2006.  Rated PG-13.  Directed by Bryan Singer.  Starring Brandon Routh, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, James Marsden, Parker Posey, Kal Penn, Frank Langella, and Marlon Brando’s reanimated voice.

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I’ve been wanting to write this article for a while, but what better time to re-examine Superman Returns, one of the worst superhero movies of all time, than after the runaway success of The Dark Knight, probably the best superhero movie of all time.  Superman Returns came out a year after Batman Begins, and followed a similar game plan — reboot a classic movie franchise based on an iconic American superhero under the guidance of a critically acclaimed director.  Like I was with Batman director Christopher Nolan, I was a fan of Superman director Bryan Singer, who directed one of my favorite movies, The Usual Suspects, as well as the very solid first two X-Men films.  So even though I have never been a huge Superman fan (Superman = America as we would like to think we are, Batman = America as we actually are), I was excited to see what Singer would do.

Unfortunately, he turned in a huge, steaming pile of crap, delivering one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen, especially relative to budget, expectations and talent involved.  Sure, it’s not Zombie Strippers, but the feeling I had watching Superman Returns was one of tremendous disappointment and then anger at how awful the film is.  Part of that comes with the inherent problems with Superman in general (namely, he’s a boring fucking character), but Singer whiffed completely on casting, directing the actors, the themes and the piss-poor story that he co-wrote.

The story begins after Superman (Routh) returns to Earth for the first time in five years after travelling to space to find Krypton.  Shockingly, at the EXACT SAME TIME, Clark Kent arrives back at the Daily Planet, where Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter Lois Lane (Bosworth) still works.  I love that a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist is not suspicious at all when Superman and Clark Kent each return at the same time after the exact same sabbaticals.  Not to mention, his disguise is a *pair of glasses*.  Come on, I know this is part of the mythology, but it’s the 21st goddamn Century, can’t we update this at all, in some way or form?  There is absolutely no chance that would fool anyone, ever.

Anyway, Lex Luthor (Spacey), after losing his fortune thanks to Superman somehow, has married an old lady to rob her of hers and use the funds to steal Krpytonian crystals to create a new continent because there’s no more land to sell.  Or something ridiculous like that.  It’s all very predictable and lame, and I’m going to try and not give away spoilers too much, but there is a subplot involving a child who may or may not be Superman’s son (which, like much of the plot, is absolutely stupid) and the finale which involves Superman lifting a continent of Kryptonite out of the ocean, because, well, he believes that he can.  Oh, and he’s Jesus Christ — at least, that’s what Singer would want you to think.

Routh was cast, it seems, only because of his uncanny resemblance to a bigger, steroid-era Christopher Reeve, and does nothing to dispel that with his blank slate performance.  This works fine as Clark, because Clark is totally lame, but as Superman he shows absolutely zero charisma or likability.  Bosworth is an utter disaster as Lane, one of the worst casting choices I’ve ever seen — not only does she look awful and nothing like what Lois should, she brings absolutely nothing to the role.  Lois Lane is supposed to be feisty, independent, smart and fiery, and she is none of those thing in this movie, but an unfortunate damsel in distress.  I used to watch Lois & Clark, which was a decent show for a couple of seasons, and Teri Hatcher’s Lois was so much better than Bosworth’s horrendous effort.

Spacey and Posey seem to be acting in a different movie, a camp version, apparently.  The rest of the movie is so heavy-handed without a hint of humor, yet Singer allowed these two to ham it up and destroy the tone (which may not have been such a bad thing).  It is clear that Singer had no cohesive idea for how he wanted the movie to be acted, and that crosses over to the story and the pacing.  The movie is 2 1/2 hours long, and I never complain about the length of movies, but it felt like 4 hours long.  It was slow, shockingly boring and the action sequences were nothing special.  The one positive — it did look fairly good onscreen, but when you spend $150 million, it fucking better.

