Inglourious Basterds

Title: Inglourious Basterds
Year: 2009
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Brad Pitt, Mélanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth
Music: non-original music
Length: 153 minutes
Synopsis: "once upon a time in Nazi occupied France"
How I saw it: in the theater, yesterday
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites)
Objective Rating: 10/10 c. 4/4 (Great)

One hell of a movie. Not my favorite Tarantino movie (I'm a big fan of Kill Bill), but certainly his best. I'm giving it a 9 instead of a 10 probably just because I've only seen it once; I expect it will grow on me in the future, but it's hard to tell what to make of it at this point.  Except that it kicks ass.

Gladiator

Title: Gladiator
Year: 2000
Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: David Franzoni, John Logan & William Nicholson
Starring: Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen
Music: Lisa Gerrard, Hans Zimmer
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor (Crowe), Best Costume Design, Best Visual Effects and Best Sound; Oscar nominations for Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Phoenix), Best Cinematography, Best Score, Best Art Direction/Set Decoration and Best Editing; currently #117 on IMDb's Top 250
Length: 155 minutes
Synopsis: a Roman general becomes a slave gladiator
How I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently (rented from Netflix) yesterday
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh).
Objective Rating: 2/10 (gets points for concept and acting) c. 1.7/4 (Eh)

Much of the movie is boring. The first hour or so is slow but promising, but then out of nowhere the main character is captured by a slave trader and it's like a completely different movie. The second movie would have made a great action movie - there's some very fun, badass fight choreography, and the story is too absurdly simple to justify anything else - but whenever it tries to be more (which is most of the time), it gets extremely hackneyed. The plot is obvious and recycled, the dialog is painfully corny, and the characters (which could have been very strong with this story) feel like they've been re-written by committee.

The Color of Magic

Title: The Colour of Magic
Year: 2008
Network: Sky1
Director: Vadim Jean
Writer: Vadim Jean, based on novels by Terry Pratchett
Starring: David Jason, Sean Astin, Tim Curry
Music: Paul E. Francis, David A. Hughes
Length: 191 minutes
Synopsis: a failed wizard is forced to escort a tourist through the fantasy-parodying Discworld
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for pacing, cinematography, special effects/design and music) c. 2.5/4 (Okay).

It's a very faithful adaptation, in the sense that everything is there, and everything about the Discworld looks "right" (although clearly under budget). But I would have liked a funny adaptation, myself. The books made me laugh out loud, so you'd think that in a movie, where delivery is possible, I would have been in stitches. I didn't laugh once. The cast is great, but the director doesn't seem to have any sense of timing. It's still entertaining, but only at an amused smile level.

Tyson

Title: Tyson
Year: 2009
Director: James Toback
Writer: James Toback
Starring: Mike Tyson
Music: Salaam Remi
Length: 90 minutes
Synopsis: Mike Tyson tells his life story, interspersed with archival footage
How I saw it: on video (rented on DVD), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good)
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for special effects/design and acting [n/a]) c. 3.2/4 (Very good)

An interesting movie, and I had no interest in the subject (or at least, hadn't until after reading reviews of this movie). For someone with the personality Tyson is famous for to age into someone happily willing to sit down and talk candidly and unapologetically about who he was and why he was that way seems like an extremely unlikely thing to happen. So the fact that this movie exists at all is pretty amazing, and it's certainly a unique experience to watch.  Also, for someone who knows nothing about boxing, it's very surprising to see just how good a boxer he was.

Julius Caesar

Title: Julius Caesar
Year: 1953
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Writer: William Shakespeare
Starring: Marlon Brando, James Mason, John Gielgud
Music: Miklós Rózsa
Distinctions: Oscar for Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (black-and-white); Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Actor (Brando), Best Cinematography (black-and-white) and Best Score
Length: 120 minutes
Synopsis: Roman revolution leads to civil war
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), today
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good)
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for story and music) c. 3.2/4 (Very good)

Not as good as the play; they cut out way too much.  Although, what's there is done quite well.  I enjoyed the first hour and a half or so quite a bit, but they chopped the ending to pieces.

Notorious

Title: Notorious
Year: 1946
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Writer: Ben Hecht
Starring: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains
Music: Roy Webb
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor (Rains); currently #118 on IMDb's Top 250
Length: 101 minutes
Synopsis: a secret agent love triangle
How I saw it: on video (rented on DVD), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent)
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for pacing, music and subjective rating) c. 2.8/4 (Good)

Yet another case of an inventive classic that's not as good as other movies that have ripped it off.  Not a bad movie, but I was bored through much of it.  I have seen many Hitchcock films that I don't like, but this is the first that felt long.

The Manchurian Candidate

Title: The Manchurian Candidate
Year: 1962
Director: John Frankenheimer
Writer: George Axelrod, based on the novel by Richard Condon
Starring: Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury
Music: David Amram
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress (Lansbury) and Best Editing; currently #119 on IMDb's Top 250
Length: 126 minutes
Synopsis: some American soldiers are captured in Korea and brainwashed
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good)
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for special effects/design) c. 3.6/4 (Great)

Clever story, shot well. The dialog, acting and music are all quite good as well. I wasn't sure what to expect from a Frank Sinatra movie (this is the first I've seen), but I'm pleasantly surprised. The 2004 remake could hardly have been more pointless.

Death Race 2000

Title: Death Race 2000
Year: 1975
Director: Paul Bartel
Writers: Robert Thom & Charles B. Griffith, based on the story by Ib Melchior
Starring: David Carradine, Simone Griffeth, Sylvester Stallone
Music: Paul Chihara
Length: 84 minutes
Synopsis: a cross-country race in which points are scored for killing bystanders
How I saw it: on video (rented on DVD), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 4/10 (gets points for concept, pacing, music and subjective rating) c. 1.8/4 (Eh).

Pulp science fiction adapted into a cornball comedy. It's one of those bad movies that knows it's a bad movie and has fun with it. Surprisingly entertaining for what it is.

Matilda

Title: Matilda
Year: 1996
Director: Danny DeVito
Writers: Nicholas Kazan & Robin Swicord, based on the book by Roald Dahl
Starring: Mara Wilson, Danny DeVito, Rhea Perlman, Embeth Davidtz, Pam Ferris
Music: David Newman
Length: 98 minutes
Synopsis: an unappreciated little girl has a powerful mind
How I saw it: on video many times (have on DVD), most recently yesterday
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good).
Objective Rating: 5/10 (points off for story, cinematography, special effects/design, acting and music) c. 2.1/4 (Okay).

Cartoonish fun. I'm not a fan of the story; the antagonist is too purely mean and cruel with no reason - universally detestable - which I always find to be a tedious and ineffective device.  But it's still a good movie.

Oldboy

Title: Oldboy
Year: 2003 (Korea), 2005 (US)
Director: Chan-wook Park
Writers: Jo-yun Hwang, Chun-hyeong Lim, Joon-hyung Lim & Chan-wook Park; story by Garon Tsuchiya; based on the comic by Nobuaki Minegishi
Starring: Min-sik Choi, Ji-tae Yu, Hye-jeong Kang
Music: Yeong-wook Jo (and others)
Distinctions: currently #120 on IMDb's Top 250
Length: 120 minutes
Synopsis: a man is mysteriously imprisoned for 15 years, then set free
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent)
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for music) c. 3.4/4 (Very good)

I have to admit it's a good movie. But it's also horrible, in that Oh My God Why Did They Put This In A Movie Make It Stop sort of way.

The Muppet Show: Season Three

Title: The Muppet Show: Season Three
Year: 1978-1979
Network: ITV
Creator: Jim Henson
Directors: Peter Harris (13 episodes), Philip Casson (11)
Writers: Jerry Juhl (24 episodes), Jim Henson (24), Chris Langham (24), Don Hinkley (24), Joseph A. Bailey (8)
Starring: Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge, Leo Sayer, Roy Clark, Gilda Radner, Pearl Bailey, Jean Stapleton, Alice Cooper, Loretta Lynn, Liberace, Marisa Berenson, Raquel Welch, James Coco, Helen Reddy, Harry Belafonte, Lesley Ann Warren, Danny Kaye, Spike Milligan, Leslie Uggams, Elke Sommer, Sylvester Stallone, Roger Miller, Roy Rogers, Dale Evans, Lynn Redgrave, Cheryl Ladd (1 episode each)
With: The Muppets (Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Dave Goelz, Louise Gold, Steve Whitmire, Peter Friedman, Graham Fletcher, Kathryn Mullen)
Music: Sam Pottle (theme); Jack Parnell
Episodes: 24 at c. 25 minutes
Synopsis: The Muppets put on a weekly variety show
How I saw it: on video several times (have on DVD), most recently over the past few weeks
Subjective Rating: 10/10 (Favorite of my favorites).
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for story and cinematography) c. 3.3/4 3.4/4 (Very good).

