All posts by David Bloom

5 Things, Blog Posts, Movies

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW: THE IMPOSSIBLE

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When I see a movie in theaters, I will write the five things you need to know about it.  Additional note: I am working my way through the movies that are relevant to next month’s Academy Awards (nominated in one of the six major categories).  Stay tuned for AMOUR, LIFE OF PI and THE SESSIONS.

5 Things You Need to Know About… 

THE IMPOSSIBLE

1. The Impossible, a profound and moving true story about one family’s traumatic separation in the wake of the 2004 Southeast Asian tsunami (a not often discussed major world tragedy), is anchored by an Academy Award-nominated performance (as a Lead Actress) by Naomi Watts.  Her performance as Maria, the mother of three boys and wife to Ewan McGregor’s Henry, is riveting, heartbreakingly vulnerable, and is both filmed (we are always placed so close to the action) and delivered (her eyes especially are telling great information) with complete accessibility.  Although Watts gives a commanding performance deserving of award season praise, it is in fact her eldest son Lucas, played expertly by newcomer Tom Holland, who is the heart of this story as he strives to put the pieces back together of his family and his world in the aftermath of this tragic natural disaster.  Lucas is both the viewer’s emotional guide and the guide of so many more injured trying to find their way through the debris of destruction and their separation to loved ones.

2. Ewan McGregor may be the most underrated and under appreciated actor working in cinema.  I have seen at least a dozen of his movies and each time I am struck anew about how effortless, compelling, and enjoyable his performances are.  I recognize that post Star Wars trilogy, his role choices have not focused on “winning the weekend box office” but rather on mostly low-budget stories driven by character, director, or fellow actor, but even still, why his name isn’t tossed around on the list of the best of his craft is beside me.  Once again, Ewan McGregor’s performance in The Impossible is overshadowed by Naomi Watts award season invitee, but someone needs to give a shout out to another emotionally gripping, beautiful performance from the Scotsman.  There are several scenes (especially one involving a phone call) that match up against the best acting (Daniel Day Lewis, both lead actors in The Master) of 2012.  I presume that his upcoming role in August: Osage County will once again be overlooked among an all-star cast working on all-star material (the best stage play I have ever seen), but let us hope that this movie or one in the near future will finally provide Ewan McGregor some proper recognition for a job so well done.

3. The Impossible is this year’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and I think this is a great thing.  I am not referring to the often used punchline (that I vehemently disagree with!) about how ELAIC embodies just how weak the crop of 2011 Best Picture nominees were, but rather how The Impossible is a movie that carries the such deeply moving resonance of a recent real world tragedy with such beautiful and thoughtful execution.  For whatever reason, The Impossible has not found its cultural relevance amidst the award season hullabaloo (a less than stellar advertising campaign may be part of the reason), yet I can near guarantee that each viewer will be touched by its emotional profundity (Be advised: bring your tissues).

4. The Impossible is wonderfully directed by relative newcomer J. A Bayona.  Its depiction of the tsunami (so horrifyingly real) and debris field of natural destruction is a near perfect fusion of sight and sound.  I was impressed with both its at times wide and then focused scope of each character’s personal hell.  This is a hard situation to watch, but Bayona manages to find natural, human, visual, and auditory beauty amidst the rubble.

5. The Impossible is a movie of breathtaking emotional and visual delivery that tells the true story of a family (here they are of some non-descript British descent, in real life they are from Spain) who must deal with the most unnatural adversity caused by the most devastating natural event.  This is a movie that is profoundly moving and unabashedly and openly emotional, and, in a season where controversy about great movies seems to be par for the course (see Zero Dark Thirty, Django Unchained), The Impossible is simply (and refreshingly) a beautiful story about courage, family, and hope.   

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  He writes weekly TV columns on Afterbuzztv.com (next up, Fox’s “The Following”) and his weekly THE CHALLENGE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS Power Rankings can be read on Derek Kosinski’s ultimatechallengeradio.com.

Blog Posts, Let's Get A Few Things Off My Chest, Movies, Music, NBA, NFL, Television

Let’s Get a Few Things Off My Chest…Episode 1

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From time to time, I need to get a few of things off of my chest…this is the first installment…

• In a span of just a few days last week, Britney Spears announced that she will not be returning to the X Factor (not a surprise, she was a disaster), that her engagement to Jason Trawick was off, and that she may be signing on to headline her own Las Vegas show.  All of this is troubling news for a person who seemed to be mounting a promising career comeback.  I wish her the best.

• For all you Celtics doubters out there, Avery Bradley’s return has finally allowed the Danny Ainge offseason roster blueprint for success to take flight.  Rotations are crisp, players seem to understand their roles from night to night, the bench has been reinvigorated (especially Jeff Green, Sully, and Courtney Lee and Jason Terry at least in the M.L. Carr role off the court, his on court play has left something to be desired), and the defense seems to finally be coming around (even without KG on the court).  Speaking of defense, please watch Avery Bradley play on ball defense.  I was at the Rockets game the other night and his work on James Harden was simply incredible (James Harden by the way is even more of an offensive stud in person).

• I hope Rajon Rondo “adapts” because he is just too special of a player to be missing games every few months because of his uncontrolled emotional tomfoolery (although his arm grab of Kris Humphries in KG’s defense remains a season highlight – Humphries has been pretty much MIA in Brooklyn ever since).

Rajon Rondo after the Kris Humphries altercation

• Brian Billick may be the worst football color analyst I have ever heard.  His comments this weekend in Atlanta was either comically inaccurate or painfully obvious.  Why is it that the NBA seems to find incredible on-air talent (Barkley, Jeff Van Gundy), but the NFL coach or player transition yields so few breakout stars?  Thank goodness Ray Lewis will be joining the media ranks next year (and hopefully immediately after Sunday’s game).

• This year’s Golden Globes ceremony were quite enjoyable.  Tina and Amy could not have been more wonderful as hosts (although why they couldn’t have been more active in the latter half of the show is an awards show conundrum – no offense, but is anyone pining for a Jeremy Irons intro?) and the program had its share of memorable moments.  I was struck by the elegance of Daniel Day-Lewis, the grace of both Ben Affleck and his beautiful wife Jennifer Garner, how Bill Clinton was the biggest star in the room, and how uncomfortable Quentin Tarantino makes me feel.  Jodie Foster’s speech was something special, but to say I fully understood it would be a house of lies (congrats Don Cheadle on your unexpected win!).  Also, what was going on with that Mel Gibson stuffed animal hamster moment besides creepiness?  Here is my highlight of the night:

• The Oscar nominations had their share of omissions (Ben Affleck and Kathryn Bigelow for Best Director) and pleasant surprises (Beast of the Southern Wild had a nice go of it), but one point of true disappoint are the zero nominations for The Dark Knight Rises.  It may be an imperfect motion picture that to many (of which I am not one) did not live up to The Dark Knight, but Christopher Nolan’s epic trilogy conclusion deserves some sort of recognition.

• Speaking of Christopher Nolan, excitement for Interstellar has officially begun.

• Wednesday nights (and my week for that matter) are just not the same without The Challenge.  I would love the suits at MTV to finally create a seasonal structure for this unofficial fifth professional sport (a fall and spring season perhaps).  Why hasn’t this happened yet?

The Challenge...you are missed
The Challenge…you are missed

• Girls is back (season 2 premiered on Sunday night while simultaneously winning some Golden Globes) and if you haven’t joined the party yet, it is time.

• The NBA Countdown pre-game show on ESPN featuring Michael Wilbon, Jalen Rose, Magic Johnson, and Bill Simmons has wrestled the “best pre-game show” crown from Inside the NBA (still struggling when Shaq expresses himself verbally).

• FInally, here is an assignment if you have cable: do a search for Fuse network or Funny or Die’s Billy on the Street and sign up for a season pass.  You will not laugh harder over a thirty minute period than watching Billy’s incredible on the street games and conversations.  For now, here is a “Quizzed in the Face” from a recent episode:

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  He writes weekly TV columns on Afterbuzztv.com (next up, Fox’s “The Following”) and his weekly THE CHALLENGE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS Power Rankings can be read on Derek Kosinski’s ultimatechallengeradio.com.

5 Things, Movies

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW: ZERO DARK THIRTY

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When I see a movie in theaters, I will write the five things you need to know about it.  Additional note: I am working my way through the movies that are relevant to next month’s Academy Awards (nominated in one of the six major categories).  Stay tuned for THE IMPOSSIBLE, AMOUR, LIFE OF PI and THE SESSIONS.

5 Things You Need to Know About… 

ZERO DARK THIRTY

  1. Zero Dark Thirty is one of the two best movies of 2012 (along with Lincoln) and is deserving of a Best Picture Academy Award.  The recent award season developments (no Best Director nomination for Kathryn Bigelow, a tough go at the Golden Globes besides Jessica Chastain’s Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama win, some worrisome bad press and subsequent protests about its glorification of torture) have pulled it far out of co-frontrunner status to where it now seems highly unlikely for it win anything but Jessica Chastain’s first Oscar.  This is an unfortunate byproduct (although the negative press is helping it kill at the wide-release box office) of telling a story that includes some brutally honest depictions of deplorable chapters in our nation’s history (War on Terror Bush Administration torture tactics) that are still freshly on our watch (Spielberg’s equally successful Lincoln also shows our dirty hands on the slavery question, but the 148 years since provide a bit of a culpability cushion).  Zero Dark Thirty is not a documentary and Mark Boal’s taut, tight, and tension-filled script is a work of (albeit well-informed and well-researched) fiction based on true events, yet because of the quality, tone, and the believability of Ms. Chastain, we regard most of the two hours forty minute run time (the in movie length in 2012) as fact.  Whether or not more fiction than fact (when the CIA comes out against it, shouldn’t they be mistrusted?), one thing is clear: Zero Dark Thirty is a phenomenal movie. 

  2. Full Disclosure: I never finished watching the Hurt Locker (After ninety minutes or so, I got the picture about how awful and tension-ridden war is.  At a certain point, it was all a little too much).  Do I think it was a great movie? Absolutely and admittedly very well-made (although The Social Network should have won Best Picture), but I openly and unabashedly swim more comfortably in the Spielbergian sea of optimistic resolution or like to see through the Christopher Nolan narrative and psychologically challenging cinematic scope.  Ultimately, Kathryn Bigelow may not be my directorial jam, but let it be known that she did an incredible job directing Zero Dark Thirty and I am not sure anyone working in cinema today could have told this story of the obsessive hunt for Osama Bin Laden as brilliantly.  Her delicate, deliberate delivery of tension, moment by moment layering of plot and information, subtle characterization and understanding of when to put down the metaphoric scene stealing wrecking ball, and eloquent execution of the OBL execution are the work of a master of film.

  3. When I wrote about Argo many months ago, I contended that there were “a staggering number of great film and television actors in small supporting roles in this movie that amount to consistent scene stealing and unheard of structural support.”  Zero Dark Thirty also features a similar number of great actors (mostly from some of the golden age of television’s greatest shows) in supporting roles, but unfortunately, they often pull us out of the “this is actually real” construct that Ms. Bigelow has so effectively cultivated.  Let me tell you, if you name a golden age of television series, Zero Dark Thirty has an actor from it.  The Sopranos?  There’s Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) as the the “CIA Director!”  Friday Night Lights? Coach Taylor was in Argo too! (Kyle Chandler has an amazing scene, but it is hard to separate him from his “clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose” speech here.)  Lost? Michael (Harold Perrineau) shows up as does Kate’s U.S. Marshal (Fredric Lehne) from flight 815!  Mad Men?  It’s Betty Draper’s new husband, Henry Francis (Christopher Stanley)!  Perhaps most egregiously distracting is Chris Pratt (Andy from Park and Recreation) as a featured NAVY SEAL who so effectively embodies Andy’s lovable buffoonery on P&R that I couldn’t really buy his essential role in the mission to take out OBL.  The best moments of ZDT are when I forget I am watching a movie (the chameleon Jessica Chastain is surprisingly uniquely Maya, I am not sure what this says except how easily I forgot 2011 Best Picture nominees The Help and Tree of Life) and every time a TV character shows up, I know I am watching a movie.

  4. Although I have a few more performances to see (Naomi Watts in The Impossible and Emanuelle Riva in Amour), Jessica Chastain is my pick to win Best Actress in a Leading Role at next month’s Oscar ceremony.  Her performance, highlighted by some of the best nuanced nonverbal body language of recent cinema memory and a quiet, focused conviction that is at the center of her character’s heroism, feels seamless and almost without effort.  Ms. Chastain’s inner strength drives this ship (and her dogged pursuit of OBL’s location) with a graceful tenacity.

5. Zero Dark Thirty is a motion picture whose decision to show the historical truths of the United States administration of torture may ultimately and ironically impact its own historical significance.  By courageously and honestly depicting this epic American tale of (ostensibly) one woman’s obsessive perseverance to avenge our nation’s most tragic day, Zero Dark Thirty must expose some of the skeletons in our national closet.  This controversial reveal and its ensuing unnecessary backlash may make a movie out of a motion picture that was destined to compete against Lincoln for the annual most valuable cinema player prize in 2012.

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  He writes weekly TV columns on Afterbuzztv.com (next up, Fox’s “The Following”) and his weekly THE CHALLENGE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS Power Rankings can be read on Derek Kosinski’s ultimatechallengeradio.com.

5 Things, Blog Posts, Movies

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW: LES MISERABLES

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When I see a movie in theaters, I will write the five things you need to know about it.  Additional note: I have been a little behind in my writing turnover since the holidays.  Expect more prompt delivery in the new year.

