Two canceled shows on cable -- new home

The NBC show Southland has been canceled but has a new home at TNT, the second season will be shown in all its splendor as the second season got no chance at airing on NBC. The canceled animated series The Goode Family from Mike Judge, was taken off ABC but now will run on Comedy Central.

Family Guy Something, Something, Something, Dark Side Review

Something, Something, Something, Dark Side

First of all, I am insulted by the first card saying "When the gays weren't all in your face about," Family Guy is usually gay-friendly but that is just annoying and not necessary. This episode is not as fun as Blue Harvest, probably because the source material The Empire Strikes Back is not happy-go-lucky. The Empire Strikes Back is my one favorite movie out of the whole Star Wars series and it is the only movie I can remember that is a sequel in a trilogy that is a good movie and not just a lead-in to the finale. There are some recycled gags from the show, some F-bombs, but maybe just 3 of them, they curse way more in the commentary than on the episode. I only watch Family Guy on TV so I am not used to cursing, so the one that really felt out of place is Peter/Han's final F-bomb in the episode. Some Family Guy secondary characters return (like 'Phony' Holden Caulfield) and I don't want to spoil it anymore. Their Yoda is not that funny, they spent so much time on the beginning of the movie that the ending feels rushed and we don't get much time with Lando. There are some great movie observations though! And yes writers, I know all the references and know who Rodney Dangerfield and Don Knotts are. The animation is great, there is a lot of wonderful details and they did a great job, but is it funny? Kinda. I give a B.

By the way, the pop-up factoid feature is very entertaining, if you think the movie need something to spice the movie up, this does. Most DVD pop-up facts are annoying, but this are as sarcastic as the show and has fake facts, so watch out. But it does take the episode out of wide screen HD version.

Avatar 3-D Review

Let me admit that I did not want to see this movie. My cousins were all telling me how it was good. And another pair of cousins got me to go, it was IMAX 3-D. The beginning of the movie was great, but the ending wasn't. I can't help but be reminded by the Native Americans, in this way-obvious 'metaphor.' The special effects really are great, Mr. Cameron has really created a new technology with actors' movements and faces incorporated into their CG characters. The creature designs sure are beautiful. I love the color schemes. I'm still not crazy about the blue people. The glowing parts in the forest are just dazzling and the 3-D is fantastic, the last 3-D movie I saw was at Disney World, not any of these current movies. Sigourney Weaver sure looks creepy and hilarious as a Na'vi.

The basic plot is that the main character Jake (Sam Worthington) is forced to go to this planet Pandora (because his twin brother just died and they need him) where Earthlings are trying to take over a planet with peace-loving indigenous people Na'vi for some rock that is similar to diamonds. Giovanni Ribisi plays an annoying character, I just plain hate, not love to hate but just bad. The villains are irritating and seem to have a flimsy goal, especially Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang)--who states they are 'savages' and Lang seems to be transplanted from a Van Damm flick. The movie is beautiful but just horribly sad in the end and unnecessary. My friend offers the glib analysis that this movie suggests that what the Native Americans did wrong was not have a white person play red-face to save them.

Maybe that is not what Cameron had intended. The movie is 2 hours and a half, it doesn't drag on like Titanic but the 3d does, I had to take off the glasses several times because my eyes started hurting. Sam Worthington does a bang up job, at first I don't like his na'vi avatar but then fall in love with it and stare at his little butt. I was not a big fan of Sam's look, but slowly started falling into his charms. I love the first two Terminator movies Cameron directed but Titanic's writing was horrible, and this one has its problems with obvious plot points. The movie is just dribble.

The Santa Clause Franchise Review

Watching the three The Santa Clause movies on Disney channel, I hadn't seen the third movie before. It really is what people say, more softer and boring compared to the first one. When the movie first came out when I was 12, I found the movie too crude, even with its wonder, it had police pointing guns at Santa and everyone against Scott Calvin (Tim Allen). Now 15 years after the first movie and compared to the other two films, this movie is the most charming and very entertaining. I also liked how the movie made a twist on the whole story, with children as elves. Even with the children eleves, the majority of the main characters remained in the three films, which is rare. Most of the time, they re-cast them. His son is played the same guy. When I was little, I fell in love with this Santa Clause TV movie and loved how it was close to the mythology.

For those who haven't seen the other two movies, Ms. Clause is introduced in the second film, along with the Tooth Fairy, Mother Nature (who is black), Sandman (who is also black), Easter Bunny, Cupid, Father Time, etc. Being 'different,' the Tooth Fairy is a man--which seems common these days like Dwayne Johnson's upcoming film. In the third movie, Jack Frost is introduced. The villains in the last movies are an inconvenience, they are a tad annoying--the robot Santa and Jack Frost. In the first movie, there was no villains per say, just the disbelieving adults. As a kid, I hated how the adults opposed Scott and found it crazy really fast. Even though I love Judge Reinhold as an actor, I hate him in the first movie. The first movie is PG, while the other two are G. It gets off to a controversial start, I mean for Scott to become Santa, the old Santa had to fall off a roof. If it wasn't Disney or if it was Tim's way, he would die by the last film.

