A few words on The Dark Knight Rises and other things

The past few weeks have been mad busy for me, going from one place to another, hence the lack of posting for this blog. The big post that I'm sure you've all been expecting (all three of you) from me is a review of The Dark Knight Rises, especially since it's been out for a week and a half now. Unfortunately, this brief post will have to suffice.

Bottom line: It was a truly great movie. Not on the level with The Dark Knight, no, but that's a high damn benchmark. The overwhelming impression of this movie is that it is crazy ambitious, weaving themes, characters, ideas, and plot points from the previous two films in with a host of new ones to create an epic end to an epic trilogy. And in that it succeeds. It takes many of the best elements from the first two films, finds a tone of its own that's about halfway between them, and goes for broke. It's biggest flaw is simply that there is a bit too much movie, or alternatively not enough; several plot elements are thrown at us so early and so often that we're left wondering what we're supposed to be paying attention to, when, and why, and then as the movie progresses they turn out to have been underdeveloped or unnecessary. Either they should've been cut/streamlined, or elaborated more in a way that ties to the overall plot. The largest example is that Selina Kyle, much though I loved her and Anne Hathaway's performance, is mostly irrelevant to the plot after the first hour or so. That said, the big picture still holds up really well despite a few gripes with the details. It's also possible that these confusions will resolve themselves upon repeated viewing, though that doesn't fully excuse the fact that I felt them the first time 'round. As far as recommending it to you all, I'm not sure what to say; I know a lot of people who either hated it or at least consider it by far the worst of the trilogy, and it seems to be down mostly to those little things that bother some people and not others. Like Bale's Batman voice, Tom Hardy's Bane voice will probably throw you for a loop, and you might hate it. I for one understood almost everything he said and enjoyed the fact that he sounded like Wyoming from Red vs Blue. No, it's not as viscerally menacing a voice as if it were Clancy Brown or Michael Clarke Duncan, but Bane's actions made him enough of an intimidating badass villain as far as I care. That is the kind of thing that will most likely ruin the experience for you, though I've already stated that the film does have other faults. But on the whole, it is a well-conceived, brilliantly-acted and suitably grandiose finale that pays off thematically on the whole saga and will bring with the thrills and emotions. (Last note: Michael Caine will make you cry in this goddamn movie, that talented bastard! Alfred feels!)

See, I didn't even have to go into spoiler territory! Maybe once it's on DVD or something and I have more time (hahahahayeahright) I'll do a more thorough breakdown, but for now, that is my general impression of the film. I say this because I don't expect to have time for a full review, and really there's time for that later. You've probably seen the film already by now if you have any interest anyway.

I've got a bunch of things going on right now, between travelling, work, Olympics, and much reading, but I'll try to get in a few more posts before too long. In fact, you can expect two very soon: one about Passing Strange now streaming on Netflix, and a review of Woody Allen's To Rome with Love. Hopefully with all of this reading I'm doing as well I'll be able to get a post or two of reactions/recommendations. On top of all of that, I'm starting to make a teeny bit of headway on a new screenplay, which I may or may not discuss here. :P

Finally, a few news tidbits I care about:
* Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing will premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, meaning we will very probably see a theatrical release/DVD release before the year is out! In any case, we'll finally start hearing something more about the dang thing after several months of nill.
* Following the shooting in Aurora CO (Serge already articulated only thing I have to say about that: fuck James Holmes) Warner Bros delayed the release of Gangster Squad from September until January. More strangely, and probably not relatedly, The Weinstein Company almost simultaneously moved up the release date of Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master to September. Were they expecting competition from Gangster Squad? This is even more strange when you consider that The Master is the closest thing to a front-runner in this upcoming Oscar race.
* Chris Brown has a new album out. This is relevant because of the Chloe Pappas review that has been going around the internet, in which she tells it like it is about Chris Brown being an asshole whose music shows a proud refusal to repent. But while her's is briefer and more to the point, and therefore easier to spread around the internet, I kinda prefer this less-noticed review, which really fleshes out the importance of the issue.

We now return to your regularly scheduled program.

George R.R. Martin is on a killing spree, latest victim: my free time

Well, the recent completion of my Legend of Korra recaps marks the first time I've actually gotten through a continuous feature without a hitch. That said, my summer is surprisingly busy, so posts might be even more sparse for the rest of the summer. As the title of this post might suggest, a large part of the blame for that goes to George R.R. Martin's famous doorstopper series. I'm only a third of the way through A Storm of Swords at the moment, so this reading material isn't going anywhere any time soon. I was thinking for a few seconds of doing a week-by-week breakdown of the new Aaron Sorkin show The Newsroom, what with it premiering a week after the Korra finale, but these books say nooooo.

Beyond that, I have a part-time job at a local movie theater, which is nice because the feeling of earning money is not something I'm entirely used to yet. It's not much, but it's something, and it helps me feel productive. A lot of my free time this summer is going to be spent visiting my girlfriend back up at my old summer camp French Woods, where she teaches stage combat and yoga. The little bits and pieces of time in-between these things I reserve for writing stuff. There's a particular screenplay I might discuss here soon that's slowly starting to work itself out.

Meanwhile, because this is a post referencing the rest of my life and how that will get in the way of much blog posting in the coming weeks (though rest assured you're still getting an opening day review of The Dark Knight Rises), I am obligated to include a funny meme picture to amuse you all--and boost traffic. That said...

The Legend of Korra 1x11: "Skeletons in the Closet" and 1x12: "Endgame"

Bryke, we need to talk. I'm staging an intervention for you guys. The fact of the matter is, you are addicted to deus ex machina. This is a problem. You might think it is harmless, but it is not. It is unhealthy, and it hurts you and what's more, it hurts the people who love you.

All right, all right, I am getting ahead of myself. But really this is the main point of what I have to say: This finale was awesome, right until the last three or four minutes. Up to that point I was not only excited about what was going on, I was excited for what season two had in store. There were so many nice little unresolved plot threads that would make for excellent drama come next season, covering so much as-of-yet unexplored territory.

And then they resolve everything out of goddamn nowhere. And while it doesn't come with an unfortunate implied message the way the deus ex machina in "Sozin's Comet" does ("your youthful arrogance is well-placed; sometimes you should just completely disregard the advice of those older and wiser than you and go your own path, no matter how many people it might hurt" okay I'm done ranting now), but it is even more blatant and abrupt as a deus ex machina than the Energybending solution.

Okay okay okay, so here's a quick and dirty summary, since really why are you reading this if you aren't watching the show, and for that matter, why aren't you watching this show?


Team Avatar is living underground with, of all people, the hobo from the very first episode and some of his lot, who are all about the cause of peace in Republic City. Zuko's grandson Iroh has arrived with the United Forces fleet, and Korra helps them fight off Equalist biplanes with little success. Regrouped, the team (now plus General Iroh) decides to split up to both take down the secret airfield from which Sato is dispatching the biplanes, and take down Amon himself. When I say "decides to split up", I mean Korra decides to go after Amon, and Mako immediate abandons his girlfriend and his brother to go with her because of twue wuv okay I'm done ranting for now. The point is, Naga busts some defenses, Iroh shoots down some planes, and Asami and Bolin take down Hiroshi Sato. Meanwhile, when Korra and Mako go looking for Amon at Air Temple Island, they find him absent, but are treated to some exposition from, of all people, Tarrlok, who gets special prisoner treatment from the Equalists because he's Amon's brother. Gasp! He explains that he and Amon, whose birth name is Noatak, were raised in the Northern Water Tribe by their father Yakone, after he escaped imprisonment at Republic City and adopted a new identity. As they got older, Yakone taught them how to bloodbend, and demanded that they become powerful and avenge the wrongs done to their father. Tarrlok didn't take to the vicious power of bloodbending, but Noatak was gifted enough for the both of them, as well as defensive of his little brother. One day, Noatak bloodbent Yakone in retaliation for his cruelty and fled, never to be seen again until he had adopted the name of Amon. With this knowledge, Korra and Mako plan to expose Amon at the big Equalist rally. Amon is making his speech, preparing to de-bend the imprisoned Tenzin and airbender kids, when Korra shouts the truth for the audience to hear. Though they don't seem to buy it at first, Korra and Mako are able to free the airbenders and flee. In the ensuing conflicts, Amon de-bends Korra, and is about to do the same for Mako, which somehow (like many things in these episodes, never explained) triggers something in Korra, and she finally airbends, knocking Amon out of the window into the bay, washing off his mask and his scar makeup and prompting him into reflexively waterbending to prevent himself from drowning. He flies the scene, goes back to Tarrlok's cell and takes his brother with him on a speed-boat to far, far away. As they speed away, the guilt-ridden Tarrlok uses an Equalist glove to send a spark into the gas tank, blowing them up, and providing us with perhaps the darkest scene in Nickelodeon history. Meanwhile, though the Equalists are apparently defeated what with losing their leader, nobody can find a way to return Korra's bending to her. Mako tries to comfort her and tells her that he loves her, despite not having properly broken up with Asami, and Korra runs off to be alone in her sorrow. Then spirit Aang arrives and announces that because Korra tapped into her spiritual side four episodes ago, he and the past Avatars are imbuing her with the Avatar state, her other bending back, and to top it all off, energybending so that she can give Lin her bending back as well. Then Korra tells Mako she loves him too, and they kiss, and my soul dies a little.

