42 Inch Television

Some Thoughts On 'The Office'

Fri, 17 May 2013 19:03:00 -0400

“The people you work with are people you were just thrown together with. You don’t know them — it wasn’t your choice — and yet you spend more time with them then you do your friends or your family. But probably all you’ve got in common is the fact that you walk around on the same bit of carpet for eight hours a day,” this is Tim Canterbury’s wonderful speech from the Christmas special of Ricky Gervais’ original series, “The Office.” “And so, obviously, when someone comes in who you … you have a connection with … yeah. Dawn was a ray of sunshine in my life and it meant a lot. But, if I’m really being honest I never really thought it would have a happy ending. I don’t know what a happy ending is. Life isn’t about endings, is it? It’s a series of moments. It’s not if, you know, if you turn the camera off it’s not an ending, is it? I’m still here, my life’s not over. Come back here in 10 years, see how I’m doing then. Because I could be married with kids, you don’t know. Life just goes on.”

Life just going on was the basic theme of the U.S. version of “The Office,” which started as a Gus Van Sant-y shot-for-shot remake of Gervais’ then-superior series and turned into something else entirely. Like this: “I thought it was weird when you picked us to make a documentary, but all in all, I think an ordinary paper company like Dunder Mifflin was a great subject for a documentary. There’s a lot of beauty in ordinary things. Isn’t that kind of the point?”

Pam (Jenna Fisher) issued that miniature soliloquy at the end of “The Office” on Thursday night, one of the many miniature soliloquies that were peppered throughout the final moments of the series. It was a meta moment, really, as before “The Office” became “The Office,” Fisher, John Krasinski, Ed Helms, Ellie Kemper, Craig Robinson, Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak, among the rest of the talented cast, were simply ordinary things. The beauty was how “The Office” turned them into stars.

The finale of “The Office” — and actually all nine seasons of the show — went deeper than that, of course. Gervais stopped his series with Tim and Dawn finally getting together; U.S. show creator Greg Daniels went a step further. He allowed “The Office” to show what happened after the fairy tale romance, when ordinary became the base line. Jim and Pam were always soul mates, but during this final season things were slightly askew. But rather than have them break up, “The Office” went with the idea that stuff happens and the strong couples make it through the muck with an even deeper bond. As Pam said, the Halpert-Beasley union wound up being better than a fairy tale.

“I wish there was a way to know you’re in the good old days before you’ve actually left them,” Andy (Helms) said during the finale, a line reminiscent of Tony Soprano’s “focus on the good times” speech to A.J. in the final season of “The Sopranos.” That’s basically “The Office,” too. The finale counted as episodes 200 and 201, an output that — spread out over nine years — yielded some really spectacular moments. It also yielded some really spectacular duds. (Most of the eighth season was trash; the ninth season, however, was one of the strongest.) Through it all, “The Office” was sometimes ordinary, sometimes mundane, sometimes crass, but often beautiful, smart and funny. The great parts of “The Office” wouldn’t fit onto just one cell phone; two family plans are required to properly eulogize this series.

“No matter how you get there or where you end up, human beings have this miraculous gift to make that place home,” Creed, of all people, said in the finale, thus summing up what so many felt about “The Office.” Then he got hauled off to jail.

"I asked her to name her favorite comedies, expecting something by Woody Allen, with whom she’s been..."

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:48:16 -0400

“I asked her to name her favorite comedies, expecting something by Woody Allen, with whom she’s been compared (“That’s very nice, but not very nice to him,” she said), but instead she listed three films by Martin Scorsese: “The King of Comedy,” “After Hours” and “Goodfellas.” “I mean, they kill people and you’re laughing,” she said. “I love psychotic people. I’ve always dreamed about being Joe Pesci in ‘Goodfellas.’”

- Julie Delpy, hero.

“J.J. just wanted it to feel like we weren’t in a...

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:14:22 -0400

“J.J. just wanted it to feel like we weren’t in a ‘Star Trek’ movie. It was a very conscious decision to make that base sound different; then, from there, we were able to evolve to our theme for the character. I remember when J.J. heard it, he said, ‘Oh, it sounds English. That’s perfect!’ I’m not exactly sure what that meant, but in his mind it fit perfectly. I was just going for something that felt emotional and questioning as opposed to being so direct that it tells you what’s going on.”

