Subway Hero
- Liz almost reunites with her ex-boyfriend, Dennis, after he saves someone on the subway and then Jack insists that she get him for TGS
- Jack tries to get Tracy to be the new face of the Republican party
- Tim Conway makes a guest appearance as an aging comedian with all sorts of inappropriate stories
- very funny; pleasantly surprised to see Dennis return; the Republican party shenanigans were also chuckle-worthy, especially the commercial Tracy ended up making
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Tuesday, November 29, 2016
Frasier 1.09
Selling Out
- Frasier gets approached by Bebe Glazer, an agent, after making a commercial for a local restaurant; thanks to Bebe he makes a number of commercials but gets uncomfortable after agreeing to do a commercial for nuts
- I had not thought about her in years but I remembered Bebe as soon as she started talking; I checked on imdb and she only appeared on 11 episodes total, roughly speaking once per season; she definitely added to this episode; every scene she was in was great
- possibly my favorite episode so far
- Frasier gets approached by Bebe Glazer, an agent, after making a commercial for a local restaurant; thanks to Bebe he makes a number of commercials but gets uncomfortable after agreeing to do a commercial for nuts
- I had not thought about her in years but I remembered Bebe as soon as she started talking; I checked on imdb and she only appeared on 11 episodes total, roughly speaking once per season; she definitely added to this episode; every scene she was in was great
- possibly my favorite episode so far
Monday, November 28, 2016
Rick and Morty 2.06
The Ricks Must Be Crazy
- Rick and Morty travel into a microverse in Rick's car battery to figure out why it isn't working; turns out the people of the world Rick created are following the lead of Zeep, their smartest scientist, who has developed an alternate method of generating power by creating his own microverse which is very similar to the one that he comes from
- Rick and Morty left Summer behind in the car, which Rick has programmed to defend Summer; after the car kills one man and paralyzes another Summer does what she can to get the car to not do anything violent
- possibly my favorite episode; loved the worlds within worlds within worlds concept; loved how Rick and Zeep are so similar and yet can't get along
- lots of little gags in addition to the framework of the story also worked real well for me
- Rick and Morty travel into a microverse in Rick's car battery to figure out why it isn't working; turns out the people of the world Rick created are following the lead of Zeep, their smartest scientist, who has developed an alternate method of generating power by creating his own microverse which is very similar to the one that he comes from
- Rick and Morty left Summer behind in the car, which Rick has programmed to defend Summer; after the car kills one man and paralyzes another Summer does what she can to get the car to not do anything violent
- possibly my favorite episode; loved the worlds within worlds within worlds concept; loved how Rick and Zeep are so similar and yet can't get along
- lots of little gags in addition to the framework of the story also worked real well for me
Sunday, November 27, 2016
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
- I kind of wish that I hadn't waited quite so long to see this movie; I read the book a few years after the movie was originally released but it has probably been about 15 years since I read it at this point and don't recall many of the details; in other words I'm not sure how faithful the movie was to the book
- On the whole my impression is that the movie had about the same tone as the book; Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is a dark character and he gets away with things; the movie provided a taste of what Ripley goes through as he murders and impersonates other people, notably Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law); for a moment towards the end it felt like the focus shifted towards Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow) and her suspicions about Tom; in the end it felt like Ripley was almost superhuman and unstoppable, I have no recollection of that from the book
- It felt a bit like two movies in one; the first hour leads up to the murder of Dickie and built the relationship between the two men; the last hour and twenty minutes felt a bit ocer stuffed, considering how much was packed into them; the story might work better as a one season 6 to 10 hour tv series
- I wasn't completely sold on Ripley's ability to impersonate Dickie; the story is set in the 1950s, I think, and security wasn't then what it is today but still for the most part I didn't really notice a difference in the mannerisms of Ripley when he was pretending to be Dickie as opposed to playing himself
- the cinematography was gorgeous; most of the movie took place in Italy; my recollection is that a heavier portion of the story took place in Venice in the book than in the movie but as I said before it has been about 15 years since I read the book
- the music was wonderful; I especially liked the scenes in the jazz clubs but all around the music was very evocative and helped to set the mood
- I felt that the performances were all good or better than just good; I liked how the first hour slowly unfolded and am not a big fan of how the storytelling shifts in the second half; on the whole not bad but not great either, except for the music and cinematography, of course
- On the whole my impression is that the movie had about the same tone as the book; Tom Ripley (Matt Damon) is a dark character and he gets away with things; the movie provided a taste of what Ripley goes through as he murders and impersonates other people, notably Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law); for a moment towards the end it felt like the focus shifted towards Marge (Gwyneth Paltrow) and her suspicions about Tom; in the end it felt like Ripley was almost superhuman and unstoppable, I have no recollection of that from the book
- It felt a bit like two movies in one; the first hour leads up to the murder of Dickie and built the relationship between the two men; the last hour and twenty minutes felt a bit ocer stuffed, considering how much was packed into them; the story might work better as a one season 6 to 10 hour tv series
