Crossovers: Arrow-verse Episode One

Hello again, Everyone! I've been out for a while, but I found myself with some extra time on my hands and lots of TV to binge watch. I thought some of you might want to binge with me! I'm working on the DC's Arrow-verse at the moment. (I'm caught up on the Marvel-verse, but will probably do an episode or two about Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and the gang in the near future.)

Just as a reminder: SPOILERS EVERYWHERE!

In case you are not aware (and if you're not, you may want to stop reading...), the Arrow-verse includes Oliver Queen in Arrow, Barry Allen in Flash, John Constantine in Constantine, Mari McCabe in the animated series Vixen, Kara Danvers in Supergirl, many of the sideliners in the Doctor Who-esque DC's Legends of Tomorrow, and Ray Terrill in the animated series Freedom Fighters: The Ray. It has become quite the crossover-heavy universe and has much potential for more!

                                                       

                                                

                                                                          

Source of my episode order: https://flash-arrow-order.herokuapp.com/

I will admit, I am nowhere close to caught up on this universe. I have just recently reached the point where Constantine joins in. I have decided to watch the episodes in the order they were aired, starting with the first couple seasons of Arrow and then alternating as the new shows seep in. I did watch a couple of episodes of Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow when they first began, but I decided to go back to the beginning and watch them as they were arguably meant to be watched.

There is a plea here, as well. Crossovers and multi-show universes are becoming more common. What I would love to see are releases of the DVDs and BluRays and whatever other types of media we have now that work those in. Provide collections of all the shows involved in the order you're supposed to watch them in! I know it would make the most sense to wait until the entire universe is finished, but I'm sure those network types could figure out something. I know I'd shell out quite a bit if I started seeing these!




Anyway, back to the Arrow-verse...It, aptly, begin with Oliver Queen in Arrow, which I have loved so far. Not only because Stephen Amell or Oliver Queen spends half of the show shirtless and doing salmon ladders, but also because of the combination of occasional clever writing and fairly well choreographed action sequences. Many parts of it are quite close to unbelievable, but there is a level of suspension of belief required when watching shows depicting comic books and superheroes.

                                                             




The cleverness abounds when Arrow is joined by Barry Allen in Flash. Barry Allen (Grant Gustin), Caitlin Snow (Danielle Panabaker), and Cisco Ramon (Carlos Valdes) are a perfect combination of young geniuses to show the rest of us that the 20- and 30-somethings of the world can be clever and make a difference and be superheroes, too! Most of us aren't geniuses or superheroes, but for some reason we LOVE to watch them on television, and Flash gives us the opportunity to watch both.





Next, jumps in John Constantine in Constantine. I've only watch a couple episodes so far. It seems to have a Supernatural feel to it, if you've seen the Winchester boys riding around in their '67 Impala fighting demons and sometimes angels and everything in between. I very much enjoy the British addition of Matt Ryan as Constantine. His begrudging acceptance of his responsibility to fight the demons slowly infiltrating the area is entertaining to watch. I've always enjoyed that UK dry humor. And he rocks that trench coat. Fight demons, must wear trench coat.





AND more Doctor Who similarities...coincidence? Constantine just happens to have an inconspicuous piece of paper (playing card) that takes on the appearance of what the holder requires...sound like any psychic paper you've heard of?? And Captain Jack Harkness makes an appearance as the dark Malcolm Merlyn.




I haven't reached the entry of Vixen, Supergirl, Legends of Tomorrow, or The Ray quite yet. I wasn't all that impressed with the few episodes of Supergirl that I saw, but I will give it another shot when I get to that point. The similarities between Legends of Tomorrow and Doctor Who are hard to ignore (especially since Rip Hunter [Arthur Darvill] was once Rory Williams, one of my favorite companions from Doctor Who), and I very much enjoy Doctor Who, so I'm guessing I will get sucked in by that series, too. I'm not sure how I will feel about the animated additions to the universe, but I will probably try to get my hands on them just to satisfy my completionist needs.




Hopefully, we can enjoy these crossovers together! I will probably confuse myself trying to wind these all together, especially with virtually zero previous comic book knowledge and my constant hope that Doctor Who is involved, but I'm hoping we can help each other. I can't imagine trying to keep up with these shows when they were airing, waiting a week between episodes. I would have been SO lost. Thank goodness for Netflix and all the other binge-assisting tools we now have!

