Palm Springs (09.04.20)

 

One of my guilty pleasures in this life is a little comedic rap group that goes by the name of The Lonely Island. Raunchy, foul-mouthed, immature, and exceptionally hilarious and clever, the group first made it big when they all got jobs at Saturday Night Live: Jorma Taccone and Akiva Schaffer as writers and Andy Samberg as a featured player. After pioneering SNL Digital Shorts and essentially inventing the viral YouTube video, the group tried its hand at feature film making to a lesser degree of success; while still funny, the two films that they wrote, directed, and starred in, 2007’s Hot Rod and 2016’s Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, were hardly what one could consider box office or critical hits. I’m still a fan of both, however, and was therefore excited to learn that they had produced another film called Palm Springs. While it was a bit less straightforward comedy and much more romcom than I was expecting, I found this Sundance hit to be a charmingly good time if not a wholly original one.  

            Have you seen Groundhog Day? Of course you’ve seen Groundhog Day; it’s a classic. Palm Springs has a plot much like that of Groundhog Day, but the kicker is that there is more than one person stuck in the time loop in this story. Although the movie does get some mileage from this simple tweak to the living-one-day-over-and-over-again premise, there is no denying that a lot of the themes are almost identical to the those in the 1993 Bill Murray classic. The quest to find meaning in a world free of long-term consequences, the indifference towards life one develops when one becomes essentially immortal, trying to get things right and become a better person… it’s all there. But Palm Springs truly sets itself apart with its love story.  

As I said earlier, this is a full-on romcom instead of being another exercise in full-on silliness and absurdity. The leads, Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti, have just as many dramatic and romantic scenes as they do funny scenes, and they are both more than up to the task (surprisingly so for Samberg… I didn’t know the guy could act in addition to being funny). This is, undoubtedly, a result of the fact that the guys in The Lonely Island only produced this film instead of writing and directing in it as well (with the exception of Samberg, obviously). The characters they play are not always likeable and their romance occasionally seems a little one-sided, once skewed towards Sarah (Milioti) and then skewed towards Nyles (Samberg), but the two still have great chemistry that kept me invested. All in all, the premise might not be original, but what screenwriter Andy Siara and director Max Barbakow did with the premise was impressive. I should also mention one other big difference between this film and its inspiration: While Groundhog’s Day is a family friendly PG, Palm Springs is an R-rated affair that you should NOT watch with kids. It thoroughly earns its R rating with swearing, some sexual content, and hard drug use. Also, Andy Samberg gets shot by J.K. Simmons with a bow and arrow a couple of times, but we’ll let that slide.  

Palm Springs is now available on Hulu.   

 

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on September 4^th, 2020. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

 

Hindsight: I don't like the intro. Seems a bit too... unrelated, I guess? Like I say later, The Lonely Island only produced the movie... they didn't actually write it. Reads like I just wanted to talk about a group I think is funny before being sidetracked into actually doing my job of reviewing the movie. The actual review part of the review is pretty good, however. 

Unsolved Mysteries Season 1 (or 15?) (08.14.20)

 

Everybody loves a good mystery. There is something irresistibly tantalizing about the unknown that drives all discovery as well as an undeniable rush when the answers one is looking for are finally unearthed. Mysteries can also be frustrating, heartbreaking, and disturbing, however, particularly when they go unsolved. I for one like my mysteries in books and television to be tied up in nice little bows at their conclusions because real life’s mysteries are often a bit more complicated. I do it for the escapism; in other words, at the end, Sherlock concludes that the mastermind is Moriarty, Rosebud turns out to be a sled, and the ghost chasing Scooby and the gang is unmasked and happens to be the owner of the decrepit amusement park. Going into Netflix’s first “volume” of Unsolved Mysteries, I therefore had to prepare myself for the fact that these are, well, unsolved mysteries. I for sure wasn’t going to solve them as an audience member, and I would have to be content with the questions without the eventual answers. I’m glad I set this doubt aside, because Unsolved Mysteries turned out to be engaging, if not perfect, television.

