I discuss the latest news of the Coen brothers’ newest film

I’m a huge fan of directors Joel and Ethan Coen, and Inside Llewyn Davis, their latest project, is one of my most eagerly anticipated films of the year.  While Inside Llewyn Davis is set to debut in December, it made its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival recently and was ecstatically received.

The Coens have proven themselves to be favorites at the Cannes Film Festival (Barton Fink won the Director and Picture prizes and The Man Who Wasn’t There won Joel Coen a Best Director award which he tied with David Lynch for Mulholland Drive).  I guess there isn’t any other purpose of this post but to share this news.  What do you think?

De Niro as Travis Bickle in Taxi Driver

My vote would go to Robert De Niro.  I think he’ll be known as the greatest actor of all time in about ten or so years from now and he’s delivered so many great performances over the years (many of them with his long time collaborator director Martin Scorsese).  Marlon Brando comes as a close second for me (coincidently, both played Vito Corleone in The Godfather series).

But who is your pick?

Spoiler’s Alert for the Final Episode of The Office.  Also, I will talk about movies next week as I realized I spent the past few days writing only about the series.

“Finale” was the last episode of The Office that felt the combination of a typical series finale on TV (clips of past episodes, return of old jokes) as well as a reunion (the return of past characters such as Ryan).  Those two parts clashed together in the episode, but while flawed, “Finale” reminded me of what I loved about The Office.  Written by Greg Daniels, who developed the series for television, “Finale” was a strong send-off for a great show.

I’m one of The Office’s biggest fans and have stuck through the show for years.  I don’t need to explain my love for the series (you can check out my Great TV Show essay on it or when I name the ten best episodes), but I’ve always admired how the series managed to blend comedy with drama.  Taking elements from Ricky Gervais’ original series, Daniels took a masterpiece and made it even better.  The Office made me cringe, laugh hard, and cry, sometimes all in one scene.

“Finale” takes place one year after the documentary aired on PBS.  Dwight is now the regional manager, the spot he always wanted, while Kevin and Toby are fired while Andy attempts to reassemble his life.  Jim and Pam are still married and living in Scranton.  Creed is on the run from the police, Stanley moved to Florida while Nellie moved to Poland.  The episode primarily focused on Dwight and Angela’s wedding, an event that was years in the making.

And of course there was Steve Carell’s return as Michael Scott.  Perhaps Michael returning was unnecessary, but I was happy to see him back, from the moment where he cried, “that’s what she said” to him declaring, “I feel like all my kids grew up and then they married each other. It’s every parent’s dream!”

The episode had no shortage of laughs, something which the past few seasons have been lacking.  But the episode most importantly of all “Finale” concluded the story of Jim and Pam.  The season’s main drama has revolved on whether Jim would follow through with Athelead (now Atheleap), and Pam finally allows Jim to dedicate himself to the company, meaning that the Halpert family will move to Austin, Texas.  The series was at its core the story of Jim and Pam as was the original.  The final episode of the British Office didn’t end with its characters walking off in the sunset, but it was fitting for the American series to do so.

And despite that The Office ended the way most series do, with a song and series of speeches, it was nostalgic, heartwarming, and sad.  From Creed playing the guitar to Michael hanging up the painting of the building, “Finale” reminded audiences The Office was a show about ordinary people trying to find and accomplish their dreams in one way or another.  Unlike the unsatisfying final episode of 30 Rock, which threw its characters out the window, The Office concluded with its characters learning about their feelings and settling themselves down.  While The Office ran on too long, it’s sad to see a great series go.  Thanks for the great memories.

I first saw The Office back in 2005, a time when reality TV was rising in popularity.  I didn’t see the British version beforehand (I watched it a few years later), but even beforehand was no doubt the first season of The Office was flawed even without being compared to the original.  While darkly humorous, the show’s characters weren’t well sketched out.  But NBC made a wise decision by renewing the series and the result was the network’s best show since Seinfeld.  Despite being a remake, The Office became a blazingly original series that remains one of the best sitcoms to hit television screens.

The Office will be ending soon, today actually.  The show has gone on so long, about nine seasons that I’m amazed it’s managed to stay on air.  While the last few seasons have been repetitive, The Office retains its cultural influence on the television world.

The British version of The Office, crafted by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, was a black comedy that came off the heels out of Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm.  It was a sitcom full of cringe humor, relying on Gervais’ David Brent, the boorish boss of a paper company trying to show off to a documentary crew.  NBC picked up the remake, considered an ill decision by most TV representatives.  Earlier, NBC’s remake of another British series, Coupling, bombed, plus critics believed that the new Office couldn’t live up to its predecessor.  Not to mention it would be a single camera show, a format still unexplored at the time (with a few exceptions such as Arrested Development).  NBC hired Greg Daniels, who worked on The Simpsons and created King of the Hill with Mike Judge, to develop the series, giving it a big name, and Steve Carell, who starred before on The Daily Show, was cast as the star.  The series had much potential then and audiences were eager to see how it would turn out.