...Look, there was a lot in this hour of television that was awesome. The return of the hobo was awesome. Iroh shooting down biplanes was awesome. Bloodbending was awesome, and still creepy as fuck. Even Tarrlok and Amon's backstory was awesome. There were also a lot of loose ends as well. The list of questions raised before the end of episode 12's second act--the good part of the episode--is quite extensive: How exactly does Amon block other people's bending if he is simply a normal (if very powerful) waterbender? How will Korra and friends find a way to undo this block? How will Korra adjust to being without the bending she's had all her life? If Amon honestly believes in the cause, as Tarrlok insists, what does he plan to do about his own bending power? Can he de-bend himself, and is he just waiting until all other benders are depowered? Hasn't he considered the fact that his own backstory proves that de-bending someone doesn't prevent them from breeding little benders? Are we ever going to get a moment when a hero acknowledges what a good point the Equalists have? When is Mako going to actually just break up with Asami already and/or get the talking-to he deserves about his mistreatment of her? And let me make this clear; that list is not a problem. I like that list. When I thought the season was gonna end with that list, I was happy as clam, because it meant that season two was going to be awesome.

And then that third and final act of episode 12 happened. And then all of those questions were rendered irrelevant by a stupid cop-out deus ex machina ending. Okay, some of them died in Tarrlok's murder-suicide, of which I feel two ways, because while the scene was really damn good, I also feel like the story of Amon and Tarrlok could've continued into next season. But really it was those final five minutes that killed this finale for me, as well as most of my excitement for the next season. The one new thing I'm actually looking forward to is Tenzin's brother Bumi, the United Forces Commander who stole the show with a single wild whoop near the end of the episode.

Look, I can lay all the blame I want at the feet of the executives at Nickelodeon for limiting the choices Bryke could make in this story, as well as the time they had in which to tell it, but really this ending was just plain sad, and I'll be damned if the executives at Nickelodeon required Bryke to employ such a lame and clumsy deus ex machina and completely ruin the potential for the next season. Eventually, however much I may love Bryke and want to defend them, they done goofed. We're supposed to just accept so much at the end of this season, most glaring of all being the forced romantic resolution between Korra and Mako, who--can I emphasize it any stronger?--did not clearly break up with Asami before professing his love for Korra. (I don't mind him being an idiot as much as I mind the writers and Korra not treating him like one.) I appreciate all of the great things in this finale, I swear I do, and that includes pretty much everything I didn't gripe about just now, so that's a lot. It gave me many feels, and if nothing else, I have reason to write an epic fanfiction detailing what season two should've been. But those last five minutes spoiled so much for me, and I just wish they hadn't happened. So there.

Review: BRAVE

I went into this film expecting it to be Pixar's Mulan, just with a different exotic culture and a dash of Little Mermaid plotting. And I wouldn't have minded that, because Mulan is probably my favorite new Disney animated film, but what I got was actually quite different. A little for the better, a little for the worse, but mostly just different.

The best surprise for me was that the film did not try to be a Girl Power movie. I'm all for restating feminist ideals that should have been common understanding long ago, but the idea that a girl can do "boy things" too is an idea that has been growing in American pop culture for a good four decades now, so sorry Hollywood, you can't just slap that message onto your story and call it a feminist story--Mulan invoked the girl power thing, and went on at length about gender relations, but it didn't totally bash us over the head, hence me liking it. Whatever the trailer for Brave might have lead you to believe, this is not the story of a girl who wants to do boy things but everyone says she has to do girl things but she shows them in the end. That's there, but fortunately it's only a part of it. This is the story of a relationship between a mother and daughter. Our heroine Merida is indeed a princess who loves climbing and archery and racing through the woods on her horse rather than more "lady-like" pursuits, and who is supposed to wed a suitor from among the sons of the great lords but doesn't want anything to do with it, but these are all supporting concepts, meant to reinforce the idea that she wants to choose her own path in life, not have it prescribed for her. She doesn't have to get married to a suitor because she's a girl, but because she is a royal, and more to the point of the film, because her mother says so. So we get a movie about a mother and daughter bonding and learning to appreciate each other for who they are, which in itself is rare, and thus refreshing, in A-list movies. It actually gets more feminism points from me for not trying to be a loudly Feminist movie, and just being a good story about two female characters and their relationship with each other. (Favorite part: there's actually no love interest at all. No big deal. It's not that kind of story, so romance isn't necessary. End of discussion. Pixar, I salute you.)

None of this is really very apparent for the first half-hour or so, however. Rest assured the first thirty minutes of film will give you all the major story beats and bits of characterization you've been expecting since you read the logline: the heroine's friendly and indulgent dad, her strict and disapproving mother, the animal sidekick (who like all good animated horses does not speak), the cute and mischievous little kids, the variously unattractive suitors arriving and being rejected out of hand by the heroine, the parental figure scolding the heroine, the heroine running away in a tantrum and finding the forbidden dangerous power, etc.

What really makes this film worth seeing is a second act plot twist which has been completely unspoiled by the promotional material, an admirable show of restraint even if it did make the trailers fairly dull. If you're a big Pixar fan like me who's going to see this no matter what, feel free to skip this paragraph. Otherwise, let me convince you. So Merida stumbles upon a cottage belonging to a cooky old crone who makes wood carvings. And also spells. Yes, it's a witch, though also employed in a less-than-conventional way (I won't spoil that). Merida asks for a spell to change her mother, thinking that this is the way she'll be able to get what she wants, and the witch gives her a spell in the form of a pastry. Merida gets her mother to eat the pastry, and so turns her mother into... a bear. If that seems a bit of a non-sequiter, Merida's father once fought a great bear who took his leg off before fleeing, and has never forgotten his desire for vengeance on the beast. So yeah. The pair of them have to elude the King and his men, and find a way to reverse the spell in the course of two days. To top if off, the Queen is still completely a human in her mind (at first) which makes for the glorious sight of a giant black bear behaving like a proper royal lady. Interested now?

The one way in which Brave proves inferior to its Disney predecessor--I hate to keep making comparisons to Mulan, but it serves as a good jumping off point for the noteworthy things about Brave--is that while Mulan is perfectly likable heroine for whom you start rooting five minutes in and never really stop, Merida is... well... less so. There's nothing especially obnoxious or unlikable about her, but the issue is this: Mulan's adventure is caused by her going to war to save her father's life. Merida's adventure is caused by her wanting her mother to not make her get married because wah wah she doesn't want to. If that sounds callous, lemme explain: one of the other things they don't mention in the trailer is that Merida's marriage isn't because she's a lady and that's just what ladies are supposed to do says patriarchal society--it's a political move to bind one of the other clans (all three clans by way of the competition for the princess's hand) to the royal family and so ensure peace in the realm. Once that gets revealed, it becomes a lot harder to sympathize with Merida. It's not like any of the proposed suitors are monstrous or nasty anyway; yes it's shitty to get married off to someone you neither know nor love, but when the peace of the realm is at stake and the guy in question is harmless, cry me a river.

That very point is addressed in the film, though the solution is a bit half-assed, so I'm not bitching a lot about it. It simply deserved mentioning. Apart from some confusion as to what exactly Merida needs to do to undo the spell on her mother, it's the only thing that actually bothered me during the film, so that's not bad. Most of the nits here aren't really worth picking. I could also say that it isn't quite as pretty to look at and listen to as the similarly-Scottish How to Train Your Dragon, but the entire cast is Scottish this time, so there's even more delightful accent porn.

