The Pillars of the Earth: Anarchy

In my unending quest to seek out high quality television, which streams on Netflix, and I have not seen I found myself searching through the new series from the Stars network. The obvious first choice was Spartacus: Blood in the Sand. Generally speaking I am a sucker for anything ancient Rome so I checked it out.

Over the course of three months I was able to work my way through as many episodes. It was gratuitously brutal, needlessly sexual, and most importantly had no one to root for or care about. By the time a gladiator cuts the face off another and shows it to the crowd as a prize in the The Pit I knew without a doubt that Spartacus was not a show I was going to get into.

Reviewing my “Instant Que” I came across The Pillars of the Earth a TV show based on the book by the same name with the author of said book’s name prominently displayed in all the promotional material. I decided to check it out considering The Pillars of the Earth is a book I have been meaning to read for a while.

While Anarchy did not make me a super-fan of this story it certainly piqued my interest. Characters were introduced and explained. The story had a clear narrative and never left me bored or questioning the progression of events. Most importantly the violence served the story as opposed to Spartacus where, as far as I can tell, the story served the violence.

The cast is impressive. Ian McShane who you know from Deadwood, but I enjoyed him in Kings, plays an ambitious priest. Donald Sutherland plays an Earl on the wrong side of a civil war before it starts. While the rest of the crew seems to be more than up to the task of carrying an interesting tale to conclusion.

Which brings me to my next point. The Pillars of the Earth is being advertised as a mini-series event, which means it should be able to tell the story of the book in a satisfying way. It also means the creators of the show will not feel the pull to needlessly pad this series with superfluous filler.

Inception: What a Concept

I want to start this post by saying “Not since The Matrix have I viewed a film so unique, engaging, and thought provoking”. Unfortunately, that type of statement is so iterative that I feel I would be doing the movie a huge disservice. Therefore I will simply open with, Inception what a concept!

It is at this point in my thought process where I usually say something like, “spoilers to follow” but in all honesty I am not entirely sure that what I got out of that movie will be what you might. As I left the theater I was already arguing with my wife about how the movie ended, what was real, and what was not. This is most certainly a movie that demands repeated viewing.

However, before I get a second look at this film I would like to lay out what I believe to be the three possible explanations for the course of events in this movie.

The first and most simple explanation would seem to be that Mal was right and the world Cobb “lived” in was in fact a construct of his own mind. Therefore when Cobb went four layers deep at the end of the movie he was in reality at least five dreams in. This would be supported by the fact that the top was not pictured falling at the end of the movie. Additionally, Cobb seemed to float between locales in the “real” world as easily as he did in the dream. Finally, how could Cobb’s father be a professor in Paris and raise his children in L.A.?

The second way events may have played out would have simply been that the real world was real but Cobb got stuck in the limbo state when he went back to save Saito. We saw Cobb spin the top many times during the course of the movie and the only time it was not depicted falling was in the last scene. Cobb’s children were wearing the same clothing he had visualized them in throughout the course of the movie and they appeared to not have aged a day.

Finally, it is possible that Cobb succeeded and his wife was wrong. Saito woke from his 50 year limbo state and immediately dialed his contact at the US State department to clear Cobb of his crimes. While the top did not fall as the credits cut onto the screen it was wobbling and could have fallen over.

I certainly have my favorite explanation, but I would love to hear what other people have to say about this movie! Which path do you believe is the one that accurately describes the course of events? I would like to end on three words which alone would have made this movie worth the price of admission (steep as it was), “floating fight sequence”!

Avatar: The Last Airbender

I am not anti-cartoon. I watched an obscene amount “Dragonball Z” in college, I love Pixar movies, and I firmly believe “The Lion King” represents a high point in cinema. But I have not bothered to tune into Nickelodeon since the days of “Double Dare” and “David the Gnome”. Therefore when “Avatar: The Last Airbender” first aired it managed to stay clear off my radar.

This was a mistake I began to remedy last summer when I managed to view the first season thanks to the magic of Netflix. I saw, over that summer, a series which had a tremendous heart and a wonderful story. I also found myself more than a little annoyed by the over the top characters, simplistic world view, and the imitative deference shown to Japanese anime.

I was not opposed to continued viewing, but I was not compelled to do so. Therefore I let an entire year slip before diving back into the story of Aang, Sokka, and Kitara. I noticed that the entire series was streaming on Netflix, in preparation for the abysmally reviewed movie no doubt, and decided to give season two a try. Suddenly I was hooked.

The characters came to life, the story grew up a bit, and the series as a whole really gelled together in a unique and engaging way. Sokka was a character that I could not stand in season one, but by the end of the series I was rooting for him more than almost anyone. Zuko had a character evolution nearly equal to that of Wesley from the Buffy/Angel universe. Kitara went from being a the plucky sidekick who needed protection to the plucky sidekick that arguably is the second most powerful person in the series. Aang was fun, but I would have to say that I found him the most uninteresting of our core characters.

A spark of brilliance that came early in season two was the introduction of Toph, the blind earthbender that “sees” with her feet. Toph is a wonderful depiction of a strong self assured female that I would be proud to have my future children model themselves after, minus the nose picking. It is possible that the existence of Toph is what made me go from casual viewer to ravenous consumer of this series.

I will admit that “Avatar: The Last Airbender” takes some getting used to. It is likely that the first season was just as good as the second and third but I simply did not “get” the show until I had spent enough time with it. I reluctantly concede that watching this show with my wife was a bit embarrassing as I am sure she could not see the brilliance of this epic series from the out of sequence episodes she sat in from of while surfing the internet. It did not help that each episode has an orange “Nickelodeon” tag plastered prominently above the opening credits.

Do yourself a favor though and check this series out. If you have a little one to watch it with they act as wonderful cover from your family and friends snide and uninformed remarks. If you do not have a child willing to watch this series with you do it anyway, you will be happy you did!