2010/06/07

True Beauty, Irene In Time, The Bachelorette, Breaking Bad.

True Beauty (ABC)
A new show in which the gorgeous young contestants think that they're on some kind of beauty/reality show. But there are hidden cameras and they are really being tested on their "inner beauty." I love the idea of this show, and its fun to watch beautiful people be total assholes, but something about the setup keeps this from really testing these people. They end up faced with these weird setups where you don't even blame them for doing the wrong thing. Making this a bit more interesting is the presence of Beth O., also known as the wife of Howard Stern. She's beautiful and fun and seems unusually nice, and her presence here is quite a welcome relief from the usual TV stiff. I like this show, but I think by the end it gets kind of hokey. At least it did last season.
Grade: B -


Irene In Time (Drama 2009 DVD)
I LOVE Henry Jaglom movies. Last Summer In The Hamptons is one of my very favorite films. That said, this one is a total failure. It's about these women and their daddy issues, but every conversation is an emotional catharsis, none of the improv seems remotely believable, and the lead actress gives a twitchy, disturbing performance that is hard to watch.
Grade: D


The Bachelorette (ABC)
I find her completely annoying and I loved the initial weirdness with the Weatherman and that older, aggressive angry guy. But now that he's gone, it's already a bit ho-hum. And the Bachelorette herself is a real bore.
Grade: C


Starting Out In The Evening (HBO)
Frank Langella is a famous author and Lauren Ambrose is a pretty young student doing a paper on him. Langella is solid as a rock here, but its a badly overly written role, with every writer cliché in the book present. Lauren is even more annoying here than in 6 FEET UNDER. She plays this girl like she's Woodward in All The President's Men. It's a really badly observed acting job. There is also some hokum involving some ludicrous and boring plotline about Langella's daughter, and by the time this thing rolls around to the end...it's not good. Only worth it if you are a Frank Langella completist, and he is good here but un-served by the production.
Grade: D +


Breaking Bad (2nd season DVD)
I'm in the middle and will report back once I'm finished, but so far, so great.

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