Bates Motel: A Danger To Himself And to Others Review

BATES MOTEL: A DANGER TO HIMSELF AND TO OTHERS

And what would life be without a little Bates Motel sheer craziness?  A Danger To Himself And to Others, Season Four's premiere episode, goes again for the bonkers to where it makes the goings-on in Gotham seem downright Ozzie and Harriet-like.  We had two things that Bates Motel now has as a set standard: parallel stories and Norman Bates being looney. 

It's interesting that Gotham came to mind, as we start with Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) missing.  He's out in the woods, arguing to an imaginary version of Mother when a concerned man comes across him in a field.  So agitated is he that he has to be punched and tied up at the county hospital (which looks like Gotham General...all yellow lights and dark corners).  Meanwhile, Emma Decody (Olivia Cooke) is in Portland, getting ready for her lung transplant.  Her new boyfriend/Norman Bates' brother Dylan (Max Thieriot) is torn, but once Norman is found he goes to Emma with the blessings of his mother, Norma Bates (Vera Farmiga). 

Norma seems to realize that Norman does need total care, but the posh mental hospital is still out of reach.  Part of her mad scheme is to try to get Sheriff Romero (Nestor Carbonell) to marry her to get insurance.  Romero, already torn with guilt over his killing of Bob Paris, just does not want to deal with this admittedly attractive but dangerous woman (just ask poor Professor Finnegan).  Well, eventually Norman is released but when he tells his mother about his dream of "Mother" killing Bradley by bashing her head in, Norma sees that perhaps his 'dream' is really an unconscious confession.

As if all that wasn't bad enough, we have the appearance of Audrey Ellis (Karina Logue), Emma's long-lost mother.  She wants to reconnect with her daughter, but Emma's father is dead-set against it.  Norma isn't too keen on the idea either, but when Norma's away Audrey goes back to the Bates home to plead her case again.  This time, she meets Norman, who unbeknown to her is in full Mother mode, having another breakdown when she leaves him and locks him in.  As 'Mother' but looking like Norman (except for Norma's bathrobe and feminine behavior), he/she appears sympathetic...only to end up strangling her in a fit of rage about how bad a mother Audrey is.

Again, let me draw attention to the parallels in A Danger to Himself And to Others.  There's the parallel of the hospital.  Emma is in a lovely facility with excellent care.  Norman is in a virtual hellhole: dank and dark, with thoroughly uninterested staff.  Emma is recovering and appears to be on the road to being whole.  Norman is breaking further apart into being a completely split personality. 

There's also the parallel stories of mothers.  Norma Bates has been a hovering, excessively protective and caring but misguided mother.  Audrey Ellis has been an absent mother, one who was not there.  Both however, are in many ways similar.  They both have ill children whom they want to help but neither is able to: Audrey with her long absence, Norma with her long codependency (seriously, neither Norma or Norman appear to question the logic of them sharing the same bed when he's already 18 and a legal adult).  Emma knows nothing of her mother's reappearance, while Norman cannot and will not shake away from.  It is parallel lives, and again it is one of the things Bates Motel excels at: bringing two seemingly different stories together into one ball of crazy.

In terms of performance I don't think we really could get better than the always brilliant Farmiga.  In four seasons I have yet to find a terrible performance from her.  Norma Bates is not a villain or a monster, but a deeply flawed woman, yearning to do the right thing but still struggling with what it means to her.  Norma in some level must know that her son has essentially confessed to another murder, but she continues to enable him, not with covering up, but by attempting to shield him. 

I also wonder why she didn't simply leave a note for Norman when she left, thinking that if she had reassured him in some way he wouldn't have had a psychotic break that lead to cross-dressing and murderous hijinks.   

Highmore needs to get more credit than he deserves as Norman Bates.  He still balances making Norman sympathetic on some level while completely bonkers on another.  You feel for him as he is bound to a stretcher in the county hospital hallway, but are horrified at his strangling of Audrey.

In a certain sense, I think the rest of the cast had very little to do.  Carbonell looked appropriately exhausted from his own dark night of the soul, but he did nothing.  Same for Thieriot's Dylan, and especially Cooke's Emma (though with her lung transplant, perhaps now she won't be carrying the oxygen tank that has become her trademark).  Again, it is the premiere episode.

Honestly, I've pretty much lost count of the people Norman's killed: there's the luscious Miss Watson, Bradley, his own father, and Cody's father (though to be fair, that last one was an accident), and now Audrey.  That's FOUR people Norman has killed.  On some level, Norma must know that Norman IS A Danger to Himself and to Others...

7/10

Next Episode: Goodnight, Mother

The Deer Hunter (1978): A Review (Review #795)

THE DEER HUNTER (1978)

Man Is In The Forest...

I imagine there were more than a few unfortunate souls who went to The Deer Hunter as a date movie.  If they did, they probably didn't end up marrying (unlike the long wedding scene in the film).  The Deer Hunter is a sad, tragic tale of how the Vietnam War destroyed the lives of three friends, some physically, some emotionally, and some both.  Coming at a time when America was still struggling with the war's legacy, The Deer Hunter does not go into the politics of the war.  Instead, it delves into the impact of the war on the individual.  Despite the debunking of the "Russian roulette", one still leaves The Deer Hunter emotionally wrecked.

