birju's reviews

Terriers

2011-10-25T19:33:00.004-04:00

Donal Logue ... Hank Dolworth
Michael Raymond-James ... Britt Pollack
Laura Allen ... Katie Nichols
Kimberly Quinn ... Gretchen Dolworth
Jamie Denbo ... Maggie Lefferts
Rockmond Dunbar ... Detective Mark Gustafson
Loren Dean ... Jason Adler
Daren Scott ... Burke
Zack Silva ... Gavin
Karina Logue ... Steph
Craig Susser ... Reynolds
Stephen Frejek ... Officer Robledo
Michael Gaston ... Ben Zeitlin
Created by Ted Griffin

You may have heard of this show. It's the buddy cop drama that was critically lauded, ignored by viewers, and mourned even as it was in the midst of its only season, instantly put with Freaks and Geeks, Firefly, et al in the "best one-and-done," canceled before their time shows conversation. The president of FX lamented the intolerance the viewing public had for subtlety and depth. As I watched it, I thought at first to recommend it to Amit, or at least cite it as an example of a show with great "banter." See, he'd recommended the show "Suits" to me, and I gave up on it after a few episode. The dialogue wasn't as witty, sharp and quick as they'd like to believe, and everything else was worse. Which is to say, everything else was even more standard. This, on the other hand, is not a standard show. It's so different from the usual buddy cop (actually, unlicensed private eye) drama that, really, I dropped the idea of having Amit watch it. He'd just say that he doesn't get why I watch shows with so much bad stuff happening to the main characters. Why watch a show in which the leads are in so much pain, struggle so much, are so in over their heads and unable to extricate themselves? Because it's beautiful and real, that's why

Hank is an ex-cop, ex-alcoholic, ex-husband of a woman who still loves him, but has moved on. Britt is an ex-thief who's handy at beating up people, taking beatings, and breaking into places. Hank is the brains of the operation, Britt's more of the muscle. Plus, Britt reminds me of a cross between Brad Pitt and James Franco (check out his smiling and squinting and you'll see what I mean). Together, they mostly handle small cases, get small paydays, and [mostly] stay out of trouble. That is, until they stumble upon a case involving an old drinking buddy of Hank's (and an example of what his life would probably be like if he never cleaned up) and his daughter, and it turns out to be much bigger than either expected. Between wanting to do right by his old friend and not having any better way to distract himself from the fact that his ex-wife has moved on in a big way, Hank chases the case as far as he can, ignoring that he has very little capital or resources other than their grit, creativity, and a fun team of geeks who help them out as much for kicks as anything else. And Britt, though he realizes that they're in way too deep, goes along because Hank's his partner and that's what they do. I'd never have suspected at the start of the season how deep and big this all would become, but it all unfolded in a pretty organic way, and at a confident, unhurried pace, so I have no complaints.

So...things I like about this show. First off, it's real, it pulls no punches, and follows no formulas. Any given episode can have a very different feel or focus than the previous one. Really, I can't compare this to anything else on TV other than Louie, as strange as that may sound. While this show is certainly more structured and more concerned with continuity than Louis', it similarly decides that it has stories to tell and doesn't give a damn about our expectations, or how we might want the characters to be happy, joking and successful always. Speaking of which, wow, is there a lot of raw pain and depth here. Hank's backstory should give you an idea of what he's going through. Britt's in a wonderful, deep, real relationship with his loving and gorgeous girlfriend, Katie, and though it seems at first that their biggest problem is that she'd really like him to be serious about marriage, that and their diminishing communication (or Britt's best intentions) sure cause some really big problems.

Not only are these two leads in some dark places during the season, but also, they do some really dark, disturbing things, and it's a credit to the writers and the showrunner that they build up so much good will with their viewers that they can get away with (and choose to do so) making their leads do some really contemptible things. This isn't a story about a guy who does shitty things, but has a heart of gold. I mean, all the main characters DO have great hearts and are standup people even if they don't always follow the rules, but they're complex and if we still forgive them for their wrongs, it's not so easy to do. This is a courageous thing to do, and perhaps it was foolish in the end, but I applaud them.

Um, so there's so much else. The camaraderie and rapport between the leads is genuine and hilarious. There are just so many great lines and even reactions/looks. There's a pretty cool relationship with a character of an ex-partner in Mark Gustafson. There's a great villain in Zeitlin, played by an actor who knows that less is more. There's an elaborate plot and conspiracy that also makes sense and is maybe underdramatic, but realistic at the same time. There's a somewhat amusing turn from the sister of the actor who plays Hank. There's a lot of intelligence and low-fi, seats-of-their-pants type detective work. And, again, more importantly than probably everything else, there are characters you get to know very well and for whom you feel so much that you just want to be with them through everything.

That said, I didn't like Hank when he's spelling things out. He just comes off too bleeding heart, which isn't him. Didn't like Gretchen getting upset at Hank near the end, actually asking if he killed [character name redacted - SPOILER alert!], then saying that she knows he couldn't and asking him to get the guys who did. All of it seemed a bit amateur, and not fitting with this show. There were a few such moments sprinkled into the season that brought this show somewhat into the realm of all the brainless procedurals out there, when it is otherwise the furthest thing from them.

Seven Samurai (1954)

2011-09-20T20:40:00.004-04:00

Toshirô Mifune ... Kikuchiyo
Takashi Shimura ... Kanbê Shimada
Keiko Tsushima ... Shino
Yukiko Shimazaki ... Rikichi's Wife
Kamatari Fujiwara ... Manzô - Father of Shino
Daisuke Katô ... Shichirôji
Isao Kimura ... Katsushirô Okamoto
Minoru Chiaki ... Heihachi Hayashida
Seiji Miyaguchi ... Kyûzô
Yoshio Kosugi ... Mosuke
Bokuzen Hidari ... Yohei
Yoshio Inaba ... Gorobê Katayama
Yoshio Tsuchiya ... Rikichi
Directed by Akira Kurosawa

This is Kurosawa's classic tale of samurai which, like 13 Assassins, which I reviewed earlier, does a great job of showing the noble and not-so-thrilling aspects of the life and times of the samurai, including the sloppy, dangerous art of war. We see how much easier it is to fight for glory than for duty, how difficult it is to recruit people to a good cause, the importance of empowering and educating (all while not patronizing) the villagers they aim to protect, and the struggle to keep up everyone's spirits in the face of terrible odds. This is not a feel-good movie with workout/preparation/training montages. It shows the hardships, the inglorious aspects of the samurai's life. And Kurosawa takes his time doing so. The characters are intelligent, hardy, and patient, and the movie sorta follows suit.

So samurai in 1500s Japan have fallen on hard times, and one noble samurai answers the call of a village getting raided by bandits. He recruits six others and they all fortify the village, train the villagers, and find a number of other social issues to address while they're at it, all while a major raid and battle loom over their heads.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======

Haha, when the samurai are being recruited a villager says to the old man of the village that he's concerned the village girls will fall for the samurai and if they touch the women, there'll be trouble. The old man says, "The bandits are coming, you fool. Your head is on the block and you worry about your whiskers? The honorable samurai they have, the one who dressed up as a monk to rescue a hostage from a thief, tests the mettle of potential recruits by having an aspiring disciple stand behind a door and strike him as he enters. Poor Yohei - his eyebrows are slanted downwards, his face forever sad-looking. The first recruit is more interested in the character of the first samurai than even the task. The second is an old friend and doesn't mind the danger of the battle he enters with him. The third is an honest, hard-working, hungry samurai with a sense of humor and a penchant for fighting. The next is a very skilled, but modest guy who cuts down an arrogant combatant with the simplest of moves. Takes place in the late 1500s. The last seems to be the guy with the long sword who got all hyped up when he saw the samurai dress as a monk and save the boy, but who seems more interested in impressing others and proving himself than actually doing anything of worth. He's also a clown and thinks he's too good for the task but admires the others enough not to want to be left behind.
Long periods in which not much is spoken. Takes his time with showing every step of preparation - no montages.
Kikuchiwo serves a purpose - he sounds the alarm for an attack and the villagers who feared and avoided the samurai when they first arrived cry out for their help. After this, they at least admit they need the help and they start participating in their defense.
Manzo's at the center of much trouble. He cuts his daughter's hair and tells her to pretend to be a boy, starting a panic in the village. She runs into Katsushiro, who realizes she's a girl when he wrestles her to the ground and grabs her chest. Manzo has at his house all the armor and plunder from hunted down losing samurai from previous battles. The samurai get mad when they see them, but Kikuchiyo gets mad at them, first saying that the peasanta are cunning and wily and lie about what they have and don't have, but then blames the samurai for making them that way for plundering, pillaging and raping the peasants in every war - turns out he was born a peasant.
They deal with various aspects of society and concerns/troubles. The boy who meets the girls meets up with her secretly and give her rice from the samurai dinners. She gives it to a starving grandmother. Another sees this and offers his as well, at which point the samurai all learn of this and they all go to her to feed her. They split everyone up into squads and tell them they must live and work together. They also have to abandon three houses on the other side of the creek. The inhabitants protest and the head samurai chases them down and forces them back in line, saying that they must all stand or fall together and no one is allowed to think only for himself anymore.
Kikuchiyo may be a brute, but he greatly values courage and pride and he always takes opportunities to work up the nerve of the peasants.
What an iconic scene, when Heihuro (?) dies because Rikichi is distraught about his captured wife killing herself at the bandit hideout...they bury him, put his sword into the mound and all bow down as five samurai stand by the graveside and Kikuchiyo sits
The fighting is messy and sloppy, but it's four samurai, one peasant-turned-samurai, and one kid samurai against bandits. Lots of humor, mostly because of kikuchiyo.
That baller dude (Kyuzo) goes in the night alone, captures a musket and kills two bandits. When he comes back, Sakitsuru (?) tells him he thinks he's magnificent. They let one or two riders in at a time and stop the rest from advancing with their bamboo spears, trapping and killing the few that make it each time.
Kikuchiyo hears enough of the kid's praise of Kyuzo, so he goes out, sneaks up on the bandits, takes advantage of one getting killed for his cowardice by dressing up as him, engaging a musket shooter in conversation before he realizes he's been tricked and is killed, but when Kikuchiyo comes back with the musket, he's only scolded for abandoning his post, and he's reminded that this is not a war for individual glory. That day, they kill 7 but lose Odobe (?), the main guy's right hand man, as well as some peasants, including women, when two get in, one with a bow and arrow, and wreak havoc. Kikuchiyo takes it hard and is dejected afterward. With time, the samurai leave the less troublesome captured bandits alone as the angered and emboldened villagers take care of them themselves. Manzo catches his daughter with Katsushiro and beats her, calling her a wench and damaged goods. The main guy has a dilemma as he doesn't want for a samurai to have disgraced himself or her. Rikichi tells Manzo there's nothing wrong with two people falling in love. It's better than her getting captured by bandits. In the morning, they try to lift up the group's spirits. The main guy even teases Katsushiro, who he says can fight with them, saying that as of last night, he's a man. He tried to uphold Manzo's honor and also can joke about it in the morning. Kyuzo's a great warrior and that guy is a great leader, knowing what's needed when.
Kyuzo, sadly, is shot, as is Kikuchiyo, by the leader of the bandits, who's taken the women hostage, but he plows on and stabs him all the same. Everything's one big, muddy, depressing mess at the end, with the main guy and his friend saying that once more, they survive. Skip ahead to a happier group singing and dancing as they plant rice. Four dead samurai, only the main guy, his friend and Sakushiro left. The main guy says at the end that they lost this one too - that the victory belongs to the peasants, not to the samurai - then the camera turns to the four graves.

Lady Vengeance (2005)

2011-09-20T20:07:00.005-04:00

Yeong-ae Lee ... Geum-ja Lee
Min-sik Choi ... Mr. Baek
Shi-hoo Kim ... Geun-shik
Yea-young Kwon ... Jenny
Directed by Chan-wook Park

This is the third movie in the Vengeance Trilogy, and it's a doozy. It's twisted, gruesome, dark...just altogether discomfort-inducing. It baffles me why this has a significantly higher RottenTomatoes rating than Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance. But whatever. We have here a protagonist who went to jail for killing a kid, who serves her time pretty quietly - even when she's quietly messing up anyone who messes with her friends - and then gets out of prison, reconnects with her daughter, and slowly prepares her vengeance. For what? Well, she actually took the fall for the guy who actually killed the kid and coached her in how to admit to it. And wow, what glorious vengeance, what a scary, kick-ass killer she is.

Not sure what else to say about this movie. If you liked other movies by the same director, you'll probably like this as well. If you're anything like my wife, who doesn't like sad movies unless they have really happy endings - well, this movie might kill you.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
Starts with dexter-esque blood-themed intro
Lee-Geum ja served 13.5 years starting age 19 when she smothered a small child with a pillow
She rejects her father upon leaving prison, goes to live with a fellow convict who was pretty badass, goes to the house of the parents she killed and cuts off her finger in front of them. She was both very kind and very sneaky evil in prison, it seems.
So the detective thought she was lying? But she's unable to name the color of the boy's favorite marble, and the detective, or someone, coaches her on what pillow to use during her reenactment
Everyone keeps telling her she's changed. Good transitions in this movie too.
She's cold, calculating, calm in talking about how she has someone to kill still, or saying she needs an advance and ignoring her boss' protests.
So Mr. Baek did the kidnapping, killed the kid, kidnapped her kid when a witness identified her as being the girl who brought the boy in, and said that if she didn't confess, he'd kill her daughter.
She goes to Australia to meet her daughter and her adoptive parents. It seems she wanted to go to Seoul with her, so they do, but she keeps moving forward with her plan. All different convicts are introduced. One is married to Baek? He forces himself on her even in the middle of a meal. She killed the witch in prison by feeding her bleach for 3 years because she beat another convict. Then she became the witch and everyone got her to do favors for them. She picked up some friends. It seems Baek or whoever is the husband with the sex appetite hired a couple thugs to capture Geun-ja and her daughter, but she breaks free and kills them. One was Kang-ho Song and the other was also a recurring character in Park's films. They capture Baek, take him somewhere, make him translate for Jenny, her daughter, as she opens her heart to her daughter.
Doesn't kill him immediately but slaps him around, cries, chokes him, finds that he keeps lucky charms from each of his victims on his keychain. She shoots him in each foot, shows the old inspector the keychain and shows the victims' families and the inspector the tapes he made of the victims. She asks them if they want him handed over to the inspector or if she should deal with him. They start weighing in on whether they should go to the police or not, what they should do to him, asking if he has a child of his own, what he needed the money for (a yacht), if they should go together or separately, etc., all while he hears, as she's broadcasting it to him. They draw numbers and she hands out weapons for them. They all stab him variously and viciously, the last finishing him off, they clean up together, bury him together, and she shoots him twice with the gun she got for him, then tossing it in with him. And after, she wipes off the red mascara she'd worn all the time that she'd been planning
She finally sees the small Won-mo in a vision after all this and is happy to apologize to him, but when she tries, he turns into the size man he would be at this point (I think it's the killer from Oldboy) and puts a gag in her mouth. Narrator (an inmate?) says she never found redemption, but she did end up with her daughter, and she ate the tofu (symbol of purity) this time.

Oldboy (2003)

2011-09-20T19:36:00.003-04:00

Min-sik Choi ... Dae-su Oh
Ji-tae Yu ... Woo-jin Lee
Hye-jeong Kang ... Mi-do
Dae-han Ji ... No Joo-hwan
Dal-su Oh ... Park Cheol-woong
Byeong-ok Kim ... Mr. Han
Seung-Shin Lee ... Yoo Hyung-ja
Jin-seo Yun ... Lee Soo-ah
Directed by Chan-wook Park

The second in the Vengeance Trilogy, this too is a mindfuck. The plot isn't as twisted as the previous movie - just one mindblowing reveal at the end to end a movie that was plenty shocking and frightening all along. There's tons of badassery, some humor, a good score, beautiful, elegant, dramatic violence, and an absolutely twisted story.

Early in the movie we learn that Oh Dae-su is imprisoned by some unknown captor who gives him food and TV and a tiny room in which to live, as well basic comforts, and keeps him there for 15 years, after which he's released and immediately sets upon a rampage of violence and vengeance on his quest to find out who his captor was and to end his life. But nothing he did in the prison, in trying to escape, or afterward, went unnoticed by the captor, Woo-jin, who'd planned this torture and transformation all along. Once out, Oh Dae-su is aided by a sympathetic sushi restaurant waitress, with whom he falls in love, and whose life is threatened by Woo-jin in order to motivate Oh Dae-su to figure out, within the next five days, why he held him for all those years.

As with the rest of the Vengeance Trilogy, as well as the other Korean movies (and 13 Assassins) I've reviewed lately, this movie is found on Netflix Instant. Unfortunately, it's got English dubbing, which is really annoying.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
Apparently the drunk guy, O-dai Su, at the start is captured and placed in a holding...apartment. I like that the guard who ignores his questions 2 months in pushes him back into the cell and closes the little food door all by using only his feet. Apparently he'll be held here for 15 years, he's possibly been framed for his wife's murder, unless that was a a hallucination on his part, he's given a TV, bathroom, food, and regular grooming and such, while drugged. The narrator who speaks for him seems to be David Carradine or someone like him.
He's placed on a rooftop in a suit with a man who's suicidal. He tells him him his story, then leaves, takes a pair of women's sunglasses from someone on the elevator, kicks the crap out of some street punks, is given money and a cell phone by some nameless guy on the street. Omigod, he eats a live, wriggling octopus. Laugh and the world laughs with you.

Cry and you cry alone.
A grain of sand and a rock - in water they both sink.
Two aphorisms mentioned in the movie.

The sushi waitress takes him home when he faints in her restaurant. Somehow she's not afraid of him when he yells on the phone or angrily eats the writhing octopus, and she forgives him and understands when he tries to have his way with her...she then gives him advice and promises about their sleeping together in the future.
She gets him his daughter's address in Sweden and goes with him to a ton of restaurants to try to find the people who made the food he ate all those years. He finds the place, tracks the delivery boy to the compound, messes up a couple people, then takes on an entire gang in there. Was that really just one shot? It was a wonderfully choreographed fight, sloppy, messy, badass, had a cool score, and was just all-around awesome, as was his smile when he walks into an elevator full of more thugs...ha, and he walks out as the rest of them drop.
"Like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler, free yourself." -Woo-jin keeps saying this to Oh Dae-su.
So he meets the guy who set up his torture all those years. He won't say the reason why and has a measure in place to keep him from torturing him to get at the information, so he can't kill or torture him if he wants to find out. Also he has five days to figure out who he is or the girl will be killed..and until he figures out the why, every girl he loves will be killed. The guy also prevents the thugs from the compound from killing or harming him. Love the transitions between scenes.
So O dai su figures it out...as kids, he saw Woo-jin have sex with his sister, he told a friend, word got out, she killed herself. For this, Woo-jin had him captured and made into a monster for 15 years. But that's not everything. Woo-jin certainly takes his time explaining the significance of waiting 15 years - that Mi-do is his daughter, that he raised her himself, that he hypnotized them into falling in love and all that, that Park, the guy whose teeth Odaisu removed, the guy who supposedly lost his hand to him as a gesture to the two of them..Odaisu left her with him, thinking they had a common enemy. Woo-jin got him to sleep with his own daughter because his rumor had such a great effect that his sister stopped having her period and her belly swelled...and Odaisu couldn't remember only because he forgot, because it didn't mean anything to him. Odaisu begs that Mi-do not learn the secret. He barks like a dog, licks his feet, cuts off his own tongue to show the extent to which he'll lower himself for Woo-jin's amusement. Woo-jin tells Park not to tell her, then goes and kills himself. Odaisu meets the hypotist again, has the monster/secret erased, meets Mi-do again and...they seem to live on as lovers, not knowing their connection.

Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance (2002)

2011-09-20T19:05:00.005-04:00

Kang-ho Song ... Park Dong-jin
Ha-kyun Shin ... Ryu
Doona Bae ... Cha Yeong-mi
Ji-Eun Lim ... Ryu's Sister
Bo-bae Han ... Yu-sun
Se-dong Kim ... Chief of Staff
Dae-yeon Lee ... Choe
Directed by Chan-wook Park

I haven't seen Taken, and I'm sure Neeson was good in it, but I am also sure that this was no Taken (sadly, this has a lower Rottentomatoes rating than Taken. How is that possible? It's gruesome, sure, but it's dark, bleak, beautiful, shot in a unique and strange fashion. This was a great revenge flick, a great horror flick, a great dark comedy, a great movie about how evil deeds, even done by good people wronged, make things spiral uncontrollably downward, a great movie for exploring the morality of the feelings/actions of people who were wronged, or an exploration of culpability.

By the way, this is the first in the Vengeance trilogy. All three, as well as Thirst and The Good, The Bad, The Weird are on Netflix Instant. So there's no excuse not to see these films.

I wrote extensive notes with tons of spoilers and comments on all the little things I loved throughout the movie, so I'll put that below. There's not much to say about the plot - a deaf guy's sister needs a kidney and when he tries to take hard-earned cash that they've saved up to buy a kidney on the black market, he's robbed instead, and finds out soon after that a kidney donor was available, only they no longer could afford the operation. So he and his girlfriend turn to darker methods, with all the best intentions, of course, to get the money they need - they kidnap the daughter of a very rich businessman and hold her for ransom. The rest of the movie consists of a dark, deep downward spiral of atrocities that result as a consequence of these early terrible deeds.

I have specific details following, so let me say here that I loved all the leads. They were excellent. The guy who played Ryu (with the director's help) showed just what an absolutely terrible predicament he was in. He was a good guy who meant well, and he just went through so much loss, did his best to avenge the evil deeds done to him, and got more heartbreak as a result. His girlfriend was more calculating and less innocent than him, but also someone for whom we feel a great deal of sympathy. And what to say for Mr. Park (Kang-ho Song, about whom I've already been effusive in my praise, and will be again below)? I wanted to shake him, to tell him what we knew about the actions of the other characters. We were certainly surprised by his actions, that he had that in him, but who could blame him for wanting to do what he did? And what did he get for it in the end? A terribly sad and gory tale, wonderfully depicted, and evoking sympathy in our hearts for any number of people, almost all of whom did something terrible to someone else in this movie.

Some of what I wrote below, I copied and pasted above, FYI.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
Wow, after a wordless look at a workday for the guy (the deaf girl's boyfriend?) we see four guys masturbating to the sound of what seems like love throes on the other side of the wall, when it's actually the deaf girl's wailing. The guy is deaf too - tha's why he doesn't wear headphones at work. Whoops. He has to give 10 million Won and give up a kidney to get one for his sister on the black market
They leave him naked and without a kidney on that abandoned building, and he finds out a few weeks later that they found a donor with a kidney, but he no longer has the money for it. So his g/f or whoever hatches a plan to kidnap the daughter of...the people who fired him from his job (?) and hold her for ransom to get the money.
Poor guy...he's so ecstatic when he gets the money. He plays with the kidnapped girl and watches TV and waits for his sister to come out of the bath. The girl absent-mindedly forgot to give a note to him, finally remembers to without giving it thought, and when the import finally dawns on him, he's shocked, runs to the bathroom and is shocked and heartbroken to see that his sister has killed herself. He goes and buries her by the river where they played as kids. And as he does, the little girl wakes up and tries to find him and she falls into the river and drowns because he can't hear her cries. My God, what a string of loss for him...and so calmly and sadly depicted. All this while the girl's father still remains tied to a pole in some isolated park somewhere. It all ties back not just to the sister saying he should bury her where they played as kids, but also to how the girl who plotted all of this said that kidnapping stories are only sad because the child dies, and they weren't going to kill this girl. She'd actually be happy with them - and she was.
Just as in thirst, the drowned girl comes to visit her father - longing, not guilt, here. She asks her father why he didn't give her swimming lessons, which makes him smile grimly
It's a nice touch that when the inspector and the father visit the home of the guy who slashed himself in front of his car as protest for his firing, the inspector covers his mouth b/c of the smell/sight of the squalor in which they live, but the father is unaffected.
Wow...so the young guy finds a way to find the organ traders, kills the two guys violently, and loses sight of the mother while he's bashing away on one, giving her enough time to slash him with a scalpel before he kills her. Meanwhile, the father finds and coldly tortures his girlfriend to the point that she loses control of her bladder. When the urine reaches his feet as he sits, eating, he just lifts up his food, drops a blanket on the urine to soak it up, and continues eating while looking at his daughter's pictures. When she won't stop pleading for her life, he throws the urine soaked blanket on her and turns up the current, just to get her to shut up so he can get lost in his reverie. The guy tries to stop the blood from his wound, goes back to the apartment, where everyone is huddled around the crime scene, ends up in the elevator with all the detectives and his g/f's corpse, which is stood up next to him. As he tries to keep the dripping blood from showing, the sheet slips off her head and he has to keep from reacting as he slips his hand over to hold hers for a moment more and grieves silently. The police discover that she was a member of a revolutionary faction - the only member, in fact, and they use her flyers to link her to the crime scene where the three organ traders lay dead - the connection comically baffles them as they realize how big and convoluted this all is. For whom should we feel sympathy here? We have a number of characters who've done horrendous things and had terrible things done to them, and I feel for almost all of them..even the organ dealer's mom, who had to watch her two sons brutally murdered as she was high, knowing she'd be next. Now President Park waits for the guy in his apartment, as he waits for Pres. Park outside in his car. Both flex their aching necks at the same time, tired from the long wait. This Park dude is smart. He falls asleep waiting, but electrifies the doorknob, so the guy gets shocked unconscious upon trying to sneak up on him, and gets dragged into the apt, upon which Mr. Park starts to cry and, instead of coldly torturing him, starts to slap him. He hesitates to stab him. Takes him to that same river, binds him, takes him out into the water, tells him he knows he's a good person, and asks if he knows why he still has to kill him...then slashes his ankles and lets him bleed to death. This is no Taken. Everyone's tortured. Oh, and he had helped bring in a dying boy, presumably child of the former employee from his apt of squalor, even claimed to be his father and had looked after him in the hospital, but when, after he kills the guy, he gets a call to say the boy is deceased, He says he doesn't know who the boy is and hangs up. The last scene is comically and wonderfully brutal and confusing until the end. He's trying to bury the guy when a Jeep rolls up with four guys who step out and all smoke cigareettes as they check the details on a note and look at him. They toss out their cigs, wordlessly take turns stabbing him, once each with great force, let him walk over to his car, on which he leans on the ground, upon which the last checks his note once more and takes out a notice, which he pins on Park's chest with a knife. Then, as the four smoke another cigarette each and resume their staring at him, we hear the girl's words repeated from before - that she's part of a terrorist organization and they know of his identity and will kill him for sure if anything happens to her. Oh, and I like how Ryu, while bringing her body to the riverside to be buried, steps in the same puddle by the river that they did in the flashback of their childhood.
What I wrote to Samir:
Anyway, I'm emailing because I watched Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance. Loved it. My God, was it good. I feel like I only know the name of Mr. Park (Kang-ho Song's character) out of all the characters. Anyway, I...feel like I could describe every scene and every plot point as brilliant. I loved how wonderfully and simply the sad string of events in the deaf guy's life was depicted, how wonderfully bleak the depiction of his workday was, how dead Park seemed walking through the world even as his daughter was alive, the foreshadowing of the girlfriend saying that kidnapping stories are only sad because the child dies, how quickly the elation he felt turned to grief when he realized his sister had killed herself, how he steps in the same puddle by the riverside that they stepped in as children only now he's going there to bury his sister, how he's crying as he buries his sister and the girl dies only because he's deaf (and my knowing how he'll be affected by her death on top of everything else), how the drowned girl goes to see her father, similar to Kang-woo in Thirst (I just realized that Ryu - the deaf guy - in this movie is Kang-woo in that. Some great range he displays), only because of loss, not guilt; how he smiles grimly when she asks him why he never enrolled her in swimming lessons, how cold Park becomes after that point, like how he tortures the girlfriend at one point just to get her to shut up and stop pleading for her life with her idle threats, how he's unaffected by the squalor in the house of his fired employee while the seasoned inspector is, how he seemingly adopts that dying boy in that apartment but abandons him at the end after he kills Ryu, how Ryu so brutally kills the organ dealers in sight of their intoxicated mother and gets so into it that he forgets she's a threat, how comically but subtly baffled the cops are by all the connections between the kidnapped girl, the girlfriend, anarchism and organ dealers, the anxiety and sadness-inducing quick farewell Ryu has with his girlfriend in the elevator, how Ryu and Mr. Park both wait for each other, each stretching and flexing his neck as the strain gets to him, how smart and resourceful Mr. Park is with all his electrocuting, how he finally cries and slaps Ryu around instead of instantly stabbing/killing him, how he takes him back to the same river, seems to hesitate again, admits that he knows he's a good guy and asks if he knows why he still has to kill him (I wish he answered that rhetorical question), slashes his ankles and lets him bleed to death before taking him back out to bury him...and finally that darkly hilarious scene at the end with four unknown guys staring at him while all sucking down cigarettes before they wordlessly and forcefully stab him, once each, the last pinning a note to his chest with a knife, and they all go back to smoking another cigarette in the same way while we rehear the girlfriend's words and know who those men were.

I haven't seen Taken, and I'm sure Neeson was good in it, but I am also sure that this was no Taken. I mused on the title of the movie as I wondered for whom I should feel sympathy. I felt for almost all of them (not the two guy organ traders, but I did for the mother, who watched her sons viciously murdered before her eyes, knowing she'd be next), though so many did horrendous things and had horrendous things done to them. This was a great revenge flick, a great horror flick, a great dark comedy, a great movie about how evil deeds, even done by good people wronged, make things spiral uncontrollably downward, a great movie for exploring the morality of the feelings/actions of people who were wronged, or an exploration of culpability. I loved the pacing, how each event in Ryu's life, or the masturbation scene with the girlfriend on the other side of the wall either faking orgasms or crying in pain or something...how they're so deliberately set up. I love the framing of the scenes, how people come into and go out of the frame, as they do in the final scene. I love the depiction of the violence, how it's precise, but raw. I love the use of silence to show us Ryu's world, how alone it makes him seem in the world when he drives his sister to the river. I love the epic status his strange girlfriend assumes at the end, in culmination of all the crazy little, seemingly out-of-character things she did or pushed him to do throughout the film - no wonder she didn't buckle under torture, my God. I love how different Kang-ho Song's role is here to the other movies I've seen him do (also, I forgot to explain properly. It isn't that a Denzel or other Hollywood A-lister wouldn't play a simple person, or a poor person, or an uneducated person as Song did in The Host. The heroism and courage his character displayed in that movie would be attractive to them too. But he was such a doof, such a simpleton, such a mess, completely devoid of simple sense and, more importantly, charisma or gravitas. And no one could be said to really be the lead in that movie. Certainly, he wasn't much of a protagonist. All of this would be too detrimental to one's image for most any leading actor in Hollywood to do). He gets to display, in turns, a privileged distance, shock, loss, hatred and deadness.

13 Assassins (2010)

2011-09-20T18:18:00.007-04:00

Kôji Yakusho ... Shinzaemon Shimada
Takayuki Yamada ... Shinrouko
Yûsuke Iseya ... Koyata
Gorô Inagaki ... Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira
Masachika Ichimura ... Hanbei Kitou
Mikijiro Hira ... Sir Doi
Hiroki Matsukata ... Kuranaga
Ikki Sawamura ... Mitsuhashi
Arata Furuta ... Sahara
Tsuyoshi Ihara ... Hirayama
Masataka Kubota ... Ogura
Sôsuke Takaoka ... Hioki
Seiji Rokkaku ... Otake
Yûma Ishigaki ... Higuchi
Kôen Kondô ... Horii
Ikki Namioka ... Ishizuka
Directed by Takashi Miike

I went into this movie expecting something very different from what it turned out to be. And in the end, I think that's fine. This is a movie about 13 Assassins who were gathered to oppose a corrupt and cruel overlord and avenge many innocents' deaths. I expected something like a mix between the glory of 300 and the grace and clean fighting of countless martial arts and samurai movies before this one. This movie is neither of those things. There's a bit of the grace and honor of the samurai way at the start of the movie. But when the war actually starts, it's a goddamn mess, bloody, dirty, sloppy (even the way the movie was shot made it look old and drab). The heroes are vastly outnumbered, and it's fun to watch more for the Bourne-like resourcefulness and toughness they display than for any Bond-like slickness. The movie is also absurdly humorous at times.

So other things I liked about this movie...
-The good guys aren't bound by some literal code when it comes to fighting methods, so they're not undone the way Simba is by Scar, or Batman by the Joker (you'll understand when you see it).
-The bad guy isn't a complete coward (though he is unused to pain)
-Rather than seeing our heroes fight off a million bad guys, retaining form and strength until the end, then falling with honor and dying at the end, here we see people fighting off a couple dozen opponents, and then progressively looking weak and desperate and outmatched, hurting, bleeding and ineffective.
-The director did not hold back when it came to showing the horrors perpetrated by Naritsugu. Some things were downright gruesome.
-I like that, in the end, what seemed to separate these guys wasn't courage but instead motivation - Naritsugu was motivated by bloodlust alone. The others fought for honor, service, and a debt of gratitude.
-The propriety and ritualistic discipline of the samurais is so starkly juxtaposed by Naritsugu's torturous ways.
-What an interesting system of honor - that the head of Naritsugu's guard should so fear and respect Shinzaemon, go to visit him knowing that the assassins will attack during the trip that will start the next day...and they discuss the twist of fate that led to their being in their respective unenviable positions and promise to meet again in the coming days.
-When Shinza tells Hanbei that they should oppose his master, he invokes the samurai code, which is essentially the soldier's code

The rest of my comments I have to put in the spoilers section

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
-The 13th assassin (the actual assassin, not the movie) was fun, but I think he was much like Omar in The Wire, that people would consider him to be the least believable and the most incongruous of any character. Certainly, I didn't like the absurdity of his being not only alive, but also quite well at the end of the movie. At least the absurdity of the Good and the Weird being alive, and the latter at large, in their movie fit with the tone of much of the movie. It's not as realistic as Bourne swimming off at the end of his last movie, but it is kinda funny. I didn't see the point in 13 Assassins and thought it took away from the ending. I liked him everywhere else in the movie - how brazen and unaffected he seemed, but how honored he was to be included in their group, and I loved every aspect of how he "died," from his courage to the realism of his getting put down when he was up against so many, to Naritsugu's half-praising/half-derisive comment about how he made a good point and he got, in response to taste his short sword (to paraphrase). That's how his time in this movie should have ended. This is too good a movie to let a character that went through all that to live.
-OH BOYYY...I wondered if anyone would kick mud in the other's face, if the good guys would have too much honor or if as Shinrouko had said in the dojo before, there are no rules on the battlefield. Shinza says to Hanbei that in the dojo, they were an even match...then kicks mud in his face and dispossesses him of his sword...then kills him.
-The end of the leader impressed and confused me. I liked that when all his men were killed, he stepped forward and didn't back down. I liked that he didn't lose his arrogance, that he was offended when told that his sword was decorative. I like that Shinzaemon seemed to gamble, to lure him in by letting him stab him with his sword, thus allowing him to stab him in return. But I was surprised when he fell back and complained about the pain.
-The badassery is on full display along with tons of trickery, cleverness, and plain smarts, like all the swords in the ground so Hioki doesn't have to pull his sword out of anyone he's vanquished.
-Minaki (?) did a confusing thing...blocked the pathway, diverting him, but then immediately commits harikari, ostensibly to keep everything secret?
-These samurai are ready and able to do most anything. Their credo seems to be "work." That's all they know. But man do they seem like fish out water in the woods.
-I like that though they kill the bad guy, in the end, everyone loses. There's just death and destruction everywhere and no one to pick up the pieces and clean up the mess. It reminded me of the Mahabharat or the Civil War in that regard - the idea that one side "won" was absurd when you considered the death toll, the losses to both sides and society as a whole.

