Welcome

Welcome to my ever-evolving blog. It started out as a blog on Beachbody workouts and products, mainly when I was a Beachbody coach. I no longer coach, not because I don't believe in Beachbody's programs (I subscribe to Beachbody on Demand and use their workouts every day), I am just not a salesperson and hated that aspect of it. I am more than willing to answer questions about my experiences with their products and the various workouts, and I feel freer to do so without the appearance of giving a biased review of something.

I have also started adding reviews for various things I have purchased like movies, books, CDs, and other products. This was brought about by a fight with Amazon in which all of my reviews were removed over a completely bullshit allegation that I posted a review that violated their terms of service. After going back and forth with the morons in the community-reviews department (even after they admitted that my posts did not violate their guidelines) they restored my account (which took them six months to do), but I have been posting my reviews on my blog to have them preserved in case something like that happens again. And here, I will post uncensored reviews so I will swear from time to time and post reviews that may be longer than Amazon's character limit. Everything I post here on any topic or product is my personal opinion, and I take no compensation for any product reviews I post. I am a member of Amazon's vine program and because I get those products for free, I keep those reviews on Amazon only, but everything I have purchased with my own money, whether from Amazon or some other store/website/outlet, I will post here.  

I also plan to do some longer blog posts on various topics, such as how to learn physics, how to get through calculus, and longer reviews of workout programs as I do them. Basically, whatever strikes me as interesting at the time.  As you can see if you navigate around the blog, I had many years in between postings. During that time I was going back to school to get an engineering degree, and learning material that I avoided my first time through college was a different experience and one that gave me a lot of insight into how to do well in those classes, which I will try to impart here for those who are looking to get a science or engineering degree. 

Showing posts with label Supergirl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Supergirl. Show all posts

Monday, June 17, 2024

Blu-Ray/Movie Review: Supergirl

 


Supergirl is an action-adventure movie from 1984 starring Helen Slater, Faye Dunaway, Peter O'Toole, Mia Farrow, Hart Bochner, and Peter Cook. It is definitely a hot mess of a movie, made solely to capitalize on the success of the Christopher Reeve-led Superman movies, which, as time has pretty much revealed, were only a success because of what Richard Donner did with the first movie and the parts of the second movie that he filmed before being fired. But, when Donner was removed from the process entirely as he was in Superman III, the quality of the product went way down.

As people may or may not know, after making Superman III, the producers of the Superman franchise, Alexander and Ilya Salkind, decided that they did not want to make any more Superman movies and decided to bring Supergirl to the big screen. What followed was a pretty incoherent mess of a movie with plot holes a mile wide and a horrible script. It also proved that Superman IV probably would have been just as bad had the Salkinds stayed on to produce it.

Supergirl was definitely trying to Follow the Superman I formula of having a newcomer play Supergirl. The fresh out of high-school 19-year-old Helen Slater was chosen for the leading role, and like the original Superman film, more established actors were hired to play the supporting roles. In this movie, Faye Dunnaway was cast as the big bad, a witch named Selena, and Peter O'Toole was cast in an almost useless role of Zartar, the creator of Argo city, a place in "inner space" where a bunch of Kryptonians lived. Frankly, I am amazed either O'Toole or Dunnaway decided to do the movie, given that the script and the budget (especially the special effects budget) took a huge step back from Superman I and II and even Superman III. Christopher Reeve was supposed to appear as Superman/Clark Kent but backed out at the last minute, and they replaced him with a combination of a Superman poster and bringing in Marc McClure to make an extended cameo appearance as Jimmy Olsen to tie this movie into the Superman movies. McClure has gone on record saying that his role in the movie made no sense, and he has no idea why they even wanted him there if they would not have him mention Superman.

