Bored to Death - Season 3

I can't talk about this season of Bored to Death without first mentioning how completely bizarre and messed up the final scene is. I don't want to really say what happens, especially because the whole story of that point was reached is convoluted and the meat of a lot of the season. I'll just say that it involves the main character of this show deciding to do something that is at once dishonest, wrong even if he was being honest about it, and illegal. It was very unsettling, especially since the show seemed to be treating the concept like it was no big deal, just something that might happen in a slightly weirder reality than her own. It just seemed like a big leap to take, and I don't see the value in taking it.

And that messed up finale is just part of why I thought this season was a bit disappointing. When it was working, it was as funny as the show's ever been, with three really great comedic actors playing very well off each other and getting into some truly exciting and amusing capers. The supporting cast featured great guests both returning and new, such as Olympia Dukakis and Stacy Keach. When the show knew what it was doing, it was a heck of a lot of fun. But some of the time it just didn't seem to know what it was doing. Part of what was neat about the show in the first place was how it just played off hardboiled crime stereotypes by taking familiar case concepts and having them get solved by a pretty unlikely detective in the innocent, pleasant Jonathan Ames. That he often got to do so while getting high with a depressed independent comic artist and an eccentric older gentlemen added to the fun.

But that aspect of the show seemed somewhat sidelined this year, as both Zach Galifianakis and Ted Danson seemed to get a lot more to do than Jason Schwartzman despite him being the theoretical character. Danson's performance was definitely off the charts this year, but I like the show more when it's a play on detective stories and not a light-hearted drama about a man trying to come to terms with his selfishness and be a better father and lover. Several story threads lasted for multiple episodes, and there just wasn't enough space for what the show started as in the first place. I'm all for TV series evolving over time, but a lot of the stories weren't interesting enough to displace the core concept as much as they did. It's still a fun show, but there were a lot of small issues this season that got capped off by a major one. The show's ratings are abysmal on Monday night so I don't know if it will be back, but I'm fine either way at this point. I'd like to see more, but 24 episodes is nothing to sneeze at for something this odd.

Up in the Air

Jason Reitman is now three for three with me when it comes to make films that are both very funny, and touching or moving on at least some level. He's back to directing his own screenplay here, although it's again based on a book, though one that doesn't seem easy to translate to the screen. It's about a man played by George Clooney who travels all over the country all year long firing people for companies who don't want to get their hands dirty doing it themselves. He spends most of his days getting yelled at and pleaded with by all of the people he breaks the bad news to, and has developed a highly optimized system and unusually disconnected philosophy of living, where he feels no real attachment to anything where he lives when not traveling or even his family, and merely goes about his job, sleeping with the occasional fellow traveler and racking up millions of frequent flier miles.

The scenes showing him go about his routine are slickly filmed and edited, and the role fits Clooney like a glove, a little smarmy and arrogant but not unlikable. But of course that's not the whole movie, as things start to change when two women entire his lives. The first is a talented new colleague played by Anna Kendrick who has come up with a way to use the internet instead of flying everywhere to do their jobs, which could eventually phase out the travel aspect of his job completely. The second is an attractive fellow frequent flier played by Vera Farmiga, who's interesting enough that he eventually develops deeper feelings toward than just wanting to get her in bed. The three all got nominated for Oscars, and they're all fairly outstanding in the film. Clooney gets closer to both women over the course of the story, and they both help him grow as a person, and at least attempt to get something more out of his life. Jason Bateman is also good as Clooney's boss, and there's plenty of small appearances by recognizable, solid comic actors like Danny McBride and J.K. Simmons that add flavor to the scenes they're in.

