Other Men's Women

"Other Men's Women" is a great example of old fashioned melodrama.  Released in 1931 it is the story of two guys, one girl, and a train.  Of course from the title you know that the happy go lucky single guy is going to make time with his best friend's wife.  They actually discover that they love each other and he wants to do the right thing and tell his best friend.  Probably not the best idea.  When it all comes out it ends up with a fist fight on a train.  Train crashes.  Our hero (?) takes the blame for it, not that it matters though because he friend was struck blind by the crash.  Stricken with guilt he takes on a suicide train run over a bridge that is likely to collapse.  Her the the film just gets into a crazed overdrive as his blind friend wanders through the train yard, finds the train, and throws his friend off the train.  In the end his blind friend is riding on the doom train with an odd smile knowing that in time his wife and friend will get over their guilt and marry. 

It's pretty crazy film as you can see.  It also has a host of small details which for some reason just tickled me.  Like our hero would always offer a stick of gum to everyone (no I mean it everyone) and say, "Have a chew on me."  The details of working the trains was also interesting, like how he'd get off the moving  train at the train yard go to the diner and eat while counting the cars passing so he'll know when he'll have to run and hop on.  Definitely this is an interesting old film and worth a look.

Take Shelter

This is a wonderful low key film.  Michael Shannon is Curtis who's just an average Joe.  He works hard and loves his family.  Mostly things are good, he has trouble dealing with his young daughter's disability of being deaf but he tries.  Really, that's the heart of his character he loves his family and he tries his best.  Things become complicated though when he starts having visions of something like an apocalyptic storm coming.  He begins cleaning out the old storm shelter on his property.  The trouble is, he knows that his mother suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.  These visions could be the symptoms of his own mental troubles, or they are real.  How can you tell for sure?  Are you willing to bet your family?  These are the questions that torture him.

This film, written and directed by Jeff Nichols, is an intense but quiet film.  It has the feeling of one of those dreams you get just before you wake where everything is sort of woven together but sort of still like things were frozen for a brief moment.  The music is wonderfully evocative and the acting is good and direct.  Certainly one of the better films I have seen.

Breaking Bad the Season's End

Well, I was blown away. So was Gus Fring, but we knew that was going to happen. The entire season was leading up to a final showdown between Gus and Walter. Worse, it was leading up to Walk becoming the new Gus. While he hasn't taken up the drug business (yet), how many innocents did Walt risk for his shot at Gus? How about everyone in an old folks' home? Or his next door neighbor, or worse Jesse's surrogate son Brock.

"I won." Walt said. But what did he lose?

There was incredible scenes in this episode with fantastic acting. What was even more amazing is there was a lot of comedy (if a dark sort) among all the serious going on. I laughed when Walt was slow on the uptake to a shake down by Saul's secretary. For all his genius, he's still sometimes such a nerd. "No reputable company would charge twenty thousand dollars to replace a glass door."  Yeah, Walt, let it sink in.  Oh there it goes.  Love the look on his face.

Some grousers complained about how could Walt manage to poison Brock.  That doesn't worry me.  If there's one thing we know about Walt is he is smart when it comes to chemistry.  He could have sneaked the concentrated Lilly of the valley poison in a thousand ways.  Heck, with a little DMSO the kid wouldn't have to ingest it at all.  Merely touching would be enough.  The POINT is, Walt went over the final line.  He poisoned a child.  Oh sure, I'm sure Walt was thinking it was only a sub lethal dose or what ever, but he took that chance that he could have been wrong.  He took the closest thing his "best friend" had a son and risked killing him all to simply manipulate Jesse.

In the Bible, Lilly of the Valley is considered a symbol of the second coming.  Along with the second coming is judgement day.  I hope Walt is ready next season cause I see a dark judgement coming down for all his sins, and woe if Jesse ever finds out what Walt did.

Last Night's Breaking Bad

This season has done a good job in alienating the audience from Walter White. Basically, he's been running around being an insane, selfish, jerk hole for so long now that most audience members have transferred their loyalty to either Jesse or even Walt's wife Skyler (whom was once the most hated character in the series). That started to change last episode where a vulnerable Walt confessed an apology to his son. This week, Walt broke my heart I finished the show feeling just emotionally roughed up.

But I am ahead of myself.

Most of the show was following up on the running plot points of late. It was good but not outstanding up that point. Skyler was still trying to get Ted to pay off the IRS, but now he has a sudden case of the conscience. Skyler's solution was definitely out of the ordinary but promises to be final. Hank is getting closer to the truth about the Chicken man Gus, so close that Walt had to have create a car accident to slow him down. Worse though, Jesse has nearly totally turned to the Gus side and has agreed to be the new cook for the meth. His only sticking point is that Gus would not kill Walter. This bemused Gus mightily, but he agrees.

