LUCIFER, SEASON 1 - A Quickie Review

From the minds of Neil Gaiman and Mike Carey comes...a Jerry Bruckheimer produced TV series about the devil?? Huh?

Spoiler Warning - for the TV series only, though really, there's not much to spoil. 

'Lucifer' the comic is a dense, cerebral, thoroughly serious and brooding exploration of the character of the one-time lord of Hell. A supporting player in Neil Gaiman's 'The Sandman: A Season of Mists', Lucifer Morningstar is bored and disillusioned by the realization that he's still playing a part in God's plan. He abandons hell, no longer interested in the torment of the damned and relocates to Los Angeles, where Mike Carey's spin-off series picks up. Carey's series goes way off the deep end, with angelic duels, japanese demons, the machinations of hellish aristocracy, alternate dimensions, the birth of a new God, and Armageddon itself. Amazing though it is, as it's written, 'Lucifer' would be unfilmable. Yet now it's a TV series about to enter its second season.

One of these Lucifers has no penis.

Developed by Tom Kapinos (whose résumé includes the stunningly vapid and absurd, if not still amusing 'Californication') and Jerry Bruckheimer (the man primarily responsible for bringing us Michael Bay, so insert "real devil" jokes here) 'Lucifer' the TV series abandons all but the  barest bones of the premise and resets the deeply philosophical series as a largely light-hearted police procedural.

Still based out of his swanky bar called Lux (though it's now a hoppin' nightclub instead of a elegant piano bar) the former King of Hell is profoundly different from his comic counterpart. So different in fact, that it's nearly pointless to compare the two, because there's really nothing to compare (It's like trying to compare Affleck's Batman to Adam West's - you can try, but why bother?). But can we still appreciate a show that bears little resemblance to the source material? 'Preacher' strayed, but just wasn't very good. 'Outcast' didn't stray very far, but had a great first season. So where does 'Lucifer' fall on that spectrum?

The answer is probably closer to failure than success. Yet I can't completely write it off and tell you that it's atrocious and I hated it. Because I don't. I can't say it's good, but what I can tell you is that it has one solidly good thing going for it, and that's the devil himself, played by Welsh actor Tom Ellis. Getting by solely on his charm, Ellis plays Lucifer as an unrepentant hedonist who finds himself drawn into the intrigue surrounding the various humans he comes into contact with. And the pilot serves him up a human he finds fascinating in Detective Chloe Decker, played by Lauren German. In possession over the power to make people confess their deepest desires and make women swoon with minimal effort, Lucifer finds himself curious why Det. Decker seems to be totally immune to his "charms" (yet in a funny bit, not immune to Amenadiel's, which pisses off Lucifer mightily) This sort of romantic chemistry which mixes sexual attraction with genuine affection gives their chemistry a very clichéd will they/won't they vibe which will eventually cause problems when Chloe starts to fully understand who Lucifer really is. 

Chloe Decker and Lucifer Morningstar

German is one of those actresses who just flat-out looks like an actress. It's unfortunate for her, because I don't for one second buy her as a cop, or as a mom. But she has enough chemistry with Lucifer that it's tolerable. Ellis plays Lucifer as a wide-eyed and eager helper, someone with absolutely no filter (he frequently and casually tells Chloe the truth about his divine origin and hellish nature, but he does it with such cheer and forthrightness that she thinks he's just being a weirdo) who gives in to every impulse, expresses every thought, and is devoted to a new god: fun. Chloe, on the other hand, is very clearly the straight-man to Lucifer's almost zany sidekick. When they're just talking, they do have a good rapport, and it's funny that he's supremely uncomfortable around children and treats Chloe's daughter the way one might treat an annoying dog. Yet when they're "working" it just seems entirely implausible that she'd tolerate his endless interference.

And so we can now touch on the low-point of the series, which is the policing aspect. There's no other way to put it...it's boring as hell. Nearly every single episode features a murder and a whodunit, and not a single one of them was interesting. It also undermines the entire reason Lucifer abandoned Hell; though he was sick of torturing humans for all eternity, now he somehow finds himself compelled to track down the guilty and make sure they face "justice". It just doesn't work, however, because he almost never uses his power to either expose the bad guys or kill them. Instead he just kinda follows Chloe along, occasionally spouting uncomfortable exposition. It's a weakness of the series that seriously damages its chances at greatness.

Wayne Palmer stars as the angel Amenadiel

Yet there are interesting parts of the show. Whenever the story just focuses on the interaction of the main characters - Lucifer, Decker, Lucifer's sometime paramour, Mazikeen (nicknamed Maze), his antagonistic and angelic brother, Amenadiel, and Lucifer's therapist, Dr. Martin (oh yes, Lucifer has a therapist and their back-and-forth is certainly a highlight of the series) the stories tend to thrive. When it explores the idea that Lucifer hated being in charge of hell, and that he never wanted to torture the human souls that ended up there, but they literally brought it on themselves, then it shows glimpses of Gaiman's and Carey's original ideas. When they dig into the mythology, the show thrives. But then Lucifer repeatedly shows up at various crime scenes, while no other cops seem to care or mind that a civilian is butting in, and any previous momentum comes to a screeching halt.

As frequently annoyed as I was, 'Lucifer' is a show I'll keep watching. It's a show that can be pretty good, at times, though I don't know if it can ever be great. It's entertaining enough and it hints at some ideas that can elevate it above the police schlock that hinders it. I can't say for sure that I'll review it regularly when season two kicks off next month, but I'll watch it and maybe check in a few times throughout the season. Especially with Tricia Helfer and Michael Imperioli joining the cast - I love those guys. I certainly hope they find a narrative sweet spot. The show can't coast on charm forever.


FINAL SCORE - 6/10


Lucifer returns to Fox, Monday Sept. 19 at 9/8c

JEAN-CLAUDE VAN JOHNSON - Pilot - A TV Review

It's Amazon Pilot season once again, and while everyone else is fawning all over The Tick reboot, I'm all atwitter at one of the more promising comedy pilots I've seen in a very long time. So let's dive in and explore the brutally hilarious world of 'Jean-Claude Van Johnson'!