Aaanyway, this is a fun, moving adventure flick whose coolness resides in the unusual direction it decides to take with the story. It's not an instant classic like Toy Story or Up, but let's cut Pixar a bit of a break. I didn't even see Cars 2 and I can tell this is miles ahead of that. Now, as for Monsters University... well... we'll see...

Films I'm excited for that few other people are

I just thought I'd take a moment to talk about the most anticipated films coming up in the rest of the year that get overlooked by lists focused on bigger titles. Yes, I am more excited about The Dark Knight Rises more than just about any film in the ever, but you probably are excited for it too, and there's not much I can say that would make you more excited, so why bother? With that in mind:

Red Hook Summer (August 10)
The trailer isn't much--scarcely even a real trailer--but everything else about it intrigues me. A middle-class teenage boy from Atlanta gets a new perspective on life when he goes to stay with his grandfather, a bishop in Red Hook, Brooklyn. This is Spike Lee's first film in four years, and the first in which he's acted in a decade, reprising in a cameo his character Mookie from Do the Right Thing. A not-so-critical view on religion seems strange subject matter for Lee of all people, but co-writer James McBride (who wrote the novel on Lee's last film was based) is more than familiar with the subject, and one suspects that the two different points of view will add some texture to the story. Cinching the deal for me is the inclusion of several cast members from my favorite stage musical of all time, Passing Strange, which I you can and should watch because Lee himself had the production filmed into a concert-style doco.

FDR: American Badass (September 24)
The trailer pretty much says it all. Barry Bostwick plays Roosevelt from his affliction with polio, this time caused by a werewolf attack, to his victory over the Axis forces... also associated with werewolves now. It would be easy, especially in this year of all years, to say that this is to Hyde Park on Hudson what Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter is to Lincoln, but this little gem seems to be A) made on a far smaller budget, and B) taking itself a lot less seriously than this weeks action-horror release. Though interestingly enough, Abraham Lincoln (presumably by way of ghost or dream sequence) does make an appearance in this film as well. Played by Kevin Sorbo. Hey, I'll bite.

Seven Psychopaths (November 2)
The only film on this list to not have any kind of trailer yet, much to my chagrin. In any case, I don't need no trailer to get excited about this movie. It's the second feature from the awesome Irish playwright Martin McDonagh, who's first feature was the fittingly awesome In Bruges. This one sees Colin Farrell's struggling writer getting roped into a dog-napping plot by his buddy Sam Rockwell, leading to all kinds of darkly-humorous antics. Apparently there have been early test screenings, and what reports I've found of them say that while the film is a bit of an all-over-the-place mess at the moment, all it needs is tightening up in the editing room to focus the tone and it'll be golden. It is also supposed to be, unsurprisingly, brutally violent even beyond In Bruges. If there's once writer-director I trust to make ultraviolence watchable though, it's McDonagh.

The We and the I (???)
A handheld, intimate, unknown-starring chronicle of a group of teenagers who take the same bus route all year, as summer approaches. That concept on its own could go either way, but I trust Michel Gondry, he of the Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind direction, to breath honest, invigorating life in it. This one still doesn't have a release date, which is a bit disconcerting because we're halfway through the year, but all of the promotional material agrees it'll be out at some point before 2013, so let's hope it's just a matter of negotiations. The same thought goes for Joss Whedon's Much Ado About Nothing, which is a bit too buzzed about (at least in my circles) to merit a spot on this list, but which I will mention anyway because lalala my blog.

The Legend of Korra 1x10: "Turning the Tides"

Okay, so that makes twice now that I've complained about certain aspects of this show only to have the show go around and fix those issues the very next episode. So really, I'm wondering whether I should just stop writing right now until I can find something to bitch about with this episode.

In which case, I might as well end the recap here, because this episode was fan-fucking-tastic. In fact, I'm gonna retract my statement from last week that this show needs to be longer and/or with more episodes, because this episode proved that even in the svelt space of half an hour, Bryke can create a perfect balance of plot progression, kick-ass fight scenes, and moving character moments. Hell, Meelo actually uses fart-bending (good god I feel terrible just typing that) to defeat an Equalist, and I'm not that bothered.

As Korra is resting and recovering from last week's craziness, Amon is on the move, readying his final attack... but first, Mako and Asami drama. No no, I say that in a mocking way, but again, the fact that the episode starts with some nice character moments is cool. Mako is proving himself to be a first class dolt-boy, completely oblivious to why his unnecessarily concerned and tender behavior towards Korra, not to mention the oft-mentioned kiss, would upset his freakin' girlfriend. Le sigh. Mako, you really do have no social skills; I mean, I get it, you grew up on the streets, having to take care of your little brother, under constant stress, you have reason to be perpetually slow on the uptake and not good with emotions, but still. Can I just take a moment here to reiterate how much I really don't want Asami to turn out to be evil? I know it's still a possibility, but at this point, the gender implications what with the jealousy subplot and all would be so unfortunate. Also, she's just a cool chick, you know.

Really the more likely outcome, which I've always rooted for anyway, is that her father will switch sides when confronted with the possibility of hurting his own daughter. It's clear that his main motivation for everything he does is Asami's own good, so I'd like to think that once he realizes that the Equalists don't actually care about equality or protecting non-benders or any of that, he'll come back to the right. We see this foreshadowed a bit in a brief scene between Sato and Amon, in which Amon placates Sato with assurances of Asami's safety--which naturally means he has no intention of keeping Asami safe, by law of Villainous Douchebaggery.

Tenzin is off to summon the other council members, first awkwardly and adorably asking Lin if she wouldn't mind staying to protect his children and his extremely-pregnant wife. Lin agrees, though there is definitely still amusing tension between her and Pema, and lets Tenzin go to work. Unfortunately, Equalist soldiers in disguise have already started incapacitating the other council members (there's a cute scene between the Fire Nation councillor and her absent-minded husband before she gets electrocuted, which adds a nice touch) and Tenzin finally gets to go full-on badass when they try to get him as well. The silly, weirdly androgynous secretary person from the city hall informs Tenzin that he's the last council member left, so Tenzin goes to meet with Saikahn and his forces, and calls for aid from the hitherto-unmentioned United Forces.

Meanwhile, Team Avatar has seen the Equalist airships over Republic City and sailed over from Air Temple Island to go to work. There's more cuteness when the team finds the car right where Korra parked it: into a streetlamp. As Korra says, they got arrested and left her with it, and she doesn't know from driving. Mako firebends the dozen or so parking tickets she accumulated in the process, and then gets told by Asami to sit in the back "with Korra". Oh dear.

Police headquarters has been shut down and gassed by Equalist forces. Tenzin was able to get some Saikahn and some of his people out safely via airbending, but Equalist mechas are waiting outside, this time armed with magnets to take care of the suited metalbenders. Tenzin is barely able hold off the mechs with his awesomeness until Team Korra arrives, and finishes the job. Mako's doltishness is forgiven for the time being by the fact that when he gets zapped with an Equalist grappling hook-thingy, he redirects the electricity. My girlfriend and I were just saying how awesome it would be if Korra had done that when the Equalists electrocuted her metal prison box last episode, even though she was unlikely to know such a rare and difficult technique unless she'd been tutored by old man Zuko. Now I wanna know where Mako learned to do it, dangit.

Equalist men, lead by Amon's unnamed lieutenant who for some reason is voiced by Lance Henriksen, also land on Air Temple Island. Of course, this would be the time when Pema goes into labor. The White Lotus acolytes and Her Royal Majesty the Queen-of-Asskicking Lin Beifong fight off the enemy horde, but this time it's the airbending children who come to the rescue. Cue aforementioned fart-bending, which I'm just going to skip over now because the rest of it is just so good. Anyway. Pema successfully delivers the baby--that's some quick labor, I say--a little boy that she and newly-returned Tenzin name "Rohan", presumably just because Bryke are Lord of the Rings fans.

Unfortunately, the peace is short-lived, as more airships are on the way over. Tenzin leaves with his family (and, at her insistence, Lin) on Oogi, planning to take them to a safe haven and return to Republic City with reinforcements. Team Korra stays long enough for the Equalists to arrive, and then bail astride Naga when the White Lotus acolytes nobly insist that they will hold off the Equalists for as long as they can.

