One More Favorite Show of 2015. Two More Special Mentions.

I suddenly remembered one of the coolest, most watchable shows from this past year that I somehow overlooked: Ash vs. The Evil Dead.  If you love television horror and television comedy then this was one of the best.  Of course, this is a continuation of cult classic horror cinema, and it feels like cinema.  The signature hyper-stylized tracking shots and the gnarly visual makeup effects are here to make you cringe while Bruce Campbell and the writers are here to give you some chuckles.

Unlike the movies, which were highly solemn for Ash and socially dysfunctional, Ash has some willing sidekicks with whom he has a generally pleasant and functional relationship.  Ray Santiago and Dana DeLorenzo play his younger generation comrades.  Like Harrison Ford in Star Wars, the X-Files cast, and Sylvester Stallone in Rocky, Bruce Campbell jumps right back in and it feels completely natural and worthy.

Ray Santiago.

This show has to have one of the more professional and slick title sequences, opening and closing, of any series.  The only thing missing is that grainy, cheap film stock that made the older films and that era so special.  It was as if dread was hiding behind every single speck of film grain, the molecular demons danced before our eyes even during the most innocuous and pleasant of moments.  The digital medium lacks that unless they manufacture the grain, something I do with my personal photos.

Dana DeLorenzo

Yet, this show is definitely a welcome change of pace from all the melodrama, which is where most of the horror shows live these days.

Runner Up

Motive: Go Canada crime shows!  I didn't enjoy the demons from the past, serialized story line, but the cases of the week remain intriguing.

Bates Motel: Speaking of horror shows where the melodrama became a little too much for maximum enjoyment, this is one, but I still kept up with it because it worked on a basic level.  

Favorite Films of 2015

This list comes at an appropriate time, just a day after the Academy Awards.  This was another underwhelming year for the movies in my opinion (sure, profits were up).  Nonetheless, there were definitely greats in relative isolation at the top of the mountain.  There were many films that proved disappointing, either partially or completely.  There are still some movies yet to be seen but overall this is pretty much it.  More over, many film reviews are overdue.

Jurassic World

  

Straight up the most fun and entertaining film of the year, it will take a bite out of the summertime blues.  Having watched this again recently I was happy to be reminded that this is, in part, a Christmas movie.  Sadly, the 3D version, as screened in my home, was less than enthralling.       

The Walk

  

People have been talking about Oscar snubs, and I honestly think this may be one of the biggest.  This film follows in the footsteps of the best documentary winner Man on Wire about wire-walker Philippe Petit.  Man on Wire and Fahrenheit 9/11 are the only documentary winners that I know off the top of my head.  I loved the documentary and can understand how people would think that this film was unnecessary.  I was skeptical but captured by the transcendent spirit.  Furthermore, this film has a solid 3D presentation, which heightens the experience.

The Hateful Eight

I have yet to offer up my full review on this, which is overdue since I attended a road show screening in 70mm.  Needless, to say, the nearly three hour movie flew by.  This is especially impressive as this year I’ve checked my watch more than any other at the movies.  Tarantino plays with timelines like few directors, and he really reminds you how much we take for granted in life and in the movies. 

Creed

If The Hateful Eight is my favorite film on a technical level then this is my favorite on an emotional level.  I love that they branched out from Rocky and created an Apollo Creed legacy story, I never would have thought to do this.  Indeed, this is my favorite exhibit in favor of all the #OscarsSoWhite controversy.  They get back to basics here and reminded me of what made the original films so powerful, it wasn’t the training or the matches, but the life difficulties and perseverance outside the ring that made us care about the training and the boxing.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Yet another cast steps into their roles years later.  I credit this film as being the best since the original series.  Luke Skywalker’s absence from most of the film enhances the mystique of the character and gives us something to anticipate.  This was a master stroke of storytelling, Skywalker is not to be taken for granted, neither is the force.  Harrison Ford who seems to have been grudgingly acting (the antithesis of Han Solo) through much of his recent roles somehow brings Han Solo back to the screen as if he was never away.  The newcomers yield promise but I still care most how Luke fits in events to come.   

