DVR Purge 5/25-5/29

Not a lot is new right now and I'd like to get these purges back to being a midweek affair, so all I have that's episodic is Mad Men, and, because I'm too lazy to highlight each episode, I have my thoughts on Arrested Development's fourth season.

Mad Men "The Better Half"
I'm pretty confused with where this season is going. Is it ultimately about Don realizing he can't be happy, because that's what it's starting to feel like. I'm ok with it leading to that but where is that going? I'm starting to get a feeling that no one will be getting a happy ending when this show ends. Or, maybe this is just a dark time. Peggy stabs Abe on her way to a breakup so harsh that she felt like the victim EVEN THOUGH SHE STABBED A GUY. Don has Betty basically explain him in a few sentences. Roger find out that he can't be trusted with any children in his lineage. This is a very dark period for a lot of the characters. How many episodes are left? A handful or so, I think. I'm curious to see how this rounds out. So far, this has not been one of my favorite seasons.

Arrested Development Season 4
If there was ever a show to be binged it would be Arrested Development. Even in its first iteration there was a density to it that marathoning 10 episodes at a time made it easier to appreciate to story arcs and call-backs. Natuarally, this season 4 experiment is perhaps the most complex TV watching experience I've ever had. It is riddled with mysteries and tie-ins. So many, in fact, that it made it very easy to ignore the issues with the season.
Ok. Before I get too deep into this meandering mess of a review, I want to give some context to my thoughts. I really like Arrested Development. It is unquestionably one of the great sitcoms and deserves all the praise it gets. That said, it is not on my Mt. Rushmore. I do not compare other shows against AD. It simply isn't THAT show for me. It's still probably a top 10 comedy for me, but I don't have the same deep love of it that a lot of people do which runs the risk of turning in to impossible nostalgia. I say this because everything I've read the past couple days about season 4 is written by people who hold a torch for the original seasons and it seems unfair to this.
Season 4 is a different beast entirely from the original. There are a lot of restraints on it, particularly in the availability of the cast, so it cannot be the way it was. Sorry. That's how it is. I think that it largely succeeded in what it set out to do. When I originally heard that each episode would focus on a specific character I was very disappointed, convinced that all this would be is a "where are they now" retrospective. That did not excite me much. It turns out that each episode was part of a 15-episode collage, the complexity of which I'm floored by. Each character's story fit them and the focus allowed for some of the biggest laughs of the season (oh, Tobias...). The downside, of course to this singular focus in each episode is that the mileage may vary depending on how much you like each character. If you don't like George Sr., two episodes about him can be a little exhausting. That's the understood give and take of this. Personally, it didn't bother me all that much.
I think the main thing that bothered me while watching this is that it's a 16 episode season. I don't know if the 16th episode is a movie or another season, but I felt absolutely no sense of finality with this, and considering there are no hard plans for a continuation, that leaves me very nervous.
Overall, this was a strong season of a comedy series. Since it is so different in structure from previous AD seasons, I don't want to compare it to that. I laughed a lot while watching this and didn't find myself despising any episode. In my book, that's strong praise. I hope there will be some continuation of the series and whatever form it takes, hopefully they can get more of the cast together at the same time. I understand the limitations but that feels like the missing piece to it all.

The Point of the Purge
Past Purges:
5/1-5/7            5/8-5/14         5/15/-5/18       5/19-5/24         

4/4-4/7             4/8-4/9           4/10-4/16        4/17-4/21         4/22-4/30

3/13-3/15         3/16-3/19        3/20-3/26        3/27-3/31         4/1-4/3

2/22-2/26         2/27                 2/28-3/3           3/4-3/7            3/8-3/12

2/5-2/8             2/9-2/11            2/12-2/18        2/19-2/20          2/21

1/17-1/18         1/19-1/21          1/22-1/23         1/24-1/29         1/30-2/4

12/16               12/17-12/21      ...12/22-1/7      1/8-1/9             1/10-1/16

11/25-11/28     11/29-11/30      12/1-12/5         12/6-12/8          12/9-12/15

10/28-11/3       11/4-11/10        11/11-11/16     11/17-11/20      11/21-11/24

9/22-9/28         9/29-10/4          10/6-10/12       10/13-10/19     10/20-10/27

Movie Reaction: Faster and Even More Furious 6

Formula: Look. It's no fun doing these for sequels. It's like the other Fast & Furious movies, only bigger.

Why I Saw This: I think I've established a clear history of seeing blockbusters and I needed something a little better than the third Hangover to hold me over this week.

Cast: You've got the same motley crew as always with a couple new ones thrown in because someone has to be the villain. Perhaps no actor personifies the franchise he is known for better than Vin Diesel. He doesn't have a deep bag of tricks nor does he need one for this movie. Same goes for Paul Walker. This isn't a challenging movie for acting. That's not a knock. It's what it is. I think I've been grandfathered in to being a fan of Dwayne Johnson considering this is the third movie I've seen with him in as many months. He's a force of nature in this as always. Tyrese Gibson and Ludacris both supply their own form of comedic relief. Michelle Rodriguez makes a welcome return to a role she is perfectly suited for. Luke Evans is your generic European super-villain and plays it well. I've only seen Gina Carano in Haywire before this and I can say two things about her with certainty: 1) It takes about 10 seconds to realize she has an MMA background and 2) she is the toughest "camera-friendly" women in cinema. The rest of the cast, including Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Gal Gadot, and others get some use but they are definitely utility players this time around.

Plot: The movie that immediately comes to mind when I think of this movie is The Matrix Reloaded. Even a few hours removed from it, I can barely remember the plot. The story is there to create a through line for the action sequences which are clearly where all the effort went. And, frankly, if the story is as thin as this one is, it better deliver in the action and it does. For someone who likes to see a movie that let's me shut my mind off and bask in the sensory overload from time to time, I was quite tickled by this. It is big to the point that I don't know what they have left to do in 7.

