I won't take the time to write a review for this movie--it's not worth the time. Besides, there are many reviews written by others sharing similar feelings about this movie who have described its lack of merit much more eloquently than I could. I just want to say that I'm glad I didn't spend good money to see it.
Although I did enjoy the acting talent of Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson and Kelly Macdonald, the movie itself left me totally unfulfilled. There are more plot holes and leftover loose ends than I can enumerate. How this movie received an academy award nomination is beyond me. The Coen brothers must have a lot of voting and review-writing friends.
No Country for Old Men
There Will Be Blood
Words don't describe Paul Thomas Anderson's latest epic film project, and he doesn't let them dominate the story either. A significant chunk of "There Will Be Blood" has no dialogue and the ability for it to stay so captivating is only a testament to Anderson's incredible ability to tell stories about people through images that says more than about what's happening.
Anderson's weapon in this film is no secret. It isn't often Daniel Day-Lewis's name shows up on a marquee these days, especially when it's not tied to something that is sure to be good. This latest choice of his, however, is better than good and so is he. His character, Daniel Plainview, a self-proclaimed "oilman," is deeply complex and troubled. The way that Day- Lewis plays the lighter parts and seamlessly transitions to the darker parts is chillingly believable. Plainview is not only interesting, but he's embraceable, despicable, amusing and frightening all throughout the film.
The only truly supporting cast is his son and a self-proclaimed prophet that he comes into complications with played by Paul Dano (Little Miss Sunshine). Dano's performance is unfortunately shadowed by Day-Lewis and it does feel like he was too young to be cast, but the 23-year-old is highly impressive and will perhaps be a marquee name in the near future.
"Blood" is otherwise the strength of Anderson and his crew. The original score by Jonny Greenwood, who is mostly known for his guitar skills in Hollywood, brings something abstract that simultaneously fits the film's generally quiet demeanor using a variety of percussion sounds and few musical notes. While some films prefer soaring John Williams themes, Greenwood's theme for "Blood" is one dissonant chord and a sound effect that can be best described as a more painful version of the THX sound system effect. It's harsh, but so is the film. Anderson makes every moment count whether it's when there's music or where he puts the camera.
To best describe the film in terms of people familiar with Anderson's work, it's his first film that truly translates to the interests of all dramatic film-lovers. It is distinctly his film, yet viewers will be able to grasp it much more easily than the abstract and obscure multiple storyline nature of "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia." For people new to his work, be prepared to feel some discomfort, but if you pay attention to the way the story is told, then you'll find the mastery of "Blood."
Lars and the Real Girl
If anyone had told me I would one day be crying during a movie about a man and his blow-up doll, I would have called them a liar. But, here I am, going through at least 3 Kleenex even after the movie is over. Lars and the Real Girl is a touching, quirky film that is a lesson in why people do the things they do. Anyone that is interested in social work, counseling, psychology, or ministry should watch this movie.
Lars is a quiet young man (probably 30s) who does not like to be touched. He works in a cubicle in some random office. Currently, he lives in the garage of his childhood home. His brother, Gus, and new wife, Karin, live in the connected house and are expecting a child soon. Karin puts a great deal of effort into trying to pull Lars out of his shell. Gus, on the other hand, thinks Lars is happy how he is. It's his choice to spend time alone, isn't it? The status quo is shaken up, however, when Lars brings home a new girlfriend. Her name is Bianca, and she is a blow-up doll. But Lars doesn't realize this, or if he does, he doesn't acknowledge it. She is, to him, real. He talks to her as if she is. For everyone who thinks sounds disgusting, take note: his relationship with Bianca is not sexual by any means. On the contrary, Bianca used to be a missionary and the two of them insist that Bianca sleep in the house instead of in bed with Lars in the garage. I say the two of them insist because Lars actually seems to hear answers when he asks Bianca's questions.
At first everyone is shaken up. The four of them go to the family doctor under the guise of needing to make sure Bianca is in good physical health. Dr. Dagmar suggests to Gus and Karin that Bianca is here for a reason and they should just ride it out. She asks Lars to come in once a week to make sure Bianca is all right. While they wait for the treatments to take effect, Dagmar and Lars get a chance to talk, and voilà, Lars is in counseling without him even knowing it.
