TV Shows »Upstairs Downstairs

on PBS

Great grandmothers and I rejoice! A new Upstairs Downstairs! I’ve only seen a portion of the epic first series (I mean, there are only several thousand DVDs to go through) but enough to be excited that it’s come back.

Taking place a few years after the last season ends, it reunites house keeper Rose (played by Jean Marsh, who along with co-star Dame Eileen Atkins, created the series) and 165 Eaton Place. Joining her downstairs are a mischievous maid, a brawl happy footman, a cocky handsome chauffeur, and a tee totalling butler.

Upstairs are Sir and Lady Holland who look good but so far seem drab and the eccentric, well dressed world traveling Lady Maud who brings along a monkey and an Indian secretary.

All the costumes (though Maud’s in particular) are amazing and the decor is grand and lush. There was more than one color scheme already that have me re thinking my apartment.

I am so glad you can still find stuff like this on TV. Somewhere along the way Arts and Entertainment changed from Horatio Hornblower to Pregnant Moms on Drugs. Let’s hope PBS, if it manages to survive the Republicans, never goes down the same road.

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Posted on April 13, 2011

Movies »Nights Of Cabiria

directed by Federico Fellini (1957)

I expected Nights of Cabiria to be great, considering Fellini is directing, but it’s so much smaller in scale and less dramatic and surreal compared to my favorites (8 1/2 and Amarcord) that I was surprised to fall so hopelessly in love with it like I have.

Much of the magic of the film belongs to Fellini’s wife and star Giulietta Masina, whose adorable face is one of cinema’s most expressive. She manages to make the character of Cabiria, an aging prostitute in Rome touching, prickly, slightly disturbed and incredibly charming all at once.

I really can’t imagine any other actress creating such a memorable and complex woman with little more than a smile and a smirk. Of course, the cast orbiting her is also spectacular and in usual Fellini fashion, awesome to look at. Her curvy best friend Wanda is notably amazing.

Divided into small intimate vignettes of her life, you grow incredibly tender for this scrappy but deeply damaged woman. Nothing is more painful than watching someone you care about get hurt and it’s even harder you see it coming a mile away and they are oblivious.

As she walks down the street, literally brushing her self off from rock bottom and manages a tearful smile to the camera, it’s impossible not to get teary eyed yourself. It’s a rare treasure to find a film that can evoke so much compassion.

Cabiria just reminds me and affirms again that Fellini truly was a genius, whether depicting the lavish loves of the jet set or the hard knock day to day of the poor. A must see!

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Posted on April 2, 2011

Movies »A Cat On A Hot Tin Roof

directed by Richard Brooks (1958)

There’s no modern equivalent to the great Tennessee Williams whose witty melodrama and familial unraveling is always fascinating. So when I am in the mood for some passionate Southern squabbling, nothing fits the bill like A Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. (By the way, that’s a mood I do get in fairly often.)

From Burl Ives’ hard hearted Big Daddy to the shrill “Sister Woman” the cast is excellent. But it’s the Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman that really bring the life to the film. And they seriously both look insanely gorgeous. It’s unearthly.

Thank goodness Grace Kelly and Elvis didn’t take the offered roles, neither could capture the fire like these two.

This is one of the best Williams adaptations, second only to Night of the Iguana but it’s definitely not one of the most faithful. The toned down homosexuality enraged Williams who told people not to see the film.

The first time I saw it, I was too naive to understand the subtext (Skipper was just his BFF, right?) I’ve seen it a few times since then but I found it the most heartbreaking this go round. Maybe it just comes with getting older, the pain of life seems more acute, even if it’s just in a broken marriage and a loveless family on screen.

Of course, with Taylor’s recent passing makes this the perfect time to watch or rewatch this classic which is available on Netflix instant.

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Posted on March 27, 2011

TV Shows »Breakout Kings

on A&E

I’m always open to finding the next dumb TV guilty pleasure, and I am kind of hoping Breakout Kings works out to fill that Bones-like spot. The highly unbelievable concept – of quirky, likable convicts getting temporarily released to catch evil, not so likable convicts who have escaped could be a winning idiotic one.

With a show like this, however, so much of the success has to do with the cast dynamics and Breakout only got some of it right.

To the show’s credit – Herc from The Wire, Brooke Nevin and Malcolm Goodwin are good and their characters could grow to be more compelling, but the show really belongs to the creepy and charming Jimmi Simpson playing the only really interesting character as well as offering much appreciated comic relief.

On the other hand, Laz Alonzo has all the depth of a hunky background guy from a Toni Braxton video (which Alonzo was earlier in his career) and is just boring to watch on screen. If he’s meant to be the straight man to Herc’s loose cannon, he should at least learn a second facial expression besides “stoic scowl”.

