What I've Seen...
Amy Schumer's former Comedy Central show "Inside Amy Schumer" had many funny and thought provoking sketches; "I Feel Pretty"s writers/directors Amy Kohn and Marc Silverstein have had some enjoyable enough rom-coms like "Valentine's Day" and "How to Be Single". Putting these three together would be movie magic, right? WRONG. WRONG. WRONG.
I can't knock the film completely - I did chuckle at times - but overall the humor is wanting as Schumer’s character isn’t developed enough to pull for so instead of sympathizing with her insecurities I wanted to throttle her.
The film stars Schumer as Renee, a woman who is unhappy with her lot in life: She’s in the periphery of her dream job working at a top level cosmetic company and is having no luck in the dating world.
After viewing "Big" and making a wish to become beautiful, she hits her head and believes that her wish has come through. Her newfound confidence leaves her friends Vivian and Jane (Aidy Bryant, SNL and Busy Philipps, Cougartown) confused,
but gains her the interest of her boss Avery LeClaire ( enchantingly played by Michelle Williams doing an exaggerated Marily Monroe voice)
and a potential boyfriend Ethan (Rory Scovel, Wrecked).
The film also stars Lauren Hutton as Avery’s tough grandmother and CEO of the family’s cosmetics company, Tom Hopper (Spartacus, Game of Thrones) as Avery’s brother who is intrigued by Renee and Emily Ratajkowski as Mallory, a SoulCycle attendee whose beauty further exacerbates Renee’s insecurities.
Seth Rogen has aged out of starring in teen sex comedies, but that doesn't stop him from producing them. His latest is "Blockers", a raunchy comedy with a bit of heart to it.
On the eve of their senior prom, friends since kindergarten, Julie (Kathryn Newton, Supernatural-Wayward Sisters), Sam (Gideon Adlon, American Crime) and Kayla (Geraldine Viswanathan, Miracle Workers) plan to lose their virginities on prom night: Julie to her boyfriend Austin (Graham Philips, Riverdale), Kayla to her sometime lab partner Connor (Miles Robbins, My Friend Dahmer) and Sam to random classmate Chad (Jimmy Bellinger, The Middle ) despite having feelings for someone else.
When Julie's mother Lisa (Leslie Mann) finds out about the pact she teams up with Kayla's father Mitchell (John Cena) to stop them, along for the ride is Sam's divorcee father Hunter (Ike Barinholtz) who wants to stop Lisa and Mitchell from ruining his daughter's prom.
As the parents calamitously attempt to locate their daughters, the girls are having misadventures themselves with their dates.
The laughs are few and far between but when they do come they're mostly from Barinholtz's "cool dad" Hunter. Mann plays the same notes she has for years: the harried, flustered woman, whiles Cena is playing against type as the helicopter dad who struggles with seeing his little girl grow into a young woman.
Directed by Kay Cannon, the film, written by four men and originally about three fathers trying to stop their daughters from losing their virginity, the script was reworked by Cannon to include not only Mann's Lisa, but the character of Marcie (Sarayu Blue) Mitchell's headstrong wife who dresses the other parents down for trying to control their daughter's sexuality and challenges them on the inherent misogyny of treating boys' virginities differently than girls. It's a moment that could have come off as anivilcious but I was so glad it was there
-Blockers was the third role I saw Miles Robbins (son of Tim and Susan Sarandon) in in which he played a stoner and I thought, “These are the roles he’s going to get until he cuts his hair.”
Little did I know that he cut his hair last year and has been on the “The X-Files” revival.
Robbins wasn’t the only celebrity offspring in “Blockers”. Gideon Adlon is the daughter of Pamela Adlon (Grease 2, Louie).
Based on the 1986 video game of the same name.
So dated
The Rock saves people again in this big and dumb actioner that is enjoyable in a cornball way. Dwayne Johnson stars as primatologist Davis Okoye whose albino gorilla who he raised from infancy George bewilderingly becomes violent and grows larger overnight. As Okoye and his team try to figure out the cause he’s approached by genetic engineer Dr. Kate Caldwell (Naomie Harris) who has the answer. George and other animals have been infected by a gas that rewrite genes causing dangerous mutations.
As the pair, and swaggering shadow government agent Russell (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) attempt to get their hand on the cure before the government takes down George, the owner of the company who conducted the experiment Claire (Malin Akerman) and her lackey brother Brett (Jake Lacy, Carol) try to protect themselves from arrest and get their hands on the animals for further testing.
It’s a role that Johnson has played a dozen times. And like I posted on Twitter it really works if you view it as a Jimmy Olsen story where Jimmy gets turned into an albino gorilla and Johnson is Superman, Harris is Lois Lane, Ackerman and Lacey are Lex and Otis and JDM who was channeling Val Kilmer as Doc Holiday is Jonah Hex. JDM really was the fan favorite for some reason. People would cheer and applaud at his lines.
Other Films
I think the spiritual cousin of "Love, Simon" is last year's "Freak Show" which was the directorial debut of Trudie Styler, wife of Sting. Adapated for the screen by writing team Patrick J. Clifton and Beth Rigazio (Raising Helen) from a book by former NY club kid James St. James (Disco Bloodbath), the film focuses on a year in the life of Billy Bloom (Alex Lawther, "The End of the Fcuking World, Goodbye Christopher Robin) a newcomer to a conservative high school after his glamorous, fun loving mother Muv (Bette Midler), leaves him with his strait-laced emotionally distant father (Larry Pine) and a doting maid (Celia Weston). Billy's love of glamour and theatrics was a joy he shared with his mother and embraced by her, but his father and classmates aren't as enchanted by his bette noirs with the exception of Blah Blah Blah (AnnaSophia Robb), a girl who considers herself Billy's bestie despite Billy's lowkey annoyance of her, and the most popular boy in school Flip (Ian Nelson, "Teen Wolf"). In the face of harassment from the jocks and the school's Queen Bee Lynette (Abigail Breslin), Billy runs for prom queen.
It's a bit of fun, Lawther really gives it his all, in a completely different way than his thoughts of murder character in "End of the Fcuking World". Midler is herself and used woefully sparingly but when she's onscreen it's a delight.
Tomb Raider
The tiny and mighty Alicia Vikander filled in Angelina Jolie's boo...ts with this reboot of the video game turned film franchise.
Seven years after her businessman father Richard's (Dominic West) disappearance, Lara (Vikander) begrudgingly agrees to sign off on her inheritance at the urging of her father's business partner Ana Miller (Kristen Scott Thomas). As she makes the move to claim her inheritance she finds a puzzle that leads her to discover her father's secret life as a treasure hunter.
She heads off on a search to find out what happened to her father on his last journey to find the burial place of the mythical Queen Himiko, teaming up with Lu Ren (Daniel Wu, Into the Badlands), a wayward captain whose father was the person last in contact with Lara's father.
It's fun. It's like "Indiana Jones", but one of the better ones -- not "Crystal Skull". Vikander and Daniel Wu make a great pair. Everything else is standard like Walton Goggins' villain who isn't menacing at all.
While it's doing great numbers in China (thanks to the video game and Daniel Wu who is a huge star there), it's doing abysmally here. If reports are to be believed, Angelina Jolie took her kids to see "Love, Simon" instead of "Tomb Raider".
Love Simon
I was hoping to love it as much as I loved "The Duff" or "Never Back Down" but it was suitably cute and the messaging is for more important than if all the performances aren't quite up to snuff (some people have a Freeform level of acting in this thing, that's five levels below CW acting).
Directed by mega-producer Greg Berlanti (almost every DC comics adapted show on the telly; Brothers and Sisters), and adapted by the novel, "Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda" Nick Robinson (Jurassic World) stars as Simon Spier, a teen in his senior year of high school, surrounded by a loving family (Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel, Talitha Bateman) and friends Leah (Katherine Langford), Nick (Jorge Lendeborg) and Abby (Alexandra Shipp, "X-Men Apacolypse") but he has a secret : he's gay.
When someone going by the moniker Blue posts to a student version of Post Secrets about his closested status, Simon strikes up an e-pen pal relationship with Blue leading Simon to try to discern which one of his classmates is Blue.
As Simon's feelings grow stronger, his anxiety grows as his sexuality threatens to being revealed.
Yes, there was source material to work with but it really felt like an 80s teen film, furthering that feeling is the diegetic synth based music supplied by Jack Antonoff of the band Fun who curated the soundtrack for the film (and supplied a few songs with his new group Bleachers).
Robinson is great as Simon and displays a vulnerability I haven't seen in his other work. Fun performance by Logan Miller (Scouts vs. Zombies) who plays Simon's pushy adversary Martin and Tony Hale as the man who puts the "pal" in principal, the hip, friendly Mr. Worth.
It's hard to believe in 2018 there hasn't been a easy going LGBT fronted character in a mainstream teenage film and I hope this film does well to lead to more.
I just hope as the film does its thing at the box office, the same people who criticized "Call Me By Your Name" for starring to straight leads better have that same energy for this film. Especially since several openly gay/bi/queer actors are in it (Keiynan Lonsdale (The Flash/Legends of Tomorrow), Miles Heizer (13 Reasons Why), Joey Pollari (American Crime) and Clark Moore (Ethan).
As a total aside, if love really exists in this world then Josh Duhamel would dump his 28 year old girlfriend Eiza Gonzalez (Baby Driver) and get with Jennifer Garner. They really did come across as cute, comfortable couple.
Chappaquiddick
I once sat in a theater awaiting a movie to start and they showed no less than three trailers featuring Jason Clarke and I wondered what sin had I committed that I had to endure that. But for once Clarke's total non-entity personality works as he fades into Ted Kennedy in this unflinching look at the evening of the tragic car accident that killed his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne and the days following as he and his team tries to spin his action - or rather, inaction - in a way to keep his political career safe.
Using public records and a good dose of imagined situations, first-time Taylor Allen and Andrew Logan take a look at the events of that fateful night when a tipsy Ted (Clarke) and Mary Jo Kopechne (Kate Mara) leaves the party for a drive which results in an accident leaving Ted alive and Mary Jo--at that time --fate unknown in the submerged car. They don't treat Ted with kids gloves in this film (the director, an admirer of Ted Kennedy, stated that had Ted still been alive he would not have directed the film), as a matter of fact they leave out just how devastated he was in the aftermath, instead presenting him as a rich kid propping himself up as a victim. The writers were right in doing so because so much of Chappaquiddick's history really just centers around Ted --- his career, how this affected his family; instead the writers wanted to double down on the real tragedy: the death of Mary Jo and how it could have been avoided had not Kennedy allowed fear to impede him. We're given her career aspirations for the future, as well as her last moments in order to hit home that while Teddy ultimately became the "Lion in the Senate", he was a chicken when it mattered most.
Despite Ted's written declaration to the police of what happened, there is so much that no one knows about that night. What the film imagines is how Ted vacillated between going to the police almost immediately, but was deterred by his father, Joseph (played by Bruce Dern), who immediately provided Ted with his own war room of lawyers to strategic deal with what they viewed as a political disaster. At no time in the film did we get a sense that Ted was fearful of going to jail, but was afraid of ruining his family's name. The Joseph Kennedy scenes were all imagined for the screen as Joe was waylaid by a stroke (some say he never knew about incident happened as no one was sure of his actual cognicance), but as it plays in the film Ted is motivated by being the last son standing. In a telling scene with his father, he finally gives voice to his insecurities and their fractured relationship "Joseph (Jr.) was the favorite, John was charming, Robert was brilliant and what was I? Fat, stupid. My brothers were great men. I want to be a great man."
A Wrinkle in Time
Earnest effort to translate what has long been deemed an un-translateable book to the big screen. Adapted from the Madeleine L'Engle series of novel by Jennifer Lee (Frozen, Wreck-It-Ralph) and directed by Ava DuVernay (Selma), "A Wrinkle in Time" centers on Meg Murry (Storm Reid), who is floundering emotionally due to the disappearance of her father (Chris Pine) four years earlier. Forever in her corner is her little brother Charles Wallace (Deric McCabe) and her mother Kate (Gugu Mbatha-Raw).
They need to do a rom-com
When she and Charles Wallace are visited by Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), a cheerful, yet firm being they find out that there is more to their father's disappearance than they know. Along with Meg's classmate Calvin (Levi Miller, "Pan"), the trio meet Mrs. Whatsit's fellow entities: Mrs. Who (who only speaks in quotes), and the ancient and sage Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey) who guide Meg and Co. on the journey to pull her father from interdimensional danger.
