The Twilight Zone (Season 2)

I just finished another brilliant season from this classic Rod Sterling landmark television program.  I would have to say overall this one is on par with the last season, proving how great writing is enjoyable and inspiring no matter when it was made.   The best episodes are "The Eye of the Beholder" (A woman awaiting for the results of her plastic surgery", "Nick of Time", (a man obsessed over little fortune-telling machine), "The Trouble With Templeton"(an aging actor goes back in time to the good old days), "Dust" (a western), "Back There" (a man goes back in times to save Lincoln), "Hundred Yards Over the Rim" (a western pioneer jumps to the future) and "The Silence" (a bet between two gentlemen).   The only bad ones are    "The Thing About Machines" and "The Night of the Meek".   What a great show.  I can't wait to start watching the third season.  Grade: A-

Sons of Anarchy (Season 3)

The motorcycle club bad guys everyone loves to watch continues to roll in this enjoyable third season. Kurt Sutter, creator, now takes us across the Atlantic and into the heart of the IRA.  Desperate to reunite with his family, Jax will have to learn more about his father's Belfast roots while Tara must debate if she should continue to be mixed up with Jax at all.   Meanwhile Gemma is on the run for a double murder frame job.  There are some plot holes and obvious set ups that quality shows avoid but this is still a good show with a wonderful ensemble cast.  Grade: B+   

Secret Honor (1984)

One man shows rarely work as cinematic experiences.  Who wants to watch an actor talk to himself for ninety minutes?  This one works because of three factors: the actor, Philip Baker Hall, is amazing, Robert Altman directs (creating a visually textured piece) and the character is of President Nixon.  I'd recommend knowing your history a little bit in order to enjoy this one but it's a pretty intense rambling of ideas about power, politics and memory.  Based on the play by Donald Freed and Arnold M. Stone, it take acts as a confessional for the late President as he paces back and forth in his office dictating in a microphone and in a few cameras for the purpose of his memoir.  Grade: B+ 

Red Wolf Conspiracy by Robert V. S. Redick (Novel)

Mr. Reddick's sea-faring fantasy is about a tarboy named Pazel Pathkendel on board the massive ship the Chathrand .  While serving on a voyage to prevent a war through a royal marriage, he befriends the very princess being married named Thrash.  With an ability to understand any language, he along with others must uncover the true reason for their voyage.  I really enjoyed the first half of this book but as it progressed I felt like the story rushed through things and became over stuffed with subplots.  It felt like Mr. Reddick threw everything including the kitchen sink at me.  Instead of keeping the story focused and the number of character threads at a decent amount he kept inventing and spinning stuff until it became almost impossible to make all the story lines come together naturally.  The climax is a fast-paced blitz of the unraveling of loose ends.  It's not a bad book and I must admit to maybe (and that's a big maybe) wanting to read the next book in the series, but it's frustrating.  It's as if JK Rowlings combined the first four Harry Potter books into one book.   Or if Star Wars had a dozen more characters to keep track off.   This is a fantastic world and I would have loved to have savored it instead of feeling like it was crammed into my brain.  Because of this compressed feeling the writing suffers too, mostly in the second half.   I'd only recommend this one if you enjoy fantasy books and you feel more is always better than not enough.  Grade: B 

Downton Abbey (Season 1)

Julian Fellowes, the writer behind the fantastic period mystery Gosford Park, a film I love for it's inside look of early 1900s British class system, creates this BBC series that deals with the same subject, the rich and the servants who serve them.  The cast of the well-to-do arrange from Robert Crawley the Earl of Grantham, his American wife Cora, his three daughters Mary, Edith and Sybil, his blunt and snobbish mother Violet (played by Maggie Smith), Matthew Crawley (Robert's cousin) and next in line to inherit the estate and his mother Isobel.   From those that serve the cast includes  the house butler Charles Carson, the main housekeeper Elsie, a war vet valet Mr. Bates, two footmen and three house maids as well as the cook and the cook's assistant.  Set just before WWI a lot of wonderful drama can be developed between these groups.  The dialogue is sharp and witty with a style perfect for that time period.  It's like a soup opera but with class and high production values.  Once you start watching you will not want to stop, it's a grand accomplishment and deserving of its popularity.  It is easily one of the best TV shows on right now and I hope it has a long run. Grade: A        

My Own Private Idaho (1991)

River Phoenix gives a memorable performance as a young male prostitute slacker named Mike who suffers from narcolepsy.  Mike is in search for his mother.  He befriends another male prostitute named Scott played by Keanu Reeves who is revolting against his rich family.   Gus Van Sant, the writer and director, combines elements of Shakespeare's Henry IV and inspirations from real street kids living in Portland.  I enjoyed many aspects of this film but ultimately felt detached from it.  I didn't find Mike's journey that rewarding and Keanu Reeves's story, while more interesting, never made much sense to me.  Reeves isn't strong enough of an actor to make me understand his inner conflict.  That's not to say it's a bad film, Van Sant proves how talented he is in so many ways, and you have to applaud the risk of even making such a daring film.  Grade: B    

American Horror Story (Season 1)

TV producing mavericks Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk spin a tale combining every horror film trope they could think of into a messy glob of a television program that starts off well but ends horribly (and not in an good way).  It's Amityville meets Beetlejuice meets Rosemary's Baby.  I really wanted to like this one; there are some fantastic parts: a maid who is hot for the sex-addict husband but an old one-eyed woman by everyone else, Jessica Lang's over the top but perfectly evil neighbor and the mysterious rubber suited man.  Sadly, for me, the rest of it is an unsatisfying soup of style over context.  The potential scares are diminished by over explanation and the characters we care for are tossed about like insignificant leaves.  What's interesting is that every season of this show is supposed to be a new story.  That gives me some hope but ultimately I'm going to be cautious and probably skip the next one. Grade: C