The Middle

Last week I wound up having to watch the first two seasons of The Middle, a sitcom I previously did not know existed, despite it now being in its fourth season. After watching an episode, I knew why. This show takes the basic setup up for a sitcom by centering on a supposedly average American family and manages to water it down into an unfunny, cliche, and unrealistic mess. It centers on wife and working mother Frankie, her stoic husband Mike, and their three kids Axl (the athletic one), Sue (the awkward one), and Brick (the nerdy one). Though they are supposed to be a middle class family living in a small Midwestern town, they seem to be constantly teetering on the brink of financial ruin, as indicated by them being unable to pay their electricity bill for four months, and live exclusively on fast food with the occasional frozen processed meal to add variety. Frankie is the main character and narrates the show which mostly consists of her complaining about her family and with good reason. Their kids are spoiled rotten, needing constant nagging to accomplish things as simple as picking up their socks to tasks that are obviously their responsibility like doing their schoolwork. They consistently flout their parents' wishes, occasionally showing levels of disrespect that most parents wouldn't put up with but the Hecks excuse or try to justify. Frankie, of course, lost her right to complain since she always comes to her kids rescue so that they never have to face the consequences of their poor choices, the impetus of many of the episode plots.

All this would be forgivable if the show had any wit or originality. The jokes that don't revolve around Frankie complaining often contain baffling lapses in logic. For instance, when Frankie is taking a bath because of her bad back, nine-year-old Brick wanders in and she asks him to turn on the hot water. Brick reminds her that he is not allowed to use the hot water (bringing up some disturbing questions about how he takes showers) but he turns on the hot water anyway. When Frankie asks he to turn it off, he winds up turning it up because apparently hot water faucets are so different than cold water faucets that when given two options of how to turn it off, he repeatedly chooses the wrong one. This and dozens of other ill-conceived jokes make me question whether the writers have so little imagination they couldn't come up with realistic jokes and they simply forgot they weren't writing for the Disney Channel. The whole tone of the show is toothless, lacking the guts to realistically make fun of anything (like Modern Family) and unwilling to alienate anybody by being absurd enough to get away with more ridiculous elements (like Arrested Development). I'm completely at a loss for how this show is still on the air and wouldn't recommend it for anyone, especially when there are shows like Parks and Rec, Modern Family, Community, and The Mindy Project. They may not be perfect but at least they have some guts.

American Horror Story: Murder House

Larry Harvey: I'm trying very hard not to judge you.
Ben Harmon: Me? You murdered your entire family!
Larry Harvey: Yes, but I was never unfaithful. 

In its first season, American Horror Story, an FX show created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, follows the Harmons, a family that has unwittingly moved into the Murder House. They move there to get a fresh start after the wife Vivien has a miscarriage and the husband Ben has an affair, but the house, haunted by its own gruesome past, threatens not only their safety but their sanity. In addition to the house, they must contend with the machinations of their unwelcome neighbor Constance, a horribly disfigured former resident Larry Harvey, and Tate, a young psychopath wooing their daughter Violet.

While this is a very well-scripted show that relies on psychological horror rather than shock value, the truly interesting thing about it is its structure. Because it is a cable show, each season is twelve episodes long and each season is a different, unrelated story, that uses the same cast. While season one is the story of the Murder House, season two is set in an Asylum in the 60s. Murphy and Falchuk have taken what I consider to be an underused format in American television, the mini-series, and rebranded it into something marketable and cool. It allows them to delve into a story and characters for longer than a two hour movie but does not weigh them down with an obligation to always leave the story open-ended to allow for unlimited future seasons. So many interesting shows struggle after their first or second season simply because they must stretch a good story past its breaking point, but if the format of American Horror Story catches on, we could be looking at a whole new type of television show that's already told some very interesting stories in the UK. Hopefully the success of this show helps to change the way producers and viewers think about mini-series so that we can get shows that recognize the value of resolution as much as set-up.It would have gone a long way for shows like Lost and Heroes.

Wanted

Sloan: It a choice, Wesley, that each of us must face: to remain ordinary, pathetic, beat-down, coasting through a miserable existence, like sheep herded by fate - or you can take control of your own destiny and join us, releasing the caged wolf you have inside.

