Movies I’m looking forward to in 2013

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2012 was a pretty good year for geek movies. I’m still boggled, sometimes, that so many comic book, science fiction and fantasy movies – not to mention big-budget, well-crafted ones – are released these days. We might be in a golden age for the genre.

Looking ahead to 2013, the calendar looks like just as much of a treat for fans.

“Iron Man 3.” After the superhero team-up that was “The Avengers,” why look forward to a solo superhero outing? Isn’t that a step back? Well, it would be but for a few reasons. I trust Robert Downey Jr. and director Shane Black. The preview looks dire and action-filled. And the movie kicks off Marvel’s Phase Two, which culminates in “The Avengers” sequel in 2015, so I’m pretty sure they’ll have some references to the big picture. May 3.

“Thor: The Dark World.” The first “Thor,” in some ways, held the promise (threat?) of being the weakest movie in the first phase of Marvel. Yet it was solid entertainment and laid the groundwork for much of the mythology that followed in “Captain America” and “The Avengers.” I feel very much at ease with this realm of big-screen Marvel. Nov. 8.

“Pacific Rim.” This story about giant robots created to fight giant, Godzilla-style monsters looks like something to appeal to all the 12 year olds within us. July 12.

“Star Trek Into Darkness.” This J.J. Abrams sequel to the reboot looks awesome. Unleash the Cumberbatch! May 17.

“The Wolverine.” I am not the craziest of fans of Marvel’s snikt-happy mutant. But Hugh Jackman has been so good as the character I’m looking forward to this and his role, however big, in “Days of Future Past.” July 26.

“Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” The first movie was a pleasant surprise. The second book is the weakest of the series, but I’m hoping they pull it off. Nov. 22.

“Oz the Great and Powerful.” This retooling of the classic story, a kind of prequel, could be really fun or really awful. March 8.

“The World’s End.” While we’re waiting for director Edgar Wright to make “Ant-Man,” how about this end of the world comedy starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Martin Freeman? Yes, please. Oct. 25.

Movies I’m almost dreading:

“Man of Steel.” We don’t need another origin story. We don’t need a “dark” Superman. We need a Superman who feels like the last of his kind but isn’t mopey about it. We don’t need a “Dark Knight” treatment, but I’m afraid that’s what we’re getting. June 14.

“World War Z.” I’ve said it before, but here it is again. The preview doesn’t look like the terrific Max Brooks book. June 21.

“The Lone Ranger.” A beloved childhood hero. I’m just not sure about the approach. Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp bring a lot of charisma to the proceedings, however. We’ll see. May 31.

Looking ahead to ‘Dallas’ returning … and J.R.

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Like most dedicated “Dallas” fans, I was saddened to hear about the passing, in late November, of Larry Hagman. I really enjoyed the first season of the revival of the show on TNT and I’m looking forward to the Jan. 28 return of the show.

But will “Dallas” survive and maintain its good ratings without Hagman as J.R. Ewing, the man we love to hate?

Production on about a half-dozen of the second season’s 15 episodes was completed before Hagman passed away. TNT and producer Cynthia Cidre have announced Hagman’s death – and the passing of J.R. – will be marked in the eighth episode, set to air March 11. They’re reportedly bringing back other Ewing family members, including brother Gary, played by Ted Shackleford, and his wife Val, played by Joan Van Ark.

I’ve seen the first two episodes of the second season and I can tell you they’re on a level, quality-wise, with the first season.

And Hagman has a wonderful presence in each.

I’ll post fuller previews of each episode before they air. And I’ll be hoping that the show can carry on without its beloved bad guy.

My favorite books of 2012

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I really, really did read something other than mysteries and crime novels in 2012. Let’s see, I read the … hmmm. I read the oral history of MTV. I’m reading that new history of Marvel Comics right now.

But most of my reading has, in recent years, revolved around the murder and mayhem genres. That’s after a lifetime of reading science fiction and fantasy, a genre I still like to explore once in a while.

So this list skews heavily to crime novels and mysteries. But if you’re looking for a good read, you’ll find a few here.

My favorite book I read in 2012 was undoubtedly Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl.” The story of a seriously screwed up marriage and what happens after the wife goes missing, “Gone Girl” was a huge hit and is being made into a movie. You’ve probably read it by now, but if you haven’t, it’s worth seeking out. Be aware: There’s a twist in the middle. And if you’re married, it will have you seriously examining your relationship.

