TV Review - Spaced: A Witty Mash-up of Movie References and Fart Jokes

Forward

            This is a review I wrote as an example of a TV Review for my Cinema class.  I had them read the review and discuss what they thought of the tv show without even seeing the first episode; whether or not they would watch it.  They all said that they would and how excited they were to see this show. I showed them the first episode of season 1.  

Spaced

A Witty Mash-up of Movie References and Fart Jokes

            Imagine Strangers on a Train, but without all the messy business about killing each other’s spouse.  Imagine Friends, but without the constant annoying “will-they-won’t-they” between Ross and Rachel.  Imagine your best mate’s steady stream-of-conscious flow of movie quotes and references.  Put all of these images into a blender and season with marijuana, booze, cigarettes, and a dash of tea.  Bake for 25 minutes and you will have the TV show, Spaced, premiering on BBC4 this September.

                                                                                                     (Spaced DVD promo photo)

            This surprisingly witty comedy—even with the frequent toilet humor—is sure to delight anyone who feels like they are stuck in limbo.  Somewhere between Millennial and Generation X lays Daisy (Jessica Hynes nee Stevenson) and Tim (Simon Pegg).  These twenty-somethings find themselves homeless when they meet as total strangers, so they do the only logical thing; they lie about being a couple so they can rent an apartment.

             Director Edgar Wright, famous for his “Cornetto Trilogy,” directs Mr. Pegg of the same franchise and Ms. Hynes (Harry Potter & the Order of the Pheonix, The Rainbow) through a series of snags and near misses as they try to keep their plutonic relationship a secret from their landlady, Marsha (Julia Deakin), who is more oblivious than keen, probably due to the cigarettes and copious amounts of booze she swills.

                                                                                                    (Season 1 Episode 1: "Beginnings" with Jessica Hynes and Simon Pegg)

            Mr. Pegg and Ms. Hynes have such chemistry with each other that the rapid dialogue seems effortless, which it should since they developed the scripts for BB4.  The most apparent thing that leaps from the script is the absolute fondness of classic films and film styles.  These playful send-ups will keep any movie buff either swooning with excitement or groaning with obvious contempt that they hadn’t thought of this first. 

            While the references are wonderful to see in script and dialogue, it is Mr. Wright’s true study of film genre and technique that make these references leap off the page and into the audience’s face.  Mr. Wright’s direction is innovative and seems to mirror the constant movement and anxiety-riddled twenty-something lifestyle.  With no scene ever really finishing—but rather sliding into the next—he keeps the audience engaged for the full 24 minute episodes.  He knows how to edit the show in order to make everything feel as if it is a metaphor for the way these young people experience life: ironically. 

            A supporting cast of characters, which could have easily been 2-dimensional plot pushers, are rich, vibrant, and full of their own special brand of neuroses.  Tim’s best friend, played by Mr. Pegg’s true life best friend and “Cornetto” co-star, Nick Frost (Paul, Tintin) with such precision that he is both a military wanna-be and lovable dolt.  Daisy’s friend, Twist (Katy Carmichael) provides a dynamic foil for Daisy. Ms. Carmichael’s performance, while grating at times, resembles your friend that you secretly think keeps you around because you are fatter than she is in photos.  Finally, there is Tim and Daisy’s neighbor, Bryan.  This starving artist played by Mark Heap (Stardust, World’s End) is an archetype that we all poke fun at when we want to feel superior in our sense of style and taste.

            Do yourself a favor; set aside time to watch each episode a few times to catch all the subtle film references.  And remember that this show is not for the high-brow, sophisticated palette.  It is a bag of crisps and a solid stout (or two...or four) with your best mate laughing at each other's bodily functions.  So take off your monocle and live a little.  Put on your best beanie and choker necklace and get Spaced.

Title: Spaced Airing Date: 24 September 1999 (UK) Director: Edgar Wright Writers: Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes Stars: Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes, Nick Frost, Mark Heap, Katy Carmichael, Julia Kline Rating: TV-M Category: Comedy Run Time: 25 minutes

Film Review: The Last Five Years (2014) "Pain of Last Five Years Leaves Audiences Feeling Satisfied"

Pain of Last Five Years Leaves Audiences Feeling Satisfied

In everyone’s life there is that one break up that devastated us to the core.  The girlfriend that stands you up on Valentine’s Day or the boyfriend that leaves you through a sincere post-it note.  This is not unique.  No matter what the turmoil, the heartache will one day make great fodder for a story to tell on another date.  This, too, is not unique.  How we tell that story and how we cast ourselves in the tale—that is what defines us.  The film, Last Five Years, written for the screen and directed by Richard Lagravenese, chronicles a five year relationship in a unique, albeit confusing, way.

From the very beginning, the story makes no secret of its end.  In fact, that is partially the point. Like a magic trick performed in reverse and slow motion, Jamie (Jeremy Jordan) and Kathy (Anna Kendrick) tell their own versions of their five year relationship.  But while Jamie tells the story in chronological order, from when they first hook up, to when he says the final “goodbye,” Kathy tells the story in reverse, from the day they separated to the day they met.  The first scene of the film opens with Kathy desolate and alone in the couple’s unrealistically affordable New York City apartment, reading a letter in which Jamie asks for a divorce.

