Matt's Musings

We're in the midst of January, and a flood of new shows are upon us. Some say that January now rivals or exceeds September when it comes to new show debuts. While the new wave began on January 2 (just one day into the new year) the first two weeks were a bit slower. That will change this week and beyond. In these weekly posts I review the pilot and second episode of new scripted shows this winter. Don't see a new show listed below? Check previous weeks. Tuesday Nights: LA to Vegas, Tuesdays at 9 p.m. on FOX (Premiered January 2) About: This new comedy series follows the crew of a weekly flight to Las Vegas, and the passengers that make that flight each weekend. I really liked the pilot and the potential of this world, and the second episode, while sometimes slower, followed up on that. The second episode featured an interesting storyline for Dylan McDermott's Captain Dave, who is still so far my favorite character in the series. Kim Matula did a decent job in the sec...

Another week of the NFL Playoffs, and another week of going 2-2 in my picks. We got some interesting games and a few fantastic finishes. Let's take a minute to look back at the results and see what we can learn. Philadelphia Eagles 15, Atlanta Falcons 10 About: Heading into the Wildcard Round, people didn't take the Falcons seriously enough. Coming into the Divisional Round, people seemed to take things too seriously. The Falcons were three point favorites in Philadelphia. The Eagles are the No. 1 seed in the NFC, and that was a lot of disrespect. I noted that, despite missing Carson Wentz, the Eagles went 2-1 down the stretch and finished the season 7-1 at home. The Eagles were a good team all season, and especially on defense. The Falcons, meanwhile, weren't the same team that won the NFC last season, especially on offense. But after a cool, confident win last weekend, it seemed like people overlooked that, myself included. I got sucked up because I just didn't ...

While Marvel has created a fantastic Cinematic Universe, starting in 2008, but it was not whole. Sony held the rights to Spider-Man, which Marvel has since re-purchased. And FOX holds the rights to the X-Men and several others. But with a deal announced in December, that might be changing. There's still plenty to sort out, and of course there's still a chance the deal gets blocked. But if all goes according to plan, the proposed merger between FOX and Disney would leave the Marvel universe whole, and with some interesting opportunities. And considering that Hugh Jackman has taken his final bow as Wolverine and the MCU as we know it will end following the next two Avengers films in 2018 and 2019, it's fair to start wondering what this merger could mean for the future. You know, aside from them being able to tell you Quicksilver and The Scarlet Witch were the progeny of Magneto, as they were in the comics. Here's a few things to consider as this merger gets close...

So Wildcard Weekend didn’t go quite as expected. Sure, the Jaguars and the Saints prevailed on Sunday, and they were favored. But the Saints-Panthers game was a bit closer than initially expected, and the Jaguars-Bills game was a 10–3 barn burner. But Saturday, well that was a whole other situation. And I think it went that way because I failed to account for two critical things. First, with the Chiefs, the talk all week was their long home playoff drought. In fact, they haven’t won a playoff game since Joe Montana was their quarterback. But it seemed impossible to believe that the Chiefs could actually lose to the Titans. I mean, the Titans limped into the playoffs after losing three straight games Weeks 14, 15 and 16. The Chiefs weren’t incredible throughout, but they began the season going 5–0 and finished on a four-game winning streak. And they were the better team. When they got up 21–3 at halftime, I actually turned the game off. But, you see, that home playoff drought is ...

We're in a new year, and that means new movies! As we look forward to what we have to look forward to in 2018, here's 15 movies that I'm excited to see this year. They appear in order of release date, but those are subject to change. Let's just hope none of these get booted to 2019! Black Panther (Friday, February 16) About : This is the latest film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and it's one that has people talking. And for good reason. Chadwick Boseman debuted his Black Panther character in "Captain America: Civil War," but now we get a full feature focused on him and his home world of Wakanda. The trailers are great, and this looks like it will be something fun and different. I'm excited to see him square off against Michael B. Jordan, too. There's a reason this film has exploded in pre-sale tickets. A Wrinkle in Time (March 9) About: Disney has put a big marketing push behind this film, and you can see why. It's based on the popul...

Well, the first weekend of January brought new entries that most experts didn’t take seriously. And, of course, it brought the first surprise of the year as people decided to flock to Insidious: The Last Key in droves, bringing its Box Office total to $29.6 million, besting Star Wars , and becoming the anchor you wanted last weekend. I, of course, didn’t pick that as an anchor. It was a weird week. But the Perfect Cineplex was Insidious x3 and Darkest Hour x4, leaving a screen open (which is a deduction of $2 million). Darkest Hour was easily the Best Value, pushing the total of that Box Office to nearly $124 million despite the deduction. My cineplex, Jumanji x2, Coco x4, Downsizing x2, brought in just over $100 million. The most popular cineplex reflected how hard it was to read last weekend, as it featured Jumanji , Star Wars , Pitch Perfect 3 , The Greatest Showman and Wonder , leaving three screens open (a deduction of $6 million). Also, Fantasy Movie League is tr...

It's Awards Season! Here's a look at the new movies I saw this week. All The Money in the World Starring: Michelle Williams, Mark Wahlberg, and Christopher Plummer Synopsis: This has probably been one of the most talked about films of the end of 2017. Ridley Scott's drama about J. Paul Getty (Plummer) and the kidnapping of his grandson in the 1970s would be interesting to audiences on its own, but it became more of a story because the original star, Kevin Spacey, was replaced in the matter of weeks before the film was released. That led to some curiosity about how it would work and how the film would all come together with those late-stage changes. I was also interested because of the story and the cast, but watching the film you can't help but wonder if it would have benefitted from some more time. Some of it feels a little off. And some of the story feels a little off. I don't know if that's a result of the rushed changes, or the way the story is told. I...