It’s one of my favorite times of the year. It’s where I review the best and brightest that television had to offer in the previous year. If you haven’t already, you should check out my Top Films of 2016. Go ahead, check it out, I’ll wait. No really, I’ll wait. You back? Awesome.
As is the standard with my movie year-in-review, my television selections have to pass the Upkins Media Litmus Test.
Without further adieu…
Continue reading “Super Sixteen: Top Television Shows of 2016”
They say there’s nothing good on television. Clearly, more than a few shows were trying to disprove that saying. 2015 kept me busy in terms of reviewing shows but more than a few proved to be well worth it.
As is the standard, for a series to be reviewed (much less nominated), it must meet the guidelines of my Media Litmus Test.
So without further adieu, the following are my Top 15 Television Series of 2015:
If you were on the internet yesterday, you might have seen some images from the set of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice leak on to your computer screens. Part of the problem that comes with shooting on location in a real city — as opposed to in front of a blue screen inside a giant soundstage — is that there are real people with real cameraphones lurking around every corner.
BvS:DoJ has had its share of set leaks in the past, and this one isn’t all that revealing, honestly. But for me, it reveals something that I assumed we had moved past in a Batman movie. I won’t reveal anymore until after the cut, but if you’ve read the headline, you’ve already been spoiled. Sorry.
Continue reading “How Many Times Must We See Batman’s Parents Die?”
Last night, we welcomed the latest addition to the N.O.C. fam as Connie Gibbs (aka @constar24) took over the NOC twitter handle to join in on the #YungGotham and #SleepyHolla live-tweeting of Fox’s Monday night, nerd-friendly lineup.
We can’t wait to read more of Connie’s posts here at NOC HQ, in the meantime, we’ve singled out some of her tweets that best encapsulate the two hours of live-tweeting that went down Monday night.
Continue reading “Newest Nerd in the Family Tweeted Gotham and Sleepy Hollow For You”
Whatever issues you might have with The Dark Knight Rises, Tom Hardy’s portrayal of Bane is probably one of the most divisive. Either you loved it or you hated it. Nolan’s take on the villain deviated so much from the comics, it was a wonder why he even chose to go with Bane in the first place. Another strike against Nolan’s Bane is that you could also argue that the character was racebent from the way he’s depicted in the comics. Or not. Personally, I rather enjoyed Hardy’s completely wacky and out there interpretation of the character. Not only are his mannerisms and fuddy-duddy English accent so utterly imitable, but he made a character that is admittedly boring on page really compelling on screen.
The reason that I just spent 100+ words talking about Bane in The Dark Knight Rises is because last night’s episode of Gotham used the opportunity to introduce Venom, the drug responsible for Bane’s abilities in the comic. And the whole time, all I could think about was Tom Hardy in his ridiculous face mask.
Continue reading “When Gotham is Ashes, You Have My Permission to Die”
This week both episodes of Gotham and Sleepy Hollow left me feeling a lot less meh, especially Sleepy Hollow. During Gotham, I noticed on my Twitter timeline either a lot of rage toward the Arkham storyline or a lot of excitement seeing the asylum for the first time on the show. Since I am not a reader of the comic books and unfamiliar with the Batman canon, perhaps I am less disturbed and annoyed by the way Arkham (and the role of the Wayne family) was introduced on the show.
Episode four of Sleepy Hollow, on the other hand, had an embarrassment of riches for #Ichabbie shippers. Those golden shipper moments in combination with some great action and comedic scenes made this episode much more fun to watch and live-tweet.
Continue reading “Gotham & Sleepy Hollow: More Mixed Feelings on Monday Nights”
I’d have to say both episodes of Gotham and Sleepy Hollow this week left me feeling a bit meh. It feels like the episodes are, dare I say it, becoming formulaic. And yet, I must be a servant of Moloch because I will most likely live-tweet again next week. The question is, will Moloch (a.k.a., the God Demon of Child Sacrifice) reward me for my loyal viewing?
Here are some choice tweets for this week’s episodes of Gotham and Sleepy Hollow, “Balloonman” and “Root of All Evil,” respectively. For more, check out the hashtags #Gotham and #YungGotham for the Batman prequel and #SleepyHeads and #SleepyHolla for some great tweets. And check out Keith’s take on last night’s Gotham.
Last week, I got some grief for writing about why I was done with Gotham. So naturally, I not only tuned in for Episode 3, “The Balloonman,” I live-tweeted it as well. The fact that this episode had nothing to do with the B-side to Prince’s “Batdance” was already strike number one for me.
I won’t go into all of the problems I have with the show’s premise — since I already did that. A couple times. I will say that I realize that the reason I’m so bitter about this show is because I always wanted a Gotham Central series, and that Fox’s attempt is just a half-assed one. Because Gotham Central is the non-Batman police procedural series we deserve, just not the one we’re getting right now, apparently.
Okay, I give up.
I tried to like Gotham, honest, I did. Despite my previous reservations, I tuned into the first two episodes like everyone else in the geek-o-sphere did. And you know what, I didn’t hate it. At least not as much as I was anticipating. In fact, some of what I saw was quite good. But the problems I had remained. Namely, that the whole conceit of the show is that it exists in the Batman universe. Also, the acting is pretty horrible. I’m looking at you, Ben and Jada!
If this were just a typical police procedural, I’d find it pretty entertaining (even though I’m not a fan of the genre). Where the show loses me, though, is that it fundamentally misunderstands the universe in which it has chosen to partake. Case in point? They’ve just cast 34-year old actor Nicholas D’Agosto to play Harvey Dent.
Monday nights are just full of nerdy goodness. First with Gotham and then Sleepy Hollow on FOX. It’s been fun live-tweeting both episodes back-to-back. Here are some choice tweets for the second episodes of Gotham and Sleepy Hollow, “Selina Kyle” and “The Kindred,” respectively.
For more, check out the hashtags #Gotham and #YungGotham for the Batman prequel and #SleepyHeads and #SleepyHolla for everyone’s favorite
Continue reading “Monday Night Live-Tweet: Gotham and Sleepy Hollow“
