Gabriel Basso

TV Review: Amazing Actresses Anchor Showtime Season Premieres of ‘Nurse Jackie,’ ‘The Big C’

BrianTT — Sun, 08 Apr 2012 10:08:46 -0400

CHICAGO – Emmy-winning “Nurse Jackie” starts its fourth season and the highly-acclaimed “The Big C” joins it for its third on Sunday nights starting tonight, April 8, 2012. While both shows have been frustrating at times over their runs, it’s impossible to argue with the talent that Edie Falco and Laura Linney bring to these shows, respectively. I have a clear favorite but it’s nice to have both ladies back on the most crowded night on TV.

On that note — it’s hard to believe that Falco, Linney, and Jeremy Irons are on one network on one night and that network is NOT the clear critical favorite for the evening. While “The Big C,” “Nurse Jackie,” and “The Borgias” will have their fans, it’s not a lineup that compares to AMC’s “Mad Men” and “The Killing” OR HBO’s “Game of Thrones,” “Girls,” and “Veep” (the latter two are premiering on the 15th and 22nd of this month respectively…come back for reviews).

While I respect the craftsmanship on display in “The Borgias,” the second season begins in too slow a manner for me to forget why I barely cared about season one. I love Irons and Colm Feore, but I’m not recommending the show enough to even review it. It makes me too drowsy.

“The Big C” and “Nurse Jackie” are different stories. The first is a show that showed immense promise at its start but has lost me somewhere along the way and the second features what is EASILY one of the best performances on TV right now and there’s a chance that season four could be its best.

Nurse Jackie
Photo credit: Showtime

“Nurse Jackie”

TV Rating: 4.0/5.0

The strongest program on Showtime this evening is the one that has been their best comedy for years now (sorry “Weeds” fans…that show jumped the shark when they left Agrestic) and “Nurse Jackie” returns even wittier, more heartfelt, and smarter than when it left. It helps to add an actor as remarkably talented as Bobby Cannavale (“Win Win”) to the cast. He’s a fantastic performer who has not really ever been given the credit he deserves nor the major parts he should be considered for. He’s good here, but I’d love to seem him anchor a Showtime show once his “Special Guest Star” run is over.

Nurse Jackie
Photo credit: Showtime

Cannavale plays Mike Cruz, a medical director from Quantum Bay, the company that is taking over All Saints Hospital and trying to turn it into a more profitable venture. In other words, Cruz and Nurse Jackie (Falco) are going to butt heads, although certainly not at the beginning as the fourth season opens with Jackie in rehab. It flashes back a week to detail how she got there — a definite rock bottom moment that I won’t spoil — and that’s where the season begins: With Jackie away from the rest of the stellar ensemble, for the most part. It’s a risky move that I think pays off as it introduces some new characters and allows the amazing Falco some time out of her scrubs.

What I find most remarkable about the first two episodes of the fourth season of “Nurse Jackie” is the ease with which major events occur. There’s something that happens that we’ve been waiting years to go down and it’s done in a way that’s almost casual and even humorously handled, where other showrunners would have turned it into a moment of extreme melodrama. The world of “Nurse Jackie” is one in which life-changing events happen without warning — a routine trip to the hospital goes horrible awry, for example — and I like the way the writers have used that backdrop to influence their tone. You don’t know what day you’ll end up in the ER and you don’t know what day will be the rock bottom that leads you to rehab.

I do think that “Nurse Jackie” is sometimes still a bit overwritten — characters are too clever and too often have the perfect cynical barb at the ready. I like it most when Falco is allowed to find the realism in her incredibly complex character — a nurse, a mother, a lover, a friend, a wife, and, as much as she can’t admit it, a junkie. It’s going to be an interesting season.

The Big C
Photo credit: Showtime

“The Big C”

TV Rating: 3.0/5.0

The “overwritten problem” is a much-more-prominent one in the world of “The Big C,” a show I SO DESPERATELY want to like because of my love for the great Laura Linney (who should have won an Oscar twice by now — “You Can Count on Me” and “Kinsey”…and maybe even “The Savages”) but the deeply over-written nature of the show has always been a problem and it feels like it’s getting worse. “The Big C” is one of those shows that feels like it’s constantly telling you how smart and insightful it is instead of actually feeling smart and insightful. And the “lesson” this year about living life to the fullest could be even more underlined than ever. I love Linney on it (and Oliver Platt is always interesting) but the program has always been just barely a success for me and I think that meter has now dipped below the recommendation line to a near-miss.

