Monthly Archives: February 2012

TV

‘Spartacus’ Losing a Cast Member?!?

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Who wants a massive spoiler, possibly for this season of Spartacus? It was just too tempting for me not to read who from the show was just announced by Deadline to be signed on for the newest season of True Blood. I actually didn’t know whether or not to make this a Spartacus article or a True Blood article, but I figured I hate the hell out of True Blood, so BAM! After you read about the actor leaving, it’s not really all that big a spoiler considering that escaped slave-gladiators are not really long for this world. And if you read up on your history you’ll definitely know that the slave rebellion was ultimately put down. Here’s a little slice of IGN’s report regarding the news from Deadline:

Now Deadline is reporting news of a prominent Spartacus: Vengeance star being cast in the new upcoming season of HBO’s True Blood. Which probably means, since one show is filmed in LA and the other is filmed in New Zealand, that this person’s character is probably going to be killed off on Spartacus. Probably. Nothing’s certain, but it doesn’t look good. 

Now if you dare to be spoiled you can read after the jump. I’ll let you know its one of the people pictured above who is leaving the show….

And the winner is: OENOMAUS!

Oenomaus Peter mensah

Played by Peter Mensah, who according to Deadline will play a Vampire Authority character on the fifth season of True Blood. Ah it’s a sad day that we lose a Spartacus cast member to the fang-bangers. (Yes you Megan) But that being said I’m sure he’ll have a glorious death that he always deserved, possibly in the arena. I can see Gannicus being the one giving him this death given all of the craziness destined to go down between them. Them having to fight one another was always something Gannicus laughed off in ‘Gods of the Arena’. Seems like this time the only way out will be to kill his greatest friend. I’ll be sad to see Oenomaus go, because we’ve seen much of him revealed slowly over the three seasons of Spartacus. He’s had some of the best character development in the show if you ask me. God speed Peter Mensah!

TV

The Walking Dead Review: 2.08 – “Nebraska”

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After the three-month hiatus, Nebraska was a much-anticipated episode, and it began where the last episode left off – Rick had just shot zombie Sophia. As we know, Shane let all of the walkers out from the barn. He and Andrea began shooting them one by one. This further pissed Dale off, although Dale hated Shane already, this simply adds fuel to the discontent between them. What I liked about this though, is that everyone else – including Carl – agreed with what Shane did. It really was the right thing to do, even if it wasn’t the best way to do it.

Aside from Sophia, Hershel’s wife was also in the barn. When the Greene family saw her zombie body lying in the heap amongst the others, it caused a lot of heartbreak. Beth (one of Hershel’s daughters) was crying when her not quite dead Zombie-Mommy began reaching for her. Beth escaped only to watch her mother’s skull be penetrated by a farming tool. This sent Beth sent into a state of shock – and where was Hershel?

Nebraska

After making it very clear that everyone but his own family was to immediately leave the farm, Hershel discovered an old flask in his dresser drawer. From there he then went to town to his favorite bar from the old days, and promptly Rick and Glenn go out after him. During this bar adventure, two more characters were introduced: Dave and Tony – a couple of guys who are clearly bad news. Their inquisitive about where Rick and the others are staying, and this is the first time that we really see that the dangers to the group are far more vast than just dodging walkers. With Rick’s refusal to pony up any info, the strangers get increasingly hostile, until one of them draws his gun on Rick. Rick very quickly shoots both of the men.

Nebraska
R.I.P. Tony – ‘The Scrawny Douchebag’

Best scene ever!

Back at the farm, Dale tells Lori that he is pretty sure Shane sacrificed Otis to escape the walkers when they went to the school a few episodes back. Dale explains that although he has no proof, Shane all but admitted it to him. This is a telling factor, as Shane at one point asks Dale ‘What it is you actually do around here?’, it would appear Dale’s most recent job is to see through the bullshit that everyone else appears blind to.

When Beth’s condition seems to get worse, Lori tries to send Daryl to get the guys. Daryl is still very upset about the Sophia situation, and refuses to go. Lori then grabs a gun that I am not entirely convinced she knows how to use at all, and gets in a car to go get the guys from town. She is pregnant and has a son at the farm, but… who cares? The 90 pound woman is going to bring back the three grown men. Only she gets spooked by a zombie …and flips her car. Women drivers… pshh.Nebraska

I thought that this was a pretty great episode. There were parts of this episode that I thought were slow, but as I was reminded, they are trying to show how desensitized everyone is becoming to the world around them.

I would give Nebraska a 4/5. The scene in the saloon really made this episode.

The Walking Dead
Oh, I forgot to mention that Carol cried a lot. Huge shocker.

[Editor’s Note: The scene where Tony and Dave arrive at the bar, which lasted roughly 8 minutes, was for me, the most intensely enjoyable scene in the history of the show. That is largely thanks to a mostly still unknown, and surely under-appreciated actor named Michael Raymond James, who many people will recognize as ‘Rene Lenier’ from the first season of True Blood, but who will forever be known to me as ‘Britt Pollack’ from Terriers. There was something about him and his interactions with Rick, as if he is the ‘Rick’ of the other group, and he wasn’t always a bad guy, he was just handling things much differently. He seemed to channel almost a ‘John McClane’ type of edgy-swagger about him and the way he talked. I was sad to see him killed off so quick, but I suppose it just makes Rick that much cooler in the way he handled it. Kudos to the casting department on that one.]

