Friday, June 15, 2007 Rant Archive
BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE is a great coming-out party for the movie’s young cast and talented director. They shine in this light, yet Shakespearean, werewolf love story.
Agnes Bruckner is Vivian, a young American werewolf living in Bucharest, which is the only safe haven for her kind, creatures known as the loup garoux. These werewolves are shapeshifters — able to transform at will to their furry alter-animal selves. Her pack runs the town and their alpha dog, Gabriel (Olivier Martinez), is looking for a new mate, as he does every seven years; it seems she will be the lucky puppy. Vivian would rather “free run” across the picturesque European cobblestone streets.
When she was a child, Vivian’s immediate family was slaughtered, so she now she lives with her Aunt Astrid (Katja Reimann), the former lover of Gabriel and mother of his child, Rafe (Bryan Dick). Rafe needs a whack on the snout with a rolled-up paper right from his murderous get-go. He defies Gabriel’s laws, and once Vivian’s romantic interests are piqued by comic book writer Aiden (Hugh Dancy), he can’t decide whether to act out on his daddy issues or his vague incestuous obsession with his cousin. Waiting to usurp his father, Rafe runs with a small litter; they look like boy-band castoffs and are just as articulate. This is where the ROMEO + JULIET borrowing really takes off. Young love — star-crossed, even — destructive obsession and an innocent union of warring factions; these are familiar themes, but not overdone here. The script plays it straight — if not too deep — but, ultimately, that makes it more enjoyable.
Boring, misleading, uninteresting, dull … did I mention boring? PRIMEVAL is the movie based on the true-life killer croc nicknamed Gustave, who has allegedly eaten/dismembered/horribly disfigured hundreds of people in war-torn Burundi, South Africa.
Yeah, the croc’s real — it’s eaten a significant number of people, but the estimates of his rapacity and size are fairly unbelievable. If you take it as read, the beastie has gorged itself on more than 300 people and is anywhere between 25 and 30 feet long — that’s bigger than the shark from JAWS, and approaching the length of a killer whale. With regard to the gore factor, the attacks in this movie are paced so fast that even with the power of DVD and slowing the action down to 1/16th, it’s pretty much impossible to tell what is going on.
By Brandon Nolta
After watching the first four episodes of the FX freshman series DAMAGES, I have to say that what I like about it best so far is that I’m still not sure what exactly it’s about. Oh, the framing story and overarching plot is clear enough; hard to go wrong with a legal thriller, especially one that has such an obvious real-life parallel. No, what’s intriguing about this show is that, depending on the mood you’re in, it can be interpreted in so many different ways.
The commercials and early campaign for the show pitched it as a show about ambition, specifically that of Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), a talented attorney who gets dragooned into high-stakes litigation by legal titan Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), the person who probably should have played Satan in THE DEVIL’S ADVOCATE. While there are a few notes on the general theme, what has transpired so far makes one wonder. Is it a show about the various levels of evil and how easily it can corrupt? Is it a show about the struggle of right vs. expedience? Is it an anti-lawyer show?
Of course, it could be all of these things, but then again, it might be none of them. There are so many threads, it’s damn tough to tell, which makes it so intriguing to watch. Using carefully defined characters and intelligent writing, we have a collection of characters that are completely self-consistent embroiled in a narrative that could go anywhere. At this point, I wouldn’t be terribly surprised if an alien conspiracy or a cabal of werewolves turned out to be involved. That may sound like a diss, but challenging drama like this is rare, even in the plethora of excellent programs we viewers can choose from now.
Anyway, despite the different spins and directions DAMAGES takes, this episode focuses in on one question with interesting ramifications: identity. Specifically, the identity of Katie Connor (Anastasia Griffith), future sister-in-law of Ellen and only real witness of use in the case against Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson). As the episode shifts back and forth in time (we get to see three different time periods), the events of a fateful weekend in June get examined and sifted through the memories of two different people, as well as a battalion of lawyers and a mysterious player to be named later (Peter Riegert?!? Where the hell’s he been?). With every change, new aspects of character are revealed, and everybody has to change their minds about somebody. By the end, the episode is best summed up by the image of Katie and Ellen standing on opposite sides of one-way glass, both looking at the other (although Ellen is only seeing her reflection) and not knowing who they really are.
It’s a haunting image, and one that sums up both this episode’s themes and the increasingly off-center way the characters come to see the world after passing through this particular baptism of fire. This episode plays like RASHOMON for the basic cable set, and it’s one more reason why I’ll say this again, like I’ve said for just about every episode so far: DAMAGES is damn good TV. Even if it is about lawyers.
STUDIO 60 ON THE SUNSET STRIP is what critics call “smart television.” The people who watch this show are not the same people who watch FLAVOR OF LOVE, for instance. Tonight’s episode, the second in a three-part series, is a good example of why STUDIO 60 is so smart.
Kidnap and ransom — that’s what K&R stands for. In Part 1, Tom Jeter (Nathan Corddry) finds out that his brother Mark, a U.S. airman, has been captured by Afghan militiamen. Jordan (Amanda Peet) goes into the hospital because she hasn’t felt her baby kick. And Danny (Bradley Whitford) and Matt (Matthew Perry) must keep the cast and crew of Studio 60 together through all the ordeals. In a bold move, Matt asks his lawyer — and possible love interest — Mary Tate (Kari Matchett) to use her connections for a K&R rescue team.
Part 2 picks up with Danny, newly engaged to Jordan, awaiting news on her surgery. Back at the studio, Tom is waiting for news about his brother, and Mary is still on the phone trying to get information on Mark’s kidnappers. While all this is going on, the audience is treated to flashbacks to 2001, when everyone was trying to figure out how to be funny after September 11th. I use “treated” very loosely.
This may seem like a lot of story lines going on at the same time, and it really is.
This week on SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, the Top 20 offered up some impressive performances, but none more impressive than the ones choreographed by Wade Robson. The former choreographer for the likes of Britney and *NSYNC has proven himself a mad scientist of dance — mixing classic styles and macabre elements to create unforgettable performances.
B-girl Sara and contemporary dancer, Jesus, performed a highly stylized “vagabond cabaret” number by Wade. The routine was the night’s standout performance, showcasing Sarah’s versatility and featuring the use of prop newspapers. Is it just me, or do you get slightly nervous when the dancers have to use props during their routines? I mean, what if the newspaper rips? What if a heavy wind picks up and carries the paper prop away? None of that happened to Sara and Jesus, whose routine also benefited from some eerie lighting.