The Dark Knight Rises Review - Spoiler Free

The emergence of the comic book movie genre in the early 2000’s was started by 2 different trilogies, X-Men and Spiderman. In both instances the first two movies teased the third and when that third movie finally came out it was a disappointment. Both were overloaded with villains and failed to pay off on the storylines and character arcs that they had established. The Nolan Batman trilogy was not formed the same way. Each movie was not intended to build towards the next. However, “The Dark Knight Rises” solidified the three movies as a trilogy. A trilogy that does not disappoint in its final act like so many have before it. Nolan has made three different movies, each focusing on a different type of movie. “Batman Begins” will be remembered as one of the best origin movies, “The Dark Knight” will be remembered as one of the best Joker/psychological thriller movie, and “The Dark Knight Rises” will be remembered as one of the best action movies of all time.


During the build up to the movie concern began to grow as more and more new characters were added to the mix. But by casting high caliber actors and with the clever scripting the trap that many other third installments fall into was avoided by Mr. Nolan. The most notable new casting belongs to Tom Hardy as Bane and Anne Hathaway as Selina Kyle. Bane is a difficult character as he has been mishandled in the comics for years until recently in “Secret Six;” but Hardy played Bane in the way that he should be played. As someone who becomes an evil Batman. He has the training and the strength but instead of trying to save the city he is trying to destroy it. The Bane in this movie is the best version of Bane I have ever seen and that includes the stories I have read in the comics. There has been a lot of negative press regarding Anne Hathaway as Catwoman. I never really understood this, I guess people only know her from “The Princess Diaries,” but she is terrific, she portrays the sexuality and the conflicting feelings that Catwoman should have. Both put in a great performance and the returning cast puts in the fantastic performances that we have come to expect from them.

Nolan has filmed a great story here. I was fortunate enough to see the film at an IMAX theatre and all of the big action sequences in the movie were truly epic. One of the most memorable parts of the movie was the actual music. The chanting that has been heard throughout the previews for the movie builds throughout the film and when it starts playing the audience starts moving to the edge of their seat. All of this served to help the audience follow a plot that at times can feel a little complicated. If there is any weakness to talk about in the film it’s that there are parts in the middle of the movie that slow the flow down and we get an exposition dump that isn’t delivered clearly. This is all cleared up by the end of the movie but it was at this point where I wanted the movie to move forward. The ending of the movie had a couple of moments that took away from the impact of the film and it did get a little bit comic bookie at the end.

Overall though the film is a great piece of work and is a fantastic end to the Nolan trilogy. They don’t have to make another Batman film ever and I would be happy. But we all know that won’t happen. I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

The Godfather - The Oscar Project Part XLV

Now we’re getting into the really good stuff. The 1972 winner for the Best Picture Oscar was “The Godfather.” I have seen this film many times before so there weren’t really any surprises for me here. It is one of the most influential film of the past 50 years. Not only does it begin the telling of a great story that is finished with “The Godfather II” (I won’t mention the third film), but it also brought to prominence a slew of great actors which includes Al Pacino, Robert Duvall and James Caan.


“The Godfather” follows the story of Michael Corleone, the youngest brother of a family of Italian-Americans. The first part of the movie sets up the world of underground crime that the family is involved in. Things take a turn for the worse when the head of the family, Vito, played by Marlon Brando, refuses to begin trafficking drugs. When he is shot, Michael gets drawn into the world of crime and eventually must flee the country and live in Italy. While there he marries a local girl who is then murdered in an assassination attempt on Michael. Eventually Michael returns to America after his older brother is killed and takes over the family, marries the girlfriend that he left in the states and then must deal with the fallout of the death of his father. The movie ends with him becoming a Godfather to his nephew and at the same time settling all family business by taking revenge on his enemies.

What more is there to say about this movie that hasn’t already been said, the first thing I think of when I think about “The Godfather” is the theme music. If you’ve seen the movie you are probably already hearing it in your head. The second would be the acting; my favorite scene is at the end when Michael is confronting someone that betrayed him. You can see that he has completely given into the world of crime at this point and is an evil man. Pacino puts in the performance of a lifetime here, and he isn’t the only one to give a solid performance, there isn’t a weak spot to be found in the acting. The only point that people have really ever found contention with is the complicated plot. It may take several viewing to fully understand what is going on. And it did take me more than one watch to be able to fully describe the plot to someone. It’s a movie that makes you work. But it is so good that you won’t mind.
“The Godfather” will remain on Top 10 lists for a long time. And it should. The film holds up to any of the gangster and crime films of today. If you haven’t seen it rent or just go buy the film. You won’t regret it. 5 out of 5 stars.

Mad Men - S5E13 - The Phantom

With two huge episodes before this one it is not surprising that “The Phantom” lacked a lot of big moments that we expect from the season finale of “Mad Men.” Instead we get a nice character piece. A large portion of this episode focused on Pete and his continued adventures with his mistress. It turns out that she is going to get shock therapy to help with her depression. She believes that she has found a kindred spirit in Pete as someone else that cannot be happy. But she’s wrong as he believes that he can be happy if he is with her. After the shock therapy, she no longer remembers Pete though. It is revealed later that her husband makes her do this every time she cheats on him. The ensuing fight on the train leads Trudy to let Pete get what he has wanted, an apartment in the city. Finally Pete gets what he wants just to have something that he actually cared about ripped away.


We also get a nice little check in with Peggy. It’s quite a different experience with her boss who wants her to do anything to land a client instead of Don who would look at the merit of the creativity as a means of landing a client. She is of course put on what will be named Virginia Slims and their future tagline, “You’ve come a long way baby.” Something that Peggy can relate too. The closing shot at the end shows that even though she has moved forward she still has a long way to go before she’s truly arrived and sees an Eiffel Tower out her window instead of two dogs having sex.

Roger had a minor story as well as he was able to bed Megan’s mother and tried to convince her to take LSD with him. She refused, but he was insistent on regaining the clarity and optimism that he had lost since last taking the drug. The ending shot clearly indicates that he has again tried the drug. Meanwhile Megan was being exceptionally pouty about not landing any acting gigs. She wines and complains until she finally gets Don to help her, sacrificing her marriage to help her career.

As for Don, he continued to struggle with Lane’s suicide since it so closely mirrored what happened to his half-brother during the first season. In fact it affected him so much that he began to see his brother everywhere. After trying to make things right with Lane’s wife and refusing to help Megan, with a perfectly reasonable explanation, all while suffering with a tooth ache he finally visits the dentist and while he is under sees his brother again who promises to help him remove the pain, but also promises that he will still be ‘hanging’ around. The whole experience and a quick meeting with Peggy that helps him clear out the cobwebs, inspires him to help Megan. But as Peggy told him, when you help someone they move on, and once Don helps Megan with her career, she will move on. As he walks away, you can see that their relationship is now over. She may still be around, but it won’t be the same any more. And if him walking away from Megan isn’t enough, the smile he gives when the young ladies hit on him should be more than enough to signal that Don is back on the market looking for someone new.

This season on “Mad Men” has been different. I’m used to a nice slow burn from a television series that doesn’t feel like TV. This year more than any other felt like regular television. Maybe it’s just that they’ve been away for a while and the bar has been raised, but I don’t feel like this was the same as previous seasons. That doesn’t mean we didn’t get great character development or great stories. It was just easier. I’m used to working to enjoy “Mad Men” and I liked that. We have a year to wait to see if this is a pattern or something that Weiner had planned to bring into focus how the final two season will need to play out.

E3 2012 Recap

The first full week of June every year is always highly anticipated as it indicates that it is time for E3. For those that don’t know E3 is the Electronic Entertainment Expo and is held every year in California. It is essentially the biggest event for video games held every year. The show starts with a press conference from the larger companies, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, EA and Ubisoft. Then the actual floor opens for the press to try out the games that will be released in the future. The event isn’t open to the public, but they do air the press conferences on television and internet along with reports from the show floor.


Every year I look forward to this week so that I know what I can expect to play over the next year. Unfortunately with the conference getting larger many of the companies are releasing information ahead of time, which ruins some of the surprises that happened at past E3’s. Here is what went down this year.

It started with Microsoft. Their big game was Halo 4, which does look pretty cool and it will be nice to not fight the covenant or the reach for once. They were also able to show off Splinter Cell and Call of Duty, but to be honest I’m over the first person shooter genre. It just doesn’t offer enough interesting game play for me to keep coming back. A good chunk of their show was dedicated to the introduction of SmartGlass. This new piece of software will allow your smart phone and tablet devices to add additional functionality to the video games you are playing on the Xbox. While this seems interesting and is an obvious shot at Nintendo, it will be interesting to see if they can get it to work right with all of the different tablets and smart phones available. They also had Usher.

Then came EA who I barely watched. I thought they showed some generic stuff and nothing that really interested me except for SimCity 5. I loved the old SimCity games and this one looks to recapture some of the magic of old. If my computer can run it I might want to check it out. Then came Ubisoft which showed some great WiiU demos in Rayman and ZombiU, but I was much more interested in Assassin’s Creed III, which will switch things up and focus on the American Revolution. I also am very interested in their new IP, Watchdogs. It was a breath of fresh air to see something new up there.

The first day ended with Sony. I don’t own a Playstation but this conference brought me closer to wanting to buy one. They were able to show off three big exclusives, all of which looked like great and fun games with Beyond: Two Souls, Playstation All Stars: Battle Royale and The Last of Us. They all looked great but I have no idea how I am going to convince my wife that we need a Playstation. Suggestions are welcome.

The second day started with Nintendo, who had a lot of pressure on them as they are trying to launch a new system, the WiiU, this year. They needed to come out with something big and I just don’t think they were able to do it. Pikmin 3 looks great, but it’s not enough. I’ve played Batman, I don’t need to play it again even if the controls are different and NintendoLand is at best a tech demo and looks to be nothing more than a collection of mini games. They needed something big and they didn’t bring it. In fact the only really new game they showed was NintendoLand. That just isn’t enough. In fact the most interesting game, Project P-100, wasn’t even part of the conference. Swing and a miss.

