Archive for the ‘finding the funny’ Category

Who Dunnit? Who Didn’t?

I’m obsessed with BAD SISTERS. OBSESSED! Created by Sharon Horgan, Brett Baer and Dave Finkel, it’s the freshest series I’ve seen in a while. On Twitter Co-Star Horgan admits to being a “bit of a weird voyeur.” All I can say is “weird voyeurism makes for great TV” — especially if you’re a weird observer of easy-to-hate villains, complicated family dynamics and reluctant flirtations.

I couldn’t stop watching this twisty black-comedy thriller for Apple TV+ but secretly hoped it would never end. It shocks with “I can’t believe they just did that” scenes while taking us on turns we don’t see coming.

The family that murders together (Well, maybe…)

This 10 episode series follows the Garvey sisters: Eva/Horgan, Ursula/Eva Birthistle, Bibi/Sarah Green, Becka/Eve Hewson and Grace/Anne-Marie Duff, the long-suffering wife of John Paul/Claus Bang.  Bound together by the death of their parents and a promise to always protect each other, they take their bond to a whole new level.

Wittily written, awesomely acted with surprising setbacks and hilarious advances — the worst thing possible is constantly happening thanks to villain John Paul. Grace’s horrendous husband is the guy we all want to do in.

Sometimes it’s good to be BAD…

Think BIG LITTLE LIES set in Ireland as the sisters stand up for one another and contemplate new methods of murder. The romantic in me loves the forbidden affair between Becka (the role I’d love to play) and Matt (Daryl McCormack) the brother of Insurance Guy, Tom/Brian Gleeson who’s determined to prove JP’s death is not accidental. There’s nothing accidental about this series… it’s brilliantly cast, written and acted… and executed with great care.

As the series rolled out and I was forced to wait for each new episode, I watched  CATASTROPHE to feed my addiction to Horgan’s humor. It helped.

But now that I’ve seen the Season Finale (which was soooooooo satisfying btw) I really miss all of the characters…

xo/evie

embrace it!

I’m a huge fan of Jason Katims. HUGE. His shows have so much heart they always stay with me after. He was a big part of making two of my all-time faves, the faves of so many… Friday Night Lights and Parenthood.

AS WE SEE IT:  a Comedy? Drama? Dramcomedy? Comdrama?

AS WE SEE IT  on Amazon Prime has the heart and soul of Katim’s trademark, but with lots of twists and turns. I’ve never seen a show quite like it. And you don’t have to take just my word for it, it has an audience score of 100 on Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s about three Autistic Twentysomethings trying to figure out how to fit in. And it’s actually played by three amazingly-talented actors who are on the spectrum themselves. I know it sounds serious, but it’s not. It’s funny and charming and very real and relatable… we all want to fit in, right?

AS WE SEE IT’s Harrison, Violet and Jack

Wants and Needs —

• Harrison (Albert Rutecki) wants to stop being afraid to leave house.
• Violet (Sue Ann Pien) wants a boyfriend
• Jack (Rick Glassman) wants to take care of his father who is taking care of him.
  (And I want it to already be the second season, so there’s more to watch, haha.)

Mandy (Sosie Bacon) plays the Den Mother/Aid with never-ending compassion who’s running away from her own life — or at least trying to figure it out. I first noticed Bacon in MARE OF EASTTOWN. With talent-genes from her parents Kyra Sedgwick & Kevin Bacon, Sosie shows all of the layers of Mandy in AS WE SEE IT.

Adapted from the Israeli comedy series “On the Spectrum,” AS WE SEE IT is lightness and laughter as Harrison, Violet and Jack face their fears —  frequently with catastrophic results (something else I totally relate to).

As I see it, everyone should give AS WE SEE IT a look… It’s that good!

dance whenever! wherever!

Loved, loved, loved seeing ELECTION DEFENDERS make lemonade out of long-line-lemons,  spreading cool moves and positivity to VOTING in Philly.  Rachel Maddow interviewed the enthusiastic Nelini Stamp and showed what creative get-the-vote-out-thinking can accomplish. Nelini’s contagious smile and kick-ass movement: JOY TO VOTERS made me want to boogie back to the polls again.

Imagine a place where no one’s asking what party you’re part of because everyone’s partying together. Yeah,  you might need to go to a SWING STATE to see it —  or you can bring a social-distancing-dance-vote-movement to your own State. Remember, the State of the Union is up to each one of us.

Cha Cha Slide to the POLLS —

It’ll make you believe in democracy again

1. Get-up, gulp, and go for it!
2. Check off your ‘To Do’s’ and appreciate each step forward!
3. Embrace your flawsomeness and unique spin!
4. Push yourself more, more, more!
5. Focus on the good, the goofy and the giggles!
6. Laugh before you leap!
7. Jump off the old, land in the new!
8. Be your own wand — make your own magic!
9. Find the funny, even when it hurts!
10. Stick to it!
11. Believe it will happen!
12. Make the best of it, even when it sucks!
13. Believe in yourself and others will too!
14. Become what you respect!
15. Live with intent!
16. Be unstoppable!
17. Reflect what you desire!
18. Find your fire!
19. Tighten your ponytail and handle it!
20. Be the sunshine on someone’s cloudy day!
21. Be you, the imperfect you — the TRUE YOU!

Otis and Maeve – mixed messages

SEX EDUCATION, a bawdy, bold and big-hearted British comedy series on NETFLIX, is about a 16-year old boy (Otis) with a Sex Therapist Mom (Jean) who gets talked into going into business with a badass cool girl (Maeve.) Maeve spreads the word that Otis is a sex therapist for high-schoolers. BUT Otis is totally inexperienced and in fact can’t deal with his own sexuality… yet he’s surprisingly intuitive when it comes to dealing with the problems of other teens.

awkward and awesome!

Otis and his Mom – love/hate

It’s a little bit of a parallel universe for me, since I’m someone who hates hospitals (especially the one my Mom frequented when she was dying)… yet now I’ve ironically extended my community service sentence voluntarily because (spoiler alert) I’m actually pretty good at helping others deal with being at the hospital. Go figure.

SEX EDUCATION’s outstanding cast is led by Asa Butterfield, as the nerdy inexperienced sex-pert. Gillian Anderson plays his frank, ff-ingly free and boundary-less mother.  Emma Mackey is brilliantly tender and tough in a break-out role that I would’ve loved to have gone out for before I aged-out of hottie-in-high-school parts. So sad…

I laughed and cringed as I binge-watched all eight episodes. It definitely left me wanting more… much more.

scene from a sex manual

True story. A couple of weeks ago…

I’m in Santa Monica, parked on Wilshire Blvd near 3^rd Street Promenade on the far-far right by the curb, facing the Ocean.  The sun is super bright, blinding me.  So I lean over the steering wheel to block out the sun and read/answer an email. Okay, yeah, I admit, it’s a long email.

SUDDENLY I hear a slow siren, then a Man’s DEEP VOICE over a LOUDSPEAKER.  My head pops up. Whaa?!

OMG! An enormous FIRE TRUCK is heading directly toward me! In my parking lane! On the wrong side of the street! Y I K E S!

My eyes dart from side-to-side. Where’s the fire?!

The bellowing VOICE:

Is everything all right?

What did I do wrong? Read the rest of this entry »

Fun movies are back! Really fun! Movies that make you grin for 2 hours… make you wanna text your friends…make you excited to spread the word on social media.

For a while it seemed like movies were getting darker and more depressing — with overly-flawed characters fucking up, and endings leaving you wondering whaaaaa?

But now that the world is getting darker, films are lightening up and providing a much-needed escape from News that just gets more bizarre with every alert.

Meant to post about these two fab films right after seeing them opening weekend, but got busy-busy and kept putting it off.  Still they stayed with me.  So, here goes…

My two favorite films of 2017 so far are —

BABY DRIVER  –

Edgar Wright’s passion project is totally in sync… the story, the music, the choreography, the cast to die for (Ansel Elgort, Lily James, Jon Hamm, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx.) BABY DRIVER’S got everything going for it from A to Z: Action, Bank robberies, Car chases, Danger, Electricity… you get the picture . For me to love-love-love a movie, it’s gotta have Romance, and it’s gotta have Heart. BABY DRIVER has both! Plus it has chills and thrills!  I can’t say enough good things about this summer surprise. It’s a little bit unexplainable —you’ve gotta experience it yourself.

THE BIG SICK —

Speaking of ROMANCE, this is the awkwardest, charming-est, funniest true-life-love story of Silicon Valley star Kumail Nanjiani’s and writer Emily V Gordon’s up-and-down, culturally doomed, physically challenged love-connection. Hilariously written by the couple and produced by Judd Apatow, THE BIG SICK is fresh, funny and frustrating. By the end you’ll feel like Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter and Ray Romano are your own family members you’ll want to hug one moment, murder the next.

BABY DRIVER and THE BIG SICK are the kind of films I’d love to audition for, be cast in, see again for the first time… you get the picture… sigh…