Elephant in the Room: How is this series still alive? I don't know. It is remarkable. Absolutely no one a decade ago could've predicted that the 6th installment of a franchise anchored by Vin Diesel and Paul Walker would be breaking Memorial Day weekend records with a 9 digit opening weekend at the box office. There's a weird alchemy at work here that can't be explained. I have to tip my hat to the people behind this. It it impressive.

To Sum Things Up: 
If you want to see a movie to be moved emotionally, skip this. If you want 2 hours of fun, you can do a lot worse. This movie is certainly not for everyone. That's for sure. I found it to be a satisfying action movie outside the fantasy sub-genre that dominates the summer landscape. It isn't my favorite movie of the year or even close, but it is nice when a movie knows what it does well and works within those bounds.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

Movie Reaction: The Hangover Part III

Formula: The Hangover - The Hangover Part II

Why I Saw It: I honestly don't know. The second one was such a let down that there was no goodwill left. Curiosity, perhaps.

Cast: I have only seen the previous movies once each, so I could be wrong, but I remember Bradley Cooper's Phil being more of a dick. Cocky, at least. He's a pretty standard good guy this time and not all that entertaining. Ed Helms as Stu is also more bland. He's still the coward of the group, but now it's just whiny. I think part of that is him being worn down by the previous movies, however it doesn't make for good comedy. The movie seems to think that Zach Galifianakis can make something funny by just being there, but he needs some material to work off, which he didn't have. Justin Bartha, again is so underused that he doesn't seem worth mentioning. I'm glad that Ken Jeong has found success playing Chow but has never been a draw for me in the series. More of the same from him this time. Others like Heather Graham, Melissa McCarthy, and John Goodman are also so barely used that I don't have anything to say about them other than "more, please".

Plot: They finally dropped the blacking-out conceit of the first two movies, which I appreciated. This time it is much more straightforward. They are hunting down Chow and find themselves in Mexico, and, of course, Vegas. There's not a great deal more to it than that. They have to reach out to some old friends along the way (and some new ones). There's a couple big sequences in there and a fitting alternative to the pictures they show at the end. Not a lot here though.

Elephant in the Room: Is it funny, at least? No, and that's the odd thing. The first movie was original and funny. The second tried to do the same thing but bigger. This one is determined to be something different. But, what I realized is that these are not naturally funny characters. They can be funny, often as a reaction to the crazy world, but they aren't funny by themselves. There's a basic story to this movie, but not a lot of effort to put jokes in it.

To Sum Things Up:
After the misfire of Part II, this movie had to be better, and it was. For the most successfully comedy movie franchise since Beverly Hills Cop, it's a shame to see that it let's up on the comedy and tries to be a standard caper/action flick. This is one of those movies that I can't imagine anyone loving because it is so far of from the DNA of the one that people went insane for and doesn't add anything to it. In short, this is what you get when you remove the hangover from The Hangover.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

DVR Purge: 5/19-5/24

Oh no! The TV season is over. I really won't be able to do more than once a week for these. I think I'm down to 2 shows for a couple weeks.

Mad Men "The Crash"
It's been a week and I still don't know where I stand about this episode. I will remember it for a long time (Plus). It felt way longer than a single hour (Minus). There were a lot of comedic moments (Plus). A lot of them struck me as forced zaniness (Minus). We got some insight into characters when generally wouldn't get to see (Plus). It was often uncomfortable to watch (Plus and Minus). There was no Joan or Bob Benson (Minus). I think I'm OK saying this is an episode that I initially dislike but grows on me over time. I hope next week is a little less experimental because I desperately need some grounding.

The Middle "The Graduation"
I feel like I say this every week but I don't know when I started liking this show so much. I find myself deeply defensive about it. Despite often not being able to handle Sue's character, I got a thrill out of her finally getting her license. That was earned in every way. Brick's slideshow presentation was entertaining and the gag about whispering gave me a giggle. Everything between Axl and Frankie kind of annoyed me up till she started bawling at the ceremony and when he asked for a picture with her, that was quite touching. I assume there will be plenty of Axl in the future, but this whole graduation arc has been phenomenal as he gets his moments with everyone in the family.

Modern Family "Goodnight Gracie"
Why can't more Modern Family be like this? Claire is funny without being a killjoy. Phil is lovable without being impossibly foolish. Cam got to have a C-story that fits his character without being borderline offensive. Jay had maybe the most predictable story but it was short and only went for as many jokes as it needed. Mitchell and Gloria's story was able to be filled with call-backs ("Shame!") and a lot of riffing and still led to something important. The Dunphy children and Manny all got there moments (even if it was just a trite little tag at the end). Yeah. Overall, this was a solid episode. I wish it could be like this more often.

Nashville "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive"
I am so done with this show. That isn't said in anger. This show has almost always been out of my comfort zone in TV shows. Even for what it aims to do, I don't think it succeeds a lot of the time, but I definitely am harsher on it that someone who likes other primetime soaps like Revenge (I would imagine). Since this will act as my series post-mortem, let's run through it, shall we.
Rayna - I hope she isn't dead. On the off chance she is dead, I hope Mrs. Coach finds another starring vehicle.
Juliette - She cried - a lot. I expect her to continue to dominate the show, which is part of why I can't continue with it.
Scarlett - I'm surprised that that showed restraint in how bright they let her star shine. I'd be intrigued to see a version of the show in which she starts to rival Rayna and Juliette. For now, I honestly don't know what she will tell Gunnar.
Deacon - I hoped him falling off the wagon would be a multi-episode build sort of story, but if there was ever a reason to fall quickly, this is it.
Teddy - Didn't suck for the first time in what feels like months.
Avery - Why couldn't he have been in the car instead of Rayna and Deacon?
Gunnar - Some abrupt season finale course-correcting going on. But, what hasn't been abrupt about the handling of him.
Coleman - he's never going to find something interesting to do, will he?
Maddie - I finally know one of the daughters' names...and wish I didn't.
That's it. I'm nearly done talking about this show for good.

