Square TV Update- 2009 Act 1

Well, look what the cat drug in? 2009 already and boy has the site gone stale! I do admit it has been a while since I've updated the blog but I must explain... very good things have happened. A late congratulations to my partner in crime and buddy Editor Alan and his brand new baby boy, Simon who was born last Fall. Alan has taken the alter-ego of "Super Dad" and has being doing well with his better half, Wendi. Best wishes to the Kravit Family!

As for myself... I've been working and surfing. Times are tough with the sour economy and I plan to update the blog as often as possible as time permits. I still work the 9-5 and try my best to get out into this entertaining world as much as possible. Other than that... life is good in San Diego.

2009 is a time for new resolutions and new beginnings. Here's a list of things to look out for in the entertainment world in this very promising new year.

* New President.... new look:
President Elect Barack Obama takes office next week and it will change the face of politics and everything it affects.. which is everything. TV shows and film will have more African-American politicians casted as high ranking officials and this is a good thing. This will help erase negative stereotypes associated with African-Americans in entertainment. We've already seen this changing of the guard in the show 24 where actor Dennis Haysbert played President Palmer in the early part of the series who can be seen recently in Allstate Insurance commercials. We also saw another African American President in Heroes when actor Michael Dorn took the role of the President of the United States in the upcoming second half of the season this February.

* More Comic Movies!!!!
Transformers 2, Dragonball, G.I. Joe, X-Men Origins: Wolverine and of course... Watchmen. Nuff Said!



* Harry Potter is hotter.
The powers that be should consider standardizing calendars to show if it is a year that a Harry Potter movie comes out on. It would make soccer mom's lives a lot easier and would help Summer movie traffic.

* Recession Obsession
Not that it's a good thing to obsess about but this recession will affect the entertainment biz strongly. As if it hasn't already? Job cuts have effected major studios and this will greatly affect the production time of movies and tv shows. I was watching the Golden Globes the other day, and I even heard fashion analysts discussing how the recession has made actors dress more frugal and conservative in reflection to the financial times we live in. I just hope I don't see Megan Fox wearing Wal-Mart granny panties.



* Comic Con 2009
Need I say more?

Comic Con with solve everything.... I can't wait till Summer!!!

Til then... I'll be kicking it with 2 guys who's lives came up short... the dude from Prison Break and Tupac. R.I.P. you both.

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

by Mike Tarifa

Many will love, and many will hate the latest disturbance in the Force. The latest installment to the lengthy Star Wars franchise was released on August 15th as Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It was an admirable attempt to bridge the widely popular live action film series to the CGI world. The film produced by Warner Bros. was the first of the films made outside of Fox Studios and showed visible proof of the switch in team. Right off the bat, I was missing the 21st Century Fox drum beat and fanfare. It almost made the Lucasfilms Ltd. logo look and feel naked? The movie didn't open with a spaceship sequence like the original films but rather a news reel reminiscent of WWII propaganda films made by RKO Productions. With the helm of the ship taken by director Dave Filoni, stylistic changes were made all over the film. What Filoni and his team brought to the table was almost a clone of the original Clone Wars animated series cartoons from Cartoon Network in 2005. The film's aim was to tell the untold stories of the heroic battles fought throughout the galaxy far, far away in between Star Wars Episode II and III. With that aim alone, the series will have an infinite amount of chances to redeem itself for its misfires in dynamic character development and "cheesy" dialogue. Then again, when did Star Wars ever possess the prose of a Shakespearean Play?



My biggest complaint in the character department was Anikan Skywalker's new padawan, Ashoka Tano. Even she made Skywalker himself a little less whiny. Tano's character was thrown into the fire rather quickly and made you question the ability of a padawan learner in such a short amount of time. She must have taken the abridged/boot camp version Luke Skywalker took in Summer School Jedi training camp because she was making big time plays throughout the film. To the films credit, it is hard to fully develop that character in 100 minutes in a galaxy that big. Only original players Samuel L. Jackson and Christopher Lee reprise their voice characters as Jedi Master Mace Windu and Count Dooku respectively. In a nutshell, the film covers one of the very first missions in the daring Clone Wars and provides a back story on how the Republic gained a foot hole in the outer rim territories of the Galaxy. They encounter hostile attacks from Seperatist Groups and the learning relationship between Skywalker the Master and Tano the padawan....somewhat blossom. A plot point involving a muppet baby Jabba the Hutt kinda makes the audience scratch their heads but was bearable at times. Another nuisance is another Hutt by the name of Ziro that kinda sounds like Eric Cartman using the restroom after sucking on helium. Besides that it's pretty consistent with the Star Wars world.


This film is neither a flop nor a triumph. I had to be down the middle on this one but I am a devout Star Wars fan and I must support the cause. Star Wars: The Clone Wars was obviously made for television and it is almost obvious that the studio was going to do an hour premiere on Cartoon Network but one of the producers probably insisted on adding 30 more minutes and giving it a theatrical release. With little advertising and the lack of fan support on opening night, it was obvious the Star Wars film release was not to the magnitude of the previous 6 films. Kudos to them for bringing more money to the Lucas Ranch and expanding the Star Wars Galaxy. I highly recommend this flick to die hard Star Wars fans and the younglings between 7 and 14 years of age. Everybody else will enjoy this one on their own time and hopefully grow to enjoy it more as the television series is slated to release later this year or early 2009.



See a trailer for Star Wars: The Clone Wars below: