Next Week's Movies

Where the Wild Things Are: I've seen this described as the Kids movie for people who love I heart Huckabees. I don't quite know what that means but fuck if this isn't going to be awesome. Expectancy Level: 9/10

Carriers: Chris Pine stars in this bio-apocalypse movie. Looks OK from the poster, but given that I've not seen one trailer, I remain slightly cynical. Expectancy Level: 5/10

The Limits Of Control: Jim Jarmusch movie that I'll no doubt have to hunt down because it will be released at exactly one screen in the entire world. Bet its good though. Expectancy level: 7/10

The Stepfather: Oh but this looks shit. Dylan Walsh? Really? Expectancy Level: 3/10

REVIEW: Me and Orson Welles

Richard Linklater, more then any other director working I think, has embraced the one for them, one for me policy to the point where its not even funny. For every A Scanner Darkly, Tape or Before Sunset there's a School of rock or a Bad News Bears. Its almost like the guy wants to make good films, and has no issue in making bad ones in order to make that happen. (Although I should admit to having a soft spot for School Of Rock, even if I know I shouldn't.) Me and Orson Welles is kind of a middle-ground between the two. There are elements of corporate man Linklater here, the staging of the play bit is beyond mainstream, and of course the casting of Zac Efron, but visually speaking you can see Linklater having a ball recreating the time and place, and while this is certainly looking at depression era America through rose-tinted glasses, it nonetheless is done so in an incredibly detailed and loving way.

I particularly enjoyed, the film itself aside, all the tween girls who'd wandered into this movie blindly following their icon Zac Efron, and ten minutes in realizing they had walked in to a film about Orson Welles staging a play in 1930's America. Needless to say there were a lot of bored looking teenage girls (and boys) in the audience. The film itself though, despite being lovingly realized is a little twee and self-satisfied, and for a film that goes on about great acting, it could have done with a little more of it. Efron isn't going to be brilliant, but he does his best even if he looks a little lost in the Shakespearean dialogue. Clare Danes looks happy to even be in a movie, given the pretty impressive vanishing act she's pulled in the last couple of years. Still she's serviceable, in a serviceable part. The film was going to essentially live or die on whoever played Orson Welles and how good they were. Newcomer Christian McKay, no doubt cast because of his physical similarity to Welles, which is admittedly very close, and his impersonation is good, but there's something slightly off in his charisma, which hits the OK range much more often then great, and for this film to be anything else other then a production designer's curio, he had to be brilliant. And he's not really. Thus condemning this movie to 6/10 purgatory where nobody remembers it exists in five years, a footnote on Linklater's career and possibly Efron's, if he has one long term.

Like I said before the production design and costumes are meticulously done, and Linklater clearly enjoyed shooting the period, but its just too formulaic and polite to be worth anything beyond polite interest. Linklater will come back with something great though, I'm sure of it.

Rating: 6/10

REVIEW: Cracks

Shameless nepotism has served Hollywood quite well of late. Both Sofia Coppola and Jason Reitman got the breaks because of the family name, and have gone on to make some great movies in their own right. Family privilege is a beautiful thing apparently. The latest hoping to continue this trend is Jordan Scott, daughter of Ridley, who served up this peculiar little indie. She's far from being in the grand league of hollywood children just yet, but there's promise here. Ms Scott has a distinct, or disintictish visual style, and tells her story relatively confidently. There are kinks here and there, but there's more good then bad, if not by much.

