Master Of None Review

New Netflix original Master of None is my recent watch. The series was created by Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, and stars Ansari in the lead role of Dev, a 30-year-old actor who attempts to make his way through life in New York City. The first season consists of 10 episodes, released all at once.

For me it has to be my best show of the year, it is basically 10 really short movies that focus on everything from casual racism, romance, finding food or just about his relationship with his parents. All with different filming styles and different references but they all have some singular charm. All of the conversations feel really real and natural and the dialogue is stilted with clichés and joined up wording. The show also uses the language that you would expect from someone in their late 20s. The conversations go off in tangents and occasionally they don’t actually make any difference to the story.

The characters of the show are also three-dimensional and drift in and out of the main plot lines following Dev, the protagonist, he has lots of different friends and some of them aren’t friends with other people who relate to Dev. Others are just co-workers/actors that drift out of the story and don’t reappear again. The way that the episode begins and the use of music with in the old-fashioned credit sequence,similar to that of a Tarantino film.

The program also major point for me is the episode “Morning”. This episode the second to last in the season, follows the plot;

As Rachel, Noël Wells, moves in with Dev and the two have good times together and fall in love. But as the months pass, they start finding problems: their conflicting amounts of cleanliness; the fact that Dev hasn’t told his parents that he’s even seeing Rachel.

This has to be one of the great episode of a romantic comedy episodes I have seen in a while, the episode takes place entirely in Devs apartment, and only includes Dev, Rachel and towards the end Devs’ parents. The episode just play out fantastically as it starts off with a pleasant relationship, into the first stupid argument, then into a more serious argument. Although a long time period of narrative it feel quick and unlabored, with real arguments. Even the way that Rachel toss and slams her laptop down makes the armrest look and feel realistic. The little side jokes, the changing of seasons, the lovely bit of dialogue such as ” I missed your mess” as Rachel returns from business. It has to be the best 30 minutes of TV that I have seen this year just purely based on drama romance and comedy.

I really hope it gets a second series and that It further develops, this highlight on the end scene where it wasn’t until the last line you knew what Dev was doing, where he was going and what will happen. It was such a charming show that hopefully will get a lot of praise. It nice to a show that focused on a mix of cultures and wasn’t all about the main Hollywood vision.

Basically if you have Netflix you have to have a watch of it!

Anyway till next time….

Bojack Horseman Series 2

I finished the second season of BoJack Horseman now which is a Netflix original and it has to be one of the best original offered. The plot follows A humanoid horse, BoJack Horseman — lost in a sea of self-loathing and booze — decides it’s time for a comeback. Once the star of a ’90s sitcom, in which he was the adoptive father of three orphaned kids (two girls and a boy). The show was the hottest thing around, then suddenly, was canceled. Now 18 years later, BoJack wants to regain his dignity. With the aid of a human sidekick and a feline ex-girlfriend who is his agent, he sets out to make it happen. But Hollywood is vastly different from those days, and getting used to stuff like Twitter may take some time.

The second season picks up after his book written by Diane is a massive hit and now he has a starting role in the film that he has wanted to do for his whole life “Secretariat:The Movie”. Diane has also gotten married to Mr PeanutButter and is now starting to feel somewhat a bit stuck in a rut. But BoJack soon realises that he is still not happy and maybe nothing will make him happy really. That his whole life has been built around trying to do something that won’t really making happy and to impress his condescending mother. It ends with him realising that Todd is the best part of his life and he is what makes him happy.

The second series is really the best so far, it has just developed so much and really found out what it’s about. The fact the characters have been established and the relationships. The other factor is that its become a lot more meta because of the fact its established and celebrities are more willing to make fun of themselves. Also the story has become more focused for me compared to the first where it was a bit messy. It also has allowed Todd and Diane to get their own sub story lines as well. which added an extra favour to each episode.

It is a really good series and show and can’t wait for the next

Till next time..

Sons Of Anarchy season 3

So another season has been completed and these are my thoughts on it.

