(the cat is the cool one)

joining the nbc fall 2011 lineup, this is where it’s at, baby. for those of you who love glee but are tired of soap operas, smash is refreshing, dazzling and goose-bump good.

debra messing is back as debra messing, but for once we appreciate how awesome she can be in a normal setting. outside of our realm of understanding, of course, but normal all the same. there’s work behind every performance we see, there’s inspiration and creativity behind every hit we recycle.

this is my first acquaintance with christian borle – by all appearances he’s the real jack mcfarland and will truman wrapped up in one, his relationship with debra is perfection. jack davenport is artistic and sexy – i’m liking him jaded and skeezy, it gives him an edge i didn’t realize i needed from him. katharine mcphee is a star, and this seems to be the perfect vehicle to bring her to the level she deserves. there’s a reason angelica huston is a legend – and she doesn’t disappoint.

but i’m most interested in two of our supporting characters. raza jaffrey manages to redefine sexiness and the modern man – the hope is to peel back layers, and find out what makes him tick. and megan hilty manages to capture our confused hearts – we know on some level, we’re supposed to hate her for competing with our protagonist – yet we can’t help but feel for her.

smash touches on the perfect balance of making the fantasy real, showing us the perspiration – but at the same time, astonishes us with the razzle-dazzle perfection of broadway musicale.

the modern musical for the over-fifteen, i predict it will live up to it’s name.

rating: watch it. with a friend, alone, i don’t care. every monday this fall, 10pm (EST), 9pm (CST)

any movie that can revolutionize thinking, revolutionize movie-making, and revolutionize Keanu Reeves’s acting career in 136 minutes has my complete and utter approval.

for film class, i once dissected the 3 minute lobby scene in which Neo and Trinity launch their attempt to save Morpheus – it was something like 180 different shots of badass-ness, and that includes several slow-mo setups of Neo and Trinity cartwheeling through concrete clouds. take five seconds here, cram 20 shots into this second – it’s a level of meticulous filmmaking that is rare anymore. when the wachowski brothers – i apologize, no longer brothers – when the wachowski siblings foraged into the second and third installments, there was no such love for every individual frame of their movie. they did it right the first time around, by being as succinct and awesome as possible.

rating: watch whenever disenfranchised, or in need of fist pumping awesomeness. the bigger the screen, the better.

for the lazy afternoon of absurdist surreality. visioneers unexpectedly tore at my emotions, lamenting the political, emotional and intellectual state of our american conscious. zach galifianakis is perfectly cast in this milos forman-esque dark dramedy written and directed by brothers jared and brandon drake.

how far have we devolved in our efforts to progress? is the life you wanted worth having? and when did we forget to laugh not only at ourselves but the world around us? and to fight for the right to do so?

independent thought is not given.

rating – watch alone, when there’s time. it’ll make you want to re-read your high school american history book.