Thirst (2009)

2011-09-20T17:45:00.004-04:00

Kang-ho Song ... Priest Sang-hyeon
Ok-bin Kim ... Tae-ju
Hae-sook Kim ... Lady Ra
Ha-kyun Shin ... Kang-woo
In-hwan Park ... Priest Noh
Dal-su Oh ... Yeong-doo
Young-chang Song ... Seung-dae
Mercedes Cabral ... Evelyn
Eriq Ebouaney ... Immanuel
Directed by Chan-wook Park

Movies like this make me wonder how uncreative we are in this country (or how inflexible audiences are). A movie about a Priest-turned-vampire who struggles to make sense of it all, fighting against his thirst for not only blood but also all sins while he tries to continue to do the right thing? What a great premise! And what better actor than Kang-ho Song (whom I'd follow into the dark at this point, so impressed am I with everything he's done and depth and breadth of his resume as a whole)?

Again, check out an excellent review from Pajiba. I'll include that rather than a trailer for more details on the plot. Suffice it to say that it's a story of redemption for the Priest, and a love story between he and the downtrodden (but secretly quite manipulative) wife of his childhood friend, though they mostly act on lust for one another, and some really sick and animal lust at that.

I have detailed, and spoilerific, notes (and some observations) below on everything I really loved about this movie:
====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
A very penitent and guilt-ridden priest survives the experiment that he took on as penitence...because he became a vampire? Love these little shots, like him lying naked on his floor and as they pan from his feet to his back, we see a sunbeam on his back and steam rising off it, or seeing the fat patient in bed and blood leaving his body through the IV cable and entering his mouth
So he thirsts for all sinful pleasures...starts sleeping with the wife of his childhood friend, leaves the order of catholic friars. she and his "father" at the monastery both ask him to make them vampires. i'm confused about whom he obliges. both? she lies to him about kang-woo hitting her and, in doing, tricks him into taking his life - the first time he did so for blood or any other reason. they all go fishing and he drowns kang-woo and puts a rock on his chest. but then he starts popping up in their lives, in her bed, while they have sex...dripping wet with the rock on his chest. The mother goes crazy and catatonic in her grief, Tae-Ju lashes out and asks for him to kill the mom and take her to be with her husband...so he does kill her, drinks her blood, feels guilty, then, in a sequence I enjoyed, tries twice to cut his wrist and let blood drip into her mouth, only to be thwarted by his quick healing, and then succeeding the third time, when he and she end up sucking blood from each other's lips simultaneously. Hmm...it seems the mother never did die, but now Tae-ju has given her a drop of her own blood and infected her as well. Tae-ju doesn't want to steal blood or help suicides. She wants to kill. Though the soundtrack here is much subdued compared to good bad weird, I like it here as well, like when it underscores the grim comedy of Kang-woo's part in their lives, or the lightly upbeat music that scores Tae-ju's calm dispatching of the Mah-Jong group
A vampire with a guilty conscience and a sense of propriety, he won't let Tae-ju be wasteful with life, and when they flee to avoid getting caught, he first goes to the colony of the sick people who worshipped him as a savior to disillusion them. While it's clear to the viewer how he's set up their suicide at the end, I like that Tae-ju forges ahead in trying to arrange for their safety, and that she's a bit slow to realize what he's done. in the end, it's a touching end to what really was a love story, as she finally gives in to her fate and pulls out the shoes he strangely and lovingly gave her to wear back when he caught her running barefoot at night.

To Samir: another touching, however strange, dark and macabre addition to the vampire genre. i liked how he retained and even seemed to refine (in that he stopped being so hard on himself and became more understanding all around) his catholic sense of guilt and propriety as he sank farther into his new life and started realizing the repercussions of his decisions and lifestyle. I saw touches of the same humor, that oddball, madcap off-kilter sense of humor from the previous movie, but realized quickly that it wouldn't be as fun or light as good bad weird (if i watched them in the opposite order, i easily could have stayed up til past 4 to finish them. good bad weird was too great and captivating to shut off anyway). a bunch of times i wondered where the movie was going and what they'd do to fill the time, but i was glad for the journey in the end. and i enjoyed the last scene in much the same way that i loved when georgina or whatever her name was arranged for her suicide in let the right one in. except this was much calmer. i liked how calmly and deliberately he undid each form of protection she tried to arrange for their (or her) protection from the sun, how resigned and accepting he was.

The Good, The Bad, The Weird (2008)

2011-09-20T17:22:00.004-04:00

Kang-ho Song ... Yoon Tae-goo / The Weird
Byung-hun Lee ... Park Chang-yi / The Bad
Woo-sung Jung ... Park Do-won / The Good
Je-mun Yun ... Byung-choon
Seung-su Ryu ... Man-gil
Young-chang Song ... Kim Pan-joo
Byung-ho Son ... Seo Jae-sik
Directed by Jee-woon Kim

As I say over and over when trying to explain to people what's so great about The Host and its "star," Kang-ho Song, possibly the biggest star in Korean cinema - a Tom Cruise, Will Smith or Denzel Washington would never take a role like either of these, no matter how the story turns out. The Good? Sure. The Bad? Sure. But the Weird? This guy who drives around on a crappy bike looking like some he's got the leather version of those frontier caps with the ear flaps? Never.

Anyway, that's beside the point. This movie's got all the badassery of a western, mad-cap humor all along the way (would expect nothing less from a movie starring the man cast as the weird), is beautifully shot/choreographed, a superbly utilized soundtrack (using even the flamenco song from Kill Bill) and some epic characters in all three.

Check out Pajiba's review here. It does an excellent job of explaining the details of WHY this is such an absolute joy to watch. I really just want to share that feeling with you. This movie is so incredible because it's not just great indulgent fun, but it's also extremely well made, with gorgeous cinematography, creative and well-staged action, a plot that I didn't find so troubling in its convolutions as the Pajiba reviewer, but which both brings the action forward and also seems beside the point, so captivating are the leads.

The movie is one long chase involving at least 5 parties. And what a long journey - along the way, they do some role switching, trade aphorisms, examine their motivations in life and contemplate the possibilities for their reinvention. There's no shortage of carnage, colorful characters or comically oversized weapons. Something to love for everyone, everything to love for me.

The King's Speech (2010)

2011-09-20T16:53:00.003-04:00

Colin Firth ... King George VI
Helena Bonham Carter ... Queen Elizabeth
Geoffrey Rush ... Lionel Logue
Michael Gambon ... King George V
Guy Pearce ... King Edward VIII
Directed by Tom Hooper

Considering the movie is about a prince-turned-king who overcomes his speech impediment (to some extent) with the help of a great therapist after a great deal of struggle, the line on the poster would actually make me skeptical about the movie. I'd expect something like a Disney sports movie out of it. But actors I love abound in the movie, and I actually ended up not seeing it until after the Oscars, and I found that everyone who'd raved about the movie was right. Firth and Rush are excellent as always, Carter impresses as well. The movie is shot beautifully. And it's got great writing and dialogue. The entire package is such that none of the opportunities for overacting and caricature were taken and the movie as a whole is a clinic on subtlety and depth. This is the way to make an uplifting movie that is also real.

The Duke of York suddenly finds himself the King of a nation that is going to war with Hitler, with a people that is in need of its King to comfort and lead them - only his speech impediment is so bad that when he gives speeches (like a wonderful early scene at Wembley Stadium, in which his little tics and gurgles echo through the silent stadium), everyone observes a respectful, but awkward, silence, all of which hardly instills confidence in themselves or their monarch. At the end of their line, they seek the help of an unconventional speech therapist who insists on doing everything on his terms, even breaking down the wall of respect and distance usually given to him.

So that's pretty much it. Anyway, what makes it so great is that this is a movie about great people being human, fragile, uncertain, scared. And Firth does an amazing job of being at once regal/proud and insecure. Actually, let me skip to some excerpts from Pajiba's review, as well as what I wanted to add to that:

Like everyone else, Tim Burton’s frequent overuse of Helena Bonham Carter made her slightly boring to me. Sure, she was good, but who fucking cares, right? So easily did I forget her comic timing and her dry wit. Her Elizabeth is just awesome — and while most of her contemporaries will be forced to scream frantically or cry hysterically to earn accolades, she does it with a gentle lilt and a rise of a single eyebrow in what’s mostly a comic performance.
(I actually thought Firth's part, in less capable hands, could easily have devolved into outright caricature. This isn't the usual oscar baiting handicap performance. The words stick in his throat with a gurgling and his eyes well up just a bit and he moves so quickly between awkward/hopeless and proud/angry)
Despite the central lag, Hooper performs magic with Seidler’s script. He frames his actors in terrific tableaus, just off center of camera with massive, realistic backdrops. Even with slightly shoddy effects, watching tiny actors stroll down the massive Westminster Abbey aisle is breathtaking. But all of that is secondary to just simply letting his actors shine.

Rush's character, Lionel, isn't haughty or rebellious because he's got the king's favor. That rarely seems assured. He's the way he is amongst the most powerful people in the land because he doesn't care about them. Still, I liked and saw it coming when his wife said that perhaps his patient didn't want to be great...and that it was Lionel who did. Either way, it was great seeing this man speak to the Duke, and then the King, as he would anyone else, breaking down his barriers and fears one by one, reassuring and feeling pride without ever being condescending. All these subtleties, all the emotions held back that threaten to spill over a quivering lip, a welled-up eye, were so wonderfully conveyed by these two master actors. Watching their sessions was a joy.

Add to this a movie that is gorgeous to look at from the start, as well as biting wit and dialogue (be it the duke making up a bedtime story, the duchess turning on a dime and making her position known, or lines like "Defecation flows trippingly from the tongue." I love the depiction of a King's, or a man's, such as the very slow stammer/cry from the duke when he's asked about his dead brother, or when, as newly appointed King, he looks for a hug from his daughters and receives instead a distant curtsey and "Your Majesty."

It's funny to me also to see how worked up the country was over the declaration of war. When we declare war these days, people react with a "well, it's about time," before flipping over to American Idol.

Life of Pi - Yann Martel

2011-09-20T16:07:00.005-04:00

Ehh

Another book club selection. This was sandwiched between The Road and The Book Thief, both of which I preferred to it. Some authors think they're so clever, but they just don't have the skills to back it up. I understand that one doesn't necessarily have to be a great wordsmith to be an effective storyteller, but I really disliked and felt distracted by Martel's lack of skill. Am I too demanding of authors and their skill with words? Is that why so many people found this to be a profound book and I so often found it annoying?

Anyway, this is a book that the author (or was it a critic. Actually, I think it was his protagonist...though it seemed clear to me that Martel was speaking through his protagonist, so I consider them one and the same) claims will "make you believe in God." I don't think that's the case, and it certainly didn't reaffirm my faith or anything. Considering the "twist" at the end, I don't think this book ever aimed to make the reader believe in God so much as in the power and importance of stories. That is, I believe the point of this tale is to make the reader believe in religion. I think Martel does a decent job of arguing that point. What bugs me is that he's so snotty and clumsy in making that argument. At the start of the story, when Pi meets holy men of three different religions and they are awkwardly formal (Martel's writing of dialogue reminded me of Dan Brown's very clumsy and rigid use of transitions and dialogue in his works - and that's not a good thing) in their criticism of each other, and at the end, when he argued for the importance of stories in religion, Martel seemed to be putting forth his belief that he's better at religion than everyone else in this book. Not only is that a cocky and off-putting way to make an argument, but also the behavior of all three holy men was at odds with their open-minded, patient, and forgiving nature prior to that meeting. The parts of this story just don't seem to make sense to me when considered together.

Another annoyance I had with the book was the defense Martel made for zoos. It seemed self-serving, and not very effective.

Anyway, the writing and characterization just seemed clunky, like his father's lessons to him at the zoo. Like the meeting of the holy men, this just seems too precious, stilted, trite.

The dialogue is corny, not very true to life. My favorite parts were when he's out on sea with just the animals, and he's describing his thoughts and observations. It's then and only then that he approaches anything profound.

All the Indian references and religious allusions make sense to me, but are superfluous and make it seem as if the author is trying hard to convince us that he knows a thing or two about India and its religions, that he's lived there for some time.

Comparisons: The understated grimness reminds me of AHWOSG. The parts in India and glimpses into the future remind me of God of Small Things, though he doesn't heighten the suspense and instead undercuts it. The attempts at creativity, variation - Kavalier and Clay. The dialogue - like Dan Brown with better vocabulary. The sea adventure - Old Man and the Sea. The problem: in each of those comparisons, except Brown, this book reminds me of those other, far superior, works.

I did enjoy the comparisons between the religions at the start as they are things that a child would notice about the religions. But Martel really seems to miss the point. Sure, many people practice religion blindly or hypocritically, but many others practice it with far more intelligence than he and Pi show here. This book did not need to be written to help us to be like those people, nor does it.

All in all, I thought the author tried hard, but just is not very good at writing, sad to say, and his work lacked real substance and depth, and that's why it had a sluggish and muted reception. I think it's best taken as a literal tale of adventure and survival, just as Apocalypto can be appreciated as the same. I feel that it's too weak to really be appreciated as a metaphor for anything approaching the greatness of God and religion, as much as Martel might wish it to, and that his self-conscious and condescending preaching undermine such an effort anyway. Still, regardless of what you think of the "reality" of the story, I think he does a good job of making the point that stories can be very effective, often more effective owing to our ability to accept them as they are, for making points and teaching truths. If he'd meant only to achieve that much, I'd have thought he'd acquitted himself well - though I'd still have found his writing ability (or lack thereof), especially when it comes to dialogue, to be quite annoying.

My notes from the book are below, followed by notes that I wrote down from what was discussed at our book club meeting:

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
The cleverness keeps things light and moving, but it feels forced, and corny, as in the comparison between zookeeping and hotel keeping on page 13.
Before, he explained the habits of a sloth. Now he's going (~18) into why zoos are okay for animals. But why? This sort of departure and exploration of seemingly random things lacks the stubborn determination of DFW and the entertaining skill of Chabon
28 - He walked off, pitching and rolling in the wild sea that was the steady ground
28 - I'll be honest about it. It is not atheists who get stuck in my craw, but agnostics. Doubt is useful for a while. We must all pass through the garden of Gethsemane. If Christ played with doubt, so must we. If Christ spent an anguished night in prayer, if He burst out from the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" then surely we are also permitted doubt. But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation.
31 - I learned at my expense that Father believed there was another animal even more dangerous than us, and one that was extremely common, too, found on every continent, in every habitat: the redoubtable species Animalus anthropomorphicus, the animal as seen through human eyes. We've all met one, perhaps even owned one. It is an animal that is "cute", "friendly", "loving", "devoted", "mery", "understanding". These animals lie in ambush in every toy store and children's zoo. Countless stories are told of them. They are the pendants of those "vicious", "bloodthirst", "depraved" animals that inflame the ire of the maniacs I have just mentioned, who vent their spite on them with walking sticks and umbrellas. In both cases we look at an animal and see a mirror. The obsesssion with putting ourselves at the centre of everything is the bane not only of theologians but also of zoologists.
38 - They go through the lesson his dad gives them about all the zoo animals. Story book dads always seem to have these epic lesons to impart.
~44 - interesting discussion of hierarchy/training of animals in zoos/circuses, etc.
48 - He explains saguna/nirguna
50 - In response to a woman who thinks "HariKrishnas" was "hairless Christians": Hindus, in their capacity for love, are indeed hairless Christians, just as Muslims, the way they see God in everything, are bearded Hindus, and Christians, in their devotion to God, are hat-wearing Muslims.
51 - Despite attending a nominally Christian school, I had not yet been inside a church - and I wasn't about to dare the deed now. I knew very little about the religion. It had a reputation for few gods and great violence.
53 - And what a story. The first thing that drew me in was disbelief. What? Humanity sins but it's God's Son who pays the price? I tried to imagine Father saying to me, "Piscine, a lion slipped into the llama pen today and killed two llamas. Yesterday another one killed a black buck. Last week two of them ate the camel. The week before it was painted storks and grey herons. And who's to say for sure who snacked on our golden agouti? The situation has become intolerable. Something must be done. I have decided that the only way the lions can atone for their sins is if I feed you to them." "Yes, Father, that would be the right and logical thing to do. Give me a moment to wash up."
66 - The three holy men meet. Moments like this seem too precious, stilted and pat to be believable. All the understanding the priest had shown to Pi's beliefs and objects are gone here. Is this to show Pi's open-mindedness?
Much of this is still awkward, but it is nice to read about the animal's anguish and dismay on the boat. The dialogue is the most awkward and clumsy, so sections in which there is none shine.
183 - Pi's struggles to kill his first fish
185 - The dorado did a most extraordinary thing as it died: it began to flash all kinds of colours in rapid succession...I felt I was beating a rainbow to death...You may be astonished that in such a short period of time I could go from weeping over the muffled killing of a flying fish to gleefully bludgeoning to death a dorado. I could explai it by arguing that profiting from a pitiful flying fish's navigational mistake made me shy and sorrowful, while the excitement of actively capturing a great dorado made me sanguinary and self-assured. But in point of fact the explanation lies elsewhere. It is simple and brutal: a person can get used to anything, even to killing.
Religious references seem copious, even for a religious scholar
240 - "It's no use. Today I die. I will die today. I die." This was my last entry. I went on from there, endured, but without noting it. Do you see these invisible spirals on the margins of the page? I thought I would run out of paper. It was the pens that ran out."
252 - With the introduction of this blind person, the corniness of dialogue is back. Even when he's nearly dead, Pi can't help this corny dialogue.
Indian references make sense to me but seem unnecessary, superfluous, self-conscious, and anyway he knows a lot of info about India but doesn't plumb down to its depths.
Comparisons: The understated grimness reminds me of AHWOSG. The parts in India and glimpses into the future remind me of God of Small Things, though he doesn't heighten the suspense and instead undercuts it. The attempts at creativity, variation - Kavalier and Clay. The dialogue - like Dan Brown with better vocabulary. The sea adventure - Old Man and the Sea.
The author seems always confused about whether he's writing reality or fantasy. A talking Tiger? A blind castaway who finds and tries to eat him? A floating carnivorous island? I hope this is symbolic because it makes little sense otherwise.
298 - Reason and faith - Is this the point of the story?
302 - More of the point - "I know what you want. You want a story that won't surprise you. That will confirm what you already know. That won't make you see higher or further or differently. You want a flat story. An immobile story. You want dry, yeastless factuality."
So that was the point...an elaborate, often poorly written story to point out that we should be more accepting or less rejecting of stories

From our book club meeting:
Richard parker is his savagery, and he left when he made landfall. the story was an act of desperation - he didn't want to relieve the horror of the story and wants the two japanese men to just let him have his story.
richard parker says he killed a man and a woman. does this mean he killed his mother, that he killed those people?
the sophistication of the book is that you can't prove anything to be real and that this book is more a mirror for the reader...that if you challenge it and choose not to believe it, that's just how you are. 227 - the number of days he was on the ocean. 22/7 = pi. he's named for an irrational number, something that never ends. There are inconsistencies in the two stories, who was the richard parker in the picture. can he possibly atone for what he did

City Island (2009)

2011-09-20T15:46:00.004-04:00

Andy Garcia ... Vince Rizzo
Julianna Margulies ... Joyce Rizzo
Steven Strait ... Tony
Emily Mortimer ... Molly
Ezra Miller ... Vince Jr.
Dominik García-Lorido ... Vivian Rizzo
Carrie Baker Reynolds ... Denise
Hope Glendon-Ross ... Cheryl
Alan Arkin ... Michael Malakov
Directed by Raymond De Felitta

Darkly hilarious, awkward, heartfelt, sincere and strange, this is a movie about people who do care for each other, deep down, in some strange, neurotic ways, who keep very strange secrets from each other (Vince lies to his wife, saying he goes to a poker game, so that he can go to an improvisational acting class and pursue his dream - and he thinks it's better for his wife to think he's cheating than for her to know the truth). I haven't enjoyed watching a group of people argue this much since watching the crew of It's Always Sunny and their constant nonsensical bickering.

I don't know what to say about this movie. It's completely dysfunctional, just like the family. Vince is thickheaded and earnest. He tries to be stern, but it's clear in his secret-keeping that he's not as secure as he'd like to be. And this is a man who's a correctional officer. His daughter pretends to go to school, when really, she's a stripper. His son's a wiseass who's too cool and too smart for everyone. Secretly, he has a fetish for watching fat women eat. And his wife shares a secret with him. They're a group of accepting individuals. After all, none can really take a holier-than-thou stance. If they just put everything out on the table, they'd realize how similar they are in their strange differences. But everything's gotta boil up and come to a hilariously awkward head before that'll happen.

The movie's hilarious, especially as the main character's a macho, masculine, closed-off guy with a sensitive core; a man who tries to be as strict with his family as he is with his prisoners, and ends up taking things to outrageous extremes instead. And oh, I haven't even mentioned...this movie also features not only Alan Arkin, but also, EMILY MORTIMER!! My heart leapt when she popped onto the screen.

Ooh, one of the funny exchanges I actually wrote down: He can go back to boosting ferraris -it says here it was an impala. Who boosts impalas?

And an interesting dichotomy explained by the character, who grew up on City Island, NY, and takes great pride in that fact: "clam diggers vs. muscle suckers - those who stay vs. those who go." Vince seems to take pride in keeping his family - all of his family - together, even if they make each other miserable.

Oh, haha, another thing I enjoyed - one of the first things in the movie, I believe, is when Vince is driving his daughter home, takes his attention off of traffic for a second, and slams into the car in front of him, upon which, if I remember correctly, he gets out and yells at and browbeats the other driver until that driver leaves. Vince is such a great character, played with such verve, fragility and depth by Andy Garcia.

Wonder Boys (2000)

2011-09-20T15:25:00.002-04:00

Michael Douglas ... Prof. Grady Tripp
Tobey Maguire ... James Leer
Frances McDormand ... Dean Sara Gaskell
Robert Downey Jr. ... Terry Crabtree
Katie Holmes ... Hannah Green
Rip Torn ... Quentin 'Q' Morewood
Richard Knox ... Vernon Hardapple
Jane Adams ... Oola
Michael Cavadias ... Miss Antonia 'Tony' Sloviak
Richard Thomas ... Walter Gaskell
Alan Tudyk ... Sam Traxler
Rob McElhenney ... Student
Directed by Curtis Hanson

This is a hard movie for me to review, especially as I wrote down almost no notes even as I watched the movie with my computer handy, and saw it a while ago. It's based on Michael Chabon's novel, and I feel it probably lacks a lot of the depth and details that Chabon surely included in his writing. It's sweet and strange and I'm not sure that I caught a clear message. Actually, and I realize this is a copout, read this excellent review by Ebert. Then come back here and we'll discuss.

So yeah, it is kinda mad-cap, only so slow that it feels like real time, which takes out the zaniness and makes it a bit more surreal, like you feel the panic Grady experiences not because of the editing but because you get to see it unfolding. And I too loved the line about how Grady hadn't made choices in his book writing. Each of the characters is allowed to just exist as he/she is, which is how people like RDJ's character, or Maguire's, can keep from becoming caricatures. I guess, in a sense, this is also one of those movies in which a man who, at some level, refuses to grow up, can still help one of his students to do just that.

One annoyance of mine is that it seems too easy in movies like these (I'm reminded, actually, of Hank Moody's writing in Californication) to have a character carry around a book and hear other characters call the writing and the author a genius. It's easy to say that, harder to show it.

One thing I can't help loving...check out the cast. There's even a little Alan Tudyk thrown in and, randomly, "Mac" from It's Always Sunny, plays some no-name student.

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

2011-09-20T14:42:00.004-04:00

I had to make sure to include an image that didn't have the Oprah Book Club selection sticker on it. Though...kudos to Oprah for a smart choice.

Anyway, so this book is brilliant. It's the first I've read by McCarthy, and I watched the movie (and also No Country For Old Men) before reading the book, so I was familiar with the movie depiction of the story, but had and still have no idea of how McCarthy writes (judging by this tribute/parody of McCarthy's writing, it's generally the way it was here). People have complained that he doesn't know how to write, that his writing is too clipped, too sparse. Again, perhaps it wouldn't fit elsewhere, but I thought it was perfect here. This is a tale of a post-apocalyptic world in which there's almost no one to trust, no pleasantries to exchange, with all of language, society and human interaction stripped down until only the barest necessities for survival are left. And so it is that the characters speak in such short, colorless sentences that even punctuation is left out, commas disappearing, don'ts becoming donts. Like Milch did with Deadwood, McCarthy creates a bleak, desolate world and then mines it for not only all its raw emotion, hearbreak and ugliness, but also the beauty that survives, that most basic and deep aspect of humanity, whose extinguishing would spell the demise of humanity with it.

McCarthy never explains what exactly what happened to create the world of this novel - there are hints that it's nuclear holocaust that's made the sky grey, the earth cold and barren. He just drops us into the middle of it with a man and his boy. The mother's long dead, presumably by her own hand (we hope), as he explains later. Neither has a name, at least not one that's shared with us, which, again, seems to get to the heart of the nature of this world. What need is there for such formalities, such embellishments and flourishes? He's a man and he's his boy. They belong to each other, have only each other to look out for and to trust. And that's that (I did think it interesting when the blind man refused to give any identifying information for fear that it would create a impression of him in a possible future). They're traveling on the road, heading South, where they hope to find warmer climes and more food. Whether this is a story the man tells the boy to give him false hope, or there is real hope for their destination is unclear. What is probably clear is that they must keep moving. To stop moving is to die.

As I explain in my notes below, the exchanges between man and son are profound because of how to the point and bare-bones they are. It reminds me of abstract art - stripped bare of anything but the essential elements, just like their lives and communication. Then also, I love lines like these: The air grew thin and he thought the summit could not be far. Perhaps tomorrow. Tomorrow came and went. There's no anticipation, no buildup, two word sentences that run into each other make the passage of time very quick and inauspicious. Everything is more palpable and potent because the boy's innocence is placed against the bleak background. He knows they can't trust anyone but he cries for the lightning-struck man they abandon.

Oh, on the topic of McCarthy's language, the wife's arguments [for what I cannot say here] are eloquent and relatively verbose, which makes his style seem purposefully sparse throughout the rest of the novel.

Other wonderful things about this novel are McCarthy's gallows humor (I tried to put a few examples in my notes below), and how the man always works to build up his son and never feel regret or censure from him. What's so sweet and poignant about it is that his son isn't young, and he's aged prematurely because he's lived his entire life in this "kill or be killed" dog eat dog world, and so he knows when his father is playing psychiatrist with him, and he worries about his father, notices his deteriorating health even as he tries to hide it from his son.

As for how the movie compares to the book, I think it was a pretty good adaptation. There are tiny few examples of things that were changed in the movie to make it more bleak and unsubtle. The context of the "If I were to make the world, I would make it just so and no different [I'm paraphrasing]" line is used in a sarcastic way in the movie, while it was sincere and sweet as part of a flashback in the book. At the same time, some of the harshest parts of the book were left out of the movie. Relative to the book, then, the movie seemed to pull some punches. Still, it was a gorgeous representation of the pages of this novel, and I like both versions very much. I thought all of the actors did a great job capturing what McCarthy created here, and though I had no difficulty picturing what he described in the book, it was nice (so to speak - it was more like "heart-wrenching") to see it brought to life.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
Notes with page numbers from the paperback:
From the start, he eschews punctuation
4 - glassed - is that a word? He uses it for when the man uses his telescope/binoculars
Incomplete sentences, improper gerunds, even leaves off the apostrophe in contractions
5 - He knew only that the child was his warrant. If he is not the word of God God never spoke.
6 - Are you okay? he said. The boy nodded. Then they set out in the gunmetal light, shuffling through the ash, each the other's world entire.
11 - What would you do if I died? If you died I would want to die too. So you could be with me? Yes. So I could be with you. Okay. <-- They hardly speak and exchanges like this one are more profound because of how to the point they are.
15 - The faint light all about them, quivering and sourceless, refracted in the rain of drifting soot. <-- The language isn't dramatic, just matter of fact and full of experience-derived acceptance. "If they got wet there would be no fires to dry by. If they got wet they would probably die.
16 - Bleak imagery, like the snowflake "expiring"..."like the last host of Christendom."
This is like abstract art, stripped bare of anything but the essential elements, like their lives and communication.
32 - On this road there are no godspoke men. They are gone and I am left and they have taken with them the world. Query: How does the never to be differ from what never was? Dark of the invisible moon. The nights only now slightly less black. By day the banished sun circles the earth like a grieving mother with a lamp.
33 - The air grew thin and he thought the summit could not be far. Perhaps tomorrow. Tomorrow came and went. <--no anticipation, no buildup, two word sentences that run into each other make the passage of time very quick, inauspicious.
Everything is more palpable and potent because the boy's innocence is placed against the bleak background. He knows they can't trust anyone, but he cries for the lightning-struck man they abandon. His wife's arguments for taking their lives were much more eloquent and filled out, making his style seem purposefully sparse throughout the rest of the novel.
Why no names? Because what would they matter or mean anymore (it's interesting when the blind man still refuses to give any identifying information for fear that it would create a bad impression of him in a possible future)? As when the boy asks who the blind man is and the father answers, "Who is anyone?"
After the man kills the guy who tried to kidnap his son, he asks his father, who said they'd seen the bad guys, if they were still the good guys. The marchers with the slave driven wagons, the chains and gauntles, and pregnant women were all left out of the movie, no?
He slept and woke and the rain slackened and after a while it stopped. <--again, the monotony and meaninglessness.
127 - This world's morality: They're going to eat them, aren't they? Yes. And we couldn't help them because they'd eat us too [note, not a question]. Yes. And that's why we couldnt help them. Yes. Okay.
The happiest moment of the novel, when they find that bunker, is soiled too, and made bittersweet, both because the man can't recall the lost days for his son without all of the loss as well, and because he has dreams that seem to portend danger in their situation, and make him regret finding the bunker at all.
166 - Do you want to eat with us?... "What do I have to do? Tell us where the world went. What? You don't have to do anything... <--McCarthy's gallows humor.
169 - Do you wish you would die? No. But I might wish I had died. When you're alive you've always got that ahead of you. Or you might wish you'd never been born. Well beggars cant be choosers.
The whole conversation with Ely (the blind guy) is wonderful and profoundly understated, even compared to the movie. I wish I could copy it all.
170 - There is no God. No? There is no God and we are his prophets.
172 - I've not seen a fire in a long time, that's all. I live like an animal. You dont want to know the things that I've eaten. When I saw that boy, I thought that I had died. You thought he was an angel? I didn't know what he was. I never thought to see a child again. I didn't know that would happen. What if I said that he's a god? The old man shook his head. I'm past all that now. Have been for years. Where men cant live gods fare no better. You'll see. It's better to be alone. So I hope that's not true what you said because to be on the road with the last god would be a terrible thing so I hope it's not true. Things will be better when everyone's gone.
175 - He knelt there wheezing softly, his hands on his knees. I am going to die, he said. Tell me how I am to do that.
176-7 - They ate in silence. After a while the boy said: I forgot to turn off the valve, didn't I? It's not your fault. I should have checked. The boy set his plate down on the tarp. He looked away. It's not your fault. You have to turn off both valves. The threads were supposed to be sealed with teflon tape or it would leak and I didn't do it. It's my fault. I didn't tell you. There wasn't any tape though, was there? It's not your fault. <--He has to constantly play psychiatrist even as his son knows he's doing it, which makes for more poignancy and heartache as well.
185 - You don't believe me. I believe you. Okay. I always believe you. I don't think so. Yes I do. I have to.
198 - They find the newborn the family had eaten, also not in the movie.
204 - Then he found a coin. Or a button. Deep crust of verdigris. He chipped at it with the nail of his thumb. It was a coin. The lettering was in spanish. He started to call to the boy where he trudged ahead and then he looked about at the gray country and the gray sky and he dropped the coin and hurried on to catch up.
219 - The just so and no different line, only it's in a flashback with his wife and so more romantic, wistful. The movie was more on the nose, or at least that line was less bitter.
231-2 And it may rain. How can you tell? I can smell it. What does it smell like? Wet ashes. Come on. <--humor
243 - He thought about the boy and his concerns and after a while he said: You're probably right. I think they're probably dead. Because if they were alive we'd be taking their stuff. And we're not taking their stuff. I know. Okay. <--Reminds me of the morality of the two homeless people in The Host.
257ish - They catch up with "Omar" (Michael K. Williams [in the movie], whose character stole everything the man and boy had, and made off with it in their cart), who looks at the boy and realizes there's not quite enough humanity in them for him to get away with something.
259 - You're not the one who has to worry about everything. The boy said something but he couldn't understand him. What? he said. He looked up, his wet and grimy face. Yes I am, he said. I am the one.
260 (again about Omar, later that night) - I wasn't going to kill him, he said. But the boy didn't answer. They rolled themselves in the blanket and lay there in the dark. He thought he could hear the sea but perhaps it was just the wind. He could tell by his breathing that the boy was awake and after a while the boy said: But we did kill him.
272 - What's the bravest thing you ever did? He spat into the road a bloody phlegm. Getting up this morning, he said. Really? No. Don't listen to me. Come on, let's go.
278-9 -(in reference to the man's constant instructions to the boy to always "carry the fire") Is it real? The fire? Yes it is. Where is it? I don't know where it is. Yes you do. It's inside you. It was always there. I can see it.
279 - You said you wouldnt ever leave me. I know. I'm sorry. You have my whole heart. You always did. You're the best guy. You always were. If I'm not here you can still talk to me. You can talk to me and I'll talk to you. You'll see.
281 But who will find him if he's lost? Who will find the little boy? Goodness will find the little boy. It always has. It will again.
286-7 (Ends with:) - Once there were brook trout in the streams in the mountains. You could see them standing in the amber current where the white edges of their fins wimpled softly in the flow. They smelled of moss in your hand. Polished and muscular and torsional. On their backs were vermiculate patterns that were maps of the world in its becoming. Maps and mazes. Of a thing which could not be put back. Not be made right again. In the deep glens where they lived all things were older than man and they hummed of mystery.

The Book Thief - Markus Zusak

2011-09-20T13:49:00.007-04:00

I read this book as part of our school book club. I was happy at first, as I'd been mostly disappointed with Life of Pi, which I believe we read immediately before it, and I found this author to have much more skill with words than the previous one. It had an interesting premise - a novel about a Christian German girl as narrated by Death. And it's not bad, probably better than much else that's out there, but I grew less impressed by it as I went along, until I found it to be as manipulative, dramatic and lacking in verisimilitude as I did The Kite Runner in retrospect. Many authors try to use blatant foreshadowing to heighten suspense, to sensitize us to heartbreaking developments before they happen. I thought it was very well done, especially with the out-of-order timeline, in both The Time Traveler's Wife and The God of Small Things, but I thought both of those authors did a much better job of it than this one. Here, I felt everything turned out to be a bit too obvious. "Here's some joy. But oh, don't get too excited, because some sadness is coming up real soon, I promise." Over and over. As I say with television writing, I don't want to see the author's hand in plot developments, and I was constantly aware of the author in his attempt to structure the story so as to get the maximal emotional effect. In the end, found that he was undercutting the suspense and the emotional weight (instead of heightening them), and I just stopped caring. The archetypes he'd created that were previously effective, like the outwardly coarse and profane Rosa with her soft heart, became too precious in an uncharacteristic way - he used Rosa's swearing as a crutch, a sort of feigned bittersweetness.

Below are notes I took from the paperback as I read in anticipation of our weekly meeting, as well as notes that I took during the meeting. The first few notes won't spoil anything, so check them out for some examples of the writer's excellent way with words. Here's a later example that I really liked: "...when Himmel Street woke later in July, a returned soldier was discovered to be dead. He was hanging from one of the rafters in a laundry up near Frau Diller's. Another human pendulum. Another clock, stopped."

