Reviews

But I didn't love it. It didn't blow me away like I hoped it would. I've given this a lot of shower-thought (the deepest, most insightful kind of thought), and I think I've come up with a few reasons why that is.

In my previous T&E-related screed here, I made the assertion that their comedic style is dependent on speed and intensity, and as such only works in short episodes. More than one person asked me how I thought B$M was going to work given that argument. The response I gave was somewhat similar to what T&E have since said in interviews about the movie--the style was going to have to change to accomodate the medium.

And they did that. B$M is definitely a movie. It feels like a movie, looks like a movie, and for the most part proceeds like a movie. Most importantly, though, it still is definitely a Tim and Eric product. Their stylistic stamp is on it pretty firmly. So in that way, it's successful.

Still, I can't help but feel that it's not as good as it could have been, and I think that disappointment can largely be traced back to how sturdy it is in its moviehood/moviedom/movieness/filmocity. Given that T&E's M.O. is that everything they make is a commentary on the medium with which it's created and delivered, it's probably safe to assume that one of the goals of Billion Dollar Movie is to send up the idea of the conventional Hollywood film. Secondarily, it'd be about sending up the world of showbusiness. Tertiarily, it'd be about sending up the trope of movies that are about making movies.

You follow? Makes sense, right? But instead, the bulk of the film really concerns itself with Tim and Eric fixing up an abandoned mall. And that's funny. It's set up to be about Hollywood, but then it's about something completely unrelated. Them's good jokes. My complaint doesn't lie here.

The problem is that although plot-wise they abandon the expected structure, they don't do the same in terms of style, editing, or pace. B$M could have been truly revolutionary if they had chosen to throw off the conventions of Hollywood filmmaking at the same time as they threw off the expected narrative. They could have taken the leap and really made it as bizarre, unpredictable, and stylistically fragmented as their TV work is.

I'll provide that they do it so some extent. They shrug off about a shoulder of the convention-jacket. When Tim promises to be Eric's best man, we get a snapshot of them as an invitation to a Best Man Ceremony, which is then used to transition to the next scene. The various montages set to music are all fantastic. The few times they find a narrative reason to incorporate cheesy TV commercials are fabulous. Their trademark technique of adding pronounced SFX to most bodily gestures and movements is in fine form.

But other than that, their adherence to conventional film style and narrative progression can just be a little boring. Their characters even seem a little bored with it. Yes, they're still parodying the Hollywood comedy, to some extent, so partly they're poking fun at how rote plot progression can be, but it doesn't come across as all that sharp a commentary. Some jokes (in particular getting the little car-thing up the ramp and Taquito's death scene) seemed to almost be lifted, without much alteration, from Austin Powers. 

I guess the main disappointment is just that it is thoroughly a movie. It's not transcending the medium at all. And if they definitely wanted it to be a unified, narrative film, then maybe that's the best that could be done. But with the brilliant setting of a hellish abandoned suburban mall, perhaps the closest thing to a physical manifestation of a surreal variety/sketch program like Awesome Show, why not push the boundaries a little more?

P.S. In conclusion, because I think I came off as pretty down on the movie, you should really see it. It's consistently entertaining and does have a lot of astoundingly funny parts. It definitely warrants watching and can be viewed RIGHT THIS VERY MOMENT on YouTube, iTunes, the Zune store, or through your cable provider's On Demand service. If you want the authentic experience (which I will admit I have not yet had!), it will be in theaters in select cities on March 2.

P.P.S. I will never be able to forget Shrim as long as I live. 

There is a very solid movie at the heart of X-Men: First Class. As with every superhero flick, the greatest thrill comes from seeing an origin story--the moment when a character has to come to terms with the fact that he's something more than human. In this film's case, the origin story is that of Erik Lehnsherr (Michael Fassbender), more commonly known as Magneto. Unlike many other superhero origin stories, though, this isn't primarily about him discovering his powers; it's about him understanding himself in relation to essentially his perfect foil, Charles Xavier (James McAvoy)--the person he might have been had he been born under different circumstances.

That story, the story of the relationship between these two very compelling characters, is really interesting, and it props up the rest of this sometimes embarrassing goliath of a movie. It's clear from its four (credited--I'm sure there were more) screenwriters that a lot of writing and rewriting and passing around happened in this film's development. The secondary and tertiary storylines are all over the place. It seems strange to me that there wasn't a less convoluted way to set up the concept "mutants cause the Cuban Missile Crisis." As it is, it's a mess of nameless Russian generals, Ray Wise trolling it up in the Situation Room, January Jones' boobs, and Kevin Bacon's all-white submarine. 

The whole thing ties vaguely into Magneto's storyline, but to me it smacks of just being a way to set up suspenseful situations involving (totally obvious spoilers) the magnetic manipulation of a large number of missiles. It's a shame that it took up so many minutes that could have been more satisfyingly dedicated to exploring the relationship between the two central characters. For god's sake--practically the best interaction they have is forced to take place during a training montage!

There are a slew of other new (and familiar) mutant characters, most of whom are kind of passably interesting, as well as Rose Byrne being a total trouper and making the best of the very little she is given to work with as the mutants' CIA handler.

