House of Cards (Season 2)

Beau Willimon, 2014

Can I Stream It?

5/5

If the first season of House of Cards didn't draw you in, you are completely insatiable. If you were putting off watching it as it collects dust on your queue, stop what you are doing and go watch it right now. It's likely better than what you are watching. The writing, acting, cinematography just emanates excellence with every shot. Kevin Spacey is at his best, at a point where its so surprising to see him outdo himself so deep into his career.

The second season dives in deeper. The ante is upped. The stakes are higher. There is an increased sense of suspicion on many fronts. There are more eyes watching. More threats in play. There are more moving parts at work. If the D.C. machine is a well-oiled machine, Frank Underwood is the smart-chip on the motherboard. He paints a picture of a backroom Washington that feels so terrifiyng. Reinforces the idea that perhaps ignorance is bliss. Maybe it's better to have a low profile, be an anonymous citizen, as long as our homeland is safe. And Frank can keep it safe, as long as he gets what he wants in the process. The ghosts of Frank's past continue to collect and follow him. You can almost hear their cries in the empty wood-carved den of his Washington brownstone.

Frank Underwood has become even more powerful, while also somehow growing even more diabolical. He is perhaps one of the most chilling television anti-heroes ever, right up there with Walter White or Tony Soprano. Just give him the Emmy now. Robin Wright continues to be so cold and so completely calculating. They are the true perfect political pair, and their dynamic is almost a nod to Bill and Hillary Clinton (of course way darker), you would expect them to sleep in separate beds because sexual relations would be considered a downgrade to their relationship. Michael Kelly is possibly the most underrated actor in the series (possibly on television in general) as brain-child Doug Stamper. He's just another one of Frank's close loyal aides who will stop at nothing to maintain Frank's towering position in government. Frank will reel you in and take care of you until he doesn't need you anymore. One can only hope that you prove yourself worthy of being considered irreplaceable. House of Cards is unapologetic. Unforgiving. It's so well-written, so suspenseful. It's going to be so interesting to see where this show goes. Frank Underwood is a pure megalomaniac, and his hunger for power seems to be endless. There seems to be no limit to what his character will do to grow bigger, and it seems like the series is going to only provide great story to parallel that expansion.

House of Cards (Season 1)

Beau Willimon, 2013

Can I Stream It?

4/5

Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) is a sharp Congressman who is politically proficient. He is loyal to those who serve him and unrelenting to those who cross him.

Never before has a series so quickly exposed the rather deplorable behavior of a Washington politician without build-up. You don't even reach the five minute mark before Kevin Spacey's sharp-minded congressman character Francis Underwood does what he believes is a rational move in taking care of a dog that had fallen victim to a hit-and-run driver. This is clearly a deliberate move by the shows creators who want you to get an instant feel for the character, without making any attempt to humanize him beforehand. You find that this is the tip of the iceberg with Frank. Frank is just another moving part in the political machine of Washington, D.C. The city feels much like the shows characters: grim, cold and unforgiving. It comes as no surprise that money is not the active currency in our nation's capital, that it's power and influence. Frank even says while breaking down the fourth wall: "Money is the Mc-mansion in Sarasota that starts falling apart after 10 years. Power is the old stone building that stands for centuries." Frank is tenacious, calculating. He doesn't waste any calories. Much like the chess board sitting in his den, he's always thinking a few steps ahead.

The casting decisions on the show are remarkable. Spacey never disappoints but his role here he shows that he can bring nuance to a dark figure, although his southern accent is a bit weak at times. In Seven he showed you how far to the dark side he can go. With his Underwood character he shows you a depraved figure that is more multi-dimensional, more unpredictable. Robin Wright, who appears to be channeling Mika Brzezinski from MSNBC's Morning Joe, is another veteran actress who brings a lot of depth without playing it safe. In a way her character is more frightening at times with it's restraint. Kate Mara steps out of her sister Rooney's shadow here, and proves that she has some talent as well. Michael Kelly is another cold force, brilliantly playing Frank's strategist.

One of show's best attributes is it's ability to get you hooked on these very questionable characters, even early on. You get behind them, you root for them at times. Perhaps it shows you your own dark side, and reinforces the fact that we are still the same creatures. Saying that these characters are morally bankrupt is probably an understatement. Like the saying goes: "if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog". In a matter of minutes a loyal friend becomes a political tool that may be used for leverage.  The show constantly surprises you. It shows you characters that will now be in your brain forever. You would think that these characters would be morally subdued, being in such high profile positions. But they sink lower and lower. It will be fascinating to see how far it continues to go.

Chained

Jennifer Chambers Lynch, 2012


3/5

Lynch directs this torture-horror picture about a serial killer who traps his victims with his taxi cab and brings them to his house to kill them. He uses a boy, son of a past victim, as a slave in his home to help clean up his messes and work on his scrapbook which details his slayings.

