TV Thoughts
WARNING—SOME MAJOR SPOILERS FOR SHOWS AIRING THIS WEEK AHEAD!!!
After watching last night’s episode of
Nip/Tuck, I was pretty sure that episode would win the award for biggest and best surprise of the week. Finding out that Kimber hadn’t left Christian at the altar of her own volition, but was kidnapped was pretty near genius. (For those watching, I’m still comfortable in my assertion that Gina is The Carver.)
That surprise had nothing on tonight’s episode of
Veronica Mars however. (First, how great was it to see
Alyson Hannigan and
Charisma Carpenter back together again, sparring it out just like in the
Buffy old days.) Finding Weevil taped to the flagpole was genius and completely believable considering this impending class war that’s about to erupt in Neptune. Then, finding out Trina’s parentage was heartbreaking when her real mom burst into the room, offering to give her bone marrow. While not as completely touching as Rose and Bernard’s reunion on
Lost last week, it was a moment that got me a little teary. And if that weren’t enough, the final reveal, discovering that Meg is pregnant?! WOOH! I don’t even know what to think about that! It just tied in so beautifully with the theme of the night. Veronica’s worst thoughts about Celeste Kane turned about to be true—just one generation later. Duncan a father? As
Melissa Sinda would say, “Double O-C—out-of-control!) This show just gets better and better every week. If you’re not watching it, HMPH! (In
Lynn Reed speak, that’s a dismissal.)
And then, even before the teaser of
Lost was done, we find out there’s a horse on the island! Who saw that coming? Those that imagined Kate was on the run for blowing somebody up I guess... Now, when it comes time to teach Josiah in Sunday School, I might just bring in this episode.
Definitions
Zathura—textbook reason demonstrating why it is a bad idea to cast small children with no acting ability as the leads of your movie—particularly when they are forced to act against a green screen resulting in a movie full of shots of actors staring vacantly at the camera
Sunday Night Thoughts
All I could think as I was watching
Desperate Housewives tonight was, “Oh!
Barbara Nicolosi’s not going to like this
at all.And
Grey’s Anatomy just does a marvelous job of balancing humor and pathos.
Katherine Heigl gets the gold star for tonight’s performance. Still hate the opening credits thought.
Magic Works
It’s amazing what one actor or one scene or one song can do to a movie—whether amp it up a notch or completely ruin it. There are multiple cases of both happening, but easily the most obvious case of it this year is
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The moment the third act begins and
Ralph Fiennes appears onscreen, the movie ratchets up two or three notches. What had been an entertaining movie suddenly becomes an enthralling movie that chills and terrifies to the bone. If
Judi Dench can earn an
Oscar nomination for eight minutes in
Shakespeare in Love, Fiennes at least deserves a nomination for his ten minutes worth of work here, though it will never happen.
Otherwise, the movie is good. Not as great as
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, but good nevertheless. The film definitely misses
John Williams’ scoring, but there are some pretty impressive set pieces. The special effects here are stronger and more impressive than the previous
Potter movies. Now it’s just time to sit and wait for
Order of the Phoenix.
Syrianhuh?
If
Ann Coulter had a problem with
Good Night, and Good Luck, her head’s gonna explode if she ever sees
Syriana. The new film from writer/director
Stephen Gaghan seeks to emulate the success of
Traffic by using multiple stories to examine the American dependence upon oil and its impact upon the rest of the world.
The film follows a displaced Pakistani oil worker in the Middle East, a Saudi prince, his economic adviser, a CIA agent, and a Washington oil lawyer. All are interconnected, all have something to gain, and all have much to lose. The film tries to show the pratfalls of American policy towards oil—particularly that it flies in the face of much of other international and domestic policy. Gaghan attempts to create a contemporary treatise that will serve as a call to arms, shaking the American populace to its core, thereby creating a referendum on domestic energy policy.
Except, he forgot to make the movie make sense.
Whereas
Traffic was taught, compelling, and riveting,
Syriana is confusing, obtuse, and kinetic. Much of that has to do with the directing.
Steven Soderbergh made
Traffic work because of his experience behind the camera. He knew how to craft a scene to make it interesting, even when it was just a Georgetown cocktail party where nothing happened. He forced the scenes to flow into one another, relating back and forth so that they built on one another through the cross-cutting of the various stories. Gaghan has yet to master that ability, which causes his film to suffer.
Additionally, he’s painted his canvas too broad. He tells too many stories in too little time (or maybe too much since I thought the movie had already been going longer than the
BBC version of
Pride and Prejudice before the first half even completed). Therefore, none of the stories really are allowed to have any emotional impact. They’re simply telegraphed to us and they feel remote and insincere.
