It's pretty obvious what Movies & TV blog is about. We churn out recaps, reviews and news on the stuff that interests us.
Tony Black and Zack McGhee have been together for nearly 4 years. They spend altogether too much time watching movies and TV, and being glued to their computers. This blog combines all three at once, thereby gaining them maximum efficiency.
By Zack McGhee | Wednesday, September 30, 2009, 02:00 PM
Outside forces disrupt the usually insular lives of several “Mad Men” characters in this week’s episode, “Seven Twenty Three.” As the AMC website teases, “you now know who was lying on the floor, what Betty’s major was in college, and just how persuasive Duck Phillips can be.” A surprising series of events collide to create this week’s opening sequence — a brief montage of a bruised, unconscious man on a hotel floor; Peggy, the morning after, with an unknown man; and a sensual image of Betty, reclined on an antique fainting couch.
After making his identity known to Don in last week’s episode, Conrad Hilton is waiting for Don to arrive at Sterling Cooper. Seated at the head of Draper’s desk, Hilton tells Don that he wants Sterling Cooper to take on the ad business of his New York hotels. (This scene has a great exchange. Hilton chastises Don for not having a bible or family photo at his desk, and then tells him he ought to get to work earlier. How do you know, Don asks, “I wasn’t at home with my family, reading the bible?”)
Soon the details of Hilton’s agreement with the firm reveal that, for Sterling Cooper to get his business, Don must first be secured by three-year contract. For me, one of the most satisfying moments of the show remains Don’s assertion of his no-contract status in the wake of Duck Phillips’ attempted coup. Obviously, Don isn’t going to take this lying down. But Roger — his relationship with Don still on tentative ground — hounds Don, even going so far as to call Betty, asking her to urge Don to sign. (Betty holds her own, but later confronts Don, not having known anything about the contract proposal.)
In the midst of all this, Duck is still hounding Peggy, sending her a fancy new scarf in an effort to lure her to Grey. Pete catches wind of this, and confronts Peggy, making it clear that he’s not worried about her — that this is Duck’s attempt to settle the score with Don, and he will stop at nothing to win. This clearly gives Peggy pause, but when she proactively asks Don about the Hilton account, he dresses her down. Accusing her of always having her hand out, Don ends his stern lecture by telling her, “You’re good. Get better. And stop asking for things.” In spite of this, Peggy plans to return the scarf to Duck, who catches her off guard by insisting that she return it in person. This encounter leads us to discover that Duck is the man Peggy was in bed with at the start of the episode, and Spout’s Karina Longworth to tweet: “Watched Mad Men over 12 hours ago, and still recoiling at the idea of morning sex with Duck.”
Back at the Draper residence, when Betty confronts Don about Roger’s phone call, their heated discussion erupts into a massive fight. Don storms out and takes a long drive, with a glass of scotch in hand. He picks up a couple of hitchhikers who claim to be en route to Niagara Falls to get married so that the groom can avoid being drafted. They give Don a couple of Phenobarbital and the three of them end up in a hotel room. After some sexy time and an hallucination, the groom-to-be hits Don over the head, rendering him unconscious. Indeed, it was Don passed out at the start of the show. When he wakes up, battered and bruised, his wallet is nearly empty, and he finds a note that closes, “We left you your car. You’re welcome.”
What makes “Mad Men” easily the best dramatic series on television is how true it is to its characters and its period. Despite its ’60s setting, show creator Matthew Weiner, his writers and crew don’t use “Mad Men” for teachable moments. In spite of troubling attitudes toward gender relations, people of color, and homosexuality, they do not pepper the show with token illustrations. These moments, such as they are, deliberately and truthfully reflect the mores of the time with the proper consideration.
This thoughtful attitude ostensibly makes it difficult to show what’s going on in the world outside the lives of these characters without making it seem like a history lesson. Until this season, the Nixon/Kennedy race and the death of Marilyn Monroe were two of a very few iconic moments to be referenced within the show. However, with recent references to the death of Pope John XXIII, the murder of Medgar Evers and the fight for civil rights, it’s becoming clear that these characters and their personal dramas are on a collision course with the increasingly turbulent world around them.
