Over the weekend, the internet “leaked” a red band trailer of the American adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the version I’ve been looking forward to since the announcement of David Fincher at its helm. Many people have put the quotation marks around “leaked” since Sony Pictures could have taken down the YouTube’d bootleg trailer before it came close to accumulating a few hundred thousand views. But it seems now the green band trailer has officially hit the web. The difference between red band and green band is that the former indicates an R-rated trailer, which means the latter has cut out the blood and boobs. I naturally prefer the red band, as it revels in the violent nature of the material more, but the two trailers are in almost every way exactly alike.

Trailer courtesy of Movie-List, via The Film Stage.

Other than Fincher’s involvement, I’m looking forward to the film due to Trent Reznor composing another score for him. I have no clue whether the trailer music is reflective of the film score, but no matter how you may feel about the cover of “Immigrant Song”, you have to admit it fits the trailer perfectly. Add that to Reznor’s fantastic work on The Social Network, and I’m confident he will know exactly how to score anal rape and serial killing.

And that brings me to why I’m looking forward to Fincher tackling this book: he does his best work when dealing with serial killers. Not to mention his movies are stylish as fuck. Anyone who can cut the story of Facebook into a fast-paced two-hour film simultaneously following the initial creation of the website, along with two separate depositions for lawsuits that were spawned by the site, is an extremely talented director. Ok, maybe he had help from Aaron Sorkin in creating the script that made those scenes so entertaining, but Fincher’s directing was probably the star of the film. I need to watch The King’s Speech just so I can say how little directing was even needed for such Oscar bait. “Just point the camera at the great actor with the stutter! People will eat that shit up!”

While The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is over half a year away (note the “Feel Bad Movie of Christmas” tagline), the next piece of entertainment is even further away. It should be arriving next year, but who knows with Blizzard? I could be talking about either Diablo III or the first expansion to Starcraft II here. But this time I’ll just post the first gameplay footage of SCII: Heart of the Swarm. There’s not really much to get excited about in the video, though, especially considering how shitty appearance of the main character, Kerrigan. I’ll probably make a dedicated post to Diablo III in the near future.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRWzB7T0LBw

To get to something that will come out soon, a trailer for the fourth season of Breaking Bad hit the web yesterday. It consists solely of scenes from previous seasons — whether that’s a positive or negative is up to you. I’m just glad I got a reminder one of the two best shows on television is back in July, which is only one month away. This summer has really sneaked up on me. If you haven’t watched Breaking Bad yet, get started now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alFsfEUtDmQ

I’m sure you’ve heard of Game of Thrones by now, considering there have been ads during baseball games, basketball games, and plenty of other television shows not featuring professional athletes. Going only by the commercials, one would think it’s possibly Lord of the Rings with sex thrown in, especially since Sean Bean stars in both. It’s closer to a re-imagined medieval political drama. I’ve heard The Sopranos + LOTR, but I really don’t get where the hell these people got The Sopranos from this series. I definitely think The Wire, Deadwood, and Rome would be better comparisons, considering the ensemble casts and power struggles — not that I’m qualified, considering I’ve never seen The Sopranos. But I don’t think I’m wrong when I assume the show focused greatly on Tony.

While Sean Bean is undoubtedly the central character of A Game of Thrones (the extra “A” means I’m talking about the book), there are way too many other important and powerful characters, signified by each chapter featuring one of eight narrative viewpoints. Not to mention that Sean Bean is as close to a traditional hero as you’ll see on TV nowadays, what with his old-fashioned honor and loyalty. Yeah ok, he has a bastard son, but it’s not like he’s a emotionless vigilante serial killer of other serial killers, an angry U.S. Marshal who likes to shoot people whenever he can, or a sarcastic animated secret agent who has an unhealthy relationship with his mother. Bean’s Eddard Stark is the character that gives some sort of noble center to the treacherous goings-on in the world of Westeros, the fictional continent where A Song of Ice and Fire takes place (that’s the name of the entire book series).

