This was a good film.
Eva (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is a lonely divorcee, trying to cope with her daughter preparing to leave for college. She is a masseuse though I think her job largely annoys her, with one guy not helping or offering to help carry her large table up his narrow staircase while a lady warbles on about petty first-world problems. Then, at a party which she attends with her friends, Will (Ben Falcone) and Sara (Toni Collette, speaking in her actual voice for once), she meets Marianne (Catherine Keener), who is actually a poet and earns a pretty good living, considering her house is gorgeous. This is a potential new client for her, which is good. Also, Will introduces her to Albert (the late James Gandolfini), who doesn't find her attractive. She feels the same way about him. Yet, he asks her for number and they go out on a date and get along rather well. She's divorced (for ten years) and he's divorced (for only four years). They both only have one daughter who will soon be leaving for college. And they don't want their respective daughters to leave and go across country for college. Eva's daughter, Ellen (Tracey Fairaway) is going to Sarah Lawrence while Albert's daughter, Tess (Eve Hewson) will be going to Parsons. Albert is a kind, sweet man, and though Eve didn't find him sexy at first, she grows attached to him. They have an adult relationship, trying not to concerned with their failed marriages, though they also fail to talk about the future, each just trying to enjoy the moment.
All this while, Eve is also listening to Marianne complain constantly about her ex, how he wouldn't eat onions and would constantly cheat on his diets. Then, the viewer learns as Tess appears, that Albert is Marianne's ex husband. Of course, Eve knew this earlier, when Marianne mentioned that Albert would mix his guacamole around to avoid the onions. A small quirk to some but a major drift in that relationship. But Eve doesn't tell Albert that she also knows Marianne. She even tells her friends that she's test driving him. This is also a problem because she noticed nothing wrong with him until she listened to everything Marianne had to say.
At a dinner date with Will and Sara, Eve is downright mean to Albert, saying she should get him a calorie book and making fun of him not being able to whisper. But it is Albert picking up Tess and finally seeing Eve with Marianne that ends the relationship. Their respective hearts are broken. Albert put it properly. She was poisoning their relationship all this time.
Eve's daughter goes off to college, but she finally gets caught staring outside Albert's house. She apologizes and the two talk again, almost like old times. The movie ends hopefully, thank goodness.
The problem with the film lays in the annoying subplot. While one, involving Sara's inability to fire her maid (Anjelah Johnson-Reyes) who puts stuff away in random drawers, such as putting a hairbrush where the silverware is, works, the other does not. Eve is rather close to Ellen's one friend, Chloe (Tavi Gevinson), giving her advice about having sex (or not) with her boyfriend, something another mother should never do. In fact, Chloe meets Albert before Ellen even does. Before Ellen even leaves for college, Eve even offers Chloe her room. Finally, it's almost a relief that Chloe's mom tells Eve off, saying that this is her daughter, Eve has her own. True, she didn't have to call Eve a dyke, but something needed to happen. Still, the damage is mostly minor, as Ellen isn't furious at her mother that much. Eve finally finishes knitting the ugly yellow blanket that she's been working on her months so her daughter has something for college.
Also, I should note that Eve's ex husband appears in two brief scenes. Peter (Toby Huss) is largely nice though he knows that ordering more bread means his ex-wife will eat it because she doesn't have much self-control.
Though I hated the one subplot, the main plot is great. People are mean to each other, just like real life but they can also be sweet and sensitive. The acting is also top notch, with Louis-Dreyfus at the top of her game, her face ever expressive and Gandolfini as an actor who will be missed. (Full disclosure: I've never seen him in anything before, but he was fantastic in this role.) Keener and Collette are also great, though their characters are far from nice. The film also has some funny lines, and the dialogue is witty and realistic with the great screenwriter and director Nicole Holofcener to thank for that. This film shows people as they actually are. Once Eve finally asks her client for help, he is more than happy to carry her heavy table up the stairs, all she had to do was ask. All Eve had to do was be honest with Albert so she could be happy. Happiness should not be underrated. Grade: A-
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Saturday, October 12, 2013
State of Play (2009)
This was another good political thriller.
Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) is a journalist. His old college roommate is Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) who is working on a proposal to investigate the corporation Point Corp, who have some very bad operations in the works. But Stephen has a problem. A big one. One of his aides who would help his committee with research has died in a tragic freak accident on the subway. Sonia Baker (Maria Thayer) is dead and she was romantically involved. Not to mention, two men were killed the night before. Well, only one of the men was actually killed, the other would die the next night, just as he was recovering from his injuries.
The plot, as in most thrillers, is complicated. But this is also investigative journalism in this film. The Washington Globe is the newspaper where Cal works and it is under new management, though the editor, Cam (Helen Mirren) is a hardass and determined to sell the paper but she sure does protect her reporters. When Cal is given some evidence in the briefcase of one of the killed men, there are pictures of Sonia Baker. They (the girl and DeSean, who was killed) were just people who stole backpacks and briefcases and sold them to their owners. The photos, however, were vital evidence that should have been handed over to police as they could have then stopped the second shooting that killed the pizza delivery guy. See, I told you this is complicated.
There is a man who appears in the seized pictures of Sonia. His name is Dominic Foy (Jason Bateman, great). He is in PR, but he also gave Sonia's name to Point Corp, but then Sonia, who was supposed to spy on Stephen, fell in love with him. And (fulfilling one of my predictions), she was pregnant and didn't know what to do. Stephen doesn't take that news well, furious at his friend to having to hear it. Oh, I didn't mention that Stephen is still married to his college sweetheart, whom Cal also occasionally sleeps with, Anne Collins (Robin Wright Penn). Yeah, love triangle.
