Pop Culture Round Up: November 15 - 21

Yay! Pretty much any colour other than white excites me, though.

Punk's great, and I totally want you to read about it, but a pop culture curator? How do I get that job?

Didion and Linney are enough to make me forget pretty much anything. Including the fact that I don't get HBO. Sigh.

You should read this entire gallery because Seth Green is great, but what the? How far into the bell jar have I gone that I didn't realize he was going to be on Heroes? Just when I was thinking of breaking up with Heroes for real.

Oh, wait, maybe I should. Tim Kring is an idiot.

They are all good reasons to go see the movie, but it's A that really excites me. Wouldn't it be great to point to something you've done and say, "That about sums me up"?

It is extraordinarily quotable, and it does lend itself to repeat viewings, but I don't know if I'm down with a road trip to Kentucky just for The Dude. Well, maybe I am.

I'm down with that.

A Center for Future Storytelling? Again, how do I get it on that?

Now French cinema is being rejuvenated? Was it withering before?

I think that's an excellent pick. It was my favourite show when I was a kid, and he was a total badass.

Yes!

I should probably be upset by some of these, but I find them too funny instead.

You guys, my mom is not going to be impressed when I tell her about this.

So, my obsessive reading and sometimes overwhelming social schedule of late have made me happier? Actually, that makes sense.

Is it bad that after six years, I've still never been there?

Why is there only one photo with this profile?

See? All stolen art stories are WWII related. Or maybe not.

Aw, poor unscripted shows. No, wait, I only watch one unscripted show. Never mind then. Ha.

NOOOOOOOOO! I cannot underestimate my reaction to this news to you. It's melancholy that's been bubbled over by rage. I don't mean to alarm you, but I love Lee Pace now. Also, that show is genius. But where am I going to get regular doses of Lee Pace? Or Jim Dale? Or Chi McBride? Fuck, Television. Why do you have to be like this? That's gangsta love.

Quantum of Solace (2008)

Plot: Picking up directly where Casino Royale left off, Bond (Daniel Craig) kidnaps Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) to get information about the events that lead to Vesper's death. What he get is a shadowy organization tied up with ecopreneur Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), deposed Bolivian dictator General Medrano (Joaquín Cosio), and Camille (Olga Kurylenko), a woman on her own quest for revenge. A quest that M (Judi Dench) would prefer Bond put on hold.

Let me just tell you this right now: Jack White and Alicia Keys should never sing together ever again. Separately I like their voices, but together it's horribly, insufferably sharp. What a terrible fusion of styles. In trying to remember the song in order to describe it to you here, I wound up with Chris Cornell's "You Know My Name" instead. It's better that way.

I forgot this movie. The very next day, I walked into the office and thought, "Wait, what did I do last night?" That's how little an impact it had on me. I was so excited for the reboot and liked it so much that maybe I set myself up for disappointment. But the buzz wasn't very good and a co-worker specifically detailed his problems with the movie for me, so maybe I wasn't it. All I know is that the movie is treading water.

At what point are we going to get to the real Bond? Sure, I celebrated the thug with icy menace in his glare last time around, and I still do. I still love that Craig makes him feel like not only someone who could kill you with his bare hands but also probably will. And just for funsies. It's his favourite approach to problem solving (Malcolm solves his problems with a chainsaw/And he never has the same problem twice). What I wonder is when we are going to get past this malcontent who doesn't care what he's drinking and barely pauses for seduction. It's supposed to be fun to be Bond.

It's a toss up whether screenwriter Paul Haggis (co-writing with Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and an uncredited Joshua Zetumer) or director Mark Foster is more responsible for the inert, in between feeling that this movie produces. Foster filmed the chases and fights in that shaky, handheld, Paul Greengrass-style that makes it difficult to tell what's going on (especially when most of the key players don't have heads. Is it hard to find convincing stunt doubles nowadays?). On the other hand, Haggis wrote in the foot, car, boat, and plane chases (what's next? Rocket ships?), and he's responsible for the ridiculous dialogue that poor Dench and Amalric are saddled with (No, florist do not say that. No florist would ever say that. Also, "a nice way of saying that everything he touches seems to . . . wither and die?" Withering implies protraction. These people just die, straight up, and it's a little rich, considering the source).

There are still things I do like. I quite like Kurylenko as well as Kurylenko and Craig together. She's smart, pushy, and accesses vulnerability in a childlike way that makes sense with her origins. Amalric is so rad. I love the way he turns on a dime (I love you! I kill you!). And Tom Ford, we owe you a great debt for those impeccably tailored suits.

I don't need gadgets. I like it when things blow up. I don't want to see Bond turned Bourne in a generic actioner. Where is the intrigue? Quantum has been moved into position as the shadowy conspiracy, and the survival of certain key players suggests that they'll be back in future installments. While that's great for Felix (Jeffrey Wright), what does that mean for the rest of the series? Why do I get the feeling that this is only part two of a trilogy? If so, what happens when it ends? B-

Even you must be in to you

Did you know it's been a year since the last time People told us which men we could find sexy based on what they had to promote? I know! I could hardly believe it either. Three makes a rule, so let's make it a rule that I'll criticize their picks every year.