Ugh, and then there’s the new lady with the made for Skinemax name, Serinda Swan, who replaced the more charming Philly character who was awkwardly dropped after the pilot episode. She’d do best to let her eyebrows take center stage, as they are the most interesting thing about her, though clearly from the posters of her strutting around in a tight tank, A&E was hoping we’d find her boobs as fascinating. Alas.

It’s only a matter of time before we see if this is a show that flourishes by finding it’s own voice, eccentricities, and character chemistry or if the flounders under generic blandness. I think the odds are stacked against them but at the very least, once it’s cancelled, Simpson will probably have a better time finding a good show to star in. But for whatever reason, I am optimistic that they might pull this one off.

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Posted on March 20, 2011

Movies »Yojimbo

directed by Akira Kurosawa (1961)

Yojimbo opens on a lone, unnamed Samurai, so drifting in life that he allows the toss of a branch decide the direction he wanders. It ends up leading him to a dusty town where only the coffin maker can earn a living. Two houses of criminal gamblers are at war, fighting over territory and the entire town is hostage to the violence.

Seeing an opportunity to make some money and mess with some bad guys, he offers his incredible skills with a sword as a bodyguard – pitting the two bosses against each other for his favor.

Seemingly rough and impenetrably tough, it’s only when he gives into and reveals a kind heart that our Samurai falls prey to the bad guys and we can cheer for not just a clever man but a true hero.

Yojimbo is probably one of Kurosawa’s most comical movies and also one of the straight up coolest. Thanks in no small part to the handsome dynamic duo of Toshiro Mifune and Tatsuya Nakadai but you could also site all the Dashiell Hammett Kurosawa was reading at the time and the films of John Ford he found so inspiring.

No wonder it made such an easy transition to the Spaghetti Western as the Clint Eastwood classic A Fistful of Dollars. West inspires East inspires West.. though I will have to rent the Leone version to see how he interprets the awesome Samurai sword versus pistol fight.

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Posted on March 4, 2011

TV Shows »Downton Abbey

Masterpiece Classic

It’s been a while since PBS had a hit on their hands. Not because of the programs, but the programming. Will they air a new series without any advertisements? Sure! How about playing programs out of order or incomplete? Absolutely! And if you missed a new show (like I did the recent Sherlock Holmes) will they refuse to re-air them, but opt for decades old reruns of Keeping Up Appearances instead? Of course!

Sorry, just had to air my grievences.

While I am sure nothing scares Masterpiece Theater (now called Masterpiece Classics) more than being called old fashioned -they would do better with younger audiences by making their shows easy to find and watch instead of dangling Alan Cumming at us.

Shocked I was, then to find Downton Abbey (which I had failed to DVR the first two) was available on Netflix instant. Bravo Masterpiece! It was a brilliant move for an absolutely brilliant show.

While the Upstairs Downstairs genre is well worn, any fan of Gosford Park ( and I can’t imagine anyone who’s seen it not being a fan) will be utterly enchanted with Downton. It’s no surprise that the charming Julian Fellowes, who wrote Gosford, is behind this one. Sets and costumes are great but there’s much more to this one than that. The characters are interesting, the plot sometimes scandalous and the cast is perfection: From a prim, wealthy Maggie Smith to a spiteful, devilish lady’s maid played by Siobhan Finneran.

Set just before the war when families were still constrained by the rigid rules of society, Downton tells the story of the Crawley family, who when losing an heir on the Titanic, are threatened to lose their whole way of living unless Mary, the eldest daughter finds a suitable husband.

If it sounds boring and familiar, fear not. This is vibrant, funny, smart and truly one of the best of the genre. I was so unhappy to reach the end of the series and thrilled to find that its popularity has prompted shooting for a second series.

 

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Posted on March 4, 2011

Movies »Casablanca

directed by Michael Curitz (1942)

As I continue my resolution to finally watch movies I’ve always meant to, I rented the stunning bluray of Casablanca. Yes,I had yet to see it til now to my embarrassment.

Even knowing most of the iconic lines, most of the plot, and the ending, I found this stands up as a masterpiece. I am left, though with very little to say that hasn’t already been said about this classic romance.

I mean, you’ve probably seen it, right? It’s great. Bogart is tough Nazi Killer with a heart of gold and the courage of a lion, Bergman is gorgeous, brave and well dressed, and who isn’t moved by As Time Goes By?

However, I really wish there had been more Peter Lorre. I love that guy and when his character was killed I even asked Jim, like a seven year old watching Bambi “He’s not really dead, right – He comes back?”