I typically use E3 to make my Christmas list and right now Assassin’s Creed III is looking pretty lonely. Maybe Tomb Raider will get added, but I’m not really excited this year. I want to play guys, bring it.

Mad Men - S5E12 - Commisions and Fees

“Mad Men” is quite the ride this season. Normally we have a slow build up, but this season every episode is thrilling. I thought after the events of last weeks’ episode we would slow down a little before the season finale, but apparently not. This week let’s start with the adventures of Sally Draper. We see that the relationship between Sally and Betty has not improved as Sally refuses to go on a ski vacation and demands to stay with her Dad and Megan (rich people problems). While in the city Sally tries her best to act like a young woman and not a little girl; the signs clearly point to her not yet being a woman. She pours a ton of sugar into her coffee and when she calls her boyfriend, Glen, over she plays dress up while the two of them decide to go to the museum and pretend they are adults. But then suddenly and forcefully she does become a young woman by having her period; which makes her act like a scarred little girl by running to her mother for comfort. It is in this moment that Betty finally shows compassion to her daughter and the two of them bond in a way they haven’t before, because Sally is no longer just her little girl.




Over in the Don corner of the universe, we see that he is still upset about what happened with Joan and Jaguar. However, it is brought to his attention that he issued a check to Lane for $7,500. Knowing that he didn’t sign the check, he confronts Lane and asks him to resign. Witnessing Lane’s breakdown and how Don wasn’t able to help him drives him to build the business bigger. He confronts Roger and tells him he wants Dow. The company that told him he would never be hired because of his letter. They get the meeting and Don is ferocious, he is hungry. You could very well view his scene of Don talking Dow as Don talking to himself. It will be interesting to see how long this continues after this episode.



Before finishing Don’s story it is time to visit with Lane Pryce. After being honored with a position with 4A’s (and advertising association) he is confronted by Don. The breakdown leads him to fall even further with lies to his wife and inappropriate comments to Joan. However his wife has a surprise, she bought him a Jaguar. There is nothing more that could symbolize his failure more right now. It drives him to decide to commit suicide and the car won’t start. A fitting result given that he couldn’t start Jaguar at the company either. He decides instead to commit the deed at work. Seeing as he has already given everything to the company that is where he should end it all. When Don finds out what he did, he instantly knows why Lane did it. And he can’t leave him there. And so the three men who lifted him up from PPL are forced to bring him back down. Lifting him up from where he was is what ultimately led to his doom; it’s poetic that those three are the ones to bring him down.



Only one more episode left. I don’t expect anything as altering as the past two episodes to occur but it should help to wrap up the season nicely.

Mad Men S5E11 - The Other Woman

“Mad Men” gave us one of the best episodes ever this week in the form of “The Other Woman.” This time the storyline revolved around 2 people. Don, Joan and Peggy. Let’s start with Peggy. Due to the Jaguar pitch being the focus of all the men in the office, Peggy has to take care of all of the other business. While she is happy to be trusted with so much responsibility, she is disappointed that she is not being appreciated with catered lunches full of lobsters. To make matters worse, after she convinces a client to not pull a commercial she gets no praise and instead has money thrown at her face. This drives her to take a lunch with Freddy Rumson, who encourages her to try and spread her wings. We next see her take a meeting with Ted Chaough, Don’s arch-nemesis, who offers her a very good job and promises her appreciation.




Before getting to the end of her story let’s check in with Joan. It turns out that one of the people that will vote on the Jaguar ad campaign is a super pervert and is demanding a night with Joan for his vote. Pete, being the most perverted of the partners, pushes for ways to make this happen. Don wants no part of it and Roger can’t believe she would even consider it. After agreeing to $50,000 to offer her, Lane, who is still trying to hide his embezzlement, convinces her to instead ask for a partnership in the company. Pete works to make this happen and now that he feels more empowered at work he brings up the apartment again at home to Trudy. Her response shows us that not only is Pete not really in charge at work, but he has barely any say in things at home.



While all of this is going on Don and the boys are trying to come up with a slogan while at the same time dealing with the fact that Megan may have to go to Boston for a play. Fortunately for Megan as the play, “Little Murders” lasted a grand total of 7 performances. Megan in this becomes something beautiful that Don realizes that he can’t control that opposite of Jaguar. Eventually Ginsberg is able to put this together with a killer pitch for Jaguar, “At last, something beautiful you can truly own.” And as he said it my smile matched Don’s. It was the perfect counterpoint to what he was feeling with Megan. However he is then given the news that an agreement has been reached with Joan. Realizing they have the perfect pitch, Don rushes to Joan’s house to stop her. After their time out last week he has respect for her and doesn’t want her to do something she would regret and doesn’t want to lose her.



It is during Don’s pitch to Jaguar that we learn that Don was too late and Joan had already gone through with the date. In one of the best sequences ever on Mad Men we see Don sell an object as Joan is reduced to one. The firm ends up landing Jaguar as a client, but Don is of course less than happy because he knows what the price was. The show could have ended here and been perfect, but Mad Men hit us with one more great scene. Peggy enters, and then quits. Don tries to keep her, but all he can do is kiss her hand, realizing that no matter what he has done for her he has never and could never own Peggy and he now has one less beautiful thing in his life.

Mad Men - S5E10 - The Christmas Waltz

It’s been two weeks since my last “Mad Men” recap and analysis so this week you’ll get two updates. The first episode was “The Christmas Waltz.” The episode ended up focusing on Harry Crane and Lane Pryce. Harry is treated with a visit from an old friend and we get to learn what happened to Paul Kinsey. It turns out that he went all Hare Krishna. During the Krishna chant Harry becomes enamored with Paul’s “girlfriend” Lakshmi. Harry also learns that Paul is trying to get out and take Lakshmi with him. Paul wants Harry to pass on a script for “Star Trek”, a script that was never used, but he is also pressured by Lakshmi to leave Paul alone, so much so that she has sex with him to guilt him into never seeing Paul again. Harry finally decides to do the decent thing and just give Paul some money so that he can get out of the situation he is in. All that we really get from this is that Harry is really just a shmuck. Not only does he sleep with Paul’s girlfriend but he also doesn’t tell Paul the truth.




Over at the office we also follow Lane Pryce as he learns he owes $8,000 dollars to the British government. He doesn’t have the money and ends up embezzling the money and borrowing an extra $50,000 dollars so that he can hide his embezzlement by giving everyone bonuses. Unfortunately for him the timing is bad as they are now in contention for Jaguar again and Mohawk is pulling its advertising due to a strike. Lane goes so far as to forge Don’s name on a check to get his money though. We are seeing how much Lane has changed since we first met him and how he is slowly becoming more and more dirtier. Odds are as the season finale approaches this will be the main problem that SCDP will have to contend with.



Lastly let’s check in with Don. At the urge of Pete he goes to test drive a Jaguar. On his way out he picks up Joan who has just been handed her divorce papers. The two hit the Jaguar showroom and behave like a perfect couple. It’s very reminiscent of how Don acted with Megan for the Cool Whip bit. His success last week with the Snoball ad may have invigorated him and allowed him to enjoy his work again. The two end up at a bar and decide to start their relationship over. Since Don has always been afraid of Joan. Eventually the two split as Don goes to return the Jaguar. He returns home to an angry dinner throwing wife and does not seem to be very happy. The next day he sends flowers to Joan. It’s interesting what they are setting up here. It almost feels like Joan and Don may be destined for a date.



The episode ends with Don giving a nice St. Swithens Day speech about how the company will get Jaguar and it will be their defining moment. How right he was. More to come this week.

2011-2012 Television Season Review Part I

Some years it’s almost a relief when the TV season ends. It all depends on how much I am enjoying the season this year and the quality of television that is being produced. It also depends on how well the Tigers are doing at the beginning of the season. Unfortunately, this year they have been a bit of a letdown and now I don’t have any excuses not to watch their continued decent into misery. But lets take a look at what the 2011 – 2012 television season gave us.
Sunday Nights – Sunday has become one of the busiest nights of television for me. There is way to much on that I enjoy watching. In addition to the network shows, cable shows great stuff on Sundays as well with “Sherlock,” “Mad Men” and “Game Of Thrones.” But I’m going to stick with the network stuff for this review.
Fox Animation Block – Another year and another decent season. All of these shows are starting to blend together. Particularly the Seth McFarland block of “The Cleveland Show”, “Family Guy” and “American Dad,” in fact these three blend together so much that “The Simpsons” stands out more as something original. Not bad for a show in its 23rd season. They get a C for the season.
The Amazing Race – To be honest I barely remember the fall race. But I do remember the winter/spring race. It was a good solid race and the team that won was a powerhouse. I didn’t feel like anyone else had a chance and it was difficult to like a lot of the racers since there was so much negativity this year. They’ve earned themselves a B-.
Once Upon a Time – The big freshman hit of the year. I was worried about this show when it began. After all, how long could this curse thing hold our interest? Fortunately, the writers recognized this and gave us a few other storylines that we could invest in apart from the curse. I was pleasantly surprised though when the curse was lifted at the end of the first season. It looks like next season will focus on whatever Gold did at the end of the season combined with Snow and Charmings fight to take back the kingdom in flashbacks. It should make for a fun season. An A- for the freshman year.
Monday Nights:
The Voice – I enjoyed the second season of “The Voice” about as much as I did the first season. In which I started out really liking it and then got bored with it by the end. It would be nice to see them change things up a little for the next round. But with it being in the fall, I’m not sure I really want to watch another round by then. I give them a C.
How I Met Your Mother – The show has really begun to show its age. Every once in a while it has a few moments of genius, but right now I’m watching it for the plot, not the comedy. But they may continue to run the show for as long as they can since it still brings in great ratings. They get a C+.
2 Broke Girls – Another freshman hit. This is probably the most offensive show on TV, but it sure is funny. I don’t really care too much about cupcakes here, I just want more inappropriate joke. That is what will keep me coming back. Both girls bet a B-.
Smash – I was really looking forward to this show all year. It started out great, but then it stalled for a while before picking up again at the end. I’m happy to see that a lot of the really bad subplots have been dropped and I am interested to see how it will be retooled next year. Hopefully it doesn’t stray to far into “Glee” territory. The strong end gets them a B.
Tuesday Nights:

Glee – Sigh, I must be a masochist, otherwise why would I still be watching this show. For every great number that they do, they perform 20 bad ones. The plot makes no sense and I hate the two leads. This season ended with a lot of closure. I have yet to decide if I will be back. It might just be to check out how they plan to handle the story now. I don’t know, maybe it’s best to just cut it. This season gets a C-.

