Untamed: Twisted Past in Breathtaking Beauty

My wife and I saw Untamed, a six-episode mini-series on Netflix the past few nights.  The scenery was breathtaking -- the narrative takes place in Yosemite National Park, and as the protagonist Kyle Turner points out, most visitors get to see no more than ten percent of it -- the acting was excellent, and the plot pretty good, too, slow winding but deep, and coming together memorably in the end.

[Slight spoilers ahead ... ]

Kyle, played by Eric Bana, is a National Parks Agent, investigating what could be the murder of a young woman who falls off a mountain to her death.  He has a troubled past -- a lot of the residents of the Park, legal and otherwise, do -- but the investigation would have been difficult even if he was the happiest guy in the world.  He has a newbie as a partner, Naya Vasquez (played by Lily Santiago), Paul Souter (played by Sam Neill) is his boss, and Jill Bodwin (played by Rosemarie Dewitt) is his former wife, with whom he shares a very tragic past. It's always good to see Bana and Neill on the screen, Dewitt was excellent (she was in Mad Men), and the strong performance by Santiago (whom I recall seeing in La Brea) indicates a fine career ahead.

As I said, just about every major character in this story has a troubled past, which of course influences and spills into the investigation, and also can sometimes be a bit too much and unclear if you're intent on following what could be a murder investigation.  Some of the characters are villains who may not be murderers.  Others work for the law and can be just the reverse.  Although some of this flirts with confusion, the ending is both shocking and satisfying, and well worth the short six-episode wait.

But as I said at the outset, the biggest takeaway of Untamed is the spectacular scenery and cinematography. The series was so well photographed, you could practically breath it through the screen.

Jurassic World Dominion: Enjoyable, Exciting, and Even Profound

So I watched Jurassic World Dominion on the small screen of my laptop, a far cry from a movie theater screen and even a television screen, where I've seen and enjoyed all the previous Jurassic Parks.  And you know what?  I thought the movie was quite good!

The key idea sprung out, literally, at the end of the previous movie in the franchise, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: the dinosaurs are no longer on that fabled island, they're now out and about in the world!  The opening scene of Dominion picks up right where Fallen World left off: there are dinosaurs in our oceans.  And Dominion ends with some excellent scenes of dinosaurs living right alongside the creatures large and small that currently inhabit our off-screen world.  My favorite is a triceratops or maybe stegosaurus (I'm no expert) walking right along with a herd of elephants.

The key ethical lesson in all of this is cooperation.  Current mammals and prehistoric reptiles now back to life can live together.  Owen commits to returning the young raptor to its mother, and he delivers.  In another meaningful final scene, Owen and the mother raptor exchange glances of understanding.

Of course, the toughest kinds of cooperation are between we humans ourselves.  Some of us, like Dodgson, CEO of Biosyn (well played by Campbell Scott) are incorrigible.  But just about everyone else proves to be amenable in the end.  And speaking of acting, it was excellent to see Jeff Goldblum as Malcolm, Laura Dern as Settler, and Sam Neill as Grant back in action (and, yeah,  I think Settler and Grant make a good couple).

The action was outstanding, as it always is in Jurassic Park movies.  Indeed, some of the chases, especially those involving vehicles on the ground and in the air, were reminiscent of James Bond movies.  All of which is to stay: the series is still vibrant, and I look forward to the next installment.

 

Outer Range 1.1-2: Elusive Hybrid

The hybrid of science fiction/fantasy with the western (contemporary or historical) genre has long been sought after, touted as a natural, powerful combination for a television series, for as far back as I can remember.  But it's seldom been realized, and off the top of my head, I can't think of a single successful example.  Last year's Invasion on Apple TV+ took a shot with a lead-off episode out West, with no less an actor than Sam Neill in the lead -- but it was the weakest episode segment in an otherwise top-notch series.  My wife suggested Westworld as an example that achieved the elusive goal, and yes, it did, but only partially, because the heart of its narrative was not western.

But I'll never say no to a recipe which seems so logical, so I'll gave Outer Range and its first two episodes which went up on Amazon Prime Video on Friday a shot.  The upshot: I wasn't blown away by the narrative, but I liked it enough to keep watching.

[Spoilers ahead ...]

Here's the story:  On a ranch in Wyoming, Royal Abbott (well played by Josh Brolin) discovers a water hole or pond (I'm not sure what it is, or should be called) that has some strange properties.   It's not clear as yet exactly what those are either, but they may entail bringing back the dead, or some kind of time travel, if the bison that keeps appearing with some arrows in its side is any indication.  Before the two hours are over, Royal throws a dead body (whom one of his sons killed) into the water, and is shoved in the water himself by Autumn (Imogen Poots -- great name), a young woman who shows up with a deep interest in the area.  Royal comes back fine the next day -- with just a wound in his leg -- but the dead body, not as yet.  Autumn clearly has some knowledge of what's going on, but even she doesn't know the whole story -- she's surprised when Royal comes back.  It's also no doubt also significant that Royal's daughter-in-law is missing (did she fall into the water hole and then the hole disappeared, too?).

