I have mentioned before that I am not a big consumer of television. I own a TV just so I can watch sports. This time of year, I am pretty much just watching baseball. I have the MLB subscription so I can watch the Red Sox. I do not have anything against TV, but I never developed the love for it as a kid like most people. I might watch a show in syndication if it was popular and I will download movies, but these days it is done in batches. Binge watching is pretty much the only way I can watch a series from start to finish.
Anyway, someone recommended a program to me called Justified. I had never heard of it, but the internet tells me it was extremely popular. That is the thing about the modern mass media culture. You can be a huge star, even though most people have never heard of you. A TV show can be a hit, by attracting 2% of the audience. The culture is so balkanized, we are all just ships passing in the night and TV reflects that reality. My guess is Justified was popular with normals, but unwatched by the folks in Yankeedom.
Anyway, the show itself is fine. It sort of reminds me of the fad in the 70’s of the cowboy detective. I forget the names of the shows, but the twist on the traditional police show was to have the hero as a sort of an updated western sheriff with the hat, boots and pithy country expressions. The show is based on an Elmore Leonard novel so it has lots of catchy dialogue. That was a Leonard trademark, the banter between characters that was simple, but packed with meaning. I suspect that is the attraction of the show for fans. There is a lyrical quality to the writing.
I have only watched the one season, but what strikes me is that the male lead is pretty much a normal male lead. In fact, all the men are the sort of men you see on earth or at least you used to see on earth. The beta male hipster thing is a sad reality of our age. The women are also normal women. We hear lots of complaints about the feminization of men, but the presentation of women in pop culture is equally bizarre. I can see why this show would be popular with the gals, as it has lots of relatable female characters in it.
I have often wondered just how popular the modern female heroine is with real women. There’s endless hype for Hunger Games types of gals, but I never hear real women talk up these types of films. I suspect it is a lot like the homo movies. We are buried in hype about them, but there is little to no demand for gay cowboys or the life story of Liberace. Then again, I am just a broken down old hate thinker so I could be all wrong. Maybe the young gals of today all dream of wearing Lycra jumpsuits and beating up men.
The other thing that struck me is the fair treatment of downscale whites. It still has lots of stereotypes about toothless hillbillies banging their sisters, but it is much more nuanced than you typically see. The war on bad whites has been raging for so long now it is easy to forget that bad whites are people too. They are just presented as people. It is a sad statement on our age when it is unusual for our betters to present normal people as genuine people, rather than as bad guys and monsters in their morality plays.
Anyway, the other indulgence on the TV front was the movie Martian. Once I could download it free (I am ridiculously cheap) I watched it as I heard it was a really good sci-fi movie. Maybe my standards are out of whack or I lack the proper frame of reference, but it seems rather mediocre to me. Matt Damon was good being Matt Damon on Mars. The other actors are unknown to me but they seemed like they were doing a good job. The visuals were great, but it just seemed sort of blah.
The thing is, I expect the visuals in modern movies to be great. We are long past the point where CGI is new and cutting edge. Every movie now has outlandish special effects. The days of model spaceships hanging from fishing line against black paper are long gone. I had the same reaction to the movie Gravity. Yes, it is neat how they make it look real, but they are supposed to make it look real. That is the point. Not making it look real would be unusual. I cannot remember the last time I saw a movie where the effects were not realistic.
I have this debate with friends. Modern sci-fil is lacking because they invest everything in the visuals and scrimp on the writing and character development. They care more about getting tight shots of the actresses ass in the Lycra jumpsuit than telling the story. The Martian turned out to be Castaway on Mars, except Matt Damon was vastly less introspective and interesting than Tom Hanks. Hanks came back a better man. Damon comes back and we are led to believe he was turned into a self-absorbed douche by his experience, which was what he was before his adventure.
At the risk of sounding like an old coot, the stories were better when they had none of the modern visual aids. A show like Star Trek had to be carried by the story and characters. Watch an old Western and they are basically stage plays put on film. They were more respectful of the audience, because the audience had to fill in the blanks with their imagination. The writers and actors had no choice but to invest in the writing and character development. That is all there was, for the most part.
