My Top Ten Episodes of 2007-2008

Below, find my top ten episodes for the 2007-2008 television season below, in no particular order.  A few spoilers lie ahead, including the ending of "The Sopranos."

Pushing Daisies, "Pie-lette" - Barry Sonnenfeld and Bryan Fuller joined forces to bring us one of the most beautiful television series ever created, this hyper-stylized fairy tale world where a lovelorn pie-maker has the ability to bring the dead back to life.  The cast is great, and writing is fun, but the production design and cinematography are what make this premiere especially memorable.  The rest of the show, sadly, never quite lived up to it.  

The Sopranos, "Made in America" - I nearly picked "Heidi and Kennedy" for Christopher, but the impact of "Made in America" helped to burnish the show's reputation in a way that keeps it in the public consciousness to this day.  What happened after the screen cut to black?  Is Tony dead?  If so, who got him?  In the end it doesn't matter.  Whether Tony survives this outing or not, the pattern of his life and his inevitable fate are already set in stone.

30 Rock, "Rosemary's Baby" - As a "Star Wars" fan, I'm as glad to see Carrie Fisher guest starring as anyone.  However, it's useless to claim that this episode isn't here because of one specific scene - Jack Donaghy taking over Tracy's therapy session with a glorious "Good Times" inspired rant that gives him the excuse to say "chifforobe."  Is it racist?  Is it in bad taste?  Absolutely, but it's so sensationally done, all I could do was marvel at its existence.

Mad Men, "The Wheel" - The Carousel pitch is one of the high points of "Mad Men," putting Don Draper's talent for dream-building and self-deception on full display.  Meanwhile, his marriage is in trouble, his family is on edge, and it will shock you how much "this never happened."  The first season of "Mad Men" is still one of the best seasons of television ever made, and "The Wheel" is a great exemplar for why it resonates so deeply.

South Park, "Britney's New Look" - "South Park" was really good at occasionally delivering social critique in a way that made the message stick.  So it goes with the incredibly dark episode where Britney Spears attempts to commit suicide but survives with most of her head blown off.  This doesn't dissuade the paparazzi or the media apparatus at all.  And the boys learn that modern pop stardom is the new form of ritual human sacrifice, because of course it is.

The Wire, "-30-" - I love that epic ending montage that checks in with so many characters, but what I find so striking about the final episode is that so much is left unresolved.  Many fates are left up in the air and the only real resolution is that the cycles of crime, poverty, corruption, and institutional dysfunction will go on with a new generation.  There's some hope offered, but little justice.  I'd love another season, but no ending will be more fitting.

The IT Crowd, "The Work Outing" - It may not be the best episode of "The IT Crowd," but it's the one that everyone remembers.  Generally gay panic themed media hasn't aged well over the past two decades, but this one is still a lot of fun.  I'd call the depiction of "Gay!: A Gay Musical" over the top, except that the satire is pretty spot-on, honestly.  Roy and Moss's antics at the theater are exactly what they should be, with a perfect comeuppance.

Breaking Bad, "And the Bag's in the River" - I picked the third episode of "Breaking Bad" over some of the more famous entries because this feels like some of the most interesting character turns for Walter White happen here.  Forced into a life-or-death situation with Krazy-8, Walt takes his first major steps toward becoming the villain Heisenberg.  I also love the thriller elements and fight scenes, including a truly jawdropping reveal.

John Adams, "Part I: Join or Die (1770-1774)" - HBO's "John Adams" miniseries remains a favorite.  The premiere covers Adams' stint as defense counsel for the soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre, demonstrating his moral forthrightness and sense of duty.  It also sets the precedent for his involvement in the American Revolution, which requires long absences from his family and cultivating a reputation for obstinacy with the founding fathers.  

Late Night with Conan O'Brien, "February 4, 2008" - Do you remember that time that Jon Stewart at "The Daily Show," Stephen Colbert at "The Colbert Report," and Conan O'Brien had a feud over a Mike Huckabee interview?  And the climax was all three of them throwing down in a hysterical mock fight over on "Late Night With Conan O'Brien," set to an Arctic Monkeys song?  I still think about this a lot.

Honorable mention:

Jimmy Kimmel, "February 1, 2008" - Speaking of feuds, Sarah Silverman's special birthday video for Kimmel,  is still easily the best thing to have ever come out of the long-running Jimmy Kimmel and Matt Damon hostilities.

