Trailer Park Boys

       When people think of Canada a few things come to mind: Hockey, maple syrup, the cold and Rick Moranis doing a goofy accent. After watching Trailer Park Boys though you’ll be associating America’s hat with drugs, alcohol, vulgarity and learn that even in the kindest country in the world has its own scum bags.

       Trailer Park Boys is a Canadian comedy series in the “mockumentary” style of other shows such as the popular “The Office.” Set in the rundown fictional Sunnyvale trailer park in Nova Scotia the show stars the three titular trailer park boys who are actually grown men; Julian, the de facto leader and most put together of the group, Bubbles the sarcastic cat lover and Ricky who is the living embodiment of white trash. 

       The show, which started its life as an independent film, follows the daily exploits of the three main characters as they try their best to get ahead in their respectively crappy lives the only way they know how, by breaking the law. Whether selling dope, robbing stores and taking advantage of Canada’s exceedingly lenient justice system. The comedy of the show comes completely from the characters and their interactions with the community they’ve grown up in and the various ridiculous situations the boys find themselves in.

       While the writing may seem to get repetitive as characters never truly grow it actually gives off an endearing sense of consistency. Season one will feel as familiar as the latest season, save for certain characters growing up such as Ricky’s daughter who was eight at the show’s beginning. The show also has a clever way of punching its clock back to zero at the end of every season with everyone back in the same situation as they started.

       The handheld camera, documentary style of setting makes the situations feel like watching a prolonged episode of cops as the boys try and evade the law and devolve into slapstick shenanigans. While adding to the hilarity this style starts to work against itself and becomes fourth wall breaking. The documentary team in the show feels the need to get everything and continue to film even when their lives are at stake or when it doesn’t make any sense for them to film a particular scene or characters.

       Trailer Park Boys has been around since 1999 and has recently come back in to light as risky original Showcase series had a ninth season picked up by the leader of risk takers, Netflix. Trailer park Boys may be a bit much for the prudish comedy viewers there’s a lot to be seen in a show about a humble trailer park and its criminal populace.

       With nine seasons, several movies and specials all available on Netflix and still more to come Trailer Park Boys is definitely worth a watch just to see a wilder side to the Great White North.      

Dare(to be different) Devil

       The character of Daredevil hasn’t had much love from any medium outside of the comic books. His gritty, esoteric religious tones have kept him out of the Saturday morning cartoons, and let’s just say his original movie outing was nothing short of colossal failure.

       Knowing this it is a heavy burden for anyone to faithfully represent the red avenger with as much sincerity, drama and intrigue that one might expect from a visceral vigilante, beating people within an inch of their life, who just so happens to be blind.

       But if anyone has the resources to pull it off it’s the unrequited geniuses at Netflix, whose devil may care (no pun intended) attitude of allowing show creators loose on a project. The creators in question not only knock it out of the park, they do so while putting the other Marvel television shows to shame.

       The show stars Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock, a rising attorney who after an accident when he was young left him blind. Despite this the normally crippling affliction afforded him to utilize his other heightened senses and undisclosed combat skills to fight crime both in court and on the streets.

Set up as an origin story Daredevil follows as closely to the comics as possible and it gets afforded this privilege by connecting it to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The show’s setting being the same New York that was attacked by Loki and his alien army. While subtle hints and nods keep the audience aware of this fact the show doesn’t use the connection as a crutch unlike the other Marvel T.V. offerings.

       This however leads to a sense of shock when brutal R-rated things start happening to certain characters. Broken bones, beheadings, bludgeoning and all manner of bloody beat downs keep this show squarely outside of the kiddy pool. As lighthearted the show can be sometimes it handles more serious situations and character moments with a little less grace.

       Though this is only a minor complaint as Daredevil exists within its own world, a world with its own characters and its own problems that can only be affected by Daredevil himself and the aid of an amazing supporting cast. High praise must go to the main villain of Kingpin, played ruthlessly well by Vincent D’Onofrio who appears as if he’s slipping back into the psychotic skin he developed during the filming of Full Metal Jacket.  

       Daredevil comes in as another feather in the now pluming hat of Netflix’s original library and anyone who wants to have more to indulge from the crimson crime fighter should look no further than here.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

       A new comedy show, called Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, recently arrived on Netflix as part of its original content. 

       Much like other shows produced by Netflix Kimmy Schmidt is able to be what the creators plan without the limitations of television, and to great effect. What’s more refreshing is that this is probably the first Netflix show that the entire family can enjoy.     

       Starring Ellie Kemper from The Office as an optimistic country bumpkin from Indiana who, after being liberated from an underground cult where she was being held captive by a crooked preacher in a bunker for half her life, making the phrase, “living under a rock,” much more poignant. After news coverage of her dilemma Kimmy decides to stay in Manhattan to try and experience life to the fullest.

       Given the unusual premise, the show abides by a standard of fish out of water jokes. This makes it more hilarious since not only is the main character of Kimmy Schmidt reasonably naïve to the new world she’s entered, she’s also not completely helpless. Since she has lived in the world before and understands things enough to not make her completely stupid.

       This seems crucial to the comedy the show presents since Kimmy must act as the straight man to the nonsensical future she’s found herself in. Kimmy pays attention to her surroundings in order to come up with reasonable and often clever solutions to the problems she or her friends find themselves in.

       Another great factor to the shows credit is that Kimmy is not a Mary Sue, displaying flaws and character growth after her previously isolated existence. Paralleling a character such as Anna from Frozen in that since both have been separated from a community they are desperate to explore and interact with it without thinking about the consequences too much.

       This factor more often than not is what leads into the conflicts Kimmy deals with on a daily basis as well as the people around her. Speaking of which, the supporting cast is composed of great actors, some familiar and some new who bring a lot more life to the show. At first the characters are introduced as “seen it before” stereotypes, such as her flamboyantly gay roommate or her “50 is the new 25” boss.

       Despite this the show doesn’t just stick to their stereotypes and can allow them to have their own depth and layered personality which is the source of heart and cleverness in the show. As if cut from the same cloth as golden age NBC shows such as Parks and Recreation, not surprising since it was created by Tina Fey, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt does well to keep its own identity and make a comedy that is both funny and memorable.

My experience with Parks and Recreation.

       So the series finale of parks and recreation is tonight and although I'm sad to see my favorite cast of characters in their last hurrah I'm somewhat happy.

       This show had a fantastic run and at the very least I can be satisfied that it's getting a proper ending on the terms of the creators unlike other shows. I think back to the first time I started watching it and noticing all the similarities to The Office which it was originally an Office homage.

       I see now that the show did more for me than give me a few laughs. This silly show, the one that introduced us to Leslie Knope a character who never gave up on her goals and taught me the lesson that when everyone around you is ready to give up you have to make a stand and say “no, I will not settle because we can do better.” The character of Ron Swanson, who taught me that change can always be scary and when the world changes you have to stay true to yourself. The character of Andy Dwyer, who taught me to love and live life to the fullest and when you feel you’re at your lowest there's always something to bring yourself back on your feet.

       This show taught me to be who I am, to show the world a type of kindness that is slowly becoming rare these days and that I shouldn't be ashamed of what I hold dear. I'm watching the series finale, not because I know it will be great, not because I have nothing better to do and not because I need a laugh.

       No, I'm watching it because I owe this show more than I can imagine and while plenty of people out there will say that Parks and Recreation or Sons of Anarchy, or Monk, or Psych or any other show I've come to love is nothing more than linear entertainment, I say it's more. From 90's cheese of Family Matters, to the high class affair of Downton Abbey, these shows reflect us because they are made by real people and real people are more than their outward appearance.

       Whether sad, depressed, angry or afraid we can rely on these shows to never let us down. I'm thankful for the years of joy I've felt from this and many other shows and I will look on towards the future and know that I could make something that just might make a future college student type a letter like this from their hearts. 

       Thank you Michael Schur and Greg Daniels for creating this funny little show and thank you everyone involved for you have made something truly and wholly great.

Kingsman: The Secret Service

       A beautiful explosion of action, comedy, espionage all presented with a gentlemanly grace.

       Kingsman: The Secret Service, directed by Matthew Vaughn of Kick-Ass and X-Men fame tells the story of a young man who finds himself the fortunate candidate for an underground league of super spy’s called the Kingsman. During his training a billionaire Zuckerberg expy, named Valentine, puts a plan into motion that could endanger the entire world.

       What seems like a typical run of the mill, “unlikely hero,” story actually turns out to be a poignant, clever and interesting story. The film based off the comic book written by Mark Millar who also wrote the critically acclaimed Kick-Ass, and brings his brand of fictional satire to the big screen, except this time it has do with super spies instead of super heroes.

       Kingsman sports great pacing amidst its somewhat stuffed cast and sometimes it feels as if it had to cut some corners in the story department in order to fit everything in. Being based on a comic book the film has to serve as an origin story to the main character of Eggsy and serve the three act structure expected of a blockbuster film. This usually becomes a double edged sword to these types of films but Kingsman avoids this by having the story be focused on its main character’s plight and how it interacted with the burgeoning plot.

       Kingsman is definitely a must see for anyone looking for a movie that has the class, production and style of a classic spy movie with as much bloody violence as a Tarantino film. Several scenes of violent altercations become mesmerizing as they keep going and are shot brilliantly enough to make it seem like they were all one shot. Not to mention the film sports probably one of the best sky diving scenes since Iron Man 3. Speaking of Tarantino the film also sports an unapologetic sense of humor in the face of tragedy and gore.

       Another notice of uniqueness from this film is how it uses named actors that fit into another role, such as Samuel L. Jackson being a pacifistic billionaire man child who has a grating lisp to cover up his dynamic sounding voice.

       Kingsman comes as a huge surprise and when people raise their eye brows at the R-rating the movie most certainly deserves and while it can be shocking at times it never feels out of place and the juxtaposition of British gentlemanly manners clashing with boorish new money mentality provides most of the entertainment and makes Kingsman a great film to watch.

Orange is the New Black

      As it grows, the Netflix streaming service is slowly developing its own brand of show making.

Netflix is able to have all the freedom of a private channel and added freedom since it’s on the internet. With this freedom, and exceeding success, Netflix has produced shows that seem to break the mold and be able to have lasting impacts in their storytelling yet keep them in the modern world. This is no different in the case of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black.

       Inspired by the book of the same title by Piper Kerman whose book detailed her experience in federal prison giving the show running line of realism that makes it that much more interesting. OITNB details the story of Piper Chapman, an ex-criminal, who winds up in federal prison putting her hopes of marrying her fiancé and starting her business on hold. Piper must do her best do stay true to herself as she is faced with all manner of obstacles that come in prison, most of all being that her old running partner is being held in the same prison.

       Set in a fictionalized version of a state penitentiary OITNB brilliantly depicts a more comedic and somewhat esoteric version of federal prison, the comings and goings and all its inhabitants. The show is filled with a cavalcade of characters, each with their own quirky personalities and seeing them interact and share in the Stockholm syndrome as the chemistry between the different actors is nearly perfect.

       One of the main draws of OITNB is that it’s not just about the character of Piper, in fact her story seems relatively miniscule to the plights of the other inmates. The show, while primarily being a comedic affair, still boasts a good deal of drama as each character has a story to tell and you’ll be engaged every step of the way as their individual stories unfold.

       It achieves this by revealing bits and pieces of backstory as each character’s story is told in the present, making the intriguing question of what makes a “monster” tenfold. You feel a sense of empathy if not sympathy for how and why the women ended up in the prison all while it relates to the current plot thread.

       Of course being set in a women’s prison a majority of the cast is female but that doesn’t stop OITNB from making the most out of the male characters it has. Playing off the, “man in a woman’s world,” trope to the fullest extent of hilarious character moments. Most of all being the male C.O.s who also have great personalities beyond being  just regular security guards.

       OITNB is one of the most engaging shows out there and shows a lighter and more interesting side of prison and what it means to know who you are when society doesn’t distract you.

       

       The show has finished its second season and he third season is set to be released June 12^th.