Homeland “The Yoga Play” Review: How does Romeo and Juliet end?

Saul trying to be political on Homeland

Photo Credit: Showtime

A quick review of “The Yoga Play” as soon as I shoot some ducks…

As I mentioned numerous times throughout my review of last week’s episode I, to put it lightly, did not like the twist involving Carrie and Saul. What made it even worse was (as I actually assumed) that Alex Gansa said in an interview that their plan was hatched right after the bombing from the CIA, and thus all of the things that had happened up to that point in the season was all a part of a trick to keep the audience in a dark.

What makes it worse, at least for the first half of “The Yoga Play,” was that it felt like the episode would have worked with or without the twist that came at the end of “Game On.” The majority of “The Yoga Play” involved Carrie doing a divergent mission involving everyone’s favorite character Dana. For the most part Carrie’s attempted mission was satisfying enough and tied into the suspense of the final ten minutes, it just didn’t feel like until near the end of the episode that last week’s twist had any sort of payoff that it needed for it to maybe play slightly better than it did before.

When it did finally tie in though, one could say that while the twist last week didn’t work at least the direction we’re going with it is somewhat interesting, and allowed the twist, if only briefly, to sort of pay off. The question of Carrie’s cover was well executed suspense especially as “The Yoga Play” drew closer to its end, and the cliffhanger of Carrie being welcomed into the room with the Iranian’s, either to go along with the deal, or be tortured/interrogated, worked well as a closing bit of suspense.

What also worked was Saul not being made CIA director. Saul has never been good at the political side of his job and him not being made director makes sense as his icy efficiency at times doesn’t make the politicians too happy. It will also be interesting to see if the senator set to run the CIA will gain more of a character instead of just being a direct foil to Saul and his old-fashioned ways (which by the way feels like a plot line that is ripped directly from Skyfall).

What didn’t work in “The Yoga Play” was everything that involved Dana. At this point (and luckily I think that this may be the case) I just wish Dana would just cease to exist on this show. At least Leo is gone, and Dana got to emulated the Claire Danes cry, but still everything with Dana so far this season has been pretty terrible and getting rid of her, if only for a while (and potentially permanently) seems like the smart move.

That’s all for this week… What’s everyone’s thoughts on the Saul and Carrie plot line at this point? Did it 

pay off or continue to pay off, or is it still a festering frustration in the back of the mind?

And as usual that’s just me. What did everyone else think?

Homeland “Game On” Review: Back in the Game

Carrie and the mysterious lawyer on Homeland

A quick review of tonight’s Homeland as soon as I go on a car theft adventure…

“You’re an amazing person, Carrie Matheson”

-Saul

I would like to say before we get to tonight’s episode that I didn’t get the chance to review last week’s episode, but in fact I quite liked it. I thought the integration of Brody and the parallel between him and Carrie worked well as a special, more thematic episode of the show. I’ve heard a lot of negative criticism about last week’s show (on top of the positive) for the show being too farfetched about where Brody is and as a whole it didn’t work. In this case I would argue that the show has always been farfetched plot wise and that last week’s plot revelations didn’t feel that way to me and I ultimately enjoyed the episode quite a bit.

I say this in advance of this review because boy did I not like “Game On,” not one bit. For the people who thought Brody’s situation was ridiculous and farfetched then I can’t imagine how cheated one must be feeling after the big twist at the end of this one. So Carrie, who has broken down numerous times and has been locked in a mental hospital for a long stretch of time, was really just working for Saul the entire time? Just to get in with the Iranians so that she can play some sort of strange double agent role? This makes absolutely no sense from any possible angle, and is quite possibly close to the most preposterous thing the show has ever tried to pass off as a good plot line (well ok not half as bad as the thing with the vice president last year but still). First off how does that make any sense as a viable plan in any sense of the word? How could Saul have figured that the Iranians would try to take on an agent who’s mentally unstable and off the rails? Why would Carrie do all of this for a plan that could have been much better executed in every way? The whole thing just felt like a horrible cheat, one that was used just so that the writers had an excuse to keep Carrie around for the long run. It’s another massive contrivance, one that is hard to swallow after it seemed originally like the arc would have a suitable pay off.

Then there is Dana, oh Dana. I’ve said it before but the whole plot revolving around her and her now revealed to be murderer boy friend. There is no reason, at this point in the series to be keeping Dana around at this capacity, or arguably any capacity at all. It was bad enough in the first place that we got yet another Dana’s got a strange boyfriend arc, but making him a stone cold murderer makes it twice as bad if not three times. Like with Carrie it seems that the writers are just desperately hanging on to Dana and will risk increasingly terrible arcs to keep them around.

“Game On” was a compilation of all the worst parts of Homeland wrapped into one episode (well other than Mandy Patinkin who is fantastic in this episode despite the stupidity of it all). It’s going to be hard to swallow what’s coming next considering it seems that the writers really have no clue what made this show great way back in its first season.

That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?