Then, as if the show weren't already about how fucking beast she is, as if she weren't already my favorite character, and as if this episode didn't give me enough damn feels already, Lin Beifong solidifies her place as just the person of the ever of the ahhh my emotions. Seeing the Equalists airships gaining on them, Lin tells Tenzin to just keep moving, jumps off of the sky bison, grappling onto one of the airships, rips half it's motherfucking hull open with her goddamn mind, and is about to do the same to the second before being seized by Equalist soldiers, and, in the final moments of the episode, being energybent by Amon.

Except no, that isn't the very end of the episode. The very end of the episode involves a messenger on-board a naval ship delivering Tenzin's alert about the Equalists in Republic City to his handsome young firebending general: General Iroh.

OH MY GOD MY FEELINGS.

So yeah. I can't anymore. There's just not much else to say. I feel like any point I have to make about this episode is demonstration just saying what happens in the episode. Maybe that says bad things about me as a writer but right now I don't care. I'll wax more analytical about this when I finish wiping the tears from my eyes, okay. I wanted more feels and damn, I got them. This truly is Korra at its finest: exciting, emotional, perfectly balanced. And if this is an indication of things to come, then next week's hour-long finale might just kill me, and make me love it the whole frakking time. Happy fan boy, out.

More thoughts on Prometheus

I wrote about Prometheus a few days ago, and just as I suspected, I was not quite done forming an opinion about the movie. Well I have now, a decidedly middling opinion. And I've also realized what the film's real problem is: there's just too much stuff.

Not that the plot is overly convoluted and difficult to follow, or that there are too many characters, or that it's too long blah blah blah, no. I mean that little things keep getting introduced that either A) require some explanation at some point for the audience to accept them at all, or B) seem like they're setting up something for later in the film. I said in my review that I like the absence of answers to the film's big questions, but there shouldn't be so much confusion over the little ones. Why is the mission briefing scene meant to set-up the plot for the audience a full fifteen minutes into the movie, especially when it makes no sense for the crew to only just now be hearing it as well? Why have Mr Bad Attitude Geologist bring up the holes in the scientists' theory--ignoring the problem of there being holes at all, ones over which our heroes jump to conclusions--when you don't have some plot-relevant explanation for why the scientists do believe what they do despite lack of evidence? Why bother creating a quasi-romantic-sexual connection between Vickers and Captain Idris Elba when it has no bearing on the story whatsoever? Why hire 44-year-old Guy Pearce to play the unfeasibly old dude (I actually think the J. Edgar-esque age makeup works, but only if he's supposed to be 100+) when said character never appears as a young man at any point in the film itself? SPOILERY ONES: Why is it not clear who knows Weyland is on the ship and when? Why is it relevant that Vickers is actually Weyland's daughter? Why does a conversation between David and Holloway seem to foreshadow David rebelling against the humans and acting on his own initiative when that never happens?

Yes, there are some nitpicks to be made about the plotting and characters doing dumb things, but it's the meta questions that bother me, the stuff that makes me wonder what the writers were thinking. Honestly, some of the worst of Lost involved set-ups that never led to pay-offs, or at least not good ones, so maybe this is just one of Damon Lindelof's vices as a writer--he just has a compulsion to throw shit into the story that never becomes relevant. All of these questions are the kind that a lot of credulous audience members like myself accept because they just assume they're too important to not be answered later on in the film. That's why I enjoyed the film more while I was watching it than I do in hindsight, now that I realize how many things the film could've/would've done that it didn't. A few set-ups do get pay-offs, (the medpod being configured for the male body was a nice touch) but it's not nearly enough.

It's especially glaring when all of these loose ends are in the shadow of a Big Epic Story about the Meaning Of Life or whatever, know what I mean? At first I thought the problem was that the film couldn't decide whether it wanted to be Alien(s)-scale or 2001: A Space Odyssey-scale, but now I honestly think that it could've balanced the down-to-earth action-thriller/character-driven elements and the lofty sci-fi grandiosity, if only the loose ends were paid off well. But they weren't, so we're distracted by all the character moments and interactions we were expecting to get, none of which happened at all, let alone had something to say for the themes of the story, which are likewise unexplored.

For all this, I still kinda like the movie. Admittedly more for what it almost was, or was in a bare handful of scenes, than the whole sum of its parts, but it definitely has some shining qualities. The film does look (and sound) stunning. The body horror is gloriously creep-tastic, with the C-section scene being particularly awesome in its gruesomeness and Noomi Rapace being a badass. The fact of her being a badass, and a buyable one, not just some boring unstoppable action girl, is a big plus. She and Michael Fassbender both give fantastic performances, and the supporting cast holds up pretty well, even if most of the other characters don't get to do much of anything. The big scope of it, looking at humanity's place in the universe and our relationship with the mysteries of life, is a double-edged sword though, because the lack of development given to these ideas is a flaw in the film. All in all, it just makes me want to sit the filmmakers down in a corner and go, "Please come back to me when you've had time to fix it."

The Legend of Korra 1x09: "Out of the Past"

Does anybody else think that The Legend of Korra should be an hour-long show? I know, Nickelodeon would never allow it because they'd never believe their target audience to have such a long attention span (well, if you never expose them to long-form entertainment in the first place, don't be surprised...) but really that is the one thing this show needs more than anything else. I've thought it for a while and I think it more than ever after this episode.

As awesome as it is to see Lin Beifong again, her reappearance in this episode creates a big plot weirdness. At the end of "The Aftermath", she announced her resignation from the police force, intending on pursuing Equalists in her own fashion. I admit, at the time I found that a little odd; maybe she was just pre-empting an inevitable forced resignation, but still, I feel like Lin would use as many resources as she had available to bring Amon and his men to justice. What's even weirder, however, is that Lin doesn't seem to have been doing anything since then, at least not that we've seen. It's only when word spreads that Korra has been kidnapped by Equalists--Tarrlok's obvious cover story--that Lin takes any action we know of, by busting the rest of Team Avatar out of jail and joining up with Tenzin to track down our hero.

It's a nitpick, sure, but it still distracted me. I think I know why it happened: there's a lot of plot going on and only so much time in which to tell it. Having Lin being off doing something else until she becomes necessary to the plot would just eat up screentime--not that there couldn't have been a throwaway line about whatever vigilante justice Lin's been doing on her own, but abhaskjnfa whatever moving on.

The point is, the story-to-time ratio is off, certainly by the standards of a arc-based television show. In general the thing that's gotten the shortest shrift has been character development. In the past few episodes many of the supporting characters have kinda just been there, without having anything much to do. The awesome character moments we got so much of in the earlier episodes were nice, but they're not much use unless we get some payoff for them later by seeing the characters change, or react to new situations and in new ways. Bolin only ever makes jokes--or rather, does silly, somewhat humorous things. Mako had a "grrr my girlfriend's dad" moment towards Korra a few episodes ago. Asami has had a few moments of suspicion since finding out that Korra likes Mako. That's about it; most of them are just behaving like utility characters. Even Tenzin doesn't have as much going on as he should, since in his role as council member he's constantly overruled, and in his mentor role he hasn't gotten much time to really teach his pupil; his wife Pema is very underused, and his kids are only comic relief so far. Presumably the whole thing about Asami's jealousy is going to effect the plot later, but the problem is that in this episode it gets addressed so briefly, smushed in between the "characters go to place and do thing" checklist plot of the episode, that it is a transparently utilitarian scene used to give Asami the info that Korra and Mako kissed.

All of these things could be dealt with a lot more fully with either A) more episodes with fewer plot obligations in each or B) longer episodes with the same content. This would allow the story to take its time, which is essential in a character-driven medium like television. We can't just have these characters go to this place and do this thing and receive this information in such a highly efficient manner because then it feels robotic. We need scenes of characters just talking to each other, interacting in some way that doesn't necessarily further the plot, but gives you a little bit of extra flavor and fun, something to rattle around in your brain for a week or so until the next episode.

None of this is to say that this episode totally sucked, or that it was the only episode that was the worse for this problem. It's just the first episode where I felt this problem overwhelmed the more positive aspects of the show. The positive aspects are still there.

