Random Grab Bag Reviews!

I know that being deprived of my deep and insightful reviews of movies and TV shows must have been hard for all of you die-hard blog monkeys, and for that I apologize, but the fact of the matter is that my blogger batteries were drained, and I needed some recharging. Am I at full strength yet? Not really, but at least I'm getting something posted, which is better than nothing. Now, since a lot of stuff was watched during my multi-week media review hiatus, I'm not going to try to cover everything; instead, just a few brief thoughts on the things that stick out.

Heroes: first of all, I'm sorry I didn't post about this last week if for no other reason than to point out that the "why don't you go break the Internet in half" comment was a shout out to every single comic geek watching the show which made me die laughing and made PigPen give me odd looks. As for the "Fall Finale," I'm embarrassed to say that I did not see the big reveal as to the origin of the explosion coming. I theorized that it was the Radioactive Guy, or Sylar having taken on the abilities of Radioactive Guy, but somehow the possibility that it was Peter never even crossed my mind. If nothing else, this show is keeping the viewers on their toes, and you've got to respect that.

Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: Last night, as he's done many times before, PigPen turned to me and said "I can't believe more people aren't watching this." And, as I've done many times before, I nodded my head in sad agreement. Oh, and the addition of Mark "Kids in the Hall" McKinney to the writing staff (both on and off screen)? Brilliant. I mean, last night marked a milestone for the show: one of the show-within-the-show's skits actually made me laugh out loud. Can't help but feel that McKinney had a hand in that.

Gilmore Girls: Last week I wound up watching GG and Veronica Mars live instead of taping them because I had wanted to get to sleep at a decent hour. But, as I watched GG I remembered one of the biggest benefits of taping the show is the ability to fast-forward through the horrendous Aerie Tuesday segments. Last week's was especially annoying in its hamfistedness:

Aerie Girl #1: I like that Lorelei called Christopher's man-dates "man-dates," because, like, they're sort of, like, dates between men? But also? It's like she's, like, mandating them?
Aeries Girl #2: Wow, that's so deep
[cue animated insert with caption "My Gilmore Girls Thesis" by Aerie Girl #1]

Oh, yes, how deep and insightful that stunning piece of critical analysis was; let's just ignore the fact that the whole man-date/mandate joke was made by Lorelei in the freaking episode!!!!! Honestly, how are we ever going to convince people that this is an intelligent, well-written show if the likes of the Aerie Girls are our advocates? *sigh* As for last night's episode . . . Look, I know nobody watched Gilmore Girls for excellent fight choreography, but if you're going to trumpet the fight between Luke and Christopher for weeks before the ep actually airs, then the fight needs to be either (a) funny or (b) entertaining. I mean, yeah, the stark, wordless, scoreless fight was indicative of just how rotten things have gotten for both of them, but it's really not indicative of what I've come to expect from GG.

The Ant Bully: Leans closer to the Cars and The Wild end of the quality continuum than the Over the Hedge and Monster House end; if it weren't for the performance of Bruce "If Chins Could Kill" Campbell, the movie would have been a total wash.

Akeelah and the Bee: Feel-good film that manages not to drown in its own sentimentality. Smart and funny, highly recommended, although the fact that even I could spell her final "master-level" word did stretch the suspension of disbelief a bit. I mean, pulchritude? Seriously?

Brothers of the Head: Off-beat faux documentary about a punk band fronted by conjoined twins. The music is surprisingly catchy (especially "Doola and Dawla") and the acting, directing, and writing top-notch. A bit dark, not for everyone, but I liked it.