kat ex machina

I'm good at blog.

2011-09-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

I'm sure the only thing better than my infrequent blogging would be a completely unorganized account of new television shows, halfway through the premiere block, and while I'm not fully caught up! But whatever. I don't have TV anymore (resolving this soon) so I've only been able to catch whatever's on Hulu, or whatever I see at my parents' house on the weekends. Deal with it! If a show doesn't appear on the list below, either I don't care enough to bother with it (Pan Am, Charlie's Angels, The Playboy Club), it's finished its summer run (The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Switched at Birth, True Blood), or it won't be back (or premiering) for a few months or longer (30 Rock, Apartment 23, Mad Men).

SUNDAY
The Amazing Race (8pm on CBS, premieres 9/25)
          Year after year, I remain super pumped about this show. It is always fun to watch with my family, and it's such an amazingly produced reality competition. Hoping to audition for it eventually!
Once Upon a Time (8pm on ABC, premieres 10/23)
   I saw the pilot for this a few months ago, and it was a little weird, but seemed promising if you're into darker network dramas. I'll probably watch a couple of episodes but it's not really my style.
Boardwalk Empire (9pm on HBO, premieres 9/25)
The first season took ages to finally get exciting, but it ended up being wonderful. It's not my favorite "high art" show but I'm excited to watch it during the desert between Breaking Bad and Mad Men.
Dexter (9pm on Showtime, premieres 10/2)
          This show goes up and down in quality, but it's still mega awesome and better than a lot of other stuff I watch. I think Colin Hanks will actually be a really creepy baddie so I'm looking forward to this season.
The Walking Dead (9pm on AMC, premieres 10/16)
          I thought the first season was super boring, but it's a high production value show about zombies, so.
Breaking Bad (10pm on AMC)
There are only three episodes left in what has been an incredible season of what is currently the best show on TV. How Vince Gilligan and the actors manage to manipulate the audience so thoroughly is just incredible. I am obsessed with this show and will post more in-depth thoughts when the season's done.

MONDAY
How I Met Your Mother (8pm on CBS)
One of the most affecting shows about twenty-somethings dating and dealing with relationships and growing up is reaching its breaking point. I'm hoping that this is the second-to-last season and that we can start letting it wind down. This week's reveal of Victoria was exciting because I really liked her with Ted, but I know she won't be the 'mom.' Also, I am personally more interested in Marshall and Lily's journey at this point than Barney or Robin's, and I hope they work on leveling that out.
2 Broke Girls (8:30pm on CBS)
          The pilot had funnier jokes than I expected, so I will give this one at least a few more episodes to really win me over. I didn't find Kat Dennings to be particularly funny, though her character is meant to be pretty dry...it just felt like she had taken a crash course in comedic timing and was acting a bit too robotically.

TUESDAY
Glee (8pm on Fox)
Fox is annoyingly making us wait eight days before watching its content on hulu, so I haven't watched the season premiere yet. Luckily, I remember how awful the show became last season, so I'm happy to wait.
New Girl (9pm on Fox)
It's been a little while since I watched this pilot, which I found to be instantly grating. However I love Deputy Leo from Veronica Mars, and I'd be betraying my fellow twee hipsters if I didn't love Death Cab for Cutie's first lady, so you know I'll keep watching.
Raising Hope (9:30pm on Fox)
I'm also waiting until next week for this to go up on hulu, but I was charmed by this show's first season and look forward to having it back.
Sons of Anarchy (10pm on FX)
Ugh I haven't seen any of this season's first three episodes! I freaking love this show but they don't stream or put the episodes on demand so I'm at a standstill for now.
Awkward (11pm on MTV)
One of my favorite new shows. I was initially drawn to it because creator and showrunner Lauren Iungerich is an alumna of my college, but it's really wonderful. It's a bit of a hybrid between My So-Called Life, Daria, and Juno, so I don't see why it wouldn't be awesome. Also, the lady who plays the protagonist's mom used to date JC Chasez. #funfact

WEDNESDAY
Up All Night (8pm on NBC)
I didn't find the pilot to be that great, but the second episode was a bit funnier. I think the actors have good chemistry, I'm just not convinced that the premise has anything to offer. I'm sure you could say the same thing about NBC's Thursday night comedy block though, so prove me wrong, show!
Free Agents (8:30pm on NBC)
This show is going to get canceled really soon. Let's face it. It's funny and charming though, and I love seeing Kathryn Hahn given some breathing room. She's got a bit of the Judy Greer thing going - always the friend, never the star - and that's got to change soon.
Modern Family (9pm on ABC)
Everyone loves this show and so do I, but I thought the Wyoming-set season premiere was chock full of offensive sexist and homophobic "jokes." The show has tilted at this in the past but really let loose in the premiere. Let's hope it's not a trend. I am not as mad about new Lily as others are, but I do miss those babies!
Happy Endings (9:30pm on ABC, premieres 9/28)
This show rules and I'm worried that mistreatment by the network will result in a premature cancellation. I can't wait for it to come back!

THURSDAY
Community (8pm on NBC)
          I am going to watch this tonight! I'm not the biggest fangirl of this show, but it is always clever and very funny, so I'm glad it's back, especially since we'll have to wait a while on 30 Rock.
Parks and Recreation (8:30pm on NBC)
The best show on NBC is back! So far I feel like they'll allow us to miss the Ben and Leslie relationship without hating the change too much. I hope so, because I love Adam Scott and his character.
Whitney (9:30pm on NBC)
          I haven't seen this one yet but it looks so awful. Absolutely nothing about it appeals to me.
The Office (9pm on NBC)
          Last night's season premiere was so bad that during the cold open, I thought they were joking. I've long felt that this show is a husk of its former self, so hard not to feel when one remembers how wonderful its brief predecessor was. That said, I think there's been a steep drop-off in quality this season, not entirely thanks to Steve Carell's departure. I just don't think the writers know what they're supposed to be doing at this point.
Grey's Anatomy (9pm on ABC)
          My unhealthy relationship with this show continues. I'll be catching up on this one tonight, but I mean, it'll be the same soap it's been. No big deal.
Jersey Shore (10pm on MTV)
I'll never stop watching; this show rules.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (10pm on FX)
I'm a week behind but thought the season premiere was a little weak. I think they could have played more with physical comedy, but whatever, it's still one of the most shockingly funny things out there, so I'm happy it's back.

Sweet 25...

2011-09-20T11:46:00.000-07:00

It's Back to School week over at A Bright Wall in a Dark Room! Click over there to read my essay about Never Been Kissed...

School Week: Never Been Kissed (1999)

IF YOU FAIL GYM, YOU’LL NEVER GET INTO COLLEGE

by Katherine Spada

Touchdown!

2011-09-20T09:58:00.000-07:00

I don't like to go too in-depth when reviewing movies released by my own studio, but I do want to just share a couple of thoughts on Moneyball which I saw last night. We all know I love inspirational sports movies about sports that I don't like, and Moneyball isn't really an inspirational sports movie, but damn if it isn't about baseball. Here's how little I know about baseball. Freshman year of college I bought a cute green shirt at a thrift store that said "Athletics" and had a baseball on it. I was rather emo at the time and had a penchant for ironic t-shirts from the boys' section of the Goodwill. When people kept asking me if I was from Oakland, I couldn't understand why (I thought it was just like an elementary school's P.E. department shirt). While Moneyball is largely about how statistics factor in to major league baseball, which I didn't quite follow, I still really enjoyed watching the movie. Brad Pitt was excellent in it, the writing was very impressive, and I can't wait to see more and more of Chris Pratt. I'll admit that a movie about baseball being over two hours long doesn't help you forget that baseball is super boring, but even what seemed like superfluous scenes were great.

Now onto something superficial: Philip Seymour Hoffman is four years younger than Brad Pitt but looks about twenty years older. I continue to love him more than Pitt, but man were their scenes together jarring.

Come learn from my vast wisdom!

2011-09-20T09:33:00.000-07:00

Attention Los Angeles area readers: Tonight I will be speaking at an event in West L.A. called "Moving On Up! The Young Alum Panel on Getting Hired in Hollywood." This is a 21+ event hosted by the Claremont Entertainment Mafia, an alumni resource for graduates of the Claremont Colleges working in the entertainment industry. Claremont students who are 18+ are welcome, just let the CEM members at the door know you're a student.

So Claremont alumni, and interested friends, join me tonight at 7pm at The Joint for this panel and some mingling.

The Joint
8771 W. Pico Blvd. at Robertson

Event description:
A successful career in Hollywood is exciting and lucrative, but how exactly does one begin?

Claremont Entertainment Mafia has assembled a panel of three of our most promising young alums - future movers and shakers - to discuss their own experiences on getting hired and getting promoted in the industry.

Join us for an evening where we will share anecdotes, advice, and take your questions regarding all aspects of the Hollywood ...hiring and promotion process, as well as the day-to-day grind.

DEVIN RAPSON (PO '09) got his first taste of the industry as a PA on Scooby Doo 4, in addition to interning with Oscar-winning Pomona alum Jim Taylor. He ran the feature department as coordinator at Landscape Entertainment with Bob Cooper, and recently has been hired to the prestigious Paradigm Talent Agency.

KATHERINE SPADA (CMC '08) began her career as assistant to Universal EVP Peter Cramer. After traveling the world, she currently works at Columbia as assistant to EVP of production Elizabeth Cantillon, working on such projects as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and the next film in the James Bond franchise.

JAVAN TAHERKHANI (CMC '08) moved up the cutthroat CAA ladder, from mailroom to floater to assistant, where he worked with powerhouse packaging agent Rob Kenneally. Now at Media Rights Capital, he works closely with the leadership of the television division to identify, develop, produce and sell premium content.

The panel will be moderated by Justin Huang, PO '09.

Warrior review at MediaBlvd

2011-09-15T12:38:00.000-07:00

My review of Warrior has been cross-posted over at MediaBlvd Magazine. Enjoy!

http://www.mediablvd.com/magazine/this-is-sparta_201109153917.html

This... Is... Sparta!

2011-09-14T17:36:00.000-07:00

This weekend I went with a couple of my martial arts teammates to a late-night showing of Gavin O'Connor's sports drama Warrior. I've long held that inspirational sports movies are the highest art of storytelling, even when they are about sports I don't like or care about (inspirational movies and TV shows about football probably offer the highest ratio of satisfaction to level of disinterest about the sport). Given that I train six days a week in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and regularly head to my neighborhood bar for UFC matches, I was excited to finally have one of these movies about mixed martial arts, a sport I actually care about. O'Connor directed the well-loved Miracle, about the U.S. Olympic hockey victory against the Soviet Union in 1980. I found Miracle to be boring, but hoped that wouldn't be the case with Warrior. Luckily, it wasn't.

In Pittsburgh, former trainer and recovering alcoholic Paddy Conlon (Nick Nolte) returns home from church to find his younger son Tommy (Tom Hardy), drunk and self-medicated, sitting on his front stoop. It's been over a decade since escaping his abusive father, and Tommy's lost years remain a mystery he does not wish to discuss. Whatever his sorrows are, it's off to the gym for former Marine and wrestling champ Tommy to work out his anger. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, Paddy's older son, ex-UFC fighter Brendan (Joel Edgerton) is a family man, teaching high school physics and struggling to pay the bills after his daughter had suffered from a heart problem. It's back to prize fighting for him, beating up hillbillies in parking lots to earn some extra cash, but he can't bring himself to tell his wife (Jennifer Morrison).

Both brothers are in need of money fast, so they independently find themselves training for Sparta, a single-elimination MMA competition with a five million dollar purse. It isn't until the final third of the movie that the leads even have a scene together, and this is part of what I liked so much about it. The audience is given just enough backstory about Tommy and Brendan's lives to know that they have been estranged since adolescence. We aren't spoon fed erroneous details about what happened after one brother left and one stayed behind, nor asked to care, really. What matters is the present, two brothers fighting for the money they need to start over, and approaching catharsis in the process. After watching two separate stories unfold, one about Brendan and his wife, and one about Tommy and his father, when they finally collide, all of the pent-up emotion has been saved for the octagon.

The fight scenes were excellently choreographed and shot. Edgerton and Hardy clearly got into shape by training with real fighters, and whenever they were in combat I winced at each round kick and submission as if I were watching a live match. [RIP Tom Hardy's neck, you will be missed.] This is not to say that the movie didn't have flaws, particularly with its performances. For a large chunk of the movie, Edgerton just speaks in a full-on Australian accent, and Hardy's take on emoting seems to consist primarily of pouting while growling, but I don't actually think the role required much more from him on that count. There are a few glaring logic problems, but they're worth overlooking. However, the emotional payoff in the final scenes of the movie is, well, cheesy. Even cheesier than I would usually expect or tolerate from a sports movie like this one, and I wasn't the only one in the theater laughing.

If you're a fan of martial arts, I assure you that Warrior leans more toward The Fighter than toward Never Back Down. It's not all the way at The Fighter's end of the spectrum, but it's still a very good movie. I'd definitely classify it as more of a family drama with sports than the reverse. Now, if you're not interested in martial arts, I think it's still a movie worth watching, which I say as someone who was obsessed with Friday Night Lights but would find watching football to be like having teeth pulled. But, for those made squeamish by fight sports, those scenes are definitely brutal. Finally, and most importantly, the movie is full of juicehead gorillas with their shirts off, so if that tickles your fancy, you're good to go.

Don't Think About It

2011-09-14T10:47:00.000-07:00

Over at A Bright Wall in a Dark Room, you can find a very personal essay I've contributed on the subject of Drake Doremus' Like Crazy. Click through to visit the site; full text reposted below.
-----------

DON’T THINK ABOUT IT.

by Katherine Spada
I was twenty, and had just graduated from college a few months prior. My internship had yielded an unbelievable job offer that everyone told me was foolish to pass up. However, I’d already planned a gap year to travel, and that was not something I wanted to turn down. So off I went to Australia for six months, and that’s where I met him.

In Drake Doremus’ festival favorite Like Crazy, Anton Yelchin and Felicity Jones meet cute as college students in Los Angeles, and struggle to figure out what they should do after graduation when it’s time for her to move back to England. Before she’s due to leave, they have a romantic mini-getaway until, foregoing reason, she decides to outstay her visa. This decision changes the course of their love and their lives for the coming years.

He was sitting across my tiny table, having cooked us a pumpkin and roasted garlic risotto. We drank wine, there was a candle lit, and the air was cool outside my high-rise apartment. We spoke of traveling, and how we viewed the world. I felt a catch in my throat and excused myself to the bathroom. You’re in trouble, I told my reflection. Weeks later he was using my laptop and I worried he’d see in my search history, “how to make long distance relationships work.”

Yelchin’s Jacob knows it’s a bad idea for Jones’ Anna to stay in Los Angeles the summer after graduating. Perhaps neither truly realizes how serious the blowback will be from her decision to stay through the summer. More likely, they both realize there could be consequences too scary to face, but given the option to continue wallowing in each other for just a few more months, they are powerless to turn it down.

Anna and Jacob make plans for him to visit her, but they have ongoing lives that can’t be put on hold in between visits. Jacob is a carpenter with a growing furniture business; early in their relationship he gives Anna a lovingly made desk chair where she can write comfortably, the film’s title etched into the wood. In England, Anna pursues a job writing for a publication where she’ll have to plug away for a few years before she gets to where she wants to be. Phone calls never occur quite at convenient times for either of them, and they’re incurably out of sync with each other’s schedules.

One of us waits at the airport with flowers in hand, dressed up and well-groomed, eagerly scanning the faces of each haggard traveler coming off a long international flight. The other spends over an hour deplaning, lugging bags through customs and immigration, and then hastily trying to wash off the stench of travel in an airport bathroom before coming through the arrivals gate. In the span of a couple of weeks (all the time we could manage to get off work), we’d pack in visits with friends and family, sightseeing, fancy white tablecloth dinners, romantic mini-getaways, and lots and lots of serious talks about the future. More tears spilled in airports and on airplanes, and in cars driving away from them, than seems physically possible.

Anna’s parents can see how happy Jacob makes their daughter and are very supportive of their relationship, in whatever way they choose to pursue it. Of course, the suggestion of marriage comes up very early. Just like staying through the summer instead of leaving right after graduation, getting married seems like a very good idea.

“So, are you planning on moving to Australia?” “What would he do if he moved here?” “Wouldn’t it be easier if you just got married?” I can’t, I’m too young. I don’t want to get married for convenience. What about money; how would we make it work?

Jacob and Anna carry on with their lives. It’s so hard to miss each other, but they try their best to share in each other’s personal triumphs. Promotions, settling in to the fun activities of hanging out with their cultivated groups of friends, generally growing up. They begin to move on to new relationships, but they stay in each other’s thoughts, Anna’s chair and bracelet (engraved fittingly with “Patience”) remaining tokens of Jacob’s love that she can’t leave behind.

I remember being bitterly jealous of couples I saw holding hands at farmer’s markets or watching TV shows together over delivered pizza. We are so much better than they are, why don’t we get to be together, but they do? Maybe marriage is the answer… There is always value in thinking reasonably and thoroughly about major decisions like that.

“Don’t think about it,” Anna tells Jacob when he voices concern about their future.

My long-distance relationship didn’t follow the same trajectory that Anna and Jacob’s did. The film peeks in on their lives, leaving them abruptly and ambiguously, but it’s easy for a romantic to infer that the struggles in the film paved the way for a happy future. I imagine that Like Crazy is to a long-distance relationship what Blue Valentine is to divorce - realistic to the point of being difficult to watch if you’ve lived through it. There are so many major threads that weave together a long-distance love: devotion, trust, emptiness, wist, heightened romanticism. Like Crazy captures all of these so well, but it especially reminded me of the willful ignorance of it all. The struggle to pretend that very real hurdles don’t exist because it’s just not fair for them to hold us back. The naive desire to believe that, should those hurdles be overcome, everything will carry on harmoniously.

I was twenty-three, riding in the passenger seat of his car on the way to the airport, heading back home after my last visit to Australia. I broke the silence with verbalized fantasies of all the things I couldn’t wait for us to do together when we were finally living together in the same city. At the airport I cried, as usual. Two years prior I’d made the same trip from Sydney, then only on the starting line of this long-distance marathon. That time, I’d sat against the window, embarrassed to be seen by flight attendants as I wept into the sleeve of my sweatshirt. Mercifully, a girl finally rushed down the aisle to be seated next to me. Her face was splotchy and she carried a bouquet of flowers as she left her Australian boyfriend behind to return home to South America. We cried together. I shared with her some of the Chupa Chups I’d packed for the flight. This time, I traveled alone.

Katherine Spada is a Hollywood assistant and sometimes writer. When she’s not working, she trains in Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. When the mood strikes, she contributes to MediaBlvd Magazine, and blogs at Kat Ex Machina.

Resisting the urge to write Erik/Charles slash fanfic...

2011-06-09T14:18:00.000-07:00

Just a quick review because there's no way I can be impartial or really tell you anything you don't already know about Matthew Vaughn's X-Men: First Class. I really like The X-Men and I will be excited to go see any movie made about them. I even liked X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine more than a lot of people did. I didn't grow up reading comics but my sister did and she taught me about the world of mutants, and X-Men: The Animated Series was probably my favorite TV show when I was a kid. I wanted to grow up to be Wolverine!

So anyway, getting to see a side of Professor Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr that I had not given much thought to, was really exciting for me. As always, it is cool to see the mutants use their powers, I got a chance to learn more about some characters I never knew that much about (Beast, Darwin, Banshee), and the 1960s setting added an interesting element. That said...this so did not go far enough.

The story of a younger Magneto and Professor X could/should have been a 2-3 film arc. The theme of discrimination against the mutants during the 1960s could have been used to tell a story against the backdrop of Civil Rights for African-Americans, which was a missed opportunity. And for a movie where I felt everything was resolved far too suddenly, parts seemed to drag on for ages.

This movie was incredibly cheesy, but not quite in a way that felt like they were trying to kitschily establish our beloved mutants in the swingin' '60s. Beast's post-transformation makeup was simply unimpressive, and the writers seemed to change their minds about characters' personalities every few pages. There were, obviously, massive logic holes, but this is a universe where a blue scaly woman can transform into anything she wants so, you know, I'll just let them be.

To paraphrase my friend, I am desperate for them to make a Young Magneto: Nazi Hunter movie. Michael Fassbender was easily the best part of the movie, and I wish Magneto's relationship with James McAvoy's Charles Xavier could have been given more time to grow. Also, if this story were expanded into multiple films, I feel like the relationship Raven/Mystique has with both Charles and Erik would have become a compelling storyline. Her brief scenes with Magneto were (oh man I was about to say "magnetic," what's wrong with me?) intriguing.

In any event, it got me pumped again about X-Men, and I fully intend to go back and watch last decade's trilogy again. Then every movie Michael Fassbender has ever been in, because damn.

Well, everyone knows Custer died at Little Bighorn. What this book presupposes is, maybe he didn't?

2011-06-09T12:03:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I should state upfront that I'm a Woody Allen neophyte. Of his films, I've seen What's Up Tiger Lily, Bananas, Sleeper, Match Point, and now, Midnight in Paris. So yeah, I missed all the good ones, I guess, except Match Point. I've been told that I struggle more than others with separating the artist from the art, and I admit that to be true. I do try, though. I mean, let's take Roman Polanski. Rosemary's Baby is incredible, then his pregnant wife gets murdered by the Manson family, then he makes this amazing and twisted adaptation of Macbeth, and I also love Chinatown and The Pianist, but the man is a confessed child rapist and I can never forget about that even when I'm watching and loving his films. So you'll have to forgive me when I say that I don't ever really seek out Woody Allen movies because he totally creeps me out.

Anyway, I was told Midnight in Paris was "delightful," and many of my friends "loved it" and saw it multiple times. I was pleasantly charmed by it, and found it a quick, whimsical journey through Paris across time (the film is only 100 minutes long, including credits). The story is sweet and has a clever conceit involving time travel that is forgiven any logic questions because that's not the point of the movie. Owen Wilson continues to surprise me as a pretty one-note actor who nonetheless brings a sort of honesty to his roles that really draws me in (he was the best part of How Do You Know, fwiw). All of the acting in the movie is really charming, with pitch-perfect roles played by Rachel McAdams as Wilson's fiancée, Kathy Bates as Gertrude Stein, Alison Pill as Zelda Fitzgerald, and Marion Cotillard as MPDG ingenue Adriana. My favorite cameo was probably Adrien Brody as Salvador Dalí. Allen gives us a sparkling, spotless Paris that is most beautiful in the rain, where a lost-in-his-thoughts wealthy American can wander the streets at midnight without encountering a single vagrant or having his wallet stolen.

The film is about nostalgia, and treats the subject in a cute, reflexive way. Owen's modern-day screenwriter is nostalgic for the golden age of writers and artists gallivanting around Paris in the 1920s. 1920s-era Adriana is nostalgic for her city's Belle Époque, whose denizens Gauguin and Toulouse-Lautrec (sidebar: the casting director couldn't find one LP actor in France?) wax romantic about the Renaissance. It's a good theme, because who among us hasn't sat and listened to a haunting Gershwin tune and wanted to wake up in the Jazz Age, or gotten transfixed by Seurat's Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Grande Jatte - 1884 and wanted to just melt into it? I've spoken with some of my friends about our Austen-inspired idealization of Regency Era England, which lasts for about five minutes before we realize that as ethnic minorities and women, our lives would actually be pretty terrible were we to be transplanted to Pemberley by magic.

Wilson's character does make a brief concession to the fact that life is better in a world with antibiotics in it, and overall, I believe he realizes that one must learn to feel positively about the modern age, because nostalgia is fantasy. Surely Paris' 1920s beauty is tempered by the hindsight of knowing what horrors would befall Europe a decade and a half later. And here's where my thoughts on separating the artist from the art come back in. Our protagonist idolizes Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Picasso, Degas, and others. Misogynist, misogynist, womanizer, sadist, etc. And all mindblowing artists representative of their time. Obviously their portrayals are not realistic; they are conjured by Wilson's character as manifestations of what he knows he needs to remember in order to write a great novel.

Let me know what you think about Midnight in Paris. What historical era or work of fiction do you wish you could be transported to?

