Finalisissimo

Season finale week is here. I'm back to a boring night without my daily entertainment. And I would like to dedicate this post to those series that ended this season. And which one's great and which one's bad. Also some bonus! Without further ado, here goes!


How I Met Your Mother Season 8

Overall season: 7.5/10
Season finale: 7/10
They did finally show us who the mother is. But maybe it is just my expectation after eight long seasons, that girl isn't worth the wait. I HIMYM got sappier and they had less laughs. Hope the final season is still worthy of watching. I was expecting the likes of Scarlett Johansson to be the mother. However, Keegan Michael Key is in the season finale! This season, HIMYM got sappier and less laughs. I hope the final season is still worth watching.

New Girl Season 2

Overall season: 8/10
Season finale: 8/10
One of the nicest comedies on TV right now. It is fascinating to watch because of the quirky characters. During the last episodes we were introduced to Jess and Nick's romance which was already indicated in one of the first season's episodes, and it was never picked up then until this season. It was nice although the stories are predictable, like the ones with Cece's wedding. I'm still going to watch season three mainly thanks to super fun cast.

Supernatural Season 8

Overall season: 6/10

Season finale: 10/10

It would be unanimous to say that Supernatural peaked at its superior, I'd say hyperior-if such word exists, 5th season and it gradually loses direction. Last season was better because at least it has a big storyline on Leviathans. But this season, the storyline isn't clear and it lags in so many episodes. The 'fun' episode is only one in this season. Sam and Dean are still the best asset, but this season Castiel didn't show up much, which is a bummer. They actually saved the best for the season finale though, which still makes you want to watch Season 9!

The Big Bang Theory Season 6

Overall season: 8/10
Season finale: 7/10
Fun as ever. Adding Amy and Bernadette as series regular is also a great thing. However, the laughs are constant without trying to make something new. They did have interesting episodes though. The last episode with Leonard going abroad is like a repetition like Howard's departure to space. Still going to watch the next season because it's crazy fun to watch TBBT.

Elementary Season 1

Overall season: 8.5/10
Season finale: 9/10
[spoilers ahead] I didn't actually look forward to watch this, thanks to the brilliant Sherlock. It turned out to be a well-made series. Although it mainly works like your usual procedural crime drama, it has the unique factor of Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson. Add that with the looming arch-nemesis Moriarty which is then revealed in the season finale. [spoiler!] In the 90 mins finale, the revelation that Irene Adler is actually Moriarty almost borders to ridiculous. It is creative yes, but it may be too much. I tolerate it because Natalie Dormer got to use her Brit accent. However, I think Moriarty might still be someone else. Let's see in the next season.

BONUS BONUS! 
Homeland Season 2

Overall season: 5/10
Season finale: 8/10
Season 1 was crazy great, I'd give a solid 9 out of 10. Season 2 was bad. The early episodes are quite okay. And then Carrie got crazy, disobey orders, fucks Brody (a lot). And then Abu Nazir got killed, easily. Thank God for newcomer Rupert Friend as Quinn who made things better. And thank the surprising season finale. Tip for season 3, get yourself the fuck together Carrie.

The Following Season 1

Overall season: 6.5/10
Season finale: 6.5/10
It never really hooked me. The story is pretty much the most interesting thing in The Following. The episodes are uneven, sometimes it could be great but sometimes it could be really bland and boring. So many people got killed but I only wish that Emma dies soon. The season finale was nothing special, and I think that Joe Carroll isn't dead yet. And of course although he got stabbed at the end of the season finale, Ryan Hardy survives the day. In all its twists, it is quite predictable to see its outcome. But kudos to these many twists and deaths.

BONUS BONUS BONUS! Spring TV series overview!
Hannibal Season 1

Pilot: 9/10
Following episodes: 7.5/10
The pilot was so good. So stylish. So intense. But then the next episodes can't match that kind of quality anymore. Also, I still cannot buy that Mads Mikkelsen is Hannibal Lecter. And that's a big problem here. Hugh Dancy is great, gone are those thoughts of him in Adam or Shopaholic. It lacks the style set by he pilot but the series keeps it interesting with its psychotic, creative killings.

Bates Motel Season 1

Pilot: 8/10
Following episodes: 8.5/10
Again, another TV series based on film. This one's quite strange because although it is a prequel to Psycho, it is set in modern times with cellphones, parties and all. The main cast Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga is superb. But the episodes are uneven. Sometimes it has a crazy story but sometimes it has nothing. Worth following just to see Norman Bates' transformation to a psycho killer.

Game of Thrones Season 3

Episode 1: 8/10
Following episodes: 9/10
This season is more of connecting the dots and introducing new characters. You haven't seen anything until episode four. That's all.

Next fall should be crazy with last part of Breaking Bad's final season and ABC's new Agents of SHIELD. And of course with the continuation of the shows I mentioned above. I also want to continue my addiction on the Hawaii Five-0 reboot but I'm already behind on the third season.


I'll be back early June for a four-week late review of Joseph Kosinki's Oblivion. Once again, blame the fucking Japanese theatre monopoly system.

Man-crushes

This post's title is going to be the one that would trigger questions in this blog. But I guess for my topic, you'll find it very normal. Ryan Gosling. Benedict Cumberbatch. Yeah. Every man wants to be cool like Gosling and strangely cool like Cumberbatch. This time I will review The Place Beyond the Pines and I will add a guest review of Star Trek Into Darkness.

The Place Beyond The Pines

From the trailers we could easily see this as a follow-up to Drive yet add it with more characters and story. But then you will find this very different. The film doesn't follow the usual story arc, but here we have three main characters, Ryan Gosling's Luke Glanton, Bradley Cooper's Avery Cross and Dane Dehaan's Jason. That's just the main characters, the cast includes Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta and Rose Byrne. The story starts with Luke Glanton, who doesn't know he has a baby. He starts using his excellent motorcycling skills to rob banks to provide for the family. And one day, he encounters police officer Avery Cross and the repercussion of this encounter change their lives forever.

The film is directed by Derek Cianfrance of Blue Valentine, which I find very hard to watch because it captured the story so much that it is very depressing, I never finished the film. But that was before Drive. After Drive or to be exact, after Crazy, Stupid, Love, I'd watch anything with Gosling in it. And this film doesn't disappoint. It is true that the first two story arcs are better than the last, but the last one with Dane Dehaan is also great although cannot equal the others. However I find this type of storytelling has its downsides, for example we never got into Eva Mendes' character or Rose Byrne's. But to include that, the film would have to be divided into three films. Cianfrance pretty much kept the pace of the film steady and it doesn't bore me at all to watch the whole 140 minutes. The three main leads are amazing. Gosling has proven himself since Blue Valentine. But Bradley Cooper here, he just keeps getting better. I could see him win an Oscar in the next five years. Also Dane Dehaan of Chronicle fame, he reminds me of young Leonardo DiCaprio in films like What's Eating Gilbert Grapes. Can't wait to see him in, despite will be loathed, The Amazing Spider-man 2. The Place Beyond the Pines: rated 3.5/4

Star Trek Into Darkness
This is my brother's report on his viewing of the latest J.J. Abrams' lens flare extravaganza, Star Trek Into Darkness. I would post my own review but I can only guarantee that I would do that by September 2013 (Blame the Japanese). I'm posting this to keep my blog relevant with the world. Sorry, but this would be really short. My brother said the film was great and Benedict Cumberbatch was uber-cool in his villain role. Hearing my brother said that relieved me because it means the film's really good. My brother is the guy who truly hated Iron Man 3 and hated The Hunger Games. And he didn't like Cumberbatch prior this because at home I used to talk much about how great Cumberbatch was in Sherlock. I guess Star Trek changed everything. And with my brother's quote it is certain that Benedict Cumberbatch stole the show from Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. JJ Abrams remain one of the steadiest directors in Hollywood with his once-again satisfying product. If you're not planning on watching Into Darkness go watch Graham Norton's fun interview with Cumberbatch and Pine. My review would be posted on late August, hopefully with Man of Steel.



NOTE: within 24 hours this post has surpassed my this year's most viewed post with 42 hits. My post titled Holmes for the Holiday has gotten only 34 hits since February. Based on the stats, most hits came from the US, it could be the Americans just got the Cumber-craze. Although in second place are the Brits, probably here for their usual Cumber-stalking. My most viewed post of all time also has Cumberbatch in the topic where I compared BBC's Sherlock with Guy Ritchie's. That post remains unbeatable with 224 hits. (updated May 12, 2013)


Getting once again irrelevant with the whole world, I will post my review of Tom Cruise's Oblivion after it hits Japanese cinema on May 31. Sorry.

Fortune Cookie

Yeah finally Japan is doing something good! Iron Man 3 opens right on time like the rest of the world. It's the first movie for Marvel Cinematic Universe Phase Two and it's also the first movie after the hit The Avengers. RDJ is back, Gwyneth is back, Don Cheadle is back, but now it's Shane Black at the helm, writing and directing Tony Stark's latest outing. Shane Black previously written and directed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a nice, funny film starring RDJ and Val Kilmer. The cast is added with the super talented Guy Pearce and Academy Award winner Ben Kingsley. What more can you ask? The trailers were great and it's one of the must-see films of the summer. I have to remind you that this review will contain massive spoilers, and if you haven't watched it, I'd suggest you re-visit this after you watched the film.

Set after the events in The Avengers, a new terrorist called The Mandarin threatens America and eventually put Tony Stark's best friend/bodyguard Happy Hogan in harm's way. After personally challenged The Mandarin for a fight, Tony himself was attacked by The Mandarin, resulting in his destruction of his house. Tony tries to find The Mandarin and defeat him and also protect Pepper, however there was another person who also seek to attack Tony, Aldrich Killian, head of the organization AIM.

My feelings were mixed during and after watching the film. In some points, the movie went off the rails and became a little too talky with unimportant exchanges of one-liners and jokes. But on the action parts, it was more than satisfying. It was bombastic. Also, my other complaint was the presence of the Extremis super humans. It betrayed the whole gritty, down-to-earth tone of the first two films (not The Avengers, that's different). Don't get me wrong, Extremis was cool but idk, the way it was pictured in the film may be the thing. Actually, I could still suspend the disbelief about the whole Extremis thing, until [spoiler alert] Aldrich Killian breathes fire, like a freakin dragon. My feeling when I saw that was like when I saw the Isabel Lucas character in Transformers 2 was a Decepticon--like 'what the helllll'. And The Mandarin was completely misused and underused. The plot twist on The Mandarin was awful. But Ben Kingsley is wonderful, his Mandarin-speech pattern is so authentic that it is ripe for parody, like Bane's. Also what are Aldrich Killian's motives to be the bad guy? At least with the bird-loving Whiplash we know something. However I would like to point out that this movie focuses more on Tony Stark and it is great. It's great to see the other side of Tony Stark. And finally Robert Downey Jr. do some real acting in for his portrayal of Tony Stark. I'd like to clarify that that was a compliment because Robert Downey Jr is Tony Stark, not acts as Tony Stark. And a little note to Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige, don't you dare recast Tony Stark should RDJ chooses to stop doing Iron Man movies.

Also, the visual effects are great, Brian Tyler's music was nice and it was fitting to the tone of the film. I'd still say that Ramin Djawadi's score for the first Iron Man is the best but to have the same suite for this film would be wrong. Shane Black's screenplay is good but he abused his typical jokes and it became silly. You may argue, but this is my opinion, like in The Avengers, it used too much jokes that, for me, doesn't fit for the film. This is an emotional, character-defining film for Tony Stark's adventure, but the jokes undone that. Nevertheless, the cast is great and it's fun to see Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts kick some ass--(although in my brother's opinion, too much ass). The great scenes that are worth mentioning are the three big action scenes, the house-destroying, the mid-air rescue and the climactic battle. But the ending may surprise you and leave you wondering. There's also an after-credits scene that's just not that important for the continuation of Phase Two, but just fun. And there's also the magnificent trailer for Thor: The Dark World. I would also love to see the Chinese version of this film because there's no big China-related reference other than the Chinese Theatre or fortune cookies. It isn't right to say that this film is incredible, it isn't right also to say that this film sucks. It has its moments. Mixed feelings for this film. Iron Man 3: rated 3/4

You Think You're So Content

THIS WEEK SAW THREE GREAT TRAILERS TO THREE GREAT-LOOKING MOVIES GOT RELEASED WITHIN THREE DAYS. ALERT: SORRY FOR THE CAPS LOCK. I'M JUST TOO EXCITED. THIS MAY BE THE ONLY POST THAT FEATURED NOTHING BUT TRAILERS. I THOUGHT I WAS VERY EASILY SATISFIED WITH CATCHING FIRE'S TRAILER. BUT JJ ABRAMS AND ZACK SNYDER PROVED ME WRONG. I WAS NOT CONTENT.

MONDAY: THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE

LOOKING GREAT THERE, KATNISS. THE GREAT THING ABOUT THIS TRAILER IS ALTHOUGH IT IS 2.45 MINUTES, IT DOESN'T SHOW YOU ANYTHING ABOUT THE HUNGER GAMES AND ANYTHING ABOUT THE PRE-GAME PREPARATION (NO FINNICK ODAIR, NO CINNA). IT'S ALL ABOUT THE VICTORY TOUR AND LIFE IN DISTRICT 12. IT ALL HAS THE SAME LOOKS LIKE THE FIRST MOVIE YET WITH LESS SHAKY CAM. JEN LAWRENCE LOOKS GREAT AND SO DO THE REST OF THE CAST.

TUESDAY: STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

THIS IS THE THIRD TRAILER FOR STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS AND IT STILL SHOWS US NOTHING BUT THE PROMISE OF A SUPER EXCITING, LENS FLARE-BLAZING SUPER SEQUEL. THIS TRAILER PROVES THAT THIS MOVIE MAY BE BETTER THAN MOST MOVIES THIS SUMMER. AT EVERYTHING. AND SO DOES BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH WHO I ACTUALLY MIGHT END UP ROOTING FOR. THE ONLY DOWNSIDE IS THE FILM OPENS 4 MONTHS LATE THAN THE WORLD IN JAPAN.