One of the best surprises of the year for me was “The Last Kind Words” by Thomas Piccirilli. The story revolves around three generations of a family that’s always been on the shady side of the law. What happens when one brother comes home just before the other is due to be executed makes for a gripping read.

Families and crime are also the stuff of “The Prophet,” Michael Koryta’s mix of “Friday Night Lights” and a murder mystery and “Live By Night,” Dennis Lehane’s continuing exploration of a mid-20th century Boston family whose members straddle both sides of the law.

Lehane’s early works are among my favorite books of all time, and 2012 featured new work by some of my other favorite crime fiction authors, including “As the Crow Flies,” Craig Johnson’s latest tale of Wyoming sheriff Walt Longmire; Lee Child’s “A Wanted Man” and other Jack Reacher tales; “Spilled Blood” by Brian Freeman; “The Drop,” the latest Mickey Haller/Harry Bosch story from Michael Connelly; and “Taken,” another story about L.A. private eyes Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, from Robert Crais.

If you haven’t read anything by Josh Bazell, I highly recommend “Beat the Reaper” and his newest, “Wild Thing,” two books that follow a former mob doctor in hiding. The latest features a story about a search for a Bigfoot/Loch Ness-type creature as well as a guest appearance by political pin-up girl Sarah Palin. Seriously.

Ben H. Winters gave us the first of three books set in the waning days of the Earth. “The Last Policeman” features a cop trying to solve a homicide at a time when the world is going to hell and nobody else cares. I’m looking forward to the rest of the trilogy.

And we’ve noted the passing of legendary crime fiction writer Robert H. Parker. His estate has chosen a couple of writers to continue some of his series and Ace Atkins did an admirable job with a new Spenser story, “Lullaby.” Atkins’ tale was the equal of later-day Parker and that’s a good thing.

My favorite movies of 2012

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Here’s another “let’s pretend it’s the end of the year instead of a couple of days into the new year” recap of what I enjoyed in pop culture in 2012.

This time, movies.

For more than a decade, from the late 1970s to the early 1990s, I reviewed movies as part of my job. I saw a movie or two or three every week. Considering I was a lifelong movie fan, it was cool to be paid (even minimally) to review them.

Reviewing movies for a living meant going to see movies even if you didn’t feel like it and – goes without saying – movies that you had no interest in seeing. I still haven’t fully recovered from “My Dinner with Andre.”

All this is by way of saying that I don’t see nearly as many movies in theaters nowadays. When I do see a movie, I’m pretty likely to really want to see it and have a good idea of how much I’ll like it.

So here’s a look at a few favorite movies – and why they were favorites – for 2012.

For me, no pop culture movie of 2012 topped “The Avengers.” Joss Whedon’s very-nearly-perfect big-screen version of Marvel’s ultimate superhero team was the culmination of four years of Marvel solo superhero movies that kicked off with “Iron Man.”

I don’t have to tell you that Whedon’s “Avengers” worked and worked beyond the expectations of most fans, expectations that have been building since the early 1960s but seemed pretty unlikely during the dark days of lame “Captain America” TV movies with Cap sporting a motorcycle helmet. And now, on to Marvel’s big-screen phase two!

“Dark Knight Rises” and “The Amazing Spider-Man” were, in ways different than “The Avengers,” good treatments of their durable comic book characters. “Dark Knight” had a fairly lame villain but still thrilled with its dark vision. “Spider-Man” promised something it didn’t deliver – a mysterious reworking of Peter Parker’s origin – but it didn’t matter. The characters and performances really swung.

“Chronicle” was a dark and unsettling take on the kind of superhero/super villain fodder that sprang from “The X-Men” stories. Bonus: The director is remaking “Fantastic Four.”

Outside the realm of superhero stories, another movie with Whedon’s imprint, “Cabin in the Woods,” was very nearly as good as “The Avengers.” “Cabin” was a first-rate thriller with a great, twisty plot.

Backlash to the absurd title or not, “Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter” was a competent version of a really very good fantasy novel.

Likewise, “The Hunger Games” was a good approximation of a really good book. I’m looking forward to the sequels.

And I guess we’re back in the realm of superheroes for “Skyfall,” but the latest James Bond action picture was one of the best in the series. It felt like a reboot, in some ways, and has me looking forward to the next adventure of 007.

My favorite TV shows of 2012

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Summing-up articles: It’s what writers do at the end of the year.

