The second season of The CW’s Arrow has just added an actress to play ‘Sin’. The Killing‘s Bex Taylor-Klaus has been signed on for the role, with The Hollywood Reporter stating she’ll be introduced in episode three.
The character is described by THR as “a wayward youth who is befriended by the Black Canary and has a connection with fellow street urchin, Roy Harper.”
In addition, the season two cast will feature Kevin Alejandro as Brother Blood and Michael Jai White as Bronze Tiger. Season two debuts on October 9, 2013 at 8pm.
The Plot:
After being marooned on a remote island, billionaire Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell) returns home with a mysterious agenda and a lethal set of new skills that he uses in a war on crime in this hard-hitting action series. Reinventing the DC Comics character for a modern audience, the Arrow is not a superhero but a hero — every bit as dangerous as the criminals he’s hunting.
After suffering unimaginable ordeals on the island, the former fun-loving Oliver Queen returns to Starling City a new man. Determined to deliver justice to those who have corrupted his city, Oliver (aka The Hood) – with the help of tech-savvy Felicity Smoak and his iron-fisted right hand, John Diggle – narrowly averts the rich and powerful “The Undertaking” to cleanse the city of its most desperate citizens. But Oliver’s crusade is complicated by his emotional connections to friends and family, as the Queen family still trades on secrets that conflict with the Arrow’s agenda.
Oliver’s return also affects the love of his life, Laurel Lance, and he must find a balance between being there for her as Oliver Queen, and being there for Starling City as the Arrow. A dark and dangerous crime procedural with edge, intrigue and action, Oliver’s story is told through his harrowing trials on the island, his connections to his mother, Moira, and sister, Thea, and the Arrow’s adventures in Starling City.
Showing all facets of the mysterious loner, the drama follows the charismatic Oliver that disappeared, the hardened Oliver that returned and the Oliver that’s been forged into the weapon against injustice known as … the Arrow.
Considering how much I loved Kick-Ass, one might think I’d be excited about a sequel. One would be wrong. The first movie was an expert translation of comic to screen, balancing the dark humor with bloody action in such excellent fashion I had no idea how much I’d come to think of it as a fluke for director Matthew Vaughn after seeing what he’s done to the X-Men (clearly discarding any notion of being true to those comic books).
Well, he’s still on as a producer but it’s director Jeff Wadlow of Never Back Down fame (yeah, that mixed martial arts version of The Karate Kid) that’s calling the shots behind the camera this time around for Kick-Ass 2 … and that’s not a good thing. He continues with Hollywood’s obsession with shaky cam for fight scenes and makes too many quick cuts to establish any sense of rhythm to the action. He also didn’t find a way to balance the tone of the material as well as Vaughn did.
This time around, Dave/Kick-Ass (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has joined up with a group of not-so-superheroes called Justice Forever. They’re led by Colonel Stars and Stripes (Jim Carrey) and feature Donald Faison as Dr. Gravity, the obligatory female lust interest (Lindy Booth) as a character named Night Bitch, Dave’s buddy Marty (Clark Duke) as Battle Guy, and a few other sad sacks.
Unfortunately for them, Red Mist (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is back with an entirely new supervillain persona (one I won’t repeat in case young eyes are reading this), and he wants Kick-Ass’ head on a platter. Along the way, Mindy/Hit Girl (Chloë Grace Moretz) hasn’t joined up with the Super Friends Justice Forever, is struggling with being 15, fulfilling her father’s legacy, and finding her place in the world.
While I enjoyed the brutality and inventiveness of some of the action, especially when factoring in a bunch of normal people wearing tights playing superhero, the overall experience left me feeling a little hollow. No matter who gets killed, I never felt any emotional attachment, so it simply didn’t matter. Also, while it’s probably just a sign of my twisted mind, there’s just not the same excitement in watching a 15-year-old girl swear like a sailor or maim and kill a bunch of people as there was in watching the same girl do the exact same thing three years ago.
The film suffers from pacing issues, mostly due to trying to juggle so many plot lines. Nearly every major character (and a few minor ones) has some dramatic arc they have to explore and bouncing from one to the other became tedious by about the halfway mark. The first film developed the characters as the plot unfolded and there was a better-established central thread. Here there are a number of dangling elements that threaten to become important but simply fade out as quickly as they were introduced.
Then there’s the soundtrack. The first film incorporated a number of high-energy songs and smartly chosen tracks to drive the action. Nothing in this sequel has the same level of excitement or interest, and there are a number of selections simply reused from the original without any adaptation at all.
