How to Spend $20
By David Mumpower
June 7, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
For teens who love drama and adults who love jail bait: Pretty Little Liars Season One
All kidding aside about my being a lecherous old man, I was tempted to watch this since the pre-release reviews were quite positive. I’ve always been a fan of self-absorbed teen drama. Pretty Little Liars supposedly has that in spades and the show itself is a huge hit. In fact, its popularity garnered a batch of book sequels, something of a rarity in the industry. When a television show is so well liked that a canceled book series gets reinstated, you know it’s good. I cannot tell you a single thing about any of the stories, but it’s got a gorgeous cast with a couple of quite talented young actresses in Lucy Hale of Privileged and Ashley Benson of Eastwick. I’m still tempted to give it a try. It looks like much better than average teen fare.
For people who want a less humorous version of Leverage: White Collar Season Two
By the wording above, you can probably tell that I am an ardent supporter of Leverage who finds White Collar less than the sum of its parts. As a huge fan of all heist shows, I still watch White Collar. It just doesn’t move me as much as the impeccably cast Leverage. Still, White Collar is capable of its high points and season two features the finest in the brief history of the show.
In Need to Know, the second episode of season two, semi-reformed thief Neal Caffrey moonlights as a political operative in one of my favorite television episodes of 2010. His disruptive ideas manipulate easily swayed voters in hysterical fashion to the point that I found myself thinking that whoever wrote this episode missed their calling in politics.
Overall, White Collar strikes me as a show that is stuck in neutral, which is why I’m still about four episodes from finishing season two. I like it well enough but it doesn’t move me the way that good television should.
For those who want to see what happens when a trio turns into a quartet: Burn Notice Season Four
I have been watching Burn Notice since the pilot, but I must admit that I was getting a bit burnt out (no pun intended) on the rehashed storylines. The novelty of a James Bond type revealing all of the secrets of the industry had worn off and what was left was a show with only three characters, one of whom isn’t even around that much. New blood was needed and to the credit of the show’s producers, a great new character was introduced in Jesse Porter.
A spy trained in the same manner as the show’s main character, Michael Westen, Porter suffered the same fate when he was burned out of his job. The genius aspect is that Westen was responsible for this turn of events. Porter and Westen wound up working together to unravel further government red tape and also did some good along the way, but Westen never revealed to his new “friend” that he had ruined the man’s life.
The end result was a fresh avenue for storylines that underscored the type of person Michael Westen had to become in order to be a world class spy in the first place. The darkness of his personality was revealed with each fresh new lie. It helps that the actor playing Porter, Coby Bell, had tremendous chemistry with the three other members of the cast, an important concern as we learned from the Dom disaster on Entourage. Bell’s quick indoctrination led to a series of great plot twists including a couple of friends-shooting-friends instances. If only this had happened when Chandler Bing and Joey Tribbiani were around.
For people who want shiny underwater sequences but are tired of re-watching The Abyss and Titanic: Sanctum
This is a perfect example of an idea that looks good on paper but fails in execution. James Cameron’s new technology was designed at least partially to reflect his love of underwater visuals. Sanctum utilizes said technology to film these underwater visuals. As such, it’s a gripping optical treat. The problem is that the movie itself is terrible. In fact, Cameron himself asked to have his name taken off the project. For this reason, I view the whole thing as an underwater version of Tron Legacy. If you want to show off your home theater system, this is a great title. If you want to watch a good movie, pick something else.
For people who want to humanize the meth lab sub-culture: Breaking Bad Season Three
Bryan Cranston was so adorable on Malcolm in the Middle that it’s still hard for me to wrap my head around his creepy evolution from a science teacher into a terrifying meth dealer. That’s exactly what the premise is for Breaking Bad and if you have never watched an episode of the series, here is the best introduction I can give you.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLMF7p8hO7A
This viral video has become wildly popular and the reason why is unmistakable. At the 23 second mark of the clip, Cranston puts on his game face and goes into attack mode. Squared off against a larger man and a scary looking one at that, this is a perfect example of alpha dogs ready to fight. The resolution is as elegant as it is unexpected. Attitude is everything and Cranston’s embodiment of this makes Breaking Bad must-watch television. If you haven’t been watching, the summer is the perfect time to catch up on one of the most engaging cable television programs on the air today. Simply by watching the 90 second video, I believe there is a decent chance you’ll be hooked. There aren’t many actors in the industry today in television or movies who have that sort of appeal/ability, but Cranston is one of them.
For people who never had a Sports Illustrated subscription and haven’t seen Brooklyn Decker in a bikini: Just Go with It
As you know by now, the early 2011 box office campaign was a disaster. Hits were few and far between as consumers chose to stay home rather than watch lackluster films. Just Go with It was the first major exception of the year, becoming the first 2011 title to earn $100 million domestically. And its appeal is simple. The movie stars Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston and its advertising focuses heavily on a dripping wet Brooklyn Decker exiting the ocean to walk on a sandy beach. In other words, it’s a Sandler comedy that throws in a sex fantasy for his loyal viewers. There is a reason why most of the comedian’s films gross $100+ million. He knows his target audience. Opinions on the movie itself are split, but the reality is that odds are good that you will give it a chance since his vanilla brand of humor is easily consumed by the masses. Plus, Brooklyn Decker is really hot.
Pick of the Week
For people who want to see The Dude with an eye patch: True Grit
Fifteen films into their career, the Coens have delivered their masterpiece. North American audiences agree with me on the point, too. The combined box office of the five most recent Coen Brothers projects prior to True Grit is $188.5 million. True Grit on its own earned $171.1 million. There isn’t much else that needs to be said about the heralded remake of the John Wayne classic. It was nominated for 10 Oscars and had the Coens not recently dominated with No Country for Old Men, True Grit would have been a strong competitor to win Best Picture. I’m not going to give away the plot if you have avoided it thus far nor will I offer further superlatives beyond the obvious. True Grit is a legitimately great movie (I had it in my top five for the year) that you either have watched or will watch. If it’s the latter, now is the time to do so. And I am saying this as someone who doesn’t even like westerns. It’s just that good.
For people who are threatened by the color yellow: Green Lantern Emerald Knights
In case you are confused, yes, there was another Green Lantern animated movie released last year. With the impending debut of Green Lantern as a live action blockbuster (?), DC Comics made the determination that a second animated title would help establish the characters even better. They have taken the Gotham Knights strategy, offering a series of vignettes rather than one overriding story. This was also a tactic used with a DC release from the end of 2010, Superman/Shazam: The Return of Black Adam. Given that there are multiple Green Lantern comic book titles in existence, it’s probably not a bad idea to indoctrinate the masses as much as possible. Still, I wasn’t a fan of Gotham Knights and actively disliked Superman/Shazam! As such, I’m less than enthusiastic about the Emerald Knights. If you have a Sinestro tattoo (Pete Kilmer), your mileage will vary.