Day Three Hundred and Twenty-two - Rowan Atkinson Live! "Oh, well... I'm sorry... I didn't, um... right."

I know it's sacrilege, but I'm really not all that much of a fan of Mr.Bean... and Blackadder could be hit or miss, depending on the episode... and don't even get me started on Johnny English (poor Gillian Anderson). Still, it's not that I don't think Rowan Atkinson is a good comedy writer/performer, it's just that his schtick generally isn't my thing.

To be honest, I could really see the wit and humor that went into the majority of the sketches in LIVE, but I just never really felt like laughing. In fact, for the entirety of the performance, I'm pretty sure that I only chuckled a few times... and never outright laughed out loud. There were many jokes that brought a smile to my face, but that's about it.

Standout performances for the set I think were the dating sketch, the three-part wedding sequence, and the acting class bit that rounds out the show. I was especially fond of that last one due to all of the hammy, melodramatic pantomiming. Good stuff, but as I mentioned before, just amusing.

On the flip side, I really had a problem with his Indian Restaurant bit where he playacts being a server, complete with wardrobe and accent, to a bunch of drunk of their ass football fans. Sure, it's comedy, but I found it blatantly offensive. I mean, at least he didn't cork his face, but it was still pretty bad.

I think, if you're a big fan of his physical comedy, this show will be up your alley, but it didn't do anything for me. Maybe I'm just too much of a comedy snob of late, as it seems like most of the routines that I watch just aren't up to my standards.

Hmm... a little light in the bytes, today. Just not much to say about this show, unfortunately. Oh well.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~

Leaving the Queue: "Not quite as bad as last time, but still... a shame."

It's that time again, as little red dates have started showing up in the columns of my Instant Queue.

Yes, it's time to say goodbye to several titles that are leaving Netflix in a much lamentable fashion (well, at least for some). A few are tremendous, a few are just idle curiosities, and at least one is a Saturday Matinee that is only worth watching with friends.

Still, I'm sad to see all of these go... for one reason or another... but, let's get started.

Fire and Ice

Ralph Bakshi, love him or hate him, has created some of the most iconic feature-length animation in the history of the medium. Instead of forcing animation to be kid's fare, he very purposefully has created adult content, telling mature-audience stories for almost half a century at this point... though, his heydays were definitely in the 70's and 80's.

Telling an epic, but lowbrow, fantasy tale of the likes you'd see in Heavy Metal magazine, Fire and Ice is a rotoscoped sword and sorcery epic very much in the vein of Conan or Krull. It's hard to describe other than violent and sexual, with an eye for buxom damsels and buff adventurers.

The film itself can definitely be hit or miss depending on the viewer, but I like it for its AD&D mentality and liberal sexuality.

Paper Man

Moving on, we get Jeff Daniels, Ryan Reynolds, and Emma Stone in a slightly surreal tale about a previously successful writer (Daniels) suffering from massive writer's block who moves away from the city in order to find some semblance of peace, both from the pressure of his unfinished followup novel and the delusion that he has an imaginary superhero best friend (Reynolds) who is there to buck him up.

Along the way he meets a teen (Stone) with her own mental issues and the two form an unlikely bond over mild insanity and writing.

I like Paper Man both for its cast and its premise, though I can never rightly get behind the imaginary friend angle. Maybe if Reynolds' super hero weren't quite so over the top and more subtle like Kieran Culkin's Christopher.

An interesting movie, if not tremendous.

The 10th Kingdom

Now this one is a real shame, I think.

Cuter and sweeter than it's darker successors (Grimm and Once Upon A Time), The 10th Kingdom follows a young New Yorker who crosses over into the land of fairy tales and find adventure, mystery, and romance in what could easily pass as a well staged Renn Faire.

Bearing the same story crossovers of most modern fantasy films and series (Shrek, Fables, etc.), The 10th Kingdom was a ten hour NBC mini-series that had shockingly good production value for its era. With the mentality of Alice in Wonderland meets Grimm's Fairy Tales, the series pulled quite a few guest stars including Ann-Margaret, Ed O'Neill, and Dianne Wiest... as well as lead/supporting roles for Kimberley Williams, John Larroquette, and Scott Cohen.

It's saccharinly sweet, but very entertaining... alas, I just never found the time.

Shout-out to my sister, Erin, as this is one of her favorite series.

