Five Reasons to Watch the Good Omens TV Show

What is this!?! Two lists posts in one week!?! You're probably asking yourself what the heck is going on. Did Rose Red mess up while scheduling posts? 

 

I didn't. But it's a valid concern. I've been trying to write a review for the Good Omens TV show for the last week so I can shout my adoration to the masses but I've had writer's block. Then the Bestie suggested I make a list to get the creative side of my brain to kick into gear and I loved the idea so much that my review become a list post.

 

I will give a disclaimer here that although Good Omens was one of my favorite books during my teen years it's been about fifteen years since I last read it. I remember some of the big things that happen but not a lot of the little details. Watching the show was like revisiting an old friend after not seeing each other for a decade, it was both familiar and new at the same time. That being said, I'm not going to comment much on the differences between the two because I honestly don't remember. I just know that I loved it and it makes me want to reread the book! Now onto the five reasons why you should go watch this show now.

 

1. The Casting Was Perfection!

I will admit seeing Crowley and Aziraphale on screen was everything! My god! Did they hit the casting jackpot!?! Michael Sheen and David Tennant were perfect in portraying each of their characters! David Tennant sashaying around as Crowley was every bit as glorious as I expected it to be. Michael Sheen I was bit more unsure of because the only role I can remember him in was Aro from the Twilight movies. But he killed it as Aziraphale and the two's on screen chemistry was off the charts. They weren't the only perfect casting. This whole miniseries had the perfect actor for each role. Jon Hamm as Gabriel was not something I knew I needed in my life.

2. They Kind Of Acknowledged That Good Omens Is A Love Story

I have shipped Crowley and Aziraphale together since my first read through of the book. Honestly, the book read as a love story to me even though it wasn't explicitly stated. I can't tell you the amount of fanfic I've read over the years featuring these two. And the tv show is like that but on steroids. You can tell that these two have feelings for each other. The showrunners and Mr. Gaiman have left it to us to interpret how we want and it looks like a love story to me. You can see their relationship change and grow literally through the ages and if they're not in love I'll eat my hat. There's been several really good articles about this very point and you should go read them because they made the point way more eloquently than I did. I especially loved this one by Emily Asher-Perrin for tor.com.

3. It's A Funny And Hopeful Story About the End of the World

One of the things that makes this show work so well is the humor and the underlying hopeful feeling. The whole story is about a demon and an angel trying to prevent the apocalypse because they like living among humans. Shenanigans happen and they misplace the antichrist they're trying to influence into neutrality. It sounds weird but it is amazing!

4. Neil Gaiman Wrote the Script

Good Omens has quickly skyrocketed onto my list of favorite book-to-movie/TV adaptations and a very significant part of that has to do with the fact that Neil Gaiman wrote every single episode of the show. And the fact he did makes me want to cry. One of the most well-known tidbits about how that came to be is one that pulls on my heartstrings. It all started with a promise. Before he died, Terry Pratchett asked Gaiman if he'd write the script for the movie and make it for him. And he did. I will openly admit that I cried when "For Terry" popped up in the end credits. I also cried seeing Terry Pratchett's trademark hat and scarf hanging on the coat rack in Aziraphale's book shop. I certainly hope that wherever he is Terry is proud of what Good Omens has become.

5. The Show Belongs to Queen and Agnes Nutter

I had two thoughts while watching this show: 1. This show is freaking amazing and David Tennant as Crowley is everything! and 2. My god! They spent a fortune license all the Queen songs in this show! And it was glorious. I also love that why Crowley's Bentley only plays Queen songs was left as a humorous inside joke to those who have read the book. It made my little book nerd heart happy. And the Queen songs they chose added perfectly to the narration of the story! It's one of the many things that made this adaptation so perfect! Another is how they wove Agnes' prophesies into the story and how they presented them. It was so neatly done!

 I wholeheartedly loved this show! I had high expectations going in and they were met with flying colors. I need to go a do a rewatch because I know there's some little things I missed. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a book I need to go reread.

 

Have you watched the show yet? Come squee with me in the comments!

Movie Review: Ready Player One

I read Ready Player One for the first time this year and I enjoyed the heck out of it! You can read my full review here. After reading it, I knew I had to see the movie so yesterday I went. I'm happy to report that I loved it! There was so much action and humor that it was just a really fun time! Here are some of my thoughts about it.