The Ugly Carrot

2011-05-19T12:13:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I've been in a haze of Tylenol and Sudafed for the past three and a half days, so I only have the energy and mental stamina for a very brief review. This weekend I saw Bridesmaids, directed by Freaks and Geeks creator Paul Feig, and written by star Kristen Wiig and her writing partner Annie Mumolo. Even though I found the trailers and commercials to be less than promising, Bridesmaids was eagerly awaited by myself and most of my friends, hoping to prove to observers that not only do women watch comedies, but they can carry them too.

While I enjoyed Bridesmaids, it was not as funny as comedies such as Dodgeball or Zoolander, but it was sweeter and smarter than both. My mom called it "deeper" than she expected, as the story was certainly more about a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, and about female friendships, than it was a broad hijinks-vehicle. Jon Hamm was excellent in a small role as a douchebag, basically a modern Don Draper if he were honest about being a jerk. Chris O'Dowd as Wiig's love interest was very sweet and likeable, and he and Wiig played against each other well. Melissa McCarthy was the highlight of the movie, playing both the bawdy scenes and the endearing scenes with a loveable honesty. Her olive branch of friendship to Annie (Wiig) was more touching than any history between Wiig and Rudolph's characters. Also, her flirtation with a character played by her real-life husband Ben Falcone was funnier to me than many of the other comedic set pieces. Ellie Kemper and Wendi McLendon-Covey were underused.

You should see Bridesmaids. It's a little too long but it's definitely worth watching. I don't think it will crush institutionalized sexism in Hollywood. The First Wives Club made nearly $200K in 1996, and here we are 15 years later hoping that another rare female comedy will change everything, while reviewers are criticizing the movie based on the attractiveness of its stars.

Trailer Tuesday

2011-05-10T09:00:00.000-07:00

Non-shocker: there are a ton of movies coming out that I am excited to see. I'm not talking about "I'll Netflix that one," but actually ones I am looking forward to seeing in theaters! It's going to be a good summer, I think!

X-Men: First Class (June 3)
It's the X-Men, so...

Super 8 (June 10)
J.J. Abrams, Coach Taylor, Steven Spielberg, aliens and explosions? I'm there.

Captain America (July 22)
To be honest, my favorite thing about this trailer is how funny tiny Chris Evans looks. But also I love America and superheroes and WWII movies so this will hopefully be awesome.

Cowboys and Aliens (July 29)
They had me at Harrison Ford, but Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig fighting aliens in the Old West? Thank you, I'll take two!

The Help (August 12)
I'm reading the book right now and while I am enjoying it, and the movie looks dandy, I am a little fatigued by how POC stories always have to be told by white people. Also, Viola Davis is amazing.

The Debt (August 31)
While watching the trailer for this in theaters my dad and I simultaneously gave each other a 'thumbs up.' I am hungry for this movie.

Colombiana (September 2)
Well, I strongly disliked Taken, which was written by the same people as wrote this, but a hot spy + Michael Vartan is a pretty good formula, so I'll check it out.

Warrior (September 9)
Inspirational sports movies are my favorite, and this time it's about MMA, a sport I actually watch and enjoy, unlike football, which every other inspirational sports movie is about.

Anonymous (September 30)
I was a lit major and also this looks gorgeous.

Do not mistake my appetite for apathy!

2011-05-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

First of all, Wikipedia, Thor cannot be classified as a superhero because Thor is a god, not a superhero. I don't know why stuff like that bugs me so much. Anyway, the whole cast and premise of this movie seemed very weird to me until I realized that Kenneth Branagh was the director, which is also weird, but impressive. At first it seemed like this movie was actually taking itself completely seriously, and during an interminable scene of Asgardian warriors visiting the realm of the Frost Giants, I considered taking an extended break to visit the snack bar. Things pick up once Thor is exiled to Earth, where Chris Hemsworth and occasionally Kat Dennings bring charm and humor. Natalie Portman's acting and her character were both weird and out of place, though it was a nice surprise to have the female love interest completely clothed throughout while the man spends some time shirtless. Not enough time, though. Hemsworth is best when playing the charmer, not the angry fighter. Winking at Sir Anthony Hopkins, demanding a horse from a pet store, and smashing his coffee mug against the ground. The movie is basically constructed using plot holes as a building material, but it was enjoyably fun overall. The visuals of Asgard were impressive, drawing into stark contrast how crappy the effects in The Green Lantern's trailer look. I'd worried that Hemsworth would be a graduate of the Sam Worthington school of covering up one's Australian accent (school motto: "Don't."), but was relieved to see that he stuck to the "ancient people have English accents except for that one Asian guy" rule instead.

'The Greatest Movie Ever Sold' review at MediaBlvd

2011-05-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

My review about Morgan Spurlock's POM Wonderful presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold has been posted online at MediaBlvd Magazine. Check it out!

Visible Minorities

2011-05-06T14:59:00.000-07:00

This weekend I attended a screening at the 27th Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, where I saw Jeff Chiba Stearns' documentary One Big Hapa Family and Patricio Ginelsa's short The Journey. Issues of multicultural identification have always been very compelling to me, and especially after seeing Kip Fulbeck's exhibits on the issue at the Japanese American National Museum, I was eager to see what looked like a warmhearted look at one Japanese-Canadian family's history with intermarriage.

Chiba Stearns looked around at his family reunion and realized that after his grandparents' generation, no one had married within the same race. Consequently, all of his siblings, cousins, and their children, are of mixed Japanese and Caucasian heritage. His documentary explores the questions of why his parents' generation married outside their race, what impact that had, and what his hapa relatives have to say about identity. At the screening, we only saw the abbreviated 45 minute cut, but the DVD includes the full-length feature, which goes further with interviewing his young cousins about their hapa identity.

One Big Hapa Family does not cover any new ground that Kip Fulbeck hasn't explored before, but his documentary could be a good introduction for people curious about issues of multiethnic identity. It's appropriate for all ages, and its innovative uses of animation integrated with footage would entertain children as well as adults. It also taught me about parallels between Japanese-Canadian and Japanese-American history, which was interesting. For those interested, you can find more information at Chiba Stearns' website, where DVDs are on sale for $20. Proceeds go to fund the documentary he is currently making about the need for multiracial bone marrow donors.

My personal thoughts on multiethnic identity as an American with multiple cultural identifiers are...numerous. For now I'll just shill One Big Hapa Family.

Who's the woman in a gay relationship?

2011-05-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

Last night's episode of Modern Family addressed the fact that in a homosexual relationship, heteronormative society still expects one partner to fill the masculine role and the other to fill the feminine one. Cam felt hurt, offended, and marginalized when he was treated as an "honorary mom" on Mother's Day. Because Mitchell goes to work while Cam stays home with their daughter Lily, he is regarded as the "mother." When Mitchell brings him breakfast in bed, it's hurtful enough for Cam that his partner views him "as the woman" in their relationship. Later at Lily's play group's Mother's Day picnic, all the other childrens' parents refer to him in the same way.

Modern Family may include a gay partnership and an inter-ethnic/trans-generational second marriage among its characters, but in all three of the nuclear families portrayed, one partner stays home to parent full-time while the other works outside the home. In the two straight partnerships portrayed, the stay-at-home parents are women. This episode did very little to challenge the strictly enforced rules that women are the nurturers, the ones who parent instead of working, the ones who like the color pink. None of the other families at Lily's play group seemed to have a stay-at-home dad, two parents who share work/home duties, or outside child care help while both parents work. Being a stay-at-home dad made Cam "the woman," and it was roundly accepted by all but him.

These rules are so hard-wired into our society that people expect for homosexual couples to adhere to the same binary. I'll tell you right now: when two men are in a relationship, neither one of them is the woman. And when two women are in a relationship, both are! When a man and a woman are in a relationship, and the woman works while the father stays home to look after the children, the woman is still the woman and the man is still the man. I'm reminded of a blog entry I once read by a new mother who was tired of constantly being asked, "Who's watching the baby?" or, "Is your husband babysitting tonight?" whenever she was out somewhere alone. It was presumed that the mother and the baby would never be apart, and when the father was caring for their child, it was referred to as "babysitting." This is demeaning both to women who cannot be allowed to carry on with their daily lives without being harangued as to why they are not with their kids, and to men who are viewed as incapable oafs unable to keep their children alive.

This is all part of a bigger problem (isn't it always?). Being viewed as feminine or womanly is a bad thing. While it is fair for Cam to be incensed that he is being incorrectly defined against his will, it is made very clear that to be "the woman" in the relationship is to be inferior, to be weaker. He even directly tries to counter this assertion by stating how physically he is much bigger and stronger than Mitchell. When women dress in men's clothing, it is acceptable, fashionable, even sexy. When men dress in women's clothing, it is laughable, or demeaning. If a man throws "like a girl," it implies that he is weak. "Be a man," they are told, meaning, "be big, be strong, be better." Women are the "fairer, gentler, weaker" sex. Society continues to reinforce the binary, that a couple must have a man and a woman, and the man is superior over the woman. The sooner we can equalize our expectations of both genders, the better off we'll all be.

(For the record, I believe gender performance is partially socially constructed, but that there are inherent gender traits we all have. Some men are more masculine/feminine, and the same with some women. I don't think we should all forgo gender definition and live in some sort of Barbie-crotched world of neutrals. But I think if we let people define their own identities a little more freely instead of immediately putting our babies in worlds of pink OR blue - never both! - we'd stop judging people so harshly when they don't conform. Next thing you know, they'll be giving women the vote!)

'Hanna Rennt' at MediaBlvd

2011-05-05T11:46:00.000-07:00

My review about Joe Wright's Hanna has been posted online at MediaBlvd Magazine. Check it out!

While Kirby Dick rolls his eyes...

2011-05-03T19:07:00.000-07:00

This post also appears online at MediaBlvd Magazine.

Somehow I had managed not to see anything by Morgan Spurlock until last week when I went to a screening of his latest documentary, POM Wonderful presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold, a look into the world of product placement (a.k.a. "embedded marketing") in film and television. Even having missed his debut, Super Size Me, I think I can understand critics who say that the premise negates the necessity of the movie in this new documentary as in that one. Of course eating at McDonalds for every meal for a month will take its toll, and of course using sponsors to finance a film about embedded marketing will shed light on the not-secret fact that advertising is used to offset the cost of filmmaking in a time when revenue is way, way down for the movie business. While Greatest Movie does provide a few interesting things to think about, it feels as though Spurlock is going through the motions, holding back from being fully along for the ride that the journey could take him on.

It is funny to see Spurlock wink at the camera for over an hour, pitching product integration ideas to potential investors, then cutting to a scene in which the exact idea is carried out, or saying multiple times, "this scene right now is in the movie." A few times, he does make mention of the fact that by signing contracts with his sponsors, he is not sure he can remain an objective documentarian. I wish he had investigated this further. What does "selling out" do to the integrity of the filmmaker? How would this process impact any future films he makes? I couldn't help but think of Kirby Dick's wonderfully meta look into the MPAA, This Film is Not Yet Rated, which provides layer upon layer of insight into what goes into rating and releasing a movie, illustrating the process itself. Compared to that favorite of mine, Greatest Movie comes up short.

There are a few attempts to show how product placement has gone farther than we all realize, such as when Spurlock discovers that public schools are selling advertising space on athletic fields, CCTV, and school buses. He even goes to Sao Paolo, Brazil, a city that has banned advertising on public buildings, but neither vignette goes far enough. He interviews Sao Paoloan business owners to see how the advertising ban has affected business, but I did not get a sense of the real toll it has taken on the economy. The representatives of the Florida school district where Spurlock buys advertisements for his movie talk about their schools' need for money, but do not really say what impact they think the advertising has on the students.

Though I'm being critical, because I think that Spurlock could have provided us with a more well-rounded look at the long-term impact of sponsorship, I did enjoy watching Greatest Movie. When he interviews members of OK Go to ask them if they'll participate by writing the movie's theme song, I could not stop laughing at the OK Go product placement so blatantly shown onscreen. It was amusing to see how Spurlock had to stay true to his promises to the sponsors by conducting interviews at Sheetz convenience stores, or by including full 30-second commercials in the film. Nothing will top what he does to shill Mane 'n Tail shampoo.

But when all is said and done, I felt I had learned very little. I learned what it was like for a documentarian to secure corporate sponsorship to finance his movie. But I wish I'd learned a bit more about how product placement in movies and television shows has affected the economy of the industry. What was the outcome of Spurlock's experiment - could he consider himself an objective documentarian, or has he just gone through the motions of financing his film? Altogether, it's an enjoyable movie to watch, but I didn't feel that it really served its intended purpose.

Hanna Rennt

2011-05-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

This post also appears online at MediaBlvd Magazine.

This weekend I finally saw Joe Wright's thriller Hanna, starring Saoirse Ronan in the title role, and reuniting her with her director from Atonement. Hanna is a girl raised deep in the forest by her father Erik Heller (Eric Bana), who has trained her to be an intelligent, skilled, fighter and survivalist. He has raised her with the knowledge that they have one true enemy, Marissa Wiegler (Cate Blanchett), who killed her mother and who will stop at nothing to end Hanna's life. At sixteen, Hanna has learned all that Erik can teach her, and is ready to go out into civilization. She wants to hear music, see the world, and make a friend. With this, she knows the battle with Wiegler will come.

Whether or not Erik has been telling Hanna the truth her whole life is very slowly revealed over the course of the film, as is the reasoning behind why Marissa Wiegler could be viewed as a threat. I didn't know whether to be impressed by Hanna or feel bad for her, or whether she was actually fighting for a good cause or not. Wright, cinematographer Alwin Kuchler, and editor Paul Tothill do a good job of contributing to the cloaked mysteries by obscuring the high-energy action scenes with usage of handheld camera, optical illusion editing, and some mind-bending camera angles. In particular, the scene where Hanna is being held in a CIA compound takes on a surreal vibe, when 360-degree camera tracking combines with a motif of circular cameras, tunnels, and windows.

This unsettling feeling of never quite knowing what's what is accompanied by The Chemical Brothers' frenetic score. I don't know whether it was the music, the augmented reality, or the hyperactive storytelling flourishes, but I got a very 1990s vibe throughout the film. Unlike Wright's Atonement and Pride and Prejudice (both adaptations), Hanna displays more of his background in music videos, feeling at home alongside films by David Fincher, Danny Boyle, Baz Luhrmann, or Michel Gondry. Scenes when Hanna struggles to understand the sensory overload of unfamiliar technology in a Moroccan hotel room, or when she later visits a demented storybook house complete with cartoon statuary, contribute to the otherworldliness of the story. Sometimes it feels a bit over-the-top, such as when Wiegler visits an associate at a German sex club, and the dialogue is written to provoke without contributing in any way to the plot or characters. Wright does keep his signature tracking shots in top form, but they don't beat the one from Atonement.

Bana's performance is merely fine, but he doesn't really have that much to do, compared to Ronan and Blanchett. The young star's performance is physically demanding, and she does a good job punctuating her warrior coldness with a love of learning and a genuine fondness for the new friend she makes in English tourist Sophie (Jessica Barden). Barden was a pleasant surprise, turning what at first seems like a caricature of an annoying teenage brat into a surprisingly multifaceted girl longing to be interesting. Blanchett plays a villain straight from the pages of a comic strip, with her severe hairstyle, heavy Southern accent, and fixation on dental hygiene. Olivia Williams and Jason Flemyng contribute enjoyable performances as Sophie's hippie parents.

I considered Hanna to be an art film from its first, atypical hunting sequence, which helped me to overlook flawed story elements that would have been more bothersome if the form of the movie weren't so compelling. We are, eventually, given just enough backstory to tie up most of the loose ends the story introduces, and the action satisfies enough that the "Why?" is unimportant. That said, it is never explained how Heller manages to swim across the Baltic Sea in wintertime in a pair of capri pants, but that is a point of contention best left for my dad and I to joke about, as it doesn't really have any bearing on the story.

BWDR Time Travel Week: Pleasantville

2011-05-01T23:32:00.000-07:00

**Over at A Bright Wall in a Dark Room, we're having Time Travel week! Click here to read my essay on Gary Ross' Pleasantville (1998).**

THE END OF MAIN STREET IS JUST THE BEGINNING AGAIN

Movie Club: Week 2

2011-03-29T17:59:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I decided to start a movie club at work. I figured that the other assistants must feel the same way I sometimes do, which is that we elected to work in the movie business for a reason, and that reason probably wasn't to answer phones and handle correspondence and filing for the rest of our lives. Most of us have graduate or post-graduate degrees in film and/or critical theory, so why not take a few hours every couple of weeks to flex those muscles? We decided that we should all watch the AFI top 100 films, discussing one every two weeks at lunch time.

So far, it's a slow burn. I'm hoping more people want to participate, but I'm not sure how to really foster participation. Two weeks ago, two of my coworkers and I met up to discuss Citizen Kane. We struggled a bit because when we'd watched it as film students, we had tons to talk about, but when watching it for a second time in a more casual environment, it seemed awkward to sit around the lunch table discussing deep focus. Also, with a movie like Citizen Kane (and indeed, like many movies on the list), it can be difficult to discuss the film with fresh eyes, since everything has been referenced so many times since in pop culture. I pulled a few discussion questions off the internet, but mostly we talked about how what we liked about the movie the first time around differed from what we liked about it - or how much we liked it - a few years later.

Today, two different coworkers and I discussed The Godfather. We had toyed with the idea of discussing it along with The Godfather Part II, which is #32 on the list. In the end, I didn't make enough time to rewatch the second installment. The Godfather was easier to discuss, but still, three people working on a freeform "So...what did you think about The Godfather?" type of discussion can be a bit awkward. I love The Godfather so much, but I haven't discovered whether the tone of these discussions should be like "Oh man that scene is so cool!" or "The lensing techniques used are really reminiscent of blah blah film scholar doucheyness."

Has anyone ever started or participated in a book/movie club, and if so, do you have any tips? In two weeks, I'd love for some of my coworkers and I to discuss Casablanca, but it seems difficult to drum up interest. It's for our own personal edification that we should watch these movies, but until I figure out how to be a more competent discussion leader, maybe this is an exercise more in watching great movies than talking about them.

James Gunn's "Super"

2011-03-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

This post originally appeared online at MediaBlvd Magazine.

In James Gunn’s twisted take on the superhero genre, Super, Dwight Schrute repeatedly bludgeons strangers in the head with a pipe wrench, Juno commits rape, and Kevin Bacon has a gold tooth. Inevitably drawing comparisons to last year’s Kick Ass, Gunn’s film tackles the genre with an unrelentingly brutal take on how tragic it would actually be if normal people decided to fight crime as costumed avengers. Rainn Wilson takes a completely different approach to sadsackery than what we’ve seen from him on The Office or Six Feet Under, and the results are confronting, outrageous, and hilarious if you’ve got the stomach for hyperreal violence.

After a lifetime of never being respected, Frank ( Wilson) reaches his breaking point when his wife Sarah (Liv Tyler) leaves him for the seedy leader of a small crime ring, Jock (Bacon). Desperate and alone, Frank has a vision of God telling him to become a vigilante and stand up against the evil in society. While researching how to do this, Frank meets comic book salesgirl Libby (Ellen Page), who becomes his only ally, and eventually his sidekick Boltie, in his journey as The Crimson Bolt. After viciously beating a number of random criminals – drug dealers, pedophiles, and even someone who butts in line at the movies – The Crimson Bolt and Boltie eventually prepare themselves for a showdown at Jock’s crime headquarters to try to save Sarah, who has backslid into drug addiction and become victimized by Jock and his associates.

Wilson’s portrayal of a man so trod upon by life lacks all vanity, and it is simultaneously relatable, depressing, and hilarious when Frank watches himself weep in front of a mirror, while his voice over explains how stupid people look when they cry. Where Frank is a gentle, well-meaning man, The Crimson Bolt is arguably insane, with a tenuous grasp of what can be considered appropriate justice. Wilson believably embodies both in a way that makes sense in the not-too-unrealistic world of the film. Page also does an excellent job of portraying mental instability in a context that could blend in to society, with her obsessions and manic tendencies leading her to find ecstasy as Boltie, after a lifetime of boredom as Libby. Even as a masked ‘kid sidekick,’ this character is definitely more Hayley from Hard Candy than Kitty Pryde from X-Men: The Last Stand. Bacon’s role is small, but he is a pleasant surprise cast in a role that could have gone to an unknown. The same goes for Liv Tyler, whose sad face as a relapsed addict is heartbreaking. Nathan Fillion channels Captain Hammer in a small cameo as The Holy Avenger, a character from Christian local television.

The film has a very low budget, which it rations for a few impressive effects, from some very James Gunn-signature hallucinations, to a spectacularly violent climactic showdown. The pared-down directing and technical work is complemented by the well-chosen sets, which keep everything feeling so real that when the less believable story elements come out, it’s not offensively jarring. Kudos to Gunn for writing enough backstory to give Frank sufficient motivation for the actions of The Crimson Bolt, especially in regards to understanding the gravity of Sarah’s situation. He also keeps Frank rooted in a world that does not blithely accept The Crimson Bolt’s vigilantism, and metes out some consequences. Mary Matthews’ costume design also effectively grounds the movie in the real world, with amateur stitching and an awkward fit being such glaring missing elements from most superhero origin stories.

The film’s biggest structural flaw is that it tries very hard to have the best of both worlds, often aspiring to be so grittily realistic that it is startling how unlike any other movie Super is, but also leaving too many questions unanswered or providing no resolution for certain story beats in an effort to allow for the fantastical elements of the plot. In the end, this is an unsatisfying turn for a film that doesn’t seem to be able to commit fully to the outcomes that it sets up. It could have really raised the stakes and demanded more of the audience, which could have made for a more impressively told story, but instead it comes off more as the low-budget superhero movie answer to Enchanted. There are also some very uncomfortable scenes revolving around Libby/Boltie’s sexuality, and it is important to warn viewers that a (potentially debatable) rape scene takes place. I have a hard-line about sexual assault played gratuitously for comedy, but in Super, I believe that it is used with purpose in the context of the characters’ personalities. Most importantly, it is not glorified, though some viewers may be uncomfortable with how the action is excused.

Super is frequently very funny, but is smart enough to rise above broad comedy, even when bloody violence accounts for most of the laughs. This is a movie that may have a hard time finding the right audience, as it will likely be too offensive for moviegoers who know only who’s cast and that it’s a superhero movie. It’s also critical enough of the pathology of superheroism that it will probably alienate some comic book fans while delighting others. Fans of Kick Ass, Shoot ‘Em Up, and Bad Santa will likely find this movie to hit the right combination of violence and dark comedy. While I consider myself in that category, I’d say I appreciated the actors’ talents and the film’s fresh elements more than the sum of its parts. If only Super had been able to reconcile its competing intentions, it could have transcended to a more impressive level.

6.5/10 – Liked, Didn’t Love

Take Me Home Tonight

2011-03-11T07:35:00.000-08:00

This post originally appeared online at MediaBlvd Magazine.

This weekend’s underperforming opener, Michael Dowse’s Take Me Home Tonight, is, at the very least, a successful follow-up to That ‘70s Show after the letdown of the short-lived That ‘80s Show. Where That ‘70s Show succeeded (quite like Freaks and Geeks, another nostalgic series about teenagers) was that it could have been a show about modern high school, just contextualized by historical references to the time. While That ‘80s Show was mostly a series of old=lol jokes, Take Me Home Tonight much more successfully puts story before conceit. It is an ‘80s-set romantic comedy made in the style of actual 1980s romantic comedies. Experiments like this one don’t always work (Down With Love), and even though this time it does, it means is that sometimes the pacing and storytelling feel dated in a bad way.

Take Me Home Tonight follows one night in the life of Matt Franklin (Topher Grace, as Executive Producer and with a writing credit), an ambitionless MIT graduate given the opportunity to reconnect with his high school crush Tori Fredreking (Teresa Palmer, Australia’s answer to Kristen Stewart, but with personality). Joining him are his twin sister Wendy (Anna Faris) and his best friend Barry Nathan (Dan Fogler, channeling Curtis Armstrong). In order to impress Tori, Matt hides the fact that he is killing time working at Suncoast video, and spends the evening pretending to be an investment banker at Goldman Sachs. A high school reunion party, a stolen car, a wild prank, and more than a few hijinks later, Matt inevitably has to confront his lie.

