Heroes episode recap – “Upon This Rock/Let It Bleed” S4E12 and 13 (airdate 01/04/10)

Mr. Mouse wants to know why I keep watching this show when all I do is complain about it and pick it apart.  I'm not really sure.  I keep hoping that it will get better even tho' there's no way it will, I guess.  Plus I don't want to be a quitter.  But seriously, I am being tested here, especially with the two-hour "events."

Upon This Rock. Claire walks around the carnival (picking up trash, actually) in slow motion while Multiplicity-Eli gives her the stink eye. Lydia checks in on her and sends the younger girl to Samuel’s trailer bearing breakfast. At the trailer, Samuel is going through the files Eli stole from Benet. He scrambles a little when Claire lets herself in, trying to hide the files from her. When she notes that those look like Primatech paper boxes, Samuel admits that he and Benet share more history than she knows .. but he’s not interested in revisiting the past – he’s a future kind of guy. He tells her that he’s going into the city to select someone else who will help them build their new homeland. They part friendly enough but Claire’s got a look in her eye like she might be investigating Samuel’s trailer later.

Tokyo. Hiro pops into a street market and starts babbling about being from the Starship Enterprise. The soba noodle vendor is not amused. When Hiro hears a woman shrieking that she’s being mugged, he grabs a cleaver from the food stall and chases off the mugger. Unfortunately for all of us, he starts segueing from sci fi classic to another – Star Trek, Star Wars, BSG … ugh. Remember back in S1 when we caught a glimpse of cool badass Hiro from the future? Well, it’s in the future now – when does he stop being such a tool?

Luckily we cut to a flash back where a teenaged Joseph catches a teenaged Samuel trying to move a big old boulder with his newly awakened earth power, albeit with little success. They argue over a girl that Samuel has crush on too, and Joseph sends his younger brother back to work at the carnival. Flash to now and adult Samuel muttering, “Just you wait, brother.”

At lunch, Claire overhears Lydia and her teenaged daughter arguing and chuckles, reminiscing about her own teenaged arguments with her own mom, and how things might have been different if she hadn’t been with a bunch of normals. Lydia notes that Samuel has become obsessed with collecting Heroes these days. A short while later, Claire tries to take a peek in Samuel’s trailer but Eli, many of him, intercepts her and sends her on her way.

Tokyo. The police have called Ando to come get Hiro, having found his business card in Hiro’s pocket. Ando comes down to bail his buddy out and is dismayed to learn that Hiro is completely off his nut, still quoting sci fi movies nonstop.

NYC, hospital. Oh, great. Emma (deaf doctor, remember her?) is dismayed to receive a letter from the medical board saying that her application to renew her license was turned down, or something. She goes home and is about to play her cello o’ sadness when Samuel knocks on her door. He says that he has a gift like she does; when she tries to close the door on him, he says that he’s the one who sent her the cello and shows her his compass tattoo. Stunned, she looks over at the cello – which has the same compass painted on its back.

Tokyo. Ah yes, Hiro’s also quoting Sherlock Holmes and possibly Batman comics. But wait – Ando is smarter than me, deducing that Hiro’s brains are kind of scrambled and he’s trying to actually communicate real ideas but is getting the terminology mixed up. It’s still annoying tho’.

NYC. Emma lets Samuel in, asking why he sent her the cello. Samuel says they’re all connected, which of course doesn’t really answer the question. He does say that the cello used to belong to someone else, someone he was close to – and then he lost her. Emma tells him that the last time she played it, the wall cracked. He says it was her fear that did that, and he can help her figure out how to control her gift. Then he pulls out a Primatech sheet with a man’s picture on it. He needs her help to find this man who apparently lives in Central Park, homeless in part because he freaked out when his power manifested.

Carnival. Claire is getting squicked out because Eli won’t stop staring at her. She bolts into the House of Mirrors; one Eli follows her in; the others guard the exits. When he lunges at her reflection, she brains him with a metal stool, knocking him unconscious. Then she runs to Samuel’s trailer and paws through the files there. Until Doyle the Puppetmaster takes control of her body, marching her out of the trailer and pinning her up against the wall. “What do you think you’re doing, Barbie?” he growls menacingly. I knew he couldn’t be completely reformed! After the commercial, Doyle accuses her of being a spy for her father. When she says that Samuel is collecting people for some nefarious purpose, Doyle snarls that he’s not going to let her ruin it for everyone.

