What I have been watching
Jun. 2nd, 2019 09:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
scripsiYesterday it was finally time to watch Deadwood, The Movie. As you may have noticed, the show is one of my all-time favorite tv-shows, which is even more amazing considering I really don’t like Westerns. I still don’t know why I even gave it a chance. But I did, and I loved it, and was extremely annoyed with its cancellation, as the story clearly wasn’t all told yet. The writing is good, the acting excellent and costumes and sets are good too. It’s also the show which opened my eyes to Ian McShane and Titus Welliver. For years after the cancellation, there were rumours of a movie to properly end it, but after more than a decade I had long since lost hops. Until earlier this year when I suddenly learned that there really was a movie coming, with basically the whole cast too. Absent are Powers Boothe as Cy as well as the actor who played Richardson, as they have died, and Titus Welliver couldn’t be in it due to other commitments. They also changed the actress who played Sofia, probably because the original child actress only ever did Deadwood, so presumably had no interest in pursuing an acting career.
Anyway, the movie is set ten years after the series ended, and a celebration causes a number of character who has moved away from the town to return. The plot is simple; Hearst returns to make a bid on Charles Utter’s property; the main drive of the movie is the various characters interacting with each other. I really, really liked it, and overall I think the writers did a good job, and it was lovely to see all the characters again.
I had a strong suspicion Al would die, and I was right, but it didn’t feel so awful as I thought it would feel. Him dying underlined the fact that the Wild West is gone and Deadwood is now a town on the brink to the future.
I didn’t actually dislike anything, but I do feel the conflict with Hearst didn’t end satisfactorily. Of course, he couldn’t be killed off, but him spending the night in jail doesn’t really mean he won’t go after Trixie again, especially as he is so vindictive. I would have preferred him acknowledging he was leaving Deadwood for good. I also found the new character Caroline rather pointless. Not that I didn’t like her, but she was set up as someone coming to Deadwood with an agenda- I thought she might be the sister of Jen who was killed instead of Trixie in the last season, but in the end, she had no real purpose in the movie. There was also a budding friendship with Sofia which never amounted to anything.
There were also a couple of things I expected, which never happened. Like Alma and Trixie having a scene together. After having been such good friends, it felt rather odd. I also wanted a scene with Sofia and some kind of link to her first dead family. She seemed happy and with a loving relationship to Alma, which was good, but I wanted a scene with her and Jane and with some kind of confirmation she was happy despite her past. I also wondered a bit over Joanie’s depression. I get the feeling it was triggered by Cy’s death- it felt like it is hinted that way, but it felt very vague.
I didn't miss Titus Welliver. I really liked Silas, but his main purpose was to be the brain of Al’s henchmen and having a bit of a rivalry with Dan. As Al did no plotting where his henchmen were needed, Dan and Johnny mostly hung at the bar, and one would assume the rivalry would have petered out after a decade, his character wasn’t really needed.
But all these are pretty minor; there were far more I really loved. I can imagine some will dislike Al being so much more mellow, but I thought it worked really well. Al always had a softer side, and here he is dying and knows it. Ian McShane is such a good actor, and Al is the true center of the movie. As I said above his death serves a purpose, and much of the movie is about him letting go. Acknowledging his love and care for Trixie, for example. Making sure Dan and Johnny are set up. Basically handing Sol the center of power in the city by telling him to pursue the role as mayor. Oh yes, I loved all Al’s scenes.
Also loved Trixie and Sol getting married and happy. I was rather afraid Trixie would be killed during the wedding as I know the real Sol Star never got married, and I’m glad that didn’t happen. Also, how come all the actors looked distinctly older (not so strange after 13 years), but Paula Malcolmson who plays Trixie manages to look younger? She’s more gorgeous at 48 than she was at 35.
I loved how loving and happy Seth’s and Martha’s marriage turned out to be. And though both Seth and Alma were jolted emotionally by meeting again, it was also clear Seth had moved on. Alma, not so much, but it also felt like their meeting might be what she needed to finally move on.
Loved Joanie and Jane finding each other again. I sniffled through many scenes in this movie, but especially when they kissed. Loved the real concern Wu displayed when he brought Al medicinal tea and bullying him into taking it. Loved, even if it was sad, how the murder of Jen still haunts Trixie, Johnny, and Al.
