The Rum Diary

Impressions before seeing it
I actually wasn't too big on Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Johnny Depp's other Hunter S. Thompson film, but this one wasn't marketing itself as a weird drug trip so I thought it might be fun.

How was it?
The difference between this movie and Fear and Loathing is that this one's not about Hunter S. Thompson, it's just based on one of his books. There is one drug trip scene, but encapsulated in a more coherent movie such as this one, it's not maddeningly insane. It actually turned out to be an anti-capitalism morality tale, but honestly it didn't quite feel like the film cared as much about its own message as its characters were supposed to, and as a result I didn't either. But it's okay, because I actually had a lot of fun watching Depp and his sidekick (Michael Rispoli) bumble around beautiful Puerto Rico; Giovanni Ribisi's performance reminded me of the kind of cartoon character who is always involved in explosions and coming out of it with a blackened face; and Amber Heard was ridiculously gorgeous. There were scenes that had me laughing, and I was never bored in the entire two hours, and that makes The Rum Diary a success. Maybe not a complete one, because it feels like it's not sure whether it wants to be taken seriously or not (and that may be what is responsible for the weakening of its theme), but a success nonetheless.

Recommendation
As a piece of entertainment, it's a fun watch - especially if you enjoy a nice tropical setting and some light comedy. I can see why it didn't get a Best Picture nomination at the Oscars, but that doesn't mean it isn't worth watching.

This Week in Television - Feb. 27-Mar. 2, 2012

Smash
Okay, I'm dropping this show. The characters are just too insufferably full of themselves. I mean most shows might have one character like that, but an entire cast? On top of that, the writing and directing was so heavy-handed this episode, with all of the lingering glances, and Karen being physically pushed and bumped by Ivy, and the uninspired attempts at humourous lines that were clearly not written by anyone who knows anything about comedy. It's surprising that I have to say this, but as frustrating as Glee is, it at least has a very small amount of merit, and rather than be annoyed by the New Directions kids I'm just indifferent to them. I suppose it's an accurate depiction of show business if everyone involved is egocentric, it just doesn't make for a good collection of characters that I would want to care about. I might not mind so much if Karen was the center of the show, and they didn't go off into these B and C stories where they try to pretend these other snobs are likable or interesting, but this is not a show about Karen, it's about a cheesy Broadway play, and so I quit.

Survivor: One World
They usually do a memory challenge later in the season, after everyone's mental prowess has deteriorated. I almost feel like the producers condescendingly said "The women are too weak to win at a physical challenge, let's throw them a memory thing." Very glad to see Matt go, as he seemed like the biggest douche on the tribe.

30 Rock
I think the best part of this episode was Tracy and Jenna playing detective (loved Jenna's terrible cop show parody with poor attempts at character development in her blatant referencing of a dead husband), but it put Jack into an interesting perspective when he was so preoccupied with getting ahead at work that he couldn't even recognize a friendship as a friendship. A lot of people complain about Kenneth these days, and 30 Rock seems to be listening because they've actually given him a multi-episode arc so he'll have something to do for a while. Don't know if he'll get high enough to succeed Jack's job, but it might make for an epic season finale if they're forced to go head to head.

Parks and Recreation
I didn't believe that Bobby Newport's vacation canoodling was actually some international deal; Leslie shouldn't have fallen for it. It was obvious in the newspaper photos that it was purely for leisure, and after meeting Bobby in a previous episode, it was clear that he wasn't going to be working hard in favour of the city. Also, ramps are still better than electric lifts because if the lift breaks down, you're screwed. Why would nobody bring that up? The water fountain and water fight stuff were fun, though when they solved the problem I almost expected Andy to just put his mouth on the spout hole.

The Office
The whole B-plot with Andy being beaten up by kids was mostly unfunny. It's already been done many times elsewhere. But it was mildly amusing for the idea of Toby conducting a martial arts seminar and plugging his mystery novel, and for Creed's demonstration of "strike, scream, run". I enjoyed the Sabre store more, and all of the dishonesty that went into its opening and promotion as the employees played characters and created false scenarios. Lying is a business, too, folks.

Up All Night
A couple of chuckles this week, and it was nice to see Will Forte back, but Up All Night is still the most average comedy of the week for me. I never hate it, but it's never amazing, either.

