Larger Than Life

by Courtney Hilden

In this latest episode of House, a man, spending time with his daughter, tries to desperately save a random woman from a train. Then he himself begins to have medical problems, opening up another round of cynical House and optimistic Masters.
As someone who lives in New York, I can tell you that the opening sequence, of a man trying to save a woman having a seizure who is stuck on the subway track, is one of my nightmare's. The horror of fellow subway passengers, desperate to know if he was okay and their held breaths at the thought he didn't make it, rang all too true.
House also brought the talent tonight, including Matthew Lillard (how is it possible that he is old enough to play a father?) and Sprague Grayden (from the cancelled-too-soon John Doe). Watching these two was watching a master class on chemistry. The history between their two characters was totally believable. Can someone make a show about this couple?




Other good things about this episode including the cinematography, which took a different take on the show, focusing in on characters as the scene runs. Usually a show this far in does not do anything different, especially for a normal episode, but here it was noticeable because so little else in the episode was.
Sadly, none of these touches could make up for the overall show, which is saddled with an increasingly unlikeable character. House really does not deserve the people in his life. The nice thing about the show once upon a time was watching him struggle with kindness, but here House was, trying to get out of dinner with his girlfriend and her Mom on her birthday and then trying to get out of his best friend's festival. At this point, House is just spinning his wheels. And given Hugh Laurie's phenomenal performance, maybe he should just be teaching acting instead of trying to make something enjoyable out of this poor writing.

Promises, Promises

by Courtney Hilden

Promises, Promises is a revival of an older Broadway show, starring Sean Hayes (in his Broadway debut), Kristen Chenoweth and Molly Shannon, amongst others. The show follows Hayes's Chuck Baxter, an accountant trying to move up in the large firm he works in. When he discovers that the easiest way to get favors from executives is to lend out his apartment to them so they can extra-marital affairs, he finds himself not only in a tough place morally but accidentally making it easier for his boss, Sheldrake to have an affair with Baxter's unrequited love, Fran.
Hayes and Chenoweth gives unsurprisingly great performances. Hayes makes Baxter just the right amount of neurotic without losing any charm. Chenoweth tones down her more squeaky voice to make Fran a lovely young woman. Chenoweth's Fran isn't stupid or a bimbo; she knows exactly what mess she is getting herself into by getting involved a second time with Sheldrake. The chemistry between Hayes and Chenoweth feels genuine, unforced, and earnest, and it's surprisingly realistic for a comedy with such dark elements underneath the surface. Shannon, who plays the ridiculous Marge MacDougall, is clearly having a ball with such a silly character. It's nice to see a cast who is clearly not working, but playing.
The set pieces were also suburb. Everything was period appropriate and beautifully created. When we finally see the apartment that has been so important to the story, we realize how ordinary and sweetly normal it is, just like Baxter. The music was perfect and everyone's singing was great. Overhall, a strong show for anyone who enjoys a well-told story but great actors.

Night Junkies

by Courtney Hilden

Night Junkies, a small independent horror film, is about a vampire named Vincent who accidentally turns Ruby, a stripper, into one of them. Normally, this would simply mean she becomes a vampire, but in this film vampires are more like addicts (interested in blood instead of something like drugs), and Ruby vows to break her addiction with Vincent at her side.
The movie knows how silly it is, since it opens up on a discussion of vampires and how they are all about sex. Sex is actually one of the last things this movie is about, since it makes the connection between vampires and drug junkies, which is a nice change of pace from the usual stuff audiences associate with vampires. She meets a vampire, not in a club, but in a cafe. Vampire Vincent eats a muffin.
Vincent, played by Giles Alderson, is delightful creepy and slightly awkward, sniffing the air. He has this weird nostril thing that would never work on any other character but a vampire. The chemistry between him and Ruby (Katia Winters) is prefect. It's nice that these actors aren't afraid to look like crap, with Ruby's makeup and sweat mixing in that gross way that girls are all too familiar with. These actors actually do look like people who are coming off of addictions.
There are some weak parts of this movie, including the monologues of Vincent, which would be fine if it was just to introduce the movie, but it gets used too often. He also has a strange lisp that makes him sound more like a Muppet than a vampire. Also, there's no need to be listening to the Boss carry on and on about unnecessary metaphors; just get to the point. The villain of the story, one of Ruby's old pimps, wastes our time creeping around her apartment building, harassing old ladies. He's one of the least scary villains, being almost all campy, and not, sadly, in a good way. The villain even gets a monologue, one that is boring and only stalls the obvious conclusion, which is drawn out and corny in its own way. And if that weren't enough, several bits of dialogue that are meant to be funny fall utterly flat.
From such a promising beginning and such subversion of the genre, it might give you the impression that this film is worth watching all the way through. You'd be wrong. The film loses much of its momentum about mid-way. It's an interesting idea, and certain parts of the film work, but what doesn't work ruins the few successful things about it.

