The Small Screen: Taboo Episode 3

After a misguided and unremarkable second episode, which is typically far more forgivable with a normal series but with a limited run of only 8 installments time is of the essence to tell a good story, the FX original series Taboo came back with a much improved third week.

Some thoughts:

- My god, how refreshing to have an episode that seems to actually be telling a story after that nonsensical second episode? I am certainly far more intrigued and invested in what is going to happen next now.

- On the other hand, we are nearly halfway down with the entire show and I am still waiting for that "wow" moment that feels like it is coming, but I am losing a little bit of faith. I keep thinking this show has the components to put it all together and deliver an episode that stays with the audience long term, a reason to remember Taboo as a whole, but it just hasn't happened yet.

- To be fair though, even without the "wow", a show can still be worth watching. I still feel like Taboo has been worth watching, maybe just for the performances and leading presence of Tom Hardy. It's only disappointment it isn't more than just being worth watching because there is too much talent involved here to be so lackluster.

- Last week I wrote that I was hoping the third episode would be the moment this whole thing turns around. It wasn't quite that, but it's enough of an improvement to keep the hope alive.


Episode Grade: B-

Jackie Review

The release of a Jacqueline Kennedy biopic during Oscar season had me expecting some of the standard flair that usually gets poured into films such as this, and it's a storytelling style that often times bores me. Start at the beginning and move forward chronologically, portraying the critical moments of the life of someone who left an indelible mark on society, one way or another. I was prepared for a powerful lead performance from Natalie Portman, but wasn't sure if the film as a whole would be memorable beyond it.

Well, silly me for doubting Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín whom has created a searing, brilliantly structured film in Jackie, his vision combined with Noah Oppenheim's script, Mica Levi's Oscar nominated score and the stunning photography of Stéphane Fontaine makes this picture an absolute must see, and if you experience it like I did you will likely continue to admire various shots and sequences as they run through your mind after the film has ended. When the final frame left the screen I knew I had loved what I had seen, but a couple of days later I am left wondering if perhaps my feelings are even stronger than I had initially thought.

Make no mistake though, while everything needed to come together to create something as great as Jackie, this is Portman's film and she gives the performance of a lifetime, encapsulating the iconic look, speech patterns and mannerisms of the former First Lady of the United States in a way that is equal parts mesmerizing and haunting. She isn't just in the frame throughout Jackie, she often times is the frame with the camera pulled in almost uncomfortably close, focusing on her with intensity after the horrific assassination of her husband and our former President John F. Kennedy, and as we watch her wipe his blood from her face it's almost as if we can feel the trauma ourselves. Supporting players like Peter Sarsgaard, Greta Gerwig and Billy Crudup are solid throughout but at the end of the day there is a single star shining from the first scene to the last and everyone around her is doing what is necessary to elevate her work even higher.

Running at a brisk 100 minutes, Jackie is alluring, painful art that I can't stop thinking about, a biopic that understands that there is a better story to be told focusing in on the most critical snapshot of a life than the fatigued tropes associated with painting the whole picture.



5/5

Manchester by the Sea Review

When you know that a film is an Oscar contender prior to seeing it, especially in regards to performance categories, you tend to wait for those "wow" moments throughout. You know the ones, the clips that they will eventually show during the broadcast of the awards, the staggering displays of intense emotion that will either bring the audience to tears or perhaps even rub them the wrong way because the actors seem to be trying too hard, trying to win an Oscar rather than the art coming naturally to them. Having already seen nominations and wins early in this award season for people like Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams and Lucas Hedges, I knew the "wow" moments were coming, and I was ready.

Except they never really come, the closest being an exchange between Lee Chandler (Affleck) and Randi (Williams) that carries profound power and devastating emotion without going over a line that makes it feel like manipulation. The "wow" moments never really come because the entire film is one, with every scene feeling real. Honest. Authentic. Human. What Kenneth Lonergan has created here in Manchester by the Sea, both as a director and almost more importantly a writer, is remarkable, a beautifully elegant portrayal of the human condition before, during and after an unspeakable tragedy takes place. The story is told both in the present and with a perfectly executed usage of flash backs, so we can see what a person like Lee is going through now and then fill in all the gaps as to what lead to this point.

I knew I was in for some special performances and the buzz regarding Affleck taking home the Oscar for lead actor is absolutely justified, with his subtle and nuanced take on the material being one of the crucial components to carry the entire damn film, but I think the one performance that absolutely floored me was from Lucas Hedges as Lee's nephew Patrick. It's a supporting turn that elevates the work of Affleck by his side, bringing not only essential comic relief but also tender, shockingly natural emotion to the screen. He's a perfect example of what I was referring to early. He's honest, authentic and human. He isn't Lucas Hedges during these 130 some odd minutes. He's Patrick.

The aspect of this film I suspect will be the most surprisingly, as it was for me, is just how funny it is. Manchester by the Sea is correctly labeled a drama and a deeply emotional, heartbreaking one at that but that doesn't demonstrate just how important it is that Lonergan's script taps into the lighter moments in order to balance out the darkness.

Manchester by the Sea is a masterful work, and easily one of the best movies of 2016.



5/5

The Small Screen: Sneaky Pete Season One

Despite the supporting presence of Bryan Cranston, I initially sat down to watch the new Amazon original series Sneaky Pete with limited expectations and the solid but unremarkable pilot episode pretty much confirmed my suspicions that this would be a good, fun show but one that would fade away once I was done watching. Interestingly, I was reminded of another show that I had a similar preconceived notion of only to be proven wrong with an outstanding six season run, that being the FX original Justified. No, Giovanni Ribisi is no leading man in the vein of Timothy Olyphant's Raylen Givens, but something about the style of the storytelling brought me back to that show, and then I started noticing some other similarities too, those being members of the cast. Jacob Pitts and the outrageously talented Margo Martindale, two actors that appeared in Justified, are vital pieces of Sneaky Pete, so the tonal comparison combined with the familiar faces had me wondering if there was more to this feeling I had than meets the eye. It wasn't until a few episodes in that I noticed the name Graham Yost in the credits, the creator of Justified, and I couldn't help but smile because right around the time I finally put these pieces together, I was becoming hooked on Sneaky Pete. If it can have a run like his former show and get better and better with each season as well, Amazon will have a hit on their hands, and the announcement of a second season that already came down gives me hope.

The show tells the story of a con man named Marius (Ribisi) who is being released from prison but has a former life worthy of hiding from, one involving a violent gangster named Vince (Bryan Cranston), so he assumes the identity of his cellmate named Pete and returns home so to speak, to Pete's family of which he was estranged for 20 years since he was a child. The family is filled with terrific characters that are all fleshed out and interesting by the end of the first season, played by Marin Ireland, Shane McRae, Libe Barer and the aforementioned Jacob Pitts, but the real stars of this whole thing are the grandparents, played by Margo Martindale and Peter Gerety. Some of the best scenes from these ten episodes involving those two showcasing power performances.

I mentioned before that I hope Sneaky Pete gets better and better with each season in the way Justified did, but rather than just hope I can confirm that the first season just gets better and better as it goes along, with a penultimate episode is probably the peak of it all, followed by a satisfying and entertaining finale. This is a well written, well acted drama with plenty of lighter moments mixed in, which is to be expected when you cast Ribisi in the lead. With so much television to sift through these days, what with every conceivable network and streaming service creating their own original programming, it can be difficult to keep up with all the options worthy of your time. I highly, highly suggest you give Sneaky Pete a look, and after you get a few episodes into it the desire to binge will hopefully hit you like it did me.

Sneaky Pete is streaming on Amazon Instant Video, free for all Prime members.


Season One Grade: B+

The Small Screen: The Young Pope "Episode 2"

The Young Pope is back for its second episode this week, and my skeptical but excited by its well crafted oddness after the first has been rewarded. Some thoughts about this terrific step up from an intriguing premiere.

- The marketing of The Young Pope along with the start of the first episode was intentionally misleading, we know that now after the second episode. When I first saw advertising for the series I assumed that the story would go in a painfully obvious way, with a young, handsome Pope being too liberal for such a position, but I think creator Paolo Sorrentino may be going in the opposite direction...

- Jude Law continues to be absolutely perfect for the role, and the great supporting performance from Diane Keaton only enhances the lead even more.

- After the first episode, I predicted that what was being set up as a silly premise would eventually turn completely into a serious drama. I think I am going to be correct.

- Pope Pius XIII gives his first sermon to a massive crowd of people, and the scene is chilling and outstanding, his words pointing to my first point about Lenny (Jude Law) being a lot more conservative than it first seemed.

- James Cromwell is a choice addiction to this show as a supporting character. I have no idea how often he will appear through the rest of the series, if at all, but his short time in "Episode 2" was excellent.

- The most exciting thing about The Young Pope is that even while watching such a good episode, I was thinking man...this thing is going to get better, isn't it? Potentially A LOT better. I could feel true greatness bubbling underneath this bad boy, like a masterpiece is headed our way at some point this season.

Next Sunday, January 29th. The third episode of The Young Pope will air on HBO. I will be there, and I suggest you join me.



Episode Grade: B+

The Small Screen: Taboo Episode 2

The FX Original miniseries Taboo is only 8 episodes in total, so it's interesting to look at it as being a quarter done already since it feels like just yesterday I saw the first advertisement for the show and wondered what the hell it was.

Some thoughts regarding the second episode:

- Tom Hardy absolutely makes and saves this series from being a slog. When he is in the frame, it's impossible to look away but pretty much everything else going on is, frankly, uninteresting at this point.

- Some scenes are incredible, but the problem there is "some". The incredible is the minority, because far more of this second episode just kinda drifted along on the ever-building intrigue and the presence of Hardy.

- The best scene in the episode was when the will of James Delaney's (Tom Hardy) father was read in a crowded room. Hands down, the whole atmosphere of that moment was top notch and it stood out in the midst of a rather lackluster overall affair.

- Performances continue to be great although I am never exactly blown away by the script they are working with.

- There has to be something special in the works going forward, right? It just feels like there is going to be so much more to Taboo that redeems a bit of the struggle to set it all up through 2 episodes. If it is going to get better, it should get on that soon because as I said at the start, we are 25 percent done with the entire series here. Hope episode 3 is an awaken of a series with a lot of potential that just isn't maximizing it yet.



Episode Grade: C

The Small Screen: The Young Pope "Episode 1"

This past Sunday, HBO debuted the television series The Young Pope (it has already played in full and been renewed for a second season in Italy where it was broadcast on Sky Atlantic) but prior to ever hitting the airwaves, the series had become a hit for all the wrong reasons across social media due to its premise seeming ridiculous, resulting in a wave of memes and jokes aimed at the show.

Despite this, I was never not going to give The Young Pope a fair and open-minded shake considering its creator Paolo Sorrentino, whom I have only seen two of his films but one of which is The Great Beauty. That one masterful movie is plenty for me to know that when he is in charge, greatness potentially awaits.

Now that I have watched the premiere episode, some thoughts:

- The show is as bizarre as trailers made it seem, at least up front because who knows how the tone will settle in as it goes on? Well I guess the answer to that is the many, many Italian citizens who have already watched the entire season know. I refuse to do any further research on that front though, I want no spoilers of any kind. I was surprised and riveted by the first hour and have no idea what is in store going forward.

- As I just said, riveted. Even when The Young Pope was at its most ridiculous, it never made me want to reach for the remote to change the channel but rather turn the volume up and lean in a little bit more. I'm in to see where Sorrentino takes this.

- In case you aren't familiar, the premise of The Young Pope is that the first ever American born Pope has been elected, a man in his 40's born Lenny Belardo (Jude Law) now known as Pope Pius XIII. Silly, right? Absolutely, yet as I was watching the episode it occurred to me that House of Cards was deemed silly early in its run, and then the 2015/16 political rise of Donald Trump happened in reality and made the show feel almost grounded in comparison. Who knows, in 5 years we may actually see a 30 something get elected Pope despite photographic evidence of his relations with prostitutes and cocaine addiction.

- Jude Law is perfectly cast. Perfectly. If you are going to sell an audience on a young Pope and make him good looking, charismatic but just creepy and unsettling enough to push the series down an intriguing and potentially very dark path, Jude Law works wonders. Just see his work in Road to Perdition to understand creepy and unsettling, it's the role I always think of when someone mentions Law as an actor.

- I can't be alone in thinking that despite the silly premise and the odd first episode, I am willing to bet The Young Pope ends up being a drama that demands to be taken seriously in the end. I believe in the talent involved.

I'm pretty much booked solid for the entire first season and beyond of The Young Pope unless this series goes really off the rails at some point. Check out the first episode replaying on HBO, On Demand or on HBO GO or HBO NOW to see for yourself if the tone does anything for you.



Episode Grade: B