Sorry I ain't been around . . .

I last posted here in February of 2013.

Kind of a lot has happened since then but I still dig on all this and as always, have things to say, so as the Black-Eyed Peas so eloquently put it, let's get it started. I'll try to be brief, poignant, and entertaining (and I'll be failing at 1 and 2).

HIT RESET.

1. HOMELAND (spoilers) 

I'm a huge fan of Homeland, have been since the beginning. I think we actually left Christmas of 2013 early in order to get home and finish the season we'd been binge watching that week, and with the exception of season 4, I've enjoyed each consecutive year's offering. And as a bloated, self-important, longtime fan, I'll even go on record and say I thought they did a great job this year.

From what Twitter has to say, people were really piss-and-vinegared about the finale--Quinn's er, resolution, as it were, and sure, it was unfortunate. You know what else is unfortunate? EVERYTHING ELSE ON THAT SHOW. Oh, you liked Brody? Yeah, things went poorly for him. You enjoyed Saul and Mira together? Yeah, no more of that. David Estes? Farrah? Dana Brody? Just kidding, everyone thought Dana Brody was an insufferable brat, but whatever. These were all interesting, well-written, well-developed characters and all of them had bad things happen to them because it's a show about THE CIA. No one gets a fun, happy life, least of all Carrie and least of all Quinn. If you wanted an ending where they frolicked off into the sunset I think you may have been watching the wrong show.

Quinn was a legit badass, one of my very favorite characters of all the shows I'm invested in. What made him so striking was that he was damaged and competent---the best at his job, but intelligent enough to know that the job he was so very good at was killing him, little by little. Many times the writing referenced Quinn's desire to leave intelligence, but someone or something always pulled him back in and because he was the best black ops agent Dar Adal had ever recruited, he got every shit job that came along because no one ever got 'er done like Quinn. (We don't ever want to know what happens on the wall, we just know that we want him on that wall, we need him on that wall.)

What happened to Quinn in Berlin was terrible, and what happened to him after was terrible. Yeah, he was in love with Carrie. Yes, it would have been nice if they got together and left the life to go raise Frannie and Hop on a beach somewhere, but it was never gonna happen. If Quinn didn't have a stroke, something else would have done it, because EVERYTHING ON THIS SHOW IS UNPLEASANT. Maybe I've spent too much time watching Kathryn Bigelow's films, but people who have difficult jobs often times don't get a lot of blissful moments. I think Quinn got that, and so did Carrie. He did a noble, selfless thing in the end, not just for Carrie but for the PEOTUS, as well. Too bad she turned out to be such a snake in the grass. I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I'm very excited to see what they do with that dynamic next year---remember all those years with Evil President Charles Logan on 24? Everyone loved hating that guy.

Salutes to Rupert Friend for his amazing portrayal of Peter Quinn, here's one of my faves of his:



2. TWIN PEAKS 

This guy!

May 21 is the premiere date of the new Twin Peaks reboot, a two-hour long episode! I've started a re-watch and plan on dropping these creepy little reviews I did of the show the first time I watched all the episodes back in the 90s which referenced things like

Best Lynch Moment: Cooper meeting Audrey, "Do your palms ever itch?"
Best Line: "By God those things will be quiet now!" --Nadine
Coffee, Pie, or Doughnut Count: 9

I don't want to know anything beforehand, but Kyle MacLachlan has been extremely active on Twitter, answering questions live and liking/retweeting a ton, so that's been pretty rad. I think they're all as excited as we are! See you there? SEE YOU THERE.

3. I'm teaching a Tarantino film class for Minneapolis community ed this spring, which is pretty much the class I've been wanting to teach since I started doing film classes there in 2012. Wednesday nights, 7pm. Link below, if you're interested. Need to be at least 16, kids, and FYI, films will contain violence.

Film Appreciation: The Films of Quentin 
Tarantino

Hopefully I'll see you there, too!

Scorpio rivals Bobby Peru in gross factor: Dirty Harry.

Dirty Harry, 1971, directed by Don Siegel. "A San Francisco cop with little regard for rules (but who always gets results) tries to track down a serial killer who snipes at random victims."