Not as good as season two; there aren't many sketches here that I would count among my favorites, although it's all great of course.  The guest star spots stand out as much better this season, though - not that they have better guests, but they're used more effectively.

(500) Days of Summer

Title: (500) Days of Summer
Year: 2009
Director: Marc Webb
Writers: Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel
Music: Mychael Danna, Rob Simonsen (and non-original music)
Distinctions: currently #111 on IMDb's Top 250
Length: 95 minutes
Synopsis: a guy falls for a girl who doesn't believe in love
How I saw it: in the theater, yesterday
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good)
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for concept) c. 3.5/4 (Very good)

Nice movie. Well made, espcially the writing, but I'd expected more from it. It's cute how they invite comparisons between the main characters and Holly Golightly (from Breakfast at Tiffany's) and Ben Braddock (from The Graduate); one could imagine that this movie started with someone wondering, "What two classic movie characters would be the worst for each other?"

Forbidden Planet

Title: Forbidden Planet
Year: 1956
Director: Fred M. Wilcox
Writer: Cyril Hume, story by Irving Block & Allen Adler
Starring: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen
Music: Bebe & Louis Barron
Distinctions: Oscar nomination for Best Special Effects
Length: 98 minutes
Synopsis: a planet's last surviving colonist doesn't want to be rescued
How I saw it: on video (rented on DVD), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 6/10 (points off for characters, pacing, cinematography and acting) c. 2.5/4 (Okay).

It has a lot of great ideas in it (it's quite obviously the inspiration for Star Trek, among other things), and some cool images. As a sci-fi geek I really wanted to love it, and there's a lot to love, but it just wasn't all that fun to watch. So much that's ripped it off has done what it does better.

District 9

Title: District 9
Year: 2009
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Writers: Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell
Starring: Sharlto Copley
Music: Clinton Shorter
Length: 112 minutes
Synopsis: a million aliens stranded on Earth are kept in a South African slum
How I saw it: in the theater (advance screening), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 8/10
Objective Rating: 5/10 (points off for story, characters, cinematography, special effects/design and music)

Very original movie. Lots of fun. It's a bit schizophrenic - it starts off as a weird mix of serious science fiction and satire, then turns into an action movie - but I kind of like genre confusion in a movie. There are some plot holes. The character development doesn't make a lot of sense (the main human character does a moral 180 in the space of about five minutes). They go out of their way to establish just how alien these aliens' behavior is, but then the two alien characters we get to know are not at all alien, but instead have (Western) human cultural mores (and are the only such characters in the movie) and behave like Hollywood protagonists. The special effects are better than you might expect for this kind of movie, but I'm prejudiced against CGI (at least, when it looks like CGI). Anyway, I meant this to be a positive review*. You've never seen a movie like this before. It's entertaining throughout, and whether or not you think it's good, it will probably get you thinking and talking about it afterward.

*if you can call my little blurbs "reviews."

What's Up, Tiger Lily?

Title: What's Up, Tiger Lily?
Year: 1966
Director: Woody Allen / Senkichi Taniguchi
Writers: Woody Allen, Julie Bennett, Frank Buxton, Louise Lasser, Len Maxwell, Mickey Rose, Bryan Wilson
Starring: Tatsuya Mihashi, Akiko Wakabayashi, Mie Hama, Tadao Nakamaru, Susumu Kurobe (original footage); Woody Allen, Frank Buxton, Louise Lasser (voices)
Music: The Lovin' Spoonful
Length: 80 minutes
Synopsis: a Japanese spy movie re-dubbed by Woody Allen
How I saw it: on video (rented on DVD), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 2/10 (gets points for dialog and subjective rating) c. 1.4/4 (Bad).

Dumb, with occasional bursts of hilarity. Mostly it's just boring filler. The concept's a cute idea, but why would they do it with a movie with so little dialog?

Die Hard

Title: Die Hard
Year: 1988
Director: John McTiernan
Writers: Jeb Stuart & Steven E. de Souza, based on a novel by Roderick Thorp
Starring: Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, Reginald VelJohnson, Alan Rickman
Music: Michael Kamen
Distinctions: Oscar nominations for Best Visual Effects, Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing; currently #120 on IMDb's Top 250
Length: 131 minutes
Synopsis: Thieves take over a skyscraper, with Bruce Willis inside it
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good).
Objective Rating: 2/10 (gets points for pacing and special effects/design) c. 2.0/4 (Indifferent).

