The Middle: The Waiting Game

Sue (Eden Sher) is playing the waiting game. Waiting to hear from all the colleges she has applied at. She is trying, mostly successfully, to play it cool. She is making little sachets of potpourri for all of her senior classmates so they will remember their time together. Frankie (Patricia Heaton), on the other hand, is super freaking out. She is devastated when Purdue wait lists her and goes outside to kick some lawn chairs when Notre Dame doesn't accept her.
Still, it is hard for Sue to remain completely optimist when Brad (J. Brock Ciarlelli) decides to defer his acceptance to NYU and join the AmericaCore for a whole year. He believes that doing something with a hammer will help him bond with his father. Her dismay that her friends have their lives already figured out is written across her face.
In the meantime, Brick (Atticus Shaffer) is fed up with all of Axl's (Charlie McDermott's) crap in his room and Mike (Neil Flynn) decides that the kids are old enough to figure things out for themselves, but they are not the Donahues. Brick takes Axl's bed and places it in the empty dining room, though this upsets Frankie because she is about to move in Aunt Edie's table. While she and the kids are transporting the table back to the Heck house, Mike's car arrives next to theirs and he is singing and playing the air guitar along to a song on the radio. He is caught and is extremely embarrassed about the whole thing. He tries denying the whole thing and then forbids anyone else from talking about it before finally coming clean to Frankie that that is the way he relieves his stress. This whole getting Sue into college thing is making him stress. She finally needs something to go her way.
Luckily, it does. She hyperventilates when she opens the email from East Indiana State while Frankie tries to get her to at least express her emotions though that still doesn't work. Frankie and Mike actually have to read the email to find out that she has been accepted, even Axl grudgingly welcomes her as a fellow dragon.
The episode is good, though Sue's momentous achievement of getting into college is sort of overlooked with all the other plot lines, though they are all extremely good and entertaining, and gave each actor their moment in the sun. Flynn was especially a stand-out, proving that he does truly and deeply care about his only daughter. I wish that Sue would have shown more happiness and delight at her acceptance, though she was mighty pleased, jumping up and down and hugging everyone in sight.
The episode was also funny, which is always a relief. Sue deserves to be happy and hopefully, her speechlessness proves her happiness. I also liked that when Sue went to read her email, the point of view was from a webcam, showing her to be even more vulnerable than normal.
All-in-all, this has been the best, most well-rounded episode in some time. Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-Brick is finally out to write the perfect novel, after reading almost every book in the universe, and after kicking Axl out, he starts. He gets off to an amazing start, though quickly loses steam and abandons his first book after just two sentences.
-Axl loves his new room in the living room, and loves it even more after the table moves in. He can have breakfast in bed and can watch the big TV. After he returns to college, Frankie and Mike also enjoy breakfast in bed.
-We actually hear the voice of Brad's father, wanting him to go to the batting cages which Brad refuses.
-At first, Sue thinks that Brad is going to join the army and he says no though he always thought he would look good in that costume. Funniest line of the night.
-Axl keeps some pretty inappropriate stuff in his phone. Of course he does.
-Do colleges only send acceptance letters through email these days? I loved opening mine up in the mail on Christmas Eve.
-Frankie buys chicken from the gas station and thinks that making the call to Curves is the most important step. That is another motif in the episode. Frankie will never start exercising and will never join Curves.
-Mike tells her to calm down so she doesn't give herself a heart attack because everyone knows she doesn't exercise.
-Mike gets so mad when Frankie and the kids bring up the singing in the car incident at the table and stabs his fork into Frankie's newish table. It remained pristine for all of two days.
-Doris, the dog, isn't seen at all in this episode. I wonder what happened to her.

Boyhood (2014)

This is an amazing film.
Richard Linklater took twelve years to film this masterpiece and it is.
This film chronicles the growing up of Mason, Jr. (Ellar Coltrane) and his sister, Samantha (Lorelei Linklater), their difficulties and triumphs.
Mason is six when the film begins, dealing with a move as his mother, Olivia (Patricia Arquette), decides to continue her education and that means moving closer to her mother in Houston. Olivia falls in love with one of her college professors, Bill (Marco Perella) who turns out to be even worse than her first husband. Bill is an alcoholic who throws glass bottles at her children and his own and when Olivia goes to rescue her kids, she has to bring a friend with her and he barely lets the kids leave the house. They leave all their belongings behind.
They move on. Olivia gets her master's degree and starts teaching at a college several hundred miles away, though that's probably for the best. Mason discovers photography and develops a true talent for it, though his work ethic isn't spectacular at first though he gets better. A girl breaks his heart, he moves on. Life will still continue.
This is the most realistic film I've seen in some time, maybe ever. The actors, with the notable exception of Ethan Hawke as Mason, Sr. aren't that attractive, and the settings are all real. The film has the true documentary feel and is just so authentic.
Sure, there are some plots that should have had more to them, just cutting them off in the middle, as life is, and one scene where Olivia takes Mason, Sr. outside to yell at him is told from the point of view of the children while I'm more interested in it from her point of view, furious that her ex brought the kids to her house when she wanted them returned to her mother's house. Who knows why a successful, fairly wealthy man would resort to drinking alcohol all the time, hiding it from his wife. And we never see Bill's two children again, though Olivia felt horrible about leaving them there, but she couldn't take them with her but she did call their mother and Child Protective Services, so hopefully they would also get out of the situation.
Though Olivia gets a good job and is popular at the college, she is still devastated when Mason leaves for college, because the best years of her life are over. While Mason, Sr. gets to do the whole thing again with his second wife, she is alone and can't believe it.
Probably the scene I found farthest fetched was when one of the workers on Olivia's septic tank thanks her for her instance that he go to school.  Sure, that scene demonstrates how something so little could have such a big influence on someone's life, but I just couldn't fully believe it.
Arquette and Hawke both received Oscar nominations with Arquette winning in her category and she was great as was Hawke. Arquette doesn't make the best decisions but she tries and she wants better for her kids, loving them and letting them know how disappointed she is, but she understands them. And that is what mattered.
Sure, I would have liked the film to end on the sad but realistic note of Olivia crying saying that she had nothing as Mason was leaving for college. Instead, the film ends with Mason meeting someone new at college and her telling him that moments seize them instead of the other way around.
Still, with the actors aging realistically over twelve years dealing with situations that unfortunately happen all the time, this is a film that needs to be viewed. For a nearly three hour film, it mostly flies by, which is just wonderful and is anchored by the excellent performances, seamless editing and utter realism. Grade: A

Cinderella (2015)

If only fairy tales were real life. But they aren't.
Still, if you are nice and have courage and believe in just a little bit of magic, one just may come true for you.
The beginning is lengthy and for once, we actually see Ella's mother, portrayed by a blond Hayley Atwell. She dies from an unknown illness and Ella's father, Ben Chaplin, never fully recovers though he eventually decides that it is time to move on and marries a widow with two daughters, Cate Blanchett.
Ella (Lily James) is alright with that at first, and takes her mother's advice to heart but things just don't go her way. Stepmother (although Ella calls her Madame throughout) takes severe advantage of Ella's kindness and when Father dies, decides to stretch out his money by firing all the servants, which means that Cinderella is left with all the work. She has few friends, they include her mice and the old servants at her house.
Things change, though only slightly at first, when she accidentally runs into the Prince (Richard Madden) who doesn't let her know that he is the Prince and introduces himself as Kit. He is delighted with her.
We all know how the story goes, Ella's fairy godmother (Helena Bonham Carter) saves the day. Ella steals away the Prince's breath at the ball, leaving everyone else speechless and leaves behind her glass slipper. The Prince sets out to find who left behind the slipper.
Only this time, there is a twist. The Stepmother finds the slipper, hidden with Ella's precious things and decides that she can marry the now King, but she will have the real power. Ella decides to sacrifice her personal happiness so Evil Stepmother will not ruin the King or the Kingdom. Yes, its sort of like Casablanca. But Evil Stepmother has her own scheme. She tells the Grand Duke (Stellan Skarsgard) of Ella's true nature. She will keep her true identity a secret so the King can marry a Princess for political gain and in return she will have a position and her beautiful but stupid daughters (Holliday Granger and Sophie McShera) will marry well. All she has to do is hide Ella away.
Ella believes that her lovely memory of the ball will become just that, a memory she will treasure forever. Fortunately, fate has other plans and she is discovered and everything works out. The Grand Duke, Evil Stepmother and Stepsisters are banished and Ella marries the King in another beautiful gown, this time without magic.
Sure, the plot is nothing new but at least it is enjoyable though the role of Ella requires far too much crying of James though she does it well. Blanchett's role is great though she tries for sympathy but fails to get it. Carter is good in her small role and it's nice to see her pretty for a change. Madden will probably get offered more roles after this one and he isn't bad and fortunately, handsome just as a Prince should be. Also, he is quite talented as he doesn't step on her enormously large dress as he leads her in the first dance at the ball.
I liked the film and will certainly watch it again, but it is only a fairy tale though the message is good: Have Courage and Be Kind, certainly simple words to live by. Grade: B
Side Note:
-The Frozen Fever short aired before the film is utterly delightful with Elsa determined to throw Anna a perfect Birthday only to get sick throughout the day. That little short gets an A-.

Invictus (2009)

