BEST AND WORST TV OF 2011
TV for the most part has been a downhill slide these past few years. Every combination of doctor/lawyer/doctor show has been tried and ninety nine percent of them sucked. Let's take a look back and see who fared best and who failed miserably. I will note that only one new show on this list was on broadcast television.
BEST NEW SHOWS OF 2011
5)HOMELAND-The vets of 24 come up with another stellar show about a is he/isn't he terrorist war hero who after eight years as a POW comes home to a wife who thought he was dead, kids who hardly remember him and a near psychotic CIA agent hounding him (and sleeping with him) well played by Claire Daines. A thrill ride that takes lots of twists and turns. Best drama of the year.
4)Wilfred- A underated show about a guy and his next door neighbor's talking dog. Uproariously funny and had the single best ending to any show this year. A must see for any who like oddball comedy.
3)2 Broke Girls- Whitney Cummings has had a great year with this and the better than everyone says Whitney. The boobtastic Kat Dennings and newcomer Beth Behrs are fantastic together and show how a lot of us actually live, paycheck to paycheck, with multiple jobs to make ends meet. And making it funny and relatable while doing so. One of the bets new comedies of the year and the only new show on broadcast TV to make this list. Shocker.
2)Beavis and Butthead- Not only can I not believe that a show off the air for decades could be this funny but that it's Beavis and Butthead being this funny. I hated the film which cut out the best parts of them ragging on godawful videos which is back in full force, including a nightly dig at Jersey Shore, one of the worst shows ever made. I love this show.
1)BBC's Sherlock Holmes- One of the best Sherlock Holmes adaptations ever. Benedict Cumberbatch was brilliant as Holmes while Martin Freeman held his own as Dr. Watson. A must see for any fan of Holmes as well as anyone interested in how to craft a great mystery. The success of this has led to the states trying their hand at it as well for next year. My guess is they screw it up royally but I'm still hoping it won't.
WORST OF 2011-
5)Law and Order SVU- Alright while technically not a new show they did get new cast members to save what can only be described as a sinking ship. And they put lead weights on to help. Without Stabler, the dynamic of this show is out of whack and the two new leads are deadly dull. I stopped watching along with most of their viewers. The fact that it's being pulled for sweeps says this long running franchise may finally be dead.
4)Heart of Dixie- A slapdash soap on the increasingly irritating CW network who seem determined to become the Lifetime network. Even Nikita has lost it's luster and Supernatural the only show I look forward to on the network. This show was awful in every way a show can suck. I feel bad for any guy whose girlfriend forces them to watch this drek.
3)Charlie's Angels- A sad remake that replaced jiggle TV with a serious drama about three ninety pound weaklings who beat the crap out of guys twice the size with nary a bruise. Right. Helpful hint when casting a show like this: make sure the women you hire are hot. Acting skills are not a prerequisite for stuff like this. Another failure in a long line of remake failures. Next year's awful award will almost certainly go to the serious remake of The Munsters. Christ.
2)Ringer- Just missing the top spot this was the worst produced show I have ever seen on a major network. The twin sequences were the worst directed scenes ever in the last fifty years. I watched the old 1970'd Bionic Woman episodes lately which had two Jamie Summers in it and let me tell you, with a budget a fraction of what Ringer's was, they did a much better job. The Ringer scene which gets worst moment in TV last year was on a boat, next to an obvious green screen where Gellar spouted nonsense dialogue to the back of her head played by an obviously different actress. Horrid.
1)Playboy Club- How do you make TV even less titillating than Charlie's Angels? Make a show set in the 60's about a male oriented organization and turn it in a languid soap than men will hate. The result is cancellation in two weeks. A tone deaf show set in a time period that worked well in cable but in primetime. This and the soon departed Pan Am will end this sorry trend.
