Hype around 'Heroes' just a bunch of hoopla

“Save the cheerleader, save the world."

That's what a creepy raspy whisper told me throughout the entire first season of NBC's "Heroes." Since then, the show has remained one of the highest-rated programs on television, despite a critically ashamed second season. Season three premiered a few weeks ago and since then we've learned that the cheerleader can't die anyway, and saving her didn't put the world in any less danger.

As a modern geek, I pride myself on my love of science fiction. I've sat through every "Lord of the Rings" movie, read all seven "Harry Potter" books, and I have novel-long theories on the mythologies behind "Lost" and "Battlestar Galactica." A series with a comic book-inspired style and superhuman characters discovering their powers should have been right up my alley. And it was, for a time.

The first season was good. Despite overacting and poor character development, it was good. Not great, but good. It left the series with the potential to be great. The second season crushed that potential, ate it, crapped it out, and set it on fire on someone's doorstep.

Some, including the series' writers, have blamed the epic failure of the second season on the writer's strike. Acknowledging their bust and claiming the strike had necessitated it, they cut the season in half and ended it early. The writers promised that the third season would make up for the flaming pile of crapped that was season two.

Four episodes in and I am not impressed. The third season, entitled "Villains," has simply engorged the same flaws the series has suffered since its first season.

"Heroes" began season one with a whopping ten lead characters. With only 23 episodes, it was impossible for the series to develop each character in time for them to converge and participate in the grand finale. Over the course of season three, instead of cutting or writing out characters, even more characters have been written into the series. So far, the main cast has grown to about 13 people, with five or six supporting characters, none of which I have grown attached to and care the least about.

With an army of superpowered cast members, "Heroes'" characters are no longer unique. When the series started, its main appeal was in the "uniqueness" of its characters—special individuals who discover powers that would enable them to solve a problem no one else could solve.

The concept of ordinary people doing extraordinary things has always been an overarching theme in science fiction, one that usually does the trick in capturing and relating to an audience. But with new characters and new powers being introduced every episode, the characters have lost their uniqueness, becoming just a few of many "special" people.

Instead of strengthening and expanding on its initial appeal and cleaning up its flaws, "Heroes" continues to suffer from poor acting, overabundance of characters and poor character development and has lost sight of its initial appeal. As much as I had hoped that this unashamedly geeky comic-styled show would be the first of its kind to go mainstream, it's only been a disappointment.

At least I know that if I need a good fix of genetically superpowered heroes whose lives are chronicled in comics, there is always "X-Men."

Apple aims for college market with its new OS

With a slew of over 300 new features and stunning visual demos, the move from OS X Tiger to Leopard represents a giant step for Apple Inc. toward the massive consumer market and, more specifically, the college market.

For years, Apple has offered student discounts on all their products and now could draw more students to the Mac with Leopard's eye-catching visuals, education-oriented applications and seamless integration with other Apple products, such as iPod and iPhone.

Rob Griffiths, senior editor at "Macworld" magazine and founder of MacOSXHints.com, said college students are an important target market for Apple.

"With the ability to work with iPod and iPhone, they have a compelling message for the college student," Griffiths said.

While Macintosh computers have long been geared for creative media professionals like journalists, photographers and producers of audio and video content, Griffiths said Leopard is aimed more toward the common user.

"Many of the big changes target people that are new to the Mac because of the iPod," he said, "They liked the iPod experience and went to the Mac."

Because Leopard pays more attention to visuals and user experience, it's more of a consumer release than a specialist-oriented release, Griffiths said.

"(OS) 10.5 (Leopard) just has a more visually compelling interface--whether you like it or not, it demos really well," he said. "But there are still a lot of changes under the hood. Good attention was paid to both sides."

The newly rewritten Finder is now faster and more reliable, while still serving the same simple purpose: organizing files. Spotlight, Mac OS X's search utility, now supports searching across servers and the use of boolean phrases, like "and" or "or" to make searches quicker and more precise.

For the more advanced user, Leopard comes bundled with a new version of Xcode, its development suite, and improved Terminal, its command line application, and is now a certified UNIX operating system.

Of all the new features of Leopard, Griffiths thinks Time Machine, Leopard's new backup utility, will be the most appreciated. Time Machine creates incremental back-ups on an external hard drive and allows a user to "go back in time" to retrieve a file, folder, Address Book entry, or even restore an entire system.