I can see an argument that Up in the Air is style over substance, and that it's capitalizing on the bad economy and job market to appeal to people emotionally. But I thought that stuff made all the scenes of the characters working have more weight and importance, and I can't help but wonder why people wouldn't want to see such a well crafted and produced film. Right from the stylish and classy opening credits, the film is just impeccably put together, and immensely satisfying and enjoyable from start to finish. I guess I can see how one would think Jason Reitman's style is just a touch too polished, too spot on, not experimental enough. But I think people might not give him enough credit for just being good at getting the little things right. The cast and their performances are great, the script is tight as a drum, and the film has a lot of powerful moments without hitting you over the head with them. Little stuff here and there that adds up over time to a film that is at no time annoying or boring or nonsensical. It all fits together into a movie that I have a hard time seeing anybody call their favorite, but that very few should have difficulty liking. And I liked it a lot.

Bored to Death - Season 2

Bored to Death's second season was a nice improvement on the first. It took more time to actually be laugh-out-loud funny, without damaging its unique atmosphere and the chemistry between the three main characters. It's still an incredibly twee show that revels in its own cleverness, but if you're someone who can accept that kind of thing, it's really a pretty enjoyable show. The formula is much less obvious this time around, as instead of Jonathan having a case each week that dominates the plot, the guys spend a lot of time together just because they can, and often the cases just lead to a different story idea than expected or don't come up at all. It feels like a more real and fleshed out world when the characters can just have lives and bounce of each other, and amateur private detection is just something Jonathan does rather than what his life revolves around.

The fact is, Jonathan simply doesn't have as much time to run around solving cases because his second novel was rejected and he has to teach a creative writing class to help pay bills. He gets involved with various girls who have issues he has to worry about, but at least he's over his ex-girlfriend from the first season. Ray however isn't, as he's devastated over his girlfriend breaking up with him, the only thing saving him being the sudden success of his comic book. George is probably this season's most interesting character, as Ted Danson clearly has a great time with the role and all of its weird quirks. His magazine has been bought out by a company on the religious right, he's smoking more pot that ever, and he has to face difficult medical news. Seeing the three of them together is usually the highlight of any episode, as their unique yet compatible personalities bounce off each other in fun and unexpected ways. I wasn't that stoked to see the show again when it was coming back on, but my affection for it definitely grew this season, and I was glad to see it was renewed for a third run a couple weeks ago. It's questionable whether the show would have legs without its high profile cast, but either way I like it.

Due Date

When I saw the first trailer for Due Date, I was interested, because it seemed to have the potential to be a modern day Planes, Trains and Automobiles. I was also a bit wary, because the trailer itself wasn't actually very funny. So while it didn't turn out to really measure up to some of the great road comedies of the past, I was glad to have enjoyed it enough to make seeing seem worthwhile. It's not the most creative movie ever written, but a lot of times mediocre material can be salvaged by a good cast, and Robert Downey, Jr. and Zach Galifiankis are two of the best funny actors working today. The surrounding supporting players aren't as unique and compelling as you'd hope, but they work well enough to give material for the two leads to bounce off of.

Todd Phillips has never really been very impressive at his job, and the main problem with the movie is the script that he and the bevy of other writers involved came up with. There's just not a ton there to work with. Some of the dialogue is pretty good, especially pretty much everything Downey says when he gets pissed, which is often. But less effort is made to justify the contrivances of this movie, such as why the two mismatched main characters are stuck together and why they are eventually able to bond. Of course it's something that has to happen, it just doesn't feel natural when the transition occurs after not a whole ton of prodding. And the biggest gap in the story involves the resolution of several highly dangerous crimes that take place, in a way that just completely ignores how the world works. I get that it's a comedy and that I should just enjoy it, but usually movies at least try to hand wave this stuff somehow rather than completely ignoring it.

And while I liked the performances, the characters were a bit thin, especially Galifianakis'. His performance of an overweight, effeminate, idiotic, delusional man-child is enjoyable, but unlike his role in Phillips' The Hangover, pretty much all of the humor comes from pointing out these characteristics repeatedly rather than showing how these characteristics would be funny. As I mentioned before, the supporting cast is decent. Danny McBride makes another stellar cameo as a war veteran working at the Western Union, and Juliette Lewis makes for a pretty good pot dealer. It's kind of funny seeing Michelle Monaghan as Downey's wife after their roles together in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, though despite Jamie Foxx' likability, I really could have done without the subplot involving those two, and he was also heavily involved with the ashes-in-coffee-can bit that was way too The Big Lebowski for me. So that probably gives you a pretty good feel for how the movie goes - lots of issues with the writing, but still enjoyable because of the people in it. It makes for a pretty enjoyable movie that's far from a great one, and one I'm not desperate for the chance to see again. Better than it could have been, but less than its potential.

