Shmee.Me

November 11, 2013November 11, 2013

Shmee Checks Out Steven Universe!

Cartoon Network has been on a roll with its shows lately, and in particular Adventure Time, so it is not surprising that one the main writers Rebecca Sugar from that show would get to create one of her own. The show she came up with is Steven Universe.

The show is about a young boy who is the son of a looser dad who lives in a van, and the greatest super hero of all time who gave up her mortal form to give birth to Steven. Due to his half hero lineage it seems that he may in time be able to be a hero like his mom, but until then he is just doing the best he can while hanging out with three awesome super heroes.

The show is weird, but not over the top like Adventure Time, and it seems much more sweet as the heroes do their best with the enthusiastic and joyful but not very useful Steven. It has good action and is very funny, and I can’t wait to see how it progresses.

Cartoon Network has another hit on their hands, and they are very rapidly adding more and more must watch TV to their network. I wonder what writer will break off from this show and create their next hit.

November 9, 2013

Shmee Enters The Dark World With Thor!

Thor: The Dark World is the sequel to 2011’s Thor, but it follows the events of The Avengers. All the major stars return, but this time it is directed by Alan Taylor who is most well known for directing several Game Thrones episodes, so fantasy is well within his wheelhouse. This movie is not perfect, but it is very good.

The Dark Elves who ruled the universe before time began, have returned because Jane Foster (Natalie Portman) has found their ancient weapon the Aether. Thor (Chris Hemsworth), who was busy bringing peace to the galaxy, must reunite with Jane to stop the threat. In other words, it is very similar to the plot of the first Thor movie, but don’t worry the story really doesn’t matter.

I say the story doesn’t matter because they infused this movie with both a darker theme and lighter and wittier dialog, so it really makes this movie feel more important while making sure you know that the characters still have a sense of humor, and it might actually be fun to be super hero. Joss Whedon’s fingerprints are all over this movie, and while he may not have written it or in been charge of it, everyone is doing their best follow the model he made with The Avengers.

Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston (Loki) are pitch perfect in this movie. This is their third time around as the gods of Asgard, and they know their parts inside and out. They really make us all believe that all the craziness going on around them is reality. The rest of the cast is fine and do their parts well, but this movie is all about the brothers, and they are fantastic!

Yes the story is unfortunately bland, but everything else about this movie is great. I have no problems recommending this movie, and I am sure that you will have good time in theater. Also just an FYI, be sure to stick around after the credits because there are two scenes not just one, and they are not to be missed. Let’s see if they can keep up the good work in Captain America: The Winter Soldier!

November 8, 2013November 8, 2013

Shmee Watches Arrow!

After being frustrated with DC a couple of days ago, I thought I would give their hit show Arrow a shot since the first season is now on Netflix. I am glad I did. The guys and gals over at CW have done a great job with character, and I can’t wait to see what they do next.

The show follows billionaire playboy Oliver Queen as he comes home from being stranded on an uncharted island that took the lives of one of his friends and his father. He did not come home just to return to his family, but to clean up the city his father helped destroy.

If you think that sounds a little like Batman, you would be right, and that has not been lost on comic book fans for years now. The big difference is that Green Arrow has always been a little more left leaning and will kill people from time to time. There are some differences between the TV Green Arrow and the comic book Green Arrow. For one thing they changed the name of the city to Starling from Star, and Speedy is his hard partying little sister not his side kick though that my be coming. They also don’t call him the Green Arrow a lot, and if they do it is in jest. Probably due to the awful Green Lantern movie, and they don’t want to confuse people.

Stephen Amell is a little stiff as the Arrow but being interesting as a brooding super hero is hard, but he is getting better as time goes on. The rest of the cast is very good, and the middle aged cast is full of great industry genre vets like, John Barrowman (Jack Harkness), Paul Blackthorne (Harry Desden), and Colin Salmon (All sorts of stuff but Dr. Moon from Dr. Who).

There is a little of the CW random teenage drama thrown in here and there, but overall it is a great super hero TV show, so it is no wonder that they found success. Plus they have been working in all sorts of cool DC villains and heroes, so it has been fun to see who shows up. If these are people in charge of the new Flash and Hourman TV shows than we are in for a treat.

November 6, 2013November 6, 2013

Oh DC!

The guys over at DC/Warner Bros crack me up. Things have been going so well with the new Arrow show on the CW that they have decided to add a few more shows to their comic book line up: The Flash, A Gotham cop show that may or may not have James Gordon in it, and saving the best for last an Hourman TV show.

Yes you know Hourman … oh you don’t. Well I guess you weren’t buying comic books in the 40s, or paying real close attention to the Justice League of America comics. He is always in the background somewhere. He takes drugs to be super strong and fast for one hour, and in later comics he can see an hour in to the future. As a crime fighter you could see how that could come in handy. He has never really been a fan favorite, but I guess one hour precognition and general super awesomeness are easy powers to show on TV, and good on them for digging through their catalog and finding something interesting.

What is intriguing about this that there is the potential for at least four DC Comics TV shows, but that there is only going to be one movie so far, and that may not come out until 2016. The TV people are finding all sorts of fun things to do, but they can’t get more than one creative movie group. That is astounding.

I almost want to drive down to DC studios and shake somebody. It can’t be that hard to write a good superhero movie. As we all know freaking Marvel has like six of them on the docket, so I am sure that they could at least poach one of their writing teams to make something happen.

Now you may have heard that Jaime Alexander (my number 2 choice) is in talks to possibly play Wonder Woman in the new Batman Vs. Superman movie, but that is putting a lot of eggs in one basket. I just hope that it is successful so Warner Bros can be as creative with their movies as they are with their TV shows.

Just for fun I am going to leave you with what looks like the best Justice League movie we are going to get: The Lego Movie.

November 5, 2013

Shmee Endures American Warships!

There is something fun about watching a truly bad movie, and American Warships is a bad movie. It was written and directed by Thunder Levin, who also wrote the classic Sharknado, and it came out in 2012 direct to video to try and convince people that it was the Universal/Hasbro movie Battleship.

A mysterious ship is using a form of EMP pulse, and it is knocking out the Navy’s high tech warships, so it is up the USS Iowa to deal with this threat. Can this floating museum save the world? Honestly in a movie this bad it might be worth it to let the world go.

It “stars” Mario Van Peebles and Carl Weathers, but you can tell that they are just picking up their paychecks. I just kept waiting for Carl Weathers to go in to Arrested Development mode and start saving the food around the set to get a stew going. Van Peebles just did his best to look stoic, and not to look visibly disinterested in what he was doing, but he fails most of the time.

I know this movie had a micro budget, but I can’t believe that people could bring themselves to make a movie like this, and not just be laughing the whole time. They all play it so seriously, but the movie is complete and utter garbage. Now that is not to say I did not have a good time because I did, but that is mostly due to the friends I was with that helped me trash it at every turn.

This movie is bad, and if I had watched it by myself it probably would have been unbareable, but thanks to good friends it was the perfect movie to do a little home MST3King with. If you are in the mood for something bad then this movie might be just the ticket. Otherwise stay far away.