Blog Archives

Forget a Bow & Put a Bird on Season 8

What’s going on in Portland, Oregon? That’s a common question everyone asks on a Wednesday, right?

I’m actually not sure, other than it’s been raining quite a bit lately. However, in TV’s hilarious mirror-reflection of the famous hipster city, there are mixed feelings these days. And it’s all because of the attached letters “ia” at the end of Portland.

Series Finale Idea: End on a live-shot with the show’s stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein surrounded by their Portlandia crew at Portland staple Voodoo Doughnut biting into a delicious new sugary treat inspired by and named after the show.

Season 8 is Portlandia’s final season and will premiere tomorrow night on IFC at 10 p.m.

Setting the Stage for Star Wars

Star Wars isn’t going anywhere, folks.

It’s Thursday and the following interview with Mark Hamill on the practical “Death Star” set is a nice throwback and early sobering assessment of what Star Wars was and was going to be to movie fans as the original trilogy was just beginning to change the world forever.

While Mr. Hamill’s drawing of a cinematic line between Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz sounds as ridiculous as two suns on Tatooine back in the ’70s, what time has proven is that there is, in fact, a link between that famous yellow brick road and the ultimate good vs. evil battle in a galaxy far, far away…

and that link is movie magic.

When films welcome and embrace that powerful escapist sensation, that’s when we, the fans, are granted permission and encouraged to travel to far-off worlds and galaxies we never knew were possible to reach within ourselves.

Sometimes in less than 12 parsecs.

Winston’s (Signature) Caper?

Carrying over from yesterday’s blog post, I recommend you go to a theater near you to see Darkest Hour. Not only for history’s sake but to witness a brilliant performance of a British leadership icon by a fellow British icon of a different sort.

Gary Oldman is something special portraying Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. Plus, Mr. Oldman showed in a behind-the-scenes clip that his talent isn’t restricted to just the dramatic arts…

If those dance moves don’t inspire you for the forthcoming New Year celebrations, I don’t know what will.

We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall get jiggy with it in the streets celebrating victory!

The Mission Was Impossible Until It Wasn’t

Just how dark and uncertain were the real-life events that are chronicled in Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour? Today, Winston Churchill is a legendary icon. Back then, he was a man; just an ordinary man with something extra about him.

Gary Oldman, who masterfully disguised himself as the great British leader and orator of the mid-20th century, Winston Churchill (actually, it’s more of an acute metamorphosis), takes audiences on a matter-of-fact journey of Churchill’s nomination, acceptance and turbulent, yet historically triumphant tenure as the British Prime Minister battling Hitler and the very survival of the United Kingdom as well as Europe and the world. That’s not a spoiler, but life-altering history from the early 1940s. What is surprising, and what will remain unwritten here, are the fascinating behind-the-scenes moments, relationships and stunning detractors to Mr. Churchill in this pivotal time during World War II.

For those rarely known instances, I recommend you go see Darkest Hour at a theater near you. Then watch Christopher Nolan’s 2017 film Dunkirk as a wonderful companion piece both historically and cinematically, if you haven’t already.

But Darkest Hour begs the question of whether there’s a modern-day Churchill? Moreover, will the world ever see another man like Winston? Has there been another great leader akin to Winston Churchill?

Let’s hear from the man who became “The British Bulldog.”

Darkest Hour is historical proof that we must persevere through our own personal abyss and never stop navigating after failure’s vicious cycle because it’s at the moment when the impossible arrives that the course can change dramatically and transform into something we’ve been working for all these years:

Impossible becomes I’m possible. That’s the story of Winston Churchill.