Gravity Review

Sandra Bullock and George Clooney in Gravity

Photo Credit: Warner Brothers Pictures

Gravity

A+

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

As I said after numerous episodes of Breaking Bad this season: I can breathe again it’s over. Few films, especially in the last while can be so tense that one forgets to breath. Gravity, the latest film from Children of Men director Alfonso Cauron is a part of that select group of films. It plays on one of the 21^st century’s biggest nightmares, being lost in space, and transforms it into a big, bold, and beautiful film. There is nothing that I have ever seen that is like Gravity, an ambitious achievement on a grand level and one of the very best films of 2013.

I won’t take too much time describing Gravity’s plot as this one is best seen shrouded in mystery. Essentially the film revolves around an engineer and an astronaut (Sandra Bullock and George Clooney) on a seemingly routine space mission. Of course something goes completely wrong leaving them stranded in space alone with no one around to help them.

The first thing that jumps out in the film right away is just how utterly beautiful this film is; CGI has never looked better. Everything in the space, from the view of Earth to the vastness of space is so gorgeous that, at so many points in this film, it’s hard to tell that it’s actually CGI. The opening shot of the film is a continuous 10 minute sweeping shot of space and the station on which the characters are working on is one of the most stunning sequences I have seen in a film ever. Every moment feels so meticulously put together, so perfectly crafted, that’s it’s hard to believe. The 3D in this film is also phenomenal (yes I did just say that) as it adds a depth and beauty to the already stunning visuals. This film actually feels like it would lose something if not seen in 3D, which is amazing as it was added in in post production. The sound design and score are also utterly fantastic. The sound design is a fantastic mix of perfect silence and big bombastic disaster. The score is a perfect part of the film as it runs the gambit from being big and bombastic, to being small and barely existent. To really get the best experience of this film see it on the biggest screen, with the loudest sound, and in 3D. I saw it in IMAX 3D and I probably wouldn’t have watched it in any other way. The film just pops like nothing else on a massive screen.

Once stuff starts going wrong (again not saying too much) though the beauty begins to become an afterthought as fear and tension begin to take over. Once Gravity sinks its teeth in it doesn’t let go for a single second. From about the 10 minute mark the film keeps the viewer so far on the edge of their seat that there is fear of falling off. The film is so tense that, as mentioned earlier, the film never allows the viewer to breath during its peak points of tension. There are so few moments of downtime throughout the film, and by the end of the film (which surprisingly never wears out its welcome at all) I was drained and asking when I can do the trip all over again.

The film is essentially a one and a half person show. Sandra Bullock is the true star of this film, delivering the performance of her career. With such little background Bullock gives her character Ryan Stone so much nuance that’s it’s impossible not to care for her across every step of the film. It’s a stunning piece of acting, so simple, yet at the same time so subtle and complex; it’s sheer brilliance. Clooney works well as the old, weary astronaut with way to many stories, and while he doesn’t get the screen time the Bullock does, he’s a very necessary performance to have in the film. It’s also nice to hear Ed Harris’ voice as the mission commander pop up at the beginning of the film as it provides a twinge of nostalgia towards a certain other space film.

Gravity is like nothing I’ve ever seen before. It’s a visual masterpiece as well as being a near perfect thriller, providing the best of sci-fi and horror all in one. Its ambition and polish are also things that are works of magic; the film feels like a work of pure love at every term. Safe to say that Gravity is an absolute must see, and one of the top tear films of 2013.

The Fifth Estate Review

People from Wikileaks looking astounded in The Fifth Estate

Photo Credit: Dreamworks Pictures

The Fifth Estate

C

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

In this modern day with so many films in theaters demanding attention it’s easy to get caught into “generic film syndrome”. Films that fit in this category are those that come and go without a particular weight or meaning, or for that matter have anything that defines them as special. They just come and go in a state of mediocrity and are most likely forgotten right after being viewed. The Fifth Estate, Hollywood’s retelling of the story of Julian Assange is one of those films; a frustrating film that switches through mindless exposition and lecturing the audience about the mindless exposition. The Fifth Estate is neither smart nor fun, it’s just generic.

The plot follows the creation and uprising of the online whistle blowing haven called Wikileaks through the prospective of one the main people who helped it grow and change Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brül). The plot revolves mostly around his interactions with Wikileaks creator Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) and how their partnership grew and changed over the course of the various leaks that they facilitated to their site. The most important of these events comes in 2010 where the two have the responsibility of leaking many, many documents and wires about US activity in Pakistan. This leak tests their relationship as well as the way information works around the world.

The main problem with The Fifth Estate is that, despite the massive amount of potential, none of the material is presented in a fashion that is either interesting or compelling. It’s all really blandly told especially within the writing. Dialogue has absolutely no flair to it whatsoever and all it is used for is to get from one point to another. It never feels like there is an actual conversations taking place in the film, instead the dialogue is really used as one big plot moving device.