I had been hearing about the book series for a few years due to the nerd-filled places I frequent on the internet, but I never got around to reading the first book until last month. I figured I needed to prepare for the TV series premiere, even though I don’t subscribe to HBO. My plan was to possibly milk three free months out of FiOS like my parents seem to do once a year, and with the Optimum Online $69.95 triple-pack offer that came in the mail today, I might have my leverage. I won’t even need to lie!

I’d recommend everyone to read the books before watching the series, but that’s just my stock advice when it comes to these types of things. Reading before watching might be particularly helpful with A Game of Thrones, though, as it is lengthy and filled with so many characters and details that it’ll undoubtedly be tough to keep up if you jump right into the show. The book doesn’t have spectacular prose, and the world is misogynistic, but I’m not sure George R.R. Martin is. He might paint some female characters in a terrible light and describe some rough sex, but the ending of the book does feature the climax of a young woman finally coming into her own. Man, that sounded so wrong.

Anyway, the book is just what it sounds like — a struggle for the throne of Westeros. Of course, it’s only the beginning of an still-unfinished seven-part series, but many of the arcs are wrapped up while also laying the framework for the bigger battles that undoubtedly come in later books. There are betrayals and murders and twists and beheadings, but not all that much magic or supernatural forces if that’s what you’re worried about. Although, there is plenty of talk of dragons since they at one point actually existed in this alternate medieval world (if you’re a Japanophile, imagine them as mechs or gundams). And if you watched the following preview, you probably thought LOTR + zombies, instead of The Sopranos. So I would just like to drive the point home that this is basically Rome set in a Christopher Nolan-esque “grounded” fantasy world.

Then there’s Portal 2. By now you undoubtedly heard of how the cake in the original was a lie, but the puzzle-solving done in the first-person was what set Portal apart from just most games of the past few years. It was a short ride, but a shockingly inventive and entertaining one. After only an hour with its sequel, I’ve already experience much of the same, even if the puzzles so far are extremely simple to a veteran of the original. The same dry, but playful sense of humor pervades each game and the graphics are crisp on even middling PCs such as mine, due to the Source engine being immensely scalable, and most of the action taking place within fairly plain enclosed areas — testing chambers that have the aesthetic of a laboratory playground.

There’s not much of a point in me going on about Portal or its sequel at this point. You should have already played the first, and if you haven’t, ask someone who pre-ordered Portal 2 for a Steam copy. I’m off to play with my portal gun.

I’ve only gotten through the fourth season when it comes to my comprehensive re-watch, but just looking at the titles of the fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons I see a multitude of classic titles. Even Season 8 has its share of memorable episodes. Looking at Season 9, I’m not sure I remember too much after the premiere “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson” — an episode which would obviously stick in the head of a native of New York (State). I’m sure this will change once I get around to finishing my now complete collection of worthwhile seasons of the show.

So when I resume my oft-interrupted marathon, I look forward to spotting GIF-able moments and scientifically calculating the season which first hinted at the long, long decline that has lasted longer than anyone could have imagined. It’s a decaying process that has created a terrible monster that resides on Sunday nights on FOX. If The Simpsons are Law and Order, Family Guy is SVU, American Dad is Criminal Intent, and The Cleveland Show is Los Angeles. This analogy is really unfair to Law and Order, but it’ll have to do.

In the meanwhile, I put up a poll to see what my five readers think. I refuse to vote until I’ve watched all my episodes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4b_-TMdRIY

Unless you’re a Cablevision customer or not a baseball fan, you’ve noticed that FOX has replaced this theme with their NFL on FOX theme (which I won’t even link here). It’s one thing to move on from a sports theme you’ve used for years; it’s another thing to replace it with a well-known theme associated with an entirely different sport. It’s not like this theme is amazingly iconic like the NBA on NBC or NHL on ESPN themes, but it’s total garbage to condition your audience to expect to see a football stadium and/or Terry Bradshaw making an ass of himself after hearing a certain minute of music, only to be greeted by the terrifying faces of Joe Buck and Tim McCarver. I can only imagine how confused a thick-headed football fan would be after such a traumatic experience.

