DVD Review: Capturing The Friedmans

The denial is strong with this one.

The Friedmans are a typical upper middle class family in New York. Arthur and Elaine are the parents. They have three sons, David, Seth, and Jesse. In the late 80's, Arthur and Jesse are arrested on child pornography/molestation charges. The documentary examines the case against them and raises questions on whether or not they were actually guilty of all of the things they were accused.

I've been watching a lot of true crime documentaries lately. This was a very unique experience as I'm not sure I've ever wtf'd so hard while listening to a family. The amount of what has to be denial is astounding. 

The documentary is a bit bias, and that's fine. It happens. Andrew Jarecki (who later went on to direct HBO's documentary The Jinx) seemingly wants to clear Jesse Friedman's name. So as I listened to his side, I tried to keep an open mind. They made a few points about the abuse being "outlandish" by those standards, but the sons, mostly David and Jesse since Seth didn't participate don't seem to take into account the MOUNTAIN of kiddie porn Arthur Friedman had and they also seem to shrug off the fact that he admitted to being a pedophile like it wasn't a big deal. Instead, they blame their mother for not being "affectionate" enough towards him. The story is told through several family videos - because this family loved to tape their drama - and it's always the sons yelling at their mother. (or "mommy" as these grown men keep referring to her as.)

While Jarecki doesn't paint the Freidmans as saints (how could he with all the porn they seized?) he apparently left out quite a bit of information, including a 3rd defendant who also plead guilty to abusing these children. He also only interviewed "about 3-5" of the 13 victims, and the only one he actually has on camera is so bizarre that it almost seems as if he was directed to act in a way that would make viewers immediately discredit all the victims. It was so strange.

I went back to Drew's Four Ways a Best Picture round table that I participated in this summer to see if anyone mentioned this documentary, as it was nominated but lost to The Fog of War. No mentions, but I wish this is what we could've talked about. It's very thought provoking. I'm not sure if family dysfunction has ever been captured in this way before. 

Recommended: Yes (and you can watch it on Youtube)

Grade: B

Memorable Quote: "It was in plain sight." - Det. Frances Galasso 

Review: Zootopia

Don't dream.

I wasn't going to review Zootopia. I usually don't type up posts about the movies I tag my child to unless they have a strong impact on me one way or another. This one, I wasn't expecting much. I didn't even know what it was about as the only preview I had ever seen was the sloth one. I haven't been this pleasantly surprised while watching an animated movie since I saw How to Train Your Dragon.

Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin) is a small town rabbit who dreams of becoming the first bunny cop in the big city of Zootopia. She has these small town ideals where she thinks everyone gets along in the big city and she's really going to make a difference. She immediately gets put on parking duty and gets conned by a fox named Nick. (Jason Bateman) Fox represent a species that's almost always shit on in Zootopia. They're all called sneaky and untrustworthy. Judy volunteers herself to help solve a missing animals case, and realizes that Nick can help. She has to put her prejudices aside. 

This film makes so many profound statements about racism and classism. It works in way that adult movies like Crash somewhat failed at doing. It also manages to feel unpretentious when it's up on its soap box. I felt that both myself, my husband, and our son connected with this film on a level where we just couldn't with Inside Out (The other recent kids movie to pull in adult themes) Instead of my son feeling so sad like he did in Inside Out, he actually asked questions. "Why are they mean to him?" "Why do they think he's different?" He might be too young to understand the heavy undertones this film has, but he understands enough to know it's not fair to treat other people badly because they're different.

The film also has some of the dumbest gags ever, but they're hilarious. There's also an amazing Frozen jab and a great Breaking Bad reference that I couldn't help but love. And of course, I love crime stories, so being centered around one was a smart move. It drags a bit towards the end, but Zootopia is such an important film and I'm so glad it blew my expectations away. 

Recommended: Yes

Grade: A-

Memorable Quote: "I bet one of them is going to howl." - Nick (Jason Bateman)

Rambling TV: Thoughts on TWD, Agent Carter + more.

Rambling TV is a weekly series were I ramble semi coherently about things I've watched on television this week.

The Walking Dead

I need to get my ranting out of the way. We need to talk about what they're doing to Carol. I read spoilers, when I read that Carol was going to end up kissing Tobin, I was immediately annoyed, because if Carol's kissing anyone, it should be Daryl. But Eventually after thinking about it, I was hoping this would be a small minute of happiness with this red shirt.