The first season, while funny, was flawed.  The characters were the same, but felt like imitations.  Steve Carell’s Michael Scott originally paled in comparison to David Brent.  But by its second season, the show branched out.  Jim and Pam’s relationship became the romantic core of the series, as it was in the original, but perhaps the biggest (and best) change came from Michael Scott.  Daniels changed Scott from the heartless Brent and made him a more relatable and likeable character.  Brent was a cunning, self-obsessed boor.  Viewers weren’t supposed to like or sympathize with him.  Michael, on the other hand, was like most people.  Sure, he tried to make himself look good in front of the camera, but he was really a lonely guy searching for friendship and companionship.  Along with this adaptation along with Carell’s performance, Michael Scott became one of TV’s strongest characters.

From seasons two, The Office took Arrested Development’s reigns as TV’s best sitcom and held them until season five.  It was not only a comedy but also a drama.  Its relationships were real and believable.  Its characters were relatable.  It was funny, sad, angry, and moody.  Daniels experimented with this in King of the Hill and he was clearly the right man to head the remake.  In fact, I would argue that The Office surpassed Gervais’ version, as good as that was, because it became something else.

The Office soon became one of the most influential shows on television.  It became NBC’s crown jewel during a time when the network was at a distant fourth place.  It inspired a whole new slew of single camera sitcoms and solidified the formula.  Without The Office, audiences wouldn’t have Parks and Recreation, 30 Rock, Modern Family, or many other TV shows.

Even as the show grew tired and wary, starting in its dull sixth season, it still was better than most sitcoms.  When Carell left after the seventh season, the show fell apart, but even that couldn’t prevent me from forgetting the peak of the series.  Few shows could make you laugh in one scene and cry in the next or do both at the same time.  The Office did that in plenty of episodes.  It never grew manipulative in its peak and even when the show was dying, it delivered one of, if not, the series’ best episodes, “Goodbye, Michael.”

So where does The Office go now?  I suspect that the series will take a final bow, honoring the characters audiences have come to know and love.  The series will leave a mark on television that cannot be easily replaced.

In tribute to the series, I name my ten favorite episodes

As the series ends this Thursday, I will now choose my ten favorite episodes from The Office.  Back in the mid to late 2000s, The Office was the best half hour on television.  While the show declined in quality within the last few years, it still holds its title as one of the greatest sitcoms ever made.

10. “Dwight’s Speech” (Season 2, Episode 17)

A great and very funny episode that involves Dwight attempting to make a speech in front of a group of salesmen.  Jim pranks Dwight into using an altered version of a Mussolini speech, which works surprisingly well.

9. “Weight Loss” (Season 5, Episode 1)

One of the best one hour long episodes of the series has Michael attempting to put the Scranton branch in a weight loss competition.  As well as exploring Michael and Holly’s relationship, this episode has Jim proposing to Pam.

8. “Safety Training” (Season 3, Episode 20)

One of the series’ funniest episodes, “Safety Training” has Michael try to demonstrate the dangers of the Office by faking suicide.  The premise may sound very dark, but “Safety Training” has some of the biggest laughs in the series.

7. “Diversity Day” (Season 1, Episode 2)

The first truly great episode of The Office came from the series’ bumpy first season, which indicates the peak the show would later climb.  After doing a Chris Rock impression, Michael attempts to teach the office about diversity by labeling others with cultural stereotypes.

6. “The Fire” (Season 2, Episode 17)

Another great Office episode, “The Fire” explores Michael and Dwight’s uneasy relationship as a fire alarm goes off in the building.  It also has a great ending.

5. “A Benihana Christmas” (Season 3, Episode 10)

The series hit a personal high with “A Benihana Christmas.”  After getting dumped by Carol for phoyoshopping his face on her ex-husband’s, Michael attempts to find love to a Benihana restaurant.  Jim also pranks Dwight in making him believe he’s an agent in the CIA.  Did I mention it’s a Holiday episode as well and directed by Harold Ramis?

4. “Goodbye, Toby” (Season 4, Episode 18)

The Michael-Toby relationship has provided The Office with its darkest humor and this episode explores the extent of Michael’s hatred to the human resources drone.  The episode also provides an introduction to Holly.

3. “Gay Witch Hunt” (Season 3, Episode 1)

Greg Daniels won a well-deserved Emmy for writing for this episode.  After discovering Oscar is gay, Michael attempts to apologize for making earlier slurs, leading to one of the show’s funniest moments.

