the moving pictures
Recent media consumption:
- "Seventeen Again". Zac Efron (if you don't know who he is, ask a tween girl) plays a 30-something man, a loser at life, who finds himself magically in his 17-year-old body. He re-enrolls in his old high school and in the process reconnects with his estranged teenage kids and his about-to-be-ex-wife. Maybe it was just my low expectations, but I found Efron to be a surprisingly good actor. And I found the plot to be a good-hearted comedy. What I mean by that is that a lot of comedies are at their hearts, mean. For example, Adam Sandler's "Click" has a similar plot, but the main character is a narcissistic, sex-obsessed a--hole up until the very end when he is forced by a higher power to learn a lesson. In this movie, Efron's character is a bit self-involved, but as soon as he finds out the problems his family's been having, he decides that his purpose is to help them. He's flawed and he makes mistakes, but he's basically a good person.
- "Hope Springs". Romantic comedy about an empty-nester couple during a week of intensive marriage counseling. This type of movie works or doesn't on the strength of the acting, and in this case the leads were great. Meryl Streep plays a repressed people-pleaser very well, and Tommy Lee Jones plays a defensive, grumpy cheapskate with flashes of charm (gosh, I wonder how the casting director ever thought of him). I liked that their issue was more complex than one of them being right or wrong.
- "The Bourne Legacy". Probably the second best Bourne film. Jeremy Renner plays Aaron Cross, a secret agent cut from the same mold as Jason Bourne, and hunted by the same organizations for the same reasons. Rachel Weisz is lovely as always (has she aged a day since "The Mummy"?) as a virology researcher helping him. The science sounds vaguely plausible, which is all you need in a movie like this (no "A, G, T, and P"). The role of Aaron Cross will probably invite comparisons between Jeremy Renner and Matt Damon, which Renner can't win. But he does a fine job in the role. I am a little worried that this is now the second role he's played in which he suffers some loss of mental abilities. It's a tiny niche to get typecast in. :) Some reviewers complained that there wasn't enough action in the movie; I don't know what they were watching.
- Finale of "The Closer" and premiere of its spin-off/successor, "Major Crimes". A satisfying ending to a show we've loved. They managed to pull off some plausible character growth and a career transition that made sense for Kyra Sedgwick's character, plus she made a choice that was, for her, worth ending her LAPD career over. I love Mary McDonnell's character, Captain Raydor, for her attention to details and her compassion for others, so I hope they can sustain the spin-off.
- "Common Law". USA Network's thing seems to be lighthearted escapist fantasy that looks really pretty (high production values, great locations, and of course pretty actors in stylish clothes) -- the TV equivalent of a take-to-the-beach novel. And hey, it works for me, since this is the 4th of their shows that I watch. This one is about two police detectives who have so much trouble getting along that their captain sends them to couples counseling. It's silly fun, and one of the leads (Michael Ealy) is a surprisingly good actor. I guess he's been around a while, but I don't watch "The Good Wife" or "Californication", so I hadn't seen him before.