Modern Family Season 4, Episode 24: “Goodnight Gracie”
Written by Steven Levitan & Jeffrey Richman
Directed by Steven Levitan
Airs on Wednesdays at 9pm (ET) on ABC

For the past couple of weeks, I have written about how Modern Family hasn’t really been that inspiring. With a number of episodes that have been lacking hilarity, the focus of this season has been built on episodes that are more emotion driven. “Goodnight Gracie” is one of the better examples of this and also makes up for a hit and miss fourth season.

Many sitcoms pack up their characters and send to them to Disneyworld or something, hoping to get a promotional boost from the novelty, as well as discovering new comic possibilities by moving away from the norm. This is a fairly transparent gimmick and something that has definitely been done many times. The best example of this I feel can be seen in Cougar Town‘s Hawaii episodes but this week’s Modern Family episode tops it completely serving as one of the best episodes of this season and the entire run. It’s extremely impressive because these writers are used to writing for the characters in and around their homes.

“Goodnight Gracie” is driven by the recent death of Phil’s mother, which leads to the entire family visiting Phil’s father’s retirement community. Everyone has arrived for the funeral and in sitcom tradition, the recently deceased has left some items behind for everybody. For the Dunphy children, a box of treasures where everyone find something meaningful and unique, expect for Alex. Up until this point, she has been repeatedly bragging about how close her and her grandmother were and how they had a “special bond”. When she receives a lighter with a note: “This is a lighter.”, she spends the rest of the episode trying to figure out the meaning behind it.

Phil receives an odd request, a note from his mother that requests him to fix up his father with a particular woman that she feels will be perfect for him. It’s an odd situation and runs the risk of being not only uncomfortable but not funny. Luckily, this isn’t the case at all as it ends up providing a funny moment as well as an extremely heartwarming one. After knocking on the said woman’s house and pretending to sell vacuum cleaners, Claire and Phil come home only to find Phil’s dad being fussed over by the neighbourhood women. Deciding to do what his mother asks, he informs the woman and ends up talking about his mother. As his emotions get the better of him, it’s a sad moment. Phil is a character that spends his life being anything but serious and he is usually the but of his family’s jokes. To see a more serious and emotional side of him is a surprising change and makes us feel for him even more. It’s a lovely moment when she tells him he was a good son.

Meanwhile, there are a number of other subplots playing out and this week they’re all great. I have always praised Modern Family for its excellent ability in making stories fall into place, but the stories rarely share the same quality. Jay’s storyline, once again, is definitely the weakest of the three. He figures out he knows one of Phil’s dad’s neighbours because she took his virginity before he shipped off to Vietnam. In a development that is unsurprising for sitcom lovers, he spends the episode trying to get her to remember him only to find out she sent many soldiers off to war happy. But it’s Jay’s reaction to this news that is the funny part. The scenes where the Modern Family members talk to the camera are always outstanding.

Despite predictability, Cam’s storyline is, as always, hilarious. He falls in with a group of elderly mahjong-playing women and almost breaks them up by repeating gossip. It’s simple and brilliant, Cam is always entertaining and here he is at his best.

But it’s Mitchell that shines this week, continuing the running gag that Gloria has a history of legal troubles in every country she’s been in, Mitch agrees to help her clear up some old criminal charges. When she moved from Florida, her roommate turned the apart into a house of prostitution with her name still on the lease. Starting with a subtle and funny visual gag, it was clear this was going to be the best storyline. Whilst they’re waiting for Gloria’s case to called, a number of other defendants request Mitch’s legal assistance. When he has some unexpected success, he lets it go to his head. The best part about this scene is probably the ridiculous folksy expressions he says and how annoyed and worn out the judge looks by the time they get to Gloria’s case. It’s so over the top and suits Jesse Tyler Ferguson perfectly because Mitch is usually pretty miserable.

The episode ends with Alex finding out the real meaning behind the lighter. She fulfils another dying request and violates the rules of the memorial service bringing the family together, and closing the season perfectly. There’s also a great ending credit bit between Luke and Manny.

Thanks for reading the Wednesday Comedy Roundups. Whitney got cancelled, but Workaholics and Modern Family will return for the 2013-2014 season!