This isn’t one of the so bad it’s good and worth watching kind of movies.  This is one of those so bad, you’ll get angry about wasting so much of your time watching it kind of movies.  Batman Begins was a great example of how to restart a franchise, and Superman Returnsis a great example of taking a dead franchise and burying it deeper into the ground.  Apparently, they’re making a sequel to it because it made a fair amount of money (an aside: Have you noticed that Routh and Bosworth’s careers have not only not taken off, but completely nosedived?) but I can’t imagine it doing too well, and I certainly will not be seeing it.

Grade: F

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Rated PG-13.  Directed by Christopher Nolan.  Written by Nolan, Jonathan Nolan & David S. Goyer.  Starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Aaron Eckhart, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman, Maggie Gyllenhaal and Eric Roberts.

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My buddy Evan wrote an interesting review of The Dark Knight, you can check it out here.

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I don’t think I’ve been more excited for a summer movie than I was for The Dark Knight since, well, probably ever.  I’m a huge fan of director Christopher Nolan and I thought the first entry, Batman Begins was a great beginning to a series and by far the best film to feature pretty much the only superhero I care about.  Then the reviews came out, and I was wondering whether it could live up to the hype.  Well, I can say that I was not disappointed in the least — The Dark Knight is a tremendous accomplishment, and the best movie I’ve seen so far this year.

There’s not much plot summary needed — the film starts where Beginsleft off — Bruce Wayne (Bale) is settling in as Batman with the help of butler Alfred (Caine), Wayne Industries CEO Lucius Fox (Freeman), and Lieutenant James Gordon (Oldman).  Meanwhile, newly minted District Attorney Harvey Dent (Eckhart) is trying to rid Gotham of the mob underworld while dating Wayne’s ex-girlfriend Rachel Dawes (now played by Gyllenhaal).  The mob, finding itself in a desperate time, allies itself with a new criminal making waves in the Gotham underworld, a man known only as The Joker (Ledger). 

Ledger is getting all the press, deservedly so, and would be even if it weren’t for his untimely death.  You simply cannot take your eyes off of him when he’s onscreen, and embodies Nolan’s vision of the Joker — less a true villain than a psychotic, twisted agent of chaos who is so compelling he’s almost likable.  This was the performance that could have ruined the film if it wasn’t pulled off.  But Ledger did it so well, and it’s a shame it’s his last full performance.

But if Ledger was perfect, Eckhart was on a similar level in that he was Harvey Dent, and you truly believed that, as the residents of Gotham did, that he was their White Knight. The film’s emotional arc was centered on him, and his performance was up to the challenge. Gyllenhaal, while an improvement over Katie Holmes, is largely wasted, and not enough is done to show why two of the most powerful men in the city are after her.

Bale, Freeman, Oldman and Caine repeat their strong, effective performances from Begins. Bale is particularly good in his “Bruce Wayne” persona, able to fool the characters within the movie but at the same time making it clear to the audience that his Wayne is acting. While Batman (especially in the brilliant animated series) has been shown as a dark, introspective character, Bale does a great job of showing his naiveté and insecurities. His Batman is a fallible hero, capable of not only making mistakes, but large errors in judgment.

Most of my praise though, falls to Christopher Nolan (and his brother Jonathan, who co-scripted), who has yet to make anything less than an excellent film. The intelligence and cleverness shines through in the writing and the direction. From the opening scene to the end, even in the scenes that are in retrospect unnecessary, he holds our attention. The film looks great and the action sequences are flawlessly presented.

It is a superhero movie, but it is one grounded in reality. None of the characters have superpowers, and Nolan consciously sets this in a world that we can recognize as our own. Yes, the action scenes have parts that are so unrealistic, and yes, Bruce Wayne is a billionaire with ridiculous toys, but the audience buys it because of the rest of the film around it. Nolan deserves a Best Director nomination, and he might just get it.

The film isn’t perfect – the opening scene with Batman (featuring a cameo from a familiar face) is confusing and while they felt the need to tie up a loose end from Batman Beginsit was sort of unnecessary. Similarly, the scenes in Hong Kong were cool and had clever moments but ultimately they could have been cut from the 2 ½ hour runtime. Finally, as solid overall as the Nolans’ script is, they can’t help but introduce a minor character who can only be important for one predictable reason.

The Dark Knight may not be a masterpiece overall, but within its genre, you won’t find any better. If you’re one of the 12 people who haven’t seen it – go see it now.

Grade: A-

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2005.  Rated PG-13.  Directed by Christopher Nolan.  Written and Directed by Christopher Nolan & David S. Goyer.  Starring Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Ken Watanabe, Tom Wilkinson and Rutger Hauer.

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A lot of people I’ve talked to have seen The Dark Knight without seeing Batman Begins.  While it’s not necessary viewing for continuity’s sake (other than perhaps, the Rachel Dawes romance subplot and the cameo in Knight from the Scarecrow) it definitely heightens the experience of its sequel.  Director Christopher Nolan establishes the new world that his Batman movies take place in and the totally different style and tone he brings that his predecessors.

Batman has always been my favorite superhero because he doesn’t have any superpowers and because it lends itself to darker, more complicated stories than a hero like Superman.  I loved the old animated series but pretty much every prior Batman movie sucked.  I’ll admit to never having seen Tim Burton’s first Batman but I did see his horrible Batman Returns.  And honestly, considering that Burton is one of the more overrated directors working today (I guess Beetlejuice was okay, but really..Mars Attacks?  Planet of the Apes? Two of the worst movies I’ve ever seen), I don’t see the need to see the first one, not when Batman Begins fills the origin story void so well.

To summarize the plot quickly, it’s not much we don’t know — billionaire heir Bruce Wayne loses his parents at the hands of a criminal as a young boy, which eventually leads him to establish a vigilante alter ego who dresses like a bat.  In this film, he finds himself in China, where he trains with a mentor (Neeson) before coming back home to Gotham City to reunite with his trusty butler Alfred (Caine), his childhood crush Rachel Dawes (Holmes) and begin his development of Batman.

The cast, with one notable exception, is quite good.  Bale is a perfect choice for Batman, and Caine is ideal as Alfred, Bruce’s father figure and protector.  Both Oldman and Freeman are good in smallish parts and I thought Murphy was great as the villain Scarecrow.  Katie Holmes was pretty bad as Dawes and was replaced in the sequel, and Wilkinson as a crime boss was a little hammy and out of place in Nolan’s more realistic take on a comic book story.

The story is solid, and certainly achieves the reboot effect that Nolan was going for.  The origins of Batman are well-known so it’s tough to imbue any originality into it, but there is a slightly different twist.  The love story isn’t as bad as other Batmans, but still feels a little forced in this movie, but it definitely lays the groundwork for the sequel.  Scarecrow is cool but a minor villain at best, and Ra’s Al Ghul feels a little wasted.  Obviously, they were saving the top villains for the next one.

Nolan, even before this film, was one of my favorite directors, on the strength of Memento, the underrated Insomnia and his first, the excellent low-budget Following.  Every one of his films (including the subsuquent The Prestige) is so well-directed and intelligently paced, plotted and the tone is always absolutely perfect.  Batman Begins is no exception, and proves what you can do with a superhero/action movie when a good director is at the reins.

Batman Begins is one of the better superhero movies out there, and up until last weekend was easily the best Batman movie.  If you haven’t seen The Dark Knight or Batman Begins, I’d recommend trying to catch the first before the second.

Grade: B+

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I’ll try and get up my Batman Begins post today and my Dark Knight post sometime soon, even though everyone in the world has already seen it and reviewed it.  Thanks for reading.

Rated PG-13.  Out on DVD.  Directed by Pete Travis.  Written by Barry Levy.  Starring Dennis Quaid, Matthew Fox, Forest Whitaker, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt, Bruce McGill, Eduardo Noriega, Edgar Ramirez, Said Taghmaoui, Ayelet Zurer and Zoe Saldana.

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When I first saw the trailer for Vantage Point it seemed like it could be a decent action movie with an interesting (and unoriginal, but that’s okay) narrative device — one event, in this case the assassination of the President — told from multiple viewpoints.  Not to mention a pretty solid cast with a number of acclaimed actors — Oscar winners and nominees and others who I happen to like.  However, a really, really shitty script filled with plot holes, stilted dialogue, lame, predictable twists and one hell of a cheesy ending absolutely torpedoes a promising idea.

The opening sequence was not particularly compelling, thanks in part to haphazard direction and truly horrendous line reading from both Sigourney Weaver and an atrocious awful Zoe Saldana as part of a news team covering an international summit on terrorism in Spain.  We see the assassination (it’s not much of a spoiler to reveal this, it happens about 3 minutes in) from their point of view before it switches.  From there, we get a number of different perspectives, with each revealing a little more of the story.

We get the stories from the point of view of the Secret Service agents (Quaid & Fox), the American tourist (Whitaker), the President (Hurt), the shady Spanish cop (Noriega, from Abre Los Ojos) amongst others.  There are a couple of parts where the concept is used to further the story, but mostly it serves as a distraction to a fairly straightforward plot.  All it does is highlight the extremely inconsistent timing (and some huge, glaring plot holes that come with it) and ridiculous coincidences that leave all the characters in the same area for the climax.

For such a strong cast, the best performance is Quaid’s, only because it’s not that obvious that he’s phoning it in.  The rest range from wasted (Noriega) to bad (Fox…oh, Jack, pick your movies better) to embarrassing (Whitaker, you just won a Oscar, for fuck’s sake) in what little screen time each character has.  None of the characters gets much of a back story and there is no real motivation shown for their actions.  The direction is sloppy and jump-cuts and close-ups don’t mask the lack of suspense.

There was also a twist that was revealed in the trailer which is pretty annoying — not that the movie would have been saved by me not knowing it, but it would have been a little surprise, I suppose.

Two more rants — first, for some strange reason, there’s no blood or even bulletholes during either the assassination or a flashback to Quaid’s character taking a bullet a year earlier.  You know, PG-13 movies can show blood….it made no sense and made it seem like a 70s TV show, where the bullets fly, people pretend to get hit and there’s never any blood.  Second, there’s an annoying little girl who is just absolutely fucking brutal in every possible way who a major part of the plot revolves around.

The only saving graces are its length (84 minutes of a shitty movie is better than 2 1/2 hours of one) and the fact that they tried something reasonably fresh for the genre.  It didn’t work, but at least they tried.

Grade: D-

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In Theaters.  Rated G. Written and Directed by Andrew Stanton.  With Fred Willard and the voices of Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy & Sigourney Weaver.

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At this point, I would go to see any movie Pixar makes without any idea of what it’s about (and judging by the fact that all their movies have made boatloads of money, I’m far from the only one).  They’ve raised the stakes with the last two, as movies about a rat chef or a robot living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland don’t seem particularly commercial.  And though Wall-E isn’t quite as good as Ratatouille, it’s another strong showing in the impressive Pixar portfolio.

Wall-E is a story about the last working robot on Earth hundreds of years after humans have abandoned it, going about his work compacting the trash we’ve left behind.  However, Wall-E has taken it upon himself to collect artifacts he’s interested in, and along with his cockroach buddy, has managed to make a nice living space.  He is particularly taken with a tape of Hello, Dolly! (which I had to look up, I did not recognize it at all) and the idea of finding someone to hold hands with.  Hey, it’s a kid’s movie, what do you want?

His world all changes when a spaceship lands, dropping off another robot, Eve, whose directive is “classified.”  Wall-E follows her around trying to ingratiate himself, and when she goes back home, he follows on a quest that takes him to a spaceship where humans are now living.

