Archive for the 'Film and Television' Category

I finally see 21!

Published
by
Adam
on June 10, 2008
in Film and Television and Reviews
. 0 Comments

About 5 years a go on a school tour, I was browsing around HMV in Dublin and came across a BOGOF offer (I’m reliably informed that this means “Buy One Get One Free”) on several books… all of which I had never heard of. I decided to buy them anyway as any kind of reading material was better than having to endure the 3 hour bus trip sitting beside someone I had little (and probably nothing) in common with yet was extremely enthusiastic to share his life story with me at every opportunity and reading was a great excuse to ignore them. The two books I opted to buy were; Bringing Down The House and Ugly Americans, both by Ben Mezrich.

For this post, I’ll ignore Ugly Americans, I didn’t actually get around to reading it for many years later but I will talk about Bringing Down The House, the riveting story of an MIT card counting team that managed to beat the house edge and take Vegas for millions. Their system was based around Blackjack, a card game I was familiar with but had no understanding of basic strategy of other than the commonly practised “gambooool” theory which, to the delight of casinos worldwide, isn’t very effective. For those of you who haven’t quite made the connection yet, this book was adapted for the big screen in the form of the recent blockbuster movie, “21″. And trust me, I’m being very generous in saying it was “adapted” for the big screen, more like molested, mauled and mutated!

I’m not saying the movie was bad, moreso it was different to what I expected. It was your standard movie aimed at kids with exaggerated drama, dumbed down content and a predictable love story thrown in there for good measure. Oh and there’s a happy ending which the audiences always like. In saying that, it was an enjoyable movie. True, the storyline could have been better but it was flashy, glamorous and entertaining to watch. There were plenty of continuity errors which made it seem as if the film was based in a time void, for example the actual story happened in the mid-ninties but the film is unashamedly based in the present given the clothes that the cast are wearing while still trying to sell the idea that some casinos aren’t yet using biometric face recognition security systems. But then again the vast majority of the target audience for this film wouldn’t know that!

So to conclude, 21 was entertaining and I’m sure Las Vegas must be licking its lips at all the wannabe gamblers that are flocking there based on the image portrayed by the film!

The OC is cancelled!

Published
by
Adam
on January 6, 2007
in Film and Television and Ramblings
. 2 Comments

Recently (okay, ages ago!) I posted about how I thought that The OC Season Four wasn’t particularly up to scratch when put alongside it’s previous outings. However, the new season soon grew on me and I was actually pleased with how the show was being directed. So it came as a surprise to learn that FOX were cancelling the show with its last episode being aired in the US on January 22nd.

To the best of my knowledge, no European broadcaster, such as Sky, has snapped up the rights to season four. E4 have been working their way through Season 3 for the past few months now but I’d imagine that they’d be very cautious about acquiring the rights to a show that not only has been experiencing its lowest ever ratings but has also been cancelled outright by its network! Therefore I’d be surprised if English fans of The OC ever get to see season four at all!

The writers of the show had an uphill battle when setting out to write season four. They were down their most popular character, a character that they had tried so hard to demonise throughout season three which undoubtedly led to a slice of the fan base losing interest. With all of the main characters graduating from high school, they had to try and find other characters to carry and propel the show into the future. It wasn’t just the characters that were graduating though, its viewers were also coming of age and began to tune into other shows such as Greys Anatomy and CSI - shows which were directly competing with The OC! This is where they stumbled! Season 4 made a very sluggish, uncertain and at times haphazard start. We were presented with drastic changes in vital characters that turned people off the show. It just didn’t seem solid. You just couldn’t even take a guess about where the show was going to go!

After the first three or four episodes, the show began to find itself on more certain footing. People had some idea about what was happening but it was already too late! The show had plummeted in the cut-throat ratings war that is American Television. People had already left the show in their droves and from there-on-in it was just a matter of retaining its loyal audience. Fox invariably decided that that audience was far too small an amount to be practical.

In a press release, Josh Schwartz noted that “The O.C. Season Four finale will also be the series finale. This feels like the best time to bring the show to its close. Thanks to the hard work of our cast, crew and writers, we have enjoyed our best season yet, and what better time to go out than creatively on top. It has been an amazing experience and a great run. For a certain audience, at a certain time, The O.C. has meant something. For that we are grateful.”

For me, The OC is drawing to a close at an apt time with my 18th birthday being only a few months away! I mean can you imagine me being 18 and STILL watching The OC. It’s bad enough that I watched it already! And there, in one paragraph, is a typical example of the battle that Josh and his partners were facing - a battle against age, which any “seasoned” adult will tell you is futile!