DVR Purge: 12/2-12/8

One last push until Christmas and there's a lull in the schedule. A lot of burn-off episodes this week with nothing jumping out at me.

Past Purges

HIMYM "Rehersal Dinner"
I repeat, I now think of this show as 30 Rock, not Friends, so I won't bother determining the plausibility of the big Ice Rink reveal. On a character level, it's harder to forgive. I'm done with all this writing Barney like a 5 year old, then revealing it as a ruse of some sort. I've stopped finding it at all clever. The episode had a couple of good bits, like the Wayne Gretzky signed photo callback and the background gag while the gang told all the Canada jokes. Oh, and how many weeks since we saw the Mother?

Brooklyn Nine Nine "Christmas"
Looks like we're back to Peralta and Holt hanging out a lot. This was nice because we had a much more competent Peralta which is better than man-child Peralta. Overall, this felt like a season stopping point. I'm not sure where this is in the production order. I wonder if it was the last of the initial batch of episodes made (the initial 13), because we got passable closure for several stories. Jeffords gets over his PTSD. Boyle saves Diaz and is given the smallest sliver of hope with her. If the show was cancelled after this week, it would be too soon, but a happy enough end. I am assuming with it being Christmas, that this is the last new episode we'll see in 2013.

The Mindy Project "Christmas Party Sex Trap"
I'm not going to disapprove of Maria Menounos being on my TV, although I will say, where Glen Howerton or the Duplass brothers is stunt casting for talent, she was there just because the wanted an attractive celebrity to sing "Santa Baby". Still a pretty good episode. I enjoyed the opening tag when Mindy gets the tree ("How Hindu are you?").

The Middle "The Kiss"
Poor Frankie and Mike. They literally don't know what to do with luxury. That's so sad for the Hecks. Then there's Axl. I sure hope this leads to Cassidy coming back for a few episodes because I like Galadriel Stineman and it would be odd for the show to bring her up out of nowhere, for a Boss Inc. reunion, no less.

Back in the Game "Massive Election"
A surprising amount of self-reflection going on this week. There's the conversation at the beginning about how he should quit trying so hard to impress Terry. Then, we get the guy seeing right through Gigi when she hits on him. Finally, there's Danny and why he doesn't want to be a leader. It's a shame it's not going anywhere since they only have an episode or two left.

Modern Family "The Big Game"
Cam wanting to win the game would've been a  lot funnier had it not been exactly the same as Manny's fencing tournament in the first season. The whole episode was a oddly disjointed for me. Did I miss when Haley and Dylan started dating again? Whatever. I like him being around. I could've done without Mitchell not being able to man up and quit his job to his boss' face.

The Big Bang Theory "The Discovery Dissipation"
This is pretty much my least favorite version of the characters. Sheldon is as insufferable as ever with the back and forth feelings about his discovery and refutation of said discovery. Raj is basically pathetic lonely guy and everyone else exist to use and abuse him. I just wasn't a fan of this episode.

The Crazy Ones "Models Love Magic"
I like the running joke about models loving magic. I burst out laughing at the end when Andrew pulls the scarf trick to keep the models in the building. Adrianne Lima has limited acting range, so they did what they could with her. The book club was a good touch, although a little familiar. I also really enjoyed the collection of distractions for Simon, including Angels, Harlem Globetrotters, and a disco ball.

SNL "Paul Rudd/One Direction"
The was a perfectly mediocre episode. By that, I mean there was very little to hate although there were no sketches a particularly liked. I think the Weekend Update was probably my favorite one. It's a little soon to be bringing back Jebidiah Atkinson though, isn't it? I like Paul Rudd. I'm not sure why they couldn't come up with anything great for him to do. Perhaps I need to be a tween girl to understand but One Direction looks weird, don't they? They are like foreign, suave hipsters.

Delayed Reaction: Scrooged

The Pitch: Bill Murray does a modern rendition of A Christmas Carol.

What Took Me So Long: I have no idea. This is one I'd wanted to see for a while.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) This is a funny movie. I was surprised that it holds up in that way as well as it does. There's something about the Christmas Carol story that, when done right, always warms my heart. It's probably all that self-reflection I have while watching it. The cast is top to bottom "hey, it's that guy from that thing" actors and they are well cast for it. I especially enjoyed Carol Kane's pixie Ghost of Christmas Present.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: I always have a slight problem with movies that have commentary about what's on TV. It's the same problem I had with Network. There's some truth to the point they are trying to make but it's hardly like film is a higher-brow medium than TV. I know that's truer today than it was in 1988. Still, I find it to be lazy satire.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Colors

The Pitch: Old cop, new cop in L.A. gangland.