New Girl – Probably the best new show this year. And a show that learned to evolve. It started as a way to just look at the cuteness of Zoey Dechenal. But it evolved into a great and very funny sitcom. I loved the arc the characters took and look forward to seeing if they can repeat it again next year. For Schmidt alone it gets an A.

More to come so stay tuned!

The French Connection - The Oscar Project Part XLIV

The 1971 film “The French Connection” is most remembered for the car chase that happens at the end of the movie. The chase movies of today are not known for being typical Oscar bait, so I was curious to see what else this movie would bring to the table. What I got from it was a good, solid police story, but nothing that would really stand out in today’s world. It would be filed alongside Lethal Weapon and Bad Boys now. So the importance of this movie comes from it starting a genre instead of being a movie that has stood the test of time.




The movie revolves around two cops, Popeye and Cloudy, as they investigate the smuggling of narcotics from Marseilles to New York. As the plot moves along, we see the criminals attempt to bring the drugs in while the two police officers get closer to finding them. Soon a high speed chase ensues between Doyle and an assassin that has the killer hijacking an elevated train and killing a police officer. Eventually they cops realize the drugs are being smuggled over in a car. The movie ends with a shoot out between the police and the smugglers.



The story tries to show the human side to the police officers and Gene Hackman and Roy Schieder both put in decent performances. But I have seen better from both of them since this performance. The movie itself tells a nice story that is good popcorn fun. But there are better cop movies and better heist movies that you can see. Having watched those movies over the past 30 years before seeing “The French Connection” makes this movie nothing more than a novelty for those who want to know where the drama got its big break from.



It really is a decent movie, it just doesn’t hold up in today’s world. I give it 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Mad Men S5E9 Dark Shadows

It seems mighty convenient that this weeks Mad Men titled “Dark Shadows” aired the same week that a movie with the same name was released in theatres. But, it is a fairly harmless product tie in and it works with the time period, so good for Mad Men. This week lets start with Roger. After being asked to help bring in a Jewish customer for the company by Bert, he turns to Michael since he is Jewish, but it isn’t enough and he also has to bring in his former wife Jan. Both of them he is forced to pay off to convince them to work with him. Which says something about his relationship with people; everyone knows him as the money. Even though the dinner goes great, he does manage to upset Jan by sleeping with her at her new apartment, which ruins the new place for her. I think this really upsets Roger as he sees himself as a changed man after his LSD trip. If he hasn’t changed as people are suggesting will he take another trip to try and change again?



We also finally got to see what Betty has been up to, and we find out that she has grown a little and is now in Weight Watchers. I’m a little disappointed here, because last we saw her she was eating Sally’s ice cream. What changed and drove her to diet? Where is that story? Anyways, she is using the Weight Watchers meeting as her own personal psychiatry session. She expresses to them about her difficult time when she had to pick up the kids from Don and saw they’re great apartment with the great view, and got a view of Don’s young, thin wife and then watches her kiss her kid’s goodbye. Betty tries to extract her revenge by telling Sally about Anna Draper. This at first drives a wedge between Megan, Sally and Don. But Megan acts as the adult and explains to Don what Betty is trying to do. Sally overhears this, and once Don explains who Anna was is okay. But not before exacting her revenge on Betty by telling her how Don and Megan told her all about Anna. It seems Sally has some claws to match her mother’s and may be more like Betty than she realizes.



Finally let’s check in on Don, after realizing that Michael has been producing a lot of work and has a funny pitch for his next idea, he finally returns to trying to write a tagline. Try as he might it was Michael’s pitch that everyone agrees to go with. That doesn’t work with Don though and he sells the client on his Devil idea after leaving Michael’s pitch in the cab. This makes Michael upset and when he tries to confront Don about it; Don just puts him in his place by letting him know how little Michael means to him. After all he’s Don Draper, he doesn’t need Michael Ginsberg, Michael Ginsberg needs him. There has been a lot of talk about people wanting to leave SDCP this season, I think Michael is pretty high on the list of soon to be former SDCP employees.

Mad Men - S5E8 - Lady Lazarus

This week’s “Mad Men” was entitled “Lady Lazarus,” which also happens to be the name of a Sylvia Plath poem. The poem describes a woman that is continuously brought back to life even though she wishes for death. Her first death was an accident, but her second death was something that she brought on herself. After she is brought back, she is determined to take control of her life from then on. It’s not hard to see how this relates to Megan’s journey in this episode. Megan wanted to be an actress, but that life ended up dying. She was brought back to life through Don’s proposal but she was unhappy in what she was doing. So she commits career suicide and comes back determined to live her life the way that she wants, as an actress.

The more interesting journey in this episode belonged to Pete. Roger dumps off a sporting account on him at the beginning of the episode, I’m curious is Roger is trying to implement some sort of plan here, to bog Pete down with enough day to day work that he bungles it all and can’t handle it, much like he couldn’t handle taking the skis out of his office. On the way home that day he meets up with the wife of one the people that he regularly rides the train into the city with. Pete knows that the man is in the city cheating on his wife and gives her a ride home. They of course end up doing it. Pete sees this as an opening to have something that he doesn’t have yet, someone that he can meet up with on the side and be in control of. This of course isn’t what happened. She denied him in several situations. It was once again showing Pete that he wasn’t in control. She kissed him first and now she is ending it. Work is the only place that he has some semblance of control and even that is barely there after he was taken out by Pryce a few weeks ago. We know that Pete has a loaded gun in his office, and this episode took the chance to point out the suicide clause in his life insurance policy. Signs are pointing to a possible early exit for Pete coming soon.

The Megan situation from the episode was really about how it affected Don though. Don was happy at work. He enjoyed working with Megan and that was very evident by the banter the two of them demonstrated for the Cool Whip commercial. While that showed Don’s joy at working with his wife, it also demonstrated how happy Megan would be with acting. Eventually Megan does quit though and Don must deal with the ramifications. He tries to perform the Cool Whip bit with Peggy for the Head of Desserts, seriously that was his title, but it doesn’t go well. Why? Because both he and Peggy are upset for Megan leaving and without Megan, Don just doesn’t care about his work again. Don’s world is changing and he is starting to be out of touch with what is popular. The biggest evidence of this comes in the final scene. As Don comes home to his wife leaving, a major change for him, Megan has him listen to the Beatles song, “Tomorrow Never Knows” from Revolver, the album and song that signaled the evolution of the Beatles. Don can barely listen to the song, shuts it off and heads to bed, signaling that he, for one, is not ready to evolve.

Patton - The Oscar Project Part XLIII

The 1970’s starts with a film that reminded me a lot of one of the early films of the 60’s. “Patton” tells the story of General Patton and his command during the second World War. The way the story plays out is very similar to the way that “Lawrence of Arabia” plays out. Both feature strong military leaders that end up being ignored by the government by the end of the film. Except this one featured an American leader as opposed to a British one.

“Patton” of course opens with his famous speech in front of the American flag. It is meant to be a version of his pep talk that he would give the third Army. We then learn about his command and his harsh rules. Eventually we also see how effective he is at his command. He leads his army across Africa and is able to make quite a bit of headway in Sicily before he is relieved for threatening a soldier suffering from shellshock. However it is shown that Germany is so afraid of Patton that they believe that he will lead the invasion. He is given a dummy command to distract Germany while the invasion of Normandy takes place. Eventually he does get a command in Europe and is able to drive it as far as he can go. But he constantly says the wrong things to the press and upsets leaders from other countries, and is quietly removed from command again.

This was another actor driven movie. It was George C. Scott’s performance as Patton that really sells this movie. Director Franklin Schnaffner did a good job of directing, but since I couldn’t help but compare the film to “Lawrence of Arabia” I can’t help but feel that he came up short compared to the excellent job that was done with that film. Making the film live and die by the performance of Scott. And he nailed that performance. History buffs complain that it is not completely accurate to Patton. But I contend that it is how Germany and the United States viewed Patton. I think that it was more critical to meet that image than to try and fit what the man was precisely, given the context of the movie.

