Posts by Gino Sassani

"We have some interesting times ahead of us."

This is really the tale of two cities; no, not those cities. But like the Dickens character, we are dealing with two different countries, and while neither is going through a revolution, they are two very real and disparate places indeed. Juarez is in Mexico (the state they named those annoying little yip-yip dogs after). Here there is poverty and crime on levels that would make most Americans shudder. There is corruption that runs through every aspect of government. Here most of the police are bought and completely owned by the drug cartels. Here literally thousands of young women and girls disappear or die each year. Americans come here to sin and leave it behind them when they cross the border again.

Jim was a Chicago cop who had a disagreement with his boss. That little disagreement was his boss shooting him in the butt for sleeping with his wife. Jim Longworth (Passmore) made out okay. He got a huge settlement and a fresh start in a warm climate. Oh, and you and I got ourselves another one of those smart-aleck detective shows. Not a bad deal, when all is said and done. Much of this used to be covered in an opening credit monologue which has since disappeared. I guess they figure you should know all of this already.

Jim is one of those detectives who thinks he's got a lot of charm. He smiles a lot and appears to be very cavalier about his job, but really takes it very seriously. Unfortunately, he rubs most folks the wrong way. He says whatever comes to mind and doesn't much care who he offends. He works for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), a state police agency. His partner is also the agency's medical examiner Dr. Carlos Sanchez (Gomez). The two have one of those bickering friendship relationships. Jim is now engaged to former hospital intern Callie (Sanchez); she's now moved back from Atlanta so that they can be married. She used to be married to a criminal named Ray who is now in the witness protection program. Local Florida actor Jordan Wall makes a good showing for himself as the eager intern for Carlos. His energy is infectious, to say the least. He was a fortunate find for the show. Intended only as a throwaway character in the pilot, he earned a spot on the regular cast. That's also how actress Michelle Hurd worked a bartender role from the pilot that ended up on the cutting room floor to a part as Jim's boss.

"Lucky Bastard was a pornographic website that invited fans to have sex with porn stars. The following footage is believed to be the last video shot for the site."

You know exactly what that kind of an intro means. You should. The found-footage genre has been around even long before it was turned into a modern trend by The Blair Witch Project. Since that time the genre has appeared in both large- and small-budget films. The shaky footage usually covers a variety of sins by the filmmakers. Rarely does the genre have anything clever or new to dispense. That's not exactly true with Lucky Bastards.

"There's a Tibetan word for it. It's called Bardo. It literally means in-between state, the state between life and death."

If you're a fan of the 1985 comedy staring Michael J. Fox, that statement is particularly appropriate. We all remember the cute high school romp where Michael J. Fox discovers that his family has been hiding a long dark secret: they are werewolves. Now the young teen finds himself having to deal with the usual growing pains of adolescence on top of dealing with the family curse. Before long he's a basketball star and the most popular kid in school. A fun time was had by all. The film spawned a sequel with Jason Bateman and an animated series on television. It was all a hoot.