As Good As It Gets

This Oscar-winner is probably the most disappointing to lose.

Probably my favorite film of Nicholson's career, aside from The Shining, As Good As It Gets tells the tale of successful writer, but unsuccessful human being, Melvin who struggles to deal both with his OCD and his horrible personal skills (sound like anyone you know, dear readers?) in the face of relationship drama as his tries to woo the only woman who can seem to stand him (Helen Hunt) while trying to be a good friend and neighbor to the down on his luck Greg Kinnear.

If ever there was a Tsundere character in American Cinema, I think it would be Melvin... and I definitely think that it deserved the Oscar noms and nods that it got.

I think I could've done without Fat Harold Ramis, though... man, he really let himself go in the 90's.

Rat Race

Last, but not least, is Rat Race.

Well, maybe it is least, in this select group of films as I honestly enjoyed all of them (including Fire and Ice) more than I did Rat Race, but still... it's an okay movie.

Set in the vein of It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Cannonball Run, Rat Race is a thousand mile road-race movie in which a group of random tourists in Vegas are selected by John Cleese and his henchmen to compete for a two million dollar prize... all so that, unknowing to the competitors, the super-rich can bet on their progress, or lack thereof, or... well, anything, really.

It's a silly ensemble piece that pulls from plenty of fine folks including Whoopi Goldberg, Rowan Atkinson, Seth Green, Kathy Najimy, John Lovitz, and many more, with cameo bits for a plethora of familiar faces.

Often silly, occasionally very stupid (a Smash Mouth finisher?), Rat Race is a cute little matinee movie that is fairly safe for families to enjoy together even as it is unabashedly shallow in just about every aspect. Still, it's great to see all these funny people working on a fun movie.


And, yeah... I think that's it.  A mostly sad day as several excellent films and series make their adieus (along with several other "meh" films) in what has become a regular, lamentable cycle, as titles drop off the stream.

See you, Space Cowboys.

Day One Hundred and Thirty - Blackadder: Series 1, Episode 1, "Shakespeare for the really rather thick."

The Brits seem to have two sorts of comedy... subtle and damned straight-forward.

Blackadder occasionally tickles the former, but most often is entrenched in the latter, spewing forth obvious sarcasm and bald insults. In that, it very much is like theater, going for the direct method in reaching the funny bone.

The first series is set in medieval England in an alternate history where Richard III won Bosworth Field against Henry Tudor, but was beheaded as a common horsethief by the first Blackadder (who is always played by Rowan Atkinson). After quite a bit of panic, Edmund the Black Adder gains courage in the fact that he hasn't been found out in assassinating the king and plots to take the throne from his father, Richard IV (Brian Blessed), while he is off on a Crusade to the Holy Land.

Blackadder the First has Edmund starting out as a simpering coward who sort of grows into his malicious ways, becoming bolder but still prone to panic and easily discoverable lies and deceptions if anyone bothered to check. In later series he's purely an arrogant, sarcastic courtier who clearly deserves to be thwarted, but this first iteration actually gains my sympathy. Sure, I think he still deserves to have his schemes torn down around him, but his betters aren't all that sympathetic.

Also ever present are series mainstays Baldrick (Tony Robinson) and Lord Percy (Tim McInnerny) who are both a bit dim, though the former is always ready to support Blackadder's plots and the latter is too stupid to notice he's being taken advantage of.

I do like the series.

Sure, it hams up the Shakespeare quite a bit, particularly in this first episode where Peter Cook and Brian Blessed recite familiar lines with the occasional twist, but there's something fun about its simplistic humor. Rarely are the quips high comedy, but those that are please and aren't overshadowed by the lowbrow.

Production value-wise, Blackadder is your typical BBC fare for the era, ranking higher (at least, in my estimation) than Dr.Who. It's all dated, to be sure, but it is still fun in that dinner theater sort of fashion.

Don't get me wrong, though... the "dinner theater" bit isn't an insult. It's oddly great how rough it all is, even down to Peter Cook's green-screened head. There's just something quaint about the technical limitations that adds a sort of savor to the production.

I think Blackadder is one of those series that's best seen as a late-night, wind-down feature as you're getting ready for bed. It doesn't strain the brain or nerves and is suitably pleasing joke-wise. Not something that really gets you going, but good when you're dozing. It's certainly no Monty Python... but it ain't bad, really.

Until tomorrow, Potatoes~