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Ricky Gervais - After Life [split topic]

Started by ramsobot, February 22, 2019, 05:39:11 PM

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BritishHobo

It's exciting(?) to get to see new projects from Merchant and Gervais in the same week. I'm gonna go see Fighting With My Family tomorrow or Thursday I think - not to wankily compare like-for-like, and go 'oh look, just as I suspected, Steve's is waaaaaay better', but because I was obsessed with the pair of them for a good few years, and it's fun to see how their writing/directorial voices have evolved and changed. For example Hello Ladies, while it kept the awkwardness and cringe humour, lost pretty much any semblance of rooting that in ironic/accidental bigotry. However it also seemed to lose a lot of the sentimentality they used in The Office and Extras, while Derek played it up massively. Steve stayed with the awkward British loser trying to break into a glitzy showbiz life, while Gervais returned to mock-documentary exploring people in a mundane place. And then both stuck to their format of always ending with an extended standalone special.

Fighting With My Family looks like nothing I would have expected from a Merchant project, while After Life looks like a pretty natural extension of the kinds of themes and the style of humour Gervais uses.

idunnosomename

Quote from: Sexton Brackets Drugbust on March 05, 2019, 07:52:58 PM
Oh yes. It's just a visual shorthand for 'success,' innit.
see also all the cool alt-right gonzo dudes with their ciggies in their profile pics: Paul Patridge Watson, Ben Grrrrisson etc

Bad Ambassador

Review up from the AV Club.

"A dreary, sarcastic self-pity party that also manages to constantly point out its protagonist's intellectual superiority."

"Never in After Life does there appear to be much dramatic conflict at all, or any danger of real consequence."

"It's impossible to feel much sympathy for Tony, who makes destructive decisions with an air of smugness rather than desperation."

"As a meaningful meditation on grief, After Life is dead on arrival. It wants so badly to be both comedy and drama that it fails pretty spectacularly at both."

up_the_hampipe

"It feels like one of those Christian-leaning, lessons-learned films..."

Oooh, he's not going to like that one.

phes

Quote from: AV ClubThere's a death so tonally awkward and quickly forgotten that it beggars belief.

Derek written all over it.

*Fires up the popcorn pan*


sevendaughters

Well I now need to watch this to see this tonally-jarring death, or as they're calling it on the streets, the Funny Cow/Warren scene


sevendaughters

last of the trifecta: another person who didn't kill themselves because their dog needed them - Dennis Nilsen

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

I must say, these bang-on negative reviews are tremendously pleasing.

phes

Quote from: sevendaughters on March 06, 2019, 03:40:30 PM
Slate kick it to bits: https://www.slantmagazine.com/tv/review-ricky-gervaiss-after-life-is-a-mind-numbing-bore/
Entertainment Weekly froth over it: https://ew.com/tv-reviews/2019/02/26/after-life-ricky-gervais/

Quote from: SlantWhen a new co-worker (Mandeep Dhillon) tells Tony, teary-eyed, that his sadness is breaking her heart, the moment is genuinely shocking, if only because it's just the second truly substantive conversation we see these two characters share.

I'm joining the Navy!

Umm, I changed my mind.

thraxx

Quote from: sevendaughters on March 06, 2019, 03:42:21 PM
last of the trifecta: another person who didn't kill themselves because their dog needed them - Dennis Nilsen

It is a relatively common phenomenon that people with suicidal thoughts don't because of their pets.  Come on now, let's all help combat suicide by giving a dog to those who; you know, or suspect to be of suicidal .  You can easily get them for free from them dogs homes or other peoples gardens and that.

Ferris

Quote from: sevendaughters on March 06, 2019, 03:40:30 PM
Slant kick it to bits: https://www.slantmagazine.com/tv/review-ricky-gervaiss-after-life-is-a-mind-numbing-bore/

Shades of Derek

QuoteTony's relationships can be confounding: When a new co-worker (Mandeep Dhillon) tells Tony, teary-eyed, that his sadness is breaking her heart, the moment is genuinely shocking, if only because it's just the second truly substantive conversation we see these two characters share.

Jumblegraws

Quote from: Bad Ambassador on March 06, 2019, 02:55:23 PM
Review up from the AV Club.

"A dreary, sarcastic self-pity party that also manages to constantly point out its protagonist's intellectual superiority."

"Never in After Life does there appear to be much dramatic conflict at all, or any danger of real consequence."

"It's impossible to feel much sympathy for Tony, who makes destructive decisions with an air of smugness rather than desperation."

"As a meaningful meditation on grief, After Life is dead on arrival. It wants so badly to be both comedy and drama that it fails pretty spectacularly at both."
Brings back ambivalent memories of the AV Club seemingly being the only review site willing to give Derek a good kicking. In reality there was a decent handful, but the fact that it wasn't uniformly panned, let alone got mostly positive reviews, felt insane at the time.

Is it overly cynical/wishful thinking to suppose that the crop of positive reviews is at least partly due to click-hungry website realising that Gervais will spam the hell out of any remotely-positive press? I remember he tweeted a link to some numbskull's barely-literate Wordpress ode to Derek.

Barry Admin

I'm reserving judgment until I hear what Tadpole Hitler makes of it.

Cuellar

All these reviews have got me right excited.

BritishHobo

Quote from: Barry Admin on March 06, 2019, 05:26:27 PM
I'm reserving judgment until I hear what Tadpole Hitler makes of it.

Ha ha! I just had a look and noticed that nothing happened on that site since the day before episode 2 of series 2 of Derek aired. Such huge, real fans that they set up their own personal website, managed to bag interviews with the entire cast, spent weeks, possibly months acting as basically a PR person for the show, bigging it up on Twitter, running competitions, despite definitely being just an ordinary person at home... and then didn't have the interest to bother ever posting again after series 2 started.

Puts Cook'd and Bomb'd and Pilkipedia to shame, mate.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Cuellar on March 06, 2019, 05:28:47 PM
All these reviews have got me right excited.

I'm absolutely dreading watching the show itself but I'm giddy at the prospect of reading the comments within this thread afterwards.

Quote from: BritishHobo on March 06, 2019, 05:36:24 PM
Ha ha! I just had a look and noticed that nothing happened on that site since the day before episode 2 of series 2 of Derek aired. Such huge, real fans that they set up their own personal website, managed to bag interviews with the entire cast, spent weeks, possibly months acting as basically a PR person for the show, bigging it up on Twitter, running competitions, despite definitely being just an ordinary person at home... and then didn't have the interest to bother ever posting again after series 2 started.

Heh.  What was it Gervais said at the time, something like "oh, there's this big fan online, calls himself 'genocidal frog' or something like that".

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

I tweeted something about After Life last night, and sure enough a bunch of hardline Gervais fans got in touch with the usual drivel. His winged monkeys are vigilant, you've got to give them that.

bradaaron87

Quote from: St_Eddie on March 06, 2019, 06:24:34 PMI'm absolutely dreading watching the show itself but I'm giddy at the prospect of reading the comments within this thread afterwards.

Can't wait. Like phes, I'm readying the popcorn!

Bronzy

Quote from: Barry Admin on March 06, 2019, 05:26:27 PM
I'm reserving judgment until I hear what Tadpole Hitler makes of it.

Quote from: BritishHobo on March 06, 2019, 05:36:24 PM
Ha ha! I just had a look and noticed that nothing happened on that site since the day before episode 2 of series 2 of Derek aired. Such huge, real fans that they set up their own personal website, managed to bag interviews with the entire cast, spent weeks, possibly months acting as basically a PR person for the show, bigging it up on Twitter, running competitions, despite definitely being just an ordinary person at home... and then didn't have the interest to bother ever posting again after series 2 started.

Puts Cook'd and Bomb'd and Pilkipedia to shame, mate.

Quote from: St_Eddie on March 06, 2019, 06:24:34 PM
Heh.  What was it Gervais said at the time, something like "oh, there's this big fan online, calls himself 'genocidal frog' or something like that".

Fucking hell, that's just reminded me of when that whole thing went down on Pilkipedia (I wasn't on here at the time). Together with Derek airing and his shitshow of a Twitter being even worse then, that was peak Gerv.

BritishHobo

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on March 06, 2019, 07:43:22 PM
I tweeted something about After Life last night, and sure enough a bunch of hardline Gervais fans got in touch with the usual drivel. His winged monkeys are vigilant, you've got to give them that.

Fucking hell. They really do take after him in being unbearably thin-skinned. For fans of a bloke who bangs on si much about offending people and not giving a shit if people aren't comfortable or happy with a views, they really can't bear it if people dare to criticise him.

He built a real fucking echo-chamber with Derek, proper cultivated it. And the amount of times he's had to apologise for hate-mobs and pretend it's the first he's ever heard of it.

I always say this, but you look at the folks on Pilkipedia, who catalogued his radio shows, who built a whole archive and directory full of transcripts and notes, just out of passion for his work, then you look at the people he encourages on Twitter these days, and you think... God, he really has the fanbase he deserves.

Bronzy

Quote from: BritishHobo on March 06, 2019, 08:44:34 PM
Fucking hell. They really do take after him in being unbearably thin-skinned. For fans of a bloke who bangs on si much about offending people and not giving a shit if people aren't comfortable or happy with a views, they really can't bear it if people dare to criticise him.

He built a real fucking echo-chamber with Derek, proper cultivated it. And the amount of times he's had to apologise for hate-mobs and pretend it's the first he's ever heard of it.

I always say this, but you look at the folks on Pilkipedia, who catalogued his radio shows, who built a whole archive and directory full of transcripts and notes, just out of passion for his work, then you look at the people he encourages on Twitter these days, and you think... God, he really has the fanbase he deserves.

