Reviews

"From here on in, it's either depend on these strangers or depend on me."

"We depend on no one, Ruda."

"But you have to, Daddy... eventually."

"Who says so?"

This interaction takes places in the final half hour of the film, as a more understanding daughter, Ruda (Melinda Dillon), implores her father, Teddy (James Stewart), to essentially pick his poison. Despite Ruda's best efforts, the aforementioned conversation serves only to cement his and terminally ill Mini's (Bette Davis) decision to end their lives when they say so. But more than that, it speaks to the deep-held beliefs of Teddy and Mini's generation: they only survived the Great Depression and won the Second World War (Stewart himself voluntarily served with distinguish in the Air Force during WW2).

Teddy and Mini Dwyer, a long married Santa Monica couple live together in a cluttered house with their multitude of cats, dolls and books. Their cats are named after the likes of Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, James Caan, and Paul Newman. But, if you ask me, I think De Niro and Pacino should be the ones naming their cats after Stewart and Davis.

The film begins with Teddy and Mini calling their daughter down south for a visit. They lay the news on small business owner Ruda that Mini is dying - for real this time. Mini describes the terminal illness as her body being allergic to her own blood; Teddy doesn't dare try to pronounce the name of it. They explain their intention to kill themselves to their daughter. Ruda doesn't take the revelation well and informs the local county, who in turn release an army of bureaucrats on the beleaguered couple.

The life expectancy in America in 1908, when Stewart and Davis were born, was 51 years old. In 1983, the year this film was released, it was 74. People live longer, in the developed world at least. This gift comes with a set of difficulties. What happens when proud, independent people reach that age where they can't take care of themselves anymore? Compromises must be made. This film depicts the story of two people, Teddy and Mini, who won't make those compromises.

Mini won't be a piñata shuffled from doctor to doctor and pumped full of donor blood to extend her life. Teddy won't live alone (Stewart basically made the same decision in his own life ten years later when his wife died. He confined himself to his home and refused most medical attention. His last words were reported to have been "I'm going to be with Gloria {his wife} now." I find this anecdote makes the film even more powerful and believable).

They commit to ending their lives on their own terms, while they still can.

I dare say, this is one of the best Bart and Lisa episodes from the entire run of The Simpsons. The episode deftly explains and expands on the relationship between the two siblings. From the hilarious lows of indiscriminately punching and kicking the air in an attempt to hurt the other without taking blame for it to the heartwarming highs of remembering their shared history at the end, this episode is a winner.

Homer is an irredeemable jerk in this episode. He escalates, really all but creates, the feud between Bart and Lisa. His role in the episode is a brilliant skewer of parents who put too much emphasis on their children's athletic endeavors.

In the end, Bart and Lisa keep their heads and strengthen their bond as the combustible mob that is the Springfield citizenry explodes over their refusal to cut the other down. A defining moment for Bart and Lisa's relationship, indeed.

I don't think Paranormal Parentage is a victory for the show in the order of Season 2's Epidemiology. But this season is all about growing the old and new audience of Community. You need episodes you can put in the "win" column to do that. I think Paranormal Parentage is one of those episodes. Never mind that it's a Halloween episode airing on Valentine's Day.

The episode begins with the gang gearing up to attend a Halloween party. They end up on a detour at Pierce's mansion. He's locked himself in his panic room while dusting. As one of the characters point out, of all the places to start cleaning, really, the panic room? Moving right along, the study group has to split up in Scooby Doo(esque) style to track down the unlock code for the Panic Room and save Pierce. That would be an easy task if not for the fact that Pierce's house is enormous and there may or not be the ghost of Pierce's dad roaming around! I didn't find myself falling out my chair with laughter at this episode. I think the funniest bit was Troy and Shirley's discovery of Pierce's fetish room. Donald Glover's comedic pitch and timing are world class. It's also nice to see Shirley be the one who's hip to it for a change and not the one on the outside that the rest of the group is treating like a baby or cracking jokes about. This episode was really about Jeff in my opinion. Community has been working toward his reckoning with his father for a while now. It's nice to see that plot line take a much needed step forward.