Of course, that sort of brings me back to the beginning. These long form serial dramas we see on cable like Justified, work because they do invest in the writing. These shows have plenty of costume and setting work. Game of Thrones is set in adventure land with magical midgets and dragons. But that is not what these shows are about or why people watch them. They are well designed and executed dramas with good writing and acting. They are traditional western entertainment, which is people entertaining other people by telling their tale.
Anyone have a theory for why there are no really funny movies these days? What strikes me as bizarre is that TV is funnier than ever over the last decade or so. It took awhile but losing the laugh-track was the best thing that ever happened to TV comedies.
If you guys like Sci-fi I think you would really like “Black Mirror (TV series)” by the BBC. Not all effects at all. Based on twist in technology in the future and how it effects humans. It surprised me because I hadn’t heard about it. “The Wire” is a great series. Baltimore’s Violence Guy says it’s exactly like the show there. B.V.G. is an interesting fellow who works in a grocery store, writes (mostly about violence) and stick fights. He’s one these guys whose so hard headed he refuses to be run out by the DinDu’s and would rather fight them.
http://www.jameslafond.com/
I liked Justified, but to be honest I thought after Elmore Leonard’s death it ran out of steam somewhat. As for The Martian, you will have noted how it is a feisty stop-at-nothing woman who rescues Matt (should it have been called the Mattian?) so qualifies for the ‘modern great movie’ tag.
But I agree that people want to watch characters in stories and how they cope: Game Of Thrones is at its best when it is people having to cope with considerably less (wealth/property/status/love) than they were used to originally. It is a kind of survival epic.
The old movies had to rely on character, and to a large degree the audience’s imagination when it came to ‘the big event.’ One day I expects e will go back to that kind of story, but for now… Remember kids, everything when shot with a bullet explodes in a huge ball of flame because yes, even garden sheds have petroleum-loaded explosives in them,
That last part is so true. Having shot a lot of things as a kid, hoping they would explode, I can testify that it pretty much never happens. Even propane tanks just release their gas when punctured with a bullet.
You really should learn the joy of tannerite…
Since this topic has turned into “my favorite series” you might also enjoy “Life” with Damian Lewis. He was also the star in “Band of Brothers”. Unfortunately “Life” only ran 2-seasons but was very well done. I also enjoyed “Home Land” even through the lead actress (Claire Danes) is a bit annoying at times. At the moment we are anticipating the next season of the US version of “House of Cards”. Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright are outstanding in their roles.
Agree with you on the ‘Life’ series. Well done for a short run. At least you don’t get a binge hangover. Damian Lewis as Major Dick Winters in ‘Band of Brothers’ is his best role. If you watch anything-watch ‘Band of Brothers.’
Bands of Brothers and The Pacific were both righteous. Being miniseries they didn’t come to mind immediately.
Zman, concerning the movie The Martian I think you nailed it when you compared it to Tom Hanks’ Castaway and how it is (though not a bad movie itself) an inferior rendering of the genre.
In my humble opinion “Castaway” type movies have to perform solidly on two aspects in order to be good films and grab the audience interest:
1) They must provide an interesting way out of the predicament for the marooned protagonist. It doesn’t have to be believable, just amusing enough to suspend disbelief.
2) We must find ourselves a way to the relate the character. To feel (or imagine to feel) his pain, his hopes,his fears and despair, so in the end we also share the character’s joy at being rescued and having survived the ordeal. We must invest in the character. Root for him.
The main weakness in The Martian is the second aspect described above. Not that it flunks it completely (as I said, it is not a bad movie itself) but I found some difficulty in relating to Matt Damon’s character. Tom Hanks’s in Castaway plays an everyday guy (as it is his wont). His job and colleagues at FedEx are not alien to us. We can relate to him as we know people like him. And when he is marooned we see his pain: he suffers, he bleeds, he is afraid, he misses the love of his life. He has to resort to psychological anchors to stay sane (i.e. the volleyball “Wilson”). He even considers suicide and when finally he is rescued (physically a shell of a man) we feel also the disappointments he encounters and traumas that he is still carries. We empathize because we are able to imagine ourselves in the same situation.