And I don’t even want to image what the fallout is going to be over the political leanings of the film. Like any good Hollywood message movie, this one leans left. In fact, it’s so far to the left that it’s no wonder
George Clooney injured his back during the making of this movie. I’m surprised everybody involved didn’t. And here’s the thing—I don’t think the filmmakers really intended that to be the way the film turned out. A good portion of the film seems very apolitical for such a political topic. However, ultimately, the film sums up to a politically charged end simply because everybody is corrupt. (In fact, one character espouses how corruption is necessary for democracy to succeed.) With no redeeming characters to root for, with no hope found any place, the film ultimately argues that democracy fails and oil tyranny wins. A long way from
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.
Shop Sleeper
Skip
Shopgirl. The score’s really good, but despite
Claire Danes’ solid performance, the movie lacks—in many, many ways.
Kaballah Bee
Adaptation can be a tricky process. Sometimes it works brilliantly, sometimes it fails badly, and sometimes you’re just left scratching your head, muttering something like, “Maybe if I’d read the book, I’d get what’s going on.”
Scott McGehee and
David Siegel’s
Bee Season falls into the later category.
The movie is about a Jewish family whose youngest daughter, Eliza (
Flora Cross) turns out to have a Kaballah-led ability to magically spell words. (Seriously.) Once the religious professor father (
Richard Gere) discovers this, he seems to ignore his teenage son, Aaron (
Max Minghella) and his wife Mimi (
Juliette Binoche). As a result, the family becomes more and more fractured until…well, I’m not sure what the until part is. That’s the major fault of the film. There are tons of threads started with some fascinating material, but ultimately none of them come anywhere close to tying together. Most of them are so underdeveloped that you just scratch your head, wondering what screenwriter
Naomi Foner Gyllenhaal was thinking.
There are some great things about the movie. Visually, it’s fascinating. Eliza actually “sees” the words spelled out. The directors come up with creative and brilliant ways to show this. Max Minghella (the son of director
Anthony Minghella) gives a striking debut performance that promises great things to come.
Unfortunately, most of the rest of the movie is highly problematic. The screenplay is the biggest. Beyond that however, are miscasting problems. Gere’s character really needed to be played by a more neebish actor. He doesn’t bring the intellectual capacity to the role that is necessary. Binoche seems to flounder a bit in her role, uncertain of how best to play a mother that has endless hidden secrets. Yet, the biggest problem disappointment is Cross’ Eliza. The girl ultimately should hold the key to the film, but her performance is too cryptic and stoic to add any insight to the story.
Maybe you should just read the
book, but definitely skip the movie. Minghella definitely seems to be someone worth watching, but maybe there’ll be more to watch in
Syriana.
And if you wanna learn about
Kaballah, ask
Madonna or
Britney Spears.
Funny News in the Sadness
Culled from
TVGuide Online:
Leave it to
Arrested Development to mine the tragedy of its imminent death for laughs. Per
Variety, series creator
Mitch Hurwitz is planning an episode that will poke fun at
Fox's decision to reduce the show's episode order from 22 to 13, effectively canceling it. In the episode, titled "S.O.B." for "Save Our Bluths," the Bluth clan considers throwing a fund-raiser to save their construction company from shutting down. In one scene, Jason Bateman's Michael notes, "Our backs are against the wall.... It's just hard for me to accept that it's really come to begging." There's even a conversation about whether the Home Builders Organization — HBO — might be willing to come to their rescue. That idea is quickly nixed though, leading George Sr. to say, "I guess it's Showtime. We'll put on some kind of show at the [fund-raiser]."
Geisha Guffaw
I saw the first
commentary on
Memoirs of a Geisha today and it was exactly what I expected after reading the book and seeing the trailer. There's no story there. Lots of pretty visuals, but the emotion is muted and scattered, therefore making the film obtuse. It's impossible to say what the success or failure of a film is until it's been seen, but this does put a damper on my hope for the movie. Still, it is
Gong Li...
The Gut
"My gut told me to do it." Common statement that always strikes me as humorous since a gut has no intelligence or mouth, but at the same time, it's such a true statement. Right now my gut is wondering if I just made a mistake for an agreement that I made. I've rationalized, sought counsel, prayed, thought, meditated, and at the end of the day, I saw too much gray in any direction to figure out what to do. So I went with what my gut told me. Of course, now it's telling me differently, but what do I do? After a mistake I made not listening to my gut in the spring, I'm trying to be more open to intrabody communication. We'll see if it works.