Stephen finally comes clean (or so you think) and tells Cal all the information that Sonia could have gotten her hands on. But Anne blows it, saying that this woman was paid $26,000 per month to sleep with her husband. That triggers something in Cal's head. And, if you really think about it, it doesn't make sense. Turns out, as Cal goes to talk to Stephen some more, Stephen knew that something was wrong with Sonia, so he hired one of his mentally unstable friends from the military to follow her, not to kill her, but the mentally unstable Robert Bingham (Michael Berresse) pushed her in front of the train. Busted.
All this while, Cal is also investigating Point Corp, the corrupt corporation. Stephen was told to hire Sonia by the Majority Whip from West Virginia, George Fergus (Jeff Daniels) who first tells Stephen to lay low and fix things with his wife after news of the affair breaks. This is another thing I predicted would come true. But George isn't responsible for the deaths of four people (the homeless girl who just wants a soda also dies). Stephen is.
Adding to the mix is Della Fry (Rachel McAdams) a newbie blogger whom Cal is sort of forced to work with. They get along better and better as the film moves along, though I don't think a romantic future will ever happen for the two of them. He doesn't like the new stuff, his car is from 1990, but he eventually comes to appreciate everything she's done on the story. She investigated the crap of the story and put her sole into it.
There is some great acting, and there is with great editing and cinematography in this film. I do have a problem with the casting. Though Wright Penn, Crowe and Affleck are great in their respective roles, they are not believable as college classmates as Crowe and Affleck are eight years apart. There is also more chemistry between Wright Penn and Crowe than Wright Penn and Affleck, also a problem. Yet, they are great but that problem is too glaring to overlook. Bateman shines in his rare meaty role, though he doesn't have many scenes. McAdams also proves that she is more than a pretty face, saying a lot with just rising an eyebrow. Of course, Mirren is brilliant. There is also the glaring plot hole that needs to be dealt with. Please let me know if I missed something. That problem took the film's grade down. And that's a shame as this film was a true thriller, plus I love films with investigative journalism, with suspenseful music making the scenes tense to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats. Grade: B+
Cal McAffrey (Russell Crowe) is a journalist. His old college roommate is Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) who is working on a proposal to investigate the corporation Point Corp, who have some very bad operations in the works. But Stephen has a problem. A big one. One of his aides who would help his committee with research has died in a tragic freak accident on the subway. Sonia Baker (Maria Thayer) is dead and she was romantically involved. Not to mention, two men were killed the night before. Well, only one of the men was actually killed, the other would die the next night, just as he was recovering from his injuries.
The plot, as in most thrillers, is complicated. But this is also investigative journalism in this film. The Washington Globe is the newspaper where Cal works and it is under new management, though the editor, Cam (Helen Mirren) is a hardass and determined to sell the paper but she sure does protect her reporters. When Cal is given some evidence in the briefcase of one of the killed men, there are pictures of Sonia Baker. They (the girl and DeSean, who was killed) were just people who stole backpacks and briefcases and sold them to their owners. The photos, however, were vital evidence that should have been handed over to police as they could have then stopped the second shooting that killed the pizza delivery guy. See, I told you this is complicated.
There is a man who appears in the seized pictures of Sonia. His name is Dominic Foy (Jason Bateman, great). He is in PR, but he also gave Sonia's name to Point Corp, but then Sonia, who was supposed to spy on Stephen, fell in love with him. And (fulfilling one of my predictions), she was pregnant and didn't know what to do. Stephen doesn't take that news well, furious at his friend to having to hear it. Oh, I didn't mention that Stephen is still married to his college sweetheart, whom Cal also occasionally sleeps with, Anne Collins (Robin Wright Penn). Yeah, love triangle.
Stephen finally comes clean (or so you think) and tells Cal all the information that Sonia could have gotten her hands on. But Anne blows it, saying that this woman was paid $26,000 per month to sleep with her husband. That triggers something in Cal's head. And, if you really think about it, it doesn't make sense. Turns out, as Cal goes to talk to Stephen some more, Stephen knew that something was wrong with Sonia, so he hired one of his mentally unstable friends from the military to follow her, not to kill her, but the mentally unstable Robert Bingham (Michael Berresse) pushed her in front of the train. Busted.
All this while, Cal is also investigating Point Corp, the corrupt corporation. Stephen was told to hire Sonia by the Majority Whip from West Virginia, George Fergus (Jeff Daniels) who first tells Stephen to lay low and fix things with his wife after news of the affair breaks. This is another thing I predicted would come true. But George isn't responsible for the deaths of four people (the homeless girl who just wants a soda also dies). Stephen is.
Adding to the mix is Della Fry (Rachel McAdams) a newbie blogger whom Cal is sort of forced to work with. They get along better and better as the film moves along, though I don't think a romantic future will ever happen for the two of them. He doesn't like the new stuff, his car is from 1990, but he eventually comes to appreciate everything she's done on the story. She investigated the crap of the story and put her sole into it.
