Mini-Review: Ben and Kate Season 1 Episode 1 'Pilot'

Little sitcoms like this fly under the radar and don’t do very well every year. I hope that isn’t how it works out for ‘Ben and Kate’ though because I actually quite liked it.

Throughout Kate Fox’s life her brother Ben has always dropped in on her and lodged at inopportune times. Now a single mother, Kate receives another visit from Ben who has come to stay with her on his mission to reunite with his ex-girlfriend.

The premise at first seems a little shaky but the episode is very well written for a sitcom and its cast do a great job fleshing out their roles even when given a small amount of time to do so. It sometimes plays it a little too safe with a joke or two but honestly quite a lot of shows are guilty of this same flaw, most handle it noticeably worse than this show. Dana Fox, the creator of 'Ben and Kate', has crafted a lovable comedy that when not entertaining its audience with deft humour, actually has a meaningful message about family that isn’t sickeningly executed.

Nat Faxon (who recently received an Academy Award for his part in writing the excellent 2011 George Clooney vehicle ‘The Descendants’) is a terrific leading man for this pleasant comedy. His portrayal of Ben Fox is believable and hilarious all at once and Faxon’s excellent delivery as well as his chemistry with co-star Dakota Johnson, who plays Kate, is fantastic. The only bad thing to be said about Faxon in this episode is that he so drastically outshines Johnson that her performance is left feeling cold and stale and therefore slightly out of place in this well crafted show.

I don’t remember seeing a supporting cast shine as much in a comedy from just one episode as I’ve seen here. Lucy Punch is colourful and slightly unhinged in the role of Kate’s friend BJ whilst Echo Kellum’s Tommy proves the perfect match to Faxon’s Ben, his performance is slightly reminiscent of Richard Ayoade’s Moss from ‘The IT Crowd’ yet entirely Kellum’s own creation.

Sitcoms such as this don’t normally appeal to me; they usually just aren’t my preference for comedic television. However I have to admit that I’ve succumbed to the charms of ‘Ben and Kate’, it’s a genuinely funny show with great characters combined with great actors and if it keeps this quality up then I can see myself watching it for a while yet.

Mini-Review: Elementary Season 1 Episode 1 'Pilot'

Let me get one thing out of the way first, this is certainly not going to be a ‘Sherlock’ beater, it doesn’t have the writing, actors or vision to do anything of that sort. But what ‘Elementary’ can do is be an ideal replacement for endlessly repetitive shows like ‘CSI’ and ‘Law and Order’, the reason for that is that ‘Elementary’ features characters with actual depth, a more than capable lead actor and noticeably superior writing to its rivals.

Sherlock Holmes, a recovering drug addict, is assigned a companion, Joan Watson, to monitor his narcotics recovery. Watson accompanies Holmes in his job as a consultant for the NYPD and discovers both her subject’s incredible intellect and her own aptitude for the occupation.

Television shows that have 24 episode seasons never truly have a solid season arc so the viewer has to be prepared for several case-of-the-week style episodes in order to get episodes that delve into the deeper aspects of the show’s characters. Thankfully ‘Elementary’ shows that it can deliver actually interesting case-of-the-week episode that additionally include some character development.

The writing here is clearly smarter than other shows of the same genre, however if compared to the excellence of ‘Sherlock’ it suddenly doesn’t seem nearly as impressive. There is no denying that the idea for this series was plagiarised from the aforementioned ‘Sherlock’ (and if that isn’t the case and the creator simply did not do enough research to discover the existence of ‘Sherlock’ then that is just as bad) but nevertheless it attempts to distance itself from its vastly superior older brother.

Jonny Lee Miller’s portrayal of Sherlock Holmes is certainly worthwhile and couldn’t be considered a copy of Benedict Cumberbatch’s interpretation. Whilst Miller’s Sherlock is twisted in a different way than Cumberbatch’s, I still have to admit that there is simply no competition between the two as the ‘Sherlock’ actor comes out on top no matter what way you look at it. What Cumberbatch benefits from though is that he is provided with consistently (for the most part) superb writing where as Miller, even in this pilot episode, struggles to perfect his performance whilst incorporating the awfully textbook “tortured genius” clichés present in the script.

Lucy Liu’s Watson should not even be mentioned in the same breath as Martin Freeman’s portrayal of the character, Liu does an adequate job with a new take on the classic character but the change of Watson’s gender too much screams “Look we made Watson a woman, aren’t we original?” rather than feeling like a natural alteration.

‘Elementary’ features some smart writing and Jonny Lee Miller at his best. As I said earlier it won’t be a ‘Sherlock’ beater but at this point at least I am not too opposed to the idea of both existing simultaneously, a huge change from how I felt about this a matter of months ago.

Mini-Review: The Campaign

It seems like a great idea to have two of the most popular comedic actors around share a movie together whilst also mocking the world of politics. It is, but not as much as you would hope.