What Took Me So Long: I didn't know this movie existed and if I'd ever seen it on, I'd likely have changed the channel to TNT, which likely had Shawshank Redemption on.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) It's fascinating to see how something like the gang scene in L.A. has evolved in movies over time. I also recently saw End of Watch and the movies are not that different. The experience vs. youth angle between Robert Duvall and Sean Penn is certainly different and in some ways that could be its weakness because both seem to be playing parts more than characters.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: I saw this a lot. I don't know what came before this movie, but I do know what came after and this movie covers very familiar topics that I've seen in everything from Training Day to End of Watch. It isn't substantially different from anything else like it.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

December Preview

Like most years, it looks like the past 11 months have all been training for how to see movies in a packed December. I have a week with three locks. I don't even have that many free days.Ugh. I'll find a way to do it though. So many [potentially] great movies.

March |  April | May | June | July | August | September | October | November 

12/6

The Lock: Inside Llewyn Davis [Limited]
I'm always on the verge of being a big Coen Brothers but my enjoyment is still largely based on the material. Let's see. New York Folk scene in the 60s. Carey Mulligan. Justin Timeberlake singing. As always, John Goodman. Yeah, I'll think this one's for me.
Odds I'll See It: 85%

In Consideration:

Out of the Furnace - I keep hearing about how good Christian Bale is supposed to be in this but it's always said in a way that sounds like he is good despite the movie. I still haven't seen Crazy Heart, so the director isn't necessarily a draw for me either. It would have to be a slow weekend to get me to see this.
Odds I'll See It: 13%

12/13

The Lock: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
The Hobbit is still Peter Jackson's Middle Earth, so even after the disappointing first installment, I'm excited to see this. It also helps that many of the more interesting story points from the book are coming up in this one.
Odds I'll See It: 92%

In Consideration:

Tyler Perry's A Madea Christmas - I've seen a Madea movie or two now, so I don't carry the same blind hate of these movies I used to. Now, I know I don't care for them, so unless this is a massive departure from the Tyler Perry model, I can't imagine ever seeing this.
Odds I'll See It: 2%

12/20

 

The Lock: Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues
Ron Burgandy is the high that Will Ferrell has been chasing for nearly a decade with movies like Semi-Pro and Blades of Glory and nothing has been able to match it. It would be foolish for me to expect anything near as good as the original Archorman, but I am a fool and am completely excited to see this.
Odds I'll See It: 99%

The Other Lock: American Hustle
I've accepted that I'm never going to like David O. Russell movies as much as the rest of the world. That's not to say I don't like his movies though. This looks like a best of for his last two movies featuring a cast including Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jennifer Lawrence and others. It looks funny and cool and I am very curious to see how it all comes together.
Odds I'll See It: 84%

The Third Lock: Saving Mr. Banks
Tom Hanks playing Walt Disney. A movie about getting Mary Poppins made into a movie. I've heard a lot of reviews that sound dismissive because this is a feel good movie that rewrites a lot of what really happened. Frankly, if it's done effectively, then I don't care. I'm all in.
Odds I'll See It: 78%

In Consideration:

Her [Limited] - Spike Jonze is probably the most creative story tellers in cinema right now. I'm pretty sure this story of a man (played by Joaquin Phoenix) who is so cut off from other that he falls in love with his computer will probably hit deep but that's generally worth it when Jonze is the one doing it. Also, stellar supporting cast.
Odds I'll See It: 57%

Walking with Dinosaurs 3D - I'm mostly including this because it's rare that I've heard absolutely nothing about a movie before putting together this list and this movie is one of those rarities. It looks like it is about dinosaurs or something and the tickets will be more expensive, not to mention this is a week with three locks.
Odds I'll See It: < 1%

12/27

The Lock: The Wolf of Wall Street
Scorsese's Catch Me If You Can from the look of it. If nothing else, this will be funny and filled with good performances from actors I like. Do I really need much more than that? There's also the added curiosity factor after this was delayed from mid-November to barely in time for Awards contention late December.
Odds I'll See It: 86%

In Consideration:

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - This had to have one of the best initial trailers of any movie in recent memory. Sadly, it's been fairly downhill from there according to anything I've read about it. I'm actually a big fan of everything Ben Stiller has directed (from Reality Bites to Tropic Thunder), so I'm likely to still give this a chance despite middling reviews.
Odds I'll See It: 52%