My friend said it best, "I just wanted Ava to win, but this is boring." And the film's biggest sin is that: it's boring. There is no magic or spark. Coming in under 2 hrs, this movie may have been helped by leaning into the canon more and having more build up. As it plays it's rushed and jumbled and not really letting audiences live with the characters. The kids were great: Reid as Meg did the near impossible of making her character endearing despite her mopiness; but McCabe was a joy. Such a little spark plug whose character took huge turns that would be hard for any actor to pull off, let alone an eight-year old. And the heart of the message of loving yourself --perceived flaws and all is a message that everyone needs to hear and for that it's a worthwhile view.
Oprah was Oprah, Reese was Reese, but it was Mindy who I enjoyed of the three. She imbued warmth and serenity as Ms. Who. It was a sweet and simple performance. But this misstep won't stop Ava. She's in negotiations to direct WB's "New Gods" film. If she fails at least she won't be alone in having a terrible WB/DC Comic adaptation film. Anyone just has to do better than "Green Lantern".
The film also stars Zach Galifinakis, Michael Pena, Andre Holland (Ava's BFF)
I believe Ava knew the film would underperform. She was on a panel at SxSW ahead of the release and was very specific that the film was geared to 8-14 year olds. And she said that she knew she wouldn't pull "Black Panther" numbers. Which isn't a problem to her because she and Ryan Coogler are friends. He is given a thank you at the end of the film and ahead of the film release he wrote a beautiful tribute to her.
The Vanishing of Sidney Hall
I actively avoid reviews before I see a film because I don't want other's opinions to skew mine. I may have to take that rule of avoidance for even after the film. I loved this movie, and after I saw it read the reviews and they were highly unkind. It's not a perfect film but it's so earnest in its reflection of how life can beat down one's idealism that any charges of pretentiousness galls me. If we were still in the age of 70s cinema it would fit right in.
The film, a literary "Eddie and the Cruisers" or "Velvet Goldmine", stars Logan Lerman (Fury), as Sidney Hall at various stages in his life. As a high schooler who is inspired to write by the support of his teacher (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, The Get Down), living with his high-strung, alcoholic mother (Michelle Monaghan) and father (Darren Pettie) who, as a result of a brain injury, is largely incommunicative. Sidney's quasi-friends with a jock Brett Newport (Blake Jenner) and wants to become more than friends with neighbor Melody (Elle Fanning). As an adult Sidney is divorced from Melody and a famous author for a novel he wrote, a novel which becomes "A Catcher in the Rye" level of inspiration to readers. Further still as an adult, Sidney is a mythical legend. He has vanished without a trace and a man (Kyle Chandler) revisits Sidney's past in order to find out what became of him.
Despite his being 26-years old, I thought it would be a leap to imagine baby-faced Lerman as an actual adult but Lerman is such a solid actor that he seemed to change physically between these ages just in the way he holds himself. Same with Elle Fanning who, thanks to a short wig and nothing much of else, turns from full-hearted and joyful teen, to a woman whose love for the love of her life has dimmed, but not diminished.
Red Sparrow
Another movie that I think is getting unfairly dragged. As a kid I remember Showtime playing Russian based dramas like "Gorky Park" and "White Nights" so this film felt like a homecoming to those dreary films I hated as a kid, but reminded me of the cinematic scoop of them. I don't think films are cinematic anymore so I appreciate that this film is an adult cinematic drama that doesn't dumb down its content.
Adapated by Justin Haythe from Jason Matthews' novel, "Red Sparrow" is a story of espionage, intrige and nudity.
After ballerina Dominika Egorova (Jennifer Lawrence) suffers a career ending injury, her creepy uncle Ivan (Matthias Schoenarts, "A Bigger Splash"), an operative in Russian intelligence, comes to her with a proposal to ensure financial security for herself and her (of course) sick mother (Joely Richardson). But the task is simply a way to force Dominika into training as a Sparrow : a group of women and men who are trained to deduce and seduce; using their minds as well as their bodies to extract information from their marks.
Dominika's task is to cozy up to CIA operative, Nate Nash (Joel Edgerton, "Loving") in order to uncover his Russian mole and to take that mole into custody so that Russia can "deal with" them.
When Dominika makes contact with Nate the two embark on a cat and mouse game trying to suss out which one is the cat and who is the mouse.
Not only did it underperform at the box office but it's been highly criticized for being lurid in the shadows of the #MeToo movement due to Dominika enduring violence: s*xual and physical and Lawrence, who was a victim of the Fappening - the n*de hack of 2016 - people felt it sordid that the film called for her n*dity.