I’ve also watched The Falcon Takes Over with George Sanders recently. It was a bit odd. The plot was a blatant steal of Raymond Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely, and it didn’t work particularly well. It’s not a happy story and smashed badly with the general feel of light-hearted mystery. I especially found the “funny” character of the Falcon’s sidekick rather trying. But George Sanders is very dashing and randomly kiss three of the five female characters the movie boasted.
This made me want to reread Chandler, and also lead me to an article which stated that it’s impossible to think of Philip Marlowe without seeing Humphrey Bogart. Which I don’t. I very definitely don’t see Bogart as Marlowe. Which made me half-remember a TV-series with Phillip Marlowe in my teens. I couldn’t recall much, but Google provided me with Marlowe, Private Eye with Powers Boothe, airing in 1983. And sure enough, this is what my Marlowe has always looked like in my mind’s eye:
I also found the first season, of two, on DVD, and have not watched it. I didn’t expect much, but it’s actually really good! It’s based on Chandler’s short stories, which I haven’t read, so I can’t say how well-adapted it is. But the 30’s settings are spot on and has a great film noir-feeling. Most of the time the female characters look more 30’s than 80’s too. I definitely recommend it, and it seems at least some of the episodes can be found on Youtube:
I also watched Rebecca, which I have seen before. It’s a good movie, but for Laurence Olivier. I never understood why he’s such a highly rated actor- I always find s him terrible wooden. Also, I can’t stand Maxim de Winters as a character. Yes, I get that Rebecca was pretty awful, but he actually kills her. No matter if she goaded him- you don’t kill people, period. I always feel vaguely worried for the second Mrs. de Winters- she is growing into a much more assertive person by the end, and I worry that she'll be in the spotlight for his terrible temper next. But Joan Fontaine is pretty great as the second wife, and Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers is simply terrifying. And, of course, George Sanders is great as Rebecca’s slimy cousin. He is much better than Laurence Olivier which is painfully obvious in their scenes together. And if I had to choose, I would prefer a man who is a blackmailer to a man who has killed his wife…
We are currently watching Gentleman Jack, and loving it. It’s a period drama, based on the diaries of an Ann Lister who was a wealthy landowner in the first half of the 19th century. She was a lesbian, and though it wasn’t unlawful in Great Britain at the time, it certainly wasn’t accepted either. (It was forbidden for men to have sex with other men, but as sex in people’s mind meant penetration by a penis, women couldn’t really have sex with women. There was a case contemporary to Ann Lister where two female teachers were caught in the act but was acquitted as they lacked penises and therefore wasn’t able to have sex…) anyways, the series depict Ann in her forties where she, somewhat grudgingly, returns to her home after having lived with another woman as companion for some time. Miss Lister is the object of much curiosity; she is unmarried, she always dresses in black, and though she wears skirts, her attire is as mannish as she possibly can get away with. She falls in love with rich, but frail Anne Walker, feelings which are mutual, but Miss Walker, who is much younger and influenced by her relatives, struggles with her feelings and her fear of what society will say about them. It’s well-acted and the costumes are gorgeous, and I really like how rounded the characters are. Miss Lister may the heroine, but she is also snobbish, and she has a tense relationship with her sister. But then, at times, they have an interaction which underlines that even if they are at odds they do understand each other the way sisters do and love each other as well. Season 1 is ongoing and season 2 is already cleared.
I Am the Night A really interesting story based on the life of Fauna Hodel. It’s 1965 and teenage Pat has grown up with her African-American mother. She’s very light-skinned and often passes as white. By coincidence, she learns she is really adopted, her real name is Fauna and her real mother was white. She contacts her real grandfather, George Hodel, who invites her to Los Angeles. But when she gets there her grandfather proves elusive, and Fauna encounters more and more disturbing hints about her mother and her family. In real life, George Hodel was a successful Hollywood doctor who was one of the suspects in the Black Dahlia-murder and also accused by his 14 year-old-daughter of incest. In the first case it never went to trial, in the end, he was acquitted, but in any case, he seems to have been a horrible man. I Am the Night takes several liberties with reality. George Hodel is, without doubt, a murderer, he drugs and abducts Fauna, with the clear intention to rape and probably murder her. It’s also hinted he is Fauna’s real father. In reality, Geroge Hodel was living abroad in 1965, and the real Fauna was born two years after the incest trial. She was also never abducted by him, but her half-sister has told a story of how she as a young teenager suddenly falls asleep during a lunch with her grandfather, and when she wakes up she is naked in his hotel room and he is taking pictures of her. As for the Black Dahlia-case, it’s pretty impossible to prove he really was the killer. His son Steven has written several books arguing his father’s guilt, and I think the suggestion is at least possible.