Oh. My. Frickin’. Word. Do you mind if I just skip over this “Ando figures out WTF Hiro is trying to tell him” bit and just bottom-line it? Oh no: they’re going to a mental hospital in Florida - to rescue Mohinder. That last part isn’t spelled out but who else is in a mental hospital these days?

NYC, Central Park. Samuel says that when Emma plays music, her emotions merge with the music and can draw people in. He asks her to play while concentrating on that photo of that man, and bring this guy to her. As she plays, people start to gather around, including a sketchy looking homeless type who is Samuel’s target. This guy has power over plants and as he listens to the music, the winter tree he’s leaning on bursts into bloom. Emma and Samuel smile. I wonder why Samuel wants a guy with a superpowered green thumb.

Back at the hospital where Emma and Samuel have brought Plant Guy to get patched up. Samuel thanks her, telling her that she’s always welcome at the carnival and handing her a compass. After she leaves, Plant Guy tells Samuel that he always thought he was alone because he was different; Samuel assures him that he’s not alone but he is, indeed, special. As they walk out, the television blares that the remains of Senator Nathan Petrelli have been found in a plane crash.

Carnival. Doyle tells Claire that the two Sullivan brothers changed his life, saved it. Claire protests, saying Doyle knows her – she doesn’t want to hurt anyone, but Samuel is acting suspicious. Convinced, Doyle lets her go and tells her to go see Lydia who knows what’s going on. Lydia tells Claire that Joseph, not Samuel, was the real father of this Carnival. Claire puts two and two together – that Samuel killed his brother – and Lydia murmurs that she’s scared, that Samuel is out of control. Claire replies that she likes this place and the only thing wrong with it is Samuel. Lydia asks her to help find someone who can stop him but as Claire steps out of her tent, Eli grabs her.

When he finally get back at the Carnival, Samuel is annoyed that Eli has kept Claire there against her will. She says she’ll leave but first she wants to hear from Samuel what happened to Joseph. He says that he lost control when he found out that Joseph had ratted them out to Danko. “So murder was the answer?” she says, incredulously. Then she asks his plans are out in the valley. So he takes her out there, where “Ian,” Plant Guy, is at work. When Ian says he needs water, Samuel brings some up out of the ground. Even Claire has to admit that’s cool. Then Ian sinks his fingers into the muddy soil and grass and flowers start to grow. As Claire watches, unable to keep the smile off her face, the valley explodes into verdant greenness. “This is why I need a bigger family,” says Samuel, “to build the future.” Claire says that she’s going to go back to her family and Samuel reminds her that she is still always welcome here. As she heads out, she checks her voicemail: there’s one from Peter, who says they have a lot to talk about.

Cut to Nathan’s funeral. OMIGOD PETER CUT YOUR DAMN BANGS ALREADY. Angela is looking haggard; a concerned Benet is relieved to see Claire pull up in a cab. She sort of blows off her family and stands by herself. Peter gives the eulogy. Everyone looks sad.


Let It Bleed. 86 hours ago, outside of NYC. Benet and Peter meet, and Peter says he wants to see “him.” Benet tells him, “I can handle this, Peter, you don’t have to have any part of this.” “I do,” says Peter. By the way, the body in Benet’s trunk is Nathan’s real body, complete with stitches on his throat from where Sylar cut it. Later, Peter is practically unresponsive at the wake.

Carnival. Samuel is interrupted at some magic inking when Doyle flies through the air, crashing into his table. He’s been thrown by Sylar who, old soul intact, has found his way back to the Carnival. And he’s hungry, ready to feast on all the Heroes Samuel has collected. “I got big plans for you,” says Samuel but Sylar isn’t interested and moves to slice open Samuel’s head. His slice doesn’t work, however, and so Samuel pulls up a whirling sandstorm that all but sandblasts Sylar’s flesh from his body. It’s pretty gnarly. Sylar collapses; Samuel grins.