Lone Survivor - Pete Berg agreed to direct Battleship in order to get the green-light for this. That alone makes me interested. I'm rooting for this movie to succeed because I like so many of the actors in it and some of them are really in need of a break (Ben Foster, Taylor Kitsch).
Odds I'll See It: 46%

August: Osage County - I don't know. Apparently, this is a super famous play in the theater community. I think I'll have to eventually see it simply due to the number of acting nominations it will receive. It's some sort of dysfunctional family drama and it has Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, and a lot of other people you've heard of before. I believe I heard the ending of the movie has been rewritten since it first premiered. That can't be a good sign.
Odds I'll See It: 33%

Grudge Match - I hate saying it, but I think they used all the best parts in the trailer. The fact that Kevin Hart completely dominates even that despite definitely being a side character to Robert De Niro and Sylvester Stallone is also a bad sign (you see: if you have to write in a non-lead to make your comedy movie funny, that can't be good). I fully see myself seeing this, but probably not in theaters.
Odds I'll See It: 23%

47 Ronin - Frankly, this looks like The Last Samurai and 300 put in a blender and topped off with Keanu Reeves as the lead. I'm having a hard to seeing how this doesn't flop or at least disappoint. If I start hearing in reviews that it has "breathed new life in the Kung-Fu movie" or "far exceeds the limited expectations for it" I'll give it another look, but this season is looking too crowded.
Odds I'll See It: 17%

Delayed Reaction: Biloxi Blues

The Pitch: Ferris Bueller's Basic Training

What Took Me So Long: I like later Matthew Broderick much more than early (Ferris Bueller is the exception).

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) It's written by Neil Simon and he is someone I pretend to know about when I want to sound intellectual. I was curious to see what, after reading the blurb on Netflix, sounded like a comedy version of the first hour of Full Metal Jacket. It is indeed a lighthearted movie that approaches some real emotion but pulls back when it could get too dark.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: Lighthearted can be code for boring or forgettable. That's the case here. Despite Broderick's amiable performance and Christopher Walken's prickly one I have no intent to see this again.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Celebrity Death "Do I Care?" Index: Paul Walker

Since my free time is seemingly limitless, I figure it's time for a new kind of blog post. Whenever I feel like it and, more importantly, when someone famous enough to be the lead story on IMDB for an afternoon dies, I'm going to figure out how much I do or do not give a fuck. In this edition, I take on Mr. Fast and Furious himself * the prettiest person in Into the Blue ** my favorite popular friend of Freddie Prinze Jr. in She's All That ***: Paul Walker.

*I'm pretty sure Vin Diesel is the real face of that franchise.
** No, Jessica Alba has that award locked up.
*** Forgot about Dule Hill.

Movies I Remember Him In:
Varsity Blues (1999) - He plays a great asshole.
The Fast and the Furious (2001) - Remember, the one where he was a cop still?
2 Fast 2 Lazy to Spell Out a Three Letter Word (2003)
Fast & Furious (2009) - Even the producers got tired of trying with the titles.
Fast Five (2011)
Fast 6 (2013) - Yep, they gave up titling these.

Basically, he is was super thankful to be in an unkillable franchise that somehow got better over time.

Movies I Forgot He Was In:
Pleasantville (1998) - He just wanted some cookies!
She's All That (1999) -He was the premiere late 90's pretty-boy, jock asshole.
Joy Ride (2001) - Why did I think this was Jesse Bradford?
Timeline (2003) - Truth be told, I try to forget about the movie, not that he was in it.
Into the Blue (2005) - I'm told that people other than Jessica Alba in a bikini were in this. I'm yet to watch it and notice anyone though.
Eight Below (2006) - Wait. This wasn't a Cuba Gooding Jr. movie?
Flags of Our Father (2006) - To be fair, everyone was in this, like Black Hawk Down...was he in Black Hawk Down?

Wait I've realized is that I've seen a lot of Paul Walker Movies. I'm like 6 away from seeing the whole filmography. Mathematically, that means I must've been a Paul Walker fan (circumstantially, not intentionally).

Oh, there he is

Movies That He Was Still Working On:
Fast & Furious...I lost count (2014...who the hell knows now?)

While the movie has technically lost its lead, Fast & Furious is not Indiana Jones. It can survive without him and Vin Diesel, The Rock, and [for me] Jordana Brewster are the major draws these days.

