411 Fact or Fiction Movies/TV 03.06.09: Week 167

Posted by Ben Piper on 03.06.2009

Will Watchmen fail to live up to the hype? Are people looking forward to the return of AMC's Breaking Bad. Is Eddie Murphy an inspired choice to play Richard Pryor in a biopic of the late comedian's turbulent life? 411's Todd Vote and DC Perry debate these and other topics in week 167 of 411 Fact or Fiction: Movies/TV!



Hello! Welcome back once again to the 411 column sure to frustrate & infuriate, Fact or Fiction. This time around we've got DC Perry, who always is willing to share his life at the movies with us. On the opposite side stands Todd Vote, who does an exemplary job over at the games zone. Let's see what they have to say.

1. Watchmen will fail to live up to the hype.

DC Perry: Fact. Which isn't to say it will be a bad movie. Early reviews haven't been glowing, but those reviews are for the general public, and they're not the group losing their shit over how this movie will turn out. Nerds like me who read Watchmen when we were 12 and have waited 20 years to see it on the big screen are the hype mongers here, and we are a notoriously difficult group to please. There are a few glimmers of hope. It certainly looks pretty in the trailers, and super geek Wil Wheaton praised its devotion to the source material. The Lord of the Rings trilogy was the last unfilmable nerdgasm to be adapted for the big screen, and despite its awesomeness, plenty of fans found fault with it. Watchmen isn't The Lord of the Rings.

Todd Vote: Fact. How could it? The most celebrated graphic novel of all time pretty much sums it up. With praise like that on the source material, there is absolutely no way this movie is going to please everyone. Let's remember, not only does this film have it's own hype to live up to it has a rather lofty set of expectations, perhaps unjustly thrusted onto all future comic book adaptations due to overwhelming success of The Dark Knight. As my associate Mr. Perry has stated, this in no way means it will be a bad movie. I think it is fair to assume it will do good numbers at the box office, but living up to fan expectations can sometimes be an impossible task.

Score: 1 for 1

2. You're looking forward to the return of AMC's Emmy Award winning series Breaking Bad.

DC Perry: Fact. After years of supporting roles, Bryan Cranston finally gets his chance to shine in this series. Breaking Bad swerves between being laugh out loud funny and serious as a heart attack (or stage three cancer, whichever you prefer), and Cranston is perfectly suited to both styles. The first season was kind of a hard sell, since AMC wasn't known for original programming, but with Mad Men's success and Breaking Bad's excellent writing and performances, the second season should be fantastic.

Todd Vote: Fact. Let me first admit that I have never seen the show. I intended to watch a few on demand episodes over the weekend, but it didn't work out. So I did some of that there internet research to see what the show was about. 'A teacher who has a handicapped son, and is diagnosed with Cancer, so he starts a meth lab with one of his students?' What the hell is that? So after not catching any episodes, and not really digging the descriptions of the show I found on the net. I was all set to answer this one with a big hearty 'Fiction'. But reading DC Perry's answer is a better description of the show than I was able to find on any website. So I am curious to check this out now, based on what DC has stated above. So thank you DC.

Score: 2 for 2

3. It is an inspired bit of casting for Eddie Murphy to portray Richard Pryor in a planned biopic of the late stand-up comedian's turbulent life.

DC Perry: Fiction. Eddie Murphy is hit or miss, and way more often, he's miss. I know he can give a solid performance, I just don't know if he will. For every Dreamgirls and Bowfinger, there's a Norbit, Meet Dave, and The Klumps. Until Eddie Murphy is ready to take himself seriously as an actor, I'm not either. Plus, with all due respect to the amazing Richard Pryor, do we really need yet another celebrity biopic? We can't even look forward to him going crazy and trying to start a terrible music career afterwards, since he already did that in the 80s.

Todd Vote: Fact. I have to disagree with DC this time. I'm reminded of a story from back when Eddie was doing standup, involving Richard Pryor, and Bill Cosby. I am sure most of you know the story by now. Cosby was upset at Eddie's profanity laden comedy routines. So Eddie called Richard Pryor to see what he thought. Apparently Richard Pryor's response was something to the effect of 'if the audience is laughing then F**** Bill Cosby'. The fact that Murphy called Richard Pryor for advice, I really feel that Murphy will give one of the best performances we have seen from him in a long time.

