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by Josh Roth @ 9:02 pm August 28th, 2008
As we approach the end of the first, and most hopefully not last, season of the glorious gem known as The Middleman Javi and the gang continue to show us how unbelievably talented they are. As I said last time, the latter half of The MIddleman’s first season has been significantly deeper and more character-focused. That trend continues as we get to “The Clotharian Contamination Protocol”, the second to last episode of the season. And this week builds up to what looks to be one hell of a finale, introducing us to our main villain, Manservant Neville, as played by Mark Sheppard! Now Sheppard is no stranger to us Battlestar Galactica fans, where he played the suave and infinitely clever lawyer Romo Lampkin earlier this season. He also had a brief stint on Whedon’s Firefly as the conniving criminal ‘Badger’. With his wit and awesome accent he melds perfectly into the Middle-verse. And next week’s season finale is shaping up to the most brilliant episode of the series so far.
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by Josh Roth @ 8:36 pm August 21st, 2008
Thanks Sci-Fi, thank you for killing the franchise that got me into sci-fi to begin with. Stargate SG-1 was such a unique and delightful experience that it opened the door for me to classics like old school Doctor Who and more modern classics like Firefly and Farscape. The show was funny, action packed, and stuffed to the brim with sci-fi goodness. Even when it started to slump in season 8, it rebounded with a vengance. Bringing Ben Browder, Beau Bridges, and Claudia Black into the mix was a stroke of genius, it gave the show a much needed new dynamic which worked brilliantly with the remaining members of the SG-1 crew. Stargate Atlantis started off great, got a little old, and kicked up again last season. This year, season five, has had its ups and downs, but overall it’s been quite good. “Daedalus Variations” was a stroke of genius, “The Seed” was a bit stale, and “Ghost in the Machine” was surprisingly good. So what does Sci-Fi Channel do? They cancel the last fringe of the franchise that made them what they are today. And why? That remains to be seen, but it would seem they like to pimp their wrestling matches instead of their original sci-fi programming! Sci-Fi has been going down hill for years, and to me this is one devestating blow.
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by Josh Roth @ 9:36 pm August 17th, 2008
Tropic Thunder’s trailers made it out to be a new high in the genre of Hollywood comedies. That’s quite a high standard to appease, but luckily Tropic Thunder comes out smelling like restroom soap. It’s an action comedy war movie directed/written/starring Ben Stiller, and starring Robert Downey Jr., Jack Black, Danny McBride, Jay Baruchel, and Brandon T. Jackson; with guest appearances by Steve Coogan, Nick Nolte, Matthew McConaughey, Bill Hader, AND Tom Cruise. How could you possibly go wrong? Simply put, Tropic Thunder is a comedy masterpiece, filled to the brim with genius parodies and cameos, and enough action to make John McClaine choke. The action is beautifully executed, and the comedy doubly so. This is a real gem of a comedy, and easily the funniest movie of the summer, and more than likely the whole year.
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by Josh Roth @ 7:59 pm August 6th, 2008
I had the pleasure of meeting Javi (the creator of Middleman) on the Comic-Con show floor. He gave and fellow Nerdgasmic blogger Sam Siskind some tidbits on upcoming episodes, and just from those quick one line synopsis I was amazed at how the show was evolving. This week brings us “The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation” where Wendy must infiltrate a haunted sorority and the Middleman is possessed by a sorority sister mad scientist. Javi and crew continue to impress me, every week brings another brilliant mix of sci-fi and comic book action/adventure on a shoestring budget. Matt Keeslar and Natalie Morales are brilliant as always, and Natalie really got to flush out Wendy’s character (like Matt got to do in last week’s Titanic tuba episode). But some of the real charm this week comes from Brendan Hines as Tyler (back from the Luciador episode) and Louis the ghost interpreter. They help give the episode an added level of charm and cleverness.
