Homeland Insecurity

To say the United States has lived in a cocoon of paranoid over-reaction for the past decade or so is perhaps an understatement. What 9/11 really seemed to accomplish more than anything was to give credence and deference to media-fueled mass hysteria. There was no logic or reason to how this country reacted to that tragedy. On the one hand we launched several ill-considered wars which when combined now represent the longest conflict in American history. But that wasn't all; we also managed to gut the constitution in what now seems almost a whim (the very rushed Patriot Act). This is all the more remarkable given that throughout the entire Cold War when the world was a heartbeat away from total nuclear destruction, we somehow managed to preserve, protect and even cherish our freedoms.

Homeland Security came into existence two years after 9/11

The latest headlines can attest to the fact that we're doing more spying now than we ever have before - even more than during the Cold War. People don't seem to question the motives or rationale behind this unprecedented level of paranoia - but they should. Let's put this into perspective; every year more than 10x as many Americans die from gunshot wounds (self inflicted or otherwise) as did during 9/11. Put another way, in one year more Americans will die from guns here at home than died in both the entire Afghan and Iraq wars combined.

Like I said, there's no logic to what's been going on here - its more or less crazy...

Season 3 has taken Homeland in new directions

Crazy, like say, Claire Danes' character in Homeland. Homeland is a Showtime series which is in its 3rd season now. Up until this season it was something we only watched while traveling - where hotels only had Showtime and Showtime kept rerunning these episodes over and over again so you really couldn't miss it. We didn't like it during season one or two and part of the reason was the principle of the thing. It seemed like a combination of the most paranoid theme of the Cold War (The Manchurian Candidate) combined with all the worst aspects of the god-awful Fox series, 24. It was about as much fun to watch as getting the Rapiscan at airport security.

But then something changed this year. The show shifted from its terrorist paranoia to a deeper focus on the Intelligence Community in general and began highlighting many of the secondary characters. More than that, though - the plot began to focus more and more on Carrie Matheson's (Danes) inability to separate mental illness from intelligence practice. This has proven much more entertaining on many levels. It allows the show to poke criticism at itself and the larger sense of national paranoia while still shifting more towards a traditional spy thriller format. Another key aspect to this season's success was the decision to put Brody (Damien Lewis - you remember him, he played the straight-laced hero Captain Winters in HBO's Band of Brothers) on the back burner. Brody in this series, is the Manchurian Candidate and quite frankly he didn't play role so well anyway. We've had two movie versions of the Manchurian Candidate and in the first one Frank Sinatra (who wasn't the candidate) was the star and in the second Denzel Washington was (although Liev Shrieber playing the candidate did a good job).

Danes, Lewis, Baccarin and Patinkin

Lewis, while a competent actor, doesn't have great range and when he does try to break out of his normal character he comes across as though he is struggling a bit. Claire Danes on the other is perfectly convincing as both a desperate agent needing to be heard and as a stark raving looney - she's got range.

Rounding out the cast this year are Mandy Patinkin, Morena Baccarin and F. Murray Abraham (yes, that guy from the Mozart movie - Salieri). All of these folks are simply stellar; Mandy Patinkin is one of the best character actors in the business and Morena helped make Firefly the classic that it's become. All in all, Homeland seems to have done a very effective job of reinventing itself this season - becoming a much more reasonable drama.

The question is; will the U.S. do the same? (and someday emerge from this collective paranoia)



Copyright 2013, Raving Reviews

#Homeland
#RavingReviews

Read More

Mastering the Johnsons?

Well, there were a lot of lame puns to potentially apply for our title on the new Showtime series, "Masters of Sex." Given the title and topic of the show, one would expect there to be a great deal of whoopee being made. However, season one so far has not opened with a bang (sorry, couldn't help it). Yes, there's some sex going on but a lot less say than in Spartacus - although here at least we aren't treated to slow-mo blood splatters every 3 minutes.