TV

Spartacus Season 2: Vengeance – Episode 3 “The Greater Good”

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This was by far the best episode of the season yet, and that is pretty good for only the third episode. It would seem that Lucretia unleashing that little bit of information about Gannicus and Oenomaus’ wife Melitta happened a lot sooner than I thought, as she and Ashur worked towards gaining the location and intent of Spartacus and the other escaped slaves. I thought that Oenomaus was one of the more intriguing characters of the series, but he really doesn’t compare to the likes of Ashur.

“I call this one THE HELICOPTER!”

Ashur personifies the concept of scheming and treachery. Having said that, his loyalty is somewhat steadfast as long as the person employing him treats him well. It has already been shown that he is still loyal to Lucretia, though whether that is pure or simply a means to get revenge against Spartacus and the others remains to be seen. I don’t see him ever actually being true to the likes of Glaber. You have to wonder what Ashur’s driving force is, because it’s not likely he could rise much higher than someone’s lackey being a freed Syrian slave in Rome. Either way, he is a brilliant villain for the series and has made plenty of enemies of people who could really beat the living crap out of him. (Oenomaus and Crixus in particular.)

A statue that bleeds…

Oenomaus seems to be a broken man at this point after learning of Melitta doing the nasty with Gannicus, and bringing the poisoned wine to drink with him just before it. I would think even though he may want to see Gannicus dead, he may care a little less for long dead Quintus, and still alive Lucretia as well, especially if he finds out that Lucretia is responsible for Titus dying.

There have been some interesting developments indeed going down for the renegade slaves as well. After freeing another group of slaves being transported, Agron and Nasir interrogate one of the surviving Romans and gaining some information about Naevia, which isn’t good. After Crixus finds out that she is supposedly dead he goes into flip out mode and then mopes around quite a bit. It was actually pretty sad to see Crixus react to Naevia’s death, but as the episode wore on you could tell by the way Nasir was acting that something was amiss and when it was revealed you know things wouldn’t be good for anyone who pissed off Crixus.

Crixus LOVES Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U”

Finally the truth comes out when Nasir admits that Agron lied about Naevia’s death because he didn’t think it was right that they were risking everyone to save one person. And so Spartacus, Crixus and Nasir strike off with a small group for the mines where Naevia is being held and Agron leads the others to Mount Vesuviusto make camp. I always liked Agron, but I was kind of disappointed to see him screw up the harmony of the group with his lies. It was good to see Nasir as such a valuable member of the group, offering to assist them at the mines, and a bit weird to think of him and Agron as…*gulp*… a couple. Of anything by the end of this episode, the comradarie seen between Crixus and Spartacus was a welcome sight, though by the looks of the ending it may have been cut short.

“Swear to God, it was THIS big”

It would seem Claudius Glaber is finally being useful without having to rely on Verinius and Seppius as he heeds Ashur and Lucretia’s advice to seek out Spartacus and the others at the mines. The scene where it alternated between the fights at the Capua arena and the slaves escaping the mine with Naevia was very well done, both musically and visually. My biggest question at this point is what in the hell will become of Crixus? I really am starting to like the big oaf. And can I just add that I absolutely cannot stand Seppius’ sister Seppia? If actress Hanna Mangan Lawrence was going for ditzy and annoying noble Roman girl then she nailed that right on the head, and is a great actress for making me despise the character after only briefly seeing her in three episodes. I give the episode 5 out of 5 grizzlies, because it was perfect. It kept me on the edge of my seat with the interrogation of Oenomaus and the rescue of Naevia the entire time and left us with an excellent cliffhanger ending. Not to mention there was plenty of action to sustain us barbaric male viewers.

“Yup, hand in the air, I was totally paying attention.”
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Dark Horse Review – Knights of the Old Republic: War #2

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Another issue, another planet! Zayne Carrick is reluctantly helping to fight a war on the planet Halthor, but this time it’s for the Mandalorians! After being captured last issue with Captain Morvis, Zayne and his not so close friend find themselves on the front line with the only other choice being imprisoned as a slave for the Mandalorians. I think Zayne said it best himself that it’s pretty unusual for someone to help invade two planets in one week for two different armies.

The issue was a little bit light on the action once the beginning battle was over. We are introduced to the Devaronian Mandalorian whose child Zayne saved in the last issue. This issue kind of shows you how the Mandalorians operate during the war if you’re not too familiar with them. First off, Mandalorians take prisoners either to make them work as slaves or to fight for them in battle. This leads to the fact that Mandalorians are not just humans, but a mixture of many species. Being Mandalorian is not only based on race but more on the culture itself. Not to mention that was is their way of life. You come to see that the Devaronian that Zayne helped last issue, Ko Sornell, has her entire family in the war zone with her including husband, son and infant. Crazy bunch of buggers.