Hannibal "Trou Normand"
This show is the reigning champ of episode titles that I don't understand. I was way too tired to be watching this week's episode. It's good and dark, but quiet. That's my cross to bear though. Will and Hannibal both had some great cat and mouse going on even through Hannibal is the only one who knows they are playing. I must say, I never expected Abigail Hobbs would have so much to do. She's been a nice x-factor to the whole thing.


The Point of the Purge
Past Purges:
5/1-5/7            5/8-5/14         5/15/-5/18       

4/4-4/7             4/8-4/9           4/10-4/16        4/17-4/21         4/22-4/30

3/13-3/15         3/16-3/19        3/20-3/26        3/27-3/31         4/1-4/3

2/22-2/26         2/27                 2/28-3/3           3/4-3/7            3/8-3/12

2/5-2/8             2/9-2/11            2/12-2/18        2/19-2/20          2/21

1/17-1/18         1/19-1/21          1/22-1/23         1/24-1/29         1/30-2/4

12/16               12/17-12/21      ...12/22-1/7      1/8-1/9             1/10-1/16

11/25-11/28     11/29-11/30      12/1-12/5         12/6-12/8          12/9-12/15

10/28-11/3       11/4-11/10        11/11-11/16     11/17-11/20      11/21-11/24

9/22-9/28         9/29-10/4          10/6-10/12       10/13-10/19     10/20-10/27

Movie Reaction: Star Trek Into Darkness

Formula: Star Trek I-XI put in a blender

Why I Saw It: The last one was such a delight and this one looked likely to continue the trend

Cast: Chris Pine is a pretty amazing Kirk in my opinion. He can never be Bill Shatner, and he knows it. He makes the role his own while still feeling true to the captain we all know. Zachary Quinto is doing a fine job making Spock his own as well. Why don't we see more of him in other movies? Speaking of that, remember when Zoe Saldana was everywhere? When can that start back up? And I don't mean Avatar. Now, I haven't done the math, but Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Anton Yelchin don't seem as front and center this time around. I get that it's about managing resources. Still, I like them greatly. Alice Eve is definitely a welcome addition to the cast. I've always enjoyed her. She is surprisingly underused for someone they are introducing, in my opinion. Lastly, there's Benedict Cumberbatch. He makes a great villain. He's one of those people who seems like a natural for it.

Plot: This is where I admit that I haven't seen any of the movies with the original cast in so long that I might as well say I haven't seen them at all. So, I can only speak to how well this works by itself. It was really linear. I assumed a lot of the beats, which is only a negative if you show up expecting more than an action sci-fi piece of summer fun. It is quite effective though. Exciting and fun almost the whole time. Since this reboot is not tied to a specific series like the previous iterations, it is allowed to create something new yet use what is already known to its benefit.

Elephant in the Room: What about Khan? I figure that anyone who cares about knowing who Cumberbatch is already knows and anyone who doesn't care will obviously now care that I mention it now. As I mentioned already, all I remember about The Wrath of Khan is what belongs in pop culture public domain and even still I think that Cumberbatch wasn't able to (or allowed to, I'm not sure which) pull off the epic villain presence that comes with being Khan.I think only future movies will tell whether that's because this was only an introduction or if it was in fact a disappointing use of him.

A WTF Moment: I'm all for scantily clad women and all that in my movies so I can't complain, but I'm still not seeing the point of the scene that has been used in a lot of the previews in which Carol changes in front of Kirk. I assume there is a later hookup there, but that stuck me as pretty shameless. Did I miss some context there?

To Sum Things Up:
This movie lacked the relative element of surprise that made the last one so buzzworthy. Additionally, one of JJ Abrams' greatest strengths is how he builds up the hype to his projects throughout the production. The danger with something like Star Trek, especially when you throw the word "Khan" into the mix is that it becomes nearly impossible to deliver something to match said hype. Personally, I really liked this and found it significantly better than Iron Man 3, for instance, but I think this is one of those sequels that simply isn't able to top its predecessor. Luckily, it doesn't ruin the series either. It's a slight dip, but not one make me think the next one couldn't potentially be the best yet. Geez, I'm rambling...

To Really Sum Things Up:
If you like action movies, science fiction, anything that comes from JJ Abrams, or summer popcorn fun, this should meet your needs. Besides, I don't see anything coming in the next few weeks that I expect to be better for sheer entertainment value.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

DVR Purge: 5/15-5/18

Yay! I'm getting one of these out before the week mark. It's pretty much guaranteed that it'll be a full week before the next one though.

The Middle "The Ditch"
This episode was half things I like and half things that bother me.
I liked:
-Mike and Axl had a nice, simple story. You get some bonding and a healthy dose of slapstick.
-Brick's story allowed Dave Foley to be hilarious and pathetic, but payed off with a touching enough resolution.
I disliked:
-Initially, Frankie duping people to get ahead in line is petty in the way the Heck's make endearing, although when she tries to cover-up her lie it was painful in the wrong ways. I did enjoy that it ended with her not getting caught.
-The way things played out with Sue fits her perfectly but it's all exactly what I would expect to happen, so it wasn't all that fun for me.

Modern Family "Games People Play"
One of my favorite episodes in a while. I always prefer Cam and Mitchell vs. the world rather than against each other. Claire was being a bitch, but that's all she is these days, so I've learned to accept that. Jay and Gloria were being entertaining in their self-reflection and, even though I think Manny's handling of the forgotten invitation was a little too trope-y, it didn't dominate the plot. Overall, it was the little touches like all the Pritchetts asking complimentary questions about their competitiveness, that sold me on the episode.