The chemistry between Grace and Palmer is believable, both that he would be the awkward nerd from high school, and that she would give him a chance after all this time. Together they attend a wild house party, move on to a swanky party for Drexel bankers (before the firm’s collapse into bankruptcy), and find some private time on a trampoline in an empty backyard. The film manages to speak to the theme of post-graduate ennui present in movies like Less Than Zero or St. Elmo’s Fire, but in an upbeat tone that somewhat answers what might have happened to Brat Pack romances four years after high school. Topher Grace has that look, too…like John Cusack, good-looking, but probably not the handsomest man in the casting office. Teresa Palmer has that attainable beauty. Obviously she’s the most gorgeous woman that the protagonist has ever seen, but she’s real, and you might see that girl at the mall and fall in love with her. Like a blonde, bubbly Phoebe Cates.

Dan Fogler’s performance as a just-fired car salesman doing cocaine for the first time is hilarious as he has alternately the best and worst night of his life. He fulfills the sidekick role of the ‘80s movie perfectly, exposing himself and us to naked MILF breasts, getting into a crazy dance-battle, and building up Matt’s confidence when needed. Anna Faris plays Matt’s twin sister with enough depth to sell the notion that they love each other enough to tell the other one what they’re doing wrong. Chris Pratt plays her onscreen boyfriend with all the energy he hadn’t yet been able to manifest on Parks and Recreation (the film was shot in 2007, and Faris and Pratt have since gotten married), and his overacted bawling is an extended high point. Michael Ian Black and Demetri Martin own the scenes they’re featured in, and Lucy Punch stands out as that drunk girl who keeps popping up in party scenes in teen movies.

Surely an unexpected benefit to the movie being set in the ‘80s is that its shelving for four years didn’t awkwardly date it with references to Anna Nicole Smith and the final book in the Harry Potter series. The 1980s setting was well played with things like a sushi bar to indicate that a party is fancy (Valley Girl), and Topher Grace’s ill-fitting jeans, and only a few things struck me as off-kilter – mostly that none of the women seemed to be wearing pantyhose. Most of the recent ‘what a wild night’ comedies seem to be more over-the-top and manic than similar movies were in the ‘80s, and while that may just be my perception, it meant that the John Hughes-y quality of Take Me Home Tonight made the movie feel a little slow-paced at times. The story’s dramatic high points don’t feel as high-stakes as they could, but I loved the scene where Matt and Barry are confronted by the police and tearfully admit to everything that’s happened in the story until that point. As the daughter of two law enforcement officers (really), I definitely identified with how that scene would have gone down.

The Adjustment Bureau

2011-03-10T21:59:00.000-08:00

This post originally appeared online at MediaBlvd Magazine.

George Nolfi’s The Adjustment Bureau, based on Philip K. Dick’s short story The Adjustment Team, is a bit of an awkward thriller. At times it veers toward the comic, is occasionally sweepingly romantic, and probably aspires to be a cerebral suspense film, but never quite rallies for any of the various genres it hints at. In the movie, Matt Damon plays Senate hopeful David Norris, who meets the woman of his dreams, but is kept from her by a mysterious group of metaphysical beings who swear him to secrecy about the whole situation, and demand that he never see this amazing woman again.

The advertising makes it seem as though it is David’s encounters with Elise (Emily Blunt) that steer him off the course of normal life, but instead it is a chance glitch in the Matrix (or whatever this movie wants to call it) that allows him to see the behind-the-scenes machinations of the Adjustment Bureau, dapper men who adjust the course of fate for humans. Having witnessed the Bureau at work, David is offered an ultimatum: keep their existence a secret, and don’t try to interfere with their plans, or face a de facto lobotomy. It’s a wild premise that David accepts nearly instantly, perhaps signaling to the audience that we should be quiet and just accept it too, which doesn’t quite do it for me.

When David meets Elise, she initially comes off as a Manic Pixie Dream Girl, providing a quirky, romantic counterpart to David’s role as a highly choreographed politician. Mercifully, the situation reveals itself to be a bit more complicated than that, as David does in fact have a history of acting impulsively (a common trait of the MPDG), and Elise herself is a dancer, and her talents and ambitions become central to the stakes of a decision David must make about whether or not to pursue her. She comes into his life and offers herself as the chance to define his future, but he plays the same role in hers. It’s a refreshing change, and I admit that one of the most exciting things about the movie was seeing the roles reversed, where it is the man who must choose between greatness and love.

Matt Damon’s performance makes it clear that no one should be surprised when he decides to run for office in earnest one day. (On an unrelated note, he looks about 15 years younger than he did in Hereafter.) Emily Blunt is underused in a role that probably could have been well-served by any number of actresses out there. I could have sworn that Terence Stamp was Frank Langella for some reason, and Anthony Mackie does well in an against-type role. John Slattery, on the other hand, should probably talk to his agent about getting typecast as a handsome man who wears a suit well. Speaking of suits, there is a great moment when a hat flies off in the midst of a chase, and the characters urgently stop to chase the hat before carrying on. The reasoning for this is explained later in the film, but it made me laugh out loud when it happened.

The Adjustment Bureau deals with seriously heavy philosophy without really giving it enough time to sink in. The being in charge of the Bureau is called The Chairman, but humans “use many other names,” so we can conclude that this is a universe in which a monotheistic deity rules, and occasionally chooses to let human beings have free will. But despite all of this control, the deity is often powerless to “pure chance,” and seems to suffer from a lot of institutional flaws getting in the way of things. I guess I shouldn’t really be expecting a big theology examination from this movie, but a lot of issues are just dropped on us without really being examined, which irked. The romance between David and Elise is enjoyable to watch, and the rainy scenery of New York is beautiful, but otherwise the movie awkwardly struggles to balance plot points and genres, which is a bit of a letdown.

Barney's Version

2011-03-01T13:49:00.000-08:00

Last week I saw Barney's Version, Richard J. Lewis' adaptation of Mordecai Richler's novel of the same name. Perhaps it should tell you a little bit about my enthusiasm for the movie that it took me a week to write about it. I definitely was expecting more of a dark comedy, but instead discovered it to be a rather dreary story about a pretty miserable guy.

At first, even the usually wonderful Paul Giamatti comes off like a caricature, but I think that may have been the fault of a couple of poorly directed scenes. By the time his character meets Miriam, his third wife-to-be (at his wedding to his second wife, no less), Giamatti has settled into the role of middle-aged Barney comfortably enough for me to want to hate the actor himself.

This is a story that suffers from the all-too-common trope of the complete loser of a guy who can't help but draw numerous amazing women to himself, whom he could take or leave. Barney's first wife Clara (Rachelle Lefevre) openly hates him while she struggles with her own serious mental health issues, but his second wife (played by Minnie Driver) seems to start off with actually almost as much affection for Barney as for his decent position as a TV producer. When he meets Miriam (Rosamund Pike), he is transfixed by her (and who wouldn't be?), and spends years pursuing her. She, inexplicably, relents to his affections in a scene that is so difficult to believe that it sets the entire film off-kilter. I ask you, would you say yes to a man who spent his entire marriage pursuing you, was recently a suspect in his best friend's suspicious disappearance, and who showed up for your date completely wasted?

Barney and Miriam remain married for decades, producing two children. Barney's debilitating alcoholism, which has surprisingly few negative consequences except for the way it burdens those who love him, his anger issues, and his slovenly behavior seem to be no barrier to affection from Miriam over the years. She gets upset when he marginalizes her interests or friends, but otherwise remains ever faithful. Not so for Barney. After their divorce, Barney begins suffering from the effects of early-onset Alzheimer's, and Miriam, now remarried, along with their adult children, must care for him. The final scenes of the film definitely make it clear that Barney is a character to be pitied and cheered for, which was just too much to ask after watching the decades of his adult life unfold.

The acting was wonderful, and Rosamund Pike did a lot with very small gestures and expressions to really make me fall in love with her. Dustin Hoffman, as Barney's incorrigible father, was vibrant and funny, and his son Jake did well playing Barney's son Michael. The Academy Award nominated makeup was absolutely impressive, especially given what I've read was a rather small makeup budget. Characters age believably over the course of about thirty years, so the movie does boast an impressive collaboration between performances, makeup, costume, and set design.

Finally, there is the conceit of the title, which is that events may not have happened quite as depicted, but that this is Barney's version of things, colored both by his arrogance, lies of omission, and the effects of the Alzheimer's. I thought this was interesting, but I suspect that it was more successful in the novel than in the film. There was also a real eye-roller of a plot point regarding the disappearance of Barney's best friend Boogie (Scott Speedman, hot even when playing a junkie), which was ripped unimaginatively from urban legends of years past. Somehow it worked in Magnolia, but certainly not in Barney's Version.

Of Gods and Men

2011-03-01T08:28:00.000-08:00

Last night I saw Of Gods and Men, or Des Hommes et des Dieux, Xavier Beauvois' film about the monks of Tibhirine which recently won the French César Award for Best Film. The film relays events surrounding the true story of French Trappist monks in 1996 during the Algerian Civil War. After coexisting peacefully for years with their Muslim neighbors, the monks find themselves in the crossfire between the Algerian army and groups of Islamic extremists. I am never sure what my policy should be on spoiling true events, but you can check out the Wikipedia entry of the real-life monks here.

The film begins with a very sweet and rather lighthearted look into the role of the monastery in its neighboring Muslim village. Brother Luc is a kindly doctor, seeing 100 patients a day for illnesses and life advice. The monastery's leader, Brother Christian, helps villagers with paperwork, brings wares to the marketplace, and oversees Mass for his brothers. Neighbors help them with gardening and other assistance, and it's made clear that over the years, the monastery has acted as a backbone to the community.

Once the terrorist threat is established, after a nearby group of Croatian workers is killed by the Armed Islamic Group and the monks are asked to leave the region for their own safety, the main drama among the characters is whether or not the monks should abandon their post. The brothers explore fear, discuss martyrdom, kinship to their community, and faith in times of crisis. While there are a number of scenes that do drag on, without providing much benefit to the story, there is a wonderful sequence in which the monks listen to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, enjoy some wine, and wordlessly express fear, contentedness, and love in their wonderful (and wonderfully framed) facial expressions.

Faith and brotherhood are the most important themes to the characters, and it is often beautiful how much love is shown among them. When Brother Christophe struggles with fear and a shaken resolve, tender old Brother Amédée rubs his shoulders. Asthmatic and aged Brother Luc is helped by Brother Christian, who turns his light off as he snores, and Brother Célestin who reads the newspaper to him when he is ill. The actors' performances were very impressive, mimicking years of love for each other, and rivaling any impressive portrayal of family.

Brother Christian is, like many monks, an academic, and his study of the Koran both enriches his spiritual knowledge and helps him connect with his neighbors. Even one of the terrorist leaders acknowledges some respect for the monks when he realizes they revere Jesus, who is honored as a prophet in Islam. I don't really know enough about Algerian political history to discuss the context of this film, so I was left with some questions at the end. Given the well-known French Islamophobia and the long-standing antagonism between France and Algeria, I am curious what better educated viewers' reactions were to the film.

The Up Series

2011-02-25T11:55:00.000-08:00

Check out my essay on the Up Series of documentaries over at A Bright Wall in a Dark Room!

What about Crick?

2011-02-15T13:48:00.000-08:00

Last night was the first of three consecutive episodes of Jeopardy! in which the two most successful contestants in the show's history, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, play against the IBM supercomputer Watson in a friendly match to show how impressively the computer can comprehend human speech patterns, and mimic human memory skills.

One of my nerdier confessions is that I have been a follower of Ken Jennings' blog since his record-setting run on Jeopardy!, where he won 74 games and 2.52 million dollars. Brad Rutter has won the biggest dollar amount on the show, topping out at over $3.2 million. Watson is an artificial intelligence program which can parse natural language patterns to mine its memory for the most appropriate answer. It is not connected to the internet, it does have to physically press the buzzer with a robotic "finger," and it is fed the questions electronically, not by picking up Alex Trebek's vocal cues.

Last night's episode was surprisingly compelling, and proved that observing the skills of this computer is surely enough more than a gimmick to warrant three episodes' worth of gaining an insight into what will be in charge after the coming robot uprising. Watson parses the question for key words, figures out how the structure of the sentence influences the type of answer to look for, and comes up with its top three options. Then, if its "confidence algorithm" intuits that the top guess is likely enough to be right, Watson pushes the buzzer. One major advantage Watson has over its human opponents is that it is prompted as to when the buzzer-clicking time has come, whereas humans may click too early, and not be called upon. One disadvantage which Watson fell prey to in last night's episode is that the robot is "deaf," and cannot hear when its opponent has guessed an incorrect answer, which it may then repeat.

The second installment airs tonight at 7pm on ABC, and the three-episode run ends tomorrow. Tune in for an interesting look at what the really interesting strides in robotics have been - AIBO, this ain't.

Mama who bored me

2011-02-14T23:19:00.000-08:00

(wokka-wokka)

After desperately wanting to see Spring Awakening for the past few years, I have to say that I was rather underwhelmed by it when I finally made it to the Los Angeles leg of the tour this weekend, where it was playing at the Pantages Theatre in Hollywood. It wasn't the fault of the actors, whose youth and vigor were well-suited to the specifications of the play. Certainly, my expectations were quite high, but when it came to the storytelling, I found the show to be rather uneven, which along with the distracting set design, detracted from what could have been a solid, focused morality tale.

I'll start with the aesthetic. If you have any familiarity with the play, you know going into it that it's a modern alt-rock musical set in 1891 Germany, where adolescents struggle with the same imbalance of education and sexual urges that plagues the world today. So it's cool to see these extremely childlike-looking actors with cartoonish hairstyles, dancing to modern music while dressed in 19th Century school uniforms. Even as far as the band members in plainclothes seated upstage, this all contributes to an easy-to-understand juxtaposition of the old and the new. But add to that the onstage audience members, complete with unnecessary plainclothes audience plants, and the busy flair all over the walls, and the result is a jumbled hodge-podge when the story would best be served by a black box setting - a Sisyphean transformation for the Pantages, I know.

The music, which is the play's greatest asset, starts out very strong with well-crafted hits "Mama Who Bore Me," "The Bitch of Living," and "All That's Known," but other than a second act standout with "Our Bodies Are the Guilty Ones," the songs feel forced, or sometimes completely at odds with the emotional temperature of the story beats. Just like R. Kelly's Trapped in the Closet (hear me out), the grandeur of the music didn't often match the mood of the concurrent scenes. Courtney Markowitz, as Ilse, sang beautifully on "The Song of Purple Summer," though.

These criticisms are especially deserved when it comes to the story itself, though. The tragic romance of Melchior and Wendla (roles originated by Jonathan Groff and Lea Michele) could be a great archetype for the dangers of withholding critical knowledge from people, and conversing with young people in an open and honest way. Terrible things happen when ignorance is king, and the central coupling of the show could have been a new, unconventional version of star-crossed lovers suffering from the same lesson. But the imbalanced additions of secondary characters whose storylines seemed included to confront the audience without sufficiently contributing to the message.

The standout performer, for me, was Sarah Kleeman, who took on all roles of Adult Women in the show, and perfectly transitioned from persona to persona with subtle vocal trills that gave depth to seemingly minor characters. I know my negative opinion about the show is an unpopular one, but to me, Spring Awakening was a victim of its own hype. I had heard it compared to the quality of recent breakout hits In the Heights and Wicked, and this praise was, as I saw it, off the mark.

In Soviet Russia, Iron Invades You!

2011-02-14T21:26:00.000-08:00

This post originally appeared online at MediaBlvd Magazine.

This weekend, the SyFy network gave us an early Valentine’s gift of their new original movie Iron Invader, directed by Paul Ziller (Android Apocalypse, Stonehenge Apocalypse). I have a love for made-for-TV movies, and while I’m partial to the “your baby will be kidnapped by a conspiracy” brand more common to the Lifetime network, there is a wholly different type of fun to be had with the B-horror revival on the SyFy network.

In Iron Invader, a pair of brothers living in the small farm town of Redeemer (a poignant name never to be used poetically) are startled when a mass of old car parts covered in Nickelodeon-brand Slime falls from the sky onto their land. At first it seems that the mass itself is the titular iron invader, making me think how unlucky these guys are that a deformed Cylon from the 1970s crash-landed there instead of Superman. Especially given that these guys are kind of good-looking, and if this movie were on deeper cable, I think the story would get a lot sexier from here on out.

The brothers, discovering that the twisted metal is a damaged Russian satellite, take it to old Earl’s scrapyard, believing they can sell it for some quick cash. There they see a giant metal sculpture, where they come to the obvious conclusion that it is the skeleton of one of the gorillas often used to draw customers to used car lots. Shockingly, they are wrong, and the sculpture is revealed to be proud Earl’s handiwork. He has created a golem out of scrap metal and plans to display it at the county fair. It’s unclear to me if Earl is Jewish, but I have to wonder if his not-Wicker Man would bring up any anti-Semitic feelings in this extremely tiny rural town.

The green slime begins “activating,” causing its metal hosts to move on their own accord towards the golem, where the slime grows, infecting the metal makeup of the entire sculpture. Now self-propelled, the golem wanders the night, looking for human victims for a reason yet to be defined. It finds the perfect first victim in an alternate universe version of David Crosby if he were a contestant on Gay Rock of Love, and leaves his corpse distended with swollen veins and arteries.

Making its way through the town, the infected golem strikes back at the farm of the two brothers, killing the younger one, Ethan. When his brother Jake finds his body, he reacts with a gentle “Aw, no no no no,” which is likely not how I would respond, but what do I know – I’ve never been involved in an attack by alien goop (plus robots). Meanwhile, Jake’s high school sweetheart Amanda is back in town with her teenage daughter, and Jake, being a regular Mystery the Pick Up Artist, asks Amanda out within literally one minute of hearing about her divorce.

The robot kills some more people, so everyone decides to take refuge in the local bar, and Amanda, being a high school biology teacher, figures out that the green goo is a space age bacteria that feeds on metal, so the reason it is draining people is because of the iron in human blood. Earl is getting blame from all sides for creating a killer robot, but his defense of, “I couldn’t build a machine; I don’t even have a high school diploma,” is pretty solid, except that it’s actually the most ridiculous thing ever. Basically everyone is clueless except for Amanda. Even the coroner, who’s a regular House, M.D., thinks that the dead people all died of E. Coli, even though there’s all these destroyed buildings and a giant living robot wandering the streets. (Maybe it’s lupus?)

The bartender’s got some pretty serious mutton chops, which alone is a pretty good indicator that he’s going to die, but when he jokes to Earl’s grandson, “your grandfather’s in the monster-making business now, is he?” he seals his fate. Eventually he is killed by an infected axe head that literally flies off the handle and stabs him in the foot. There’s a lot of ridiculous stuff going on at this point, with bar patrons trying to kill the alien bacteria using hand soap (“It says it’s antibacterial!”), Amanda slicing her arm all to hell with a knife to lure the robot away from her daughter, the robot sparing said daughter (“Thank God you’re anemic!” Really.), and then Jake blowing up the golem for some reason even though that doesn’t kill the bacteria. Of course, in the end , the bacteria can be killed by alcohol, so they pour beer and whiskey all over the shrapnel to save themselves. Of course, because the satellite was Russian, there is a comment about “Commie sonsabitches,” but surprisingly no link is drawn between this and the alcohol being what saves the day.

I admit, I would have liked a little more from Iron Invader. I was curious why the bacteria could take over a golem and make it walk, but it wouldn’t do the same to the humans it attacked, commandeering their bodies like Vincent D’Onofrio in Men in Black, giving the movie a bit more of a zombie edge. And the movie lacked a memorable catchphrase, such as “Release the Kraken,” or “Damn you, Sharktopus!” As to why the falling satellite was not noticed by any astronomers, or why the bits of infected shrapnel could float of their own accord, but the golem had to walk like a biped, instead of hovering or whatever, I choose ignorance. Join me in two weeks for a recap of the next SyFy original movie, Area 51, which premieres on Saturday, February 26 at 9/8c.

Social Networking

2011-02-11T14:45:00.000-08:00

Full disclosure: I am an employee of Sony. That said, there is a really great event happening this Sunday at the Arclight Sherman Oaks, a free documentary screening and filmmaker Q&A, which I think anyone living in L.A. should think about doing this weekend.

No more than meets the eye.

2011-02-09T07:55:00.000-08:00

I have to talk about Transformers 3 for a minute. The first movie was completely forgettable, and I didn't bother to see the sequel. But now I am legitimately offended by the existence of the newest installment, Dark of the Moon.

My issue right now is that the trailer starts out teasing you about a *really awesome* looking movie, and then hits you with the Transformers stick. How great would a movie be about these young astronauts going on a secret mission on the dark side of the moon, then discovering this crashed spaceship (nevermind that a ship that massive crashing into our moon would likely have seriously affected life on Earth), and all the adventures that could lead to?! And then "Oh, okay, Michael Bay, well...this could still be awesome, just dumb, I guess." And hey, Steven Spielberg producing! Cool! And then there's a decepticon or whatever and "TRANSFORMERS" and just all the wind was taken out of my sails. Bait and switch, trailer makers. How dare you.

Return to form?

2011-02-09T07:33:00.000-08:00

So Sunday night's post-Super Bowl episode of Glee was miserable, and didn't bear discussing. Luckily it was fairly standalone, plotwise, so this week's episode could swoop in without a viewing. Quinn, Brittany, and Santana chose New Directions over Cheerios, and Quinn kissed Finn.

Our mohawked guitar-player Puck is now harboring a not-quite requited crush on Laura Zizes, the newest member of New Directions. It makes sense that Puck would go for a tough girl, one who's a badass, being the school's wrestling champion, and one who turned him down after their blackmail-induced kiss didn't turn her on. Puck, being an idiot, thinks that Laura should be thrilled to receive his advances since he is a dreamboat (but looks 35), and she is heavy-set. She continues to turn him down, and Puck earnestly pursues her, not once hiding his affection for her, which I did find to be a sweet surprise. He serenaded her with Queen's "Fat Bottomed Girls," which was an obvious choice, and clearly offended Laura. I think a rendition of Mika's "Big Girl (You Are Beautiful)" would have swayed her *if* the show felt so desperately that he needed to pick a song about her weight. She continues to keep him on the hook, admitting that she likes him, but wants him to prove that he's really genuinely interested in her. In one episode, a minor character has been given a thoughtful plotline about body image when main cast member Mercedes has been weirdly subjected to starvation dieting one week and protesting the cafeteria's removal of tater tots another. Well done, show?

Santana's jealousy plotline wasn't very interesting, though it seemed an obvious extension of her role on the show. However, her conniving plan to infect Finn with mononucleosis in order to reveal that Quinn's cheating on Sam with him, was clever, and a perfectly devious way to stir up drama when Santana is feeling dissatisfied with her situation. Also, the line "I've had mono so many times it turned into stereo" was good enough to forgive her awkward 'street slang' which cropped up once again. Meanwhile, Tina and Mike are so in love that she breaks down crying during a really weird performance of "My Funny Valentine," and I guess this doesn't bother Artie at all because he's with Brittany. I maintain that Brittany and Mike deserve each other and should just be funny sexy dance lovers, but whatever. His slow-motion dancing to Artie's "P.Y.T." was so cute! Team Mike Chang.

What does it say about Golden Globe winner Chris Colfer or his character Kurt that I completely forget that Kurt has transfered out of McKinley and is now singing with the Warblers at Blazer Prep? His crush Blaine, played by Darren Criss who has more charisma than the rest of the male cast combined, wants to serenade his crush, some dude at the mall with crazy grunge hair and great bone structure. It's awesome. It's a weird ad for The Gap ("Shop at The Gap! We fire our gay employees?") but the song is just great and Darren Criss is like a teddy bear that you want to make out with. Kurt is surprisingly okay with the fact that Blaine isn't into him (given his creepy reactions when his straight brother Finn rebuffed him). There's a great moment after Blaine says, "If [the grunge-hair dude and I] got married, I'd get a 50% discount [at the Gap]," and the camera pans to Kurt's "Really?" face, then quickly back. Well done, show.

Kurt, Mercedes, and Rachel decide that they're better off focusing on themselves instead of desperately needing boyfriends, which - THANK YOU, THIS IS AN IMPORTANT MESSAGE! - will help them become the stars they are destined to be. From my heart to your face, readers: If you are not happy when you're single, you will not be happy when you're in a relationship; date yourself first! Also, plus points for identifying Patti LuPone as Kurt's diva idol. My friend Ashley who is a gay man in a woman's body would approve. Rachel decides to sing Katy Perry's "Firework" as a sort of love song to herself, and an awkward reference to her love parallelogram with Quinn/Finn and whoever, and she blows it away. I like the song more than a lot of people do, but Lea Michele performs it with all the teen angst and self-empowerment that she can muster. Let's hope this show can start using Rachel's character better...if she is more comfortable with her reality, maybe she'll be less insufferable.