Returning to work, Don finds Cooper in his office, and once again Don is put in the position of sitting at the wrong side of his own desk. Alluding to the fact he knows the truth about Don’s past, Cooper persuades Don to sign the contract, because, “When it comes down to it, who’s really signing this contract anyway?” Putting pen to paper — dating it July 23, 1963 — Don has one last condition: “I don’t want any more contact with Roger Sterling.”
P.S. I haven’t mentioned anything about Betty’s entanglement with Henry Francis, nor Don’s frank, borderline-flirtatious exchange with Sally’s teacher. But that happened, too.
By Zack McGhee | Tuesday, September 29, 2009, 12:01 AM
Undeniably this week’s most noteworthy high-def title is not a recent blockbuster, but the 70-year-old classic, The Wizard of Oz, available today in an elaborate “Ultimate Collector’s Edition” Blu-ray priced at $84.99 (SRP). DVD Beaver writes, “Admittedly the non-digital supplements are pure class — a great booklet, vintage reproduction photos … all in a whopping big case,” but “do we all need the wristwatch?” For those who don’t, a standard, 3-disc Blu-ray package is available exclusively at Target for $34.99. (Bridging the gap for those on the fence, Amazon has the collector’s box for $51.99 as of this writing.) Update: There are also reports of a $19.99 Walmart exclusive Blu-ray edition that includes the 1st disc of the other editions. Hat-tip to Shivvy for this info. I expect the film to look incredible on Blu. DVD Talk calls the picture quality “breathtaking,” and writes: “I suspect that this is the best the film has ever looked.” The set is also packed with extra features.
Summit Entertainment continues its tradition of experimental home video strategies with the rental-only release of Rian Johnson’s hilarious and inventive The Brothers Bloom. Although it won’t be available for sale in the U.S. until some time next year, Amazon.ca has the Canadian-issue DVD and Blu-ray available now, and — barring any unexpected circumstances — both should play in any American DVD or Blu-ray player, respectively.
Also on Blu-ray this week are two Jim Henson films: Of The Dark Crystal, High-Def Digest says, “there’s no contest when it comes to comparing this with the standard DVD.” Looking at the screenshot comparisons, you can see the drastic difference in presentation compared to the previous DVDs, particularly when it comes to the colors. Though I’ve only seen the film once (and on DVD), the Blu-ray looks much more natural to my eye.
Labyrinth is the other Henson title to make its high-def debut. The Blu-ray presentation here does appear to be framed more tightly than the preceding DVDs, but this may be a more accurate reflection of the theatrical experience. DVD Talk writes that the disc is “consistently clean, crisp, and brimming with fine detail.”
Other notable titles?
One of my three favorite films so far this year, Away We Go, directed by Sam Mendes and starring John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. (You can read my review of Away We Go.)
Another Target exclusive: Joe Dante’s retro classic Gremlins, which has not been announced for a wide release on Blu-ray beyond its availability at the superstore.
The mega-hit Monsters vs. Aliens is released in a 2D-only Blu-ray edition. (3D glasses are included for a couple of supplements, including a short, that can be viewed in either format.)
The controversial cult classic Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, which will show at the Columbus horror marathon later this month, is released on Blu-ray by Dark Sky. Three more genre catalog titles are also available today: Billy Jack, Snakes on a Plane and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake.
Two recent indies: Steven Soderbergh’s intriguing but distant film, The Girlfriend Experience, starring porn queen Sasha Gray, and Management, starring Jennifer Aniston and Steve Zahn. Both appear day-and-date with their DVD releases.
Finally, a pair of TV releases: How I Met Your Mother: Season 4 and The Unit: Season 4. Both shows are appearing on Blu-ray for the first time.
Don’t forget: Sir Critic has his weekly roundup of this week’s DVD releases.
By Zack McGhee | Monday, September 28, 2009, 05:58 PM
Leapfrogging ahead six months, “Living the Dream” finds Dexter adjusting to family life. In the season four premiere, our favorite serial killer is already a new daddy. With Astor, Cody, and baby Harrison in tow, Dexter and Rita have relocated to the picturesque suburban Miami landscape. (This is the house we saw Rita eying with Sylvia Prado late in season three.)
