How I Met Your Mother Finale Failure

THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS:

So... I watched the HowIMetYourMother 2 part finale, and I kind of wish I hadn't. The episodes weren't funny, but also weren't nostalgic. They certainly weren't legend...wait for it...dary. They were even depressing and infuriating at times. Sure, life has sad moments. People grow apart. But this is fiction, television, entertainment, an escape, a comedy.

This should have been the episode that lasts in our memory of all that was great about the show. I was looking forward to the finale, but I was very disappointed in it. This show went out with a dud rather than a bang. (no Barney pun intended)

All along, I've been making more appropriate mock titles for the show, so here are some based on the finale (spoilers):

"How I Wasted 9 Years Searching For A Temporary Solution"

"How I Met Your Mother, But Still Ended Up With Robin"

"How I Ruined A Great Show In 2 Episodes"

"How To Build Up To A Brief Footnote In Ted's Life"

"How To Spend Your Life Searching For Miss Right, and Still End Up With Miss Wrong"

"How To Abandon The Show's Premise After 9 Seasons"

"How To Untie Loose Ends"

"How To Punish Barney For Finally Settling Down"

"How To Alienate Your Fan Base"

"How To Make Your Kids Uncomfortable For 9 Years"

"How To Disrespect Your Late Wife's Memory"

"How I Never Loved Your Mother"

"How Your Mother Wasn't Robin"

"How I Gave Robin Yet Another Chance To Use Me"

"How Bad Was That Finale"

Maybe you liked it? Maybe you're glad Barney and Robin got divorced? Maybe you're glad Ted and Robin MAY HAVE gotten back together? Maybe you're ok with the show spending 9 seasons leading up to Ted meeting "The Mother", and then have her killed off a few minutes later (in real time, not the in show timeline)? Maybe you're ok with Ted finally finding and marrying the perfect woman for him, but ending up with someone who has been proven to be wrong for time many times? Maybe you're ok with Barney losing the only woman he ever truly loved, and that incident pulling the gang apart? Maybe you enjoyed the "How I Met Your Mother" finale, but I did not.

©2014 Denim McDemus

Movie Reviews: Hyde Park on Hudson, This is 40, The Guilt Trip

"Hyde Park on Hudson" 7 of 10 Stars
The Great Bill Murray played FDR surprisingly well in "Hyde Park on Hudson". It's a good film for fans of Murray and fans of history, of which I am both. Otherwise, you may find it a bit dull.

It's mostly about one of FDR's many affairs, this one with his distant cousin Margaret "Daisy" Suckley, with a visit from the King and Queen of England to discuss the impending war with Germany as a secondary plot.

Murray once again has shown his versatility, going from campy goofball movies like "Caddyshack" and "Meatballs", to still goofy, but slightly more leading man comedic roles such as in "Stripes" and "Ghostbusters", to somewhat more cerebral comedy in "Groundhog Day" and "What About Bob", "Ed Wood" and Kingpin", to dry, quirky comedy in Sofia Coppala's "Lost In Translation" and Wes Anderson's films, to now portraying one of America's most beloved presidents in a historical drama, along with portraying a polio victim.

I enjoyed this film, but the Roosevelts, history, and Bill Murray are all points of interest for me. Unfortunately, I'd wager it's not for everyone.


"This is 40" 4 of 10 Stars
This somewhat sequel to "Knocked Up" features writer Judd Apatow's real-life wife and children in a depressing film about family disfunction, making you wonder what he's trying to tell us about his home-life.

Apatow's regular quirky comedy was mostly missing from this film, except for a few amusing moments. When it was funny, it was really funny, but those moments were few and far between. Even cameos by Apatow regulars such as Jason Segal and the sex appeal of Megan Fox couldn't save this film.

The film was marketed as a comedy about reaching middle-age, but it's far from comedic. The majority of the film is depressing and annoying. It's mostly about a couple's marriage and both of their businesses failing, their financial ruin, and their worsening relationships with their bratty teenage daughter and both of their fathers, who both oddly have started new families of their own. Basically, we are show over two hours of people yelling and cursing at each other, while their lives and finances fall apart. People watch films to escape the harsh reality of their real lives, not to watch it in a mirror.

The film makes the situation between Debbie and her father very unclear until the end, but not in a plot twist type of way, just in a "neglecting to tell us" way. There are a lot of aspects of the film's characters that they just never tell us, that would've helped move the often stagnant plot and help viewers care about the mostly hatable characters.

The biggest problem with this film is its length. The first hour was slow and boring, but it picked up quite a bit halfway through. Had Apatow cut it down to the standard 90 minutes, he would've brought us a much more entertaining film than this 134 minute mistake.    