Karin wants to do what is best for Lars. Gus just wants this little problem to go away. This is making it all too apparent that maybe things aren't all right with this family. On the positive side, Lars starts spending more time around other people. People of the town, including preachers, hairdressers, and hospital workers, all treat Bianca as if she is real. This seems to give Lars to courage to come out of his shell, but he isn't the only one who changes.
Bianca helps this community and this family come together in unexpected ways. The acting is superb. Ryan Gosling as Lars is sure to get an Oscar nomination. Paul Schneider as Gus is the perfect brother who would rather bury painful issues than deal with them. Patricia Clarkson as Dr. Dagmar is a truly compassionate doctor that would put any counselor to shame.
Lars and the Real Girl has now moved up to my top favorite movies of all time. Anyone who sees this movie will be pleasantly surprised. During the movie, I saw one couple get up and leave. I have no idea what they could have been offended about. There is nothing sexual or gross about this movie. The blow-up doll merely becomes a physical embodiment of one man's terrible loneliness in a world where he was heartlessly abandoned.
Le Scaphandre et le papillon
How much do we really communicate? Can you tell me what you're thinking? What you're feeling? Not an approximation, but exactly? To find a common language, a window of trust, and to communicate experience! To see inside the mind of an artist. Or for the artist, ours. If we find that common wavelength, can we dive in? Let the 'butterfly' take flight from its dark chrysalis? The interior world of another. The inscrutable depth of another person's individuality.
The first movie I saw by neo-expressionist painter Julian Schnabel was Before Night Falls. In that film, the artist was trapped in prison, quite literally. Which presented great communication difficulties for him (in giving life to his novel in the world). In this film, we have examples of people trapped or imprisoned in different ways. A man who had been taken hostage in Beirut. An ailing father who has difficulty climbing stairs to and from his apartment. Both are trying to reach out to the main protagonist. Bauby. An amazing and successful socialite who's in his very own 'prison.' Bauby has secured a publishing contract when tragedy hits. A stroke causes 'locked in' syndrome and he reviews his options as an author. The book he writes, and on which this film is based, is the one he is remembered for. I haven't read it. But his powers of expression, glimpsed in the film, make me want to buy it. The book he nearly wrote - a re-write of the Count of Monte Cristo - would probably be pulped. (But I wonder if that was poetic embellishment - Dumas was the first person to describe locked in syndrome in the person of Monsieur Noirtier de Villeforte, a Cristo character).
How many people know of Jean-Dominique Bauby, former editor of Elle fashion magazine? It doesn't matter. But what does matter is experiencing his ability to discern, his articulate vision of beauty. Not as science, but as an education of the senses (and this is a sensuous and evocative film).
Why is The Diving Bell and the Butterfly so successful? A French language film picking up four Oscar nominations is remarkable. (The American director insisted on authenticity and made it in France and in French.) I suspect the consummate vocabulary of metaphor it uses is partly responsible. It makes the challenge facing Bauby a global one and relevant to everyone's life. None of us communicates perfectly, after all. Words left unsaid, to friends, to lovers, because we didn't find the 'right' words.
The speech therapist who breaks through Bauby's barrier is excellent. Her motivation is, here is a man she respects and admires. It is also the biggest challenge of her career. Bauby's sense of humour, voiced as interior dialogue, is scathing. His lecherous thoughts about the therapist are tempered with good taste and his incorrect jokes about his own condition.
Bauby starts to write his novel and his sense of poetry bursts through. We feel a glimmer of a mental rush associated with artists, explorers and adventurers. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is the adventure of life and death. Not in Hollywood terms with big explosions. But with sensitivities, with meanings. It has a 'reach out and touch' quality. A Laughing Buddha whose joke we've missed (but might catch on another occasion). It is the most awesomely beautiful film I have seen for a long while.
Schnabel's thing might be helping us taste something we might otherwise let go unnoticed. In Basquiat, he introduced many people to the artist Basquiat, but also to the revered and misunderstood Warhol. (And if you want to understand someone as weird as Warhol, understanding the contemporaneous – and only slightly weird - Basquiat is maybe a good place to start.) Here, his insight is transcendent. The film is a work of art. About a work of art. The use of visual metaphor and an excellent script lets us use Bauby's condition symbolically. Ingenious editing keeps us on the edge of our seat, especially towards the resolution, as we race to work out how a drive in the countryside will end.