Back in about 1989, my dad took us to some old video store in Willmar that was going out of business. They sold beta tapes; we had a beta VCR. I think Charlie and I each got to pick out a few movies and my dad got himself a box full. Of course it was a fight once we got home over whose film was going in first, and having paid for all of them, Dewey won. He chose this film, and while I wasn't exactly excited about watching it, I did. And loved it. And begged to watch all the sequels (which were also purchased that night). My mother was less than thrilled about this. I think she hates Dirty Harry (or anything with Clint Eastwood) just slightly less than she hates The Blues Brothers, which was another one Dewey, Charlie, and I absolutely loved. . . I'll give my mother credit, we probably made her crazy with all the ridiculous stuff we watched over the years. She picked Sophie's Choice and Terms of Endearment for her choices in the beta box that evening, btw.

Anyway. There are really only two things I'm going to say about this film, other than how much I love it. 

1. When this film came up in school, it was in an American Studies class (not Folwell Hall, surprise, surprise) and it was held as the most definitive example of Right-wing politics invading Hollywood for its time (1971). I sat in that class completely mesmerized, thinking, Jesus H, how did I miss all this? I mean, are you sure? The mayor, yes, was a clueless douche. Overly liberal? I don't know. Scorpio's peace sign belt buckle? Whoopee. Obviously he was not a spokesperson for the San Francisco Hippy movement as HE WAS KILLING PEOPLE FROM ROOFTOPS. AND RAPING 15 YEAR OLD GIRLS. I think the hippies would have passed on him, honestly. Harry's big gun a symbol? Yeah, whatever. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. And Scorpio was a goddamned criminal. End of story.

2. Speaking of Scorpio. Whoever they got to write this guy deserves an award for creating the most disgusting character, pretty much ever. It would be a good fifteen years before Lynch and Dafoe brought Bobby Peru into the running, but bloody hell, man! All the smiling and giggling and cackling . . .  "I just wanted you to know something, I've changed my mind! I'm going to let her die!" Said HAPPILY, about Ann Mary Deacon, rotting in the sewer, as if it's amusing! This guy was shittin' awful! It was almost painful how long it took for Harry to just finally end him. Like in 24, with some of those evil villains, the ones you're just praying will meet up with Bauer off the grid? It was fitting that Harry waited until Scorpio thought he had gotten the drop on him before pulling the trigger. Regrettably, it did not take his head "clean off." 

You tried to kill me! 

My favorite moments are Harry's first step onto the scene at the first murder (scowl, always the scowl), and the tossing of his badge into the river after he shoots Scorpio. And pretty much every line he utters during the whole film. . . 70s gold, man, 70s gold.

Let's Just Calm Down.

Holy Effin' TUT. Did anyone else see Bauer last night?

I mean, I know he was pissed, but JEEEEEEEEEEEZ. That was the most disturbing episode of 24 or really anything on television that I've ever seen. Now that I think back on this whole final season, I think it's safe to say that pretty much everything that's happened has been disturbing. Granted, we had some comic relief with Hassan's Esai Morales pomp and of course, The Platypus scurrying around with her webbed feet and eggs in the mud, but damn.

1. Renee getting acquaintance-raped by the Russian.
2. Before that, Renee just slicing off that random shop keeper's finger. Or was it his whole hand?

3. Kim Bauer, again on the show.
4. The fact that they named that little girl TERRY. Okay, that's not really disturbing, but it's cheesy and annoying, so a checkmark nonetheless.

5. The execution of Hassan. Not just because we no longer get to see his pomp, but that his death was brutal and disturbing, and we all know their motivation was a Daniel Pearl-type situation, which is horrible and I thought a bit too harsh and violent for network television.

6. Renee's death was unpleasant as well, but for other reasons. Obviously she was Jack's last thread to civilization and her biting it was the straw that was going to break his back. The fact that he was all disheveled and barefoot in the hospital was also unsettling. Jack Bauer just should not be barefoot.

