Last Chance - Sizzle Reel (Starring Renee O'Connor)

From Morning Person Pictures, starring Renee O'Connor, best known as Gabrielle from Xena: Warrior Princess. 

This looks good. It will be nice to see Renee O'Connor in what looks to be a meaty role.

Carrie, a woman who escaped her own violent past, is newly introduced to the “LCO” (Last Chance Org) by Marnie, a gutsy ex-cop who now reluctantly runs this sort of vigilante underground that helps people break away from desperate situations. Carrie and Marnie work with a team that include volunteers from both sides of the law; from a mouthy hacker, a lawyer, a bitter police captain, a bounty hunter, etc., each bringing their own issues to the table.

The creator of the Lost in Space robot and Robby the Robot passes away

The creator of the Lost in Space robot and Robby the Robot passed away on December 9th at 100 years old.

RIP Bob Kinoshita... You did real good. http://t.co/oNcWFcGPDN
— Bill Mumy (@BillMumy) January 13, 2015

Robby the Robot, Will Robinson (Bill Mumy) and The Robot

Lost in Space episode 20 
"War of the Robots" 
1966









Irwin Allen hired Kinoshita as art director for Lost in Space. Kinoshita designed both the Jupiter 2 (the spaceship) and the robot who's famous for always shouting, “Danger, Will Robinson!”

Lost In Space Robot Creator Robert Kinoshita Passes Away At 100 http://t.co/jLJ4tEdeVZ #RobertKinoshita #lostinspace pic.twitter.com/ho0QPCVYd1
— Comicbook.com (@ComicBookdotcom) January 14, 2015

Did Boyhood deserve the Golden Globe for Best Drama?

Wow, I liked the movie Boyhood, but no way thought it deserved a Golden Globe for Best Drama. Nomination, sure, but to win? Did they view the competition?

There were definitely issues with being filmed over 12 years. For those that don't know Boyhood was shot over 12 years so that the boy could age naturally from 6 - 18. Some of those years they shot for only a few days, and it showed. It was obvious they didn't get the coverage they needed and some of the story transitions were jarring and felt like pieces were missing. The story is simple: follow a boy as he grows up with divorced parents, alcoholic step-parents and basic crap kids deal with. I loved the concept and looked forward to seeing it.

I enjoyed it. It was cool seeing the same actors over time aging normally. But then I asked myself what would I think of the movie had that "cool" aspect not been there. Honestly, I'd think it was okay but didn't have a fully enough developed story. Rough edits and a real lack of transitions relying on the "aging" actors to tell you time passes hurt the film. There are times (ages approx 9-11) you can't tell the difference. So did time go by? Wait what happened to so-an-so? These are the questions you wind up asking. Honestly, I still have no idea if some of the events were over one, two or three years. Simple visual or dialogue used for time transitions in most films would have solved that issue.

At one point the step-father forces the boy to cut his hair. It's a painful scene and later when the boy tells his mom why he's so upset she cries and apologizes. (She was told he wanted the haircut.) Yet the next scenes, step-dad long gone, the boy has the same short hair-cut, grown in but short. Is that supposed to show how much time went by? Your hair would grow a lot more in a year, so did he decide he liked the short hair? Then suddenly he's grown a lot more and you know either more than a year went by or the last few "years" he looked the same, or he grew a lot over the year. All very feasible. Which is it? I don't know. I could go watch again and look for clues but my point is should I have to? If it's jarring enough to take you out of the movie then there's an issue.(If you look at the pictures above there are a few in the middle where he looks the same, only slight hair changes. I didn't catch those subtle hair changes upon first viewing which made it look like all the same time frame to me. Patricia Arquette's hair changes helped show a new year but she wasn't always first on screen when the time changed, and some of them were also subtle.)

In storytelling there's a point to everything. That's why "based on real life" dramas are dramatized. So that in a two hour movie you have a distinct storyline. Sometimes Boyhood felt like a "based on real life" movie without the dramatization. Boyhood had moments of childhood with the only real flow-through story being the mother, not the boy. (It's not actually based on a real life. I'm just giving an example of what it feels like.) Now, as I said this is a decent movie, worth watching. I just feel it could have been so much better if the details of the story were maintained better, had a better flow.

After watching it I learned that there was a lot of writing on the fly, no complete storyline. Understandable when they didn't know year to year if they'd get everyone (actors) that they wanted/needed, but never good for movie making.

Great innovative movie making? Yes.
Great acting by the adults? Yes, well the two leads. Patricia Arquette deserved supporting actress which she did indeed win.
Great story? I'd say decent not great.

Overall a movie worth streaming. Especially with the knowledge of how it was made. But Golden Globe worthy? Which is saying that it's Oscar worthy. No, not in my opinion.

Frank Oz is back as the voice of Yoda in Star Wars Rebels

Frank Oz is back as the voice of Yoda in Star Wars Rebels: "Path of the Jedi" airing Monday, January 4th at 9pm ET/PT on Disney XD.

Rebels takes place a few years before the original Star Wars film, A New Hope, while Yoda is in exile on Dagobah.

Here's a clip from the episode:

Mozart in the Jungle: Amazons new series is worth a look

The first season of Amazon's new series Mozart in the Jungle is available now. It was released in it's entirety. I've seen the first three episodes and I'm enjoying it very much. Interesting, funny, love the music. It shows the behind the scenes of the world of the symphony.

Favorite characters are Hailey, an oboist trying to make it in a very tough industry, Rodrigo who is what I expected, young, quirky and brilliant. People can say what they want about him but when it comes to music he is a genius. Also it's so great to see Bernadette Peters. I've loved her for years and she is wonderful in this.

The episodes are only about 25 minutes which I kind of like. I definitely recommend checking it out.

From Amazon:
A new Amazon Original Series: What happens behind the curtains at the symphony is just as captivating as what happens on stage. Created by Paul Weitz (About a Boy), Roman Coppola (The Darjeeling Limited), and Jason Schwartzman (Rushmore). Brash new maestro Rodrigo (Gael Garcia Bernal) is stirring things up, and young oboist Hailey (Lola Kirke) hopes for her big chance.

Sons of Anarchy - Jax's Legacy (the finale) SPOILERS

SPOILERS for the series finale of Sons of Anarchy. 









Jax left a legacy to his sons, by completely destroying everything good about himself. 

Does Mark Wahlberg deserve a Pardon for 1988 crime?

Mark Wahlberg served 45 days in jail in 1988 for beating up Vietnamese immigrant, Johnny Trinh. The actor has recently been trying to get a pardon and even his victim agrees that Wahlberg deserves one. Johnny Trinh, is now living in Texas and told Daily Mail that he had no idea who his assailant was until now.

"I've worked very hard to better myself as a person, and this was something that was put in front of me. Whether it happens or not, I will continue to work hard to be the best person I can be and be a role model and inspiration to kids growing up in areas like mine that don't have a real shot to succeed," - Wahlberg

A document was filed November 26th requesting the pardon. It states that in 1988, when Wahlberg was 16, he hit a man in the head with a wooden stick while trying to steal two cases of alcohol in front of a convenience store near his family's home in the Dorchester section of Boston.   Wahlberg says the pardon will help him with his youth programs. The charge prohibits him from becoming a probation officer.

“The more complex answer is that receiving a pardon would be a formal recognition that I am not the same person that I was on the night of April 8, 1988. It would be formal recognition that someone like me can receive official public redemption if he devotes himself to personal improvement and a life of good works,” Wahlberg wrote. 

But most people believe that it's because his record could prevent him from receiving a liquor license in California. That doesn't bode well for his restaurants Wahlburgers or Alma Nove expansions.

Does it matter if that's his main reason, as long as he's proven he's not the same person he was back then? It will be hard for him to get the governor of Massachusetts on board. There have been no pardons from the last two governors in that state and I'm not so sure the first one will be for Wahlberg.
 
Sources: wcvb, people.com, bostonmagazine.com