In Media Resonates

The Place Beyond the Pines, 2013

Director - Derek Cianfrance

Screenplay - Derek Cianfrance, Ben Coccio, Darius Marder

Unlikely settings often create the best backdrops.  Thus is the case in The Place Beyond the Pines, an atmospheric drama set in the Schenectady area of upstate New York.  Director Derek Cianfrance’s follow-up to 2010’s Blue Valentine is both thrilling and contemplative, a brooding exploration of familial obligation, twenty-first century blood-feuds, and the deconstruction of the American dream.

Pines opens on Luke Glanton (Ryan Gosling), a motorcycle stuntman who is part of a traveling act that frequents state fairs.  He is visited by a former fling Romina (Eva Mendes) and discovers that not only does she have a son, but the child is his.  Though Romina protests, Luke insists on quitting his job and settling down into a more stable profession.  He hopes that this will lead to a happy, family life for the one-time lovers and their son.  Instead he finds himself thrust into a series of bank robberies which prove financially lucrative, but ultimately self-destructive, and set him on a collision course with rookie cop Avery Cross (Bradley Cooper).

The meeting of Glanton and Cross is both inevitable and surprising, and it is in that moment that audiences will really get a handle on the type of film they are watching.  Cianfrance has fashioned a film that is simple in its storytelling yet epic in scope.  In a narrative spanning fifteen years Pines could easily have felt bloated, but Cianfrance smartly keeps the focus on just a handful of characters.  The screenplay is targeted with laser-precision on Glanton and Cross, their individual moralities, and the legacies they leave.

The film is gorgeously shot, endless roads disappearing into sprawling forests coupled with the terrible beauty of decaying small-town Americana.  Helping set the stage is Mike Patton’s score.  Formidable and volatile, it illuminates every frame with such purpose that it is difficult to imagine the film sans its presence.

Pines really takes flight, however, thanks to its leading men.  Gosling and Cooper have proved themselves in recent years to be two of the best actors in the business.  The fact that a pair of household names can still disappear so completely into fictional roles is a testament to their versatility.  Eva Mendes has never been better and supporting players Ray Liotta, Rose Byrne, and Bruce Greenwood make for great icing on the cake.

In The Place Beyond the Pines Cianfrance has crafted a captivating tale of love, honor, and obligation that will stick with audiences long after the final credits have rolled.

Person of Interest

2011-Present, CBS

Created by Jonathan Nolan

“You are being watched. The government has a secret system: a machine that spies on you every hour of every day.  I designed the machine to detect acts of terror, but it sees everything. Violent crimes involving ordinary people.  The government considers these people irrelevant.  We don’t.  Hunted by the authorities, we work in secret. You’ll never find us, but victim or perpetrator, if your number’s up…we’ll find you”.

So Harold Finch (Michael Emerson) eloquently narrates the opening credits of each episode of Person of Interest.  Brainchild of Jonathan Nolan (brother to Christopher and co-scribe of many of his films) and producer J.J. Abrams, Person of Interest documents reclusive billionaire Finch as he recruits a former CIA agent, the down-on-his-luck John Reese (Jim Caviezel) for a mysterious mission.  Finch proposes that he and Reese combine their skill sets (brains and brawn, respectively) to prevent the violent crimes detected by Finch’s machine that would otherwise go unnoticed.  Reese, homeless and without direction, agrees and the rest is history.

The initial set-up is straight-up procedural, but it is through Nolan and crew’s clever construction that Person of Interest, now in its second season on CBS, has managed to establish itself as something nearly unheard of, a viewer-friendly procedural that also happens to have one of the most intricate mythologies of any series currently on air.  Through a careful blend of case-of-the-week storytelling, a slow-burning undercurrent of a larger plan at work, and carefully timed and excellently executed payoffs, Person of Interest is one of the most consistently thrilling, narratively satisfying dramas in recent memory.

Nolan has impeccably created a world that plays on our ever-increasing reliance on technology, coupled with “big brother” paranoia.  Person of Interest is, perhaps, science-fiction, but it tip-toes so near to the edge of science-fact that it is all too easy to imagine Finch’s machine as an existing facet of our twenty-first century reality rather than as a distant impossibility.

