Seth Harris

End of 2011 Part 2 – Favorite TV I Watched

I watched a lot of television this year. If you’d like to know my thoughts about the first half of the year, that’s right here. Here’s what I thought about what I saw during the second half.

5) Enlightened Season 1 (Created by Mike White and Laura Dern)

I started out more excited over Bored to Death’s return to HBO, but ended the year anticipating what came next in this Laura Dern-led dramedy. Enlightened is a very difficult concept and I completely understand viewers who might be turned off. However, I think staying with the show pays off. The set up is that Amy, a cosmetics company executive, has a totally nervous breakdown in the wake of an affair with her colleague. Amy is the sort of character that is mocked and put into the background of most shows, but here we follow her in the wake of the breakdown. Enlightened succeeds in present a balanced view of the self-help society we live in. Its comedy is subtle and its characters are nuanced, a nice change of pace overall.

4) Workaholics Seasons 1 & 2 (Created by Anders Holm, Blake Anderson, Adam DeVine, and Kyle Newacheck)

I brushed this one off as another shitty Comedy Central attempt to appeal to the idiot demographic. Then I heard it mentioned by comedian Jimmy Dore in a favorable light and began to see friends online also praising it. That was enough to pique my curiosity and three days later I was kicking myself that I hadn’t been watching this from the beginning. Workaholics is the post-grad equivalent of Always Sunny or The Whitest Kids U Know with a plot and structure. Its not a work of comedic genius but it is a more enjoyable comedy than 99% of what is on the television these days. Despite what the ads would have you believe, this is a modern day Marx Brothers, three absurdist goofs becoming involved in ludicrous situations. Its surprisingly lacking in sexism as well, a VERY rare element in comedy these days.

3) American Horror Story Season 1 (Created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk)

I hate Glee. I didn’t care for Nip/Tuck. So I was shocked that a new series from the men who created both of those was so damn enjoyable. Yes, the season had its moment of ludicrous behavior and some contrived ways to stretch the plot out. There were episodes where nothing of significance happened. But, when I stand back and look at the season as a whole, I see an amazingly ambitious project. The announcement that Season 2 will be a completely new cast, new locale, and new type of horror has me loving it even more. The series is essentially a season long anthology or expanded mini-series. Each season will be one complete and singular horror story. The story possibilities can’t help but make me drool for news on what is waiting for us in the Fall.

2) Boardwalk Empire Season 2 (Created by Terence Winter)

The first season was a slow burn, but season two seemed to aim higher from the start. We appeared to be seeing the rise of Jimmy Darmody and the American mafia, while Nucky Thompson fell from grace. All the while, Irish immigrant Margaret Schroeder had a crisis of the soul. When everything came to its conclusion, I was left stunned. While Game of Thrones feeds the high quality soap operatic side of me, Boardwalk Empire is there for the more ambiguous and literary side of me. The penultimate episode of the season, which focused on flashbacks to Jimmy’s short lived stint at university, was painfully devastating. Coupled with the events of the finale, the season overall is a bleak set up for what will come next.

1) Breaking Bad Season 4 (Created by Vince Gilligan)

Breaking Bad is still the strongest show out there. Its the perfect combination of great writing and solid acting. I had never really joined the Aaron Paul/Jesse fandom till this season, but I found the character to really grow as a complex person. Walt almost seemed to take a backseat for a lot of the episodes this season, which payed off in the final two of the season. The moment that stands out for me is not the season ending reveal, but the moment where Walt lays in the crawlspace, having just learned a devastating detail and laughing insanely as the camera zooms out. That single moment packed more of a dramatic punch than some whole seasons of television.

Book Review – The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western

The Hawkline Monster: A Gothic Western by Richard Brautigan (1974)

Since college, I have developed a greater appreciation of the Western genre in film and literature. In particular, I enjoy the modern deconstructions of the genre (McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Once Upon a Time in America, Blood Meridian, etc.). I had never felt inclined to pick up anything by Richard Brautigan, having foolishly discounted him as a post-hippie literary author. While the novel is strongly post-modern and experimental, its also a pretty straightforward Western. Because there’s that rich layer underneath of deconstruction it makes the main story that much more interesting.

The plot is very light and concerns two guns for hire, Cameron and Greer, who are enthralled by a mysterious Native American girl, Magic Child whom leads them back to her family home in the Great Plains. There, they meet Mrs. Hawkline, the owner of the house and some strange blurring of identity occurs between Magic Child and Hawkline. The two gunmen are also told they are being hired to kill an unseen monster that lives in the ice caves that run underneath the house. All the while, Brautigan refers to a presence that moves through the house unseen.

