VOD

IT STARTED AS A JOKE (2019)

February 5, 2021

(hoopla/VOD) I’m an easy laugher, and I also tear up easily. (Often both at the same time.) Really, I’m an emotional person in general, but that’s okay because alternative comedian Eugene Mirman is too.

The first half of IT STARTED AS A JOKE is a ’behind the curtain’ comedy documentary, showcasing the end of an era as Eugene Mirman wraps the 10th and last Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival. This last festival is a star-studded affair, but all of the prior ones were too (just a lot of folks didn’t know it at the time, including some of the performers). We’re talking about Janeane Garofalo, Reggie Watts, Kumail Nanjiani, both Michaels: Ian Black and Showalter, Wyatt Cenac, Kristen Schaal, the list goes on. There’s a lot of great footage of older fests, interviews and bits you’d never have seen otherwise.

The second half deals with how he and his wife Katie (who has also been heavily involved with the comedy scene) deal with her cancer and how they, and comedians in general, deal with finality.

It’s a very sincere and heartfelt tribute from seasoned news and doc producers but first-time directors, Julie Smith Clem and Ken Druckerman celebrate the groundwork Eugene and Katie have created.

12 HOUR SHIFT (2020)

February 4, 2021

(Hulu/VOD) Brea Grant is one busy creative. Tracking 2020 film releases alone, she wrote and appeared in this year’s LUCKY, popped up in THE STYLIST (sadly, I’ve been unable able to watch either yet), had a prominent role in AFTER MIDNIGHT, and still found time to write and direct 12 HOUR SHIFT.

12 HOUR SHIFT is a taut dark comedy about Mandy (Angela Bettis, MAY), a junkie nurse trying to appease her organ trafficking cousin Regina (Chloe Farnworth, IN CIRCLES) who misplaced the kidney Mandy pilfered for her. It’s a nasty good time featuring absolutely deplorable behavior from everyone involved but, despite behaving very badly, the characters are uniquely fleshed out and feel surprisingly grounded. While you can tell Chloe Farnworth is having a lot of fun leaning into her character’s impulses, the film belongs to Angela Bettis with her gruff voice and stern stares.

It helps that 12 HOUR SHIFT is tightly constructed, the score seamlessly — and surprisingly — weaves through genres, Grant and cinematographer/composer Matt Glass (SQUIRREL and the upcoming GHOSTS OF THE OZARKS) make the most of the hospital space and ensure that every color pops, and they somehow managed to (briefly) wrangle Mick Foley.

It’s worth noting that Brea Grant -also- co-hosts the READING GLASSES podcast with Mallory O’Meara, who wrote the edifying biography about Milicent ‘Designer of The Gill Man’ Patrick: THE LADY FROM THE BLACK LAGOON!

AMERICAN PSYCHO II: ALL AMERICAN GIRL (2002)

February 1, 2021

(fubo/VOD) Yes, this is a direct-to-DVD sequel to the classic Mary Harron adaptation. Yes, it has little-to-nothing to do with the American excess/toxic masculinity of original film. Yes, it features pre-BLACK SWAN Mila Kunis as well as an unlikely William Shatner playing a teacher that students swoon over. Yes, it’s cheap, trashy — 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, just so you know what you’re getting into — and tries to have its cake and eat it too by toeing the line between earnest satirical genre work and self-aware camp. That doesn’t mean that it is not a whole lot of fun, especially the last third of the film.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES (2008-2009)

January 31, 2021

(Hulu/VOD) It may be blasphemy, especially since I haven’t seen any of the TERMINATOR films since TERMINATOR 3, but THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES is by far my favorite slice of the TERMINATOR franchise.

It took a bit for the show to find its footing but, once it did, it was blisteringly inventive. One of the closing scenes of first season features creator Josh Friedman and the episode’s director Mike Rohl taking a very big swing, making the most of the show’s limited budget while still serving up a visually arresting — and very memorable — closing number. (You can see the entire scene here. Despite the fact that it is part of the season finale, it doesn’t spoil much. Yes, that’s the scene as it aired — not a fan video.)

The cast is overstuffed with well-known talent and future heavy hitters, including Lena Headey as Sarah Connor, Thomas Dekker as John Connor (I imagine they partially cast him because of his last name), Summer Glau as a terminator ally, prolific character actor Richard T. Jones as an FBI agent, Garret Dillahunt, THE SHIELD’s Catherine Dent, James Urbaniak, Brian Austin Green, Beeper King Dean Winters, GARBAGE’s Shirley Manson, the list goes on.

While the show could have lived longer, the two available seasons are extremely entertaining, and some of best network sci-fi in years. One note: the series ends on a cliffhanger so, if that bothers you, you may want to abstain.

THE KID DETECTIVE (2020)

January 29, 2021

(Starz/VOD) I have a hard time believing this film wasn’t pitched as ‘gritty adult Encyclopedia Brown’ (and then whomever was being pitched probably replied ‘Encyclo-what?’) but even if it wasn’t, it works as a pretty succinct summary.

As I grew up reading ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN and TWO-MINUTE MYSTERIES, and love Chandler-esque detective fiction in general, I was already on this film’s side. While it’s much more subdued, quiet, and cynical than I thought it’d be, debut feature writer/director Evan Morgan clearly loves the genre and is surprisingly unwilling to poke fun at it, or even to modernize it. (For a film that takes place in modern day, it’s surprisingly reliant on landline phones.)

While some may be turned off by the dourness of the film — there are cutting remarks and laughs to be had, but the film is soaked in melancholy — it’s a welcome surprise to see a neo-noir that isn’t peppered with flippancy.