Awake
I've been excited to see this show ever since the trailer showed up last summer. The only problem is that the trailer spoiled at least 40% of the episode, but otherwise it was highly engaging thanks to a cool concept and strong performances from the actors. I just hope the big twist isn't that the accident put Mike into a coma and he's imagining both worlds, because that would feel unoriginal. Side note: it's kind of funny that the actor who played Jack's "son" on Lost is once again playing a possibly non-existent son.

Hero of the Week: Mike from Awake, for having no intention of ever making progress.

Douchebag of the Week: Jennifer Barkley from Parks and Recreation, for being too good a campaign manager to Bobby Newport when neither her nor her client really care about it.

Hugo

Impressions before seeing it
There are a lot of jokes to be made when you first hear that Martin Scorsese made a family movie, because it seems like such an odd match. However, it's also a brilliant selling point because you want to see what that would be like. Or at least I did. And with all of the glowing sparkliness present in the trailers and posters, I thought it might be a fantasy but it was somewhat unclear on that.

How was it?
What Hugo actually is, is a disguised advertisement for, and tribute to, the silent film era. More specifically, Georges Méliès, the world's first fantasy filmmaker. Having studied it in school, I already knew most of what was presented here about Méliès and silent film, but I appreciated that this movie is a reminder that those films exist (or an introduction to them, in the case of younger viewers). Scorsese is clearly a lover of movies, and it wasn't until after watching Hugo and seeing its purpose that I knew why he made the unusual choice to direct a family movie. He loves Méliès, Lloyd, Chaplin, and Keaton as much as the next film buff, and in our modernist society it would be a crime to forget about them. That's why we needed a recent film to re-expose us to them. The silent film footage is presented in such a loving and nostalgic way that one can't help but be endeared by it. We needed Hugo.

The movie does play somewhat like a children's fantasy/adventure/mystery in the style of Lemony Snicket, but it's a fairly serious family film. Sacha Baron Cohen is the only comic relief as a train station guard with a leg brace, but it's okay not to be funny in a family film if you have magic. I don't think this movie would be appealing to really young kids, but it is a visual feast with its gadgets and lavish sets. It's just likely not enough to hold a kid's attention for the entire two hour run time. However, when they get a little older it could be a great educational tool as an entry point into silent cinema.

Recommendation
I would recommend this more to adults and teens than to children, because it works on those two levels: nostalgia if you're already familiar with silent movies, or discovery if you're too young to be aware of them. I'd like to take this opportunity to briefly break down a few of the silent film directors and what their work is like, for anyone who might want to seek them out.

Charlie Chaplin: Obviously the most famous one, his work was usually laced with social or political commentary, but came with cuteness and heart.

Buster Keaton: Keaton, on the other hand, rarely even smiled in his movies because they were all about the jokes and stunts. No sentimentality, but some impressive (not to mention highly dangerous) stunts that he performed by himself and usually without safety equipment.

Harold Lloyd: Lloyd was like a combination of Chaplin and Keaton. In other words, you get both stunts and warmth, although Keaton and Chaplin mostly did better in those respective areas.

D.W. Griffith: At the time, he was making propaganda-like dramas that effectively used filmmaking techniques to manipulate emotion. Important to study if you're actually interested in filmmaking.

Georges Méliès: As I said above, he was the first fantasy filmmaker, and pretty much the only one in the silent era. His work is important because you get to see what special effects were like 100 years ago, and all in hand-painted colour!

This Week in Television - Feb. 19-24, 2012

Once Upon a Time
Well, after last week's terrific episode, we're back to a lukewarm show. While what David did to his fiance was not cool, I don't entirely feel sorry for her; partly because she is uninteresting and not likable, and partly because they are both responsible for what happened. They both knew a long time ago that he didn't love her, but they chose to drag it out and remain in denial. The mayor says "relationships take work", but I don't really agree with that. Call me a romantic, but I think if it's the right person, there shouldn't be much work involved. If you have to force someone to love you, or force yourself to love someone, then they're probably not your soulmate.

Smash
This wasn't a very good episode. I hate to say it, but while this show is mechanically less flawed, Glee is still more entertaining, and while I'm indifferent to most of the Glee characters, they're generally still more likable than these pretentious showbiz snobs on Smash. I think I'm mostly referring to Tom and Julia when I say "showbiz snobs", but most of the cast has it to some degree. I did enjoy Anjelica Huston throwing drinks in her ex-husband's face, but it feels like Karen didn't really do anything in this episode. I couldn't care less about the Marilyn musical, but Karen is actually doing stuff when she's a part of it.