Lynch's work is probably the creative equivalent of bringing Eli Roth home on a date to meet her father David. It's not necessarily a bad thing. Just different from a film that her father would make, and of course she is going to be forced to endure countless comparisons from the film community given the impact that David Lynch has had on modern cinema. She has certainly picked up some of the chops, while the film is quite disturbing at times it still maintains an artful quality to it. D'Onofrio disappears into his role as Bob, proving that he can become an even more involved killer than his character in The Cell. His victim, Rabbit (Eamon Farren), maintains a very obvious sympathetic edge throughout the film, as he sits in the run down shack malnourished eating the scraps left behind by Bob. When it comes to the attention to set design, the serial killer's house is so chilling the Fedex guy would be afraid to place a package on the front steps. The visual canvas of the film is laid out using a lot of bleak colors, and when you are in the presence of some light it's usually a circa 1970's lamp providing a disconcerting glow throughout the filthy shack. The windows are boarded up. The basement, which is home to the remains of the many victims, is lit only and ironically by Christmas lights. Night falls, and the glow of fluorescent-lit "Comfort" written on the top of the Taxi Cab provides the same tension you feel when trapped in the house with the monster. Lynch not only plays off of visual cues but also with sound as well. There is a very present bass-driven hum throughout the film, maintaining a sense of impending horror. To sum it all up... it's a film that will appeal to the horror fan, but anyone that's planning a re-watch really needs a psychological evaluation.

The Truman Show

Peter Weir, 1998


(REWATCHED)

4/5

Truman (Jim Carrey) is the star of a popular reality television show where everything in his life has been filmed. His birth, his schooling, first kiss, his marriage - is all part of the show. He is unaware he is the star of The Truman Show, for now, but his suspicions grow as unusual occurrences seem to be happening around him.

Carrey steps into one of the better dramatic roles of his career as Truman. The film really makes an immediate jump into the story, and never really loses its momentum. The attention to detail in crafting the artificial world that Truman lives in is both imaginative and impressive. Carrey quickly solicits sympathy as the vanilla insurance salesman protagonist who works the daily grind, picks up the daily newspaper, and goes home to eat dinner with the wife and watch I Love Lucy episodes. The limited selection in television shows could be compared to the gray-scale landscape of Pleasantville in it's very overt oppression of art. Christof (Ed Harris) created the show and has been directing it for the entire duration of Truman's life. His imagination is evident, but so is his inflated ego. His artificial town of Sea Haven that he has created is like a 1950's Utopian Suburbia concept. His desire to be a god-like figure sitting high inside the artificial moon must be intoxicating to him. He may be able to spend millions of dollars on his creating his fictional Sea Haven, but he doesn't realize that you can't inhibit the human desire to branch out and see what's out there. True reality is absolutely priceless and impossible to completely emulate. Truman naturally has curious instincts, and as soon as he starts to test his native boundaries, he begins to notice some flaws in the Truman Show world. It's certainly a brilliant social experiment, played out beautifully. Laura Linney is brilliant as Meryl, Truman's wife, as she plays a Stepford Wife-like figure who tries to keep Truman domesticated and unadventurous. The film is also an obvious satirical piece, examining Americas obsession with the modern reality television show. The film really stands out on its own, more than similarly themed EdTV (1999) because it really pulls you in and turns you into one of the many people watching and rooting for Truman. The film's impact on American culture is quite long ranged. A Bellevue psychiatrist named Joel Gold said that he had several schizophrenic patients who claimed that they were being filmed for a reality show similar to that in the film.

Manhattan

Woody Allen, 1979

4/5

Woody Allen directs and stars in this classic black and white film about a writer who is torn between two relationships. One relationship is with a young seventeen year old girl named Tracy (Mariel Hemingway), and the other is with his best friend Yale's (Michael Murphy) mistress Mary (Diane Keaton).

The heavy-hearted dialogue is filled with intellectual grit and witty humor. The film explores the concept of opposites attracting. When Allen's character Isaac meets Mary for the first time, he acts as if he can't stand to hear her talk. The attraction grows, after lots of pigtail pulling. The highlights of Keaton's career are certainly her roles in Woody Allen's films, and she really provides an exceptional performance here consistent with her performance in Annie Hall two years earlier. Her confidence on screen is obvious. Hemingway is alluring as the innocent, introverted, culture-hungry high-schooler. Her character is a good example of the younger girl attached to the older man for what might possibly be the wrong reasons. She has no long-term relationships under her belt, and her lack of experience makes her vulnerable to Isaac's wise charm. Isaac successfully channels Allen's neurotic charm and quick banter. It's Woody Allen's love poem to one of his earliest muses - his dear hometown. So many beautiful images that could only be shown in black and white. The planetarium scene, the rain fall in Central Park, and the carriage ride also in Central Park. The skyline shots of with the array of illuminated squares. The classic shot of the bench in front of the Brooklyn Bridge. The deep blacks and the grainy grays are mesmerizing and effectively capture the Big Apple in the late 1970's. It's certainly one of his more inviting films. Romantic comedies are certainly his wheel-house, and he's effective at telling a story of a group of people completely preoccupied by their pursuit of love in his beloved Manhattan. 

