Category: Television

Good Watch: #Unorthodox @netflix #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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Unorthodox is the story of a 19-year-old Hasidic woman in Brooklyn who escapes from her arranged marriage and heads to Germany, the home of her mother. I don’t know much about Hasidic culture, so I don’t want to paint too broad a brush. I’ll just say this: I see the value of organized religion, but it’s still a human institution, so it can be as flawed as the humans that run it. My experiences as a child in the Catholic Church exemplify that. This is an extreme case that disturbed me. There was little if any force. Even scarier, there was capitulation. The main character, Esty, willingly submits to the lifestyle for her entire life (often revisited in flashbacks), making change difficult and justice nonexistent. The present-day aspects of the movie show her finally breaking free from those social bonds, but she can’t quite escape her past. It’s long-term effects will always  be with her. Generally speaking, I can relate to all of that.

The limited-run series is four episodes each under 1 hour long. It was worth my four hours, but I did have to take some breaks while attempting to binge it.

As always, YMMV.

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Good (Meh) Watch: Space Force @SteveCarell @LisaKudrow @dianasilvers13 @FunnyAsianDude @rejectedjokes @netflix #GoodWatch #SpaceForce #QuarantineLife

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With much fanfare, Netflix just released season 1 of Space Force. It has some good star power (pun intended), including Steve Carell in the lead, John Malkovich, and Lisa Kudrow.

Malkovich is brilliant as usual, and as I’ve discussed before; Carell’s moving explanation as to why we have an expensive space program should shut people up about it (it won’t); and I love when the episodes are only (just over) 30 minutes each — I watched all 10 episodes in less than 12 hours — but I’m afraid that my opinion goes south from there. I was really looking forward to this show, but it just fell flat for me. It has some funny moments sprinkled in, but over all I thought the humor was ho-hum. I also imagine that, much like an attorney watching a legal drama or a doctor watching a medical drama, anyone with even basic understanding of the real U.S. Space Force or space travel will develop a nervous twitch from the inaccuracies. On this I say, it’s a comedy. Just roll with it.

More importantly, I didn’t care about the characters. There are very few criticisms worse than that. I really don’t care if Steve Carell’s General Naird, or the Space Force in general, succeeds at anything. Lisa Kudrow is reduced to a very minor supporting role, which I found as confusing as it was unnecessary. Maybe in the real world she didn’t want to commit to the schedule for filming, but if there isn’t a real world explanation, then I don’t understand why she was marginalized. In fact, we don’t even know why she was marginalized within the story. (I’m avoiding spoilers here.) She was my favorite “Friend,” and she’s really funny. She also provides the only scene in the entire season where I actually care about the characters. The one and only thing that’s good about her limited presence is that it sets up the possibility of a great dynamic between General Baird and his daughter, Erin, but the writing (not the actors) drops the ball on that. In fact, there’s little purpose to Erin’s character in the show at all.

Being a Silicon Valley fan, I’m happy to see Jimmy O. Yang  getting a good gig eventually with significant time on screen, but his role is more straight than funny. Ben Schwartz plays the same character he plays in absolutely everything else he does. I loved him in Parks & Recreation, but he didn’t get enough air time in that show for it to get old. It’s certainly gotten old seeing that actor play that role with an almost constant presence.

Then there’s Fred Willard playing General Naird’s father. Considering Mr. Willard just died, that was sad, but it also gave you reason to watch.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, the critics panned it (36%), but the audience like it a lot (71%), so as always, YMMV. I hate that I agree with the critics. I guess I must have died inside recently.

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Good Watch: Apollo 18 @HWarrenChristie @RyRobbins @netflix #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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I saw a video on YouTube entitled, Alien Movies on Netflix That Should Be Required Viewing. It’s over 11 minutes long, so you may want to read the rest of this post before deciding whether to watch it.

Of the movies suggested, I had seen a few already, and have since seen a few more. I have to say that the list is, at best, hit or miss. That said, Apollo 18 was pretty good.

