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shadowkat1. Just finished watching Stephen Soderburgh's Magic Mike, which is a story that is loosely based on Channing Tatum's past as a male stripper at 18 in Tampa, Florida.
The premise? Out of work and directionless, 19 year old Adam who is currently living with his older sister, meets Magic Mike at a roofing job and Mike gets Adam a job as an exotic stripper at club he co-runs with Dallas and has been dancing at for 6 years.
The best part of the movie is the dancing. It's burlesque, which means gyration and male stripping. The story is sort of lame. And when we aren't focused on the dance scenes, the movie slows down to a crawl, with stilted dialogue and lots of tepia style cinematography similar to other films by Soderburgh, who likes a sort of pseudo-hyper realism. So if you don't like watching male burlesque, I'd skip this movie - because that's really the only reason to see it.
Mathew McConaughy's Dallas basically steals the movie from Tatum and Pettifiyer, who play title character Magic Mike and his prodigy, 19 year old Adam. When Dallas is on stage, the movie takes off and becomes electric, when he's off...it slows down. And well there's the dance scenes which are surprisingly good. But, again, not for everyone. If you are not a fan of male burlesque, this isn't for you. I love dance and love to watch dancers move on screen.
So the dance scenes, much like the dance sequences in Rock of Ages, Flashdance, and Burlesque made those movies work for me. I sort of ignored the rest of it.
2. Do No Harm which was airing on Thursday nights on NBC, until NBC quickly yanked it and put on Law and Order repeats instead. So I don't know if it will return or not.
According to an article in USA Today apparently not. It got the worst ratings ever. Note to NBC, putting up against the popular Elementary and Scandal, probably wasn't the smartest bet.
Shame. It was different. Poorly executed perhaps, but had a potential. They should have put it on either Wed or Fridays. Reminded me a little of Stephen Moffat's Jekyll, but with a more realistic twist. It's basically about a neurosurgeon who has a disassociative identity disorder, except his split personality pops up at the same time every night - 8pm and leaves each morning at 8am. We're also told that he had been doing research, somewhat controversial and highly secretive neurological research at his old hospital before he left under mysterious circumstances. Ian Cole is the dark side, Jason Cole is the good doctor. And the actor was doing a fairly decent job of expressing both, and being restrained.
Moffat's Jekyll was admittedly better executed, but I liked the set-up of this one a bit better. And was curious to see where they went with it. Not sure why audiences gave it the cold shoulder - possibly for the same reason I hadn't gotten around to it yet - it was poorly marketed and had a bad time slot. On Thursday, ABC and Fox deliberately air their programs two minutes late, so you can't tape another show opposite their program, without losing one or the other. In short they are trying to outwit the DVR/Tivo audience. So if you are taping Glee and Grey's, and want to watch Elementary and Do No Harm - your out of luck, one will get kicked to the curb, you have to go back and tape one or the other later.
After this week - I was considering kicking Elementary to the curb and sticking with Do No Harm, which frankly is more interesting and innovative. Guess I won't now. Fear that SMASH will go the same route soon - it got bad ratings too.
I'm sort of used to this. I've lost count of the number of tv series that have gotten cancelled over the years. It's getting so that I can actually predict which one's will die and which will make it. I knew halfway through Do No Harm that it was dead in the water.
Just I knew half way through the first two episodes of the rebooted Smash and Deception, that they were dead in the water. You can sort of tell - it's all in how they've been marketed, reviewed, and executed.
3. Monday Mornings - TNT - don't know how well this is doing. Ah, as badly as Do No Harm apparently.
Methinks the medical drama has reached its saturation point.
What's odd, is violent shows, very violent shows like The Following, Revolution, and Elementary are doing well. I don't know why. But it is disturbing. And if looked at a certain way, does explain our violent society and the rampant sexism. If you don't think this society is very sexist...ask yourself when was the last time you heard someone use the phrase : "don't be such a girl" or " you such a girl" or "girl" in a derogatory light, and you have your answer. Also ask yourself when you heard someone use boy in that way. (For me? I heard a woman use the word girl in that manner this week, last month and at least three times on my flist and in each instance in a negative and derogatory light about a boy. In other words - the boy was show as weak because he was acting like a "girl". And in none of these cases did the women realize they were putting themselves, their gender, and their daughters down, degrading them and raising men to a lofty height as superior to them. That's one of the many symptoms of ingrained sexism. And yes, it is a global problem. Ladies, repeat after me, girls are as strong and capable as boys. We are the same. Our anatomical differences do not make us less than someone else or weaker than someone else. Having a vagina is not better or worse than a penis, it's just different! Sigh. Off soap box. And sorry for the tangent - this is why I need to stop posting after 9 pm.)
Shame about Monday Mornings. It's the best medical procedural that I've seen in a while.
Highlight was a surgery that fixed an severe essential tremor, which was very realistic.
As was the Doctor, who had the bedside manner of a turnip. But I can see why its not doing well - people have grown tired of this set-up. And too many tv shows on. I can't watch any more. My plate is filled. I have to delete a few. Right now strongly considering getting rid of Elementary which I keep forgetting to watch. And also considering deleting Dallas,
Bunheads, and Deception. Already kicked Wallander and The Hour to the curb.
It's hard to recommend a series that I just found out will most likely disappear in two weeks. But despite all that - it has a good cast, Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina, Jamie Bamber as the hotshot emotional young neursurgeon, and is ethnically diverse - I rather love the female Doctor, who I think is Pakistani? The gimmick - is a failed surgical case is picked each week to be ripped apart, with the lead doctor getting his ass handed to him. This week Jamie Bamber got it - with a case that he didn't follow procedures on - ie. doing a thorough check of the patient's history and getting a second opinion. Yes, it does have a little of David E. Kelley's trademark lecturing - reminding me that Kelley used to be a lawyer, but other than that - it is realistic and not soapy, lacking the melodramatic hyperbole of shows like Chicago Fire and Grey's Anatomy, which may be why it's not grabbing an audience.
The premise? Out of work and directionless, 19 year old Adam who is currently living with his older sister, meets Magic Mike at a roofing job and Mike gets Adam a job as an exotic stripper at club he co-runs with Dallas and has been dancing at for 6 years.
The best part of the movie is the dancing. It's burlesque, which means gyration and male stripping. The story is sort of lame. And when we aren't focused on the dance scenes, the movie slows down to a crawl, with stilted dialogue and lots of tepia style cinematography similar to other films by Soderburgh, who likes a sort of pseudo-hyper realism. So if you don't like watching male burlesque, I'd skip this movie - because that's really the only reason to see it.
Mathew McConaughy's Dallas basically steals the movie from Tatum and Pettifiyer, who play title character Magic Mike and his prodigy, 19 year old Adam. When Dallas is on stage, the movie takes off and becomes electric, when he's off...it slows down. And well there's the dance scenes which are surprisingly good. But, again, not for everyone. If you are not a fan of male burlesque, this isn't for you. I love dance and love to watch dancers move on screen.
So the dance scenes, much like the dance sequences in Rock of Ages, Flashdance, and Burlesque made those movies work for me. I sort of ignored the rest of it.
2. Do No Harm which was airing on Thursday nights on NBC, until NBC quickly yanked it and put on Law and Order repeats instead. So I don't know if it will return or not.
According to an article in USA Today apparently not. It got the worst ratings ever. Note to NBC, putting up against the popular Elementary and Scandal, probably wasn't the smartest bet.
Shame. It was different. Poorly executed perhaps, but had a potential. They should have put it on either Wed or Fridays. Reminded me a little of Stephen Moffat's Jekyll, but with a more realistic twist. It's basically about a neurosurgeon who has a disassociative identity disorder, except his split personality pops up at the same time every night - 8pm and leaves each morning at 8am. We're also told that he had been doing research, somewhat controversial and highly secretive neurological research at his old hospital before he left under mysterious circumstances. Ian Cole is the dark side, Jason Cole is the good doctor. And the actor was doing a fairly decent job of expressing both, and being restrained.
Moffat's Jekyll was admittedly better executed, but I liked the set-up of this one a bit better. And was curious to see where they went with it. Not sure why audiences gave it the cold shoulder - possibly for the same reason I hadn't gotten around to it yet - it was poorly marketed and had a bad time slot. On Thursday, ABC and Fox deliberately air their programs two minutes late, so you can't tape another show opposite their program, without losing one or the other. In short they are trying to outwit the DVR/Tivo audience. So if you are taping Glee and Grey's, and want to watch Elementary and Do No Harm - your out of luck, one will get kicked to the curb, you have to go back and tape one or the other later.
After this week - I was considering kicking Elementary to the curb and sticking with Do No Harm, which frankly is more interesting and innovative. Guess I won't now. Fear that SMASH will go the same route soon - it got bad ratings too.
I'm sort of used to this. I've lost count of the number of tv series that have gotten cancelled over the years. It's getting so that I can actually predict which one's will die and which will make it. I knew halfway through Do No Harm that it was dead in the water.
Just I knew half way through the first two episodes of the rebooted Smash and Deception, that they were dead in the water. You can sort of tell - it's all in how they've been marketed, reviewed, and executed.
3. Monday Mornings - TNT - don't know how well this is doing. Ah, as badly as Do No Harm apparently.
Methinks the medical drama has reached its saturation point.
What's odd, is violent shows, very violent shows like The Following, Revolution, and Elementary are doing well. I don't know why. But it is disturbing. And if looked at a certain way, does explain our violent society and the rampant sexism. If you don't think this society is very sexist...ask yourself when was the last time you heard someone use the phrase : "don't be such a girl" or " you such a girl" or "girl" in a derogatory light, and you have your answer. Also ask yourself when you heard someone use boy in that way. (For me? I heard a woman use the word girl in that manner this week, last month and at least three times on my flist and in each instance in a negative and derogatory light about a boy. In other words - the boy was show as weak because he was acting like a "girl". And in none of these cases did the women realize they were putting themselves, their gender, and their daughters down, degrading them and raising men to a lofty height as superior to them. That's one of the many symptoms of ingrained sexism. And yes, it is a global problem. Ladies, repeat after me, girls are as strong and capable as boys. We are the same. Our anatomical differences do not make us less than someone else or weaker than someone else. Having a vagina is not better or worse than a penis, it's just different! Sigh. Off soap box. And sorry for the tangent - this is why I need to stop posting after 9 pm.)
Shame about Monday Mornings. It's the best medical procedural that I've seen in a while.
Highlight was a surgery that fixed an severe essential tremor, which was very realistic.
As was the Doctor, who had the bedside manner of a turnip. But I can see why its not doing well - people have grown tired of this set-up. And too many tv shows on. I can't watch any more. My plate is filled. I have to delete a few. Right now strongly considering getting rid of Elementary which I keep forgetting to watch. And also considering deleting Dallas,
Bunheads, and Deception. Already kicked Wallander and The Hour to the curb.
It's hard to recommend a series that I just found out will most likely disappear in two weeks. But despite all that - it has a good cast, Ving Rhames, Alfred Molina, Jamie Bamber as the hotshot emotional young neursurgeon, and is ethnically diverse - I rather love the female Doctor, who I think is Pakistani? The gimmick - is a failed surgical case is picked each week to be ripped apart, with the lead doctor getting his ass handed to him. This week Jamie Bamber got it - with a case that he didn't follow procedures on - ie. doing a thorough check of the patient's history and getting a second opinion. Yes, it does have a little of David E. Kelley's trademark lecturing - reminding me that Kelley used to be a lawyer, but other than that - it is realistic and not soapy, lacking the melodramatic hyperbole of shows like Chicago Fire and Grey's Anatomy, which may be why it's not grabbing an audience.
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no subject
Date: 2013-02-10 08:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-10 02:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-10 09:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-10 02:35 pm (UTC)Sherlock tortures said serial killer/hitman for twenty minutes.
Define extreme violence again?
no subject
Date: 2013-02-10 02:44 pm (UTC)Elementary not only didn't focus on the gore as if it was the fun part, but when Sherlock went too far in torturing said serial killer/hitman he was actually called out on it and had to deal with consequences, instead of almost getting rewarded for it, like some shows would.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-10 02:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-10 03:01 pm (UTC)There's a difference between the cartoonish violence in comics in the past, and that which the comics have been showing lately. The realism is part of it, but there's more than that.
Kick Ass for example particularly enjoyed portraying the violence, blood and gore as fun.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-10 10:16 pm (UTC)Supernatural however - does portray violence as fun. That's why I finally stopped watching that series. Ugh. Rinse brain. So does just about every Arnold Schwazernegger and Bruce Willis action flick ever done.
Films like Kick Ass are often mocking the series and films that glorify violence.
I think you are confusing "extreme violence" with "glorified violence" and that's not the same thing exactly.
My difficulty is over 85-90% of the television dramas on American TV (can't speak for anywhere else) are about violence or depict graphic violence on a weekly basis. I can count on two hands the non-sitcom,
non-reality scripted television dramas that do not depict or show violence on regular basis, they are:
Parenthood.
Grey's Anatomy
Smash
Glee
Nashville
The Good Wife
Downton Abbey
Hart of Dixie
Emily Owens MD
Monday Mornings
Bunheads
Girls
Mad Men
And at least four-five of those have used violence to further a plot-thread.
The criminal procedurals without exception are extreme in their use of violence, having more and more graphic crimes of the week and taking the heroes deeper and deeper into torture territory. Some are worse than others.
Five of the best written dramas on American TV are extremely violent.
Game of Thrones, Justified, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and Homeland. (put the wrong one before)
All of the teen gothic supernatural/super-hero shows are extremely violent:
Teen Wolf, Supernatural, Arrow, Beauty and the Beast, Grimm, Vampire Diaries.
The pattern is a wee bit disturbing.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-10 02:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-02-10 02:34 pm (UTC)This is a male stripper movie from a male perspective, and weirdly romanticized. I felt almost as if Channing Tatum and the director were justifying Tatum's male stripper days to a male audience - which is weird because the target audience is clearly women.
This film merely reinforces negative "Hollywood" stereotypes regarding gender and gender dynamics.
no subject
Date: 2013-02-10 03:39 pm (UTC)The networks seem to be in a horrible rut. Bones has been renewed for another season. I still watch it, but its really become something I probably wouldn't watch if there were anything else interesting to me on broadcast TV then. Do we really need CSI:J-Walking Squad, The Umtieth Best Singer Tag-Team Extravaganza and The Dozen People of One Sex Pretending They're All Madly in Love With One Person of The Opposite Very Fake Reality Show?
no subject
Date: 2013-02-10 10:29 pm (UTC)Fox started the annoying trend several years ago with House, used to annoy the hell out of me - I'd always miss the last five minutes of the show and have to tape whatever came after to catch it.
Now ABC's jumped on the bandwagon, along with CBS. Although DVR's are catching on - and taping programs when they start and end, there's still the problem with taping a show that starts on another channel. Particularly if you want to two tape two shows on two different channels.
Ugh - I know what they are trying to do - they want us to watch the show that comes directly after it. It's a trick to make the audience tape the show that comes before and after, so we won't miss those last ten minutes of the previous one.
The networks seem to be in a horrible rut. Do we really need CSI:J-Walking Squad, The Umtieth Best Singer Tag-Team Extravaganza and The Dozen People of One Sex Pretending They're All Madly in Love With One Person of The Opposite Very Fake Reality Show?
So true. I just read the list of tv show pilots for next year and got bored halfway through the list.
I'm tired of criminal procedurals. I got burned out on them about five years ago. Medical procedurals seem at least somewhat innovative in comparison. Let's face it - there's only so many you can kill someone, and only so many ways you can figure it out.
And ugh, please, cancel The Bachelor and The Bachelorette already. Those two series seem to be harder to kill than a cockroach.