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New Girl (2011)
Tuesday nights are fun now because of "New Girl"!
Though not created by her, Zooey Deschanel's TV debut, quite fortunately, does not revolve around her character. I'm not saying that as a put-down, the character Jess is as quirky, awkward, and as funny as you might expect, but, luckily, the producers (one of which is Ms. Deschanel herself) don't need that character to carry an episode through it's arc. The characters of Schmidt, Nick, Winston, Cece, and whoever else pops up in various episodes truly help make this show feel like more of a modern day buddy comedy. What group of guys doesn't have a few girls in their click, who they may or may not have feelings for (Nick and Jess, Schmidt and Cece.) And Winston, I cannot stress this enough; Brevity is the soul of wit, and Lamorne Morris has it in spades. His delivery is laid back, but so direct, that when he's not being the voice of reason no one listens to, and does something crazy like steal Schmidt's car to drive to Mexico (while singing the Wicked soundtrack the whole way down,) or goes from a well poised interviewee to a speechless fan-boy once he meets Kareem Abdul Jabaar and asks to sit on his shoulders, it hits hard, funny, and in all the right places. Schmidt's become more and more ridiculous as the first seasons progressed, and I can see myself becoming possibly annoyed by his character, but it won't be a flaw, his character will become a comedic foil for certain viewers, you'll love him or hate him, and Nick and Cece's constant demeaning of him will always keep him and check, not to mention their interaction and relationship may lead to new and interesting places for Cece's character. And of course, no one can make the call on whether it'll happen, but everyone's waiting for that Nick and Jess moment to happen. Nick is a more masculine version of Jess; he can put up a more secure facade, but when it all comes crashing down in a drunken or nervous breakdown, it's great, and actually quite relate able to the shows male viewers. Can New Girl effectively pull off a Ross/Rachel? Maybe, but honestly, it doesn't need it. Everyone brings something to the show that is genuine and is irreplaceable, and we have the writers and producers to thank for that, and we have them to keep in our prayers that they don't ever jump the shark in any way, shape or form. That's just my way of saying this show is great, and however it evolves, I hope it evolves well.
The Thing (2011)
Not without it's flaws, but still damn good. (SPOILERS!!)
I'm writing this as a die hard fan of John Carpenter's remake of the 50's classic, both of which stemmed from John W. Campbell's short story/novella "Who Goes There?" (the 80's version and this version paid much closer attention to the book then the 50's one.) So, with that in mind, I'll talk about what obviously drives the whole story, the characters.
You're not supposed to feel particularly invested in characters whom, once the movies arc begins to rise might not be who/what they appear to be. Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character was fine, but her arc ends on a sour note for me. After everything is set up for the 80's movie to take place and the prequel aspect of this movie ends, we delve further into the characters who are left; Mary Elizabeth Winstead's, Joel Edgerton's, and Ulrich Thomsen's. Ulrich's character as the Norwegian scientist who wants to keep the alien alive for scientific research (even before it possesses him) is an homage to the 50's version, since in the 80's remake, once the beast made its second killing, everyone, even the scientists, wanted it dead. Kudos to the screenwriters for throwing that in; it didn't add terrible amounts of depth to the characters, but it certainly was more than was expected. Joel Edgerton's character did a great job as the American pilot who just wanted the hell outta there, but also, to do the right thing and finish off the monster. His military background and overall participation in fighting The Thing before it tries to escape was very believable and fit perfectly. Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character obviously runs the show; discovering aspects of how The Thing transforms, what it leaves behind (anything artificial; the fillings concept was spot on,) and of course, her ability to assume control over the entire operation was impressive. However, when the ship is blown up, and she kills Edgerton once she realizes he's a monster, her arc flat-lines. We see her get into the other functioning car, the camera slowly zooms in, and then fades out. We have no idea what happens to our heroine! We can assume she died in the car, or that she went to the Russian camp Edgerton mentioned before they went after Thomsen's character. The only problem with her going to the Russian camp is, even with the cold war going on at the time, could she not have warned them about the monster and potentially brought in a whole other group of people to the Norwegian camp before the Americans found it? Too much ambiguity, especially in a characters resolution, can lead to massive amounts of frustration, I know it did for me.
So, there's the good and the bad, but there is one gem of a character who made the movie great for me. The simple, almost silent (might as well be since he couldn't speak English,) and ever determined to kill The Thing once he sees what it can do, the white knight in a simple man's clothing, Lars. His one track mind complements Edgerton's in terms of a lack of a scientific background, but a determination to do what he considers the right thing, and contrasts enough with Winstead and Thomsen's intellectual background make him the character you'll find yourself rooting for. If you don't, you will when you see the end credits.