7. Okay, THAT DAMNED ASSASSIN DEATH SUIT THAT HE PUT ON TO GET LOGAN IN? Um, when that shit came on I can only describe my reaction as backing away slowly from the television and from 24 altogether. Really? That was fricking SCARY. Logan, though he kind of deserved everything he got, and his horrified shriek, "IT'S JACK BAUER!!!" Dude. I think in that state of mind Jack could have offed his own daughter and not even broken his stride. Hmm.

8. Are they going to execute Bauer, crimes against humanity? I mean I don't have much time to waste on 24 theories with LOST on immediately the day after, but how exactly are they going to wrap this up? Taylor is going down. Yuri Suvarov is going down. THEY SHOULD HAVE JUST KEPT AARON PIERCE ON AS SECRET SERVICE. Things never would have gotten this messed up if he had been around.

9. I think there needs to be a spinoff with Aaron Pierce just corralling all the stupidity in the US government, don't you?

Peace Out, Platypus.

So Dana Walsh's number was finally up; no silent clock, either. I had to quit watching about ten minutes from the end last night because I was just too tired to go on and had spent, like, hours trying to create a facebook page for my (television lady) self without having to create a whole separate profile, so I just now watched the last ten minutes where Jack puts two in at close range and walks away as if going out for the evening papers.

Platypus really was just a soldier, she probably just needed more money for a better dugout somewhere, and maybe some pedicures for her webbed feet. I will miss her, now that she's gone; she really brought an element of comedy that the show really hasn't had since the Ritchie torture-helmet.

Pity.

Yes, YES!

The first yes is a smaller one, but an enthusiastic one nonetheless: 24 IS GOOD AGAIN! Oh, I've been waiting so long to actually like it; I can't believe that it's finally decent once more. The only thing that could make me happier would be Nina Meyers strolling in on the arm of Tony Almeida (which, let's face it, COULD happen given how out-of-whack things have gone in the plot lately).

I fully think the turnaround began the moment Charles Logan stepped onto the scene. You have to have a slippery enemy in 24; things just don't work if you don't. The first few seasons it was First Lady Sherry Palmer.



Then we had THIS GUY! Bravo, Charles, BRAVO. I never really felt one way or another toward Alison Taylor, only maybe that she was a crashing bore. I am thrilled to no end that Logan is completely out there dragging her name through the mud and being all sinister.

BUT WHERE IS AARON PIERCE? off making the goat movie, I suppose. Too bad.

Jack Bauer in battle mode, STEALING A HELICOPTER and contradicting the President? YES! FINALLY, YES! This is why people watch the show. We don't want to see Jack playing it safe, we don't want to see Jack worrying about some chick (although the surprise sex scene with Renee just before she got whacked was kind of good), we want to see Jack Bauer kick some ass! And all this tomfoolery just so he'll be able to get Platypus in a lockdown somewhere TO TORTURE HER!



On that note, Matt told me before the show that Dana Walsh was about to meet a fitting (and comical) end during the episode; fitting because she gets WATER-boarded (platypus) and comical because she sucks, and good riddance. I was a little surprised by that, actually. No Johnson behind the 2-way mirror with his injection bag? No ripping off fingernails, no Ritchie-from-season-4-psychadellic torture helmet, but right to water boarding? I suppose we're almost to the end by now and they need to get where they're going pretty quickly, so fine, I still give it a thumbs-up.



And second, BREAKING BAD.

This is fast becoming my second favorite show, ever. I cannot believe I've come to the table so late on this, but it is amazing.
"Could you do me a favor? Could you just. CLIMB DOWN. OUT OF MY ASS. JUST A LITTLE BIT?" The sarcasm on this show is killer.



And KEN WINS's BMW blowing up at the gas station? My new, favorite moment in media, ever. Do you know how many of those douche bags I've had to make coffee for during the last four years? PLENTY. The strut and the looks and the goddamned blue tooths. . . .

WONDERFUL. Do yourself a favor and watch it NOW.

Lost Season 5 and 24 episode 4

LOST: fine. A good enough beginning. Kate kind of overreacted to the whole blood test thing, which I'm sure was engineered by Benjamin Linus somehow. Sun, I just feel kind of blah about. So getting revenge is more important than spending time with your daughter? Take a lesson from Beatrix Kiddo: sit in a hotel room, spend your money, and don't look back.

Sayid is the Iraqi Jack Bauer. I love it.


24: That killing of Samantha Roth was unnecessarily brutal. What luck that the secret service guy happened to catch a less than ideal position on the fall over the railing! Now if that first gentleman knows ANYTHING he'll call his WIFE and get someone outside the secret service over the ASAP to see the kid dead with this elaborate scheme all laid out and rubber gloves and plastic wrap still on his person.

I am starting to think that ETHAN is the rat inside the oval office. It obviously won't be the secretary that resigned but someone she thinks is on her side; he fits the bill. Plus he was the corrupt warden in The Shawshank Redemption, some stereotypes you just can't escape. . .

Jack needs to stop being tender with Renee Walker. She honestly believes the FBI ISN'T INFILTRATED? Like David Lynch said about the Iphone. . . GET REAL.

24 Season 7 Premiere, part 1

1. I seriously think the confidence and paranoia surrounding the economy and state of the nation has been in the crapper the last two years because Jack Bauer took such a long hiatus. People need to know that there is someone (even if he's fictional) out there who can save us. I'm not kidding.

2. I knew Tony wasn't dead. I KNEW IT. Furthermore, I knew he would come back as a bad guy. I have proof of this in my myspace blogs from 2006.

3. Janine? So far, so good. I didn't really think I'd dig her, especially in THIS show, where she seemed a little out of place. That said, WHERE THE HELL IS CHLOE? Did CTU really get disbanded? What gives?

4. "I'm gonna enjoy this. . . " grabbing the pen and getting it ready to stick into Gabriel Shecter's eye? Thank God. Jack is fine when he's all controlled and reserved, but it's good to know the good old Jack still exists, deep down.

5. Always: "I THINK THAT'S THE WRONG MOVE." No one else knows what they're doing. Jack is the only one with any knowledge.

6. Am I the only one sitting here wondering how George W. Bush got through major issues like this? As in, how in the world would he have had the abstract thought to not only process information but then ask the necessary questions in regard to how to handle them, what the next move should be, etc.? I just don't see it happening, like AT ALL.

24: Redemption

The 2 hour special: meh. Fine, I guess. I dug it.

MORE IMPORTANTLY: The preview for the upcoming season in January CONFIRMED what I was saying all along FOR YEARS!!!!
Tony Almeida, one of Jack's closest and most competent friends, therefore in his resurrection ONE OF HIS MOST FORMIDABLE ENEMIES?!?!?!?!?!?!?

I TOLD YOU SO I TOLD YOU SO I TOLD YOU SO I TOLD YOU SO!

And yes, it may have seemed a bit far fetched to some (like Nina Meyers and Ryan Chapelle waltzing into CTU arm in arm, I believe one person in my 24 myspace group phrased it) but I am probably older than most average blogging 24 fans. I've lived through DALLAS, people. Remember when they killed Bobby off and the next season totally tanked? Well I DO. I mean Christ, look at how many times they brought back Nina! And JACK? Please. This was going to happen, the only question was when.

WELCOME BACK, TONY. I may or may not love you more now that you're a bad guy.

LOST diaries: pilot episode 1

"A sudden plane crash leaves at least 48 survivors stranded on a jungle island, forced to scavenge for survival from the wreckage of the plane. As they get their bearings and pin their hopes on a quick rescue, the band of strangers begin to learn the island holds deep and dark secrets. A group of strong-willed survivors: Jack, a surgical doctor; Charlie, a former rock star; and the enigmatic Kate venture into the dark heart of the jungle to try and recover the airplane transceiver. But even heroes have secrets, as the survivors will soon learn."
http://www.tv.com/lost/pilot-1/episode/334467/summary.html?tag=ep_list;title;0

Wow. Relatively late in the game, we have started watching LOST. One episode in and I am already really digging it. My brother said once that I would love it because it was very "Twilight Zone." HOW TRUE!!! Even the music is very much similar. Matthew Fox is very-fine juices. I don't think I'll be willing to get on board an airplane very soon though, these place crash situations have always bothered me. When I was working at NWA I used to have at least one plane crash dream a month.
Bald guy smiling with orange in his mouth: BRANDO FROM THE GODFATHER?!?!!?

I am very excited by this. Sometimes media comes along that gets me this way: 24, Dexter, etc.
How wonderful.

Which 24 Character Am I?

Something Does Not Feel Right.......

Where o where are Tony Almeida and Chase Edmunds when you need them?!?!? Seriously. SILVER SPOONS was just not working for me. He looks weird, maybe he had some drug problems or something after NYPD Blue? He just looks haggard and gives me the willies (not unlike the current Cory Haim).

Other than this, last night's episode of 24 was good; my reaction to seeing Aaron Pierce again was a happy, furious kicking of my feet in the air. Even better that he's been shacking up with the former (drunk) First Lady Martha L!!!!! Congrats. Didn't seem to end too well for either of them though. Tom Lennox is really going to have to step it up if he wants to save the country from POWERS BOOTHE. If I were him, I would have high-tailed it outta there while the veep was on the phone with Bill Buchanan. I was happy to see in the previews that Karen Hayes would be returning to her post. WHO WILL BE THE RAT?!?!?!? I can hardly wait to find out.

Billy, we're good, but this is getting ridiculous......

I realize now the reason I never saw this when it came out or years later on tape: not one of my friends would have had any interest in this movie. None of them watched "Dirty Harry" with their fathers, either, I suppose. I thought it was very entertaining. Yes, I realize it is cheesy. Yes, I realized approximately 3 minutes in (with the help of the score and those ridiculous drums) that this was indeed, St. Elmo's Fire with cowboys. I popped onto IMDB and started looking up reviews, of which there were few. I read a few of the sequal's and then went back to forming my own opinion. My opinion is basically this: SOMETIMES CHEESEY MAINSTREAM POP CULTURE IS GOOD FOR US. I mean, it was released in 1988. What really was going on then? Regan to Bush? uh, Iran Contra? The war on drugs? One might argue that a film like this is bubble-gum garbage, but I kind of think in a way, that was the point. The script was blunt and bad. The lines were shouted and mostly yee ha-ed throughout (all I could think of when they yelled, "REGULATORS!!!" was the unfortunate, "A-booga booga booga, ah-ah-ah...") But what else was the youth culture going to watch? Had there even been a "western" marketed to us before this? It would be a few more years before I actually sat myself down and hung in through the bad dubbings of Sergio Leone and even longer before I could stomach John Wayne, but those films weren't meant for me then anyway. At least this would have created an interest in a wider scope of cinema, perhaps paving the way for me to appreciate other, more well-done westerns as I gained a bit more maturity?

When we watched John Wayne in Silberman's class, many of the people just absolutely FREAKED when we had to discuss it the next day. WHY DID YOU MAKE US WATCH THAT? IT WAS SO BAD!!! IT WAS SO CHEESEY! IT WAS SO BORING!!! THAT GUY IS A TOOL!!!! on and on and on. I kind of liked it all. I got my introduction to westerns from The Twilight Zone (which I also watched with my dad), and John Wayne, Vera Miles, Jimmy Stewart, and Lee Van Cleef really took me back to all of that.

My main point in ranting about this film is that it was relatively harmless, cheesy, minimally violent, and GOOD! It did not need to be deeply philosophical or woo us with a bunch of distinctive edits (save for a few slow motion death-falls at the end, Pekinpah would be appropriately dismayed) because it was doing what all action movies aspire to do: give us a hero. Sometimes this is what the public needs, something simple, something cheesy. A fairy tale! Isn't that why 24 has such a wonderfully broad and obsessive following? We don't want reality. We want someone who is going to save us, no matter how ridiculous the scenario. EVERYONE NEEDS A BAUER.

Back in the USSR.....

