katha

Yeah, this is when the show very obviously reveals itself as the scripted BS it is. Maks and Len were instructed to stir things up and be mean. And ta da, that's what they delivered! Maks has been a benign and mostly friendly judge until now, so this is pretty clearly producer driven. And I've seen a lot of outrage already, so mission accomplished. I thought Statler and Waldorf there and their grumpy pants routine were often right in the contents of their critiques, even though the tone of it was designed to get maximum sympathy for pros and contestants of course.

Switch-up is always a mixed bag, I thought the one in season 19 was a total wash for example. The dances weren't all that and the judges had been given some instructions to be weirdly mean, it was just tedious to watch. 18 and 21 were interesting enough. Some of the pairings this time around look decent on paper. Kim and Keo seems awkward...the height difference will be great, Kim isn't the strongest dancer around and seems like a contestant that might a bit of help from her pro, I'm not sure Keo knows how to provide that yet. There's a danger she might fade into the background IMO.Paige seems about the only one short enough to get Sasha, so that's predictable as well. Sharna should do fine with Nyle. Wanya is stronger than Von, interesting to see what Witney produces with him. She's been a bit lacklustre so far this season IMO. Val should do a nice paso with Jodie, hopefully her marks are higher this week. Also curious about Ginger and Mark, Val has seemed hesitant to do anything too challenging with her.

I think what's happening is that Paige is happy and works hard and is a good dancer, she doesn't have any sob stories or juicy revelations. She and Mark get on well and their dances are great IMO. But this is reality TV, so the show needs to push some sort of narrative for her. So it's "I want to be girly" whatever, because that is apparently her "journey" this season. When most likely she doesn't care about all that, is doing the show for exposure, seems to have fun doing it and that's that. But with TPTB it can never be only about the dancing. Since I ignore the packages at this point anyway, I don't care. Mark has been murdering it this season IMO and seems very enthusiastic about working with her, so that's cool to see. Wanya and LIndsay were awesome as well again. Ginger is getting pimped because she's this season's ABC gal, it might be slightly more noticeable this time around because there are many pretty strong dancers and even though she's not the best and not a standout they have to pretend she is. Keo is showing his inexperience a bit with Jodie, agreed.

I think the problem with the Sochi crowd was that it wasn't really a typical skating crowd, it was a general audience who could afford the tickets to the Olympic events. And since they didn't know much about the sport and weren't invested in the sport itself, they were mostly just cheering the home team. Contrast that with Worlds in Moscow in 2011, they were partisan for the Russian skaters as well, but very appreciative of good performances in general. A totally different atmosphere. Really curious how that will work out as well. I understand that they burned their bridges but good with Zoueva and they were stagnating with her towards the end, but then it was on them to change coaches. Not passive-aggressively whine about their own lack of action afterwards and blame everything on her. Montreal is crowded, will they throw hissyfits again if they aren't top dogs? Particularly since those massive scores P/C are getting suggest that the judges are in love with them and have declared them the chosen ones. And Shpilband and Zoueva seem to be doing well with their pairs, they're just not trendy anymore. C/B got another medal with Igor and he's strong on tech for all his pairs, even if his choreo can be blah. And Marina won silver with the Shibutanis, had Sinitsina/Katsalapov much improved from last season and Muramoto/Reed from Japan looking decent for their first year. So it's not like Montreal are the only ones who are capable of good work, and IMO their lower-ranked teams are starting to look the same. Which is what happens to every trendy ice dance coach ever. Linichuck took on too many and then short-changed some of them, Shpilband/Zoueva took on too many and then short-changed some of them, Tarasova took on too many and then short-changed some of them, Krylova took on too many and them short-changed some of them. Krylova/Camerlengo were the great IT-coaches a few years ago, now people are leaving them because taking on so many pairs is seldom sustainable. And since V/M had such a massive problem last time around when they were in a crowded and competitive rink, I'm not sure why they think everything will be peachy at this other crowded, competitive rink they've chosen now.

I mean, he can't be worse than Snyder, right? The movies he's done so far as a director have been decently entertaining and his individual reviews for Batman/Bruce Wayne weren't bad. Watch, it's probably just a rumour and they'll bring in Michael Bay instead...(-;

Val's done three totally forgettable dances in a row now. What's the deal? I'm not always a fan of his choreo, but he usually comes up with things better than that. Is it the travelling, does Ginger have some limitations they don't want to disclose? Is he burned out? What? Paige was awesome. Mark took a calculated risk that not everyone would like that sort of heavily theme inspired paso, so the scores were good considering and it made her stand out. Nyle was great again, as was Wanya. Jodie was strong. Kim was cute. The rest of them dropped off a little, but still decent. No terrible dancers left. Mischa obviously wasn't a good fit for this show, nice that she went home with an okay-ish dance. ETA: The pros are probably happy that there aren't any clunkers left for switch-up week. No one will get saddled with an unteachable and totally untalented celeb since all those have left by week three! The depth this season is pretty good.

The obvious way they telegraphed that the Rory/Jess relationship is in trouble so they could set up the spin-off was terrible and gimmicky in execution. I think the general idea behind it made sense for the two characters. They just laid it on way too thick. Jess didn't know how to be in a relationship, he had trouble opening up, trusting and communicating. And Rory was very sheltered and used to Dean's constant attention (that sometimes seemed to border on stalking...), she's also shown herself to be unwilling to engage in confrontations throughout the series. So when she didn't like things, she pouted about them without addressing the issue. And some of that SH resentment towards Jess left a mark IMO, since she also didn't trust him. And then you had Jess' life basically disintegrating within a few months, causing him to close off even more. Basically they were two teenagers unable to cope with all these complications. It seemed vaguely plausible, if cranked up to eleven for maximum melodrama. Another unpopular (or perhaps not so much?) opinion: I think even the "good", "straightened out" version of Liz that showed up in season four was plenty terrible. So if she was selfish, flaky and irresponsible when she supposedy got her life together, how awful was she when she was off the rails during Jess' childhood? There's talk of constant changing boyfriends and husbands (one of them stole her TV! what an amusing anecdote...not), no steady employment, hints at casual drug use (at the least...). The totally oblivious and self-involved way in which she treats Jess also hints that she behaved that way all her life and seldom made him a priority. His resigned manner towards her also telegraphs that at this point he doesn't expect anything from her.

I just watched this and thought it was brilliant! Various Sorkin ticks crept in from time to time, but on the whole I think he rather restrained himself. Acting was uniformly excellent. Fassbender looks nothing like Jobs, after a few minutes I didn't care. And that was loads of complex, rapid fast dialogue they all had to deliver, particularly Winslet and Fassbender, yet they pulled it off. And IMO pulled it off in a way that gave it snap and rhythm and conveyed the different relationships between the characters. Generally found the Lisa arc well done, it didn't fall into kitsch and provided crucial insigths into Jobs. The staginess didn't bother me for the most part, only in the last third it sometimes bordered on too self-conscious. And I think I would have preferred an even more ambivalent ending. They mostly stayed true to portraying Jobs as brilliant, cold, ruthless and all-around asshole, while still making clear why some of the people around him kept caring about him or even loving him. And his good points were never used as excuses for his hurtful behaviour. The last few minutes started flirting with some sort of redemption arc, and I don't think that was needed or rang true. At least not in the pat way it was presented. I think that the script didn't go overboard in that direction and Fassbender kept it contained with his performance ensured that it didn't bother me too much and didn't spoil the ending for me anyway.