A clever concept, however, is useless without a stellar cast of actors to bring it to life and Person of Interest’s core four more than rise to the challenge.  Caviezel gives an understated, solemn performance as Reese, as methodical in his line-readings as in his fight scenes.  Emerson, who took home a well-deserved Emmy for his outstanding work on Lost, brings an air of quiet intelligence and dry humor to Finch, traits that play nicely against Caviezel’s more stoic presence.  Rounding out the principal cast are Oscar nominee Taraji P. Henson as Joss Carter and Kevin Chapman as Lionel Fusco, both NYPD detectives who find themselves inextricably linked, for better or worse, to Finch and Reese’s cause.

Nolan has surrounded his talented leads with an excellent array of guest stars that deepen the series’s mythology and keep the narrative’s pulse pounding.  The writers have smartly crafted a roster of recurring characters including Paige Turco, Brett Cullen, Carrie Preston, Enrico Colantoni, Amy Acker, Ken Leung, Mia Maestro, and most recently - in a game-changing episode that turned the series’ entire format on its head - Sarah Shahi.  These multi-faceted supporting players lend credence to the idea that there is a larger plan at work, a thousand-piece puzzle being meticulously pieced together.

Person of Interest is a bonafide hit for CBS which is hardly a surprise.  Its consistent quality serves as a constant reminder that the oh-so-tired (and elitist) idea that all great television is airing on cable these days is quite simply a myth.  In Person of Interest, primetime television is given the gift of a great story brought to life by great actors.  It is intelligent, thought-provoking, and could not be more - to use the vernacular of the series - relevant.

Serenity, 2005

Director - Joss Whedon

Screenplay - Joss Whedon

In 2002 Joss Whedon’s Firefly debuted on FOX.  It was bold, funny, and unlike pretty much anything else on television….and almost no one noticed.  FOX’s mishandling of the series (only eleven of the series’ fourteen episodes were aired…out of order) led to its quick cancellation.  Then something happened.  Firefly’s small fanbase became very vocal, their numbers growing as more and more viewers discovered the series on DVD, and come September 2005 fans were treated to an all-new experience, a big-screen continuation of their short-lived obsession in the form of Serenity.

Writer/Director Whedon reunites Firefly’s entire principal cast, an army of talent that includes Nathan Fillion, Summer Glau, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, and Adam Baldwin.  The film picks up where the series left us and follows Captain Mal Reynolds (Fillion) and his band of renegades, the crew of his ship “Serenity,” as they participate in a life of petty crime to fund their continued flight from the oppressive Alliance.  Most troubling is the presence of fugitive River Tam (Glau), a strange young girl with mysterious capabilities clouded in secrecy, perhaps even from herself.

In his film Whedon successfully captures the ingenuity that made his series so special, masterfully weaving plot and character long before his Avengers success.  Balancing multiple characters and distinct locales with ease, Whedon transports us into a world that feels appropriately influenced by the likes of Star Wars and Indiana Jones (with a dash of classic Western thrown in for good measure) while managing to maintain a distinctiveness that sets it apart from anything that preceded it.

Serenity is fresh, funny, and action-packed, but it doesn’t shy away from bigger issues (Chiwetel Ejifor’s methodical Alliance operative is a study in moral complexity).  Whedon’s universe is rich with detail and culture, highlighting a cast of characters that illuminate the various perspectives a group of very different passengers might actually have when placed in such a volatile situation.  The idea that, as surviving superpowers, the United States and China united to form a central government is certainly thought-provoking (not to mention a great way to deliver some well-placed swears) and, as has ever been the case in science-fiction, the vast expanse of space provides a haunting and beautiful backdrop for it all.

It isn’t a bright and shiny future that Whedon has crafted, but it is certainly an entertaining one, and with a crew like Serenity’s we would all be foolish not to go along for the ride.

The West Wing

1999-2006, NBC

Created by Aaron Sorkin

The Phantom of the Opera, 2004

Director - Joel Schumacher

Screenplay - Joel Schumacher and Andrew Lloyd Weber, adapted from the musical by Andrew Lloyd Weber, Charles Hart, and Richard Stilgoe, based upon the novel by Gaston Leroux

Gossip Girl

2007-2012, The CW

Created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, from the novels by Cecily von Ziegesar

“Gossip Girl here, your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan’s elite,” remarks Gossip Girl’s eponymous blogger, introducing each episode of the series which recently wrapped its sixth and final season on The CW.  Working from Cecily von Ziegesar’s series of young adult novels, creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage skillfully bring to life a sharp, funny, often messy, but wildly entertaining television saga dripping with charm and pop culture savvy.

Gossip Girl’s storyline kicks off with the surprise return of former high school it-girl Serena Van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) to Manhattan after a mysterious leave of absence.  First to report her return to the Upper East Side is none other than the series’ friendly neighborhood blogger, the ever-elusive, always omniscient Gossip Girl, voiced with appropriate wit and sass by the wonderful Kristen Bell.  Gossip Girl keeps tabs on the all the goings-on of Manhattan’s upper-class, namely the central cast of impossibly attractive characters.

Joining Lively in this core crew of privileged teenagers are Leighton Meester as Serena’s former best friend Blair Waldorf, Ed Westwick as the eccentric Chuck Bass, and Chace Crawford as golden boy Nate Archibald.  On the outside looking in are their comparatively poor classmates, siblings Dan and Jenny Humphrey (Penn Badgley and Taylor Momsen, respectively), both of whom want in with the “it” crowd, Dan harboring a crush on Serena and Jenny desperately wanting to fit in.

Gossip Girl is at its best in its first two seasons when it transcends the usual limitations of teen dramas and functions as a sharp satire of the frivolity of society’s upper tier.  The dialogue cracks like a whip and the performances are spot on.  The series loses its way considerably in its sophomore year (a bizarre character arc featuring Hilary Duff comes immediately to mind) and never completely recovers, though moments of its former brilliance do return in season four and through the series’ conclusion.

There are ups and there are downs, but even at its worst Gossip Girl still manages to entertain and intrigue thanks to its great cast (both regular and recurring), on-the-mark cultural references, and what remains to this day the best soundtrack in the history of television.  Josh Schwartz has shown his keen awareness of pop culture past and present on both The OC and Chuck and Gossip Girl is no exception.  It plays like a collage of fashion, music, art, movies (each episode title is a film reference), and more.  From Serena’s voluminous hair to Blair’s headbands to Chuck’s scarves Gossip Girl establishes itself as its own brand of modern art set against a beautiful city skyline.

It is a decadent fantasy.  It is a fashion scrapbook.  It is a coming of age story and a love story.  There’s drama and there’s comedy.  More interesting though is how Schwartz and company string all of this together into an interesting look at the ever-increasing effect social media is having on our society.  Gossip Girl clicks because it never takes itself too seriously, mocking the upper-class while simultaneously recognizing the desire to be a part of it.

Gossip Girl is as frequently flawed as it is flawless, but through six seasons it clings so tightly to its fresh tone that by the time Gossip Girl herself is revealed in the final episode it hardly matters that the pieces don’t quite add up.  The series stands as an example that teen dramas don’t have to be just that and that shows don’t have to be perfect to be fabulous.  After all, as Gossip Girl snarkily reminds us every episode, “You know you love me.”  Indeed we do.  XOXO.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, 2012

Director - Peter Jackson

Screenplay - Fran Walsh, Phillippa Boyens, Peter Jackson, and Guillermo del Toro, from the novel by by J.R.R. Tolkien

It has been nearly ten years since Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King dominated the Academy Awards, taking home a statuette for each of the eleven categories in which it was nominated (including best picture), thus capping off the director’s sweeping adaption of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy trilogy in a grand fashion that matched the franchise’s epic scale.

Ever since, fans have been clamoring for Jackson to revisit Middle Earth in the form of Tolkien’s Rings prelude The Hobbit, but a bevy of issues, both legal and financial, kept the adaptation in development limbo.  Almost a decade later the fruits of Jackson and company’s labors have finally made their way to the screen and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey proves worth the wait.

The film, like the novel, begins with the unlikely meeting of Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit, and Gandalf the Grey, a wizard.  Gandalf tricks Bilbo into hosting a dinner party for a group of dwarves on a mission to reclaim their stolen treasure from Smaug the dragon.  This dinner serves as Bilbo’s recruitment into their merry band of travelers.  They need a “burglar” - Hobbits are notably light on their feet - and Bilbo fits the bill.  Dinner is eaten, songs are sung, a contract is signed, and off the group heads toward Smaug’s home, the Lonely Mountain.

The film proves a terrific adventure, capturing the wonder and whimsy of Tolkien’s prose. It is important to note that The Hobbit is a much lighter text then The Lord of the Rings, and Jackson excellently captures its more playful tone.  Working with Rings collaborators Fran Walsh and Phillipa Boyens, plus Guillermo del Toro (who at one point was slated to direct, his influence lingering pleasantly throughout the finished film), Jackson skillfully welcomes us back to the Middle Earth he so deftly crafted in the first trilogy.  The stakes are not as high (after all, the Dark Lord Sauron has yet to return to wreak his havok), but the world is just as detailed, complex, and cinematic (perhaps even more so - this film is the first to be filmed and screened in the experimental, controversial, frame-rate of forty-eight frames-per-second).

Faces both old and new crop up throughout this first installment (the tale will be told over three films, the final two being released over the next two years).  Martin Freeman is delightful as a younger Bilbo.  Taking the reigns from Ian Holm, who so wonderfully captured the character in the original trilogy, Freeman is vibrant and his comic timing impeccable.  Ian McKellen makes a triumphant comeback as Gandalf.  He slips back into his Oscar-nominated role easily and his commanding presence is felt every second he is onscreen.  The cast of dwarves is wonderful, led by the brooding Richard Armitage as Thorin, a role considerably beefed up from the novel.  It is fairly clear that Jackson was looking to establish Thorin as the Aragorn of this trilogy, a feat that proves quite successful.  Sylvester McCoy adds some quirky levity as Gandalf’s friend and fellow wizard, the delightful Radagast the Brown, while Rings veterans Cate Blanchett, Hugo Weaving, Christopher Lee, Elijah Wood, and Ian Holm all appear in varying capacities.  Most notable is scene-stealer Andy Serkis returning to the iconic role of Gollum for the film’s most memorable scene, a game of riddles between himself and Bilbo.

Does An Unexpected Journey match the grand scale of Lord of the Rings?  Not quite, but it is a fine return to the majesty of Tolkien’s world that Jackson so brilliantly recreated in the first trilogy.  Over the next two installments the stakes will get higher, the journey more treacherous, and yes, Smaug will finally emerge in all his winged, fire-breathing glory (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch no less).  A great adventure has most definitely begun.

True Blood

2008-Present, HBO

Created by Alan Ball, from The Sookie Stackhouse Novels by Charlaine Harris

“I wanna do bad things with you,” croons country singer Jace Everett through the eery credits of True Blood, HBO’s southern vampire soap opera which will be entering its sixth season next summer.  The strange, but captivating opening sequence (one of the best on television) sufficiently sets the stage for the copious amounts of blood and sex in any given episode and immediately lets viewers know that this isn’t your average vampire story.

An adaptation of Charlaine Harris’ Sookie Stackhouse series, Alan Ball’s True Blood is campy horror gold…for a little while.  For two seasons the series coasts comfortably on a fun recipe of sex, drugs, and vampires, with an undercurrent of sociopolitical subtext that gives all the frivolity its necessary footing.  The series then hits a rough patch in season three from which it is never able to fully recover, quickly spiraling into an incoherence that suggests even the writers have acknowledged that their show has become a ridiculous mess.  Look no further than the final episodes of season five.  Seriously.  They aren’t even trying anymore.

It is rather depressing to witness must-watch television become borderline unwatchable, even more so when considering the talent involved.  The cast deserves better.  Anna Paquin, Alexander Skarsgard, Nelsan Ellis, Kristin Bauer van Straten, and more continue to give their all to increasingly ludicrous story lines, while interesting guest stars (Denis O’Hare, Fiona Shaw, and most recently Christopher Meloni) are brought into the fold only to be colossally wasted.  Quite frankly it is hard to believe that the man writing for these great actors is an Oscar winning screenwriter.  Maybe Ball has lost his touch.  Maybe he’s just laughing as he cashes his paycheck (True Blood remains a huge hit for HBO).  Either way the material has become laughable and it is hard to imagine anyone involved is particularly proud of anything that has come after season two.

What could have been - and once was - a fun series with clever plots and interesting subtext has tragically derailed into a derogatory mess that seems more concerned with shock value than actually having something worthwhile to say.  Time will tell if True Blood can dig itself out of this rut (Ball has stepped down as showrunner, perhaps a glimmer of hope?), but it is running out of chances and patience is running thin.

Superman Returns, 2006

Director - Bryan Singer

Screenplay - Michael Dougherty, Dan Harris, Bryan Singer (story), from the DC comics character created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster

Superman is always tricky.  Despite his ever-present status as a worldwide icon, the character has always seemed to have a hard time transitioning from page to screen.  Bryan Singer’s Superman Returns, an unabashed love letter to Richard Donner’s original films, aims to reacquaint modern audiences with the crimson-caped hero, but the finished product falls somewhere in between excessive nostalgia and actually taking the the character to new heights.

The set-up is promising enough: Superman (a spot-on Brandon Routh) has returned to Earth, having left for five years to investigate what astronomers believed to have been the remains of his home planet Krypton.  Things have changed, however, in the busy city of Metropolis and even as Superman reintegrates into daily life as mild-mannered Daily Planet reporter Clark Kent, things have changed drastically in his absence.  Most troubling is that his former love Lois Lane (a lovely but miscast Kate Bosworth) has written a Pulitzer-winning piece entitled “Why the World Doesn’t Need Superman,” not to mention that fact that she has a new man in her life (James Marsden) with whom she is raising her young son Jason.

Lois’ article is one of the film’s most interesting plot points that Singer and company would have done well to expand on, especially considering the fact that we live in a world where Superman has become less popular with film audiences (time will tell if Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel can change that).  The main problem with the film is that it is quite simply too nostalgic.  It’s all very classic, which in many ways is a good thing.  After all, a classic feel is important when dealing with a character like Superman, but it becomes problematic when Singer seems to find himself so bogged down in the character’s history that he forgets to bring anything new to the table.

The technology exists to finally bring some of Superman’s most formidable foes to life, so why are we still caught up in Lex Luthor drama?  Kevin Spacey’s Lex is one of the highlights of the film, but the villainous subplot - complete with a climax that has Superman battling his one weakness, Kryptonite - feels very been-there-done-that.  It’s high time we see Superman take on a villain that can truly make audiences feel his life is endangered (Doomsday, anyone?) and maybe even grapple with his personal demons (though to give Singer credit he does explore that a bit here, courtesy of Lois’ damning article).

There is still a lot to love.  Singer is unquestionably talented as a director and Superman Returns is well-crafted and beautifully shot, from the fields of Kansas to the Metropolis cityscapes.  The cast, which also includes Frank Langella and Parker Posey, does a commendable job bringing these iconic characters to life.  Still, the film is overly long and eventually hindered by Singer’s sentiment for Donner’s original films.  Superman Returns isn’t a bad film, it just could have (and should have) been so much more, especially considering the talent and painstaking effort that went into bringing it to life.

Weeds

2005-2012, Showtime

Created by Jenji Kohan

Back in 2005, the concept of a dark comedy series headlined by pot-dealing soccer mom was probably not the easiest sell, but Showtime (in a move that set the stage for their current string of successful series) saw potential in creator Jenji Kohan’s deliciously twisted idea.  Turns out they were right to take a chance on the innovative series which recently wrapped up its eighth and final season.  Sure, Weeds may have careened from the whip-smart social satire of its early seasons to the directionless absurdity of its middle years to, by its final episodes, something in between.  Still the series remained wonderfully inventive throughout with a powerhouse performance by Mary-Louise Parker leading the way.

Initially set in Agrestic (a fictional suburb of Los Angeles), Weeds kicks off with Nancy Botwin (Parker) having taken up pot-dealing to support her two children, as well as her current lifestyle, after the unexpected death of her husband Judah.  What begins as a fairly straight-forward premise quickly transforms into a quick-witted satire of class dynamics, race relations, family politics, and gang warfare, all with a wink and a nod to the audience as Nancy seductively sips on one of her trademark iced coffees.

Through thick and thin, through great seasons and not so great seasons, it’s the impeccable cast that really keeps the series alive, Mary-Louise Parker being the guiding light that drives the show even through its rougher patches.  Parker is a phenomenal actress and in Nancy Botwin she has created one of the most dynamic characters in television history.  Nancy is the beating heart of Weeds.  That isn’t to downplay the talent of the rest of the cast.  It’s fun to watch Hunter Parrish and Alexander Gould (as Nancy’s sons Silas and Shane respectively) grow up with the series and Justin Kirk is impeccable as Nancy’s ever doting and always aimless brother-in-law Andy.  Rounding out the central cast are fantastic performers such as Kevin Nealon, Elizabeth Perkins, Romany Malco, and more, leading an impressive list of supporting players and guest stars.

Weeds’ eight year run was a long, mostly wonderful, sometimes frustrating, but always surprising roller-coaster ride whose darkly comedic nature helped set the standard for cable TV as we know it today.