Benet finds Claire at her dorm room, getting ready for the wake. She’s mad at him again, for lying about Nathan’s death and what he (and Angela) did. “Sylar,” she spits, “did you forget what Sylar did to me?” He tries to explain that they did the wrong thing for the right reason, giving Nathan back to the world for a little while longer and keeping Sylar contained. She is unmoved and tells him that she doesn’t want him at the wake.

Wake. Angela tries to talk with her remaining son but Peter is still pretty angry at her, at everything. She tells him not to go after Sylar; revenge will only get him killed. This awkward conversation is interrupted when Claire shows up; Peter grabs her and they hide out in the kitchen to talk. “That was a hell of lie,” she says, “… did they think they’d get away with it?” She switches gears, musing about Nathan. Peter starts acting weird, like Nathan isn’t actually dead or something. What have you guys done this time? DO NOT BRING NATHAN BACK – KEEP HIM DEAD.

Benet goes back to his apartment. There is something (or someone) lurking outside the window. Ooh! It’s Edgar! Eek! he’s brought his knives! But Benet is onto him and quickly tases him into submission before he can be sliced and diced again. Benet has commandeering some Japanese restaurant, having stuck Edgar in the freezer because the cold slows his superspeed down. Whatshername, Kate from Angel (I am so not looking her character's name up), joins him, having brought sodium pentathol as a party favor.

Carnival. Samuel puts the shredded Sylar into Lydia’s trailer, telling her to look after Sylar when he comes to. And find out what’s going on with him – why couldn’t he kill Samuel? Lydia goes inside, where Sylar has healed himself. He too needs a haircut. He’s kind of cranky when he wakes up so she gives him a smooch. They start doin’ it and she (he?) gets flashes of Parkman and Nathan and Claire. He pulls away. She says that he’s impotent, can’t kill anymore (but can still heal, so not all his powers are gone), and he doesn’t like to hear that at all.

NYC. Angela approaches Claire at the wake and Claire continues to express her disdain for the lying, manipulative older generation. Angela then asks her to keep an eye on Peter who seems adrift these days. Up on the rooftop garden Claire finds an abandoned police scanner but no Uncle Peter. Because Peter is too busy knocking a police officer unconscious somewhere where a crime is happening. Wait: is Nathan and/or Sylar’s powers now in Peter? Did that happen when Peter was trying to keep Nathan from falling off the building? And if so, would they please just let Nathan go already?

After the commercial, Claire has tracked Peter down: he’s trying to help an office worker with a gunshot wound. There are more gunshots and Peter runs off over Claire’s protests that of the two of them, she’s the one who’s invulnerable to bullets. Later, the disgruntled gunman has both Peter and Claire at gunpoint. Peter tries to talk him down. It doesn’t work, exactly. The cops eventually get the guy but not until after Peter gets shot. When he asks Claire for her healing power she is reluctant to share it at first, saying that he’s being reckless, but she finally lets him take her hand and he heals. She tells her uncle that he’s not honoring Nathan’s memory by doing this hero stuff – he’s avoiding it. Peter mewls that if he slows down, stops, then Nathan’s death is real. “I miss him too,” says Claire quietly.

Freezer. Edgar is rather bloodied by now and still not giving up any information. Benet seems about ready to start slicing the speedster with his own blades when Kate (whoever) pulls him away, asking him to stop torturing this guy. “Stop using him as a punching bag and start talking to him.” There’s something that’s being missed, she says. And Benet goes hmmm. When he goes back into the freezer, he brings Edgar some tea. What is it you need me for, asks Benet, what are you doing out here? They start to talk and Edgar says that it was Samuel who set him on Danko and Benet. Edgar is afraid of what Samuel has planned. “That makes two of us,” agrees Benet.

Carnival. A petulant Sylar is trashing things. Samuel reaches out to him, still willing to befriend the beast (for his own purposes, of course).

Benet, Edgar and Kate (?) formulate a plan. Edgar insists that his family – everyone at the Carnival except Samuel – must be taken care of, and left alone. But Benet thinks the Carnies will be better off and safer once reintegrated into the normals which upsets poor bruised Edgar enough that once Benet trusts him enough to loosen his bonds, he super-speeds away, taking all Benet’s carefully drawn out plans with him. Benet and Kate’s expressions: Well, that could have ended better.

Carnival. On Sylar’s request, Samuel has mixed up another batch of magic tattoo ink. He pokes Sylar with it, to see Sylar’s future. At first, the ink just wriggles and squirms all over Sylar’s body. When it coalesces, unseen by us, Sylar wigs out, saying that Samuel was wrong – he doesn’t belong here. Samuel watches him run off but doesn’t try to stop him.

NYC. Claire doesn’t want to go back to school, too worried about her uncle Peter. “I can’t have you lying to me too,” she says. Peter replies that he’s okay. Then, strangely, he asks if she’d mind calling that old flying boyfriend of hers (West) for him. “Why?” asks Claire. Peter just smiles. Later, he looks at a photo of him and Nathan and then flies off into the night sky. Am I just dim? This show isn’t that sophisticated – what am I missing here?

Back at her dorm (she got back to Virginia pretty quickly from NYC, no?), a sad Claire tosses herself on her bed and stares at the ceiling. Outside her window, hovering in mid-air, is Sylar. The tattoo on his forearm: Claire’s face. “Hello, cheerleader,” he says.

Next week: it’s the Hiro and Mohinder Show! Aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrgggggggghhhhh.

Previously on Heroes / next time on Heroes

Recipe: Ropa vieja (sort of)

One consequence of having 90% of your worldly belongings in a storage unit far from your apartment is that you tend to have the same things for dinner over and over and over and over and over because all your cookbooks are tidily packed up in Box #114 at the back of the unit and damned if you're going to dig them out just because you're tired of chicken, broccoli and rice.  Luckily, there's the internet which provided me with a recipe for a variation on the Cuban dish, ropa vieja.  Of course, I didn't have several of the necessary ingredients so we ended up with a variation on the variation, but it was still tasty and wicked easy, so I thought I'd share it with you.  Pluswhich it's a crockpot recipe so you can just throw it together in the morning, go skiing all day, and come home to hot and tasty food.  Which is just excellent apres-ski, by the way.

28 oz. can of diced tomatoes, drained
2 red bell peppers, sliced in 1/2 inch sticks (I used green because they're cheaper)
1 onion, cut into 8 wedges
2 tsp. oregano (didn't have any; used a little marjoram and a little basil instead)
1 tsp. cumin (didn't have any; used hot chili powder instead, which gave it a nice kick)
1 1/2 lb. flank steak, cut crosswise into thirds (the flank steak was $$ so I got something less $$ instead)
1 cup rice     (1 avocado and 1/3 cup fresh cilantro for garnish)

Combine everything except rice, avocado and cilantro in crockpot, nestling the beef down into the vegetables.  Cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 7-8 hours.  Before you're ready to eat, prepare the rice according to package directions.  Shred the beef in the ropa viejo; serve over rice.  Slice avocado, add it and cilantro as garnish.

I was worried that it would be too thick but the juices from the (drained) tomatoes and the other veggies are more than enough to make this into a sort of beef and vegetable soup.  You could add a bay leaf for more traditional flavoring, or add potatoes instead of serving over rice - any number of variations.  This recipe is easily adaptable and will now make its way into our regular rotation.

On a totally other subject: Heroes returns tomorrow in a two hour "event" - God help me with the recap.  And help us all if Nathan Petrelli doesn't stay dead.

2009: the FMS year in review

Compared to last year, I really didn't pull my weight in 2009.  I will totally make excuses for it, saying the whole packing up and moving 2,500 miles away to restart the Mousehold in a brand new place, including having to find a brand new paying job, infringed on my heretofore sacred reading/watching/writing time.  That, and I may have been lazy at times.  Still, this year I accomplished:

• I put up 172 posts (44 fewer than in 2008) and hit my two year anniversary
• I watched and reviewed (or at least mentioned) 41 movies (again most on DVD but some in theaters)
• I reviewed 35 books (9 more than last year)
• I recapped Lost and Heroes; I gave up on Fringe early in the year; and I didn't do True Blood because I gave up HBO - but as soon as S2 comes on on DVD, I'm picking those recaps back up for sure - can't wait!
• The best books I read this year were Deerskin, Under the Banner of Heaven and American Gods
• The worst book I read was The Mermaid Chair
• The best (best enjoyed) movies I saw this year were Let the Right One In, Drag Me to Hell, The City of Lost Children, Lady Vengeance, Rear Window and District 9
•  I started a whole new blog

Again, thank you all so much for your patronage, your interest and your comments this year. I'm still having a blast over here and am looking forward to the coming year, with the return of Lost (and Lost recaps) and many, many more movies, shows and books to explore and share with you. 'Til then, my best wishes to you all for a happy, healthy and entertaining 2010!