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
First chapter - Death and Chocolate - wonderful intro with death talking about how it's easy enough to take the dead, but hard to witness the survivors.
31 - Everything about her was undernourished. Wirelike shins. Coat hanger arms. She did not produce it easily, but when it came, she had a starving smile.
60 - (Rudy's father, Alex Steiner) Somewhere, far down, there was an itch in his heart, but he made it a point not to scratch it. He was afraid of what might come leaking out. Alex tells his son that he can't paint himself black, that he can't want to be like a black person, or a jew, or anyone that's not "us".
There are some easily recognizable archetypes, like Hans (Papa), who was in the 10% of Germany that didn't show unflinching support for Hitler in 1933, or Rosa, who's tough and profane on the outside and soft on the inside. And so on. Still, they're well drawn.
63 - Hans Hubermann wore a face with the shades pulled down.
84 - Like most misery, it started with apparent happiness.
86 - (when Papa stays up all night to help Liesel finish her book, though he's exhausted) - A few times, Papa nearly slept, succumbing to the itchy fatigue in his eyes and the wilting of his head. Liesel caught him out on each occasion, but she had neither the selflessness to allow him to sleep nor the hide to be offended. She was a girl with a mountain to climb.
89 - In the end, the twist is like A Christmas Carol, but the author does a good job of setting up how much Hans loved cigarettes - smoking, rolling, smelling, holding - to show the sacrifice of exchanging them for a couple books.
102-3 There's a lot of the [mandated] flag waving/displaying of nationalism. The burning of things from Germany's past remind me of the wiping out of the past, and even vocabulary, that we saw in 1984. And all of this reminded me that punishment should rehabilitate because if it cripples, it leads to either destruction - or this sort of fascism erupting out of the smoldering embers.
109 - Although something inside told her that this was a crime - after all, her three books were the most precious items she owned - she was compelled to see the thing lit. She couldn't help it. I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that's where they begin. Their great skill is their capacity to escalate. The thought of missing it was eased when she found a gap in the bodies and was able to see the mound of guilt, still intact.
115-6 - Hans slaps Liesel for saying she hates Hitler. She becomes very solemn as he explains to her that she's never to express that sentiment anywhere outside of their house.
How perfect that Liesel stole a book from a book burning mound.
139 (Max waits to get notice/tickets to go to the Hubermanns') - His eyes did not do anything that shock normally describes. No snapping, no slapping, no jolt. Those things happen when you wake from a bad dream, not when you wake into one. No, his eyes dragged themselves open, from darkness to dim. It was his body that reacted, shrugging upward and throwing out an arm to grip the air.
174-5 - (Death) - I've sen so many young men over the years who think they're running at other young men. They are not. They're running at me.
208 (Max, who knows he puts the Hubermanns at risk just by staying in their home) - He wanted to walk out -Lord, how he wanted to (or at least he wanted to want to) - but he knew he wouldn't. It was much the same as the way he left his family in Stuttgart, under a veil of fabricated loyalty. To live. Living was living. The price was guilt and shame.
It's a nice touch that Max's booklet is printed in this book as if it really was written over a whited out copy of Mein Kampf
The author keeps referring to Max as The Jew.
At times, like when we have the number of visits to the convalescent Max's bedroom with Liesel hitting the most of the three at night, the author seems egregiously unsubtle and predictable and all the sharing of future events becomes, if not annoying, at least unnecessary and disappointing. As with Life of Pi, he's undercutting both the suspense and the emotional weight (unlike Niffeneger or Roy, who managed to make them more palpable). Rosa, too, is becoming too precious - in an uncharacteristic way. The author uses her swearing as a crutch, a sort of feigned-bitter sweetness.
375-6 (in regards to the Germans on Himmel Street as they huddled together in a shelter during a raid): Did they deserve any better, these people? How many had actively persecuted others, high on the scent of Hitler's gaze, repeating his sentences, his paragraphs, his opus? Was Rosa Hubermann responsible? The hider of a Jew? Or Hans? Did they all deserve to die? The children?
388 - Liesel heils Hitler out of respect to the two sons Mrs. Holtzapfel has in the army (both of whom would die before the end of the book)
394-5 - So fast that he couldn't stop and think about what he was doing, Hans gives bread to a Jew on parade and is whipped publically for it. Wow, Max just understands and leaves, and Hans is devastated, though that's the irony of their situation. If they kept Max b/c they loved Jews, then he could only love one at a time. Wow, the Steiners don't want to give up Rudy to a Nazi school and Hans has yet to be punished for his infraction, so Hans and Alex Steiner both get drafted.
Max's story for Liesel, The Word Shaker, shows he had love and forgiveness in his heart despite all his hardships.
502 (Michael Hopfatzel hangs himself in a laundry) - ...when Himmel Street woke later in July, a returned soldier was discovered to be dead. He was hanging from one of the rafters in a laundry up near Frau Diller's. Another human pendulum. Another clock, stopped.
521 - Liesel expresses rage against words, without which Hitler would have had no power - ironic as that is for her, lover of words
Death gets the story Liesel was writing (in a blank book the Mayor's wife gave her) when Himmel street is bombed and everyone but Liesel dies. The Mayor's wife takes her in. She meets Max again later on. She lives to old age and dies as a grandmother, when she meets Death again and He tells her about her book, which he's been carrying all this time.

From our book club meeting: The Mayor's wife stopped having Rosa wash her clothes, even though Rosa sent Liesel to make it harder for people to fire them (this was due to the economic hardships everyone was facing). Liesel hated her for her cowardice, for mourning her son in such a weak and pathetic way...and she stole books from their house, though she realized later that the Mayor's wife actually wanted her to do so and even left her a dictionary and cookies. Hans took Max in because of a promise he made to a fellow soldier back when he was in the Army - who volunteered Hans for undesirable duty that actually kept him from combat and saved his life. Years later, he kept his promise even though it meant risking their lives when they were safe as Christians. At one point, Max got very sick and they worried not only that he would die but also what they would do with a dead Jew in their basement.
Hitler stole from the Jews using words and Liesel stole words to take back...and gave words to a Jew.
Intentional (?) that Mein Kampf isn't completely covered...like it's not possible to wipe it all out
Is humanity worth saving? He's certainly more optimistic about humanity than was McCarthy.
Why did Liesel react so strongly against the Mayor's wife? Abandonment (was she her savior?)? Fiscal reasons? Was she stealing from her b/c she'd had so much taken from her and was taking something back? Because she'd lost so much and this woman hadn't lost nearly as much?

The Kids Are All Right (2010)

2011-09-20T13:14:00.005-04:00

Julianne Moore ... Jules
Annette Bening ... Nic
Mark Ruffalo ... Paul
Mia Wasikowska ... Joni
Josh Hutcherson ... Laser
Yaya DaCosta ... Tanya
Joaquín Garrido ... Luis
Directed by Lisa Cholodenko

Funny, sweet, intelligent, modern in its premise, and starring at least two actors whom I really love; warm and fun.

This is a pretty good trailer because you should know immediately upon watching it if you do/don't fall into the camp who would like this movie. For example, my wife would see the crying and hurt in the trailer and wonder what kind of studio would market a movie that way and why she would ever watch a movie that puts all that up front instead of surprising you with it after establishing some more feel-good vibes early on in the movie. Which is to say, she wouldn't watch such a movie.

But I would. The premise is that two kids who are raised by a lesbian couple who had them through artificial insemination with sperm from the same man decide that they want to meet said biological father. Upon doing so, they find him to be carefree and young-at-heart. He's not necessarily any more mature or accomplished than their moms, but he is very different, and this attracts at least the sister out of the two to him, bringing him into the lives of her moms as well. He has a similar effect on one of the moms, played by Julianne Moore. And, well, you can imagine how this might play out.

Things I liked about the movie:
-I'm a sucker for humor involving "enlightened" liberal parents like these ones and those in Easy A. For example, I love when Jules says "Sometimes you hurt the ones you love the most. I don't know why. If I read more Russian novels..." or when the moms think their son is gay, and when they think he's going to talk about it to them, he instead asks why they watch gay male porn, to which Jules again starts awkwardly explaining details involving straight women insincerely playing the part of lesbians in porn, etc. etc. before getting cut off by Nic.
-I also love opportunities to turn stereotypes on their heads, such as when Nic says, "I need your observations like I need a dick in my ass."
-And I can't get enough of Mark Ruffalo being awkward and sheepish and unsure of himself in that endearing way that he does.
-Jules and Nic's relationship is a sweet and earnest one. It's fun seeing them pick on each other with all kinds of psychology, and seeing how much in love they really seem to be.

Something I didn't much care for, even as it was wonderfully, and awkwardly, funny:
-I thought it was really predictable, though not insincere, how Joni's friend teased her constantly about her guy friend and their unresolved sexual tension - you just knew she'd act out and make out with said friend, that he'd be turned off by it, and that she'd then act out with her moms and tell them they have no right to tell her how to be. It wasn't terrible, but this movie was better than that, I thought.

Assassination of a High School President (2008)

2011-09-20T12:52:00.003-04:00

Mischa Barton ... Francesca Fachini
Reece Thompson ... Bobby Funke
Bruce Willis ... Principal Jared T. Kirkpatrick
Michael Rapaport ... Coach Z
Kathryn Morris ... Nurse Platt
Melonie Diaz ... Clara Diaz
Directed by Brett Simon

This movie demonstrates why it's important what a movie wishes to be and how seriously it takes itself. Here is a tongue-in-cheek noir aimed at teens, a movie in which the Principal, played with exceeding gravitas and subdued glee by Bruce Willis, goes around saying ridiculous things, lecturing naked students in the showers, and who rips off the sleeves of his shirt and goes into action when he perceives a threat to his student body. It's dark and self-important and random. The suspension hall looks like a psych ward from movies. Students are sent to the yard like prisoners. They play strip battleship in detention. It's a character assassination mystery noir that straddles and dances upon the line between reality and spoof. And it's a great deal of fun with some sincere depth and a lot of laughs, many of them quite awkward.

This trailer's not the best, a bit disjointed, but it's better than nothing:

So as best as I can remember, the movie's about a nobody at a high school who tries to uncover a mystery and achieve personal recognition through one big breaking story in the paper. And so he does. But he realizes in time that the mystery is deeper, and he more naive than he thought, that the powers-that-be in high school know what they're doing far better than he. It's quite a long, twisted tale until the end, when it makes sense...not that it was supposed to ahead of time.

I'm not sure what else I can say without revealing too much. You really just have to see it. It's all surreal, with dark greys and blues. It's very dramatic, often randomly so, as in Principal Kirkpatrick's impromptu pep rally in which he makes his students sing and dance to a song he made up about being a soldier and fighting for America. And yet, somehow it works. And in addition to all the awkwardness, the randomness, the humor at the expense of a narrator/protagonist who struggles to be heroic even in his own story, there's a bunch of great gross-out humor, much of it delivered with whispered gravitas by Willis. Oh, and his character's constant smackdowns on gum-chewing, shown briefly in the trailer, is also a joy and another nice idiosyncrasy for his persona.

Rango (2011)

2011-09-20T11:50:00.004-04:00

Johnny Depp ... Rango / Lars (voice)
Isla Fisher ... Beans (voice)
Abigail Breslin ... Priscilla (voice)
Ned Beatty ... Mayor (voice)
Alfred Molina ... Roadkill (voice)
Bill Nighy ... Rattlesnake Jake (voice)
Stephen Root ... Doc / Merrimack / Mr. Snuggles (voice)
Harry Dean Stanton ... Balthazar (voice)
Timothy Olyphant ... Spirit of the West (voice)
Ray Winstone ... Bad Bill (voice)
Ryan Hurst ... Jedidiah (voice)
Vincent Kartheiser ... Ezekiel / Lasso Rodent (voice)
Gore Verbinski ... Sergeant Turley / Crevice / Slim / Lupe - Mariachi Violin (voice)
Directed by Gore Verbinski

A delightful film that reminded me at times of the playfulness of Fantastic Mr. Fox and the childlike joy I experienced while watching that, only it was at times deeper than that film, with existentialism and more adult content, from what I can remember. It's hilarious and a treat for any lover of great vocabulary, is visually arresting, and makes very good use of its soundtrack. It's also sweet at times, sad at others. And oh, look at that powerhouse cast!

So Rango is actually not named Rango at all. He's a domesticated chameleon that is thrown from his cage and car into a new, unfamiliar world, where he assumes a new identity as a would-be hero. You can imagine, having seen this story played out dozens of times, the kinds of obstacles he'd run into and what might be his stumbling blocks. But his journey starts with a conversation with an armadillo who speaks to him about crossing to the other side of the highway - metaphorically speaking. His journey is accompanied throughout with narrative mariachi owls who prognosticate his imminent demise. It features nightmares about the dangers he faces, existentialism, and a point when Rango gives up on everything, only to meet The Spirit of the West, someone he'd probably invented, a man who looks like early Clint Eastwood and is voiced by Timothy Olyphant. In other words, this isn't your ordinary movie about rediscovering oneself as a hero for the less fortunate and controlling ones destiny. It has deep depths and such great heights.

Anyway, watch this movie. It's a ton of fun, is earnest and deep, and is very intelligent as it takes a fresh - or at least true to life - look at a familiar tale.
-There are a number of homages, from the Pulp Fiction theme knockoff that starts and ends the movie, to what I perceived as a Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas allusion, to familiar elements from spaghetti Westerns and movies like Desperado.
-As I said, the vocabulary is great. Beans gets called a "trollop," which I always love to hear.
-There's also much silliness in the dialogue, such as, "There are three. One is blind, and one has an enlarged prostate and is riding side-saddle" and "I'm gonna strip away this mystery and expose its private parts."
-I love when movies ostensibly aimed at children have adult themes and content in them, not so much because they keep me engaged (I don't need that necessarily), but instead because I'm tired of the coddling of children and adults by Hollywood and all the neutered political correctness of our society. In this movie, we have the owls actually sing, "Donde esta tus juevos" at one point, and language like "Sign the damn paper," "Look into my eyes. I wanna see you die" and "You go to Hell." Less importantly, and much more obviously, though I enjoyed it all the same, we have "Thespians? They're illegal in eight states!"
-As I said, the movie is gorgeous to look at, from little details to how the lights of passing cars on the highway light up his face, to how the sparks rise up off a fire. Industrial Light & Magic...kudos to you.
-We have some expert use of some classical masterpieces. Always appreciated.
-Religious imagery is mocked and derided, owing to its use by the movie's villains, but there is also spirituality that is sincerely initiated by Spoons.
-Simon Pegg and Nick Frost have taught us that even the awake amongst moviegoers/makers should not be above enjoying the tropes of summer blockbusters, and here we see an exciting and hilarious extended chase/fight scene featuring flying bandits and explosions galore.
-As cool and exciting as it is to see Rango using his wits and luck to get himself and the town of Dirt out of various sticky situations, like some of the pieces of classical music featured in the movie, what enhances every such moment in this movie is its range and depth, as in the tenderness of Rango's interaction with Beans, or the sadness, despair and fear in Rango's darker moments. His personal nadir is one such beautifully rendered and directed scene, and it adds weight to everything that follows it, making it more than just a usual feel-good comeback into something much more real.
-Also helping to that end is Rango's sincere transition and transformation from someone who's playing a part and having fun to someone who is won over by not just the little lady but also all the townspeople, and who takes up their cause sincerely.

Game of Thrones - Season 1

2011-09-19T20:21:00.009-04:00

Lena Headey ... Cersei Lannister
Jack Gleeson ... Joffrey Baratheon
Sean Bean ... Eddard Stark
Michelle Fairley ... Catelyn Stark
Emilia Clarke ... Daenerys Targaryen
Iain Glen ... Ser Jorah Mormont
Sophie Turner ... Sansa Stark
Maisie Williams ... Arya Stark
Alfie Allen ... Theon Greyjoy
Peter Dinklage ... Tyrion Lannister
Ron Donachie ... Ser Rodrik Casse
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau ... Jaime Lannister
Aidan Gillen ... Petyr Baelish
Kit Harington ... Jon Snow
Isaac Hempstead Wright ... Bran Stark
Jason Momoa ... Khal Drogo
Richard Madden ... Robb Stark
Created by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, based on the books by George RR Martin

I resisted watching this show for a good while. I was skeptical because people just seem too easily wowed by HBO fare lately. And because it seemed to have a lot of gratuitous nudity (which it does), a trend in premium channel shows of late that seems to be masking a deteriorating level of quality. And I wasn't sold on the show based on the pilot, which really annoyed me for reasons that I'll explain below. But every other episode after it was spectacular. This show has so many things I love that I am afraid that the list I'll provide below will not do it justice, especially as I just watched the show and didn't really take notes.

Game of Thrones is based on the A Song of Fire and Ice novels by George R. R. Martin. The world of the story exists in the space between Braveheart and Lord of the Rings, so if you don't like middle-ages England or anything remotely resembling fantasy, this perhaps isn't for you. Alan said it did for the genre what Simon, Milch and Chase did for Police, Western and Wiseguy shows, and I see it now. That is, if you appreciate good writing, dialogue, and acting, if you like depth and complexity in your TV, if you want to feel for the characters in your shows, even the less venerable amongst them, and if you care for these things first and foremost over the specific setting/time in which the stories are told, you'll appreciate this show. By the way, Alan's blog, as usual, is a great place to check in to make sure you're catching what you should be. Other good places would be Wiki, or this "wiki". And as is usually the case for HBO shows, the show's own website is a good place to get character information and episode synopses, like this one for the first episode. I didn't find it so difficult to follow what's going on even though I didn't use any source other than Alan's blog. That said, I couldn't draw you a family tree if you asked me to.

Okay, so the title refers to something one of the characters said...that in this game of thrones, you win or you die. There is nothing in between. And man, what a game. There's one throne in question, the kingship over seven kingdoms. And there are somewhere between a half dozen and a dozen people with not only designs upon sitting upon that throne, but also a legitimate shot at it, if not a rightful claim. There's been so much backstabbing, so much plotting and switching of allegiances, that anyone and no one really has claim to it all. The series starts with the throne being occupied by King Robert, who seems much more interested in wining, dining and sleeping around. He calls out to his old friend for help as his "Hand," and though this friend, "Ned," Lord of Winterfell, is righteous enough to make a good King, he's neither cunning enough to be a successful one, nor any interest in it. By accepting the position, he splits his immediate family between two distant kingdoms and acquires new enemies, both within and without the capitol, King's Landing.

For me to make an attempt at greater exposition would be an exercise in futility. There are far too many players and machinations for me to ever try to summarize them. But while I'm on the subject of exposition, let me get to the one thing I didn't like about the show, at least at first, before I move on to the many, many things I loved about it.

So there is a ton of exposition for this show to get out. I haven't read the books, so I have no idea how the show compares to the books. But just for a show, the first episode was clunky with all its clumsily delivered backstories. I understand that there were a lot of houses, families, characters, and a lot of history to share in that first episode, so it was no easy task. But, it turns out, all that obviousness was short-lived, and the remainder of the episodes were not so on-the-head about everything.

Instead, the show has used monologues and stories in much the same way and with the same effectiveness and dramatic effect that Breaking Bad has, especially with Aaron Paul's character.
Other good things:
-Peter Dinklage's character, the dwarf brother of the queen and her twin brother, and his acting in the part, are awesome. What his character, Tyrion, lacks in height, he makes up for with moxie, charm, wit, and a ton of cleverness. Dinklage clearly enjoys the role and improves every scene that includes him, all without hamming it up, and often while adding some very real depth and pathos to the proceedings. His character may epitomize the show and many of its characters. He's tragic and triumphant, an anti-hero and survivor, but also a half-decent man in a world where even that much is hard to come by, and far from a coward.
-Ned seems like he's the protagonist at first. He's not. The game is the focus of the series. Still, what a character is Ned's, what great acting and writing. He's probably the most decent man in the show, but he's depicted in a way that we can understand and appreciate him and his inner struggles easily without having to be beat over the head with any preaching from/about him.
-Speaking of which, there are so many great depictions of honor, principle, prestige, pride, and the like on this show, and all of it far more believable and with a foundation of strong words, and not manipulative Hollywood soundtracks. For example, there are these lines (whose speaker I can't reveal at this time): You think my life is such a precious thing to me, that I would trade my honor for a few more years… of what? You grew up with actors. You learned their craft, and you learned it well. But I grew up with soldiers. I learned how to die a long time ago.”
-Joffrey - What a perfectly chosen actor. Much like Draco in the Harry Potter series or that prissy prince in Braveheart, or Commodus in Gladiator, he fits the part of whiny and weak. But I like that the show gives him more than just that. Probably not any more depth or complexity or any redeeming qualities. But it is safe to say that he's a force to be reckoned with, a real danger, especially with his mother backing him.
-Oh, did I mention this movie has dragons, zombies and blood magic in it? Not featured prominently thus far, but it's there, just so you know.
-So something I love about the show - no one's safe. The show seems organic in that way, like people live and die according to the laws of their world and not the laws of TV casting. It's a good thing because some pretty screwed up things happen in their world.
-As Alan pointed out, episodes and the season as a whole end not with cliffhangers that keep audiences hanging on and tuning in just to find something out (this is how I felt about Weeds, and after the second season, the cliffhangers were just not enough to make up with my disappointment with the show, so I gave it up), but instead, the show ends its episodes and seasons (as Simon described doing with The Wire) as chapters in a novel would end, leaving the audience not guessing at the nature of some big reveal, but instead excited about even more developments, even more pieces moving into place against each other. As such, the writers don't attempt to really tie up all the loose ends by season's end. Instead, they complete many of those characters' arcs and leave them poised for the next battle, the next struggle. It's wonderful, really. Each episode leaves me wanting to learn about these people and their histories, and to see more of how they realize their potential or fail to do so. Even when beloved or intriguing characters die, I'm excited to see how those who are left behind will respond, even possibly pick up the pieces and go farther than those who were left behind.
-There's a lot of really screwed up things in this world. A lot of sexism, classism, and the like, aside from just evil deeds in general. The show makes no apologies for it all. In Daenerys, we see a very strong female character who makes the most of a crappy situation and becomes one of the most savvy and successful characters, male or female, on the show. The Queen and the Lady of Winterfell likewise present very strong examples of female characters on the show. The show is replete with characters who feel entitled, wronged, or disenfranchised because of the accident of their birth, and I love how the show allows for many interactions between characters on all sides of these divides to discuss what it means to them. It's much like the interaction between the classes on Downton Abbey, only much more fluid.
-There's wonderful wit and dialogue in the show, so it's a treat for any fan of words and language. For example, when Robert slaps his wife, leaving a bruise on her face, they exchange this sharp repartee: "I'll wear it like a badge of honor." "Wear it in silence, or I'll honor you again."
-Omigod, I nearly forgot the actress who plays Arya, who is an impish and strong-hearted little tomboy. She's spectacular, an absolute dream, from her expressions of joy to outright rage and distress. Mention of her reminds me also of her "dancing" instructor, Syrio, who was also wonderfully portrayed, and their sword-fighting lessons were always an entertaining part of the episodes in which they appeared.
-If you've watched other shows on HBO and other premium channels, or pay close attention to character actors in general, you'll be pleased with all the talent assembled for this show. Great acting all around and great stuff with which to work.

There's probably so much more that I'm forgetting, but I think that's plenty all the same. It's a credit to the show that it's placed in such lofty company, and that any given episode, much less the whole season, can warrant so many words from me and also from people who are far more succinct than I. But watch the show and you'll see that there's no end to the potential of things to admire, discuss and expand upon.

Paul (2011)

2011-09-19T19:55:00.004-04:00

Simon Pegg ... Graeme Willy
Nick Frost ... Clive Gollings
Jeffrey Tambor ... Adam Shadowchild
Jane Lynch ... Pat Stevens
David Koechner ... Gus
Seth Rogen ... Paul (voice)
Jason Bateman ... Agent Zoil
Sigourney Weaver ... The Big Guy
Bill Hader ... Haggard
Joe Lo Truglio ... O'Reilly
Kristen Wiig ... Ruth Buggs
Directed by Greg Mottola

A really funny, sometimes sweet and heartfelt, often childish and raunchy road trip/chase movie that is solid when you compare it to most comedies out there, even those that heavily feature the American comedic actors featured here, but which pales in comparison to the previous stellar work from Pegg and Frost.

Everything you need to know about the movie you can figure out from watching the trailer here. It gives a good idea of the silliness of the movie as well. Everything else I want to say, I think I'll do in bullet points.

=Even crap from Pegg and Frost is better than most comedy out there, so if you like them, definitely watch this. I only say that it can be disappointing because this movie doesn't do for road trip movies and close encounters of the third kind movies what Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz did for their respective genres. This is more in the vein of most Judd Apatow movies. It has its sweet moments because of how wonderful the two leads are as actors and writers. But the movie's kinda aimless, disorganized, and lacking in a complete vision.
-Bateman mailed this movie in, I think. Well, really, anybody could have done his part. It's not like only Bateman can play this level of jerk. And I didn't think Weaver really added anything by way of gravitas or moxie, as perhaps she was expected to considering her character.
-Wiig - I can't ever dislike her, it seems. At first, her character was wonderfully understated. And though I don't think her newbie-at-cursing profanity wasn't as hilarious as any of Poehler's improvisational work on Parks and Recreation, it was still hilariously earnest.
-I liked Rogen in the titular role as well as Paul's character. He's mellow, patient, not just a sarcastic know-it-all. It was a well-written part and allowed Rogen to tone down the snark a bit, which is good for him.
-The music at the diner sounds like the music at the cantina in Star Wars
-I enjoyed this exchange: "This is strong stuff, I got it from the military. This is the stuff that killed Dylan" "Dylan's not dead" "Isn't he?"

While I wouldn't mind watching a string of movies like this one from the pair, but I hope they come back into form because while this movie is a decent way to kill an hour or two, the aforementioned movies are pantheon sendups and genre movies in their own right.

Exit Through The Gift Shop (2010)

2011-09-06T21:02:00.002-04:00

Banksy ... Himself
Thierry Guetta ... Himself
Debora Guetta ... Herself
Monsieur Andre ... Himself
Zeus ... Himself
Shepard Fairey ... Himself
Ron English ... Himself
Caledonia Curry ... Herself (as Swoon)
Borf ... Himself
Buffmonster ... Himself
Steve Lazarides ... Himself
Wendy Asher ... Herself
Roger Gastman ... Himself
Laurent Nahoum-Vatinet ... Himself
Amanda Fairey ... Herself
Romain Lefebure ... Himself
Directed by Banksy

So I thought this movie was supposed to be about Banksy, the world-renowned and reclusive "street artist" (I find the whole street artist subculture to be as fascinating as its aims and principles seem ill-defined...kinda like the 4chan network). But then it turned out to be more about the guy who seemed to be making a documentary about Banksy. Only that guy was doing a terrible job of it, kinda like me doing a saxophone improv solo in jazz band back in the day in that it left people feeling like they'd been assaulted. Only, in some ways, he and his work are nothing like my jazz solo, as his show left people feeling more like they'd been raped...like they'd gone into it with the best of intentions and had left feeling a bit used, soiled, like they'd been had. But the movie's really not about him either, it turns out, which finally shed light on the title. It's a documentary about art, how subjective it really is, and whether an artist needs to "pay his dues" to create art and gain success, or whether going Guetta's route makes one a sellout.
To Banksy's credit, one of the first things he says about Guetta is that he was the guy who turned out to be far more fascinating than his subject of interest, Banksy. And also to his credit, he never definitively says that he thinks Guetta or his worth are crap. After all, while it might be debatable whether Guetta has anything more skilled or original to offer than I do as a Jazz musician, he is undoubtedly and astronomically more successful than me and pretty much everyone else in this movie.

In the end, I think this documentary is worth watching, and entertaining, for most anyone just for its portrayal of a fascinating man with a singular determination to absorb, find a nice, produce and succeed. But it's especially interesting for lovers of art who've had debates on the subject of selling out vs. staying true to one's art, and whatever the Hell that all means.

Four Lions (2010)

2011-09-06T20:10:00.002-04:00

Kayvan Novak ... Waj
Nigel Lindsay ... Barry
Riz Ahmed ... Omar
Adeel Akhtar ... Faisal
Preeya Kalidas ... Sofia
Mohammad Aqil ... Mahmood
Craig Parkinson ... Matt
Karl Seth ... Uncle Imran
William El Gardi ... Khalid
Alex MacQueen ... Malcolm Storge MP
Shameem Ahmad ... Chairwoman
Arsher Ali ... Hassan
Directed by Christopher Morris

Oh man, just the idea of a movie about bumbling jihadists from England seems wrong to laugh at. But this movie left me with no choice. It was so completely wrong, so random, so retarded...I haven't laughed this hard at a movie in years. There's a bit of slapstick, and I think the trailer overrepresents that, which is why I don't want to include it here. It's much better than that. It's so wrong and so good.

So the movie starts off with the four wanna-be suicide bombers trying to make a terrorist video that reminds me of the bit on Family Guy where Osama makes fun of the terrorist who got out of a suicide bombing with a doctor's note. The level to which these guys are serious in their bumbling idiocy, the vast distance between the best and the worst of them, especially considering the best of them is himself clueless. The accents, and the fact that one of the guys is white, push everything they do over the top for me. There's a bit of serious issues that are smoothly thrown in, like how Waj and his wife (who's gorgeous, btw) tease his more traditional, non-violent, ultra-conservative Islamic friend, and a decent portrayal of just how appealing martyrdom can be. I mean, these are bumbling guys, sure, but the joke's on the four of them. It's not, I feel, so much a movie attacking Muslims. Somewhere in there is some real sadness, both because you can somewhat see the pressures, internal and external, these guys and others like them (only less bumbling) feel, and because there are real casualties in their story. The first such casualty caught me completely by surprise. It's perfectly set up by the hilarious non-disaster that precedes it, and though the death and the victim are both sad, it was the funniest thing to see it happen. It took me a while after that to catch my breath. I nearly had a stroke. Even better, this movie's on Netflix Instant, so any time I feel I need a fix, a little bit of brain hemorrhage-inducing laughter, I can turn to this immediately.

Out Of Sight (1998)

2011-09-06T19:31:00.002-04:00

George Clooney ... Jack Foley
Jennifer Lopez    ...     Karen Sisco
Ving Rhames    ...     Buddy Bragg
Don Cheadle    ...     Maurice Miller
Catherine Keener    ...     Adele
Dennis Farina    ...     Marshall Sisco
Steve Zahn    ...     Glenn Michaels
Albert Brooks    ...     Richard Ripley
Luis Guzmán    ...     Chino
Samuel L. Jackson    ...     Hejira Henry
Michael Keaton    ...     Ray Nicolette
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Don't let the crappy poster throw you off. This movie's great. I was enticed into watching it by the following scene (just the first 3 minutes or so):

There's plenty of great humor and witty dialogue of that kind, a bunch of solid comic actors playing a variety of clueless characters, a compelling story, and some real chemistry between the leads.

So plot...Jack Foley is a career bank robber. He gets caught a few times here and there, so it helps that he's also good at escaping prison. Along the way, he meets and holds hostage an FBI agent (or a Marshall or some sort of cop...details...whatever), played by J-Lo. As is the wont of any character played by George Clooney, he charms her even as she's working to extricate herself from the situation. And, well, they fall in love. Or they start having feelings for each other. What's important is that it works. They make a believable connection, but the movie also does a decent job of addressing the natural conflicts that would arise with such a pairing. So somehow they manage to make a movie with an unlikely premise, very real stakes (and casualties), an ending that satisfies without selling out or being completely unrealistic, and something to please everyone. It's the rare movie that I thought was awesome and which I can still recommend to all the people I know who won't watch a movie that requires too much thinking or in which things are too deep or dark. Solid all around and entertaining to boot.

The Hour - Series 1

2011-08-28T19:46:00.003-04:00

Ben Whishaw ... Freddie Lyon
Romola Garai ... Bel Rowley
Dominic West ... Hector Madden
Josh McGuire ... Isaac Wengrow
Anna Chancellor ... Lix Storm
Anton Lesser ... Clarence Fendley
Julian Rhind-Tutt ... Angus McCain
Lisa Greenwood ... Sissy Cooper
Oona Chaplin ... Marnie Madden
Paul Chahidi ... Ron
Burn Gorman ... Thomas Kish
Robert Demeger ... Malcolm Lyon
Juliet Stevenson ... Lady Elms
Tim Pigott-Smith ... Lord Elms
Vanessa Kirby ... Ruth Elms
Jamie Parker ... Peter Darrall

There was a lot of hype about this show, on Pajiba, on Alan's blog, and elsewhere, and many words spoken about how this is a Mad Men knockoff, or how it's unfair to call it a Mad Men knockoff, as it does a better job with mystery and character development in a shorter amount of time...and I have to say...I feel bad saying this about a British show that's good enough to make it across the pond, and it's not often that I do, but this is a startlingly unsubtle show. I don't know what people are talking about when it comes to character development. Everyone is pretty easy to figure out immediately. Or, at least, you can predict any reveals about their characters if you're at all an observant watcher. This is a show of obviously superior quality when compared with most American primetime mystery/drama fare, but for a show that takes itself so seriously, that's all about journalistic integrity, it's not really so intelligent, or so difficult to figure out, or so surprising. But the acting is mostly good, even if over the top at times, and it features Dominic West (McNulty from The Wire), and much of what Romola does makes her look like Drew Barrymore, so there's that. Oh, and there's a bit of a history lesson about Nasser, Egypt and the Suez Canal power struggle.

So The Hour is a show about a show with the same name. A new show that's supposed to provide the news that people care about with real journalism, honesty, without pulling punches. Freddie, a supposed genius in journalism, and someone who'll always fight for a story and not for his career, a man who is difficult to deal with, but worth all the hassle. He's initially in a struggle to get to be the face of the show, with the charming, handsome, maneuvering, and not nearly as academic Hector being picked for the job. And Bel, friend of Freddie, produces. They all face the same familiar pressures from the powers that be during a time when the country is being pulled by the PM into an illegal and unpopular war, all while some mysterious murders go unnoticed by everyone except Freddie, who won't let them go until he figures out how they connect to everything else.

So that's that. I read some comments on the first episode after I watched it and found that some commenters were being very critical about how much BBC was patting itself on the back by creating a show about its journalistic integrity, especially considering there was no such show that broke open those stories during that time on BBC. I thought it odd that they were so critical. But I guess you have to take things in perspective. This is not a dumb show with aspirations to help people kill some time. It purports to be about something. So compared to its lofty ambitions and pretentions, it falls short and appears to be quite self-serious and self-righteous. The music, acting and direction also overplayed points, which is...annoying.

Luther - Series 1, 2

2011-07-13T19:51:00.003-04:00

Idris Elba ... DCI John Luther
Warren Brown ... DS Justin Ripley
Paul McGann ... Mark North
Ruth Wilson ... Alice Morgan
Dermot Crowley ... DCI Martin Schenk
Steven Mackintosh ... DCI Ian Reed
Indira Varma ... Zoe Luther
Michael Smiley ... Benny Silver
Saskia Reeves ... DSU Rose Teller
Nikki Amuka-Bird ... DS Erin Gray
Aimee-Ffion Edwards ... Jenny Jones
Kierston Wareing ... Caroline Jones
Created by Neil Cross

I watched this show real quick - first series on Netflix, the other can be found online if you know where to look. At times, it reminds me of 24 (action and excitement galore), at times of Oldboy and other such Korean films (pretty dark, bleak, and haunting - and beautifully so), at times of Homicide and The Wire (both in terms of getting insight into detective work and all the grey morality of chasing down the ugliest of criminals, at times of The Silence of the Lambs (the relationship between Luther and Alice), and, at times, of every decent cop movie/show (seeing the effect of a brilliant, but unstable, detective mind/personality on those around him). It's, of course, the insight into the characters, the chess matches between the smartest and strongest amongst them, that interests me the most, and not the badassery or the solving of the case of the week. The former is there in spades early on, as Luther interacts with the equally spectacular Alice Morgan (Ruth Wilson), and somewhat throughout the first series, in seeing the complex relationship Luther has with his wife, Zoe. Much of that is pushed aside later in the first series, and in the four hour second series to make room for a lot of badassery and twists. But they are mostly good, for what they are, and are supplemented with such a tangible feeling of dread, and a flair for the artistic, that I'd say that the second half of the 10 episodes we've seen thus far demonstrate the show's versatility more than anything else.