The story, which follows the exploits of a girls boarding school deep in the isolated British countryside, as a new foreign girl shatters the private disillusioned eco-system that the rest of the girls, and their seemingly perfect teacher Eva Green have established. Eva Green clearly has a lot of fun in this role, relishing every second she has as the increasingly unhinged teacher. Green is an actress that I have a lot of good things to say about, and she holds the prestigious title of being the only Bond Girl in history to actually steal the movie with her acting rather then just her beauty. And she is very good here, although I have to say its not her best performance, but its a very intruiging one and more evidence that she deserves a bigger career then she has. But she plays a supporting role in the piece really, with most of the action centred around the tussling between former clique queen bee Juno Temple and Spanish upstart Maria Valverde. Both give good performances, although Temple goes a bit heavy on the hard-nosed public school-gril thing at times. The movie in that sense, is a more ethereal and much darker version of Mean Girls, only with an ever increasing blackness in place of humor, and Scott conveys this tone very well, as things escalate toward the worse for our characters. she also uses her country-side setting very well, finding a lot of beauty in the green and the water, with the diving sequences being particularly graceful. But the film can be stately at times and also directionless, and given that its isn't Green's story, her character is perhaps more of a closed book then was in the movie's best interests.

But its a British film with style, atmosphere and good performances. In the grand period tradition we seem to have here. Nobody does these films better then we do, but at the same time I think we're due another great contemporary British film. Anyway, this is tangenting. An interesting film, with a director with enough talent to pay attention to in the future, but the film itself is not an outstanding one, which according to its indie nature means it will be well reviewed in the guardian and consequently seen by no-one.

Rating: 6/10

REVIEW: The Box

Well Richard Kelly is in trouble now. I can see what he was trying to do, but you can say the same thing for Southland Tales, it doesn't make it any less of a disaster. The Box, I think, aspires to more cerebral sci-fi, and its admirable that it for the most part resisted the draw of violence and genuinely tried to explore its ideas, rather then just use its concept as an excuse for chase and action scenes, which is seemingly the way of modern sci-fi. But it misfired. And when a cerebral sci-fi movie misfires, and we haven't got any action or horror to distract and allow the movie to be enjoyed in a by the numbers way, Well frankly you're fucked.

The story sees a seemingly normal suburban couple receive a mysterious box on their doorstep, which their later told contains a button, and if they push it they''ll receive a million dollars, but also kill somebody. Moral quandaries and obscure mystery ensue. For The Box to really excel at what it wanted to be, Kelly really needed to create an a very strong atmosphere, or in other words there needed to be a very strong sense of visual and narrative control. If that had been done well, the movie would have been a lot more tense and powerful. But Kelly dropped the ball. Writing giddy sci-fi concepts is one thing, but without the nous to execute them it just becomes a creative and philosophical splurge. There may be some good ideas in there somewhere, but its hard to pick them out from the mess. Kelly is far from an accomplished visual director, but unless he finds a way to insert some coherence into his raw talent, he's got nowhere to go.

Similarly the relationship between our married leads Norma (Cameron Diaz) and Arthur (James Marsden), was vital to the approachibility of the movie. Their journey is a joint one, and as a consequence the believability of the relationship, and the strength of it, is almost more invaluable to The Box then any of the sci-fi pontification. But Marsden and Diaz have no chemistry together, with Marsden giving a widely bland performance, and while Diaz is better, she doesn't do well opposite Marsden, her best scenes being the ones she share's with the villain of the piece. Their relationship becomes nothing more then a plot point when it should have been the heart and soul of the movie. If there is a saving grace, it would be Frank Langella's performance as villain in chief Arlington Steward. Its impressively restrained, in a role that many would have approached as a license to OTT, Langella stays true to the character and plays everything with a stiff upper lip. Its much more interesting that way. The film also has an impressively uncompromising ending, but this doesn't undo the cavernous lack of chemistry between Marsden and Diaz, or the lack of assurance in Kelly's direction, or even the quite weak CGI, which looks much cheaper then even something you might see on Supernatural.

And yet, I wish more movies like this would get made. It tried to do something and failed, and you have to call it on that, but the movie has ambition and a reason to exist beyond making money. That's something right?

Rating: 5/10

Best Of the 00's: The Ten Best Female Television Performances

Same deal, but with women instead of the men. Since I've already maxed out on all the potential insights into television acting, I am unsure how to preface this list without repeating myself, so I guess I'll just get straight into the thing.

10) Julia Davis, Nighty Night


"I'm not a malicious woman and I will strike down the first person who says that I am."

I don't mean to patronize the TV output of my homeland by always giving it tenth place and giving the above nine spots to actors in American shows, but it has turned out that way. Julia Davis, who in this show that is at first glance quite crass and unfunny, but really is crass and almost genius, gives a big performance, to be sure, but its a very well pitched one. With a perfectly measured demonic passive aggression beneath the country accent, and as a performance its very under-rated, and to me is the best by any British comedienne in the 2000's.

9) Allison Janney, The West Wing


"You get my support the same way I get yours: when I agree with what you're saying or when I don't care about what you're saying."

It takes quite the actor or actress to make Aaron Sorkin's writing look anything less then suffocatingly arrogant. He's a great writer, but damn if he doesn't know it and at times, this is a quality that's less then charming. But Janney, delivering his words for seven years, managed to deliver sanctimoniousness with affability and arrogance with humility, not to mention the many times Sorkin got it right, and Janney was even better. Its a performance of greatness, that isn't shoved in your face at all times, which only makes it better.

8) Kristen Bell, Veronica Mars


"Like, why settle for something not good just cause it's something?"

Yes, its a show about a teenage private eye in high school. Yes it wasn't on HBO or Showtime, or any of the respectable networks. Yes on paper it has no real right to be taken seriously, but like Buffy was the one saving grace of the WB in the nineties, Veronica Mars justified the existence of the UPN. And Kristen Bell justified the existence of Veronica Mars, with an effortlessly cool, likeable and charming performance that gave her the movie career she is now in the process of flushing down the toilet. But she's very good in this show.

7) Chloe Sevigny, Big Love


"Understand that there is nothing I wouldn't do to be apart of my family Margene."

Its a shame that Chloe Sevigny will be remembered above all else for performing a sex act on film, because she did some very, very good work in this show. Often overlooked in lists and such, Big Love is a show I've got a lot of respect for, but Sevigny, playing the ultra-repressed, strictest of strict mormons Nicolette, steals the show. Miles better then anything she's ever done in movies, Sevigny nails the uptight, catty character perfectly, and also allows the character to become much more then the source of antagonism written on the page.

6) Mary Louise-Parker, Weeds


"You listen, you stay away from my customer base. Don't deal to kids."

Weeds has taken a lot of hits of late, whether being accused of selling out its original premise or overly objectifying its star, one things for sure, there is no other program quite like it. More then any other show I can think of, it draws both its comedy and drama from a deep-ran cynicism and nihilism. Which Parker embodies perfectly. Its such a performance of intelligence, that even the femme fatale aspects of it feel unique. Parker radiates brains, humor, sex, pathos on the rare occasion the show calls for it and she really does make land her long term character arc, which is Nancy realizing bit by bit how she really doesn't give a shit about anything. She's here to have fun, and nothing else matters.

5) Jessica Walter, Arrested Development


!Oh who knows what they were saying? It's probably because a seal ate his hand. Apparently, the army is giving out medals for being food now. "

Of the many comedic antagonistic forces that face Jason Bateman in the course of this show, Walter is the most consistently, bitingly hilarious. They're all fucking awesome don't get me wrong, but there's just something slightly ingenious about Walter in Arrested Development. As entitled as she is conniving, her two-faced and self-serving antics never fail to amuse.

4) Mary McDonnell, Battlestar Galactica


"I'm not suggesting anything Doctor. If I want to throw a baby out an airlock I'll do it. "

There's such a gentleness and compassion to McDonnell, in anything she's in really, but it came to a head on Battlestar, in which she combines these qualities with a more pro-active and forceful character. Laura Roslin was one of the most well rounded and credible female characters of the decade, and in large part that's down to McDonnell who gives a performance that pretty much scales if emotional range of man, it goes from empowered to vulnerable to self-absorbed to compassionate, all the while she gets everything right. In a science fiction show too. What is the world coming to.

