“This is the Pretty Mediocre Timeline”- Community Season 4 Episode 10 Review- ‘Intro to Knots’

This review contains spoilers because it is a review.

For something that contained as many references to Tom Waits and Die Hard as this episode did, I anticipated liking it more. Seeing as there’s a pretty decent chance that this is the last Christmas episode the show will ever do and that Community has pretty much nailed holidays up until this point, I suppose I just wanted to like it more.

That being said, this episode isn’t BAD by any stretch of the imagination. Its middle section is actually quite well-written (by long-time Community vet Andy Bobrow), although the first and third acts and whatever the hell that tag was really left something to be desired. I didn’t know this was an homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope, mostly because I’ve never seen Rope.

Top Ten Character Deaths in Movies and TV- A Mexican Standoff

Chekhov’s Gunman is a film and television blog moderated by Kevin Lanigan, a future writer of awesome movies and TV and moderately successful modern day adaptations of Huckleberry Finn. Coming 2015.

Before you read this list, know that I have not seen everything. I have watched a lot of things, probably too many things, at the expense of having hobbies and what may have been true happiness but we can’t be sure. But I am far from seeing everything. So if you have something you think is missing from this list, comment below and let me know (to borrow a phrase from Jeremy Jahns). In either case, here’s the list…

Also, you know, spoilers… Duh…

Top 20 Movies to Look Forward To- A Mexican Standoff

Chekhov’s Gunman is a film and television blog by Kevin “Kevin” Lanigan, a future writer of movies and TV and current underpants enthusiast. “Mexican Standoff” is our newest feature, a categorical list of something.

There’s a lot of good stuff waiting for us at the motion pictures. Of course, none of it is out right now, but there’s lots on the horizon. I’ve been trying to soak news up like a Bounty Quicker Picker Upper (thanks for the money, Bounty) and here’s a list of the 20 movies that I’m most looking forward to, or to which I’m most looking forward if you’re a grammar ass.

There are movies that are of course not on this list, mostly sequels to movies I didn’t enjoy. The second The Hobbit movie comes to mind, as well as The Amazing Spider-Man 2, although the casting news on that one is really promising. Admittedly, I’ve only seen the first ten minutes of the first Andrew Garfield Spider-Man flick, but that was a really terrible ten minutes. In either case, here’s the list…

“Chubby Cheeks Basted in Tears of Gravy”- Community Review Season 4 Episode 5- ‘Cooperative Escapism in Familial Relations’

Chekhov’s Gunman is a film and TV blog moderated by Kevin Lanigan, a future writer of television and movies and the first monkey shot into space. Spoilers for Community follow, so, like… watch out…

Before I start in on tonight’s episode, let’s talk about all the awesome things to come. Recently, Community’s cast and crew went to PaleyFest and treated us to some tasty tidbits of what’s to come. We’re getting a puppet episode! With Jason Alexander as a “friendly mountain man!” I’m in! I am so in! I’m in like Professor Binns! Also, something big for Shirley, more paintball but not a full episode, and a Freaky Friday-esque episode written by Academy Award winner Jim Rash where Troy and Abed switch bodies. That’s all very promising. Speaking of promising…

I really, really liked this episode you guys. It was kind of lacking in the big laughs department but it was so damn pleasant and emotional that big comedy set-pieces would have almost ruined what was at work. As a viewer, I feel that often times comic relief can spoil something good, like making Argo’s tone a bit jarring or whatever the hell the “fat people fall down” section in Lincoln was. The Jeff’s dad storyline was so delicate, with so much real emotion to it, that too much schtick from Troy or Pierce would have ruined it. There was a lot to laugh at here (Gillian Jacobs was funnier tonight than anyone else has been all season), but—Oooooooh. Jeff’s Dad!

#4- “Almost Forgot, Lizzie- Yesterday Mr. Darcy Started the Cold War”- Jane Austen, Exposition, and Basic Storytelling

Chekhov’s Gunman is a film and television blog by Kevin Lanigan, future writer of film and TV and past writer of certain specific verses of songs by Gladys Knight and the Pips. Spoilers will follow.

Do you ever feel like everything interesting happens after you leave the room? Like, every time you decide to turn in for the night, your friends encounter a caravan made up entirely of cannibal supermodels? Seems about right. I lost an entire group of horny, tasty friends that way.

“Bigger Secret Dogs to Come”- Community Season 4 Episode 2 Review, ‘Paranormal Parentage’

Chekhov’s Gunman is written by Kevin Lanigan, scriptwriter, amateur botanist, and die hard Forgetting Sarah Marshall fan. Normally he does essays, but tonight he was feeling frisky and also really likes site traffic. Spoilers follow, so please use your harsh words and violence on each other.

Community is building to something big. Like the calm before a storm or Japanese immigrants visiting Pearl Harbor in the winter of 1940, I feel something big is coming. I know it in my bones. And by bones very rarely steer people wrong.

They’re simply laying too much groundwork for me to think they’re not trying to go somewhere with it, like that construction site across the road run by Italian Americans and loose-lipped greasers who keep disappearing.

#3- “It’s like Die Hard in a Petting Zoo”- Premises, Housing, and why Movie 43 Won’t Be Worth Your Money

Welcome to Chekhov’s Gunman, a film and television blog from Kevin Lanigan, a past, present, and future writer of scripts, books, and angry letters to the editor about how The Dark Knight Rises totally deserved 10 stars and how they should just totally go watch Atonement or something.

You cannot build without a solid foundation. Without concrete, you may have no house. Without a crust, there is no pizza. Without Captain America, all the Avengers would do is sit around having radioactive pissing contests. If you are writing, creating, examining, saying, expressing, or doing anything you need a firm rock to anchor yourself to, or you’re just going to be standing on top of a soap box and waving your megaphone impotently in the wind.

A solid premise is like an adequate preschool. It creates a wonderful sandbox for the characters and plot to unfold naturally. Because of Die Hard’s solid premise, John McClane swinging on a fire hose through a window was far, far superior to your typical, shallow, empty fire hose swinging.

#2- “Sand-Boobs, Alcoholism, and Mommy Issues”- On Characters, Change, and Archer’s Return

Welcome to Chekhov’s Gunman- a film and television blog from the point of view of Kevin Lanigan, an aspiring film and television writer and past and future trick-or-treater. Mild spoilers lie ahead. You have been warned. If you yell at me, my father will fire your father.

You have to be careful with change. Human beings are creatures of habit. We have nightly routines and schedules for everything from exercise to television. It’s all habit. Change is dangerous to those set in their ways. Don’t believe me? Turn on the national news and wait for absolutely any news story. Someone will be against it. It’s the reason we stay in abusive relationships and it’s the reason we don’t buy it when Tom Cruise goes from dead-beat dad to Dakota Fanning-saving Tim Robbins killer.