Overall I think “Patton” makes for a pretty decent biopic. My only complaint is that it doesn’t tell a complete story. I would have liked a more complete ending. Still I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Mad Men - S5E7 - At the Codfish Ball

The episode “At the Codfish Ball” boils down to one shot at the end of the episode, a moment where everyone has a realization of where they are in life. But before we get to that shot let’s take a look at how we got there. This week I’ll start with Peggy. After a quick scene where we get a call back to a previous argument between Peggy and her boyfriend Abe, while at SCDP having beer and chatting with her fellow co-workers, Abe is instantly turned into someone that they can bounce ideas off of to see if they work instead of just treating him as an equal in the conversation. He leaves and is next seen calling Peggy and ordering her to be at dinner. Based on previous arguments Peggy believes that he is going to break up with her. But both Joan and the audience most likely think otherwise. Peggy is on a one-way trip to proposal town. It was nice to see that the relationship between Peggy and Joan that developed last season has continued. After going after each other the first couple of years the relationship feels earned. Peggy takes her advice and gets all dolled up. But “Mad Men” of course throws a curve ball and Abe just asks to move in with her. At first I think oh no big deal, but I’ve forgotten it’s the 60’s and that just didn’t happen. When asked Peggy freezes, and as you watch her face you can see the hope that she briefly had for the life every girl dreams of is shattered, and after saying yes the smile disappears and Peggy doesn’t get to complete her change and remains as she is. Of course this doesn’t mean that it won’t bring any drama. The two tell Peggy’s Mom about their plans and she doesn’t take it well. As she storms out she plants the seeds of doubt about Abe into Peggy’s mind and then compares her to a cat. It will be interesting to see how this relationship plays out. I don’t see good things in the future, I can see Peggy perhaps proposing herself one day and that probably won’t make Abe happy. Now let’s check in on the Drapers. Megan’s parents are visiting from Canada to watch Don get an award. Don also has to take care of the kids, but more on them later. It is clear that Megan’s parents are not a happy couple. Emile takes every chance he gets to insult Don and her mother Marie is hitting on everyone in sight. During this Megan has an idea to pitch to Heinz, Don loves it, even more impressive is that when Megan learns they will be dropped by Heinz, she is able to help Don turn them around and sells them on her idea. It was a great scene with a great Don Draper pitch. It’s been a while and it was nice to see that man at work. The combination of work and his wife made him happier than we have seen in a while, making him believe that working with his wife can work. But there are still 6 more episodes this season, I’m sure things are heading for a change. The next day while the men celebrate, Megan doesn’t seem to want to join in. When Peggy tells Megan that this is as good as this job gets, she seems to get even sadder, because she still hasn’t earned acceptance from her father. Later at the award ceremony, Megan asks her father why he isn’t proud of her. He tells her, in English, that she hasn’t earned anything, all this opulence and recognition she married into, she shouldn’t be taking credit for it because she hasn’t done anything. Meanwhile Don is busy meeting all sorts of people, until someone explains to him that it’s futile. They will bury his desk in awards but he won’t find any further success because of his letter against Lucky Strike. He is just as important as the award he got, he received without given a speech, not on a big stage and the other two that received the award were so old they may have collapsed of old age on the way home. This is now the limit of what Don can achieve no matter how brilliant he is. Then we had the journey of Sally Draper. After lying about how her grandmother hurt herself but taking all the credit for taking care of her, Sally is able to convince her Dad to let her go to the award ceremony. We also learn that she has been keeping in touch with Glen. Though it definitely seems to be a “just friends” thing still. She uses Glen as a way to express how she really feels. Sally is looking at her chance to go to the award ceremony like going to a ball, her coming out in other words. She makes the glamorous entrance in the apartment to the people waiting, but is then disappointed when there is no grand staircase to enter, the dinner is something she doesn’t like, her Father’s award is a non event and her date, Roger Sterling who is still on his epiphany from trying LSD, is receiving fellatio from Marie. The title of this episode is “At the Codfish Ball” a song and dance number performed by Shirley Temple, for whom the drink Roger brings her is named after. Sally sending it back just demonstrates how disappointed she is with this adult lifestyle. The final shot of the ball features everyone (except Roger) returning to the table and on each face you can see how disappointed they are with the way the night has progressed. It is a great shot that sums up the episode without anyone having to say a world. The episode continues though with another call to Glen from Sally, when he asks her how the city is, I may be mistaken but I swear I saw a look of excitement on her face when she gave her one word answer, “Dirty.”

Mad Men -S5E6 - Far Away Places

Well let this weeks’ “Mad Men” be a lesson to you, marijuana and LSD can be fun, but don’t you dare try the orange sherbert. That stuff will mess you up. This weeks’ episode was split into 3 different intersecting stories similar to storytelling featured in “Sin City” and “Pulp Fiction.” We first followed our favorite female copywriter, Peggy, through her day. After a small fight with her boyfriend about how she only thinks about work, Peggy learns that she must make the Heinz presentation by herself, again. Why? Because Don has pulled Megan away to a Howard Johnson’s. Peggy makes the pitch and the client isn’t sold. In past seasons Don would have sold the client on the pitch, with him not there, it’s up to Peggy to do this. Unfortunately her Don imitation fails miserably and the client leaves angrily and if they follow history they will head over to Y&R. Peggy is frustrated and heads out to go and see “Born Free” during which she gets offered some Marijuana. Since she failed being Don at work she decides to try being Don outside of work which means getting high on marijuana and giving some guy a handjob with the lioness roar signifying that Peggy finally feels triumphant. Upon returning to the office, Peggy goes to Don’s office, after all she now sees herself as Don. She sleeps in the office before she is woken up in a role reversal from previous episodes by Dawn. Lying on the couch probably made her realize that she isn’t Don. A recurring motif throughout the episode of people having epiphanies while lying down. After trying to fall on her sword and accept failure of the Heinz account to Don, Peggy learns the first unpleasant truth of the night. Ginsberg was born in a concentration camp and adopted. While it was the truth it doesn’t mean that it is good. The camera than shifts to Roger as we learn it was he who wanted to go to the HoJo with Don as two perverted single men so that he could get out of a date with his wife. After seeing just part of the agonizing dinner that Roger had to sit through, we learn the real reason for the party. Roger is going to do some LSD! What follows was a scene that is one of the most fascinating that Mad Men has ever made. We get Roger hearing music as he opens a bottle of Vodka, the only thing that gives him joy right now. A cigarette burning out to quickly, something that used to give him pleasure is now gone, since Lucky Strike has left him. A vision of himself with half white and half black hair, a way for him to see how he views himself as compared to who he is. Don, the man that has brought him to where he is now, giving him reassurance appears behind him in the mirror. Burt, the man who has helped him make all of his money, appears on his money. Eventually his attention turns to his wife, who is holding a beautiful flower. It symbolizes not only her beauty though, but his love for her. He has only ever loved her beauty, and like the flower his love was quick to wilt. Then as the two of them lay on the ground they uncover the next unhappy truth. Their marriage is over, they both knew it, just didn’t want to say it. Roger awakens and views his wife looking beautiful and draped in green, the color of his money, and says goodbye to his old life. Finally we turn to Don, we’ve already seen him abduct Megan to go to a Howard Johnson and we get to see that Megan wasn’t happy about this. She wanted to work, not just jet off with the boss. Once they get to the restaurant/hotel and Don wants to work Megan is furious. He can like to work but she can’t, before the argument continues, the infamous orange sherbet is delivered. After trying to refuse and Don believing she is just acting out, Megan really acts out by shoveling a ton of the cold treat into her mouth. This act of defiance begins the real fight with Megan landing the dirty blow of telling Don to call his mother who she knows is not a possibility. Don leaves, but comes right back to find that Megan is gone. Refusing to believe that she has done the most sensible thing and just gone home Don tries calling everywhere and then just sitting at the HoJo before finally driving back to New York. On the way he remembers the drive back from Disney and Sally wishing the vacation would never end even though she knows that it has to. Don is wishing the same thing about his relationship with Megan. Once Don gets home and breaks down the door we see their brief fight and the two end up lying on the floor just like Roger and Jane. But here they don’t want to see the ugly truth. That Don’s happy little marriage isn’t as happy as he thought it was. The two of them come to work where Don gives Megan a look that asks if they’re okay. She gives a small nod while she wipes her nose. An indication that she can at least appear okay. Then we get the ultimate Bert Cooper smack down. He scolds Don for being on a love vacation and tells him he needs to get back to work. As Don watches the employees walk by, first the team of copywriters, followed by Peggy, all on her own, he realizes that he can’t possibly work while his wife is there, but she loves working. He has no way to try and keep his vacation going. It’s over.

Midnight Cowboy - The Oscar Project Part XLII

The 1960’s are brought to an end by the only film to ever win the Academy Award with an X rating, “Midnight Cowboy.” Released in 1969 the film was actually given a rating of R first, but some psychologist thought that kids would be to easily influenced by it and that the film should be rated X. This rating was changed 2 years later in 1971 and is now a rated R film. So the notoriety of the film being rated X isn’t nearly as scandalous as one would believe. After watching the film there are plenty of rated R movies released in our time that would have to be rated XXX if compared to this movie. “Midnight Cowboy” tells the tale of Joe Buck as he moves to New York to become a hustler. He quickly learns that this won’t be easy and loses all of his money. Some of it is to Enrico Rizzo. Eventually while down on his luck Rizzo takes him in and the two of them help each other survive New York by stealing. Eventually they end up a strange party that takes on a very Andy Warhol vibe. Here Joe gets high and ends up booking his first client, who is also able to help him schedule another client. However at this point, Rizzo gets sick and wants Joe to take him to Miami where he has always dreamed of going. Unfortunately Rizzo does not make it and the movie ends with Joe holding his dead friend on the bus while they arrive in Miami. This is one of those movies were everything really clicked together. The movie actually felt dirty, like the characters, everything was very gritty and real. Both Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight put in great performances. However, I found the real star of the show to be the directing. The establishing shots that demonstrated where the characters where both physically and emotionally was extremely well done. In particular is the party in the middle of the movie, the portrayal of Joe experiencing something so different than what he is used to is just incredible. The only lacking part of the movie honestly was the plot. I didn’t feel any connection to these characters or want to see where they would end up. The movie never felt like it really went anywhere. I realize it was more about the emotions of the characters but the plot could have used some work and been a little tighter. Overall it’s a fine movie and if you are interested in some real good direction and character work, than this is the movie for you. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

Mad Men - S5E5 - Signal 30

This week Matthew Weiner turns the wheel of characters and it lands on Pete, the man that the audience loves to hate and can’t help but not watch. The episode “Signal 30” begins with Pete watching the driving instruction film of the same name. Pete has obviously decided that living out in the country requires him to have a driver’s license and most likely a large car that he can show off in the future. While there he begins flirting with a young high school senior. A girl that probably reminds him of what his wife used to be like before she started only wearing curlers. As she taps her sandal we transition to Pete not being able to sleep due to a leaky faucet. Getting up he goes and grabs his trusty toolbox and then “fixes” the drip and believes that he has fixed his life.