Matt Damon’s character in opposition is somewhat a bit more difficult to relate to. It is not only that we don’t know many guys like him, but also something worse: you get the strange feeling (at least in my case) that the guy is not real. His emotional reactions, his fortitude, his bragging (“Mars will be awed by my botanic skills”) seem a bit artificial. You get the sense that he is a composite character, the idealized version in the minds of many fake nerds about what they aspire to be, using SCIENCE! and the indomitable human spirit free of superstition to conquer the elements. The ending also relates to that: Matt Damon becomes a living legend basking in scholarly and tenured glory in the days to come. You can envision all the awards, doctorates and honorific titles he will be showered with.
As I said: it is not a bad movie. But I was enjoying it more due to curiosity and amusement (i.e. “what would he do now?” stuff) than investment in the character.
Good writing? Good dialogue? Good character development?
The Wire. In win, place, and show positions simultaneously.
If you’ve never seen this you will binge until the end and then go back to the beginning and watch it again.
Free if you have Amazon Prime.
I agree. With all the great things on tv in the last ten years or so, The Wire was still the best.
The greatest thing that ever happened to TV, in my opinion. Rivaled only by seasons 3-8 of The Simpsons.
Couple or three observations:
The very best, better by far than The Martian or Gravity, plays on only one screen, the Space Center in Florida. It is IMAX-3D, shot entirely on the International Space Station. If you ever get down that way to Disney or the other attractions you’ll be doing yourself disservice if you don’t spend a day there.
When McCloud was popular I worked in Manhattan and had a shearling coat and a working cowboy’s hat that I had brought from Arizona. I’d walk down the street and people would look and think I was a balmy cosplay type or something. Thing is I was toasty warm and dry, they were cold and wet.
The very best films of all time, according to me, were simple and mostly black and white. Casablanca, The Hustler, The Pawnbroker, High Noon. Groundhog Day and Shane were in color but that didn’t make much difference.
I love stories that take place in the south. Justified is true to the south, without being mean. Midnight in the garden of good and evil is another . Probably the best role of Kevin Spacey’s life.
A love song for Bobby long , gives you a look at a different John travolta. It’s tiring here in the south to be portrayed as mouth breathing knuckle dragging apes.
Two more, first Generation Kill, a 7 part mini series set during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, see the YouTube Trailer.
And the second recommendation, Into the West, a 6 part mini series, tales from the American West in the 19th century, told from the perspective of two families, one of White settlers and one of Native Americans produced by Steven Spielberg with an all star cast, Into the West – Trailer.
This one is even on YouTube, all six parts, so people can jump right in!
Some Generation Kill scenes for a taste of things:
Generation Kill – Ray Person best scenes YouTube
I watched every episode. It was great.
Nobody has mentioned “Deadwood”. It’s the only boxed set of bluray I wil *never* get rid of.
What to see a great series where “men are still men” you must see it. HBO really outdid themselves with this one.
You can get it free with Amazon Prime, as well as Rome.
We tried that and tired of it pretty quickly. It’s just too dark.
Deadwood…!
I can’t believe it took this long for someone to mention it, since it put Olyphant on the proverbial map. One of the best Ive ever seen and what a disgrace to leave it hanging….The boys from ZZ top were such fans they hung around the set for over 16 hours just to get in the “crowd scene” in the last episode…..
FWIW I couldn’t get thru either Gravity (made it maybe 20 minutes even in exquisite 3D) or the Martian ( 20-30 min.) both too pnderous for me….
….anybody remember Doc Savage books as a kid?
Just to throw in my two cents, DOWNTON ABBEY was all about the writing, acting, costumes, historical references and the numerous subplots all swirling about; the characters all developed over the seasons as economic, political and social events unfolded.
