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Monk: Mr. Monk vs. the Cobra (2005)
An Emotional Episode
(There aren't really many spoilers, I just click that box out of habit.)
It's an emotional episode, and an exceptional episode.
Like most Monk episodes that are really good, it's the end that makes it.
It's arguably the first one that works on the Natalie-Monk relationship (after her introduction, which is a little different I think). She comes off as a little demanding at first, which is a little different from Natalie as I remember her-- she's just plain *nicer* than Sharona IMO-- but her demands make sense and they form an interesting sub-plot for the entire episode, and it ends up being rather important too.
The exchange between Monk and Trudy is difficult to describe-- and I don't want to ruin it for you-- but it's worth watching. It really is.
Even the details and the secondary characters often end up having extra little degrees of meaning, I think. It's worth thinking about.
(10/10)
Monk: Mr. Monk Takes Manhattan (2004)
That's Powerful
I don't think there are any spoilers but there always could be.
This was a good episode-- especially good. I think that they wanted the season premiere to be a good one and I think they succeeded.
The episode plot ties in with the overall storyline of the entire series- - the one about Trudy-- and that's always a nice thing.
Also, there's a very powerful moment at the end which I don't want to ruin for anyone, but it's worth seeing.
They also work in some stuff related to Monk's issue with his phobias, this time the problem being coping with life in NYC.
But really the ending is what made it an above-average show.
(9/10)
Seinfeld: The Limo (1992)
"Says he's O'Brien-- that's not funny"
It's a deeply flawed episode, with some redeeming features.
The thing about the Nazis, is that they're not funny. That might come off as too obvious, I guess, but.... sometimes the truth can be pretty obvious. Sometimes the hard thing is dealing with it, dealing with the truth, even if it's ugly, and I think that sometimes we're tempted to sorta turn away from what we know because it's easier if something is no big deal.... even if we know that it is a big deal.
Also I suppose that we have this feeling that it's good to humanize the Nazis to bolster our humanity, since we have reasons to fear great hate. However, I think that it is way of losing touch with reality, to not appreciate the difference between great evil and ordinary living.
And if there's something that makes Seinfeld a good show, it's its fundamental realism-- something I think it sacrifices by making Nazis seem kinda chummy, for lack of a better word.
I suppose that there's this impulse to go for the superlative-- the Nazis! now, *that* will add something!, but if you're not prepared to really embrace what you're talking about, it ends up being a loss.
But I would have given it a lower score if I didn't feel like there some sensible aspects to the show.
One is that the neo-Nazi's leader's name is "O'Brien". Obviously they could have picked some German name, and they would have had to if it had been a story in Germany, (where they do have neo-Nazis). But, since it's in America.... I don't know. We have own little variations of ethnic pride here.... there's a certain, I don't know. I just think they put a little thought into it. (I suppose, even though the writer's commentary on the DVD was too boring for me.)
I realize what I'm saying might upset some people, but there is this for me uncomfortable moment in the limo, when Jerry is trying to convince the Nazis, who are analyzing his ethnicity, basically, that he's Irish or Scottish or something.... As if to say, Don't mind me....
At the very least, it raises the question of the humorous tone of the episode, and what does really do, in this case.
The other interesting thing that comes to mind is the protesters. It's nice, I guess, to see a bunch of zealous white anti-Nazi protesters.... including Elaine's dad, who'd be Mr. Benes-- coincidentally the same name as the President of Czechoslovakia in office in 1938, who I trust would have known as well as almost anyone else how beneficial the whole Hitler thing was for some white people.... far, far to the East of America.... So, that's what I'll say about that.
It also raises the question of the police, portrayed as "unable or unwilling" to protect the Nazis from the protesters, possibly violating the letter of the law.... although in a way that frankly gives you a good feeling in your gut.
That's my take on it, anyway. On the whole, I'd have to say-- in a bunch of ways it sucked, but, if it actually made you think about it....
Does that make sense?
.... So, that's what I think.
(7/10)
Mean Girls (2004)
Why It Disappoints
I'd heard that this was a really great movie, but for me it was something of a disappointment, although I've seen worse. I like Tina Fey, so I hate to hate on her baby, but she couldn't save the film for me, since there was that age gap anyway that put her on the edges of the film and not as one of the main protagonists, or rather the main protagonist. I'm not really familiar with Lindsey Lohan, apart from having heard the name, but her character seemed very politically correct, which made it seem forced to me. Just my two cents, as they say.
