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Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
Nowhere as bad as most reviewers here are claiming-- indeed, good for the genre
Come on! No one sitting down to INDEPENDENCE DAY: RESURGENCE could be expecting CITIZEN KANE, THE GODFATHER, or 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, or even FORBIDDEN PLANET or CURSE OF THE DEMON. One should expect-- more of the same. And that is essentially what one gets, though overall I think it a better film than the original. The original had, besides killer special effects, the great suspense of the buildup to the alien attack. Sadly, much of the character-driven scenes ranged from the forgettable to the lamentable; but then, to expect more from such a film is like drinking a glass of ginger ale and expecting Dom Perignon. This film does have a few annoying aspects, such as the reverberation of the squirm-inducing speech of the President in the original, and Judd Hirsch's "Julius Levenson" character is as irritating as ever (although that may indeed be because he's MEANT to be irritating). But, apart from some such long scenes near the beginning, mostly to establish the new or newly-grownup characters, such scenes here seem less intrusive. And while it lacks the asset of the long, tense buildup to the attack that the original has, well, after the alien attacks the rest of the original seemed long and anticlimactic. This film is structured better, and actually climaxes near the end. And though the "disaster porn" sequences of destruction could have been longer, they were inventive and very well done. Also I must mention how much I liked their making Doctors. Okun (Brent Spiner) and Isaacs (John Storey), who in the original seemed to be only friends and coworkers, lovers (or more properly, life-partners) -- and so sweetly, too. That Dr Isaacs visited and talked to a comatose Dr Okun every day for two decades was a devotion few but the most devoted couples, straight or gay, would ever evince; it was only on second viewing I noticed that, just before the attack on the isolation chamber which would kill Dr Isaacs, almost instinctively and without even looking, they hold hands-- a tender gesture amid the violence and confusion. (Unlike so many gay relationships shown in film today, theirs seemed gentle and natural and not centered on wantonness.) Anyway, I found this film was, overall, more enjoyable than the original. It's hardly a classic, of course... but for its genre, it's quite good enough, and certainly not the disaster some reviewers are dismissing it as.
Schitt$ Creek (2015)
Better and Better!
As big a fan as I am of Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara-- geniuses both-- I must confess that this series' name was rather offputting. But it tuned out to be quirky, and delightful. And more: in a series where most of the major characters could easily have degenerated into caricatures (and in a depressingly large proportion of sitcoms, they do), almost all the characters, even the most outrageous or extreme (in particular Moira, Alexis, and David,) have all grown and developed and blossomed into three-dimensional human beings: and human beings we would want to know for real. In short, this series has developed into a veritable gem, where humor and satire are leavened and enriched by real human sentiment and complexity. Each of the five completed seasons has gotten better and better. The love interests of Alexis and David (especially that of David, Patrick) are equally splendid. All these characters, despite totally human flaws, show a growth and compassion that is at times most moving: culminating in Season Five's memorable climax with David and Patrick's engagement: we rejoice with them, and when Moira hears about the shelving of her movie, we are moved by her pain. I am overjoyed it will be coming back for a sixth season: but was distressed on reading that that sixth season will be the last: I would love another 10 or 20 seasons! Kudos-- and gratitude -- to all involved in with this unique and wonderful show.
The Haunting of Hill House (2018)
A big disappointment
When one has loved and read and reread a book over decades, and hears that it is being filmed, one hopes for a faithful rendering of the book-- its plot, characters, tone-- in visual, cinematic terms. One hopes, essentially, for a realization that is as accurate and true as can be achieved in the new medium. Lately, "adaptation" seems to mean not so much a realization as only vague adherence to the original. This is deeply disrespectful of the book's readership.
Alas, the Netflix "adaptation" of The Haunting of Hill House is, to this reader, a major disappointment. Indeed, so far from being even marginally faithful to the book, apart from the opening paragraph (oddly, almost quoted verbatim but with a couple of unaccountable changes), the name of Hill House, and having the Crane family (though with little in common with the family in the book), it has essentially nothing whatever to do with Shirley Jackson's classic. Even the lamentable Liam Neeson remake was closer. SUCH a let-down. At least, I found it so. They did keep a few touches, like the spiral iron staircase in the library tower, but that's precious little compensation when one was hoping for a true realization of the original. The plot is unrecognizable as having any relation to that of the novel. Therefore, regarding this production, whatever virtues it may have when considered apart from the classic Jackson book, as an adaption (in any true meaning of the word) it is a failure.
The Outer Limits: Inconstant Moon (1996)
GREAT adaptation
This is perhaps my very favorite of all the episodes of the New Outer Limits I have seen, and I have seen most of them. I am an aficionado of Apolcalyptic/End of the World SciFi/Fantasy, and this is one of the best in the genre in recent years. When MGM came out with the DVD set labeled "Outer Limits Seasons 1 and 2" I bought it, most especially for this episode... which wasn't included. Instead of the entire seasons 1 and 2 it was a "best of", which very annoyingly did NOT include this episode. They have since released the complete Season 1. Seasons 3 and 4 are available from Europe. But not Season 2. I am really, REALLY piqued at that! This adaptation is, if anything, an improvement on Larry Niven's fine story of the same name, and is finely acted by leads Michael Gross and Joanna Gleason. The screenplay is, if anything, more exciting than the source story. The production also has excellent special effects and a great climax and denouement, rather perfunctorily dealt with in the story, but very nicely realized here. So, MGM, get off your corporate duffs and release this on DVD... either in a complete Season 2, or perhaps in an Apocalyptic/End-of-the-World selection.
Arrested Development (2003)
One of the most consistently funny things ever produced for TV
To say that this series is a gem, actually, is damning it with faint praise. In truth, I can think of very few other series that approach it-- and honestly, none that really equal it. And I think Season Two is every bit as funny as Season One. For example, consider this example of how witty the show is:
GOB: I DID make love to her, and it WAS disgusting!
NARRATOR: He didn't-- but it would have been.
or
GOB: Of course I did! And I'm a terrible liar.
NARRATOR: Both things he just said were lies.
or, after describing how Tobias and Lindsay rekindle their amours while hiding in Maggie Lizer's shower, attempting to steal a urine sample to prove she was pregnant:
NARRATOR: --- It was weird.
The cast is uniformly magnificent-- ALL of them. This material is so outré and edgy it could easily become artificial or confusing or offensive or affected-- and it never does. The entire ensemble is brilliant. The story arc doesn't just progress-- it flies like a bullet train-- careening so giddily one fears it will go off the tracks. But it keeps its poise throughout. Another delight -- there are so many delights one is bewildered settling on one or another for illustration!-- is the delicious reference that is made to other TV shows -- Dan Castellanata saying "DOH!", Henry Winkler looking in the men's room mirror with a comb and doing the Fonzie "Hey!", the myriad references to Charlie Brown-- (the family oath is "Good grief!"; male genitalia are euphemistically referred to as a "linus" and "charlie-browns"; when a character is dejected he will sometimes walk slowly with his head bowed, just like Charlie Brown, with the music from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" playing; in fact, the first time this happens -- it is George Michael in the scene-- as he walks dejectedly, in the background people walk the other way carrying a Christmas tree, and even funnier, he passes a red doghouse with a beagle on the roof!); in a karaoke bar, Tobias starts singing "New York, New York", and Lucille II (Liza Minnelli!) says, "Everybody thinks he's Frank Sinatra!" -- When Buster, who is almost fanatically attached to his mother Lucille, and has an affair with his mother's rival, Lucille II, loses his hand, the narrator mentions it has been bitten off by a "Loose Seal"; the episode with the "photographic evidence for WMD in Iraq" is especially hilarious. Other running gags abound: for example, one subtle one is the fact that Michael's son, George Michael, is constantly witnessing things he doesn't want to see and shouldn't be exposed to-- at the hospital waiting for the baby, he not only witnesses the two cops French kissing, he's standing in line of sight when Maggie's client starts giving birth-- "Oh I can see the head!"-- in a school bus he first sees his 15 year old cousin Maeby (who conned her way into a job as a film executive) driving a car right behind him-- and then his grandfather, supposedly in hiding, test driving another car-- he even recognizes the photo supposedly showing WMD in Iraq for what it really is-- having shared a bunk bed with his uncle Tobias -- it shows Tobias in loose VERY short cutoffs trying to get in the top bunk with one leg up and one down-- and poor George Michael, as in all these cases, staring in dismay with a deer-in-the-headlights expression. Hilarious! The episodes with Tobias posing as an English Nanny, Mrs Featherbottom ("Mister Fingerbottom", Maeby calls him, knowing of course it is her father, who corrects her, "Mrs!") are a riot. ALL the episodes are. There is such attention to detail: in the scene where Lucille is throwing Buster a goodbye party when he is going into the army, there is a banner in background that, instead of "GOOD LUCK" or suchlike, reads "Buster, You're Killing Me"-- George Sr. finds out his brother Oscar is having an affair with his wife while in Mexico by seeing a photo of them in a Mexican newspaper, her supposedly giving mouth-to-mouth to a homeless person: it is captioned "ESO LOCO AMERICANO". When two characters ponder what kind of child they would have had, on screen there is a brief flash of a computer generated depiction of what that child would look like. And on and on! Attention to every detail, ensemble acting never surpassed, writing that is not only cutting edge but absurdist and almost dadaist at times, this is easily one of the finest comedic creations EVER concocted by the merry mind of man!
Cracker (1997)
Objectively, Not Anywhere As Bad As So Many Have Claimed
True, this is not Robbie Coltrane. True, the series is darker and at the same time less complex than the magnificent British series. But just because a California vintage varietal is not Château Latour does not mean it isn't potable. Taken on its on merits, without making comparisons to the original British series (in which the American series really has no chance to shine) this is a well-made and far-from-clichéd series. Playing Fitz as Pastorelli did-- as less-than-lovable, curmudgeonly without the usual saving graces of humor or humility, was actually very brave, and much truer to everyday life, truth to tell, than Coltrane's wonderful portrayal. Coltrane's characterization is in a way bigger than life, a flawed yet dazzling (and also, endearing) genius: very much in the tradition of other flawed, brilliant, larger-than-life sleuths from Sherlock Holmes to Hercule Poirot. I find Pastorelli's interpretation more in the line of, say, John Thaw's Inspector Morse (they even have similar tastes in music). Pastorelli plays Fitz as depressive, grouchy, arrogant, flippant, self-absorbed, and sometimes downright rude. That is truly going out on a limb, and would be even for British television, but for American television it is valor of the first water. So it is unfair to compare his portrayal with Coltrane's: they approach the character quite differently. Taken on their own, I think the Pastorelli episodes are fine productions. Being an American myself I was raised on happy endings and characters designed to elicit one's emotional engagement. Yet as others have rightly noted, life isn't like that. I remember an episode of a British production, one of Roy Mardsen's wonderful Adam Dalgleish tales, which ended, yes, with the criminal's apprehension-- but NOT happily (his assistant's grandmother, being held hostage, having been killed at the end when SWAT teams stormed the hideout)... and I was appalled at first--- but then I realized, that that was as possible an outcome as the happy ending would have been, perhaps more likely even. And this series has a lot of that flavor to it. So: approaching this and expecting the same thing as one got in the British production is really counterproductive. But if you watch these shows without expectations, you'll likely find them quite satisfying on their own merits.