Looking Forward To...

Martha Marcy May Marlene
Release: October 21, 2011
Distributor: Fox Searchlight
Director: Sean Durkin
Starring: Elizabeth Olsen, Brady Corbet, Sarah Paulson, Hugh Dancy, and John Hawkes

Trailer Break: The Avengers

Wasn't it only last summer when the cast of The Avengers made their official debut at Comic-Con? Well now they have a brand spanking new trailer and everyone's already buzzing. Watch it below:



"There was an idea to bring together a group of remarkable people so when we needed them, they could fight the battles that we never could."

As much as I've seen this trailer today, I actually don't have that much to say. It's pretty montage-heavy with no real indication of what the plot might be. We see the group get together and exchange wits (mostly from Robert Downey Jr.) while Loki creates some havoc in the background. Mostly I'm just sitting here in awe over the fact that Joss Whedon actually got to write and direct this mega-blockbuster movie. It's pretty much a Whedon fanboy dream come true. I can't wait!

The Avengers comes out next summer on May 12, 2012.

The Year of Gosling Redux

Back in July, I posted about The Year of Gosling where I talked about Ryan Gosling's sudden ubiquity appearing in four films (including the late 2010 release Blue Valentine) this year. At the end of that post, I said that I would be "seeing each and every one of his films on opening weekend" and that's exactly what I ended up doing. And since I'm pretty sure Gosling doesn't have any more movies coming out this year (right?), it's as good a time as any to take stock on his films.


First, Crazy, Stupid, Love, though hardly flawless, is a worthy and refreshing addition to the tired rom-com genre. The film's focus is Cal Weaver played by Steve Carell who needs a life makeover after his divorce. Enter the impeccably-dressed man-slut that is Jacob Palmer played by the sexy Gosling (redundant) who befriends and helps Cal break out of his shell. The chemistry between the two made the movie work as well as their respective chemistry with their lady counterparts played by Julianne Moore and Emma Stone. Frankly I wished the film had given Gosling and Stone more screen-time and less time spent on the awkward teenage subplot that was the big blemish of the movie for me. The end, mostly the graduation sequence, felt a bit contrived. Though I did love the shock "twist" which we find out in that backyard scene.

While charming and a little goofy in that first film, Gosling channels his much darker side in Drive, a neo-noir crime heist drama. Gosling plays the nameless and laconic Driver who makes his living legally in a garage and some occasional stunt work and illegally as a getaway driver. He becomes involve with his pretty neighbor Irene (Carey Mulligan) and her young son and then gets entangled in a mess of violence when Irene's husband (Oscar Isaac) gets into trouble. The great camera work by Nicolas Winding Refn, the arresting synth-pop score, and the singular performance from Gosling makes this movie a must-see even if the story and the emotional pull was lacking a bit. The elevator scene alone is worth a look, but rest assured that the film will stick with you for awhile afterwards.

Finally, Gosling gets to be charming and intense in Ides of March where he plays Stephen Meyers, a young hotshot of a campaign manager for a governor (played by George Clooney) trying to win the Democratic nomination for presidency. The film's main focus is on the slow degradation of Meyers' idealism in the face of the inherent corruption and cynicism of politics. Topical to be sure, but gripping throughout in no small part due to its talent-stacked ensemble which also includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood, and Paul Giamatti. With that said, Gosling really impressed carrying the weight of the film on his shoulders. If there's a film he's done this year that could get Oscar traction, it's probably this one.

Charming, Intense, Love in Ides of March

And speaking of Oscars, he certainly deserves to get one for his performance in Drive or in Ides of March, but when do awards or even nominations go to people who deserved it? Case in fact, he should've been a shoe-in last year for Blue Valentine and look at how that turned out. Add to that the very strong year for lead actor performances, his relative youth, and the fact that fans of his probably can't agree on which performance of his to nominate and it's looking more and more like an uphill climb. At the very least, he's racking up goodwill points in the industry working with many good and respective individuals. As long as he keeps picking quality projects, the awards will be inevitable. Though it'd certainly be a great capper to "The Year of Gosling" if he gets his due this year.