But what really made me dislike the film was how they were people that you were "allowed" or had to sympathize with, and people that you just weren't supposed to like. It's very common in fiction for the popular girls to play the part of the fall guy and get demonized, and it gets very old after awhile. Also, I'd already seen Rachel McAdams in "About Time" (2013), so I like her, and I couldn't sympathize with her being made into the Enemy. Because, psychologically, it is almost like a war movie-- some people are the enemy; there is nothing good about them; they have no souls; you may not like them.... you're just not allowed to like them.
I just didn't like how they divided everyone into rigid camps, which is at best a caricature, rather than a true or fair representation of what it's really like. And it's a little ironic, because then they use that to explain why everyone is so dumb and so stupid, etc., when it's really something of a straw-man that they're beating, in my opinion.
Maybe people just watch too many war movies, so the need for an enemy in a film is too ingrained, I guess. At any rate I couldn't identify with Rachel McAdams being turned into that sort of an enemy, although it must have been easy early in her career when she wasn't known as well....
It's ironic that since Lohan was the better known, she got to be the "normal" girl, while the newer girl had to be the "popular" girl-- i.e., the fall guy. A little hypocritical.
I suppose that I ought to give it an even lower score than I did, but I like to be conservative in taking away points-- I sorta grade on a negative scale, where they start at the top and I take points away-- and also I'm a guy and it's very much a girl film, so I don't want to be too hard on it for that reason.
(7/10)
Reality Bites (1994)
Winona in Real Life
Slightly cynical, but not overwhelmingly so.
Good cast. Probably one of the better Winona Ryder films-- better than 'Heathers' I think.
I like Ben Stiller, so I liked his character better than his rival's, but Ethan Hawke's guy was okay too I guess.
There's also something to be said about having a clear resolution to a three-party triangle where one of the two rivals is clearly chosen, although in this case I think the choice was somewhat influenced by 90s anti-business cynicism. Although I'll admit that Hawke's character was sympathetic to some degree for me, despite being somewhat cynical about life.
On the whole about as good as many movies of this kind, and better than some. And it's not bad, pretty nice, to see Winona Ryder get a good part in a film that, works for her, I guess, since a lot of them don't, I think. She always comes across to me as a nice girl with usually bad luck, so it's good to see her when she's at her luckiest.
(8/10)
Home Fries (1998)
Family Drama
(spoilers)
Not so much a purely comedic as a family drama movie.
IMO at the heart of the story is a conflict of loyalty for the two brothers (Luke Wilson, Jake Busey), in terms of how much they owe to their mother (Catherine O'Hara).
Things become complicated when one of the brothers (Luke Wilson) falls for a girl (Drew Barrymore) that his mother does not approve of.
The result is a story in which there is a tangled inter-familial conflict, in which it is not always clear whose side one is on, or even who everyone is.
The story unfolds in a Southern environment.
Drew Barrymore was sorta the poster girl, although having seen the movie, I'm not sure that she was really the lead, although she was certainly one of the four central characters and is probably the female lead. She and Luke Wilson and the others put in good performances; I thought that the acting was well done.
It's a pretty solid little film that probably deserved more success than it received.
(8/10)
Dispatch (2011)
A Jail-Like Office
(spoilers)
It's a clever little low-budget no-violence drama.
The cast is basically unknowns, but it's different how the film shows just how bad everyday life can be, without obscuring it all in gunsmoke.
The audience follows Nick, the manager of a limousine service, on a night especially filled with personal and professional problems. Faced with the difficulty of trying to supervise people he can't see and has difficulty communicating with, he basically feels his life starting to unravel.
I don't think it won any awards or 'critical acclaim', despite being a very serious film.... and ironically covering much of the fanfare of a premiere, but just because a film doesn't get lots of marketing and hype and such doesn't mean that it doesn't have some merit. I suppose if there's one thing you can learn from it, is not to under-estimate the difficulties of 'routine' grunge work....
The office is grimy working-class at best, and it is as austere as a prison, but ultimately the saddest thing is that Nick, when faced with the alternative problems of his personal life, doesn't even want to leave.
