Movie: Blood Ties (2013) ***

When you get to the bottom of it,  Blood Ties is a movie about brotherhood, regret and redemption. The movie starts out like a out of control fire hose spraying all kinds of plot lines and character stubs all over the place.  The production of the first half created a staccato feeling and didn't give the audience a chance to really get to know the characters or story. Unfortunately, due to poor character development, you don't really get a good sense of why Chris (Clive Owen's character) jumps into the deep end of crime after only a couple of set-backs in trying to succeed in a non-criminal line of work. You also miss out on why Zoe Saldana's character all of a sudden changes her mind about Frank (Billy Crudup's character). Finally, about halfway through the film, what I'm supposed to care about comes through. It felt like the director was swapped out mid-shoot.

 And accents all over the place! Clive Owen can never really tuck that accent between his legs and the French speakers, Marion Cotillard and Matthias Schoenaerts, couldn't cover themselves either.

I'm giving Blood Ties three stars *** because it wasn't bad, especially if you can hang out past the mid point and I wouldn't be opposed to watching it again, but I will probably never seek it out on my own.

I watched this on Amazon Video.

Filler: Week of September 20, 2015

I don't want to review everything I watch because I watch a lot of TV, as you may be able to tell by the name of this blog. But I'll use the filler posts to try to keep an untidy list of some of the unreviewed shows I watch. 

One thing I saw this week that was pretty awesome was the Keep On Cooking Julia Child autotune remix (PBS).

Speaking of keep on cooking, I came across an episode of America's Test Kitchen (PBS) that I haven't seen before: Mahogany Chicken and Asparagus Stir-Fry looked delicious. Hope I can try them some day.

I am continually alluded by the Forsyth Saga (PBS). I finally caught episode 1 a couple weeks ago, and just this week managed to catch the last 10 minutes of episode 3. I wish the series was on Amazon or PBS Video, but everyone is keeping it to themselves and rationing it out on live TV.

I caught a couple episodes of This Old House and Ask This Old House (PBS). They're working on building a house for a severely injured veteran.

The Doctor Blake Mysteries (PBS) had an episode where a Filipino character was accused of killing the guy who beat him on a TV quiz show.

I watched a couple episodes of The Great British Baking Show (PBS), which along with Geneology Roadshow (PBS) are slick and cheesy production reality shows and my guilty somewhat pleasures.

On Nova (PBS) I saw Dawn of Humanity about a new species of humanoid found in a deep, dark, South African cave.

I found myself watching an episode of the Ghost Whisperer on Ion. I was suspended for a few minutes, but honestly, Jennifer Love Hewitt just cannot engage my interest. I don't need to watch that show, again.

Movie: Inside Man (2006) *****

Inside Man starts off as a fantastic bank robbery movie where some reality needs to be suspended. As Spike Lee is wont to do, social and political issues get dropped in all over the place, but there's nothing to be scared of: Lee weaves these issues in with a bank full of interesting characters, funny moments, and good ol' Denzel Washington (Det. Keith Frazier) swagger:

Frazier: “Alright, Big Willie and the twins for you when I get home.”

Sylvia: “Ummm.... I got the handcuffs.”

Frazier: “I got the gun.”

Sylvia: “Bye, Big Daddy.”

What I really like about this movie is the cast, the soundtrack by Terence Blanchard and the impressively unpretentious way the bad guy gets it in the end. Its just a good, entertaining movie that I want to watch over and over. For that I give it five stars ***** 

Check out this Roger Ebert review of Inside Man where he sounds like he watched and critiqued the film after someone stole his lollipop!

IMDB

I own this DVD.

Movie: No Country For Old Men (2007) *****

Holy cow! I can't believe this movie came out in 2007! I remember watching this with friends New Year's Day 2008. Doesn't seem that long ago, but I guess it was. Oh! And it won Best Picture at the Oscars in 2008. That was a fulfilling culmination to a good movie year. Check out these titles!

I watched this movie in it's entirety for the second time tonight and it holds up against time very well. In fact, as with many good movies, upon second viewing, I caught details I missed the first time and can appreciate more of the acting more since I recognize more of the players.