This movie is not bad, it's not fantastic, but if you've got a free night and want to check out a movie with mixed reviews, check out this one and see if you swing with the haters or the lovers, or end up like me, perfectly content in the middle and satisfied with the job they did.
Observe and Report (2009)
Holy crap, this movie is GREAT (Potential Spoilers)
Don't listen to all the criticism surrounding this movie. "Oh, it's not a typical Seth Rogen role" "It's too dark" "The rape scene is awful!" First of all, kudos to Seth Rogen for stepping his game up as a comedic actor and venturing into a different genre unlike his fellow Judd Apatow brothers, who have yet to do anything other then your basic Apatow comedies (which isn't necessarily a bad thing.) A lot of people compared his character to Robert De Niro's Taxi Driver. I wouldn't go that far, but Ronnie is a multi-dimensional character who's overly romanticized dreams of fighting crime and becoming a cop are ultimately crushed by his own mental issues (bi-polar, excessively violent, etc.) I've never seen Jody Hill's other work, though the Danny McBride vehicle he has on HBO, "Eastbound and Down" or something along those lines looks to be pretty funny, and the "dark" humor people complain about in this movie extends the movies subject matter to a much deeper psychological level as to how utterly terrible the average person is, including Ronnie himself, who while a victim to many a character (Anna Faris, Ray Liotta, Michael Pena, his own mother) is quite often a real jackass to plenty of other people, like the innocent character Nell, who gets picked on ruthlessly by her boss and co-worker, and due to Ronnie's inept social skills, him as well.
And, a note about the supposed "rape" scene. I didn't see it as rape at all. Like many others have said, the film cuts from them walking into the house (her being conscious at this point) to them having sex on her bed. There's no reason not to assume that when they started off having sex that she was awake, dozed off in the middle of it, and then when he stopped to check if she was OK and she responded "why'd you stop f***er?" she woke up again. Besides, rape is more an act of power then it is sexual. The scene in Arthur Miller's "A view from the Bridge" where the main character Eddie forces Rodolpho to the ground and kisses him on the lips is much more of an act of rape then Ronnie thinking he's making to a girl he thinks he "loves", her passing out in the middle of them having sex, only to wake up maybe a few seconds later and want to keep doing it. I honestly don't see what the big deal was about that; those who thought Jody Hill would make a rape scene to be funny I think are just an oversensitive portion of the audience who interpreted it a certain way and blew it out of proportion, and gave a film that is SUPPOSED to view the awful, manipulative, maniacal, even evil aspects of people a way worse reputation than it deserved.
If anyone's offended by what I wrote, I'm sorry, but that's just the way I see this movie and interpret that scene. You think you're right, and I think I'm right.
Either way, I absolutely loved this movie. Congrats to Jody Hill and Seth Rogen to making an awesome dark comedy.
Pineapple Express (2008)
This movie stands apart from Superbad
Everyone went into the theater (myself included) expecting to see another Superbad, just with a lot of weed humor. If it was another Superbad, it'd be just that, and all I'd have to say is if you liked Superbad go see this blah blah blah.
But, while there are similarities of course (just cause it's not Superbad doesn't mean the same guys didn't write it,) this movie is in a league of its own. The action scenes are really brutal, but the things that are happening to the characters in the midst of them are hysterical.
***SPOILERS IN CASE YOU DIDN'T SEE THE WARNING!!!!***
Seth Rogan gets part of his ear blown off, James Franco gets his foot caught in a broken windshield, and stabbed with a fork, and runs into a tree, Danny R. McBride gets shot like four times, it's insane! And yet you're cracking up the whole time. When James Franco got stabbed with a fork, I didn't cringe as much as crack up at how abruptly it happened, or how funny the things he and Seth started screaming when it happened. "He's a good pot dealer, he's my pot dealer!" "I'm the good guy!" while he's got a fork dangling in his right shoulder.
But, amidst the well put together action scenes, the plot is pretty intense. Two stoner's get caught up in a drug war, and just keep digging themselves deeper and deeper, until you're thinking how in the hell are they going to get out of it. The chain of events that the protagonists have to endure throughout this movie makes it that much better, and James Franco and Seth Rogan are HYSTERICAL (Franco was incomprehensibly funny, he truly has dimension as an actor.) Go see this movie, it is well worth it.