Disc Reviews

Since 2011, the trio of Blake, Adam, and Ders have been reporting to their telemarketing job and bringing the laughs to Comedy Central on Workaholics.  With the final season now released, it’s time to bid a fond farewell to the trio that has shown us the joys of pranking, slacking, and pot in the work place. Does the show go out with a bang, or does it fizzle before reaching that last episode? I was a little concerned how things would end up because of the years I’ve gotten to really like the show and everyone involved. It’s time to punch in that time card and check out what this final season is all about.

The final season kicks off with Blake (Blake Anderson), Adam (Adam Devine), and Anders (Anders Holm) coming into work as new trainees are being brought into the office. The guys crash the training session and decide to tell everyone they are fired, with the exception of the three youngest trainees and one old man they affectionately name sixty-nine.  The guys take the new employees under their wing and show them a day in their life at the office, and this ends up backfiring on them. The new trainees take pranks to a whole other level, and it becomes an all-out prank war in the workplace.  I loved this episode, but what I wasn’t expecting is how much more I was going to love this season.

The concept of eternal recurrence was (arguably) brought to the mainstream in 1993 with the release of Groundhog Day (1993). Certain films such as Run Lola Run (1998) and even an episode from The X-Files, “Monday” (1999), have managed to capture the strange, yet sad, philosophical nature behind repeating a single day. Since then, many variations of the concept began to meld with time travel, adding more distractions from the concept itself, only borrowing the basic premise: Just as space and time are infinite, so are our collective existences (in theory). Life of Significant Soil is closer in relation to the former films mentioned; however, it allows the raw emotion of experiencing a traumatic event to helm the ship.

Drawing a significant amount of inspiration from Milan Kundera’s novel, Unbearable Lightness of Being (another text which foregrounds eternal recurrence), the film concerns the failing relationship of Addison and Conor. As they continue to relive the last day of their relationship, they begin to pick up on the fact that their life is indeed repeating, and they begin to take steps to stop the inevitable from taking place. Even after seeking help from their neighbor Jackie, or Conor’s friend, Hue, they can’t seem to find the correct equation to set their life back on course.

If there is a television series in the history of the industry as American or timeless as The Andy Griffith Show, I haven't seen it. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone with strong negative feelings about the series. It was one of those organic and comfortable productions that reached deep into the core of rural America. Even if we lived in a bustling city, there were aspects of the show that still rang true. It was populated with the kind of familiar faces so that it wasn't hard for anyone in the audience to smile in remembrance of a character they've known in real life. And even after 50 years, the series still speaks to that certain aspect of the friendly small southern town. A lot of the credit for that peaceful easy feeling must be credited to the titular star Andy Griffith himself.

It all started as an episode of The Danny Thomas Show called Danny Meets Andy Griffith in February of 1960. In October of that same year, the first episode of the show ran. That was the first time television audiences took a trip down to Mayberry. There they met Andy Taylor (Griffith), a widower with a young son named Opie, played by future Happy Days star and superstar director Ron (it was Ronnie then) Howard. The relationship could be summed up in the popular series opening that found the father and son heading to their favorite fishing hole with poles slung on their shoulders. All the while, the soon-to-be-famous whistled theme put us in just the right mood. Andy was helped out at the house by Aunt Bea (Bavier), who always had something "mighty fine" cooking or baking in the oven.

When it comes to vampire films, I’m not so much a fan of the romanticized fantasy depiction that we see in Ann Rice novels.  Personally, I like my monsters to be grounded in reality; films like Near Dark and Let Me In seem to have a more vicious bite to them. Why do I prefer these darker and more grim depictions? Well, I believe if vampires have had to kill to survive, whether it be for a month or generations, they should be handled as some scary bad guys, not pretty, sparkly, cuddle-bunnies.  When an indie film comes along like Aaron’s Blood and it decides to go the more ground with reality horror route, it gives me hope, and it’s something I’m actually looking forward to seeing. But does the film deliver the goods?

Aaron’s Blood isn’t really about Aaron’s blood in a literal sense, but instead it is about his son Tate (Trevor Stovall), a young boy who happens to be a hemophiliac. Aaron (James Martinez) is the dutiful single father who is struggling to take care of his son after the pair lose their wife/mother nearly a year before. At school Tate seems to be the target of violence from the school bully. It’s one of their interactions that sends Tate to the hospital, and by the time Aaron arrives to see his son, he’s already been moved to the ICU.  Following a chance meeting with a priest, Tate seems to be making a recovery, but we quickly see he’s making a transition into something else.

One of the reasons that I love reviewing movies is that it allows me the opportunity to see things that I wouldn’t normally watch. In most cases, it is a film that has been newly released, whether it be a theatrical release or a straight-to-DVD release. However, in other cases it is an older film that is being re-released. Such is the case for Cheech and Chong’s Next Movie. Though I have never seen any of the films, the names Cheech and Chong are synonymous with stoner comedy. Ideally, I would have liked to have seen the first film before diving into the middle of the franchise. Fortunately for me, I’ve been informed that there is no specific tie-in linking the films together, making it relatively easy to follow the storyline. It was only when I was introduced to space cocaine that things became a bit confusing.

The adventures continue with Cheech and Chong, although Cheech’s cousin Red books more screen time this time around than Cheech, as he and Chong find trouble at every pass. Whether it be at a brothel or in the far reaches of other space, these two are dangerous when they are together and even worse when they are apart. Such is the case for this story, as Chong is left on his own with Cheech’s relatives while Cheech tries to secure some alone time with his lady.