Any Other Reason I Should Care:
Sadly, no.

I'm sure he was a nice enough guy. He was in a lot of movies that I liked or didn't hate, but he has never been the reason why I've liked a movie. Outside of acting, there were no projects he had that I cared about. So far the most interesting thing about him dying is the "art imitates life" way it happened.

Verdict: I'm pretty indifferent.

DVR Purge: 11/28-12/1

Past Purges

HIMYM "Bedtime Stories"
Cynicism be damned. I like this episode. It was clever and, from a writing standpoint, pretty impressive. It was hardly the funniest episode but it was one of the most likable this season. Best of all, no Farhampton in. The framing structure of the season actually allows for a lot of freedom to do some weird episodes since there's really not a lot going on in the linear story at the Inn. This is the kind of weirdness I openly invite.

SHIELD "Repairs"
I can't place why but I liked this episode a lot. It seems to be finding it's comfort zone. It can't be a coincidence that this is the first episode that Coulson doesn't go on about dying (correct me if I'm wrong). The writers must finally realize how to make the show its own thing, not something that has to wink and nod at the movies all the time.

Brooklyn Nine Nine "Thanksgiving"
So, someone in the department has to hate each holiday? I wonder who hates Christmas. Holt? I think that could work. It figures that Santiago's dinner was awful. The dinner they ended up having at the station looked really good though. I could get behind a multi-ethnic take-out Thanksgiving.

New Girl "Thanksgiving III"
A lot of this episode confused the hell out of me. Mostly a collection of small things though, like how did Jess go crazy so soon after eating the fish? Did I miss something? What was the timeline of that night: Jess eats the fish and goes crazy (middle of the night), she gets to the hospital and treated, they have their vending machine Thanksgiving and, I forget the time they said, but it wasn't that late. This all seems to be on Thanksgiving still, so did I miss something in the timeline? How are the pants durable enough to pull up two people? Did Nick dig that hole? If not, why is there randomly such a big hole in the forest? I will say that I really enjoyed Cece and Winston bonding. I don't think that's happened before.

The Mindy Project "Wedding Crushers"
I still hate that opening song. I feel I need to say that every so often. Otherwise, this was another good, not great episode, with a lot of things that made me laugh as hard as anything this week (Mindy and Josh doing the drug rituals, for instance) and some groundwork for the future being laid (Danny and his dad is surely going somewhere). This was a bit of a dip from last week that's hardly an indictment.

The Walking Dead "Too Far Gone"
They've relied on this trick too often. It's worked before but the law of diminishing returns is in effect. An exciting action sequence is not going to make up for an otherwise messy episode. Let's break this down into good, bad, and questionable.
(Good) The tenseness of the scene with Lily watching the walker in the river.
(Bad) Lily somehow being able to get from the river to the standoff at just the right time and the little girl managing to stay only mostly dead for that time.
(Good) Rick delivering the hell out of that speech.
(Bad) There's literally one person who I think was still on board with the Governor's plan by the time he killed Hershel, but that guy is driving the tank, so we still get a gunfight. Seriously, how can anyone still side with the Governor? It's a shame there were no puppies for him to kick too.
(Questionable) Why would the Governor go after poor, one-legged Hershel instead of Michonne with whom he has a personal vendetta. She is also more threatening. Oh, and isn't it more poetic to kill her with her own weapon?
(Questionable) Somehow, Michonne is able to escape alive despite being tied up, in a gun fight, on the wrong side of enemy lines.
(Bad) Great, now no one gets the prison. Did the Governor have a plan B? Plan A seemed doomed to fail.
(Good) Carl gets to be a badass.
(Questionable) Why would the kids all forget Lil Asskicker. Bring her on the damn bus. In fact, I don't care what the episode implies. Until we see a Li' Asskicker baby zombie running around, I assume she is still alive and I don't buy a single moment of Carl and Rick's pain.
Let's be honest, this is what was supposed to be the Season 3 finale, which would've felt more earned. This is just a rushed attempt to finally deliver on that promise from last season. If we ignore everything with the Governor, I like the direction of this half season. Then again, the Governor was nearly half the season, so, TWD is comfortably still in a state of "maybe it'll come together at some point" and "it's just good enough to keep watching".

Movie Reaction: Frozen

Formula: Sleeping Beauty - Sleep + Ice

Why I Saw It: I'm a sucker for a good Disney animated feature and I was greatly curious to hear Kristen Bell as a Disney Princess.