5 Things You Need to Know About… 

LES MISÉRABLES

1. Tom Hooper, winner of the 2011 Best Director Oscar for The King’s Speech, directed Les Misérables.  For some, who thought that The King’s Speech was a monumental motion picture deserving of its Best Picture Academy Award win, this should come as welcoming news.  How wonderful for one of the industry’s most impressive young auteur voices to tackle the beloved stage musical!  For others, including myself, who remember the monotone and less than engrossing visual and storytelling boredom that permeated The King’s Speech, this intel is bleak.  Unfortunately, many of the too flat or too sharp moments in Les Misérables seem to be consistent with the kind of filmmaker Mr. Hooper has been (Even the mostly successful John Adams from HBO, with many episodes directed by Hooper, has a similar tone.  At the time, I thought it was just the conditions of an American Revolution in the wintery Northeast, but now, I understand Hooper’s role).  The result of Hooper’s muted monotony is a movie that struggles to find emotional crescendos (some of the incredible performances trump this trend) that are so pervasive in the live stage experience.  The single-shot song performances are used too frequently and in some of the wrong places.  Hooper creates a world of the play that is successfully intimate and personal, but never fully realizes the external circumstances and historical stakes that surround this epic tale crafted by Victor Hugo.  The parts are there, but the sum never adds up.

2. Anne Hathaway deserves to win the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award at this year’s ceremony.  Her brief performance as factory worker turned prostitute Fantine in the first act of the movie is revelatory.  I freely admit that I am and always have been a member of Team Anne (it is not hard to find a member of her surprisingly feisty group of detractors that openly do not respond well to her “earnestness”), but after her four minute and thirty eight second performance of “I Dreamed a Dream,” you cannot help but catch your breath from the sheer brilliance of what you have just beheld.  She is raw, unwavering, and FEARLESS.  Hooper’s decision (more on this in a bit) to have his actors sing live may constrict the best possible vocal performance, but it allows the character to explore the song in an unleashed and unencumbered manner.  Anne Hathaway takes this opportunity to the most incredible place, delivering a career defining (even if all too brief) performance.

3. Albeit perhaps used in too many instances, Hooper’s decision to have his actors sing live provides a forum for some of the most memorable song performances ever on film.  Combined with one-take, single shot execution, Hooper creates individual Les Misérables music videos that would have swept any past VMA ceremony.  The most successful songs, besides Anne Hathaway’s “I Dreamed a Dream” are Samantha Barks’ (“It’s raining!”) “On My Own” and Eddie Redmayne’s “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.”  The latter song, positioned so late in the long musical saga, crept up on me and then surprised as the most uniquely intimate and relatable rendition of this Marius vehicle that I have ever heard.  Eddie Redmayne is stunning as Marius and his delicate delivery and pained mourning of his fallen comrades is the highest peak of the movie besides Anne Hathaway’s early appearance.  Samantha Barks as Eponine, one of the few lead actors who also played her role on stage, came alive within Hooper’s structure on an intimate song that likely benefits from a live audience to ride the emotional wave.  She manages to redefine “On My Own” as a most personal and beautiful soliloquy through restraint and a dose of Ms. Hathaway’s fearlessness.

4. The Jean Valjean and Inspector Javert conflict and ongoing battle that is central to the story of Les Misérables is unsuccessful on film because of the casting of Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe.  First, I give both actors tremendous credit for their effort, commitment to the work and the structure of intimate live singing that Hooper has created, and for managing to find several moments of beauty and emotional connect.  In Russell Crowe’s case, his is simply miscast as Javert.  Yes, his vocal chops (a long-time member of the rock band, 30 Odd Foots of Grunt) may not be traditional musical theater, but even more so, his best work on screen has always been as an underdog (Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind, The Insider) achieving amidst great adversity.  Javert is in power throughout the movie and Crowe seems uncomfortable there.  Even when Javert has more introspective moments, Crowe’s performance feels oddly unearned.  Much of the credit (or in this place blame) has to go to Hooper’s World that does not allow a brooding talent like Crowe to ever come out from under the mono tone. As for Hugh Jackman, a likely nominee for a Best Actor Academy Award, I never fully appreciated his performance as Jean Valjean.  Jackman has a classical musical theater voice and he is certainly competent here, but I think he would have benefited from pre-recorded vocals more than some of his other cast mates.  His voice will never be transcendent, but I do think some of Valjean’s most iconic songs call for the vocal to be able to transform and inspire and Jackman will never be this kind of performer.  Jackman seems small and weak here in role of great size and scope.  Again, Hooper seems all over this and the oft choices to play down moments that should be played up, but somewhere in the casting and performance, Hugh Jackman feels a bit out of place.

5. Les Misérables is a movie wearing a motion picture’s story and material that despite some of the best individual song performance moments in movie musical history (Anne Hathaway!!!), stalls in Tom Hooper’s world of tedious sameness, monotone execution, and visual monotony.  Not including a wide lensed opening segment with a gaunt and shackled Hugh Jackman, the movie never captures the epic and historical backdrop and stakes of the French Revolution that the stage version manages to convey so successfully.  This version gets the intimate and personal, but never understands how the momentous nature of the external circumstances informs these internal struggles.  The Les Misérables movie is a series of singular songs and performances that struggles to amount to the epic composition of the source material.

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  He writes weekly TV columns on Afterbuzztv.com (next up, Fox’s “The Following”) and his weekly THE CHALLENGE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS Power Rankings can be read on Derek Kosinski’s ultimatechallengeradio.com.

5 Things, Movies

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW: Django Unchained

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When I see a movie in theaters, I will write the five things you need to know about it.

5 Things You Need to Know About… 

DJANGO UNCHAINED

1. Django (pronounced Jango, the “D” is silent) Unchained is a well-paced 165 minutes that rarely drags its feet and is often galloping through scene after scene of memorable character interactions, interesting interpretations of southern hospitality, and  beacoup de (admittedly Leonardo DiCaprio’s Calvin Candie may not appreciate this use of French) blood bursting graphic killing.  The plotted premise, dynamite script, cinematic homaging, and execution thereof of filmmaker Quentin Tarantino are of the highest form.  If you are a Tarantino fan (of which generally I am not), you will love Django.  If you are not a Tarantino fan, Django will shake, rattle, and roll your senses into becoming one over the course of this movie.

2. As is his cinematic want, Tarantino infuses Django with constant graphic (albeit at times artistic) violence (I spent at least a cumulative five minutes turning my head away) and relentless (and thereby, forced desensitized) use of the n-word.  It is part of the tenor of the filmmaker and of the historical (1858-1859) Deep South slavery period that the movie depicts so acutely, but I would be disingenuous to say it didn’t color my cinematic experience just a little bit.  This is tough subject matter and as explicit a telling as I have seen.  Once you buy in, you are sold relatively quickly, but for some, the price may be too much to pay.   

3. Christoph Waltz, as Dr. King Schultz, is a master of his craft and a joy to watch on screen.  His scenes are memorably electric, uncomfortably yet satisfyingly violent (in both the traditional and Anne Bogart meaning), and articulated with a consistency and clarity that bring such joy to the viewer.  It was a pleasure to spend much of the near three hours of Django with Mr. Waltz.  In other successful casting news, both Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio so expertly play against what is expected and subsequently flourish.  Mr. Foxx’s stoic yet powerful lead character is precise, deliberate, and nuanced without ever reaching for some of the over the top flamboyance (clothing appropriately excluded) that we often find in his performances.  Django‘s Django is brilliant.  As for Leo (in his first role in sixteen years that did not get top billing), he is almost unrecognizable in his portrayal of Southern plantation owner Calvin Candie.  He delivers a character so reprehensible and villainous yet so playfully enjoyable in way that very few of his peers could.  There may be no bigger movie star working in the industry today (box office receipts do not wholly support this) and it is privilege to see him explore his uninhabited and unchained range here.  Samuel L. Jackson (box office receipts may support his biggest movie star crown), no stranger to the work of Quentin Tarantino, is once again a representative of what greatness is all about.

4. There is a scene in Django involving hoods (and a random appearance from Jonah Hill!) that may be the most clever, hilarious, satirically pleasing, and successfully comedic segment in my cinematic memory.

5. Django Unchained is a movie of grand imagination and excellent execution that is all fun and games until it is not anymore (some of the violence was a bit too violent and slavery is American history’s most horrendous legacy), but nevertheless manages to captivate, cajole, and charm its way through the muddy waters of the Deep South into a most memorable and enjoyable cinematic experience.

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  He writes weekly TV columns on Afterbuzztv.com (next up, Fox’s “The Following”) and his weekly THE CHALLENGE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS Power Rankings can be read on Derek Kosinski’s ultimatechallengeradio.com.

5 Things, Movies

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW: SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

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When I see a movie in theaters, I will write the five things you need to know about it.

5 Things You Need to Know About… 

SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK

1. Silver Linings Playbook, although benefiting from some “once a decade” performances from some supporting actors (more on this later), shines because of its two brightest stars.  Bradley Cooper (a long-time favorite since his early 2000s Alias days as Will Tippin) and Jennifer Lawrence (a revelatory acting performance after already having a breakout 2012) exude old-fashioned silver screen charisma.  Their scenes together sparkle with an undeniable dynamism and energy that at worst is the most memorable scene presentation in an MFA acting class and at best could win them both Academy Award nominations (this a likelihood for Mr. Cooper and a near certainty for Ms. Lawrence after their Golden Globe nominations).

2. Silver Linings Playbook has great bench support.  Robert De Niro, as Bradley Cooper’s sports gambler, Philadelphia Eagles die-hard fan dad, gives his best performance in recent memory and maybe his best of the 21st century (and there have been some seriously bad ones: See Killer Elite or Righteous Kill).  This finally felt like a movie where Sir Bobby cared more about the movie (in content, as exemplified through nuanced acting and general effort) than the paycheck.  Jacki Weaver is a delight as Bradley Cooper’s devoted but enabler of a mom.  In case you missed them and the budding promise that was, Chris Tucker (I am surprisingly happy to say, welcome back!) and Julia Stiles steal scenes (albeit in roles written a little bit too much as caricatures).

3. If you love American football, you will connect with and find much of Silver Linings Playbook quite enjoyable, but may find the football part’s execution a bit unrealistic and inauthentic.  If you don’t love American football and share a home, life, or family with someone who does, you may not get the football fandom (and sports betting for that matter) parts of Silver Linings Playbook (of which there are many), but you will think it was completely authentic and realistic (As a sports fan, some of the “football talk” read as exposition heavy and fake).

4. Unfortunately, Silver Linings Playbook has some tough, late game plotting distractions in the final half hour that seem inconsistent with the rest of the honest, humorous, and emotionally engrossing movie that you have just invested the first ninety minutes in.  There are several such plot struggles, but none are more irksome than when the trusted psychiatrist of Indian descent seems to take “not-on-call” to mean “absolved of any human responsibility.”  Thankfully, Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence fill their screen time with an abundance of audience directed good will.

5. Silver Linings Playbook is an engaging, emotionally provocative, and often satisfying movie that despite some troublesome, unrealistic, and (perhaps) sloppy late movie plot points, leaves a successful game plan for combining talented, hungry actors with a screenplay and characters that warrant our attention.

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  His weekly X Factor column appears on Afterbuzztv.com and his weekly THE CHALLENGE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS Power Rankings can be read on Derek Kosinski’s ultimatechallengeradio.com.

5 Things, Movies

5 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW: THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

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When I see a movie in theaters, I will write the five things you need to know about it.

5 Things You Need to Know About… 

THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY

1. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey takes us to a reminiscent locale that I did not expect nor, if I had known, would I ever have wanted to indulge in the journey: Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace.  Both are prequels that provide sprinklings of appreciated nostalgia for the original trilogy (its characters, its world, its themes), but often fall flat and pale in comparison to the original work (Gandalf is Obi-Wan Kenobi.  Gollum is Yoda.  Boss Nass is the Great Goblin).  More acutely, both movies rely more heavily on CGI than their predecessors (the great “could/should” debate so eloquently presented in Jurassic Park) and the CGI is often a problem.  Yes, Gollum’s enhanced motion capture technology (we are almost ten years since the Return of the King release) is fantastic, but too many times Peter Jackson relies on character CGI in instances where great makeup in the previous trilogy would have sufficed.  The result is a movie that juxtaposes the lush and beautiful Middle-Earth surroundings (New Zealand should win some kind of film award for its incredible work here, yet again) with the clearly fake (and as a result cheap) artificial creatures and settings that oft inhabit it.  It is just (literally) not a good look.

2. Martin Freeman, as the younger Bilbo Baggins (Ian Holm is back in the opening sequence as the older version of Bilbo who we recall with a bit of fear and concern from the Lord of the Rings trilogy), is a perfect fit for the big feet and warm-hearted Hobbiton community of the Shire.  Freeman, whose notable credits include the role of Tim from the British version of The Office (the model for the American version’s Jim) and Dr. Watson on the BBC’s incredible and riveting series Sherlock, has the self-effacing humor, kindness, and gentility to immediately become the Hobbitest of Hobbits.

3. Of the 50,000 camera shots in the movie (a random and hugely inaccurate layman’s estimate), 49,934 are moving.  The movie is in constant motion and sometimes I just which I could see a moving image in a motionless frame.  Maybe this was a mask for the less than CGI (your eyes had limited time to adjust), but it was distracting and did not work as the standard practice for almost the entire movie.  While we’re still on the CGI/direction challenges, the wide shot CGI heavy transitions to closeup real person moments were the opposite of organic and seamless.  Honestly, I am not sure what was going on with Peter Jackson much of the time during this movie.  He was having a tough time.

4. Gollum (played again by the brilliant Andy Serkis) is in only one scene of the movie (as called for by the source material novel) and the movie suffers because of it.  Couldn’t part of the “unexpected journey” of the title been some type of Gollum quest through Middle-Earth?  Mr. Jackson already picked through other Tolkien universe source material to provide padding for three movies.  An original Gollum story couldn’t have fit in as well?

5. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey is a simple tale of a movie cloaked in an epic motion picture’s body (splitting this book into three movies seems to have been a wee bit self-indulgent) that, although it hits several points of endearing nostalgia, does not create many lasting memories of its own.

David J. Bloom can be reached on twitter @davidbloom7 and writes about pop culture and the NBA for Bishop and Company.  His weekly X Factor column appears on Afterbuzztv.com and his weekly THE CHALLENGE: BATTLE OF THE SEASONS Power Rankings can be read on Derek Kosinski’s ultimatechallengeradio.com.

Television

The X Factor Season Finale Part II Running Diary – The End is Here

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Last night, the final three acts of The X Factor performed for the last time before America’s final vote.  Tonight’s season finale part II is supposed to be a celebration of the season and will feature the big reveal of the winner of the $5 million recording contract.  As has become my way in other Wednesday night show recap/columns, I thought a running diary was the way to go.  Unlike the first performance of tonight, this diary was written live…

THE X FACTOR SEASON FINALE PART II RUNNING DIARY

8:00 – It’s the X Factor red carpet and a “countdown” until the show begins.  This is ridiculous.

8:01 – It’s LA Reid!  He looks like a hobbit next to Khloe’s Gandalf.

8:02 – It’s Demi Lovato!  She looks incredible, is incredible, but does not seem to be enjoying this silly interview with Mario Lopez.  Can you blame her?

8:02 – It’s Simon Cowell!  Khloe’s interview goes nowhere (a constant theme of season 2).

8:04 – It’s Britney!  It’s Pitbull!  It’s One Direction!  Honestly, this red carpet routine feels uber-staged and insincere.  This is embarrassing.

8:06 – The montage from last night reminds me of just how bad LeAnn Rimes performed last night in her duet with Carly Rose.  If Carly Rose loses this, I am holding the “I am worried about you” version of Miss Rimes accountable.

8:08 – Did Pitbull get his nickname because he kind of looks like a pitbull?  Can someone explain this to me?

8:10 – The packaged descriptions of the top three finalists (“the family man”) are too packaged (another unfortunate theme of this season).

8:10 – Hmm, what just happened? (I went back and watched.  Here is what happened: Mario says, “Right now America, here are the X Factor top 3!”  Then there is an excruciating six-second pause in which Mario and Khloe are frozen.  Next, in silence, Mario and Khloe cross stage left and begin to talk, but the mics are turned off so you don’t hear their attempts to save the moment.  Flash to a picture from outside of the red carpet of an SUV limo that may have been taken earlier in the evening.  Mario’s mic comes back on and he makes some joke about how the contestants are so nervous that they are “making a deal” if one of them wins.  Good try, Mario.  Khloe laughs nervously and says, “I think we are ready.”  Mario then again announces the top three and crosses stage right with a smile that says he wants to strangle whomever screwed this moment up so badly.  All of this epitomizes so much of what has been wrong this season)  That was unprofessional and inexcusable.  Wow.

8:11 – Lip-synching opening performances should not be happening on a season finale of a Simon Cowell produced reality competition program.  This is a complete mess so far.

8:12 – The walkthrough, SNL-like opening montage (“Look at all the performers that have come before you!”) is meant to be fun.  Only Camila from Fifth Harmony seems to be having any.  CeCe is getting her makeup done in the chair!  Look, there’s Diamond White!  Give her a hug Carly Rose!  This is just embarrassing.

8:18 – The LA Reid “animated at the judges desk” montage set to the Nutcracker suite is the best produced segment on The X Factor in many weeks.

8:21 – I have written this many times before: if I were a fan of country music, I would really dig Tate Stevens.  His voice shines on this slow-tempo Christmas jam.  This is the highlight of the night so far.

8:25 – This video montage from Tate’s family and friends from back home in Belton, MO is a genuinely beautiful moment.  His reaction to his mom and his son is what this show can be all about.

8:26 – Khloe, please be quiet with your “how did it make you feel” questions.  They are unnecessary and silly.

8:32 – The whole Simon “is the Grinch” montage feels very 2003.  Are they going to bring out Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard next?

8:34 – I am a sucker for “Baby, Please Come Home” and I am (admittedly) a sucker for Fifth Harmony performances.  Win or lose tonight, there is definitely something “X” as a factor with these five young women.

8:37 – Director of the X Factor: please show Dinah’s reaction to Dinah’s family and Normani’s reaction to Normani’s family.  Thank you.