Bucket lister: Spoke to Michael Giacchino about the “Star Trek Into Darkness” score and being awesome.

“Fast & Funke 6.”

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:19:20 -0400

“Fast & Funke 6.”

Michael Zegen: Future That Guy

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:10:51 -0400

Michael Zegen: Future That Guy:

Fans of cable television shows like “Boardwalk Empire” should have no trouble recognizing actor Michael Zegen. Part of the next generation of “that guys” — those character actors who show up in what seems like everything — Zegen has appeared on “The Sopranos,” “How To Make It In America,” “Rescue Me,” “The Walking Dead,” and, most recently, the aforementioned “Boardwalk Empire,” where he plays mobster Bugsy Siegel.

He gets off some of the best lines in “Frances Ha.” See it!

Spoke to Elizabeth Debicki, who basically steals “The...

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:12:31 -0400

Spoke to Elizabeth Debicki, who basically steals “The Great Gatsby” from all its A-list talent with a few sassy looks. “Here I am tantalizing you …”

"You’re sort of like, I feel sick and I kind of can’t believe this and it’s..."

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:38:52 -0400

“You’re sort of like, I feel sick and I kind of can’t believe this and it’s hilarious, but I also feel dirty, like I want to take a bath.”

- Spoke to Greta Gerwig for the third time in 15 months, this time about the luminous “Frances Ha.” We discussed “Spring Breakers,” because that’s what you do now.

On Toldjas & Trades

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:35:00 -0400

On Toldjas & Trades:

Despite reports last week from THR and Variety that Joe Wright was the front-runner to direct the upcoming “Fifty Shades of Grey” adaptation for Universal and Focus Features, Deadline.com’s Mike Fleming has shot down the idea with the site’s signature “Toldja!” Per Fleming, Wright’s schedule “doesn’t work” with the “Fifty Shades” time frame; Universal chairman Adam Fogelson told THR back in February that the adaptation of E L James’ best-selling S&M novel could arrive in theaters as early as next summer.

Hamm’s face.

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:03:40 -0400

Hamm’s face.

On the myth of Leonardo DiCaprio’s...

Mon, 13 May 2013 09:23:45 -0400

On the myth of Leonardo DiCaprio’s post-“Titanic” box office slump; or, not every movie is going to make as much money as “Titanic.”

Well, this is awesome.

Sun, 12 May 2013 19:53:23 -0400

Well, this is awesome.

Some Thoughts On 'Fruitvale Station' & 'The Butler'

Sat, 11 May 2013 00:06:00 -0400

It’s not easy being The Weinstein Company. Harvey Weinstein’s Oscar factory has so many contenders on its calendar each year that it’s hard to find enough room for all the films. Consider 2012, which saw The Weinstein Company release future Oscar nominees like “The Master,” “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Django Unchained.” There’s a similar logjam lined up for this year, which is why it’s not all that surprising to read that TWC moved Lee Daniels’ “The Butler” from its Oct. 18 date to Aug. 16. That shift pushes “The Butler” away from a trio of high-profile releases for the studio: “August: Osage County” (Nov. 8), “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” (Nov. 29) and “Grace of Monaco” (Dec. 27). Toss in the currently undated “The Immigrant” with Joaquin Phoenix and Marion Cotillard in leading roles, and that’s a lot of year-end firepower. “The Butler,” on Oct. 18, quite possibly would have been lost in that shuffle; on Aug. 16, it could become a box office hit like “The Help.”

That said, maybe moving “The Butler” to Aug. 16 wasn’t such a good idea, at least as far as awards are concerned. To wit: TWC has Sundance favorite “Fruitvale Station” coming out on July 26, a mere three weeks before “The Butler.” Won’t that proximity threaten both films when all is said and done?

Well, probably not. It bears watching, though, to see whether TWC will move “Fruitvale Station” as well.

UPDATE: TWC moved the limited release of “Fruitvale Station” up to July 12.

Kase combined “Mean Girls” and “The Great...

Fri, 10 May 2013 17:29:12 -0400

Kase combined “Mean Girls” and “The Great Gatsby” and it’s great.

