Month: September 2020

Articles, Freakin' Sweet Family Guy, Review

Family Guy: Ryan’s Ultimate Freakin’ Sweet Review of Every Episode Part 7

My wife often accuses me of getting movies on Blu-Ray/DVD, and watching them once and then leaving them on a shelf to collect dust. In an effort to prove her wrong and to also at the same time annoy her, I’ve decided to watch every episode of Family Guy I own. And I own all of them on DVD. All 16 seasons. Plus the Stewie movie and the Star Wars Parodies. I will also review each episode and share my thoughts here. Each article will most likely be a different length due to not knowing how many I will watch at any given time. I will be watching them in order as well so this should be really fun for me, not my wife.

Season 3, Episode 9 “Mr. Saturday Night”

Peter having lost his job at the Toy Factory, Peter decides to follow his dream of being a knight at the Renaissance Fair. At the Renaissance Fair Peter angers the famous Black Knight, due to him flirting with his “wench”, setting up a joust match between Peter and the Black Knight.

A pretty solid episode that starts with Mr. Weed, Peter’s boss coming over for dinner and choking to death. I like the idea of Peter changing jobs which will happen regularly in Family Guy, setting up the family for more and different types of adventures.

Another stand out is Will Ferrell guest starring as The Black Knight. Fun visual gags also pepper the episode, the best is The Black Knight never removes his helmet, so when he shaves, he shaves his helmet.

Grade: B

Season 3, Episode 10 “A Fish Out of Water”

Peter decides that his new dream job is to become a fisherman. He buys a boat and learns that fishing isn’t that easy. He soon finds himself in debt and to get out of debt he attempts to catch an infamous fish, Daggermouth who allegedly eats men!

Lois decides to take Meg to spring break in Florida after Meg complains she never does anything fun. At spring break Lois has more fun than Meg and is soon drinking and partying while Meg is the responsible one.

Seamus the wooden-legged and wooden-armed fisherman makes his debut here, so too does Tom Tucker’s son with an upside-down face. Another good episode that yet again delivers on the visual gags. Also some pretty great writing like this,

Lois: See you in a few days.

Meg: Not if I strangle myself with seaweed wrap and die.

Peter: Ho, ho you are dark!

Grade: B

Season 3, Episode 11 “Emission Impossible”

Lois’ sister is pregnant, and Peter helps deliver the baby. By doing this, Peter tells Lois he wants another child. Lois agrees and they soon begin that quest.

Stewie however is not on board. Stewie starts to wonder what would happen if he was no longer the baby of the Griffin clan and devises a plan to squash Peter’s mojo. Stewie soon learns however that his new brother, Bertram might be an ally he’s always wanted.

Family Guy returns to fine form with “Emission Imposible”. Everything in this episode works. Family Guy seems at its best when the episode is really focused and builds its jokes around the premise. Here the “A” story about Peter and Lois trying to have a baby is hilarious. Stewie’s attempt to thwart their plans is brilliant until he realizes that maybe his unborn brother shares his desire to kill Lois. Bertram is voiced by Wallace Shawn and that makes his deeds even better.

Grade: A

Season 3, Episode 12 “To Love and Die in Dixie”

Chris the witness to a robbery and identifies the robber. This puts the whole Griffin household in danger. The family is sent to the south as part of the Witness Relocation Program.

The Griffins fit right in. Meg becomes the most popular girl in school. Peter and Brian become police officers. And Chris falls in love with Sam, who at first he believes is a boy, but learns that Sam is a girl.

Another gem from Family Guy. The relocation to the South sets up some pretty easy jokes, but they are really funny.

A somewhat throw away character soon becomes a fan favorite, Herbert the creepy old guy who loves Chris. And while some of his jokes and future appearances are a little cringe worthy, he is fun in small doses.

The cutaway jokes are really starting to be a truly fun part of the show. Like this one when Brian tells Peter he needs to get a job and we flashback to one of Peter’s job interviews.

Interviewer: Okay, Peter, where do you see yourself in five years?

Peter(inner monologue): Don’t say doing your wife, don’t say doing your wife, don’t say doing your wife.

Peter(out loud): Doing your…(sees a picture of interviewers son) son?

Grade: B+

Season 3, Episode 13 “Screwed the Pooch”

Brian is horny. Lois suggests he comes with the family to her father’s home to take his mind off of sex.  Peter also wants to prove to Lois’ father Carter Pewterschmidt that he can be classy. His efforts fail, until he plays poker with Carter’s friends, Bill Gates, Michael Eisner and Ted Turner. Peter tells Carter each of their “tells” that helps him win the poker game.

At the Pewterschmidt’s, Brian’s urges are only exacerbated because Carter has a champion bred race dog Brian, um tackles during a race.