No CGI, realistic (for the time period of the show) portrayal of gay individuals, and character commentary about the political winds of the time.
Yes, the program may have presented a too rosy portrayal of the lives of the English “service” class, but it certainly arouses one to learn more about the social strata of that period.
A GREAT TV series, IMHO.
Frankly, I lost interest in watching TV some years back, but every once in a while a series will catch my attention as did Downton Abbey.
When I was a kid, I used to watch the Looney Tunes / Warner Bros. cartoons; they were witty and funny and Pepe LePeu (the Francophile skunk) actually uttered real French words.
Check out today’s cartoons. Better yet, don’t bother!
Big problem with it is that they deliberately left out Christianity. You can’t portray those times truthfully without it.
The actual Martian book is significantly better than the movie.
This.
One could say the same about Breaking Bad. And The Sopranos. Though in both these cases the protagonists are supposed to be ‘bad’, in one way or another, though sympathetic.
Justified is all that unusual. The ‘new man’ occurs more in comedies than in thrillers, where, ultimately, the man has to be a man to be effective.
By the way, in the final season of Justified, there’s a crack at hipsters.
I watch a bit more TV than you (I do watch the Sox too), but agree on the attraction of binge watching. I was very entertained by the entire run of Justified. Describing the characters as normal is pretty spot on. Normal but certainly not boring. You should watch the other seasons (assuming you can find time).
If the niche market drives creation forward then good on the niche market. It does seem to be sucking the talent away from the old venues.
Off topic–best movie nobody saw: Devil in a Blue Dress.
Best movie nobody saw : Rounders.
Rounders is a very good film. Diamond Men is a similar sort of film. It has famous people, but no one saw it, despite it being well made. I’m not sure how that happens. The economics of Hollywood are convoluted.
Don’t let that lyin’ liar Anon mislead you, Z. Devil was a superior movie to Rounders in every way. It came out the same year as LA Confidential, a similar and good movie (although inferior to Devil), but it too flopped with with ten times the budget and A list stars.
The peculiar thing is that after suggesting Rounders, “LA Confidential” popped into my head and I wondered why. Go figure. Anyway, I never heard of your devil movie but another unseen and unsung terrific film is Nicholas Cage’s “Vampire’s Kiss”, which was superior to to “Devil” in every way, I think.
It’s so well-made, the plot flows so smoothly, it’s fun, it’s exciting, the acting is just right and Edward Norton is brilliant there, and somehow no one saw it. I suppose because there’s nothing bombastic about it. No big explosions. No grand concept. No helicopters. No threats on a President’s life and no weepy scenes that have people thinking “Academy Award”. Also: no big message about racism or the evils of gambling.
I thought Rounders was pretty good. Another that comes to mind is Confidence. Dustin Hoffman and Rachel Weisz playing against type plus Paul Giamatti and Luis Guzman. Boiler Room is another good one except for the Ben Afleck scene. Gawd, that guy could spoil the kindergarten Christmas play.
For those who enjoy Justified, you’ll really like Longmire. Forget the TV series and go straight to the books – the books are ten times better than the TV version.
The thing about Justified is that a lot of us have to deal with people like that. I’ve seen quite enough of tweakers. I never knew what that was four years ago. And we know folks that deal in the illegal. The elites don’t. I liked the way you could root for Boyd Crowder or Ava, even if you didn’t like their lifestyle.
You’d like Longmire too, but it’s on Netflix these days. They went off the rails a bit in season three, but the first season is great.(My husband is binge watching NYPD Blue, which I’ve never seen. It is well written and acted.)
If you want Mars-based entertainment, compare the boring, preachy “Martian” with “The Red Planet”, a recent SciFi adventure movie worth seeing. Despite the presence of Val Kilmer in the lead, it works. Also, just incidentally, proves the chick who played Trinity in “The Matrix” is not hot. Just Trinity.