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Posted on February 6, 2011

Movies,TV Shows »Hysterical Blindness

directed by Mira Nair

Hysterical Blindness, a 1980’s set HBO version of a Lifetime movie could have been nothing but hairspray and bad accents, but to every one’s credit involved, it’s a surprisingly nuanced, and touching portrayal of two party girls past their prime, standing guard at a local dive bar, waiting desperately for romance to change their Bayonne, New Jersey lives.

Uma Thurman is transforming as Debby, a character interestingly enough portrayed by the great Amy Ryan in the original 1997 Laura Cahill theatrical production. She contorts her exceptional beauty into a woman so needy and spastic that you wince as she awkwardly rockets around the screen between cigarettes, tears, freak outs and blow jobs. Juliette Lewis, Gena Rowlands, and Ben Gazzara all of whom are always, without exception, excellent round out the dream cast.

While it all ends a little too much on the cute side, it’s nice to see these women, icons of ironic tackiness and stereotype get a little happiness, whether in the form of new living room furniture or front yard parties all summer. And speaking of ironic tackiness, there is much here for thrift store shopping hipsters to get excited about: Shredded heavy metal tees, acid washed paint on jeans, spandex mini skirts, and lots of cheap rings.

I saw this when it first aired several years ago but recently felt the urge to revisit. I’m glad I did.

Click here for the rest of Hysterical Blindness

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Posted on January 10, 2011

Movies »Days of Being Wild

directed by Wong Kar-Wai (1990)

Wong Kar-Wai, whose cinematic voice is all his own, brings to the screen quiet moments in time rather than sweeping plots in Days of Being Wild. The moments certainly stuck with me, as I’ve been trying to find the movie again since I saw it years and years ago.

Set in Hong Kong and the Philippines in the 1960’s, Wild is sumptuously shot by Kar-Wai collaborator Christopher Doyle with what looks like a hazy memory filter. The fashions here are eye candy too and I swear it looks like Muccia Prada must have just viewed this movie before her Fall 2010 season.

The attractive cast is also great to look at, including China’s biggest stars like the lovely Maggie Cheung and the dashing Leslie Cheung. They fall in and out of love in this study of relationships, manipulation, sadness and desire. It’s doesn’t sound like much to explain what happens, (someone leaves someone from someone else, someone gets sad…) but there’s something haunting about the whole affair.

An all around gorgeous movie, which unfortunately looks like it was transferred from VHS for instant netflix, Days of Being Wild sounds amazing featuring lilting, mid century tropic instrumentals.

Considered inaccessibly art house by many, this was not a hit in its home country despite an all star cast. Still, many consider it to be a pivotal film in Hong Kong cinema.

Click here for the rest of Days of Being Wild

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Posted on December 14, 2010

TV Shows »Skins

Aired on BBC

When I tell people I’ve been watching Skins (available on Netflix instant) and they ask “Oh, is that any good” I always say, “Well, I like it…” The reason for the qualification is because it depends on your threshold for teenage drama. My threshold is extremely high – I will watch tween Disney Channel movies made for eight year olds with glee, so for me, Skins is on the sophisticated end of the spectrum.

If you like the new generation of Degrassi but didn’t think it went far enough with the dirty bits, this British show is for you. Foul mouthed and extreme – it’s an exaggerated take on wild adolescence. Almost cartoonish at times – with adults and foreigners getting the brunt of stereotypes – it focuses on partying and sexual adventures but doesn’t skirt the serious stuff either (mental illness, abandonment, etc…)

I was enjoying it fine, but became more of a die hard fan by the end of season one, which ends with a bang and a musical number… Heart!

Am on to season two now and can’t wait to see what Sid, my favorite character, and all his friends are up to.

MTV is doing an American version, but because I like the way things sound with British accents, I am sure it is going to suck.

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Posted on December 12, 2010

Movies »Klute

Directed by Alan J Paluka (1971)

Deliberate framing and pacing, rich, artistic cinematography, and an adult story that ignores the teen market, Klute is a film of it’s time – the great 1970’s, far before the music video era. Not that I dismiss everything made in the last several decades, just that there’s something distinct about a classic film like this one and though it hasn’t come to be remembered as well as some of its contemporaries, it will be worth checking out if only for our generation to grasp onto the fashions: feathered shags, midi skirts, sequins, and caftans…

Jane Fonda is Bree Daniels, a skilled prostitute trying to become an actress. She’s self-sabotaging, tough, world weary, angry, intelligent, vulnerable, mean, and kind hearted. She’s one of the most damaged characters put to screen and Fonda deserved the Academy Award she earned for her fierce portrayal. Her foil is Tom, played by Donald Sutherland (love) who is quiet, forgiving, seemingly naive and passive but proves himself to be complicated and brave. They are thrown together when Tom’s friend disappears leaving behind only a stack of obscene letters to Bree as any clue to his whereabouts.

As self appointed private detective and reluctant assistant, they traverse the sometimes opulent, often dismal seedy underground of the sex trade in New York, where Rod Schneider is deliciously seedy as a pimp. The mystery is tense at times, with almost horror movie like music and great sets for thrills, but it’s really the relationship that develops between these two unlikely lovers that is at the heart of the movie.

If you want to make an after noon of it, watch along with The Parallax View and All The President’s Men for what’s been called director Alan J Paluka’s “Paranoia Trilogy”.

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Posted on December 3, 2010

Movies »All About Eve

directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1950)

All About Eve (in no way associated with All About Steve) is a classic. Delving into the egocentric world of theater people, it studies the paranoia that accompanies success and the cut throat viciousness of those that yearn for it. Bette Davis, never afraid to look bedraggled, aged or drunk is the star of the show, mixing charm and an acid tongue to play Margo Channing, a revered actress growing older and less pleased by the fact daily.

Surrounded by a small team of friends and a lover that appreciate her for all her faults, Margo let’s a young, sycophantic admirer named Eve into her inner circle. Initially working as an assistant, Eve eventually draws out the venom in Margo, throwing the star into what seem like fits of jealous unfounded paranoia. Like a self fulfilled prophecy, however, everyone soon learns that Eve may not be as temperate and sweet as she seems.

Davis is excellent here and though it always feels strange to critique a classic, Anne Baxter as Eve doesn’t quite deliver. She’s plenty creepy in her obsessive excessive kindness but lacks fire when she shows her true colors – making it hard to understand how she could have threatened anyone in the first place. It’s a talkie movie with lots of grand monologues, leading me to assume it was adapted from a play – but it comes from a short story by Mary Orr and was only adapted for the stage years after the film.

It’s generally considered one of the best American films made.

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Posted on November 21, 2010

Movies »Winter’s Bone

directed by Debra Granik (2010)

Jim is a bigger fan of back woods noir author Daniel Woodrell but after seeing Winter’s Bone, the exceptionally gritty, atmospheric and unique film based on one of his novels, I may just take second look. Woodrell specializes is grim mysteries in the deep south and this particular story about a tougher than nails Ozark teen forced to look after her sick mom and siblings made its way to the big screen with tremendous dignity with haunting suspense.

What looks at first glance like Independent film award fodder: downtrodden Americans shot against grim but undeniably beautiful landscapes (the cinematography is brilliant) of a country falling apart, is much more than an outsider’s glimpse into a mostly unknown world. While I can not claim to know what the cabins and trailers of the Ozarks look like, the sets, settings and actors here feel genuine and are neither pedantically  glorified or demonized. The cast that (like almost anything of value these days) includes actors from Deadwood is superb with Jennifer Lawrence as the heroine, Ree, earning every bit of buzz and praise she’s received.

At heart, Winter’s Bone is a mystery. Ree must find her father, or perhaps the remains of him in order to keep the house he put up for bail on a recent meth arrest. The journey, that climaxes in an act of savage, cold survival, is wrought with tension as she makes her way through the rough, complex order of a dangerous society populated by the stoic, hardened, and vicious.

We were taken with the movie more than we expected. Maybe it’s so effective because Debra Granik is less interested in forcing her opinion of the characters than letting them exist within the simple but gripping plot.

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Posted on November 11, 2010

TV Shows »The Walking Dead

on AMC

On the plus side, in a sea of boring, routine cop and lawyer dramas littering the new season of television, a gory action drama about battling zombies is welcome entertainment no matter how derivative it is. The Walking Dead boasts awesomely gruesome and impressive makeup and effects and an extremely uncompromising devotion to making things as grim and violent as they want (another example that AMC answers to no one in their original series).

If you ever wondered exactly what shooting a zombie in the head would look like from every angle in slow motion, your days of wondering are over. You’ll get the chance to study the event over and over, starting with a young girl missing her lower jaw.

On the negative side, the pilot really didn’t add anything new to the worn out genre and called to mind other recent, more inventive zombie flicks like Dawn of the Dead and particularly the excellent 28 Days Later (only with an FX caliber hunk Andrew Lincoln rather than the handsome waif Cillian Murphy waking up in a hospital to utter destruction). Is there a strong central character with special skills that will help him survive? Of course. Are some of the only other survivors his wife and son? Yep. Does he find stoic fathers and kids wise beyond their years along the way? Sure thing.