The season follows as Gemma has been hiding in Rogue River, Oregon with Tig at the home of Gemma’s father, Nate (Hal Holbrook), who suffers from dementia. Gemma struggles when she takes Nate to his new assisted living home, and he pleads to be taken back to his house. She returns to Charming to reunite with her grandson, unaware he has been kidnapped. Father Kellan Ashby’s sister, Maureen, contacts Gemma at Ashby’s request and tells her Abel is safe in Belfast. Upon learning of her grandson’s abduction, Gemma suffers a cardiac arrhythmia and collapses in the Teller-Morrow lot. The Crew then travel to Belfast to rescue Able and to strike a deal with the IRA to increase the gun running operation. They also have to deal with the ATF problem and Stall who is trying to set Gemma and the club up.

This is a season that I found hard to watch at some points, but then it turned back in to the original reason why it was so good. The parts in Ireland are a bit grating and sort of lose the focus of the shows premiss and become more of a dodgy adventure in to Ireland with trademark clichés and typical US TV versions of Northern Ireland and the UK in general. The other issue was that so many characters were introduce quickly as well as other lower member in the club become prominent it was hard to gain an interest in them, in comparison to the small cast in the first and second series.

But once you ignored this the philosophy of the show which was somewhat lost within the second series is developed throughout. As Jax slowly start to really question what the club is doing and ebbs and flows emotions towards the club. As his relationship with Tara develops and he also realises that his father wanted him out and that his son is going to be sucked into the killing and crime just like he was. The other part is that the veil is slowly slipping on the fact that Gemma and Clay are involved in the death of John Teller as well as having some sort of plan of getting rich and powerful off the IRA and selling guns.

This was an interesting season to say the least in terms of the development and the forward vision for the rest of the seasons. However the ups and downs did make it not as good and tense as season 2.

Anyway till next time…

Sons of Anarchy Season 2

So I finished the second series of Son of Anarchy and these are my thoughts.

The plot

White separatists called the League Of American Nationalists (LOAN) arrive in Charming. LOAN’s leader and backer businessman Ethan Zobelle and Zobelle’s enforcer, A.J. Weston, seek to drive the Sons of Anarchy from Charming. To send a message to SAMCRO, Zobelle has his daughter Polly lure Gemma into a trap where she is kidnapped and gang raped by Weston and two others. Fueled by SAMCRO’s role in Donna’s death, the rift between Clay and Jax continues to widen as Jax challenges most of Clay’s decisions. When a LOAN car bomb nearly kills Chibs, Clay demands immediate retaliation (against Jax’s advice) resulting in Clay, Jax, Bobby, Tig, Juice Ortiz, and Happy’s being arrested by the San Joaquin sheriffs. Finally Gemma breaks the news about the rape to Clay and Jax.

This season was certainly a development not he last. This had more trials and test for Jax as well as see the club start to implode and then rebuild itself. Secrets were created and developed through out, and they all came out slowly in the last episodes, which made for a tense watch and made me more and more excited to know the conclusion. The plot of the show was certainly more paced and focused in the series compared to the first, which was more about setting up the character arcs.

Some of the character development was also interesting the rebuilding of Ope as he slowly became more of a key member of the crew and also as he developed closure over the death of his wife and finding a new Old lady. As well as the introduction of more outside members of the club, such as Tig, Happy and Half Sack(RIP)

It will be interesting to see where they can go with enemies of the club and what new deals will happen. And when Clay will be removed from the clubs head

Anyway till next time…

The Fighter (2010)

So I watched another film on Netflix and this time was the film The Fighter, a 2010 biographical sports drama film directed by David O. Russell, and starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo. The film centers on the life of professional boxer Micky Ward (Wahlberg) and his older half-brother Dicky Eklund (Bale).

Here is the trailer:

The film is made to be like a mockumentry style following and introducing Dicky the pride of Lowe. The guy who knocked down Sugar Ray Leonard and is on his return. You then start to see the crack fall into places as you realise that he isn’t on the come back, he is a crack addict and that his brothers fights are a side-show to the Dicky show. And the character becomes more and more unlikable as you start to feel sorry for Micky. The Mockumentary parts make you see the rose-tinted picture and then the switch away from this allows you to see the inside prospective.

