brownjay

In my years to trans versing various forms of content, I have come to realize that the best stories with the most compelling characters are ones that focus on the human condition.

Sometimes, we are treated to a story that comes out well for the protagonist, though most often, we discover the flaws of the human condition serve to be the undoing of a character that at the conclusion offers life as we often see and experience it.

For Saul Goodman, we already know that his story meets a sad end, as evidenced by the very first scene in season one of Better Call Saul, where we are shown a brief glimpse into the future existence of Jimmy McGill, as a result of his final undoing based on the events that transpire at the end of Breaking Bad.

Knowing this, I wondered how compelling a story could Vince and Co. make Jimmy/Saul, knowing that he is ruined eventually by his behavior and actions as evidenced by serving at the pleasure of Walter White.

Well, after 4 full seasons, I am surprised and pleased to admit that storytelling is in Vince Gilligan's DNA, as Saul is every bit as good as its predecessor, though in a very different and unique way.

Rather than offer a compare and contrast of the 2 shows, suffice it to say that building on the story that is known ( if one were a fan of Breaking Bad) I have come to have a deeper appreciation for a story and characters that stand separate and apart as a fully contained universe. Saul not only fills in the blanks of Jimmy's previous life, it introduces a whole now suite of characters to love and despise.

As a sentimentalist, I do wish there were more overt references to events from BB, but at the same time, I am thankful that I am not tuning in anymore just to get a BB reference. Instead, I am watching this show for its own merits and becoming emotionally involved in the stories and outcomes of characters that never existed until Saul become its own story.

I do have one complaint - I wish for lots more screen time of the Lydia Rodarte-Quayle character, who is compelling, beautiful and way underused in this show as well as BB. Next to Jennifer Carpenter in Dexter, she is my favorite female character in the past 25 years

Wow, talk about harsh reality setting in......

OK, for anyone who has watched this show's predecessor, "Breaking Bad", what is unfolding with season 2, episode 4 of "Better Call Saul" was to be expected, with the only question being: Was Jimmy driven to his change in behavior and ethics by the doubt and shifty undercutting of big brother, or does he decide on his own that following his own set rules is preferable to toeing the company line....

I think it is safe to say that Jimmy has made a deliberate decision to buck the rules and take matters into his hands.

Even so, the predictable consequences are hard to watch because we know it will not end well for Jimmy, and that all he holds dear is beginning to slip away. One can always nitpick the method the creators use to reflect a characters coming demise, however, I, for one, find these character studies the most intriguing story lines about the human condition, as I have spent my life trying to understand why some people, notwithstanding upbringing and family backing, choose to throw it away for a life of disappointment, scorn, ridicule, not to mention threat of incarceration and bodily harm.

Jimmy is a man bent on doing things for his reasons, possibly incapable of understanding that his actions and behaviors have consequences. As the season has unfolded each episode has grown more difficult to watch and as I watch Jimmy slowly shift to the person I know that he will become, I realize how hard it will be when he breaks with the world that we have come to inhabit with him, and watch as the shift unfolds and he embarks on a different kind of life then he could have had.

As the #1 streaming giant Netflix continues to evolve from buyer of content to a creator of original content, the number of compelling shows not found anywhere on your TV channel guide continues to amass.

I have been a dedicated fan of House of Cards, tried and then passed on Orange is the New Black, enjoyed their rendering of season 4 for both the Killing and Longmire as well as several of their self produced documentaries.

Which brings us to one of their latest offerings, Marvel's Jessica Jones.

Given that I am not much of a fan for superhero genre, I had reservations about the show and story, until I learned the Krysten Ritter was slotted to play the lead character. I know little about her acting background other than she was stunning, with a tinge of sadness, as the love interest to the Jesse Pinkman character during season 2 of Breaking Bad. As Jessica Jones, she plays a broken, but still fighting against evil, former superhero turned private investigator.

Her character and story is formed slowly and as the pieces come together, we begin to understand the mystery behind why she is abrasive and yet compassionate, afraid and fearless, direct and then sometimes reticent. Her internal conflict evolves from having to come to gripes with a dark and troubling past life as a superhero. In short, the superhero backdrop offers a plot vehicle to form a engaging and moving story about the human condition.

While Ritter may be early in her acting career, she carries this show with ease and conviction and her ability to emote and pull you into her sad and conflicted story has turned this show into one of my current favorites.

As she builds her career as a private investigator, the cast of other characters that complete the background of the story amass, and the framework of her internal battle is fleshed out in such a way that the puzzle begins to take shape, the pieces start to fit together and are colorized, and subtleties are added, such that by the latter part the first season, I found myself surprised to be hooked and caring what happens next.

While giving props to several other important characters in the show, Jessica Jones is clearly a vehicle for Krysten Ritter to shine and add a necessary piece to her acting resume. With the exception of Jennifer Carpenter's blunt and foul mouthed sister in Dexter, I hold Ritter in a close 2nd as the most watchable female actress on video today.

In short, as long as the story line and dialogue continues to hit the same high mark as season 1, this show has the possibility to be a ratings giant for Netflix and offer another reason to keep watching.

Rectify, through season 2, is a seldom watched show that has a unique and subtle sense of pacing and tells a story with such amazing grace and timing, that I have found I am mourning the loss of Daniel's youth, while wondering in the back of my mind if his release is more of an accident of science rather than it proving another guilty man innocent.

The acting is uniformly excellent, which special recognition to Aden Young, who performs the lead role with flawless ease and subtle tension. This is a show where the writing and character story-lines carry each episode, and if given time, one cannot help but yield to the premise of this series.

It matters little to me if I ever know what happened on the night in question, it only matters that the show continues to harness the talent in front and behind the camera to continue bringing top flight drama for years to come.

I have been moved countless times by many different story moments, and while too early to be called a classic, it has the early markings of one of the best shows to debut since the advent of Cable TV.

Over the last 6 months of watching 8 seasons of Dexter, I have watched and grown to admire the talent across the board involved in the story of a serial killer with a twist. Several themes were explored in some detail that I found compelling and the quality of the acting in most cases was believable and served to keep the story and thematic elements from degrading into 2nd tier entertainment.

That being said, it appears that somewhere along the way, either the writers/creator of the series exhausted their toolbox of new and interesting elements to explore to keep Dexter a top notch show or Showtime imposed a heavy hand and got in the way of the creative process.

Regardless of the reasons for the shift in quality and content, my attitude and appreciation of the show was subdued as season 8 progressed toward the final chapter, and now that I have watched the last episode, I am dumbfounded to explain the lack of closure that I believe permeates the ending of Dexter.

While I found the interchange between Debra and Dexter as good as ever, many of the other plot elements did not ring true and left me with a sense of unfulfilled expectations.

I am OK that Dexter did not perish and I am OK that Deb met an untimely end, I am just not good with the storytelling of this final chapter. I think we can agree that with any fictional account, we as viewers are forced to suspense our disbelief in order to keep tuning in. It is part of the process and I accept that sometimes the plot and story demand that I look past inconsistencies or unrealistic scenarios if I am to stay interested in the characters and the show.

With this mind, it was with some misgivings that I continued to watch Dexter knowing that as the show progressed, the believability of the story was becoming harder for me to accept and not openly question.

Nonetheless, given that I was so heavily invested in the show and that I had grown very fond of one of the biggest potty-mouthed characters in all of television, I chose to keep watching.

In the final analysis, I believe there is a much stronger story that can be told in bringing Dexter to an end; I do not pretend to have the formula or story line to help make that happen; nonetheless, as a viewer who has spent nearly 80 hours watching a compelling story about a deeply flawed man and the people that surround him, it is with great disappointment that I look back on a show and know that the creator did not exit the stage with the bang I was expecting.

OK, let me start by saying that I am a late age male, who understands and appreciates the need to include authenticity to make a drama synch up to reality, however I am surprised to admit that "Orange is the New Black" has driven home the point to me that adult fare, whether on Netflix, HBO, AMC, Showtime or any other venue that is not associated with one of the big commercial television networks, has taken a turn that I find disturbing and another signal of the decline of western civilization.

