News Satire Roundup: January 23rd-January 26th

Monday, January 23 – I like that Trevor opened on the Women’s March before circling back to Trump BS-ing about the size of his inauguration crowd.  On the Women’s March, I cracked up at the joke about the Staples in Antarctica having a banner day, and Desi’s field piece meeting marchers (and discussing their ideals as well as their hats) was nice.  The inauguration had a field report, too, with Jordan trying and failing to say that Trump is president now; plus, Trevor had some great jokes on Trump’s defensiveness of his crowd size (the one about Black presidents “obviously” having bigger crowds was my favorite).  Kellyanne Conway’s unfortunate claim of “alternative facts” led to a What the (Alternative) Fact from Desi, engaging in some “we’ve always been at war with Eastasia”-level revision.  Journalist Matt Taibbi talked about his new book, Insane Clown President, and what journalism needs to do to survive a Trump presidency.

Tuesday, January 24 – I loved Trevor’s reaction to the jet-powered firefighters of Dubai, as well as his observation that it’s a rich kid’s idea of a cool fire department rather than anything the job actually needs.  The show profiled press secretary Sean Spicer, whose work consists mainly of trying to convince people that the emperor’s wearing clothes.  After sharing a few more choice Newspeak sound bites, Trevor touched on Spicer’s bizarre Twitter feud with Dippin’ Dots.  Next up was a piece on newscasters reading Trump tweets, with Trevor making salient point about news outlets needing to think more about how they read these tweets on air.  This, naturally, led to the correspondents auditioning for the job; rage-filled Lewis was a no-brainer, along with Hitler Jordan, but I also really liked cocky Hasan and temper-tantrum Desi.  The guest was rapper Big Sean, talking about his new album and his outreach work in Flint.

Wednesday, January 25 – I liked the “send in the Feds” movie montage to demonstrate what likely went through Trump’s head in thinking about Chicago.  Good piece on Trump’s recent executive orders.  I appreciated Trevor pointing out that some were meaningless (declaring his inauguration a national day of patriotism) or toothless (he can call for the wall, but Congress has to appropriate the funds first,) but at the same time, he didn’t pull back from calling the Muslim ban what it was.  Two guests, both of whom I liked, but I wish there’d been more time for the news.  I loved the remarks from Scandal’s Bellamy Young about how her character draws Hillary Clinton comparisons largely because we don’t have a wealth of examples of women running for president.  And author Heather Ann Thompson discussed her book on the Attica riots and how the “official” narrative of that event has shaped the prison system we have today. 

Thursday, January 26 – Trevor was great insisting that the U.K. can’t spur other countries toward nativism with Brexit and then just back out.  Excellent piece on Trump’s first interview as president, focusing on Trump’s warped view of the world, from his plan to send exorbitant money on an investigation into his unfounded “certainty” about rampant voter fraud (which will most likely be used to justify voter suppression) to his creepy assurance that “the world is a very angry place” – the Joker parallel couldn’t have been more apt.  The terrific night continued with a story on Trump’s inauguration cake, an exact copy of Obama’s from 2013.  On the reveal that it was mostly Styrofoam, I loved Trevor declaring it a metaphor for the Trump presidency:  looks shiny, is actually hollow, bad for the environment.  Guest Laurence Fishburne discussed playing Nelson Mandela in his new miniseries while Trevor fanboyed harder than he ever has before.

A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017-Present)

This TV adaptation of the incredible Lemony Snicket series is just everything I want it to be.  Its first season dropped on Netflix on the recent Friday the 13^th, and every element – writing, acting, production design, tone – fires on all cylinders to create a truly winning-yet-morose series that absolutely captures the spirit and sensibility of the books (premise spoilers by necessity.)

Violet, Klaus, and Sunny Baudelaire find their lives irrevocably changed when their parents are killed in a terrible fire that destroys their home.  Placed in the well-meaning but distracted hands of Mr. Poe, the executor of their parents’ will, the Baudelaires are left to the care of Count Olaf, a self-impressed actor and odious villain who will stop at nothing to get the Baudelaire fortune.  The clever and resourceful orphans are sent on a series of misadventures, dropped into the home of one guardian after the other, as they work to elude Count Olaf’s pursuit of them/neverending schemes.  Season 1 covers the first four books of the series.