The name of the show might be familiar to some: Although marketed as “Vol. 1,” Netflix’s first six episodes of Unsolved Mysteries is actually a continuation of a long-running series that has already had fourteen seasons spread across NBC, CBS, Lifetime, and Spike TV. This time there is no narrator and each episode focuses on a single case, but the legacy is still obvious to those who have seen past seasons. In the case of theme, however, this turned out to be a bit detrimental. Those familiar with past iterations of Unsolved Mysteries can tell you that the show featured a combination of grounded true-crime stories and those that are supernatural in nature. At first, it appears as if the Netflix version has decided to buck the latter and stick with the former, but then the UFO episode starts five hours in and you realize this is not the case. I’m not a fan of the combination, personally; I occasionally enjoy true-crime stories and am an admitted sucker for anything that talks about the possibility of aliens, but putting the two together just didn’t sit right with me. 

Although I had some issues with the organization, preferring that each episode have a stronger hook at the beginning to get my attention instead of just jumping into a backstory with no indication of what the case actually is, Unsolved Mysteries is, overall, not boring and actually enjoyable. Shot in documentary format, each episode includes small reenactments of events (I was worried that they might be silly and overdramatic, but they turned out to be quite understated and respectful) and also does an admirable job of giving the viewer enough info to think they cracked the case before tossing in new information that throws those assumptions out the window. It makes the viewer feel as if they’re discovering the evidence themselves bit by bit, engaging the armchair detective in all of us. As previously stated, I do not expect to “help solve a mystery” as the tagline says, but that’s not the point, is it? We like to be tantalized, and consider me tantalized. 

Unsolved Mysteries Vol. 1 (or season 15, depending on how you look at it) is now available on Netflix.

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on August 14^th, 2020. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

 

Hindsight: I hate reviewing documentaries. Excited to watch Vol. 2, though, which just came out a few weeks ago.  

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend (08.07.20)

 

“If life seems jolly rotten, there’s something you’ve forgotten; and that’s to laugh and smile and dance and sing!”   

            Hi there, Keizertimes reader. How are you holding in there? I know it’s been a tough week and an even tougher year, 2020 being the veritable potpourri of misfortunes that it is. Did my Monty Python lyrics cheer you up? No? Well, how about another TV review?   

            Wait, no to that as well?   

            Too bad, you’re getting another TV review. It’s the best I can do, and I know that they certainly help me when I’m feeling blue. This goes double for reviews focused on comedic pieces, and, as the Pythons are fond of pointing out, comedy can be found even in the darkest places if we’re willing to look hard enough. When it comes to laughing and looking on the bright side in the face of relentless negativity, one of my personal go-tos is Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, a Netflix original series from the minds of Tina Fey and 30 Rock showrunner Robert Carlock that ended in 2019 only to be followed up by a big interactive finale Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs. the Reverend (which is not an episode, but its own movie) in May 2020. Kimmy Schmidt’s story is one of empowerment and positivity and is a great antidote for these tough times, although I must admit that the type of goofy humor presented may not be everyone’s cup of tea.   

            If you are familiar with 30 Rock or Tina Fey’s time on Saturday Night Live, the comedy in Kimmy Schmidt will make you feel right at home. The writing is sharp and the jokes are fast, if occasionally a bit tone deaf (Jane Krakowski, a white woman, plays a Native American and one of Kimmy’s boyfriends, Dong, can come off as a bit of an Asian stereotype at times, for instance). Some episodes in the later seasons can also lag a bit as you become more and more familiar with the beats of the jokes, but overall it is a fantastic series that deals with life’s unpleasant moments with a smile. Ellie Kemper shines as the titular Kimmy, and if Tituss Burgess (who plays her flamboyant but lazy roommate also named Titus, one “s”) doesn’t become one of Hollywood’s new leading comedic superstars I will light myself on fire.   

            The new interactive capstone to the series, Kimmy vs. the Reverend, is a singularly unique experience. As you watch, you will be prompted to make decisions on where the story goes by choosing one of several options on the screen at certain points. Some decisions matter more than others and some lead to dead ends that make you go back and chose the “right” decision, but the results are always hilarious and often meta in the way only Kimmy Schmidt can be. I ended up killing the main characters twice on accident, for instance, and was thoroughly reprimanded both times. The only problem with this format is the fact that you inevitably miss some funny scenes and have to watch the whole thing multiple times to get every result. You also never know when making the “right” decision or the “smart” decision or the “in character” decision is the correct one, but hey, isn’t that how life is? My only advice is to pick the “’splode him” option when it pops up. You won’t regret it.  

            And hey, watch the show too. You won’t regret that either.    

            Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Kimmy vs the Reverend are now available on Netflix.   