Glee
Season three has been the most horrendous season yet, but this episode was almost good. I think the stuff with Karofsky was handled without being exaggerated, misguided, inaccurate, or glossed over, and that is rare for Glee and its sloppy, unrealistic writing. But we still got the usual ridiculousness elsewhere, like Finn and Rachel moving their wedding up AGAIN, and Quinn getting in a random car accident just for the sake of shock value. Also, it stands out too much when choirs other than New Directions perform, and they have one person singing lead and everyone else on backup just because the one on lead is a paid guest star with lines on the show.

New Girl
Some funny stuff again this episode. I think the "Jerksica" line rings true for the lack of creativity in a lot of bullies. I mean let's be honest, how many bullies are actually smart? Speaking of creativity, that Youtube video with the CG animation was way too good for any 12 year-old to have done, especially within the implied timeframe. Schmidt could have just as easily been involved in the bullying story, as he was once fat and most likely bullied for it, but he had the Cece thing, and it gave Winston something to do, which was no doubt funnier than any scene involving his girlfriend would have been, so it worked out. I think Nick kind of got the dud story this week, but it was interesting watching his emotional state at the science fair. On a side note, I was glad to see no volcanoes at the science fair, because that is one of the hugest school cliches out there, although they could have used that as an opportunity for a joke about it. The flashlight duct-taped to the ball was a hilarious one.

Survivor: One World
Colton (which might be in my top 10 least favourite baby names) is already shaping up to be the villain of the season, although he seems to vary between arrogantly thinking he's going to control the game and wandering around helplessly because nobody wants to be his friend and he doesn't know how to do anything. But as much as the guys are dicks, I have to at least give them credit for not being homophobic and not being, as I said last week, disrespectful toward the little person. Although Leif is so far this season's Rick, because we haven't gotten any talking heads or interactions with him yet, so we wouldn't know if someone dissed him to his face.

30 Rock
There aren't many TV shows that do an episode about February 29th, let alone invent an entire holiday - complete with mascot and traditions - for it. Awesome. I also loved the Leap Day Williams movie starring Jim Carrey and Andie McDowell, because when 30 Rock does those kinds of pop culture parodies (e.g. Queen of Jordan, MILF Island, America's Kids Got Singing), they're always just on the edge of ridiculousness but completely accurate to the point of being something that could really, truly, actually exist. Or I suppose they're accurate because they already exist in some form: Leap Day Williams would basically be the same movie as Evan Almighty or The Santa Clause. And as disturbing as the final image of Leap Day William turning into a horrifying sea monster was, I laughed. I like to think that had the hot supermodels not shown up, Liz would have backed out at least half way through having sex with Stevie from Eastbound and Down. Not out of dignity or anything, just out of disgust.

Parks and Recreation
I wasn't expecting that Tom would be complaining about Ann's faults, because as the viewers we know that while Ann is not perfect, she's far from insufferable, and Tom is not an easy guy to date without being embarrassed after five minutes. But it made it interesting when it went that way, and at least Tom is now thinking about more than just her looks. Kind of funny and sad at the same time that Jerry's wife celebrates his birthday by going out alone with her friends.

The Office
I liked the ending of this episode, with Jim and Dwight eating dessert together as they hide from the women who want to sleep with them. Good for them for not doing it. Who would have thought Dwight's insanity would come in handy to Jim? Ryan is just 100% douchebag now. I think the last time he was even a tiny bit likable was probably during the Michael Scott Paper Company, and that likability came more from his situation than his character. I have yet to get on board with Daryl and Val, though. They just don't have the chemistry that Jim and Pam had during the beginning seasons, or even that Erin and Andy had before Gabe stole her from him. Val's not a significant enough character to get the screen time for chemistry, or even character development. She's been in a number of episodes now and I still feel like I know nothing about her.

Up All Night
I felt like this episode was almost funny, but all of the jokes just fell short of a laugh. So close. But I do appreciate the truth in most relationships seeming to have one who is easygoing and one who has to be the hard-ass.

Fringe
This week's episode was epic! There has been talk that this may be Fringe's last season because of the ratings it's been getting in its (bad) timeslot, so it's good that we got this episode explaining the observers, just in case. It also nicely tied together the storyline of the entire series to prove the relevance of everything we've seen so far, and dealt with what I pointed out last week about Peter having to leave this Olivia and return to his own. I'm excited for what is to come, because it feels like it is moving toward the series finale now.

Hero of the Week: Both Jim and Dwight from The Office, for helping each other not to have inappropriate sex.

Douchebag of the Week: Ryan from The Office, for transparently not wanting to wait six months for appropriate sex.

The Fades - Season One

The Fades is a British supernatural fantasy horror series that I've been watching on BBC Canada. It follows a high school student, Paul, as he discovers the world of the Fades - souls of the dead who were unable to ascend to Heaven and became trapped on Earth, and can only be seen by special people (Angelics) like himself. A war between the Fades and Angelics is happening, because the Fades have found a way to regain some humanity and strength, and want to destroy everything, and Paul finds himself gaining special abilities in order to fight them.

I'm not much of a horror fan, but the term "horror" is used loosely to refer to some content that is dark, gross, and violent. I wouldn't call this show frightening, in other words, and I don't think its goal is to be scary so it's not a failure. But I had a lot of fun, starting with the second episode. Episode one wasn't bad, it just didn't draw me all the way in; episode two got me invested in some of the characters, just as Paul was realizing that he loves his family and friends too much to give them up. There are tertiary characters I'm still fairly indifferent to as they are unrelated to storylines involving Paul, but they were used to expand on the nature of the Fades, so they were necessary if not entertaining. In particular I enjoy Mac, Paul's loyal best friend and the main source of comic relief in an otherwise serious show, and Jay, Paul's girlfriend who is too cool for him but accepts his nerdiness anyway. John is also quite interesting once the show sets him against Paul in a Lost/Carnivale-type way as the main villain.

Being of British format, the season is only six episodes long, but it actually felt like a satisfying length with a beginning and an end. It is left open for a second season, but it could also stop where it is and not be terribly disappointing. I'd also like to say that I love the episode endings: this show likes to go out with a bang, throwing us a cliffhanger, and then cutting straight to the scrolling credits while a song plays that perfectly fits the mood of what we just saw. For something I never would have heard of if my dad hadn't been watching BBC Canada to catch the preview for it, this show was surprisingly good, and actually the first British series I've ever watched that wasn't a comedy.

Best Episode: While Episode 2 (there are no episode titles, it seems) is memorable for the reason I mentioned above, the best might be Episode 6, where everything comes to an epic conclusion. Or does it?

This Week in Television - Feb. 12-17, 2012

Once Upon a Time
Wow, I wasn't expecting any episode of this show to blow me away, but I really liked this one. Well, the girls night out subplot was dull, but Robert Carlyle and Emilie de Ravin nailed their chemistry together, and just when I thought the Storybrook segments were useless this week, we got that awesome scene near the end with the mayor visiting Mr. Gold in jail. That scene was huge, because it was the first time either of them has openly acknowledged the fairy tale world. This show has been somewhat lukewarm for the most part but, damn, I loved this episode.

Smash
I actually thought they were just going to give the part to both girls, and have Ivy play Marilyn while Karen plays Norma Jean. Although that would be a cop-out, and has been done in the TV movie Norma Jean and Marilyn. I'm finding I don't really care for most of the characters, because everyone except Karen is a showbiz snob, and I'm not on board with Julia's adoption plans because a) they're boring, b) I haven't known this character long enough to start caring about her family, c) she already has a kid, greatly diminishing the whole "strong desire to be a mother" angle, and d) why is that kid as obsessed with having a new baby as she is? Teenage boys have other things to care about. Also, this show is astoundingly terrible at cliffhangers. All of the commercial breaks and episode endings are at odd and abrupt times that in no way leave you wanting more.

Glee
Not only was the Artie vs. Irish kid thing very uninspired, but Sugar just turned down Artie like two episodes ago, so why is she suddenly open to him courting her? And it was painfully predictable that Kurt's secret admirer was going to be Karofsky (or at least not Blaine), because of the way Kurt kept insisting, in a lazy attempt at a mislead, that it was Blaine. Irish kid is still a sneaky prick. The one thing I did enjoy was the slightly meta moment with Santana complaining that she's not allowed to kiss Brittany when Finn and Rachel make out all the time, because the show itself has pretty much had that mentality since Santana came out. I was glad to see they finally addressed something. Only about 9,000 more problems to fix.

New Girl
I think it's official that Winston is boring in scenes with that girl he likes. But there was otherwise some really funny stuff in this episode, like the club pack box of condoms, Jess's failed attempt at doing a sexy cherry trick, any time Schmidt mentioned "youths", and the flashback of Nick entering a cock fight "as a person". On principle, I would have been pissed if Jess slept with Schmidt. We dodged a bullet there.