Perhaps FOX figured this would be the best time to make their NFL theme their universal sports theme, seeing as the bigger issue at the moment is millions of New Yorkers not being able to watch the World Series. Although, Cablevision now says you can order the MLB.TV World Series package and they’ll refund your $10. Classy move. Unfortunately, while it seems like News Corp. is being the more unreasonable of the two companies, Cablevision is going to be the one to suffer in this dispute, as customers are just going to start switching to Verizon, DirecTV, etc. On the other hand, it’s not like I can feel sorry for any hardship endured by James Dolan. So yeah, everyone just switch. I can vouch for the greatness of FiOS, at the very least.

Pro-tip: If your show is actually a buddy-”cop” procedural, don’t advertise it as if it’s actually a show about the dog from Frasier. And yeah, maybe the name makes sense after watching the show for a few episodes, but you have to take the uninitiated into account.

It’s unfortunate that the best show of this television season is getting 1/10th the viewers of The Event, but even Shawn Ryan — one of Terriers‘ producers, and creator of The Shield — admits he screwed up. On the other hand, maybe he didn’t think FX would go full out in their attempt to fool the public about the premise of the show. So all fans of the show can do now is post shit on Twitter or write blog posts to convince people to give the show a shot.

Another problem just might be FX’s fanbase. Look at the rest of lineup: Sons of Anarchy, Justified, Rescue Me, Archer, Louie, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, The League, and the upcoming Lights Out (which looks like a TV cross between Rocky and Raging Bull). Most of these are very obvious appeals to the 18-35 testerorone-fueled demographic. The Shield, the show that put FX on the map, pretty much formed the blueprint. I’m not going to distance myself from such a group — as I watch and love almost of FX’s shows — but Terriers is definitely a beat or two away from badass bikers or loose-cannon cops kicking ass and breaking laws, or oblivious sociopaths wreaking havoc.

The two main characters on Terriers are probably two of better human beings the network has ever featured — particularly Hank, played by Donal Logue. A genuinely compassionate character who cares about both friends and strangers? And a sidekick (but don’t call him that!) who has given up a life of petty crime to team up with him in the private eye business? It sure is a nice break from protagonists that intentionally kill people or at the very least intentionally ruin others’ lives. Louie would be the other exception, but that just features the hilariously miserable bastard that is Louis C.K.

That’s not to say that Terriers is some light-hearted show that is completely divergent in tone from the rest of FX’s lineup. It delves into some dark subject matter, like alcoholism, drug abuse, murder, adultery, suicide — the type of stuff you’d imagine a couple of television P.I.s would get themselves into. And as likeable and good-natured as Hank and his friend Britt are, they aren’t exactly law-abiding citizens. They do just about anything to finish the job, which can include breaking into houses, stealing information, or lying about anything and everything.

But the show separates itself by deriving its humor not from its characters being moronic assholes, but from the sharp, clever writing showcased in the interactions between Hank and Britt. The show is also shot better than any other show on the network other than arguably Louie. And the performance from Logue — playing a character dealing with the need to stay sober, divorce, and a sick sister — is nothing short of fantastic.

Terriers is also more of a procedural than the rest of the FX drama lineup, which lends itself to viewers jumping in whenever they want. What I’m getting at here is that you should start watching the show in whatever way you can. Of course, I recommend starting from the pilot, but the standalone cases are amusing and interesting enough from week to week to entertain any viewer. So get on it.

Wednesdays at 10 pm on FX. Apparently they are showing repeats on Tuesdays at 11 pm, too.

Oh, and its theme song is the catchiest on the network outside of Louie‘s. I can’t help whistling it randomly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVHOn-S82ms

]]> http://somewhatmanlynerd.com/blog/2010/10/22/watch-terriers/feed/ 4 http://somewhatmanlynerd.com/blog/2010/08/19/stephen-colbert-is-better-than-me-at-mimicking-explosions/ http://somewhatmanlynerd.com/blog/2010/08/19/stephen-colbert-is-better-than-me-at-mimicking-explosions/#comments Thu, 19 Aug 2010 22:50:03 +0000 CajoleJuice http://somewhatmanlynerd.com/blog/?p=2970 There are people that read this blog that have known me for almost 20 years. A few of them (and also people that have only known me since middle school) might remember when I use to do an impression of a meteor hitting the earth. I pretty much stole it straight out of Deep Impact — the music, the angle, the sound of the shockwave tearing across the earth’s surface, all of it.

