My First Blogger Award

Posted on July 30, 2012 by Michael Cavacini

I’ve been blogging for less than a month, and today I was surprised with my first award. One of my followers, Hollin Scott, presented me with the “Very Inspiring Blogger Award,” which I now proudly display on my new “Awards” tab. Being recognized for doing good work is always a wonderful feeling, and I’m glad my blog brings enjoyment to my followers and visitors.

Since this award deals with inspiration, I’d like to share with you a song I’ve always found inspirational; it’s All The Time by Barry Manilow, and it’s about believing in yourself and realizing there are other people in the world just like you. As writers, we convey emotion through words so the reader can identify with what we create. This song’s beautiful lyrics resonate in a way that is mesmerizing, and Manilow’s heartfelt delivery only makes them more impactful. I’m certain you’ll be moved, and, who knows, maybe even inspired.

Movie Review: The Dark Knight Rises

Posted on July 29, 2012 by Michael Cavacini

I’ve always loved Batman. Growing up, I watched my VHS copy of the 1989 film, Batman, so many times that it came apart one day and destroyed our VCR. I also have fond memories of watching Batman: The Animated Series, and, of course, dressing up as Batman for Halloween.

Like many people, I eagerly awaited the final film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy, The Dark Knight Rises. I recently saw it, and I’m glad to report that it’s better than I expected. But before I explain why, let me share my thoughts on the first two films in this saga.

I think Batman Begins is fantastic; not only did it feature a stellar cast, but it told Batman’s origin story in a gritty fashion. While the sequel, The Dark Knight, was an excellent film, I don’t consider it to be one of the greatest films of all time or even as good as Batman Begins. Yes, it featured Heath Ledger as the Joker, who did a fine job, but I feel the villain was the focus of the film, not Batman. To me, this made it less enthralling than its predecessor. With this in mind, I didn’t head into The Dark Knight Rises with unrealistic expectations. I was simply looking forward to a fun and entertaining conclusion to this excellent series. What I got was a superbly acted, three-hour film that kept me on the edge of my seat up until the credits rolled. Not only does The Dark Knight Rises provide a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, but it also reveals Bane’s backstory and motivations while simultaneously revisiting and expanding on story elements from Batman Begins.

My only complaint is that Catwoman seems to have been shoehorned into the film for no apparent reason. While I’m always in favor of seeing Anne Hathaway in a tight, leather outfit, her character wasn’t fleshed out enough for me to care about her. Hathaway did an excellent job with what she had, but the film would have been just as good had the character not been present. Overall, The Dark Knight Rises is an excellent movie that I highly recommend to those that have seen the previous two films. It will entertain, shock and move you, all at once. It’s a stunning final chapter in what has been one of the best film trilogies ever made.

TV Review: The Pillars of the Earth

Posted on July 21, 2012 by Michael Cavacini

I finally finished the Starz miniseries The Pillars of the Earth. Having read the book, I have mixed feelings about the miniseries. Overall, it was a great piece of television that strayed too far from the source material.

First, I think the casting for the miniseries was great. All of the actors did a terrific job, especially Ian McShane as Waleran Bigod, a delightful villain. The other standout was Matthew Macfadyen as Prior Philip. He fit the character like a glove and was very likable throughout.

With this in mind, there were two major problems with the miniseries:

It tried to condense a book that’s more than 1,000 pages into eight hours of television. Considering the unabridged audiobook is more than 40 hours in length, you can see how this could be a huge problem.
Too many major and minor details were changed from the novel.

Because the miniseries was only eight hours, many of the story’s most important events felt rushed. Similar to the film adaptation of Angels & Demons, each scene moved at a break-neck pace. While this makes for entertaining television, the impact of certain events failed to resonate with me because they didn’t seem nearly as important as in the book. For example, when Aliena searched for Jack in the novel, it took her an extremely long time to find him, which made their reunion emotionally satisfying. In the miniseries, her search seemed to last five minutes and was therefore insignificant.

Another major problem was that the miniseries was vastly different than the book. While the overall story is the same, many things are different. For example, in the book, Tom Builder’s relationship with Ellen was a long, loving and tumultuous one. An entire portion of the novel dealt with how Tom raised Alfred compared to how he raised Jack. This provided a greater understanding of why the two boys didn’t get along. It created a tension that wasn’t felt in the miniseries until later on. Furthermore, it showed how this drew a wedge between Tom and Ellen, something that didn’t seem to happen in the miniseries. I could go on and on about the numerous alterations made to key relationships in the miniseries compared to how they were in the book, but the bottom line is this: Changing these relationships didn’t improve them; it weakened them.

One bright spot was the music. Trevor Morris did a wonderful job with the soundtrack, and the main theme embodied the majesty of the book perfectly.

Overall, this was an entertaining series, on it’s own. However, it was based on a book of legendary stature. Unfortunately, it failed by changing key elements of the book and by trying to condense too much content into too few hours of television. Nevertheless, it was still an enjoyable journey worth taking.

How The Golden Girls Broke New Ground

Posted on July 15, 2012 by Michael Cavacini

When I was in my last year as an undergrad at Temple University, I decided to take a course called TV Criticism. It was fascinating, and it was also the first time I was introduced to Lost, which is now one of my favorite shows of all time.

For my final paper, I decided to write about what I consider to be the greatest sitcom ever, The Golden Girls. For the purpose of this blog post, I rewrote some parts and cleaned it up. Thankfully, I’m a better writer now than I was four years ago. Enjoy!