On a side note, one of the worst movies from last year and should be added to my list is Bucky Larson. A terrible unfunny comedy. Adam Sandler should be ashamed for writing it. As a fan of his previous work, he starting to lose his touch because almost everything he did last year was awful. Try to do something else Adam because I know you are capable of better. This stuff lately is just lazy.
Friday, January 20, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
REAPER KILLS AGAIN. NBC ON PERMANENT DEATH WATCH
The Reaper has struck again, killing off the low rated Work It. As someone who watched the first episode (the second was preempted by NH primary coverage) it wasn't nearly as bad as the Chelsea Handler sitcom which was near unwatchable. The Firm and the Finder are also on shaky ground.
NBC's mid season replacements look poor at best. Not a good start for a failing network.
NBC's mid season replacements look poor at best. Not a good start for a failing network.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
TOP FILMS OF 2011
As the world nears it's end, let's look back at some films that helped us forget, for at least a little while, how bad things really are.
10)Mission Impossible:Ghost Protocol- Tom Cruise is back in a big way with the best action movie of the year. Well paced, globe trotting fun as Cruise's Ethan Hunt gets diavowed after the Kremlin goes boom. Accompanied by the uber hot Paula Patton, red hot Jeremy Renner, and uber funny Simon Pegg, this film soars, literally during a sequence on the world tallest building. A must see on IMAX if possible.
9)Harry Potter 7- This book and film series keeps getting better and better, especially as all the actors have grown tremendously into fine thespians. A non stop action thrill ride, this movie delivers the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort to a T. While the first two in the series are the most uneven, and the fifth almost unwatchable, this is the Harry Potter movie for everyone.
8)Paul-Simon Pegg and Nick Frost return in this funny sendup of sci fi films. Literally funny from the minute the movie starts, the was the best comedy of the year for laughs. After the two arrive at the San Diego Comic Con, they decided to rent a RV and see sci fi sites across America. At Roswell, they find Paul (voiced by Seth Rogan and making us forget how bad Green Hornet was) an alien on the run from the government that has been holding him hostage for years. What happens next is a terrific road movie as they pick up a bible-thumping creationist (Kristen Wiig having a stellar year), her protective father in chase, as well as the feds. Uproarious fun.
7)Tucker And Dale Fight Evil- A terrific sendup of slasher films. Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk play the accidentally frightful hillbillies who convince a group of college students they are homicidal maniacs, when in reality they are nothing of the sort. Labine has never been better and Tudyk is his usual solid self. A unique movie in a year of sequels.
6)The Perfect Host-One of my favorites of the year is the tour de force by David Hyde Pierce which is exactly the sort of movie Oscars are made for. Yet no one has recognized how brilliant this film is. A thief breaks into Pierce's house and takes him hostage. What he doesn't realize is that Pierce is a dangerous maniac who quickly turns the table on his unsuspecting prey. What follows is less Hostel than Gene Kelly, as the insane host plays up a party only he can see in his head. And when it's over, so is the thief. The movie has twists and turns you'll never see coming. Quite simply one of the best of the year.
5)The Descendants- Another brilliant film by the reliable Alexander Payne, sorely missed since Sideways. George Clooney may hit Oscar gold with this film playing a father of two, whose wife is in a coma. Once he finds she had been having an affair, he becomes determined to track down her lover and confront him. What follows is touching, funny and sad. Shailene Woodley will hopefully be nominated for her great performance as Clooney's daughter. She is a force to be reckoned with in coming years.
4)Crazy, Stupid, Love-I never expected to like this movie as much as I did. Steve Carell, an actor I had grown somewhat tired of lately, proves me wrong with the great performance as a man divorcing his wife of twenty years as everyone around him spirals out of control in love, unrequited or not. Ryan Goslin is having a great year with this and Drive (which I hear is excellent) as the Lothario teaching Carell how to pick up women. This is not a typical chick flick, so get it today guys. You'll love it.
