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Jayne Mansfield's Car (2012)
This movie is a powerful study in the trauma of war
Some reviews missed the entire point of this film: all six men in this conjoined family expose their lingering war trauma through their interactions when their step-family attends their shared mother's funeral.
The first character we see, played by Kevin Bacon, is protesting the Vietnam war - 24 years after his own service in WWII ended. Wounded while serving as a medic, he enlisted only to win his father's approval and love, words his father cannot give.
We next meet this distant and mildly abusive father, Robert Duvall, who also served as a medic in his own war - the Great War. His morbid fixation on bodies, from his war in the trenches of France. Drives him to visit every accident scene in the county to gaze on the dead.
At one point he visits the reputed car of Mansfield's fatal final ride - another exposure of his fixation.
One by one each of the six men reveals their war experiences and each exposes their PTSD emotional scars. These experience drive the men apart. Yet each of the four sons shows us a little boy desperate for his father's approval and their mother's connection.
The three women also are affected, each wantonly craving connection with one of the damaged men. One coldly reminds everyone should her son go to war he may return as a corpse with a chest full of medals.
Even the children are affected. First the maid's son is drafted. The young adult grandsons of Duvall lace his ice tea with their LSD as a prank, causing the octogenarian to have a flashback to WWI and nearly kill his English guest believing he's a German soldier. These save grandsons have heard the glory stories but do not understand the deep traumatic horrors.
The film ends with Bacon giving a truly powerful wordless performance. Using only the set of his jaw and his intense teary stare when he learns his son has enlisted for the fun and glory and family tradition. In this moment the film tells us everything.
My review cannot do justice to this emotional exposé of the psychological damage wrought by war. It reminds us that no one comes back unaffected, unscarred.
I highly recommend this film.
Lessons in Chemistry (2023)
Ten stars is not enough
Ten stars is, for this show, like giving a one to any other show. Brie Larsen is wonderfully captivating from the first scene to the last - ever a remarkable performance. The writing and direction likewise tug the viewer from scenecto scene, episode to episode. For we who have not read the book, there is little or no foreshadowing - the slight predictability after episode 4 of one major subplot takes us to a very unexpected conclusion. The supporting cast fill their characters with believable behavior and engaging conflicts carrying forward the several threads. Pacing, direction, costumes, color light are all done to perfection.
The mark of a really good show is it entertains. A great show moves our feelings and thoughts to our own lives, drawing out our empathy for the characters and connecting our own experiences. A great show helps us see something about our own lives, threads of connections we may not have known were there until we looked back and saw the pattern, the tapestry that began with a single chance change in our lives. Lessons in Chemistry is such a show for me, and I imagine it will speak to most others as well.
The worst thing one can say about season 1 of Lessons in Chemistry is the show ends with seemingly nowhere to go forward. But as Elizabeth, Brie's character tells us, change is the only constant. We may have great expectations there will be a new chapter, but if there is not, the show as is leaves us richer.
Star Trek: A Taste of Armageddon (1967)
Plot holes/problematic remaster
The original sets and costumes are recycled with little or no adaptation. In this case the costumes appear in other episodes as is.
The Yeoman has a nice little part she handles well. One TOS defect is that minor crew "extras" do not often appear in multiple episodes. (Discovery and SNW go too far the other way)
REMASTERING ISSUES
MATTE PAINTINGS in the remastered HD are terrible. The design is good, but the execution looks like bad 90s cgi with little texturing or natural lighting. The compositing ignores black levels and there are no shadows. The live action is blurry but the cg bg is sharper.
The ship and planet vfx look better in this remastered episode. This is not always the case.
The color grading (range and contrast) in the remastered episodes is generally better than the original SD broadcast.
PERFORMANCES Generally good and consistent within TOS
SPOILERS
The story has some important plot holes. 1) Enterprise cannot fire phasers with shields up. In other episodes they can 2) Ambassador Fox beams down with shields up, something they cannot do in other episodes 3) Kirk goes alone to look for communicators, leaving several red shirt crewmen (two with captured guard uniforms) with Spock who is working to establish communication. Soon after Spock succeeds. Then Spock takes action.
The Royals: With Mirth in Funeral and With Dirge in Marriage (2018)
Perhaps the wrong network for a great show
I don't think The Royals could find its full audience at E! Sadly, scandal and lackluster ratings forced E! To cancel on a cliffhanger unresolved story. Sadly, no other network would step up. A show like this, IMO, does better in streaming. The IMDb rating certainly shows reviewers like the show.
While it lasted audiences were treated to a grand visual spectacle, romance, and palace intrigue. Like the intrigues of any number of historical dramas but with a contemporary setting reflecting contemporary mores. The story evokes great Shakespeare's tragedy and farce, without being too farcical but never too serious. The costumes and sets are gorgeous, the acting well done, the writing witty and intense. Dialogue well done.
Now we will never know if King Liam gets his crown. So the season IV ending is how it ends. An unresolved feeling. Pity such a great story did not wrap properly.
As it stands, the loyal audience lost thanks to one man's indiscretions.
The Orville: Midnight Blue (2022)
A great moment in Sci-Fi storytelling
This episode of the Orville we see the cast in intense drama, and the acting rose to the occasion. The daughter Topa Carrie's a lot of the story; this young actress handled her character well. If I could rate this more tgg if an 10 I would.
Ms. Marvel (2022)
Most original MCU story and show
From the moment the opening art appears until the end credits the show moves faster and faster each week. Yes episode one was a little slow- there was a lot of establishing character to build. By the end of episode 3 I was glancing at the length thinking it was short by half and realizing it was a normal 40 minute show that packs a lot of story and eye candy. Yes this teenage girl is a little self absorbed and irritating - have you ever known any teenage girls? Yes mother is a bit dramatic and overbearing - ever meet a desi mom? From the bold colors and textures, music, all is A+. Hope we see much more from this story. What a brilliant idea to cast an unknown child in the role. We can enjoy several years of stories as she grows up.
Invasion (2021)
Hard core science fiction
For years audiences have been spoon-fed science-pap wrapped in an over-generous helping of fast paced action battles. Then along comes a science-fiction-suspenseful monster film with actual character driven stories and no one understands that THIS is the thought provoking, engaging human-story type science fiction that once defined the genre, before the bam-wham comic-book superheroes took over Hollywood. This is great drama precisely because it keeps one wondering what is going on. Even at the end there is more curiosity and mystery than revelation.
Mom: My Kinda People and the Big To-Do (2021)
Leave them laughing
A comedy series should go out with a good laugh. This episode was meh - an injustice to a great series with talented cast and writing. This was seldom a big belly laugh show. It had intelligent, wry humor. Producers and writers tanked the ending. No one in cast or crew deserved such a weak ending. IMO a weak ending defines the series - it's the last impression. Like a dud joke.
The Rising Hawk (2019)
I quit about half way
If you want a good drama for the period and region with Mongol villains I recommend the Turkish language Ertugrül.
This film however dies on acting, music, editing, and the mix of costume from several cultures unrelated to the protagonists. Then let's talk about accents. The heavy British accent of one actor snd Scottish accent of another totally destroy the verisimilitude of the film, causing the mind to see actors not characters. Flannigan is a serious player and could do a better job.
Patrick feels like he is phoning it in. Most of the performances are rather ossified. Motivations, fight scenes, and dialogue: cliché. Don't start me on the mediocre cgi environment (it's actually not bad for a 2009 tv show, but a 2019 film? Meh)
I sat through an hour hoping for an upward arc. Instead it was a downhill slope.
Star Trek: Wink of an Eye (1968)
An under-explored Sci-fi plot device
Writers have given us countless stories of time travel and its paradoxes, they've taken us to alternate dimensions; forked time branches; but few writers play with the concept of life existing at higher speed of time or quantum frequencies within our own dimension. Although this would arguably be another dimension.
The Crossing (2018)
Great sci-fi premise, good looking show
Sadly this great sci-fi story was cancelled by ABC, the same network that renewed that other show before its big name star forced it to cancel with a racist rant. When I discovered and binged this show this weekend I was surprised to find a show of this caliber on ABC, then disappointed that it was cancelled. This network really needs to up its game. Shows like this, which was well received, don't get their full audiences in season one. It takes time for audiences to find a show like this. Fortunately the show runners wrapped its first and last season with some sense of closure, even though it was incomplete. I guess better to go out well than peter out.