In early fall of 2010, a meme started kicking around Facebook.  It asked you to pick 15 albums that you will always have with you.  Not necessarily what you consider the greatest albums ever, just ones that you love and can easily see yourself listening to in several years time.  This is a take off of that.  I expanded the list to twenty and have included comments about each of the albums as well, but the overall idea remains the same.  Give it a read, and let me know what albums you would include on yours.

1. “I Am The Movie” – Motion City Soundtrack

The first album I’ve ever listened to where I loved every single song the first time I heard it.  Its infectious blend of power-pop, jangly rock and roll, and an ever-present keyboard was exactly what high school me needed, and even though I actually consider Commit This To Memory a better album overall, nothing could possibly cause me to cease loving I Am The Movie.

2. “Funeral” – Arcade Fire

With soaring vocals, beautiful harmonies, poetically dense lyrics, and probably a few instruments you can’t even hear, Arcade Fire’s debut album manages to sound like absolutely nothing and everything else.  With a trajectory that rises and falls, Funeral is an album you feel and listen to, in that order.

3. “Yankee Hotel Foxtrot” – Wilco

Right from the mess of percussion and electronic noises that opens “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart,” Yankee Hotel Foxtrot establishes itself as an album that is not out to sound like anything else.  Which is probably why it’s so revered, if it sounded like anything other than itself, we would have no way of recognizing just how special it is.

4. “Flood” – They Might Be Giants

An album that plays in its own world, if ever there was one.  The Johns’ quirky tales of Particle Man, Hot Cha, and Mr. Horrible; their lessons about Istanbul (Not Constantinople) and women and men; and the apparent bliss that is having a rock to wind a string around are all presented with way more musicality than they actually require.  Honestly, if you don’t love Flood, I don’t want to know why, because your reasons are wrong.

5. “Pinkerton” – Weezer

Few people wanted a dark, personal album from the group that gave the world “Buddy Holly” and “My Name Is Jonas,” but fortunately they’ve come around to recognize the sheer greatness that is Pinkerton.  It’s the dark follow-up to the sugar high of the first one; it’s The Empire Strikes Back to The Blue Album‘s A New Hope (yes, chronologically this means Maladroit is The Phantom Menace which is wildly unfair; I never said it was a perfect metaphor).

6. “Violent Femmes” – Violent Femmes

If you think about it, The Violent Femmes’ self-titled debut is a scientific anomaly.  It’s angsty and pissed, full of venom, and totally badass, yet it’s mostly acoustic.  The Femmes didn’t get the note that louder is better, and thank God they didn’t.  This album wouldn’t pack nearly as much punch (or be half as influential) if Gordon Gano were telling us to kiss off over the buzz of electric instruments, and he probably knew that as well.

7. “Loveless” – My Bloody Valentine

An album that vastly improves every time I listen to it.  I knew of the album’s pedigree when I bought it, but on first listen, I wasn’t able to hear the beauty of it through the swirl of noise.  But with every subsequent play, the music reveals itself more and more to the point that it’s gone from being a confounding mess to an album you can take from me when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.

8. “Let It Be” – The Replacements

If you’ve ever listened to an alternative rock album and thought, “Hey, I like this,” you need to thank The Replacements.  Regardless of the fact that Let It Be is a freaking masterpiece, it perfectly captures the trials and tribulations of youth.  The inadequacies that come from trying to find your place in the world at a time when you are still only half-formed are displayed with the angst and aggression those sentiments deserve.

9. “In The Aeroplane Over The Sea” – Neutral Milk Hotel

The most recent addition to this list, in that it’s the album I heard for the first time, most recently.  Despite my brief tenure of familiarity with the album, though, I do absolutely love it.  Just please don’t ask me why.  There’s an ineffability to the music (and the lyrics especially) that make it almost impossible for me to describe.  And though I don’t necessarily know what the hell Jeff Mangum is singing about, I know damn well that he knows and feels it strongly, and that is definitely present on this strange, wondruous album.

10. “I Get Wet” – Andrew W.K.

Do you like fun?  Do you own I Get Wet?  If you answered “yes” to the first question and “no” to the second, then congratulations, you’re a failure.  It’s loud and abrasive, sure, but Andrew W.K. has such an excitable personality (and he knows his way around a catchy tune) that if you aren’t smiling ear-to-ear halfway through the first song, check your pulse, because you’re probably dead.

11. “Born To Run” – Bruce Springsteen

I don’t think I even need to say anything about this one.  The Boss’ collection of anthems for the working class was pretty much timeless when it was released, and almost 40 years later it remains a powerhouse.  Plus it just grooves like a sonofabitch.

12. “The Velvet Underground” – The Velvet Underground

Popular opinion tends to point towards The Velvet Underground and Nico as the logical favorite, and I fully, enthusiastically admit that it’s a great album, but The Velvet Underground just possesses something that their others don’t.  It’s softer, quieter, darker, but it also feels more at peace (“The Murder Mystery” aside).  For proof, the next night you are able to drive around with the windows open, do, and listen to “Some Kind Of Love” at the same time.  You’ll never feel more relaxed while sober and operating a large machine.

13. “Losing Streak” – Less Than Jake

A less artistic choice than some of the others, but this list is about albums that stick with you, and not a year has gone by when I haven’t listened to this album at least once and skanked my ass off around my living room.  That’s staying power.

14. “Here’s Where The Strings Come In” – Superchunk

Alt-rock the way it should be.  Loud and aggressive for the sake of being loud and aggressive.  Containing lyrics that don’t always make sense, because screw it, basically, Here’s Where The Strings Come In serves up a collection of hooks and power chords that will punch you in the face and then wrap its arms around you and say, “No hard feelings.”  Also, the breakdown on “Detroit Has A Skyline” is just rad.

15. “Pet Sounds” – The Beach Boys

Has there ever been an album that has worked on more levels than Pet Sounds?  Maybe, but I doubt it.  Casual pop music fans to the most devoted audiophile can find plenty to love in The Beach Boys’ magnum opus.  Containing some of the greatest songs of all time (seriously, this album has “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” and “God Only Knows,” how can you compete?), Pet Sounds weaves a sonic tapestry (the only album you can say that about without sounding pretentious) that seems to mutate with each new listen.

16. “The Great Destroyer” – Low

At times quiet and beautiful, at other times dark and foreboding, Low’s The Great Destroyer lives in its own musical niche.  Using a relatively small arsenal of sounds and some breathtaking vocal harmonies, the Duluth-based group is able to craft a surprisingly diverse collection of songs, from the menacing “Monkey” to the deceptively uplifting “Broadway (So Many People)” to the absolutely devastating “Death of a Salesman.”

