I was fortunate enough to catch the touring cast of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia in the Broadway performance of "The Nightman Cometh," the musical from their fourth season finale, at the Beacon Theatre on September 16. It was hysterical.
The cast managed the transition from television to stage seamlessly. Danny DeVito (who plays Frank Reynolds) looked great in his troll costume and it was a genuine joy to hear Charlie (Charlie Day) freak out live. Although the stage show itself doesn't seem to offer anything new, it doesn't get much better than seeing one of the best shows on television live, especially with these particular actors.
One of the greatest surprises was the sneak preview the audience was given of both the new season and the upcoming Christmas special. Both had me constantly laughing out loud. I can honestly say this does look like this will be the best season of Sunny The Christmas special has one of Charlie's best moments yet, an encounter with Santa Claus that was over the the top in that terrifically funny Sunny way.
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Friday, September 25, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
News
Not much going on to report. I still have high hopes for this web blog, but I haven't had the time to dedicate to it that I had hoped. I mean to post every day, and twice on Wednesdays and Mondays, but I am not sure when that will happen.
I have a long list of things I would like to right about, some of them slightly obscure and others not so. Tomorrow night is my favorite night of television, NBC's comedy night. Although it won't get really awesome until 30 Rock starts again. I will probably review and/or discuss the shows sometime on here.
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Modern Family - 4/5
This was very close to getting a 3, but there were some lines that actually made me laugh out lod, and some of the acting, that put it just over the line. Definitely has potential in the longer term. Each of the families seemed to be as equally developed, which is an excellent sign.
Each family also has areas of contention and issues that were introduced well and I am already interested to see how they develop. The hope know is that the development is not predictable, as it very well may be, as none of the issues are that unique. I also found that not many of the jokes fell flat, even if some were clearly better than others. Line delivery seemed to be above average with all actors.
The biggest disappointment, and something I will now be watching closely for, is the outright stolen "come on" line, used twice in the episode, which is clearly from 30 Rock. It is used in the same manner. The actors deliver it correctly, which is less a testament to their acting ability and more a testament to downright mimicry of Liz Lemon.
I will be watching next week.
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Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Man on the Moon - 3/5
Kid Cudi's first studio album came out today and I just finished listening to it. This is not normally the kind of hip-hop I listen to, but I did enjoy it. The best parts of the album involved other people, however.
The tracks with Ratatat are great, and MGMT and Common made worthy contributions as well. I also think Cudi and Kanye used the Lady Gaga samples really well in "Make Her Say."
Honestly, the lyrics were kind of simplistic and the rhymes were a bit weak. I guess I just prefer what I see as true language artistry from rappers like Eminem or Notorious B.I.G.
I think that Rolling Stone describes the album best, I agree with the entirety of their summary.
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Honestly, the lyrics were kind of simplistic and the rhymes were a bit weak. I guess I just prefer what I see as true language artistry from rappers like Eminem or Notorious B.I.G.
I think that Rolling Stone describes the album best, I agree with the entirety of their summary.
The Jay Leno Show - 2/5
I can confidently say that I thought I would be giving the show only a 1, but it was better than I expected. Even though I will never be watching it again, I felt strongly that I wanted to make a brief comment on a historical television event.
I was glad Jerry Seinfeld gave Jay a hard time about the new show, it seems pretty ridiculous for people to have talked about Leno leaving... when he hasn't left anything at all. It seems like a prime-time version of the Tonight Show.
I am still in shock that NBC would set up three of the exact same style of show in a row. Apparently there are financial reasons why this works out though, I guess? Seinfeld had a few good jokes, but the majority of the show's humor fell flat. The moment with Kanye West was weird, because he didn't seem to have any straight reply to Leno's questioning. I'm still not sure if any of what he said was coherent. He seemed to bumble through an apology and whatever else he was saying.
I was surprised that the thing I enjoyed most on the show was the performance at the end. I guess I never realized that Rhianna is actually talented. I even liked her voice. The other two weren't bad either. Read more…
I am still in shock that NBC would set up three of the exact same style of show in a row. Apparently there are financial reasons why this works out though, I guess? Seinfeld had a few good jokes, but the majority of the show's humor fell flat. The moment with Kanye West was weird, because he didn't seem to have any straight reply to Leno's questioning. I'm still not sure if any of what he said was coherent. He seemed to bumble through an apology and whatever else he was saying.
I was surprised that the thing I enjoyed most on the show was the performance at the end. I guess I never realized that Rhianna is actually talented. I even liked her voice. The other two weren't bad either. Read more…
New Indiana Jones
The fourth one was fun, but ultimately not a true successor to the epic trilogy. However, if the fifth one turns out to be another fun adventure, I won't be too upset. I guess I feel the same way about the Indiana Jones franchise as I do about Star Wars: I will watch the new ones, but they aren't on the same level.
As weird as it was to see Shia LaBeouf, I think I actually enjoyed his character. The Wild Ones allusion to Marlon Brando's iconic costume was awesome, and he didn't do terribly.