As you might be able to tell, it’s definitely much more of a kids’ movie (despite the sort of adult theme of a barren Earth) than Brad Bird’s two entries, The Incredibles and Ratatouille.  Stanton is responsible for Finding Nemo and Monsters, Inc. and this fits in the same type of mold, though with a romantic theme.  As a result, though I really liked it and enjoyed watching it, it doesn’t carry the same resonance as Bird’s.

What does make Wall-Edifferent from any of the other Pixar films is the opening sequence, which is almost entirely visual, and that the two main characters have barely any dialogue.  Up until the final act, there’s very little dialogue overall (hence the lack of a quote above the picture), and there aren’t many action sequences.  Despite this I was never bored and I felt like the movie breezed by.

Wall-E is such a great main character and it’s amazing how they can make a rusty box robot into a lovable cute character.  It just proves that it’s all in the eyes — and Wall-E has wonderfully expressive eyes.  Eve looks kind of like an egg-shaped IPod or something else slick Apple would make but Stanton eventually gives her enough of a personality that you root for Wall-E to end up with her.

I wasn’t a huge fan of using live-action in the movie (all in video form) — I thought it was a little out of place.  Also, the secondary conflict which drove the plot and created the antagonists wasn’t too interesting and took away from the Wall-E/Eve storyline which was far superior.  Not to mention, the scenes with all the fat people were not particularly appealing.

Wall-E is a very cute movie and up to the usual Pixar production standards.  It’s a great family or date movie, but I certainly wouldn’t go see it with my guy friends.  It’s just not that type of movie at all, which I guess I could say for all the non-Brad Bird Pixar films.  Just for the hell of it, here’s a off-the-cuff ranking of all the Pixar movies…the #1 is well above the rest and the bottom 2 are a level below the middle 6, though I like all of them.

1. The Incredibles
2. Ratatouille
3. Toy Story
4. Monsters, Inc.
5. Wall-E
6. Finding Nemo
7. Toy Story 2
8. Cars
9. A Bug’s Life

Grade: B+

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2004.  Rated PG-13. Written and Directed by Guillermo Del Toro.  Based on the comic by Mike Mignola.  Starring Ron Perlman, Selma Blair, Rubert Evans, Jeffrey Tambor, John Hurt, Karel Roden and the voice of David Hyde Pierce.

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Before I saw a preview for the first movie, I had never heard of Hellboy, perhaps the most obscure comic book character to be given not just one, but now two big-budget action movies.  I had no interest in seeing it, but it was on TV tonight, and I figured, what the hell, why not see if it might actually be as good as some people say and then go out and see the sequel.  Well, let’s just say I won’t be rushing to the theaters this weekend to see Hellboy 2.

The movie opens with a scene explaining the origins of Hellboy (Perlman) – some crazy Nazi scientist teamed with Rasputin (Roden) – yes, that Rasputin — engage in some magic mumbo-jumbo bullshit and open up a portal to Hell, I guess, to get some demons to help destroy the Allies.  The plot gets no less ridiculous from there, but it’s a comic book movie, so that’s fine, I suppose.  Anyway, a team of American soldiers led by a young Professor Broom (the older version played by Hurt) disrupt the mission but not before a little cute infant demon sneaks through the portal.  Rather than destroy it, Broom adopts it.

Flash to the present, where FBI newbie John Myers (Evans) is recruited for a secret division of the government, the BPRD, where he basically gets to act as Hellboy’s babysitter.  Through Myers, we learn most of the history of Hellboy and the BPRD and meet the other members of the team, an aquatic human thing, Abe Sapien (voiced by Hyde Pierce) and a firestarter girl (Blair) who can’t control her powers.  And of course, eventually, some weird creatures pop up and they have to fight them and save the world and all that.

Perlman is great and redeems an otherwise subpar film – it’s amazing that buried beneath that much makeup and prosthetics that Perlman can outact the shit out of everyone else in the movie.  Blair and Evans are both blank slates, which totally kills the romance subplot.  You feel for Hellboy and you can see how important Blair’s character is to him, but she’s not good enough to show us why.  Nor is Evans effective as an audience proxy.  Totally off-topic, but I feel like John Hurt has been in everything I’ve seen recently.  Also, Jeffrey Tambor shows up to annoy the crap out of everyone playing the stereotypical head of the unit, who has to have a conflict with the loose-cannon detective, or demon, in this case.

