CliqueClack

The Sessions is an amusing and frank story of intimacy and struggle

 What is it that defines someone as a man? Is it just the capacity to impregnate a woman, or perhaps something more intangible?

In The Sessions, Mark O’Brien (played here by John Hawkes) was only a child when he was afflicted with polio, leaving him paralyzed below the neck and forced to live with an iron lung for the rest of his life. But he managed to create a career for himself as a journalist and poet, often about his own life and struggles. When he was in his mid-30s, Mark decided he was curious about sex and how disabled people deal with such a vital part of humanity. This led quickly, as you’d imagine, to finally wanting to lose his own virginity. So he decides to hire Cheryl (Helen Hunt), a sex surrogate who does this sort of thing for a living. Aided with moral support from his preacher (William H. Macy) and more physical support from his assistant (Moon Bloodgood), he tries to see what the big deal is all about.

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Last Resort’s Marcus Chaplin: what’s his endgame now?

Marcus Chaplin is just a good man having a very, very bad week. If you’ve been following along on ABC’s new drama Last Resort, you know what I’m talking about. He didn’t wake up that fateful morning in the pilot, planning on launching a nuclear missile at the continental United States, but that’s how the day ended. The government is trying to paint Chaplin as a madman and a traitor, but the audience is privy to the whole story – or at least the Colorado’s side of things. But does anyone really know what Chaplin is up to?

Before getting to the captain of the Colorado, let’s take a look at the greater game of geo-political chess being played. There’s obviously something going on in the upper echelons of the United States Government. In the pilot, we learned that several senior military leaders were resigning, immediately before the Colorado was ordered to launch missiles into Pakistan. While Chaplin refused the order, the nukes were launched by another ship. Now, China has invaded Taiwan; whether or not that is based on whatever mystery conflict is at work, or just them taking advantage of the unrest remains an open question.

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CliqueClack Hungry Trolls Podcast – Episode 8

Friend, contributor and comedian Jay Black has brought his Hungry Trolls podcast here to CliqueClack. Jay joins friend and comedian Vinnie Nardiello in what he tells me will be a twice-a-week deal!

Make sure you tune in and make your friends tune in as well, and comment and rate us on our iTunes page! We’re also on Stitcher!

Please keep the comments coming and let us know what you think. Got suggestions? Questions? We’d love to hear ‘em! Make sure you get everyone you know to subscribe to the podcast in iTunes (and rate us, please!) or via some other feed — we feed Jay’s ego a careful diet of traffic numbers and subscriber count, so let’s not let that sucker die of starvation. You can also check-in via GetGlue!

Thanks for listening! And please visit our new sponsor, Audible.com!

(Here’s a direct link to the podcast — enjoy!)

Let’s blow the system up: How to fix the fall TV season

So here we are, right, knee deep in the first few months of the TV season, and all the new shows are tiny little turtles being picked off one by one by hungry, circling seagulls.

Is Once Upon a Time’s Belle the worst feminist ever?

Is Once Upon a Time’s Belle the most anti-feminist character ever? Last season she walked out on Rumpel when he wouldn’t declare his love. But, this season, she keeps forgiving Rumpelstiltskin‘s inconceivably hugeass whoppers. She is clearly a woman who loves too much. First off, if I’ve been separated from my lover for twenty-plus years while incarcerated in an old school loony bin and then freed during a local Armageddon, I’d hope my lover would move me to safety, not say “hey, nice to see you, but do you mind if I loot the town and do a major power grab?” After that, Rumpel continued on his lie-blazing, truth-withholding, promise-breaking path by attempting to murder Regina, snapping at Belle (a woman recovering from schizophrenia), continuing to practice black magic and pretending he’s a changed man while holding Smee hostage in his basement.

Belle needs to sit down and watch every single made for TV movie shown on Lifetime starting with the Burning Bed. Would I have fallen for Robert Carlyle’s gentle accent, his gray streaked chestnut colored hair and his sincere, sentimental eyes? Maybe once or thrice. But, considering Rumpel’s blatant lies come within DAYS — or HOURS — of each other, after the third or fourth lie I might re-think hanging out with him. Does Storybrooke Belle do that? Temporarily. Does she ever stick her guns? No.

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A few things to consider on The Walking Dead

What would you do if you were Rick, given his immediate situation with the inmates? With Lori? With the group?

As events unfolded on “Sick,” I wouldn’t have done anything differently. At least not where the inmates were concerned. Tomas was a wild card … and a bad one at that. If I thought someone skeptical from the get go, someone who tried taking a swipe at me, missed, then unceremoniously “introduced” me face-first to a walker in an effort to get rid of me, I’d take that rather personally. I’d ape what Rick did: Extract a little information from him, then wallop him with deadly force in the kanoodle for insubordination. Mission: Accomplished. I didn’t really see a problem there.