So John Luther is wonderfully played by Idris Elba, whom I never imagined hearing with that accent. I think I knew that he was British, but chose not to believe it. Dustin wrote a piece for Pajiba on what a badass Luther is and how Jack Bauer could never stack up. I'd have to say that he definitely has a pair, and that he's more than a bit crazy (how lucky can one man be with Russian Roulette?), but I think the show as a whole is more badass than 24, and that Luther is just different from Bauer. I haven't seen much 24, but Luther isn't a Seagall type character or anything. He's got emotion. He reacts in very strange [perhaps, just "British"?] ways when he gets mad. The show isn't just about how much he rocks and how he never slips up except when he's being self-destructive. That was a good hook from Dustin, but the show and the character have a lot more depth than that. But yeah, this show is not for casual TV watchers looking for popcorn fare. It'll stay with you, sully your dreams, make you doubt the intentions of the people walking the streets with you at night. The violence, the creativity of the killers and those pursuing them alike are spectacular and disturbing.

Oh, so the show starts off with John Luther, a London detective, trying to chase down a child abductor and threaten him into giving up the location of his latest victim before it's too late. The abductor falls from a great height, ends up in the hospital, and as there were no other witnesses, Luther's suspended and tried, but acquitted and reinstated. As he tries to get back on the right track, he's saddled with a junior to work with, he finds that his wife has taken a lover and is serious about their trial separation, and he comes across a killer whose guilt he's sure of but cannot prove, and who won't leave him or his loved ones alone. He finds he can relate to her and is understood by her better than most everyone else, in a sort of more respectful version of the interaction between the leads in Insomnia.

As Alan Sepinwall points out, the mind games and conversations between the two are the highlight of the early episodes, and they decrease as we have more and more serial killers (seriously, how many serial killers can there be in London, and how many cops do they have to spare when so many are killed by them?). Alan complained about a major twist at the end of this series, and I see his point. From there on, the show was more of a thrill ride and far less cerebral. And it made less sense. The second series finds Luther fighting even more formidable public opponents as well as trying to take care of a kid while fighting off some seedier underground figures, all while a halfhearted minor arc features a subordinate noticing his inconsistencies and imploring his partner to admit he's a dirty cop or allow her to investigate further. That doesn't really pan out, except perhaps to serve as buildup to a momentous ending that showed the viewer and the London police force, in case any of us had forgotten, just how much they all need Luther.

The show's always well shot and well acted. The glimpses into the lives of the killers and the people whose lives they disrupt or end are chilling. I like the dialogue as well, though the stories don't always make sense. I appreciate the intelligence of the show and its depiction of crime fighting, its insights into the criminal mind. But, at times, it has characters, even Luther, do really dumb things. Like how could he not realize that his apartment is no place for a young girl who's being hunted by relentless killers with means? Especially when he knows of the perfect person to watch over her and keep her safe? Why would he let her find a place to stay on her own? I mean, that's just one example. These things abound on the dumber cop/law procedurals out there, but are especially egregious on this show.

Also, I love the theme song and intro combination. The song is Paradise Circus by Massive Attack (they of the Teardrop song featured in the House, MD intro). If there's anything we're sure Luther is, it's tired. He's always rubbing his face and his eyes. I like these unspoken things, like how he has a pullup bar on his doorway, or a dumbbell in his office. He doesn't seem like he's got time to work out, or like he cares much about looking good and being in shape, but you've gotta explain how he got to be so formidably built, no? Hmm...what else? Ruth Wilson reminds me a bit of Emma Stone. Only she's much creepier. She's strong, always in control, and she plays smart and detached and playful very well. She's just awesome. All the killers are pretty great on this show, but you've got to see her.

The show can be over the top at times, and many things don't make sense, but I always found it riveting, unsettling, beautiful, and at least a bit thought-provoking. It's at least smart enough to not make the mistakes that any observant viewer of crime/forensics shows/movies would pick up on. And it does serve up some complex characters and relationships. Sure, Luther is troubled and unhinged at best, and a monster at worst, but he's more than just good at his job. He's really trying to do the right by his city and its inhabitants, even if that means breaking rules, cutting corners, and hiding dirt. At the end of the day, the city benefits more than he does. But even if you disagree, there's enough grey in it all to make it a good discussion, and this show some compelling viewing.

Party Down - Season 2

2011-07-13T19:32:00.003-04:00

The usuals, plus:
Megan Mullally ... Lydia Dunfree
Created by: John Enbom, Dan Etheridge, Paul Rudd, Rob Thomas

This is really just more of the same, and I mean that in the best of ways. The biggest difference is that Megan Mullally is here in Jane Lynch's place, for the most part, as Lynch was already on Glee by this point.

I pretty much love Mullally any way I can get her on my screen, but the writers didn't much know what to do with her. After all, how many dumb, harmless people who say oblivious and ridiculous things can you have on one show? Like the best of shows, though, this one found a use for her and she had her time to shine and get hers, so to speak. That's a wonderful thing about this show - that the characters are all important, and while they can be caricatures at times, they're consistent within the realms of their world and the story for any given episode. Every one of them gets his share of glory and sympathy, and a generous helping of comeuppance and bad luck. Observant viewers are rewarded for paying attention to earlier plots and trends, which make later happenings pack a more powerful punch.

The various dramatic arcs, such as the Casey/Henry relationship, Ron's search for a partner, Roman's struggle to stop being a douche long enough to learn and grow as a writer, and so on, while not entirely wrapped up by the end of this, the final season, but are given proper treatment all the same. Oh, and the Steve Guttenberg Party episode - awesome in every way. Surely the best used cameo on a show full of great cameos, and just a great example of the kind of humor, character development, heart and surreality/awkwardness of which this show is capable.

The Riches - Season 2

2011-07-12T10:55:00.002-04:00

Eddie Izzard ... Wayne Malloy
Minnie Driver ... Dahlia Malloy
Shannon Woodward ... Di Di Malloy
Noel Fisher ... Cael Malloy
Aidan Mitchell ... Sam Malloy
Todd Stashwick ... Dale Malloy
Gregg Henry ... Hugh Panetta
Margo Martindale ... Nina Burns
Bruce French ... Jim Burns
Arye Gross ... Pete Mincey
Sarah Jones ... Rosaleen
Jared Harris ... Eamon Quinn
Created by Dmitry Lipkin

I saw the first season of this show long ago, and only just now finally finished the second season. It's a dark show and I'd known that it wasn't renewed past the second season, so I didn't much feel like finishing it up right then, but it's good and it's on Netflix Instant, so why not?

It's still got this dark, unsettling vibe to it that I really like. I love the simple credit sequences and the music that goes along with them - that helps in setting the tone as well. They must not have known that the show was going to end, as they do not tie things up at the end. This season features a new, stronger enemy from amongst the ranks of the same travelers the Malloys are trying to outrun. And while it features many points at which we're afraid they're thisclose to getting caught or found out or killed, this season also features Wayne sinking farther into the buffer lifestyle he's taken on, and the rest of his family struggling with the implications, each in his/her own way. The show is not always great, but I think it veers closer to Breaking Bad territory than it does to Sons of Anarchy territory, so that's good. The acting of most of the leads is good enough. Izzard can do no harm in my book, but I think I liked Driver the most. All in all, I think this is a season of television worth watching. Though it's probably too dark for most people, it seems to me to be a story worth telling, and one I'm glad they told.

So this show continues to be about the American Dream, and the lengths to which people will go to achieve it, or the circumstances under which it's already been achieved. We see the Malloy family in a gated community amongst people much more seemingly refined than them, but not so much different or better. This makes it easier to root for the Malloys to swindle them all in one way or another, or to defend them when they do wrong, but viewers and Malloys alike have to decide how they feel about when the line is crossed, about which people's lives are okay to ruin, whom it's okay to cross, to whom one's loyalties should arise. The Travelers' code, if you will. Redemption. Humanity. All these themes could have been more expertly explored, no doubt. The show isn't a revelation or anything. But it's been a very interesting exploration of these familiar themes through a window into a very unfamiliar world.

The League - Season 1

2011-07-11T22:47:00.003-04:00

Mark Duplass ... Pete
Nick Kroll ... Ruxin
Jonathan Lajoie ... Taco
Stephen Rannazzisi ... Kevin
Paul Scheer ... Andre
Katie Aselton ... Jenny
Alina Foley ... Ellie
Nadine Velazquez ... Sofia
Created by Jeff Schaffer, Jackie Marcus Schaffer

Hilarious show. It's only six episodes long and on Netflix Instant, so I banged out the whole first season in a quick run tonight. This is very much a dude's show (or a show for women who are or can be "one of the guys"). But I don't think you have to be in a fantasy league to be able to appreciate it. It's really just for anyone who can appreciate awkward, raunchy humor, who knows people who take dumb, little things like Fantasy Football extremely seriously, and/or who just love sports and take that way too seriously. And by seriously, I mean...if you can appreciate friends and even spouses blackmailing each other to force trades, or fans calling up NFL legends to get insider information on injury reports, or a fan giving an NFL player a piece of his mind because the player played really well and was on someone else's fantasy team...this show has tons of that in a shameless, camaraderie and dirty language filled, laugh-out-loud over and over, package.

Um, so what's left to say? The show is about a bunch of friends in their 30s who are in a fantasy football league together. They take the league very seriously, to the extent that they each constantly have to employ various coping mechanisms to make sure that the league doesn't completely destroy their relationships and lives. That said, one of them leaves his wife in the first episode because he realizes that her creating distance between him and the league is just a symptom of a bigger syndrome. The show stars and features cameos from a bunch of familiar comedy faces. Oh, and since this is written by people who would appreciate fantasy football - the sort of Apatow crowd of raunchy, but intelligent, guys - all the men are paired up with or manage to hook up with women who are stunning and way out of their league. If you're making a show about a league with "fantasy" right in the name, you might as well have some wish fulfillment, no?

Okay, maybe that's all a little too vague. Let me give you a couple ideas of what you'd be getting into. Two things that I really enjoyed.

1) To decide the order of the fantasy draft, the commissioner thinks a whole bunch and excitedly dumps the content of a bowl and places inside of it a bunch of numbers for the league members to pick. They pick, and the guy with the #1 paper is happy, but they're all disappointed with the setup and the lack of payoff. The commissioner disillusions them, though, by explaining that the numbers aren't their order, but rather the number of child that's now theirs in a race that's about to happen. See, they're at his daughter's birthday party and the kids all are about to have a sack race and they all have numbers. When someone points out that he didn't even get his own kid, he says that that's great, since Ellie, his daughter, sucks at races and he doesn't want to have her. They're all instantly excited, and the next scene features them all yelling encouragement to children they don't know in a race they would ordinarily not care about, and his wife, who realizes what he's doing, is psyched as well (she's very much into the league, and actually is both more knowledgeable and more involved in his league and team than he is).

2) That same guy gets annoyed at his daughter's fascination with this one terribly annoying Barney-like character and the toy of his that she has and the dance it does that she makes him and his friends do. So he makes one of his friends dress up in a costume of that character and sneak into her bedroom at night in order to scare her...only it backfires, she's excited to meet him and makes him dance, and then encourages him to basically steal from her father, after which he walks home and narrowly escapes being apprehended by the police. This all works better off the page, as you've just got to see the face on the costume, especially when he appears outside their window, wielding a butcher's knife.

So...if either of those seems remotely funny to you, you'll surely enjoy the show. It's like It's Always Sunny with more consistent execution (compared to what Sunny's had in its later seasons) and more focus, as well as a constant theme and somewhat of a running plot. Considering they're both on FX, it's not such a surprising similarity.

Party Down - Season 1

2011-07-10T09:46:00.006-04:00

Adam Scott ... Henry Pollard
Ken Marino ... Ron Donald
Ryan Hansen ... Kyle Bradway
Martin Starr ... Roman DeBeers
Lizzy Caplan ... Casey Klein
Jane Lynch ... Constance Carmell
Created by: John Enbom, Dan Etheridge, Paul Rudd, Rob Thomas

I'm ashamed that it's taken me this long to finally finish this season. Back when I heard it was airing on Starz and also available immediately on Netflix Instant, I started watching this show, but didn't really take to it. And so I left it off after episode 2 until just recently. This show isn't for everyone, even with all the cursing and nudity that surely make it more appealing to mainstream audiences. It's more along the lines of The Larry Sanders Show - of most fun to real connoisseurs of comedy/TV. If you fall into that category, there's a good chance you'll absolutely love this, as I do.

The plot is simple enough. A group of failed actors/writers join a catering service in Hollywood to make ends meet. They try very hard not to get stabby with the clients, management and each other. High jinks ensue.

My review is simple enough. This is not filled with slapstick or even great lines that stay funny when transcribed here. What it does have is excellent timing and editing, with jokes that are subtle, understated and just a bit...off. It's got offensive humor that's just a bit uncomfortable and awkward. It's got a ton of appearances from a number of great comedic actors whom you know from everywhere. Too many to name, but I always have to give shouts out to Freaks and Geeks alums, so it's worth mentioning that Bill Haverchuck plays Roman on the show and he, like everyone, is great. What else? The episodes have some continuity, which helps because this show, like Larry Sanders and other great premium TV comedies, manages to put a light, but healthy and effective dose of drama into it. The continuity means that they can devote a very small portion of any given episode to such B stories and they still work. One way in which the show differs from Larry Sanders is that it has more of the NBC comedy block (namely The Office, Parks and Recreation and Community) sweetness to it. Oh, and I really enjoy the theme song, which reminds me tonally of Arrested Development and Better Off Ted, though the show itself is quite different in tone from either.

Doctor Who - Series 3

2011-05-15T13:44:00.006-04:00

The usuals, plus:
Freema Agyeman ... Martha Jones
Catherine Tate ... Donna Noble
Created by Russell T. Davies

This is an exciting series and it features not only some instant classics but also the introduction/return of a number of memorable characters, and even more so if you include the Christmas special, in which we meet Donna Noble. Aside from her, we also meet the new companion, Martha Jones, for the first time, see Captain Jack again, get reacquainted with The Master, who hasn't been seen in this iteration of Doctor, and meet the Face of Boe. As for great episodes, there's The Shakespeare Code - in which we get to meet a historical character (as we do each series) and learn about the power of words, which was pretty cool - go back in time for an attack on Manhattan by the Daleks in Daleks In Manhattan, go to a past/alternative reality in the excellent Human Nature/The Family of Blood two-parter, which was followed up by Blink, possibly the best self-contained episode of all of modern Doctor Who. The Davies-penned final three episodes of the series were also quite good, if periodically over the top (especially the younger version of The Master. The older one was spectacular though with all of his great expressions.

An important note about The Doctor and one of the best things about this show is his great faith in and love for humans, which is greatly tested in an episode of this series. Donna tests the Doctor's self-appraisal as well in the Christmas special. Martha is a great annoyance to me, partially through no fault of her own, as the writers handicap her in comparison to Rose, give her little to contribute, make her strangely in love with The Doctor from the start, and keep the love unrequited. Still, it is moving to see her in the two headmaster episodes and she is given some redemption later in the series and in the show's run.

I should mention that the notes I wrote below I did while watching the episodes and they're not really helpful now that I've forgotten most of the details of those episodes. Oh well.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
Aww, this Christmas special is sad, Donna (Catherine Tate!) finds out her relationship is a sham on her wedding day, and she reminds him of losing Rose. Donna hardly seems concerned with saving herself after she realizes her fiance has been using her to help some power.
This Christmas special, with the Racnoss isn't as [successfully] epic as the previous one, but it does feature a vengeful doctor meting out justice on the Racnoss' children to the extent that even Donna tells him he can stop. This is followed by the military shooting the vulnerable star with tanks, only half the shots miss, which would probably lay waste to the city of London. And they drain the Thames. Donna says Lance deserved to be killed the way he was, but then takes it back, even remarks on the coldness with which the doctor kills all those children. Donna points out that he does need a companion because he sometimes needs someone to stop him. What this episode lacked in epic-ness, it made up for in depth.
We're introduced to Martha Jones, who wouldn't have made a good doctor, considering she put her steth into her ears backwards.
Hmm, the building that gets transported to the moon in this episode was right next to the county hall building right on the Thames
Ooh, unlike Donna, Martha remembers all the alien encounters, and also lost a cousin. Ding ding ding
At the end of this episode, Martha's family has a big argument. I was wondering how he'd get her to be his companion when she has such a big family of people who'd struggle without their lynchpin, their keystone.
-After visiting Shakespeare and having a lot of reference fun, the doctor takes Martha to New New York, one more thing that makes her feel that he's hung up on Rose and constantly reminding her of it, but there is also reminiscing of the doctor's old, extinct, planet, Gallifrey, and a reunion with the Face of Boe, who tells him with his dying breath that he is not alone. Sure, that could mean anything, but it always gives me chills to hear that in any context. Isn't that something we all want to hear? The claustrophobia and grim appearance of the episode are to be praised, but that and the drugs the citizens take that wipe them out and the dead gov't running on autopilot, are all examples of how much more there is to appreciate beneath the surface that would reward multiple viewings.
-Alan: It really amazes me how often the show's able to play that same kind of "Everybody lives!" note from "The Doctor Dances" in season one and still affect me. When the Doctor gets the roof open and Valerie gathers the kittens and tells them, "Children; that's the sunlight," I definitely got a lump in the ol' throat, even though the show's gone to this particular well a half dozen times or more over two-plus seasons. I think it just goes to show how great Davies is at establishing a world and an epic scale so quickly; when the Doctor's around, miracles don't feel routine, even though he so often performs them.
-CGI or not, it's cool to see the Doctor bring Martha through Central Park in 1930, filled with the homeless. Solomon is a homeless guy with some weight to his word, and to settle a dispute in which one man stole from another and then they fought, he recovers the loaf of bread and divides it in half. Interesting. Also, I like the touch about him referring to the war he fought in a dozen years prior as The Great War (as WWI was called at the time).
-The foreman on the Empire State Building is a rare example of egregiously bad acting here.
-The Daleks sure can't keep secrets. Maybe they are too unused to fearing failure
-The Doctor has this one teeth-clenched snarled lip look that he wears all the time he doesn't spend being happy
-Ha, the human-dalek army they make is equipped with Dalek Tommy guns
-Gamma radiation from the sun takes the form of a lightning bolt and gives the army the doctor's DNA? Bleh
-From The House Next Door: I was set to write off this story completely if not for its quiet finish: The Doctor's inability to reverse Laszlo's physical appearance and Tallulah's decision to stay with him regardless. It's this sort of thing that makes Doctor Who worth wading through stuff like lightning bolts hitting the Empire State Building and the Doctor prancing about on theatre seats.
-The doctor takes Martha back home, calling it the end of the line, because they were only supposed to have one trip. She's been more focused on being with the doctor, from the outset, than Rose ever was. He comes back immediately because a guy on the TV said that he's changing what it means to be human.
-This episode doesn't give much though it does make Martha's mom suspicious of the doctor, makes Martha complain about being just a passenger, the Doctor lets her be his steady companion, and they leave again just as Martha's mom says she has information from Harold Saxon that the Doctor is dangerous.
-Mark Gatiss DOES do a great job of acting as Dr. Lazarus, and Ross is always pointing out deeper things worth thinking about (like how Martha is taking initiative and making the doctor realize how courageous and useful she is).
-Ha, on 42, they use a stasis chamber to freeze an infected killer at -273
-So many people do dumb things, like talk to each other when time is ticking down
-Meanwhile, Martha's mom had G-men over trying to trace Martha's calls from her universal phone.
-Alan: There were some nice moments here and there -- the Doctor's silent "I will save you!" screams as Martha's pod jettisoned, the Doctor's fear of being possessed (and him trying to explain regeneration to Martha), and Martha finally saving the day and being rewarded with a TARDIS key -- but I like my time and space travel with a touch more variation. I'd add the doctor's screams of pain and his fears, but yeah, I don't care much for episodes like 42 - manufactured drama/suspense.
-Ooh, Nurse Redford, in the doctor's headmaster days/dream wears her steth backward
-This is wonderful, seeing Martha flash back on the Doctor changing himself to human and putting his being into a pocketwatch, putting complete responsibility for their future/survival in Martha.
-Who is this actor who plays Latimer? Oh, right, the boy from Love, Actually
-What's poignant about this is that Martha will take all these memories, of being her servant, of seeing him in human form, seeing him fall in love with a human, with her when she returns back to the TARDIS with the doctor.
-Haha, I love Baines' acting after he's possessed, and his little half-smirk.
-What an awesome episode! Seeing Tim Latimer have visions of wars to come for him (when he holds the watch), to see the doctor's human form not want to give up his life and love, to see Martha witness that and still call for her doctor and profess her love. This version of the doctor, all just, calm, gentlemanly, with none of the verve, the brashness of the doctor, none of the rage and vindiction...it's interesting to see him struggle. And oh, what great fun when he catches the watch that he'd handed over, pretending to be human John Smith, and he's lost his clumsiness and fear and gone back to being cocky and encyclopedic, even while in the alien family's ship alone with them. And oh, the vengeance, the calmness and coldness with which he traps each of the family members, even creating a mythology by trapping the girl into a mirror - every mirror, so that if you ever see something move behind you when looking in a mirror, you've seen her. And the son - Baines - he keeps frozen in time as a scarecrow, protecting the fields of England. They wanted to live forever, so the doctor made sure they did.
-The Doctor asks the nurse to come with him as his companion and she says no, because John Smith is dead and the doctor looks like him. And she asks him, before sending him away, if anyone would have died in their village had the doctor not chosen to live there as John Smith - on a whim. True, the aliens needed to be captured and/or killed, but in protecting the universe, he need not have contributed to the collateral damage there.
Ross does much better justice to this episode than i could. There's just too much to mention...except the end. The setup was great but I think the end deserved as much attention.
-Blink: "I love old things. They make me feel sad." "What's good about 'sad'?" "It's happy, for deep people."
-This has all the makings of a good horror movie, what with all the strange angel statues everywhere, getting closer, covering their eyes or not. And is this Carey Mulligan in the role of Sally? It is!
-Cool, the doctor put himself onto 17 different DVDs with hidden extras of him talking. Man, you can tell Moffett wrote this, what with all the things tying together, like the guy at the video store saying to the TV screen "Go to the police, woman!" making it seem as if he's talking to her. Oh, and all those doctor scenes speak to Sally
-Wow, Moffat puts all these loops into the story, like the doctor giving Billy in 1969 the instructions to tell Sally to use the list
-"'The angels have the phonebox'. That's my favorite, I've got that on a T-shirt."
-Ross: Aside from being great sci-fi and great horror, there's also the tenderness of the story and the characters are quite intricate given how much is going on in these 45 minutes. Particularly moving is the story of Billy Shipton (Michael Obiora), a DI who's instantly transported from the present to 1969. The only way he will return to 2007 is by living his life day to day until he gets there. Sally Sparrow meets him twice on the same day: Once when he's a virile, flirtatious young hunk, and a little bit later as an aged, dying man in a hospital. When he sees her for the second time he reminisces, "It was raining when we met." She replies, "It's the same rain."
-Alan: First we had the Doctor experiencing life as a human in the Family of Blood two-parter, and last night we had both the Doctor and his companion stuck in the past again and someone else trapped in the past forced to "time travel" to the present in the only way possible: by living.
-The unrequited love from Martha is tired and redundant, but Captain Jack's return is fun, like how he somewhat undresses when going into the radiation room not because the radiation destroys clothes but because he looks good. Apparently Jack's been made immortal since Rose brought him back to life. He's an anomaly (and something to be avoided at all costs) from the perspective of a Time Lord.
-The professor at the end/edge of the universe also has a fob watch that speaks to him. He becomes a time lord, tries to (whoops...forget the word that should have gone here...kill?) the Doctor, reveals himself to be "The Master," kills Chan-Though and says that since she threatened to stop him, he can say he was provoked. Was she his companion in that human life the same way Martha was? I love all the Master's crazy eyes and such. And the regenerated form was also a kooky and brazen fellow.
-Apparently The Master is an ongoing character and The Doctor's longstanding nemesis
I'm enjoying the master's zaniness and energy, and it seems they got to pick their own names, which leads the doctor to comment that the master would be a psychiatrist's field day, and the master to point out The man who helps people...ooh, how sanctimonious
-Ha, the general characterization of America seems fitting, but the president is still a caricature. Fun to see the Master playing off them though
-The Master really was over the top and I don't care for all the Martha stuff, but at least she got to say her piece at the end and at least she's gone. And the face of Boe revelation about Jack was really special. I found much of the ending moving and the power of words. I guess the details and depth weren't up to snuff, especially after the previous three episodes. For a while there, I wondered if they would leave 1/10 of the Earth's population dead...they don't and have to reverse time to make things all right. As always, an exploration of the mythology excites me, even if I don't know the backstory (like bad wolf was interesting)...but not so much when they make such a big deal about it. At least Ross didn't like it even as much as me. He's always so positive in his reviews of Who that I end up getting confused. Oh, it was good to see how demoralized the Doctor was to learn that the aliens used to destroy humans were actually the humans of the far future.

Doctor Who - Series 2

2011-05-14T19:04:00.004-04:00

The usuals from the past, plus:
David Tennant ... The Doctor
Created by Russell T. Davies

So, as I mentioned in the first series review, each Doctor seems, impossibly, better than the previous one. This one is less brooding, more funny/playful, but also more vindictive and quick-tempered. He's more dapper and flirtatious and is the favorite amongst female fans of the modern Doctors. His story is less filled with pain, but more with conscience and consequences.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
-They have a lot of fun with the royal family, with british history.
-Sarah Jane is a previous companion, and the actress played one in a previous series. -Cool, they just mentioned Croyden (where Sapna has family with whom we stayed during the first leg of our European honeymoon)...that's where Sarah Jane was from apparently. She complains that she was just left behind and forgotten by him. We both see Rose and Sarah Jane dealing with this and the Doctor talk about the loss he deals with...having to see his companion grow old and die as he stays the same age.
-The headmaster in the school reunion episode reminds me of a British John Lithgow
-More history, as the Doctor goes to 1727 Versailles and meets and falls for (and vice versa) Madame de Pompadour. Their unrequited and interrupted love story is quite moving.
-I agree, though, as Alan said a few episodes ago...what's the deal with Mickey exactly? If she's over him, why lead the guy on?
-There are a few episodes of the usual manufactured excitement, but the existential/spiritual/religious discussions sprung from the supposed encounter with the devil are good.
-Love and Monsters features a guy, Elton, who's had several encounters with the doctor. It's kinda like a highlight show of past run-ins with extra-terrestrial life, and it's nice as an answer to my wondering how people (especially in present-day London) don't notice these encounters and feel like aliens have taken over their lives/histories.
-There's some goofy humor in all the episodes but Love and Monsters is full of it, perfectly led by the noir director/protagonist, Elton. It's also a statement of empathy/appreciation to fans online as well as a wag of the finger to trolls (represented by Victor Kennedy) in those groups, as well as a bit of humanization of Jackie
-Daleks are strangely badass and kinda funny too
-The Daleks' voice and vanity reminds me of the space villains from ATHF
-From The House Next Door: But enough of that. An engaging piece on 'bots battling 'bots isn't in the cards, as it would eventually lead to bagging on the fact that for some inexplicable reason only Daleks are seen being sucked into the void—there's nary a Cyberman in sight. Or perhaps I'd hit on the Deus Ex Machina to end all DEMs—two levers which conveniently fix this most dire of situations? Or how about Pete Tyler appearing in the right place at the right time, so Rose doesn't get sucked into the void? If it seems like I'm on the fence with this 90 minutes of fanwank, that's simply not the case. No matter what happened throughout the story—the low point being Cyber-Yvonne Hartman's oily teardrop—I forgive it: The reunion of Pete and Jackie Tyler and Rose's exit make it all worthwhile. The former was an unexpected bonus; the latter a painful necessity.
-This doctor looks a bit like what's his name...Daniel Radcliffe

Doctor Who - Series 1

2011-05-14T17:05:00.005-04:00

Billie Piper ... Rose Tyler
Camille Coduri ... Jackie Tyler
Noel Clarke ... Mickey Smith
Christopher Eccleston ... The Doctor
John Barrowman ... Captain Jack Harkness
Penelope Wilton ... Harriet Jones
Created by Russell T. Davies

I guess, since this is the first series, I have to explain a bit about the show. Doctor Who is the longest running sci-fi series in history. Check it out. It's about The Doctor, a Time Lord who travels through space and time using his TARDIS (Time And Relative Dimension(s) In Space) machine, which used to be able to disguise itself as much anything, but somehow that function broke at some point, and it's now stuck in the form of a police box. This is just an external disguise, and the machine itself sorta exists outside the realm of time/space, so that the inside is actually much larger than it appears on the outside (a recurring joke on the show). Anyway, the Doctor goes around the universe and through time preventing genocide, mass deaths and the like, whether perpetrated wittingly by the various enemies of the time lords, or unwittingly by the greedy or the naive. He's supposedly the last of his kind, the rest being wiped out in a great war between the Time Lords and the Daleks, their #1 enemy, and, thus, he is both noble of purpose and terribly alone. The Doctor, in this iteration and past versions, has been known to take on a time-traveling companion, and this version of the show starts with him popping into the life of Rose Tyler, a Londoner who becomes his companion.

The show is quite varied in many ways. Though it's commonly labeled as sci-fi, it takes on the form of horror, fantasy, action, romance, period drama and more. It's aimed toward kids and families, so it can be cheesy at times, while at others it's quite deep, compelling, even frightening and sad. It's also quite funny. As sci-fi shows can often do, and as may be inevitable in a show that's been going on in one form or another for decades, this show often rewrites its history, breaks its own rules, makes up a bunch of scientific mumbo-jumbo as it goes along, and gets its doctor out of sticky situations in ways that make little sense at all. He carries with him only an instrument called a "sonic screwdriver," which seems to be no more than a pen with a light on it, and which seems to do pretty much everything - except to shoot bullets or act as some sort of overt weapon, a use that would be quite handy, but which is also anathema to the non-violent doctor. The Doctor, being a time lord, is hundreds of years old, and nearly immortal, as he can regenerate himself when any one version has been around for a long time, or if he's very badly injured - though he needs to be able to go through the process without hindrance, or he would die.

The show is uneven, partially because it's written by a number of different people, and partially because it aims to please many different types of people, all while visiting a number of differing times/locations and servicing a variety of plots, both encapsulated and those that are part of a series-long arc. Russell T. Davies deserves a lot of credit for being the showrunner for the first four of these series, but I would often groan at the start of episodes when his name would appear as the writer. He seems to have the least creativity and his episodes are often formulaic, with the Doctor being thrown into some crazy situation, his yelling a bunch of instructions and referencing concepts and creatures we have no understanding of or reference for, and getting him out of it in the end. His lack of creativity/confidence would be most apparent any time Steven Moffat (whom I knew from Coupling) would show up to write an episode, as his episodes were the narrative and emotional highlights of the season. I rejoiced when I heard that Moffat would take over as showrunner from the fifth series, and Davies made me feel bad when he busted out two spectacular episodes near the end of his run. Indeed, Davies has his moments, but be forewarned that there are many episodes of this show that are rather pedestrian. They're no worse than the standard show out there, but are egregious when compared to the heights this show often reaches. Keena, a Londoner herself, recommended this show to me ages ago (and it took me a couple years before I finally got around to it, and I didn't warm up to it immediately. But now I'm a die-hard fan (at least of this modern version. I have no real exposure to anything previous) and can't recommend it enough. Stick to it at least through 5 episodes before deciding if it's worth it. Actually, watch through the 10th episode, as the 9th and 10th are written by Moffat. If you can't be bothered by all that, watch "Blink," from series 3, also penned by Moffat, as it's both amazing (it won him a BAFTA) and not really anything that will spoil the show as it's indicative of the potential of the show, but also quite different from the usual format (especially when you consider that the Doctor hardly appears in it).

Anyway, we start this version of the show with the ninth Doctor, played by Christopher Eccleston. As Keena would say, each Doctor is wonderful and each seems to be even better than the last, as impossible as that seems. This Doctor is sweet, sad and lonely. He's a brooding fellow who is greatly wounded because of his past loss, as he personally watched it (and not a previous incarnation of his self...each version has the memories of the past doctor, but also starts somewhat fresh and with his own personality). Rose is probably the favorite companion of modern fans, as well as, it seems, quite favored by Davies himself. It might not be until the second series the reason for this is explored somewhat.

Also, before I forget, be forewarned that the graphics and such on this show are rather low-fi. The villains often seem quite laughable. You have to buy into the show somewhat. It's not trying to sell you on itself by using special effects so much as by making you care for the characters, something Davies is especially good at. Moffat takes a different route by making very creative and cerebral stories that move and frighten the viewer in the same way that the best horror/psychological thrillers do. Just know that the show is rarely a feast for the eyes (except for viewers who find the Doctors/companions to be attractive).

The Doctor wields a great deal of power, chooses who lives/dies, and often admonishes people and aliens and such for their behavior, their murders and such. As such, the show explores a lot of deep, dark issues, like morality, hypocrisy, vengeance, justice, retribution, responsibility, and so on. It often turns the tables on the Doctor and asks if he's really such a good being, if he isn't being unfair to those on whom he passes his judgment, or even to the companions, whom he places in harm's way and uproots from their lives, and then places back when he's had enough.

Anyway, it's a wonderful show and the lowpoints are worth going through because the high points are spectacular, quite fun, and plentiful.

And before I forget, some things I always wondered about the show...don't they realize they have to be very careful not to lose each other or the key to the TARDIS when wandering off in distant times/places? Don't the Daleks realize that no matter how powerful the Doctor is and the things he's done, he's not physically very powerful at all, and they could easily just shoot him? Why is the Doctor able to go most any place/time in the TARDIS, but is never able to return his companion/self back to the point in time when he left the companion or her family?

Also I should point out that Alan is, as always, a great source for thoughts on the show. Also helpful is Alan's friend, Ross Reudiger, who keeps a blog, The House Next Door. He provides a lot of context and references to past appearances of villains and so on, giving background for people who haven't seen any Doctor Who pre-2005. I also tend to disagree with him more often than not when it comes to the quality of the show. He seems more easily impressed than I, presumably because he drinks the Kool-Aid more than I do, though it surely also has to do with the considerably greater experience he has with the franchise.

