The Affair (Season 1)

Showtime brings us a series about a New York Teacher and novelist named Noah who starts an affair with a waitress named Alison while vacationing with his family in a small town in Long Island.   It’s a sensual story well-told by first giving us Noah’s point of view and then at the half way point switching to Alison’s point of view, most of the time seeing the same series of events unfold but in a completely different way.  Underlining the story is a murder mystery that book ends each episode.   This is certainly a worthwhile series to watch with great acting from Dominic West and Ruth Wilson. A-

Therese Raquin by Emile Zola

What a wicked little book.  If Zola had been alive in the 1930s’ this would have been written as a film noir directed by Billy Wilder or Howard Hawks.  Set in 1860s, Therese is married off to her first cousin, Camille, to the glee of her aunt, Madame Raquin.  All three live together and run a shop in Paris.  The problem is Therese is very unhappy.  Her husband is a lazy twerp and her aunt a tyrant.  But one day Camille brings home a friend named Laurent.  The two quickly start a passionate affair and there’s only one way they realize they can remain together.  Murder.  This is the kind of psychological madness that one would expect in a contemporary novel but that just proves how a head of his time Zola was.  I always try to take some time to read one of the classics and this is one of those times I’m very grateful I did.  A perfect prologue to October, the month I devote to tales of the dark.  Grade: A

Lawrence of Arabia (1962) [Revisited]

I had the great pleasure of seeing this masterwork from David Lean presented at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood.  I’ve always wanted to see this film on the big screen in glorious 70mm but assumed I’d never see it that way.  The first time I watched this film was in college on a large square TV.  Thankfully it was at least in letterbox.  There really is nothing like this film.  It’s one of the greatest films ever, period.  Peter O’Toole is stunning.  He will forever be this complex and courageous figure for me.  Omar Shariff and Anthony Quinn also give excellent performances.  The story is about how T.E. Lawrence, the man and the legend he’d become as he unites the Arab tribes to fight World War I.  Lawrence’s emotional journey is the thread the pulls the audience forward.  The visuals are amazing and the music that goes with it remarkable.  If you live near a rival house, I suggest you wait to see it on the big screen.  But if you can’t wait don’t worry.  I have the film on Blu-Ray and it looks great.  Whatever you do, add this film to your bucket list now. Grade: A+

Homeland (Season 2)

I loved the first season of this modern take on the Manchurian Candidate and couldn’t wait to see if Claire Danes’ Carrie Mathison would be able to prove to the world that she was right.  Damian Lewis returns as Brody and there are some really nail-biting set ups throughout this season.   But there is a point in the show where I had to figure the writers changed things up a bit too early for my taste.  I suspect they felt they had to because they didn’t want to keep repeating the same tactics.  I think it was a mistake and can’t see how they’re going to make the next season very believable (although the last scene was really cool).  The two shining stars of this show through are still Danes and Mandy Patinkin.  It’s their relationship that keeps me tuned in.  Grade: B+

14 by Peter Clines

Something bizarre is going on in Nate’s new brownstone apartment building.  He has a black light in the kitchen.  Weird bugs pop up that seems to have come from another world.  And there’s the door across the hall that no one knows why it’s locked.  As he talks to his neighbors he discovers that they’ve all noticed something odd but have just let it go.  Why not?  At such a cheap rent, who wants to wreck a good thing?  But with nothing else going on with his life, Nate convinces his neighbors to investigate.  What they find is a really fun and scary adventure.  Cline’s book is a breezy read with slick plotting and likable characters.   Grade: A-

Area 51 (2015)

I only decided to watch this because it was made by the director of “Paranormal Activity” and I thought he might have a cool take on the alien abduction sub-genre.  I was wrong.  It starts off pretty good.  Sure it’s your typical “found footage” movie but I like the way the characters are introduced.  Then when they get out to the army base halfway through it goes off the rails into disbelief.  There are some cool moments, even at the end, but the entire ordeal feels very pointless and a waste of my time.  Watch a good episode of The X-files instead.  Grade: C