(8/10)
The Monkees: I Was a Teenage Monster (1967)
Self-Parody
This isn't my favorite sort of Monkees episode, (I like the more romantic types), but this is sorta interesting.
It's a little hard to explain, but basically, this is a self-parody. The Monkees had this sorta image, or maybe reputation, as this sorta cookie- cutter imitation band formed by corporate bigwigs and such. There's at least some substance to this, since they were formed by producers for the sake of a TV series, and the band members were initially 'casted'; they didn't come together organically, naturally, you might say.
So, what happens in this episode? A mad scientist decides to create a musician! Like Frankenstein, he will create a sort of artificial artistic life! Give him the "Beatles haircut" (if you say so, it actually looks little like a mop-top), Lennon/McGuinn style granny glasses, some fab clothes, and a guitar, and voila!-- "He looks like a long-haired, near-sighted monster with a guitar." Also keep in mind, that especially back in the day when it was pretty new, rock music was considered primitive and all that. So, it's kinda making fun of itself, having fun, I guess, with these ideas that it's all just no good dirty rotten jungle music. Created by mad scientists, and/or corporate bigwigs.
So, that's the basic idea of this episode. I don't really care for it, but I think I've given you enough so that you can analyze and read more into it if you want to.
(7/10)
The Beatles: A Hard Day's Night/I Want to Hold Your Hand (1965)
The Escape From Beatlemania
I should probably get some kind of special demerit for unkindness for unfavorably comparing the Monkees to the Beatles, but I think that "The Beatles" TV show is at least as good, if not better, than "The Monkees" TV show (which is alright). Probably the weakest part of "The Monkees" show is how the songs are kinda dropped in randomly, often being played simply because people are running around being goofy, and the lyrics of the song usually have nothing to do with what's going on in the show. "The Beatles" show is better, I think, in this respect, in that the episode is named after one of the songs that are played, and the plot has something to do with it too.
In this one, "A Hard Day's Night", we get a very 1964, Height-of-Beatlemania song, which the band can't play properly because of the hordes of fans thronging them. So, they have to try to escape the mob, just like they did in real life. Here, though, the story takes a very cartoon-y riff, with the boys finding an old abandoned castle to play in-- only to find that the ghouls living there soon become their new fans.
The second part, "I Want to Hold Your Hand", is another Beatlemania song with a Beatlemania story to along with it. And it's amusing that the one whose hand he wants to hold is an octopus, (due to the date, unfortunately without a garden), and not, you know, my mom. ^^
Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny. Good fun.
(8/10)
Paulie (1998)
The Russian Monk
I was attracted to this movie by Tony Shalhoub, (from "Monk"), who does a great job with his character's Russian accent. He plays an immigrant janitor who befriends a parrot who used to belong to a little girl. At first the parrot's lines are a little irritating, but the extended flashback is interesting, although inevitably without Shalhoub. The little girl's speech impediment ties in nicely with the janitor's troubles with English, and even the parrot's desire not to talk, even though he can. Overall it's a pretty decent film, especially if you need one with a language theme. And there's even a New Jersey joke. I suppose that the most disappointing thing is that Shalhoub ends up being a supporting character, but the succession of supporting characters that the parrot meets are some compensation, and Tony makes the moments that he does get, count.
(8/10)
The Monkees: Monkees in a Ghost Town (1966)
Album Cover
Spoilers.
I was interested to see that, although I couldn't find the exact still, it seems like the cover of this Monkees CD I have (The Essentials: The Monkees, Rhino, 2002), which shows the band in jail, comes from this episode.
Basically The Monkees is a show of television tropes; it's full of clichés, like goofy goons with guns, and bad puns. It's not realistic, and so I suppose the thing is not to take it literally. And its big sell is obviously that it's about a band, so you get to see the band members and humanize them a little bit, and that they play a new numbers every episode.
A lot of the episodes honestly aren't of too high a quality, although they're still somewhat amusing. I thought that this one, along with the one right before it, "Success Story", were maybe a little bit better than the average for the show.
For this one, part of this has to do with one of the songs, "Papa Gene's Blues" (during the playing of which Michael looks rather handsome), which is a good one-- "I have no more than I did before, but now I've got all that I need, for I love you and I know you love me.... so take my hand, I'll start my journey, free from all the helpless worry that besets a man when he's alone...."