Characters of the Decade: Part 5

And we reach the thrilling conclusion. If there's one thing that astounded me, it's how many of these actors had a "Mc" in their name. This sure was a lot of work, but pretty rewarding. I hope it's been as enjoyable to read as it was to put together.

Dr. Horrible
Neil Patrick Harris - Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog


"Oh, goodness, look at my wrist. I gotta go!"

Neil Patrick Harris is currently one of my favorite people in Hollywood, and this is the largest contributing factor. During the writers' strike Joss Whedon and a bunch of likable actors came together and made one of the most simply enjoyable things of the year a musical comedy about a sympathetic super villain. Neil makes you laugh, he sings, and in the end he's both a tragic figure and the true bad guy he always wanted to be. There's a bit of dissonance regarding how he intended to get the nice girl and take over the world at the same time, but watching him stumble through it was great.

The Joker
Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight


"How about a magic trick? I'm gonna make this pencil disappear."

The Joker has always been probably the most popular villain in comic books, appearing constantly in adaptations as well. But one thing Ledger did with the character before his unfortunate death was pretty unique: making him scary. There's always been something disturbing about him, because nobody has any idea what he really wants or how far he'll go for it. But with this movie, they took it farther than most people are used to and created possibly the most memorable villain ever in this sort of blockbuster. Unpredictable, darkly hilarious and sad that this is the last we'll see of that particular performance.

Kirk Lazarus
Robert Downey Jr. - Tropic Thunder


"Everybody knows you never go full retard."

I enjoyed Tropic Thunder quite a bit, but without Downey's performance it would have been pretty mediocre. The Lazarus personality itself is fine, but the character's unrelenting dedication to the role of Lincoln Osiris despite being stranded in the middle of the jungle is pretty amazing. Maybe a bit offensive, sure, but still comedy gold. And the jokes come not from him being a white guy pretending his black, but from just how great that black guy is at messing with people. Every moment he spends with Ben Stiller's character is worth watching more than once. Awesome stuff.

Lafayette Reynolds
Nelsan Ellis - True Blood


"Jesus and I agreed to see other people, but that don't mean we still don't talk time to time."

True Blood was much more enjoyable in its second season, but during the first it was pretty much Ellis' work that prevented it from being a complete train wreck. It can't be easy being a gay black man in the south, but Lafayette thrives there, not taking shit from anyone. He has a rougher go of it in the second season thanks to being kidnapped by vampires, and honestly putting him through it sapped him of a bit of his greatness, but he's still one of the few truly likable people on the show.

Walter Bishop
John Noble - Fringe


"If you were actually going insane, you'd likely have no idea what's happening. Take it from me."

Fringe has gotten better over time, but during its shaky beginning Walter was about the only thing going for it. He's fairly unrealistic, because I'm pretty sure there's never been an actual person with even close to the breadth of encyclopedic scientific knowledge he has, and you'd think some of that would go away after over a decade in an asylum. But he gets away with it because he's funny and weird and the plot needs him to know everything he does. John Noble is the kind of actor that's enjoyable to watch read a shopping list, so seeing him dissect mutated corpses and be kind of crazy is pretty fun every week. I'm not sure I actually care about the tragedies of his past, but it's okay with me that they're going with that.

Kenny Powers
Danny McBride - Eastbound & Down


"I've been blessed with many things in this life. An arm like a damn rocket, a cock like a Burmese python, and the mind of a fucking scientist."

Danny McBride's really come out of nowhere in the last couple years, and this is definitely his best character. I mean, anyone who can craft this big of an asshole and still make you want him to do well is doing something right. His unrelenting narcissism that masks his constant self-doubt is always classic, and watching him waver between stepping all over people and being stepped on himself provides laughter and sympathy at nigh equal levels. We haven't seen anything about the second season yet, but I'm looking forward to whatever new depths he can plumb.

Victor
Enver Gjokaj - Dollhouse


"Did I fall asleep?"

This is sort of a cheat, as Victor isn't so much of a character as a blank slate on top of which any number of real or fabricated personalities can be applied. But Enver Gjokaj is such a pleasure to watch chameleon himself into a role that I couldn't not put him here. Plenty of actors have range, but I'm not sure I've ever seen someone with quite his talents, as he jumps between dozens of unique characters over the course of the show and completely sells all of them. Characters being body switched and mimicking each others' mannerisms is a favorite gimmick of Whedon shows, but this is his bread and butter. In the span of maybe ten minutes he had to play both a serial killer and a slutty college girl, and did both with equal aplomb. Just a blast.

King Silas Benjamin
Ian McShane - Kings


"I will endure a party in the company of my choosing, but with none that sour the wine in my cup."

I've already pontificated on why Ian McShane is fantastic, but for all I knew Deadwood was a once-in-a-lifetime thing. Then I watched Kings and he did nothing but continue to impress. He doesn't get to swear nearly as much, but he's still a lot of fun to watch, especially with the increase in power from influential bar and brothel owner to sovereign king of a whole country. He bounces between saintly benevolence and fittingly biblical wrath like he was changing hats, and totally carries a show that would have been interesting without it, but not nearly as great.

Sue Sylvester
Jane Lynch - Glee


"I got a satellite interview. That's lingo for an interview, via satellite."

Sort of like Chi McBride on Pushing Daisies, Jane Lynch is what takes the almost impossibly joyful Glee and keeps it grounded in depressing reality. If Glee Club is what makes everything good happen in the world, Sue Sylvester is the source of all rot and decay. And that's why I love her. It's the depression she sprinkles all over everyone she sees that makes sure the show is watchable. Every story needs a conflict, and she is it. It helps that she's constantly cuttingly hilarious. The kind of character you could watch yell at people for longer than is probably healthy.

Alan Garner
Zach Galifianakis - The Hangover


"Your language is offensive."

It's not that I don't like Zach as a figure of independent comedy, I just think that more prominent roles in film and television means more of him in general, and that's definitely a good thing. There are some stand up comedians that simply should not take up acting, but Zach isn't one. And if this bizarre character leads to more, then it's definitely a good thing. I'm sort of out of ammo for things to say about Alan Garner, but there's really just not much about him that isn't funny. And uniquely funny, in ways that we haven't been seeing for years.

Colonel Hans Landa
Christoph Waltz - Inglourious Basterds


"I did have something else I wanted to ask you, but right now, for the life of me, I can't remember what it is. Oh, well, must not have been important."

Hey, at least the Golden Globes got one right. Basterds was amazing in ways I really wasn't expecting, and a lot of that was because of Waltz' magnificent, multilingual performance. I mean, how does he manage to be so menacing while being completely genial the entire time? It's unfathomable. There are a couple moments where the friendly smirk leaves his face, but they're very few and far between. And he ends up being surprisingly fallible for such an intimidating force. But that's sort of why he's great. He represents the Nazi party: nearly unspeakably evil, but in the end still just human.

Arthur Mitchell
John Lithgow - Dexter


"Hello, Dexter Morgan."

And here's our final character, who debuted a mere four months ago. I've always known Lithgow from comedic work like 3rd Rock from the Sun, but apparently he's done dark before, and his return is nothing if not a triumph. He managed to remain a captivating villain even after he was humanized over the course of the season, but I'll never forget what a terrifying presence he was when we still knew nothing about him. And that butt wasn't a very pretty sight either. Even after we knew more though, he still managed to provide buckets of tension for good old Dex, and has ended up getting him better than anyone else to date.