So clearly, there are a lot of provocative questions in the air, which means a lot of possibilities for this series.  I would have advised Amazon to put up all eight episodes of Outer Range, so it could be properly binged and therefore comprehended and appreciated.  But, as I said, I'm sufficiently intrigued to watch more, and I'll see you back here with my reviews of the next two episodes next week.

  

Invasion 1.1-3: Compelling Contender

This has been a great few days for science fiction on the screen.  An excellent episode of Foundation, an outstanding first half of a new Dune movie and ... I decided to see if I could get a trifecta by watching a brand new science fiction series.  Like Foundation, Invasion is on AppleTV+, which put up the first three episodes of this ambitious series on Friday.  It had a lot to contend with, debuting just as Foundation was getting into really high gear, when Dune was making a justified name for itself the moment it opened.  And ... Invasion succeeded.

Let me say first, though, that I thought the very first episode, in which the largest part was a nearly standalone story of an aging, retiring sheriff in Oklahoma, was by far the weakest of the three opening episodes.  I mean, Sam Neill is a fine actor who was fine in the role, but the story had only the slightest to do with the interstellar invasion of Earth which is the heart of this series.  Fortunately, the second and third episodes were out-of-the-ballpark powerful and enthralling.

The stories that unfold in this slightly into the future tableau include a Japanese shuttle to a space station, attacked  and destroyed by the invaders, leaving behind a lover in Tokyo, who works for the Japanese equivalent of NASA and is determined to find out what happened; a school bus of British kids knocked off the road by an interstellar attack, which results in a Lord of the Flies scenario; and an apparently lone survivor of an American unit in Afghanistan presumably all killed by the invaders.  (Yeah, this part of the narrative obviously was conceived and filmed before the precipitous U. S. withdrawal in our reality -- we just have to assume watching Invasion that the U. S. went back in there for some reason.  This kind of thing reminds me of science fiction stories in the 1980s talking about a Soviet Union in the 21st century -- one of the hazards of writing fiction about the future.)

But Invasion is doing just fine after three episodes, even with this Afghanistan anachronism.  There's a 1950s War of the Worlds feel to it, except the personal lives of the characters are fleshed out better than in those old movies.  The family that figures in the New York part of the story features an Asian Indian couple with two kids and  a Tesla, but their marriage is falling apart even before the buildings, because the husband has fallen madly in love with another woman (a blonde, as his wife points out).  Indeed, all the backstories are notable and interesting, with the exception of the Oklahoma sheriff, but we haven't seen him since the first episode, and, who knows, something significant could yet happen out there.

The second half of Dune won't likely be seen for a year.  But now there's some science fiction on television that I'll be watching every weekend as soon as I finish my sojourn into the fate of the Galactic Empire in Foundation.

Peaky Blinders: Peak Television

Thought I'd check in with a review of Peaky Blinders, two seasons in with a BBC production, available in the United States on Netflix, and telling the story of a gang in Birmingham, England, same name as the show, a few years after World War I.

Like most historical dramas, Peaky Blinders on television takes a few liberties with real history, in this case, the main time of the real Peaky Blinders heyday, which was late 19th century and early 20th century.  Also, the sewing of razor blades into caps, so the caps when taken off the head could be used as weapons, may well be apocryphal - at very least, as the source of the Peaky Blinders' name.

But the series is so good, who cares  about perfect history?   From the moment the first scene opens, you're struck by a cinematography that's often breathtaking.  And the characters, story lines, and acting fit right into this high and clearly defined frame.

Cillian Murphy is superb as Tommy Shelby, the Peaky Blinders' leader, even though he's younger than his brother Arthur, deeply flawed and also powerfully played by Paul Anderson.   A young Winston Churchill is also a character, veteran Sam Neill of Jurassic Park plays the head cop bent on taming the gang.   Helen McCrory (Harry Potter) plays Tommy's aunt, who in her own way is at least partially in charge of the Peaky Blinders, and Annabelle Wallis (The Tudors) plays Grace, a major player and love interest of more than one character.

As is the case with many mobster television series, Tommy has his hands full fighting both the law and rival gangs, and enforcing loyalty in his own ranks.   But he does this with a patented mix of intelligence and violence, more or less carefully applied, and given this dancing on the edge, and the less than completely blind fidelity to history, you never know what's going to happen - well, you know that Winston Churchill won't be killed, but that's about it.

Peaky Blinders is reminiscent, in some ways, of Boardwalk Empire on the one hand, because they both take place in the 1920s, and The Black Donnellys on the other, which told the story of an Irish gang family in contemporary Hell's Kitchen in New York City.  But Peaky Blinders has a story and feel and compelling ethnic and proletariate depictions all its own, and I highly recommend it.

 
deeper history

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Trying to Like Alcatraz

Well, I've been watching Alcatraz - seven episodes so far - the latest J. J. Abrams production.  That in itself was a good reason to watch it.  Although I disliked the ending of Lost, the series at its best was one of the best ever on television.  Alias was also superb, as has been Fringe these past two seasons.  And I'm enjoying Person of Interest.

And there other things to commend a television show about Alcatraz.  The Birdman of Alcatraz is a fine movie, and this television show is about time travel - in my book, you can go wrong about that.

But the problem with Alcatraz is that it doesn't have enough of that.   Although time travel figures in every episode, there's little about the paradoxes and narrative joy of really confronting what it's like to run into much older versions of people you  knew when you travel 50 years into the future.  There are hints of that, intersections with characters who lived through those 50 years, including, especially, Emerson Hauser played by Sam Neill.

It's great to see Neill, probably best known for Jurassic Park, on television (he was great in the Tudors, and years ago in Heartland).  And he does a fine job when he's on screen in Alcrataz.  So does Hurley - Jorge Garcia - who basically plays Hurley as a PhD comic book expert.   So does Sarah Jones (Big Love) as Rebecca Madsen.

But the problem is that emphasis on the individual stories of the people - mostly criminals - whisked into the future gets in the way of the really interesting stuff for me, which is why and how they were whisked.  Without that mechanism more in the limelight and explored, Alcatraz remains little more than a Criminal Minds without its intensity, and with intimations of immortality as yet unrealized.

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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

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Goodbye Tudors

The Tudors - one of the brightest stars in the new golden age of television - concluded on Showtime this June.   Along with Rome, The Tudors showed how deeply and satisfyingly television could show ancient and early modern history.  The Borgias will pick up this fine gauntlet on Showtime in 2011.

The final season of The Tudors was excellent, if not as commanding as the early seasons.  This is the fault of no one other than Henry VIII, whose real life as an older man was not as riveting as when he was younger.  There were fewer trysts, affairs, and conflicts with enemies in England and abroad.  No contentious titans in the court the likes of Wolsey, Thomas More, and Thomas Cromwell.  But the final season of The Tudors had some fire nonetheless, with excellent segments in France, where Henry's engineer takes a crucial step into the modern age by using the best engineering techniques of the time to build a tunnel into the city under siege by Henry's army.

There were memorable farewells, not just by Henry, but by Charles Brandon (Henry Cavill), the only close friend of Henry's to play a central role in all the seasons of the series, and maintain his admirable independence of mind and spirit.   The three women in Henry's last days - daughters Mary and Elizabeth, and last (6th) wife Catherine Parr - were also effectively presented and acted.   And I've always liked Chapuis - even though disagreeing with much of his politics - and thought his final leave taking was especially good.  Kudos to Anthony Brophy, in his own quiet way as effective as Sam Neill (Wolsey), Jeremy Northam‎ (More), and James Frain (Thomas Cromwell).

The women throughout the series - Henry's wives and bed mates, and those other men in the court - were beautifully rendered, almost literally like a Holbein painting come to life in several cases. 
Natalie Dormer was up to the complex, tempestuous part of Anne Boleyn, and I thought Joely Richardson as Catherine Parr was especially powerful.

And Jonathan Rhys Meyers as Henry VIII was a tour-de-force.

And then there's the history.   Shows that show us the past - from Rome to Mad Men - are ever vulnerable to critiques by historians, professional and amateur.   This is as it should be, and The Tudors was no exception.   But I can say that in the history I know the most about it - the history of media, and, in the case of The Tudors, the advent of the printing press as a powerful social and propagandistic force, The Tudors was spot on.   The scene with Thomas Cromwell showing the printing press to Henry, and explaining to Henry what it could do, is entirely consistent - whether it actually occurred or not - with what I've studied and written about in The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution.

The Tudors is screenwriter Michael Hirst's creation - he was head writer and executive producer.   What he has left us is a history as fine and vivid any ever seen in a movie or read in a book.

See also  The Tudors Final Ten Episodes

and from Season 3:  The Tudors, Season 3: Hard History and Sweet Flesh  ... Thomas Cromwell on The Tudors: "Surely All Art Is a Lie"

from Season 2: Tooling Up for The Tudors and The Tudors: Transformations and Assassins ... John Adams Concludes, The Tudors Continues, The First Amendment Abides ... The Tudors and the Printing Press ... The Tudors Concludes and America Begins

from Season 1: Episodes 1 and 2: History So Colorful You Can Taste It, Episode 3: History So Real You Can Feel It, Episode 4: The Penalty of Royalty, Episode 5: Madrigal, Musical Chairs, Episode 6: Tectonic Chess, Episode 7: Henry's Imperfect Apothecary, Episode 8: The Limits of Power, Episode 9: And Wolsey Falls in a Soaring Performance ... The Tudors Concludes First Season: A Suicide, A Burning, A Roll in the Forest

and:  Derriere and Bosom on The Tudors: More of What the FCC Would Deprive Us Of 





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 



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