We're on to episode three of this truncated season. It's been available to critics for a while now, and I've heard some mixed opinions on it, but I remain optimistic. Paranormal Parentage earned that optimism for now.

It doesn't matter what the season finale for The Simpsons was, and I couldn't even give you the rough plot outline of a Seinfeld season finale except the last episode, but they really matter for a crime drama like SoA. They're important for dramas. They're important in keeping us invested. Dramas build on the major plot week to week. They need a good payoff on that plot by the finale. I could absolutely tell you the season finale to many seasons of Lost. And who can forget Jack being gift-wrapped for the Chinese at the end of season 5 of 24? I was a little disappointed with the S2 finale Na Triobloidi. But S3's NS is one of the best finales in the show's history. It's the exact opposite of what you might call a by the numbers finale. All the loose ends get tied up, I mean all the right characters find themselves at the end of a gun, or the blade of a knife. This is a powerful hour of television. It's particularly satisfactory to have S3 end on a strong note, given that this season is episode for episode the weakest one in my opinion. But hey, the weakest season of SoA is miles ahead of Grey's Anatomy or any drama you'll find on network television for that matter. Way to go, FX.

There's a real cathartic feeling to the final five or ten minutes of this episode. A sense of the wounds gained in S2 healing. Jax, Clay and the club are on good terms. Stahl is out of the picture for good. They're looking at small time and a more lucrative deal with the IRA to fall back on when they get out. But at the same time, Tara sits at Jax's houses reading letters from his father to Maureen in Belfast. It's understood that these letters may have the power to rip apart all the healing that's taken place between Jax and the MC. The secrets surrounding JT and the years leading up to his death that have long been put to bed by Clay and Gemma are threatening just beneath the surface. A brilliant season finale never lets you get too comfortable. Things can change at a moment's notice. There's no episode better to express that than a season finale. 10 out of 10. Can't wait to start re-watching S4.

A television show usually places a few months, sometimes even a year in between seasons. It allows for the characters within the world to gain perspective on the events of the prior season and necessary setup for the new season. The adrenaline from the final few episodes of last season drain so that the new season can start a new boil on new conflicts. Season three of SoA took a different route. The events of S3 take place almost immediately after S2. We find Jax devastated by the knowledge that his son has been kidnapped and we gain a rough outline of where the season will go with the Sons tracking down all leads on Abel in the first few episodes.

June Wedding, the penultimate episode of S3, picks up with the Sons returning to Charming. They've just risked their lives in Belfast retrieving Abel, and aren't even afforded one day of rest after Jax learns the night prior to their return home that Tara has been kidnapped by Salazar. It isn't long before Gemma confronts Agent Stahl at gunpoint and threatens her career if she doesn't end the deal with Jax. Meanwhile, Jimmy has worked out a deal with the Russians to get him to South America for three quarters of a million dollars and a sweetheart deal on guns for the foreseeable future.

The episode comes to a head toward the end when Salazar takes Tara to Jacob Hale's office and holds them both hostage in exchange for safe passage to Mexico. His grudge goes deeper than that, as he wants to cut Tara into pieces in front of Jax. Hale stabs Salazar with a pen before that can happen. Salazar is able to bolt from the room. Jax gives Tara the gun and tells her to shoot anyone she sees who's not a cop. He chases after Salazar with the knife Salazar had intended to slice Tara with. Salazar ends up at a door at the end of a long hallway with an axe in his hand and Jax right behind him. Jax convinces him to drop the axe by telling him that the Sons don't want him dead, they want him to rat on Hale about being hired by him to intimidate Lumpy into selling his business, actions which led to Lumpy's death.

Jax doesn't keep his promise. The moment Salazar's axe drops, Jax jams the knife into his abdomen and kills him. Outside Stahl devises a plan to keep her job safe. She really goes off the deep end and kills her partner, later completing her plan to frame her partner for the dirty kill she committed by pinning the murder on the now dead partner.

I remember this season as the weakest of the bunch. Too many sacrifices are made by picking up right where S2 left off. Neither the characters nor their conflicts are allowed to breath. SoA loses much of its focus on the dissension within the MC in favor of a simpler find Abel season. The Belfast excursion provided for an interesting setting and some fresh conflicts, but I was always disappointed that the season didn't have enough meat on the bone. The final two episodes of the season are quite strong, though. I'll discuss a couple points I find most interesting.

Isn't it fascinating that Jacob Hale materializes as the greatest threat to the Sons in S3? David Hale's older, less scrupulous brother. His gerrymandering of city council pushes out Charming PD and puts the Sons on track for jail time. Jacob Hale takes a page from Zobelle when he realizes the way to hurt the Sons is to bend the will of Charming against them.

Another thread I've followed is the way Jax seems to have an epiphany in Belfast upon finding Abel's adoptive parents murdered. Protect your own by any means necessary. His father's memoir never seems further out of reach than now. Jax's qualms with violence, with the MC running guns, never seem more distant. Jax is billed from the beginning as a big picture guy. Clay is the in the moment, shortsighted one. Ironic then that Jax succumbs to his need for revenge on Salazar rather than letting him take down Hale, the real threat to the Sons' future.

Isn't it just fitting that the rift between Tig and Kozik is over a dog? A beautiful German shepherd named Missy. They spend half the season immaturely beating the other to a pulp and bickering like a couple of old grandmas. We'd be giving these guys too much weight if Missy were anything other than a dog. Tig's storyline consistently throughout S3 was the highlight in my book. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Abel's safe. But we knew he would be from the get-go.

I should speak of the good things first. How many can there be if I only give this film a 3 out of 10? Not that many. I do think that Jessica Chastain (a new name to me) and Jason Clarke gave fine performances. Kathryn Bigelow's direction was only serviceable. I must confess to not being a fan of her past work.

I'm sorry but it's time to get into the elements I disliked in the film already. Bigelow herself has stated that she saw this film as telling the story of the hunt for bin Laden, not fictionalizing nor judging, but leaving that to the audience. Such aspirations for a film about something still very personal and visceral to most Americans are hard to accomplish. More importantly, this comes with a certain responsibility. Such responsibility was not met.

I find both halves of the film difficult to watch for different reasons. The first half because of its depiction of torture by CIA agents on the behalf of our country. The second half because it can get kind of boring. But let me stick to the first half. One positive thing I can say about the torture scenes is that no one, or at least, no one with an open, sensible mind can say that "enhanced interrogation" is anything other than torture after watching this film. Arguments to the contrary always remind me of Nixon's response during one of those iconic David Frost interviews. "Well when the President does it, that means that it is not illegal." We've prosecuted and convicted people who employed water boarding on our own soldiers. To make the argument that water boarding is nothing more than "enhanced interrogation" and entirely legal is really to make the point, "Well when America does it, that means that it is not illegal." The film does more than trip over its own feet when it suggests that a detainee gave up information upon the threat of more torture. No such occurrence took place. It's a fiction of torture's defenders and it's a fatal sin that the film would follow that direction. Another suggestion of the film, I'm sure at the benefit of making it more interesting, is that there were greater ties between the Camp Chapman attack and the hunt for bin Laden. This is another creation. This film fails to meet the expectations placed on it by Bigelow.

I do think that Bigelow did a responsible job with the actual raid. It's quite accurate to most of the accounts an ordinary citizen like myself can get their hands on. However I will admit my frame of reference isn't as an ordinary citizen. As a former Ranger, I've had experience with high value targets. I believe the film was able to capture a piece of what an actual mission can feel like. I find this film to be a better representation of SEAL Team 6 than the recent HBO film Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden. That's the only takeaway for me.

