Project Greenlight Season 4 Episode 1 Review

With the sheer amount of entertainment content we consume it has become increasingly easier to forget the amount of people and effort it takes for such content to be made - which is why Project Greenlight makes for such engaging watch. Each series documents a contest winner as they direct their first film, and this season it will be a broad comedy titled Not Another Pretty Woman and written by The Farrelly Brothers (best known for Dumb and Dumber, and There's Something About Mary).

Being fairly young I wasn't aware of the earlier iteration of the series that premiered back in 2001 on HBO and ran for two seasons before switching to Bravo for a third season in 2005. In those seasons of the series the contest winners were both writers and directors, producing their own original screenplay throughout the series, while this season the competition was solely for directors. While it's disappointing that the writing aspect has been removed, it's not hard to see why. It was most likely a cost-cutting measure. Having the winner direct a film that has already been written (and likely would have been produced regardless of the series) not only adds an extra finical partner to the series, but diminishes potential loses. As I've said, the series is a great idea, but the previous three films it has released Stolen Summer, The Battle of Shaker Heights, and Feast, were not financial successes and have undoubtedly put them at a loss.

Despite this, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, along with their production company LiveAction, and HBO, have decided to make another season and I, for one, am very interested to see what the series is. Majority of the first episode, unfortunately, was almost typical reality fare as Matt, Ben, The Farrelly Brothers and a whole array of other of producers etc. whittled down 13 contestants, who were first chosen on their own short-film submissions, and then what they did with 3 minutes of the Farrelly's script) down to one winner.

Matt and Ben, as always, were overly charming and doing the buddy thing as sort-of co-hosts - which is fine - but the wrong sort of aspect to add to this sort of series. And the contestants were a wonderful array of passionate film-makers - who were also a wonderful array of weirdos. Too bad there's not a series where we could spend more time delving into that weirdness, but refreshingly that isn't Project Greenlight.

The episode only got interesting when it make down to the judges to pick a winner. A heated discussion about diversity and the treatment of women in film, and then the thought processes behind giving a potentially pretentious and difficult director the job elevated the series to something more than Project Runway with directors. Or does it? The group end up picking the aforementioned pretentious director, Jason, because he's obviously the best director. But he'll also provide more drama than any of the other contestants would for the series, as he immediately demonstrates to Matt and Ben. As soon as he's been announced the winner he tells them he has to shoot in film and would prefer it if another writer was hired to re-do the script. As one of the the producers puts it, you can't write that drama. Maybe not. But if reality television has taught us anything it's that drama can be constructed.

So now it remains to be seen what content Project Greenlight will produce as the winner Jason start filming his directorial debut, but either way, I think I'm along for the ride.

Rating: 3.5/5

CBS's Supergirl Pilot Leaked

It's becoming increasingly more common in this digital media age for television series and movies to be leaked online before their intended release date. Networks and production companies are having difficulty ensuring that the media outlets they release screeners to aren't in turn releasing them to the public, or that even employees within their own organisations can be trusted to not do the same. The most recent, and possibly the most interesting to date, is the very early release of CBS's upcoming superhero drama Supergirl, which is based of off DC Comics.

The dust has barely settled on the 2015-2016 Upfronts in New York where the American free-to-air television networks (ABC, CBS, The CW, FOX and NBC) unveiled trailers for their new series along with their schedules for the fall season to advertisers. Among them was CBS's Supergirl, which was one of the talked about trailers that was released. Superheroes are very hot property in the industry at the moment, and are not uncommon on CBS Corporation's other network The CW, which skews to very young demographic. Arrow, The Flash, and another upcoming new series Legends of Tomorrow, all air on The CW and are all under the development of Greg Berlanti, who has also developed Supergirl for CBS. What makes Supergirl's appearance on CBS so odd it that it traditionally receives audiences that are on the other end of the spectrum to The CW - much older viewers - so it is a bold move for the organisation to separate Supergirl from it's seminally-themed superhero series's and try to bring a new, younger audience to CBS, or even try to persuade their usual viewers to watch.