The big draw of this episode for the fandom is that while Korra is imprisoned, awaiting rescue and no doubt wishing she'd learnt metalbending, she meditates and is successfully able to connect with Aang's spirit. So we get a couple of full flashbacks this time, featuring short but complete scenes with the old Gaang all grown up. These scenes are fun, but again, I just wish there was more to them. Like everyone guessed, Yakone is indeed Tarrlok's father and a ludicrously powerful bloodbender (he paralyzes everyone in the crowded court-room in the middle of the day, including the Avatar) who ends up energybent by Aang, so these scenes and their effect on what we know are quite predictable, but they're still not bad scenes at all. Clancy Brown lends his voice to Yakone, which is cool.

More interesting and immediately relevant to the story is that Amon and some of his buddies come knocking at Tarrlok's hideout, with Korra as their target. Tarrlok bloodbends them all easily into submission... except Amon. O_O Amon manages, with only slight struggle, to resist the bloodbending, and goes and de-bends Tarrlok. Well, so much for that awesome development of Tarrlok being a powerful bloodbender--that was relevant for all of two episodes. Aaaaanyway, it is a pretty cool scene, as is the concurrent scene where Amon sends his men to take Korra. Fortunately she overhears all of this, and is able to bust out of the cell and escape the Equalists. Naga, unseen for the rest of this episode, finds her in the snow about the hideaway and takes her back to Republic City.

Only three episodes left. Who knows how much plot they're going to try and cram in there, but from the look of the preview, the two-part finale should at least be nice and action-packed. Again, I don't suddenly hate the show now or anything, but this flaw has been weighing more and more on my brain and I just hope Bryke don't rush through the best moments of this ending.

Review: PROMETHEUS

Prometheus might just be the best kind of prequel. It takes place in the same universe as the film before which it occurs--Ridley Scott's classic Alien--but explores a different part of that universe, telling a story of it's own. This film could have been about a bunch of dudes in a space ship getting systematically picked off by xenomorphs lurking in the shadows, and then crash landing on the planetoid where the crew of the Nostromo found the eggs in the original film, and then it would really just not be that interesting. Instead, we get a story about early space pioneers travelling to a distant life-sustaining moon on the admittedly logic-jumping and far-fetched theory that this location is what is represented in pictograms from dozens of unrelated dead civilizations across the thousands of years of human existence, and that therefore the creators of this pictogram had some influence on the creation of humankind. No, it's not all that scientifically sound, whatever Erich von Daniken has to say, but I didn't mind much either. The film is parable-ish (parabolic?) enough in it's concept that I'll accept a certain amount of just-because.

First off, since it's definitely the first thing you'll notice, this movie is fucking beautiful. The opening credits are set over ludicrously gorgeous ariel photography of the wilds of Ireland, which pretty much sets the standard for the whole rest of the film. The look of everything is fantastic--big impressive sets, wide stretches of landscape, it's all here. There's plenty of CGI to be sure, but a lot of things that another film might do with computers this one does with live effects, puppets, working sets, and all manner of other things which completely sell the reality of the world we're seeing and are just awesome to look at. If for nothing else, I encourage you to see this film for how amazing it all looks. I didn't see it in 3D because I care about a few extra dollars in my pocket more than 3D, but if 3D is your bag, I'm willing to guess that most of the film merits it.

As for the story... You know, the original Alien didn't have a lot in the way of plot or characterization either. It had just enough to keep it going, and did it well, but the star of the show was mood. That is also one of Prometheus' foremost strong points. The aforementioned awesome look to the film helps, but adding to it is the sound. The music in particular is a nice blend of dark, foreboding horror and grandiose sci-fi epic. As you actually watch the film, it will be the atmosphere that keeps you most in-tune with what's going on. That said, this and Alien are indeed going for definitely different moods. Aliens has been described as Jaws in space--people trying to escape/defeat scary monster. Prometheus has a grander vision of itself, set against a journey by mankind to discover its own origins. The characters in Alien are everymen; they are regular Joes, working on a vessel, doing their jobs, and they just find themselves in peril through happenstance (exacerbated by corporate greed, but let that go). The characters in Prometheus are Everymen; they are the representatives of the human species on a journey that, whether they believe it or not, will involve the truth behind how humans became humans.

Mind you, that's how it plays in the broader scope of things. In the detail, their journey still involves trying to escape/defeat scary monster, and follows most of the same plot beats as the original 1979 film, which is a bit disappointing. The first fifteen minutes or so of the film are curiously paced, letting you wonder just what exactly is going on, and how any of this will be relevant later. Even if you know the setup before our protagonist Dr. Elizabeth Shaw and her beau Dr. Charlie Holloway explain it to the rest of the crew, you still want to know why you are being shown what you are being shown, and what it bodes for the rest of the story. There's a good four or five minutes of the android David just going about his business on the ship while the rest of the crew hibernates, which establishes him as a character nicely, and is interesting to watch, but never really becomes a necessary part of the film. The especially artsy, 2001-esque vibe the early minutes of the movie creates belies that the rest of the film is basically a moody, mysterious horror-thriller just like the original Alien, with only a few moments that take full advantage of the grandeur the film's setup provides. On the one hand, it does the Alien thing really well; the scares are as good as ever, providing body horror that really gets under the skin, thanks largely to the use of practical special effects; and the characters are relatable and developed enough so that we do care what happens to them. On the other hand though, even if you're not sure which direction the film is going next, you will probably be completely unsurprised when it goes the direction it does. I enjoyed it quite a bit while watching, but afterwards I couldn't quite shake the feeling that it could've gone bigger and grander, and in stranger directions.

I don't like faulting it for staying closer to the more grounded people-we-like-fighting-monsters route, but on that note, Prometheus may have too much characterization in parts. Some of what we learn about the characters is not relevant to the story, even when it seems like it ought to be. Without getting too spoilery, I will say that some bits (ex: a certain character being infertile) fit really well with character development when I thought about them afterward, and other bits (ex: a certain two characters being related) still seem completely pointless, and I just chalk that up to David Lindelof's writing quirks. Not that I'm bashing him, since I'm willing to bet he's to thank for the good use of down-to-earth humor despite scary sci-fi circumstances. I'm just saying that, pending a rewatch, I'm wondering whether the script shouldn't have just gone further in one direction: epic parable or character-driven thriller. Maybe I'm just talking out of my ass now though--it has only been twelve hours since I left the theater and I'm still piecing things together in my brain.

One thing I do know for certain, and the main thing about the film's story that I appreciated, is that while it centers on the big questions of how human life came to be--who created us and why--it doesn't give us answers. And that's the point. If I may get pretentious for a moment, the end of the film brought to mind a famous Albert Einstein quote: "The search for truth is more precious than its possession." The point of the movie isn't how/why/by whom humankind was created or any of that; it's the fact that Elizabeth Shaw, again, filling in as the Everyman, representative of humankind and our curiosity, will keep seeking out the answers to those questions no matter what.

I'll probably have more carefully thought-out things to say after I let this gestate a while in my brain parts, but in the meantime let me just encourage you to go see it. For all the little things that still bug me about the film, or will bug me later, or will stop bugging me later, yadda yadda, I had a great time just watching it. It looks absolutely stunning. It is superbly acted, especially by Michael Fassbender as the android David, eerily reminiscent of a humanoid HAL 9000. It's full of body horror that you can expect to make appearances in your nightmares. It's a good time. Expect more thoughts in the future.

Edit: More thoughts.

Django Unchained has a trailer--argument invalid, etc

Truth be told, I'm not even that big a Tarantino fan, but Inglourious Basterds was a phenomenally fun (and at times, surprisingly heart-wrenching) over-the-top historical vengeance fantasy that ranks among my very favorite films of 2009. Django Unchained looks very much like a spiritual successor, featuring...

Actually, you know what, I'm not even going to summarize it for you, because if you don't know what it's about, the trailer gives you a clear logline in addition to terrific mood, some humor, and plenty of shootin'. This has always been near the top of my Most Anticipated Films of the Year list (that exists in my head but for some reason not on this blog) and I'm only getting more excited.

Speaking of Most Anticipated Films of the Year, the chronological fourth on that list (the first three being Perfect Sense, Cabin in the Woods, and Avengers) opens tonight at midnight: Prometheus. Expect some kind of response/review tomorrow afternoon. Surprisingly, this will be my first trip to the theatre in about a month. Also opening this weekend, in far fewer theaters, is Safety Not Guaranteed, which I also hope to see and report back on.

The Legend of Korra 1x08: "When Extremes Meet"

As the good folk of tumblr would say, OH MY GOD MY FEELS!!!