An average episode with some funny bits. Like when Brian and Seabreeze are caught in a hotel room and the still is a parody of the Elian Gonzalez raid. (I’m old, does anyone else remember when that was a big news story?) The courtroom scene has some great moments too.

Grade: B-

Season 3, Episode 14 “Peter Griffin: Husband, Father…Brother?

Peter learns that one of his ancestors is a black slave, who was once owned by his father in laws’ family The Pewterschmidts. Carter doesn’t want his family’s sordid history revealed, so he secretly pays Peter reparations. Peter, instead of sharing his money or donating to an African American charity squanders it on things you don’t need, like turning his den into “PeeWee’s Playhouse.”

Stewie in the meantime discovers the power cheerleaders have over crowds and soon joins.

Funny and also a little dated now, but like most sitcoms it pushes boundaries for comedic effect. Family Guy is really good at going for broke in the non-PC department before bringing it all back and making Peter look like a buffoon.

I think that’s one of the best trademarks of Family Guy, pushing the envelope just enough for a character to learn the error of their ways.

 Grade: B+

Season 3, Episode 15 “Ready, Willing and Disabled”

Joe is depressed after a thief steals money and Joe is unable to capture him. Feeling bad for his friend, Peter encourages Joe at the Special Olympics and when Joe makes it to the final event unsure if he can compete, Peter spikes his drink with steroids.

Chris, Meg and Stewie fight over $26 and a hilarious no-holds barred fight breaks out between the kids.

Solid, and funny episode with the biggest laughs coming from Peter’s jealousy about Joe’s recent popularity with the media. Peter’s “movie” on how he got crippled is laugh out load funny.

Grade: B+

Season 3, Episode 16 “A Very Special Family Guy Freakin’ Christmas”

It’s Christmas time in Quahog. Lois is trying to keep the holiday special, but Peter gave all the presents to charity, Brian sets the house on fire and Stewie is obsessed with a gift from Santa.

Alex Borstein is an amazing voice actress. I love the episodes where she gets to shine, and she is the episodes MVP. She delivers manic, funny lines throughout and her timing is impeccable.

The KISS Christmas Special that Peter really wants to see is hilarious and I want a whole special released.

Grade: A-

Season 3, Episode 17 “Brian Wallows and Peter’s Swallows”

Brian is sentenced to community service and meets a woman who hasn’t left her home in years.

Peter grows a beard and has a nest of baby swallows living in it.

This is an episode only Family Guy can pull off. The “A” story with Brian is heartwarming as Brian discovers who Pearl really is and why she is a recluse. Brian has a show stopping tune to help convince Pearl out of her home, only to be immediately killed in the street by a car.

And Peter’s “bird beard” is so ridiculous its funny.

Grade: B+

Season 3, Episode 18 “From Method to Madness”

Lois convinces Brian to audition for a play, when the judges aren’t impressed with Brian, Stewie gets on stage and steals their hearts. Stewie is placed in the junior acting class and meets Olivia. Olivia is a diva and so too is Stewis, soon the toddlers are clashing and fighting with one another.

Stewie learns that their teacher is going to kick them out if they don’t work together. Stewie and Olivia put aside their differences and become a hit.

Meanwhile, Peter saves a boy from drowning in the ocean and is invited over for dinner. The boy, Jeff and his family are nudists, which Peter did not know until they were at the dinner. Meg falls for Jeff much to the chagrin of her parents.

Any episode that focuses on Stewie being a diva is a winner. Seth MacFarlane is crushing it in this episode. From Stewie’s long winded rebuttal to Olivia dissing him to his singing performance, make this a great episode.

And anytime naked Peter is on screen, I will laugh. The image is too funny.

Grade: A

Articles, Review, Show Time

How 2020 Will Change the Film Industry … Probably

Rather than my usual thoroughly planned and well-structured articles, this is going to be more me spitballing — something more akin to a “hot take” than my usual stuff.

When I finally returned to the theater a few weeks ago, I saw the trailer for “Greenland” ahead of my movie. In case you don’t know, “Greenland” is basically the 2020 version of “2012.” A giant meteorite or whatever is going to destroy the Earth, and Gerard Butler must get his family to safety in Greenland.

As I watched the trailer, I couldn’t help but cringe. 2020, AKA the year of disasters, is probably the worst time to release a movie like this, and I will be absolutely shocked if “Greenland” doesn’t bomb if/when it releases stateside in a few weeks.

A lot of things are going to change because of the pandemic, and we’ll see the ripple effects in the film industry for years. However, for now, I’m going to focus on the production side of the issue, as there’s already a great Deadline article talking more about the distribution side. Also, Ryan continues to bring it up on the podcast, given how many movies are moving to VOD or are pushing their release dates (again).