Hollow Indeed
What should’ve been the most momentous moment all this season on
Gilmore Girls occurred last night. Lorelai and Rory finally reunited after what felt like months of fighting. But, wow, did I ever not care.
After its best season yet last year,
Girls has been struggling creatively this season, searching for its footing, trying to find the its place in the terms of telling the story of the ideal mother and daughter. But nothing has been easy. The series lost some of its core spark and drive because Lorelai and Rory were separated. While it’s made nice connections between the two main characters and the rest of their world, at times, the program has felt like it stalled. This is incredibly problematic for a show that’s never been strong at dealing with reality, but instead just grounding it in our love for the characters and finding a sense of emotional reality to carry through scenes and episodes.
The reconciliation last night just was telegraphed. There seemed to be no consequences, no fallout, everything was hunky-dory in the last two minutes when it all went down. It didn’t feel emotional resonant—what might be a first for
Gilmore Girls.
The episode was further plagued by the discovery that Luke has a 12 year old daughter (?!) he never knew about. I’m sorry. Did my
TIVO start recording
Gilmore Girls on Acid and I didn’t realize it? At least that storyline played out in unexpected ways, but still, it was crazy.
At least
Steven Bocho’s first produced episode of
Commander in Chief was interesting, though the storyline about the twins’ rivalry is a bit confusing. And how many sports does Horace play? And, not to keep pointing out inconsistencies, but what public school in the District do these kids go to where there are so few minorities?
Late to the Bench
I just don't know what I think about
Prison Break. I was thoroughly intrigued by the show when it was first announced last year. The promos looked great, but things were still really in flux for me in August, so I just got the copies of the episodes and said I'd catch up with it soon. Soon turned out to be last weekend. I watched all the episodes of the show that had been broadcast and then last night I watched the new one.
I'm not sure I dig the show.
Sure,
Wentworth Miller is a breakout star. But, AHEM--I think those of you who received my Top 10 list for 2003 saw his inclusion on that list for his role in
The Human Stain, so he's not that new to me. The episodes are generally well-directed (though the bumpers out of every act break are absurd and distracting) and engaging. The cast does a decent job in their roles, though some actors are more successful than others. (Though it is great to see
Patricia Wettig playing the baddie. Such a change from
thirtysomething. I guess that is what happens when you sleep with
Sloane.)
The biggest problem with the show is that it stretches credibility just SO much. Somehow Michael is able to smuggle all these fancy little
MacGyver gizmos into the prison to break out using baking soda and snot, but he couldn't just figure out a way to get his brother out that didn't require him to commit a felony? I'm willing to suspend disbelief a lot, but sometimes this just feels a little too much.
And don't even get me started about the NSA/Secret Service/VP subplot. Ludicrous doesn't even begin to describe it.
But the ridiculous issue I have with the show is Michael's tattoos. Anytime he's show with short-sleeves or shirtless, all I can think about is "How are you going to get rid of that? How much laser surgery is necessary to remove all that?" Those tats just gross me out and make my skin crawl. Stupid, I know, but I can't take them.
Maybe I just miss
Oz too much.
Welcome to the Suck
There’s never been a more honest marketing tag.
Jarhead is the most confounding, disappointing film to hit the screen in months. While critics may carp about
Cameron Crowe jumping the shark with
Elizabethtown,
Sam Mendes is much closer to it with his third film that sets its eyes on the military. Though it purports to be a dark comedic look at the Gulf War, it instead turns out to be a confused mess of nonsense that goes nowhere. Simply, the movie sucks.
The film is over two hours of mess, confusion, and pointlessness. The first half of the movie tries to be a poor retread of
Full Metal Jacket. The second half devolves into an incoherent mess that strives for brilliance when in all honesty, it doesn’t even come close to adequacy.
I’ve tried to figure out what specifically to say about what doesn’t work with the film, and while there are definite particulars, there’s really nothing to say about
Jarhead other than “welcome to the suck.”
Colorado Mountain Paradise
Cynicism is the most easily digestible commodity of the current ideological climate. It pervades our political thought, our humor (
Arrested Development), our drama (
Nip/Tuck), and our movies (
Jarhead). We talk in quick, amped up slang because we think it’s more unique and original than earnestness. In all truth, we avoid earnestness because it’s hard to make it seem sincere, honest, and emotional without coming off as cloying and mawkish. (See
Commander in Chief before Steven Bochco gets ahold of it if you have any doubt.)