Nashville "A Picture from Life's Other Side"
One more episode until the finale. I'm ready for it.

The Big Bang Theory "The Bon Voyage Reaction"
I will miss alcoholic Raj, but good riddance to the most played out gag on TV. I hope that isn't the last we see of his girlfriend because I like that actress and this show has proven more than capable of bringing in new blood.

The Office "Finale"
That was a fantastic. They didn't try to make this the funniest episode of the show. There was no "one last caper". It was nothing but catching up with everyone and making sure everyone got a satisfying ending. Was it a perfect episode? No. Was it fitting to the series and a worthy end to a classic sitcom? You betcha. Frankly, it deserves to have more said about it than the effort I have to speak about it.

Hannibal "Fromage"
This episode brought up an issue I always have with these kinds of shows (odd to think there's so many shows about serial killers): Why are they so easy for other killers to find but not for the cops to find? Ignoring that, it was a surprisingly exciting episode and it is looking like they will get closer to Hannibal being discovered by the end of the season than I first assumed.


The Point of the Purge
Past Purges:
5/1-5/7            5/8-5/14         

4/4-4/7             4/8-4/9           4/10-4/16        4/17-4/21         4/22-4/30

3/13-3/15         3/16-3/19        3/20-3/26        3/27-3/31         4/1-4/3

2/22-2/26         2/27                 2/28-3/3           3/4-3/7            3/8-3/12

2/5-2/8             2/9-2/11            2/12-2/18        2/19-2/20          2/21

1/17-1/18         1/19-1/21          1/22-1/23         1/24-1/29         1/30-2/4

12/16               12/17-12/21      ...12/22-1/7      1/8-1/9             1/10-1/16

11/25-11/28     11/29-11/30      12/1-12/5         12/6-12/8          12/9-12/15

10/28-11/3       11/4-11/10        11/11-11/16     11/17-11/20      11/21-11/24

9/22-9/28         9/29-10/4          10/6-10/12       10/13-10/19     10/20-10/27

DVR Purge: 5/8-5/14

 So far, this year seems to be marked by finales that don't actually feel like finales. They all seem to be the last episode of the season and nothing more. How I Met Your Mother literally created buzz with a few seconds at the end of a pretty awful episode.

 
The Middle "Hallelujah Hoedown"
I was surprised how little of a deal they made out of Axl not asking ____ out to the Prom. I was afraid that his entire story would be her being angry at him being dense and not even get to the prom. Instead, they blew past that after getting the one good laugh it was worth, then moved on to a sadder story for him. Poor Axl. Frankie can't catch a break either. It was funny that Brick finally remembered the right gift but Mike shot it down because of a time that turned out badly getting a similar gift. The Hecks do care about one another (in this case, Mike and Brick really put in an effort), but they simply aren't good at it.
-Side Note: I fear that day that Sue gets a drivers license. I know she's fictional, but I still worry.

Modern Family "My Hero"
As I predicted, they didn't sit on Claire being on the job market for long. I don't know why I didn't immediately jump to assume she'd be working with Jay. It seems naive of me to have overlooked it. I haven't done the math, but I don't think Alex and Haley are in the age range to be going after the same boys. That's a small quibble though. It's still funny to watch this multi-cam show in a single-cam's body. So much staging. It can't be easy to shoot this episode.

Nashville "Why Don't You Love Me"
The season is almost finally, mercifully over. No one can say I haven't put in an effort to watch this. Had this remained the show it looked like in the premiere (or that I wanted to believe it looked like. I admit part of this is my fault), then I'd happily be on board. It is something far different though. As for this particular week...Avery and Juliette deserve each other. Avery has come a long way if he can seem likable compared to anyone, even Juliette. This week seemed to have a lot of starting scenes just as a song was ending and having people say "that was great". I get that it's tough to generate that much new music every week, but this was sort of throwing it in our face. Oh, and the scenes between Teddy and Maddy included some of the flatest dialogue I have seen in a while. I started to wonder if each side of their conversations were recorded at different times.

Community "Advanced Introduction to Finality"
Boy am I glad Community was renewed. If this was the series finale, I would be very disappointed. None of the darkest timeline stuff made the least bit of sense. The patting on the back about making paintball cool again was annoyingly self-congratulatory. This year has a couple episodes that gave me hope for season 5, so I do think the show can be a lot better next year, but I'd really like to pretend this season didn't happy, which makes me sad to say because I love the cast so much still.

The Office "A.A.R.M"

Well, this is frustrating. I'm looking at this week as the finale and next week as the epilogue. As far as endings go (ignoring anything with Andy), this episode was pretty great. I wish they could've kept up this quality all season. Oh well. The show is almost complete and it seems to be ending on a high enough note, staying true to the two romances which carries the show: Jim and Pam and Dwight and Angela.

Hannibal "Sorbet"

This is such an off little show with everything else that NBC has on. I'm wondering how they are going to stretch out catching Hannibal, because I can't imagine him being imprisoned at the end of the season if they have any long term plans for the show.

Mad Men "Man with a Plan"
It looks like it will be a fun little power struggle amongst all the new partners. I really want to know what Bob Benson's deal is.As I've said before, there's a lot to dissect about this episode, and I'm not in the mood to expand on things much more than this.

How I Met Your Mother "Something New"
97% of the episode was pretty awful. I'm dumbfounded that they are dipping back in to the "Ted loves Robin" well. Lilly and Marshall's situation is simply annoying. What's the point of the Rome/Judge issue. It strikes me as manufactured conflict. As for the mother, I am pretty shocked to see her. Carter Bays and Craig Thomas' ability to frustrate me has me hesitant to get excited for the final season. As long as she plays some part in the next season, I think that exceeds my expectations.