The trailer, which can be viewed above, polarised critics and audiences alike after its release. Fans of the comic, as always, already have doubts over the series' ability to honour its source material, particularly in regards to the character of Jimmy Olsen; again, as always, a discussion about the series representation of a female hero has come in to question; and there are already concerns over the tone of the series, considering the unlikely network on which it is airing. I personally felt, like many others who viewed the trailer, that is looked disturbing similar to Saturday Night Live's recent skit involving Scarlett Johanssen reprising her role as Black Widow from the Marvel movies, a parody spawned by audience reaction to the character in the recent Avengers: Age of Ultron movie and Marvel's Studio President Kevin Feige's comments in regards to female superheroes (see the trailer below, do you think it looks similar to Supergirl's?):

What anyone thought about the trailer for Supergirl, which was scheduled to premiere in November of this year, is superfluous, however, now that the entire pilot for the series has been leaked online six months early. At this early stage it's hard to know where the leak came from, but it is interesting to note that the pilot, which has already been downloaded over 200,000 times, was released in the highest resolution possible, 1080, and is not watermarked, which would usually identify which potential media outlet may have distributed it.

Due to this many have speculated that CBS themselves leaked the trailer, and who knows if that is true, but if it is, it is a brilliant marketing ploy. Why wait for six months as your most high-profiled new series is consistently bad-mouthed by critics and viewers leading up to its premiere, potentially pushing potential viewers away? Having Supergirl's pilot leaked was undoubtedly a good thing. Having watched the leaked pilot myself it is clear that the trailer did a very bad job at promoting the series and that it is much better than it makes seem. Melissa Benoist is an instantly likeable lead as the titular Supergirl, the pilot is very fast-paced, there is a bit of exposition (as there tends to be in pilots), but it's entertaining nonetheless, and most importantly the series has a lot of potential - setting up characters that could be great once they become a bit more refined, and entertaining serialised plot lines. Not only does the news of the leak itself ensure that Supergirl will be one of the few new series that we'll still be talking about a few weeks after upfronts, but if enough people watch the pilot for themselves CBS can rest assured that Supergirl will fly towards it's premiere in a much more positive light than it would have had the episode not been leaked at all.

Netflix Come to Australia!

Australia has forever been behind in having access to television content; remember having to wait six months for new episodes of your favourite US drama? Subscription television service Foxtel has done well to rectify that over the past couple of years, and more recently Australia has finally gotten into the online streaming game with companies like Quickflix, Presto, and Stan. And today Netflix – arguably the world’s most well-known media streaming service –also becomes available to Australians.

While this is exciting news for a television fan such as myself, I’m wondering, is there any real benefit of me signing up to Netflix, or any other of the streaming services for that matter? I’ve long since solved the problem of not having access to certain television series when I want them by finding other ways, free ways (but not strictly legal) I might add. And sure, I’d definitely be willing to pay for that if need be , but not all of these streaming services will offer exactly what I, or any other television viewer for that matter, exactly want from a service provider.

With that in mind I’ve signed up for the free month trials that Quickflix, Presto, Stan and Netflix all provide in order to gauge whether any of these services could actually be the right one for me. I’ll be keeping a daily journal detailing my usage of each, which may sound excessive, but I obviously want to see how much I use each site to make sure that I’d be getting my money’s worth if I decide to pay for any (or all) of them at the end of the month. I’ll also be looking at the usual stuff like content availability, design/ functionality, accessibility, and of course, pricing in my consideration. Overall, it’s obviously going to be a matter of personal taste – I don’t actually expect anyone to subscribe to any of these sites based on my thoughts – I just thought I’d share mine, from one television lover to another.

So are any other Aussies excited that Netflix is finally here? Will you get it? Why/why not? Do you subscribe to any other online streaming services offered in Aus? Any of our international friends already subsribe to Netflix (or anything else like it?), what are your thoughts? Because I'd love to hear them.