In the real world, Apollo 18 was cancelled for budgetary reasons. This movie presumes that was a cover up, and that the mission went forward. Here’s the short description:

Apollo 17 was the last U.S.-sponsored lunar voyage — or was it? Hours of found footage, classified for decades, point to a subsequent moon mission — Apollo 18 — that ended very badly. Astronauts John Grey (Ryan Robbins), Nathan Walker (Lloyd Owen) and Benjamin Anderson (Warren Christie), on a mission to install radar scanners, discover a Soviet space capsule nearby. The men also discover a dead cosmonaut, and unfortunately for them, learn how he died.

I think that pretty much sums it up. I’m not a huge fan of “found footage” films, but this premise intrigued me, and I enjoyed the movie. It’s just under 90 minutes long.

As always, YMMV.

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Good Watch: What We Do in the Shadows @Natasia1andonly @porksmith @m_proksch @HARVEYGUILLEN @DougJones @TaikaWaititi @hulu #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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What We Do in the Shadows isn’t the kind of show I would have expected to like. I liked Galaxy Quest because it made fun of my favorite intellectual property, Star Trek, but I’m no into horror movies at all, so I didn’t expect this to appeal to me. However, after the first few episodes, I found it hilarious, which is unsurprising considering Taika Waititi’s warped brain is behind it. Kayvan Novak absolutely steals the show, but the entire cast has some great moments. 

WWDitS airs on Hulu, with new episodes every Thursday night. Catching up would be a snap, as each episode is less than 30 minutes long. That makes it easy to sneak in an episode whenever you have a moment. Plus, each season is only 10 episodes long, and they haven’t finished the second season yet.

As always, YMMV.

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Good Watch: F Is for Family @billburr @netflix #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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F Is for Family is the R-rated brainchild of my favorite active comedian, Bill Burr. There are currently three seasons posted on Netfilx, with the fourth set to be released on June 12, 2020. It’s a sitcom about middle-class, suburban America in the 70s.

Mr. Burr isn’t even a month younger than I, so he’s writing a story that I’ve lived as well, and thus is something to which I relate. There are other parallels to my personal life. Half of my family tree is essentially Irish and Scottish, and my nuclear family consists of an eldest son, a middle-child son (me), and a youngest daughter. For about a decade, until my younger brother came along, that was my family’s dynamic. The middle-child in the show is named Bill, leading me to believe that Mr. Burr, like me, is the middle child.

By the start of season 3, the father’s yelling seemed to get more annoying than funny. I’m not sure if  that’s because it grew old or if the scripts changed, but that’s the only thing I don’t like about this series.

I don’t know if I like this show because I related to a lot of it, but Bill Burr has a large fan base. If you’re a part of it, you may like it too.

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Casey Biggs and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine @netflix @arenastage #QuarantineLife #StarTrek #DS9

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My favorite movie and television property is Star Trek. I wasn’t fond of Star Trek Into Darkness but otherwise am an apologist for the property. However, Star Trek Deep Space Nine wrapped up while I was in law school, so it’s the only series for which I haven’t seen all the episodes. I’m currently remedying that situation by watching seasons 6 and 7.

There’s nothing I can say about the series that hasn’t been said before. Instead, I’ll mention a personal anecdote. I’ve been attending the theater since I was 5 years old, so over 4 decades. However, it wasn’t just any theater; it was Arena Stage. Arena is high-quality theater. I can’t tell you how many now-famous actors I’ve seen cut their teeth at Arena, as well as stop by for a visit after getting their big break.

So, when I saw that Casey Biggs had joined the cast of Deep Space Nine as Damar, I was thrilled. Mr. Biggs has a history with Arena. He was the first actor I had ever seen on TV (L.A. Law) that I first saw at Arena. My favorite two roles for him were that of Odysseus in Homer’s Odyssey and Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew. He appears to be assigned to soap opera hell but consistently gets one-shot roles on prominent TV shows.

He remains an obscure actor, but I’ve paid attention and appreciate what he’s done through these years.

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Good Watch: Dark Side of the Ring on @Vice #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife #DSotR

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My Good Watch series isn’t about me forcing my opinion on you as film and food critics always do. Instead, I explain to you why I like (or don’t like) a show so that you can predict whether the same type of genre or dramatic theme appeals to you. This post arguably crosses that line a little bit in that I encourage you to give Dark Side of the Ring a watch. Even if you were never a fan of pro wrestling, you may really like it.