So, here’s how I anticipate the film industry — which I’ll say includes both movies and TV shows — will start to change.

  • Action movies/TV shows will stay the hell away from “bioterrorism / a worldwide virus” as a plotline. If I remember “Hobbs & Shaw” correctly — because it was a shit movie — the whole plot centered on the female lead being infected with a virus that Idris Elba’s villain wanted to extract so he could spread it worldwide and kill the bulk of the human race. Yeah, we won’t get any more plotlines like that.
  • Also, movies about the world ending (ie, “Greenland”) won’t be made anymore, unless they’re trying to be more horror genre than action.
  • On the whole, I think blockbusters will be fewer and farther between, but they will be more action-packed and spectacle-driven. If you want to get people to leave their homes and see movies in the theaters, you’re going to need to give them a real reason to do so. “Tenet” is a good example of this. Smaller-budget movies (romcoms, dramas, etc.) will move more onto streaming services. No need to release something like “The Personal History of David Copperfield” in the theater when no one’s going to physically go out and see it. Just put it on Amazon or Netflix.
  • Contrastingly, I think TV shows will go smaller budget. Network and cable television is really struggling to compete with streaming services, and some of them are trying to break into that market as well (ie, NBC’s Peacock). I think networks aren’t going to invest as much in their shows until they’ve seen they can be successful in the COVID-19 era. At this point, people are so bored, they might watch whatever’s on, right? So, throw everything at the wall and see what sticks. “SNL” seemed to do pretty well streaming from their homes, as did the “30 Rock” special. More action-driven shows like “The Blacklist” will really have to prove their worth and make their money back, because networks like NBC can now just do a super-low-budget show about people streaming from their homes and it’ll probably be successful enough to get picked up for a full season.

Speaking of, this isn’t so much speculation as it is just actual wondering, but are movies and TV shows going to address the pandemic at all? For instance, “The Blacklist” is set in a world much like ours but a little different. While some of the crimes the FBI investigates are “ripped from the headlines,” the show’s United States also has a different President than ours does, for instance. So, will their universe also have a pandemic?

I’ve wondered this a lot over the past few months… will movies and TV shows address the pandemic straight-on? Will we see characters wearing masks, social distancing, etc.? It’s probably a lot easier to do in a new show, like these Zoom-based comedies the networks are introducing, than something like “The Blacklist” or “Law & Order” that’s been on for several seasons and has its own pre-established universe.

However, if these production companies and showrunners want to keep their casts and crews safe, it would be best to go ahead and incorporate the pandemic into the show’s storyline. That way, it’ll cost less money (presumably) and be much safer. Now, I’m sure it’d also create the giant headache of “When would it be appropriate for our characters to take their masks off? When they’re talking with coworkers in the office? When they’re one-on-one with a friend, etc.” But, again, if you want to give an in-universe explanation for why the extras in the background are wearing masks, you’ll have to bite the bullet and incorporate it into the show.

And, honestly, I can see them making a romcom about mistaken identity because people were wearing masks and their love interests thought they were someone else.

Anyway, moving on:

  • I imagine we’ll get plenty more movies and TV storylines centered on global warming and climate change. Maybe it won’t take the ‘humans are the virus and need to be destroyed’ route that “Hobbs & Shaw” did, but it will definitely still be there. It might be handled more like “Ferngully” or “Avatar,” to be honest, and emphasize that people need to take a more active role in caring for the environment. We all know that Hollywood loves virtue-signaling, and given everything that’s happening right now, climate change will be a major touchstone for the film industry in the coming years. I imagine that, in “Furious 10,” the crew will all be driving hybrid cars, right?
  • I think we’ll also see a general push to ensure racial diversity in both movies and television. We’ll start seeing a lot more mostly-POC casts, such as the forthcoming movie “Judas and the Black Messiah” and TV shows “Black-ish” and “Fresh Off the Boat.” I think between a combination of how much money “Black Panther” made and the racial tension/virtue signaling thing, Hollywood will try to make a lot more movies that have a mostly Black cast but won’t alienate white people. Think something like “Tenet,” but with more Black actors. I both hope and expect we’ll see more Black superhero movies, more Black-led action movies, more Black-led horror movies. Hell, if they did Black-led period dramas (like a race-blind Jane Austen adaptation), I would be so there for it.
  • One more thing and then I’ll shut up: I think it’s also fair to expect that, as regards the movie industry, the major studios (Warner Brothers, Disney, etc.) aren’t going to be taking ANY chances on unique properties anymore. They’ll leave that to the streaming services. If studios want to get butts in seats at movie theaters, we’re going to keep seeing a lot of prequels, sequels, spin-offs, and adaptations of already popular properties. There are also going to be more ensemble movies with big, big names attached to them, as we’ve seen already with the likes of “Dune” (2020), “The Lion King” (2019) and “Death on the Nile” (2020).

In short, the movie-making industry is going to want to try to recapture the magic of “Avengers: Endgame” (but without the whole mass-genocide plotline). They want something safe with lots of big names and plenty of spectacle and comedy. So, basically, every movie is going to try to be a Marvel movie now. We already saw it with “Star Wars.” Now prepare for that to be every movie that’s released in theaters for the next few years.

As for the TV industry, I think they’re going to focus on churning out low-cost shows because it’ll ultimately be a game of seeing what people are willing to watch these days. They’ll also try to focus on their streaming services (if applicable), because they know they have a captive audience there and can take more risks on that platform. So, basically, if it’s on TV, it’ll be very cheaply made; and if it’s streaming, it will probably have a bit more thought and money put into it.

No doubt, there will be more impacts than the potential ones I’ve listed here, especially on the distribution side. However, I just wanted to get the ball rolling on this discussion, because, honestly, I think we Nerds could dedicate an entire episode to this topic. No doubt some aspects of it will be brought up during Filmsplosion 2020 if not sooner.

But, what do you see as likely impacts on the film industry going forward? Let us know by leaving at message at 1-720-6NERDS5 or by emailing reelnerds@gmail.com.

Articles, Miyazaki, Review

Catching the Miyazaki Classics (BONUS) – Whisper of the Heart

Amazon.com: Whisper of the Heart (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo): Yoshifumi Kondo, Screenplay And Storyboard By Hayao Miyazaki: Movies & TV

Japanese filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki, perhaps best known for his work with Studio Ghibli, has gained popularity around the world for his creative and imaginative animated feature films. While they were originally released in Japanese, all of them have been dubbed into English with prominent voice actors and Hollywood stars. Over the past few months, I’ve watched and reviewed the English-dub versions of each of Miyazaki’s 11 films as writer and director.

And, as I discussed at the end of my CtMC series recap last year, this will be the first of three bonus posts to review the three films that Miyazaki wrote but didn’t direct. They are: Whisper of the Heart (1995); The Secret World of Arrietty (2010); and From Up On Poppy Hill (2011).

Now, after a year, I’m finally finishing these bonus posts with Whisper of the Heart (1995).

Synopsis: Based on a late-80s manga, the film follows junior high student Shizuku (voiced by Brittany Snow) as she’s on the cusp of young adulthood. She’s preparing to go to high school, but seemingly doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life beyond reading. After forming a connection with a boy at her school, she’s inspired to start writing and draws on her love of fairy tales and some memorable scenes at a local antique store to craft her very own fantasy story, “Whisper of the Heart.”

Spoiler-free review: So, the reason it took me so long to finally write this is because I watched the film a year ago, meant to write this review, didn’t, and then by the time I finally could, I was too far removed to do it justice. So, I finally decided to rent it again last week and now I can give you the review you’ve all been waiting for. This is ultimately a very dull movie. That’s not to say it doesn’t have its moments — the animation and music are both of the typical Studio Ghibli quality — but it’s slow, uneventful, and hollow. Granted, I think I liked it better when I watched it a year ago, but I think this was a bad one to end the bonus series on.

Letter grade: C-

Full review and critique: (Warning: here be spoilers!)

I think the root of the problem is that there’s no real conflict in this movie.

The only thing we have that resembles conflict is Shizuku figuring out what she wants to do with her life, because that does have a few stakes involved given that she starts devoting more time to writing and her grades drop. However, that comes in the last 20-30 minutes of the film.

Additionally, so much of the runtime is spent on Shizuku walking or running or people playing or singing a rendition of John Denver’s “County Roads” (it’s like a whole thing in the movie), and ultimately nothing happens. I have no problem with “slice of life” movies, like “Ladybird,” but there have to be more compelling elements than what we have here.

The few sequences where we see inside Shizuku’s imagination as she’s writing her book and imaging scenes from it would make for a much better movie than what we have here. The scenes we get building up the relationship between Shizuku and her love interest are also pretty good, but he leaves two-thirds of the way through the film and only returns at the very end. And the first scene in the antique shop is also well-done, and I wish the whole movie would’ve been of a similar quality.

Overall, I think tweens and teens might like this film best, as it might speak more to their insecurities, the transitions and decisions they face, and their need to discover what they can accomplish when they set their mind to it.

Again, I don’t think the film is worthless, just boring and a bit padded. I honestly think it would’ve worked best as a short film.

Personally, I think Miyazaki and his colleagues at Studio Ghibli do best when adapting or creating more fantasy-based stories. So it makes sense that something more grounded and everyday is going to be one of the lesser (although still not bad) movies in their filmographies.

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