Only been waiting for this since 2006.

Thu, 09 May 2013 20:55:21 -0400

Only been waiting for this since 2006.

Yikes

Fri, 03 May 2013 19:12:00 -0400

Yikes:

May 3, 2013 – NEW YORK – Today, Jay Penske—Founder, Chairman and CEO of Penske Media Corporation (PMC), which owns the Movieline brand—announced website Movieline.com’s reinvention.

Some Thoughts On 'Iron Man 3'

Fri, 03 May 2013 15:38:00 -0400

“Iron Man 3” is not just a great Marvel movie, it’s a great movie movie. Crisp, fun and filled with legitimate surprises, Shane Black’s second effort as a director is like a large-scale remake of “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” constricted only by the demands of Marvel mythology and Disney accountants. It’s a welcome relief, especially after the feeling of rote box-checking in Joss Whedon’s “Marvel’s The Avengers,” an adequate blockbuster that threw a lot of balls into the air at once and only caught a few as they fell.

“Iron Man 3,” by contrast, doesn’t really try to do that much. The story here is very self-contained: After the events of “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is facing a crisis of conscience and a low-grade case of post-traumatic stress disorder. Over the course of the film, Stark must battle his own demons and solve a small mystery: Who is the evil terrorist The Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley) and what does he want to accomplish? This is Johnny Gossamer in a tin suit.

Going small, however, is big for the movie: Black, perhaps unlike Whedon, doesn’t seem to regard these superhero movies in any sort of esteemed way; he’s more than happy to take the piss out of expected comic book conventions time and again. (The film’s coda, in fact, almost renders the entire movie moot.)

In that regard, “Iron Man 3” is like “Ocean’s 12,” Steven Soderbergh’s underrated masterpiece, which shredded the blueprint for making an easy, audience-pleasing sequel. “Iron Man 3” takes a flamethrower to the Marvel structure, yet leaves the foundation intact just enough so that future directors can rebuild by using the ashes. (Credit for this can also go to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, who understands the value of this brand but knows he can rest on its laurels.) The result is the best superhero movie since “The Dark Knight” and a crowning achievement that might be tough for other summer movies to beat. All hail Iron Man.

“Pain and Gain” is a pretty good movie that actually...

Thu, 02 May 2013 11:44:00 -0400

“Pain and Gain” is a pretty good movie that actually could have been great. In fact, that’s one of it’s biggest flaws: It should be much better, but Michael Bay seems to have taken the kitchen-sink approach. Cut by 30-40 minutes, and this is a black comedy classic. (See “Spring Breakers” for how this material, cut shorter, could have been incredible.)

One of the highlights of the film, however, is Steve Jablonsky’s score. It’s certainly one of the best of the year, alongside Brian Tyler’s ridiculous and perfect “Iron Man 3” score. I spoke to Jablonsky about working with Bay on “Pain and Gain.” Check it out here.

Some Thoughts On Theresa Rebeck's Email To BuzzFeed

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:03:00 -0400

Almost four months after that great BuzzFeed piece on “Smash,” Theresa Rebeck emailed BuzzFeed with some complaints. Funny thing: Outside of her request to pull the piece down, she actually sounds pretty reasonable. Rebeck even notes that she’d be willing to discuss the entire thing on the record, so long as she wasn’t sandbagged. Not that anyone would care, though, since they’re all too busy LOL at what a weird clown Rebeck is for writing the email in the first place. Pause here for one of those “Smash” eye rolls.

"For every “Toy Story 3,” which is to say every great part three, there are many, many,..."

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:26:52 -0400

“For every “Toy Story 3,” which is to say every great part three, there are many, many, many less-than-great part threes. Threequels as some people call them. I was hyper-focused on not falling into the trap of the threequel. We wanted to mix it up; I wanted this film to be as unique and surprising as the first “Iron Man” film.”

- Spoke to Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige about the awesome “Iron Man 3,” the future of Tony Stark and lots more. This one was awesome and great.

“What if we took Michael Giacchino’s ‘Incredibles’ theme and...

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 10:44:00 -0400

“What if we took Michael Giacchino’s ‘Incredibles’ theme and made it MORE jaunty?” Someone amazing / Shane Black.