THE FLASH - S3E1, Flashpoint - A TV Review

Barry's happiness in his new, perfect timeline doesn't come without a price, as we kick off season three of 'The Flash'! Let's see if we can discuss the premiere without screwing up our timeline, yeah?

Spoiler Warning - Oh yeah. We gon' spoil some shit up in hurr. 

As season premieres go, "Flashpoint", the opening episode of the third season of 'The Flash' was actually kinda underwhelming. Perhaps that's inevitable when you're invoking the title of one of the greatest Flash stories ever, and one that literally changed the landscape of the entire DC Universe. We knew this was coming based on the finale last May. But when last season ended with Barry traveling back in time to save his mother, I thought for sure we'd spend a good chunk of time in the alternate universe rather than...most of just one episode.

Granted, some of the stuff in this one episode was pretty cool to see. It is pretty heartwarming to see Barry get to spend a few months with both of his deceased parents (and pretty funny that they're both kinda curious as to why he's still opting to live at home), and cool that Barry and Iris have a nearly immediate flirtation and connection, so we don't have to spend more time watching him pine away silently. And it was definitely pretty awesome to see the Flash...er, Kid Flash (Keiynan Lonsdale) in his costume and doing his best to save Central City with actual enthusiasm.

Also great was any interaction Barry had with the imprisoned Eobard Thawne. Matt Letscher does a great job bringing a sort of sadistic arrogance to Thawne in a way that makes him seem both similar and different to the Dr. Wells version of Reverse Flash from season one. And it raises some questions as to why he seems to know a whole lot more about "Flashpoint" and the long term consequences of Barry's actions than Barry does himself. Not only is he aware that Barry will eventually need him to reset the timeline, but he rubs it in Barry's face before, during, and after he's released to go kill Nora...again. It's a dick move for sure, but one that sells Letscher in a role we're still mostly used to seeing with Tom Cavanagh.

Not everything worked, though. Maybe it's because we got to see Cisco being Reverb last year, but it didn't seem very interesting or compelling to watch Carlos Valdes play him as a dickish billionaire. And Caitlin as a goody-two-shoes pediatric ophthalmologist seemed a bit like a wasted opportunity, especially when they had the guts enough to show an alternate, alcoholic version of Joe who seems to be on the verge of total self destruction.

The episode's big bad, Edward Clariss (aka The Rival) fell kinda flat, too, if only because he just seemed like a cheap Zoom knockoff, even down to the mostly black supersuit. BUT given his weird appearance at the end of the episode and his (somehow) tie to Dr. Alchemy, I'm withholding serious judgment on his success or failure to a later date. Just sayin', this episode, he was kinda boring.

It's clear that Barry's actions not only created the alternate "flashpoint" timeline where everything was good and happy, but even when he reset it with the help of Reverse Flash, not everything was right back where he left it. That's the same thing that happened in the genesis of The New 52 - Flash fixed things, but there were ripples. And I'm certain we're going to be seeing the effects of those ripples for weeks to come, if not throughout the whole season. So in that respect, the premiere succeeded in setting up the future. But it just didn't do a very good job in providing me with the kind of emotional punch it should have - especially when Barry realizes he has to give up his parents' lives...again. The Earth-2 episodes last year hit me a whole lot harder (like the scene where Barry has a phone conversation with his mom) and though it might be unfair, I had higher expectations from the Flashpoint world.

And I'm mad that they blew another opportunity to give us the Thomas Wayne Batman! Come on, CW!

FINAL SCORE - 6/10

'The Flash' airs on the CW Network, Tuesdays at 8/7c

WESTWORLD - Ep. 1, The Orginal - A TV Review

HBO's new sci-fi opus premiered on Sunday, and we here at PRC can't wait to talk about this freaky-ass marriage of Michael Crichton, JJ Abrams, Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy, and Bryan Burk. Let's swat some flies and dig in!

Spoiler Warning - Not that there's much to spoil so far, but I'm not exactly going to avoid dealing with explicit plot points, so...read at your own risk. 

I was really tempted to sit here and say "wow! what an original premise! what a unique concept!" but I can't. Not because it's a bad idea or anything like that. But because it's not an original idea. 'Westworld' the series, developed by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, is based in a 43 year old movie that was written and directed by Michael Crichton. Crichton's fingerprints are all over the backbone of this series and you can even see some elements that would eventually evolve into 'Jurassic Park'. So as great, wondrous, and weird as the premiere of this series is, it's even weirder to think that the idea behind it is nearly half a century old. This first episode, titled "The Original", sets up a pretty interesting, if more than a bit complex, idea. 

