At the risk of sounding like de Maistre or Kierkegaard, “genius” is a bad word in our (brace for it) leveling age (not that I don’t stand for leveling). When drafting histories of their relationships to TV, my students agreed that one quality kept them glued to the tube: relatability. Standing out through sheer force of talent (honed and trained to be sure) now often alienates. Singin’ in the Rain (1952) is a crime. How dare Donald O’Connor dance up... Read more
Bob Balaban. The name’s enough really. If I had seen it on a page before I’d seen the man himself on a screen, I’d have liked the cut of his jib. His parents named him “Robert.” He was smart enough to go with the alliteration; on name alone, he’s got my trust. Like Philip Baker Hall or F. Murray Abraham, he haunts the edges of your favorite media. You could swear you’ve seen him before, but you aren’t sure. Indeed,... Read more
Right now I’m precepting a course on American Television. The truth is that my favorite TV shows are mostly dark, absurd, or satirical; they play with the conventions of more popular television. Take, for example, Danger 5 (2012-2015), an Australian jab at 60s spy shows, WW2, American masculinity, and (eventually) Operation Paperclip, and 80s fads. Near and dear to my heart is also Check It Out! with Dr. Steve Brule (2010-2016), a Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! (2007-2010)... Read more
Pedro Almodóvar’s Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1989) is not a film for today. I can imagine fewer things more transgressive to our sensibilities than the tale of an orphaned and institutionalized stalker who kidnaps a porn actress trying to breakthrough into mainstream movies. Worse yet, events are played as a comedy, complete with two musical numbers and a color palette straight out of your high-school Spanish textbook. Other similar films like Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild (1986) get around... Read more
Adapted from a Neil Gaiman short story, the John Cameron Mitchell-directed How to Talk to Girls at Parties poses as a teen movie. The promotional poster shows Elle Fanning cuddled up to cut-off t-shirt-wearing Alex Sharp, the background an eclectic mix of Barbarella-influenced (1968) partygoers and punks. Or maybe I should’ve known better. Gaiman isn’t exactly known for working in the grand tradition of American Pie (1999) and Superbad (2007). In any case, the title got us—my wife and me.... Read more
I confess before God and you, my brothers and sisters, that I have gravely sinned. I have sinned! Like the Witch of Endor, my wife and I conjured up a shade from the great beyond, a specter whose place in 2023 is—I see now—ill-advised. Between puppy energy bursts and our yowling cat (he’s named Crybaby for a reason), we traipsed about Netflix, willy-nilly scanning each little rectangle until there it was: 2017’s Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press. We... Read more
It’s not giving much away to say that 500 Days of Summer (2009) is about a break-up. The movie takes a nonlinear tack in exploring the year and a half Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) needs to date and then get over Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel). The two meet at the greeting card company where they both work, enjoy a tempestuous romance, and then split. The constant cutting between the present and past, ostensibly a way to show us the sunny... Read more
Duplex (2003) is the kind of black comedy you don’t see much these days. Streaming services offer cutesy angst and an aesthetic sensibility distantly related to the gothic [e.g., Wednesday (2022-Present)]. The pitch-tinged moxie of films like Kind Hearts and Coronets (1947) and The Loved One (1965) is an ill fit for our time. Right-wingers and dejected comedians may complain that comedy is dead, that you can’t insult anyone anymore. In the process, however, many make their careers, pivoting from... Read more
When we found out Norm Macdonald died, my wife and I set our hearts on doing one thing and one thing only that night. No, not toasting his demise! We watched Dirty Work (1998), the only feature film to star Norm. The ex-Saturday Night Live (1975-Present) star had an immensely loyal fanbase maintained through podcasts, guest spots, and whatever else Norm found himself doing. After getting fired from SNL, Dirty Work was his shot at a more traditional comedic career.... Read more
Despite my hopeless pride in coming from New Jersey (being a Raiders fan, despair comes naturally to me), I missed the boat on Zach Braff’s Garden State (2004). I didn’t even really watch Scrubs (2001-2010), though it anchored many a conversation in middle school. In retrospect, I floated past certain aughts cultural touchstones because I was a content kid with older parents who watched sitcoms and reality TV. What was trending didn’t matter, except insofar as my mom got to... Read more
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