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"Song Sung Blue" and "Rental Family"

"Song Sung Blue" is easily mistaken for a musical biopic about Neil Diamond.  It's actually a musical biopic about a Neil Diamond impersonator, or "interpreter," named Mike Sardina (Hugh Jackman).  Based on the documentary of the same name by Greg Kohs, "Song Sung Blue" follows frustrated musician Mike as he falls in love with a Patsy Kline impersonator named Claire (Kate Hudson), and forms the fabulous performing duo of "Lightning and Thunder" with her.  Both have children from prior marriages, including Claire's hostile teen daughter Rachel (Ella Anderson) and son Dayna (Hudson Hensley), and Mike's daughter Angelina (King Princess).  Despite finding great fulfillment in performing, Mike and Claire's lives see dramatic ups and downs over the years, and their love is tested in many ways.

Directed and written by Craig Brewer, the movie is utterly charming from the opening frames.  I love biopics about people who are more adjacent to fame rather than very famous, so we don't have to worry so much about the audience's existing relationship with a celebrity.  The Sardinas are a fairly ordinary couple who live ordinary lives and have the problems that ordinary people have.  However, since they're impersonators, we still get the benefit of hearing Jackman and Hudson perform lots of catchy Neil Diamond songs.  You can tell how much the filmmakers genuinely love Thunder and Lightning, because they always look fabulous onscreen, in spite of the kitschy stage outfits and goofy played up personas.  The performances are very good, with Jackman and Hudson selling the love story, and keeping the Sardinas very human as they face major challenges together.    

 

I'm not a Neil Diamond fan and I admit that "Sweet Caroline" is one of only three Diamond songs that I know.  However, I had a very good time with this film.  I think the actual fans would like it too, because the Sardinas love Neil Diamond as much as anybody.  Mike is initially reluctant to assume the role because he's worried that it might be disrespectful, and when he does he displays a very protective attitude towards Diamond's music throughout.  After listening to the songs for two hours, I still don't think the music is really to my taste, but I enjoyed watching Jackman and Hudson as the Sardinas so much, it didn't matter.

On to "Rental Family," which is a dramedy about the Western and Japanese cultural divide, from director HIKARI, but in a more interesting and nuanced way than I expected.  Brendan Fraser plays an actor named Phillip Vanderploeg, who has lived in Japan for several years since starring in a popular toothpaste commercial.  He's adapted to life in Japan very well, but his career has stalled.  Unexpectedly, he gets a gig with "Rental Family," a service owned by a man named Shinji (Takehiro Hira), who hires out actor stand-ins for personal and social situations.  Phillip is called on to play a groom for a sham wedding, a mourner for a fake funeral, and a reporter to conduct a fake interview with a forgotten filmmaker, Kikuo (Akira Emoto).  However, his most challenging assignment is to play the father of a little girl named Mia (Shannon Mahina Gorman), who isn't supposed to know he's just an actor.

Companies like Rental Family are real, having originated in Japan in the 90s.  As a very Japanese phenomenon with very particular cultural nuances, it's a great angle to illustrate how Philip still thinks like an American, and hasn't quite figured out how to fit in Japanese society.  Casting Brendan Fraser for this was a wonderful choice, since he's so physically out of place wherever he goes in Japan, and dwarfs all of his co-stars, especially little Shannon Mahina Gorman.  The concept of hiring people to play loved ones has great comedic and dramatic potential, but "Rental Family" chooses to be very gentle, heartwarming, and sincere.  Regarding less savory aspects of the business, there's only a brief subplot involving one of Philip's co-workers, Aiko (Mari Yamamoto), who specializes in playing fake girlfriends to deliver apologies to wives who've been cheated on.   As a result, there's a very old-fashioned feel to "Rental Family," and the comedy is extremely nice in a way that's becoming very rare.

"Rental Family" reminds me a lot of "The Farewell" in the way that it deals with Western and Eastern approaches to personal difficulties, and love is shown in very different ways that seem to be contradictory.  This is a very sanitized and idealized depiction of the rental family concept, but I admire the impulse to make a movie like this, more than I like the movie itself.  "Rental Family" is a pleasant watch that I'd happily recommend to those who might need a comforting feel-good movie, but the resolutions are all a little too pat and tidy for me.  People's emotions are treated very carefully, but the more morally troubling aspects of the rental scheme are largely sidestepped or dealt with superficially.  Everything may look fine, but everyone in this movie still needs a ton of therapy.  

