Kris Rasmussen: June 2007 Archives

While I have been enjoying the respite that the final episodes of now cancelled "Studio 60" have given me this month amidst the summer wasteland of TV reruns and reality junk, I have to say that Thursday’s season finale--which ironically lead the series at long last to win the night in the ratings--was a reminder of why the show was so frustrating for fans and critics alike.

After the last three weeks of juggling multiple storylines which included flashbacks to the show after 9/11, cast member Tom’s soldier brother being captured in Iraq, exec Jordan McDeere having severe pregnancy complications, and the ongoing tumultuous romance between Matt and Harriet, last night’s episode finally brought the four-episode arc as well as the series to an end. The lackluster finale showed how producer/writer Aaron Sorkin can sometimes be a victim of his own genius because he set up too many scenarios in need of dramatic pay-off and made us care about too many characters to effectively bring a authentic resolution to the world he created.

At the end of one of the longest nights in television history, we never truly got the whole story of what happened regarding Matt and Danny’s firing, and we had to settle for a bunch of neat, tidy, and unrealistic endings to the other plot points. Jordan miraculously recovered, Tom’s brother was saved, and Matt and Harriet are back together again. All of these happy endings go against the complex and often chaotic nature of Sorkin’s characters.

Are we really to believe that Matt and Harriet will live happily ever after? Wouldn’t a more realistic and thought-provoking statement have been made if Tom’s brother unfortunately was killed despite all efforts to save him? Worst of all, for all of the show’s pondering of the importance of religion in how our country’s culture is shaped, no one on the show seems to have come very far spiritually as a new day dawns, not even Harriet. For those of us that have been followers of not only "Studio 60" but "Sports Night" and "The West Wing," it felt like we were cheated just a little bit.

But while I may be unsatisified with the series end, I will still be looking forward to the DVD release this fall, for which Sorkin will be providing commentary for the episodes. Maybe then I will get some of the missing answers I wish I would have seen last night.

Perhaps no singer brings more spiritual baggage to a CD entitled “Theology” than controversial Irish songstress Sinead O’Connor. The singer, who tore up a picture of the Pope on "Saturday Night Live" years ago and claimed once to be ordained as a priest, has always mentioned religion and God in some way or another in her music over the years. However, "Theology,” in stores tomorrow, reveals a softer, more peaceful Sinead whose passion is not to create art for controversy’s sake, but to create a loving reflection on the nature of God.

Unlike previous efforts where O’Connor’s songs were often a religious mix of paganism, rastafarianism and catholicism, O’Connor’s approach on "Theology" is considerably more focused. Eight of the songs are directly inspired from the Old Testament, while she deliberately avoids New Testament references to Jesus (unless you count the cover of "I don't know how to love him" from "Jesus Christ Superstar").

O' Connor also makes the important distinction in several songs that while her desire to earnestly seek God and have a relationship with Him is real, she still holds some of the man-made tenants of religion at arm's length. And while there may be the slightest political tinge to songs like "The Glory of Jah" and "If U had a Vineyard," it is with a lack of anger and despair--and with an eye to God's sovereignty.

Who knew that the story behind the tale of Peter Rabbit could be a perfect date movie, a family friendly drama, and a feminist--not to mention environmental--manifesto all at the same time? In the style of “Finding Neverland,” “Miss Potter,” released this week on DVD, whimsically chronicles the life of children’s author Beatrix Potter from her repressed childhood to her unprecedented success as a female writer and artist.

But you don’t have to be a fan of her books to appreciate her courage, wit, and intellect amidst heartbreak and loneliness--which is why “Miss Potter” is hands down my must-see DVD pick for this week.

Beatrix Potter (Rene Zellweger) grew up in a affluent home in Victorian London where she seemed destined to live a life of a tragic spinster forced to take care of her cranky parents. Her only escape from a dreary existence comes from the sketches she draws of the creatures she dreamed up back in her childhood to entertain her brother. In a moment of malcontent at the ripe old age of 32, Beatrix dares to meet with a publisher about placing a series of her illustrations of animals into a book. The owners of the company scoff at the likelihood of her success, but they take on the project as a means of keeping their hapless youngest brother (Ewan McGregor) occupied and out of their hair.

