The Interview

In a week when cheaters can still play in the Super Bowl and major cities braced for winter superstorms that never came, what better time to review The Interview?

Originally intended to be just another bad stoner flick from James Franco and Seth Rogan, The Interview gained frightening national and international infamy by reputedly being the target of a cyber attack on Sony supposedly by North Korea. While the facts of who did what may be in question, it seems that making a film about what a monster the leader of North Korea is and how a couple of idiots attempt to assassinate him could actually lead to an act of war. Sounds silly, doesn't it? But apparently it happened.

I didn't plan on seeing this movie, but now that it is quickly available on Netflix, I thought, what the heck I might take a peek. And it's not a matter of wanting to see it as much as it's a matter of wanting to see what all the fuss is about. In The Interview, James Franco is an idiot talk show host and Seth Rogan his long suffering producer who longs to do serious journalism. In an attempt to remedy the latter, they land an exclusive interview with Kim Jong-un. The CIA intervenes and hopes to get them to stealthily assassinate the dictator.

The opening scene with Eminem is hilarious. There are sweet moments like Franco bonding with Kim Jong-un and Seth Rogan mooning over his North Korean counterpart but for the most part this is another Franco/Rogan dick and fart joke stoner movie, nothing new and nothing should be expected to be new. And when it takes a serious turn in the middle of its childish humor, I didn't know how to feel. Really, this film has a moral lesson and political agenda now? Way out of left field.

This is still a terrible movie, but it's better than it has any right to be. And I'm not sure whether that's good or bad. I certainly didn't hate it like I did This Is The End. I really didn't think I could hate James Franco more than I already did, and then I saw The Interview. The man is now on my do-not-watch list. Yeah, he's that bad. He makes Adam Sandler look like Cary Grant. Seth Rogan isn't bad, and Lizzy Caplan does her best with what she has to work with.

These movies seem to be quite popular and I don't like them much. A friend threw an idea my way that has been weighing on me, so I thought I'd throw it out to you. She compared the Franco/Rogan films to some of the sillier comedies of the 1960s, and suggested that they were just this generation's version of that type of humor. She mentioned two names in particular, and I'll pass them along - are these the type of movies that Jerry Lewis or Don Knotts be making if they were in their prime today? Thoughts?

Otherwise, I would say to wait to see The Interview for free, if at all. This flick is only a curiosity because of the controversy around it, not because of anything special in it.

Avengers Assemble!

Apparently the Superbowl was last night. Some folks were excited about the commercials. Some folks were excited about Madonna. Rumor has it there was even a pretty good football game last night. I didn't notice, especially seeing how neither the Philadelphia Eagles nor the Dallas Cowboys were involved. But I watched last night's Super Bowl too, but for none of the above - I watched it for The Avengers!



Yeah, baby! I absolutely can not wait until May fourth! Avengers Assemble!

The Nature of Spoilers

Since I've gotten my iPhone, with the miracles of streaming Netflix and HBO Go, I have been stripping entire TV series before I go to bed instead of reading myself to sleep. I have gotten to see some pretty cool programs, stuff like "Oz," "Avatar the Last Airbender," "Nip/Tuck," "Sons of Anarchy," "Big Love" and "Deadwood." Great stuff, just amazing television. And also through apps like Miso and GetGlue, I'm able to let folks know what I'm watching.

My most recent project has been "Six Feet Under," and a friend of mine saw I was watching it and offered his opinion that the first season was great (of which I'm only almost done), the second was only okay and that the third and fourth seasons jumped the shark. Now I know that "Six Feet Under" is more than a handful of years old, but it got me thinking about spoilers, and when is it safe to talk about something after it happens without spoiling it?

I would think that news and sports would have the absolute shortest shelf life. News travels at the speed of light nowadays with Twitter. Sports would be only as long as you can keep a secret I suppose. I have a friend, seriously not into sports, who used to make it a game to see how long he could go without knowing who was playing in the Super Bowl each year. He used to do quite well, but this was back in the days before the Super Bowl was about more than football. Now it's more about middle-aged women exposing themselves or which ancient rocker was going to break a hip in stage this year.

In my tiny world of comic books, where the new titles come out on Wednesdays and most folks don't buy them until Friday, mid-weekend seems to be safe harbor to talk without spoilers. For TV, even in the age of DVRs and OnDemand, it seems a good idea to avoid the water cooler and not speak until at least the next episode airs.