Lack of Spoiler Warning - It's a pilot that may never get another episode, so while I'll be discussing plot elements, there's nothing much to worry about.

The concept itself is almost obvious. Jean-Claude Van Damme play himself as an actor by day, and an assassin by night - an assassin code-named Jean-Claude Van Johnson. It would be easy for Van Damme to ham it up, to play an extreme badass version of himself and rely on nostalgia alone to draw in viewers. That's the sort of thinking that leads to movies like 'The Expendables' which are fun, but after you see them, you're probably not going to spend much time talking about them.

'Jean-Claude Van Johnson' sidesteps almost every single one of the pitfalls by embracing Van Damme with some weird endearing combination of irreverence and deep affection. The show, written by Dave Callaham and directed by Peter Atencio, doesn't mock Van Damme, or his movies. It doesn't consider itself above them. It's not really making fun of them or him. It's both a relentless homage and parody of everything that made Van Damme and his films icons of the late 80's and early 90's.

Though reminiscent of the idea of the 2008 Belgian film 'JCVD', which featured Van Damme playing a more dramatic version of himself caught in a real life action scenario, 'Johnson' features a more absurdist take on the man himself. From his home pumping coconut water through all the pipes, to JC using a segway scooter to check his mail at the end of his driveway, Van Damme has lived the life of a movie star, but something inside him is stirring. Retired and bored, yet very comfortable, Van Damme tries to find a way to bring excitement back to his life. So he decides to un-retire with the help of his agent/handler Jane, played by Phylicia Rashad. She assumes JC wants to get back into the movie business and hands him a stack of scripts all pitched as "action reimaginings". JC breaks it to her though, that he intends to bring "Johnson" back from retirement as well. Who is Johnson? Why, it's Van Damme's cover identity when he's engaging in black-ops. Yes, when he's not making movies, Van Damme is employed by the military to go in to dangerous situations and kick ass. Totally awesome.

Van Damme and Foster

There's a whole plot straight out of an old Van Damme movie (take your pick) wherein he's assigned to break into a factory for some reason or another with the aid of a beautiful woman, who happens to be his ex-girlfriend, Vanessa, played with silly seriousness by genuinely lovely Kat Foster. Van Damme and Foster play their relationship as if it's the stuff of heartbreaking tragedy, but really the nature of their break-up is so mundane, it's funny. But that doesn't mean that the ending of the pilot, in which the lovers miss each other once again, doesn't actually hit a note of sadness. Van Damme has actual moments of pathos that do find their mark.

If a comedy can make me smile most of the time, that's pretty good. If it gets a few good laughs out of me, all the better. 'Jean-Claude Van Johnson' managed to get so many big belly laughs out of me that I lost count. From JC's insane new movie, to his weapon of choice, to the song played over the closing credits, I absolutely loved every moment of this pilot. And I'm not just saying that because I watched 'Bloodsport' and 'Kickboxer', 'Timecop' and even 'Street Fighter' a million times as a kid. It's a funny, unique and good-natured, if violent, comedy that loves every one of its characters and its story, whole-heartedly. I sincerely hope Amazon has the good sense to give the series a full order.

FINAL SCORE - 8.5/10

'Jean-Claude Van Johnson' can be streamed for free on Amazon.com. Here's a link!

Stream JCVJ here!

SUICIDE SQUAD - A Movie Review

Worst heroes ever, yes. Worst movie ever? Naw, son. Naw.

SPOILER WARNING - duh.

Before I actually get to the movie review portion of this article, I want to talk about some other stuff first.

A few days before 'Suicide Squad' opened, the review embargo lifted, and those suckers came pouring in, and they...were...savage. I didn't read them, because I didn't want them to influence how I watched the movie, and I still haven't, because I don't want them to influence how I write this article. But I've seen the movie twice now, and I honestly don't get the level of vitriol leveled at this movie. It's not perfect by any means, but it's damn sure not bad, either. I did see one blurb that said Suicide Squad was worse than 'Fantastic Four' and that is just utter nonsense. But it proved to me that there is some degree of bias out there - whether or not it's against DC or Warner Bros, superhero movies in general, interconnected movie universes, or whatever. When you turn to using ridiculous statements like that, you're showing a deliberate desire to be negative and an attitude that says "I went into this movie with a chip on my shoulder."

And I do think there is something rotten at the core of film criticism today. There are great ones, sure - my favorite happens to be Matt Zoller Seitz, editor-in-chief of RogerEbert.com and Dallas homeboy. But for every one of him, there's twenty who come in with hyperbolic overreaction, either positive or negative, and reduce what should be a nuanced and articulate appreciation of what works and what doesn't in a movie into something that can be reduced to a blurb on Rotten Tomatoes. And when you do that, to me, you're reducing the film itself to something trivial instead of art. And yeah, some movies are easier to call art and others are easier to call mere entertainment, but hell...the same thing goes for any medium. For every Van Gogh, you have a million generic hotel paintings. For every Rodin, you have a thousand stone cherubs pissing in your garden. For every Frank Lloyd Wright, you have the guy in charge of designing the PlayPlace at McDonald's.

Remember how much flak this got?

My point, though, is this - every piece of art isn't for everyone, and I get that. There are going to be movies that you don't like because they just rub you the wrong way. But critics should do their best not to bring their own prejudices, expectations, and demands into every movie you see. That way lies disappointment, and watching everything through a filter of what you expect/demand/want is bad for criticism in general. I'm not saying I don't do those things, or that I'm above that sort of bias, I'm saying that's my goal. And I think that should be every critics goal. Go into a movie with an open mind, try to see what the filmmakers were attempting and judge them on how much they succeeded in that endeavor.

Anyways, that's my treatise on the shabby state of film criticism today and how it sours the public on a movie before it even gets a fair shake. So...shall we get to 'Suicide Squad' now?

Despite the crappy Tomatometer (a term that just screams class, doesn't it?) score, 'Suicide Squad' is not a bad movie. In the two weeks since its release, more and more details have emerged about the behind the scenes drama that should have rendered this movie an unwatchable mess. But it's not. In fact, it's a rather fun and exciting movie. Thrilling, sardonic, quickly paced and never boring, there are shortcomings to be sure, but none of them ruin the movie. None of them made me walk out going "wow...what a disaster". I walked out with a great big smile on my face, honestly.