There is some great acting, and there is with great editing and cinematography in this film. I do have a problem with the casting. Though Wright Penn, Crowe and Affleck are great in their respective roles, they are not believable as college classmates as Crowe and Affleck are eight years apart. There is also more chemistry between Wright Penn and Crowe than Wright Penn and Affleck, also a problem. Yet, they are great but that problem is too glaring to overlook. Bateman shines in his rare meaty role, though he doesn't have many scenes. McAdams also proves that she is more than a pretty face, saying a lot with just rising an eyebrow. Of course, Mirren is brilliant. There is also the glaring plot hole that needs to be dealt with. Please let me know if I missed something. That problem took the film's grade down. And that's a shame as this film was a true thriller, plus I love films with investigative journalism, with suspenseful music making the scenes tense to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats. Grade: B+
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
The Middle: The Potato
This was a pretty good episode.
The Heck family has been using the church van for many months now since one of their cars broke its windshield, but now that car has been fixed. The church finally needs their van back so the Hecks reluctantly surrender it. This means that Sue (Eden Sher) doesn't have a car and she doesn't want to be a dork and go back on the bus. Thus, she enters the work force, getting a job at a local fast food restaurant located at the mall, this sort of potato shack. The problem? True, she sailed through her interview and even included a personal essay, she doesn't like the product, aka the special tuna potato of the week. And she can't lie to customers telling them that she loved it. Instead, she cries to them and nearly throws up as she just can't lie. But just as she is about to quit, her younger manager (Jimmy Bellinger) tells her that the special potato changes every week.
Axl's (Charlie McDermott) roommate is even ruder and grosser than Axl, if that's even possible. He's not much better, especially when he wipes his dirty mouth on Brick's sleeve. His roommate, Kenny (Tommy Bechtold) is a gamer so he doesn't even move his head away from his computer screen to pick up his dental floss. Axl takes to sleeping at home, much to his parents' (Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn) dismay. Axl even takes their advice, and tries to talk to Kenny, which goes absolutely nowhere, so Axl decides to find a cute girl to shack up with. (Those are his exact words.)
And he finds one. A nice girl named Beth (Jessie Lande), but instead, Beth is also a gamer and she's on level five of World of Warcraft. Despite only playing video games, their relationships grows. When Axl tells them it's time for bed, the two just start making out, leaving Axl no better than in the beginning of the episode.
Now it's time for the call from Brick's (Atticus Shaffer) school. The new principal, Principal Barker (Rachel Dratch) informs the Hecks that Brick hasn't been attending any of his classes. Naturally, the Hecks are furious and Brick also looks confused, as he has been attending classes and even got an A- on his Spanish test. So the Hecks return to Principal Barker, all smug believing they are right and she is wrong. But as it turns out, Brick didn't take Sue's advice properly. He thought that switching classes meant he could take whatever he wanted. Definitely not the case. He'd been attending all the wrong classes for five weeks, so he has tons of catching up to do. Yikes.
That's basically the episode, pretty good with some really good laughs, though a letdown after last week's, but whatever. I was glad that Brick was actually attending classes because if he hadn't, that would have been a huge inconsistency from last week's episode. The acting is, as per normal, perfection, with this being the most underrated cast on television. Also, Rachel Dratch is great as the principal, using her hands to talk. Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-The first time Sue says she can't be a dork and ride the bus again, there is no reaction, no smart comment. The second she repeats that and Axl responds with saying that her clothes and personality will do that for her. Brick is even glad that there is a reaction.
-Speaking of Brick, when Axl went home to sleep, Brick mentioned the next morning that he thought he saw a strange man (Axl) in his room. Frankie tells him that if that happens again, he should scream or run, or both.
-Frankie doesn't like the potato at the end of the show.
-The Hecks still go to church out of guilt.
-Axl decides he needs a blender at college. I'm worried.
-Does Axl actually play football at college? Because he never seems to be in class or at practice, maybe time will tell.
-The parents need some sort of plot line, though I don't know what. Thoughts?
The Heck family has been using the church van for many months now since one of their cars broke its windshield, but now that car has been fixed. The church finally needs their van back so the Hecks reluctantly surrender it. This means that Sue (Eden Sher) doesn't have a car and she doesn't want to be a dork and go back on the bus. Thus, she enters the work force, getting a job at a local fast food restaurant located at the mall, this sort of potato shack. The problem? True, she sailed through her interview and even included a personal essay, she doesn't like the product, aka the special tuna potato of the week. And she can't lie to customers telling them that she loved it. Instead, she cries to them and nearly throws up as she just can't lie. But just as she is about to quit, her younger manager (Jimmy Bellinger) tells her that the special potato changes every week.
Axl's (Charlie McDermott) roommate is even ruder and grosser than Axl, if that's even possible. He's not much better, especially when he wipes his dirty mouth on Brick's sleeve. His roommate, Kenny (Tommy Bechtold) is a gamer so he doesn't even move his head away from his computer screen to pick up his dental floss. Axl takes to sleeping at home, much to his parents' (Patricia Heaton and Neil Flynn) dismay. Axl even takes their advice, and tries to talk to Kenny, which goes absolutely nowhere, so Axl decides to find a cute girl to shack up with. (Those are his exact words.)
And he finds one. A nice girl named Beth (Jessie Lande), but instead, Beth is also a gamer and she's on level five of World of Warcraft. Despite only playing video games, their relationships grows. When Axl tells them it's time for bed, the two just start making out, leaving Axl no better than in the beginning of the episode.
Now it's time for the call from Brick's (Atticus Shaffer) school. The new principal, Principal Barker (Rachel Dratch) informs the Hecks that Brick hasn't been attending any of his classes. Naturally, the Hecks are furious and Brick also looks confused, as he has been attending classes and even got an A- on his Spanish test. So the Hecks return to Principal Barker, all smug believing they are right and she is wrong. But as it turns out, Brick didn't take Sue's advice properly. He thought that switching classes meant he could take whatever he wanted. Definitely not the case. He'd been attending all the wrong classes for five weeks, so he has tons of catching up to do. Yikes.