In rural Pennsylvania, three Russian-American friends celebrate one of them having a lavish wedding before going to Vietnam.  Steve (John Savage) marries Angela (Rutanya Alda) in an epic Russian Orthodox wedding and lavish reception just before he and two of his closest friends, Michael Vronsky (Robert DeNiro) and Nick (Christopher Walken) head off to one last hunting trip before going to serve in Vietnam.  Ominous signs appear when a veteran who is drinking in the VFW bar curses the war, and when a drop of wine falls on Angela's wedding dress unnoticed.  Mike however, does notice the lovely Linda (Meryl Streep), who is Nick's girl.

After the wedding, one last hunting trip where Mike shows his philosophy of 'one shot' to take the deer down.  Then it's quick to Vietnam, where the three friends are tortured by the Viet Cong.  Among the sadistic routines is when they are forced to play Russian roulette, where a gun with a single bullet is placed in the chamber and they spin the chamber around.  Once it stops, the one holding the gun is forced to put up against his head and pull the trigger.  Eventually, Mike manages to use the weapon to kill their captors, and he helps Nick and Steve escape.  However, all the men are broken somehow.  Steve is broken physically, his legs so broken that when Mike finds U.S. troops, they are forced to load him in front of the jeep like a deer.  Nick, who managed to get to the helicopter, is in a hospital in Saigon, but his mind is so broken that after his release he wanders the South Vietnam underworld, playing Russian roulette for cash.

Mike returns to his old home, but he is too damaged.  He and Linda grow close, but Mike keeps searching for Steve.  Angela is practically catatonic, but does give him some clue about Steve.  He is in a hospital, literally half the man he used to be.  Steve has been receiving money from Vietnam but doesn't know from whom.  Mike deduces it's from Nick, still lost in Saigon.  He goes there just when the capital is about to fall and finds Nick, who is completely gone.  Mike does reach his lost mind for one instant before Nick plays one last round of Russian roulette. 

With Nick gone, Steve brings him back home for burial, and at their old hangout, the survivors toast Nick's memory and sing God Bless America.

It really is up to the audience whether God Bless America was meant to be ironic, bitter, or sincere.  I suppose each of the characters meant it in a different way, which is part of The Deer Hunter's brilliance.  It does not take an overt pro or anti-Vietnam War stand (though if I were asked, it is in the anti camp).  It really focuses instead on how the war itself took our characters, regular men, and wrecked them and the worldview they had.  None of them will ever be the same, and the lives lost (and the innocence lost) is what The Deer Hunter is about.

Let me take a moment to address the wedding sequence, which I figure takes up at least the first hour of this three-hour film.  Director Michael Cimino received massive critical backlash for being indulgent in this follow-up film, Heaven's Gate, but I wonder why critics went after him when The Deer Hunter showed how indulgent he could be with just one scene.  Those who have not seen The Deer Hunter but have heard of this epic wedding sequence should be prepared to wonder whether parts of it could simply not have been cut.  The entire thing does give us background into the various lives of this close-knit group, but it does start to drain the audience before we get to the really brutal scenes.

Cimino uses foreshadowing and symbolism overtly to where one wonders whether subtlety was something he cared about.  The wine (aka blood) dropping on Angela's wedding dress without anyone seeing it (though I imagine she was have seen it afterwards), putting Steve on top of the jeep in the same way Mike put the deer on the hood (symbolizing how Steve is now essentially a carcass), it's all so clear that again, I wonder whether less would have been more.  Just as Mike goes hunting, he too is hunted and haunted by all that he's seen.

This overt use of symbolism does not take away from the film.  I can't say it enhances it too much, but it also does not work against it.  It also does not take away from the performances, which really are universally brilliant.  DeNiro gives one of his greatest performances as Mike: this average, working-class man, loyal to his friends, slowly torn apart by his experiences but still holding on to some version of himself.  What makes DeNiro so perfect in the role is how relatable he is, how he shows Mike to be just like us.  It's his average-Joe nature that makes his story so real.  He could be us.  I think with Mike he doesn't see himself as a hero or his actions as either heroic or villainous (let's not forget, there were returning veterans who were spat on or cursed as 'baby killers' by anti-war advocates).  Instead, Mike is just a man who loves his friends, loves hunting, and comes to terms with how he cannot save those he loves.

Walken too is fantastic as the gentle Nick, who for him the war was not something of honor and courage but was the death blow to his soul.  His lost nature breaks your heart, how dead he is inside with the Russian roulette the only thing he now knows.  You silently plead for him to go back with Mike but know that perhaps if he did, his fate would still break him.

Streep, even in this early role, showed us why she is one of the greatest actresses of all time.  Linda is a good woman, loving, caring, but also torn between her love for Nick and the comfort of Mike, between the memory of a lost man and the presence of a live one. 

Sadly, her then-companion John Cazale, who plays one of Mike's friends who doesn't go to Nam, was dying of lung cancer at the time The Deer Hunter was being made.  To accommodate him, all the scenes involving him were shot first; Cazale died before the film's release.

I think The Deer Hunter is a good film, a moving story of men who endured war, some who survived it, some who did not.  Is it an anti-war film?  I'm not sold on that idea.  I think it's more about survival and the price of friendship, of bonds between brothers: in war and in peace.  It is a very long film (the wedding scene itself I think went on far too long) and perhaps the worst date movie of all time.  However, in terms of acting (particularly by Walken, Streep, and DeNiro), and as a story of how we judge what a man is, The Deer Hunter is a good, strong choice.

To Friends Dead and Gone

DECISION: B+

1979 Best Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer

Gotham: A Dead Man Feels No Cold Review

GOTHAM: A DEAD MAN FEELS NO COLD

And Gotham does it again: take a great villain (and a great performance by the actor playing said villain) and wraps the story quickly.  It's almost a shame, since Nathan Darrow is probably the best version of Mr. Freeze I've ever seen (apologies to George Sanders, Otto Preminger, and Eli Wallach...I confess to liking Preminger's the best, and the less said of Arnold Schwarzenegger the better).  A Dead Man Feels No Cold doesn't eliminate Mr. Freeze completely (how could it, given he will eventually have to confront the future Batman), but I wish they had let him escape to fight another day rather than be roped in by the more villainous Dr. Strange.

Oh well, one can't have everything.

Detectives James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) and Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) are on the hunt for Victor Fries aka Mr. Freeze (Darrow), who is determined to get his dying wife Nora (Kristen Hager) back.  Nora is taken to Arkham Asylum's medical facility as a way to both keep her alive and trap Fries.  Victor however, quickly sees through this scheme and plots his own plan to bust his wife out.  He manages to succeed thanks to the secret help of Dr. Hugo Strange (B.D. Wong), the chief psychiatrist at Arkham who has nefarious plans of his own.  Part of this means allowing Fries to leave with his wife and her physician, Dr. Leslie Thompkins (Morena Baccarin), over Gordon's objections.  Gordon is worried for both Lee and their unborn baby, but Lee tells him she will go.

Back at the Fries home, Nora realizes that her husband, while a good man, has killed too many people to save her.  She secretly switches the cartridge that holds the successful formula with another, and when Fries freezes her to save her, she disintegrates instead.  Victor, so horrified and devastated when he realizes the truth, attempts to freeze himself.  To the public, Victor Fries is dead, but we learn that Strange has saved him, for he is useful...perhaps in bringing back such characters as Jerome and Theo Galavan (and maybe a certain dead Fish).

Meanwhile, in two other subplots, young Master Bruce Wayne (David Mazouz) is coming closer to finding Matches Malone, the man who killed his parents.  His mind is becoming set on revenge by killing Malone.  His manservant Alfred (Sean Pertwee) is dead-set against Bruce doing any killing and reaches a compromise: Bruce and Alfred will search out for Malone, but Alfred will kill him.  Bruce however, is starting to fill with bloodlust, and asks his frenemy Selina Kyle (Camren Bicondova) to get a gun.  She too tells him he's not made of such stuff, but Bruce will not be denied.

Back at Arkham, Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor) is being tortured by Dr. Strange, the bad doctor's efforts to alter him meeting with little success.  Cobblepot begs Gordon's help but Gordon does not want to get involved, thinking Strange isn't so...well, strange.  An enraged Cobblepot screams about Gordon being Galavan's real killer, which catches Strange's attention. 

A Dead Man Feels No Cold has some of the best acting going on, which is a highpoint of both the episode and the series.  At the top of the list is Nathan Darrow as Victor Fries/Mr. Freeze.  Darrow brings a complexity to the role, making Victor a good man driven to desperate ends for a noble cause.  He makes Mr. Freeze into a believable character, a remarkable feat given the outlandish nature of character.  Darrow is sympathetic as Victor, and it makes his journey a sad one.

Moving on, I was so impressed with Mazouz as Bruce Wayne.  He is in turns cold and filled with rage and he plays both sides with aplomb.  His cool, eerie conversation with Thompkins gives us the strongest suggestion that Batman is rising, and the anger about going after his parents' killer is chilling (no pun intended).

Has Robin Lord Taylor ever given a bad Penguin?  I don't think so, and here, watching him puzzled by a game of Duck, Duck, Goose is sad and makes one feel for someone who is if not crazy at least murderously psychopathic.

Given all that, why am I not as enthused about A Dead Man Feels No Cold?  I think it comes from the fact that the Freeze storyline went by so fast.  I think it comes in the parallels between Nora and Lee, both in love with men whose obsessions, while for the good, lead them and others to ruin.  Oh, and Gotham could not resist getting in a touch of the gruesome: a literal icicle (as in 'eye'-cicle). 

As if seeing Nora's disintegration wasn't gruesome enough...or Mr. Freeze's fright-wig. 

