5 Ways to Fix Smash

Smash had everything going for it. Executively produced by arguably the best director to ever live, Steven Spielberg, and exploring the making of one of the most popular spots in American geography--Broadway-- and starring some of the most notable names on Broadway, there was no way that Smash would not be a smash! Then we saw the series premiere and the finale number made every primetime viewer sit through The Voice to see NBC's next big hit. Going strong for several episodes, Smash started to face some weaknesses. One of its strongest suits was original musical numbers, but slowly, covers started filling the repertoire, leaving fans to call it "Glee on Broadway." We also started to delve less into the development of making a hit Broadway musical and more about the rivalry of actresses vying for the same part and the family problems and the romantic scandals that take place during the making of the show. While I thought some covers were a bit... out of place, I never thought Smash was a bad show as critics were beginning to label it as, especially with continuous chill-inducing hits coming from the Marilyn Monroe musical, and how times of Marilyn Monroe's life connected with the cast and crew of the Marilyn musical, eventually titled Bombshell.

Then we got Season 2. I was looking forward to this, filled with the same excitement as when I saw trailers for Les Miserables and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. I was pumped. What should have been as exciting as seeing The Lord of the Rings turned into a disaster. I couldn't believe it! Everything that was wrong with the first season was magnified by 10! But the show is not beyond redemption. Here are some ways that Smash can be like the first time the viewers heard "Let Me Be Your Star" or "Lexington and 52nd Street."

1. Cut the covers

Aside from a few covers like "Rumor Has It" or "Over the Rainbow," so many seemed out of place and just killed the show's pacing ("Shake it Out..."). I understand that sometimes covers are used similarly to songs in a musical, but with a songwriting team of three now, there's no excuse for one original song an episode! It really does seem like Glee on Broadway now, and that's really a shame. What set Smash apart in the first place was that, like a musical, it featured fresh and new songs to the audience all the time. And it's killing the show's ratings and reviews.

2. Lose the Lip-Synching

This really wasn't a big problem for the most part in Season One, but it's really getting on my nerves this time around. With actors and singers as talented as Jennifer Hudson, Katherine McPhee, and Megan Hilty, why should they have to fake it every time? Maybe I'm just spoiled by Les Miserables, but if this is a show about musicals, let's make it like a musical. Live and raw, which made Les Mis a hit and Hedwig and the Angry Inch a cult classic. Lip-Synching is hurting the realism of the show, because neither Jennifer Hudson not Katherine McPhee do it rather well, and in fast-paced choreography numbers, the lip-synching is painfully off. For the most part, these are Broadway actors and actresses, so they are familiar with fast-paced dancing and singing... at the same time. Why let them do it easy? It ain't working. So far, Megan Hilty is the only performer doing a realistic job, which makes us at home wonder, "How did she NOT get the role of Marilyn Monroe in the first place??" Oh, producers, you fail to amuse me.

3. Give Katherine McPhee some better direction. And acting lessons

Katherine McPhee wasn't half-bad in the first season. In fact, she was natural in her role. She was new to acting, like her character was, just chasing her dreams. And even if she wasn't superb in her acting skills to start, she made up for it with her naivety. Now in Season Two, she NEEDS to shape up. Her character is in the big leagues, so make your acting the same way. At this point, Kirsten Stewart has competition for best blank expression for an hour. McPhee's face in the latest episode hardly changes. Not to mention that her acting in the last episode is no better than a middle-school diva's behavior when she can't get Bieber VIP tickets. I actually did my impression of McPhee's acting in front of a friend. She was shocked... not because I did it comically, but because it just wasn't that good to be on TV. You're in the big leagues now, kid. Show it, and watch more Patti Lupone and less Twilight.

4. Send in better writers, and lose the clowns

It's a shame Theresa Redbeck left the show for good, because she penned some of the best episodes of the first season. Now the show uses one of the worst sins of writing: They "tell, not show." And when they do show, well... that's a different story for a different time. Whenever McPhee's character meets a "famous" actor or actress in the show, her automatic response is: "I loved you in X, Y, and Z. You've been such an inspiration. It's so good to meet you." We've probably heard her say that about fifteen times during the show's run. I know TV isn't supposed to be as exceptional as cinema, but with The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad killing it on AMC, one has to wonder, "Does NBC stand a chance anymore?" With more focus on the development team of Bombshell this season, I think that we're in for good TV, but it's still not up to the par set in the pilot episode.

5. Spend less time on the new musicals, and stick with Bombshell

Spielberg's goal was to focus on a new musical's development each season, and it's starting to be seen. However, what sounded good as a concept isn't translating well on screen. This season, we continue to follow the development of Bombshell and its endless legal troubles, as well as a Broadway baby branching out to more racy material, as well as the launch of two upcoming Broadway writers trying to get their feet wet in show business with their musical The Hit List which is supposed to be hailed as "the next Rent" (although from the plot description in their pitch in episode 3, it sounds more like "Generic: The Musical"). And the Bombshell director is going to helm all of these. In the span of sixteen episodes. If my thinking is right, then this will be the most cluttered, messy, underdeveloped season in television history. One does not simply have so many plotlines in one season at once. In Season One, everything flowed naturally even with all the behind-the-scenes drama. This time, the creators are trying to meld behind-the-scenes drama into all three projects. And we only have 13 episodes left!! With the underwhelming introduction of The Hit List, I don't see any reason for them to continue with it. McPhee's character should have left that bar in the first place and got her phone in the morning. I hear the Jennifer Hudson will be a guest star solely for her episode arc, so I expect for her to resolve her plotline within the next three episodes. Although the introduction of The Hit List sounds much too unneeded to try to focus on that instead of Bombshell. If Jeremy Jordan left the oh-so-wonderful Newsies to be in Smash, that might have been one of the least impressive moves of his career if Smash doesn't start flying up again anytime soon.


Now the show's just coming back, but it's not starting out with a  bang right now. It's improving, but the ratings aren't looking promising. Maybe we will never see how Bombshell turns out. If NBC doesn't get the Smash development team up and running again, then like the musical in it, Smash might just bomb.

The Dark Knight: Movie Review

I can't come up with anything else better to blog. Let's review.

We all know the Batman sob story: Tim Burton made superhero movies other than Superman worthwhile, Joel Schumacher came to do the third film and dropped the quality, then ultimately killed the franchise while getting paid in the next one. (Remind you of anyone else?) Then Christopher Nolan came and did some cinematic CPR on the Batman series and made billions of dollars. Continuing the Dark Knight Legend after Batman Begins, The Dark Knight sets up a more exciting and engaging film than any superhero movie I have ever seen.

I've seen two other of Nolan's films-- Inception and Batman Begins-- and The Dark Knight knocks them both out of the park. Honestly. Inception was mind-blowing and ambiguous, so it was hard for me to decide my opinion on it. You either love it or you hate it. And Batman Begins... it was a decent, watchable film, but it suffered from origin-story-itis. It was good, but not great, but I can understand why people like it.

Then I saw this.

The story in this film revolves around tension in Gotham City. After a brief disappearance of Batman following the destruction of Wayne Manor in the previous film, he resurfaces as the mob team from Begins starts to wreak havoc despite their leader's sudden fit of insanity in the first film. With Batman back, the mobs become fearful of their successes. Cue the Joker. His plan: Kill the Batman for half of the mob's shares. The Joker offers Batman a chance to save the city by publicly revealing his identity, and for every day stalled, people will die, forcing Bruce Wayne to think about his morals. With the Joker an unstoppable force with even HIS thugs fearing him, everyone in Gotham is in danger.

There are more plotlines than this involving a popular district attorney, but despite the 2.5 hour length, you are thoroughly invested into the story and want to see what happens to the characters while STILL wanting more. Now that could mean that Nolan failed to give audiences what they wanted or he masterly created an interesting story and characters. I vote for the latter. Oddly enough, despite the MUCH longer length than it's predecessor, The Dark Knight has a much tighter storyline than Batman Begins. This is the Empire Strikes Back of Batman. Nolan takes every risk possible and creates not only time-investing experience, but a emotionally-investing one as well.

