Saturday, June 25, 2016

TV Show Review: Orange is the New Black Season 4

Around the House
I am nearing the end of processing the edits from my new editor on Cursed and Dark Deals.  I am looking forward to getting these complete.  I look forward to seeing what everyone things about the updates to the books as well as the new stories.  Additionally, Twisted is about half way done finally.  I have some great new characters coming out.  I can't wait to see what everyone things of them.

My Thoughts
I have watched Orange is the New Black since it first appeared on Netflix.  I was so fascinated by the story of Piper that I actually looked into the original Piper to see what the story was about.  I found the story of a woman who made youthful indiscretions ending up in prison for 15 months to be very interesting.  The first three seasons was captivating, but now that we have gotten to the fourth season it seems that the show has lost some of its sparkle.  

The story has moved away from the story of Piper and her family and is focusing more on the prison as a whole.  While that can be interesting it feels like something is missing from the joy of the show.  The show is also getting to be a bit unbelievable on the time line.  With a 15 month sentence that Piper only served 13 months, you have to wonder about the time line of the show.  Even if every episode is a week at prison to ensure the story telling that would only leave Piper with 4 more episodes in prison.  While I enjoy the the back stories and what happens next of the characters in lockup, I want to see what would happen next for Piper's story.  How she goes back to her normal life and tries to put her life back together after her stint in prison.

But that is not what the season is showing us.  It is showing us a lost group of women where we are not really getting deep inside of them.  We are just getting a glimpse at the life and crimes of each of these in woman in a way that is supposed to make us feel bad for them as opposed to showing a variety of crimes.  Additionally, learning more about the guards lives feels contrived, since we do not want to feel sorry for them as a watcher.  We want to despise them for the treatment of the inmates.  I am tired of the story of the guard staff.

On the death of loved characters, especially the loved Poussey, is hard for us to deal with since we are made to love her and her death seems unwarranted.  To kill a characters for an emotional pull is not what the show needs to keep us invested.  It needs us to want to be involved in the stories and only have death for a reason.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Wednesday, June 8, 2016

Movie Review: X-Men Apocalypse

Around the House
I am excited as the final touches are coming together for the Second Edition of Cursed.  It is going to feature two new stories that help to tie everything together.  My editor is so excited.  We have now approved the Cover Art and are trying to find that perfect release date.  We are thinking some time this fall or the holiday season.  Are you ready to get Cursed?  I know I am.  I am looking for a few people that would like to preread the book and write a review online.  Let me know if you are interested.

My Thoughts
For those of you that do not know, I am a huge fan of Marvel Comics, and I grew up reading X-Men comics of the 90's.  I was first introduced to the X-Men like many other people through the cartoon.  I quickly became obsessed and had to have it all.  Well since the 2000's I have moved away from the comics and enjoyed the movies.  I still enjoy a read of the database to see the changes, but other than that I do not play in the land of comics outside of the TV and Movie worlds.

Now, I was excited to see the changes to the universe that Fox rolled out.  It was their chance to give them a fresh start.  Unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe that are still have trouble making one concise universe that the comic fans can be proud of watching.  Unfortunately, X-Men Apocalypse falls into that bucket.  I have two main issues with the movie.  The first is that for the length of the movie they do a very pour job introducing new characters or highlighting why they are where they are.  It is one thing to bring in Phoenix, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Cailban, Psylocke, Angel, and Storm, but you need to give them some type of back story and explanation of their powers.  While they did an okay job with Storm and Nightcrawler they failed to really dive into the depths of why they are at the school.  Additionally, they never properly explained the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse which has been a major X-Men story arch repeatedly.  It is one thing to start a fresh take on the universe which they are doing a good job of, but it is another to have a wonky timeline where the changes don't make sense - like Cyclops being the younger brother of Havok or how we have a Nightcrawler without Mystique knowing it is her son.

Overall, I say the move was fair.  For a 2 hour plus movie we needed more action and growth from the characters to really love them.  The whole seen with Wolverine didn't feel like it made sense for the storyline, and where are the characters we love from the original movies that should be popping up if we have Jubilee - Rogue, Iceman, Colossus, and Shadow Cat (Kitty Pryde).

Rating: 2 out of 5 Stars

Check Deadpool which was a great movie though!