Reviewing Movies

When you insert the disk for this movie it might as well auto-play for that is the only option available. There are no supplements, language options or even scene selections. It’s also one of those disks that will refuse to track accurately in your player so that it’s impossible to tell where you are and how much is left to play.

A horse opera that begins with a cowboy getting thrown from a standing horse. Doesn’t sound like a propitious beginning, does it? Woody Harrelson gives his usual over-the-top performance. Billy Cruddup on the other hand is understated as always, the kind of actor who inhabits his part without drawing attention to himself. The two make uncomfortable partners in style and in this movie. Billy’s character gives background narration throughout. The movie left me feeling uncomfortable as if something is missing but I just can’t put my finger on it.

Shot in 1998 at a time when Woody still had hair on his head. Cowboy Westerns were well past their heyday and open range worked by men on horseback had become a thing of the past. For the price this disk is well worth the price of admission.

Essentially another cop show featuring actors known from other series. Michael Cudlitz played Bull in Band of Brothers; Shawn Hatosy, Brendan Behan in Borstal Boys; Ben McKenzie in the OC; and Tom Everett Scott reappears in an adult roll after skirting the Brat Pack in decades past. Ben plays the rookie whose trainer John Cooper introduces Ben and the audience to the rigors of policing the streets of Easts LA. Tom’s Russell copes with being seriously injured on the job while Shawn’s Sammy copes with a flaky drug addicted wife. The show distinguishes itself from others of the genre by dealing with the officers’ personal issues while they deal with the cases and situations thrown at them on the street. They have to struggle with drug dependency, personal conflicts, moral issues that blend black and white into gray. We see gun play and chase scenes on foot and in car but this is more a Drama Series than Action/Adventure.

Season Two begins with several moments of high drama. When Ben goes back to shoot an Alien after he’s been ordered to retreat he accidentality seriously wounds his Father Tom who was standing behind the critter. When Hal confronts his younger brother later about disobeying a direct order the encounter results in a tussle in which Ben overpowers Hal forcing him to his knees. As Ben walks away Hal adjusts the automatic rifle on his back, straightens that back, and walks away a mixture of humiliation and struggle for self-control playing on his face. Meanwhile Anne who has operated on Tom who remains unconscious struggles with the fact as the only doctor around she is forced to treat the people she loves.

The group is at war with the aliens and soldiers die. As Noah says in one of the supplements as Producer he feels relatively safe. Any large group has dissidents and troublemakers and this one is no different. The group spends most of this season struggling to make it to Charleston and when they do discover all is not well in utopia. Politicians and the military make uncomfortable bedfellows. Noah’s Tom has to struggle with the fact that his boys are becoming men prematurely and decide where he is going with his relationship with Anne. This is definitely an adult series.