1759 - True Blood: season five

This could very well be a record low for me in terms of this blog.  As most of you regular readers know I've spent this summer making my second feature film Sex After Kids, and so with that my evenings and weekends essentially disappeared - and now that I'm in post-production it's not much better.  I expect that later this fall I'll be catching up on my viewing in a major way so stay tuned for that!
In the mean time, True Blood!  True Blood is a messy show, and it's not just because of all the sexy gore.  It's pretty famous for starting seasons with a bunch of seemingly random and pointless storylines, and then finding a (usually pretty neat) way of getting them all together by the end.  But sometimes they just have terrible storylines like Terry and his war-ghost thing.  If this show was a hamburger, that would have been the bread crumbs you put in when you just don't have enough of the good stuff to make it a proper meal. 
I'm going to get into some SPOILERS, so avoid the rest of this if you're not caught up on this season.  This season was more-or-less about the looking war between humans and... everyone else, I suppose.  They showed it in a nice small way with a hate-monger group, and that was a good indication about how there were probably groups of people like this all around.  We got re-introduced to a newly vamped Rev. Steve Newland (awesome), as well as big-bad Russel (who went out in about as anti-climatic a way as possible).  The surprising highlight of this season for me was Tara as a vampire.  I never thought Tara would become one of the most interesting characters on this show, but they did a phenomenal turn-around with her.  And the decision to have the slow-play between her and Pam was just pure wonderful.  Can't wait to see more of them.  Eric is probably my real favorite character - he's the most complex - not a villain, not a hero, but he's got a good heart beneath it all.  He gives a shit when it counts, but he's not afraid to get his hands dirty.
Another one of the stronger character moves was slowing turning Bill from this pansy vampire that we first met into... well, I can only assume that he's going to be almost pure villain when we return next season.  It would have been a complete shock to have killed him all together - but the choice they've made here, if done properly, is pretty damn delightful.
I don't love this show, but it's absolutely a guilty pleasure of mine.  If you want to see a wonderfully campy soap opera about vampires, werewolves, and other creatures in the deep south - it doesn't get much more fun than this.

1758 - Knocked Up (commentary

This film is a huge leap forward for Apatow as a filmmaker.  Not only is it visually miles ahead from his first film, but the storytelling feels tighter (even in this extended version) and the emotions more toned.  You get a real sense that he's in command of his craft here.  The commentary was was entertaining enough with Apatow, Rogen, and Bill Hader along.  They start off promising that it's going to be like a film school in a box, but it's not really.  Still enjoyable enough for fans though!  Made me want to re-watch it with the commentary off!
One more night of unpacking in the shop... one more Apatow film :)

1757 - The 40 Year Old Virgin (commentary)

I've been getting my studio space set up for editing my new film Sex After Kids, so I threw this on in the background with the commentary which includes a ridiculously large amount of people.  It's interesting listening to commentaries with actors because you very quickly get a sense of who are interesting and fun people, and who are very desperately trying to be as interesting and fun as the people whom it comes naturally to.  It's goddamn awkward to listen to sometimes.  As I'm going to be working around the studio for the next few days in the evening there's a good chance I'll check out the commentaries on the other Apatow films as well.
Part of the issue with watching an Apatow film on DVD is that you never get the theatrical cut, you get his bloated version - which isn't a bad thing - but it's tricky to make a comedy really work after it's pushing two hours.  It's interesting to hear them on the commentary talking about how most of the crew had no idea how they were going to possibly string this thing into a film in the end.  A large part of what Judd does is he slaps down two cameras and just has the actors throw a bunch of stuff out and see what happens.  I can see how this could work quite well, but it's also a reason that the visual style of the film is pretty damn ugly.  It looks like a badly shot three-camera-sitcom in some scenes - which I'm not sure if I noticed before. 
The commentary doesn't offer a whole lot of insight into their productions, but it is entertaining if you like this group of people.  If you don't, then steer clear. 

