Weekly TV Review: Nov 1 to Nov 7

Dexter- If I Had A Hammer: Another week, another good Dexter episode. We find Dexter moving closer to Trinity in order to get a better feel for his current target. He gets to know the family, and even starts pushing Trinity's buttons to see what sets him off. We are still seeing the fallout from Rita discovering Dexter's apartment, so the couple is in counseling, and Dexter makes some interesting strides with being open to her. The issue for where he can store his stuff is settled as well. The real question is how long Dexter can sit by idly and deny his sister some of the info he has on Trinity. He's bound to break at some point, even if it's just a little bit. ☆☆☆☆

Heroes- Once Upon A Time In Texas: This is not a great episode, but it's solid, and sticks to what this season is doing well. We find Hiro trying to save Charlie, and there's a very interesting encounter with Syler (season 1 style) in the process. Samual once again pulls out the stops though, pulling a trick on Hiro in hopes of gaining his family a new time traveler/teleporter. The story following Noah seemed out of place, since it goes against the character that we've known for so long. After that whole story line is wrapped up by the end, it seems pointless right now, but with the way this season is going, maybe it means something more. ☆☆☆

V- Pilot: Well, ABC has hyped the crap out of this show, and with 14.3 millions viewers, it clearly worked. The episode isn't amazing, but really, what pilot ever is? The pilot does do a good job of setting up the show for a promising future. The acting is solid, the visuals are cool, and it seems there will be lots of twists along the way. Overall, it's fairly impressive and should pan out to be a pretty decent show. Plus, it's sci-fi, which I love, and most sci-fi shows don't last on anything but SyFy. ☆☆☆1/2

Community- Home Economics: After the group realizes that Jeff is living out of his car since being locked out of his condo, they all jump to his help. After much reluctance, he ends up bunking with Abed in the dorms. As you can imagine, his way of life quickly diminishes to the point where even Abed wants him to get his act together. They tell Britta to offer him sex, but she would prefer to use other methods to shape Jeff up. The episode doesn't overdo the humor, delivering just enough to properly compliment the story line. ☆☆☆1/2

FlashForward- The Gift: This show is starting to get frustrating. It never delivers an amazing episode, yet does just enough each week to prevent me from giving up on it. This week they are closing in on the blue hand group, finally leading to them getting on the inside. This could have been more interesting, but it was only decent. The saving grace of the episode is that it had a character make a life-or-death attempt to change the future. I hate to spoil too much, so I'll just say that there is a suicide. I like that the show is addressing the fact that these characters could very easily change their futures through drastic, or even a few simple measures. ☆☆☆

The Office- Double Date: Half of this episode was good, the other half quite bad. What was good was Pam and Jim being forced on a double date with Michael to celebrate Pam's mom's birthday. There's some great tension here, and Pam even seems to start coming around to the idea. Of course, the show quickly takes care of that development. What was bad was the stuff back at the office. Dwight wants to get Jim fired by doing nice things for people so that they owe him a favor. This idea is stupid, even for Dwight. Andy then gets involved, and the whole situation just blows up. The attempt really fell flat and didn't make sense for the characters or the show. ☆☆1/2

Movie Rewind: In Bruges (2008)

Director: Martin McDonagh

Cast: Colin Farrell (Minority Report, Daredevil), Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter, Troy), Ralph Fiennes (Harry Potter, Schindler's List), Clemence Poesy (Harry Potter), Jordan Prentice, Thelka Reuten, Jeremie Renier

The Deal: Hit men Ray (Farrell) and Ken (Gleeson) are ordered to lay low in Bruges, the most well-preserved medieval city in Belgium. Though their boss describes the town as a fairytale place to enjoy time off, Ray is jittery and can't stand to be there. Things take a turn for the worse when a hit is ordered that will test Ray and Ken like never before, one they may not walk away from alive.

Thoughts: In Bruges sports action, humor, and a dark and well written story. The characters are deep and are really challenged by inner turmoils over what they believe is right. As said in the film "you've got to stick by your principles." The violence, when there, is heavy and quite bloody. The story is engaging and has a few good twists. And then there's the humor. Ray and Ken spend plenty of time bickering about essentially nothing, which is always funny, but then there's scenes that involve karate chopping a dwarf and cocaine-induced thoughts of race wars. There's plenty of the dark humor, but the film remains surprisingly serious and deep throughout.

One of the film's biggest strengths is the acting. I'm not one to usually applaud Farrell for anything, but he was quite good here. His chemistry with Gleeson made for a hilarious and entertaining hit man duo. The two worked effortlessly together, and it made the film all the more enjoyable. Fiennes also delivers a very good performance, and the combination of those three actors makes for a very interesting triangle. They all have their own beliefs, and they each stick by them to the end, even when none of them agree. The actors all handle this situation well, and it helps round out the film.

Verdict: In Bruges has action, comedy, good acting, and a great story. It's incredibly entertaining and engaging, and if you haven't seen it already, I suggest you make it the next film you see. ☆☆☆☆1/2

Review: (500) Days of Summer (2009)

Director: Marc Webb

Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt (10 Things I Hate About You, The Lookout), Zooey Deschanel (Yes Man, Elf), Geoffrey Arend, Matthew Gray Gubler (Alvin and the Chipmunks), Chloe Moretz, Clark Gregg (Iron Man)

The Deal: Tom (Gordon-Levitt), a greeting-card writer and hopeless romantic, is devastated when his girlfriend, Summer (Deschanel), suddenly dumps him. Determined to win her back, he reflects back on their 500 days together to find out what went wrong so he can try and fix things. Unfortunately, expectations and reality are rarely the same, but looking back helps Tom rediscover his true passions in life.

Thoughts: We're told right off the bat that this is a film about boy-meets-girl that is most definitely not a love story. Though much of the film would appear otherwise, the statement couldn't be more true. Tom believes in true love and soul mates, while Summer doesn't believe in love at all. Though he thinks he can change things for her, despite his best efforts, he can't take things to the next level. It's very sad at times watching him struggle, because for many viewers, Tom's position is one that they may be familiar with themselves. The film takes a very serious look out how relationships pan out in real life, but also reminds the viewers that events in life happen for a reason, and if you prevent yourself from dwelling in the past and moving on to live your life, things will work out and you can find happiness.

Though there's an assortment of supporting actors, it's Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel that devour almost every scene. Both do an excellent job with their roles. Gordon-Levitt has gone from obscurity after the popular 10 Things I Hate About You and roared back into the spotlight with this role. It's a powerful yet grounded performance that feels very real and as mentioned earlier, can be related to by the audience. For Deschanel, the film showcases how cute she is. It builds her up to be the perfect, most adorable girlfriend a guy could find only to have her crush the boyfriends heart with his own theories. She's not made out to be the bad girl, but rather a perfect example of what it is like trying to find one's true love.

Verdict: (500) Days of Summer is a wonderful romantic-comedy that avoids the black hole of being a chick-flick. It's serious and rooted in reality, yet maintains the idea that true love can exist and that even when things seem down, life can work out for the best. ☆☆☆☆1/2

Review: Surrogates (2009)

Director: Jonathan Mostow (U-571, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines)

Cast: Bruce Willis (Die Hard, The Sixth Sense), Radha Mitchell (Man on Fire, Silent Hill), Rosamund Pike (Die Another Day, Doom), James Cromwell (L.A. Confidential, W.), Ving Rhames (Mission: Impossible, Pulp Fiction), Michael Cudlitz (Band of Brothers), Boris Kodjoe

The Deal: In an age where people purchase unflawed robotic versions of themselves, called surrogates, to assume their life roles and keep them safe while they are comfy at their home, FBI agent Tom Greer (Willis) investigates the mysterious murders of people while connected to their surrogate, a phenomenon that was thought to be impossible. The murders spawn a quest for answers, but in a world where no one is what they appear to be, who's real and who can you trust?

Thoughts: Though Surrogates is probably not worth the inflated theater prices, it is an entertaining film that is worth seeing. The premise is very straight forward, and viewers will be hard-pressed not to find the idea fairly interesting. The plot's twists and turns are somewhat predictable, and the film is a little too action happy at times, but the idea of this futuristic world overpowers these downsides and keeps the film enjoyable. The biggest downside is that the film has a premise with limitless options, but fails to fully utilize them, a waste when you consider the idea of controlling a robotic version of yourself.