I can honestly say that these characters and the world they inhabit really feel like they’ve emerged directly from the pages of the books.  The sets, costumes, and locales are all perfectly on point, with numerous shots superbly echoing specific book illustrations (I was straight-up amazed at how much Neil Patrick Harris’s Count Olaf looks like the illustrations of the character.)  And given the fact that we are looking at multiple books here, the show has the chance to create a number of different iconic places from the series; Uncle Monty’s house is particularly well-rendered.  The series does a really nice job of adapting the highly-literate language of the books as well.  The Baudelaires’ polite, articulate dialogue has a slightly-preserved feel and yet still comes across as genuine, and a good balance is struck with the subtitles on Sunny’s baby talk (she’s not as verbose as she is in the books, but her lines mostly feel true to her character.)  And Lemony Snicket himself is very well-incorporated, a gloomy narrator who’s forever present without feeling intrusive.

The acting is excellent across the board.  Given a thousand guesses, I probably would’ve never come up with the idea of casting Patrick Warburton as Lemony Snicket, but he’s absolutely perfect.  His voice hits that sweet spot between lugubrious and matter-of-fact that’s crucial to Snicket, and he brings dark humor and earnest warmth in equal measure.  Meanwhile, I was cautiously curious/looking forward to Neil Patrick Harris’s performance as Count Olaf since I first heard he’d be playing the part, and frankly, I think he’s incredible.  It’s a deceptively tough role to take on, because Olaf has to be over-the-top ridiculous and genuinely menacing, often both within the same scene, and Harris threads that needle really well.  Malina Weissman (young Kara from Supergirl) and Louis Hynes are both wonderful as inventor Violet and researcher Klaus, and while, as baby Sunny, Presley Smith doesn’t have to do too much more than look adorable, I love her, too.  All of Olaf’s henchpeople and the assorted story-specific adults are finely cast.  And on a final note, although the series is still definitely very white overall, I appreciate the intentional racebending on a number of characters, such as the Poes, Uncle Monty, the hook-handed man, and Aunt Josephine.

Warnings

Dark themes, violence, some scary scenes for kids, drinking/smoking, and general melancholy.

Favorite Characters: Robbie Reyes a.k.a. Ghost Rider (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.)

The fourth season of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been firing on all cylinders, and the decision to bring in Ghost Rider as the focus of the first half-season arc was a good one.  I love Robbie as a character, what he brings to the show, and how his presence has affected the team (some Robbie-related spoilers.)

Right from the start, something I love about Robbie is how out-of-nowhere he is.  He’s been operating, in the shadows, as the Ghost Rider for a while, but it doesn’t appear that S.H.I.E.L.D. has ever heard of him until his path intersects with theirs.  They haven’t heard the stories around his LA neighborhood about the mysterious figure of vengeance with the face of the devil (well, flaming skull, but let’s not split hairs,) nor have they seen the graffiti keeping record of the scores he’s settling.  On shows like this, things can sometimes get too insular as time goes on, with everyone being interconnected somehow and every seemingly-small incident getting tied to a deeper conspiracy.  Robbie, though, is someone nobody expected.  Even though he’s been there and he’s been noticed, if only enough to become an urban legend, S.H.I.E.L.D. hasn’t seen him.

He’s absolutely new.  In a world populated by comic-book insanity, we’ve seen Inhumans and augmented humans, successful science experiments and science experiments gone horribly wrong, aliens and powerful alien artifacts in human hands.  But from what we’ve seen, Robbie is none of those things.  There’s no one like him (other than the person who passed the Rider onto him.)  Before meeting Daisy and then coming into contact with S.H.I.E.L.D., the only people who really know about him aren’t alive to tell about it.  He’s been living with this alone, contextualizing it the only way he knows how – he believes the devil is inside him, and though he carries it like a curse, there are also times when he’s glad to give it the driver’s seat.

It’s not a Hulk situation, although the Rider can seemingly be “triggered” when Robbie’s angry (he has some level of control over when the Rider shows its face, but it’s not entirely clear how much.)  The Rider is a definite, separate entity, as evidenced by the fact that it can be passed from one person to another.  Robbie negotiates with it to an extent, lets it feed on his anger and vengeance in exchange for taking the wheel down dark paths he couldn’t take on his own.  We’ve seen, though, moments when he’s at odds with it, when its agenda doesn’t align with his.  It’s interesting; obviously, he had no idea what he was getting into when he signed up for this, but he’s made a kind of troubled peace with it, seeming to regard the loss of his soul (in his mind) as a fair price for his vengeance, and yet, he hasn’t given himself entirely over to it.

There are plenty of stories about what happens when people lose themselves in their desire for revenge – from the Count of Monte Cristo to Sweeney Todd – and this is definitely a compelling one.  Robbie clearly views himself as tainted, damned, beyond redemption, but he also tries to hold onto his old ties (his reason for starting this in the first place – it seems that’s how it always goes) by keeping that part of himself hidden.  He’s by no stretch a hero, but he’s not a villain, either.  He’s something different, something in-between, even more so, I’d say, than someone like the Punisher.  Still, stories of people getting lost in their own vengeance don’t tend to end well; I really hope we get to see more of him wrestling with his demons.

2017 Oscar Nominations: Thoughts

I suppose there are some who may say that the Academy was compensating for two years of #OscarsSoWhite with its seven nominations for actors of color (over a third of the total acting nominees,) but of the films I’ve seen so far featuring these performances, the nominations are very well deserved.  In fact, there could have easily been more had Octavia Spencer not been the only one of the Hidden Figures ladies to get a nod.  I’m especially pleased for Dev Patel, the only nominated PoC actor who isn’t Black.  Not only was it a bummer to see him overlooked in 2008 when Slumdog Millionaire otherwise got so much love, but he’s only the third actor of South Asian descent ever to be nominated for an Oscar (the others are Ben Kinglsey, who’s been recognized multiple times, and Merle Oberon way back in 1935.)

Overall, there aren’t too many big shockers in the nominations.  The main frontrunners, as predicted, are La La Land, Moonlight, and Manchester by the Sea, with the rest of the love spread out mainly where people assumed it would be.  There are surprises here and there, like no room in the actress categories for Amy Adams in Arrival or Annette Benning in 20^th Century Women, and Silence never gained the momentum it hoped to.  Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress will be definite races to watch, and I’m hoping that quite a few of the conclusions are a little less foregone come Oscar night – this is in no small part because I just caught La La Land (review to come soon) and was considerably less wowed than the Golden Globes would’ve had me believe.

Speaking of La La Land, it received two Best Original Song nominations, and I’m hoping against hope that they’ll cancel each other out to give Moana the win.  I know I’m biased as all get-out in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s favor, but I honestly don’t see how either “City of Stars” or “Audition” could be considered a better song than “How Far I’ll Go.”  Given how the industry generally salivates over films about itself, seeing La La Land didn’t necessarily get my hopes up for Moana, but it firmly cemented my feelings of how mad I’ll be if “How Far I’ll Go” doesn’t get awarded for the beautiful addition it is to the Disney princess songbook.  (Side note:  Best Animated Film is a great-looking category, and while I think Zootopia will likely, rightfully win, Moana and Kubo and the Two Strings earned their nominations but good.)

Even though I’m better positioned at the start of this year’s Oscar nominations than I think I’ve ever been before – I’ve already seen four of the nine Best Picture nominees – I still feel like it’s too early for me to say much more.  Moonlight, I think, is the big lynchpin for me.  It never came to my local theater when it was first released, and I’m dying for it to show up either here or somewhere not too far away pretty soon, because I’ve been wanting to see it for months.  I’m also anxious to check out Arrival, which I admittedly missed when it came around (it’ll be out on DVD before Oscar night, though, so I’m hoping to catch it there,) and I think The Lobster will be a good DVD watch for the “quirky Best Original Screenplay nominee” niche. 

However, being ahead is an advantage to me now.  I think I could potentially see all the films in my favorite categories (Best picture, acting, directing, writing, and cinematography) before the ceremony.  Though I’m crossing my fingers for some of the more out-of-the-way films to pop up in closer theaters in the next month, it would only take one or two “movie trip” weekends to the Cities to knock out the films I can’t get here or on DVD.  We’ll see how well I do.

Screen Directors Playhouse: Season 1, Episode 12 – “The Silent Partner” (1955)

Some time back, I did general write-ups on both the film and television work late in Buster’s career.  Now that I’ve gone through individual reviews of all the major shorts – cover the Arbuckle-Keaton, independent, Educational, and Columbia eras – I thought I might as well give these later projects a second look, reviewing them one by one.  I can’t promise I’ll get to all the movies because a) some of them are pretty bad, and b) some of them involve no more than blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameos, but we’ll see what we end up here.

“The Silent Partner” is a self-contained half-hour story of the “Saturday play” variety that you saw a fair amount of in the early days of television.  Rather than a play, though, it’s a very Hollywood-specific original story centered around Oscar night.  The main locale isn’t the theater but the bar next door, where the patrons are watching the ceremony on TV.  A legendary director receives a huge award, and in his speech, he looks back over his many years in the business, particularly at Kelsey Dutton, the long-since-forgotten silent actor who helped propel him to the acclaim he has today.  Kelsey is, of course, none other than Buster, who quietly watches from the bar alongside the patrons who don’t realize there’s a faded star in their midst.