Book review: Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

Since I had to request the first couple of books in the Dresden Files series from the library, I picked up another Jim Butcher opus to read in the meantime: Furies of Calderon: Book One of the Codex Alera. This is the book Butcher always wanted to write – a swords-and-sorcery fantasy – but had to bide his time and hone his craft on urban fantasy first.

The land of Alera teems with life. There are the civilized people, feudal and agrarian, ultimately ruled by a First Lord but most of whom live out their lives in isolated, independent holds; and there are the savages, lurking at the borderlands, from whom the civilized people must be protected. The Alerans have special bonds with the “furies,” elemental spirits of air, water, fire, earth, wood and metal who imbue their human partners with superhuman powers. The stronger the fury, the more powerful the individual. So when young Tavi, a fifteen year old would-be shepherd in the Calderon valley, fails to bond with any furies whatsoever, he must endure scorn and ridicule, and learn to fend for himself. It’s a good thing Tavi is clever and quick because there are plots afoot in Alera, political machinations that threaten to disrupt the existing peace, and the rise of invading hordes. Tavi befriends Amara, a Cursor (warrior messenger) in the service of the First Lord, who, loyal to the core, is trying to protect her land and her Lord despite being betrayed and beaten down at every turn.

This is pretty standard, although well-written and carefully plotted, traditional fantasy fare. There are sword fights and pitched battles and Healing of wicked wounds. There are not-human beasties – direwolves and gargants (woolly mammoth-ish pack animals) and herdbanes (evil, aggressive pseudo-ostriches) and giant, poisonous spiders. There are quests and redemptions and lost heroes and fair women with secrets. The enthusiastic book jacket blurbs compare Furies of Calderon to Tolkien; Butcher’s work is not nearly as weighty as Tolkien’s, but it brings the reader into an exciting, interesting new world. It starts off with a bang and keeps building from there – I even admit to staying up ‘til midnight to finish the last couple of chapters.

I do have one very minor quibble with the book and that is with respect to Butcher’s naming conventions. Most of the characters have standard-issue fantasy names – Fidelias, Isana, Beritte, Doroga, etc. – but a few are more plebian, like Bernard, Fred and Otto. I found this jarring and strange. Other than that minor point, however, the Codex Alera has gotten off to a strong start and I will be checking in on them again to see how the series progresses.

Movie review: Shredder

As you may or may not know, Mr. Mouse and I moved from Maine to Utah this fall, in large part because of the snow.  We're skiers, you see, and Utah claims to have "the greatest snow on earth."  Says so right on their license plates so it must be true.  It's been a slow start to the snow thus far but we have gone skiing together twice; the first time was at Brighton, a cute little ski resort at the top of Big Cottonwood Canyon.  The day we went there was decent snow, great views from the top, and about eight million snowboarders.  I joke, of course - it wasn't at all crowded - but truly, the snowboarders outnumbered the skiers about 3 to 1 which was a little disconcerting.  Frickin' knuckledraggers.

Actually, the 'boarders were quite well-behaved for their species and it was a very nice day on the slopes.  Still, when we got home and the movie in our mailbox was Shredder, a cheesy slasher in which a masked skier kills a bunch of snowboarders, Mr. Mouse acquiesced to watch it with me.  He may not like slasher flicks, but he likes snowboarders even less.