One other note about how the show works - there are often Christmas specials between series, and I grouped these sometimes with the previous series and sometimes with the following one. Also, there are a number of Doctor Who movie-length episodes that aired between the fourth and fifth series as Davies and Moffat did some transitioning.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
-Episode 2 features plumbers who seem to be part of a lower class that need permission to speak to the richer people.
-Episode 2 also sees the doctor confronted with the death of his own planet/people as well as a friend, old or new, in that tree lady (Jane? Jade?), which pushes him to get Cassandra (who sabotaged the ship and whose actions led to the death of many people) back and let her die in front of them.
-What/Who's Bad Wolf? - I wondered this throughout much of the first series and thought Davies did a great job of putting that into several episodes without drawing too much attention to it, so that when things are tied together at the end, it's the completion of an arc I wasn't even aware was going on.
-So we finally meet a Dalek and learn that he's the last of his race as The Doctor is the last of his, and their races destroyed one another in the last Great Time War
Ha, the Dalek points out that the Doctor, who tries to get it to kill itself, would make a good Dalek. The Daleks are conspicuously low-fi in their look. This might be because they appeared in many series from the past and they're sticking to the same look throughout, but I don't really care in the end because the Daleks turn out to be both quite frightful/merciless and funny.
--Simon Pegg's in a Doctor Who episode! The Long Game
Cathica in one episode is Christine Adams, who played Simone the obedience instructor from Pushing Daisies
-The one remaining Slavin has a change of heart and doesn't kill someone who gets in the way of her plans because she's starting a family and the Slavin misses her own dead family. The Doctor and crew catch up with her, capture her, and say they'll take her back home...where she faces the death penalty. She makes them confront this, that they're her executioners, and that they should own up to that and see if they can look her in the eye.
-The Doctor and Margaret (the Slavin) discuss the psychology, the hypocrisy and the complexity of a killer...that sometimes you let one victim go, not because you're changed, but because that's what you need to do to live with yourself. She realizes that his understanding of that reveals that he's a killer too
-Ha, with all the other contemporary things referenced on this show, they now put the doctor into a reality tv show - Big Brother
-Rose is on The Weakest Link. Jack is on some makeover show or something
-Truly...they have to be more careful about wandering off and handing out the TARDIS key.
-What an epic ending, so many lives at stake, seemingly lost at times, so many tough decisions, like whether to kill all of earth to destroy the Daleks?
-The meteor shower in The Christmas Invasion turns out to be the ship Torchwood blew up burning up in the atmosphere, and the snow is actually ash, lending a somber tone to their supposed victory.
-So the new doctor - Tennant - is more bold and strong, funnier and also more quick to get angry if crossed. He warns the PM when she massacres a fleeing ship of aliens that he could bring the gov't down with a word - no, six words - and so he does, by mentioning to an aide in passing, "Don't you think she looks tired?"
-Alan: Eccleston was wounded, a Doctor who had personally witnessed the destruction of his entire race. Moments of happiness, his friendship with Rose -- that was all a pleasant surprise to him, but his default states were sad, guarded, or angry. That's what made his overwhelming joy at the end of "The Doctor Dances" so moving.
-Gotta mention here how very confident the doctor is, armed with only a sonic screwdriver...and always commenting on how brilliant he is.

Coupling - Series 4

2011-05-14T16:44:00.004-04:00

The usuals, except, in place of Jeff, there's:
Richard Mylan ... Oliver Morris
Created by Steven Moffat

Series 4 delivers more of the goods you should come to expect if you've been watching this show. It features, however, Oliver in the place of Jeff, who only makes an appearance in the final episode (where he lends only his voice). Oliver doesn't make me stop missing Jeff, but he does have his own charms and is truly sweet and funny is his earnestness. The naked living room is a good showcase for him. 9 1/2 minutes features my favorite of things this show does well, which is intertwining storylines and timelines. Night Lines and Circus of the Epidurals are both interesting in the way that they have every member of the group join in on something, one after the other, then struggle to deal with everyone at the same time. And the series/show finale is emotional in a clumsy way - after all, emotion is not something this show does well - but the drama/emotion is not as lame as it's been in the past. All in all, a mostly excellent series and a fitting finale to a show that I'll really miss.

====== SPOILERS/Comments ======
-Another great job of intertwined storytelling with 9 1/2 minutes telling the same story from three perspectives and everything only coming together at end, as well as Susan's making out with Jane changing/determining the outcomes for all three stories.
-Episode 2 brings it too with the shared phone conversation between people who don't know there are other people on the line.
-Haha, Steve scolds Jane for walking into their front door unannounced and explains that this isn't an American sitcom.
-Jeff returns in 9 1/2 Months - sorta - in the form of Mrs. Huguenot, their 4th grade Math teacher, in a dream Steve has while in the delivery room.

An Education (2009)

2010-12-23T18:16:00.004-05:00

Carey Mulligan ... Jenny
Olivia Williams ... Miss Stubbs
Alfred Molina ... Jack
Cara Seymour ... Marjorie
Matthew Beard ... Graham
Peter Sarsgaard ... David
Ellie Kendrick ... Tina
Dominic Cooper ... Danny
Rosamund Pike ... Helen
Emma Thompson ... Headmistress
Directed by Lone Scherfig

This movie is a bit challenging to review, because I have my work cut out for me. I got so many recommendations to watch this movie, it has a Rottentomatoes rating of 94%, and I fully expected to love it. But then I watched it on a flight to India, and was thoroughly confused and then disappointed. Carey sparkled, no doubt, and there was a very talented and accomplished cast around her. My problem was with the writing and direction. Do people like the movie for what it is or just the performances, the costumes and time period, and the vicarious thrill of Jenny's romancing and trips to Paris as a teenager? Because if they liked the movie and its message, they have a very different take on it than I.

Jenny is a 16 year old girl in 1961 London who is studying her butt off and who can claim cello as her hobby, only she's not allowed to actually prepare for and perform in concerts and to do more with her hobby because all of this is just a means to an end - an Oxford education - that is in itself a means to the ultimate end of bagging an Oxford man for a husband. Her mom seems sympathetic, but her father makes it abundantly clear that, shallow as it might seem, this is exactly her purpose in life. She must acquire the right skills and accomplishments to be in the right place at the right time for the right ("right" is just as superficially a man with a big name degree or a lot of money) guy to come along.

Well, someone does come along...David. He's twice Jenny's age, is rich, and opens up her world to concerts and expensive dinners, art auctions, and on and on. All the things Jenny dreams of having and doing, but can't because she's only meant to have interests and not actual hobbies, she gets to do. Her teacher and headmistress see the attention she's getting from her classmates and warn her not to take the easy way out and to stay the course. David might not be who he says he is, as the audience surely agrees. Besides, they're concerned about his age. Back home, though, David meets Jenny's parents and charms her father, especially when he mentions his time at Oxford. His dad has no concern about David's age, and encourages their spending time together. This is a mixed blessing for Jenny, who both doesn't want roadblocks in the fun she's having with David and recognizes that it's the same senseless superficiality of her well-meaning but blind father that allows it.

In addition to my dissimilar views on the movie from most viewers, I was surprised to find that Pajiba actually felt pretty much the same way as I did. I normally don't read the entire Pajiba review before seeing a movie. I just read the first paragraph or so and get a sense of how they felt and let that factor in in my decision about whether to see it. But I try not to let them spoil the movie's plot or the details of the reviewer's take on the movie, and so I read the full review afterward to see what I might have missed. The first paragraph seemed really positive, so I lumped it with all the other good reviews. But having seen the movie, I read through it completely just now and was surprised that not only was it somewhat negative, and in agreement with my view, but also, it was written by Drew Morton, who always seems to have an opinion that hinges on a point far too fine for me to appreciate or so fine a point that I feel like he's throwing away the whole movie because of one small thing. But I felt his review was apt here, as he praises a lot but feels betrayed by what seems to be the ultimate message of the movie. Check out the review, but not if you've yet to see the movie. If you have, read on and read his review.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
First off, let me say the things I really like about the movie. It must be said that Carey's magnificent and radiant and precious. And I also really appreciated how Hepburn in Breakfast At Tiffany's she looked when done up. And everyone's acting was pretty good, though I disagree with Morton about Molina (perhaps, though, that was the way his character was written) and I didn't care for Helen, who was a caricature.

As for specific things I didn't like, there's a scene with Jenny and her father that's overwrought and stilted, though I don't remember which now. I think it was after David disappears. Then there's the studying montage after the proud and stuffy headmistress turns her down and Miss Stubbs happily agrees to help. And there's the misdirection with the Oxford acceptance letter, though I wasn't fooled because we should all know what a small envelope means.

But that's all not as important as the overall message of the movie. See, at first, even with my misgivings, I was excited for Jenny and hopeful that even if that didn't work out, she'd at least make a point to her parents that they should have learned that they can't be judging books by their cover or worrying about their daughter only on the outside either. When she told her teacher off by saying that just because she gave up on her dreams doesn't mean she should hold Jenny back, I thought that maybe Jenny had decided that she'd sleep in the bed she'd made, but at least she wasn't just doing the same old thing. And when David was so completely out of touch in suggesting she use a banana before the real thing, she was so poised in dealing with her embarrassment and saying that she didn't want to lose her virginity to a fruit, I thought maybe she had learned that her intentions were good, but her partner wasn't. Even when she said at the end that "I probably looked as wide-eyed, fresh, and artless as any other student. But I wasn't," I thought the same thing.

But, really, what this movie had to say with all that happened, all the reactions of the other characters, and the way things transpire (she gets into Oxford! Yippee! Because that's what this movie really needed, a happy ending. After all the complexities they sought to explore, all it really needed was everything tied up in a pretty little bow), is a big, fat, "I told you so." I thought the movie was about dreams, about doing something new, about living, about taking risks. But its lesson was to stay the course and play it safe because the world's a scary place and it's better to know what you're getting into than to be screwed. If Jenny were a real live person, I'm sure she would use her experiences in a positive way to lead her to some worthwhile goal. But everyone in this movie has already achieved his goal. Her teacher saved her, her headmistress proved her point, as did her father, and nobody's views really changed. The destination's been reached.

Sons of Anarchy - Season 3

2010-12-23T11:23:00.008-05:00

The usuals, plus:
McNally Sagal ... Margaret Murphy
Hal Holbrook ... Nate Madock
Emilio Rivera ... Marcus Alvarez
Paula Malcomson ... Maureen Ashby
James Cosmo ... Father Kellan Ashby
Bellina Logan ... Fiona Larkin
Zoe Boyle ... Trinity Ashby
Pamela Gray ... Agent Tyler
Andy McPhee ... Keith McGee
Joel Tobeck ... Donny
Robin Weigert ... Ally Lowen
Monique Gabriela Curnen ... Amelia Dominguez
Keith Szarabajka ... Viktor Putlova
Leo Fitzpatrick ... Shepard (2 episodes, 2010)
Dennis Keiffer ... Izzy (2 episodes, 2009)
David J. Wright ... Squirrel
Jose Pablo Cantillo ... Hector Salazar
Jeff Kober ... Jacob Hale Jr.
Kenny Johnson ... Kozik
Arie Verveen ... Liam O'Neill
Created by Kurt Sutter

This is still a solid show, far better than Dexter, on which I've given up, and worth watching, but the concerns I had in season 1 are back again. The season is about Abel in Ireland and the Sons having to go there to get him back and running into, well, the past. Which is fine. But the end result was anything and everything going wrong on the way to finding Abel, and usually for no better reason than to prolong the inevitable events of the season. There was action abroad, action at home, and things going on in a number of places at all times to keep every character occupied, but a remarkable lack of depth to the ongoings, as if the intent was just to keep all the characters busy and us engaged, and not really to learn much about anyone or to see any growth. Part of this was unavoidable once the major arc - getting Abel back - was established, because there's only so much time to do that and so much growth and introspection that can be done in that time.

There are certainly wonderful moments, and much of the premier episode made me forget about criticisms I'd heard about the show during the season (specifically, Shardul said that the season was good, but "over the top," and FX President John Landgraf mentioned SOA when explaining why FX's show Terriers got canceled. "I don't know if subtlety is something the American public is buying in droves," he added. "When I look at 'Jersey Shore' and the Kardashians and 'Sons of Anarchy' and 'Walking Dead'... I wouldn't say that subtlety and nuance describes the most successful kind of pop content in America today.") Those quieter moments in which we see how much these characters mean to each other and how affected they are by the people and events in their lives, are what separate this show from any number of shows on TV in which we move from one dramatic point/cliffhanger to the next, successfully stringing along every hopeful or formula-blind viewer for season after season. Those shows aren't really any better than the soap Sapna and I caught today while waiting for an oil change, and which led her to sigh, exasperated, "So much drama!"

To separate itself from that pack, SOA has going for it: solid acting, touching and real quieter moments, great music, [mostly] great action/thrills/stakes, and some wonderful humor. At its best, it's a lot of fun and quite moving, and there were episodes, like the premier and finale, that ranked with the best ones TV had to offer this year, but the season as a whole gets blown out of the water by so much better, more consistently real, fare out there in these suddenly quality-rich (not that that usually means ratings-rich) days.

Phew, that was a long-winded way to say that SOA is good, and worth seeing, but falls far short of its potential, no? I just struggle so much with reviews like these, in which I have so many criticisms but feel bad making it seem as if the show was poor.

Let me first say what the basic plot is and then get into critique. Last season ended with Abel in the hands of Cameron, who makes it all the way to Belfast while the Sons are back in Charming not knowing what to do. This season is all about getting him and all the hurdles to overcome and old secrets that come out, old relationships that are tested/changed in the process.

Let's start at the end and then go to the beginning, and the extensive notes below will fill in the blanks. The finale was really great, and as a stand-alone episode, it's amazing. The problem is that I don't feel that the twist in the finale makes everything prior to it make sense. And that's a problem for me. Granted, the final plan was wonderful and each step was more exciting or more jaw-dropping than the last (also, so I don't forget to mention it, I'm glad that they don't end this season with a cliffhanger, but rather a bunch of interesting scenarios that we're eager to see play out), but a good twist should make you want to go back and rewatch everything, and to help you pick out and appreciate more and more things that didn't make sense or that weren't apparent the first time through. I felt this season had the end and the mile markers in mind and worked backward from there, so that if it was going to take a certain number of episodes for something to happen, we needed enough things to go wrong before then to insure that it would take that long. And if we don't want the viewers to know the destination, we have to really lead them astray. It makes sense in the world of television writing, but does it make sense in the Sons' world?

Also, the characters in the show do a bunch of really dumb things. I understand that Gemma is the queen bee and that nobody can make her do anything, and that theme is fun for a while, and I realize the significance of the last episode in what I say here, but, really, why are these people surprised every time she goes and does something impulsive? Why do they ever believe anything Stahl says? Granted, the last episode weakens that complaint as well, but while the one bit of acting the characters did in the finale that fooled me holds up upon rewatching, much of the season does not. And why does Tara do so many dumb things? She's a smart woman and has the toughness to last in their world, but she really needs to use her brain more when there's imminent danger. Why does it take so long to call Father Ashby out? Oh, and how many times does keeping a secret have to blow up in the characters' faces before they realize that perhaps they should stop keeping them?

Oh, and why did they make such a big deal about the Sons going to Ireland and all that it would dig up? We never really got to understand what the Irish people were up to, and whatever news was given to Jax (which was delayed far too much) didn't really seem to bother or surprise him at all. We joined the Sons in Ireland and completely distrusted pretty much everyone there. They never establish the length/depth of the ties between the Sons here and there, so how can we feel what the characters supposedly feel when relations sour? The show started with Hamlet in an MC, and it was great this season to see Clay use a time of crisis to push Jax toward the side of dilemma that suited Clay and the MC, but did the writers do the same thing to us? That existential crisis seems, even in the midst of Jax's fatherhood, to be buried under a growing list of enemies and crises.

Things that worked well included Gemma's interaction with her father, Opie (as usual), all of Tig's Tig-ness (man, I love that guy), all the Deadwood alums getting together, most of the first and last episodes, the music, Margaret's backstory being something believable, but not cliched (and making her actions this season make more sense), and then a bunch of smaller things that I can't mention for fear of spoiling the plot. I took more extensive notes this time around, and mostly used proper punctuation and grammar (though, especially with all the Irish accents, I struggled to take good notes while paying attention to the show, so there are surely lots of mistakes), and broke them up by episodes, so it's a lot to go through, but a better reference for me if I go back to it.

And, as always with my TV reviews, I refer to Alan's posts on the subject.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
=Episode 1
Season opens on Jax shirtless and zoned out, leaning on crib, Tara zoned out, Gemma with Tigg and some Oregon members in hiding, not knowing about Abel still. Jax looks thoroughly exhausted, like a dish rag, in this first episode as the guys try to snap him out of it.
Jax tells Tara that she should go back to Chicago, that she doesn't belong there with them.
Jax diffuses a standoff because he's so earnest in grief when he tells the other guys that they're looking for the guy who kidnapped his son.
Jax: "I've been trying to find some kind of balance, Piney - Right thing for my family, Club. Every time I think maybe I'm heading int he right direction, I end up in a place I never even knew could feel this bad. What did I do, man?"
Haha, Gemma hot wires a car to go visit her widower dad on her own, under Tig's nose, and she has to use her glasses to see. She stabs the owner when she gets caught.
Tara has a breakdown in the OR when she's supposed to be operating on a baby.
I'm still in love with Tig. He's hilarious and awesome.
Clay gives Jax a speech about making a statement with his grief, fighting for his son. As always, it's unclear if he's looking out more for Jax or for the club. Still, he makes quite a statement in pounding a man's head into the pavement after he falls out of a van while doing a driveby at Half-Sack's wake. Hale gets killed for his trouble. All while "Dad's Gonna Kill Me" plays over the whole, wonderful, montage.
Paula Malcomson (Trixie) joins the other Deadwood alums - Dayton Callie and Titus Welliver.
=Episode 2
Jimmy O thinks Cameron squealed, the superiors at the IRA are pissed because they have a longstanding agreement with SOA brokered by John Tyler
Tig freaks out about all the figurines at Gemma's dad's house.
Great to see Gemma as a vulnerable daughter with her demented father
Jimmy lies about not knowing where Cameron is
Hahaha so great to see any big dawgs in these shows put in their place, as Bobby Elvis is by Precious when he goes to ask a favor.
Haha, Tig in a robe awkwardly explains that a little bit of lube is the humane thing to do
Nate (Gemma's dad) shoots Tig, thinking he's screwing his dead wife, Rose.
To get info out of a guy who did a patchover job for the Mayans (the drive-by), they bury him up to his head and drive their bikes right by it
=Episode 3
The father has Cameron killed, though he knows it's happening
Whoa, Maureen has a past with John Teller
Nate's gone missing
Jimmy's still denying that Cameron's gone to Belfast
Gemma takes the caretaker hostage
Omigod, Tara lets the caretaker's hand free, she gets free completely, knocks Tara out, puts a knife to Gemma's head, tara helps out and they end up stabbing her in the heart
Stephen King plays a guy who gets things done to clean up the mess
There are SOA members in Belfast? Why is Clay not calling them up directly? Granted, they don't know about the baby, but still...they should be alerted, no?
Opie's still not good with his girlfriend's profession
Okay, never mind. The Belfast guys find Cameron's body and send a picture to Juice.
Omigod, I didn't even realize that was Robin Weigert (Calamity Jane) as the new SOA defense attorney! Man, was she great on Deadwood
=Episode 4
Featured an emotional goodbye between Gemma and father, a lot of truth telling between Jax and Tara, Clay's arthritis acting up, Father Ashby explaining that he needs the SOA in Belfast in order to get rid of Jimmy, who's a gangster and not a soldier anymore, Gemma going home to be with Abel, and Maureen calling Gemma to tell her that they have her grandson, which leads to Gemma having a panic or heart attack.
=Episode 5
Turns out it was a bad arrhythmia because she hasn't been taking her meds
Damn, Jax takes a lot of sugar in his coffee
Wow, Gemma turned herself in because she felt too old to run. The deal was she'd sign off on the story if she didn't get death and got weekly visitation rights
When Tig and Chucky scoped out the new Heroin facility and got caught, that was a really lame escape they pulled
Jax does some dealing, settles all kinds of business by using his brains more than his braun. Gets Luke, Jimmy's #2, gives him to Stahl in exchange for the freedom of his mother and club, and the chance to go get Abel.
=Episode 6
Kozik and Happy get voted on to join SAMCRO, Tig keeps Kozik out and they fight while everyone else lets them...in their headquarters, tearing the place up
Tara helps the club to sell some blackmarket HIV drugs to make money to go to Belfast.
Jax tells Gemma about the deal he's made and the statement she has to make to get the deal. I felt I'd be surprised if she went along, no matter how much she trusts him. She's got to be the Queen Mother. Sure enough, she actually tells the truth about the Polly murder...only instead of Stahl, she implicates the agent that's dating Stahl.
The white supremacist guy, Darby, at the clinic where Jax/Tara are selling the drugs, gives that information to Hale, who has the San Joaquin police department raid the clubhouse
Jax is upset that Tara could get in trouble from all this, says that it's his fault and that he's done (with the club, I'm assuming...nope, with Tara, for her own good, he thinks), and the next scene has him in bed with the girl from Lyla's porn crew who always wants to sleep with him.
One of the prospects is Leo Fitzpatrick, Johnny, from The Wire
=Episode 7
Wow, all right...Jax wakes up with the girl (Ima) who was hitting on him, Tara comes in, sees them, walks out, Opie gets mad at Lyla, who slaps him, chick gets spiteful while talking to Lyla about Tara in a huff, and Lyla slaps her. Jax asks Opie what he would have done if he could go back knowing what happened to Donna, and he said he tried to push her away and she wouldn't have it.
Clay says IRA heat is a risk he'll have to take.
Next scene - Jimmy meets with SOA rep (McGee?), who says that the crew can't know information given to Jimmy came from them. Jimmy says that's a risk he's gotta take.
Calaveras crew sends a message by killing one of the Grim Bastards. It was Salazar's man. So they have a pow-wow, kill the lieutenant, let Salazar live but take his patch/cut, and he's left plotting revenge (on SOA only, for some reason. It was their working together that made him have the Bastard killed in the first place)
Haha, when Gemma gets Tara to bust her out of the hospital, I wonder why she doesn't punch her to make it seem real. Her administrator believes Tara's explanation for why she had to help, but punches her in the face to make it seem real.
SOA is going to Belfast, walking right into the middle of everyone - SOA and Jimmy's faction of the IRA - waiting for them.
Have to agree with Alan that this episode felt very contrived and satisfying only to people who want things to be where we know they need to be and who will accept any circumstances that get us there, like Gemma's fake seizure at the hospital, the Sons defying Wayne and calling him a traitor before walking past him to get out, etc. There were some good points, but overall, the episode was unnecessary. We know Salazar isn't happy with the Sons, we know that their position is tenuous with them abroad, we know Tara's pregnant and pushed away and unsure what to do, we know that the people in Ireland know the Sons are coming and everyone's looking to kill a bird or three. This episode just reiterated all of that while actually getting them into the transport to Ireland.
=Episode 8
Haha, an irish version of the theme song
We get to see the first trap the IRA seems to have planned for the SOA boys - anticlimactic escape to it though.
Feltstein is a cool character...understands what Darby's doing at his gym, tells him to come back after he closes to do what he has to do, but he'll retire when he dies.
Hale hires Salazar instead because Darby backs out.
Salazar tears the place up, "Johnny" chickens out, Salazar tells Feltstein to tell SOA that no one messes with the Mayans
Haha, Lyla's fake name at the abortion clinic is Sarah Palin
A lot of people make a lot of promises they can't possibly keep, like "we'll find the kid," and "I won't let anything happen to my girls," just before Chibs is in the car with his girls and some others and they get hit with a drive-by
Johnny (Shepard) the prospect leaves his cut and gun behind and leaves after the destruction.
The Priest puts the cards on the table, making it clear to Jax that he's trading the baby for Jimmy's death.
=Episode 9
Jax decides he needs to think things over, doesn't know whom to trust
Lumpy (Feldstein) says the guy who trashed the place said not to mess with the Mayans, and though the Sons seem to jump immediately to believing the ruse, they seek out Darby, figure out it was Hale who was behind it, try to get Wayne to do something about it, he points out that it would too convenient for him to try to bring down the future mayor and one guy who's been trying to bring down the club, and that Hale isn't Mexican and doesn't drive a Harley, and they figure out it was Salazar. Good for them. I was afraid of the guys always getting everything wrong and messing things up due to circumstance this season. As Alan pointed out before the previous episode, the young couple seeming to be adopting Abel was definitely a displeasing little complication that seemed to be thrown in there for no other reason.
Wow, a strange turn of events leads to Gemma having a gun on Jimmy and his assistant, but Fiona puts a gun on Gemma and lets the other two go, saying that her family would be wiped out by Jimmy's guys if she killed him. We got to see how crazy Fiona is.
Jimmy seemed to have put a taking care of all business sequence into play because while the Sons make it through the checkpoint they feared, there's a much more insidious trap waiting for them inside some barn, and Jimmy pull that one off, though without any dead from SAMCRO, remotely, without the Sons realizing O'Neill was the one who detonated the bomb. He even killed a Son or two from there.
Meanwhile, Wayne's starting to believe that Hale's behind Lumpy's beating.
Ha, Salazar and his girl blackmail Hale into giving them Tara's location
Margaret helps Tara a whole lot...seems to really want Tara to choose a different path. It seems she might have more reason to do that than we previously thought when Salazar picks them up and we see that she's got a huge back tat.
=Episode 10
They're torturing Liam O'Neill to get him to confess to the bombing and that Jimmy ordered it...and Happy's happy to watch it done, ha. Why do these torturers always have such a large bag of tools? Doesn't one or two usually do the trick?
Meanwhile, Jimmy's coming with an army, ha
The ensuing shootout seems to reveal that these guys are as bad shots as all the gangbanging kids in The Wire.
The goodbye with McGee is touching and honest (McGee says this life hasn't given him much by way of retirement, and that it was just for the money)...but this is about more than just betraying the club. He worked to have them killed. He didn't deserve any respect.
Blehhhh...we all knew these two would hook up if no one told them for long enough and now here they are. Grosss
Wow and Gemma and Maureen walk in on Jax and Trinity hooking up and still think twice before revealing the truth. I guess the possibility of grossness wasn't as bad as letting the skeletons out.
Man this priest is full of shit. I don't know why Jax is even listening to him. He wanted to keep Abel out of this life because he wants to help John Teller keep the promise he made about keeping his son out? He uses as proof of the danger of that life the violence that's gone down in the last few days? He was behind all of it and still is. It's some empty advice from someone who used violent means to do good. The ends don't justify the means.
Alan: Kurt Sutter (who gave a long interview to Mo Ryan in which she asked him about many of the complaints about this season) has said that this was a season where he really wanted to delve into the show's mythology, but I feel like the story has gotten in the way of the backstory. I know a bit about John Teller's time in Belfast, but know very little about the actual formation of the Belfast charter, of how Keith McGee was in Charming so many decades earlier, why he came home, etc. McGee barely registered as a character at all, other than the impressive size and mustache of the actor playing him. As a result, the moment when Clay had to kill a member of the Fist Nine didn't have the emotional resonance it should have, even with Ron Perlman playing the hell out of it, and Sutter having Clay give McGee a Corleone-style kiss of all kisses before pushing him over the ledge.
And also, Alan: As for the action in Charming, I quite liked Margaret and Tara's scene in the attic - her backstory wasn't so one-to-one with Tara's as to be silly, but close enough that it did its job of making their earlier interaction much more interesting - but am eager to see Tig and/or Kozik put a bullet in Salazar already. Beyond the contrivances necessary to put him in this position, he and his girlfriend are two-dimensional villains, as was made clear when we got our brief glimpse of Alvarez's home and family. Alvarez and his fierce mama bear are how you write complicated, interesting anatgonists (or, in this case, uneasy allies) and I'd much rather see more of him and the Mayans than watch Salazar wander around figuratively twirling his mustache.
Alan: There are two shows on television where I would not have been shocked if Jax and Trinity had been allowed to start, um, "dancing in Tig territory," and this is one of them. ("It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" is the other.) The revelation of their true identities to each other was used amusingly to call a brief truce in the Gemma/Maureen feud, but Jax's understated reaction to it all makes me again wonder what the point was to keeping the truth from him for so many episodes. If the big secret Gemma was keeping (before she knew about Trinity) was simply that JT screwed around in Belfast, should she and Clay have really been this worried?
Exactly...this bothered me too. What was with all the talk about secrets and how they're gonna blow up. Jax hardly seemed to care and ended up smiling and feeling bad for his mom.
=Episode 11
Haha, Gemma pulls a gun on a baby to get the whereabouts of the adoptive couple from the missionary that gave him up for adoption.
Wow, this is a nice scene...Jax watching the couple with Abel, seeing the simple life he'd have with them instead of him. Granted, they look like they came off an L.L. Bean catalog cover, and they are unendingly expressive of their love for one another, give money to a homeless person. Still, nice.
Awesome, Unser and the Sons figure out the connection between Hale and Salazar and Unser starts plotting with them...realizes they gotta capture Salazar to prove Hale's dirty.
Jimmy finds out where the baby is, kills the parents, takes Abel to help him get out of the country alive. Jax puts the loving couple together, hand in hand, and Opie seems to understand what was going on and he puts Abel's new cap on their hands.
Yay, in talking to the Priest, Jax says he's done listening to dead men (wait, he just said he understood that his father's manuscript was about changing his legacy and not the club. Did he change his mind about himself just like that? Was it the news that Tara's pregnant?) and that he's done listening to Ashby, who didn't care about them and was just using them as a means to an end. Why'd it take him so long to realize that?
Nice, Tara cuts Salazar's girl (who has an incredible body), sticks up Salazar when he gets back, arranges for Margaret's safety in exchange for helping save the girl's life.
And it turns out Father Ashby arranged for himself in exchange for the baby. He'll be the hostage and he knows he'll be killed.
Jax promises Abel, "I'm not gonna let anyone take you from me again." Everyone's always so sure of everything.
Lot of Luke/Leia vibes between Jax and Trinity now.
Seems Maureen has left all the letters in Jax's bag...wait, no I think that was Gemma's bag with Gemma's black hat for her.
Alan: On the other hand, the Tara/Salazar story? Ugh. Why put Tara in a position to not only have a gun on Salazar, but to have one on him WHILE HIS BACK IS TURNED AND THE GUN IS DOWN and not have her just shoot the guy? In taking out his old lady - and, in previous seasons, in shooting Kohn - Tara has shown she's not opposed to lethal force in moments of self-defense, and it should have been clear that this was one of them. Giving Margaret the gun and staying was just dumb. Hell, if she's just concerned about letting Luisa die, then shoot Salazar in the leg or something, get out and call 911. That's another case of a character doing something stupid because the larger arc needed them to stay in the same place they were for another episode or two.
=Episode 12
They're back in Charming and Jax promises Gemma that everyone's gonna be okay with the deal he has with Stahl and how that plays out. I agree with Alan...what makes any of these characters think that keeping secrets will work out?
And wow, was that Tara's dead body he side of the road?
Opie goes to Gemma for advice about Lyla and she tells him to marry him before asking her to change her life.
Ha, Salazar's an important person - he can rat out Hale and Alvarez too
Ha, Alvarez says he's not as stupid as these white boys while talking to Salazar's aunt with a gun to her head.
Haha, when asked to do some translating, Juice says that he's a Puerto Rican from Queens - he knows more Yiddish than Spanish.
Hmm...turns out that that wasn't Tara after all. But who was it? Oh, they carjacked and killed her.
Ha, Salazar takes Tara to Hale's and takes both of them hostage and has them call the police. This should be good.
Twist! Stahl sends everyone away to man the back entrance with just Agent Tyler, but Jax kills and frames Salazar, and when Stahl realizes this, she kills Tyler (with another gun in the back of her patns) and says it was Mexicans. It was ugly and scary to see Stahl pretend to cry when calling the cops over to Tyler, and to pretend to feel bad when Jax brings it up.
Hale takes all the credit for how things worked out. And, oh yeah, Jimmy is an unwilling guest of the Russians until their deal goes through.
I like that when they have to vote on Kozik getting accepted, even with Tig and he getting along of late, after Clay votes yes, everyone else just looks at Tig instead of voting. He says no.
Boo Opie, you shouldn't tell Lyla that you're worried about the future and that they should get married. You should ask her to marry you.
Whoa, the Tig/Kozik stuff is about a dog?
Hmm...Stahl basically corroborates Gemma's whole statement, pinning everything on Tyler. This seems like an unselfish move, since she said Tyler's motive was to protect her partner because the case was important to Stahl's career, but it also takes away Gemma's wildcard of pinning everything on Stahl
Alan: Whether Jax is supposed to be tired from the flight, or feels that Salazar is a walk in the park compared to all the craziness of Belfast or whatever, there was definitely less of a sense of urgency to "June Wedding" than there was to the Belfast episodes - as if the story of the season ended last week and now we're getting a prolonged epilogue.
Yeah, noticed that too...from the start. We didn't see Jax actually getting the news, so the next we see him, he's sauntering out of the van in Charming instead of running out and trying to figure out/fix things.
Oh, and I haven't mentioned how much I like the music this season. It's not well known stuff, but it's great, it fits.
=Episode 13
Whatever happens today, in this big day they all have to get Jimmy and secure their gun deal and all, this show is still far more compelling than Dexter's been in a while, and this opening montage (set to "Live and love with you this Charming life") of everyone telling each other that they love each other, shows that this is a different kind of show than the one it resembles, but not the show it could be.
And how could I forget last episode to mention that Opie's let his hair down?
Woohoo we get to see Otto again!
You know, I'm really wondering what Chucky has in those boxes
Gemma and Stahl put their cards on the table, but Gemma points out that these deals don't work because they all lie and don't trust each other.
Sutter gives himself some good material...it's always fun to see him, even in understated moments like these.
The boxes had irregular counterfeit bills.
Wow, this is very risky on Jax's part. His plan: to give Stahl the location of the safehouse, have her hang back, let them get Jimmy, then they'll grab the lot of them and let the Sons go and take Jimmy. That is a really dumb plan.
And Tara's involved with the exchange somehow.
Poor Donny got killed. He was a good guy to have. Guess they couldn't buy him.
Once again, these guys are terrible shots. As the Russians chase the Sons and try to shoot them, they can't even hit them in the back, wide as they are.
Wow, Stahl rats out Jax to the club (though, really, should anyone be surprised?)
Haha, the rest of the plan comes together. They capture Jimmy from Stahl with Unser's help, kill him, kill Stahl, set them up to look like the Irish killed them, rip up the deal Stahl got Jax to sign, then give letters to Gemma and Tara. In any case, the boys laugh at Jax in the van when they have confirmation that they're mostly off the hook. Apparently, they were all in on it and wanted Gemma to not know. But what's with all the feints? It looked like Jax was actually scared in the truck with the other guys. Hmm, looked back at it and it seems it was just a show for the ATF while they were putting bracelets on them.
Oh, and Opie in the back seat with a gun to Stahl's head in the driver's seat? When he says, "This is what she felt"? Amazing. Chills.

Friends - Season 10

2010-12-12T14:25:00.002-05:00

The usuals
Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman

And...it's done. Again, my stance is that this was a likable enough show that had some great moments, no especially terrible episodes, but plenty of uninspired ones. This season probably saw a slight drop in quality, but it wasn't bad by Friends' standards.

There were some highlights and solid episodes, starting with the first one. In the scene in which Rachel and Joey think of forgetting about Ross, and try to make out, they both keep seeing him and feeling like they're making out with him...so we get to see Ross in Joey's shirt and Rachel's dress...why'd it take 10 seasons for Friends to finally discover this creativity?

And, what with a penis-shaped cake for Emma, Joey having to improvise his present and besting everyone with a dramatic reading of a child's book, Phoebe crashing and burning right after with her lame song, everyone being upset at Emma for not waking up from her nap and ruining their plans for that day, a race of different windup toys, and more, Emma's birthday party was a solidly funny episode.

Other things I enjoyed were the four heads in the doorway from the Thanksgiving episode, Danny Devito as a stripper dressed as a cop (for Phoebe's bachelorette party), the name Princess Consuela Banana Hammock, and anything to do with Paul Rudd.

Things I didn't like? Most of the characters, most of the Ross/Rachel stuff, all the Monica/Chandler child stuff, the abandonment of any care about Joey's love life, reappearances of Janice and the "break" "joke."