- Catstello

One of the more interesting movies of the year is David Lowery’s feature film debut Ain’t Them Bodies Saints. First playing at the 2013 Sundance film festival, the movie stars Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, and Ben Foster, and while a few images have been released, there hasn’t been a formal poster yet. Today, however, the producers released the film’s first poster, painted by Benjamin Lowery. The poster can be seen below.

(Source: Indiewire)

Grimm Episode 02.22 ‘Goodnight Sweet Grimm’

Written by Jim Kouf & David Greenwalt

Directed by Norberto Barba

Airs Tuesday 10.00pm EST on NBC

The makers of Grimm cheekily asked us if we saw the big season finale plot twist coming. Why yes, we did. Nick and Juliette have spent an entire season being kept apart – mainly by her amnesia, but also by the interventions of assorted Wesen  – only to be allowed to finally kiss in the second-to-last show. It wasn’t too difficult to predict that something was about to come between them. And, as expected, something did.

It also wasn’t too difficult to predict that this time it wouldn’t be Juliette who has to suffer at the hands of Wesen antics. She has only just arrived in Team Grimm and it would seem cruel to snatch her away again before she has a chance to do more than inject a couple of zombies with zombie-detoxifying-potion and make a few novice blunders about who is and who is not a Wesen.

No Juliette must be allowed to stay in Team Grimm and begin inhabiting her role as a prettier and better acted version of Dr Doolittle. Which leaves only one choice of victim. Nick himself.

Not so surprising then that Nick ended up in a box, presumably to be used as a hostage in return for the key, now safely hidden by Rosalee along with her spare cash and passport. The set up for season 3 is now complete. Team Grimm, now deprived of its leader, is going to spend the time hunting for Nick. New alliances will form between its members as will new skills and knowledge, as Wesen issues have to be dealt with sans Grimm. Meanwhile, David Giuntoli gets to work on his tan until his friends manage to extricate him from whatever dungeon Eric and the rest of his royal family have interred him in.

If this means less screen time for Giuntoli, it does mean more screen time for everyone else, which – with a supporting cast this strong – is a plus. Group dynamics dictate that someone take the role of leader in Nick’s absence. It would be fun if a female character could step up for a change and Juliette as played by Bitsie Tulloch has a hint of steel beneath the Raggedy Annie exterior, but that’s probably a step too far for a show which has trod a pretty traditional path so far. The likeliest candidate for interim-lead is Renard, both because Sasha Roiz has the charisma and because Renard has many family issues to resolve, the first being to wipe the big fat grin off his brother Eric’s face. Now that Hexenbeist Adelind Schade has her powers back (although what these were exactly no one has yet bothered to specify), she’s going to stop sitting around her Viennese hotel room and start blackmailing and torturing again. An alliance between her and Renard is possible, although she’s not likely to want to help Nick, seeing as he removed her precious, unspecified powers in the first place.

So the rough direction of the story is mapped out, but with enough room for some surprises and twists, which is as it should be. Romantically, the main leads are now spoken for, although with Nick absent, it is possible that some rekindling between Renard and Juliette is possible. Hank, despite vying for the title of Portland’s Most Married Man, is currently single. Perhaps an alluring Wesen will tempt him out of marital retirement and back into the fray? We can only hope.

Questions: Will Eric keep Nick in the States, or will he take him back to his ancestral home in Vienna? Why did only Rosalee voge when she and Monroe kissed? As Renard is part-Hexenbeist, does that mean he has those precious powers too?

Cleopatra (1963)

Why not begin at the beginning? This opulent epic directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz centers around a cat-eyed, hair-braided Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor) and her lovers (or husbands, depending on the historian), a somewhat soppy Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) and a very vital Marc Antony (Richard Burton), marking not only one of the most expensive films of all time (nearly bankrupting 20^th Century Fox), but also the ignition of Taylor and Burton’s romance. Although the history is dicey (the sets muddle a few different centuries and continents together, four offspring are overlooked, etc.), Cleopatra captures the myth if not the mortal, from her sneaking into the palace via carpet to win over Caesar to her final rebellious act of taking her own life by asp, to the chagrin of Octavius (Roddy McDowell). Over four hours long (reportedly, the original cut was 6), the real sparks fly between Taylor and Burton, making it worth sitting through Taylor’s 65 costume changes, and the real dramatic beauty occurs when those sparks crumble into the doomed lovers’ demise. No one can quite capture such entrancing despair like Burton, his Welsh gravity reverberating as though he was in a cathedral rather than on a film set in Rome. A balance of the salacious, epic and melancholy, Cleopatra is a must-see from gossip reader to cinephile.