Wanted, based on a graphic novel I haven't read, is the frequently mocked film by Russian director Timur Bekmambetov. It stars James McAvoy as Wesley, an office drone who discovers he comes from a line of elite weaver-assassins when he is recruited by sexy assassin Fox (Angelina Jolie). The head of this group, known as The Fraternity, is Sloan (Morgan Freeman) who shows Wesley the Loom of Fate, a piece of fabric who tells them who to kill next to keep chaos in check. When the Loom of Fate tells Wesley to kill the man who killed his father, he discovers The Fraternity might not be all it's cracked up to be.

First off, you have to know that when you're watching a movie that involves a group of weaver-assassins and a Loom of Fate, the plot is a secondary consideration. It's not going to be very deep or original and in fact may even stretch the bounds of credulity. In a lot of ways, it's essentially a poor man's Fight Club. But you read the plot description and you watched it anyway, so stop complaining. What's really great about this movie is the action. Bekmambetov, the director of Russian blockbusters Night Watch and Day Watch and more recently Abraham Lincoln:Vampire Hunter, was born to direct action movies. He really has a way of creating memorable and innovative effects (even if they do laugh in the face of physics). This is not a movie with a plot. This is a kick-ass action sequence strung together by some snappy one-liners. And also, some stunningly engraved bullets and cool-looking guns.

In conclusion, people need to stop making fun of me for owning this movie. If you don't like it, you're watching it wrong.

Anna Karenina

Alexei Karenin: We are bound together by God and this can only be broken by a crime against God! 

Anna Karenina, the latest period drama from Joe Wright, interweaves the stories of several romantic relationships with the adulteress Anna Karenina (Keira Knightly) as the focus. Married to the dutiful and respected Alexei Karenin (Jude Law), Anna becomes unexpectedly love stuck when she meets and is pursued by the dashing Count Alexei Vronsky (Aaron Taylor-Johnson). As their affair intensifies and Karenin becomes aware of it, she is forced to choose between her child and her lover. Meanwhile, her brother Oblonsky (Matthew MacFadyen) has problems when his wife Dolly (Kelly MacDonald) discovers he is cheating on her, farmer and landowner Konstantin Levin (Domhnall Gleeson) woos Dolly's young, innocent sister Kitty (Alicia Vikander), and Levin's socialist brother Nikolai Levin (David Wilmot) flies in the face of convention by marrying a woman from a brothel, Masha (Tannishtha Chatterjee).

SPOILERS AHEAD

This adaptation is actually pretty close to the book which I have read (I'll wait for your impressed gasps to subside), but like all the best adaptations, this uses its new medium to transform it to complement the themes of the book and make it more accessible to modern audiences. Wright uses a stage with moving set pieces and painted backdrops to convey the attitudes and strictly enforced rules of behavior of the Russian aristocracy. Everything they do is watched and judged by their peers because if they disrupt the carefully choreographed steps, it affects them all. This device, which minimizes the amount of exposition necessary in the beginning, reaches a beautiful, intense climax in the dance between Anna and Vronsky which marks the beginning of their relationship. While there are still many of his trademarks as a director, Wright really takes a creative step forward with this film.

In the story of Anna Karenina, it can be difficult to know who to sympathize with. After all, Anna and Vronsky are truly in love and Anna must suffer through being shunned by the society she was raised in because of that love. Karenin isn't understanding at all and refuses both a divorce and visitation rights to Anna. But Karenin really is the one who is wronged. His wife not only shamefully cheats on him, exposing him to the censure of his peers, but also deprives him of the supportive wife he thought he married. Is he really wrong to protect his son and heir from being raised by his mother, now a social outcast that would prevent him from rising in society? Love is not an excuse for hurting others and turning your back on your responsibilities. Vronsky, the man who pursued Anna knowing she was married, is arguably the least sympathetic and deserves having to deal with her emotional meltdown since he instigated the whole situation. Anna, on the other hand, is punished for her infidelity with her intense paranoia and depression. Living with Vronsky, she can never be truly happy because she can never be sure of him, the man who lured her away from her husband. But she is not blameless either. Karenin gave her multiple opportunities to repent and return to him but she repeatedly chose Vronsky over Karenin and her son. This central story is contrasted primarily with the innocent and honest relationship between Levin and Kitty who are pure and devoted in their marriage. But we also see the effect of male infidelity on a relationship with Oblonsky, who loves his wife but indulges in dalliances with younger women, and the devotion that can exist between two unmarried people, Nikolai and Masha, who have never been unfaithful but reject social conventions.

The movie manages to convey the complexity and depth of the novel while using the visuals to enhance the storytelling and make it more accessible to people who might be unwilling to read the 800+ page novel. With lavish sets and remarkable acting, it's well worth the price of admission.