The other thing is that, although (unlike "Success Story", I guess), the story had more to do with jokes (and songs) inserted a TV-trope plot that it didn't take seriously, rather than a more real thing without the goofy goons with guns.... I don't know, this time the unreality didn't rub me too hard, and I appreciated a few of the jokes they told this time around, a few of which I'll spoil for you now. :)
Mike Nesmith (Monkee): Hey, look. What d'ya want? Lenny the Goon: What do I want? What does any man want? A job and security and a home. Going' to PTA meetings and cookouts on weekends. That's what I wants. Can, can you give me all of that? Mike Nesmith: Well, no. Lenny the Goon: Then shut up!
And they made a joke about Bob Dylan somewhere too, on the phone....
Well, maybe there weren't *that* many funny jokes, but overall it was, eh, kinda cool.
(8/10)
The Love Guru (2008)
The Slap-stick Swami
I found this movie to be crude, but interesting. Mike Myers didn't exactly reach the same level of cultural achievement as George Harrison here, but still there was some interesting work on cultural stereotypes.
Basically it's a story of a white swami (Mike Myers) who helps a black hockey player (The 40-Year-Old-Virgin's Romany Malco) get his baby back. So in a way it's one of those white-guy-hangs-out-with-black-guy flicks, with the added layer that both of them have, I guess you could say, racially unstereotypical roles.
Actually the theme of breaking social barriers is something of a theme of the film. (And obviously this is also done by the rather cheap jokes, but I suppose you could look at that as the attempt to sell the unpopular.) Justin Timberlake plays the French Canadian hockey player who steals the black guy's wife, creating a sideplot of an interracial relationship. The love guru himself is a white American inheritor of thousands of years of Indian tradition. Possibly even more different, is that a black gentleman becomes a student of these Indian teachings.
To do this, he must confront his past, in the form of his mother, who is a very strident woman active in the black church (with his non-black non-Christian friend in tow). And then, to process this encounter, the pair repair back to a bar (where the hockey player, oddly enough, is the only non-white). More examples of this sort of playing with stereotypes could be multiplied, since it's essentially what the movie's about. In fact, I might guess at if it's relative lack of popularity might have something to do with the sense that it's not always very positive in its portrayal of the average hockey fan....
Of course, the film's budget made the inclusion of a Beatles song out of the question, but it is interesting that they named the wife Prudence, which for me, at least, brings to mind the song "Dear Prudence", which John Lennon wrote while the band was visiting an ashram in India.
But of course all that doesn't make the film a *good* picture. The constant reaching for cheap laughs marks it as a film meant simply for laughing, perhaps, rather than a really insightful picture of daily life, which many comedies are. But it also doesn't deserve the sort of heartless vitriol which some comedies so easily attract to themselves from the perhaps pompous sort. It deserves to be seen as a movie with *some* merit.
(7/10)
Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
The Fool on the Bus-Top
(Spoilers)
Mostly the songs are rather unconnected little moments of joy, but the way that Mr. Bloodvessel's little speech-- "I am concerned, that you enjoy yourselves.... within the limits of British decency"-- segues into "I Am The Walrus" is just *perfect*.
More broadly it's just, you know, quite a trip. I'd never heard of a "mystery tour" (day-trip to nowhere in particular) before reading the little pamphlet that came with the DVD, and it's a swell little idea. Also, I just love Paul, and it's kinda neat how this was to some extent Paul's little project.... It's great how he performs "The Fool on the Hill".
It's just as good "A Hard Day's Night"-- actually the bit with Ringo and his aunt is a little reminiscent-- as well as an interesting contrast. It's a nice little picture of where the band was at the time, as well a bit of an image as to why they gave up touring in favor of a different kind of.... they certainly seem to have a bit more fun, is what I mean.
And really no matter what anybody else says when the little doors of the old TVs were opened up to this little offering in 1967, I think it must have been quite the gift.
(9/10)
Running with Scissors (2006)
A Poor Translation
I don't really like the idea of comparing the book to the movie, but in this case I find it inevitable. I read the book and loved it, but the movie just doesn't have the same skill....
For one thing, the movie really downplayed the oddity of the everything that went on, which was really what made the memoir so detail-oriented and real, I think. But the people who made the movie just didn't have the same skill with *their* craft....