So.....

Ten minutes to the end of the show, Walt is in the desert. Tied up like a turkey. Gus tells him how it is, Walt is out. Walt is not to bother Jesse ever again, and if Walt was smart he would practice being invisible. Walt for a smart guy is not smart. He crows that the only reason he's still alive is despite everything Jesse won't give him up. Gus just smiles and says "for now." Gus is a man who waited twenty years to revenge on the cartel.  Gus knows it is just a matter of time.  But that doesn't mean Gus can't have fun now, Walt has been the burning thorn in his side for two seasons now.  It's time for some payback.  Gus tells Walt that Gus is going to kill Hank, and if Walt does ANYTHING to interfere then Walt's wife, his son, and infant daughter will die. 

They leave Walt in the desert.

What can Walt do?  He can't let them kill Hank, but he has to protect his family.  He goes to his lawyer and asks for the number of the man who can get them new identities.  Saul gives the number but tells him they will need at least a half a million dollars.  Walt's all, "No problems," and asks Saul to call and tip off the DEA that there's a hit on Hank.  So now Walt's in the crawl space. 

There is not enough money.

He looks up through the hole and there's his wife.  He asks where the money is.  He's hoping she has it, maybe at the car wash getting it nice and clean.  But Skyler tells the truth that she gave it to Ted.  Right then, right there, Walt finally broke and broke bad.  He knows in his heart he has just killed his family and his tears become an insane laughing fit.  Everything that he has done, he has done with them as a reason and now it is over.  Skyler leaves him laughing under the house.

OMG! OMG! BREAKING BAD YOU SO BAD!

A show like "Breaking Bad," must be hell to write for just because there is the pressure to top yourself. Last week Gus, the chicken man and kingpin of drugs, walked calmly (terminator style as Jesse said) into a sniper's fire. That's pretty bad ass, so how do you top that? Well how about taking out an entire vila of mexican gangsters with a bottle of tequila? If Gus gets any more bad ass he's going to end up telling the President of the United States to "Kneel before me," ala Zod in Superman II.

Meanwhile, Walter is falling apart. His son finds him a mess of wounds, alcohol and pain killers. Walter is barely conscious and doesn't even know he referred to his son as "Jesse." Next day, he shares with his son a sad memory about his own father that explains a lot of Walter's actions. One wonders if this is one of the quieter turning points of the series. It seems that Walt is coming back to idea that he's a father, can he life with that responsibility?

His wife Skyler, is finding out there's no easy way out. Last week she saved her ex boss, ex lover, and ex partner in crime from an IRS criminal investigation. Now though her attempt to finish things off go very badly. Just giving Ted the money, ala her lawyer and mythical dead aunt, didn't quite work. He bought a car instead. Her little trip to give a little pointed advice worked as well as you might think. So in frustration she lets the cat out of the bag that the money came from her. Now what do you think a scum like Ted is going to do with THAT information?

This show might have gotten something of an Emmy snub this year, but it is one of the best hours of drama ever and it's hard to believe this season is going to wrap up in a couple of more episodes. I know I'll be at the edge of my seat!

Last Night On Breaking Bad

Well some folks dodged bullets and some didn't. Gus dodged a bullet in the here and now and in the past. Our favorite chicken man/sociopathic killer was called into the police and asked a few pointed questions. Generally, he managed to graciously prove to the DEA he was just a humble provider of chicken related food stuffs. Hank, of course, is having none of it and gets a crazed Walter to put a GPS device on Gus' car. Walt has kittens and possibly a cougar and tries to tell Gus he didn't do it, really he didn't. Gus just tells him coldly to go ahead and do it, oh and what's your order?

In a flashback we see that things weren't always so easy for Gus. There he was a struggling to get the attention of the Cartel. Giving away free samples of his pure meth put together by his partner. It's clear they are really close so it's sad when the Cartel kills Gus' partner. They say the reason Gus is still alive has to do with his mysterious Chiliean origins. Be that what it may, it set the gears in motion to Gus' actions today.

Does Gus keep Jesse and Walt around because he sees his own past in them?  Or is he as we always thought just a sociopathic user of people?  We don't know yet, but the added depth to his character is very welcome indeed.

Last Night on Breaking Bad

It's tough to be the bad ass. Specially if you want to be a cinematic badass. Reality tends to be uncooperative. Let's look at a classic bad ass scene....