Hosts "Teddy" and "Dolores"

Sometime in the future, the very wealthy can amuse themselves by entering what amounts to a theme park cum video game. Pay for your stay, and you can visit the Old West, wear a cowboy hat and gunbelt, and interact with the old timey residents. The visitors, called "newcomers" by the residents, interact with pre-programmed androids, called "hosts", in any way they desire. The androids operate off a very sophisticated AI that prompts them to follow a script but also leaves room for improvisation and realistic reactions to the newcomers. Want to spend all your time getting drunk with whores in the saloon? Go ahead. Want to ride up into the hills to chase a bandit? Right this way, sir. Want to go the "straight evil" route, as one newcomer mentions? Well, you can do that, too. In fact, one visitor, an unnamed man dressed all in black and played with a business-like cruelty by Ed Harris, seems to be doing just that. He murders, rapes and scalps, but also seems to be after something real in this unreal world.

As I mentioned, the hosts have scripts they are programmed to follow, until a programming update starts to trigger some mild malfunctions. But for the most part, things run smoothly. Evan Rachel Wood plays "Dolores", a gentle young android lady who divides her time between painting landscapes and doting on her father and boyfriend, "Teddy" (James Marsden). Watching these performances, the thing that popped into my head was the film 'Starman' wherein Jeff Bridges plays an alien inhabiting a human body. The stiff, awkward movements and stilted cadence effectively gave the impression of someone who is entirely unused to the idea of simply existing. Wood, Marsden, and Louis Herthum (who plays "Peter", Dolores' father) all shift from believable yet archetypal western characters to convincingly glitchy androids with such deftness that you forget, for a moment, that they are real people acting. Wood and Herthum have scenes where they deliver dialogue while completely nude and it comes off as unsettling as watching a mannequin suddenly speak. 

Westworld's creator, Ford

Meanwhile, the outside world (think a less aggressive version of the controllers and control room from 'The Hunger Games') is less defined than the Western World. Jeffrey Wright, Sidese Babett Knudsen, and Anthony Hopkins all do a good enough job at establishing the concept and rules of Westworld, but they're also not given much room to shine in the same way the hosts are. Still, it's clear what is going on in their world is going to trickle down and affect both newcomers and hosts adversely.

Visually, this shit is the dopest dope. As gorgeous as anything Chris Nolan and Wally Pfister shot, Jonah Nolan and his cinematographer Paul Cameron make the "west" seem as perfect as it could possibly be, which makes sense. Immersed in the gorgeous orange and pink vistas of southern Utah. the Newcomers are there for fun, not for realism. They'd expect the land to look like a postcard, so give them what they want, right? Everything has to be an archetype, not just the people/hosts living there.

I also want to give a quick shout out to Ramin Djawadi, the busy composer we all know and love from 'Game of Thrones'. Overall, he does a pretty good job, but one piece in particular, an orchestral version of "Paint It Black" done in a sort of Ennio Morricone-y way, elevates an already exciting action sequence to something that is nothing short of masterful. It gave me the same sort of chills Djawadi's work did during Cersei's coup d'etat/coup de grace in the season finale of GoT. Oh, and there's also an old-timey player piano doing a western version of Soundgarden's "Black Hole Sun" that tickled me immensely. It was a sort of anachronism that was so sly it nearly got past me, but still gave you the sense that something about this "real" world isn't quite right.

"The Original" is a very well conceived and well executed pilot episode. It does what a good pilot should do - introduces the world (or in this case, the two worlds), establishes the rules, introduces the characters and gives them enough characterization to let us know who they are, and it sets up the conflicts of the season and series to come. Are they reverie glitches just glitches or is something more sinister afoot? What is Ed Harris up to? What is that map underneath the one host's scalp? Are we going to keep getting awesome renditions of popular rock songs?

All I can say is that Nolan and co. did such a great job in this first episode I'm damn sure going to turn in for the rest. And if it's all right with you guys, I'll keep writing about it.

FINAL SCORE - 9/10

Ed Harris is up to some wrong shit

Westworld airs on HBO Sunday nights at 9/8c

MARVEL'S LUKE CAGE - Season One - A TV Review

I'm back! I took a longer break than I'd anticipated, but you know what? It was needed and it was worth it, and now I'm back and ready to tackle the upcoming new seasons of comic book TV shows. Let's start off by dissecting the newest collaboration between Marvel and Netflix, Luke Cage!

Spoiler Warning - Oh, you bet your sweet ass this is gonna be chock full of spoilers, so consider yourself warned sucka!

It's been about what, ten months? Since 'Jessica Jones' dropped on Netflix and we were first introduced to Mike Colter's portrayal of Luke Cage. And what we saw was certainly promising - Colter's tough physicality and leading man looks definitely added to the success of 'Jessica Jones' and stoked up my interest in the series we all knew he would be headlining soon. So what's the verdict?

Honestly, kind of a mixed bag. There are moments of sheer brilliance, some really top notch acting - Colter, Mahershala Ali, and Alfre Woodard particularly stand out - but the plot is frequently unfocused and meandering. While this is not necssarily a bad thing, it can sometimes hamper the overall message of the finished product. Look, I think ambition, especially when working in the comic-book-adaptation genre, is to be aspired to and admired. But showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker wants to say so many things, that while most of it is worth saying (especially his various messages about the nature of being a black man in modern America) maybe some of them could have waited until season two, so that season one doesn't get bogged down in so much plot, and the occasionally ham-fisted speechifying.

While Colter, Ali, and Woodard are the biggest characters with the biggest arcs, other characters definitely stand out. A veteran character of the Luke Cage comics, Misty Knight, played here by Simone Missick, is the kind of cop I wish we'd see more of on TV: smart, capable, and willing to listen to both the evidence and her gut and seek the conclusion that makes the most sense. A native of Harlem, Knight has police IQ to have moved on to bigger and better things, but her loyalty to the neighborhood motivates her to keep it safe more than further her own career. Missick also has chemistry with her partner, Scarfe, played by Frank Whaley, a dude I haven't seen play a good guy since 'Career Opportunities'. So when we're told, fairly early on, that Scarfe is dirty, it comes as little shock. What is surprising however is that Misty, while ostensibly the "good cop" definitely has a dark side, and Scarfe, the "bad cop" has a backstory so heartbreaking that by the time his life hangs in the balance, you're rooting for him to live so that he can redeem himself.

Mahershala Ali brings a real sense of danger and charisma to Cottonmouth

The slow-burn nature of the series also affects the thing a good comic book hero needs most - a good villain. 'Luke Cage' breaks from the Netflix/Marvel pattern of having a season-long big bad. Unlike Daredevil's fight with Wilson Fisk, and Jessica Jones' battle with Kilgrave, Luke finds himself beset by several bad dudes, the most engaging of which is Cornell Stokes, aka Cottonmouth. Dressed to the nines, Ali plays Cottonmouth (he really hates that name) with such magnetism, I can't imagine why the writers would think "yeah, let's kill this dude halfway through the season" let alone act on that impulse.

So when he is killed at the hands of Black Mariah (Woodard), I found myself thinking, oh, ok, I guess she's the REAL bad guy of the season. And then she's supplanted by Willis Stryker, aka Diamondback, a few episodes later. Diamondback's sneering monologues are almost a diametric opposite of Cottonmouth's slick speeches, and I found myself missing Mahershala Ali's charisma nearly immediately. While Stokes' death does provide Woodard's Mariah Dillard with a powerful character turn, I wish we'd have spent more time with her than with the clearly batshit insane Diamondback. Played by Boardwalk Empire alum Erik LaRay Harvey, Stryker - while given a "tragic" backstory to motivate his hatred of Luke - is too much of a one-note psycho to be as interesting as Cottonmouth, or as compellingly  insidious as Black Mariah. And unfortunately, during his final battle with Luke, Coker and co. elected to put him in an outfit straight out of the comics that looks so dated and silly that I was unable to keep from rolling my eyes during what was otherwise a pretty badass fight. And then there's also Shades (Theo Rossi) a guy who evolves from lacky to genuine threat over the course of the season. He's interesting, for sure, but he's also one more dude to follow in an already full cast.