A Dead Man Feels No Cold was elevated by Nathan Darrow in particular, but brought down slightly by a quick finish to what could have been an interesting story.  It also brought us the potential of bringing back other characters, which is curious way of having your cake and eating it to with regards to the Rogue's Gallery.  Still, good performances and a strong action piece in the Arkham raid makes this another excellent Gotham episode.    

7/10

Next Episode: This Ball of Mud and Meanness

Gotham: Mr. Freeze Review

GOTHAM: MR. FREEZE

We're back to Gotham's second season, and we get a new subtitle (Wrath of The Villains) and a new villain: the title character, Mr. Freeze.  The other times we've been introduced to future villains with their names in the title (Selina Kyle and Harvey Dent) they weren't particularly great.  Now, we get Mr. Freeze, and we break from the curse of weak Gotham episodes bearing a villain's name.  Mr. Freeze gives us a strong beginning to what could be a strong second half.  It also gives us a surprisingly gruesome amount of violence (though nothing can ever top a man literally being blown up).

The committee investigating the murder of former Mayor Theo Galavan, headed by ADA Harvey Dent (Nicholas D'Agosto), Detective James Gordon (Ben McKenzie) has been cleared of any involvement.  However, Gordon's superior officer, Captain Nathaniel Barnes (Michael Chiklis) is not convinced Gordon is not somehow in cahoots with Oswald Cobblepot (Robin Lord Taylor), who is on the lam.  Cobblepot is found and he gets himself committed to Arkham Asylum, where he attracts the attention of Dr. Hugo Strange (B.D. Wong).  Dr. Strange is working on his own sinister experiments both at Arkham and Indian Hill, the secret entity that is attempting all sorts of nefarious plans.

Gordon and his partner Harvey Bullock (Donal Logue) have a new case: a series of people being frozen to death.  With the aid of GCPD Forensics Edward Nygma (Cory Michael Smith), they learn that this is all connected to one Victor Fries (Nathan Darrow). Fries has been working with cryogenics in order to save his wife Nora (Kristen Hager), who is dying and unaware of Fries' criminal acts.  She believes he has been experimenting on mice and is shocked when she discovers he has been working on people.  Nora is taken into custody, and Victor is going to turn himself in when he discovers that his newest experiment actually worked in bringing a frozen person to life. 

Said subject of freeze, however, is not pleased.  Victor hightails it out and the Gotham press has a new villain: Mr. Freeze (in case you didn't get it, a variation of Fries' last name).

Mr. Freeze stays close to Victor Fries' origin story (or at least the origin story that I am aware of): a good man who freezes people in order to save his dying wife.  In that respect, it's nice to see that Gotham is not venturing into outlandish territory when it comes to its newest villain.

So far, I am highly impressed by Nathan Darrow's performance as Fries/Freeze.  Darrow makes him sympathetic and not truly evil without making him pathetic and weak.  His motives are good, and he certainly has a strong moral code (for example, while it's understandable that he freezes the jerk of a pharmacist he doesn't harm the pharmacy patrons).  However, Darrow does show the menace and danger Mr. Freeze will grow into, his rage at times clouding his judgment.  I am liking Darrow and hope he continues to do great things with the character. 

Mr. Freeze actually gave us quite a few moments of really good acting.  Taylor continues to be one of Gotham's greatest draws, running the full gamut of emotions as Cobblepot/The Penguin.  When he is arrested and manages a quick conversation with his buddy Nygma, Cobblepot's main concern is that his mother's grave be tended to.  He asks Nygma to visit it when he can and place lilies (her favorite flower).  Cobblepot is all arrogance when he is put into Arkham, but let's the mask slip when he is taunted by the other inmates, a tear revealing his fear and anxiety.  When he sees the effects of one of Dr. Strange's sessions, the horror and terror are palpable.

With this one episode, RLT shows us again just how perfect he is in the role.  He may be the Best Penguin of All Time (sorry Danny, sorry Burgess).  His partner in crime Smith also shows us his tremendous talent (even if Nygma's role is smaller).  He is cold and perfunctory when explaining to Gordon why he helped "Mr. Cobblepot" (always so formal or Ed is), the staccato delivery so well-done; when he reprimands the loutish Bullock when he snaps at him, it takes Bullock so by surprise he actually backs off, a rare moment.  It also takes us by surprise as well, and gives CMS a chance to really shine.

You have to give it up to Logue as Bullock, a cop who isn't usually shocked by what he sees.  However, when his police chase of Freeze ends with a frozen head landing in the windshield, the genuine shock of it stuns even the blasé Bullock.

Wong now enters as Dr. Strange, and it is a cold but excellent performance as well.  It's a bit reminiscent of James Frain's performance as Galavan: all courtly and pleasant outwardly, but right underneath the surface the menace and malevolence so clear.  Strange never raises his voice (and you don't think he ever does), but his villainy comes from the darkness within.

