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[Vultural]

The History Of Christianity - 2009 - 6/10

Six part series on the early years, spread, and diversity of one of the planet’s youngest religions.
For me, the first three episodes were the most enjoyable:
The earliest beginnings, pagan Rome going Catholic, Eastern Orthodoxy.
After that, the Protestant schism, missionary work in the New World, Pentecostal in Korea.
Conquistadors?  Inca, Aztec, Maya?  Massacre, what are you talking about?
None of that mentioned.
Oxford history don, Diarmaid McCullough, is an engaging host, but he is more guarded and careful in his thoughts and presentations as the series progresses.
The energy steamed away.

[Vultural]

Face-Maker - 2010 - 5/10
AKA - フェイスメーカー

Plastic surgeon who used to work for the US Witness Protection Service now changes faces for the desperate.
The only price “... is your old face!”
Unhappy or on-the-run souls find the black market “Face-Maker” and persuade him to “rebirth me!”
New identity = problems solved.  Sometimes ... sometimes not.
Half hour, single shows.  Mid-episode, the surgeon finds the patient and gives them a -
“So how’s it going?”  speech, followed by,  “Oh, by the way, I just sold your old face."
Late night J-doramas usually air midnight or later.  Many are dreck, a few very good, this is middling.
Low production values, generic plots, acting fair to amateur.
Non-demanding time waster.

Despite my shrug of a review, I, nevertheless,  reworked existing subtitles for this show.
Steamlined dialogue, Westernized grammar, fixed tense errors.
Full credit given to original subber.
My subs can be found -
http://www.addic7ed.com/show/6671

[Vultural]

Shinya Shokudô - 2009 - 7/10
AKA - Midnight Diner

Melancholy series of nightowls and insomniacs, gathered at the cafe, open between midnight and 8:00 AM.
Half hour episodes of lives lonely, broken or dead-ended.
Individuals who missed opportunities, compromised their dreams, outlived their time.
While the cafe has a small, fixed menu, the owner seems able to fulfill all requests.
Mostly simple fare, but each evokes memories or underscores a personal story.
At each conclusion, tips or techniques for that night's recipe are shared.
This is one of the very best late night J-dorama, and fairly easy to find.
Watching between midnight and 2:00 AM, which was when I viewed, may enhance the mood.

[pixxxie]

I went and looked up 35 Diwrnod after your recommendation. It's in Welsh, but comes with subs, so that'll keep me busy this weekend. Thanks for suggesting it.

[Vultural]

Dekalog - 1989 - 8/10
AKA - The Decalogue

Ten part morality series based on the Ten Commandments.
Each episode reworks a specific "thou shalt" commandment, though sometimes the reference is vague.
While stories are stand-alone, characters often reappear.  Most live in the same large apartment.
Extraordinarily well done and thoughtful.
Although not a downer series, it is "Serious" filmmaking.
And yes, this is a Polish TV series, but is firmly rooted in cinema.
While I admired this and appreciated it, I did not enjoy a single episode.
For obscure music buffs, a rare chance to hear Van den Budenmayer.

[Vultural]

Argon - 2017 - 6/10
AKA - 아르곤

K-drama about a television magazine news show.
Not the news/weather/sports show, but the special features.
Exposes, scoops, headlines, and human interest fluff.
Juvenile comedy mars first couple of episodes, though that vanishes if you hang with the series.
Decent drama, though few care about "news" any more.  People hunt for, and believe what they want.
Limited crying in this, thank God, and no real romance.
Nice premise of rookie employee looking up to mentor she admired when she was younger.

[Vultural]

The Living And The Dead - 2016 - 6/10

Circa 1890.  Educated couple relocate to his mother's rural farmstead after she dies.
Viewers - even inattentive viewers - will quickly realize the pair has moved to Spooky Lane England.
Possessions, ghostly hauntings, curses, the Ouija board!, and deaths, lots of graves.
Our couple, being educated and of scientific inclinations, disregard superstitious villagers.
Well photographed, nicely cast (save for the husband), the stories feel like "death of the week."
This viewer's sympathy ebbed more each week as the characters became myopic and dim brained, putting friends, neighbors, and family into clear risk.

[Vultural]

Rivers Edge Okawabata Detective Agency - 2014 - 7/10
AKA - Ribasu Ejji Ookawabata Tanteisha  //  リバースエッジ 大川端探偵社

Late night J-dorama of tiny detective group that seems to specialize in peculiar requests.
A client wants ramen that tastes like it did 40 years ago, another wants to know the voice behind the fun fair announcements, another seeks a long gone, third level pop idol singer.
The boss has unspoken connections with yakuza families, the main investigator has premonitions, the office girl is a hooker by trade.
Generally, they satisfy client requests, though solutions are often unwelcome.
"Be careful what you ask for,"  applies.
Note - Being a late night program, some sexual scenes will offend the prudish.