1. Alright. He's got Austrailia to promote, and, while I think he's a little passé at this point, I wouldn't hold it against you if he got you all hot and bothered.
2. Oh, hells ya. I would have put him in the top slot over Jackman.
3. Mmm-hmm. A lot is made of his good looks on the show as well, but who can blame them? That man is foxy.
4. Oh, goodness. Is there something timeless about suits, Zac? Thanks for that. When it comes to singing and dancing, he's tops, but I could do without the rest.
5. His character gave me the creeps on Lipstick Jungle (he's so into her, it's weird), but, again, if you got the vapours, I wouldn't hold it against you.
6. It's not okay, Blair, but I understand the temptation.
7. Not to sound creepy and weird about the young'uns, but, yes please. This time last year I would have said no, but something has changed about our Chuck Bass. He's a sexy vampire that cannot be denied.
8. I don't see it.
9. Um, maybe from the music? I wouldn't know because I don't know his music, but he just looks like a regular dude in that photo.
10. He's not wearing one here, but I find his Liberace style ensembles off-putting.
11. What the? I would normally stick up for him, but neither that photo nor that hair are doing him any favours.
12. Oh, hells ya again. That is right.
13. Speaking of (supposedly) sexy vampires, I cannot get a read on this kid. I've been bombarded by coverage, and I just cannot tell if he is good looking, weird looking, or both.
14. Yup, he sure is. All grown up and workin' it like he should.
15. Not for me, but it's accepted by this point.

How does this year stack up? Last year the ratio was 7.5 to 14, an improvement over 2006's 6.5 to 15. Now we've got 8 to 15. On par with last year, then. At least I think you were trying this time, People.

Role Models (2008)

Story: After a particularly bad day, Danny (Paul Rudd) crashes his work truck into a school's statue where he has been hawking an energy drink as an alternative to drugs. Beth (Elizabeth Banks) helps Danny and Wheeler (Sean William Scott) plea bargin their way into 150 hours of community service, and they are assigned to Sturdy Wings, a Big Brothers-type after school program run by a recovering drug addict (Jane Lynch). Wheeler gets Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson); Danny gets Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse).

Listen, this movie is totally funny. Possibly even funnier than it has any right to be. I know that it looks kind of dumb and probably not funny, but those looks are deceiving. Sure, you might have wondering things like, "Doesn't Scott play the same role in every movie? Isn't Ronnie pretty one note? Is Mintz-Plasse a legitimate actor now?" Or you might be wondering, "How do I get Paul Rudd to marry me?" Fortunately, I have answers to three of those questions.

1) Doesn't Scott play the same role in every movie? Yeah, but that's not as important here. For one, you probably realized you should avoid that slightly glassy, mostly happy stoner dude sometime in 2000, so you're probably not as oversaturated with the trope as some would be. For two, it works here. He plays naturally enough that even though he may not like him all the time, you certainly feel like you know the guy. It ends up working in his favour more often than not.

2) Doesn't Ronnie look pretty one note? Um, yes. In fact, for a good chunk of the movie, he is pretty one note. A child of a single mom that acts out? Fancy that. The shock value of a child with his vocabulary gets old pretty quickly, but there's enough real need and realistic trashiness that you're on his side when he yells, "Fuck his shit up!"

3) Is Mintz-Plasse a legitimate actor now? Sure is! You might of thought he would cost on McLovin' for forever (and who would blame him if he did?), but he's got the chops. There's real, hard to ignore vulnerability behind his every action, making it virtually impossible not to root for him.

4) How do I get Paul Rudd to marry me? Wish I knew! Oh, Paul Rudd, what would we ever do without you? What would co-writer and director David Wain without you? You co-wrote the screenplay, and you still make the best lines sound like fresh improvs (maybe they were? Wain is into the sketch comedy, after all). You've got a winning way with a one-liner, dramatic chops, and movie-start good looks. Truly, that you are not a more popular leading man remains a mystery.

The movie's not perfect: it's far too conventional, Lynch's character's past is milked for all its worth (not that much, although she remains wonderfully off), and Paul Rudd doesn't dance nearly enough. Still, it's funny. Wain's got enough chops to make you think that he's capable of worthwhile comedy even within the confines of the studio system. That's enough for now. B

Pop Culture Round Up: November 8 - 14

I was hoping this would go away.

Hey, good for Wally!

"His basic tenet is that good manners will spring from 'the ability to ignore the faults of others and avoid falling short yourself'." Sounds about right to me.

"Chuck and Blair are the king and queen. Everyone else, except Serena, is a pawn." What? Eric is a rook at the very least.

When I first saw a link to this article, the subtitle was, "Geek superstar or parasite?"

As a Christian, I've never found that there is a correlation between religion and niceness either. He's right about our need for voluntary association, though.

I want to compete on this show.

See? Most stolen art does have to do with WWII.

I don't normally go in for Angel Cohn in a big way, but this photo gallery had me laughing pretty hard. I think I'll go read it again.

"Did it have to be so filthy? I mean, really, if Rambaldi can prophesize the future, he might have advised me not to wear $500 shoes."

Listen, trying to pick a movie to see this weekend or any weekend is hard. Do yourself a favour, and let me pick one for you via my latest Culture article.

Over in the advice section, Miss Smartypants takes on cleaning issues, academic issues, sleep issues, and grammar issues. Got issues? Sure ya do. Send 'em over to advice@culturemagazine.ca.

If you're looking for more Culture goodness, I'd recommend Will's potluck article in the food section and Steve's TV article, "Smart People like Dumb Things."

