HALT AND CATCH FIRE - To fill the void left by Mad Men on Sunday nights, AMC slotted in the new '80s computer programming drama Halt And Catch Fire which revolves around an enigmatic and brash tech entrepreneur Joe McMillan (Lee Pace, from The Hobbit, Pushing Daisies, The Fall) whose desire to build a computer to rival IBM sees him recruiting a punk rock klepto tech genius college student who dislikes wearing bras and a sad sack drunk married father of two whose flash of genius years before went unnoticed by everyone except Joe. The show is built around the two men whose life goals are diametrically opposite, yet the venn-diagram of their desires slightly overlaps when it comes to building the machine that they believe the world is waiting for. Scoot McNairy plays Gordon, the programmer who is struggling with a teetering marriage (Fun Fact: his wife is played by Kerry Bishe, who also played his wife in the Ben Affleck film Argo) and alcoholism while wasting away in a cubicle in the office of a tech firm. Joe belittles Gordon but quickly lets his intentions be known and recruits Gordon and Cameron, the rebellious young woman who struggles to trust the suits who want her skills. Joe is a mix of someone somewhere between Don Draper and The Wolf Of Wall Street. He can whip up a room into a froth with an improvised speech of stolen catchphrases and cliche sentiments but has the confidence and determination to walk away from any confrontation the winner. It's a nice little period piece to be a placeholder for a few months before Mad Men comes back.
COLD IN JULY - This film is a cold, black, dirty little piece noir. Joe R. Lansdale wrote the book about a man who shoots an unarmed burglar in his home one night in small-town Texas and struggles to cope with the aftermath. Soon, the dead mans father (Sam Shepard) shows up in town, fresh out of prison, looking for vengeance. Halfway through the film, the plot takes a turn and becomes something altogether different but tests Richard (Michael C. Hall) in unimaginable ways. Don Johnson shows up in the larger than life role of Jim Bob, a PI with a personality the size of Texas and Hall surprisingly keeps up with Johnson and Sam Shepard. His role as Dexter Morgan for almost a decade prepared him to play Richard, a man hiding secrets from his family and more capable of violence and vengeance than anyone would assume. All three men are forced to confront the darkness they know exists in the world and which resides within them and see if they make it out of the darkness alive.
WORLD CUP SOCCER - The World Cup, held every 4 years, is perhaps the most beloved sporting event in the world, even more than the Olympics. Soccer, still struggling to gain footing as a serious sport here in the United States, is the sport of choice for almost every other nation on Earth. The US Men's National Team, USMNT, is always a dark horse to make the tournament, let alone be considered a real threat to compete but this year, thanks to the presence of coach Jurgen Klinsman, a German who has both coached in and played & won a World Cup, the US have a decent chance of advancing into the later stages. The traditional powerhouse nations Spain, England, Italy and Portugal are all out or will be finished by week's end and heavy favorites Brazil, Germany, the Netherlands and Argentina are all awaiting opponents in the Round of 16. Worldwide soccer superstars (most players are members of multiple national, club and professional teams all around the world) like Lionel Messi, Christiano Ronaldo, Robin Van Persie, Wayne Rooney, Mario Balotelli and our own Clint Dempsey all had a major impact on their teams performance, making this one of the most entertaining and exciting Cups ever. In addition to the action on the pitch, the brutal Brazilian heat and humidity has been a major topic as it wreaked havoc on many of the players, including just about everyone who has had to play in Manaus, in the middle of the Amazonian jungle, where the US had a heartbreaking draw with Portugal on Sunday after giving up a goal on the final touch of the game, where for the first time in history, the match was paused for a water break. There were allegations of match fixing, favoritism among the referees, flopping (all standard for the sport of soccer) and even an incident involving Luis Suarez of Uruguay, who bit an Italian player on the shoulder today (the third time he's bit an opponent during a match). All this and we're not even through the opening round of the tournament. The NBA and NHL Finals were just a few weeks ago but those games pale in comparison to even the most middling matches of this tournament. The levels of athleticism and the sheer explosiveness and excitement that some of these players can display at any given moment is unmatched by almost anything else out there and anyone who isn't watching out of some misplaced desire to be opposed to what everyone else is watching and talking about is really missing out on some world class entertainment and drama. If anyone is reading this before Thursday the 26th, do yourself a favor, go to a sports bar on Thursday morning, or somewhere public with people watching the US versus Germany game to determine first place in their group and let yourself get washed away in the enthusiasm and excitement that comes with watching this sport on the biggest stage the world has to offer.
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