Oh, and as for Phoebe being the most realistic about human nature, when Monica refuses to do Thanksgiving, she says that that's fine because Monica's losing her touch anyway, and then challenges Monica to be in competition with herself. This is refreshing b/c most of the characters just give in to social norms and Phoebe also does a great job of selling it. Anyway, on to the comments.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======

-Mike turned out to be dating someone named Precious, who is Thirteen from House.
-greg kinnear plays benjamin hobart, a guy who somehow won...multiple (?) nobel prizes for paleontology?
-joey and rachel thing dropped because they don't feel sexual chemistry. and just like that, they forget it all. when ross and rachel later sleep together, there's no negative reaction from Joey. It's like it happened years ago. Meanwhile, Ross freaks out when he finds out that Chandler kissed Rachel years ago, and does not handle it well when Joey and Rachel are together, even though they haven't been together in years.
chandler/rachel apply for adoption, and lo...they get the fastest adoption interview ever. Anna Faris plays the teenaged mother, Erica, and though it's through a misunderstanding and lie of omission that they get their interview, she lets them have the baby anyway! Yay for wish fulfillment!
-Rachel is wearing a turtleneck sweater with a huge diamond cut out of the back
-phoebe gets married in the snow, which was kinda nice. Still, the whole season felt like they were saying to the audience, "Look how sweet this is! Look how everything is working out for our favorite people!" It felt very forced and no more compelling than watching people get Christmas presents when we already know exactly what they're gonna get.
-MacKenzie, whose parents are selling their house to the Bings, is Dakota Fanning
-Jane Lynch plays a realtor and the woman who just won't go away, Janice, is potentially gonna be their neighbor.
-episode w/ rachel's goodbyes is nice. and funny when joey seems to handle her goodbye well and then nearly jumps off the balcony
-ross gets his goodbye from rachel and some goodbye sex. he tells joey and phoebe excitedly (bleh) and he wants to be with her and for her to stay.
gunther tells rachel he loves her, ha. even that was empty. it serves only as an obstacle for Ross and nothing more, even though we've seen for years how much he wanted her.
-oh and monica/chandler have twins, boy/girl
-woohoo sappy cliche-fest..ross goes to the wrong airport to tell rachel he loves her, then to the right one, then she says no, then she calls him and leaves a message in which she says she loves him and realizes how much she loves him and the message ends w/ her trying to get off the plane. ross wonders if she did and that's when she walks in through his front door. and now they're together! Yay! Bleh, these two haven't been in a relationship in years and years, and only ever get together because they're having a kid (after a drunk coupling) or because Rachel is leaving the country. They can't handle everyday life, and yet they're together and all the fans couldn't be happier.
-The show tied things up nice enough by having rachel moving/leaving and monica/chandler leaving, so they have to say goodbye to their hangout place and their friend and, in a way, say goodbye to the audience in the process.

Boardwalk Empire - Season 1

2010-12-11T15:55:00.010-05:00

Steve Buscemi ... Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson
Michael Pitt ... James 'Jimmy' Darmody
Kelly Macdonald ... Margaret Schroeder
Michael Shannon ... Agent Nelson Van Alden
Shea Whigham ... Elias 'Eli' Thompson
Aleksa Palladino ... Angela Darmody
Michael Stuhlbarg ... Arnold Rothstein
Stephen Graham ... Al Capone
Vincent Piazza ... Lucky Luciano
Michael K. Williams ... Chalky White
Paul Sparks ... Mickey Doyle
Dabney Coleman ... Commodore Louis Kaestner
Paz de la Huerta ... Lucy Danziger
Gretchen Mol ... Gillian
Erik Weiner ... Agent Sebso
Greg Antonacci ... Johnny Torrio
Edoardo Ballerini ... Ignatius D'Alessio
Max Casella ... Leo D'Alessio
Nicholas Alexander Martino ... Pius D'Alessio
Jack Huston ... Richard Harrow
Lisa Joyce ... Mary Dittrich
Al Linea ... Matteo D'Allessio
Anatol Yusef ... Meyer Lansky
Virginia Kull ... Nan Britton
Stephen DeRosa ... Eddie Cantor
Frank Crudele ... Big Jim Colosimo
Emily Meade ... Pearl
Geoff Pierson ... Senator Walter Edge
Created by Terrence Winter

What to say about this show? It's instantly as good as Mad Men or Breaking Bad for its profundity and depth, and better than Sons of Anarchy or The Walking Dead for their lack of consistent subtlety and depth. Its pilot was directed by Martin Scorsese, who is an executive producer for the show. Its head writer is Terrence Winter, one of the Sopranos writers (I feel like Sopranos alums are outshining David Chase, at least for my money, as I prefer this season or any of Mad Men over any of Sopranos). And oh, it not only has Omar in a prominent role, and Kelly McDonald (whom it took me a while to recognize, sadly, from No Country For Old Men - she's really good in this greatly expanded role) as well as other smaller name actors, but it also stars Steve Buscemi, who is [unsurprisingly] fantastic. His character, Nucky Thompson, has to be show a variety of different faces to different people and Buscemi plays each note perfectly.

If the names I've mentioned mean anything at all to you, you're already watching or planning to see this. But if not...while this analogy is a bit of a stretch, I still think it's apt. I read Angels and Demons in between the first and second half of Les Miserables (a bad translation, at that). It took me 6 days to read Les Mis and about 6 hours to read Brown's novel. Mind you, I was plenty interested in Angels and Demons when I read it. But reading them almost concurrently made it abundantly clear that while Brown could captivate with his story-telling, there was a reason why Hugo's works were considered classics. I felt much the same way watching Boardwalk Empire immediately after much of season one of The Walking Dead, season two of Eureka, and season nine of Friends. Those shows are fine in their own right, but watching this is a revelation for any real lover of film. It does everything right. Acting, music, story, action, drama, historical fiction, mythologizing and humanizing incredible characters, cinematography (it's amazing how a skilled shot of someone in a mirror, or of someone striking a match, however brief, can make an entire episode worth watching), monologues, and sequences like the operatic killing of Big Jim Colisimo or the Godfather like "settling of all family business". The shows and stories are so dense, I could, but won't, write an essay on each scene. Whatever I write will seem paltry and will make me regret saying anything at all. That is, praising a few of many great things seems outweighed by the sin of omission. That comes with the territory of a show like this one, though. So I'll mention all I took the time to note down as I watched the show. For more, see Alan, though you should still feel, even after all of that, that you're only scratching the surface.

So the story has to do with the rise to power of a number of gangsters at the start of prohibition, most prominently Enoch "Nucky" Thompson. This season traces a surprisingly short period of time in 1920, in which alliances are broken and made, drivers become Dons (though these people aren't mafioso, for the most part, so the word isn't appropriate), old Dons are pushed out against their will, there is much strife at home and, if not some growth, at least a lot of change. It's hard and not fair to spoil the show. I mean, many of these people are actual historical characters, so you can read what happened to them, when they did or didn't die, but it's more interesting to see their interactions with each other, or their introductions (like the wonderful introduction for Al Capone (who reminds me of a young Clemenza from Godfather II), or the understated introduction to Meyer Lansky. Quite a bit happens in this season, but it's not about plot twists and people stabbing each other in the back as much as their development...of course.

Nucky is one of the most powerful men on the East coast and, as we see when the Presidential election rolls around, in the country. He has a middle-management kind of role, getting people power and pulling the strings behind the scenes as Treasurer of Atlantic City, rather than himself running for Mayor, Governor or Senator. We know instantly that he's a slimy guy, a bad man if we are to judge him by his worst actions, but he's hesitant to embrace that role, as Jimmy, his driver-turned-strong man points out when he tells him early on that he can't be half a gangster.

Nucky is a very smart man, which is usually enough to make us admire him as a sort of anti-hero. But he's not the only one. Chalky turns out to be just as smart and tough, holding his own and not backing down (and giving us absolutely breathtaking acting performances along the way, like when he meets the D'alessios and Lansky in person or when he gets a chance to interrogate someone who might have been involved in the lynching of one of his men (a failed attempt on his own life). Rothstein is the same, even as he frightens his underlings into doing his bidding while keeping his hands relatively clean (1919 World Series fixing notwithstanding). And then there are Sonny-like hotheads, such as Lucky Luciano (who earns that moniker later in the season), the D'alessios, who have some basic creativity and a lot of backing, and guys like Jimmy and Capone, whose balls:brains ratio slowly shifts toward the latter side as the season progresses. Point being, there's a reason Nucky has it good but still becomes increasingly beleaguered as time passes. He's surrounded by and up against some very intelligent people. And that's without mentioning Nelson Van Alden, the stone-faced, business-like, and tormented agent who is cracking down on prohibition and is especially after Nucky and Jimmy. Growth and excitement come from conflict and it's amazing that Nucky keeps his head on straight at all considering how much conflict surrounds him.

I think whatever random thoughts remain to be said, I'll save for the comments section.

======= Comments/SPOILERS =======
-With Scorsese, you can expect beautiful colors and lighting in the pilot.
-Ha, Nucky says "A rose by any other name..." and when the listener is confused, he retorts, curtly, "Read a fucking book!"
-While I assumed that Nucky and Jimmy had a special relationship when he so brazenly went behind Nucky's back for his daring caper with Capone and then gave Nucky his share while telling him that Nucky could really use his help...this wasn't lost on Nucky, who later demanded $3000 more to complete his share, and when Jimmy tried to buy, borrow and steal that amount together, he got to see Nucky throw it all on one lost bet at a roulette table. Point made.
-The killing of Big Jim Colosimo, set to opera music, is something that just has to be seen, even as it all doesn't quite make sense in that first episode, in which we meet the considerable cast of this show.
-I'm reminded of Nelson's frustration with his bumbling partner in that first episode, which reminded me of the training/convocation scenes, which remind me of some great spliced scenes in this show, like when Margaret's praise of Nucky transitions into Nucky cursing out someone who's upset him, or seeing prohibition officer training mixed with Jimmy's son playing with toy soldiers.
-Oh man, which reminds me of Richard, an ex-soldier who's so dead inside that he's believably devoid of remorse as he kills strangers and children one second and looks after a mother and children the next, all out of gratitude to Jimmy, who was the first person in a long time who showed him empathy. He's creepy and disconcerting and he still, as a fragile, insecure man, he somehow elicits our sympathy.
-Oh good, I did think that was Molly Parker as Nucky's dead wife
-Whoa that was a very weird introduction to jimmy's mom at the cabaret. She certainly seemed like a mistress. It becomes quickly apparent that we shouldn't make assumptions about Ms. Gillian, who is quite capable, strong, intelligent and observant. She seems a bit excessively hedonistic and unscrupulous at times, but her allegiances become clearer as time goes on and as more information reveals greater depth to her character.
-The show features great little stories, like Rothstein talking about what he did to a stranger for his amusement in setting up a threat to the guy who killed big Jim Colosimo; Nucky explaining what high hopes he had for Jimmy; Chalky talking about his father's carpentry; Jimmy telling a story to the man who cut Pearl's face. Let me let Alan explain this amazing scene:

What a great scene that is. As with Nucky torching the house even after he tells Margaret the story, here's Jimmy finally talking something out, as he tells Liam about the man caught in the barbed wire in the Argonne. He's opening up about a horror from the war, in a way he hasn't been able to with most people, and in the process he gains complete psychological dominance over Liam. If he lets Liam live, Liam will always know how completely powerless he was and will absolutely live up to Jimmy's demand that he never see him again. But that's not quite enough for Jimmy(**). He wants to have his cake and take out the man who drove Pearl to kill herself, too, and so he makes Liam fear his own imminent death, then lets him off the hook but quivering like a little boy, then kills him anyway. And as the camera zooms across the street to show Richard packing up his gear, Bach's "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" - famous as the score to so many early monster movies - roars on the soundtrack, transitioning into Lucy, stood up by Nucky, watching the silent 1920 "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

(**) Or perhaps it is. Fienberg suggested to me that Richard is acting on his own, as a way to pay back Jimmy for the hooker, and is doing something he suspects Jimmy really wants to do but is choosing not to.

The show is chock full of wonderfully constructed themes and mini-themes for episodes, like so much involving Margaret. For example, I have to mention how struck Margaret was by having a conversation about politics w/ powerful men one second (which impressed him too) and then seeing him respond to his girlfriend, Lucy, coming out of a big cake the next, and how affected she was by the news that Anastasia wasn't indeed a Russian princess...the fairy tale that could have been wasn't. That last bit reminded me of the episode of Mad Men in which Marilyn Monroe committed suicide, which affected all the women of the show. And as great a character as she is, as difficult as her situation is, I have to say that it's telling that it isn't Nucky's baring of his soul that drives her back into his arms, but rather the fear of destitution (when she gets the slice of cake with a piece of rag. She reminded me of Betty and Carmela.

Speaking of women, there are a number of great women characters on this show, from Margaret and Gillian (obviously), to Angela and Mary, the head of the temperance league, and even Lucy and the Commodore's housekeeper. Speaking of her, though, Nucky should explain himself more often. He really burnt some bridges when he let the housekeeper off the hook (though her crime was understandable considering she was intelligent enough to know how poorly he treated her, that he was talking down to her to make a point), and when he didn't explain how/why he was using his brother as a pawn before the election.
-Wow, for a moment I thought Nelson was using a baptism of Agent Sepso as a ruse to kill him, but it was somewhat of an accident and also his insanity
-Jimmy reminds me of some mix of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jax and Giovanni Ribisi
-Margaret: "there is a kindness in you. How can you do what you do?" Nucky: "We all have to decide for ourselves how much sin we can live with"
-I am till wondering why Van Alden didn't think to use Lucy instead of just sleeping with her (which made sense after he got rejected by Margaret, his ideal woman. He felt base and went to indulge his basest instincts). I guess she really knows nothing.

The Walking Dead - Season 1

2010-12-10T11:52:00.001-05:00

Andrew Lincoln ... Rick Grimes
Jon Bernthal ... Shane Walsh
Sarah Wayne Callies ... Lori Grimes
Laurie Holden ... Andrea
Jeffrey DeMunn ... Dale
Steven Yeun ... Glenn
Chandler Riggs ... Carl Grimes
Emma Bell ... Amy
IronE Singleton ... T-Dog
Andrew Rothenberg ... Jim
Norman Reedus ... Daryl Dixon
Melissa Suzanne McBride ... Carol
Michael Rooker ... Merle Dixon
Lennie James ... Morgan Jones
Giorgio Borghetti ... Shane
Adam Minarovich ... Ed
Noah Emmerich ... Dr. Edwin Jenner
Created by Frank Darabont

Before I get into the show, let me first give the premise of it if you aren't already aware (man goes to hospital, awakes to find that people are dying and turning into zombies and there are very few healthy/alive people left and that's all he knows as he tries to find other survivors, including his wife and child) and explain that Alan is a TV critic I really like and he's whom I reference often in this review.

This show, thus far, is a tale of two types of episodes. The pilot was unbelievably good and so was much of episode 4 and all of episode 5, if I remember correctly. The other three episodes, however, were wildly disappointing to me. I'm not going into this to see people going to town on zombies and to hear a bunch of rousing speeches from people trying to be hero, or to have manufactured drama. It is dramatic and compelling enough for a character to wake up in a world overrun by zombies, to come across people who've lost their loved ones, or who have to watch as their loved ones turn into zombies. It's great enough to see how the world has changed, what kind of people have survived, what things people hold on to, and such. I don't want this to be like every other show out there that panders to the greatest denominator in order to get ratings - only set in the zombie genre. There's too much good to get out of it.

I'm especially wary and upset because the finale felt to me like a Jerry Bruckheimer film...melodrama, explosions and a countdown. I'm surprised at the people who felt it ended on a good note. Sure, there were plot details that were interesting and important in that last episode, but it was mostly a very poorly done episode. This became increasingly evident as I watched the episode after completing the entire Boardwalk Empire first season in a matter of days just before watching the Walking Dead finale. Anyway, more on that below. Suffice it to say that I'm really concerned and curious about what we'll get more of going forward. The acting was pretty solid through the season, but the storylines were often disconcertingly derivative and the dialogues were often quite clunky. Sure, the show was insanely popular from start to finish, but I think that speaks more for the genre, the mostly decent production value (though Sapna laughed at the fake appearance climactic moment of the finale). The Sopranos was far more successful as far as ratings go for HBO than was The Wire, but that speaks more to how much Americans love mafia stories than it does to the relative quality of the shows, about which I think there should be no debate. This show debuted after some great marketing, very appropriately on Halloween with a very solid pilot. The next two episodes held on to viewers with all the action and scares and tension, and the finale continued that. But what was so great about the pilot was all the quiet moments, the times when we saw into the minds and hearts of the characters. I hope there's more of that coming back.

Though the introduction was extremely similar to that of 28 Days Later, it was very well done. We see Rick kill a young zombie girl, flash back to the friendly banter he has with his partner, Shane (which both underscores how much more carefree things were before and reveals a few points of later tension), which leads to the car chase that got Rick into the hospital, and then to the hospital where he recovers, then to a point later on when we realize slowly that a lot of time has passed in which he has been completely alone in that hospital. That transition/realization were very well done. And it's just always good to see a transformed world through the eyes of someone who wasn't there for the change - again, especially when done by such capable hands.

Soon after, we meet Morgan, who nurses Rick back to some semblance of health and gives him a primer on this ongoing nightmare. Morgan hasn't reappeared since, and it's too bad. His acting was probably the best of anyone's in this show thus far. One of the best things about their early interaction was when we get to see Morgan attempt to kill his "walker" wife, who still prowls the neighborhood, and to put her out of her misery, and when Rick goes back to kill what I believe was the first walker he'd seen upon waking. Neither was a fun experience and both had tears in their eyes as they made their attempts. This isn't the gleeful zombie-killing fun of Zombieland (not to knock that movie, which was great, but obviously different). It became immediately clear how much all of this weighed on these people.

The poster above makes more sense in the context of the show, when Rick heads into a city that supposedly is a safe haven for uninfected individuals and we see a thousand abandoned cars heading out, but no cars on the road into the city. CGI or not, and though a bit extreme (who in his right mind would go into a city that everyone so clearly tried to escape? And why would there be absolutely no cars on the other side? Hell, there should at least be cars going in the other direction!) the shot is beautiful and makes its point well enough.

I don't remember exactly what happens in episode 2 versus 3, but there was definitely some good stuff in them, like Rick galloping about in the city and running into the zombie equivalent of Times Square on New Years Eve. There are more things but I shouldn't say them here. There's even a couple utterances of the N-word as well as someone giving someone else the finger. I didn't know that was allowed on basic cable. Still, there's also Rick going captain hero on us, a bunch of crappy dialogue, and even some bad acting. And there's Carl, who seems to have had some attachment issues growing up, because he seems to get close to Shane and then back with Rick very easily, and to be cool with Rick leaving just when they'd been reunited, and to have a seemingly unexplained high level of belief in his father's survival skills.

Okay, I can't say more without some sort of spoiler warning, so let's get to the more detailed analysis:

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
Okay, first complaint about the people and this world. I think the writers don't have much grasp on science or very good advice in that regard because the science is poor and rather laughable. More importantly, these people, while probably not having taken any infectious disease courses at any point in their lives, should at least have the common sense that if this disease is spread through the blood, then they should be a lot more careful. There should be absolutely no point blank shooting, they should not touch or go near any walker, much less hold them or place their blood anywhere on them, let alone near their face. They should probably have face masks on even if they're going to club a walker in the head. These guys should all be dead already.

Okay, now, as for episodes 2 and 3 and the first half of 4, let me say the good and bad things. Well, the bad things are pretty simple. Bad acting and dialogue and stories, and just way too much unnecessary drama. There is no need to manufacture drama on a show like this. It's all right there for the taking. Imagine yourself in that situation and there you go. There's also the issue of how great a caricature Merle is.

As for the good, it was there. T-Dawg dropping the key to the handcuffs they'd used to cuff Merle onto a pipe on the roof, and he then locks the entrance door to prevent any walkers from getting after him (at first I thought he was trying to keep Merle from getting out). There's Shane giving Rick 4 bullets for the four men who are going on the Merle rescue mission, but that and other promising points were clumsily done. I liked when Lori told Shane that he'd said her husband was dead and now he was back, so she wanted nothing to do with Shane (too bad Lori has a hard time making a bond with anyone and is easily, with her son, my least favorite character), and Shane takes out his anger on the boorish, chauvinistic Ed when he has a spat with his wife and the other women...and how Ed's wife, Carol, apologizes and runs to him when he gets beat on. Still, there's the fakeout about how Carol is going to react when she gets the chance to put an axe to dead Ed's head (sorry for the rhyming). I hate fakeouts like that in TV because they don't stand up to repeated viewing. That's a poor example, but there were other such instances in the weaker episodes that peeved me because they're purely TV contrivances. I enjoyed Merle leaving only his hand behind on the roof and somehow making it out alive. I enjoyed Daryl becoming a member of the team

But as far as fakeouts go, I was very displeased at first about the Lost-like turn of events when a gang kidnapped Glenn and still not entirely pleased with how it turned out. I don't know why it is that people in TV shows have to be secretly good. How does it serve Guillermo's purpose to put on this entire act? And how did that grandma even get loose to make it all the way to the front gate? That part felt very contrived. I was somewhat relieved when it turned out that they were putting on an act because they couldn't trust anyone anymore, and people would loot their place for their supplies and food. Still, some things just don't jive, like why does he keep saying that these guys attacked his people when they actually tricked Daryl and kidnapped Glenn?

Anyway, on the subject of trusting people, I liked this bit from Alan:

What we're seeing - and, of course, what we see in many post-apocalyptic dramas - is that, contrary to some of the platitudes Rick offered last week, the calamity has given license to people's worst instincts. Sexists have a new reason to justify their sexism, bigots have a new class of people to mistrust (even if they're undead), abusive husbands have no law-enforcement to fear, and conversely angry ex-deputies have no reason to not savagely beat on those same abusers. There's no structure and no safety net, save what people choose out of expediency, or save what the strong seize for themselves.

Also, from Alan, something good from episodes including #3, in which, I believe, Daryl asks Glenn what he did before all this (pizza delivery):

I like the recurring theme of the apocalypse elevating people far above their station, sometimes for good (Glenn the pizza delivery guy is a clever strategist, G the custodian now runs the nursing home and a large gang), sometimes for bad (Shane as judge and jury, though the sentence was far kinder this week). And then there's Rick, still wearing his uniform - even getting his hat back - and still trying very much to be a cop and nothing more.

I wasn't sure what Jim meant when he told Lori to keep her kid close (in regards to Shane?), but wow, when terror strikes at the camp and several people are lost, and, on top of it, Jim says something like, "Oh yeah, now I remember what my dream was about and why I was digging holes"...then it becomes clear.

One of the best parts of the season as a whole was when Amy is bit and dies in Andrea's arms and everything that followed. I can't imagine why anything from the finale would top that sequence in any viewer's mind. The acting was incredible from Andrea, even as my frustration about their indifference toward contamination concerns threatened to consume me. We had serious concerns about whether she'd completely lost it, especially when she pulled a gun on Rick when he tried to fix the situation. I had to side with Daryl when he wanted to shoot Amy through the head, and also when he wanted to kill Jim (more on that below), even though I worried about Andrea getting infected. And, of course, Dale's attempt was somehow insubstantial but, because of who he is, still sweet (more on Dale below as well). Everything, though, came to a head when Amy started to wake as a walker. It was extremely nerve-wracking for all of us considering the viewer and all the other people had no idea what was going on and if this was to be someone's death sentence. But what actually transpired was absolutely sublime...to realize that Andrea quietly held her sister all night just so she could come back to life long enough for her to apologize for all their missed opportunities together (nicely bookending an episode that started with them on the pond, discussing the differences of their upbringing and Andrea's absence in Amy's life) and to properly say goodbye. And to see Amy seemingly herself for a while, reaching for Andrea's face to caress and not bite it (probably untrue, but it was made to seem a bit ambiguous at first). And then for that sweetness and tenderness to transform into her primordial drive to eat her sister's flesh, and Andrea's pressing their heads together (uh-oh...she might bite you!) followed by her shooting her sister in the head (phew! and Ack! What did I tell you about contamination concerns?!). Amazing. One of a handful of the very best moments from the season as a whole, and better than anything in the finale, hands down.

As for Jim, I wish these people understood that this isn't their old world. Killing Jim to keep him from going through the life of a walker isn't killing any ordinary life. It's saving him. The equivalent of giving more and more morphine to a dying man in pain. You're forcing Jim into an experience of dying that's worse than death. I'm with Daryl, even if he was for killing Jim just as a precautionary measure. At least Daryl is honest enough to say that he'd want the same and would thank them for it. In any case, it was cool to have Jim decide he wants to die and then to see he and everyone else go through the end-of-life discussion/issues, like "Was he clear and did he realize for what he was asking when he said for them to leave him there?" Good handling of some complex issues.

Man, I love Dale. He seems like a saner version of Chevy Chase's character from Community. I really loved the great scene with Shane sighting rick with his gun in the woods and Dale seeing this and only saying, "Jesus." They easily could have made Dale into a wizened old (especially by the current standards in their world) man who had all the answers and was never fazed. He certainly has some of the answers and the wisdom to not insist on being in charge, deciding instead to sit back and do his work quietly and then to offer help whenever necessary. But the scenes he shared with Andrea/Amy really brought out how he was something bigger than the derivative character he could have been. He doesn't have it all together and his strength and patience comes from his connection to the two sisters and their replacing his dead family as the people for whom he fights and lives on. When that was almost taken from him, he realized and admitted he had no reason to live on either. A split second earlier I was concerned that the best actor outside of the guy who plays Morgan might not be returning, and a split second later, I realized that this was Dale's/the writers' ploy (though Dale was sincere) to get both of them out of the CDC and alive (for now) with a sigh of relief. I didn't want to lose the best actor and the most likable character of the bunch all at once.

Okay, so as for the CDC and the last episode as a whole...I saw at least the intro for the episode of Lost in which we first meet the guy who's working under the hatch (I really know pretty much nothing else about the show, having seen about 1/3 or 1/2 of an episode total), and our introduction to Dr. Jenner, and I really felt for him when listening to his videos and witnessing his inadvertent destruction of all his work. There were some really compelling things explored in that last episode, but it was mostly done in a very cheesy, clunky way. That his wife would be the person who gets bit and lets him experiment on her is moving and noble in a believable way, but the way he keeps that information in his pocket while he shows them the video that seemed to be considered more dramatic and informative and necessary than it actually was (maybe it's more captivating to non-science people?) is needlessly suspenseful, as if he wanted it to be a bang when he reveals it.

Similarly, when he says, "It was France," as an answer to a question nobody asked...that's a writing tendency that really peeves me. In life, it's just stupid when someone does that. Why do we tolerate it in film/TV? The point was a solid one, the story was one to be told, but the way it was done was awkward. It was perfectly reasonable and believable that this guy would decide he would not want to live, and even that he would decide that he knows better than they that it's in their best interest to let the building kill them. But the actual carrying out of all of that was just clunky and not befitting someone as capable as Emmerich. Add to that Jenner's weird reaction when he saw that there were living people outside his facility, which made it seem as if he was not ready to take on the risk. In the last episode, we find out that the building is about to blow. How does anything that Jenner did make sense in the light of his knowing that all along? He can't just sweep it under the rug with, "I said when those doors close that's it," or whatever he said exactly. Why let them drink wine and thank him and feast and shower and why care if they use up a lot of power and water? Was he letting them enjoy themselves before they died? Was he psychotic even then? Taken all together, the pieces don't make sense and everything about that last episode reeked of drama for the sake of drama.

Speaking of which, what's with Shane? I understand that he'd be upset at being dropped unceremoniously and abruptly when Rick returned. It would make sense to me for him to confront Lori and say that they need to talk and put their feelings and decisions onto the table and out into the open so they can have some closure or at least be fully informed. But everything about his confrontation makes him seemed more unhinged than ever before (which is fine. That seems an appropriate response to everything for his character), but also, unfortunately, in keeping with the theme for this episode. His watching skeevishly as she browsed books (nearby a Ms. Pacman arcade game! My excitement knows no bounds what with having seen another one of those in a Friends episode recently) in little more than a shirt, then slamming the door to startle her. He then [finally] reveals that he actually believed Rick was dead when he told her that he was (again, why reveal this now? Granted, what he says to her in this scene makes it clear that if he had shown any uncertainty about Rick's status back home, she would have stayed there with Rick...but after Rick returned and she accused Shane of lying to her, why wouldn't he tell her in any of the opportunities he had that he'd spoken what he believed to be the truth back then?). And then he tries to get her to admit that she loves him, only it comes out a lot more like rape. And when they all eat breakfast together the next day, Shane gives Lori attitude about scratching him. Later, when it's revealed what Rick said the night before while he was plastered, everyone makes a big deal about it. Really, is it crazy that he'd feel hopeless? Why does everyone have to get upset at him for it? Was it not what they were feeling too? Hadn't they all decided that they would soldier on anyway? I have no problem with the show showing how people would hold on to hope with a tenuous rope and to experience sudden despair when they see people around them so calmly and flatly denying the possibility of hope. But this was something else. This was the usual TV nonsense of, "You said that? I would never say that!" drama, like when Ross made a pros/cons list for Rachel and she got upset and said, "That's the difference between you and me. I don't have a list." Oh, snap! Except upon further review, we realize Rachel's exactly the kind of person who would have a list because she is shallow and self-centered and doesn't have much of a sense of honor or loyalty, so that scene was just for the sake of drama. And if you think it's out of place for me to make a comparison to the drama of Friends here, understand that it's a comment on how out of place this drama was in this show.

Back to Jenner. We did have some nice moments with Jenner wishing he had more time, explaining why/how he did tests on his wife, and how he tried to do his part even though he realized he was just a scientist while his wife was the Einstein of the field. Also, that was great for the idea of an apocalyptic event wiping out all the people from the world who are knowledgeable about things and setting all of civilization back big time. Every able person has to suddenly feel the responsibility of a species' future as his own, and this last episode gave us ample reasons for why people would shirk that responsibility.

Okay, just one last thing. I felt the same way Alan did - why not just put up signs keeping people out of Atlanta? Who needs CBs that have to always be monitored and run out of power?

Whoops, one more...Jon Bernthal (Shane) played Carlos in episode 2 of How I Met Your Mother. Remember when Ted throws three parties to try to get Robin to come? And some random girl who hooks up with Barney keeps saying that she came with Carlos? That's him! I just realized this now, since I'm watching HIMYM from the start.

Friends - Season 9

2010-12-08T20:16:00.004-05:00

The usuals, plus:
Paul Rudd ... Mike Hannigan
Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman

I feel about this season much the way that I did about the last one. I have some specific things to say about the friends, especially Joey, Rachel, Phoebe...and even our new recurring character, Mike. But there are too many spoilers involved and you'll have to go to the end to see.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
turns out neither proposed to rachel and in the end, rachel and ross decide to give it a try...but then ross realizes that she said
yes to joey
of course, ross/rachel/joey handle things in the least rational way possible.
Paul Rudd plays Mike, who goes on a blind date with Phoebe
the non-drama episodes are pretty funny. like when monica thinks chandler's into shark porn, and when joey thinks he's slept with a girl and she forgot him but instead he slept with her roommate
selma blair is wendy, who hits on chandler in tulsa
man, paul rudd and ross' awkward evening, his jumping over ross' lap
charlie runkle is the director at joey's set
Christina Applegate is Rachel's entitled sis who wants their baby if they die
Yay! rachel and ross drama, even after they predict it and that they both think they should do something about it. they're toxic. rachel goes back to live w/ joey
phoebe sets rachel up on a blind date with a self-deprecating cantankerous jon lovitz
jeff goldblum a big actor with a short patience w/ joey, who thinks he's a genius method actor when he acts while having to pee
phoebe has a great run with paul rudd and it seems it comes to an end when he says he wants to move in together but doesn't ever want to remarry. goodbye paul rudd! Oh, never mind, in the next episode, she misses and wants to be with him again, as does he.
Mike's roommate who's tasked with keeping him from Phoebe is Phil from Better Off Ted
Hmm, Joey reads lines with Rachel and channels his feelings for her. she realizes how much he felt for her and starts to get attracted to him. sure, they're just running out of people to hook up, but I'm glad they're returning to something compelling that they never completed.
Why's Monica wearing all these see-through shirts?
Haha, I love the episode in which Joey has a rooftop party and tries to keep his friends out of it, but only succeeds in getting chandler to go to his decoy "why don't you like me?" one woman show by himself.
joey's dating ross' hot colleague charlie, making both rachel and ross upset
phoebe's working at a chain spa
chandler and monica are infertile - of course they meet janet at the fertility clinic. bleh, can't get rid of that woman.
we have the barbados episode, in which phoebe realizes that even David's return back hasn't made her get over Mike, and Mike comes to barbados to ask her to marry him and they decide that as long as there's a future, they don't have to rush into anything. more on david below.
rachel's feelings for joey, which she claims are physical only, especially when joey's mishap with the little plastic thing on the blender results in PB on the back of his head and rachel feels/remembers he's not smart enough for her (which is really not true and joey, you deserve better), spill over and he realizes that she likes him. but he won't do anything because it would be wrong to ross. only joey walks in on ross and charlie making out just after she'd broken up with him and ross hesitates for about 5 seconds because it would be wrong to hook up with his best friend's ex- (who didn't seem to have a problem with their relative intelligences/interests before) before giving in to his impulses. this prompts joey to get what/whom he wants. as happy as i am to see that finally happen for joey, for him to finally have something meaningful (this season they seemed to realize that joey/phoebe are in many ways useless, especially as they never seek or get anything meaningful in their lives, especially in romance), i wish he didn't have to sink down to ross'/everyone else's level to get it. there's something to be said about having this one character who does what's right no matter what and doesn't just do whatever's necessary to get what he wants. note how we root for phoebe to be with mike (and who isn't excited for paul rudd on the show? he's far better than all the other actors - even if he has a limited shtick consisting of pretty much being cool with everything - and far funnier) even though she rather unceremoniously kicks david to the curb when he's proposing to her and when he'd flown out with her to barbados, no less.

this coupling also pairs together my favorite and least favorite characters on the show. i'm happy joey finally has something significant in his life, that he's going after something fulfilling. and that's the only reason i don't oppose it. because he deserves far better than rachel, who only ever admitted to loving him as a friend and being attracted to him. never did her character show the depth of affection or the reasons behind it that joey showed for rachel. how did the non-ross/rachel friends not remember this in the beginning of the next season or throughout this one? how did everyone think he'd just forgotten? didn't they see how much she meant to him?

Friends - Season 8

2010-12-08T19:39:00.005-05:00

The usuals
Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman

I haven't much to say about this show other than addressing the ongoing "Did the show get bad in its later seasons?" topic. I'll speak more about some of my usual issues in the next season's review. But I think there are plenty of inventive and inspired things in the spoilers section below for me to say that this show was as good as most every one previous to it.

A couple things I want to point out about the characters before I get to spoilers. I love how blunt and aware of human nature phoebe is. I can't think of examples right now, but there are just so many times when they get humor out of how she either doesn't cater to social conventions whatsoever, or do so in an exaggeratedly straightforward way by appealing directly to the pettiness of the other friends. She's like a breath of fresh air in their world. She and Joey are my favorites of the friends. Ross still has some pretty great physical comedy, even as dumb as his character can be written, and, really, none of them is written so well, but Phoebe and Joey are the only friends whom I think I'd really like as people. Phoebe would be a lot to deal with, and she has a lot of growing up to do up to the end of this season, but she's at least honest. But Joey, he's my favorite. Interestingly, I really think joey is the best center for the show's emotional depth. He's the most gentlemanly, earnest, caring friend of all of them.

