drinkdrunkthedifferencei Reviews

Perpetual Grace, LTD (2019)

Don't make the mistake of watching this if you loved Patriot

[4/10 · 23 August 2021]

Patriot was one of the best shows I've ever seen. If this was just a less good version of that, I'd gladly eat it up. But it's not just less good, it's the same except unfunny. It tarnishes Patriot by dragging all the brilliant quirks of that show way over the delicate line it was toeing. When it goes over the line the hilarity becomes tryhard and unfunny, and Perpetual Grace spends most of its time over that line. It would be hard to watch Patriot again without the subtlety being ruined by the aftertaste of this show. Avoid.

Oxygen (2021)

Silly, painful

[3/10 · 12 May 2021]

Hugely frustrating to watch - a woman being counterproductively hysterical for ages, then making some underwhelming realisations. I had enough and stopped it two thirds through.

The Devil All the Time (2020)

Brilliant Southern Gothic

[8/10 · 16 September 2020]

Based on the great, seedy novel by Donald Ray Pollock, The Devil All the Time takes us to Knockemstiff, Ohio (one of the best place names I've heard), where the inhabitants partake in all sorts of nonchalant depravity while they wail at and about the Holy Ghost. The heart of the film is Arvin Russell, who tries to be good against all odds. This story really made me think about Trump country - how alien it looks to us and how alien the coastal elites must seem to them.

Booksmart (2019)

Possibly the worst movie I've ever watched to the end

[1/10 · 27 July 2019]

This was just incredibly bad, monumentally unfunny, and abysmally stupid. How could such a film get made? I saw it with a friend, so I had to sit through it till the end, but I could barely stand to watch the screen. Having said that, there were people in the theater laughing their heads off - it made feel really disconnected from humanity.

Flaked (2016–2017)

Painfully good

[9/10 · 18 March 2018]

It saddens me that this show isn't hailed by critics and viewers alike. Those looking for a knee-slapping comedy will have to look elsewhere. Not to say it isn't funny, because it is - but the humour is usually low-key, often muted by an underlying sadness or ennui. But it's all so beautiful. The setting and ambience give me deep, long nostalgia pangs, even though I've never lived in Venice or anywhere near it. People riding around in shorts, getting by on a shoestring, struggling with honesty and friendships and knowing what to do with their life... well, I loved it. Ignore the critics (and get past the first episode, which isn't the best).

Game Night (I) (2018)

Brilliant

[9/10 · 25 February 2018]

Funniest movie I've seen in a long, long time (and I'm very picky with comedies). Acting is spot on, timing impeccable, writing just at another level from most mainstream comedies.

Blunt Talk (2015–2016)

Genius...

[10/10 · 17 February 2016]

For me this is a very rare 10 and an even rarer review. I should disclose to begin with that I have a pretty weighty man-crush on Jonathan Ames, the creator of the show. His memoirs, fiction, and TV work all have the same vibe of sweetly honest strangeness, and I find them all disarming and hilarious. He's a weird guy, but he's not ashamed or proud of it, he just presents it as is, and the result could maybe be described as absurdist realism? There's nothing fantastical about the world or the characters, but everything's just slightly off-kilter so that there's a vague surrealism pervading everything. (A comparison could be made with Miranda July's stuff.) But the human relations and emotions are completely real, and they manage to steer clear of mawkishness even though your heart's always feeling snug and warm by the end of an episode. You haven't laughed at anyone's expense, you've just laughed at humans being humans and trying to connect, and you switch the TV off and go to bed with a smile. This is my favourite of all Jonathan Ames' creations, I think. (Or is it only because I just now finished the first season? Maybe I'll go back and have another look at Bored to Death, just to make sure…)

Men's Group (2008)

Incredibly affecting

[10/10 · 4 July 2009]

I'm a 27 year old guy - I just finished watching Men's Group, about a therapy group for middle and older aged men, and it was like a punch in the stomach. No other film I've seen has conveyed to me the intense hurt, anger, aggression, and confusion that many men feel but try to repress. In that sense, I actually found the film really tense and often scary, because I constantly felt like someone was going to break or blow up at any minute. However, it also showed the compassion, empathy, and need for love that were underneath the brittle exteriors of some of the characters. I'm not a particularly emotional person, but my eyes watered for substantial portions of the running time. A movie that so affects me and my view of humanity is really special, and for that reason Men's Group is going into my mental top 10 list. It couldn't have achieved what it did without the genuinely phenomenal acting by everyone involved, and very clever direction and editing. It seemed incredibly real. I can't speak highly enough of this film, it bewilders me that there are only two comments on it so far, even though it's already been on DVD for some time! See it!