For one thing, it was a little off to cast an actor like Alec Baldwin to be the father, who had such a minimal role, really. It also seemed at times like too much emphasis was placed on the mother-- in film I suppose it's easier to place emphasis on an adult, rather than a child (a child actor), but the whole thing was supposed to be about Augusten....
I really think they should have considered using voiceovers/narration by Augusten to give some depth to his point-of-view, giving something to his own narrations and insights like in the book, rather than just showing him on the edge of the scene....
Without that deep feel for the characters idiosyncrasies and the individuality of the memoirist, it's just.... boring.
They just show flatly this one doing this and that one doing that, but there's just no real appreciation for how crazy it all was.
.... It sounds stupid and obvious to say that it should have been more like the book, but it really should have been.
(7/10)
The Monkees: Monkee See, Monkee Die (1966)
Wherein the Boys play "Last Train To Clarksville"
(Spoilers)
The first episode, "Royal Flush", which I also wrote a review for, gives you an idea of what the typical episode of The Monkees would be like, I think. But I had to give this one a slightly higher grade.... mostly because this is the one where they play, "Last Train to Clarksville", which I think is just.... It's great. It really is. (For what it's worth, the tie-in was that they get this neat little upright piano if they play a song on it-- but songs like that hardly needs a real tie-in. Who needs plot when you have music.)
There were some other interesting moments, though. Like when Davy Jones immediately falls for the girl and she falls for him, the following exchange takes place, which I think is an interesting little bit of period color:
*Michael & Micky start waving their hands in front of Davy's face and saying his name to try to get him out of his little love-stupor* *Davy starts walking over towards the girl anyway*
Michael Nesmith: Statistics prove that two out of three teenage marriages end in divorce! Micky Dolenz: Ah, three out of three! Michael Nesmith: Four! Four out of three!
And Micky and Wool Hat were so persuasive that the very phrase "teenage marriages" was never heard again, such was the change in the land. ;)
Right.
And it's also funny when Mike tries to get various animals to carry a message.... when Peter Tork dresses up as an Indian for some reason....
Anyway.
TAKE THE LAST TRAIN TO CLARKSVILLE, AND I'LL MEET YOU AT THE STATION....
.... Much of it is average, with the stock haunted mansion, corny palmist, hit-or-miss puns, etc., but it's a pretty cool show, with the famous band and the positively-portrayed female guest star (probably even more positive than in Seinfeld), and with that one, singular moment of excellence, I have to say that it's a cut above the mere mediocre.
(8/10)
The Monkees: Royal Flush (1966)
Goofy Fairytale
(Spoilers)
This little story is basically a sort of goofy fairy tale; the guys even read a fairy tale to an antagonist goon at one point to distract him. (Alternately it could be seen as one of those silly unrealistic spy stories, but it's really more (goofy) regal than quasi-military.)
The story starts with that short yet dashing Englishman Davy Jones saving a girl from drowning, who turns out to be a princess-- so that gives you a feel for the mood of it, I guess. (Micky later finds a newspaper article on the princess so that Jones and the guys can find the hotel where she's staying.) Yeah, so then they have to save the girl from her uncle and legal guardian, who is a little nefarious (as well as his hired goon). There was a lot of humorous delaying/distracting going on (that type of humor) with Micky, Peter and Michael pretending to be "throne salesmen" while Davy ran around with the girl. (Peter, by contrast, at one point got cast as the human footstool ("carved in the form of a servile flatterer") for the evil archduke.)
There's a lot of goofy humor, for example puns/play on words-- at one point Michael promises the cleaning lady a tip, and proceeds to give her one: to buy international steel.
There were a couple good songs, (not especially plot-appropriate, but whatever), "This just doesn't seem to be my day", and, (probably the better of the two), "Take a giant step"-- "take a giant step outside your mind....".... also, Davy gets to have one of those corny sword fights with the evil bastard, so that's something.
Basically, the good points are that it's good-humored, not the sort of thing that tries to scare you or any of that dross, and that it really doesn't take itself too seriously. (There's even this breaking-the-fourth-wall interview at the end where Michael has this nice little quip.) I actually wish that everyone took themselves as seriously as the Monkees, because that would be a better world, for sure.
I almost gave it a slightly higher rating, but I didn't rate it too highly only because it's not really a big deal or anything.