[Vultural]

Resurrection - 2005 - 5/10
AKA - Revenge // 부 활

Poky K-drama of twin brothers and revenge.
Without giving much away plotwise, one brother is murdered and the other takes his place.
Their personalities differ, as do their taste in clothes, food allergies, outlooks ...
Does anyone around them notice?  Aside from puzzled expressions, no.
So we have a drama packed with dense heads you want to yell at.
Moreover, at 24 padded episodes, this series went on way too long.
Seriously, you could skip the first four episodes altogether, since E05 gives a full recap.
Every episode has a couple of five minute music montages as a character moons about unhappily.
The tempo perks up in the last four episodes - - if one has not quit viewing - - although the plot loses steam.
Koreans offer more vengeance driven shows than others, and they always incorporate the consequences.
Little of the gloating merriment easily witnessed elsewhere.  Here, even villains have innocent families.

[Vultural]

Série Noire - 2014 - 7/10

Denis and Patrick script write "Justice Law", an unmemorable police / courthouse procedural.
The show is derivative, the writing shoddy and illogical.  The hack writers do not expect it to be renewed.
Nonetheless, ratings wise it is good enough to be given a second season.
The duo, desiring authenticity, step into the sordid side of the Canadian crime world.
One slips into the world of prostitution, the other robbery.
Soon, both are in way over their heads with criminals, police, and show producers wanting new writers.
Series runs funny, dark, and silly as often laugh-out-loud slitherings unfold.
The narrative thread staggers in bizarre directions, like a zonked out stoner in an amusement park.

Of particular note is viewer Marc Arcand, whose namesake is a troubled baddie in "Justice's Law."
Arcand, in a show packed with villains, is easily the funniest, cleverest and most devious psycho throughout.
Engaging, but writers as protagonists?  C’mon, stick with true heroes.  English majors.

[Vultural]

Babylon Berlin - 2017 - 8/10

Exceptional series set in Weimar Berlin.
A train, streaking from the Soviet Union, is hijacked into Germany amidst bloodshed and conspiracy.
Police, city and state, chase thin trails into nightclubs, embassies, bordellos, pornography studios.
Cops vs the Red Front, Soviet spies vs Whites, gangsters and embezzlers.
Berlin in the late 20s, early 30s was an anything goes place and this series captures that.

Knowledge of the Weimar era is not essential, but would certainly help.
Production values are excellent, this is a gritty, well designed thriller.
Several of the set pieces, nightclub sequences in particular, are spectacular.
S01 builds, S02 follows immediately and is the payoff.

[Vultural]

Les Petits Meurtres d'Agatha Christie - 2009 - 6/10

French adaptation of Christie's Hercule Poirot's yarns.
No fussy little Belgium in these, however.  His character is rewritten as Inspector Larosière.
Larosière is a ladies man, gourmand, elegant dresser, at ease with royals and commoners.
The stories, of course, are nasty pieces of murder, and everyone has motives.
For whatever reason, I never cared for Mr Poirot, finding him overly weird and mannered.
Larosière, for me, was more relatable.  There is also a Gallic charm in all of these.
These French versions are a fizzy counterpoint to more faithful, English productions.

[Vultural]

Saki - 2013 - 7/10

Reprising her role from Utsukushii Rinjin (Beautiful Neighbor), Yukie Nakama returns as the demure, soft spoken Saki.
This time, her crosshairs target men, five of them.
She is hauntingly beautiful and irresistible and soon bewitches each.
Saki probes, coaxes, until she burrows into them, finding buried scars.
She tears them apart until they crumble.  And she watches throughout.
Others, she builds up - with straw - while flicking emotional matches behind her back.
Why does she do this?

This J-dorama is an acquired taste.  Slow at times, over the top now and them.
Saki, setting her traps, is a real piece of work.  Even as horrible as this villain was, I secretly rooted for her.
Plus, to paraphrase Hannibal Smith, I love it when a plan comes together, even by a murderess.

[Vultural]

Altered Carbon - 2017 - 6/10

Gleaming SciFi series is, at its core, a futuristic gumshoe saga.
A murder is committed in the cloud-piercing spire, home to the über wealthy (think Elysium or Metropolis).
A bygone "name" is resurrected from cryo-prison to investigate (ala Demolition Man).
He prowls neon alleys, sex cafes and drug dens.  Sequences recall The Cell, Mad Max: Thunderdome and other movies.
Catching on?
Viewers who have logged a heavy amount of SciFi will see regurgitated themes and scenes.
Writers and producers serve up influences and copies rather than originality.
Two of my pet peevs are here.  Cars (but they can fly! Whatever, they are still stupid-ass cars).
And handguns.  Really?  Three hundred years in the future, guns, really?  Not even phasers?
For less fussy types, this boasts slick production values.
The look is Tech-Noir (ref Bladerunner) and every episode is filled with fights.
Disappointing overall - for me - though the final two episodes tighten the threads to an OK conclusion.

