Reviews

As others have noted, this is a very strong drama that avoids a lot of the cliches of gangster movies, and takes a whole bunch of twists and turns. At one point, with the script about to take a particularly dark turn, I had to confirm what year this was released to make sure that it wasn't in fact a pre-code film. But that just goes to show, again, that sometimes just implying violence, or hearing its effects off-screen, can be just as powerful, ugly and terrifying as seeing it (a lesson the folks who re-made Stephen King's "It" might have profited from learning). A particular shout out to the late Douglas Scott, who played Joe Krozac, Jr./Paul North, Jr.. His sort-of English accent was out-of-place, but he carried off some difficult dialogue, and even a sort of monologue, more effectively than might have been expected.

The Vuvv represent all the worst aspects of modern, neo-liberal capitalism, imposing a world order in which one can only survive by being their direct servants, their paid mouthpieces (and they'll alter your message or art to make sure its acceptable), or by underbidding everyone else to sell one's labor, although that last option leaves you and yours only barely scraping by.

Unions are obviously a thing of the past, and cultural imperialism is being implemented to assimilate humans into the Vuvv way. It's all straight out of the playbooks of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Reason and The Economist, The Cato Institute and more think tanks than you could shake a stick at. Unfortunately for humanity, the Vuvv breath life into a theory and practice of neo-liberalism, whether it's called Reaganism, Thatcherism or Blairism, that is intellectually and empirically worn out, and can now only be implemented by fascists wearing a populist face.

In other words, Landscape with Invisible Hand stands in the grand tradition of Star Trek and The Twilight Zone, hiding themes and messages meant for today behind science fiction trappings. Overall, it's a good film, and a nice break from dystopian fiction in the style of A Quite Place, The Walking Dead and The Rest of Us.

I've tuned into this show because I am a fan of Jesse L. Martin, but now I'm learning that the whole field of behavioral science is on very shaky ground and suffering from a crisis of confidence.

Credible accusations have been made from within the field itself that two of its leading practitioners fabricated data in more than a few studies, and other practitioners are starting to question not just their work but how behavioral science has been applied to the making of public policy, in particular by enthusiasts in the upper reaches of the Obama Administration. And now appears a TV show in which behavioral science is supposed to help criminal investigations by law enforcement? How could that go wrong?

For reference, check out The New Yorker's "They Studied Dishonesty. Was Their Work a Lie?" and Jacobin's "The 'Nudge' of the Obama Era Was Always Neoliberal Nonsense."

I never knew they tried to make a TV series out of "Shane," one of the best westerns ever made. Sure, they probably shouldn't have bothered, but I was surprised how well the episode I just watched worked. "The Day the Wolf Laughed" had a good script (minus the standard "if only character X had spoken up, nothing would have happened" moment), solid acting, especially by guest star J.D. Cannon, and effective music. They obviously didn't shoot the series in Wyoming, or wherever the movie was shot, but used the outdoors they had well. Based on this episode, I'd be willing to give the rest of the show a chance if I come across it again.

I can't say that I exactly enjoyed "Everywhen," but I was impressed by how well shot and edited it was, and how well it conveyed a sense of alternate worlds and time...not so much travel as...loops. You even have some sense of character development, as the personalities of the two leads change over the course of the hour and even reverse, becoming more like the other. How and why those personalities change isn't very well established, though, nor is what exactly was happening or had happened that set the plot into motion. I suppose a grand answer to the question of "What's going on?" isn't necessary if you look at the film as a sort of chamber piece set within a larger story, but it's frustrating to be left in the dark. Nevertheless, in mood and atmosphere, "Everywhen" felt like a pretty good episode of "Fringe" or "The X-Files."

Honestly, the worst thing about "Everywhen" were the gunfights between the protagonists and the police, including SWAT units, which were ridiculously one-sided. Those felt like childish male fantasies, straight out of video games these days, or one-sided games of cops and robbers back in the day.