Quickie Reviews #18

 

Marcella – Season One

With everyone talking about Stranger Things, I haven’t seen many people mention Marcella, a new Netflix show that just popped up with little to no fanfare. It isn’t as special or unique a show as Stranger Things, but it’s still a very strong crime drama with some very fine acting. Anna Friel plays the titular Marcella (pronounced Marchella, as she reminds people on multiple occasions), and she’s almost unrecognizable from her work on Pushing Daisies. Man, that was an underrated show. She’s a retired detective, having left the force to be with her family after failing to catch a serial killer twelve years ago. Now, her husband has left her, and a new murder has popped up that seems eerily familiar to her own case. She’s also dealing with psychotic breaks, where she’ll black out and not remember where she went or what she did. This is kept secret from everyone, of course.

So when someone she knows turns up dead and she had blacked out the night of the murder, she’s understandably freaking out. It creates a really interesting character dynamic. On the show Dexter, our main character was a serial killer. But it was easy to root for him because he was charming, handsome, and he was only killing bad people after suffering traumatic events as a child. But Marcella is kind of a dick to everyone, has been lying about her mental illness, and quite possibly murdered someone who definitely didn’t deserve to die. It was enthralling to see her chase a killer, knowing that the killer might actually be her. Writing about it doesn’t quite sell all of the intricacies, so you really just need to check it out for yourself. It also successfully tricked me for a while, and it wasn’t until the very last episode that I guessed who the killer was. Not to toot my own horn, but that’s pretty rare for a show like this. And it’s a short series at only eight episodes, so check it out!

9.7/10

 

Broadchurch – Season One

After watching Marcella, my wife and I were in the mood for another British crime drama, and I’d heard great things about Broadchurch. David Tennant is a fine actor, so I went in completely on faith. I knew almost nothing about the show, and even incorrectly assumed that Broadchurch was the name of Tennant’s character. I know, I’m stupid. It’s really hard not to compare Broadchurch and Marcella because they contain so many similar elements, and in that scenario I have to say that Marcella is better. But, Broadchurch is still insanely compelling television with some great twists and brilliant acting.

Broadchurch is a small coastal town where everyone knows everyone. There’s almost no real crime, other than some drug use and whatnot. So, the town is shattered when a young boy is discovered murdered on the beach, and a larger media outlet comes in to try and make a story. Tennant’s character is the new Detective Inspector leading the case, having just transferred in from another city where he failed to convict a criminal for a similar crime. He’s also dealing with deep personal and physical issues, though I won’t divulge those as they play into the story. There’s obviously quite a lot going on, but none of it ever feels overwhelming. Being in a small town, there’s a large cast of interesting characters, all of whom have some link to this boy, Danny. There’s the minister that doesn’t seem to quite fit in who taught Danny about computers. There’s the old shop owner with a checkered past that led the boy’s sailing club in which Danny participated. There’s Danny’s father, whose whereabouts on the night of the murder can’t be confirmed. Everyone is a suspect.

David Tennant is great as DI Hardy, but it’s really Olivia Colman’s Ellie Miller that steals the show. She plays Broadchurch’s Detective Sergeant in amazing fashion. People that watch a lot of British TV probably know all about her, but this is the first thing I can remember seeing her in, and I was blown away. Her character has so many different levels, and plays off of the no-nonsense Detective Hardy brilliantly. Without spoiling the ending, I can’t wait to see how their relationship evolves moving forwards, as shit definitely goes down towards the end. I figured out the killer faster in this show than in Marcella, but that’s definitely not a negative. The only real complaint I can lodge against it is that it moves a little slowly at times. On the other hand, my wife enjoyed that aspect, as it allowed more focus on the grieving family. I can’t wait to start season two. I just hope that the momentum continues.

9.5/10

 

Hail, Caesar!

The Coen Brothers are two of the greatest filmmakers alive, I don’t think there’s any disputing that. From No Country for Old Men to Burn After Reading, their films almost always push filmmaking boundaries in one way or another. However, they can also be incredibly inconsistent, especially with comedies. So, it was with great curiosity that I watched Hail, Caesar!, their fictional take on historical Hollywood, musicals, and communism. If that sounds like a weird combination, that’s because it is.

George Clooney plays the hottest actor in town, who gets kidnapped by a group of secret communists. And because he’s so dumb, he’s more than happy to go along with their ploy to extort money from a major film studio. But in traditional Coen Brothers form, it’s the supporting cast that mostly steals the show. There are so many great scenes here, but my favorite was Ralph Fiennes’ movie director trying to teach Alden Ehrenreich’s dimwitted country singer how to perform in a period drama. It’s as brilliant as it sounds. I hadn’t seen Ehrenreich in anything before, but he’s great, and now I can’t wait to see him play young Han Solo in a standalone Star Wars movie. Unfortunately, there’s one performance that drags things down quite a bit. Channing Tatum. Man oh man, Channing Tatum. Granted, I haven’t seen 21 Jump Street, which is supposed to be his best performance, but I’m sorry. That dude is a TERRIBLE actor. I totally get why women like him in real life, but on camera, he has no charm, no presence, and quite possibly the deadest eyes I’ve ever seen. I cringed at every scene he was in, and it was a bummer.

There are other issues with Hail, Caesar!, as well. The Coen Brothers are famous for including scenes that don’t really seem to make sense for the plot, and this is no exception. There were several circumstances where I wondered “what does this have to do with anything?” It isn’t a particularly long film, but it feels a little too long. All in all, this is one of the Coen Brothers weaker recent efforts, but it’s still worth the price of admission, if only to enjoy all of the little side characters and their interactions. The writing here is pretty top notch.

7.4/10

 

The Big Short

Yet another movie on my “must watch” list after its Best Picture nomination, The Big Short told the story of the mortgage crisis through some interesting filmmaking concepts. While both this and Spotlight highlighted some of the darker times in recent US history, Spotlight was more successful as a movie. I think the message of The Big Short was very powerful (and very terrifying), but I wasn’t particularly enamored with it as a film.

I’m sure that Steve Carell’s performance was true to the real-life Mark Baum, but I found it to be a little cartoony on the big screen. This felt like a character that Michael Scott would play, not a real person. The other performances fared better, and it really felt like a strong ensemble movie. Christian Bale was especially good, which isn’t a surprise. This definitely feels like an Adam McKay movie, with some random cut-ins, nonsequiturs, and witty dialogue. I applaud his attempt to break down the complicated real estate language into layman’s terms, but I don’t think it really worked. The movie itself was easy enough to follow in a broad sense, but the little scenes with real-life celebrities explaining things only served to confuse me. It’s hard to learn something from someone that doesn’t know what the hell they’re even talking about.

This isn’t a bad movie by any stretch, however. It’s hard not to compare it to Spotlight, despite the difference in tone. They both deal with serious, unforgivable issues that happened a decade ago, albeit in completely different ways. And much like Spotlight, I left the theatre with my mouth agape. I cannot believe only one low-level person was tried after all of this. Our financial and political systems need a major overhaul, and I think that’s only become more evident in the past few years.

7.7/10