At the start of the third season, Cathi (Linney) discovers that her cancer is in serious remission and starts living life in a way that she never has before — stopping off at the bar enough to make friends with the regulars, and smoking while she drinks there. She survived cancer and her husband survived a heart attack (and now has a device that can shock his heart if it gets out of rhythm in a season premiere arc that is the perfect example of how this show feels more written than true) — why shouldn’t she be able to do whatever the Hell she wants? Linney is talented enough to find the truth in this character and I may stay tuned to see those wonderful moments when she does but it’s getting harder and harder to forgive the flaws of this program with each season premiere. Especially with all the competition on Sunday nights.

“Nurse Jackie” and “The Big C” return to Showtime on Sunday, April 8, 2012 before the second-season premiere of “The Borgias.” “Nurse Jackie” stars Edie Falco, Eve Best, Merritt Wever, Paul Schulze, Dominic Fumusa, Arun Gupta, Anna Deavere Smith, and Bobby Cannavale. “The Big C” stars Laura Linney, Oliver Platt, Gabourey Sidibe, Gabriel Basso, and John Hickey.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

TV Review: Edgy Comedies ‘The Big C,’ ‘Weeds’ Return to Showtime

BrianTT — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 13:15:04 -0400

CHICAGO – The revolving door of talented actresses has turned at Showtime. “Nurse Jackie” and “The United States of Tara” just ended their seasons and so Edie Falco and Toni Collette head out one side while Laura Linney and Mary-Louise Parker come in the other with the season premieres of “The Big C” and “Weeds,” respectively. While the second season of “The Big C” shows immense promise, the seventh-season premiere of “Weeds” hints at another disappointing season of this once-great show.

Television Rating: 4.0/5.0

“The Big C”

The first season of Darlene Hunt’s edgy comedy was a bit inconsistent with a revolving door of guest stars (including Idris Elba & Cynthia Nixon) and a tone that kept the characters at arm’s length. The show veered wildly from cynicism to melodrama and realism was lost somewhere in between. Despite that, the cast was always strong enough to keep it entertaining and one could tell that this was the kind of show that could really take off in a second season if it found its creative footing.

The Big C
Photo credit: Showtime

How does one even craft a second season for a show about a woman with stage 4 cancer? Such is the premise of the Golden Globe-winning series (and Linney is sure to repeat with at least an Emmy nomination this summer and a likely win), which centers on the life of Cathy Jamison, a woman who realizes her life is kind of a mess after learning that it will soon come to an end. Her lazy husband Paul (Oliver Platt) has never really been the right fit for her. Her petulant son Adam (Gabriel Basso) is as distant as most teenage boys are from their mother. And her hippie brother Sean (John Benjamin Hickey) is just a pain in the ass.

In the first season, Cathy struggled with telling those close to her about her disease, befriended the cantankerous old woman across the street (Phyllis Somerville), tried to mentor an overweight girl at the school she worked at (Gabourey Sidibe), and even had an affair (with Elba) while also flirting with her cute doctor (Reid Scott). The season ended with her preparing for chemotherapy after finally telling her husband and son what was going on.

It’s too soon to tell if the whole season will be as consistent as tonight’s season premiere but there’s reason for hope. The first season of “The Big C” was all over the map tonally. The characters felt more like devices of a comedy writer trying to be edgy than real people. From the very first episode of season two, the show feels more grounded, which is exactly what it needed to resonate. It’s clear that “The Big C” wants to avoid the maudlin sentimentality that could easily invade a show about cancer but it too often pushes too hard in the other direction. The characters feel more genuine at the start of season two and if that relatable quality is maintained then this will be one of the best shows of Summer 2011.