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"Death By Lightning" is Illuminating

At some point, a few years ago, I wrote up a post on this blog about the dearth of American costume dramas, wondering if we'd ever get more media about the less well-known periods of American history.  "Death By Lightning," the Netflix miniseries about the eventful presidency of James A. Garfield, America's twentieth POTUS, is exactly the kind of program I was talking about.  It may not be the most historically accurate dramatization of the events of the 1880s, but I'm very glad to have it.  

Created by Mike Makowsky, and directed by Matt Ross, we trace the lives and careers of several men over the four-episode miniseries, primarily President Garfield (Michael Shannon), and his eventual assassin, Charles J. Guiteau (Matthew Macfadyen).  Initially a Republican Congressman, Garfield is the surprise nominee for the American Presidency, who has to deal with a doubtful running mate, Chester A. Arthur (Nick Offerman), jealous political rivals James Blaine (Bradley Whitford) and Roscoe Conkling (Shea Whigham), and a worried wife, Lucretia (Betty Gilpin).  The other half of the narrative is taken up by the troubled grifter Guiteau, who sees politics as a potential pathway to the success and renown that he seeks.  He makes multiple attempts to ingratiate himself with Garfield's campaign, and later his administration, becoming less and less emotionally stable as time goes on. 

Clearly this is a very fictionalized take on history, which paints Garfield as a great man, who reluctantly accepts a presidency that he doesn't want, and inspires the best in those closest to him.  From what little I've read about Garfield, in real life he was a much shrewder operator whose non-campaign was a deliberate ploy for the presidency from the beginning.  The script also offers modern profanity in abundance, modern attitudes toward class and race relations, and modern views on a slew of issues from immigration to industry.  However, we still get a very entertaining and enlightening look at how politics functioned during the Reconstruction era, with rampant corruption and political machines in operation, affecting every stage of the election.  I was especially impressed with the first episode, where the nominating convention shows the various groups and organizations and processes in action, and reveals that there's still the opportunity for surprises.  

And if you don't care about any of this, "Death By Lightning" is still a great watch for the performances.  The show presents a bonanza of excellent character actors delivering memorable, colorful performances.  MacFadyen is the standout as the weaselly, deluded and yet perpetually hopeful Guiteau, who exudes a nervous energy every time he's onscreen.  I disliked him immensely, but he always held my attention.  Conversely, I loved Nick Offerman as Arthur, a jovial cog in the political machine who is happy where he is, but eventually is encouraged to become more.  Shannon is more constrained by having to be presidential, but he gets plenty of opportunities to play big moments.  The dialogue is full of shouting and colorful invective, and this was the era of epic facial hair, so you have truly never seen some of these actors the way you will see them here.  I mistook Matthew Macfadyen for a different actor for the first two episodes, because he looks completely different from the guy  in "Succession."  

I wish that the series was longer and some of the secondary characters a little better flushed out.  I enjoyed some of the brief looks we got of the earlier, formative chapters of the protagonists' lives, such as Guiteau spending time in a free love utopian religious sect, and Garfield's time fighting in the Civil War.  However, it's probably better that the show left me wanting more.  "Death by Lightning" was constructed from the outset as a true crime story, focusing on everything that led up to the assassination.  However, it's also a great entry point into this particular era of American history, and I hope that the creators find their way back to it one of these days.  And that other creators will take inspiration to get a little more historical.     

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"No Other Choice" and "The Secret Agent"

It brings me no pleasure to tell you that both of the major foreign language contenders in this year's award season, "No Other Choice" and "The Secret Agent," didn't work for me.  I don't know why, as I've liked previous movies directed by Park Chan-Wook and Kleber Mendonça Filho, but I'm going to use this post to try to tease some of the answersout.

"No Other Choice" was one of my most anticipated films of last year, about an unemployed family man Yoo Man-su, (Lee Byung-hun) who figures out who his likeliest competitors are for getting a specific job, and decides to eliminate them.  Son Ye-jin plays Man-su's wife, and the targets are played by Lee Sung-min, Cha Seung-won, and Park Hee-soon.  Park Chan-Wook wrote and directed the film, based on a Donald Westlake thriller, "The Ax," examining his protagonist's obsession with getting his perfect life back, and what he's willing to do to make it happen.  "No Other Choice" has plenty to say about the merciless state of modern-day capitalism, and how a man's morals can be warped by desperation.  The filmmaking has a lot of fun visual flourishes, and I like Lee Byung-hun's performance.  However, it takes forever for the action to get going, and once it does the movie is overlong, repetitive, and lacking in much tension.  

