Matt Smith - Page 4

It's that time of year again! Hollywood heavyweights are flocking to the Dolby Theatre this afternoon to attend the 87th Annual Academy Awards. Like the Golden Globes, presented earlier this year, the roster of nominees are primarily made up of film stars (well, duh!) more so than stage actors, but no fear - there are a considerable amount of this year's candidates with strong theatrical credits.

Claire and Phil are traveling back from a camping trip with Phil's ex-cheerleading buddies (love those guys!!); while Phil's enjoyed himself, Claire's had an awful weekend, and jumps at the chance to upgrade to first-class — and separate herself from her husband — on the flight back. A funny premise made funnier when we see how this plot will be presented, with consistent back-and-forth from Claire's glamorous in-flight experience (a “beautiful stranger” offers her two chardonnays and a hot towel) to Phil's less-than-stellar one (he gets hit with a bag that falls from an overhead compartment on the way to his seat).

It's V-day on MODERN FAMILY, and what does that mean? The return of Clive and Juliana, of course! The alter-ego's fourth appearance (I don't believe Phil and Claire have brought them back since S3) may easily be one of their best, if not entirely because of the execution of this plot. At the start, Phil wants to bring back Clive and Juliana, but Claire doesn't. So, Phil drops the gag, and goes as himself for Valentine's. But it's quickly revealed that Claire's resistance was a ruse — she just wanted to separate herself from her sexier doppleganger. So, the night ends up being Phil and Juliana — brilliant! Claire's at her naughtiest and Phil's just… Phil. A pairing you can't help but laugh at!

Hey, all. Hope you enjoyed your short, mid-winter hiatus, and now the TV gods have rewarded our suffering by giving us a full month of new episodes! That's right, new episodes — one every week this month! Let the rejoicing begin! Here we go with the first one up: After Gloria (and the allergist) suspects Joe's allergic to Stella, she's sent away to live with Mitch and Cam for a week, much to Jay's chagrin. He's overly attached to the dog, and feels like he's lost her to Cam. (Some fantastic one-liners in their conversation while Cam's at the dog park, though they may not have had to do with the dog — haha!) Jay tries to win her back in several ways, one being the check-up in the aforementioned phone call, the other being a particularly hilarious scene where he cooks his baby a steak dinner — “You don't know what I'm competing with over there,. Cameron's wooing her with belly rubs, jewelry, kisses on the mouth…” See, I know Jay's over-affection for the dog (especially over his family) may seem a bit — nay, a lot — irrational, but Ed O'Neill plays this irrationality so well that you laugh at what he says rather than reprimand what he does.

Welp, this is it. after a season of tumultuous, tear-jerking episodes (and 5 seasons aired previously), our favorite hit NBC drama has come to an end. The final outing had some lows, quite a few highs, and - just because it's PARENTHOOD - a few unexpected twists. To put it simply, though, the whole thing just let us know that the Braverman clan was going to be all right.

With just one episode left, there's, surprisingly, a lot of balls in the air this episode. This week dealt with pregnancy, wedding plans, reconciliation, and, of course, Zeek's big decision. Again, I think it's really nice that the writers are still consistently throwing stuff at us this close to the end, as it a) takes our mind off the fact that the series is ending, and b) literally keeps us glued to our seats right up until the very end. So, now to dive into our recap:

As we approach the series finale of PARENTHOOD, we may consider taking stock of what we have, reveling in past memories, and being forced to look toward the future (of course, all the while, remembering that our past informs our future). Fortunately, that's pretty much what all our favorite characters on the show are doing this week as well. Let's move in for a closer look:

In the Dunphy household, Claire vows to fight back against new neighbors Ronnie and Amber, for parking their boat—which she calls an “eyesore”—in their driveway. When she and Phil go to see them about the issue, and they don't back down, Phil calls his father (Fred Willard), and a few of Frank's friends, for backup. And… it backfired.