San Andreas

This is my favorite film with Dwayne Johnson.  This is also one of my favorites with Carla Gugino.  Paul Giamatti is quite fun to watch here as well.  I wasn’t expecting to like this or even want to see it, but I must have been desperate when I decided to check it out.  Well, I love that this is yet another sunny romp through California.  Furthermore, the central role of Caltech was gratifying as my uncle went there.  I would say that this is my favorite earthquake movie and one of my favorite disaster movies.  What is it about disaster and happy endings that go together so well?

The Bridge of Spies

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I cared about these characters.  Furthermore, like Argo or Catch Me If You Can (if you prefer), this is yet another glimpse into a fascinating, relatively obscure part of history.  Thomas Newman’s first effort for Spielberg (or rather Spielberg’s first film minus John Williams) was nothing special, but it worked enough wonders to get the job done. 

Honorable Mention

Straight Outta Compton

This is the other best argument in support of all the Oscars controversy.  I honestly didn’t want to see this film originally, partly because I didn’t know what it was about.  I partially blame poor advertising (the kind that didn’t reach me) in that regard.  Sure, I saw posters but no trailers or something more revealing.  

Once I realized what this film was about I was more interested, especially with the screenwriting nomination.  Not only was this film riveting, the portrayal of Ice Cube by O’Shea Jackson Jr. was particularly impressive.  This film made me a fan of NWA, and rehashed my interest in Ice Cube, for about five minutes.  I admire Ice Cube’s practicality and direct approach to living life.  In the end, though, this still is not top notch entertainment for me, which is why I watch movies.   

More Good Shows of 2015

Subconsciously these were forgotten for a spell, hence, I feel comfortable that they missed my favorites list, but I felt the need to share some thoughts on a few more shows.

Maybe or Maybe Not For the Collection

Homeland

Season 5 was easily the best since the first two.  The German setting was fresh and intriguing, particularly in the new faces.   

Sebastian Koch as Otto Düring.

Sebastian Koch as Otto Düring adds some world cinema class to the proceedings.  Sebastian is one of the most earnest and sincere actors out there, I loved him in Black Book (Zwartboek) and I like him in The Lives of Others.  His character here is like a second Saul, Carrie's Saul of the private sector.  Solid.

Atheer Adel as Numan.

Atheer Adel was the most fun addition to the story.  The director really toys with our expectations by introducing his character by showing him wordless, with a stoic expression, carrying a satchel and walking into a train station while ominous music played on the soundtrack.  I confess that I was thinking, Yeah, this guy may be up to no good, like a terrorist.  Eventually they reveal that he's a mild-mannered, well-meaning hacker.  From then on I loved his character.  

There's also a new villain here who is quite the megabitch, in real world proportions.

Returning characters had some fine moments as well.  Peter Quinn was involved in some roller coaster tension this time around, not so untouchable as usual.  Saul continued to be the mostly steadfast mentor that we love.  Carrie was on the saner side most of the season.  Solid solid solid.

Mad Men (For the Collection)

Mad Men returned for its final season stronger than it had been the prior season, maybe the prior two.  Most seasons of Mad Men are blurs long after I've watched them, save for the fourth (my favorite of the whole series).  Origins are further explored while new directions continue to emerge.  What I loved most about this season was how wholeheartedly immersed in California it was.  The season opens with some gorgeous hillside scenes featuring the home of Don's wife.  Furthermore, the California spirit has won Pete over (of all things), and everything is as polished as it has ever been.

Fast forward to the end, Don visits the Golden State once again, including the desert and the coast (of course).  The finale has already become quite iconic as it was featured in montages for awards shows and has generated much discussion.  I was quite happy with the show's ending; it's not a false, overly happy ending, nor is it some needlessly tragic one, or and ending with loads of unresolved tensions and questions.  This finale is one of levity, life goes on and work continues.  Don doesn't let the past keep him down, if anything it is his rocket fuel toward the infinite future.  

At this point I will list a few other shows that I watched and enjoyed.

C.S.I. - Here was yet another show in its final season.  The big thing here was the return of iconic Gil Grissom in the two-part finale.  

