'Human happiness does not seem to be included in the design of creation.'
Woody Allen's 'Crimes and Misdemeanors'
I'm actually a bit disappointed. Not in 'Crimes and Misdemeanors', because it was fine, not my favorite Allen, but a very good movie. I'm disappointed in 'Match Point', the Allen movie I've always liked the most (I do realize that 'Manhattan' was better, it just didn't have Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Now I know that the whole plot with the hysterical other woman getting hastily dispatched when she starts to be too much trouble is just a recycled and expanded storyline from 'Crimes and Misdemeanors'. I shouldn't really be surprised, Allen reuses his own old storylines in practically every movie. It's his thing. Still, I feel a little bit cheated. Which means that it's now 'Manhattan' that's officially my favorite (well, it still doesn't have Jonathan Rhys Meyers - btw, why don't 'The Tudors' start already? - but I guess it deserved it better anyway).
'Crimes and Misdemeanors' is a movie that wins at dialog. Sure, you sometimes get the feeling that the characters are talking for the sake of talking, but, really, when you think about it, isn't it the same in real life? They are certainly much more witty than in real life, but that also means they are much more entertaining than in real life, so that's ok. And that exchange: 'If you play your cards right, you could have my body.' 'Wouldn't you rather leave it to science?' is now one of my favorites ever.
I really think 'The Black Donnellys' is a cool show with great potential. A bit cliched but still very graceful. However, after three episodes, one thing is starting to seriously bother me. Meaning, the misleading plural. I wanna see a show about brothers, not about Tommy Donnelly. Yes, the others are there, but they all are so one-dimensional so far that they fade into background. Give them something to do, Paul Haggis. Diversify a bit. Until then, I reserve my judgment.
'Supernatural' 2x16 - 'Roadkill'
My last review was seven episodes ago. That just plain sucks.
Ok, let's do a quick recap:
- 'Croatoan' was very decent, though not exactly reaching the level of awesomeness I was hoping for after I saw the promo. The cool kept piling up and up and then, well, nothing really happened. Perhaps the budget run out.
- 'Hunted' definitely wasn't how I envisioned Gordon's return but, on the other hand, it brought me The Coolest Supernatural Girl Character Ever aka Ava, so I guess we are even.
- 'Playthings' was very average as far as the plot went, but scored a little bit higher than usual on the Scary-o-meter because dolls are just creepy.
- 'Nightshifter' was all around great and it set the next group of unpleasant people on the boys' shapely asses - that is the feds - the development that I very much approve of (also the development that we haven't heard of since, but 'Supernatural' has never been big on the whole consistency thing).
- 'Houses of the Holy' was all around bad, despite the kickass title, and I'm not going to talk about it.
- 'Born Under A Bad Sign' was, well, underwhelming on the whole, but it featured Evil!Sammy and Evil!Sammy is one hot fucker, so it definitely wasn't a waste. It also potentially set on the boys' shapely asses one more group of unpleasant people - that would be, what? the third one? the fourth one? does Gordon alone counts as a 'group of unpleasant people'? - the hunters this time, though, with SPN's dismal track record, we probably won't hear about any fallout from that for at least five episodes more.
- 'Tall Tales', with its pretty inane plot, was swerving dangerously between hilarious and ridiculous, though, fortunately, it managed to keep to the right side of the road most of the time. Its plus side was the entertaining villain, the minus side being the fact that it gave us yet another proof that the Winchester boys are really kinda bad at their job - and I doubt that was the intended impression.
Now, 'Road Kill'. That was seriously good. They got Tricia Helfer as a guest star and they obviously felt obliged to show off. The story was genuinely engaging and the tension beautifully building up. They strayed off from the usual formula and it definitely payed off. We are plunged right into the action, without taking the regular preliminary steps, we see everything not from the Winchesters' perspective but through the eyes of an outsider and we realize at the very start that we are denied some critical need-to-know information and the atmosphere is getting tighter and tighter until finally there's the 'click' moment and everything is clear again. No, seriously, I'm downright delighted. Very well done, SPN people.