[Vultural]

Royal Cousins At War - 2014 - 8/10

Excellent documentary of the rivalries, jealousies, and petty bickering between cousins George, Nicholas, and Wilhelm.
The future king, czar, and kaiser.  Actions and reactions that would gather into World War I.
Much stems from childhood, from dismissive fathers, to a pair of Danish mothers who nursed a grudge.
Numerous what-ifs are here, such as what if ministers had allowed the alliance between Germany and Russia?
The Great War is barely touched upon, there are other docs for that.
This excels in highlighting the key royals who might have been able to avert the bloody conflict.

[Vultural]

Der Gleiche Himmel - 2017 - 7/10
AKA - The Same Sky

East Germany, mid 70s, Lars is training in elite spy craft to be a skilled Lothario.
Targets.  Females working for NATO.  Seduction followed by exploitation.
Tight series that gets the period right (music, fashions, hairstyles), also Cold War attitudes.
Secondary stories that follow an Olympic hopeful and a gay teacher are compelling.
Even tertiary stories have merit, but the meat of the series is Lars, working to make women fall for him, trying to keep his anecdotes straight, calming fears and countering feminine intuition.
Sordid, cynical, and one be forgiven rooting for the cad, although with the ending I was going,  "Is that it?"

[Vultural]

Transferts - 2017 - 7/10
AKA - Transfer

SciFi set in the near future.  Within a decade, perhaps?
Medical breakthroughs have made it possible to transfer one's soul into another body.
In an ideal situation, shift the consciousness of a cancer patient into a car crash victim.
Of course, the aged rich and powerful might want to jump into a young shell.
Or criminals mights want to -- or terrorists -- or . . .
The government outlaws the procedure, the black market explodes, and an elite police unit is formed.
While the series has budget limitations, the writing is diabolically cunning.
Each episode (06) has fresh developments or a barbed twist.
Pili Groyne is memorably bewitching as the angelic Liza.

[Vultural]

Film Stars Don't Die In Liverpool - 2017 - 7/10

Gloria Grahame biopic, sure to attract Film Noir fans.
Annette Bening plays the faded femme fatale in her final two years.
This covers her relationship with Peter Turner (from whose book this is based) and his family.
AFTER she had undergone cancer therapy and thought herself clear, and into the final relapse.
Heyday films, (The Bad And The Beautiful, In A Lonely Place, Crossfire, The Big Heat, Human Desire, among many, are barely referenced.
The infamous scandal of marriage number four is a mere breath.

Hollywood generally loves filmed versions of their glittering selves.
Chaplin, Ed Wood, Frances, The Aviator, Too Much, Too Soon, receive acclaim, and if not awards, at least nominations.
Other films, The Cat's Meow , Valentino, The Last Of Robin Hood , Auto Focus, not so much love, even when acting is outstanding.
Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool seems to be in the latter group.

[Vultural]

Dix Pour Cent: S02 - 2017 - 5/10
AKA - Call My Agent: S02

Second season of theatrical agents suffers from "more-itis."
A new colleague, who is a caricature of the meddling owner.
More comedy, the farcical sort.  More sexual encounters.
More recognizable cameos for potential US viewers (Christoph Lambert, Fabrice Luchini, Isabelle Adjani, Juliette Binoche).
Unfortunately, all this more adds up to less.
The writers and producers lost the thread with this second season, as characters behave stupidly to self destruction.
A pity, as the first season boasted a lot of charm and was a novel concept, smartly carried off.

OK, if you still want to view this season, episode 05 is the best installment.
Guy Marchand suffers a mini stroke early in shooting and the production is in jeopardy.
With a mere trifle of a part, perhaps ten minutes screen time, Marchard infuses his role with confusion, bonhomie, loneliness, regret, hope.
It is spellbinding to watch an extraordinary actor fashion gold from expressions.
The rest of S02 is a huge letdown, but S02E05 is a gift for those who adore French cinema.

[Vultural]

Doll House - 2014 - 5/10
AKA - Inhyeong-ui Jib // 인형의 집

Jeez Louise, did it really take me eighteen months to watch this 12 episode K-drama?
Shows how involved I was.
Young 20ish girl answers ad for light duty job at residence.
She has to wear schoolgirl uniform, pigtail her hair, and pretend to be a daughter.
What happened to the daughter in question?
Then she discovers there have been impersonators before her!  What happened to them?
Mystery with enough suspense to unsettle teenage viewers.  Maybe.

For the curious, you could easily watch the whole series in barely over an hour..
Each installment run 6-8 minutes, including opening & closing credits and a preview of next week.