Starring Tom Hanks, Julia Roberts, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
Directed by Mike Nichols.
Written by Aaron Sorkin.
Charlie Wilson's War can't miss... right?
Then why am I so nervous about it? I found it interesting that the trailer doesn't say something like "written by Aaron Sorkin" until the credits... almost as if they don't want to reveal the film's politics, or they don't want the stink of Studio 60 infecting their marketing.
Still, I'll be first in line...
Hey, I'm back. Vacation, work, snowed in with two kids, blah, blah, blah... sorry I haven't blogged. I'm actually about 50 movie reviews behind and about 4-5 weeks behind at the box office over on www.craigbe.com... it's so far behind, I'm not sure when I'm going to find the time to catch up. It's getting ugly.
Anyhow, I loved this flowchart that Defamer created for whether you'll like Studio 60.
I haven't written about the show since it aired, since I wrote a ton about it before it debuted, and then EVERYONE wrote about it before even giving it a chance.
If you really want my opinion, I don't think it's a bad show, and sometimes it's quite good, but it still needs to find its footing. Here's what I want out of it: teach me about a world that I don't know the intricacies of, and do it in a clever way. Don't talk to me about politics, abortion, religion, etc. Talk to me about the entertainment industry, and make it interesting, just like writers have done on television shows about hospitals, cops, and law firms for years and years. Show me how hard it is to be brilliantly funny week after week after week. That isn't funny in and of itself - it's drama, and that's fine, because it can be damn entertaining if done well.
The last two episodes were perfect examples of the best and worst of the show: The interesting stuff was about the writers using their option on Peripheral Man, or the fact that they were using different script sizes which threw off the timing of the show. The new addition to the writers room and putting the bad sketch on during rehearsal so the newbies could learn was fantastic. The bad parts? Well, almost anything concerning Harriet is just awful. She can't tell a joke? No kidding - have you seen any of her sketches? But she's supposed to be some glorious beacon of entertainment comedy? I can't see what Matthew Perry's character sees in her, and that makes that whole section impossible to relate to. I think Aaron Sorkin needs to realize that the rest of the world actually doesn't love Kristin Chenoweth as much as he does.
I love Matthew Perry's character, Steven Weber's character, and Bradley Whitford, but his glasses on his head make him look like a grandmother. Amanda Peet is still finding her way, but maybe it's because I don't understand her motivation yet behind her continually committing career suicide.
Much like when Entourage's Aquaman won the box office title and announced it with a fake ad in the trades, Studio 60 and the Sunset Strip takes that idea and multiplies it by, oh, about 100. These pages appeared on top of yesterday's Daily Variety.
Huge props to Market My Monkey for calling these out. (You can click on the images below to see the full pages in all their glory.)
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Here's a link to the LA Times article, called 'Studio 60': Golden Child and Whipping Boy, and now when I die, I can say I was quoted in the same article as Aaron Sorkin. I'm pretty sure he won't say the same of me when he checks out, however About the piece itself, I was a little worried that it would come out very negative towards bloggers and the Internet, but after reading it (admittedly quickly at 11:30pm) I was very pleasantly surprised at how balanced it was. |
Speaking egotistically, I show up twice. First as an admitted blogging lunatic:
The early feedback was a virtual love fest. One 35-year-old blogger at craigbe.com declared he was "fully prepared for an embolism to hit" after reading a draft of the script. "It's like 'Entourage' meets 'Larry Sanders' meets 'The West Wing' all wrapped up in 'Sports Night.' Good God, this is going to be amazing," he wrote.
and then later again she uses a comment that I gave her about how much (or little) impact the Internet actually has these days:
Craig Beilinson, a father of two, is the Sorkin fan who predicted he would be struck with an embolism. "The Internet is causing public opinion to spread faster than ever, but it's not clear that it's having an impact on the viewing habits of the general population yet," he said. "Look at what happened to 'Arrested Development.' No amount of rabid blogging about how it was the greatest comedy on TV could get more people to watch it."
Anyway, enough about me. To Maria Elena Fernandez, congratulations - nice article, and thank you for the balance.
If my head could burst with excitement, it would. I'm now fully prepared for an embolism to hit, because I just read an early draft of the pilot for Studio 60, Aaron Sorkin's new project. Read it. It's 66 pages, but it reads fast. I'm telling you... read it. It's like Entourage meets Larry Sanders meets The West Wing, all wrapped up in Sportsnight. Good god this is going to be amazing...
I'd like to thank TV Squad for pointing me in the right direction. Thanks to them, my life is complete; I can die now. If someone could just put more hours in the day, so that they can hurry up and film these episodes, that would be super - thanks.
Again, if you need more info on Studio 60, check out this page on wikipedia - good stuff.
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