I appreciate that "No Other Choice" is much more restrained than some of Park Chan-Wook's other films, and doesn't feature any extreme content.  However, this means that as a comedy it's not as much fun as I was hoping for, and as a thriller it's not nearly as exciting.  I was never quite onboard with the story either - Lee Byung-hun makes Man-su a compelling tragicomic character, and his targets all turn out to be reflections of different aspects of himself - but there was never a sense of real urgency about his quest.  The worst casualty of the job loss is only Man-su's ego.  The wife is downsizing their lives, but otherwise seems fine with the state of affairs.  One of the clear messages is that the stakes are only so high in Man-su's own mind, and whatever advantage he might gain isn't worth all the madness that he puts himself through.   I was frustrated with Man-su for his pig-headedness more than anything else, especially since he's confronted with his own hubris repeatedly.  I derived the most enjoyment from watching his schemes unfold in unpredictable ways.  Well, until they wore out their welcome.

On to "The Secret Agent," a political thriller which has several secrets, so I'll have to discuss the film more obliquely.  I liked this one more than "No Other Choice," as the storytelling was better able to hold my interest, despite a similar running time, and I found the characters more enjoyable.  The year is 1977, and a man named Marcelo (Wagner Moura) arrives in the northern Brazilian city of Recife during carnival season.  Political turmoil means that the atmosphere is dangerous and uncertain, and Marcelo is being targeted by two men of dubious intentions.  Information comes slowly about Marcelo's identity, but we learn he has a young son who lives with his grandparents, an extremely helpful landlady, and many neighbors and acquaintances who have their own secrets.  The film's title promises intrigue and excitement that it does deliver on, but not in the way I expected.

There is a very strong sense of time and place in "The Secret Agent."  Marcelo spends much of his time settling into Recife and meeting various characters, some who only show up for a single scene, like a WWII vet played by Udo Kier and a political resistance member played by  Maria Fernanda Cândido.  We see recreations of '70s apartments, government buildings, a movie theater, a barber shop, a gas station, a university, crowded streets, bridges, parks, and many, many glimpses of lives being lived out by a variety of people.  All of them together contribute this wonderfully eclectic, lively setting for an old fashioned political thriller in the vein of Alan J. Pakula and Bernardo Bertolucci.  I was enjoying myself until the abrupt ending, which left me clutching at straws. 

Still trying to avoid spoilers here, I think my issue with "The Secret Agent" is the same as my issue with last year's "I'm Still Here."  The film is too fragmentary to be narratively satisfying for me, even though its messages about living under an oppressive regime are well conveyed.  Also, I still don't know enough about South American history.

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"One Piece," Year Two (With Spoilers)

Spoilers ahead for the second season of the live action series, and the manga/anime up through the end of the Alabasta arc.

So, first things first.  Charithra Chandran is fantastic as Vivi.  Her switch from assassin to princess was note perfect.  I like Lera Abova as Robin so far, but since she hasn't dropped the Miss All Sunday persona yet, it's hard to know how she'll stack up long term.  I've never been much of a Chopper fan, but I have no complaints about Michaela Hoover, or the efforts of the VFX team bringing the cute reindeer doctor to life.  However, what I'm really impressed with is the characterization of the minor characters like the surprisingly loyal Mr. 9, a Twiggy-inspired Miss Valentine, and the menacing Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek (Sophia Anne Caruso).  They actually feel like real people instead of cartoon caricatures, which helps the show immensely.  

I'm not as invested in the "One Piece" arcs where the five main crewmembers aren't as involved, and I was pretty cool on this run of episodes in the anime.  The live action version does a much better job of keeping the crew front and center.  I was very happy that the show's creators gave us more character moments and crew interactions, like Usopp befriending Brogy, and Luffy connecting with Vivi.  Adding some foreshadowing for the later arcs, like Sanji talking about his mother, was also a good way to use the source material more fully.  I really like how these versions of the characters are progressing, and that they're allowed to be more human and well-rounded.  Zoro is probably the most improved from last year - the third episode is entirely devoted to his 100 enemy showdown - and he's allowed to smile and be friendlier.  Usopp is more heroic and less prone to being relegated to easy comic relief.  I was worried that Nami being sick during Drum Island would put her in the damsel in distress role, but that's not the case.  

The weaknesses of this season mostly have to do with the awkwardness of trying to adapt a bunch of shorter manga arcs that introduce a lot of characters, some much more interesting than others.  The story is more incidental and still building up to the next big storyline that we won't see until next year.  Wapol (Rob Colletti) is a comic villain who isn't very formidable, and not a great choice for the climactic baddie of the season.  While the action scenes have generally improved, they've also been uneven.  While Luffy had a few good fights this year, he's also noticeably less effective than we've seen in the past.  He gets rescued or assisted multiple times by other characters, and doesn't get the kind of big dramatic moments that some of the others do.  This should be fixed in the Alabasta arc where he gets more of the spotlight, but in this season it means Luffy often feels a little lost in the shuffle with so many other characters in play.       

Frankly, the Drum Island Arc didn't hold my interest.  It's where the limitations of the special effects and the unreality of the anime aesthetics were the most apparent.  Everything involving Chopper and Hiruluk was fine, and the Chopper backstory flashback episode was a highlight of the season.  However, similar to the Arlong Park episodes, the more extreme characters like Wapol and Dalton (Ty Keogh) were very difficult for me to take seriously  because they were buried under so many prosthetics and weird gimmicks.  Wapol and his monster army just looked silly, and the stakes never felt very high, so the whole finale underwhelmed.  I expect that it's largely an issue with the material in this arc in particular, though.  A stronger villain like Crocodile (Joe Manganiello) should help considerably.

Fundamentally, there are parts of "One Piece" that just aren't going to work in live action, no matter how high the budget is.  I like that the series is trying to push the boundaries and use more of the manga's visual language, but sometimes it just looks terrible.  There are also still translation and cultural gaps that result in awkward names and dialogue, things that probably could be fixed if the show weren't so adamant about catering to existing fans.  Still, the little details don't matter as long as the creators are getting the bigger things right.  So far, they're doing a pretty good job, and I'm looking forward to more "One Piece" to come.   

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"One Piece," Year Two (Without Spoilers)

With "Stranger Things" wrapped up, I expect that Netflix's next major event series will be "One Piece."  It has a huge existing fanbase thanks to the long-running manga and anime, and the Netflix series is one of the few live-action manga/anime adaptations that has been received well by both critics and fans.  Netflix has increased the budget significantly this season, which means bigger fights, crazier enemies, and a couple of full CGI characters in the mix.  

The show is shifting gears from a relatively self-contained first season to being an ongoing series, so there's a lot more setup and a lot less payoff this year.  The second season can be roughly divided into three smaller arcs.  The first is about the Straw Hat crew getting started in the Grand Line and setting up the new enemies.  There are a pair of new Marine antagonists, Captain Smoker (Callum Kerr) and the sword expert Tashigi (Julia Rehwald).  However, the main villains are the agents of the assassin group Baroque Works, who are code-named after numbers, days of the week, or holidays, like Miss All Sunday (Lera Abova), Miss Wednesday (Charithra Chandran), and Mr. 9 (David Lasker).  The second arc brings everyone to the prehistoric jungle island of Little Garden, where they meet giants Brogy (Brendan Murray) and Dorry (Werner Coetser).  The third takes them to the snowy Drum Island, the home of Dr. Kureha (Katey Sagal) and her student Chopper (Mikaela Hoover).  By the end of this season, Luffy and friends have new crew members and are on their way to confront a much bigger threat than anything they've faced so far.

If you thought that the first season of "One Piece" was cartoonish and over-the-top, the second season doubles down on every front.  The stunt sequences are more elaborate and involved.  The Devil Fruit superpowers are even stranger, with Miss Valentine (Jazzara Jaslyn) changing her body density at will so she can fly, Mr. 5 (Camrus Johnson) throwing explosive boogers, and Mr. 3 (David Dastmalchian) creating wax out of thin air, which he uses to turn his enemies into wax art.  Fully CGI characters like the whale Laboon and the critters at Little Garden appear more frequently.  However, the main cast stays pretty grounded in reality, and are super charismatic and entertaining as an ensemble.  I like the little personality tweaks that have been made, so Zoro is more easygoing and Usopp is more empathetic, even if his first instinct is always to run away.  

There are some stronger actors in the cast this year, who add some interesting shadings to what were previously pretty one-note players.  "One Piece" has a lot of minor characters who are only around for an arc or two, which means that bigger names like Katey Sagal and David Dastmalchian can guest star for a few episodes without it being too much of a commitment.  Mark Harelik as Chopper's mentor Dr. Hiruluk features in only one extended flashback episode, but is the standout of the season.  I really like Charithra Chandran and Lera Abova as two of the Baroque Works agents who end up at odds with each other.  Iñaki Godoy is probably the only one who feels a little underwhelming, and that's largely because Luffy doesn't get many big moments in this part of the story.  I expect this will change next season when he becomes more central to the plot again.  

And we already know that there will be a next season, which is important.  I didn't enjoy this set of episodes as much as the first because of the more open-ended nature of the source material, but there have been big improvements in the pacing, characterization, and adaptation choices which are going to greatly impact the show going forward.  You can tell that the creators are more comfortable in this universe now, and have a better understanding of what the audience will accept, so they're willing to take more risks.  Compared to the anime adaptations of these stories, I vastly prefer the live action version.  However, there are still a few elements that I feel could be improved.  I'll get more into that in the next post, where I look at this season from an existing fan's perspective, with all the spoilers, and how the rest of the series appears to be shaping up.    

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Trailers! Trailers! 2026 Summer Edition

Here is a quick sampling of some of the recent trailers that came out in the last few weeks.  I'm focusing on the smaller titles from later in the summer and early fall that I haven't had much opportunity to comment on yet.  

The End of Oak Street - This is David Robert Mitchell's film, previously titled "Flowervale Street," that was delayed from last year.  The trailer does a good job of setting expectations - this looks like it's going to be way more of a crowd-pleaser than I was expecting.  It's like to get some interest just by positioning itself as a dinosaur movie in a summer with no "Jurassic Park" sequel.  

Street Fighter - I like the look of the casting and the costuming, which is a lot closer to the original video game than any of the other adaptations I've seen.  Alas, the sight of David Dastmalchian as M. Bison can't help but make me a little sad that it's not Raul Julia.  I initially mistook this for the new "Mortal Kombat" film, because I got some of the characters confused, which should tell you something about the tone that they're going for.  

Forgotten Island - Asian girl led animated features have gotten really prominent since "KPop Demon Hunters" broke out last year.  Dreamworks' latest involves two Filipino besties who go to a magic island that threatens to take away their memories.  This seems like a tough sell to kids, so I'm not expecting it to do well.  However, I'm impressed that "Forgotten Island" got made, and by the same team that did "Puss in Boots: The Last Wish."

Idiots - O'Shea Jackson and Dave Franco doing a "Get Him to the Greek"/"The Last Detail" to get Mason Thames to rehab?  I'm down for that.  This was previously known as "The Shitheads," but that wasn't going to fly with theater owners and marketing people, so "Idiots" strikes me as a decent alt title.  I appreciate that the trailer just offers a taste of the depravity in store, and doesn't explain much.  Leaves me plenty to discover. 

Backrooms - This is what they mean by a vibes based horror movie.  The dread offered by the images of impossible interiors is so effective, I don't think the movie itself is going to be able to live up to them.  Good luck to first time filmmaker Kane Parsons and the wildly overqualified cast - Renata Reinsve's in this?  At least there's already been one horror movie with a similar premise that came out well - Genki Kawamura's "Exit 8."

Masters of the Universe - I'm not quite sure what to make of this, but if there are any unironic He-man fans still out there, at least this looks considerably better than the old Dolph Lundgren movie from the '80s, even if Jared Leto is playing Skeletor.  Travis Knight has a decent track record as a director, and the pictures of Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn currently in circulation are fabulous.  Are the kids going to respond to this though?  That's the big question.

Clayface - This is shaping up to be a full fledged horror movie set in James Gunn's DC universe.  I'm definitely not opposed to that, and the material is certainly ripe for it, but it also worries me that this is yet another DC property aimed mostly at adults.  Then again, the original Clayface appearances were some of the highlights of the '90s "Batman" cartoons.  With a modest budget and no stars, this is going to be an interesting experiment.  

The Invite - One of the big Sundance titles this year was Olivia Wilde's latest film, a remake of a Spanish comedy called "The People Upstairs."  Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz, and Edward Norton seem like a promising combination, and the timing looks right after the similar "The Drama" cleaned up earlier in the year.  I'm rooting for this, because Wilde needs a win, and I want more smaller scale films like this up on the big screen.  