Now onto the acting. In Batman Begins, there were a few good performances, but other than Micheal Caine as Alfred, I can't think of any performance that was Oscar-worthy or very memorable. Maybe it was experience, maybe it was extra confidence, but EVERYONE stepped up their game, going from a B-minus to an A+. Most characters from the first film didn't get as much time in the limelight this time around, making more room for the newer characters, but their performances (and the writing) made the characters absolutely relevant. I can't imagine the film without Alfred. I can't imagine the film without Rachel. I can't imagine the film without Lucius. In Batman Begins, Christian Bale was a hit-or-miss for me as Bruce Wayne/Batman. I didn't care for him. He was definitely a heck of a lot better this time around but not quite Oscar-worthy. I can nitpick every performance and tell you every single thing about their acting, but I don't trust Blogger to do well with the capacity I would need, so I'll skip to the best of the best. Heath Ledger as the Joker. People have talked about him a lot, and they can keep talking, because he was marvelous. A perfect swan song. Heath Ledger deserved every award he got for this film, because his Joker was fantastic! He fully invested himself into his character, creating a man who is equally frightening and darkly comic. I mean, the Joker made me laugh and smile, and then in the next scene, I'm like,"...I was laughing at him." Legend has it, he improvised one of the most memorable scenes from the movie. I can't say enough good words about him, and he's the reason why people see this movie.

Nolan knew where he was going with this film, and he made sure everything was crisp. It was. This is a man who is a most creative screenwriter and a director who cares for his craft. Also, the score by James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer was perfect for the movie. Intense when it needed to be, but dramatic when it was emotional. My only critique with the score was that it was noticeable who composed what. Zimmer composed the more intense, memorable pieces. Howard created the soft stuff. The two almost clashed. Hearing Zimmer in The Lion King, Inception, and Sherlock Holmes, he is wonderful alone, and I can't wait to see how he sounds in The Dark Knight Rises. He is a master of cinematic scores. I just don't care too much for Howard.

I love superhero films. They're great escape movies-- at least what I've seen. This is the best. I loved The Avengers back in May. I thought it was a perfect film. It captured the comic book feel perfectly-- it felt like I was reading a comic book without the speech bubbles. The Dark Knight doesn't feel like a comic book. It's an experience. It's slower than The Avengers, but it doesn't drag its feet. While they are both perfect movies, I prefer The Dark Knight because of its more realistic feel.

Do you like superhero films? Do you enjoy excellent entertainment? Do you like action films? Do you like thrillers? If you said yes to any of these, do yourself a favor. Rent Batman Begins to get the story, then buy The Dark Knight on Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack for the experience. Bring it on-the-go and watch it in perfect definition. Because this film gets my highest possible rating: The Epitome of Cinematic Excellence.

The film's tagline is "Why So Serious?" There's a simple answer to that: It makes a better film.

The End of an Era

Well, folks, it's official: Jaws at Universal Studios Orlando has been demolished. Amity Village is no more to the tourists who want to face a shark with adorably cheesy skippers.

Jaws and its themed land has gone the way of the dodo... and Back to the Future: The Ride, Kongfrontation, Earthquake: The Big One, and The Funtastic World of Hanna Barbara. It seems like now all of the original attractions are closed down. The oldest attraction left is T2: Battle Across Time, and that's starting to show its age, but man, I love that show, and it would be an absolute shame to demolish that. Also, E.T. Adventure, but that ride, well, you've got to love it. It's so original, and my favorite family dark ride. Disney doesn't make it believable; I can't believe talking fish, but I can believe that I'm flying over NYC 15 feet above them, that strange looking aliens are glad that we somehow saved them from certain doom, and that I'm about to be hit by a semi-truck. Thank God Spielberg has protected this ride from destruction. I could only imagine Barney 4D, or PBS Kids: The Ride.

Anyways, Jaws wasn't the most exhilarating ride, it wasn't the scariest, and it wasn't the best acted. It was cheesy. You knew the shark wouldn't eat you. You knew it was a robot. You knew that next time you went on, everything would act the same, and the fire would stop before you crossed it. But it still had the Spielberg charm from the first film (we don't talk about the sequels here). I would ride the ride again; I was immersed into the film with other people; that was Universal's mission from the beginning! But now instead of "Rid[ing] the Movies!" we "Jump Into the Action." Since Jaws wasn't as exciting as Disaster! or RipRideRockit! or The Simpsons Ride, it must be closed. Forget riding the movies, we need action. We may be a partial movie studio, but people come and spend money, but we need to do better than Disney, and this, that, and the other.