That's basically the episode, pretty good with some really good laughs, though a letdown after last week's, but whatever. I was glad that Brick was actually attending classes because if he hadn't, that would have been a huge inconsistency from last week's episode. The acting is, as per normal, perfection, with this being the most underrated cast on television. Also, Rachel Dratch is great as the principal, using her hands to talk. Grade: A-
Side Notes:
-The first time Sue says she can't be a dork and ride the bus again, there is no reaction, no smart comment. The second she repeats that and Axl responds with saying that her clothes and personality will do that for her. Brick is even glad that there is a reaction.
-Speaking of Brick, when Axl went home to sleep, Brick mentioned the next morning that he thought he saw a strange man (Axl) in his room. Frankie tells him that if that happens again, he should scream or run, or both.
-Frankie doesn't like the potato at the end of the show.
-The Hecks still go to church out of guilt.
-Axl decides he needs a blender at college. I'm worried.
-Does Axl actually play football at college? Because he never seems to be in class or at practice, maybe time will tell.
-The parents need some sort of plot line, though I don't know what. Thoughts?
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
42
This was a pretty good film.
Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) has the power to fulfill the dream of the Brooklyn Dodgers owner, Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford), cigar always in hand. Jackie is young, plus he has experience at UCLA and even served in the Army, though he was court marshaled because he refused to sit in the back of the bus.
Jackie has a silent way of attacking racism. While filling up the bus in the south, he is not allowed to use the restroom. He tells the bus driver to pull the gas hose out of the tank. He is allowed to use the bathroom.
His wife, Rachel (Nicole Beharie), whom he marries shortly into the film, just walks into a white restroom in New Orleans but they are bumped from the plane ride that they desperately needed to be on so Jackie could make spring training in time. While training in Florida, he also meets an aspiring sports journalist, Wendell Smith (Andre Holland) who will become his constant companion for the next several years.
For 1946, Jackie is on the Montreal team, but then the next year, he gets his big chance, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. But problems arise. Tons of his teammates start up a petition to get him removed from the team and his manager, the righteous Leo Durocher (Law & Order: SVU's Christopher Meloni) is fired because the Catholic Youth Organization has discovered that he is having an affair with an actress who was worth being fired over. Rickey convinces a retired manager to go against his wife's wishes and becomes the manager, who mostly sits back while Jackie deals with abuse and death threats, literally in letters that even the FBI knows about. People in 1947 simply can't stand having an African American playing a game dominated by Whites. The worst abuse he receives comes at the hands of the nasty Phillies manager, Ben Chapman (Suburgatory's Alan Tudyk) by stepping out of the dugout and calling him the n-word without ceasing every time he comes up at bat. Instead of his manager defending him, his teammates take that on themselves. This leads to Boseman's best scene, stepping into the hallway leading to the locker room, and breaking his bat, getting all emotional, finally all the hatred is getting to him. There is more-he is hit in the head with a pitch and while making a play at first bat, the runner cruelly steps on his ankle, causing him to get stitches. He also learns that Rickey feels guilty so he is trying to right his wrongs and get players to have equal rights. The ending isn't nearly as epic as I would like, though it is at the same time, cross-cutting Jackie arriving at home plate after getting a home run against a pitcher against him and arriving home to the open arms of his wife.
The film follows history somewhat well, even including the birth of the Robinson's first child. Rachel believed that she was nervous about her husband's first game, but I knew better. She was pregnant. But it is hard to contain all of Robinson's playing career into just two seasons and his breaking of the color barrier. Yet, I still felt like they floated over too much of his career and could have focused on just the spring training of 1947.
The performances are good, with Boseman and Ford being quite good. Also, if you're a fan of TV shows, there are tons of familiar faces, Derek Phillips from Friday Night Lights, Ryan Merriman from several Disney Channel Films, Hamish Linklater from The New Adventures of Old Christine and the horrid The Crazy Ones, Brad Beyer, Officer Don from Royal Pains and John C. McGinley from Scrubs. The character Phillips portrays goes from wanting to be traded, to asking not to be, having changed his mind about Robinson, while Linklater is always loyal.
If you are a baseball fan, this film is a must, though I wish that it could have been more epic but Robinson did have to rise against so much prejudice, but he had help. Rickey, Smith and his wife Rachel were all good allies. And it is easy, in fact, it's impossible not to root for Robinson to succeed. You just want him to win so bad and he does. Grade: A-
Jackie Robinson (Chadwick Boseman) has the power to fulfill the dream of the Brooklyn Dodgers owner, Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford), cigar always in hand. Jackie is young, plus he has experience at UCLA and even served in the Army, though he was court marshaled because he refused to sit in the back of the bus.
Jackie has a silent way of attacking racism. While filling up the bus in the south, he is not allowed to use the restroom. He tells the bus driver to pull the gas hose out of the tank. He is allowed to use the bathroom.
His wife, Rachel (Nicole Beharie), whom he marries shortly into the film, just walks into a white restroom in New Orleans but they are bumped from the plane ride that they desperately needed to be on so Jackie could make spring training in time. While training in Florida, he also meets an aspiring sports journalist, Wendell Smith (Andre Holland) who will become his constant companion for the next several years.
