Friday, May 23, 2008

Friday Night Lights (TV) (2006)




Let me tell you a secret.
Sometimes, things aren't as bad as they seem.
Sometimes, those same things, end up being pretty damned awesome.

Friday Night Lights is one of those things.

Forget the dismal reviews, forget the criticisms, forget NBC's own comments about the show. This television show is nothing short of pure inspirational genius.

Chances are I've already ranted to you about it, and it's even more likely that you still haven't seen it. "Football?! Drama?! Hah, that's a joke." Don't deny it, I can hear you thinking it. But it's true, this show is classified under drama, but not in the way you'd think. Sure, it's a lot of teenagers with a lot of problems: physical, psychological, emotional; you name it, FNL's got it. But its not portrayed in a typical soap opera style, it brings you into the minds of the characters. It brings you into the field as they play. It brings you the spirit you've always wanted to find.

Centered around a football coach returning to coach a year of high school football, only to have his star player, the reason for his return, paralyzed in the first game of the season. A shocking blow to the hopes of the town of Dillon Texas, where this show is set. And in a town like Dillon, where football is viewed on the same level as religion, there isn't much hope to go around.

All this is good and well, but the thing about Friday Night Lights that sets it apart from others, in my opinion, is its visual brilliance. There are criticisms about the style its shot in, a documentary style, the notorious "shaky-cam". Distracting, some call it. Annoying, say some others. I call it being real. Somehow, the aspect of the show that reminds you its being recorded, immerses you into it even more. Then, from how it's shot, we move on to what. From scenes filmed with the characters face filling up half the screen, to the grandeur of two lone teenage boys sitting alone in an empty stadium on the eve of an important game. It's all there. And it's all done right.

But the best part of the show? It'll make you feel good about life. It portrays human vulnerability and the strength to come back from that, built on the foundation of nothing more than hope. The soundtrack helps, with pieces from "Explosions in the Sky" placed so wonderfully that you might find yourself wanting more, to keep listening to the music instead of having to watch a heart wrenching speech about the fragility of human spirit, until you become so immersed in the words to the point of wanting to find someone to smile at and hug.

Please, give it a chance, keep an open mind, and watch the first episode. If you don't like it, then leave it, find something else. Whatever melts your cheese, or so the saying goes.

But if you do like it, then i implore you to keep watching. You'll be a better person for it.

It's just that good.


Thursday, May 8, 2008

Iron Man (2008)


Iron Man! - I needed to get there before Cube did.

Okay, so I wasn't actually looking forward to this film. I actually voiced my loud opinion of: IT LOOKS REALLY LAME, GUYS, WHY DO YOU WANT TO SEE THIS -- IT LOOKS LAME to a lot of people (i.e. everyone who brought it up). Boy, was I proved wrong. I guess I'll have to eat my hat now.

To be fair, I had a reason to be so negative without actually seeing it. My cynicism is due to, well -- I'm sure I don't need to say nothin', but the superhero movie genre has, over the past few years, been unfortunately devoid of goodness. The Batman films started off well, admittedly, but Batman Returns (? is that the one? With the Penguin and Catwoman?) ruined everything for me (save Batman Begins, of course), the less said about Spiderman/Daredevil/Fantastic Four/take your pick the better -- the only other really good superhero film franchise that jumps out at me is the X-Men films, but after Bryan Singer jumped ship to do Superman Returns (which I haven't seen, admittedly) that whole thing sunk like a lead balloon and anyway I'm still sore about James Marsden getting no screen time in those films so yeah, I don't talk about them any more. I will admit there have been other decent one-offs -- I'm pretty partial to Hellboy myself, and then of course there's V for Vendetta -- but overall the superhero scene has been as dismal as a damsel in distress.

Iron Man is one of those Pretty Awesome one-offs, I think (unless they're making a sequel). It's a breath of fresh air, really. Fabulous!

I'm going to try and keep this not-spoilery and just very very rambly, but just in case:

####
WARNING

POTENTIAL SPOILERS BELOW
####

Let's see, now. The acting was good, all-round, even though I have trouble keeping a straight face whenever the onscreen villains speak Urdu. I don't know, do people find Indian accents threatening? Because I kind of can't take them seriously (being, you know, Indian and all).