"At a consumer level, Time Machine is really gonna change things," explained Griffiths as he reminisced about grievances from friends and family about lost files. "With Time Machine and the ability to plug in a Firewire drive and not do anything and have backups made, I think that's revolutionary on a consumer level," he said.

High crimes: pot, racism and unicorns

This time around, as the dynamic duo deals with much larger troubles than the munchies, "Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay" keeps the stoner-comedy genre alive with dirty humor, over-the-top characters and the return of everyone's favorite child-star turned-unicorn-jockey.

Bellies full of burgers and their fated journey to White Castle complete, Harold Lee (John Cho, "West 32nd") and Kumar Patel (Kal Penn, "House") are headed to Amsterdam to chase after Harold's dream girl-next-door, Maria (Paula Garcés, "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle"), but before they can even make it out of the country, Kumar stirs up yet another round of mayhem, landing the duo in Guantanamo Bay as suspected terrorists. Chaos ensues as Harold and Kumar narrowly escape a lifetime of serving Guantanamo prison guards "cockmeat sandwiches."

The weed-whacked pair escape the prison only to find themselves on the run from the racist Homeland Security, Agent Ron Fox (Robert Corddry, "Semi-Pro"), who will stop at nothing to make a play on every obvious racial stereotype imaginable.  Whether it be interrogating Jews with handfuls of pennies or threatening Harlem neighborhoods by pouring out and wasting an entire can of grape soda, Fox provides slightly controversial racial humor that is only made safe by his role as the ridiculously ignorant antagonist.

Despite its funny nature, there is a bit of heart buried underneath all that vulgarity and hash-induced humor. The heart of "Escape from Guantanamo bay" lies unexpectedly in the typically nonchalant Kumar, who bumps into his "one that got away," Vanessa (Daneel Harris, "Extreme Movie"), only to find her engaged to a well-to-do Abercrombie-sporting pretty boy.

And despite being on the run from Homeland Security, Kumar can't help but reminisce about her in a romantic flashback, revealing the pre-stoner version of himself, a math and science geek who smokes his first joint in the library stacks, as well as quick glance at a younger, emo-haired Harold.

In staying true to its stoner-comedic roots, "Harold and Kumar" suffers the same shortcomings as countless other movies of its genre.  With a plot that is both predictable and over-the-top, it attempts to keep audience's interest with intermittent shock humor that often falls short of its goal.

This formula, which has been played out in dozens of movies before it, often makes for an overly funny, but imbalanced film.  It's a mold that newcomers like Judd Apatow are successfully breaking by balancing a good plot with funny jokes.

Make no mistake?"Harold and Kumar" still relies on vulgar comedy that plays on sexual innuendo, drugs and racial stereotypes.  If you weren't a fan of the first installment, the sequel has taken no different approach.  While not the highest form of comedy, the film makes the best of a genre that's been beaten into ineptitude by abysmal movies featuring Dane Cook or directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer of "Date Movie".  The plot is weak and the acting is mediocre, but the jokes can be hilarious if you only take the time to unsaddle your high horse (or unicorn).

'Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay'
Release Date: April 25
Director: Kevin Lima
Starring: John Cho, Kal Penn and Rob Corddry
Genre: Comedy
Rating: R
Grade: C+

Battlestar Galactica breaks boundaries by blending the best of television

The last season of the best show on television is in full swing and most people don't even know it. No, Jack and Kate haven't gotten off the island yet and Meredith Grey hasn't stopped sulking around the ORs of Seattle Grace - I'm talking about the fourth and final season of the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica."

Regardless of its hard-hitting characters, engaging storyline and profound political relevance, there is primarily one thing keeping "Battlestar" from tapping into the mainstream: the geek factor.

The "science fiction" genre has long been considered a key facet of geek culture. Evil aliens, cheesy special effects and fancy spaceships are what most people have come to both expect and fear from the genre, but don't let the "science fiction" label fool you. "Battlestar Galactica" appeals not only to the computer-savvy nerd locked in his dorm room for fear of social interaction, but relates to a wider, more conventional audience.

After being massacred by humanoid robot servants called Cylons who turned against them, the remnants of the human race are forced to take to space in search of the fabled 'lost colony' who are said to have settled on a faraway planet named Earth. The story focuses on the crew of a battlestar, a military spaceship, named "Galactica," which travels the galaxy in a fleet with other refugees. While evil robots and spaceships still scream typical sci-fi, "Galactica" is really mainly about one thing: people.