William Petersen as the Inimitable Gil Grisson

I stuck out the non-Grissom seasons because I enjoyed Nick Stokes.  I also enjoyed Gil's stand-ins as played by Laurence Fishburne and Ted Danson.  Elisabeth Shue's run didn't hurt either.  Not to mention that I was crushing on Elisabeth Harnois for awhile (I was already a fan from her minor appearance in A Single Man, and had since seen most of her movies).    

However, Gil's return and, especially, the ending sent the series off on a high note.  

Justified - And yet another show in its final season finds its way to this list.  This season resolved series-long conflicts, and provided one final quick-draw showdown with Raylan.  Like C.S.I., this was a largely sentiment-driven finale, which was fine by me.  Give me closure and happiness anytime instead of a void of unresolved questions or tragedy.  

Last Man on Earth - This is a sitcom that I caught up on this past year.  It's not like any other out there.  I'm particularly invested in the Miller out in space.     

Favorite TV Shows of 2015

     Here I am, almost three months after the end of 2015, and only now I offer up this list of favorite television of the year.  Fitness and other new pursuits have caused this delay, but now I’m ready to deliver this list. 

     

     I will share both the top level favorites that I intend to purchase or already have purchased, and I will share the ones I’m not ready to collect but still loved. 

For the collection…

Hannibal

    

    The final season was a bit of a mixed bag for me.  There was too much of Gillian Anderson’s character who I find hard to grasp or relate too.  I knew the Red Dragon storyline was coming, so I found myself impatient for the first part of the season to resolve itself.  Additionally, knowing what was coming removed some of the tension.  I actually missed the killer-of-the-week episodes, and the masterfully macabre tableaux masterpieces were in shorter supply.  And when the Red Dragon storyline did come I found myself less transfixed than I hoped.

The classic Hannibal-investigator dynamic with Will Graham.

     One thing I love about the films is the sense of long-awaited revelation and elation when the struggling investigator finally puts the clues together to identify the killer, which is absent here.  Furthermore, the impeccable twists that the films offered were also absent from this interpretation.   

      

     However, the show took us through magnificently eerie catacombs and effectively redeemed the Hannibal (book/movie) characters and storyline.  The Red Dragon portion of the season, I have a feeling, will only improve with revisiting.  It was fascinating to get the instant introduction of Will’s family in the Red Dragon portion and there was an intense scene not in the book or films that gave this version a definite edge.  Even when I wanted more, I always got just what I needed from the show.  A little more “closure” would have been nice, given that the show will never return on NBC and may never return anywhere else.

Game of Thrones  

    

     One of the best things about this season was what wasn’t shown.  The absence of Bran and his narrative arc featuring the Three-Eyed Raven will only make the next season even more fulfilling, especially since the great Max von Sydow will be portraying this mythical character.

     

     Speaking of great screen presences, this season was given much by the addition of Jonathan Pryce as the High Sparrow.  At last, King’s Landing has another formidable force other than the Lannisters.

     

     One of this season’s high points was the first real battle with the White Walkers.  Seeing White Walker leaders mounted on horseback atop a mountain ridge is simply breathtaking as pure art. 

      

     There are also some hardcore moments for the dragons on the other end of the spectrum.  Perhaps the dragons are being taken for granted by some, but there role to play in the future of the story continues to be an intriguing question.

     

     Arya’s storyline with Jaqen H'ghar provides some of the most haunting and enthralling imagery and moods of the entire season.  Like Bran to come, Arya also has a fascinating mystical mentor and role yet to play. 

      

     There was much to savor, as usual, in Game of Thrones, and the balance of power is definitely shifting.  I can’t wait for Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven.    

American Horror Story

    

    This season got back to the roots of the first season.  Once again a haunted landmark in Los Angeles was the focus of this dread-packed season.  As one character put it, compared to the domestic scope of the first season, this season is a “rock concert.”  However, this season incorporates the supernatural diversity explored in the previous seasons and adds yet another supernatural element into the ghostly madness.  I loved it coming back to Los Angeles, which now feels like a definite ground zero for this universe’s horrors. 

Denis O'Hare as Liz Taylor.

