Murder Beach Blog by William Wilde

Best Crime Dramas on Television Return For New Seasons

2012-01-21T09:05:00.000-08:00

The best crime dramas on TV are returning for new seasons in 2012. All are serial dramas with continuing plot lines, so catch up with them early:

"Justified" - (FX Cable, Tuesday) Gritty backwoods crime saga set in Kentucky coal country. Based on the character of laconic, fast draw U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens, created by crime novelist Elmore Leonard. Violent menace lurks down every overgrown country road. With sharply written, deadpan dialogue, this show is the real deal.

"Southland" - (TNT Cable, Tuesday) Intense, graphic portrayal of the pressure-filled daily duty tours of Los Angeles patrol officers. Each sweaty-palmed vehicle stop by the cops is only a step away from abrupt violence. There is no glamour here, only troubled people and harsh realities, with few good outcomes. A hard ride on gritty L.A. streets, but a ride worth taking.

"The Killing" - (AMC Cable) Returning Spring 2012. Moody, addictive Northwest Noir series set in Seattle as police probe the mystery of a teenage girl's murder. Sinister undercurrents swirl everywhere, waiting to be uncovered. But last season's finale kept viewers frustrated as the murderer's identity was left unresolved. A head-twisting last scene even called into question the hidden involvement of one of the lead detectives. Now where does this thing go? Only way to find out is to tune in.

Most Disturbing Movies of 2011

2012-01-14T11:11:00.000-08:00

Last year served up a number of movies that were each profoundly disturbing in their own ways. Here are the creepiest ones:

"Contagion" - Starkly realistic depiction of the rapid, unstoppable spread of a deadly epidemic vector. A simple handshake or a stranger's cough can mean potential infection and death. An absolutely frightening film about our possible future.

"Margin Call" - Cynical drama about another kind of epidemic --- a financial crash that wipes out people's savings, jobs, and homes. The frank amorality of Wall Street types trying to save themselves by dumping bankrupt securities on others is perfectly chilling.

"Insidious" - A horror movie with scary happenings to a family that suggest an unseen world of malevolent forces exists around human lives. The monstrous twist ending shocker warns that the demonic forces are winning.

"The Skin I Live In" - Bizarre story of a mad doctor holding a woman captive in order to create a new artificial human skin. Freakish portrayal of obsession and hideous exploitation. (In Spanish with English subtitles)

Best Mystery Novels of 2011

2011-12-27T09:23:00.000-08:00

The last year was a good one for new mystery novels. Here are the ones that MURDER BEACH liked best:

"The Snowman" by Jo Nesbo - Oslo, Norway police detective Harry Hole tracks a sadistic serial killer, dubbed The Snowman, because he leaves a snowman in the yard of each new victim. The killer somehow has inside personal information that he uses to manipulate Hole, leading up to a horrific crisis situation involving someone close to Harry.

Readers should be warned that this novel deals with violent sexual aberration and contains much adult material and language.

For fans of the late Stieg Larsson's "Dragon Tattoo" series, Jo Nesbo's chilling Nordic crime novels are a worthy successor.

An outstanding mystery read.

"The Drop" by Michael Connelly - LAPD detective Harry Bosch investigates an apparent suicide jump, but "the drop" begins to look more like murder. The case pulls Bosch into a minefield of high level city political corruption. Meanwhile, he's digging into an old unsolved murder case that points to a long term serial predator still at work.

Bosch is his usual cynical self, but with his hard nosed ethical code still intact. Without that, he couldn't be a cop anymore.

Crisply written, with a hard-driving plot. A first rate police procedural.

"The Troubled Man" by Henning Mankell - The last of the Kurt Wallander novels. As Wallander nears retirement, he looks into the disappearance of a former Swedish naval officer that may be linked to Cold War espionage.

But the real center of the novel is Wallander's bleak struggle with his own health and personal problems that leads him toward a frightening answer that he fears to find.

A melancholy, introspective goodbye for Wallander.

"The Complaints" by Ian Rankin - Internal Affairs is called The Complaints in the Edinburgh, Scotland police department. That's where Inspector Malcolm Fox investigates other cops for misconduct.

A new case has Fox quietly probing whether a young detective is part of a secret Internet porno ring. But Fox is distracted when his sister's abusive partner is found beaten to death. Fox makes the mistake of getting improperly involved in the murder case. That leads to Fox himself becoming a target of investigation as his enemies on the force get their revenge back on the hated Complaints officer.

An unusual, steadily building plot and a thoroughly enjoyable police mystery.

William Wilde Ebook Titles - Now On Sale Only $1.99!

2011-12-03T09:27:00.000-08:00

Great sale prices now on William Wilde Ebook titles! Only $1.99 at Fictionwise.com

SHOW ME - Suspense Novel. A realty agent becomes the target of a disturbed voyeur watching everything she does.

THE REP - Horror Novel. A freeway crash survivor is hounded afterwards on a hellish road trip by a malevolent traveling sales rep.

Click on book cover Links in right sidebar to Read Excerpts from the novels and buy at Fictionwise.com

THE TRIAL OF RACHEL WILLIAMS - Suspense/Horror Novel. The leader of a radical witchcraft cult is tried for murder in the gruesome death of a business executive in what becomes a modern day witchcraft trial.

Click on book cover link at right to buy at Synergebooks.com. Only $2.99!

All titles also available at Amazon Kindle and Barnes and Noble Nook.

Stephen King Battles Time in 11/22/63

2011-11-26T08:39:00.000-08:00

Stephen King's new novel 11/22/63 isn't a horror novel, but there's still a monster in it.

The monster is past history and the past doesn't want to be changed. The past is capable of many vicious tricks to keep anyone from ever altering it.

The book's main character, Jake Epping, tries to do just that when he uses a freak time portal anomaly to go back into the past to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. But the huge, implacable machine that is Time itself repeatedly throws up roadblocks to stop Jake. The constant fatalistic theme of the story is that Time is a relentless and often cruel thing that humans have futile power to affect.

Although it's not a horror novel, the usual eerie King touches are still there. A clown-faced killer in the town of Derry, Maine that echoes King's earlier novel It. A sinister two-tone Plymouth Fury in Dallas that recalls the malevolent auto in Christine. Then there's something that guards the time portal that's called the Yellow Card Man.

11/22/63 is an enormous, disturbing novel that deals with the unpredictable and dangerous consequences of trying to alter history. Each small change in the past can have unforeseen results in the future. We've all had the desire to be able to go back and change something in the past that we wish had never happened.

Just don't ever try to go back to do it. Because the past will get you for it.

BEACH RATING : 3 and 1/2 Palm Trees

WHITECHAPEL Hunts Modern Day Jack the Ripper

2011-11-09T09:20:00.000-08:00

The British TV mini-series "Whitechapel" (BBC America cable and Comcast On Demand) deals with the hunt for a serial killer who is copying the savage murders committed by the infamous Jack the Ripper in London in 1888.

The new Ripper is mimicking the grisly details of the string of murders in the same locations on the modern streets of the district of Whitechapel.

The police team trying to stop the murders is led by an inexperienced young inspector who is in over his head. The team doesn't recognize the Ripper pattern until after the second murder.

When the police do try to stop the Ripper based on the historical location details, the attempt goes horrifyingly wrong.

The case grows even darker when an organ removed from one victim is mailed back to the police, taunting them just as the original Ripper did.

"Whitechapel" is a gripping, graphic crime series that does an effective job of transferring the hysteria of the original Ripper murders into the modern day world.

This series is a can't miss for those interested in the Jack the Ripper case, a hellish fiend who was never caught.

BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees

ATTACK THE BLOCK Romanticizes Street Thugs

2011-11-02T15:33:00.000-07:00

The premise of the movie Attack the Block (now on DVD) is bizarre: space aliens invade a London working class housing project called the Block.

The vicious aliens are then battled by teen street thugs from the Block. These are the same punks who routinely harass and mug other neighboring residents. The movie tries to humanize the thugs, even making them look heroic fighting the aliens.

The image conversion is too convenient and almost saccharine by the movie end. By contrast, the police are likened to the aliens as monsters and the enemy in their own right.

The problem of violent street thugs was evident in the recent London riots. A more realistic portrayal of this threat was depicted in the movie Harry Brown.

With its too-easy romanticizing of the teen punks, Attack the Block undercuts the biting social satire the movie otherwise offers at times.

BEACH RATING: 3 Palm trees

Creepy Paranoia At Work in THE HOUR

2011-09-20T10:22:00.000-07:00

Political conspiracy, TV journalism, and sinister deaths are all at work in the new British TV series "The Hour." (BBC America cable and Comcast On Demand)

The series is built around a fictional BBC journalism show called "The Hour." Set in the 1950s, the show deals with current news events like the Suez Canal crisis and the Soviet invasion of Hungary.

But one of the show's reporters stumbles onto a dangerous political story that somebody powerful doesn't want revealed. This was the era of the British spy scandals involving such Soviet moles as Philby, Burgess, and MacClean. Other highly placed Soviet agents in the British government were rumored never to have been exposed.

"The Hour" builds steadily on the creepy paranoia of that time when anyone might be watched and no one could be fully trusted. This stylish, literate series is a treat for fans of sinister political conspiracy dramas.

BEACH RATING: 3 and 1/2 Palm Trees

London Riots Predicted in HARRY BROWN

2011-08-12T19:56:00.000-07:00

The ugly violence of the recent riots in London was literally predicted in last year's bleak, angry crime drama "Harry Brown."

The movie, now on DVD, stars Michael Caine as a retired senior who lives locked inside his apartment like a frightened rabbit in an urban neighborhood under siege by vicious young thugs.

When the old man's best friend is brutally beaten to death by the gangs, Harry Brown gets a gun and goes on a rampage of his own.

The frustrated English police go in force against the territory of the thugs in what turns into an all-out urban war. The street battles are graphic, leading to the shocking deaths of police officers themselves.

There are no answers in the movie, only ugly questions about the breakdown of the rule of law and social order in a confrontation with an amoral, violent underclass.

"Harry Brown" is a disturbing, nightmarish movie. Unfortunately, it is now the face of reality on the streets of England.

Best Horror Movie This Year

2011-07-14T09:36:00.000-07:00

"Insidious" (just out on DVD) is a horror movie about fear of unseen evil forces existing in the very place where we live. Or perhaps even inside those we live with.

The situation is familiar. A young family is the victim of frightening happenings in their new home. But this time, it's not the house that's haunted. It may be someone in the family who is the true focus of evil.

The telling subtext of the story is the growing emotional conflict within the family. The wife is a terrified believer in the unseen evil threat. The husband is skeptical and curiously aloof from what's going on. We sense something is deeply wrong with one of these characters.

The family moves to a different house, but it doesn't help. A fervent psychic and her high-tech helpers are brought in to exorcise the evil around the family. The process seems to work at first, building a false sense of relief, only to lead to a monstrous twist ending shocker.

The word 'insidious" means something concealed or deceptive. That's just what the evil in this movie is. Unseen things lurking in the darkness around us. Or evil hiding dormant in the underlying psychological disturbance of someone very close to us.

BEACH RATING: 3 Palm Trees

Witches On Trial in Horror Thriller TRIAL OF RACHEL WILLIAMS

2011-06-12T15:19:00.000-07:00

The leader of a radical witchcraft cult stands trial for murder in a Seattle courtroom. That's the gripping premise of the new Suspense/Horror novel "The Trial of Rachel Williams."

The novel, written by the author of this blog, William Wilde, is published in Ebook format by Synergebooks.com. Also available at Amazon Kindle books and Barnes & Noble Nook books.

A cult led by controversial mystic Rachel Williams is linked to the gruesome death of a corporate executive. Her trial is a sensational case that grabs the headlines and turns into a modern day witchcraft trial.

The novel brings a sinister occult curse and a deadly conspiracy into the courtroom, all leading up to an explosion of violence.

"The Trial of Rachel Williams" is a provocative thriller that fans of the Suspense and Horror genres should relish.

Now on sale at Synergebooks.com only $2.99! Also at Kindle books and Nook books.

To read an Excerpt scene from the novel and buy, click on book cover icon in sidebar at right.

Best Crime Dramas on Television

2011-05-11T16:14:00.000-07:00

Plenty of Crime dramas are offered on TV screens. Here are the three best ones this season:

"The Killing" (AMC cable) - This Northwest noir series set in Seattle is moody and addictive as it probes the mystery of a teenage girl's murder. Sinister secrets swirl beneath the surface and echoes of the cult series "Twin Peaks" are everywhere.

"Justified" (FX cable) - Gritty backwoods crime drama set in Kentucky coal country. Based on the character of laconic, fast-draw U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens created by crime novelist Elmore Leonard. Violent menace lurks along every country backroad.

"Southland" (TNT Cable) - Tense ride on Los Angeles streets with patrol cops and case detectives. Realistic portrayal of the unpredictable, often violent, daily workdays and personal problems of police officers.

THE KILLING a Creepy Northwest Noir Mystery

2011-04-09T10:13:00.000-07:00

The new AMC cable series "The Killing" began with an intriguing premier. The series is set in Seattle, with plenty of rainy, moody Pacific Northwest noir atmosphere.

The body of a teenage girl is found in the trunk of a submerged car. A host of potential murder suspects are introduced: the victim's parents, a former boyfriend, a teacher, a city councilman and his staff. A bloody crime scene is found in the basement of the high school. Hanging over the entire story is the brooding question: "Who killed Rosie Larsen?"

Echoes of the great cult series "Twin Peaks" are everywhere ("Who killed Laura Palmer?") but without the head-twisting surrealist style of David Lynch. "The Killing" seems more of a complex, sinister mystery with dark, hidden undercurrents waiting to be uncovered.

Based on its strong start, "The Killing" could become as addictive as the iconic "Twin Peaks" itself got to be.

BEACH RATING: 3 & 1/2 Palm Trees

Overlooked Suspense Movie Sleepers

2011-04-02T10:33:00.000-07:00

When these movies came out in recent years, they got decent reviews, but not a lot of attention from movie goers. These provocative, overlooked sleepers deserve to be rediscovered.

"Lakeview Terrace" - An interracial couple moves into a suburban neighborhood in the Los Angeles hills. The husband is white, the wife black. Their new neighbor, an L.A. cop, doesn't like their racial pairing one bit.

The twist here is that the neighbor is black, portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson in a scary performance. This bigot shows that racism comes in all colors.

The tension between neighbors builds into irrationality, and finally violence, all set against the great backdrop metaphor of L.A. wildfires raging toward the neighborhood.

"Lakeview Terrace" works as a tense, lurid thriller even as it asks hard questions about racial attitudes that are uncomfortable to face.

"Zodiac" - The Zodiac killer terrorized San Francisco in the 1970s in a series of brutal, random murders. This movie, directed by David Fincher, focuses not on the killer, but on the reporter who worked the case until it began to eat away at his own life.

The movie is a portrayal of obsession and growing paranoia on the part of the reporter. The Zodiac killer was never caught. The movie suggests who the killer might have been and that the reporter may have even met him.

"Zodiac" slowly builds an unsettling atmosphere of subtle menace. An intense, smartly crafted psychological drama that leaves the viewer with a sense of unease.

Spenser Goes Out in Style

2011-03-05T08:44:00.000-08:00

Robert B. Parker's new novel, "Painted Ladies" , may be the last one featuring his signature character, Spenser, the one-name Boston private eye.

That's because Mr. Parker died in 2010. If this is the last Spenser novel that the author left behind, it's a nifty read.

The plot twists involve art theft, Nazi looting of art treasures, family secrets, and violent revenge. The dialogue is literate and witty, some of the sharpest stuff that Parker has written.

It's all reminiscent of the way that Spenser first appeared, searching for another missing masterpiece in "The Godwulf Manuscript", as the series circles back to its origins. It's almost like the author had a sense that this would be Spenser's final farewell.

"Painted Ladies" is Robert B. Parker at the top of his game. It's a fitting way for both the author and his iconic creation, Spenser, to go out. Doing what they did best.

BEACH RATING: 3 & 1/2 Palm Trees

For more of the best of the Spenser books, these are the ones to read:

"Promised Land"
"Early Autumn"

Grisham Stacks the Deck in THE CONFESSION

2011-02-20T09:55:00.000-08:00

John Grisham is opposed to the death penalty. He's made that clear in prior books like The Chamber and The Innocent Man. As a lawyer himself, Grisham supports legal groups that fight death penalty cases.

All well and good. Problem is, Grisham slants his new novel, The Confession, against capital punishment to a ridiculous degree.

The criminal case is set in Texas, which is portrayed as a neo-caveman state. The convicted man is a completely innocent and admirable young black man. The small town jury is all white. The public officials involved are blindly determined to carry out the execution, ignoring a new, credible confession by another man.

This is not Grisham's best work. He never shows any of the public officials as being honestly mistaken. He has to overload every one of them as being either purposely venal or corrupt. If Mr. Grisham had made his characters more humanly flawed, he could have had a realistic, harder hitting case against the death penalty. But he didn't.

BEACH RATING: 2 Palm Trees

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2 Delivers New Scares

2011-02-12T09:21:00.000-08:00

Hit movie sequels can somtimes be really bad. This one isn't.

"Paranormal Activity 2" has the same premise as the original movie. A family in a big suburban house is threatened by scary paranormal happenings. Security cameras set up seem to show that something supernatural is going on inside the house.

As in the first movie, the rationalist husband refuses to believe it. The wife and daughter are convinced the threat is real. Whatever is menacing the family feeds on the growing emotional turmoil in the household.

The entire movie is presented through the security camera footage or video cams used by the family members. This gives the movie an objective realism that builds the atmosphere of sinister apprehension.

We sit tensely fixed on the camera images, wary that something there is about to suddenly jump out at us. We know a big scare is coming. We just don't know when.

BEACH RATING: 3 Palm Trees

Claustrophobic Chills: BURIED and DEVIL

2011-02-01T16:15:00.000-08:00

Don't like being closed in? Tight spaces make you all anxious and sweaty? Then these two chilling movies aren't for you:

"Buried" - A kidnapping victim buried in a wooden box under the Iraq desert, with only a cell phone and a Zippo lighter to help him try to survive. An agonizing thriller that never leaves the point of view inside the cramped box. A biting metaphor both for the U.S. trapped in foreign wars and for the frustrations of high-tech phone systems.

"Devil" - Five people trapped twenty floors up in the stalled elevator of a high rise building. If that's not bad enough, one of them is the Devil in human form. Tense psychological horror with a supernatural angle and underlying subtext about the existence of Evil as an entity in its own right.

SOUTHLAND: A Hard Ride on L.A. Streets

2011-01-11T15:35:00.000-08:00

The TNT cable series "Southland" is an intense, graphic depictionof the pressure-filled lives of police officers.

The personal pressures faced by the series characters are many: painkiller addiction, marital discord, alcoholism, angry rage. Each sweaty-palmed vehicle stop by the patrol cops is only a step away from life-threatening violence.

There is no glamor here, only troubled lives and harsh realities, with few good outcomes. "Southland" is a hard ride to take on gritty L.A. streets, but it's a ride worth taking.

BEACH RATING: 3 & 1/2 Palm Trees

Most Disturbing Movies of 2010

2010-12-30T09:03:00.000-08:00

This handful of Suspense movies includes some of the most disturbing films of the past year. None were popular blockbusters, some were largely overlooked, but each of them was unsettling in its own way, leaving us with a feeling of unease after watching.

Harry Brown - Nasty urban drama about a senior citizen who lives like a frightened rabbit in a neighborhood under siege by vicious young thugs, until he fights back with violence of his own. Bleak, ugly, and ultimately hopeless. A precursor to the later London Riots.

The Ghostwriter - A paranoid, knife-sharp political thriller about the dangerous memoirs of a former Brit P.M., with a pitch black, amoral ending, and all directed by Roman Polanski.

Winter's Bone - Hardbitten family/crime drama set in the in-bred, clannish backwoods of the Ozarks. As harsh and raw as its rural wasteland backdrop.

Buried - A kidnapped man buried in a wooden box somewhere in the Iraq desert. A sweaty-palmed nightmare that's increasingly agonizing to watch.

Black Swan - Who knew ballet could be so psychotically creepy? A visceral representation of the drive for artistic perfection as existing on the razor-edge of insanity.

Stephen King's FULL DARK a Mixed Bag

2010-12-04T09:59:00.000-08:00

Stephen King's new collection, "Full Dark, No Stars," is a mixed bag of four long stories.

There are no supernatural horror tales here of the kind King is famous for. Two of the stories are dark crime pieces that explore the sick urges inside the black mind of the murderer which drive him to committ hideous acts of violence against other human beings.

The most entertaining entry is "Big Driver," in which a middle-aged mystery writer is the victim of a vicious sexual assault, then plots out her own chilling revenge on her attacker.

"Full Dark" is readable and full of graphic realism, but it's not King at the top of his game. That would be his last epic, "Under the Dome," a true thousand page classic. But we can't expect Mr. King to turn out a blockbuster like that every time.

BEACH RATING: 2 & 1/2 Palm Trees

THE WALKING DEAD a Scary Survival Epic

2010-11-10T19:55:00.000-08:00

The new AMC cable series, "The Walking Dead," is about the aftermath of a viral epidemic that wipes out most of human society.

A handful of still uninfected people attempt to survive in a post-disaster world, battling growing tensions and competition among themselves.

Oh, by the way, they are also continually menaced by the walking undead victims of the plague, zombies who relentlessly hunt for healthy human flesh to eat.

The Walkers are really a grisly metaphor for the innate violent impulse always lurking within human nature itself.

For the hiding colony of survivors, facing the threat of the Walkers is scary enough. Facing up to their own psychological limits in such a nightmare world is even scarier.

BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees

Halloween Horror Movie Picks

2010-10-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

On October 31st, lock the doors and enjoy a scare-fest with these Horror chillers:

The All-Time Bests

"The Exorcist" - A confrontation with demonic possession in a Georgetown townhouse. A horror masterpiece with a profound underlying theme about the existence of Evil.

"Halloween" - John Carpenter's relentless terror machine strips fear down to raw essentials in a small town neighborhood. Every scene and dialogue line seems chillingly perfect.

Creature Features - Vintage Horror Classics

"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956) - A paranoid Fifties metaphor about forced conformity into mass society.

"Them!" - Best of the "Big Bug" movies, about radiation-mutated giant ants. Reflects anxieties of the Nuclear Age.

Offbeat Shivers

"Wolfen" - Two cops track a pack of super-intelligent killer wolves in New York City. A moody, scary undiscovered gem.

Truly Frightening - The real nightmare stuff

"Night of the Living Dead" - George Romero's original 1968 classic. The black and white documentary style gives it even more shocking realism.

"Jeepers Creepers" - Siblings on a Midwest road trip are hunted through cornfield country by a hideous man-raptor predator. Absolutely creepy and disturbing to watch.

GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Scores as Book and Movie

2010-08-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

How many times do we read a startling, electric new novel, only to see it later turned into a lifeless, brain-dead movie portrayal? Not the case with "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."

The novel by Swedish author Stieg Larsson is a sinister, twisted crime puzzle with scenes of perverse violence and two strong main characters. Mikael Blomkvist is a dogged, moody reporter. Lisbeth Salander is the angry, tattooed punk computer hacker who ends up helping Blomkvist investigate a string of missing young women.

As good as the novel is, the Swedish movie version with subtitles doesn't disappoint. The violence is even more disturbing when filmed with coldly clinical reality.

Sink into the novel first and enjoy its rich depth, then check out the movie. Both stay in the mind long afterwards.

BEACH RATING: Book and Movie 4 Palm Trees

Paranoia Rife in THE GHOSTWRITER and RUBICON

2010-08-10T10:55:00.000-07:00

The Political Conspiracy thriller has roots in such classics as "The Manchurian Candidate," "The Parallax View," and "All The President's Men."

Two recent newcomers are worthy additions to the genre:

"The Ghostwriter" - This creepy Roman Polanski film concerns a writer who is hired to ghost the memoir of a former British Prime Minister. As the writer uncovers dangerous new secrets behind the memoir, his paranoid fears for his own safety run wild, with good reason. The film ending is even darker than the excellent Robert Harris novel that the movie is based on.

"Rubicon" - This new AMC cable TV series deals with an analyst in a minor U.S. intelligence office and a sinister conspiracy among government officials that he may have stumbled upon. Tension mounts as new pieces of obscure data fall into place. But as the analyst digs deeper, he fears he is being watched himself by unknown, powerful forces. The series is a metaphor for the murky world of intelligence work, where nothing is ever completely known and the constant oppressive secrecy leads to inevitable paranoia.

MAD MEN: Selling To The Id

2010-07-13T09:41:00.000-07:00

The AMC cable TV series "Mad Men" is about both selling advertising and selling out. The ads are pitched to the Id: that jungle of impulses and desires in the subconscious mind that can push people into rash emotional choices.

The series characters at the Madison Avenue agency struggle with similar rash behavior in their own personal lives. The constant haze of tobacco smoke and the habitual drinking are great metaphors for the blurry moral lines readily crossed by the characters who work at the agency.

The superficial illusions of the ad campaigns are another ironic comment on the clever, cool public masks worn by the characters to cover their troubled identities and insecurities underneath.

"Mad Men" is an Emmy winner that starts its new season at the end of July. For moody, heavily character-driven drama, TV doesn't get better than this.

BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees

Decoding LOST: What It All Means

2010-05-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

The finale of "Lost" provided a moving closure for this enigmatic, addictive series. Here's The Beach's take on what it all meant:

1. The original Oceanic Airlines flight crashed and all aboard died.

2. Some of the victims who died together were unwilling to accept their deaths. Their souls came together to create a collective illusion that they had survived the crash.

3. The Island was an imaginary Purgatory in which this group moved through a gauntlet of trials as they struggled against the truth of their deaths.

4. The sideways lives in Los Angeles were a second illusion that the plane had landed safely and they had all resumed their previous lives.

5. The character of Desmond was the first to see that these illusions of survival never really existed. He acted as a link to help the others eventually recognize this truth.

6. Jack was the last to come to accept the realization that they had all died. His death on the Island in the final scene was acceptance that the illusion of the Island was finally gone.

Questions will still remain about where other characters fit into the complex puzzle of the series. What matters is that, in the end, all of the crash victims who died together wanted to stay together to cross over into whatever was ahead of them.

That is the last, great affirming message of "Lost."

JUSTIFIED Does Elmore Leonard Right

2010-05-11T16:02:00.000-07:00

The FX cable series "Justified" is based on a character created by crime novelist Elmore Leonard.

That character would be Raylan Givens, a laconic, tough minded, fast draw U.S. Marshal. In the TV series, Raylan is transferred back to his native Kentucky, where he tangles with rural skinheads and other violent types.

Raylan appeared previously in two nifty Leonard novels, "Pronto" and "Riding the Rap." The FX series gets the trademark style of Leonard just right: the street-smart, cool dialogue, the simmering menace of the plots.

Fans of sharply written crime drama should check out the novels and the "Justified" series. Elmore Leonard and Raylan Givens are the real deal.

Coen Brothers Movie Asks Big Questions

2010-02-13T15:36:00.000-08:00

Two recurring themes run through the movies of Joel and Ethan Coen. Fatalism and Absurdity. Their latest movie, "A Serious Man," embodies both themes.

The main character, Larry Gopnick, is a college professor in a mid-life crisis, beset by a scourge of adversity: divorce, tenure threat, no money. Larry is trying to figure out why all this is happening to him and what his own life means.

Science and Religion provide no answers. Larry teaches quantum physics, but his whole blackboard full of equations only proves that nothing in reality is known for certain.

The three Rabbis he consults offer only absurd advice. One babbles about the sheer wondrous reality of a parking lot. The next rabbi sees life as an unknowable, perverse mystery. The oldest rabbi sage quotes lyrics from a Jefferson Airplane song.

Larry is left to find his own meaning for his life. The movie ending is ominous. Larry's doctor calls with bad news about an x-ray. A dangerous tornado funnel is approaching the area. The precariousness of human life remains always.

Larry's struggles may remind some of the Book of Job. But the movie more closely reflects the bleak fatalism of the Book of Ecclesiastes.

"A Serious Man" doesn't give us any answers, only serious questions to think about long afterward.

BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees

Robert B. Parker R.I.P.

2010-01-22T09:14:00.000-08:00

Robert B. Parker wrote mystery novels. That's what he did and he did it pretty well. It was enough.

His signature character was Spenser, the one-name Boston P.I. who was both brainy and bruising. Spenser was suave when he wanted to be and a tough guy when he had to be. He would probably describe himself as an upscale thug. When Spenser teamed up with his casually amoral, violent black friend Hawk, they were a pair you didn't want to mess with.

The Spenser books were literate and witty, but always with an implied sense of menace below the surface. The novels had an easy, snappy readability.

But Parker wasn't perfect. The by-play could get too mannered, the dialogue a little too cute. Spenser worked too hard at being a smart ass sometimes.

That said, it was always a treat to pick up a new Spenser book because we knew it would be entertaining. Reportedly, the author left behind other Spenser novels not yet published.

But reading them just won't be as much fun anymore with Robert B. Parker gone.

Michael Crichton R.I.P.

2010-01-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

Michael Crichton knew how to write a book you couldn't put down.

He pretty much invented the modern Techno-Thriller in the Seventies with The Andromeda Strain and Terminal Man and later, Jurassic Park.

His novels were plot-driven Science Fiction speculations. They were set in today's world, which gave them scary plausibility. He used extensive factual research to make his books even more realistic.

Characters and dialogue weren't his strengths. That wasn't what he did. What he did was write fast paced plot and action and invent scientific crises that he made us believe could really happen.

After his death, a new manuscript was found in his files. Pirate Latitudes, a speculative historical novel. A last gift to readers from the author.

We can only regret there won't be many more books to come from him. Thanks for all the great reading thrills, Mr. Crichton.

Stephen King Writes A Classic With UNDER THE DOME

2010-01-03T15:34:00.000-08:00

Stephen King's new novel "Under The Dome" is his best book in years, worthy to rank with his early classics in the Seventies and Eighties.

The premise of "Dome" is diabolical: A small Maine town is trapped underneath an enormous, impregnable dome that suddenly appears from somewhere.

The origin of the Dome is a mystery. But the real heart of the novel is what happens to the townspeople when the Dome comes down on top of them.

The Dome crisis brings out the inner strength and the good in some people. It brings out the ugly and the really crazy bad in others.

The Good Group and the Bad Group are pitted against each other in a struggle for power and survival inside the Dome. This conflict in essential human nature is a familiar King theme. King fans will hear echoes from "The Stand," one of his early greats.

"Dome" is a long read, a thousand pages plus. Amazingly, King keeps the pace in the red zone all the way, building to a violent, horrifying apocalyptic climax.

"Under The Dome" is a sociological horror novel and a chilling cautionary tale that shows how easily ordinary humans can turn into moral monsters. All it takes is the right trigger.

This monumental creative effort is a true epic. Way to go, Mr. King.

BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY Delivers Smart Scares

2009-10-29T08:52:00.000-07:00

"Paranormal Activity" is a horror movie about supernatural forces inside a suburban home. But it may be about something else as well.

Micah and Katie are the young couple threatened. Micah responds with male rationalism, using a camcorder to document the spooky events while he jokes about the whole thing.

Katie reacts much more emotionally, treating the problem as serious. We learn she's experienced similar paranormal occurrences previously in her life.

The subtext of the movie is the tension below the surface of the relationship between Micah and Katie. As the eerie incidents turn more threatening, Katie becomes increasingly antagonistic toward Micah.

She belittles his practical efforts to solve the problem and calls him "completely powerless." As Katie becomes more upset, the paranormal events become more violent. It's as if Katie and the unseen entity are linked together, feeding on each other's turbulence.

The movie ending is a sudden shocker that explodes out of the situation with stark finality.

"Paranormal Activity" is the kind of horror movie that explores the social and personal tensions we are most afraid of. This is a horror movie that thinks while it scares us.

BEACH RATING: 3 Palm Trees

DISTRICT 9: Science Fiction That Matters

2009-08-29T09:23:00.000-07:00

Let's just get it said up front: "District 9" is a stunner of a movie.

The plot opens fast and moves like a bullet through intense sequences to an unsettling finale.

"District 9" is a flat-out frightening movie, but not for the reasons that we might expect.

Not for the revolting appearance of the alien "Prawn" creatures themselves. Not for the visceral, frenetic violence of the relentless action scenes.

No, "District 9" is scary for the actual socio-political ideas that underlie the film.

The movie is a literal metaphor for xenophobia: hatred and fear of alien outsiders.

In this case, the aliens are from space. But the movie could just as well be talking about the status of current alien minority populations within human societies. Muslim enclaves in Europe. Hispanic ghettos in the U.S.

The reactions to the alien problem in "District 9" are disturbing. Mistreatment of the creatures. Segregation. Ghetto slums. Relocation. Concentration camps. And perhaps the last unspoken step: Extermination.

"District 9" uses the S-F genre to pose ugly questions that we might want to avoid otherwise. This is what Science Fiction that matters looks like.

BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees

Horror Movies: All But Dead?

2009-07-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

The Horror Movie genre has itself become one of the walking dead lately.

Seen a really interesting, inventive horror movie recently? That's right, nobody else has either.

The genre has degenerated into formula slasher junk, remakes of tired franchise series, and comic-horror spoofs.

How many more tedious revisits to vampire or zombie characters do we have to be subjected to?

How far back do we have to go to find a horror movie with any kind of fresh concept? 28 Days Later? The Ring? Blair Witch Project?

What was the last imaginative creature feature to come out? The Host? Jeepers Creepers? Mimic?

The last slasher film with any glimmer of an actual thought was The Strangers. But not in a good way. In that movie, the attackers are anonymous, practically faceless strangers. Why did they do it? "Because we could," one of them answers. They drive away unknown in an old pickup. There are no consequences.

The Strangers is amoral and nihilistic. It represents a final dead-end road of sadism for its own sake. If the Horror Movie is to survive, it needs to get off that road and find new ways to portray the elemental fears of modern human existence.

Otherwise, the genre will become its own last, mutilated victim.

Race In The Movies: GRAN TORINO and LAKEVIEW TERRACE

2009-06-15T09:13:00.000-07:00

Two recent movies deal with the sharp-edged topic of race relations in American society.

In one movie, a bitter bigot confronts the poison within him. In the other movie, the bigot does not.

"Gran Torino" is a biting social drama set in Detroit, where everyday racism among a mix of ethnic groups is open and pervasive.

Clint Eastwood, in a signature performance, portrays Walt Kowalski, a retired auto worker who loathes the immigrants who have taken over his old neighborhood. But a crime forces him into a grudging connection with the Laotian family next door. That sour acceptance leads Kowalski to truths about himself, to confrontation with a vicious street gang, and ultimately, tragedy.

"Lakeview Terrace" is a suspense thriller in which an interracial couple moves into the suburban hills of Los Angeles.

The husband is white, the wife black. Her father doesn't like their marriage. Their black neighbor, an L.A. cop, really doesn't like it.

The neighbor is played by Samuel L. Jackson in a scary performance. The different angle here is that the bigot is black and he shows that racism comes in all colors.

The neighbor's prejudice is so poisonous that it drives him finally into irrationality and violence shown against the great backdrop metaphor of L.A. wildfires raging toward the neighborhood.

Neither movie offers easy answers to ugly questions. "Gran Torino" is gritty and thoughtful. "Lakeview Terrace" is lurid and more disturbing.

Both movies deserve to be seen, even if the harsh mirrors they hold up for us are often uncomfortable to look into.

24 Versus Obama Smackdown

2009-04-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

This season of the TV series "24" is a pretty obvious commentary on the Obama terrorism policies.

Jack Bauer represents the "whatever it takes" approach to stop terrorist plots.

The Obama crowd's "by the book" legalistic softness is represented by Larry Moss, the clueless FBI head agent, and by a moralistic Senator who wants to put Jack Bauer on trial.

Guess who blocks the terrorists at every turn? That's right, it's Jack, with his no-holds-barred tactics.

Who screws up at every turn? FBI dummy Larry, whose own team is infiltrated by a mole. The pansy Senator's own chief aide is a part of the terrorist plot.

Not too hard to read between the lines there. "24" has got it right.

To stop mass casualties, who you gonna call? Obama's pointy-head lawyers? Didn't think so.

Better keep Jack Bauer on speed dial. Enough said.