All in all, one of the best Glee episodes in a while. Keep praying for the spinoff Brittany loves Mike Chang!

Finally

2011-02-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

This weekend I finally caught up and saw the last of the ten Best Picture nominees that I had not yet seen: Joel & Ethan Coen's True Grit. Some of you may know that I am often obsessive about watching things in the correct sequence, including avoiding remakes or sequels until I am well acquainted with the original, so I was initially hesistant to watch this until renting the 1969 film with John Wayne. However, having heard that the Coens' adaptation is more faithful to the novel than the earlier film, I think it's likely that I've been exposed to a more entertaining, humorous, and (well) gritty story by watching this 2010 version.

At first I wasn't sure that Hailee Steinfeld's performance was as great as it had been raved about, but I realized that I just needed to settle into the speech patterns and conventionalities of the western style, which I am admittedly not very familiar with. (Something that definitely needs to be remedied.) By the time her character Mattie gets the chance to interact with the residents of the town where she has landed to collect her father's body and hire a man to find his killer, the young actress' performance has become totally enthralling.

Jeff Bridges is pitch-perfect as Rooster Cogburn, but anyone who saw Crazy Heart may think that this performance was an easy task for Bridges. Matt Damon was surprisingly enjoyable as self-important Texas Ranger LaBouef, and both Josh Brolin and Barry Pepper played perfectly well into the Western bad guy archetype. I've been a fan of Pepper's since The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and hope to see him in more non-Battlefield Earth roles.

With the Coen Brothers at the helm, this fairly melancholy adventure tale took on the right tone of perserverance, dark humor, and realistic toughness. Justice is levelled in a believable and unforgiving way, the roughness of trekking through an Arkansas winter is not shied away from, and the violence is sometimes sudden, but sometimes meted out in the tense fashion of the classic Old West standoff. It's said after every Western that finds success at the box office, that the genre is ready for a comeback, but unless the Coens or someone with their mastery can oversee each new project in development, I think we'll have to look instead to standout highlights such as this.

Guest Post from Dad

2011-02-08T13:52:00.000-08:00

Please enjoy a list of my dad's picks for favorite movies:

My Top 10 Movies
The Young Lions (Edward Dmytryk, 1958)
Battle Cry (Raoul Walsh, 1955)
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Stephan Elliott, 1994)
Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blake Edwards, 1961)
The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)
Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)
Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)
The Virgin Spring (Ingmar Bergman, 1960)
Godfather I and Godfather II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972 and 1974 ...though I'd substitute Goodfellas for Godfather III)
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966)

Special Mention
Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)
Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
Duck Soup (Leo McCarey, 1933)
The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)
Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982)
The African Queen (John Huston, 1951)
Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks, 1974)
Assassination Tango (Robert Duvall, 2002)

The Most Overrated, Boring Pieces of Crap I've Ever Spent Money to See
Avatar (James Cameron, 2009)
King Kong (Peter Jackson, 2005)
Battlefield Earth (Roger Christian, 2000)

So what do we learn from my dad's list? Firstly, we learn that he has cooler taste in movies than I do. Secondly, that he spent money to see Battlefield Earth, which is hilarious.

The 10 Movies I Love the Most

2011-02-06T23:40:00.000-08:00

This post originally appeared online at MediaBlvd Magazine.

For my first post on MediaBlvd, I wanted to come up with a list of my top ten favorite movies of all time. Now obviously lists like these are terribly flawed, and they can never adequately convey what the list maker is really like. There are surely hundreds of wonderful movies that I just haven’t seen yet, and there are some which I have, but that I couldn’t consider favorite movies, happy to pop into the DVD player at any given time. Then there are the guilty pleasure movies, which always delight the viewer, but would be embarrassing to include on any self-respecting film lover’s list of favorites.

So I’ve decided to try to narrow it down to a list of ten movies that I love, which I could watch any time and be happy. These are the staples which I’ll watch if ever they’re on TV, which I get moods for and watch repeatedly on DVD, and which make me feel something every time I watch them, even if it’s not the same feeling I had after my first viewing. I will have to include the disclaimer, which is that this list omits gems like Independence Day, Air Force One, and Junior, which certainly fit the above description, but which I chose to skip in favor of some actual high-quality storytelling.

The 10 Movies I Love the Most (in no particular order):

Roman Holiday (William Wyler, 1953)

A royal falls in love with a commoner. This old trope is made magical by the earthy, beautiful backdrop of Rome, Gregory Peck’s charm, Audrey Hepburn’s vivacity, and the audaciously bittersweet ending. Roman Holiday was one of my first introductions to the notion that fairytale romances don’t always pan out the way that Disney movies tell you they will when you’re a little girl. And I loved that; I was so grateful for that message. This movie has real human emotion against a wildly unrelatable backdrop, and every time I watch it I can imagine running away and falling in love with a devastatingly handsome reporter in Italy. Roman Holiday won the Academy Awards for Writing, Best Actress, and Best Costume Design (for Edith Head, who would later dress Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina and Funny Face, bringing Audrey’s iconic Givenchy look to the silver screen).

West Side Story (Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins, 1961)
Certainly, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is my pick for most fun musical, with its low-budget backdrops and uncomfortable Stockholm Syndrome plotline, but the classic love story of Tony and Maria is my best-loved musical. Adapted from Bernstein & Sondheim's musical, which is itself a retelling of the classic star-cross'd lovers plot, the film blends issues of immigration, juvenile delinquency, and intercultural relationships in a style perfectly indicative of 1960s musicals. The talents of the cast and filmmakers blend into a story that immerses the audience into the world of gang-run Manhattan where young people are always searching for something to make life more meaningful. The performances of George Chakiris, Rita Moreno, and Russ Tamblyn stand out even fifty years later.

The Best Years of Our Lives (William Wyler, 1946)

While there have been plenty of films examining the toll of combat on veterans, many were made in the post-Vietnam era. Whenever World War II is portrayed in film, it is often with a reverent sense of glory. A sense that war may be ugly and gritty, but the Greatest Generation served with a purpose we can all see writ in the sepia-toned stories of our grandfathers. Wyler’s film, about three servicemen returning home to the same city after fighting abroad, was released only one year after the war’s end, and portrays the men struggling to adjust to daily life, at odds with their families, with traumas unhealed by distance. The poor man became a decorated captain in the war, the wealthy man was in the infantry, and the Navy man lost both arms without ever seeing combat. Struggling with making ends meet, alcoholism, finding love, infidelity – the three have only each other to commiserate with. It’s a beautifully told story, made all the more impressive by the time in which it was made. Non-professional actor and double-amputee Harold Russell won both an Honorary Academy Award for the role, as well as the Best Supporting Actor Oscar.

A League of Their Own (Penny Marshall, 1992)

My decade-older sister got the athletic gene. She was a star softball player, and loved soccer, football, and all manner of other sports. I, on the other hand, was relegated to deep right-field during my few years on a T-Ball team, standing with my glove on my head and wiping snot on my sleeve. We watched League together so many times when I was a little kid that it has become emblematic of quality time spent with my cool teenaged sister. It was the mid-‘90s and I had this “riot grrl” big sis who loved baseball, and watching this movie with her taught me about feminism, and Madonna, and led to a lifetime of conversing in movie quotations. (“What do you suggest?” “A lot of night games.”) I don’t think I’ve watched this movie all the way through without laughing, crying, and singing along to the All-American league song. Plus, my dad looked just like Jon Lovitz did in the movie, which still cracks me up almost twenty years later.

Boogie Nights (Paul Thomas Anderson, 1997)

It’s hard for me to choose between this and PTA’s Magnolia, both of which I will watch all the way through despite their lengthy run times, but Boogie Nights is probably an easier movie to watch. Remember all those fun parts, with Mark Wahlberg looking forward to his future as a big, bright, shining star, and the pool parties, and the cocaine before it gets cut with meth? That’s the peppy late ‘70s spoonful of sugar before the downward spiral of the ‘80s crashes in, carried on the awkward shoulders of William H. Macy and Philip Seymour Hoffman’s characters. It’s also a movie about family, and how love can overcome a lot of hurdles when you’re building one. It’s also a movie about porn.

Back to the Future trilogy (Robert Zemeckis, 1985, 1989, 1990)

My love affair with Michael J. Fox blossomed during an early childhood medley of Family Ties reruns, the BTTF trilogy, and wishing I could grow up to be Boof from Teen Wolf. In the years since, I have wept watching his departure from Spin City, and have read two of his autobiographies. The third is on my Kindle waiting for me. I have spent countless hours on the dearly departed Back to the Future attraction at Universal Studios. And you’re kidding yourself if you think you can change the channel when Back to the Future parts 1 or 2 come on TV. Part 3 is best appreciated after a marathon of the first two. Fox, Lea Thompson, and Crispin Glover are sweetly funny and loveable in their iconic roles.

Center Stage (Nicholas Hytner, 2000)

It was between this, Dirty Dancing, and 10 Things I Hate About You for the guilty pleasure pick on this list, but I decided I had to pick the one with the least amount of lasting merit. I mean, Dirty Dancing is a truly classic ‘80s movie, and 10 Things has Heath Ledger and Joseph Gordon-Levitt before they reached their sexiest. Center Stage is terribly acted, even by the cast members who weren’t professional dancers, and the story lines are so maudlin and predictable. But the dancing is wonderful, and the cheesiness of the performances really only adds to my love for the movie. Plus Peter Gallagher’s eyebrows are always so…hypnotic.

Once (John Carney, 2007)

This is probably an outlier on a top 10 films list, as so much of the power of this movie is its soundtrack, created and performed by its stars, non-professional actors Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, who make up the act The Swell Season. But the movie is the perfect vehicle for their musical talents, showcasing them against a Dublin that seems tailor-made for the buskers that inhabit it. While I’ve listened to the soundtrack endlessly, and have seen The Swell Season perform live whenever possible, there’s a different energy to the music when observed again through the movie. It has that same type of perfect ending as Roman Holiday, leaving the audience satisfied with the brief glimpse they got into the characters’ lives.

Marty (Delbert Mann, 1955)

This sort-of dreary movie about a lonely butcher who lives with his mother, who can never escape the doldrums of his tired social life in an effort to find a nice girl to settle down with, seems like a strange choice for a movie that one could watch over and over. But it’s the incredible acting of Ernest Borgnine and Betsy Blair as sad but earnest ugly ducklings crossing paths in a ballroom crowded with those more confident and pretty people who never have problems getting a date, that makes this movie evergreen. I feel like people are often trained to be dissatisfied, and both Marty and Clara are shot down whenever they try to carve out the lives that they want, which makes their defiance so resonant. Marty won the Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore, 1988)

This is it for me. I think that if I were asked at gunpoint to narrow it down to one ultimate picture, one film to take with me to the deserted island, it would have to be this one. While the tale of a boy’s teenage love, and his relationship with his mentor Alfredo, the local projectionist, is heartbreaking in its own right, this is a film about why movies are important. There are so many great movies about filmmaking – too many even to list here – but I have yet to see one that surpasses Cinema Paradiso in its portrayal of how movies can affect people, give structure to communities, and foster relationships among those who love them. The final montage, a pastiche of scenes from other movies that fits so perfectly into the story told over the previous acts, moves me to tears every time.

Get it together, people.

2011-02-04T08:04:00.000-08:00

Okay so here's a very mini post about last night's Thursday comedy block on NBC. Community: I didn't get it. The Office: a very sweet episode and I hope it draws Steve Carrell's time on the show to a nice conclusion that feels natural. 30 Rock: the maternity photoshoot was incredible. Perfect Couples / Outsourced: I never made it past the first episode.

But I have to reach out to all of my friends who haven't yet heard this message. You have to watch Parks and Recreation. It is ...perfect. I just love it so much. It's smart, it's funny, the characters are incredibly lovable and you want the best for them. Adam Scott is in it, and he's adorable. It even has good messages! What possible excuse could you have for not watching this? Please do yourself a favor. You can skip season one, it was a bore (but not as bad as The Office [US] season one), and just read a synopsis online or something. Seasons 2 and, so far, 3 have blown it out of the park episode after episode.

If you're not yet watching, I still hope the below line from last night's show will be funny to you. This is a show about the Parks and Recreation department of a small midwestern town, Pawnee. The central character, Leslie Knope, is the most earnest person of time. Here she is, reading off a list of the town's slogans over the years:

"Pawnee, the Paris of America. Pawnee, the Akron of southwest Indiana. Pawnee: Welcome, German soldiers. (After the Nazis took France our mayor kind of panicked.) Pawnee, the factory fire capital of America. Pawnee: Welcome, Vietnamese soldiers. Pawnee, engage with Zorp. (For a brief time in the ’70s, our town was taken over by a cult.) Pawnee, Zorp is dead, Long live Zorp. Pawnee, it’s safe to be here now. Pawnee, birthplace of Julia Roberts. (That was a lie, she sued and so we had to change it.) Pawnee, home of the world famous Julia Roberts lawsuit. Pawnee: Welcome, Taliban soldiers. And finally, our current slogan: Pawnee, first in friendship, fourth in obesity."

Plus all of the actors are just amazing and perfectly at ease being hilarious and endearing, every damn week. I just want to move to fictional Pawnee and hang out with them.

Dear Parks and Recreation,
I love you.
~Kat

Watch this space!

2011-02-03T13:39:00.000-08:00

I've recently been contacted by the staff of MediaBlvd Magazine, and asked to contribute movie reviews and other pieces to their site! MediaBlvd is an online magazine with reviews of film, television, and books, opinion pieces on the entertainment world, and celebrity interviews. The site also has some strong ties to the nerd community, with a lot of features on science fiction and other aspects of the geek zeitgeist.

I'll be cross-posting whatever I write for MediaBlvd on this blog, so stay tuned for my first article on the site, which will be an introductory rundown of my top 10 favorite movies (in no particular order).

I have to say that while I have occasionally taken time off from blogging in the years since I started doing this, it has remained a very enjoyable outlet, and I'm grateful to the staff of A Bright Wall in a Dark Room for expanding my readership to a broader audience. I look forward to my continued opportunities to contribute to BWDR, and to those in my new capacity at MediaBlvd as well.

Ewwww

2011-02-01T08:07:00.000-08:00

Last night I finally made it to the second run theater across the street from my office to watch Danny Boyle's 127 Hours. I'd been excited for this movie for some time, having seen Aron Ralston when he visited my high school a few years back (he'd dated one of the teachers). After hearing what 127 Hours star James Franco said about the differing filmmaking styles of his film and The Social Network, that TSN was conventional compared to 127 Hours' innovation, I was curious to see how watching a guy become dehydrated and desperate over five days could stay interesting...at least until he cuts his arm off. And I have to say, the movie sped by, particularly to the credit of Boyle and editor Jon Harris.

James Franco obviously carries the movie, as the camera doesn't often give us wide shots of him, instead staying in close, forcing us to feel Aron's claustrophobic situation, watching in detail as ants crawl over his increasingly pallid skin. Much as I like initial casting choice Cillian Murphy, Franco is so much more obvious and perfect as Ralston, playing him as detached and lonely, but with a verve that keeps him sympathetic in his almost-craziness. Franco also has that strange ability to be classically, smoulderingly, handsome from one angle, and hobo crazy from another, so roles that allow the eccentricity to flow through are probably the best showcases for his talent.

This movie, perhaps unlike many others based closely on true events, benefits from the assumption that audience members already know how the story will pan out. "Let's go see the movie where James Franco cuts his arm off." So when the movie starts off with Aron unable to find his trusty Swiss Army knife, in plain view of the camera, that feeling of dread sets in that will carry you through to the stomach-turning climax. When he starts chipping away at the boulder with his dull pocketknife, I found myself pleading with him not to make it any duller, as if I wanted to warn him that the killer was inside the house. You know Aron will survive, so when you see him videotaping his final goodbyes and drinking his own urine to stay alive, it forces the audience to wonder how they would have acted in his situation.

It's easy to judge Aron Ralston for bringing the situation upon himself. The movie adequately portrays this issue, and surely Ralston himself knows that he could have saved himself a lot of misery by informing anyone as to his whereabouts, or being better prepared for his excursion. But how would you have acted if it had been you trapped under the boulder? Would you have waited five days without food and water before trying to free yourself? Would it ever occur to you to have done what he did? At a certain point, would you just try to kill yourself quickly?* Perhaps only in a state of delirium and shock can the ultimate survival instinct kick in. The film portrays Ralston as hallucinating visions of his family, of his future son, and that being what spurs him to finally go through with it.

In the end, I didn't know whether to feel inspired (or vow never to take up rock climbing), but the final scenes of Aron, post-amputation, rappelling to the ground, marching through the midday sun, and eventually finding rescue, water, a modicum of fame, and a family, were expertly shot and cut together. There is some magic to be found in the triumph of the human spirit, and it is both crazy and admirable how Ralston has continued mountaineering in the years since his accident. I feel like so many of us resign ourselves to letting life speed by, with hours stuck behind a computer screen, missing out on so many opportunities for adventures of all sorts. After 127 Hours, I do have an itching to go on a nice - safe - hike this weekend.

*I have said that I would only go scuba diving if I could carry a cyanide capsule in my mouth, should I ever be attacked by the terrifying creatures of the deep. Quick and painless > OH HELL A GIANT SQUID

Stanley Kubrick's THE KILLING (1956)

2011-01-31T10:08:00.000-08:00

Kicking off Kubrick week at A Bright Wall in a Dark Room is my essay about one of his first films, 1956's The Killing. Please click through to read!

'Cuz if you want it, here's my heart...

2011-01-31T08:15:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's an *N SYNC reference. Because their 2000 album is probably my most-played ever, and shares a title with a perfectly cute romantic comedy which I saw this weekend, No Strings Attached, starring Natalie Portman and Ashton Kutcher. Strange pairing, I know, but I'd like to repeat what a coworker told me, which is that she's doing a decent job so far of working her way through simulated sex scenes with cast members from That '70s Show. Who's next, Tommy Chong? Oh please let it be Tommy Chong.

When I first saw an ad for No Strings Attached a couple of months ago, I was blindsided, wondering what hip Natalie Portman of Paris, Je T'aime, The Professional, and Black Swan, was doing in a romcom with Ashton Kutcher (Just Married, What Happens in Vegas). When I realized that this was the same movie as a script I read and loved in 2008, Liz Meriweather's Fuckbuddies, it felt much better. And directed by Ivan Reitman, who's directed some classic '80s and '90s comedies, including a favorite of mine: Junior. But still, this is an Ashton Kutcher romantic comedy, and movie tickets are expensive, so I was hesitant. But throw in Mindy Kaling, and I'm in.

The movie is perfectly cute, and fairly honestly and reasonably portrays the realities of sex, dating, and relationships for young professionals. Yes, the families are kookier than average, and the house of attractive doctors is extraordinarily fancy (do they not have student loans?), but I felt like I could see my friends engaging in some of the same situations as the movie's characters do. That's what I loved so much about Meriweather's script, which was that it was written by a female contemporary, and reflected the real world we live in, and how we think, not how middle-aged men assume we do. Admittedly, her script was much, much raunchier, and tinged with a little bit more of the neuro-atypical.

Greta Gerwig, Kevin Kline, Opehlia Lovibond, and Lake Bell turned in performances that I enjoyed probably more than Natalie's and Ashton's, and according to Wikipedia, it was Cary Elwes behind Dr. Metzner's beard! I never would have known. Perhaps a beard is the modern day mask, obscuring even the varying identities of, say, a Dread Pirate Roberts? Mindy Kaling's role is regrettably small, and I am terrified that she is going to become the next Judy Greer, always the best friend, never the lead. Somebody please find a great starring role for her. She's pretty, she's funny, she can be crass - let's get this done.

Happy 2011!

2011-01-24T07:36:00.000-08:00

Welcome back to yet another one of my returns from an unexplained blogging hiatus. Between a new, more demanding job, thrice weekly Muay Thai sessions, and a holiday trip to Sydney, I have hardly had time to do laundry, let alone blog. I'll work to carve out more time, though.

I've seen The King's Speech, Hereafter, and The Fighter, and I am finally going to watch Inception on BluRay tonight. I've read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, and have loaded the other two Larsson books onto my new Kindle, along with Infinite Jest, Water for Elephants, and The Hunger Games. Over the holidays I read a new nonfiction book called Blue Ribbon Babies and Labors of Love, about the racial and social politics of adoption in America today.

Big Love is back on for its final season, and so far it's off to a better start than I thought it would be after the craziness of last season. That said, it does make me miss TLC's Sister Wives. I bought myself the Lord of the Rings trilogy on BluRay for Christmas, as well as seasons 1-3 of Mad Men. Gotta love Amazon Gold Box deals. So uh, yeah. And Parks and Rec is back with a whimper, but I'll try to do a full Thursday night comedy rundown this week.

I've missed you, internet box where I type things I think!

We are Here

2010-11-19T14:47:00.000-08:00

For any of you who read film essay site A Bright Wall in a Dark Room, which I have been contributing to since June, check out Film Projections, a multimedia companion site. I have just posted the below video to Film Projections, which unites my love of film with my love of astronomy. And Carl Sagan's voice is always so soothing, even if he does pronounce 'humans' as "yoo-minz."

If film is the way we represent the human experience in fiction, astronomy is how we perceive our existence in truth. Film montage over a Carl Sagan commentary of our isolated existence in our little region of the universe.

"Astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience."

One Of Us

2010-10-28T16:30:00.000-07:00

Over at A Bright Wall in a Dark Room, we're having Halloween Week! You should go check out all our essays on scary movies. Today my essay about Tod Browning's Freaks (1932) went up. Give it a read!

WHAT IS A MONSTER?

by Katherine Spada

A quick one

2010-10-21T07:32:00.000-07:00

It's the week after October sweeps, so a lot of shows have been airing reruns, making this a great week to catch up on Netflix Instant. I don't have a whole lot to say about last night's episode of Modern Family, but I thought there were a lot of great jokes throughout which I wanted to highlight.

The premise of parents struggling to get their child into an elite elementary school is inherently amusing to me as a Los Angeles native, and as someone who was once one of those children. However I have to call out ModFam for stealing a major bit from The L Word, when Mitchell and Cam feel that their diversity credibility is threatened when they see a lesbian couple, with one partner in a wheelchair, and an adopted baby, applying to the same school as they are. Swap the genders and we've seen this exact scene before.

That said, Mitchell's line about feeling inadequate in the preschool race, "Leave it to the gays to raise the only underachieving Asian in the country," was pure Mitchell, and tied in nicely to one of the show's funniest and most uncomfortable running gags, which is how uncomfortable Cam acts around minorities. There was an episode last season in which he struggled with Gloria, because while he is not a racist, his yen to be as politically correct as possible often manifests in excruciatingly awkward actions and misunderstandings. So when he pretended to be a Native American in order to give Lily a better chance at getting into the school, I was horrified and could not stop laughing. He described his daughter as having skin the color of "maize." Unreal.

The Jay/Gloria storyline did nothing for me, but at the Dunphy household, Claire implored her family to compete to see who could go the longest without using cell phones, video games, and internet. Phil described the challenge as an experiment in being Amish, whose lifestyle includes "witnessing murders." Amazing. Luke finally had an opportunity to use his imagination, which involved building miniature cities and destroying them. I have to admit that I loved when he acted out, "There's no fire escape; they cut corners!" "I'll cut your corners!"

Finally, when Claire herself broke the no-internet rule, she was discovered when Phil heard the computer call out, "You've got mail!" Because of course Claire still uses AOL!

Modern Family, 9pm Wednesdays on ABC

Sunday night reality

2010-10-18T07:15:00.000-07:00

The Amazing Race, 8pm on CBS
It was a very good move for the producers to have kept father/son team Michael & Kevin in the race last week, and within short order, they were leading the race in its Lapland leg. Since Michael is unable to handle many of the show's physical challenges, it was fun to watch how good of a time he was having in the dogsled challenge, and his adorable cheers of "Go doggy! I'm enjoying!" made up for how hard it was to watch his disappointment in himself for letting his son down last week. It was also good to see them working together with the other father/child team of Gary & Mallory to get ahead. I am seriously tired of annoying couple Chad & Stephanie, but definitely relieved that nerds Connor & Jonathan took their a capella butts home (on their Princeton graduation day, no less, reminding me of ANTM Cycle 7's Brooke). Yes, yes, it's nice to see that they had a positive attitude, and I know I would have done as poorly in the sledding challenge, but still. I was not a fan. Doctors Nat & Kat made it from 2nd-to-last place to come in first this week, which I was pleased by.