Oh Jack, did you really think walking right out the front door was gonna fly? I mean, I saw the previews for next week so I know you get out of it okay, but seriously. I wouldn't want to be held captive by a Russian whose finger you just lopped off.
Hour 12 was nice, here we are, halfway through already. I have to say, I am really digging it with the comeback of Chuck Logan (as Grizzley Bear Jenkins) and Boris The Blade as Gredenko. What a lineup. I am enjoying the parallels between Logan and Jack, the isolation, the beards, the way the goverment had to turn on them both. It's wonderful. Also, who knew how much a nice suit would snazz up ol' Charles L? I mean, Jack in the suit clearly has its merits, but even the buttness of Charles Logan was lessened by getting all gussied up in a suit and tie. Nice work. All I have on the Vice President is this: never trust Powers Boothe. He's snaky and sleezy. I haven't seen much in his repetoire other than Blue Sky and Deadwood, but believe me, the characters he's played in those two pretty well sum it up. He's some real badness.
Someone on the 24blog wondered if this was going to continue straight on its course without any major plot twists or rather turn on its ear in the second half like seasons 3 and 5 both did. To this I have no clue, 24 has a way of sucking me in so deeply that I sort of forget that the old Murphy's Law can come rearing its ugly head at any time. I miss Tony, I miss him so much. I am starting to wonder if Carlos Bernard might be one of those difficult actors; rumors about outlandish behavior are starting to surface. I don't like this. If they bring him back as a terrorist I will jump to the moon, in a good way.

Like being in jail, with the possibility of drowning...

I chose this for my afternoon viewing since HBO on demand displayed a 1hour 38minute viewing time. I guess I shouldn't have expected much from an action film limited to such little screen time, but I was still willing to give it a chance. It was bad. Well, put it this way. It was well done, the bit that we actually see on screen. The problems for me were with the story and how ridiculous it was. I mean, why exactly was this rogue wave just out of no where? Set that up better next time, that way we aren't just sitting around looking really confused and annoyed when a big wave is about three seconds away from destroying the whole ship. They tried to explain it later, after the fact, and yes, we heard how these waves are unpredictable and rare, but still. Then, why exactly did they have to leave the bubbled area where they were able to close the bulkhead doors? Kirk Russel had to find his daughter, but the rest of them? And that woman with her son (who left him alone countless times on the ship both before and after the wave hit, way to go, mother of the year)? It just didn't jive. I was willing to allow the gay architect by Dick Dreyfuss until it then hit me that after that, I kind of liked this movie the first two times I saw it when it was called, "The Towering Inferno," and "Titanic." I mean, I can just hear the pitch to the studios in those terms. Boo. The Towering Inferno had Steve McQueen and Paul Newman. The score to Inferno was lame and it was way too drawn out, but it was more believable, I'll give it that. Blaahh. The postive things I'll say about the film are these: Josh Lucas was lookin' fine, Rico from Six Feet Under had a nasty death scene, and the massive spectacle of the boat was scary once the tut started hitting the fan. Wolfgang Peterson......yee. I mean the effects were nominated for an Oscar, but still. Das Boot war Schlecht.



In other viewings, I happened to catch the last 20 minutes of 24, the bad hour for Chappelle, if you get me.
I found myself getting choked up for the guy, I have to admit. It got me thinking about what my reaction would be if one of my worst enemies was in a similar jam. I don't really have any actual enemies, but I do have someone from my junior high and high school years that I really, really loathe. I don't want her to be killed or tortured, but if it came down to her or the welfare of the country, I'd like to think I'd choose the country. Season 3 has got to be the darkest, most hard core season of 24 so far. It's just really, really negative and hopeless, the entire time. Everyone's got problems. This sort of episodic wonder just gets me so happy and excited. I can't stress enough the love I have for Bauer.



On the subject of love, I watched V for Vendetta yesterday afternoon. A very important film, I think. For every right wing nut job out there, especially the ones who are parents, I would wish just one viewing of this film, noting the reaction. The image of the daughter's framed picture being thrust into the garbage can after her father shuns her for being gay will stay with me forever. How can anyone do that to their own child? In addition to the wonderfully relevent themes, the music and mise en scenes were beautifully done. The dialogue too, all just splendid. Seriously, one of my favorite movies ever.