3)Contagion- The film that will have you forever looking at a bar room bowl of peanuts in a whole new way, this was the best horror movie of the year. A flu pandemic sweeps the world, killing thirty percent of all infected. That may not seem like a high number until you remember there are seven billion people on the planet and thirty percent of even half that is a lot of dead people. Stand out performances and a taut script.
2)Bridesmaids- Kristan Wiig should get an Oscar nod for this fantastic comedy. Wiig plays a girl determined to stay unhappy as she chases everyone close away from her, in the funniest ways possible. John Hamm in awesome as her f$%kbuddy who treats her as such, as well as Mellisa McCarthy as the fearless bridesmaid, who is almost certainly Oscar bound.
And the best film is....................................................
1)Muppets- No film made me as happy this year as this did. Jason Segal knocks it out the park with this awesome film that brings back the muppets after decades gone, with the cast trying to save their old theater form destruction. Great cameos, great music, fun for the whole family.
Honorable mentions- Hugo, Harold and Kumar Christmas 3D, Super 8, Moneyball, Tree of Life, The Artist, The Help, Thor, Drive Angry, the Adjustment Bureau, Limitless, Lincoln Lawyer, Tower Heist, Sherlock Holmes, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Must misses- The Debt (horrific), Dream House
10)Mission Impossible:Ghost Protocol- Tom Cruise is back in a big way with the best action movie of the year. Well paced, globe trotting fun as Cruise's Ethan Hunt gets diavowed after the Kremlin goes boom. Accompanied by the uber hot Paula Patton, red hot Jeremy Renner, and uber funny Simon Pegg, this film soars, literally during a sequence on the world tallest building. A must see on IMAX if possible.
9)Harry Potter 7- This book and film series keeps getting better and better, especially as all the actors have grown tremendously into fine thespians. A non stop action thrill ride, this movie delivers the final showdown between Harry and Voldemort to a T. While the first two in the series are the most uneven, and the fifth almost unwatchable, this is the Harry Potter movie for everyone.
8)Paul-Simon Pegg and Nick Frost return in this funny sendup of sci fi films. Literally funny from the minute the movie starts, the was the best comedy of the year for laughs. After the two arrive at the San Diego Comic Con, they decided to rent a RV and see sci fi sites across America. At Roswell, they find Paul (voiced by Seth Rogan and making us forget how bad Green Hornet was) an alien on the run from the government that has been holding him hostage for years. What happens next is a terrific road movie as they pick up a bible-thumping creationist (Kristen Wiig having a stellar year), her protective father in chase, as well as the feds. Uproarious fun.
7)Tucker And Dale Fight Evil- A terrific sendup of slasher films. Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk play the accidentally frightful hillbillies who convince a group of college students they are homicidal maniacs, when in reality they are nothing of the sort. Labine has never been better and Tudyk is his usual solid self. A unique movie in a year of sequels.
6)The Perfect Host-One of my favorites of the year is the tour de force by David Hyde Pierce which is exactly the sort of movie Oscars are made for. Yet no one has recognized how brilliant this film is. A thief breaks into Pierce's house and takes him hostage. What he doesn't realize is that Pierce is a dangerous maniac who quickly turns the table on his unsuspecting prey. What follows is less Hostel than Gene Kelly, as the insane host plays up a party only he can see in his head. And when it's over, so is the thief. The movie has twists and turns you'll never see coming. Quite simply one of the best of the year.
5)The Descendants- Another brilliant film by the reliable Alexander Payne, sorely missed since Sideways. George Clooney may hit Oscar gold with this film playing a father of two, whose wife is in a coma. Once he finds she had been having an affair, he becomes determined to track down her lover and confront him. What follows is touching, funny and sad. Shailene Woodley will hopefully be nominated for her great performance as Clooney's daughter. She is a force to be reckoned with in coming years.
