(no subject)
OVERALL: GOOD, VERY GOOD, PROBABLY DIDN'T NEED TO EXIST BUT I REALLY ENJOYED MYSELF.
UHHHHHHHHHHHHH WOW THE ONE-CHARACTER-PER-EPISODE FORMAT WAS BRUTAL. Luckily the way it worked (almost like a character was unlocked once you hit their episode, clearing them to appear more in subsequent ones, although this fell off towards the end) meant things got better as the season went on, with 10-13 probably being my favorite stretch of episodes. I really don't think it's a coincidence that that's also when they finally got around to Lucille, Maeby, and George Michael? I CAN'T BELIEVE THERE WERE TWO MICHAELS, TWO GEORGE SENIORS, TWO TOBIASES, AND TWO LINDSAYS BEFORE WE GOT THEM, THOUGH.
If this is all supposed to be leading to a movie, I...really don't see why they didn't just do more episodes, because the whole thing felt very unresolved even though I wouldn't ever have thought I'd need resolution from Arrested Development. But the fact that they circled everything back to Cinco de Cuatro OVER AND OVER AND OVER had me thinking that they'd wrap up with an ensemble episode or two set at Cinco and the aftermath - Lindsay vs. Sally and Sally's secret alopecia! Whatever the fuck was going on with the business not that anyone gives a fuck! GOB/TONY WONDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOB/TONY WONDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FakeBlock collapsing! MORE MAEBY! ALWAYS MORE MAEBY! Lucille 2's disappearance! But............I guess all that is a movie? Or something? Because after 15 "this could have been shorter" 35-minute episodes, they really need their next installment to be 90+ minutes? It's just that as the season progressed and callbacks started landing and the story started winding back in on itself more and more it really felt like they were building to something, but...not so much, I guess!
That article about all the greenscreen had me worried but it wasn't something I really noticed other than the shot in Buster's episode where Lucille is leaving his hospital room. That might just be because I watched it on my phone, though? It became more obvious in other episodes if I started looking for it, but what tipped me off in those cases wasn't a shot of two characters looking wrong so much as scenes where they're clearly avoiding showing two characters in the same shot at all. [There was something about the camera work in general that felt off through a lot of the series? But I think maybe that's just AD's normal style just being handicapped by actor availability. Although there are DEFINITELY weird moments, like the first cutaway to Tobias's license plate, and this one shot of other diners during the Michael/Rebel/Love/Lindsey double date. ALSO it was super weird in the Ron Howard scenes whenever a line had been re-done in ADR because if you couldn't see his face - like in the elevator scene - it just sounded like narration.
KRISTEN WIIG AND SETH ROGEN AS YOUNG LUCILLE AND GEORGE WAS CRAZY UNNECESSARY. They've always played their own young selves for that kind of thing and MAN the fill-ins were not working for me.
BUT MOSTLY I HAD A GREAT TIME WATCHING IT AND I LAUGHED MY ASS OFF A LOT, most especially at the giant HER? in the church and also at this scene in 4x13, ONLY FUCK THAT GIFSET BECAUSE THAT'S NOT EVEN THE FUNNY PART? I cry laughing every time I even think about Michael Cera's delivery of "it's Justin." THAT'S DAVID HENRIE, HE'S JUSTIN FROM WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE. PER. FEC. TION.
This entry was originally posted at http://dudski.dreamwidth.org/1454643.html because FUCK LIVEJOURNAL, FOR SERIOUS. You can comment over there or over here, I really don't care, but eventually you're all going to join me on DW, let's be real.
UHHHHHHHHHHHHH WOW THE ONE-CHARACTER-PER-EPISODE FORMAT WAS BRUTAL. Luckily the way it worked (almost like a character was unlocked once you hit their episode, clearing them to appear more in subsequent ones, although this fell off towards the end) meant things got better as the season went on, with 10-13 probably being my favorite stretch of episodes. I really don't think it's a coincidence that that's also when they finally got around to Lucille, Maeby, and George Michael? I CAN'T BELIEVE THERE WERE TWO MICHAELS, TWO GEORGE SENIORS, TWO TOBIASES, AND TWO LINDSAYS BEFORE WE GOT THEM, THOUGH.
If this is all supposed to be leading to a movie, I...really don't see why they didn't just do more episodes, because the whole thing felt very unresolved even though I wouldn't ever have thought I'd need resolution from Arrested Development. But the fact that they circled everything back to Cinco de Cuatro OVER AND OVER AND OVER had me thinking that they'd wrap up with an ensemble episode or two set at Cinco and the aftermath - Lindsay vs. Sally and Sally's secret alopecia! Whatever the fuck was going on with the business not that anyone gives a fuck! GOB/TONY WONDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GOB/TONY WONDER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FakeBlock collapsing! MORE MAEBY! ALWAYS MORE MAEBY! Lucille 2's disappearance! But............I guess all that is a movie? Or something? Because after 15 "this could have been shorter" 35-minute episodes, they really need their next installment to be 90+ minutes? It's just that as the season progressed and callbacks started landing and the story started winding back in on itself more and more it really felt like they were building to something, but...not so much, I guess!
That article about all the greenscreen had me worried but it wasn't something I really noticed other than the shot in Buster's episode where Lucille is leaving his hospital room. That might just be because I watched it on my phone, though? It became more obvious in other episodes if I started looking for it, but what tipped me off in those cases wasn't a shot of two characters looking wrong so much as scenes where they're clearly avoiding showing two characters in the same shot at all. [There was something about the camera work in general that felt off through a lot of the series? But I think maybe that's just AD's normal style just being handicapped by actor availability. Although there are DEFINITELY weird moments, like the first cutaway to Tobias's license plate, and this one shot of other diners during the Michael/Rebel/Love/Lindsey double date. ALSO it was super weird in the Ron Howard scenes whenever a line had been re-done in ADR because if you couldn't see his face - like in the elevator scene - it just sounded like narration.
KRISTEN WIIG AND SETH ROGEN AS YOUNG LUCILLE AND GEORGE WAS CRAZY UNNECESSARY. They've always played their own young selves for that kind of thing and MAN the fill-ins were not working for me.
BUT MOSTLY I HAD A GREAT TIME WATCHING IT AND I LAUGHED MY ASS OFF A LOT, most especially at the giant HER? in the church and also at this scene in 4x13, ONLY FUCK THAT GIFSET BECAUSE THAT'S NOT EVEN THE FUNNY PART? I cry laughing every time I even think about Michael Cera's delivery of "it's Justin." THAT'S DAVID HENRIE, HE'S JUSTIN FROM WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE. PER. FEC. TION.
This entry was originally posted at http://dudski.dreamwidth.org/1454643.html because FUCK LIVEJOURNAL, FOR SERIOUS. You can comment over there or over here, I really don't care, but eventually you're all going to join me on DW, let's be real.