mpower1112

I'm so happy I am alive to see the golden age of TV before it disappears as did the Godlen Age of movies during my lifetime. Finally filmmakers. mostly in TV these days, are making adult films recognizing the power of characters who have lives like you and me. Many a series depends on clever writing; this one gets by with great writing. which doesn't have to be clever.

Now comes 'Escape at Dannemora' to join a distinguished line of brilliant TV films beginning with The Sopranos. Breaking Bad, Fargo, True Detective and about a dozen others I could name including the fantastic Game of Thrones. The 90 minute movie is dead; long live the novelistic 8 hour movie. But back to the subject at hand. I've only seen two episodes but I couldn't be more enthusiastic about the writing, the acting,the direction and cinematography of 'Escape at Dannemora'. Good on you, Ben Stiller who knew you had it in you? A grim portrait of life behind bars which reinvents a tired genre. Brilliantly photographed and Patricial Arquette deserves more than one oscar for her performance. We always knew she was a good actress but this performance catapults her to the head of the line. The other cast members keep right up with her, especially Benedicto Del Toro, a really scary man. Well, enough raving, I urge you to get involved with the pathos of this heartbreaking series. .

It may not have the complexity or the depth of The Last Picture Show, Hombre or Blood Simple but it belongs right up there with those great films set in Texas. It's a film that tells a simple story of authentic people without a single false note. it's strength lies in its unpretentiousness. Nothing fancy, just character studies that are well written, well photographed and well acted. Dancer, Texas is a coming of age story that many from a small town can identify with. I come from a major metropolis but I had many of the same feelings myself when I graduated from high school just like these country boys who long for adventure. if director Tim McCanlies is listening, this movie begs for a sequence. Yes, it's late in the day, the movie was made in 1998, but I for one would like to know how those boys made out in the Land of their Dreams.

Just when I suspected the golden age of TV might be in decline after close to twenty years (counting from the advent of the Sopranos) along comes Babylon Berlin. What a savage swath through the Weimar Republic, that time in Germany between the World Wars. Were I to recount the plot, the multiple plots, the plots with the plots, this review would go on for many pages. Even Wikipedia has trouble keeping up. First, nothing is at it seems. The heroes often topple off their perches and the villains sometimes show flashes off humanity. No one trusts anyone and with good reason because no one is trustworthy. Morals are beside the point; betrayals are the politics of the day. And amazingly, according to what I read, the history in this series is not exaggerated: this is the way it was in the Weimar Republic.

The production values are fabulous; this is one good-looking movie. Berlin is bright, yet dark, completely addictive. The acting is superb, ranging from a conflicted detective, who reminds one of Clint Eastwood, to an actress who lights up the screen each time she appears, the lovely and very talented Liv Lisa Fries who plays Charlotte, a child of the slums, who has the strange ambition to be a homocide detective.Even the minor characters are sharply drawn.Contributing mightly to the verisimilitude: the costuming which is anything but costuming: these people look as if they had been wearing those peaked lapels and flapper gowns all their lives.

Someone said this might be the greatest serial film of all time. Hard to say that when you have such brilliant forays as The Sopranos, Breaking Bad and Fargo but I think they may be right. My only criticism is with the dubbed version in English; everyone has an American accent which is off-putting. The second time around I'm going to try to find the original German version which I understand exists.

The golden age rolls on.