For such a dark and dramatic episode, this all made me so happy. Bryan Konietzko wasn't kidding when he said this would be a doozy of an episode.

I made a whole stink two weeks ago about the incomplete, unrealistic depiction of the relationship between benders and non-benders, and though this episode was devoid of sympathetic Equalist arguments, it went exactly where I was praying it would go by making Tarrlok a bending-Nazi!

Okay, so, backing up now: Tarrlok has installed a lackey of his as Lin's replacement as chief of police, and tries to get Korra back on the team. Korra wants nothing to do with it though, calling Tarrlok out on his shit. He retorts by insulting her skill as an Avatar, given that she still has yet to get a grasp on airbending. Korra sulks for a bit, but Mako, Bolin, and Asami (all newly moved in to the temple) come along and cheer her up, inspiring her to officially form the new Team Avatar and bring some vigilante justice down on Equalist ass. Tarrlok, meanwhile, is enacting some draconian measures on the non-benders of Republic City, in one scene cutting off the power to an entire non-bender section of the city, and arresting them en masse when they protest. When Team Korra tries to put a stop to this, Tarrlok has all of them but Korra herself arrested. Tenzin, like Korra, is helpless to stop any of this, the rest of the council members being spineless gits under Tarrlok's thumb.

In the climactic scene, Korra barges into Tarrlok's chamber in the middle of the night and confronts him head-on. A fight ensues, ending with Tarrlok bloodbending Korra (despite it not being full moon) into submission and throwing her into the back of a van headed who knows where.

Now aren't you glad the hiatus wasn't after THIS episode?


I mentioned before how much I was honestly hoping they would fill the void in the Avatar universe where fantastic racism ought to be, and Tarrlok was always the perfect character to enact this through. That said, his exact motivation and goals are still mysterious. After Korra is knocked unconscious briefly post-Tarrlok fight, we get another flashback dreams. As always, the clips are brief and quick, but they appear to show a man who somewhat resembles Tarrlok in the city council chamber, and he seems to be bloodbending Aang, Toph, and Sokka. The next episode is entitled "Out of the Past", so it looks like we shall at last get some light shed upon the subject of what exactly went down some forty years ago with the Gaang.

On the subject of those dreams, the show touches again, after a cursory mention in the first episode, on Korra's trouble with the spiritual element of being the Avatar. Tenzin assures her that she does have a connection with her past lives, but it might just be that this connection is manifesting itself in different ways. We of course know that this is through the flashback dreams, but what I'm really interested in seeing is Korra getting in touch with her spiritual side. Especially because when that happens, we'll get spirit-guide!Aang, the thing we've all been waiting for since before the season began.

All of that aside, there were actually a few great moments of levity as well. Tenzin's kids return, and are cuter than ever meeting Korra's friends. Meelo gets a big ol' crush on Asami, Ikki squeals over the cuteness of Pabu and reveals her knowledge of exactly how many trees are on Air Temple Island. It is glorious. There is a moment where a "Team Korra roll out!" is interrupted by Meelo landing on them and farting, which is so incredibly unnecessary, but this show is airing on Nickelodeon, so I guess you can't blame them too much for pandering to the assumed target audience. (Le sigh.) Possibly the best moment though is when Ikki in all her delightful bluntness tells Asami that Korra has a crush on Mako. Korra has a complete anime freak-out, but Asami seems ready to just kinda move away from that subject. That moment actually looks like it'll have some big implications for the future, because later on we see Asami eyeing her boyfriend and the Avatar in her rearview mirror after he opens the car door for her and she responds playfully with "What  a gentleman!" Oh dag.

Anyway, this episode was really the shot in the arm the series needed at this point. Everything is established and set in place, and now they're complicating things in all directions. There are only four episodes left this season, and goddamn do they look like they're going to be kick-ass.

Next week: Avatar flashbacks, and Tenzin and Lin teaming up to find and rescue Korra. I'M IN HEAVEN.

The Legend of Korra 1x07: "The Aftermath"

So many mixed feelings here, folks. Sooooo many.

My main problem with this episode is that this was really the point by which we should have gotten a more rounded, human portrayal of the Equalists. And we didn't.

The stadium is closed down after Amon's big attack, and as such the brothers have nowhere to live. Korra invites them to stay at the Air Temple island, but they've already been offered a stay at Asami's luxurious mansion. Korra does her jealous thing for a bit, but reluctantly agrees to Asami's invitation to hang out with them. Asami takes Korra on the test track for her father's Satomobiles, and shatters Korra's preconceived notions of Asami being nothing more than a prissy "girly-girl". However, while hanging out at the Sato mance, Korra overhears a suspicious phone conversation Hiroshi Sato is having with an unknown individual, and jumps to the conclusion that he is somehow involved with the Equalists. The only real evidence, apart from it being a stereotypical Ominous Bad Guy Phone Call, is that Sato refers to the investigation of Cabbage Corp (yeah they went there) for possible Equalist involvement as a good thing for them, marking "the time to strike". She brings this to Tenzin and Lin Beifong (who is under more pressure than ever after her failure at the arena), who to their credit point out that it's flimsy evidence, but they investigate it anyway.

For half the freaking episode I was begging for it to turn out a red herring. Korra was just getting paranoid, it was all a wacky misunderstanding, and our hero's privileged upbringing blinded her in this mixed world of people of all backgrounds. The overheard conversation really isn't much to go on, and it's not like it would be out-of-character for Korra to jump to conclusions like this, especially since she is understandably on-edge after the attacks. But no, Hiroshi Sato is indeed an Equalist, supporting the Fire Ferrets as a cover, who has been using a hidden underground factory of his to create the Equalists' equipment--including a new line of giant robots(!) impervious to metalbending.

But you know, even that needn't have been a bad thing. Indeed, the idea of him being an Equalist makes the most sense. As a self-made inventor and industrialist, he of all people makes sense as a symbol of the average man having to work hard to overcome the inherent natural inequality between benders and non-benders. This itself could open up a great conversation about how, really, the Equalists have an enormous point. Benders are born with the natural potential to harness elemental power the likes of which non-benders are helpless to defend against. Yes, the benders who rule the world (and take note that they pretty much do rule the world--not a single member of the city council is a non-bender, for example) are generally benevolent here. But what if they weren't? In fact, I'm really surprised we haven't seen in this universe more Nazi-esque bending-power proponents who insist that non-benders were made to be ruled--especially because they would actually be more justified in thinking that way than their real life counterpartss. Imagine (or don't, if you want to sleep tonight) if every ethnic group who ever proclaimed themselves the superior race to another group were endowed with superpowers that actually made them superior. It was implied in The Last Airbender that the Fire Nation prized benders over non-benders, what with the Fire Lord needing to be a bender, and a powerful one. However, this episode makes extremely clear just how bizarrely absent that kind of bigotry has been from the Avatar universe. So of course Amon and the Equalists look like scary extremists; the most oppression we've actually seen non-benders face in this world is extortion and brutality from the Triad gangs, who don't seem to have much pull in the government and so are still on the run from the law. In reality the idea of being a non-bender in a world of benders would be a terrifying prospect. As a non-bender in a bending world, you are surrounded by people who completely outmatch you physically from a very early age, and always would unless you underwent years of rigorous training, with little effort exerted on their parts. If any of them should get in in their heads that you should be hurt, you have to rely on protection from others like them, who also have always physically outmatched you and therefore cannot understand the kind of helplessness in which you live. On top of that, these people are also all governed by others like them, creating a kind of implied glass ceiling for people like you, meaning that your voice will never be heard as much as that of the powerful minority. You must also live with the ever-present fear that if someday the idea becomes popular amongst this powerful minority that you do not deserve the same rights as them, there is nothing you can do to stop it.

