Reviews

Terrific show, indeed.

The writing was ahead of its time, but the show never had a chance to smooth out the rough edges. The acting was all a bit stagy and overplayed. I'm sure they would have improved if they'd even had a full season.

One of the best lines came from Terence Knox's character, Matt. He was concerned that the family never had supper together. Here's a paraphrase (most likely) of the lines:

Even the Borgias sat down to eat together....They didn't all get up, but at least they made the effort.

This series, short-lived as it was, holds up well. I'm watching it for the third time (thanks to Amazon Prime Video). With its pace, its characters, its dialog, even its cinematography, it all comes together nicely.

Actors Christopher Evan Welch, James Badge Dale, Arliss Howard, Annie Parisse, Dallas Roberts (especially) are all excellent. Jessica Collins is hot (watch and see if you don't agree).

The plot is outlandish, but so what? Edward Snowden has made such outlandishness seem all too possible.

Not many such series are watchable over and over. This one has proved itself an evergreen.

Put it on your Watchlist; it's worth it.

I couldn't disagree more about the other reviews of this episode. It brought in a new, vibrant, quirky, not unsympathetic character. The episode suggests that we're likely to see more of Logan Pierce. I, for one, would look forward to it. The episode was energetic and refreshing, bringing to an end the Donnelly sequence, that I found overextended.

This show never disappoints, even when they go a bit over the top (two bomb vests?! C'mon.). This episode had a wisecracky kind of humor that was a departure from the stolid punning that Reese and Finch indulge in. The revenge fantasy motif never seems to grow old, does it? Any show that sticks with and uses a character like Lionel Fusco long enough to make him sympathetic is worth watching.

This is a surprisingly engrossing film. The central figures in the film, Dean Bulloch and Karl Munford, are a likable, engaging pair (think Penn and Teller), who draw us into their little corner of the West, Cedar City, UT, and into their particular obsession--rock crawling--driving specially modified off-road vehicles over rocky hills, outcrops and boulders.

Bulloch, the driver, has a long history of motor competition, including success at motorcycle drag racing. Munford, the quiet one, is the spotter during competitions, pointing out routes, moving rocks for traction and pulling on the vehicle to keep it from flipping.

The filmmaker takes us through several competitions, some vehicle repair, and ends the film at the 2004 rock crawling championship in Salt Lake City, called SuperCrawl III.

The men are competitive, but never arrogant. No posturing. Pretty to look at in HD. Look for it on Discovery's HD Theater.

G. W. Pabst was no Fritz Lang, but, that said, this film deserves to be called a classic. Pabst chose Louise Brooks (instead of the 5-years older Marlene Dietrich) for the role of Lulu in his adaptation of Franz Wedekind's work and that was a stroke of genius. He compounded the wisdom by permitting her to be herself. By her own admission Louise Brooks didn't really know what she was doing, but she and Pabst put it all on the screen, whatever it was.

The story is melodramatic, flirts with the ludicrous, creeps to a crawl in spots, but Brooks's Lulu remains fresh and refreshing to the "bitter" end.

Pabst's film-making was brilliant, in its own way, of course. Watch for the scene in which Lulu strokes Alwa's hair and his dying father does the same minutes later. It's an unforgettable expression of desperation and paternal affection.

This film, opens on a young man, perhaps 33 years old, telling of his experience in 1992. He has managed to survive by merest chance. That his chances were slim is evident from the rest of the film.

We meet the inhabitants of Ahatovici, a Muslim town a few kilometers from Sarajevo. In 1992 the town was attacked by Serbian forces. Their defenses were worn down quickly and the townspeople were taken to a men's and a women's concentration camp. The men were systematically tortured over many days, some were murdered in the camp. Eventually, the ones who were left were forced to lie down in buses "like sardines in a tin" and driven off, ostensibly to be "exchanged." Instead, the Serbs stopped the buses, threw in hand grenades and set the vehicles on fire.

Eighty-percent of the men in the town were dead at the end of it all.

The filmmaker, Heddy Honigmann, intrudes very little. After we meet the young survivor at the beginning, an older man drives through the town pointing out where men lived, their names, and whom they've left behind. We then meet the widows, sisters, grandmothers and daughters, who tell their stories in their own way. Most show little objects left behind by the men (one man's plastering tools, another's torn t-shirt); some show objects found when the men's bodies were exhumed from mass graves.

At the end, the old man walks through the cemetery, touching the individual stones and telling a little about the men that he knew--two of them his own sons.

The glimpses we have into these shattered lives is unforgettable.

I have heard that the organizers of the 2002 Minneapolis/St. Paul Int'l Film Festival worked mightily to bring us this film. If that is true, I'd like to thank them for their efforts. I came to this film happily, having enjoyed Scorsese's "Personal Journey Through American Movies". Although less wide-ranging than the previous film, this one is sure to confirm Scorsese's place among the people whom we'd most enjoy watching movies with.

This film is, in some ways, much more personal. It opens with Scorsese reminiscing about his upbringing in the province of Sicily that his part of lower Manhattan became after the wave of Italian immigrants in the early part of the 20th Century. He talks about his family and his neighborhood. Each brownstone on Elizabeth St. became an outpost of a different Sicilian town. Scorsese jokes that it took many years before people from different buildings would intermarry. One of the highlights of this section is home movie footage shot by one of Scorsese's uncles. It is very poignant and moving.

He goes on to describe how he watched Italian films on a small B&W television. Badly dubbed and edited as they were, their power came through to the young boy. Scorsese uses this nostalgic opening to lead in to his history of post-war (mostly) Italian film and an analysis of its techniques and its importance. There is some coverage of prewar directors (including Alessandro Blasetti), but the film mostly covers the period from WWII to Fellini's 8½.

Scorsese spends a great deal of time on many films. His discussions are not geared to make pretentious insights, although insights abound; rather, it seems to be his intent to give us as much information as possible. He tells us about the characters, the plot, the techniques and lets us see for ourselves with extensive clips. He wants to convince us to see these films. If that was his intent, he is largely successful. I know I'll never willingly pass up another opportunity to see an Italian film.

Scorsese, it is reported, is working on another film to bring his idiosyncratic survey (I mean that in a nice way!) up to the present. I hope that is true. If you have a chance to see this film, make every effort to do so. It will be 4 hours well spent.