The VIPs (1963)

The VIPs is where we get into more of a soap opera territory. Supposedly based off of Vivien Leigh’s attempt to leave Laurence Olivier for Peter Finch, a famous actress (Elizabeth Taylor) tries to run off with a French playboy (Louis Jourdan), but the London fog delays the pair long enough that her husband (Richard Burton) convinces her not to leave him. Making up the other storylines in Terence Rattigan-penned drama, Orson Welles plays a film producer trying to avoid a hefty tax, Margaret Rutherford (Miss Marple!) a duchess hoping to make some money in Florida in order restore her family seat, Maggie Smith a secretary in love with her boss (Rod Taylor) who is about to lose his family business. They all are put held up by the fog in the airport’s VIP section. Not regarded as well as Rattigan’s similarly multi-storied Separate Tables, the plot arcs and characters are on the flimsy side, but watching such a great ensemble is sure fun, especially with fresh-off-of-Cleopatra Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton at the center. Only Burton could convincingly set Taylor off of her track and only Taylor could bring him to do so. This would set a melodramatic trend in their films together that you can see later in The Sandpiper (where Taylor seduces an Episcopalian priest played by Burton) and The Comedians (set in Haiti with hotel-owner Burton having an affair with ambassador’s wife Taylor).

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)

Probably the most obvious choice on this list, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? garnered 13 Academy Award nominations, including a win for Elizabeth Taylor. Adapted from the Edward Albee play and Mike Nichols’ directorial debut, the film includes Taylor and Richard Burton playing against type, she as middle-aged hard-drinking Martha (Taylor gained 30 lbs. for the role) and he as meek associate professor George. The disillusioned, rowing couple invite over still hopeful Nick (George Segal) and Honey (Sandy Dennis); the young couple acts as a foil to George and Martha’s tirades. Acidic barbs and attacks abound – e.g. Martha tells George, “You make me puke,” later George says, “Martha is 108… years old. She weighs somewhat more than that.” Bickering and battering, Taylor and Burton were toe-to-toe and praised by critics for their onscreen performances. As Martha, Taylor shed her coquettish sex symbol image and became a full-on shrieking harpy in unflattering angles, thanks to cinematographer Haskell Wexler who came on board after his predecessor had been accused of glamorizing the actress. According to her A&E Biography special, Taylor considered the role of Martha her personal best, and we would have to agree.

The Taming of the Shrew (1967)

Perhaps trying to recapture that spark of spiteful sparring that had served them well in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton decided to tackle William Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew (marking Taylor’s first Shakespearean role). Taylor plays Katharina, the shrewish daughter of a wealthy man, and Burton plays Petruchio, the fortune hunter who sets out to tame her. Millenials may remember is better as 10 Things I Hate About You with Julia Stiles and Heath Ledger in the respective roles. Taylor and Burton were also producers on the film, putting in a million dollars each and waiving their acting fees in favor for shares of the profits. With the promotional line of “A motion picture for every man who ever gave the back of his hand to his beloved… and for every woman who deserved it. Which takes in a lot of people!”, you won’t get the depth of Martha and George or the gravitas of Cleopatra and Antony, but you’ve still got a Taylor-Burton pairing that you can’t take your eyes off of, even as they batter each other into submission.

Doctor Faustus (1967)

Doctor Faustus didn’t have a leading lady, you say? How could this be a Taylor-Burton film without a female starring role, you ask? Well, such trivial things didn’t stop the duo in their low-budget, theatrically ambitious adaptation of the Christopher Marlowe play about the titular academic who sells his soul to the devil. Richard Burton playing Faustus and in the director’s seat enlisted the Oxford University Dramatic Society to round out the rest of the roles (including a campy Mephistophilis), but one, which was reserved for his wife. Although Elizabeth Taylor has no spoken words, she plays heavily in the film as Helen, or at least much more than her role appeared to do so in the original play, to the chagrin of literature and theater critics everywhere. Oh yes, this is the one referenced in Shakespeare in Love with the oft-quoted speech, “Was this the face that launched a thousand ships and burnt the topless towers of Illium? Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss!” Under Burton’s direction, it makes almost too much sense that that face would be Taylor’s. With this casting choice, Faustus turned from a Dr. Frankenstein/Dr. Jekyll-like figure with an unworldly thirst for knowledge into a medieval Paris seeking his Helen come Hell (literally) or high water. Although some bits are laughable, Doctor Faustus is an interesting theatrical experiment involving two larger-than-life figures and therefore is an entertaining watch. This marked the pair’s second to last film, the last being yet another literary adaptation, Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood about a Welsh fishing village and co-starring friend Peter O’Toole.

