1. Blue Valentine – Even having read the reviews in advance, I was still blown away by the performances. The structure of the film, intercutting the best and worst moments of a relationship, was extremely powerful. I can’t recommend it enough, though it might not be great to watch with your girlfriend…
2. Friday Night Lights season 5 – I couldn’t wait on the NBC airing of the final season to finish when the DVDs were already available, so I went ahead and bought them. As always the episodes flew right by and the finale made things a little dusty in the room. The writers did a great job wrapping up nearly every character’s arc nicely and thoughtfully.
Then I proceeded to devour every last bit of analysis of the season and the finale. The consensus? It’s without a doubt the best sports TV show ever (even if quite a few football scenes left you scratching your head, there isn’t much in the way of competition) and arguably the most honest portrayal of a marriage on TV. If you’ve watched the show, you know that isn’t a bold statement.
But seriously, you don’t have to like football in the least to enjoy this show. Plus the first four seasons are still streaming for free on Netflix so there’s really no excuse not to start marathoning immediately. And when you finish up, check out the following:
3. Portal 2 – Valve has produced a string of impressive hits beginning with Half-Life. I missed the boat on the first Portal, but the hype for the sequel led me to make the purchase. And it’s definitely one of the most inventive games I’ve ever played, but one that makes me feel dumb as I struggle through puzzles for a while only to find eventually an simple solution. Let’s just say I have a ways to go before I finish. And I certainly won’t be buying Rockstar’s L.A. Noire until I beat this one.
4. Parks and Recreation season 3 – Unlike the original Portal, I did try to get on board during the first season of Parks and Rec. And I hated it. The first few episodes were pretty painful and it didn’t seem like Leslie Knope would ever round into something as interesting as Michael Scott on The Office. Then I heard the first season finale was strong, the second season got rave reviews from friends and the TV critics really jumped on board. So I started fresh with season 3 and it’s been quite a run of solid episodes (I did go back to watch all of season 2 on Netflix as well). The season 3 finale, “Li’l Sebastian,” re-visited one of their most ingenius inventions yet.
Here’s a great interview with co-creator Mike Schur (who tweets as “Ken Tremendous”) on the finale and what’s next.
5. The Civil Wars – I’m never quick to the punch on discovering new music, but I’ve enjoyed watching these guys seemingly rocket to stardom in the last 6 months. Their Twitter account has been particularly cool to follow as they start to book some great gigs (is performing on Leno still a great gig? I guess it still qualifies).
6. Bridesmaids – Judd Apatow produced movies are always tough to judge. They are often fantastic theater going experiences, with audiences laughing throughout. But on repeat viewings you realized that they cut the movie to allow for that laughter and the extended improv elements that had you rolling on the floor initially seem painfully dragged out over time – Knocked Up suffers the most from this.
Bridesmaids did not disappoint in the theater. The writing was great. It was shockingly raunchy – I’m willing to bet most of te women in the audience didn’t see it coming. Kristen Wiig and Rose Byrne were great. Chris O’Dowd definitely sold himself as a leading man. And the movie is worth seeing for Jon Hamm’s three scenes alone.
There’s was a lot of debate over whether the film needed to succeed at the box office to ensure more smart comedies with female leads would be made. Hopefully the first week tally will guarantee Kristen Wiig can make whatever she’d like going forward.
I guess I should probably have 10 items. So here’s some quick hitters…
7. The Shield – Finished it in roughly 6 weeks. Loved seasons 4, 5 and 7 in particular. One of the best series finales ever. Has plenty to stack up against The Wire throughout.
8. Submarine – Saw it at the SF International Film Festival. 70% Rushmore. 30% Napoleon Dynamite. But British. And set in the 80′s. Watch the trailer, that will explain better.
9. Downton Abbey – A PBS/BBC mini-series. You’ll think it’s like Pride & Prejudice. But it’s way better. Only 7 episodes, all on Netflix. Amazing writing. Just trust me.
10. Justified season 2 – Wow did this show get better (and it was already pretty good). A new overarching plot set a darker tone and the new characters that accompanied it worked perfectly. If they don’t win some Emmys this year, the system is officially broken (I know, it already is).
That’s it! Now let’s cross our fingers that today won’t be the end of the world. Glad I got this out there in case that all goes down…
