The Thing Review: Who Can It Be Now?

The continent of Antarctica has an indigenous population of roughly zero, though you would never guess it from the 400,000 people running around like lunatics in The Thing, a prequel/remake (Premake?) of John Carpenter’s 1982 Sci-Fi/Horror masterpiece that delivers what it promises, but is never able to come close to the sheer brilliance and terror of its heritage.

The Thing (2011) is a Premake in that it tells the fateful story of the Norwegian geological base that first discovers an alien ship and the terrible creature within, the base from which the runaway dog that finds its way to the American survey site originally comes from. The film is also a Premake because it shamelessly follows beat for beat the structure of the 1982 version leaving very little to shock or surprise.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead is Kate Something-or-other, a paleontologist who is pulled to the Antarctic off the recommendation of Adam Goodman (Eric Christian Olson), who is of an indeterminate relationship with Kate. It’s not that it’s unclear…it’s just that it’s TOTALLY UNCLEAR (was that at all unclear?). But that’s okay, because she needs to get her disarmingly perky butt to the cold, where Dr. Sander Halvorson and his giant, giant team have unearthed the find of the century. The find in question is a massive alien spacecraft which the team accidentally uncovered after plummeting down a hidden crevasse in the snow. At the opening of the film, they are wedged in between the narrow walls of ice, trapped inside their snowcat vehicle. How they got out is anyone’s guess, as mysterious as Kate and Adam’s relationship. But none of that matters, you see, because we need to get to the slaughter.

Shit starts to get real when Halvorson asks that a tissue sample be taken of the creature they found encased in a block of ice. Kate is not amused, but Halvorson is running the show and gets what he wants. Within hours, the creature breaks free from the ice and the cat-and-thing game begins. And so ends the “prequel” section in which a world is built from the ground up in order to tie into a film that follows it. The latter half of the movie turns into a ham-fisted recycling of greatest hits from the 1982 version that never quite end up working because we have quite literally seen it all before. There is a makeshift test to see who is who. An important wing of the base is sabotaged by persons unknown. Vehicles are disabled. Characters are locked away in off-base storage rooms. These scenes could have worked as jumping off points, as they did to great effect in Let Me In, but instead the filmmakers choose to go by-the-numbers, mixing big freak-out scenes with tension, a blend that never ever works because you begin to anticipate every scare (one of the many reasons Paranormal Activity continues to fail at being remotely scary).

And such is the main thorn in The Thing’s side. It has removed the most important piece of the scare equation from Carpenter’s film: the isolation. From Frame One of the 1982 version, you are in the Middle of Fucking Nowhere with a very small group of people and the uncomfortable nature of that very situation is immediately palpable. Here are a bunch of Good ‘Ol Boys who are already infected- not with the creature, but with cabin fever. They are stuck in a vacuum, watching pre-taped reruns of television, playing computer chess, getting shit-faced. Throw into that mix a destructive feeling of paranoia and fear and the results are overwhelming. 2011’s movie pulls us completely out of that tone, cutting away from Antarctica at times and filling the screen with countless Norwegian and American characters that only serve to be more meat for the grinder. The fear of the movie is not knowing who is infected which surely carries over to the new film, but the effect is lost because the characters don’t stick in your mind. Where is the warm grizzly bear dog lover? Or the roller-skating cook? Instead, we are given Random Norwegian Geologist #5B and are expected to be shocked when they are revealed to be alien.

Also of shallower effect is the over-used CG in the film. Despite the use of the talents at Amalgamated Dynamics, there is a drastic overuse of CG elements to make the creature larger, more “animated,” more destructive, but the effect is dwindling. Bigger is not always better. In fact, the best scenes in the movie are the subtler ones, scenes in which the remaining characters begin to turn on each other, unable to discern who is really themselves. At one point, I was hoping that one flamethrower-wielding Norwegian was going to torch the lot of them only to reveal that they were actually human. That would have been an incredible moment that clearly defined the induced horror of the story, but that very human reversal has nothing to do with aliens or getting stabbed in the neck with tentacles, so of course it never comes to pass, which quite specifically gets to the heart of what is wrong with The Thing- the movie even at its best is one great big missed opportunity.

This all sounds very negative, but the film is by no means a disaster. When it works, it works well. Joel Edgerton’s talents are generally wasted, but when he is on screen, he is as effective as always. And Winstead, with her winsome doe-eyes that could warm any heart encased in twelve feet of Antarctic ice, does her best with the thinness of Kate, turning her into a Ripley-esque archetype that should have had more authority than the filmmakers gave her. Sets and photography are lovingly re-created in spirit with the 1981 version and the score is just as creepy and foreboding. The difference between the two films is John Carpenter threw caution to the wind and sought to get creative where these new filmmakers did not; the original, The Thing From Another World, was a cautionary tale of the Red Scare (as most Sci-Fi of this time was), in which Americans become “infected” by something horrible, something which has no tangible sign of existence, which changes them for the worse. Carpenter eschewed the political leanings and amped up the terror and in doing so, crafted a haunted house movie that can stand with any other film of the genre. The 2011 film has no similar sense of purpose and instead gives us something only disguised as truly great and turns out being, if you will, the grotesque imitator of its original host.

Images courtesy of Universal and IMDbPro

Supernatural Review: Dean’s Guilty Conscience Nearly Kills Him

Dean Winchester (Jensen Ackles) comes face to face with his own guilt as he stands trial in the court of Osiris, Egyptian god of the dead. Osiris doesn’t judge the party, oh no he lets them judge themselves and then weighs their guilt against the feather of truth.

After Dean’s killing of Amy the kitsune last week, he can’t help but feel a little heavy of heart of late. He is reluctant as Sam (Jared Padalecki) says that they should investigate a case involving a man being run over by a car inside his apartment. They discover that the victim had killed a young girl years ago by hitting her while backing out of his driveway. He was a recovering alcoholic and was probably drinking, which is why he didn’t see the little girl.

