Best Watchings Of 2011

That's an awkward way to put it but...

Reflecting back on what we took in on the telly this year, I'm pretty surprised. I guess we had a busy year or something because there weren't much goings on. I don't think we saw a single new movie. I know we didn't go to the theater. We'll probably get out to a big screen this year but it'll be for some Disney-style dreck that we'll suffer through for Yuula to eat all the popcorn and fall asleep 30 minutes into. But there was some good stuff to catch, from new TV to some pretty dramatic series thru the ol' Netflix and I watched a ton of documentaries. A ton. So on with it.

We like comedies. They relax us and, for the most part, there's not some long drawn out story you need to follow so it's not so demanding of you and your commitment. Our regular favorites like Modern Family, Parks & Recreation and The Middle returned to our evening rotation with aplomb and the Office made quite an impressive recovery from what we were sure to be a disastrous and ultimately final season. Touché once again Dunder Mifflin. There was some new potential with shows like The New Girl and Suburgatory, but they could have been benefiting from time slot convenience. And Always Sunny killed it again. The Jersey Shore, Chardee MacDennis and the high school reunion. Keep 'em coming gang.

So all those shows aside, I thinked we really liked two new nuggets especially.

First off, I remember seeing that Conan interview with Louie CK a couple years ago and thinking "This guy is the new Seinfeld" as in his commentary on real life and his ability to state the obvious you never obviate. Then we started watching his show and realized he is much, much darker than Jerry, and the better for it. This guy was hilarious, and sometimes you can't, or at least I can't, help but completely and vehemently agree with everything the man says, even under the possibility of making yourself seem like a horrible person.

Then there's the boys from Workaholics, a show I was sure I'd hate, but one fateful evening in early fall we, out of desperation, took in a mini-marathon of the birdbrained nincompoops and found ourselves laughing hysterically. Classic scenes like sock-puppet rehab session, dragon statues and shooting out tires with a harpoon gun. The show has also become a goldmine of one liners that Laura sometimes doesn't even realize she's saying. Hey-O maggots!

It's hard to say what my favorite dramatically-charged program was this year. They all had their own little styles and methods of presentation that made them unique not only to each other but I'm guessing most of the other nonsense going on in TV land. Not saying these aren't nonsense. It's all nonsense. Just so you know.

Let's start with Dexter. Since we just stream the episodes to the TV we got to watch seasons 4 and 5 this year, and for those of you Dexter loyalists, you know what that means. Heartbreak and a new level of intensity. Laura got to the point where she couldn't watch them one after the other because her heart needed a break. I think the latest season just finished on TV so only a couple months before it pops up for our chance. Can't wait.

Now, with American Horror Story: I got excited about this because I do like scary movies and outside of the old Twilight Zone shows, I don't really know anything frightening coming out regular television [insert Snooki joke here]. It seemed so interesting and artistic and horrorful, not to mention having the best opening sequence this year. Proper creepy. So I wasn't disappointed. The show had more depth than I could have originally hoped for and it wasn't stupid. Don't get me wrong, they had their share of stock genre cliché but when the season finale ended, though I was kind of confused, I was quite satisfied and at the very least entertained. I hear they're coming back for a second season but with all new characters, storyline and setting. So a new show pretty much. Don't know what to think about it. I wasn't done with the Harmon's and the Murder House and it seemed like it was just about to take off, but, what do I know.

I'm done trying to convince myself I don't like zombie/vampire/boogeyman movies. One of the shows I was surprised that I liked so much was The Walking Dead, and regardless of it's occasionally painful portrayal of Southern good ol' boys and girls, it was a pretty great show. The zombies were frightening and the scenes were original, to me anyhow, someone who's seen probably less than 1% of the available zombie footage out there in existence. The part that really sold me on it was how the show seemed not to be as invested in zombie gore and scary bits as it was just trying to depict a reality after the virus hits scenario. It felt like the writers genuinely sat down around the table and didn't focus on the zombies as much as they tried to develop the characters. And I also appreciate when a show can make turns in directions you thought no one would ever be so heartless to go, take a whole leap further and then look at you and say, "What? They're zombies!". Season 2 starts February 12th. You have time to catch up.

Onto the movies, first of which I'll defend my lack of what others may view as quality viewing as limited opportunities at getting a free block of 2 hours to do anything outside of anything as my list of "must-sees" grew to gargantuan proportion, but nonetheless I had some enjoyable characters come across my screen.

The Extra Man pitted two of my favorites upon the same screen, living in the same crowded apartment, hell, trying to live the same life, and while the film itself didn't blow me away I find it hard not to laugh at every line Kevin Kline delivers and relish in the artistry with every nuance Paul Dano commits.

Not exactly a crowd favorite, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men is most definitely a better read than view, but you gotta like Jim from the Office for trying to expand his reaches past the eyebrow-raise/ergonomic-chair-recline wisecracks he has pigeonholed himself into. I liked this movie 90% because of its content and sprawling diatribes, but that's all the more reason that it should probably be flipped thru rather than looked at.

I'm a sucker for a good music documentary and what other band during the recording of what other album could be more intriguing than Wilco during Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Well maybe Sergeant Pepper.

Another documentary (potential mockumentary) that I found interesting was Exit Through The Gift Shop. It's a story of a filming junkie who gets hooked on videoing the late night illegal exploits of graffiti-ists eventually leading him to the grandaddy of mythic street artists, Banksy. It's either an interesting documentary or a genius way at promoting yourself without seeming as self-indulgent as would wreck your enigmatic front you've worked so hard to create. We'll catch you Banksy, someday.

A foreign film for the ages, Dogtooth is the movie I try to pass on to the people who share the same stupid sense of humor as me, because I feel like this movie was made for. Equal parts quirky, awkward, horrifying and just plain nuts, the Greek film centers around a family of five, of which the parents decide to neglect their children the ability to leave, believe in or basically comprehend the real world. They do this through lifelong imprisonment and intentional misleadings, to the point that you get three thoroughly confused therefore hilarious young adults. Not for the weak of stomach.

Here I go jumping on the James Franco bus, but hey I really liked Howl. Could be that I'm easily intrigued by anything based around mid-century counter culture, but the story of Allen Ginsberg and the style in which he and his writings are demonstrated in the movie left me inspired. Moloch whose eyes are a thousand blind windows.

Hanna was a pretty captivating movie with Eric Bana in one of the coolest out of nowhere fight scenes I've ever had the pleasure of rewinding ten times. Good action, good story, vivid background and scene settings bring the extra style points that would separate it from the usual dimlit action flick.

Freakonomics was a cool movie that got me thinking and got me jealous of all those kids complaining about their econ classes, which is hard to do, but now I want the book. I should've asked for that for Christmas. Next year.

You should see I'm Still Here, merely because I'd like to discuss it with someone and have NEVER come across anyone who's ever heard of it. I don't wanna ruin anything for you, in case you do take the plunge, but Joaquin Phoenix has either become my new favorite Hollywood personality or my new favorite human being.

I had an odd little soft spot for this Super 8 movie. I watched it with Yuula just before Christmas, then watched it the day after Christmas with my parents and then watched it with Dani & Vic the day after that. Laura was there for most of this, but I don't think she watched. That's a shame. It had a real Goonies meets E.T thing going on, plus I love the overexposed style it was shot in. Yeah it was a "monster movie" with little kids as the main characters but it's Speilberg and the dude from Lost. It was bound to be quality.