There are a lot of familiar names in the film, and as a whole, if you're familiar with the types of films you typically see them in, then you have a good idea of what the performances are like. Yes, many of the actors have had a great role or two, but for the most part, they are all decent actors and actresses, but nothing more. It is one of the draw-backs to the film. Sci-fi can be a tricky genre to pull of well. It needs an engaging script and great acting, two things that are both missing from the film.

Verdict: Though it's not likely to blow you away, Surrogates takes an interesting idea and makes a decently entertaining film out of it. It misses some great opportunities, and the acting could be better, but its a solid option if your looking for a newer film to see. ☆☆☆

Weekly TV Review: Oct 25 to Oct 31

Dexter- Dirty Harry: Dexter never delivers a bad episode. We find Dex hot on the trail of Trinity, but Deb is deeply struggling with the death of Lundy and Rita has discovered that Dex kept his old apartment. There's a lot of distractions for him, but he somehow manages to juggle it all like he normally does. What made the whole episode so interesting is how they developed Trinity even further. Despite Deter's best efforts, Trinity eludes him long enough to make his third kill, but when Dex follows Trinity away from the scene, he finds himself shocked to find that he and Trinity have even more in common than he ever imagined possible. ☆☆☆☆

Heroes- Strage Attractors: This episode was a little off balance. One of the most frustrating aspects was the Matt/Syler story line. Matt is still trying to kick Syler from his head, especially after Syler took control for a little sex session with Mrs. Parkman. Matt's solution was to literally drink his problems away. It was a really cheesy decision, though the episode redeems it a little bit when we see that it was merely a ruse for Syler to fully take over. We also see Claire in a Halloween story line that is actually not too bad. Her powers are now revealed to more people, but there is now the new dynamic now that she knows about little Miss Invsible. Noah's story line was weak, but did give us a very badass moment with Samuel ruthlessly destroying a police department. ☆☆☆1/2

Community- Introduction to Statistics: Community does a bit more to right the ship this week. The Halloween episode gets back to what made the early episodes so funny while still progressing the story quite well. Annie is throwing a Halloween party, and people will only go if Jeff is there, but Jeff is in hot pursuit of his sexy Stats professor. With his absence, Pierce tries to be cool by taking drugs, but he goes crazy and the only person that can help him is Jeff. He must decide between helping his friends and having sex with the professor, and he makes the interesting choice of helping friends. It shows that he is slowly accepting his place in community college, as well as committing himself to developing real friendships with his classmates. Between the story line and all of the funny costumes, this episode is very entertaining. ☆☆☆☆

The Office- Koi Pond: After Jim and Michael go on a sales call, Michael returns soaking wet after falling in a koi pond. With the office unleashing a relentless string of jokes (this was by far the funniest segment of the episode), Michael is getting upset. Jim tells Michael that he should make fun of himself to ease the pressure, but Michael of course takes this too far. We also see Pam and Andy making sales calls with everyone thinking they are married with a baby on the way. This makes for some awkward scenes, but then the episode takes things a little too far here as well. It's not a bad episode, but it missed some opportunities and marred some of its own bright spots. ☆☆☆

FlashForward- Scary Monsters and Super Creeps: This show continues to be very interesting despite a lack of very strong episodes. It has not wowed me yet, but I still find myself tuning in every week hoping to learn more. Whatever works I guess. The episode does a lot to show that maybe people really can change their futures. Hawk is told she can't have children after the gunshot wound, but she could very well still get pregnant. We also see Mr Simcoe end up at the Benford's house when his missing son turns up there. Him and Mark go at it, and Lloyd agrees to never come back. We finally get to see Dominic Monaghan in action, and his flashforward is quite disturbing. We also learn more about his involvement with the blackouts, and he is shaping up to be a great villain for the show. ☆☆☆1/2

*House and Glee did not air due to the World Series. Again, Dollhouse will not return until December. Coming up this week is the premiere of ABC's new show V. It looks very good, and I can't wait to review the show with the rest of them. The Scrubs spin-off show has been giving a premiere date of December 1.