Ray Donovan: Season 1, Episode 2; A Mouth is a Mouth

That wonderful episode title comes straight from Mickey (not very surprising). It has been way too long since I wrote my last Ray Donovan review. I am going to try to pick up the pace because I would like to be all caught up before the third season airs in July.
In this second episode Ray’s responsibilities, both personal and work related, are beginning to pile up. Also some characters that were only briefly seen in the first episode are fleshed out a little more here. Ray’s work related problems come in the form of two actors, Sean Walker (Johnathon Schaech) is a movie star with a somewhat complicated connection to Ray’s past. Sean bluntly says something to Ray along the lines of “I shot your girlfriend in the head, high on Mickey’s coke.” I have to admit it comes across as terrible writing and makes no sense at the moment it is said. As the season continues it will be explained a little better and become more integral to the plot. Mickey sends Sean an intimidating message and Ray must appease and comfort Sean because of it.

Chloe is played by Alex Saxton.

The other actor with a problem for Ray is Tommy Wheeler (Austin Nichols), the actor from the first episode who had been caught with a transvestite. This time around Tommy is being blackmailed with a video of himself giving a transvestite a blowjob. This is one of my favorite subplots on the show because I really like Chloe (Alex Saxon), the transvestite. The acting is great, plus Chloe makes for one hot chick (great make-up and costuming). It also reveals some key things about Ray. Chloe is blackmailing Tommy because she needs money for a sex change. This doesn’t faze Ray at all. He’s not surprised, he’s seen it all, and he’s not going to judge anyone. He is even sympathetic of Chloe’s situation. But Ray still has a client to protect. So Ray breaks in, somewhat violently, to Chloe’s apartment and forcefully takes all copies of the sex tape. He is quite physically rough, nearly choking Chloe. But Ray also shows genuine sympathy for Chloe. He tells her to stop prostituting and doing drugs because it will kill her, he’s seen it before. He leaves Chloe devastated and embarrassed. But at the end of the episode Ray sends Lena over to Chloe’s with enough money for the sex change surgery. Chloe’s gratitude is very touching and that good side of Ray that the audience loves is revealed. He is a sympathetic and admirable character even if he can also be extremely violent and even despicable at times.
Personally Ray has to deal with Mickey and his hold on his family this episode. Last episode Abby and Ray had a fight, Ray was cheating on her, so Abby is justified in her anger. Abby allowed Mickey to hang out with her and the kids for the night. And this episode she takes Mickey and the kids for a trip to Malibu, just in an attempt to get back at Ray. Ray loses control when he finds out, and is only stopped from killing Mickey then and there by Avi. It seems a little over dramatic a reaction on Ray’s part, but we still don’t know why he hates Mickey s much, so we can’t judge him at this point. So far Mickey doesn’t seem too bad. He admits to Abby that he was a “terrible father,” but he feels he has done his time and that everyone should move on. But that’s the one thing Ray is incapable of at this point.

The immediate aftermath of last episode’s the bag or the bat.

Tidbits:
• “Great guns you got there.” Terry’s nurse blatantly hits on him. Terry is extremely uncomfortable upon hearing this. Ray grins and encourages Terry to ask her out. But will he be able to overcome his crippling shyness?
• Conner blackmails Abby into taking the family to Malibu. This combined with his fighting in the first episode show that he takes after his dad.
• “Give him the best blowjob OF HIS LIFE!” Lee’s role on the show seems to just be screaming obscenities.

• Mickey’s wise advice to his grandson: “A mouth is a mouth, but don’t let anyone fuck you in the ass, that’s how you get sick.” Wow, what a great grandfather! Such sound advice!

Ashley and Stu Feldman.

• Stu Feldman and Ashley make a little appearance. Stu tries to act all superior to Ray, but of course he fails. His inferiority complex is always hilarious. Stu is still with Ashley because his wife left him.
• Stu: “Jesus, that guy can really suck cocks. He should give my wife lessons.”
• Stu: “[Ray’s] hot, isn’t he? Find out who his trainer is!”

• Daryll is shown doing some of Mickey’s dirty work. The fact that he is now family doesn’t spare him from a beat down by Avi. It’s funny that Daryll is a boxer, but Avi so easily kicks his ass.
• Mickey and Bunchy are yet again bonding while doing drugs together.
• Ray sees the picture of the priest Mickey killed last episode. And Ray smiles. Why? What is so funny about it? We’ll find out next episode!

Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) AKA The Movie My Boyfriend Didn’t Want to Like Because Tom Hardy is in it But Grudgingly Had to Admit is Awesome

This is a mostly spoiler free review. I love Tom Hardy, so my boyfriend feels the need to hate him. How can anyone hate Tom Hardy? Look at him!

No, seriously….

But, really….

