I want to believe...?

I became interested in watching The X-Files because of all the hype of its revival earlier this year. I didn't know anything about the show, except that people seem to really love it. And they really, really love the two main characters.

First thing's first –– let's get the fangirling out of the way –– David Duchovny in the early seasons was really, really cute. Seriously, I think I watched 2-3 seasons without knowing whether I actually like the show; I was distracted by his attractiveness. It probably helps that his character, Fox Mulder, has a very dry sense of humor and is very smart. I really like the way he speaks. Dana Scully, too! Speaking of, season 1 Scully looked so young, I was quite surprised that Gillian Anderson was actually my age when she started The X-Files. Although, I don't know if I was surprised because she looked younger or I thought she would have been older...

Anyways, back to the show itself.

Only Lovers Left Alive

This is one of those movies that I have intended to watch for months (maybe even a whole year) without actually watching it. Until, I saw it on TV yesterday. I find the movie to be dark and beautiful. The story and the tone of the movie are strange, but attractively so. I missed the first few minutes of it, but it captivated me right away.

I'm not quite sure what it was that caught my attention. It could just be because it stars Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston, both great actors whose performances I've always enjoyed. It could also be because the movie is dark, overall. I'm also intrigued by the interaction between Adam and Eve. And I'm quite worried that I'm attracted to the lethargic and not-quite-alive characters. I don't know if that's the correct definition, since they're definitely enjoying life with music and literary and dancing, but the way they act makes it more apparent that these characters are undead, unlike a lot of other pop culture vampires. Their life seems fascinating to me. I think I'm drawn to the way they live their lives and their relationship. It's not really textbook romanticism, I don't think, but highly appealing nonetheless.

Catching up...

It seems that I've abandoned this blog (and all my other blogs) for most of this year. So this post will mostly be a quick catch up on what I've been watching... It's a shame though, because I've watched a few very good movies this past year, although I am watching less TV shows.

Marvel's Daredevil

I somehow told myself that I can only watch 3 episodes a day, and I followed that rule. I was impressed with myself. THIS SHOW IS AMAZING! One of the best parts about the series is definitely its opening credits; it's just beautiful. Moreover, being on Netflix means that it doesn't have to follow the network guidelines, and it gave us dark and gritty. And very bloody. That scene at the end of episode 4 still gives me the shivers. So...cold.

MCU Rewatch: Phase 1

I am rewatching (almost) the entire MCU catalog in anticipation of Avengers: Age of Ultron. I am following /r/marvelstudios' viewing order, adding Agents of SHIELD to the list. Not Agent Carter, though, since I doubt it would have any impact on AoU, and I've very recently watched it. Still unsure about Guardians of the Galaxy, with similar reasons to Agent Carter. According to my calculation, assuming 42 minutes per episode for Agents of SHIELD and 50 minutes per episode for Netflix's upcoming Daredevil, this totals to 3,615 minutes of content, or 60 and a quarter hours.

I think I enjoy Captain America: The First Avenger more now than I previously did. Much helped by how much I love The Winter Soldier, no doubt. Also by Agent Carter because I now love Peggy Carter very much. I really enjoy Dominic Cooper's Howard Stark, so I'm hoping for more Agent Carter with a bigger role for him. The issue I have is still the same; I don't care much for the action sequences, so I barely watched the last fight.

Iron Man never fails to entertain me. Robert Downey Jr. is perfect. The part I love most about this first installment is how much time he spent in his garage, building and tinkering with his suit. Trying it on, "flying before walking," and just...having fun. Again, I don't really care about the big fight, between Iron Man and the Iron Monger. Things were more interesting when it was Tony Stark vs. Obadiah Stane.

This is where I cheated. I skipped The Incredible Hulk. I do like the movie in general, and I think Edward Norton was great, but I just...wasn't in the mood... I did watch the after credit scene though, with Tony Stark, which I probably shouldn't because it didn't make sense for the following events.

Iron Man 2, while not fantastic, was enjoyable at the very least because of Sam Rockwell. I still think that they should make Justin Hammer a much more competent rival to Tony Stark, instead of the joke that he was. Not a big fan of Whiplash, so I think it would have benefited from more Hammer and less Vanko; although, depending on if they get to flesh out Anton Vanko's story, it might be satisfying.

Thor is the surprising one. It was definitely my least favorite movie in Phase 1, previously. But, as a few others have mentioned, it actually holds up better than most others. I might be biased because I now love Tom Hiddleston, but it might also just be because I accept the fantastical aspect of it more than I did when I first watched it. I previously thought that Loki would have made a better king than Thor, who's more suited to be a warrior, but the short time when Loki was king of Asgard, he was kind of a dick. I guess Odin was right after all...

And we've arrived to the main course: The Avengers. It was still great fun. One of the best parts about watching this right after Thor is you see how different Loki is in both movies. And, I have to say, I still haven't figured out how he really feels about all this. I can't tell when he's being genuine or when he's trying to manipulate people. There were also so many one liners that were just so much fun. I think it's just because I haven't watched any Joss Whedon stuff in a while though, so I really missed his writing.

Marvel's Agent Carter

The first 2 episodes were a lot of fun. I saw a comment on Reddit that puts Agent Carter as James Bond meets Alias meets Mad Men. James Bond with the secret agent with gadgets, Alias with the kick-ass female spy, and Mad Men with the period (even though Agent Carter is technically set two decades earlier than Mad Men). I happen to like all three of these things, and I am definitely liking Agent Carter very much so far.

The show is set right after Captain America: The First Avenger, and I believe it will end at the "Agent Carter" Marvel One-Shot. It's 1946; World War II has just ended and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) is still grieving over the loss of Steve Rogers. Peggy, seemingly the only female agent at the SSR, was getting tired of being pushed towards administrative work instead of being allowed more prominent duties. In comes old pal Howard Stark (Dominic Cooper), who was being suspected as a traitor. He enlisted Peggy's help to clear his name, running secret missions from within the SSR. Howard loaned Peggy his personal, faithful butler in Edwin Jarvis (James D'Arcy) to help her.

Of course, with a Marvel Cinematic Universe show, they must throw references around. I mean, the first episode started with clips from The First Avenger, and it never stops. My favorite is definitely Dominic Cooper's Howard Stark, and how Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony is pretty much the same as Howard, whether he likes it or not. I guess, in reality, it's Cooper who based his performance on RDJ's, but it's still amazing to see two very different, but very similar performances. The scene of Howard joking around in front of the Congress made me want to rewatch Iron Man. Love the snarky Starks.

Jarvis, who's the inspiration behind Tony's AI that powers everything J.A.R.V.I.S., is also full of snark. I really would love to see Jarvis meet J.A.R.V.I.S. and see how they would react to each other. At the end of the first episode, Jarvis was on the phone with Howard, and it was revealed that they were keeping a secret from Peggy. The one theory I like, and it seems very plausible, is that it wasn't anything bad like the scene made it seem like. Instead, they were just talking about the possibility of appointing Peggy as the first Director of SHIELD. As I've mentioned earlier, the season is set up to the One-Shot, which is when Howard invited Peggy to run SHIELD. Hopefully, this means that season 2 will feature more of Howard Stark! And lots and lots of Peggy-Jarvis action, because I love their relationship.

Speaking of Jarvis, I find it interesting that James D'Arcy stars in the only two shows that I'm currently following weekly: Agent Carter and Broadchurch.

I'm actually watching new shows!

I've just watched the first episode of Orange Is the New Black, and I'm definitely in. I'm currently wondering if I could survive even a day in prison. Anyways, I'm still waiting for the next episodes to be...ready.

In the mean time, I'm giving Arrow a second shot. I have faith, seeing how highly rated it now is, but I'd have to be patient and go through the early episodes. Hopefully I can keep myself interested enough to then watch The Flash, maybe Gotham as well. Constantine is also getting decent ratings so I'm adding it to my future-watch list.

Speaking of comic book shows, I am insanely excited for tomorrow's/tonight's (timezone confusion) Agent Carter! Reviews have been very good and my expectations are high, but I'm confident they will deliver. I just wish for lots and lots of Dominic Cooper/Howard Stark.

Other than Agent Carter, the other show I'm following weekly will be Broadchurch season 2. I'm currently watching the first episode and it's as good as season 1. I have yet to watch the American adaptation, Gracepoint, mostly because the mixed reviews. And I don't know if I'm ready for David Tennant in an American accent.

Hopefully, all of these new, shiny things will keep me from going back to rewatching old shows!

This is difficult...

I've finally managed to gather enough courage to continue watching The Good Wife. I'm watching it incredibly slowly, especially compared to how quickly I went through the first 4 seasons. I'm probably only watching one episode a day.

The first episode I watched after my month long break was "Hitting the Fan" in which Will finds out that Alicia is leaving the firm. I would say that Josh Charles' acting is amazing when walking towards Alicia's office to confront her; he was hurt, sad, and angry, and I could see all that just from the closeup of him walking. Then again, maybe I was seeing what I wanted to see because I really don't know much about good acting vs. bad acting. It was quite unbearable, the breakup. This one actually hurts, unlike the actual breakup of Will and Alicia's relationship. This one is final. The betrayal irrevocable.

If there's one thing I didn't like about the last few episodes I've watched, it's the fact that they focus too much on Lockhart/Gardner vs Florrick/Agos. I understand that it's an interesting dynamic, but there's no way two law firms in a city like Chicago keep going against each other, even if it's partially intentional. It also means that we're missing out on some awesome guest stars that we've had in earlier seasons. Those other lawyers are one of the best things about the show, in my opinion.

Right before I started writing this post, I had watched "The Decision Tree." It's one of the most talked about episodes of season 5, and it lived up to my expectation. Again, I'm quite impressed by Josh Charles, just him sitting there, charting his decision tree. A little look to the distance, holding back a few tears in his eyes; it seemed so subtle and simple, yet so impactful. The thing that I've gotten from the last handful of episodes is how hurt Will really is, while Alicia seems stronger. I know that it was Alicia who left so it makes sense for her to be less distressed, but sometimes it looks like she's not affected at all. It makes her seem cold at times. A part of me wants to see Alicia sadder or remorseful, for what she did to Will. It makes me want to write a fanfiction about it; interestingly, this episode actually feels like (a much better version of) a fanfiction I would write for Will, imagining that Alicia would have been far more rattled than she actually was in court. Just a lot of imagined emotions.

I just don't know if I can go on. I'm only 4-5 episodes away from that episode. It's just very hard to continue watching knowing that something horrible is about to happen. I'm not ready for Josh Charles to leave.

What Kind of Day Has It Been?

First of all, I'm pleased that the series finale is titled what it's titled. The series in general has had its fair share of critics. The finale, in particular, was very divisive, even amongst fans. From what I've read, I think the biggest criticism was that the finale didn't really end with a bang. Instead, it was very mellow and tied up a few loose threads. I understand people's disappointments in this type of endings, but I enjoyed it.

The biggest surprise of the show is definitely Olivia Munn, and her portrayal of my favorite Newsroom character Sloan Sabbith. Interestingly, Don Keefer, who at the beginning was presented to be somewhat of an asshole, ended up being my second favorite character. I, and many others, would love a Sloan and Don spinoff show (yes, I know Sorkin has said he's done writing TV shows, but I can hope). Olivia Munn is perfect for Sorkin's writing. Or, if he prefers movies, I would love a Sports Night movie. The handful of references they threw during the final episode made it that much harder to not rewatch Sports Night!

You will be missed, Newsroom! I've enjoyed the ride.

I can't seem to stop watching Sports Night

I'm currently at the beginning of season 2, and I believe that this is the third time through the show THIS MONTH. I just keep coming back to Sports Night when I have some free time.

The first (few) time(s) I've watched the show, I'm always more drawn to Peter Krause's Casey McCall. I think he's very cute and charming. And a little broken. He's also tall and handsome and has that deep voice that I find insanely attractive. Also, the frustrating will-they-won't-they romantic plot involving Casey and Dana Whitaker (Felicity Huffman) hooked me in.

However, having recently watched Josh Charles on The Good Wife (which I have yet to continue), and Dead Poets Society, means that this time around I'm more focused on Dan Rydell. Strangely, this is the first time it occurred to me that Dan might actually be the main character of the show, seeing as how Josh Charles gets first billing and Dan gets the more complicated storylines. I find him very endearing. Obviously, the Sorkin-monologue of Dan's apology was beautiful. I also started to appreciate the way Josh portrayed Dan. There's a subtlety and perfectly placed pauses that I had previously missed. Also, Josh Charles was damn cute back then!

The Good Wife

I haven't really watched any new shows lately, and Agents of SHIELD is the only show I'm following every week. I became interested the The Good Wife because Josh Charles was on Sports Night, one of my favorite shows.

I didn't think I was going to watch this show, so I wasn't too careful about avoiding spoilers. I watched Charles' appearances on late night talk show, in which he talked about...what happened to his character. That, and Julianna Marguiles' Emmy win speech. I didn't think much of it, because I honestly thought I'd learned my lesson after Game of Thrones, to not get too attached to TV characters. I thought I was desensitized by character deaths. I guess I wasn't.

Back to the beginning. Alicia Florrick, wife of disgraced politician who had to go back to work as a lawyer after 14 years of being away, raising her children. 14 years is quite a long time to be away from a profession, and she found it quite difficult to find a job. In comes Will Gardner, played by Josh Charles. He and Alicia were friends when they were in Georgetown. At the beginning, it seemed like they were just close friends who lost touch after law school. But you know they would turn him into a love interest. And, just as expected, I fell in love with Will. Or at least I shipped their pairing. Does that make me the  predictable viewer? They keep dangling their potential relationship to keep me coming back to the show?

In any case, they ended up together, and they ended up breaking up. Again, as you would expected. These things never end well on TV. Honestly, I thought their breakup was the adult, smart thing to do. It was too much for her and she needed to put her children ahead of her own happiness. However, I thought their relationship could have been explored further. Of course, this is the thing that I hate. Or I hate that I love it so much. It's never a clean breakup. They're still hung up on each other, even years later. The thing is, Will has done nothing wrong, in my opinion. Sure he's taken the money but that was 15 years ago and he has done nothing wrong to the people around him. I feel like Alicia has been keeping him on a leash; reels him in, and shuts the door in front of his face, one too many times.

Season 5: Where it all ends

I honestly don't know Alicia's reason to stay with Peter. Then again, the title of the show is The Good Wife. Being the wife is part of who she is. It's good for Peter's political career, but I don't know what good it is for her. That's one of the reasons why I just want her to go back to Will. They were happy together. So what happened at the end of season 4 was devastating. She's really leaving Will this time (his firm, at least), and she's doing it behind his back while stealing his top clients. I'm currently still watching the beginning of season 5. I'm too scared to go on. Will is about to find out that Alicia is leaving and I don't know if I want to see how he'd react. I don't want Will to get his heart broken again.

What's worse is that in about 10 episodes or so, Will will be killed. With Game of Thrones, I avoid spoilers like the plague. Now, I don't know which is worse, getting your favorite killed off when you least expect it, or when you know it's coming. I'm doing the same thing as I did when I was watching the end of Daivd Tennant's run on Doctor Who. I can't watch Will die so I've stopped watching season 5 a few days ago. I don't know if I can continue, but I really want to know what happens. I honestly think that this might be worse, expecting his death. Maybe I should be careful about spoilers not because I like the unexpected, but because knowing hurts more.

The Newsroom: Season 2

I had just finished watching season 2 of The Newsroom in one day. I think the pace in which I watched it was based on the fact that I missed Aaron Sorkin's writing. I missed the witty banters; I missed the monologues; I even missed the aura of arrogance emanated by these people who are, for whatever reason, all much smarter than me. Or at least way more articulate than I am in expressing their opinions.

I somewhat see The Newsroom as Aaron Sorkin's ultimate TV show. It takes the news reporting aspect of Sports Night, and the politics aspect of The West Wing, and the behind-the-scenes production of a live show as in Studio 60 (although this is also a significant part of Sports Night). Then again, it might just feel similar because of all the Sorkinisms. The quick, lengthy dialogues and the similar line deliveries. It's very strange, that even though a lot of things are repeated across his projects like this, or this, I never tire of them. I just like the way they speak, I guess.

Fortysomething

As usual, I'm finding it difficult to let go of a character/actor after marathoning a show. So, after watching all 8 seasons of House, I found myself looking for other Hugh Laurie things to watch. I've spent some time on YouTube, but I needed more. So I went to his IMDb page and just looked for something with decent ratings. That's when I stumbled upon Fortysomething.

I didn't even read the synopsis or looked at the other cast members. I just searched for a way to watch it. I've only watched 1 episode so far, but it's really making me happy. A young Hugh Laurie plays a doctor, and an even younger Benedict Cumberbatch plays his son! The Twelfth Doctor himself Peter Capaldi also plays a doctor, who seems to be Hugh's character's rival. I just find it pretty bizarre that two of my favorite doctors (I'm counting Capaldi as The Doctor, hence one of my favorite "doctors") play doctors in this show, and it doesn't hurt to have a bit of Cumberbatch. It's a 6 episode comedy, so it should be pretty easy to watch.

I'll miss House very much

House was one of those shows that I watched, loved, followed, and...stopped when there was a handful of episodes left; therefore, I didn't know how it ended (still on that list: Dexter, Chuck, and How I Met Your Mother). Well, I finally did it. Started rewatching everything, from season 1, a few weeks ago, and I watched the series finale last night. And, I have to say, it's still good. Not sure what made me stop watching back then.

Going back a little further, to my first experience with House. It was almost May 2009, about 2 weeks before my sophomore year finals week. No more homework, no more projects, barely any lecture, and plenty of time to study. Obviously I went looking for a new TV show to watch instead. I distinctly remember eating dinner at my desk with the pilot episode playing on my old MacBook. I had to stop eating when Chase did the first tracheotomy. I didn't expect that; I thought it was just a funny drama with lots of talking. Within 8 days, I've watched almost all 5 seasons available at the time. I was definitely obsessed. I fell in love with Dr. Gregory House, and with Hugh Laurie.

When *will* winter come?

Warning: Spoilers up to the end of season 3

With a show like Game of Thrones, avoiding spoilers has been incredibly difficult. I think I had done quite well, considering. All I knew was that Joffrey is the kid everyone hates, Peter Dinklage is awesome and plays someone awesome, handsome men and beautiful women aplenty (normal for TV shows I guess), and it's somewhat gory and plenty of nudity. Oh, there's also dragons. And lots of character deaths.

About a week ago, I decided to start watching the show, seeing as there were a couple episodes left to air of season 4. I thought ~15 days would be enough to watch the available episodes, and I would be able to watch the season 4 finale "live" (or as soon as it's available to me). It only took me 2 days to finish the first season. By the time the penultimate season 4 episode aired, I was already halfway through season 3. I honestly thought I would finish much earlier than planned, and I would have to wait before the season 4 finale.

Dominic Cooper confirmed to return as Howard Stark?

Agent Carter herself, Hayley Atwell, seems to imply so during an interview with Telegraph:

Now, the wacky actress is hoping to continue with the larks when Dominic Cooper joins her on the set of her forthcoming television series, Agent Carter. “He’s incredibly naughty,” she tells me at the Glamour Women of the Year awards with Next in Berkeley Square. “So I’m going to start the pranks as early as I can. He will come up with some very good ones, too.”

It seems that she's sure that Cooper will be joining her; but what I want to know is how big a role will Howard Stark have in the show? I'm hoping for a co-lead or at least a supporting instead of a guest starring role ala Nick Fury in Agents of SHIELD. I want more Dominic Cooper in my life.

Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond

I was never really a James Bond follower, until Daniel Craig took the role. I have since watched all Bond films, although I wouldn't say that I'm a big fan. He sure is cool, and (some of) the movies are fun to watch, but that's about it. And I absolutely know nothing about Ian Fleming.

The only reason I watched Fleming is because it starred Dominic Cooper, my latest celebrity crush. But I was pleasantly surprised by the show. I understand that it was fiction; a dramatized biopic. Dominic said, in an interview, that the show is more about how Ian would like his life to be remembered than how it really was. So it was quite exciting and very Bond-like. There were a few nods to Bond –– the most memorable was the drink Ian ordered –– but nothing too aggressive.

Fleming tells the story of Ian Fleming's life on the eve of World War II. He was a disappointment to his family, before turning into a spy, then a war hero. He then took his experiences to create James Bond, who could very well be Fleming's fantasy.

Dominic Cooper in the war era really reminded me of his Howard Stark in Captain America: The First Avenger. I really hope he gets to reprise that character, regularly, on Agent Carter later this year (or is it early next year?).

Edgar Wright exits Ant-Man

It's really a shame. I don't even know anything about Ant-Man, but I was looking forward to it because it's Wright and because people have been saying how great the Comic Con teaser was.

A brief statement was released by Marvel:

Marvel and Edgar Wright jointly announced today that the studio and director have parted ways on Marvel's "Ant-Man" due to differences in their vision of the film. The decision to move on is amicable and does not impact the release date on July 17, 2015. A new director will be announced shortly.

There are rumors as to what the "differences in vision" might be, but we'll never know for sure. But Wright had been working on this movie since 2006, and he was very passionate about it; it's just a shame that it's been taken away from him. I do trust Marvel though. This movie is supposed to kickstart Phase 3, so hopefully this doesn't hinder that. I will still watch the movie, definitely, but I was really looking forward to Edgar Wright's Ant-Man. I know that they're still using his script, but it would have been better to have his vision as a director to go along with said script.

Marvel.com's synopsis for Agent Carter

"Marvel's Agent Carter," starring Captain America's Hayley Atwell follows the story of Peggy Carter. It's 1946, and peace has dealt Peggy Carter a serious blow as she finds herself marginalized when the men return home from fighting abroad. Working for the covert SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), Peggy must balance doing administrative work and going on secret missions for Howard Stark all while trying to navigate life as a single woman in America, in the wake of losing the love of her life--Steve Rogers. Inspired by the feature films "Captain America: The First Avenger" and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," along with the short "Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter."

Starring Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter, "Marvel's Agent Carter" is executive produced by Christopher Markus, Steve McFeely, Tara Butters, Michele Fazekas, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Jeph Loeb.

Source

The best part of this announcement is that she's running missions for Howard Stark. Hopefully this means we'll see him around quite a bit. I love Dominic Cooper's performance as Howard. Also, interesting to note that Kevin Feige is an EP for this show (he's not listed as such on Agents of SHIELD), while both have Jeph Loeb.

I'm hoping that the first season either leads up to the badass one-shot of hers, or starts off from it towards her and Howard founding SHIELD. From the one shot, it seems that "SHIELD" is already there, but Carter was also one of the founders so I'm a little confused about that. I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that Bradley Whitford makes an appearance (or even becomes a regular) as Agent Flynn, now that his current show has been cancelled.

AoS season 2 & Agent Carter

ABC has announced that they have renewed Agents of SHIELD for a season 2 and picked up new Marvel show Agent Carter. I expected this news but I'm still happy that it's finally confirmed. The Marvel Cinematic Universe keeps expanding and I'm loving it.

The current rumor is that Agent Carter, which was picked up for a short order season, would be aired midseason, to fill in the break of Agents of SHIELD. That's good news because it means that we wouldn't have the weird breaks like we did this season. And I can't wait how they would keep the two shows connected when one is set in present day and the other is set in the 40s-50s. Since we had a few AoS episodes this season that happen concurrently with Captain America: The Winter Soldier, I'm hoping that they somehow can do the same with Agent Carter. Maybe explore events in the past that's referenced in the movies. 

AoS season finale is this upcoming Tuesday, and I'm sure it's gonna be a big one. I'm really excited for it, and then I'll have these long few months before Guardians of the Galaxy comes out. Luckily, we'll have these two shows to look forward to between GotG and Avengers: Age of Ultron.