Category: TV

Carnival Row

On By Rick McIn TVLeave a comment

Carnival Row is an American fantasy television series … that premiered on Amazon Prime August 2019. The series stars Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne.

The series was shot entirely in the Czech Republic throughout 108 shooting days.

On Rotten Tomatoes, Carnival Row has only a 55% approval.

“Beautiful, but bloated, Carnival Row boasts meticulously crafted mythology and luscious world building—unfortunately its story of haves and have nots simply has too much going on to create anything cohesive.”

I agree with some of that.

Season 1 is a bit of a disappointment for me.

The racism theme FAR too heavy handed.

There are too many characters. Too many subplots.

But the acting is good. Special effects astonishing. Fantasy spectacle, intrigue, and sex all good.

It has potential. I’ll definitely watch season 2 hoping they can find a more focused plot.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Damages (season 5)

On By Rick McIn TVLeave a comment

The last season (2012) was definitely the weakest. Ratings had dwindled by this point.

No number of flashbacks could make sense of the plot.

That’s a shame since Ryan Phillippe had a terrific role as Channing McClaren, a guy like Julian Assange running a site like Wikileaks. (He was married to Reese Witherspoon from 1999 to 2007.)

I’m glad I watched the 5 seasons. And really happy I’ll never have to face Glenn Close in court.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

 

Even This I Get to Experience – Norman Lear

On By Rick McIn books, movies, TVLeave a comment

The Simpson’s writer — Mike Reiss — recommended Norman’s Lear’s autobiography. And it’s excellent.

Norman Lear’s career is legendary: All in the Family; The Jeffersons; Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. Over 100 TV shows.

He collaborated with Rob Reiner on Stand By Me and The Princess Bride.

Surprisingly, the character Lear identifies closest with Maude.

Archie Bunker was based on Lear’s father. 

Maude was a social activist, as was Lear.

Lear fought Nixon, Jerry Falwell and the Religious Right, the Tea Party.

Lear is a proud American buying a copy of the United States Declaration of Independence—for $8.1 million. Then touring it across the nation to celebrate Democracy.

The autobiography was published 2014 when Lear was age-92.

One of the first TV celebrities, Lear knew and hung-out with almost everybody. I enjoyed hearing the inside story of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, for example. Lewis was a jerk.

Amazon

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Brotherhood of the Rose by David Morrell

On By Rick McIn books, movies, TVLeave a comment

The beginning of this acclaimed 1983 book is compelling.

It’s the story of Saul (Jew) and Chris (Catholic), two orphans from Philadelphia, who grow up like stepbrothers.

Trained from a young age to be CIA spies and assassins, Raumulas and Remus (code names) are expertly defined characters with a great back story.

It’s well written. I’d like to recommend this book. … On the other hand, I found the ending quite weak.

Amazon.

A cheesy made-for-TV movie was released in 1989. The book is much better.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Mortalis Series:

The Brotherhood of the Rose, 1983
The Fraternity of the Stone, 1985
The League of Night and Fog, 1987

Springfield Confidential by Mike Reiss

On By Rick McIn books, humour, TVLeave a comment

Ron loaned me a hard copy of Mike Reiss‘ 2018 book on his years working on The Simpsons. He was one of the first writers when the show started in 1989.

Hilarious. I recommend it.

I stopped watching The Simpsons back when every episode was controversial. They made fun of everyone and everything.

But I’m still a big fan. My Facebook avatar is Lugash, Lisa Simpson’s Gymnastics coach.

Ten years in … Family Guy launched.

Peter Griffin was fatter and dumber. Family Guy mocked topics sacrosanct to The Simpsons.

Surprisingly, many on The Simpsons writing team were offended.

 

Amazon.

Damages – season 4

On By Rick McIn TVLeave a comment

Season 4 the weakest so far, I’d say.

The bad guys are High Star Security, something like the evil Blackwater, an American private military company.

The plot is WAY far fetched.

On the other hand, great performances from two actors kept me going.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Damages – season 3

On By Rick McIn TVLeave a comment

Even more intense than seasons 1 and 2, I have become less and less convinced in the plot line.

It’s more complicated than I would like.

The acting is strong, of course.

Martin Short as Leonard Winstone is added to the cast. A nice touch.

He and Lily Tomlin are two comedians put into dramatic roles here.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

 

 

 

Career of Evil by JK Rowling

On By Rick McIn books, TVLeave a comment

Book #3 in her excellent Cormoran Strike series. Rowling writes under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

Unlike most books I read, in this one are only two important characters: Robin Ellacott and her boss Cormoran Strike.

Both are damaged individuals. Both are flawed. Both are complex.

The relationship between the two drives the plotline.

In this one a killer (who loves Blue Öyster Cult) stalks Robin, whom he sees as part of his plan to exact revenge against private investigator Cormoran Strike.

Amazon

In the BBC TV series Tom Burke plays Strike. And seems to have one leg missing, as does Strike in the book.

 

 

 

Fringe – Season 1

On By Rick McIn TVLeave a comment

… The team uses unorthodox “fringe” science and FBI investigative techniques to investigate a series of unexplained, often ghastly occurrences, which are related to mysteries surrounding a parallel universe.

FBI agent Olivia Dunham is portrayed by actress Anna Torv, while actors Joshua Jackson and John Noble play father-son duo Peter and Walter Bishop.

Those 3 actors are good. I enjoy John Noble, in particular.

It’s lightweight TV compared with shows that inspired like The Twilight Zone and The X-Files.

If you want to watch a show like this, I’d recommend Black Mirror as a much stronger alternative.

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.

Dune: books 1-3

On By Rick McIn books, movies, TVLeave a comment

If you claim Dune is the greatest Science Fiction novel of all time, I’d not argue.

Recently I reread the first 3 books in the series.

Written 1965, it’s superb. Not at all dated.

Dune was rejected by more than 20 publishers—before being published by Chilton Books, a little-known printing house best known for its auto repair manuals.

Frank Herbert wrote 6 books before his death. As I recall from past readings each sequel was less compelling.

Book 2 is Dune Messiah 1969. I again found it slow, dark and overly philosophical.

Book 3 is Children of Dune 1976. Better than Messiah, but still too slow paced. In fact hardly anything happens in books 2 and 3. It’s mostly interpersonal intrigue.

When his son took over for the 7th book they got even worse.

I actually found things to like about both the 1984 film and the 2000 TV miniseries. Sting was excellent, for example.

Still … it’s time for another version of Dune. Happily we can look forward to that December, 2020. Jason Momoa plays Duncan Idaho.

Liet Kynes will be played by a woman.

Click PLAY or watch a teaser on YouTube.

In June 2019 it was announced that Legendary Television will be producing a spin-off television series, Dune: The Sisterhood, for WarnerMedia’s upcoming streaming service, HBO Max. The series will focus on the Bene Gesserit and serve as a prequel to the 2020 film.