Been a while since the last update! This was probably due to the fact that I found a lack of inspiration in the televisual/film world for the last month. What with my favourite TV shows not being aired, and with a whole brooha of easy-watch films, it was hard to find something worthy to write about. Not to worry, I am back with my repertoire of favourite TV shows, which has now expanded to include many others! To name a few, Happy Endings and Perfect Couples. Maybe for some these would be guilty pleasures, and although they are cheesy at times and a little too slapstick, they offer a great alternative to sitcoms that the British audience was naturally growing wary of (ie. Friends). However risky a decision to acquire the rights to foreign series no one recognised, I think that risk has paid off.
New Girl- I am pretty sure Zooey Deschanel can make any character adorable. She has that level of quirkiness and sophistication which is just right, veering away from annoying quirk-wannabes, which I'm afraid to say, Anne Hathaway is slowly joining the ranks of. But that is neither here nor there! The show started off a bit slow, with the trailer revealing most of the highlights, and leaving very little for the viewer to explore. The characters and storyline seemed quite one-dimensional; I was pleased to see that this was salvaged. This show is quite fuzzy and cuddly, nothing to rave about, but something to cozy up to every once and again.
Parks and Recreation- Now this, on the other hand, hits the nail on the head. The characters return for the fourth season, with more hilarity and the same formulas for laughs. Ron Swanson is as funny as ever, with his rugged manliness and no-BS attitude, except for when it comes to the evil ex-wives, both named Tammy (Tammy no. 1, sex maniac and manipulative sorceress vs. Tammy no.2, actually ditto to the previous description). Memorable moment #1: Ron gets a group of boy scouts together, and talks about his club to the camera crew. He then proceeds to talk about the manual for the club, which he himself has written, and which simply reads, 'Rule #1: Be a Man.' Ron then proudly states: "Yup. I wrote this myself."
Community- This show just screams 'NERD' but I love it. The jokes in it are earned, and not overtly thrust at you by the camera shots and comedic pauses which sometimes do become all too obvious in Parks and Recreation. Blasphemy (!!!) you might now say, but I love Parks and Recreation and would never diss it; but I find that Community is a lot more clever through its subtleties and episodic themes, and its stylistic explorations (sometimes offering homage to movements and genres like film noir, action movies, etc.). The point with Community is that it has no limitations, and that is what makes it so exciting to watch. That, and the fact that everyone likes an underdog story. And that is on what makes the characters truly endearing.
Then again, Parks and Recreation is very much an underdog story too. Both plots don't feature any spectacular sequence of events and in fact are placed within very dull settings, but nevertheless do pull a string in the viewer.
On the film front, there are quite a few films on my watchlist, one of them being Like Crazy, which premiered this week at the London film Festival. The film was apparently based on a 55-page outline, and then relied heavily on improvisation. Felicity Jones, in an interview on the film's premiere, said that they took a week to really see who these characters were and see how they could develop them over the 7-year span in the film's story. The methodology is surely an indication of the director's appreciation for his actors' craft. I suspect that the actors did not let him down either, and have indeed showed off their acting chops, as from a very few snippets of the film alone, I tear up!
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