Undercover Boss, 9pm on CBS
This week, the CEO of small, struggling regional airline Frontier went undercover to see how his employees and company are doing after a three-way merger and a company-wide 10% pay cut. CEO Bryan Bedford tried out roles in airplane sanitation and airline hospitality, and learned a lot about how hard many of his dedicated employees have it. As a devout Catholic, he was also inspired by how many of the people he worked with found comfort in God, and resolved to help serve others using the lessons he'd learned. It was a very sweet episode; almost as good as the 7-11 one.

Sister Wives, 10pm on TLC
Kody is supremely terrible, and has the intellect and maturity of a preteen. The wives express some jealousy over time Kody spends with Robyn before she is officially married to him, which she resents as she moved her whole life and family to be with him. As the wedding planning goes on, Kody shows how little he respects his wives' feelings, and seriously upsets them when he usurps their plans about the cake and wedding dress. In another moment where he is shown to be the worst, he looks so unamused when Robyn intimates that strangers observing them as a group may have no clue that they are a polygamist family, because "for all they know, Kody's just our gay friend." If these women want to share a husband, that's great, but did they have to pick such an awful one?

"No one is on your side, Betty."

2010-10-18T07:01:00.000-07:00

She had style, she had flair...she was there! That's how she became ~~the nanny~~ Mrs. Draper!*

Ohh, Don. Don, Don, Don. Well, let's get back to him in a moment.

All week I had been thinking that previous seasons of Mad Men all ramped up towards a dizzying climax, and that while this season had opened up a lot of loose ends, there didn't seem to be anything monumental to expect from the season finale, except perhaps Bert Cooper leaving SCDP and the new company folding, sending all our beloved coworkers into the ether, to be welcomed by the ghost of Sal Romano. So we're treated to a couple of brief scenes in which we learn that Joan is picking up the slack after the massive layoffs, Don has gotten SCDP (SDP?) closer to getting Cancer, and Peggy and Ken Cosgrove have gotten the first new account since the fallout. It was great to see Peggy on her game, and to see Ken get a win after Pete misguidedly trying to make him feel like a failure for not being like him. But who would want to do anything to jeopardize the happiness of Alex Mack? Not me.

At the Francis home, Betty's black hole of sadness is all-consuming. She has decided to move the family twenty miles away simply to escape Sally's creepy friend Glenn, and when Carla decides to allow the children to say a quick goodbye, Betty fires her. This has to be the worst thing Betty has ever done, and really makes me wonder where the writers want her awful character to go. Personally, I suspect Henry will leave her, and she'll run off to Rome or kill herself or something.

On the Joan front, it seems she did take Roger's advice to keep the child and pass it off as her rapist husband's. This was not a surprise, but now I am just curious if they'll kill off Dr. Harris while Joan's pregnant, forcing her to seek help from Roger, or if they'll carry on the charade with him thinking that the silver-haired baby who keeps vomiting up oysters and vermouth is his own.

Okay, so back to Don. He super-inappropriately asks his secretary Meghan to accompany him to California as a babysitter, and while there, he sleeps with her twice and then proposes to her using the ring he inherited from Anna Draper. My brain reacted with something between a record scratch and a facepalm. I mean, it's not like Don has ever shown himself to be a responsible adult when it comes to his personal life (remember when he wanted to run off with Rachel Menken?), but this was just another frustrating moment of his bad behavior being rewarded. I always think of how Roger described Don and Betty as looking like a wedding cake topper, and it seems a perfect symbol for how they are both such petulant children.

When he breaks the news to his coworkers, even Roger is incredulous. Roger Sterling. The most enigmatic reaction was easily Peggy's. She's the Mona Lisa smile (not the Mona Lisa Smile) of this show, and there are a million reasons why she could have been so glassy-eyed. Was she jealous, a little hurt to be shut out of Don's future love life? Offended because of Don's pat acknowledgment of how much respect he and Meghan have for her? Jealous because once again, Don gets everything - a career and a marriage? Or is she just disappointed? I think it's that last one, that she does not respect Don's decision, and she wants so badly for him to just be better, be a better man, but he always comes up short.

I wish I could have spent a whole day commiserating with Joan and Peggy. Their shared acknowledgment that Don is just as ridiculous as every other manchild they know was great. And to have Peggy acknowledge that she knows Joan is just as much of a workaholic as she is, was a nice coda to what they've been through together over the years. Just think of the parallels in their unplanned pregnancies, too.

(Gif borrowed from a Videogum commenter)

Oh, Betty. As terrible as she is, I definitely felt for her when she was touching up her lipstick in anticipation of sneaking up on Don at their old house. Thinking about when they were young, and starting life together. And then learning that he is moving on, with tears in her eyes. It was believable, and human in a way unlike her typical terrible self. I think it is hard as audience members to deal with really unlikeable characters because they are too real, and remind us too much of our own flaws, but January Jones does sadness better than any other emotion (see The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada), so it was a great scene for her.

And oh, Dr. Faye. I really did expect Don to marry her, much like how his real-life inspiration Draper Daniels married a business associate who was more of an equal to him, but I guess she was just not enough of a poolside diversion for him now that they could have their relationship out in the open.

So what was this season about? The first episode opened with the question, "Who is Don Draper?" Surely a lot has changed. Don is curbing his alcoholism and his womanizing, but not quitting either. He is swimming, and trying to enjoy life outside of work a little bit more. He is opening up a bit about his secret past, but not enough to be able to own up to a possible background check. He went from being unable to talk candidly to a journalist about himself, to buying full-page ad space in The New York Times for his essays, and bringing his children to Anna Draper's California home. But what does it all mean?

*Actually the more I think of it, the lyrics of The Nanny's theme song are really chillingly appropriate to this Don/Meghan situation. "Now the father finds her beguiling (watch out ~~C. C.~~ Dr. Faye!), and the kids are actually smiling (such joie de vivre!)..." Get it? Because they have a terrible birth mother, and Meghan is French Canadian?

Vote for me!

2010-10-15T11:13:00.000-07:00

So, a shameless plug today:

I have entered into a contest to get a job blogging for the Nature Made supplement company. I am avid about fitness and staying in shape, and think I could do a really good job for them blogging about wellness and having a positive attitude. Please do me a favor and cast a vote for me! You can vote every day, if you'd like!

Sitcoms Part 2...and some other stuff

2010-10-15T06:57:00.000-07:00

Community, 8pm on NBC
I seem to be the odd man out compared to the rest of the internet this morning, but I did not think this was among the strongest episodes of this series. I always love scenes where Abed tries to make everyone live life like a movie, so the slow-motion march to the space shuttle made me laugh, but there were only a couple of other big moments in the episode for me. The best was probably Troy threatening to kill Annie, which was delivered with the same tone as the choloform scene from a couple of episodes, which was a series highlight. And of course, the self-aware KFC advertising was pretty great, and well-established in NBC's wheelhouse.

30 Rock, 8:30pm on NBC
All I want to do is refer to last night's live episodes of 30 Rock as "much ballyhooed," but that is lame, and I am cool. I was really impressed with the fact that the cast performed two live versions of the show, for the East Coast and West Coast broadcasts, and I have to say that watching the episode made me feel like I was part of a television event, which is not a mood that's easy to create in this post-TiVo world. The pacing and camera work was weird, but this was a live staging of a show that we are not used to watching with an audience's laugh track, so no big deal there. Chris Parnell seemed the most comfortable of the main cast members, but the highlight was definitely Jon Hamm, whose amorous hand (West Coast feed) had me laughing for a solid five minutes. That he is so good at this kind of comedy, but is also Don Draper, makes me love him even more. It was a very smartly written episode, and the live show within a live show added protection from any number of ~~mishaps~~ Tracy Morgan outbursts. The way that Julia Louis-Dreyfus was used was perfect and clever (remember Tina Fey's Emmy speech?), and any reference to young hot Alec Baldwin is great.

The Office, 9pm on NBC
Just like the 'lip dub' cold open that kicked off the season, this episode was a great contribution to send off Steve Carrell. Melora Hardin's brief scene made me desperately miss the time when she was a series regular, but I am definitely looking forward to Amy Ryan's upcoming guest-starring run. While the Michael storyline was definitely the heart of the episode, I absolutely loved Andy getting to use his Cornell RA skills to teach his officemates about sexual health and acceptance. He is so clearly someone whose happiness and power peaked in college, and it is so sad to watch that play out.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 10pm on FX
This was a great episode. I love the battle between Team Dee/Dennis and Team Mac/Charlie, and it was great to finally have that battle distilled down to a class war. Everything about Charlie thinking his jean cutoffs were not white trash, and Dee/Dennis/Frank at the public pool was hilarious. The more absurd of a character Frank becomes, the more he adds to the mix.

Jersey Shore, 10pm on MTV
Well, it's happened. Jersey Shore fatigue. I will watch the season finale next week, but I can't see caring about these awful people for one more season. "The Situation" in particular makes me want to jump off a cliff, but DJ Pauly D, Vinny, Ronni, and Sammi are only marginally better. Now, if Snooki and J-WOWW were to get their own show, I could see watching that.

Grey's Anatomy, 9pm on ABC
This episode had actual admirable character development, which was a nice surprise. And Dr. Altman was rapidly becoming one of my least favorite characters on the show, but at least she finally told off Dr. Avery for flirting with her. Oh, Dr. Avery - or as I remember him, the Hotness Monster from Greek - so glad he finally had his shirt off. Though really when do new doctors have the time to get so ripped?

Sitcoms Part 1

2010-10-14T07:10:00.000-07:00

Raising Hope, 9pm Tuesdays on Fox
This show has so far retained the sweetness it initially impressed me with, but I just wish that they could manage to expand on more than one joke per episode. This week's episode was very Martha Plimpton -centric, which I thought was great, because she is so much more interesting than the actors who play her son or her son's love interest. I loved how she chastised her son in front of the girl that he likes for being too much of a "Ross." Her crazed determination to stage a perfect family portrait year after year was extremely relatable, and in the end, very touching when she admitted that as a housekeeper, she wants a family portrait to feel like the people whose homes she cleans.

Running Wilde, 9:30pm Tuesdays on Fox
I think this has been the best episode of the series so far. With luck, this show will transcend a weak first season, à la The Office (US) and Parks and Recreation. There was a classic blend of miscommunication and Will Arnett playing a sexual pawn in his own game (see Arrested Development, 30 Rock, and Arrested Development again). It was so clear that Keri Russell would get the preteen boy to fall in love with her, and Will Arnett would get Andy Richter in a mustache to fall in love with him, but a lot of fun to watch those storylines play out. The extended scene of Arnett washing a car Paris Hilton -style pulled the trick where it carries on way past being funny, and then swings back to being funny again. I swear I saw Arnett and Richter scissoring at one point. Once again, Peter Serafinowicz stood out as Fa'ad pretending to be a New York mobster as trained by Alan Alda. Weird and hilarious.

Modern Family, 9pm Wednesdays on ABC
I always like scenes when Claire and Mitchell get to interact with each other, and them teasing each other during a workout was a great brother-sister scene. When they tried to break bad news to each other's partners, Strangers on a Train style, Mitch couldn't bring himself to tell Phil how awful he is at telling jokes, but Claire was able to tell Cam that his too-tight bike shorts are inappropriate. Cam and Mitchell loving each other so much but never being able to be on the same page was great, with a back-and-forth about who is luckier to be with whom that was very believable. It was momentarily upsetting to see how Claire felt the only way to save Phil from himself was to steal his notecards, but perfectly redeemed when his lame humor was perfect for the realtor dinner, and also for Claire. Is there a sweeter married couple on television today (suck it, Jim and Pam)? Also, the shot of her laughing without her eyes was creepy and amazing.

This show is pretty offensive (am I only just now realizing this? I can't even tell anymore.)

2010-10-13T07:09:00.000-07:00

There was a super cute and sexy scene in last night's episode of Glee, where Santana and Brittany are having a kissing session at Brittany's house. It's been referenced in past episodes that their friendship is sexual in nature, but it's clear they're not dating, and that they freely date other people (seemingly exclusively boys). When Santana stopped the session abruptly, annoyed at Brittany for talking too much, she spat out that the only reason she was wasting her time with Brittany is because her preferred FWB Puck is not available. This was the first of a couple of scenes which made me really sad for Brittany, and made me think about how differently the show treats queer women and queer men. I might not agree totally with After Ellen's Lux Alptraum, who wrote that "Brittany and Santana are [her] queer icons," but they are definitely more than just straight girls who make out in order to please their male partners.

While of course this is not to say that this show has shown the utmost sensitivity when ever discussing gay culture or homophobia, it has taken a lot more effort to respect the struggles of gay teen boys through the character of Kurt. Now, when Kurt announced that he would be singing a song from Victor Victoria, I audibly cheered, "Yes!" Actor Chris Colfer has displayed some great range, and I knew he'd do a great job with the number "Le Jazz Hot." That said, it was a little weird to show that as a gay boy, the character is some hijra blend of masculine and feminine.

Another element of this complicated situation is the new character Sam, who is found equally appealing by Kurt and Quinn (and Finn), and who everyone wants to play on their team. Most importantly, though, this nerd speaks Na'vi and thought that he needed to impress everyone at his new school by dumping a bottle of Sun-In on his head instead of just showing off his abs, guitar and singing skills, and cute smile. What a weirdo.

Back in Santana land, she and Mercedes belted out a duet of Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep - Mountain High" that is so on fire that it made me sweat. If only they didn't make Santana say every line with a sprinkle of ebonics for no reason.

Meanwhile, things are getting confusing for poor Brittany. Since Santana won't duet with her, she asks Artie to be her partner because she knows he has a good voice. He is surprised because she has never given him the time of day, and she admits that she used to think he was a robot. She flirts with him, and he goes along with it, hoping to get over Tina, even though he's not really that interested in Brittany. In a way, it was cute when Brittany lifted Artie out of his chair and laid him down on her bed, saying that their hook up would have been inevitable since he's on the football team now. Artie seems nervously excited to lose his virginity, and Brittany never seems to have any ulterior motives or pity in mind.

So the next day, Artie slut-shames and dumps her, and it is completely uncalled for. He gets mad at her for having sex with him because he wanted his first time to be important, and he doesn't believe that it was important for her. Let me know if you picked up on any coercion or forcing in the previous scene, because I did not get the impression that he was anything but on board. I don't know that it would have come off any differently if the genders had been reversed, either. Brittany genuinely likes Artie, and hoped they could have a nice date together at Breadsticks (I forgot to mention that the glee club is competing for a free dinner there). She wants to share spaghetti, Lady and the Tramp style. This scene was really difficult for me.

Our other glee clubbers are just along for the ride. Rachel pulls a Katherine Heigl and realizes that she is completely unlikeable, and she and Finn sing a couple of boring duets. Mike Chang, who should spend more time shirtless and less time having a mullet, finally gets lines, and duets with Tina on "Sing!" from A Chorus Line. This song is not fun but I guess they did their best with it. I just don't understand how Tina is "introducing us to the amazing voice of Mike Chang" if he's been in the Glee Club for over a year. Was he just the dance contingent, like Kurt is the Cheerios' singing element, and Artie is the football team's human battering ram? What is this school?

Finally, there was at least one Olive Garden commercial aired during this episode, which made me laugh because of the show's parody with a place called "Breadsticks," but when we see Brittany alone at the restaurant pushing a meatball across her plate with her nose, it was way sadder to me than when Rachel wanted to find her birth mom or whatever. LEAVE BRITTANY ALONE! (I apologize for that.) In two weeks the show will be taking on the Rocky Horror Show, which, as a former cast member, I am biased towards, but hopefully they let the episode stew in the play's campy awfulness. If only I could shout callbacks at the television without freaking out my housemates.

Glee, Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox

XOXO...Zzzz

2010-10-12T10:04:00.000-07:00

In the interest of full disclosure, I fell asleep somewhere around the last couple of scenes during Gossip Girl last night. What do you want me to tell you - this episode was boring, and I get up early. I guess there was some good stuff going on in the show, but I really hate when they try to make us care what hijinks they're getting up to at college. Okay, I guess I don't know what I want. I want it to seem believable that these kids are actually at Columbia, but when there is drama about profs and deans I just can't bring myself to care.

The best part about the episode is that everyone was shocked and outraged about a rumor that Serena has an STD, and Serena says Gossip Girl is usually too "classy" for this kind of filth. Um, where has she been for the past four seasons, no it's not. Statistically, Serena and the other UESiders all should have at least one strain of HPV. Do you see Lily rousing herself from her heroin den long enough to get her kids vaccinated with Gardasil? Plus Chuck and Nate at least have a history with sex workers, and I suspect, each other. Now, I'm not saying that having X amount of sexual partners guarantees that a person will have a venereal disease, it's just that these characters are always swapping partners and never talking about condoms, so I assume they are exposing themselves to risk. Especially since Dan and Nate seem to only have considered the notion of getting tested just now. Heads up: you are supposed to get tested every time you are with a new partner, kids.

The whole storyline of Chuck plotting to take Columbia away from Blair, while Jailbird tries to take it away from Serena, and there are professors who can be bribed with dates made by 20-year-olds, and you can ask your friends to register you for classes...ugh, this was too much to handle. It was funny seeing Chuck on campus, clearly disgusted but willing to do what it takes to bring down Blair, at least. But why are Dan and Vanessa hanging out at Columbia so much? Don't they go to NYU, the land of movie star threesomes and Lady GaGa performance art (same thing)? Whatever.

I am so over Nate's mystery bitch. Why does everyone trust her? Vanessa, with her dead eyes, telling her "i am so glad u are with nate u make a gud couple REBOOT." Isn't she constantly being outed as a seekret baddy? I hope they don't drag out gaol guy all season, because it is so painful trying to care if bad stuff happens to Serena, when all I want is for bad stuff to happen to Serena. So when she was almost expelled for sexting her professor, I kinda thought that was pretty great, especially at the fancy secret society party where the professors and the Dean and the NYU students get to attend.

I loved Rufus asking Vanessa to open up to him about his son's bad behavior. Remember when Rufus (hot) and Vanessa (ugh) ran a coffee shop / art gallery together (the place where Dan lost his V-card to his now-sister Serena)? I hope they hook up this season, as they've clearly been doing off-camera for the past two.

Joan's rapist husband the Vietnam doctor is on Gossip Girl now (I guess that means spoiler alert for Mad Men), as like, parallel-universe Chuck. A well-dressed guy sending off a different girl in a cab every morning, and using it as an excuse to hit on a drugged-out homewrecker. Serena is so terrible, I hope she and this guy date and then he recruits her into a pyramid scheme. Gossip Girl season 5: Caged Heat: White Collar. Or something.

Also, Chuck using a "pie" reference was as lame as Blair saying "hundys" last week. You're better than that, Chuck.

Then I fell asleep.

Gossip Girl, Mondays at 9pm on The CW

It's trailer time!

2010-10-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

Red, October 15

Silly action movie with Bruce Willis, Helen Mirren, and John Malkovich. This is like, the thinking man's The Expendables or some such. I don't know.

127 Hours, November 5

One of my high school teachers used to date Aron Ralston, the crazy guy who went hiking alone and got trapped by a boulder, only to be freed after he sawed through his elbow using the cheap multi-use knife that came with his flashlight. Perfect casting with James Franco, and kind of excited to see the direction this story will take with Danny Boyle at the helm instead of someone like Sean Penn.

Black Swan, December 3

While I am on board for a Darren Aronofsky ballet movie starring Natalie Portman, the trailer for this is so weird that I have no idea what to expect, but I know I'll be watching.

The Tempest, December 10

Helen Mirren as Prospera in an adaptation of one of Shakespeare's weirder plays (if you ask me), directed by Julie Taymor with all the flourishes she brought to Across the Universe. I loved The Tempest for how creepy it was (in high school we read it with John Fowles' The Collector - good idea), and Helen Mirren is automatically awesome.

True Grit, December 25

I shouldn't have to tell you why this looks awesome.

Sunday night blitz

2010-10-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

(I'm two weeks behind on Boardwalk Empire, but having seen the second episode, I definitely am more interested than I was after watching just the pilot.)

The Amazing Race, 8pm on CBS
I was legitimately bummed out that Michael & Kevin, and Nat & Kat came in as the last two teams. It can happen to anyone, but the doctors kept getting waylaid by bad taxi drivers or car trouble, and I got empathetically frustrated on their behalf. Michael & Kevin are just so likable, which explains why they ended up not being eliminated, but I hope that after this round they learned the lesson that they should persevere more when they have the option of a non-physical challenge, as they would not have come in last had they been more determined with the word search challenge. I really liked the challenges that were set at the school, even if the a capella nerds came in first. Annoying.

Undercover Boss, 9pm on CBS
It says something about how much I've come to expect from do-gooder reality TV that when DirectTV CEO Mike White offered his employees a few thousand dollars' worth of services at the end of last night's episode, I was disappointed by his stinginess. I will keep watching this show, hoping for each episode to be as heartwarming as the one about 7-11, but this one did not come close.

Dexter, 9pm on Showtime
I hope that Astor and Cody haven't been so neatly written out of this show, as I think their added drama will enrich this show, and Harrison is a pretty easy obstacle to write around. It was good to have Dexter back in his element, goading and dominating serial killer Boyd Fowler (great job by guest star Shawn Hatosy), and the final scene introduction of Julia Stiles got me very excited about where this season is going. Quinn & Deb, Angel & LaGuerta, and Masuka, are all in top form. Desmond Harrington got really hot all of a sudden, and I think it's his new haircut. Yum. Incidentally, I miss Doakes.

Sister Wives, 10pm on TLC
I am officially creeped out. While at the hospital awaiting the birth of his thirteenth child, Kody (urgh) asks his third wife's doctor about his first wife's infertility. Gross. When celebrating his 20th anniversary with first wife Meri, he tells her that his gift to her will be a costly round of IVF. She's clearly sad about the fact that she's struggled with fertility for so long, but when she says "no thanks," Kody is kind of upset. When Meri tries to talk honestly with her husband about her jealousy issues, she asks him how he would feel if her attentions were split between him and another man. I believe his exact response is that "the vulgarity of that idea is so against God and nature" that he refuses to even think about it. Why weren't they having this conversation 17 years ago when Kody was getting married to a second wife? With the addition of third wife Christine's baby Truely, and the upcoming addition of Robyn's three children, the wives were throwing around a lot of language making it seem like the best upside of being a woman in a polygamist family is the abundance of nannies around. Finally, Kody and Meri's daughter Mariah tells her father that she wants to go to Annapolis, and he has to break it to her that a) polygamist private school is not accredited, and b) she will probably not get a gubernatorial recommendation based on her parents' lifestyle. The first of many disappointments for this poor girl.

Put out the light, and then put out the light.

2010-10-11T07:01:00.000-07:00

Matt Sax & Eric Rosen's new musical Venice, on at the Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City through November 14, is one of the best new musicals I have seen in the past couple of years. In brief, it is a post-apocalyptic hip hopera transposing Othello to the not-too-distant future. In practice it is a wonderful modern play that provides a commentary on current sociopolitical issues, invoking Shakespearean tragedy while taking on enough of a life of its own to make the audience forget about the links to the Bard's original.

Sax, who wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics, stars as the Clown MC, a Greek chorus of a man who has grown up in a city called Venice, having been born after the war which isolated Venice as a city on lockdown, under constant threat of terrorism. A politician by the name of Venice (who, coincidentally, preaches a message of "Hope" and "Change") is seeking to save his city from a bleak future, and plans to do so by marrying Willow, who like Venice, is the child of a slain figure from the war of twenty years ago. Unlike Venice, she grew up in the safe zone outside of the city. So did Michael Victor, the young soldier whom Venice has recently promoted to be his second in command, incurring the jealousy of Markos, Venice's half-brother. Markos and Venice share the same mother, a freedom fighter who died in a terrorist bombing, but Markos cannot let go of the fact that Venice is the product of a rape perpetrated by members of the enemy forces.

