Month: March 2017

Damian Lewis and $$$: A Moderate Relationship

“It’s a good thing that I’m a rich ****in’ man.” — Bobby Axelrod

Damian Lewis is no stranger to playing men with money, in particular NEW MONEY. In The Forsyte Saga, he brings us Soames Forsyte, a member of an upper middle class family in Edwardian times, who is nicknamed “man of property” thanks to his ability to accumulate material possessions. Only a few generations removed from their farmer ancestors, the Forsytes are very much self-conscious about their status and do not like to be reminded of being “new money.”

soamescharliebobby

Damian also brings us Charlie Crews aka “Officer New Money” in Life. Charlie sues the city of Los Angeles and the LAPD successfully for his imprisonment of 12 years for a murder he did not commit and receives an undisclosed settlement money that is rumored to be around 50 million dollars. Charlie splurges on things he was deprived of in prison: Space. He buys a huge house and no furniture. Fresh fruit. He buys an orange grove. Light. He invests in solar energy.

Now, 50 million is a very very VERY serious amount of money for (almost) anyone. But everything is relative in life and 50 million may not sound as serious to a man like…

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Queen of the Desert in U.S. Theaters April 7

Finally, Queen of the Desert, with Damian Lewis in the role of Charles Doughty-Wylie, is being released to wider audiences in the US. Nicole Kidman’s very successful run with HBO’s Big Little Lies must have provided the impetus needed to give this 2015 film a stateside release.

The film will be in theaters April 7 and available on demand on April 14.

Need a refresher on what this film is about and why you should go see it? Here’s what I had to say after the first few international previews came out last year.

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Billions on Showtime 2.06: Indian Four

Nearly midpoint to Billions Season 2, and tables are turning in Episode 5, “Indian Four”. We start the show geared up to go thru all the machinations, ebb and flow, tit for tat, cat and mouse that has been the hallmark of the series so far. And there is plenty of that rapid-fire tennis match back and forth to watch, but, there’s also something quite new this episode. It feels sort of homey, much less technical, more touchy-feely, dare I say, more human.

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Billions on Showtime, Season 2 Episode 6: Indian Four

source: Showtime

Well, if Episode 4 The Oath brought Axe together with his old buddy Freddie in the director chair, Episode 6 Indian Four is bringing Charlie Crews with his best buddy Ted Earley in the director chair!

source: NBC

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Previously on Billions: Season 2, Episode 5 “Currency”

Wags arrives at Axe Capital, parking his car right outside the front door and walking with purpose towards Bobby’s office. He ignores the greetings of others and heads in to face Bobby’s “clean” test. Wags starts to speak seriously, but is cut off by Bobby before he can be heard. Bobby is unimpressed with whatever is going on with Wags and where he has been for the last 48 hours because Bobby has been fighting yet another battle.

source: Showtime

48 hours earlier…there is a celebration outside of Sansomic. It does not last long though as the genius behind it goes home, walks through his front door and then right out of his window. This sounds brutal and it is, because that is exactly how they shot it. It was a horrible moment. In and out.

Mafee is seen hurtling towards Axe’s office declaring “Axe, we are f****d” but Axe is not there to hear about Sansomic’s catastrophe.

Axe is meeting with Nicky and second son, Gordy is introduced to him. First impressions of Gordy in the Pilot were that it was he, not the eldest child, Dean, who was an Axelrod mini me. Those first impressions appear to be right. He certainly knows only suckers bet when they don’t know how it will end. Perhaps the writers are going with the idea that the second child (of two) is the most daring.

Axe is talking to Nicky about whispers he has heard about a Casino. Gordy reappears with Axe’s phone because “it is blowing up”. Boyd is calling about the Sansomic stock and Sam Brandt from Street Scoop want Bobby on her show which is bad news. He has three days to fix this.

source: Showtime

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