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Reviews
Grey's Anatomy (2005)
Jurnee Smollett should win an Emmy
Re: Grays Anatomy. "Freedom" Finale episode 2007-2008.
Just when one might think that Gray's is getting a little soap opera-ish ... again, the ensemble cast blows 'em away with a GREAT Finale.
All of the story lines (there are several going on at once) are fully developed and then greatly capped off with truly magnificent performances.
But Beth, an over-protected teenager with a death sentence disease played by Jurnee Smollett just yanks at your heart with her emotion filled performance ranging from concern, fear, frustration, young love (with the taste of first time), devastating loss, recovery process all in ONE episode perhaps 7 minutes on camera seeming an almost after-thought sub-plot out of 2 hours.
WOW! In an episode filled with great writing and great acting, Jurnee's performance just cannot be ignored. She is what GIVES the heart to Gray's.
Now that I have looked up Jurnee, her performance comes as no surprise.
I hope that she gets the awards that she really earned.
The resident ensemble cast is now even better than West Wing.
Up until the last episode ("Freedom"), I always thought of the West Wing as the BEST ensemble cast.
This one is a keeper.
Reunion at Fairborough (1985)
Our parents inevitably move on
Today Debra Kerr died. I first saw this incredibly sweet movie on HBO when it first came out. Now, 22 years later, I am about the same age as most of the characters then. The comparisons to my parents' generation are VERY relevant. Their shared experience of an incredibly dangerous war with our not so dangerous but desperately deluded rewritten history is obvious. The one single shared trait between our generations is, "Damn, we made it THIS far!" I hope that HBO makes this "TV" movie more available so that we, the successors, can see a little bit of insight into the very HUGE change in the fabric of humans that was the disaster of WWII.
House M.D.: One Day, One Room (2007)
Katheryn Winnick should be nominated for an Emmy
I am a BIG fan of House.
Hugh Laurie is continually more nuanced than any actor on TV.
BUT the the performance of Winnick in her intimate dialogs in this episode with Laurie was more than stunning.
The character of House is completely challenged for the FIRST time.
First by actually feeling embarrassment for a patient who's medical problem includes forcible rape.
Then by caring so much that his made up finesse story is immediately challenged.
Although later it had some teeth.
The House character's success is tied to total insulation of his mind so as to not feel while caring quite brilliantly as a doctor for his patients.
Winnick's Eve indomitable aggressiveness really was the first equal to the House defenses.
She pushed and pushed and pushed through even the viewers' defenses.
This is the what, to the fans of Drama, is called WOW!! WHAT a pleasure!
On a side note: I thoroughly enjoyed the veteran character actor, Geoffrey Lewis, bring us the exquisite pain and sorrow of an old no-name guy letting go.
For fans of this episode you can't miss this YouTube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaXzCY32lWk
You might dissolve into a fetal position when Eve decides to tell House .........as did I.
Wasabi (2001)
What a sly shoot-em-up comedy
Jean Reno droopy eyed HERO takes on ALL Japanese cops AND bad guys with just a minor assist from MoMo one of the best UGLY 2nd Bananas since Tom Arnold in True Lies.
Reno's "Dirty Harry" put on, complete with a cannon hand gun leaves EVERYONE he shoots flying backwards. The only satire of "taking on the bad guys" missing were Matrix dance steps.
The Japanese actress who plays Reno's newly found daughter and her friends are so VERY Valley Girl that the viewer is actively looking for a San Fernando Valley Mall exterior.
Fun and smiles in the middle of wholesale bloodletting is very rare in a European movie.
I didn't know the French could make this type of movie SO right.