ptann Reviews

Parks and Recreation (2009–2015)

Awesome socks

[10/10 · 9 September 2015]

Ah, Parks and Rec...

Amy Poehler is a ray of sunshine playing Leslie Knope, the extremely domineering not-quite- head of Pawnee's Rec department. The running gag is that the only person in the department who Leslie allows to do any work is Leslie. In fact, I think she'd make the whole team redundant if she wasn't so busy match-making, meddling, and assembling giant binders. She's so eager to take on more and more and more she's like a pet dog who nearly swallows you whole while trying to lick your face.

But, the rest of the team tolerate her because if they didn't they'd probably cease to exist -- or their jobs would, anyway. :P

The arrival of Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) turns the show around as he provides a calm (and equally nerdy) counter-balance to Knopp's exuberance, plus he's much funnier than the male 'lead' from the first season. He also, handily enough, serves as Leslie's love interest and gets her off everyone's back. (Though she probably loves crowd surfing, do you think?) I won't spoil his relationship with the other accountants in Pawnee -- my favourite part. :)

You can probably safely skip watching the unnecessary last season, as it really just ties up all the loose ends that didn't even exist. Though I'm sure the crew was happy for the work.

Have to mention Ron Swanson -- my husband's favourite. Actually, he just told me I should mention people often say he's the real-life Ron Swanson. (But my husband is way taller). Check out his Pyramid of Greatness. I'm sure you can google it. I just did.

But seriously, I wish I had a job like that where I could sit around all day with friends, doing practically nothing, getting to come and go as I please with no consequences. (Oh yeah, I do.) They get the added bonus of living in TV land where Leslie will save the day and ensure none of them is out of work or forced to do something they don't desperately love in order to pay the bills.

Oh, and the show is hilarious.

Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (2015)

Better than the movie

[8/10 · 14 August 2015]

We tried watching the movie (which I'd never heard of until about a week ago), and just didn't get it. But we decided to try the show anyway since 40-somethings in wigs playing teens seemed like an amusing idea. And it was! For me, that joke never got old. Besides that, there were some great parody story lines, playing on old TV and movie tropes, that I found very funny.

-Standout Actors-

The show is worth watching for Paul Rudd and Elizabeth Banks alone. They both went hilariously over the top, plus their story lines were among the funniest. Kristen Wiig, Josh Charles, Chris Pine, and Michael Cera were standouts in smaller roles, for the same reason.

-This show is polarizing -- for a reason-

Some people won't get the humour here, perhaps because they just don't appreciate irony and absurdism. But maybe there's another reason… I think some people haven't been exposed to all the cheesy after school specials and movies of the week that this show is parodying. TV has become pretty sophisticated in the past decade or so; it's not quite as innocent (and in some cases, silly) as it used to be. And if you're not familiar with what's being parodied, it's hard to get the joke.

Ex Machina (2014)

Just not fun

[6/10 · 13 August 2015]

This film is smart and good-looking, clean and crisp. But, it hasn't stayed with me.

THE GOOD:

• Intelligent writing. I liked the painting metaphor, for example. I thought it was a nice way to encapsulate the idea of determinism vs. free will (though I may be misinterpreting). The story seems simple at first, but is actually quite layered.

-- Nice to see a film about AI that isn't about robots killing humans (well, isn't entirely about that, anyway...)

-- Has an eerie quality that I enjoyed.

-- Nicely minimalistic. I especially liked the opening sequence -- very clean exposition. There's no padding here. But that might work to its disadvantage in the end...

THE BAD:

-- I didn't connect with any of the characters. While they seemed realistic in a way, they were really pretty one dimensional (and I'm not talking about the robot here). I think that's the danger of minimalism -- the characters can become slaves to the story.

Nathan is manipulative and creepy, but not evil enough to inspire hatred. And Caleb came across as a chump. So when he did something brave, I was too busy feeling embarrassed for him to revel in his heroic qualities. And I wanted a hero! But maybe this wasn't that kind of film.

-- The idea that any artificial 'female' is automatically a sex toy feels not-so-fresh. For me, using that as a critical plot twist really blunted the impact of the whole movie. It may make sense to 'go there', but the movie could have been far more interesting if they'd found a new angle.

In the end, the film was perhaps just too subtle for my tastes, and I was kind of bored. But I didn't fall asleep. For me, that's saying something.