Category Archives: Movies/TV

Madam Secretary: Season 2 Episode 3

Well, it’s official. Madam Secretary had its first “meh” episode of the season. It starts with a simple phone call, and ends with some wild gesticulation. In this episode, we see Bess and the White House staff deal with the aftermath of Ostrov’s (former Russian President) death. The president makes a call to Ostrov’s widow, sending his condolences and informing her that he’ll be sending Beth in his place to the funeral. Shortly after he ends the phone call, the President Conrad, Russell Jackson, Bess, and Craig start debating what to do with the Russia/Ukraine conflict. Much like in real life, Russia has occupied the eastern half of Ukraine, and Craig (the new head of the NSA) wants the U.S. to interfere. Bess however, cautions the president against taking such an action. Instead Bess proposes the best way to work with Russia is to help insure the Foreign Minister Gorev becomes Russia’s new president. Of course Craig is a huge jerk about it. After Bess makes her plea for this new plan, Craig makes some snooty remark about Bess and her cool glasses and “glorious hair.” Sigh. President Conrad agrees to go along with Bess’s plan, so she goes to her staff to come up with a strategy to put Gorev in charge.

Meanwhile, a tech expert has been brought in to investigate how/why Air Force One’s communication system went down in the first episode, and to also insure Bess’s plane is safe for her journey to Russia. He assures Bess’s staff that her plane is totally safe, but he is still unable to say how Air Force One was hacked.

Later that night Bess and Henry are relaxing at home when Jason comes in and presents them with his latest report card. Hoping to score some brownie points from his improved grades, Jason asks his parents to sign a permission slip so that he can try out for the football team. Bess and Henry are completely caught off guard, and tell Jason they’ll have to think about it before they can agree to that.

Next day at her office, Bess and her team come up with a solid plan to put Gorev in power. They decide the best option is to convince Ukraine to let Russia have its victory of eastern Ukraine in order to restore peace. Since a victory in Ukraine would make the Russians happy, Bess feels she can convince the U.S. to lift its sanctions on Russia and get Gorev to go along with her plan. After this successful meeting, Bess returns to her personal office and is shortly greeted by her advisor Mike B. He urges Bess to get Bess back on the President’s good side. He warns Bess that Jackson and Conrad are trying to push her out, so she can’t afford to fail her mission in Russia. Mike B. offers to give Bess a binder full of information on Craig, but Bess refuses to use such a tactic to get ahead.

At the same time, Henry enters his classroom at the War College to find Dimitri overcompensating with a speech about Ostrov’s death in order to appear extremely patriotic. At the end of his class, Henry tells Dimitri his first mission as a spy is to go to the Russian Embassy for Ostrov’s memorial and cozy up to the Russian Ambassador. Dimitri challenges Henry and asks what would happen if he refused, to which Henry responds with a vague threat to Dimitri’s sick sister. While waiting for news from Dimitri’s mission, Henry decides to play catch with Jason. As they toss the football back and forth, Henry asks Jason why he really wants to try out for the team. For the first time I felt a little sad for Jason when he says it’s because he wants to make friends. After Henry video calls Bess to tell her this news, she agrees to allow Jason to try out for the football team.

Back at the White House, Bess pitches her official plan to the President, Jackson, and Craig. The President gives Bess the go-ahead on her plan much to Craig’s dismay. After the meeting, Bess approaches Craig and tries to convince him to get lunch. Instead of being a normal human and turning her down politely, Craig insists on uttering some more misogynistic garbage. He completely dismisses Bess’s work from the previous year and says she may have “improvised” her way to some major successes, but what the country really needs is some “strategy.” Barf. After that lovely scene, we finally see Bess acting out the first stage of her plan. After some intense convincing, the Ukrainian President agrees to let Russia have its victory. However, this little bit couldn’t quite go off without a hitch. While waiting outside for Bess, Blake is beckoned over by a little girl who wants to take a picture with him. She also insists that Blake pose with her “father.”

