TV Review: The Office - Melora Hardin's Wacky Jan Boosts Show's Return

by Tony Dayoub

(Warning: For those who still have last night's episode of The Office sitting on their Tivo, there are spoilers below)

The Office returned from it's strike-related hiatus last night for a six episode run. It was a great showcase for Melora Hardin's kooky portrayal of Jan Levinson. Since her first appearance as the then-Jan Levinson-Gould, supervisor to Michael Scott (Steve Carell) and his crew, her increasingly unhinged performance has grown from a small recurring role to an unofficial regular, as Michael's live-in girlfriend. Last night's episode revolving around a dinner party at Michael and Jan's apartment reached a new high in discomfort.

First, Michael stages a critical late assignment for Friday evening, only to cancel it so everyman Jim (John Krasinski) won't have an excuse to blow off another of Michael's invitations to dinner. Dwight (Rainn Wilson) wants to go, but alas the party is couple's only. This does clear the way for Dwight's rival, Andy (Ed Helms), to attend with Dwight's ex, Angela (Angela Kinsey), however. When Jim arrives with girlfriend Pam (Jenna Fischer), they bring a bottle of wine as any good guest does. Jan sets the tone for the rest of the night when she spirits the bottle away saying, "This will be great for cooking."

The episode truly captures the essence of the positives and negatives of being in a relationship. Jan needs to keep Michael's self-esteem low to enhance her own, now that she's unemployed. As we find out, she relegates Michael to sleeping on a bench at the foot of their bed because of her "space issues." She does cling to Michael like she would a life-vest: the truth behind the dinner party is her hope that Michael can convince his friends to invest in her fledgling candle-making business. Jim and Pam have a healthier relationship, supporting each other through the awkward party peppered with Michael and Jan's bickering. Best reaction shot: Jim's and Pam's faces as they find out the main course of Osso Bucco has three hours left to braise. Jim and Pam are excited when he comes up with a great excuse to leave the party. He claims his apartment has been flooded, and Pam and he have to leave. When Michael points out that both of them are not necessary to check out his stuff, Jim seems ready to go without her. It's only Pam's look of dismay (and possible flak for Jim later) that stops him in his tracks. Has any couple out there not experienced these situations firsthand? Well, maybe not the bench...

Jan's jealousy of Pam escalates the awkwardness. When she makes Pam aware that Michael has told her of how he used to date Pam, an outright lie, Pam is taken aback. The Osso Bucco is finally served. As Michael frets that it may be poisoned, cut to Pam talking to the camera, "I know Jan didn't poison the food. I know that. But if she was going to poison the food of someone at that table, wouldn't it be me? Michael's former lover." Michael has always had the corner on making the viewer cringe. But in this episode, it is frequently Melora Hardin's Jan that drives the discomfort. And every time the discomfort escalates, it is she that passive-aggressively initiated the escalation.

This is definitely a noteworthy return, and one of the series' best episodes if you can stand the escalating awkwardness.

DVD Review: Juno: Two-Disc Special Edition - Irreverent Oscar-Nominated Gem Packed with Special Features

by Tony Dayoub

Juno is an irreverent little gem that I talked about earlier this year (for a review of the film follow this link). It amusingly follows some of the situations encountered by a high-school girl who gets pregnant and decides to offer the baby to a young couple looking to adopt. It was nominated for four Academy Awards, and Diablo Cody won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The film will be available Tuesday, April 15, on Blu-ray and single or two-disc standard DVD. If you enjoyed the film, then you'll love the DVD. Packed with special features, I really recommend the two-disc version (Blu-ray has all of this one's features and a few extra).

The commentary by Cody and director Jason Reitman is humorous and informative. Cody gives insight about the inspiration for certain elements in the film. For example, since she is part of a blended family herself, she was determined to show that blended families could be just as great as traditional ones. Reitman concentrates more on some of the technical or casting info. But he does concede that a lot of the "expectant parents" elements were informed by his personal experience, having just become a father himself. Cody and Reitman seem to have a genuine rapport in the commentary that exemplifies the teamwork they must have brought to the production.

Their are some other standout special features. I found the documentary on Diablo Cody (not on the single disc DVD) interesting. I was skeptical of her given what a colorful background she has as a former stripper who blogged about her experiences. However, after seeing the short featurette I found her to be very charming. I hope that this is the beginning of her long career, and that she isn't a one-hit wonder. The deleted scenes are fun to watch, especially if you're a fan of Cody's dialogue. But I can understand why they were cut. A little of that goes a long way, and I feel that including these scenes would have made the movie overlong and precious. Definitely check out the scenes, "Mrs. Rancik" and "Cafe Tristé" for some more of Cody's Juno-isms. Some other fun trifles include the gag reel, and the "cast and crew jam" which shows pretty much everyone involved with the film, dancing or air-guitaring to a rocking tune (which I hate to admit I don't recognize). Also exclusive to the two-disc DVD is a digital copy of the film you can download.

All in all, a very complete package for an Oscar-nominated movie. I'm glad that the studio didn't follow the current trend of rushing out a disc only to turn around a year later and upgrade it to a collector's edition.

Still provided courtesy of Fox Home Entertainment.

Movie Review: The Ruins - Young Cast and Director Freshen Up Peculiar Chiller

by Tony Dayoub

The Ruins opened this past Friday in theatres. The screenplay by Scott Smith is based on his own bestselling horror novel. In the story, a group of friends vacationing in Mexico venture out to a remote Mayan ruin to try to fit in some culture in between their otherwise alcohol-soaked escapades. There's a reason the ancient temple they find is not on any maps, they soon find out. It is a place of foreboding and death, one that not even the surrounding flora and fauna get near... except for a creeping vine covering the structure. Smith's screenplay is not as impressive as his earlier one for Sam Raimi's A Simple Plan. But The Ruins is enlivened by an excellent young cast and director.

A horror movie is most effective when you come to identify with the intended victims in it. In the current crop of such movies, it is difficult to relate to the largely anonymous cast of novice actors. This film casts extremely talented actors that draw you in. Not unlike Brian De Palma's Carrie, I believe in years to come this movie will be revisited by those curious to see the cast of young actors, who will no doubt be in demand in the future. That film had such up-and-comers as John Travolta, Sissy Spacek, and Amy Irving. This film stars Shawn Ashmore (the X-Men films), Jena Malone (Donnie Darko), Laura Ramsey (She's the Man) and Jonathan Tucker (Texas Chainsaw Massacre), all relative unknowns. Tucker (so effective in the neo-noir The Deep End) is capable of letting his teary eyes speak volumes of fear while he tries to keep the group focused on escaping their plight. Ashmore buries his preppie good-looks behind frizzy hair and full beard to get us to connect with his regular-joe. Malone's frown belies her determination in surviving their predicament.

Special praise goes to Ramsey. I'm rarely caught off guard when seeing an actor. I usually recognize them from somewhere. Ramsey, though relatively new, has done some noteworthy films. But she is extremely sympathetic in a role that could have easily been, for various reasons, the most annoying in the film. I see big things for her pretty soon. All the young actors give distinct voices to characters that could have been ciphers, making the movie even more chilling.

Director Carter Smith conjures up some genuine shocks by leaning on traditional elements of fear rather than gory violence. It looks especially challenging considering much of the film takes place in bright daylight. But by concentrating on sound effects, judicious - instead of generous -use of blood, and the dynamic cinematography of Darius Khondji (Se7en), Smith is able to muster up some horrific moments. Even more impressive is his assuredness given that this is the former fashion photographer's first feature-length film (check out his disturbing, gay-themed, horror short Bugcrush).

Encourage filmmakers to turn away from the current trend of torture-porn cinema, and go see this small old-fashioned chiller instead.

DVD Review: There Will Be Blood - From Altman to Malick: The Naturalist Influence on Anderson's Film

by Tony Dayoub


There Will Be Blood is the best film of 2007. It is a character study focusing on Daniel Plainview, played by Daniel Day-Lewis in a performance that fiercely crystallizes the epic vision of the movie's director. Paul Thomas Anderson has given us some noteworthy films already, like Boogie Nights (1997), and Magnolia (1999). His films' ensemble casts inevitably led to comparisons with Robert Altman (M*A*S*H, Nashville), another director known for working with large casts. And in fact, the reason we haven't seen a film from Anderson since 2003's Punch-Drunk Love is because he was serving as back-up director for Altman's last film A Prairie Home Companion, as Altman's health was already failing. With an eye towards one of Altman's more intimate films, Blood is distinctly influenced by other great directors.

The film opens over a vast desolate landscape, seemingly silent. But Jonny Greenwood's score rises to an almost deafening pitch in a piece inspired by the composer György Ligeti's work. Ligeti is best known for music that appears in Stanley Kubrick's films, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and The Shining. Here we get a sense of what this film will be about, because just as this music is used to evoke a certain alienation of Kubrick's protagonist from the world he finds himself in, Blood's Plainview is also an outsider, a misanthrope. It is his ambition to build an impregnable wall around himself that drives him to seek oil in this wasteland.

As the opening sequence continues, Plainview, in a moment of weakness, takes in a boy orphaned by the death of his father, one of Plainview's oil riggers. He names him H.W., and conspiratorially makes him an accomplice in pursuit of his goal. His relationship is where we see him at his most vulnerable. They are led to Little Boston, a poor community, where they were tipped off by Paul Sunday (Paul Dano) that there is oil to be had. Plainview convinces the community to sell him their land, and in return he'll employ the lot of them in helping him fulfill his vision. These scenes are reminiscent of Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller. That film's McCabe (Warren Beatty) mysteriously comes to the old mining community of Presbyterian Church where he has dreams of getting rich opening a brothel to serve the miners. Like McCabe, Plainview must appease the community [in the person of Eli Sunday (Dano again), Paul's twin brother] by promising to build a church.

In Blood, however, the schism between capitalism and religion is given a much more central focus. Plainview's greed may be a sign of his corruption, but he hardly hides it. He despises the hypocrisy he gleans from Eli Sunday's sermons, and is disgusted by Sunday's attempt to use faith to disguise his own ambitions. A disastrous explosion of an oil derrick comes at a crucial turning point in the story. The effect of the pillar of oil-fueled fire, and Anderson's attempt to confine the film's lighting to the natural light of the blaze, recalls Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven. In that film's key turning point, when sharecroppers try to smoke out locusts that biblically descend on a farm, it also catches fire. Malick chose to use the eerie light of the flames to emphasize the supernatural quality of this moment. Anderson's burning oil derrick spotlights Plainview's naked greed as the flames shoot into the night.

As Plainview grows old and achieves his goal of retreat from the human race, he becomes a Howard Hughes-type figure. Hermit-like, he never leaves his mansion, and becomes estranged even from H.W. But curiously, as he descends into this madness, the shots become more formal, and symmetrical. The wide-angle shots in his mansion remind me of Kubrick's depiction of The Shining's Overlook Hotel; vast, isolated, yet allowing us to detachedly observe Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) from a safe distance.

Anderson successfully stirs the pot with this soup he concocted to come up with one of the most unique and satisfying movies in the last ten years. Run don't walk to get the DVD, out today on single and 2-disc standard DVD.

Still provided courtesy of Paramount Home Entertainment.

This entry first appeared on Blogcritics on 4/7/2008.