The Hangover

I don't think it's much of a stretch to say this is Todd Phillips' best film, as he's always done acceptably fun comedy, but this seems unique among his work and just a bit better. Not a great movie, but pretty damn funny once it gets the ball rolling. The key to all of it really is Zach Galifianakis, who steals every scene the same way that Steve Carell stole them in Anchorman, and hopefully it will be a similar boon to his career. I get plenty of enjoyment out of his stand-up and cult TV appearances, but any extra Zach I can get is good. His character is pretty unusual here, and hard to classify. He's fully functional but definitely off in a significant way, having lots of strange tendencies like an aversion to profanity and an urge to imitate those he likes, and often makes really terrible decisions, though he manages to mostly redeem himself. I think this is the biggest role I've seen for Ed Helms too, again playing a guy who just can't see how badly his girlfriend is treating him, and his character is a nice balance of uptight and humorously incredulous. I really don't know much about Bradley Cooper, but I liked him in this movie too, playing the most emotionally stable one who still has some definite issues.

The movie's biggest problem might be that it takes too long to get really cooking. I don't know where the additions were made in the unrated cut, but I assume they're mostly after the forgotten night in Vegas that the plot centers around, and in any case they spend too much time establishing things before the main characters wake up in a trashed hotel room completely oblivious to what happened in the previous 12 hours. It's nearly half an hour before we get there, and I understand the desire to make the relationship between the three leads and the missing Doug clear so we know why it's so important they find him, though that was already pretty set from the fact that he was getting married and they were the ones throwing him a bachelor party. I wouldn't have minded the long lead-in so much if it itself was funny, but I really didn't laugh much at all until after things went wrong. Once that's all taken care of though, things move briskly as they try to puzzle out what they can remember and figure out from clues to solve various mysteries like the presence of an infant and tiger in their room and eventually track down their missing friend. There are some good appearances by various funny guys like Rob Riggle and Ken Jeong, and Heather Graham is fine in her part but you wonder why they got someone as famous as her to do it, unless that was the point. The denouement was similarly a bit too lengthy for my tastes, but overall it was a pretty strongly crafted pure comedy, one of the better I've seen in some time. It mostly worked because I liked all the characters, and it was nice for once that they weren't played by Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, and Owen Wilson. I don't hate any of those guys, but keeping things fresh is always good.

Bored to Death - Season 1

I didn't realize that last week's episode was actually the season finale, although in the context I probably should have. Bored to Death is HBO's newest comedy series (the only thing they're doing particularly well right now to my tastes, though there is hope on the horizon), about a struggling writer named Jonathan who decides to fill the hole left after his girlfriend leaves him by putting up an ad on Craig's List as an "unlicensed private detective". He ends up getting arrested in the first episode, but that doesn't deter him as he continues to take on cases. Like its protagonist, Bored is flawed, if ultimately likable. People who prefer a little more rambunctiousness out of their comedy could make a joke about the title of the show being accurate to the experience of watching it, because a lot of the humor is subtle and reserved. There's just little things like the way Jonathan explains his situation to other people that probably won't make you laugh out loud, but should cause a smirk or to. An early example is when his girlfriend justifies leaving him by saying he smokes and drinks too much, with him saying that he's slowed down to only drinking white wine. Later, he repeatedly tells people his girlfriend dumped him for drinking too much white wine. His character looks at the world in an unusual way, and it's interesting to watch someone so self-deluded in action.

It gets a little wackier at points later on, like when Jonathan's friend and boss end up getting high together in a car instead of providing adequate back up on a sting that goes wrong, or when they all end up in a boxing competition in the two part conclusion. There's also a subplot about his friend's donated sperm that both adds some humor and helps expand the show's scope beyond a weekly mystery to solve. Jason Schwartzman and Zach Galifianakis are an entertaining and hard to spell pair, and Ted Danson adds a certain something as the boss. Zach is pretty downplayed when I was hoping for something a bit more manic, but I actually came to like his character quite a lot. He's sort of a mirror to Jonathan's pathetic nature, in a similar yet different situation and just as miserable. It's not exactly a feel good show, but worth checking out if thinking doesn't hurt your brain.