Paul Levinson's Blog: Levinson at Large, page 40

Fallen Angel: Poem with Wings

With UFOs in the news and the skies of the U.S. and Canada, and the great sequel to The Man Who Fell to Earth this past Spring and Summer, James Harris's just-shy-of-five-minute film poem, Fallen Angel, is very much relevant and welcome. And altogether haunting and beautiful.

The poem, beginning about a minute and a quarter in, written and narrated by Harris, is rife with destiny and the puzzles of time and space. Harris, a talented songwriter and singer, could have put this to music with memorable result.* Instead, it's put to speech and film (and good background instrumentation by Snowkitten) in the underneath of Birmingham, England. Not quite hell, but the reality that all of us unwinged beings experience in one way another.

Fallen Angel is making the rounds of film festivals. It deserves a place in any science fiction and fantasy venue. You can watch it above on YouTube, or here with some additional information on its Film Freeway site.

*Harris has written two new songs with will appear in music videos with footage from Fallen Angels. I've listened to them, and they're superb. I'll post links to them here as soon as they're up.

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Published on February 12, 2023 11:17

Criminal Minds: Evolution 16.10: Gold Star

A fine conclusion -- episode 16.10 -- to an altogether fine new season of Criminal Minds, with some questions answered and at least one other dramatically hanging.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

First, I was partially wrong about Bailey. I said he was becoming a good character (I was right about that) who would be welcome to see in future seasons (that's the part I was wrong about). He was shot dead by Voit, in one of the more surprising moments of the entire season.

Voit tried to do the same to his wife, but didn't succeed because he was out of bullets. He remains a powerful, inscrutable character, which is why I'm glad he'll be around for at least another season (Criminal Minds has been renewed). As this season concludes, we're left with a highly intelligent serial killer, who's also ready to kill anyone who gets in his way, and is involved in some nefarious project called Gold Star.

Bailey was also involved in Gold Star, which is why Voit killed him. And that's about all we know about it. My best guest? Gold Star is a government program which enlists serial killers to take out ... who? Threats to the world? We could use a team like that in Russia.

Otherwise, good to see J. J. and William closer together, Penelope and Luke maybe starting something (even though the flashback in an earlier episode suggested that wouldn't go anywhere), and of course I was very happy Rossi survived.

Restarting a series isn't easy, but Criminal Minds did a really good job of it, and I'll be back here for sure with reviews of Season 17, as soon as it starts.

===
Some reviews of episodes from earlier seasons:
Criminal Minds 8.12: Spencer's Burden
Criminal Minds 7.1: "The Is Calm and It's Doctor" ... Criminal Minds 7.3: Meets House and The Unit

Criminal Minds in Sixth Season Premiere ... Criminal Minds 6.2: The Meaning of J. J. Leaving ... Criminal Minds 6.3: Proust, Twain, Travanti ... Tyra on Criminal Minds 6.13 ...Criminal Minds 6. 17: Prentiss Farewell Part I ... Criminal Minds 6.18: Farewell Emily ... Criminal Minds 6.19: Fight Club Redux Plus ... Criminal Minds 6.20: Emily's Ghost ... Criminal Minds 6.21: The Tweeting Killer ... Criminal Minds 6.22: Psycho and a Half ... Criminal Minds 6.23: The Good Lie ... Criminal Minds Season 6 Finale

Criminal Minds 5.22 and the Dark Side of New New Media

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Published on February 10, 2023 21:46

Your Honor 2.4-2.5: The Mayor and More

Two powerful episodes of Your Honor on Showtime last week and this -- 2.4 and 2.5 -- with a stunner of an ending of 2.5, which I'm not going to tell you about, certainly not in the first paragraph, because I don't want to inadvertently give away anything that important.

[Spoilers follow ...]

To me, the unifying character in episodes 2.4 and 2.5 is the Mayor. He refuses the Baxters' offer and pressure to let the Baxters take charge of the waterfront development project. Of course, Jimmy won't take no for an answer, and in 2.4, he talks Michael into inviting his good friend Mayor Charlie to Jimmy's birthday party. Quite a scene, in which Jimmy pulls out all the stops, including asking the Mayor to be Jimmy's grandon's godfather, which causes Gina Baxter to seethe even more than usual.