Soon after a man is mauled to death by a dog inside the bathroom of a diner with the other customers not hearing or seeing anything. This time Sam and Dean find out that he had once operated a dog fighting operation but after he got out on probation, he began volunteering at a local animal shelter and continued on even after his required time. He even raised a lot of money for the shelter.

After discovering red dirt in both crime scenes, Sam and Dean make their way to an old apple farm where they come a cross a third would be victim. The man had just been released from jail for robbing a liquor store in the ’80s and murdering the owner and his wife. He tells the Winchesters one second he was at the local dive bar and the next he was sitting on trial. The trial was Osiris’s courtroom.

Dean becomes the next defendant and relives some of the ghosts from his own past. Of all the things he’s done, apparently what he’s done to Jo (Alona Tal) and Sam stand out the most. Osiris calls Jo’s ghost to the stand and insinuates that Dean had something to do with the first case that started her path to becoming a hunter. In Sam’s cross-examination (acting as Dean’s lawyer) he asks Jo whether or not she had a good relationship with her father.

“So why’d you start? To impress some loud mouth ass you just met or because you wanted to be like your dad?” Sam asks.

Jo responds, “Daddy issues, definitely.”

Sam is then called as the next witness and Osiris prods him by blaming Dean for dragging him back into the life of a hunter. He could have become a lawyer and had a different life, if it weren’t for Dean showing up again. The elder Winchester clearly feels guilty about this, and essentially takes the blame for ruining Sam’s life. But let’s not forget that Sam’s college friend Brady was a demon working under Azazel’s orders and Azazel himself had given him demon blood to Sam as a baby because he had plans for the younger Winchester. There was no way he could have escaped the supernatural life even if Dean never showed up.

Osiris then goes on to say that people want to be judged and that when someone’s heart is heavy, real punishment is a mercy. He’s there to weigh the guilt that already exists, so as long as Dean believes he’s guilty then he is.

Sam calls Dean onto the stand and tries to get his brother to believe that he is innocent. But Osiris asks the elder hunter if he would like for the last witness to be called. We of course know that would be Amy, Dean’s most recent kill. He tells Osiris to just get on with it, unwilling for Sam to find out what really happened.

Dean is pronounced guilty and told to get his affairs in order quickly. Sam leaves his brother at the motel while he goes in search of a ram’s horn, the only thing that can take Osiris out of commission for a little while. He goes to a Jewish temple where they indeed have a ram’s horn (a shofar), used during religious services such as Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

Back at the motel, Dean admits to Jo that she and Sam both deserved better. He tells her that Osiris was right about him because he didn’t want to be a hunter alone. Dean says that they were both kids still and hunters are never kids. He is ready to accept the punishment and die.

Sam is able to stab Osiris with the ram’s horn just as he is about to abduct another victim and Jo is about to kill Dean.

The brothers share a final scene with Sam telling Dean that he doesn’t feel guilty about the things that he’s done because in a way he’s paid his dues with the time he spent inside the cage. In an interview with Jared Padalecki at Comic-Con 2011, he explains how in season seven Sam has finally accepted himself and his life. Dean on the other hand is still wrestling with the guilt he has inside, refusing to tell his brother about Amy. After Lisa and Ben, I can understand how Dean can feel responsible for bringing a lot of violence and blood into people’s lives. But he didn’t choose this for himself either.

This was a little break from the Leviathan hunting that’s dominating season seven so far and the beer drinking scene is much like earlier seasons, which is more evidence of the show returning to its roots. Question is, will the audience be happy with that after everything that’s happened to the Winchesters so far? This fan will be waiting to see what tricks the writers have up their sleeves!

Season 7, Episode 4: Defending Your Life (originally aired October 14, 2011)

Fridays at 9/8c on The CW.

Images courtesy of Jack Rowand and The CW.

Fringe Review: Welcome Back To Not Your Life

Friday night’s episode of Fringe was, for me, the weakest of the new season. It might have had something to do with no Lincoln, no alternate universe, no real case, and very little Astrid and Broyles. Or it could have been the strange and disconnected reunion with one of Walter’s previous “experiments.” Either way the episode didn’t glue my eyes to every breath, every scene, every sentence the way the previous two have.

It did have something at the end that made up for the rest, though.

The show began with Olivia (Anna Torv) asleep, a strange energy hovering in her room and sucking the metal objects off her bedside table. The entity burns her in the process. When she goes to tell Walter (John Noble) about the experience, she finds him in the lab with Astrid (Jasika Nicole) attempting to catch his specter on film. Since last week he has become certain that the man, whoever he is, exists outside our physical reality.

Walter also learns that since he’s been deteriorating mentally, the psychiatrist from the insane asylum has recommended he be returned for full time care. The decision is Olivia’s, so when she prepares to leave town to track down a lead, Walter insists on going along.

You’ll recall in this reality, Walter has not left his lab in over three years.

Walter recalls a patient, a boy who underwent Cortexiphan injections with Olivia, who could astral project himself while under the influence of the drug. One of the side effects they never neutralized was his ability to draw metal objects in the process. Walter hasn’t kept up with his trial subjects, but wonders if this boy is trying to contact Olivia for some reason.

Before they leave, Nina Sharp (Blair Brown) comes into the picture, because the old drug trial files are housed at Massive Dynamic. We glimpse her lecturing on nanotechnology to a bunch of suits (with black gloves on both hands), with a morally ambiguous agenda. Walter is on remote, jabbering in Astrid’s ear, and makes it clear he and Nina have no love for one another in this reality. In addition, we learn Nina and Olivia have a relationship that stretches back to at least Olivia’s high school years, a small difference I find extremely interesting.