Congressman Cam Brady is about to run for his fifth term in congress for the 14^th district of North Carolina, Cam is unopposed until political unknown Marty Huggins enters the race under advisement from his father and his fellow corrupt businessmen who want to use Marty to further their own financial interests. Cam and Marty soon become tough rivals and resort to increasingly dirtier tactics in order to sabotage each other’s campaign.

Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis are the real draw for this movie so it’s just as well that they are great in it. Both are given equally zany characters and it really is a hilarious thing to watch them both descend deeper into political mud slinging throughout the movie. Dylan McDermott and Jason Sudeikis both shine in supporting roles as Galifianakis’s and Ferrell’s respective campaign managers and match the two leads in terms of comedy.

The humour of the film is thankfully not restricted in terms of its age rating so there are plenty of hilarious jokes aimed at a mature audience. The script is very clever in some parts of the movie and excels thanks to its unlimited capacity to go to “that place”. However a huge portion of the characters in the film are so minimally written that they barely register as a human being whilst others are so hammily developed that they take the viewer out of the scene completely.

With a movie like this it is almost always a given that it will end up being a mediocre affair that has been built up to audiences through its trailer, and that upon viewing the film they discover that all of its comedic highlights were in the previews. One thing I can say for sure about ‘The Campaign’ in regards to that is this, it is a funnier film than its trailer but it is not as funny as you want it to be.

Mini-Review: Donnie Brasco

A mafia movie starring Al Pacino and Johnny Depp based on a true story that takes place in the 70s complete with gritty characters and classic music. Now that’s a recipe for a great movie.

Undercover FBI agent Joseph Pistone is tasked with infiltrating the Bonanno Crime family in New York City during the 1970s whilst using the name Donnie Brasco. As Pistone becomes more and more involved in the family’s affairs he struggles to retain his integrity as an FBI agent whilst posing as a criminal, knowing all the while that the slightest mistake could blow his cover and put himself and his family in serious danger.

‘Donnie Brasco’ is one of the better mafia movies around; this is primarily due to its excellent script and sensational acting leads. Since the film is based on a true story it becomes all the more gripping and engrossing, this form of hyperrealism in a gangster movie had only been seen before in ‘Goodfellas’ and ‘Donnie Brasco’ equals Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece in every way.

Pacino demonstrates his masterful skill in acting as he switches up the audience’s perception of his stereotypical role. Rather than playing a high-ranking mobster Pacino instead plays the low level member of the family named Lefty. Playing this character grants Pacino the opportunity to play someone who is not holding all the cards and in control, but rather as his character states “simply a spoke on the wheel”. His work as Lefty is magnificent and the vulnerability Pacino adds to the role takes the viewer on  a journey to feel the same emotional connection for the mobster that Johnny Depp’s character goes through.

‘Donnie Brasco’ is one of the classics of the genre and one thing is for certain, don’t “Forget about it”.

Mini-Review: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

There’s a kind of an ongoing battle in animated films right now, it’s Pixar versus everything else. ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ is firmly on the side of everything else but will it be able to change the tide of the battle and pull one over on the guys at Pixar?

In the town of Swallow Falls, a town famous for its sardine fishing and exports, a young man named Flint Lockwood (Bill Hader) has always wanted to be an inventor, ever since he was a little boy Flint has always dreamt up solutions to the problems facing his fellow citizens. Despite his desire to aid people, Flint was often laughed at due to his malfunctioning inventions and was forced to abandon his dream of becoming a full-time inventor in order to help his father run his fishing bait shop. When the sole export of Swallow Falls, sardines, becomes unwanted by the world, the town’s inhabitants are left with the remaining fish to eat as their primary source of food. Sensing a solution to the issue, Flint creates a device that could save his town from distasteful food by turning water into food of any choice. However Flint soon learns the consequences of getting too much of a good thing as the town overindulges on its newfound miracle.

The film possesses a very imaginative story filled with lots of diverse and interesting characters and through embracing its fantastical storyline the film actually serves to hit closer to home with its plot than the otherworldly adventures present in most other animated movies.

The movie has a really great cast including comedic experts such as Bill Hader and Andy Samberg as well as the iconic Bruce Campbell and the legendary James Caan. A slightly unusual addition to the cast was Mr. T who plays the role of the town cop Earl, it’s difficult to know if it’s Mr. T acting or Mr. T playing Mr. T (I’m also quite certain that the two are the same thing) nevertheless he fits well into the cast of the film, each of whom impress in their respective roles.

Thanks to it's very talented cast and the witty moments present in the script ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ is definitely funny, however it isn't what could be considered to be laugh out loud funny. Some of the animation in the film is beautifully realised but other aspects of it such as that of the characters is thoroughly unimpressive and does not compare to that of character animations from Pixar.

The allegory for mass consumption present in the film is not a subtle one and it often gets preachy to a degree that the film could be considered quite passive aggressive to its audience.

For 90 minutes this movie will entertain you but sadly I don’t see why I would ever revisit it because when put plainly, ‘Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs’ just doesn’t match up to Pixar’s genius.