Catching Up.

Elizabeth: The Golden Age- Nine years ago, Cate Blanchett officially became a star as Queen Elizabeth I in the time leading up to her taking the throne and how she handled her early days upon it. Shekhar Kapur's film was loaded with intrigue, outstanding performances, and terrific dialogue. Kapur and Blanchett are back (along with Geoffrey Rush) for a film that shows Elizabeth at the height of her powers. She's grown a great deal as a queen and a woman.
This could have been a great movie and as Blanchett is one of my favorite actors I was very excited to see what she would do with the role this time. Unfortunately she pushes the fireworks a bit much. I don't think it's possible for her to actually give a bad performance but this is as uneven as I've ever seen her be. She isn't helped by the dialogue which is often overblown. Fairing even worse is the normally fantastic Clive Owen. His Sir Walter Raleigh is a bit too old Hollywood pirate. It would be a great performance if it were a new "Sinbad" movie (and I mean like "Seventh Voyage of Sinbad" not..."Jingle All the Way 2: The Reckoning".) Here it just doesn't fit at all. Rush is only on the fringe in this film and Samantha Morton is barely used as Mary, Queen of Scots.
Much has been made of the woeful historical inaccuracies that this film is apparently guilty of. Honestly I don't know how accurate it is or is not and to me that really isn't the issue. The issue is that this really isn't a very good movie. Not awful, but not good. I guess everyone is entitled to an off day. Stick with the original 1998 film instead. 4.5/10.

"And then I saw ya on the TEEVEE!"
So this new TV season. A bit disappointing. Haven't found a lot of new shows that have been worthwhile. "Back to You" was a bit of a dud. Only "Chuck" and "Journeyman" have really captured my interest. (I keep getting told I need to check out "Pushing Daisies" and I swear I will soon.) So far as returning shows go, "Heroes" has been slow going for me after five episodes. Most of the new characters have been very uninteresting. Micah's cousin the Katrina victim (the girl who can mimic whatever she sees) has been pretty bland so far. Maya and her dude (who were thankfully absent last night) have done nothing but bore me. Even injecting Sylar into that mix (it IS a small world after all) hasn't made those two any more interesting. Only Stephen Tobolowsky's company man has really been a worthwhile addition. Hopefully Kristen Bell's new character (introduced last night) will get more to do in upcoming episodes. I'm not really worried about that but last night it was basically like, "Veronica Mars is back on TV! Sweet!" That's enough for one episode but they've got to give her more to do next week. As for Hiro, I know I'm not the only one feels this way, but seriously get Doc Brown to fix up the Delorean already. There has yet to be a single scene with he and Ando together this year and that's just not working for me.
Just like last season, Mr. Bennett (Claire's dad, HRG, whatever you want to call him) is the character who interests me the most. Now it's time to give him as much screen time as last year. The slow build of season one worked beautifully and by the time the show really kicked into high gear we were already hooked. This year the slow build has felt slow in the laboring sense, not the good "this is building the tension" sort of way. Here's hoping it picks up real soon.
"The Office" has been hit and miss thus far. Putting Jim and Pam together at last has actually come off just fine for me. Their trip to the Schrute farm last week was hilarious and Jim reaching out to Dwight (who in turn reached out for a hug) was a terrific moment. But events such as Michael driving a car into a lake and kidnapping a pizza boy have just been too silly for a show that should be steering clear of silliness.
Please don't get me wrong. I am more than happy to let this show be its own show. Trying to imitate the British series would be an exercise in futility. This is a great show and one of TV's best. But seriously, this ain't the original. I've been re-watching the UK series lately and it just reaffirms my belief that it was a far superior show on every level. And they always played fair by the rule that these characters were aware they were being filmed. The current series only seems to acknowledge that the show is supposed to be a documentary when it's convenient. Sorry, I know it's become a tired debate which version is better but I just had to get that off of my chest finally.
As for "Friday Night Lights," I'm gonna sound like a broken record but Landry murdering a guy (accidentally)? Really? Landry was the character last season who people like me could relate to. He was one of the only ones who was not actually a football player and his nerdiness was a great counter-point to the cast of jocks. Now they not only have him actually on the team but they've got him involved in a soap opera like storyline on a show that otherwise so wonderfully captures ordinary life.
Okay, so I feel kind of bad now. I need to say something positive because really, I don't enjoy being negative. "Scrubs" finally comes back this week so that's welcome news. And they didn't kill Chloe on "Smallville" after all. I probably would have quit watching if they had. Sort of like "FNL's" Landry, she's the character the audience can actually relate to. Now it's time for me to get caught up on "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and "Mad Men." Both shows started out great this year so I'm excited to finally sit down and watch the rest.
Well that's about all I have to say. Except that "Fido" is out on DVD today so check that out. Now some comedy: