Brooklyn Nine-Nine – Season One

Grade: B+

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The new workplace comedy on Fox is from creators Michael Shur (Parks and Recreation) and Daniel J. Goor (The Daily Show, Late Night with Conan O’Brien), and the two have created something so insane and whacky that I cannot believe that it works. But it does work very well. Leading the 99th precinct in Brooklyn is the new Captain Holt (Andre Braugher), a gay African American whom the rest of the crew can’t ever decipher if he’s in a good or bad mood.

The eccentric group of detectives is lead by Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg), who is a great detective but frustrates Captain Holt with his immaturity. Playing his love interest is Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero), a stickler for the rules and a teacher’s pet to Captain Holt. The two occasionally get along but usually engage in constant teasing and bad-mouthing. Sergeant Terry (Terry Crews) leads the detectives unconventionally with his newly-discovered soft side due to the birth of his baby girls. Charles Boyle (Joe Lo Truglio) is Jake’s best friend who loves anything feminine, while Rose Diaz (Stephanie Beatriz) is as tough as they come. Rounding out the precinct are Detective Hitchcock and Detective Scully, the dumb and dumber combo of the crew, and Gina Linetti, the wildly bizarre assistant to Captain Holt.

Like every comedy, it takes a little while for Brooklyn Nine-Nine to start rolling, but once you familiarize yourself with the characters, every episode is better than the last. Some highlights of the first season includes:
– Jake’s bets with Captain Holt (stealing his Medal of Valor) and Santiago (who makes the most arrests).
– The detectives and their mutual hate towards the Vulture.
– Charles taking two bullets in the butt.
– The detectives attending Captain Holt’s birthday party.

Like all good comedies, the cast of characters have a great chemistry with one another towards the middle of the first season. Also, the romantic interest between Peralta and Santiago is an intriguing one, but certainly one that’s fun to follow and root for. Another thing that impressed me with the first season was the depth of the characters. No one is one-dimensional, even though they all have consistency in their motives. Terry can be the Ebony Falcon when he focuses, Peralta can be mature, Rosa can be apologetic, Gina can be ethical, Boyle can be masculine and Holt can be hilarious. That’s just how the show is able to keep you on your toes every episode.

Overall, this is a stand-out new comedy that everyone can enjoy, especially for the college and young adult demographic. It’s on the same line with The Office and Parks and Recreation, without the interviews. If you don’t mind Andy Samberg too much, then you’ll enjoy Brooklyn Nine-Nine. As for the future of the show, it’ll be interesting to see if they give us a season-long case that the crew tries to solve on top of the small cases they solve every episode. That and I can’t wait to see how the writers explore the Peralta/Santiago love interest. They’re the least likely couple to work out, but in this show anything is possible.

Movie Review: The Drop

The Drop (2014)
106 minutes
Rated – R
Directed by Michael R. Roskam
Starring: Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, Noomi Rapace

Grade: B+

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The Drop is James Gandolfini’s final role as an actor before he passed away. It was impossible to not think about that during the movie and I found myself scrutinizing his every word in this mob-thriller set in Brooklyn. Gandolfini is no rookie when it comes to mob stories, but he’s not at the top of the food chain in The Drop. He once was, but now works at a bar (that he used to own) and does what he’s told. Even though Gandolfini isn’t the lead character, he becomes arguably the most important one.

This is also the screenwriting debut of Dennis Lehane, who has written the novels of a handful brilliant movies (Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone, Shutter Island). Like all of these stories, there is a toughness and a mystery surrounding every character. What’s so entertaining about The Drop is that you’re never quite certain about how things are going to end. You have an idea, because after all it’s a mob flick, but you’re never quite certain. This is all because of Lehane.

Tom Hardy leads this film as Bob Saginowski. He works at Cousin Marv’s, a dive bar that is a drop site for some scary and powerful Chechen gangsters. His cousin is Marv (Gandolfini), a man who Bob looks up to and one that he respects. But Bob has a secret that he conceals. He’s a soft-spoken and caring man, not one that you would expect to bartend at a drop location. But only Marv knows what he’s truly capable of.

If Tom Hardy’s Bob wasn’t likable enough, there’s a story-line put in place where Bob rescues a beaten puppy out of a trash can, starts talking to a battered woman (Noomi Rapace) and does everything in his power to rescue the both of them from Eric (Matthias Schoenaerts), a dangerous criminal. But this becomes more and more challenging when the bar is robbed at gunpoint after a drop night. $5,000 is stolen and the Chechen men warn Bob and Marv that they’re responsible for the money.

The film does a great job at establishing the main characters and exploring the risky business they all find themselves in. There is a plot that involves a detective investigating the robbery, along with the disappearance of a man that Eric has taken credit for, but this all feels unnecessary and a distraction from the real story. Some scenes also feel a bit rushed, but with a run-time less than two hours it’s assumed that some scenes were cut short during the final edits.

Hardy has quietly become one of the better actors in the industry the past few years. He hits all the right notes as Bob Saginwoski. He’s always calm and collected no matter what falls at his feet. Whether or not we’re supposed to be soothed or threatened is up to you. What’s refreshing about the suspense that’s built up from The Drop is that it’s a slow-burn, old school style of film-making. There aren’t any big explosions nor are there any scenes where hundreds of shots are fired in the middle of a crowded street. It’s all about the build up in The Drop that leads to Super Bowl day. If you ask me, I’ll take this story about the bottom-feeders chaperoning a drop site over Tony Montana snorting a mountain of cocaine any day.

The Get Up Kids @ Webster Hall (3.2.11) and Music Hall of Williamsburg (3.3.11)

The Get Up Kids were once a band that headlined tours aroudn the world along with the Skate and Surf Festival in Asbury Park. They were also a prominent force in the emo-music revival in the mid 1990’s, along with Jimmy Eat World. Now, the Kids are adults and have been touring their first full-length album in seven years. Though they’re not the band they once were, it’s rare to watch a band grow up right in front of your eyes.

On Wednesday, March 2, 2011 The Get Up Kids performed at Webster Hall in New York City. This was the first time they returned to this venue since their break-up tour. The band was excited to be back and showed it as they played an inspiring set with a number of old fan favorites mixed with tracks from their latest album, There Are Rules. But the night felt uneven because of the departure from their original, emo sound off of the new album. The crowd was jumping around frantically during hits such as “Action & Action,” “I’m a Loner Dottie, a Rebel,” and “Don’t Hate Me.” But when TGUK played anything off of There Are Rules, the crowd was stagnant.

Combine that with some technical difficulties and an unruly crowd that caused the security to go bonkers, the show was a forgettable one. But no matter what, I’ll never get tired of seeing The Get Up Kids.

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Round Two! So after the concert on Wednesday, I listened to There Are Rules and I must admit, I enjoyed the songs twice as much as I did prior to seeing the songs played live. I’m not sure how that worked, but I’m sure glad it did. So on Thursday, March 3, 2011 I rolled into Brooklyn to catch The Get Up Kids once again at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. I’ve never been at this venue before so I was excited to explore.

Once my friends and I entered the venue, we were confused as to where to go. Somehow we went down a flight of stairs and found ourselves at a bar. I ordered myself a Sixpoint Brown Ale and then walked around the horse-shoe bar, up the stairs, and through the doors to the main room. The room was about one-third of the size at Webster Hall’s Grand Ballroom. On the sides of the room were narrow platforms that allowed those standing there a view slightly above the ground floor. That’s where we watched the performance.

I’m not sure if it was the sold-out crowd that night, or if TGUK were feeling generous, but they played a much crowd-pleasing set than their list of songs at Webster Hall the night before. They were on stage for 90 minutes, just like the night before, but their song selection in Brooklyn was simply better for us kids who wanted to hear the hits. Playing tracks like “Coming Clean” and “Mass Pike” instead of new material, the crowd was going wild. Ending the main set with I’ll Catch You and then burning through their energetic encore like it was a party, TGUK rewarded a fun crowd with a fun-filled show.

It was great to see The Get Up Kids on the stage again. They’ll most likely call it quits soon, but I hope I can see them a few more times before that happens. TGUK for life!