Alan Rapp

Person of Interest – 2 Pi R

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Person of Interest – 2 Pi R
  • tv.com: link

person-of-interest-2-pi-r

With Reese (Jim Caviezel) in FBI custody for the next 72 hours Carter (Taraji P. Henson) has to go the extra mile to stop Special Agent Donnelly (Brennan Brown) from discovering the true identity of the man in the suit, and with his partner temporarily unavailable Finch (Michael Emerson) is forced to go undercover as a substitute teacher to protect the latest number – a gifted teen named Caleb Phipps (Luke Kleintank) who is going to great lengths to hide his genius.

…

Person of Interest – 2 Pi RRead More »

Person of Interest – 2 Pi R Read More »

The Egg Salad Equivalency

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Big Bang Theory – The Egg Salad Equivalency
  • tv.com: link

The Egg Salad EquivalencySheldon’s (Jim Parsons) overreaction on hearing his assistant Alex (Margo Harshman) has made a pass at Leonard (Johnny Galecki) backfires for both roommates when Dr. Cooper is accused of sexual harassment after turning to Penny (Kaley Cuoco), Bernadette (Melissa Rauch), and Amy (Mayim Bialik) for advice. As Penny becomes upset by how much Leonard enjoyed getting hit on by an attractive younger woman Sheldon meets with a representative of the university’s human resource department (Regina King) which only makes matters worse.

Throwing his colleagues under the bus to save his own skin, Leonard, Raj, and Howard all find themselves called before human resources to defend recent actions. By the end of the episode things get back to normal as Sheldon apologizes to Alex for his behavior (and then enlists her assistance in a university mandated sexual harassment workshop), and Penny’s jealousy slowly fades with Leonard’s apology and her discovery of a new tool to keep his interest.

…

The Egg Salad EquivalencyRead More »

The Egg Salad Equivalency Read More »

Promised Land

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Promised Land
  • IMDB: link

promised-land-posterHow far will you go for your job even when you know what you are doing is wrong? That’s the question at the center of director Gus Van Sant‘s Promised Land. Matt Damon (who co-wrote the screenplay with costar John Krasinski) stars as Steve Bulter, a rising star for a natural gas company sent in to a small town with his partner (Frances McDormand) to get his company an initial foothold in the state.

Butler is a closer, known for his ability to use his own small town upbringing to close communities far faster than anyone else. His last trip in the field before his big promotion leads him to a small town hit by hard economic times looking for just the kind of relief his company can offer.

What starts out as a simple sale is complicated by a variety of factors including a local science teacher (Hal Holbrook) against the dangers of natural gas, a possible love interest (Rosemarie DeWitt), and the arrival of a do-gooder (Krasinski) who scares off potential buyers with horror stories of how fracking has destroyed similar farming towns.

…

Promised LandRead More »

Promised Land Read More »

How Rich White People Survived The Impossible Tsunami

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: The Impossible
  • IMDB: link

the-impossible-posterThere are really only three types of disaster movies. The first are those focused on preventing a disaster (Armageddon, The Core). The second are movies solely concerned with the immediate problem of surviving the disaster (The Day After Tomorrow, 2012). And the last are focused more on living in the aftermath of a disaster (Blindness) than the disaster itself. The Impossible is the later.

Based on real events, Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Tom Holland, Samuel Joslin, and Oaklee Pendergast take the place of a Spanish family who survived the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami while on Christmas vacation in Thailand. Sergio G. Sánchez‘s retelling of Maria Belon‘s story is a visceral tale of raw emotion, loss, and the chaos following the disaster which is almost as traumatic as the events of the tsunami itself.

Only six minutes of the near two-hour film are devoted to the actual disaster. That means the crux of the story isn’t the disaster itself but the emotional separation of family, the level of devastation, and the search for survivors.

…

How Rich White People Survived The Impossible TsunamiRead More »

How Rich White People Survived The Impossible Tsunami Read More »

Hyde Park on Hudson

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Hyde Park on Hudson
  • IMDB: link

hyde-park-on-hudson-posterHyde Park on Hudson has two main focal points, which is at least one too many for a movie unsure of whether or not it wants to be taken seriously. The film examines both the relationship between President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Bill Murray) and his distant cousin Margaret “Daisy” Suckley (Laura Linney) as well as the momentous meeting between the President and the King (Samuel West) and Queen (Olivia Colman) of England on the eve of World War II at Roosevelt’s childhood home in Hyde Park, New York.

Either would make for a fine focus of a small independent film, but attempting to do both simultaneously leaves Richard Nelson‘s script without a split focus that serves neither storyline. The result is a pet project that spirals completely out the control of director Roger Michell and ultimately fails to impress.

Murray is an odd choice for the role of FDR and one of the main obstacles with taking the story seriously. (Several over-the-top supporting performances don’t do the film any favors, either.)

…

Hyde Park on HudsonRead More »

Hyde Park on Hudson Read More »