Many people have complained about Chandler in later seasons, but I find him slightly less annoying (and a bit sedated) here than in the past. He was pretty extreme and obnoxious right from the start. Monica is the person I feel has gotten the worst as the seasons have gone on. Her catty, shrill, knowingly controlling/self-centered/compliment-seeking personality is not as funny as the studio audience would have me believe. And Rachel has always been, I feel, my least favorite person on this show, but more on that in the next season.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======

rachel is pregnant and doesn't want to tell who the father is
they pretend it's phoebe's baby and joey goes into protective mode...threatens to beat up the deadbeat father, proposes to phoebe (who says yes) and it's really sweet
love the exaggerated incredulous reaction from phoebe and joey. "that is brand new information!"
Bob is Dr. Spaceman from 30 Rock and Chandler's boss is the guy from unhappily ever after
sean penn plays eric, ursula's fiance
Episode with Mr. Green confronting ross with rachel's pregnancy with mona in the room too...and monica accidentally getting chandler a hooker is good.
the cameos continue with brad pitt as will, who's lost a ton of weight since high school.
rachel gets horny and wants to sleep with joey. next episode, they go on a date and have a really good time.
rachel mentions that citizen kane is boring. meanwhile i still haven't seen it all
joey realizes on another date what he was missing, what he'd never before experienced, with rachel.
Not only does Phoebe get a Ms. Pacman for the Bings (I loved that game as a kid), but also, we get to see her cursing up a storm to classical music as Ross covers Ben's ears.
it's really great seeing how worked up joey is about rachel, how much thought he puts into it, how hard it is for him to tell ross. "Rachel!?" ross screams, and when he leaves, Gunther gets in his face with "Rachel!?"
Alec Baldwin cameo as guy universe wants phoebe to be w/. he plays parker who is overly enthusiastic about life, to the point that even phoebe can't take it
the joke about chandler's suspect masculinity, monica's fastidiousness/OCD-ness...yes they're overdone... but weren't they always?
"My ass is sweating" -Monica
"I'm a head hunter...I hook up out of work soviet scientists with third world rogue nations. Hi Rasputin!" -Chandler on fake game show
Ross and Chandler have simultaneously opposite reactions to the awesomeness of the game show name, Bamboozled, and ross and Joey's appraisal of the girly drink Rachel left in his apartment.
i'm enjoying the ludicrousness and randomness of bamboozled
season ends with simple enough episode of rachel having a child (janice of course shows up again. i'm not caring much for all her "Oh. My. God." entrances. it stops being unexpected when it keeps happening. they need to just forget that woman), and at the end, when rachel's worrying about whether she'll have anyone helping her raise her baby, joey finds ross' ring in his jacket, and rachel thinks he's proposing to her...and ross comes into the room then. it's quite a bombshell, but it's done in a very understated way

Eureka - Season 2

2010-12-08T17:29:00.004-05:00

The usuals, plus:
Olivia d'Abo ... Dr. Abby Carter
Created by Andrew Cosby and Jaime Paglia

This show explored some compelling territory in its second season, but in the end, I have decided to explore some other great shows out there rather than to finish this right now.

Sapna caught a few parts of this show and wondered why I bother with it considering how much I criticize the standard fare on TV. I said that it was all about the characters and relationships and also showed her the shared dream sequence, which I thought was a great example of how far the humor has come in this show's writing. Really, more than anything/anyone else, I think this show lives and dies with Carter. The season starts with Jack back in his familiar world/timeline. He struggles with his memories of the alternate life he'd lived, and when he speaks to Henry about it, Henry offers to erase both their memories of that life (in which Henry was with the still-alive Kim and Jack was with Allison and was having a baby with her), only he keeps his own memory intact and only erases Jack's. And he also blames Jack for Kim's death. Jack spends the entire season trying to piece together inconsistencies in his memories and figuring out if/how/why Henry's been dishonest with him. He doesn't fully succeed in discovering the truth of what had happened by season's end, but he takes his time because for Jack, friendships are more important than solving cases. He is the perfect person to, in a sense, lead this town of geniuses. He's completely ego-less. He's dumb compared to everyone else, but sharp and proud. even with his self-conscious pride, it's great to see someone who constantly saves the town but has no ego about it, who brings the spirit of the town out of the scientists in getting their help in saving the town...and afterward he shares the credit.

This show might be very formulaic (almost always when they suspect someone they'd rather not, it turns out to not have been that person or that cause or to have been done by accident...almost as if the town is too nice for people to do any evil or deserve anything worse than a slap on the wrist). Still, the people are likable. It might seem like stalling but it seems fitting that we have no answer yet on the Nathan vs. Jack competition, just as Jack doesn't know what Henry did, because he takes things slow for the reasons I mentioned above. And while the cases don't excite me, carter's interaction with everyone speaks in many episodes to issues in his life, with Zoe, with Abby, Allison.

Some compelling storylines involved Abby returning and wanting to take Zoe back (and Zoe mistaking her dad's keeping his word for indifference in her parents' battle to keep her) just when Allison seems to be getting back into a relationship with Nathan (I understand they have good chemistry, can relate intellectually, and have a significant past, but they're unrealistically casual in their interaction, even considering the times when their lives/careers and Kevin's life might be in danger. That is, they make sense as a problem for Jack, but not so much on their own) and Allison's first day as head of GD involving the possibility of having to kill one of its employees in order to save the town/world (the way they got out of that predicament wasn't so great, but the relationships/emotions explored on the way there were great).

As for the plots/stories, they find ways to back out of corners without hurting anyone's feelings or painting anyone in a bad light, including Beverly, but it all seems like a big cop-out. Everyone's concerned both about Kevin's welfare and about the advancement of science, and they use those as justifications for just about anything. I'm not sure when you look back at past actions, that everything quite makes sense. Why's everyone so shady if they had the best intentions?

In the end, I feel that the stories are still not interesting/intelligent enough to keep me watching by themselves, and as much as I love Carter, the great moments in this show are too few and far between for me to give up this much time to the show when there are shows like Boardwalk Empire and The Walking Dead (both of which I tore through in just a few days recently, and which usually had several moments in each episode that were at least as good as the best moment in any given Eureka episode). Perhaps I'll return to this show in the future sometime. But the fall dramas are ending and there's a long list of shows I have yet to get to, so this one will have to wait.

Also, can I just say that if I'm told over and over that GD is the most advanced research facility in the world, why do they keep dangerous decommissioned machines in the storage area with minimal security?

Eureka - Season 1

2010-11-14T21:36:00.004-05:00

Colin Ferguson ... Sheriff Jack Carter
Salli Richardson-Whitfield ... Allison Blake
Erica Cerra ... Deputy Jo Lupo
Joe Morton ... Henry Deacon
Neil Grayston ... Douglas Fargo
Jordan Hinson ... Zoe Carter
Chris Gauthier ... Vincent
Ed Quinn ... Nathan Stark
Debrah Farentino ... Beverly Barlowe
Christopher Jacot ... Larry Haberman
Matt Frewer ... Jim Taggart
Created by Andrew Cosby and Jaime Paglia

After raves from Shardul for a few years now, and this from Pajiba, I checked it out. I really thought it was lame and poorly done for a while and it slowly grew on me (though I think it slowly improved quite a bit as well). It's still not a particularly good show, I think, and has serious flaws, but is showing signs that the things it does know how to do - relationships - it does well.

The premise of the SyFy show Eureka is that Jack Carter, a US Marshall, and his daughter Zoe stumble upon a hidden town filled with the most brilliant minds in the country and funded by the department of defense. Carter is made Sheriff of a town that has a lot of technological mishaps and a lot of people with incentive to cheat in various ways. And we see little hints of bigger things , deeper secrets going on in the town, what with Sector 5 of Nathan Stark's Global Dynamics housing "the artifact (which is at one time described as the black box of the big bang) and Beverly Barlowe, the major therapist of all the town's big names, also seeming to be a spy for some outside group.

Every episode seems to be about something that goes wrong with some piece of technology (with the rewards of the setup of such a town come a lot of risks. The characters of this very light-in-tone show certainly don't seem to think it such a big deal that seemingly every day brings with it a huge explosion or something that threatens the continued existence of the town, the country, or the world. The town has got to have a worryingly low life expectancy) or some secret is uncovered, and, even with all the great minds in the town, Carter has to save the day (and, again, often the world), and, I have to say, it IS nice to see a friendly, direct, earnest, relatively meathead, normal guy interact with all these people. For a show that, from it's charming and understated title sequence/music, aims to be pretty lighthearted (especially considering the happenings/stories), Ferguson is a wonderful lead - diplomatic, tough and charming, in addition to all I already mentioned. Carter's the glue that holds the town and the show together.

Anyway, as I said, there were things that really peeved me, especially early on, so I'll mention the cons first and then the pros.

CONS
-Henry laughs all the time (I like later in the season, when he shows some range).
-Bunch of not very realistic machines that are highly unstable and dangerous and everyone's just tickled pink about them.
-found pilot episode dialogue/etc. to be corny and hackneyed. Even late in the season, when I really started liking the show, there were lines like, "What happened? -The system's offline. -Well get it back online!" If you're an observant TV show viewer, you should be able to predict a great number of the lines. It's especially frustrating to someone like me. I hate manufactured drama and the stupid, meaningless lines that are so oft-repeated in shows that take themselves more seriously than they ought to. That's definitely how I felt about this show early on, and even if it's significantly improved itself, it needs to let go of those remaining vestiges.
-the town is all retro. have random bits of cutting technology and everything else seems very mundane. only the show doesn't seem to be stylized to be that way like pushing daisies.
-some things they do are decidedly low-tech and defuse any tension...like when the old guy kicks the control panel to stop the countdown of the bomb
-like to interject some intelligent factoid/vocabulary here and there into dialogue, like a high school student using a thesaurus when writing a paper...just to remind us we're in eureka, as if these smart people can't get over how smart they are.
-I guess what was unforgivable about these things early on was that there was nothing else to distract from these issues. I saw none of the significant relationships of which I'd heard and I didn't really care for the supposed disasters and the drama surrounding them. I still don't much care for those. I am intrigued by the artifact, but I'm not going to be strung along like the people who get hooked into Lost or The Event with little concern for character development and such. It's intriguing, but not what gets me to watch every next episode.

PROS
The pros are pretty simple. It's about the characters and their relationships. As corny as Jack and Zoe's relationship were initially, it becomes more meaningful later on. The relationship between Jack and Allison is good for several reasons. First of all, Jack's is a charming, gentlemanly character. Second, they have some real chemistry. Also, the unresolved sexual tension and will they/won't they stuff isn't prolonged in any unbelievable, annoyingly stupid way. They're placed in a number of awkward situations that are enjoyable and tolerable because they seem plausible. Henry and Jack's friendship is a bit more developed now, beyond just Henry's laughing and the exchanging of pleasantries and ribbing Jack about the fact that they live in Eureka and so he shouldn't be so surprised by the minds and technology there.

Also, though, there is depth in Stark's character and his interaction with Jack as well as his relationship/past with Allison. There is surprising depth in initially flat characters like Jo and Taggert. And even Vincent, who isn't particularly important, becomes really familiar. While I wouldn't say that the show is very funny, it'll probably elicit some chuckles, not so much for its humor as just how likable the characters are.

Overall, it's definitely good enough that I will continue watching it without reservation. I like the main characters and want to experience more with them, which is a very good sign for any show.

Comments/SPOILERS
-has allison had a relationship with everyone?
-beverly is at the center of every shady thing in eureka
-haha, carter asks henry why his crash test dummy looks like him, and he says, "it's generic"
-haha, it's weird when they have cisco systems technology prominently displayed on a show about a futuristic/proprietary technology show
-ha carter tells them they should use Macs when told they had a virus on their network.
-Finally with the callister episode, something bad happens to someone we care about. There was too much of these side characters always being the bad guys or the innocent victims, and it's just too easy to maintain an insubstantial show in which bad things happen but always to characters about whom we don't care, and so the show carries on as if everything's just peachy and nothing that's done has any real characteristics. It's hard to take a show seriously if it doesn't take the consequences of what happens in its world seriously.
-henry wears a shervani to their town dance, carter shares a steamy kiss with Allison. i like the creative way they've brought those two together and their real chemistry
-purple haze - everyone acting drunk, uninhibited, including a peppy, friendly, childish jo. taggert takes down henry's cell tower after quoting something including "let's tilt that windmill, shall we?" henry pissed at being taken for granted and not laughing. beverly spilling everyones beans on the PA, allison coming on to carter in her apt
-HOUSE arrest helped everyone open up to each other and we get to explore the relationship between pure research and the pressures of those who fund it, the way artists who work for their craft and people who work for money feel about one another, and the points for either side (in this case, the argument was between Henry and Stark respectively, but Stark's arguments could easily have worked for the relationship between blockbuster films and the smaller studio indie films they help fund, or for erectile dysfunction drugs and the research for less profitable treatments that they help fund). I was proud of this show for having that conflict and for making Stark more than a one-note character, no matter what his intentions or aspirations may be.

Friends - Season 7

2010-11-14T21:10:00.004-05:00

The usuals, plus:
Winona Ryder ... Melissa Warburton
Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman

I have to say, I'm done with this season, and far into season 8, and I don't think these later seasons are any worse than the first few. Amit thinks the show got repetitive, and that the jokes are recycled, but I have never found this show to be so innovative. The early seasons had some classic episodes, and Ross and Rachel at their best, however short lived that span was, were really deep, but there have been very funny episodes scattered throughout all the seasons since, and some great emotional depth, especially around Joey's character. I do get tired of watching Friends and can't just keep watching episodes all day the way I have with the better shows on which I've gotten hooked, but I've never considered quitting. It's funny/likable enough and pops out a few solid episodes every season (usually near the middle) and I don't think that's changed late in the show's run. Most shows go bigger and lose sight of their heart (in order to boost ratings and grab new viewers) in their later seasons, but Friends hasn't seemed to change much in this way, other than with all the cameos.

-first episode of season might feature a bunch of fighting (continuation of the engagement night from last season) over dumb things, but it has everyone upset for various reasons....and believably so. chandler especially. He's really mad and I was glad to see it. some more range from the actors.
-ross and phoebe date a pair of exes and have a vicarious fight in which they drag out all their past arguments/etc. that was clever
-jason alexander plays suicidal supply manager who talks to phoebe on phone about his toner needs. or lack thereof since he's going to off himself. this episode, with phoebe doing an intervention at earl's workplace, and the switching of broken barca loungers, and monica's stuff getting destroyed in flooding at their parents' house (and then her getting the porsche as a consolation)..is pretty solid
susan sarandon is the actress whose character's brain joey's character is taking
the one with the cheap wedding dress, with monica choosing between the dress and the swing kings, and joey and ross both dating kristen, the attractive girl who just moved in nearby, was good. joey, when asked if he is hungry, said, "does a bear shit in the woods?" i guess that's the unedited version for the dvds. anyway, i have to say, i never get tired of the jokes about soap acting/stories
-Denise richards plays cassie. nice slo-mos of her waving her hair around, leaving chandler, ross, and even phoebe speechless.
-Jeff Adsit plays a director of casting or something for joey's full frontal nudity movie.
-So what happened to Tag when they broke up? isn't he still her assistant? at least he shows up in a later season, so it's not as if the writers completely expected us to forget about him as soon as rachel broke up with him, as if he never existed.
-oh man, the one with monica and chandler's wedding has joey in a movie with an actor played by gary oldman! and he spits a lot and gets wasted.
-have to say that while the facial expressions of all the comedic actors are pretty exaggerated, they're also good. definitely not lazy

Inception (2010)

2010-11-09T21:37:00.002-05:00

Leonardo DiCaprio ... Cobb
Joseph Gordon-Levitt ... Arthur
Ellen Page ... Ariadne
Tom Hardy ... Eames
Ken Watanabe ... Saito
Dileep Rao ... Yusuf
Cillian Murphy ... Robert Fischer
Tom Berenger ... Peter Browning
Marion Cotillard ... Mal
Pete Postlethwaite ... Maurice Fischer
Michael Caine ... Miles
Directed by Christopher Nolan

I've been putting this review off for way too long, largely because it's quite daunting to do it. This is a movie about which I've thought a great deal, which I've discussed a great deal, of which I've read several reviews, and which I saw twice in the theater, and about which I still have a number of questions and that I can't pin down. But that's really the point. Christopher Nolan is the best kind of successful writer/director. With Inception, he's made yet another PG-13 movie that pretty much anyone can enjoy. It has enough depth and complexity for people to debate about, enough action to be cool enough to make everyone want to go out to see it, and is successful enough to create a backlash, but one that doesn't destroy it. Fans of film might complain that it's not something else, something better, but for a movie that manages to be everything to everyone, it's spectacular. And the people who lob criticisms at the movie mostly miss the point, which is why I enjoy their efforts enough to include them below, without having my opinion of the movie soured.

At its most literal level, the plot for the movie is simple. Dom and his colleagues have developed a way to break into people's subconscious and steal information - secrets. Dom is the best at it. His activities have gotten him in trouble in the US and he finds himself running from country to country, job to job, staying alive long enough to get the money or influence necessary to make it back into the US and to his two kids. After testing Dom's capabilities, Saito, the head of some corporation, hires him to do the opposite of what he's been doing - Inception. Placing a thought into someone's mind rather than taking one out. Now a whole team is assembled, including Saito, to place a thought into his corporation's rival's son's mind - to break up his dying father's empire.

And if that's all you see in this movie, it's plenty. The movie is a great futuristic caper flick at that level. Just understanding the concept of the totem, its significance, and the significance of what it does or doesn't do at the end of the movie is a lot. Keeping track of the story, why and when Dom goes where, figuring out the timeline, and so on. Figuring out how exactly they plan to structure the thought, why this is important, and even all the technicalities of getting into and out of all the lower levels. Or even just appreciating the numbers, the form in which they construct the thought of the inception, the need for a maze and for Dom to not be the architect.

If you're a fan of good filmmaking, you can appreciate the small details of the film, the way Nolan makes a movie about dreams that is itself very dream-like, the way the characters in the dream states, and their worlds, are influenced by what's happening to the dreamer, from the way the dream world floods with water when the dreamer is dunked, the way too much alcohol on a plane turns into a rainstorm in the dream, the way the projections turn away from the dream intruders when they earn the trust of the subject. You can appreciate how the end-to-end score is so intense as to never let up until it's all over. You can appreciate the acting, the despair in Dom's voice at the windowsill, the strength, fury, and depth of love in Mal.

These are about all the things I really considered the first time I watched the film. I thought the only thing I had to figure out was what happened to the totem at the end, what was the reality at the end, what literally happened. But there seems to be more, still. There's Mal and everything she represents. The freight train and all the little clues about Dom's guilt and his secrets, all of which I didn't give enough attention the first time around as I was struggling to keep up. What in this movie is real? Are we supposed to take everything at face value? Are some things we see just symbolic? Is the movie about guilt, about the lies we choose to believe, about possibly choosing to believe in an imaginary life over the truth, about all or none of these things? What's really remarkable is that the movie is set up to be all of these things and more. You can discuss and debate forever about all the things this movie might represent. Nolan has put enough into the film to give substance to all these topics.

Um, so let's say a little more about Mal. Marion is amazing in the role. The scenes in which she and Ariadne (named for the Greek character who helps Theseus out of the maze) meet emphasize the size/strength/age/experience difference between the two. Elegant and beautiful as she is, Mal looks menacing as she stalks over to Ariadne in the apartment and stands over her, full of coiled rage and the condescension of an old soul that loved and lost, now faced with a child who's experienced nothing. She says to Ariadne when they first meet, with as much dismissal as with the pain of loss remembered, "Do you know what it is to be a lover, to be half of a whole?" (which reminds me of a line said by the character Neils Bohr in the play "Copenhagen"). Throughout the movie, we see the level and effect of Cobb's guilt. After all, Mal no longer exists except in Cobb's subconscious, as an issue he still needs to resolve. But Nolan and Cotillard do a great job of showing us why they made such a strong connection. Light Spoilers: Imagine living an entire lifetime in limbo, living as Gods with your lover, only for it all to feel so unreal as to stick with you even when you get out of limbo, and to feel so strongly about it as to feel certain that dying is the only way to really rejoin your husband and children. Imagine being so sure of this as to frame your husband into having nearly no choice but to join you, killing yourself in a way that's got to be so traumatic to your soulmate as he watches.End Of Light Spoilers

Anyway, I don't feel like writing more about this outside of the comments/spoilers section. I'd definitely recommend checking out these reviews, amongst others. Pajiba, Alan, Alan's friend, Ebert - All of which are good. I'd also check out the comments. I just have done too much talking/thinking/questioning about this movie and feel I can't write anything short of a novel full of me talking in circles if I tried to be thorough.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
-I love the despair in Cobb's voice when Mal jumps off the ledge. Even greater, we get to see it twice.
-Nice touch that Mal and Saito both ask for a leap of faith at the start.
-I like the little touches like the zero gravity and how it takes the phone off the hook (and how we hear it when the door is opened). Saito's drops of blood in that room later in the movie are beautiful as well. And as a lover/teacher of physics, I was very happy to see how Arthur gets the kick to work even in a zero gravity situation.
-At times, this movie seemed to be about psychotherapy, about confronting and dealing with the things that plague our subconscious. This seemed to be happening when Cobb seemed to be disillusioning himself of his memories, which he had made into his reality. He tells Mal that she's just a shadow of her real self and, though she's a piece of his subconscious, she reacts like a woman scorned. And he says to her, in a moment that seems to imply that he's getting past her influence on him, "I miss you more than I can bear, but we had our time together and I have to let you go." It was a gorgeous and heartfelt line/delivery, and a scene/concept that reminded me very much of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind in the way that he's held on to her so dearly (but in this case, to his own detriment).
-I made a note the second time around of how Cobb's boy and girl look in his memory of them. He's on the left in plaid and she's wearing pink and on the right. I'm not clear on the timeline, and I don't much care anymore what's the reality of the movie since I can enjoy it aplenty without everything being black and white, but I did, like many others, find it odd that when Cobb meets them again at the end, they're dressed the same way and arranged in the same way, and that they seem the same age in person and on the phone. Does this mean that not much time has passed and they're actually meeting? Was the first part of that scene a memory and did that blend into their reality? Is it all unreal and he's just allowing himself to do something, in seeing their faces, that he wasn't before because he's given in to his memories and/or dreamscape as his reality?
-Speaking of which, as far as I could tell, the top keeps spinning and appears to be doing so unnaturally at the end of the movie, which meant to me that he never made it back to reality. Also, it seemed that he didn't care because, unlike the previous times in the movie when he tried to test the state of his environment (and I liked that he did so immediately after that first training session with Ariadne, when they had the violent confrontation with Mal...and that he does so in a rather frazzled, shaky state. The other time he checked was great as well, when he held a gun to his head and thought to kill himself if it didn't fall and, when it did, he then called his kids), he doesn't wait to see if it falls before going to see his kids. Normally, that'd be the thing he's most interested in (his kids don't mean nearly as much to him if they're not real) and he wouldn't let go of the totem unless he was completely sure that he was back to the waking world and that he no longer needed it. Michael Caine has been quoted as saying that the top did indeed fall...but that's in reality in our real world. Of course it actually fell. What's important and unclear is whether it fell in Cobb's world.
-Eames is a funny dude and, in addition to the joke about Arthur kissing Ariadne (which isn't furthered or referenced anywhere else in the film), injects a good deal of humor into the proceedings. When Cobb wonders if the price on his head is with a dead or alive stipulation, Eames suggests that he run and see if they shoot at him. He thanks Arthur for his condescension, and later tells him, "You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling," as he pulls out a very powerful gun to attack the security teams.
-The nature of Cobb's inception on Mal still baffles me a bit. My understanding is that she had chosen to accept her hated near-reality as reality by locking up her totem and that Cobb spun it inside the safe and locked it so that the next time she opened the safe, she'd see that it was still spinning and that they weren't back home yet. It was a simple enough concept and gesture, and seemingly harmless. Later, on the train tracks, he reminds Mal, as she later reminds him, “You’re waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You can’t be sure where it will take you. But it doesn’t matter – because we’ll be together.” It all works and she agrees to go out of limbo into reality. But, and this is an amazing concept about the power of an idea...the thought of this world not being reality stays with her and she can't accept or enjoy her world as reality. How tragic. One question though...as Cobb points out, they DID grow old together. Why, then, when they're on the train tracks, are they their young selves? I guess much of the continuity stuff doesn't apply in this movie because that scene could very well be his representation of how it happened, his decision to remember them as being young, as being the age that he is now, since his body didn't really age much while his mind was in limbo.
-What's with the train in between the levels of Cobb's subconscious?
-It's interesting to see all the times/ways that Cobb's colleagues suspect the truth about him. Ariadne first believes that he's trying to trap Mal in his dreams/memories, only to realize later that the deeper they go into these levels, the deeper into his subconscious they delve, and that he's not trapping Mal in his memories so much as keeping her alive there and not letting go. I don't know how it is that his subconscious Mal doesn't seem to realize the nature/cause of his guilt. It gives her a seemingly separate existence, as if she's really still alive. Perhaps that's the wall he's set up between his conscious and subconscious mind, and the anger and violence with which she acts, her bitterness is completely a reflection of how he feels she should feel toward him rather than having anything to do with how she was. By what few indications we have, she was a lovely woman, sweet and sad at the end, not mean or vindictive. Also, there's the moment when Eames starts to suspect that someone gave something away.
-It's interesting that the Browning in the hotel at one point is actually Richard's own projection, a manifestation of his doubts, that he initially thinks that his father was taunting him and saying he couldn't make anything as great as he, and that the team decides in the end to motivate him through love. They did Saito's bidding, but possibly also helped heal Richard, even if through a lie.
-I loved the scene of everyone's limbs flailing in the fan. And, of course, it's great to see Arthur fighting the security guard as gravity shifts. That's wonderful both as a creative way of linking the dream world to the dreamers in the van and also of showing off the technology they used to make that scene happen. That's largely what was featured in the early trailers which showed nothing and were still exciting and intriguing, after all.
-It seemed to me that when Fischer is de-fibrillated, there's lightning in the scene that immediately follows. It seemed as if that was akin to the other effects of the dreamer on the dream world, only Samir points out that the world in question was not likely to be Fischer's. I don't really know or remember what was the case. I'd definitely love to see the movie, perhaps twice in a row (with a break in between), with someone like Samir in order to try to figure out a number of these things.
-One other thing that confused me at the end was that Miles knew to come get Cobb at the airport, and that he acted as if it was the most normal thing, when none of us knew for sure that Cobb would succeed and that Saito would hold up his end of the bargain. I suppose they had time to call him and have him get to the airport while they got any baggage and dealt with immigration and such. It just seemed too normal to be real.
-Oh yeah, Maurice is played by Kobayashi!

As you can see, even in not really delving too deeply into the movie, I said quite a bit. Now, as promised, are a few criticisms/jokes/parodies about Inception that I enjoyed without enjoying the movie itself any less:

Inception, the abridged version.

How it should have ended:

Time lapse video set to "Dream Is Collapsing" by Hans Zimmer from the Inception soundtrack:

Timelapse Montage from Mike Flores on Vimeo.

Incepcion, starring Dora the Explorer

The trailer if it had been made in the 50s:

South Park Does Inception:

And...there's this cartoon tying together a common theme in Nolan's movies.

Friends - Season 6

2010-11-09T16:36:00.003-05:00

The usuals, plus:
Reese Witherspoon ... Jill Green
Elle Macpherson ... Janine Lecroix
Bruce Willis ... Paul Stevens
Alexandra Holden ... Elizabeth Stevens
Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman

So the show's not much different now than it has ever been, not much worse, certainly not better. It's usually just a bunch of predictable twists and variations on the same jokes and stereotypes they've been trotting out all along. They do not get tired of pointing out that Ross and Rachel were on a break, that Ross has three divorces, that they each have catchphrases (and that they think it's funny when they have other people say/do those things), and so on. But, still, there are a ton of bad comedies on the TV. Even if 70% of the stuff on this show isn't funny or creative, the rest is. Even if I don't think the characters really as great people as they'd like us to believe, they're likable enough that we laugh along with them even when nothing especially funny is happening. So I'll stop trying to make this show out to be something that brings it every week, a show that's trying to do anything new or innovative. It's a show that mostly coasts along for a dozen and a half episodes, peppers in two or three strong or creative episodes in there before winding things down at the end with some mildly compelling stuff. It doesn't do a bad job of it, and I'll try to focus on things that I enjoyed this season.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
-First episode features Arquette on the end of every cast member/writer's name in tribute to courtney/david's marriage
-Oh booo, first Ross doesn't actually annul the marriage, then he invites rachel to live with him when monica/chandler move in together. and she gets all excited b/c he saved her from being homeless (she hardly looked and she had joey's apt to move into) and ross gets really upset when chandler/monica consider canceling their move-in.
-at first in this season, phoebe was bothering ross about being in love with rachel, but now it seems it's the case because ross is really pushing for them to live and be together and really all for no reason. The writers really can't seem to keep track of what these characters feel about one another.
-omigod, it's great seeing monica/rachel doing accents (when ross does his british accent). and joey does auditions w/ a hernia
-Aww, Joey's the best of the friends, my favorite person on the show. He gets his girlfriend, Janine (elle macpherson) to apologize to Monica/Chandler for being mean to them
-Jill, Rachel's sis, is played by Reese Witherspoon, who's her usual great self.
-Chandler can't cry episode has him finally crying because rachel and ross "just can't work it out" - meta
-The One That Could Have Been features a coulda been intro. drake ramore's stories are good. he gives his own kidney to his ex-wife even though she tried to kill him. he's delivering twins and only one is his.
-Liz (ross's student g/f)'s dad is played by bruce willis. single father. softspoken, finding a way to turn everything around to make ross look bad. a little amused with how well he does it, how flustered he gets ross, and how women take to his story
-Ross has a slick way of getting out of trouble at paul (bruce's) place. blackmails him with his knowledge of his neat guy psych up routine
-chandler and phoebe do a great job of fooling monica into not expecting a proposal by getting monica to set a date at a museum, freak out about not being ready, and then setting it up with hilda and getting a ring.
-paul is a caricature of extremes. has his psych up scene, his bawling session when he opens up about his past
-season ends with rachel dumping paul because he's too emotional, ross dumping liz because she's too young, fakeout with monica running into richard, who wants to marry her, at a time when chandler's pretending to not want to marry her. fakeout was kinda annoying for ruining what would ahve been perfectly sweet and adding unnecessary drama, but at least we can be sure that she doesn't want to be with richard.
-I don't know if I've mentioned this already, but this seems as good a point as any to say that I really like the dynamic between Joey and Phoebe. It's possibly the sweetest, most real aspect of all their relationships.

Louie - Season 1

2010-11-09T15:41:00.005-05:00

Louis C.K. ... Louie
Hadley Delany ... Lilly
Nick DiPaolo ... Nick
Ashley Gerasimovich ... Jane
Pamela Adlon ... Pamela
Todd Barry ... Todd
Robert Kelly ... Robbie
Ursula Parker ... Jane
Max Behren ... Young Louie
Bobby Cannavale ... Chris
Ricky Gervais ... Dr. Ben
Amy Landecker ... Louie's Mother
Nancy Shayne ... Nancy
David Patrick Kelly ... Therapist
Created by Louis C.K.

I don't have enough words to describe why I love this show so much. And yet, I can't guarantee you will like it. I think what you think of Louis' standup will go a long way to determine what you'll think of this show. His standup is so great because he's honest, brutally so. He's a misanthrope who gets into incredibly awkward situations. And he loves his children very much, even as he so bluntly describes his hatred for all that parenting entails. And he has a way of being unbelievably crude and finding a way to just describe anything in a completely wrong way...all while making very intelligent points. Bleh, I can't seem to express this properly.

Anyway, this is a show in which Louis gets complete creative control to say and do whatever he wants. What results is a varied, but consistently high-quality, bunch of episodes in which a number of different stories are told. Some are childish, others absurd. There's a lot of surrealism, as when a date with Louie goes so poorly that his date suddenly escapes into a helicopter. There's a lot of dark humor, and even just plain dark topics that aren't meant to make you laugh. As Louie himself explained later, it's a chance for us to look into his brain. Also, as Louie directs every episode, we see some creative work there, as well with the music and sound.

Man, I really don't know what to say about the show. As I said, the biggest draw is Louie (who is the only constant thing from show to show, considering some characters are played by multiple actors, and at least one actor plays multiple characters). Here's how Alan described his personality/worldview in one review:

What makes the show work is Louie's deadpan, indifferent reaction to everything in life. He barely blinks at the three cabbies literally fighting over him(**), is only a little fazed at the news that his previously-scheduled flight crashed and that he'll have to fly standby, unapologetically tells the TSA agents about his bottle of lube and what he intends to use it on, doesn't speak up when the very large Dennis sits next to (and on top of) him, etc.

Louie is refreshingly honest. He's aware of his culpability in general in life, and is okay with his choices. He's generally apathetic. And, as Alan pointed out, he's pretty unfazed by things, especially when things go wrong. He's not a sourpuss. He's accepted who he is and he expects things to go poorly for him, so he's not bothered when they do.

That's about all that is consistent from episode to episode. Everything else, from format to subjects, to style can vary. Louie seems to want very much not to be pigeonholed or to give people what they want/expect from him. And luckily for him, he's living the dream. I guess that's what most draws me to this show. This is a very intelligent, humble, creative man. He's not meant to make a sanitized network sitcom. It not only goes against the nature of art, but also against everything that is Louis C.K. When watching his standup, I love that he doesn't just take controversial stances, just say shocking things, or just make fun of himself. He makes sure to do so in a very well structured and thought-provoking, surprising way. The same is true here. He takes on topics like homosexuality, race, God, religion, dating, bullies and more, but he does justice to them all even while not purporting to treat them with any sense of completion.

Oh, speaking of which, this show has a great deal of heart. For someone who so often admits to being depraved and selfish, Louis is, I feel strongly, a good person, a person with real heart. Granted, I value honesty over a lot of things people would take issue with in Louis' material. But I think everyone who knows anything about depth in art that this show has a lot of depth and heart. Louis' show is much like him. The heart and brain aren't compartmentalized from all that is most visceral or, for that matter, most scatological.

Take this wonderful scene for example. It wonderfully sums up what much of this show is all about:

There are just too many different great things in this season to describe in detail. Each episode warrants an essay. Let me say, before I get to spoilers, that most of the episodes consist of two stories that may/may not be connected (though he strays from that structure starting with Bully), and he often bookends or intersperses these stories with standup. Also, if you want to hear Louie's own thoughtful take on his show and criticism from viewers, reviews from Alan and the AV Club, as well as other places, no doubt.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
-Marcy from californication shows up as other mother in louis' daughter's class. they have a play date. she turns out to be a recurring character - Pamela. She played Louis' wife in a previous show.
-Why do they have Louis repeating standup bits?
-Ha, the blond heckler at Louie's routine described by the other comedians as "the one who looks like a fox news anchor."
-Funny that Louie does such a bad job of being a cop in a movie considering he did such a good job with his character in Parks and Recreation
Great writeup of family day
-louie gives up on being motivated and such during his week off, starts eating ice cream and pizza in a sequence scored to jazz music like a scene from a drug movie. it's like a drug movie through the eyes of a dad
-Switches it up with the next episode, bully, in which he backs down from a teenaged bully, loses his date as a result, then follows the bully to his home, where he confronts the whole family, gets smacked around by the mom and actually connects with the dad, who reveals the chain of violence in their raising. really dark and mostly unfunny episode...but something very real and honest about it.
-stephen root is louie's dentist who has his way with him when he's on the gas. louie hallucinates and meets osama and opens his mind, discusses a good reason for why we should be less harsh on pedophiles, and pursues a black woman in a very racially awkward way.
-this show features remarkable crudeness and vulgarity for a basic cable show. even the bleeped out parts are suggestive.

Sherlock - Series 1

2010-11-03T12:59:00.005-04:00

Benedict Cumberbatch ... Sherlock Holmes
Martin Freeman ... Dr. John Watson
Una Stubbs ... Mrs. Hudson
Loo Brealey ... Molly Hooper
Rupert Graves ... DI Lestrade
Zoe Telford ... Sarah
Vinette Robinson ... Sgt Sally Donovan
Mark Gatiss ... Mycroft
Created by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat. Based on the works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Though this first series is but three episodes long, those episodes are more like 90 minute movies, and they certain do impress and intrigue. While the second episode gives cause for concern that the show can fall into the easy trap of being like every other procedural out there, the other two are very strong and show that this is and can continue to be a very strong modern update of the classic stories, filled with fast dialogue and quicker wit, a great deal of dry humor and some difficult and compelling issues. For more effusive praise from people whose opinions I respect, see Alan and Pajiba.

The series starts with our introduction to Dr. John Watson, home from war, and with his introduction to Sherlock Holmes. They still live on Baker Street, but in present day London (which makes watching the show exciting for anyone who's nostalgic about London, as I am after our honeymoon). Every episode has a main case as its focus, which prompted Sapna to ask me why I like this show and not The Mentalist, a fair question.