This was an interesting film.
Nelson Mandela (Morgan Freeman) has just been elected President of South Africa, the apartheid is finally over but problems still exist. When he moves into his new office, all the white employees have already packed their bags so he calls everyone together and assures them that no one will be fired unless they cannot perform the job properly. Mandela even hires white bodyguards in addition to the black ones he already had, which infuriates his lead bodyguard Jason (Tony Kgoroge). But forgiveness heals the soul.
Even the national Rugby team, the Springboks, is hated because it represents time before the equal rights movement. And the team isn't that great, so they have only a slim chance of winning their first game in the Rugby World Cup, held the next year.
Mandela decides to unite the country by using Rugby. He invites the captain of the team, Francois Pienaar (Matt Damon) for tea. Francois's parents aren't fans of Mandela's though his maid wants him to express her concerns for the long and expensive bus routes.
Fortunately, the meeting goes well and Mandela uses the team to hold clinics around the country, teaching the children about the team and getting the whole country behind them. This does go well, though when the team arrives at the poor villages, the children flock around Chester (McNiel Hendricks), who is the only black African on the team.
But as the country's support grows, so does the team's talent. They enter the World Cup and surprisingly, they make it to the finals. Mandela is one of their firmest supporters, memorizing the names of everyone on the team and wishing them all the luck in the world.
Though the Springboks fortunately win a close match versus the New Zealand All Blacks, who are a force to be reckoned with, Mandela is truly pleased that he was able to unite a divided country through them. His sacrifices were worth it.
Mandela is truly a person to be admired. His attitude is commendable. Freeman does a great portrayal, though his accent isn't spectacular. Damon's isn't great either though at least it is consistent throughout the film. They both received Oscar nominations for this film, Freeman's was deserved though Damon's truly wasn't. Oh well.
I did like the film as you don't really need to know much about the history of South Africa or even about Rugby to fully understand and appreciate this film which is always a relief. The film also goes quickly, though it clocks in at over two hours. Unfortunately, it isn't that memorable despite being a good, solid film with no true flaws. The story flows quite well, the setting and mechanics of the film are quite good but there were no moments that just grabbed me. Grade: B+

The Middle: Flirting with Disaster

First of all, Axl (Charlie McDermott) actually has more friends than just Hutch. He has another friend, Finn (Matthew Atkinson) who is beyond attractive. Of course Frankie (Patricia Heaton) notices. But Finn is nice and considerate whereas Axl insists that Finn not talk to anyone. Finn and Frankie both like the same band and Finn is grateful when she does their laundry which saved him eight dollars in quarters which is, like, twelve dollars in real money. We all see where this is headed. Frankie is discovered when she confesses to her sister over the phone that things that she is thinking about Finn should land her in prison. Gross. This is overheard, by the way, because Mike (Neil Flynn) installed a cheap bluetooth device in Frankie's car so she can talk to people on an effective speaker phone. She is mortified that Axl and Finn overhear that as she should be. But, as a great twist would be, they actually didn't overhear her. Though Frankie confesses first, and Axl is quite grossed out, he just didn't want to tell her that he spilled a milkshake in her car. And this Finn has been old lady bait for quite some time, even the lunch lady gives him extra tater tots. This forces Frankie to get off her high horse, she is nothing special to Finn.
Mike has his own battles with Frankie's father, Tag (Jerry Van Dyke) who needs to retake his driver's test. He barely passes the written test and then gets Mike to take him out on the road which goes horribly because he can't see colors that well so every time he gets to a stop light, he stops and counts to five and then regardless of the color. He has no peripheral vision so turning is especially dangerous and Mike promptly ends the trip only to get disgusted when Tag gives in but asks Mike for a ride later that week when he has a doctor's appointment and Pat (his wife) has water aerobics. Mike isn't pleased.
Brick (Atticus Shaffer) finally gets a good plot line when he informs his parents that there is a Planet Nowhere Con in Indianapolis. His parents give in, though neither want to go and decide to continue Sue's (Eden Sher's) punishment for the Quarry Party and rope her in to taking him. She takes him, reluctantly. On the way there Brick talks to her endlessly about the thing and when they get there and he explains everything needed to complete before he can get the ultimate prize of the key, Sue is exasperated. Fortunately, somewhere along the way, she gets involved and even fights for Brick to get the final prize though her attempt fails but his gesture of surrendering his nose steals the deal and he gets his key though the queen is less than thrilled to be there.
Sure, you would think that this would have been a marvelous day, and Brick found it wonderful. But Sue is leaving soon for college and once again, he'll be completely alone in the house. Fortunately, Sue won't have the no family members allowed rule. Hers will be the opposite and that pleases Brick greatly.
This episode, thank goodness, gave each character something interesting to do. Mike, Sue and Brick were probably the best, And Tag and Finn are great guest stars. Sure, I would love to know how Axl and Finn know each other and why we've never seen or heard of him before, because it would just be lame if we didn't see him again.
Also, when will we know if Sue actually got into one of her many colleges that she applied at?
But the episode was funny, which is always welcome. This will probably be the last new episode for several weeks though the plot were not that important in the long run, but yes, it was still a good episode. Grade: B+
Side Notes:
-For the record, Mike flirts with diner waitresses, though you don't see any of that at Stuckies when he visits with Tag.
-Janet accuses Frankie of being a cougar, which is just wrong.
-Nancy Donahue (Jen Ray) thinks that Dottie's guitar teacher is such a free-spirit with his ponytail and bare feet in her house.
-Sue might be forced to take her brother to a Nowhere Convention but she still can't wait to go home and hang with her friends somewhere to be determined.
-Brick has narrated the Planet Nowhere books which he listens to when his eyes are tired of reading.
-Frankie has eaten all the chips in the house except for barbecue.
-Tag still wants to be Pat's hero and can't even tell her that he's in big danger of losing his license.
-Mike got Frankie's blue tooth for a whole dollar at a yard sale.