Happy, but melancholy Thursday, Boys & Girls!

 

It's time for a special All-"Friday Night Lights" Finale installment of the Firewall & Iceberg Podcast.

 

There's no need for a time breakdown because all 84 minutes of this podcast are dedicated to the world of Dillon (East & West) high school football and its surrounding drama. 

 

If you haven't seen the "FNL" finale, which aired on Wednesday on DirecTV, DO NOT LISTEN. Whatever there is to spoil, we spoil it. Just wait until you've watched on DVD or NBC or whatever viewing option best fits your fancy.

 

And a special "Thanks!" to all of the readers who sent in questions for the podcast. The response was overwhelming and the questions were pretty fantastic. We must have answered 10 or 15 of them during the podcast and I'm sure several others inspired us in tangential conversations. 

 

Anyway, if you like this type of podcast, we'll probably do it again in the future when one of our favorites departs. This May? An All-"Chase" Finale Firewall & Iceberg!

 

Here's the podcast. If you're an "FNL" fan, we hope you enjoy!

 

 

I admire Daniel Lawrence Whitney more than I like Larry the Cable Guy. 

 

Larry the Cable Guy is the comedy circuit sensation and "Cars" vocal star, but Daniel Lawrence Whitney is the ridiculously savvy self-promoter who realized that by crafting an entirely affected blue collar image he could become a zillionaire. Obviously it's reductive to say that Larry the Cable Guy is popular because of his fake accent, his designer sleeveless flannels and his assortment of baseball caps. There's no doubt that his material has also struck a chord with a large swath of the population and ignoring that material and its resonance would be doing Larry a great disservice. Still, I watch Larry the Cable Guy and what he does feels only slightly different from the lower income white equivalent of performing in blackface. It's not like Larry the Cable Guy is really some rich banker's son from Vermont, but he's become richer than that banker's son through some mighty aggressive pandering.

 

And Larry the Cable Guy hasn't made his money by pandering to me, which is almost certainly to his benefit. 

 

Suddenly, though, Larry is popping up on the History Channel with a new show called "Only in America with Larry the Cable Guy," which premieres on Tuesday (Feb. 8) night. In terms of venue, this is probably Larry venturing out of his comfort zone, though he hasn't changed his persona at all to cater to a History Channel audience (whatever that happens to mean). "Only in America" is a Larry-centric travelogue and if you like Larry, you'll probably like "Only in America." And if you don't? Well, Larry isn't making accommodations to you. Best case scenario, your reaction will be something along the lines of, "Well, it wasn't as bad as I expected."

 

I watched the first two episodes of "Only in America" and I don't suffer through two hours of programming if I'm not going to at least write a few words, so click through...

Happy Monday, Boys & Girls.

 

Time for the week's first of two Firewall & Iceberg Podcasts.

 

As we teased last week, we've got a "Friday Night Lights" finale podcast going up on Thursday. I haven't edited a couple pieces together yet, but it's going to be roughly 75 minutes of nothing but "Friday Night Lights." We covered a ton of grounds, because y'all asked a ton of great questions.

 

But first? It's our post-Super Bowl episode, with a discussion of Sunday's commercials and halftime show, some chatter about "Glee," some chatter about the return of "Raising Hope" and then reviews of FOX's "Traffic Light," ABC's "Mr Sunshine" and the second season premiere of FX's "Justified."

 

Here's the breakdown:

The Super Bowl commercials and halftime: 01:20 - 23:45

"Glee" - 23:45 - 32:10

"Raising Hope" - 32:45 - 38:00

"Traffic Light" - 38:00 - 42:45

"Mr. Sunshine" - 42:45 - 47:40 

"Justified" - 47:45 - 58:30

 

 

Part of me wonders if The Powers That Be on FOX's "The Chicago Code" wouldn't just as soon get predominantly negative reviews for their midseason drama.

 

This isn't going to be one of those "Do critics really matter?" reviews, because the answer to that question is, "Of course critics matter, our voices are clearly the most importantest in all the world and we should remain gainfully employed whether we work on the Internet or on those paper things you can still get in some cities." Duh.

 

But as much as Shawn Ryan may have enjoyed reading kindly reviews for FX's "Terriers" -- It made my Top 5 for 2010 and dozens upon dozens of other Top 10 lists --  those reviews didn't exactly bring in the sort of audiences that would get the show a second season on Tulsa Public Access, much less on FX. We miss you, "Terriers."

 

And as much as FOX probably appreciated that the last time the network premiered a new drama on Mondays at 9 p.m. after "House," some critics -- myself included -- called it the best new network pilot of the fall, not only did it not turn "Lone Star" into a hit, it didn't get "Lone Star" past two episodes. In theory, we miss you, "Lone Star," though with only two episodes as a sample size, it's hard to miss you all that much.

 

So maybe FOX and Shawn Ryan would appreciate a little reverse psychology? Maybe this would be a perfect opportunity to cover up my true enthusiasms for "The Chicago Code" to write a harsh, negative review. It might make me feel guilty and disingenuous, but I also can't help but feel that all of the vitriol I spewed about "Harry's Law" was responsible for making it NBC's first semi-hit in months, either directly or karmically.

 

Let's give this a try:

 

"The Chicago Code" is pretty much like every cop show out there. The writing isn't at all distinctive and the use of Windy City locations doesn't help produce any sort of flavor for the series, which could pretty much be set anywhere. The performances are all forgettable, especially Delroy Lindo, who most certainly isn't one of the most charismatic small screen villains in some time. I'm definitely not clamoring to see additional episodes of "The Chicago Code," because it definitely isn't the best midseason show you'll see on network TV. Definitely.