It wasn't. Carol is still hurting badly, and NONE of her family members seem to notice. It's like she's going through an identity crisis. In this episode, we saw her in her normal clothes, then revert back to Suzy Homemaker for a bit. She's hiding what happened with Morgan, like I knew she would, but her interaction with Tobin felt like something an addict would do. Give herself a high for a minute, then go back to misery. Tobin did say something very nice, (albeit a bit misguided with the "mom" comparison, which I think is wildly off base) but when Carol replies with "It's not tomorrow yet" I felt like she was saying "this is for right now, and not tomorrow." Carol NEEDS her family. They are the ones that should be comforting her, not these random red shirts. I'm hoping Carol's scenes with Maggie next week could lead to that, since she was rightly angry that Maggie was out there in the first place with a baby. She doesn't want her to go through the same pain of losing a child as she did. Carol still cares about her family, it's time they showed they do as well.

The rest of the episode was actually very good. A lot of smaller characters like Rosita, Tara, and Father Gabriel got a chance to shine. Glenn got his first human kill, which was so heartbreaking to watch. Team Family was completely ruthless with the Saviors they found.

Agent Carter

I really hope they pick up this show for season 3. Although we didn't get a lone face off between Whitney and Peggy, she was defeated and Whitney went completly bat shit at the end. That was a nice touch. Another nice touch being Thompson actually helping Peggy this week, so of course the show would end with him getting shot in the chest by an unknown assassin.

Please pick up season 3. I know Atwell is attached to some other ABC pilot about lawyers, but how many of those are on TV already? There's only one Agent Carter and I would love to see how SHIELD gets built, because you know what's what the next season would be about.

Better Call Saul

Poor Saul, his job already up in the air because he ran a commercial without approval from the boss. Though it was hilarious seeing the ad the company originally ran.

Saul is really pushing it with Kim. They're going to end so badly.

The ending with Mike and Nacho was so intriguing, I can't wait to see where that goes.

Vinyl

Another expertly shot episode. Richie and Devon had about the worst marriage counseling session ever (seriously, I hope their kids slept through that)

Casper needs to fuck off and Jamie should be given his job.

Lester came back with the ultimate fuck you in becoming the Nasty Bits' manager. 

I'm still no used to hearing Ray Romano saying "fuck" all the time.

This episode had so many great one liners in it as well.

American Crime

My DVR worked this week, though I also tried to record The Family to see what that was all about and instead it ended up being like "Nahhhh gurl, Hot in Cleveland!" Fuck it, I quit.

There are so many questions that need to be answered in next week's season finale, I'm not sure if they all will be. What actually happened at that party? What else is Sebastian going to dig up? Are these idiot parents finally going to do something right instead of protecting their own children's asses?

I have to give a shout out to Joey Pollari, the actor who plays Eric though. Someone give this kid an Emmy immediately, he was polarizing in this episode. All the emotions playing across his face while his mom was standing right in front of him being a homophobic twat was heartbreaking. His character is a tough one to play because even though you want to sympathize with him at times, he's still very unlikable, but tonight I felt terrible for him.

click those gifs to be redirected to their makers. 

Indie Gems: Adult World

You're not special.

Amy (Emma Roberts) just graduated from college. She believes she's destined to be the next great poet, but the reality is that she's 90k in student loan debt and has no job. Her parents tell her they can't fund her aspiring poetry career, so she gets a job at a sex store to pay the bills while she writes. She also takes up stalking her favorite poet, Rat Billings (Jon Cusack) who tolerates her presence. 

I'm always kind of afraid to watch movies like this. I'm 28. I fall into the "millennial" category. And so many are portrayed as entitled brats who think things would be handed to them as opposed to working hard for it. It bothers me because that bad rap is almost consuming, giving off the impression most people my age are like that when in fact, there's plenty of us just over here working and doing our own thing. It's one of the reasons I couldn't get into a show like Girls. It just rubs me the wrong way.

I'm happy to say that Adult World doesn't give off that grating feeling at all. Sure, Amy is entitled. She's a naive spaz who doesn't think critically about her situation, but the film opens up a really interesting conversation. Is Billings being too harsh on her? Was he a bad guy, or was his honesty with someone like Amy the right thing to do? I don't want to spoil the entire plot on what happens there, but I found myself thinking about the film long after it ended.

Emma Roberts and real life fiance Evan Peters have great chemistry here. And Cusack is always reliably weird. The bleakness of the film's setting in snowy Syracuse, NY is fitting for how Amy sees her life at this moment.

Grade: B-

Memorable Quote: "You're kind of a pain in my ass." - Rubia (Armando Riesco)  

Thursday Movie Picks: Storms/Adverse Weather

This week's theme from Wandering Through the Shelves is Storms. Sometimes Disaster films work, right? I decided to pick three that I had very strong reactions to. Reactions that consisted of Sadness, Humor, and Fear. Here we go.


1) The Impossible

Sadness - I have never been so thankful to watch a movie at home instead of a theater. I cried through this entire thing. Naomi Watts broke my heart. That little boy they saved broke my heart. I could cry again just thinking of it. 