Crazy, Stupid, Love: B
Drive: B+
Ides of March: B+/A-
Ryan Gosling: A+

Catching Up on TV Shows

A day later than promised, but here's my big catch-up catch-all post on returning TV that I've seen watching but haven't had the time to talk about since their individual premieres. For my thoughts on new shows, click here.

Now, in alphabetical order...

Big Bang Theory - Not much to say about this show except to say that I'm still enjoying it. As I said when I talked about the premiere, I love that show feels more like an ensemble rather than The Sheldon Cooper Show as much as I love that character. Seeing Amy interact with Leonard in the season's third episode was fantastic as was learning that Raj is super rich (and could conceivably have a sort of normal girlfriend provided she was deaf). Nothing ground-breaking here, but the cast is gelling well.

Castle - After the heavily emotional premiere, the show rightly decided to ramp up the lighter side of things. With a superhero vigilante in the second episode and a porn-mogul who cryogenically saved his body in the third episode, the cases were outrageous and fun. And yet every scene and every conversation between Castle and Beckett are laden with subtext, hidden meanings, and parallels giving us the fans something real to hold on to until they both are ready to deal with their respective issues.

Community - I sense a general sense of fatigue or indifference from some fans regarding the start of this season, but I don't see why. I thought the premiere was solid and while the second episode wasn't one of its strongest episodes, I thought the third episode's willingness to examine and re-examine the group's multiple dynamics was great. If there's one thing to complain about is Chang. He's become this season's S2 Pearce with the writers still unable to figure out what to do with him.

Fringe - This show is so damn brilliant and I'm angry that more people aren't watching it. While I was slightly underwhelmed by the premiere, I thought the two follow-up episodes were pretty brilliant especially the second episode in which the two universes had to work with one another to solve a case. It enabled Anna Torv to shine yet again playing multiple versions of herself. The third episode in the meantime showed why John Noble should have all the awards thrown at him as he tries to deal with his supposed hallucinations of Peter. I'm still a bit worried about how Peter's inevitable return will be treated, but if there's one thing the writers of this great show has earned, it's trust from its fans.

Glee - One thing I have to say about this show is that they seem to be trying. They need to try harder, but the effort is much appreciated. Anything Shuester does annoys me and that hasn't changed. His short tempers with Quinn and Mercedes while probably called for, didn't feel organic as much as necessary to the plot to move forward. And while both characters were in dire need of storylines this season, the beginnings of their arcs this season leave much to be desired. Those are my biggest complaints since again I think they're at least trying. The songs seem to work with the story they are trying to tell rather than the other way around and it doesn't feel like The Rachel or The Kurt or The Blaine show. With that said, I wouldn't mind AT ALL if this became The Brittany Show. Her rendition of "Run the World" made me question my sexuality.

The Good Wife - While none of the episodes so far have completely impressed me, I do love what they have been doing in regards to the steamy affair between Alicia and Will and the burgeoning relationship of Eli and Kalinda. The latter was always going to be my favorite thing in the world since they're pretty much my favorite characters on the show. Most of their brief interaction happened in this season's second episode, but you can already tell the mutual admiration. As for Alicia and Will, I was never a huge fan of them and yet I cannot deny how HOT they are together, at least this season. Props to the casting director as well since we got Eddie Izzard and Lisa Edelstein in these early episodes.

Happy Endings - There's actually been just the one episode since the premiere, but it's more of the same kooky stuff from this group of friends. My favorite is probably Jane stalking a young girl thinking she is hers by way of her donated eggs from years ago. The Mean Girls teenage girls stuff was pretty funny as well to a point. In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing Megan Mullaly play Penny's mom next episode!

How I Met Your Mother - I quite liked the two episodes that followed the premiere though I was a fan of one more than the other. The third episode is one of the show's best with Barney playing his usual mind-games in order to win a bet while we delve deeper into Ted and his mindset on relationships. It was a great mixture of hilarity and poignancy that the show used to do fairly often in the past. The fourth episode had Robin in therapy and while it was a solid episode, there was something a bit off. It certainly wasn't Cobie Smulders who shouldered the episode well. In any case, it's definitely looking like it's going to be a big year for her character surely and I hope the writers do her justice.