The show concept is intriguing, the characters are interesting - some of them anyway and the backdrop of helping to spur the sexual revolution certainly has potential... Butt - oops, But, this show seems conflicted on several levels:

•  Dr. Masters comes across as supremely odd (and maybe he was?) but more to the point Michael Sheen seems to be having a hard time reigning him in. We could just imagine what Bryan Cranston might do with the role (he loves being conflicted). Sheen spends much of the show merely looking uncomfortable.
• Lizzy Caplan started strong as the free-wheeling Johnson, but it seems as though the show is trying to unliberate her as season one progresses - no idea what's going on there.
• The story arc is still murky as well. 
• The one part of the show that seems to be taking hold is the deteriorating marriage of Dr. Masters and his wife played by Caitlin FitzGerald. It is a powerful subplot but can't make up for what's missing in the main one (which isn't clear yet - is it the struggle to do the study or Masters and Johnson getting together or Masters ticking everyone off - its just not clear).

Good trailer for season 1, yet it seems to be teasing us a bit...

Sometimes as the show drops little hints at what the historic sex study is going to conclude the revelations seem overwhelmingly obvious - although that's from our perspective in the 2013 (we have flying cars now you know). Were people in the 1950's as backwards as the in Victorian era - were they backwards then? Who knows... There was a very funny movie about the invention of the vibrator (Hysteria) that came out two years ago. It was informative but more than that - Hysteria was funny. Master's of Sex has a deep rooted identity crisis - it doesn't know what it wants to be.

If you watch the opening intro, you'll note all sorts of cutesy innuendo image montages rolling by - reminiscent of Dexter (but less grisly). If you just watched the opening you'd think you had tuned into a comedy - and there has been some comedy injected in it. Yet, most of the show seems deadly serious - perhaps too serious for its own good. Showtime has an all-star cast and probably will be given the luxury of second season; it might be worthwhile rethinking the show to make it more one thing or the other (sex, funny or serious).

The real Masters and Johnson circa the 1960's - note the Star Trek original series sweater
(bow ties are always in fashion)

Verdict for season one - we don't have to see the whole season - we're simply not interested anymore; we've got a headache and are going to to bed early.


postscript - We have decided to continue watching the series for now and it has gotten better. There has been more humor, a little more sex and several new plotlines introduced which are together making the show more interesting and entertaining. Michael Sheen isn't growing much in the role, but Beau Bridges has made an unexpected impact and Allison Janney (you may remember her from the from West Wing) was thrown into the mix (the Dayton native is always excellent).


Copyright 2013, Raving Reviews

#RavingReviews

Read More

Is Dexter Killer TV ?

For several years we refused to watch Dexter on principle - that principle being that glorifying serial killers was going a step too far. Sure, we've had to put up with a decade of CSI like dramas but Dexter seemed new and dangerous. We had tolerated the spate of Hannibal Lector related movies because the mega-drama involved seemed a bit unreal. Showtime's Dexter is a different animal altogether; it's an ongoing character study in what makes a killer tick - but not just any study - it's a biased and markedly sympathetic view.

Michael C. Hall is Dexter Morgan, the serial killer next door

Dexter has been around for a long time - it's in its 7th season which makes it one of the longest running shows on Cable television. It's also been one of Showtime's highest rated original shows ever. So why the fascination with this character and this story? We had planned on ignoring all of this but found ourselves travelling on an extended trip and the hotel only had Showtime. Dexter was the only thing playing so we gave in and watched. There are no big stars in Dexter, but lot's of interesting characters. Dexter himself drives most of the action although he has a unique relationship with his dead brother (a former killer himself played by veteran actor James Remar) - this provides a sort of 1st as 3rd person narration that serves as a window into Dexter's troubled psyche. 

There's interesting things going on behind the scenes as well - the actor who played Dexter, Michael C. Hall was married to (and has now divorced) his co-star Jennifer Carpenter who plays his sister in the show. This season they've revealed that the character of the sister Debra Morgan is in love with her brother. Hall also was diagnosed Hodgkin's lymphoma recently (it's now in remission).

The show continues to push its own limits

The show takes place in Miami which somehow seems fitting; Miami was the backdrop for Scarface and Miami Vice as well as the birthplace for CSI. Miami and killing continue to be linked in popular culture - with this year's face eating incident taking the South Florida to a new level of infamy. Dexter even brought in Edward Jame Olmos or EJO (Miami Vice's Castillo) last season to add some Miami Nostalgia to the mix.