Eventually through much subterfuge, Pete and Trudy are able to have Don, Megan, Ken and Cynthia over to their house for dinner. After Don wins the best dinner jacket award and Pete shows off his stereo, which is the same as a metaphor for a man in his 40’s needing to buy a long sleek car, they sit down for a nice awkward dinner. But surprisingly only for Pete. He is consistently seeking approval from Don in this episode. The highlight of the dinner is the story from Ken about the robot that maintains a bridge. Pete simply scoffs at this story, but Don shows actual interest. Showing that Don is clearly more interested in personal things than just having a big successful job and the illusion of being happy. I think it is important to note the reference to the gun in this episode. We haven’t heard about it since season 1 and this little reminder should be a reminder to the audience. A general rule for TV is you don’t introduce a gun without it going off.

Soon after dinner, Pete’s sink fix breaks. In comes Super Don to save the day with little or no help needed from anyone, including the tool box. As the Pete’s quick fix breaks we also see the rest of the illusion of his perfect family façade break as we are leave the house party with the image of him not taking any responsibility for his baby. Even though the baby is crying she clearly is not the saddest one in the room. To counteract this Pete continues hitting on the high school student, but is shot down thanks to someone Handsome (literally and figuratively). This leaves only one place were Pete can try to feel important and that’s work. But this episode takes care of that too.

Before finishing up the Pete Campbell line let’s take a look at Mr. Pryce. Lane is desperate to move on from London. He is happy in America and wants to let go of England. His wife isn’t the same and they go to an English pub where they watch England win the World Cup in soccer. While there he gets the opportunity to bring in new business in the form of the car company Jaguar. Seeing that he has little else to do Roger gives him advice in a great scene that will earn him another Emmy nod. Probably one of the best Roger scenes of the show. Lane tries and fails. Pete of course pushes him aside, asserts his dominance and says that they will take care of his friend. Which, of course, means taking him to a whore house.

At the whore house we get a little more insight into Pete. He longs to be the king. When the lovely lady takes him to her room, she tries the wife waiting for her husband to be home. He has that so it doesn’t work. She tries the virgin, he just lost that so he’s bitter, doesn’t work. Finally she simply says, “You’re my King.” Bingo! At the same time we see again how Don has grown as he doesn’t partake in the establishment. And on the ride home Pete wonders why Don is disappointed in his actions tonight. Don simply replies that he thought Pete was happy and he is just throwing that all away. When Pete accuses Don of having done the same thing, he makes it clear that he is finally happy with Megan, and he wouldn’t throw that away.

Their late night escapade does have repercussions though. After Ken is turned in for writing by Pete, Lane learns that the client’s wife found chewing gum on his special area and the agency loses the account. This makes Lane furious and he takes it out on Pete, who is kind of enough to tell Lane that he has no purpose here. And thus begins the greatest fight of all time as Lane and Pete square off as the other partners watch in disbelief and enjoyment. Lane is able to knock Pete down and leaves the room. Later Joan comes to take care of Lane, who wanting to show his manhood and because he falls in love with any girl that is nice to him, kisses her. Classy Joan just gets up, opens the door and then sit backs down and congratulates him for doing what everyone in the office has longed to do, punch Pete.

The episode ends with Pete talking the elevator down and telling Don that he has nothing. As Pete watches the senior girl he was flirting with be taken advantage of by Handsome it closes on him lying awake listening to the slow drip. For a long time I’ve been expecting Roger to take the plunge off of the building, but I’m starting to think Pete may be headed for an early exit.

Oliver - The Oscar Project Part XLI

Finally, the fourth and final Oscar winning musical from the 60’s, “Oliver.” Surprisingly another musical I had little information about. I had only really seen the opening scene with the porridge and my only other experience was Joey from “Friends” trying out for Fagan in an episode. I knew it was about orphans that robbed people while they sang happy songs and in general was a light hearted musical.

“Oliver” tells the story of an orphan named Oliver that eventually escapes to London where he takes up with a gang of other child robbers. Fun was had and songs were song. Then Oliver gets caught by the cops. However he is quick to be let go into the hands of a wealthy citizen who we later here he is related to. Eventually, Fagan, the leader of the gang of child thieves, and Billy, the really evil adult guy, come after Oliver because they are worried that he will turn them in. However, he has no plans to. Eventually the story turns dark and characters are threatened and killed and by the end of the story, Oliver gets a happy ending.

Overall the movie was decently put together. I found that Fagan was played incredibly well, but there weren’t really a lot of other standouts. The music and plot were decent, but it really felt like two separate movies. The first act was a fun story about robbing orphans while the second half took this really dark turn. Like it expected the audience to age 10 years during the intermission. It was a little jarring and it would have served the movie better to incorporate both tones throughout the movie. I actually liked both of these movies but I didn’t feel like they belonged together.

Overall if you have kids watch the first half and then let them watch the second half when they are older. It’s like turning off “Old Yeller” before, well, you know. Anyways it was definitely the best of the 4 musicals from the 60’s in my opinion. I give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Mad Men - S5E4 - Mystery Date

The game Mystery Date is an old game from the 1960’s that involved girls playing through a game to find out who was behind the door for their mystery date. It is also the title for this week’s episode of “Mad Men.” In which several of the main characters open their doors to find something they weren’t expecting.

Let’s start with our lead, Mr. Don Draper. Here again we get hints about how little he cares about work. He doesn’t even bother to listen to the entire pitch from the new copywriter Mr. Ginsberg. In fact we learn that there was another idea based on Cinderella that Don turned down because he didn’t want to fight for it. If it’s a good idea than Don used to convince the customer that it’s what they want. He doesn’t do that anymore. He spends the rest of the episode sick and is told to go home by his wife, who we learn is aware of his infidelity with Betty, and for the most part is okay with his past because she was the same way.

While at home Don gets a “visit” from his Mystery Date who turns out to be an old flame, Andrea, from his previous life or as I like to call her “metaphor for his previous life.” After a quick fling, Andrea tells Don this will happen again and he has no choice in the matter. This angers him and he strangles her and then kicks her body under the bed. At this point it would be best for me to bring up the historical subplot happening during the episode about the Speck murders in Chicago. Speck murdered several young nurses and left one living because she was hiding under the bed. Here even though Don has “killed” Andrea and thereby killing that part of him that would cheat on his wife, he also hid her under the bed, meaning that some small piece of that part of him is still there. Don eventually wakes up to Megan serving him breakfast and realizes that the entire night was just a dream.

We also get to spend some time with Sally Draper in this episode. She is being watched by her evil step mother (Cinderella reference?) and we learn about the small amount of rules that Betty puts on Sally, which is quite a difference from last season were she placed many rules on her. Sally soon learns about the Speck murders and is scared. Pauline gives Sally a Seconal, a barbiturate sleeping pill that contributed to the deaths of Judy Garland and Jimi Hendrix. Sally does end up sleeping, under the couch, the one area that she thinks is safe.

Joan got her Mystery Date from her husband. He came back as not what she was hoping. He seemed fit and like he was going to be a good father, but then he dropped the bombshell, he was going back to Vietnam for another year, and he had volunteered to. This of course pissed off Joan and after a night of fighting, she kicked him out. But not before bringing up the lingering subplot from Season 2 when Greg essentially raped her on the floor of the office. It was nice to see this finally closed and I feel like we may finally get back the Joan from Season 1 and 2 that I loved and has been missing since then.

Back at SCDP, Peggy mans up and coerces an extra 410 dollars out of Roger since he forgot about a Mohawk campaign that was due Monday. We are seeing that instead of trying to fight, Roger is just falling deeper into failure. Peggy works late at night and we get a scary sequence of her alone in the building and moving slowly through the hallways. She opens the door to Don’s office and finds out that her Mystery Date is Dawn, Don’s African American secretary. She convinces her to come over and the night goes great until Peggy goes to bed and a tiny hint of racism comes out when Peggy pauses and looks at her purse full of cash. She leaves the purse there, but Dawn has noticed and makes sure to leave early before Peggy wakes up and all Peggy is left with is the guilt.

In the Heat of the Night - The Oscar Project Part XL

While I did grow up in the 80’s and 90’s when cable TV was in almost every home, I spent many summers with my Grandparents in northern Michigan. Up there we didn’t have cable and we were relegated to only the main network stations, of which there was only 3 and ½ at best that came in with a decent signal. So when we wanted to watch television the choices weren’t very wide and we had to watch what Grandma and Grandpa wanted. So I got to watch a few more procedural police dramas than I probably should have at a young age. One that I remember was “In the Heat of the Night.” I thought it was a little goofy and to be honest I didn’t get the whole racist thing at such a young age so I just didn’t get it. The television show was based on the 1967 Oscar winning movie of the same name. Watching it now, fully aware of the civil rights struggle of the 60’s, I get it now. “In the Heat of the Night” is one of the most powerful movies about race that I have ever seen.

The movie tells the story of a murder investigation in the small town of Sparta, Mississippi. At the beginning of the investigation the local sheriff arrests the first black man he sees. This turns out to be a detective (Tibbs) from out of state whom is trying to leave town after visiting his Mom. Eventually Tibbs decides to help the small town police force solve the murder. Throughout the movie Tibbs does several things that anger the southern town that has yet to overcome racism. Eventually mobs try to chase him out of time, but his duty and want to find the truth keep him there until he is able to solve the murder and at the very least earn respect from the local sheriff.