For 1946, Jackie is on the Montreal team, but then the next year, he gets his big chance, playing for the Brooklyn Dodgers. But problems arise. Tons of his teammates start up a petition to get him removed from the team and his manager, the righteous Leo Durocher (Law & Order: SVU's Christopher Meloni) is fired because the Catholic Youth Organization has discovered that he is having an affair with an actress who was worth being fired over. Rickey convinces a retired manager to go against his wife's wishes and becomes the manager, who mostly sits back while Jackie deals with abuse and death threats, literally in letters that even the FBI knows about. People in 1947 simply can't stand having an African American playing a game dominated by Whites. The worst abuse he receives comes at the hands of the nasty Phillies manager, Ben Chapman (Suburgatory's Alan Tudyk) by stepping out of the dugout and calling him the n-word without ceasing every time he comes up at bat. Instead of his manager defending him, his teammates take that on themselves. This leads to Boseman's best scene, stepping into the hallway leading to the locker room, and breaking his bat, getting all emotional, finally all the hatred is getting to him. There is more-he is hit in the head with a pitch and while making a play at first bat, the runner cruelly steps on his ankle, causing him to get stitches. He also learns that Rickey feels guilty so he is trying to right his wrongs and get players to have equal rights. The ending isn't nearly as epic as I would like, though it is at the same time, cross-cutting Jackie arriving at home plate after getting a home run against a pitcher against him and arriving home to the open arms of his wife.
The film follows history somewhat well, even including the birth of the Robinson's first child. Rachel believed that she was nervous about her husband's first game, but I knew better. She was pregnant. But it is hard to contain all of Robinson's playing career into just two seasons and his breaking of the color barrier. Yet, I still felt like they floated over too much of his career and could have focused on just the spring training of 1947.
The performances are good, with Boseman and Ford being quite good. Also, if you're a fan of TV shows, there are tons of familiar faces, Derek Phillips from Friday Night Lights, Ryan Merriman from several Disney Channel Films, Hamish Linklater from The New Adventures of Old Christine and the horrid The Crazy Ones, Brad Beyer, Officer Don from Royal Pains and John C. McGinley from Scrubs. The character Phillips portrays goes from wanting to be traded, to asking not to be, having changed his mind about Robinson, while Linklater is always loyal.
If you are a baseball fan, this film is a must, though I wish that it could have been more epic but Robinson did have to rise against so much prejudice, but he had help. Rickey, Smith and his wife Rachel were all good allies. And it is easy, in fact, it's impossible not to root for Robinson to succeed. You just want him to win so bad and he does. Grade: A-
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Don Jon
This film was a disappointment.
Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a New Jersey native, with the accent to match. He's obsessed with his apartment, his religion (he goes to confession every week for goodness sake) and his porn. Yes, that's right. He loves all of those things. Porn turns him on even more so than women. He likes women and sleeps with them frequently but nothing satisfies him like porn.
Jon and his friends, Bobby (Rob Brown) and Danny (Jeremy Luke) go out to bars often where they rate women. Here, Jon notices a dime (Scarlet Johansson). He makes out with her but she won't go home with him. He wants her so he asks around. Her name happens to be Barbara Sugarman. For the first time, Jon even dates her, meets her friends before having sex with her. It's great, almost as good as porn. There is only one catch with Barbara, she warns him from the beginning, don't lie to her. So, after Jon jokes off her catching him with porn, he must keep it secret and thus rarely watches it at home.
Barbara wants Jon to be better. She thinks he's different from normal guys. She encourages him to take a class at a community college. Which he does. Even his family (Tony Danza as his still horny father, Glenne Headly as his mother and Brie Larson as his forever texting sister) love her. Dad likes how she looks, Mom likes how nice she is while Sister Monica says nothing, just keeps texting away, something which she even does in church.
Things finally burst. Jon didn't clear his history on his lab top. Barbara finds out that he still watches porn and she's furious and breaks up with him. Jon takes the news badly, with road rage getting the best of him, going as far as punching the window out in another car.
Luckily, he has back-up. An odd woman in his college class, Esther (Julianne Moore). She is liberal and doesn't care much that he watches porn. She wants to know why and wants him to acknowledge the fact that he does have an addiction. Jon believes that he can stop at any time, though he really can't. Quitting cold turkey is hard (no pun intended), but he does try. He finally learns that sex doesn't have to be all one-sided and that he can lose himself in another person. That person just happens to be Esther. Esther is damaged, losing her husband and son in a nasty car accident. She smokes pot to cope.
Jon also learns that Barbara has her own unrealist expectations of her life, losing herself in cheesy romantic comedies that can never happen. That what she believes will happen. I don't really care that Barbara's out of the picture.
Jon's parents don't take the break-up well, but Monica is actually okay with it and tells him so, finally getting her face out of her phone. Jon continues his relationship with Esther, happy without so much porn in his life.
Gordon-Levitt is a great director, getting great performances out of everyone, including himself. The editing is quick and fast paced and some cool cameos from Hollywood's biggest stars are great but the problems lay in the characters. Jon is unlikeable but he's supposed to be. He lifts weights while saying his penance and cusses out other drivers on a regular basis. Barbara wears some extremely tight clothes but still likes holding men at an arm's length which just strikes me as odd. She needs to stop wearing stuff that sexy. Esther is rather underdeveloped for having such as important role. And this may be wrong, because men often end up with a woman twenty years younger than themselves, but I just can't stand Moore and Gordon-Levitt together. It's part of what's wrong with Hollywood and how the public generally perceives the world. At least Jon's character got to where he needed to be by the end of the film, but next, pick a better script, JGL. Grade: B+
Jon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a New Jersey native, with the accent to match. He's obsessed with his apartment, his religion (he goes to confession every week for goodness sake) and his porn. Yes, that's right. He loves all of those things. Porn turns him on even more so than women. He likes women and sleeps with them frequently but nothing satisfies him like porn.