It is unfortunate though that others, like Morena Baccarin's Dr. Thompkins is given one scene (at least topping the absence of Bruce Wayne).  Also, the one scene between Jessica Lucas' Tabitha Galavan and Drew Powell's Butch Gilzean (who is the new King of Gotham despite his drill hand) is a set-up for future stories that actually could have been removed altogether without affecting anything in Mr. Freeze.

Another aspect that was quite troubling is how Gotham does not shy away from being as violent as possible for a network program (and I suspect probably more so if it were on pay cable/satellite).  In this episode alone, we saw a man literally melt, a decapitated head on a windshield, and another man after he gouged his eyes out (after Dr. Strange prompted him to 'see no evil, do no evil').  Each of them on their own would be too ghastly to allow my children to watch Gotham, but we got all three.  I worry about the amount and nature of violence on this show, particularly since I imagine many children watch due to the Batman connection.  I find the at-times graphic nature of the show very unnerving.  

Still, if I look at the episode on the whole Mr. Freeze is a strong opening to Season Two of Gotham.  Darrow and Wong gave excellent performances and the story moves quickly.  If only the violence were toned down...

Nathan Darrow makes us
forget this horror...

  

8/10

Next Episode: A Dead Man Feels No Cold

Supergirl: Blood Bonds Review

SUPERGIRL: BLOOD BONDS

When Supergirl works, it works well.  When it doesn't, it's almost sad.  Blood Bonds, the second half of the first season, is a surprisingly strong way to restart the series, with a bit of a light touch at the end and revelations all around.

Picking up right where Hostile Takeover left off, the battle between Non (Chris Vance) and his wife's niece Supergirl (Melissa Benoist) ends in a draw, or rather, when Non flies off with DEO head Hank Henshaw (David Harewood).  The head of Lord Technologies where the battle took place, Maxwell Lord (Peter Facinelli) wants everyone out and is acting very mysterious...even for him.

Back at the DEO,  acting Director Alex Danvers (Chyler Leigh) wants to do a prisoner exchange: Astra (Laura Benanti) for Hank.  General Sam Lane (Glenn Morshower) is dead-set against this and has no problem using 'every means necessary' to get information out of Astra.  This is something Supergirl is dead-set against, but she doesn't have the power to get him to change his mind.

Kara is being pulled all over: not only is she struggling between her family and her job, but the delightfully bitchy Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) is constantly needling Kara with her 'secret identity'.  Having come to the conclusion that Kara IS Supergirl, she won't let it go. 

In order to get more information and help Kara, her sides of the triangle Winn Schott (Jeremy Jordan) and James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) join forces to investigate the goings-on at Lord Technologies.  Olsen breaks in, but Lord is waiting for them, determined to hold on to his secrets.  He gives Olsen a nasty beating and a warning: next time he won't take it out on the camera (though Lord doesn't know of Winn's involvement...or so it seems).

Eventually Kara and Astra discuss things, and Alura's reputation is restored.  Over the loud objections of General Lane, the prisoner exchange does take place.  Non attempts a double-cross, but Astra, remembering the Kryptonian motto of "Blood Bonds Us All", tells Non and her troops to desist and honor the truce.  In the tense moments, Supergirl overhears Alex tell Hank he has to 'transform', and from that she learns Henshaw's true identity, which does come in handy in the most delightful way.

I think what made Blood Bonds such a good episode was a mix of a lot of things.  First, we got to see Kara/Supergirl come to terms with her family and its legacy: both Alura's benevolence and Astra's rage.  Supergirl comes close to going after Lord for hurting James, but it takes Winn (Jordan in a simply wonderful moment) to show her she is veering dangerously close to turning into her aunt.  The struggle between the two sides of her are a fascinating thing to see. 

Another aspect that was perversely fun was in seeing James Olsen getting a right once-over. 
Brooks' portrayal of the hunkier Olsen has been extremely divisive: some think it's a breath of fresh air, some think it's boring and blank.  A bit of me delights in the fact that Brooks, whom I'm leaning in the anti-group, gets beat up by someone even more beautiful than him. 

Facinelli brings the cool, calculated nature of Lord to where he is not straight-up villain but hardly a hero.  "My security system isn't state of the art.  It IS the art", he coos so menacingly without making it ridiculous.  Lord is the most mysterious of figures in Supergirl, his motives very hidden.

One other aspect of Blood Bonds is also Flockhart.  She seems to be having fun putting Kara in her place, mocking her pretense about not being Supergirl until Cat Grant gets a wicked surprise: Kara AND Supergirl in the same room!  Benoist (playing both roles) and Flockhart play the whole thing so well it makes things amusing and clever.

I will say there were things I didn't care for.  I dislike General Lane intensely, a cartoonish, clichéd character who is really, really bad.  I'm not blaming Moshower since he is playing the part as given, but I really dislike how the character is, no subtlety whatsoever.  Also, who is surprised that Non would attempt something nefarious?  I'm not sure if Astra being injected with kryptonite is a subtle commentary on torturing enemy combatants, but the interpretation is there.

On the whole, I thought Blood Bonds worked far more than I thought it would, and think is another strong episode in a series that has had more ups than downs.     

9/10

Next Episode: Childish Things

Supergirl: Hostile Takeover Review

SUPERGIRL: HOSTILE TAKEOVER

More revelations are in store for Supergirl in Hostile Takeover.  We get bits of comedy and a subplot involving corporate sabotage and unmaskings both personal and professional.  We also use this mid-season finale to give us something that might surprise the fans: the discovery of Kara Danvers' alter-ego: SUPERGIRL!

There's a scandal brewing at CatCo Media.  The private emails of Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart) have been hacked.  Cat isn't too concerned about most of the information becoming public (albeit the fact her true age is exposed is irritating).  She tasks her flunkey Kara Danvers (Melissa Benoist) to find out who is the leak, and tells her to recruit "that handsome little hobbit who has more cardigans than you do".  That would be Winn Schott (Jeremy Jordan), who already works with Kara as her eyes and ears when she is Supergirl.  Cat also gets James Olsen (Mehcad Brooks) to join in, while Cat struggles to hold on to her company.

Kara already has problems of her own: her crazy Aunt Astra (Laura Benati), who has managed to neutralize kryptonite, tells Supergirl her mother wasn't the person she thought she was.  Kara is devastated by the idea that her mother may not have been the wonderful person she remembered, and this conflict eats at her.  Astra, with her lieutenant/husband Non (Chris Vance) is up to something, but things are still unclear.  Astra cannot kill her niece now (which is what Non wants) but she also speaks about not allowing another world to be destroyed.  Could Astra be an eco-terrorists?

Lovefool by The (New) Cardigans

As far as Cat is concerned, nothing really damaging has been exposed, but she suspects this is a ploy to push her out of CatCo. At the top of the list is Dirk Armstrong (Peter McKenzie), whom Cat has described in her emails as 'the walking personification of white male privilege' (been there, done that).  It's up to Kara, Winn, and James to expose the board member without getting caught. 

About the one thing Cat would rather not want revealed is the existence of Adam Foster, a 24 year old in Opal City that Cat has been sending money to.  Hush money?  Sugar baby?  No, Adam Foster is her (other) son, whom she has kept secret all these years.  Rather than expose him to the public scrutiny, Cat decides to resign.  However, the work of Winn, James, and Kara all  help expose Dirk.  This exposure however, makes Cat think that Kara IS Supergirl, a hunch she confirms to herself when she asks Kara to remove her glasses.

As for the family feud, Astra manages to get herself captured and wouldn't you know it: it all looks like a big ploy to create a diversion while Non goes after the real target.  That would be Lord Technologies, where Maxwell Lord (Peter Facinelli) is awaiting something.  His weapons, while good, are no match to Non and his minions, and Supergirl now must do battle with her aunt's husband (no one ever refers to him as her 'uncle', so I figure Astra married him later in prison).

It's been more than a few weeks since I've seen Hostile Takeover and I can't quite put a reason as to why I liked it so much.  I think again we must thank Benoist for her absolutely winning performance, or should I say performances. She plays the slightly bumbling Kara and the still maturing Supergirl with equal grace.  The struggle between her idea of her mother and the potential reality of her mother cause Supergirl great anxiety, and Benoist plays this so well.

Another great aspect of Hostile Takeover is the interplay between Flockhart and Benoist.  Again, we see the heavy mask Cat wears slip a bit, giving us a human beneath the cold exterior.  Truth be told, Grant has sacrificed a great deal to get where she is at, and we see that perhaps she regrets it.

However, at least Hostile Takeover gave us a story where, unlike Perry White back in Metropolis, Cat Grant actually could figure out that Kara is Supergirl.  A casual remark about overhearing Dirk when both Kara and Cat were too far away for human hearing piqued her interest, as did the fact that neither Kara and Supergirl were ever in the same place at the same time. 

One more positive is the interplay between Jordan and Brooks, in particular by the former who can barely mask his overt hostility: the hobbit disliking the hold the hunkier photog has on the woman he loves. 

I thought the Astra storyline worked well, though the other hostile takeover seemed a bit of an afterthought.  Not terrible, but not something that grabbed me.

Yes, I can't quite put my finger on why I liked Hostile Takeover, but liked it I did.


8/10

Next Episode: Blood Bonds

88th Academy Awards: A Review

Legend to Legend

Like the 2016 GOP Presidential campaign, the 88th Academy Awards was one wild and unpredictable ride.  They had good moments (Mark Rylance), bad moments (Leo), and ugly moments (Sam Smith), fitting in a year where Ennio Morricone won his first competitive Oscar...at age 87.

First, a quick recap of our winners.

Mad Max: Fury Road (6)
The Revenant (3)
Spotlight (2)
Room (1)
The Danish Girl (1)
The Hateful Eight (1)
The Big Short (1)
Bridge of Spies (1)
SPECTRE (1)
Ex Machina (1)
Inside Out (1)

Mad Max: Fury Road took more Oscars than all other films, all in technical fields.  The Revenant took three, all in major categories.  Spotlight took two, both in major categories.

If you look at the list, you see that the Oscars refused to play by the regular rules.  Usually, the film with the most nominations wins Best Picture.  The Revenant with 12 was the frontrunner, but didn't win Best Picture  The film that wins the most Oscars tends to win Best Picture. Mad Max: Fury Road won 6 out of 10 nominations, but didn't Best Picture. The Best Picture winner scored the lowest number of Oscars in recent memory, barely edging out all the other non-multiple winners.  Not since 1952's The Greatest Show on Earth's improbable (and still shocking) Best Picture win has a Best Picture winner been so poorly rewarded with just two Oscars (its other win being Original Story). 

Usually, Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Film Editing go hand in hand, but this year, each category went with a separate winner.  Again, unpredictable was this year.

Now, the breakdown:

Best Picture: Spotlight
Best Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio (The Revenant)
Best Actress: Brie Larson (Room)
Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance (Bridge of Spies)
Best Supporting Actress: Alicia Vikander (The Danish Girl)
Best Director: Alejandro G. Inarritu (The Revenant)
Best Original Screenplay: Spotlight
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Big Short
Best Visual Effects: Ex Machina
Best Sound Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Sound Mixing: Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Production Design: Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Original Score: The Hateful Eight
Best Original Song: Writing's on the Wall (SPECTRE)
Best Makeup & Hairstyling: Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Film Editing: Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Costume Design: Mad Max: Fury Road
Best Cinematography: The Revenant
Best Animated Feature: Inside Out
Best Animated Short Film: Bear Story
Best Documentary Feature: Amy
Best Documentary Short Subject: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Best Foreign Language Film: Son of Saul (Hungary)
Best Live Action Short Film: Stutterer

Let's talk briefly about some of the upsets. I think at the top of that list is Mark Rylance's win for Bridge of Spies.  I think the audience was genuinely shocked when his name was announced, not even those that voted for him expecting him to actually win.  Most predictions pegged Sylvester Stallone as the winner for his turn in Creed, with both Christian Bale and Mark Ruffalo being the dark horses.  Rylance's name I don't think was even considered, one of those 'it's just an honor being nominated' type of thing. 

However, the Supporting Actor category is one where genuine upsets have the best chance of taking place.  Three years ago, most oddsmakers had Tommy Lee Jones all but certain to win for Lincoln, only to find Christoph Waltz coming from behind with his win for Django Unchained.  Also, Best Supporting Actor is no longer the de facto Lifetime Achievement Award it might have been once (just ask Burt Reynolds). 

Rylance was the highlight of Bridge of Spies, and even its detractors never said anything bad about his performance.  Yet I don't think anyone, not even Rylance, expected him to best Rocky.  Sadly, Stallone joins Al Pacino and Cate Blanchett as being the only people nominated for earning nominations for playing the same role in two different films...and losing both times.  Worse for Sly, unlike the other two (and Bing Crosby, the first to be nominated for playing the same role in two different films), he has yet to actually win for any.

I think the bigger shock was Ex Machina's win for Visual Effects.  I think most people expected either the bombast of Mad Max: Fury Road or the spectacle of Star Wars: The Force Awakens to win.  As I've yet to see Ex Machina I cannot say whether it was a worthy win, but I do think that a film where the visual effects served the story rather than drown it shows a positive sign in the Academy.

Now comes the bad.  As expected Leonardo DiCaprio won for The Revenant (or as I call it, Leo's Most Recent Naked Oscar Plea...and in this case, literally 'naked').  I think his win is bad for these reasons.  First, he didn't win for this specific role.  He won because too many people, both inside and outside The Academy thought he was 'overdue', in essence turning this into a de facto Lifetime Achievement Award (odd given he's only 41).  This idea that it was 'his turn', not his breathing and endless suffering in The Revenant, is what got him the Oscar.  Again, I haven't seen all his competition (though I will immediately dismiss Eddie Redmayne in anything), but this idea that DiCaprio should have won because it was time for him to win for something, ANYTHING, is unfair.  He's given better performances in other films (The Wolf of Wall Street, The Aviator), and the idea that one should get Oscars because he/she has been overlooked too many times in the past is like giving someone a promotion because he/she has been passed over for one many times...even if there are better candidates.

Second, it was bad because it gave DiCaprio another opportunity to lecture the world about his pet cause...global warming/climate change.  Somehow, DiCaprio has it in his head that he's some sort of environmental expert, and that we are all beholden to him for wisdom and insight into such matters.  Given his penchant for large luxury boats and private planes which both use up large amounts of fuel and leave a much larger carbon footprint than I do, one wonders why he cannot see the disconnect between his words and his actions.  My fellow critic Christian Toto holds that this is hypocrisy.  I think it is merely disconnect: DiCaprio holding a view that rationalizes his own lifestyle going against his tenets with the idea that its the message that is important, not the messenger.

The political messages came in loud and clear with Adam McKay and Charles Randolph's Adapted Screenplay for The Big Short.  With their calls to break up the big banks and not allow the political process to be used by 'millionaires and billionaires', it was a millimeter short of asking everyone there to #FeelTheBern.