"The Guilt Trip" 1 of 10 Stars
This film is just plain awful.
Barbara Streisand's character is supposed to be who the viewers feel for, but the character really has no redeeming qualities.
Seth Rogan really has no place in a dramatic film, even though it was falsely advertised as a comedy. He can only be taken seriously in slacker comedy rolls.
If you enjoy watching people make each other feel bad and constantly fail, or if you are suffering from extreme insomnia, this is the film for you. If you are looking to be amused or entertained, avoid this film like the bubonic plague.

Copyright 2013 Denim McDemus  

Is it Easter at Netflix?

As we anxiously await the 5/26 return of Arrested Development, Netflix has decided to have some fun with Seasons 1-3 on their site:

They use bananas instead of stars for rating the show.

If you search for any title containing the word "blue", there will be Tobias' blue paint on the results page, which is clickable.

If you go through the "Popular on Netflix" list, there is a clickable note saying "Milk".

In the comedy section, there is a clickable actual egg on the cover of "Nature Series, Volume 3: Dance of the Chicken".

There's a clickable yellow bow-tie on the bottom of the Watch Instantly page.

If you search for many of the fictional shows/films mentioned on the show, you'll find a Netflix write up for it, such as:

Wrench
Caged Wisdom
Les Cousins Dangereux
Scandalmakers
Girls With Low Self-Esteem
Families With Low Self-Esteem
Ready, Aim, Marry Me
Mock Trial with J. Reinhold
Boyfights
World's Worst Drivers
Love Indubitably
Homeless Dad
El Amor Prohibido

It's nice to see that: 1. Netflix is actually promoting the show, something Fox never bothered to do. 2. That someone at Netflix actually "gets" the humor of the show, and recognizes the savvy of the show's core fans, and the vital role of the show's MANY running gags and catchphrases.

It's not a show for everyone, it's a show for a special breed of viewer, and apparently Netflix gets that.

Copyright 2013 Denim McDemus

King of Terrible Endings

Terrible ending to "King of the Nerds" last night!

1. It's dumb that they had the final 4, 3, and 2 all in one episode instead of three.

2. Ivan, the best contestant by far all throughout the show, lost in the final 4 in a physical challenge. This is a show to determine who is the biggest nerd, so why a physical challenge? Wouldn't the person losing the physical challenge be the biggest nerd?

3. It seems obvious that they rigged the show to keep three cute girls as the final three to keep their male viewers watching.

4. Stop giving Danielle camera time to boo hoo!

5. After a whole season of challenges on a competition show, it was ridiculous to have the winner be chosen by their former competitors' voting, rather than the winner earning it in a final challenge. The final round should have been the hardest to win.
Obviously the other contestants had biased opinions and grudges, so they wouldn't necessarily pick the deserving winner. Many of them were eliminated by losing to Genevieve, and were never threatened by useless Celeste.
Plus, the contestants who were eliminated early in the show weren't around to see which finalist had performed the best.

6. Celeste of all people winning really hurt the show's credibility. She's not even nerdy or smart or anything. She didn't earn her spot in the final 4, 3, or 2, and certainly not victory and $100,000. She was never in a nerd-off because no one saw her as a threat, since he didn't do anything at all during the whole competition. She was often a liability to her team in the team challenges, or just a non-factor. The ONLY things she achieved were pitting Danielle and Genevieve against each other in the second to last episode, and being so harmless that she went unnoticed by her competitors.

Congrats "King of the Nerds", you ruined your competition with an ill-advised ending that produced an undeserving winner.

Copyright 2013 Denim McDemus

Superman is not a nerd

Here's a thought to ponder:
Lately I've been discussing the degree of nerdiness of King of the Nerds contestants on Thursdays.
I recently watched a Big Bang Theory clip where Sheldon was wearing a Superman shirt and it got me thinking. I know Sheldon is a fictional character, but why would any nerd be into Superman? Superman is the original big dumb jock.
Batman is a dark loner who uses technology. Spiderman is a nerd who got bitten by a radioactive spider, and many superheroes received their powers from an accident or freak genetic mutation. And they often have trouble fitting into society.
Superman is an alien who uses superior strength to defeat his opponents, and as if that wasn't enough, oh yea he can fly too. Even when he puts on glasses to be Clark Kent, he's stiff a big buff jock type. And he's just pretending to need glasses, when really he can shoot laser beams from his eyes.
And he's accepted by everyone, celebrated like a Friday night QB who just won the big game.
How can any nerd relate to Superman? He should remind them of the jocks who pick on them for being nerds. Just a thought.

Who's Dead on The Walking Dead?

(There are spoilers galore in this review, so I suggest not reading it if you haven't seen the episode yet.)

After The Walking Dead's mid-season finale last night on AMC, a lot of people are up in arms worrying that popular character Daryl Dixon will be killed off, along with his hated brother Merle, due to the precarious situation the episode left them in.