That's my stand on it as well. Mark choreographed the routine and taught Paige the routine. Alan showed he could dance the routine. He's a professional dancer, that should be in his arsenal. (-; Kidding aside, he did well, but IMO being a competing pro is very heavily dependent on what you can produce as a teacher and what you can produce as a choreographer and if you can deal with the DWTS competition hamster wheel. So Alan, as all the troupers, is a big fat question mark on that front. What did crack me up was his gleefully making out with the camera and general antics. (-: Like a very young Mark on his worst days, so it seemed appropriate he subbed in for him. Mark seems very enthusiastic about Paige, so I hope he can continue dancing and the injury isn't too severe. But I also think he's with one foot out the door anyway, his interests seem to be shifting away from the show more and more and the injuries are piling up. And he's appeared frustrated with the reality tv aspects for years. So having a good season with a partner like Paige would be a good way for him to go out, I feel.

Yeah, I thought Lorelai was a wonderfully encouraging and loving mother to Rory. But in that aspect she wanted to have it both ways and it blew up in her face. On the one hand she had a tendency to idealize Rory and shift blame for her behaviour onto other people. So it was the grandparents influencing her, or Jess or Paris or Logan or Mitchum or whoever being responsible for actions or character traits or life decisions Lorelai didn't like. But when she did lay down the law and confronted Rory about her own crappy behaviour and pointed out that Rory was accountable for her mistakes, Rory threw hissy fits and didn't listen. Partly since she'd gotten used to being the "good kid" and seeing herself as special and entitled to getting away with things, no matter how nice and good-natured and kind she also was. Of course that doesn't let Rory off the hook, she was responsible for her own questionable decision making and that she had a problem about facing truths about herself or listening to criticism was ultimately on her.

Yeah, I found Lorelai's speech condescending and drippy. And as Jess rightly said, she didn't know anything about him and his situation so doling out overbearing life advice like that to basically a total stranger was never going to be a hit. I think Jess would have actually reacted better if she had just busted his ass for the beer drinking and told him cut it out. But piling on the "cool mom, I can totally relate" shtick was cringeworthy. So Jess flung out the most hurtful thing he could think of, the point where she'd shown herself to be vulnerable (he was good about that, the little jerk, getting under people's skins about their weaknesses), so she would stop and back off. And after that Lorelai's chill persona falls off and she becomes openly hostile. Jess probably felt vindicated that he had exposed her or something. And I do think this is a point where Jess is generally unfair, mostly towards adults, in that he believes the worst about them and then provokes them accordingly. It's understandable given his background, but still. The show was actually fairly realistic about Jess, I thought. He was a messed up kid, one speech from Lorelai wouldn't make a difference. Neither would everything immediately be okay because Luke and Rory loved him and were supportive. Though you see him gradually changing around them. He's taken with Rory and tries with her, though his issues still get in the way. And I love that the recent GG rewatch recaps pointed out the Jess/Luke dynamic as a highlight. It's cool to see how Jess stays sarcastic and snarky about Luke, but gradually it loses almost all sting and malice. By the point Nicole is in the picture, it's basically friendly and hilarious teasing. So it made sense that he needed years and de-tours to straigthen himself out, Rory and Luke couldn't do it for him. But they were both good, positive forces in his life, something he didn't seem used to. And in the end he could show his appreciation and gratitude towards them. It also rang true that he wouldn't stay in SH, his hate for the town seemed heartfelt and all-consuming.

Jess is a tool, but I think the townies' reaction to him is deliberately written as a bit creepy and OTT. As is their over-protectiveness of Rory. Basically it shows the not so nice side of SH. How it can be cloying and stifling. Lorelai's weirdness goes in the same direction, and it always rang true for me and I found it interesting they went with that. I think it's part of her "Rory is the specialest snowflake that ever specialed" routine and her desire to keep Rory in a cocoon forever, which is threatened by that young punk coming into town. Another aspect is that she probably remembers how she was as a teenager, angry and unhappy and self-destructive and recognizes the same signs in Jess, therefore wants Rory to stay away from that minefield. She's also visibly thrown that he doesn't ever warm up to her. Everyone loves Lorelai Gilmore! It's like the first rule of the universe! Except for Jess, he just doesn't give a damn about her or her opinion. Their few tense scenes together are actually really interesting to watch, because they deviate from the usual babbly dynamic Lorelai is able to establish with people. Even her parents react to some degree to her endless word flow and even indulge it. Jess for the most part completely blocks her.

