1979 - The Way Way Back

I’d heard lovely things about this film so I was really happy to see it come to netflix.  It’s got an insanely awesome cast and tells the somewhat typical coming of age story of a boy forced to go away for the summer and how he came back a bit more of a man.  Carell plays his mom’s asshole boyfriend.  Toni Collette is the mom in question, and you only need to watch the last scene and shot of the film to know what a force of nature she is as an actor.  She does so much with so little, it’s beautiful.  Sam Rockwell is and will always been a favourite of mine, he’s not doing anything he hasn’t done a million times before here, but he does it well and with charm.  It’s nice to see Amanda Peet, Alison Janney, and Maya Rudolph rounding out the cast, but they’re a tad bit under used here.  If you dig coming of age stories this is a sweet one, and easy to find on Netflix.

1794 - Friends With Kids

I wanted to see this while it was in theatres, especially since it appeared to be within the same realm of my new film (get ready for the shamless plug) SEX AFTER KIDS.  And while our films live in similar worlds this is more of the boy meets girl variety (or rather boy met girl a long time ago and is now going to fuck up what they've got going on).
This film has a powerhouse cast and everyone works really well, although I think Kristen Wiig was underused.  Without getting into any spoilers, because this is a film worth discovering fresh, I loved about the first 90% of it and just felt a tad let down by the ending.  That's not to say I didn't enjoy it all the way through but it does peter out a touch.  That being said, the other 90% absolutely makes it worth watching (I swear!) especially if you're a parent, there's a lot of great stuff in here.  Jennifer Westfeldt should make more movies - I'm a fan!  And if you see this and adore it go back to the vault and check out a previous film she wrote (or co-wrote...) called Kissing Jessica Stein.  This is currently on Netflix - so have at it!

1714 - Up All Night: season one

Being a parent of two little kids, this is the kind of show that my wife and I are programmed to love.  And I think that it's actually probably my wife's favorite new show.  I like it quite a bit.  I think that Christina Applegate and Will Arnett are pretty damn adorable.  I have to admit that given the roles that Arnett has been popular for in the past it took a little while for me to warm up to him on the show.  I've always enjoyed him, but he's always been larger than life and so it was hard to accept him as someone grounded in the somewhat real-world, but he is quite good here.  Two issues that I have with this show at this point are that:
1) For a show about people trying to adjust to life as parents - they don't really have the kid in the show all that much.  TV is famous for ignoring the kid characters, but on a show like this you'd think they've be a little better about it.
2) Maya Rudolph.  Now STOP RIGHT THERE.  I adore Maya Rudolph and I think she's grand, but her character is such a cartoon character and seems out of balance with the rest of the cast in a lot of ways.  She feels like a giant satire on a bunch of people, and yet our leads feel a bit more grounded.  Don't get me wrong, it works despite that, but it's a bizarre choice. 
I think it's a good show that could be great in time.  Parents of small children you should be able to relate and enjoy much of this!