First of all, Norman Reedus (Daryl) and Michael Rooker (Merle) are the only 2 cast members I had ever heard of before this show, other than recognizing Laurie Holden (Andrea) from X-Files, so I doubt they'd kill them off, especially with Daryl's popularity and Reedus' name recognition. On a side note, I saw Andrew Lincoln (Rick) in "Love Actually" recently, and was shocked by his English accent.

Also, it'd be silly to bring back Merle just to kill him off. The show has lacked an inside villain/cancer to the group since Shane's abrupt death, and Rooker is great at playing twisted, unscrupulous characters. Merle is a much better villain than Shane, and Rooker is a much better actor than Jon Bernthal.

Thirdly, in the previews for February, it looked as though Daryl brought Merle back to the group with him, so apparently they survive Woodbury.

Lastly, I didn't really feel overly moved by the cliffhanger ending. Daryl and Merle weren't in THAT much danger yet. Had The Governor (David Morrissey) thrown a few walkers at them, forcing them to fight for their lives with their bare hands, that'd be different.

As for who is next to die, Daryl and Glenn (Steven Yuen) are my favorite characters, so I hope they survive. I think the writers have done a good job of making the show realistic by the toughest characters (other than Shane) surviving the longest, and having the weaker characters such as Lori and Dale dying off. By that logic, you have to wonder how long they can justify allowing Carol and Hershel to survive. I'm not going to suggest they kill off Beth, simply because she's the best eye candy on the show. And before you get all up in arms, yes, her character is 17, but the actress (Emily Kinney) is 27. Maggi (Lauren Cohan) isn't bad either though. It's hard to see Laurie Holden as attractive when she always plays characters I completely despise. If you get hired for a realistic zombie program, you can't really expect job security, because any could be killed off at any time. The fact that they're willing to kill off regular characters to add to the realism and drama is admirable.     

I really hate Carl (Chandler Riggs), and not just because the actor was probably named after a character on Friends. I don't like the character or the way the young actor plays him, but I think that the character is essential to the program. I do like how the character has gotten progressively creepier and colder. Living in that type of hardcore world would harden anyone and easily steal away any amount of childhood innocence they had left inside of them.

I hated Lori, and T Dawg was pointless, so I'm glad they're gone. Michonne and Merle are much stronger characters to replace them. It also appears they replenished their minorities in the last episode, although African Americans always seem to get killed off. I knew Oscar wouldn't survive the rescue mission. I'm not sure if there's some racism by the writers going on or not, but it's hard not to notice. I know Michonne is one of the most popular characters from the comic book, so maybe she'll having staying power. She's pretty hard to kill and I think they're be a fan backlash as there would be with killing off Daryl.

Michonne coldly killing The Governor's daughter right in front of him was brutal, and it really added some much-needed shock value to the episode. The show's greatest flaw has been predictability, even to those who haven't read the comic books. Carol still being alive, Sophia being a walker, Lori being pregnant, etc, the list of predictable revelations is endless. I always seem to be able to predict who will get killed in each scene too.

Daryl and Merle finally being reunited directly into a situation where the tough S.O.B. brothers are forced to fight together for their lives is classic.

The further unraveling of The Governor and Carl's minds amid what they've been through is a great addition to the plot, while Rick's renewed mental clarity is necessary to the plot moving forward. Andrew Lincoln plays unsure leader Rick much better than mental breakdown Rick. The phone call cliffhanger was ridiculous.  

I kind of had a feeling they were going to make Axel into a pervert, and somewhat "Chester The Molesterish", instead of allowing him to be a nice guy convict as he initially appeared. Folks, it IS possible for someone to be a good person despite having spent time in jail...

All in all, it was a good episode. It was nice to see some action for a change, with the heroes fighting against both walkers and The Governor's troops. Hopefully there will be a little less soap opera drama now that Lori and Shane are both dead. I understand that they throw it in to reach beyond their target audience and draw in a non-traditional zombie viewing audience, but it really detracts from the program for those of us who enjoy the zombie apocalypse genre.

Does ANYONE want to wait until February for more of The Walking Dead? I sure don't!

Copyright 2012 Denim McDemus  

Live what you write, rather than writing what you live

Nothing is more fun than writing and letting your imagination run wild and spew all over paper or a computer screen. You can get into all kinds of amazing capers and adventures without having to get your hands dirty, risk danger, or leave the comfort and security of your own mind. You can make the impossible possible and ignore all the restrictive boundaries of logic and sanity. Just think of all the wonderful worlds your words can create.

I didn't write for a few months due to some things going on in my personal life that consumed my mind, body, and soul. It feels SO good to be writing again!
©2012 Denim McDemus