I’ve enjoyed sharing my thoughts on movies, TV and books in 2012, the first full year of this blog, and have enjoyed getting feedback from readers. The blog had almost 100,000 page views in 2012 so obviously a few people are checking it out.

I’m not going to rank my favorite TV shows – or the movies and books that will hopefully come in later blog entries – in order of preference. I’ll note, at times, those that I thought really stood out. But I didn’t see enough of any TV and movies and couldn’t come close to reading enough books to say conclusively these were the best of the best. They were just my favorites.

FYI you can probably find earlier reviews of most of these by clicking on the tags at the end.

Here are my favorite TV shows of the year:

“The Mindy Project” is maybe the biggest surprise (and one I haven’t written about yet). Mindy Kaling left “The Office” and struck out on her own with a smart and absurdly funny series that makes me think of “Community” in its mix of smart, funny and strange.

“Mad Men” struck some people as somehow deficient last season. I disagree. The tensions at home and in the office, the relationship between Don and Megan and the awful, horrible, sad end of Lane Pryce added up to a very good season.

Likewise, I’m sure some preferred the first or second season of “Justified” over the third, and I can’t totally disagree. But the third had so many wonderful moments and wild card characters like out-of-town drug dealer Quarles. And there’s no cooler lawman on TV than Tim Olyphant’s Raylan Givens.

“The Walking Dead” is only in the middle of its third season but has improved greatly over the second, farm-bound season. The prison, Woodbury, Michonne, the Governor and the return of Merle. How could you not like that?

“Parks and Recreation,” “Community” and “30 Rock” are my favorite comedies on TV right now. “Parks” is just so consistently funny and goofy, like the scene showing how people drink from the water fountains in Pawnee. “30 Rock” is about gone and “Community,” after losing its creator, could soon follow. But the bizarre “Liz Lemon as the Joker” episode of “30 Rock” and the meta chaos of “Community” will live on in my memory.

Last but definitely not least, we were treated to another three-episode season of “Sherlock” this year. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are close to becoming my favorite portrayers of Holmes and Watson. And Lara Pulver as Irene Adler? Wow.

Koryta’s ‘The Prophet’ a good crime tale

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Michael Koryta is considered something of a wunderkind. After a background in newspapering here in Indiana and a turn as a private investigator, Koryta began writing books and has turned out several best-selling crime dramas and thrillers. I’ve tried a couple of his previous books but never found his work captivating until “The Prophet.”

Set in an Ohio town that’s seen better days, the book is the story of two brothers, Adam and Kent Austin. Adam is a bail bondsman with a private investigator’s license he never uses. Adam is good at what he does, though. He’s turned the risky bail agent job into a winning one, bonding out and keeping his thumb on his customers. In his personal life, Adam is in a relationship with the woman he fell in love with in high school, although she’s married to a guy who is perpetually in jail.

Kent is the local high school football coach, a beloved, straight-arrow figure who is leading his team to a state championship. He’s married, has kids and the stable home life that Adam doesn’t have.

The brothers haven’t had a strong relationship most of their adult lives, however. When they were in high school, they let their sister walk home by herself from a late night at school. Adam in particular accepted the blame after their sister was killed because he had chosen his girlfriend over taking his sister home. She fell victim to a brutal killer and the Austin family was broken.

Now, as Adam goes about his somewhat sordid business and Kent’s team advances in post-season play, another high school girl turns up murdered. It can’t be the same killer, because their sister’s murderer died in prison. But the new killing is linked to both brothers.

Koryta’s story is smooth and streamlined, introducing some memorable characters but keeping things moving toward its undeniably tragic conclusion.

The author does a good job of mixing football and gritty crime drama. He paints a good portrait of a failing Midwestern town.

I finished “The Prophet” wishing there was more and wondering about what seems like the inevitable: A movie version. A story this concise and sharply drawn almost begs for one.

RIP Gerry Anderson, creator of ‘Thunderbirds’

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Although he was largely a cult figure in the United States, one of Britain’s top creators of imaginative children’s shows has died.

Gerry Anderson, creator of such fun and, frankly, offbeat shows in the 1960s and 1970s as “Thunderbirds,” “UFO” and “Space: 1999,” has died in his native England, He was 83.

Anderson might be an unfamiliar name to some in the U.S. but his work is instantly recognizable.