WEDNESDAY: MAN OF STEEL

THE FIRST TWO TRAILERS MAY BE MORE OF A MONTAGE THAN AN ACTUAL TRAILER. HERE WE HAVE WHAT SEEMS TO BE HANS ZIMMER'S NEW SUPERMAN THEME AND LET ME TELL YOU: IT IS CRAZY ADDICTIVE. IT MAY NOT BE AS SUPER MEMORABLE LIKE JOHN WILLIAM'S BUT BOY THIS ONE IS MAJESTICALLY THE SAME. HERE, WE HAVE MORE JOR-EL, MORE KRYPTON, MORE ZOD, MORE LOIS, MORE EVERYTHING. CLARK/KAL-EL/SU-(ZIIIINGG!--EXCUSE ME?) MAY THINK WE ARE NOT READY FOR HIM, BUT I AM MORE THAN READY FOR HIM. AGAIN, THE ONLY DOWNSIDE IS THE ZACK SNYDER FILM OPENS 2 MONTHS LATE IN JAPAN.

I'M SIGNING OUT FOR TODAY TO WATCH MAN OF STEEL'S TRAILER OVER AND OVER AGAIN. SEE YOU FO'SHO ON THE LAST WEEK OF APRIL FOR AN ACTUAL MOVIE REVIEW OF IRON MAN 3.

At the End of the Day

This week is my last week in Indonesia for this spring break. And I really made use of the given time to watch more movies in cinemas: a privilege absent in Japan. So this week I checked out Andrew Niccol's The Host, Park Chan Wook's Stoker and Robert Redford's The Company You Keep. In other news, this week saw Roger Ebert left the world; a legendary critic, a role model, a teacher, a preacher. Ebert (@ebertchicago in Twitter) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning movie critic. His name is plastered everywhere in movie posters, usually giving his iconic 'Two Thumbs Up' or just a quote from his review. Ebert's reviews are the one I look to for references before going to the movies, not Peter Travis' not Christy Lemire's. I would only refer to the one review made and written with such passion by Roger Ebert. I would definitely miss his opinions and sometimes his fun anecdotes in his reviews also his wide-ranging quotations to support his opinions. Truly a loss in movie industry. I may not know him personally but surely it impacted people all around the world like me that one of the most movie-passionate people has gone.

The Host

I know you may be thinking: uh, another Stephenie Meyer adaptation. But this one's not about vampires and werewolves. This one is about parasitic aliens who actually make life better if they didn't take over the humans inside. Saoirse Ronan stars with the help of Diane Kruger and William Hurt in the supporting cast. The movie experience watching The Host is more or less the experience you'd get when you watch a Twilight marathon: sometimes it's silly, sometimes it's unintentionally funny, sometimes it's exciting and sometimes it's boring. The cast are quite okay but Saoirse Ronan is a bit underused. Andrew Niccol's influence is basically zero which is lame. But it's still enjoyable although suffering from some really boring parts. The Host: rated 2/4.

Stoker

Park Chan Wook's Hollywood debut with a script by Wentworth Miller. Yes, the Prison Break Wentworth Miller. It stars Mia Wasikowska (Alice from Alice in Wonderland), Matthew Goode (Ozymandias in Watchmen) and Nicole Kidman. The story revolves around India Stoker, an introvert daughter who just learned after his father's death that she had a mysterious uncle. The film is intense, scary and filled with unforgettable images. The cast is amazing particularly Matthew Goode with his commanding presence. Park Chan Wook's direction is obviously one of a kind and it made the movie better than it already supposed to be. Add that with Clint Mansell's crazy cool hypnotic score. And then add that with creepy yet beautiful cinematography. You get Stoker: rated four out of four.

The Company You Keep

Robert Redford directs the all-star thriller about a former activist who goes on the run to clear his name after being accidentally exposed by a local reporter. stars Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie, Stanley Tucci, Brit Marling, Terrence Howard, Anna Kendrick and Susan Sarandon just to name a few. The trailer looks really promising but the film kinda falls flat. At some parts the film really works as a thriller but at the other parts it just becomes boring. The cast, led by Redford himself, did a great job though and for me it's great to see more Brit Marling after her supporting role in Arbitrage. I'll definitely get The Sound of My Voice or Another Earth after this. Bottom line, it's a half-baked thriller with so much unrealized potential, interesting plot and great ensemble cast. The Company You Keep: rated 2.5/4.

In the upcoming weeks I'll probably review Welcome to the Punch and Java Heat. But for the sure thing I'll be back at the end of April for Iron Man 3.