Nothing was more interesting than the concept of Jedi Knights siding with the Mandalorians in the war. I thought Dorjander Kace was pretty cool in the last issue but he kind of lost some credibility at the end of the last issue when he revealed that he and his Jedi followers were “Mandalorian Knights”. They all wield the same yellow-orange bladed lightsaber which reminds me of the Imperial Knights from the Legacy Era comics where certain Jedi follow the will of the force as guided by the will of the Emperor. This is the same concept except I’m not sure exactly what kind of code these Mandalorian Knights follow. Dorjander Kace explains that he and his Jedi joined the Mandalorians to balance the fact that the Jedi were entering the war against the Mandalorians. This idea kind of gives me a newfound respect for Dorjander Kace, even though I can only see him falling to the Dark Side eventually while fighting for such a brutal army. He is simply arguing as the Jedi council did against the Jedi entering into the war against the Mandalorians and he believes that the Jedi shouldn’t be fighting a war for a “corrupt” Republic. And after Revan and his Jedi joined in the war, Dorjander is just trying to balance things out. He almost reminds me of Dooku during the Clone Wars and it almost seems like this war is something the Jedi did not learn from and is repeated during that war. Only time will tell if Dorjander’s intentions are pure.

I give the issue 4 out of 5 grizzlies. It just about followed the same pace as the first with a battle at the beginning, story in the middle and a cliffhanger at the end, but I’m completely fine with that. Zayne is going to have his hands full with Dorjander revealing that there is to be a mass invasion of Phaeda, his home planet and where his family and “girlfriend” live. Is his girlfriend Jarael and does that mean we may get to see her in the upcoming issue? I sure hope so.

And on an artistic note, I’m really starting to take a liking to Andrea Mutti’s pencils in the series thus far. Her art has the right tone for this storyline with her gritty feel and attention to detail. I hope she stays on board at least for this first story arc and I wouldn’t complain if she stayed on after either. Stayed tuned for issue 3!

Movie News & Opinions

George Lucas Claims That Han Solo Never Shot First! COME ON!

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‘Whether or not Han Solo shot first’ is one of the biggest debates ever. It’s somewhere akin to the health care issue in the United States or whether global warming exists or not. You have Star Wars geeks of all creeds and color going at it back and forth about whether or not Han was a hero by not shooting first, or if he was a cold blooded killer for being shooter numero uno.

Personally, I always felt that Han definitely shot first when I was a youngling, and justifiably so. I think it qualifies as self defense when some scumbag Rodian has a gun pointed right at you and is gloating about taking away your starship and/or turning you over to a disgusting, oversized slug gangster. To tell you the truth I never actually thought twice about the whole situation.

Then came the special edition releases of the Star Wars trilogy and the modified scene where Han looks like he had a slight seizure to dodge a blaster bolt that harmlessly hits against the wall. I remember being in middle school and thinking not much of it, but after watching the movie about 80 more times it sort of started to bug me about why they did that, and why it looked so terrible. It was something that many fans including myself had hoped would disappear once all six Star Wars movies were released on Blu-Ray, but it was to no avail. George Lucas, creator of the Star Wars franchise claimed time and again that he added the scene because he didn’t want Han to look like some cold blooded killer. But if that was the case then why have the scene be so shoddy in the first place? Why not just fix this shit in the 70’s so we don’t have to waste our geek time debating it now?

Since then, there has been a recent development. This one is coming straight from the source. The Maker and flannel bearer himself George Lucas has recently had this say to the whole Han-Greedo debacle (IGN):

[quote]In a chat with The Hollywood Reporter (via /Film), Lucas said, “The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. I put a little wider shot in there that made it clear that Greedo is the one who shot first, but everyone wanted to think that Han shot first, because they wanted to think that he actually just gunned him down.” [/quote]

Oh yes George. We, the violent masses want nothing more than for our beloved Han Solo to be a murdering psychopath who just guns down every Rodian he sees. Really? I don’t think that anyone was upset due to the fact that Lucas’ terrible wide shot proved that Greedo shot first, I think they’re mad because you did such a crap job about it in the special editions. Lucas should have either left the whole thing up to interpretation or done a better job way back when. And yeah, I guess Han should be looking at keeping his image clean without any bar room murder, despite the fact that he’s already a f–kin’ smuggler and self-proclaimed scoundrel. (He did like the sound of that.) Either way I guess it doesn’t matter because Lucas will leave things that way that he wants. So that means all of the Star Wars geeks will remain looking like idiots as they argue over which guy shot first. Seriously say those last four words again, it doesn’t sound good at all.

MOVIES

Grizzly Review: The Vow

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Sometimes as a guy, you just have to bite the bullet. This could mean a lot of things, like buying your girlfriend tampons at the store or having to sit through two whole episodes of Glee. This weekend I had to bite the bullet in the form of watching “The Vow” starring Channing Tatum and Rachel McAdams. The movie has just hit the American cinema this weekend, just in time for that dreaded Valentines Day thing. And I am surprised to even see myself typing this, but the movie was actually not that bad and even a little enjoyable. As far as romances go, it was pretty decent and stuck to that same formula that most of them due with a slight twist at the end.

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