Ah, the late 1980's... when every movie released in December, no matter the genre, was infused with Christmas carols. Surprisingly entertaining for what it is. Filled with corny cliches, but fun. This sort of thing is why I love the IMDb's Top 250 list: I don't think anyone would seriously consider putting Die Hard on a general list of Great Movies, but people love it, so it's on the list, no questions asked.

Green Lantern: First Flight

Title: Green Lantern: First Flight
Year: 2009 (direct-to-video)
Director: Lauren Montgomery
Writer: Alan Burnett
Starring: Christopher Meloni, Victor Garber
Music: Robert J. Kral
Length: 77 minutes
Synopsis: a human joins the Green Lanterns, and saves them from a badguy with a yellow lantern
How I saw it: on video (rended from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 3/10 (gets points for pacing, acting and subjective rating) c. 1.7/4 (Eh).

Kind of dull. The plot lacks any creativity whatsoever. Apart from a few brief bits where they gratuitously take advantage of their PG-13 rating, there isn't anything here that we haven't seen (done better) a million times in cartoons on TV.

For a Few Dollars More

Title: Per qualche dollaro in più
Year: 1965 (Italy), 1967 (US)
Director: Sergio Leone
Writers: Sergio Leone & Luciano Vincenzoni, scenario by Fulvio Morsella & Leone
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Gian Maria Volontè
Music: Ennio Morricone
Distinctions: currently #120 on IMDb's Top 250
Length: 132 minutes
Synopsis: two bounty hunters are after a bank-robbing gang
How I saw it: on video a couple times, most recently (rented from Netflix) yesterday
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great).
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for pacing) c. 3.5/4 (Very good).

Great movie, but it's a little slow in places, and (like Fistful) not as good as I remembered it being. My least favorite of the "Dollars" trilogy (although that doesn't really say much against it).  It gets an 8 rather than a 7 largely because of Morricone's score.

The Hurt Locker

Title: The Hurt Locker
Year: 2008 (Europe), 2009 (US)
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Writer: Mark Boal
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, Brian Geraghty
Music: Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Picture, Best Directing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Sound Editing; Oscar nominations for Best Actor (Renner), Best Cinematography and Best Score
Length: 131 minutes
Synopsis: a bomb-diffusing team in Iraq
How I saw it: in the theater, yesterday
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great)
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for music) c. 3.7/4 (Great)

Very intense; I was still a bit on edge for a good half hour after watching it. Easily the best serious war movie I've ever seen. Crazy well-made, and apolitical.

Doctor Who #138: Attack of the Cybermen

Title: Doctor Who: “Attack of the Cybermen“
Year: 1985
Network: BBC
Creators: Sydney Newman, C.E. Webber, Donald Wilson
Director: Matthew Robinson
Writer: Eric Saward
Starring: Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant
Music: Ron Grainer (theme), Malcolm Clarke
Episodes: 2, at 45 minutes; the 1st story (of 6) from season 22
Synopsis: the Cybermen... don't actually attack anything, but they're around, and the Doctor... convinces someone to kill herself
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad).
Objective Rating: 0/10 c. 0.6/4 (Very bad).

Terribly written crap - and this one was written by the show's script editor, so it strikes me as pretty remarkable that anything watchable came out of this era at all. The only redeeming quality is a handful of references to older stories, which aren't geeky fun like they are in "Remembrance of the Daleks" or "Battlefield," but instead serve to keep in perspective just how bad this story is relative to older ones.

High Noon

Title: High Noon
Year: 1952
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Writer: Carl Foreman, based on a story by John W. Cunningham
Starring: Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Lloyd Bridges, Katy Jurado
Music: Dimitri Tiomkin
Distinctions: Oscars for Best Actor (Cooper), Best Score, Best Song ("Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'") and Best Editing; Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay; currently #121 on IMDb's Top 250
Length: 85 minutes
Synopsis: a supposed-to-be-retired marshal gets no help defending a town
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good)
Objective Rating: 8/10 (points off for dialog and acting) c. 3.3/4 (Very good)

It gets melodramatic at times, but it's always entertaining. The score is corny, but in a fun way. The photography is conspicuously artful.

Torchwood: Seasons One & Two

Since I don't expect to re-watch these in the future, I might as well give them a post now.