The Leftovers (Season 1)

Easily the best television show on right now.  Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta collaborate to adapt Perrotte’s novel and the result is television gold.  The concept sounds like a Left Behind copycat but it’s not; it’s a work of art that explodes with ideas on existence, guilt and the true reason we’re here.  1% of the people of the world have just disappeared without any answers.  Follow those that are trying to survive in such a world where such a thing could happen.  It’s not at all what you think.  First there’s the cultists known as the Guilty Remnant, who wear white, smoke packs of cigarettes, refuse to talk and instead write everything with Sharpie and pads of paper.  There’s the Sheriff who witnesses dogs going crazy just as it seems he might be losing his mind as well.  There’s a son who finds himself a follower of a new prophet named Holy Wayne, who takes your pain away with a simple hug.   And there’s the pastor who will do everything he can think of to save his church and his soul.   It’s not a happy series but it’s very satisfying and very good.  Writing this good need to be celebrated, it’s right up there with Breaking Bad or Lost.  This shouldn’t surprise me since Lindelof is involved. I can’t write enough good things about this excellent series.  Justin Theroux is brilliant.  Amy Brenneman proves she’s more than Judge Amy, Christopher Eccleston delivers one of the best performances in his career,  Ann Dowd creates probably the most fascinating and psychological complex villains I’ve ever seen on the small screen.  Then there’s Carrie Coon who stole my heart; I love this woman’s talent.  There’s not a bad performance in the bunch.  I know this show isn’t for everyone: it’s  grim and it’s a bit complex.  But if you’re willing to take a very strange but intellectually stimulating ride, then jump on board.  It really is a very impressive first season.  Grade: A

The Woods by Harlan Coben

I enjoyed this mystery thriller very much.  Coben weaves an engaging tale of a prosecutor trying to convict two rapists, who suddenly is thrust into a murder investigation linked to the murder of his sister and her friends decades earlier.   Add in an ex-lover who is getting disturbing messages and you have a wonderful complex novel that is difficult to predict.  It’s a fast-paced read that’s well-written and structured exquisitely.  I don’t have much more to say except this is why I read this author and why I’ll be returning to him in the future.  Grade: A-

Time Lapse (2014)

What a clever little movie.  Three roommates discover by accident that the apartment across the courtyard has a mysterious camera, a large monstrosity, pointed at their window.  Every day it takes a picture but the Polaroid shows what will happen one day in the future.   Hence begins the kind of film you really can’t stop watching.  It’s like Philip K. Dick wrote Rear Window.  Grade: A-

Side by Side (2012)

Keanu Reeves co-produces a documentary from Christopher Kenneally that examines the transition from film to digital.   Many directors and actors are interviewed, there’s an excellent understanding of the history of these formats and where we are today.  That said it’s only interesting if you like film making.  If you’re not a film maker, don’t care how films are made, then skip this talking heads, clip reel that ultimately celebrates the inevitable: digital’s domination and takeover.  Grade: B+

Game of Thrones (Season 5)

Another fantastic season for David Benioff and D. B. Weiss in a series that just keeps getting better and better.  There’s a lot to praise.  First let’s start with the finale; it’s the strongest finale to date.  Obviously the moment everyone is talking about (and thankfully wasn’t spoiled for me) is very shocking.  But the real reason to cheer is Daenerys’ storyline.  How cool was that?    Then there’s the episode “Hardhome” which is the best episode of the show.  What an amazingly crafted adventure for Jon Snow.  Sansa’s life is certainly worse, which is hard to believe considering her life at King’s Landing.  Tyrion has found his new mission.  Cersei finds herself a pariah.  The only character that doesn’t really get a very good storyline is Arya (it’s not bad it’s just ho-hum).  I don’t know what they’re going to do now, with George R.R. Martin still working on the next book, but from this point on, unless they delay production, the series will overtake the books.   That’s kind of strange.  Yet if there’s any team of writers and directors that can succeed at this is it's this one.  Grade: A