Entertainment Binge

By Isaac White.

With Thanksgiving last week, I had a couple of extra “free” days, even though we don’t celebrate the day. I’m not going to get into that whole thing right now. I’d probably get myself in trouble, and who would bring you their uninvited views on all things entertainment then? You could all read Rober Ebert or some other world-renowned critic. I ask you though…Are they the stellar human being that I am?

If you turned against me there, I can’t blame you. Then again, I may remember all of those who turned their backs on me. The message will be clear. I will orchestrate a complete takeover of all the big news companies. We’ll make sure the only movie reviewer is me. Then I will have my day.

That was a joke. I don’t have a nefarious plan to overtake the entire news and media industry, just so everyone has to listen to me. But it’s not that bad an idea, right? I think that it could be a funny movie if written well. Now that I’ve sufficiently gassed up my ego, we should get into the meat and potatoes for the week.

With those extra couple of days, (No, I didn’t forget what I was talking about earlier, and even if I do, I can always read back what I’ve already written), I didn’t feel the need to rush. Don’t panic that I don’t have anything to share with you guys.

With that in mind, I took to an old trick. I flipped around the live TV stations and happened upon The Usual Suspects. Now, I’m not sure if you’ve ever seen this, though I can’t imagine many of the people who read this every week haven’t watched it.

I want to praise it for the thousandth time. I still find this movie to be excellent. It’s one of those where if you happen to see it on TV, you’re going to watch it. This is the best of Steven Soderbergh; it’s one of the best films of the 90s. I’m not going through the plot. All I’m doing is giving credit where it’s due, and The Usual Suspects deserves the credit.

In other words, if you haven’t watched this film, take a look as soon as possible. Totally worth it.

Now, I watched another film from the 90s, one I had never seen before. Mr. Saturday Night is directed, written by, and starred in by Billy Crystal. The movie was released in 1992 and was, from what I have read, a box office flop. As a hardcore movie fan, that doesn’t necessarily concern me. I’ve seen some true drivel at be top of the box office rankings and great movies that did nearly zilch at the gate.

All I’m saying is that the box office doesn’t mean everything. This film has a wide array of disagreements from critics and fans. I really liked it. The film tells the story of comic Buddy Young Jr., an old-school comic in the style of Henny Youngman or some other such “Catskills” comedian.

The film tells the story from the perspective of an old Buddy looking back on his life while also trying to find work in an industry that has moved on from the old one-liner comics. That’s not the only reason Buddy has trouble finding work in his later years. In the story’s development, we see that Buddy can be pretty temperamental. To his detriment in some instances.

One scene, and yes, it’s going to be a bit of a spoiler, perfectly defines Buddy as I reflect on the film. He hosted a TV show in the 1950s. During the taping, he explodes and goes on a rant, acting in a manner you know as an audience member will hurt him going forward. Buddy’s brother, Stan (David Paymer), does his level best to calm him down, as Stan has taken on the role of manager for his brother since they were children, essentially.

Stan even tells Buddy that he’s going to tank his career if he continues on this path. Well, that’s the opening part of the movie, and you don’t have to be Nostradamus to see that Stan is going to end up being correct. Stan is, and the movie flashes back to the present, where Buddy is struggling to find work.

The film goes on, telling the story of Buddy. We also see the tale of Stanley a bit, but most of all, we know the relationship between the two brothers from childhood to being older men, portrayed wonderfully on the screen. I’ve seen mixed reviews, as I mentioned earlier, and I don’t understand it. I’m not saying this film is an all-time classic. It’s not that it’s perfect. It is really really good.

Then again, I’m a sucker for these relationship and character-driven movies. That’s something Billy Crystal does very well, and this, his first directorial entry, shows how incredible his knack for dissecting human relations and the way the mind really works. If you’ve never seen the film *61, directed by Crystal, you should check it out. It’s about the 1961 Yankees season where Roger Maris ended up breaking Babe Ruth’s single-season home run record. Wonderful film, one of my favorites.

Anyway, check out Mr. Saturday Night. A great study in character development. It’s masterful in the subtleties of sibling relationships. Not to mention that David Paymer and Billy Crystal are flat-out phenomenal in their performances. It is highly recommended. Watch it.

Now, for one that I am torn on. This one is a series, and while it’s only eight episodes, it took me a little while to finish it. Not that I didn’t like it; I just felt no urge to see it play out. Although I think a big part of that is because I figured out “Who done it?” in the first episode. Now I won’t try to make it seem as though my guess was confirmed soon after I made my prediction. But I was right in the end, and knew deep down the entire time I was right.

That’s my introduction to telling you about The Terminal List, an Amazon original starring Chris Pratt (Parks and Rec, Guardians of the Galaxy, Lego Movies) that is based on a book series. I came into this show pretty jacked up for it. The show is the story of a Navy Seal commander, James Reece, who, in the first episode, leads his men into what was supposed to be a capture or kill mission on a known terrorist.

The mission goes bad, everyone in his crew dies but Reece and the games start from there. It’s clear that Reece has some sort of injury. He has headeaches, blinding light at times, and dizziness. He’s diagnosed with PTSD and a concussion, something he wouldn’t have done without his wife and daughter prodding him to do so.

There is an investigation into the incident that led to his men being slaughtered and that results in some strange actions. Professional assassins come after Reece. Sorry but I am going to spoil this, though you can probably see it coming. They kill his wife and daughter. So, what does Reece do? I’ll give you a million guesses if you want because you all know what he’s going to do. Kill the bad guys who killed his family and solve the mystery.

I have no issue with that. I rooted for him. I love revenge. I love mysteries. I love seeing the government and big corporations be exposed for the thieves and liars they are. This show gives you a little bit of all that. There’s even a reporter (Constance Wu) who is investigating the incident and helps Reece along the way. Wu was pretty awesome in the show I must say.

While I love all of the things I just laid out for you, I also like to be surprised. I like to see characters that I can connect with and that’s usually based in solid writing. Now, I think the writing is ok in this show. We’re not asking them to pen something in the style of Aaron Sorkin. I just think they made the characters a little too stock. A little too vanilla.

And now for my biggest complaint. Chris Pratt. I love him from Parks and Rec, it’s one of my most beloved sitcoms of all time. On the other hand, I’ve never found him to be particularly good when he’s not being asked to be comical or to play an action role that requires quite a bit of funny bone. He’s really excellent at doing that.

He’s not good at straight dramatic acting. Sorry, not sorry. He took me OUT of the show more than a couple of times because he was that off. I even took a note of it at one point. Like, I literally used the stylus on my phone to take a note so that I didn’t forget to tell you how bad he is as a dramatic actor.

Overall, I will tell you that I still think it was pretty fun to watch. It’s what you expect, except of course for how bad Chris Pratt is. I know I normally don’t go in like this, well maybe I do, I don’t know, but it bugged me so much I had to let it out.

If you like an action/thriller/mystery/military action slugfest then you’ll be fine with this show. Just don’t say that I didn’t warn you Chriss Pratt has the personality of slug that has been doused with salt in this series. Other than that, it’s fine.

Time to go, I’m getting called for not having room.

Thanks for reading and until next week…..