What I Watched

Scott Turow's Innocent

To prepare for this movie, we first watched its predecessor, Presumed Innocent, now available on Netflix streaming, starring Harrison Ford, a legal thriller where Rusty Sabich [Ford], the deputy prosecutor, is accused of murdering Carolyn Polhemus [Greta Scacchi], once his lover. I read on IMDB afterward that Scacchi was originally offered the role that Sharon Stone eventually took in Basic Instinct. That was understandable to me. Carolyn Polhemus was a femme fatale, darkly complicated, seductive, ambitious, hard working, in some ways, idealistic. This was a film where Mike, who figured out everything, was surprised at the ending. After all these years, it still held up.

Innocent, on the other hand, fell apart pretty quickly. Full disclosure: I fell asleep at the three-quarter mark, and when Mike offered to play back some things I missed, I asked him for  a quick summary and then said that I would prefer to just continue. I knew it would be quite easy to fall asleep again. I really didn't want to see any more of this movie than I had to. And yet, I couldn't just turn it off. It had that feeling of witnessing an accident. You really don't want to see it, but yet you feel compelled to see what you can.

After seeing Presumed Innocent, I thought ahead to the sequel and imagined what these characters, having learned what they learned in the first film, would do now. I thought that they would make some decisions and make some big changes in their lives. To my dismay, this film quickly established that although Rusty was now a judge, not much else had changed. In fact for the key characters, their past weaknesses had now become even more evident, reducing the characters to cartoons.

It felt like an exercise of watching ghosts. None of the original actors were in this cast. Alfred Molina effectively captured the cadence of speech of the greatly missed Raul Julia. It was fun to see Richard Schiff, just because there had been two West Wing actors in Presumed Innocent, and he seemed to be the only actor in this film who I looked forward to seeing on screen. It seemed Bill Pullman and  Marcia Gay Harden had decided to abandon all sense and act as if this script had merit and if scenery needed to be chewed, they were the actors to do it.

The sad thing is, I predicted that Sabich's lover or his son were going to be the killers in this story, because she was acting so crazy and he seemed to be too likeable to be believed. However, it turns out that they were intended to the happy, normal people of this story. It was gruesome and sad and only worth seeing if you're in a very analytical mood and only if you watch the original first.

The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs, Episode 5

Some quick observations:

1. It seems to me that they may be grooming Chef Guarnaschelli to be the next Iron Chef. She had the crisis in the kitchen this week, and she said she had to think about what an Iron Chef would do. It seemed to me to be perhaps the laying of the groundwork for the Making of the Iron Chef story. She seems to be getting more air time than Chef Burrell. She oddly seems more comfortable with the camera.

2. I'm still very surprised with Chef Burrell. She now seems to be hitting on all cylinders with her cooking, but she is not coming across as I imagined a seasoned veteran of Iron Chef America would. She could be  playing that card and talking about  her experience there, but she is not at all. She talks a lot about how nervous she is. She looks ill at ease. It's very surprising to me. In the Chopped competition and on Iron Chef America, she seemed unflappable. Now she doesn't.

3. For Chef Zakharian to say that he will continue to flout the rules and cook like he does seems to me like sheer folly. I can see him going a round or two more just based on his sheer talent, but I can't imagine him winning if he never listens to the judges.

4. Can I just say that I don't like Chef Chiarelli? I can see that he's making incredible food, but there's something about him that I really do not like.

5. The judging process to me is sometimes hard to understand. The judges thought Chef Falkner's dish was great, but they faulted her story telling. To me, she told the story in a lowkey manner. I don't think there's anything wrong with telling a story matter of factly with quiet authority. Chef Samuelson, to me, told the most intimate story, and the judges said they didn't understand it. I was sad to see him go.

6. It seems to me that often in the judging, particularly in the final elimination, there seems to be a division between the judges. The Iron Chefs seem to have one consensnus and Simon Majundar another. Michael Symon is quite blunt in his assessments, and then his verdict seems to take effect. Symon tweeted last night that fans of this show were crazy. I think he continues to take heat for his bluntness, even though he is just one vote. I don't think he has any extra clout. I think he is just willing to put it out there.

Super 8

This was one of those movies where soon into the viewing, I became analytical.

A quick summary: The film begins with the death of a parent. Joel's mother dies in a work accident. His father is the police chief of the town and apparently has always been too preoccupied with his work to parent his son. Joel has a group of friends who make Super 8 films. One night, while making the film, a train crashes, and everything changes.

I worried about the film from the beginning. It seemed they were setting up Big Ideas for big emotional moments, but they never gave us any scenes, any details for me that would make me care about these characters. We learned very little about the mother. We knew very little about the father.  I wanted to care about these characters. I am a big Coach Taylor fan. I wanted to see Kyle Chandler in another role, and I was predisposed to liking him. But as the father, they gave him remarkably little to do that hadn't been done by other actors in more well written scripts many times before. Kyle Chandler brought his patented intensity, his A game, but there was very little given to explain his character.

When the train crash happened, I lost hope in the movie. Here was the attention and care to details that I wanted, and they devoted it to special effects, which were spectacular, but they also made me wonder if it would actually happen that way. When I asked Mike, he  said what they showed on screen violated all laws of physics.

This movie reminded me very much of Cowboys v. Aliens. Cowboys v. Aliens started off as a great western and the morphed into an action/alien picture where the script was thin and I just wanted to return back to the beginning. Super 8 was a paint by number film all the way through. There were tributes to Spielberg. There was an extended tip of the hat to Stand by Me, a film that developed characters and understood that children's lives were actioned packed and tragic without the aid of special effects and aliens.

At the end of the film, while the credits roll, they showed the movie that the kids had made. It was charming and fascinating.

"That's it," I told Mike. "That's the movie I wanted to see."

I wish that they could trust that we would want to see these kinds of films.

The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs, Episode 4

Some quick thoughts:

In this episode, I thought about crossover from other Food Network shows.  The group challenge theme last night was "Improvisation." The contestants went to The Improv, where Kevin Nealon asked the crowd for suggestions for diffrent food groups and then he picked from the suggestions. The chefs ended up having to make a dish with octopus, tortillas, kumquats, and marshmallows.

Chopped much? The idea of using such a wacky combination is definitely out of that playbook. It also much me think of Next Food Network Star where comedians also played a part in a competition. Is there some head of the network that loves comedy, is there that much of a correlation between people who love comedy and Food Network fans, or is it merely coincidence?

The main thought I had coming out of this episode was again of the high skill set here. It seems very rare that these candidates make fundamental errors. Yes, Chef Zakarian did overcook one of his fish servings, and that was the reason that it wasn't a unanimous decision to keep him in the competition, but he was fully aware of it, and the other fish servings were cooked perfectly. And then you have Chef Guarnaschelli who made a back-up preparation so she could decide which serving of octopus she preferred. I have never seen that before in this compeition.

It is now clearly established in this season that  things that are highly praised still do get cut. It makes me continue to wonder how they can continue the series after this season. There is always the problem of too many Iron Chefs on board, in my opinion, but now there will be the question of topping or sustaining this level of competition. One solution would be to bring past candidates back, but then do you degrade the brand a bit?

I also thought it was interesting that the point about the women being in the top tier so far was brought up. Is there a men versus women compeition coming up in future episodes? There was also inferences that the gloves were coming off as the competition continued. One thing that has set this season apart from other seasons is the professionalism and courtesy that contestants have shown to each other. I have found it refreshing and hope that it continues. In my view, television can be inspiring. We don't need the high drama.

 

Trust

I wouldn't have known about this film if it hadn't been recommended by Roger Ebert I found it complex and true. It's one of those movies where there were moments where I thought it might go off the edge, but then it righted itself. It was directed by David Schwimmer, an actor who deserves more time at the helm. The film is currently available on Netflix Instant.

Trust is the story of a fifteen-year-old girl, Annie, who, through the Internet, forms a romantic attachment with a man named Charlie. At first, she believes he's a year older than her. Then he texts her that he's not actually a sophomore in high school; he's really a sophomore in college. Then he says that he 's in his second year of graduate school. When she finally meets him, she is initially speechless. He is a man in his thirties. But he manages to charm her, to convince her to go with him to a hotel.

There are some interesting choices made in this film. Since it is mostly an Internet relationship, their instant messages show up on the screen like cheesy subtitles. We are able to witness the progression of their exchanges through reading these innocuous, yet serious words. When they are in the hotel room, we see the recording device activate unbeknownst to the girl. The assault is more imagined than seen. It is still harrowing and heartbreaking.

It turns out the David Schwimmer has been involved with the Rape Foundation for fourteen years and on its board of directors for the last decade. The film feels grounded in knownledge and research of the emotional journey that a victim and her family would go through in this experience. There are wonderful performances in this film I don't believe that Liana Liberato as the teenager, Annie, hit a false note. I also very much enjoyed Viola Davis's performance as Annie's therapist.

