Queue Tips: No Kidding

I saw "Kidding" at some point many years ago, in our last place before we moved.  We had cable then, and I don't remember if Showtime came with it or if it was during some kind of a free promo week.  I didn't know Jim Carrey was in it.  I'm not sure I actually had even heard of it.  I was just channel surfing.  I may have mixed it up with "Crashing", which I also saw when I was flipping channels.  There were a couple of comedians in that latter show, so I think that's probably what led to my confusion.

Anyways, I didn't really watch the whole episode.  I just recall thinking it would be funny but not really laughing.  And then I probably looked for something else to watch.  Or one of my kids probably bothered me to put something else on or something.

I checked out the series again recently.  It was kind of depressing, actually.  I'm glad I didn't have this on during the pandemic five years ago.  Thankfully, I had cut the cord after we moved so we no longer had cable.  There were a bunch of shows I checked out during that shutdown period, which didn't turn out so good for my mental health.  Among them were "The Twilight Zone" and "Mad Men".  

Why was I watching these cynical shows at that time?  I should have put on something more upbeat but for some reason those were what I chose.  I think they affected me really negatively.

The show is all right.  Obviously, Jim Carrey has shown that he can be a dramatic actor.  I just don't really identify with the characters or the storylines.  And I didn't really care what happened.  That is, after each episode, I wasn't curious to find out what would happen next.  The actors all had really good performances, but I just could not really get into it.  It was nice to see Kelly Coffield Park in it, and I wish she had been on more or had a bigger role.

And it's not exactly like I'm not interested.  Nor do I find it boring exactly.  It's kind of like I guess having a conversation with a random acquaintance.  They tell you a story and give you details and talk about people you don't know and what happened to them.  And you kind of entertain them and don't want to be rude.  And you're kind of invested enough to want to find out how it turned out.  But after you go your separate ways, you pretty much forget about it.

But yeah, we no longer have cable.  Or even regular TV.  When we first moved here, I didn't get around to scheduling the service right away.  And the kids managed great without it.  They were reading books, playing outside and interacting with each other.  So I decided we should just stay that way.  Little did I know their mom would subscribe to Netflix and get them devices.  That's probably worse than sitting in the living room watching the boob tube together.  

Queue Tips: I scheme, you scheme.

I was kind of a Wes Anderson fan.  I liked most of his movies.  I was really excited when "Moonrise Kingdom" came out.  I had only watched it on video, and I regretted not watching it in the theatre.  My older kid Rusty was still too young for it at the time it came out, but he had watched "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and really enjoyed.  In fact, we had watched that movie over and over.

Later on, we watched "Isle of Dogs" and liked it, too.  So did my younger one Dusty.  And we watched that over and over.  Rusty even got into this phase of wanting to play the drums and tapping the beat from the movie again and again.

So when "Asteroid City" came out a couple of years ago, I thought it would be a good film to take Rusty to.  We don't go to the movies a lot, and I had a lot of high hopes for this one.  I wasn't too crazy about "The French Dispatch" but I thought he would bounce back with something better.  It would be the first non animated Wes Anderson film for him to watch.

Earlier that summer I took him to see the Spider Man movie.  Spoiler alert: it turned out to be a cliff hanger.  I asked him if he knew that, and he said yes.  So I told him he owed me.  And this was the payback.  He had to come with me to a movie of my choice.

So he didn't ask much about it.  I just told him the title.  I don't think he looked into it or anything.  He probably did hope he would like it.  He was not that excited, but overall he didn't complain either.

At some point during the screening, I think he whispered to me that it reminded him of "Fantastic Mr. Fox" or "Isle of Dogs".  I actually don't remember what he specifically said, but he did recognize the style.  

When I heard about this latest film, "The Phoenician Scheme", I wasn't too excited about it.  I knew I wasn't going to watch it in the theater.  And I'm glad I didn't.

For his previous movies, I really did enjoy the composition and camera movements.  And the deadpan delivery of the actors' lines was interesting before.  But this time around, the novelty has worn off.  It felt like Wes Anderson trying to imitate himself.  I commend the actors for their trust in the director, but I didn't really find their performances enjoyable.  Not that they were bad but the emotionlessness of it all also made me feel nothing for them.  And I've kind of gotten tired of stories about rich, powerful people.  I just don't identify nor empathize with their problems.  I much prefer the characters in the previous works, who were more ordinary and closer to everyday people.