The Sarah Connor Cronicles

I caught the first half of the pilot for "Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles" last night, and I have to admit I was impressed. "Terminator" seems built for the small screen - if the plot gets bogged down, just bring in another Terminator from the future - but I was more impressed how well the show was put together. Lena Headley's gotten a lot of press as the lead in the show, and she's just as good as everyone expected she would be. But my heart remains with the lovely Summer Glau, already adored by "Firefly" fans as the tortured government project capable of killing people with roundhouse kicks. Like Chuck Norris with amnesia after ten years of ballet. She's just as good here as John Connor's protective Terminator, adding indestructibility and, y'know, being a robot, to her arsenal of graceful kung-fu, but she hangs onto that cautious sincerity that sold millions of sci-fi fans on her years ago.

It's still up in the air if the show'll deliver on its promise as the weeks continue - people running away can get old quick, and so I'm still up in the air whether it'll be the 1963 version of "The Fugitive," or the 2000 version - but David Nutter directed a whiz-bang pilot. The creators keep throwing in a potpourri of different film stocks, up to and including Super-8 footage, and always keep the pace moving at an amphetamine-rush pace. It's not groundbreaking (but then, this is television), but it feels fresh and stays exciting and most importantly, fun. And it gives us the real possibility of a robot-human love story in the weeks ahead, which is worth turning your TV on for (at least, it is for me). The pilot's available at Fox if you want to check it out.

In other news, In The Name of the King has dropped to 3% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the Top 15 Worst Movies Of All Time. The sole good review for the film notes "Boll manages to hold this disaster in the making together by infusing it with unexpected energy." It is a bad sign when the single best review for your film calls it a disaster. A very bad sign.

More Excitement!

The Globe and Mail - one of less than two dozen publications to review In The Name of the King so far - comments "Is this movie so god-awful bad that it's hilariously good? (We) can't be bothered deciding. Figure that's an answer in itself." The Globe and Mail - and by extension, all of
Canada - is nominated for today's award for general awesomeness. OC Weekly also has a slightly less fun review up, though it does put forth the likely correct theory that "Boll’s rather foolproof technique is to do all his casting at the very last minute, catching name actors between projects before they have a chance to think about things too much." That's almost certainly the case, and therefore OC Weekly snags a nomination as well.

But nothing tops today's winner, Sun Media's Jim Slotek, who notes "this is a different kind of bad than, say, the glossy, homogenous, boring Hollywood bad we get from a Michael Bay. This is an impassioned, feverish bad, the kind that is as pure of heart as it is innocent of style. Ed Wood bad." Bravo, Jim, you ridiculed the movie and got a shot in at Michael Bay! That's the sort of attitude I like to see from critics. Jim Slotek takes home the Awesomeness Award.

Dance War: Bruno Vs. Carrie Ann


No, I have not watched the aforementioned show, though I've considered starting out of, I don't know, my love of ironic detachment. I just wanted to point out that this is, unquestionably the worst title for a television show since Farnsworth. Hands down.

I'm watching "Grey's Anatomy" for the first time to see this:


This show's not bad, it really is much better than the current version of "ER" (even without the presence of Linda Cardellini). They just played a Lifehouse song, and last year's theme was Mat Kearney's "Breathe In, Breathe Out." I wonder what the connection is between show and the Christian music industry. Something to check out later.

The Webb song just played, but deep in the background. Derek must be disappointed. I am. Still, I have seen several commercials promising "the thrill and ease of advanced microderm abrasion right in the home." The things I miss by watching the wrong shows.

Finally, Glenn Reynolds from Instapundit linked to a post tonight by my dad about a "Lord of the Flies" situation among Democrats these days. Go to the post and up the traffic to the site.