The story is really bad, and as I said above, the plot has a ton of holes. For example, it is never explained how Kara has any idea that her cousin is on Earth, is called Superman, and goes by Clark Kent to disguise his identity when she has been living in Argo City, which is located in another dimension. She leaves Argo City and comes to Earth to chase a sphere that is the power source for Argo City, which ends up in Selena's possession, giving her power over pretty much everything. For some reason, Kara disguises herself as a high school student named Linda Lee at an all-girls school in Midville, Illinois, and pretty much knows how to use all her powers and has a super-suit as she emerges from a lake as she crosses from "inner space" to our dimension. Selena, who has an orb that makes her all-powerful, uses it to make a landscaper (played by Hart Bochner, who would go on to play the slimy Nakatoma employee in Die Hard a few years later) fall in love with her (of course he falls in love with Kara instead).

The Blu-Ray has the international cut of the film that comes in at just over a couple of hours. This was longer than the US theatrical cut. I saw that years ago when I was a kid, but I do not remember how long that was and what was cut out of it. It definitely felt that two hours was way too long for this movie, though. The extras include a making-of featurette that lasts about 51 minutes and the theatrical trailer. Then, on a separate DVD, there is the director's cut of the movie that really only changes the opening a little and extends some of the scenes. But, it does not change the movie drastically. There is also a commentary track with the director and a project consultant. They definitely stick up for the movie and don't really get into the fact that it was a flop that was critically and commercially panned, and they pretty much just stick to talking about how the movie was made.

Overall, the movie is kind of in the category of so bad you have to watch it. I think the failure was that it was allowed to be campy and not have a serious script, unlike the Superman movies, which got more protected by DC Comics and Warner Brothers. Helen Slater was definitely the best part of the movie, especially given how young and inexperienced she was. But, she was not given a lot to work with. I think Peter Cook was horribly cast and did not fit in a Superhero movie at all, and Dunneway's character was just dumb. Again, I think she did what she could with it, but it was not much to work with, either. The budget for the movie must have been a lot less than for any of the Superman movies because the special effects were horrible. They were more like the Superman IV effects after the new producers cut the budget for that movie and went on the cheap with everything. So, it did not have anything close to the look or feel of the first three Superman movies. I know that the filmmakers wanted it to stand on its own, but given that it was in the same universe as Superman, it should have had much better continuity. I think the movie would have been much better without the campy script and had used the version of the story that Kara sent to Earth to protect Kal-El, but took longer to get here, like is the backstory for the Supergirl television series. Then make it a team-up movie with Superman, which Christopher Reeve probably would have stayed on the movie for.

While the Supergirl movie never did turn into a franchise, Slater was able to capitalize on the movie by playing Lara, Kal-El/Clark's Kryptonian mother on the show Smallville, and playing Kara's adoptive Earth mother on the Supergirl TV series. I think it is worth seeing if you are a fan of the Superman movies or Superman and Supergirl from the comics. That said, it is definitely not a must-see by any stretch of the imagination, and you would not miss much if you decide to skip it.

Monday, January 30, 2023

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Supergirl: Season 3

 


+++Warning, this contains spoilers from the second season, but no major spoilers from season three.+++

The third season of Supergirl aired during the 2017-2018 TV season. This season mostly does away with the villain of the week (as have the other Arrowverse shows) and basically has interweaving serial arcs. The season starts out with Kara still reeling from the loss of Mon-EL after the defeat of the Daxamites at the end of season two.  Kara has to deal with a new threat in the form of an industrialist named Morgan Edge (played by Heroes Adrian Padsar) who wants to take out Supergirl and buy Catco, which is being run by Jimmy since Cat is now the White House Press Secretary. Then, the series shifts to a threat from a rouge Kryptonian named Reign, who wants to take over Earth and form a new Krypton, and Kara learns a surprising truth about her mother Alura, now played by Erica Durance, who of course played Lois Lane in the series Smallville. Eight episodes into the season, the big Arrowverse crossover happens with episodes of Supergirl, Flash, Arrow, and Legends each devoted to the crossover. Supergirl's episode is the first episode of the crossover (Crisis on Earth-X), and more characters from Supergirl are included in the event this year than were included in the prior season's crossover. The season ends on a big reveal that sets up the storyline for the next season.

For those who get the blu ray set, the 23 episodes (plus the three other episodes from the other shows of the crossover event) are spread across four discs. The A/V quality is on par with the prior season releases, and the releases of the other Arrowverse shows. The extras include a featurette on the character Reign, a gag reel, and deleted scenes. Then, there is a featurette on the crossover event (which is the same one that was included in the release of the other Arrowverse shows from that season) and a best of DC TV at Comic-Con, which was included on all of the season releases for the DC TV shows. 

Overall, this is another strong season. There are more changes to the cast, some of which would be permanent and others that are not. This season's additions to the cast include Odette Annable, Andrea Brooks, Carl Lumby (from Alias), and Jessee Rath. This would be the last season with Jeremy Jordan as a series regular, and Floriana Lima had a reduced role this season. Helen Slater makes another appearance as Eliza Danvers, and Katie McGrath is upgraded to a series regular as Lena Luthor. Ultimately, if you liked the second season of the show (which is much different from season 1) then you will probably like this season. If you preferred season 1 of the show over season two, then you may not like this as much, but it is still good and fits better into the Arrowverse.  

Friday, December 2, 2022

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Supergirl - Season 2

 


+++Warning, this contains spoilers from season one, but no major spoilers from season 2+++

The second season of Supergirl marks a major shift in the direction of the show. This is largely due to the shift from CBS to the CW, which had plusses and minuses. The big plus is that the show could be brought into the Arrowverse more easily because the show moved the filming location from Hollywood to Vancouver British Columbia where the other Arrowverse shows are filmed. Of course, the show was brought into the Arroverse by a crossover with The Flash during the show's first season in which The Flash (Grant Gustin) ended up on Earth-38 and ended up in National City, and Supergirl was shown as The Flash was running in the speed force in one of the season-two episodes of The Flash. The big drawback to the network and filming location switch is that there was a lot of cast turnover. For example, Peter Facinelli ended up leaving the show, so the entire Max Lord storyline was dropped. Also, Callista Flockhart went from a series regular to a recurring cast member, with Cat appearing in just a handful of episodes. 

The season picks up immediately after the crash of the ship that ended the season one finale. Supergirl finds an unconscious man in the pod and takes him to the DEO. Meanwhile, in the first episode, the Arrowverse's version of Superman is introduced, played by Teen Wolf's Tyler Hoechlin as he helps Supergirl save a commercial rocket that experiences engine failure and falls back to Earth. They discover that Lena Luthor, Lex's sister (played by Merlin's Katie McGrath) was on the rocket Kara begins a complicated friendship with Lena. The rest of the season is a mix of alien of the week and a couple of serial storylines. One involves a version of the project Cadmus, and one that involves the mysterious man in the ship (played by Melissa Benoist's now husband, Chris Wood). In the eighth episode, Supergirl is recruited to help in the big Arrowverse Crossover, Invasion. Although Supergirl did not get a stand-alone episode in the big crossover, there is another crossover later in the season with The Flash which is partly a musical episode. The season ends with a couple of big cliffhangers that set up season three.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the show looks and sounds great, as all of the Arrowverse blu-rays do. The extras include several behind-the-scenes featurettes, including one on the Alien "fight club" episode, another that details the different kinds of aliens the show features, then you get a portion of the 2016 comic-con panel, a conversation with Kevin Smith and the series creator Andrew Kreisberg discussing the series, and a commentary track on the episode Supergirl lives (which Smith directed) featuring the two of them. Then there is a series of seven short trivia featurettes that are anywhere from about 30 seconds long to just under two minutes. 

Overall, the show is good but takes a decidedly different direction this season, and almost has to start over. While most of the cast returns, including Mechad Brooks (whose role as James is expanded in a couple of ways), Chyler Leigh, Jeremy Jordan, and David Harewood, the loss of Calista Flockhart, Peter Facinelli, and Laura Benanti definitely hurt. Plus, actors like Jenna Dewan and Italia Ricci, who may have had additional guest-starring roles would not return. Although in season two, Teri Hatcher, who, of course, played Lois Lane in the 1990s series Lois and Clark, had a major guest starring role, and the show got other notable guest stars like Helen Slater (reprising her role as Kara and Alex's mother Eliza), Lynda Carter (who played the live-action version of Wonder Woman in the 1970s), Dichen Lachman (from Dollhouse), and Darren Criss. The show most definitely incorporates elements of the real-world political climate into the storylines, and the political leanings of the showrunners and cast are very apparent. Some people will definitely be triggered by that, others will like it, and others will ignore it. In terms of tone, the show is somewhere between The Flash (which tends to be a bit more lighthearted) and Arrow (which is darker). So, while I cannot say that everyone will like it, I definitely think it is worth watching.