87th Academy Award Predictions

Here are my predictions for the 87th Academy Awards, honouring the best films of 2014.

Best Picture:
American Sniper
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Boyhood
The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Imitation Game
Selma
The Theory of Everything
Whiplash

Who I think will win: Boyhood. There's been a lot of discussion about Birdman becoming the frontrunner late in the season, but I personally think the films subject matter - it's unflattering discussion of both the film industry and its critics - will deter Academy voters from picking it for best picture.
Who I want to win: For the same reason I think it won't win, I think it's why Birdman should win.

Best Director:
Wes Anderson - The Grand Budapest Hotel
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Richard Linklater - Boyhood
Bennett Miller - Foxcatcher
Morten Tyldum - The Imitation Game

Who I think will win: As a consolation prize for not winning best picture, I think Alejandro Gonzalez will win for directing Birdman.
Who I want to win: Wes Anderson's alternative style of direction has been ignored for too long, so it would be nice to see him win.

Best Actor:
Steve Carell - Foxcatcher as John Eleuthere du Pont
Bradley Cooper - American Sniper as Chris Kyle
Benedict Cumberbatch - The Imitation Game as Alan Turing
Michael Keaton - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) as Riggan Thomson/ Birman
Eddie Redmayne- The Theory of Everything as Stephen Hawking

Who I think will win: Eddie Redmayne.
Who I want to win: Eddie Redmayne. The relative unknown actor had the difficult job of portraying one of the worlds most prolific scientists, and he does a remarkable job.

Best Actress:
Marion Cottillard - Two Days, One Night as Sandra By a
Felicity Jones - The Theory of Everything as Jane Wilde Hawking
Julianne Moore - Still Alice as Dr. Alice Howland
Rosamund Pike - Gone Girl as Amy Elliott-Dunne
Reese Witherspoon - Wild as Cheryl Strayed

Who I think will win: Julianne Moore.
Who I want to win: I personally think this is the hardest category of this year's awards, with every actress truly deserving to be nominated. While I'm partial to Rosamund Pike's portrayal of the complex Amy Dunne, I think the fact the Felicity Jones could could not only hold her own acting against Redmayne's portrayal of Stephen Hawking - but to make Jane a compelling character in her own right means that she's deserving to win.

Best Supporting Actor:
Robert Duvall - The Judge as Judge Joseph Palmer
Ethan Hawke - Boyhood as Mason Evans, Sr.
Edward Norton - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) as Mike Shiner
Mark Ruffalo - Foxcatcher as Dave Schultz
J.K. Simmons - Whiplash as Terence Flecther

Who I think will win: Everyone can't seem to stop praising J.K. Simmons' yelling.
Who I want to win: Birdman's enigmatic nature posed a problem for it as a film, but Norton's performance was the most grounding and compelling of its very talented cast.

Best Supporting Actress:
Patricia Arquette - Boyhood as Olivia Evans
Laura Dern - Wild as Barbara "Bobbi" Grey
Keira Knightley - The Imitation Game as Joan Clarke
Emma Stone - Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) as Sam Thomson
Meryl Streep - Into The Woods as The Witch

Who I think will win: Patricia Arquette.
Who I want to win: Much like Norton, Emma Stone was a standout in Birdman.

Best Original Screensplay:
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) - Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. and Armando Bo
Boyhood - Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher - E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel - Wes Anderson and Hugo Guinness
Nightcrawler - Dan Gilroy

Who I think will win: As another consolation prize, Birdman will also take home best original screenplay.
Who I want to win: As with the best director category, Wes Anderson's alternative style of writing and direction have been ignored for too long, and the world of The Grand Budapest Hotel in terms of place and characters was undoubtedly the most original of this years nominees.

Best Adapted Screenplay:
American Sniper - Jason Hall from American Sniper by Chris Kyle, Scott McEwan and Jim DeFelice
The Imitation Game - Graham Moore from Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges
Inherent Vice - Paul Thomas Anderson from Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon
The Theory of Everything - Anthony McCarten from Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen by Jane Wilde Hawking
Whiplash - Damien Chazelle from his short film of the same name

Who I think will win: The Imitation Game.
Who I want to win: It's a shame that the ending of Chris Kyle's story wasn't a happy one, but the film does a good job at highlighting the significance of the honourable American Sniper.