I understand people have strong feelings about s*xual objectification of women in the media - I do too, but people should also understand that is not the hill that everyone chooses to die on. Jennifer Lawrence and director Francis Lawrence (who directed her in 2 "Hunger Games") spoke of how FLaw gave JLaw the choice to not do it and when she said she wanted to --that this was different than the hack situation -- he let her set the tone and block how the scenes should go. She viewed Dominika coming from a place of power and despite her victimization, I got that sense, too. This wasn't weakness. YMMV.
The film also stars yellow-teethed Jeremy Irons whose cadaverous form comes alive in scenes with Lawrence.When he acted opposite her I could see the dangerous seductive energy he had 1000 years ago when he wasn't a dumbfcuk with backwards idea on gay marriage and women’s roles in entertainment.
Also showing her seductive power despite her age is Charlotte Rampling as the Sparrow instructor. My headcanon was that her character in "The Night Porter" didn't die, but was merely wounded, left Germany, became a Sparrow and worked her way up to Headmistress.
-I also saw “Thoroughbreds” (C-), “A Quiet Place” (A+), “Ready Player One” (B). “Ready Player One”’s press tour was more interesting because I realized Ben Mendelsohn and Lena Waithe became friends.
Ben hyping up Lena at the Spirit Awards
Cool cats
In today's edition of "Men Just Won't Do Right" part 1,080, Colin Firth and his wife Livia took out a restraining order on Livia's longtime friend, Italian journalist Marco Brancaccia alleging that Brancaccia is stalking and harassing the Firths. It seems Brancaccia allegedly has a "Fatal Attraction" thing going after he and Livia had a year long relationship from 2015-2016 while she and Colin were separated. Livia broke it off and reunited with Colin. And instead of just relishing the time they had together, Brancaccia emailed Colin details of his relationship with Livia and threatened to release pictures and videos to the press. While no one has reported the nature of the pics and videos I can only assume they're not images of the two of them frolicking at the Trevi fountain. Livia alleges he began calling her relentlessly. Of course Brancaccia denies the stalking and harassment. He admits to contacting Colin, which he says he regrets, but says that he only spoke to her twice since their breakup. He also said that Livia told him she was going to leave Colin for him.
The British press being their naturally messy self (they're pissy because Colin became an Italian citizen. The press cited his reasons was due to Brexit, however he long said he planned to get duel citizenship because they live part-time in Italy and their children are Italian citizens), upon reporting the story, used multiple pictures of Colin and Livia at events during the rumored separation as a way to suggest that the two weren't "on break", but that Livia was having an affair.
But he's out and about. Colin with son Matteo and Jude Law
~"Men Just Won't Do Right" part 1,081. Lourdes Leon, daughter of Madonna, has a potential Sean Penn on her hands. Lourdes, who is the ex of Timothee Chalamet, posted an Instagram vid of she and her brother Rocco watching Timothee on the Oscars red carpet. Later that night, Timothee, his family and Armie Hammer attended Madonna's post-Oscar party. Days later, Lourdes' boyfriend uploaded his own Instagram video of him defacing magazines with Timothee on the cover.
This isn't the first time he was salty about Timothee. A month earlier he posted a IG rant about him.
~Timothee is living his best life. Timotay has somehow become every rapper/hip-hop artists favorite plus one. Tyler the Creator shouted him out on the song “Okra”,
Kid Cudi, who Timotay has been a longtime fan of, said Timotay is *his* favorite artist
Which thrilled L’il Timmy Tim
He was interviewed by his idol Frank Ocean and now Timotay is friends with the Weeknd and was his guest at Coachella where Timotay stood in the wings for Tyler the Creator’s set and attended the Rihanna Fenty/Puma party with The Weeknd, Nicki Minaj, Quavo of Migos, French Montana and Shania Twain…yes, that Shania Twain.
But as Timotay was hobnobbing he still found time during the day to post Instagram stories of him listening to Sufjan Steven’s “Call You By My Name” track “Mystery of Love” and liking CMBYN fan art. All of which delighted CMBYN fans as they were thinking that he has closed that chapter of his life behind since he is now in London preparing to film the Netflix movie “The King” with Joel Edgerton and Armie is in New Orleans filming the thriller “The Darkest Dark” (which I hope is a working title) with Dakota Johnson.
Why couldn’t Timotay just like random posts like Armie that just make people assume he’s wistful for the CMBYN days? Why is Timotay so obvious???!
