Reviews

I just viewed the 10.th episode, entitled 'Boom Cruch' and all I can say is thank God for Kanagawa.

Exactly 2 seasons ago - in the 10.th episode of the 4.th season, Wisteria Lane had to recover from a tornado that blew half of the street apart. That episode, entitled 'Welcome to Kanagawa', dealt with personal loss, family tragedies and death (Gaby lost her then husband). After the most boring season EVER (in my opinion) and ratings dropping more than the stock share of some big bank, Marc Cherry and the other writers realized the need another Kanagawa - and thus, like through a miracle, another accident happens on our beloved Lane and affects everyone there. I'm pretty sure death will come once again on Visteria Lane (I'm sorry if I'm morbid) and I can only hope to improve the show.

I just hope the show gets as good as it used to be.

Kind regards, Alexey

'Home' is the title of an incredible documentary that tries to make ourselves understand how it came to the catastrophic situation regarding our planet. (the picture can be watches online for free: http://www.youtube.com/user/homeproject).

5 times Academy-Award nominee, Glenn Close , narrates the 90 minute-long picture that illustrates the worst of our fears: the decay of our planet. Several times throughout the picture, it is underlined that in the past 5 decades, human kind has changed the face of our planet more than it has in it's 200.000 years of existence. In the past 50 years has the Planet been depleted of some of it's most precious minerals and soil treasures - including the most precious of them all: WATER.

One of the reasons I loved the documentary so much, is that it names a lot of names; it doesn't only name the reasons why our planet is suffering, but it also tells the viewer who is responsible for it. Tokyo and Lagos, (2 of the most developing cities worldwide) and India, Bangladesh and USA are named to be the greatest consumers of our resources - the cost to sustain the lives of the hundreds of millions of people are so incredible huge, that in only a few decades we will have depleted all the available resources.

Another reason I truly recommend this documentary is, that it gave us an example of what could and eventually will happen of the human race. Apparently, there existed a highly educated and developed civilization on the Easter Islands. Although they were struck by famine, riots and natural catastrophes, it always survived because of the human mind. However, the people depleted the island of all of its resources until they starved to death.

The documentary states several times that we became dependent of oil, petroleum and the several other forms of the 'black gold'. We are reminded that although we have already run out of oil in some of the corners of our planet, we still drill, dig and try to find more and more. Impressive images of Arabia and Africa are shown to let us know that we also ran out of under-earthed water supplies. Water is used for almost everything in our daily routine, from washing our cars and watering the tropical paradise of the desert located Las Vegas to cultivating grain for the life stock we depend upon.

The human greed, its quickly development and the impossibility to sustain life as it is nowadays (without destructing its own planet) damages permanently the balance of nature. "We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth's climate." (quote from the Homeproject Youtube channel - the link is above).

I recommend the documentary to everybody who still believes that living the American dram of heaving a big house and 2 cars is still the way to go.

The episode entitled "If it's only in your head" is the episode that concluded the 5.th season of "Desperate Housewives" and delivered an incredible bad 'big finale'.

We are being presented with the story of the Dash family (Dave Williams' first and only family). To find out something about them, we travel 3 years into the past for the night of the accident. We are told Dave needed to stay home for some work and his wife and daughter went out for ice-cream. On their way, they had that terrible accident which turned Dave into a widower. Since Dave swore vengeance, this episode was destined to unveil the mystery of Dave Williams and his plans of murder.

And when I thought, it couldn't get worse... well, never say never.

In the hopes that Mike and Susan would be devastated for loosing their son, Dave taped a sort of apology and gave Mike the tape. On the way to Las Vegas to get married to Katharine, Mike sees the tape in his recorder (appearanty the tape decided to play itself). It's pretty obvious that Mike finds out what Dave tries to do and intents to stop him. And now it gets worse...

Mike leaves Katharine at the airport to go after Dave, but Katharine understands that he doesn't want to get married (which he didn't) and feels abandoned. Bree has to admit that she likes the barbaric ways and being of Karl Meyer, and doesn't try to stop Karl from hitting on her (which any lady would have done). Feeling sick, Linette visits her doctor, fearing cancer might have returned. She is stunned to find out she's pregnant again, with twins (!?!?!? what writer came up with that idea???). Gaby and Carlos volunteer to help out a relative, by housing their niece (Ana) at their place. However, when Ana turns out to be a younger version of Gaby, Gaby's misused trust turns into anger. Forced to fight Gaby for power, Ana manipulates Carlos so that she can get what she wants. Here's what I don't understand - Gaby used to do the same things Ana does, but she acts as if Ana were a whore and she were a saint.