3) Rachel Griffiths, Six Feet Under


"Yes, I'm looking for clothes so expensive only an idiot would buy them. Oh, there they are... "

Griffiths performance in Six Feet Under does tend to polarize. There are as many who hate it as love it, but for me it was the single most credible and multi-layered envisioning of a deeply troubled intelligent woman I remember seeing. In almost anything. Griffiths nails the knee-jerk defensiveness, the subtle irritant at having to carry out every conversation you'll ever have with an intellectual inferior, and the almost genetic strain of self-sabotage. Often this is all communicated not in writing, but in a look, or a particular line reading. Its a performance you can go back to and find so much more. It may not have too many grand-standing moments, but I'd have no problem labeling Brenda Chenowith as the most fascinating character of female origin that television has offered up in the 'unies'. And that's largely down to Griffiths ever terrific performance.

2) Edie Falco, The Sopranos



"Okay, as your parents, we don't feel joining the army is in your best interest."

The Sopranos isn't just the James Gandolfini show, although it was at times hard to avoid, as there is one more performance of truly great worth to come out of it. And that's Edie Falco, as his long-suffering wife. And that particular cliche has had no more direct meaning then to Carmela Soprano, who takes so much shit from our hero over the years its astounding. But what makes Falco's performance so interesting is the aspect of complicity that is always there bubbling under the surface at her attempts to be a good person. She knows what a monster Tony is, but she sells her soul to accommodate her standard of living, and this thought never leaves Falco's performance. Not for one second.

1) Glenn Close, Damages


"I'm not! I'm not objective at all, and I'm going to turn my passionate, irrational anger against your office"

Glenn Close is awesome on this show. What else is there to say. Its a legal procedural that serializes its cases, which makes it better then Law and Order I guess, but its pretty much you standard Cable subversion show if it wasn't for Close. Who, no disrespect intended, was born to play this role. Its such a pitch-perfect performance, that comes from an actress who's been nothing but brilliant in anything she's ever been in. A tour de force in every respect.

Best Of the 00's: The Ten Best Male Television performances

To my mind, giving a truly great performance on a television show is almost more difficult then giving one in film. It requires much more consistency, a great deal more patience and ability to make bad writing into good writing solely on the back of your selling it. Because given the nature of the television beast, its time constraints don't allow the endless pontification and development of scripts that one can do in feature films. So even the greatest show is going to have a duffer moment that requires the actor to go above and beyond in order to save face. So, without any further ado, and I do so like the ado so consider my brevity a courtesy (Vocab alert.), the best television performances of the decade by those in possession of a Y chromosome. FYI There's an alarming amount of bald guys on this list. This amuses me.

10) Ricky Gervais, The Office


"You have to be a 100% behind someone before you can stab them in the back."

Call this a concession. I personally am left a bit cold by the UK office (Yes I know there's something wrong with me) but I know that the man did something great here, even if its not exactly up my alley. Masses, consider yourselves appeased.


9) Michael C Hall, Six Feet Under


"Yeah, I'll be the strong one, the stable one, the dependable one, because that's what I do. And everyone around me will fall apart. 'Cause that's what they do."

Hall has been one of the greatest contributors to television of the decade, giving two subtle, terrific character performances. One in a genuinely great show (Six Feet Under), and the other that sadly never became what it could have been (Dexter). The constant in both is Hall's excellence, but I'm going for his performance as David because during the course of its run, the range required of the man is amazing, and whats even more so is that he never missed a beat.


8) James Callis, Battlestar Galactica


" Aren't you Gaius Baltar? "

" I haven't done anything. "

Yes is a science-fiction show, but it transcended its humble beginnings into a critical sensation for a reason. The performances on this show are pretty much unanimously great, particularly Mary McDonnell, who shall soon be appearing on this lists opposite number. But for me there's one performance that stands out from the beginning, and it comes from James Callis as Baltar, playing a character that embodies self-preservation above all else. Its such a good performance because you find yourself unable to resist rooting for the guy who pretty much destroyed the human race, and its down to Callis talent that Baltar becomes such a complex, awesomely surprising invention.


7) Michael K Williams, The Wire


" I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase. Its all in the game, right? "

The Wire is chock a block full of fantastic understated performances, almost to the point where to pick one out from the ensemble is to commit a grievous crime. But if there's one character from the Wire who rose above the rest, even if by a minuscule margin, it would be Michael K Williams' Omar. Its such an effortless performance of cool, intelligence, humor and pathos that even the obscene amount of adjectives I just used doesn't cover how good he is.


6) Michael Chiklis, The Shield



"With a body count like this, the Aztecs and Mayans are squabbling about more than who invented the burrito. "

In which the guy from a below average sitcom called Daddio, went on to give one of the most iconic television performances that ever was. The Shield on the whole is a drastically under-rated show, with some drastically under-rated performances. Chiklis through all seven seasons is terrific, conveying the moral ambiguity of the character perfectly, always preventing Mackey falling off the ledge into all out villainy, but always making you slightly guilty for getting behind him.


5) Terry O Quinn, Lost


"I've looked into the eye of this island, and what I saw... was beautiful."

I'm sure many would go for Michael Emerson's also terrific performance as Ben Linus, but for me Terry O Quinn's performance as Locke has been the glue that held this show together even through its rougher times. Where as the younger cast members sometimes go through the genre motions, O Quinn earns his place because through thick and thin, he lends such a soulfulness and undertone of thoughtful tragedy to his character, that his screen presence is close to magnetic. He doesn't get the scene-stealing dialogue that Emerson gets, or the redemptive arcs of Josh Holloway or Matthew Fox, but he gave a performance here that didn't so much rise above the show, but took it with him.


4) Hugh Laurie, House


"So, um, if I need them, where exactly will Dr. Foreman be keeping my balls?"

House would be such a shit show without Hugh Laurie. Its preachy, sanctimonious and is under the impression that Olivia Wilde is the most fascinating actress that ever lived. But it has Hugh Laurie. And by the strength of performance, that is at once one of the best comedic performances of the decade and one of the best dramatic ones, makes a quite formulaic medical procedural into an endlessly riveting and endlessly entertaining hour of TV. Laurie certainly earns his accolades in this role.


3) Jason Bateman, Arrested Development


"You seem more villainous than usual, Mom; are you sober?"

In a show full of hilarious and quirky characters (and Michael Cera), why pick the straight man? Because quite frankly Bateman is one of the most hilarious straight men that ever lived. Few actors deliver sarcasm with such relish, and his never-ending stream of deadpanning one-liners and truly genius reactions to the wackiness around him. But what makes the character work so well is that Bateman never let go of the subtelty even in the face of some batshit insane ( but sill genius) writing in the later seasons, and Michael Bluth stayed a perfectly played self-superior saint to the end. The best comedic performance of the decade I'd have no trouble saying.


2) Bryan Cranston, Breaking Bad


" Is this just a genetic thing with you? Is it congenital? Did your mother drop you on your head when you were a baby?"

Watch this show If you're not watching it. Seriously. For all you Mad Men fans out there, Cranston has beaten Jon Hamm at the Emmy's two years in a row. That's how good he is. Another one in the list of great comedy actors that upon turning their attention to more dramatic work, is mesmerizing and mind-blowing. It would be easy to oversell the performance, certainly, but Cranston internalizes all the right moments and draws you in to a complex, painful transition from man to monster. Metaphorically Speaking. He doesn't turn into crappy monster thing like Mohinder on Heroes.


1) James Gandolfini, The Sopranos


"What fucking kind of human being am I, if my own mother wants me dead?"