The Timothee/Armie train was supposed to end in February when Timothee presented Armie with a Texas Film Award’s Variety Ones to Watch award. Armie recounts how he sweetly asked Timothee to do the honors. "Hey Timmy, it's Armie. Remember when I spent 15 months traveling the world with you, handing you awards? Get your a** to Austin, I'm calling in my favor."
Timothee spent nearly seven minutes on his rambling introduction of Armie, Armie's speech came in under 3 minutes in which he thanked Timothee, his wife and his mother who was present.
Armie and Timothee fans with the jokes
A fan’s idea of Armie’s perfect woman
*Timotea?
Armie and Timothee’s brain to mouth filter is wonky
When Armie and Timmy wore similar shirts in Austin
The duo with Armie’s childhood friend
It doesn’t help that the press ships them as well.
Timothee shouldn’t worry. Armie and the Missus are still friends with his “Man from U.N.C.L.E costar Elizabeth Debecki
And “Call Me By Your Name’s” author Andre Aciman comments on their chemistry.
~"Men Just Won't Do Right" part 1,082. Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid broke up. There's no way to prove that it was Zayn's fault as the pair released their own loving statements, but there's no way Gigi walked away from him.
I mean...
Yes, he's a possible druggie and a flake whose "performance anxiety" has made him nothing more than a studio singer but he's lit-ty.
Other breakups include Anderson Cooper and his longtime boyfriend club owner Benjamin Maisini, Justin Theroux and Jennifer Aniston, Tisha Campbell-Martin and Duane Martin, rapper Big Sean and singer Jheni Aike, Lena Dunham and Jack Antonoff, Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart, and Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan.
But all is not lost on the love front. There are happy couples like:
~Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld) and new girlfriend Kayoko Tamaki.
Since her divorce from Jaime Bell, Rachel got engaged to her bandmate, broke up, had a rumored fling with the hot, hot, HOT Kate Moening, and now paired up with Kayoko. Not that Jamie Bell didn't have his good looking phase
but like most British men he hit a wall at 120mph
But Evan upgrades with women. If she does date another dude, she needs to level it up like she has on the female front. These women are infinitely hotter than any guy she has dated.
~”Unreal”s Nico Tortella married longtime girlfriend Bethany Meyers.
Yes, this is what they wore
What I'm Watching (Kinda Sorta)
I used to say I preferred the Netflix model of binge-watching as I felt it gave me more of an impetus to finish a show because usually I don't return to a show after their winter and summer hiatus. But I've learned that I have the attention span of a gnat with ADD so I watch shows now half-arsed and half-shod.
*DARK: German show aired on Netflix. Although there is a dubbed version I prefer subtitled, so that's the option I went with. I was with it for three episodes and then I realized that it wasn't so much a crime-thriller but sci-fi. Gave up after episode four, used reddit and Wikipedia to find out what happened with the rest of the episodes and then watched the finale.
COMRADE DETECTIVE: This has been out for a while. I went to the premiere last year. Of the cast I saw the two leads and Joseph Gordon-Leavitt. Walking together in the lobby were Nick Kroll and Jason Mastoukas who supplies voices in the series. Kroll was talking so loudly as for people to pay attention to him. Obnoxious.
A spoof on cop shows. Think "Sledgehammer" set in Eastern Europe. Gregor Anghel (played by Florin Piersic Jr., voiced by Channing Tatum) is a play-by-the book detective and hater of capitalism is paired with visiting cop, Iosif Baciu (played by Corneliu Ulici, voiced by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to find the murderer of Gregor's partner. The pair uncovers a sinister plan to bring capitalism to Romania. There are so many moments where I thought, "is this just weird or funny" and truthfully it's a bit of both. The loudest and longest I laughed were at the socialism jokes. It's played in such a straightforward manner.
Channing said that they would release a version Romanian version with English subtitles. I hope they do.
LIVING BIBLICALLY:
Wow, is this show bad. It's just categorically bad. When I attended the CBS Fall Preview night at the Paley center last year I was floored at all of their terrible shows but even more floored that people seemed to like them, especially the appallingly awful "9KJL" a show worse than its titled. Those shows were just preparing me for "Living Biblically" based on journalist AJ Jacobs' book of how he spent a year living according to the Bible.