4)Crazy, Stupid, Love-I never expected to like this movie as much as I did. Steve Carell, an actor I had grown somewhat tired of lately, proves me wrong with the great performance as a man divorcing his wife of twenty years as everyone around him spirals out of control in love, unrequited or not. Ryan Goslin is having a great year with this and Drive (which I hear is excellent) as the Lothario teaching Carell how to pick up women. This is not a typical chick flick, so get it today guys. You'll love it.
3)Contagion- The film that will have you forever looking at a bar room bowl of peanuts in a whole new way, this was the best horror movie of the year. A flu pandemic sweeps the world, killing thirty percent of all infected. That may not seem like a high number until you remember there are seven billion people on the planet and thirty percent of even half that is a lot of dead people. Stand out performances and a taut script.
2)Bridesmaids- Kristan Wiig should get an Oscar nod for this fantastic comedy. Wiig plays a girl determined to stay unhappy as she chases everyone close away from her, in the funniest ways possible. John Hamm in awesome as her f$%kbuddy who treats her as such, as well as Mellisa McCarthy as the fearless bridesmaid, who is almost certainly Oscar bound.
And the best film is....................................................
1)Muppets- No film made me as happy this year as this did. Jason Segal knocks it out the park with this awesome film that brings back the muppets after decades gone, with the cast trying to save their old theater form destruction. Great cameos, great music, fun for the whole family.
Honorable mentions- Hugo, Harold and Kumar Christmas 3D, Super 8, Moneyball, Tree of Life, The Artist, The Help, Thor, Drive Angry, the Adjustment Bureau, Limitless, Lincoln Lawyer, Tower Heist, Sherlock Holmes, Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
Must misses- The Debt (horrific), Dream House
Monday, January 2, 2012
WORST FILMS OF 2011
Will be doing my Best Of column next week after seeing a few more films such as Cowboys and Aliens, Hangover 2, The Debt and Mission Impossible. But as we are all aware, films this year sucked and sucked hard. I think the quality was slightly better than 2010's slate of utter garbage, but this year fell into the damaged mindset that all we want to see are superhero flicks, remakes and sequels. The best films I saw this past year were almost all original pictures, albeit remakes like Girl With The Dragon Tattoo rivaled the original, perhaps even surpassing it. The good news is that next year looks to be a banner year for films and hopefully I will see less drek than I have been. Some of these films may be from 2010 but are here as I saw them not as they were released.
10)GREEN LANTERN- Easily the worst superhero film this year, it rightfully tanked at the box office. Ryan Reynolds had a bad year with this and the average Change Up. The film looked washed out, in desperate need of a script makeover, and a whole new ending, Hal Jordan spent way to much time on Earth and not enough time learning how to use his powers. Plus, he was an insufferable twit. The producers are still saying a sequel is in the works but I can dream that it is all a cruel hoax.
9/8)JACK AND JILL/JUST GO WITH IT-I like Adam Sandler movies. I own quite a few of them as a matter of fact and usually disagree with the haters about them being funny or not. These films on the other hand were terrible. Jack and Jill just seemed lazy and date, Just With it had Jennifer Aniston in it (otherwise known as the kiss of death) and even the not as bad as feared Zookeeper (produced by Sandler) had Sandler has a very unfunny monkey. Do something funny for God's sake and stop these awful awful movies. Please.
7)WINTER'S BONE- Yes it came out on 2010 and yes it was up for a bunch of Oscar's and yes it was the single most boring films I saw all year. I like slow pictures done by masters like Kubrick or Malick. I think Remains of the Day, a glacial picture, is a work a brilliance. This film looked like a travel guide to Appalachia country. Long shots of nothing done in a way that would have Terrance Malick saying get on with it, this film about a girl looking for her deadbeat father could have been interesting. However, the plot goes nowhere fast with no surprises at all. The Descendants is a great picture about the troubles of family life that I think is very similar to this in many ways. The big difference is that The Descendants had interesting characters in real situations while Winter's Bone felt like a movie and a long dull one at that. Rent only if your having trouble sleeping.
