Movie review - "Lost" (1956) *** (warning: spoilers)

 In the 50s the Rank Organisation made a heap of thrillers, then stopped for a bit, then started again with films like this.

It's not bad, the story of a kidnapped baby. Who can't feel for that? Janet Green was a handy writer.

It struggles with the Rank-ness of the time. There's too many characters. They should've just had the mother not both parents - get rid of the dad (David Knight), make it a single mum, she could've romanced the detective (David Farrar), and done work on her own (more scary).

Really nice colour.  Third tier Rank star power - David Knight who can't act well and the girl. Shirley Ann Field is in it, very fetching, with a dubbed voice.

The police follow lots of dead ends - clues that lead nowhere, scammers, journalists exploiting them - which does feel real though is also unsatisfactory. I think they needed some human story to progress it like the cop having a personal issue instead of being right all the time (he's smug about not paying kidnappers) or the father feeling guilt about an affair or the couple having broken up or something. 

I will say it's great suspense because you don't know who did it - then it turns out to be the old Law and Order standbye, the deranged mother who lost her own baby.

I do like a female writer has ensured some key breaks are from women - one who discovers a clue reading a racy book while another a female cop. Green did what she could.

Book review - "Director's Cut: My Life in Film" by Ted Kotcheff

Ted Kotcheff has had a really, really strong career - lots of first-class television in Canada and the UK, plenty of stage productions in London (something of which I was unaware before reading this book), broke into directing features in Britain relatively young, moving over to a Hollywood career, turning out a fair few classics in all genres - Canadian coming of age (The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravtiz), Australian movies (Wake in Fright), gritty football dramas (North Dallas Forty), comedies (Fun with Dick and Jane, Weekend at Bernies), action (First Blood) - and nicely winding up his career with a long stint on Law and Order SUV as well as publishing some poems.

You wonder then why he's such a whinger. He whinges about how poor his family was when growing up, how his parents smacked him around, how the Canadian government were useless, how the Canadian funding authorities didn't give him more money, how the US government wouldn't let him into the country. Ted has a healthy sense of entitlement which presumably helped power him through a long career.

To be fair the book isn't all whining I was just surprised that there was so much in it... especially considering the opportunities Kotcheff got in Canada and the UK and Hollywood (good luck if you were a person of colour or a woman, Ted.. or maybe a bit older or younger at the time). Still, an interesting read.

TV review - "Law and Order" – Season 13 (2002-03) ***1/2

This season saw the addition of a new character, Fred Dalton Thompson as a right wing Southern DA. I can guess why they wanted to do it, especially in the immediate September 11 world, but he’s a bit annoying – going on about how he doesn’t like Roe v Wade for constitutional reasons rather than religious (yeah right) and being dodgy politically. It does make for a few strong scenes where he clashes with Serena – but this tends to cut Jack’s balls off since Jack is already right wing.

Guest stars include Mandy Patinkin, Andrew McCarthy (excellent as a cocky defense lawyer – his part is too small), a very sexy Spanish chick, Gregory Hines and Lisa Eicchorn. A decent, reasonably strong season with some fresh takes (eg the Michael Jackson case) along with the normal cheating husbands and the mentally disabled. There’s another pushy-parents-at-school-for-rich-kids one – maybe that was on the minds of the increasingly wealthy show runners. Serena is better (even if I’ll never like her as much as Jamie)

TV review – “Law and Order – Season 12” (2001-2002) ***1/2

A new assistant DA, Elizabeth Rohm, is just sort of dropped into the show without any sort of introduction. She’s not very good to start off with, having this irritating flat voice, but around episode 12 she gets a great story where she has to go into a hostage negotiation, and later gets in career trouble for it, and I started warming to her. It’s actually better knowing in hindsight her character’s a lesbian as you can read all this subtext into the scenes which the writers and actor were probably unaware of at the time. (Something proved in an episode that season about a lesbian girl – this isn’t written or played as if the character is gay at all. Maybe she only came out after the episode.)

Along with the regular jealous spouses and greedy kids, there’s the typical mixture of odd stories that you wouldn’t believe unless they were based on true stories: a vicious killer dog, the P-Daddy and J-Lo case, the Robert Blake case, environmental terrorists, re-birthing. The internet is a big novelty here: email and worms and disk fragmentation. September 11’s influence is felt, too – there’s often concern about governments having big powers. (Although they don’t do an out-and-out terrorism story until the series finale.) And again there’s a story where one of our main characters (in this case Van Bruren) meets a well trusted old friend who’s never been mentioned before who turns out to be crooked.