Starring Jay R. Ferguson (Mad Men) aka the Only Reason Why I'm Watching This, the center focuses on Chip (Ferguson) who decides to live biblically after the death of his best friend and the impending birth of his first child with Leslie (Lindsay Kraft) who is puzzled, yet supportive of her husband's journey.
Helping Chip with religious guidance are priest Father Gene (Ian Gomez) and Rabbi Ableman (David Krumholtz).
This supposed comedy also stars Tony Rock as Vince, Chip's friend and coworker; Sara Gilbert as Cheryl his other sycophantic coworker and Camryn Manheim as their boss Ms. Meadows who tasks Chip with reporting on his journey for their paper.
"The Real O'Neals" wasn't the greatest, but it was better than this, but this gives Jay R. a chance to be a lead. He deserves so much better. He's really adept at comedy. And he's cool. I now see why Leo still rocks with him.
HARD SUN:
Cop drama setting up an apocalyptic event. Just made it to Hulu. Someone leaked the season before it even finished airing on BBC so I watched the finale before the UK officially did. Riveting drama starring Jim Sturgess (ACROSS THE UNIVERSE) and Agynes Deyn (HAIL CAESAR) as Detective Inspectors Charlie Hicks and Elaine Renko who are paired together after the death of Charlie's partner (like "Comrade Detective"!). What Charlie doesn't know is that Elaine is partnered with him by Vice in order to see if he was responsible for his partner's death. But her investigation falls to the waist side when the duo stumble on shadow organization's plot to keep "Hard Sun" - an impending event on an apocalyptic level--a secret. How does each detective deal with this revelation? How will the world?
I loved it. Episodes 4 and 5 featuring Richard Coyle (Coupling) was the best of the season. He was extraordinary. And seeing him again makes me actually excited for the upcoming "Sabrina the Teenage Witch" series. I read the script for the pilot episode and it seems alot of fun if they can actually pull of what they wrote.
"Hard Sun" was a much better use of my time than "McMafia" which ran about the same time. I gave up after three episodes. This drama about the Russian underworld set in London was a bore, much like lead James Norton. I only watch "Grantchester" for Robson Greene!
Quacks:
If "The Knick' were a comedy it would be this. A Victorian series about a group of doctors at a training medical school: there's Robert (Rory Kinnear (Spectre)) the rock star surgeon who thinks he's brilliant when he's an oblivious div; William (Mathew Baynton, "You, Me and the Apocalypse", an earnest psychologist who fights against the archaic notions of the time and who harbors affections for Robert's wife Carolyn (Lydia Leonard), a woman fighting against the social conventions about women and wants to be an equal; the druggie, drunkard dentist John (Tom Basden) and the principal, Dr. Hendricks (Rupert Everett) a doddering doctor past his prime. It's something nice to while away your time. The comedy is a bit hit and miss. They even had an uneven episode featuring my fave Andrew Scott (Sherlock) as the self-involved Charles Dickens.
Hap and Leonard (Sundance TV): The brothers from another mother are back for their 3rd season. Based on a series of books, this season is tackling the 3rd book "Two-Bear Mambo". Childhood friends Hap (James Purefoy) and Leonard (Michael K. Williams) are still finding trouble in their small town. When Leonard is arrested for burning down a neighborhood drug den and Hap arrested for aiding and abetting him; the pair are giving a chance at clemency: find the mistress (with whom Hap has a romantic past) of the sergeant and the charges will go away. Their search leads them to Klan territory.
The magic is in the camaraderie between Williams and Purefoy displaying Hap and Leonard's gruff affection for each other.
Trust:
I bowed out of Ryan Murphy's "American Crime: The Assassination of Versace" after three episodes. I found it too florid, too bombastic and too much filler. The same can fairly be said of Danny Boyle's "Trust" but I find his style and direction is more of a balanced thematic way of telling this story.
Boyle's and his producing partner Simon Beaufoy (Slumdog Millionaire, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day) hope to tell the story of the Getty clan over five seasons with this first season installment focusing on the 1973 abduction of John "Paul" Getty III. Just like 2017's "All the Money in the World" you may say. On the surface, yes. But whereas "All the Money in the World" touched on, but quickly discarded the notion that Paul had a hand in his own abduction, "Trust" (to the anger of Paul's sister) takes the stance that Paul orchastrated his kidnapping but it went awry.
