Fallen Angels

... was marveling at all the well-known names involved, both onscreen and off. Aside from that, these half-hour imitation-noir sketches were either dramatically inert or else soporifically slow, extremely mannered (to the point of parody), and -- their biggest drawback -- often quite predictable. Some of the actors tended to speak so languidly, with long silences between their sentences, that I wanted to shout at them to pick up the pace. The gauzy color photography looked all wrong; everything onscreen just felt phony and artificial. The productions also suffered, obviously, from a low budget, with small casts and minimalist sets.

Truth be told, I watched only half a dozen entries in this series before bailing on it, which is why I'm not giving it a rating, but I saw enough to know that it was pretty joyless. It's no surprise that it failed to catch on and is virtually unknown today. Even the bad black-and-white noirs (and most of them WERE bad) had a kind of authenticity about them, something this series lacks. A few modern-day homages to noir have worked splendidly -- I'm thinking of "L. A. Confidential" in particular -- but "Fallen Angels," though it probably seemed like a good idea at the time, tried to fake it and failed.

Trust Steven Soderbergh to make dangerous and thrilling a safely nostalgic TV show. His film, 'The Quiet Room' is an extension into noir of his SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE subject matter, and provides a bridge between it and his later generic forays: the private, sexual space in the public domain; the Genetesque rites of sex and power, one corrupting the other (and vica versa); the malaise of middle-class inadequacy; the ultimate failure of all relationships because of lack of communication (this film begins the father/daughter problematic essayed so hauntingly in THE LIMEY). Brilliantly, painfully funny, the film is more stylistically imaginative than a TV programme has any right to expect.

"Fallen Angels" is an American TV series release in Brazil on VHS in the 90's with three short stories:

1) Original Title: "The Professional Man" The homosexual Johnny Lamb (Brendan Frser) is a discreet elevator operator that works to the gay gangster Herman Charn (Peter Coyote) as a coldblooded killer. When he meets the gay bartender Paul (Bruce Ramsay) that works in Charn's bar, Johnny has a crush that will affect his relationship with his boss.

Directed by Steven Soderbergh, it is a strange film in the gay underworld. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "O Matador de Programa" ("The Scort Killer")4

2) Original Title: "Red Wind" While drinking a beer late night in a bar in front of his apartment building, private detective Philip Marlowe (Danny Glover) witness a murder. Police Detectives Copernik (Dan Hedaya) and Ybarra (Miguel Sandoval) interrogates him and soon he stumbles upon the wealthy Lola (Kelly Lynch) that discloses a complicated case of infidelity.

Directed by Agnieszka Holland, the plot has a poor storyline and screenplay and Danny Glover miscast, in the role of an attractive man that breaks the heart of Kelly Lynch and Valeria Golino. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Um Gole de Perigo" ("A Sip of Danger")

3) Original Title: "Fly Paper" The socialite Sue Hambleton (Kristin Minter) leaves her wealthy family to live with the gangster Babe McCloor (Michael Rooker) in 1929. After a long time, her family is contacted by Sue asking for money and the Private Detective Continental Op (Christopher Lloyd) is sent to investigate and deliver the money to Sue. However he finds that it was a scheme from Sue's acquaintances Peggy Carroll (Laura San Giacomo) and her boyfriend Joe Wales (Peter Berg) to take money from Sue's family. His further investigation finds a murder case to be resolved.

"Fly Paper" is a good episode of "Fallen Angels", with a plot with many twists. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Debaixo de Rajadas" ("Under a Hail of Bullets")

My vote is six for the whole VHS.

Title (Brazil): "Crimes Perfeitos" ("Perfect Crimes")

These episodes remind me of old movie but there still film noir. I few of my favorite are "Dead End for Delia" with Gary Oldman, "A Dime of Dance" with Jennifer Gray & Eric Stolz, "Fearless", "Tomorrow I Die" with Bill Pullman & "Good-Housekeeper" with Dana Delany, William Peterson, Benicio Del Toro & Marcia Gay Harden. These few episodes were well-acted and had twist in the end. Some episodes were either boring or bad acting they did not keep my interest. I hope they put this show on DVD soon.

I remember watching these episodes on Showtime, and I would have to say that they are pretty interesting. The one with Joe Montegna was really interesting. Gary Oldman had a good role in one of the episodes. Above all, I would give the entire shows combined together, 6.5 out of 10.