Title: Torchwood: Season One & Season Two
Year: 2006-2007 / 2008
Network: BBC
Creator: Russell T. Davies
Directors: Andy Goddard (season 1, 2 episodes; season 2, 4 episodes), Ashley Way (s1, 2; s2, 4), Colin Teague (s1, 2; s2, 2), Brian Kelly (s1, 2), James Strong (s1, 2), Alice Troughton (s1, 2), Jonathan Fox Bassett (s2, 2), James Erskine (s1, 1), Mark Everest (s2, 1)
Writers: Chris Chibnall (season 1, 4 episodes; season 2, 4 episodes), Catherine Tregenna (s1, 2; s2, 2), Helen Raynor (s1, 1; s2, 1), Peter Hammond (s1, 1; s2, 1), Russell T. Davies (s1, 1), Toby Whithouse (s1, 1), Paul Tomalin (s1, 1), Dan McCulloch (s1, 1), Jacquetta May (s1, 1), Noel Clarke (s1, 1), James Moran (s2, 1), J.C. Wilsher (s2, 1), Matt Jones (s2, 1), Joseph Lidster (s2, 1), Phil Ford (s2, 1)
Starring: John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Burn Gorman, Naoko Mori, Gareth David-Lloyd, Kai Owen
Music: Murray Gold, Ben Foster
Episodes: 13 per season, at 50 minutes
Synopsis: a secret government agency uses scavenged extraterrestrial technology to fight aliens
How I saw it: streaming online (I think), 2007 and 2008
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay).
Objective Rating: 7/10 (points off for story, pacing and cinematography) c. 2.4/4 (Okay).

Like I said in the last post: occasionally entertaining but more often just badly-written fluff.  John Barrowman can't act, but everyone else is fine.

Torchwood: Children of Earth

Title: Torchwood: "Children of Earth"
Year: 2009
Network: BBC
Creator: Russell T. Davies
Director: Euros Lyn
Writers: Russell T. Davies (3 episodes), John Fay (2), James Moran (1)
Starring: John Barrowman, Eve Myles, Gareth David-Lloyd, Kai Owen, Peter Capaldi
Music: Ben Foster
Episodes: 5, at 60 minutes
Synopsis: aliens make sinister deals with the British government
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), over the past few days
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites).
Objective Rating: 10/10. c. 3.5/4 3.6/4 (Very good).

The first two seasons of Torchwood were only occasionally entertaining - more often they were just badly-written fluff I sat through impatiently while hoping for some substantial tie-in with Doctor Who (which never happens). This series is something completely different. The old format is completely abandoned, and the story is written by Davies himself. It's like what you might expect if they were to make a Torchwood movie, except it goes on for five hours (and could easily have been longer). It's very much driven by suspense, so I doubt it would hold up to repeated viewings. Nonetheless, it's some of the best dramatic television I can remember seeing.

The Big Sleep

Title: The Big Sleep
Year: 1946
Director: Howard Hawks
Writers: William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett & Jules Furthman, based on the novel by Raymond Chandler
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall
Music: Max Steiner
Distinctions: currently #122 on IMDb's Top 250
Length: 114 minutes
Synopsis: a private detective on a blackmail case runs into some murders
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 4/10 (Eh).
Objective Rating: 5/10 (gets points for concept, dialog, special effects/design, acting and music) c. 2.6/4 (Good).

Very disappointing. The plot is nearly incomprehensible, even though I've read the book. There's a scene in the book, just when things get impossibly confusing, where they stop and explain what's going on; that scene was cut from the movie. Besides the trouble with the story, it's not a very entertaining movie. Every now and then there'll be a fun bit of dialog that hints at how good the book is, but that (along with Steiner's excellent score) is about all this has going for it.

Cool Hand Luke

Title: Cool Hand Luke
Year: 1967
Director: Stuart Rosenberg
Writers: Donn Pearce & Frank Pierson, based on Pearce's novel
Starring: Paul Newman, George Kennedy
Music: Lalo Schifrin
Distinctions: Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (Kennedy); Oscar nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Actor (Newman) and Best Score; currently #123 on IMDb's Top 250
Length: 126 minutes
Synopsis: a "hard case" on a chain gang
How I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good)
Objective Rating: 9/10 (1 point off for story) c. 3.4/4 (Very good)

There are some great, very memorable sequences.  But it seemed unnecessarily episodic.  In retrospect, I can see how everything contributed to character development, but it felt unfocused while watching it.  And the ending is too inevitable to be satisfying.