To start off, there are a few things I want to point out as being really great; Margot Robbie, who absolutely became Harley Quinn, Will Smith, who did a solid job at making Deadshot more of the pragmatic killer that I've seen in comics than just a cold blooded murderer, and Viola Davis who...well, who just fucking was Amanda Waller. Tough, smart, and completely ruthless to the point of practically being a villain. The rest of the cast had smaller roles, but all performed admirably; Joel Kinnaman, Cara Delavigne, Karen Fukuhara, and Jay Hernandez all seemed totally at home in their roles and acted very naturally. Adewale Akkinnuoye-Agbae, though just not having much to do, certainly looked like Killer Croc and did have some good lines, And Jai Courtney, who had a sort of rakish charm as Captain Boomerang, made me smirk every time he opened his mouth.

You may notice that I didn't mention Jared Leto as the Joker. That's not because he's bad, and not because he's good. It's because he's really hardly in the movie at all. Oh, he's important to Harley Quinn's portion of the story, but you don't get enough of a feel for who he is apart from her. In the plus column, though, you do buy their relationship in the film, and especially her love for him. He comes across as a gangster-cum-rap star, who obviously has a lot of history, almost none of which we're seeing. It is definitely one thing I would have liked to see more of, but not something that is a serious detriment to the film, considering his limited role in the main story.

Dr. Quinzel and patient Puddin'

Speaking of Harley and the Joker, though, my absolute favorite scene in the movie is when the Enchantress shows the surviving squad members their deepest and most honest desires; Deadshot sees himself killing Batman; Diablo sees his dead wife. But Harley...Harley sees herself living a completely normal life, raising a family with a Joker who is no longer the Joker (Jared Leto, sans makeup, looking every bit like his movie star self, and nothing like the clown prince of crime). It is revealing and heartbreaking and shows you how deeply Harley really does love the Joker. She loves him enough to put herself through all the physical torture, the incarceration, and the constant psychosis, when clearly what she really wants is the everyday button-down life. It's an idea that has been explored in comic stories like "Mad Love" and "Injustice" - the idea that Harley only acts like Harley to keep the Joker's attention, and not because she's actually insane. It's a wonderfully poignant bit of storytelling that shows you the depth of character development we might have gotten if certain studio executives had just trusted the damn director.

Back to the main story, though, which is actually pretty simple; Amanda Waller wants to assemble Task Force X to combat any extraordinary threats that may crop up now that Superman is dead, and before too long, one arises and the Suicide Squad is deployed. But what makes the story interesting, aside from the likable and entertaining characters, are the twists that are revealed halfway through the movie; i.e. Waller is their rescue target, and she is also directly responsible for every bad thing going on in Midway City. So when I say she's a borderline villain, I'm not just talking about the fact that she smoked a room full of innocent people because she considered them loose ends. It's the sort of thing that undermines everything you've been told about a major character to this point, and it's a pretty solid twist. And the fact that the Squad is being lead by Rick Flag, who appears to be more or less used to Waller's vicious streak, without condemning or condoning, shows you the very thin line between the "heroes" and "criminals" of this story.

That's a face you don't fuck with

But while Waller may be the root cause of all that ails Midway City, it's the Enchantress and Incubus who are really causing all the mayhem. I do wish these two had been fleshed out a little bit more, especially since Enchantress is sharing a body with Flag's paramour, June Moone. Even if they were simply motivated by a desire for revenge against Waller, who manipulated the witch into doing her bidding, it would be nice if that was explicitly explored rather than simply implied. Instead, all we got was a single line about being bitter at the fact that humans forgot who they were and now "worship machines". Is Enchantress mad at smartphones? I'd rather she be mad that something as low as a human sought to control her. But that's kind of nitpicky, so not a mortal sin.

Yet even though that is a weak spot in story telling, for the most part, the story that's on the screen is pretty solid and might make a whole lot more sense if it was arranged in a more cohesive way. See, the biggest problem with 'Suicide Squad' isn't the acting, or the direction, or even the writing - it's the editing. And now that we've heard repeated (and all but confirmed) rumors that WB head Kevin Tsujihara panicked mightily after the critical drubbing that 'BvS' received (also unwarranted, if you ask me, especially once you see the Ultimate Edition) it becomes very easy to see the clumsy fingerprints of studio interference all over this movie.

Deadshot's story could have hit harder with better editing.

The first half of the movie is fun and exciting, full of black comedy, some really great musical cues, and is seriously loaded with flashbacks. The second half is a more-or-less straightforward action movie. The two halves aren't so disparate that the movie makes no sense (like, say 'Fantastic Four'), but it is noticeable. And having seen it for a second time now, it is quite obvious that some of the flashbacks we saw in the first 30-40 minutes were supposed to be revelations saved for the latter half of the movie. Harley and Diablo both have flashbacks toward the end that give you a glimpse this original structure. And Deadshot's arrest and showdown with Batman, instead of being shown within the first ten minutes of the film, was almost certainly meant for the moment toward the end when Flag surprises Lawton with a stack of his daughter's letters. 

I feel like you can tell the nearly exact same story, only rearranging certain scenes, and you'd have a movie that, if not good reviews, might have at least gotten a lot less bad ones. Some other changes I'd make would be to develop the villains a bit more, and show more interaction within the squad itself so that when Diablo and Harley both act during the climax out of loyalty to their new buddies, it seems far more believable. I do feel like some of the squad members are short changed as far as character development, but that's not necessarily a fatal mistake. A solid backstory for Killer Croc would have been icing on the cake, not the missing link. It would have been nice to see more from them, and to give the squad more of a dynamic, if dysfunctional, "family" feeling, but I don't think it would change the movie too drastically.