8:38 – Quick update: Camila’s little sister Sofia is now the highlight of the episode.

8:39 – Fifth Harmony members all have seemingly amazing families.  This was a beautiful segment.

8:44 – Mario tells us that it is about to “get really intense in here.”  Is he describing the meeting he is about to have with Simon when Simon lets him know that he will not be returning next season?

8:45 – The Britney reaction shots video may highlight an underlying truth: is Britney’s body language communication more effective than her verbal communication?  Answer: Without question.

8:46 – Yeah, it was probably time for Carly Rose to tackle Mariah.

8:48 – These “funky toy soldier” dancers backing up Carly Rose are doing great work.  It is unclear whether they are young people or not.

8:50 – Doris, Carly’s piano teacher, is a special woman.  “Go Carly!”

8:52 – No, Mario.  It is hard to explain how montages like that make one feel (although Carly Rose manages an eloquent answer because she is just that good).  Stop asking, please.

8:53 – This Khloe interview with a fan is unintentional comedy in its ultimate form.  Steve Jones would be proud.

8:58 – Hello unexpected Khloe costume change.

8:59 – Fifth Harmony is in third place!  (This is not entirely unexpected).  Khloe’s first comment is unintelligible. (“Fifth Harmony, you guys are out of the competition, but you guys fought a crazy fight to stay where you guys have.”) Has Khloe been taking Britney’s speech classes?

9:03 – Quick final take on Fifth Harmony – I give Simon much credit here.  He recognized that there was something special with this combination of voices and personalities and mentored them to an improbable third place finish.  They were always engaging and enjoyable to watch (the anti-Sister C) and certainly fill a gap in the marketplace.  I wish them the best of luck in the future.

9:10 – Khloe continues to ask awful questions of the Stevens and Sonenclar families.  Simon and X Factor brain trust: let’s find some new host talent for season 3.

9:14 – Watching this video montage of the entire season inspires this lingering thought: Jennel Garcia deserved to go further in this competition.

9:17 – When asked what her favorite moment of the season was, Britney’s reponse: “The whole season has been pretty amazing to me.”  Classic.

9:18 – What is Drew Chadwick talking about?  Renting a cabin and going snowboarding?  Thankfully, one thing Khloe did learn this year: take away the mic from Drew Chadwick before he finished a sentence.  We will all be better for it.

9:23 – My wife’s comment: “Pitbull looks like an old, creepy guy.  He is not even that good and this song is stupid.”

9:25 – She continues, “He has a little ghost goatee.  That is disgusting.”  Speak the truth.

9:32 – The chemistry between Demi and Simon is undeniable.  Of all the things that need to continue in season 3, this is it.

9:36 – One Direction came and went.  Honestly, it was too easy to tune them out.  I want the “biggest boy band in the world” to more effectively hold my attention.

9:42 – Carly Rose and Tate on the stage one last time and together singing a duet is a potential treat.  Unfortunately, “The Climb” is stuck in no-man’s land for their two diametrically different voices.

9:46 – The Tate and Carly Rose hug at the end is an unexpected moment.  These two finalists really care for one another.

9:48 – Simon has now unbuttoned three additional shirt buttons.  He is trendsetting a new form of shirt called the “Helm’s Deep V-Neck.” (And no, I am not sure what this spontaneous pun means either.)

9:52 – Khloe’s costume change no. 3 does not work.  This bedazzled pink and gold get-up is off-putting.

9:54 – This is it….the winner of The X Factor and the $5 Million dollar recording contract is…

9:55 – …Tate Stevens!

9:55 – Tate and then LA’s hug with Carly Rose is complete class.  Credit to both of these men for understanding what it must feel like for a thirteen-year-old girl to come this far and then fall short.

9:56 – Carly Rose is visibly disappointed.  Don’t you fret, girl.  We will be hearing more from you soon.

9:58 – Demi and Simon have a sweet moment next to one another when they watch Tate sing through his “I am the winner” song.  If anyone was going to beat Carly Rose, I am happy that it is this talented and kind man.

9:59 – Emblem3 are making fools of themselves on stage.  Tough lasting impression, lads.

10:00 – The final image of the season? Camila giving Tate a congratulatory hug from behind as we fade to black.  The X Factor season 2 season is now in the books and I think we all need a little break…

Stay tuned for a reflection on the whole season and an assessment of the current state of X Factor affairs in the coming days (or weeks).  Until then, happy holidays to all!

David Bloom can be reached on twitter at @davidbloom7.  His THE CHALLENGE POWER RANKINGS appear weekly on Derek Kosinski’s UltimateChallengeRadio.com.