What I Watched

For Your Consideration

This movie is currently streaming on Netflix Instant until tomorrow, January 1, 2012.

It is a send-up of Hollywood, particularly the Academy Awards, and the political machinations and emotional drama that is inherent in receiving a nomination and perhaps the coveted award. In this instance, Marilyn Hack (Catherine O'Hara), Victor Alan Miller (Harry Shearer), and Callie Webb (Parker Posey), all actors in a small (quite dreadful) independent film, hear through random comments (a blogger, a morning d.j., a Hollywood gossip show) that they are Oscar contenders. The film shows how one comment, if repeated enough, can create a buzz that then is perceived as reality.

I really loved Catherine O'Hara's performance in this movie. She plays an older actress, someone who's actually quite shy with memory problems and a grandiose sense of her dramatic ability. She becomes completely unglued in this process. This is a denouement explored with gusto. It's a really compelling performance, one that I think should have been recognized by the Academy. It's something really to see.

Dexter, Season 5

There are spoilers. It feels like I'm the last person in the viewing world who watches Dexter to have completed Season 5, but if you are a fan and have not watched it, it's probably  best not to read what I write here.

It always takes me a while to catch up with Dexter. I am not a Showtime subscriber. When the season becomes available on Netflix, I generally wait out the wait, and then I find myself waiting some more. Often when I do start watching it, I then wonder why I waited so long. This season, even after I started watching it, I dawdled. I questioned whether I wanted to continue. I started thinking of it in a very analytical way, the death of any form of entertainment, particularly this venture, where, as the seasons go on, it demands a more significant suspension of disbelief.

The problem is, in every season, Dexter's other life as a serial killer is almost revealed. In every season the writers seem to want to amp up the riskiness, or maybe that's just human nature. If you have been living this life for this long, maybe you ultimately do want to be caught. There were moments in this season—the death in the public restroom, the killing in the warehouse with investigators literally moments away, the murder in the hotel room—how is it that no one would hear and report the melee that occurred there? There are Quinn's suspicions and the subsequent secret investigation of Dexter. Does Quinn really believe that Deb, if handed photographs showing her brother and a woman on a boat throwing garbage bags in the water, would not want to know and to ask questions? The writers want to make us believe that Deb is this ace investigator and that she also has a blind spot about her brother, but to me that would only go so far. To me it would be more believable if there was a scene between Quinn and Deb where he would basically say, "Look, I know you love your brother. I just want you to look at what I found, and then you can make up your own mind." Then have the writers write themselves out of that. That would be interesting.

It feels too easy to me. Are we really supposed to believe that Deb would, after all of her work on this case, let the killers (Dexter and Lumen) go?  Their identities are conveniently hidden before a curtain. Yes, the reasoning is supposed to be: Deb narrowly escaped a similar fate in her past. She's been watching all the DVDs of the tortures in this case. She knows what these men did. She has a certain admiration for this woman and her lover for avenging these victims. But I don't believe that she would really let them go free. I think she would have set those feelings aside and done the police work, because that is what the writers have established for me that this character would do. Simiarly, I do not believe that Quinn would in the end decide that for the love of Deb, he will not reveal what he knows about Dexter. It has been established that he can be a dirty cop, but if he was so concerned about Dexter before and now he was many more reasons to back up his concern, I don't think I've been given enough reasons to think that he would allow someone to continue killing.

I did like the work of Julia Stiles as Lumen, the woman who was meant to be a victim, who pairs up with Dexter to make it right for herself. However, again, I felt that it seemed a given that in important moments when she was told to do something, she would always go against common sense and venture into dangerous situations. That was annoying to me, and it again felt like a way to advance the plot, where I wished they could have thought of a more imaginative way to move the story along.

I now try not to read about Dexter until I see the season. I made the mistake of reading too much about Season 4. That was one where the ending should have been a revelation, but it was something I already knew would happen. However, I have heard general news about Season 6, and none of it seems good. I probably will try to watch it, similar to a person who passes an accident and somehow just has to look. Apparently there will be a Season 7. I am really curious to see if they can somehow figure out how to redeem themselves and wrap this up.

Iron Chef America: Zakarian v. Casanova

This was Chef Zakarian's first battle as an Iron Chef. What first surprised and delighted me was that Chef Guarnaschelli was one of his sous chefs. To those who didn't watch Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs, Chef Guarnaschelli was one of Chef Zakarian's competitors on that show. She and Zakarian are both judges on Chopped. In Zakarian's final battle to be Iron Chef, he chose Guaranaschelli to be his sous chef.