6)I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT-Someone keeps telling Sarah Jessica Parker she's a movie star. I got bad news for both you and Jennifer Aniston: GO BACK TO TV. How many bad films by these two do I have to sit through. Men are presented as worthless, insensitive pricks, a common theme in TV and film that is beyond old already. How would women like it if every show had a dumb blond, a barefoot pregnant wife and a shrew of a female boss? They'd riot. This Sex and the City clone was DOA in the box office so some women out there have taste.
5)TOM HANKS-The usually great actor stumbled badly this year with two craptaculars, Larry Crowne and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Both were unwelcome heartstring tuggers that seemed badly dated and in bad taste, a non-winning combo. Crowne had Hanks as a guy who loses his job, goes back to college and meets cute with Julia Roberts. This would have played fine in 1980, but in today's world this film was pure fantasy and a punch in the face to all the real unemployed out there. Extremely Loud plays fast and loose with a horrible tragedy that seems to be in ultra bad taste to introduce into a fictional movie. Can we wait a few decades before exploiting one of the greatest tragedies in American history? And Hanks, get a better manager or better scripts because you are way above this crap.
4)KIDS FILMS- A horrible year for kids films thanks to the eight million that were at the theater this year. Let's list all the box office disasters, leading up to my number one: Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2, Hoodwinked 2, Hop, Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer (why God why?), Mr. Poppers Penguins, Glee: the Movie, Spy Kids 4, Happy Feet 2, Chipwrecked, We Bought A Zoo, and the biggest disaster..........Mars Needs Moms, a 150 million dollar car wreck. Stop making so many kid movies as, you can see from the above list of losers, they are not making you the money they once did. Perhaps if you looked at their quality not quantity you'd make some actual money.
3)THE RITE- What the hell Anthony Hopikins is doing in this lame Exorcist ripoff is beyond me. How do you make exorcisms boring? Watch the film and learn all the tricks to the trade for doing just that. A terrible film.
2)TWEEN FILMS- Every bit as bad as the kids films, were a host of tween based films that, other than the reprehensible Twilight series, died a painful death at the box office. Beastly, I Am Number Four, Abduction, Red Riding Hood, Justin Bieber 3D, Water for Elephants, Prom, Priest, and Footloose all came and went. Twilight,a huge hit, still sucked by introducing the world's worst role model in Bella. Why women aren't getting angry at this waste of space character who is only defined by her male counterpart is beyond me. Some lousy films in this list bear the question who is running Hollywood?
1)SUCKER PUNCH- The most disappointing, unwatchable movie of the year. Supposedly made as a musical with all the music removed, this latest film from hit or miss director Zack Snyder is repellent, derivative and surprisingly boring. I loved Dawn Of the Dead and Watchmen and didn't care for 300, but this was awful on a whole new scale. The script was terrible, the acting awful, the directing pedestrian and I don't even know if I made it to the end as I don't remember anything about it. Truly the worst film of the year. NEVER WATCH UNLESS MASOCHISM IS YOUR THING!
Happy New Year all
10)GREEN LANTERN- Easily the worst superhero film this year, it rightfully tanked at the box office. Ryan Reynolds had a bad year with this and the average Change Up. The film looked washed out, in desperate need of a script makeover, and a whole new ending, Hal Jordan spent way to much time on Earth and not enough time learning how to use his powers. Plus, he was an insufferable twit. The producers are still saying a sequel is in the works but I can dream that it is all a cruel hoax.
9/8)JACK AND JILL/JUST GO WITH IT-I like Adam Sandler movies. I own quite a few of them as a matter of fact and usually disagree with the haters about them being funny or not. These films on the other hand were terrible. Jack and Jill just seemed lazy and date, Just With it had Jennifer Aniston in it (otherwise known as the kiss of death) and even the not as bad as feared Zookeeper (produced by Sandler) had Sandler has a very unfunny monkey. Do something funny for God's sake and stop these awful awful movies. Please.
7)WINTER'S BONE- Yes it came out on 2010 and yes it was up for a bunch of Oscar's and yes it was the single most boring films I saw all year. I like slow pictures done by masters like Kubrick or Malick. I think Remains of the Day, a glacial picture, is a work a brilliance. This film looked like a travel guide to Appalachia country. Long shots of nothing done in a way that would have Terrance Malick saying get on with it, this film about a girl looking for her deadbeat father could have been interesting. However, the plot goes nowhere fast with no surprises at all. The Descendants is a great picture about the troubles of family life that I think is very similar to this in many ways. The big difference is that The Descendants had interesting characters in real situations while Winter's Bone felt like a movie and a long dull one at that. Rent only if your having trouble sleeping.
6)I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT-Someone keeps telling Sarah Jessica Parker she's a movie star. I got bad news for both you and Jennifer Aniston: GO BACK TO TV. How many bad films by these two do I have to sit through. Men are presented as worthless, insensitive pricks, a common theme in TV and film that is beyond old already. How would women like it if every show had a dumb blond, a barefoot pregnant wife and a shrew of a female boss? They'd riot. This Sex and the City clone was DOA in the box office so some women out there have taste.
5)TOM HANKS-The usually great actor stumbled badly this year with two craptaculars, Larry Crowne and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Both were unwelcome heartstring tuggers that seemed badly dated and in bad taste, a non-winning combo. Crowne had Hanks as a guy who loses his job, goes back to college and meets cute with Julia Roberts. This would have played fine in 1980, but in today's world this film was pure fantasy and a punch in the face to all the real unemployed out there. Extremely Loud plays fast and loose with a horrible tragedy that seems to be in ultra bad taste to introduce into a fictional movie. Can we wait a few decades before exploiting one of the greatest tragedies in American history? And Hanks, get a better manager or better scripts because you are way above this crap.
4)KIDS FILMS- A horrible year for kids films thanks to the eight million that were at the theater this year. Let's list all the box office disasters, leading up to my number one: Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2, Hoodwinked 2, Hop, Judy Moody and the Not Bummer Summer (why God why?), Mr. Poppers Penguins, Glee: the Movie, Spy Kids 4, Happy Feet 2, Chipwrecked, We Bought A Zoo, and the biggest disaster..........Mars Needs Moms, a 150 million dollar car wreck. Stop making so many kid movies as, you can see from the above list of losers, they are not making you the money they once did. Perhaps if you looked at their quality not quantity you'd make some actual money.
3)THE RITE- What the hell Anthony Hopikins is doing in this lame Exorcist ripoff is beyond me. How do you make exorcisms boring? Watch the film and learn all the tricks to the trade for doing just that. A terrible film.
2)TWEEN FILMS- Every bit as bad as the kids films, were a host of tween based films that, other than the reprehensible Twilight series, died a painful death at the box office. Beastly, I Am Number Four, Abduction, Red Riding Hood, Justin Bieber 3D, Water for Elephants, Prom, Priest, and Footloose all came and went. Twilight,a huge hit, still sucked by introducing the world's worst role model in Bella. Why women aren't getting angry at this waste of space character who is only defined by her male counterpart is beyond me. Some lousy films in this list bear the question who is running Hollywood?
1)SUCKER PUNCH- The most disappointing, unwatchable movie of the year. Supposedly made as a musical with all the music removed, this latest film from hit or miss director Zack Snyder is repellent, derivative and surprisingly boring. I loved Dawn Of the Dead and Watchmen and didn't care for 300, but this was awful on a whole new scale. The script was terrible, the acting awful, the directing pedestrian and I don't even know if I made it to the end as I don't remember anything about it. Truly the worst film of the year. NEVER WATCH UNLESS MASOCHISM IS YOUR THING!
Happy New Year all
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)