It’s definitely sentimental, at times overly so, but it’s sweet, too.  I like stories about huge successes flashing back to when they were just starting out and had no idea what they were going to become.  This story plays nicely into that idea, and it’s also neat to see the famous director giving some (admittedly-overdue) credit to his former collaborator rather than do the typical “bigshot forgets all the little people who got him to where he is” thing.  And when you bring Buster into the proceedings, it gets even more bittersweet knowing the real history there.  There’s a real warmth to the director’s tribute to Kelsey, and I like the touch of the bar patrons being kind of surprised at how much they enjoy the clips of an old silent Kelsey Dutton short that gets shown on the telecast, a new generation rediscovering Hollywood’s past gems through television (as happened in real life with Buster.)

But as I’ve mentioned before, when it comes to the actual “silent movie” clips shown in the story, much is left to be desired.  The flashback of Kelsey’s break into the business – accidentally barging into the middle of shooting because he thinks a fake fire is real and doggedly/haphazardly trying to “rescue” the actress – is amusing, although I prefer my silent clowns to be inventive comic geniuses rather than clumsy regular guys who just turn out to be unwitting slapstick savants.  At least there are some fun bits; my favorite is when Buster, in so carefully setting up a ladder, stops to spit on his hands and it instantly clatters to the ground.  The clip of the fake short itself, though, feels so much more like an “idea” of a silent comedy rather than an actual movie.  Granted, my silent movie knowledge isn’t particularly varied, but if Buster is serving as the inspiration here, the story doesn’t come up with a fake short worthy of his talents.  A lot of the gags are overly hokey, there are way too many intertitles, and it generally just feels a lot cheaper and hammier than a true silent classic.  Again, it feels like someone who doesn’t know much about silent comedy trying to imitate it based on their uninformed, not altogether-complimentary impressions of it instead of doing an homage that would feel true to slapstick talent, particularly someone of Buster’s caliber.  Certainly a mixed bag here.

Character Highlight: Dodo Chaplet (Doctor Who)

Dodo has always been a bottom-rung companion for me, alongside those that either irritate me (hey there, Adric) or aren’t around long enough to make much of an impression (looking at you, Kamelion.)  She improved for me somewhat when I rewatched the First Doctor’s seasons, but for the most part, the best I can say about her is “not that bad” (a few Dodo-related spoilers.)

Most of the trouble with Dodo is frontloaded, which is both a blessing and a curse.  It means, likeability-wise, she has nowhere to go but up throughout her time on the show, but it also means that she makes a pretty unfavorable first impression.  There’s having the unfortunate name “Dodo,” which of course isn’t her fault but does make it hard to take her seriously.  There’s the incredibly-slapdash way she becomes a companion in the first place, mistaking the TARDIS for a police box and bursting in looking for a constable, then just sort of going along for the ride.  It’s a beginning that has no preamble, no real introduction.  In a way, it isn’t a beginning at all, since it’s tacked onto the end of a serial, “The Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Eve.”  Just, bang!  Here’s Dodo.  At least Steven was around for one whole episode before coming aboard.  Again, it’s not Dodo’s fault – sloppy storytelling – but it gives me little reason to root for her off the bat.

The last mark against her isn’t really her fault, either, but it’s a doozy.  On her first trip in the TARDIS, she encounters an ark spacecraft carrying humans of the future across the stars to a new home, and she unwittingly causes an outbreak when she introduces a 20^th-century virus humans long since eradicated, the common cold, onto the ship.  If not for the Doctor pulling out a victory with some serious science mojo and finding a cure, she could have wiped out the entire ship.  Now, obviously, she had no idea this would happen – even the Doctor doesn’t consider this possibility when they arrive.  However, unintentional or not, this is a mishap that could’ve have catastrophic results, and while it makes sense for her to be in such shock that she can’t quite accept that this is really all because of her cold, her reaction makes it seem as though she doesn’t fully understand the seriousness of the stakes here.

Like I said, Dodo does improve from there, but those are quite a few strikes out of the gate, and it’s hard to get passed, particularly when she doesn’t stand out from those who come before or after her in any distinct way.  Not that every companion needs a “hook,” like genius Time Lady Romana or “savage” descendant of off-world colonizers Leela.  Who has its share of everyman and everywoman companions, but even there, their individual personalities still feel separate.  Polly comes immediately after Dodo in the companion line, and she’s also a young woman from the ‘60s with no high-profile special skills, but right from the start, she feels like Polly.  Dodo just feels like… a companion.  As with her introduction, a lot of the writing around her character comes across as disinterested.  The stories themselves are still creative and fun, but it doesn’t seem like much thought goes into figuring out who she is as a person.