Six Degrees: Ryan Reynolds: The Proposal

The Proposal (2009)

Ryan Reynolds played Will Hayes in the Definitely, Maybe and Andrew in today's post The Proposal.
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Synopsis
The Proposal is a comedy, starring Sandra Bullock, Ryan Reynolds, Craig T. Nelson, Betty White, and Mary Steenburgen. On the verge of losing her high-powered job and being deported back to Canada, Margaret (Sandra Bullock) announces her engagement to her unsuspecting assistant Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds). The couple heads to Alaska, where they must convince Andrews interesting family and a very skeptical and determined immigration agent that they are truly in love and to be married.

My Thoughts
Before I even watch this movie (for probably the tenth time), I can tell you that it is hilarious. If you're in the mood for sarcasm and hilarity, this is probably a good choice. Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds play off each other better than most movie couples out there. And no one can watch a movie starring Betty White without mentioning her own form of genius. She's a favorite, and for good reason.

Always befriend the barristas at Starbucks...It might just save your life someday. Thank you, Ryan Reynolds, for that life lesson.

I love the fear of the boss alarms in movies. "She's coming!!" popping up all over the office, just cracks me up. Workers gotta stick together beneath the thumb of the big bad boss lady...Sandra Bullock can be so intimidating if she wants to be. But she and Ryan Reynolds make one amazing team. Sarcasm humor overload begins.




Things get a little awkward very quickly, when Margaret has to get married or get deported. She announces that she and her secretary, Andrew, are getting married (unbeknownst to Andrew), and then they are assigned a very determined immigration agent who will dig into their pasts and follow them around and ask them ridiculous questions to prove that they are a legitimate couple getting married. But Margaret's demands finally set Andrew off and his inner master of sarcasm and wit is released.

Betty White's entrance is wonderful. She's hilarious and makes the cutest Grandma 'Gammy' ever.

And the disappointed, suspicious, judgmental father that everyone seems to have in the movies is played by Craig T. Nelson. I don't see what is wrong with choosing to be a book editor. It seems like a pretty great profession to me...




And the awkward character, Ramone, played by Oscar Nunez, is just everywhere in this show. He's a caterer, exotic dancer, store manager, wedding presider...It's like he's the only other guy on the island.

There's the hometown drama when Andrew takes 'Maggie' to his house to announce their engagement to his family. They've planned a surprise welcome home party so everyone can meet her and see Andrew, which is just the perfect time to make the announcement...In front of everyone he knows...



Watching Margaret's little exchange with Kevin, the dog, is kind of hilarious. A little unbelievable, but I suppose if the hawk is big enough and the puppy is small enough, it sort of makes sense...Apparently, they put quite a bit of trust in Sandra Bullocks ability to catch him.

Then the current fiance/ex-hometown girlfriend conversation...There's always a hometown ex. And an awkward naked scene with the required shirtless Ryan Reynolds, so the girls will watch the movie...As Margaret and Andrew start to decide they might actually like each other, things start to liven up even more, with a small impromptu Rob Base and DJ Easy Rock performance (by Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds).

And oh my goodness...The scene with Sandra Bullock and Betty White in the woods. The main reason I rewatch this movie as often as I do. Those two dancing around a fire in the woods singing "Get Low" is just a wonderful movie moment.







And nothing like those touching family moments to kick start your conscience and make you realize you're being a horrible person and basically ruining someone's life...Of course, by the time you realize it, you're wrong...but you know, Betty White to the rescue!

"Marry me, because I'd like to date you." Haha...That's a pretty great proposal. And just so you know, the end credit scenes (or some of them, at least) are worth sticking around for. :-)

Random Facts
Sandra Bullock plays a Canadian who wants to marry her assistant (Ryan Reynolds) in order to keep her Visa status in the U.S. and avoid deportation to Canada. In real life, Reynolds is the Canadian and Bullock is American.

225 Franklin St., Boston was the real location of the Colden Books office. The entire main office, including Margaret's and Bob's offices, were completely rebuilt and replicated at Disney Studios in Burbank, CA for pickups and re-shoots in January 2009.

Nowhere does it list Alaska as an actual film location. The film was actually filmed in Boston and on Boston's North Shore. In one of the scenes, you can see the famous Rockport icon, "Motif No.1", the little red shack famous for being a subject of many famous painters' and photographers' work. Snow-capped mountain (or any mountains, for that matter) are nowhere to be found on the North Shore. Those were added in digitally.