New Girl "Elaine's Big Day"
I'll start by saying I enjoyed this a helluva lot more than last season's finale. I'm more excited by the thought of Jess and Nick being together than I expected when the season began. I suppose there was no way for them to stop the wedding that wouldn't feel a little forced, so, all things considered, using Taylor Swift and a badger was pretty clever.

The Mindy Project "Take Me With You"
This didn't feel like a finale at all. I'll be curious to see what the show will look like in season 2. Even within this season there was a lot of course correcting and I hope everything will be more settled in the fall.


The Point of the Purge
Past Purges:
5/1-5/7             

4/4-4/7             4/8-4/9           4/10-4/16        4/17-4/21         4/22-4/30

3/13-3/15         3/16-3/19        3/20-3/26        3/27-3/31         4/1-4/3

2/22-2/26         2/27                 2/28-3/3           3/4-3/7            3/8-3/12

2/5-2/8             2/9-2/11            2/12-2/18        2/19-2/20          2/21

1/17-1/18         1/19-1/21          1/22-1/23         1/24-1/29         1/30-2/4

12/16               12/17-12/21      ...12/22-1/7      1/8-1/9             1/10-1/16

11/25-11/28     11/29-11/30      12/1-12/5         12/6-12/8          12/9-12/15

10/28-11/3       11/4-11/10        11/11-11/16     11/17-11/20      11/21-11/24

9/22-9/28         9/29-10/4          10/6-10/12       10/13-10/19     10/20-10/27

Movie Reaction: The Great Gatsby

Formula: Baz Luhrmann + The Great Gatsby (it's a pretty basic formula)

Why I Saw It: Mainly the cast and it has been one of my favorite trailers for a while.

Cast: I think I like Leonardo DiCaprio. I simply don't think he fit this role. He can play a smooth aristocrat (see Django Unchained) and he can play the intense, brooding type (see Shutter Island, most recently). I just don't think he can do both at the same time. Simply put, Gatsby's a tall order for anyone. Tobey Maguire has a bit too much of an "aww, shucks" quality to him to pull off Nick Carraway appropriately. Carey Mulligan sells some tough dialogue and is probably my favorite character in the movie. Joel Edgerton does a great job portraying "old money", Tom Buchanan. I like seeing Isla Fisher on screen, but it was weird. It's like she went into this as a comedy or something. Perhaps that's my way of saying I wasn't a fan of her accent (which is probably the point). Basically, no one else is around long enough to be worth mentioning. Ok, maybe Elizabeth Debicki as Jordan Baker, but she was cut down a lot from the book.

Plot: Familiar with the book? Well, the movie didn't diverge from it much at all. The main difference is that I think it's even less concerned about Nick's involvement in the story. If he wasn't the narrator, I could see a version of this with him cut out. Like the book, however, it is highly narrated which, I think, made it too easy. This is the first time I ever read a book immediately before seeing the movie (finished at noon, saw a 1 pm showing), and I couldn't help but notice how much of the dialogue is used from the book, even if the wording sounds awkward when transferred to the screen. A couple times, the narration literally cuts out the dialogue because that's what the book does. Is it possible to be too exact of an adaptation? Oh, and the whole movie constantly reminds you that this is a book. That not only leads to a really awkward nesting of the story into a manuscript, but it means there's a lot of shots with words literally on the screen. It's sort of laughable.

Elephant in the Room: Does The Great Gatbsy really need the Baz Luhrmann treatment? This is the guy who gave us Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!, so you know what this movie is going to look like before ever seeing a frame. Here's my guess. Luhrmann read The Great Gatsby and thought "huh, 1920s New York sounds fun". He got a lot a cool images in his head and he wrote a generic screenplay that is a literal adaptation of the book, then decided to make it 3D because that man loves his visuals. I saw it in 2D, so I can't speak to the effectiveness of the 3D, but I suspect it was loud and layered, although I can't imagine it would be enough to save the movie.

To Sum Things Up:
At best, this is misguided. At worst, it is lazy. I imagine that a Baz Lurhmann movie never comes together until post-production, so I can understand how everyone involved in this probably thought this would be a much better movie than it is. I've been looking forward to seeing this since it first got pushed back to May 2013, so it surprised me how quickly I was bored watching this. This book is notorious for being a tough adaptation and this attempt is no exception. It was a valiant effort, little more.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

DVR Purge: 5/1-5/7

What the hell? I was up to two or three of these a week and I'm back to barely getting one a week. Whatever. I'm a failure even as defined by the very low bar I've set for myself. 

The Middle "From Orson with Love"
God bless Patricia Heaton. She is so good at making the viewer so uncomfortable for her as she does things like leaving messages on answering machines, or this week, getting pictures from Sue's slumber party. Hint: If Sue is the level-headed one, you're doing something wrong. As for Axl and Brick, that just made me happy. Their whole B-story was stupid and charming, then the resolution was a sweet way to recognize their brotherly-bond without getting too caught up in it.

Modern Family "Career Day"
AHHH!!! I'm done! I'm done! I'm done!
Don't take that to mean I'm done watching the show. It's still barely good enough, buttressed by it's continued popularity, means I won't be dropping it. But sweet Jesus, that closing tag irritated me. It's like I say about Big Bang all the time. They can't help themselves. They spend the whole episode making the point that Claire is looking for something more to do and like feeling valued professionally, then, they undo it all for one little punchline about Gil Thorpe being a jerk. Yeah, I'm overreacting. Odds are they will get back to Claire's larger story in future episodes. But, frankly, I have a short fuse for this show these days, so even these small cop-out frustrate me considerably.
I think this week, I will be awarding the Nolan Gould Stealth MVP award to Sarah Hyland. They still don't know entirely what to do with her, but she seems game for anything and Haley  got to show some cunning with the Santa Claus trick.

Nashville "Take These Chains from my Heart"
A lot of things I can choose to ignore here. Gay cowboy. Whatever. I called it earlier in the episode. Hardly interesting unless it turns out that Gunnar is too. Juliette's sponsor/manager/boyfriend going from saint to lying, cheating, drug-planting, money-stealing jerk in the matter of 2-3 episodes is plain shitty writing. Avery's making amends tour. Well, I do like him slightly more. But improving from a 0 to a 1 is still not worth much. Oh, and he's sucking Scarlett back in. No thanks. Some other stuff happened. The finale should be coming up soon. Then I'll have enough completeness to drop the show. It can't pull me back in. Not possible.

The Americans "The Colonel"
Maybe I was focusing too much on drinking Vodka while watching the finale, but I was genuinely confused about the two different meet-ups. I assumed the CIA was watching Elizabeth's meet-up. Was the audience supposed to already know that from the beginning? As I said, too much Vodka.
Beyond that though, this was a good episode, even if it didn't set up a lot to hold me over until next year. It felt very un-finale-like. One touch that I really loved was having it end with Paige examining the laundry but not finding anything. That showed such restraint by the writing staff and tells us all we need to go moving forward about where that could go.

The Big Bang Theory "The Proton Resurgence"
Bob Newhart is a legend and it's easy to see why. I get that the whole A-story was written to fit around him and not the other way around, so it's natural that he would get the biggest laughs, but frankly, his delivery changed the whole rhythm of the show. He got laughs out of lines that no one in the regular cast could get. Jim Parsons is well on his way to being a comedy icon. Newhart is one. The difference has never been starker.
As for the rest of the episode, up to and including the fact that 90% of Penny's scenes were he holding back a smile from what Newhart said: meh.

Community "Heroic Origins"
Look. Nothing impresses me more than to see a long-term plan executed well. In a pinch, I'll settle on retroactively making it seem that way as long as it seems plausible. It's what I fell in love with about the early days of How I Met Your Mother. What I don't like is when it feels forced. This, felt forced and contrived. While I'm sure that Abed would want to find an origin, it is implausible that he would succeed. I'd be way more interested in something like retelling the first day of class leading up to the pilot to see how lucky they were to come together rather than creating this frozen yogurt, mall explanation. The one good thing of it all is that it more or less saved part of the Chang problem.

The Office "Livin' the Dream"
Stupid DVR messed up, so I didn't get to see this episode for a couple days and kept hearing good things about it, which, frankly, I didn't believe. As it turns out, this was one of the least bad episodes in a while.
-I'm not sure if I believe Angela and Oscar would have anything to do with each other at this point, but accepting that, his offer to her at the end is sweet and fairly touching.
-I don't think you'll ever convince me that Pam would've been so against leaving Scranton given her dreams of bigger things in earlier seasons, but that's what they claim and we are in this world or Pam and Jim relationship problems, so it was nice (and awkward) to see them trying so hard to make it work.
-Two surprising positives for Dwight. 1) Sensei Imperioli wasn't making fun of Dwight. He genuinely respects his quirks and treated the whole black belt ceremony with a surprising amount of respect (as opposed to shitting on him, which is what I expected). 2) He gets another shot at being manager. Given that they've moved past Jim being the man for the job, Dwight is the natural fit.
-Kevin wasn't brain-dead. When was the last time that happened?
-The reason I said it "not bad" instead of "good" is because of Andy. I'm still baffled at how the show wrecked that character. Michael Scott-lite is even a generous moniker since his return. I'm so disinterested in his character (and let me be clear, I like Ed Helms a lot), that everything about him in the episode annoyed me.

Parks and Recreation "Are You Better Off?"
Impressive. The P&R team figured out the best way to do a clip show: they didn't. This was clearly a "season in review" episode but filled with new jokes, the return of guest starts, and different perspectives on previous episodes. And that's just in the A-story. Andy's hunt for the pregnant cast member was a little more "sweeps week" than I'm accustomed to seeing on P&R. It was still funny and surprising though as well as a great way to catch up on numerous characters leading up to the summer hiatus. This wasn't my favorite episode of the season, but it was yet another strong finale for the show (I also like that they went into this one a lot more confident that they'd be renewed and it showed in the open-endedness of most characters' stories).

Hannibal "Entree"
I don't remember the last show I watched that was as balanced between serial and procedural (I assume I'm forgetting several though). Normally a show leans heavy one way or the other (SVU and Braking Bad being two good counterpoints). This clearly has a case of the week feel, but it is also definitely leading to a bigger story. It's nice. I know why more shows don't do it like this, but it works well for this one.

Happy Endings "Deuce Babylove 2: Electric Babydeuce"
I hate the doubling up on episodes. I can barely remember the differences, especially since it's on Friday and I don't write anything about them till at least the next day. Oh well. Megan Mullally is always welcome on my TV no matter what the scenario. This episode had two of my favorite pairings in Max and Alex and Penny and Dave, so I couldn't complain.

Happy Endings "Brothas and Sistas"
They always end with a wedding, don't they. I suppose it's fitting since it began with a wedding and all. I get the sense that the writers don't know where the stand with Alex and Dave though. Obviously, they were difficult to deal with in the first season and even the second season there was a weird uncertainty. I actually liked them dating this season a lot. Assuming there will be a season 4, I do think this breakup is a good thing. First of all, it is done on equal terms, the lack of which hampered a lot of season 1. Secondly, Max and Penny had a tendency to feel out of place a lot with the others coupled off, so I think this will allow for more freedom in the plots going forward. My only fear is that Alex works well on her own always, but Dave is more problematic on his own. Hopefully they've figured him out more by now (which I think they have).

