Damages

I am writing this because of my anger over the lack of Emmys won by FX's Damages over the weekend. I'm very happy for both Mad Men and Breaking Bad, because they're both great shows, but Damages really deserved it. I think that the show if often overlooked, and put on a lower level than AMC's shows, even though it fully deserves to be included with them. I've recently re-watched the entire series, and I have a few things to commend them for. First, it is quite amazing that throughout the entire series, there was not one string person. At their core, every character is weak or pathetic in some way or another. Glenn Close plays Patty Hewes is a woman so emotionally damaged and paranoid that she destroys everyone who tries to get close to her, and pushes away any who are already close to her. Tate Donovan plays her sycophantic lap-dog Tom Shayes, so afraid of being on his own that he goes along with anything Patty says. And, of course, Rose Byrne plays Ellen Parsons, Patty's protege (at the beginning) who then turns into her enemy. And, of course, the show has had a revolving door of great cast members, such as Martin Short, Ted Danson, William Hurt, and Tim Olyphant. What I'm trying to say is, Damages should have won it all.

Greenberg

Noah Baumbach's latest film came and went with little fanfare. I didn't even know it was out on DVD until Amazon told me so. The lack of talk about it worried me that it wouldn't be very good, and the reviews on Amazon didn't help either. Most of them cried about the "lack of storyline", and the fact that "nothing happened" in it. Either way, I ordered it (used, for a very low price). When it came in the mail, I popped it into the DVD player and began watching. All in all, it took me four sittings over three days to finish the movie. Generally this would indicate that I did not like it, but that's not the case. I just think that there's only so much mundane life that can be handled at one time. Either way, Greenberg is a fine, understated film. Beyond Greenberg (Ben Stiller)'s quirk of being recently released from an insane asylum, the film is simply a look into everyday life. It is relatively similar to a Bukowski novel in that way. Of course, there are some exaggerations (see: Stiller explicitly going down on Greta Gerwig, as she spouts of awkward nothings), but for the most part this is real life. We all, as Greenberg does, wish to just do nothing with our lives for some amount of time. We all have those people who we run into that we were once extremely close to, but are now distant memories. We all have that one friend who, no matter how different we have become from each other, will continue supporting you for as long as you can imagine. This really isn't very romantic, as it seems on the surface. It's more of a flirt with romance, smothered by life in general. There's nothing more I really feel is necessary to say. Yes, the performances are great, and yes, Baumbach's direction saves it from becoming boring. I am unable to either recommend it or tell you to stay away from it. I suggest you watch it and figure it out for yourself.