1756 - To Rome With Love

Full disclosure - I'm a Woody Allen nut.  I didn't get to see this just as it came out as we were moving that weekend, so I was happy to catch it now.  Woody has a wonderful ability to attract some of my favorite actors into his projects - and here he even scored two of my favorite Canadian actresses with Alison Pill and Ellen Page!
This is ensemble-Woody, and to be honest, it just wasn't my cup of tea.  There was, as always, some wonderfully inspired comedic moments and lines, but all in all I just found it floudering a tad.  It was a bit uneven and all over the place - four stories intercut - some taking place over weeks, others in a single day.  Not that I can't get over that, but it just felt odd.  And the thing felt a little heavy with exposition.  I don't want to bag on Woody here since I love the bulk of his work (that might be even saying it lightly), but I have a hard time recommending this one.  It's essentially about a slew of self-centered people who get to see what life is like on the other side (mostly by cheating on their spouses) and then get to return to their regular life consequence free when it doesn't work out.  Catch it on Netflix if you're really curious.

www.jeremylalonde.com

Greetings all!  I've finally redone my website - which I was hating on quite a bit for the longest time and it just became that thing that I didn't want to deal with...
So check it out - I've uploaded stills from all my films - more from Sex After Kids will be coming soon.  There's some videos on there, including a short I did years ago called Hoff's New Direction.  But most importantly I'll be starting a NEW BLOG!  I'm not abandoning this one, but I'll be using the one on my main website to talk more about my creative process, projects, and myself in the industry, where I'll keep using this blog to talk about the stuff I'm watching, reading, etc... My goal will be to update it once a week or so.  People were complaining that all my film news was getting lost in the other posts here so I thought I'd make it cleaner for all of you!  So check back often - I've got something else I'm cooking up that I hope to start releasing in the fall...

1755 - The Dark Knight

I'm in the midst of putting together the final pieces of my geek-office and so I thought I'd throw this on in the background while I worked.  This is not a background kind of film.  It's the kind of film that just absolutely consumes you and draws you in, in no small part to the man in the photo above.  There isn't much here that I can say about Heath's performance in this film that hasn't been said already.  It's truly magnificent and it's the large reason why this film is the strongest of the Nolan-Batman trilogy. 
The plotting of the story in this one is quite masterful.  The theme of chaos and order, what's fair and what just happens because the world can be a shitty place.  It doesn't feel like the stuff of comic books so much as it feels like the stuff of real life.
I can't wait till one day down the line when I can sit down and marathon this entire trilogy.  Probably won't be until my kid(s) are old enough to watch. 
If you haven't seen it, it's your loss.  Not only is it one of the best comic book films of all time - it's just a great goddamn movie as well.

1754 - The Dark Knight Rises

I'm on this a few days late (was shooting this weekend!).  I think I expected that the world, in general, was bound to be disappointed by this film in some way.  The love for The Dark Knight was so wonderfully grand that to surmount it would be near impossible.  And so, honestly, it's almost unfair to even try and compare the two.  But then you get guys like Harry Knowles rip it to shreds because he doesn't believe that the film got what Batman was all about.  Well godforbid that someone decides to shake things up in a decades old character…
I have to say that it's a feat in and of itself to make a nearly-three-hour film feel like it moved along at a non-stop pace.  I never found myself bored or lacking enjoyment.  I was glued and enjoying it the entire time.  Bale has never really been the reason for me to enjoy this series - nothing against him by any means, he's just not one of those actors that really does anything for me one way or another (although I quite like him in The Prestige).  Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt all shine like the top of the Christler building here and give us characters and story to care about.  Given how complicated the plot is I was impressed that each of the characters had a pretty decent arc.  One thing that was quite interesting was hot little 'Batman' there actually was.  I'm not going to get into specifics at all here because the film has just come out and I want you to enjoy it yourselves.  I will say that it's a very satisfying conclusion to a pretty damn fine trilogy.  Nolan has done what may in time be considered his masterwork, and if it is, there's no shame in it whatsoever.  I look forward to a time where I can sit back and marathon the entire series.