As a side note, I'd like to point out that the man who made Step Brothers has an Oscar, while the men who made Vertigo, Magnificent Obsession, Sunrise, Red River, The Blue Angel, and Metropolis never got one.  Just a thought there.  

Now we get to the ugly, and I do mean UGLY!  I really don't have an argument against any of the winners (well, I didn't think Inarritu was the Best Director, but I'm not going to go to war over it).  That is, except for one category...

Let's take a look at the Best Original Song winner.  The songwriters brag about how the song was written in 20 minutes, and the track was recorded in one take.  With that, Writing's On the Wall from SPECTRE beat out the OTHER song from That Porn Movie and three songs few people had heard of.  OK, so maybe it was a weak field where the BIG song ends up winning (something that would probably not have happened if Love Me Like You Do from Fifty Shades of Grey, not Earned It, had been the nominee).   However, I have not heard anyone make the claim that Writing's On the Wall is a.) a great song or b.) even a good Bond Song.  On the contrary, Writing's On the Wall is thought of as one of the worst Bond Songs to come down the pike in a long time.

Yet there he was, rocking back and forth as if he were holding on to the microphone stand for dear life, not hitting the high notes he wrote for himself.  Compare Smith's recreation of a building undergoing an earthquake to The Weeknd's confident performance of Earned It and Lady Gaga's masterful performance of 'Til It Happens to You.  Despite how his performance was a shambles and the song dreadful, there he is, joining Rodgers & Hammerstein, Lerner & Lowe, and Stephen Sondheim.

SURPRISE!
I'M NOT GAY ANYMORE!

Oh, yes, Stephen Sondheim.  He won an Oscar for Best Original Song (Sooner or Later from Dick Tracy) in 1990 (two years before Smith was born), and if memory serves correct...he's openly gay.  And so is Elton John (Best Original Song: Can You Feel the Love Tonight from The Lion King) in 1994 (when Smith was 2 years old).  Oh, and then there was Howard Ashman (Best Original Song: Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid and Beauty & The Beast from Beauty & The Beast) in 1989 and 1991 respectively (both before Smith was born) and Melissa Etheridge (Best Original Song: I Need to Wake Up from An Inconvenient Truth) in 2006 (Smith at age 14, old enough to know his sexual preference but apparently unaware who Etheridge is or that she is openly gay herself). 

OK, so I'll grant that Smith, not the brightest bulb, misunderstood Sir Ian McKellen's observation that no openly gay man had won an ACTING Oscar and mistook that for no openly gay man having won ANY Oscar (a point of contention Milk screenwriter Dustin Lance Black took umbrage at...as well as Smith allegedly hitting on Black's lover, diver Tom Daley).   However, Smith decided that his win was a historic point, a turning point in history equaling, perhaps even greater than the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriages in the United States.  Therefore, he was going to dedicate his win to the LGBT community.

I'm sure ISIS will stop throwing gays off buildings now that the sensitive singer of Stay With Me has a gold statue.  I'm sure no kid will get thrown out of his/her house now that Sam Smith was given a prize for writing a song in 20 minutes.

I think his declarations of greatness both artistically and morally feed into the millenials general narcissism, this sense that they know all and are better than all.  Look, kid, let me put the writing on the wall:

Your.

Song.

Stinks.

I don't care you got an Oscar for it.  Sweet Leilani won Best Original Song.  It Goes Like It Goes won Best Original Song. In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening won Best Original Song.  I defy you to sing them without looking them up, let alone from what films they came from (Waikiki Wedding, Norma Rae, and Here Comes the Groom respectively). 

I blame Adele.  Ever since all my fellow critics went into orgasms over Skyfall, they'll let any old piece of crap win.  Here were all these critics saying how Skyfall was THE GREATEST SONG WRITTEN IN THE HISTORY OF ALL MANKIND, greater than Over the Rainbow, greater than Amazing Grace, greater than Goldfinger or Nobody Does It Better.  

I love Adele, but Skyfall was junk.  Its lyrics were inane ("So overdue I owed them".  Bet George & Ira Gershwin wish they could write such music).  It's also pretty much forgotten now.  People still remember Goldfinger and Nobody Does It Better and even A View to A Kill, but Skyfall?  Same with Writing's On the Wall.

I warned that Skyfall was terrible and that it won only because people LOVE Adele.  I similarly warned that Writing's On the Wall was even worse...and it went on to win.  Only this time, at least my fellow critics woke up and said it was terrible.  Wasn't enough to stop the crazy train from overtaking the Oscars.

At least the music department got SOMETHING right with Morricone's win.  At last the Legend gets a real Oscar.  So what if he doesn't speak English?  Seeing the dignified old man receive his well-deserved Oscar warmed my heart.  His elegant speech making special thanks to John Williams (the last great American film composer as far as I can tell) was beautiful and takes the sting out of DiCaprio's illegitimate win and Smith's horror.

That, and seeing Eddie Redmayne go down in flames. 

At least I have those.

Well, let's hope we get better songs next year, and movies as good as we got this year.