EJO was the coolest guy in Miami during the 1980's

Back to the original question - is the show and its premise really worth exploring? Hall seems entirely believable as the sociopath Dexter yet the show seems to be peeling away the feeble excuses as to why it's ok for him to be killing everyone in sight by ditching his "Dark Passenger" and letting him revel in the joy of killing as a stress relief mechanism. Our recommendation is a guarded one - this show should not be viewed by anyone under 17 or by people with overly impressionable minds. It's interesting drama with a very twisted worldview. Just this week there was another real life Dexter in the news - Isreal Keyes - when asked why he went around killing folks across America he simply replied "why not." Perhaps people like Keyes may feel that way because partly because they see so much of it on television and movies and it seems as though it's becoming accepted or acceptable behavior (in Dexter his sister is first shocked at finding out what her brother does as a hobby but within 4 episodes is asking him to kill someone for her).

Perhaps it's time our culture ended its love affair with true crime and sadistic killers - who knows, we might actually end up a healthier, safer place to live. 

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More

Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States

History is a fascinating topic and here's why:

1. It is the over-arching story of all of us.
2. It is a highly interpretative and subjective art (it's not a science).
3. It is hopelessly intertwined with the cultures that produce it.
4. It serves as the larger context for every other type of information our society produces (be it science, religion etc.)
5. It often involves people and events we know, or think we know.

Oliver Stone and Showtime have teamed up to produce what can best be described as an alternative course in 20th Century American history called Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States. The truth is that Director Stone began this project 30 years ago through films like Salvador, Born on the 4th of July and JFK. But now it has moved from specific stories to an all-encompassing historical perspective.

Maverick Producer / Director Oliver Stone

The core premise of the show is that there are a lot of misconceptions in the traditional or common textbook versions of what happened in the US over the past century or so. Stone attacks what he sees as that bias and adds some very interesting spin of his own. The show is still early in its run and is just about to tackle the Cold War in its next episode. This week Stone explored myths surrounding the use of the Atomic bomb in Japan at the end of WWII. So far the most interesting part of the series has been the focus on Franklin Roosevelt's first Vice President, Henry Wallace. Most Americans don't even know that Roosevelt had another Vice President (other than Truman). Wallace's story proves both fascinating and tragic; but for one late night vote at the 1944 Democratic Convention Wallace would have become President and presided over post-war America. 

Henry Wallace - FDR's 1st Vice President 

In the following episode, "The Bomb"  Stone more or less eviscerates Truman on every possible level; from political skill, to personality flaws and even morality. Stone does correctly point out a number of key facts regarding use of the bomb though:

1. The estimate about how many Americans might be lost in an invasion of Japan were vastly inflated later to help justify the bomb's use.
2. Stalin's invasion of Japan (per agreement with the Allies) in August 1945 is what led to Japan's surrender much more so than the dropping of the two atom bombs (at Hiroshima and Nagasaki).
3. Japan would have surrendered months earlier if the US had made guarantees about about retention of the Emperor (something we ended up doing anyway after Japan surrendered unconditionally).
4. Probably the main reason why Truman and his political allies wanted to use the bomb was to warn or threaten the Soviets. This directly led to tensions which kicked off the Cold War. 

There had been strong opposition in the War Department including by the Secretary of War, Eisenhower and others to use of the bomb, yet all those objections were ignored. Truman took responsibility for the decision and the specific directives to use the bombs in populated areas as opposed to somewhere less populated (which could have demonstrated their destructive power without killing hundreds of thousands of people).

The series tackles lots of tough questions like this and that's a good thing. While all the points Stone makes are true, though, he also seems to paint Stalin in a more flattering light than the crazed Soviet dictator deserved (Stalin killed more of his people before WWII than Hitler killed across Europe during WWII). One has to wonder what might have happened if we hadn't taken a hard line with the Soviets or if the bomb hadn't been used. Certainly the using the bomb had little to do with stopping the war, but it did make an impression that was never forgotten and in doing so may have somewhat deterred use of the bomb in future combat (it still has not been used since 1945). We'll never know of course what might have happened if different choices were made - whether using the bomb made us safer or instead brought us to the very brink of self-destruction. These are questions worth asking and we're looking forward to seeing more of Oliver Stone's spin on American History.

Series preview for Oliver Stone's Untold History of America

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More

Dating Tips from Henry VIII - The Tudors

We've watched The Tudors now twice - the whole series - and it just keeps getting better and better. But it's not just entertaining; the Showtime series is also very educational. It's taught us not just about English history and the plague, but also about how to develop successful dating strategies. For instance, did you know that King Henry VIII invented both speed dating and speed marriages? Did you know he also invented the "it's not my fault divorce." We came across a little known pamphlet penned in Henry's own hand that contains all he learned about courting women at court. We're including some of the highlights from it in this post.

