Aquarius (NBC May 28) is a new crime series that journeys through both the psychedelic exuberance and the darkest depths of the iconic 1960s decade.
The Sixties era was a time of political turmoil over the Vietnam war, when many kinds of revolution were in the air. It was a period that encompassed psychedelic drugs, the Summer of Love, and visionary rock music from The Beatles, Dylan, The Doors, and Jefferson Airplane.
But the Sixties was also infamous for the crimes of the notorious Manson Family - a ragged communal cult that committed a series of horrific California murders under the mesmerizing sway of the demonic Charles Manson.
Aquarius begins in 1967 Los Angeles as LAPD detective Sam Hodiak (played by David Duchovny) looks into the case of a missing teenage girl. He learns the girl may have joined a creepy band of hippie drifters. That puts Hodiak on the trail of the people who would become the Manson Family killers.
The TV series is set against the colorful backdrop of the Sixties culture scene, when the wild permissive freedom of the era degenerated into the frenzied, amoral blackness of the bloody crime scenes left behind by the Manson Family cult. Aquarius shows that beneath the surface of good vibes and pounding music, something evil and violent was already stirring.
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Thursday, April 30, 2015
WAYWARD PINES Series a Sinister Psychological Puzzle
Wayward Pines is a new mystery mini-series debuting on FOX TV May 14. The pilot episode (available now on Comcast On Demand) shows strong potential of a layered puzzle with unexpected twists to come.
Secret Service agent Ethan Burke is sent to the isolated town of Wayward Pines, Idaho to look for two missing fellow agents. He's involved in a sudden car crash and awakens in the town hospital. Nothing is normal after that.
Ethan can't get a phone call to the outside world. The local sheriff is menacing and unhelpful. The town residents seem to be hiding something. The highway out is a circular road, leading right back into the town again.
Ethan is suffering from a concussion. References are made to his past mental problems. Nothing about the town seems normal, or is it all in Ethan's own mind? Then it gets worse when he finds the body of one of the missing agents in an abandoned house.
Wayward Pines is directed by M. Night Shyamalan, whose past films have featured artificial reality situations with hidden secrets lurking beneath (Signs, The Village). In Wayward Pines, some characters seem to be manipulating events around Ethan, and at one point, he is referred to by a number. Is the whole town part of some kind of experiment or a test? Or is it a mental treatment facility or even a high tech prison?
Based on the first episode, Wayward Pines looks like a sinister psychological puzzle that should appeal to fans of other enigmatic series like Twin Peaks, Lost, and The Prisoner.
Secret Service agent Ethan Burke is sent to the isolated town of Wayward Pines, Idaho to look for two missing fellow agents. He's involved in a sudden car crash and awakens in the town hospital. Nothing is normal after that.
Ethan can't get a phone call to the outside world. The local sheriff is menacing and unhelpful. The town residents seem to be hiding something. The highway out is a circular road, leading right back into the town again.
Ethan is suffering from a concussion. References are made to his past mental problems. Nothing about the town seems normal, or is it all in Ethan's own mind? Then it gets worse when he finds the body of one of the missing agents in an abandoned house.
Wayward Pines is directed by M. Night Shyamalan, whose past films have featured artificial reality situations with hidden secrets lurking beneath (Signs, The Village). In Wayward Pines, some characters seem to be manipulating events around Ethan, and at one point, he is referred to by a number. Is the whole town part of some kind of experiment or a test? Or is it a mental treatment facility or even a high tech prison?
Based on the first episode, Wayward Pines looks like a sinister psychological puzzle that should appeal to fans of other enigmatic series like Twin Peaks, Lost, and The Prisoner.
Tuesday, April 14, 2015
BLOOD ON SNOW Another Jo Nesbo Crime Winner
Blood On Snow by Jo Nesbo is a new Crime novel from the Norwegian writer who has become one of the best in the genre. Nesbo is the author of the popular series featuring Oslo police detective Harry Hole.
Blood On Snow is a short, stand-alone novel whose main character, Olav, is a "fixer," a contract killer for his boss. But when his boss, Hoffmann, assigns Olav to kill Hoffmann's wife, Corina, it suddenly creates a dilemma for Olav.
While watching Corina, Olav first learns that she is having an extramarital affair. Then the longer Olav watches her life, the more he begins to fall for Corina himself.
Olav is a practical, uncomplicated man with no illusions about the hit man work that he gets paid to do. He is even philosophical about his role saying, "I was someone's destiny." When he closes in on a victim, he has "a feeling of order, of things falling into place."
But in the situation with Corina, Olav takes an atypical action that alters the sense of order he works by and may cost him his life as a result.
Blood On Snow is a gripping crime tale that races to a harsh finish. It's another satisfying winner for Jo Nesbo.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
Blood On Snow is a short, stand-alone novel whose main character, Olav, is a "fixer," a contract killer for his boss. But when his boss, Hoffmann, assigns Olav to kill Hoffmann's wife, Corina, it suddenly creates a dilemma for Olav.
While watching Corina, Olav first learns that she is having an extramarital affair. Then the longer Olav watches her life, the more he begins to fall for Corina himself.
Olav is a practical, uncomplicated man with no illusions about the hit man work that he gets paid to do. He is even philosophical about his role saying, "I was someone's destiny." When he closes in on a victim, he has "a feeling of order, of things falling into place."
But in the situation with Corina, Olav takes an atypical action that alters the sense of order he works by and may cost him his life as a result.
Blood On Snow is a gripping crime tale that races to a harsh finish. It's another satisfying winner for Jo Nesbo.
BEACH RATING: 4 Palm Trees
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
ENDANGERED by C.J. Box a Rugged West Crime Novel
Endangered by C.J. Box is the latest in the crime novel series that features Wyoming state game warden Joe Pickett. The novel is set against the rugged, sprawling western landscape that Pickett patrols, mostly alone.
The novel opens with Joe investigating the site of an illegal massacre of a flock of sage grouse, an endangered species. Before Joe can pursue the case further, he gets an unexpected call telling him that his step-daughter, April, has been found in a roadside ditch, brutally beaten and unconscious. It's uncertain whether she will survive.
Another crisis soon occurs when Joe's friend, Nate Romanowski, an undercover Federal informant, is set up and gunned down in a cold blooded ambush. After emergency surgery, Nate's life hangs in the balance.
As Pickett investigates both cases, he begins to wonder if the attacks on April and Nate are connected somehow. His digging points him toward the Cates family, a roughneck, violent clan that Joe Pickett may end up having to go against.
Endangered is a fast paced read, with several plot lines moving at the same time. Tough-skinned characters and the unforgiving western country add a strong regional flavor to the story.
Beach Rating: 4 Palm Trees
The novel opens with Joe investigating the site of an illegal massacre of a flock of sage grouse, an endangered species. Before Joe can pursue the case further, he gets an unexpected call telling him that his step-daughter, April, has been found in a roadside ditch, brutally beaten and unconscious. It's uncertain whether she will survive.
Another crisis soon occurs when Joe's friend, Nate Romanowski, an undercover Federal informant, is set up and gunned down in a cold blooded ambush. After emergency surgery, Nate's life hangs in the balance.
As Pickett investigates both cases, he begins to wonder if the attacks on April and Nate are connected somehow. His digging points him toward the Cates family, a roughneck, violent clan that Joe Pickett may end up having to go against.
Endangered is a fast paced read, with several plot lines moving at the same time. Tough-skinned characters and the unforgiving western country add a strong regional flavor to the story.
Beach Rating: 4 Palm Trees
Thursday, March 5, 2015
BROADCHURCH Returns With Season 2 Mystery
Broadchurch (BBC America Cable) is back for Season 2 of this gripping British mystery series.
Season 1 dealt with the investigation of a boy's murder in the small English seaside town of Broadchurch. Teamed on the case were detectives Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller. Hardy was an outsider assigned to the case, Miller a local native of the town. Miller personally knew many of the town residents, one of whom was secretly a killer.
The first season ended with a shocker: Detective Miller's own husband, Joe, turned out to be the killer. He was arrested and confessed to the crime as his wife reacted with stunned fury. She was sleeping right next to the killer all the time and never knew it. Case closed, right? Not so fast, it seems.
In the new season, Joe Miller suddenly pleads not guilty in court, throwing the case into renewed chaos. A full criminal trial is begun, forcing the town, and Detective Miller, to relive all the agonizing emotions of the boy's murder.
The trial threatens to expose previously unknown revelations about the murder case and suggests new trouble ahead for detectives Hardy and Miller. The unexpected trial is a wrenching plot twist on a case that viewers thought was solved and done with. But there seems to be more coming that we never knew about before.
Another bonus is the prickly, entertaining chemistry between the two detectives as they face the pressures around them. With a cast of characters with hidden secrets of their own, Broadchurch is an engrossing drama of sinister psychological mystery at its best.
Season 1 dealt with the investigation of a boy's murder in the small English seaside town of Broadchurch. Teamed on the case were detectives Alec Hardy and Ellie Miller. Hardy was an outsider assigned to the case, Miller a local native of the town. Miller personally knew many of the town residents, one of whom was secretly a killer.
The first season ended with a shocker: Detective Miller's own husband, Joe, turned out to be the killer. He was arrested and confessed to the crime as his wife reacted with stunned fury. She was sleeping right next to the killer all the time and never knew it. Case closed, right? Not so fast, it seems.
In the new season, Joe Miller suddenly pleads not guilty in court, throwing the case into renewed chaos. A full criminal trial is begun, forcing the town, and Detective Miller, to relive all the agonizing emotions of the boy's murder.
The trial threatens to expose previously unknown revelations about the murder case and suggests new trouble ahead for detectives Hardy and Miller. The unexpected trial is a wrenching plot twist on a case that viewers thought was solved and done with. But there seems to be more coming that we never knew about before.
Another bonus is the prickly, entertaining chemistry between the two detectives as they face the pressures around them. With a cast of characters with hidden secrets of their own, Broadchurch is an engrossing drama of sinister psychological mystery at its best.
Friday, February 20, 2015
NIGHTCRAWLER A Social Drama of Obsession
Nightcrawler (Now on DVD) is neither a suspense movie nor a crime movie, although it contains strong elements of each. Rather, the movie is a disturbing social commentary on the endless drive for visceral video footage in TV news coverage.
Lou Bloom is a freelance video shooter who makes a living selling raw video footage of car crashes, fires, and violent crime scenes to local TV stations in Los Angeles. He makes contact with a female news director eager to buy the most sensational footage Bloom can supply.
Bloom is a manipulative, ruthless competitor. He is essentially a sociopathic personality with no internal moral workings beyond his own obsessive personal goals. He begins to cross all ethical and legal boundaries in his pursuit of the most graphic video images to sell.
Bloom's manic conduct builds tensely, with ominous foreboding of a bad end point coming. When it does happen, the violent results are sudden and hideous.
Nightcrawler is also a biting commentary on the TV news culture itself. The daily news cycle is a ravenous beast that must be constantly fed with new red meat stories in order to attract viewers and gain ratings. Viewers are drawn to the most sensational video material. We can't look away from the graphic scenes of carnage in spite of ourselves. TV news exploits this for its own commercial benefit.
The cycle goes on, day after day, always seeking the next new raw spectacle to report. This is the other side of the screen from Lou Bloom's amoral camera lens. And it all never stops coming.
Lou Bloom is a freelance video shooter who makes a living selling raw video footage of car crashes, fires, and violent crime scenes to local TV stations in Los Angeles. He makes contact with a female news director eager to buy the most sensational footage Bloom can supply.
Bloom is a manipulative, ruthless competitor. He is essentially a sociopathic personality with no internal moral workings beyond his own obsessive personal goals. He begins to cross all ethical and legal boundaries in his pursuit of the most graphic video images to sell.
Bloom's manic conduct builds tensely, with ominous foreboding of a bad end point coming. When it does happen, the violent results are sudden and hideous.
Nightcrawler is also a biting commentary on the TV news culture itself. The daily news cycle is a ravenous beast that must be constantly fed with new red meat stories in order to attract viewers and gain ratings. Viewers are drawn to the most sensational video material. We can't look away from the graphic scenes of carnage in spite of ourselves. TV news exploits this for its own commercial benefit.
The cycle goes on, day after day, always seeking the next new raw spectacle to report. This is the other side of the screen from Lou Bloom's amoral camera lens. And it all never stops coming.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
BETTER CALL SAUL a New Crime Series Gem
Better Call Saul (AMC Network) had an entertaining two episode debut that showed strong future promise. The new series is a prequel spinoff from the classic series Breaking Bad, and features sleaze ball criminal lawyer Saul Goodman.
The new series begins while Saul is still named Jimmy McGill and trying to survive while doing public defender cases for peanuts. But the seeds of the future Saul Goodman are already being planted.
Jimmy sets up a phony pedestrian injury scam with two skateboarding brothers, but the plan goes grotesquely wrong. The subsequent leg breaking scene in the desert is a blackly comic gem that's as outrageous as the wildest scenes in Breaking Bad.
Another plus is the return of two familiar characters from Breaking Bad -- tough oldster Mike Ehrmantraut and drug thug psycho Tuco.
Still in process is Jimmy McGill's transition into Saul Goodman. He changes his name because he thinks it gives him more credibility if clients believe he is a shrewd Jewish lawyer. Later to come are the shoddy TV ads, "Better Call Saul!" and the strip mall office.
The fun of Better Call Saul will be seeing Saul's ongoing character transition while he tries to survive entanglements with various dangerous criminal clients. It looks like a great ride is in store for viewers.
The new series begins while Saul is still named Jimmy McGill and trying to survive while doing public defender cases for peanuts. But the seeds of the future Saul Goodman are already being planted.
Jimmy sets up a phony pedestrian injury scam with two skateboarding brothers, but the plan goes grotesquely wrong. The subsequent leg breaking scene in the desert is a blackly comic gem that's as outrageous as the wildest scenes in Breaking Bad.
Another plus is the return of two familiar characters from Breaking Bad -- tough oldster Mike Ehrmantraut and drug thug psycho Tuco.
Still in process is Jimmy McGill's transition into Saul Goodman. He changes his name because he thinks it gives him more credibility if clients believe he is a shrewd Jewish lawyer. Later to come are the shoddy TV ads, "Better Call Saul!" and the strip mall office.
The fun of Better Call Saul will be seeing Saul's ongoing character transition while he tries to survive entanglements with various dangerous criminal clients. It looks like a great ride is in store for viewers.
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