Not only does Potter’s book become a huge success, but the youngest brother begins to pursue a romance with Beatrix amidst protest from her family that he is not worthy of marrying into her station in society. However, Beatrix soon becomes a woman of independent means and begins to defy social conventions at every turn, much to her mother’s dismay.

I can’t say that McGregor and Zellweger are perfectly cast in these roles, and the movie is an odd mix of many different cinematic elements, including some brief animation sequences. But in the end what shines through is Potter’s legacy. I found it deeply inspiring that considering her great wealth and success, she lived a life of relative quiet and simplicity while devoting herself to conservation and preserving the environment.

So while some critics have bashed the film for its sentimental, breezy, earnest style, I suggest instead you listen to the words of Potter who reminds us in the movie that we should all dare to begin a new journey, because we never know where that journey can take us.

Movie buffs won’t want to miss tonight’s American Film Institute special, “AFI’s 100 Movies 10th Anniversary Edition”, on CBS. Ten years ago the AFI did a special celebrating the top 100 movies of the 20th century as decided by a panel of industry professionals. The special has spawned an annual series of film retrospectives including last year’s “100 Most Inspirational Movies.“ Now tonight’s latest installment will focus on whether or not some of the most successful and critically-acclaimed movies of the last ten years will make the cut and be added to the new top 100, and which movies should begin the list of the 100 most important movies of the 21st century.

Many of the new additions to the original AFI ballot of over 300 movies have been movies we have debated right here at Idol Chatter, including “Brokeback Mountain,” “Crash,” “Good Night and Good Luck,” and “Million Dollar Baby.” Some blockbuster franchises also made the list, including “Lord of the Rings,” ”Gladiator,” “Spiderman 2," and “The Sixth Sense.” Conspicuously absent from the list, however, are two of the more significant religious movies of the last few years--“The Passion of the Christ” and “Chronicles of Narnia.”

So what other movies do you think should be added to AFI’s list as the most meaningful and influential movies of the last decade? Does “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” belong on the same list as “The Wizard of Oz"? Is “Hotel Rwanda “ this decade’s “Schindler’s List”?

If I could only pick two films to adds to AFI’s Top 100, they would have to be the bittersweet “Lost in Translation” and the social commentary “Crash.”

Remember the Nancy Drew book series? (That's when “Buffy” and “Veronica Mars” weren’t created yet, okay?) So the inner geek in me has been gloating that as Lindsay and Paris rule the tabloids right now, the smart and sweet supersleuth is coming to the big screen this weekend as a genuine, old-fashioned role model. The film, “Nancy Drew: Get a Clue” is definitely campy, cheesy, and truly geared for the 12 and under crowd--or for their mothers and aunts who want to wax nostalgic for a couple of hours.

So, in other words, I had fun watching it. But I am sure many other movie buffs will want to leave this movie mystery unsolved.

The movie transplants Nancy from her home in River Heights to the glitzy world of Hollywood where Nancy discovers a creepy bungalow that used to belong to a movie star. There are, of course, hidden passageways and creepy characters that help Nancy unravel the mystery of the movie star’s past. And while Nancy is never really in dire danger, she has her trusty friend Ned, another character throwback to the novels, are there to help.

Before reality television saturated the networks, and even before Michael Moore was applauded as innovative for his up close and personal satirical style in documentaries like “Roger and Me,” Albert and David Maysles produced “Grey Gardens,” a controversial documentary that...

While studios like Fox are busy trying to ramp up their production of entertainment marketed to the Christian community, Christian media moguls like David Kirkpatrick aren't interested in seeking Hollywood's favor. Instead, Kirkpatrick, a former executive at Paramount, wants Hollywood...

With television sitcoms becoming an almost extinct species these days, it might seem like ratings suicide to air a sitcom as old-fashioned as TBS's "Tyler Perry's House of Payne," which debuts tonight. The premise of more than one generation of...

Though he started out writing some of the most sparkling comedy on television back in the '90s ("Freaks and Geeks," "The Ben Stiller Show") director/writer Judd Apatow has been given the dubious distinction of producing a new genre of film--romantic...