This film was really two stories in one film. The first is the murder mystery. The mystery here is great and full of twists and turns and it never feels like we are just being feed an endless string of red herrings. Each person we look at fits what we know about the murder at the time and then another clue is found that leads us somewhere else. The second story is southern racial tension. Seeing the view of a strong black character with a temper is quite different to the quiet strength that usually gets portrayed in this type of situation was great to see and since it was Sydney Poitier acting it made the emotions feel very real. He really owned this movie. It is easy to see why he is so fondly remembered for this film. All the other aspects of the film were handled very well, but it was the acting of Poitier that really stood out.

Overall this film still carries a strong message and has a great murder mystery that isn’t easily solvable and would keep a new audience on their feet. It gets 5 out of 5 stars.

Mad Men - S5E3 - Tea Leaves

For me the weakest part of “Mad Men” has always been Betty. She in the past several seasons has served little purpose except as an object that Don first desired, then obtained, got bored with and finally overcame. The episode “Tea Leaves” focuses on Betty and where she is now. It turns out that Betty has actually gone through some changes now that she has achieved what she thought was what she wanted. A house wife with a devoted husband. She doesn’t have to work at keeping Henry like she did Don. Henry worships the ground she walks on and lets her know that. Don never really did that so she had to maintain herself better than she has with Henry. Eventually she has her cancer scare and we learn a few other things. While she did try to find Henry first, the first person she calls is Don. Why? Because he will tell her what she wants to hear, he always has and she knows it. It also gives Betty the chance for her to examine her life and how she would be remembered by her family in death. The mourning would happen but life would move on. They would get over her death, symbolized by Sally turning over her chair. This could have been a catalyst for change, but once she learned she did not have cancer it was easy for her to settle back into her comfy housewife life as she snacked on the sundae her daughter didn’t want to finish.

Back over in Don’s neck of the woods we see how much he has changed as he attends a Rolling Stones concert with Harry. Their goal is to get the Stones to sing for Heinz. Don barely feels the need to be there as he doesn’t think it’s going to work and the idea isn’t that good. The old Don would have never gone to the concert and would have sold the Heinz people on something else. During the concert while they are waiting we see how Don has grown and no longer chases after the young. He is now worried about them. With a growing daughter at home it is nice to see Don showing care for the younger generation. However, this probably means that he is going to have a hard time relating to them as well. Harry on the other hand is trying to be the type of person that he thought Don was only to learn that that isn’t who Don is anymore.

Back at SCDP the big stories come from Peggy and Roger. Peggy is given the job of hiring a new copywriter. And being Peggy wants to do the best she can. Her candidate is a brilliant ad man but he doesn’t seem to act appropriately for the interview until he is brought before Don where he becomes someone different and then later he acts different again with his father. This also gave us another glimpse at Don as the old Don would not have given him an easy time during the interview. He would have asked him harsh questions and made him think. This time he just sat back and took a bunch of compliments. Roger on the other hand finally admitted that he doesn’t know his worth and that Pete has essentially stolen his role. It should be interesting to see how Roger reacts. He has always been able to use the bottle to solve his problems in the past but I don’t think that will work this time. Will he rise up and reclaim his place or is this the beginning of the end for Roger. I would guess the later.

A Man for All Seasons - The Oscar Project Part XXXIX

Talk about a change in movies. After two years of musicals, the 1966 movie “A Man for All Seasons” was the next film to win the Best Picture award. Such a quick change by the academy could have easily been predicted after giving the award to two musicals right in a row, this film is a much smaller film that feels important, is a biography and has that independent feel that the academy has always loved.

The film tells the story of Sir Thomas More during the creation of the Church of England by Henry the VIII. The King wishes to divorce his current wife so that he can marry Anne Boleyn. Since the Pope refuses to grant a divorce to his wedding with Catherine, the King declares himself the Supreme Head of the Church of England so that his marriage is annulled. More believes this to be a heresy as the Pope is the head of the church. Throughout the film More’s faith in his beliefs are tested and he is pressured to agree with the King of England. Eventually when he refuses to take an oath a scheme is put in play to convict him of a crime he did not commit and is killed.

“A Man for All Seasons” is based off of a play of the same name. The movie feels very much like a play and not a movie. The only difference being that they can have the set move to different locations. But the feel of the movie invoked the same feeling when I watch a play. The adaptation of the play to a movie wasn’t very good. There was more that needs to be done when doing an adaptation than just using the script that was written for the stage. The two are different mediums and therefore the script needs to be treated differently. The acting however was able to overcome this in several instances. Paul Scofield as More and Robert Shaw as King Henry are terrific and really make the movie. It’s too bad that the rest of the production couldn’t live up to their performance.

I highly recommend seeing this story play out on stage if at all possible. If not this is a good movie to see as long as you treat it as a filming of a stage production and not as a movie. Overall I give this film 3 out of 5 stars.

Mad Men - S5E1 & 2 - A Little Kiss

Back during my Myspace days I also had a blog that was focused on a lot of things but the starting point for that blog was “Lost.” Every week I would watch the latest episode and then dissect it in my blog. Well 5 years ago “Mad Men” started and I have been meaning to write about that show as well. While it doesn’t have the need to develop crazy theories like “Lost” did. It is the best show on television right now and deserves to be analyzed.

It’s been 17 months since the last new episode aired and the show returned with another great episode. It reminded me how much I missed these characters and I was happy to welcome them back into my home. The first part of the show worked at establishing what has changed since we last left the offices of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce. The year is now 1966 and it’s Memorial Day weekend. Don is married to Megan and the relationship is essentially about sex. Don is obsessed with having her whenever he wants. This is probably the reason that their apartment is still not put together with blinds and drapes still needing to be put up. Don doesn’t care about that and he is obsessed with just having Megan. Even at work, their time together is about him getting a view of her cleavage or trying to leave work early to get her back to bed. We only got a few shots of Don with his kids but he seems to show that he enjoys being with him and makes a point of telling his coworkers that he had the kids over the weekend and that is what made it great.

Back at the office we get a glance at what the rest of the crew is up to. Peggy has taken charge in creative, true Don is still the head, but with his Megan obsession he is barely there, not once in this episode does he actually push any ad work. The only meeting he takes place in is the Heinz meeting and during it he shows none of the old Don. Note that there is a memorable 60’s ad campaign for Heinz Beans, the famous “Heinz Meanz Beanz” ad. It was put out by Y&R, the company that our main characters were taking pot shots at. I see trouble ahead. Peggy has noticed that Don has changed.

Pete is desperately trying to move even higher in the company and is trying to replace Roger, who is struggling to search for an identity within the company and sees himself as one step away from being as relevant as Bert Cooper. We are currently seeing a role reversal between Pete and Roger, with Roger battling against it. It will be interesting to see if the roles completely reverse and what happens when Pete has what he wants and what will Roger be like when he has nothing that he wants.

The episode also featured some creepy actions from Lane who follows in the same pattern from last year when he was obsessed with the Playboy Club and a check in on Joan who is struggling with motherhood and yearns to return to SCDP. She even makes an impromptu visit that included all sorts of innuendo with Peggy, Pete and Roger. All of this was set with bookends that show the civil rights movement in full swing. Change is coming to SCDP whether they want it or not.

Of course the crux of the episode was the party and the aftermath. The party showed that many of these people are simply work friends not real friends as when they did talk to each other it was usually about work and if it wasn’t it was awkward. The song of course was the most awkward part and showed how Megan is something different and new than what Don has been used to both professionally and privately. Megan of course hasn’t figured out that Don is different at work than at home. But that is really his fault since he is no different in the way he treats her whether they are at home or at work. However, the end shows that she knows how to get his attention and is working on learning how to get what she wants. All of this should make for a great journey during this season.

The Walking Dead - Season 2

After 2 years of “The Walking Dead” on AMC we now have nearly 20 hours of a zombie story that has no definitive ending. It is just the story of people trying to survive. It’s amazing that we are able to have a show like this on the air. It’s even more amazing that a show like this is so popular. The 2nd season had the difficult task of keeping the momentum of the first season, developing these characters into people and not just zombie bait and keeping fans of the comic book happy.

Throughout the 2nd season if you went onto any internet message board you could see that people were generally getting upset about how the group stayed at Hershel’s Farm for the entire season. These are the people that are watching the show just for pure zombie action. I on the other hand am interested in the characters and how they will deal with the pressure brought on by a Zombie apocalypse. And I realize that these characters don’t really want to leave. Where are they going to go? Their goal is to find someplace safe to live. The farm could have been that place.

Several things in this season worked. The continued evolution of Darryl was great to see, then to see him completely torn down after the death of Sophia was fantastic. We also got a lot of change with Rick as he more and more accepts the world that he lives in. Juxtaposed against the fall of Shane this was really good. The addition of Herschel as a character was a welcome addition as a man who held onto hope and still clings to it after all that he has seen. The handling of the farm was well done. It made sense about why they would try to stay there and why they had to leave. For those that thought they stayed there to long, wait to they get to the next location, if they follow the comics they will be there even longer.

There were a lot of things that didn’t work though. The final episode with Dale was just way to repetitive. Seeing him make the same argument to everyone if someone would have responded differently. Lori became a shrieking shrew by the end of the season and made me think that Rick should have just let Shane have her. And what the hell does T-Dawg do exactly? He doesn’t seem to serve any purpose except to show that a black guy is still alive.

It was a good season, but not as strong as it could be. Hopefully the show will be able to be more focused next year with some of the behind the scenes drama having been resolved. Still good TV is good TV and the second season gets 4 out of 5 stars.

The Sound of Music - The Oscar Project Part XXXVIII

I’ve written before about how I had trepidation about the 1960’s when I started this project. For years I had avoided the 1965 winner like the plague. I wanted nothing to do with it. I avoided the stage production, tv airings and the music as much as I could, but it was finally time for me to sit down and watch a movie I had hoped to never see. I mean it has singing nuns and a bunch of children that sing and dance all the time, none of that sounds appealing to me. I like my musicals broody and full of drama. They don’t call me “Kill’em All Matt” because I like it when people nail a musical number. But it is finally time for me to analyze “The Sound of Music.”

For those that don’t know, “The Sound of Music” tells the tale of a nun in training (Maria) being given the job of Governess for a rich Austrian Naval Captain’s family. The Captain is a recent widow and has turned to strict rules to keep his family in line. The kids behave in front of their Father but have taken out their frustrations on their previous Governess’s. Maria however is able to win the hearts of the children and eventually their father through song. However due to the approaching Nazi threat the end of the movie requires the family to flee from Austria. All of this is of course done to song.

So obviously I am not a fan of this movie, however that doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie it’s just not for me. From an acting standpoint everyone puts in a decent performance, really it is only Christopher Plummer however that really shines. He shows growth and change throughout the movie and creates a character that is memorable for more than his songs. The cinematography is also very impressive as the scope of the movie is quite amazing. It is a very well directed and put together movie. The songs also end up being quite catchy, even though I don’t really like any of them. There is a reason that they are remembered by so many. It definitely feels right at home with some of the other films that won Best Picture during the 1960’s.

Overall the movie isn’t for me, but that doesn’t make it a bad movie, it’s for people that aren’t quite as cynical. It gets 3 out of 5 stars.

Awake Pilot Review

NBC has not had the best of times recently. The network is number 4 in the ratings and is desperate to find a hit. Many shows have gone on longer than they should have thanks to this and the peacock channel is also more likely to try something new than the other networks as they are just trying to find something that will stick. Their latest attempt is the crime drama “Awake.”

“Awake” focuses on a police officer who after a car accident finds himself trapped living in two different realities. In one his son has died and his wife survives, in the other his wife has died and his son is still alive. In addition to straddling the line between these two worlds he also is able to solve a case in each using clues that he found in the other world. The reason is that one of these worlds is a dream world and whatever is happening in the real world in influencing him in the dream world. Confused? Don’t be, while it may be difficult for me to explain the writers do it brilliantly.

The pilot ends up being one of the best I have ever seen. I was completely enthralled by the murder mystery and left the episode satisfied by its conclusion. I wasn’t obsessed with which world was real but more interested in finding out how future cases could be handled using the connection. And that is where I have my questions. This would make a great movie or mini-series but I’m not sure where it’s going as a television series. The pilot is wonderful and should be watched by any TV lover but I’m not sold on the series yet. I’ll give it two more episodes to prove it has what it takes.

Oscars for Kids

The Oscar telecast is almost like a holiday at my home. We turn on the early coverage or watch one of the nominees that are already out on DVD, this year it's "The Help," or we attend the Oscar Night America event at the MJR theatre. This year will be a little bit different though, see we just had our first kid, Malcolm Alexander, on Tuesday. Does this mean I have to give up on the Oscars? I certainly hope not, in fact as the years go on I mean to involve my child in my love for the movies every chance I get, and if you love movies I suggest you do the same.

Our obstacle this year will be having an infant child while trying to watch the telecast, no easy feat I'm sure. However in today's technological world there are plenty of ways to watch, I have a TiVo, it may take me a little longer than usual but I'll be able to get through the Oscars, I've gotta have something to keep me awake during those late night feedings after all.

As the years go on though, I'm sure I will use the help of Grandma and Grandpa to watch my little boy while me and the misses go and check out the latest nominees. Soon Malcolm will want to know why I get excited at the end of every February for a show that only has people talking on stage. So the challenge will be to get him involved. There are several ways to approach this. The first is to get him involved in at least one of the races. The Oscar for best animated movie features three great kids film, "Rango", "Puss in Boots" and "Kung Fu Panda 2" all of which are available on DVD so you could spend time watching each of these and letting him pick a favorite. Not only does it get him interested but you can teach them about the award process and a possible lesson in winning and losing.

There are other categories as well that you can get your kid involved in, for example the animated shorts, they are all available on itunes, but I would research them before letting them watch them as just because it is a cartoon doesn't mean it's safe for kids. Then there is the best song category, this category is usually pretty safe and often feature songs from kid friendly movies, with a couple of exceptions. This year features only two songs, "Real in Rio" from "Rio" and "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppet Movie." An easy race to get your kid involved in. In fact, this year the Muppet's are presenting.

Okay you've got the kid interested, what's the next step. I would suggest taking them to the "Oscar Night in America" party at MJR, in fact they can even dress up. It's like a mini Halloween for them and can be a fun night out for you if you have a well behaved child. Trust me they will get lots of attention when dressed up and there will plenty of other people dressed up like he is.

Unfortunately, most of the big awards come from movies that are not child appropriate. I don't think I would let my watch anything except what is listed above. How do we keep him excited? Look to the past. Several musicals have won Academy Awards, just use this blog or wikipedia to look up which ones are kid safe. There have also been 10 years of a best animated category, go beyond just the winners, watch all of the nominees for the year and then talk with your child about their opinion on what they liked and what they didn't like. The you can go even further back, the person who has won the most Oscars of all time is Walt Disney, mostly for animated shorts and documentaries, find these winning movies and watch them with your kid and explain why they won and what they did different than those that came before. It may take a little research on your end, but you will end up with a little person that loves movies almost as much as you.

My challenge of bringing up a tiny movie watcher begins now. It will be slow going for a while but it should be one doozy of a ride.

Star Trek: The Original Series

I was recently able to catch the latest “Star Trek” film on FX this past week. I have seen the film before, I own the DVD and I saw it twice in the theatre, but thanks to my watching of the original series the movie was greatly improved. Considering that I loved the movie to begin with, it made the watching of the original series well worth it. Seeing all of the original characters eccentricities interpreted by a new generation of actors was terrific. It also made me very excited for the next film to come out in 2013.

But that isn’t what this is about. I managed to finish watching all of the episodes of the original Star Trek series. So the missing badge from my geek uniform can be properly affixed and displayed proudly. In the third season the focus of the show definitely started to shift more and more towards Spock. By the end I feel like Spock was able to get more ladies than Kirk was, throwing my whole perspective of the original series off of its hinges. The third season definitely was the weakest of the three, in my mind it was the end of the first and the beginning of the second where the show was at its strongest.

Really this season didn’t have too many good episodes and ended without any sense of closure. Blame it on not having enough money for guest stars or special effects, but I think that good writing can overcome those hindrances any day. By the end it felt like everyone was tired and was just waiting for the series to be cancelled. I mean there was an episode featuring a battle royal were the Enterprise teamed up with Abraham Lincoln. It just got silly.

The series as a whole is full of great true sci fi. If you are at all interested in jumping into the Star Trek universe, find a best of list and give those episodes a try. There isn’t a real reason to watch all the episodes as there wasn’t any type of story arc that you need to follow. Overall the original series gets 3 ½ out of 5 stars.

100th Blog Post Spectacular

This is the 100th post for the “The Oscar Project” and I have been able to cover 37 different Oscar movies. It has been tough to get through some of these. A lot of these were made during the early years of Hollywood when the movie business was still trying figure out the best way to make a buck and the Academy was still trying to figure out what exactly they were rewarding. It has been interesting watching these in the order that they won as patterns are definitely starting to emerge for me. I’m sure to go over them once I get to the end of the line. That still leaves 62 other posts that didn’t cover Oscar winning movies, well unless the movie won that year. My frequent readers no doubt realize that my love of pop culture extends far beyond just movies. I’ve covered music, television, comics, books and video games. Coming up this year will be more than just that though as I am starting a new project as my first child is due next week.

Besides figuring out a name, how to decorate the room and how we handle the added pressure of trying to take care of a baby, the wife and I have also discussed how to introduce him to our favorite segments of pop culture. We have had what I consider deep discussions on what order to show him the Star Wars movies, pro-Kirk or pro-Picard, Marvel or DC, force him to play the old school Zelda games or let him jump in with whatever is new and how can I prevent him from ever seeing “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”? The possibilities are mind-boggling. Besides these basic questions we also have to figure out what is the appropriate age to introduce him to all the stuff that we love and how do we keep him away from the mind numbing cartoons of today like Bubble Guppies and Dora the Explorer. I want my kid raised on Pixar cartoons, not Open Season 4. It will be a challenge to guide him on the right path so that together, we can rule the galaxy as Father and son.

With this new project starting I still plan on finding a way to get through my movie list, after all I have to do something during late night feedings, but I also plan on blogging about how I am raising my little geek and hopefully someday this will be looked at as a way to raise (or if things go wrong, how not to raise) a little geek that any geek Father would be proud of. Thanks for reading and here’s to another 100 posts.

Grammy Awards 2012

In the award show circuit music award shows are more about putting on a show than giving away any actual awards. The Grammy’s are no exception to this rule. Every year the Grammy’s give out multiple awards, close to 50 I believe. Yet, this year’s broadcast featured less than 10 awards actually dispersed. The night was instead full of musical performances from the nominees.

For a long time I never really watched the Grammy’s because I was never that into music. Only recently have I started to listen more and more to what is considered popular music. Knowing that the Grammy’s are mostly about performances I was excited. I thought the American Music Awards late last year did a great job with the performances and it had everyone performing some of the songs that they had been nominated for. Apparently the Grammy’s don’t really care about what was actually nominated in most cases instead having the performers do (with a few exceptions) their newest song or a song that they plan on releasing in a few months.

Performances that stood out were Adele’s performance of “Rolling in the Deep,” Bruno Mars’ opening number, the Foo Fighters performing “Walk”, Taylor Swift performing “Mean” the jam session at the end with Paul McCartney and of course the Jennifer Hudson performance for Whitney. While the more disappointing performances came from Nikki Minaj who apparently wanted to perform an exorcism on stage, David Guetta and Dead Mau55 performing something that resembled music and Chris Brown playing Q-Bert.