Vincent and the Doctor

by Courtney Hilden

“Vincent and the Doctor” finds our favorite Doctor running after a monster he sees in an Van Gogh painting, dragging companion Amy along. The entire episode was about image and impression, since the episode (visually) referenced Van Gogh’s paintings and contained a machine that could take impressions of things to find what they really were.
The actor playing Van Gogh (Tony Curran) was delightful, sympathetic, elusive and intense. He has created some wonderful villains, and has such large, dark pupils it is possible to drown in them. Even so, it was hard not to think about the cartoon doppelganger of Van Gogh from Clone High. Bill Nighy, who played the art academic, was adorable and sweet. (Seriously, why didn't anyone consider him to be the new doctor?) As always, Karen Gillan brought a wonderful sense of delight and compassion, combining the best aspects of Rose and Donna. Matt Smith did a serviceable job as the Doctor. He's grown into the role, but sometimes he lacks any charisma to set him apart from previous doctors. (Though of course he has the hard job of following what might be the best doctor, David Tennant.) The episode still had tons of fun and well-delivered Doctorism, including the Doctor wondering if time really passed that slowly and in the right order. It was, as a whole, an uplifting episode less about the monster and more about art and loving life.

3:10 to Yuma

by Courtney Hilden

3:10 to Yuma is a Western following Dan Evans (Christian Bale), a rancher desperately in debt, who agrees to transport Ben Wade (Russell Crowe), a notorious criminal, to the Contention Train Station to get Wade on the 3:10 train to Yuma, a prison. While transporting Wade, the two feel each other out, not exactly bonding but developing a level of respect.
Bale is engaging as Evans, and you can’t help but root for him. The film also stars the geek-approved Kevin Durand (who played Keamy on Lost) and Alan Tudyk (who played Wash on Firefly). Given Durand’s menacing performance on Lost, it’s unsurprising that he also plays a bad guy here, though it’s a one-note character. It’s too bad Durand wasn’t playing the bad guy, as Crowe’s Wade is stiff at the beginning of the film and far too warm at the end. Tudyk plays Doc Porter, one of the few uncompromisingly good guys in the movie, and looks better here with his blonde beard and large glasses than he does in his other recent movies. The only actor who grates in this movie is Logan Lerman, who plays William, Evans’s oldest son.
The film also had a surprising amount of people of color. Often, Westerns have whitewashed the American West. Although this movie isn’t perfectly progressive, it does at least acknowledge that there are non-whites in the West and that they are treated poorly because of it, like when they stop at a labor camp populated mostly by Chinese immigrants, who are treated as slaves. Unfortunately, all of the Native Americans in this film were depicted as evil, since one was part of Wade’s band of thieves and the others were part of the “blood thirsty” Apache tribe that attempts to kill most of the main characters. The only good thing with the Native Americans is that Evans acknowledges that they were kicked off their land and that the Apaches here are the kind who absolutely refuse to move and are more likely to be violent because of their social position. Most Westerns don’t acknowledge the unfairness and inequality that the U.S. government encouraged, but this film does, although it’s brief. Unfortunately, the Apaches are also apparently incompetently violent, since Wade defeats them. And, as always, all the good guys are white.
There were lots of realistic touches that made the movie work. For example, most of the blood was appropriately dark to the point of black. (Most movies make blood bright red so it’ll stand out, but in fact when exposed to air like that, it oxides much more, turning it dark.) The details on the sets, especially Porter’s operating room, were dead on and gave a great feel to the movie.
Like most Westerns, they're not much for accuracy but do have lots of violence. It's an interesting movie since it attempts to give a Christian allegory to a genre that has always worshiped lawlessness and rough living, and some of the actors give great performances.

Chuck Versus the Subway and the Ring

by Courtney Hilden
Spoiler Alert: This review references the end of the episode and the third season of Chuck.
Another day, another season finale. Tonight: Chuck.
Our story picks up with Chuck seeing Shaw, the arch-nemesis for the night, and following him to a CIA-run base. Chuck runs into his sister, being held there by Justin, who discovers that yes, indeed, her brother is a spy. Chuck also walks into a meeting discussing the intersect, where he manages to embarrass the entire team and put the project in jeopardy. Oh, and Shaw is turning the CIA into collaborating unknowingly with the Ring, jailing Beckman and threatening Alex's life. This is a bad day, even for Chuck.
It's nice to see Alex again. I've been hoping for a continuing storyline involving her and her Dad, John Casey. While it was disappointed to not see the Mom make another appearance, I'm still hoping for a reunion of the three of them. One of the better moments was John frequenting the dinner where Alex worked, though it's too bad that this wasn't established for us early on, so that we knew he was seeing her. Though the kidnapping thing was great.
This episode also had a lot of subways, both hiding dastardly Ring bases and delicious breakfast sandwiches for Big Mike to eat. Nice, unsubtle plugs there.
There were also some great lines tonight, including Morgan's "No plan? That's never stopped me before." (Too true.) Chuck's throw away line of "She's going to be so mad at me if I die," was perfectly delivered. One of the greatest was definitely Shaw's sardonic "Muwahaha," which could easily turn into a catchphrase.
Some of these great lines were also awesomely terrible, like Lester's come on to Alex, involving a reference to Empire Records, or like Jeff's line about Ellie being like Chuck, just "with lady parts." Jeff's answer of "Pineapple" to "What are you thinking?" was amazing. Best part of some of these lines? Lester, once again proving that acting is reacting. (Oh, and that Jeffster video? Amazing. They should totally play Comic Con.) As always, there were shinning comedic moments, particularly Morgan licking his phone and breaking his thumbs, and still failing to save the day.
Though, of course, one of the most shocking things about this entire episode was that they shot Chuck's Dad. I figured they were going to keep him on the show for years to come, especially since that actor has so much nerd cred, but it made sense to kill him for the larger storyline. Zachary Levi's slow-mo headshake of denial was perfect. And it was heartbreaking to see Ellie watch her own father's death.
The beginning of the second part of the finale where Ellie's Dad asks her to take care of her brother was great. As the eldest sibling, I can tell you that parents totally put you on the guilt trip when you're young, and it ruins you for life. You spend all your time watching your siblings like a hawk and going to therapy. I like that the flashback also allowed the audience to see the first time that Chuck's Dad realized his son could probably handle being the intersect.
The fight scene near the end was explosive and fun and did a great job of incorporating Jeffster's music video. Levi is much more fit than the show would usually have you believe. I'm still not sure how I feel about the reboot thing. It makes sense, and it works, but I'm afraid that the show will use it as a deus ex machina too often, as it was in this episode, though it might be interesting to see what happens if the team attempts to force a reboot of Chuck's computer-like brain.
I was also really intrigued by the brief discussions of choice in this episode. Choice isn't something that's discussed a lot; in fact, most of the time, they discuss how Chuck didn't have a choice about first becoming a spy. It's nice to see Chuck realizes that he did make choices in the course of the show and do something about it.
One of the disappointing things to see was that, once again, Chuck's heart is what makes him weak. We get it writers! You don't have to distinguish Chuck from his fellow spies; he's already the main character of a show. Though watching Shaw's annoyed look as he discovered that Chuck has accidentally infiltrated his other base was priceless.