In this timeline Olivia recalls her time as Subject 13 in Walter’s trials, and reveals a bit about the experiments to Astrid, including that one of the side effects was crossing into a parallel universe. Astrid, seemingly unaware of Walter and Olivia’s past until that moment, went wide-eyed as she asked “so they experimented on kids?”

I’m wondering if, though all the changes we’ve seen until now have been relatively unobtrusive, the writers are planning to shock us with large-scale implications in the near or distant future.

Once they hit the road, Walter and Olivia interact in a series of distressing but flawlessly executed scenes, first in the hotel and afterward, in a restaurant. Walter has an episode at the hotel over the germs he’s possibly encountering. And I don’t mean a slightly charming, Walter episode. It’s a full on psychotic break in which he trashes the hotel room, then confesses how much he misses his wife and the way his life could have been. Olivia takes him out for root beer floats and Walter continues to stress out, sharing that he knows about the form and recognizes she has no reason to continue to care for him because they aren’t family, or anything more than work associates. It breaks my heart that she doesn’t respond or reassure him, but perhaps the entity arrived again before she could manage to find the right words.

When they do finally locate the boy from the trials, a man called Mark Little, he panics at the sight of Walter, flinging accusations and letting the old man know exactly how badly those trials ruined the rest of his life. Super powers, he says, wouldn’t have been so bad. Being normal would have been okay with him too. But the side effects have left him somewhere in the middle, and he figures that makes him nothing more than a freak.

The energy shows up again while Mark is present, and they all realize the man has nothing to do with what’s happening at all.

And that’s when I was all….so nothing we’ve done in this episode leads anywhere.

Yes, the audience was treated to the poignant, beautiful acting we’ve come to expect from both Torv and Noble, but we’re also used to tight knit, case-centered writing.

Walter deduces that with the energy Mark Little can control combined with a large, electrical plant, they could displace the entity intent on contacting Olivia. At the last moment, the glowing, bluish projection forms into a person-shaped thing.

Then it develops the outline of a face.

Then it’s a face we know, that Olivia recalls from her dreams, and it’s Peter.

She tries to get Mark to stop trying to destroy it, firing her gun in the moments before the thing – Peter – disappears.

And surfaces in a lake – the same lake he drowned in as a boy (in this timeline).

The episode ends with Peter (Joshua Jackson) in the hospital, asking for Olivia and Broyles (Lance Reddick) and Walter. They still have no idea who he is, but go see him because he knows everything about Fringe division, including a heck of a lot of classified information he shouldn’t.

Poor Peter. He’s been through all of this, and he managed to break through to these people he loves, but they don’t remember him at all.

Of course, I expect all of these circumstances to result in some fantastic television in the weeks to come.

Season 4, Episode 4 “Subject 9” (original airdate October 14, 2011)

Fringe airs Friday nights at 9/8c on Fox

Images courtesy of Liane Hentscher, 20th Century Fox.

The Vampire Diaries Review: Bad Stefan is Here to Stay

It’s really tempting and possible to say this every week in regards to The Vampire Diaries but this week in particular I think I’d be remiss to not say, “I can’t believe all that happened!”

In calmer words, a whole lotta shit went down this week and the series once again threw a whole new twist at us to keep us on our toes. Things picked up quickly from where they left off last week as the seniors of Mystic Falls High prepared for the first day of their final school year by setting up pranks around the school in time honored tradition. This is all well and fun of course until Klaus and Rebecca turn up and throw a giant wrench into everything.

After capturing Elena, Klaus proceeds to feed his blood and temporarily kill werewolf Tyler and tasks Bonnie with finding out why this act hasn’t turned other werewolves into half-breeds yet. Knowing there is only limited time before Tyler will really die, Bonnie races off with Matt to find Jeremy whom she believes can help her make contact with an elder witch in the afterlife who might have some answers. More on that later.

Stefan eventually shows up at the high school gym where all of this is going down and tries to pledge his loyalty to Klaus once again by killing two hapless teens. This works for a second until Rebecca figures out that Elena used to be in possession of her magic necklace. Elena admits that Katherine has it now but they don’t believe her and therefore set a time limit for the necklace to show up. If it doesn’t arrive, Klaus compels Stefan to feed on Elena. But this wasn’t just your normal, everyday vampire compulsion. This one completely wiped out every ounce of good in Stefan. We are no longer messing around.

Meanwhile, Bonnie and Matt search around for Jeremy but can’t find him to save their lives. Or Tyler’s life for that matter. Where might Jeremy be you ask? Well, turns out he’s in the trunk of car being driven far, far away by Damon and Katherine. Jeremy may not seem like their ideal travel companion and its true – he’s not at all. He is along for the ride only so they can use him to communicate with his dead girlfriend Anna who happens to have info about Michael who is a vampire that hunts vampires who was most recently hunting Klaus and Rebecca. Got all that? Yeah, me neither.

Regardless of what we know, though, they get some info about where this Michael is entombed (by torturing Jeremy mind you) but then Damon gets frantic texts from Bonnie about what’s going down so he dashes off to the rescue despite Katherine’s urgings not to.

At this point Bonnie and Matt still can’t find Jeremy so Matt decides to take one for the team by drowning himself and hopefully communicate with his dead sister, Vicky, who has been haunting him recently. Matt has been a massively sad panda lately so any storyline about him intentionally killing himself is a tad eerie and only further points out his despair. Worries aside, his plan works and after Bonnie does CPR he is able to give info directly from Vicky that Klaus’s transformations aren’t working because Elena isn’t dead.

I had thought this point was well-known and obvious but what struck me as even stranger about this whole thing was – why does Vicky know anything about it? Why would she have witch connections? Is this an intentional plot point or just lazy writing? I’m suspicious about everything now. You’ve been warned.

Back in the gym time runs out and Stefan tries to eat Elena. Does she die? Not quite. Instead, Klaus feeds some of Elena’s blood to Tyler and it stops him from potentially dying by turning him into a werewolf-vampire half-breed like Klaus! But instead of being grumpy about it, Tyler actually ends up being the happiest we’ve ever seen him! Imagine the wild sex he and Caroline will have now! Yowzas!

