Brent Hodge and Derik Murray’s new documentary, ‘I Am Chris Farley,’ tries to illuminate the comedian’s meteoric rise and fall, as well as to understand his delicate psyche. Mostly, it’s another chance to re-live some of Farley’s best bits, which is just enough to recommend this otherwise disappointing chat-fest.
Netflix has picked up With Bob and David, a new sketch comedy series by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross. Deadline reports the longtime comedy team will produce four half-hour episodes and an hourlong making-of special for the streaming service. Odenkirk and Cross will play dishonorably discharged Navy SEALS who try to serve their country by …
In the wake of last week’s slam dunk case, and the revelations concerning Chuck’s mental ailment, “Pimento” was set to be the hour where the brothers McGill finally rode the high country. But alas, things are rarely that in this particular variation of New Mexico.
After a wild left turn at the end of last weeks episode, “Five-O” is left to follow through on this sudden change of pace, and elaborate on why it should matter–outside of basic fan-service that is. Luckily, it succeeds most assuredly.
It should be no surprise at this point that Better Call Saul is building a pretty impressive following from its AMC audience. The shows quality has been shining like a beacon from the opening moments of its very first episode. What is surprising, though, is how it continues to reveal so many layers to a character who, while always entertaining in his original iteration, never really seemed all that complex.
Better Call Saul’s latest makes for a stressful hour, right from the get-go.
The episode opens with another time-jump, as we’re given our first glimpse of this “Slippin’ Jimmy” we’ve been hearing so much about. Saul/Jimmy appears in prisoner garb as he implores his older brother to pull him out of his mess. A couple of nuanced referential moments occur, one in a shot that is a direct reiteration of the scene in the pilot where Saul empties his pockets to visit a distressed and mentally ill Chuck. The other callback occurs when Chuck simply stands up and calls for the guard in the middle of Saul’s manipulative diatribe, showing, quite clearly, that he can see through his brother’s shtick.
After a solid opening hour, Better Call Saul continues to up the ante with an even more promising follow-up.The beginning section, one of the episodes strong points, features a decidedly downplayed Tuco Salamanca (at least compared to the Scarface-like caricature that we’re used to from Breaking Bad). Strangely, the quieter, more subdued Tuco is actually far more menacing than the psycho drugged-up version. His intense close-ups and lean-ins add a brutal new dimension to this character, while his rage-fueled response to a trespass against his grandmother is strongly reminiscent of a certain key S3 scene from BB, in which Tuco’s uncle firmly intones that “family is all!”
Right from the opening moments of Better Call Saul, Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan’s highly anticipated prequel to his aforementioned AMC hit, brows will furrow and heads will be scratched.
In addition to being a modern comedy giant, Bob Odenkirk seems like a really nice guy. He’s like the Dave Grohl of comedy, minus the backlash. The movies have not treated him all that well, however, particularly in the case of the Mr. Show-derived Run Ronnie Run, which became a heavily-compromised affair. Still, Odenkirk has …
Nebraska Written by Bob Nelson Directed by Alexander Payne USA, 2013 It’s become passé in popular culture to mock the elderly, to tweak and jeer at them just enough without being excessively cruel. We can laugh at old people for swearing at each other, or for having regressed physically to the point where they seem …
The Spectacular Now Directed by James Ponsoldt Written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber USA, 2013 The teenage genre is an infinite well Hollywood enjoys returning to, even if such repetition can frequently wind up creating some of the most inherently false-seeming films. We like watching movies about teenagers so we can be nostalgic …
Movie anthologies have seen a rise in recent years, with several filmmakers collaborating on a series of short films, often with a common theme running through them, such as all being set in the same city, or all belonging to the same genre. The latest addition to this entry is Movie 43, which features a …