Marketing schemes can be a pain in the keister, but I don't think that's what bugs me most about the departure. I think it's its replacement.

Amity Harbor is shut down forever, the Jaws pool is drained, and the remains of the ride go who-knows-where. So something "state-of-the-art" must be replacing it. Well, if "s-o-t-a" is something that brings the tweenies in, I guess you're right. And we ain't talking about The Hunger Games, people. No, we're talking about...

Harry Potter Part Two

That's right, folks, a classic attraction based off a classic movie has been slewed by adolescent wizards in their second incarnation at Universal Studios Resort. That's right: Numero Dos! Allegedly, leaked plans by Theme Park Insider show that Amity will be replaced by a recreation of Diagon Alley from the popular series, including a unique attraction that drives you through Gringotts Bank ending with a possible final battle with Governor Voldemort.

So, let's analyze this for a moment. Should we keep an attraction that guests love (don't we all love almost getting eaten by a robot shark? Me!) and cherish, or replace it with another Harry Potter land because that's what teenyboppers want and we need more money? Universal seems to have chosen the latter; I choose the former. But that's just it: former. Everything Universal started with is former: Back to the Future was formerly a money-grabber; Alfred Hitchcock and the magic of movies was formerly what folks wanted to see; Terminator was formerly a good franchise. I'm all for updating, but guests' favorites come before. Kongfrontatation still lives on somewhat at Universal Hollywood, but I don't feel like going to the West Coast, and neither do people want to see a 4-D showdown shot by Peter Jackson (unless you like that kind of thing).

I love the Harry Potter series overall as much as the next guy and I have the full movie/book series. But The Wizarding World was enough. I don't need an expansion that's supposed to connect the two (which I feel is going to cost so many ticket frenzies-- either raising our price or leads to some empty-handed stealing). Just get rid of the Lost Continent at Islands of Adventure; Potter wiped out the signature attractions, just finished what you began. While Harry Potter is a money-grabber, it won't always be with Dickens and Twain; it's going to fall soon, and it's a shame that Universal is using so much Warner Bros. property.

But that's my case. Leave your opinions in the comments below.

R.I.P. Opening Era: 1990-2012

The Chain Gang: A Critique

Here is a story about a poor girl who had no friends.... ..... OMGosh this is so freaky--it actually works- EMAIL THIS TO 35 FRIENDS AND U WILL MEET THE LOVE OF YUR LIVE IN 14 DAYS IT WILL BE THE BEST DAY EVER TRUST ME THIS WORKS! BUT LIKE UHUHUHUH.....IF YOU DON'T DO IT IN FIVE HOURS YOU'll DIE IN 4 DAYS! TRUST ME THIS WORKS! AHHH!.....



Hallelujah, you're finished. If my remaining readers (most of you probably think I was involved in the above with my hiatus) haven't noticed, I have a bit of a peeve with forward messages for a few reasons: 1) They're so cliched-- How many times am I going to die in four days? When will I meet the love of my life? F37 only makes my computer implode. 2) They take up good comment space on YouTube-- I want to hear people's opinions, not you going on about how I'll see death last week. 3) They waste your texting minutes for heaven's sake! If your charged by the text, don't waste on some idiotic scheme to waste people's precious minutes of life.

Now granted I wasn't always this despicable towards FWDs (as they usually say on my phone.... one after the other after the other after the other after the other, et al, et al, etc, etc, &c, &c......). Back when I actually went on Neopets, I was involved in "NeoMail." Stupid as I was, I "befriend- ed" my cousin's friend, and long story short, I don't see any in my sent mail box anymore. Aside from the utterly despicable ones that you probably see every time you go on a popular YouTube video, some of them get more... religious.


So you have the regular, cliched love-or-death messages-- but doesn't love conquer all?-- and then you have the uplifting, please-forward messages. I'm fine with the latter; those are actually nice to get once in a while. But what can I say, I'm a sucker for uplifting messages with pictures of cute little kitty cats. And these messages suggest to forward with no ailments later on. I can forward if I want and not have to "worry" about death meeting me two Fridays from next Saturday at 27 past 2. But then there's that wretched median in between the two-- the combination of religious and sacrilegious: The... well, I'll just tell you.

