Category: TV/Film Projects

Queen of the Desert at AFI Fest, Los Angeles

imageedit_37_8702110920On the occasion of a screening of Queen of the Desert at AFI Fest in Los Angeles on November 8, my post this week will be a mash-up of what I’ve written about the film so far.

Truth be told, Queen of the Desert has had, at best, mixed reviews everywhere it’s been screened. All signs point to the film being a rather conventionally shot story of West meets East. The muted palette with which it’s filmed lends it the feeling of a world seen through a thin layer of dust. Yet while we feel the heat rise off the sand, it seems we’re also at a cold remove from the characters. Perhaps this is one of the biggest critiques of the film: that the layers of dust don’t really let us into the character’s hearts. For his part, Damian Lewis in the part of Charles Doughty-Wylie (Richard) certainly does try to convey the contents of his heart in his scenes with Nicole Kidman as Gertrude Bell.

Continue reading “Queen of the Desert at AFI Fest, Los Angeles”

Trivia Tuesday: What’s with the name Brody?

source: homeland.wikia.com
source: homeland.wikia.com

“Why does Jessica Brody call her husband by his last name?”

Believe it or not, this is one of the most commonly asked questions by Homeland fans as well as Damian Lewis fans.

And it’s not just that fans are curious about the reason behind Jessica calling her husband by his last name but also they are quite opinionated about it. Some find it sweet, some find it weird, some find it inexplicable and I have even seen some finding it distasteful 🙂 But whatever the reason is, it is what it is. He is Brody and not Nick for us 🙂 If you think about it, the only people in the show that call Brody as Nick are the Waldens and the only person that calls him as Nicholas is Abu Nazir. All dead. Continue reading “Trivia Tuesday: What’s with the name Brody?”

JaniaJania takes on Keane

Took a while to get up the gumption to watch Keane. I knew enough about it to know it would be dark and harrowing and intense. One must block off some uninterrupted time and be in the right mindset to watch something like that.

I knew that Damian’s performance in Keane is what sold the Showtime brass on giving him the role of Nicholas Brody without an audition. The film is indeed intense watching. It’s a one man show really with the camera following Keane closely as he wanders the streets of New York, mostly silent and hopelessly disturbed. In Keane, Damian captures perfectly the confusion of mental illness, the murky stare of loss and despair and incapacity to communicate effectively. I found the film was more about the performances than it was about the writing. Amy Ryan as the harried single mother, and Abigail Breslin, in that child-wise-beyond-her-years way she has, were great too, both cast perfectly, in an ultimately heartbreaking and raw story.

keane1

Continue reading “JaniaJania takes on Keane”

Billions: First Takes, Fresh Takes

Now, dear readers, what kind of forensic fan would I be if I didn’t do a pixel by pixel analysis of the latest trailer for Billions? What latest trailer for Billions, you ask? Why this one, called First Takes, with some fun behind the scenes bits interspersed with more juicy bits of the story revealed. I’ll tell you one thing from the get-go: I see a different Bobby Axelrod in this preview than has been revealed in previous trailers.

Continue reading “Billions: First Takes, Fresh Takes”

Billions is Coming: Team Axelrod vs Team Rhoades

source: Showtime
source: Showtime

Oh yes Billions is coming! The anticipation  is heightening by the second. Brian Koppelman is tweeting about 18 hour set/mixing/writing/editing days… They are shooting all over New York, from Manhattan to Brooklyn to Queens to Long Island, and Bobby Axelrod even jet-setted to Quebec City to rock to Metallica a few weeks ago 😀  The first series poster is out, we’re already past mid-October and now have just three months to go for the series premiere on January 17, 2016! And, as we can’t wait to see Bobby and Chuck playing the ultimate cat and mouse game, we continue to let our imagination work at full force about Billions. Continue reading “Billions is Coming: Team Axelrod vs Team Rhoades”