Guest cast includes Gary Busey (washed up singer), a very young Gennifer Godwin (as one of the fifty worders at the beginning – great to see someone who played this role kicked on with a career), Frank Whaley, Ted from How I Met Your Mother, and William Atherton - not really a star-studded line-up. Diane Wiest is great - having a more liberal DA really helps in conflict with Jack McCoy. Unfortunately it was her last season.

TV review - "Law and Order" – Season 11 (2000-2001) ****

A new season, a new cast change – poor old Steve Hill was given the boot (his character goes to do some holocaust investigation) and is replaced by Dianne Wiest, who is meant to be an interim replacement – she’s introduced by Guiliani!! Wiest is a strong addition to the team; her liberalism offers good opportunities for conflict for the more right-wing Jack McCoy.

Some really interesting episodes: a killer flees to Israel and tries to fight extradition, sports rage, a story hyper-critical of reality TV (a pet hate of series creator Dick Wolf), trying to secure the death penalty for a teen who really doesn’t seem to deserve it (Wiest allows Jack McCoy’s blood lust despite her own worries), a successful prosecutor is accused of murder, a Puerto Rican celebration day turns to murder, a mobster who is protected to an unhealthy degree by law order officials (inspired by the same thug who inspired The Department). Also they keep up the Jesse L Martin-is-an-excellent-interrogator stuff; in one great scene he keeps asking the interviewee “think why you are here,” “do you think we would have you in if we didn’t know X”.

Notable guest stars include Megan Fellows (Anne of Green Gables), the bald guy off Sex in the City, Keir Dullea - not really a powerhouse line up. But there's a terrific performance from the guest in an episode about a mass killer who is a quiet, softly-spoken passive aggressive type. And Carey Lowell returns again as Jamie, in the excellent school-shooting-spree episode (story by Dick Wolf himself – one of those all-our-leads-have-a-different-point-of-view) – although starting to look a little old to be honest, she really wipes the floor with Angie Harmon (whose conservative yelping in this episode I was sympathetic with but she still got on my nerves). This was Harmon’s last series – apparently she was frustrated she missed out on feature film roles. Didn’t that work out well for her. Still, she was really pretty.

TV review – “Law and Order – Season 10” (1999-2000) ***1/2

A new season normally sees the introduction of a new cast member, and this one brings us Ed Green, played by Jesse Martin. He’s a great addition – a cocky, hot-tempered graduate of the school of Mike Logan. He’s also perhaps the best interrogator out of the cops, using techniques to get results like tremendous empathy (at times he seems he’s about to cry), writing down notes all the time during interrogation, lurching from sympathy to hostility in a beat, etc.

This feels less right-wing than season one. The first few episodes have them prosecute gun manufacturers for irresponsible conduct, helping an innocent man, discuss euthanasia, having trouble with rich evil people, criticise conditions of gaols. They even bag the Pinochet regime in the final episode. Angie Harmon is a lot less annoying – she pulls back on spouting her stupid right-wing comments but keep the attack dog stuff; one episode she even pushes to get charges dismissed against someone, then tries to get McCoy to go easy on a killer who has Alzheimer's. She still spends a fair bit of time attacking other women, though.

There’s a lack of truly stand-out episodes, more a trot through social issues (corrupt cops, internet addiction, sex trade, euthanasia, mafia, gun control, etc) along with the usual infidelity and drugs. Some highlights: a crazy ep about a student murder which ended up involving neo-Nazis, porn stars, strip club owners, drug dealer and corrupt businessmen; the one where the wife refused to believe her husband was a killer, despite all evidence to the contrary; a terrifying female serial killer; a great bit where a creepy shrink admits to murder while on a manslaughter charge as a sort of bluff.

Notable guest cast include Richard Masur, John Heard, Carey Lowell returning as Jamie Ross (it’s good to see her – even if they leave her story open-ended), Tom Berenger (great actor, wasted here to be honest), Jane Alexander, the mousy girl off Grey’s Anatomy (terrifically chilling in her ep), Michael Gross, Kevin Smith (yes, the director – he plays a fifty worder and does a very good job), real life husband and wife Michael McKean and Annette O’Toole as husband and wife, John Slattery (who’d been on the show before), Adrienne Shelley (as a porn star – sad to see her because she was murdered in real life, inspiring a Law and Order episode) and Joe Morton.

