What to expect when you're expecting

Obviously this wasn't my choice.  I was out with a friend and his wife and she really wanted to see it.  Of course she had no idea the film existed until I started making fun of it and, after watching the trailer, then she was all in. So maybe it is my fault.

Anyway I can't bring myself to get fired up about this.  Its a thoroughly boring film, that exists solely to throw a bunch of famous actors together (a la the putrid Valentines day) and have them go through a tenuously related series of events.  I can't overemphasize how boring and unfunny the whole thing is.  Just don't bother.

Smash

Out of a sort of, I don't know what, fascination I've been watching the first season of this show.  Its nowhere near the best thing I've seen this year, but its sort of an interesting fiasco.  It varies wildly between an interesting (occasionally accurate and compelling) look at the lives of performers putting together a broadway show, and wildly histrionic melodrama.  Throw in the fact that each episode features a fair amount of original songs (along with usually one cover) and you have something that is the, at the very least, unique.   I think it could work (and sometimes it does) but about half the cast is actually bad (and I hate to say this includes Angelica Huston, thought this may have more to do with the writing), and a good chunk of the characters are legitimately psychotic.  Debra Messing's character in particular may be one of the worst people ever (cheats on her husband twice, acts like a victim, whining constantly) and she's portrayed as one of the shows sympathetic centers.

All that said, my biggest annoyance with the show is its obsession with the idea that Marilyn Monroe is some sort of metaphor for, well, everything.  Every time a character has a problem someone says something to the effect of "Well Marilyn had it tough too, and she was able to succeed."  Maybe its because I don't really find her all that interesting, but I refuse to believe that hard core theater professionals would spend so much time obsessing over what the subject of their musical would have done.

I don't know if I'll stay with the show.  If it strips out all the melodrama and just focused on trying to portray the struggle professionals have with putting on a major production, interspersed with generous musical interludes, it could be interesting.  Right now I watch it more for the inconsistencies, and general tonal schizophrenia but I'm not sure that'll be enough to keep me going for the rest of the season.  Unfortunately I think its going to go the way of Glee and embrace its showier elements abandoning the compelling elements.

Anyway here's a list of stuff I've been watching that is actually good:

Community
Parks & Recreation
Awake - really great pilot, decent but not as good follow up episodes
Mad Men
Happy Endings
Suburgatory
New Girl - I was out on this one early,but jumped back in and was pleasantly surprised
The Good Wife - Excellent, looking forward to catching up with the first two seasons

And the others:
Walking Dead - Really inconsistent, and I almost gave up on it but the season finale introduced enough interesting elements that I may be back in.

The Office - I hate to say it, but I think this show might need to die.  It's had some moments (The florida episodes in particular) but they've been outweighed by the bad.

30 Rock - Actually enjoying the show more than I ever have in the past.  May just because I need an office replacement.

The Avengers

Before I get too into the review let me say a few things up top since this is going to end up sounding way more negative than I mean it to.  I generally enjoyed The Avengers.  Its entertaining, moves along pretty well, and makes the Hulk (one of the more problematic characters in the Marvel canon) a lot of fun.  Still its merely decent, when I was really hoping for something better.  Given the involvement of Joss Whedon, I though it would be closer in quality to The Dark Knight, as opposed to Iron Man (which don't get me wrong I enjoyed quite a bit).  Even though Whedon does about as good a job as could be expected juggling all the characters, the movie still feels cluttered.  I could have done without Black Widow and Hawkeye completely (and their involvement is a little weird given they really don't have any powers) and even Thor and Captain America aren't that engaging (though at least their presence makes sense).  Really I would have been perfectly fine if this had just been Iron Man and the Hulk take New York.  Those characters are by far the most well-defined, and have the best moments (and funniest) in the film. Hopefully future installments will focus more on their dynamic.

The film also takes a while to get going, the first third in particular is overly-expository, and could have stood to be twenty minutes lighter (dropping the Widow and Birdman would have helped considerably). But whatever, like I said at the beginning, I did generally enjoy it, and if its over-whelming success lets Whedon make another firefly film (or six) so much the better.

Oh, and seeing Robin from How I Met Your Mother in a prominent role was really distracting.