Classic scene. Walking away from explosions as if they weren't happening. The only way it would be more of a cliche would be if it was filmed in slow motion. Well, in last night's Breaking Bad Walter tries to do it himself but it doesn't quite work. Firstly, it's not really bad ass to do something cause you are having a snit fit. Last episode he bought a Charger for his son as a bribe. Skyler, his wife, had a tizzy, two hissy fits, and several cows over it cause it bucked against their cover story. So this episode she has already arranged to have Walter return the car. Her gloaming over the detail just added another perceived level of humiliation to the whole affair so in the end Walter just says screw it. He does some wild driving in a parking lot then stuffs the title in the gas tank and sets it on fire as he walks slowly away.

No explosion though.

In the end, Walter has to call a taxi. THEN the car finally catches on fire, and to be fair Walter looked pretty bad ass. It only cost him something like over 50 grand that his lawyer used to pay off cops before it even got all in the system. So in the end, it was a funny scene but where did it leave Walter? He was poorer. If Skyler ever found out it's going to be hell. Ultimately, it was a useless gesture and that's been Walter's problem lately. No matter what he does, it seems useless. He's in Gus' power and he knows he will be killed sooner or later.

Unless...

He works on the new, improved Jesse to join in a plan to get Gus. Jesse agrees but his heart isn't in it. He missed at least one chance to poison Gus. Jesse is still working through his murder of Gale. Also, the whole new respect given to him by Mike and Gus are messing with him. He's told that his virtue is Loyalty... he just has to figure to whom.

Gus ultimately was the one in the wringer this episode. He can't be totally unsuspicious of Walt or Jesse. At the same time his meeting with the cartel didn't go as plan as they basically sent the ultimatium "Yes or no." The greatest danger though is from Hank who's back in full force. It was amazing to hear his detective work and certainly earned my respect as a character. Gus is a tricky character, but can he dodge three bullets at once? Or is it four? Is Mike as loyal as he seems?

I can't wait to watch the rest of this season!

Last Night's Breaking Bad

Whoooooooo

That was a close one. They didn't shoot Jesse which was a relief. What we got was another step in Gus's new hobby of "Let's drive Walter completely nuckfuts." Walter is running around trying to say Jesse's life and Gus is playing invisible man. The impotent isolation of the whole situation is just the thing that turns uptight Walter into a frothing nerve ball. Well, at least he got to show he wasn't totally impotent as he and his wife Skyler had some good make up sex.

But what about Jesse? Well Mike the cleaner took him for a drive, but not to leave him in a ditch but to be with him as he picked up money from dead drops. Jesse is bored to tears and it turns out that it is Mike's turn to suffer this episode. A bored Jesse is a dangerous, disturbed thing that won't shut up and won't stop smoking. It's like what if a volcano became the Joker. Finally, Mike just has to stop the car and flat out tell him "You ain't the Guy. I had a Guy, but now I don't, and you ain't him."

But the laugh is on him, because Jesse does thwart a robbery near the end with just his driving skills. Wait, though, it was all a set up by Gus. It works though, suddenly Jesse is filled again with life thinking he's the big hero. So, it becomes another dagger to Walter when he comes to work the next day and see the new Jesse Bad Ass. He is smart enough to know that Gus is playing Jesse like a fiddle. Feeling helpless and small he has dinner with Hank and Marie. Probably not a good idea, Walt has enough wine to float his abused ego high so when Hank starts praising the deceased Gale he gives Hank a bit of the truth. Pretending to use his eye as a teacher he tells Hank that the notebook is like that of a clever student. Not the wiley Hisenberg whom Hank had thought dead. Now Hank is on the trial again.

That can't be good.

Breaking Bad: The Betty and WIlma Show

Some folks have been complaining that this season is a bit slow. Boo hoo, it's about building up characters folks. Setting up the dominos so when they do fall it is oh so delicious. Just remember this is a show ABOUT tweakers, and the viewer shouldn't be a tweaker. Just relax.

That said, this week's episode is mostly about the ladies. Skyler and her sister Marie. It's amazing to see how their reactions to events parallel each other. Basically, when these sisters are pushed they shove back HARD. It's a shame they are wrapped up in their own secrets or else they'd be a horrible team. Like a total Wilma and Betty Rubble tag team times ten.

Marie is having the worst of it. Her husband is being a dick, and since he's being a dick because he's hurting and incapacitated Marie doesn't really feel she can confront him. So instead she goes to real estate open houses. There she spins elaborate fantasies about home schooled kids and husbands in NASA. Oh, and she steals nick nacks. When she's finally caught she goes completely on the offensive, threatening to arrest the real estate agent.