I remember George Lucas' thoughts on what to expect. I am actually happy he was able to admit his feelings, and was realistic about the situation, even if I would have liked him them to make something more worthy of the Indiana Jones title.
I thought someone said that LaBeouf was taking over as Indy in the next one?
Monday, September 14, 2009
Inglourious Basterds – 4/5
I want to start with the title. I understand that Tarantino doesn’t really explain the odd spelling changes to both words in the title, but I like it. In fact, I really like it. I am a little surprised he had to pay for the rights of the original when they are both, apparently, very different films. Although the topic of this post, Quentin Tarantino’s most recent film, Inglourious Basterds, is not as topical as I might like, it is still in theaters.
This is certainly not history’s second world war, and, rightfully, it’s not the “King’s” spelling. The creative take on fact demands a creative title. To me, and this may sound silly, the spelling, “inglourious” seems to exude more ingloriousness, and “basterds” does evoke a grittier, possibly mispronounced version of the word. This is the sort of mispronunciation Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) would certainly spit out with abrupt fervor. Perhaps this is also the sort of spelling mistake a hillbilly like Aldo might make, basing his letter choices off of said mispronunciation (think about it: “inglourious basterds” as, in-glau-ri-aus bas-terds. I can see Aldo annunciating that).
The plot is not simply guys-on-a-mission doing their thing. It is less of that and more of a postmodern bombardment of plot episodes. The reflexivity of the film is part of this as well. From one character’s introduction, with giant text of his name filling the screen, and a scene with a surprise gun shot, there are places where the film seems to acknowledge it is a film. Having the narrator also emphasized that I was watching a film, multiple views of the same story, and I loved every second of it.
For an action film, it definitely has its comedic moments. The genius of portrayal of the wily SS officer Hans Landa (Chrisoph Waltz) offers most of these laughs, and Pitt’s Raine, particularly the character’s hysterical attempt at speaking Italian, offers others. In fact, there is a whole scene that, while pushing the audience’s suspended disbelief (it seems obvious that the "basterds" stick out, but that seems to be another pomo element: it is so ridiculous that it works), has a three of the “basterds” attempting to pass as Italian. It is one of the funniest scenes in the film.
At the end, despite having a general feeling of satisfaction, I couldn’t help but feel that maybe something was missing. Perhaps it didn’t quite reach the epic proportions that the trailer had me pumped for. Or perhaps it was that the chronology was messed about with in a way I wasn't expecting. Instead it was a smart, tight Tarantino film. Maybe I was expecting to see a band of soldiers brought together in comradery as they make their way through France, with the eventual goal of Paris. Instead it felt jumpier: we get the plot in bits and pieces.
This is not necessarily a bad thing at all; Tarantino uses this process to his advantage and makes powerful bursts interspersed with masterfully developed tension.
Not enough Stiglitz. Read more…
This is certainly not history’s second world war, and, rightfully, it’s not the “King’s” spelling. The creative take on fact demands a creative title. To me, and this may sound silly, the spelling, “inglourious” seems to exude more ingloriousness, and “basterds” does evoke a grittier, possibly mispronounced version of the word. This is the sort of mispronunciation Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) would certainly spit out with abrupt fervor. Perhaps this is also the sort of spelling mistake a hillbilly like Aldo might make, basing his letter choices off of said mispronunciation (think about it: “inglourious basterds” as, in-glau-ri-aus bas-terds. I can see Aldo annunciating that).
The plot is not simply guys-on-a-mission doing their thing. It is less of that and more of a postmodern bombardment of plot episodes. The reflexivity of the film is part of this as well. From one character’s introduction, with giant text of his name filling the screen, and a scene with a surprise gun shot, there are places where the film seems to acknowledge it is a film. Having the narrator also emphasized that I was watching a film, multiple views of the same story, and I loved every second of it.
For an action film, it definitely has its comedic moments. The genius of portrayal of the wily SS officer Hans Landa (Chrisoph Waltz) offers most of these laughs, and Pitt’s Raine, particularly the character’s hysterical attempt at speaking Italian, offers others. In fact, there is a whole scene that, while pushing the audience’s suspended disbelief (it seems obvious that the "basterds" stick out, but that seems to be another pomo element: it is so ridiculous that it works), has a three of the “basterds” attempting to pass as Italian. It is one of the funniest scenes in the film.
At the end, despite having a general feeling of satisfaction, I couldn’t help but feel that maybe something was missing. Perhaps it didn’t quite reach the epic proportions that the trailer had me pumped for. Or perhaps it was that the chronology was messed about with in a way I wasn't expecting. Instead it was a smart, tight Tarantino film. Maybe I was expecting to see a band of soldiers brought together in comradery as they make their way through France, with the eventual goal of Paris. Instead it felt jumpier: we get the plot in bits and pieces.
This is not necessarily a bad thing at all; Tarantino uses this process to his advantage and makes powerful bursts interspersed with masterfully developed tension.
Not enough Stiglitz. Read more…
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