The new season of Arrested Development and what it means for the future of Television.

(This review contains minor spoilers, a few specifics but mostly talks about the overall concepts of the new season.)

If you are like me you may have spent a good chunk of your memorial weekend binge watching the new season of Arrested Development.  I must admit when I first delved into my binge I was skeptical of the new season.  The Fourth season follows a new format with each episode revolving around one character (Micheal’s Arrested Development, Lindsey’s Arrested Development etc.); this presumably was to accommodate all of the actor’s busy schedules.  Through the first few episodes the new format left me uneasy about the new season, but as the season went on the old jokes that I loved (her?) and the shows familiar cast of characters put me at ease. This isn’t the same Arrested Development that we all remember, but after seven years off the air, a completely new storytelling format and being brought back through online streaming instead of traditional TV it would have been impossible for it to stay the same.  This time around Arrested Development is different but is still good and a worthwhile reboot of the show.

The new season’s grandest accomplishment isn’t it’s comedy, but it’s mode of storytelling as you see events from the perspectives of multiple characters, similar to Van Sant’s Elephant without all of the annoyingly long following shots.  However this does make for some confusion as to the chronology of some events and I found myself losing my bearings in a few episodes.   This leads to interesting use of suspense and surprise that adds another dimension to the comedy of the show. The comedy doesn’t quite measure up to the first few seasons, though I probably missed 100 hidden jokes throughout the season.   The show is still funny and full of laughs especially for loyal viewers of the show as some running gags from previous seasons continue into the new season; it’s just near impossible for the show to measure up to its previous three seasons.  

The new season also suffers from making this show’s dysfunctional family even more dysfunctional.  Even the characters of Michael and his son (George Michael) have become as dysfunctional as the rest of their family and have now assumed new roles as pathological liars.  At times it becomes almost annoying how incapable the members of the Bluth family are, the show in some ways has lost a little bit of it’s heart.  This mostly likely stems from the fact that due to the actor’s complex schedules we rarely get a scene where we get to see the entire Bluth family together, or more than two Bluths together in the same room for that matter.

Fans of Arrested Development will be happy to hear that the show still lays on a heavy social commentary behind all it’s comedic genius.  Heavy on the religious commentary as always, on episode in which Gob makes a joke that he thought a painting of certain famous prophet was a real person.  This along with the new season poking fun at the entertainment industry much like its predecessors helps us appreciate the sheer complexity and detail of the show. 

The entire season seems to building up to a final event or something of the sort.  However the end to the anticipation doesn’t really seem to payoff.  The season doesn’t end with a great sense of closure, which is ok since it’s clear that this most likely won’t be the last we see of the Bluths.  Netflix unfortunately has already made it clear that they won’t be bringing Arrested Development for a fifth

season. I’m confident however that if the fans and creators of the show could make a fourth season happen, making the much talked about possible Arrested Development movie shouldn’t be a problem.

So What Does This All Mean For Television?

This new season of Arrested Development is another step towards Netflix push to create original programming.  But Netflix isn’t the only subscription based online streaming company that has begun create original programming Hulu and Amazon have been doing the same as well.  Hulu (from what I can tell from Ads) has been creating many British online show and Amazon recently released the Pilot for Zombieland the series.  This all adds up to being a bad sign of things to come for traditional television programming.

The Internet’s power to provide and produce quality content online is continuing to grow, something that could lead to the death Cable, broadcast and satellite TV.  As Internet becomes more readily available to people across the country, websites that provide online streaming will become serious competition for Television.  There are majorities of people, mostly young that already watch television shows on their laptop instead of their TV’s.  A move for TV networks to release their content online along with their regular programming is a very important to help stay relevant in the digital age.  This move also make’s financial sense, Arrested Development was illegally downloaded 100,000 times, pennies compared to 1 million illegal Downloads of HBO’s Game of Thrones that occurred when the third season first premiered.  Netflix is incredibly more affordable and allows access to a larger range of content, than a costly premium cable package plan that contains HBO.

It is very possible that a few decades from now that TV in the traditional sense could be dead and instead families across America could have what functions as a giant computer monitor as the centerpiece in their living room.  A study found that eighty three percent of people under the age of 25 watch at least some of their Television show online, with a quarter of respondent saying they watch ALL their TV online.  TV is moving from cable and satellite as its medium to the Internet, for better or worse. 

The Kings of Summer

The Kings of Summer was the latest coming of age comedy to hit Sundance, where it received rave reviews.  I got someone at work to cover my shift while I went to an advanced screening movie, so I had relatively high expectations and Kings Of Summer did not disappoint.   

Kings of Summer is the story of three friends Joe, Patrick and Biaggio in search of freedom from their parents, build a house in the middle of the woods.  Joe lives with his divorced father Frank who every time Joe gets in a fight with he ends up calling the police unnecessarily to the house.  Patrick is trying to escape his overbearing parents, while Biaggio just seems to come along for the fun of it.

I’m a sucker for coming of age stories, but the pleasant surprise of this movie was the how well the comedy worked.  The perfect combination of writing and actor delivery had me laughing the entire movie.  Biaggio is one of the most interesting and effective comedic characters ever developed.  Part of this is due to the amazing performance Moises Arias who makes Biaggio’s character just creepy enough.  Even with a cast that includes Nick Offerman from Parks & Rec, Moises Arias steals the comedic thunder with a performance that will make you forget about his days as Rico on Hannah Montana.  Arias is one of the few Disney stars that has been able to make the post-Disney transition to the big screen, unlike Ashley Tisdale or Sara Paxton who can only seem to find roles in terrible parody movies.

The movie balances it’s comedy perfectly throughout, making some of the more serious scenes in the movie much more heart wrenching.   Kings of Summer taps into the very primal urge for freedom, much like the way Into the Wild did.  After all everyone has had times were the dreamed of running away from home when they were a kid.  A coming of age story is something that has been done many times before, but Kings of Summer is able to put a refreshing twist on it, mostly thanks to it incredible cast.  This coupled with impressive cinematography for an indie comedy makes Kings of Summer a complete package.  It’s worth mentioning that this was Jordan Vogt-Roberts (a fellow Michigan native) directorial debut, a strong first feature has me looking forward to what the future will bring for the young director.

The movie however does feel condensed through it’s over use of montage sequences, which deprives us from being even further embedded in the experience of the movie.  This movie would have definitely benefited from being 10-15 minutes longer by replacing the montage sequences with some more scenes of the daily life in the woods for these three friends.  However this is merely a small chink in the armor of what is an outstanding movie.   The Kings of Summer is certainly worth going to see and may be the best movie this summer that no one is talking about.

Rating: 88/100

So with the Oscar just a few hours away it's time to roll out the oscar predictions.

Oscar for Actor in a Leading Role.

Who should win: Daniel Day-Lewis, His acting in Lincoln was phenomenal and from what I here he used some pretty extreme methods in order to get in to character for the movie.

Who will win: Daniel Day-Lewis This is one of the most sure bets of the night.

Oscar for Actress in a Leading Role.

Who should win: Jessica Chastain, she made Zero Dark Thirty her movie and was a big part of what made that movie work.

Who will win: Emmanuelle Riva, I don't think the Academy will pass up a chance to be this pretentious .

Oscar for Actor in a Supporting Role.

Who should win: Christoph Waltz, His biggest competition wasn't even nominated, Waltz was awesome in Django should be an easy win.

Who will win: Christoph Waltz, the Academy loves Waltz and he put on a great performance.

Oscar for Actress in a Supporting Role.

Who should win: Helen Hunt, had a good performance, this category is one of the weaker categories of the year.

Who will win: Anne Hathaway, I'm Against Les Mis getting award recognition, but I wouldn't have any quarrels with Anne Hathaway winning.  For the little amount of time she was on-screen she stole the show, a close second in my book.

Oscar for Best Cinematography.

Who should win: Lincoln, It didn't have any beautiful visuals or amazing landscapes to really on, this movie looked beautiful even though it was a dialogue driven movie.

Who will win: Life of Pi, The Academy won't be able to resist all of the sparkly objects.

Oscar for Costume Design.

Who should win: Anna Karenina, Extravagant costumes that contributed to the great mise en scene in the movie

Who will win: Les Miserables, it's not like it has a ton of competition.  I mean Snow White and the Huntsman got nominated in this category, come on Academy get you shit together, what is this the people's choice awards?

Oscar for Best Directing.

Who should win: Lincoln, Steven Spielberg.  This category had a ridiculous amount of snubs, Spielberg wasn't the best this year, but he's the best of the nominees.

Who will win: Lincoln, Steven Spielberg.  He's got the Oscar pedigree.

Oscar for Film Editing.

Who should win: Zero Dark Thirty, the editing did a great job of adding tension and the progression of the movie was seamless.

Who will win: Argo, Eh whatever.

Best Foreign Language Film.

Who should win: No, Chile.  Honestly the only movie I've seen in this category is Amour and wasn't a fan of it.  I've seen the trailer for NO and I love the movie's premise and I'm fairly certain it's not worse then Amour.

Who will win: Amour, book it.

Oscar for Makeup and Hairstyling.

Who should win: The Hobbit an Unexpected Journey, Make-Up is great.  BUT HOW DID CLOUD ATLAS NOT GET NOMINATED?  We'll save that conversation for another day.

Who will win: Les Miserables, While accepting this award they should have to thank the mud that they made their actors role around, to make them look dirty.

Oscar for Best Original Music Score.

Who should win: John Williams, Lincoln.  You can just feel the vast amount of emotion in this score.

Who will win: Mychael Danna, The Academy will love the "bollywoodish" sounding score.

Oscar for Best Original Song.

Who should win: Skyfall, "Skyfall" by Adele.

Who will win: Skyfall, "Skyfall" by Adele.  It'll win because Adele.

Oscar for Best Production Design.

Who should win: Lincoln, It did a great job of recreating the 19th century and bring it to the screen

Who will win: Les Miserables, some of the Production Design looked a little ridiculous, let's hope it doesn't win.

Oscar Short Film - Animated

Who should win: Head over Heels, Incredibly clever and a sweet short.

Who will win: Paperman, It's incredibly endearing, plus it's disney the kings of Animation.

Oscar Short Film - Live Action

Who should win: Henry, It's a much better and psychological version of Amour.

Who will win: The Buzkashi Boys, All the shorts were really good in my opinion, I don't think I would have a problem with any of the 5 nominees winning it.

Oscar for Sound Editing

Who should win: Django Unchained, I don't think there is anyone in the industry cares and focuses on sound as much a Quentin Tarantino.

Who will win: Django Unchained, just taking a shot in the dark.  It makes sense to me, so why not the Academy too? Right?

Oscar for Sound Mixing.

Who should win: Lincoln, I don't really have a compelling argument......

Who will win: Les Miserables, ugh.

Oscar for Visual Effects.

Who should win: Life of Pi, The effects are beautiful and it would be nice to see a movie win this award without using big explosions

Who will win: Life of Pi, I could tell that the Tiger was CGI, but apparently a lot of other people couldn't....

Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Who should win: Beasts of the Southern Wild, such a great and unique story, which you don't see to often.

Who will win: Argo, Oh boy another movie about how America and the CIA are awesome.

Oscar for Best Original Screenplay

Who should win: Django Unchained, there are some laughs and the dialogue seems genuine to the time period.

Who will win: Amour, there goes the Academy showing off how pretentious they can be again.


Oscar for Best Picture

Who should win: Django Unchained, stylish, witty, and tackles extremely tough subject matter.  Django is everything I want in a movie and more.

Who will win: Argo, It's been surging recently, and Affleck's fellow directors are gonna trying to stick to the academy for not giving him that director nom.  Unfortunately in the midst of all that they forget that they're supposed to pick the best movie.



* categories not mentioned Animated Feature, Documentary Feature and Documentary Short

Supporting Characters

Supporting characters is a movie about two editors and best friends as they work on editing a movie together while also trying to navigate their relationships with each other and their significant others.

The movie is well written with some very interesting scenes, however at times the movie and dialogue can feel a little dry. The story is an original tale and the movie has that charming indie sort of feel to it. After watching the movie I felt as though it was more of a buddy comedy than a romantic comedy.   The movie is a very laid back movie, which is displayed through the color scheme of the movie which was very soft and cool toned with many plain colors.

The acting is neither good or bad, a lot of the character's have an indifferent quality to them.  The biggest problem I had with the movie was at time the background noise or music was to overpowering.  It sometimes made the dialogue difficult to hear and with scenes that had music, it gave the movie a feeling of over dramatization and melo drama that detracted from the experience of the movie.  The movie at times has a very raw feeling to it, however that can be quickly disrupted through the editor's use of overly loud music during the dialogue.

The thing I enjoyed about this movie as a personal pleasure that since it was about film editors, it's a movie that's very relatable for those of us who are or aspire to be a part of the film industry.  You get see problems that a job in a film industry and the unique challenges it presents to a person and their relationships.  The state of how the film production is also a reflection of the state of each characters personal relationships.  The successes of the movie are mirrored by bliss of their personal relationships  when it seems like the movie is falling apart so are their relationships with their significant others.

This is a movie that also provides a view of what it is like work behind the scenes and an examination of the struggle that many filmmakers have of giving up some control of their project even though it may be in the best interest of the film.  The director (the character in the movie not the director of the film) believes that his vision is being tarnished and ruined by the producer an the editors of the film.  This goes to the point in which the director tries to block the film from even being made.  The struggle of the filmmaking process and the clashing of ideas, it very much accurately represents the power struggle behind the making of a film.  The film I think in the end sends an important message to aspiring filmmakers and those in the film industry, that is the idea of working as team and working together creatively.

Overall a relatively good film, that people who make movies will be able to relate to personally. Overdramatized through sound editing but has a very sincere and charming indie feel to it.

My final rating: 71/100

The Carrier a Hometown Review

I thought it might be fitting to do my first film review on the movie The Carrier. The Carrier is a horror comedy movie made back in 1988 that was almost entirely shot in my hometown of Manchester Michigan where I grew up.  Growing up I often heard it referred to as "that horrible horror movie that was made back in the 80's".  Being a film student I knew I had to see this movie, It being the only film history my hometown has really ever had.  After a brief search I was able to track down a VHS copy on eBay.

This movie is about the small town of Sleepy Rock, which has been falling to victim to attacks of a monster that the locals refer to as the "black thing". One night the main character Jake Spear is attacked by the black thing, however he fights it off, kills it and is left with only a scratch.  However Jake later discovers he is now a carrier of a dangerous disease that spreads to every inanimate object he touches. In a frenzy of fear the town of Sleepy Rock goes on a comical witch hunt to find out who among them is the carrier.

The Carrier is an original movie that delivers some great laughs. The movie is incredibly campy which is what makes some parts of this movie so funny.  The ridiculous actions of the of the townspeople is satire gold and reminds me of Monty Python on some level. However where the movie goes wrong is when it strays from the campiness that made it great and tries to be serious, especially in the beginning.  I have trouble telling if the actors are just really bad actors or just masters of satire which made it hard to tell when the comedy ends and when the seriousness begins.  This problem isn't helped much by the fact that the pacing in this movie is all over the place.  

Jake's love interest in this movie is completely unnecessary, has some terrible dialogue, never does anything that makes sense and is probably the worst actor in the movie. This movie had spectacular potential which ended up being somewhat squandered.  Also the outro to this movie is absolutely terrible

The costumes in this movie crack me up, they're just hilarious feats of satire.  However the downfall of this is I can't keep straight who is who and what characters are important.  Besides three of the central characters it's really hard to follow the story of any of the other characters, but then again I don't think you're really supposed to be able too.  The one big plot hole I just couldn't get myself to ignore was the fact that it was the 1980's and people running were around with axes and pitchfork as weapon's.  None of the character's end up breaking out a gun until then end, I was sitting there thinking to myself; well where the fuck was that the entire time?

In early parts of the movie there are some great use of foreshadowing through imagery.  However the director seems to make it his goal to name drop the title of the movie whenever he can.  With Jake at one point even complaining about all the things he's had to "carry" throughout his life.  But the most surprising part of watching this movie to me was the social commentary.  This movie was made in the late 1980's right around the same time people started freaking out about AIDS.  It's very easy to see how the disease of Jake Spear's character was very much a commentary on the fear and frenzy surrounding AIDS during this time in our history. There is also a noticeable commentary on religion in this movie while not as strong as the AIDS commentary it is still ever present.  The second to last scene in this movie in fact without giving to much away about the movie, depicts an upside down cross, a symbol of the anti-christ.  Not only that this movie bits science against religion through the two opposing viewpoints of how to deal with the disease between the preacher and the doctor

So in conclusion this is a campy movie with great entertainment value that has problems when it tries to take itself seriously and the bad acting doesn't do it any favors. However the comedy is done so well at times you almost forgive the plot holes and unnecessary bits of this movie...... almost.

My final rating: 58/100