Although I like the idea of Morgan chasing after Alex and Casey being none too happy about it, Alex and Morgan would not work as a couple. Morgan is at his best when he's single. And Alex is way too adorable.
You knew the moment Mike, Jeff and Lester were dealing with the possible closedown of the Buy More that it was going to go up in flames. I'm also saddened to see that they put Jeff and Lester on the run. I really hope this doesn't mean that these two aren't coming back to the show, particularly Lester, who is pitch perfect and more consistently brings the funny than Morgan.
I'm also a little annoyed by the whole "burn" thing. The entire series no one's mentioned getting burned, but apparently they are this finale. What, have the writers been watching Burn Notice?
The show could have ended at the break in-between the two episodes, where Chuck, Sarah and Casey in a detention facility for the summer, since it would be a good way to leave the audience wondering what would happen next.
Also on that note, I think it's clear at this point that Chuck's not going to keep his promise. The audience already knows, given Chuck's history and the fact this is a spy comedy that there was no way Chuck was going to stop being a spy. So they shouldn't even ask us to try to believe that was ever going to happen. It was also unrealistic how forgiving Chuck and Ellie have been of their father. Normal abandoned children do not behave like those too, particularly Ellie. She should be incapable of having a relationship with anyone, and shouldn't trust anyone.
The reappearance of Chuck's Mom at the end of the episode was also predictable. If she's a spy, as the end seemed to imply, really, I doubt anyone watching this show will be surprised. (Let me guess a little further: that's how Chuck's parents met: in the spy biz.)
It'll be interesting to see what happens now that both Ellie and Awesome know Chuck's true identity. I was hoping that maybe Awesome's revelations about knowing so much more than Ellie would drive them apart, since this duo needs a change-up.
Daniel Shaw has also managed to become not only the worst, most psychotic ex-boyfriend but the best villain of the show. No one would have never guessed that Superman would be so delightfully evil, but he is. I want them to bring him back as a continuing menace to Chuck and Sarah and Casey. They only thing not believable concerning Shaw is that he apparently has terrible aim, which is hard to believe, considering he's a top CIA agent.
I also like the idea of intersects eventually becoming a more normal thing as the show goes on. Wouldn't it be great if Alex became a regular member of the show and then an intersect herself, which would lead to Chuck trying to train Alex as an intersect, inevitably dealing once again with his own failings as a spy? That could make great tv, though if Alex just getting a job at the Buy More, it would be awkward and fun, since she would be working with her Dad, a known killer.
Speaking of great ideas for this show, Lester would make a wonderful Buy More manager. He's so crazy and evil that working for him might be legitimately scary. His schemes to get more money would be worth putting him the position.
I'd also like to see more of Chuck sans Governator watch. It would be interesting to see Chuck with deteriorating flashes but somehow is a better spy, since he's less predictable. It's too bad his bad flashes were not a little more like the flashes Frank Black used to get on Millennium, though I enjoyed the fetus image that cropped up.
Those phones the Ring operatives use should be in stores, but so far, there's been no marketing pitch. I love that they also apparently text, making them sort of the perfect tie in with the show.
Some final thoughts: This show does a great job at making hot actors (Zachary Levi and Vic Sahay in particular) look way nerdy than they are. Although this is nice and works with the show, it would be nice to take a moment or two to admire how truly adorable they are.
I'm increasingly of the mind that the show's end game is to make Chuck and Sarah run away, since it seems to have become a major theme for the show. I'm not sure how I feel about that as a possible ending. I'm sort of ambivalent about it.
Overall, I would say that it was a solid final for a show, though not as good as the endings for the show in year's past. Guess that's what happens when you guarantee it'll be back next year.