Casino Royale and Skyfall

James Bond: Vodka martini.
Bartender: Shaken or stirred?
James Bond: Do I look like I give a damn?

SPOILERS AHEAD

Skyfall marks the fiftieth year of James Bond in film but with the iconic franchise having already influenced generations of filmmakers, it was high time they influenced the franchise in return. When Daniel Craig was cast as the next Bond, the franchise took a dramatic turn away from increasingly unbelievable gadgets and gimmicks to a grittier, more realistic look at the life of a spy.

In Casino Royale, we see how Bond earned his 00 status and his first missions. This Bond is reckless and unfeeling, almost naive in his willingness to catch the rabbit at the expense of the deer, but calculating enough to sacrifice people like pawns and kill any loose ends. M speaks harshly on his extreme detachment but in reality it is one of his best qualities as a spy. It is his ego that gets him into trouble. He is willing to expose the actions of MI6 and even compromise his mission due to his belief that he knows best. But when he is humbled and must accept the help of the CIA due to losing the trust of MI6, he succeeds in his mission and is rewarded with the love of the woman he loves in return. However, just when they have agreed to go away together and leave MI6, he discovers that she made a deal with the criminals and is giving them millions of dollars that should have gone to Britain. In spite of his sense of betrayal, he tries to save her as she drowns but she chooses death. Bond learns that he cannot trust anyone, a lesson M commends, but as an audience, we learn that there is no more happy ending for Bond. There is no more sailing off in the sunset with a Bond girl in his bed, warmed by the afterglow of vanquishing the dragon and protecting the ignorant townspeople. In the end, he brought down a banker not a terrorist and all he has to comfort him in the darkness is his love of country.

In Skyfall (since we have banished Quantum of Solace from memory), Bond returns only to be wounded by friendly fire at M's command. He is missing and presumed dead, but after a cyber terrorist attack destroys MI6's headquarters (not so secret anymore), he returns from his beach bum life to serve his country and M, who is being blamed for the attack. Bond isn't the agent he used to be. He is older, out of shape, and suffering from old wounds, but M, relying on her own judgment instead of the tests, puts him into the field anyway. After a dazzling array of golden era Bond spectacle, we meet the flamboyantly dramatic mastermind, a former spy who is attacking MI6 with no greater desire than to get revenge on M who left him to be tortured by the enemy for months. Jaded, bitter, and more than a little crazy, Silva is everything Bond could have become after he was shot in the back. Silva has embraced the modern world and the new forms of terrorism it brings. He has no country, no greater cause, simply a grudge and psychopathic tendencies. He derides Bond's outdated sense of love of country and reliance on the physical versus the technological. Bond and the spy world he represents is a thing of the past, no longer wanted by the people they are protecting. But in the end both Bond and M prove that they are needed now more than ever in a world where enemies don't have faces or sometimes even names. They bring the fight to them and overcome Silva with more than the physical. They have the mental strength to beat the M-obsessed Silva and do what Q, in his pajamas, could never do. At the end of the film, Bond's world is restored in full to how it was in the books and original movies. He has Moneypenny at her desk and a new assignment from a new, male M.

By examining how the nature of espionage has changed since the Cold War, Sam Mendes manages to restore the Bond franchise to its former glory. He brings it new life while restoring the former elements that made it great. With these two movies we are left with a grittier Bond with more depth and realism than he has ever had. Fingers crossed the next film is just as good.

Cloud Atlas

"Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others. Past and present. And by each crime; and every kindness we birth our future."

When I first saw the Cloud Atlas trailer, I knew it was something I'd have to see in theaters because for one thing, the trailer is beautiful and I love Tom Tykwer's work. But from everything I'd read, I knew this movie was taking a pretty expensive chance and that's something I respect. And even though this film wasn't for everyone, for me it paid off.

Cloud Atlas, based on David Mitchell's book, interweaves six different stories in six time periods and uses the same cast for each story. In 1849, Adam Ewing (Jim Sturgess), an American lawyer, sails from the Chatham Islands back to America and must decide what to do with a runaway slave (David Gyasi) who has stowed away on board. In 1936, aspiring composer Robert Frobisher (Ben Whitshaw) tries to overcome his scandalous past by writing his masterwork, the Cloud Atlas Sextet. In 1973, spunky, young reporter Luisa Rey (Halle Berry) tries to uncover a suppressed safety report of a nearby nuclear reactor. In 2012, Timothy Cavendish (Jim Broadbent)  tries to escape his nursing home after being put there by his brother (Hugh Grant). In 2144, Sonmi-451 (Doona Bae), a fabricant working at a restaurant, is freed by a member of the resistance (Jim Sturgess) and learns of the unjust treatment of her fellow fabricants. Finally, 106 winter after the Fall, Zachry (Tom Hanks), a primitive tribesman struggles with his darker side (Hugo Weaving) while guiding a technologically advanced Prescient (Halle Berry) to Cloud Atlas.