What follows is a tumultuous tale with all the dread of Hamlet, but with modern flourishes referencing the 24-hour news cycle and other specifically contemporary experiences. The adaptation is faithful down to characters analogous to Roderigo and Emilia, though it takes liberties in how the story concludes. Markos' and Venice's mother plays a role as important and affecting as a Shakespearean ghost. The music, lyrics, and choreography are as compelling and exciting as the music in In the Heights, if more consistently dramatic in tone. I was hooked from beginning to end while watching Venice, and I definitely think it is going to be a hit on Broadway when it makes it there.

If you can make it to a showing sometime in the next month, I highly recommend getting to Venice.

Midweek comedy revue

2010-10-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

Raising Hope, Tuesdays at 9pm on Fox
This show has so far not managed to exceed the precedent it set up in its pilot. It is a serviceably funny and cute show, and probably fills the role of being today's Married...With Children or Malcolm in the Middle. There are usually one and a half big laughs per episode, and I wish that number were higher, but it remains a very sweet sitcom that shows a family of people who really do love each other and want to work together, so I just like seeing that on TV. I love puns way more than I should, so when a character mentions that he plans to name his boat "Cirrhosis of the River," I got a big guffaw out of that.

Running Wilde, Tuesdays at 9:30pm on Fox
I've read that Mitch Hurwitz is trying to balance network demands with what he and Will Arnett want to do with this show. Haven't we learned this lesson before? And always with Fox? This week's episode in particular was a terrible rip-off of the Arrested Development episodes "S.O.B.s" and "Afternoon Delight," and even had David Cross referring to his genitals as his "blue man group." Come on! Yes, AD fans are hoping that this show will fulfill our post-cancellation needs, but our needs for a smart good comedy, not our needs for callbacks. So far the character of Fa'ad is the only consistently funny thing on the show, and I am disappointed that everyone else seems to not be getting used at all.

Modern Family, Wednesdays at 9pm on ABC
This has been the weakest episode I can remember on this show. When an earthquake hit Los Angeles, what followed was Cam and Mitchell interacting with their friend (a cameo by Nathan Lane), Jay not wanting to go to church and sending Manny mixed messages about religion, and Phil trying to trick Claire. I liked all of these things better when done on Sex and the City, The Simpsons, and earlier episodes of Modern Family, respectively.

Home video review: Hot Tub Time Machine

2010-10-07T07:12:00.000-07:00

John Cusack, Rob Corrdry, Craig Robinson, and Clark Duke try for a lost weekend at the ski resort where they had so much fun when they were in their early 20s. Broken down and shabby, the resort is nothing like how they remember it, personified by the surly one-armed bellman (Crispin Glover). A mishap with energy drink, a squirrel, and Chevy Chase turns their hot tub into a time machine, and they are sent back to relive a weekend they spent at the resort in 1986, even looking like their younger selves to outsiders. Duke plays Cusack's nephew, and he knows that if he allows his companions to change the way they did things, that it may jeopardize his entire existence.

This is a wonderfully silly movie, and probably the only reason I didn't like it as much as I thought I would is that it's best watched with a group of friends, not in bed alone at 10pm like a big lame. Rob Corrdry is excellent as the most obnoxious guy that no one would ever want to have in their group of friends, and Cusack, Duke, and Robinson all hit their characters' single notes just fine. The music was fun and the supporting cast made for a better dumb "bro" comedy than what we usually see.

The three musketeers struggle with trying to balance righting the wrongs they lived through in 1986, and trying not to change anything so drastically that their young friend ceases to be. In the end, Rob Corrdry's character decides to stay behind and change the future for the better (having just conceived Duke's character with Cusack's character's sister), so when the rest of the guys make it back to 2010, they see how their friend has given them all better lives...and invented Google along the way.

For a split second I wanted to think critically about how terrible it would end up if you woke up with a totally different life than the one you knew, and never got to experience the past 20+ years, even if you're told how great they were. But then I realized that this is not a movie that I should think too hard about, and it really just makes me want to watch Better Off Dead (something about John Cusack and skiing, I guess).

Reviewing the FarmVille movie

2010-10-06T23:07:00.000-07:00

I got to read Aaron Sorkin's script for The Social Network a few months back after it was on the Black List, and I found it to be pretty boring. But then it's a story about nerds chattering at each other at depositions mostly, so no wonder it came across as so flat on the page. Nonetheless, I was looking forward to seeing director David Fincher's take on the biggest cultural juggernaut of my generation.

When I started as a college freshman in Fall of 2004, I had never heard of Facebook. It wasn't until a couple of months later that it opened up to the consortium of 5 undergraduate and 2 graduate schools where I was a student, and I'd say that within two days, nearly everyone I knew had a profile. Those who didn't were being rebellious. Facebook was still, at that time, an exclusive online network where I was linked to students at my school, and only people in other schools if I knew them from high school.

By the time I graduated in 2008, it was a completely different beast. I remember being dismayed when Facebook opened to high school students, and then to the general public. Then apps happened. Facebook is now a frustrating assault of privacy invasion, and I can't help but check it multiple times a day. I hate when my friends are lazy in uploading photos. I have debates about the etiquette of unfriending and detagging. These words are being highlighted as misspellings as I type, but they are standard in the lexicon of my peers.

The Social Network tells the story of Facebook in the days when it was still cool, new, and exciting. Mark Zuckerberg is seen sitting in dual deposition rooms, being challenged by former best friend and business partner Eduardo Saverin in one lawsuit, and in another by Divya Narendra and the Winklevoss twins who feel that Zuckerberg stole their idea for a school-exclusive networking site. In flashbacks we see how "The Facebook" came into existence, and how Saverin, Narendra, and "the Winklevi" came to be collateral damage.

I remember Jesse Eisenberg as being more of a likable, bumbling fool in the other roles I've seen him in, but his portrayal of noted douche Mark Zuckerberg is so uncomfortably cold and detached that I think I have to chalk it up to Eisenberg researching every jerk he knows and doing an awesome job of capturing that dearth of empathy. Andrew Garfleld stood out, doing a great job as the film's most relatable character, and it seems like he will be a great fit as the new Spiderman. Armie Hammer and Max Minghella were very funny in their scenes together (and kudos to the filmmakers - I had no idea the twins were being played by one actor), and the Gossip Girl fan in me giggled at how silly the world of Harvard final clubs seems to my West Coast party school sensibilities. Justin Timberlake seems very happy wearing his acting hat these days, and it suits him fine. Though the character of Sean Parker is so self-important that it was sometimes hard to tell if JT was letting himself shine through too much, or if he was doing a great job at embodying the guy who invented Napster. I'd also like to note that cast member Joseph Mazzello, recently of HBO's The Pacific, is Timmy from Jurassic Park.

Without a doubt, my favorite thing about the movie was the amazing score, by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. It worked so perfectly with Fincher's storytelling style, and drew out the darkness of the growing tensions between Mark and every one of his friends, and had a sound quality that matched the computer-centric MacGuffin at the story's core. There is an arrestingly beautiful scene of a crew race shot with tilt-shift (my absolute favorite photography technique; it never gets old for me), to the tune of "In the Hall of the Mountain King" with a demented twist. I was stunned by how cool this little interlude was.

It's difficult to comment on the actual proceedings the movie is based on. The court settlements are real and Zuckerberg really is the world's youngest billionaire, thanks to a product that most of us use like addicts. It's easy to feel indignant on Saverin's behalf, while the question of just how much Zuckerberg stole his idea from Winklevoss, Winklevoss, and Narendra, is a little less clear. It's definitely disappointing how there is not a single female character with any substance in the movie, and while perhaps the main players of the actual events were all men, I would think that there would be a few interesting women at Harvard, or working in the tech world. Yes, Sorkin, I know that Rashida Jones has a few lines. Doesn't really count.

So, see The Social Network. Because you don't want to be like the only person not on Facebook.

A Bright Wall in a Dark Room

2010-10-06T15:07:00.000-07:00

Please head over to A Bright Wall in a Dark Room, which today posted my essay on the Coen Brothers' Blood Simple (1984) and Zhang Yimou's A Woman, a Gun, and a Noodle Shop (2009), as a contribution to the site's "Infidelity Week" theme.

I AIN’T DONE NOTHING FUNNY

by Katherine Spada

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz...

2010-10-06T07:38:00.000-07:00

Last night's long-awaited Joan Osborne themed episode was one of the better overall episodes of Glee in a long time. (Just kidding about the Joan Osborne thing.) If you're already on board for the cheesiness, the often awkward placement of musical numbers, and the forced theme, then this episode tackling the question of faith was a high point in quality given how tacked-together this show has been feeling lately.

When Kurt's dad suffers from a heart attack and is hospitalized with a coma, some members of New Directions feel it is their duty to pray for him, but Kurt feels uncomfortable about being asked to participate in this as he is an atheist. While Schue is happy to let Kurt dictate his own terms, most of the glee clubbers, and guidance counselor Emma, feel that Kurt is being harmed by not having religion in his life. Only Sue Sylvester is on board with Kurt's "God is just Santa Claus for adults" perspective, and wants everyone to back off. Her conversation with Emma is a great portrayal of the condescension that I think a lot of people on both sides of the issue have encountered, and it was a refreshingly honest moment for this show.

The episode's musical numbers emerged more organically than they usually do, with the exception of Finn's "Losing My Religion" fantasy. I got the impression that the whole reason they contrived the whole Grilled Cheesus storyline was to facilitate this number, and I hope they never work that hard ever again to give this kid a solo to shout at us. Mercedes got two wonderful solos which showed a lot of her range, and Rachel's "Papa Can You Hear Me" was very pretty, if awkward. Kurt's slowed-down "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" was a wonderful way to show flashbacks of Kurt's childhood moments with his father, though I liked this arrangement better when T.V. Carpio sang it in Across the Universe.

It is refreshing to have a gay atheist character on television go through something relatable and be portrayed in a positive and honest light. I was worried that in the end he would accept religion unnaturally and that alone would be shown to bring his dad out of the coma, but instead it seemed like everyone came to respect each other's beliefs just a little. I also loved this exchange:
Kurt: "You can't prove there isn't a magic teapot floating around on the dark side of the moon with a dwarf inside of it that reads romance novels and shoots lightning out of its boobs, but it seems pretty unlikely, doesn't it?"
Brittany: "Is God an evil dwarf?"

On to the more superficial treasures of this episode, I am happy any time Mark Salling is shown crooning with his guitar, but I do miss Puck's mohawk so much. Without it, Salling looks too much like the 28-year-old that he is (television actors looking too old to believably be in high school shockah). When the glee clubbers complained that they are being criticized for being too sexy one week and too religious the next, Brittany's "Now I know what Miley feels like" made me laugh. It was also great that Kurt gave a shout-out to the "great spaghetti monster in the sky."

Rachel is still being written as an impossible-to-like character, and I don't know why they're doing that. Finn praying to Grilled Cheesus to get to 2nd base with her felt really out of place in this otherwise more weighty episode. Then again, touching Rachel's sideboob over her clothes is probably the 2nd hottest thing Finn's ever done after ejaculating in the hot tub next to Quinn, and sharing a harem den with Kurt. I don't think anything he ever did with Brittany and Santana really registered for him.

So what's next for Glee? More silliness and stunts? Or more earnest storytelling. Let's hope for the latter.

Glee, Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox

This post has no purpose.

2010-10-05T15:09:00.000-07:00

I'm just really thrilled with the haircut I got this weekend, finally returning to the close-cropped 'do I've been going back to regularly over the past five or so years, so I wanted to share photos of gorgeous-looking ladies who've had the same awesome hairstyle.

Mia Farrow

Halle Berry

Victoria Beckham

Michelle Williams

Emma Watson

Natalie Portman

Annette Bening

Neapolitan Carey Mulligan

Jean Seberg

Alyssa Milano

Jane Lynch

Audrey Hepburn

Winona Ryder

Mariska Hargitay

Maura Tierney

Audrey Tautou

Ashley Judd

Jamie Lee Curtis

Pink

Selma Blair x2

Kate Moss

Julie Andrews

Rachel Maddow

Morena Baccarin

Big Mistake. Huge.

2010-10-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

Last night's Gossip Girl was a pretty good one. There wasn't too much of the dumb storyline with Nate's new girlfriend, and the Chuck/Eva storyline faded out nicely into a rebirth of the show's best hand: Chuck and Blair feuding once more. I liked that Blair assumed that Chuck would shun Eva upon learning that she was a former sex worker. It's like, have you ever met Chuck? Anyway I think I'll just share with you the notes I made while I was watching the episode last night, as they don't really need much context:

- Every time Ed Westwick acts real hard it just makes me giggle.
- What's with this weird shaky cam they're using to film S and B in their shared bathroom? Is this supposed to mimic a Gossip Girl livestream?
- Blair Waldorf would never refer to money as a "stack of hundys."
- Dan's new hairdo makes him look like Brandon Walsh after an unfortunate experiment with Soul Glo.
- I can't believe this is the first time GG has had a Hooker With a Heart of Gold storyline.
- "We have lots of skeletons in our closets... and we have mansions full of closets." thx n8
- I love that Blair is willing to let Serena take one for the team by slumming it with Dan in order to "save the world from an Abrams-Humphrey spawn."
- "That dress is just unfair" is the gayest thing for a man to say to a woman, shy of any Usher lyrics.
- Thank god that the climax of this episode includes a line from Chuck's manservant about shining Chuck's shoes. It makes me think that they have the kind of relationship where Chuck is always reminding him, "When I get home in the middle of the night after my gala/benefit, you'd BETTER have my pointy-toed ankle boots shined!"

I am pretty pumped to see Chuck and Blair antagonizing each other again, so that gives me hope for the season, even if we have to put up with some useless machinations by prison dude and his bland sister. My eyes completely glaze over when Vanessa's on screen, so she may or may not still being dating Dan, but whatever.

Gossip Girl, Mondays at 9pm on The CW

Home video review: A Single Man

2010-10-04T23:12:00.000-07:00

This weekend I saw Tom Ford's beautiful debut A Single Man, the story of George, a professor in the early '60s who plans his last day of life after struggling with the loss of his partner. This film brings excellent performances by Colin Firth and Julianne Moore, indulgently pretty cinematography, and the introduction of my new boyfriend, Jon Kortajarena.

It's not a total stretch of a surprise to see that an accomplished fashion designer could do such a good job at film directing. Ford's experience working with color, composition, and just plain style show through in the carefully constructed shots that make the movie look like page after page of glossy editorials. That is not to say that Ford was not heavy-handed with certain flourishes that he must have pounced upon as great signatures, but which grow tired quickly. Too many extreme close-ups of people's eyes, and the moments of sudden color saturation which would have had more impact if used less frequently.

Firth and Moore hit all the right notes of a thoughtful melancholic, and a lonely drunk, respectively. As the film only takes place over the course of one day, with flashbacks, there is not much of a journey to watch, but the changes that Firth's character undergoes are profound and touching. There were more scenes than seemed necessary of George eyeing young hot men, and while at first it seemed like an overly articulated way to isolate him as a gay man in a non-receptive society, I later thought of it as an example of how he wanted to dwell upon the finer things in life on his last day living it.

While I enjoyed watching the movie, I felt it had more indelible style than substance. But the balance of sadness and light made for a beautiful movie-watching experience. Though how we're supposed to believe that Colin Firth would ever spend time with Nicholas Hoult when he'd been with Matthew Goode for 16 years, I don't know. A Single Man also has cameos from Lee Pace and Ginnifer Goodwin.

Home video review: 2012

2010-10-04T13:44:00.000-07:00

This weekend I caught Roland Emmerich's apocalypse epic 2012, which is definitely one of those movies that might have been a fun spectacle to catch on the big screen, but is certainly not worth your time on the small one.

I guess my biggest question is how did Emmerich, who brought us the incomparably amazing Independence Day 14 years ago (14 years ago!) (I love Independence Day), manage to make such a boring disaster movie with today's effects technology? For the first five hours of 2012, I could not wait for something to happen. Way too much time was spent on setting up Woody Harrelson as a crazy man, John Cusack as a tortured writer, and Chiwetel Ejiofor as Mister Conscience. There was so much unnecessary character development used as a way to shoehorn plot points into a story that didn't make any sense to begin with.

See, the conceit is that world leaders have known of an impending natural catastrophe for years, and have built impenetrable arks in China that a few thousand world elites can wait in to ride out the apocalypse. So how does the average family of John Cusack, his ex-wife Amanda Peet, their two kids, and her boyfriend make it to the ark? Well they have ties to some random family of Russian weirdo mobsters/politicians, of course! Also the boyfriend is a plastic surgeon / pilot. So I kinda yawned my way through the part of the movie where they drive cars away from earthquake fault lines and road collapses that follow them down the road for some reason, and where they fly airplanes underneath collapsing buildings, and manage to get limousines and RVs to soar over crevasses in the earth. This is the part that would have been really cool to see on the big screen, probably.

Then we get to the arks. Oliver Platt (who is just the perfect casting in any role where you don't want the character to be likable; see Lake Placid, Please Give, Huff, The Big C) (No really, see Lake Placid) is Government Dude who becomes the de facto leader of the U.S. contingent of ark-bound elites when President Danny Glover dies. Of course he is kind of a douche, and Scientist Chiwetel Ejiofor Who Has No Rank Or Power keeps calling him out on being callous to the deaths of billions and being willing to sacrifice some lives in order to save others. Um, welcome to the difficult decisions that people have to make in the face of apocalypse, guy. I found myself agreeing with everything Oliver Platt the Sorta Antagonist was saying, and when Ejiofor makes an impassioned plea to The Entire Human Race I was just like "ugh, this never would have happened." See, the thing is just that I am willing to suspend my disbelief on this stuff when a movie is at all interesting, and 2012 did not incur that kind of trust.

The final unbelievable thing was just too outrageous (in a movie about the end of the world), and has been bothering me for days. There's a whole Poseidon Adventure -style set piece where the doors of one of the arks won't close because something is interfering with the gears. So some of the characters are trapped in an area of the ark with floodwaters rising, and John Cusack has to go swim to the gears and fix it in order to save everyone onboard (thus fulfilling his contractual proviso that he be drenched in every movie; see Say Anything..., Pushing Tin, High Fidelity, 1408, The Contract, Being John Malkovich, and like, every John Cusack movie except America's Sweethearts). So here's the problem. It is unclear to me where the megatsunami is coming from. The East China Sea? The Bay of Bengal? I have no idea what those water temperatures would be like. But it's established that the ark is positioned near Mt. Everest at this time, so the outside temperature could well be 100º below freezing. Look all I'm trying to say is that everyone probably would have frozen to death in the water anyway. Also everyone was able to see everyone else all the time because of the most conveniently placed hi-def security cameras ever.

In conclusion, this movie would have been better if Chiwetel Ejiofor and Thandie Newton had spent more of it making out and talking in sexy British accents, and less other stuff was happening.

Sunday night reality

2010-10-04T13:21:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately I missed Dexter and am 2 weeks behind on Boardwalk Empire, and can only catch premium stations on weekends, so my Sunday night shows were limited last night.

The Amazing Race, 9pm on CBS
Not much to say about last night's episode. The challenges were not very exciting, and everyone being on the same flight from England to Ghana meant everyone was in the same boat. The spectacle of the contestants endeavoring to sell sunglasses to Ghanaians at the market was a little uncomfortable to watch. It's one thing for the contestants to have to take on a task that a local person does for a living, and showing them struggle with it, because that's just like a cross-cultural Dirty Jobs. But haggling and trying to get money out of them was touchier. In the end, "Gilmore Girls" Andie and Jenna were sent home, which means no more of their awkwardness to deal with.

Undercover Boss, 10pm on CBS
I'm a sucker for anything that tries to warm my heart, so shows like this and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition are perfect for when I manage to catch them. When the CEO of a waterpark resort chain went undercover at some of her company's establishments, she had to scoop baby poo out of a swimming pool, wait tables, and check in guests at registration. Fairly boring in terms of watching her try to adjust to the demands of these jobs, but in the end she was extremely generous to the employees she encountered, offering them college tuition, flight school, paid time-off, and promotions aplenty. It was extremely affecting to see just how drastically people reacted to just getting a few extra hours off a week.

Sister Wives, 10pm on TLC
Kody and his ~~klan~~ clan are back, and it looks like fourth-wife-to-be Robyn is here to stay. Kody's whole family helps move her and her three kids five hours to a home one block away from the Browns, where she'll live until she marries into the family. We learned that Robyn is from a polygamist background, but that she is divorced from a husband who did not have any other wives. While her young children seem to be very excited about all the activity, they don't clearly grasp what is going on. Kody's teenage daughters do, however, and they all seem tepid about the notion that their dad is marrying a 30-year-old, even if they like Robyn herself just fine. 14-year-old Madison (who has dyed black hair and will hopefully flee Utah after high school) is quite frank about how little the polygamist lifestyle appeals to her. Kody's wives all display some discomfort with what's going on, whether it's related to Kody's time away spent visiting Robyn, her youth and attractiveness, or just the appeal she has as a new face when they've all been with Kody for 16+ years. Robyn herself seems like a very sad woman who may have had a traumatic past, and who clearly idealizes the possibilities that a future in the Brown family holds.

Advise me

2010-10-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

So, I still haven't seen Inception. I know, I'm like the last one. It's playing at the 2nd run movie theater near my work at 9:10 tonight. The 2nd run theater smells like feet and has a crackly screen. Should I wait around and entertain myself but go see this movie on the big (crackly) screen, or should I wait a couple of months and rent it on BluRay so I can watch it in high definition on the small screen?

If I knew I could make it to the 7:10 showing of Jack Goes Boating at the 2nd run theater I'd probably do a double feature, but that's not guaranteed.

Should I break up with this show again?

2010-10-01T07:35:00.000-07:00

Goodness me, Grey's Anatomy picks up the pace for one strong season, and suddenly they're back to their old tricks. When Kim Raver joined the show as Iraq War veteran and cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Teddy Altman, she was a cool new addition. Now she's just as histrionic and pattering as all the other characters on this show.

The one thing I consistently get pleasure out of from this show is the portrayal of Cristina and Meredith's relationship. Their bond is wholly believable, and it's so nice to see a great female friendship that is supportive, loving, and understanding. No matter what happens in these characters' lives, what men they get involved with or what surgeries they get to attend, they have each other as soul mates. To a lesser extent, the friendship between Mark and Callie is satisfying in the same way.

In any event, I am completely ambivalent about this show right now and am wondering if it was worth going back to in the first place.

Grey's Anatomy, Thursdays at 9pm on ABC

People try to put us down...

2010-10-01T07:08:00.000-07:00

So now that I have watched two episodes, I can recognize that My Generation, which had my favorite pilot of the season, is a pretty flawed show. That said, I like the sentimentality of it enough to want to keep watching. Each episode reveals only a tiny bit more about each character, but it's just enough to make me curious about what is going to pan out for them as the season goes on.

There was a lot of focus on pregnant former-punk Dawn (Kelli Garner), who is struggling with the wrong turns her life has taken, and the pressure of expecting a baby while her husband Rolly (Mehcad Brooks - Eggs from True Blood) fights a war in the Middle East. I am looking forward to the introduction of her younger brother, whom she raised since she was a teenager.

The storyline of Steven and Caroline and their prom-night-conceived son is both interesting and infuriating. She didn't tell him about their son for ten years, but when he awkwardly struggles to adjust to his new role as a father, somehow he is portrayed as a bad guy. I'd like to see this storyline take a positive turn.

So, I can see why a lot of people don't like this show. It moves a bit slowly and relies on some heavy-handed insertion of real events to force relatability on the audience. But I think if it takes a half-step back from the documentary format and just lets the characters breathe and interact as they would in a typical drama, this could turn into a memorable time capsule of a show.

My Generation, Thursdays at 8pm on ABC

Thursday night comedy rundown

2010-10-01T06:50:00.000-07:00

Community, 8pm on NBC
This show was completely uninteresting to me when it began, but as I let the jokes wash over me it has grown into one of the funniest and most surprising shows on TV. I could watch Troy and Abed for hours, and their scene where they got caught breaking into Rob Corddry's office was amazing. One after another, I could not stop laughing when Annie chloroformed the bartender from Grey's Anatomy, Troy skipped over his body while in distress, they decided to pretend to have been chloroformed, Annie chloroformed him again, and then Troy stumbled over him while they ran away. What a ridiculous and amazing scene.

