Tag: Aubrey Plaza

Geekscape Movie Review: Black Bear

by MCDave

We’ve been conditioned to expect the expected when it comes to Hollywood. The mindless cycles of Summer Blockbuster season, continuous reboots and never-ending sequels has dried up the well of creativity on a mainstream level. But every now and again, we’re gifted a unique piece of storytelling that circumvents narrative norms and boldly makes its claims with unrestrained originality. Lawrence Michael Levine has accomplished this rare feat and so much more with his fascinating new effort, Black Bear.

Aubrey Plaza stars as Allison, an actress-turned-director struggling to write her next film. She decides to seclude herself around nature at Gabe (Christopher Abbott) and Blair’s (Sarah Gadon) rural retreat in a lakehouse buried deep in the woods. Allison tries using the soon-to-be expecting couple as a source of inspiration for her next great idea, but keeps hitting walls in her creative journey.

Black Bear is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. It’s a film delivered in stories or chapters that, on the surface, form a dizzying narrative for the audience to comprehend. However, when you peel back the layers of Lawrence Michael Levine’s daring attempt, you’ll find a grossly self-aware and brilliant mechanism of storytelling. The film, at its core, is a trip through the creative process and the title character of the “Black Bear” being symbolic of a writer “hitting the wall” with an idea. These stories-within-a-story are simply manifestations of Allison, each chapter of which is intended to serve its own narrative purpose. Allison’s personal opinions of masculinity, life on a film set, and the artistic quest for greatness all unmask themselves through the different sections of Black Bear. When pieced together on face value, these stories seem disjointed, unrelated and mostly a pretentious conjunction of jargon. However, in the bigger picture of Levine’s subtle intention, Black Bear serves as a vessel for creative expression where the film circles through elements of comedy, drama and horror en route to a superbly rare and gratifying experience.  Aubrey Plaza delivers a career best performance, but her co-stars Christopher Abbott and Sarah Gadon stand toe-to-toe with her onscreen excellence. Lawrence Michael Levine refuses to conform to the traditional methods of storytelling, and history has proven that society often tries to push back against the new and the different. But without the courageous few who dare to be unique and who aspire to transcend the accepted norm, walls would never be broken. And while Black Bear may never receive the adoration and attention it so truly deserves, it should forever stand as a testament to those who wish to break barriers.

GRADE: 4.5/5

History Announces Late-Night Comedy Block; Dan Harmon To Helm Flagship Show

by Shane O'Hare

The History Channel announced today that they are launching a new late night comedy block, and Dan Harmon will be in charge of the flagship program!

Entitled Night Class, the block will feature “short format” shows all centered around Historical facts but with a comedic twist. The first three shows in the block all sound entertaining as hell.

Great Minds with Dan Harmon features the man himself purchasing a time machine, and subsequently getting visited by history’s greatest minds. He then brings them out into modern society to see how they react. The show will feature the talent of: Jack Black, Sarah Silverman, Jason Sudeikis, Dana Carvey, Aubrey Plaza, Kristen Schaal, Nick Kroll, Scott Adsit, Andy Dick, Ron Funches, Paul F. Tompkins, Thomas Middleditch and Robert Smigel. That’s a whole lot of talent!

Crossroads of History is created and written by Elizabeth Shapiro and promises to touch on mostly unknown moments in history that had gigantic affects. Such as President Lincoln’s alcoholic bodyguard skipping out on his duty when the President decided to catch a show at the Ford Theater. The show will feature the likes of Lou Diamond Phillips, Brian Baumgartner, Angela Kinsey, Keir O’DOnnell, Mack McBrayer, Wayne Knight, Liioyd Ahlquist and Paul Scheer.

How to Lose the Presidency will feature real moments and clips from presidential hopefuls that ultimately helped cement their failure at winning the Oval Office.

These shows fall on the heels of light hearted programming such as Craig Ferguson’s Join or Die, and a panel show hosted by comedians from a few years back. Seriously, I vividly remember watching a “I Love The 90’s” style show that was funny as hell, but cannot remember the name of it for the life of me. I dare you to find it among the list of History’s past programming.

Night Class premiers Thursday, February 25th at 11:30 PM PST.

‘Parks & Recreation’ Final Season Premiere Date Revealed!

by Eric Francisco

According to Entertainment Weekly, NBC has given an expiration date to the beloved Parks & Recreation. The 13-episode final season will start on January 13 at 8 PM and will take its final bow on February 24. Yeah, if you do the math that means NBC will air back-to-back episodes for the entire run.

From EW:

“Mike Schur and Amy Poehler, along with their incredible producers, cast, and crew, have given us one of the great television comedies of all time, and we’re inordinately proud of Parks and Recreation,” said NBC Entertainment Chairman Robert Greenblatt in a statement on Monday. “In an effort to give it the send-off it deserves, we wanted to ‘eventize’ the final season to maximize the impact of these episodes, which really do take the show to a new level. The highly-anticipated one-hour finale will air behind The Voice in order to lead the largest audience possible into what promises to be a very special hour of television.”

The jarring time-jump from last season was a creative leap of faith. Giant manipulations of time in TV have an interesting history, and it is the number one thing I’m looking forward to seeing from the affable sitcom this final season. I look forward to all the think pieces online that will compare Parks & Recreation to an epic like Battlestar Galactica.

Remember the way Leslie Knope used to address Ann with a soft and comforting, “Oh, Ann Perkins,” followed by like a random assortment of flowery adjectives? That’s the way I and I’m sure many feel about Parks & Recreation. So it isn’t easy for me to say this, but it’s time for the show to bow out.

Almost everyone in the core cast’s profile has skyrocketed since the show began. Every one of them are very talented individuals, and while Parks has given them the spotlight it’s time for them to shine brighter and move on. Amy Poehler has become a comedy titan, and will in fact be hosting The Golden Globes with tag-team partner Tina Fey for the third and last time. Aubrey Plaza just voiced the Grumpy Cat for Lifetime as basically one complicated troll, and will no doubt do something major in the near future. Aziz Ansari is huge. Rashida Jones is everywhere. Rob Lowe too. Ditto Nick Offerman. Adam Scott is selling you vodka and will star in comedies until you can’t have any more. And arguably the biggest star of all? Lovable oaf Chris Pratt is now a part of the Marvel Universe as a ripped space outlaw. I also can’t forget about Retta. Follow her on Twitter, it will make live TV fun.

A lot of people are bummed out about the show’s imminent end. As well they should, because Parks & Recreation will go down as a legend in the annals of TV comedy. But fans should take comfort knowing that it is a deserved end and not a premature cancellation or a long-past-due mercy kill. Hardly any shows get such a dignity. And hey, remember when season one Parks & Rec was nothing but a pale imitation of The Office? We’ve come a long way since.

Set your DVRs, we leave Pawnee starting January 13, 2015 on NBC. Rachel Dratch, Jon Hamm, Megan Mullaly, and even fellow Rutgers alum Natalie Morales are set to guest star. I can’t wait.

Watch The Hilarious Red Band Trailer For ‘The To Do List’!

by Shawn Madden

The cast of this movie alone should sell you on seeing this. The debut red-band trailer for upcoming comedy The To Do List (which was previously titled The Hand Job), written and directed by Maggie Carey, has been released and it’s far from clean.  The film features Aubrey Plaza as a sexually inexperienced teenager with a type-A personality who makes the decision to engage in numerous sex acts before she goes to college.  Plaza is joined by Donald Glover, Rachel Bilson, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Alia Shawkat, Mae Whitman, Johnny Simmons, Connie Britton, Clark Gregg aka Agent Coulson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Scott Porter. Who isn’t in this movie? Isn’t this the perfect Valentines day movie? Why are you still reading what I am writing rather than watching the trailer?

Starring Aubrey Plaza, THE TO DO LIST follows the story of Brandy Klark (Plaza), a Type-A, overachiever who comes up with a “to-do list” featuring all the risqué extra-curricular activities she missed out on in high school and wants to complete before college. Rachel Bilson, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg, Scott Porter, Connie Britton, Clark Gregg, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Donald Glover, Johnny Simmons, Sarah Steele and Alia Shawkat co-star in the film.

The To Do List opens February 14th, 2013 aka Valentines day!