- I wasn't completely sold on Ripley's ability to impersonate Dickie; the story is set in the 1950s, I think, and security wasn't then what it is today but still for the most part I didn't really notice a difference in the mannerisms of Ripley when he was pretending to be Dickie as opposed to playing himself
- the cinematography was gorgeous; most of the movie took place in Italy; my recollection is that a heavier portion of the story took place in Venice in the book than in the movie but as I said before it has been about 15 years since I read the book
- the music was wonderful; I especially liked the scenes in the jazz clubs but all around the music was very evocative and helped to set the mood
- I felt that the performances were all good or better than just good; I liked how the first hour slowly unfolded and am not a big fan of how the storytelling shifts in the second half; on the whole not bad but not great either, except for the music and cinematography, of course
Friday, November 25, 2016
NewsRadio 2.08
The Shrink
- Everyone in the office is on edge and Dave can't seem to get them to calm down; Dave takes Mr. James advice and brings in a therapist, Dr. Frank (John Ritter); Dave quickly gets annoyed by Dr. Frank because he seems to soothe everyone by offering the same advice as Dave, and then he discovers something about Dr. Frank that no one else seems to know
- the b-plot is about Bill and the cubicle he has built around his desk
- lots of smiles and a few laughs; they went a little overboard with the canned laughter; John Ritter was great as Dr. Frank
- Everyone in the office is on edge and Dave can't seem to get them to calm down; Dave takes Mr. James advice and brings in a therapist, Dr. Frank (John Ritter); Dave quickly gets annoyed by Dr. Frank because he seems to soothe everyone by offering the same advice as Dave, and then he discovers something about Dr. Frank that no one else seems to know
- the b-plot is about Bill and the cubicle he has built around his desk
- lots of smiles and a few laughs; they went a little overboard with the canned laughter; John Ritter was great as Dr. Frank
Luke Cage 1.09
DWYCK
- Luke escapes from the trash truck; eventually he makes his way to Claire but along the way he has a run in with a couple cops who try to take him in; even though he is still suffering from being shot twice with special explosive rounds he is more than a match for the two police officers; the incident is caught on video and the recoding soon goes viral; Claire and Luke head to Georgia to find Dr. Burstein, who experimented on him at Seagate prison
- Misty spends the entire episode being interrogated, mostly by a police psychiatrist; she opens up a little bit, tells a story from her past about a friend of hers who was raped and murdered; she also reflects on the moment when Diamondback almost killed her with her own gun; later Inspector Ridley talks to Misty in the interrogation room
- Mariah takes Shades advice and organizes a sit down with Domingo and four other gang leaders about transitioning operations to them; Stryker interrupts the meeting; before it is over most of the gang leaders are dead and Diamondback has a new found respect for Mariah
- DWYCK = Do What You Can Kid
- I miss Cottonmouth; he was a much more psychologically complex character than Diamondback
- Overall not bad but this felt like another inbetweener, like the show is building to something big and taking its time getting there; it all feels important and relevant but it is just moving a little more slowly than I would like it to; maybe if there were some good milestone moments or the episode felt like it had its own arc instead of being just a piece of the arc of the season then I would have felt more satisfied after watching this one
- Luke escapes from the trash truck; eventually he makes his way to Claire but along the way he has a run in with a couple cops who try to take him in; even though he is still suffering from being shot twice with special explosive rounds he is more than a match for the two police officers; the incident is caught on video and the recoding soon goes viral; Claire and Luke head to Georgia to find Dr. Burstein, who experimented on him at Seagate prison
- Misty spends the entire episode being interrogated, mostly by a police psychiatrist; she opens up a little bit, tells a story from her past about a friend of hers who was raped and murdered; she also reflects on the moment when Diamondback almost killed her with her own gun; later Inspector Ridley talks to Misty in the interrogation room
- Mariah takes Shades advice and organizes a sit down with Domingo and four other gang leaders about transitioning operations to them; Stryker interrupts the meeting; before it is over most of the gang leaders are dead and Diamondback has a new found respect for Mariah
- DWYCK = Do What You Can Kid
- I miss Cottonmouth; he was a much more psychologically complex character than Diamondback
- Overall not bad but this felt like another inbetweener, like the show is building to something big and taking its time getting there; it all feels important and relevant but it is just moving a little more slowly than I would like it to; maybe if there were some good milestone moments or the episode felt like it had its own arc instead of being just a piece of the arc of the season then I would have felt more satisfied after watching this one
30 Rock 2.11
MILF Island
- On the same night as the finale of NBC's hit reality TV show, MILF Island, Jack isolates the staff in a room together after the New York Post printed negative comments about him attributed to an anonymous staff writer
- Very funny; lots of laughs but it felt a bit cheap using scantily clad women in the way they did on this episode
- On the same night as the finale of NBC's hit reality TV show, MILF Island, Jack isolates the staff in a room together after the New York Post printed negative comments about him attributed to an anonymous staff writer
- Very funny; lots of laughs but it felt a bit cheap using scantily clad women in the way they did on this episode
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