Book vs Movie?
If you’re looking for a replica of the events of the book, then this movie is not for you. It's pretty different. It was kind of like watching a fanfic of the book and I mean that in the best way possible. If you've read the book, you know there was no way that everything was going to end up in the movie. The licensing rights for everything would have been hella expensive. They had to change up a lot of things to use the rights they did get and made it work so the movie captured the essence of the book. There are way less obscure 80's references and more mainstream references that younger kids and teens will get. In my opinion, it worked out better in a lot of ways.

I had a few problems with the book and one of them was how flat of a character Art3mis was. The film made her into a more complex character and gave her a bigger role that wasn't just the convenient love interest one that she was relegated to in the book. I liked what they did with the High Five and that Aech had a bigger role in the movie too. I will admit that there was one character that I wish had had more of his bookish role but I really did like what they did with his character in the movie though.

The World Was Awesome!
I was a bit nervous to see what they how the film creators were going to represent the Oasis and the Stacks but I shouldn't have worried! Everything ended up so much better than I imagined it would! I loved how well they balanced the Oasis scenes with the real world segments! It really made the end message of the film hit home more. Also, the CGI for the Oasis scenes was absolutely stunning!

There's Pop Culture Everywhere!
As I mentioned before, getting as many of the licensing rights as they did was insane! Have I mentioned already how impressed I was that they got as many as they did? There are all sorts of pop culture references going back decades and a lot of them are from Warner Bros. movies. That makes sense since this movie is a Warner's property. The thing I found the most interesting was how there were no Steven Spielberg Easter eggs in the movie even though it was directed by him. They probably did that on purpose. I did love most of the substitutions they made. I'm still conflicted about the Iron Giant's involvement but I loved seeing him in the film.

Verdict?
While it wasn't the book, the movie was fun great and I loved it! I would highly recommend going and seeing as soon as you can!

   1/2

  4.5 / 5 Stars!

Movie Review: Love, Simon

If you were on social media at all this last weekend, you probably saw someone or several someones talking about Love, Simon. Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda was one of my favorite reads of 2017 so of course I grabbed some Oreos and went to see the movie opening night.

Spoiler: I loved it as much as I love Double Stuffed Oreos!

Positive Representation is a Hell of a Thing.
Love, Simon is funny, positive, heartfelt, and just freaking adorable. It felt like a love letter to John Hughes and it had the same feel as his iconic 80's teen rom-coms. It made me laugh and it made me sob right there in the middle of a completely packed theater. I wasn't the only one though. I went and saw this with my best friend and his boyfriend and there wasn't a dry eye among us during certain scenes. I couldn't help but wish that we had had a movie like this when we were in high school and he was struggling to keep his sexuality a secret. Love, Simon is a film that believes and shows that everyone deserves a sweet, sappy movie love story, especially people who are often denied them. Positive representation is one hell of a thing and we need more of it in mainstream media.

Each character was perfectly cast! I was a little skeptical about how well Nick Robinson would play Simon but he nailed the character. Seriously. All the characters were perfectly played. And I loved that Simon's love interest, Blue, is played by a gay actor. Also, Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel were so great as Simon's parents! My BFF and I bawled during the scenes where Simon had heart-to-hearts with his parents. It just so great to see such a supportive and loving family on the big screen.

 

There were quite a few changes from the book but there needed to be. A lot of the book is emails between Simon and Blue and wouldn't translate well to the big screen. In my opinion, while it wasn't a perfect adaptation, the changes worked really well while keeping the book's message and adorable feel. The movie kind of became its own entity and I loved it so much!

Ethan
One of my favorite things about the movie was a character named Ethan. Ethan wasn't in the book but he's an addition that makes this story even better. He is the opposite of Simon. He's out and proud and won't let anyone shame him for who he is. He's also had it rough. As the first and only out gay guy at Creekwood, he was frequently bullied about it. He's the perfect flamboyant foil to Simon's normal and I loved him so much!

The Soundtrack
I going to be honest. I don't really buy soundtracks but I bought Love, Simon's as soon as I left the theater. It's SO good! I had never heard of the group, Bleachers, before the movie and now I'm kind of in love with them. As a whole, the music just fit the movie and I can't help but smile when certain songs come up on my playlist.

Verdict?
GO SEE IT. Go See It Now!

    

  5 / 5 Stars!

