Fox invested around $10 million into making the Fringe pilot, and it being a J.J. Abrams property success was pretty much guaranteed, the question was could Abrams live up to something like Lost?? The answer so far: not quite, but damn promising. The impact of the pilot isn’t as monumental as when Lost crash landed into our paths. When I first saw Lost I knew that the line between the world of cinema and small screens was beginning to seriously blur. Fringe is the next logical step from there, the $10 million may sound absurd, but the quality really does show. I’m interested to see if the show can possibly keep up this level of quality, doing so would make Fringe a serious TV achievement.

I am a stickler for visual effects, especially in TV shows. One of my only complaints about The Middleman’s first season was the effects, which could be chalked up to it’s low budget. Effects on Fringe are simply perfect. Most of the budget for the pilot must have gone into the cinematography and VFX. The premise of the pilot revolves around an invisible skin airborne toxin that melts people’s flesh. Beyond being a totally awesome concept, the first scene of the pilot is full of people’s skin melting and jaws falling off. It’s on the level of a mainstream feature, but it’s a TV show! Later in the episode one of the characters becomes infected and his skin slowly becomes transparent. This effect is simply stunning, every time we see him he’s a little more transparent. Best of all the camera isn’t pinned down like it usually is in a major TV effects shot. Thanks to it’s enormous budget the pilot isn’t restricted by effects.

Story wise the pilot is a little weak, but it sets up some major arcs for upcoming episodes over the season. The character’s aren’t particularly deep or interesting, least not nearly as much as they were in the Lost pilot. Some of them are, Walter (the mad scientist father pictured at right in the middle) is fascinated and hillarious in his own right. But I have hope for the future, because the thing about this particular pilot is that it’s mainly a proof of concept that a show can bridge crime drama and sci-fi and not become rediculous and cheesy (no offense X-Files fan but the show doesn’t take it self as seriously as Fringe does). Even though it does take itself fairly seriously, Fringe has a definite sense of humor, along the lines of Lost. Characters faced with unreal sci-fi concepts don’t take them at face value, they react like real people would, which is one of the reasons that J.J. Abrams’ version of sci-fi works so well in the mainstream.

So stayed tuned, the pilot is impressive and rather stunning visually. This show is shaping up to be another landmark TV show from Abrams and crew. If they can keep up the quality of the effects and filmmaking and bump up the story telling it could really step things up.

Matt Keeslar really shows his acting chops (and his leather chaps) this week. His Mirror Middleman shtick is wonderful, he wears the Plissken eye patch and feathered wig brilliantly. If you haven’t seen Escape From New York, go to Netflix and rent it immediately. It’s a work of genius, and probably my favorite John Carpenter film. The best part of Escape is Kurt Russell’s performance. Snake Plissken is the ultimate badass, he can’t be killed and he doesn’t take crap from anyone, especially not the President. It only makes sense that the Mirror Middleman be a cursing, drinking, badass with an eyepatch, so who better than to parody than Snake Plissken.

The episode jumps into the alternate universe pretty quickly, and once it does the visual style of the show shifts drastically. It instantly echos Children of Men and Battlestar Galactica’s New Caprica phase. The colors get washed out, cinematography goes handicam, giving it the cold dystopian feel the crew intenteded on a scale the show hasn’t achieved before. The streets are filled with people lining up for aerosolized soup, posters of Manservant Neville plastered on every surface, and metal superstructures as far as the eye can see.

If I have any complaints about this episode, it goes too quickly. The build up takes the majority of the episode, and the ‘big battle’ takes the last 10-15 minutes, I didn’t feel all that satisfied. I do want to see more of the Mirror Middle-verse, but the episode itself took too quickly to wrap up. Basically my complaint is there wasn’t enough! It left me wanting more, which I suppose is the reaction they would have wanted.

So now the season’s over, and we eagerly await word from ABC Family on the show’s future. If you didn’t get a chance to watch all the episodes, now is the perfect time to play catch up. It’s best to watch the episdoes in order, justlike with any other show, but they’re mostly serialzied so if you shuffle them around you’ll still have a great time. Here’s to the Middleman, a show too brilliant to possibly be on ABC Family. We lvoe you, and hopefully you’ll be gracing our screens for years to come.

Brendan Hines is a perfect addition to the cast as Wendy’s love interest and former Middleman-possible Tyler Ford. Tyler is such an interesting and endearing character, and Hines plays him perfectly. You may recongize Hines from a few episodes of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, where he played a very similar character. First off it’s good to see Wendy have a love interest, especially one who can keep up with the witty and snappy dialogue that makes the show iconic. It also solidifies the lack of a sexual tension between Wendy and the Middleman, personally I think their relationship is more brother-sister than father-daughter (which is actually brought up in this week’s episode).

Manservant Neville isn’t a new character to the Middle-verse, he originated in the third book of the Middleman comic, where he was the right hand henchman to the Middleman’s arch nemesis Kanimang Kang. Since Javi’s made it clear that the third book wouldn’t come to pass anytime soon (considering it contains the death of the Middleman) it’s pretty clear that Manservant Neville is gonna be the main nemesis for a while, which is fine by me. Mark Sheppard is relatively new to me but he’s quickly become one of my favorite TV actors, thanks to his genius performances on BSG and Firefly, and it looks like he’s gaining popularity in sci-fi circles, as he will be appearing in Joss Whedon’s new series Dollhouse. In the TV showb Neville is the CEO of Fatboy Industries, the ACME of the Middle-verse. We first see him after Tyler Ford intervenes and saves him from a post-car accident fight, and he immediately offers Tyler a job. By the episode’s end Tyler’s been accepted into the Fatboy inner circle and taken his place at Neville’s side as his right hand man. Neville’s intentions are especially given his reputation in the comics, so having Tyler on his evil league should prove interesting.

This week also sees the return of the Clotharians, the waring alien race from “The Boyband Superfan Interrogation” episode guest starring the boy band Varsity Fanclup (apparently they’re real). They send a swarm of evil nanobots hurtling back to Earth inside the Voyager 2, which latch themselves onto Ida, turning her evil and forcing Wendy to shrink down to microscopic size a la Fantastic Voyage and Innerspace to reset Ida before she explodes, save the day, and all that jazz. It’s a typical Middleman plot if ever I saw one, but it’s used to further the overall series arc more than just a serialized episode, building up to next week’s season finale. Javi promises that next week will be epic and intense, and if this week is any indication, it will be. The effects this week were pretty impressive, especially the shot of the HQ going into lockdown, and the world inside of Ida (see the photo at left)

This week’s episode wasn’t the pinacle of plots for The Middleman but it did help expose some things character wise. It furthered the plot of O2STK (Organization too Secret to Know), giving us a peek behind the curtain. And it gave Wendy and the Middleman some personal time to talk about their non-sexual relationship. If anything, this week was filler, but it was filler in the sense of a bridge, bringing us from the first season and into the possible future of the Middleman. ABC Family has said repeatedly that they are in support of The Middleman, but they haven’t said anything about it being renewed. I’m sitting in wait for any word on the future of Middleman, but here’s hoping that this gem of a series graces our TV’s for many many years to come. I urge you to check out the season finale next week, it’s shaping up to be quite an hour of television.

For the last couple years I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in Sci-Fi’s programming. First they canceled Stargate SG-1, which sent me running wild. Then there were the constant irritating commericals for syndicated wrestling!! And last but certainly not least reality shows. Really Sci-Fi? Reality shows and syndicated wrestling are your solution to slumping ratings on your flagship show? Ghost Hunters and Scare Tactics aren’t that much of an infraction for Sci-Fi. They may not be the greatest programs, but at least they have a connection science fiction, but wrestling has no place on Sc-Fi. Go to USA for that kind of thing, but the Sci-Fi channel should be exclusively science fiction.

Bringing Doctor Who to the channel was a perfect move in the right direction, bring in a successful international sci-fi program and introduce it to an eager audience. I’m a huge Doctor Who fan myself, so Sci-Fi wasn’t my only means of getting it, but it was great to see them reaching out to such a fantastic show and bringing it to the US. Battlestar Galactica is the best science fiction show in the last decade, so that was a genius move, and Eureka is a great light hearted show. But cancelling Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis? The Stargate fanbase is overwhelmingly large, it even lead to two successful direct-to-video spin-off movies for SG-1, and an upcoming 2 hour TV movie for Atlantis. Why piss the fans off? Why not keep the show going and give it a fighting chance? The show’s latest season had decent ratings, not incredible by any stretch of the imagination but still they were decent and consistent.