I couldn't in good faith give the number one spot to anyone else. The Sopranos, isn't my favorite show, as it is many, many other people's, to me its always been the kind of show to appreciate rather then enjoy, although many times it was both. Gandolfini, though, is a force of nature from beginning to end. Adding more dimensions to Tony Soprano then it is possible to mention, or do justice to in critical review. He's so good it is likely that this is the performance that all future leading men will be judged by. If thats the case then a lot of very good performances are going to look positively workaday next to Gandolfini's.

Various Best of Decade Lists happening soon.

As the change between the noughties or the zeroes or whatever this decade was called to the teens or whatever the next decade is going to be called, best of the decade lists have begun to appear and appear in numbers. Never one to shy away from jumping on a bandwagon, I have decided to do this as well. But given my annual award marathon that happens in the new year, I'm doing my decade thing in December, because its easier for me that way. I'll be going through TV first, and Ill get to the films later, as to you know, build up the tension. Or as much as that can be done in this scenario anyway. So stay tuned.

Obscenely Early Oscar Predictions

Given that the number of potential best picture nominees has gone up from five to ten. Almost every conceivable film that could get nominated will get nominated. So without due consideration here's what I expect the main categories to look like. PS. If Avatar is any way good, it has a shot at the tenth spot.

Best Picture:
Nine
Up
Up in The Air
A Serious Man
The Lovely Bones
The Hurt Locker
Precious
An Education
Coraline
Invictus

Best Director:
Katherine Bigelow, The Hurt Locker
Rob Marshall, Nine
Peter Jackson, The Lovely Bones
Jason Reitman, Up in the air
Clint Eastwood, Invictus

Best Actor:
Daniel Day-Lewis, Nine
George Clooney, Up in the air
Jeremy Renner, The Hurt Locker
Colin Firth, A Single Man
Jeff Bridges, Crazy Heart

Best Actress:
Carey Mulligan, An Education
Gabourey Sidibe, Precious
Meryl Streep, Julie and Julia
Helen Mirren, The Last Station
Audrey Tautou, Coco Before Chanel

Best Supporting Actor:
Christophe Waltz, Inglourious Basterds
Stanley Tucci, The Lovely Bones
Anthony Mackie, The Hurt Locker
Woody Harrelson, The Messenger
Matt Damon, Invictus

Best Supporting Actress:
Judi Dench, Nine
Marion Cotillard, Nine
Anna Kendrick, Up in The Air
Julianne Moore, A Single Man
Susan Sarandon, The Lovely Bones

Not all what I hope mind, but what I think.

TV REVIEW: Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 7

Seinfeld: " Explain to me again why isn't this lame? "

Larry David: " We'll find a way to do it that won't be lame"

To be honest, when I heard that the story arc of season 7 was going to be a Seinfeld Reunion, I had the same reaction as the fictional Jerry Seinfeld. I feared that Curb, a show that has never to this point been less then mostly awesome, might become a joke within a joke within a joke, with the audience increasingly left out. But I was wrong, and fantastically so. Pretty much every second of the Seinfeld reunion-related screen-time was hilarious or at least the final three episodes of it anyway. Its perhaps not the strongest year the show has ever had, at this point season's 4 and 5 are looking like the pinnacle, but it has re-energized Curb into becoming more then an amusing distraction again.

The season itself, while not being perfect in terms of its structure, with a particularly weak and almost irrelevant set of episodes around the middle, was always funny and there wasn't a laughless episode to be found, even with the disposable ones. Perhaps because at this point, Larry David the character has become almost as strong as any of his Seinfeld characters. For all his faults he's never not engaging or unfunny, and while at times his actions may stretch the realms of even sitcom credibility, he's such a unique creation that at times it doesn't matter if the show is being a bit iffy. Larry david doesn't even have to be a brilliant actor to pull this off, with just the force of his personality making him an engaging screen presence. And in a bizarre way, he's become one of televsion's most iconic and singular characters of the decade. This could be what makes Curb such a long lasting show too, because on average by the time shows reach their seventh season an involuntary winding down process has begun. But there's still a vitalness here that there probably shouldn't be, with David still doing enough interesting and original stuff to justify this show's contuining existence.

The year actually begins quite strongly, with a hilarious two-parter wrapping up last season's holdover storyline of Larry being intwined with Vivica A Fox and her extended family, this of course being great because its given us lots of Leon (J.B Smoove), who makes everything about 100 times better with his presence. Even despite him being a raging stereotype, he's such a hilarious one that it really doesn't matter. Anyway Vivica has cancer, and Larry, who is still in love with his ex wife Cheryl (Cheryl Hines) is doing all he can to get her to dump him, from racing home to dump her before she gets her final diagnosis, from taking her to a therapist to show what a huge dick he is, its great stuff. I was almost disappointed when the Seinfeld arc had to begin because I enjoyed these first two so much, but that anguish was pleasingly short lived.

The Seinfeld stuff at first was hit and miss. The stuff with Larry and Jason Alexander and the resentment between them is golden. This is in part because of how well Alexander plays it, just as a good Seinfeld episode pretty much coincided with it focusing on George, because George was Larry and Mr Larry David seems to write best for himself. The two share a hilarious animosity that is really the biggest comic success of the arc. Hearing Alexander relentlessly rag on George's character, which is of course a surrogate Larry, much to Larry's anger is an awesome running gag. And while Jerry Seinfeld is given nothing much to do except react to Larry, the two share a rapport that carries through to the screen, and its pleasing to see Larry have a friendship without the undertone of hostility. As was the problem on Seinfeld at times, the show has no idea what to do with Julia Louis Dreyfus and as a consequence she does kind of get lost in the shuffle of things, I would say the same for Michael Richards if it wasn't for his awesome plot with Leon in 'The Table Read' probably the best episode of the season, in which Larry David wisely acknowledged Richards infamous viral video racist tirade of a couple of years ago. And plus, Leon's impression of the deeply Jewish Danny Duberstein was pretty much the funniest thing on this show in years. As far as the other regulars go, Jeff Garlin got to do his fat straight man thing, Susie Essman as Jeff's fierce wife says 'Fuck You' better then anyone else in history and Cheryl Hines rarely gets a chance to be funny, but when she does she is clearly very good at it. My main complaint about this show over the years would probably be the underuse of Cheryl, who plays too minor a role in things.

The main weakness of the year is probably its sporadicity of the mid-section, probably episodes 4 to 7, go too long without being involved in the overall arc, and aren't quite strong enough on their own to jusitfy it. Don't get me wrong, they all have funny moments, 'Denise handicapped' (a moniker for how Larry labels his disabled girlfriend in his mobile phone) in particular was quite hilarious despite quite a few contrivances. Which at times can be a problem with Curb, with things at times seeming too comically convienient and perhaps an over-reliance on coincidence to land at the end of the episode. But that could be levelled at Seinfeld too, so I guess that's just how Larry David does it. Its this mid-section that stops this perhaps being the best year of Curb, which it could have been if it had been a slight more consistent. But given how much better this show is then the scores of obvious, factory line sitcoms there are out there, it seems almost silly to harp on in this way, given that this is the show that finally confronted the issue of ridiculously hard to open packaging head on, as well as the show that finally got to give us Larry David impersonating Jason Alexander impersonating him.


Season seven, if it should be the final year of Curb, which is certainly a possibility, is also a fitting end I would think, given how dependent Larry David is on meta-writing, and with this he has kind of come full circle in regards to self-referentialism and from here you wonder where he has left to go with it. Aside from this, this was a mostly great season of television from one of the funniest writers the medium has ever had.

Best Episode: The Table Read

Rating: 7/10