Movie Review: Black Panther

Guys! Can we talk about Black Panther? Because Holy Cow! What a movie! We loved it! We loved it a lot! It was different and fresh and as Maggie Stiefvater eloquently put it on Twitter: It's "a superhero movie full of kings with tears in their eyes and women with fire in theirs." 

 

With the movie hitting the $700 million mark by its second weekend, we know you've been hearing about this movie non-stop but here are some of our favorite things about the movie:

Shuri

I loved all of the strong female characters but Shuri stole the show for me! She was amazing! She's smart, fierce, funny, and she totally has T'Challa's back. But my favorite thing? Shuri, a young black GIRL, is the one who is responsible for a lot of the advances in Wakanda’s modern technology. A BLACK GIRL is the face of STEM in the Marvel Universe and it's just plain beautiful to my scientist heart! We're going to petition to make Shuri an official Disney princess, yes?

Okoye

You know we love our badass woman warriors, but often those characters sacrifice femininity to get there. Seeing Okoye standing on the hood of that car with her red dress flowing behind her was such an empowering moment. And the fact that she threw off her wig tells us that she's going to do this whole beauty thing her own way.

Wakanda

Seeing Wakanda for the first time felt a lot like seeing Thymiscera in Wonder Woman. There's just a jaw-on-the-floor sense of awe. But it's even more impressive because where Thymiscera is a perfectly preserved Ancient Greek utopia, Wakanda is a futuristic technological marvel that maintains its African identity. I loved seeing the marketplace just as much as the monorail.

And here's the one thing that bugs me:
This action-packed superhero movie manages to comment on so many different issues. Colonialism, isolationism, activism. When T'Challa tells his father, "You were wrong!" he's also condemning a culture that lets children grow up without fathers. The father/son dynamic is such a big part of the narrative - fathers represent history, culture and tradition. And while I'm certainly not opposed to that message, they completely ignore the mothers. The only one in the entire film is the queen whose only real function is to support her son. How can a movie full of so many great female characters disregard mothers? Are they no longer badasses once they have kids? And where was Killmonger's mother? As a single mom, this one flaw feels really big to me.

Discussions

One of the great things about this movie is how much discussion it's prompted. I think I've seen more written about Black Panther than any other movie. (Yes, even more than The Last Jedi.) Here are some of my favorite articles about Black Panther. Other writers have addressed some of that commentary happening in the film better than I could.

Alex Brown's piece for Tor.com covers the film's place in African and African-American culture and in the MCU, and addresses some issues like the lack of queer representation.

Carly Lane at SyFy Wire talks about the Women in Black Panther.

Princess Weekes wrote about Killmonger's misogyny for The Mary Sue. 

Aaron Reese at B&N wrote about Wakanda as a character.

Epic Reads list of books to read if you loved Black Panther includes Black authors, African myth, woman warriors.

What did you think about Black Panther?

Superweek Movie Review: Megamind

Welcome to the first ever Superweek at Goldilox and the Three Weres! It's an entire week devoted to superheroes, supervillains, and superpowers.

While Gretl has been wanting to start doing TV reviews here on the blog, I've been wanting to branch into movie reviews. So we decided superhero week seemed like a good place to launch the idea. Gretl wrote a fantastic review about Legends of Tomorrow that you should check out! As for me, I'm going to be reviewing the wonderful Dreamworks movie, Megamind! I saw it for the very first time over Easter break and I'm so sad that it took me so long to watch it! Feel free to share your thoughts on the movie in the comments!

 

source: rottentomatoes.com

 

I loved this movie SO much! It had everything that I look for in an animated movie: great humor, awesome characters, and top-notch animation. For me, Megamind was so enjoyable because it was both an homage to and a parody of Superman. In this version, not one but two doomed planets send a newborn son to Earth. One of the boys can fly, has super strength, and suave good looks. So of course after his pod crash lands on the property of a wealthy couple, he is the one destined to become the superhero, Metroman. The other boy has blue skin, a huge head, and a fish-like minion encased in a glass ball. He, of course, is destined to become the villain, Megamind, when his pod crashes within the confines of a prison and is subsequently adopted by the prisoners who teach him the ways of evil.