2. “”Goodbye, Michael” (Season 7, Episode 22)

The only post-season five episode on this list is also one of the show’s best.  “Goodbye, Michael” is sad, tearful, and funny and provides the departure of Michael Scott.  I’m still gutted that Steve Carell hasn’t won an Emmy for his role.

1. “Stress Relief” (Season 5, Episode 14)

When I was attempting to make this list, I knew from the beginning “Stress Relief” would be my number one choice.  Premiering after the Super Bowl, “Stress Relief” has Michael try to relief the office’s anxiety after Stanley suffers a heart attack.  Every bit of the episode from its opening scene is hilarious.

How can you see this picture and not be excited?

There are a few I want to see.  One of them is Before Midnight.  Though I haven’t seen any of the prequels, the movie has already received unanimous praise.  Pacific Rim looks pretty strong as well and I always enjoy Guillermo Del Toro’s work.  My most anticipated movie though is Only God Forgives, which reunites director Nicolas Refn and Ryan Gosling after Drive.

But what are your picks?

Jeff Nichols follows Take Shelter with another great picture

Mud, director Jeff Nichols’ newest film, is an ode to the South.  It’s almost like a modern day take of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and it also resembles last year’s Beasts of the Southern Wild and I even found some parts similar to No Country For Old Men.  Nichols’ previous picture, Take Shelter, was an extended metaphor to the current economic state.  While Mud is not as complex as that movie, it is no less accomplished and is a fine addition to Nichols’ filmography.

The story of Mud is about two fourteen year-olds from Arkansas named Ellis and Neckbone (newcomer Tye Sheridan and The Tree of Life’s Jacob Lofland respectively).  Ellis lives in a small house built on the water as his father is a local fisher.  One day, Ellis and Neckbone go out in the early morning to an island on the Mississippi River that has a boat lodged up in a tree.  They’re surprised to discover that someone actually lives in the boat.

That someone is Mud, played by Matthew McConaughey.  Mud, much like actual mud, is more than what meets the eyes.  He’s friendly to the two boys and asks them to help repair the boat and take it out of the tree.  But soon, Nichols exposes that Mud is an escaped convict, and Ellis and Neckbone get involved in a whole new series of events, involving a couple of bounty hunters and Mud’s girlfriend Juniper, played by Reese Witherspoon.

Mud is different than Take Shelter, but it is just as analytical.  Nichols examines his characters with a close eye and provides a fascinating, thoroughly engaging viewpoint for audiences.  Ellis is a lonely, emotionally conflicted child.  His parents are getting divorced and his home will be torn apart.  He looks up to Mud as a role model, seeing Mud’s relationship with Juniper close to his one with a girl about three years older than him.

Love is the core of Mud.  It’s what drives the characters.  Mud desperately wants to be with Juniper, and the boys look up to him with their own sign of friendship.  It’s quite an emotionally powerful movie delivered on such a small and intimate scale.  Nichols never attempts to bash sentimentalism to his audience and delivers one of the most moving pictures of the past few years.

In a way, Mud is a celebration of the South and nature itself.  As the boys go down the river, I was reminded of Huck and Jim rowing down the Mississippi River (Huck Finn), or Hushpuppy’s travels in the Bathtub (Beasts of the Southern Wild), and I even felt it was a smaller scale version of the boat scenes in Apocalypse Now.  Like Terrence Malick, Nichols sings of the praises of nature.  He pauses the camera in scenes allowing audiences to lap of the beauty of the landscape.

Mud’s central strength is its actors.  Matthew McConaughey has never been better than he has as Mud.  Both Sheridan and Lofland are great as the two boys.  While Reese Witherspoon’s given a smaller role, she’s fine as well.

Mud cements Jeff Nichols as one of the best contemporary filmmakers working today.  While Mud is not a flawless movie, it’s one that will surprise audiences and be well remembered.

This will not be a regular feature, but I have a few planned in the future.  I will have one written for The Office in a few weeks as well as some for Arrested Development, Twin Peaks, and King of the Hill.  Hopefully this will be popular enough to continue, as I would love to discuss some of my favorite shows.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master will certainly become a hot subject for critics

I can name a few off the top of the top of my head (I’m setting the time frame for the last three years).  My picks would be The Master, The Tree of Life, Amour, A Separation, and Drive.  The Master is a thought-provoking movie that proves director Paul Thomas Anderson’s skill as a master filmmaker.  The Tree of Life is a nonlinear movie that is a parallel to 2001, and Terrence Malick would have made Kubrick proud with this film.  Amour and A Separation are more conventional picks, but are no less well made.  And Drive‘s highly stylized visuals and smooth soundtrack will surely make it a cult classic.

But what are your picks?

Within the next two weeks or so, I will be swamped with work, which unfortunately means I will suspend my blogging for a while.  Don’t worry, I’ll continue my weekly questions and still try to comment on blogs.  Hopefully I’ll be back soon.