RocknRolla (2008)

Story: Lenny (Tom Wilkinson) wants to get in good with a new Russian, Uri (Karel Roden), so he offers to smooth over the building permit process for Uri's new stadium. Things go poorly when the seven million euros Uri owes Lenny disappear along with Uri's favourite painting, so Lenny calls in his number two, Archie (Mark Strong), to sort the whole thing out, a complex scheme that involves an accountant (Thandie Newton), the Wild Bunch (Gerard Butler, Idris Elba, and Tom Hardy), and a dead rocker, Johnny Quid (Tom Kebbell).

Writer-director Guy Ritchie, back on track at last. No Nietzsche quotes, no Ray Liotta. Just London's underworld, more slang than you can shake a stick at, and a handsome man (Strong) narrating it at all as the pieces fall into place. The audience gets the full story sooner than the characters, making the entire thing fun rather than boringly "twisty." And, really, Mark Strong is one handsome man.

The enterprise isn't perfect: I'm not sure why we needed Chris Brown and Jeremy Piven, the plot doesn't come together in a way that feels particularly clever, and they sort of lost me on the whole "and that's why I'm keeping the painting" monologue.

But the movie's entertaining. It moves quickly, and I find myself starting sentences with "Now, we all like a bit of the good life . . .." It's not quite a real rock'n'rolla yet, but he's getting there. I'll stay tuned for a sequel. B

Pop Culture Round-Up: November 1 - 7

Born Republicans? That doesn't sound right. Well, maybe it does.

Sad.

Poor Jamie. I'll still love asparagus, don't worry!

If Bertram Cooper knows enough to buy a Rothko, the Tate should have been all over that.

Yes! Now I will only call him a duck.

Does anyone else feel like Shostakovich is everywhere nowadays?

I'm sure there will still be plenty of other stupid public figures.

Stolen art that doesn't have to do with Nazis? Huh.

So ugly we didn't even run a picture!

Do we really need three?

Also sad. And fun to read.

Chuck Bass but not Nate? Nate sleeps with everyone and then forgets about it! He would have taken the prize if I had written that list.

Veronica Mars (2004 - 2007)

Veronica Mars (or V-mars) is the real reason I came up with TV Thursday. I re-watched all three seasons this summer. Afterward, I wanted someone to talk to about what I loved, what I missed, and my lingering issues with the show. The answer was right there before me: you, gentle reader. I can always talk to you. Not only is V-mars in my personal pantheon of favourite shows ever, but it also happens to be one of the best shows ever made. Though season three barely reached the glory of season one (surely one of the greatest seasons of any show to ever be recorded), its cancellation still stings. For me, the strength of each season is a combination of three elements: the season mystery, the supporting characters, and Veronica herself.

The creators could not have been luckier to have had Kristen Bell in the lead role. She is a genius at creating a multi-layered, believable, mature character who felt like a real teenager. Veronica was tough and jaded when we met her, making her vulnerabilities and her occasional rebellion, as well as her even more rare silliness, that much more moving.

Season one's big mystery was Lilly's (Amanda Seyfried) murder, but the murder connected to the other mysteries of Veronica's rape, her mother's disappearance, her break up with Duncan (Teddy Dunn), and even her parentage. One of that season's great strengths was that it sprinkled at least one clue about one of these mysteries, if not more, in every single episode. We always saw Veronica working to bring these mysteries to a close, and watching a teenage girl trying to solve such overwhelming cases while still dealing with being a teenage girl and solving often personal mysteries of the week (MotW) made for some pretty compelling drama.

Even in the midst of all this, the writers took time to develop the supporting characters in such a way that we cared if we saw them in the next episode. Weevil (Francis Capra IV) and Logan (Jason Dohring) were standouts that season, thanks to tremendous talent, charisma, chemistry with Bell, and links to the season mysteries (not to mention the HoYay. Oh, the HoYay was strong between those two). Weevil went beyond young thug thanks to his emotional ties to family, Veronica, and Lily, and Logan's family situation and self-destructive streak pushed him past the poor little rich boy archetype.

All of these things came to a head in the season finale when Veronica finally solved Lilly's murder: Aaron Echolls (Harry Hamlin), Logan's famous actor dad, had an affair with Lilly and killed her in a fit of rage with she threatened to go public. It was incredibly well developed (Aaron's violence, abuse, and philandering were well established over the course of the season), and it had satisfying repercussions that lasted through the rest of the show.

Season two began with a mystery carried over from season one (Felix's murder - a plotline that was once again was heavy on Logan and Weevil) and picked up a new mystery (bus crash) by the end of the season opener. Despite the fact that she early on drew the erroneous conclusion on that the bus crash was meant for her, Veronica was never particularly emotional invested in figuring out who caused it. Entire episodes could go by without any forward motion on the case, and it became difficult to see why we should care when Veronica didn't. Episodes like "Ain't No Magic Mountain High Enough" stood out instead because of their creative mix of MotW and character development. "I am God" provided boatloads of information about the crash, as well as a renewed fervour on Veronica's part to solve the case, but, at episode 18, it came too late in the season to spark audience interest in the same way. It didn't help that it followed "Plan B," which, for me, was the high point of the season.

"Plan B," episode 17, saw the conclusion of the Felix murder storyline. This mystery arc was far better handled than the bus crash. It was addressed in nearly every episode, had a tangible emotional involvement for two main characters (Logan and Weevil), and drew Veronica in. It showcased Logan and Weevil at their worst (Logan planting drugs) and best (Weevil's courtyard declaration). Like the conclusion of Lilly's murder, it had rich emotional and plot ramifications that rippled out for the rest of the season and the series.

