Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on January 6th, 2015
The most remarkable thing about Looking might be how thoroughly unremarkable it is. This is a double-edged sword for HBO's dramedy, which follows the love lives of three gay friends living in modern-day San Francisco. The series sidesteps the headline-grabbing sensationalism that accompanies many other shows that prominently feature gay characters. (Looking at you, Ryan Murphy.) On the other hand, Looking is often low-key to the point that it bypasses being funny or particularly entertaining. What the series does have on its side is a naturalistic tone that makes the show more engrossing and immersive as the first season progresses.
Looking follows the lives of Patrick (Jonathan Groff), a lovelorn, 29-year-old video game level designer; Agustin (Frankie J. Alvarez), a 31-year-old artist's assistant — and a frustrated artist himself — in a committed relationship; and Dom (Murray Bartlett), a 39-year-old waiter with a preference for younger guys who is at a personal and professional crossroads in his life. The series opens with Patrick bumbling his way through an anonymous sexual encounter in a park before going on a disastrous first date with a different guy, Agustin deciding to move in with boyfriend Frank (O.T. Fagbenle), and Murray mulling over a career move away from the food industry and into real estate.
Posted in: The Reel World by J C on December 25th, 2014
It took a while for Hollywood to finally venture Into the Woods. On one hand, the delay isn’t surprising given that the popularity of live-action musicals at the box office has ebbed and flowed many times since Woods made its Broadway debut in 1987. Then again, the story’s free-wheeling mash-up of Grimms’ fairy tale characters fits perfectly with the current obsession with shared cinematic universes. As a result, Disney — which has a storied past with fairy tales, and a lucrative present with cross-platforming popular characters — seems like the perfect landing spot for an Into the Woods movie.
“Be careful what you wish for.”
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on December 23rd, 2014
“Life is always a tightrope or a featherbed. Give me the tightrope.”
Edith Wharton was born into the “featherbeds” of New York’s high society, and some of her most famous books — “The Age of Innocence”, “The House of Mirth” — are set among the well-to-do elite. But this dry, informative documentary — which focuses on her work as a designer, world traveler, and philanthropist — makes the case that Wharton chose the “tightrope.”
Posted in: The Reel World by J C on December 19th, 2014
- “There she is, our little orphan Annie.”
- “I'm a foster kid!”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 18th, 2014
“Everybody's sad or angry or lying or cheating.”
That seems to be the state of the four adult Altman children even before they are thrust back together following the death of the family patriarch. This Is Where I Leave You has all the makings of a great dysfunctional dramedy. It has a terrific cast and is based on the very popular book by Jonathan Tropper, who wrote the screenplay. Yet the movie comes up well short of delivering on its promise. Despite some strong acting, a handful of funny beats, and a passing similarity to another ensemble movie where characters who were formerly close are brought back together by a funeral, this movie is less Big Chill and more “Big Shrill.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 16th, 2014
“You know what the sad thing is? We’re a good team.”
Up until they teamed up to star in The Skeleton Twins, there was nothing sad about the team of Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. Regardless of how you feel about the quality of Saturday Night Live in recent years, Wiig (the only cast member to earn an Oscar nomination — for co-writing Bridesmaids — while still appearing on the show) and Hader (with "Stefon" and a laundry list of impressions that ranged from Alan Alda to Al Pacino) were clear standouts. So you'd expect their first post-SNL big-screen team up to be a laugh riot. That's not exactly the case.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on December 15th, 2014
“Screw you, it's 'Merry Christmas!'”
A decent chunk of Jeff Dunham's Very Special Christmas Special is devoted to taking back the most wonderful time of the year from anyone who insists on saying “Happy Holidays” instead of daring to utter the C-word. The wildly successful comic certainly knows his audience, and the live crowd here eats up Dunham's assault on rampant political correctness. My feelings on this particular DVD release, on the other hand, are closer to “Bah, humbug!
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on December 11th, 2014
Stop me if you've heard this one before: single gal(s) looking for love — among other things — in the big city. On television, the trope dates back to the days of Laverne & Shirley and continues with more contemporary entries like Sex and the City and Girls. It's an effective, well-worn story hook that has now gotten a funny, tremendously weird spin thanks to Comedy Central's Broad City.
“I'm an adult, I'm gonna buy my own pot.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by J C on December 9th, 2014
“I wish...”
There's no shortage of wishing (not to mention pining, longing, yearning, etc.) in some of our most beloved fairy tales. Into the Woods — the Tony-winning Broadway musical created by Stephen Sondheim and frequent collaborator James Lapine — illustrates what happens when certain characters get their storybook ending. Since there's a big, shiny Disney adaptation on the way, it made sense for Image Entertainment to offer a performance of the stage show on Blu-ray. However, I wish...some more effort had been put into this release.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by J C on December 3rd, 2014
Tis the season to be...overwhelmed with a crushing number of Christmas-themed movies on our television screens. In addition to holiday staples like A Christmas Story, It's a Wonderful Life, and Die Hard (yeah, I said it), many networks roll out original, made-for-TV yuletide tales. The Hallmark Channel is certainly doing its part this year with its “Countdown to Christmas”, which includes 12 new movies. One of those films transports us to the fictional land of Cordinia for the painfully cliched romantic-comedy stylings of A Royal Christmas.
Emily Taylor (Lacey Chabert) is a Philly girl who has been dating her charming boyfriend Leo (Stephen Hagan) for almost a year. Leo is a foreigner who came to America to attend business school, and Emily is a seamstress/aspiring fashion designer. (Get it? She's a seamstress...and her last name sounds like “tailor”...it's *that* kind of movie.) As the couple prepares to spend their first Christmas together, Leo is summoned back home by his mother. It's right around this time that Leo reveals to Emily that he's actually Prince Leopold, heir to the throne of Cordinia.