The few awards handed out were not to surprising. The awards committee has always loved the Foo Fighters, which is why they had Dave Grohl perform 3 times, and Adele was just to awesome to defeat. Kanye was bound to win for something to placate his ego and of course the new artist award has to go to the indie guy Bon Iver because otherwise they would not have given out any awards to people no one has heard of.

Overall the Grammy’s concert gets 3 out of 5 awards, which is almost as many awards as handed out during the actual telecast.

My Fair Lady - The Oscar Project Part XXXVII

A few weeks ago I got to watch and review the movie “Gigi.” While watching it I just kept thinking to myself I wish that I was watching “My Fair Lady” instead since it felt like the same movie, but with less memorable music and set in Paris instead of London. Well now that I have reached 1964, I have also reached “My Fair Lady.” This the second of four musicals from the decade and is one where I have seen the stage musical and read the original “Pygmalion.” The only thing I haven’t seen was the movie.

“My Fair Lady” tells the tale of Eliza Doolittle and Henry Higgins. Eliza is a poor beggar who speaks with just an awful sounding accent. Honestly after 15 minutes of her howling I wanted her to learn to speak well for myself and not for the character. She attempts to take lessons from Henry Higgins who has just met what appears to be the love of his life in Colonel Pickering. Higgins refuses to give Eliza lessons until Pickering makes a bet with him that he cannot pass her off at a royal party. Higgins accepts and the movie proceeds. The teaching of Eliza is both slow and quick. For a while it feels like no progress is being made, but being that this is a musical, a song is sung and suddenly she can speak better than almost anyone. Needless to say Higgins wins the bet and after a quick separation between the two they end up together at the end. Though it is implied to be romantic it is more of a friendly relationship than anything else. Probably because Higgins has already married Pickering.

From an acting perspective the movie thrives off of the interaction between Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins and Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle. Both put in great performances, particularly Hepburn who has to play her character at several different levels. However, she does lose a few points for not signing the songs herself. Harrison plays Harrison, fortunately that fits the Higgins character. Interestingly even though Hepburn does not sing, Harrison refused to dub his singing making this the first use of a wireless microphone and requiring the conductor to conduct the music to his singing. The rest of the cast is filled out nicely but no one really stands out. From the production side the movie could use a bit more movie making. The smaller scenes with only a few characters were well shot however, the larger production numbers made it feel like I was watching the musical on stage and not as a movie. Musicals should try to focus on being a film and not a musical play, that is what separates the good films from the bad.

Overall “My Fair Lady” remains a classic. In fact a remake is currently in production for release sometime within the next year or two. It will be interesting to see how they approach it. I imagine an increase in the relationship between Eliza and Henry as well as better filming of the larger chorus numbers. The movie won’t be a great success but will probably do just as well as it did back when this film was released. I give this film 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Smash - Pilot Review

I heard about “Smash” for the first time about a year ago now. A musical show based on actual musical theater? I was already sold. I am a fan of “Glee” but it’s more for the musical numbers than any actual plot. They do some interesting numbers but they gave up on trying to have regular character development and natural story progression a long time ago. I was hoping that with an adult cast and the ability to not have to worry about the restrictions that a high school setting places on the show would allow for “Smash” to be good.

But I was wrong because I actually thought it was great. The show is about a new musical that is being based off of the life of Marilyn Monroe. It starts from concept to auditions in the pilot and the season will run through their out of town try out. During the episode we get glimpses from several different aspects of the production end. We see the story evolve through the eyes of the writers, the producer, the director and the two young girls that are trying out for the part of Marilyn.

The biggest difference between “Smash” and “Glee”, at least in the pilot, is that “Smash” doesn’t rely on random signing of popular music. There are a couple of covers performed during auditions but the rest of the songs are all original. And they are pretty good. Nothing that is really stuck in my head but still good. Then they add choreography. There is a baseball number in the middle that is some of the best choreography I have seen. The show knows what it is doing, the numbers feel like a Broadway production and I love watching them.

The acting in the show has a lot of potential. They have veteran actors chewing up the scenery and putting in some great performances, but the pilot relies on Katherine McPhee to carry the show. A lot for someone who hasn’t acted on screen and she does a great job. I liked her back on Idol and I am absolutely adoring her on this show. I don’t recall the name of her co-star but she does a great job playing her opposite.

“Smash” looks like it could be something that I really get into and I can’t wait to see how they handle the show over the next 3 months. Overall the pilot for “Smash” gets 5 out of 5 stars.

Super Bowl Movie Trailer Preview

Even if you’re not a fan of football, there is little doubt that you have not heard about the Super Bowl. The event is so big that the commercials end up drawing as much attention as the game itself. And for movie fans there is plenty to look forward too as there will be several movie trailers premiering during the game. Several of these are available online now but I prefer to wait and check them out on my big screen TV. This is what you can look forward to.

G.I. Joe: Retaliation – When the first trailer for this came out I was pleasantly surprised, but I wasn’t ready to completely forgive the first movie. I’m hoping that this second look fully sells me on the movie.

The Dictator – This is the new Sasha Baron Cohen pretending to be someone else movie. I have yet to see one of these and it would take something huge to make me want to see this one. I don’t have high hopes that a simple trailer will do it.

The Hunger Games – I am eagerly anticipating this as I have hopes that this movie will do the book justice. After seeing Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter’s Bone” I have believed that she will make a fantastic Katniss. I love devouring every bit of information about this movie so I will watch this trailer many times.

The Avengers – It’s still hard to believe that this movie is even being made. I’ve stayed in the dark for what this movie will be so I am excited to see some new footage from it. Hopefully Joss doesn’t let the faithful down with this one.

Additional trailers include “Act of Valor,” the action comedy “21 Jump Street” and the next Bourne movie that will replace Matt Damon with Jeremy Rhener. Beyond this there will be plenty of homage’s to older movies including Star Wars, Ferris Bueller and Twilight. So if you love movies and are looking forward to the year in film the Super Bowl is must see TV for you.

Tom Jones - The Oscar Project Part XXXVI

When I saw the title for the 1963 Oscar winner was “Tom Jones,” I’ll admit I was a little confused. My only exposure to Tom Jones is the singer and I thought that this movie would be too early to be about his career. With the previous winner having been “Lawrence of Arabia” I was hyped to watch this movie, I expected this movie to match that one. Unfortunately, I was wrong to get excited.

“Tom Jones” tells the tale of an Englishman named Tom Jones. He is born a bastard and lives his life being a sex object to other women but pining after the one woman he wants and cannot have. Soon villains enter the picture and force him to leave his home. After a series of adventures he eventually ends up being hanged but before he can die it is revealed that he is actually the son of a squire. He ends up being pardoned and getting the girl that he wants. In reality this plot is almost like a bad romantic comedy.

From an acting standpoint there wasn’t anything that I found to noteworthy. The acting wasn’t terrible but it wasn’t great either. I found none of the performances to really stand out. It is from the directing standpoint that the film has made its name and is most likely the reason it was able to walk away with an Oscar. Several techniques of breaking the fourth wall were peppered in throughout the movie, in addition to an interesting scene featuring two of the characters eating dinner where the audience can almost see the conversation that is happening without words. In addition the movie opens as if it were a silent movie. However, as back then this may have seemed original, today all of these together feel like just a bunch of gimmicks strung together with a weak plot.

I don’t think this movie would do well today. At best it could hope to be buried in January releases were the studios put their films they don’t think would do well. It definitely doesn’t live up to high Oscar standards that I am accustomed to. It gets 1 out of 5 stars.

Chuck: Series Review

It was 5 years ago when NBC took a chance on a new action comedy from the creator of “the O.C.” called “Chuck.” The show was a hit when it first came out, but like almost everything that was released that year it fell victim to the writer’s strike. Shows that were building an audience ended suddenly and didn’t come back for a long time. Since the series weren’t built to handle a short run when they came back for their second season the audience just wasn’t there, such was the case with “Chuck.” Every season from then on it was always a last minute decision on if the show would come back. Sometimes the show would only get a half season order just to get additional episodes added half way through. Thanks to NBC go through a nose dive ratings wise over the past 5 years we have been lucky to get “Chuck” for as long as we did.

“Chuck” became a show that if you were a nerd growing up in the 90’s then the show was made for you. Callbacks to great pop culture events from the 90’s was common place and was more than appreciated. Throwing in guest actors like Scott Bakula, Chevy Chase, Linda Hamilton and Timothy Dalton made the show feel special, like they were casting the show for people like me. After reading interviews with the creators I have realized that this is exactly what they were doing, but not to necessarily entertain me, but to entertain them. Add this to the great homage episodes to movies like “Die Hard” and “Star Wars” and the show was nerd heaven.

But the real heart of “Chuck” was in the story. I can’t really recall a couple that I loved more than Sarah and Chuck. The two of them together was what I wanted from day one and unlike other shows, once they were together it just worked. I never got bored with them as a couple and I was happy that the two of them got a happy ending. The journey they went through demanded it. But besides them we also got great side characters. John Casey grew so much over the series that I was disappointed to see him leave at the end. I wanted him to stay and keep guarding his picture of Reagan. Morgan, a character I thought I would hate for the run of the show turned into a great character. Not to mention all of the side characters throughout like Big Mike and Captain Awesome.

Overall I really enjoyed my time with Chuck. The show moved forward and adapted to the network requirements that made them craft 4 or 5 different series finales. Chuck ended when it should have and remained good throughout. It’s one of those shows that I always enjoyed watching, but probably won’t watch again anytime soon. Maybe in a few years on reruns, but for now my time with Chuck is finished. I give the series a very nerdy 4 out of 5 stars.