Don’t forget “Robinson crusoe on mars”
I watch all my movies while stuck on overseas flights. The Martian was boring – did anyone think Mat Daaamooon wouldn’t make it off the island, I mean Mars? I was also annoyed with the typical movie SJW – the commander was a woman, head of NASA Chinese (they’re stealing everything they can from there anyway) and so on.
A nice surprise was “Heart of the Ocean”, which is a retelling of Moby Dick. Simple action-adventure yarn at sea with just a tad of eye rolling at the very end (a snide remark reminding us that whalers are the “oil industry”). I never even heard of it (the title is the same as the diamond in Titanic, so it sounds like a chick flick), but was well entertained for two hours.
When Damon was finally ready to blast off from the red planet, I kept thinking, maybe it will just explode and that’s the shock ending and why the film was popular.
Like most of what Hollywood does, The Martian was high-end kumbaya.
P.S. Just finished watching The Night Manager mini-series and loved it.
Back in the 80’s I reviewed movies for a big, well-known newspaper. So many of the movies at the time had the flavor you mention, that I came up with the phrase ‘ these aren’t real movies – they are just movie posters.’ And that’s what the “Martian” movie is too. The book, on the other hand, is a rocking science fiction story. – the writing is excellent, and the science is thorough. The hero is admirable, a survivor with a great funnybone. The other characters also rose above cardboard cutout status. I loved it so much I watched the movie – and instead of telling the story, they just strung together a bunch of posters. I believe the scriptwriters simply aren’t allowed to do their best, because the producers want to pour their money into the visuals. They think that’s what puts butts in seats. They may be right. But it loses almost all the story, doesn’t it?
I read the book too and knew the movie would be a let down. Most movies / series are. Now that GRRM has stopped writing, Game of Thrones is just senseless.
Drake, I agree about GOT. From the get go it touches repeatedly on every leftoid shibboleth in the book with all inclusive perverted sex appeal to the basest instinct. I’ve read the books and seen the series through last year and can say emphatically ‘no redeeming social value.’ Took me awhile but I don’t think, should Martin ever publish another volume, I’d be interested. And I doubt I’ll see the current season film version.
“The Expanse” series on Syfy. Very good space opera books and they did a decent job of turning it into a series without the blank-check CGI approach of a big movie.
http://www.syfy.com/theexpanse
The Sox are fun this year. Love watching the talent from the farm system driving the success – Betts, Bradley, Shaw, etc…
Also “The Last Kingdom” on BBC – based on Bernard Cornwell’s books. Any actual Englishmen left had to feel something at the literal birth England when the last Saxon lords showed up to fight for King Alfred.
Of course, being the BBC, they had to stick some completely improbable badass women. Wasn’t too obnoxious until literally the last scene of season one – when a nun started killing Danish Vikings like a ninja. I laughed at that one.
Like anything else, the herd mentality strikes again. Everyone wants in on the gravy train and sets up shop to do what is in vogue, until the next big thing. It is the true innovators that work on the fringes trying new things like the guys working on a new 360 degree cinematography technology. But that currently seems to be a play thing for directors.
The best thing I can recommend is the book Martian. Great stuff especially if you have a technical bent. It will always make the best story format. Film is “usually” a dismal second place because of the reasons you state about participant involvement. Imagination contributes a lot and each person can fill in their own details where as a lot of CGI stuff leaves everyone with, well, the same same.
I agree about Justified. When I discovered it, I was hooked immediately. Finding diamonds in the rough is rare and I looked forward to each new season of great story telling.
One of my recommendations for you is “Blue Bloods” a show about a cop family in NYC featuring … Tom Selleck. I know, I know, don’t barf (since you are from Beantown). But it is a pretty good show with good writing, acting, cast and lots of potential for bing watchnig! Enjoy.
“Justified” was my favorite teevee drama of the last ten years. Great acting, writing and characters, endless plot twists and surprises, a refreshing lack of politically correct cultural propaganda and truly memorable villains.
Mary Steenburgen and Sam Neill show up in the last season doing what they do best.
Keep binging on that show. You will not be disappointed.
Agreed. Each season of Justified got better and better. Season two was outstanding.