Modern Family - I'm glad that after the shaky premiere, the show seems to be back on track providing 30 minutes of hilarity. Ty Burrell continues to shine as my favorite cast member in this ridiculously talented cast though Nolan Gould as son Luke seems to be this season's budding MVP. Their wire act and viral video stunts in the last two episodes were easily my favorite subplots. That's not to say that the rest of the cast didn't deliver. Cam's Streetcar Named Desire riff, Mitchell's beach house breakdown, Gloria's tiff with Jay's new dog, and Claire's fight with the city were fantastic.

The Office - The show has definitely become more of an ensemble with Steve Carell gone, but while not perfect, the show seems to be clicking especially with Andy as boss. The second episode continued the us vs. them dynamic with Andy rallying the office to increase sales as demanded by new CEO James Spader. The end was sweet with Andy getting a tattoo (as promised to his employees) and with them in return giving him a good one. The third episode "Lotto" gave Andy more a chance to show how he is similar (failure at those conference meetings) and different (his existing relationship with Oscar and Darrly) than Michael Scott as boss.

Parks and Recreation - BIAS ALERT! This show can do no wrong to me. So with that said, I've loved everything about this season so far with the possible exception of Rob Lowe's unfortunate hairstyle. The multiple Tammys episode is already classic with a great guest starring turn by Patricia Clarkson as Ron's first ex-wife and Paula Pell as Ron's mom. Plus seeing Ron sans mustache and being cheery will haunt me for the rest of my days. Leslie took center stage in the third episode as she take on Birthers challenging her birth place after she released her Pawnee-centric book. She handles it all with hilarity, humility, and style but that millisecond look between her and Ben by the end killed me.

Supernatural - As a self-professed Castiel/Misha Collins fans, you'd think I'd be leading the charge to boycott the show now that the character seems to be done. But what I really liked about what they've done this season is make me start to care about the brothers again and their angst and plight. It also helps that the Big Bad Leviathans are dangerous and scary enough, but are also understandably low key (for now) enabling the show to come back down from the past couple of seasons apocalyptic highs. Last episode was particularly beautiful with Sam tracking down a woman/monster that he encountered when he was a boy and how he had to wrestle with whether or not to kill her about their history. Fandom Explosion: Jewel Staite of Firefly plays the woman who has the alias of Amy Pond. Looking forward to seeing what's to come, but I do hope Misha finds his way back somehow.

Dang, I know I say this a lot but I watch way too much TV. This doesn't even include cable/British shows I watch such as Dexter, Downton Abbey, and Breaking Bad.

Thoughts on Doctor Who Finale

A few months ago, I briefly wrote up what I thought of the first half of season six. I said that Steven Moffat was "really pushing the limits on... well everything" giving his audience a story where no one "knows which way is up, down, present, past, future, real, imaginary." As a fan, I was totally fine with this especially with the promise of six more episodes coming up that would hopefully put everything into perspective. Now that I've seen the finale, however, Moffat kept pushing and pushing and he may have pushed just a bit too much for my taste.

I have to say, before getting into this, that I liked the finale and the season as a whole. It seems saying that is starting to feel like a minority opinion, but Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor has been exquisite as has Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill (this season's MVP, but more on that later) and some of the stories that were told (The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon, The Doctor's Wife, The Girl Who Waited) were absolutely brilliant. The finale itself had a lot of great things in it such as the cool alternate reality where history is compressed and time is frozen, the tying up of any River Song loose threads, and the fact that in the end NO ONE DIED. That last point is all in caps because while it was a given that Smith would survive the season, the Ponds' fates were still up in the air. So when they ended up alive and well in the end, that really was all I could've asked for.

While there were a few plot holes in the finale (How can the Teselecta pre-regenerate? Why did the Doctor have to marry River? Timey wimey whatthefuckisgoingon?) along with some obvious red herrings and dropped plot threads from the season, my biggest problem was one of emotionality in that I didn't feel any especially when it came to River and the Doctor. When River Song made her first appearance to the Doctor (and to us) in "The Silent Library," it was exciting and so full of possibilities. Upon taking the showrunner reins, however, Moffat decided to hype up their epic cosmic love and under all the weight of expectations, the end result just coudln't match up. The most we saw this season was more of the same i.e. playful flirting. Anything more than that, such as River sacrificing all of her generations in "Let's Kill Hitler" or her big declaration of love in the finale felt hollow, rushed, forced. This would have been okay if Moffat didn't insist in making this THE story of the season and the finale. Not that I think River's story is done by any means, but I for one would've been okay if he didn't feel the need to tie up EVERYTHING in the finale or maybe if the finale had been 30 minutes longer.