I had some difficulties with Clive Owens and Catherine Keener as the parents. First of all, it was just hard to see these two in the parent roles. I'm so accustomed to seeing them as single people that it was initially hard to translate them into a more suburban setting. There were moments of high drama with Clive Owen's character, and at moments, I was afraid that the film was going to be something much different than a very affecting  psychological study. But then I tried to imagine being a father to a teenage girl in this situation. I could imagine that it would be very easy to go to extremes. In my mind, Catherine Keener did not have enough to do. She had the thankless task of trying to be the ballast. It was probably often the way these dynamics would play out, but she is such an interesting actress, i wanted to see more from her.

In the interview that I read, Schwimmer spoke of the many years it took before they had a script that he liked. Credit goes to Andy Bellin and Robert Festinger. Apparently Bellin has now written the script for the film biography of Linda Lovelace. Festinger wrote In the Bedroom. I think they are very interesting writers. I worried about how they would resolve this movie. I found the final family scene very moving. I would really recommend this movie.

Marie Antoinette

This movie interested me. It made me think afterwards. It was one of those movies where it seemed evident that the director, in this case, Sofia Coppola, was very engaged in the subject of her film. It is the story of Marie-Antoinette, the fourteen-year-old Austrian teenager who travels to France to marry Louis. It is an arranged marriage; they have never met before. It is quickly evident that both of them are over their heads in this situation. Louis is baffled by the acts of being a husband. Marie buries her wories in consumerism. She tries to dazzle, both in her appearance and by the surroundings around her. It is an empty venture full of gossip and social hierarchies. It is a dangerous game where the key players often have no idea of the complexity of the world around them. It is a beautifully shot film. It is a study of ill prepared youth placed in situations where they were doomed to fail.

The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs, Episode 3

Some random thoughts on this episode:

The group challenge involved making something sweet and something savory out of a particular movie candy.

When thinking about my personal favorite movie candy that I ate as a child and can no longer justify as an adult, it would rank something like this: Sno-Caps (I had completely forgotten about this candy until I started watching this event), malted milk balls, Junior Mints, and sweet tarts. I still sometimes have buttered popcorn.

Is it wrong that when thinking about "Who will be the Next Iron Chef?" my thoughts turn to demographics? No matter how awesome I think Chef Zakharian is in his cooking, I keep thinking that the winner will be a woman so that there will be female representation in this club. (I believe Cat Cora is gone. I have not been able to find anything in writing to confirm that, but the fact that she is not being introduced in the opening of the most recent Iron Chef Americas seems to be appropriate confirmation to me that she is no longer part of thoe show.)

When I talk to people about this show, there seems to be a likability problem with Chef Guarnaschelli. It seems to me that her anxiety on Episode 1 may have had to do with cooking outdoors, a skill not directly necessary for an Iron Chef, although resourcefulness and the ability to work under pressure are definite essential skills. She has seem more determined than anxious in the last two episodes, but it illustrates to me the importance of first impressions. On Chopped as a judge, she initially came across as a rather forbidding presence, and her attempts to soften her image on that show and on Alex's Day Off hasn't seem to won people over. It just makes me wonder. Why are people seeming able to forgive and forget Robert Irvine's professional transgressions but not care for Chef Guarnaschelli on the basis of her anxiety or stern standards even when she has exhibited other behavior for what I imagine to be longer periods of time? It's puzzling to me.

In addition, from what I could gather on the Food Network site and through Twitter, peope were very angry about Irvine's departure and many blamed Michael Symon. Symon was vocal in his dislike of Irvine's hummus, the element on the plate that Alton said led to Irvine's elimination. People saw it as Symon's revenge for Irvine returning to the network and starting again with "Dinner Impossible," a show were Symon had been his replacement when Irvine was suspended from the network. I didn't like Irvine at the time, but I have grown to really like him, and I believe Symon has, too, as evidenced in the photo he tweeted this week of him and Robert Irvine at a food festival, looking like they were truly enjoying each other's company. It makes me wonder if Michael Symon will ever be a Next Iron Chef judge again. Is the work truly worth it for the unpopularity it may produce? He has tried to address it in a lighthearted way all week, but I would think it would have to be something that he and his management would discuss.

I have grown to very much like the new format. The dead heat competitions are interesting and exciting. I liked it when Chef Hughes was eliminated, and he wished the remaining contestants good luck in getting a table at his restaurant. That was a funny exit line and it underscores again the high level of skill and fame of these contestants this season. I don't know how they would ever top it, and I don't think they should try.

I spent an hour discussing the show this afternoon with a friend. At one point I asked him if he thought the show was scripted, if he believed the contestants knew from the beginning who was going to win. He is a very smart man, and he is often more cynical than me. But when I asked him this question, he looked surprised, then thoughtful. He told me he didn't believe that was true.

