Season 1 was a C+, as you may recall; this season improved quite a bit over the previous due to a great story arc by Mr. Felicity Huffman and Aaron Sorkin having a better outlet than "Sports Night" -- i.e. "The West Wing" -- for his more serious and political musings. Bonus: Since Sorkin didn't know that the show would be cancelled after this season, I got to watch my first ever (as Ed and Annie would call it) "'Jessie' series finale."
--- "The West Wing," season 2 (2000-2001): B+
Poor Mrs. Landingham.
--- "Murder One," season 1 (1995-1996): A-
You'd think that with the many advantages that film has over television as a medium -- bigger budgets, bigger stars, bigger screens -- that more television shows would use the one huge plus television has over film: Time to stretch out a single story. But despite that, season one of "Murder One" is the only television show I've seen that feels substantially more like a novel than, say, a series of short stories that simply contain the same cast of characters. After the first few episodes -- where the murder case that was the focus of the season was interspersed with a few B-stories -- every second of every episode was, in one way or another, all connected to the same fascinating case. I was addicted. (Also, finally for the first time in my life I understand the fuss over Stanley Tucci; his is one of the best performances in television history, I'd argue.)
--- Thank You For Smoking (Jason Reitman, 2006): B+
Slightly too much obvious, in-your-face satire for my taste, but the funniest film I've seen in quite a while -- and in its own way, the most Conservative. Frankly, in part, Aaron Eckhart's tobacco PR man is right: You can't trumpet an everyone-needs-to-make-their-own-decisions attitude with one hand while saying "cigarettes are bad, so don't smoke them" with the other. (Except hands can't talk. But.)
--- Cars (John Lasseter, 2006): B+
A lot to like, ho-hum critical reception notwithstanding. (I much prefer Cars to A Bug's Life, and it's probably even in my mind to The Incredibles and Finding Nemo.) Cars is not so much saying that Thou Shalt Not Build Six-Lane Roads, as some critics have argued, as much as it's putting forth an overarching (and quite interesting, given the protag's profession) view that faster does not automatically equate to better. More specifically, Cars argues that when one makes the decision to do anything more quickly, there are almost always negative tradeoffs that need to be considered. In fact, I'm having a hard time thinking of another recent movie that is so insistent at pounding its major theme at every (figurative) turn: Lightning's first attempt of putting down the asphalt, Lightning's race with Doc, the decline of Radiator Springs, the minivan's insistence of not stopping to ask directions, etc. Yes, the love story's a little weak. Yes, Cars doesn't have the emotional resonance of, say, Boo and Scully's relationship in Monsters, Inc.. So?
i sincerely do not know what you are doing here. are you lost? were you
looking for your delicate calico cat, and did you follow her up two flights of stairs
to this room? she is not here. she was here, yes. we gave her a warm bowl of milk, we talked with her about campaign finance reform for a time, and then she bid us good day. i believe she was
going to the post office two blocks down, but i don't quite recall.
for surely you did
not find your way from prinsiana, the least traveled site on
the internet. if you did, though, perhaps you are looking for humor. perhaps you are looking for profundity. perhaps you are looking for answers.
i'm sorry, but you shall go naught-for-three.