 

Metroman, voiced by Brad Pitt, and Megamind, voiced by Will Ferrell, spend their lives locked in the classic battle of good vs. evil with Megamind always losing and ending up in jail. On the day Metro Man is being honored by the city, Megamind breaks out of jail with the help of his talking fish named Minion and kidnaps Roxanne Ritchi, star news reporter voiced by Tina Fey. Megamind finally defeats Metro Man and takes over the city. He soon realizes that being evil is boring without someone good to fight against. And what does he do now that he's won?

 

Megamind is one of those animated movies that has a lot more going on than meets the eye and was utterly brilliant! This movie is perfect for the whole family. An all-star cast lent their voices to what was a hilarious and heart-warming story. My boyfriend, his daughter, and I all enjoyed it immensely! Personally, I loved how this story explored the concept of coming to terms with the fact that our real destinies and success in this life are not always what looks and circumstances dictate. I loved all the twists the movie took and the ending was fantastic and cute! If you haven't seen this movie, I highly recommend you doing so!

Have you seen the movie?

What did you think?

Have you seen our Superweek Superhero Giveaway? Check it out here.

Superweek TV Review: DC's Legends of Tomorrow

Welcome to the first ever Superweek at Goldilox and the Three Weres! It's an entire week devoted to superheroes, supervillains, and superpowers.

I've wanted to do some TV reviews for a while now and superhero week seemed like a good place to launch the idea. I decided to write about Legends of Tomorrow because I have thoughts. Lots of thoughts, actually. And because I feel like now, at the halfway point in the season (8 of 16 episodes have aired,) the show might actually be on the right track. Feel free to disagree in the comments.

Source cwtv.com

 In case anyone isn't familiar, Legends of Tomorrow is about Rip Hunter, a Time Master from 2166 who collects characters from Arrow and The Flash to travel through time and fight Vandal Savage, an immortal bent on world domination. 

I almost stopped watching the show after the first two episodes. I think the only thing that saved it is that I didn't want to watch anything else that was on at the same time. Those early episodes were kind of a mess. They tried to to do too much at once, probably to give each of the nine characters equal screen time, which led to too many story lines in each show. 

If only one character had an emotional crisis each episode, it probably would have been fine. And over the course of a few shows, the screen time would balance out. Killing off some of the characters (I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum) has at least cut down on the number of balls in the air, though I think it looks like they realized the cast was too big and had to backtrack. The writers really should have been able to balance the story lines before that.

It also bothers me how much time the show has spent in the 20th century U.S. Why is that the most logical place to find a 4000 year old Egyptian? Even the episodes set in Russia (eps. 4 and 5) had a decidedly American point of view. Everything is focused on the Cold War, without giving us any sense of what it was like to be in Russia in that time. It just feels like lazy script-writing to me. The writers didn't want to do a lot of research so they just wrote about what they knew. But there's so much potential in this premise!

I'm not arguing for overt history lessons in a superhero show, but subtle ones would be nice. The way episode 8 "Night of the Hawk" addresses racism, sexism and anti-LGBT sentiment in the 50's comes close, but it gives the impression that those issues are specific to that time. The characters act like they've never seen anything similar in their 21st century lives. I think that trivializes the issues, equating them to the sets and costumes as just aspects of the 50's. The show missed an opportunity to make a meaningful statement.

So why did I say the show might be on the right track? Mostly because of episode 6 "Star City 2046," which guest starred Stephen Amell as a disillusioned, 60 year old Oliver Queen. That episode is pretty much everything I wanted the show to be from the beginning. It tells a compelling story, debates the implications of changing time, and leaves that time having set history back on track as much as it could. 

I'm also hopeful because of episode 7 "Marooned" which features time-traveling pirates and tells Rip Hunter's backstory, and lots of Star Trek jokes. The characters also deal with new emotional issues, rather than rehashing old ones like they did in earlier episodes. The fact that the two best-written episodes take place in the future supports my assertion that no one wants to do historical research. But that episode is the first in which Hunter is at all likable, and it features lots of Snart and Sarah moments, and I love the two of them together. 

Those two episodes give me hope that the writers might have worked the kinks out now. One thing the show has had from the beginning are great action scenes, so if it starts to tell better stories, I'll be on board. Time travel just creates so many possibilities! I've also read that the next season might have an entirely new cast, so I'm curious about how many more deaths are in the works in the second half of the season. (If they could just kill off Ray Palmer, I'd be happy with that. Even on Arrow, I couldn't stand what a dork he is!) 

Have you seen the show?

What did you think?

Have you seen our Superweek Super Hero giveaway? Check it out here.