For the first week in a very long time there’s a whole lot of good to be found on the DVD and Blu-ray market, which makes my job of choosing a “winner” all the more difficult. With the new television season fast approaching, the month of September means all of last year’s shows are finally getting a DVD release. If I had to give you a recommendation this week, I would direct you toward two of the best—if not the best—comedies on television: NBC’s Community and Parks and Recreation. Where the former is a ridiculously ambitious (and joyously weird) series that plays with the conventions of television on a weekly basis, the second is just a brilliantly-executed series about one of the most fully-realized small towns in recent memory. Parks is the most consistently funny—I don’t know if there was a genuine clunker in the entire season—but Community has higher highs and is a must-see for anyone who considers themselves a fan of television. Or joy.
Given the show’s reliance on gimmicky episodes, it would have been easy for Community to become a pop culture-fueled joke machine in the vein of Family Guy. Instead, the show pulls off the impossible; it uses these “special” episodes for the purposes of world-building and character development. Rare is the concept or gimmick that feels entirely like an empty concept or gimmick, and no matter how insane the show gets it never seems to betray the logic of the world that Dan Harmon and his magnificent group writers have created. It has been an absolute thrill watching this series evolve from the beginning, and while it will never be a ratings hit we can only hope that we won’t be losing this truly special show any time soon. How wonderful is it that there’s a show on television that’s willing to make an entire episode devoted to a My Dinner With Andre spoof? Even when it doesn’t completely work—which is a rarity—it’s a wonder that a show like this even exists.
Besides Parks and Community, other shows getting a DVD release this week include the often-terrific Fringe (another show with no ratings), the seventh season of The Office (a usually-problematic season redeemed by the brilliant Steve Carell farewell episode), and the eighth season of Two and a Half Men (a show I’ve never really seen, but this is the final season for Charlie Sheen. So there’s that).
On the film side, there are a couple good choices to be found as well. First and foremost, two of the most fun action movies this year—though not the best—are X-Men: First Class and Hanna. What’s interesting about First Class is that it is most exciting when dealing with the characters rather than the action, while Hanna is a blast exclusively because of the action. Both films are also standouts because they have far more personality than the average Hollywood action movie; Joe Wright does all he can to make Hanna as stylish as possible, and Matthew Vaughn—who brought us Kick-Ass last year—keeps his material from blending in with the rest of the Marvel comic book heap. Of all this summer’s superhero movies, First Class stands alongside Captain America as one of the best.
I will also throw a bone to Everything Must Go, the not-very-good-but-still-intriguing indie film starring Will Ferrell that came out earlier this year. In an unusual move, Ferrell plays a character who just isn’t that likeable; a drunken businessman who is kicked out of the house by his wife and decides to live on his front lawn. This film only becomes half the film it could have been, but it deserved more attention than it got.
Until next week, all! I shall leave you all with two of the wisest words anyone has spoken: pop pop!
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