Here's the plot, what there was of it: a couple years ago, a ski resort tried to bar shredders from their slopes.  (The movie was filmed on location at Silver Mountain in Kellogg, Idaho; the real Silver Mountain does, in fact, allow snowboarders.)  Three local 'boarders decided to poach some trails and, in their typical out of control fashion, ended up running a little girl (a skier, of course) off the trail and into a tree.  Shortly thereafter, the snowboarders disappeared, never to be seen again, and the locals proclaimed the ski resort haunted.  A couple of years after the resort closed, a bunch of teenaged slasher fodder trespass for the weekend, looking to rip up some freshies all by themselves.  The "Evil Skier" finds them and typical slasher film rules apply as the stoners, sluts and morons all get picked off one by one.

This is not a good movie.  The writing and acting is really bad; the continuity between scenes is awful (Mr. Mouse and I had to keep up a running commentary to figure out what was going on); and the 'boarding isn't that exciting - Warren Miller, where are you when we need you?  Some of the kills were pretty good, if terribly fake: an icicle through the chest is clever; and one girl gets strangled when her scarf gets entangled in the chairlift ... but what's hysterical is that NO ONE NOTICES and she keeps spinning around and around as the chairlift keeps turning.  Mr. Mouse even figured out who the killer was way in advance - pretty good work for his first slasher flick.

One of the best things about Shredder is that it's short.  It's a brainless slasher that is certainly entertaining enough (Mr. Mouse, who has fallen asleep during far better films, actually stayed awake for the whole thing), recalling 1980s slashers in its foolishness.  You could do worse - although not a whole lot worse - but if you're a skier looking for some virtual payback on the 'boarder who ran over your ski tails in the lift lines, this silly movie fits the bill.

'Twas the night before Christmas

... and we wish you good cheer, from those of us at the Mouse House for all through the year. 

Have a glorious Hanuchristmakwanzukkah - or Festivus, if that's your thing - and I'll see you real soon!

Book review: Dead Beat: a Novel of the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

As any of you who have read the book reviews here before well know, my favorite novels tend towards escapist stuff: fantasy, mystery and horror. Imagine my delight when I stumbled upon a series that combines these exact three genres: the Dresden Files books, by Jim Butcher. I’m not exactly sure what led me here – I think I was poking around on Hulu.com and watched an episode of the eponymous and now-defunct SciFi series loosely based on the books – but I picked up Dead Beat on my last trip to the library ( I love the library!) and finished it last night, staying up ‘til nearly midnight to do so.

Harry Dresden is a wizard whose magically-inclined parents are now dead, and who fights on the side of good against the powers of darkness. This is all Dresden has in common with that other wizard named Harry. Dresden lives in modern-day Chicago, operating an under the radar wizardry business and also assisting the Chicago PD (particularly his current crush, cop Karin Murphy) with the weirder cases. He lives in a basement apartment with his dog Mouse, his cat Mister, and his super-intelligent spirit in a skull, Bob; he is off the grid because being a wizard wreaks havoc with technology; and he is a sucker for damsels in distress.

In Dead Beat, Dresden encounters some serious Big Bad: in an attempt to save Murphy’s reputation from a blackmailing vampire boss, he stumbles upon a plot by six competing necromancers to resurrect an army of dead spirits, and basically subsume the newly-risen dead to deify themselves with stolen eldritch powers the world hasn’t seen for millennia. Harry has to call upon all his allies – werewolves, his vampire half-brother, a cowardly polka-loving mortician, the suspicious Wardens of the White Council, a ruthless faerie queen and a fallen angel – help him save the city on Halloween.

There is a whole lot going on in this book and author Jim Butcher does a great job of keeping all the balls in the air. In fact, Dead Beat is the seventh book in the Dresden Files series (which I didn’t realize because my copy didn’t list all the titles in the front of the book) and yet I was still able to figure out who everyone was, and what was going on. Butcher has his main character allude to past occurrences with just enough detail for a newbie like me to garner perspective without over-expositing for fans who have been with him from the beginning.

Based on this one volume, I’m going to say that the Dresden Files novels are fun, with a main character/narrator who is full of conflict and foibles and wry humor. I’m thrilled to have found a new series to work my way through and you better believe that I’m going to go back and start from the beginning (– and won’t you all be glad to have a break from Gaiman and Pratchett?).

Note: The SciFi television series is very different from the books and Jim Butcher apparently posted on his website when it first aired that the show was rather an alternate universe, based loosely on the books but by no means faithful to them. I’ve watched 3.5 episodes and it’s okay, better than average for SciFi’s stuff, but not even close to the quality of BSG (or Angel, to which it bears similarity as well).