All in all, it's an entertaining two hours, due largely to the solid work by Mr. Fassbender and Mr. McAvoy, who--like their counterparts Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart--put all of their admirable, classically-trained British acting chops into making Magneto and Professor X eminently relatable. As for the rest, as long as you try not to think too hard, you'll probably have fun.

Yesterday my depression reached its nadir (I had to think for about 30 seconds before remembering that word! I checked it; it's right!) and now it's swung back around to a general goofiness characterized by a fixation on things I find amusing, such as this article in today's Free Press:

If you follow me on Twitter, you probably know by now that the idea of the man who knows himself only as "Dennis" fills me with glee, although I acknowledge that the man's situation is probably pretty distressing in real life. I want to make a series of comics all about Dennis' adventures. He will have the same bland but haunted expression on his face throughout.

My mood has also been buoyed somewhat over the past few days by getting hooked on Villagers via NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts. They're an exceptionally listenable Irish folky alt-something group in the vein of Grizzly Bear or Fleet Foxes. Conor J. O'Brien, the band's frontman and creative powerhouse, has a truly gorgeous voice. They seem to be touring the West Coast this coming week, so if you're out there, check Villagers out. For the rest of us, I would highly recommend watching the aforementioned All Songs Considered performance or just buying their album outright.

I don't know if I can describe it any better than that. A conventional critical analysis of the film would be tricky. It's immaculately constructed. Other than some over-long, disorienting chase scenes and some clunky dialogue here and there, it borders on technical flawlessness.

I don't want to pose this as a criticism because I don't mean it as such, but it is a curiously humorless and emotionless film except for the very palpable longing Dom (Leonardo DiCaprio) feels for his family, represented beautifully by the motif of his children's backs. Inception presents the viewer with this powerful emotion, but for the most part does not allow us to experience it. We are held at arm's length, observers in the layers of dreams the characters traverse.

I guess this aspect of the film surprised me because one expects any movie about dreams to be immersive and subjective. Inception is most definitely experienced objectively. Rather than being immersed in the action, we are reminded of all the steps that must be taken to complete the process. Something at the complete other end of the spectrum but the same genre (roughly) would be Ocean's Eleven, where the viewer knows almost nothing about how the heist will happen and is swept up when it does. In Inception, the viewer is watching from the perspective of the mastermind, aware of every step.

Again, all of this is largely observation, not criticism. I thought the film was a masterwork. It's incredibly original. It's like nothing I've ever seen, and that's certainly saying something.

Highlights were Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Tom Hardy, who added really the only wryness and humor in the entire film. Ken Watanabe also got to be pretty fun. Gordon-Levitt's anti-gravity fight scenes were amazing. Cillian Murphy did an admirable job considering he wasn't given much to work with. DiCaprio, although very restrained, communicated Dom's tragedy perfectly.

I'm going to see it again tomorrow, so I may amend this entry if I have any other insights, but I felt I had to get out my thoughts right after the first viewing.

So, what did you think of Inception?

The show revolves around the employees of the IT Department of Reynholm Industries. In what has since become kind of formulaic (see The Big Bang Theory), the department's two geeks, Roy (Chris O'Dowd) and Moss (Richard Ayoade) chafe under the management of Jen (Katherine Parkinson), a technologically-impaired female stereotype. This set-up could have yielded a fairly dull multicamera sitcom, but creator and comedy impresario Graham Linehan keeps it fun, intelligent, and absurd.

The first series, all the way back in 2006, took an approach that was in many ways dependent on geek-oriented jokes, lampooning the technological ignorance of the general populace. I think it's since become a little passe as more and more people become at least functionally tech-savvy. Either that or it didn't ring quite true since there had to be a delicate balance struck between making the jokes accessible to a general audience and true to character.

In the more recent seasons, I think The IT Crowd has become more about the relationships between the characters, which is ultimately what every TV show--comedy or drama--has to have at its heart. It still remains a nice little homage to geek culture and showcases a lot of very strong comic acting. Matt Berry, playing Douglas, Reynholm Industries' oblivious, womanizing CEO, is always a joy to watch.

There are still things that bother me about it, though. While a studio audience and the laugh track that comes along with it is a mainstay of the traditional sitcom (a genre that still seems to have a lot more popularity in the UK), it gets pretty grating, especially as the percentage of the show shot as single-camera inserts increases. Would it really be that bad to make it all single camera and ditch the audience? 

I also appreciate that they've put some effort into making Jen geekier as the show progresses, but the concept of a slightly dumb, attractive woman placed in contrast to nerd guys is annoyingly stereotypical. Doesn't any show creator ever think about all the new dynamics and possibilities that would present themselves if these gender roles were inverted? Is it just that an audience would be too resistant to the concept of a female nerd, or even any female character not presented first and foremost as being attractive?

Anyways, despite all that, The IT Crowd is worth watching. May it be a stepping stone into the many other fantastic projects the talented comedians that make up its cast and creators have worked on, including The Mighty Boosh, Nathan Barley, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Man to Man with Dean Learner, Snuff Box, and Black Books.