Beta blockers – They reduce the effects of excitement and physical exertion on the heart and opens the outflow channels, which then releases the blood. davidfraymusic.com viagra cipla 20mg through its ability to help trap the blood flow to the sexual organs; thereby, creating sensuality. Some people are well informed about ill effects of particular drugs especially antidepressant drugs lowest price viagra adversely affect sexual functionality. Take note that http://davidfraymusic.com/2019/08/ cheap viagra 100mg Safed musli do not have instant effect. Instead of fatty meat you can opt for their desired flavor of oral jelly which is available http://davidfraymusic.com/project/gramophone-names-fantaisie-a-may-editors-choice/ viagra 25 mg in 100mg strength. Bess and her staff then travel to Russia for Ostorov’s wake. And all goes seemingly well. Bess and Osrtrov’s widow have a nice talk and Bess’s staff pays their respect to Ostrov. Afterwards, Bess even convinces Gorev to go along with her plan to put him into power. Everything’s going perfectly until the photo of Blake and the little girl’s “father” hits the internet. What Blake didn’t realize at the time was the whole little girl thing was a setup. The man he’s photographed with is wearing a T-shirt bearing the swastika, which signifies that he is an anti Russian protester/Nazi. Obviously, this does not bode well with the Russian people and makes Bess look awful to pretty much the entire world. Daisy ultimately confronts Blake about this huge error and demands that he stops being such a people-pleaser. Blake in turn tells Daisy she needs to convince the tech guy investigating Air Force One to help them track down who staged this disaster photo session.

When Daisy does get into contact with the tech guy, he reveals that the man in the Swastika shirt was indeed a Russian operative sent there by a Russian photographer. Furthermore, the man who set up the photo debacle works at a charity funded by none other than Ostrov’s widow.

Back in the U.S., Henry speaks to his DIA bosses about his concerns for Dimitri. Henry is afraid that although Dimirti is intelligent, he doesn’t have the strength to be a spy. And since Henry is Dimitri’s handler, Henry’s boss agrees to look into this matter. Which as it turns out is not so great for Dimitri. He is unable to get any useful information out of the Russian Ambassador, and as he leaves the Russian Embassy Dimitri is ambushed by two massive fellows and thrown into a van. He wakes up in an interrogation room, where the two thugs from the van proceed to hit him for information on his activities at the Embassy. As it turns out, this whole interrogation was planned by Henry’s bosses, and they all watch as Dimitri is repeatedly assaulted. Once she’s satisfied that Dimitri wouldn’t betray his mission even under torture, Henry’s boss ends the interrogation. Henry speaks with Dimitri and pretends to have no remorse over this cruelty, but is obviously very troubled by it when Dimitri leaves the room.

Despite Bess’s efforts, she and her team are unable to tell the Russian people the truth about the photograph. As soon as Ostrov’s widow starts her eulogy, she rallies the people in the crows against Bess and her staff. She compares Bess to some scary Russian folk monster, and tells Bess to warn her President that Russia is not afraid of the United States. Most unfortunately for Bess, this turn of events means her plan to put Gorev in charge is dead. When she returns to the White House, Craig reveals his new and terrible plan to get Russia out of Ukraine. He urges the President to arm the Ukrainians, and to have the U.S. directly involved with this conflict. Bess returns to her office where she summons Mike B. again. This time she agrees to take the binder about Craig from him.

After a long and harrowing day, Bess and Henry attempt to comfort each other at home when once again Jason appears with more news about football. He made the team! Bess feigns enthusiasm, and as soon as Jason leaves the room makes Henry swear Jason will leave the team after his first concussion.

And in what is certainly the strangest scene of the season so far, we cut back to Russia where Ostrov’s widow walks out onto a balcony and without saying a world just pumps her fists to the sky sending the massive crowd below her into a frenzy. Even watching this scene a second time did not make me feel any better about this moment. I can only hope that next week’s episode does not end on such a melodramatic note.

‘The Sand’ Will Make You Afraid to Go to the Beach, Sorta

The DVD cover for the movie. (Image courtesy of www.snrfilms.com/thesand
The DVD cover for the movie. (Image courtesy of www.snrfilms.com/thesand)

In 1975, Jaws made audiences scared to go into the water. The Sand (released October 13), however, wants them to be scared to even walk on the beach. But does this independent horror film stand firm like a rock or collapse like a, well, sand castle?

The day after a night of drunken revelry at a seaside graduation party, a group of twenty-somethings awake to discover the beach devours any living thing that touches it.

(SPOILER WARNING!)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JNe6iBWcwI]

The movie's spoiler-ific trailer

I’m a tough critic when it comes to the horror genre, especially in film. Horror has, unfortunately, gotten inundated with the dumbest clichés, the worst tropes and the most idiotic characters. It’s rare to come across a modern “scary movie” that isn’t full of cheap jump scares and gratuitous gore. There are reasons why many, including myself, often equate horror movies with schlock.

I went into The Sand unsure of what to expect. It was described to me as being similar to the 1990 cult classic Tremors, a film I liked. It also had a good concept: take an innocuous everyday object—in this case, sand—and make it terrifying. (It works for Stephen King and Steven Moffat). So, I kept an open mind.

And what I got was…okay.

On the plus side, there are some truly suspenseful scenes where characters try to avoid touching the sand since doing so is instant death. Attempts are made to cross the sand using objects like surfboards and wooden posts. Similarly, using either a towel or a rescue line held by her friends to precariously steady herself, one girl attempts to climb the back bumper of a car to open the trunk and get cell phones. These scenes are allowed to play out, utilizing close-ups of the characters feet to show how close they come to touching the ground.

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The dire situation forced said characters to survive by their wits with limited resources. The aforementioned weaknesses are discovered by trial and often deadly error. I recently heard about “try fail cycles” on the Writing Excuses podcast, and this movie is certainly replete with them, which keeps the tension high. The tension did break whenever I thought the movie might stoop to cliches, but was otherwise effective.

The characters, unfortunately, like the movie itself, are a mixed bag. They certainly start off cliché enough since they seemed to be drunk spring break partiers. One of them even ran around recording their revelry like this was a found-footage film (which, thankfully, it isn’t since those are overdone now). I found all but two of them—the heroine and one other guy—to be boring and annoying for at least the first 20-30 minutes. Most of the actors tended to overact, shouting profanities and screaming, but once the characters realize they are on their own, they become smarter and oftentimes clever. Except for one guy. He got so drunk the night before, his friends stuffed him in a trashcan and drew a penis on his face. He did nothing but whine and complain the entire time. In other words, he’s useless. Surprisingly, he isn’t the first to die, but I kind of wish he did since he contributes nothing to the plot. I suppose he might’ve been intended to be comic relief or someone to rescue, but he fails at both.

Speaking of comic relief, Jamie Kennedy (who ironically stars in the recently released Tremors 5: Bloodlines) cameos as a beach patrol officer who shows up halfway through the movie, and he’s an unprofessional idiot. He struts around assuming all the kids are on drugs, refuses to listen to them and does nothing to help. His scene isn’t funny and is a letdown because he could’ve fixed everything. The only good that comes of his scene is showing that the tendrils can’t grab anyone if they’re wearing shoes (something I thought of at least 20 minutes before that).

Despite its simple premise and monster, the movie belies its low budget with its special effects. Like with many such horror films, its CGI gore, while infrequent, looks more laughable than horrifying. The actors’ over-the-top performances don’t help it. For whatever reason, it’s also inconsistent. Some characters have gruesome deaths where they’re shredded while others are simply dragged under the sand. I saw no reason for this other than as a cost-cutting measure. Consistency: look elsewhere for it.

The movie jumps the shark—no pun intended (but perhaps a Jaws reference)—the last 20 minutes when the “sand” suddenly and inexplicably grows into a full-sized tentacle. The creature goes from unique to cliché. More baffling is the fact that the tentacles attack only when the plot demands it and somehow doesn’t overturn the vehicles the protagonists hid inside. Perhaps it is just as dumb as some of the characters.

However, the ending almost makes up for it. Almost. I think it squanders an opportunity to be different. Only three characters—the heroine, her best friend and the heroine’s ailing boyfriend—survive. One girl remarks that nobody came to save them (a preposterous set-up that stretches credibility so far it snaps), to which the other girl says, “Maybe tomorrow,” before the scene fades to black. I actually would’ve liked that as an ambiguous ending. Yes, it would’ve been a bit depressing, but it would’ve been different. Instead, a surfer finds them the next day and the girls learn the creature has moved on. Now, the surfer’s reaction to the passed out boyfriend—who is off-camera—is a bit odd, but it’s never explained. I don’t know if he’s dead or if he’s mutated into some inhuman monster (yes, I sort of expected that to happen).

In the end, this is an average horror flick. It lacks the stellar characters of Jaws and the campy humor of Tremors, which seem to be its immediate influences (though I use that term loosely). Much like its hungover protagonists, you won’t remember much of the movie the morning after watching it.

Final Grade: C

Madam Secretary: Season 2 Episode 2 Recap

Another week, another Madam Secretary. This action-packed episode starts right off with a kidnapping of an American citizen in Afghanistan while simultaneously informing us that the Russian president, Ostrov, is MIA.