17. “Get Happy!!” – Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Probably the most aptly titled album in the history of music, Elvis Costello wastes no time as he whips through 20 R&B-tinged tracks of rock and roll.  Perhaps lacking in standout tracks, that just makes the album itself that much more valuable in and of itself.  Without any one song towering over the others, what we are left with is an album that you wind up listening to all the way through, and enjoying for every second.

18. “Costello Music” – The Fratellis

For an album with relatively modest ambitions, The Fratellis sure did knock Costello Music right the hell out of the park.  Effortlessly enjoyable for its entire runtime with only one half-dud of a song, this has been and will remain to be my ultimate cheer up record.  You can’t not smile.

19. “Separation Sunday” – The Hold Steady

Weaving tales of booze, drugs, Twin Cities night life, hoodrats, and a girl named Halleluiah together with a sound that evokes Springsteen on steroids, The Hold Steady are a band like no other.  Craig Finn half sings, half shouts his lyrics that remain far more interesting than the music underneath, but although that sounds like a dig, it’s the endless jagged riffing that gives Separation Sunday its spine (and another part of its anatomy found south of the waistline).

20. “Walk Among Us” – The Misfits

Walk Among Us probably isn’t the greatest punk record ever made, but goddamn if it isn’t up there.  Tying horror movie imagery to a three chord construction, The Misfits jump in devilocks first and don’t let up for 14 songs of pure hardcore goodness.  Many of the album’s contemporaries were maybe more “important,” but Walk Among Us is deathless.  Ironic for an album so obsessed with the afterlife.

Posted under Kyle's Adventures in Pop Culture

Depending on our level of interaction over the course of the last few years (or if we even know each other), you may or may not know that I have an obsession with karaoke that (I hope) lands just this side of unhealthy.  I enjoy any karaoke joint that has a solid book and a diverse group of people.  I have a regular spot that I like to go to, but I’ve noticed some troubling trends starting to crop up that have lead me here, formulating this absolutely definitive list of rules for any and all karaoke nights.

1. Don’t Be Scared

Are you gonna sing?  No?  Why not?  What do you mean you can’t sing?  Have you heard some of these people?  The first rule is pretty simple: this is karaoke, not American Idol.  There is no cash prize, no record deal, no new car waiting at the end of the evening.  This is a bunch of (likely) drunk people out having a good time, they won’t care that you’re slightly tone-deaf, because there’s a good chance that they are even worse.  So don’t tell me that nobody wants to hear you sing, as that’s more or less the reason you go to a karaoke night in the first place.

2. Go Big Or Go Home

Okay, you’ve put your name in the rotation, that’s awesome.  But while you are now beyond criticism, you have not earned appreciation.  This is not as hard as it would seem.  As I literally just said, you do not have to be a good singer, but you do still have to try.  Everyone’s heard the awfulness that is someone singing under their breath, and it’s easy to blame this on nerves, but those feelings of nervousness are just going to perpetuate themselves by not trying.   Don’t believe me?  Well, you just watch, because as soon as you finish your monotone take on “Don’t Stop Believing,” you’re going to be hit with a solid wall of silence fueled by the utter lack of enthusiasm from the crowd who would have gladly given you at least pity applause if you would have put in one ounce of effort.

3. That’s Entertainment!

Sticking with the topic of the audience, this is an important thing to keep in mind when making your song selection: you are the entertainment.  So pay attention to the crowd that’s there and try to pick a song that you and they both like.  So if you see a bunch of dudes in leather jackets, maybe it’s not a great time for John Denver.  Several groups of well-dressed young people out on the town?  Maybe save the Motorhead until after they leave.  Sea of unironic cowboy hats?  Well, still go ahead and sing The Ramones, because screw those people.

4. Variety Is The Spice Of Life

Another thing to keep track of is the kinds of songs that have already been sung.  If there’s been an abundance of country tunes, maybe look to a different genre, hair metal’s always a safe choice and are you trying to tell me anybody’d be offended if you butchered “Sister Christian?”  That’s practically what it’s for!  And this also applies to whomever is running the karaoke, don’t be a slave to the order in which the names were submitted.  If one person has to wait for one extra song so we don’t have four country ballads in a row (which honestly happened last Friday), I think it’ll be okay, and they probably won’t even know the difference.

5. Branch Out For Crying Out Loud

There’s probably a decent chance that you have done karaoke in the past and that you have one song that you know you rock harder than all others.  It’s your go-to song, the song that you know that if there is karaoke, that is the song you will sing.  That’s fine, I have songs I’ve done several times, there is absolutely no shame in repeating yourself (despite what some people might say, not naming names).  But if you find yourself a regular to a certain karaoke night, you’re there every week, singing to a crowd of similarly regular attendees, please, for the love of God, mix up your song choices.  I know you and your buddy rock “Nothin’ But A G Thang,” but we’ve heard it… every week… for a freaking month.  You can sing it again somewhere down the line, but give it at least six weeks.  Do it for us.

6. Fun, please!

There is only one reason anyone goes to karaoke night: it’s fun (yes Hollywood, stop depicting it as a sign of lonely desperation, I mean it!).  But you know what aren’t fun?  Country ballads.  So please stop singing them.  Yes, you’re cute as a button, and I’m sure “Jesus, Take The Wheel” is your jam, but literally noone wants to hear that.  Not even the people who like that song.  If you must sing Carrie Underwood, do “Before He Cheats” or “That Other Song She Has That Probably Sucks, But At Least Isn’t Boring,” that one’s pretty good.

7. Just Think, Wouldya?

I know karaoke tends to be a goofy affair, and I’m not saying you’re not allowed a throwaway song here and there, but please try to have a point.  Yes, I’m talking to you, guy who karaoked Ashlee Simpson’s “Pieces of Me.”  Seriously, why did you do that?  It would be one thing if that was a song that had managed to stay in the public consciousness, but it’s not, it’s a forgettable song that, surprise surprise, was forgotten.  Your trotting it back out is pointless and dull, knock it off.  Also, please try to avoid the Top 40, unless you have a reason.  So while yes, your rendition of “Someone Like You” is decent, it’s also very straightforward, accomplishing little beyond reminding us of the 50,000 other times we’ve heard that song this week.

8. Stop Singing “Black Velvet!”

Nothing else needs to be said about this.

Please keep these simple rules in mind the next time you find yourself paging through a song book.  The rest of us and our ears thank you.

