I caught the final broadcast of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien Friday which was a sad but ultimately uplifting broadcast. Conan made a gracious exit and gave a very heartfelt goodbye to his fans, and took the high road, where instead of bitching about his recent treatment by his network, he thanked them for the opportunities he has been given over the past 20 years. Whether or not you sided with Jay Leno or Conan during the fiasco of host shuffling NBC was attempting, Conan showed himself to be a class act with they way he ended his time at the network and I look forward to what he will do next come this fall.
Archive for Reviews
Caught David Tennant’s final turn as The Doctor in a sad but fitting farewell to his quirky interpretation of everyone’s favorite time lord. Saving the Earth one last time from the machinations of The Master, while giving a more insight into how the villain became insane (turns out the Time Lords did it in order to use him to save them from the time lock that trapped them in limbo, which also ended the time war with the Daleks). While all of that is good sci-fi fun, the real meat of the final episodes is just exactly what it means to regenerate. Since Pertwee’s tenure, regeneration was always seen as a disorienting transition in which The Doctor needed time to adjust himself to his new body. But now they show just how difficult it really is. It is really like dying, everything you ever were is gone. The memories may remain but the person ceases to exist. Tennant effectively conveys the sad and soul crushing aspect that lays under being able to live forever. The final episode ends a little bittersweet as Tennant briefly visits all of his past companions, even Rose, before finally giving in to his body’s need to regenerate from radiation poisoning. Though he may be gone, The Doctor still lives and is ready for more adventures. Looking forward to seeing how the new incarnation does.
To rip off a quote from What About Bob, there are two kinds of people in the world, those who like Michael Jackson and those who don’t. I’m in the latter category and my wife is in the former. So when we finally hit a weekend where we didn’t have to deal with a broken down car or running errands for a parent, I steeled myself and accompanied her to see This Is It.
Now as I said, I’m not a fan of Michael Jackson’s music. During his heyday of the 80’s I listened to David Lee Roth era Van Halen and Robert Plant (nowadays I also listen to Elvis and Sinatra), so you will have some understanding of how important this next statement is. I really liked the movie.
Stripped away of all the scandal and odd public behavior, the film allows Jackson’s actual talent to show. He sings, dances, choreographs, rearranges compositions on the fly and stage directs his concert. The film shows how much untapped potential Jackson still had at fifty and instead being a has been from the 80’s going through the motions, really had been on the verge of a comeback to rival Tina Turner’s. The rehearsals show what the concert would have been, and it would have been awesome.
I also like the structure of the film. Each song gets set up by showing the planning of the stage set or the filmed intro that would be shown on a projection behind the stage, then you get a brief snippet of Jackson and his dancers working out the moves and stage direction. Finally comes an actual performance of the song. The last part is the most amazing part as the film cuts from one rehearsal performance to another and in each one Jackson is so spot on that it plays seamlessly as one complete performance. Another nice thing about the film is that it gives an opportunity for the musicians and dancers to have their performances actually seen.
I will be very surprised if this doesn’t get nominated and win Best Documentary at the Oscars.
