30 Rock Review: "Emanuelle Goes to Dinosaur Land" (4.21)
With one more episode left in 30 Rock‘s somewhat rocky (ba-dum-ching!) fourth season, the show is content with doing largely the same thing it’s been doing for the past few weeks. Jack is still choosing which beautiful guest star he wants to be with and Liz is still working out her issues about settling with men. A couple new developments keep this from going stale, though, and as much as I’d like to see the show talk about something else for once, everything that wasn’t Julianne Moore’s accent was in top form throughout “Emanuelle Goes to Dinosaur Land,” an episode... read more
Found in: TV, Reviews30 Rock Review: "The Moms" (4.20)
Of all the obligatory holiday-themed episodes that TV shows trudge out for us ever year, Mother’s Day (and to a certain extent Father’s Day—have there ever been episodes based around that seemingly much lesser Hallmark holiday?) seems the least defined. You’re pretty much guaranteed one of just a couple of basic Christmas plots and it’s easy enough to tell what will happen in a Halloween episode a few minutes in depending on the genre of show you’re watching. But what exactly do you do for Mother’s Day, other than have a bunch of the character’s mothers hanging about? 30 Rock... read more
Found in: TV, Reviews30 Rock Review: "Argus" (4.19)
The first two seasons of _30 Rock _ is some of my favorite comedy ever written, right up there with golden-age Simpsons and Arrested Development in terms of audacity and sheer joke-writing prowess. Something about the way its world of TGS spun frantically around Liz Lemon without ever giving her or the audience more than a second to react to the various plots being juggled and crises that needed immediate help. This somewhat out-of-control nature was a lot of what gave the show its unique flavor—a frantic pacing that’s perfectly fits the creation of a weekly live show, which helped... read more
Found in: TV, Reviews30 Rock Review: "Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter"/"Khonani" (4.17 & 4.18)
For reasons only NBC's scheduling department can say for sure (which I assume are the result of The Office having the station's best Nielsen ratings on Thursdays by far), the last two episodes of 30 Rock were aired on the same night, but not back to back. There's a lot of plot to run through so let's get right down to business (and as a result we're a little light on commentary this week). It's also an odd way to watch things, and especially jarring because one of the primary concerns of both episodes was Jack's love triangle with Nancy Donovan (Julianne Moore) and... read more
Found in: TV, Reviews30 Rock Review: "Floyd" (4.16)
I'm not sure if anyone was dying for his reappearance, but Floyd's back in this week's episode of 30 Rock. Floyd brings with him one of my least favorite aspects of the show—the way it continually knocks Liz Lemon as some sort of neurotic, fat, ugly slob that no one would want to be with, which completely belies that she's played by the same Tina Fey who just graced the covers of Esquire and Vogue. I'm sorry, writers of 30 Rock, but Liz is hot, and in reality would have no problem getting whoever she wanted. Neurosis may be causing... read more
Found in: TV, ReviewsPonyo DVD Review
DVD Release Date: March 2 Director/Writer: Hayao Miyazaki Cinematographer: Atsushi Okui Starring: Noah Cyrus, Cate Blanchett, Tina Fey, Matt Damon, Frankie Jonas Studio/Run Time: Walt Disney, 100 mins. Go fish It’s impossible to watch Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo without drawing a comparison to The Little Mermaid—here too, the titular character is a fish-person who becomes a human and must find true love. But Miyazaki’s take is more personal and whimsical. There’s an irresistible passion in every frame, regardless of whether the events on screen make any sense. Beyond its inciting incident (titular fish Ponyo decides that she wants to... read more
Found in: Movies, Reviews30 Rock Review: "Don Geiss, America and Hope" (3.15)
Everyone has their own little art niches they can’t stand, even when confronted with the best a genre has to offer. For some people that’s European electropop or superhero cartoons, for me that’s contemporary romantic comedies, or “rom coms” as people who like shortening not-particularly-long phrases are wont to call it. While some of my favorite films are screwball comedies, if it was made post-1975 or seems likely to force Hugh Grant and/or Meg Ryan into some sort of fulfilling relationship, then I’m not interested. ... read more
Found in: TV, Reviews30 Rock Review: "Future Husband" (1.14)
One of the beauties of television is that unlike its most obvious relation, film, you generally have enough time to try out a large number of ideas and see what works. A film can frequently take several years to produce and if one of its main plots, comprising 30+ minutes, is unsuccessful there’s a pretty big problem. For a TV show, on the other hand, a lesser plot can be five minutes cross-cut into an episode that, while a bit annoying, doesn’t do too much to interfere with either an episode’s momentum or general quality. ... read more
Found in: TV, Reviews30 Rock Review: "Anna Howard Shaw Day" (4.13)
After Julianne Moore’s somewhat blah, fascinatingly accented portrayal of a blue-collar love interest for Jack, Elizabeth Banks’ role in last night’s 30 Rock was a nice return to form. At some point in time, Jack’s current ladyfriend became the show’s revolving door for guest appearances, and how this has played out is somewhat mixed. Jack’s time with Edie Falco led to some of my favorite moments in the show, and Salma Hayek managed to fit right in with the show’s level of craziness while showing off some surprising comedic chops. Conversely, when the appearances don’t work they tend to drag... read more
Found in: TV, Reviews30 Rock Review: "Verna" (4.12)
For quite some time, 30 Rock has seemed content to spin its wheels as far as character development goes. Sure, the show’s undergone some changes due to episode arcs, like my much-hated Dealbreakers one late last year, but its characters have remained pretty well entrenched in their basic roles; at their worst moments, nearly to the point of self-parody. The show’s mantra could in some sense be summed up by Jack Donaghy in last night’s episode: “People don’t change.”... read more
Found in: TV, Reviews
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