Category Archives: Film & TV
The Greatest of the Great Gatsby
In honor of the new movie, I’m posting here my favorite quotes from this, my favorite of all American novels. If you have other nominations, post them in the comments.
I was rather literary in college—one year I wrote a series of very solemn and obvious editorials
for the ‘Yale News’—and now I was going to bring back all such things into my life and become again that most limited of all specialists, the ‘well-rounded man.’
The Voice Just Keeps Getting Better
It’s no secret I liked this show before, but the new season has me thinking Xtina and Cee-lo who? Usher and Shakira are better in every way and this show just keeps getting funnier and somehow manages to find even better talent every season. Read the rest of this entry
Justified Season 4, The Americans
Season 4 of this great series is under way and I have just started watching it. I have my own thoughts about it so far, but since I am behind in my viewing, I thought I’d start a thread where others could share their thoughts. No spoilers please.
Also, is anyone watching the new FX series The Americans? I have been watching it and I’m mostly impressed. For those who don’t know, it’s about a couple of sleeper soviet spies living in the U.S. as an American couple during the 80s Reagan/cold war era, and stars Keri Russell as the conflicted female spy with a horrifying history and kickass fighting abilities. Let me know if you have been watching.
Best of 2012
We traditionally have a post about the best of the past year in music or movies or television (or all three), so I thought I’d get us started on talking about 2012 by giving my list of the top contenders in each category. Read the rest of this entry
The Voice
Watching this show this season has been pretty rewarding. I have enjoyed a lot of the contestants and their performances but there is one that, to me, just stands way above all others.
Anyone else watching this? What are your favorites this season?
Skyfall
The first thing that is immediately obvious about the new Bond movie is that it is not a sequel. I guess maybe this should not be a surprise, given that most Bond movies have always stood on their own, but after Quantum of Solace picked up where Casino Royale left off, you might be excused for believing that story line would continue into this movie as well. But no. The second thing that becomes immediately obvious is that this is a very different Bond from any we have seen before. Read the rest of this entry
Movie Review: Looper
Rian Johnson’s Looper is a multi-layered action-sci-fi-drama that delivers strong performances and a compelling, if somewhat brutal, cinematic experience.
Looper takes place in a dystopian near future. In 2044, poverty and crime are rampant, and control of everything has been taken over by gangsters. Time travel doesn’t exist yet, but it will three decades later, and it will be highly illegal, not well understood, and only used by criminals. Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is so-called “looper,” an very specialized assasin (executioner, really) whose job it is to go to a pre-established location at a given time, and execute hog-tied, gagged and hooded persons that are zapped back from 30-years in the future as soon as they arrive in the present. The looper then disposes of the body and collects his reward, bars of silver that are sent back with the person to be executed. At some point, every looper knows that the crime bosses in the future may decide to “close the loop” by sending the looper’s future self back to be killed. For this special killing, the looper is rewarded in gold bars and released from any further obligations or duties. All of this is revealed in the movie’s first few minutes–much of it through voice-over exposition–so when Joe find himself staring at his future self (Bruce Willis), it’s not at all a surprise, but entirely expected. (If you’ve seen the Looper trailer, you know this is coming, but this is really all premise, not spoiler.) But, when it does happen, something’s gone awry. Old Joe isn’t bound, gagged and hooded as expected, and this gives him just enough time to cold-cock his younger self, escape his fate, and begin pursuit of his own future-changing agenda in the past/present. Mayhem, needless to say, ensues.
Breaking Bad Season 5
The highly anticipated fifth and final Season of this great drama got started several weeks ago, and already there are big changes from the previous fantastic seasons. We have previously discussed this show at length, and I won’t try to link to all those discussions, but suffice it to say that this season is living up to the high standards set by the foregoing episodes. Read the rest of this entry
London 2012 XXX Olympic Games
I know you’re all watching so here’s your chance to comment on the stuff that you care about. Here’s my assessment so far: Read the rest of this entry
The Dark Knight Rises
I saw this movie last night with my daughter and really liked it. Rather than write a traditional review, however, I thought I would just start a discussion on it using the things I liked and didn’t like about it, and some things I was surprised about.
WARNING: POTENTIAL SPOILERS AFTER THE JUMP. IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE, THINK TWICE BEFORE READING FURTHER. Read the rest of this entry