30 Rock, 8:30pm on NBC
Taking a big step up in comedy from last week's season premiere, there were three majorly awesome running gags and a cameo by Paul Giamatti, so it was definitely an episode to remember. While Liz's newfound attractiveness following from her being in a happy relationship led to great moments of Tina Fey acting the hyper-confident nerd in a KISS FM cowboy hat, I was a little surprised by how the character reacted to all the male attention. Tracy on Cash Cab was the most perfect Slumdog Millionaire send-up, and followed from a great line: "He had two very good reasons for missing the births of his children: baking a french bread pizza, and forgot." But Alec Baldwin's taped advice videos for his unborn son were the episode highlight, and I hope that more are released on the DVD. "In school I was voted 'Most.'"

The Office, 9pm on NBC
The episode's cold open had me chuckling my face off for about ten minutes straight. Any time Dwight's cousin Mose is on hand, it is usually awesome, and the supply closet daycare offered by the Schrute men was perfectly off-the-wall. The ICP poster as decoration, with "Insane" and "Posse" crossed out was the best. I didn't care for Pam's promotion stunt, but the Dwight Pretty Woman makeover was a fun diversion. Scenes with Michael and Toby were excellent, and could have been played out more to add a little more weight to the relationship, and the upcoming departure of Michael Scott. He's such an angry, sad man, and I'd like to see a little bit more of David Brent in him, even still.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 10pm on FX
Episodes where the gang does something completely stupid and unrelated to Paddy's tend to be my favorites, so them buying a decrepit houseboat with the intention of racing, shrimp fishing, and throwing P. Diddy -style parties, was perfect. I loved the scenes of Dee dancing along with the inflatable green man, and Charlie going on about a "horse massacre from the revolution times" was pure Charlie. Given the lingering disappointment about last week's rape joke on 30 Rock, it was particularly amazing for Dennis and Mac to repeatedly argue about implied consent on Always Sunny. Mac is a terrible person, but even he recognizes that Dennis planning to force women to have sex with him because they're afraid of saying no is monstrous, and it was so satisfying to watch that conversation play out.

Jersey Shore, 10pm on MTV
This episode was lame and I'm glad Angelina's gone or whatever.

(Borrowed from a Videogum commenter)

LGBTPDA

2010-09-30T08:13:00.000-07:00

Last night's episode of Modern Family was weaker on comedy than the show usually is, but I found the storyline of 13-year-old Alex struggling with whether or not to have her first kiss to be so sweet that I liked the episode anyway. Kissing was the thread that united all three family units, with Claire and Haley overseeing Alex's impending first kiss, Gloria trying to help Jay overcome his dearth of affectionate displays to his family, and Mitchell and Cam disagreeing on when and where kissing is appropriate. This last plot point has been one in the works for months now, but I'll explain in a minute why it was so inconsequential to me.

There had been a lot of criticisms of the fact that only the show's gay partnership had not had an onscreen kiss, and when last night there was an acknowledgment of the fact that Mitchell is generally an uptight guy, I noticed that as a cute way for the writers to say, "We're not trying to make a statement here; this character just isn't into PDA." This tack is bolstered when it's shown how reticent Jay is to show affection, and how it resulted in a son who acts the same, and a daughter who acted out. So when Cam and Mitchell did have an onscreen kiss last night, in the background of a scene with the whole family - I totally missed it. I honestly didn't realize it had happened until I read about it online today. I am personally really pleased that the show downplayed the kiss, because it made it as much of a non-issue as a kiss between Phil and Claire would be.

There was much more drama given to the expectations placed on Alex having not been kissed at 13. Her mother wants to know what's going on in her younger daughter's burgeoning love life, so she asks teenage Haley to investigate. Haley's response is, of course, to tease Alex for being such an "old maid," by being two years behind her sister in the kissing game. For those keeping score at home, I was 15 and a high school junior when I had my first kiss, and I kinda did feel a little embarrassed to hear that the fictional characters Haley and Claire were 11 and 10 when they first snogged/pashed/smooched a boy. Alex bravely tells the boy she's been texting with that she wants him to be her first kiss, and is totally mortified when the conversation is overheard. But when he later tells her that he likes her too, she sweetly says that she'd rather they get to know each other a little more before kissing, and the boy is adorably relieved. The part of me that misses reading CosmoGirl! and Girl's Life and YM really loved how cute this interchange was.

So, a slower episode than usual, but here's hoping for way more Phil in next week's.

Modern Family, Wednesdays at 9pm on ABC

Dear Diary

2010-09-30T07:30:00.000-07:00

So, I work in Hollywood as an executive assistant on the creative development side of things. I've had an internship, a medium-term assistant gig, many short-term assistant experiences while temping, and now a longer-term assistant job, all at two major studios. It has been a lot of fun, and I have learned a whole lot, even if I am keenly aware of just how much more I have to learn before I'm ready to move up the ladder into an executive position myself. Of course, there have been frustrating times as at any job, and it's not as glamorous as a lot of people think it might be. But a lot of the time I can't believe how lucky I am to be working in the world of filmmaking, and I still feel like an excited kid when I get to walk on a studio backlot. I was just thinking about some of my goals, and wanted to share some of what I hope for in my career.

The Fun Stuff

Attend the Sundance Film Festival
Attend the Cannes Film Festival
Go to the Academy Awards
Go to movie premieres
Have an expense account
Be honored in the trades
Reunite with Jason Schwartzman, who realizes that he wants to marry me; attend Coppola family reunions, where Sofia's still friends with Spike Jonze for some reason, and so he comes and brings his ex Michelle Williams (because they're also still friends) and her baby Matilda, and I creepily tell Matilda that I'm really sad I'll never have a chance to make out with her dad

The Important Stuff

In my time as an executive at a studio, make an impact in getting the studio to recognize more female and multicultural filmmakers; help tell stories that represent a more interesting and varied portrayal of members of society that are not necessarily cis-hetero-Caucasian-male characters.
Sell a screenplay of my own
Get involved in helping Hollywood reach out to the community, by helping teach people how to tell their own stories
Create an organization that helps teach school children how to write stories, make movies, and share them with friends. Get people to respect each other more by understanding each other better.
Work for a studio that endeavors to distribute good, important content from around the globe, to give it a wider audience.

This is all probably very silly to read, but I just had to take a moment and reflect on why I want to work hard to make a place for myself in this industry. Mostly it's the Coppola thing.

Ridiculous and Lovable...Britney vs. Glee

2010-09-29T19:32:00.000-07:00

Last night's Britney Spears -centric episode of Glee pulled the show's highest ratings to date. It's no surprise; the show's target audience would have grown up with Britney as a major figure in their lives. When her first hit single "...Baby One More Time" came out I was ten years old, in the sixth grade, and wore fuzzy little pom poms in my hair even though my tastes would have skewed more to "My Name Is," "The Dope Show," "Just a Girl," and "The Kids Aren't Alright" (what can I say, my tastes were at least diverse, if superficial). Though I will not deny that none of this music held as special a place in my heart as *NSYNC's self-titled debut, obviously.

Moving on. The Britney/Brittany episode was a perfect example of everything that's been wrong with the show since its first season's back nine. Not even an attempt at an interesting storyline, a handful of increasingly-unimaginative music videos strung together awkwardly, and yet redeemed by an expertly delivered one-liner or musical performance. Where the John Stamos dentistry extravaganza, Mr. Schuester is somehow less into Brit Brit than Christopher Cross, and OCD Emma is suddenly less uptight than Schue, fail utterly, Heather Morris and a few moments of Jane Lynch save the day.

Heather Morris is easily the best dancer on the show, and while I think a hell of a lot more could have been done with Britney's greatest hits being transposed to McKinley High, getting to see her blowing Spears' familiar dance moves was pretty amazing. Britterline's cameo was a completely unnecessary piece of stuntcasting that cheapens the quality of this show that is too beloved and new to have to rely on gimmicks like that.

The Artie-centric performance of "Stronger" was a completely missed opportunity. The original video used chair-dancing as a means of voodoo proxy, and that could have been a great way to portray Artie's insecurities falling away as he joins the football team. New Directions' take on "Toxic" was lovely, musically, but the Fosse dancing with Mr. Schue joining in was creepy and not that sexy. Lea Michele's final song was very pretty but made zero sense and just left me confused. Not that I care, now that Rachel's been written into one of the least likable characters on television. Except for the Jewish gossip blogger, who is being far overused.

I really do hope that the writers and producers wise up and try to bolster the storylines more as the season goes on, as this show's legacy will not be remembered by iTunes sales charts alone.

Glee, Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox

Bird on the Wire

2010-09-29T07:05:00.000-07:00

Last night's fourth episode of the third season of Sons of Anarchy is the first one I have been able to watch during its original broadcast. Sons is a show that I only got into this summer on DVD, and I am finally all caught up. It's hard to say what exactly drew me to this show. I love the moral relativism of how the characters have to juggle their code of doing right by their families with the often gruesome criminal lifestyle they lead. Without glamorizing the difficult situations the characters get into, the show somehow conveys the sex appeal of these hairy guys on Harleys in baggy jeans and leather vests. And a frequently naked Charlie Hunnam doesn't hurt:

(Even if they do give him terrible hair/beard on this show.)

Each season so far has done a great job of building up to a convergence of storylines resulting in spectacular season-bridging arcs, and last night's episode, "Home," was a wonderful example of that same overlapping happening in one episode alone. If you don't follow the show, a recap won't do you any good, but what last night's episode gave us was one of the show's greatest assets: a shattering performance by Katey Sagal.

Everyone knows that Sagal's been consistently delivering her talent for the past quarter-century, in drama but also mostly in comic roles on Married...With Children and Futurama. She's also a beautiful singer, and last night's episode closed with a cover of Loenard Cohen's "Bird on the Wire," just one of the songs she's contributed to the show's soundtrack. Anyone looking for a good example of a strong female character on television need look no further than Gemma Teller Morrow, and "Home" could be her submission for Emmy consideration this year.

Perhaps because Sagal's husband is the showrunner and creator, Kurt Sutter, she is given a lot of great material to work with, but the growing character of Dr. Tara Knowles (Maggie Siff), the antagonist ATF Agent Stahl (Ally Walker), and a handful of interesting supporting characters, shows that this extremely masculine show is not afraid of strong female characters willing to pass the Bechdel Test in every episode.

Gemma has had compelling scenes and story arcs over the past two seasons, but it was the nonstop agony that she went through in last night's episode that left me crying more than once. She is vulnerable, as a daughter, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. She also draws strength from her family, not only the men in her life, but the motorcycle club that she is just as much a part of as her husband and son. Her relationship with Tara has transformed from butting heads to a motherly mentor situation, and is one of the best female friendships on TV right now.

I'll admit that my only other exposure to guest star Hal Holbrook was in his Oscar-nominated performance in Into the Wild, but his performance as Gemma's Alzheimer's-stricken father has been so heartbreaking that I broke down when she did. While her collapse at the end of the episode had been clearly telegrammed, Sagal's performance better captured the grief of this show than any of Jax's (Hunnam) physical outbursts.

Some of the gang politics storylines have been moving a bit slow lately, but I could watch the interpersonal relationships on this show all day and not get bored. If you haven't yet seen it, and you're looking for a show to catch on DVD, Sons of Anarchy is the one.

Sons of Anarchy, Tuesdays at 10pm on FX

I really want to title this "Hawaii Five-No"

2010-09-28T13:25:00.000-07:00

So, as I am endeavoring to do with a lot of the new shows this season, if I don't absolutely hate the pilot, but am not yet sold on the show, I will give it one or two more viewings to convince me. This is why I watched the second episode of Hawaii Five-0 last night, but the experiment failed to convince me.

The plot of the episode had something to do with a man being used for his technological knowledge by the Serbian mafia. I had pretty much decided that I was done with the show as soon as they tried to convincingly tell the audience that Honolulu police are actively fighting Serbian computer criminals. Shouldn't they be tackling the serious ice addiction issues?

Then Grace Park has to go investigate at the victim's house, where his son is struggling with the attack on his father. Maybe I'm misunderstanding the exact structure of the "task force," but what is a police academy student doing investigating crimes? Does she even have a weapon? When the victim's son is suffering from the shock of the day's events, Park's character offers to help, asking his mom, "Do you have a piece of paper?" At that moment I thought, "If this lady is about to do origami, I will be done with this show for real." Cut to: a paper crane. Now, I am totally fine with race-blind casting, but what is this show doing with Park and Daniel Dae-Kim? Are they supposed to be ethnically Hawaiian? Japanese? A combination of the two? Both actors are of Korean descent, and while I know that people of any ethnicity could do origami, when her character references having to make 1,000 cranes for a family event, that skews Japanese, right? Anyway, she ends up having to fight the wife of the initial victim, and they have the lamest slapfight ever. I would have shouted, "You're a frakking Cylon!" at the television screen but uh...I didn't, because...that would be so lame.

By the end of the episode, I was still unclear about what Park's role was, as an academy student, and why her dishonorably discharged cousin (Dae Kim) was wearing a police uniform. So no more Five-0 for me, but at least Martin Starr got a job out of it.

Hawaii Five-0, Mondays at 10pm on CBS

Gossip Girl season 4 (ugh), episode 3

2010-09-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

When Gossip Girl first came on, it was so addictive! I lured my roommate Jamie into watching it by explaining that the titular Gossip Girl is neither Blair nor Serena, but is in fact more of an entity. About halfway through season two this show went south pretty quickly, but most people I know still watch because it's a dumb soap opera with dumb characters in awesome fashion. Bring on the judgment!

So this season started off with the aftermath of Chuck having been shot by robbers in Prague, Blair and Serena nursing their emotional wounds in Paris, Nate doing whatever, and Dan secretly raising Georgina's lovechild in his Brooklyn loft. These are all normal, typical ways that Manhattan teenagers spend the summer after freshman year of college.

The third episode of the season brings us all back to the Upper East Side, where everyone but everyone is involved in Fashion Week for some reason! Just like last week? Chuck is hoping to make amends with his family, and Lily, who will never judge him because she knows what it's like to be a terrible person that everyone loves anyway, is sure that she can convince Rufus and Eric to give Chuck another chance even though he had sex with 16-year-old Jenny.

When he brings Fleur Delacour to the gala or whatever to help explain how some random poor beautiful French girl has turned him into the greatest person ever, he expects a warm welcome. Except that Eric spills the beans to Rufus about that time in the pilot when Chuck tried to rape Jenny on the roof at Blair's Kiss on the Lips party (never forget), so Rufus is rightly upset. He threatens to tell all of Chuck's terrible secrets to Fleur, but Chuck denies that he knows her. "But Monsieur Chuck, you 'ave zee perfect life! What possible secrets could zere be?" Now, the show expects us to believe that Chuck unloads them all on her right then and there. How the eff do you think that conversation actually goes? "Well, after my mother faked her death, I grew up hating women. When I lost my virginity to Georgina Sparks in the 6th grade..." Anyway, Fleur forgives him because she sees a sweet life ahead of her in a bangin' penthouse. If I were Blair I would be so pissed off. You spend three seasons grooming Chuck into a somewhat-decent person and some Opera Rat gets all the benefit? Oooh, girl!

Meanwhile Serena and Blair blah blah blah. Everyone makes it very clear to Serena that she is not welcome in their friends group, or on this show. There's some secret society where you get keys (for coke orgies, I assume) if you're a member, and only the most nepotistic get to join, and of course Nate's trick from like two episodes ago is in charge, because WHAT? Does she even go to Columbia? Also is this a real thing that Columbia students are doing? Maybe because my school didn't even have a Greek system, I am having trouble comprehending to what extent normal college students are involved in secret societies, but there has been a bit much on this show. I mean, they are in COLLEGE, and even say, "I expected college to be easy." Hint: if you're spending all of your time at fashion parties and none of your time studying, IT IS. Where are the all-nighters in pajama pants with no makeup? Did I do college wrong?

So Serena doesn't get to join and Blair feels mildly bad about that, except no she wouldn't, and S is all "oh I'm cool with it, no big," and tries to get Nate to pay attention to her, but OF COURSE HE WON'T because after she took his virginity on a barstool and then skipped town and then came back and dated Dan and like a million other people INCLUDING HIS MARRIED COUSIN and then Nate again but then cheated on him with Dan but then was like "I CHOOSE ME" and left town, he has better things to do.

So then I kind of tuned out for a while. I guess Lily did some investigating (thereby doing her annual experiment in paying attention to her kids) and discovered that by the Laws of Nepotism, Serena should have been invited to the secret society! So clearly the new bitch is manipulating things, for some reason that no one cares about. Blair and Serena (and Dorota, duh) stage a fake catfight and get Gossip Girl to livestream it so that all the bitches at the...wait is everyone at the same party? Is this a fashion party or a secret society party? I can't tell. Everyone is reacting in some way to something. But there is literally a curtain pulled and the secret behind it is...I don't even remember. Then Blair and Serena are so happy to be friends that are both in the secret society, so Serena moves in with...Blair? Doesn't Blair live with Eleanor and Cyrus Rose (and Dorota and Vanya and their baby)? Why wouldn't Serena live with her mom and Rufus? I'm pretty confused about this.

Meanwhile, in Brooklyn (ugh), Rufus has the results of the paternity test he snuck, and OMGWHAT Dan is not the baby daddy. If there was one person surprised by this, they should be killed. So (again, I kinda wasn't paying attention) Dan wants to confront Georgina, but she is on the beach somewhere being a deadbeat mom (Where does she get the money for this lifestyle? Wouldn't her parents have cut her off after Christianity camp didn't take?), so he takes Milo (ugh) to an orphanage, but doesn't want to abandon this kid, so he decides to raise it as his own. DAN HUMPHREY. And Vanessa (VANESSA) is like, "Well, we did have sex that one time on your couch, so yes, I will move in and raise Georgina's baby with you." NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN REAL LIFE. But then Georgina comes back and takes this plot point away after a whopping 3.5 episodes, and Dan and Vanessa decide to live together anyway. Good luck having a stable relationship without Hilary Duff threesomes, guys.

Ugh-ntil next time...

Gossip Girl, Mondays at 9pm on The CW

Home video review: Kick-Ass

2010-09-27T13:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend I finally got a chance to see Kick-Ass on BluRay, as I'd missed it when it was in theaters, and have been catching up on some television shows for the last few weeks on Netflix. This is easily one of the best superhero movies I've ever seen.* While I have not read the comic book by Mark Millar and John Romita, Jr., I can only imagine that Matthew Vaughn was the perfect choice to direct this material. There was such a strong hint of Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, and Snatch, two films produced by Vaughn, in the hyper-violent yet comic story of Kick-Ass, Hit Girl, and Red Mist.

Surprisingly hot Aaron Johnson (remind me to rent Nowhere Boy when it comes out on DVD) was perfectly charming as Dave, the chronic masturbator with a yen to finally stand up for the downtrodden in the style of his comic book heroes. Where another actor might have made Dave's relationship with Katie (Lyndsy Fonseca) kinda creepy, pretending to be gay in order to get close, and then breaking the news to her, instead I was always rooting for him. Clark Duke turned in another funny supporting performance as Dave's friend Marty.

Nic Cage wonderfully channeled all of his rage at having never been cast as Superman into his role as Big Daddy, a sort of bizarro- Cameron Poe from Con Air, seeking vengeance on his former employer while training his preteen daughter to follow in his vigilante footsteps. A lot was made of Chloë Moretz's performance as Cage's daughter Hit Girl, a foulmouthed killing machine who loves her dad and wants to make him proud. If you ask me, a strong 11-year-old female character who happens to swear and know how to fight is far less troubling than a hypersexualized female character of the same age (see Blue Lagoon, Return to the Blue Lagoon). Moretz is an excellent young actress and I am really looking forward to seeing her in her upcoming roles. Looks like Dakota Fanning and Abigail Breslin have company in the young-actresses-who-don't-depress-me club.

Christopher Mintz-Plasse played to type as somewhat-accidental villain Red Mist. I would have liked to see more interaction between him and Kick-Ass. There's so much great material in the well-meaning loner who might not have turned evil if only he'd had some friends, so maybe we'll get more of that in the sequel.

I personally thought the amount of violence and gore was just perfect in this movie. Sometimes you just want to see the good guys actually bring the pain, and Kick-Ass delivered. All too often no one ever gets vengeance in a truly satisfying and silly comic book way, so it was especially worthwhile in this movie about teenagers pretending to be superheroes.

*Those of you who know me have probably already heard my belief that Batman is not a superhero. He's just a rich dude who wears a costume, knows how to fight, and has a ton of gadgets. He is a hero, no doubt, but it is my belief that one must be superhuman in order to be a superhero (or -villain). It's unclear to me if Kal-El has any superpowers that other Kryptonians do not. If he does, then yes, he is a superhero. If he doesn't, then he's just an alien. It was refreshing to hear my opinion validated by the characters in this movie when they differentiated between "guys in suits" and real superheroes. So no, I don't think this is a movie about superheroes, but it still gets quantified as a "superhero movie," due to the nature of its content.

Zoinks!

2010-09-27T13:03:00.000-07:00

So, obviously, last night I watched TLC's new "extreme reality" show Sister Wives, about a Fundamentalist Mormon family with one husband, three wives, 12 children, and another on the way. All you need to know about patriarch Kody Brown you can learn from his "the Rachel" haircut, his terrible chin beard, and his sunglass tan:

I mean, you're Mormon, right? So you're not even allowed to have caffeine or a glass of wine. Don't even front like this hairstyle is not going to be frowned upon when you get to heaven. Seriously, this guy probably drives the Mystery Machine to work:

Kody's first wife Meri grew up in a polygamist family, and married Kody when she was 19. She admits to having some jealousy issues, but it's unclear if they stem from her husband having other wives, or the fact that she has only been able to conceive and bear one child, 14-year-old Mariah, while her sister wives have proven much more fertile. Meri seems to be very happy to live a polygamist lifestyle, since when her sister died, she saw how her sister's sister wives (keeping up?) were able to raise her children as her own.

Janelle, Kody's second wife, is peculiar in the sense that she grew up in a mainstream LDS family, so it seems unusual that she would have become amenable to the situation. She works full time, and has six children: Logan, 15, Madison, 14, Hunter, 13, Garrison, 11, Gabriel, 8, and Savanah, 5.

Third wife Christine is the Kool Aid drinkin' -est of them all. She too grew up in polygamy, and claims that she always wanted to be a third wife. She never responded to the attentions of single men, and she has complicated theories about everything from the psychology of wife order to the fact that more people die each year from toasters than from sharks. Christine's children all have dumb names: Aspyn, 14, Mykelti, 13, Paedon, 11, Gwenelyn, 8, Ysabel, 6, and Truely, on the way. Christine has crazy eyes.

One of the most interesting things about the Brown family is that Kody was married to all three of his wives before his first child was born, so all twelve of them grew up with the same three moms. That's what makes the season's prime drama so exciting - Kody's courting a fourth wife, so it would be the first time that the children have experienced a new mom coming into the family. The woman in question, Robin, also has three children of her own, which would be quite a shake-up at a time when third wife Christine is heavily pregnant.

The pilot of the show does address some questions about parenting and sex, and very clearly distances the lifestyle of the Browns and their ilk from the mainstream Mormon community (lest all the lawyers of Utah and the Angel Moroni himself bear down on TLC). They avoid examining how the Browns manage to be so public about their lifestyle given the myriad of tax laws they must be breaking. It's very clear every time he's onscreen that Kody has a serious personality disorder. His wives and children all seem considerably uncomfortable on camera, while Kody mugs it up and comes up with lame one-liners that not even his kids laugh at. "She's a sister from the same mister, and he's a brother from another mother!"

So yeah, sure, consenting adults should be free to live in whatever "harmless" lifestyle they please, but religious polygamy totally creeps me out and the Browns do nothing to make it seem like they're any less weird than the polygamists typically portrayed in fiction. What they lack in prairie dresses and complicated french braids, they make up for in misogynistic control structures and the fact that they want this chin-bearded nutcase to be the god of the planet they all get to live on. But hey, I love cults and I love hating stuff, so needless to say, I will keep watching.

Sister Wives, Sundays at 10pm on TLC

With tongue planted firmly in cheek...

2010-09-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

So I was not able to hold true to my promise of liveblogging SyFy's latest made-for-TV movie Sharktopus, but I did enjoy watching it this weekend. Sharktopus is a pretty awful low-budget comedy...thriller (?) that probably has little appeal for anyone other than fans of cheeky B-movies. Which if you are, you probably already wanted to see Sharktopus because it is produced by Roger Corman, the Academy Award winner and "King of the B-movies."

