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Angel Mine (1978)
New Zealand's first Punk Film
Got told that by the guy at the video shop, at least...
Personally, I'd say the DVD box description: 'New Zealand's Own Erotic Fantasy' fits the bill slightly better. It resembles films like The Telephone Book or Valerie and Her Week of Wonders in terms of being a piece of 'outsider' artsy experimentation with cinema held together by a loose narrative framework, but definitely a punkier package all around.
Well worth watching (not least because of the slender runtime). Some vignettes are extremely thrilling, while others are a bit boring; the music was a highlight throughout.
Erotic and hilarious!
The Wire (2002)
The Potential of TV as a narrative format unleashed
The Wire is, without a doubt, one of the most ambitious TV shows ever attempted. It is the portrait of 21st Century America, a once-great country being brought down from within.
The Wire is successful in this amazing ambition as a result of writing that treats every character as a person. The story is centralised on the war between the police and the gangs, but constantly expands to show a narrative vision of the entire city, drawing parallels between the drug trade and city bureaucracy and politics. The central characters of McNulty, Omar, Bubbles, and Daniels are all archetypes within various genres, with the drug trade representing the new west.
These characters are turned into fully realised visions of people, and the incidental characters they meet are also given believable motives in this new world, where everything is dealt in shades of grey.
The technical skill shown by the Wire is also essential in bringing the city to life. The shots are always beautiful, and often linger on characters reactions. The editing is seamless, and feels completely natural, and the mostly digetic music also sucks you in, as you have to concentrate to hear both the characters and the music.
The end product is something that feels real and seamless, but is given the freedom to move in a far more linear way than the real world. New characters do appear, but the web of The Wire, characters are more linked than they perhaps would be in real life. This really is the perfect example of art imitating life, and ambition is instrumental in the success of this, as they continue to write authentically by using journalistic research, which comes naturally to ex-reporter David Simon.
To put it simply, this is something that has to be watched, as it is a brilliant commentary on life, which starts off a little slow, but invests you completely in the fictional world it has created.
Seinfeld (1989)
The Ancestor of modern US comedy, and very funny
After having watched almost every episode of Seinfeld it is clear that it paved the way for the single camera comedies of today. Not just does it influence a few shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm, which is by mostly the same people so would obviously be similar, and Scrubs but almost every comedy owes it in some way.
Seinfeld cleared the way for finding humor in a television show outside of the situation but just in the banter between characters, who chatter about inane topics with pitch-perfect delivery, or having episodes derived out of the minutiae of everyday life. This is a technique key to the success of single-camera comedies such as The Office (U.S),Curb Your Enthusiasm, and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, where the situation is often secondary to the banter between characters.
It also showed self-parody in an intelligent way, clearly poking fun at the status of the show, particularly in later seasons, where they often made references to the show and it's lack of popularity in earlier seasons. Self-parody is behind many shows such as Arrested Development and Scrubs, though often in a lesser extent than in those shows.
The types of jokes that it came up with, whether through the show or Jerry's observational humor at the beginning of seasons 1-7, were often very original and unique to the style of the show. However a great deal of these jokes have became very popular, such as finding tiny flaws in everybody they met and acting in a way that they, though following social conventions in a unique way, seemed to be totally blind to the opinion of another person about them and their effort to help them.
The only real issue that dogged Seinfeld, and was instead dealt with in The Larry Sanders Show, was the use of a live studio audience and further laugh track sounds as well. This often ruined the ebb and flow sort of dialogue of the show as a laugh track and audience would often laugh in-between sentences and force the actors to pause. The Larry Sanders Show crossed that bridge by having the show with a live studio audience, and the inner workings of the show without a laugh track.
Seinfeld is a show which even ten years after it's end is as witty and insightful as it was twenty years ago when it premiered. The show came up with primarily original material, or material told in an unconventional way. The style of comedy that Seinfeld created is now firmly rooted in US comedy, though not often in the highly rated shows, but rather in the critically acclaimed shows.
