One of the greatest shows on TV! I just rewatched the entire series and rated the episodes. If you haven't watched it, each episode sees Larry David playing a fictionalised version of himself and constantly getting into disagreements, annoying people, trying to make up for it, and speaking his mind at all times. As he says in one of the episodes, "I feel like I'm constantly apologising to people." Unlike many sitcoms, season 1 aside, each season has a story arc as well, adding to the rewatchability of the show. As the show's progressed, some of the characters and storylines have become less grounded, which has been the main issue I've had with the latest season, season 11, and some of 10 to a lesser extent. Some of the plot points have been repeated as well. It has remained incredibly consistent though for the most part.
Season Rankings: S2, S4, S3, S6, S5, S1, S7, S8, S9, S10, S12, S11
Favourite episode by season:
S1: Beloved Aunt
S2: Shaq
S3: Krazee-Eyez Killa
S4: The Car Pool Lane
S5: The Ski Lift
S6: The Therapists
S7: The Black Swan
S8: The Safe House
S9: Foisted!
S10: You're Not Going to Get Me to Say Anything Bad About Mickey
S11: The Mini Bar
S12: No Lessons Learned
I've been listening to Z-Ro forever and enjoy most of what the rap veteran has dropped but this is one of his weaker albums. It's consistent as he always is, but there ain't one great song, he again isn't showing off his faster rapping ability, (that is one of best things rap has to offer), and the production isn't anything new or that good either. As with his previous projects, I again like how Ro has more common sense and intelligence than most rappers when talking about race issues as he sees that there are two sides to the problems. We see this on 'Ribbon in the Sky' where he spits - "If Martin Luther King came back he'd want to leave again...He'd probably get robbed in the ghetto even if they see it's him." For 25+ years of music from Z-Ro, this is still worth checking out for fans, but it isn't reaching new ground.
Best Tracks: All My Life, Still Shinin', Ribbon in the Sky, We OK, No Angel, Down South Shit
This loses half a star for giving some terrible artists royalties by using their music that shouldn't have ever been released for public consumption. Reddit loses any of the respect I had left for it (which wasn't much) by being corrupt and in the hands of the greedy and reprehensible. Paul Dano, who plays the lead, Keith Gill, doesn't look like an elite middle distance runner at all like Keith Gill was, so you have to suspend disbelief with that detail. I always like a based on true story movies, but sometimes with them you feel like you could've taken in the same information from a five-minute read of a Wikipedia page that you do with a 90 minute film and this kind of feels like one of those. And of course we needed the LGBT aspect added in to this because no movie can leave a box unticked. Close to a 3 out of 5.
I don't know how much range he has, but I enjoyed the over the top Connor as the villain. I found Jake too nice for the role. There needed to be more of a nasty streak. The performance seemed a bit phoned in. He also somehow keeps a UFC fighter's body and skill but we never see him train. The plot is all pretty predictable as well with the fight scenes being good enough but some have too much CGI making it feel like you're watching a video game.
A decent underdog type of sports film but it's too corny and the bits with the cheerleaders are cringe-worthy and overly sexual like they just needed some T&A in the trailer to appeal to a wider audience. The true story itself could've been done in a more serious way highlighting the characters more realistically than the cliched caricature ones we're given.