Mad Men "For Immediate Release"
I'm not used to this much happening on an episode of Mad Men, and that goes double for a non-finale. I don't know where to begin. Pete's a jerk, but what he has to say isn't without merit. Mostly, he's the only one who seems to acknowledge his flaws. Joan had one helluva scene telling off Don. Speaking of Don, it was nice to see him back in the game and smiling again. I started to think he'd lost his touch. I like that a plan of Roger's finally paid off. Peggy continues to be fun as she dreams of being part of the counter-culture but realizes that she's more comfortable as part of "the establishment". I'm going to stop there, because I feel like I could go on for pages about this episode.

How I Met Your Mother "Something Old"
You much be kidding. They are not going down the Robin/Ted road again are they? Are they? Please, tell me that I'm reading in to the look at the end and it's really just them exchanging a friendly glance upon the realization that they are just friends. This episode was perfectly harmless before that. They've called my bluff too many times for me to threaten to stop watching, so instead, I will say this: why are they doing this to us? Let it die!

New Girl "Winston's Birthday"
Poor Winston. Even the writers know they have no idea what to do with him. Still, he had some of the funniest gags, most notably the Eddie Murphy suit. I liked Jess possibly getting a teaching job again. It's clearly what she's best at. The Schmidt "Un-douchifying Tour" continues to chug along and it's a pleasant side of him. Nick and Jess's dad was funny throughout, even through I think him telling her dad was more of a sit-com contrivance than what would actually happen. I'm not sure what Cece's place is moving forward if this wedding goes through, but hasn't that always been the case with her. She's not the best with the physical comedy, so this week was a bit of a misfire for me.

The Mindy Project "Frat Party"
This show isn't "there" yet. It has a lead with a clearly defined voice: Mindy. It has primary characters that can carry a B-sotry easily: Danny and Jeremy. It has regulars who work well as scene-stealers when needed: Betsy, Morgan, and Beverly. It has done a really good job of filling the world with recurring characters that can be used whenever: the Midwives, Gwen, Casey, to name a few. Also, no show has had as many one liners that I've enjoyed this season. I think consistency is the only things it's missing. This episode is a good example of it knowing some of it's strengths: opening tags with Mindy and a love interest are always funny and Mindy thrown into youth culture is a constant delight. Nothing hit hard though and there wasn't a lot of balance to it. I don't know. I really like this show, but I'm hasn't been able to move to the "love it" level yet.

The Point of the Purge
Past Purges:
4/4-4/7             4/8-4/9           4/10-4/16        4/17-4/21         4/22-4/30

3/13-3/15         3/16-3/19        3/20-3/26        3/27-3/31         4/1-4/3

2/22-2/26         2/27                 2/28-3/3           3/4-3/7            3/8-3/12

2/5-2/8             2/9-2/11            2/12-2/18        2/19-2/20          2/21

1/17-1/18         1/19-1/21          1/22-1/23         1/24-1/29         1/30-2/4

12/16               12/17-12/21      ...12/22-1/7      1/8-1/9             1/10-1/16

11/25-11/28     11/29-11/30      12/1-12/5         12/6-12/8          12/9-12/15

10/28-11/3       11/4-11/10        11/11-11/16     11/17-11/20      11/21-11/24

9/22-9/28         9/29-10/4          10/6-10/12       10/13-10/19     10/20-10/27

Movie Reaction: Iron Man 3

Formula: (Iron Man / Iron Man 2) * (The Avengers - Thor - Captain America: The First Avenger - The Incredible Hulk)

Why I Saw It: Do I even need to explain? The whole Avengers experiment has been fascinating to watch and this is the beginning of phase 2.

Cast: There's Robert Downey Jr., of course, and he is still the embodiment of this role. The movie hinges on him and he nails it yet again. He's much more tortured than he was in The Avengers and that's an interesting development. Gwyneth Paltrow has a few moments when she gets to be an action hero and I wouldn't mind seeing some more of it. Don Cheadle had a much smaller role this time. Guy Pearce plays a good villain. Rebecca Hall is sadly, pretty sidelined in this. It's nice to see her in a high-exposure movie, although I like it more when she actually gets to do something. Jon Favreau still has a presence despite not directing this time around. As for Ben Kingsley, all I can say is that he gets to show more of his range as an actor than I expected. A kid named Ty Simpkins plays a surprisingly important role in the movie and even though I am generally irritated by precocious kid types, he has such a great rapport with RDJ that I didn't care.

Plot: This was going to be a let down from The Avengers. It's an unavoidable fact that there would be a drop from, arguably, the best superhero movie ever (at least in the Marvel universe). Compared to Iron Man 2 though, I'd call this an improvement. This is a lot darker and it does a great job integrating the rest of the Marvel universe in. This time, they were a lot more focused on being funny and I was impressed by the restraint of it all. They realized that there was no way to up the stakes so it is all scaled back and more focused on who Iron Man is: the man or the suit. This isn't to say the movie is perfect. it is filled with logic holes in the story and a lot of the battle staging is confusing or outright illogical. I'm in one of those good moods I hear other people talk about right now, so I won't harp too much on the negative.

Elephant in the Room: He sure has a lot of suits. Apparently, between this movie and the last one, he started making out of aluminum or something. I lost track of how many times suits broke in this. I get that he's been experimenting a lot with different models but it is borderline absurd how many time he has to switch suits. I'm also confused by how we see the suits destroyed at one point in the movie, them they show up twofold later. Really, I think half my issues with the movie are suit-related.

To Sum Things Up:
Summer has officially begun and this is a great start to both it and the second phase of Marvel's movie universe. While, far from perfect and not even the movie I'm most looking forward to this month, it is a fun tent pole summer movie and keep the momentum going for Tony Stark and company.

Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend

DVR Purge: 4/22-4/30

Fuck. Sweeps are starting back up. Time for one last sprint to the end before things quiet down some for the summer. This week, we have a really good Community and a not so good Parks and Recreation. I feel like I'm in a bit of a bizarro world right now.