Things only seem to get worse in 2.5, with Gina going from seething to screaming, and Jimmy telling Michael that if the Mayor doesn't play ball with Jimmy, the Mayor may not last too long, and Jimmy means this far more than than just politically. Michael steps up and warns the Mayor. Baxter gets his way. And as a big bonus, Fia agrees not only to baptize little Rocco, but let Carlo be Rocco's godfather. Gina is so happy, she promises Jimmy a memorable night in bed.

And then comes the ending. Ok, I'll say a little about that here. Michael is under some kind of suspicion for his wife's murder. I'll tell you now that I flatly don't believe that Michael killed his wife. There was no indication of that in the first season, and everything so far, in both seasons, says Michael is not that kind of man. But the very possibility or suspicion that he did something like that changes everything, and puts the whole remaining season onto the edge of a really high ledge.

I'll be back with more reviews.

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Published on February 10, 2023 19:59

Podcast Review of The Last of Us 1.1-1.4

Welcome to Light On Light Through, Episode 347, in which I review The Last of Us, episodes 1.1-1.4, on HBO Max.

Read this review.

Check out this episode!

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Published on February 07, 2023 15:03

The Last of Us 1.4: Gun and Pun

Well, I of course knew when Ellie took the gun in episode 1.3 that she would use it to save Joel sooner or later, so I was not surprised to see that happen in 1.4. And I was glad, too.

[No big spoilers ahead ... ]

It was an excellent, fast-moving episode. Kansas City, on and off the highway, was a good place to have it. And, the coming attractions say Joel and Ellie will continue there next week.

Their relationship is developing in a realistic way. Joel is in his 50s. He's going to get winded climbing flights of stairs sooner than will Ellie, who has boundless young teenage energy. And Joel is quickly getting to realize that because of that, she's an asset, in addition to her way with a gun. Not to mention her sense of humor.

And her love of puns in that book. Puns are a perfect punctuation to the life and death action. In between the rounds of gunshots, it was good to hear it get so quiet you could hear a pun drop.

I have to say, as I may have said before, that The Last of Us manages to be a very different kind of biological apocalypse story (I haven't played the game). Different from both Y and Station Eleven, not to mention the COVID pandemic in our off-screen reality which wasn't quite an apocalypse but came all too close, especially in the early days.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the episodes in this first season. HBO announced on January 27 that they'll definitely be a second season, and I'm looking forward to that, too. I'll definitely be reviewing every forthcoming episode.

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Published on February 05, 2023 20:23

Criminal Minds: Evolution 16.9: Elias Voit and David Rossi

Another superb episodes of Criminal Minds: Evolution -- 16.9 -- the best in this outstanding return of the venerable series so far, and I know I keep saying that about just about every episode of Season 16, but that's because it's true.

[Spoilers ahead ... ]

Among my favorite scenes:

Elias's first conversation with Rossi, in which Elias tells Rossi that he know how he thinks, all of his moves, because he has avidly read all of Rossi's books. How's that for a cool meta-piece of television?The ensuing conversations between Elias and Rossi, in which Elias makes fun of Rossi because of his age, saying he'd been hoping to meet and have a conversation and go head-to-head with the Rossi who wrote all of those books, but instead Elias got sent the "AARP" version of Rossi.And, though I didn't like to see this, because I'm rooting for the BAU, I have to admit it was a powerful scene when Elias tells Rossi that of course Elias is not worried about Rossie, because Elias can easily take a 70-year-old man. And those indeed make Rossi his prisoner.Other strong parts of this episode are Penelope's relationship with Tyler. I guess she loves him. What's not clear is if he love her. But at this point, it's not clear now if he'll live.

Elias Voit is clearly one hell of a clever serial killer, and this is making for one of the impressive seasons in the long run of Criminal Minds. The series has more than regained whatever steam it may have lost. Next week will be this season's finale, and I'm looking forward to many more.