It definitely helped that they had an actress who wouldn't crumble under pressure. Tricia Helfer was positively stunning there, absolutely believable and never off the mark. And it's really fortunate that both Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are freaking giants (ok, Padalecki is a giant, Ackles is just tall) because at least she isn't totally dwarfing them as is to practically everyone on 'Battlestar Galactica'. Apart from Tahmoh Penikett, naturally, because he's a human mountain, too.
The extra-good:
- I just love how Dean is uncharacteristically brusque with Tricia - definitely not the expected Dean behavior when dealing with legitimate supermodel - while Sam is visibly unsettled all the time. And that it all makes perfect sense in the end.
- Tricia freaking out after she sees the Mettalicar trunk with all its shady contents and hastily yet relatively subtly trying to extricate herself from those two weird men with shotguns - her Molly might actually be the most credible character ever written on this show.
- Dean's 'We weren't just cruising for chicks when we ran into you, sister, we were already out there. Hunting,' Tricia's 'Hunting for what?', Sam making fish lip movements, Dean's 'Ghosts' and Sam's 'Do-- D-- Don't-- sugarcoat it for her'. I love the whole conversation.
- Tricia's shaky 'Oh, sure, naturally', when Dean lays out the idea of corpse burning for her.
- Dean putting the gun to the spirit's head and shooting him point blank, when he was still holding Tricia - honestly, how awesome was that?
- Sam's 'We can't leave her [the 15-year-old dried-out corpse] like that' and Dean's half-puzzled, half-whiny 'Why not?' That's what I call flawless delivery.
- 'You're like a walking encyclopedia of weirdness'. And ain't that the truth?
Ok, one small complaint - they really could have eased up on the clunky 'the boys read local newspapers and ask around' exposition part of the story. After half an hour of 'show, not tell' I really hoped we were given a reprieve for at least one episode, but alas, they only moved it to the end. Granted, it was fast-forwarded - I guess that counts for something - but it could have very well been skipped altogether. Oh, well, I suppose you just can't have everything.
Altogether, great job there, 'Supernatural'. Keep it up.
.
I'm actually a bit disappointed. Not in 'Crimes and Misdemeanors', because it was fine, not my favorite Allen, but a very good movie. I'm disappointed in 'Match Point', the Allen movie I've always liked the most (I do realize that 'Manhattan' was better, it just didn't have Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Now I know that the whole plot with the hysterical other woman getting hastily dispatched when she starts to be too much trouble is just a recycled and expanded storyline from 'Crimes and Misdemeanors'. I shouldn't really be surprised, Allen reuses his own old storylines in practically every movie. It's his thing. Still, I feel a little bit cheated. Which means that it's now 'Manhattan' that's officially my favorite (well, it still doesn't have Jonathan Rhys Meyers - btw, why don't 'The Tudors' start already? - but I guess it deserved it better anyway).
'Crimes and Misdemeanors' is a movie that wins at dialog. Sure, you sometimes get the feeling that the characters are talking for the sake of talking, but, really, when you think about it, isn't it the same in real life? They are certainly much more witty than in real life, but that also means they are much more entertaining than in real life, so that's ok. And that exchange: 'If you play your cards right, you could have my body.' 'Wouldn't you rather leave it to science?' is now one of my favorites ever.
I really think 'The Black Donnellys' is a cool show with great potential. A bit cliched but still very graceful. However, after three episodes, one thing is starting to seriously bother me. Meaning, the misleading plural. I wanna see a show about brothers, not about Tommy Donnelly. Yes, the others are there, but they all are so one-dimensional so far that they fade into background. Give them something to do, Paul Haggis. Diversify a bit. Until then, I reserve my judgment.
'Supernatural' 2x16 - 'Roadkill'
My last review was seven episodes ago. That just plain sucks.
Ok, let's do a quick recap:
- 'Croatoan' was very decent, though not exactly reaching the level of awesomeness I was hoping for after I saw the promo. The cool kept piling up and up and then, well, nothing really happened. Perhaps the budget run out.