Struggling with a multitude of new responsibilities, the normally meticulous Dexter botches a court appearance by bringing notes for the wrong case, and a killer is set free. As Dexter hatches a plan to right this wrong in his usual way, he finds himself overcome with sleep deprivation — at one point nodding off while stalking his prey, Benny. In his efforts to catch up on some much needed sleep, Dexter can’t even escape Rita’s unassuaged libido.
One of the things I like so much about “Dexter” is the somewhat unique strategy of using each season to tell a (mostly) self-contained story. This season? Miami has a new serial killer in the form of John Lithgow, dubbed the “Trinity Killer” by the returning — and newly retired — Special Agent Lundy (Keith Carradine). Trinity first appears in a stark, ritualistic murder scene, steeped in perversion, and startlingly eerie. Though he leaves the body behind, as Debra, Quinn and Dexter arrive at the scene, we learn that it’s been painstakingly cleaned of all blood and other evidence.
Back in the lab, Dexter learns that the scene doubled as the sight of a similar murder thirty years earlier. Lundy, fighting a personal battle to catch “the one that got away,” had only believed Trinity to be active for half that time. Eluding capture — and, Lundy tells us, suspicion — for upwards of three decades makes Trinity the world’s most successful serial killer. This inspiring feat triggers Dexter’s curiosity.
At episode’s end, Dexter finally finds the time to corner Benny and right his wrong. Knife in one hand, cell phone in the other, he receives an urgent call from Rita. Baby Harrison has an ear infection, and she needs Dexter to drop everything and go to an all-night pharmacy. Pleading with her that he’s “right in the middle of something,” Dexter quickly realizes he needs to put family first when Rita firmly reminds him of his priorities. Towering over Benny’s rigid frame, Dexter wonders: “Can I have it all?”
Acklowedging there will be no time to savor his ritual, Dexter plunges the knife into Benny’s chest and hastily commences cleanup. Piling limb-filled trash bags into the trunk, Dexter appears to be homeward bound. But, still exhausted, Dexter falls asleep at the wheel. As his vehicle veers off the road at high speed, it flips, landing upside down in a chaotic mess of wreckage and debris. How does it end? Dexter is alive, but the many pieces of Benny’s body are still in the car.
P.S. Lt. Laguerta and Sgt. Batista are revealed to have started a secret relationship some time between seasons three and four. I like the pairing, but couldn’t help but cringe at the expository nod to Angel’s breakup with Detective Gianna. As in, “Hey, Angel, whatever happened with you and Detective Gianna?” (I’m paraphrasing.) We can put two-and-two together, OK, guys?
By Tony Black | Thursday, September 24, 2009, 02:30 PM
I had overheard the characters in ‘Glee’ mention that they lived in Ohio but until the latest episode on Wednesday, Sept. 23, I wasn’t sure where exactly.
Last night one of the characters mentioned they were in western Ohio. I turned to Zack and said “Did you hear that? They are in western Ohio.” Zack replied, “But we’re in western Ohio.”
As the episode continues, characters started using the phrase “Lima Loser” and I realized the show is set in Lima. A fictional high school in Lima, but Lima none-the-less.
The phrase “Lima Loser” was being used in the show to describe people who live their entire life in Lima. I checked Google to see if that phrase was something people in Lima actually say but all I could find was a Facebook page which seems to have been created around Sept. 17. The page appears to be the creation of a local radio station.
‘Glee’ isn’t the first TV show set in Ohio, and it’s surely not the last.
Other notable TV series set in Ohio include:
‘3rd Rock from the Sun’ was set in the fictional city of Rutherford, Ohio
‘The Drew Carey Show’ was set in Cleveland, Ohio, Drew Carey’s hometown
‘Ed’ was set in the fictional town of Stuckeyville, Ohio
‘Family Ties’ was set in suburban Columbus, Ohio
‘WKRP in Cincinnati’ but I am not sure where that show was set
If you haven’t been watching ‘Glee’ you should give it a shot. It is definitely not for everyone but there is a lot of laughs and a lot of music, new and old.
And ‘Glee’ is not just about a high school glee club, there’s football too:
