“Finn Wallace. He believed in people. He believed in giving opportunities to the disadvantaged. He gave. He supported. He did so much for all of us. All of you. My father was taken from us on the streets of London. And now London will deliver to us those who took him. Finn Wallace. He’s still here. He’s in me.”

Except that Finn Wallace was a crime lord, and he ruled the other criminal gangs in London with an iron hand. He may indeed be dead, but with Gangs Of London created by Gareth Evans, that’s really just the beginning of the story. It’s a complex story with only 10 episodes to deliver for a first season. Just how well are those stories told? That’s also a complicated question.
Read More

“In a very real sense, we are all aliens on a strange planet. We spend most of our lives reaching out and trying to communicate. If during our whole lifetime, we could reach out and really communicate with just two people. We are all indeed very fortunate.”

– Gene Roddenberry 

I should confess from the beginning that I am a very dedicated Star Trek fan.
Read More

“Friends, The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office Department are pleased to cooperate in the production of Code 3 in the interest of crime prevention and rehabilitation. During the production of the Code 3 films a deputy sheriff is present at all times to assure you of the authenticity in our stories.” 

That was the postscript offered by L.A. County Sheriff Eugene W. Biscailuz at the end of each of the 39 half-our episodes of Hal Roach, Jr.’s Code 3. The series only lasted a season and has become somewhat of an obscure production that wasn’t even mentioned in several early publications of books dedicated to prime time history. I have to say I had never heard of it before it was offered for review.
Read More

A story about a man so desperate to prove his importance and rub elbows with the elite that he’s willing to kill for the privilege. I can see why Christoph Waltz made this film his directorial debut. Of course, it is also great that he also chooses to act in it as well, because as this film proves, Waltz is not only a tremendous actor, but he is quite capable in as a director as well. Based on the New York Times Magazine article, “The Worst Marriage in Georgetown,” Waltz stars as Ulrich Mott, an ambitious social climber that is willing to go to great lengths to obtain the status that he believes himself deserving of.  Too bad nobody else seems to see him in the same light, that is until Vanessa Redgrave’s Elsa Brecht, his wife as well as his subsequent murder victim. Brecht, who is a quite a few years older than Mott, helps him to discover his confidence and thanks to her own standing in the political community, manages to put him in the orbit of several powerbrokers.
Read More

I like it when films limit themselves to one or two locations. I feel like it puts more emphasis on the acting. Of course when you limit yourself in such a fashion, it is important that the acting is of great quality. Thankfully, the actors of Wildcat are up to the task and deliver sound performances, especially lead actress Georgina Campbell of Krypton fame. Wildcat is a psychological thriller that follows Khadija Young (Campbell), an ambitious journalist stationed in the Middle East who is taken captive after her convoy is ambushed. With her and a young marine the only survivors of the convoy attacked, they find themselves at the mercy of militants led by a cold and calculating leader. The film does not shy away from the ugliness of captivity, establishing the use of torture against enemy combatants from the very first scene. Our protagonist finds herself locked away in a secure room, and the first thing that happens is that her captors remove one of her fingernails. That’s how the film opened up, so you could only imagine what other horrors she was forced to face. However, the trauma is not only of the body, but of the psyche.
Read More

I have often found foreign comedy films a bit dry. Comedy can be so specific to culture that it rarely translates the way it might be understood or perceived in its native language and culture. The same is often true of poetry. Something gets lost in either the translation or the lack of a common experience. There are exceptions to these films. I’ve found that the most successful way to make sure your comedy jumps language and cultural boundaries is to avoid the jokes. Let the comedy come through in the situations, actions, and body language of the performers. Because the one thing that crosses all human experiences is the human experience itself. Don’t try so much to be funny. It doesn’t even have to be foreign. Don’t you hate it when you watch a movie that the cast and crew obviously thought was rolling on the floor funny and you just didn’t get it?
Read More

“Welcome to the unlimited possibilities of the Quantum.”

It’s a somewhat near future, and airport baggage handler Ray (Imperial) is in need of more money. He doesn’t have the new Quantum computer, and he discovers that he isn’t able to access accurate data on the net because everyone is now using the new format. He also has a brother Jamie (Howard) who is suffering from Omnia, which is a disease that makes you tired all of the time. It’s considered by many to be fake, and “clinics” have popped up to treat the disease with odd … and very expensive treatments. It’s a scam, and Ray has bought into it. So he’s going to need money.
Read More

“Months from now, if you’re ever asked where you were, what you were doing, on October 9, you’ll have the muscle memory of what you did. You won’t have to construct the lie, because you lived it.”

We all live that day in somewhat excruciating detail. I’m talking about the opening 20 minutes of Showtime’s limited series Your Honor, starring everyone’s favorite high school chemistry teacher, Bryan Cranston. The ten-episode crime thriller/drama was developed by British television wunderkind Peter Moffat and took a rather long route to this American release. It’s based on an Israeli series called Kvodo and was originally remade in India before finally taking a shot in America via a British writer. I have not had the opportunity to see either of the earlier incarnations, so I can’t really comment on how faithful this version might have been. Beyond a strictly academic purpose, what’s important is how this series stands on its own. And that analysis is just as complicated as the path the material has taken around the world to your television … or, God help us, your phone.
Read More

“You see this bulls*%t right here? This is exactly like him … just like Ghost.”

The first sequel series in the Power universe, starring quite possibly one of the most hated characters in the original series, and that’s a long list. Fans of the original series are likely still bearing a grudge against Michael Rainey Jr.’s Tariq St. Patrick for his murder of his father, James St. Patrick, aka Ghost, at the end of the original series. However, I heard tell when it comes to his actions in this sequel series, those are the least of Tariq’s transgressions. Picking up just a few days after the conclusion of the original series, Tariq adjusts to his new life at Stansfield University, where he immediately finds his way back into the drug game in hopes of financing his mother’s trial for the murder of his father, a rap she took for him. This Starz series shows Tariq’s descent from the world of privilege into the gritty street world
Read More