Focusing much on the family dynamics of the heartless, egomaniac John Paul Getty (Donald Sutherland) who dangles the carrot of power in front of his sons, namely John Paul Jr (Michael Esper, The Family) who wants to be a trusted member of his father's business, even going as far as to denigrate his son Paul (Harris Dickens, who was so heartbreaking as a lost, closeted gay teen in last year's "Beach Rats") to keep his father from hiring him.
But Paul isn't the working type: 16-years old and living la bella vita in Italy, he returns to his grandfather's home seeking $6,000 due to having debts in Italy -- debts that puts his girlfriend Martine (Laura Bellini) and friends Jutta (Sarah Bellini) and Primo (Luca Marinelli) in danger.
When he's sent away sans money, Paul concocts a plan to get his grandfather to come off the money : staging his own kidnapping which quickly doesn't go as plan.
Getty entrusts investigator Fletcher Chace (Brendan Fraser) to sort out the hostage situation, as Paul's mother Gail (Hilary Swank) deals with her fear of her son's kidnapping and her new husband, Lang Jeffries (John Schwab) doubts of the veracity of Paul's abduction.
The series isn't a straight forward drama. Non-linear, shifting from present to past, breaking of the fourth wall, characters who may or may not even be real like the Living Statue who sees all in the piazza.
I've always found Donald Sutherland cold and charmless so this role is perfect for him. After seeing "All the Money in the World" I decided the universes' top villains are Hitler, Getty and Darth Vader in that order.
~Of the Getty heirs, while Balthazar was a cheating f*ckboi, at least he was a successful actor who is now working with the family's foundation. His great cousins Natalia (Nat) and her brother Simon are vapid trustfund babies. Simon is a designer who I think got in the biz solely to attend parties and Nat parties and recently got engaged to Youtuber Gigi Gorgeous.
Atlanta (FX):
This AFI, Critics Choice, Golden Globes, NAACP, Peabody, Emmy, PGA and TCA Award winning show is back for S2 (subtitled "Robbin' Season"). Darker than the first season but just as funny, S2 finds Earn (Donald Glover) still trying to make it big as the manager of his rapper cousin Paperboi (Brian Tyree Henry), who is at a crossroads because he's not making money as a Soundcloud rapper, but he's big enough in the community that it's getting in the way of his drug dealing (his dealers taking Instagram photos of him, getting robbed because they think Paperboi has money). Still along for the ride is Paperboi's friend, the eccentric Darius (LaKeith Stanfield).
With roles in "Snowden", "Crown Heights" and "Get Out", Stanfield is a bonafide film actor. He once again plays lead in the upcoming surrealist comedy "Sorry to Bother You", written and directed by musician Boots Riley. Stanfield stars as Cassius "Cash" Green who starts work as a telemarketing. Initially bombing at the job, he's given advice by his coworker Langston (Danny Glover) that in order to succeed Cash has to adopt a "white voice". Using a "white voice" (voiced by David Cross), Cash becomes the best employee at his group, garnering the interest of his boss Steve Lift (Armie Hammer).
The film also stars Tessa Thompson ("Thor Ragnarok") as Cash's activist girlfriend, Omari Hardwick ("Power") as the other top telemarketer at Cassius' job and Steven Yuen as his friend.
It already played at Sundance and SXSW to favorable reviews (and where Armie related how he accidentally became known as the shoot’s drug supplier as he gave Omari Hardwick his weed to hold and Omari, thinking it was a gift, told others that Armie was giving out weed).
And I’m 90% sure that’s not the reason LaKeith love the “Sorry to Bother You” cast so much
Armie follows LaKeith on Instagram and leaves comments (despite LaKeith routinely purging his social media accounts erasing all traces of previous posts),
Armie’s comment to LaKeith’s post of his dancing and lipsyncing to LCD Soundsystem
But Armie is good to commenting on his friend’s posts
Josh Pence fellow Winklevi
Whereas Josh Brolin is the friend who comments on his friend's IG
But Armie has to understand that his inclusion in the Black Delegation can be revoked at any time. I just found out that he's following Jensen Ackles on Instagram! The betrayal!!! Jensen fans tweeted that Jensen and Danneel have been following Armie for some time now but Armie has just now only followed them. I bet when Armie was going to those CW parties for "Reaper" Jensen and Jared wouldn't give him the time of day.
Who knows. Maybe Armie reached out to Jensen earlier to find out how to play up a bromance with a costar since that is Jenny's milieu.