I guess given the casting of Eric Roberts as the film's star, I was a little surprised by how low-budget this movie looked (should I have been?). But I guess when you spend all your money on creating a CGI monster that is half-giant shark and half-octopus, it makes sense that the rest of the movie will look like it was filmed on someone's cellphone. I guess my favorite part of the movie was the fact that the Sharktopus only killed out of anger, not even to eat its victims.

So if you're looking for a mindlessly entertaining and slightly gory movie to turn into a drinking game or something, check out Sharktopus, which will be airing repeats on SyFy over the next few weeks.

The Amazing Race 17 premiere

2010-09-27T07:10:00.000-07:00

I can't be the only nerd I know who watches The Amazing Race, right? It has been appointment television for my family for years, and I am pretty excited about this new season. Last night's premiere had a few highlights, including the now-viral scene of a girl getting smashed in the face by a watermelon, and one team not knowing the definition of "battlement," which reminded me of last year's, "Do you know what a candle-uh-brah is?" Here are this year's contestants, in the reverse order in which they made it to the checkpoint:

Ron & Tony, "best friends" who met 20 years ago on the set of The Wiz, were the first team to go home after driving all the way around England without being able to find Stonehenge.
Nick & Vicki, heavily-tattooed motorcyclists, just barely made it to the checkpoint after having pretty much no idea what was going on the whole time.
Andie & Jenna are the most uncomfortable team to watch, as they are a biological mother & daughter (known to the other contestants as "The Gilmore Girls") who have only recently reunited. I got the impression that the situation arose as a call put out by the producers for an adoptive team, rather than that their reunion happened organically. Tricky.
Chad & Stephanie, known as Pan & Tinkerbell, are that couple that they have every year who haven't been dating for very long and are pretty bitchy to each other, and are a general pain in the ass to watch. Stephanie was Miss South Carolina 2009.
Michael & Kevin are my favorites so far, as I'm always endeared by the sweet parent/child teams. Kevin is apparently a YouTube comedy sensation, and his "fob" dad frequently features in his videos. It was so cute how supportive and encouraging they were of each other.
Gary & Mallory are the other cute parent/child team, with Mallory being Miss Kentucky 2009 and her dad being some rich dude. They had a hiccup when they got a flat tire, but managed to pull through and do well for the rest of the race. They checked in at about the same time as Michael & Kevin, and it was cute how Mallory and Kevin cheered for the "dad teams" both doing well. They should probably date, right?
Katie & Rachel are beach volleyball partners, and are kind of boring in terms of being an attractive athletic team that works pretty well together. Probably have a good chance at winning.
Brook & Claire, home shopping television hosts, who tied with Mallory for Most Annoying Screechers. Man I am not into the high-pitched wailing these three harpies did all episode. Brook is also Miss Oregon 2004. Claire's the one who got Gallagher'd.
Connor & Jonathan, the nerds. These nerds are Ivy League a capella nerds, and they're such nerds. I'm just teasing. They were really nice guys who seemed to work well together, but they also put themselves in too many situations where they could get waylaid trying to help out other teams in distress. I am automatically not a fan because they threatened to use their singing gifts to lift everyone's spirits and thank taxi drivers. No thanks.
Nat & Kat are hot surgeons, and are my 2nd favorite team. They were really sweet to each other, know how to deal with high-stress situations, and are in good shape, even with one of them being on an insulin pump. I didn't like how Kat called Nat "Natty," because it made me think of natto.
Jill & Thomas are a dating couple who came in first, and who I honestly can't remember a single thing about. The $1M prize is probably between them and the volleyball girls.

The Amazing Race, Sundays at 8pm on CBS

The Happiest Place on Earth

2010-09-27T07:00:00.000-07:00

Dexter spoilers, in case you're a season behind (that means you, dad)!!!

Season 5 of Dexter premiered last night, and was probably the most anticipated season premiere the series has ever experienced, given last season's show-stopping final scene. Last night's episode was much more of a nail-biter than I'm used to from this show, surprisingly. I've been less nervous watching Dexter's typical stalking and killing of his prey, how he's been shown balancing his daily life with his "Dark Passenger," than I was watching him fail to pass as a grieving widower.

Where do you think this season is going to go? Obviously Quinn (super hot) is going to investigate Dexter, and I do think that his tryst with Deb will turn into something more. Is Dexter going to raise Astor and Cody, or are they going to go off to grandma's house? Won't somebody think of Harrison? I am not sure how Dexter's going to manage to get his killing done with kids at home. Who's going to be the Big Bad?

What did you think of the season premiere? I hope we get to see plenty of Angel and LaGuerta this season. Also, it was particularly delicious seeing Michael C. Hall, as Dexter, going into a funeral home and wondering how the funeral director can seem so believable when offering condolences. I wonder if that was a purposeful shout-out to David Fisher.

Dexter, Sundays at 9pm on Showtime

DAMN YOU, SHARKTOPUS!!!

2010-09-25T07:24:00.000-07:00

Are you ready for the SyFy channel's latest Roger Corman venture, Sharktopus? The movie, starring Eric Roberts, premieres tonight at 9pm on SyFy. Probably like a lot of people, I have known about this movie for months thanks to KROQ entertainment reporter Ralph Garman, who's on the morning Kevin & Bean show here in Los Angeles. Garman will have a starring role in three scenes of the movie, alongside the titular shark-octopus hybrid created as a killing machine by the U.S. Navy.

Watch the trailer below:

I'll do my best to live-blog the movie tonight, unless I get a chance to watch UFC 119 and am delayed.

2010-09-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

All I want to say about last night's episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is that Dennis' wife imitating Mark Wahlberg from Fear made my evening.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 10pm Thursdays on FX

Slut-shaming, guido style

2010-09-24T08:08:00.000-07:00

No, I am not going to recap Jersey Shore. There is nothing I can say about the activities of The Situation, Sammi Sweetheart, Ronnie Cokenose (allegedly), Vinny Bigdong (allegedly), Angelina Trashbags, DJ Pauly D(ong piercing), JWOWW, and Snooki, that will be remotely interesting or not found everywhere else on the internet.

We all know that 75% of these people are complete wastes of time (I have a soft spot for Jenny and Nicole), and I for one am glad that the spotlight is off of Sammi and Ron's brain fart of a relationship, even if it means that Angelina is back at the forefront. She's disliked by everyone in the house, and everyone watching, but I really wanted to feel for her during last night's episode.

The blatant double-standard of how the men on this show can go out looking for women who are "DTF," whose names they don't care to remember, and whom they kick out of the house as soon as they are done with, while a woman who sleeps with a guy she knows once gets termed a "whore" and a "slut," makes me crazy. I know that Angelina, like many of the castmembers, has exhibited seriously hypocritical and jerky behavior. She's totally unlikeable, but I hated how vilified she was being for a fraction of the promiscuity exhibited by The Situation and DJ Prince Albert on the regular.

I know that people watch this show to see minstrel-like exhibitions of stupidity and drunkenness, but I have to wonder how many people in the audience will take this double-standard as something normal or positive. I'd like to recommend the new Emma Stone movie Easy A as a great teen comedy that turns the slut-shaming culture on its ear, for anyone who needs a palate cleanser after last night's Jersey Shore (or the rape joke on 30 Rock).

Jersey Shore, 10pm Thursdays on MTV

Grey's Anatomy season 7 premiere

2010-09-24T08:03:00.000-07:00

So I think I've written in the past about the intense break up I had with Grey's Anatomy back in 2007. The show's second season was one of the strongest collective episodes of a series I've seen in a long time, but when the writers and actors stopped being able to handle the storylines they'd come up with by the end of the third season, they started writing the most ridiculously off-base character arcs, and I had to stop watching and sell my DVDs. I still haven't seen season four, but when a sick day led me to catch up with season five online, I found myself back in the swing of watching. Season six returned to a much better overall level of quality, and ended on an outstanding two-hour finale that rivaled season two episodes "Into You Like a Train" and "It's the End of the World"/"(As We Know It)."

The season seven premiere, though, has taken a dip from that high. The psychiatric consultations were an interesting way to inform us how the characters have been in the month since the mass murder that they survived, but other aspects of the show were incredibly unrealistic. Derek Shepherd (a.k.a. The Droopwaffel) (that's an inside joke) is on his feet and back to surgery four weeks after having been shot in the chest at close range, and is (obviously) back to his old hijinks of racing his fancy car around someplace with a lot of palm trees. That was definitely a great use of screen time. Didn't he used to be a simple guy, into fishing and living in a trailer?

Meredith is annoyed at him for getting arrested all the time, and won't come clean about her miscarriage, which is what's keeping the shrink from clearing her for surgery. Meanwhile Cristina is getting married to Owen within one month of having been broken up, and it's clearly the healthiest marriage of time. Two PTSD survivors hastily getting married because they're afraid to be alone! So great. And all the other characters are trying to deal with their PTSD too, and it's boring. Though Chyler Leigh, as Lexie, is one of the most enjoyable actors to watch on Grey's these days.

We'll see if I keep Grey's in my weekly rotation this time around...if it becomes too boring to recap, then it should be too boring to watch.

Grey's Anatomy, 9pm Thursdays on ABC

NBC Thursday comedy block premieres

2010-09-24T07:55:00.000-07:00

Premiere week brought us new episodes of The Office, 30 Rock, and Community last night, as well as the pilot of Outsourced, a holdover until Parks and Recreation's midseason return (so placed due to Amy Poehler's pregnancy).

Community, 8pm
This show premiered its second season in fine form last night, though it would have been impossible for anyone who didn't watch last year to really understand what was going on. The meta-references worked really well for me, with a running gag about an "Old White Man Says" twitter page being a great dig at CBS' new show (update: this exists). Also, my friend Bill pointed out that actor Don Glover wears a Spiderman t-shirt in his first scene in the episode, calling out to the online rallying there had been for his casting as Peter Parker. I think this episode got a lot of the relationship mumbo-jumbo out of the way for now, which is excellent as no one cares nearly as much about it as we do about Abed and the other supporting characters.

30 Rock, 8:30pm
The season five premiere was a rather mediocre episode with a lot of awesome jokes, and one terrible one. There was a lot of reliance on what the show does really well, which is make insider jokes about NBC Universal and the television writing process. Also Matt Damon returned as Liz Lemon's long-distance pilot boyfriend, which was great. Liz's boyfriends have probably been my favorite characters on the show, now that I think about it. Judah Friedlander's lines got the most laughs out of me, but I can't help that "Would You Rather..." jokes are right up my alley. A protracted visual rape joke regarding Pete and his wife was completely tasteless and out of place for what is usually such a smart show. That was troubling.

The Office, 9pm
It's hard to believe that this show is at its seventh season. Mark me as one of the fans that thinks this show should have wrapped up three seasons ago (the original Office's format should have taught us all a lesson in success), but this was as solid of an episode as we've gotten for the past couple of years. The "lip dub" cold open, in which the office mates attempted to create a single-take viral video, was a fun and sweet way to kick off Steve Carrell's last season. It had a little bit of everything we love about each character. Now that the wedding/baby storylines are out of the way for Jim and Pam, it seems like they might be back to the sweet hijinks of season two, and Dwight was as good as ever. Mindy Kaling - who should shine even more on this show than she already does, because she's amazing - had a great arc as new super-smart Kelly. My favorite line of the night went to bit player Evan Peters, as Michael's nephew Luke, who said, "I love cinema. My favorite movies are Citizen Kane and The Boondock Saints."

Outsourced, 9:30pm
UGH. This is a show which wants to pretend that it's in on the joke, making fun of American excess and perceived cultural ignorance, but in reality it was just pandering to the lowest common denominator. I thought of a summer show I loved, ABC Family's Huge, in which people underrepresented on scripted television were given a show where their characters had depth and were compelling, and their difference to what we usually see on TV was not lampooned. On Outsourced, dozens of actors of South Asian descent participate in a trite run-through of almost every stereotype someone could think of. No thank you.

Moo With Me!

2010-09-23T15:39:00.000-07:00

This week I saw one of the preview performances of Tony-winner Rob Ashford's Leap of Faith, a new musical at the Ahmanson Theatre based on the 1992 film of the same name starring Steve Martin. The show stars Raúl Esparza as "faith healing" con man Jonas Nightingale, who gets stranded in the small, desolate town of Sweetwater, Kansas with his traveling gospel troupe, co-led by his sister Jane (played by Kendra Kassebaum). Their plan to put on their act in Sweetwater gets complicated when Jonas meets a local waitress, Marva (Brooke Shields), and her lovable son Boyd (Nicholas Barasch).

The story was sweet and fun, if wholly as predictable as any about a con man with a soft spot. The music was scored by Alan Menken, most famous for his Disney scores, and the lyrics contribute an upbeat gospel sensibility to the sometimes troubling events onstage. Esparza is incredibly magnetic, and during a flubbed verse that occurred at my showing, he managed to ask the conductor to go back and start over, winning over the crowd with, "It's previews folks, look what you paid for," and later, "Wow, déjà vu!" His scenes with the young Barasch are particularly winning, and the kid has an excellent singing voice (until puberty hits). Shields excelled in her more tense scenes, but her vocal range did not do much justice to the music. The supporting performances of Kassebaum, as well as Kecia Lewis-Evans and Krystal Joy Brown, brought much more impressive musicality.

I wonder how much retooling will have to be done before this play reaches Broadway. Some parts dragged on too slowly, and made me long for the more interesting set pieces that bolster the middle section of the story. In general there was a lot of comic sweetness to a potentially heavy subject matter, and I hope to be able to see the movie upon which it was based sometime soon.

Leap of Faith, running until 10/24 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles

Modern Family, season 2 premiere

2010-09-23T12:26:00.000-07:00

The Dunphys are back! With all the humor of Arrested Development and all the sweetness of Freaks and Geeks, this show has swept me off my feet. If you somehow missed this show's first season, do yourself a favor and buy the DVD so that you can catch up and start watching the new season.

Backstory if you need it:
Mitchell and Claire are a tightly-wound brother and sister who share the same devotion to their families. Their dad Jay and his new wife Gloria are raising Gloria's preteen son Manny, an adorably earnest Casanova-in-training. Claire and her dopey husband Phil are parents to precocious teen Haley, intelligent daughter Alex, and enigmatic son Luke. Mitchell and his partner Cam (a former Division I football player and classically trained Auguste clown) are parents to adorable baby Lily.

Last night's episode was the perfect example of what makes this show so great. It seems like the sweetness of Phil taking his family out for one last picnic in his busted old car before selling it, to make Claire feel better about the onward march of time, cannot be topped. But then Gloria struggling with Manny choosing girls over company with his mother is so adorable! And when Jay and Cam try to be sensitive to Mitchell's complete lack of skill when it comes to handiwork, it's so great.

For me the highlight of the episode was the scene between Phil and Claire when she gets upset about how the kids are growing up. She apologizes for getting so upset, and Phil says, "Don't apologize, I love you when you're human." Shortly afterwards they hug, and Claire can sense Phil getting distracted by the concept of time travel, so she gently says, "Phil, come back to me." His quick glance back off into space just before the show cuts to commercial is just another perfect moment from Ty Burrell.

Modern Family, Wednesdays at 9pm on ABC

New Fall 2010 TV Shows

2010-09-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

I have watched more of this season's new pilots than I can remember watching in any recent year, and as expected, there are more than a few duds. In case you're wondering what to catch up with on Hulu this weekend, here are my brief recommendations.

SUNDAY
Boardwalk Empire, 9pm on HBO
My unpopular opinion is that the Scorsese-directed pilot of this new HBO prohibition drama was far more boring than it should have been. That said, the appeal of a Scorsese-produced gangster tale starring Steve Buscemi is absolutely too great for me to resist following the show for the rest of the season. Michael Pitt's performance is going to be a high point of this series, I predict, and I have loved Kelly Macdonald for ages. I will keep watching, and hope not to be disappointed.

Sister Wives, 10pm on TLC
Premieres this Sunday, 9/23. Haven't seen yet, but I will surely be drawn to the trainwreck.

MONDAY
Lone Star, 9pm on Fox
This troubled show is already facing the possibility of cancellation after having aired only the pilot, and this could be yet another one of Fox's missed opportunities. The story of a con man leading a double life is far from fresh, but there was something charming and interesting about this show's debut. It may be difficult for me to look past the bigamy aspect of the story, but there was just enough intrigue for me to wonder how the protagonist will be able to juggle everything in his life. That said, I don't know if a drama set in the world of Texas oil barons is something that Fox audiences would ever respond to.

The Event, 9pm on NBC
I've been burned before when promising shows such as Heroes, FlashForward, and The 4400 petered off, unable to sustain the momentum they had created for themselves with lofty hooks. Mercifully, The Event fizzles out about 10 minutes in to the first episode, so I don't have to get invested in it before feeling disappointed.

Chase, 10pm on NBC
U.S. Marshals tracking down criminals, Texas-style, with witticisms aplenty. Boring.

Hawaii Five-0, 10pm on CBS
To quote my friend Tony, "It's got Boomer and Jin in it. There's no way it could suck." Except that lead actor Alex O'Loughlin is completely without charisma. Nonetheless, a glossy cop show set in Hawaii could turn out to be one of the more sustainably solid dramas of the season, so I will probably check out a couple more episodes. And hey, who doesn't love watching troubled white protagonists with helpful PoC sidekicks? (Sigh.)

TUESDAY
No Ordinary Family, 8pm on ABC
I liked it better when it was called ~~The Fantastic Four~~ The Incredibles.

Raising Hope, 9pm on Fox
A lighthearted comedy of errors in the vein of Scrubs, Malcolm in the Middle, and My Name is Earl (from the creators of, etc.), this was a very sweet and quirky story of a loser raising his baby with the help of his irresponsible family. And most importantly, MARTHA PLIMPTON!

Running Wilde, 9:30pm on Fox
A single-camera comedy from Mitch Hurwitz, starring Will Arnett and Keri Russell, with a cameo by David Cross?!?! OMG yes please. Except wow this pilot was boring, awkward, and borderline offensive. I'll surely give it a shot (as we all know, pilots can suffocate trying to set up their worlds) for a few more episodes, but David Cross' new IFC show The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, which premieres next month, looks way better.

Detroit 1-8-7, 10pm on ABC
While I doubt that this type of show needs, or will even really benefit from, the mockumentary style used in the pilot,* this was an impressive debut for a fairly typical cop procedural. It almost came off like someone tried their best to dilute The Wire for network primetime, and succeeded. A multicultural cast led well by Michael Imperioli, this might be for people who love Law & Order, but tune out when the show gets to the courtroom.
*I just found out that they recut the show to omit this aspect, but I saw the pilot on a screener before the premiere.

WEDNESDAY
Undercovers, 8pm on NBC
J.J. Abrams' latest spy caper stars Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw as an extremely sexy married couple drawn back into their former lives as CIA operatives. Well, Alias this isn't. I found the pilot to be boring as sin, and while I would love to see an awesome successful show led by a PoC cast (see Hawaii Five-0, above), I was not compelled enough to want to keep tuning in.

Hellcats, 9pm on The CW
Yeah, this show is just not up my alley. I know, I watch really silly shows like Gossip Girl and Greek and even The Secret Life of the American Teenager, but this one takes itself waaay too seriously. And while Aly Michalka's backstory and setup are completely ridiculous, there was a great throwaway line about how her drunk of a mom vomited on her during a gymnastics competition a few years back. That is incredible.

THURSDAY
My Generation, 8pm on ABC
I loved this show. I saw the pilot a few weeks ago and I am actively excited to see it again. Combining the ennui of a mosaic cast in their late 20's with flashbacks to their senior year of high school in the year 2000, this show has tons of heart, and amuses with its mockumentary tics. Plus the soundtrack elements of the flash backs warm my 1999-music-lovin' heart.

S#*! My Dad Says, 8:30pm on CBS
Premieres tonight, 9/23. Haven't yet seen, but I read the pilot script, and it was surprisingly enjoyable for an adaptation of a twitter feed (this is the time we are living in!). And if you haven't been suffering from Shatner over-saturation, this could be really fun.

Outsourced, 9:30pm on NBC
Haven't yet seen, but am fairly convinced I should expect this to be offensively bad. I am reminded of Aliens in America, which maybe I didn't "get," but which I could barely get through one episode of.

FRIDAY
Blue Bloods, 10pm on CBS
The best way I can describe this is that it is the ultimate show for my mom. She's a cop who loves cop shows, and it stars Tom Selleck: perfect recipe. As the child of a law enforcement family, I definitely enjoyed how the pilot set up the central family. Dad's the Chief of the NYPD, one son is a detective, one son is a rookie, one son died on duty, and the daughter is an ADA. Even grandpa is a retired cop. But it will fall to the rookie to consider investigating a secret society in the NYPD that may well intersect with his own family history...

Glee, season 2 premiere

2010-09-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

So, last year's insta-sensation Glee came back for its second season last night, and I have one thing to say about that: Mike Chang's abs. I might make them my desktop wallpaper, and then when IT comes to help me update QuickTime or whatever, they can judge me for having dude abs as my wallpaper. (Though they're just as cute as my current wallpaper, otters holding hands, if you ask me.)

Okay, I guess that's not the only thing I have to say. As usual, the plot line of the episode was a total yawner, and I didn't care one bit whether the glee club found new members or anything. Rachel is a completely unlikable character, and I am really looking forward to seeing her reaction when Finn leaves her for new blond quarterback / shower-singer Sam (who is basically Ronnie/Sunshine from Remember the Titans, right?). Honestly there was more sexual tension in the glances the two of them made at each other during the "Empire State of Mind" number than in any scene with Kurt last season.

I loved the addition of Coach Beiste (played by Dot Jones, who according to Wikipedia, is a champion arm wrestler) as another foil for Sue Sylvester, whose bullying went way over the top. I'll miss Tanaka, though. And whither Emma Pillsbury? Sue wasn't given much room to breathe in this episode, but any Jane Lynch is better than none.

I thought it was a pretty mediocre season premiere, both musically and story-wise. But the new additions were entertaining, and I am just excited that there seems to be more Brittany going on, because she is the greatest character on television right now (I can't tell if I'm serious about that or not). There were other plot points that were completely uninteresting, so whatever. For now:

Glee, Tuesdays at 8pm on Fox

On a Clear Night

2010-09-21T12:20:00.000-07:00

This weekend I saw the Australian indie musical Bran Nue Dae, Rachel Perkins' adaptation of the 1990 stage show known for bringing Aboriginal stories to the Australian stage. The film begins on an entertaining high note with a comedic number set in a church that touches on many of the themes that teenage protagonist Willie will have to deal with throughout the movie. As it goes on, the quality of the entertainment declines, but with all its flaws, it's difficult to fault the movie too much.

While the quality of the acting is unimpressive, and the musical performances do not live up to the songs themselves, my biggest complaint with the movie is that not enough was done in the adaptation process to make the story stand on its own as a film. Sometimes it felt like watching a staged reading. Lead actor Rocky McKenzie has about a thimble-full of charisma, but he leaves room for more interesting supporting performances by Geoffrey Rush, Ernie Dingo, and Tom Budge (and impressive singing by Missy Higgins and Jessica Mauboy, unsurprisingly). It would have been great to see more time and planning devoted to the musical numbers, but I wondered if efforts to keep the story true to its origins got in the way of what could have taken on new life as a great quirky musical film. And for the record, looping the audio of tap dancing into scenes where actors' feet are out of frame is against the rules.

Major themes in the film are about how to properly express identification with the Aboriginal culture, and what it means to be an Aborigine. I wondered why, then, the story was set in 1969, two years after Aboriginal people legally became considered people in Australia (previously, they were listed as native fauna). There are a number of characters or lines in the movie which hint at the systematic usage of Aboriginal women for sex that had been ongoing for decades, but it all fades into a lighthearted wink at the camera and there are no real lessons to be learned. In the end, all the characters, regardless of origin, gather around a table and sing the main chorus:

There's nothing I would rather be
Than to be an Aborigine,
And watch you take my precious land away.
For nothing gives me greater joy
Than to watch you fill each girl and boy
With superficial existential shit.

I wondered exactly how seriously we were supposed to take the movie, and landed on regarding it as a very sweet and simple musical comedy of errors, with a lot of unfulfilled potential. I wonder how it was received by viewers with no exposure to Australian history or culture, or to Australians. Thoughts?