Author: Shmee

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The End Has Come For Parks And Recreation Season 6!

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It has taken me awhile to get around to Parks and Rec Season Six, but too much stuff has happened this week for me to get to it in a timely manner.  Overall I found the whole of season six to be more of the same, but the finale was wonderful.  It packed in tons of guest stars while setting up season seven to be something special.

This season was all about change for the crew of Pawnee Parks and Rec.  Leslie is recalled from City Council, Chris and Ann become parents, Ron becomes a family man himself, Tom continues his entrepreneurial dreams, and Ben becomes the City Manager.  If the season was about change, the finale was about the characters getting everything they wanted, so I am guessing next season will be about whether they got what it takes to handle their success.

The finale changed everything for the show, so just as the show was getting a little repetitive for me, they found a way to get me excited for next season.  You know that Leslie will be able to make it all work, and that she will have her trademark excited smile on her face when she does.

 

 

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Farewell Mr. Smee, I Will Miss You!

bob-hoskinsFamed actor Bob Hoskins died two days ago (4/29/14) from pneumonia at the age of 71.  He had a long career with a variety of great roles, but for me he will always be Mr. Smee from Hook.  I loved that movie as a kid, and while it hasn’t held up as well as some of Spielberg’s other movies, it holds a special place in my heart.

My favorite character from that movie was Bob Hoskins’ Smee.  The way he was able to be a bumbling idiot, but at times still be the smartest guy in the room.  It was kind of the way I saw myself sometimes.  Most of my friends liked Rufio or Pan, but it was Mr. Smee for me, and that wouldn’t have been the case without Hoskins’ brilliant portrayal.

I liked the character so much that when it was time for me to venture online, years ago, I tried to take Smee’s name as my own.  Sadly I am a horrible speller and it came out Shmee, and by the time I had figured it out, the name had stuck.  Still without Smee there wouldn’t have been Shmee.

Hoskins was a great actor who was very important to my childhood.  While the films he was in weren’t always great, he was always great in them.  My prayers and best wishes are with his family.  I will have to dig out Hook and watch it again to say a proper farewell to Mr. Smee.

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Star Wars: Episode VII Has A Cast!

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Just is case you were somewhere that didn’t have the internet yesterday, Disney and Lucas Film announced the principle cast for Star Wars: Episode VII.  Pretty much it is the cast from the original trilogy: Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Leia Organa), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO), Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca), and Kenny Baker (R2-D2).  Then a bunch of new young kids, plus Andy Serkis, and Max von Sydow.

So the new kids are probably playing the children of Han and Leia, their friends, and the guy from Girls is probably an evil apprentice of some sort.  Max von Sydow is no doubt the bad guy because if he isn’t they have the world’s worst casting director.  This kind of leaves the amazing Andy Serkis as the wild card.  I am sure he will be an animated alien of some sort, but whether his is good or bad is anyone’s guess.  I am just happy he is in it because he makes everything better!  The only real surprise is that Billy Dee Williams (Lando Calrissian) wasn’t in the line up.  How can you have a Han without a Lando?  I am hoping that he shows up at some point to cheat Han out of the Falcon one more time.

Now that they have a cast the movie feels much more real.  It actually feels like it is moving forward.  J.J. Abrams has proven he can direct fun and exciting films, so I just hope the script is well written.  We only need to wait a year and a half for a new Star Wars movie!  I know the last three should have made me more cautious, but I can’t help it.  It makes me giddy just to think about sitting in a theater, watching the intro text scroll, and listening to an amazing John Williams score!

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Disney Killed The Star Wars Expanded Universe, And It Is OK!

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When I first head that Disney was going to kill off the current Star Wars Expanded Universe, I was dumb struck.  “How dare they just toss out the stories that I love!”, I thought, but the more I think about it, the more I am okay with it.  Disney wants to make a Star Wars Universe that is cohesive and make sense, and that is a good thing.

Most of the stuff in the Expanded Universe was pretty awful anyway, and honestly a lot of it didn’t fit together, so it was broken.  Disney starting over allows them to pick and choose the good ideas out of the EU, and ignore all the garbage.  We don’t know what they are going to keep at this point, but they did give us a few examples: The Inquisitor, the Imperial Security Bureau, and Sienar Fleet Systems from the table top RPG are in the new cartoon, so you never know your favorite EU Star Wars character may still make it in.

Even if something we like doesn’t make the cut it isn’t like it is going to cease to exist.  They didn’t make EA take down Star Wars: The Old Republic, Wookieepedia is still going strong, and the books on your shelf didn’t disappear.  It just isn’t necessarily going to be treated as canon going forward.  If this was a comic book universe the fans would care less because they toss stuff out of the canon all the time.  It is just a big deal to Star Wars geeks because it has held together for as long as it has.

If the new stuff from Disney is awesome nobody will even remember that they tossed out the current Expanded Universe and started over.  They will just be enjoying the cool new stories.  As long as Disney has Chewbacca getting crushed by a Moon (best death ever) the world will keep on spinning fellow Meatbags!

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Hey Guess What? Warner Bros is Making a Justice League Movie!

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Well it is about time that Warner Brothers told us all what we knew was happening anyway, they are making a Justice League Movie!  If you can believe the Wall Street Journal anyway.  This was one of Hollywood’s worst kept secrets, even by their loose lipped standards.  It is supposed to come out by 2018 at the earliest after Batman Vs. Superman, and if people like it there will be all sorts of DC superhero moves.

It will be interesting to watch that film develop since they are approaching it the opposite way Marvel did, by making their “Avengers” first, and then having the solo films.  I hope it works because DC has a lot of really good characters that are just waiting around for someone to use them.  Who knows how long people’s appetite for superhero movies will last.

I will be curious to see which villain they use as the impetus for building the League.  I am guessing it will be Brainiac.  He is super smart and super strong, and you can use him in a myriad of ways.  Though my hope is that they use Darkseid, so that in future movies they can have the whole planet of Apokolips attack.  What is more fun than one crazy baddie?  A ton of crazy Baddies!

We have about four years and two months to speculate on this film, and I can’t wait.  Though it all hinges on Batman Vs. Superman being good.  Here is hoping.  Though a part of me just knows that Warner Brothers will find a way to screw this up.