I thought she brought a whole new dimension to the role of sous chef on this show. In this battle, Battle Trout, she was in charge of making the soup. Generally the sous chefs on this program go about their business, completing the tasks that the Iron Chef has assigned them. Chef Guaraneschelli gave input. She advised the Iron Chef. In this first battle, there seemed to be time issues or at the very least anxiety over time. Zakarian kept asking Guaranaschelli if he could help with the soup, but his ideas of helping prompted words like, "I beg of you, don't blend it yet" and the mantra, "Let it cook." It was a great dynamic, and I hope that they will remain team members for future battles.

The judging was also interesting. I would beg of Food Network that they cease and desist on the celebrity judges that have little culinary knowledge. On this occasiion, Jill Zarin, one of the Real Housewives, was a judge. She promptly proclaimed that she had never eaten sushi and didn't care for mussels. i felt it tainted the judging. Iron Chef Zakarian won with a perfect score, but it left me wondering, because I didn't feel that one member on the panel really had the knowledge to evaluate this food. It's a battle that's often inherent in Iron Chef America: how much of it is about technical expertise and how much is show biz? To me the show is the most entertaining when it's really about what they are doing.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

This was one of those instances where we walked into the theatre right when the previews were set to start only to discover that the only free two seats together were in the front row. At this theatre, those seats should be eliminated. The viewing angle is all wrong. Chiropractors should be standing by. Fortunately for us, the people in the next row were wililng to move down so we could sit there. I never thought I could sit too close to Robert Downey, Jr. It can really happen.

And this is the exact wrong movie to sit too close due to the look and feel of this film. I didn't understand it in the first of this series, and I continue to not understand why the action sequences are fimed in such a herky jerky, disjointed fashion. Is it supposed to reflect the state of Holmes's mind? His intense sense of deduction? I find it distracting, frenetic, and basically irritating. My problem with this series is I want a Redford-Newman vehicle. I think Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law have talent and charisma to spare, and they should concentrate on writing a good script and letting these two actors do their work and keep the production values to a minimum. That's what I would ideally want, but I'm not their demographic. I will grumble and buy my ticket, because I enjoy watching Robert Downey, Jr.'s work that much, but it is one of those instances where while I'm watching the movie, I'm often wishing for something else in my head.

This paragraph contains spoilers. I wondered as well about the future of this franchise. I thought that Rachel McAdams had established herself well in the first film as Sherlock's love interest and was surprised at the hasty way in which she was dispatched in this one. I also imagine that Moriarity is dead. Is it wise in a franchise that plans to continue to eliminate Holmes's chief nemesis?

If I ruled the cinematic world, I would also want to have a sit down with Robert Downey, Jr. and ask him to do some independent, quirky projects. These action movies are all fine and fun, and I will see them, because of him, but I want him to stretch his acting muscles as well. He is one of our greatest actors. According to IMDb, his future projects are "Iron Man 3" and "The Avengers." I just feel we need him to also be doing other things.

The Muppets Movie

This film felt like a labor of love. It felt old-fashioned and uber silly. It was a delight to see.

Jason Segel seemed like the perfect person to be the leading man and to be part of the team that wrote this movie. He never seems to take himself very seriously. He has in the past written and sung some truly ridiculous songs. He is naturally larger than life. Upon reflection, he does seem like a Muppet of a man.

I also thought Amy Adams was a great choice as the leading lady. She has a talent for singing and dancing. She has the capability to match Segel's outsized humor. She is willing to fully commit to the ride that is Muppets.

I was also surprised to see one of my favorite actors, Chris Cooper, cast as the villain. As with all the celebrities involved in this project, he seemed genuinely thrilled to be working with the Muppets and chewed the scenery with glee. I never imagined that I' would ever see this actor singing a rap song, and I'm glad it all happened.

The script was smart and funny and heartfelt. This was the movie that I really wanted to see this holiday season, and i wasn't completely sure why. I had always loved the Muppets, but I hadn't seen all of their work. It wasn't like I was an uber fan. But It was wonderful to see the Muppets in a project again after such a long time. It felt to me like a small window of hope. In a way it doesn't surprise me that for the past twelve years, we haven't had the Muppets to entertain us. There have been some dark times. The fact that they are back, with their optimism and wit and subversion, makes me happy.

The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs, Finale

Interesting things happened, if you nerd out over Next Iron Chef the way I do.