Movies are a little different and I think fall into my "Six Feet Under" problem. Everyone knows Rosebud is a sled, but how many folks know the calls are coming from inside the house, Deckard might be a replicant, and that Bruce Willis is really dead - or do they?

Should it just come down to a matter of courtesy? If you know someone hasn't seen something, just be cool and don't spoil it, or should there be a statute of limitations on entertainment? What are the rules for spoilers?

Super Bowl Aftermath: Commercials

Despite one of the better (or at least more interesting) commercials this year being banned from being broadcast, there were still a few ads that stood out during this year's Super Bowl.

The main idea is to surprise, entertain, and most importantly let the viewer remember the name of the product when it's all over. I mean everyone remembers the amazing Big Brother commercial from 1984 - but come on, who remembers what they were selling?

Let's start with a good one from Doritos that aired early in the game...

It met criteria by making me laugh and I knew what they were selling. On the bad side, there were a few that creeped me out. Like the NBC ads for "Heroes" where the casts of that show, "Medium" and "Chuck" lipsynced to an old Motown tune. As a matter of fact, all of the commercials for NBC shows were pretty bad, and disrepectful to the shows themselves. Were they trying to turn folks off?

None of the Coke, Pepsi or Budweiser ads did anything for me, and that "Pepsuber" bit not only made me not want to drink Pepsi but also stop watching "Saturday Night Live." Speaking of bad commercials, what was up with that Cash4Gold.com one with Ed McMahon and MC Hammer? Was that for real, or just a cruel joke?

A joke that worked and that I loved was Alec Baldwin for Hulu...

My absolute favorite of the night however was the CareerBuilder.com commercial with the fuzzy logic ad...

Although I could see it getting very annoying if it starts playing repetitively in general circulation.

So anyone know who won the game?

Super Bowl Aftermath: Halftime

Ever since the Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake nipple-for-a-nanosecond debacle of 2004, the powers that be have been determined to make Super Bowl halftime shows short, to the point and family-oriented if possible - clean with no chance of surprise. I just know that they were folks losing their minds last night when Bruce Springsteen not only went over his time but also started ad-libbing with side man Little Steven Van Zandt. But all worked out, Bruce had aged to the point of harmlessness unfortunately.

Now I'm from New Jersey, so we've been putting up with his nonsense, and for the most part enjoying it, since the mid-1970s. So the nostalgic part of me got a kick out of him and the reunited E Street Band jamming like old friends last night. It actually felt rather cozy like seeing them in small club as opposed to the world's largest theatre. And it was good to hear three songs from from different eras of his career as well - been far too long since I've heard "10th Avenue Freezeout."

But it wasn't all nostalgia and flowers. Was it just me or was everyone waiting for that blood vessel on the left side of Bruce's face to just explode? It came close more than a few times. Dude is unfortunately getting old with the rest of us. And I so did not need to see that crotch slide right into the camera either, and almost right into my living room. Sheesh! Good thing that part wasn't in 3-D. All in all though, an enjoyable halftime performance. I've have enough "boss time" to last a little while longer.

Super Bowl Aftermath: Movie Previews

Here's the rundown (or at least my rundown) on the 2009 Super Bowl movie previews...

First we got another look at J.J. Abrams' Star Trek...

as well as previews of Pixar's Up, Fast & Furious, the Transformers sequel which just looks like more of the same and, believe it or not, a live action G.I. Joe movie

Holy crap, that actually looks like it might be cool. We also got the new Jack Black comedy, Year One, and two that will appeal to the baby boomers - a re-imagining of the Witch Mountain flicks from Disney starring The Rock, and this one...

Will Ferrell taking on the drug-induced dino-delica of Sid & Marty Krofft's Land of the Lost. The mind boggles. lastly we got the special 3-D preview of Monsters Vs. Aliens

Now I'm sure the commercials in 3-D were good, as was the movie preview and it looks like the movie itself will be a lot of fun, but - has anyone been able to find those special 3-D glasses? I know I haven't and I think I'll need them for "Chuck" tonight as well...

Go Veg!

It would seem that so far the coolest and the hottest of the Super Bowl commercials this year, is the one that has been banned from being shown. PETA shoots and scores!