Film and television stars (and audiences) are sure to come out in droves when funny ladies Tina Fey and Amy Poehler take the stage for a final time (so they say!) to host the Golden Globes, tonight on NBC at 8pm/7c. While the annual ceremony wouldn't be as geared toward theatre people as, say, the Tony Awards (June 7th on CBS for those who need a heads-up), this year is a bit different, with a collection of nominees having Broadway experience, and a few films up for nods having ties to theatre as well.

New York, NY – Bang on a Can: Beauty Is Power, a concert featuring “cello goddess” (The New Yorker) Maya Beiser, will take place at the Jewish Museum on Thursday, January 29 at 7:30pm. Tied to the Museum's exhibition, Helena Rubinstein: Beauty Is Power, the first exhibition about the legendary cosmetics entrepreneur and trendsetting art collector Helena Rubinstein, the performance will highlight powerful women composers. This program is the third concert of the Jewish Museum and Bang on a Can's partnership to produce a series of dynamic musical performances at the Museum from June 2014 to May 2015, inspired by the Jewish Museum's diverse slate of exhibitions.

Hey y'all. Welcome back and happy new year! It's time to dive into ModFam 2015! On the first episode of the New Year, the Dunphys experience a near-collision at an intersection that makes each one of them reconsider the way in which they live their life; and they each vow to make a difference, which, of course, lead to a variety of cockamamy consequences.

It's Haley's 21st, and the adults (read: Claire) want to take her out to a bar to celebrate. In the midst of the celebration, when Haley pins her mother down on the subject of not being treated like an adult, Claire attempts to become her daughter's “friend,” to hilarious results. This was the best plot of the night — made better by Gloria's quips boosting Haley's suggestions to the next level. (The line, “They also have piercings!” when Claire was hugging Haley made me spit out my drink!) While the tattoo adventure/Claire being Haley's friend, may not have ended as Claire had hoped, what happened between the inciting incident and the result was a continuation of the fantastic development for these characters. I love the sense of realness Hyland and Bowen bring to this relationship, and how we've seen it grow from the first season. Haley's much more fleshed out and not just your “typical older teenage daughter” (well, obviously not anymore, she's 21)… and we've seen Hyland provide incredible examples of that all season. Now, we're starting to get into more of how Claire will treat her adult daughter as a result. It's really nice, and these two give amazing performances, so I'm hoping to see that continue in the second half of the season and beyond.

Hi folks! Now that we're all filled up on turkey and stuffed to the brim with pumpkin pie, it's time to settle in for the final two MODERN FAMILY episodes of the year. First up this week, 1 of 2. In the Dunphy household, Alex claims to have a boyfriend, but the rest of the family's in denial. Question: Why does the family have to doubt/make fun of Alex in all the episodes with Dunphy plots that center around her? That said, this one does work better than the other Alex-centered-family-picks-on-her episode from earlier this year, and I love how Haley's roped into it with Claire's digs at Dylan (read: “Bigfoot” “Still better than Dylan”). The best part of this plot was the visual cues Phil and Claire discovered when Alex was speaking of her rebound, Teddy Keys who worked at Mattress King. Really well done, and funny (especially “Leave!” as Phil pulls out a leaf — what?!) Great plot this week!

On this week's PARENTHOOD: Dylan cannot be partners with Max, but Max continues to pester her. Presumably because of his Asperger's, he doesn't understand when to let go. It's really upsetting when you think about it… and he can't do anything about it (something Dylan notes later on in the episode). Poor Max. :-(. It doesn't get any better when he's accused of “harassing” Dylan — and her parents come in and blast Adam and Kristina in front of the entire parent body. This whole plot line is a continuation of the brilliant acting we saw from Max Burkholder last week — he continues to kill it here, especially in the first scene — and when he comes to terms with the fact that he, in fact, doesn't understand all social cues and needs work, despite his Asperger's. Really great character growth and much deserved considering where we first started with him (like, way back in Season 1). (Bonus points for Kristina and Adam's incredibly parenthood pep talk! I mean, who doesn't want to be a Braverman?!)