Tuesday, October 18, 2022

Blu-Ray/TV Series Review: Supergirl: Season 1

 


The first season of Supergirl served as an origin story for Kara Danvers (Kara Zor El) played by Glee's Melissa Benoist. Kara's backstory was told in the first few minutes of the series premiere, and then during the opening credits for pretty much every episode thereafter. She was a pre-teen on Krypton when she was sent on a separate ship to Earth, with the expectation that she would protect Kal-EL, who would, of course, grow up to become Superman. Her ship was blown off course and got stuck in the Phantom Zone, and by the time she reached Earth (still as a pre-teen), Kal had grown up and was living as Clark Kent and Superman. Kara was sent to live with the Danvers family in National City, which includes her sister Alex (played by Chyler Leigh) and mother Eliza (played by Helen Slater, who played the first live-action version of Supergirl in the 1980s), and a missing father who worked for the same government organization that Alex new works for Department of Extranormal Operations (DEO), under the leadership of Hank Henshaw (played by Homeland's David Harewood) that tracks alien activity on Earth.

Adult Kara works at Catco worldwide media which is run by Cat Grant (played by Calista Flockhart in a much different version of the character as was portrayed on Lois and Clark) as a lacky/flunky/assistant for the overbearing Grant. She is joined by Jimmy Olson (played by Mechad Brooks) who in this version knows the identity of Superman and that Kara has powers, and Winslow "Winn" Schott (played by Jeremy Jordan). In the first episode, an event that somewhat plays homage to the original Superman movie as well as a scene in Superman Returns) occurs, which requires Kara to reveal the presence of another Kryptonian on Earth, but she is able to maintain her secret identity as Kara Danvers. From there, the show becomes a "freak-of-the-week" procedural, much like the show Smallville, with Kara having to track down wayward aliens who had escaped from the Phantom Zone. Intertwined with the procedural stories was a larger arc that involved the character Maxwell Lord, played by Twilight's Peter Facinelli who was a Lex Luthor-type foil to Supergirl.

For those who get the Blu-Ray set, the A/V quality is very good, which is not surprising given that the show was shot on digital and had a big enough effects budget that the CGI looked nearly movie-quality. The extras include 15 minutes of deleted scenes, a 15-minute portion of the Comic-Con panel, a featurette on one of the characters that kind of acts as a spoiler as the identity of the character is not revealed right away, a 10-minute featurette on the look of Krypton on the show, and a short gag reel. Not a ton of extras, but what was included is good.

Overall, the show is very good. Benoist does a great job as the series lead portraying Kara/Supergirl as idealistic even if somewhat naive. The first season of the show did have a bit of a different feel in season one than it would have for the rest of its run because it aired on CBS and was shot in Hollywood as opposed to the other Arrowverse shows that aired on The CW and shot in Canada. The show was confirmed to be in the Arrowverse, on a different Earth, when Grant Gustin (from The Flash) made a guest appearance partway through the season. The first season had a good run of guest stars, that included stars from both Smallville and Lois and Clark. Some of the guest stars included Laura Benanti, Jenna Dewan, Brit Morgan, Italia Ricci, Laura Vandervoort (who played Supergirl on Smallville), Emma Caulfield (from Buffy), and more. Benoist's husband (at the time), Blake Jenner, also appeared in a guest starring role, which is a bit creepy to watch now given what has come out about their relationship since then. The season ends on a pretty big cliffhanger that sets up the season two storyline (which was not a guarantee the series was going to get at the time the season finale aired) while leaving some story arcs unresolved. If you are a fan of the other Superhero shows, especially The Flash, then you will probably like Supergirl, as it has a fairly similar tone to The Flash. The writing is mostly good but can get a bit soap-opera-like at times. It is definitely worth watching.