Ty Watches "Win it All"

I come to you today with yet another movie review and recommendation. Yesterday I watched another one that I have been putting off for a while, and I wish I hadn't. The movie is called "Win It All". It stars Jake Johnson, who also co-wrote the movie, and it is about an addictive gambler who tries to turn his life around but runs into some bad luck. Again, a cliché story, but this movie was so well made.

I think the reason why “Win it All” works is Johnsons' performance is magnetic. He is more known for comedy and being on "New Girl", but giving him a role like this, a little more drama and less comedy, and he shined. I have said it a lot on the site, and I will say it again, I love when actors and musicians take a chance. Johnson did just that and he crushed. He has become somewhat of Joe Swanmberg's muse as well. Swanberg co-wrote the movie with Johnson and he directed as well. Swanmberg is one of these "mumblecore" guys. That genre of movie can be dull and boring, but "Win It All" was not. This movie moved well and transitioned properly. It had comedy and drama. It was "Uncut Gems" very light. "Uncut Gems" is one of my all time favorite movies by the way, and that movie is super intense. It is a relief to watch a movie that deals with gambling that doesn't give me a panic attack. That is "Win It All".

As I was saying, Swanberg and Johnson have a great rapport now. They have done a few movies together, and they are all, at the very least, watchable. None of them are bad. Sure they can be a little blah, but they are fine. With "Win It All" they take it to another level. Johnson is superb. I cannot say enough great things about him in this role. He is the star, he owns the movie, you cannot take your eyes off of him and I was rooting for him to turn his life around. Swanberg does an excellent job of making a more mainstream style movie. There is still some of that "mumblecore" direction in there, but it doesn't take over. The rest of the cast is really good as well. Joe Lo Truglio plays Johnson's brother. He has his act together and all he wants is to help his brother. Truglio is a great comedic actor, and he does a lot of funny stuff in this movie. But his dramatic stuff really hit. He was solid. Aislinn Derbez was the love interest. I had never heard of her before watching this movie. She was outstanding. She was believable. She had a ton of chemistry with Johnson. She was great. Keegan Michael Key played his sponsor. It was nice to see Key not do any comedy. I love his comedic work, but I felt he was kind of falling in a trap of only doing broad comedy. So to see him do a role like this was refreshing. He did a very good job. And they had a bunch of real life poker players in the movie in scenes where they played real games of cards. This added a whole other level to the minimal stress in the movie. It made the games feel real. I found myself really into everything that was happening in this movie. I also really like that it was ninety minutes long.

I will say it again, Johnson was electric and I want to see more stuff like this out of him. And I like high stakes movies that find a way to not take itself so seriously. I also really enjoyed the final scene in the movie. It made me hopeful. If you have 90 minutes free and like redemption style movies, check out "Win It All". It is solid.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ty Watches "Brooklyn 99" Series Finale

Last night "Brooklyn 99" came to a close. I have loved this show from the start. I'm a big Andy Samberg fan, and when he is involved with something, I watch it. He is funny and charming and a very good comedic actor. Add on Mike Schur and I was sold. I also really enjoy Chelsea Peretti, so this show did not have to do much to win me over. Then to get me familiar with actors like Melissa Fumero, Terry Crews, Stephanie Beatriz, Joe Lo Truglio and Andre Braugher was a total plus. I now really like these actors, and have followed them since I first saw them on this show.

I was curious how they were going to end the series though. The final season has been very different from the rest of the series. This is due to many things. We have COVID, people being afraid and angry with the police and all these actors have grown up. I have enjoyed the final season, and the finale was a great way to close this all out.

For the finale they did a heist episode. Fans of the show know exactly what I am talking about. These are their best episodes in my opinion. So doing that, and making it a series finale was the absolute correct choice. I was enthralled the whole hour. I hung on every twist and turn that the episode gave us. I was also very happy to see Chelsea Peretti and Jason Mantzoukas and the guy who plays Bill and Fred Armisen all reprise their much loved characters. I also really enjoyed that Captain Holt and Jake and Terry all had these grand plans for the heist, but they were all sidetracked by one another. Holt, Jake and Amy were all leaving the 99, and with Rosa already gone, this was one of their last hurrahs as a group. This made the heist even more fun and funny. Everything they did in this episode was perfect. This is what a show like this should do to wrap everything up. I appreciated and liked that they touched on all the issues in the world that pertained to them on the show, but going out with a straight up goofy and wild episode was the thing to do.

“Brooklyn 99” has always been about jokes and relationships. They do touch on stuff in earlier seasons too, namely the episode where Terry gets racially profiled, but they always come back with a super funny follow up episode. That is what the "Grand Heist" was last night. It was just a blast to watch. They did tug at the heart strings too. Amy and Rosa have a very touching moment where they say I love you to one another. Gina does what she always does, but seems nicer about it. Terry is laughing and joking with everyone. But the ending moment between Holt and Jake was where they got my wife and I. This was great. Holt has always been Jake's father figure and to hear the words he says to him, I'm getting choked up as I write this just thinking about it. It was wonderful and poignant and brilliant and simply perfect.

"Brooklyn 99" is one of the best sitcoms that has been on TV in some time. It gets its due, but I feel like it deserves even more credit. I love this show, and the ending was the best possible way they could have closed it all out. I will miss you "Brooklyn 99". Thankfully I have Hulu so I can continue to watch this series over and over again.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Ty Watches "Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later"

As I promised on a recent podcast, I did finish all of "Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later" this past weekend. I may not have mentioned it as a show that I was looking forward to, but believe me, I was highly anticipating this release. I was able to watch the first episode last Friday when it was released, then I watched 2 on Saturday, and finished the final 5 on Sunday.

It was great. I loved it. I was predestined to love it. I'm a fan of the movie, and I adored the prequel, "WHAS: First Day of Camp". I love how oddball and goofy the show and movie were/are. It is like classic oddball comedy. Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain are perfect at making this type of comedy. They all wrote, with help for some other writers, and I think that I am correct in assuming that David Wain directed all the episodes.

If I had one gripe about "WHAS: Ten Years Later", it would be that it was too short. But, the same can be said for "First Day of Camp". I think they only do 8 30 minute episodes on purpose. It makes the fans want more and more. I have already gone back and started "First Day of Camp" again. I'm also going to be watching the movie again, and after that, I will revisit "Ten Years Later". I just love how off the wall everything is. I think it is great that in "Ten Years Later" all the main actors keep saying that they are "in their mid 20's". It is so obvious that they're much older, but that adds to the allure of the comedy of the show.

The main cast is all there, with one exception. Paul Rudd, Zak Orth, Janeane Garrofolo, Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black, Jon Benjamin, Nina Hellman, Marguerite Moreau, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, Marissa Ryan, AD Miles, Elizabeth Banks, Christopher Meloni, Amy Poehler, they are all there. Bradley Cooper couldn't be in this due to a scheduling conflict. To combat this, they got Adam Scott to play the role of Ben, and they kept talking about how no one would notice him due to his "nose job". It was played for a great amount of laughs. In "Ten Years Later", they also had some of the people from "First Day of Camp" back. Camp Tiger Claw's residents, played by Rich Sommer, Eric Nenninger, Josh Charles and Kristen Wiig were all there, and all high falutant, what with their popped collars, scarves and fancy clothes.

There were some "new" characters introduced as well. Sarah Burns and Mark Feuerstein played campers Claire and Mark. What I loved about their additions was, any time they flashed back to the movie, they had scenes placed in that showed that these 2 were at the camp. It was so funny how bad, on purpose, it looked. Samm Levine showed up as the camp's radio host all grown up, Arty. He sounds just like the original actor, but this time, he had a real radio show. Alyssa Milano was great as Renatta, Ben and McKinley's nanny. She was psychotic and very funny, and there was a big twist with her, but I do not want to spoil much. Lake Bell returned, and her character Donna and Yaron(David Wain), are now married and looking for a surrogate. That is another great bit I do not want to spoil. Maya Erskine has a great role as Coop's fiancé. Jai Courtney was awesome as Susie's love interest/movie star co worker. John Early, who I become more and more a fan of every time I see him in something, is hysterical in his return as Logan. Side note, his shirt may be one of the best things in this whole series. Jason Schwartzman and Chris Pine return, and they are now government made killing machines. That is the only spoiler I will give with their characters. They are also hilarious, especially Pine. Skyler Gisondo, as basically the new Andy, is funny as hell. His showdown in the "King of Camp" competition with Andy is excellent.