1753 - The Big C: season three

When the second season ended on a cliff-hanger that assumed we might not be seeing Oliver Platt returning, I was pretty impressed by the bold move.  I was instantly unimpressed when they whisked it away right from the get-go in this season.
I'm going to rant for a moment about what I think is an essential issue when it comes to the Showtime series of shows.  It's a company that fosters really bold and original ideas - but doesn't know what the hell to do with them to the point where it just feels like it drags stories on to no end and for no good reason.  It has a laundry list of shows like this one, Californication, Dexter, United States of Tara, Nurse Jackie, wherein these fucked up main characters do whatever is most convenient at that moment to ensure that the series continues on a few seasons more, rather than offering an honest progression.  Some of those shows above do it worse than others - but sadly none of them really feel like the series are going towards anything, or have an over-all game plan.
In a world where almost everyone has been touched by the illness of cancer, I have no idea why I'm supposed to like the character of Cathy who is a bi-polar bitch.  Gotta give Linney props for making her human and likeable in small doses, but you can't fix what's a problem at the core.  We have no reason to care for her, and less for her family as they go on.  The supporting cast has become cartoon characters with quirks.  Andrea (now Ibabu) has absolutely no reason to be on the show outside of being the quirky outsider.  Son Adam is now, for whatever reason, religious.  Paul is a self-help guru, and brother Sean, the character whom had the most morals and dimensions, is not a running gag. 
Will I come back for a fourth season?  I'm sure I'll check out an episode or two, but I just don't know - in a world full of shows I've yet to see, I'm not sure this one is worth my time anymore.  It's a shame since there's a lot of great talent involved.  Alas.

1752 - Brave

I took my three year old son to see this - as his first film in the theatre it was absolutely magic to watch him experience this.  Big theatre, big sound.  He kept looking to me with this wonderful astonished gaze.  As long as I live I'll never forget that smile and amazement.  And now I'm sad knowing that it'll pass as this kind of thing becomes more 'normal' for him.
So I didn't know much of the story going into this, outside of it being a bit of a girl-power story.  But what this film really is, at it's core, is the story about a daughter and a mother, and how they have to learn to accept and embrace one another.  It's quite lovely in that, and the ending brought a bit of a tear to my eye.  I have to say that I found the mother's transformation a tad quick, wherein suddenly she was won over by what her daughter wanted - but I let it go.  It had all the staples of a solid pixar film - lots of laughs - lots of heart - smart and entertaining.  More than happy for it to be my little guy's first theatrical experience.

1751 - I Love Your Work

This damn movie has been sitting on my desk from zip.ca for (literally) months.  So I finally popped it in.  I liked it, but I didn't love anything about it.  I found it a little difficult to buy Giovanni Ribissi as this hulk of a leading man, if I'm to be completely honest.  It's essentially a film about a famous actor having to figure out how to deal with their fame.  It's a bit insider-baseball, and it's just a really hard story to relate to on any level - unless, I suppose, you're an actor.  I don't really have a strong opinion on this one either way, which I think it sadly the worst thing you can feel about a film - ambivalent. 

1750 - Hear No Evil, See No Evil

I can't tell you how many times I watched this film as a kid - and I recently saw this on a friend's netflix cue and so it brought back so many memories.  For those who haven't seen it, it's a classic comedy about a man, Gene Wilder, who is deaf and befriends a blind man, Richard Pryor, and the hijinks when they get mixed up in a murder.  This was my introduction to Pryor and he did so well with it that for a long time I actually thought him to be blind.  Ahh the magic of cinema when you're a kid.  It's a fun high-concept film that really does well by it's concept.  Kevin Spacey plays a moustache twirling villain here.  If you've never seen it it's worth giving it a click - a solid rainy afternoon comedy flick :)

Tough Shit - Kevin Smith

Kevin Smith was one of those icons I had whilst I was in high school and trying to figure out how to become a filmmaker.  I had won a playwriting competition and the woman interviewing me for a local paper told me I should check out this "Kevin Smith dude - he made his film putting  money on his credit cards", and so my next trip into the city I bought every he'd done up to that point that was on VHS (that's right - VHS, bitches!) and at that point it was Clerks, Mallrats, and Chasing Amy.  And it was really interesting seeing the differences between the three - and being a high school student I used to revisit films quite a bit, I think I saw those three films a shit load of times - and forced them on others.  Chasing Amy was also the first film that I double-dipped and bought on DVD as well. 
I'm aware of Smith's shortcoming as is he, but was very curious what'd he have to say in a motivational book such as this.  The first chapter begins with a nice little bit to help ground us all and remind us that we all started out as a load of sperm.  We all are winners already, just by being alive.  The entire book is filled with stories from Smith, some old, some new, but written from his own POV and filtered through the idea that he's trying to help the reader learn about life through his experiences, good and bad. 
I can sum up what the book is about pretty quickly - Smith's main advice is that you have to figure out what it is in life that makes you happy, and just find a way to make it your life.  Life's too short to not be doing something you don't love.  I don't disagree at all, and I've always lived my life this way - so there you are - I just saved you many hours of reading - unless you want all the Smith stories, then by all means pick it up.  There's some pretty great ones there, especially when he talks about the state of the film industry these days. 