Jon and his friends, Bobby (Rob Brown) and Danny (Jeremy Luke) go out to bars often where they rate women. Here, Jon notices a dime (Scarlet Johansson). He makes out with her but she won't go home with him. He wants her so he asks around. Her name happens to be Barbara Sugarman. For the first time, Jon even dates her, meets her friends before having sex with her. It's great, almost as good as porn. There is only one catch with Barbara, she warns him from the beginning, don't lie to her. So, after Jon jokes off her catching him with porn, he must keep it secret and thus rarely watches it at home.
Barbara wants Jon to be better. She thinks he's different from normal guys. She encourages him to take a class at a community college. Which he does. Even his family (Tony Danza as his still horny father, Glenne Headly as his mother and Brie Larson as his forever texting sister) love her. Dad likes how she looks, Mom likes how nice she is while Sister Monica says nothing, just keeps texting away, something which she even does in church.
Things finally burst. Jon didn't clear his history on his lab top. Barbara finds out that he still watches porn and she's furious and breaks up with him. Jon takes the news badly, with road rage getting the best of him, going as far as punching the window out in another car.
Luckily, he has back-up. An odd woman in his college class, Esther (Julianne Moore). She is liberal and doesn't care much that he watches porn. She wants to know why and wants him to acknowledge the fact that he does have an addiction. Jon believes that he can stop at any time, though he really can't. Quitting cold turkey is hard (no pun intended), but he does try. He finally learns that sex doesn't have to be all one-sided and that he can lose himself in another person. That person just happens to be Esther. Esther is damaged, losing her husband and son in a nasty car accident. She smokes pot to cope.
Jon also learns that Barbara has her own unrealist expectations of her life, losing herself in cheesy romantic comedies that can never happen. That what she believes will happen. I don't really care that Barbara's out of the picture.
Jon's parents don't take the break-up well, but Monica is actually okay with it and tells him so, finally getting her face out of her phone. Jon continues his relationship with Esther, happy without so much porn in his life.
Gordon-Levitt is a great director, getting great performances out of everyone, including himself. The editing is quick and fast paced and some cool cameos from Hollywood's biggest stars are great but the problems lay in the characters. Jon is unlikeable but he's supposed to be. He lifts weights while saying his penance and cusses out other drivers on a regular basis. Barbara wears some extremely tight clothes but still likes holding men at an arm's length which just strikes me as odd. She needs to stop wearing stuff that sexy. Esther is rather underdeveloped for having such as important role. And this may be wrong, because men often end up with a woman twenty years younger than themselves, but I just can't stand Moore and Gordon-Levitt together. It's part of what's wrong with Hollywood and how the public generally perceives the world. At least Jon's character got to where he needed to be by the end of the film, but next, pick a better script, JGL. Grade: B+
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Welcome to the Family: Pilot
This is actually not the worst new show of the fall, that honor belongs to The Crazy Ones.
Sure, the idea is somewhat over done and has long gone stale, but the acting is decent and there are a few laughs. And this show finally gives minorities lead roles, something that prime time TV has failed to do in some time.
Yes, unfortunately for the Latinos, their white counterparts outshine them, which is also a shame. Molly Yoder (Ella Rae Peck) is the dumb daughter who has left six iPhones, her grandmother's walker and a pizza box on top of her car and just drove off. Yes, that is great. And it gets even better. She gets pregnant. But at least the father, Junior (Joey Haro) is a stand-up guy with some real brains. So much so that he was planning on going to Stanford. He gives all that up just to spend the rest of his life with Molly.
There is a catch. The respective sets of parents don't get along. Molly's father clashes instantly with Miguel (Ricardo Chavira) who owns a gym. Dan (Mike O'Malley) wants to get back in shape and get back to spending tons of time with his wife, Caroline (Mary McCormick). That will majorly backfire.
The kids each get a new plan. Junior will go to UCLA and tutor kids for the SATs while Molly will go to community college and work with Tina at the mall piercing body parts. Junior even asks Dan for Molly's hand in marriage and Dan gives in. But Molly gets mad because she is not something that can be handed over like a sack of grain. But Miguel (Junior's dad) refuses to give in to Molly's demand of asking for Junior's hand. This creates a whole new fight between the parents as Miguel refuses to be related to the Yoders but Junior's sweet sentiment wins over Molly. She accepts and they go to the pier to celebrate.
There the moms (Justina Machado is Junior's mother) bond while the dads still barely accept each other. But they all join together when little brother of Junior, who doesn't even have a name yet, informs them that Molly and Junior are in line for a roller coaster. The parents act fast as Molly can't be on a roller coaster, even though that would solve the whole problem, as my mom put it. Luckily, Molly may have lost her phone again, which she did, but at least she wasn't stupid enough to get on the coaster.
Dan is actually okay with Junior. He's crazy about Molly plus he's smart and Molly has him to rely on. And Caroline has a secret of her own, she was taking a pregnancy test herself. Yikes.
Yes, Molly and Junior are oddly mismatched and remind of Axl and Cassidy from The Middle, though of course, Axl is like Molly but at least he wasn't stupid enough to lose an iPhone but he did manage to drive his car into a demolition derby and Cassidy would be Junior. I'm forever grateful The Middle didn't go that route.
The acting is decent, with Mike O'Malley being the best but he was simply fantastic on Glee. This role isn't nearly as good. But I like that Molly is sort of a feminist, trying to ask for Junior's hand, but when that goes wrong, she ends up crying to her parents about the whole thing. I feel bad in advance for her future child. Grade: B-
Side Notes:
-Minorities need tons more roles in TV shows and Hollywood in general.
-Dan is a dentist for the record, yes, I was just as shocked as you.
-Miguel gets his dog a Stanford sweater for his dog but not his youngest son.
-Pizza is more important than having a plan for your grandchild.
-Molly, you should really talk to your parents more.
-Junior was a virgin until he met Molly.
Sure, the idea is somewhat over done and has long gone stale, but the acting is decent and there are a few laughs. And this show finally gives minorities lead roles, something that prime time TV has failed to do in some time.
Yes, unfortunately for the Latinos, their white counterparts outshine them, which is also a shame. Molly Yoder (Ella Rae Peck) is the dumb daughter who has left six iPhones, her grandmother's walker and a pizza box on top of her car and just drove off. Yes, that is great. And it gets even better. She gets pregnant. But at least the father, Junior (Joey Haro) is a stand-up guy with some real brains. So much so that he was planning on going to Stanford. He gives all that up just to spend the rest of his life with Molly.
There is a catch. The respective sets of parents don't get along. Molly's father clashes instantly with Miguel (Ricardo Chavira) who owns a gym. Dan (Mike O'Malley) wants to get back in shape and get back to spending tons of time with his wife, Caroline (Mary McCormick). That will majorly backfire.
The kids each get a new plan. Junior will go to UCLA and tutor kids for the SATs while Molly will go to community college and work with Tina at the mall piercing body parts. Junior even asks Dan for Molly's hand in marriage and Dan gives in. But Molly gets mad because she is not something that can be handed over like a sack of grain. But Miguel (Junior's dad) refuses to give in to Molly's demand of asking for Junior's hand. This creates a whole new fight between the parents as Miguel refuses to be related to the Yoders but Junior's sweet sentiment wins over Molly. She accepts and they go to the pier to celebrate.
There the moms (Justina Machado is Junior's mother) bond while the dads still barely accept each other. But they all join together when little brother of Junior, who doesn't even have a name yet, informs them that Molly and Junior are in line for a roller coaster. The parents act fast as Molly can't be on a roller coaster, even though that would solve the whole problem, as my mom put it. Luckily, Molly may have lost her phone again, which she did, but at least she wasn't stupid enough to get on the coaster.
Dan is actually okay with Junior. He's crazy about Molly plus he's smart and Molly has him to rely on. And Caroline has a secret of her own, she was taking a pregnancy test herself. Yikes.
Yes, Molly and Junior are oddly mismatched and remind of Axl and Cassidy from The Middle, though of course, Axl is like Molly but at least he wasn't stupid enough to lose an iPhone but he did manage to drive his car into a demolition derby and Cassidy would be Junior. I'm forever grateful The Middle didn't go that route.
The acting is decent, with Mike O'Malley being the best but he was simply fantastic on Glee. This role isn't nearly as good. But I like that Molly is sort of a feminist, trying to ask for Junior's hand, but when that goes wrong, she ends up crying to her parents about the whole thing. I feel bad in advance for her future child. Grade: B-
Side Notes:
-Minorities need tons more roles in TV shows and Hollywood in general.
-Dan is a dentist for the record, yes, I was just as shocked as you.
-Miguel gets his dog a Stanford sweater for his dog but not his youngest son.
-Pizza is more important than having a plan for your grandchild.
-Molly, you should really talk to your parents more.
-Junior was a virgin until he met Molly.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
The Middle: Change in the Air
This was a very good episode.
Axl (Charlie McDermott) is away at college and texts Mike (Neil Flynn) a good deal while ignoring Frankie (Patricia Heaton). Frankie doesn't take this news well, even going as far as stealing Mike's phone and pretends to be him just so she can hear from him. She misses him but Mike says her constant nagging via text message is doing no good.
Meanwhile, Sue (Eden Sher) is thrilled that Axl is out of the house. She loves being able to go around her house and high school without his insults and putting his fingers in her face and tripping her in the hallway because he did all of those things. She and Brad (J. Brock Ciarlelli) even dance down the hallway just because they can. She and Brick can get ready for school on time and she can rinse and repeat.
Brick (Atticus Shaffer) is not that thrilled about middle school however. He has heard a nasty rumor that eighth graders hide out in the bathroom just to give sixth graders swirlies. So he abstains from liquids as much as possible just to avoid the bathroom. He does well, not giving in as his science class studies the sun or when his gym class runs tons of laps but finally gives in as one of his classes samples some especially spicy. But the bathroom is not the nightmare he feared. The bigger kid is not nasty. And he is hailed as hero, until his classmates notice the toilet paper stuck to his shoe.
In addition to all of this, the Heck household is in turmoil. The air conditioner is broken and Mike is too cheap to fix it so they call Darrin (John Gammon) despite him having only taken two classes. But he is so sweet and refuses to take money from Mike, not that Mike was even offering in the first place. He and Sue even share a moment, once again, over a trash can. This time they only hug and even comment on being like flies, always around trash cans. Because of this, Sue decides that she wants to pursue Darrin again, having only broken up with him because of the jerk, Axl. She even gets Brad's support because he never really wanted them to break up in the first place but was supportive nevertheless.