Talking with other critics afterward, they enjoyed the proceedings far more than I did and maybe I’m just holding the franchise up to a higher standard, but I don’t think so. Kick-Ass 2 isn’t a bad action film. I enjoyed it well enough, but it’s far from the spectacle that was the first Kick-Ass, and it falls much more squarely into the home market territory than something that deserves your $58 to see on the big screen.
GRADE: C+
Kick-Ass 2 opens in theaters on August 16, 2013 and is rated R for strong violence, pervasive language, crude and sexual content, and brief nudity.
Justin Timberlake has been chosen as the recipient of the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, following in the footsteps of Michael Jackson, Madonna, Peter Gabriel, R.E.M., Beastie Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Britney Spears. Timberlake will also be taking the VMA stage to perform along with previously announced artists Lady Gaga, Kanye West, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke.
The Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award will be given to Timberlake in recognition of his “pioneering and innovative impact” on music videos. And in addition to the Vanguard Award, Timberlake’s tied with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis for the most nominations this year with six: “Video of the Year,” “Best Male Video,” “Best Pop Video” and “Best Editing,” “Best Collaboration,” and “Best Direction.”
The 2013 Video Music Awards will take place on Sunday, August 25th at 9pm ET/PT.
Going into the bio-pic of late Apple Founder Steve Jobs, simply titled Jobs, I was all set to have a pithy discourse about the way in which Ashton Kutcher would portray the tech icon. It would begin with the line, “Dude, where’s my Macintosh?” and end with me saying how innocuous and unnecessary the movie was. Well, I’ve now sat through the two-hour affair, and while Jobs may have sued IBM for stealing the graphical interface Apple was using, I think director David Fincher and his producers would have a case for what this movie attempts to do with the approach taken by The Social Network.
Both movies feature a technology guru now worshipped by millions, who fought through their inability to get along with other people to create supremely wealthy companies whose products have created functionality but are almost more concerned with the aesthetic and cool factor than anything else. Along their ascents to power, both Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg saw themselves as the focal point of the universe, and they forgot about some of the little people who were their friends once they had begun to achieve some semblance of their narcissistic notoriety.
Both movies start with their central characters assembling a team of tech-savvy social outcasts to assemble the prototype of their vision. Once the startup capital has been obtained, the companies quickly grow bigger and bigger, with the gap between the founder and their so-called friends growing just as fast. At some point, whether through legal action or company politics, the men are brought down a peg … only to rise again! Hold on … going to vom- … wait, no … I held it in check the entire movie, I can do it here … typing on my Macbook … listening to music on my iTunes … after driving home listening to music via the iPod docked to my car’s stereo … I really don’t like myself right now.
Attempting to leave behind the obvious comparisons between the two movies (and not just in the people but in how director Joshua Michael Stern attempted to construct his poor imitation), Jobs plays out like some pithy ad campaign. Each scene is a collection of sound bytes one might have heard the turtlenecked “visionary” use in some rah-rah speech to motivate the worker drones. Shortly after the platitudes, maybe some decent tune from the ’70s, or some Bob Dylan, gets played. During all that, the camera keeps pushing in on Kutcher’s smug face like a lion sneaks up on a gazelle, slowly, and to anyone looking from outside the kill zone, quite obviously.
Putting aside the amateurish filmmaking, the script simply doesn’t make much sense. It starts with Jobs as some free-spirited hippie asshole college dropout, then he capitalizes on his friend Steve Wozniak’s idea to build a personal computer, they form Apple Computer, things go wrong all over the place, Apple finds itself on the brink of insolvency, in comes the Cupertino messiah to resurrect the glory of … well, himself. Cue text reminding the audience Steve Jobs passed away in 2011. Why make this if it’s just a visual adaptation of a Wikipedia page?
Worse than all of that is casually inserting Jobs’ family life, barely giving it a second thought and portraying him as a huge d-bag who wants nothing to do with the idea of a family; only to turn right around with no warning and show him shacked up with now two kids enjoying the luxury of his ridiculously large house. When the hell did his outlook on family change? It may have happened in real life, but for the movie audience, it comes out of nowhere and is as baffling as choosing to put this piece of crap out in actual movie theaters to begin with.
Not even a quarter into the film, I fought to keep myself in the seat and to see this thing through. It’s a terribly made production, the acting is passable for your average cable movie of the week, and it simply seems to be bowing down in worship to the late Steve Jobs (who they constantly portray as a complete jerk with a God-complex and such bad social skills it borders on mental health issues). Jobs is an absolute and utter mess. It’s not worth the download to the digital projectors occupying movie plexes nationwide and it’s certainly not worth any of your time or money.
GRADE: D-
Jobs was directed by Joshua Michael Stern and is rated PG-13 for some drug content and brief strong language.
