Filler: Week of October 25, 2015

It's been a while since I've posted in comparison to the amount of screen time I've consumed.
Masterpiece Theatre is pumping out some good stuff. I'm part of the way through Indian Summers and Home Fires, both good so far. And I'm surprised to say it, but The Great British Baking Show has official got its hooks into me. It's my guilty pleasure, kind of, but I don't know why. I don't feel naughty when I watch Martha Stewart Bakes or any other cooking show for that matter. Hmph. Oh well.
I ran a new scan on my TV and picked up a couple of new free digital channels, notably the Heroes Network for crime drama lovers like myself. I've also been enjoying Ion's mini-marathons of Criminal Minds and Blue Bloods.
And wouldn't you know, there's a telenovela about Celia Cruz! I can watch it online with captions! Yay!
Back to the screen...

TV: Ray Donovan Season 3 (2015) ***

Finally finished watching season 3 and what an emotional rollercoaster it was. I'm happy I dragged watching this season out over months because it was intense! I was poking a blame finger and yelling at different characters all over the place!

At the beginning, it seemed as if things were being repaired between Ray and his wife and children, but , don't you worry, that all falls apart not too long into the season. It's a whole series of can't-keep-in-your-pants, second-nature-lying, undercover priests, listening-to-teenage-logic and moving dead bodies around like pieces on a checker board.

I like this show. I like how it has grown increasingly complex and equally interesting. Ray Donavan started off almost a little too milktoast-ish, about a guy who knows how to take care of rich-people problems and his spoiled family. But then the complexities began being sprinkled in, like the relationship with his father, the priest sex abuse and Ray's attracted-to-shiny-objects penis. Things have only gotten more complicated as the show progressed to a season 3.

Looking forward to a season 4.

I give Season 3 a tentative three stars ***. I know I liked it, but I'll see over time if this is something I can enjoy watching over and over, again.  

Movie: A History of Violence (2005) ***

It's been a while since I've watched A History of Violence and I have to say, I have discovered some flaws that I was able to overlook when I first saw it. There are spoilers from here on.

Let me first revisit what I thought and continue to think makes this movie good: The fight scenes are great: Well choreographed to give you a sense of how crazy or well-trained Viggo Mortensen's character, Tom/Joey, was.

Then the scene where Tom finally gives in to Joey is a testament to Mortensen's acting skills. Some people don't see Joey until Tom says “I should've killed you back in Philly,” but, if you pay attention, during the driveway standoff, Tom's innocent-family-man's face changes to a knowing smirk. It's a Bruce-Lee-like transformation, and it is masterfully done. The contrast in those two characters played by the same actor, the movie's screeching-turn transition makes this movie intriguing, although there are some annoying elements.

The little girl is a space cadet. That scene between her mom and Fogarty in the mall? I've been in a similar situation when I was little and I was scared beyond belief that my mom was squaring up against a scary man. Space Girl hops on a nearby kiddie ride completely oblivious of the danger she could potentially face. That was annoying.

Next, the teenage son who blows up after the last straw of being bullied by an alpha-male jock character and finding out his dad is a killing machine. Before that scene he was silly teenager, taking bullying like a pro, hanging out with the questionable girl in school, and being cynical about the world with no real reason. This line came out of no where: “Eventually, we uh, grow up, we get jobs, we have affairs and become alcoholics.” What a nice and perfect life he had lived up until finding out about his dad. That odd line wasn't even an ironic.

Bad writing or poor time management led to the worst scene of the movie: The conversation between Joey and, his brother, Richie in the Philadelphia mansion. They had plenty of time to do some kind of montage or voiceover to recount for the audience who Joey was and the things he had done, but instead they did one of those catch-the-audience-up conversations that usually work best on television shows, but was placed in this otherwise pretty good movie.

A discussion with my BFF turned up another idea: Tom and Edie Stall raised their annoying children in a safe-and-rosy-environment, not preparing them for a bigger world where violence lives and can stop into their diner, home or school at any time. So that's another thing, about this movie: The rude awakening every member of the Stall family gets when Tom's history of violence becomes apparent. Hooray! I got to use the title in my review!

I'm giving this movie 3 stars *** because I like it, and it is one of the movies that I will watch over and over again.

I own this DVD.