Skyler does more on her end but its still grounded in a grudge. After being blown off by owner of the car wash she wanted to buy, she basically vows to get it by hook or by crook. She easily wraps ol' Walt around her finger and even gets crooked lawyer Saul on board. Soon enough, car wash owner is being investigated by a "public health inspector," and told it will costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to make his business in compliance. Soon enough he's selling it to Skylar for nearly eighty thousand less than the original offer.

Meanwhile Walt and Jesse are stil dealing with not dealing with their situations. Jesse is again flirting with trying to be evil, so much that he throws money at his skaggy friends to cause them to fight. Walt just gets more sullen as he realizes they are being watched. Finally, ol' Hank is given dead Gale's lab notes. This could be the start of the real can of worms.

Breaking Bad

Nothing really happens this episode and that's a good thing.  After all the intensity of season opener there's a need for everyone to breath for a moment.  To learn how to cope with some pretty horrible thing.  Jesse copes by complete utter denial.  He goes back to drugs and thuggery and has a week long party.  Pausing only to work and to send some guilt money to the rehab girl he had tried to enlist as a drug seller.

Our man Walt is coping by being trying to figure out how to kill Gus.  His denial is that it is self defense.  Walt, self defense is not marching over to the man's house with a concealed gun.  Specially when it was made clear to him that Gus wants nothing more to do with him except his ability to cook drugs.  Still, Walt can't take this.  As Mike said, "Learn to take 'yes' for an answer."

Poor Hank, he's trying.  He's working hard in rehab.  But he hates feeling weak and his wife is taking the brunt of Hank's self hate.  It's getting pretty heated there.  It doesn't help that Hank has gotten a weird need to collect minerals.  Maybe the idea that rocks don't change appeals to him.  Whatever, when your husband seems to care more about a rock than you, it's a low tide mark in the old relationship.  Specially, when you are also at the time in charge bed pan cleanings.

In Her Skin

"In Her Skin" is a dark, dark film. A pretty young girl goes missing and the family tries to find her despite the indifference of the police. Meanwhile, a very troubled young lady holds the needed pieces to solve the mystery. This is a dark, well acted tale.

The Company Men

I don't do "real life" films as much as I should. Films about "Real life, and real people," are often as not to me a code for "Real boring." "The Company Men," I found against my expectations to be a very good drama.

Ben Affleck is a one of the company men. An upper management type he thinks he has his career fully planned and outlined. But his company in a big to manipulate their stocks cut out the division he's in. Suddenly he's out of work and very unready to be in today's job market. He falls into a depressed, smoldering anger that threatens his relationship with his wife and family. Meanwhile, others are affected by the division loss and even the management that stays are filled with questions about it.

Besides Ben Affleck who gives a great performance, I enjoyed (as always) Tommy Lee Jones as Ben's old boss. He tries to be the moral conscience of an amoral company. My favorite scene is when some stooge goes on about how everything they are doing is legal. Tommy just fixes him with a stare and says, "Legal? I thought we had higher standards."

Ah if only that was true.

A Somewhat Gentleman

This is a post crime drama from Norway. Our man is just getting out of prison. You can see he's not really digging the idea of freedom, but what is someone going to do right? Once out, he meets his old boss and he gets a job and a room. It seems though like a prison without bars. He tries to connect with his son, and he tries to be a good man, but the pressure is for him to go back to crime. Even when he is being good he finds himself having to be violent like when he sees a girl he likes being beaten by her ex husband. What is an ex convict to do?

It's not a fast pace film, and that's good. It's thoughtful, and quiet, and lets the pressure build slowly. A bit of warning in that it has some of the ugliest sex on screen. Like having sex with "moma" from "Throw Moma from the Train." ugly. Other than that, it's a nifty little film about a man seemingly trapped.

How I Ended the Summer

This is an interesting Russian drama set in a remote weather station in artic waters. There are two guys manning it, an old salt and a young intern. The old salt is very intimidating, and is always dressing the young guy down for not doing things right. There's definite tension between the two. One day when the old salt is away a message comes through that his wife and child are in the hospital and they are sending a ship in a few days to pick them up. The young gun decides not to tell the guy because he doesn't want him to go crazy before the ship comes. This is, of course, a horrible idea and things slowly go completely wrong.

It's a good film. I was interested watching it. Just seeing how they deal or not deal with the isolation was interesting.

Depression Theater 1: The Illusionist

I don't watch films to feel sad.  I want to be energized, pumped up.  I want to leave the theater going "Hell Yeah!"  But, hey we are all adults here, and we all know we need a balance diet even in the arts.  So sometimes it is good to slow things down a little, and get a bit more emotional.

