The secret life of Robert California.

Is the new series The Blacklist a sequel to The Office? Are Raymond Reddington and Robert California the same man? They're both played by James Spader...

Think about it. Do you remember that episode of The Office called "The List", where the office workers found a list that creepy genius Robert California made which had all their names written on it? When asked about it, he claimed that list-making was something he did regularly.

                    ROBERT CALIFORNIA
          Well, I doodle too, but I'm not an artist, so I draw words and lists.

Sounds like the Blacklist is just another one of his doodles. And I'm pretty sure they even established that Robert California wasn't his real name!

Don't worry. I'm not being serious. Just amusing myself.

James Spader stars in NBC's The Blacklist

I've liked James Spader for years, but I wasn't a really big fan until he was on The Office. I was a little disappointed though with where they took his character, Robert California. I thought he was amazing in the first few episodes he was in, and I was concerned that the writers wouldn't be able to keep up writing such brilliant dialogue for him. It turned out my concern was warranted. The things Robert said got less and less interesting as the season went on. I don't think the writers had any idea what to do with the character, which is a shame because he had so much potential, and was such a great fit for the show. This disappointment had nothing to do with Spader though, and I remained a big fan of his. (I'm also excited about him playing Ultron in The Avengers: Age Of Ultron!) When I heard about a new show that Spader was in called The Blacklist, naturally I was interested.



In the show, one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives, Raymond "Red" Reddington (played by Spader), surrenders with intentions to collaborate with the FBI to apprehend other dangerous criminals. The catch is that he'll only speak to Elizabeth Keen (played by Megan Boone), an FBI profiler who's starting her very first day on the job. I know the premise sounds very Hannibal Lecter, but without the cannibalism. It's certainly not the most original show, but I'm not holding that against it. I watched the trailer for The Blacklist a while back, and I mostly loved it, aside from the horrendously cheesy and heavy-handed music choices. I was really looking forward to checking out the series.

Last night the pilot episode aired. How I felt about it was pretty much the same as how I felt about the trailer. Spader was absolutely incredible. I was hoping the awful music choices were just a characteristic of the trailer, but they were possibly even worse in the pilot. The eye roll inducing soundtrack perhaps reached its embarrassing peak when that cover of "99 Problems" started playing instead of allowing a subtly chilling moment between Special Agent Keen and the seemingly omniscient Reddington to resonate properly. The show would be so much better if it just had an instrumental score.

I also don't really care for Special Agent Keen. I'm not sure if it's the writing, or if it's Megan Boone's acting that is the problem. Possibly both. Maybe casting someone else would have been better. I also disliked pretty much every scene that had to do with Keen's personal life. It's not like I usually have a problem with that kind of stuff, but it was just bad in this show. Her introduction in the episode where she and her husband are getting ready in the morning had me cringing the whole way through it. Of course the aforementioned soundtrack to that sequence was at least partially to blame.

I will definitely watch more of the series, even if just for more of Spader's performance, but I hope Boone's performance grows on me, and I hope that they just do away with the cheesy and heavy-handed music choices altogether. I heard Isabella Rossellini will be guest-starring in an upcoming episode, so I'll be looking forward to that. I don't know if it will happen, but I'd love to see her and Spader have a scene together.

Someone took some pens to a picture of Ben Affleck from Daredevil.

Who should be the Joker to Ben Affleck's Batman? How about Jason Lee?

It's no secret that I daydream a lot about Batman movies, and that I like to think about which actors I would cast as different characters. It's a hobby of mine. Just take a look back at the stuff I was posting in July 2012. Not that I think I'd ever get the chance to direct a Batman movie, but I often think about what I'd do if I were to make one.

If I was hired to direct a new Batman movie, I already know who one of the first actors is that I'd want to call for a meeting. I have no idea if he'd be interested, but that actor is Jason Lee.

For years now I've thought Lee would be a fantastic Joker. I think he's got the right look to pull it off, obviously with make-up and costume help. Judging by several of his past performances, I think he's got what it takes to capture the personality of the Clown Prince of Crime as well. I also think that he would be capable of portraying the character in a fresh way that wouldn't be like Heath Ledger's or Jack Nicholson's takes.

I was more than happy to keep that little fantasy casting to myself, but recent casting news has made me want to share it. Now that Ben Affleck has been cast to play Bruce Wayne / Batman in Zack Snyder's sequel to Man Of Steel, opposite Henry Cavill's Superman, I now more than ever want to see Jason Lee portray the Joker. I don't care who's making the movie.

Affleck and Lee obviously have a history of acting together, appearing in several movies directed by Kevin Smith, such as Mallrats and Chasing Amy. They've played friends, and they have played enemies, and they have obvious chemistry. So when Affleck has a solo Batman movie at some point after the Man Of Steel sequel, I'd love to see him square off against Jason Lee's Joker. I think it's about time the actors had an onscreen reunion, and that this is the perfect opportunity for it. But what do you think?