Almost everyone on Pilkipedia these days has nothing but disdain for him, they still love Steve and Karl though.

I do remember a poster on Pilkipedia who was a young Christian woman that loved Ricky and wouldn't hear any criticism of him, despite the fact he'd blocked her on Twitter.

Mind-boggling.

BritishHobo

That's what I mean. You've got a forum full of people there (myself included, for several years) who loved his work so much that they did all that. And Gervais now uses them to stereotype critics as spoddy forum nerds who want to hate him, while pandering to cunts on Twitter whose only dedication extends to abusing journalists and critics who criticise his work in far nicer ways than he does other people's.

Bronzy

Quote from: BritishHobo on March 06, 2019, 08:52:16 PM
That's what I mean. You've got a forum full of people there (myself included, for several years) who loved his work so much that they did all that. And Gervais now uses them to stereotype critics as spoddy forum nerds who want to hate him, while pandering to cunts on Twitter whose only dedication extends to abusing journalists and critics who criticise his work in far nicer ways than he does other people's.

That "Ricky's Twitter" thread on Pilkipedia is legendary. Watching his social media presence progress and take such a dramatic downturn to utter shite was hilariously sad.

Ferris

Quote from: Bronzy on March 06, 2019, 08:58:08 PM
That "Ricky's Twitter" thread on Pilkipedia is legendary. Watching his social media presence progress and take such a dramatic downturn to utter shite was hilariously sad.

Link? I'd be interested in having a browse if you have it handy


BritishHobo

Cheers for that. Nice to see me eight years ago coming around to the view of him I have now:

Quote from: BritishHoboSeeing so many people unironically complaining about 'PC gone mad' in relation to this. This is fucking ridiculous. A year ago I was defending Gervais, but he's just being pathetic and childish here. Still, his Twitter army means he can have any critic he likes swarmed by misspelled hate, and never realize what a twat he's being.

Quote from: BritishHoboNot murdered anyone, just acting like an utter childish dick, a complete parody of himself (the 'PC brigade'? really?), and using his little Twitter followers to attack anyone who dares criticize them. He's always walked the line between being amusing and being a genuine cross between Brent and Millman, and lately he's completely abandoned that line and run headlong towards the latter. 'The haters are just jealous of my success'. He cannot be fucking serious.

besides, I'd say I've gotten far more entertainment from Smerch and Pilkers. Gervais has mostly just hung around in the background, being irrelevant, thinking Karl needs him to be funny. If Karl buggered off and made his own career, Gervais would have nothing but the Brent dance to live off of.

Didn't that turn out to be true, eh.

Cuellar

Quote from: Bad Ambassador on March 06, 2019, 02:55:23 PM
Review up from the AV Club.

"A dreary, sarcastic self-pity party that also manages to constantly point out its protagonist's intellectual superiority."

"Never in After Life does there appear to be much dramatic conflict at all, or any danger of real consequence."

"It's impossible to feel much sympathy for Tony, who makes destructive decisions with an air of smugness rather than desperation."

"As a meaningful meditation on grief, After Life is dead on arrival. It wants so badly to be both comedy and drama that it fails pretty spectacularly at both."

This review has really got me excited. It sounds exactly like Derek, but with a 'find and replace' for 'bastard' to 'idiot':

QuoteIn the first of After Life's six half-hours, Gervais' character, Tony, meets a series of broadly drawn idiots—small-town simpletons whose stupidity only shines a light on his smarts

I mean, come on! 'A series of broadly drawn bastards - small-town bastards whose bastardness only shines a light on his kindness'

QuoteWeirdly, Tony also flips through old home movies in which he plays dumb, vaguely mean practical jokes on Lisa—blowing an air horn while she's painting, throwing cold water on her while she's sleeping at the beach—and she just loves it.

QuoteEven his best pal...is subject to his constant harassment

Sounds brilliant.

Ferris


up_the_hampipe

He's done an interview with Vanity Fair https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2019/03/ricky-gervais-interview-after-life-netflix

I've got to say, for all his unoriginal whinging about people getting offended, I really agree with some of his thoughts on the Louis CK Parkland controversy:

Quote
Two years ago, everyone loved him. It's got a completely different perception of him now. They were saying, "[He] made fun of kids that were shot." No, he didn't. He made fun of the kids that weren't shot, in a stupid way. He doesn't mean that. He's got nothing against those kids. It was him pretending to be angry for comedy.

Two years ago, we'd have got that. We'd have said, "Oh yeah, he's being naughty." Now we go, "No, he means it now." Now he's out in the cold; now he's an alt-right Nazi. It's ludicrous. Everyone should listen to it and make their own mind up when it's finished. You don't have to like it. I probably don't like everything he's done. But you have to hear it yourself. It's no good in a paper, someone saying, "He told a disgusting joke." You've got to hear the joke.