"The Illusionist" is the story of a struggling magician.  It's not that he's a bad magician.  He can pull off his tricks with a smooth grace of an artist.  The trouble is that the world has moved on.  Now even Scotsmen in kilts are rocking and rolling, and the illusionist just looks old fashioned.  Now his only real fan is a young lady who attaches herself to him and the illusionist now seeks to please her.  They, and an ill tempered bunny, form sort of a family, but such things cannot last.

It's a beautifully animated film.  Done nearly without dialogue it is incredible how much the animators were able to convey with body language.  Truly if these were living breathing actors they would be up for oscars in an instant.  I don't know if I would see this film again, but I am glad I saw it.  But we disagree on this....

There are magicians....

I hate you critics

I should know better than to trust critics, after all I'm one. But I read reviews with words like "heart warming" and "funny," so I rented "I Love You Phillip Morris." With some expectations of something like a gay "Shawshank Redemption."

First off, the story (based on real life events) is far from heartwarming. A guy who was "happily" married dumps his wife in a nanosecond after a car accident and goes off to Miami to live high of the gay hog. He finds he can't afford it, so he becomes a con artist. He gets caught, he gets thrown in jail, he finds his true love. He gets out, he keeps conning. He gets put back in jail. He escapes jail four times and stocks his love who at that time didn't want a thing to do with him. He then fakes his own death by aids and they sort of get back together.

What's the problem with this story? Nothing actually it's pretty interesting, specially since a lot of it happened in reality. The only trouble is if you were expecting something "heart warming." This ass hurt EVERYONE who ever cared for him, and even after realizing it just continued to keep hurting. The only life lesson here is STAY AWAY FROM HIM!!!

The other problem is that Jim Carrey didn't convince as a con man. His timing was off except to make things very uncomfortable, which of course is the exact opposite of what a con man should be doing.

Basically, this just wasn't a fun experience for me. And with a box office of all of two million, I doubt that I was the only one.



PS. The Trailer lies too

The Fighter

This is a film about heart, about the hearts of people who aren't suppose to show their hearts.  It says its based on a true story but as always I don't know how based that is so I'll leave that aside.  It's the story of two brothers.  The older brother is a fallen hero, the younger wants to be the next champ.  The mother is the manager of the younger brother but is still clearly thinks the older brother is the special one.  The father is passive.  The sisters are a harpy squad.  Mix in the older brother falling into crack addiction and this is not a good recipe for success.



Our hero, the younger brother, must step away from this poisonous situation and does thanks to his love of a feisty waitress.  But he also must then learn to reembrace the same family he had to leave because it is a deep part of who he is.  If he can manage these two warring factions maybe he really can become the champ.

Love the film, great acting.  Oscar worthy acting that is really oscar worthy.  Christian Bale is able to once again channel his inner asshole to play the older brother.  Mark Wahlberg is just very tough vulnerable as the younger brother.  There's nothing not to like about this film.  It's a realistic "Rocky" that doesn't lose sight that there's a reason we root for the underdog.

Pillars of the Earth

The Anarchy is well named period of English history. With various claims to the throne and armies roaming the like wolves, the average person in England was lucky just to be spat upon and treated like a bit of bum wipe. It is in this era that the mini series and novel "The Pillars of the Earth," is set.

It's a sprawling story, but it finds it center in the building of a cathedral. Tom Builder and his family align with church to build something new and revolutionary. Of course, not everyone wants that, so they have to fight for every stone and worker. On a larger scale, there is much fighting for the throne. One of the players being an evil church member played by Ian MacShane. Another is a lady who has such an ugly birth mark I keep wanting her to wipe her face.

This is a compelling series and is beautifully shot. There's one episode where the dawn is a very important plot point and it is shot just is such an awesome beautiful way that it is easy to see it as a miracle of God. Never boring and always well acted it is certainly worth a look at.

Hope and Glory

A really good visual representation of life during wartime.  It is based on the memories of the director, John Boorman.  I think it's his best work. It's episodic at times, but that's the nature of the beast.  It's the story of young Billy and his family.  Dad's off to war.  Big sister is playing with soldiers.  Mom is trying to keep everyone together.  Billy himself, goes a little feral as his world gets bombed away.  Soon the burnt out shells of houses are his and his gang's playground.  It's a tale of growing up fast, but learning what's important. 

Backyard

Backyard is a harrowing piece of film based roughly on the real life disappearance and murders of women just over the border in Mexico.  The sheer number is staggering and stuns the imagination.  What is even more stunning is the society of corruption that allows it to continue.  I think this is an important film to watch, but please watch the spanish version and not the subbed version.  Otherwise the poor voice work will grate and tear you away from an otherwise gripping tale!