Affleck, you da Bat in Gotham, yo!

Unless you are living under a rock, you've probably heard that Ben Affleck has been cast to play Bruce Wayne a.k.a. Batman in Zack Snyder's upcoming Man Of Steel sequel, tentatively titled Superman vs Batman. Or Batman vs Superman. He'll be going up against Henry Cavill's Superman in the movie. It seems like a lot of people are unhappy about this casting decision, probably due to some of Mr. Affleck's past movies, such as Daredevil, another comic book adaptation. I understand. I didn't think Daredevil was good when it came out, and I watched it again a year or two ago, and still thought it was awful. As with most, if not all, of the bad movies Affleck has been in, I don't think his acting skills had anything to do with why they weren't good. In the case of Daredevil, it was probably mostly the fault of Mark Steven Johnson. He wrote AND directed that embarrassment of a movie.

I'm a pretty big fan of Affleck. When he's working with good material, the guy is fantastic. I think he is a natural fit for the role of Bruce Wayne / Batman, and have no problem seeing him as the character. He wouldn't have been my first choice, but I couldn't really think of anyone who was an obvious choice. I do like some of the names that have been thrown around recently, and also would have been into some of them being Batman, but I think Affleck is at least as good a fit as any of them would have been.

Speaking of being able to see Affleck as the character, I can't wait until they release the first photo of him in the new batsuit so that I can put it together with a photo of him wearing the Superman suit in the movie Hollywoodland, in which he played George Reeves, the actor who portrayed the titular superhero in the television show Adventures of Superman. Of course, now I can't help but to imagine a Ben Affleck Batman fighting a Ben Affleck Superman. You know you'd pay to watch that.

This news also got me thinking about something else. I know it was reported that Affleck already turned down directing the Justice League movie, but what if he now reconsiders, or directs the solo Batman movies? I think he'd be a natural fit considering his work on Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo, all of which were fantastic movies. And I think he's especially great as an actor when he's directing himself, and doing what he wants in the performance, rather than being directed by someone else. He's got good instincts when it comes to performing. Anyway, Affleck directing these movies might be a long shot, but at least I'm looking forward to seeing him portray Batman. Bring on 2015.

Recurring Imagery - Steven Spielberg's Shooting Stars

I plan on going outside tonight to watch the Perseid meteor shower. I try to watch the Perseids every year. There's a great spot on my driveway where I can see a very large portion of the sky. Anyway, I realized today was a good day to publish this post that I've been working on for a while. It was triggered by a recent viewing of Steven Spielberg's Jaws, one of my favorite movies.

In case you hadn't noticed or just don't remember, there are two shots of shooting stars in the movie. One right after the other. I notice them every time I watch the movie, but this particular time I was wondering whether there was any significance at all to the shooting stars. I decided to look it up on the internet. While I love the internet as a reference material, you just can't believe everything you read.

Besides reading many conflicting claims about whether or not the shooting stars in Jaws are real meteors caught on camera or optical effects that were done in post-production, what I mostly found were several rumors about the shooting stars in movies directed by Spielberg. For example, I read that the ones in Jaws are actually UFO's that the filmmakers unintentionally captured on film. Is it really necessary for me to comment on that one?

I've also read claims that the shooting stars are meant as a teaser for his movies that have to do with aliens, such as Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. I also find that hard to believe. I think he probably just likes the imagery.

Something I read a lot was that Spielberg puts a shooting star in almost every one of the movies he directs, and that it's his signature, kind of like how Alfred Hitchcock has a cameo appearance in most of the movies he directs. I really don't think that's true either. I actually watched some of his movies specifically to look out for shooting stars, and couldn't find any besides the few I already knew about. I couldn't even find any in certain movies where the imagery would have fit right in, such as E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and Hook. I'm willing to believe I might have just missed them, but I'm usually pretty observant when it comes to small details in movies, especially if I'm specifically looking for them. If I'm right though, I guess people across the internet are just spouting misinformation without having looked for any evidence of their own. I'm not sure why that surprises me. Shooting stars in Spielberg movies just seems like a strange topic to be spreading rumors about.

I wanted to make a large post with screenshots of all the shooting stars in Spielberg's movies, but I thought the post was going to have a lot more images than this. So far it's just the two in Jaws, one in Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, and one in Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom. I'm not even positive the one in Close Encounters was actually meant to be a shooting star. It was rather ambiguous. There were two objects shooting through the sky, and I'm pretty sure at least one of them was supposed to be a spaceship. I took a screenshot of the other one. So anyway, here are the screenshots I collected. If you know of any more Steven Spielberg movies with shooting stars, let me know. I'll also continue looking for them whenever I watch a Spielberg movie. I'd love to add more shots to this post.

Recurring Imagery - American Bowie

The new music video for David Bowie's song "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" has certain parts that remind me a lot of the movie American Beauty. Especially the shots of Bowie and Tilda Swinton at the dining room table.