This video, which is actually months old, reminds me of when I used to do that. Colbert also happens to be about 100x more talented at portraying death and destruction.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4sc4Ftvu5Og

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idLG6jh23yE

This is the new Nike commercial for the 2010 World Cup, which starts on June 11. Only commercials like this should be allowed before films at theaters. I only wish I could watch it in full 1080p without it chugging. I don’t know whether it’s my computer or Chrome or that I just need to restart. I’m just proud of myself for recognizing three players featured in the video.

In other soccer news, I think there’s a Champions League final on Saturday? Maybe I should watch that as a warm-up for the World Cup to see if I can actually stand watching an entire match. They’re called matches, right? I know I tried watching a couple of years ago and by halftime I had all but passed out in my chair. I’ll report back in two days.

Free feel to rip on baseball in the comments for retribution, soccer fans.

I must have wanted to make this thread for around two months now. Once I was invited to thebox.bz I quickly acquainted myself with the amazingness of Newswipe – basically the UK’s answer to The Daily Show. Only instead of episodes every weeknight throughout the year, Newswipe follows the usual British TV schedule of six episodes each year. This allows Newswipe to maintain its high quality throughout an entire run, except for the poetry segments (you’ll see what I mean).

I’ll go ahead and post a segment from the show — despite it already made the rounds on the internet multiple times — because it is that perfect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHun58mz3vI

Charlie Brooker is really, really awesome. I did a little wiki’ing and I found out that Newswipe is actually a spinoff of the more popular Screenwipe, in which Brooker rips on (I assume) British television. I’m sure it’s awesome, but I’ve never had the urge to watch, due to my non-existent knowledge of the vast majority of television across the pond. Except for one show, of course. And that would be Peep Show. But I highly doubt he makes fun of that show, since it’s fucking awesome.

Since I was on a Charlie Brooker -wipe binge, I noticed something called Gameswipe on thebox.bz as well. That was an extremely entertaining 50-minute rundown of gaming history. So basically, anything Charlie Brooker is involved in proves to be awesome. Which means I need to get around to checking out You Have Been Watching. The following is the only clip I’ve seen from it, and I’m still recovering from the knowledge that BIBLEMAN is real.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EIS5_kpS4c

I also need to check out That Mitchell and Webb Look, since it’s the same guys (David Mitchell and Robert Webb) who star in Peep Show.

And then there’s The Thick of It, the television series which In The Loop — probably the funniest movie of last year — was based on. Oh oh, and Misfits, which I actually have watched. It’s been described as a cross between the British teen drama Skins (which I’ve never seen) and Heroes. That probably doesn’t sound all that good to a discerning American TV viewer, but it’s pretty fun. It’s like if Heroes starred all teenagers with superpowers, but actually featured competent writing. And there’s swearing. And tits. I hope it sounds more enticing now.

So now you have a list of shit you should download if you ask for an invite (which you obviously should do):

Peep Show
Newswipe
Gameswipe
You Have Been Watching
That Mitchell and Webb Look
Misfits
The Thick of It

Just make sure to keep your ratio above 1.00, alright?

Edit: You should probably check out Spaced, too. If only because it’s by the same guys behind Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. I really need to start taking my own advice, though.

I’ll repeat what I said on Twitter: it’s like I just watched my childhood get sodomized by a dozen prison inmates with AIDS. How many times has The Simpsons jumped the shark now? How is it even still on television? Do any of these characters even qualify as characters anymore? There really should be a Supreme Court ruling on how long shows can go on for. Or just declare the first 8 or 9 seasons of the show a historical landmark or something so they can’t be touched and every other season is burned.