(7/10)
Seinfeld: The Heart Attack (1991)
"There's Nothing Funny About That!"
Spoilers.
On the whole, I think Seinfeld is a good show. But sometimes, it has these moments that leave me thinking, Why the hell did they do that?.... *Jerry voice* You thought that was funny? Why would you think that's funny?
"There's nothing funny about that!"
It's a little hard to explain, but this wasn't just an episode that I didn't like, it was one that I definitely disliked.
This show is at its best when it's real-- real things that can happen to real people, and not just cops or super-heroes, etc. But this episode is just *so*.... *not* real. From George bickering about the bill at the diner while he thinks he's having a heart attack, to the EMTs stopping the ambulance so that they could have a scuffle over hard candy....
The whole thing leaves you knowing that it would NOT really go down like that.
That, and the show's cynicism flares up again, and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth. It pokes fun at alternative medicine, portraying the healer as a common quack, and that just.... isn't funny! The medical establishment isn't treated much better-- again, the EMTs throwing punches at each other; it was so beyond *not gonna happen*. That, and the show's knack for failed relationship gives Elaine a little doctor fiasco to add to everything else.
I guess that people must relate to the whole 'a pox on both your houses' stick, but it just seemed like chronic negative thinking. I know that Seinfeld is a little old, but I guess that I just wasn't expecting this level of.... hurt, I guess.
They just seemed to all act in a very unfriendly way, too. On top of everything-- joking that George was gonna die when they knew he wasn't, so that they could pretend to lay claim to his stuff, for example. The writers just seemed to be offering us this very negative picture of the world. They show us everything and everybody being hurt.... and they show this not-being-right, all being wrong, as being no big deal.
And I just didn't think that was funny.
I guess you could say that this just isn't what the show is like when it's well.
It's like what Jerry said about that note he wrote about the B-movie slasher he was watching: I thought that was funny, but I was wrong.
(6/10)
Seinfeld: The Stranded (1991)
A Low Point
Again, this has spoilers.
Seinfeld is a great show. However, not all Seinfeld episodes are equally good, and this one marks a low point. It was originally produced for Season 2 (and I watched it where it appears on the Season 2 DVDs), but Larry David was not happy with the episodes, and did not let it air until the middle of Season 3. After having watched the episode, it's hard not to agree that there's just something not right about it.
But first, let's try to remember what makes Seinfeld interesting to put this in perspective. There were comedy shows and sitcoms before Seinfeld, but Seinfeld opened up some new frontiers in the comedy genre. Before it, sitcoms were always about families: they centered around the living room, with the boring clutsy father with the newspaper on the couch, the long-suffering wife hovering in the background, and the kids buzzing around making noise. Now, families can be interesting, but this show was the first where all of the main characters were adults. It was the first to spend significant amounts of time looking at the dating scene. It was brave enough to talk about "nothing", and thereby open its eyes to everyday life.
But in this episode it doesn't work. One of the drawbacks of Seinfeld is the constant *negative thinking* of the characters, (George is probably most spectacular in not believing in himself, but Jerry can be pretty cynical too) and in this episode that is especially bothersome. Seinfeld was the first show to spend this amount of time on the dating game, so of course there's gonna be an episode about a party. But the problem is, they write if off as a problem before it even starts, which is stupid. Jerry sounds like a moron complaining that girls are everywhere, so why go to a party, *even though the girl buying cough medicine in the drugstore isn't there to get picked up*. Later, at the actual party-- which Jerry and Elaine take turns mocking and saying that it's pointless-- George gets lucky with a girl, and gets to take her home. But it's so bizarre, because you hardly see George and the girl together at all, you only see George talking with Jerry with her. And then you see George and the girl leaving together briefly, but only so that Elaine can accost the girl about the (real) furs she's wearing-- which I read as, sex appeal! oh no, not that. Basically, most if not all of the main characters present are acting like real downers, not party people at all. (George sleeps with the girl, but later convinces himself that it was a mistake, with his chronic negative thinking.)