This film was absolutely beautiful and did not for a moment feel like its three hour run time. They also managed to take a group of actors, many of whom haven't been in a good movie in years, and push them in often drastically different roles to show a character develop not over the course of a life but of civilization. The stories rely heavily on two major themes, reincarnation and the weak struggling against the strong. The trailer portrays it as a love story, but in actuality it is so much more. It shows the rippling effect of one's actions, good and bad, throughout time as well as a person's ability to evolve and improve as they become the person they are meant to be. Tom Hanks, for instance, changes from a sinister and conniving doctor in the first story to a family man who is able to overcome his fears in the last story. Jim Sturgess changes from a coward into a revolutionary. Others, on the other hand, consistently make poor decisions throughout their existences and remain their baser selves. While reincarnation is not a belief commonly held in the West, it is an excellent metaphor for how we grow and change over our lives. Even the smallest kindnesses have a great effect that can ripple throughout time and change the world in ways we cannot imagine. This is definitely one that will require repeat viewings so see all the connections.

Sunset Boulevard

Norma Desmond: There once was a time in this business when I had the eyes of the whole world! But that wasn't good enough for them, oh no! They had to have the ears of the whole world too. So they opened their big mouths and out came talk, talk, talk!

If there's one thing Hollywood loves, it's movies about Hollywood. There are a lot of films that poke fun at the ridiculousness of the industry, the self-centered people, and their disconnect from every day life, but there are few that speak of its cruelty. Hollywood is not kind to its former stars and there is no film that shows this better than Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard.

Joe Gillis (William Holden), an out-of-work screenwriter, stumbles onto retired silent film star Norma Desmond's (Gloria Swanson) property while trying to avoid some creditors. She hires him as a live-in screenwriter to help make revisions to her lengthy, poorly written screenplay about the life of Salome with which she hopes to make her comeback. Originally hoping to just make a quick buck, he agrees but soon he get roped into her life as a kept man and must cope with her delusions of fame and glory that have long since faded. It's a cynical and sadly realistic look at the price of stardom and the loss of adoration and love.

SPOILERS

The story becomes all the more poignant when you learn that Gloria Swanson was, in fact, a prominent silent film actress whose career waned after the rising popularity of talking pictures. Even more telling is the fact that she did work with directors Cecil B. DeMille and Erich von Stroheim (who plays her former director/husband turned butler) and her "waxwork" bridge friends were also former silent film stars that never successfully transitioned to "talkies." While they may not have been driven to madness, they were treated just as poorly once they lost popularity and were soon forgotten by the industry they helped to create.

On another level, this shows the detrimental effect fame can have on a person. Max (Erich von Stroheim) talks about how Norma was a fresh-faced, innocent girl when he discovered her, but as she became more famous, she became more demanding and difficult to work with, not because of spite but because of the pressure she was under. She was changed by her fame and then shunned by the same people that made her what she was. Max's own sense of responsibility is so great that he cannot bring himself to tell her he is the one who writes her the fan letters. Even DeMille finds it impossible to tell her that the studio wants her antique car more than her. And her desire for a return is simply motivated by wanting to work again, to be needed, to have purpose and return to the days when she was happy. Before she was isolated by fame in an empty mansion with only a butler and a dead monkey.

Joe is another person who protects her out of pity with the added incentive of a comfortable life, but when confronted with the choice between an honest life and continuing on with Norma, he realizes that he cannot stay. He does not deserve to find happiness with Betty (Nancy Olson), but he cannot help Norma continue in her pathetic delusion. Unfortunately, at this point we clearly see that Norma is just as guilty as those around her. She refuses to see the truth and when confronted with it, the only way she can cope is with madness. The final scene is one of the most memorable in film not because of her madness, but because of our complete pity and sympathy for her. She is what we never want to become, someone who sacrifices her future to her past, someone who chooses the dream over the reality. In the end, she is left with nothing but her delusion. She will always be alone in an empty mansion on Sunset Boulevard.