===
Some reviews of episodes from earlier seasons:
Criminal Minds 8.12: Spencer's Burden
Criminal Minds 7.1: "The Is Calm and It's Doctor" ... Criminal Minds 7.3: Meets House and The Unit

Criminal Minds in Sixth Season Premiere ... Criminal Minds 6.2: The Meaning of J. J. Leaving ... Criminal Minds 6.3: Proust, Twain, Travanti ... Tyra on Criminal Minds 6.13 ...Criminal Minds 6. 17: Prentiss Farewell Part I ... Criminal Minds 6.18: Farewell Emily ... Criminal Minds 6.19: Fight Club Redux Plus ... Criminal Minds 6.20: Emily's Ghost ... Criminal Minds 6.21: The Tweeting Killer ... Criminal Minds 6.22: Psycho and a Half ... Criminal Minds 6.23: The Good Lie ... Criminal Minds Season 6 Finale

Criminal Minds 5.22 and the Dark Side of New New Media

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Published on February 02, 2023 22:46

The Ark 1.1: Worth Watching

So, The Ark debuted on the Syfy Channel last night to a typical chorus of baying critics who carped that the disaster in deep space movie was itself a disaster, and the series was as "imbecilic" as NBC's time travel series La Brea. I did stop watching La Brea in the second season because it wasn't going anywhere. But at this point I have higher expectations for The Ark.

The set-up is excellent. It's a hundred years in the future, and a human crew in cryonic sleep, a year away from their destination in deep space, is rudely awakened by an accident that likely isn't an accident a year away from their destination. The event kills all the top brass. But fortunately a few people in the middle ranks survive, and are able to take charge of the ship and all those who are still alive and kicking. The travelers have to deal with problems ranging from how to ration the food -- everyone was supposed to wake up much closer to the intended planet, but fortunately there are many fewer mouths to feed -- to a murderer being onboard.

Unsurprisingly, the acting is passable not great, but that's ok, it's still very early in the story and there's time for people to grow into their roles. And I liked the ambience. It felt comfortable, realistic, and even refreshing at times. I also liked the timing and the placement of the story. A hundred years from now is further enough in the future to be different from our time, but close enough to be recognizable. And a year away from the ship's destination feels right for a story beginning to unfold over a 12-episode season.

My major regret about The Ark was that, after seeing one episode, I wanted to see more. But that's what next weeks are for, and I'll be back here next week after I've watched the second episode, and tell you more.

the first starship to Proxima Centauri

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Published on February 02, 2023 17:00

The Last of Us 1.3: Bill and Frank

A letter-perfect, memorable, beautiful episode 1.3 of The Last of Us, in which see how two people can find deep satisfaction in a lasting relationship that flourishes amidst the fungal ruin.

[Spoilers ahead... ]

Although Joel and Bella play a significant role, and it was good to see Anna Torv's Tess back in a flashback -- as I hoped for/predicted last week -- the heart of this episode was Frank and Bill. It could easily have been a standalone movie or even series, but as it was, it lit up The Last of Us.

Bill's a conspiracy theorist survivalist who goes way back, before the arrival of the fungus (which we learn probably arrived in cereals -- oi! that could make me lose my taste for oatmeal every morning). Frank shows up hungry, not having eaten in two days, not long after the pandemic has struck. Bill is suspicious but cooks Frank a delicious dinner -- rabbit -- washed down by Beaujolais, which gives Frank an opening for a line about who knew how well Beaujolais and rabbit went together. Bill and Frank certainly go well together (great acting by Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett in the roles) and they live out their lives until ... well, I don't want to give everything away. I will say that I thought the ending was the best way to go, given what the world around the two was like.

The larger lesson of this heartening and heartbreaking story is that who knows how many people really survived the fungal attack. There could be thousands of couples and families in out of the way places around the world. And this in turn means that there could be many seasons of this story.

But as to where we are now, Joel and Bella have a car, which plays Linda Ronstadt's "Long, Long Time" as the two drive west, a song played on the piano and sung earlier by Bill and Frank, an incandescent love song, which will now remind me of Bill and Frank for a long, long time.

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Published on January 30, 2023 10:56

Your Honor 2.2-2.3: Who Knows What?