     I found that Denis O’Hare delivered his best performance yet as the transgender Liz Taylor; an episode without Liz was always a little less than.  Lady Gaga proved up to the task as the matriarch of the hotel.  Kathy Bates remained riveting.  Evan Peters offered up genuine chills in a role that also sees him almost hamming it up at times, but you can’t allow yourself to forget that this is not an ordinary individual with ordinary behavior. 

     

     Newcomer Wes Bentley took my breath away.  The sinister glint in his eye is perfect for this show, and I was truly devastated at his fate in spite of his fiendishness.  Like Dylan McDermott, this show brings out the best in Wes.  Wes is the best, and it was certainly his best since American Beauty.

      
     This certainly ranks as one of the best.

Scream Queens

    

    Somewhere on the Ryan Murphy spectrum between Glee and American Horror Story is this show.  Horror comedy is one of my favorite film genres and I thought it was executed beautifully here in television form.  I also love the highly meta element to Ryan Murphy’s work and this is no exception.  

Skyler Samuels.

   

     This show introduced me to the radiance of Skyler Samuels (Grace) who I adored with fashionable vintage look (especially the spitfire caps, berets, beanies, and everything on her head), and all her bewilderment and frustration. 

      

     Of course, the big thing here is that Jamie Lee Curtis is on TV as a regular!  The original scream queen is starring in Scream Queens!  Her character was a bit of a feminist fantasy but it was delicious to behold and competently realized. 

      

     I love that this show depicted every major holiday of the fall, including Black Friday.  Holiday episodes are among my favorites since they enhance the experience when viewed at the appropriate time of year, and it’s nice to see how the holidays fit into the eventful lives of such quirky and deadly characters.  

     

    Niecy Nash plays a hilarious and ridiculous security guard who gets into a comically absurd blame war with Keke Palmer’s pledge. 

     

    Oliver Hudson as the father of Skyler Samuel’s Grace delivers magnificent moments that must be witnessed unspoiled to be fully appreciated.

      

    Say what you will, but the women are ruling the screen here.  This show also introduced me to the radiance of Billie Lourd whose adorably understated performance while in fluffy white earmuffs much of the time oozed charm and sexiness.  

Billie Lourd

          There was so much happening that I can’t remember it all, let alone write about it all, but this is the show I look forward to revisiting the most of the 2015 year.

     

    Apparently, this looks like yet another season-to-season anthology series.  I am very excited for and curious about what the new season will bring and hope it lives up, which it should if American Horror Story is any indication.     

***

Not for the collection…

Fargo

    

    Overall, I enjoyed this season more than the first, some of it has to do with casting, and some of it has to do with the paranormal tone of the season.  Additionally, there’s a meta-fictional episode in which this story is presented in a book and narrated by season one star Martin Freeman that took the mythology to another level.

Ted Danson and Patrick Wilson.*

     Incidentally, I decided waffles would be the perfect culinary complement to this show before watching it (and so I made some), and then it turned out that the show featured a waffle house very prominently!

     
     Like American Horror Story, the seasons here aren’t as separate as some of us initially expected, as this season ties into the first one, specifically having occurred in the past.  I have to say that the new seasonal “anthology” approach to television is the most consistently rewarding as an audience member.

     

    Fargo provides an excellent sense of closure, intelligence, Midwestern charm (and deviance), Kirsten Dunst’s best work in years, more of the dignified and recently resurged Ted Danson, and wonder and awe and a sincere sense of the divine.  Then there’s the exploration of Native Pre-American identity and issues, the increasing corporatization of America and the world, and the lesson that you better damn well never sleep with the enemy. 

     

    The Solverson’s, the pivotal link to the first season, were the heart of the show.  Cristin Milioti as Betsy Solverson was particularly engaging and even heart-melting.  Patrick Wilson was a fine lead, made all the deeper by the connection to Keith Carradine’s season one portrayal. 

      

    And in this show, it seems, winter need not be coming because it’s apparently omnipresent.

The Walking Dead

     

    The community of Alexandria was refreshing and intriguing.  Then there’s the radiance of Alex Breckenridge…enough said. 

Alex Breckenridge...

 

Enough said.