With that said, Rory Williams, what can I say about him? I think ever since he became an official companion in "The Vampires of Venice" he quickly grew to become my favorite character. He'd take the mantle of best companion for me if it weren't for Martha Jones. You could tell I like my companions fierce and under-appreciated. For me, the show greatly improved when he became an official companion. His unconditional love with Amy made me fall in love with her a bit more and his continued questioning of the Doctor's actions really gave the Doctor that extra dimension for me. Suffice to say, I was ecstatic to see that he made it through the season alive. After suffering multiple deaths, his demise started to seem like an inevitably by the end. I'm also glad that both Rory and Amy got the Martha Jones treatment in the end there. It's as happy an ending for the Doctor's companions. Texting and scones!

Finally, I'm not sure how I feel about the oldest and more important question being "Doctor who?" From the surface, it's very clever, but I feel the meta-ness of it could get annoying depending on how they handle it. With that said, I do like Moffat was able to reboot the series for next season with the Doctor keeping a lower profile now that everyone thinks he's dead. He'll surely encounter the Silence, River, and the Ponds as well as the possible answer to The Question down the line, but for now he certainly needs to dial it down.

Doctor Who Finale: B
Doctor Who Season 6: B+

Catching Up on New Shows

Despite my lack of postings after seeing the pilots of the new shows, I have kept watching. I feel I needed to give them an episode or two to figure out what my real thoughts on them were and for the most part my pilot thoughts held with one or two exceptions (for both the better and the worse). I'll probably do a catch-up post on returning shows tomorrow, but for now how do I feel about the new shows?

In alphabetical order...

2 Broke Girls - Here's the thing, I still love the chemistry and relationship between Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs, but every episode seems to get worse and worse quality-wise. Every scene in the diner is cringe-worthy and blatantly racist. The second episode was pretty horrendous with the plethora of poop jokes. And for the most part, it's just really inconsistent. I'll continue to watch since it's after How I Met Your Mother, but it's definitely trending down since the pilot.

A Gifted Man - Not sure when it happened, but I'm starting to really like this show. I'm so very intrigued at the relationship between Michael and his dead ex-wife's ghost. Plus I love seeing the dual surgeries he has to perform weekly, one using super high-tech stuff while another just his bare hands. The supporting characters are great too, most notable Margo Martindale as his assistant, but I also have a soft spot for those working in the clinic. The fact that it's on Friday is a bit of a killer, but I'm going to try to catch this as much as I can.

Free Agents - I was pretty lukewarm on this show for its first two episodes, but it felt like it was starting to find its groove during the last two. Unfortunately for the show, it's been canceled already making me a bit sad if only for not being able to see more Anthony Stewart Head on American television. Guess I'll get my fix with Merlin.

Pan Am - Other than the main character (who randomly went from brunette to bleached blonde in between the pilot and the second episode), who kind of bores me, I'm really liking this show. I definitely need more Christina Ricci, but the Collette character is ridiculously charming and the spy subplot is fantastic. Plus it's just a pretty show lots of pretty people. Looking forward to seeing where they go for the rest of the season.

Person of Interest - The problem with this show is its leads are quite humorless making it nearly impossible to form a connection with it. And other than the hook of having a Big Brother type machine that can predict crimes and whatnot, there's not much here to compel me to keep watching. It also doesn't help that it's on Thursdays where I already watch way too many shows.

Playboy Club - Already wrote my thoughts on this show when it became the first new show of the fall to get canceled. Here's hoping for better things for some of the cast!

New Girl - I have to say I'm a little bit disappointed with this show. It was probably the one show I was looking forward to the most, but it has left me pretty cold so far. Do I just not like Zooey Deschanel's adorkable schtick? Do I have a problem with the male roommates? I don't really know. Last episode, especially with the final chicken dance scene, was a bit better, but something is definitely missing on this show for me.