There seems to be a need to perpetually jazz things up. The tradition has been for the final competition to be a battle in Kitchen Stadium. You ultimately win your title Iron Chef style. But this year, they added twists. There were Chairman "gifts." At any tie during the challenge, the Chairman could call the chefs over and introduce another element that would need to be factored into their final offerings.

One was the gift of help. The finalists could choose one of the other contestants to help them for fifteen minutes each. They chose Chef Guarnaschelli. Chef Guarnaschelli is an interesting TV personality. She frequently has an expression on her face that suggests that she's highly disgruntled, and yet her actions and words often belie that impression. Each independently seem sincere to me, so how do you reconcile this puzzle in your head? I am not sure. I just noticed that of anyone they could have picked, these two chefs wanted Chef Guarnaschelli on their team, and although she seemed somewhat strange about it, she also worked hard, and her components were highly praised for both teams.

The others were more food challenges. Make ice cream, a standard punchline for Iron Chef America. Use cranberries. The chefs worked with graciousness. They often looked stressed and exhausted. It genuinely seemed that this was a prize that they dearly, dearly wanted.

The other question that came to mind during the proceedings: Where's Chef Garces? Perhaps having all the Iron Chefs on the panel makes it too ridiculously large, but Chef Forgione was part of the judging panel earlier in the competition. To have Chef Garces not there at all speaks volumes to me, and maybe it's just a fiction that I'm creating in my head. But Forgione and Garces are currently polling at 2% on the Food Network poll of favorite Iron Chefs. Mike says it's the nature of the beast. The Next Iron Chef now is so popular that whoever wins the competition does not get a chance to develop a following. There are too many Iron Chefs and too few episodes. Everyone's lucky if they're seen more than twice a year. I do think it's also temperament. Chef Garces does not have a larger than life pesonality. He seems kind of shy. He also beat Bobby Flay, and last season he obtained a perfect score in one of his Iron Chef battles. I don't know what's going on behind closed doors with him and Food Network, but i think that keeping him out of these opportunities is not helpful for someone who obviously has the culinary skills, and I think could become a popular chef, given more time and attention.

By the time we had gotten to this point, I was happy with either of these chefs winning. I could see that Chef Zakarian consistently produced food that amazed the judges. I saw how Chef Falkner kept surrpising everyone, how through her creativity, she demanded to be one of the final two. It seemed like it was a very difficult decision, but it felt like the right choice this time to choose Chef Zakarian as the Next Iron Chef. I think he will be great at it. I think he will be fun to watch.

And the network seems to have the perfect angle to continue this series. There have been ads for Iron Chef Redemption. They will bring back the chefs that the publc loved the most: I'm thinking  Chef Falkner, Burrell, Guarnaschelli, Irvine, Tsai, and Besh will be in the mix, if they want it, and I think most, if not all of them, do. It has the potential to be great television again, one where I bet Michael Symon will not be a judge. I will again hope for a woman to win. I think we need a woman Iron Chef,  but she needs to fully win it. The consensus tonight was that although Falkner brought skills to the table that the other Iron Chefs don't have, narmely her baking skills, and she is a rising star, Chef Zakarian is now at the top of his game, and isn't that what an Iron Chef is ultimately about?

I can't believe that after all of my complaining, I look forward to see who the next Iron Chef will be. How did it happen that the competition to be on the show has generated more excitement than the actual show? That is a bit of a pickle, and one that they need to figure out.

Young Adult

I am still thinking about this movie.

If you have not heard of it, Young Adult centers around Mavis Gary (Charlize Theron), a woman who writes teenage novels and who has left her small town to live in the big city. She is now divorced, and when she learns that her high school boyfriend, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson) is now married and just had a child, she decides that she needs to return to her hometown and make things right. In her mind, what would be right would be if Buddy left his family and relocated to Minneapolis to be with her.

The challenge of this movie is that Mavis is on a mission that not only seems doomed from the start, but it is one that we don't want to see happen. The fact that the movie worked for me is largely due to the character of Matt Freehauf (Patton Oswalt), one of Mavis's classmates that only made a blip on her radar screen, because he was a victim of a hate crime. He is the one in the film most able to be direct with her. He is one of the few people who seems to genuinely want to spend some time with her. He is funny and interesting, and I was happy whenever they were on screen together.

