Sci-Fi Media: Films, Books and Television

[newyorklily]

Watched Revolution for the first time last night. I could only make it through half of episode 2 because of the violence. Way too much.It was also very unrealistic. All those cars lying around, abandoned? The thing that victims of Hurricane Sandy have been complaining about the most is the gasoline shortage. If there was no gas and no electric power -- or, even no car battery power -- somebody would find some way to make those cars move. And then that person would sell it.

[calikid]

Watched CLOUD ATLAS last Friday.

2hr40mins is a long movie, but held my interest the whole time.

One objection I had to the FIVE story lines was that they seemed to be pushing the idea of reincarnation (ala the comet tattoo).
A much simpler explanation would be that human motivations, the spirit of mankind if you will, goes on from this generation to the next. Rather than the physical/intellectual essence of an individual is reborn in perpetuity.

Maybe someone more familiar with plot devices could comment on if eliminating this aspect would have detracted too much from the story line...

[A99]

Grimm: I’ve changed my mind on #1 on that list on what I would change on that show to make it better, so I crossed it off. The reason being is because maybe Nick would not be too happy ending up with a Weson female after all as I can’t imagine having to take one’s mate to the vet all the time to make sure they are completely free of mange, heartworm and ear mites; especially the hairier ones!

But no matter how bad an actress she is (that is unless you call careening from ennui to listlessness to a dull funk as ones only ’emotes’ in every scene she’s in as "great acting") -- knocking off Juliette would just be adding, yet, more violence and bloodshed to a show that already has too much of it as it is. Yes, I agree, there’s definitely too much violence in some of these sci-fi shows on tv.

This said though, she’s definitely one lucky gal to have two equally hot guys after her… one being a human (Nick) and the other being a Weson half-breed (Renard). But let’s hope that at the end of the day she chooses the one who doesn’t drink out of the toilet!*


* -- not that all Weson’s do that and I’m sure most do NOT! But seriously, from the looks of it, I‘m sure a few of them wouldn‘t even think twice about it!

[Doc]

I've only seen the last few episodes of this show on Hulu, which are free. I have not seen the episodes that came prior to that for this season because they are Hulu Plus ones where one needs a paid sub. to see them. I don't have a sub. and don't plan to either but I have taken the time to read over a few pages on the Grimm Wiki site so I now know who's who and what went on in Season 1 and the first half of Season 2.

The show is entertaining but already I'm getting bored with the main weekly plots because they are all basically the same. Someone's murdered or kidnapped by a Weson and Nick and Hank chase them down where they usually end up killing them in self-defense. In short, these episodes are really not too different from any police show out there except that the bad guy is also a Weson.

At any rate, to me, such plots are just fillers for the current main sub-plots of which there are 2, the Nick/ Renard/Juliette love triangle and the blossoming romance between Monroe and Rosalee -- the first being more prominent than the other. The Nick/Juliette thing is really starting to sizzle now but, on the other hand, it's making poor Nick look like a real loser/cuckhold? lol ... not good for the main character of the show.

But here are a few changes I'd like to see done to this show to make it more interesting.

--- Kill off Juliette and find a pretty Weson for Nick to fall in love with who can act.
--- Make Renard a little more sinister than he is right now.
--- Produce more episodes that fill us in more on Renards' family, the Royals.
--- They should also show flashbacks to earlier era's having to do with the Templars and the Chinese all the way back to ancient Tibet.
--- Have those flashbacks to those earlier times in history occur in every episode. The aim would be to capitalize more on the mythology depicted in this show. Even flashbacks to the Nazis and their involvement with those coins, the Weson's, the Grimms and so on would be very entertaining too.

--- Show a division in the Weson demographic where the evil ones are actively seeking to take over the world with the good ones trying to subvert that. Maybe the bad Wesons could even have some ET's who are helping them do that too.
--- The good ones should be working with Monroe as their leader who in turn is helping out Nick and Hank to subvert any new plot by the bad Weson's to further their agenda.

--- IOW's, the "police show" aspects of each episode should tie in directly to the evil agenda being carried out by the "bad" Wesons.
--- Does all of this sound familiar? Yes, because it is not unlike the ongoing narrative presented by David Icke concerning the Reptilians and the kinda thing we saw going on in "V".
--- But the main characters of this show should be Renard, Monroe and Nick... in that order.

A99: Great analysis!

Renard did start out as a more menacing character and then they seemed to back off from that. I thought they were trying to avoid some of the Police Show cliches or they had Nick and Renard on a collision course that would erupt too soon and changed their minds about that subplot.

One of my "quibbles" that I didn't mention above is that I don't see Nick (or the actor, maybe) as a very strong or compelling character. Renard, Hank and Monroe all seem stronger to me and tend to outshine him. It doesn't help that the previous role I saw him in he was a pretty boy with no strength of character.

The girlfriend is odd, I think. Smart one minute, foolhardy the next. It seems to be a lapse in logic that Nick leaves her alone and unprotected in that house all hours of the night even after he and she have been attacked in their home more than once.

I think your idea of flashbacks is an excellent one and would improve the show.

I agree that the story lines are all the same...but many shows have gotten away with that once you begin to care about the people. Much has been written about The X Files having only two story lines and Star Trek having only three, endlessly repeated. In both, it was the relationships people were coming to see...or so they say.

[A99]

"Menacing", yes, that's the word I was looking for in my thoughts about how they could make some improvements on Renard. That they had him like that in the beginning is something they should have stuck with. Hopefully they will choose to revert back to that again as that would make him even more interesting than he is right now.
Also, I totally agree with your sentiments on Nick and that those other guys on the show outshine him by a mile in terms of "strength of character"... wow! You're good at this!
As for the story lines, I hear ya! That's a big problem, in my view, with a lot of shows on tv... especially the police ones but this goes for other genres too. In my view, it's lazy writing regardless that they do put a lot of focus on character development.
As for the gf... lol. She reminds me of that blond on "The Event"... the one who couldn't act her way out of a paper bag even when held at gun-point! Lol... Same thing here too with Juliette.

------------------------------
So here we have the 2 main characters of a show where neither one of them are good actors... certainly not compared to the other actors on it. Very odd how that is but there ARE ways they can work around that.

[calikid]

Walking Dead

SPOILER Alert.






Hello Baby
RIP Lori
RIP T-Dog

[Doc]

Walking Dead

SPOILER Alert.






Hello Baby
RIP Lori
RIP T-Dog

People were commenting about it all over the internet last night on totally unrelated forums and blogs. One guy just said, "Walking Dead tonight. Brutal."

I was thinking that kid was already "numbing" from PTSD, he will really be a mess now.

[calikid]

Walking Dead

SPOILER Alert.






Hello Baby
RIP Lori
RIP T-Dog

People were commenting about it all over the internet last night on totally unrelated forums and blogs. One guy just said, "Walking Dead tonight. Brutal."

I was thinking that kid was already "numbing" from PTSD, he will really be a mess now.

Nothing like putting down your own zombie mom to spoil your day. Either a hot mess or a hard case...

[CasperParks]

Walking Dead, prior season or seasons is at local DVD rental store. I am not into Zombie stuff, over done. Between posts here and people working at the DVD rental place, every says it is a great series. Will have to rent the first disk with a few eposides on it just to check it out. If decent, it could turn into a marathon session to catch-up.

[calikid]

Walking Dead, prior season or seasons is at local DVD rental store. I am not into Zombie stuff, over done. Between posts here and people working at the DVD rental place, every says it is a great series. Will have to rent the first disk with a few eposides on it just to check it out. If decent, it could turn into a marathon session to catch-up.

I may joke about the gratuitous violence, but I've never been a big fan of slasher flicks either.
But I think you will discover, as I did, that the acting and metaphors are well done in this series.

In one episode, Rick is begging Hershel not to throw them off his farm; "You don't know what it's like out there" he begs.
It could have been any homeless family on the planet, not just refugees from a Zombie Apocalypse.

Look forward to hearing your "review". Enjoy.