Well, there is one thing you can do. You pour your whole life into achieving fame and influence. No quiet, modest life for you, unless you're willing to make a big gamble on the security of that life. If you're clever and shrewd and have a mind for business and/or invention, you become an industrialist. You work with machines. You develop ways to help yourself and your fellow non-benders compensate for their lack of superpowers, and you market them and make enough money to invent more things, and you keep the cycle going. You basically end up spearheading the Industrial Revolution. Eventually you can afford to live in luxury, with any accommodations you need to put you on even footing with the naturally blessed. A movement starts to simmer that says the benders should not be allowed the power to rule over non-benders, and you agree. You find allies in this movement, and you plan to change the world order. To level the playing field. It's not that you want to oppress benders as they've oppressed you, or that you think they are worse human beings. It's just that they should be made to live the same as normal people do.*

Instead, we just get a scene in which Asami walks in on her father defeating Team Korra in aforementioned giant robots and he tries to persuade her clumsily to join his side. He isn't portrayed as completely villainous, and he clearly cares for his daughter, but the argument he gives her is a frankly untrue "these people have destroyed the world, it's time for us to make it better", which she pretends to buy into long enough to take the Iron Man glove he offers her, and then knock him and his henchmen out with it and run away with her friends. There could've been such a great moment there where Sato made the sympathetic Equalist case. He could have gone on in depth about the crushing tragedy of losing his wife, Asami's mother, to that firebender--the terrible fear that if something like that happened again he would be helpless to save his beloved daughter. He could say that while not all benders are bad people, that the bending power itself is inherently dangerous, and no longer necessary with the advent of technology, and that if they were stripped of their power everyone could live in true peace and equality. **

None of these ideas are brought up, at least not thus far in the show, and so the things Amon and his followers are given to say simply don't do justice to the truth of their situation, effectively making them two-dimensional bad guys and removing the rich ambiguity that could be so fantastic to explore. Ever since Korra's narrow-minded "But bending is the coolest thing ever" moment in the pilot episode, I've been waiting for someone to humble her, to sit her down and educate her on what it's like for normal people who haven't grown in privilege as... y'know... the Avatar. I still have hope that Bryke will give the Equalists' argument a bit more expansion credence in the coming episodes, but really I can't see why they haven't done so already, and it's really bugging me.

All right, I've rambled on enough, so here's the quick and dirty on the rest of the odds and ends:

The real saving grace of this episode for me was the relationship between Korra and Asami. Where they could've taken the easy way out by making Asami evil and thus freed up Mako for Korra, they didn't. She's still a good guy, and Bryke willing she'll stay that way. This is really the most we've seen her do since she was introduced, and sure enough, she's as remarkably well-adjusted as the rest of Team Korra. She extends the hand of friendship to Korra, and Korra in turn rises to meet her example, in turn learning that she's not just some bimbo, but a capable, pleasant, level-headed gal, and a good friend. Daw.

The inclusion of Cabbage Corp is just happy. Bryke know how to feed the fangirls.

Tahno shows up for thirty seconds. He is depowered, and yes, it is for good, in case we were wondering. Now he's a sad sack and I guess we're supposed to feel sorry for him, but it doesn't work completely, because he was such a cartoonishly big jerk in the past two episodes. Maybe more character development for him soon? We'll see.

Okay, Asami's mother makes the third time this seson some horrible thing in a character's backstory is attributed to a firebender. If this isn't all the handiwork of the same significant evil dude, I will be quite cross with the writers.

My biggest nitpick with the episode is PLATINUM IS A METAL GUYS. Seriously, the whole thing with the Big Daddy-meets-Iron Monger giant mech suits Sato creates for the Equalists is that they are impervious to metalbending because they are made of platinum, which is so "pure". I mean, yes, it is very pure, and as far as I know would actually be strong enough to make metal plating out of, but it is still a metal, and therefore still effected by metalbending. Although this really raises the issue of where exactly the limits of earthbending lie. If earthbenders can bend the minerals that compose metals, can they bend the ones that compose metal alloys? Is that distinction made? If not, where does the limit end? Is it only raw minerals in the earth that can be bent? While we're at it, what about trees? Is there tree-bending? What exactly is it in the earth and in metals that can be bent? Inquiring minds want to know.

Final thoughts: Of course he was a bad guy! He worked for Wolfram and Hart!

* Now that I put it this way though, I think it could work to see Equalist movement portrayed villainous as a Harrison Bergeron extreme-Communism critique kinda thing. Maybe that mixed with a bit of the deeply scary anti-intellectual feeling that's still prevalent in some parts of the States. Hm. That's a bit highbrow for an ostensibly children's show of course, but there's always fanfiction!

** Not saying this is how Amon and/or most of his followers would or should see it, because then they're not villains anymore and it becomes a different kind of show; but I would really really like Hiroshi to have an honest, well-meant reason for being in the Equalists, even if most of the rest of them are actually scary anarchists.

Various and sundry

This feels like it should be the part where I apologize for not posting more lately, but I have been posting quite regularly here, so I'll just skip to the part where I explain things that are going on in my life even if you weren't wondering.

First off, I have acquired my first job! Wooooo! It's a general concessions-and-cleaning type job at a single-room arthouse movie theater in my town. Not much, but it's good experience, and it puts a little extra money in my pocket, and that is always nice.

Secondly, I have spent the past few days at my mom's new house in Virginia recovering from the removal of my wisdom teeth. As such, I've spent the last few days quite tired, mildly stoned, and a little scatter-brained. If that reveals itself in any of my writing, I apologize/you're welcome. I drive back tomorrow morning, which, between no painkillers so I can drive and my longest workday thus far ready to tackle me once I do get back, will not be fun. Three days of inactivity gonna get reversed like whoa.

There are a couple of writing projects I've managed to get a little work done on in my recovery time, but still not as much as I'd like. I think I can safely say that I will never in my life be getting as much work done as I'd like to simply because the more I can be writing/creating/doing art stuff is ALWAYS BETTER! Mwahaha!

Ahem. Some of the stuff I've been working on. The Saga of Pretzel Bob... has unfortunately hit a big fat brick wall this past month, which is making me rather cross. I've recently gotten distracted by what will probably be a novella, entitled Closet Case, about an teenage girl at a summer camp who has an ill-fated romantic liaison with another girl who identifies as straight and has a boyfriend. There are also two Harry Potter fanfiction pieces (of all things) that have been stewing in my brain--one a next-generation multiple-storyline epic centering on the relationship between our technologically-advancing Muggle world and the culturally stagnant wizarding world, and the other a cheeky parody of high school AUs which has a few hundred words to its name. On request from my lovely girlfriend, I am working on a Doctor Who/The West Wing crossover ficlet in which River Song and Josh Lyman meet and are cute at each other and make out, which I will struggle with for some time because I will hold myself to ridiculous standards of cuteness for that one. :P There is also a new feature screenplay with which I am something like obsessed, but which I also can't bring myself to explain or summarize until the first draft is done. It's weird, I know, but the octopus who lives in my brain demands it.

Hopefully sometime in the coming weeks I'll be in a better position to tell you guys more about these exciting developments! In the meantime, enjoy the Legend of Korra recaps! :-)

P.S. I've also been meaning to write some big, thoughtful, meaningful piece on how amazing Community is, and it seems like last night's season finale marked as good an occasion as any, but truth be told, I'm not sure what I could say that wouldn't be just fanboyish gushing. If you haven't given this show a chance yet, do it, because there really are few shows out there as clever, inventive, and just plain good-hearted as Community.

Finally, a last bit of madness:

Just because I'm a fanboy doesn't mean it won't be crap (Thoughts on CBS' Elementary)

I do hope I've mentioned at some point on this blog my love for the Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss' Sherlock, a BBC modernized adaptation of the adventures Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective. If I haven't, and if you haven't heard of it from any other source already, I'll give you short version and say that the series has some of the smartest writing on any TV show around, Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman make a most wonderful duo as Holmes and his dear John Watson, and despite being only two seasons long at three seasons a piece, the show has already achieved a depth and complexity as a character study rivaled by few others. The first season is on DVD/Blu-ray/Netflix streaming, and I strongly recommend you check it out post haste.