 

Got that, casual TV viewers? This elitist critic says that "Chicago Code" really isn't the kind of show you'll like, or at least that's the view from my jade tower (ivory is so 1995). I'm ever-so-sorry if hearing that makes you suspect it might be exactly the sort of show that you'd love and I'm ever-so-sad that I'm just one man and there's nothing I can do to prevent you from individually tuning in and drawing your own conclusions. If you've gotta tune in and check it out yourself, you've gotta do it.

 

Now I'll kindly ask those anti-critic casual viewers not to click through for more extended thoughts on "Chicago Code."

We're back, Boys & Girls!

 

Time for the triumphant (or semi-triumphant) return of The Firewall & Iceberg Podcast.

 

After a one-week hiatus while I was standing in line in the snow at the Sundance Film Festival, the podcast is back, albeit with a somewhat odd podcast this week. With no new premieres, we pushed "The Chicago Code" up a week and reviewed that. It's stuck in a sandwich made up of things we missed last week and a solid 30 minutes of listener mail.

 

Next week? LOTS of premieres, plus the "Friday Night Lights" series finale to discuss.

 

But for this week?

Two-week catchup (including Sundance, Charlie Sheen and recent awards shows) - 00:01:20 - 00:20:00

"Chicago Code" - 00:20:00 - 00:29:00

Listener Mail (with spoilers), including:

Shows that hit peaks in later seasons - 00:31:00 - 00:36:25

Shows that damaged themselves with unresolved finales - 00:36:30 - 00:44:45

Importance of International Value - 00:45:00 - 00:47:40

Character Deaths - 00:47:40 - 00:55:55

Will Ferrell coming to "The Office" - 00:56:00 - 01:04:00

 

Wednesday (Jan. 26) was a good day for the team behind "I Melt With You." Just hours before the film's world premiere, "I Melt With You" was acquired for distribution by Magnolia Pictures, allowing for that most precious of Sundance Film Festival moments: a public screening without any concern for the business side of things.

 

"I Melt With You" had already premiered for critics and industry types two days before and the initial reviews for the drama, which focuses on a group of four college friends whose annual hedonistic reunion becomes increasingly dark and violent, were decidedly polarized.

 

I sat down with "I Melt With You" helmer Mark Pellington star Jeremy Piven just minutes after the Magnolia deal was announced and hours before the premiere. Before we began filming, Pellington asked my name and, matching it in his head to my critique, he declared, "We should begin by having you read your review out-loud."

 

It could have set the stage for a tense interview, but as I discussed with Pellington and Piven, there are countless movies that come and go without producing any reaction of any kind, that don't give you anything to digest afterwards, that don't generate passions of any sort. "I Melt With You" is not that sort of disposable film and whether I loved it or hated it, I had things to say about it, a conversation that continued with Pellington long after the interview ended. 

 

Check out the interview and read my review and then, when Magnolia releases "I Melt With You," you can draw your own conclusions.

PARK CITY - I had a rough penultimate day at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.

 

Due to interviews for "I Melt With You," I lost a morning of possible screening. I did have a fine chat with director Mark Pellington and co-star Jeremy Piven, a conversation that didn't make me like the movie any more, but which made me appreciate that even a movie you strongly dislike is still more interesting to talk about than one you're ambivalent toward. That interview will post in the next day or two.

 

Then, as the afternoon came to a close, I was glued to my Slingbox for two hours of "American Idol" auditions from Milwaukee. 

 

Because of those interruptions to my own schedule and some spotty Sundance scheduling. I was only able to see two movies on Wednesday (Jan. 26) and I can't say that I especially liked either one.

 

In the afternoon, I saw Carlos Moreno's Colombian dramegoredy (drama+allegory+comedy) "All Your Dead Ones" (which reads far better in its original Spanish as "Todos Tus Muertos"), an entry in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition.

 

In the evening, I caught Calvin Lee Reeder's "The Oregonian," which is part of the Park City at Midnight program.

 

I really don't have enough energy for full reviews of either, so I'm splitting the difference and doing partial reviews of each.

 

Click through...

PARK CITY - True speculative fiction usually starts with a "What if...?" question and the measure of the story's quality isn't necessarily in the quality of the question, so much as the commitment to answering the question in a way that feels literally, or at least emotionally, honest.

 

Written by Kim Fupz Aakeson and directed by David Mackenzie, the Sundance premiere "Perfect Sense" starts with what could be interpreted as a profoundly silly question.

 

"What," the movie asks, "would happen if all around the world, people suddenly and inexplicably started losing their sense of smell?"

 

It almost sounds like a joke, doesn't it? It's like somebody set out to do a parody of José Saramago's "Blindess," which would be a pointless effort, since Fernando Meirelles' 2008 adaptation of "Blindness" already played out like a parody of "Blindness."

 

Despite a thuddingly bad title -- What, "Senseless" and "Insensitive" were too on-the-nose? -- "Perfect Sense" makes an honest and often worthy attempt to do right by the story of how humanity-in-microcosm would handle a threat to our very senses. It's not quite a parable and it's not quite a realistic roadmap, but "Perfect Sense" is definitely a movie that takes its premise seriously and asks viewers to engage in its questions.

 

Full review of "Perfect Sense" after the break...