Look at the promotional photo above for his groundbreaking 1965 series “Thunderbirds.” Remember the odd but fascinating show about marionettes piloting rescue planes and space ships? The family of puppets who dropped down conveyor belts and into their ships just in time to jet off to handle some far-flung disaster.

Gerry Anderson.

I can’t say too much about how much Gerry Anderson’s shows sparked my imagination as a child. I had toy versions of Thunderbird 2 and 3. I played with them over endless hours.

That’s Thunderbird 2.

And that’s Thunderbird 3.

I’m not sure when I originally saw “Thunderbirds” – early in its U.S. syndication, I’m sure – but I remembered Anderson’s name and while I saw only random episodes of his other puppet series, like “Stingray,” I made sure to check out his later, live-action creations. More on those below.

So RIP Gerry Anderson. Your imaginative work was a big part of my childhood.

Random Gerry Anderson facts:

“Team America:” The goofy puppet movie from the “South Park” guys was inspired by Anderson’s work.

Derek Meddings. The designer of Anderson’s intricate miniature worlds went on to design the look of some of the grandest special effects from the James Bond movies.

“UFO.” In 1970, the first live-action Gerry Anderson series that I ever saw, “UFO,” aired around the world. About a government organization that battled an alien invasion, “UFO” was groovy in an “Austin Powers” kind of way, with British babes in wild purple wigs.

“Space: 1999” and the end of the world. “Space: 1999” was probably the best-known of Anderson’s live-action series, running for a couple of seasons beginning in 1975. Martin Landau and Barbara Bain starred in the series about what would happen if nuclear waste on the moon exploded and pushed the moon out of Earth’s orbit.

RIP Gerry Anderson.

RIP Klugman, Durning

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TV fans and moviegoers lost a pair of greats in the past day with the passing of Jack Klugman and Charles Durning.

Klugman, of course, was best known for his role as sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison, foil to Tony Randall’s fussy Felix Unger in “The Odd Couple” TV series.

Klugman had a lot of great movies roles, including “Twelve Angry Men.” But his time as Oscar and as the lead in “Quincy M.E.” made him a beloved figure. He was 90 and had battled cancer in recent years.

Durning has been called “king of the character actors” in obituaries. That’s an impossible title but if it went to anybody it could go to Durning, who died at 89.

Durning played in numerous movies and TV shows, but to see the angry and uncomfortable scene near the end of “Tootsie,” in which Durning’s character is confronted by Dustin Hoffman – whom Durning thought had believed was a woman – is to see character acting at its best.

‘Christmas with Friends’ Johnny, Doc, Ed and Tommy

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When I was a teen and young adult, I always liked to be the last person in the house awake on Christmas Eve. I enjoyed putting presents for family members under the tree and I liked the quiet moments that time of night – that particular night – brought.

Being a child of TV and a fan of “The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson,” I also enjoyed “Christmas with Friends.” The show was a half-hour NBC special that aired on Christmas Eve in the Carson show time slot.

Videos of the show I’ve seen online indicate the special aired in the early to mid-1980s, but I swear that I remember it from before that time. I also remember the show differently, without the Christmas “video” segments and with more bits from Johnny Carson – usually glimpsed just at the beginning in a Santa outfit – and his dependable “Tonight Show” crew.

The show really revolved around “Tonight Show” bandleader and trumpet player without peer Doc Severinsen, who led the show’s orchestra in a few classic Christmas tunes.

Tommy Newsom, saxophone player and comic foil, was also on hand, as was Ed McMahon, Carson’s sidekick for many years.

“Christmas with Friends” seems unlikely today, and I can’t personally imagine any late night TV traditions less tongue-in-cheek than the current David Letterman tradition of Jay Thomas throwing a football at a meatball on top of Dave’s tree.

One last iPhone ornament

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There’s time for one last iPhone snapshot of an offbeat ornament.

If you don’t count the kinda pretty ornament tree above.

Now when it comes to “Twilight” ornaments … No. Just no.

Merry Christmas!

keithroysdon

The online home for Keith Roysdon

Movies I’m looking forward to in 2013

Looking ahead to ‘Dallas’ returning … and J.R.

My favorite books of 2012

My favorite movies of 2012

My favorite TV shows of 2012

Koryta’s ‘The Prophet’ a good crime tale

RIP Gerry Anderson, creator of ‘Thunderbirds’

RIP Klugman, Durning

‘Christmas with Friends’ Johnny, Doc, Ed and Tommy

One last iPhone ornament

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