What I am speaking of, you ask? Rampant profanity, excessive nudity and a show that, in the early episodes that I was determined to watch, seems to be a sanctioned version of soft porn.

Yes, I know its a prison drama/comedy, and use of the F word is to be accepted as part of common prison vernacular, but the depiction of womens anatomy and sexual activities is just not necessary and serves to distract from the story and pacing, and has caused me to question what constitutes good television versus a show that has descended into B grade storytelling?

When I strip away the vulgar excesses, the story, with interesting kernels of info dispensed about the justice system, as well as the back flashes of each of the main characters offers up a show that has huge potential, but with all of the other B grade TV elements, it has caused me to step back and question my viewing habits.

I have watched and enjoyed several other adult dramas not of the commercial TV fare, and each has its share of profanity and adult situations, however none has gone to the excesses that Orange offers thru the first several episodes.

As a viewer, I have chosen the little time I spend watching TV in shows that offer a story worth telling, with realistic characterizations, which include situations that do not always have to end happily, and I am willing to watch and look past thematic elements that are required to keep the story moving forward, but when I find that I am growing embarrassed as a show moves thru its paces of telling a story, I realize that I am compromising my expectations just to be watching something.

As a result, I struggle to endorse this show, as it poses to offer B grade TV fare as compelling TV drama, and it does so in a way that offends as much as it entertains.

Watch if you must, but be forewarned that it appears to be walking a fine line between drama and adult soft porn.

I have loved this movie since the first time I saw it in college in 1979. It has held surprisingly well, which I cannot say about many of the movies from my youth.

The writing & story are top notch, the acting, especially by Paul Dooley and Barbara Barrie, are on the mark.

I won't recount the plot, but, in a nutshell, this is a movie about choices and sticking to what you believe, and in the end, the consequences that you reap from those choices.

No grand special effects, and no epic implications, just a movie about everyday people told in an engaging way that allows the viewer to be drawn into the story, which is laced with humor, drama and some fine music.

UPDATE (July 2013) Interesting to note that my older children, especially my older sons, have watched this movie repeatedly and have found elements of humor and reflection that I either missed or forgot over the years.

In my mind, this film and story make the case that by early 21st century standards (over the top special effects, highly stylized musical scores and trendy movie genres), this movie still merits viewing, which proves that a good story and acting will always find an audience, regardless of when and by whom it was produced.

On a purely visceral level, SNF is a joy to watch, as Travolta, Gorney, Pescow and others all demonstrate that they can move to the sound of the beat, and the music etched by the Bee Gees and others (don't miss out on the Trammps "Disco Infereno") provide a riveting backdrop for the performers to strut. However, on a more human level, the movie expresses in simple and sometimes violent terms, the struggle that kids on the edge of being adults face everywhere in this country and others -where do I fit in, how do I make my way in life? For Tony, the dance floor provides an outlet that undergirds his self esteem and gives him plenty of opportunities to score with chicks (Pescow even prompts him for sex by bringing the rubbers), but it does nothing to address his desire to make his mark as an adult. Living at home, kicking in for food, working at a paint store and blowing $20 or $30 a night at the 2001 Odyssey leaves a void that only becomes apparent when he meets Stephanie (Gorney) and tries his best to score with her by asking her to be his partner in the upcoming dance contest. It is a boy meets girl, boy gets girl? story, laced with compelling dialogue and subplots. PARENTS BEWARE: this movie features an extreme amount of profanity, a rape sequence, depicts women in a largely unfavorable light and contains a tough death scene.

In short, it is a movie that has stood the test of time since its release in 1977. It made Travolta a star (he was nominated for the Best Actor oscar as was Gorney for best supporting actress) and it deserves high marks on many levels. Please stay away from the sequel "Staying Alive". Stallone discards everything from the original but Travolta and the story is mundane and predictable.

Note: Rent the 25th anniversay DVD as it contains 3 deleted scenes and commentary from director John Badham, which offers insight into Badham's thought process as he directed and edited the movie.