CliqueClack

Beautiful and intense, The Master is impossible to predict

Family, love, and religion. A relationship of love is usually from the bonds of family or attraction — but sometimes it can be a platonic connection of friendship. Damaged people often find comfort in each other — but can they help each other heal or are they only making things worse? Can the power of belief bring about change and healing, or are there limits?

The Master follows Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) as a veteran in the years following World War II. Freddie is damaged in ways unclear and complicated, with heightened sexual impulses and severe alcoholism — all leading to sudden outbursts of his violent temper. The kid’s got issues. After some trouble, he stows away on a ship departing a San Francisco harbor — it turns out this boat is carrying the members of a new movement called simply The Cause, led by charismatic author Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and supported by wife Peggy (Amy Adams), his son (Jesse Plemons, in utterly inspired casting), and daughter (Ambyr Childers) with her new husband (Rami Malek). Freddie is discovered and taken in with curious and welcoming arms by Lancaster, who finds the veteran fascinating and possibly a problem to solve with The Cause.

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Hello I Must Be Going is almost romantic, but ultimately lifeless

In a world of problems, who has more than disaffected divorcees in their 30’s? None, that’s who! Real life is hard, everyone. And love is complicated. Haven’t you heard?

In Hello I Must Be Going, we meet Amy (Melanie Lynskey from Two and a Half Men), who recently got divorced from an extremely successful entertainment lawyer in the city (Manhattan, but it doesn’t really matter) and is now forced to live with her parents. Why doesn’t she have a place of her own? Because she dropped out of grad school and apparently has no skills or the capacity to find work, and as the divorce papers aren’t final, she has no alimony — and doesn’t seem to want it either. Because she’s independent? I don’t know, that part doesn’t really make sense. Her parents, successful wealthy lawyer Stan (John Rubinstein) and condescending, shrillish mother Ruth (Blythe Danner) are worried about her. And also about this upcoming deal — Stan needs it or he can’t retire, and they can’t go on a trip around the world.

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Trouble With the Curve is emotional and fulfilling, with some unneeded foolishness

Is there anything more precious than a young boy’s love of baseball? Well, of course, but don’t tell that to some people I know. After all, what about the connection between a father and his daughter? Or surrogate son/protege?

Trouble with the Curve tells the story of Gus (Clint Eastwood), an aging talent scout for the Atlanta Braves who’s struggling to retain his relevance. He also has a daughter, Mickey (Amy Adams) — you can probably guess why he named her that if you know baseball — who’s a lawyer working hard for a partnership at her firm. She just needs to land that one big case. As for Gus, his own job may be in jeopardy, threatened by relative youngster Philip Sanderson (Matthew Lillard, who’s 42, so he seems young in comparison), who uses the mysterious Evil Computer to find and evaluate talent without ever seeing them in person. Poor Gus just may not be able to keep up, with his failing vision and hatred of the Evil Computer and various Evil Electronic Ilk.

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Ritchie Valens … Chubby Checker … Elvis … Michael Jackson … Psy?

I have a challenge for you. Think about this for a moment:

Can you name an artist who has transcended cultural barriers, who writes, produces and records his own material, who has created a dance phenomenon craze courtesy of a massively popular tune and done it in a foreign language? And just for the fun of it, let’s toss in ultra-popularity as an added bonus. Ready? Go. Hit me with your best shot.

I’ll toss out a few to get the ball rolling to see if there’s any comparison:

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Firefly: A Celebration is a must-have compendium for browncoats

2012 seems to have become the year of Firefly, if there ever was to be one outside of when the series premiered in 2002. Much of the cast and writers of the beloved series turned up for a reunion panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con, to celebrate when the show premiered a decade hence. In fact, today marks that special occasion, which I’m sure is being honored by many with a re-watch of the oh-so-few episodes that saw the light of day.

What also celebrates Firefly‘s ten years is the debut of one hell of a fantastic book I was able to get an early review of, titled “Firefly: A Celebration,” which releases on October 2. If you’re any sort of fan of the show, this beautiful book is a must-have addition to your bookshelf/coffee table.

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Sam Stern, in brief: Martin Starr teases Adult Swim’s NTSF:SD:SUV

Martin Starr doesn’t say too much when talking about his character on Adult Swim’s NTSF:SD:SUV – after all, that’d be a breach of national security. Starr plays Sam Stern, the tech expert for the super-secret National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle, on the comedy that parodies the glut of TV procedural dramas. Each episode is only fifteen minutes long, so Starr has mastered getting right to the point.

He calls the gig “Pure enjoyment. The feel on set is a lot like making a sketch comedy show.” Who amongst NTSF‘s hilarious cast is his favorite to work with? That’s something he’s happy to declare. “Kate!” he declares, meaning Kate Mulgrew, who dropped by for a chat last month. “The rest of ‘em are okay but Kate wins by at least one million fun points.”

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Big Brother ends with a quack

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, the final two players of the fourteenth season of Big Brother are undoubtedly two of the best players to play the game. And that was in a season that included four former House Guests, two of whom were previous winners, and some strong physical players as well. Of course, the season had its share of floaters, but overall I would have to say this has been one of the best seasons in years. Why? Let’s start with the twist — four former players enter the house to coach the House Guests of their choosing. With Janelle, Mike “Boogie,” Dan, and Britney in the house, everyone else thought they had a great shot at winning … especially because the coaches were not playing the game. But anyone with a simple grasp of mathematics had to know something was up, because by week three there weren’t going to be enough people left in the house to get the show to September. That’s when the producers pulled the rug out from under the House Guests and the viewers!

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CliqueClack Hungry Trolls podcast – Episode 1

Friend, contributor and comedian Jay Black is switching things up a bit with the new site and is bringing his Hungry Trolls podcast here, to a new home on 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!

2012: The year of the Turtle

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and I go way back. We’re the same age, born in the “Orwellian” year of 1984 — I, to a pair of musicians in Chicago; the Turtles, to a pair of aspiring comic book artists in Northampton, Massachusetts. I cannot pretend to have grown up with Eastman and Laird’s Mirage Turtles. They were a little too mature for my age group. The Mirage Turtles drank beer, said “Damn!” instead of some variation of “Shell!” and they eviscerated their foes instead of clocking them with trashcans. They were badass. Dark. Gritty. Monochromatic.

Like most ’80s babies, I met Leonardo, Raphael, Donatello, and Michelangelo through the Fred Wolf-produced Saturday-morning cartoon that ran for ten seasons between 1987 and 1996.

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The Three Amigos – Haven’s Emily Rose, Lucas Bryant & Eric Balfour

I have a collective crush on Haven’s three lead actors, Emily Rose (Audrey/Lucy), Lucas Bryant (Nathan) and Eric Balfour (Duke). Just as Carla described in her SDCC interview, listening to the Three Musketeers — AKA the Three Amigos AKA three peas in a pod — interact is amazingly awesome. It reminded me of my Community conference calls with Jim Rash/Gillian Jacobs and Alison Brie/Danny Pudi. When you get a group of actors who interact well together, the energy comes across in the interview and on screen. The wryly dry-humored Lucas Bryant joked that Eric Balfour “punches like a girl,” while claiming that playing the curmudgeonly yet emotionally vulnerable sherriff helped him to find and “strap” on his “private parts.” All three joked they could see the writers on the line because they’re on a “sci-fi show” and they can do that. While I almost cried foul when Eric described himself as a nerdy science fiction fan, I realized it explained a lot about his acting choices. But, let’s be honest, no one THAT pretty is into sci fi!

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