TV shows – Review

Bloodline is an American Netflix original thriller–drama television series^[1][2] created by Todd A. Kessler, Glenn Kessler, and Daniel Zelman, and produced by Sony Pictures Television.^[3] The series premiered on February 9, 2015, in the Berlinale Special Galas section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival,^[1] and the 13-episode first season premiered in its entirety, on Netflix, on March 20, 2015.^[3]

The first season earned strong reviews, with several outlets dubbing it the best Netflix original to date. On March 31, 2015, Bloodline was officially renewed for a second season to debut in 2016.^[4]

I have enjoyed seeing Kyle Chandler again, he was a favorite of mine from Friday Night Lights. This is a dark story with a plot line interrupted often with flashbacks. Even in the last episode of the season, we still have many questions about what happened to these people in the past. This is well done but not cheery. I look forward to the new season.

Main cast

• Kyle Chandler^[3] as John Rayburn, the second son; a detective and local sheriff^[5] with the Monroe County sheriff’s office
• Ben Mendelsohn^[3] as Danny Rayburn, the oldest son and black sheep of the family
• Linda Cardellini^[3] as Meg Rayburn, the daughter and youngest sibling; an attorney and family peacekeeper^[6]
• Norbert Leo Butz^[3] as Kevin Rayburn, the hot-headed youngest son; he refurbishes boats at Indian Key Channel Marina
• Jacinda Barrett^[3] as Diana Rayburn, John’s wife; she runs a plant nursery
• Jamie McShane^[3] as Eric O’Bannon, Danny’s friend; a parolee
• Enrique Murciano^[7] as Marco Diaz, Meg’s fiancé; a detective with the Monroe County sheriff’s office and John’s partner
• Sam Shepard^[3] as Robert Rayburn, the patriarch
• Sissy Spacek^[3] as Sally Rayburn, the matriarch

Daredevil

Marvel’s Daredevil, or simply Daredevil, is an American web television series created for Netflix by Drew Goddard, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of the franchise, and is the first in a series of shows that will lead up to a Defenders crossover miniseries. The series is produced by Marvel Television in association with ABC Studios,

Charlie Cox stars as Matt Murdock / Daredevil, a lawyer-by-day who fights crime at night. The series chronicles the character’s early days fighting crime, juxtaposed with the rise of crime lord Wilson Fisk, played by Vincent D’Onofrio. Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Toby Leonard Moore, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Bob Gunton, Ayelet Zurer, and Rosario Dawson also star.

I admit to being a fan of superhero comics and the movies made based on them. I don’t like all the movies, but most have been good action entertainment. This TV show has some promise BUT I hope the settings and lighting change or I will abandon this. Matt Murdock is blind. The producers seem to find this a reason to film mostly in the dark or poorly lit spaces. At times you cannot tell if the hero or the villain is winning. There is an interesting story here and the acting is better than I expected. We will have to see where this goes.

Movie review – Regarding Henry

Regarding Henry is a 1991 American film drama starring Harrison Ford and Annette Bening, directed by Mike Nichols.

The screenplay by J. J. Abrams focuses on a New York City lawyer who struggles to regain his memory and recover his speech and mobility after he survives a shooting.

Ambitious, callous, narcissistic, and at times unethical, Henry Turner is a highly successful Manhattan attorney whose obsession with his work leaves him little time for his prim socialite wife Sarah and troubled preteen daughter Rachel. He has just won a malpractice suit in which he defended a hospital against a plaintiff who claims, but is unable to prove, that he warned the hospital of a pre-existing condition that then caused a problem.

Running out to buy cigarettes one night, Henry is shot when he interrupts a convenience store robbery in progress. One bullet hits his right frontal lobe, which controls some behavior and restraint, while the other pierces his chest and hits his left subclavian vein, causing excessive internal bleeding and cardiac arrest. He experiences anoxia, a lack of oxygen to the brain, resulting in brain damage.

This is a well acted and engaging story of transformation and redemption. Harrison Ford does a fine job of portraying a man as he learns what he has been and sees it in a different light. Annette Bening  performs well in a smaller role of a woman re-evaluating the man she married and adjusting to what she discovers. I liked this story with one criticism. The ending seems rushed to a happy ending that leaves us to assume all will be well without providing any basis for such a conclusion. Yes we want the family together and happy, but where will Henry work ? What will they be able to afford ? I would have liked the story to take a bit more time to prepare us for the ending.

 

Movie Review : 12 Years a Slave

12 Years a Slave is a 2013 period drama film and an adaptation of the 1853 slave narrative memoir Twelve Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, a New York State-born free African-American man who was kidnapped in Washington, D.C., in 1841 and sold into slavery. Northup worked on plantations in the state of Louisiana for 12 years before his release. The first scholarly edition of Northup’s memoir, co-edited in 1968 by Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon, carefully retraced and validated the account and concluded it to be accurate.^[4] Other characters in the film were also real people, including Edwin and Mary Epps, and Patsey.

This is the third feature film directed by Steve McQueen. The screenplay was written by John Ridley. Chiwetel Ejiofor stars as Solomon Northup. Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Paul Giamatti, Lupita Nyong’o, Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, and Alfre Woodard are all featured in supporting roles. Principal photography took place in New Orleans, Louisiana, from June 27 to August 13, 2012. The locations used were four historic antebellum plantations: Felicity, Bocage, Destrehan, and Magnolia. Of the four, Magnolia is nearest to the actual plantation where Northup was held.

12 Years a Slave received widespread critical acclaim, and was named the best film of 2013 by several media outlets. It proved to be a box office success, earning over $187 million on a production budget of $20 million. The film won three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress for Nyong’o, and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ridley. The Best Picture win made McQueen the first black producer ever to have received the award and the first black director to have directed a Best Picture winner.^[5][6] The film was awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama, and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts recognized it with the Best Film and the Best Actor award for Ejiofor.^[7]

Janet had the idea this would be a film worth watching, turns out she was right. This is a good (not a feel good but …) story, the acting and production values are very good.  This held my interest all  the way and I found myself reacting to characters in the story in an emotional way. This is not a light, fun movie, but I recommend it for anyone who is a serious “movie buff”.

 

Movie review : A Night in Old Mexico

Director:

Emilio Aragón

Writer:

William D. Wittliff

Stars:

Robert Duvall, Jeremy Irvine, Angie Cepeda |

 

Forced to give up his land and his only home, cantankerous Texas rancher Red Bovie isn’t about to go quietly to the dismal trailer park that’s all he can now afford, and instead goes off with his grandson Gally – son of his long-estranged son Jimmy – for one last wild and woolly adventure during a night in Old Mexico.

I watched this via live stream on Netflix. I gave this my attention because I can’t recall ever seeing a bad performance by Robert Duvall. I was rewarded with another interesting character and strong performance. The plot is convoluted and at times seems like a comedy of errors but this is not a comedy. The scenes made me reminisce about some visits to Tijuana in the 70s, it would seem not much has changed. It is not always clear what relationship the characters have to each other until you follow the action for a bit, but this does not bog down the story. This is not a classic, but it is good entertainment. Despite some moments when it seems nothing good can come of this adventure, I think you will like the ending.

Book Review : Gray Mountain

Overview

The Great Recession of 2008 left many young professionals out of work. Promising careers were suddenly ended as banks, hedge funds, and law firms engaged in mass lay-offs and brutal belt tightening. Samantha Kofer was a third year associate at Scully & Pershing, New York City’s largest law firm. Two weeks after Lehman Brothers collapsed, she lost her job, her security, and her future. A week later she was working as an unpaid intern in a legal aid clinic deep in small town Appalachia. There, for the first time in her career, she was confronted with real clients with real problems. She also stumbled across secrets that should have remained buried deep in the mountains forever.

I downloaded this book because I am a fan of everything that John Grisham has written. I was not disappointed, the events are given a recent backdrop, the characters are interesting and the plot is involved. This is another fast read with a look into the dark side of the legal profession. This is the tale of a struggle for justice with big coal companies and the struggle gets ugly soon. I do recommend this one. My one thought was, there is a lot more to get into with the basic conflict and the sad tales of the current and ex miners, as several reviewers have speculated, this could be developed into a limited series.

Movie review : 1900

1900 (Italian: Novecento, “Twentieth Century”) is a 1976 Italian epic film directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, starring Robert De Niro, Gérard Depardieu, Dominique Sanda, Donald Sutherland, Alida Valli, and Burt Lancaster. Set in Bertolucci’s ancestral region of Emilia, the film chronicles the lives of two men during the political turmoils that took place in Italy in the first half of the 20th century. The film was screened at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival, but was not entered into the main competition.^[3]

Due to the film’s length, 1900 was presented in two parts when originally released in many countries.

If you look up this film, it sounds interesting and the director and many of the actors are renowned. This led me to order this mess on Netflix. The movie arrives on two cds, one for 5 hours and some minutes, the other for 2 hours and something. I watched the first 2 hours of this and did not enjoy any of it. Don’t bother with this, the action is slow and after the first hour, I still  had little idea who the actors were or what the plot is.