Ugly Betty alum cast in Marc Cherry’s new TV series. Hopefully Devious Maids will resemble the early Desperate Housewives years… and not the unfortunate later seasons… Let us not mention Cherry’s fumbling of a certain other former Betty cast member.
The biggest blockbuster hits of the last decade, if they’d been done in a different era. Click the link for more…
An awe inspiring, beautifully tragic conceptualization.
Directed by: Lars Von Trier
Starring: Kirsten Dunst
About: In the aftermath of a disastrous wedding two sisters contemplate the inevitable destructiveness of Melancholia as a planet hurtles towards Earth.
“Earth is evil, we shouldn’t grieve for it, and no one will miss it when it’s gone.” In Lars Von Trier’s latest film melancholia is an enormous, destructive force, planet-sized and ominous it falls through space on a deceptive yet inevitable collision course. There are several key questions that emerge through this; the acceptance of death being inescapable and impossible to hide from (hiding is suicide, literally), the peace that comes from such acceptance, and the question of the actual practicality of marriage and love (every marriage in the film fails, in all cases with the husband failing to help a wife slipping into mental illness, while love is presented as both crumbling and imperfect, though there is never the promise of forever in a film about the end of the world). All of this is incredibly captivating (along with Dunst’s stellar performance), and then Von Trier goes ahead and completely destroys the Earth, it is an awe inspiring, beautifully tragic conceptualization of the complete sense of hopelessness that melancholia inspires.
★★★★★
The scariest movie you’ll see all year.
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Matt Damon, Kate Winslet and Jude Law
About: A thriller centered on the threat posed by a deadly disease and an international team of doctors contracted by the CDC to deal with the outbreak.
In a nutshell: Grippingly realistic and breathlessly paced Soderbergh’s foray in the disaster movie is a real triumph - and will definitely make you think twice about shaking someone’s hand, or visiting the airport without a face mask. What it has in realism though it lacks in emotional depth and character development. Matt Damon discovering his wife is dead is a particularly cringe worthy attempt at it, otherwise Soderbergh stays clear. There is also something to be said of filling a movie that seeks realism so determinedly with celebrities, a bit of an oxymoron. Despite that the film is a stunner (with a truly fantastic ending) and brings to horrible life those deadly virus articles you read in National Geographic.
★★★★☆
This is of course surrounding the recent Glee episode “The First Time”. Organisations such as the PTC (Parents Television Council) issued a statement before the episode even aired that such content would be damaging to youth audiences. They referred to the much cited study by Rebecca Collins as evidence of television’s dangerous influence, except they forgot to mention the study further stated that shows that depicted safe sex and the emotions surrounding it can actually be incredibly helpful in instigating discussion and safe choices. Glee’s episode falls into such category.
Read the article for a more detailed discussion.
Grey’s Anatomy
It still surprises me how the quality of this show remains remarkably intact eight seasons in (for contrast witness the slow slide into mediocrity that Desperate Housewives has undergone). The characters are so expertly handled, there is a real depth of knowledge here on the writers part, something Shonda Rhimes’ other shows have been sorely missing. I could see this series continuing for several more seasons with no problem.
How I Met Your Mother
I love this show, but it is starting to show its age. Still it’s pretty damn funny and with the promise that season eight will finally end this drawn out saga we can expect some much needed closure.
Modern Family
Some episodes are ringing a little less true than its earlier days (Mitchell worrying about being too feminine for his potential son? Seriously?) the show does remain laugh-out-loud funny and, aside from some missteps, very, very good.
Parks & Recreation
While not quite knocking every episode out of the park like season 3 did, this show is still consistently funny and very sweet.
Community
After a rough start (the UN episode was particularly awful) the show has turned it around delivering some of the best episodes of the series (such as “Remedial Chaos Theory”) while steadily building on character arcs that are sure to pay off very well in the near future.
Desperate Housewives
What can I say, this series will never quite reach the brilliance of its premiere season again but the announcement that come May the housewives will be bowing out their final curtain has injected some much needed energy into these last episodes, that and the wonderfully Desperate storyline of the housewives covering up a murder, bringing the series full circle. So far it’s a step up from the dismal seventh season, but it’s not quite at the levels we’ll be wanting for what should be an iconic and memorable series finale.
Glee
Sometimes I watch the Pilot of this show just to cry… not really, but it seriously had so much fantastic potential at its beginning. Now it seems to be settling into itself with a bit more ease than the frenetic second season (and “Asian F” was very good) but really it’s still a bit of a mess. To enjoy it you just have to let go of any kind of critical assessment, at least continuity is now a factor for the writers (please don’t let me have jinxed that).
Homeland
My favourite new show of the Fall, addictive, unpredictable, and breathlessly fast-paced, if you haven’t already give this series a go.
Up All Night
Honestly I couldn’t make it past episode two, it has probably gotten better but there are just so many shows to watch that some have to get cut. From what I saw it was a bizarre mash of what should be two completely different shows: a zany 30 Rock-style Maya Rudolph vehicle, and a funny-because-it’s-true grounded first-parents sitcom. If you’ve kept watching tell me if you think they’ve been able to reconcile them.
Revenge
A fantastically well-executed prime time soap, yes it’s a bit of a guilty pleasure, but it’s well worth it. (Read my full review)
Gossip Girl
I’d go so far to say this is one of the better seasons of the show so far, for once every character has something interesting to do (even Nate!). The decision to publish Dan’s tell-all novel has seen consequences for all the characters, and for his newly developed relationship with Blair, this is creating scenarios the show hasn’t seen before and it’s very compelling new ground.
I just had to post this, parents tell their children they ate all their Halloween candy
(As seen on Jimmy Kimmel Live)
Lionsgate sets 2013 release date for Dirty Dancing remake. The whole world groans.
We make a lot of shitty movies.