 

 

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on August 7^th, 2020. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

 

Hindsight: The intro is a bit long in this one, and I feel like I overexaggerated the tone-deafness, which is not really a problem too often in the show. It’s hard to review an entire series in 500 words… I did much better when I reviewed the entirety of Bojack Horseman.

Hamilton (07.10.20)

 

What is the purpose of a review? To temper or raise expectations? To introduce readers to the themes, characters, and plot points of a piece beforehand? To show that the reviewer is super smart and that people should have been nicer to him in high school? Yes, all of these things, but the preeminent reason is undoubtedly to share whether or not the production is worth your time and money. Hamilton is one of those things that is hard to review because, let's face it... you already know if you're going to watch this or not. Nothing I can possibly say will change your mind one way or another at this point. You might have already watched it, in fact; everyone knows Hamilton, and now it is on Disney+. Instead of wasting everyone's time by adding to the eleven-time Tony Award winner's mountain of rave reviews I will, therefore, focus on the Disney+ version of the eminent musical in particular: Simply put, it is a worthy offering that is also the best possible way to experience the show just short of buying a ticket to pre-Covid-19 Broadway. 

First things first: Hamilton on Disney+ is a professional filming of the stage production, not an adaptation. That being said, the camera work is surprisingly dynamic: There are multiple angles and depths presented, giving the whole experience a slightly more cinematic feel. If one of the characters has a particularly impressive reaction, for example, you can bet that you will get a close-up of that character. This forced focus is useful for someone like me who often gets overwhelmed with the sheer amount of sensory input that comes with watching musicals in person.

I would be remiss, however, if I did not mention that like most musicals, Hamilton is approximately three hours long. This is somewhat remedied by the fact that you can pause the play whenever you want to go pee, but it also might make it a chore to sit through if you watch it with kids (see my nephews Peter and James for an excellent example). That being said, Disney also does an admirable job of cutting out an f-bomb here and there to make the experience a more family friendly PG-13. 

Hamilton on Disney+ is, overall, a slightly more complete experience than the one presented in, say, the official soundtrack. I say "slightly" here because the music and lyrics really make up the bulk of the production; as anyone who is lucky enough to have seen the play in person can tell you, the sets and choreography are purposefully minimalist so they do not distract from the story. This may come as a bit of a surprise to anyone who has heard the soundtrack and imagined elaborate setpieces and complicated dances, but it works. Experiencing Hamilton like this is really the best way to go until the virus restrictions end and we can all go on a field trip to New York together. When that happens, I'm buying. 

Well, not really. 

 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on July 10th, 2020. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

 

Hindsight: Somehow this ended up with a few typos when I sent it to the editor, which is something I did not realize until I fed the article back into Word this morning. Hopefully they fixed it before printing it. I also find the transitions between paragraphs a bit choppy in this one and the intro a bit long, not to mention silly ("what is the purpose" intros are so cliché and lame). Furthermore, I don’t know if the “as anyone who is lucky enough to have seen the play in person can tell you” thing is 100% correct, to be honest, as that’s just what my mom told me. She’s smart, though, and I trust her.

(Oh yeah, people were actually pretty nice to me in high school too. I just needed a third thing for the list.)

Artemis Fowl (07.03.20)

 

In 2001, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone launched a prolonged trend of movie studios adapting novels written for kids and the young adult crowd into major motion pictures. For a time it seemed as if every successful book was destined to get its own adaptation, for better (Harry Potter, The Chronicles of Narnia) or for worse (Eragon, Percy Jackson). It was, therefore, always a bit baffling to me that Artemis Fowl, my second favorite childhood series after Harry Potter, never received such attention when it was at the height of its popularity. I remember dream casting a hypothetical Artemis Fowl film with one of my buddies in middle school, and now, almost two decades later, one has finally been set loose on the world. Going into this movie, I tried to have an open mind. The trailers made it look terrible and highly unfaithful to the source material, and the fact that it was originally meant for theatrical release only to be turned into a Disney+ exclusive at the last second did not exactly fill me to the brim with confidence. Sadly, I now find that these initial wary thoughts were blissfully naïve and understated, as Artemis Fowl is a cinematic mess that is sure to please absolutely no one.

            As an adaptation, Artemis Fowl is a train wreck. Awkwardly shoving the first book and about one third of the second book into the same hour-and-a-half while tying them together with a brand new and poorly explained MacGuffin, the movie makes so many changes in plot, character, and tone that it is almost unrecognizable to fans of the original series. Artemis, a criminal mastermind who is also the primary villain of the book, is here turned into a Disney-esque Spy Kid good guy who everyone insists is a genius despite his never doing anything particularly ingenious. Commander Root is now a woman (and played by a very uninterested Judi Dench), Juliet is now twelve, Holly is now white, all the characters are now two-dimensional, up is now down, right is now left, and why this movie is called Artemis Fowl, I have no idea.

            All of this would be somewhat acceptable if it was a good film on its own, but it is not. Flying from plot point to plot point (sometimes literally), Artemis Fowl takes absolutely no time to make the audience understand or care what is going on. There is something about a long-lost weapon with the capability to wipe out all life or something, a plan to capture a fairy because of reasons, and a sudden alliance between the two at-odds protagonists because the (multiple) script writers said so. Artemis Fowl never gave me a reason to invest in its mess of a story, and by the cliffhanger at the end all I could muster was a massive, bemused shake of the head. The only good things I can say about this movie is that Josh Gad (who plays the dwarven thief Mulch Diggums) vaguely amused me a couple of times and that I didn’t have to pay for it because I already subscribe to Disney+.

            It fails for pre-existing fans, it fails for newcomers… just give Artemis Fowl a pass and go watch Harry Potter again or something.

            Artemis Fowl is now available on Disney+.

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on July 3rd, 2020. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

Hindsight: I don't know why, but I don't think this was a very good review. Maybe I was too casual? Dunno. The movie DID suck, though. 

 

Mrs. America (06.19.20)

 

I sincerely believe that social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are some of the most harmful inventions of the twenty-first century. Sure, they let you keep up with family and friends and make it easier to share clips of cats doing stupid things, but the detrimental aspects are legion as well—disinformation, depression-causing comparisons, and cyberbullying, to name a few. The most insidious feature of social media, however, is the minimization of people and complicated issues into bite-sized bits. 280 characters are not enough to contain an entire person, nor can they convey every facet of a complicated issue. We are, simply put, reduced to the most rudimentary forms of the stances we take. But while social media has certainly exacerbated this practice, it by no means invented it—historians have done this too often as well. Mrs. America, a new FX miniseries and Hulu exclusive, attempts to subvert such oversimplified approaches by exploring one such complex issue, the 1970s struggle to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment, as thoroughly as it can. The resulting nine hours is a superbly acted explosion of style that is not only guaranteed to entertain, but also enlighten.  

The perpetually incredible Cate Blanchett leads the equally wonderful ensemble as Phyllis Schlafly, famous conservative spokeswoman and the ERA’s staunchest opponent in the 70s. Blanchett presents Schlafly as much more than her beliefs, however, and gives the real-life historical figure the nuance that all real-life people deserve. When interviewed by People Magazine, Blanchett stated that her “function was not to judge [Schlafly], it was to place her as well roundly as [she] could, so that she could be a foil for the other people and that you get a sense of what it is to be a female in the 1970s or 2020.” In this, the entire cast succeeds, as there is not a single weak link in the acting to be found. Perhaps more importantly, the show itself does not pick sides—instead of taking the easy route of casting one group as the heroes and the other group as the villains, it illustrates the good and bad on both sides of the issue and lets the viewer come to their own conclusions. This is important, as the topics explored are some that are still relevant and hotly debated today—gender roles, abortion, and the role of family in society, to name a few—and understanding opposing viewpoints is vital to civilized debate. Schlafly and Gloria Steinem (here played by Rose Byrne) are presented as more than 280 characters.  

Accompanying the excellent acting is a whole lot of style. Mrs. America pops with vintage visuals and authentic 70s tunes, giving the admittedly slow-burn story a lot of personality. I would be a liar if I said that I understood all the political speak and maneuvering, but I was also never bored. For a miniseries all about politics, this is an impressive feat.  

So log off of Facebook, put down your phone, and pick up your phone again to watch Mrs. America. Empowerment awaits.  

Mrs. America is now available on Hulu. 

This review was first published in The Keizertimes on June 19th, 2020. Visit at http://keizertimes.com/

Hindsight: Although not as blatant as my review for that one Ted Bundy documentary, this one also comes off as a bit preachy. I also wasn't sure about those last couple of sentences... I just needed a way to end the article and that was the best I could do at the time. Looks fine in retrospect, though.