Ok, enough of that. Fury Road has quite a simple plot. In a post-apocalyptic world Max (Tom Hardy) and Furiosa (Charlize Theron) team up to escape the wrath of the grotesque Immortan Joe.
Mad Max: Fury Road is a film unlike any other. Well, except for maybe the other Mad Max films (which I have not seen). It manages to be extremely heavy on the action without ever losing the audience’s attention or the focus of its plot. This film is lean and mean in the best sense. There are no confusing subplots and every detail and action feels necessary. The screen play and the direction of this film is outstanding, all thanks to the vision of George Miller. Fury Road is an example of a director totally unleashing his creative talent with no impediments. And it pays off big time. Warner Brothers gave Miller all the money and time he needed and it resulted in one of the best action films ever made. The visuals are stunning, this is the best film I’ve seen in 3D.

I really enjoyed the simplicity of Fury Road. Furiosa has a goal, get the wives away from Immortan Joe, and Max is just kind of along for the ride. The film handles gender politics very skillfully. Miller doesn’t hit you over the head with feminism or really any philosophy. He just lets the world and its characters exist and the audience can infer from there what the movie’s message is. It’s a subtlety that I really appreciated. Furiosa is a great creation of Miller’s that is made even more amazing by Charlize’s performance. Furiosa feels like a real woman, something that Hollywood often has a difficult time representing. Furiosa is tough, capable, but she is also extremely vulnerable and maintains a sense of femininity despite her buzz cut.

The plot is completely owned by Furiosa as are the more emotional aspects of the film. But Tom Hardy still does a great job as the titular character, even if he is more of a supporting character. Tom shines with the physicality of the character (a defining trait for the actor in all his films). He excels in the action sequences. But the most enjoyable aspect is his somewhat surprising comedic abilities. Another reviewer likened Tom to Buster Keaton. And I have to agree. His mannerisms, facial expressions, and grunts were often hilarious. Tom brings some much needed levity to a film that otherwise would have been very heavy and too serious. Tom has a great gift for comedy, it would be great to see him show it off more.
Mad Max: Fury Road has everything I personally want in a film. Key word being ‘personally.’ This will not be a film for everyone, it may be too overwhelming for some and not have enough dialogue. But it completes my checklist. There is gasp inducing action sequences that dominate the film. There is a simple plot with a powerful message of redemption as well as an examination of our society. There is a strong, well rounded, realistic woman. And there is Tom Hardy with his gorgeous face and joyful sense of humor. This film has to be experienced on the big screen and preferably in 3D. Mad Max: Fury Road is one of the best, most enjoyable and thoughtful action films I have ever seen 9/10

Ex Machina (2015)

I have been looking forward to this movie for quite some time and it finally came to my city. And it did not disappoint. The film is about a computer programmer (Domhnall Gleeson) who is selected to participate in an experiment evaluating the human qualities of an A.I (Alicia Vikander).

Domhnall Gleeson and Oscar Isaac.

I’m not normally a big fan of sci-fi films (aside from Blade Runner) so I haven’t seen a lot of films about Artificial Intelligence. But luckily no prior knowledge is needed to enjoy this film, one of the great things about it is that it explains some of the science behind A.I. in an interesting way. I came into this film wanting an intellectual experience mixed in with some horror elements. And that’s exactly what I got along with some great, dark humor. The film looks great, the cinematography and the sets are excellent. The CGI on Ava (the A.I.) is quite convincing. The score is one of my favorite aspects of the film. There is a lot of dialogue in this movie, so the score really livens the scenes and adds a lot of tension.

Those moves.

The best part of Ex Machina is the actors. Domhnall Gleeson is perfect as the sweet, intelligent programmer Caleb. Alicia Vikander is wonderful as Ava. She has a really tough job, but she pulls it off quite well. Everything from the way she moves to the way she talks is spot on. But of the three actors Oscar Isaac is my favorite, he steals each scene he is in. He’s hilarious, scary, intelligent and charismatic. He has quickly become one of my favorite actors. After the film I told my boyfriend that Oscar is an actor I would see in anything. My boyfriend was a little perplexed because I’ve only seen Oscar in two films. But he has really impressed me lately.

Oh that face! *swoon*

I highly recommend Ex Machina. It’s a great film, especially if you like your movies more on the talky, intellectual side. It kind of reminds me in a way of a modern Roman Polanski movie, something along the lines of Rosemary’s Baby (one of my favorite films). Ex Machina gets 9/10

Trailer Review: Legend

I’m a Tom Hardy Admirer, so long story short, I’ll be seeing his turn as the Kray twins in Legend. I’m liking most of this trailer. My only problem is surprisingly Tom Hardy. I think he is playing Reggie fairly well, he looks so suave and cool. But the other twin, Ronald, he seems to be over playing. I think he is trying to give the twins very different mannerisms in order to easily distinguish the two. But Ronald’s constant sneering just seems like over kill. The music for the trailer is great, very evocative of the time and place. I’m also excited to see how Taron Egerton does after his wonderful turn in Kingsman. Legend could propel him as the next big thing. Mob movies are really hard to do well these days, but hopefully Legend adds something new to the genre when it hits theaters September 11.

Liebster Award followed by Filth (2013) Review Otherwise Known as What the F#@$ Did I Just Watch?!

My happy dance.

I’ve received my second blogging award, this time the Liebster award! Break out the canned…pears! Thank you very much to The Movie Review Dude for nominating me, go check out his wonderful blog if you haven’t already. Also thank you to all the people that read my blog, I never thought anyone would care what I have to say. Doing this blog has been very rewarding (literally apparently).
The Movie Review Dude came up with some great questions and here are my inadequate answers:
1) Name something that inspires you. It can be anything, not necessarily human. Great actors and great characters are what inspire me. They inspire my writing (both reviews as well as some creative writing) as well as my life (Angelina Jolie and her humanitarian missions for example).
2) I’m willing to pay you to blog, so sell yourself: what is the best aspect of your blog? The best aspect of my blog… my readers have a much better idea of that than I do. I would say my attention to detail, I try to give the best reviews that I possibly can.
3) What do you love most? Book, film, TV or other? Very hard to choose here. In general I love movies the most, BUT sometimes there is nothing as amazing as a great TV series.
4) Going by your answer to question three: what was either A the last book you read, B) TV show you binge-watched on Netflix (or illegally downloaded, just don’t say you did) or C) the last film you saw in cinema? If it’s D) other, name the last thing you did with that. I think it’s been about two months since I went to the movie theater, which is odd for me. So I think Focus was the last one I saw.
5) Of that last book / TV show binge / film watched / other thing you did: briefly tell us about it and give the experience a score out of ten. You can just go read my review.
6) Sky-diving, bungee-jumping or para-sailing? Maybe para-sailing.
7) Your house is on fire; your all-time favourite book / TV series / film / other are in the building, along with your treasured family heirlooms, several family members (who have left you a vast fortune in their wills), several cute, baby animals and a phone number belonging to a famous celebrity you so badly want to spend the rest of your life with. You may only choose one; how do you explain leaving the rest behind? This question is really tough! I would scoop up as many baby animals as possible, my Rocket Raccoon pillow, my copy of Anna Karenina (I have written so many notes in it so to me it’s irreplaceable), and then just before dashing out of the house I would grab Liev Schreiber’s phone number.
8) If you could change history and put your name to anything in existence, what would it be and why? Batman. Who wouldn’t want to be like, “Yeah, I created the coolest super hero ever!”
9) What musical act can you just not get enough of right now? Or, what musical act have you just had enough of right now? I don’t listen to pretty much any recent music, I only listen to old stuff. Although I’m kind of excited for Muse’s new album. I’ve been listening to their new song Dead Inside a lot.
10) You are in hospital and terminally ill. You will receive a visit from a person of your choosing. Who is that person and what do you talk about? Assuming that my family are already visiting me I would say Angelina Jolie. Because she’s a saint and she would heal me. And we would talk about life, humanitarian stuff, movies, and Brad Pitt.
11) You’re enjoying a nice, sunny Sunday afternoon at home when there’s a knock at the door. It’s me (don’t ask how you know, you just do) and I’m up for whatever. What are we doing today? Calling the police is not an option. I’m pretty boring so we would hit up a comic book shop then go play pool.

Ok now I have to nominate eight (I cheated, I was supposed to do eleven but that seems like a lot) bloggers so here you go, congrats. No need to do a post if you’ve been nominated recently:

1. Vinnieh
2. Justine’s Movie blog
3. Movies of the Soul
4. Movieblort
5. Bradscribe
6. Seroword
7. The Stub Collector
8. The Vern’s Video Vortex

Now, my eight questions for my nominees:

1. Rocket or Groot?
2. What is your most unique quality? What can you do or what do you have that no one else does? (Does that make sense?)
3. Choose one of these actors to marry, one to fuck, one to kill and one to just ignore: Chris Hemsworth, Chris Pratt, Chris Evans, and Chris Pine.
4. What was the last television show you binge watched?
5. Where would you like to travel to the most?
6. Goodfellas or The Godfather?
7. Robert Deniro or Al Pacino?
8. What is the one movie that makes you feel great every time you watch it?

Filth (2013)

Ooooh my favorite swear word.

All I really have to say about this is what the fuck. Repeatedly. I love Trainspotting (both the book and the movie) and I love James McAvoy, so I thought I would love Filth as well. But I was very wrong. Filth has it’s good moments. It is very funny at times. And James gives an incredible performance, like nothing else he has ever done. But there was just  too much weird shit for me, too many characters, and too many subplots that go nowhere. The screenplay could have benefited greatly from more focus. 4/10 (Sorry for the half-assed review)