Seinfeld is one of very few shows of it's style that was successful with a wide audience, and so was able to influence American Comedy. But with todays ratings the only future this style will likely have is either in a very diluted form on network television, such as Modern Family or How I met your mother, or in it's purer form on a shorter season cable network. But either way it is probably not going to last that long so people should enjoy it while they can and pay tribute to Seinfeld and the rich legacy it created by watching Seinfeld and these other shows while they are still on the air.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005)
A Brilliant Show
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a show that may not appeal to everyone, due to it's use of crude humor. It is however,to those who are not easily offended, just brilliant. The show centers around five people in Philadelphia who own a bar and get themselves into sticky situations as a result of their personalities.
The show is funny as it is primarily character-driven, with the characters who are each extremely obnoxious, rude and self-centered in their own way. The characters instantly frustrate and annoy anyone who comes near them, as well as trying to manipulate each other to do things for their own selfish purposes.
These interactions with other people are often the funniest part of the show. When people are around them they find themselves essentially shut out of the conversation, as though the cast is in a different dimension, and end up extremely frustrated by the situation they have found themselves in. The dialogue is also extremely good, focusing on the relatively mundane and the crazy simultaneously. My reference to that would be the "power bottom" scene where they discuss the positions in a homosexual relationship.
The comparison of It's always sunny to another good comedy Seinfeld is apt but It's Always Sunny edges out the juggernaut of comedy on it's characters, as Seinfeld's characters are always at least a little bit likable. You at no stage should find It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's characters likable as they have no shred of human decency. And that is what is quintessentially at the heart of this show and produces the comedy, which was also the case for Seinfeld.
It's Always Sunny is one of the great comedies, but not for the easily offended.
How I Met Your Mother (2005)
Good but not Great
How I met your Mother is a show of variable quality with episodes ranging from hilarious to poor. For example Slap Bet, Stuff, Third Wheel and I'm not that Guy are episodes that actually have me constantly laughing with the laugh track, instead of sometimes.
Barney is the best character on the show. This is because he has actually been developing from sex-crazed nutcase to a more normal person with feelings, though he keeps them for the most part hidden. He is constantly funny with his laws, rules, bets and his perception of the world. Though every joke of his is a one-liner or built from a one-liner they are more hit than miss because of the strong delivery.
To contrast Robin and Ted are weak characters. Ted, though the narrator and main character, is simply a frustrating character. He is constantly annoying and though that can sometimes be funny for the most part it is just annoying to the viewer. The other problem with Ted is that though he has supposedly changed throughout the four years of the show so he can become the man who met their mother he really has changed very little as a person, though in season 3 there was some good development it was quickly thrown away.
Robin is just a character which really has very little grounding in reality. She has too many things which make her completely unrelatable to anybody. Though that is good for T.V. shows that position in this show is filled by Barney, who is simply a better rounded character and is also funny.
Marshall and Lily are solid characters. They have both had good and bad moments and don't quite feel real or very interesting because of their stupid habits and cutesy relationship, though Marshall in particular is very funny with a mixture of one-liners and running gags.
All in all the show is a good sitcom, able to make me laugh now and then through any episode but simply has a lack of subtle jokes and very little development which handicap it from being a great show.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)
One of the best comedies i have ever seen
This movie is one which does not take itself seriously. From the beginning the movie doesn't make any notions of realistic characters or believable situations. Harold and Kumar instead decides to use wacky comedy from the outset, as well as both embracing stereotypical depictions of the Asian community while also turning them on their head.
Because of this the movie is able to be very funny as it is clear with it's intentions from the outset and you aren't left thinking why the character development didn't really happen, or if stoners behave this way.
One of the most comedic features of the movie is it's use of stereotypes. While giving Harold and Kumar very typical jobs for their ethnicity, Harold the Korean hard-working investment banker and Kumar the very gifted pre-med student, it then proceeds to have them smoking pot and in general behaving in a manner usually thought of as more typical of other ethnicities.
Another example would be the Princeton scene, with the Asian community interviewing him in a very typical way, discussing his career, and telling them about a party they are having, where, only to have him find that the party they were throwing, with one of the members mothers having made very good food. We then have him politely decline before seeing the party with the people smoking weed and dancing half-naked.
However not all the comedy is in that vain, with more typical stoner-comedy ground being treaded, such as riding a cheetah.
One of the most inspired things in the whole movie is Neil Patrick Harris' cameo. He comes in and delivers some very good lines and is able to portray himself as a nutcase in a somewhat convincing manner, though the movie does not lend itself to that.