Yet for all the flaws in editing, and the short changing of some of the characters, 'Suicide Squad' is still a funny, chaotic, and exciting movie. It's over two hours, and yet never feels like it. I had a good time with it, for sure, but what I respect most is the ambition. David Ayer tried to make a movie without a legit superhero, starring a bunch of comic characters who, besides the Joker, had never been on a movie screen before. And he did it in way that felt organic and believable within the constraints of the world that's been built by the DCEU: Task Force X was conceived the moment Superman died, and the person running it is so immoral, that her actions bring about the very threats she's trying to avoid. It's the kind of story I could easily believe sprang from the pages of a comic book - a really good comic book.

I have said before that I never want this site, or my criticism, to just turn into an anger free-for-all in which I vent my nerdrage. That's mostly because I never want to walk into a movie with the expectation that I'll walk out angry. I never want to write off a movie without thinking about it for a while and really considering what works and what doesn't. And I don't want to heap praise on something while ignoring its shortcomings. I honestly think that once people look past their own prejudices, expectations, and demands and try to see past whatever immediate disappointment they may feel, they'll realize that a movie that has been lambasted as awful is actually pretty good.

'Suicide Squad' is one of those movies. It deserves a better critical response than it's getting.


FINAL SCORE - 7/10

'Suicide Squad' is currently in theaters, and does directly tie-in to the events of 'Batman v Superman' so if you missed that, check it out. 

OUTCAST - Ep. 10, Season Finale - This Little Light - A TV Review

'Outcast' wraps up a stellar first season with an intense, thrilling, and worthy season finale! Let's get it started!

SPOILER WARNING - This post contains spoilers for the TV series only, because they're breaking from the comic books (as far as I know - I'm like a month behind on that...sorry)

Holy! Macaroni! (get it??? macaroni?? Because Aaron's last meal was some shitty off-brand mac and cheese!)

I really hope the makers of 'Preacher', a show I can't help but constantly (unfavorably) compare with 'Outcast', were watching because that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you do a season finale! It was pretty damn close to perfect, and I absolutely loved it. And really, it was a damn fine way to close out what has been a great inaugural season for this show.

Throughout the season, there have been various threads that were somewhat related, but never really tied much into one another. Despite the fact that they weren't overtly connected, it never felt like they had nothing to do with one another, because they were clearly all part of the same weird shit that was going on all over Rome. But "This Little Light" brought every major character and every major plotline into swift and sudden contact with a very fluid and organic feel. Ogden's weirdness led into his allegiance to post-possession Kat, which led into conflict with Kyle and Anderson by virtue of them taking in post-Megan to help her usher in whatever entity was living in her. Aaron kidnaps Amber and brings her to Sidney, Kat and Ogden, Giles and his wife help deal with the more practical elements in the aftermath of Mark's death. Everything tied together so neatly, and not in a way that felt remotely forced.

The story itself was wonderfully constructed, but it was also well executed, too. The climactic showdown was tense and thrilling, with no one (except Kyle, but we'll get back to this in a moment) feeling particularly safe from death. Adding a time element helped ratched up the tension, too, since Sidney established that once a demon has been in control of a body for a certain amount of time, exorcising it destroys part of the human soul. Megan essentially spent the entire episode as a ticking time bomb of sorts, and saving her in time became just as important as saving her at all.

Hard to see given how dark it is, but this one looks different to me

Speaking of Megan, yet again, we're treated to really great work from Wrenn Schmidt, who plays her possessed self with remarkably convincing confusion. Post-Megan's curious poking of Mark's dead eyeball was an effective and icky, and really sold just how clueless these entities are about the world they're jumping into. One thing that caught my attention was that when Megan was vomiting out the...demon/entity/whatever, it seemed to be quite a big bigger, and more tentacley than other black goops we've seen in the past. I wonder if that was deliberate or if I just didn't notice it before, but, again, it makes me question just what the hell these things are...

I also want to take a moment to throw the spotlight on little Amber Barnes, played by Madeleine McGraw. Aside from being totally adorable, she's a great actress, playing a wide range of natural emotions, in an endearing yet strong way. And the revelation that she has the same "superpower" as Kyle can only serve to complicate and endanger the pair of them. It was a great twist.

And so was Anderson accidentally killing Aaron (or so we assume). I don't think anyone actually thought he succeeded in burning Sidney to death inside his trailer, so that twist did feel a bit telegraphed. Especially since we saw Aaron hanging around in there uninvited multiple times over the last three episodes. But what does make this development interesting is that, as an audience...does anyone really care that Aaron is dead? No, that kid was an asshole*... what we really care about is how Anderson is going to carry this. Patricia may indeed never find out what happened to Aaron, because once Giles tells her (not seen last night, and I'm assuming will be broached next season) that Aaron was wanted for kidnapping, she and everyone else might just assume he split town. So really, all we're left with is how Anderson is going to feel about unintentionally murdering someone who was evil, but not the evil he was aiming for. Will the guilt force him to confess, will it bother him at all? Will he feel like Aaron had it coming anyway? (He did.)

*Aaron really was a bad kid, and his blanket hatred of everyone and everything was kind of annoying, so i'm glad he's gone. But I did like the look Sidney gave him once Aaron said he was down for whatever plan Sidney had -- Brent Spiner just pulled a face that was basically like "wow...i really underestimated how genuinely villainous this little ginger freak is." And while certainly won't mourn his death, I'm sure we're all going to feel sorry for Patricia once she finds out...if she finds out.

Despite the many answers from the season finale, we've still got a lot of questions leading into next season:

Why do they keep calling Kyle "outcast"? What does it mean? What are they trying to suck out of him?

What are they? What do they want? What are they planning?

What is Sidney, really?

Where are Kat and Ogden?

How is Anderson going to deal with Aaron's death? How is Megan going to deal with Mark's death?

Is Amber exactly the same as Kyle? Is she "outcast", too? And if she has the same power as him, does that make one of them expendable? Is Kyle, the character, safe from death? Is Amber?

Overall, I feel like this season finale was just the right amount of satisfying. The immediate threat was dealt with, but the bigger danger still looms. Some mysteries have been solved, and others remain. It's enough to make the wait for next year just the right amount of unbearable. We don't feel cheated out of a cathartic ending, and we're still compelled to return next year to see what Kirkman, Kyle and Co. have in store for us and for the poor, hapless sonsabitches of Rome, West Virginia.

I'm willing to bet, though, that it'll be pretty damn good!

EPISODE FINAL SCORE - 9.5/10

SEASON ONE FINAL SCORE - 9/10

Cinemax has already renewed 'Outcast' for season two, so I'll be back with more reviews next year! woot woot!

OUTCAST - Ep. 9 - Close to Home - A TV Review

I have not gotten to watch the season finale of 'Outcast' yet, but I wanted to get this review in the books before I did because...

Holy. Shit.

Spoiler Warning - This article will contain spoilers for both the TV show and the comic, including the aforementioned moment which prompted me to write "holy shit".

Look, a lot of stuff happened in this episode. Kyle, Anderson, Giles, and Ogden all had a busy week, but let's not pretend like the final three minutes didn't just put all that noise on the backburner, because it did. And in a way, that's kind of the point of something like this happening. If things are going bad, or things are going well, other things can happen that derail everything; and just like the closing moments of "Close to Home" everything else goes into a tailspin.

But I suppose we'll deal with those small fries first, yeah?

Smallest of the bunch is Giles and Ogden, who are both dealing with the tentacles of Sidney's plan. Continuing the story from last week, Ogden and Kat are leaving town, until Sidney comes up with a different plan that somehow involves a creepy-ass mannequin warehouse. And Giles is still firmly in Anderon's camp, lining up against Sidney, even if that campground is getting more and more tenuous. So stuff is happening with them, but right now, their plots are just moving forward.

Anderson, though...oh, buddy, what are we gonna do with you? If the last two weeks showed that Anderson was teetering on the brink, ready to plunge into the abyss, this week showed that "teetering" is an aspiration now, and he's firmly set up a summer home in the bottom of the deep end. While trying to argue for his job back, Anderson's meeting with the church officials turns into yet another of his patented brawls when Sidney's appearance throws him off topic. And though Sidney firmly plans to press charges, Giles' friendship with Anderson keeps him out of jail, yet only enables the ex-reverend to further destroy...well, everything that matters to him.

Do you even lift, bro?

Seriously, like three and a half seconds after Patricia (ill-advisedly) asks Anderson to move in with her and Aaron, Aaron shows up, gives Anderson some sass, and Anderson physically attacks him. Patricia has barely finished asking him to move in before she's throwing him out for threatening to beat up her son! Really, man? How are you even a preacher? You punch anything that moves!

This scene does illustrate Anderson's past, though. Aaron is behaving like an asshole, to be sure, and if someone smacked him upside the head, I wouldn't really pay it much mind. But Anderson doesn't do that. He flies into an immediate rage and threatens to beat the kid in the face with a belt. That's the sort of thing that comes from your past. And I'm guessing now that Anderson had a fairly abusive father, as his approach to all manner of adversity is to punch first, punch later, punch some more and then when everyone is nursing bruises, try to ask a question or two. Being a victim of child abuse certainly would explain a lot, but at least, at this point, Anderson finally realizes he's gone over the line. Losing Patricia is enough to send him back to Kyle with his tail between his legs.

Kyle, meanwhile, spends most of the episode worrying about and trying to track down Allison. His and Mark's search of their former family home was a tense sequence, as I became convinced they'd stumble upon her dead body (even though she's very much alive in the comic). But the eventual reveal that she has checked herself into a mental hospital is still terribly sad. He's already a young man who blames himself for everything, but Sidney's revelation that the entities that are possessing people are somehow drawn to Kyle are amplifying his sense of responsibility for Allison's present state. So of course he's taking her extreme depression personally; in his mind, it's all his fault. And it leads to him sitting on his porch with Anderson, thinking things can't get much worse. But they can...

Megan and Mark are doing their best under trying circumstances, no job, no money, broken trust. But they're hanging in there, and even manage to continue helping Kyle with Amber. Things are made even more stressful for the couple when Megan finds out she's pregnant. Stressful, yes, but ultimately, it's happy news, even amidst all the other chaos of their lives.

Until, of course, Megan is possessed and subsequently kills Mark and terrorizes the children.

Holy shit, right?

'Outcast' has done such a great job over the last few weeks telling the viewer everything about the actual process possession that the moment Megan jumps (literally) while in the shower, we're all like "...oh shit..." because we know what is happening before it's even been made explicitly clear. And it doesn't feel telegraphed at all. The camera shifts to Megan's POV and we see an oversaturated bathroom, Megan staring almost confusedly at her own naked body*, not noticing Mark when he walks in the door, and dispatching him with both ease and dispassion. (In the comic, Megan's possession comes later, and her attack on Mark is far more brutal, if not fatal) She crouches over him like an apex predator barely noticing the mouse it's managed to accidentally kill. Post-Megan watches the blood leak out of Mark and the life leave his body with only mild bemusement.

*I read an article earlier this week about how that was Wrenn Schmidt's first nude scene. I've repeatedly called her out throughout this season for her amazing work, and this scene really stepped it up. It accomplishes so much in those few seconds - this is no longer Megan, so of course she'd feel no shame or compunction about her violence toward Mark, let alone her nudity. Schmidt herself called it a "grotesque rebirth" and I honestly can't think of a better way to describe it. Megan may be in that body somewhere, but she's not in control, and Schmidt projects that clearly. She's a beautiful woman, but this scene does not come across as gratuitous or titillating. It comes across as terrifying and tragic. Wrenn Schmidt killed it. 

And of course, Amber's panicked call to Kyle had my heart racing and my anticipation meter revved up for Friday's season finale. He's chatting with Anderson, realizing how bad things are, but not yet how bad they're going to get. I'm not even a parent, and yet Amber's terrified "Aunt Megan...she's sick like mommy!" chilled me to the bone. And Fugit's face in that moment perfectly expresses the utter panic. Holy...Shit. This is the best 'Outcast' has ever been.

Even though the last few weeks have clearly been setting up the climax of the season, "Close to Home" ramped things up from a slow burn to a raging inferno. This first season of 'Outcast' has been really wonderful, and I hope they can finish things up in a way that tops everything they've done so far.


FINAL SCORE - 8.5/10

'Outcast' aired the season finale on Friday, Aug. 12, so if you missed it, check it out, streaming on MaxGo.com. That's how I watch it. Can't wait to see how it ends!