Posted under Kyle's Adventures in Pop Culture

Filmmaking is a tricky business.  There are roughly a thousand plates spinning at any given point, and it’s completely up to a small number of people to pull it all together into a coherent whole.  Sometimes they succeed and create great works of art, and other times they fail outright.  But what about the rest?  There are plenty of perfectly decent films that just don’t have what it takes to be considered among the all-time greats, there are mediocre films that aren’t worth expending any energy towards whatsoever, and then there’s this curious little slice of filmdom: films containing elements of genuine greatness that somehow can’t save the terrible movies in which they exist.  Such as…

Sliding Doors

The Film: Sliding Doors tells the story of Helen (Gwyneth Paltrow) in two separate timelines, one in which she catches her boyfriend cheating on her, and one where she doesn’t, and the fallout from both.  It’s a movie that tries to break from the mold of your typical rom-com and try to examine the role small choices play in our lives.

The Greatness: That premise is undeniably brilliant.  The movie juggles the separate timelines well, finding organic ways to alter Gwyneth’s appearance so that the audience doesn’t spend the first few seconds of every scene trying to figure out what story we’re in, allowing them instead to focus on the unique story that’s unfolding; and the film resolves in a pleasant enough way that demonstrates the curious path destiny will take us all on.

Why I Hate It: The movie has no faith in its brilliant premise, or rather, it has no faith in its audience.  So rather than tell an emotionally complicated story about people with multiple layers, each character is painted in the broadest strokes imaginable.  So Karen is saintly to the point that actual saints would feel nervous about offending her, her boyfriend is a spineless, sniveling weasel, and the woman he’s sleeping with is the most hateful shrew this side of Baby Jane.  The one attempt the film makes at an emotional complication comes when Karen’s new love interest (John Hannah, playing an impossibly decent fellow, go figure) is implied to have been lying about his past, but the movie resolves this plotline as fast as it possibly can.  The result of all this is one of the most obnoxiously blunt movies you are ever likely to see, clever premise be damned.

The Haunting

The Film: One of the original haunted house stories told on celluloid, The Haunting stars Julie Harris as one of a handful of people contacted to research Hill House, a mansion with a mysterious, violience-ridden past.  The characters all display some skepticism at first, but gradually it is revealed that the strange occurences are anything but coincidence.

The Greatness: Look, I know I’m in the minority on this one.  The Haunting is considered a classic horror film, and not without reason.  There are several sequences that are legitimately terrifying, thanks largely to the marvelous sound design.  The film never reveals more than it has to, only letting us see what we absolutely need to, and it is with this that The Haunting creates a truly unsettling air…

Why I Hate It: … that is completely undone by the constant voice over from the protagonist.  The film lets us hear what’s going on inside Julie Harris’ mind as she slips further and further away from sanity, but by doing this, we are never allowed to process the terror being projected onscreen for ourselves.  The film is able to create lots of tension, but as soon as her ethereal voice over crops up, it all deflates, and delivers a death blow to this supposedly classic film.

The New World

The Film: Terrence Malick’s telling of the Pocahontas story follows Colin Farrel’s John Smith into the forests of Virginia on his quest to ingratiate himself with the Native Americans, and the settlers who fear them.  The film brings realism to a story we’ve all heard since childhood, and tries to get at what life was truly like for everyone in the early days of America.

The Greatness: Given that this is by the man who directed Days of Heaven and last year’s haunting The Tree of Life, you know it’s really saying something that The New World is Malick’s most absolutely gorgeous films.  The cinematography lends a majesty and grace to every piece of scenery Malick found himself in the mood to film on any particular day, leading to a final product that is breathtaking to behold.

Why I Hate It: Okay, this is kind of a cheat, because I don’t actually hate this film, but it is by far Malick’s most tedious and (unintentionally) incomprehensible films.  The dialogue mostly consists of offscreen whispers, making it near impossible to follow; Malick’s typically jumpy editing is in full force here, which should make the film more spastic, yet somehow slows it down even further; and the whole thing runs about a half-hour too long, and I’m not even referring to the Director’s Cut.

Shane

The Film: This Western tells the story of the eponymous gunslinger, played by Alan Ladd, who wants to leave his past behind him and make a life with a family of ranchers.  But as more and more seedy characters make their way into town, Shane finds himself forced with the decision of whether to do anything about it.  Accompanying him through most of this is the child of the ranchers, played by Brandon De Wilde.

The Greatness: Shane possesses something few other Westerns possess, and that is a sense of morality.  Sure, other films like High Noon or Rio Bravo will show people reluctant to fight, but that’s out of a sense of their own preservation.  Here, Shane is reluctant to get involved because he genuinely doesn’t want to be responsible for taking another human’s life, it’s an admirable trait that lends a thoughtfulness not often found within the genre.

Why I Hate It: Brandon freaking De Wilde.  I was able to tolerate the kid in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close because I knew in the back of my head that no matter how obnoxious he was, he doesn’t even touch Brandon De Wilde.  Towards the end when Shane (59-year-old spoiler alert) decides to intervene, Joey (De Wilde) sneaks out and follows him, and I genuinely hoped he would get caught in the crossfire, because A) it would fit in nicely with the morality I talked about earlier, and 2) I wanted his character to die.  Instead the film ends with a shot of his stupid face yelling for Shane to come back, and I was left with a desire to punch a child in the face, which is not something I’m comfortable with.

The Lovely Bones

The Film: An adaptation of the book by the same name, this is the story of Susie Salmon, a 14-year-old girl who is murdered and who witnesses the investigation and her family’s reaction from Heaven.  Her father and sister are relentless in finding her killer, who, unbeknownst to them, has been right under their noses the entire time.  Her mother, meanwhile, is devastated and can no longer handle her domestic life and leaves for California.

The Greatness: As George Harvey, creepy neighbor and serial killer, Stanley Tucci is phenomenal.  He nails the quiet menace and is absolutely chilling when talking to people who don’t know that he’s the one they’re looking for.  His performance is the kind that you rarely see, crafting a character you want to see get what’s coming to him, yet one to whom you don’t particularly want to say goodbye…

Why I Hate It: … because he’s the only good part of the movie.  All the rest of the film is able to manage is average at best, atrocious at worst.  I won’t harp too much on the rest of the performances, most of whom fall in the mediocre range (Mark Wahlberg is the exception, he seems to be giving a companion performance to his role in The Happening), so instead I’ll focus on the biggest, most insulting issue with the movie: it is one of the absolute worst adaptations in the history of cinema.  It begs the question, did Peter Jackson actually read the book, or did he get a quick summary from one of his friends?  So many little things are changed in the story, every single one of them to the film’s detriment.

For instance, the mother’s journey to California, in the book she is gone for about ten years, making it a significant occurence in her family’s life, in the movie she’s gone for about a month, and as a result it doesn’t pack any of the devastation it’s supposed to.  In the book, they never definitively get George Harvey, they have circumstantial evidence and his questionable behavior.  In the movie, they absolutely nail him and he flees, losing all the ambiguity that makes the film so wonderfully frustrating.  In the book, Susie has a companion in Heaven named Holly, she is there because they are of similar ages with similar interests and they died roughly around the same time, period.  The book is content to let some things go, because it realizes that life and death are messy businesses and sometimes things just are the way they are.  But in the movie, it turns out that Holly got murdered by George Harvey, too, because Peter Jackson wasn’t content to let any detail go that didn’t have some significance on something else in the film.  I could go on, but I won’t, because I’ll just get angry.  Just know that the book is bursting with serene beauty (seriously, read it, it’s phenomenal), and the movie is able to nail precisely none of it.

Posted under Kyle's Adventures in Pop Culture

Hey, it’s halfway through February, so that means it must be time for a recap of the films 2011 had to offer. (Just go with me here, okay?)  I have to say, 2011 was kind of a weaker year for films, although that may just be because it didn’t have many individual films that set the world on fire.  The films listed below all have their detractors, but they are great films and (in this reviewer’s mind) the ten best films of 2011 (note: in most cases I went more on my enjoyment of the films, less on their technical or artistic merits).

10. X-Men: First Class

The first sign that this was a strange year, if a comic book movie makes the list.  But let’s face it, comic book movies don’t come much more entertaining than X-Men: First Class.  This is easily the most rewatchable film on this list (I’ve seen it three times), and its cleverness never lets up.  Setting the advent of the mutant exposure against the Cuban Missile Crisis, and going to great lengths to humanize all the characters, First Class accomplished two things: it redeemed the X-Men franchise after the truly abysmal Wolverine, and it proved that after Kick-Ass, Matthew Vaughn can actually make a consistently entertaining flick.

9. The Tree Of Life

Arguably the purest artistic vision of 2011 (give or take an Uncle Boonmee), Terrence Malick examines his own childhood in Texas in his typically Malickian way.  With a free-flowing timeline that shifts from present day all the way back to the beginning of time itself, The Tree of Life‘s haunting portrayal of the world we live in contains some of the most beautiful cinematography yet commited to film, while also telling a story that has no clear resolution.  It’s a film that trusts the audience to keep up, to figure it out for themselves, and ultimately, to just experience, because that’s all we as humans can really do.

8. Young Adult

The most acerbic entry on this list finds Jason Reitman teaming back up with his Juno screenwriter, Diablo Cody, to tell the cringe-inducing story of Mavis Gary (brilliantly portrayed by Charlize Theron) on her quest to rekindle the love between her and her high school squeeze, regardless of the fact that he’s already happily married.  It’s a different kind of coming-of-age story (complete with a jaw-dropping rallying speech from a former classmate that needs to be seen) that finds Theron teaming up with the similarly fantastic Patton Oswalt as a means to stay sane by unleashing her pent-up crazy.  It’s a film that’s caustic, devastating, and, most importantly, really and truly funny.

7. Winnie the Pooh

This one kind of flew under the radar, which isn’t hard to understand; excitement is not really the point of Winnie the Pooh.  The Hundred-Acre Wood-set film serves as more of a comfort blanket, with its easy-going nature, almost threadbare plot, and a tremendously undaunting runtime of 63 minutes.  But what it lacks in visceral frenzy, it makes up tenfold with warmth, sheer cleverness, and a genial sense of humor.   Put another way: if there was a more delightful film to be released in 2011, I didn’t see it.

6. Shame

An honest depiction of sex addiction on screen is a dicey prospect; lean away from the seriousness and you end up with crass titillation, lean in and you land in maudlin territory.  Which is why Shame should be commended: it doesn’t try to stamp a prefabricated opinion on the subject.  The film plays it perfectly straight, letting the characters and their emotions do all the heavy lifting.  So when they descend into darkness, we understand and feel for them.  Their emotions become our emotions, and we wonder what we would do if placed in a similar situation.

5. The Descendants

The beauty of Alexander Payne’s films lies in the details: like the way clothes don’t always fit perfectly, or how running in clogs is just inherently awkward, or how sometimes (SPOILER) you gotta wack the container to get all of your wife’s remains out.  The Descendants takes all of these details into consideration as it crafts the lovingly detailed, heartbreaking, yet humorous story of a husband dealing with the impending death of his comatose wife who, as it turns out, wasn’t entirely faithful.  George Clooney has never been more nakedly emotional as a father out of his depth, and it’s all in service of a film that proves that sometimes happiness can be found in ice cream and The March of the Penguins.

4. The Muppets

Finally answering the question, “Can pure nostalgia coalesce into the form of a satisfying movie?” with a resounding “YES!” Jason Segel’s The Muppets takes the cake as the most fun to be had at the cinema this year.  Giving each character their due while treating them with respect and throwing in some phenomenal music on top of it all, The Muppets was both a wonderful throwback and a fitting update for everybody’s favorite felt friends.  And if you didn’t get choked up at Kermit the Frog plucking the first few notes of “Rainbow Connection,” well then I think we can answer the question of whether you’re a Muppet or a Man.

3. The Artist

Can you think of anything more heartening in recent memory than the public’s acceptance of a silent film, shot in an outdated format that functions as little more than an elaborate homage to the Golden Age of Hollywood?  I can’t, which is why I’m so thrilled to see The Artist as the frontrunner for all the major awards this year.  The story of a silent film star struggling to make his way in the era of the talkie, The Artist goes for broad strokes and big emotions, and it’s all the better for it.  I won’t say that this is how movie-going should be, given that it hasn’t been this way in 80 years, but Hollywood would do good to look to its own past a little more often.

2. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Quiet, tense, and gripping, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy gets at the heart of what being a spy is (probably) all about.  This is not a film of car chases, love scenes, martinis, and bacarat, but more of stern glances, fitful violence, and motives kept close to the chest.  A film where even the most powerful emotions can only be released away from prying eyes, where the right evidence is more deadly than a Walther PPK, and where the world hopefully, finally learns that Gary Oldman is one of the best actors on the planet.

1. Drive

Right off the bat, with its eerie electronic score and hot pink title sequence, Drive lets you know that you are not in for a tradional action film.  It’s a movie about a driver that features very little driving, a violent film that spends most of its runtime in quiet conversation.  Featuring a main character as enigmatic as they come, like if Vanishing Point was part of the Man With No Name trilogy.  The film lives in the lengthy spans of quiet that come with a life of crime.  That’s where it lives, but it’s alive when the action kicks in.

It’s true that the film features little driving, but the driving it does contain is so beautifully choreographed and shot, that anybody complaining about the lack would do well to just shut up.  But the real charm of the film (using that phrase lightly) is the violence.  Used sparingly and without warning, the viewer gets lulled into a calm so that when the blood starts to flow, it is far more horrifying than a constant barrage could ever hope to be.  And the perpetrator of a lot of that violence is the surprisingly beautifully cast Albert Brooks, who takes the genial goodwill his comedy has built up for him and twists it to create a truly terrifying villain.  And it all came together to form a truly phenomenal film.

Honorable Mentions

Simultaneously crafting a technological fairy tale and a love letter to the early days of cinema, Martin Scorcese’s Hugo was a fun and beautiful film that unfortunately didn’t find as big an audience as it deserved.  Featuring truly clever effects and characters that were recognizably human, films didn’t come much cooler than Joe Cornish’s Attack the Block.  Finding himself in a more playful mood than usual, Woody Allen may not have intentionally crafted Midnight in Paris to be a companion piece to The Purple Rose of Cairo, but he succeeded at it all the same.  Quirky, without being cloying, sad, without turning to melodrama, and featuring absolutely outstanding supporting work from Christopher Plummer, Beginners was a funny, clever, heartbreaking movie.  Utilizing brutal violence and a tone befitting said brutality, Super was the film Kick-Ass should have been.

Underrated

Any film that sits on a shelf for any period of time for reasons other than quality is inevitably going to have built up a considerable amount of hype when it finally gets released.  For a film to which “epic” could be ascribed, this isn’t as much of a problem, but when the film in question is a lightweight comedy, the results can be disastrous.  It happened to Fanboys four years ago, and it happened again this year to Take Me Home Tonight.  Is this Topher Grace-starring, 80s retro comedy the funniest thing to come out in recent years?  No.  Is it a fun, humorous, and perfectly acceptable way to spend an hour and a half?  Absolutely.

Overrated

Bridesmaids.  Hang on!  Yes, I think Bridesmaids is overrated, but I also think it is genuinely funny.  But people latched on too hard to the notion that women can be funny in a way that seemed to discredit all the numerous examples of women being funny that came before it.  Not to mention that the movie doesn’t have a satisfying resolution, it kind of just fizzles out; and the fact that it suffers the Apatow-bloat.  Seriously, no wedding comedy needs to be longer than 100 minutes, let alone the 2-plus hour runtime found here.  But again, it was pretty funny.

Biggest Surprise

For as much as it looked like it was going to just be The Fighter in an octagon, Warrior found a way to transcend all of that to become one of the most gripping sports dramas in recent memory (I think I actually liked it more than The Fighter).  Nick Nolte gives a great grizzled performance as the father of two sons entered in a UFC match for their own reasons, and Tom Hardy continues his path towards acting dominance with his quiet, seething role as a fighter with a mysterious past.

Full Disclosure

I think this list is pretty solid, but I still haven’t seen A Separation, which, based on its reputation, would probably make the list, or Martha Marcy May Marlene, which I am almost positive would definitely make this list.  And my unabashed love of Pedro Almodóvar means The Skin I Live In could probably find a place here also.  Oh well.

Posted under Kyle's Adventures in Pop Culture

Thrilling car chases, underwater battles, exciting gadgets, sultry women, an over-the-top villain stroking a cat, sharks with frickin’ laser beams attached to their heads: absolutely none of that can be found anywhere in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, the latest adaptation of a John le Carré spy novel.  Following in the footsteps of The Spy Who Came In From The Cold (and, I assume, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy: the miniseries), the film crafts a tense and gripping spy tale out of the mundanities of spy life.

The film follows the recently (and forcefully) retired George Smiley (Gary Oldman) as he is tasked with covertly rooting out a mole in the upper ranks of MI6.  As Smiley, Oldman gives a masterfully subtle performance, hardly letting any emotion disturb his steely exterior.  He just watches and takes everything in, confident in his ability to just straight up be better than everybody else.

Helping him in his quest is the owner of the most British name in all of history, Sherlock‘s Benedict Cumberbatch, who is used as Smiley’s pawn inside the Circus, and Tom Hardy as the rogue agent who has access to information potentially confirming the mole story.  Both give performances worthy of their respective statuses as burgeoning stars, Cumberbatch especially, who only gets one real scene all to himself, but nevertheless sells the absolute hell out of it.

The entire film basically stands as a treatise on the sheer pleasures of watching actors acting.  The cast is packed to the gills with talent, to the point that the film would be worth watching regardless of direction, editing, etc.  Fortunately the rest of the production was handled with as much care as the casting.  The direction from Tomas Alfredson (following up the brilliant Let The Right One In) is staggering, he uses long lenses and creative editing to provide us with an almost voyeuristic look at the bureaucracies of British Intelligence.

The timeline shifts without warning, the story juggles about a dozen different plotlines, and most of the communication is expressed through knowing glances and body language.  The whole thing winds up as sort of an anti-James Bond film, with any violence occurring in spurts and presented in a cold and straightforward manner, and while that may sound daunting or inaccessible, it isn’t.

What it is is brilliant.  But for as much brilliance lies in the spy tale, the real power of the film comes from the fleeting character moments, like Cumberbatch’s scene that I mentioned above, or Tom Hardy’s revelation that he wants a family, or the look that comes across Oldman’s face when he spots his wife in a passionate embrace with another man.  The mole hunt provides the intrigue, but it’s these vital moments that give this film its unflinching humanity.

Posted under Kyle's Adventures in Pop Culture

Young Adult, Jason Reitman’s newest film, is two things: a quirky, sad, funny movie, and a case study in the perils of uncontrolled nostalgia.  The film centers on Mavis Gary, played with zeal by Charlize Theron, a ghost writer on a once-popular, soon-to-be-cancelled series of young adult novels.  Fresh off a divorce and dealing with professional uncertainty (not to mention living in a state unbefitting the glamorous city girl she believes herself to be), she receives an e-mail from her high school squeeze, Buddy Slade (Patrick Wilson), showing off him and his wife’s brand new baby girl.

Being in a tailspin already, Mavis does not take this well, but rather than shake it off like a grown up, she instead decides that she and (the happily-married) Buddy are meant to be together and packs up and heads off to her hometown (quietly, so as not to wake up her one night stand, who she leaves sleeping… in her bed).  From there comes a chain of increasingly uncomfortable events that see Mavis put even more emotional distance between her and a life she left long ago.

Along the way, she bonds with former classmate Matt (Patton Oswalt), a fellow arrestedly-developed 30-something (though for wildly different reasons), and it’s this relationship that forms the twisted, black heart of the film.  These unlikely kindred spirits don’t really help each other grow, but they do give each other someone with whom to be brutally honest about everything.  Matt is the only one with whom Mavis can be comfortable and the only one who can clearly see through the heavily manicured artifice she carefully applies every day.

It’s a brutal, yet tender relationship, one befitting the vulgar, emotional movie that encompasses it.  This is a film where the most comfortable and fun scene involves Theron and Oswalt bonding over their mutual hatred of a guy in a wheelchair.  It’s a strange balance that the film strikes, and it’s a wonder that it pulls it off with as much vigor as it does.  And most of the credit for that goes to Theron.

Her performance as Mavis is one of the most daring tightrope walks you will ever see from a mainstream actress.  She plays Mavis as an obviously broken, sad woman who you can’t help but feel for, but who is also an unapologetic, manipulating sociopath who doesn’t understand why the world doesn’t bend over backwards for her.  She’s brazen and horrible, sure, but she’s also so crushingly pathetic that your heart goes out.

Also in top form is Oswalt who continues his streak from Big Fan of using his well-established sarcastic geek persona as a mask for deep wells of vulnerability.  And credit is also due to Jason Reitman, who continues to grow as a filmmaker with each movie.  There is a shot late in the film showing all the knick-knacks and pop paraphernalia that Oswalt has in his bedroom that almost directly mirrors the establishing sequence of Ellen Page’s bedroom in Juno.  But whereas the shots in that film seemed to say, “This is exactly who this girl is, isn’t she awesome?”  These near-identical shots now say, “This is exactly who this guy is, isn’t that sad?”

It’s subtle, but it hits on a major theme of the film.  As I touched upon way back in the first paragraph, rampant nostalgia and the pitfalls of such are constantly on the fringes of Young Adult.  Whether it’s Oswalt’s figurines demonstrating just how pathetic his life is, or Mavis’ OCD-like obsession with her and Buddy’s song coming back to bite her once she realizes he has repurposed it for his wife, or simply the notion of a woman trying to reclaim her glory days when literally everybody has moved on to better things; the film goes out of its way to demonstrate that the past is something to look back on, not cling to.  Now if only our protagonist would learn that for herself.

Posted under Kyle's Adventures in Pop Culture

We find ourselves in a surplus for quality television.  That shouldn’t come as a surprise, what with every network and their mother (he says, pretending that makes sense) doing their best to fill airtime with quality television to rival the all time greats, some of which are still on the air.  But with all these quality shows it can be very hard to keep up, and that’s where DVD (or Blu-Ray, if you want to be like that) comes in so handy.  But there’s a problem, not every show is a good “DVD show.”

So how can you tell?  Well, the logical answer would seem to be that any show that is unequivocably good is going to make a good DVD show, right?  Not even close.  Arguably one of the best shows on the air right now, AMC’s Mad Men, is one of the worst DVD shows I’ve ever seen.  I think.  I’ve only seen the first season, because I dread having to watch more of it on DVD.

Please don’t get me wrong, Mad Men is nothing if not a beautifully-realized, well-acted, stunning recreation of the glamour and hardships of Madison Avenue in the sixties.  But for as objectively great as it is, it’s so down-trodden and depressing that I can really understand how a week’s reprieve between episodes could be extremely beneficial.  Compare that with its channelmate Breaking Bad, which, yes, can wade through some dark and existential territory, but it never wallows.  The show remains electric, and when one episode ends, you want to know what happens… right effing now.

And that’s the basic mark of a great DVD show, if the idea of waiting to figure out what happens next drives you absolutely nuts.  It all boils down to two main things in my estimation: story arc and tone.  There’s a certain balance that needs to be struck between those two elements to achieve the eminant watchability that establishes a great DVD show.  If you have a compelling enough arc, you can be as dark and down-trodden as you want, whereas if you’re lacking story-wise, you need to compensate by being relatively light in tone.  This has the greatest effect on procedurals, where shows that wallow in the murk like CSI aren’t shows you’d want to watch for hours on end, but something like Pushing Daisies can be watched for days (if only there were actually enough episodes to support that type of behavior *sigh*).

What got me thinking about this topic was, a co-worker of mine lent me two seasons apiece of two seemingly similar shows: Frisky Dingo and Metalocalypse.  Both are animated shows containing irreverent humor, pop culture riffs, and gross out gags.  They both were/are part of Adult Swim and as such are both directed at basically the exact same audience.  They are also both clever and very, very good shows, but whereas Frisky Dingo is a terrific DVD show, Metalocalypse is very much not.

The difference lies not so much in the tone, but in the story arc.  Because Frisky Dingo has one of the most daring story arcs I’ve ever seen on an animated show (it rivals The Venture Bros.)  I maintain that you could edit out the credits sequences and each season would basically function as a movie (albeit with an odd ten minute section here and there that features the word “boosh” more frequently), whereas Metalocalypse has (as far as I know) no discernable overarching plot.  And while each episode is funny and clever, they all more or less accomplish the same thing, leaving one episode feeling very much like the next.

And yet, despite that, I would posit that Metalocalypse is actually the better show overall, with higher production values and an impressively thorough execution of vision combining to ever-so-slightly overpower Frisky Dingo‘s sheer lunatic ambition.  It’s just that you could basically compile your ten favorite Metalocalypses and give them to a friend and they would get a perfect picture of what the show is, which you absolutely could not do with Frisky Dingo.

The issue gets more muddled the further you get into comedic shows, as the ones of quality are, by nature, easy to watch.  So it basically boils down to this: how do you watch the show on DVD?  Can you watch one episode from any season in any order?  Or do you have to watch it starting at Season 1, Episode 1 and not stop until you reach the end?  But again, this does not reflect the actual quality of the show.  For instance, by these standards, Chuck easily bests How I Met Your Mother, even though HIMYM is far and away the better show.

And of course sometimes these standards help to heap even more praise on already deservedly-lauded shows, such as Arrested Development, one of the best DVD shows ever.  It’s become something of an annual tradition for me to come home on a Friday and pop in the first disc of AD and not stop til I hit the series finale.  Or a new contender, Parks and Recreation, whose arcs tend to be the least interesting part, but which counters that by being so freaking delightful that it’s way more satisfying to start from the beginning, just so you can see all of it again.

So what have we proved?  Admittedly, not much.  Just that you should take caution when you set out to purchase a season of one of your favorite shows.  Before you whip out your credit card, think hard.  Why do you want to own the show?  Will you watch it for hours on end, or just a stray episode here and there?  Because if it’s the latter, I might be able to interest you in something called… the internet.