The aspect of the family was also interesting part of the film it made you really pick a side and you route for the Micky to separate from his family. In order to get away from the negative aspect of his life and maybe actually achieve something with his boxing career.

When it comes to the film of the fight scene this is another great aspect of the filming.It feels like your firstly watching a boxing match at home, as the cameras suddenly change to these 80s style grainy cameras. Then you get the actual boxing in which you feel the punches you feel the pain, you feel the tiredness as the round and seconds go on. It isn’t the most fighty film in the sense that a film like the Warrior is most aggressive and gut wrenching whilst watching it.

Bale’s performance in this film was worth of its awards and praise. As alway he throws himself into his roles and completely changes his appearance and mannerisms in order to become the role. Which makes the eye draw to him when ever he is on the screen. And you get the sense that he is strung out on drugs and is in a bit of a haze. Wahlberg performance is another great performance from the actor playing this sort of quiet broken guy that isn’t able to communicate with his family and his thoughts are put the side. And that adds to his likability.

Its good film worth a watch..

Till next time….

Sons Of Anarchy season 1 Review

So a new Netflix series has been found and started this is of course Sons Of Anarchy, there are seven seasons available on Netflix and I have just completed season 1 (2008)

The plot follows as Single father Jax Teller finds his loyalty to his outlaw motorcycle club tested by his growing unease concerning the group’s lawlessness. While the club protects and patrols the town of Charming, Calif., keeping drug dealers away, its activities also include a thriving – and lucrative – illegal arms business.

The first season follows Jax’s estranged meth-addicted ex-wife Wendy (Drea de Matteo), pregnant with his child, overdoses. An emergency C-section is performed, and a baby boy is delivered ten weeks prematurely. Wendy names the child Abel. Jax visits a storage unit to collect some old baby clothes. There, he discovers a “manifesto” authored by his father, the deceased founder of SAMCRO, describing his hopes for the club. This document sends Jax into a dilemma, as he struggles with the direction the club is taking. Jax’s mother, Gemma (Katey Sagal), visits Wendy in the hospital and tells her she will kill her if Wendy attempts to gain custody of Abel. Since Wendy took drugs during pregnancy, Gemma would see to it that the baby “will never call you mommy”. A broken-hearted Wendy overdoses on methamphetamine supplied by Gemma.

This is one of those shows that garners a lot of praise for its writing and plots as well as it gritty realism. It also falls in the category of every 10 shows that American TV produces 1 of them is half good and can get another few seasons.

Its realism for gang violence is greatly portrayed as well as the big choice between a club that celebrates motorcycle culture and become a gang that is above the law and only truly interested in making money and maintaining their hold of the town of Charming. It also manges to get the dialogue right not being harsh with by over using swearwords and misogynistic language. Instead balancing it with great lines and characters that have their own voice.

Charlie Hunnam role is the perfect character to follow a Man that was born into the club and only knows the ways of the club. But after becoming a father and also discovering his father original manifesto.You see the blindfold slip from his eyes as he want to make himself more ligament for his son’s sake as well as for his own. And leave the violence behind him. Its believable and relatable as you want his aims to come true as you see that the club is going deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole, which is inevitably shown with the season finale. Juxtapose to this you have Ron Perlman character who is brutish and almost gorilla like who is looking for a fight and wants the dirt the blood and crime, almost as though he gets off on the power he controls over it. And is unwilling to give it all up for anything.

The filming and music also add the brilliance of the first season with well-timed musical montages to add to that visceral feeling of pain sadness and fear. The filming then adds a gritty dirty realness that feel the vibration of the Bikes, you feel the dirt the blood and the fight.

This is great series if you like Braking Bad so I would recommend it

Anyway till next time..

Houdini.. Review

Houdini is a short mini series for History channel that I watched on Netflix, follow the man behind the magic as he finds fame, engages in espionage, battles spiritualists and encounters the greatest names of the era, from U.S. presidents to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Grigori Rasputin.

This is well acted well structured short series with a very talented actor as the main character. Adrien Brody play the man behind the mystery, allow some of the story and accounts may be false or strutted from the truth it made for a captivating watch. He manages to portray the character and charm of Houdini as well as show the difference of him from stage to off stage. Making Houdini’s legend even more mysterious and fascinating as both an illusionist and man.