NEWEST ROGUE ONE TRAILER

Holy...wow. whoa. I mean...

Yes, the Olympics are going on, but really all week I've just been waiting for this to drop and watching the Olympics was just a bonus. The Olympics have not been disappointing, and this trailer damn sure isn't a disappointment!! Enjoy! 

OUTCAST - Ep. 8 - What Lurks Within - A TV Review

Sorry I've been amiss in my Outcast recaps, but I'll tell you this much right now...season one of this show is far outpacing the first season of 'Preacher'. The endgame is in motion, so let's not waste any more time!

Spoiler Warning - ...for once, i can't think of any spoilers for the comic as we're heading into new territory with this episode. So TV only spoilers today!!

'Outcast' has never really been about the head-scratchers. Yeah, there are bigger mysteries afoot, but for the most part, our characters have suffered in their pasts and are suffering in their present, so it's kind of hard to get too worked up about the future, even if we know danger is most definitely afoot, Will Robinson. It's a show that presents mysteries but never makes you wait too long to start giving you some answers.

As "What Lurks Within"opens, we're in an unfamiliar setting. And even though we're pulled out of the normal milieu of Rome, WV, it doesn't take but a moment or two to realize it's a flashback to before Sidney was...whatever the hell he is now. And yet what we don't know is that pre-possession Sidney was actually worse than he is now. Working at an arcade, pre-Sidney appears to be a convivial older gentleman. But as the flashbacks progress, we see the arcade for what it is - a hunting ground.

Later in the episode, he tells Kyle that before...whatever the thing inside Sydney's body can be called...got inside him, the un-possessed man was a monster. We see him keep a kidnapped child locked in a room waiting to be at best raped, at worst mutilated to death. So we're left to wonder...what if the demons (for lack of a better, or at least confirmed, term) aren't really all that bad? Sidney argues convincingly that that is the case.

So here we are in the present, with post-possession Sidney locked up for the assault on Reverend Anderson. Though we're always presented with the calm and level-headed Chief Giles, now we're actually seeing that he's a man who is fiercely loyal to his friends. And though Anderson is way out on a limb right now, Giles still has his back, no matter what, even to the point of leveling outright threats to Sidney. But having Sidney locked up gives us a perfect opportunity to have a sit-down between Kyle and the "man" who appears to be spearheading all the recent troubles in Rome.

I read a while back that typical demonic possession takes place over three distinct stages: infestation, oppression, and possession. But when Sidney and Kyle have their jailhouse heart-to-heart, Sidney reveals that the process is far quicker, nearly completely random, and not necessarily traumatic to the host. Again, this raises questions of whether or not the entity is in fact the sort of demon we're used to talking about in our pop culture terms. But here again...after Mildred and Caleb, we're given the story that this process doesn't have to be bad. The human host may actually enjoy it, or at least come to accept it, and find themselves better off. Sidney teases Kyle's grief by stating his mother could have had an okay life if Kyle hadn't interfered with her possession. And it's an idea that sticks in Kyle's mind and makes him re-examine everything.

Giles and Ogden discuss this later on, too, in regards to his possessed wife, Kat. Ogden reveals he is even more in love with her now than he was before the possession, and all the weird and suspicious shit we've seen him do in the seven episodes prior was more or less to protect her. It's a very strange and disarming revelation, and it certainly throws Giles for a loop.

But while Kyle is busy trying to figure out what's really going on around him, Anderson is edging closer and closer to a breaking point. His rambling and very public attack on Sidney may have convinced Giles that the man is evil, but the rest of the town think he's nuts. Before long, the church elders he answers to decide to fire him. And though his relationship with Patricia is still going strong, it alienates her asshole of a son, who retaliates by going to the police station to falsely clear Sidney of Anderson's assault. And also breaking into Sidney's house, trying on his black fedora as though he was trying on the hat of his hero, and waiting for Sidney to get home from jail so that Aaron can outright seek his help and guidance. It's actually pretty fucked up and does nothing to endear me further to this little ginger turd.

Aaron's actions only further everyone's suspicions about Anderson. And so what is Anderson's response to the entire town thinking he's crazy? Well, obviously, he decides to kidnap Kat and try to violently force Kyle to exorcise her. Unsurprisingly, it does not go well, and they end up in a brawl. So basically, Anderson's just winning all kind of friends today! Seriously, this is completely unlike Anderson of the comics who was somewhat arrogant, but never this completely unhinged. And in the comics, once Sidney carved up Anderson's chest, Anderson had a clear idea that he was in way over his head. The TV Anderson, though, is desperate, and operating from a place of abject terror, of knowing something is terribly wrong and not being able to convince anyone of it. He does have to do something but he can't figure out yet that he's going about things all wrong.

Only somewhat removed from all this drama is the Holter family, whose much less demonic problem is still just as dangerous and destructive. Mark loses his job, Donny has blackmailed them for all their money, and Megan no longer trusts her husband. Yet with all their problems, they are still willing to help Kyle look after Amber, and close the episode with a nice family dinner, prefaced with a prayer that is far more necessary than they realize.

At this point, pretty much every character on the show knows they are in immediate danger. What makes it even more terrifying and suspenseful is that, though they know about the danger, they still have no idea what it is, or that it's capable of freeing a kidnap victim - cutting his ropes and telling him "run!" It's hard to win a fight when you're not even sure what you're fighting.



FINAL SCORE 8/10

Outcast airs its season finale Friday, 8/12 on Cinemax at 10/9c

THE IMPORTANCE OF SCORING - A List

He is...the most interesting film composer in the world

Aside from movies, comics, and TV shows, another one of my nerdy passions is original scoring. A good score can elevate the work that it's attached to. It can take a great scene and make it amazing. Or it's sudden absence can throw the viewer off and ratchet up the suspense to an insane degree.

I don't think it's inaccurate to call Hans Zimmer my favorite composer working today, just as I don't think it's inaccurate to call John Williams perhaps the most iconic composer in the history of film. And even though I could fill this list with ten of my favorite Zimmer tunes, I'm going to try to be more democratic about it. So that being said, here's a list of some of my all-time favorite scenes elevated by amazing scores. This list won't include themes (so no Raiders, no Imperial March). But it will include some of the best all-around scenes in some of my favorite movies.

'Gravity' - composer Steven Price; track "Shenzou" - Price's amazing work throughout this exercise in nearly intolerable suspense is worth listening to, and definitely worthy of the Oscar he won. But this track, used during Stone's final moments in space before she returns to Earth captures everything about the scene: the suspense, the fear, the danger, and the hope. Stone realizes she's definitely in extreme danger, but she's accepting of it, realizing she did everything she could to get back home, and Price's work in these moments have a sort of dangerous beauty about them. Even if Stone had died, I don't think the music would have necessarily had to change.

'Rocky' - composer Bill Conti; track "The Final Bell" - beginning with a quiet piano tune before exploding into a mess of brass, bongos and bass guitar, Conti's work captures the chaos surrounding Rocky and Apollo at the end of their interminable fight. It is rambunctious and happy, and builds to a rousing climax as Rocky loses the fight but still ends the night on a high note, embracing Adrian.

'Jaws' - composer John Williams; track "Blown to Bits" - look, a lot of these selections are gonna have crescendos. And I'm ok with that. But this is the best one of the bunch, John Williams had a lot of work and a lot of acclaim before 1975, but this work is not only among his best, it arguably set him on the path to being a household name. Spielberg's work on this film is nothing short of masterful - it's a rare movie I'd give the title "flawless", and the conjunction of what he did behind the camera, and what Williams did behind the scenes are a huge part of what makes it great. The shark barrels toward Chief Brody, closer and closer, the gun shots more erratic, the frantic music rising higher and higher to match Brody's desperation, and then..."smile, you sonofabitch!" Absolutely perfect.

'Backdraft' - composer Hans Zimmer: track "Show Me Your Firetruck" - Hans is gonna be on this list more than once, and honestly, I could throw him on it a handful of times and not feel like I was overdoing it. His work on Ron Howard's firefighter drama is very strong, but the ending is a rousing sort of call to arms. Filled with the sort of red-blooded American...fuckyeahness of it, the final minute or so of 'Backdraft' makes you forget that one of the main characters just died, and instead fills you with pride at the job firefighters all over the world do. I honestly can't listen to this track without feeling it in my heart.

'Guardians of the Galaxy' - composer Tyler Bates; track "Black Tears" - one type of movie scene that I'm obsessed with; the heroic sacrifice. Quill reaches for the power stone, knowing it will likely kill him, before being saved by the other Guardians. And (forgive me, because I don't know actual music terms, so this is all gonna be in embarrassingly layman terms) for the two and a half minutes or so, the theme? chorus? whatever repeats itself, adding a new element every time, as soon as another team member puts his/her hands on Quill to save him. The music literally grows stronger and louder in the same time as the group on the screen does. It's one of the better "heroic sacrifice" scenes I can think of, and Tyler Bates' work is a large part of why it works so well.

'Mad Max: Fury Road' - composer Tom Holkenborg; track "Brothers in Arms" - Holkenborg (aka Junkie XL) was flat-out robbed of an Oscar nomination last year. Larceny, I say! So many of his musical set pieces on this job could have made the list, but I'm choosing the track that plays over Furiosa and Max's escape through the gorge and ensuing motorcycle chase and flight from Immortan Joe. Every single thing about the scene and the music is absolutely thrilling, and it gels so fluidly with the desperate action on the screen. It's a relentlessly intense movie and this scene is just the strongest of the bunch.



'Gladiator' - composer Hans Zimmer; track "Am I Not Merciful?" - a different sort of crescendo. The powerful music belies the lack of traditional action on the screen. But it does capture the utter defeat that Maximus and his friends have suffered at the hands of the villainous Commodus. Everyone is captured, killed, chained up, and threatened with death, and Zimmer's track piles on the sadness as Commodus viciously threatens his sister and her son. The crescendo-ing portion itself is great, but once the scene cuts over to the Colliseum and the captured gladiator, it switches to something wonderfully thrilling, if not still tinged with despair. The people cheer for their hero, not knowing that he's already lost. Not for nothin', but there's a reason this was one of the most commercially successful soundtracks of all time.

'Sunshine' - composer John Murphy; track "Sunshine (Adagio in D minor)" - Capa and Kaneda are outside the ship where exposure to the sun will literally incinerate you in an instant. Murphy's score begins slowly and builds, going faster and faster, as the two men race to finish crucial repair work and then to escape the sun. It builds and builds until it reaches a fever pitch as Capa makes it and Kaneda elects to finish the repairs at the cost of his own life (another heroic sacrifice!). It's a beautiful and heart-wrenching, yet exciting piece of music, mixed masterfully within Danny Boyle's underrated sci-fi gem.



'Glory' - composer James Horner; track "Charging Fort Wagner" - James Horner, along with the Boys Choir of Harlem, did wonderful work on Edward Zwick's Civil War masterpiece. Like so many others on the list, there are a few scenes with great music. But the ending...once the 54th regiment see their colonel gunned down and they decide they've had enough of this shit, they charge the impregnable Fort Wagner. Against all odds, they advance, losing few along the way, the music beautiful, thrilling, exciting and determined - just like the men. It builds to a spectacular ending, worthy of comparison to Tchaikovsky, just as the soldiers are ready to declare victory...before they are all slaughtered, ending a battle they never even had a chance to win. It's a wonderful and heartbreaking scene that wouldn't have been as good without Horner's work.


Did you really think I'd forgotten my favorite movie score of all time??

'The Dark Knight' - composers Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard; track "A Watchful Guardian" - the Joker is captured, Harvey Dent is dead, Gordon's son is safe...and yet, Batman and Gordon reach a difficult understanding that Batman must take the blame for several crimes and disappear. It's a scene filled with what can only be described as hope and melancholy. And the composers realize that essence beautifully with their work in the final two minutes of the film. It is hauntingly beautiful, and filled with a sort of sad optimism. They've saved Gotham (for now) but at what cost? This is not only one of my favorite moments in Chris Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy, it's one of my favorite moments in all of film. Amazing.