I look forward to more episodes.

Love, Actually

This movie redeemed my faith in romantic comedies yesterday. I watched it upon the recommendation of Bald Bryan from the podcast, "The Film Vault." I thought, "Yeah, he's known for liking the Muppet Movies, but he also loves Transformers. So if he also recommends Love, Actually, it might be something to see."

I hadn't known before I started watching it that it was written and directed by Richard Curtis who also wrote and directed Pirate Radio, a movie that I like very much. I realized the connection when Love, Actually opened with a scene that felt familiar to me. In Love Actually, Bill Nighy plays an aging, dissolute rocker. In Pirate Radio he plays a d.j. of a similar nature. Once I knew that Curtis wrote and directed both films, I could see how the movies had a similar heart. In both movies, there is a profound affection for music. Both movies have sprawling storylines involving numerous characters. We had previously watched the commentary for Pirate Radio, where Curtis had said that for both of his movies, he had hours and hours of footage that had to be cut, as he liked to let the actors improvise, and the stories would literally get away from him. I imagine it must be an nightmare when you get to the editing process, but I do think what you get from working in this way is some moments that feel real. This was such a relief for me to see after Crazy, Stupid Love where everything felt calculated to the nth degree.

The story is set in Christmas time. There are multiple stories about love. There are great actors in it including Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, and Laura Linney. My favorite moment is one without words, where a character weeps and the music she loves plays in the background. It's such a touching moment, and we are given the opportunity to linger in her sadness. How often does that occur in a movie? On the other side of the table, there is the moment where Hugh Grant as the Prime Minister is happy and he dances in a choreographed manner to a song, which made me think, "Richard Curtis is usually so smart. Why didn't he just tell Hugh Grant to dance? Or what if he just told him to do something that this character would do to express joy? I don't know how many people actually break out in dance. That would have been so much more interesting."

It's one of those movies that, along with Pirate Radio, will be put in heavy rotation. They are both movies that are funny and poignant, that make you want to cheer on the actors, that make you want to start the whole thing over again after it's ended. They are really fun to watch.

Crazy, Stupid Love

I am a football widow today, and when left to my own devices, my thoughts turn to romantic comedy. I have this notion that it would be really fun to commandeer the TV and watch endless rom com. When I imagine it, I think it will be a marathon of movies. In reality, one movie feels endless. Some part of my brain still hasn't caught up to the fact that I can no longer buy into these movies. It's a combination of getting older and also that the writing often isn't as good as it used to be. Seriously, I think if I watched one of the Nora Ephron classic romantic comedies, I would still understand its worth. And it's not about the talent. They used to be solidly built films.

Today I watched Crazy, Stupid Love. It's a movie about fighting for your soulmate. Thats really its intention. It's intergenerational. Everyone turns out to have some sort of connection, and then all sorts of supposed complications occur. The police even get involved at one point. The only way I stayed involved at all is I have this weird quirk that when I buy a film from On Demand, I feel hellbent to finish it. So I used it as exercise time on the elliptical machine; i ate lunch; I shred previously important documents that I no longer needed; and I imagined these great actors in different creative ventures that I would actually like. Then I tried to rewrite the script in my head. In my version, Kevin Bacon and Marisa Tomei would be on screen more and have many more things to do. In my version, i think I would probably do away with the babysitter subplot completely. I would give the son a new story. There's a good film in there, I think. It just needed to be rearranged.

Some Final Thoughts on "Lie To Me"

We watched the final episode of "Lie to Me" last night. We discovered this show late, after it had ended its series run. When it originally broadcast, I remember listening to the "Firewall and Iceberg" podcast and hearing their prediction that "Lie to Me" would be renewed. It didn't have the finality of a series where writers know it's the end.

My biggest regret is that it seemed that Michael B. Jordan would have been a regular cast member should the series have continued. Jordan is one of my favorite actors. I would have liked to have seen him in more scenes with Tim Roth.

The show went out on a quiet note. Lightman's daughter asks him if he loves Gillian (Kelli Williams). He replies that of course he does. The daughter persists, do you really love her? He answers yes. She asks him what he is going to do about it. He says he doesn't know. The screen fades to black and the credits roll. The end.

If they had gone to a Season 4, I imagine there would have been the Moonlighting moment, where they would have been a couple, and that what we as the viewer thought we wanted turned out not to be so. It's probably best to leave it this way, although I will miss these intelligent characters, their honesty and eccentricities, their directness and the way they conduct themselves in the world, staring right in faces, bluntly reading the truth.