Score: 2 for 3

Switch!!!

4. The underrated Nathan Fillion will finally achieve TV success with his new ABC detective series Castle.

Todd Vote: Fact. Can I say fact if I am hoping it finally gives him his due? I can see this finally launching Fillion into the upper echelon of Hollywood talent where I think he belongs. Fillion was tremendous in Firefly, and if anyone can pull an audience for a detective comedy, drama, mystery television series, it's him. That being said, ABC hasn't really been willing to give new shows a chance to find an audience (see Pushing Daisies).

DC Perry: Fiction. Nathan Fillion is a talented actor, but after all the quality projects he's worked on, I refuse to believe a Bones knock off is going to be his ticket to stardom. I wish him all the luck in the world with Castle, but there's a glut of quirky crime dramas right now, and I expect it to get lost in the crowd.

Score: 2 for 4

5. You're pissed at the idea of a Total Recall reboot/remake.

Todd Vote: Fact. Fact, fact, fact, one hundred times fact. First of all how exactly do you reboot something that was a one off movie? Wouldn't the proper word be remake? Even with that nitpick aside, why? The first one is one of the craziest Sci-fi stories I remember seeing on the screen, and it still holds up, minus effects, as a great action film. Why reboot/remake it? Hollywood is in desperate need of new ideas. Eventually the movie going public is going to realize that all these films they are seeing have a superior version available already. But I suppose the remake craze is just as any other fad in Hollywood. If someone does it once and makes money, everybody and their grandmother is going to be doing it till it stops making cash.

DC Perry: Fact. Is there a huge clamor for a Total Recall remake? I can't imagine there's a big overlap between people who enjoyed the movie and think it needs to be improved. If George Lucas' constant tinkering with special effects on his own movies can teach us anything, it's that sometimes a movie is good enough for what it is, and it can be left alone. Hey, Hollywood – if you're thinking of remaking a movie, go find something new and worthwhile and make that movie instead.

Score: 3 for 5

6. You have no problem with The Simpsons being renewed for two more seasons.

Todd Vote: Fact. I haven't watched The Simpsons in years, aside from syndication. That being said, if people are still watching and enjoying the show, what is wrong with renewing the series for two more seasons? If you don't like it, don't watch it. It's as simple as that.

DC Perry: Fact. There were years that The Simpsons probably deserved to be canceled, but that time has passed. Certainly, The Simpsons isn't as edgy as it was 20 years ago, but it's still perfectly watchable, and it's way more relevant than a show its age has any right to be. If Fox were keeping it on life support just to push it past Gunsmoke, I guess I would be annoyed, but that's not the case. It will become the longest-running American prime time series under its own power, which is just fine by me.

Final Score: 4 for 6

Bonus Non-Fact or Fiction Question: What is your favorite TV show of all time?

Todd Vote: Man, great question... There have been so many great shows. I guess to answer this question I would have to think of shows I used to watch that I could sit through now and still enjoy.. So I would have to say my favorite shows of all time would have to be WWE Raw, and Quantum Leap. I still watch Raw, and Quantum Leap was awesome!!

DC Perry: Babylon 5, hands down. Sure, it's a little dated now, and it suffered from the yearly uncertainty over its renewal, and the first season can be brutal, this was the first show I can remember that had a storyline that developed week after week. There was no Star Trek-style reset button after the plot of the week resolved. Characters grew and changed, left and came back, and beneath it all there was an ambitious story that unfolded very slowly, often paying off hints years after they were dropped. Modern dramas like Lost owe a huge debt to Babylon 5 for proving that a television audience could be patient enough for that kind of long-term plotting.

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And there you go. DC and Todd agree more often than not. Many thanks to them both for taking part, and to you as well for clicking the link. See you next week for more enthralling Fact or Fiction action.

-BP