I think liking Bale as Batman is a pretty popular opinion? I always see him and Keaton cited as the best two Batmans, and I agree with that. He came in for criticism for the "Bat-voice", which was a little strange. And there were accusations of lack of humour, but Nolan's version of the character is just rather grim. He had his moments of dry wit as Bruce Wayne in particular, though. But generally his turn is viewed in a favourable light, it seems to me.

Though to be fair, IMO Messer has a better track record writing for Hotch than she has for anybody else. And that includes JJ, who seems to be her favourite, but which hasn't stopped her from messing around with the character and dragging JJ in ten contradictory directions. So the idea that she's revisiting this now for sensationalism and cliffhangers is iffy, but so far she's shown good understanding of the character and his traits and motivations, so it might not be so bad? And Gibson will perform it well.

I'll miss Morgan. Or at least the Morgan that showed up occasionally when they bothered to write interesting things for him. At his best he added something that's almost totally lacking otherwise: Skepticism and push-back on decisions. Sometimes he was obnoxious about it, but that only added to the realism and ensured that he wasn't a Gary Stu. I liked that there was sometimes tension between him and Hotch, that Morgan questioned decisions (for good and bad reasons) and that Hotch either considered his criticism or told him to shove it, depending on circumstances. And that both men were always mature and professional enough to move on from these conflicts without hard feelings. I liked his friendship with Reid, including the condescension and heavy-handedness on his part, because it showed that he was human and though he usually meant well, sometimes misjudged. I liked that he was about the only one who occasionally told Garcia that she needed to get a grip, and sometimes she even listened to him! (-; Then there was also a lot of nonsense thrown his way by the writers (I still maintain that "Morgan" in the first half of season six is some sort of pod person...), but I prefer to remember the good times...(-;

There's no general opinion on Mark. (-; He's a notoriously controversial pro, which is probably why he's managed to stick around for thousands of years. Controversial is always preferable to pleasant, but bland and forgettable on DWTS. He's got a very specific, somewhat extremist aesthetic in performances and choreography. People have been arguing for years about it, it works for some, not so much for others. I'm a fan, I think he brings interesting things to the show that no other pro delivers. But it is a high-risk approach, and if he misjudges and things go wrong...they go more spectacularly wrong than with other, more low-key pros. He's got somewhat eccentric taste in clothes and hairstyles, taste I don't share, but at this point I'm resigned and know that he's set in his ways and won't change on that front. (-; He's a bit of a mad scientist type. As for the accent, that's not an affectation. He's grown up in England and has this mixed-up omni-accent, it's not something he puts on. When you see him talking for longer in interviews it's even more pronounced, it even switches around mid-sentence. As a pro, I think his strengths are his inventive choreography (though he goes overboard at times) and he's a very strong teacher, particularly for beginners. He also appears to be one of the more patient and accomodating teachers, which is why the producers often stick him with very young celebs or "fragile" celebs, trusting that he'll get good dancing out of them without driving them into nervous breakdowns. ETA: Here's Mark on an episode of Afterbuzz, commenting on a DWTS show in season 20. It's a great episode in general, and Mark was an excellent and eloquent guest, giving good insights and critiques on all the couples without getting mean-spirited. And you can also hear his constantly varying accent in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOQfWR-HSpc

Erin's role is incredibly thankless and I think would suck the life out of many hosts, no matter how skilled and quick otherwise. She's also constantly being steered by TPTB to uphold a certain agenda in her questions, far as I understand. So it's not like she has free reign. For the circumstances she does quite well IMO. And yeah, she somewhat saved the situation with Mischa, and has often shown good instincts and judgement when it comes to dealing with things like that and not letting it escalate and get ugly. In the moment with Mischa something different than Brooke's patented "How do you feel?" was needed, for example, and she was able to provide it.

