Taking a Look at the New Smash Characters

I was watching Smash a few weeks ago when it made its season 2 entrance into the world and though the rating are falling like a meteor from the heavens I thought the shift in tone was interesting. The exit of some characters and the shift in focus from the personal drama to the drama of building a musical or in this case musicals seems like its grounds the show while also opening it up. As it was last year Smash was not a sustainable story because the focus on one musical would be a limiting factor that would tie their hands.

So they blew the doors wide open by bring in more shows at various stages of development. The two new characters introduced at the tail end of the first episode are Jimmy a musician/composer/junkie and his friend Kyle who of course are writing a musical.

Jimmy is the temperamental artist who is basically an ass while his friend who is gay has some unresolved feelings towards Jimmy even though he’s a prick. Jimmy’s the realist and Kyle is the idealist, the dreamer. It feels like Kyle wants the show biz life while Jimmy is always bracing for disappointment.

The musical they are writing is a reflection on Jimmy and his issues that gets titled The Hit List. What didn’t work for me was that these 2 guys have known each other their entire lives and that Jimmy has these unresolved feelings towards Jimmy.

These two are all but brothers in everything but name. So these unresolved feelings come off as being a way to layer in tension in the friendship as Karen is added into the mix and Jimmy becomes her next suitor. This create a division between the three of them, that will pay off in a future episode and for me it doesn’t feel like it flows naturally from what we’ve been shown.

I guess it feels forced for me because it can’t work, the door isn’t a door its a steel wall the second Kyle opened his mouth after Karen asks if they were together and the implication is given to the audience. Its hard to understand why Jimmy is such a prick because the audience has no context, since so far he has just been a temperamental prick.

When he comes out from under his bender after his trigger was pulled and Karen finds him, this Jimmy is striped of his defenses and feels human. It takes work to be a prick all the time, that in itself is exhausting and in that scene he reveals what’s behind the veil, it just felt somewhat forced.

It’s hard to make a character who is constantly behaving badly to be redeemable. I think of “On the Road” where Garrett Hedlund played Dean Moriarty and while his actions were horrible he was played as someone you should hate but I didn’t. That’s a tricky balance but one that I wish they would have taken with Jimmy. I feel if they picked a few moments where he let down his guard. maybe when no one else could see then that would help to show that there was something more and without being so direct about it like the drugs can come off feeling.

I really respect the direction they took with season 2 even if a lot of it was clean up. I also understand why it didn’t all work. A lot of their characters come across with little apparent depth or they keep on switching from poles of extremes which make it hard to know which version is going to show up at any specific time.

OK I’m done with this and have a good weekend everyone.

I bow before this greatness Live Action Toy Story Movie in FULL

Do you remember when you first watched the movie toy story? I was still a kid and it really reminded me of just pretending that a box was a castle and that plastic plate was a spaceship. We all did those things at some point before we were told that the sky isn’t green or that the evil one wasn’t trying to take over the kingdom. Toy Story gave us one of those stories what if our toys were real. Jonason Pauley (19) and Jesse Perrotta (21) saw Toy Story 3 when it came out in June 2010 and decided to go back to the beginning and recreate the original Toy Story in the real world.

They spent 2 years to recreate Toy Story, a movie they loved and bringing it into reality not through CGI but through string for all the toys, a bit of stop motion filming, and by using the real audio track from the film. You can see that it was a labour of love, in how they recreated the movie shot for shot, scene by scene. I was shocked that they had all the toys and you have to love Mister Potato head. I just wanted to say that they did an amazing job. I’m so glad that the Disney and Pixar lawyers didn’t throw the book at they recreation. I wish I could do something like this, great job to everyone and I love the outtakes, so grab some popcorn and let’s take a look at Toy Story live action style.

The Man of Steel Trailer is Nice, the wait will not be fun though

I can’t wait to see this one, it is taking a lot from Nolan’s Dark Knight treatment, with the music reminding me of The Gladiator for some reason. What is it like, 6 months of waiting. I hate the waiting but I hope the trailer will hold the line till then.

Time for the Dead to Come to the Prison

It is time to welcome back our zombie overloads and the post apocalyptic world. I thought the first season was amazing and the second had its moments I think it lost some of its momentum after what happened in Atlanta. Now it is time to go to prison and I wonder how can anyone think that being stuck in a prison with convicts will be a good thing.

Good luck everyone, you’re gonna need it and I expect more zombies to rise.

Cloud Atlas (I tried to see it at #TIFF12 but was unsuccessful)

I so want to see this movie, the look, the epicness of it makes me itch. The trailer spans the centuries and lifetimes. I can’t wait to see how they structured the story. This is a $100 million movie that took years to make and represents the biggest indie production ever, if you can call a production by the brothers behind the matrix indie, anyways.

The Hobbit: The Unexpected Journey Trailer 2

I can’t wait till December for Peter Jackson’s return to Middle Earth and the start of a new trilogy.