Jon Tenney, Michael Paul Chan, Tony Denison, G.W. Bailey, and Mary McDonnell star in ‘Major Crimes’ (Photo Credit: Karen Neal)
TNT’s bringing back three of its popular drama series, giving renewals to Rizzoli & Isles, Major Crimes, and Perception. The network, which previously announced the renewal of the alien invasion series Falling Skies, reports all four series are among the Top 10 in basic cable viewership numbers this summer.
“TNT has had a terrific summer with four big hits that have drawn viewers with great storytelling, engaging characters, and outstanding performances,” stated Michael Wright, president, head of programming for TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies. “With the renewals of Rizzoli & Isles, Major Crimes, Falling Skies and Perception, TNT has built an incredibly strong arsenal of scripted series. And it’s only going to get stronger with the addition of Mob City and the return of Dallas this winter, not to mention the debuts of The Last Ship and Legends next summer.”
Rizzoli & Isles will be back for a 15-episode fifth season after averaging 8.4 million viewers over season four. Major Crimes is set to return next summer for season three, coming off viewership numbers in the 6.7 million range. And Perception‘s also getting a 15-episode third season after pulling in an average of 5.6 million viewers.
Disneynature’s Bears will be celebrating Earth Day 2014 in theaters, with the studio donating to the National Park Foundation in honor of moviegoers who catch the film during its first week of theatrical release. “We can’t wait to share these bears’ fascinating behaviors and innate curiosity as they navigate a beautiful but challenging world,” explained Alan Bergman, president of The Walt Disney Studios. “We are committed to protecting the environment and inspiring Disneynature fans to take part in conservation by joining forces with organizations like the National Park Foundation to preserve the natural world.”
And although we’ve still got quite a few months before the film enters theaters, Disneynature’s just provided a new look at the documentary directed by Alastair Fothergill, Keith Scholey, and Adam Chapman.
Disneynature’s ‘Bears’ poster
The Plot:
In an epic story of breathtaking scale, Disneynature’s new True Life Adventure Bears showcases a year in the life of a bear family as two impressionable young cubs are taught life’s most important lessons. Set against a majestic Alaskan backdrop teeming with life, their journey begins as winter comes to an end and the bears emerge from hibernation to face the bitter cold. The world outside is exciting—but risky—as the cubs’ playful descent down the mountain carries with it a looming threat of avalanches.
As the season changes from spring to summer, the brown bears must work hard to find food—ultimately feasting at a plentiful salmon run—while staying safe from rival male bears and predators, including an ever-present wolf pack.
The Returned by Jason Mott is an amazing book, especially if you like books that make you think but that don’t give you the answers to the questions they raise. The premise is that dead people come back to life, but it is so much more than that. These returned, as they are called, are not zombies, they are returned the same age and condition they were in when they died.
If you were given a second chance at life, would you take it? Would you want it? Would you want a second chance at being with a loved one? What is the definition of being human? If loved ones, family, and friends returned from the dead, would it be a wonderful, miraculous event or something darker?
Jacob Hargrave died in 1966 at his eighth birthday party. Now, 50 years later, he is back – unchanged – found sitting at a stream in China. He is soon reunited with his parents who are now in their 70s. This is happening all over the world, and people are desperately seeking answers. Some are bitter and seeking answers as to why their loved one has not returned, others are overwhelmed by happiness, and some are questioning if the returned are really alive.
Many, many people think their returned family member, friend, or loved one is a miracle to be welcomed and cherished, but others see the returned as not human – going so far as to call each one “it” instead of he or she or using their name. Shortly after the dead come back, sides are taken: those who want to protect the returned, and those who want to get rid of them, either by segregating them in camps or by killing them.
Though it is strange enough that the dead men, women, and children come back to life, another oddity is that they come back in geographical locations having nothing to do with them before they died, like one of the main characters, Jacob. Some of them are reunited with their family, others are kept where they arrive. The federal government sets up an agency to deal with them, attempting to segregate and question them by corralling whole towns and turning them into camps. Some friends and family members are in the camps with the returned because they refuse to leave their loved one in the deplorable conditions of the camps where they will be all alone and subjected to the unknown at the hands of the government.
You will definitely search for answers to questions you may have never asked regarding life and death. Would you want to see your loved ones one more time? Say one more thing to them? Have them back for even a little while? This book will make you ponder these questions, doing so by weaving vignettes of the happenings of some of the returned while concentrating on one small town in North Carolina and how those townspeople handle this phenomenon.
The Returned is an incredibly interesting and fascinating book that is extremely well written. This is the first book I’ve read where the author’s notes at the end of the book are as enjoyable and thought-provoking as the book itself, so don’t skip over them. The power of love and forgiveness and the grief of loss are experienced by the reader as well as by the characters in the book. This is one not to miss.