The story is a fantasy that is concerned with the idea of doubles. There are characters that act as doubles and conversations routinely repeat, with characters entranced and unaware. The result is that our protagonists feel as though they are not progressing through the story. The expedition into the ice caves is constantly on the precipice of happening, but there is always a coincidental distraction that pulls them away. The result is an intentional frustration in the reader that ultimately pays off with the unconventional epilogue. This is not a novel for a casual reader, but for someone who wants an intellectual challenge.

End of 2011 Part 1 – Favorite Comics I Read

This was a big year in comics, particularly for DC which relaunched its entire line of books, meaning they cancelled everything and started over from issue one. As a result, I ended up becoming distant towards the company that used to dominate my list for favorite comics, and moving over to more Marvel fare.

Detective Comics #878 – 881 (Creators: Scott Snyder, Francesco Francavilla, Jock)

One of the few DC books I enjoyed was this final arc in the first volume of Detective Comics. Snyder really brought a sense of horror to the title and the sort of horror that truly hit home. While Gotham goes about its typical chaos, Jim Gordon Jr., the son of the Commissioner is hiding a dark secret. His cousin, Barbara (the former Batgirl, now Oracle) fails to convince Gordon about the sociopathic side of his son until its too late. Truly one of the best Batman stories of the decade.

Batwoman (Creators: J.H. Williams III, W. Haden Blackman)

The only title from the DC Comics relaunch that has really clicked with me, probably because these stories were written pre-re-launch. The series follows Kate Kane, the Batwoman, an heiress who fights crime in Gotham and isn’t just a “girl partner” to Batman. The series is made great thanks to Williams’ layouts which are unlike anything else coming from DC right now.

Avengers Academy (Creators: Christos Gage, Mike McKone)

I was probably least excited about this title during the big Avengers re-launch two years ago but it has grown to be my favorite of all the titles. I think it reminds me a lot of the old New Teen Titans issues I got my hands on in the 1990s. Its a simple fun series about some interesting characters. It also features some older heroes acting as teachers so you can have classic Marvel elements included from time to time (Quicksilver is an instructor, so his pop Magneto shows up one ish. My favorite part of this year was the weight they put on killing. One student, Mettle, has to kill an enemy during battle and its a plot line that carries on for the majority of the year as he struggles to deal with his actions.

Ultimate Comics Spider-Man (Creators: Brian Michael Bendis, Sara Pichelli)

While the media tried to turn this into a surface level “Spider-man Iz a Blacks Spanish Person!!! OMGZ” story, they ignored the fact that it was also a classic origin story. This was the perfect move to make the alt-verse Ultimate Spider-Man his own character and not have to simply be a parallel to the standard universe. The art and story here is perfect and feels fresh. This is the story you could hand to a kid and immediately have him hooked the way kids got hooked on Spidey back in the early 60s.

Wolverine & The X-Men (Creators: Jason Aaron, Chris Bachalo)

Speaking of fun, Jason Aaron, who I associated with darker work, has produced the most fun X-Men comic I have read in ages. Wolverine has split the X-Men proper and left their San Francisco island to re-start the Westchester School. Following him are Beast, Kitty Pryde, and Iceman as headmasters to a cast of adolescent mutants. The series is chock full of crazy ideas and it makes you groan when you come to the end of an issue, wanting to desperately get the next one in your hands.

Locke and Key (Creators: Joe Hill, Gabriel Rodriguez)

After Lost ended was despondent about what the next television series would be that evoked that same sense of mystery and questioning. Little did I know it would come in the form of a comic book series. Locke and Key is the story of a family’s dark secrets and house where a cache of keys each possess a magical effect. Looming over the family is a dark figure from the past who knows all the keys and how to manipulate them to achieve its ends, and is happy to kill whom ever gets in his way. One of the most exciting and intriguing comics published today.

Uncanny X-Force (Creators: Rick Remender, Jerome Opena, Robbi Rodriguez)

I never thought an X-title, much less an X-Force comic would top my favorites of the year list. Rick Remender, the mad bastard who came up with a Frankenstein-ed version of The Punisher last year, managed to take decades of convoluted and difficult continuity and turn it into an epic saga that even a novice comic reader could read and enjoy. The culmination of Remender’s story focused on the tragic Archangel was the first comic I have read in years that made me emotional. He gives a perfect superhero death scene that doesn’t go for crass shock and focuses on poignancy instead.

Watch Instantly Now!

Here are some great new films streaming on Netflix currently that you should check out.