Anyway, I enjoyed the series, even if it was dark. I particularly enjoyed that Fauna actually saves herself in the end and comes out a stronger person.
Killing Eve. I enjoyed this season as much a style last, and I’m happy to hear there will be a third season.
Anyway, the movie is set ten years after the series ended, and a celebration causes a number of character who has moved away from the town to return. The plot is simple; Hearst returns to make a bid on Charles Utter’s property; the main drive of the movie is the various characters interacting with each other. I really, really liked it, and overall I think the writers did a good job, and it was lovely to see all the characters again.
I had a strong suspicion Al would die, and I was right, but it didn’t feel so awful as I thought it would feel. Him dying underlined the fact that the Wild West is gone and Deadwood is now a town on the brink to the future.
I didn’t actually dislike anything, but I do feel the conflict with Hearst didn’t end satisfactorily. Of course, he couldn’t be killed off, but him spending the night in jail doesn’t really mean he won’t go after Trixie again, especially as he is so vindictive. I would have preferred him acknowledging he was leaving Deadwood for good. I also found the new character Caroline rather pointless. Not that I didn’t like her, but she was set up as someone coming to Deadwood with an agenda- I thought she might be the sister of Jen who was killed instead of Trixie in the last season, but in the end, she had no real purpose in the movie. There was also a budding friendship with Sofia which never amounted to anything.
There were also a couple of things I expected, which never happened. Like Alma and Trixie having a scene together. After having been such good friends, it felt rather odd. I also wanted a scene with Sofia and some kind of link to her first dead family. She seemed happy and with a loving relationship to Alma, which was good, but I wanted a scene with her and Jane and with some kind of confirmation she was happy despite her past. I also wondered a bit over Joanie’s depression. I get the feeling it was triggered by Cy’s death- it felt like it is hinted that way, but it felt very vague.
I didn't miss Titus Welliver. I really liked Silas, but his main purpose was to be the brain of Al’s henchmen and having a bit of a rivalry with Dan. As Al did no plotting where his henchmen were needed, Dan and Johnny mostly hung at the bar, and one would assume the rivalry would have petered out after a decade, his character wasn’t really needed.
But all these are pretty minor; there were far more I really loved. I can imagine some will dislike Al being so much more mellow, but I thought it worked really well. Al always had a softer side, and here he is dying and knows it. Ian McShane is such a good actor, and Al is the true center of the movie. As I said above his death serves a purpose, and much of the movie is about him letting go. Acknowledging his love and care for Trixie, for example. Making sure Dan and Johnny are set up. Basically handing Sol the center of power in the city by telling him to pursue the role as mayor. Oh yes, I loved all Al’s scenes.
Also loved Trixie and Sol getting married and happy. I was rather afraid Trixie would be killed during the wedding as I know the real Sol Star never got married, and I’m glad that didn’t happen. Also, how come all the actors looked distinctly older (not so strange after 13 years), but Paula Malcolmson who plays Trixie manages to look younger? She’s more gorgeous at 48 than she was at 35.
I loved how loving and happy Seth’s and Martha’s marriage turned out to be. And though both Seth and Alma were jolted emotionally by meeting again, it was also clear Seth had moved on. Alma, not so much, but it also felt like their meeting might be what she needed to finally move on.
Loved Joanie and Jane finding each other again. I sniffled through many scenes in this movie, but especially when they kissed. Loved the real concern Wu displayed when he brought Al medicinal tea and bullying him into taking it. Loved, even if it was sad, how the murder of Jen still haunts Trixie, Johnny, and Al.
I’ve also watched The Falcon Takes Over with George Sanders recently. It was a bit odd. The plot was a blatant steal of Raymond Chandler’s Farewell, My Lovely, and it didn’t work particularly well. It’s not a happy story and smashed badly with the general feel of light-hearted mystery. I especially found the “funny” character of the Falcon’s sidekick rather trying. But George Sanders is very dashing and randomly kiss three of the five female characters the movie boasted.