The Americans "The Oath"
I'm going to have to be honest. I'd like to say this is a show that I simply enjoy each episode on it's own, like a Mad Men or even a Walking Dead. Really, this is a Homeland. They have to stick the landing with this finale. The whole season could be a bust for me if they don't do it right. There is something they are building to and I'm not sure what. As far as building block episodes go, this episode did an impressive job moving things into place. Both the KGB and CIA have assets that the other side thinks is theirs. Nina in particular is becoming an infinite recursion of changing allegiances. I suspect some shit is going down next week. It's not the show's style to go too big though. I hope they maintain that restraint.

The Big Bang Theory "The Closure Alternative"
Well, I thought this episode was going somewhere. Big Bang can't help itself. It has to undercut everything it does with Sheldon. I think I wouldn't've minded had they shown any sign of growth in him (say, one domino doesn't fall and he doesn't knock it over, just showing that Amy had some effect). No, instead, they sold all that for one more cheap joke. I realize that this isn't a show with higher aspirations, but after something like Wolowitz's dad's card a couple weeks ago, I get irritated seeing it fall back into the same trappings.

Community "Basic Human Anatomy"
This is the first show I watched twice in a night all year. I can't say it ranks with the best Community has ever done. It's certainly in the tier below. The voice of all the characters was spot on. The high-concept was intelligently grounded. The only thing that hurt then entire breakup was that I never cared about Troy and Britta's relationship. Other than that, it was handled perfect. Even the light switch gag (which I hated initially) paid off.
-I couldn't help but laugh at Annie's response to Jeff Dean.
-Based on what I seen so far, no wonder Chevy left the show.
-I hope this wasn't a fluke since it's looking more and more likely that there could be a season 5.

The Office "Paper Airplane"
Yep. They have run out of ideas. No other way I can look at it. A paper airplane contest? A sanctioned one? Remember when the office Olympics had to be covert? Oy. And, again, it's nice to see Roseanne. She's being wasted though. I still wonder if the writers realize that Andy isn't Michael Scott. Methinks, not.

Parks & Recreation "Swing Vote"
Second episode in a row that felt recycled. I'm not worried yet but it isn't a good trend. I did like that how turns out Andy kicked himself out of the band and the Leslie/Ron heart-to-heart at the end was great. I do get the sense that the writers had only prepared for 21 episodes and were ordered to write 22, so they slipped this one in as filler.

Hannibal "Coquilles"
Thanks, NBC, for fucking up a good series. How can you let a show get this far through production before deciding to pull it? This is a truly asinine decision that has ruined the momentum for a series that already had an uphill battle. Seriously, get in the serial drama game or don't. I especially don't understand how the episode they did show is any better than the one they opted not to. It's a bummer because I think this seals the odds that there won't be a season 2.

Happy Endings "The Ballad of Lon Sarofsky"
Thankfully, saying the words "car czar" is so much fun. Otherwise, I'd be focused on Rob Corddry for the most part annoying me here. I don't know, his personality clashes the chemistry of the others. The show is already pretty out-there as he normally is, so it ends up feeling a little strained.

Happy Endings "Unsabotagable"
It's sad. No matter how many other things I see him in Mark Paul Gosselaar is always going to be Det. John Clark to me. I'm sorry. He was just too iconic in those later seasons of NYPD Blue. Of course, I kid. It's nice to see the return of Chase in this case because it gave us a Max with his life put together (comparatively speaking).

Mad Men "The Flood"
This is one of those where I spent the whole time wondering if the responses of everyone were authentic (to the time, not the characters). I like how they showed numerous levels of response people had to it, but this did feel like we were taking a break from the show to see everyone be sad or uncomfortable. Don's speech at the end saved it for me from being considered a weak episode though.

How I Met Your Mother "The Bro Mitzvah"
I didn't like "The Robin" so it stands to reason that I didn't like "The Barney" either. It was all a little too contrived for my taste. I can get into a larger discussion, [AS I HAVE BEFORE] about what does and doesn't work for me. At the end of the day, this didn't make me laugh. Simple as that. However, I am still excited for the finale in two weeks (even though I know I shouldn't be).

New Girl "Virgins"
This reminded me a lot of the episode for Schmidt's birthday last year ("The Story of the 50") in that it spent the whole episode build to some big moment (in this case, Jess' deflowering disaster), then, upon reaching the supposed fever pitch, it fizzled and didn't seem worth it. Thankfully, the steps along the way were a lot of fun, so I didn't mind a disappointing ending...except that it wasn't the ending. The actual ending was Nick and Jess finally hooking up which was reasonably satisfying even though I'm not one of the people clamoring for it to happen.

The Mindy Project "Triathlon"
Same story as always. This had a lot of nice touches, mostly off Mindy one-liners. Beyond that, a lot of parts still trying to figure out how they work together. I hope the firing doesn't mean we will be seeing less of Morgan (I'm surprised to say that considering how much he annoyed me at first).


The Point of the Purge
Past Purges:
4/4-4/7             4/8-4/9           4/10-4/16        4/17-4/21         

3/13-3/15         3/16-3/19        3/20-3/26        3/27-3/31         4/1-4/3

2/22-2/26         2/27                 2/28-3/3           3/4-3/7            3/8-3/12

2/5-2/8             2/9-2/11            2/12-2/18        2/19-2/20          2/21

1/17-1/18         1/19-1/21          1/22-1/23         1/24-1/29         1/30-2/4

12/16               12/17-12/21      ...12/22-1/7      1/8-1/9             1/10-1/16

11/25-11/28     11/29-11/30      12/1-12/5         12/6-12/8          12/9-12/15

10/28-11/3       11/4-11/10        11/11-11/16     11/17-11/20      11/21-11/24

9/22-9/28         9/29-10/4          10/6-10/12       10/13-10/19     10/20-10/27