geek pushing 40. I found myself just admiring the little girl most of the time. She’s a little cutie that reminds me of my two.
So as for a rating for the movie. It’s not terrible but nowhere near good. It’s what you should expect from a Rogen vehicle. Goofiness, pot references and slapstick comedy, but opposed to previous offerings, such as Knocked up, it falls flat and does not keep you interested. Like I said previously there are some funny parts ( the airbags sequence comes to mind ). I give it 2 1/2 stars. It was a weak offering and I still feel like I’m owed my money back even though I didn’t ( and wouldn’t) pay for it.