Which is a shame, because to me, she never really gets a fair shake.  Like all companions worth their salt, she can be clever, she can be brave, she can be curious, and she has a talent for getting into trouble.  She’s fond of the Doctor and bickers bemusedly with Steven.  She’s been known to be both stubborn and reckless.  But it feels more like a list than a personality.  Who is Dodo exactly?  I’m not entirely sure.

News Satire Roundup: January 16th-January 20th

Monday, January 16 – Interesting choice to juxtapose Steve Harvey and John Lewis’s very different approaches to Trump.  Harvey (with Roy doing a pretty good impression) emphasized the importance of working with Trump, yet simultaneously blamed Obama for making him do it.  Lewis, meanwhile was not having it, and was ludicrously called “all talk, no action” by Trump for his comments; I thoroughly enjoyed Trevor’s indignation at that one.  Two guests, the first of which was journalist David Farhenthold, who famously broke the Access Hollywood tape and has dug deeply into Trump’s alleged charitable giving.  I really liked his description of what it was like to get the Access Hollywood tape.  Bryshere Gray, of Empire, was the second guest.  Despite not watching Empire, I enjoyed him a lot.  It seemed apparent from the interview that he’s really got his priorities straight and considers himself blessed for his opportunities.

Tuesday, January 17 – We opened on controversial footwear:  boots that inadvertently leave swastikas in the footprints and flip-flops featuring Gandhi’s picture.  I loved Trevor saying you had to call Nazi boots “alt-footwear” now and challenging Gandhi’s flawless image (especially when Hasan tried to return like for like by criticizing Nelson Mandela – “Nelson Mandela was perfect!!!!”)  Next was a story on Obama’s final days inoffice, and Trevor’s analogy of Obama “baby-proofing” the presidency was surprisingly apt.  Lewis had a great Back in Black on Trump’s impending inauguration.  I laughed heartily at the schadenfreude of no entertainers wanting to perform and visibly shuddered at the “theme” description of “soft sensuality.”  John Zimmer, founder of Lyft, was the guest.  He and Trevor talked ride-sharing, self-driving cars, and the future of driving as an industry.

Wednesday, January 18 – The jokes tended toward sophomoric, but I did enjoy hearing about the topless protester in Spain who crashed the unveiling of a Trump wax statue while shouting, “Grab the patriarchy by the balls!”  Glad they covered Betsy DeVos’s confirmation hearing, which makes my head spin.  My favorite parts were a) that the show called the school in Wyoming to see if they have a gun to protect against bears and b) Trevor’s “I’d like to enter that shade into the record,” after Franken’s takedown of DeVos.  A blurb on Trump’s historically-low approval rating (below post-Katrina George W. Bush!) turned into a one-on-one with Michelle over how badly Trump doesn’t want to be president.  I loved the guest, America’s UN ambassador Samantha Power.  I think she did a really nice job of breaking down some of the challenges of her work while highlighting the importance of finding common ground in this global society.

Thursday, January 19 – I liked Trevor’s point about the obviously-staged photo of Trump “writing” his inaugural address, acknowledging it as yet another “promo” from our reality TV president-elect.  Interesting story on recent disruptions of news feeds following mentions of Russia.  Again, Trevor’s point was well-made, that whether or not Russia was responsible isn’t the only concern – that it’s also about how just the threat of possible Russian interference undermines our faith.  Another two-guest night.  The first was journalist Scott Conroy, who talked about the importance of having embedded journalists for presidential campaigns, who see what’s happening on the ground instead of in a studio.  Also interviewed was James McAvoy, discussing his new movie Split.  It was an easy joke, but I enjoyed Trevor wondering if M. Night Shyamalan’s regular life is a constant series of twists – “Surprise!  Breakfast!” was a great line.

Friday, January 20 – Extra show for inauguration day.  Trevor touched on the low turnout and dark negativity of Trump’s address (with “American carnage” as the obvious standout.)  He also used Michelle Obama’s facial expressions to catalog the events of the day and bid the Obamas a wistful farewell.  Comparing the day to the moment in a Disney movie when the villain takes over, he segued into a bouncy musical number about how it’s time for Trump to have to actually “do shit” – tonally bizarre for the night, but I enjoyed it.  Roy talked about how Trump’s presidency will put a further shine on memories of Obama, and Desi gave us a skit of a mother spiraling out as she tried to reassure her young son about the inauguration.  MSNBC’s Joy Reid was the guest.  In discussing her new book looking at Obama’s speeches, she and Trevor contrasted Obama and Trump’s public addresses (spoiler alert – there were no similarities.)