1749 - Goon

I've been wanting to see this film for a long time but just kept missing all the opportunities - but thanks to the beauty of Netflix here it is!  First off, I'm a big fan of a lot of people in this film - Baruchel, Schreiber, Pill, and the director Michael Dowse, so I was primed to enjoy this film.  Despite being a Canadian I'm not really into hockey or sports in general, although growing up in the house of a guy who loved the Leafs I picked up enough to be able to appreciate the game - and my family was close with Marty McSorely so I know a thing or two about hockey goons (no offense, Marty!). 
This is a big fun film and told a great hockey story in the way that I think Score: The Musical wishes it had.  Nothing personal against that other recent Canadian hockey flick, but it was a tad hokey for my personal sensibilities, and Goon gived more with my personal tastes. 
Sean William Scott is pretty damn great here as a lovable loser who just wants to do best by those that he cares about.  He's dumb as a puck, but he'll stick by you till the end.  It's impossible to not love this character.  I like that the film never becomes a typical sports film and really just focused on the aspect of Goonery as it's main focus.  There was some geniune winces that came out of me whilst watching.
If you're Canadian and a lover of all things hockey, this ones a no brainer - check it out and spread the word damnit.  It's the kind of film our country needs to make more of in term of it's wide appeal and pure enjoyment.  Good on ya, Baruchel.  Good on ya!

The Walking Dead - Vol 16: A Larger World

It's tough waiting for these to come out - even if Walking Dead is one of the series with the least turn-around time between issues and their trades, it's a tough wait, and what's worse is how damn quickly you can burn through the book and left demanding and desiring more.  It's not fair to compare this to the television show because this is so far removed, especially in where they are and in what's going on right now.  If you want a bit of a spoiler, essentially they're starting to get to the point where they wonder if they can't rebuild society, and what their place in it will be.
This particular issue is a bit of a hallway between what's come before and what's coming next.  They're starting to connect to the world larger than themselves and realize that they're just one group of many, and that for me is very exciting to consider.  I'm such a fan of the comic that I think that the series itself would do no harm in actually just following it's lead.  I wonder how it'll approach some of the harsher stuff that's to come, especially now that they're into the prison storyline. 
What I like particularly about where we're at in the comic world of this story is that we're in the same mindset as the survivors, we're not sure who to trust and who not to.  We're always on guard.  If nothing else Kirkman has succeeded it putting us right into his heroes shoes and I thank him for it.  Rumour is that he has up to 300 issues planned for this series - which means we're not even a third into it.  Sounds good to me - keep 'em coming!  If you're a fan of the series and you haven't read this - stop what you're doing right now and get on it!  You can probable bypass the Rise of the Governor novel, but if you're a completist you'll probably check it out at some point as well.

1748 - Nurse Jackie: season four

This is a show that had one of the best pilots I'd ever seen, and then subsequently had an amazing first two seasons and then really really started to feel like it was repeating itself.  I recall not really enjoying the third season all that much mostly because I was just hating Jackie - she kept getting close calls and the universe kept giving her a get out of jail free card.  There were no consequences to her actions and it annoyed the shit out of me.  Enter Mike Cruz.  Adding Bobby Carnivale to the cast gave it a dynamic that it absolutely needed.  A show like this requires a character like him to make you want to root for Jackie again - someone whose head is so far up their ass that you can see what good she's doing again.  All of Jackie's past actions came back to bite her in this season and it made for a great (maybe best) season of the series.  If you haven't gotten around to this little gem just yet, do yourself a favour and get on it, just keep in mind that the third season, while not great, comes back around in the fourth.  Given how this season ends I have absolutely no idea what they'll do next - but I'll be there when it comes back!

1747 - Girls: season one

I'd seen Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture a while back (still on netflix, I believe) - you can find my thoughts on it by clicking her tag below.  And I was pretty intrigued to see that she'd scored a show with HBO and Apatow working with her.  And then I totally forgot about it until twitter went all ablaze the day after it's debut.
No point in burying the lead - I loved it from the get-go.  The characters were all real and interesting, fucked up, yet loveable.  It's the world of people just trying to figure out who the hell they are and what they hell they're doing - and it's done with such a strong sense of self mockery that you can't help but be absolutely charmed by it.  The show has this bizarre backlash to it, that was almost condemning it for being the level of quality that it is, feeling the need to attack it in other ways like saying that the cast was "too white".  I know it's the hip thing to do, but any time I see a show where there's the token black friend I almost always roll my eyes.  I'm not against ethnic diversity in casting at all.  My rule is always - best person for the job.  But there's a lot of people in this industry that cast roles and enforce racial diversity where it doesn't perhaps fit.  And that's all I'll say on that.
It's hard to describe this series.  It's about a group of twenty-something women who are trying to find their place in the world - pretty low concept idea - but the execution is wonderful.  Dunham is a tour-de-force on screen, but then when you realize that she penned and directed a good bulk of the series as well, you realize just what a tremendous talent she is.  She's not interested in making herself or her cast mates look pretty or likeable.  She makes them interesting and that's more than enough.  This isn't Entourage where the characters go through hell and then some magic offer comes in that puts the characters back on top - this is the real world where the characters go through hell… and then they are stuck in hell for a little bit and have to fight their own way back out.
I'm trying to avoid spoilers so that you can discover this beautiful show on your own, but one thing I will say that was the absolute stand-out of the season for me was the relationship between Adam and Hannah - the way they shifted perspective and gave you insights into these people and then turned that around on us was absolutely masterful. 
The only thing that sucks now is having to wait till season two comes back around.  I want to do a spec of this show for my writing portfolio and so now it's just a matter of coming up with the perfect episode concept.  Other than that I can't wait to check in on these girls when they return.  It'll make my wife happy too (it's her new favourite show - and could be mine as well...).

1746 - Take This Waltz

First off, a rant.  I was really excited to see this, especially when I saw that they were releasing it through iTunes first - but of course when the date came I realized it was only in the United States that they were doing it that way.  Which makes complete sense that they'd release a Canadian film in another country first.  I'm no expert on distribution or why they couldn't have done it in both countries at the same time, but what I do know is that we live in an age where if someone wants to get something - they can.  Luckily I work in the film and television industry in Canada and so all it took was a phone call and I was able to get my hands on a screener of this film (Yes.  I will buy it as soon as they deem it possible for me to do so through iTunes).  But I also noticed that there were already several versions of it available through bittorrent.  So here's a note to distributors - if you release a film in one territory and delay it in another what you're asking people who are really desperate to see the film, is for them to steal it.  I firmly believe that if you give people a chance to do the right thing, to pay to see something, that the vast majority will.  However if you don't give them that option as soon as possible, they'll just do whatever it takes.  Okay.  Rant over.
I love Sarah Polley's first film, Away From Her, and if you haven't seen it do yourself a favour.  For some bizarre reason it's not on Netflix.  Shame on Netflix. 
Take This Waltz follows the recent Canadian trend of putting recognizable faces into a Canadian film - thankfully at least Seth Rogen is Canadian.  There's a lot to like about this film.  It's sweet, it takes its time in really letting you into these characters and their insecurities and portrays a really realistic couple.  Rogen and Williams LOVE each other.  But with love in a marriage comes minor annoyances.  You aren't always on the same page and so you end up getting pissy with each other for the littlest things and hurting each other for things you don't mean and in ways you can't imagine.  Polley nails that aspect of long term relationships.  Michelle Williams dazzles here as a woman who is trying to figure out what she wants from her life.  She's married to really lovely and fun guy (Rogen), but is infatuated with her new neighbour (Luke Kirby - whom I love in everything he's in, always - another Canadian gem!).  And so the question begins - what makes relationships exciting - something tried and tested, or something new and shiny? 
I struggled slightly with the first half of this film as I started to feel like Polley was making a comment on relationships that I didn't quite agree with, but as the film progressed you see that she's masterfully setting up a situation in which she's going to pull the emotional rug out from under you in a way that you didn't fully expect.  Anyone that questions Rogen's chops as an actor needs to watch him here.  He uses his natural charms to full effect, but we get a very tender side, one that is vulnerable and lovely.  He's fantastic here.  Sarah Silverman gives a fantastic performance as Rogen's sister dealing with her own demons.  And if you've ever wondered what Silverman looks like fully naked - wonder no more - there's a scene halfway through where there's a pretty revealing scene for several women, and it's use in the grand scheme is really quite artful.
Some reviewers have called this film pretentious - and I'm not sure that I agree.  Is it slightly quirky, sure.  But it's honest more than anything else.  And it's a gorgeous film to look at, and a beautiful use of the wonderful city of Toronto.  It's getting a theatrical release on June 29th, so get thee to a theatre!  I don't think this one is for everyone, but if you're a fan of emotional love stories, it's a great one.