This made me want to reread Chandler, and also lead me to an article which stated that it’s impossible to think of Philip Marlowe without seeing Humphrey Bogart. Which I don’t. I very definitely don’t see Bogart as Marlowe. Which made me half-remember a TV-series with Phillip Marlowe in my teens. I couldn’t recall much, but Google provided me with Marlowe, Private Eye with Powers Boothe, airing in 1983. And sure enough, this is what my Marlowe has always looked like in my mind’s eye:
I also found the first season, of two, on DVD, and have not watched it. I didn’t expect much, but it’s actually really good! It’s based on Chandler’s short stories, which I haven’t read, so I can’t say how well-adapted it is. But the 30’s settings are spot on and has a great film noir-feeling. Most of the time the female characters look more 30’s than 80’s too. I definitely recommend it, and it seems at least some of the episodes can be found on Youtube:
I also watched Rebecca, which I have seen before. It’s a good movie, but for Laurence Olivier. I never understood why he’s such a highly rated actor- I always find s him terrible wooden. Also, I can’t stand Maxim de Winters as a character. Yes, I get that Rebecca was pretty awful, but he actually kills her. No matter if she goaded him- you don’t kill people, period. I always feel vaguely worried for the second Mrs. de Winters- she is growing into a much more assertive person by the end, and I worry that she'll be in the spotlight for his terrible temper next. But Joan Fontaine is pretty great as the second wife, and Judith Anderson as Mrs. Danvers is simply terrifying. And, of course, George Sanders is great as Rebecca’s slimy cousin. He is much better than Laurence Olivier which is painfully obvious in their scenes together. And if I had to choose, I would prefer a man who is a blackmailer to a man who has killed his wife…
We are currently watching Gentleman Jack, and loving it. It’s a period drama, based on the diaries of an Ann Lister who was a wealthy landowner in the first half of the 19th century. She was a lesbian, and though it wasn’t unlawful in Great Britain at the time, it certainly wasn’t accepted either. (It was forbidden for men to have sex with other men, but as sex in people’s mind meant penetration by a penis, women couldn’t really have sex with women. There was a case contemporary to Ann Lister where two female teachers were caught in the act but was acquitted as they lacked penises and therefore wasn’t able to have sex…) anyways, the series depict Ann in her forties where she, somewhat grudgingly, returns to her home after having lived with another woman as companion for some time. Miss Lister is the object of much curiosity; she is unmarried, she always dresses in black, and though she wears skirts, her attire is as mannish as she possibly can get away with. She falls in love with rich, but frail Anne Walker, feelings which are mutual, but Miss Walker, who is much younger and influenced by her relatives, struggles with her feelings and her fear of what society will say about them. It’s well-acted and the costumes are gorgeous, and I really like how rounded the characters are. Miss Lister may the heroine, but she is also snobbish, and she has a tense relationship with her sister. But then, at times, they have an interaction which underlines that even if they are at odds they do understand each other the way sisters do and love each other as well. Season 1 is ongoing and season 2 is already cleared.
I Am the Night A really interesting story based on the life of Fauna Hodel. It’s 1965 and teenage Pat has grown up with her African-American mother. She’s very light-skinned and often passes as white. By coincidence, she learns she is really adopted, her real name is Fauna and her real mother was white. She contacts her real grandfather, George Hodel, who invites her to Los Angeles. But when she gets there her grandfather proves elusive, and Fauna encounters more and more disturbing hints about her mother and her family. In real life, George Hodel was a successful Hollywood doctor who was one of the suspects in the Black Dahlia-murder and also accused by his 14 year-old-daughter of incest. In the first case it never went to trial, in the end, he was acquitted, but in any case, he seems to have been a horrible man. I Am the Night takes several liberties with reality. George Hodel is, without doubt, a murderer, he drugs and abducts Fauna, with the clear intention to rape and probably murder her. It’s also hinted he is Fauna’s real father. In reality, Geroge Hodel was living abroad in 1965, and the real Fauna was born two years after the incest trial. She was also never abducted by him, but her half-sister has told a story of how she as a young teenager suddenly falls asleep during a lunch with her grandfather, and when she wakes up she is naked in his hotel room and he is taking pictures of her. As for the Black Dahlia-case, it’s pretty impossible to prove he really was the killer. His son Steven has written several books arguing his father’s guilt, and I think the suggestion is at least possible.
Anyway, I enjoyed the series, even if it was dark. I particularly enjoyed that Fauna actually saves herself in the end and comes out a stronger person.
Killing Eve. I enjoyed this season as much a style last, and I’m happy to hear there will be a third season.
no subject
Date: 2019-06-02 02:21 pm (UTC)I agree that Alma's storyline was underdeveloped. I liked that she was still Mrs. Ellsworth and that she'd clearly gotten out of the cycle of needing a man -- in fact, with married women's property laws, she's best staying solo. I had the feeling, though I might have been wrong, that the Deadwood Bank wasn't her only business interest. And that she might not have been back since that final episode in season 3, which means someone's been handling her business interests for her and I'm unclear who.
Much as I'm sad for Alma's personal life, and happy about her business one, I'm very happy that the Bullocks have a solid marriage. Apparently the real Seth and Martha Bullock were childhood sweethearts, rather than her being his brother's widow. And real Martha did a lot to bring culture and etc. to Deadwood. It was just nice seeing their children and that final shot!
And yes, Caroline seemed beside the point. At first I thought she might be working undercover for Hearst. Maybe the powers that be wanted a young, pretty woman since all of our heroines are in their 40s by now? I did think Johnny's crush on her, and the fact that he'd been carrying a torch for Jen all those years, and the fact that he was still with Al after Al sacrified Jen . . . Johnny deserved some happiness, anyway, and I shall headcanon their working out.
Trixie and Sol, so much love, especially the attempt at including Jewish elements in the ceremony. Really all of the couples made me happy, Jane and Joanie as well -- it looked like Joanie was hitting bottom at the beginning, but she did get her act together suspiciously quickly.
But I'm rambling on too long -- must save something for my own post!!!
no subject
Date: 2019-06-02 03:15 pm (UTC)I'm not sure she really was in a cycle like that. She was coerced into marrying her first husband, and she only married Ellsworth because she was pregnant. :)
She did have money from her first husband too, and she has proved herself to be an astute businesswoman, so I suppose she would have managed that money very well too. I also got the feeling she had been away for ten years, which jarred a little as there was no suggestion of her leaving in season 3- so why did she suddenly feel the need to leave, and for such long time?
And yes, Caroline seemed beside the point.
I liked her, but she seemed overly complicated for having so little impact. I think you may very well be right and there was a stipulation to bring in more pretty girls. But I wonder if she wasn't already a developed character for the season 4 we never got. There were all those bits about her name, her keepsake, and the hints of an abusive childhood, as well of that since she was looking for someone. Perhaps she was meant to be a sister of Jen's, but that keepsake makes me wonder if she wasn't looking for a missing father. Deadwood is full of men who could have an adult daughter, Cy, Doc, Charlie Utter, Ellsworth, to name a few. Not EB, though. I'm sure if he managed to knock someone up, that woman wouldn't want her child to find him...
The more I think of it I feel a lot of what we got in the movie could have happened in a season 4. Caroline looking for someone, and the fact that both Johnny and Al warmed up to her could be the seed to a triangle drama. If Al claimed yet another girl Johnny loved it could very well be a breaking point for him. Also, Trixie getting pregnant and not wanting to marry until she had a baby, Hearst murdering Utter and Seth and Martha falling in love and strating a family in earnest could all have happened a lot sooner. Even Al falling ill and dying; he isn't exactly in the best of health in the previous seasons.
Johnny deserved some happiness, anyway, and I shall headcanon their working out.
I completely agree! And apropos headcanons; I had a dream about Deadwood last night where I was annoyed Alma was called Mrs. Ellsworth- had everyone forgotten she had married Al? Well, that piece of headcanon is well and truly dead now, I suppose. My fannish heart would have loved some kind of interaction between Al and Alma more than his respectful "Mrs. Ellsworth", but you can't have everything.
it looked like Joanie was hitting bottom at the beginning, but she did get her act together suspiciously quickly.
Also one of those things I felt could have been in season 4; her shaking a depression could have gotten more time. :)
But I'm rambling on too long -- must save something for my own post!!!
I'm looking forward to read it!
no subject
Date: 2019-06-02 08:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-02 11:26 pm (UTC)Rebecca is a classic gothic story but Maxim pisses me off even before the reveal, constantly calling his second wife "fool" and "idiot". I get the feeling he only got involved with her because he could bully her in a way he couldn't bully Rebecca.
The old law in England making it illegal to be a gay guy but not to be a lesbian is because Queen Victoria had no idea lesbianism even existed until an anti-gay bill was brought before her, when she simply refused to believe women did "that sort of thing" and crossed out every reference to lesbians. i actually refer to this in one of my House fics, "It's-Its".
no subject
Date: 2019-06-03 07:54 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2019-06-06 03:26 am (UTC)Take care!