Hello, my name is Andrew Jara. I am trying to be a writer/director. I made a film named "Last Days" that i'm trying to bring some press to.
Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Synopsis: A group of friends have different experiences with their love lives and each other as they come of age.
What Season: 1
Review: Let me first talk about the format of the show. Each episode is told from a different character’s perspective. This is very popular in the UK but hasn’t really caught on in America. That’s too bad because it’s an amazing way to tell a story especially a coming of age. It helps make the characters more compelling and keeps them from being stale or cliche’d.
So as for the show itself. I really enjoyed it. I could see where the format could be risky by following a weak character but that doesn’t happen here. We see each character and they are at least compelling enough to let you know them. I also commend a show for making these teens three dimensional. Also a lot in british television, a show isn’t afraid to make the characters unlikable at times and it makes them more fleshed out. They are teenagers, sometimes they dont’ know the consequences of their actions or just indifferent and that’s okay. It might spell doom for the characters but at least it’s real and if the point of the show is to examine coming of age in the modern age, realism is all you having going for you. (I’m talking to you shitty American Skins that made me not want to watch this version until now.)
Favorite Episode: Cassie Hannah Murray has been on Game of Thrones but here she stands out. Cassie is probably the character that can be the most cliched. She is a frail sad young lady that has many mental disorders and is in love with someone who only has a passing interest (there is no clear love or hate lines, like in real life! good for you skins!) But instead of making her cliche’d she becomes the most interesting character by showing not only the bad times but the good times. She is a representation of the teens that are lost and Hannah Murray steals the show and the audience’s heart in the second episode.
Worst Episode: Jal: Maybe because this had to follow the Cassie episode, but this episode just felt flat. It’s about Jal, who has a famous rapper father and must contend with having a Young Musician of the Year performance. On one hand, I liked that they presented a normal kid with normal problems (they can’t all have mental issues perks of being a wallflower) but on the other hand it was a little too bland and every character is more interesting than Jal and her resolution ends up being another character. She can’t hold on to her own episode and it shows.
Trivia: A new season is coming this summer that will bring back some of the favorites including Cassie.
Synopsis: The war of the five kings reaches all across Westeros as each family faces new challenges.
What Season: 3
Review: So what can I say about Game of Thrones that doesn’t spoil it? Well that’s a tough one! I would say not to read this if you haven’t seen the show because any hints of what is going to happen somewhat ruins what does. Game of Thrones is one of my favorite shows and probably the best show out there tied with Justified and Breaking Bad. The reason it’s so good is because it subverts everything you think you know. The good guys aren’t always good, the bad guys aren’t always bad and the weddings aren’t always weddings. At any point anything can happen and it not only makes it exciting but also worth watching again.
I’m glad to say that season 3 is pretty great. This is even better after the shakiness of last season (Which was still good but was starting to show the seam with so many characters.) This season is more willing to trust the audience by letting characters disappear and return for episodes that it makes it run more smoothly. The show has managed to become better than the book by knowing where we are going and steering us more clearly. There really isn’t anything I can say about this show that isn’t just a nitpick. Watch it!
Favorite Episode: Second Sons I know people that know me would assume I loved the next episode but I loved the hope that was established in this episode. This was Sansa’s and Theon’s wedding. Peter Dinklage does an amazing job as the only Lannister with a conscience and it shows here. He deserves all the awards for his acting. We also see Sam finally do something! Plus we finally see the Hound being a human which is great. This show man.
Worst Episode: Mhysa: Again, this is just bad for one think and that’s the ending. Not taking into account that I hate Daenerys because she is the dumbest character that everyone loves (see also Sally Draper when I do my mad men review) I still felt the last image was weak. First the Targaryen already had a finisher for the season and the first one was amazing! And the second season finisher established the zombie army and that’s amazing. But this finisher just showed that Daenerys has more slaves in the middle of nowhere and dragons. The dragons can only close so many episodes before I get bored. But it wasn’t bad, just we’ve seen it before and it showed no new information. I will say that it had the best scene between Jon Snow and Ygritte. Rose Leslie has turned Ygritte into a dynamic character and seeing her heart break was more powerful than I’ve seen in all of Snow’s arc. They have that forbidden love thing going on and I love it!
Trivia: Season 3 is actually the first part of book 3 so expect the second part of book 3 sometime next year! I can’t wait!
Synopsis: Young Norman Bates moves across the country with his mother to start a hotel after the death of his father. The sorta-prequel to Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
What Season: 1
Review: This has been one of my favorite new series and it’s for a couple of reasons. The first is that it doesn’t try to outdo or top the original. This is probably because they set it in modern day. I feel this lets it be it’s own show and doesn’t have quite the same amount of pressure as if they set it in the 60s. I also like it because the original Psycho wasn’t a period piece, it was a modern story. So it actually makes sense to keep it modern or at least in the present.
Another reason I like it is because it doesn’t take itself so seriously. Norman is a huge dork, he’s always been a huge dork and Freddie Highmore plays him as such. Every character is well down here and I like that they aren’t going for hollywood hot. Norman looks like Anthony Perkins, the main love interest has a oxygen machine and looks like a mouse, and even the “hot chick” looks like a real girl next door prom queen than say a Easy A Emma Stone character. It brings in a reality without doing anything. It works here and it helps lets some of the sillier aspects of the story (like how every single person in the town has a secret or is evil, every girl is in love with Norman) slide and lets you have fun with it. Too many shows nowadays are too serious to the point of boredom, even ones with good premises. But the best shows (Game of Thrones, Justified, Mad Men, and especially Breaking Bad) let themselves have some fun with the material and poke fun at itself. This gets you more invested with the characters and lets you have more fun because you have to get so invested in the season.
But the best thing about the story is how the Norman Bates caricature has changed. In the 60s, the nerdy quiet kid was the outcast, the creepy one but nowadays they rule the teen movies. Every teen romance is about the geeky nerdy kid falling in love with the popular girl and winning her because his awkwardness is his strength. Well this show is forced to subvert that trope. Norman is a Michael Cera role with the added hitch that he is insane and prone to acts of violence. There is always the underlining threat of Bates and it’s great to see this changed. I don’t know what’s going to happen in season two and a great start.
Favorite Episode: The Truth I won’t spoil it too much but this is kind of where shit goes down. We see how terrible Norman can be and what kind of threat he is. It also shows Norman and her motivations for her actions to protect her son from even himself. It also make Dylan (Norman’s Brother) into a real character instead of just a foil and it’s awesome.
Worst Episode: What’s Wrong with Norman: I didn’t really dislike any of the episodes but this was one that ended with a cliffhanger that ends real quick in the next episode. I hate when that happens. It’s just a cheap trick that the show doesn’t need to take. I will say this has one of the best scenes between Norman and his Mother (or Norman and Norman?) and I really just wanted to talk about it.
Trivia: Was the highest A&E show premiere and has been picked up for season 2.
Get your shit together mad men
You’re way too up and down
So on that Teen Wolf tv show
When they talk about “packs” they mean different basketball teams right?!? Please tell me they have basketball on that show? At least they surf on the top of trucks right? RIGHT?
Synopsis: The final season deals with the dunder mifflin moving on after the documentary, and Jim and Pam having marriage problems.
What Season: 9
Review: In the last couple of season, the Office has fallen off. This was made abundantly apparent when Andy Bernard (Ed Helms) was made manager. It no longer felt like my office or your office but like THE office, a magical place that wasn’t real. The problem is that the only thing that made the office so special was it’s realism and it’s heart. It’s why a show like the farewell of Michael Scott could still hit so hard even after the show had jumped the shark.
So was the farewell season any good? Well yes and no. There was a real attempt to fix the problems of the show and bring back the spark from the first few seasons. But having said that, there is still a lot of misteps. A lot of this is because of trying to reignite the fire. The biggest mistakes where how they treated Andy, and the Pam-Jim problems. Andy had been a problem since he got the job as manager as the writers never seemed to know what to do with him. The problem was in trying to fix this problem, they made him so unlikable, so selfish, so dumb that he no longer resembled not only his characters but a real human being.
The other problem with Jim and Pam. Again to try and add some struggle or realness they introduced problems with Jim taking a job in another city without telling Pam. This is great, because this is a real problem. Sometimes the things we fell in loved with become the thing we resent the most. This would be a real test of love. BUT instead of that, they throw in a sound guy that is also in love with Pam. And Pam shows hints of feelings as well. The problem is that it ruins Pam’s character. Too often she comes off as a shrew, when she is in the right. Too often does Jim come off as the victim when it is all his fault. And the sound engineer kills everything. Because Jim was the guy who knew the real Pam, and they helped save each other from her terrible relationship. THE PROBLEM is that it makes Pam just someone who loves attention. She would rather run away than face her problems. It ruins her character and their love story. Plus it’s quickly forgotten making it have no bearing. Also the resolution is even worse. See the main problem with them was that Jim took this job without talking it out to Pam, and then he quits the job without talking about. The problem was never the job but the recklessness that is no longer cute when you have real stakes. By resolving it like this, it just shows that Pam is superficial and attention-craving. It doesn’t work.
But what works? Well mainly the last episode. Actually the last couple of episode shines in ways the show hasn’t done in years. It was funny, warm and realistic. And the finale was perfect. The last thing I’ll say is that the season was worth watching if you are a fan. We’ve spent so long with these characters that we want to see them have a happy ending and we got that. It was a fond farewell.
Favorite Episode: Finale Okay I’ve already gone over this. But the season really hit everything. It brought all the characters home and gave them all a good send off and managed to be surprising warming and even touching.
Worst Episode: Customer Loyalty: This is the episode that introduces the sound engineer. I think the main problem wasn’t that it happened. It was the laziness we knew was coming. Did we really think that the show would separate the life blood of the show and the best couple that it ever had? Of course not and by putting divorce and affairs on the table they went lazy with it. I would have much rather enjoyed a story about a strained marriage where they still loved each other. That would have been at least interesting and not predictable.
Trivia: A spinoff starring Dwight was not picked up.
The stages of being a community fan as observed through the Internet
Stage 1: this show is okay
Stage 2: this show is the best show ever, I am in love with Annie, oh abed, it’s so meta
Stage 3: six seasons and a movie!
Stage 4: you can’t fire Harmon, I hate this show it’s terrible
Stage 5: guys, it’s not that bad it’s just a tv show