Yes, I fully realize firehouse dogs – and dogs in general – won’t be able to read that headline. However, for the humans in charge of dogs who hang out at firehouses news comes that NBC’s hosting a special contest just for four-legged firehouse companions.
NBC and Chicago Fire have just launched a ‘Chicago Fire Top Dog’ contest specifically aimed at firehouse canines. The winner of the Top Dog contest will appear on Today and on the popular drama about Chicago firemen and women.
The contest runs today through September 8, 2013. For all of the official rules, visit today.com/topdog.
The Details [Courtesy of NBC]:
Firehouses should e-mail submissions to [email protected] and include a photo and no more than 200 words on why their dog should be chosen. Also include the dog and owner’s names, address, home phone number, firehouse number, firehouse phone number and e-mail address, with “Chicago Fire Top Dog Contest” written in the subject line.
Chicago Fire executive producers will review the applicants and choose the top three candidates. Those finalists will appear on Today on Sept. 24 and a public vote will be held on Today.com to pick the winner. The winner will be announced on Today or Today.com on Oct. 1.
Matt Bomer as Neal Caffrey and Tim DeKay as Peter Burke in 'White Collar' (Photo by David Giesbrecht/USA Network)
USA’s original drama White Collar returns for season five at 9pm and the final six episodes of Covert Affairs kicks off at 10pm on October 17, 2013 as part of the network’s 2013 fall lineup. USA’s schedule also includes the first four seasons of the hit series Modern Family, which will air five nights a week starting on September 24th at 8pm.
USA’s fall schedule also includes NCIS: Los Angeles airing four nights a week beginning September 23rd at 7pm.
Heading into the holidays, It Takes a Choir will air on Sundays at 8pm starting on November 3rd. The reality series is based on a UK show and follows “the distinct and charming choirmaster Gareth Malone, who unites an unexpected mix of characters through the spellbinding power of music. A true fish out of water, in both his environment and teaching style, Malone finds himself in the craziest situations with some of the biggest characters. Each episode culminates in a unified and powerful public performance from the choir in front of their family, friends, and community.”
The holiday schedule also features Psych: The Musical, a two-hour special coming to USA on Sunday, December 15th at 9pm. The Plot: “Shawn (James Roday) and Gus (Dule Hill) dive into a world that’s equal parts mystery and melody to track down an escaped playwright mad man, Z (Anthony Rapp), who six years earlier was deemed criminally insane after locking a critic in a back room of the theatre that he burnt to the ground. The holiday event also stars Maggie Lawson, Kirsten Nelson, Timothy Omundson and Corbin Bernsen.”
Details on White Collar:
White Collar picks up after the shocking arrest of FBI agent Peter Burke (Tim DeKay) on murder charges. Neal Caffrey (Matt Bomer) must make a deal with the devil to help clear his name. The series also stars Willie Garson, Tiffani Thiessen, Marsha Thomason and Sharif Atkins. Garson makes his television directorial debut this season, and DeKay returns to direct another episode.
Details on Covert Affairs:
In season 4.5 of Covert Affairs the hunt is on. As the people closest to Annie (Piper Perabo) suffer in the aftermath of Henry Wilcox’s (guest star Gregory Itzin) bitter revenge plot, Annie makes her biggest sacrifice, pushing herself farther than ever in order to face off against a devious puppet master. The series also stars Christopher Gorham, Kari Matchett, Peter Gallagher and Hill Harper.
A scene from ‘Chasing Life’ (Photo Credit: ABC Family)
ABC Family announced filming is now underway on the new series Chasing Life, and the network also announced the addition of two recurring guest stars: Steven Weber and Scott Michael Foster. The one-hour drama series was adapted from the Mexican TV series and will be executive produced by Sean Smith, Susanna Fogel, Joni Lefkowitz, and Aaron Kaplan.
Italia Ricci tackles the lead role of an aspiring journalist whose life is thrown for a loop when she finds out she has cancer. The cast also includes Mary Page Keller, Aisha Dee, Richard Brancatisano, and Haley Ramm.
The series will debut in 2014. Episode one is being directed by Steve Miner.
The Plot: Chasing Life follows twenty-something April, a smart and quick witted aspiring journalist who is trying to work her way up the ladder at a Boston newspaper by trying to impress her hard-nosed editor. When not pursuing the latest scoop, April tries to balance her ambitious career with her family – her widowed mom Sara, rebellious little sister Brenna and her grandmother. Just as things start to look up at work, home, and on the romance front with co-worker Dominic, April gets the devastating news from an estranged uncle that she has cancer.