Best Animated Feature Film:
Big Hero 6 - Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli
The Boxtrolls - Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight
How To Train Your Dragon 2 - Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold
Song of the Sea - Tomm Moore and Paul Young
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya - Osao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura

Who I think will win: How To Train Your Dragon 2 (because there's no other film remotely buzz-worthy among the nominees).
Who I want to win: In lieu of The Lego Movie being nominated, Big Hero 6 was surprisingly fun.

Be sure to watch the awards and come back to read my recap/ review.

UBC Comedy Presents Watchr - The Dating App We All Wish Existed

I'll admit that when I initially heard about Watchr - a new dating app that browses singles in your area and matches your compatibility to them based on what television series they want to binge watch - that I immediately wanted to join and find my soulmate (plus someone who won't mind getting caught up on Scandal with me). Unfortunately, Watchr is actuallly a parody made by UCB Comedy that pokes fun at the increasing number of oddly specific dating based apps that are being created to help people find true love. While is it quite funny to laugh at, it's also a surprisingly good idea, that I'm sure, if if existed, would actually be quite successful. Because, really, all anyone really wants from someone they're in a relationship with is that they own all the the Lost DVD's (I know I do).

Looking 2.1 Review: Looking For The Promised Land

It’s important for a series with an ensemble cast to take time every now and then to ensure that its main characters are keeping in touch with each other and haven’t become too separated or marginalised by their own individual storyline. There no better time to do this than in a season premiere, allowing both the characters and the viewers to take stock of what happened last season and where they are now. Looking did this by having Patrick, Dom, and Agustín head to a secluded house in the woods, owned by Dom’s now boyfriend Lynn, and it eventually resulted in a well needed release for all of our characters.

I usually find Patrick to be the most relatable character, early on in ‘Looking For The Promised Land’ he was a downright painful goodie two shoes, wanting to visit a thousand year old trees, quite Walt Whitlam, and play board games all weekend. I actually felt sorry for Agustin, who, while a master of his own misfortune last season, Patrick had slyly planned the weekend for to in attempt to cheer him up. All I can say is that thank god Doris arrived to convince them to attend an almost mythical fairy party that Agustin was brashly invited.

While there Agustin went skinny-dipping with Eddie (the welcome return of Mean Girl’s Daniel Franzese to our screens), the man who invited him, who works for a homeless shelter that supports gay and transgender teens.  It’s hard to say at this point whether this relationship will lead anywhere, but I hope it does. I was half expecting Agustin’s grief over his breakup with Frank to dominate his characters’ storylines early this season – but it might be more interesting to see him exploring a new relationship after have being in one for so long.

At the other end of the spectrum Dom is staying at Lynn’s house and musing over his baby photos, hoping to get more insight into him, but is then going and having ecstasy-fuelled sex with random men. I like Dom, I think he’s a refreshing take on the older characters usually depicted on television, so I like that he doesn’t really have his life together because it is so relatable – but I wasn’t really okay with this. He says he’s in an open relationship with Lynn, which may be the case (although be haven’t seen him and Lynn talk about their relationship so it’s hard to tell), but even if that’s true it’s obvious he wants something serious, but is still messing around with the relationship. Much like Agustin before him, if this keeps being the case I’ll stop enjoying his character. Yes, people make mistakes, but it’s painful to watch people purposefully sabotage themselves without good reason.

For example, Patrick is making mistakes too, but I’m sympathetic towards him because he finds himself in new territory and doesn’t know what to do. His liaison in the woods with Kevin turns out to be one of several, and it must be intoxicating for Patrick to know that someone likes him as much as he has loved in the past, most recently Richie. He seems to want more with Kevin, but also seems to be acknowledging the ridiculousness of the situation – that he’s cheating on someone with his boss, no less.  It’ll be interesting to see how things unfold throughout the season.

Rating: 3/5

The Big Bang Theory 8.12 Review: The Space Probe Disintegration

The longer a series continues the more pressure there is on writers to come up with story ideas that feel natural and relevant to the series and to the characters they’ve created. ‘The Space Probe Disintegration’ did this perfectly, with Penny bemoaning the fact that she and Bernadette always get stuck playing the extended edition of Lord of the Rings Risk instead of them getting to enjoy activities they like to do. The only problem with a series being on as long as The Big Bang Theory and having a storyline like this is that it feels like it should have happened about five years ago, back when Penny and Leonard first started dating. The series has demonstrated time and time again that Penny is much more self-absorbed in terms of her commitment to her and Leonard’s relationship (as well as in general), so it seems quite bizarre that for the entirety of there relationship, on and off, that Penny has just willingly accepted to do whatever Leonard (which often means Sheldon) wants to do for fun.

After adjusting to this idea the episode eventually became much more enjoyable. It didn’t necessarily provide the laughs that I’d want from an episode of the series, but another pro to having such a long running series is that viewers are very much invested in the characters lives. So when Penny realises that Amy does whatever she wants in order to maintain their friendship and Penny proposes that they do what she wants for once, even if it is basket weaving at the craft museum, we go ‘Aww’ and feel all warm inside. The same can be said for Sheldon and Leonard’s discussion of compromise in their relationship as they waited for Penny and Amy as they cloths shopped. I understand it’s not what’s required, or even wanted, from a standard sitcom but I love it when writers aren’t afraid to have their characters get deeply serious with one another. Even if it was just for a second before they had to lighten the mood I enjoyed Leonard being candid with Sheldon for once and explaining to him the hindrance he can be in Leonard’s life, particularly in regards to the development of his relationship with Penny.

I feel that the writers may have been trying to garner a similar emotional response with the B-plot involving Howard’s attempt to stop Raj from worrying about the survival of a space probe he’d launched years earlier. It fell flat, however, the story seemingly materialising out of nowhere – along with Raj’s sudden interest in Hindu religion (which even Howard explicitly noted in the episode). In may have worked had it had more time to develop, but as a subplot it really ended up being pointless.

In typical The Big Bang Theory style though, the progression of Leonard and Penny’s relationship, as well as Sheldon’s own personal growth, had a well-earned development at the end of the episode. Sheldon compromised to Leonard moving out of the apartment and staying at Penny’s one night a week – with Sheldon joining him and sleeping on the couch. Things may be changing at a snail’s pace, but The Big Bang Theory is a good sitcom that will be on for at least several more years to come, so it can afford to take its time.

Rating: 2.5/5

Gotham Season 1.11 Review: Rogues' Gallery

With Jim Gordon’s demotion and re-assignment to head of the newly re-opened Arkham Asylum at the end of Gotham’s mid-season finale ‘Lovecraft’ I revelled in the series taking such a drastic change so early on in its run. Gotham has yet to reach its potential as a series, with its overdramatic characters and dialogue and inability to settle on a tone – problems which were still present in ‘Rogue’s Gallery’. Gordon’s shift from the police prescient to Arkham Asylum however offers the series an easy opportunity to explore its greatest asset in its mythology first hand, assumedly (and I’m not sure of this as I’m not a Batman aficionado) from a new perspective.

With the change ‘Rogue’s Gallery’ was almost like a pilot for however long this new part of Gotham’s story will run, with the introduction of many new characters including patients and colleagues alike. But as is the nature of a series now based in a home for the criminally insane, particularly when someone is experimenting with electroshock therapy, characters end up dead and by the end of the episode Jim’s new boss Director Jerry Lang, and patient-turned administrator Dorothy Duncan were dead, along with two other patients.

