CRIME DRAMA: “Mayor of Kingstown.” / “Task.” / “His & Hers.”

-

“Mayor of Kingstown” (Paramount+) Season 4. Crime thriller.Kingstown, Michigan, is a fictional company town where incarceration is the top business. 



       This addictive series certainly has no shortage of rage, gloom, and “live or die” survival gravitas + a flood of “f” in each sentence. But do I care as I sit and indulge? Nope. Like most Taylor Sheridan projects, this series weaves around a tightly, coordinated script and strong characterizations. The production design is a wasteland of greyish funk, as though another dive is about to blow up again or an inmate's throat will slashed in the next 5 minutes.

       Violence is aplenty and language is eerily smashed into your face. Repeat: I don't care. This is TV although the deadly realism portrayed in the prison system and criminal drug world is hard to dispute. Those can even be tamed compared with the real deal. 

       Ensemble acting, led by Jeremy Renner as Mike McLuskey a.k.a. The Mayor is stellar. No one overacts or underacts in the anger and desperation measure. 

       Season 4's Edie Falco (as new warden Nina Hobbs) is fearful as a cat in the gutter masked by firm defiance.  Controlled acting craft. Her best since “Nurse Jackie.” Meanwhile, Lennie James as oldtimer gangster Frank Moses gave us evil in between the perfumed pages of a Bible. Cool, calculated, calm--but still a cold killer. Mr James never hyperventilated or threw a rageful fit. But the dagger in his soft voice is unfailing. 

       I can't wait for Season 5. 🎥👍📽


“Task” (HBO) crime drama. created and written by Brad Ingelsby. Brad also wrote the brilliant “Mare of Easttown” (2021) and the recent “The Lost Bus.” I enjoyed both.



       Story: A Philadelphia-based FBI agent is put in charge of a task force to end a string of violent robberies undertaken by an unassuming family man.

       This crime story, no argument, is told so many times that we can tell the end game in certainty. But still “new” in terms of the tight script and crisp editing + dramatic flair by the ensemble cast, especially Mark Ruffalo, Emilia Jones, and Tom Pelphrey. 

Mr Ingelsby

       To those who joined it, the series was renewed for a second season. 🎥💻📽


“His & Hers” (Netflix) mystery thriller, adapted from Alice Feeney's 2020 novel of the same name. The story follows a former news anchor and a detective, a couple with a complicated, painful past, who are drawn back together by a murder in the former’s hometown.



       Anchored on the fiercely involved performances of Tessa Thompson as news reporter Anna, and Jon Bernthal as Detective Jack, plus Marin Ireland as Jack's sister Zoe, this series is a binge-watch magnet. Till the finale episode. 

       I won't type up a spoiler but I find the conclusion ludicrous, if not ridiculously implausible. 🎥💻📽

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

-
Image
“The Promised Land” a.k.a. Danish “Bastarden” (2023, Hulu), epic historical drama film directed by Nikolaj Arcel and written by Arcel and Anders Thomas Jensen . Based on the 2020 book “The Captain and Ann Barbara” by Ida Jessen . The main character Captain Ludvig Kahlen is a real historical figure although the movie and book largely dramatized the real events at that time.          Plot: In 1755, Captain Ludvig Kahlen , an impoverished Danish officer of humble birth, retires after 25 years of service in the German Army with a measly pension. He obtains permission from the Royal Danish Court to build a property on the barren Jutland moorland for land cultivation . He hopes to establish a settlement on this land, and in return for that he requests from the Court the privilege of a noble title with an associated manor . Soon after arriving at the site of his prospective homestead , he comes into conflict with Frederik Schinkel, a local magistr...
Read more

“Toxic Town."

-
Image
“Toxic Town” (Netflix) British drama miniseries , follows the story of three mothers involved in the Corby toxic waste case , which was a London court case that was decided in 2009. The Corby Borough Council was found liable in negligence , public nuisance and a breach of statutory duty for its reclamation of a Corby Steelworks in the town of Corby , Northamptonshire , between 1985 and 1997.          The landmark decision was historically significant as the first in the world to establish a link between atmospheric toxic waste and birth defects – all previous cases have involved water pollution – and held implications for other council reclamation programmes and the methods of conducting reclamation in England and Wales.        The case easily reminds us of Erin Brockovich and the 2000 movie that chronicled Erin's legal fight against Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) in the early 1990s involv...
Read more

“Death By Lightning."

-
Image
“Death By Lightning” (Netflix) historical drama miniseries, based on the 2011 book “ Destiny of the Republic ” by Candice Millard . Stars Michael Shannon as United States President James A. Garfield and Matthew Macfadyen as his assassin Charles J. Guiteau .         The series depicts the election and presidency of Mr Garfield , the 20th U.S. President , including his anti-corruption and pro-civil rights stances, as well as how his path crossed with Mr Guiteau , a deluded admirer, who ended up shooting him , leading to the president's death. Garfield served for only over 6 months or 199 days to be exact.         In only 4 concise episodes, this significant chapter in American history is revisited in a tight, no-frills, no irritating Republican versus Democrat grandstanding. Yet we get the “traditional politico” frivolities and selfishness + shenanigans as an entertainment sidebar. Overall, the major atte...
Read more