Now, I guess I understand why some critics wet themselves over Del Toro’s vision, etc — and I never saw Pan’s Labyrinthso it’s unfair to judge it based on the trailer alone — but I find his visual style too cartoony for my tastes.  The monsters and the creatures, I dunno, they looked too fake, rubbery and were not in the least bit frightening.  I think it’s telling that the freakiest and most bad-ass villain was the Nazi assassin wearing a simple gas mask.  And other than a really effective sequence in the middle of the movie, I was not impressed by the direction.  The final action scene was a total waste.

Essentially, the movie is one awesome character surrounded by some lame supporting characters and one cool villain (not even the main one) surrounded by pretty lame ones.  The visuals aren’t strong enough to carry a weak script with a large helping of really corny dialogue.  I didn’t mind the old, “what makes a man a man” theme, but they didn’t really explore the idea of whether a demon can truly be good because he was loved.  It was never really in doubt which side Hellboy is on.

Would I see the sequel?  I’m not going to make a point of it.  Most likely, I’ll catch it when it’s on FX a couple of years from now in the week before Hellboy 3 comes out.

Grade: C

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And instead of regaling everyone with why Superman Returns is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen (don’t worry, I will write about it soon enough), I decided to go with something slightly more timely (also, I watched it tonight on TV) and review the original Hellboy on the day the sequel comes out.  I will be doing the same next Friday with a review of Batman Begins on the the day The Dark Knight (sweet) comes out.

2008.  Rated R.  Out on DVD.  Written and Directed by Martin McDonagh.  Starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes, Clemence Poesy, Jordan Prentice and Thekla Reuten.

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Not that the genre of quirky dark comedies about criminals needed another entry, but earlier this year In Bruges was released to very little fanfare despite some star power and generally decent reviews.  It has the requisite laundry list of ridiculous characters — suicidal hitman, crime boss family man, racist midget, Dutch prostitute, angry Canadian, etc – and takes place and was entirely shot in Bruges, the medieval Belgian city.  Essentially, all you need to know plot-wise is that two hitmen (Farrell & Gleeson) are sent to Bruges to lay low by their boss (Fiennes) after a job gone wrong in London.  Hijinks, and lots of midget jokes ensue.

Farrell & Gleeson have good chemistry, and it’s nice to see Farrell once again show that he can actually act, like he did so long ago in the underrated Tigerland.  Gleeson inhabits his role as usual, and is so likable that it’s tough to buy him ever being a hitman.  It’s weird to hear Ralph Fiennes do a non-posh accent, but he’s actually really good in a departure from his signature roles.  Prentice, as the aforementioned racist midget, is given a thankless role but is actually not bad.  Poesy does an excellent job of being hot.

The characters are pretty well-defined and the dialogue is consistently sharp and witty and essentially is what makes the film work in the limited way it does.  After the first 15 minutes or so, the film’s pace picks up, and McDonagh does a good job of using the location of Bruges.  It’s not a great directing job, especially in the action parts and the closing sequence, but it’s competent.

However, the strengths of the film don’t completely overshadow the multiple weaknesses — the plot is very predictable and it takes awhile to get going.  The ending is absolutely fucking ridiculous (which knocks it down at least a grade) and worse than that it’s so totally telegraphed that I would surprised if most of the audience didn’t see it coming.  There’s also the whole token beautiful girl falls for main character for absolutely no reason subplot.  Finally, much of the action is predicated on the notion that a big, bad crime boss would actually go himself, BY HIMSELF, to help clean up the situation.

In Bruges is nothing we haven’t seen before (in of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch, for example) but it’s a pleasant enough diversion.  It was barely released in the U.S. and comes to DVD at a time when there are actually interesting movies in theaters, so if you miss it, well, you’re not missing a lot.  But it’s better than the standard Hollywood fare and probably worth a rental, and certainly worth it on HBO or something like FX two years from now.

Grade: B-

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NBC.  Returns in the fall Thursdays, 8:30 EST.  Created by Tina Fey.  Starring Fey, Alec Baldwin, Tracy Morgan, Jane Krakowski, Jack McBrayer, Scott Adsit and Judah Friedlander.

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Previous Summer TV:
Friday Night Lights

I’ll again start this Summer TV entry with the recommendation that you watch Mad Men, and the season 1 DVD just came out yesterday.  You have time to catch up before Season 2 starts to air — but if can continue where it left off, it’s easily the best show on TV.

But for those of you who have already seen it, and need something else on these lazy summer nights, I’m going to review Season 2 of the Emmy-winning 30 Rock, one of the two funniest shows on TV (the other being It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which will be the next entry).  Why Season 2?  Well, because that’s all they have for free on Hulu — you can pick up the DVD of Season 1, which is also quite good, but it’s not necessary to watch it before Season 2.  While there are continuing storylines in 30 Rock and recurring characters, if you’ve never seen it, it’s not hard to start with Season 2. 

A quick primer — the story focuses on Liz Lemon (ex SNL head-writer Tina Fey), the head writer of a sketch-comedy show (The Girlie Show) and her daily exploits dealing with a meddling boss (Baldwin), two crazy stars (Morgan and Krakowski), a well-meaning but naive NBC page (McBrayer) and her producer (Adsit), writers (Friedlander, among others) and other assorted office-types.  The best way to describe it would be as Newsradio (boss dealing with a crazy workplace) meets Arrested Development (single camera, no laugh-track, style of humor), and since those are two of my favorite sitcoms ever, it’s only natural that I’d like it.

As with A.D., the jokes on 30 Rock come at a rapid pace, and though it doesn’t have the same type of call-backs, there are definitely a lot of hidden jokes, whether it’s in the background or props, and a fair amount of cut-aways.  While it’s not quite as good, it’s definitely the closest thing on TV to A.D.  The writing is sharp, the characters are great, even the minor ones, and the quotable one-liners stack up with any show.

While Baldwin gets most of the accolades (and they are deserved, he’s fantastic) for his performance, Fey is the glue that holds the show together.  Though she’s not really the straight man, and is often as crazy as her compatriots, she’s crazy in a more subtle way, and is such a lovable loser in a lot of ways.  Lemon is relatable and while she’s probably playing a thinly veiled version of herself, Fey is so natural in the role.  Morgan and McBrayer are both great, but their characters can sometimes suffer from overuse.  On the flip side, Krakowski is underused despite having as good a ratio of great lines/screen time as any character.  And in Season 2, Adsit’s producer Pete and most of the writers (and Josh!) completely disappear and play a much smaller part that they did in season 1.

Part of this is because the season had a ton of guest stars, starting with Jerry Seinfeld playing himself in the season premiere.  They also had Steve Buscemi, David Schwimmer, Al Gore, Carrie Fisher, Matthew Broderick, James Carville, Andy Richter, Michael Bloomberg, Brian Dennehy, and Edie Falco in a multi-episode arc as Baldwin’s love interest.  Also returning were Will Arnett as Baldwins’ corporate rival, and my favorite, Dean Winters playing one of Liz’ ex-boyfriends, Dennis Duffy.

The best episodes of the year were “Jack Gets in the Game” (w/ Arnett), “Greenzo” (w/ Schwimmer), “Subway Hero” and the final three, “Succession”, ”Sandwich Day” and ”Cooter.”  There were a couple of relatively weak ones, “Rosemary’s Baby” and “MILF Island” come to mind as two.

Overall, though, this season of 30 Rock takes the potential it started to show in Season 1 and builds on it, and it really started to hit its stride at the end of the year, leaving me excited for Season 3. 

Grade: A- (Season 1 would get a B+)

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