Survivor: One World
Not much to say yet, except that the men are arrogant pricks, and that it was nice that nobody made a big deal out of the little person. Usually when someone has some kind of disability or anything that makes them different, the show is all over it, but we just got people commenting on his strength.

30 Rock
The Liz and Jack stories turning into a Batman/Joker reference was a weird and random reference to go to, but a funny one nonetheless. I don't mind Jenna and Paul, but I think their regular weirdness was funnier than the "normalling".

Parks and Recreation
It was cool to see Louis C.K. back, but Officer Dave didn't seem like as good of a guy as I remember. He was chivalrous toward Leslie, I guess, but he was also really awkward and unable to hide his jealousy of Ben. But I laughed at his idea that he and Leslie, after reconciling, would go back to the bathroom and uncuff Ben together, like it was something romantic. Speaking of romance, Tom trying to mack is always funny, and I'm almost disappointed in Ann for giving in, but then he would have kept being annoying if she hadn't, so I can see how he wore her down (the four sweetest words in the English language!). Also the little subplot with April helping Ron hide/destroy the Duke Silver memorabilia was great.

The Office
I guess we're not done with Tallahassee, because there was no mention of Erin's possible departure or Cathy hitting on Jim (other than some obvious but fruitless attempts to talk to him). The opening with Dwight waking everyone up was funny. I think some of The Office's strongest moments these days are montages like that one, where we see the characters' individual reactions to something. I enjoyed Andy at reception, because it does seem like it would be a better fit for him, and it served to highlight that he doesn't really do anything as regional manager, which isn't necessarily his fault - that's just how management positions are.

Up All Night
I think this show stepped into the "obvious joke" shoes again with all of the stuff about saying "bomb" in an airport. But the part I did find somewhat interesting was their whole baby plan/schedule to avoid the dreaded fuss of having a baby on an airplane. I haven't seen that before. The "Back it Up" song wasn't that great, but as I am a fan of impressions when they are either really good or really bad, Chris doing Michael Keaton characters was funny.

Fringe
If I were Peter, what I would be worried about is the inevitability of this Olivia getting hurt when he leaves her to go back to his timeline. Unless he's either planning to stay, or take her with him for an Olivia threesome. It was interesting watching Jackson and Torv play this episode, though; Olivia was kind of giddy with her new-found feelings, and Peter was troubled by them. Maybe I wasn't watching closely enough, but the ending seemed to come out of nowhere. Not a complaint, though; I know it will be expanded on next week. It was just a good "WTF" moment.

Hero of the Week: Belle from Once Upon a Time, for coming back with the straw.

Douchebag of the Week: The tribe of men on Survivor. Get over yourselves, meatheads.

Mildred Pierce

I wouldn't have been interested in watching a 5-part mini-series about the depression if it didn't star two of my favourite actresses (Kate Winslet, Evan Rachel Wood) as mother and daughter, plus Hope Davis, whom I always felt was an underrated actress. So I was excited to see this, but I was a little worried that it might be boring and melodramatic. Instead, I found myself completely hooked.

I never saw the original movie or read the book, but this version, at least, is like a classic tragedy. Mildred (Winslet) is a strong, driven woman and easy to like, but her tragic flaw is an excessive love for her daughter Veda in spite of the fact that she is a spoiled, pretentious, ungrateful brat. I don't condone child abuse, but there were a couple of parts where Mildred gives Veda a good slap, and I had to cheer because she really, really deserved it. But the heartbreaking thing about this mini-series is watching Mildred revolve most of her life around Veda - starting up an entire restaurant business just to cover up the embarrassing waitress job she had to take which her elitist daughter would've looked down on - when we know Veda isn't going to appreciate any of it. Because of this, and the fact that she is played by two different actresses at different ages, it seems as if young Veda is the fifth business of this story, while older Veda is the antagonist.

While all of the writing kept me interested, I think it sealed the deal that Kate Winslet is one of those fantastic character actresses who has no trouble being believable, and the actresses playing Veda were so annoyingly condescending and pretentious with their diction that it was never hard to hate the character, and the more I hated Veda, the sorrier I felt for Mildred being unable to see who she is. I enjoyed this way more then I thought I would, and on an unimportant side note, the Blu-ray/DVD combo packaging is really beautiful and classy. Well played, Mildred Pierce. Well played.

Best Episode: I think all five parts were equally good, but if I had to choose I guess I'd go with Part Two, in which Mildred teaches herself to be a better waitress, starts setting up her own restaurant, meets Monty Beragon (Guy Pearce), and suffers a terrible tragedy.