Yes I am still very behind on these, you should probably get used to that now. In this post I include a great TV show that I've now caught up with, a spaghetti western (right when "Community" had their spaghetti western episode), a Woody Allen film, and brand new superhero movie of cosmic proportions.
Breaking Bad (Vince Gilligan, 2008-2010): [Spoiler-free discussion] I watched the three seasons that have aired so far of this show over the past few months. The 4th season is going to start in July. This show is basically an exciting, tense, morally ambiguous show with some dark comedy. It centers on Walter White, a high school chemistry teacher diagnosed with cancer who decides to get into dealing meth to make money for his family. That story begins a really sensational journey into the world of drug dealing on all levels, street level and cartel level. It also goes deep into manhood, and what it means to be the "man of the family." Those are just the two main things I take away from it, there are many other themes and ideas in the show that others can take away more. Bryan Cranston (played the dad on "Malcolm in the Middle") plays Walter White and his performance almost carries the show sometimes. The places he begins and the places he goes all take a toll on him and his performance shows it. One of the things I loved most about the show right off the bat is how realistic it is with the emotions of its main characters. It's not a spoiler to say that White and his partner, Jesse Pinkman, will be in a situation where they may have to kill someone. If you get into drug dealing, that situation is going to come if you do it right. But this show portrays the effects of those situations on White and Pinkman, two "regular" guys" with such realism (it kind of abandons this in later seasons but it works). Probably the most unique thing about this show for me is how tense it can become. Credit goes to creator Vince Gilligan and his team of directors and writers who come up with some incredibly tense situations and then also execute them to perfection. Tension is so hard to do nowadays because it's not too hard to know who is going to come out on top, but in this show my heart was a physically racing during a couple sequences. The way the plot and character work mix together is also really impressive, it makes you care about the characters and the situations they're in. The first season of the show is really good, but it's not great. It becomes legitimately great towards the latter third of the second season and continues into the third. There are moments sometimes when the plot takes precedent and that's when the show is at its weakest, but usually it balances plot and character to perfection. This is a show that really everyone will like, people who love spectacle and pure entertainment, and those who are more fans of thematic and character material. I can't recommend it highly enough.
Grade: A- (one more season at the same level and it gets an A)
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger (Woody Allen, 2010): Themes of cosmic insignificance, endless unhappiness, and pretentiousness are all classic Woody Allen themes, and they're all evident in his most recent film. The reaction to this film was mixed at best, and I find that a bit unfair. The way many Allen fans grade his work is by comparing it to his previous masterpieces, but I'm not sure that's the right way to go. He releases one film a year and so your expectations can't really be that high. I see Allen's filmography like a television series that has lasted 30+ years in which he releases one feature length episode every year. If Allen did make a television series you would not expect every single episode to be amazing, but you would probably expect the series to be amazing as a whole. If an Allen film adds to the themes of his filmography I think that's the biggest success. This one does that. It does not do that in a flashy way, but it does so in classic Woody Allen way. There are definitely moments and characters that feel fake and contrived, like the characters and relationship of Josh Brolin and Frieda Pinto, whose story lines never really engaged me. But there are aspects of the film that do a great job, especially with Gemma Jones' character who decides to go to a fake psychic to improve her life. The illusion of happiness is a fascinating area to get into, and it's all done with the humor you can expect from his movies. If you like Woody Allen and usually watch his movies you should certainly watch this one.
Grade: B
For a Few Dollars More (Sergio Leone, 1965): I had seen "A Fistful of Dollars," the first in Sergio Leone's spaghetti western trilogy, and while the style of the film was cool and fun, I didn't find the story and the characters to be anything more. This one is better, but not by much. The main character played by Clint Eastwood it cool but that's it. He doesn't exhibit many humanistic traits. The other bounty hunter in the film that rivals Eastwood is much more of an interesting character. I think a "cool" and mysterious character is certainly fine, but eventually that character needs to be something more. The story is simple, two bounty hunters go after a big time bank robber. The film didn't have to be as long as it was, but overall the story did what it should. It was for the most part engaging. The spaghetti western style is definitely what makes the film interesting, if you had this exact same story with the same characters but made in a more traditional western style the film would not have been as well known as it is today. Ennio Morricone's music is as vital as any film score is to a film. The now-famous spaghetti western music plays a large part in determining the atmosphere and also giving the characters that coolness. Stylistically this film is a success, but I really don't think it does much else.
Grade: B-
Thor (Kenneth Branagh, 2011): I was looking forward to this movie quite a bit actually. Maybe not looking forward though, I was probably more curious. Any Thor movie would be way out there, it would be unlike most everything else so it would be hard not to look forward to it in that way. There are some sequences where the movie really delivered on that promise. The scenes that took place in Asgard definitely had an otherworldly feel that I found sometimes silly, but most of the time refreshing (in large part because it doesn't take itself too seriously, but that;s not to say it can't be done seriously by a skilled director). The scenes on Earth didn't work as good, in large part due to the fact that they were so different that I felt like I was watching another movie. It was hard to decide what to look for. The Earth scenes had good humor, but that's mostly it. Thor also probably features one of the worst romance plots of any superhero/comic book movie in recent years, Natalie Portman's character is incredibly underwritten and her role as an astrophysicist is not believable in the slightest. The story is simple, but it works and I think it has a good message comparable to the moral superhero stories in Spiderman and Iron Man. The way this one is done makes it seem more like Spiderman (for kids) than Iron Man (a bit more sophisticated, but still simple). The character arc of Thor is actually a cross between Iron Man and Spiderman a bit, he starts of rich and powerful (like Iron Man) and must learn that from that great power comes great responsibility (like Spiderman). Instead of getting a power and learning he must be responsible, he starts off with that power and has grown with it, and only now is he learning to use it in ways that are good for the universe. It's not a movie I wanted to watch again that bad, but I would love to a sequel that takes place more in realms other than Earth, visually at least, it would be greatly unique.
Grade: B-
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