The episode title, "The Stranded", refers to the fact that Jerry and Elaine had to wait at the guy's house after everyone else had left, because they had to wait for Kramer to pick them up. (George took the car.) And, as you might expect, needed to get rescued by Kramer was something of an adventure. But after this incident of being The Stranded at the party, the episode starts to *lose direction*. Jerry unexpectedly meets up later with the guy who threw the party, and he ends up getting him in trouble, and George picks up on a little dispute he had earlier in the episode, and pursues it until he gets himself in trouble too. So, haha, they're both in trouble. But although the writing here certainly could have been *worse*, it makes even the rather short twenty minutes or so of one of these things seem to drag on for longer than it seems like it should. There's no amusing synchronicity of what it's like at it's better moments, or a common thematic link-- "The Chinese Restaurant" even has unity of place, but "The Stranded" is about an event (a party) that ends when maybe half the episode is over, and then just sorta dithers on in an occasionally unbelievable way, (George really did what? *who* showed up again?), before finally petering out.
If you asked Larry David what he didn't like about the episode, I'm not sure whether or not his reasons would sound like mine or not-- or even if there really are other, better reasons why the show doesn't work-- but basically the show leaves you with a *feeling* that it *doesn't quite work*, you don't quite want to buy it, and I think that this is the feeling that Mr. David had.
It's a mediocre episode of a very good show.
(7/10)
Garden State (2004)
New Jersey: Because Hell is Full
I just thought that I'd give the review a funny title because I live in New Jersey, and I just thought that I'd be slightly more down-to-earth than I see the film as being. (It's like some indie guy went all like-- this is down-to-earth for me. Compared to Star Wars.)
Because if I see one malus in this movie, it's that I think it tries a little too hard to be a little weird and softcore disturbing. I feel like that's the vibe that it wanted to feed off of.
I also feel like it's one of these indie films that has an overblown sense of its own importance-- although this could have been far, far worse. After all, they weren't too stuck up to put Coldplay on the soundtrack-- a Britpop act that I much prefer to the weeping-and- gnashing-of-teeth you get from the average alt rock group. So the grandiosity was definitely downplayed, but I still felt that there were times when (or there was an undercurrent that made) the subtle work that they were trying to do interfered with by this desire to just be weird for the hell of it, if that makes sense.
After all, there's a difference between simply holding life up to the lens-- like Linda McCartney, who took these great second-in-the-life photos-- and sorta sitting around the coffee table, saying, 'Okay, how weird would it be if....'. If that makes sense.
(Also, this blends into another issue, a character issue-- the fact that a lot of the characters are very immature, e.g., I don't want to grow up and get a steady job; I want to smoke pot and be a Trekkie because I don't want to grow up.... That's less of a technical issue, but in a broader sense it speaks to what much of the movie is about, and for me it's just not that interesting to watch.)
But it could have been way more *exaggerated*, than it is, which is something. (Although it does tend towards exaggeration, but it could have been worse.)
And there's no gore and blood-splattering, which is more or less my prerequisite to even watch a film these days.
So it's not explode-y; that's good. It has that.
And it's not a *bad* movie. Overall it's decent. It's just that it leaves you with the impression that it thinks of itself as being far better (and more important!) than it really is.
It's not one of these wonderful movies (Greenberg, Juno, come to mind) that makes you jump up and down, saying, 'Yes, that's exactly how it is'.
Because that's not exactly how it is, I think. Although it has some resemblance, I think.
(Although it would be easy to use the word immature.)
............
Still, it's vaguely irritating, because it's just not quite right.
(7/10)
Just Desserts (2004)
Modest Expectations
I watch a lot of relationship-type movies, and I guess like them better than most people, and better than over-the-top "epic"-type movies. That said, since I watch a lot of them, I sorta have my standards, if that makes sense. It's not enough to make it great, just because there's a romance.
And I didn't really like the girl, who was too frizzled and frazzled from the word go for me, which made it difficult to believe in the relationship or to make it enjoyable to watch. (And she tended to flirt with cynicism a bit.) The guy was okay, if rather archetypal. The overall effect was a little basic too. It could have been either better or worse.
Also, I didn't know anyone from the cast-- although that could be worse, since there are some big-name actors that I don't like-- and, so yeah, the acting was average, and the overall effect left me feeling that director, screenwriter, etc. didn't do anything especially creative. Nor terrible. (It was actually released as a television movie, which I suppose would underline its character of modest expectations.)
(And, actually, it's somewhat typical in that respect, in that, especially a few years ago, and even now, most of the big-name-talent is deployed in over-the-top drama, making most romantic comedies like this low-budget affairs by comparison.)