What would I prefer Sci-Fi do? Well for one I’d bring back Stargate Atlantis and SG-1 as series. Besides that I’d say bring in talent to create new and exciting sci-fi programming. Masters of Science Fiction was a great mini series of individual sci-fi stories, in the vein of the Twilight Zone. It would have been perfectly suited for the Sci-Fi Channel, instead it was on ABC and cancelled immediately. Mystery Science Theater 3000 was picked up by Sci-Fi when it was on the verge of death, a few years later it was cancelled. At the time it was at the peak of hillarity but the ratings weren’t stellar. The MST3K crew is still around and riffing on movies, why not bring them back for something along those lines? Or, better yet, bring back MST3K? The Dresden Files, based on a popular book series, was a terrific series, but it was canceled before it had a chance to really gain an audience. Put a little more faith in your original shows, don’t be so damn quick to cut them down!

Sci-Fi Channel should focus on being a niche network, bringing good sci-fi to the millions of hungry sci-fi fanatics out there, not alienate them. Wasn’t that the promise of cable television? A refuge for niche audiences. There are gardening, shopping, and food channels that cater to those demographics. Why isn’t Sci-Fi doing the same? Science fiction fans are far more dedicated than those other audiences, just take a trip to Comic-Con and find out. Utitilized that! Get them hooked and they’ll come begging for more, case and point: Battlestar Galactica.

The moral of this story: stop acting like a mainstream network and embrase your science fiction roots. I’ll be waiting here when you do.

Tropic Thunder is a send-up of war films like Apocalypse Now, and Hollywood in general. Actors are really the focus of the parody. Tugg Speedman (Stiller) is the typical action movie star, making rehashed sequels of long worn out franchises. Kirk Lazarus (Downey Jr) is the method actor, with plenty of Oscars and original performances under his belt. And of course Jeff Portnoy (Black), the comedy star whose only joke is Norbit-esque farting comedy.

The film film really hits the ground sprinting with fake trailers and an ad for Alpa Chino (rapper turned refreshment hocking actor) and his Booty Sweat energy drinks. Genius. The only other film I’ve ever seen to try fake trailers is Grindhouse and Tropic Thunder’s implementation trumps it tenfold. These trailers actually give you some back story to the characters, not that I didn’t love Werewolf Women of the SS and Thanksgiving, but these trailers look like they could have been found on Apple’s trailers page.

Tom Cruise and Robert Downey Jr. absolutley steal the show. Cruise plays the Jewish producer of Tropic Thunder, Les Grossman, who is indeed gross. He’s a big meaty hairy producer who likes his bling. Decked out in impressive make up, Tom Cruise is almost unrecognizable till he starts talking. His performance is mindblowingly hillarious, I couldn’t belive how good he was. He even managed to outshine the combined performances of Jack Black, Ben Stiller, and Steve Coogan.

But the one performance that outshines Cruise’s Grossman is undoubtably Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus. He absolutley transforms himself into the Australian actor who then transforms himself into an African American sargaent. In his other roles Downey Jr. kind of does play the same character, not that that’s a bad thing, but here he proves his acting and comedy chaps. He shows us he doesn’t always have to be the same snarky and sarcastic bastard he is in Zodiac, Iron Man, and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

The direction and writing (although I’m not entirely sure how much is writing and how much is improv) really make the film shine, and we have to thank Ben Stiller for that. He really redeems himself for recent films like Heartbreak Kid with his return to the director’s chair. Before this Stiller directed the smash hit Zoolander, The Cable Guy, and the brilliant TV pilot Heat Vision and Jack. Zoolander blew my mind when I saw it, it rocketed to the top of my favorite comedies, and has stayed there ever since. Cable Guy is flawed but certainly a very funny film, and where do I start about how much I wish Heat Vision and Jack actually got picked up.

Tropic Thunder thankfully lives up to its extremely high expectations. Crammed to the brim with outstanding comedic performances, and war action at a level rarely seen out of war epics, Ben Stiller’s action comedy is one for the books. This film is more quotable than Anchorman and Zoolander combined. Run to the theater and see this before it falls out of theaters. If ever there was a film worthy of a theater viewing with a tub of popcorn and a large Coke it was this.

Like all Middleman episodes there is a geeky sub-theme expressed in cleverly placed references. This week’s references were all about Ghostbusters, for obvious reasons.There are numerous references to Ivan Reitman, Egon Speckler, Keymaster and the Gatekeeper, and even a few quotes pulled directly from the script. Ghostbusters and The Middleman are very similar, they both play with science fiction conventions and genres, combining them with a very quick witted sense of humor.