The Trip (2010, dir. Michael Winterbottom) – Coogan and Brydon travel Northern England eating and doing impressions

The Last Exorcism (2010, dir. Daniel Stamm) – one of the few found footage horror films that isn’t completely terrible

Hell House (2001) – Docu about a church’s Halloween time religious fear based haunted house

A Town Called Panic (2009) – Bizarre French stop motion animated comedy

Nursery University (2008) – Docu about the ultra competitive preschool industry in NYC

Happy Go Lucky (2008) – Brit Mike Leigh’s character study of an unendingly exuberant young woman

Midnight Cowboy (1969) – Classic film starring Jon Voight and Dustin Hoffman

TV Review: American Horror Story

American Horror Story (created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk)
Starring Dylan McDermott, Connie Britton, Taissa Farmiga, Evan Peters, Denis O’Hare, Jessica Lange, Frances Conroy, Jamie Brewer

Horror is tricky genre to tackle on television. It traditionally ends up in the anthology format and the few occasions it hasn’t been an anthology it hasn’t stayed pure horror, typically becoming a drama with a horror veneer (Dark Shadows, The Walking Dead). The minds behind Glee and Nip/Tuck have decided to create a new horror serial that actually cements its legs firmly in the tropes of the genre. I have to admit, during the promotions of the show during the late summer I wasn’t really sold. However, after viewing the opening five minutes of the pilot I was hooked. Murphy and Falchuk have managed to create an ongoing series that actually gets what makes horror so horrific.

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Movie Review: Drive

Drive (2011, dir. Nicholas Winding Refn)
Starring Ryan Gosling, Cary Mulligan, Albert Brooks, Ron Perlman, Bryan Cranston, Christina Hendricks

There is a sort of anti-hero, noted in films like Jean-Pierre Melville’s Le Samourai or Sergio Leone’s Once Upon a Time in the West, who is the epitome of the strong silent type. So too in Nicholas Winding Refn’s Drive, we have the hero who chooses to act, rather than speak. Its also a role that matches so perfectly with its star, Ryan Gosling, its hard to imagine anyone else playing the part (Hugh Jackman was attached for a time). Drive is a deceptive film in its public perception, having been marketed as a Fast & The Furious analogue, though it is anything but. Drive is a methodical, existential, and ultimately pop 80s movie.

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Digital Mix – 30 Years and Counting

A mix of songs that have been soundtrack-ing my life lately via iPod. Download here.

1. Midnight City – M83
2. D.A.N.C.E. – Justice
3. How Deep Is Your Love – The Bird and The Bee
4. We Rule the School – Belle & Sebastian
5. Colours – Calvin Harris
6. Our Deal – Best Coast
7. The Body – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
8. Go Outside – Cults
9. Life in the D – Brendan Benson
10. Everytime – Oi Va Voi
11. We Are Walking Out – Little Scout
12. Big Red Machine – Bon Iver
13. Did You See the Words – Animal Collective
14. You Came Out – We Have a Band
15. Quand on n’a Que L’amour – Jacques Brel
16. Many Rivers to Cross – Jimmy Cliff

Film Review – Red, White, & Blue

Red, White, & Blue (2010, dir. Simon Rumley)
Starring Noah Taylor, Amanda Fuller, Mark Senter

British director Simon Rumley seems intent on shredding every last ounce of emotional energy I have. As you can read in my review of his 2006 film, The Living and The Dead, he is able to present a psychological horror film unlike any you will ever see. Here too, in Red, White, & Blue, Rumley takes the revenge/gore film made popular in 1970s and still alive and strong today, and goes down avenues no mainstream picture would ever think about. The result is another film that hammers itself into your mind and squeeze every ounce of composure from your soul. The last fifteen minutes left my heart pounding and my head feeling dizzy, shocked at the level of physical gore and psychological torment.

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Film Review – Sherman’s March

Sherman’s March: A Meditation on the Possibility of Romantic Love In the South During an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation (1986, dir. Ross McElwee)

When you think of Civil War documentaries none is more prominent than Ken Burns’ aptly titled The Civil War mega-series of the 1990s. It was an incredibly detailed and exhaustive look at an event that reshaped America and is still felt today. This is not that sort of documentary. Ross McElwee is a Southern filmmaker born into the war-haunted landscape of North Carolina. He begins the film with an honorable premise, attempting to travel the path of destruction Union General William Tecumseh Sherman left across the South. This quickly crumbles when McElwee’s girlfriend breaks up with him to go back to her ex. Suddenly, the tone of the film shifts into a bizarre examination of women in the South mixed with occasional delves into the original premise of the picture.

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Film Review – Submarine

Submarine (2010, dir. Richard Ayoade)
Starring Craig Roberts, Yasmin Page, Noah Taylor, Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine

The directorial debut of British comedic actor Richard Ayoade has drawn unfair criticism for “being too much like Rushmore or Amelie”. Its easy to see how you could mistake this film for something like that, but after viewing the film it becomes apparent Ayoade has made an homage to French New Wave cinema. Ayoade takes those hipster affectations he’d being excused of exploiting, and actually frames them in a poignant look at the hyper-urgency of the adolescent mind.

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