The second (and final) season of Your Honor continues to be as riveting and wrenching as the first.

[Spoilers follow ... ]

Adam and Fia's baby continues to be a moving, beautiful star attraction. The scene of Desiato and Baxter standing over his crib at the end of the third episode was letter perfect. The two grandpas, no love lost between them, standing over the one person in the world they both so deeply loved. Night and day meeting over a young dawn.

But the true nature of Baxter is still not completely clear. In episode 2.2, he almost seems weak, especially in comparison to his wife's implacable expression of power and thirst for revenge. In contrast, in 2.3, we see him assuring his consigliere Frankie that he would have killed Adam on the spot had he known that it was Adam not Michael driving the car that killed Rocco. Indeed, the only thing that stopped Baxter from killing Adam last season was Eugene accidentally doing that, first. And although Gina leaves her nasty argument with her husband still defiant, he made it clear in that room that he was boss, at least in his own head. I had a feeling, watching that scene, that Jimmy might kill her, or try to kill her, before this season is over.

Meanwhile, it seems we still don't for a fact whether Fia knows or doesn't know that Adam killed her brother. I'd say she doesn't know. Adam was close to telling her last season. But his getting killed got in the way of that confession. Jimmy, however, did know, which raises the question of why, then, didn't he tell his daughter? He certainly can't be happy that Adam's name comes right after Rocco's in Jimmy's grandson.

Or perhaps Fia does know, but her love for Adam, and the fact that Rocco's death was an accident, allows her to live with it, and draw Michael in to be his grandson. This is a story of Shakespearean proportions. That was already clear in the first season, and the family ties and conflicts are even more trenchant and inscrutable now in the second season.

See also Your Honor 2.1: Scorching

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Published on January 27, 2023 21:21

Criminal Minds: Evolution 16.6-16.8: Better Than Ever on Paramount Plus

Back with a review of the last three episodes of the revitalized Criminal Minds on Paramount Plus -- 16.6, 16.7, 16-8 -- and revitalized is exactly what we got. These three episodes tightened all the various stories underway, including the BAU's search for Elias the master of the serial killer network, the BAU's fight with the FBI, and most of the personal stories of the BAU's team.
Zack Gilford continues to do an impressive job as the master villain Elias. It was good to see more of him with his family, and the increasing difficulty he has of reconciling and managing that with his serial killer endeavors. More on his family in a few paragraphs.
[Spoilers follow ... ]
Penelope's personal life is the most happy at this point. Sleeping with Tyler the good-looking material witness, despite Emily's explicit directive not to do that, was a good move on Penelope's part. In a funny scene that typifies that more realistic portrayal of the Criminal Minds characters on Paramount Plus, Luke and Tara quickly realize that Penelope's good mood stems from her "getting some". Of course they would realize what's come over Penelope -- after all, they're profilers, right? The language has also become more realistic on Criminal Minds on Paramount Plus, and this adds spice to the stories told. All that's missing in this new Criminal Minds for it to be in full R-rated territory is a little nudity. But we don't get that much of that in any kind of television these days.
The other personal stories are not as happy, but it was good to see that A. J's husband's cancer is not getting worse. Tara's pushing her significant other to help the BAU on a crucial case resulted in the two breaking up. Personal relationships have always been a challenge for the BAU and its seven days a week, 24 hours a day schedule.
But the BAU is getting a boost from FBI Deputy Director Doug Bailey, who is turning out to be an important ally and champion of the BAU. I expect he'll be playing a permanent role in the series as it moves into the next season.
I'll conclude with one important part of the narrative I didn't quite get -- indeed, it's the dramatic, cliff-hanging conclusion of 16.8, with Rossi knocking on Elias's door in Seattle, and his wife opening it, shortly after we see Elias calling her and telling her he'll be home in a few hours. A little earlier, Penelope told Rossi that he would have a huge number of homes to search. What's the likelihood that Rossi would get so lucky so quickly? Or, for that matter, that Rossi would get to that house when Elias was due to return so soon?
I'm very much looking forward to seeing how that plays out in the concluding two episodes of this season, and I'll be back here with a review.