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October '08
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August '08
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The Full Treatment
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By Aaron 2/5/2008
In Treatment is HBO’s new daily drama. And by new I mean it came out a few weeks ago and I finally now got my act together to check it out slash write about it. The show follows Paul (Gabriel Byrne), a therapist, with five drastically  different patients each day of the week. On Mondays he sees Laura (Melissa George), who starts the season off strong with her confession that she is in love with Paul. On Tuesdays Paul sees Alex (Blair Underwood), a Navy fighter pilot who has a near life experience after his bombing mission claims the lives of sixteen schoolboys. On Wednesdays Paul starts working with Sophie (Mia Wasikoska), a gymnast-prodigy who is sent to Paul for an evaluation after she breaks her arms in an apparent suicide attempt. On Thursdays Paul tries to work with Jake & Amy (Josh Charles & Embeth Davidtz), a couple who have tried everything to have a child for the last five years and now successful, are having trouble deciding whether to keep the baby. Finally, on Fridays, after coping with all that, Paul goes to see Gina (Dianne Wiest), his old mentor and therapist, to talk about his crumbling marriage, being a father, patience with his patients, and everything else that is bothering him.
If you want to read more about the show I strongly suggest Mary McNamara’s Los Angeles Times review, which is informative and clever. For a shorter read you can check out the brief write up in Entertainment Weekly.
The show is interesting for two main reasons, the first being the concept of a show about a therapist. It takes an  approach akin to crime-drama detective stories and medical-problem solvers like House in that Paul tries to get to the heart of each patients problem. At the same time the show is entirely different because it sticks with each of these characters’ problems for forty-five episodes. Plus, each show doesn’t have a nice resolution – the criminal doesn’t go to jail and House doesn’t save another life – people’s problems just don’t have nice neat solutions. In that regard, the show is a powerful representation of the therapy profession. You feel for what Paul has to do – the dilemmas he faces and the import he has in each of his patient’s lives, and yet, his family problems are no different than any of his clients.
The second reason the show caught my interest is it’s everyday-format that gives a real time air to the show, like 24 does. Since the show is on literally everyday, in an effort to simulate Paul’s week, you really get drawn in. The power,  the drama, the suspense, of each episode builds just like the tension in Paul’s week does. The time in itself is interesting – how many TV dramas do you watch that are thirty minutes? Do you know of any? But the show takes a simple stance by just showing each therapy session and not bothering with external factors. This places a heavy burden on each of the characters to be great storytellers, but it pays off. What makes this even more interesting is that the format and the each show’s makeup facilitate interesting ways to watch the show. You can choose to just watch on Mondays and follow Laura’s storyline or choose another day, so each patient can be watched in isolation. Frankly, each character brings a lot to the table, so doing that means you miss a lot, but you can really play with what you want to watch. And you can do this even if you don’t have HBO – you can watch all of these episodes here.
So why does the show work? First and foremost, great acting. Gabriel Byrne is great here – extremely minimalist and  right on as a troubled therapist. His timing is absolutely perfect, as are his physical movements. Each of the actors who play Paul’s clients is great in their own right. Melissa George’s Laura is played with a compelling fragility that makes you want her character to find some kind of happiness. Blair Underwood’s Alex has a confidence and intensity that only a soldier could have. Mia Wasikoska’s Sophie captures the confused, troubled youth role perfectly. Josh Charles’ Jake and Embeth Davidtz’s Amy expertly play off each other in a way only a married couple could. And not to be forgotten, Dianne Wiest’s Gina steals the show. Her crystal calm and questioning strategies mirror exactly what we have seen in the previous week in her protégé, Paul.
The show also thrives on its almost painful realism – how each and every story and character seem to be just like your neighbor, or your friend, or, well, you. The show is borderline reality show – and its format and real time feel further entrench the shows near voyeuristic feel.
The show has some intangibles going on too with Avi Balali’s excellent theme song – a carry over from the original Israeli show on which In Treatment is based on. Then the show is also produced by HBO’s new golden boy – Mark Wahlberg – but this show is a tad more serious than Wahlberg’s other HBO show.