Movie review: 3:10 to Yuma (2007)

I've said before that I'm partial to Westerns.  I like the grit, the morality play, the harshness of the landscape.  3:10 to Yuma is a strong entry in the genre.  Christian Bale plays Dan Evans, a nearly defeated rancher, a former Easterner wounded in the Civil War, whose cattle are dying of thirst, whose neighbor is trying to force him off his land and whose wife and sons have doubts about his ability to provide for them.  Russell Crowe is Ben Wade, a very successful outlaw, running a scruffy, disreputable crew who has robbed the railroad twenty-two times, to the tune of $400,000.  When Wade lingers in town after his last job, trying to spend some time away from his nasty gang, he is captured, although he doesn't seem to upset about it.  Evans ends up as part of the posse transporting the outlaw to the town of Contention to meet the prison train in order to collect reward money that will keep his ranch, and family, alive.

The cast is a loaded one.  In addition to Bale and Crowe, there's Alan Tudyk as the town doctor, Peter Fonda as the head Pinkerton in charge of bringing Wade in, Luke Wilson as someone scruffy with bad teeth, Gretchen Mol as Evans's wife and Ben Foster, who is fantastic as Wade's obsessively loyal second in command.  Bale and Crowe are both fantastic here, terrific actors who through the course of the film segue from animosity and disdain for each other to a grudging acceptance and even respect.  Bale is particularly good as an honest man getting more than he bargained for while trying to restore his family's faith in him.

The problem, for me, was the very ending of the movie.  Mr. Mouse gave 3:10 to Yuma a C, unable to account for the 180 degree turn Ben Wade makes at the very end (I'm trying to not entirely spoil the thing here).  I'm not judging quite so harshly, surmising that perhaps since Wade has come to like and admire Dan Evans, he is possibly willing to go back to the prison from which he has already escaped twice, to help Evans out.  It even makes sense to me that Wade could turn on his own men in the end, sick of associating with such "animals," as he deemed them earlier.  But still, it's such an awfully big change that seemed to come in a rush at the end that it just doesn't sit quite right.  I don't need everything wrapped up in a happy ending, and, in fact, prefer that many Westerns do not, but I need the characters to stay true to themselves.  Ben Wade changed just too much for me to really believe in it.  However, not everyone feels this way - Roger Ebert loved this movie, for example - and I think it's worth a viewing to make up your own mind about it.

Gone gaga

Don't know how it happened exactly, but I saw Lady Gaga's video for "Bad Romance" recently and have become rather enamoured of it, even going so far as to download the song for my iPod.  The video is marvelous, creepy and glam - like what might happen if Madonna and Guillermo del Toro made a music video together.  Lady Gaga is clearly the heir-apparent to Madonna's genius of timing and self-promotion but actually surpasses the Material Girl in terms of visual art.  This guy explains the Gaga-phenomenon much better than I ever could.  (Also, he seems to have a lot of time on his hands to have been able to come up with all that.)

The not so long goodbye

As we all know, Dollhouse is getting the boot after having never really found its footing audience.  That's too bad because I think it was a better show than most people thought, especially in the more recent episodes (and any not focusing on Eliza Dushku's character, Echo).  Fortunately, Fox has promised to air all the remaining episodes - and Joss has promised that they only get better and better - through to the end.  They're up to E8 so there are three (six? bad t.v. blogger/Whedon fan for not knowing) episodes to go.

And you can catch them on Hulu.com if you miss them on Friday nights.  I myself am guilty of that what with a DVR still MIA from the mousehold.  But I've watched the last four episodes in the last two days and highly recommend them.  I think I'm actually going to go back and watch E6 ("The Left Hand") again, mostly because Enver Gjokaj (the Doll Victor) is a revelation.  I really hope this kid gets more work and soon.  Gjokaj is a gifted impersonator (impressionist?) and his scenes with Fran Kranz (Topher Brink) are nothing short of brilliant:  Topher, sent out of the Dollhouse on a mission, imprints Victor with his own brain scan so he can hold down the fort back at the lab; Victor's mimicry of Topher is uncanny and hilarious.