- Diana Drumm

In 1994, at age 25, James Gray won the Silver Lion at the 1994 Venice Film Festival with his directorial debut Little Odessa, a film about a hit man confronted by his younger brother upon returning to his hometown. Ever since, James Gray has won over critics with every film he’s released since, including the noir, The Yards, and the cop thriller, We Own the Night which received widely divergent reviews when it played in competition at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival. Now he is back with his fifth feature, The Immigrant, which also has been selected to compete for the Palme d’Or.

Oscar winner Marion Cotillard joins two Oscar nominees: Jeremy Renner and Joaquin Phoenix, a Gray regular, having also appeared in the director’s last three films. As with Gray’s last film, 2008′s Two Lovers, the director co-wrote the script with the late Ric Menello, famous for his hip-hop collaborations. A brand new clip has been released, which you can watch below. Enjoy!

- 

via The Collider 

• The Thing by Randy Ortiz
• 24x36”
• $45 regular edition of 325

• Son of Frankenstein by Rich Kelly
• 18x24”
• $40 regular edition of 175

• White Zombie by Gary Pullin
• 12x36”
• $35 regular edition of 175

• Son of Frankenstein (Variant) by Rich Kelly
• 18x24”
• $60 variant edition of 105

A trailer has been released for Alex van Warmerdam’s 8th feature film, Borgman. This is the first Dutch film in 38 years to play in competition at Cannes, and the movie is has everyone buzzing. Van Warmerdan, who has roots in theatre, also acts in the film, playing the role of Borgman’s accomplice. Karin Badt of the Huffington Post calls it “the creepiest film in the Cannes Competition,” and Catherine Shoard of The Guardian writes, “Aesthetically there’s much to enjoy here; a Fassbinder-esque mise-en-scene that mixes minimalism and kinky fuss to good effect, and the whole affair is served with a sheen you can almost touch”. The trailer certainly caught my interest and the film has quickly shot up to the top of my ‘must see’ list.

****

Now 87 years of age, Jerry Lewis returns to the big screen in Max Rose. Lewis stars as the titular character, a jazz pianist who had put his professional ambitions aside for the sake of his marriage and his life’s passion – only to later discover some surprising secrets about his wife, and his life. It’s appropriate that the first Jerry Lewis star vehicle in decades will make its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival considering the French have famously championed the actor’s films over the last half century. Written and directed by Daniel Noah, the drama also stars Claire Bloom, Kevin Pollak, and Kerry Bishe. The film is set to have its world premiere at Cannes on Thursday, May 23. Watch a clip below.

via Twitch

The following review contains spoilers for the fourth season of  the Adventure Time  television series, with this comic being set during season five, sometime after the episode “Vault of Bones”.

Having closely examined the new black-and-white original graphic novel “Adventure Time: Playing With Fire”, it is clear this book contains one flaw and one flaw only: that being that it does, in fact, end. Perhaps it even reaches its end too soon. There are no page numbers on the interior, but Amazon claims the page count is 160. This includes “Adventure Time With BMO!”, a ridiculously cute bonus story that takes up the last 20 pages of the book. So, at 140 pages – which are light on dialogue; the story is more often expressed visually and with large panels – this main comic can be read very quickly (and the side story has virtually no dialogue; it’s entirely visual). The Adventure Time fan will likely be craving for a lot more when they finish this comic, which means it is probably doing its job well, and the brisk “running time” only strengthens the connection to the television series, which contains mere 11-minute episodes. With the on-going monthly “Adventure Time” comic often telling multi-issue story arcs, being able to tell longer stories on a larger scale, this comic feels a lot more like an episode of the series. And an amazing episode, at that.

It is circa season five, and Finn and the Flame Princess (F.P.) are now most-definitely-dating-and-passed-that-really-awkward-stage-where-they-were-crushing-on-each-other-and-unsure-what-to-do-with-their-feelings. The couple – with Jake, of course – are enjoying a regularly awesome day of existence (which is every day in the Land of Ooo) and they decide to take a stroll to the super-amazing Carnival Kingdom; which, yes, is every bit as cool as the name implies. Finn, being Finn, shows off a little and wins F.P. a prize at one of the carnival games, and she wants to try it for herself. After failing, and being called “sweetheart” by the sexist carny, she loses her temper and control and starts setting the kingdom ablaze. The comic frequently addresses F.P.’s anger problems, which trace back to her supposedly inherit evil/chaotic nature, and being raised by a father who wants her to embrace everything evil. She is in a constant struggle to break free from those associations, wanting to become a genuinely good person, but occasionally falling back on wickedness when it proves convenient. Flame Princess is the star of this comic, which adds even more depth to her than there was before, expanding on her characterization in truly beautiful ways; so much so that is a little sad that this comic falls outside of the main continuity (Pendleton Ward seriously needs to address this comic about its possibility of being canon.).

The writing in this comic is pure Adventure Time, and could easily pass as an adapted script from the show’s writers. The characters of F.P., Finn and Jake are all spot-on, there are an abundance of jokes-that-work (even the intentionally lame ones!), often embracing the show’s absurd sense of humour, and like the most memorable episodes of the show, this comic is seriously very good at illustrating the dramatic side of Adventure Time as well, and will leave you feeling some fairly heavy things. And to end things on a happy note, the BMO mini-comic washes away all bad feelings forever and ever.

“Playing With Fire” is a self-contained story, but this comic is labeled as “Volume 1”, with “Volume 2” set to be released September, 2013, with the same creative team. It is currently not known whether “Volume 2” will tell another self-contained story, or continue this story. Either way, expectations are high.

Uncanny X-Men #6

This week, Uncanny X-Men finally feels like its own book. Free of tie-ins from other X-series, and with a strong focus on Scott Summers’ X-Men, readers are finally rewarded with a fun story complimented by gorgeous artwork.

After a cold-open featuring an as of now unknown mutant, the story then picks up right where we left off last issue, with the X-Men finding themselves trapped in Limbo thanks to Dormammu. After summoning an army of demons in his attempted coup for Limbo, the X-Men find they are unprepared for any real world challenges. That is, until the Stepford Cuckoo’s psychically manipulate the team into thinking they are extremely brave. Now the X-Men, armed with bravado, must find a way out of Limbo and report Dormammu’s plan to Dr. Strange. Meanwhile, in San Diego, Maria Hill needs help with the mutant situation. Outmatched, and out of luck, Maria, out of desperation, enlists the help of Dazzler, hoping to find a better understanding of the mutant problem.

Brian Michael Bendis does not take short-cuts. He creates long, sprawling stories that often take years to unfold. This can be frustrating at times, and Uncanny X-Men is no stranger to this. With issue #6 being the first issue in a while that is actually unfolding with the reader, as opposed to flashbacks and tie-ins, Uncanny X-Men finally progresses with a story all its own. While it may not be as emotionally heart-wrenching as All New X-Men, Uncanny X-Men’s path to limbo is still engaging. With three of the X-Universes top tier mutants having their powers broken, and the X-Men team still un-trained, the threat of Dormammu is astronomical.

Yet, more than the story, Uncanny X-Men #6 is gloriously illustrated affair. If last issue was near perfection, than this one is perfection. With the story focused mostly in Limbo, Frazer Irving’s dream-like style elevates the tale to new levels. From the way Irving manipulates the Cuckoo’s hair, essentially merging the girls into one character, to Cyclops broken optic blast, each panel is painstaking work of art. The splash page at the end with Dazzler accepting a job with S.H.I.E.L.D. is perfectly coy and so fantastically in line with her character that one can’t help but hope this event spins off into a solo series for Dazzler.

Thanks to Uncanny X-Men #6, Scott Summers and his rag-tag group of misfits finally have a book that is worthy of the title. If the plodding pace from previous issues has turned you off, then you may want to reconsider. If anything, issue #6 will undoubtedly be the best looking book on the shelf this week.

-Sean

The Weinstein Co. has released yet another clip for director Nicolas Winding Refn’s Palme d’Or contender Only God Forgives, which premiered at Cannes this morning and opens stateside July 19. This is the fourth clips so far released. You can watch the other three here.

Enjoy!

via The Collider