The only scene I could find a flaw in was where he shaves his father. The sound of the rasping blade as he shaved his dad troubled me – if it was added afterwards I think it was overdone and distracting. But the scene was an emotional building block. And much of our story is told like this, through flashbacks. With his beautiful ex-wife. With his children. With his lover. And with his father. People with whom, like most of us, he still has one or two little unresolved issues. They made me wonder if we make too little effort to communicate when it seems easy to do so.
The film successfully mixes a down-to-earth style, great special effects to see through Bauby's one remaining eye, and jaw-dropping montage. As we observe mundane details of our hero's life falling apart or reaching fulfilment, the camera cuts to ice fields collapsing into the sea or winding back in reverse motion. Or there will be a sudden switch to sensuality as he guzzles wine and oysters in a swank restaurant, feeding and being fed by his lover. Janusz Kaminski, the cinematographer for countless Steven Spielberg's, excels, as does Oscar-winning screenwriter Ronald Harwood.
It should perhaps be noted that the film has not been immune to attempted high-jacks by groups with their own agendas. The Catholic News Service hailed its 'life-affirming qualities' compared to another great film it denigrates, The Sea Inside. Although locked-in state is a rare condition, few individuals experiencing it are likely to have the wealth and resources, public acclaim and reason to live that Bauby had. The situation of Ramon Sanpedro (The Sea Inside) might be a more common one.
The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep
Heartwarming family entertainment. This movie has the feel of "ET" and "Dear Frankie" another great Scottish film. The setting is near Loch Ness in Scotland during World War II. The landscape of Scotland is a beautiful backdrop for the movie and the character of Angus just finds his way into your heart. There is laughter as well as many touching scenes. Of course, there is the anti-hero, there always is. And the war in Europe is also a "character" in the film as it affects people's lives. The theater where I saw the movie had many children in attendance and they all seemed to love this movie. And there is enough in the story to keep the adults involved also.
Into The Wild
I saw this movie at an advanced screening in Nashville on August 23, 2007. Although it was a little long, it was a great movie.
The movie follows an Emory grad who struggles to find the meaning of life. He travels across the country (ultimately to Alaska) and along the way he touches lives and becomes a man.
This movie really makes a person reevaluate their priorities in life and I personally found it to be inspiring. The director did a beautiful job with the story line and the landscapes were incredible.
Vince Vaughn plays a small part and is his usual lovable self. Emile Hirsch was wonderful and has a bright future in acting.
One shocker was the random brief nudity of men and women.
This movie is worth seeing at least once.
Juno
If people didn't realize what a joke the Academy Awards have been, certainly Juno will go a long way to show just that.
Juno is nothing but a huge PR campaign masquerading as an indie film. That's exactly what the Academy wants to be known for.
The fact that Juno is completely fake, from the absurdly hip bio of its writer to its forced (supposed) humor is what the Academy is all about.
Academy Awards have ceased a long time ago to be about quality. That's why they love Juno. They saw the hundreds of trade ads and voted for Juno, and the other films that bought cover ads in Variety and the Hollywood Reporter.
It may be good business for trade newspapers, but it's a shame for film and for the public.
kitchen confidential
It seems that channel 7 in Australia is showing the rest of the episodes that were not aired after Fox cancelled the show in the USA.
I guess they have a better sense of humor than Fox.
I hope that when they are all aired they put them on DVD for those of us who loved the show. I have seen some of the episodes that were not aired and they were hilarious. There is so much reality cr*p on TV it really upsets me when a network doesn't give a truly smart comedy to gain an audience before pulling it off the air. I understand that Seinfeld almost met the same fate but thank G*d it was allowed to continue to become one of the best comedies ever!!
Hotel Babylon
Another Show putting the BBC back at the top of UK Drama.
This is another show on the BBC that just fills me with joy! For so long I have been deeply depressed at the state of UK TV. Channel4 came up with "Big Brother", and suddenly it was reality TV on every channel. Now it may be just me, but I get enough reality watching the News channels and getting depressed. I have craved good drama for years now. Drama should be a little escape from reality, a break from the news, an hour to 'switch off' and immerse yourself in another World, like a long hot bath! Drama on UK TV has been very poor of late. The soaps are being run almost nightly, and I felt that these almost daily showings are leaving the writing teams really pushed for more desperate ideas. We have had a couple of gems now and again ("Queer as Folk" for example). So you cannot imagine my delight when I heard the BBC were resurrecting "Dr Who". Russell T Davis at the helm (a writer I have worshiped since I watched Children's TV!) and a cast and crew that should be envied the World over I was excited. Sure enough, "Dr Who" was a sensation! Suddenly there seems to be a resurgence in drama on UK TV. No offense to my American buddies (responsible for 24, QaF, Sex and the City, 6Feet Under et. all), but it is great to see UK Drama coming back with the quality and care the US throws at a lot of it's Dramas. I must at this point, thank HBO for all they do for drama in the US :) So, onto "Hotel Babylon".
This show is a wonderful creation, and another great commission by the BBC. A collection of individual stories that can be watched independently of each other and enjoyed. However, the Hotel staff are a great excuse for building a story arc as the series develops and you become attached to them emotionally. The stories contain humour, and moral conflict that makes you think. This is not 'brain death TV' but something and some people you become involved with. This cannot be praised highly enough.
The cast are superb, totally superb. The writing is clever and wonderfully woven, and the editing makes the show a beautiful thing to watch. The sets are lavish and totally believable, the lighting is perfect, the sound track (VO and music) is wonderful. This is a show that I hope has been filmed in HD, so we can really appreciate the work done by both crew and cast in this wonderful format even more on DVD (HD or Blu-Ray, I don't care!) release.
Please give this show a try, and I truly believe you will not be disappointed. Do not expect "Fawlty Towers". Expect a lavish well made Drama, that will excite and engage. I thank the whole team for such a great job.
With a growing portfolio, "Hotel Babylon", "Doctor Who", and "Sea of Souls" to name but three, I am quietly hopeful the BBC has passed it's 90's "Reality" phase, and now are back into GREAT Drama.
Samantha Who?
Here is an original idea. What if we all had the chance to forget the transgressions we committed in our life up to this time? What would happen if you woke up from a coma not knowing the first thing about your past? Such is the premise of "Samamtha Who?", a charming fantasy-comedy starring Christina Applegate, formerly of "Married...With Children". I suspect that most of us, given the chance, would probably not like a few things about our past lives, but Samantha, pre-amnesia, was a bit more unlikeable than most. Miss Applegate has progressed quite a bit as a comedic actress over the years, and her character here gets a chance to show her considerable comedic talents. Her reactions and expressions remind one of the early Marlo Thomas in the "That Girl" series. This series deserves a chance to succeed, if only the writers can keep up the writing end, not running out of ideas based soley on the amnesia gag. There is promise here.
The Big Bang Theory
It probably won't last just because I thought it was funny, but the story of two geeks (Johnny Galecki and Jim Parsons) and their friends and a ditsy blonde (Kaley Cuoco) had some clever moments.
Unfortunately, there are only two episodes in the can, so maybe next week will be the last chance to see it.
Like I said, I thought the premise funny, and certainly more interesting that "Chuck." How can you not laugh at friends like Wolowitz (Simon Helberg) and Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar)? Are there real people with names like that?
Check it out before it's gone.
Mad Men
Mad Men is AMC’s provocative new original series from writer and executive producer Matthew Weiner of The Sopranos. Set in 1960 New York, Mad Men pulls the viewer into an unexpected new world - the high-powered and glamorous “Golden Age” of advertising - where everyone is selling something and nothing is ever what you expect it to be.
Dirt
Courteney Cox stars in this new drama from FX, and also acts as an executive producer. The series follows the exploits of Lucy Spiller, an executive editor at two tabloid magazines. Lucy possesses the power to manipulate the lives of celebrities through the articles she prints in the magazine. 13 episodes have been ordered for the first season. Dirt is co-produced by FX, Touchstone Television, and Coquette.
Brothers & Sisters
I have finished watching the first episode and thought I would like to leave a slightly more favourable review than the previous poster. I like to give a show more of a chance to pique my interest than 5 minutes so I sat and watched the entire episode. There were the usual introductions to new characters... since it's a rather large ensemble depicting a family of adult children and two older parents there wasn't much room for in depth intros but it was adequate for a premiere episode.
The end of the show set the stage for the series. I will give it more time to develop. The family is centred around older parents and their children - 2 daughters (casting Calista Flockhart, 42, as the younger of the two sisters and much younger looking 38 year old Rachel Griffiths, 38, as the older sister was a little odd) and 3 brothers (one, seemingly, an Afghanistan war veteran, one a lawyer who does happen to be gay and the last a brother who is working at the family business). Something odd is afoot at the family business both on the financial side and the emotional side.
The demise of the patriarch (what a shame) at the end of the premiere episode will set the tone with, I believe, the sister from NYC (Flockhart) moving back to CA to start a new job on television and mending bridges with her mother and family.
Chuck
Chuck plays like its creators decided to try and make a TV show with as little content as possible, Everything in this show is on the surface. Nothing strikes a chord or recognition of anything human, or even funny.
Then again, to be funny, you need to have real characters, not walking clichés.
It comes as little surprise of course, given that McG and Josh Schwartz have a well-deserved reputation outside Hollywood for vacuous "entertainment" (I use the word loosely) and NBC is now sadly known as the Must Avoid Network if you like quality entertainment.
Still it's rather appalling to see in what contempt the producers of Chuck hold their audience. They manage to insult where they were supposed to amuse.
Pushing Daisies
I guess stealing from yourself is not as bad as stealing from someone else, but it does tend to keep you in the same rut. The creator of "Pushing Daisies", Bryan Fuller, simply recycled his premise from "Dead Like Me", even having the characters headquartered out in a waffle (pie) house. The only substantial changes are a surreal production design and an "Ameilie" type storytelling technique; presumably to give the thing a more absurdest feel. CW Television has also stolen Fuller's DLM idea for a spectacularly bad show called "Reaper", which premiered this fall.
I instantly disliked this show despite a very favorable bias. My biggest question is how much better I would have liked it had I not been a fan of "Dead Like Me"? I think that I would have probably liked it a bit better but not enough to become a regular viewer or fear its early cancellation. My other question is how anyone can consider this even remotely original, given its obvious rip-off status? Since everything is relative maybe those making the originality claim have spent the past two years on a steady diet of "Hannah Montana" or "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody".
So why can't I recommend it to fans of "Dead Like Me", or even to fans of "Tru Calling"? Mostly because it somehow fails to capture the humanity elements of Fuller's earlier show (which is available on DVD if you are interested). "Dead Like Me" balanced its supernatural premise with a very clever coming of age story. It had its absurdest elements but they were offset by a realistic production design; which kept it grounded. The strength of "Dead Like Me" was its foundation of normalcy, despite the supernatural elements the characters behaved in ways that viewers instantly identified with. "Pushing Daisies" is more like "Austin Powers", you might find it funny at times but there is never a strong connection with the characters.
Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.
The Tudors
Airs Next: Showtime at Sunday 10:00 PM (60 min.)
Status: New Series
Premiered: April 1, 2007
Show Categories: Drama, Movie/Mini-Series
The Tudors focuses on the life and romances of the young King Henry VIII. The ten one-hour episodes take a look at the often overlooked early political relationships as well as Henry's trysts with such notable women as Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. The series is shot on location in Ireland. Michael Hirst ( Elizabeth ) is the series creator, writer, and executive producer.
Problem is some people will think "this" show is the real history and take it for truth without bothering to look up the real truth....that's very sad and a disservice to the people.
Why embellish when the actual story is dramatic enough? I mean, com'on...embellish some, but stick to the basic facts at least! There are movies that embellished on Henry VIII...like HBO's HenryVIII, but, they stuck to the basic facts and the actors were cast brilliantly.
At this point, for those of us who know our history, it's like watching a train wreck, you just can't help it...as horrible as it is, you can't turn away.
I watch more now to see just how badly they can keep on screwing up. I do know if I can make it through the first season, I won't be watching the second.
Most of us "haters" were excited about the show coming out because that was a very dramatic time in history...to be more accurate we are now "dissapointed" by the show and feel let down. It's not so much as we "hate" the show for it's obvious slaughter of history, it's just a huge disappointment. After all, it is called the The Tudors...one would expect it to be a fairly accurate account of The Tudors...*all* of them.
If they wanted to make a series about a King and his court, then do it...but don't call it by a name that is part of history then rape the real stories of the real people.
That's just my 2 cents...
House M.D (Season 4)
HOUSE, an innovative take on the medical drama, solves mysteries where the villain is a medical malady and the hero is an irreverent, controversial doctor who trusts no one, least of all his patients.
As Season Four opens, House is without a team to contribute to the perplexing medical cases he undertakes, and Cuddy and Wilson are adamant that he recruit new fellowship candidates. After 40 applicants applied for the newly vacated spots on his team, a group of five doctors -- played by Olivia Wilde, Kal Penn, Peter Jacobson, Anne Dudek and Edi Gathegi -- have emerged as finalists vying for the coveted and hotly contested openings.
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