Working the Weekend with Luke-Neighbors, New Twitter Feed, Trilogy Countdown #4

Welcome to the September 28th edition of Working the Weekend with Luke. Hopefully, your part of the world is as beautiful as mine has been this weekend. Leaves are turned and falling to the grass which makes for some nice piles for my daughters, yet it’s warm enough to put on the shorts. So I hope you’re making the best of the good weather if you have it. I know I’d like to, so I’ll get to a few things and let you be on your way.

NEIGHBORS

So I finally got around to watching Neighbors last night. Between two kids and work and the outrageous pricing, I really don’t get to the theater much anymore, so even as excited as I was when I saw the trailer earlier this year, I decided to wait until the DVD release. Now, the way it usually goes with me and comedies is that they continue to get funnier with more viewings and I’m hoping this one follows that same recipe, because the first showing left me wanting a little more from it.

I should have known better than to expect something different than usual from Seth Rogen’s acting, so that one is on me, but it’s starting to get a little tiresome. Even Adam Sandler breaks out of his normal style occasionally, but hey, if I was making that kind of money doing the same shit over and over, why change it up?

I will say that I enjoy Dave Franco much more than his brother. He’s got some really good scenes in the movie and any chance I have to take a shot at James Franco, I’m going to take it. So that’s really all for that.

The most pleasant surprise of Neighbors, however, is Zac Efron. I think he makes the entire movie work and is just straight up hysterical. From the opening to the dance-off (which is a really good scene overall) to the end, he played this part perfectly. Hopefully, he continues to keep doing things like this, because I think he’s got a real knack for it.

Overall, I did like Neighbors. I just don’t think I love it yet. But hey, it won’t keep me from watching it over and over until I do.

 

BINGE MEDIA SPORTS IS NOW ON TWITTER

If you’re new to this column, then you may not know that I’m also the writer for Binge Media Sports. Actually, I wrote a little piece on some MLB topics just yesterday and if you missed it, just click HERE to check it out.

The big news today is that this morning, Binge Media Sports now has its own Twitter account. So if you’d like to add a little more social media to your life, look no further than @BingeSports. I’ll keep you posted on the world of sports and when I can, send out some live tweets during the big events. Binge Media Sports. All the balls. All the time.

 

TRILOGY COUNTDOWN

After taking a week off, the trilogy countdown continues today with #4. On a quick side note, I want to thank all of you who took the time to read last week’s edition. If you missed it, I wrote about the two year anniversary of my father’s passing and did a Top 10 list about the movies that I connect to him. You can check it out HERE.

But now on to the countdown.

#10-THE INFERNAL AFFAIRS TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE

#9-THE NAKED GUN TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE

#8-THE LECTER TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE

#7-THE MAN WITH NO NAME TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE

#6-THE KARATE KID TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE

#5-THE BACK TO THE FUTURE TRILOGY-IF YOU MISSED IT, CLICK HERE

 

#4-THE DARK KNIGHT TRILOGY

BATMAN BEGINS, THE DARK KNIGHT, THE DARK KNIGHT RISES

If you know me, then you know I prefer DC to Marvel, even with all the success Marvel is having right now. It’s mainly due to my infatuation with Superman, but there’s no Superman trilogy so I’ve got Christopher Nolan’s trilogy at #4.

After the monstrosity that was Batman & Robin which gave us Batnipples and the third Caped Crusader in four movies, the franchise was in desperate need of a reboot and we got a good one. But who would be the new Bruce Wayne? Who had the face and the talent to play a rich guy with a secret?

Patrick Bateman…err, Christian Bale was the answer. We got an all new origin story in Batman Begins and early on, we knew that this was going to be a lot darker than the previous versions we’d seen. And we got some Liam Neeson and Ken Watanabe to boot, not to mention Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman.

And I haven’t even mentioned Gary Oldman as Jim Gordon, which really revived his career, and I think we can all be thankful for that. Throw in Cillian Murphy’s chilling portrayal as Scarecrow and you’ve got yourself one damn fine opener.

So how do you follow up a good movie? With a great one, of course. The Dark Knight is probably the best of the trilogy and gives us a few new problems to deal with. He wouldn’t have been my first choice, but Aaron Echkart did a great job as Harvey Dent a/k/a Two-Face. Christian Bale continued to do a great job as Bruce Wayne/Batman, although I can’t understand why he continued to talk in the Batman voice to Rachel, but I suppose that’s neither here nor there. But let’s be honest. What makes the movie great is the guy that nobody wanted for the villain.

Remember when word got out that Heath Ledger had been cast to play Joker? Remember how many people hated the choice? Oops. Ledger was brilliant and there’s not much more to say than that.

Now, I know most people were disappointed with The Dark Knight Rises? I will admit that it wasn’t as good as the second film, but I really enjoyed it. Maybe it’s because I could look at this all day…..

….or maybe it’s because Tom Hardy is a straight-up badass as Bane…..

….but I thought this was a great ending to a great trilogy. Are there a few questions that may need answering? Sure. But as a whole, The Dark Knight Trilogy was beautifully written, perfectly cast, and greatly executed. It’s got the ability to stand on its own as a story and you really don’t have to compare it to any other Batman that we’ve seen. But we all know that’s not going to happen as we know what we’re getting next year.

My guess is that the same people who are bashing Affleck are the same ones who were bashing Ledger. But that’s another topic for another day.

That’ll do it for this week’s edition of Working the Weekend with Luke. Make sure to check back next week as the countdown gets animated next week with #3. Again, don’t forget to start following Binge Media Sports on Twitter and while you’re there, hit me up @THElukenorris.

But before I go, you know you want your Beverly Hills, 90210 clip of the week. Yep, it’s from the pilot and yep, Brandon’s hair is dope.