1745 - Breaking Bad: season one

I rewatched this with my Dad while he was staying at our place, and it was so interesting to give it a second glance, knowing where it's headed.  There's a lot of lovely foreshadowing going on here, and it's really great to step back and remember where the characters came from.  One thing that really stood out was how much I liked Skylar (I think she's currently an annoying, raving bitch). 
I need not go on and on about it - those who have seen it know how great it is, and those who haven't, I dare not ruin any of the fun.  I look forward to revisiting these and watching my Dad discover it for the first time.

1744 - Mad Men: season five

No point in burying the lead.  As a show that has shown continued quality in storytelling, this is Mad Men's finest season.  It does what great television does - it gets better as it goes along, deeper into the characters the longer get to know them, to the point where someone like Peggy who started off as Don's secretary is now his equal.  A show that makes you hate Pete Campbell and then have a season where he literally gets punched in the face a lot and you feel, sort of, bad for him. 
I won't get into the specifics of the season, great as they were.  I will say that Jessica Pare is a very welcome edition to the main cast and there's no love lost to seeing January Jones step into a very minor part of the show (the seasons only weak spot was checking in on her, as if we cared at all about her getting fat - seriously writers, have Sally move in with Don and then drop Betty altogether). 
What I really liked about this season was how we saw deeper into Don's psyche than ever before.  This is a man whom it means a great deal to earn what you have, to work hard for it.  And this is where I'll probably get into SPOILERS… Take the characters of Lane and Megan.  Lane didn't really earn what he had, he didn't follow the proper way of things, and so his punishment was the ultimate one.  Megan, frustrated and tired of not being successful in her chosen field asks Don to pull a favour and get her the part that she wants.  And as punishment it would appear that Don's wandering eye has returned.  Joan helped the firm get a client that Don worked his ass off to earn, and so she's forever sullied their relationship.  The one person in his entire world that's worked hard and earned what they have is Peggy.  And because of that Don treasures her above everyone else, even if he does realize it too late.
I believe that the show is expecting to do two more seasons - and if it continues with this level of greatness then sign me up!  If you haven't been in on this from the get-go, I believe that the first four season are on Netflix - do yourself a favour and get caught up!

1743 - Super 8

I missed this in the theatres.  In truth I was on my way to see it one night and then decided to see The Dark Night (again).  Now that I've seen this, I made the right choice.  This isn't a bad film at all, it's just not on par with TDK in any way.  What JJ Abrams does REALLY well here is capture the feeling of an 80's film, the look, music, shots, etc… he nailed it.  What's missing is the emotion and the genuine nostalgia.  There's an irony at play here in that the film starts off with a teenage filmmaker telling his best friend that he read an article that explains how you get people to care about your story by getting them emotionally involved - sadly, that never happened in the film itself. 
Now granted, I was packing boxes while watching this on Netflix, but the third act kind of confused the hell out of me and everything felt a tad convoluted. 
Didn't love it, didn't hate it.  A good rainy day popcorn flick, I think...