TV review – “Law and Order – Season 9” (1998-99) ***1/2

The first two hot female ADAs have been liberal feminists, so for variety the third one is a pro-life, right winger (Angie Harmon), who even makes Jack McCoy recoil. It’s a good idea and helps spice things up; Harmon is very good looking, but she’s annoying. Her character is far too arrogant – she hasn’t earnt the right to be that cocky, especially as she can’t really act. Also the more we get to know the character, the less likeable she becomes: pro-life, woman-hater, Canada-basher, affirmative action-basher; during an affirmative action episode she once comments “I’d like to think I got where I did on my own merits”… - Harmon, you got you were because you’re hot.

A lot of the stories have a family theme: incestuous con artists, fathers who kill babies, desperate childless couples, fathers who abduct children. There’s an un-enjoyable episode where the DA’s office (and Harmon) try to bully Canadians – Harmon can’t believe they oppose the death penalty (“Great Britain and Canada have nothing to tell us about human rights”). But its followed by a strong episode about a hate crime, which centers around the inflammatory speeches of white supremacists – this has special resonance in the wake of the Sarah Palin assassination controversy. (This ep is dedicated to some DA called Charlie Rose, who “made the world a safer place”.) Then to show how balanced they are there’s an ep on how affirmative action drives a black to murder.

The quality of episodes in this series are solid rather than sensational – there’s few eps where you go “wow, that was amazing”, like I used to in the earlier seasons. I did enjoy seeing Julia Roberts as a femme fetale who flirts with her then-boyfriend Benjamin Bratt; she’s a good actor, and gives a strong performance (I’m not just saying that because she’s a star either because she’s presented in Law and Order style). And there’s a terrific double-part finale, about the Russian mafia – like other Russian mafia eps the death toll is large and it contains some really shocking moments; it also has Benjamin Bratt’s touching farewell.

TV review – “Law and Order – Season 8” (1997-98) ****1/2

The high standard remains – was this the best ever cast combo in the history of the show? Everyone is very comfortable in their roles, the show is at the height of its powers.

There’s a few more serial strands in this one: Van Bruren is suing the department for discrimination, Ray’s wife gets MS and starts suffering badly, Lenny’s daughter is involved in a drug deal and gets killed (apparently because Jerry Orbach wanted a scene where he hugs his dead daughter’s body), Adam Schiff faces a tough re-election battle, Jaime has a custody battle and gets remarried. This was to prepare the way for some of them leaving, apparently – although in the event, only Carey Lowell did.

There are some great episodes: an abortion that goes horribly wrong; a dodgy doctor (Michael Nouri) who pinches organs; a terrifying militia with an arsenal under the stairs; a black man who passes as white (this was particularly brilliant); some female genital cutting; impregnated comatose women; a mob boss who plays dumb; a woman who claims to be stalked but is pooh-poohed by the cops – then she ends up dead. Alec Baldwin gets a co-story credit for the episode “Tabloid”, and episode 15 has an Aussie character, an author (I didn’t recognise the actor). There’s also a cross-over episode with Homicide: Life on the Streets – part one is an official Law and Order ep, with credits and shot in Law and Order style; part two is done as a Homicide episode, in their style. (This was repeated in the next season.)

Guest stars include Tony Roberts, Jill Clayburgh, Michael Pitt (acting just like he would later on in Boardwalk Empire), John Slattery. We have semi-recurring guest stars, including JD Simmons (who’s replaced sexy Carolyn McCormack as the shrink), the fat black haired cop (he’s been on the show for years now), and my favourite, the bald, fat, wise-cracking judge.

TV review – “Law and Order – Season 7” (1996-97) ****1/2

The superb quality of this drama continues – there have been hardly any dud episodes. This season saw perhaps its strongest ever cast, with Carey Lowell joining – I much preferred her to Jill Hennessy because there wasn’t the dodgy under-current of a sex relationship with Sam Waterston, and also because she was a grown up, mature woman with her own brain and opinions, less of a doormat. Yes, she was also very good looking.

The overall quality is high but I want to mention a few really special eps: one where Lowell takes on a sexually harassing judge; a black power investigation; a case where a woman finds out her loving husband is an obsessed killer; a three-part episode based on the OJ Simpson case (great moment when they go to LA and arrest someone – the LA cops pull out their guns, Lenny says “you don’t have to do that”); one where the cops harass a man who could be innocent but turns out to be guilty (actually this ep sends a bad message); one where the cops harass a man who seems to be guilty but turns out to be innocent.

Guest stars include Jennifer Esposito, Taye Diggs, Karen Allen, Janeane Garofolo, Lauren Graham, Felicity Huffman, Elaine Strich (reprising her role from a previous season), and Burt Young.

TV review – “Law and Order” Season 6 (1995-96) ****

Towards the end of season 5 it became apparent there wasn’t much point of keeping Chris Noth, so Benjamin Bratt’s arrival is like a breath of fresh air. He’s a different character – much younger, a hot head, but also morally self-righteous, a family man with three daughters. Bratt’s a better actor than Noth, too – they don’t have to protect him as much. Sometimes Steven Hill’s grumpiness gets on your nerves – it’s like he’s always angry at his staff, even when it’s not their fault. Jill Hennessy has grown into her part nicely – her character is still a bit nervous but growing in confidence.

The plots remain strong. There’s a decent black episode for a change – about adoption of black crack babies by white families (the black side is given a decent argument) with a reappearance by Robert Brooks, now a lot more militant and interesting. In LAO style they are always throwing in some twists – there’s a cross over with another show, a final utterly untypical episode where our main characters deal with the fall out of having sent someone to be executed (it’s like everyone was making a dash for the Emmy; it’s a bit slow and could have been done in half the time but has some great bits, like the revelation of Jill Hennessy’s father, Jerry Orbach falling off the wagon, Sam Waterston’s good drunk acting – a hard thing to find - and Hennessy’s death).

Guest stars include Amanda Peet as a Patty Hearst type, Peter Skarsgaard as a victim’s boyfriend, Sandy Duncan (terrific as a cheerful defence lawyer), Jennifer Garner as a wish-fulfilment student who seduces Bratt on an afternoon, Sunday in New York style, Ellen Pompeo, Chris Cooper (as a Klan lawyer), Patti Lu Pone (brilliant as another seen-it-all defence lawyer). One ep makes a big deal out of the defence attorney being an old friend of Jill Hennessy’s and you get the feeling maybe they were testing her as a possible replacement for Hennessy.

TV review – “Law and Order - Season 5” (1994-95) ****1/2

Just as Jerry Orbach was introduced to the series as a regular with a fellow musicals star in a guest part, so too is Woody Allen favourite Sam Waterston introduced in an episode which features another Woody Allen favourite, Tony Roberts. It’s an ep about breast cancer – followed by episodes about battered wives syndrome, and cuckolded wives indicating the show more than ever was keen on upping female viewers. This might explain why Waterston's character is established as a womaniser with a taste for assistant DAs and he is shown to be squabbling with Jill Hennessy from the first episode (although it also establishes he’s more equal to Hennessy than Michael Moriarty who tended to lecture her because he was so senior).

The relationship between Adam Schiff and Moriarty was father to good son; Schiff and Waterston is like father to rebellious teenager (he’s always pushing the law to the limit; in particular he loves to arrest people for things he knows they didn’t do in order to put pressure on them or get things admissible).

Guest stars in this one include Sarah Paulson (Harriet from Studio 60 on Sunset), Laura Linney (terrific), Edward Herrman (crazy abortionist – they tackle this topic again), Edie Falco (as an ex of Waterston’s).

I enjoy the little hints that Hennessy and Waterston are having an affair. Chris Noth is beginning to outstay his welcome – he was getting too old to play the young spunky cop and there wasn’t enough difference with Orbach; they were right to turf him. I liked the way they deal with the ramifications of McCoy’s hard arse attitude to crime every now and then. On the less sunny side whenever they do a “black issue” episode it clunks; they always give black characters unreasonable and silly arguments.

TV review – “Law and Order – Season 4” (1993-1994) ****

The addition of the girls improves the show immeasurably – the black chick captain knocks off two PC birds (black, woman) with the one stone – having a female cop gets to add an extra dimension to the cop stories (eg the one on baby farming). Jill Hennessy as the prosecutor is mostly just easy to look at to start off with, but that’s not unimportant – as her character gains confidence so does her performance. (I notice they refer to her sexual side in one episode which they never did with Richard Brooks.) Chris Noth grows his hair a little in this one – it’s very early 90s.

Less well known guest stars this season: Ted Bikel, Viveca Lindfors, Robin Tunney, Christine Baranski, the fat chick off the Practice, Lisa Eichhorn, Alison Janney (back in a bigger role than her previous guest star stint). Of more interest is the returning players – this one brought back a couple of defence attorneys: the black woman (who has been in a few), the cheery white haired guy who is smart, the pompous guy with a moustache; plus some of those terrific judges with their wonderful dry delivery.

There’s an episode where they deal with multiple cases as opposed to one; a poor episode dealing with a riot (where the black characters are forced to make a dopey argument, which is unfair); a terrific final episode for Michael Moriarty, who has a great method actor hug with Steve Hill at the end.

TV review – “Law and Order Season 3” (1992-93) ****

The series keeps its standard high. There are constant inventive twists – rape by a doctor, murderous sweatshops, a conspiracy assassination, the prosecutors realise they put away an innocent man whose lawyer doesn’t care. Paul Sorvino gets a better exit than George Dzunda (in the terrific high death toll Columbian episode) and his replacement Jerry Orbach is much better – better even than Dzunda, although without the lightness. Orbach has this great annoyed scowl – it’s like he doesn’t believe anyone he talks to.

Guest stars include Claire Danes (amazingly good), the black guy out of Terminator 2, Ira out of Mad About You (one in a long line of slimy defence lawyers), Elaine Strich (was it just a happy coincidence that this Broadway star was there for Broadway star Jerrry Orbach’s first ep as lead? And there are Broadway jokes), Lindsay Crouse, Eric Bognosian (making a return), and Juliana Marguelies. I also love the semi-regulars: the sexy psychologist, the flirty ballistics expert who loves her work, all the wisecracking judges.

TV series – “Law and Order Season 2” (1991-92) *****

Paul Sorvino is a great actor but he’s not quite right as George Dzunda’s replacement (Dzunda is killed off in long shot in episode one). His energy is a bit too low and laid back, which is great for his villainous roles but he simply doesn’t work here. Chris Noth is fine as long as he’s being a smug prick, but he struggles when he has to express some other emotion, like indignation or anguish. I really like Michael Moriarty’s sort of intense laid-backness – if that makes sense. Richard Brooks again mostly sighs instead of acting, but Carolyn McCormack is always good value as a shrink and I love the ballistics expert who adores her job.

Incredibly tense episode about a killer mother. I love the legal twists of the severance episode, the chilling teenage killer, the evil slum lords. Actually all of them were good – although I was surprised William Macy get convicted for rape in his one because surely he could just deny he ever threatened the girl to go out on the street.

As in season one there is great joy from watching future stars in guest appearances, including Jerry Orbach (soon to become a regular), a young and pretty Maura Tierney, Tony Roberts, the governor from Benson (as a judge – you keep expecting him to do something comic), Luis Guzman, Colonel Klink, Alison Janey (a very small role), William Macey, the grandma out of the Sopranos (playing another matriarch), the female nurse out of Scrubs, Sam Rockwell, Jerry Stiller, George Costanza’s mother out of Seinfeld, Eli Wallach.

Love special feature about the cast, which in true Law and Order style doesn’t pull any punches about the cast. You think the actors would be happy being on such a good show, but no – full of primma donnas and antics. Dann Florek is obviously lovely; George Dzunda quit because he hated New York and wanted to make movies; Paul Sorvino had trouble accepting the limitations of his role (not in the whole thing, not getting the ending, the emphasis on procedural dialogue as opposed to character; he would warm up singing opera). Jerry Orbach was clearly a nice guy – but Chris Noth whined because he wanted to have a younger partner. (They don’t talk about the challenges of working with Michael Moriarty – maybe that comes in a later on.)

TV review – “Law and Order: Season 1” (1990-91) *****

Took me a long time to get into this but now I’m hooked. Great story telling – so many scenes and locations and it goes bang-bang-bang. The first ep had the detectives and DAs relating personally to the tale (is everyone in New York an alcoholic or former alcoholic or is it just writers rooms?) but thankfully they dropped that. I love all the exposition and the 50 worders and dailies trying to hit the mark, the varying quality of the actors. I even liked the “ripped from the headlines” and “hey lets talk about a social issue” ness of some stories (eg AIDS mercy killing.)

It took Chris Noth a few eps to figure out how to play his character but once he did (i.e. as smug) he was fine (apart from that one episode where he emotively bangs against a window). Michael Moriarty and Steven Hill are terrific, love that method mumbling where you can understand every word. Richard Brooks, the black assistant DA, isn’t as good – he keeps sighing and looks like a guitarist from In Living Colour. Dan Florek has these great sad eyes to play the chief cop.

The guest cast is a constant delight. It’s great fun to see future stars like Michael Mancini from Melrose Place, Leo from West Wing, Miranda from Sex and the City, the intense black guy from seasons 1 and 2 of Dexter (giving the same performance), Samuel L Jackson (a very small role as a lawyer), Philip Seymour Hoffman (rapist), Christine Baranski (mobster’s sister), Ron Rifkin, Fritz Weaver, etc.

The show was surprisingly PC – the killers are usually rich wives, drunk doctors, Harvard grads, white cops, corrupt cops. The oddest ep was the child abuse one - this felt cut about, as if it had been edited for legal reasons. I didn't like the prostitution ep that much until the final twist. Consistently superb show.