My other favorite show that didn’t last long was FireFly.
Wynn…Wynn Duffy you won’t see himat is best til later in the series but so so funny.
I would agree that so many of the movies these days are all CGI and little substance. The scripts are so much “been there, done that” that there are few real innovations, especially science fiction. We have a number of US TV shows in Germany (all with German voice-overs) so it’s always interesting to catch them in the US so we can actually hear what the actors voices really sound like. If you like history, the series “Rome” (on HBO and quite old now), was actually pretty good and “Vikings” seems to pretty accurate also. The short detective series Jesse Stone (with Tom Selleck) wasn’t bad. We really enjoyed the first series of True Detectives with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson – a bit gritty and twisted and the title music was also quite good.
Saw an episode of Bonanza dubbed into German, it was hilarious – “Hoss, mach schnell!”
Also, what’s the deal with David Hasselhoff? Is he really the massive star in Germany that Americans think he is?
Not at all.
The Martian was decent, but I don’t think it qualifies as sci-fi. It’s a feel good multi-culti story that just happens to be set on Mars. Like a watered down Apollo 13 updated for The Current Year.
I think a film like The Martian is (like all films worth watching) best suited to the cinema, where you can detach yourself from reality and feel as if you’re on Mars. I also think that as we get older, it becomes more difficult for us to watch a film in what is essentially a trance state.
Z, i recommend the 2012, single season, “Vegas” TV series, synopsis:
“Set in 1960s Las Vegas, the series centers on Sheriff Ralph Lamb (Quaid) and his dealings with Chicago mobster Vincent Savino (Chiklis), who moved west to set up his own operation. The Lamb character is based on a real-life former rancher of the same name who served as Sheriff of Clark County from 1961 to 1979.”
Or watch the trailer here: Vegas – (TV series 2012) – Trailer
And because it’s only one season, they wrap it all up nicely at the end.
Thanks. I’ll take a look. The Sox on the West Coast so I’ll be doing my binge watching until the return.
Z man watch Borgen, it’s a Danish political drama. You’ll love it.
“If you meet an asshole in the morning you’ve met an asshole. If you meet assholes all day then you’re the asshole.” Raylan Givens
I loved Justified!
I’m in complete agreement with your view that real women have no desire to be lycra encased superheros. The problem is that the attitude that girls are just as strong as boys and can behave in any way they please with no consequences that has been drilled into females for the last forty years or so has brought about a generation of females who have no fear of ANY kind of man or situation they’re in. They can’t believe that, for instance, if you go out some fine evening and get yourself sloppy, passing out drunk there’s a good possibility that they’ll wake up the following morning having been used and abused. But it’s never their fault and if you bring up the fact that if they had stayed sober this situation would probably not have happened you will be accused of being a sexist.
Oh…and television has so much garbage we got rid of Dish and cable ages ago and only do a little binge watching occasionally but am going to try Justified.
Try Longmire! It’s about Wyoming (see my comment below).
What an effing bore from an arch feminazi. When will Kathryn understand we’re sick up to here with it.
1. McCloud!
2. Maaaat Damonnnn!
McCloud! That’s it. IIRC, he even rode a horse down the street in some episodes.
Just for fun sometime watch a few classic episodes of “Seinfeld” followed by (if you can stand it) acouple of episodes of “Friends”. It helps you understand the Millennials’ complete lack of driving force and character.
I’m curious: Do you blame such shows for the stunted development of these sorry people, or are you contrasting these shows with newer things?
I ask because I spent some time in a university theater and music department in the last several years, and none of them picked up on Seinfeld references; neither had they heard of Monty Python, the Honeymooners, or a zillion other things that musicians are just supposed to *know*.
I’ve been watching Last Man Standing, which stars Tim Allen as a father of three teenaged daughters. He works at a Cabela’s type place and his weird interest in guns and his daughters’ lives is clearly supposed to be funny to the audience. But it’s nice to have a show where the dad isn’t the butt of all the jobs for a change.