I thought that wasn't too bad on the whole for the first show. Even the scoring was mostly okay. I thought Paige was a tad underscored, but her marks were solid anyway. It was probably going early and also perhaps her dance experience so expectations for her are higher? Apart from Mark's dire hair situation (gotta hand it to him...every season it's a new tragedy happening on his head, so at least it's never boring?), Paige and Mark seem well suited as a dance pair with a good vibe together. And I liked the foxtrot choreo, it was challenging and clever, with a neat 70ies flair. So even the somewhat wacky costumes fit with that. Might have been 8s in there, but it's not like the margins in scores are massive and they're right in the mix anyway. Also thought Ginger was overscored, but that was a given since she's GMA and they're going to pimp her to some degree. I hope it won't get too obnoxious and make me resent her, since she seems nice otherwise. Jive was decent for the first week, but not spectacular. Should have been all 7s probably. Wanya and Nyle were awesome. Marla was better than expected, I bet Tony is thrilled that he has someone with potential for a change. Good for him. Jodie was a bit underwhelming, but perhaps my expectations were too high? Keo has to step it up with someone strong like that. Antonio, Von, Kim were decent for the first week. Doug was totally forgettable, that never bodes well. Geraldo was a trainwreck and scored on the generous side... Felt sorry for Mischa, but she doesn't seem the right personality type for this show. Perhaps she'll relax into it going forward? Idk. The comments were way harsh, though. What's up with that? Some sort of drama behind the scenes? Or do they want to drum up sympathy for her so she can redeem herself next week?

Yeah, the short snap of her moving around doesn't look bad. I don't know why they're doing tango in week 1, but it might suit her better than having to do something outgoing and upbeat like cha-cha right out of the gate? In tango she can keep a serious/neutral face, Artem has her in hold and can control her movements. If she really doesn't want to do it that much, then I guess it's fair if that comes across to the audience and they don't get behind her. But I'm not sure that's actually the case so much as she's introverted and a bit awkward, so she doesn't come across that well in the DWTS setting? From her demeanour she reminds me most of Bethany Mota, who had Derek's fanbase pitching in for her and her own online presence, but even that couldn't get her beyond 4th place. The general audience likes their young female contestants cheerful and fluffy, at least it seems that way. Hopefully she gets more at ease as the show goes on and does well!

Cary Grant's whole career is like one big presentation on all the problems with the Academy acting awards. He got two nominations for "serious", sentimental weepers that no one remembers anymore. While not getting any kind of recognition for his stellar work in comedies and thrillers that cemented his status as a legendary leading man. He does brilliant comedic work in Sylvia Scarlett (totally stealing the show from Katherine Hepburn in the process), The Awful Truth, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, Holiday, Arsenic and Old Lace, North By Northwest, Charade. He does great, subtle dramatic work in Holiday, Only Angels Have Wings, Suspicion, Notorious, Mr. Lucky (little known, but an interesting movie), An Affair to Remember, North by Northwest. In fact, watching Suspicion and knowing that Fontaine won an Oscar for her IMO stilted and mannered performance (ducking her head and constantly making googly eyes to convey "shyness" or something...) while Grant is pretty much acting circles around her is a bit weird. I realize that part of that is that certain acting styles have aged better than others and that part of Grant's lasting appeal is that he translates as more "modern". Also it was probably partly a make-up Oscar (even back then!) for Fontaine since she didn't win for her (superior) work in Rebecca and other politics. But, for me at least, he's terrifying in that movie, all surface charm and hidden menace and sadism, while she throws you right out of the movie with all her exaggerated affectations. Yet she was rewarded, and he only got recognition from the Academy for on-the-nose "serious" stuff he did and not for the various genre work that rightly made him famous and where he really excelled and created a lasting legacy.

