House of Cards, Season Two

House of Cards

Season two

2014

Drama

4.5 stars out of 5

The second season of “House of Cards” continues the story of former congressman/now vice-president Frank Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and his wife Claire (Robin Wright), and of their no holds barred drive to the top of Washington DC. It is marvelously written, directed, and acted. One of the best TV shows I have ever seen, nearly as well-done as “Breaking Bad” or “The Wire”.

Like Walter White in “Breaking Bad” the story explores just how far a writer can go in terms of creating an anti-hero without losing the interest and sympathy of the viewer. Frank is a non-stop lying, scheming, back-stabbing Vice President in Season Two, episode One. One continually wonders why anyone would trust him or believe him on any topic whatsoever. At yet, he practices his southern charm also on a non-stop basis, and he is able to use this ability plus his cunning to disassemble one administration while covertly building the basis for a successive one.

One very clever aspect of season two is the juxtaposition of Frank with an equally Machiavellian character, billionaire Raymond Tusk (Gerald McRaney). Both men are vying for the attention of and influence over President Garret Walker (Michael Gill). It is the season long story arc as Raymond and Frank contend over the President. Again, it is amazing how this story can maintain interest and concern over Frank and Clair despite their complete lack of morality. It is equally amazing in a problematic sense that President Walker and wife, Trisha (Joanna Going) are so easily influenced by Raymond, Frank and Claire – how on Earth did Walker ever achieve the White House?

There are other plot problems that are all too common to fiction: the convenient overhearing of confidential information, the open shades as two people secretly make love, etc. But really the biggest problem is also paradoxically the show’s most dominant theme: Frank Underwood’s complete and total amorality. He will literally do anything (e.g. Peter Russo’s exit in Season One) to achieve his ends. He will build up and then throw under the bus absolutely anyone to achieve his ends. Are there really people like that running our government? The cynic in me says, yes; but the idealist and movie critic says, it is a little over the top – there appears no law at all that Frank won’t break; I struggle with this a little.

So, where does this all end up? Is this merely a witty and clever story about the world’s worst people climbing to the top of the US government? Is it a Jonathan Swift style parable of how counter-intuitively, the bad do some times win? Or is it a thinly veiled attack on a certain southern former president and his now ascendant wife? I think the story can be viewed and watched, and enjoyed for all of these interpretations; and in my opinion, despite the various plot holes and occasionally pointless and gratuitous sex scenes, most adults will enjoy Season Two even more than Season One.

I’m sitting here wondering where they’ll go in the recently optioned Season three: Frank’s descent into the lowest levels of Dante’s Inferno? As my wife, Sandy commented, Frank has few new directions left to explore.

The Presence

The Presence

2010

Horror

2.5 stars out of 5

So many stories about life after death, about good vs. evil, it’s a question that has troubled Man for a long time. Hollywood has taken a crack at it time and time again, too. There are some good ideas out there that are truly entertaining (Defending Your Life), but I’m sorry to say The Presence isn’t one of them.

Writer and director Tom Provost gets some points for cinematography and the courage to go twenty or so minutes into the movie without a single word of dialog.  We watch a nameless woman played by Mira Sorvino enter a log cabin that we later learn goes back to her childhold. We are introduced to a man (Shane West) within the cabin prior to her arrival wherein we quickly learn some interesting restrictions and freedoms placed on this man. Mira’s boyfriend (Justin Kirk) arrives shortly thereafter, and then the “fun” begins.

We have an opportunity to see the afterlife from another perspective, and of the eternal war between good and bad also from this new perspective. I think the idea is somewhat clever, and I am not sorry I spent the time watching this movie; but it is truly a mediocre movie. The acting is really at a low level, there’s no character development, nor really any real characters that you could describe that have more than two dimensions. They lay the groundwork with hints of child and wife abuse, but don’t explore it at all.

The idea is slightly novel and I enjoyed the scenary (kept wondering if that was Mt Hood in the background of the “lake”), but this movie was ultimtately disappointing.

Frozen

 

Frozen

2013

Animation

4 stars out of 5

Frozen continues in many ways traditions started in the early years by Walt Disney and his first feature length animated films: fairy tale, orphans, princes and princesses. This can be both bad and good. Overall, the effect in Frozen is good. Justifiably nominated for Oscars in Best Song and Best Animated Feature, Frozen is a movie loosely based on the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale The Snow Queen and is definitely worth seeing by children and adults.

I watched this movie twice (with my granddaughters) and having done so, substantially improved my opinion of it. Initially, I was put off by the Disney tradition of parental death and of girls seeing the future solely in terms of some man carrying them off into the sunset. Yes, it ends differently and it does feature sibling love and devotion, but these aspects seemed to me to get lost in yet another variation of the story lines that run endlessly on the Disney Channel programs aimed at young teenage girls. I also enjoyed both times the comedic angles introduced by Olaf the snowman (Josh Gad).

The second time around I was better able to enjoy the music by Idina Menzel as Elsa in the role of the senior sister; most especially as she sings the Oscar nominated song, “Let it go.” Having seen her before in a non-singing role in Enchanted and hearing her very strong voice in this song, I keep wondering why she isn’t a wildly successful pop singer. She really nails this song and others in the movie. Kristen Bell as the junior sister Anna does a fine job in her singing and acting, but Idina is a hard singing act to follow.

The second time always allows one to better see and observe nuances in the story telling. In this case, you can really see that somewhere in time an artist was inspired by a snowflake and the beauty within. Maybe that artist decided to write a movie around all the visual imaginings that one could possible think of on the various solid forms of water. Frozen imagines and executes these wonderful works of art with exceptional skill.

Finally, I had with the second viewing an opportunity to ignore the frothy sub-story of Anna and her beau, Prince Hans (Santino Fontana) and to focus much more on the sibling love and affection aspect of the story. Rather than the Anna/Hans story being predominant, it was much easier to see the Elsa/Anna story line as being the true story arc. Somehow this was lost in the first viewing, and seeing it a second time made my enjoyment of the movie far greater.

While I think Frozen lacks the emotional punch of the first Cars or the first two Toy Story movies, or maybe even the high quality of the songs in The Little Mermaid, Frozen does a great job of carrying on the Disney traditions and is a really fine movie to see with your grandchildren.