What prompted me to return to blogging after a bit of a hiatus is a message I recently received. A several-times forwarded message that said that God knows I've been going through something. (Can identify that in Bible: Check) It went on to say that a blessing is coming your way and in order to receive that blessing I must forward it to 14 friends in 10 minutes. ("It's not that hard.") Now I admit that I'm not a preacher, but if I'm not mistaken, God gives blessings to those who deserve it or if they do things in his name, not perform a time trial forward chain. Now I realize the message said it was a test, but this seems a bit, well, far-fetched. I expect God will do things in his will, not use Forward messages. The message comes not as a blessing, but as a sick-minded scheme. It's a shame to see that the message has gone along for almost 6 times.

Sorry, but I'm breaking every chain you try to send me. "MY chains are gone-- I've been set free. My God, My Savior, has RANSOMED me." And personally, I don't want to be in the chain gang.

I Need Your Help!

I need your help! I've finished planning the skeleton of a new story. However, what I need a lot of, I don't know too much about. What I need you to do is come up with some vampires, new and old, and say who they are, what they're from, and if they're the antagonist (bad guy) or protagonist (good guy) in their movie/book in the comments box. For example, the "good guys" would be New Age Vamps, such as Edward (Twilight) and Darren Shan (The Vampire's Assistant) and the bad guys would be like Dracula (Dracula) and Count Orlek (Nosferatu). However, for the hugeness of the story, I can't use four vampires if there's going to be a huge "war" between the New Age Vamps and Dracula's Army. In case you're wondering what this is for, here's the poster:

So use your knowledge. And in advance, thank you for your help.

TV Movie Review: A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!

Last night, Nickelodeon released a direct-to-TV movie based off its hit series The Fairly OddParents, A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! The movie features teen favorites Drake Bell and Daniella Monet along with adult favorites Jason Alexander and Cheryl Hines in cameo roles.

The story is about Timmy Turner, the young pink-clothed character from the TV show, as an adult, still in the 5th grade, still living with his parents, and still has his fairy godparents. His parents desperate to get him out of the house so they can retire and head fairy Jorgen wanting him to grow up, Timmy does all he can to act like a child to still have his beloved godparents... and their Poof. However, when Tootie, an ugly girl from his child-childhood, returns to Dimmsdale as a, according to the story, beautiful woman, Timmy begins falls in love, much to the dismay of Cosmo and Wanda, his fairy godparents. Meanwhile, Mr. Crocker, Timmy's teacher, joins forces with Hugh J. Magnate, Jr., an anti-nature guy who wants to destroy Dimmsdale Park to build a hotel/oil well, to capture Wanda and Cosmo to make their evil wishes come true.

While the show sometimes gave me a headache, the movie actually pleased me. The movie replaces most of the show's crass humor with a theme and perfect plot structure. The show shows a young boy who gets fairies and uses them to wish for rather selfish things, hardly for anyone's benefit, and all is fun except for antagonists.

The movie has the following pros:

• Nostalgia: It's refreshing to see that the creators of the movie haven't lost gags from the original series such as Crocker's fairy-spams and brings back old characters, such as the Mayor of Dimmsdale and Chompy the Goat, AJ, and Chester.
• Dimensional Villain: You can't have a good movie without a villain with a purpose other than world domination. Magnate is a man who wants the things that his "daddy" never gave him or let him do such as play in a ball pit, go in a playground, and have friends.
• Good Conflict and Resolution
• Good Theme: Selfish to Selfless
• Acting: Drake Bell does a good job as Timmy Turner and David Lewis brings back the craziness of Crocker.
  

All in all, I think that Grow Up, Timmy Turner! is the best thing that's happened to the OddParents series since the Wishology trilogy.

School Project: Hobbit Trailer

This is my favorite school project thus far. Please sit back, relax, and enjoy The Hobbit fan-made trailer! Here is the link.

(I'm starting to really dislike Blogger's video embedding options and formatting!)