Henry VIII was quite the ladies man and innovator

Henry's VIII's Dating Tips:

Tip 1 - Be sure to test if your potential date or mate is squeamish by showing her your pus-filled open wounds. Only women with stout constitutions are fit to consort with the King.

Tip 2 -  Be sure to shower women with flattery for it is the quickest way into their lacy drawers. They are especially fond of being reminded how beautiful their heads are while still attached to their bodies.

Tip 3 - Always be generous with the weaker sex by letting them taste all of your food first. This also saves considerable coin that would elsewise be spent on professional food tasters.

Tip 4 - Always ask your date if she is able to conceive male heirs. If she says no, have her flogged, drawn and quartered.

Tip 5 - Get your best friends (like Lord Brandon, AKA superman) to pimp your dates whenever possible and threaten to have them flogged, drawn and quartered if they do not.

Tip 6 - Be sure to ask your dates about their views on controversial religious topics; if you don't like the answers or it turns out the date is either Catholic or Lutheran, have her burned as a heretic.

Tip 7 - It's perfectly OK to be jealous, especially when your date or wife is a Jezebel and whore of Babylon - in which case you will need to have her put to death along with every man she ever met.  

Tip 8 - Be most generous with your gifts, bestowing upon your maid or damsel the finest jewels of the realm. And feel free to give the same exact gifts over and over again but remember not to mention they're used.

Tip 9 - You should marry and divorce as often as possible, but never pay alimony.

Henry VIII also invented the reality show - "Don't Ax Me"

Tip 10 - Always look for new mistresses amongst the queen's maid-servants because no matter how often you do that the Queens never expect it.

Bonus Tip - Always use protection when wenching out on the town; this should consist of two pikesmen as guards and garlic coated condoms in case the wench is a witch, in which case she must be burned after the fact.

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews - All Rights Reserved

Read More

Top 10 Ways to get the Plague - The Tudors

In the Showtime series, The Tudors, one of the things we learn early on is that the plague is an ever present part of Medieval Life. In fact King Henry VIII's son and a close friend both die from what is known as the Sweating Sickness (see the picture below).

A victim in the advance stages of sweating sickness

While doing diligent research on The Tudors for our reviews we came across some little known but potentially valuable medical advice from the mid-1500's that was no doubt employed to keep the plague at bay. This find consists of two top 10 lists; one to avoid the plague in the first place and the second concerns itself with how to cure yourself of plague.

Diagnosing Plague involved rigorous scientific discipline

Top 10 Ways to Avoid the Plague:

1. Never French-kiss a witch (you can try the floating in the bathtub test to determine if she is a witch).
2. Never get too familiar with your familiars - if you have black cats or other demons in familiar form around the house, don't let them in your bed. 
3. Never start, buy or otherwise own a Flea Circus. 
4. Don't listen to Ben when he asks you to let all of his buddies move in with you.
5. Don't lick reptiles even if they taste really, really good.
6. Don't listen to heresy like the Earth is Round - it'll only lead to trouble.
7. Don't eat cooked bacon - it's much better raw.
8. Bleed yourself regularly and for God's sake don't wash the knife. 
9. Bathing, except for witches, is generally frowned upon.
10. Don't have picnics next to mass burial sites.

Contrary to popular belief - Plague was well understood in Medieval Times (not the restaurant show attraction - but the time period)

If those tips didn't prevent the onset of Plague or Sweating Sickness, there was still hope. Here are the Top 10 Medieval Cures for Plague:

1. Burn a witch for good luck.
2. Burn a neighbor good luck (you must accuse them of heresy first).
3. Cover yourself in a poultice of warm cow dung and dance in a circle for 3 hours.
4. If you must take a bath (due to high fever let's say), fill the water with fresh cow urine and dung.
5. Never ever pop the plague postules - let them get as big as possible.
6. Bleed yourself, a lot.
7. Hide under a table or bed - eventually the plague will become confused and leave.
8. Remove your eyes, that way you can't see the plague anymore and it won't be able to see you either.
9. Flog yourself and others nearby.
10. Drink massive amounts of ale and grog if available, and let your milk ferment before drinking.

We love the BBC - and Horrible Histories

Copyright 2012 - Raving Reviews™ - All Rights Reserved

Read More