Princess and the Frog: Positive Review

Old school is awesome, the animation is beautiful and this a sweet romantic movie. Tiana is a strong role model, she reaches out for dreams with hard work. Tiana's father's dream was to make a big restaurant & he died in the war (presumably World War I). Prince Naveen of a unidentifiable race and fictional country, is a lazy playboy who has been cut off from his money and needs to marry Tiana's rich girlfriend Charlotte. The villain, the voodoo Shadowman turns Naveen into a frog and has his servant pretend to be Naveen and marry Charlotte--in order to kill her Big daddy and take over New Orleans and give it to the demons he has a debt to. Tiana is turned into a frog when she kisses Naveen because she isn't a princess, she wants the money to buy the place to make her restaurant. Naveen is a charmer, he is incredibly handsome, I haven't seen another charming handsome Disney Prince like that since Prince Eric. His eyes are the same as a frog, he is more 'animated' as a frog.

Tiana's friend Charlotte is rich and wants to get married really bad, namely for Naveen. Since she was a kid, she wanted a fairy tale romance, get married to a prince. Charlotte has been friends with Tiana since they were little girls, Tiana's mom made princess dresses for her. Instead of being a mean spoiled brat, Charlotte is still nice to her childhood pal Tiana and comes through for her in the end. What doesn't make sense is why Charolette's dad doesn't give Tiana her the money for her restaurant since he knew her as a kid and goes to the place she works every morning for her pastries. Probably he had offered and she wanted to work on it on her own. Naveen and Charolette are joined in their journey to find the voodoo priestess Mama Ode by Louis, an alligator who wants to play Jazz and Ray, a Cajun firefly who is love with the star that Tiana and Charlotte wish to.

Naveen's servant betrays Naveen and the villain the Shadow Man takes Naveen's blood and puts it in a necklace. When the servant wears the necklace, it makes him look like Naveen, but when the blood runs out, they must get the frog back. The Shadow Man a voodoo priest who wants control of New Orleans and to kill Charolette's dad, and because of his debt to demons, give the city to the demons of the afterworld. Mama Ode tells Naveen and Tiana that Naveen must be kissed by Charlotte--but when Naveen figures he loves Tiana, he wants to marry her. When the clock runs out at midnight, Charlotte kisses Naveen but for Tiana, not to marry him but for them to be happy---but it's too late. Tiana and Naveen figure they will happy as frogs and get married and kiss. Whe they kiss, they become humans again, because when Mama Ode married them, it made her a princess. In the end, wrongs are righted, love prevails and dreams come true.

Thank you Disney for not supplying us with yet another 3-D animated film.

Princess and the Frog: Negative Review

With all the controversies before surrounding this movie, even with the re-writings, the movie still has plenty of negative stereotypes. The movie basically is about Tiana, a girl whose only dream is to make a big restaurant in honor of her father, who died in the war (presumably World War I). Prince Naveen of a unidentifiable race and fictional country, is a lazy playboy who has been cut off from his money and needs to marry Tiana's rich girlfriend Charlotte. The villain, the voodoo Shadowman turns Naveen into a frog and has his servant pretend to be Naveen and marry Charlotte--in order to kill her Big daddy and take over New Orleans and give it to the demons he has a debt to. Complicated Disney villain, eh? As for the stereotypes, there are redneck hunters, most of the swamp animals have less than three teeth, the sniveling fat white British butler who betrays the Prince, and the Cajun speak is unauthentic.

I went to see the movie with my friend who lived in New Orleans and she only said, "That's real," only once, and that was the slums where Tiana lived. For a movie that centers around African-Americans, they spent most of the time as frogs and there are heavy metaphors, slapping you in the face. Every time anyone sees the frogs, they scream and want to smash them, the two protagonists as frogs feel discrimination personified. Mama Ode is the epitome of the Mammy stereotype, a blind voodoo priestess. The songs are not that great, not catchy, except for the one part in her song where she goes "Mama Ode told you so!", I wish the song was called that. The only song that has stayed in my head is Tiana's, "Almost there." I don't like how Tiana has to get married in the end to order to be a princess.

All the princesses have had to get married, Cinderella was a commoner that got married & became a princess; Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) was a princess but had to get married; Jasmine (Aladdin) was already a princess but had to get married--got married in the third movie; Belle (Beauty & the Beast) was a commoner who got married to be a princess; and finally, Snow White is the only of the main Disney Princesses that didn't have to get married to be a Princess. S0, yeah I don't like how Tiana had to fall in love and get married in order to be happy and get her restaurant. Tiana works hard to get her restaurant---and the villain offers her the restaurant in exchange of the Princes' blood, he reminds her of the opposition she's had--one of the brothers she is buying the property off of says, "of your background," either to be construed as a nice way to say 'race' or 'poor.' So times Tiana even brings out the sassy black woman attitude. The main villain is a voodoo priest, the only major Black character in the movie that isn't dead is the Shadow Man. He uses voodoo dolls, demons, spirits, and blood; he even kills one of the characters.

Ray the firefly is ugly, but maybe to teach kids to make friends with ugly people. The alligator Louis is forgettable. Ray falls in love with the star Tiana and Charlotte make wishes to and spoiler alert--he dies and becomes a star, blegh, I could have gone without that. Most of the scenes with the leads as frogs are boring and obviously to build their relationship but are flimsy. Maldonia is a fictional country and Prince Naveen speaks a made up language an is voiced by a Latino. Also the white people are stereotypes, John Goodman plays Big daddy, a 2-d Southerner with no complexities. Tiana's rich friend Charlotte can be construed as a bimbo at first, but she is more than that, she is a true friend, the only positive in the movie is that if though she is a rich white girl, she doesn't forget her childhood friend Tiana and comes through for her in the end. It's not like I am looking for failures in the movie, it's just concerns and it's funny how disney writers have to fall on these things, Ron Clements & John Musker are great writers and they probably didn't notice this.