First, let's address The Mentalist, of which I've only seen parts here and there, but with which I'm not impressed. My first issue with that show is the fact that Psych already has a fake psychic who solves cases with his observational skills. Even if The Mentalist is a darker or more serious version of that, it's not cool to have ripped off of another show so blatantly. Besides that, I just don't like procedurals. They're utterly formulaic and that's why people watch them, for the comfort of familiarity, for the feeling that they're being intellectually stimulated, but not so much that they're disallowed from drifting off to sleep during it or kept thinking/talking about it afterward. Sure, that's an oversimplification and a bit mean to people who watch these shows, but they generally are not good and are very lacking in verisimilitude, or even art.

So far, it seems that Sherlock is not about trying to see if the viewer can solve the mystery. It's much more about the characters and the dialogue. But the mysteries are quite good, the killers and stories quite interesting. The dialogue is far superior to anything on any of those shows, from what I've seen, and a lover of language, like me, can really appreciate that. The acting is solid, both for drama and comedy. And the comedy is excellent as well. Though we haven't much to go on with such a short series, the main two characters are pretty well drawn as well. From the very first episode, we saw the kind of symbiosis that was developing between Watson and Holmes, how Holmes helps Watson to regain his strength and sense of purpose, and how Watson tries to humanize Holmes (and that Holmes has compelling arguments against the process). Speaking of which, excellent questions are raised in the first and third episodes of the series about how sane or humane a person Sherlock is. Even the killers directly or indirectly get involved in an examination of whether we should really admire or root for Sherlock as a person (certainly, as a detective mind, he is a marvel). I forgot to mention it to Sapna as we were watching (because the dialogue is so fast, and there are no commercials, and so one needs to pay close and constant attention throughout), but that's really what separates a show like this (potentially, at least. The second episode might have been on the better end of the procedural spectrum, but it was no different from them) from procedurals like The Mentalist. It's truly art, a truly innovative spin on something familiar (both the source material and the case-solving genre).

So I've covered a lot of what makes this show good. As for it being an update on the original, and set in present day, I thought that's very clever. As good as it is to see a well made period piece, as right as it feels for Sherlock to have his hat and pipe and whatnot, it takes some creativity to make him fit in present day, and it works here. So many shows even from the 80s and early 90s have plots that are undone by today's technology. So many old stories wouldn't work in a time with 24 hour news and cell phones, but this show incorporates cell phones and texting and GPS and so on from the start and Sherlock's mind is still the star, even as he uses technology to aid him. In the last episode, he mentions something that Arnold said to me about the original novels back when we were college roommates - that he ignores or forgets useless information to make room in his brain for information that will help him with his case (I like that later events and John challenge his insistence on this being a good practice. It's good that his character isn't given free rein and all the praise his ego can handle on this show). Only, he refers to his brain as his hard drive and the act of forgetting as deleting. Earlier in that episode, a case is presented in which the victim had missile defense information on a memory stick, a TV contrivance that is both modern and overused, and the characters point out that that's really a rather silly thing to do. Oh, and instead of Sherlock's original ubiquitous pipe, he has nicotine patches that help him to think.

I don't remember much from what I've read of the Sherlock novels, so I don't remember how much of Sherlock's personality was described and how it is similar or dissimilar to the one presented here. Sherlock is strange and is given a sort of the TV Asperger's personality that is popular today (as with Sheldon from Big Bang Theory and Abed from Community). He's a social misfit, a person who picks up on even the most subtle cues about human interaction, who perfectly understands social mores, but who is still an outsider, someone who sees no need in adhering to those customs. He's not normal and it's inadvertently hilarious how excited he gets about murders (I hope that joke isn't overused, though. They've made it at least twice already). He relishes the chance to show how smart he is and how dumb others are, but it's really fun to see how people react to his figuring out things about them he should have no way of knowing. As the series has progressed, they've introduced many instances of his playing on that expectation, implying that he doesn't know things that he does, lying to people and playing dumb and so on. It's fun to see how much of a game it all is to him.

Watson gets to play a straight man to Sherlock's off-kilter shenanigans, though he gets some really sharp lines, and it's enjoyable witnessing John getting used to Sherlock, accepting when Sherlock's figured something out that's not obvious to him, or how he gets sent on errands for seemingly no reason (when Sherlock invariably picks up so much more information than he does), or how insensitive and oblivious Sherlock can be. Mrs. Hudson is also fun as the seemingly oblivious and sweet landlady who also has a "boys will be boys" attitude about all of Sherlock's and Watson's doings and eccentricities, which plays nicely with how underwhelmed Sherlock is by even the most ordinarily remarkable of things.

Some notable stylistic details: text pops up onto the screen when we're meant to see something on someone's cell phone or, at times, what Sherlock is noticing. Also, there are several scenes in which a character opens a door into another scene, so that's an interesting transition.

Everything else that I have to say about this show I'll mention in the spoilers section, but I do think it's remarkable that I'd have this much to say about a show that's only had 270 minutes thus far.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
A Study In Pink

why are serial killers in shows/movies always so understanding of the people following them. this guy gives sherlock the chance to get the cops on him, but then sherlock won't know how he got the people to kill themselves...by talking to them. but what did he say? he offers sherlock the chance to ride with him...he won't kill him. he'll just talk to him and sherlock will kill himself, as he did with his other victims. This, of course, intrigues Sherlock to no end, as he must know how the guy did it. We find out that he put a gun to the victim's head and made him/her choose which pill to take and agreed that he'd take the other pill, and that he was right three out of three times. We never do find out how he did that or if Sherlock chose correctly (he himself isn't sure, as he tries to make the killer tell him with his dying breaths), but it wasn't a bad copout, as it featured Watson saving Sherlock's life and our learning about the psychosomatic nature of Watson's troubles.

The Blind Banker
sherlock has his life attempted twice in the episode. three times, actually, with John not knowing until the end of the last attempt that Sherlock's in any danger.
sherlock has a lot of aha moments in this episode, which gets tiring and helped make this into a rather standard procedural-type show (also, there wasn't much else in the episode but the case)
sherlock is really young looking. just thought i'd mention that.
the chinese crime network was huge and apparently moriarty is above all of it, as he had the head killed

The Great Game
Sherlock interrupts client with constant grammatical corrections. ha, my kind of guy
sherlock thinks it kind to point out to a woman that her b/f is gay and save her the time. he gets a thrill out of solving a case and when watson reminds him that a woman is about to die and is being held hostage, he says that people die every day, hundreds of them in the hospital and he should go cry by their bedside
sherlock finds it easier to not care about the victims if it doesn't help him to save them, and challenges Watson to give him a reason to expend energy on caring if it's true that it won't help him to solve crime.
moriarty is a simple guy, jim, but it's not a simple matter of him being under our nose the whole time, someone who got mad at being ignored (as in Saw). he was playing a part. It's great that we have a really intelligent villain, that that whole standoff at the end featured intelligent writing action and dialogue, that the memory stick never really mattered to him, that he wasn't so easily outsmarted by Watson's courageous move, and that he so relished playing the thwarted admirer and making us believe the stereotype and Sherlock believe the part. I even like that glimpse into the legwork that went into doing what he did, that he admits how tedious it is to get that position and pretend to be gay and all (though, of course, no one held a gun to his head and, however it is that he's spying on and following Sherlock, he didn't need to be that guy to make that possible. Quite the contrary, it might have made things difficult for him). Lesser minds create stories in which our hero represents the height of their abilities as writers, and every other character is dumb in comparison. Greater writers realize that the greatest of individuals need equal or superior foes to push them to the highest reaches of their powers, and that's what we have both in Mycroft (another very amusing part of the show. Seeing poor John treated so trivially by the two brothers after he'd spent the night sleeping in his date's living room and had rushed back early out of concern for Sherlock's well-being, was a highlight) and Moriarty.

Friends - Season 5

2010-10-25T23:28:00.005-04:00

The usuals, plus:
Michael Rapaport ... Gary
Created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman

While this season is far from solid throughout, it has some really great highlights that I really enjoyed. Also, the relationship stuff is much better than it's been in a while (notably with an absence of much of the Rachel/Ross drama that I found so nauseating and frustrating in the past), so I was pretty happy at points during this season, and not mad through most of the rest of it, which is good as this show goes thus far.

With the gang dealing with the aftermath of Ross saying Rachel's name on the altar, and then returning home to NYC with Emily still married to and still mad at Ross, and no one yet knowing about Chandler and Monica, there's a lot of tiptoeing and juggling to do. The stuff with Emily isn't bad and marks a turning point in the Ross/Rachel relationship, in that Rachel is pretty mature about it all and Ross isn't quite so stupid and annoying. Oh, except for when he invites Rachel to join him on his honeymoon at the start of the season. That was absolutely idiotic and Rachel was stupid for accepting as well (though she handles it well with Ross afterward). I don't care if they plan to do separate things in Greece...Ross probably shouldn't go on the honeymoon by himself and under no circumstances should Rachel join him.

They get a lot of mileage, all good, out of Chandler and Monica sneaking around. There's the one with Ross' sandwich in which they make Joey look terrible with all the lies they have to tell about Joey to cover up for them, the one with all the resolutions in which Rachel finds out but can't gossip, Ross wears leather pants that shrink, forcing him to take them off, only Chandler's resolved (bet) not to make fun of his friends, and there's the one in which everyone finds out, which probably has the best story of any Friends episode I've seen (details below).

Other than that humor, and some other good intros to episodes (interestingly, this season featured several episodes in which the intro continued into the episode or was directly connected to what followed, which I hadn't seen previously), what I found to be a relief was the much calmer, more mature relationship Ross and Rachel had. Late in the season, Rachel actually helps out with Ross' attempted flirtation with Caitlin, the pizza delivery girl and is patient with him when he shushes her and even follows up with the girl and assuages his concerns when he tells her that he doesn't need/want her to get him a date. The only dumb things featuring Ross and Rachel combined happen at the very beginning and, naturally, very end of the season, though even that was far better than I feared.

Oh, and Phoebe has good interactions with both her father, whom we meet this season, and a guy she dates.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
enjoyed monica and chandler running around trying to sleep together in London (though they're being a bad sister/friend combination to Ross at his wedding if they're more concerned with getting laid). they get back and make out in the morning. chandler then kisses rachel and phoebe on the mouth right after to cover up.
emily wants ross to break off all communication and ties with Rachel. he can't, and so she feels she can't trust him
in chandler's thanksgiving, flashback has JGL playing young him
the one with all the thanksgivings is good for all the things we look back on in their lives. that is, it's one of those episodes in which seeing their past selves is funny knowing what we do about them now.
the one with ross' sandwich features all the lies about joey covering for chandler/monica. plus ross has rage and takes tranquilizers
Good intro-ross is bored w/ not working (because of rage-induced sabbatical) and joey shows him how to kill time by making prank calls to chandler at work
Good intro - new years' joey helps chandler and monica kiss at midnight by working out a way for him to kiss rachel and phoebe and ross to kiss. can't explain what made it great...it was in the execution.
the one with all the resolutions is good...rachel finds out about chandler/monica and can't talk about it, chandler can't make fun of ross even though he's wearing leather pants and when he sweat a lot and couldn't get his pants back on
WHAT?! ross hooks up with Janice when he finds out that emily is getting married already to someone else. Janice actually calls ross out on his whining
I don't know if I said this already but I like the shots of New York City in between scenes
the guy who was one of the nbc execs on seinfeld is phoebe's father, frank buffay
really emotional meeting b/w phoebe and frank in which we learn that he was a bad father and didn't know what he was doing
haha, phoebe finds out about chandler/monica, so she and rachel play a trick on them...when they go to do "laundry," they actually give them laundry. also phoebe hits on chandler, who takes it seriously. monica realizes that Phoebe knows and is just messing with them, so she makes chandler agree to their hooking up. phoebe and rachel realize that they know, and decide to take it further. holy crap, this is the best episode of friends i've seen "the one where everyone finds out." it also features ross getting naked with ugly naked guy in order to to get his apartment.
Michael rapaport is Gary, the cop whose badge phoebe was flashing around.
Laverne from scrubs is an employee at the store where ross gets his couch
season ends in las vegas, where chandler/monica almost get married and ross/rachel actually do [drunkenly]. but at least there was no predictable drama. Even going into the next season, both characters' natures are better written than in the past...they're more likable people even if their mannerisms are so broad and repetitive.

Let Me In (2010)

2010-10-25T16:03:00.005-04:00

Kodi Smit-McPhee ... Owen
Chloe Moretz ... Abby
Richard Jenkins ... The Father
Cara Buono ... Owen's Mother
Dylan Minnette ... Kenny
Elias Koteas ... The Policeman
Sasha Barrese ... Virginia
Dylan Kenin ... Larry
Directed by Matt Reeves

I can't really discuss this movie without discussing the Swedish original on which it was based (and, in terms of plot, is almost exactly the same as), so much of the discussion will be in the spoiler section. While there are some aspects of the film that perhaps were done better in the original, the movie is tonally very different and is still very good. While I don't feel right putting this movie in the same stratosphere as the original, I wouldn't characterize it as being WORSE so much as just a very interesting and effective American take on the original, and definitely worth seeing.

Check out the review I wrote on the original for the plot. Without spoiling the movie, let me say that while this movie is also about a young boy who finds friendship, love and support in a "young" female vampire who moves to his town, and it also shares the theme of childhood loneliness in common with its predecessor, the tone is much less one of loneliness and much more a frightening and violent one. The events of the movie aren't significantly different than the original. It's just that the fear and threat of violence that the movie instills through its every aspect is much more palpable and unbearable here, whereas the original was a much more sublime affair, gorgeous and still. An hour through this movie, I found myself looking at the time and realizing that there was a whole hour more to endure. I don't mean that feeling to reflect on the movie itself, but rather the experience of Owen, for whom I feared even more than I felt (needless to say, it was the other way around in the original). This isn't a criticism, just an observation. It's really remarkable that the movie had almost exactly the same things in it as the Swedish version, and yet they elicited such different reactions in me.

I also really liked the police officer in this version. I don't recall that character given as much to do in the original. Everything from his look to his acting were great. He seemed appropriately underwhelmed, but still serious about his job, by the unfolding events. Perhaps that was because he never really knew what was going on.

While Carlson's review on Pajiba points out criticisms that I'll address below, he also makes a criticism of Kick-Ass that I'll address in another review. While I didn't mind Moretz's role in that movie (or the movie itself), it was really remarkable what she and McPhee did in this movie. Even McPhee's look was perfect. In a movie that focused so much on eyes, especially Owen's voyeuristic pair, it was noticeable how oddly his were placed in his head. Even disregarding his clothes and his hair, he always seems misshapen and like he belongs on the fringe of society. But his smile, like that of the other three children used in these two movies, is that much more wonderful, pure and innocent, and shines through his eyes.

====== Comments/Spoilers ======
-Some major differences between the two movies in terms of plot are the lack of the cat scene with Virginia, or the way she dies inadvertently here, whereas she perpetrated her own death in the original. Also, Abby's keeper kills people by ambushing them in their cars and it's there that he gets into trouble that eventually leads to his getting caught and placed in a hospital. Those are some big things that happened differently in the films. Some other scenes were just shot differently. The pool scene in the original was wonderful for how it mostly just showed us the boy's face and obliviousness to what was happening above, and also for the beautiful smile we see at the end of it, shown only in her eyes. This scene was far more grotesque and graphic in this film.
-So how do I feel about those differences? Well, while I enjoyed the different (and more conventional, admittedly) horror film take on the tale in this rendering, I didn't wish for the movie to become more blatantly graphic. The horror of a man killing because it's his job to, and the horror of this innocent being killing people on her own to sustain herself were palpable enough without our having to see what we did. Carlson's criticisms of the CGI used, or the horror trope of making the child suddenly turn spider-like in its movements/contortions detract from the rest of the movie. I don't mind the loss of the cat scene or the change in venue for the keeper's killings, though I feel that the change in Virginia's death takes away significantly from the themes. In the original, that scene showed us how difficult the child's and her keeper's acceptance of her condition must be on them if someone else would immediately take her life upon the beginning of her transformation into a vampire. While I wouldn't be so harsh on the soundtrack as Carlson, I do feel the movie could have used a lot more silence. It was mostly shot so well that I would want to be left alone with those sights much more than I was. The way the film was made, though, that would have taken a lot away from the tone. I feel we were meant to have a strong visceral reaction to the bullies (at least, that's what happened to me) and the soundtrack was a major part of that. The music was quite creepy to say the least, and the loneliness of the movie is mixed with a lot of creepiness. While in the original, I worried about the people who were out and about, I was so scared for the jogger who ventured into the tunnel to help Abby in this movie.
-Watching the keeper kill people was especially frightening. He was quite scary in his mask, but I didn't know whom to fear or root for. The way he killed the one victim by the train tracks was intensely frightening (and wonderfully shot), but when he found himself stuck in the backseat of a car with two people in the front and, knowing what I did about the original, I knew he was stuck, that he wasn't some super killer, but instead a man who was old and slow and doing this reluctantly in the first place...I worried for him. Consider that for a moment...here's a man who's about to kill another human being, and who is surprised by a third person's presence, but who STILL is the only person in the car who is aware of his presence and intentions. I know he's going to try to kill them. I know that they don't deserve it. And still, I felt so bad for him there. That's quite an accomplishment from the filmmakers.
-All the video of Reagan was somewhat strange, but I either didn't give it much importance or just didn't understand its purpose.
-While all directors mess with depth of field, this movie really featured a lot of scenes in which the foreground was in focus and the background was very fuzzy.
-Though I knew the plot of the movie already, I really liked how they started with the keeper jumping to his death and then later showed the scene again when the flashback returned to the present time and it all made much more sense (what the policeman did, what the secretary said, what Abby did).
-I don't remember if the boy in the original does anything like this, but this one's a peeping Tom. He also puts on a mask and imagines himself stabbing a young girl and making her shut up. Perhaps that's him expressing his outrage at his own weak self.
-I like all the little hints of smiles from both children.
-One of my favorite moments was when Owen slinks back into the darkness by the policeman's feet when he enters a room where he's hiding in Abby's apartment. Later, the frightening music turns to something innocent when the cop removes the blanket to reveal the sleeping Abby, which he surely had not expected.
-Also great...when the cop reaches to Owen even as Abby is sucking the life out of him, expecting that, surely, Owen could not refuse him while witnessing his horrific demise. But such is the pain of the betrayal, bullying and loneliness of childhood that Owen would respond by reaching to close the door, both to stop the sight and out of loyalty to Abby, the one person who really understood, accepted and protected him.

Treme - Season 1

2010-10-24T18:06:00.007-04:00

Khandi Alexander ... Ladonna Batiste-Williams
Rob Brown ... Delmond Lambreaux
Kim Dickens ... Janette Desautel
Michiel Huisman ... Sonny
Melissa Leo ... Toni Bernette
Lucia Micarelli ... Annie
Clarke Peters ... Albert Lambreaux
Wendell Pierce ... Antoine Batiste
Steve Zahn ... Davis McAlary
India Ennenga ... Sofia Bernette
John Goodman ... Creighton Bernette
Jon Seda
Ntare Mwine ... Jacques Vaz
David Morse ... Lieutenant Terry Colson
Created by Eric Overmyer and David Simon

Anything David Simon is involved in making is must-see television as far as I'm concerned, and this is certainly a can't-miss show. Still, one shouldn't expect The Wire out of this show, nor Homicide: Life on the Street, nor Deadwood (both of which also supplied some great actors to this show). Sure, there's some great acting and the sights and sounds are wonderful and the characters have some depth, demons and redeeming qualities as well. But whereas I thought the stories were superbly told and not a moment wasted on The Wire, the stories and character arcs on this show are much like the lives of the people of New Orleans after Katrina. They do a lot of treading water and going in circles while they do their subtle developing, their baby steps forward, or their last stand before the fall. Perhaps I give the creators too much credit in assuming that this was all by design, but it seems clear that they aimed and succeeded at chronicling many of the experiences and stories in post-Katrina New Orleans. Simon explains this and much more about his show and the kind of art he creates in this post-mortem interview. The show wasn't trying to make a point about NO, its people or America so much as just to share with us the lives of New Orleans' people in the hurricane aftermath and to be their loudspeaker.

But even that might seem to take a backseat to the music. Really, if you're a lover of good music, that's reason enough to watch the show. The musical performances in it are Oh My God, SO, SO amazing. I couldn't get enough of them, whether from street performers, gigs, funeral processions, impromptu second lines, or jazz clubs. Add to that stories and scenes from the lives of musicians of all levels sharing their passions, DJs and music aficionados, and a good deal of some other arts and traditions (like the Indians and a chef). This show had me absolutely in love with the vibrant culture of the city, and feeling guilty that if I went there to express that love, I'd be regarded and treated like many of the voyeurs, the rubberneckers, the cultural tourists, the exploiters and the guilt-ridden charity-giving visitors we see in the show. Simon and company don't make it easy for us to watch the aftermath, as some characters call out visitors to the city for ogling and make us wonder if that's what we're doing by watching the show (to be fair, those are just some amongst many voices). But man, what a ride and what a show.

For lovers of the shows I mentioned above, we have some welcome familiar faces. Bunk is here as Antoine Batiste. Freamon is Albert Lambreaux. Joanie Stubbs is Janette. Kay is Toni. Oh, and Katherine from NewsRadio (and a number of other places, surely, though that's from where I remember her best) is Ladonna.

The show picks up immediately after Katrina and follows a number of people whose lives have been uprooted and are now trying to pick up the pieces and recreate some semblance of normalcy. At first, it seems as if the show is vilifying certain groups of people - outsiders, the police, the government. An important moment comes early in the season when crime and drugs, both of which had been washed out of the city by the hurricane, return. It's important because the residents and the viewers alike had to realize that they couldn't just rage against some faceless external enemy and that the answers and solutions wouldn't come so easily. The people and factors involved are more complex. We'd see this later in the season in the way that seeming successes in some people's lives could not mask or overcome the struggles that bubbled underneath the surface and that came to a head in the penultimate episode of the season. While that description might make it seem as if there was a bloodbath in that episode (in much the way there almost always was in seasons of The Wire or Sopranos), it's important to take heed of Simon's explanation that a lack of murders and rapes and so on from this season/story don't preclude the characters' lives from being severely affected. Perhaps the wonderful musical performances and good will amongst hopeful and passionate musicians and citizens (especially considering the amount of time spent on those aspects of the story) distract from the despair experienced by many of the characters, and so viewers don't take them seriously enough. This is a shame, but is also not so avoidable by writers striving for verisimilitude. While at times I felt this show was too "feel-good (and people are wrong to assume that a show based on the aftermath of Katrina would be depressing, though I can see why they would)," it wasn't so in the way criticized by Simon in his interview. It has all that uplifting music and moments of camaraderie amongst artists/citizens because that (apparently) is the nature of the people involved. No amount of rain could wash out their love for their culture, for their way of life.

As always, and even more than usual, definitely check out Alan's blogs as well as Dave Walker's blog for all kinds of information about the show and the many, many historical references and living cultural artifacts in the show.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
cameo by elvis costello - who sticks around
steve zahn's a fuckup w/ good intentions...
whooaaa, cameo by slim charles from the wire
Alan:

James Poniewozik and I both cited the scene at the end of this episode in our initial reviews of "Treme." I said that Albert's dismissal of the tourists, safe behind their tinted glass, was reflective of David Simon's full-immersion approach to portraying cities, where Poniewozik found it a bit on the nose and said, "It also raises a question: why are we watching, and why did HBO pick up the show, if not to 'see what happened'?"

they mention "hamsterdam" instead of amsterdam. Antoine asks an insurance agent how he sleeps at night (considering he turns people's claims down). "i drink"
Prez! (from the wire)
Alan:

Jim has a point (and later got Simon to expand on the purpose of that scene), in that no matter how deeply "Treme" goes into showing us New Orleans and its people, viewers like me who've never been there will remain tourists, watching through our own kind of glass. But I guess there are varying levels of tourism, and varying levels of authenticity, and "Right Place, Wrong Time"(*) is all about characters coming into conflict over who is and isn't a true son or daughter of New Orleans, with the rights and privileges some believe that allows.

That's Talia Balsam (aka John Slattery's wife in real life and his character's ex-wife on "Mad Men") as Creighton's literary agent.
mardi gras episode features big chief in jail, ladonna stepping out b/c of guilt over not telling her mom about her dead brother, creighton feeling disillusioned over new new orleans and waking up in a drunken stupor w/ his wife not wanting their daughter to see him that way, davis spending all night with annie after Sonny decided to do drugs and other women
next episode starts with sonny and annie parting ways
I'm from the state of texas, ma'am. no disrespect, but y'all have a defective work ethic here -guy who says he'll fix ladonna's roof in two days w/o money
davis: there are so many beautiful moments here
janette: they're just moments. they're not...a life
Omigod, creighton says goodbye to his wife/child/city in the sweetest, saddest way possible. As Alan says below, it really was clear that this was the moment of clarity and happiness that suicides feel when they come to the resolution to take their lives, and it was wonderfully portrayed in his very small, sincere gestures to his wife and child, and his perfect day in New Orleans.
alan:

In that gorgeously-acted moment, I knew Creighton was completely lost, and that he was unable to ask for help, so when he woke up a few mornings later looking happy and lavishing compliments on his wife and daughter, I knew exactly what he was going to do next. That's not a knock on the script; I assume we were meant to understand that there was something off with Creighton's newfound sunny demeanor, and probably to recognize that these were the actions of a man preparing for a perfect last day to be alive. And so of course there's added poignancy to Creighton again failing to break through his students' boredom, and then to him enjoying simple pleasures like a po'boy or a beignet, and throwing down a twenty-dollar bill after listening to Annie's typically wonderful violin playing. Just gorgeous, simple work from Goodman, and I appreciate how the suicide scene was structured so that we didn't have to see it happen. One minute, the smoker looks over and Creighton's still there; the next, he's gone. The new, diminished New Orleans was too much for him to deal with - even if his own home, and life, were spared of any direct effects from the storm - and no one saw the danger signs in time (even Toni seemed to buy into Creighton's public persona as much as some of us did, as seen in the way she tore into him last week after catching him asleep on the porch), and so Creighton lets himself be swallowed up by the waters that never quite came for his house.

Sonny finally admits in the last episode that annie's so much better than him, but he's spent these two episodes doing everything he could to hold onto her and hold her back
we see the significance of creighton's suicide, how much it hurts the people who were left behind to keep fighting this uphill battle. toni thinks the band won't/shouldn't play in the second line for a quitter (at his funeral procession)
last episode has funeral of daymo followed by flashback of last moments in everyone's lives as katrina was about to hit
at daymo's funeral, procession dances to jaunty tunes. fitting for the people of the city
Finale has wonderful moments as always in Simons' shows, like: toni smiles seeing how ladonna dances through it but can't get over her owntears; or when davis stops and looks back, struck by his fortune after annie goes into his home

Mad Men - Season 4

2010-10-23T17:06:00.003-04:00

The usuals, plus:
Alexa Alemanni ... Allison
Randee Heller ... Miss Blankenship
Cara Buono ... Faye Miller
Jessica Paré ... Megan
Jay R. Ferguson ... Stan Rizzo
Marten Holden Weiner ... Glen Bishop
Matt Long ... Joey Baird
Created by Matthew Weiner

I think it's fitting that the cliffhanger on which the season ends (and it's not even something that happens in the end of the season finale) isn't something big historically or something big that happens to the agency (even though much of the season focused on the agency's struggles), but rather a development in Don's life. This season featured some real highs and, especially, lows for Don, through which we get more invested in him than ever, all leading to a finale in which Don throws us for a crazy loop. At a time in which Don is more valuable to his agency than ever before, he's harder still to pin down, and less sure of himself and who he is.

Wow, where to even begin? I watched this season as it aired, all at a time when I've stopped doing that with pretty much every other show, and so it's amazing to see how much happened and how far we've come from the premiere. Some important things happened in the world of SCDP and its players, the biggest things having to do with SCDP's biggest client, Lucky Strike, and its account manager, Roger Sterling. Also, Lane's family is in England. They want to stay there, he wants to stay in the US, and his father isn't happy about how casually Lane's accepted that arrangement.

But mostly, even for a show that is already an actor's showcase and one that is character-, rather than plot-driven, this season felt like it was even more so. There are some great episodes here for Emmy consideration, especially for Hamm and Moss. Though the actress who plays Sally probably won't be getting any such consideration, she's also noteworthy for her excellent work. In a season that featured Roger seemingly regaining his importance (and just as quickly losing it), Joan's husband finally going to Vietnam just when she was starting to feel he, of all people, was her only ally in life, Lane being put in his place by his father, and Pete becoming a father and becoming reacquainted with Ken in the office, it's really these three who were given the most chances to shine, I feel.

I just looked through my notes and realized I have little else to say. So much happened this season, but you have to see it all to appreciate how strong the performances were, how real the characters' problems, reactions, childishness, suffering, rebelliousness and triumphs were, especially, again, in regards to the three mentioned above. As before, there are also some wonderful uses of music and cinematography (three things that come to mind are Don sitting in one place all night at Anne's house, Don waking up with two different women on consecutive mornings, and Peggy on the Honda motorcycle), but there's really too much to mention and recall.

====== Comments/SPOILERS ======
11 months pass, Betty's a bitch, living in their home w/ the kids and her man, sally being courted by the creepy kid who stalked betty, don a drunk, moody and egoistic, praised by everyone as savior of firm, roger humiliated by lee gardner, don sleeps with allison, then pretends it never happened. Don finds out Anna Draper has cancer (And she doesn't know). stays all night in one position on couch as the night turns to day. don's losing the one refuge he had in his life, as dick whitman. he and lane share their dark sides together, spending new years with hookers, and drunk at a comedy club/restaurant
pete becomes a father right after being told he has to cut the account (clearasil) that's headed by his father-in-law
allison cries in a focus group and admits to peggy how don used her and tossed her aside and assumes that peggy's had the same experience, which sets peggy off. she's insensitive and dismissive to allison, who decides she'll quit, and upon don again taking her for granted (telling her to type up his recommendation for her and have him sign it), she hurls a paper weight at him, says, with difficulty that he's not a good person, and storms off. joan asks don if he's okay with allison coming back after a few days, he says yes, she asks, "really?" he says no, and she nods in understanding. peggy seems to have a female suitor, someone who acts in a masculine way with her secretary (calls her "sweetheart" and uses her stationery as she pleases) and invites her to a photo shoot. wow, trudy's more cutthroat and strong than pete (which we've seen), and pete can be quite cold, as when he tells tom that he's getting cut and that he wants bigger accounts from him. haha, peggy and pete both bang their heads. pete because he has to fire his father-in-law and peggy because pete has a wife and child on the way and she's still smoking weed and making out with random guys, going out to lunch with a girl who's interested in her and assertive. ken is struggling in the big leagues. joan gives don a bumbling old lady as a replacement.

sally wants to look pretty like her babysitter or don's women, so she cuts her hair. her mom flips, slaps her. henry appeases her by placing blame on don. roger makes an ass of himself by insulting the japanese due to his WWII grudge. nice little montage of the crew messing with the other firms with their fake rule-breaking honda commercial (including a great shot of Peggy riding around on a red honda in an all white studio). ooh, don opens up to faye about sally's issues and the psychatrist. betty at least notices that sally's different since her grandfather died. she says she thinks sally's punishing her for something when she plays with herself and the psychatrist says, "that must be a terrible feeling." I'm pretty sure that if you love her and she knows it, she'll be fine. -Faye to Don
man don is a mess, getting rejected by Faye, sleeps with different people on friday and saturday, wakes up sunday not knowing it's sunday and he has to take care of the kids. peggy is mad don took so much credit for the glo-coat win, challenges art director by getting naked for their brainstorming session, and makes him uncomfortable, pokes fun at his erection. don blurrts out a young idiot's idea in his drunkenness...and has to hire him. flashback to his work to get hired by sterling, when he might have preyed on roger's drunkenness to trick him into thinking he'd hired him

haha mark breaks up with peggy while sitting with her family at dinner
oh wow, peggy airs her complaints to don and he lets loose the truth about how lucky she is to work there and her ideas are his and such
ha, duck and don fight over peggy, in a way, and don calls uncle
whoa, Joan is seriously called out by Joey and seems flustered for the first time at work, lashes out at Peggy, who seems to recognize what she was doing.
Joan's husband is still clueless - ignores why she's crying, how lonely she feels, and has a goodbye screw. peggy stands up for joan
"People tell you who they are but we ignore it because we want them to be who we want them to be" - Don talking about Bethany after their date. wow, peggy fires joey, then joan puts it all into perspective - no matter how big you get around there, someone can still draw a lewd cartoon about you. so now everyone sees Joan as a meaningless secretary and Peggy as a humorless bitch
Sally is a very smart girl, precocious, a little world-worn.
little touches like: (Alan:) So Sally has no choice but to go back with her mother, and everyone goes home feeling shaken by what they saw. Peggy's lesbian friend Joyce, who came into the office after, and who (in her personal life, at least) doesn't have to serve the whims of clueless men, seems carefree as she goes down in one elevator. Joan, Faye, and Peggy - who are having lousy stretches with the men in their lives, who watched helplessly as Sally tumbled, and who we know have all made choices in the past to avoid motherhood - ride together in another elevator, all feeling dazed about what they saw, and about the lives they're leading.
episode starts with don asking sally on the phone if she can keep a secret and that he'll be taking her to the beatles. ends with instrumental version of beatles' "Do You Want To Know A Secret"
Lane has a favorite bunny at the Playboy restaurant and shows her off to his dad
With all the defense/clearance inquiries going on, we get to see Don sweating/flustered
Joan's pregnant, planning an abortion
Roger loses his one account and takes a nitro after the meeting
draper thinks he sees g-men and has a panic attack
Man the partners had their lives turned around...all keeping secrets, don and pete about why they're dropping north american aviation (security clearance will reveal don's past), roger about losing lucky strike (which is why he's so mad about NAA), Lane about his father hitting him in the skull with his stick and making him call him sir and promise to go back to london to sort things out w/ his wife, joan about the abortion.
roger dropped an f-bomb! and the mad men team just took the sound out of it.
peggy's sleeping with the writer guy who seemed to so misread her previously. roger lies about just finding out about the lucky strike account. he lies about going down to raleigh to talk to them and tries to meet up with joan in nyc, but she realizes he's just needy and not facing his problems and she lets him know it's over. naughty don...megan gives him exactly what he wants to hear, saying that it's not about work and that she's not going to go running and crying out of the room afterward...that she just wants him right now. don tries to use faye for inside info about clients and she seems to want to leave him for using her...then actually gives him a client because he matters that much to her (she later admits that whatever happens in her career, she's happy to be with him).
Don meets Midge again. she's in a marriage of...convenience? her husband seems to be working with her to get people to buy paintings in return for...sex? they're both hooked on heroin. don is a bit cold to her, esp. for someone with a drinking problem.
sally is playing her mom...kissing her ass (as she was taught to by glen). possibly playing her psychiatrist too. betty is opening a bit to the psychiatrist too.
Sally seems to actually be having a somewhat healthy relationship with that weird kid glen (who's played by Weiner's son)
don gambles and posts a "they didn't dump us, we dumped them" ad in the times. now everyone's got their agency on their mind, even as they have to trim the fat to stay afloat.
Pete's pissed that Don might have sunk the company, and he can't come up with the money for his share and trudy won't let him sell anything of value or give up their savings...but don's paid his share.
haha, bunch of double entendres after the american cancer society meeting, including, "You get Cancer?" from Roger
Glen says bye to Sally as they move and when confronted by Betty says, just because you're sad doesn't mean everyone has to be
Don takes Megan to cali when betty fires carla, sleeps with her, finds she's great with kids...and then proposes to her? with anna's old engagement ring?
Peggy is floored by the news and she and Joan bond over their mockery of the men in the office
he tells faye and she says that she hopes he's happy and that she hopes she knows you only like the beginnings of things
ohhh snap, joan kept the baby?

And then there's this video: