With the rising star status of Roseanne from acclaimed female comedian to basic household name, Roseanne completely changed in season five from a light hearted show about a poor family trying to get by, to a darker but still very funny series revolving around family dysfunction, the pain family can inflict on us, and the struggles of women more than anything. Men became more evil and oafish as the series continued in to season five, and the lovable but hard working Dan Conner turned in to the lovable and somewhat moronic Dan Conner who still had good intentions. The shift is gradual but noticeable. And most of the season’s storylines revolve around the pain men can inflict, and how weak women can be around men they love.
Tag Archives: Drama
Titanic (1997)
It’s not a surprise why “Titanic” ended up becoming one of the highest grossing movies of all time and was later de-throned by “Avatar” by the very same director that brought us the aforementioned movie. Both films are so utterly broadly written and vague in their mass appeal that they’re pretty much guaranteed to be massive hits. With his hand on the button of the latest special effects, and a script that can be as ho hum and derivative as possible without a single complaint from his audience, “Titanic” is one of the two major blockbusters from director James Cameron. And like his future massive hit “Avatar,” it is an immense crowd pleaser because it doesn’t challenge or push its audience to think. It merely offers up vague characters, hackneyed archetypes, and a bang up special effects presentation that is still the small highlight in a giant disappointment.
Breaking Bad: Our Thoughts on the Finale
WARNING: The following article contains spoilers to all five seasons of “Breaking Bad.”
With Gustavo Fring dead, thanks to the wits and desperation of Walter White, “Breaking Bad” begins at a time where Walter is pretty much the only potential heavyweight in the crime world. Fring was in fact the king of the castle for decades and Walter worked with the man to ensure delivery of his special meth as well as battle for his life. Over the months preceding Fring’s death, Walter’s use became less and less a necessity to Gustavo and soon Walter decided that he had to shoot first or find himself dead and buried.
The Room (2003)
My love for The Room has not been an easy road. It took months of fine tuning, refinement, some conformity and skipping doses of my meds to get down to the level of Tommy Wiseau and his unmitigated cult masterpiece. Whether you’ve seen the movie in its true form, whether you’ve seen it play on the April Fool’s Day airings on cable television here in America, whether you were there during the great tirade of Wiseau on online critics, “The Room” and its charms are almost impossible to ignore. It’s a movie so bad, so inept, so unbelievably painful, it’s almost impossible to comprehend anyone thought it would be great on-screen, “The Room” is a film I constantly quote to this day–ohai Mark!
Ichi (2008)
I guess you can refer to “Ichi” as part of the official Zatoichi canon since the story of Ichi is one the reflects the effect Zatoichi the Blind Swordsman had on the people of Japan during his travels. Though not a remake or a reboot of the Zatoichi series, “Ichi” is an unofficial spin off that takes from the film series and creates its own branch off of an epic story about a beautiful young Goze who is taking a journey to find her savior before finally lying down to die. Haruka Ayase is incredibly beautiful and fierce as the Goze Ichi who spends most of her life wandering around from village to village trying to survive one more day while on a search for something in her life that’s kept her motivated to fight ever since she was a child.
Blind Fury (1989)
One of my first introductions to the Zatoichi series was through the 1989 samurai action film “Blind Fury” which established the blind samurai to American audiences through actor Rutger Hauer. Since Hauer was king back in the eighties, this is one of the rare instances where he plays not just a hero, but a hero with an immense ability for good who is unbelievably charming. ‘Blind Fury” is a modernized and altered adaptation of the seventeenth “Zatoichi” film entitled “Zatoichi Challenged” which is in many ways fixed for the eighties set pieces, but possesses some of the same moments from the original film series. Including the moment where Zatoichi’s young ward tries to pass off a rock as a piece of candy to Zatoichi who surprises him by spitting it back in his face.
Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
Pardon the cynical thought process but I imagine “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is only the first in what Hollywood will soon turn in to a series of three, maybe four films. Which is a shame, because ideally I wish “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” would be a single entry prequel in a classic science fiction film series. I say that not because it’s a bad film but because the writing wraps the entire film in to one clever self-contained little cinematic entry that it’s just too good to see ruined with a follow-up. While “Rise” is essentially about the emergence of a primitive ruler in a cruel world, there are so many Easter eggs included within the narrative that includes foreshadowing, winks to the audience, and a pretty great nod to the original “Planet of the Apes,” all of which are so subtle only the most eagle eyed genre geek will catch on to what the film is leading in to.