Ms. Kendrick (Pitch Perfect, Into the Woods) brings her expected sardonic humor to the role and somehow worms her way into our hearts.  Mr. Jordan of TV’s Smash has harder time holding onto the audience’s empathy as the story unravels.  With their mastered belting voices and witty ad libs, Mr. Jordan and Ms. Kendrick attack the daunting challenge of signaling the leaps through time to the audience with very little help.

Screenwriter and director Lagravenese (P.S. I Love You, Freedom Writers) provides few visual cues—a wedding band, a dress that is complete in one scene but being sewn in the next—that help the audience acclimate themselves to the timeline.  Unfortunately, the cues take time to appear and, by the time they do, the audience has gotten lost and confused.

For what he lacks in time travelling prowess, Lagravenese uses every ounce of the schmaltz that we have seen in his past films to endear Ms. Kendrick and Mr. Jordan to the audience throughout the film.  Lagravenese translates songs, which on stage would be soliloquies, into a dramatic dialogue where only one person speaks at a time. Even when the other is singing, the two co-stars are still working their damnedest to show that they are in this scene by god and will not be over shadowed.

By far, the music and lyrics are the best thing of the film.  Composer Jason Robert Brown has created a semi-autobiographical musical that places Jamie, the character based on himself, in the role of both villain and prince charming.  Unafraid of risky choices, Brown never sacrifices storytelling to clever composition and yet balances a very warm and string-filled score with the lyrics that challenge the likes of Sondheim.  

Though some of the pain felt by the audience is more frustration with trying to sleuth out the chronology of a scene in the five year relationship, the cast of The Last Five Years reaches out, grabs the audience by the hand, and says, “Come.  See what it was like for me.”  Despite the confusing nature of the tale, you feel as if a friend—a dear friend like Ms Kendrick or that college buddy like Mr. Jordan—is telling you their version of the break up that left them ruined for others.

Title: The Last Five Years

Release date: 13 February 2015

Director: Richard Lagravenese

Writers: Jason Robert Brown (based on the musical play by), Richard LaGravenese (screenplay)

Stars: Anna Kendrick, Jeremy Jordan

Rating: PG – 13

Category: Comedy, Musical, Drama, Romance

Run Time:1h 34min

Film Review - Florence Foster Jenkins (2016) "Love and Devotion to the Worst Singer in the World"

(This is another film review I wrote back in August.  I know I am posting stuff that most have already seen, but like another Streep character has said, "No excuses. No apologies!" Also, with some Golden Globes and Oscar nominations, if you haven't seen it, get on it.)

Love and Devotion to the Worst Singer in the World

            “People may say I can’t sing,” said Madame Florence.  “But they cannot say that didn’t sing.”  And sing she did.  With all her heart and soul, she sang.  Unfortunately, as one critic of her 1944 Carnegie Hall performance very bluntly put it: “She is the worst singer in the world.”  The film, Florence Foster Jenkins, starring Meryl Streep as the title aria-attacker, and Hugh Grant as her devoted husband, St. Clair Bayfield, is a story that shows what enthusiasm to one’s passion looks like. 

            At its very heart, the film chronicles the last year of Jenkins’ life in New York City.  As a founder of several society clubs, Jenkins had the means and opportunity to influence the music world of New York.  Jenkins revives her dreams of singing in concert. Soon after hiring a new pianist, Mr. Cosmé McMoon played by Big Bang Theory’s Simon Helberg, and working with the head vocal coach from the Metropolitan Opera House, she finds confidence in her voice even though the audience and Mr. McMoon enjoy a good laugh at her expense.

            Very quickly, the audience learns that Bayfield (Grant) has been protecting her ego. He says that he and she “live in a happy world,” but after Bayfield learns that Jenkins has produced an record and scheduled a concert at Carnegie Hall without his knowledge, that happy world is put at risk.  With her voice becoming more and more public, Bayfield fears that the “mockers and scoffers” will shatter Jenkins’ fragile heart.

            One of the most touching things about this movie is the care and love the entire production takes to laud Jenkins for her courage and devotion to the world of culture and art.  Director, Stephen Frears (Philomena, The Program, The Queen), would have had a very easy time making a comedy that puts Jenkins at the butt of the joke. He avoids this trap by creating a  tenderness that seeps through every moment with her, allowing the audience to become another faithful devotee of Jenkins, hoping along with Bayfield that the dreadful reviews will not be seen.  Streep delivers nothing but the best, showing the audience what true passion for music is. 

            One of the most striking performances is from Helberg who, with a quiet and meek persona, mirrors the audience’s reactions to Jenkins—first, with his discomfort at her skill, then his loyalty to her as a patron, and finally his love for her as a friend.  The most remarkable moment of this affection is in Mr. McMoon’s studio apartment—Jenkins sitting at the piano, and McMoon standing at attention by his patron’s side, not out of distress, but out of respect and a fondness that cannot be put into words.

            Florence Foster Jenkins should not have sung professionally, but what she lacked in talent, she made up for in passion and courage that would outshine the very greatest of the music world.  It is obvious that the cast and crew refused to make a joke out of the woman.  They honor her for everything she loved and believed in. 

Title: Florence Foster Jenkins

Release date: August 12, 2016

Director: Stephen Frears

Writers: Nicholas Martin

Stars: Meryl Streep, Hugh Grant, Simon Helberg

Rating: PG – 13

Category: Biography, Comedy, Drama

Run Time:1h 51min