She seems nice and cheerful from her interviews and appearances so far, and apparently Mark is a fan, wanted to get her on the show and is super thrilled to be her partner. (-: So that's cool. Also has dance experience, so she'll probably be decent at the very least. I'm rooting for them. A problem might be her lack of fanbase. I don't know how much the UFC fans are interested in DWTS, can't see it being that much... She's not much known outside of that and she's not the kind of celeb the general audience automatically gets invested in. So hopefully she makes a good impression and gains fans through her dancing, partnership and overall presentation.

Diaz and DiCaprio have thankless roles, their screwy and inconsistent accents aren't helping and Diaz in particular just couldn't shed her "modernity" (for lack of a better word) either. Also, they're up against Day-Lewis in IMO one of his greatest, because most entertaining performances. Bill the Butcher is one of my fave movie characters ever, because he's just so fun! In a psychotic kind of way... DDL could have gone all serious and grave and historically important, but instead he made the choice to go full pulp fiction. And he was right, because Scorsese's movie, messy as it is, is pulp fiction in tone. So his larger than life persona, the mugging and comedy bits are pitch perfect, and make the Butcher ultimately even scarier. So yeah, Diaz and DiCaprio are miscast and struggling, and it becomes even more obvious because the third lead, DDL, is acing it and making them look even more awkward in comparison. Apparently there were considerations at the beginning to slot DDL into Supporting Actor for awards season LOL. And structurally he is a supporting player. But he's such a dominant force that they wouldnt't have gotten away with that, even though category fraud is rampant.

I like Mischa and I felt bad for how last season went down for Artem, so I hope they do well. But she seems like a Bethany Mota personality type, introverted and not bubbly. And I'm not sure she's really appealing for the target demo? So she'll have to learn to be less awkward and reserved at least, to make an impression. Having a more popular pro might have helped her, but apart from Derek none of them are a guarantee of going very far. And even Derek couldn't work miracles for Bethany or Nastia. At some point the general audience has to support you. Apparently she knows Artem, though, so since she seems a bit like the nervous, insecure type, hopefully that she's familiar with him will put her at ease. And unless Artem gets too intense, he's capable and experienced enough to know how to teach her and present her well. Peta and Nyle look good together, it will be interesting to see how she'll teach him. Hopefully the show won't get condescending and maudlin towards him, though I don't have high hopes on that front... Paige looks capable and I'm sure Mark is thrilled to have an UFC fighter, since he seems such a fan. Not a big fanbase, though, and she better not get overly invested into the competition aspect of it, that always puts the audience off. Lindsay and Wanya look cute together. Keo has been given a big chance with Jodie, will be interesting to see what he delivers. Don't have strong impressions of the rest of the cast yet.

Christian Bale started out as a child actor. Though I guess he was already on the verge of being a teenager in Empire of the Sun. A truly astonishing performance and not in the "cutesy moppet" vein either. Though apparently he did have the usual issues with stage parents, at least it doesn't seem like he's on good terms with his family. Making a kid be the main breadwinner usually ends up with screwed dynamics. And he was struggling for years to make a transition and establish himself as a successful adult actor, though he usually put in good performances even in obscure films.

Paglia is being way, way over the top to be provocative, as usual, agree that it's not helpful at all. Also agree that pop culture thinkpieces tend to get tedious, mostly because in the age of the internet there's 3 million on every possible topic. But, OTOH, these are business decisions Swift makes and the articles are treating it accordingly. She's not only hanging with these #squads in private, she's promoting this all over the place. It's in her videos, in her photo shoots, in her interviews, she makes cookie baking sessions public knowledge so People and over gossip mags can write about it. It's part of her brand building. Just as you have the various showmances of young starlets and models with boybanders and young actors. Everyone more or less knows it's for PR, but it gets everyone fame and headlines, so the media plays into it. While other media questions the strategies behind it.