2) The Day After Tomorrow

Humor - Jake Gyllenhaal is STILL playing a teenager? (Donnie Darko fan) Wtf is with those wolves? Okay, the CGI in this movie was great, but then I get right back to wtf'ing. 

3) Twister

Fear - The movie itself isn't scary, but the simulator at Universal Studios scared the shit out of me. I've seen enough tornadoes in real life and that felt just as real. Fuck that, 11 year old me nearly cried. 

DVD Review: Dear Zachary

A letter to his son about his father.

When I watched Making a Murder on Netflix, one of the recommended films that came up when I finished was this one. I wasn't aware of the story, though I knew child custody was a big part of it. So I went in with an open mind.

Film maker Kurt Kuenne's initial intention with this documentary was to make it about his friend, Andrew, the documentary's first subject after he was murdered by his ex girlfriend, Shirley. After his body was found, Shirley fled the U.S back to Canada and announced she was pregnant with Andrew's son. Andrew's parents also moved back to Canada to fight for custody, and Kurt made a cross country road trip trying to gather as much footage as possible so Zachary could know his father as he got older.

It's easy to rage over cases where the justice system fails families. I felt the same way watching Making a Murderer, the Paradise Lost movies, etc. This one caused me to have tears streaming down my face by the end of it. I just didn't expect it to go the way it did. I can't even begin to wrap my head around the judge in this case and her completely idiotic handling of Shirley's bail. It just keeps getting worse.

It's not the best made documentary out there. In fact, there's a use of sound effects - and if you've seen it you probably know exactly what I'm talking about - that feels so sensational and inappropriate that it actually threw me out of the whole thing for a bit. It was really disappointing because up until then I really enjoyed the fast paced, and even slightly amusing touches that were there. They felt true to how people described Andrew; by having a wicked sense of humor. It doesn't make the subject matter any less important though. Murder on a Sunday Morning similarly wasn't the best made one out there, but still packed a powerful punch. 

This is on Netflix instant in the U.S. Get your tissues.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: B

Memorbale Quote: "Then I found a new meaning." - Kurt Kuenne

Rambling TV: Thoughts on TWD, Agent Carter + more

Rambling TV is a weekly series were I ramble semi coherently about the things I watched on television. My DVR tried to sabotage me this week, but I prevailed. 

The X-Files

Of course one of the stronger episodes would be 1) the season finale and 2) end on a massive cliffhanger. I'm glad this show returned, but if they come back, I hope they polish things up a bit better. They can leave agents Miller and Einstein off too and give us more Skinner.

Agent Carter

I missed the first 15 minutes because my DVR is (apparently) mad at me. It also failed to record American Crime this week. Mrs. Jarvis is alive, but unable to have children. Peggy and Jarvis actually have a much needed spat getting all their grievances out in the air, and they apologize immediately. I love their relationship. Chief Thompson flip flopped so much in this episode he gave me whiplash. It's like this show never knows how much of a douchebag they want him to be.

The show also did this weird musical number in one of Peggy's dreams, where we got to see Angie again, but the rest was just so corny I kind of cringed throughout. 

Better Call Saul

This week saw the return of Mike, who tries his hardest to get the idiot Pryce to not report a robbery to the police. He enlists Jimmy to create an elaborate hoax to where Pryce wasn't hiding drugs, but actually erotic videos of him squatting in pies.

Kim wasn't thrilled to hear Jimmy planted evidence, and I think that was foreshadowing to see what drives them apart for good before he becomes Saul.

Chuck also returned, and I still want to punch him in the face for what he did to Jimmy last season. I hope Jimmy actually does do that eventually.

The Walking Dead

For an episode that finally introduced the Hilltop Colony, a big deal in the comics, it was fairly boring. Not a bad episode at all, just not great. 

Maggie showed great leadership qualities when it came to cutting a deal with a new douchebag, Gregory. I still hate how they sort of shoehorned this plot without explaining why Maggie wanted to shadow Deanna at Alexandria, or why Deanna had her last moments with Michonne instead of her. I just think they could've worked better.

This Abe/Sasha/Rosita love triangle is so gross. I hate how Rosita is getting screwed here.

The foreshadowing was so heavy in this episode. Ugh, I'm not ready for the deaths to come.

On the shippy said, there was some goodies. Cute Richonne and Glaggie moments, and Daryl getting all defensive over Carol when Jesus mentioned the cookies, and not shooting down Abe when he mentioned settling down. I'm sure he was thinking of Carol there. 

Vinyl

The scenes with Lester day dreaming about singing made me so sad. I hope this means we're going to see more of him now that Richie approached him again.

One thing that bothers me though, Jamie taking the blame for something Julie did? I hate that trope. I just want Jamie to succeed in something. 

click those gifs to be redirected to their makers