The case of the week wasn’t particularly compelling despite the twist that could be seen coming in Dorothy’s involvement in everything, as well as the late bait and switch with another patient Jack Gruber. Gruber, underused as he was, was the best part of the episode, though, actor Christopher Heyerdahl channelling his best Hannibal Lecter for the part. I particularly enjoyed that the episode ended with an Arkham Asylum riot (although it probably was too soon to be using what could be such a great plotline) and Gruber’s subsequent escape. It was a dark and foreboding ending to the episode’s events, a tone which I hope the series tries to continue. Morena Baccarin also joined the cast as Dr. Leslie Thompkins who at this stage only provides the role of damsel in distress/ potential love interest, which is bland and uninteresting.

Despite Gotham’s shift to the Asylum, the series’ inability to juggle multiple storylines successfully, particularly in tone and pace, was evident in ‘Rogue’s Gallery’. Gotham’s crime war is a very intriguing concept, but thus far the series, much like the character Fish Mooney herself, seems to be biding it’s time to give audiences something good. This episode saw Mooney use her right hand man Butch to try and convince another crime boss to join her in rebelling against Falcone, predictably resulting in his death. Elsewhere Salvatore Maroni taught Penguin a lesson when he tried to raise taxes on some fisherman; Selina Kyle took ill Ivy to recover at Jim’s apartment; and Montoya attempted to remove herself from her toxic relationship with Barbara., resulting in a call home to Jim and an unfortunate conversation with Ivy. The ridiculous of the last scene basically sums up the problem with Gotham’s subplots – they lack cohesion and importance. Perhaps with more time to develop they could mean something, but they come across as attempts to fit in every character for the sake of it, and even worse than that, filler to spread out the main plot of the episode.

Rating: 2.5/5

Revenge 4.11 Review: Epitaph

It’s always difficult to decipher where a series will head after losing a prominent character. The transition was made a little less difficult for Revenge in ‘Epitaph’ though since Daniel, while remaining present in the series, had long since lost his importance in the story. Unfortunately this meant, at least for me, that Daniel’s death didn’t hold as much significance as it probably should have. Emily’s flashbacks to being in bed with him, Victoria imagining doing his tie,, Margaux dropping her phone at hearing the news, and even Jack’s ‘I can’t believe it’ all felt extremely cliché and melodramatic. I understand that melodrama is what Revenge excels at, but if Daniel’s death did anything for the series it increased the tension in a storyline that was already entertaining.

It seemed odd that the series had so quickly introduced and then disposed of FBI agent Kate Taylor (aka the elusive Malcolm Black’s daughter) in the mid-season finale, ‘Atonement’, but both her and Daniel’s deaths forced Revenge’s characters into immediate damage-control which made ‘Epitaph’ a thrilling watch. Emily was forced to concoct an elaborate lie that implicated herself in Daniel’s death, Jack had to back her up to ensure that Emily, the crime scene and Kate’s disappearance were believable, David had to dispose of Kate’s body, Victoria had to play along and betray the memory of her late son, and Nolan did his usual thing – sent Kate’s phone to Miami so that Malcolm would follow it there and meet his unfortunate end at the hands of some drug lords David contacted about his whereabouts. This was all a very entertaining continuation of the Malcolm Black storyline, and while I was concerned that Revenge had pre-emptively exaggerated his character, arriving in the Hamptons and immediately killing the police chief indicates he’ll be a formidable adversary for Emily for the rest of the season.

Although ‘Epitaph’ did tend to lose its momentum when focusing on the loss of Daniel it didn’t entirely fail at honouring his character. The scene in which Emily had to explain why Daniel didn’t have any defensive wounds to officer Hunter and she responded by saying that she understood why Daniel was angry at her – because of the horrible things she had done to him – indicated some remorse on Emily’s part. It’s a rare side we see of Emily, and she may have very well being lying (as usual), but after all, an epitaph aims to honour someone, and I like to think it was the writers way of saying thank you to a character that had served the series well while he could.

Quote of the episode:

Lousie: ‘Did you hear? About Daniel Grayson?’

Nolan: ‘I did. I’m sorry, I know you two were… colleagues?’

Rating: 3.5/5