Now on to the subject of the post: CBS is launching a modern Sherlock Holmes series of it's own, entitled Elementary, and the Sherlock fandom (myself included) has reacted less than enthusiastically. This might be the point where I go on a rant about overzealous fans needing to calm down because there is room enough in the world for multiple takes on this idea... except that Elementary seems to be making all of the eye-rollingly boring, stereotypical choices you'd expect of a Hollywood project. The first and most obvious one is that the show is set in America now, though I can't really fault it for that because where else was an American-based television corporation going to set it? I'm pretty sure CBS doesn't have facilities in England, so they're kinda stuck with doing it here. In any case, Sherlock himself is still portrayed as British (by British actor Jonny Lee Miller*), a notable London detective who used to work with Scotland Yard, but moved to America after things went a little south. The other, more legitimately concerning problem, is that former military doctor John Watson has been gender swapped into Joan Watson, now a former surgeon turned Sherlock's sobriety companion. There are any number of theoretical decent reasons for this decision--one more female lead in a network television show is something--and yet I can tell already it isn't for the best of reasons. It's so they can get Holmes and Watson to hook up. See, middle America has become totally cool with homoerotic tension between two leading men (the Guy Ritchie Sherlock Holmes movies) but only so long as there's no chance they'll actually hook up, and the relationship can be classified under "bromance" or "UST" as desired by the individual viewer. The point is, there's no way a network television series would center around a gay couple. Even Glee needed to wait until it got stellar ratings and a second-season renewal before it could pair off two major supporting male characters, and in the meantime, the only major openly LGBT character was a down-right painful stereotype. But that's a rant for another time.

So yes, to have a real will-they-or-won't-they romantic angle to carry the series beyond the procedural trappings, they needed to make Watson a chick. Why Sherlock couldn't have been a chick instead is also a rant for another time.) Getting to the point, I've observed that, for better or worse, Elementary is in no way looking to ride on the success of the BBC Sherlock, at least not in the way that involves ripping it off. Understandable enough, really, what with Sherlock's American viewership consisting of television-Anglophiles and carryover fandom from Doctor Who. From what I've seen of it so far though, what Elementary really seems to want is to be the next Bones--a character-based crime procedural with a mixture of comedy and drama, centered around a will-they-or-won't-they conflicting-personalities romantic/sexual tension. In keeping with this, the Sherlock we see in the behind-the-scenes previews is fluffier and pleasant-er than Cumberbatch's high-functioning sociopathic. Hell, we get a scene of him apologizing and being all empathetic right in the preview. Jonny Lee Miller's Sherlock Holmes seems to be partly a less caustic Gregory House (the show I've heard strangely little about in this discussion, despite being openly, if loosely, another modern take on Holmes and Watson) and partly Anya from Buffy the Vampire Slayer--more of an insensitive eccentric than a sociopath, or even a misanthropist. Just like Dr. Brennan on Bones. This is not a bad thing necessarily, but it's a terribly easy choice to make, and it just makes the network's intentions all the clearer. The main worry then is that even if the romantic dynamic does work, it probably won't be too long before they Cross the Line, like Bones has, and Castle apparently just did, and the unresolved sexual tension becomes resolved, and then there goes that nice dynamic you had.

I guess my main thought is that the show probably isn't going to be very good simply because, despite having a dynamite lead, network television procedurals are mostly crap, and this doesn't look like it will do a damn thing to distinguish itself, let alone live up to the BBC version. Hell, even Bones, of which I've seen six or seven episodes and found well-written and entertaining, isn't the kind of show I feel compelled to watch all on my own. So no, I'm not just being a fanboy about this, though I will be, and as such I encourage everyone to not look down on Elementary just because it won't be Sherlock. If anything, look down on it because it just doesn't look like it will any good.

* Jonny Lee Miller is probably best known to TV audiences from his stint as the Big Bad of Dexter Season 5, and to film audiences from Danny Boyle's Trainspotting. Ironically enough, he recently starred in a London stage adaptation of Frankenstein, directed by Boyle, opposite none other than Benedict Cumberbatch. What's more, the gimmick of the production was that both actors alternated in the roles of the Doctor and the Creature.

The Legend of Korra 1x06: "And the Winner Is..."

As of this episode, we are officially halfway through the first season of The Legend of Korra, which is cool because yay six whole episodes to go but sad because only six episodes to go. For this year anyway.

And what an Act I finale it was!

So it's the championship pro-bending match between our heroes and the reigning champions, creepy guyliner dude and company. Except maybe it's not! (Gasp!) Amon hijacks public radio channels and issues a proclamation to the city that this match will be the last, by implication due to he and his buddies showing up. Team Korra, in their most short-sighted and dim-witted endeavor yet (not saying much at all, thankfully), attempt to convince the city council to let the match go ahead as planned, because blah blah idealistic crap about the city needing to be unified in watching the game. The council refuses to hear it at first, but then Korra finds an unexpected ally in Police Chief Lin Beifong--really involved for the first time since the first episode! Lin offers to have her and her metalbenders guard the arena so they can be ready for Amon's attack, and this in turn sways the rest of the council. Except Tenzin, natch, whose tension with Lin is getting conspicuous. Afterwards, Korra, like most of the fans by this point, guesses correctly that this tension is due to he and Lin having been an item once upon a time. Korra guessing this straight off the bat was a terrific choice, perfectly avoiding what could've been another "The hero has to be explicitly told something the audience already figured out" moment--and since their first scene together the Tenzin/Lin ship has been sailing strong, only exacerbated by Pema's story last week.

At the actual match itself we get a nice mixture of elements. First off, we see Pabu in a little Fire Ferret mascot uniform, which is seriously the cutest fucking thing since ever. He does tricks too. And makes cute faces. I can't deal. We also get more pro-bending, and unfortunately for our heroes but fortunately for us viewers who have grown tired of seeing the same ol' shit in these matches, the Wolf-Bats are big damn cheaters. They pull all kinds of hitherto-unseen tricks in the arena which mixes up the action just enough to where I wasn't totally bored. As fast-talking obnoxious commentator dude is quick to point out, the referees are clearly in these guys' collective pocket, though the Fire Ferrets manage to stick it out legitimately for quite a while. Presumably this ref-bribery will become relevant later, but it might just be a way to justify the fact that these guys are the pro-bending champs, but get their asses handed to them so easily by Amon and his men.

Oh, right. And then Amon shows up. Well, first his henchmen do, appearing out of the crowd and taking down Tenzin, Lin, and the metalbenders quick as you please with their electro-stun-techie-things. Amon himself then appears and easily dodges every hit Tahno and his bros try to land on him, before sounding kicking their asses and faux-energybending them. He gives a whole big speech about how the non-benders will now be able to rise up and overthrow their oppressive bending overlords, etc.  As he's about to make his exit however--in a spiffy zeppelin no less--Korra and Lin manage to get back into the fight and team up to kick some Equalist butt on the rooftop, which is just as awesome as it sounds. Unfortunately, Amon still gets away, and threatens to strike again soon, but our heroes come out in one piece, and that's a victory in itself.

There are so many unrelated things to talk about with this episode that I think I'll just plunge into the odds-and-ends section of the recap:

* Well, it's official. Korra and Lin are definitely my two favorite characters. The small development of their relationship in this episode is awesome, and while the two of them being suddenly best friends would take some of the sweet, spicy drama from the series, I look forward to them getting more bonding time as the series goes on. Tenzin mentions to Lin how alike she and Korra really are, and it's a good point. The headstrong, straightforward nature they share is part of why they've butted heads so beautifully thus far in the series, but it could also make for a nice team dynamic. What's more, it's pretty much never not good to see such an interesting relationship between two unrelated female characters that has pretty much nothing (I mean, apart from mutual connection to Tenzin) to do with a dude in their lives. Woo feminism.

* I'm sorry, I do not get how anyone can fangirl Tahno. I just don't get it. Apart from being a jerk, he looks so freaking creepy. Something about the palor of his irises and the thickness of his guyliner combined give him the scariest eyes I've seen in practically all animation. I guess it's in the voice, but is an attractive voice really enough to make up for all of that?

* Between the supers v normals dynamic going on, the Equalists' metal gloves the glow blue, and Lin swinging all over the place, anybody else thinking that Bryke are huge Marvel fanboys? Just saying, there are so many little possible superhero homages, it demanded mention.

* After Korra is knocked unconscious briefly by an Equalist, we get a few more mini-flashbacks like at the end of "The Voice in the Night", this time seeming to show Aang and friends confronting some unknown character. Perhaps this is that Yakon (or however it's supposed to be spelled) that Tarrlok mentioned at the start of aforementioned episode? As I said, it was too specific a reference to not be significant, certainly not in a season this short. In any case, these little flashes definitely seem to be some kind of reincarnation memory thingy--methinks they're saving the actual spirit guide!Aang appearance for a more dramatic moment.

* Still waiting on more development for the Sato family. They got all of two shots on screen-time this episode, but ah well maybe next week. I just hope neither of them turn out to be evil, but that's probably too much to ask for.

Till next time, gentle readers.