THE CLIMB (2019)

January 28, 2021

(Starz/VOD) The flip-side to yesterday’s IZZY GETS THE FUCK ACROSS TOWN, THE CLIMB involves a best friend who actively works to undermine his friend’s relationships because he wants him all to himself.

Similarly overworked, it also features inter-titles for each scene, but writer/director/actor Michael Angelo Covino goes the extra mile by insisting that each and every scene be filmed in one long take.

While it’s a perfect companion film to IZZY, and I couldn’t resist suggesting the two back-to-back, two facets rub me the wrong way: 1) While I love watching films about fuckups, that love doesn’t extend to asshole dudes, and these dudes are very blinkered. 2) While I love a proper long take, and I realize they’re utilized here to heighten the feeling of being present within these significant moments, and while they’re often fluidly and adeptly executed, it feels gimmicky, and several scenes would have benefited from a handful of rigid cuts.

Never the less, it’s an intriguing look at male friendship and forgiveness, which is certainly to be applauded.

“What the FUCK is he doing wearing white?!”

IZZY GETS THE FUCK ACROSS TOWN (2018)

January 27, 2021

(hoopla/peacock/tubi/VOD/Vudu) I don’t know how many favors debut writer/director Christian Papierniak asked to nab this amazing cast, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s now indebted to 80% of LA. I’d watch any film that featured just -one- of the following performers:

Mackenzie Davis
Carrie Coon
Dolly Wells
LaKeith Stanfield
Kyle Kinane
Alia Shawkat
Rob Huebel
Annie Potts

Somehow he managed to wrangle all of ‘em for this chaotic ‘one fuckup’s last gasp at attaining an old flame’ film. I’ll grant that it’s overworked — did we really need inter-titles for every scene? — and if Mackenzie Davis wasn’t the lead the film probably wouldn’t work, but she is and ultimately it does. Also, Mackenzie and Carrie Coon ‘reunite’ and play a HEAVENS TO BETSY cover that features -many- layers and that scene alone is worth the price of admission. (I’ll save you the search.)

“I’m not going to wish you good luck.” “No, no one in their right mind would.”

FREAKS & GEEKS (1999)

January 26, 2021

(Hulu/Paramount+/VOD) FREAKS & GEEKS is finally available to stream! If you haven’t already purchased the DVD, or have enough grey hair to have watched it when it first aired, Hulu managed to clear all of the music rights and — after a bit of a stumble out of the gait — have the eps properly ordered.

If you’re a product of the 80s — especially if you were a nerd in the 80s — it’ll be a trip down memory lane. If not, given how absurdly recognizable all of the actors and creatives are, it’ll be another sort of nostalgia for you, as it introduced the world to: Judd Apatow, Linda Cardellini, Paul Feig, James Franco, Busy Philipps, Seth Rogen, Jason Segel, Mike White. A laundry list of modern heavy hitters, all of whom cut their teeth on this show.

SPONTANEOUS (2020)

January 25, 2021

(epix/Hulu/Paramount+/VOD) In a year of unnervingly prescient pandemic screenplays, this one stands out. Based on Aaron Starmer’s young adult novel, senior-year high school teens start spontaneously exploding and are quarantined while scientists race to find a cure.

Brian Duffield’s (writer of both UNDERWATER and JANE GOT A GUN) adaptation takes a number of notes from THE LEFTOVERS, such as uniforms similar to the ‘Guilty Remnants’ and referring to the ‘exploded’ as ‘departed’. They even leave the ‘act of departing’ in the visual gutter — you never witness it occur, you only witness the aftermath. It’s a nice touch by Duffield, and it leads to more than a few gleefully shocking moments.

While you will laugh while watching this — especially at the playful insults bandied about by acerbic smartass Mara (Katherine Longford, KNIVES OUT and LOVE, SIMON) with her best friend Hayley Law (RIVERDALE), boyfriend Dylan (Charlie Plummer, LEAN ON PETE), and ‘cool dad and mom (comedy mainstay Rob Huebel and COYOTE UGLY’s Piper Perabo) — it’s a much more downbeat and thoughtful, occasionally distressing, look at teens reckoning with their mortality on the cusp of beginning their adult lives. It’s not exactly the thigh-slapping dark rom-com the trailer pitches, which is a relief because the end result resonates far longer than a more flippant approach to the material would.

THE SKELETON TWINS (2014)

January 23, 2021

(Hulu/kanopy/Prime/VOD) Recently I’ve been waking up with STARSHIP’s -Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now- in my head and I couldn’t quite figure out why. It’s a top-notch slice of 80s pop, but hardly a song in my normal rotation.

Then I remembered the following scene from THE SKELETON TWINS:

Not the worst scene to occasionally wake to.

THE SKELETON TWINS is a charming, human look at two very fucked up fraternal twins who have been estranged for ten years, but re-unite when the sister Maggie (Kristin Wiig) is told that her brother Milo (Bill Hader) has unsuccesfully attempted suicide. Maggie invites Milo to live with her and her husband (Luke Wilson), and together they explore the miseries and coping mechanisms of their lives.

It’s rare for film to get adult brother/sister dynamics right, but writer Mark Heyman (BLACK SWAN) and director Craig Johnson (ALEX STRANGELOVE) do a fantastic job of managing the push-and-pull aging siblings have, without turning either of them into cartoonish monsters. It’s not as cheerless as it may sound — especially when you have interludes like the above Starship one — but also not as maudlin as it could be.