What are more popular shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Lost" about if they aren't about people? Despite differences in setting and genre, these dramas create characters and stories that are both relatable and entertaining. "Battlestar Galactica" takes that same approach and, with a spectacular ensemble cast, creates some of the most intricate and compelling character-driven drama in television today. With elements of romance, suspense, military conflict and political intricacy, "Battlestar" is a little bit "Grey's," a little bit "Lost," a little bit "West Wing" and a whole lot more.

"Battlestar Galactica" uses its characters and the desperate situations they find themselves in to simulate and comment on the going-ons of today's world. Constantly at war with the Cylons and forced to the edge of extinction, the humans are riddled with political unrest, religious conflict and suspicion that anyone could be a Cylon.

In a scene where representatives from the fleet meet in a Congressional-like forum, the President of the Colonies is revealed to have slowly gained weighted power over a supposedly democratic governmental system. While the representatives are deeply troubled by this, the President of the Colonies and the Admiral of the fleet believe the people to be in need of strong leadership, rather than democratic debate.

"It's one thing to tell a story about the world that we live in," actor Jesse L. Martin said, in the Sci-Fi Channel special, "Battlestar Galactica: The Phenomenon," "It's another thing to create a world to tell a story about the world that we live in."

"We ask our audience to think about the world in which they live, but to draw their own conclusions," Ronald D. Moore, executive producer for the show, said in "Battlestar Galactica's" acceptance speech of the Peabody Award.

So throw away your misconceptions about science fiction and give "Battlestar Galactica" the chance it deserves ... or Dwight Schrute will think you are an idiot.

'88 Minutes' a little too long

Veteran actor fails to thrill audience

"88 Minutes" is nothing more than a mediocre crime-based thriller that not even Scarface himself can save. With uninspired acting, feeble plotlines and flimsy editing, this film can't even survive 88 minutes of its own 108-minute run time.

After the rape and murder of a young woman, forensic psychiatrist and professor Dr. Jack Gramm (Al Pacino, "Ocean's Thirteen") testifies against the accused, Jon Forster (Neal McDonough, "I Know Who Killed Me"). Forster is then sentenced to execution as a result of Gramm's pivotal testimony. Shortly after the trial, Gramm receives a mysterious phone call informing him that he has only 88 minutes to live. "Tick tock," says the voice.

"Tick tock" indeed. "88 Minutes" drags on through a series of typical thriller twists and turns: anonymous messages, framings, murders, car bombs and more mysterious phone calls updating the audience on how long Dr. Gramm has to live.

As a professional psychologist whose expertise is analyzing criminals, Gramm turns a suspicious eye to every person he encounters, cycling through nearly every major, minor and ignorable character as potential suspects. Already swimming in a sea of red herrings, Gramm's discovery of the true villain loses all of its shock value and leaves audiences wanting more.

With a predictable plot and not-so-thrilling scenes, it looks as if "88 Minutes" was counting on Pacino to deliver the punch only a legend like himself can. Unfortunately, Pacino's performance is as sub-par and unconvincing as the performances of the supporting cast, which is littered with hip, young stars such as "The O.C."s Benjamin McKenzie (no doubt in an attempt to lure in the swooning teen girl demographic). But McKenzie's acting is as annoyingly unimportant as his character.

Against all odds, it was Neal McDonough's portrayal of Jon Forster, the accused murderer, toeing the line between guilt and innocence, that temporarily brings the movie out of its rut. McDonough generates the only real suspense, keeping the audience on its toes as to whether or not he was wrongfully accused. Despite his standout performance, McDonough gets a disappointing amount of screen time.

Complementing its messy plot, the film's editing proves to be dismal. In a scene just after Gramm receives the first threatening phone call, the color tones of the scene change from a soft, warm palette to dark and foreboding blues in order to set up an upcoming torture scene. The change is as shockingly abrupt as walking into the bright neon rooms of The Peppermill. Even something as simple as determining Gramm's profession turns into an editing fiasco, as the filmmakers can't seem to decide on whether he is a forensic psychiatrist or psychologist (It seems the filmmakers must have invented the 'forensic psychiatrologist' just for this film).

In a bleak effort, "88 Minutes" fails to grasp the unique complexity of successfully compelling crime-based thrillers like "The Departed" and "Se7en." Unlike "88 Minutes," these films only begin riddled with intricate and confusing plot points?they don't leave the audience clinging onto them.

'88 Minutes'
Release Date: April 18
Director: Jon Avnet
Starring: Al Pacino, Alicia Witt and Leelee Sobieski
Genre: Thriller
Rating: R for disturbing violent content, brief nudity and language.
Grade: D