Another problem is the other use for all the dialogue, and that’s lecturing the audience. Between the constant need to move the plot forward through dialogue is the need to lecture the audience about its plot and themes. There is a point in the film where it seems like the characters are literally directly lecturing to the audience about things that are literally repeated about four times beforehand. It’s awful at the best of times, as it’s really overbearing and makes treats the audience as if they are stupid and don’t understand anything that is going on throughout the film.

What makes things worse is that this film also seems to have no characters or any idea of character development whatsoever. The caricatures that are present are essentially plot moving and lecturing devices. It’s sad as this subject and these people are actually interesting subjects and people and this is an extremely wasted opportunity. The caricatures just kind of move around in space, moving from one point to another without giving any sense of personality, likability, or depth what so ever.

The one thing that saves the film from being really bad is the performance by Benedict Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch is fantastic given the small amount of character that he is given, as most of the time he actually resembles Julian Assange. It’s the one thing that shines in this film and Cumberbatch continues to prove himself quite the actor. The rest of the cast is generic and doesn’t really add or detract anything from the film. Really they are there to be plot movers so it’s not like their job is all that challenging acting wise anyways.

Visually the film at times looks much more like a home video than an actual film. The film’s look, like the dialogue, has absolutely nothing special about it. It just makes the film look generic and then at points strange as some shots linger too long or are so generically composed that it seems out of place in a film that’s trying to be a modern, hip thriller. It just looks cheap and bland; Oh and that tech backdrop and the strange and stupid dream metaphor room used throughout the film don’t help either and help the film look cheaper. The score is filled with strange and at times obnoxious electronic tracks that, like the rest of the film, just kind of blend into nothingness.

The Fifth Estate is a film that despite its interesting subject matter, is very, very hard to recommend. It’s so generic and bland in every way and even at that generic in a poorly executed way. The film ultimately feels like a machine trying to get from point a to point b without a purpose or general idea of what makes these kind of tech bio picks interesting. Add another film to the list of patients that suffer from “generic film disease.”

Homeland “Uh… Oh… Ah…” Review: To the loony Bin!

Carrie being dragged away on Homeland

Photo Credit: Showtime 

A Review of Sunday’s episode of Homeland “Uh… Oh… Ah…” as soon as I follow the money…

Originally I was going to write about the Homeland premiere last weekend but thus one of the best television show’s of my lifetime was ending in a hail of bullets so that kind of became the priority. Also much of what I thought of the premiere is going to be echoed in this review as well so it would have been a little redundant anyhow…

“Uh… Oh… Ah…” (which is a pain to type) was a strong second episode for Homeland’s third season, about three quarters of the time that is. The episode moves the characters into interesting places (except one but we’ll get there) setting up what’s to come. It also helps that the main arc of “Uh… Oh… Ah…” is an emotional gut punch, a betrayal that should breathe life into this season.

The betrayal being addressed of course is that of Saul towards Carrie. It seems that Saul just needs to get rid of Carrie for the time being as she is becoming a detriment to the overarching plan and however cold it may be he is pressured enough by Dar Adal to actually go through with it. The betrayal is emotionally devastating and it ultimately puts poor Carrie into the darkest of holes.

The darkness of the situation that Carrie is trapped in is what makes this feel like its territory that hasn’t yet been explored. Yes we’ve seen Carrie go mental many times on this show but we’ve never seen everyone turn their backs on her in quite this way. At least at the start of the series she had some sane basis to go on, now to the masses she must look like a bumbling lunatic. I hope the writers drag this out a little more and make it a situation that’s not going to be so easily escaped; because if it’s easy enough to escape then we’ve seen all of this before.

The things that didn’t work all that well but ultimately worked better than last week was the Dana storyline. I’m still very skeptical of the storyline as it seems all to similar to the one that didn’t work at all last season, but this week it was ultimately better executed. The scenes between Dana and Jessica Brody are better than the scenes Dana has with her newfound asylum boyfriend though and thus is why the Dana arc worked better this week. Once the show gets all in on Dana’s sure to be tragic relationship though I have a very bad feeling of where this could go.

The final storyline to take shape this week was Saul’s new Arabic analyst. It seemed silly that Saul would condemn her for her culture is a little silly and I hope that down the line Fara becomes more of a character and less of an archetype/villain/mole/tolerance lesson. We can hope and pray she doesn’t go down the 24 route. Quinn on the other hand gets to be both the softest black ops agent in history (proclaiming that he doesn’t like what’s going on here) and the most awesome agent ever (confronting the banker). Who knows maybe he’ll become a cohesive character one day. First though Rupert Friend has to work on the accent a little as it seems like he was struggling with it a little bit in this episode.

Ultimately “Uh… Oh… Ah…” (still a pain to type) was a solid hour of Homeland. The show has yet to find what seems like a cohesive arc yet as it seems like we are still stuck without much agency plot or a villain, but it’s only the beginning of the season and there is lots left to be told. Also it’s just good to see Homeland focus at what it’s ultimately good at, character growth. Because we all know what happened when the show got more plot focused last year…

But a promising start on almost all fronts…

Episodes without Nick Brody: 2

That’s just me though. What did everyone else think?