This episode really surprised me. I was beginning to write off the season. Then an episode with a solid plot, funny jokes and a heartfelt message comes along. I can't believe it's rated as badly as it is on IMDb. I give this an episode a 10. Since I've reviewed a lot of Simpsons' episodes on IMDb, I can tell you a 10 has been reserved for only early episodes up until now.

I really liked the couch gag. It was creative and interesting. This led into a great episode which begins with Homer ordering onion rings. Thought bubble Marge and thought bubble Doctor Hibbert advise him against eating unhealthily, but Homer will do as Homer does. I like the skinny nerd who works there having a nervous breakdown. Standard party chick co-worker wants money for booze from the register, he's got a homeless dude bathing in the bathroom and a bunch of burger-ready Karate class kids. I don't blame him. However, his mishap leads to Homer's personal injury lawsuit. I might have rated this episode lower if that hadn't been handled very quickly, because having any other lawyer besides the great Troy McClure is just painful.

The money Homer wins from that lawsuit goes toward Lisa's college fund. After a hilarious conversation with the guys at the bar, Homer decides a gambling site would be the best place to store the money. Lisa, despite her reservations, can't help gambling with it, doing well initially before she cockily gambles it all away. The fact that Bart is there to save her is really touching. The main story with Abe is really well done. I enjoyed the flashbacks especially.

Some things I like about the episode: Kermit references. Milhouse's short, totally awesome sense of wonder moment. Ned's appearance. Two dogs on a leash going at it. Homer's accident prone childhood (not that he gets any better in adulthood).

This episode was great. I'll be watching it again soon.

The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror is a Halloween institution. It's a chance for the show to do a lot of neat things it wouldn't ordinarily do. The episodes are non-canon; which means anything goes. I remember when the Treehouse of Horror episodes would always end up airing in early November. I never liked that. Fox has gotten it right the last couple years and aired them in October before Halloween.

The Greatest Story Ever Holed: I thought this segment was the best of the night. If it can be believed, Marge and Lisa actually made the biggest difference in this episode. They ended up with the best jokes.

Unnormal Activity: I found this to be the weakest segment of the night. The ending makes absolutely no sense and goes a little far for a Simpsons' episode. Seriously, Homer in bed with two demons?

Bart & Homer's Excellent Adventure: I just have to say on the surface, Homer would be over 50 years old if he met Marge in high school in 1974. I'm not sure why the show decided to create that plot hole. It was completely unnecessary. I felt the highlight of this segment was the different Homers from throughout history. Renaissance Homer and Elvis Homer were very funny.

All in all, I didn't find Treehouse of Horror XXIII to be particularly good. I'd rather see an old Treehouse of Horror than watch this one.

Gary Cooper was already a veritable film star in 1933. This picture was a rare miss for him at the box office. It sold just a little over 3 million tickets; its gross equaling around just 26 million in today's dollars. It's a little puzzling when you consider that this film is actually really good. I mean it's really good. It's a taut 69-minute picture absent of any scenes which don't advance the plot.

Frances Fuller is wonderful as his simple, lovely, adoring wife. Cooper, as well, is great in this film. He made films in the 30s and to a lesser extent the 40s which showcased his perfect ability to play a boy in a man's body. A boy who isn't necessarily childish, but who cherishes silliness. The characters live in the moment and have an unbridled enthusiasm for the world around them. Think of Mr. Deeds in Mr. Deeds Goes to Town when he hears a fire engine. Clark Gable always played men. Cooper could play a boy who's just as much a man.

One of my favorite parts of the movie is that Biff is foreshadowing the course of the movie when he talks about growing as a person. We don't notice it at first, because of how hot-tempered and inconsiderate Biff comes off, but as the film progresses he does begin to grow. The Biff from the beginning of the flashback wouldn't have let Amy's mother move in to their home. He wouldn't have gone to his mortal enemy to beg for his job back. Virginia wasn't much different at the end of the picture. She'd always been that wonderful. She really didn't change. The secret is... Biff had.