Posted under Kyle's Adventures in Pop Culture

I make no qualms about it, I can be cynical. Breaking Dawn beating The Muppets at the box office? Clearly a sign of our society going down the drain. The fact that Alvin & The Chipmunks: Chipwrecked even exists? Shameless cash grab and an insult to our children’s intelligence. Christmas decorations on sale before Halloween? Rampant commercialism.

However, though any amount of Christmas celebration before Thanksgiving will draw sneers from me, once the turkey and stuffing (or in my case a gas station rib sandwich, but that’s another story) has been consumed, my cynicism goes into hibernation, having gorged itself on preemptive holiday festivities, not to emerge until the lights come off the tree. For the most part. Hey, I can’t help it if every radio station playing Christmas music feels the need to play the same 20 songs ad nauseum.

The biggest impact comes in the form of my favorite pasttime: movies. 11 months out of the year, I am incredibly discerning about what kinds of movie I watch, but come late November, all that gets tossed out the window, pure, uncut nostalgia takes over, and regardless of quality, if an ample amount of holiday spirit is present in the film, I am going to, at least, enjoy that movie. Which isn’t to say I only watch holiday schlock, on the contrary, several of the films I hold as mandatory viewing, I would stack against the greatest that cinema has to offer.

Let’s take a closer look at what I consider “required viewing” come holiday time:

Home Alone: A prime example of my cynicism taking a holiday, as this is a movie that lots of “cool” people love to deride. Whether it’s the abundance of slapstick or the presence of Chris Columbus in the director’s chair, a lot of people tend to overlook the heart and Christmas spirit present in this holiday classic (yeah, I said it). Because it’s totally there if you look. From Catherine O’Hara’s relentless quest to get home to her son, to Macauley Culkin’s steadfast refusal to let harm come to his home around the holidays, to the scary old neighbor’s tearful reunion with his son and granddaughter, this is a flick that is unfairly criticized and one that I will watch every year until the day I die.

A Muppet Christmas Carol: Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat provide narration that plays jump rope with reverence, Michael Caine gives an impressively straight take on Scrooge, the atmosphere turns downright chilly when called for, and the whole thing is bursting with phenomenal music. It all comes together as not just one of the Muppets greatest film outings, but as one of the better adaptations of the Dickens classic. Not to mention one of the most fun Christmas movies there is.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer/Santa Clause is Comin’ to Town: These two Rankin/Bass specials are classics for a reason. Their indomitable spirit and whimsy is more than enough to overcome any wonky animation or questionable characterizations (although seriously, why is Santa such a jerk to Rudolph?).

Scrooged: This Bill Murray outing loses too much of its bite in the sing-along ending, but the entirety of the flick that precedes that is delicious black comedy. Murray’s at his sarcastic best, Carol Kane is brilliantly deranged as the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the whole thing is packed with enough fantastically creepy imagery to provide viewers a darker option for when they get a little sick of Frosty.

Elf: Another Christmas movie that critics occasionally like to drub. Yes, the movie gets a little treacly at times, but that’s because it’s a CHRISTMAS MOVIE! I know that sounds like a cop out, but it’s just a fact. Sure, a lot of Christmas movies will find a dark edge to explore, but at their core is unfiltered warmth and goodwill, which I guess is too much to stomach for some people when it’s presented in as pure a form as it is here. But a truly stellar Will Ferrel performance should undercut a lot of that, because he has rarely been better.

A Charlie Brown Christmas: Hey! A Christmas special that acknowledges how commercial the season has gotten! And how the spirit of the season can still be salvaged if you just try! And- what? This thing’s 45 years old? That can’t be right.

Die Hard: Because it’s Die Hard.

Gremlins: A woman gets shot out her window from a hot-wired stair-climber, a snow plow crashes through an old couple’s living room, a girl tells the tale of how her father broke his neck trying to surprise his family, and a little green monster explodes in a microwave. Merry Christmas!

The Santa Clause: I know not everybody enjoys the comedy stylings of Tim Allen and I will grant that this flick is far from the gold standard as far as child acting is concerned, but it’s a clever twist on the story of Santa Claus and it features a delightfully prissy supporting performance from Judge Reinhold. Say it with me now: a Weenie Whistle.

Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas: This oft-forgotten Jim Henson special contains some less-than-stellar marionette work and is almost crushingly wholesome. It’s also a stone-cold favorite in the Jorgenson household and we will fight you to the death if you hold it in anything less than the reverence that it deserves. Am I being serious? Yup.

It’s A Wonderful Life: I’ve brought it up before in this space how much I enjoy this film, and it stems from my parents sitting me down every year to watch it. A tradition that continues to this day as the thing I look forward to more than most things out of the entire year. That’s how great It’s A Wonderful Life truly is. I cannot sing its praises enough, from James Stewart’s phenomenal lead performance, to the fantasy storyline that has been parodied so often it is literally engrained in the cultural subconscience, to the joyous conclusion that shows that a life well spent is worth far more than any amount of money you could misplace inside a newspaper.

So that’s it, more or less. My required viewing for the holiday season. There are other movies that I try to make time for, like A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street, White Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, Nightmare Before Christmas, and others, but these are the absolutes. If I don’t watch these movies sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, well, just think of all that fodder my cynicism will have once it wakes up.

Posted under Kyle's Adventures in Pop Culture

Every fall, the networks all come out with a litany of new shows that they hope we, the viewers will love.  Now, of course it’s virtually impossible that all of these will appeal to everyone, and the few that do are still not all bound to stick in the long run, whether it’s due to poor execution, a wasted premise, or because it just plain sucks, but I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect success of a few.

So you can imagine how disappointing this season has been for me, what with all but two shows failing to live up to their promise.  And one of the two that remains is still pretty young and may yet fall by my wayside.  I can’t imagine how hard it must be to maintain a consistent level of quality on a high profile network show, but there are enough out there that manage it with style and grace that it makes this year’s abundance of failures all the more puzzling.

Although failure isn’t technically the right word, given that most of the shows I watched and bailed on are still on the air, so let’s examine those:

New Girl: I love Zooey Deschanel.  When the news broke that she broke up with Ben Gibbard, I instantly began to foster unlikely notions that maybe, just maybe, there was a chance she would find in me what so many before had failed to provide.  Which is why I found it so disappointing when I was left so underwhelmed by New Girl.  So underwhelmed, in fact, that I didn’t bother to stick around past the pilot.  It wasn’t offensive or anything, but I’ve reached a point where I need more than “vaguely charming” to hold my interest.  I also bailed on Glee, and perhaps this was an unexpected casualty of that, but I’m not hurting not knowing how the forced romance between Jess and what’s-his-face is progressing.

2 Broke Girls: This was a new bailout, with this week being the first episode I didn’t watch.  I struggled with this one, given how well the characters of Max and Caroline (I always want to say Max and Coraline, because I love Motion City Soundtrack) are portrayed and performed.  The problem lies with EVERYTHING ELSE.  From the failing to comprehend the notion that hipster jokes aren’t funny anymore, the forced romance (starting to notice a theme) between Max and what’s-his-name (I seriously can’t bring myself to care about these characters), to the far-from-subtly racist vibe that encompasses basically every supporting character.  The last episode I watched featured two pointless Jersey Shore riffs trying to pass as characters, and a group of sassy gay guys, and my realization that every gay guy on this show would be a sassy one was enough for me to bid the show a less-than-fond adieu (in 2 Broke Girls-land, a french person would never be without a baguette and beret).

Free Agents: Okay, this wasn’t a show I was crazy about, but it was an amusing enough half hour that bridged the gap between Up All Night and Modern Family.  The leads were likable and had solid chemistry, but the supporting cast had issues, namely in that they still existed in that post-pilot wasteland where subtle characterization is eschewed in favor of broad strokes in order to get the point across, and Anthony Stewart Head was wasted in the role of the horny boss.  I could have seen the show building to something, but it was cancelled before it got the chance.  Oh well.

Actually that’s all the shows I started watching that I don’t anymore, for one reason or another.  There were plenty other shows that debuted, but Last Man Standing, Revenge, Whitney, Prime Suspect, Man Up or the slew of others just didn’t interest me.  I was vaguely intrigued by Pan Am, but (like the rest of America, it seems) I just didn’t make the effort to actually watch it.

As I mentioned before, of the new shows this season, there are only two that I still watch regularly: Up All Night and Once Upon A Time, and Once Upon A Time is still new enough that I can’t say I won’t bail on it as well.  If it sorts out what kind of show it wants to be (a vaguely goofy melodrama seems to be the most viable option) I could find myself willing to hang on.  It also needs to figure out how to handle the difference in tones between Storybrooke and fairytale land, because while over-the-top theatrics are perfectly acceptable when people are wearing headresses and standing in castle towers, they become grating when delivered in a smart pantsuit.  Tone down the stuff in Maine and you’ve got yourself a regular viewer, but please accept that you have problems.

And that’s why my vote for best new show of the fall goes to Up All Night.  And even that didn’t come without a little trepidation, but they seem to be figuring out how to use Maya Rudolph in a way that doesn’t make it seem like she was ripped out of a show on Nickelodeon, and that was the show’s most glaring fault.  I understand that having the show be all about Chris and Reagan would be too low key for a network sitcom, but it’s so refreshing that I wouldn’t have minded if they tried.  Because Up All Night has found the Holy Grail of sitcoms: a totally believable marriage.  The characters may have differences in their priorities and personalities, but chalk it up to Will Arnett and Christina Applegate for never making us question just why these two love each other.

Quality shows shouldn’t be as hard to come by as this season has made it seem, and hopefully midseason will deliver the goods that were sorely lacking this fall.  If it doesn’t, I could see some potentially large holes to fill in the lineup.  And if that winds up being the case, hopefully next year doesn’t start with such a whimper.

Posted under Kyle's Adventures in Pop Culture

Six attractive, quick-witted 20-somethings navigate the intricate worlds of dating, work, family and culture in a heavily populated urban environment.  Quick, what show did I just describe?  If you said Friends, then you clearly don’t understand how headlines work.  You’re also technically correct.  However, it’s not the show I’m talking about.  I’m talking about Happy Endings.

And in reading that opening paragraph, I realize that it sounds like I’m saying Happy Endings is nothing but a Friends-ripoff.  That is not what I’m saying.  Well, okay, it kind of is, but in a totally good way.  Because Happy Endings has been able to nail down the quality that made Friends so great: it is literally about nothing more than these six people going about their everyday lives.  Sure, they’re quirkier than the average person, and way more culture-savvy than most of the people you know combined, but the acting is so believable and the writing is so fresh, that it has quickly become among the best half hours on tv, even if it’s not really building to anything.

And say what you want about Friends, yes, it probably should have stopped a season or three earlier than it did, and yes, by the end of it every character had become a caricature of their former selves, and yes, it’s the reason you still cringe when a “will they-won’t they” plot crops up on a show, but in its early seasons, it is hard to deny that Friends was the source of some of the most clever and legitimately funny television on the air, and lent legitimacy to the moniker of  “Must See Thursday.”

And that all happened because the show kept it fast and loose.  Noone was spending whole seasons chasing a girl or planning weddings.  Heck, Friends (and come to think of it, Happy Endings) began with a bride ditching out on a wedding.  So instead they found tension in real-life matters, trouble at work, blind dates, power outages, the sudden presence of poultry, etc.  And that’s exactly the kind of thing Happy Endings is doing so well (minus the poultry thing).

Look, this is not to say that Happy Endings is my favorite show, or even my favorite comedy (although it is up there).  But whereas shows like Community and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia are more interested in deconstruction and Parks and Recreation is too invested in its universe, Happy Endings has achieved what few shows are willing or able to accomplish: it has created a universe that is just a pleasure to drop in on and observe, for no other reason than it is just a funny place to be.

Even How I Met Your Mother, the likeliest precursor to the Friends throne, is still too dedicated to the ever-present premise set up by its title.  While it’s had its chill out episodes (heck, even seasons), it’s always going to be building up to the meeting of Ted and the mother.  And that’s great!  That’s part of what makes that show so special, and Happy Endings‘ relaxed vibe is part of what makes it so special.  I’m not saying the characters aren’t allowed to grow, on the contrary, I hope they do, as it makes for more interesting television, but as long as the interpersonal relationships stay at the forefront of the show, I’ll be happy to keep tuning in.

So I don’t mind that Max has stumbled into a pseudo career, or that Penny and Alex are roommates now, or that Dave bought a food truck.  That’s because those developments just happened and they also happened to make sense so they stuck.  And it happened organically and didn’t disrupt the fabric of the show.  The single camera format helps.  Whereas with Friends, every time somebody moved, that would be the focus of an episode or two as it was going to physically change the way the show had looked for several years, Happy Endings is perfectly content to have Penny just be moved into a new place.  Because it doesn’t matter.

Because while, for my money, Happy Endings is indeed the new Friends, that is not to say that they are the same show.  They have similarities and they share a lot of vibes, but there are several fundamental differences.  The camera formats for one, diversity for another (A gay guy!  A black guy!).  That last one is big, as it provides just a slightly different worldview than its predecessor was capable of.  And that has led to a solidly funny show.  One that deserves a bigger audience than the one it has.  I’m looking at you, America.

Posted under Kyle's Adventures in Pop Culture