Kings

First off, Kings isn't available to stream on Netflix, but it is on Hulu (and you don't even need Hulu Plus to watch it).  Kings is a 13 episode modern retelling of the story of King Saul's fall and King David's rise to power.  It covers much of the events recounted in the fist book of Samuel, starting with David & the goliath and ending shortly before the whole witch of Endor thing.  However,  the story is a very loose retelling; even a good knowledge of the biblical version doesn't provide much in the way of "spoilers".  It would be more accurate to say that it is "inspired by" the biblical material, rather than being a retelling of it.

The biblical Saul is here renamed Silas, and is inhabited very, very well by Ian McShane, whom I know from Pillars of the Earth and you probably know from Deadwood.  Also excellent is Eamonn Walker from Oz as the Reverend (prophet) Samuel.  The other acting is also good.  The writing is solid; it moves at a good clip, the characters mostly seem believable, and there is an interesting pseudo-biblical lyricism to many of King Silas's speeches.  Jonathan, the gay heir apparent, is an interesting character of whom I would have liked to see more.  He's played by Sebastian Stan, who played Bucky Barnes in the new Captain America movie.  I'm told he was also in Gossip Girl.

I was worried about the religiosity of the show, but it's not religious in that ABC Family way at all.  It's religious in the same way Big Love or Battlestar Galactica are religious.  I wish they'd done a better job of promoting this show when it was on TV.  I didn't watch it because they promoted it as a soap opera, and totally left out the sci-fi aspects.  It's a shame, because I think a lot of people would have watched this if they had promoted it to the right sort of watchers, and I really wish there was a second season of it.  Oh well.  :(

The production values are very high.  It's clearly shot in NYC; several landmarks are recognizable in Shiloh.  It's set in the modern day, so there's nothing fancy in the way of costumes or sets, but it is very well directed, and the scenes are always beautifully and evocatively lit.  Overall, I'd give it a B+, with some early episodes rating A.

United States of Tara

The United States of Tara is one of the few shows I discovered on Netflix that really surprised me with how good it was.  Netflix has been recommending it to me for a while, but the premise seemed so hokey, I couldn't bring myself to watch.  A while ago, I was home sick from work, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'm glad I did, and you will be too.  The show focuses on a woman with multiple personalities, played beautifully by Toni Collette, who I've been watching for a long time.  It was great to see her in a long-term role like this;  she really dug into it.

I know it seems like this show must be stupid, or even offensive, but it's not.  The writing (by Diablo Cody) is tight and sparkling, and all the actors are very good, especially John Corbett as the husband and some kid I don't know the name of as the son.  It's particularly nice to see teenagers represented as actual fully-developed people who, despite not quite knowing who they are yet (and who does?), have consistent personalities that make sense.

I really like the family dynamic on this show, and how sensitively (but hilariously) it treats mental illness.  I rate it A-, with some A+ and some B episodes.

Vision

Sorry for the long hiatus.  I temporarily had a life.  This week, I'm recommending Vision, a German movie about St Hildegard. It's beautifully produced, with lovely sets and costumes (you know how much I love that!). The lead actress is very good, and St. Hildegard is an interesting character. She was a 12th century christian mystic who taught a life of harmony with nature, scientific learning, and an omniscient, all-loving, Living Light. I wish there had been more of Hildegard's art and music, but it was overall entertaining. The first half is better than the second, which gets a little slow. If you, like me, love sets and costumes and beautiful shots of sunlight filtering through trees, you'll like it. If that's not enough, you should probably look elsewhere. Visually: A-, plot-wise, B+.

Immortality

I have a strange fondness for fiction about immortal creatures.  Preferably, not vampires, just humans that happen to live forever.  One of my very favorites  is Jerome Bixby's The Man from Earth.  It's a lovely, small movie that seems like it was probably written as a play.  It's entirely driven by dialog and good acting.  It takes place almost entirely in a small cabin.  A group of friends who are all academics are sitting around chatting, wishing their friend John a fond farewell.  He tells them an amazing story.  I can't really say more without giving anything away, but I've watched this movie several times, with many different people, and it's always been a hit.  (With my weird intellectual friends....this isn't a movie for everyone)  A+

 Tuck Everlasting is a cute kids movie based on a book I haven't read.  It stars that girl from Gilmore Girls.  It also features Ben Kingsley and Sissy Spacek.  It's a pretty straight-forward story about a girl whose over-protective parents keep her locked away.  She gets lost in the woods, and runs into an immortal boy.  Teen romance ensues.  B for adults, but probably A- for kids.











Highlander: Season 1 

When I was in high school, this was my best friend's favorite show (although, I think the tastiness of Adrian Paul had more than a little to do with that.) The show is interesting, but I don't feel like it does a very good job of capturing the crushing ennui of immortality.  The show goes downhill after season 2.  B  













Interstate 60

Interstate 60: This is a quirky, fun, road-trip movie.  It reminds me a lot of Big Fish or I Heart Huckabees or Being John Malkovich.   (although it's not quite as good as all that)   It stars James Marsden, and has a lot of cool people in supporting roles, including Christopher Lloyd and  Michael J. Fox.  It's sort of surreal,thought-provoking, and philosophical.  It's totally worth watching, but it's one of those movies where you spend the whole movie thinking about what an awesome movie this could have been. The idea is cool, but the writing is just so-so.   B-



ps:  It was pointed out to me that these posts are better with pictures.  I'll go back and put pictures in previous ones when I get around to it.