Eventually things get tragic enough and then they circle around to comedy.

Wish I Was Here (2014)

Filled with wanna-be profundities every bit as cliche and rote as the quote above, Wish I Was Here aims for heart felt comedy and humour tinged drama but fails at delivering anything but facile clock watching. A wasted cast (Joey King is continuing to be an interesting actress even saddled with trite dirge) elevate the material slightly, but nothing really means anything, the jokes frequently don't land and a cancer storyline feels second hand and lacking in definition. 

I paid them but they killed her anyway

A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)

I'm going to get to my main problem with Neeson's latest in his continuing quest to be Charles Bronson for the 2010s (remember when he did films like Nell?) after dealing with this review as if that wasn't a factor.

Scott Frank brings a solid but unspectacular eye in this well crafted detective thriller. No sequence quite stands out after the opening shoot out (which has some nice details like how in his drunken state he drops his gun - which keeps him alive) but generally good performances and a less action orientated bent to proceedings keep things interesting. We have a nice sense of him working the case, knocking on doors and just watching people (best bit is interviewing people over a possible abduction they have seen and getting different, conflicting details) and things build in a fairly lean economical way (though a sub plot involving a boy having sickle-cell anaemia doesn't really go anywhere) though a climax featuring an off screen death you kind of just have to take on faith is a touch weak.

However, all of this is on the back of some pretty annoying, pretty horrid exploitation stuff. A nasty credits sequence is played over the abuse and murder of a woman, in a strangely perverse way - shooting in tight close ups and seeming to dodge at it being a sex scene before revealing she is bound up and tortured. 

There is almost exactly no women in this film at all barring the victims, who get no personality, no depth. Ones potential infidelity is even off handly dismissed by a male, claiming responsibility and not even allowing this off screen moment of agency to be. They are trophies and nothing more. 

Over and over again, these kind of stories say they have no place for women. It's tiresome

There's ghosts in every building

Devil's Tower (2014)

*A note. I consider the writer of this movie a friend and know a couple of the people who worked on it, including the director. I am going to write this review as if I did not, and did not know some of the behind the scenes info. 

Devil's Tower is probably the lowest budgeted movie I've ever reviewed on here, and this certainly suffers in a number of places from lack of time and funds. The sound quality is off in some of the scenes and, particularly at the end, it can't quite make the action/carnage beats work in a way that feels dynamic and interesting.

That said, there's some fun to be had here. It expresses a number of interesting ideas (most of which get a touch lost in the scrum) in an attempt to have something to say beyond counting down the seconds till someone has their throat torn out. A central theme feels very Kim Newman-esque, with the evil force controlling events in the Tower Block using teevee as a medium and filtering it's plan through the lens of film. A stand-out sequence has the Evil 'rewrite' a scene as a 1940's Hollywood piece, and it's a shame more wasn't made of this idea, barring some metatextual references in a confused rooftop climax.

Roxanne Pallett generally is not interesting enough to shoulder the dramatic weight put on her, though she too - like the film - shines in the 40s pastiche section so it's too bad she doesn't get to flex much outside of the kitchen sink drama direction the film places her in. Much more fun is Jason Mewes who has an impish charm and Jessica Jane-Stafford who is a bundle of energy and often a shot in the arm just when the film needs it.

Most of the sly film based commentary and creepy (though never especially scary) vibe is gone by the messy zombie (because of course) ridden last act that seems choppy with little sense of geography, though gore fans may find a little joy.

Top 100 (97) Community Countdown. 80-71

#5seasonsandalist

Part one 97-91 found here

Part two 90-81 found here

80.

3x03 Competitive Ecology

Really heading into a bunch of episodes that I love and could place in any order now. So letting my gut just pull an ep out, with weaknesses sure, but still wonderful, funny stuff.

Like many, many of the half hours Community put out this one has something to say about the form and tone sitcoms have. In this case a commentary on the way shows naturally group people together which in the real world could be cliquey and uninviting. Neither the first nor the last one to tackle this subject, it loses some points for being quite so mean to Todd and a silly Chang plot line but gains some for smartly dissecting tropes within both main stories and Michael K. Williams is great as Professor Kane.

"Well he is right about one thing: You're all terrible people."

79.

3x12 Contemporary impressionists 

Can Abed grow up? Should he? Should I, or any of us? The show is never afraid to say Abed's enthusiasm and passions can be harmful, and occasionally intentionally so. Not so much the case here, where he is just a little thoughtless and play between Troy and Abed is nuanced and compelling. Which makes up for some of the other wackiness on display. The look-a-likes everyone becomes are fun and Jeff and Britta get a nice moment. 

"I don't know who told you pouting was an option for you, but all you're making me feel right now is hatred of Renee Zellweger."

78.

1x12 Comparative Religion

Shirley episodes are better when not so focused on her religion and religious intolerance. Though I really enjoy everyone Boooing Jeff for being agnostic. Anthony Michael Hall is fun as a bully and Britta's reaction to the guys taking their shirts off is worthwhile alone. Solid ep but Christmas would be done better over the next two years.

"He meant we were figh ... ... ting. It IS hard to think of another word!"

77.

1x22 The Art of Discourse

Another solid but unremarkable episode (compared to itself, it's still way better than most sitcom fare) with some lovely bits of business (Troy and Abed trying to fulfill a list of movie cliches) and a rare and perhaps underutilized dynamic between Shirley and Pierce that manages to be thoughtful and interesting whilst involving pantsing.

"We've lost our Cliff Clavin! Our George Costanza! Our Turtle ... or Johnny Drama ... or E. Man, that show is sloppy."

76.

2x03 The Psychology of Letting Go

Jeff's fear of death gets an airing (and lays some very slight groundwork with another couple of episodes for the GI Jeff parody in season 5) and there's some nice play between Jeff and Pierce with a sweet moment in the car listening to the mother's last words on CD. Annie and Britta are given some fan service as they end up wrestling in oil, funny mostly for the brilliant John Oliver, and Patton Oswalt is always a welcome sight in any show. This is also the episode where one of the main characters gets a storyline which plays out entirely in the background of other scenes, which should perhaps have pushed this one up further on the list but it's just not as funny as most.

"Hold on a sec. I need to use my force field to prevent Chang from getting food."

75.

2x04 Basic Rocket Science

An episode that didn't work aswell for me on first viewing as it does on rewatches. It felt a bit too silly, Annie's motivation seemed to fly in the face of previous episodes and perhaps it was a little too specific to a movie I find very dull - Apollo 13. But it's a fine, fast, funny piece of Community and the moment where Chang says he's found a way to reroute the power, Abed queries 'To what?' and he just backs away makes me laugh so hard. 

"I know that this isn't a symbol for the crossroads of ideas. I now know it's a butt."

74.

3x01 Biology 101

Opening with a very silly, very funny song about trying to be less wacky it goes dark quite quickly (as Community so often does), poking at it's characters foibles, vanity, ego and place in the world. Community could be as melancholy as it is comedic and it makes for an interesting tone as it doesn't tie it's sadness to a war (like MASH) or illness/death (like Scrubs would sometimes do) so much as just feeling lost. It's theme has always been there right in the title (it's not called Community College after all) but it's cleverness can sometimes come from the way it questions how we form bonds and that it can be as unhealthy as they are needed and worthwhile. We also get the introduction to John Goodman's vice dean. He's great, as ever, but it's a shame the arc with him never really took hold in a particularly inspiring way. Oh and Cougarton Abbey. 

“I know who Sean Penn is! I’ve seen Milk!”

73.

3x15 Origins of Vampire Mythology

A key piece in the Troy/Britta throughline (that unfortunately went nowhere in season 4 and got a little unfairly maligned in season 5), a sweet low key way of playing out the start of a will they won't they plot which can be deadly dull. The air conditioning school plot continues, and again doesn't really hit, but the Dean gets to have fun trying to be subtle and it was nice to see him have a purpose with the group that didn't involve fondling Jeff.

"None of us have to go to anyone, and the idea we do is a mental illness we contracted from breath-mint commercials and Sandra Bullock."

72.

1x25 Pascal's Triangle Revisited

The episode before this was such a lovely, perfect way yo end the season that this one comes off as a little forced. I'm sure there are some people who think Jeff and Britta make for a great couple but for me, the wonderful thing is they don't. They have a great chemistry together but it feels more casual, and thankfully for the most part the show seems to agree with me. Slater was perhaps a bit too 'normal' to ever be a threat which is why the triangle just doesn't really work even while throwing out some great gags and giving Gillian Jacobs some beautiful moments. 

"You. Me and Jeff and Rainman and Big Boobs and Medium Boobs and Black Boobs. We're a family."

71.

2x07 Aerodynamics of Gender

Contains one of my absolute favourites jokes ever ("it's going to be a maze") and some fun bits where they hinted at upcoming storylines (with Abed's Robocop vision - "Rowboat Cop" is also one of my favourite gags) but otherwise fairly slight.  The mean girls riff is funny but doesn't particularly make anyone look good and the secret garden shows Pierce once more to be a selfish, needy arse but doesn't really go any deeper.

Wow, took me an age to get to these. Hopefully not as long for the next batch. 

Top 100 (97) Community Countdown. 90 - 81.

#5seasonsandalist

Part one 97-91 found here

90.

4x01 History 101

This episode had a lot to shoulder. A small but dedicated following, many keyed into the minutiae of behind the scenes events, asked to stay with a show that had lost it's very loud key speaker. Harmon was gone, and the worry was the show had so much of his DNA woven into that it would not be the same. Or were we all just too tied into the cult of personality? As mentioned in the last segment, it's admirable the new show runners and a few of the key previous writers tried to maintain the structure and offbeat nature of Community but everything is just a degree off. The jokes don't land quite as solid, despite generally sterling work as ever from the cast and even sending in a great ringer like Fred Willard can't pull this up to previous standard. 

"Whatevs, we'll take it next semes. Ter. Semester."

89.

4x10 Intro to Knots

One of those eps where it feels like Harmon would have worked his ass off (and by extension everyone else - one of the things that by some reports made him very hard to work for) to play the gimmick in interesting ways. It's a riff on Rope and for the opening at least gives the one long shot thing a go. McDowell has a lot of fun and the episode toys with the requisite twists and turns in a generally enjoyable manner.

"Good tidings, fellow Christmas celebrators. And to all a good wassailing."

88.

4x12 Heroic Origins

Everything is connected. It seems like the sort of story you tell when you've run out of things to say about your characters. So everybody had random happenstance encounters with others in the Study Group years before without realising it. It's mostly fun but seems to make the world seem too small, and ordaining a sense of Fate to them diminishes their love for each other.

"You linked all our stories, like how the Cosmic Cube assembled the Avengers. That, and the four billion dollar deal with Disney."

87.

5x12 Basic Story

This might be one of the episodes that plays better on rewatching, as it's very clever but not especially funny (some of the best Community are nowhere near the funniest) and features perhaps the single strangest gag the show has ever done (the punchline has someone slurping soup). The angle of Jeff proposing to Britta is (deliberately but still) off putting and abrupt. If the show had keyed in more of the Jeff feeling old arc teased in some earlier seasons and put to the fore in the G.I. Joe riff, maybe this plot would have worked but it feels like some unneeded, forced tension, of not knowing how to bounce the characters off each other anymore despite some sterling work earlier in the fifth year. Jonathan Banks remains brilliant.

"Because once the Internet knows about something, it changes."

86.

2x05 Messianic Myths and Ancient Peoples

The first on the list to be from what I shall ridiculously call the 'Classic Years'. To be honest this plays better to me now than a couple of others higher on the countdown but I recall it being the first episode I was less than keen on when it first aired. So it places here. It's pretty funny but the dramatic heft of the Abed and Shirley plotline seemed a little too heavy. Abed has been (and will be) an domineering, controlling dick before but whereas the group take the brunt of it in the Goodfellas ep or Uncontrollable Christmas here it just bullys Shirley alone and feels a bit more mean spirited. But hey, Shirley is great and can take it and it manages one of the sweet, silly resolutions that Community so often does.

"Everybody hates him, that's why he's cool"

85. 

4x02 Paranormal Parentage

So many on here could be switched around and I probably wouldn't complain too much. Ranking all the episodes against each other is a dumb kind of folly. There are episodes I really like (a lot of them), episodes I like (most of the rest). This one is ok. It continues the trend of keeping Pierce apart from the bulk of the cast that seemed to begin in series 3 and almost became codified in 4. Giancarlo Esposito is always welcome (had we got a 6th season I'd have loved for him to be in more) even if briefly.

"Ghosts can't go through doors, stupid. They're not fire!"

84.

4x05 Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations

Another where Harmon's loss is really felt. For a while the show had been leading to this point. Winger meeting his father. This should have been the episode for Jeff that Abed and Troy had for their respective birthdays (we'll get to those eventually great episodes almost certainly both Top 10). Something more than a sitcom. The other plot is entirely throwaway and doesn't really manage to tie it's Shawshank riff into anything meaningful.

"I'm just a grown man who can't even look his own friends in the eye for too long because I'm too afraid that they'll see that I am broken. So you get credit for that. "

83.

3x06 Advanced Gay

Community could be a heightened, very silly cartoon reality. Sometimes perhaps it was a bit too much. The Pierce's father story fits in to that. Written off as a ghost in an earlier episode, and not really looking old enough to be Chevy Chase's dad it works but only just. Mostly because Chase is great and it's used to illustrate the differences and similarities between Pierce and Jeff, a pairing that lost some of it's power the more obviously villainous they made Pierce as the show went on. Also merited an apology from Harmon over concerns for the portrayal of gay culture (mea culpa here).

"I'm gonna eat space paninis with black Hitler and there's nothing you can do about it!"

82.

3x09 Foosball and Nocturnal Vigilantism

Shirley and Jeff get a nice pairing together with a conclusion that raises a slightly weaker episode on the whole. The B plot involving a broken Dark Knight DVD is slight fun but has a splendid Troy freak out. 

"Jeff, you don't have to worry about what foreigners think of you. That's your birthright as an American."

81.

3x11 Urban Matrimony and the Sandwich Arts

The character the show seems to have struggled with the most through it's entire run is Shirley. Brilliantly performed by Yvette Nicole Brown but defined character-wise by kids and religion in ways that were rarely allowed to be interesting. This plays out a couple of plots she was given (her ex coming back and trying to start a business) allowing Brown to utilize a few different beats. Apart from that it's a fairly humdrum episode.

""Webster's Dictionary defines"? That's the Jim Belushi of speech openings. It accomplishes nothing, but everyone keeps using it and nobody knows why."

Be back soon for 80-71. who knows what I will determine to put in there (probably at least including the one with Britta's ex and the one with the trampoline but maybe not)?

Top 100 (97) Community Countdown. 97 - 91.

#5seasonsandalist

The show is done (barring a resurrection through Hulu or some other means). I'm never going to finish reviewing all the episodes in order. So instead I've decided to do a countdown of all episodes from worst to best. A (not quite) Top 100. 

A note about this list: it's going to be fairly arbitrary, and had I compiled it another day certain episodes would no doubt be in a different order. I am not a season 4 hater by any means but I certainly find them the weakest for the most part so the first bunch on here will be mostly from that year. Also I have not yet rewatched any of season 5, so they have not had a chance to seep in as much as the others and possibly would be judged a little harsher than I will in a years time or so. So, here we go.

97.

4x09. Intro to Felt Surrogacy

To be honest I think the one I am putting at position 96 is probably worse but I wanted to start on a slightly controversial note to kick off discussions, as this ep. seems liked out there by a few people. The whole thing strains too hard to hit the emotional beats (seasons 4 and to lesser extent 5, hit this problem a lot) whilst riffing off a much stronger episode. Even here though, there is stuff to like. It never relaxed into trying to appeal to more people. The gags aren't as strong, the heart is not as tugged but it's clearly trying, the cast are game and the puppets are lovely, if a bit pointless.

"The level to which we respect you as a political activist has definitely not changed."

96.

4x04 Alternative History of the German Invasion

Because nobody demanded it - the Germans (well some) are back. Like some of the season 2 and 3 eps this positions the study group as having a horrible influence. Which can work as an idea but as ever with the fourth year it doesn't quite gel together. 

"Don't worry. If there is one thing Germans don't do, it's hold a grudge."

95.

4x07 Economics of Marine Biology

I might be a little harsh on this one, and suspect my 94 will be many peoples choice for worst but this one was more annoying by being generally bland. It has some fun ideas but I barely remember anything. Maybe the last time the show got anything out of the Pierce/Jeff dynamic

"get your damn hands off my Let’s,”

94.

4x03 Conventions of Space and Time

Poor in a host of ways, it plays out in dull fashion the Jeff and Annie of it all and Troy and Abed torn asunder again. But i still like the setting and there's a few good gags in there. And I still like Inspector Spacetime no matter how played out it may have felt by this point.

"I love doughnuts."

93.

4x13 Advanced Introduction to Finality

The problem with this episode is the character revelations are too insular and tied to one person. The show had already done sequels to fan loved ideas but the references here feel more shallow. Thankfully the show did not end on this slightly bum note.

"Congratulations, Jeffrey. You worked hard not to work hard to earn that degree."

92.

5x13 Basic Sandwich

Unfortunately this one did. Feeling like a fourth season episode where the wackiness (involving hidden treasure and computer hermits) didn't feel earned and a major moment of character love leaves out one of the core remaining cast (though she does get a lovely bit Jonathan Banks to try and make up for it). It's still unlike anything else on teevee, and i will always applaud it for that but this is far from the show's best and sadly now sits as the last.

"Depends on what fails!"

91.

4x06 Advanced Documentary Filmmaking 

Ah, the Changnesia storyline. The show has often struggled with how to play Chang, frequently going to the grotesquely over the top. This manages some nice humanising in the third act but still feels both undercooked and over egged. It gets, like the documentary eps before this, a few good digs at the format.

“Science tells us that hitting his head could only cure him if hitting his head was the original cause,”

So there is the first instalment of my Community Countdown. The next run of ten episodes will include a bit more stuff that is not season 4. As we've almost run out, and a couple of them will be placed higher than 81. But which ones? We shall see.

Community 1x03 Introduction to Film

3 episodes in and Community was cementing as one of the most delightful sitcoms around. A brilliantly funny, silly, heartfelt half hour that may have had a new character come in and basically spell out in not so subtle terms the theme of the ep but used that to show itself a show dedicated to exploring the characters inner lives as much as making references to Dead Poets Society or outrageous sneezes.

And to again harp on about the point of connecting with this show, there are moments here that seem to explore notions of my sense of self identity even when not dealing with any actual similarities to my life. So, of course, this is the first Abed-centric episode.

Abed is shown to have a very hard time understanding, and being understood by, the world around him. His actions are often quite callous, thoughtless and selfish. Friendships and familial bonds can be quite hurtful (in sort of passive non actual damaging ways), something Community would continue to examine throughout its run (particularly in the multiple timelines ep and last one of season 3) but through communication, if that can be achieved, connections are made. Sometimes this means spilling your heart in honest but embarrassing ways or engaging with the world without a cynical remove.

Jeff is still the anchor for the series being involved in the two main plots, which dovetail in a fun way with a kiss that shows the show very much had its eye on the Sam/Diane mode of sitcom arcs and Annie and Shirley are still much in the background (though Shirley gets a bit of personal business, exposing a raw nerve, that Yvette Nicole Brown just nails) but each of that cast gets some great material and Chevy Chase does a lovely bit of work with some various sneezes. John Michael Higgins is wonderful as the Greendale riff on a Robin Williams perennial. 

I absolutely love how Britta is so well meaning and unselfish of her time and money whilst being vaguely racist and condescending, characters are allowed to be both good guy and bad, often at the same time. Likewise the show allows Abed's film to be kinda crummy but it hits home far more than a polished, saccharine take would.

"This is no way to teach accounting!"

"9/11 was pretty much the 9/11 of the falafel industry."

"Pierce will top that in one minute."

"I think I shall have... A birthday cake!"

"Why are you dressed like an '80s rapist?"

"Our first assignment is a documentary. They're like real movies but with ugly people."

Extended version of Six Candles. Not exactly Citizen Kane