Since the beginning of the series, The Middleman has shifted focus onto the characters more than the playing with sci-fi conventions. Characters should always be the center of storytelling, duh, so it’s great that Javi and company are developing their characters into three dimensional people. Now Matt Keeslar and Natalie Morales get to really explore the world of the Middle-verse. The show still has the same quirky humor and sci-fi goodness, but now it also has more interesting and relatable characters.

The Middleman only continues to impress me, now the characters are relatable and are having intertwining relationships (I’m looking forward to seeing how Tyler and Wendy’s relationship turn out). ABC Family may not be the optimal venue for it, but the administration is very supportive of it. We can only hope it gets renewed for another glorious season. If you haven’t seen the show yet, now is the time, go watch the first half of the season and catch up for the second half.

Brian K Vaughn’s writing is very similar Joss Whedon’s, it’s incredibly clever and quick witted, filled with throw away pop culture references In fact, Vaughn references Whedon at least twice in the first trade, so it was a no brainer that Vaughn should work on Buffy Season 8 and Joss should do some Runaways (which I am eager to get a hold of). He takes the teenage drama and deep themes that Whedon is known for and mixes them into the world of Marvel.

One of the great things about Runaways is it takes place in the pre-existing superhero realm of Marvel Comics. The Runaways are constantly talking about Stark Industries, and how to get a hold of the Avengers to help stop their supervillain parents. The kids grew up in a world of capes and cowls, so finding out they’re parents are supervillains still comes as a shock but it has a frame of reference. It’s great that Vaughn set his teenage drama in the well known and fully developed world of Marvel, it gives his story a depth that would have taken twice as long for him to create a world from scratch.

The characters are relatable and interesting, ranging from a eleven year old mutant with super strength, to the daughter of two sorcerers who can summon a magic staff through shedding some blood. All the Runaways are teenagers, from ages eleven to around eighteen, so they have your typical teenage rage against the Man and authority, but added to that they have to deal with gaining superpowers and learning their parents are all evil masterminds who worship giant trolls.

Like Buffy, and all of Whedon’s work, Vaughn is able to take a sci-fi/fantasy concept and use it as a front for an actual character story. Buffy and Firefly weren’t only about vampires and space cowboys, they were about people, the same goes for Runaways. Both Whedon and Vaughn understand that stories are driven by character not gimmicks, but they also know that gimmicks like superpowers and science fiction are a fun and exciting way to tell a new story, if you use them correctly.

I want to take a second to talk about the artwork, because it really is perfect. I’m picky when it comes to visuals, whether it be in film or comics. Some of the artwork in the Buffy and Angel comics is too still, and sometimes it’s not clear which character is who. The art in Runaways is just the opposite, it’s engaging and full of life. Each character really comes to life through they’re stances and look. The motion of each character is clearly represented and really brings them to life.

I sped through the first trade of Runaways in about two and a half hours, I couldn’t put it down! It was so interesting and fast paced that I needed to turn the page. Now I am extremely anxious to get a hold of the next trade, and see how Joss’ version of Runaways holds up (I’m sure it’ll be just as brilliant as Vaughn’s). Brian K Vaughn really proved himself with this series, it’s his magnum opus; much like Buffy is Joss’. I really look forward to seeing more from him in the future. If you are even remotely into comics, or enjoy the work of Joss Whedon go out and pick up a copy of Runaways, you won’t regret it.

9:10 AM - the Fire Marshal has changed his policy and we are now allowed to be seated while in line.

10 AM - 11 AM - Mark Nevaldine and Brian Taylor moderated the panel and were big fans of the movie trailer guy voice. The panel was pretty mediocre, with some general advice on blogging. Footage of the Game was premiered and it looked like a 90s Cronenberg future thriller with plenty of nudity and testosterone.

I was an enormous fan of Iron Man, which until Dark Knight was my pick for best superhero film; but frankly Dark Knight blows it out of the water. They really are in two different leagues though. On the one hand Iron Man is much more of a comic book movie and Dark Knight is more gritty and real.  And on the other, they are both about superheros, and I guess that’s really what it boils down to in the end. Batman really does lend itself more to a film noir-ish interpretation than Iron Man or Spider-Man and that’s why it works so well. A neo-noir Spider-Man where Peter Parker is a college kid who scales walls because of his incredible acrobatic skills would be depressing and terrible. Each superhero property needs to be treated independently, they should be different styles because they’re entirely different characters in different worlds.

No one can doubt that Christopher Nolan knows how to make a movie. Just take a look at Memento and The Prestige. I was a bit wary going into Batman Begins, I knew Nolan had talent but wasn’t sure if he could handle the realm of capes and cowls. My doubts were shattered by his terrific revival of the Batman series. He took a franchise that had become so wacky and absurd we were reminded of the days of Adam West and shark repellent. Batman Begins was a new take on an old concept, superheros in our world, not some world of mutants and mad scientists, but our world of corrupt politicians and crooked cops. The Dark Knight takes everything Nolan learned from Begins and runs with it.

According to the users of IMDB, The Dark Knight is the best. film. ever. This is debatable of course, and is probably just a backlash from from the millions of fanboys out there. But there’s no denying how incredible a film The Dark Knight is. Remove all the awesome super cool superhero action and adventure stuff, and you’re still left with an elegantly crafted crime drama. The movie excels at combining superheroes/villains and good old fashioned film noir-style crime mystery.

The Joker is undeniably the high point of the film. The late Heath Ledger’s performance is like nothing ever put on film, it’s so undeniably disturbing and awesome at the same time. He is easily the greatest supervillain in movie history, and leaps and bounds above Jack Nicholson’s rendition of the Joker. I’d like to take a second to talk about the design of the Joker. In the Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman the Joker’s face was just plain odd. Nolan’s Joker looks like someone carved the smile on his face, and his makeup keeps fading off, making him a person with serious scars and a fetish for clown makeup, not a freakish mutant. This is how Joker was meant to be shown, no back story, no conclusion, just pure chaos and reckless badassery. It really is a shame that Heath Ledger was cut down so soon, he really shows his unbridled ability to transform himself. He proves his talent, and his performance will easily be passed down through the ages.

Christian Bale is the best Batman ever. I liked Michael Keaton’s version of Batman (don’t get me started on George Clooney and Val Kilmer with their rubber nipples…) but I did like his Bruce Wayne, the problem is to be Batman you have to be both. Bale is perfect for playing the conflicted billionaire Bruce Wayne and the crusading vigilante Batman. His Batman and Bruce Wayne mend together brilliantly, making him a fully rounded and interesting character, unlike other versions of the Dark Knight. And Michael Caine is Alfred, he was one of my favorite parts of Batman Begins and he’s back in full form. Alfred is supposed to be the respecting but intelligent helper to Bruce and Batman, which Caine embodies perfectly. Sure Alfred serves Bruce tea, but he’s quick to point out when Bruce is wrong.

When I heard that Aaron Eckhart was playing Harvey Dent (and Two Face) I was ecstatic. Two Face is the perfect Batman villain, simply because he’s the echo of what Batman could have become, a vengeful man filled with hatred and regret; and the movie does a great job of pointing out the comparisons. Tommy Lee Jones as Two Face was disappointing and just plain weird (if you can’t tell I hated those movies). Aaron Eckhart showed he was talented with Thank You For Smoking, and it’s great to see him getting a big part in a blockbuster film. Two Face isn’t a weirdo with a split personality in Dark Knight, instead he’s a conflicted district attorney who goes mad from refusing pain meds after being burned. The look of Two Face alone proves that Nolan knows what he’s doing. Instead of going the wacky comic book route he stayed the course and made Two Face a real burn victim, and one hell of a cool villain. The reveal and the effect are worth the ticket price alone.

Take away all the incredible acting and the terrific production design and you’re still left with some incredible action sequences. The sheer scale of it all is unbelievable. When the hospital explodes, the fraking hospital explodes, it’s not a CGI reproduction with fake smoke, like everything in the new Bat-verse it’s real. Same goes for the truck flipping over with the Joker inside (which they actually did). Batman’s flight through Shanghai is unbelievably real, and perfectly executed.

OK I’m done rambling about how much I loved this film. Seriously it was the greatest experience I’ve had in a movie theater to date, the atmosphere of the midnight show only helped the movie. I’m seeing it again tomorrow in IMAX (before I head over to Comic-Con), but I assure you it will not be my last viewing. This is a perfect film on so many levels, it combines everything you love about crime dramas and superheroes into one delicious package. It’s a true film, not a piece of schlock put out by the studios to increase their wallet size. Nolan intended that going in and it really shows, the film is a work of art. Like the Joker says, “It’s not about making money, it’s about sending a message.”