Oh, that was totally on my list of new shows to watch! Will track it down ASAP.
Oh, that was totally on my list of new shows to watch! Will track it down ASAP.
...and the milk's in me.
It's... Very different from Bunheads.
Movie Theater DiaryQuoting Donald Glover
Yep, the preview I saw made it look like a horror film. That's okay. I think professional ballet is pretty horrific.Quoting number8 (view post)
...and the milk's in me.
I maintain Bunheads was great, though.
...and the milk's in me.
Well, this week's You're the Worst definitively puts to rest any fear on my part that the series would go the route of The League's diminishing returns each season. Gretchen's dealing with clinical depression has been a solid narrative choice, and this week's movement into exploring her psychosis full-on was special, especially against Jimmy's continued insistence on their life together being completely fine.
Everything in the final three minutes today was just perfectly delivered. Aya Cash for all the wins.
The Boat People - 9
The Power of the Dog - 7.5
The King of Pigs - 7
I need one of you to watch Edge and tell me again how Shane Black is an auteur.
Yeah... I don't know. This has the potential to be great-- and visually it's stunning-- but the first episode cut an uneasy path between gritty realism and straight-out camp.Quoting number8 (view post)
I'm kind of rooting for camp. But I feel like it needs to choose a tone.
...and the milk's in me.
I found the tone really similar to Showgirls, which I looove, but never saw as full-on camp. It's more trying to treat the main character's issues seriously while making the supporting characters bigger. I really like the pilot because it hits every single cliche expected of the premise, but has the protagonist react in interesting ways towards them.
Movie Theater DiaryQuoting Donald Glover
Most definitely. We finished the Nashville episode yesterday, and it's the first show to try to replicate the grace and innocence of Linklater's Before series, where characters have changes in psychology and nuance, even if it's still more grounded in comedy than philosophy.Quoting slqrick (view post)
Great stuff all around, despite some stilted line delivery from Ansari's mother.
The Boat People - 9
The Power of the Dog - 7.5
The King of Pigs - 7
Master of None feels extraordinary in some areas, totally commonplace in others. It bugs me that the oddball hero and higher end production values might obfuscate that.
It's best when it's exploring areas you don't see on other tv shows (the immigrant parents, the whole "why can't there be two?" casting story). It's worse, to the point of dullness, when it's talking about this one NYC dude's romantic life. That ground is too well trod in both cheesy network sitcoms and standup.
The second episode, Parents, is brilliant.Quoting slqrick (view post)
I love The Leftovers so much.
Movie Theater DiaryQuoting Donald Glover
Master Of None is definitely something very special. (If I was liking it more than most than I'd frame that as "special to me", but glad everyone I know personally and here seem to be connecting with it too.) Unexpectedly watched from the quietly stunning "Nashville" straight through to the penultimate episode totally unexpectedly after exhaustedly falling asleep during the first W/ Bob & David (which I then went back and finished and enjoyed very much!). Saving the finale for the time being, because I'll want more of it as soon as possible once I finish it. Sure, the line-reading can find itself on the wobbly side (Noël Wells being the most consistent, awesome revelation), but when it's good, which is most of the time, it's good.
The "Hot Ticket" episode is particularly way too eerily relatable to me, in terms of literally just unknowingly adapting conversations and moments from my life and re-working them on screen (not necessarily its fairly routine, arguably common dating/relationship beats, both in terms of how they pop up in real life and modern comedy, but yeah.. those too) but even aside from those elements, it's just a stellar, hysterical piece of TV comedy. With or without the 2.35:1 ratio, the series does have such a unique and beautifully accomplished feel to it. It feels as if we got one of the best low-budget films of the year chopped up into several 30-minute chunks. The closest comparisons for me would be that it's more sincere, less surreal / more continuity-bound Louie, and a more emotionally warm Girls with more varied, diverse perspectives.
And yeah, I need to catch the hell up with The Leftovers. Haven't heard a single not-excellent thing about this season.
Last 11 things I really enjoyed:
Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
Safe (Haynes, 1995)
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
Diva (Beineix, 1981)
Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)
The "Nashville" episode is better than most rom coms I've seen in the past few years.
Also, it really warms me to see Harris Wittels' name in the credits of the show.
Movie Theater DiaryQuoting Donald Glover
Absolutely. I've seen a few people online complain about how they feel Rachel and Dev's back-and-forth riffing and banter is the only way the series seems to know how to write and illustrate their chemistry, but when it can make it as funny and lovely as it does, why would they not lean into it so heavily? But maybe that's just something I value in getting along with people more than most in real life too.Quoting number8 (view post)
Also Didn't realize 'til looking back at the Wiki credits that Aziz directed that one too. I can't think of any devil's advocate to play that any of the show's triumphs don't stem from directly from him in some way.
I know. When "Hot Ticket" ended on the high it did for me, immediately seeing his "Story by" credit just put me over the edge. Making me just go, "d'awww, Harris.." in endearment as much as it bummed me out. (Similar to the effect "Analyze Phish" always coming up alphabetically first in my iTunes podcasts has on me.)Quoting number8 (view post)
Last 11 things I really enjoyed:
Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
Safe (Haynes, 1995)
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
Diva (Beineix, 1981)
Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)
According to Aziz, some of my favorite jokes on the show were things that Harris had written. He deliberately tried to get as many as Harris' leftover jokes into the dialogue. Like the entire exchange about Eminem's "Lose Yourself."
Movie Theater DiaryQuoting Donald Glover
Aah, nice. Is that from any particular interview?
Last 11 things I really enjoyed:
Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
Safe (Haynes, 1995)
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
Diva (Beineix, 1981)
Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)
Movie Theater DiaryQuoting Donald Glover
Lovely. I just know there's a bunch of long-form interviews and podcasts he's been doing that I haven't dug into yet.
EDIT: A bunch more (the E-vite joke, the outside/inside temperature conversation) and further Harris discussion here in Aziz and Alan Yang's AMA.
Last edited by Henry Gale; 11-17-2015 at 09:37 PM.
Last 11 things I really enjoyed:
Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
Safe (Haynes, 1995)
South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
Diva (Beineix, 1981)
Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)
This isn't really a fair criticism, and reminds me of the whole "Daredevil didn't have enough shots of Times Square to be considered a NYC show" convo. The settings and restaurants Aziz and his cohorts hang around in feel essential to his character (and in turn feel authentic to his persona). As food snobs, my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed that part of the show. I don't really like his stand up stuff, but his rumination on romance in the year 2015 made for a mostly interesting read in his book, and I'm glad some of that spilled over to the show.
Just marathoned first season of Fargo, the acting and atmosphere were so fucking good.
/facepalmQuoting slqrick (view post)
(seriously, if that was your takeaway, I really fucked up the point)
[QUOTE=D_Davis;547308]The second episode, Parents, is brilliant.[/QUOTE
Yep. I watched the first episode a few days ago and thought it was perfectly fine, but that second one was next-level stuff. Really fantastic and felt extremely original.
...and the milk's in me.