Cassidy 'Beaver' Casablancas (Kyle Gallner) was by far the standout of season two, so making him ultimately responsible for the bus crash was good in theory. The writers carefully sowed the seeds of of his abuse, and it was abundantly clear that he was one seriously sad, messed up kid by the end of season two. So why, then, did they suddenly write him as a sneering villain? It was obvious that Gallner was talented enough to switch back and forth between the personae, as he did in those final scenes. It was also obvious that Beaver was very smart, so we could believe that he was a criminal mastermind/evil genius (although that stuff with Curly Moran never really added up for me). Throwing in the possibility that he murdered Keith Mars (Enrico Colantoni), Veronica's dad, was cheap. Keith and Veronica's relationship was central to the show, and there was just no way it would go on without it.

It didn't help that the last two episodes also focused on Aaron's murder trial, recalling the better handled season one mystery and manging to be risible simultaneously. That the defense would base their entire case on the idea that Veronica was a slut (I am not making this up) and that the prosecution would be absolutely unable to counter this was a slap in the face to intelligence and dedication of the audience. The two narrative reasons for the disaster of a trial were satisfactory: 1) Aaron finally confesses that he murdered Lilly to Veronica and 2) in Duncan's best move ever, he has badass motherfucker Clarence Wiedman (Christoper B. Duncan) kill Aaron; however, the trial was emblematic of the way things would go down hill in season three.

New network, new structure: season mysteries were dumped for three smaller arcs. When things didn't look good for the show, the two smaller arcs were followed by five stand alone episodes. The first arc, a serial rapist on campus, came from a realistic post-secondary place, and the culprit was handled well. The entire thing fell apart for me when Veronica revealed that Claire faked her rape and accused the Lilith House of faking the series of rapes, a charge which they did not deny. In hindsight, it's clear to me that the first two rapes were real (especially given that the first victim didn't report it), and Parker's (Julia Gonzalo) rape was real. The rest are questionable, which is murky moral territory, even for this show. That the Liliths held Pis responsible for their friend's suicide attempt and subsequent institutionalization and that they wanted restitution wasn't the problem. Even that Nish (Chastity Dotson) would draw the conclusion that the Pis were responsible and getting away with something horrible once again wasn't the problem. It was the idea that such radical feminists would chose to fake that particular crime that rankles. They knew that both Veronica and the police were on the case, and Veronica cracked the case in two episodes makes it all the more ridiculous that they would do it in the first place. Just how stupid are these girls supposed to be?

The second mystery, Dean Cyrus O'Dell's (Ed Begely, Jr.) murder, was better handled by far (sensing a pattern here?). It relied on solid detective work, and, despite the fact that Veronica is herself a rape victim and that she held herself responsible for one of the rapes, both Veronica and her dad were emotionally involved in solving the case. The case pointed clearly to two possible murderers and, in a nicely done moment, indicted a third.

Unfortunately, Veronica, the character, hit a real low point in season three. In season two she was sort of all over the map, but it tied into a believable emotional place: for two years, her life had been hell, and now it just . . . wasn't? What was she supposed to do with that? Solving Lilly's murder hadn't fixed everything, and it makes sense that it would be difficult for Veronica to move forward. One of the show's strengths was that they would let Veronica be an asshole once in a while (we all do it, after all), but they took it too far in season three. Instead of maturing and growing up in college like we would have wanted her to, Veronica started wildly jumping to conclusions in her cases (often nasty ones like when she accused Weevil of holding up the on-campus casino, even no there is no way in hell that Weevil would ever get violent with Veronica) and showing a shocking combination of indifference and judgment toward her fellow man (what was with her immediate dislike of the perfectly friendly Parker? why was she so tough on Max when he fell for a hooker? how could she not see that Piz was pining away for her?). In short, Veronica slid toward insufferableness.

When Veronica broke up with Logan for sleeping with Madison (Amanda Noret) while they were broken up because she held Madison accountable for her rape (a complete retcon), Veronica's character's low point hit its nexus with my biggest problem with the series on the whole: the complete lack of accountability for Dick's (Ryan Hansen) involvement in her rape. There were plenty of other good reasons for Veronica to dislike Madison, so there was no reason to go there. There was no indication at the time or at any point thereafter that Madison knew the drink she handed Veronica was drugged; all she thought it was laced with was saliva and sugar. Dick was the one who put the GHB in the drink; Dick had every intention of drugging and raping his girlfriend; Dick plied Veronica with alcohol after he drugged her; Dick put Beaver in the room with Veronica; and Dick told Beaver to rape her. And what does Dick get for his troubles? A busted surfboard? Fuck. I understand why the writers would want to keep Hansen on the show (he's a treasure), but, from a narrative point of view, the fact that Dick gets away with everything and that Veronica doesn't even blame him or try to ward other women off is the most glaring narrative failure on the part of the show.

The stand alone episodes were hit and miss (the first, "Un-American Graffit," is arguably the worst entry in the series), although they seemed to be pushing the show closer to a procedural and away from its noir roots that helped it command attention and critical praise in the first place. The series went out on a high note with the two-parter "Weevils Wobble But They Don't Go Down" and "The Bitch is Back," an episode that once again proved that a Veronica wronged is the best Veronica to watch. It also set up what could have been an interesting fourth season if they picked up where season three left off: Sheriff Van Lowe (?), the dissolution of Piz and Veronica's burgeoning relationship, the certain knowledge that Veronica and Logan remain as in love as ever. Most importantly, what would happen after Keith put himself on the line for Veronica (again) even though she lied to his face and possibly cost him the election?

We'll never know, so we'll just have to take the show for what it was: a brilliant and occasionally flawed gem, centred on a truly worthwhile protagonist, surrounded by talented and dynamic supporting players, and mounted on a seething underbelly of noir. Ah, television: sometimes you're just so damn good.

Pop Culture Round Up: October 25 - 31

Grab your footie jammies, every body! Sleepover at the Guggenheim!

"Is fiction inherently capitalist?" Um, maybe? You could always go to the library and "borrow" a book for "free" like a dirty commie.

Who's up for this challenge?

Heh. We're too poor to make better shows!

I like the idea that the Independent is running around solving Big Questions for us.

Hurray! More returned art!

"Modeled after Walt Whitman?" Sure! Who doesn't associate the transcendentalist with vampires?

Prison Break (2005 - ?)

Since the last TV Thursday was devoted to Heroes, it seems like I should write a little bit about the other competition for my attention Mondays at 9: Prison Break.

Or as I called it in season 2: Prison Broke.

Then in season 3 it was Prison Break (Panama Edition).

Now in season 4 it's Stay out of Prison by Taking Down the Company, which isn't really as catchy, so I just call it Prison Break.

There are quite a few things that PB has in common with Heroes, and, although Heroes has been better in the last two episodes, PB still does those things better.

1) The Company

In Heroes' land, the Primatech Paper is a front for the shadowy and mysterious "The Company," a nefarious organization behind pretty much every bad thing that happens on the show: the virus, the formula, kidnapping, murder, synthetic abilities. You name it, they did it. The Company on PB is much the same: an overarching, multinational corporation that is responsible for every bad thing, ever. In season 1 we learned that they sent Linc (Dominic Purcell) to prison, and they've been behind everything that has happened to the brothers ever since (although it's kind of funny that Michael's (Wentworth Miller) the genius who engineers prison breaks and all manner of escapades, but they still consider Linc a serious threat). Both Companies can be difficult to swallow at times (just like the hotels in Monopoly), but the difference is the way they are treated on the shows.

In Heroes, the Company is a catch all. The bad thing (e.g. the formula) is invented first and then linked it back to the Company (turns out they used it years ago to create synthetic abilities, felt bad about it for unspecified reasons, and hid the formula rather than destroy it).

On PB, however, the Company is the show's driving force. What the Company does and why is almost a Macguffin at this point, but it's existence is enough. What they've already done (put Linc in jail, killed his ex-wife, set up his son for her murder, put Michael back in jail, Head in a Box,* etc.) is reason enough to want to take the Company down. Their nefarious dealings in Laos or anywhere else are just the icing on the evil cake. Each person as his or her own personal reason to want revenge, which makes it all the more interesting to watch. It's not just blathering about heroes and villains.

2) The Brothers

At the centre of both shows are a pair of brothers: the older, former bad boy (Linc, Nathan) and the idealistic, fatally loyal younger one (Michael, Peter). Nathan's conversion from bad to good happened onscreen over the course of season 1, while Linc's seems to have happened before we even met him. Linc was never that bad a person to begin with (he never plotted to blow up New York and his brother), but he's still trying to be a better person, brother, and dad. He's even put aside his quest for revenge against the man who killed his father, Alex Mahone (William Fitchner), and offered to help Mahone track down the man who killed his son instead.

Michael's a tougher nut to crack and, like, Ventimiglia, also had trouble with the Blue Steel early on. Miller's less reliant on it and more expressive as the seasons go by, and he gets to do something new this season: jokey Michael! When Scott Tobias pointed out earlier this year that, "as an actor, Ventimiglia seems incapable of having any fun," it was one of those thunderbolt moments for me. That's totally the problem. He never smiles or laughs ever even when it would be appropriate, script-wise. Miller, on the other hand, now gets to joke at least once an episode, and it allows him to keep sharpening Michael as a well developed person.

Though both shows have large casts, Michael and Peter are definitely their central characters, and it can be limiting to build a show around an actor who is, well, limited. Kristen Bell could take whatever the Veronica Mars writers threw at her (the subject of another TV Thursday, I suppose); others cannot. Despite the outlandish plots, the PB writers respect that they have a genre show/live action graphic novel on their hands and have carefully and slowly developed their characters (for the most part) accordingly.

Also, they are not afraid to kill a bitch. Roland, Whistler, and Cameron are characters that died just this season. Who will be next? That's half the fun of watching.

*Sadly not as cool as Chief Head in a Box, largely because the head in question turned out to be a fake.

Rachel Getting Married (2008)

Premise: Kym (Anne Hathaway) leaves rehab to attend her sister Rachel's (Rosemaire DeWitt) wedding to Sidney (TV on the Radio's Tunde Adebimpe) at their father's (Bill Irwin) estate.

This movie might be the hardest I have ever chosen to review because it feels like the hardest to explain. I saw it without reading any reviews, and I read three in preparation to write to you now. I'm still unsure that I have a handle the movie.