But I did find it to be a nice pass-the-time movie, since nothing horrible happened to anyone. It did pass the time.
And I don't think that movies like this deserve the smack-down that they tend to get, since it's mostly a matter of a self-fulfilling prophecy: they get looked down on, so that scares the talent away....
And in a sense one of the problems with the film that I feel it lacks a certain confidence-- make the girl kinda frazzled with a softcore cynicism to prove she's real and relevant, etc., give the guy a rough side and a grudge against somebody to prove he's not "sappy"..... in a way these are, flourishes apologetic, if you will. (Even the title is a little apologetic-- no, this isn't romance, it's just desserts....)
But anyway, even if it was a sort of unoriginal pass-the-time movie, it did pass the time better for me than some others would have.
(7/10)
Bewitched (2005)
".... Pretend it's a surprise!"
It's one of those movies that gets bad reviews. However, this is really just an obligatory hazing process for every film which is supposed to be a little funny, and which isn't about things like war and drama which are Big and Important: and it is, therefore, Wrong.
But, as to finding its actual value, well I don't think it's so much a yes-no: yes, a masterpiece, or, no, a flunk. Some things are dualistic, but this is a false dualism.
It's not original, or either exceptionally creative or realistic, or a fountain of information about what real witches really believe. But it's also obviously not supposed to be any of those things-- it's supposed to be more of a *relief* from all that.
It's not a matchless comedy, or the kind of thing you can analyze to discover things about *real life*. But even that can be a good or a bad thing, I think.
So, really, the main reason why I don't think this is a great work, is that I don't really like Will Ferrell.
Then again, a film is more than just its lead actor; I couldn't get myself to watch "In Time" and its hours of sci-fi nonsense just because Justin Timberlake is an interesting actor. (Although this movie might have worked better with him.)
So, basically, what makes it sorta decent but not really that good-- and not really better or worse than that-- is that it does have a rather interesting idea: playing on "real" versus "not real", but still without really outstanding acting or interpersonal moments or anything like that. Its quality has a lot to do with its style, I think-- it's how you do something like this that makes it good or bad, and I think they could have done either better or worse. If that makes sense.... that's basically my opinion.
There are also a few interesting guys in the cast as a whole, at least from our own present-day point of view. Steve Carell got a small part in the movie, (mere months) before he became really famous; slightly more conspicuous are Jason Schwartzman, later to become Jonathan Ames of "Bored to Death", and Stephen Colbert, appearing in a piece of narrative fiction for a change. In a way, incidental things like that don't really determine the quality of the movie itself, but it is nice to have a few amusing moments from the supporting cast.
And, for what it's worth, it has a soundtrack with probably the only 60s band that I don't really like-- The Who. So, I don't know whether that's a plus or minus, but, like a lot of things here, it probably doesn't matter, one way or the other.
All in all, this is an over-criticized film which has some, if not all, of what you need for a really good movie.
"I don't know why we're doing this, but it's fun!"
At times, it was fun.
(7/10)
Horrible Bosses (2011)
A Rape-Free Work Environment
I really like Jason Bateman-- the schmuck of "Juno" and the hero of "Identity Thief" (with which this film shares some glancing similarities)-- and I'm always happy to promote a Seth Rogen film (i.e., he directed), since I think he's an all-around good guy.
There are times when it gets a little physical, but on the whole the violence was kept to minimum, which I think is a good thing. It's definitely more of a (wise guy kind of) clever movie, and not a smash- and-grab-and-gore kind of a thing.
The supporting characters were also rather interesting, and one of them in particular (a certain "consultant") is quite a surprise, in that he's not all that his appearance gives you the impression of.
And I'll admit that at times I wavered between whether it was just okay or *pretty cool*, but then that last scene.
It was good. It was real good. ^^
(9/10)
Molly (1999)
Molly & The Man
It's a story of a responsible person and a dependent, in which the big person resents the relationship; it reminded me of the Paul Rudd/Steve Carell relationship in "Dinner for Schmucks".
However, I found her to have an appealing femininity which I found charming.
It wasn't superlative, but I liked it.
Actually, come to think of it, it was also a bit like "Jack and Jill", although with a less.... ambitious, cast.
But either way it's one of those stories where the most ambitious people don't come across as the most attractive, and I like that.
(8/10)