No Country For Old Men is about a sociopathic mercenary set on a mission to kill a man who got himself involved in something way over his head. The sheriff, who is small town, but not in the figurative sense, finds himself on the bloody trail of this mercenary. I'm being rather vague in my description because it's better to go into this movie knowing as little as possible. This is a Coen Brothers movie, so it is off-kilter from your average movie story lines, full of good actors, acting, and interesting dialogue. I am intrigued by how the Coens managed to maintain an atmosphere of calm panic throughout this film. Masterful!

Even if you've never seen this movie, you've probably heard about the character played by Javier Bardem's exceeding creepiness punctuated by a bowl haircut. If you've seen the movie you might remember that his name, Anton Chigurh, is creepy as well. The sheriff, played by Tommy Lee Jones, really reminds of the sheriff in Misery, especially their relationships with their wives. And wouldn't you know, another creep-master, Garret Dillahunt, is in this as well, but playing a somewhat ditzy, but competent deputy. I recently saw him as KD in Hand of God.

I'm giving No Country For Old Men five stars***** because it is a quality movie with great writing, I enjoyed both the first and second viewings, and I'm sure I will watch it again. It's not exactly a favorite, but I think very highly of this movie and it would probably fall on a list of best movies ever if I was writing it.

No Country For Old Men on IMDB

I own this DVD. 

TV: Walt Disney (2015) ***

PBS's American Experience produced another good one, and this one is a two-parter! Walt Disney, the biographical documentary, covers the entire subject of Walt Disney and goes very deep into his life, processes and motivations. Honestly, I didn't think Walt Disney the person would be intriguing enough to warrant a two-part documentary, but I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of captivating information and archival matter.

My favorite facts learned were 1. Walt Disney Company used to be Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. Walt and his brother Roy ran the company together. That's awesome since you always hear about people parting ways because they're "heading in different directions" or something like that. 2. Many of Walt's ideas were often a creative way for him to relive part of his childhood, especially the time spent in the town of Marceline, MO.

I'm giving this three stars *** because I think it was really well produced, entertaining and I would watch it again and again.

TV: The Hand of God (2015) *****

Hand of God, An Amazon Original released in 2015

What started off as a strange, but intriguing pilot, blossomed into a perfect full season. No moment wasted, no superfluous lines, no unnecessary characters: Hand of God is great TV. It was a perfect season, from my point of view and I would watch it over and over, again. 

Synopsis:A very powerful, but selfish, contemptible, bought-with-the-right-price judge comes to believe that he is anointed by God after his son nearly succeeds at committing suicide. But something is showing him that things aren't as simple as they may seem and that he has to do something to right the wrongs. 

Don't read beyond this point if you haven't seen the show yet.

Crystal was almost always wearing black or dark clothes and Tessie was almost always wearing white.  Even Tessie's house was decorated with white, but in the scene when her son/brother decides to leave, she's wearing black pants with a white top, and the dining room was mostly white, but the bottom of the table was black as if illustrating Tessie's underlying dark past/ darkness.

Almost the whole show until the last two episodes, I thought Josh had something to do with PJ's suicide and possibly even Jocelyn's rape. That video was a major plot twist and I was totally off! Well done, writers. Well done.

I'm giving this five stars ***** because I now list this in my favorites and I think Hand of God is an all-around exceptional TV show that, like fine wine grows better and better with each viewing.

wikipedia.org/wiki/HandofGod

Movie: Mr Turner (2014) **

I wanted to watch this movie with last year's batch of Oscar hopefuls and I finally got it through the library. Not impressed. It was rather vanilla.

Timothy Spall plays the great British artist J. M. W. Turner in this biopic that covers the last 26 years of his life. He wasn't the best of people and only maintained two quality relationships, that between him and his father and also a relationship that developed with a landlady he would visit when he was scouting vistas to paint.

The film was beautifully shot, and at times, some of the panning scenes looked as if they were paintings.
Spall was tranformed in the role with an amazing amount of grunting. I watched the movie with captions on and reading the transcription of his grunts was quite entertaining.

I'm giving this two stars ** because I don't ever want to watch it again, and although I thought the cinematography was pretty good, nothing else stood out. 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2473794/