Author: Shmee

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Celebrate Christmas With He-Man And She-Ra!

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It seems like every show has a Christmas special, but some are more special than others, and none are more special than ‘He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special’.  I don’t mean special as in good.  No, I mean special as in that dog that keeps running in to walls or tripping over its own tail.  The He-Man & She-Ra Christmas special is a wonderful kind of nonsense.

To be fair, as a He-Man fan I can tell you that the classic show was never actually any good.  It was a collection of crazy looking characters punching each other to sell kids toys, so the Christmas special has to viewed through that lens, and even then it doesn’t make any sense.  The whole plot is that Orko accidentally kidnaps some kids from Earth, and that Horde Prime wants them dealt with before they spread Christmas cheer throughout the land, so He-Man and She-Ra do a bunch of random stuff to save the kids, which they fail at.  Leaving Skeletor to save the day.

Sorry to spoil it for you, but hey it came out in 1985, so you had 30 years to watch it.  I am sure that to a bunch of executives a toy line cartoon show airing a Christmas episode makes perfect financial sense, but for She-Ra and He-Man it ended up being even more bonkers than usual.  I am sure had I watched it as a child, I would not have questioned it one bit, but watching it for the first time as an ‘adult’, I can tell you I had a hard time keeping up with what was going one.  It wasn’t until I gave up on the story that I could enjoy it for what it was, capitalism.  Pure child centered capitalism, and it made me feel young again.

I really shouldn’t recommend ‘He-Man & She-Ra: A Christmas Special’, but I am.  It brought me back to a time when cartoons where pure advertising and plots were optional, and I loved every minutes of them.  I had a lot of fun with this inane mini-movie, and if you grew up when I did, you may too.  Merry Christmas from Eternia everyone!

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Shmee Watches A Trainwreck!

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Trainwreck has everything going for it: An in demand rising star, Amy Schumer; A top comedic director, Judd Apatow, and a producer that has overseen some major comedy hits, Barry Mendel.  So it is no surprise that this movie was a financial success.  However, the movie ended up being uneven.

Trainwreck is about Amy Townsend (Amy Schumer) who has problems committing to relationships, partially because of her parents divorce.  He father (Colin Quinn) even has her and her sister (Brie Larson) chant “monogamy isn’t realistic”.  Amy simply goes from party to party and guy to guy until she meets sports doctor Aaron Conners (Bill Hader).  Can she change her philandering ways?

The story works overall, and it is a great setup for Amy Schumer to play off of, but the problem is that Trainwreck can’t quite decided if it wants to be an over-the-top raunch-fest, or a more serious dramedy, so the pace of the film swings pretty wildly.  It either needed to be more crass, or less.  This is a common complaint these days with Judd Apatow, and I appreciate that he is trying to elevate the ‘R’ rated comedy, but he is going to have to try harder, or find different script writers.

Luckily Amy Schumer’s great performance keeps this movie watchable.  She is definitely more at home with the wild antics than the drama, but she was able to do both aplomb.  I also have to give a hand to Tilda Swinton as Amy’s boss at a magazine in her least Tilda Swinton role ever.  I didn’t even know it was her until my wife pointed it out.  The rest of the cast is made up of SNL cast members and other known comedic talent, so they all do a wonderful job.

It is a shame this movie couldn’t quite pick a gear.  The cast would have been up for it either way.  Still, as it is Trainwreck is a watchable film if you are in the mood for an ‘R’ rated flick.  I just think it could have been better.

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(sobbing)…The Soup Is Over!..(wailing)

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After 11 and 1/2 years The Soup has been canceled.  I know this to be true, I have watched the final episode.  It wasn’t the best episode they have ever produced, but it was a good send off.  It featured a cavalcade of Joel McHale’s favorite celebrity guests, and his 11 favorite clips.  Not to mention several snippets of famous bits they have done over the years.  We have seen those clips and bits several times before, but it was nice to see them one more time.

I found it humorous E! took The Soup’s departure as an opportunity to start the advertising campaign for their new reality show featuring fitness guru Jillian Michaels.  It was the least self-aware act of promotion I have ever seen.

In the end The Soup was canceled because some suits thought they could do better (or maybe cheaper?) at 10PM on Friday nights.  I hope they are wrong, and that the time slot is cursed as a viewer void and a money pit for decades to come.  I know for me, they have gotten rid of the last good thing on their channel, and there is nothing for me to go back for.

TV is now worse because they have gotten rid of the mirror that showed us the ridiculous stuff that we were watching, and laughed at it with us.  To Joel and Co., thanks for memories and the great TV.  Twelve seasons of any show is a major accomplishment, and I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.  That includes you Mankini <sobbing><whispers>..that includes you Mankini.

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I Have Edited And Published Blade And Feather To Amazon!

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Well after a year and a half of lollygagging, I have gone and re-edited Blade and Feather, and then self-published it.  You can view/buy it here.  Though since you are one of the few people that reads my blog, you can also download the free PDF copy here.  That’s right you can either pay for it, or get it for free!  Your choice!  Though if you tell people about it, if you would be ever so kind as to please point them to the Amazon page, I would appreciate it.

I hope you like it!  Even if you don’t, thanks for reading it.  It was a fun process, and I hope to write a follow-up at some point.  We need to see what kind of trouble Shmee and Hoots get in to next.

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Star Wars: The Force Awakens Takes Us Back To A Galaxy Far, Far Away!

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With the letdown of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and after years of excitement and anticipation, the bases were loaded for J.J. Abrams.  All he had to do was not strikeout, and he did better than that.  It wasn’t quite a grand-slam, but it was at least a bases clearing triple, and it is hard to be upset about that.  For all of you that don’t understand baseball, what I am saying is that Star Wars: The Force Awakens is amazingly good!

I usually give some sort of blurb about the plot of the movie with this paragraph, but this is a Star Wars film, so you should kind of know what you are in for.  If you haven’t seen a Star Wars movie yet, this is not a good place to start because a lot of Star Wars people do a lot of Star Wars stuff, and if you are like me and wanted a lot of Star Wars Stuff, you are in luck because The Force Awakens is lousy (as in, has a lot of) with it!

Which is one of the reasons this movie wasn’t quite a grand-slam, it may have had a few too many nods to the original trilogy.  The other nitpicks would be that a few of the computer animated characters looked a little off, and that some of the dialog was a little info-dumpy.  Like I said, those are all nitpicks in an otherwise great movie, and they do not ruin the experience at all.

The old cast was enchanting, and looked like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.  Yes, even grumpy old Harrison Ford looked happy to be Han Solo again.  It was wonderful to see original gang back on screen.  The new cast was excellent as well:  J.J. really got the perfect people to fill all the roles.  I can’t wait to see them in movies for years to come.

The special effects in The Force Awakens were fantastic, and the use of practical (real) effects really helped this movie feel like one of the originals.  You can tell the difference when they build a real ship versus just having someone sit on a green box.  Unfortunately like I mentioned earlier, those practical effects and set pieces did make some of the CGI stand out more, and not in a good way.  Still, overall they did a great job.

Even if Star Wars: The Force Awakens was terrible, it still would have been one of the biggest hits of the year, but I am elated to report that it is an event movie worth watching, and a must see in theaters.  J.J and his gang revived a classic franchise for a new generation, and I can’t wait to see what happens next in my favorite galaxy far, far away!