Revenge - This is probably my favorite new show this year. I'm as shocked as you are. It's just so unexpectedly great especially in regards to how Emily VanCamp has been quite successfully pulling off playing a psychopath. It's even better that she's going up against someone like Madeleine Stowe! A bit formulaic and totally campy? Sure, but so far I'm loving the hell out of it. I wonder if this says anything about me as a person. I'll try not to think about it too much.

Ringer - What I'm really liking with this show is its pacing. I was afraid that this show was going to get stagnant quickly, but it's pretty much avoided that especially now with the big bombshell during the most recent episode. The weakest link, however, is still Sarah Michelle Gellar's portrayal of the twins. Maybe I've been spoiled with Fringe with their actors playing multiple roles amazingly. The thing is Bridgette and Siobhan don't feel like two different people to me. I know they grew up together, but I feel Gellar should work harder to get those differences across. Also hoping for more crazy drama!

The Secret Circle - This takes my "guilty pleasure" award for the new shows. I was pretty high on the pilot even though I totally realize how odd it is for me to get into a high school-centric CW show at my age. With that said, the mysteries are deepening and there's a lot of promise. So far I like the every week the drama is about them being witches and the secret past that they're all trying to figure out. I could do with a little less teen hormonal stuff, but it's part of the DNA of every CW show so I'll live.

Suburgatory - I'm a little bit smitten with this show, but then again I've only seen two episodes. The crazy supporting characters make the show, which is not to say that the two leads, Jeremy Sisto and Jane Levy, are the worst part of it. NOT AT ALL. In fact as a fellow New Yorker, I pretty much relate to their characters the most and it's been quite fun to see how they try to learn and adapt. It also helps that the show is not afraid to show some male eye candy for example a speedo-wearing Alan Tudyk in the first episode and a full-on male car wash dance scene in the second. Yes, please.

Terra Nova - My biggest complaint in the pilot was my negative impression of the Shannon family so I'm happy to report that they've done a good job making them relatable, interesting, and not as grating (in the case of the son) in the subsequent episode. With that said, the plot with the birds was pretty weak and I'm starting to get bored a little. That's not good for a show with this kind of high-concept and budget. I'll definitely continue watching until for some reason it gets canceled.

Up All Night - I seem to be watching this show based only on my loyalties to the cast. It's not a bad show really. It's actually pretty solid and I laugh at more than a few jokes every episode, but for some reason I seem to have a disconnect with it. I felt the same in the pilot and I posited that it's maybe because I just don't relate to the whole deal of having a new baby. But then again this didn't stop me from liking Modern Family or Raising Hope. We'll see if I continue with this show.

As you can tell, other than the two canceled shows I'm still not cutting any of the new shows from my viewing schedule. My TV addiction also forces me to give new shows very long leashes. With that said, the three most in danger are probably Person of Interest, Up All Night, and A Gifted Man in that order. Frankly I'm just excited about new shows yet to air such as Once Upon A Time, GCB, Smash, Awake, and Touch.

Looking Forward To...

The Ides of March
Release: October 7, 2011
Distributor: Sony/Columbia
Director: George Clooney
Starring: Evan Rachel Wood, Ryan Gosling, Marisa Tomei, Jeffrey Wright, Max Minghella, Paul Giamatti, George Clooney, Jennifer Ehle, Gregory Itzin, and Philip Seymour Hoffman

The Playboy Club Shutters Its Doors

NBC had the dishonor to make the first cancellation of the new season today as it pulled its controversial new series The Playboy Club from its schedule effectively immediately after only airing three episodes. The cast and crew are currently working on the sixth episode after which production will be suspended. It's worth to note that the show lasted a whole week longer than last season's Lone Star.

"It was a place where anything could happen to anybody. Or, any Bunny."