Hopefully, with an entire season to expand on the story, which is based on the comic book series of the same name, the show can spread out and find new ways to tell a living dead story beyond the themes and characters we’ve learned to expect. And even if it follows predictable plot lines, I’ll still tune in – because it’s sure to be more fun than most shows out there.

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Posted on November 2, 2010

TV Shows »Damages

Aired on FX, Available on Netflix Instant

I know! I had absolutely no interest in watching Damages either. Single plot dramas on FX can be hard to get motivated to watch, especially if you can’t jump in mid-season or miss an episode, but with the highly critically acclaimed show on netflix instant, it’s given new life for viewers (like me). Life it desperately needs, as their ratings have fallen significantly the past (third) season.

With a first rate class cast led by Glenn Close and Rose Byrne, Damages seems to be the network’s attempt at a more serious, female driven drama to its roster of other dramas I don’t watch (The Shield, Rescue Me, Sons of Anarchy). From the fully satisfactory first season, I can say that maybe those shows should get a second look from me to0.

I don’t want to give too much plot away. It’s about lawyers, but far from a Law and Order type courtroom drama, it focuses more on the behind the scenes manipulation, double crossing and even murder that happens before a trial, specifically a trial against Mr. Frobisher, a corporate giant that, through insider trading, stole the savings and livelihood of his employees while becoming richer and richer.

It’s an appropriate bad guy for our times with real life corporate greed making headlines daily, but it’s played with an almost naive complexity by Ted Danson, who I am just liking more and more these days (he even outshines Galifianakis in the middle of the road Bored to Death). Instead of a bloated caricature, he’s very human with his confused ego, though no less terrible. Close, similarly complex, is more of an anti hero than the good guy. Even if her motivations are for the right side, she’s more capable of evil than anyone.

We’re going to start season two soon which continues the tradition of good actors featuring Timothy Olyphant, William Hurt, and Marcia Gay Harden.

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Posted on October 23, 2010

Movies »Violette

directed by Claude Chabrol (1978)

Violette opens with Isabelle Huppert dressed in black with thick eyeliner, red lips looking every bit the femme fatale. In a bar, she teases young men with intense stares, long cigarettes and indecent proposals. Soon, however, we see young Violette at home, where she is clean faced, seemingly obedient, looking years younger, eye battingly sweet and a pathological lair. She suddenly, in the skillful hands of Huppert, becomes more complex; recognizable as one of those sociopath teenage girls who longs for something more than her common, strict home life – a 1930s echo of all the girls that walk out of their houses in modest clothes and a lie about spending the night with a friend only to have a stash of makeup, revealing tube tops and mini skirts in her backpack for a tour of the mall. Except, of course, that this one has murder on her mind.

Based on a true story, Violette is a conniving teen – deeply passionate underneath a shockingly emotionless exterior. The murder, once it is revealed, is as mundane as it is disturbing. Her life outside the home is daring and dangerous. She meets with many older men, is a blackmailer, and even keeps a hotel room for her many trysts. Her parents, a struggling but happy train conductor and a gorgeous woman with a secret past – played by Chabrol’s wife and muse Stephane Audran, are poor (but never has close quarter apartment living looked so cozily French – save for 400 Blows maybe). They try their best to assure better for their daughter and the relationship and dynamics are tackled with subtly and the artful patience Chabrol is known for. This is not a fast paced film but a quietly fascinating one – partially for the cinematic beauty and partially for Huppert’s captivating performance.

Director Claude Chabrol passed away last week and was one of the most important forerunners of the New Wave movement in France. His career is vast and sadly less known than many of his contemporaries. His last work, Bellamy, comes to theaters this Fall.

Click here for the rest of Violette

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Posted on September 26, 2010

TV Shows »Bones

Corpses and Comedy

This is certainly not the most proud declaration I’ve made about us, but we have been Bones crazy for the last few months!! With a spacey mind and an early bedtime a la pregnancy, I’ve been in the mood for nothing but easy, junky TV and the four seasons of the often gruesome, quirky procedural buddy show available on netflix instant has fit the bill perfectly.

Not to negate the show entirely with my unnecessary shame, one has to admit that they’ve mastered the balance of humor and who done it incredibly well. Deschanel and Boreanaz have great chemistry and making a mindless show as watchable as this is much harder than you might think. Trust me, I’ve been trying the new Fall season of television and barely make it through an episode. While the show is marred by off set perversions – both Boreanez and the totally icky Ryan Neal have been the focus of recent scandals, I am looking forward to the day the season 5 comes to instant and will probably be recoding the new season with guilty pleasure.

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Posted on September 18, 2010