The lyrical way Declan Quinn's camera follows characters around the house, never afraid to cut them out of the frame, lends an authenticity to the movie that's difficult to transcribe. It's as real as any movie in recent memory and more so, for Jonathan Demme delicately picks up Jenny Lumet's screenplay and weaves colour, texture, and life into her carefully selected words. It catches the temporary suspension that many would like to go with a wedding and acknowledges how it only seems to underline longstanding tension and long held resentments.

There's a decade old tragedy at the centre for these characters, and everything that happens seems to grow out of it, pushing the characters forward while pulling them back in. DeWitt, as Rachel, struggles to find a place for herself that isn't defined in contrast to her junkie sister, and she creates a mix of compassion, anger, and forbearance. The movie isn't "about" how difficult it must be for Rachel to have a sister like Kym, and DeWitt's nuanced performance never suggests it should be.

There's a wonderful matter of fact/this is life quality to the movie gives the sense that, in fact, there's nothing it "should" be. It just is. Hathaway, in a difficult role that would be easy to overplay and even easier not to like, brings that same level of authenticity in a way that she has rarely had the opportunity to in the past. If we're lucky, it's only the beginning.

If we're really, really lucky, it's only the beginning of Debra Winger's return to film as well. What a relief to see her again. A

Pop Culture Round-Up: October 18-24

Another accidental hiatus? I've got a problem.

That's all well and good, but who will design their costumes?

Ha! I mean, you know, saving lives is good, but laughing is good for your health, too.

None of these responses are sufficiently crass, Les Grossman style answers, as one would want.

Sad.

Well that sucks.

This is a little bit gross, but it also might be the funniest thing I have read all week.

If you've found yourself wondering whatever happened to Christo, wonder no more.

"Like Freud and Betty Crocker, the name 'Emily Post' became shorthand for authority itself." As well it should be.

By showing it in the thrall of a violent attack, of course!

Beats me. He's too cute to hate.

Oh, please let them. I would love to hear that.

Pop Culture Round-Up: October 11 - 17

This week went much better than last week, round up-wise. I checked my folder last Friday afternoon to discover that I had bookmarked absolutely nothing. I guess I was too busy/bored last week.

I don't know if one article is going to shake up our opinions, but he's got a few good points. I do want to see Lost Boys: The Tribe, after all.

What the? I don't know how I feel about this.

Hee! It's funny 'cause it's true. 'Cept that violin thing was a total rip off of Ironside's character on Seaquest. (Yeah, that's right. Seaquest.)

I saw this trailer before Nick & Norah but had a slightly different reaction.

I could get behind that. But what about The Daily Show? Not that we see much of Sam these days.

"Has appeared in films"? Ouch. It's like when people say "a number."

Music of the future!

Why is Jude Law playing Hamlet in the first place?

Despite the fact that this is a blatant rip-off of the greatest episode of Angel ever, it was the greatest episode of Angel ever (probably), so I think the awesomeness will transfer.

Aw. The Batman theme rules.

Heroes (2006 - ?)

First I saw Sarah's DVR Break-Up, and I thought, "I didn't think it was that bad." Then the rotation of TV Clubbers have been (not unfairly) hating. Couch Baron even outed the show as a soap opera. Last Monday's episode was the final straw for me.

SPOILER (ish) Alert: If you haven't already watched the episode that aired on Monday, October 13, 2008, read no further, as I intend to discuss it at length.

I talked up Heroes to pretty much everyone I knew when it premièred two ago. It was the one new show you had to watch. When it went off the rails in season two, I stuck by it, sure that it could pull itself out of its funk. When Tim Kring apologized and promised that he could do better in season three, I took him at his word. As it turns out, that was a mistake.

Last week, Hiro and Ando dug up not-at-all-dead Adam Monroe's (the always welcome David Anders) grave, thereby undoing the coolest thing that Hiro has ever done on the show (other than be Future Hiro, of course). This week, Hiro spends several of my viewing minutes popping Adam in and out of the coffin during their negotiations. Why, pray tell, did Hiro and Ando have to dig up the grave in the first place then? It's time consuming and difficult, and, as Hiro just proved in the very next scene, completely unnecessary. Exactly how brain-addled are the writers that they can't establish internal logic for a single subplot?

This development also goes against the graphic novels that have never have (and probably never will) tie into the show on air. Early this summer, back when I used to read them, an entire issue was devoted to Adam's many wives over the years, and it ended with his conviction that his current wife, whoever she might be, would rescue him. Since he was still down there when Hiro went to pick him up, that didn't happen. No doubt, we will never meet this mysterious wife nor will she be mentioned again. She can live on the Beach of Dropped Plots with Micah, Monica, and Caitlin, the girlfriend Peter is content to abandon in the future. Her family's dead, too!

Adam leads Hiro and Ando to a bar and shakes them off his tail. So Daphne shows up. Alright, fine. We've had a quite of bit of Daphne in this episode, but I don't care. I don't know a damn thing about Daphne, and I don't care if that ever changes. I liked Brea Grant on Friday Night Lights last year, but there writing's not there to back her up when it comes to Daphne. She's a construct, a cardboard cut-out, and she'll probably stay that way.

Somehow, this latest confrontation between Hiro and his "nemesis"* leads to Hiro killing Ando. For real. Hiro murdering his best friend for the greater good has the emotional devastation of a paper cut. No one stays dead on this show. If they do die, the actor just comes back as another character (hey, Ali!). That's what makes this show a soap opera. It's not that I don't loves me a soap. It's that I don't love a soap that takes itself so seriously yet never pays out.