Pro wrestling has always been a train wreck behind the scenes. There are countless stories of wrestlers taking massive risks with their health in order be paid a pittance, all the while being accused of being “fakes.” (Would you treat a movie star that way? What about a singer whose lyrics tell a story they never lived themselves?) What this leads to is an industry of self-destructive — even crazy — wrestlers being mistreated by rotten promoters and owners.

This is what gives the Dark Side of the Ring its stories, and they’re fascinating.

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Good Watch: Solar Opposites @JustinRoiland @MikeMcMahanTM @hulu #GoodWatch #QuarantineLife

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This is an easy post to write. Justin Roiland and MikeMcMahan created Rick & Morty, and now they’ve created Solar Opposites, a show about aliens who escaped the destruction of their planet and crashed on Earth about a year before season 1 starts. Like Rick Sanchez, the family has trouble dealing with aspects of society that we all take for granted, such as homeowners associations and restrictions on criminal behavior. Okay, we actually don’t take those things for granted. Then there’s the racism.

If Rick & Morty is your thing, this may be as well. It’s stupid fun in a similar way. Season 1 has 8 episodes of less that 30 minutes each, so you can binge the entire season in an afternoon.

Solar Opposites streams on Hulu.

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Good Watch: Josie & the Pussycats @russburlingame @HarryElfont @RealDebKaplan @RachaelLCook @rosariodawson @tarareid @missipyle @ComicBook @HBO #GoodWatch #QuarantineWatchParty #JosieAndThePussycats

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This week’s ComicBook.com quarantine watch party (“QWP”) was Josie and the Pussycats. It was the first hosted by Russ Burlingame, who apparently has fond feelings for it. I had never seen it. Also contributing were Deb  Kaplan and Harry Elfont, as in

There was a QWP earlier in the week that I joined despite not being fond of the film, and because I didn’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, I don’t think I tweeted a single thing during the movie. Josie and the Pussycats wasn’t a movie I expected to like, so I expected to say nothing for this one as well.

I counted 68 tweets.

This was a fun movie. The gist is a trio of high-school kids from Riverdale (see the Archie Comics) that have formed a rock band. They get famous because of their talent, but the stereotypical greedy executives try and split the band’s leader, Josie, from the group and jettison Melodie and Valerie. Friendship, and music, prevails. Trite? Sure, but it’s all in the execution.

The movie is geared towards people far younger than I was even in 2001 when it was released, but it still made me laugh and had some nice moments between the on-screen friends. Also, going back to my days attending Arena Stage and seeing soon-to-be-famous actors getting their starts, I love seeing actors at the beginning of their career. This movie had a ton of them.

Josie and the Pussycats is currently streaming on HBO.

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The Funny Reason Why I Hate Dr. Who #DrWho #family

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I hate Dr. Who, but I have no intention of telling people not to like Dr. Who. If you like something I don’t, there’s no need for me to convince you otherwise even if I could (which I can’t). Instead, I’m just telling a funny story.

My father’s family was from Pike County in northeastern Pennsylvania. When I was a kid, we’d drive up there from the Washington, DC area for Thanksgiving. One of the many memories that stands out is being forced to watch Dr. Who. My Uncle Reid loved it, and to me it was a cheap Star Trek rip-off with even worse production values. Sure, Dr. Who came first, but I didn’t know that.

Let me explain a couple things about my Uncle Reid. First, he was once engaged and broke it off because his fiancé refused to have her wedding dress made out of a parachute. Why a parachute? No one knows. Uncle Reid wasn’t a pilot, and he never served in the military, so he wasn’t a paratrooper. Moreover, I imagine a wedding dress made from that material would be more expensive than a regular one. It made no sense. Still doesn’t.

Second, the High Point monument is a much smaller version of the Washington Monument in Washington, DC, but it sits atop Kittatinny Mountain. Before I was born, my Uncle Reid was a member of a group that would take turns ascending the tower to stand guard for an invasion from communists. That’s right. When the communists came to invade America, they’d almost certainly land in Matamoras, Pennsylvania, and this ragtag collection of idiots would be there to stop them.

This is the crazy guy that made us watch British science fiction. I just can’t get past that. Though like all people who’ve seen it, I do like the scene with Van Gogh.

You can’t pick your blood relatives; you just hope you don’t inherit the same characteristics.

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