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Don’t mess with NYCC Person of Interest fans

I learned how much people loved Person of Interest while standing in line for the NYCC panel. Wherever I looked during my two days at NYCC, I spied people of all ages — but mostly kids in their 20s — rocking pink hair and latex pants. But, on the POI line, I noticed racially diverse, normally dressed people in their 30s and above. That’s when it hit me. These people didn’t care about comics, the DCverse, the Marvelverse or the Whedonverse — all they cared about was the Nolanverse. And, that’s why they came. For half an hour, I listened to people express their anger at seat hoarders who didn’t care about Carter, Reese, Finch or the dog, Bear, while another woman laid out her plans for buying a 3-day pass for 2013 JUST to see NEXT YEAR’s Person of Interest panel. Last year, I never experienced difficulty finding a seat in any NYCC panel. This year … not so much. The room was PACKED.

Once inside the panel, you could tell how hardcore the POI fans were from their frenetic energy during the POI teaser reel. It was hilarious watching the two year old in the stroller fuss while her parents — avid fans — watched the panel instead. For this season’s surprises, Reese and Zoe will go undercover as a married couple; Finch will appeal to Elias for help; Lionel’s past will return to bite him in the ass; Reese gets shot; Mark Pelligrino will guest; and our favorite victim from season two’s premiere will return. While I learned a lot from the press room interviews (which I will release shortly), each of the actors shared a lot in the panel itself. And, every time an actor appeared on stage, the crowd went wild displaying their true, hardcore love. Although the rest of this post will focus on the Person of Interest panel, it’d be wrong if I didn’t first call out the dedication of the Person of Interest fans.

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Another season, another reason, for panning sitcoms

The term “critically acclaimed” must have been invented by a network executive desperate to boost the credentials of a flailing show loved by pundits and panned by audiences. It smacks of a desperation that “fan favorite” or “top rated” simply does not.

Now, I don’t know whether anyone has yet to apply that transparent label to any of this season’s crop, but I’m willing to bet that somewhere in the 2012 freshman class of sitcoms there’s a critical darling or two that will continue to tentatively cling to life as its abysmal ratings crater and critics bemoan the public’s lack of taste.

This season, as always, I took a deep dive into the flood of new sitcoms that the networks aired. Is there a critically acclaimed diamond in the rough out there? Here’s what I found.

The New Normal is a fresh take on an old story: couple wants to have a child and searches for a surrogate to carry the baby for them. Only this time the couple is gay, the surrogate comes in a package deal with an offbeat daughter and a homophobic mother, and someone decided to cast NeNe Leakes in a scripted role. Brilliant?

Some have complained that David and Bryan are written as stereotypical polar opposites who would never be able to sustain a relationship. My issue with the show is more pedestrian: it’s an arguably original conceit wholly lacking in original humor. The little girl draws on the expensive couch! Grandma makes radically offensive comments!

I hope that’s not the new normal.

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Okay, so maybe Michael Strahan isn’t so bad

A very good friend of mine recently made an observation about me. Apparently I don’t do well with idle time. It’s true. This is why I’m always reading, writing, snorkeling with the fishes or watching quality television programs. One of those shows is Live! with Kelly & Michael … which is pretty darn interesting considering that several weeks ago I wrote a column about Michael Strahan not being a worthy substitute for the incredible Regis Philbin. In fact, in regards to Strahan being announced as a replacement, I believe I used the phrase, ‘What the hell?’ Yup. Those were my words exactly.

In any case, my dad always taught me that a real man is able to admit his mistakes. To that end, it’s high time that I admit mine — I was wrong about Michael Strahan. I think he’s awesome! Before we get into just how wrong I was about him, let’s go back in time — only two weeks ago. I began my October with a week off from work. Bored out of my mind, I was able to check out Strahan in the mornings … and I must admit that I liked what I saw. He’s actually pretty funny. The man really does have chemistry with Kelly Ripa in a way in which Philbin didn’t. I’m thinking it may be because Strahan is younger and a bit more outrageous. I don’t know. I don’t get paid to analyze these things. I just get paid (occasionally) to write.

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Disney’s Secret of the Wings will enchant the entire family

You know how they say you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover? Well, I have to admit that I’ve been guilty of that when it comes to most direct-to-video movies, especially those aimed at the Disney target audience. I’ve enjoyed plenty of Disney’s theatrical films over the years, including many of their animated films, but I’ve never given a thought to taking a look at any of the animated films made directly for the home video market. Especially when it comes to the series of Tinkerbell movies, which like the Disney princesses, I assumed were made specifically for little girls.

So when the new “Tinkerbell Fairy Movie” Secret of the Wings arrived on my doorstep (courtesy of Walt Disney Home Video for reviewing purposes), I was intrigued especially because I was also fortunate enough to receive the 3D version of the film. The cover artwork alone was gorgeous, but I was still not sure how much time and effort actually went into making a feature-length film that’s not going to be seen on a giant screen (for the most part, that is, because Disney has been screening this film theatrically for invited audiences). From the moment the disk booted up, I have to say that my sock were completely blown off.

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