In order to keep all the action straight, I’ll break it down by character. Obviously Bess has to deal directly with both the kidnapping and figuring out where Ostrov has gone. She assigns one of her staffers, Jay, to work with a man from the Department of Defense to work out a solution to reaching out to Ostrov. This endeavor does not go well, but I’ll get to that later. Almost as soon as Bess arrives to her office, her staff informs her that the supposed terrorists/kidnappers sent her a video message directly. They demand to speak with Bess or they will kill their American hostage. When Bess brings this news to President Conrad, he specifically prohibits her from reaching out to the “terrorists.” But of course Bess doesn’t follow those orders. She and her assistant Blake Skype the “terrorists” only to discover that they’re really contractors with the United State’s military, and they’ve only taken the American hostage in order to gain the visas promised to their families for their service. Bess brings this news to her staff, and they are equally outraged at this injustice.

Eventually the news that Bess disobeyed his orders reaches the President, but his Chief of Staff, Russell Jackson, convinces him that they should take the kidnappers’ deal. With the go-ahead from the President, Bess recruits a former Lieutenant, Mike, to help her speak with the kidnappers. Bess brings Mike to the Situation Room, and he’s able to make contact with the kidnappers. Unfortunately at the same time, they receive intelligence that the Taliban has discovered their location and that they only have a few minutes to escape. The White House eventually sends a team of Navy Seals to rescue the kidnappers’ and their hostage, but when it comes down to the wire they’re only able to save the American leaving the others to their deaths.

Meanwhile, Henry’s still up to his not interesting spying. However, he runs into a problem with his mission to keep tabs on Dimitri when Dimitri informs him that he has to leave school in order to care for his sick sister. By the end of the episode Henry’s able to essentially blackmail Dimitri into becoming a spy for the U.S. in order to ensure his sister can be sent to Stockholm for treatment (she has cancer, and she wouldn’t be able to receive the proper care in Russia). And the tension between Henry and Stevie continues to build when he confronts her about having her hair tested (hair he got from her brush) for any substances-specifically heroin. He and Bess give Stevie an ultimatum, either she tells the President and his wife that Harrison is possibly using again or they will that very afternoon. Rightly so, Stevie is outraged and storms out of the house. Henry spends the remainder of the day trying to reach Stevie with no success.

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Finally, we find the McCords at their family dinner where Stevie eventually appears. It’s obvious that there’s a ton of tension in the room, so Alison busts out her “talking stick” and the family addresses all their issues. Bess touchingly admits to Stevie that she’s been so hard on her because she isn’t sure how to parent her now that she’s an adult, and that really scares her. Henry, however, ruins the moment by angrily demanding to know where Stevie was all day, to which Stevie yanks the talking stick away and reveals she was taking the LSAT. She isn’t happy with the person she’s become, and so she’s trying to apply herself to a career that will give her life meaning. It’s a lovely moment, and it’s refreshing to see Stevie doing something sensible and not totally immature for once.

The warm-fuzzies don’t last for long however. After dinner, the Russian Foreign Minister, Gorev, pays the McCords a visit. He cryptically asks them if they would keep an eye on his daughter, Olga, while she studies at Harvard Law if something were to happen to him. When Bess presses him for an answer as to why he would make such a request, Gorev reveals that the Kremlin is going to announce that President Ostrov is dead. This leaves Bess and Henry to believe Gorev may have been behind it since he has previously expressed interest in power.

Overall, I enjoyed this episode even more than the premiere. It was great getting to watch an episode not involving too much conspiracy talk (the mishap with Air Force One only came up once). And it’s great seeing this show use its platform to discuss an important and upsetting issue. This issue involving that’s been discussed on John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight, so it was nice seeing it reinforced on Madam Secretary this week. And once again there was an excellent cameo. This time by none other than Madeleine Albright! All right! I hope next week’s episode is just as satisfying, and that we’ll see yet another spectacular celebrity cameo.

Madam Secretary: Season 2 Episode 1 Recap

It’s that special time of year. The leaves are changing colors, the smell of pumpkin spice lattes fills the air, and your favorite fall TV shows are returning. Madam Secretary made it’s premiere on Sunday, and oh boy did a lot happen.

Madam Secretary follows Elisabeth McCord a.k.a Bess (Tea Leoni), a former CIA agent turned college professor who is asked to become the Secretary of State after the current Secretary dies in a plane crash. She and her family relocate to Washington D.C., and the show basically shows their transition to this new life. Eventually it is revealed that the former Secretary’s plane crash was no accident, and Bess and others devote much of the first season into solving this conspiracy. The conspiracy is really the least interesting part of the show. I think the show is much more compelling when it’s following Bess and her staff while they solve diplomatic issues.

Now, let’s catch up with everyone and where they are at the start of the second season. We finally got to see the Vice President make a cameo! Not once did he appear in the previous season, but we finally got to see him in perhaps not his brightest moment. Before the Vice President can begin his game of golf with the Chinese Ambassador, he loses his lunch all over the ambassador’s shoes. Cut to Madam Secretary Bess’s office where Matt serenades her with a song she must perform at the Pacific Rim Economic Forum later that day. Admittedly, my favorite part of this episode (and frankly any episode of this show) is watching Geoffrey Arend; now I know he can sing—life just got a little sweeter. Henry appears to be getting into the swing of things at his new teaching/spy job at the National War College. Jason is once again semi in trouble at school, Alison’s elected Peer Mediator at school —which no one cares about—and Stevie is hooking up with Harrison in a swanky hotel room.

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For the most part I was pretty happy with this episode, but I was not super thrilled with its ending. I got my fill with the whole Iran conspiracy in the last season. This season two premiere was off to a promising start. There was a huge crisis that Bess and her team had to deal with, but it was grounded and didn’t involve some wacky conspiracy until, it’s revealed at the end that someone (mostly likely within the government) tampered with Air Force One by enabling some malware that shut down all its communication. Ugh. Madam Secretary was so close to the show I want it so badly to be! It’s interesting enough to watch Bess deal with foreign and domestic issues without there having to be some convoluted conspiracy playing out in the background. I can understand that CBS probably wanted to get people interested in the first season so they added the whole “the Secretary of State was murdered and it was totally an inside job,” but the first season was a hit. So why continue the unnecessary drama? Oh well, I suppose I’ll have to deal with it.

And there’s still plenty more reasons to keep watching Madam Secretary. (Especially if Geoffrey Arend keeps singing.) Like Morgan Freeman making an appearance!! Whaaaat?! That was so great. I hope they find another reason to bring him in as the Chief Justice. Maybe he could just start narrating the episodes. I’d settle for that. Until next week….

Sicario (2015) Review

**SPOILER ALERT**

It’s been a long time since I’ve been so invested in a story while watching a movie, but Sicario certainly ended that streak. There wasn’t a moment I couldn’t feel my heart beating in my chest. I’d say that’s quite a feat for a two-hour film.

Siciario tells the story of FBI agent Kate Macy (Emily Blunt), who, after discovering a house filled with corpses in Arizona, is roped into a shady government mission to “bring down” the Mexican Cartel. At first, Kate jumps at the chance to catch the people who committed such a terrible crime, but she soon starts to question the validity of the mission her new acquaintance Matt (Josh Brolin) is pursuing.

From the initial scene in the house to the very last moments of the film, I couldn’t take my eyes off the screen. There’s an immediate sense that no one in this film can be trusted, except for Kate’s FBI partner Reggie (Daniel Kaluuya). It was equally frustrating and intriguing to struggle alongside Kate, just trying to figure out what’s going on. Each time Matt or his partner Alejandro (Benicio del Toro) reveal a “truth” about their mission, it’s clear that they’re purposely excluding important information. In fact, they won’t even tell Kate why they’ve even recruited her; they just keep telling her to watch and stay out of the way.
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If for no other reason, you have to see Sicario for Emily Blunt’s performance. I must admit I am extremely biased and I will never speak a word against her, but Emily Blunt truly steals the show. It’s great to see a woman in a kick-ass role who’s not also fighting the same cliche fights: like trying to balance her work and family life or  seeking a new love. Kate’s determined to do her job well and by the book, and her only mission in the film is to find out why she’s being used in this suspicious operation. My heart broke every time Kate tried to stand up for herself and her beliefs only to be shot twice, punched in the face, nearly strangled to death, and finally held at gunpoint. I wanted so badly for her to defeat Matt and Alejandro and for her to take over the mission and set things right. Alas, we can’t always get what we want.

Which leads me to my next point….I was really much less interested in any part of the film that didn’t feature Kate. Eventually it’s revealed that Kate and frenemies have really just been tracking down the Mexican Cartel so that Alejandro can exact revenge on its leader for murdering his family. Honestly, I did not care that Alejandro had suffered such a loss. Not really. He was causing as much pain (and murder) as his enemy had, so it wasn’t such a satisfying moment when he achieves his goal. I was more curious about what Kate was up to during that whole sequence. Alejandro was neither sympathetic nor interesting enough for me to care about to watch him murder a bunch of people who probably didn’t deserve to get murdered in the first place. But I guess I get it. He’s the hitman of the title (shrug).

Sicario’s one of the best films I’ve seen so far this year, and I hope Emily Blunt gets the recognition she deserves for her performance (and collectively for all her performances) this awards season.