Julia Roberts was the first choice to play Margaret, but reportedly refused to take a pay cut, so Sandra Bullock took over the role. (Thank goodness, in my opinion. I mean, Julia Roberts is a great actress, but I think Sandra Bullock worked much better with Ryan Reynolds than Ms. Roberts would have...just my thought.)

Betty White almost turned down her role in the film because filming would require her to spend ten weeks away from her golden retriever. (Aww...I'm sure she got the best dog-sitter out there.)

The puppy named Kevin is played by four American Eskimo puppies named Flurry, Sitka (where Andrew's family is supposed to live in Alaska), Nanu, and Winter.

Pro wrestler Barry Ace was cast, but was never called to start working.

The family boat used to transport Margaret and Andrew from the airport is a Wasque 26, built in Marblehead, MA, just a few miles from where the movie was filmed.

Six Degrees: Daniel Eric Gold: Definitely, Maybe

Definitely, Maybe (2008)

Daniel Eric Gold played Todd in my last post Cafe and Charlie in today's post Definitely, Maybe.

Synopsis
Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) is in the middle of a divorce when his 10-year-old daughter, Maya, starts to wonder about how he met her mother and his life before his family. So we follow Will and the various characters in his life through his time as a starry-eyed aspiring politician who learns the ways of big city politics. We ride along as he explains to Maya his relationships with three very different women, and Maya decides to try and guess which is her mother (which is fairly entertaining). As Maya puts together the pieces of Will's romantic life puzzle, she shares her wisdom and shows her father, Will, that it is never too late to try and find your happy ending.
Sounds corny, and it probably is. However, Ryan Reynolds and Isla Fisher and Abigail Breslin add their charming wit and sarcastic humor, so it's actually very entertaining.


My Thoughts
Let's get this out of the way: Ryan Reynolds. Yeah, he's in this one. We start the movie listening to his thoughts and inner-monologue. And he has done what we all dream of doing; he has found the perfect song to go along with his day! I try to do this all the time...but they never feel perfect. Well, good for him...Then we get another New York tour montage while he walks to pick up his daughter...Then it gets interesting...

Abigail Bresden (Maya Hayes) and Ryan Reynolds (Will Hayes) make an awesome father-daughter duo. I hope, if I ever have a kid, they can handle my sarcasm as well as she handles his. She dishes it just as much as he does! Anyway, she bullies the "How I Met Your Mother" story out of him, and that's basically the movie. Not quite as long of a story as the TV show, but still fairly complicated and hilarious (mostly because Ryan Reynolds is telling it...). I love how he turns it into a Love Story-Mystery. Guess which one's your mom! Emily (Elizabeth Banks)? Summer (Rachel Weisz)? April (Isla Fisher)?

Daniel Eric Gold (The Six Degrees Character from Cafe) is Charlie, the horrible, moocher roommate who constantly threatens to steal the girlfriend while Will's in New York trying to become president.

A big chunk of the movie is watching Will make his way from coffee boy to political guru. The interruptions from Maya are fairly entertaining, but any time a parent tells a story like this, they're bound to give up more information than they intended...








Is it horrible that I always mix up Isla Fisher with Amy Adams? When I really pay attention, I feel stupid for mixing them up, but their voices and everything are similar...




I love what April says when Will asks what she wants to be when she grows up: "I don't know and I don't know how to know. You know?" That's basically where I am, too. I'm thinking a lot of people can relate to that...

Hampton Roth's book reading is also very enlightening. I'm always afraid that language really is being torn apart and left to die, while we "evolve" into LOLs and JKs...I know I sound like a 70-year-old trying to keep the Internet from cafes, but I think language and vocabulary are important. The more words we lose, I think the less capable we are of expressing ourselves. And the less capable we are of expressing ourselves, the more miscommunications there will be...Anyway, that's my soap box for the day. Back to the movie...






Will is telling his 10 or 11-year-old this story, and yet she still has to explain things to him! Boys can be so stupid sometimes (I mean, girls can, too, but come on!). The brutal honesty of a 10-year-old...





You think it's gonna be this dramatic, kind of sad ending...But then it keeps going, and everybody gets to be happy after all. Seems pretty corny, but like Will says, "Sometimes a little corny is just what we need"...or something like that...

Random Facts
Abigail Breslin's character makes reference to her American Girls doll collection stating that they would be "worth a fortune". Breslin is the third actress to play one of the American Girls, Kit Kittredge, in her own movie (Kit Kittredge: An American Girl). Both films were released in 2008)

Many of the bar scenes were filmed in the upper west-side bar Jake's Dilemma, 81st and Amsterdam.

Rachel Weisz was originally set to play the part of Emily.


Sorry, this post took such a ridiculous amount of time to get out. Life kind of got away from me for a while. The Six Degrees of Actors Anonymous continues :-) 
In case you can't remember who we left off with, Daniel Eric Gold was the six degrees character from the last post Cafe. I'll pick an actor from Definitely, Maybe to choose one of their movies for the next post. If you have suggestions of who to use, let me know. Ryan Reynolds would be easiest, obviously, but there are quite a few great actors in this one.

Six Degrees: Jennifer Love Hewitt: Cafe

Cafe (2011)

Synopsis
A good-hearted musician struggles to find a way to tell his beautiful barista coworker that he loves her, despite the fact that she is in a relationship. Meanwhile, regulars and customers at the cafe where they work have their own problems and encounters. A police officer keeps an eye on his wayward cousin, who owes money to a charismatic dealer, and a married man contemplates his relationship with a good-looking new acquaintance. However, one customer believes he is in fact the main character in a computer simulation of modern life, set in the cafe, all designed by a young girl.






My Thoughts
I've never seen or heard of this movie, but it sounded...interesting. Starts out pretty weird with some cops in a cafe and shots fired, and then one of those great flash back scenes to "Last Sunday," so hopefully we'll see why someone's shooting up a small cafe.

So far this movie is super weird. We've got a cop who has what I'm assuming is a less than law-abiding cousin he's looking for, a group of law breakers (though you're not really sure what it is that they do, yet), a weird writer in the corner who compares the population of West Philadelphia (break into Fresh Prince song HERE) to a blend of coffee (which I actually thought very interesting), a nervous coffee barrista who secretly loves his coworker, and a computer nerd whose computer tells him he's really just an avatar that she created along with his entire world...I'm confused...You?



It seems like you get to spend a movie people-watching in a cafe without them knowing. I'm a people-watcher, and sometimes I really wish I could hear what they were saying without being a creeper. The first half of this movie you get to meet everyone who walks through the door and hear what they're saying and learn about their lives without them knowing you know. And watching all the lives intersect, as they do in movies and sometimes in life, is intriguing.




The writer has a tatto that says "What a piece of work is man." I don't know why, but it really stood out to me. I guess if you people-watch at a crazy cafe all day, it would probably seem true. Although, if the whole world is just a bunch of avatars, it wouldn't really matter...This movie is quite weird...

Maybe this "programmer" is supposed to be God? She created this world and is always there listening and talking back to those who choose to "tune her in"...She created all the "characters"...She put free will into the programming...I don't know how I feel about the comparison, but it seems like you're supposed to make that leap...'

I, honestly, can't decide if I really like this movie or if I really hate it. It's one of those movies that you'll probably have to watch a few times to decide. Or you might just completely hate it the first time around. Have you seen The Fountain with Hugh Jackman? I had a similar reaction to that movie...had to watch it a couple of times before I was sure. You can't make sense of it really, but there's just something about it that draws you in...Anyway, give it a shot if you want, and let me know what you think!

Random Facts
The film takes place almost exclusively inside a real working West Philadelphia cafe.

LAST Christmas Special: Wrap-Up

Here's my personal (and RottenTomatoes) rating of the Christmas movies I have watched and shared. I tend to not be super hard on movies, so you might think my ratings are very generous, but these are just my opinions. Most seem to fairly well correspond with RottenTomatoes, though I've never really used them to look up ratings before...


Anastasia (1997)
Love this movie, even though it may not be a "Christmas" movie. It seems like a great day-after-Thanksgiving movie, when you want something wintry, but not quite Christmastime.

Me: 92%
Rotten Tomatoes: 86%






The Family Stone (2005)
This movie reminds me of my family so much, which is probably why I like it. There doesn't seem to be much special about it, but I still tend to like it.

Me: 82%
Rotten Tomatoes: 52%








The Family Holiday (2007)
This movie was one of those corntastic Christmas movies. Has Uncle Joey from Full House, and a couple of fairly adorable children. I wasn't a huge fan, however, and Rotten Tomatoes didn't even have a rating...

Me: 61%
Rotten Tomatoes: -







White Christmas (1954)
This one is a classic, and I love the music in it. I'm a fan of these older musical films. So it all depends on the mood that you're in, but if you're looking for an old-time music number, this one will work.

Me: 94%
Rotten Tomatoes: 76%








Good Luck Charlie (2012)
Another corny one, though the paintball scene was pretty entertaining. That's what I'd like to do for Christmas some year.

Me: 61%
Rotten Tomatoes: -








Lucky Christmas (2011)
Win the lottery, find a perfect guy...Yeah, sounds like an okay Christmas. Super corny, but what do you expect from these Hallmark and Disney Channel movies?

Me: 63%
Rotten Tomatoes: -




A Christmas Story (1983)
Another classic, though I've never been much of a fan of this one. I used to watch it in school, but this is the first time I've watched it since then. Still not a huge fan...but it's not horrible.

Me: 74%
Rotten Tomatoes: 89%



A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
More classics! This is one of those movies that I always used to get yelled at for never having seen it. It's a cute one!

Me: 91%
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%






Prancer (1989)
When you look at the quality of this movie, it might not be much. For some reason, though, I've always really liked this one. It's a new spin on a Christmas tale and I think it's a cool idea. How many of us would be willing to take in Santa's reindeer??

Me: 78%
Rotten Tomatoes: 69%







Prancer Returns (2001)
A sequel, and a very stereotypical sequel. I don't think this movie was necessary, and there were better ways to go about it, but it wasn't a horrendous follow-up.

Me: 64%
Rotten Tomatoes: -








It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
I know this is another one of the classic, loved Christmas films, but I could not really get into it. I'm not sure why, because I tend to like the older movies.

Me: 81%
Rotten Tomatoes: 93%






Jingle All the Way (1996)
I liked this one more than I think I was supposed to. I enjoyed watching Schwarzenegger play at karate and pretend to be a super hero. I don't really understand half of what he says, but it's entertaining to me. I also thought the kid was cute, and the movie was cute, even though it went a little crazy with the commercialism preaching.

Me: 64%
Rotten Tomatoes: 17%







Elf (2003)
I love this movie, as do many others. I'm not usually a Ferrell fan, but Zooey Deschanel wins me over, and it's a very funny and lovable film.

Me: 90%
Rotten Tomatoes: 84%






Holiday Inn (1942)
This movie is fantastic. It gave us White Christmas and another chance to watch Crosby and Astaire work together. Those two make a fantastic team. A wonderful musical holiday film.

Me: 100%
Rotten Tomatoes: 100%







Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
Another one I'd never seen before, at least not in the recent past. Fairly cute movie, though.

Me: 89%
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%








National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989)
I could not get into this movie. It is not my kind of comedy. I can see how others could find it entertaining, but it is really not my kind of thing.

Me: 51%
Rotten Tomatoes: 63%








The Santa Clause (1994)
I think I liked these movies more than I should have, too. I'm a bigger Tim Allen fan than I knew I was. I like his sarcastic humor. It goes along with my own, I think.

Me: 91%
Rotten Tomatoes: 80%








The Santa Clause 2 (2002)
I even liked the sequels! I thought they did a great job of continuing the story with a realistic new twist. It gave us more information and background around the big guy, and kept the same characters (I love character consistency).

Me: 86%
Rotten Tomatoes: 55%







The Santa Clause 3 (2006)
Yep, liked this one, too! :-)

Me: 81%
Rotten Tomatoes: 15%








The Polar Express (2004)
I thought this movie was cute, but it took me a while to get past the idea of Tom Hanks being every main character. The imagery was gorgeous, at least!

Me: 78%
Rotten Tomatoes: 56%







The Search for Santa Paws (2010)
Super corny...The stuffed dog where Paws comes from is very creepy...And it reminded me too much of Annie. You run a risk when you pick out random movies from your local library, but sometimes you can find the gems...And sometimes you find these...

Me: 58%
Rotten Tomatoes: -







Christmas in Canaan (2009)
Billy Ray Cyrus...I feel like not much more needs to be said...

Me: 54%
Rotten Tomatoes: -









Christmas Lodge (2011)
This was a typical Thomas Kinkade film. The scenery was very pretty, the story was very corny. I got a little more into this random library movie than I did the other two. Not a bad one.

Me: 71%
Rotten Tomatoes: -










Feel free to rate your favorites or least favorites or tell my opinions are horrible! I welcome the comments! :-)

*So Christmas is over and I'll get back to my random actor films. I'm thinking about doing a sort of 6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon type thing. I'll pick an actor and watch a movie of theirs, then pick a different actor from that movie and do a movie of theirs. That way I'm not watching 14 Will Smith movies in a row, because I get a little burnt out, and I'm guessing you do, too. We'll give that a try...*