Back to our ever boring revenge-action, Dave wants to make history repeat itself - he binds Susan to a street-sign to witness how Mike crashes into his car (M.J. is in the back) and kills his own son. However, the ghost of his daughter, makes him change his mind (damn it!!!) and before Mike hits his car, as planned, he lets M.J. get out. After a milder accident, the Delfino family is reunited, without any of them being injured.

To make the viewers stay tuned for the next season, Mike Delfino marries at the end of the episode. However, we don't see the bride, only the groom. We are being left in the dark with Bree's plans to divorce Orson and I am bedazzled that the Scavos don't consider abortion, seeing how 1) they have more children than they can muster, and 2) they weren't the greatest parents.

This was one of the most boring episodes EVER!!! It wasn't either interesting or captivating. I stress this out because I'm a very big fan and I was very disappointed by this season's finale.

I had heard a lot about 'Gosford Park', that's why I waited so long to get and enjoy it. And did I ever? The movie is based on the exceptional writing of Julian Fellowes and tells the story of some aristocratic wealthy people and their servants in the late fall of 1932. But through the directing of Robert Altman, we come to see, witness and understand much more.

Fist of all, we witness the immense difference between the guests, some aristocrats and snobs and others, servants. This difference is underlined by the 'Upstairs' (where the guests sleep) and 'Downstairs' (where the staff and servants sleep, eat and work). We also sense the difference by the clothing, the manners and the snobbish behavior.

Second of all, the movie is that incredible, that we witness the grand manner in which wealthy people lived in those days, the way they interacted with their help and we notice that so few things have actually changed through the ages.

Britain's finest and a few Hollywood actors had been perfectly casted for this portrait of a decaying Empire, its traditions (which the British are very fond of) and of the always-hunting-for-some-fresh-meat-Hollywood. Because of the brilliant cast, the plot becomes secondary and we are being portrayed a wonderful and apparently boring, typically English, weekend. Rarely have I seen actors master the art of acting so good, that even the boredom of the characters is played perfectly.

Robert Altman managed to built an eternal antithesis in this movie, may it be the wealthy vs. the poor people, servant/staff vs. master, 'downstairs' vs. 'upstairs', the British vs. the Americans ("He's from America. They do things differently there"), the calm and apparently boring English man vs. the ever vibrant American, London vs. countryside and even London vs. Hollywood.

I highly recommend this movie the anyone and everybody who enjoys acting of the finest art, a craftsmanship performed by some very talented actors.

Since the creator, Marc Cherry, had to cut down the expenses of 'his' (more or less) show he decided to kill one of the main characters on Visteria Lane. He decided that the one person who had to go, was the character that perpetually shocked it's viewers for the past 5 years and the one character he felt that could surprise no one any more.

Unfortunately, I don't agree with Marc Cherry. I always considered the bitter, juicy and delicious comments of his character, Eddie Britt, to be one of the main things I would watch this show every week. When Marc Cherry created the character of Eddie, he created more than just a twice-divorced-and-still-full-of-live-next-door-vamp - he created an icon I think a lot of people (not only women) can identify with. As a guy, this is my opinion - I hope I'm not being sexist.

Because Eddie was this character that everybody either loved or hated and because they wanted for people and viewers not to see that she had been fired, it was decided that Eddie should be the narrator for this episode. It was also decided that the entire episode should be dedicated to her, so that people who saw only the neighbor whore, would see the full strength of Eddie. She is being portrayed, one last time, as a witty, courageous and cordial person. I believe that Marc Cherry always did that - show that it's OK for a woman to speak her mind and be open about her sex life (or even lack of it).

I can't go on and state that it was either wrong or right to take Nicolette Sheridan out of the show. I can't imagine the show without those gals, especially without the sometimes bitchy lines of Gaby (Eva Longoria Parker) or Eddie. However, I really wish Eddie hadn't died. The episode was dedicated fully to Eddie's character and was completed with an interesting 'funeral' and a typical ending narration.

I truly hope Nicolette Sheridan will return (even as a guest star) on the show in the future and that Mac Cherry won't need to kill off one of his characters ever again.