The Better Sister: A Better Who Dunnit

My wife and I binged The Better Sister on Amazon Prime the past few nights, and we really enjoyed it. Here's why:

• Top-notch cast:  I mean, you can't go wrong with Jessica Biel (a sister) and Kim Dickens (a police detective).  And Elizabeth Banks (Love and Mercy!) as the other sister was superb.  (She was also in an hilarious episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm -- actually all its episodes are.) It was great to see Gloria Reuben (playing a lawyer) back on the screen, and Michael Harney (NYPD Blue!) playing Doorman Arty.  Also Corey Stoll and Matthew Modine with less time on the screen, were memorable too.
• The story was pretty strong, too.  I did guess who did the killing pretty early on.  But that's just me, and it was fun to see the story unfold.
• The title itself was good, because it invites you to think about who the better sister is, as the plot unfolds.
• It takes place mostly in New York -- in both the Hamptons and NYC -- always a plus with me.
• It's a summer story, with lots of swimming, that plays all kinds of roles.
• And The Better Sister moves quickly, in a stylish way that avoids swagger. 

All of this based on a 2019 single novel by Alafair Burke, herself the daughter of crime novelist James Lee Burke, and she's also a professor of law at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY (where I used to teach before coming to Fordham) a little over an hour west of the Hamptons.

Will there be a second season?  No current plans for one, but I certainly hope there is one.

Zero Day: Thrilling Enough, But Not That Much Like Today

I binged the six-episode Zero Day that went up on Netflix.  Herewith my thoughts, with no major spoilers to warn you about [except in the very last paragraph].

First and foremost, the acting was outstanding.  I mean, with Robert De Niro, Lizzy Caplan, Jesse Plemons, and Connie Britton in major roles -- not to mention Matthew Modine and Angela Bassett with slightly less screen -- how can you go wrong.   From the point of view of the acting, every scene was a real pleasure to watch.

As to the story ... well, I've heard this limited series touted, in more than one place, as strikingly similar to what we've been seeing and hearing on our cable news stations, laptops, and social media these days.  Of course, any plot about a terrorist attack that kills lots of people, and the government veering towards fascist tactics to find the culprits, and stop this from happening again, resembles our times.  But actually, it resembles what George W. Bush and the Congress did with the Patriot Act after September 11 (mentioned in Zero Day) far more than it resembles today.  And that's because our current swerve towards fascism has nothing to do with a terrorist attack.  It stems from the voters of the United States electing to office a President whose every other pronouncement is out of Joseph  Goebbels's handbook.   So yes, although high-tech digital prowess and at least one billionaire are part of the action in Zero Day, the heart of the story is something else.

And that heart, which we've also seen in other movies and TV series on various screens, is a pretty good narrative, with affairs, difficult family relationships, politics reminiscent of what Jack Bauer had to deal with in 24 and prevalent in House of Cards, all done up nicely with a few real newscasters, a house on the Hudson, and of course the nation's capital.   So, if you're looking for a thriller brought to you by flat-out great acting and a decent-enough storyline, I'd recommend Zero Day.  But don't expect anything searingly relevant to what's actually going on today.  De Niro's character is named Mullen, and he gives a report to Congress in the last scene.  A nod to Mueller and the report he gave to Congress in Trump's first administration, right?  But that was long long time ago, in terms of the speed with we've slid and are still sliding into fascism right now.

podcast: Paul Levinson interviews Dan Abella about his upcoming Psychedelic Festival

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 355, in which I interview Dan Abella about the upcoming Psychedelic Film and Music Festival he is organizing.  The Festival will take place October 20-22, 2023 in New York City, and there will both live and remote events and access.

Links to some of what we discuss in the podcast:

• more about The Psychedelic Film Festival, October 20-22, 2023, Producers Club Theaters (358 W 44th St, New York, NY)
• video of this interview
• more about Matthew Modine's I Am What You Are
• more about Dennis McKenna
• "Les Bicyclettes de Belsize" (Engelbert Humperdinck) ... And here's a beautiful cover I just discovered by Kelly Ann Cosentino
• "I Am the Walrus"
• my interview with Rufus Sewell about his role in the TV adapation of Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle
• "Incense and Peppermints"
• "Tuesday Afternoon"
• my 2021 interview with Dan Abella about his book, The Theater of the Mind

 

Check out this episode!

Weeds 3 Ep 12: Nancy and Conrad!

With not that many episodes left in this feisty third season of Weeds on Showtime, it was good to see Nancy and Conrad doing just what they should be doing on this past Monday's show.

Nancy has progressed from not being over her deceased husband in the first season, to not being completely comfortable with having sex with her secret narc-agent husband Peter in the second season, to having lots of sex on this third season - mostly with Matthew Modine's Sullivan Groff.

She seemed to have enjoyed this - at least, in the physical sense, with Sullivan - but certainly without any real, deeper passion.

Conrad's another story completely. They've been attracted to each other, almost from the beginning, and no doubt even love each other. Circumstances and bad luck of one sort of another have kept them apart. But Episode 12 brought them together for one of the best endings of an episode in the three-year series (or perhaps, happiest ending would be a better way of putting this - the other endings are all excellent, just kicks in the solar plexus, rather than occasions for applause).

But, being the suspicious sort that I am, I'm hoping what we saw on Monday isn't a setup for something bad to happen to Conrad and Nancy in the remaining episodes this year...

In this new, fast, hot, dangerous world of Showtime television, happy endings can be very short lived...


3-minute podcast of this Weeds review

and reviews of other Season 3 episodes ... 1. Weeds is Back! ... 2 ... 3: Appealing, Important Questions ... 4-5: Prius and Gluteus ... 6. Ray of Hope ... 7. Conrad Rules! ... 13. Shane Pays the Price ... 14. Just Nancy Thought Things Couldn't Get Any Worse ... 15. Finale: The Fire and the Clean Slate

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The Plot to Save Socrates


"challenging fun" - Entertainment Weekly

"a Da Vinci-esque thriller" - New York Daily News

"Sierra Waters is sexy as hell" - curled up with a good book