Shades, Diamondback, Black Mariah and Scarfe

Yet while the plot definitely takes its sweet time getting where it's going, it's never boring and most of the stories it slows down to tell are actually rather compelling. One in particular, the origin story of Luke's powers is fascinating because of the way it turns what we know about Luke's late wife on its head. When last we saw the late Reva Conners, she was Luke's beloved saint of a wife who was punched to death by Jessica Jones (while under Kilgrave's control). Reva's death was a painful ghost that hung over both Luke and Jessica in her series' first season. Yet Coker and company twist things up, first introducing Reva in that same saintly light before revealing her as a lying and manipulative cohort of the scientist whose inhumane experiments granted Luke his abilities. And yes, Reva eventually helped Luke in his escape from prison and they apparently did get married at some point, but the revelations we're given here change Luke's perception of his wife so much that he's able to more or less move past her death. And it also gives him enough freedom from his grief to gently pursue a relationship with Claire Temple.

Speaking of Reva and Claire, while there are numerous references to other MCU entities - particularly 'Daredevil' and 'Jessica Jones', the latter of which is actually pretty necessary to understanding a good portion of this series - 'Luke Cage' never feels too beholden to whatever else is going on in the Marvel world. Oh sure, there are plenty of easter eggs, and Justin Hammer's company plays a significant part in the story (under apparently a far more effective R&D leader, because the tech they provide to Stryker actually works). But with all the hubbub about Luke and his abilities (which become public knowledge as the season progresses) it does seem a bit weird that no one ever mentions The Avengers, or the events of Civil War/the Sokovia Accords or any of the other massive plot points that have to do with "protecting" normal humans from superhumans. That Chinese wall between Marvel films and TV appears to be holding up strongly, even when maybe it shouldn't be.

Despite the fictional public's uncertainty about Luke, in our real world, I can't imagine a better time to tell a story about a superhuman black man who wears a hoodie and is literally bulletproof. That is, until the police grow to fear him so much that they unwittingly get into bed with criminals so they can use bullets that WILL kill Luke. It says a lot about the current atmosphere of racial tension and fear in America, particularly between the police and black men. In an extraordinary, late-in-the-season sequence, we see many people in Harlem sporting bullet-riddled hoodies in a show of solidarity with Luke as the police publicly denounce him. It's also completely and totally badass that this sequence is shot over an original song from Method Man who has maybe the coolest cameo this side of Bill Murray in Zombieland. This is Coker's message at its best.

Shortcomings aside, Coker is clearly the right person for this job. And the reason I say it is because the way every shot it set up, the lighting, the composition of the frame, the set designs shows a real love and respect not just for the source material and characters, but for the other major character of this story - Harlem. As much as he as a million things to say about Luke, Coker has a million more to say about Harlem. And while sometimes he is eloquent, and other times less so, he is certainly and undeniably at his best when he lets his handpicked soundtrack do the talking. From the stage music in Cottonmouth's throwback club, Harlem's paradise, to the scoring, which sounds at times as though it could have come straight from a 70's blaxploitation movie, the music is the lifeblood of this series, and elevates even some weaker scenes and sequences into pretty good stuff.

It's abundantly clear Coker and the writers had a lot to say, and a lot they wanted to do, because they tried to do so much. I have no doubt 'Luke Cage' will be picked up for a second season, so maybe it would have been better served if some things had been left for later. That being said, this is still a very solid first season, and if/when Luke returns for season two (and there are several dangling threads that Power Man has to tie off if I'm to be satisfied!) I'll definitely tune in and binge watch the shit out of it.


Final Score - 7/10

Misty Knight and Luke will be back for The Defenders

All thirteen episodes of 'Luke Cage' are currently streaming on Netflix. Luke will next be seen in next year's ensemble mini-series, Marvel's The Defenders, where we'll see him team up and kick ass with Daredevil, Jessica, and Iron Fist. Sweet Christmas, I can't wait!

VACATION

Destination spot! I hear good things about this island!

I've been steady writing here for several months now and I need a break. That doesn't mean I won't be writing, or taking notes, ready to come back with a bunch of stuff to talk about...because I totally will.

What I want to focus on most is my article (it's taking on a shape that goes beyond simple "review") on the Ultimate Edition of Batman v Superman. I have a lot of strong feelings about this movie, and I want to make sure I get them all out there as comprehensively and articulately as possible.

So I'll be back in a couple of weeks with my thoughts on that movie! I'm also planning on a review of Stranger Things, Supergirl, and an essay about J. Michael Straczynski's 9/11 issue of Spider-man and my thoughts surrounding the fifteenth anniversary of those dark days.

Take it easy! See you soon!

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.