It's the MODFAM Thanksgiving episode, and, as expected, there's a whole lot of turkeys present this week (three to be exact). Luckily, this episode wasn't one of them. :-) As I said on Halloween, generally, holiday episodes that continuously repeat holidays well into their run (like, six seasons in) may grow stale, as the holiday doesn't change and in a show's sixth season, creators may find less original storylines that haven't already been used up, say, last Thanksgiving. But, not the case with MODERN FAMILY, who, in their — give or take — sixth seasonal outing, gives us an original — and hilarious — storyline, that, again, was anything but a turkey. The episode provided a nice balance of Thanksgiving-centered stories and mixed them in with stories that didn't have to do with the holiday, but still seamlessly bled into those storylines — that's why the writing on this show is sooooo genius! (Okay… anyone have a count on how many times I've said that?!)

Thursday night. Time for a new PARENTHOOD recap: First, Max rushes to Kristina (who's back — yay!) because Adam's still away on business (WHAT?! 6 EPISODES LEFT, PEOPLE!) desperate to know how to ask a girl (read: Dylan) out on a date. When he does go to do it though, he finds Dylan kissing another guy. Max first asks to expel Aaron Brownstein, the guy who was making out with Dylan, which escalates to handing out flyers and then a full-on brawl in the middle of the hallway. Out of anger, Max decides to end his friendship with Dylan and keep his distance. Then, he backtracks… but goes too far… and Dylan, as such, reacts. Simply, in just a few words, amazing acting all around from Max Burkholder, and it's nice that Max Braverman is so deeply involved in his relationship with Dylan that he actually wants to do something about it. It's great, too, that Kristina shows a softer, compelling side toward him; she understands why he did what he did. And that final scene between them was perfect!

Without my MODERN FAMILY fix last week — the timeslot was given to some huge Country Music Awards show — I was extra eager to see what the Pritchetts and Dunphys were up to this week. Well, folks, with Cam and Mitch involved in a jealous rivalry again, Gloria partaking in hijinks with a Spanish tutor, and of course, a double dose of guest stars in Andy DeVine and Michael Urie (who recently made his Broadway debut in 2011's HOW TO SUCCEED), it's safe to say that, overall, this week's outing did not disappoint.

PARENTHOOD's always the type of show that'll throw us curveballs. Given the tearjerking promo that showed what I'd call more than just a glimmer of hope, this week, re: curveballs, was no exception. And, as this episode dealt with a plot line I've been very vocal about since the beginning of the season, it's safe to say I've restored faith in the Braverman clan (not that I ever lost it, but you know what I mean). But more on that later. My full analysis follows:

This week, PARENTHOOD has balanced the good and the bad, leaving an “Even Steven”-type result. The absence of Zeek AND Joel and Julia this week sadden me as those storyline for the season are definitely the largest overall, but the return of Sarah, Hank & Ruby (absent from last week's episode) has allowed their storyline to advance, where it couldn't last week ('cause, again, they were absent). Furthermore, the time jump gives me mixed feelings. It's great because it moves Amber's pregnancy along, but other than a title card that flashed “3 months later,” there's no other clues or signs that show me it's three months later. Soooo, why do we need it? And then part of me says, Amber's why we need it, but then I guess I addend that statement: Why wasn't it addressed? This type of jump-storytelling, coupled with the absence of major characters, is not as enjoyable for me, but on the whole, yes, I understand it works better to get the most out of each character's storyline. And yes, it does. :-)

It's the annual Halloween episode, and given MODERN FAMILY's previous Day of the Dead-themed outings, I've got high hopes for this one. Holiday episodes in general can go either way — because you've got a broad holiday that everyone can relate to, but then you have to tailor it to that specific show and those characters. Again, MODERN FAMILY has some pretty good outings, but with the holiday repeatedly coming every year, the decision to do a Halloween episode every season means continually having to work with this same formula — except that they then can't do what they did the previous year, but of course, are still working around the same holiday.