If you want to catch up, the first season of “The Big C” was released on DVD by Sony on June 7th, 2011 in a pretty-standard three-disc set. It’s inexcusable that any show with these kind of production values isn’t being released on Blu-ray as well. I just don’t get it. If fans of the show are willing to pay for Showtime, don’t you think they’re willing to pay for HD? Oh well. The show is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 track. Special features include deleted scenes, outtakes, “Complex Characters,” interviews with cast members Laura Linney, Gabourey Sidibe, Oliver Platt, and more.

Television Rating: 2.5/5.0

“Weeds”

Can anyone else believe that the Botwins have been dealing drugs for seven seasons? Where Jenji Kohan’s creation was once one of the most engaging and entertaining comedies on the air, it’s just lost its power, like a buzz that wore off long before the party ended. I still love some of the performers (Mary-Louise Parker is always great) but the writing on the show has been meandering over the last few years as Nancy Botwin’s life has gotten more and more ridiculous. The show about a suburban drug dealer has become an international adventure and it hasn’t been the same since it left the ‘burbs.

Weeds
Photo credit: Showtime

At the end of last season, Nancy took the ultimate bullet for her family and went off to jail while her boys Silas (Hunter Parrish) and Shane (Alexander Gould) jetted off to Copenhagen with Andy (Justin Kirk). The new season picks up three years later as Nancy is being released from prison early. She’s instructed to go to a halfway house in New York and her overseas family hears about her release despite her wishes. Will they come to the Big Apple? Will she break her probation and head overseas? What wacky incident will happen next?

Drugs just weren’t enough for “Weeds” and the show kind of jumped the shark when it headed south of the border and got involved with politics and even murder. The cast is still uniformly strong, especially Parker and Kirk, but I liked the program so much more when I believed what was happening. The action of “Weeds” has become so ridiculous that it has overshadowed the characters. I miss the Botwins and the Hodes. Maybe they’ll come back to Earth before the final toke.

“Weeds” stars Mary-Louise Parker, Hunter Parrish, Alexander Gould, Justin Kirk, and Kevin Nealon. The seventh season premieres on Showtime on June 27th, 2011 at 9pm CST. “The Big C” stars Laura Linney, Oliver Platt, Gabriel Basso, Reid Scott, and John Benjamin Hickey. The second season premieres on Showtime on June 27th, 2011 at 9:30pm CST. The first season was released on DVD on June 7th, 2011.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Film Review: J.J. Abrams Finds Magic in Wonderful ‘Super 8’

BrianTT — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:26:48 -0400

CHICAGO – J.J. Abrams’ “Super 8” comes to theaters this week shrouded in mystery, nostalgia, and expectation. What do the aliens look like? How will it pay homage to the works of Steven Spielberg that so clearly inspired it? And will the merging of two filmmakers amplify their flaws or underline their strengths? I’ve rarely been happier to report that “Super 8” is a success on every level, whether you’ve seen the films that it echoes or not. Halfway through “Super 8” I stopped thinking about the films that inspired Abrams to make it and started envisioning the works that would be inspired by THIS movie. Yes, it’s that good.

Rating: 5.0/5.0

Because so much of the joy of “Super 8” is in the way it unfolds, this review will be completely devoid of significant spoilers, but even those wouldn’t ruin the movie. Just as the red matter in “Star Trek” or the secrets of the island in “Lost” weren’t the keys to the success of those J. J. Abrams properties, the action in “Super 8” isn’t nearly as important as what it develops in the young characters. “Super 8” is a film about letting go, growing up, falling in love, and fatherhood. It is a coming-of-age film disguised as a summer alien movie. Just as Spielberg’s best films merge relatable humanity with the unimaginable (aliens, giant sharks, etc.), “Super 8” is a movie about a runaway alien in which the viewer starts caring more about the people involved than the creatures they encounter. In many ways, that may be its most remarkable accomplishment.

Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Super 8” in our reviews section.

Just as with “E.T.” and “Close Encounters,” the human leads are essential to the film’s success and this time it’s a group of kids led by the charismatic Joel Courtney and future superstar Elle Fanning. Courtney plays Joe Lamb, a movie-obsessed young man who recently lost his mother and is distant from his father (Kyle Chandler of “Friday Night Lights”), who happens to be the Deputy of the small town in which the entirety of the film takes place. Joe gets together with his buddies and makes super 8 movies inspired by the works of George A. Romero that are directed by the outgoing Charles (Riley Griffiths). Martin (Gabriel Basso), Preston (Zach Mills), and Cary (Ryan Lee) are also wannabe filmmakers but everything changes when Charles asks the prettiest girl at school, Alice Dainard (Elle Fanning), to play the wife of their zombie-hunting detective. Joe and Alice immediately become close friends, much to the chagrin of their fathers (Ron Eldard plays Louis Dainard) for reasons that I will not spoil here.

Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Super 8” review.

”Super 8” stars Joel Courtney, Elle Fanning, Kyle Chandler, Ron Eldard, Riley Griffiths, Gabriel Basso, Zach Mills, and Ryan Lee. It was written and directed by J.J. Abrams and opens on June 10th, 2011 but you can see it a day early with a special sneak preview (go here for all the details.)

Super 8
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures

TV Review: Laura Linney Faces Down End-Stage Cancer in ‘The Big C’

BrianTT — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:21:43 -0400

CHICAGO – What would you do if you just didn’t give a crap anymore? This question seems to be the theme of Showtime’s new series “The Big C,” starring Laura Linney, Oliver Platt, and recent Oscar nominee Gabourey Sidibe. It is not about the sad journey or the emotional distance of a woman diagnosed with end-stage melanoma, or about the tragedy of her procrastination breaking the news to her family and friends. It is about the chance to live vicariously through a woman who is not able to be truly honest until the end is in sight.

Television Rating: 4.0/5.0

If you had nothing left to lose, you probably wouldn’t buy gigantic luggage and go to a desert island like Tom Hanks in “Joe Versus the Volcano,” or fly to a five-star Swiss resort to shop yourself to death like Queen Latifah in the lackluster “Last Holiday.” But you might make smaller, more mundane changes that you’d secretly always wanted to enact but had never had the guts. You might kick your annoying husband to the curb; get tough with a pool subcontractor pushing you around;ask blunt, inappropriate questions of your cute, younger oncologist; and stop working hard at your dead-end job.

The Big C
Photo credit: Ken Regan/Showtime

At least, if you did these things, your life would be as satisfying and relatable as Showtime’s “The Big C.” It’s made even more watchable by the engrossing Laura Linney. Though the Tony-nominated actress’s theatrical background makes her too expressive and dramatic for the small screen at times, especially in more emotional scenes, she is absolutely charismatic.

The Big C
Photo credit: Showtime

Linney is practically licking her lips she so clearly relishes playing the role of Cathy, the doomed Minneapolis housewife and high school teacher who has nothing left to lose. It doesn’t hurt that she gets to deliver some of the best lines in the premiere episode. (When confronting her underachieving summer school class she tells them: “Have you seen “The Patriot?” Its depiction is 20% true at best, but if you believe it to be truth you still understand this time in history better than 90% of Americans. And Mel Gibson is medium-good… Enjoy.”)

Cathy’s husband Paul is played with gusto by Oliver Platt, who is as strangely appealing, if decidedly odd, as ever. (The couple’s mismatch in terms of physical beauty seems strange but Paul does make mention of the inequality in a later episode.) Guest star Gabourey Sidibe is a compelling adversary for Cathy as the caustic, obese student who she decides to take under her wing and goad into losing weight.

“The Big C” would not be nearly so appealing if it was about a previously perfect woman whose intact life is now tarnished by her death sentence. Instead, the repressed, people-pleaser Cathy has hasn’t been honest in years, it seems, and in finding the ability to be honest, she is finally discovering herself. And her journey to self-discovery is defiantly, deeply addictive.

The series premiere of “The Big C” airs on Monday, August 16 at 9:30 p.m. CST on Showtime, after “Weeds.” It stars Laura Linney, Oliver Platt, Phyllis Somerville, Gabriel Basso, and John Benjamin Hickey. Guest stars include Gabourey Sidibe and Reid Scott.

By EMILY RIEMER
TV Critic
HollywoodChicago.com
emily@hollywoodchicago.com