- 'Hunted' definitely wasn't how I envisioned Gordon's return but, on the other hand, it brought me The Coolest Supernatural Girl Character Ever aka Ava, so I guess we are even.
- 'Playthings' was very average as far as the plot went, but scored a little bit higher than usual on the Scary-o-meter because dolls are just creepy.
- 'Nightshifter' was all around great and it set the next group of unpleasant people on the boys' shapely asses - that is the feds - the development that I very much approve of (also the development that we haven't heard of since, but 'Supernatural' has never been big on the whole consistency thing).
- 'Houses of the Holy' was all around bad, despite the kickass title, and I'm not going to talk about it.
- 'Born Under A Bad Sign' was, well, underwhelming on the whole, but it featured Evil!Sammy and Evil!Sammy is one hot fucker, so it definitely wasn't a waste. It also potentially set on the boys' shapely asses one more group of unpleasant people - that would be, what? the third one? the fourth one? does Gordon alone counts as a 'group of unpleasant people'? - the hunters this time, though, with SPN's dismal track record, we probably won't hear about any fallout from that for at least five episodes more.
- 'Tall Tales', with its pretty inane plot, was swerving dangerously between hilarious and ridiculous, though, fortunately, it managed to keep to the right side of the road most of the time. Its plus side was the entertaining villain, the minus side being the fact that it gave us yet another proof that the Winchester boys are really kinda bad at their job - and I doubt that was the intended impression.
Now, 'Road Kill'. That was seriously good. They got Tricia Helfer as a guest star and they obviously felt obliged to show off. The story was genuinely engaging and the tension beautifully building up. They strayed off from the usual formula and it definitely payed off. We are plunged right into the action, without taking the regular preliminary steps, we see everything not from the Winchesters' perspective but through the eyes of an outsider and we realize at the very start that we are denied some critical need-to-know information and the atmosphere is getting tighter and tighter until finally there's the 'click' moment and everything is clear again. No, seriously, I'm downright delighted. Very well done, SPN people.
It definitely helped that they had an actress who wouldn't crumble under pressure. Tricia Helfer was positively stunning there, absolutely believable and never off the mark. And it's really fortunate that both Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are freaking giants (ok, Padalecki is a giant, Ackles is just tall) because at least she isn't totally dwarfing them as is to practically everyone on 'Battlestar Galactica'. Apart from Tahmoh Penikett, naturally, because he's a human mountain, too.
The extra-good:
- I just love how Dean is uncharacteristically brusque with Tricia - definitely not the expected Dean behavior when dealing with legitimate supermodel - while Sam is visibly unsettled all the time. And that it all makes perfect sense in the end.
- Tricia freaking out after she sees the Mettalicar trunk with all its shady contents and hastily yet relatively subtly trying to extricate herself from those two weird men with shotguns - her Molly might actually be the most credible character ever written on this show.
- Dean's 'We weren't just cruising for chicks when we ran into you, sister, we were already out there. Hunting,' Tricia's 'Hunting for what?', Sam making fish lip movements, Dean's 'Ghosts' and Sam's 'Do-- D-- Don't-- sugarcoat it for her'. I love the whole conversation.
- Tricia's shaky 'Oh, sure, naturally', when Dean lays out the idea of corpse burning for her.
- Dean putting the gun to the spirit's head and shooting him point blank, when he was still holding Tricia - honestly, how awesome was that?
- Sam's 'We can't leave her [the 15-year-old dried-out corpse] like that' and Dean's half-puzzled, half-whiny 'Why not?' That's what I call flawless delivery.
- 'You're like a walking encyclopedia of weirdness'. And ain't that the truth?
Ok, one small complaint - they really could have eased up on the clunky 'the boys read local newspapers and ask around' exposition part of the story. After half an hour of 'show, not tell' I really hoped we were given a reprieve for at least one episode, but alas, they only moved it to the end. Granted, it was fast-forwarded - I guess that counts for something - but it could have very well been skipped altogether. Oh, well, I suppose you just can't have everything.
Altogether, great job there, 'Supernatural'. Keep it up.
.