Minions & Monsters - I secretly prefer the "Minions" movies to the "Despicable Me" movies, and their latest movie looks frickin' adorable.  It's a monster movie pastiche featuring the Minions in 1920s Hollywood, trying to put together their own horror feature.  Does it make any sense with the timeline of the other movies?  Probably not, and I don't care.  The mini Cthulhu voiced by Trey Parker is already a winner.  Bring it on.

Coyote v ACME - It's everything I wanted and more.  I know that most of them are  probably only going to be cameos, but I loved seeing the Looney Tunes gang again in glorious traditional animation.  They all look so great!

Aaaaand… Dune Part Three - This looks very expensive.

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"Eternity" and "It Ends"

Here are two smaller, existential, high concept films that I want to recommend before they slip too far back in my memory.

The more cheerful, life affirming one is a movie about the afterlife.  Directed by David Freyne, and co-written by Freyne and Pat Cunnane, "Eternity" follows an elderly couple who have been married for sixty-five years when they die, and learn that they have to choose where to spend their eternal rest.  The deceased have a variety of different afterlives available to them, and help from "Afterlife Coordinators" like Anna (Da'Vine Joy Randolph) and Ryan (John Early) during the transition.  However, in the case of Joan (Elizabeth Olsen), she not only has to choose an afterlife, but who to spend it with - the man she was married to for decades, Larry (Miles Teller), or her first husband Luke (Callum Turner), who died young as a soldier.  

"Eternity" presents a vision of the afterlife that's a lot of fun.  The newly dead arrive in what looks like a 1960s conventional hall, full of salespeople trying to hawk different afterlives, ranging from eternity at the beach, to eternity with no men allowed, to eternity in Weimar German without the Nazis.  Joan and Larry are returned to the age they felt the most comfortable, which is when they were in their thirties, but their neighbor Karen (Olga Merediz) stays elderly.  We also learn that each eternity has an archive for its inhabitants to review old memories of their lives, which also comes in handy for exposition.  The amount of fun little details in the set designs, despite a limited budget, made me think of "The Good Place," though there's more similarity plotwise to something like "Defending Your Life." 

There's a lightness and optimism to "Eternity" which is a little old fashioned and very appealing.  Despite the big concepts, this turns out to be a romantic comedy at heart, where we spend most of the movie with Luke, trying to figure out how to make Joan fall in love with him again.  The performances are warm and winning, with Miles Teller continuing to make the case for himself as a solid cinema everyman, and Elizabeth Olsen being very charming.  "Eternity" hearkens back to much older supernatural films in the tradition of "A Matter of Life and Death" and "A Guy Named Joe," and it easily won me over.  It's currently at the top of my list of films I'd like to watch with older relatives.

Now on to a much less conventional indie film, "It Ends," which starts out as horror and morphs into something quite different.  Four twentysomething friends are in a car together, take a wrong turn, and end up on a road in a wooded area that never seems to end.  What's more alarming is that the foursome never seem to get tired, never need to eat or drink, their phones never run out of power, and the car never runs out of gas.  However, if they stop for too long, people will emerge from the woods to attack the car.  Their only choice is to keep driving.  At least, that's what they think is their only choice at first.  James (Phinehas Yoon), Day (Akira Jackson), Fisher (Noah Toth) and Mitchell (Tyler) all ultimately decide to deal with their extraordinary circumstances in different ways.  

"It Ends" is one of those films where the central premise is clearly meant to be treated as a metaphor for something profound, and the audience will take away as much meaning as they bring to it.  From a production standpoint, "It Ends" is a minimal, shoestring piece of work with very green actors and not the best technical bona fides. However, it's got some great ideas, and I like the way that it starts in such familiar genre territory and gradually subverts itself more and more.  It's also very good at capturing the mood of long car trips, and the dynamics of a friend group with a lot of history.  I think it'll resonate the most with viewers in their twenties who are at the same state of life as the protagonists, trying to figure out their path through life, and which relationships are worth fighting for as people in their lives start drifting away.  I had a great time with it.

"It Ends" also has the distinction of being one of the first films distributed by Letterboxd, which is starting to pick up smaller titles in danger of falling through the cracks.  I look forward to their future offerings with interest.

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