What happens every season, really? Someone goes into the future, sees something terrible, and heads back to prevent terrible thing (explosion/world ending, virus/world ending, formula/world ending) from happening in the first place. It ends with Peter going nuclear. Maybe Peter will destroy a lab full of the formula in nuclear explosion come May sweeps.

The problem with characters changing personalities and loyalties to fit the episode's needs has been around a while and well covered elsewhere (from Monday, for example - Claire wants to take bad guys down, Claire wants to help them reunite with their families, Claire hates Sylar and wants to kill him, Claire doesn't want her dad to kill Sylar. Huh?). Let's move on to the final moment: Arthur Petrelli lives.

Listen, it's not that I don't want to more about Pa Petrelli. I'm sure that it would be interesting to know more about the early days of the Company, what Pa's power(s) might be, how he was with his sons, and what they know about him. There was an arc over several graphic novels way back in the day about how the elder Petrelli and Linderman met (short answer: Nam), which was probably my favourite. It's just that . . . reviving a character that established to be dead in the pilot? What's the point? Let's bring back the elder Suresh while we are at it. I bet he could find an antidote.

I'm probably not at the breaking point just yet; I am getting very close. I have lost any confidence that the show could take a development like that and make it exciting. They've already used it poorly: paralyzing Angela. She's one of the good (read: interesting to watch) characters! Maybe Elle can come back and zap her out of it. Sigh. I miss Kristen Bell.

*Which, Hiro is supposed to be my age, if not older, right? Adults do not talk this way. The time gap between Hiro and Future Hiro is closing, but the personality gap remains vast.

"I've always said that glasses weren't a good enough disguise."

If it's time to go on the run, then check out my latest Culture article, and learn how to disguise yourself, movie-style.

Over in the advice column, Miss Smartypants tackles boyfriend issues, girlfriend issues, and bedroom disguise issues. See what I did there?

Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2008)

Story: Nick (Michael Cera) is taking his breakup with Tris (Alexis Dziena) badly, but he agrees to play that night anyway. Norah (Kat Dennings)'s first stop on her quest to find Where's Fluffy, a mythic band that almost never plays, just happens to be Nick's band's show. When his bandmates (Aaron Yoo and Rafi Gavron) spy a romantic opportunity, they agree to take Norah's drunk best friend (Ari Graynor) home in order to force Nick and Norah together.

Accidental hiatus over!

While this movie a minor entry in the Into the Night/One Crazy Night canon, it's not without it's delights. I haven't hit Cera backlash yet (hopefully I never will), although I think I might be getting to the point of being over him. As lovely, funny, and sweet as that kid is, I'm sort of in love with Dennings now, and he's just going to deal with it. Although I did cheer in my head when I saw he got above the title billing. Good for him!

Mostly I am in love with how she has curves and hopes she keeps them and would really like her to tell me what lipstick she is wearing in this movie, but I also love how she's hit this sweet spot where she's an authentic teenager in her actions and speech. Even the running bit of Norah explaining her jokes that weren't funny in the first place, while it fell flat, was believable.

Otherwise, the supporting cast keeps the movie humming along even when the scenes between the leads drag, and there are a lot of unexpected cameos that pop up to distract the audience.

Unfortunately, Lorene Scafaria's screenplay, based on Rachel Cohn and David Levithan's novel, falls prey to a lot of rom-com trappings, notably demonizing the other romantic interests of main characters so that there's never any doubt about who we rooting for. I liked Dziena in Broken Flowers, and I think I've made my feelings about Jay Baruchel quite clear in recent weeks (love!), and they are playing these complete dirtbags. It's a nice stretch for Baruchel and takes wonderful advantage of the nasal quality of his voice (although it also made me wonder is being a Chipster is not the sole providence of WASPs, as previously thought), but a better movie would either exclude these characters so that we never really get a sense of them or make them people would could like, just not with Nick and Norah.

Ah, well. B-

Pop Culture Round Up: September 27 - October 3

Good-bye, Paul Newman.

Scary! The publisher remains undeterred, however, which is great news.

This is fantastic.

Hilarious news. Will he have to double his research?

"So is Don Juanism funny, or is it sad?" Both? Mostly sad, though, I think.

Why is this news? It'll be a better story if he doesn't make it into the unnecessary remake.

Hmm. I think I might be down with that.

"[John Stuart] Mill believed in complete equality between the sexes, not just women’s colleges and, someday, female suffrage but absolute parity; he believed in equal process for all, the end of slavery, votes for the working classes, and the right to birth control (he was arrested at seventeen for helping poor people obtain contraception), and in the common intelligence of all the races of mankind." Now that's a maverick.

Not an orphan? Not Dick? This is just not right.

Damn! Stupid good reasons to update technology.

Aw.

Whoo-hoo! Film renaissance!

What? Two Michigan stories in one post? This is crazy.

Pushing Daisies (2007 - ?)

During my TV on DVD summer gluttony, I found myself thinking that it would be nice to have a forum to talk about all these TV shows I watch. Sure, there are lots of places that I could talk about TV, but I wanted a space where I could work out my thoughts. Then I remembered my Angel post from way back in the day*, and I realized that I already have that forum! Thanks, blog!