I also admired Charlize Theron's work in this movie. She didn't play the game where Charlize, the actor, is winking at the audience and basically signalling, "Don't worry. I'm not really like this." She didn't make Mavis into a cartoon character. She seemed to genuinely explore what it would be like to play someone this troubled, this narcissistic, this emotionally stunted. I was also impressed with the genuine kindness and strength of the other characters from her past as they tried to honor past ties and tried to divert the shenanigans presented to them.  Diablo Cody wrote a wonderful character study with geniuine scenes where characters had moments together. This is the type of movie that I like to see.

Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol

This is one of those shows that was captured in my genetic make-up. For me, part of Christmas means watching this show. I hadn't seen it for several years, and it was with great cheer this season when I realized it was accessible to me through Hulu and through Amazon streaming.

It's an hour-long show, a musical "freely adapted" from the Charles Dicken novel with Magoo as Ebenezer Scrooge. Watching it now as an adult, I was amazed at the apparent brevity of this show. As a child, it felt epic in length. I could understand why I was afraid of the Third Spirit, a silent, menacing figure shrouded in black, extending a skeletal finger that pointed out events. Yet this time I noticed how Scrooge clung to this spirt. He was frightened by the omens, but he genuinely sought comfort from this spectral figure.

The music is solid. I was reading IMDb trivia about this show where it stated that the show's composers, Bob Merrill and Jules Styne, wrote an additional song for this show that was not used, as all of the animation had been completed. The name of the tune? "People," later made famous by Barbra Streisand. It's amazing to think of this song being written for this vehicle. It's also easy to imagine it fitting in this repertoire; the other songs are that good.

I do wonder what an adult who never experienced this as a child would think of this show. Would they still find it charming? I would like to believe that the music would win them over, but I'm not sure. For me, it does make my holiday.

The Next Iron Chef: Super Chefs, Episode 7

Some quick thoughts on this episode leading to the final elimination of next week. I always have enjoyed watching this series, and I thought that this version of it with the Super Chefs would be the most interesting one of them all. But it actually has been the one that has called into question the most the existence of this show. In other years, it was easier to justify the eliminations. Some chefs did not seem that they actually did have the skills to be an Iron Chef. Others acted out, and for that reason, in my mind, they should not be an Iron Chef.

This has not been the case for this season. Yes, there has been some bluster and mild trash talking, but generally everyone has behaved honorably. The candidates seem exceptionally talented. More and more it seems to me that that become an Iron Chef should not be a public process with competitions that affect your fate, that it would have been better for the show if they had interviewed their candidates and decided who in terms of demographics and personality would be the best fit for the show. Many people, myself included, would like to see a female Iron Chef now that Cat Cora has retired from the show. But if Chef Falkner wins next week, there are going to be complaints of a fix.If they had just decided on who would be their best candidate behind closed doors (I think it would have been Chef Burrell), I think people would have been happy with that choice.

I did appreciate that the candidates did seem genuinely devastated when they did not win. I do believe that there is some honor still in being an Iron Chef in the food world, and that in terms of your career, it does vault you to a new level. I liked it that being an Iron Chef seemed to really mean something to the people involved.

I would be happy if either Chef Zakarian or Chef Falkner would win. It just doesn't ultimately seem to me that an Iron Chef should be chosen this way. I hope they will retire this show after this season.

Restaurant Impossible - The Wildcat Cafe

This was the second recent Restaurant Impossible that had a larger reach. A few weeks ago Chef Irvine and his crew went to help remodel and reenvision a soup kitchen. In this episode, they traveled to Ohio where they worked at a high school cafe that provided students an education in the culinary arts and was also open to the general public.

This was an episode that I could watch over and over again. (They are apparently reairing it on Wednesday, December the 14th, at 9:00 p.m. I would highly recommend setting the DVR.) There were so many precious moments with the students who started off with very little skills, but who quickly decided that they wanted to learn all they could from Chef Irvine. Through his words and actions Irvine also seemed to genuinely care for these children. He made sure by the time he left, the students were working with up-to-date equipment, and he gave each of them their own knife set. He talked to them of the importance of hard work, passion, and practice. When it came time for the grand opening, Irvine quicly assessed that the students were overwhelmed by the amount of work facing them. He rolled up his sleeves and helped them.

It was one of those episodes that was full of charming moments. My favorite was when they went out into Canton to the local farmers market to publicize the opening of their restaurant. They traveled by bus accompanied by the school marching band and cheerleaders. The excitement and exuberance of these students about their school and about their fellow students was glorious to see. It was a very special episode.