It has high drama in the stunts, makes you feel at points as though you are one of the audience watching his stunts wondering if he will survive or not. The repetitive cutaway image of his famous stomach taking a hit is also a great part of the filming, adding the feeling of drama. It taking an unorthodox approach that weaves in surreal and psychological elements, zooming camerawork, frenetic editing, a modern soundtrack and some well-placed animation to illustrate how Houdini’s tricks worked. Which I found the best part of the show as well.

But one of the unfortunate parts of the show was maybe the dialogue which seemed to stumble though the story, which was more comic book like rather than being a proper story. However it was a good watch and didn’t feel like its running time was wrong and went by with some zip.

Anyway till next time….

Morning Glory Review

Another Netflix film suggestion review..

Morning Glory, a film starring Rachel MacAdams and Harrison Ford. Is a romantic comedy based on a Morning TV producer who trying to live the dream whilst her personal life goes by.

The plot follows as “An upstart television producer accepts the challenge of reviving a struggling morning show program with warring co-hosts.”

To be honest this is a poor film.

It hasn’t really got any weight to it.The film forgets to be either funny only producing four really good laughs which fail most critics definition of a comedy.It also lacks any really romance at all. The Romance takes a back seat for nothing really only truly unusual guff. The two characters relationship isn’t firstly that believable as this seems to be a guy who is serious about news being emotional interested in a peddler of light entertainment. This is pretty much referenced by Fords character about what she does for a job.

For me thought although Ford doesn’t venture beyond his usual acting range, he acts gruff basically and snarls at everything and everyone. He makes jokes and says no to most things but within it he creates a character with a reluctantly human inside. It’s basically Han Solo or Indian Jones reading the news. There is argument that McAdams plays her role exceptionally well: as the young actress on the verge of the big time, who can win the boy, tame the beast, flash her panties and make you smile without making you cringe, she is a natural. But then you say she doesn’t do anything exciting with her role, she doesn’t break boundaries and she doesn’t make a great statement with it either.

But saying all that the film is nice enough, you wouldn’t call it a classic and you would watch it by choice but if it was available and nothing else is on then I would say to watch it.

Till next time

Freaks and Geeks the full review

So I did an initial thoughts on holiday when I started the series, Initial thoughts

A sum up of the series

“After her grandmother’s death, a high school mathlete starts hanging out with a group of burnouts while her younger brother navigates his freshman year”

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0193676/?ref_=ext_shr_eml_vi#lb-vi1990721817

As I had said after the first two episodes this is a brilliant show and you can understand why it gets all its plaudits and respect. You can also see why this was such a great jumping board for its actors and the director writer and producer Judd Apatow.

The plot line are great and tap into that rich vein of teenage angst, problems and rebellion along with using it decade as another way of using contemporary problems but rooting them within the time such as drugs, rock and roll and sex.

The other factor that I truly loved was the relatability of the characters they were 1 dimensional like most drama, they had heft and were 3 dimensional. I especially loved the character of Bill, he was so relatable likeable and believable as a character and you felt as though you knew him the best. Wherein his geekiness on sleeve and with that cheeky smile.

Anyway its a great show and a massive shame that it is only on the US Netflix.. hopefully it will go on the UK one but I think it is on amazon prime in the UK.

and fingers crossed for a reunion special.

Till next time…

Day 169- more relaxing

Today we haven’t done much in terms of anything and that makes it such a nice holiday, not being about but instead just relaxing. All I’ve done really is a small run in the morning and watched a lot of netflix. Which I must say in America seems 10X more brilliant as you end up with a lot more worthwhile programming as well as some great shows. For instance I’ve been watching family guy and Malcolm in the middle, two shows I absolutely love and are childhood classics of mine.

The other thing we did do today was go to the mall of millenia which is huge and amazing in scale for this British lad. It’s got so many premium stores and that the minds just boggles. I would say though that it’s one of those places where you have to adjust your thinking and say what do I really need and then get that rather than going for jaunt a browse like you would do at the Trafford centre. Anyway managed to get two pairs of Levi’s for the price of one in England, so great success.