She goes to tell him, but then Angel (Christiann Castellanos) shows up. She and Darrin are going to the movies. Sue, being typical Sue, assumes that she is invited to join them, but she is not. You can almost see her heart break. Then Darrin asks her what she wanted to talk to him about, and she says that they waited too long to fix the air conditioner and now it can never be fixed. But of course, she is not talking about the air conditioner, but her heart instead. Fortunately, she handles the situation well once she realizes that Angel, who is in cosmetology school near Darrin's air conditioning school is actually a cool person, but that doesn't mean she'll be over him anytime soon.
Mike is also missing Axl more than he will admit, going as far as asking Darrin and Brick to watch the football game with him. Fortunately, Axl finally breaks down and texts Frankie. He needs shampoo. But Axl totally listens to Frankie's text and calls Mike while he is eating noodles out of a coffee pot. A connection is finally made.
This was a great episode, but of course, I was rooting for Sue and Darrin to get back together as they did have so much fun (all of it unseen on the show) but they are not. Once again, they handled it like adults but I won't give up hope until the show ends. I'm too much of a hopeless romantic for my own good. In addition to heartbreak, there were also funny moments, like Frankie stuffing a bag of frozen chicken down her bra to cool herself off. I hope the shows are always this good. Grade: A
Side Notes:
-Nice to see Darrin back. Cassidy (Galadrial Stineman) is still serving her time as a guest star on Disney Channel shows, such as Austin and Ally.
-To cool off, Brick covered himself in popsicles but then became covered in flies.
-Sue and Darrin would mini golf and dance together for fun. How sweet is that.
-I loved how Darrin had no idea that Sue's new position even existed.
-Axl, it is not healthy to eat ice cream right out of the dispenser. That's totally unsanitary.
-Brick wouldn't even move from his lawn chair at the dining room table.
-Mike says he can't wait until all the kids are out of the house.
-Sue says that she would never stop calling dad, even if Frankie asked her to.
Axl (Charlie McDermott) is away at college and texts Mike (Neil Flynn) a good deal while ignoring Frankie (Patricia Heaton). Frankie doesn't take this news well, even going as far as stealing Mike's phone and pretends to be him just so she can hear from him. She misses him but Mike says her constant nagging via text message is doing no good.
Meanwhile, Sue (Eden Sher) is thrilled that Axl is out of the house. She loves being able to go around her house and high school without his insults and putting his fingers in her face and tripping her in the hallway because he did all of those things. She and Brad (J. Brock Ciarlelli) even dance down the hallway just because they can. She and Brick can get ready for school on time and she can rinse and repeat.
Brick (Atticus Shaffer) is not that thrilled about middle school however. He has heard a nasty rumor that eighth graders hide out in the bathroom just to give sixth graders swirlies. So he abstains from liquids as much as possible just to avoid the bathroom. He does well, not giving in as his science class studies the sun or when his gym class runs tons of laps but finally gives in as one of his classes samples some especially spicy. But the bathroom is not the nightmare he feared. The bigger kid is not nasty. And he is hailed as hero, until his classmates notice the toilet paper stuck to his shoe.
In addition to all of this, the Heck household is in turmoil. The air conditioner is broken and Mike is too cheap to fix it so they call Darrin (John Gammon) despite him having only taken two classes. But he is so sweet and refuses to take money from Mike, not that Mike was even offering in the first place. He and Sue even share a moment, once again, over a trash can. This time they only hug and even comment on being like flies, always around trash cans. Because of this, Sue decides that she wants to pursue Darrin again, having only broken up with him because of the jerk, Axl. She even gets Brad's support because he never really wanted them to break up in the first place but was supportive nevertheless.
She goes to tell him, but then Angel (Christiann Castellanos) shows up. She and Darrin are going to the movies. Sue, being typical Sue, assumes that she is invited to join them, but she is not. You can almost see her heart break. Then Darrin asks her what she wanted to talk to him about, and she says that they waited too long to fix the air conditioner and now it can never be fixed. But of course, she is not talking about the air conditioner, but her heart instead. Fortunately, she handles the situation well once she realizes that Angel, who is in cosmetology school near Darrin's air conditioning school is actually a cool person, but that doesn't mean she'll be over him anytime soon.
Mike is also missing Axl more than he will admit, going as far as asking Darrin and Brick to watch the football game with him. Fortunately, Axl finally breaks down and texts Frankie. He needs shampoo. But Axl totally listens to Frankie's text and calls Mike while he is eating noodles out of a coffee pot. A connection is finally made.
This was a great episode, but of course, I was rooting for Sue and Darrin to get back together as they did have so much fun (all of it unseen on the show) but they are not. Once again, they handled it like adults but I won't give up hope until the show ends. I'm too much of a hopeless romantic for my own good. In addition to heartbreak, there were also funny moments, like Frankie stuffing a bag of frozen chicken down her bra to cool herself off. I hope the shows are always this good. Grade: A
Side Notes:
-Nice to see Darrin back. Cassidy (Galadrial Stineman) is still serving her time as a guest star on Disney Channel shows, such as Austin and Ally.
-To cool off, Brick covered himself in popsicles but then became covered in flies.
-Sue and Darrin would mini golf and dance together for fun. How sweet is that.
-I loved how Darrin had no idea that Sue's new position even existed.
-Axl, it is not healthy to eat ice cream right out of the dispenser. That's totally unsanitary.
-Brick wouldn't even move from his lawn chair at the dining room table.
-Mike says he can't wait until all the kids are out of the house.
-Sue says that she would never stop calling dad, even if Frankie asked her to.
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