Though it eliminated character-driven, realistic comedy, it didn't really need any as the plot was fairly predictable, though it took some twists and turns along the way, so the emphasis was on the delivery of the one liners and other stuff.
To summarise Harold and Kumar is a brilliant film which from the beginning doesn't take itself seriously and is therefore able to use wide-ranging comedy from one-liners to slightly more subtle stuff, though eliminating character-driven comedy.
The Hangover (2009)
Had it's moments, but overall unrealistic and uneven
This movie is just one of many in it's sub-genre of comedy, this one just having been far over-hyped. The Hangover is not the sort of movie that appeals to it's audience with realism, instead deciding to use either very stereotypical characters or unrealistic characters. An example of this would be the school-teacher. He is a teacher who hates the kids he teaches and spends a weekend out drinking with his buddies in Vegas. It would have been more prudent to have him as someone who was unemployed, or just in a profession not working with kids to create a more realistic character.
The movie does however create some laughs in the middle section of the film, where the characters were essentially on a wild-goose chase. These come from shock comedy, such as the naked guy in the boot of the car coming out and beating up all of them. Mike Tyson's cameo was also quite funny.
The movie also had issues with it's pacing, with the beginning and end seeming to drag, particularly at the end at the wedding was far too long and I was very bored.
All in all the movie works if you take it for what it is, a fairly average comedy with some great moments but poor characters and a very, very stereotypical plot.
National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
This is simply terrible, like every comedy time has not treated it well
This film may have been a true classic in the late 70's when it was made but comedy is very fickle and what was funny then is seldom funny now. What was considered distasteful, grotesque or disturbing but funny back in those days now seems very cheesy and distinctly unfunny as the comedies of today have raised the bar far beyond Animal House.
The problem with this movie is that every scene is either not acted enough or far over-acted by John Belushi. These problems still are in today's movies but this was a successful movie while those with similarly poor acting and cheesy portrayals of college life languish with straight-to-DVD releases and are considered poor by all.
This may have started the sex-comedies of today but as I said earlier time has not treated it well as almost every comedy with this sort of premise really requires knowledge of the time it is set in, which I did not have. Admittedly, though that may of helped me find some scenes funny, the acting in this film made lines that should of worked not work and the movie almost screams for a laugh track as it would be appropriate, given the wooden dialogue and sitcom-like over-acting and premises.
Time has moved on and good comedies of today are in a far superior league not just because of the acting shown but because they either choose to embrace the cheesiness or wackiness of their story and do things that people in the 70's wouldn't imagine seeing at M and R16 comedies, which Animal House tries to do but fails as the wacky, disturbing stuff was done far more tastefully.
Other comedies focus on realism and are funny because you can imagine yourself in a situation not too far away from the one the characters find themselves in and the jokes they make are a lot like the ones you and your friends make.
In short, Animal House may have been revolutionary in the 70's but an audience watching it today would expect far more from a movie so highly acclaimed. What they get is something that can be found on a straight-to-DVD release in any video store, with the same hammy over-acting or under-acting and a similarly stupid plot.
Scrubs (2001)
This is my favourite show of all time
This is a show that I just can't seem to get out of my head. Whenever I am bored or have free time, I watch scrubs because I enjoy the show with it's mixture of slapstick comedy, one-liners, Dr. Cox's rants, surreal fantasies as well dramatic moments.
The cast is simply superb. Every character interacts with each other well and throughout the show's 8 seasons each of the main characters has developed as a person.
The supporting characters such as the Todd, Ted, Doug and Laverne each add something to the show whether it be a one-liner or something more substantial.
If you have not watched scrubs do not be discouraged or put out if you watch a few episodes and simply don't get it. Because of it's serialistic style which has story arcs going through a season it is hard to simply just watch an episode and pick it up but you should give it a chance.
One of the only problems I have with the show is that in season's 5,6 and 7 a lot of the show's realistic story and humor is replaced with somewhat outlandish, more typical sitcom story lines. But through that the show still maintains it's uniqueness.
The show had a fantastic finale which left me very sad and unable to watch Scrubs for a while. I am still very much looking forward to the spin off starring Dr. Cox and Turk as Med-school teachers and am interested as to how they will explain the transition and keep it linked to scrubs.