Thank heavens for
Everwood. There is NO program on television that knows how to manipulate heartstrings as earnestly and sincerely as this fascinating WB series that just continues to get better with age. Tonight’s episode is no exception. The episode, entitled, “Pro Choice” had the show’s normal biting wit (“Is that why you can’t afford a shirt?), but it also brought a new depth to the characters of Bright and Hannah, while throwing a wrench into the Amy, Ephram, Reid triangle that continues to propel the story forward. While the fledgling relationship between Hannah and Bright continues to grow, Hannah’s mother appears with devastating news for Hannah. This in turn causes her to inform the Abbotts about information that moved Bright—even more than the news that his own mother had cancer. It was moving to see
Chris Pratt show new shades to the loveable lunkhead you can’t help but love.
But perhaps the most moving element of the episode was seeing Ephram and Andy move closer together. Theirs is a relationship that has been complicated and everchanging, yet as often as it moves, it crumbles upon itself, never completely working. (This is the way Sydney and Jack’s relationship should’ve played out over five seasons on
Alias.) The final shot of Andy opening up to Ephram about his failed courtship of Nina was brief, to the point, and profound. I just wish there were more TV like that.
Requiem for a Fountain
As if my ranting about how cool Aarnofsky is wasn’t reason enough to get excited about him directing an upcoming episode of
Lost, check out the new teaser for his upcoming film,
The Fountain. This looks crazy!
My Life as a Valet
I’ve never understood why celebrities think they should receive preferential treatment. Sure, if you’re on a set, then the people most important to the success of the project will receive perks different from those who actually do the majority of the work. It might not seem fair, but that’s the way it happens. (No different from the “Members Only” elevators on Capitol Hill.) However, when celebrities are just out and about during the course of their every day life, then why do they expect to get things that others don’t receive?
For instance, last night
The Museum of Television & Radio in Los Angeles held its annual gala. I’ve been working with them for the last couple of months trying to get everything taken care of, organized, etc. After the Gala was over, the line to the valet stand was miles long. (It made me wonder why people just didn’t self-park. It would’ve been worlds faster, but then, hey this is
Beverly Hills. Why do something yourself when you can pay someone more and let them do it instead?)
So I wandered outside to look for one of the honorees to give him the box his award came in since he left it backstage. Being a busy man, he’d already left. As I was walking back in, Mrs. “I’m not a nurse in Vietnam, but I played one on TV” stopped me, asked me if I was part of the staff, and wondered if there was anything I could do to get her car for her faster.
I objected to being asked this question. Granted, it was like she was asking for
ruby diamond rings, but I objected to being asked this question by one celebrity that was part of our evening, when there were other actors and stars in line that were “bigger names” that were waiting in line and didn’t ask me for their help. (I also objected because I honestly had no clue of what to do or how to help her.) However, sensing that this was someone we needed to keep happy, I obliged. I flagged some valet down, asked if he could help me and proceeded to watch as he skipped 35 people in line and got the car for this actress.
It wasn’t the high point of my night. (Though it did beat this “WHAT DO YOU NEED” look I got from one of the actresses on
ER when I crept up on them, hoping to interrupt their conversation in an effort to get the signature on a release form from one of her co-stars. The co-star however, was as polite and nice as could be.)
Movies Part II
Here’s the rest of them—
Memoirs of a Geisha—The book didn’t really do anything for me and frankly, I don’t see how you translate it into a coherent cinematic screenplay. This movie’s
Gong Li’s English-language debut. It’ll be worth it for no other reason than that.
Mrs. Henderson Presents—The trailer looks cute.
Judi Dench will get her annual
Oscar nomination. The Weinsteins will push, probably get a picture nomination and elitist crowds will love the movie.
Munich—
Spielberg’s latest quest for a serious movie has a strong trailer.
Eric Bana and
Daniel Craig look to hit the big time. Despite the lackluster
one-sheet, this really appears to be the real deal. Written by
Tony Kushner, it could be a really deep and fascinating picture.
The New World—Cinematography will be impressive. There’s no doubt.
Terrence Malick looks to tell the true story of
Pocahontas, John Smith, and John Rolfe. The casting of
Q’Orianka Kilcher, someone who looks the 14 Pocahontas actually was, is encouraging. Let’s just hope
Colin Farrell is believable as America’s first hero.
Pride & Prejudice—As long as it’s better than the BBC mini-series a few years ago, it’ll work. I mean, they’ve already gotten rid of
Colin Firth and put in
Matthew MacFadyen, which is a huge start.
The Producers—Not excited, but am hopeful. If only
Will Ferrell weren’t in it. Expect
Uma Thurman to hit the big time again.
Rent—Excited, but not hopeful. The first review I’ve seen tells me what I feared.
Christopher Columbus screwed it up. But at least, it’ll be a great opportunity to sing along.
Rumor Has It—What if
The Graduate were “based on a true story”? That’s the premise of this movie that had a notorious start that saw writer/director
Ted Griffin get fired after just a couple of days on the set.
Rob Reiner (!) was brought in to replace him. While the director’s history doesn’t leave much hope for anything other than a glossy, silly romantic comedy, this promises to see
Kevin Costner and
Shirley MacLaine both finish impressive one-two punches this year after their turns in
The Upside of Anger and
In Her Shoes. It also gives
Jennifer Aniston her first leading role after the divorce. But maybe, most of all, it will make
Mark Ruffalo a star.
Syriana—Written and directed by
Stephen Gaghan, the film promises to do for oil what
Traffic did for drugs. It stars
George Clooney and
Matt Damon. It might come off as too heavy-handed and preachy, but it also hopes to be interesting and if well done, a real conversation piece. (And maybe then I’ll at least have a clue what in the world the title means.)
Walk the Line—This is the one that surprises me how much I’m looking forward to it. I don’t consider myself to be a
Johnny Cash fan. I’m familiar with his work, but I never thought I’d want to rush out and watch a movie based on his life. However, I’m chomping at the bit to see this movie. Word is
Joquain Phoenix and
Reese Witherspoon are locks for Oscar nominations. Hopefully, it will be better than
Ray. If it is, then the movie will go far.
The White Countess—I know nothing about this other than it stars
Ralph Fiennes and
Vanessa Redgrave and it’s the last completed
Merchant-Ivory production. That latter component is really all I need to know.
Movies--Part 1
It’s two months till the end of 2005, which makes it the most wonderful time of the year—
Oscar season! Serious movies about
bextra lawsuits and new wave dawning. This of course means that there are things to worry about other than
precious metals trading or
mortgage refinancing. Instead, we get to dream of being an awards presenter and getting
diamond watches and
IPODs for free.
In the meantime however, we get to partake of the excitement that is the movies. Here are the twenty-five I’m most eager to see (in two parts.)
Bee Season—Directed by
Scott McGehee and
David Siegel who did
The Deep End. It’s about a marriage that collapses and they try and save it through immersing their daughter in spelling bee contests.
Breakfast on Pluto—Neil Jordan’s latest movie starring
Cillian Murphy and
Liam Neeson. I’m not 100% sure what it’s about, but after
The End of the Affair, anything Jordan does means I’m there.
Brokeback Mountain—Based on
Annie Proulx’s short story is about two men who are in love with one another, but are unable to be together because of social etiquette. The story is moving, the trailer is really impressive and anything
Ang Lee does gets me excited. Word is that
Heath Ledger is a strong Oscar contender for the movie.
Casanova—The other Heath Ledger movie about the world famous womanizer. The trailer looks to be a hoot and rip-roaring fun.
Chicken Little—Sure, it’s already out, but it could be cute, fun, and easy.
The Family Stone—Buzz is really high around this dramady about an uptight
Sarah Jessica Parker who goes home to meet her boyfriend’s entire family for Christmas. Trouble, hilarity, and conflict ensue.
Get Rich or Die Tryin’—It might be nutty, bad, crazy, but it’s
Jim Sheridan and after
In America, I’ll see anything he directs. (This movie is proof of that.)
Hard Candy—Probably the darkest sounding movie on the list. A young man (
Patrick Wilson) in his early 30s establishes a relationship online with a pre-teen girl, who’s wiser than she seems. She turns the tables on him and violence ensues.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire—
Jan Batchler has completely moved me over to the cult of Harry. After the last one, I’m just eager to see this movie.
Jarhead—Early reviews don’t sound promising. If it’s poorly received, maybe that will get
Sam Mendes back to focusing on finishing the development of the movie musical version of
Sweeney Todd.
King Kong—Just ain’t got nothin’ on me. Until I see it.
The Libertine—
Johnny Depp dressing up in period costume. Don’t know much beyond that.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe—Could be an amazing movie or could be just good. Someone I know that’s seen it says it will be big. I’m more curious to see the box office of this and the fallout that arrives.
Match Point—How do you sell a
Woody Allen film? By not emphasizing the fact that it’s Woody Allen. Allen’s first film set in London boasts a large cast. The dark drama looks like it might be the best thing he’s done since
Crimes and Misdemeanors. Expect a writing nomination if nothing else.
The rest tomorrow--
