Jack Attack Tuesday – I Know That Voice, Rob Lowe, Gone Girl & The Mo’ F****n’ Pats
Jack Attack Tuesday – 10/7/14
I Know That Voice, Rob Lowe, Gone Girl & The Mo’ F****n’ Pats
I’m no huge animation fife but I still dug the hell out of the Moreno-recommended I Know That Voice, a documentary, produced by the multi-lingual John DiMaggio (voice of Bender on Futurama, among others) centered around the world of voice actors. I loved how the flick went into how voice acting really is a performance, and in some cases a more complete one than what actors in a movie can offer. You see, it seems obvious in retrospect, but most people don’t consider the fact that voice actors need to convey a lot more emotion in their voice and inflection than normal actors due because of their physical restrictions. When you play Gears of War, you don’t take into account the fact that behind the graphics is a voice actor working hard to properly emote and convey emotions and ideas without a visual aid, and it’s that level of borderline-exhaustive explanation that make this one of the better documentaries I’ve seen in a while. You get to see and hear from voices like Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy, as well as veterans like Jim Cummings and Rob Paulsen. 9 on 10 without question, if only because of how genuinely entertaining it is to see the real people behind these famous voices.
I’m on Season 5 of Parks and Rec and I have to admit without hesitation that this show thoroughly dwarfs The Office in terms of quality. To me, The Office was a lot of fun through the first four seasons, and then it slowly died over the rest of the series. It almost seems as if the creators looked at what worked with The Office, perfected it, cut off the dead weight and overly empty emotional crap and made an overall better show with Parks and Rec. I think Rob Lowe is probably my favorite character on the show, and that’s high praise in a cast like this. His infectious positivity coupled with his dark and depressing asides to the camera is brilliantly hilarious. I would even say this show, moreso than The West Wing, has revitalized Lowe in a way not dissimilar to something that Tarantino does with his actors. So glad I stuck with this as it is quickly becoming a favorite comedy.
Yes, of course I saw Gone Girl this weekend. I know this flick is getting a solid push from the hype train, but, honestly, it just didn’t hit me the right way. I love Fincher, I loved the book and I thought the entire cast was great, the soundtrack was effective and the whole film was really well put together. However, there was something that didn’t translate well enough for me with the film. I don’t know if it comes from the fact that maybe, to me, this story loses it’s luster once you already know what’s going to happen, but I left the theater feeling sort of “meh” about the film. I honestly couldn’t tell you why, as I completely recognize how well-made this film was, especially in comparison to the source novel, but it just didn’t gel for me. 7 on 10.
This is a chart from some of the major football analysts this week. I’d like to draw your attention to the Sunday night game featuring the Cincinnati Bengals and my New England Patriots. There’s nothing sweeter than a win, but it feels way better when no one thought your boys would do it. Great job to Belichick and the team for making the proper adjustments and beginning to right the ship, after Monday night’s dismal performance. I felt like this game was such a complete, statement of a win that it’s making the team look a little better than it might actually be, but I’m fine with that. A Pats ‘W’ makes for a good week, and god damn is this week looking pretty fucking fantastic.
That concludes this week’s entry, obviously ending on a high-note and looking forward to a solid week. Stay tuned this week as we’ve got a whole slew of podcasts ready to blast you in your ear holes, check out daily blogs, and of course Binge On!