I give you TV Thursdays, the day of the week on which I shall write about a TV show, currently airing or possibly not. My beloved Pushing Daisies came back to us last night, so it seems as good a place as any to start.

I picked up quite a few new shows last year, in some cases due to vacuums created by other, more beloved shows' cancellations (sniff, Veronica Mars) and in others due to writer's strike programming vacancies. Pushing Daisies was neither. I immediately forced two of my friends to start watching it as I was ensorcelled by the pilot (or Pie-lette, in PD speak). I could you that it appealed to me on multiple, vacant fronts: the dialogue's rat-a-tat-tat of a good Gilmore Girls episode, the mystery-of-the-week (MotW) of Veronica Mars, the surrealist bent of Dead Like Me.

Even so, to define PD by other shows would be a limiting mistake. It's thoroughly original. At its base, it's a procedural, but the MotW, while inventive, is never that important. The basics: Ned (Lee Pace) can wake the dead with a touch of his finger. A second touch makes the person dead, again, forever. If Ned doesn't administer the second touch within 60 seconds, the person lives, but someone else will die in his/her stead. That's how we got Chuck (Anna Friel), Ned's childhood sweetheart and current paramour, who walks around avoiding touching her boyfriend, so she can avoid dying again. P.I. and pop-up book enthusiast Emerson Cod (Chi McBride) uncovered Ned's secret and used it to blackmail him into becoming his business partner. On the MotW front, Ned wakes up the victim, gets the intel on the murder, and then Ned and Emerson solve the case for insurance money. It's a pretty good racket.

None of this is anywhere near as exciting as Olive (Kristen Chenoweth), the sole waitress at Ned's pie shop, The Pie Hole, and Ellen Greene and Swoosie Kurtz as Chuck's grieving aunts Vivian and Lily, respectively. Vivian and Lily Charles were, back in the day, celebrated synchronized swimmers until a rogue kitty litter accident blinded Lily in one eye, turning the sisters into a pair of cheese obsessed recluses.

Right about now you might be thinking, "How does one survive under the weight of all that quirk?" Friends, factors that combine to make the show not oppressive but transcendent:

A) Dead people. Every episode has at least one dead person, and, as bizarrely and humorously as they die, it's still murder.

B) Orphans. Ned's mother is died when he was 10, and his father abandoned him shortly thereafter. Chuck's father died when Ned tried to revive his mother, not knowing how his powers worked, and her mother died in childbirth. Except . . .

C) Season(s) long mysteries. At the end of last season we discovered that Chuck's mother didn't die in childbirth after all. In fact, she never existed! Lily is Chuck's mother, and only Olive knows the truth. Plenty of questions have been raised since that revelation, and only one was answered in last night's season premiere (Chuck's dad was Chuck's biological dad). We also learned that Emerson has a daughter, apparently estranged, and he writes pop-up books to help her someday find him.

D) Details. This show is bar none the most creative I've seen in a long while. Watch a single scene, and you will see the immense work that goes into art design. It's off the wall, old fashioned, and always detailed in such a way that weaves into story.

E) Cast. Obviously a good cast can make or break a show, and it's even more important on a show as out there as this one. It works largely because of everyone's ability to act like this is just the way things are. Sure, the script requires people to balk at something or other at least once an episode, but it's the snappy comic timing and genuine dramatic chops of the cast that make the show really sing.

I know a show centred around a pie-maker with the touch of life sounds crazy, but you'll find it's not if you give it a try. If anything, it's out of this world.

*Boy, I sure was hung up on in the idea for a made-for-TV movie. When am I going to realize that those sorts of rumours almost never come to fruition?

Casino Royale (2006)

I finally pulled the DVD off the shelf, so it must be time for a RE-view!

This was definitely a different sort of Bond and a thug, no doubt, but I found it sort of hilarious how everyone focused on the bodies he piled up and ignored that he was (maybe) a computer hacking super-genius as well. He broke into M's computer, her home, and her identity ('cause he knows her real name, see?)!

The only person who seems to care about these things is M herself, as she works in this strange vacuum/non-vacuum situation. Non-vacuum: co-writers Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and (shudder) Paul Haggis put a lot of effort into showing us that MI6 is infinitely more connected to the British government than what was shown in the past (M attends meetings and answers to the Prime Minister, apparently). Vacuum: none of these people seem all that real. Few of them have names, much less characteristics, that would help them stick in your memory after you see the film. They blend together and disappear.

It gives the movie a streamlined appearance when it is anything but. Which is not to say that it's bloated, exactly. It tells one story, and it tells it very well, which is more than Bond movies have offered in a long time. Both Jeffrey Wright and Mads Mikkelsen are welcome presences, and, from the trailer, it looks like Bond is still pretty focused on Vesper's death, so it's best not to forget about that one.

Only I kind of want to. It's not that I don't like Eva Green generally or in the movie, but Bond-in-love sequence drags and drags. And it's not even that long. I suspect Bond getting his revenge on will be infinitely more exciting to watch. Until then, I'll tentatively stick with my original A-.

P.S. Does anyone else find themselves missing Miss Moneypenny? I really like Craig and Dench's interactions. Thanks to Gwenyth Paltrow's fantastic turn as Pepper, the Moneypenny to Robert Downey Jr.'s Tony Stark, though, I find myself wondering what Bond's long suffering secretary is up to. Mailing out child support payments?

P.P.S How long do you think an actor of Craig's calibre will stay tied down to the role?