All of this means though that rather than let Stefan kill Elena, Klaus is just going to keep her around as his personal little blood bank to continue turning werewolves into half-breeds. He apparently reached this conclusion on a whim (another weak writing point this week?) so kudos to him for a lucky guess! Too bad his plan is foiled when Damon shows up, mentions that Michael is coming, and sends him running for cover.

Damon then takes Elena home and is incredibly sweet with her. At this point we all know that they’re destined for a little hookup/serious relationship but what I liked most about this week’s episode is when Stefan walked into the house with a cocktail saying cocky, mean things like we’ve seen Damon do countless times. He and Damon have officially switched roles and I cannot wait to watch this new dynamic play out. I also can’t help but wonder if this will be a long-term thing. My gut kinda tells me that Bad Stefan is here to stay.

…Unless of course Michael (who Katherine wakes at the end of the episode) come to Mystic Falls and kills everyone. Only time will tell.

The Vampire Diaries Season 3, Episode 5 “The Reckoning” (originally aired October 12, 2011)

Images courtesy of The CW.

The Big Year Review: Not a Fan

If you think a movie about bird watching would be boring, I can confirm that you are correct. The Big Year WAS boring, despite Steve Martin, Owen Wilson and Jack Black. Avid birdwatchers might be thrilled that their hobby is the subject of a Hollywood movie but for the rest of us, you can just push the snooze button for the entire run-time of the film.

First things first, a big year occurs when fanatical bird watchers take a year to travel across North America to spot as many different species of birds as they can. Yeah, this is the premise of the movie. No no, you aren’t reading this incorrectly. THIS is truly the premise of the movie. I went to the theater thinking, “Hey, this could be good…after all, Steve Martin is hilarious, Owen Wilson can hold his own in the comedy department and Jack Black is occasionally funny.”

Around minute 35, I realized I was watching something ranking somewhere between stinky and terrible. Not only had I not laughed ONCE (even in my head!), I kept looking at my watch wondering if I’d make it out in time to grab a Fro-Yo.

Let me summarize the plot. Stu Preissler (Steve Martin), Kenny Bostick (Owen Wilson) and Brad Harris (Jack Black) are all extreme bird watching enthusiasts. They are each gunning for their big year, and to set the record for most birds watched in a single year, which is currently held by Bostick. Are you on the edge of your seat yet? Right, I didn’t think so.

The movie follows all three men, Stu – a richer than rich family man just entering into retirement, Kenny – a super focused “birder” who just can’t seem to grasp the fact that his hobby is ruining his marriage, and Brad – a down and out computer geek, who’s memorized the calls of virtually every single bird out there.

Had this movie been more gripping with respect to the lives that each of these men lead, I could’ve handled bird watching being the overall theme of the film. However, each man’s personal struggles aren’t that compelling. The closest was Kenny, aka Bostick, who constantly chooses himself over his wife, despite the fact she is going through fertility treatments so the two of them can start a family.

The supporting cast in this movie is underutilized. Rashida Jones, who plays Ellie, Brad’s love interest, can do more than imitate random birdcalls. In fact, I found it odd that she might’ve had more birdcalls than dialogue in the entire movie. Joel McHale and Kevin Pollack could’ve been so much more than two bumbling corporate sidekicks. These are all great comedic talents and this movie does nothing to showcase that. But, I guess I shouldn’t really be that surprised given that the movie doesn’t even come close to capturing the comedic prowess of the three main characters.

My overall assessment of The Big Year was that it was a Big Flop. I’d wait until it comes out on Netflix, if you are itching to watch it. If you do decide to watch it in the theater, be prepared to feel like your car does when it’s parked under a large tree for the afternoon. Sh*t on.

 

Images courtesy of 20th Century Fox.

Video: Green Lantern: The Animated Series Sneak Peek

Warner Bros. Animation unveiled the one-hour debut episode of GREEN LANTERN: THE ANIMATED SERIES in a world premiere screening during the show’s panel session at New York Comic Con today, Saturday, October 15. The one-hour special premiere airs Friday, November 11, at 7/6c on Cartoon Network.

Check out the first scene below:

Green Lantern comes to television in an all-new CG animated action series from world-renowned producer, artist and animator Bruce Timm (Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League). Based upon the DC Comics super hero, GREEN LANTERN: THE ANIMATED SERIES follows Earth’s Green Lantern, Hal Jordan, who is used to being in dangerous situations — but he’s never faced anything like this! Set in the farthest reaches of deep space, the series finds Hal on the Guardian Frontier, where he must face down an invasion from the Red Lantern Corps. Powered by pure rage, the evil Red Lanterns have sworn to destroy the Green Lantern Corps and everything they stand for. Dispatched on the experimental spacecraft The Interceptor, Hal is soon joined by an all-new group of heroes on a mission to protect Guardian Space — and the Green Lantern Corps itself!

The Sing-Off: Interview with Sonos’ Chris Harrison

It’s another week closer to the finale of The Sing-Off and this week, Poptimal.com had the chance to speak with a member of Sonos, the latest singing casualty. In our interview, Chris Harrison tells us about the group’s difficulties fitting into the no instruments allowed show, what’s up next for Sonos from here, and also how Sing-Off was like one big summer camp.

On this week’s episode, not only did the competitors of The Sing-Off have to participate in the weekly group number, but they also had to give two competition performances as well. After receiving some very positive (and well deserved) feedback for their performance of Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida,” the group went into their second performance of the night, a rendition of The Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back.”

“That version of ‘I Want You Back’ is something we’ve been doing for almost three years.” Harrison tells us. “It’s a pretty strange rendition of that song, it’s something we’re really proud of. We were working and it kind of came out of nowhere but we weren’t quite sure… This is pretty strange and pretty different. We started doing it at gigs and even rehearsing with each other and we were like, you know what, we’re really proud of it. It’s strange and interesting.”