Anyhow -- Robert Downey Jr was excellent and completely believable as Tony Stark. I am really digging the idea of a superhero physicist. In fact, it's always been one of my life dreams, being a superhero physicist*. And the fact that he's a playboy oldperson is pretty awesome too. I kind of have a soft spot for old people who act as though they're young'uns and Tony Stark totally fit the bill. I also have a soft spot for superheroes who don't have superpowers -- Batman's my favourite -- and Tony falls in there too, his superpower being a dicky removable heart, although he totally makes up for it with his physics-defying suit (it was physics-defying, right? I mean, it couldn't have flown that way really, could it... ?) so Batman is still on top with least superpowers ever, really. You can see how Downey's prior experience with alcoholism helped him here -- k so Tony's not an alcoholic yet but he does drink a lot which does play in.

* since now

Gwyn Paltrow was fantastic too, although I wonder what Angry!Chris Martin (as I am now referring to him post-'Violet Hill') had to say about her being the lovestruck apprentice of a weapons manufacturer. I'd have liked if she wasn't so lovestruck, although she made up for that with her name being 'Pepper Potts' hahahaha please don't tell me I'm the only one who found that absolutely hilarious (really 'Virginia' apparently -- but c'mon, Pepper Potts). But it was great how the sexual tension was never really resolved but not in a bad way. Jeff Bridges as the Evil White Guy was good, I guess, if a bit stereotypically, er, Evil White Guy. Everyone else was similarly good (although I must say Terrence Howard was at first kind of irritating as Army Man Rhodesy even if he pulled through in the end). And Paul Bettany is the best electronic butler ever, okay? Okay. (I'm not biased there. Really.)

The script -- well, the script was snappy, in a good way. There were lots of great one-liners. I'm a huuuuuuuge fan when it comes to funny throwaway lines -- I can chortle for days over one or two that particularly strike my fancy, and there were a few of those in this film. Sarcastic heroes > emo ones any day (Spidey, I'm lookin' at you) -- I guess this has more to do with the fact that mature heroes > whiny teenagers as well, but hey, I'll take snark whenever I can get it. But seriously, the dialogue was all completely natural, probably because a lot of it was improvised. Miraculously, Tony went from being the most loathsome person on the planet to someone terribly likable. Seriously, guys, freakin' miracle. However, I felt the pacing of the film was a bit off -- Iron Man only does like one Good Deed before having to face off the bad guy, and the majority of it is spent on Tony becoming Iron Man (which was definitely the most enjoyable part, don't get me wrong). Still, it would've been nice if the second half was as well-paced as the first -- it just seemed kind of rushed, though I guess if they'd taken it slow they'd have ended up with a six-hour-long film which I'm guessing is not very practical. But the pace is my only concern, really, the only really gaping flaw I could see. The other thing that annoyed me slightly was the number of really overt nods to Things to Come -- I like my plot twists like I like my shark attacks: out of the blue.

I was actually kind of shocked by the opening scene -- by now I'm just completely sick of OH AMERICA, AMERICA IS GREAT, EVERYBODY EAST OF AMERICA IS A TERRORIST-ism in movies, but thankfully that aspect sort of played out alright (i.e. it never got as bad as oh, I don't know, pretty much everything else ever). I find it actually pretty intriguing that the only time Robert Downey Jr saved civilians it was in that made-up Eastern village thing (even if the Poor Wife was distinctly white, hm..) .

There isn't much else I can say -- the politics were pretty ambiguous which I suppose is a way to get people in. There was lots of business jargon and I love evil businessmen so that was a definite plus. The whole thing was pretty rife with stereotypes but that's what comic books are about, right? At least it was enjoyable -- more enjoyable than anything I've seen this year so far.

It's so great when Hollywood gets things right. I'm actually looking forward to The Incredible Hulk now.

#### SPOILERS END HERE ####

And that, my friends, was my incredibly nothingy review of Iron Man. In summary:

Iron Man (2008)

Rating: PG-13
Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard (and Paul Bettany)
Director: Jon Favreau *
Genre: Action/Adventure/SUPERHERO MOVIE
Screenplay: apparently: Mark Fergus, Matt Holloway, Art Marcum and Hawk Ostby

* director of Elf, as I later found out, which is great!

I rate it: 8/10 i.e. pretty damn good.