I like to end these series introductions with a little paragraph about what I want to happen. For Laura, who is in love with Paul, frankly, I want to see that happen. I usually call for these types of resolutions to important issues because I  feel like Paul is unhappy with his wife Kate, and Laura could make him happy. And he could definitely make Laura happy. They deserve each other. Will this happen? Definitely not. Well. I guess it could, but not for a while. For Alex, I’m not entirely sure what I want – of all the characters I care the least for him. Whether or not he gets beyond his guilt, or his crazy, ‘I can survive anything’ phase, does not really interest me. Sophie does interest me. Yet, her issues are really not that clear to me yet. I think she needs to deal with her parental issues. More importantly, I would also like to see her get her shit together in time to somehow get to the Olympics. Jake and Amy deserve only one happy ending – a happy marriage and a healthy baby. That one seems the most likely because they clearly do love each other and nine weeks can be stretched to nine months in Hollywood – maybe we’ll see a smiling baby in the finale.
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Bob’s October Movie Preview
By Bob 10/2/2008
 Now that we have gotten through the sludge of September movies, it’s time for some Oscar contenders, and movies that think they’re good but not. Halloween is also this month so there is bound to be a lot of random horror movies going on and of course a Saw film to soak in. Whatever happens though, I’m gonna guess that at least one of the following gets some nods come Oscar time. With that, my October Movie Preview:
Cops, Robbers, and Blah
10) Pride and Glory: October 24th
From the director of Miracle comes one of the most clichéd trailers of ALL TIME. Edward Norton as A COP. Colin Farrell as HIMSELF. What more could we want from a movie? I don’t know, and I will likely never find out because this is not one flick I will be seeing.
9) Max Payne: October 17th 
As I feverishly go through my mind trying to think of a video game adaptation that has actually been a good movie, I’m also reminded of all of the bad movies Marky Mark has made over the past ever (excluding The Departed and Boogie Nights of course). I would be shocked if there is anybody who is actually excited for this, as anybody who actually played the game has probably outgrown the genre.
8) Body of Lies: October 10th
Leonardo Dicaprio. Russell Crowe. Ridley Scott. Something about spies. The trailers really tell us nothing about this film except, “How am I supposed to run an operation when you’re running a side operation.” I don’t really know what that means, but Leo says it in the trailer. This film looks like another lame attempt by Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe to win Oscars. I’m not buying it.
7) Flash of Genius: October 3rd
Greg Kinnear stars as an man who invents the intermittent windshield wiper, and then has it stolen from him buy the major auto manufacturers. This just looks like a boring film that will get a lukewarm response. For some reason, however, it has been getting a huge level of marketing with television and even radio advertisements. I doubt people will buy it.
6) RocknRolla: October 10th
Guy Ritchie is back in the genre he knows best, and this appears to be an English gangster film much in the mold of Lock Stock and Snatch. We’ll see if he still has his stuff, but for now, I’ll just pop in my DVDs of the older films that I can trust, and look to be almost identical in plot to this one.
Movies that Intrigue Me
5) Changeling: October 24th 
Angelina Jolie stars in this Clint Eastwood film about a woman whose son goes missing and is returned with something different. Any film that Eastwood directs (that’s not Flags of our Fathers of course) is worth checking out, and this looks to be no different. It got solid reviews with it premiered at Cannes, and Angelina Jolie is ready for a solid role.
4) W.: October 17th
 A film that is certain to be the years most controversial, Oliver Stone directs this biopic about our current president. While I am sure Stone will exaggerate many of the details, there is no denying that he has put together an awesome cast including Josh Broling (as Bush), Elizibeth Banks (as First Lady Laura), James Cromwell (as his father H. W.), Richard Dreyfuss (as Cheney), Thadie Newton (as Condoleezza Rice) and others as the rest of his cabinet. Whatever happens in this film, it will certainly be interesting.
3) Synecdoche, New York: October 24th
A film that I have been awaiting since last year, this is Charlie Kauffman’s directorial debut. I have loved the films he has written (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, and Adaptation. ) and this should prove to be equally compelling. It stars Philip Seymour Hoffman as a playwright who attempts to put on a production in a warehouse that includes a scale model of New York. It will probably boggle our minds, but that is Kauffman, isn’t it?
2) Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist: October 3rd
Michael Cera and Kat Dennings star as the eponymous Nick and Norah who meet each other one night in New York and have adventures. Something about the trailer really brought this movie to my attention, probably the indie style that I love. Cera is always great, and Dennings was really cool in Charlie Bartlett, so I might make my way to a cinema this week to check it out.
1) Zach and Miri Make a Porno: October 31st 
Seth Rogen and Elizibeth Banks star as two best friends who decide to make a porno together. This is Kevin Smith’s first film since Clerks 2, and I can only hope that it matches that film in hilarity. The only thing I don’t understand, is why are they releasing this film on Halloween? I guess there is probably a Saw film being released anyways.
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