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The Office: Local Ad (2007)
Shooting an Ad... Michael at his best/worst
This is the fifth episode in this season, and also the first episode to go back to the 1/2 hour slot. Most regular watchers probably viewed this switch back with a mixture of emotions, because it has been a joy to have an hour of The Office every week, but I think there's a part of most people that know the hour-long slots are best saved for the really pivotal episodes that need that much more time for exposition.
This episode was a great example of the love/hate relationship that probably a lot of us have with Michael Scott. Steve Carell imbues Michael with those glimpses of vulnerability that make us keep coming back and putting up with him, but there are still those moments that just make you want to throttle Michael Scott. For me, in this episode, it was the really fun theme song Darryl was putting together with the other singers in the office... and frankly, if Michael had gone with it, it might just have been what convinced David Wallace to allow them to go with their own ad. But, then again, he wouldn't have been Michael Scott if he HAD gone with it.
The writers are doing a great job at doling out the Pam/Jim relationship in small doses. This is one of the first times a series has succeeded in keeping a successful relationship interesting once it is official (of course, they are using the Dwight/Angela/Andy plot to sustain that area of tension.
Questions that are starting to surface for this season, have to do with past characters: Is Karen Filippelli going to make any more appearances. Here's a piece of trivia on Rashida Jones - she sang a capella in college. Will she maybe hook up with Andy at a singing conference? (probably not, Karen seemed to have objections to singing (Diwali/Initiation).
Where will we see Roy again? Will Pam and Jim run into him at some inopportune time? (maybe out to dinner with Katy) The most satisfying thing about this season is watching this show continue to improve AND gain a larger and larger following (in my own office, Schrute Bucks are pinned up in more cubicles every week.)
The Office: Money (2007)
Relationships Progressing
Minor spoilers.
This season is just going so terrific. This episode specifically, is just wonderful. Even with Michael's travails in this episode, the end serves to forward Jan and Michael's relationship. The Dwight/Angela/Andy triangle should serve for a LOT of fascinating twists throughout this season. Kelly and Darryl seem to hold some promise of maybe Darryl helping Kelly grow up a bit. And finally, WOW on Pam and Jim, I think we're all falling more in love with them as we watch them fall more in love with each other each episode.
Just a few continuity errors that were pretty glaring:
Angela specifying a restaurant with no vegetables? Jan throws her keys to Oscar in the parking lot, and in the next scene sets her keys down in the box car. Through the box car, we can see an old fashioned passenger train behind them, complete with seats. So, it is pretty clear they filmed it in a railway museum of some sort.
Goal! (2005)
Decent Sports Film - Only One Thing Missing - Real Soccer
I took my boys (12 and 8) to see this last weekend and we all had a good time. Nothing new in the plot, but if you just accept it for what it is - it is fine.
My biggest problem - the filming of the soccer. Every soccer scene felt like a Nike commercial - everything was filmed from the waist down with about a 3 foot focus.
This isn't a spoiler - but here's an example. There's a scene where Santiago, the main character, goes jogging on the beach in Newcastle. The shot shows him from a distance, jogging on the beach and then zooms in close. We then see him jogging along the seawall in as the waves throw up sea spray. That's good camera work. Good establishing shot, lets us know where we are, where the character is, etc.
By contrast, there are the soccer scenes. I rarely knew where the ball was on the field or who had it. I had to go by the soundtrack, the music and background noise to let me know what was happening. Next thing I would know, one of the characters would be making or missing a goal and people would be cheering or moaning.
All I'm saying is - with a formulaic plot (done well, but still formulaic), then you'd sure better have some great soccer. This one sure didn't. Fingers crossed they improve the soccer choreography in the next two films.
School of Life (2005)
Feel Good Elements with so-so plot
This movie has a lot going for it. Good performers. Shot pretty well. You certainly can't fault the film for not having its heart in the right place.
However, all of the dots don't really connect. Without spoiling too much, I'll just say that there were some very 'Beaches' elements to this... pulling the heart strings in a very manipulative fashion.
Not much surprising in the plot... other than twists that just didn't make all that much sense.
David Paymer and Ryan Reynolds both try their hardest... but they really have to work HARD to get this movie to work. John Astin has a nice cameo and young Andrew Robb also provides a steady presence as the narrator and main character.
Basically, there's a lot of cheap and/or easy plot devices in this story and none of them are really supported very well by the plot. Dying father, awkward kid, embarrassing Dad, teacher-too-cool-for-his-own-good, even down to throwing in a baby at the end of the story.
If you're in the mood for a school flick or something of the same flavor in terms of cool-guy authority figure inspires geek - 1984's "Teachers" or Bill Murray's "Meatballs". Neither one of those is perfect, but they certainly exhibit better storytelling than this.