The Man from Earth

Richard Schenkman, 2007


3/5

Professor John Oldman (David Lee Smith) suddenly decides, after 10 years of teaching, that he is going to move to an undisclosed destination. His colleagues are perplexed, and confused. During a going-away party at his cabin, he decides to tell them that he is actually a caveman from the Paleolithic age that never died. They assume he's lying, or trying to consult with them on material for a book he may be writing.

The film, set in the southwest, is fueled by good acting and sharp writing. Substance over style, it doesn't need much more than its provocative dialogue and desert country backdrop to move the story along. As they arrive at the his remote cabin, they immediately start asking questions. You get a sense that he was a very well-liked individual who made a lot of friends on campus. As they open a bottle of Johnny Walker Green, he begins to open up a bit about the reasons for his departure. His colleagues are other professors, well-versed in subjects from Psychology to Anthropology to History to Christian Studies. Instant skeptics, the layers of the onion are peeled and the colleagues begin to try to find cracks in his story. John, a reserved but kind man, continues to recount tales of hunting, looking at the stars thousands of years ago and questioning god, to the rise and fall of the Roman empire. The emotions of the colleagues become unsteady as the story continues. In their eyes, they are hurt that a good friend is leaving for an unknown reason and they are angry that he's playing with their emotions on his way out of town. At times, they assume he has manipulated them by putting them all in the same room hoping to pick their brains. As night falls, the stories continue. Angry and confused, they still cannot get up and walk out. They must hear more. YOU must hear more. You, the audience, basically serves as another body in the room sitting around the fireplace listening along. John's story is engaging and ultimately becomes entrancing as the sun sets and you sit around listening, and gazing at the hypnotic flames of the fire.

Jerome Bixby, who wrote the script, has a background in the sci-fi genre. With Star Trek and The Twilight Zone episodes on his resume, he's clearly someone with a sharp mind that has some interesting ideas. While the film is noticeably low budget, it doesn't call for much more. It's not necessary. This film would also presumably do well on the Broadway stage.

Upstream Color

Shane Carruth, 2013

5/5

Kris (Amy Seimetz) gets abducted and gets put into a state of hypnosis from a mysterious plant extract. When she finally comes out of it, she attempts to piece her life back together. She encounters Jeff (Shane Carruth), who has endured a similar experience, and together they both try to make sense of their changed world.

When I watched this film for the first time, I made the mistake of taking periodic breaks from it. BIG mistake. While you may get away with that with some other films, this is a film built for one sitting. There's just so much there. It's just not going to be beneficial taking yourself out of Carruth's vision and stepping back in when you please, hoping to immediately reorient yourself. Therefore, I gave the film the honor of re-watching a second time and boy was I happy I did.

The film possesses qualities similar to Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It's a wonderfully shot film, which really gives the impression that Carruth has evolved with much of his film-making abilities since making the gritty low-budget sci-fi time travel thriller Primer. The visual elements of the film are excellent, at times very dream-like. Detailed interiors, blinding white light, molecular shots of the blue extract taking hold. Impressive editing. Carruth (deservedly) won the Special Jury Prize for Sound Design at Sundance. The soundtrack reinforces the hypnotic sensibility, with a resonating cadence similar to the soundtrack of The Assassination of Jesse James or the aforementioned Eternal Sunshine.

It's not just a film about an abduction, drugging and the recovery. It's about way more than just Kris' abduction. It's about way more than whatever trauma Jeff has also experienced. It examines a particular life force, and essence of being, a certain vein of existence. A frequency of sound, or many sounds. A connection with the animal world. A communication system one has with nature, similar to the plant system in Avatar but much more complex. I was guilty of thinking too abstractly the first time seeing the film, when the concepts of the film are actually much more literal. Shane Carruth is clearly a high-IQ filmmaker, capable of making intelligent films on par with Christopher Nolan, David Lynch or Darren Aronofsky. It will be interesting to see what kinds of films he continues to make, presumably with growing budgets.

Holy Motors

Leos Carax, 2012


4/5

Mr. Oscar (Denis Lavant) is a man with a busy schedule, spending the day traveling around Paris via limousine. Each stop he makes involves him changing his wardrobe, speech and overall persona to fit that particular appointment.

It's a Surreal Art-House piece that's so confidently artistic, so boldly eccentric that you spend most of the film in sheer confusion as to what you are watching but can't take your eyes off the screen. It's an abstract piece that is likely controversial in terms of its appeal. This is not a film with a three-act structure. It's not even necessarily a film with a beginning or end. Oddly, Certain elements of the film reminded me of Eyes Wide Shut. Without a doubt one of the strangest films I've ever seen. I had thought initially that there would be some kind of significant reveal at the end of the film, but I soon realized that it doesn't even matter. It's a film that changes form, much like Mr. Oscar's attire. At times you feel as if you are watching a performance art piece. At others, a musical. In the end, it's a wild ride but a provocative one.