Am I happy or sad about this cancellation? Shockingly, a little bit of both. I was relatively unimpressed by the pilot and from its very first ratings, it seemed that many weren't even interested in checking it out and the ratings just kept tumbling after that. Here's the thing though, I actually started caring about some of the characters as I kept forcing myself to watch episode after episode. The show was slowly focusing on the bunnies and the homosexual characters which were far more interesting than anything else the show was doing. Plus having Sean Maher back on TV was a big factor of me keeping up with the show, especially after the actor came out publicly, giving his character's storyline added dimensions. Too bad we'll never see how that whole thing plays out. In a related note, is this the only new show this year that featured a relatively prominent gay storyline? If so, that's another reason to feel just a little bit sad about the cancellation.

Overall, the consensus seemed to be that the show was not good and that most of its cast deserved better (with the exception of Eddie Cibrian, of course). Already people are clamoring for the wonderful Tony winner Laura Benanti to make her way to NBC's midseason new show Smash, which I'm all for. Along with Maher and Benanti, I also wish better things for Amber Heard and Leah Renee Cudmore.

Netflix's 10 Most Rented Films

Perhaps to get people to stop talking about their recent troubles (free-falling stocks, decreasing memberships, Qwikster announcement), Netflix released a list of their ten most rented films of all time over the weekend (Movie|Line, h/t Nathaniel). Though it's also probably because soon they will stop renting DVDs altogether. *moment of silence*

The top ten are as follows, along with their final domestic box office gross:

1. The Blind Side, $256 million
2. Crash, $54.6 million
3. The Bucket List, $93.5 million
4. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, $127.5 million
5. The Hurt Locker, $17 million
6. The Departed, $132.4 million
7. Sherlock Holmes, $209 million
8. Inception, $292.6 million
9. Iron Man, $318.4 million
10. No Country for Old Men, $74.3 million

It's a pretty predictable, and yet also oddly surprising, list. Apparently Sandra Bullock + Race Relations = Netflix Gold!

The list has an expected mix of popular films (Blind Side, Benjamin Button, Departed, Sherlock, Inception, Iron Man) and Oscar Best Picture winners (Crash, Hurt Locker, Departed, No Country), but one oddity remains... The Bucket List? Seriously? It's actually the only film on the list that I haven't seen. For my part, the only two films on the list that I've rented were The Hurt Locker and The Blind Side. Didn't have a desire to see them in theaters but once they won their respective Oscars, I felt compelled to see them.

Netflix actually has their Top 100 on their site and it will be missed once they go streaming only. It's funny to think that the film that just missed the list was Date Night at #11. Another Bullock film, The Proposal, is #14 beating out Best Picture winner Slumdog Millionaire at #15. Meanwhile Avatar, the highest grossing film of all time, comes in at #17. Twilight and The Dark Knight round out the top 30. The oldest film is The Notebook (#22) which came out June 2004 while the highest animated film is Up at #84. Weirdly enough, none of the Harry Potter films made the list. Guess, everyone who wanted to see the films already owns them?

Box Office: Lion Remains King

Disney's The Lion King reached the $400 million milestone in the domestic box office yesterday after attracting $3.3 million on the 15th day of its re-release in 3D. That is good for 12th in the all-time domestic list and should easily end in 10th place after the weekend ahead of Spider-Man and the second Transformers film. Too bad that's probably where it'll stay as it's expected to leave theaters before it's Blu-Ray launch this upcoming Tuesday. If kept in theaters for a regular run, it would've certainly passed Toy Story 3 to become the highest-grossing Disney animated film of all time (unadjusted of course).

For my part, I saw the film last weekend making it only the third film I've seen in 3D (Avatar and Up were the other two films). It was probably a no-brainer for Disney to convert this film in 3D and re-release it as it's one of their most popular films and they probably thought that the vast Africa visage would lend itself to the technology. They were right and more importantly, the conversion was damn good. I gasped at the same time as my fellow theater-goers when Zazu made his first sweep across the screen flying towards Pride Rock in the distance. And really, 3D was icing to what was already a delicious cake. I teared up, laughed, and sang in all the usual places I used to (though I "got" more jokes now that I'm older) and clapped in the end with the rest of the audience. It was a very fun and quite nostalgic experience. That probably explains why it topped the box office for the past two weeks and should finish in the top 3 this weekend.

Back to the all-time chart, it looks likely for the final Harry Potter film to take over Star Wars: Episode III for that 13th spot. I think WB will push it and there's even a rumor of a re-release during Oscars season, so it's probably a locked to do so.