All those names I mentioned should be enough alone for people to tune in. There are some big names in Hollywood, and some big names for comedy fans. The premise this season is about growing up and still being unsure of what to do with your life. I loved how well their professional careers were going yet they still needed to get back to their summer camp reunion that they planned 10 years earlier. All of the revels when they showed up to camp were great, but Poehler's was the best. Elizabeth Banks had a great scene too, when she finally showed up 12 hours late. Andy's journey was hilarious. The back and forth between Susie and Logan was tremendous. Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter playing dual roles as McKinley/George HW Bush and Coop/Ronald Reagan, was riotous. Jon Benjamin as Mitch, the can of vegetables was awesome. Coop and Katie's relationship throughout was wonderful, and very reminiscent of the movie. Even David Hyde Pierce's 2 minute scene was worth the wait.

Look, I am going to love anything that has to do with "WHAS". It was a classic movie, and "First Day of Camp", and now "Ten Years Later" have only added to the lore. I hope, and I think, they will do more stuff like this. They left it very open ended, and if everyone involved is willing to continue to do these, I do not see why this wouldn't be a viable show for, at least 2 or even 3 more series like these. "Ten Years Later" was awesome, and I highly recommend everyone checking it out.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He is hoping the success of "Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later" will lead to "Saved By the Bell: The College Years: 10 Years Later". That will be awesome.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.

Ty is pumped for "Wet Hot American Summer" series.

Does this show have horsemen too?

In 2001 a movie called "Wet Hot American Summer" was released to very little fanfare.

The movie was panned by critics and made a very small amount of money at the box office. I don't remember seeing any previews for it and I saw little to no press before it was released. It just kind of came and went and I assume most people forgot about it.  

About two years later a friend of mine told me I had to see this movie she just saw called "Wet Hot American Summer" She said it was so bizarre and hilarious, and she knew that I liked wacky, humorous movies. I remember thinking, oh yeah I've heard of that movie, I thought it was supposed to be pretty bad. She told me to give it a chance, that she was sure I'd love it.

Boy oh boy do I love that movie. It was so off the wall and different than any movie I'd seen before. It was on the same level as "Pootie Tang" for me. I knew, after watching it, why critics may have not liked it so much. Critics, for the most part, are crotchety old men that usually only like documentaries and dramas. So, a ridiculous movie like "Wet Hot", they went into giving it no chance and decided before it even started that they hated it. I couldn't disagree more. This movie is a genuine "cult classic". I have friends strictly based on them knowing lines from the movie. That's how our friendships started.

"Wet Hot American Summer" was also the first place I saw actors who I love today. I had never heard of, or at least they didn't make any lasting impressions on me until after this movie, people like Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks, Ken Marino, Joe Lo Truglio, Michael Showalter, Bradley Cooper, Margarite Mareau, Michael Ian Black, Christopher Meloni and Molly Shannon. Judah Friedlander had a small, but very memorable part in the movie. In fact, the only two actors I truly knew were David Hyde Pierce and Jeanane Garafelo. They are excellent in this movie. The pure silliness and goofiness with which this movie was acted, written and directed with could only be done by David Wain. I, for the most part, have liked all of his movies, my favorite being "Role Models".

"Wet Hot" is great for someone that likes off the wall silliness in their movies. These guys do it to perfection. This movie should be shown in film schools, to show students how to truly make comedic movies. Another hilarious thing that I love about it, the actors playing the counselors and workers at Camp Firewood are much to old to be playing the age of their characters. This was obviously done on purpose because it's hilarious. I cannot say enough good things about it, "Wet Hot" is great.

Which brings me to what I'm truly writing about today, July 31st 2015. Netflix announced months ago that they were in contact with the original writers of "Wet Hot" on possibly doing a prequel movie or series. All of the fans hoped for a series because it meant that we'd get at least four new hours of "Wet Hot". Our dreams were met when they announced that they would do 8, thirty minutes episodes on Netflix. You can stream them right now and watch all 8 in a row if you want to. The only reason I haven't watched it yet is, I have a three year old and I'm a stay at home dad. My job is to watch him, but he's about to go down for a nap and I know exactly what I will be doing for the rest of my day. It doesn't hurt that all the original cast members are back for the prequel, but they've also added some more big time names like, Jason Schwartzman, Kristen Wiig, and Jon Hamm. Most of the people involved with the movie are huge stars now, yet they wanted to come back and do this show. That should tell you how good it is going to be. The addition of some major stars show how much people adore the "Wet Hot" movie. I'm so pumped to watch and 2 pm central time can't come soon enough. As I said, all eight episodes are currently streaming on Netflix, so you can watch it right now.

In fact, I'm probably going to move nap time up to right now so I can watch. Enjoy it everybody.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing. If the show is that good, he may have to extend nap time. Follow him on twitter @tykulik