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Reviews
The Late Game (2024)
Funny-yet-accurate portrayal of beer league sports
This movie is a near-perfect snapshot of a random, middle-of-the-week rec league hockey game. The building they play in is empty, but not cartoonishly decrepit, and the characters introduced aren't stereotypes or fit a trope. Rather, you get the feeling any one of the guys on Polly's Pies could show up at your next meet. They're funny, but not in a gag humor, setup-punchline kinda way, and when it comes to the actual hockey, the action matches real life. It's sloppy, chatty, tense, but not overdramatic or epic. Much like how Creed veered away from the unrealistic haymakers and uppercuts of Rocky, this gives the realistic speed, strategy and momentum of amateur-at-best hockey. It's just another game, and you get that sense watching the movie, but while that may sound boring to some, it really gives the movie a lot of charm. It's an easy watch, a low-stakes slice-of-life comedy that you'd come across at 2 pm on Comedy Central back in the day, and I mean that as a compliment. I recommend it!
Birdgirl (2021)
Has it's own charms, and shouldn't be compared to Harvey Birdman
What's clear fairly early on in the pilot is that Birdgirl and Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law (one of my all time favorite shows, period) are pretty different. The animation style, the dialogue between characters, and the general tone of the show are unique, and that takes some getting used to if you're expecting the nonstop witticism that Harvey Birdman brought.
What I really like about the show is the thing it has that Harvey Birdman didn't: heart. Our lead character, as well as her best friend/possible love interest Meredith the Mindtaker, have some pretty serious conversations, and the internal battle of Judy vs Birdgirl in the mind of the titular character is treated with respect, while still being sure to have plenty of gags.
I look forward to seeing the show separate itself further from Harvey Birdman, while also still having the silliness that gave me so many laughs.