(no subject)
May. 2nd, 2015 11:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1) Watched the flick The Judge , which stars Robert Downy, Jr., Robert Duvall, Vera Farmiga, Vincent D'Orintho, Billy Bob Thornton, and Ken Howard. It was better than I expected. The film had gotten mixed reviews, but a friend of mine highly recommended it.
The story concerns the fractured relationship between a father and son. Over 30 years ago, Hank Palmer (Robert Downy, Jr.) stopped to talking to his father, and left home. He doesn't visit, and basically sees his dad as "dead to him". Hank is undergoing a divorce, has a young daughter, and is a top notch defense attorney in what appears to be NYC. His father and brothers live in Carlton, Indiana, a lovely small town that he hasn't been to in years.
While in the midst of a court trial, Hank gets a call informing him that his mother has died. So he asks for a continuance, and goes home. While there - his father gets charged with murder and he ends up defending him. The story is less about the defense and trial and more about the relationship between the two men, and their awkward attempts to find a way of healing what was broken. It also delves subtly into why it was broken.
Well acted (although I would watch just about anything with Downy Jr and Duvall in it),
and produced. A bit sentimental in places, and the writing could be tighter. But overall - it held my attention and I found it to be moving.
Also, I'm not sure, but I think Robert Duvall sings the song at the very end. Which is worth watching the credits roll by for.
2.) Television
* I've officially given up on The Blacklist -- just kept forgetting to watch it, and the DVR unfortunately deleted half the episodes, insisting on just keeping the last five and taping reruns. So I was hopelessly lost when I attempted to watch it, and found that I didn't care about anyone.
* Gotham -- I'm sticking with. It's well acted, and still gripping. Also, I managed to accurately save all the episodes. 10 saved. Watched one today. Marvel Agents of Shield is catching up with Gotham. I have 7 episodes saved of that one.
Will end up binging at some point.
* Younger -- still watching, not sure for how long, my attention keeps wandering. Situation comedies don't tend to work for me -- my sense of humor is well, a bit drier, subtle, absurd, and more irreverent. Younger? I don't find funny. It's somewhat interesting, but not really funny.
*Vampire Diaries --
Right now, I'm trying to guess as to how they plan on writing out Elena. I know she's leaving, because the actress is leaving the series. But how?
I sort of hope they don't kill her, and just write her out like they did Jeremy. But I'm guessing that's not what they'll do. It's far more dramatic storywise to kill her. So, again, how?
I'm not all that upset about it. The character has run its course. Also, it frees Damon up, who unfortunately was the most interesting of the two. Actually, I like his dynamic with Bonnie -- and with Elena gone, that can be explored more. And it might set Damon off, then again maybe not.
The relationships I find the most interesting on this series are the friendships/sibling relationships or platonic relationships. The romantic/sexual relationships are frankly boring. Television suck at romantic relationships, I'm sorry, but they do. They go for the hot sex, and then run out of ideas...oh lets break them up in all sorts of outlandish and silly ways, so we can keep the sex hot, and the suspense, otherwise we're stumped. Platonic relationships - you can't do that with -- so much more interesting.
That said, Stefan and Caroline have a interesting romance. Both are somewhat sanctimonious control freaks, which provides an interesting dynamic, since they tend to fight with each other over who gets to be in control.
Behind on everything else. I have 46 hours of television on the DVR. Right now I'm debating on whether I'm ever going to watch Elementary (5, and DVR may not have saved all-- it may have deleted a few and just saved the most recent) again, or Wolf Hall (4 episodes) or Broadchurch (6-- except it was a short series...so that may not be a problem.)
The story concerns the fractured relationship between a father and son. Over 30 years ago, Hank Palmer (Robert Downy, Jr.) stopped to talking to his father, and left home. He doesn't visit, and basically sees his dad as "dead to him". Hank is undergoing a divorce, has a young daughter, and is a top notch defense attorney in what appears to be NYC. His father and brothers live in Carlton, Indiana, a lovely small town that he hasn't been to in years.
While in the midst of a court trial, Hank gets a call informing him that his mother has died. So he asks for a continuance, and goes home. While there - his father gets charged with murder and he ends up defending him. The story is less about the defense and trial and more about the relationship between the two men, and their awkward attempts to find a way of healing what was broken. It also delves subtly into why it was broken.
Well acted (although I would watch just about anything with Downy Jr and Duvall in it),
and produced. A bit sentimental in places, and the writing could be tighter. But overall - it held my attention and I found it to be moving.
Also, I'm not sure, but I think Robert Duvall sings the song at the very end. Which is worth watching the credits roll by for.
2.) Television
* I've officially given up on The Blacklist -- just kept forgetting to watch it, and the DVR unfortunately deleted half the episodes, insisting on just keeping the last five and taping reruns. So I was hopelessly lost when I attempted to watch it, and found that I didn't care about anyone.
* Gotham -- I'm sticking with. It's well acted, and still gripping. Also, I managed to accurately save all the episodes. 10 saved. Watched one today. Marvel Agents of Shield is catching up with Gotham. I have 7 episodes saved of that one.
Will end up binging at some point.
* Younger -- still watching, not sure for how long, my attention keeps wandering. Situation comedies don't tend to work for me -- my sense of humor is well, a bit drier, subtle, absurd, and more irreverent. Younger? I don't find funny. It's somewhat interesting, but not really funny.
*Vampire Diaries --
Right now, I'm trying to guess as to how they plan on writing out Elena. I know she's leaving, because the actress is leaving the series. But how?
I sort of hope they don't kill her, and just write her out like they did Jeremy. But I'm guessing that's not what they'll do. It's far more dramatic storywise to kill her. So, again, how?
I'm not all that upset about it. The character has run its course. Also, it frees Damon up, who unfortunately was the most interesting of the two. Actually, I like his dynamic with Bonnie -- and with Elena gone, that can be explored more. And it might set Damon off, then again maybe not.
The relationships I find the most interesting on this series are the friendships/sibling relationships or platonic relationships. The romantic/sexual relationships are frankly boring. Television suck at romantic relationships, I'm sorry, but they do. They go for the hot sex, and then run out of ideas...oh lets break them up in all sorts of outlandish and silly ways, so we can keep the sex hot, and the suspense, otherwise we're stumped. Platonic relationships - you can't do that with -- so much more interesting.
That said, Stefan and Caroline have a interesting romance. Both are somewhat sanctimonious control freaks, which provides an interesting dynamic, since they tend to fight with each other over who gets to be in control.
Behind on everything else. I have 46 hours of television on the DVR. Right now I'm debating on whether I'm ever going to watch Elementary (5, and DVR may not have saved all-- it may have deleted a few and just saved the most recent) again, or Wolf Hall (4 episodes) or Broadchurch (6-- except it was a short series...so that may not be a problem.)