The judges agreed that it was strange. Saying that it was far too different, they criticized the group for straying too far away from the original spirit of the song turning it from a high spirited tune to a folksy tinged number. When asked how he felt about the judge’s lack of enthusiasm for their artistic interpretation, Harrison tells us that he and the team were surprised that their creativity did not score more points with the judges.

“It kind of blew us how the judges talked so much about how groups need to reinvent songs and put their own personal spin on it,” Harrison tells us before stating that he also understands the judges’ hesitancy in welcoming it. “On the other hand, I could see them hearing [it]. They don’t know we’ve been singing this song for years, this is the third song they’ve heard from us. We took it really far. I understand having not listened to it for a while and then sung in a strange way.”

Speaking of their time on the show, Harrison tells us that he’s had nothing but good experiences while in the competition, and far from a tense and competitive environment, behind the scenes on the show was a little like band camp.

“It was so fun. It’s basically a capella summer camp. Working with these people, a specific type of people, it’s sort of geek and the most fun thing in the world working with 120 other similar geeks and work on music together all day and night. It was literally a summer camp. We get up early in the morning… and there was the group number and it was just the same thing all day long. It was so crazy.” Harrison also compares the group numbers to what he would imagine a theater show to be like, “we rehearsed those for good blocks of hours; pretty much every day of the week.”

Over the course of the competition Harrison tells us that his group has gotten close to several of the remaining groups. One group in particular is the Pentatonix. “I think we had an immediate kinship because they’re a five person group, and we’re a five person group,” he says. Harrison also says that he has a special liking to the way Pentatonix frame their music: “they’re very impressive.”

When asked about the toughest part of the competition, Harrison tells us that during the competition his team lacked the volume that some of the other teams had in spades. Five voices trying to hold up against a 20 person harmony, the team had to learn to make the most out of every voice that they had. One tool that they could not use that came back to haunt them time and again were their effect pedals. “We usually use an effect pedal with a guitar player, bass player, and mic. And those do add up in our live shows, those add some volume and a lot of complexity to the texture of the music. They fill out parts. They fill out the low end. I don’t know if you noticed but our group doesn’t have any bassist in it, there’s no low end really. Learning to work without those were, it wasn’t so much learning because we all did the choir thing and sang in group, we kind of went back to what we were used to doing in school. It’s been a while now. It was interesting… It’s like somebody’s missing.”

Sonos are currently on tour, where they were before and immediately after their time on The Sing Off. No rest for the driven I guess as Chris tells us that the group is also working on their upcoming album. When asked about how their time on The Sing Off has affected them as a group, Harrison tells us that as close as they are, the competition made them even closer.

“We’ve been a group, the five of us, have been singing together for three years at the time. We’d been on the road, so we were pretty close with people you spend seventeen hours in a van driving to gigs most days of the year. We’ve become very tight knit in working with one another before. I think this was a very interesting test of how we all feel about what we do when in this context that we’re not used to at all. Not to be hokey but I think it drew us a little closer together because we were facing a challenge sort of unexpected and very unusual for us. It was very strange and maybe a little frightening to do what we do in another way.”

Upcoming stops on Sonos’ tour include Idaho and Athens, Georgia. And to hear more about Sonos, make sure to check out their website here.

The Sing-Off airs Mondays at 8/7c on NBC.

Images courtesy of Mitchell Haaseth, Lewis Jacobs, and NBC.

America’s Next Top Model Review: The Christian Versus The Lion

Last night’s episode of ANTM had its fair share of pros and cons for sure. Some segments were heartfelt, some were exciting and others were just downright disappointing (ahem, the ending). The stupid drama that unfolded in this episode is slowly changing me in the way that I’m really starting to hate on those I previously favored while beginning to root for others that I never cared for at all. Angelea continued to float around the house, all the while gloating over her best photo win from last week, but no one seemed to care since everyone’s favorite anti-nudie Christian model, Shannon, suddenly came to life and had an ever so brief falling out with Bianca over the rules of the house telephone. Bianca may be a little rough around the edges but her simple questioning of the phone time allotment system in no way warranted Shannon’s ridiculous overreaction and tears. Jeez, it seems like every week someone new is bawling over SOMETHING. The whole snafu turned out to set the theme for the rest of the episode: The People Vs. Bianca. I never knew much about Shannon to begin with, other than the fact that a bikini bottom in no way resembles panties according to her, but I’m starting to slowly gather why she’s not one of my favorites. However, all in all, it was the fun house drama that we all love to see, so that was a major pro.

The day’s challenge took the models to the Santa Monica Pier for a very unusual fashion show. With the use of an amusement park carousel, the ladies took turns jumping on and off as part of a runway show which showcased the Kardashian sister’s new clothing collection. The Kardshian girls ultimately could not decide on one winner and announced that Lisa and Bre were the top two models for that day.

The Pros: A fast moving carousel mixed with leggy models can only scream disaster for them and a good laugh for the viewers. It was certainly one of the most awkward things I’ve seen this season and definitely one of the funniest.

The Cons: Not too many here, unless you count the fact that this “high couture fashion show” displayed a clothing line sold exclusively at Sears and took place at one of the skeeviest piers in southern California.

Meanwhile, the tension between Bianca and the rest of the house continued to build which showed in all of Bianca’s on-camera work this episode. The models were back to the old familiar Siren studios the next day where the big photo shoot of the day was super exciting and inspirational. La Toya Jackson met with the ladies to guide them along in a photo session all about her own brother, the late Michael. Each model was dressed as Michael Jackson himself in one of his various fashion phases from over the years and personally dressed by Mr. Jackson’s own stylist, Rushka.

The Pros: If any of the models were true Michael Jackson fans, then this had to be a pretty incredible moment. It must have been really amazing for La Toya as well. It was also fun to see girls like Bre, Bianca and Laura rock it out!

The Cons: Watching Lisa do her usual spasmodic flailing through the shoot was unbearable and slightly embarrassing to watch.

At judging panel, La Toya joined Tyra and the team to deliberate on whose Michael Jackson shoot was the most worthy. There was an equal amount of criticizing and praising done during the elimination round, but finally a decision was reached.

The Pros: My patience for Lisa has slowly been growing thin and at judging panel, when the judges began to rip apart Lisa’s personal style and photo of the day, I admit that I was enjoying every second of it. Also, Laura was named best photo.

The Cons: Well, the first one has to be that Shannon was runner up for best photo. Ok, no biggie. The second one has to be the fact that no one was eliminated! La Toya was in charge of picking best photos that day and being that her brother, Michael, was all about the love, she decided no one would be going home that night. Very heartfelt and I understand that but it left us regular viewers with quite an anti-climactic episode. Maybe next week Tyra will really take back the reigns and eliminate two models! Now that’s good tv!

 

Cycle 17, Episode 5: La Toya Jackson (originally aired October 12, 2011)

Images courtesy of The CW.

Nick Swardson Interview: Born to Be a Star

For the unfamiliar, it would be easy to regard Nick Swardson as an overnight sensation, if you consider over a decade in the comedic spotlight to be “overnight.” Successful development partnerships with his mentor Adam Sandler, Comedy Central, and a knack for transforming small roles into scene-stealing star turns have placed the self-described “typical class clown” firmly in the driver’s seat of his career, and he is clearly enjoying the ride. We caught up with Nick shortly before the premiere of season two of his sketch comedy show, Nick Swardson’s Pretend Time, to talk about what is in store both on the show and for his career.

Poptimal (POP): First off, congratulations on being picked up for another season of Pretend Time. What can we expect from season two?

Nick Swardson (NS): Thanks, dude. You can expect just complete insanity. It’s some of the craziest sketches I’ve ever done; it’s so out there. People can expect more stand-up this season; there’s going to be stand-up and sort of storytelling on it.

POP: And how vital do you feel keeping your stand-up work fresh is to your writing and TV work and movie roles, etc.?

NS: That’s kind of what I’ve been sort of figuring out as I go along, where stand-up fits in and finding the time to do it. I mean, I don’t like doing stand-up if I don’t have new jokes and something new to say…it’s been a little tricky because I’ve just been exhausted trying to write and produce all these other things, so it’s been a little hard to find time for stand-up. But it’s always on my radar, and it will always be a part of what I do. I’ll never stop doing it.

POP: What was the development process like for Pretend Time? How was it presented to Comedy Central to get the green light?

NS: Umm, it was pretty quick. The network knows me, they’ve known me forever, and it was like, “Sketch Show with Nick Swardson.” We pitched some kind of a general idea of the sketches segueing into each other and they were like “Done!” We didn’t even get a pilot; they ordered six episodes right out of the gate because they trusted me and they know what I can do, and they trusted Tom Gianis who was in charge of Human Giant and Tenacious D on HBO, and that’s my audience. Comedy Central’s been my audience forever, so it wasn’t too complicated, you know what I mean?

POP: That’s pretty amazing, especially since the show does not rely on a lot of celebrity cameos like many sketch shows do. Was there a conscious decision from the beginning to make it a platform for newer talent, up-and-coming talent?

NS: Yeah, I didn’t want it to be just celebrities and guest stars. I wanted to really give the sketches their due and make people focus on the sketches and not the people in them, you know what I mean? I wanted to discover new people…we would go see live shows. The casting director was really great; she would turn us on to some new people. She turned us on to some great, great people.

POP: And kind of following on from that, on Pretend Time, you seem very comfortable sharing the screen and letting others take the lead, which is also unusual for many sketch comedies. Was this also a conscious decision from the start of the show, or did that develop during the creative process?

NS: With my sketches, I gave a lot of sketches to other people that were sketches I really loved. I just want everything to be the best that it can be, you know what I mean? If I don’t feel I’m right for a role, even if it’s the lead in a sketch, I’ll give it up to somebody I feel is more right for it. To me, it’s really about the final product as opposed to any kind of hubris or ego I might have comedically; that doesn’t help anybody.

POP: So is the creative process for Pretend Time a very collaborative effort? Do you usually toss around a few ideas and then go ad-lib it out on camera?

NS: No, it’s ad-libbed a little bit, but it’s pretty much all down on paper because with a sketch show like this, we don’t have a lot of time to fuck around, you know what I mean? Our shooting schedule is really intense. It’s not like a film where we’ll shoot one scene in a day. On Pretend Time we try to shoot two sketches a day, which is really, really aggressive, so we try to get everything as much down on paper as we can.

POP: So has the experience of producing and writing a television show changed your perspective on television vs. movies? Which is your preferred medium right now?

NS: I don’t know…I really like doing film; I like working on films that I have a hand in writing and producing, and movies are really fun. The sketch show is fun, but it’s really intense; it’s so many characters it’s just pretty exhausting and pretty intense, so I really dig working on a movie and creating a new character in that sense.

POP: With your movie work, how do you see the trajectory of your career at this point? Do you see yourself moving on to more dramatic work like a lot of comedians at this point in their career, or are you pretty focused on comedy for the foreseeable future?

NS: I don’t really have a blueprint for what I do and where my career goes, I just kind of follow where stuff takes me. I don’t foresee myself doing drama in the near future, but I am opening to doing anything that I really like, exploring new things and trying out new stuff. I wouldn’t be surprised if I did something more serious down the line, but it’s not really on my radar right now for sure. I’m definitely just trying to figure out what the next film is and just more collaborating with friends and writing, stuff like that.

POP: So have you reached a pretty comfortable level now in the entertainment industry where you can basically walk into roles, or do you still need to read for parts and work for roles?

NS: It’s both…I mean, every casting director knows me. I’ve been in LA 12 years now, so it’s kind of both, you know what I mean? I’ll get offered stuff or I’ll have to go in and read for stuff…30 Minutes or Less, one of my closest friends was the producer, and my buddy was directing it, and I still had to go in and win the role, so you know it’s kind of everything right now, but I have no problem going in with directors who want to kind of see what my take is on the character and stuff like that; it’s kind of across the board. I don’t have to audition for any of Sandler’s stuff (laughs).

POP: Speaking of Adam Sandler, what is that working relationship like, and do you see yourself branching off from the Happy Madison umbrella?

NS: Right now I’m working with Adam and I like working with Adam, maybe down the line I’d like to start my own company, but that’s not really in the near future right now. I enjoy working with Adam and he’s been really great and he’s super creative and he’s also become one of my best friends, so I like being with him and working with him.

POP: And is there still a student/teacher dynamic when you and Sandler are collaborating, or is there enough of a comfort level there that you have license to take over projects when necessary and put your spin on them?

NS: Yeah, at this point he really trusts me and knows that I can write and produce and do the work, you know what I mean?  So I’m just trying to figure out a project right now that I can take and run with, but, no, Adam trusts me completely. I mean, he’s definitely helped me out and showed me kind of how to do all this, so he definitely trusts me.

POP: So, what other projects do you currently have in the pipeline?

NS: I have two scripts at Happy Madison right now, and I’m writing another screenplay as we speak. I’m hoping to reconnect with the director of Grandma’s Boy, who’s one of my best friends, and who’s really great, so we’re looking to collaborate on another script together.

POP: Thanks for the interview, and I’m looking forward to seeing what season two brings.

NS: I’m psyched for you to see it, man. Thanks for talking with me.

Watching the season two premiere of Pretend Time, so far the show seems to be delivering on Nick’s promises in spades.  A song that can only be politely described as differentiating intestinal functions from obstetrical ones definitely qualifies as crazy, as well as a gun wielding cat making it rain in a club and a pregnant 16-month old.  The brief stand-up transitions are taken directly from Swardson’s current material, and while they do not match up directly to the content of the sketches that follow, as Nick described previously, they do a good job of speaking to his Comedy Central faithful.  It will be interesting to see if Swardson and company tailor the stand-up more towards the sketches, or if he uses the show to test new material as the season progresses.

Going from a class clown to creating a springboard for new talent and being on the speed dial of one of the highest-paid actors in Hollywood is quite an achievement, but Nick seems to be taking it all in stride.  Moving from the sidelines to starring roles has provided its own critical challenges, but the foundation that Nick has built to this point should help sustain his pursuit of new creative directions in the future, and keep fans coming to the box office.

Watch Nick Swardson’s Pretend Time Wednesdays on Comedy Central at 10:30/9:30c.

Images courtesy of Mike Yarrish, Frank Micelotta and Comedy Central.

The Walking Dead Premiere: Season Two Has Heart…and Brains

Fans of AMC’s smash hit The Walking Dead have been anticipating the zombie thriller’s second season since last December, and the brutal wait is nearly over. On Sunday, October 16, the post-apocalyptic drama returns with a supersized 90-minute premiere that picks up right where Season One’s finale left off. Cast members, executives, creators and celebrity fans of the show were on hand for the recent red carpet premiere in downtown Los Angeles to discuss what’s in store for the motley crew of survivors, as well as the relentless, unruly undead on their tail.

“It’s going to be creepier, a little more dangerous … so it’s going to be a little more intense, if you can believe it,” said Robert Kirkman, author of The Walking Dead graphic novels upon which the show is based. “It’s basically going to be a heightening of everything you liked about the first season.”

Kirkman’s source material was already beloved by many viewers before the show came to fruition, but his influence doesn’t end there. After receiving executive producer credit for the first season and co-writing credit for all episodes to date, Kirkman explained how his involvement in the show both reinforces and expands on the existing narrative.

“I’m very much involved with the process, which I suppose is somewhat of a unique situation. I’m in the writer’s room full time on the second season, so I’ve been there every step of the way,” Kirkman said, before joking about his authoritative power behind the scenes. “Any time they suggest, you know, dogs that shoot lasers out of their eyes, I’m able to come in and say, ‘You know what, guys? I don’t think the dog lasers are going to be good,’” he laughed.

Chris Hardwick, host of The Talking Dead, a live post-show wrap-up that AMC will start airing after the Walking Dead October 16 premiere, explained how his love of the comic series helps bookend his love for the show due to the subtle changes and deviations the televised version has taken.

“They are like parallel universes, but I also think what’s great about that is when you see a movie or television show that was translated from a book, you always go, ‘Well, I know it’s going to end this way, and that person’s going to die,’” Hardwick began. “But with this, it’s getting to see the characters that you love but through a slightly different lens. So, it’s fun to see what the surprises are.”

Indeed, details of upcoming storylines are being kept largely under wraps, but it has been confirmed that the character of veterinarian Herchel Greene, as well as his daughter, Maggie, will prominently factor in Season Two, as the Greene home becomes a makeshift refuge for the remaining survivors of Season One’s cast.

Veteran stage and screen actor Scott Wilson joins the cast as Herchel, and Lauren Cohan will play Maggie, a love interest for Stephen Yeun’s Glenn. The continuing tense romantic triangle between Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln), his wife Lori (Sarah Wayne Callies) and Rick’s best friend and former police partner Shane (Jon Bernthal) also helps infuse the grisly suspense with good, old-fashioned emotional resonance and interpersonal drama. In fact, it’s the dichotomy between the horror influences of the series and its flair for character studies and relationship strife that makes Walking Dead such a compelling hybrid of genres, according to both Kirkman and executive producer Gale Ann Hurd.

“That’s really the heart of the show,” Kirkman said, referring to the scare tactics of the zombie epidemic being mired with rich character arcs. “It’s having those two things and making it a dramatic show where you care about the characters and you care about what happens next to them, but also being able to scare people. I think that’s what really makes the show unique.”

Hurd elaborated, saying that the show’s focus on personalities amidst the horror is a priority that ultimately gives Walking Dead an artistic edge. “We start with character,” she began. “The entire arc of the season is figured out from character. We even had all the actors come into the writers’ room and talk with the writers. That, to me, is a game changer.”

Kirkman discussed how the ability to explore aspects of the original comic series at deeper levels with a television adaptation is necessary to keep his vision interesting, especially as he continues the story with both mediums.

“I feel like I’ve already done enough material in the comic book series to encompass six, seven television seasons, and so I think the mode of action on the television show is to really kind of follow that path, but divert from it as we move along and do different stories and eventually come back to that,” Kirkman said, noting that The Walking Dead comic has 100 issues so far and no sign of slowing down. “We’re going to pick and choose different things that are monumental from the comic book series and pull that into the television show. So, it’ll be a hodgepodge of different things.”

The actors themselves are elated to not only be part of a show with such commercial and critical success, but also to explore a staggering spectrum of circumstances each of their characters face throughout their journey. Norman Reedus, who plays antisocial rebel Daryl Dixon, said the extraordinary, dire situation at the core of The Walking Dead mirrors the conflict within Daryl himself.

“It’s like being stranded on a desert island with a bunch of different personalities,” Reedus said. “[Daryl] just can’t get along, and sometimes that’s as big a struggle as shooting a zombie in the brains.”

“It’s one hell of a journey,” Laurie Holden, who portrays the grieving Andrea, agreed. “I love it, personally, because all I did was cry last season and all I do [now] is kill people,” she laughed, explaining that Andrea will display a newfound inner strength after the death of her sister in Season One nearly destroyed her own will to survive.

Yeun is looking forward to a romantic subplot for his character, but for more than the obvious reasons. “The second season is great because it’s gonna really open up each of the characters and it’s gonna really see an in-depth look into their struggle, look into their hopes, look into their fears, and it’s going to be a beautiful, dramatic thing,” he began. “Specifically for Glenn, it’s going to be awesome because he’s getting love thrown his way, and it’s a beautiful thing to have grass grow out of gravel.”

As for Bernthal, he discussed a darker, more primitive side of Shane that will emerge in the upcoming season. “I think that Shane is the first character in this piece to realize the lawlessness of this world and I think he’s adapted sort of a new world order and a new way to put survival first and abandon all things that are human,” he said. “It makes him a far more dangerous character, but also a far more valuable character.”

For taking place within such a fascinatingly bleak setting, The Walking Dead manages to elude any maudlin heartstring tugs, despite the seemingly constant despair surrounding the characters. Hurd explained that, especially in the second season, a continuing sense of progress helps keep the story fresh and, hopefully, viewers compelled.

“They’re going to find that there is safety, there is hope, there is love … it’s like everything we experience here, but the stakes there are life and death every day,” Hurd said.

When asked whether there’d be more or less zombies in Season Two, however, her response to this all-important question was unequivocally, enthusiastically succinct.

“More!” she declared.

Don’t miss the Season Two premiere of The Walking Dead, Sunday, October 16 at 9/8c on AMC.

Images courtesy of Keith Kuramoto for Poptimal.com.

Aisha Tyler attends The Walking Dead season two premiere Aisha Tyler attends The Walking Dead season two premiere	Aisha Tyler Aisha Tyler	Jon Bernthal Jon Bernthal
Jon Bernthal talks to Poptimal Jon Bernthal talks to Poptimal	"Dexter" co-star Brea Grant "Dexter" co-star Brea Grant	Brea Grant Brea Grant
Sarah Wayne Callies Sarah Wayne Callies	Sarah Wayne Callies Sarah Wayne Callies	"The Walking Dead" co-star Chandler Riggs "The Walking Dead" co-star Chandler Riggs
Jeffrey DeMunn and Melissa Suzanne McBride Jeffrey DeMunn and Melissa Suzanne McBride	Elisabeth Moss supports AMC's "The Walking Dead" Elisabeth Moss supports AMC's "The Walking Dead"	Elisabeth Moss Elisabeth Moss
"The Walking Dead" co-star Emily Kinney "The Walking Dead" co-star Emily Kinney	Emily Kinney joins cast of "The Walking Dead" for season two Emily Kinney joins cast of "The Walking Dead" for season two	Emma Bell Emma Bell
"The Killing" co-star Eric Ladin "The Killing" co-star Eric Ladin	Cast and creators of "The Walking Dead" Cast and creators of "The Walking Dead"	A who's-who of "The Walking Dead" A who's-who of "The Walking Dead"
Executive producer Gale Ann Hurd Executive producer Gale Ann Hurd	"Nerdist" podcast host Chris Hardwick "Nerdist" podcast host Chris Hardwick	Actor Jason Ritter Actor Jason Ritter
"The Walking Dead" season one co-star Jeryl Prescott "The Walking Dead" season one co-star Jeryl Prescott	"The Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman "The Walking Dead" creator Robert Kirkman	Lauren Cohan, "The Walking Dead" Lauren Cohan, "The Walking Dead"
Laurie Holden Laurie Holden	Laurie Holden of "The Walking Dead" Laurie Holden of "The Walking Dead"	Odd couple alert? Odd couple alert?
AMC's The Walking Dead premiere marqee AMC's The Walking Dead premiere marqee	"The Walking Dead" co-star Michael Rooker "The Walking Dead" co-star Michael Rooker	Norman Reedus (center) of "The Walking Dead" Norman Reedus (center) of "The Walking Dead"

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