True Blood 4.2 "You Smell Like Dinner"

Last week on True Blood I bemoaned the scattershot expository-heavy nature of the season 4 premiere but Holy Recovery. This show must have taken a hit of "V" last week because it came on supernaturally strong in the second episode of the season. If they keep this up we could be looking at a peak season. The show managed to pull at least a third of its characters (can we hope for two thirds?) back into a central plot (the emergence of a powerful new witch coven) in organic ways. It's the kind of braided multi-strand narrative that the best television series thrive on and which newly fanatical Game of Thrones watchers are going to eventually realize will never ever happen again on their new favorite show ever -- unless the production team ditches the source material for original stories -- but let's not get sidetracked!

What were those vamp whores up to this week?

'You want to call me that again?'

"You Smell Like Dinner" covers as much recap ground in its first half as "She's Not There" did in its entire hour while actually advancing the story. Jason is being held captive by his were-panther community and we learn why. The vampires at Fangtasia are still beset by Right Wing Christian groups -- Pam gets a particularly choice zinger in before hot-headed Hoyt gets a pumelling. Sam's shapeshifter friends become more interesting, particularly Luna. Eric continues his takeover of Sookie's house and life. He calls her "saucy" which is an impressively perfect word choice on behalf of the screenwriters given that it's 100% accurate, a bit old fashioned (he's hundreds of years old) and English isn't his native tongue.

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Sudden Flashback: Ladies in Waiting

I always forget that Emily Mortimer and Kelly Macdonald were Cate Blanchett's right-hand (and left-hand) girls in Elizabeth (1998).

(And Daniel Craig was in it, too!)

None of those ladies had to wait long for their careers to blossom... though in the case of Emily & Kelly maybe the careers should've blossomed more spectacularly. Aren't they great? Lovely & Amazing Emily can next be spotted in the comedy Our Idiot Brother (opening in August) and Kelly is playing "The Grey Lady" (aka Helena Ravenclaw) in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (opening... well, you know when.)

Man vs. Link

Grantland Molly Lambert's incisive piece on Shia Labeouf's star persona "Tears of a Fighting Clown"
Super Punch "Zombie Snow White MacBook Stickers" Eeek and Yay!
i09 wonders which DC characters could save DC's miserable movie track record. I voted for "Aquaman but only if James Cameron directs it" because James Cameron is awesome. The end.
PopMatters muses on Marvel and whether or not they can sustain their own coherent movie universe.
The Awl "30 Ways to Say 'I Want You'"

xinmsn Tony Leung Chiu-Wai and Carina Lau are trying to get pregnant. A fan snaps them having lunch with Faye Wong. I personally think Wong Kar Wai should film all such too-starry lunches.
Towleroad Reason #21,318 to Love Brad Pitt. He's still fighting the equality fight with mouth and money.
Critical Condition would like to know what you think of this new serenity in the face of death as seen in Restless, The Big C, 50/50 and the like.

And the season premiere of Man vs. Wild is nearly upon us (July 11th) with Jake Gyllenhaal hitting Iceland with Bear Grylls.

Jake's technique is looking good. His body is relaxed which means his trailing leg is hanging well down, making it easier to keep his balance.

?!?

New on DVD. Reader Request Poll

I'm no longer sure how to cover new DVD releases. Just as I'd decided we needed more coverage of them -- acknowledging that this is how most people watch movies -- and just as I'd decided on this biweekly format of "you choose!" Netflix went and signed some month long delay deal on new releases... but only some of them.

So now the subject of when something is or isn't available on DVD is nearly as confusing as whether or not a movie is or isn't available to people theatrically, which is something I don't think any of us ever wanted to see happen. Why can't the movie business learn what all other businesses seem to know in the modern age: if people want something, you agree to sell it to them! Curse you corporate deal-makers.

So I'm no longer going to be remotely completist about covering which DVDs are out which makes my little OCD self really sad but there it is. So since you're only getting a portion of what's available anyway, I will now only list movies I am curious about in some way (sometimes for healthy reasons, other times not). You can choose between the following movies... (If you don't have an immediate preference, let someone convince you to vote for something in the comments.)

• 13 ASSASSINS -Takasi Miike plays with his samurai dolls. Supposedly the 45 minute action sequence which concludes the film is epic epicness.
• BATTLE: LOS ANGELES -Aaron Eckhart, cleft chin champion, battles aliens in Pacific Central Time.
• CEREMONY -Indie romantic comedy in which Michael Angaro falls for Uma Thurman who is already engaged to Lee Pace.
• HAIR (1979) New on Blu-Ray Hippies sing and dance in Central Park in this stage to screen adaptation.
• HALL PASS -overpaid stars pretend to be average suburbanites who are allowed to cheat on wives. We're guessing heteronormative-monogamous values prevail & nobody actually does the extramarital deed and/or realizes it was a mistake to even have the fantasy. There's no place like home!
• NEW YORK NEW YORK (1977) New on Blu-Ray Martin Scorsese's post WWII musical about the on again off again romance of a saxophone player (Robert De Niro) and his chanteuse girl (Liza Minnelli).
• RED RIDING HOOD -Amanda Seyfried is color blind, pairing the famous red cloak with a lavender dress (yuck), as she visits her grandmother with very big teeth.

Previously you forced Nathaniel (c'est moi) to write about The Other Woman, The Rescuers and Biutiful. What will it be this time?

poll by twiigs.com

First and Last, Dublin

the first image and the last line from a motion picture

Let's drink to Dublin because ______________ was born there. 

Can you guess the movie?

Check your answer after the jump.

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