Fear the Walking Dead

    
   I actually enjoyed this prequel show more than the original.  On one hand, this is a rare show putting the Latin community in the spotlight in a completely satisfying manner.  Once again, like American Horror Story, Los Angeles is the host to horror, this time of the undead variety.  This show made my summer in terms of series entertainment.  Rubén Blades, of the similarly tense Los Angeles-set Predator 2, brought a cultural and generational mystique to the narrative that I can find no equivalent to in the original series. 

     

     Yes, characters behave stupidly and erratically and I got incensed often, but at least they made me care, especially when they seemed like airheads.  The recent wave of urban anti-police violence demonstrations that made the news, many in Los Angeles, also crashes the reality of this series and makes it all the more real for it.    

The Man in the High Castle

    

    What we have here is a literary exploration of world, and particularly American, history following an Axis victory of World War II.  This show was transfixing.  Not only is the concept inherently fascinating and fairly convincingly conceived, but the casting is solid, the presentation spellbinding, and the characters rich with many layers.

Sometimes we take our triumphant reality for granted.

     

     First, I’ve never read the book.  What captured me was the mystical and legendary “man in the high castle” who is apparently making these films of what would have been if the Allies won, which of course is the history that we know.  This brings many tantalizing questions.  Is it possible that history can be turned around somehow, that our history can be realized for the protagonists?  Are these specific videos merely a coincidence with another conclusion brewing, like the motivation for a victorious uprising of the defeated?   

      

     Rufus Sewell is absolutely chilling and yet sympathetic when necessary as a high ranking NAZI stationed in New York and devoted family man.  Rupert Evans embodies shades of grey and inner conflict like nobody else as a double agent (if that’s what he really is).  Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa had the most lasting impression on me as a meditative man of government with a profound connection to the mystical whose visions and prophecies are dismissed as superstition by his Earthbound Japanese colleagues.     

     

     The less you know, the better, but I found it mesmerizing and am intrigued for what’s next.  One last thing I must mention is that this series has the most realistic and chilling depiction of Adolph Hitler (Wolf Muser) ever (including the aging), it actually seemed like Adolph was alive and present on set.  And the aerial shots of Hitler’s Alpine castle fortress were magnificent.   

Better Call Saul

     

     I was highly skeptical about the Breaking Bad spin-off.  However, Bob Odenkirk owns the screen every bit as much as Bryan Cranston did.  Clearly, the Breaking Bad universe is where mid-level character actors are transformed into thespian legends.  Jonathan Banks who returns as Mike Ehrmantraut with the deadly gaze has arguably his best scenes here.  In particular, the flashback of what brought him to New Mexico in the first place was nail-biting even though his fate was already known.

     

     I love the exploitation-style main title sequence that recalls Tarantino with its warm hues, especially yellow, and the groovy music that recalls the seventies.  I just watched the first episode of the second season, and, appropriately, a reference to Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction is made.

     

     There are moments of high Shakespearean family drama and moments of remarkable physical comedy and everything in between.  One thing I liked about this series better was that it depicted less brutality than Breaking Bad, which I’m growing a bit tired of, and never really enjoyed in the first place in any series with the exception of Hannibal. 

      

     It is clear that Saul is a better man, ultimately, than Walter White, better natured in particular.  Sure, he enabled Water White and Ehrmantraut to do their misdeeds, but Saul is the better character to be riding along with. 

Honorable Mentions:

The Flash

Daredevil: Charlie Cox is one of the most handsome men on televison and I loved all that stuff with Scott Glenn as a Zatoichi-type warrior and mentor.  I'm very excited for the mysterious "gates" yet to open, which apparently Daredevil is completely unprepared for. 

Grimm

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend:  Who knew West Covina would be the setting for such a colorful, amusing show full of heart and soul?  Rachel Bloom is quite the dame.  I loved riding my bike past all the ads in NYC, feeling that California pride. 

 

Teen Wolf: Kudos to "fitspiration" Ryan Kelley.  Love and hate the Dread Doctors, and sometimes it's hard to decided who's hotter: Holland Roden or Arden Cho?

Holland Roden

VS 

Arden Cho

Agent Carter: I never would've guessed Hayley Atwell would become so important to the Marvel universe, or any escapist American franchise.

The Following

Young Drunk Punk:  For obvious reasons.