SWEET CHRISTMAS, IT'S A FULL LENGTH LUKE CAGE TRAILER!!

Holy...moly. This looks both amazeballs and unlike anything Marvel has done to date. I can't wait!!!

 

The full first season of Luke Cage premieres on Netflix on September 30th! Stay tuned to Park Row Comics for any news and for a review of that first season!

PREACHER - Ep. 10, SEASON FINALE - Call and Response - A TV Review

Preacher's season finale closes the door on a lot of things, including my patience. Let's wrap this charlie foxtrot up, yeah?

SPOILER WARNING - Spoilers for the TV show and the comic book. Like, for serious. Spoilery-ass spoilers. 

I really don't know what to say to that. Everything I feared about the first season of 'Preacher' was realized in the season finale.

Sometime after I watched the pilot, an idea formed in the back of my head. I dismissed it as stupid - nobody could be that stupid - and it faded into the distance of my mind. Then about four weeks ago, the idea popped back up, and I thought "well...maybe." But again, I thought, nobody could do something so idiotic. And then, two weeks ago, when Jesse told Quincannon he wanted one more sermon to help bring God to the people, I thought, "holy shit, they're actually going to do it.They're going to kill everybody in the season finale."

But I held out hope throughout "Call and Response" that at the last minute, I'd be proven wrong. And when I saw Jesse's parishioners file out of the church after the exposure of the impostor God (while Emily hilariously trolled them with some ? and the Mysterians), I breathed a sigh of relief. The town made it. They got out of the church alive. Thank god!

And then they all were all killed when the entire town exploded.

Why? Because somewhere several months ago, when constructing their idea of what this show should be, Sam Catlin, Seth Rogen, and Evan Goldberg decided to take what happened in the first issue of "Preacher" and instead of having it happen in the pilot, or 3-5 episodes in, they'd wait until the end of the first season to wipe out most of the cast, save the three leads. Now, why did they decide to do that? Who the fuck knows. There is no "why" that serves this story, and even more damning, there is no story that is served by this ending.

Oh sure, we have the story from the comic book - Jesse, Tulip and Cassidy riding around America searching for God with the Saint of Killers on their ass, but Catlin/Rogen/Goldberg didn't tell us that story for the entire season. It only just came up. They wasted our time for ten episodes half-assedly investing us in Jesse's desire to save Annville, investing us in the lives of the townspeople and their relationships - Emily, Sheriff Root, Donny and Betsy, Odin Quincannon. And killing them all now serves no obvious purpose beyond what I hope wasn't the case - that it'd be funny.

In a way, the season finale was a microcosm of everything wrong with this failed first season. Some part of it were good - very good, even - but in the end, a lot of it was just plain unnecessary and didn't really accomplish much.

There were several good laughs. The intro of Jesse running past Mabel as the cops chased him in a car got a pretty good one from me - it was very Wile E. Coyote. Donny and Betsy exuberantly engaging in some spanking play, only to have it interrupted by Tulip's unwanted violence was a clever twist. And Emily's wicked grin when she started playing "96 Tears" as the congregation filed out really made me laugh.

There were some really great dramatic scenes, too; Sheriff Root (Jesus Christ, can W. Earl Brown just win all the awards for his overall amazing body of work?) questioning Cassidy was an amazing sequence, both for Brown and Joseph Gilgun. The Angel Impostor's impression of Jesus was very well executed - he came across with just the right amount of "is this for fucking real? this IS real!...this can't be real" to keep the suspense going for as long as it did. And the brief reveal of Quincannon's meat daughter, along with finally and clearly showing us that he is a man crippled by grief and hate, was especially poignant.

All that good stuff wiped away by an inexplicable underground bunker of cowshit that made no sense at all.

But for all of the good stuff, there was Jesse's decision that murdering Carlos was ok now. Keep in mind, this happened prior to the revelation that God was missing, so the town's nihilism hadn't taken root yet. Why the sudden change of heart? "Yes, I'm intending to call God tomorrow, but today? Murder!"

There was the revelation that Tulip lost a baby to the aftermath of Carlos' envy - which should have had more impact than it did. Because Jesse and Tulip spent the entire season bickering, and all we ever saw was her childish and stubborn pining of him, I never felt any sort of connection to them as a couple, and therefore the fact that they suffered a miscarriage carried all the weight of two complete strangers having to deal with a tragedy. Yes, we pity them, but we don't really have an emotional stake in their sadness.

There's the teaser for what's undoubtedly a major part of next season's story, the Cowboy is on their ass now. And though we only spent maybe twenty minutes with the Cowboy throughout the entire season, it wasn't necessary that we spend any time with him at all. We didn't need his origin right now. We didn't need to know that he was in hell, or why. We didn't even need to see him before the final shot of the episode. If they'd wanted to hold back on the Saint for the entire season and only show him in those closing seconds, the show would not have been affected much. In fact, I think that would have actually been a hell of a lot cooler, and I guarantee the comic fans would have lost their shit when they got a surprise entrance from the Saint of Killers.

And once again, we saw Cassidy essentially defending the showrunners by invoking the Coens again, in another of own his Anti-Lebowski tirades. Now, here's the thing guys: 'The Big Lebowski' was silly and surreal and zany, but it still told a pretty simple story. And it told it well. It didn't waste a large portion of time with unnecessary stuff, and even when it stopped for a hallucination sequence, it still fit within the context of the characters. And it was funny! So if you're going to compare yourselves to anyone, don't compare yourselves to the fucking Coen Brothers. You've not earned that right yet. Not by a long shot.

Overall, I have to call this first season a pretty big failure. I'm pretty bummed about that. I love the comic - a lot. I had my doubts about the creative crew behind this series, and I fear that my doubts were well founded. It wasn't a complete failure; when it succeeded, it did so pretty admirably. But when it fell short, it fell way fucking short. And the first season is too early to start deliberately fucking with your audience, which is the only reason I can see for making the decisions they made to wrap up the finale.

Sam Catlin, Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg: you have good actors and good source material. Fix this mess, or I won't be back for next season.



FINAL SCORES - Episode - 6/10
                               Season - 5/10