[Voice] Cast: Might as well start with Kristen Bell. It's impossible to hate her and that comes through in the movie with Anna, who is already one of my favorite Disney Princesses. Idina Menzel provides the voice for Anna's sister, the Ice Queen Elsa and boy can she sing. While Pixar and Dreamworks go for A-list talent for voices, Disney Animation tends to go a little more obscure. So, I've never heard of Menzel, Jonathan Groff (Kristoff), or Santino Fontana (Hans) which means the voices carry no baggage which works in their favor. Josh Gad, unsurprisingly, is the comedic relief and he is a vintage Disney sidekick.

Plot: Disney doesn't tell complex stories. This one is basically, Elsa hides her ice powers until she can't and accidentally brings on eternal winter. Then, Anna tries to undo this. I won't pretend there's a lot of more to it or that it goes in a direction you don't expect, but there are a couple beats that I didn't see coming. I could harp on a couple small details with sequence of events or logic, but I don't want to because the whole thing is to damn enjoyable. You can always sum it up as a one sentence moral of the story. This one would probably be "Embrace what makes you and others different" or something like that.

Animation: This looked great. I'm used to looking at Pixar as the gold standard in animation, but this is as pretty as anything I've seen from them. There were a few years there around the time of Bolt, when Disney didn't seem to know if they wanted to do computer animation when they looked like an afterthought. That is no longer.

Elephant in the Room: I hear this has music. I never appreciated the days of the Menken musical numbers that brought on the Disney Renaissance but I do now and this is a major return to that. The songs in this are great, funny, and catchy. They fit in with the movie and are the best kind of distraction. I hope we will be getting more of them in years to come.

Mouse in the Room: There's a great Mickey Mouse short at the beginning of the movie. It's been a while since Disney has done anything with him and the short is a very clever use of old footage (complete with Walt Disney as Mickey's voice). No one else includes shorts like this before movies and I'm not sure how many studios could get away with it but Disney's made good with them.

To Sum Things Up:
Most of the time with animated movies you have to forgive a lot of things and say things like "well, it was for kids". That is absolutely not the case with Frozen. The story rings true to all ages. The jokes are legitimately funny. The action is actually exciting. The music is Broadway-level. After Wreck It Ralph and now this, I'm about ready to say that Disney Animation is back and I couldn't be more pleased.

Verdict (?): Strongly Recommend

Delayed Reaction: The Accused

The Pitch: Jodie Foster as a rape victim in a courtroom drama.

What Took Me So Long: This is another movie that has been thoroughly covered by an episode of SVU I saw once.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) Jodie Foster won and Oscar for this role, which I did not know, and good for her. She's good in this playing the not-so-innocent victim. A lot of the conflict is hammed up as much as possible but it is done to get its point across. I'm happy it opted for the happy[ish] ending rather than the "the system is corrupt and broken" ending.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: My biggest regret about only having my list [currently] going back to 1987 is that I can't fully trace the evolution of a genre. Like so many other movies I've come across, I don't know where this fits in the evolution of this kind of story. I watch this and think "Boy, they sure are laying it thick about how guilty these guys are. How could it even be questionable if they are guilty?" because I've seen much more nuanced versions that have come out since. Now, I haven't seen a lot of courtroom dramas before this and certainly none with a similar subject matter so I don't have a proper context for it. Did audiences in 1988 really need it to be this cut and dry? Was the fact that she smokes a little pot enough for most people to think that she is such a loose cannon that maybe she was asking for it? I like to think that even 25 years ago this movie was talking down to the audience the way it would come off now, but maybe I'm wrong. So, what I'm trying to say is that I didn't think this was all that engaging watched in the modern context, but that may not be the movie's fault.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend

Delayed Reaction: Always

The Pitch: A love triangle with a guardian angel.

What Took Me So Long: Holly Hunter kind of annoys me. I don't know why.

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) It's a Steven Spielberg movie so there's a baseline level of quality I could expect. The movie is very small, tucked away in its own little corner of the world. It's sweet story. Richard Dreyfuss is in his fussy but lovable wheelhouse and Holly Hunter is familiarly tough but delicate. John Goodman is the best friend, which is a role he's had for the majority of his career. It walks the fine line of talking about the afterlife without getting too bogged down with religion. That's key.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: It was kind of boring and meanders a lot. It's positioned as a great love story and it's a good one. I feel like 30 minutes could've easily been cut from this. This thing dragged at almost all points.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend