If you like shows about forensic pathology -- "Quincy" with Jack Klugman comes to mind as well as HBO's excellent documentary series "Beyond the Grave" -- "Bones" might just be the show for you. It is inspired by the life of forensic anthropologist/author Kathy Reichs who both produces and consults for the show.
The main character is forensic anthropologist and best-selling author Dr. Temperance Brennan (Emily Deschanel) who works for the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington, DC (seemingly modeled loosely after the Smithsonian Institute) and is "loaned" to the FBI to help solve murders in which the corpses consist only of bones or otherwise unidentifiable remains. She has a genius IQ, and though she is attractive and dresses well she tends to come off as bit nerdy, which only adds to her charm. And though she often has an FBI agent near, she can take care of herself as she is skilled in kick boxing and other forms of self-defense. Adding to her mystique, her parents vanished just before Christmas when she was fifteen and have never been found. She assumes they are dead.
Enter Special Agent Seeley Booth (David Boreanaz). He is Brennan's liaison with the FBI, working in their homicide investigations unit, and has given her the nickname "Bones," to which she replies, "Don't call me Bones." But by the season's end, she is resigned to the fact that Booth is forever going to know her as "Bones." Booth, a former Army Rangers sniper, has an intense sense of loyalty to country and tends to be very conservative in his views.
Brennan and Booth develop a big good working chemistry between the two of them, and Booth becomes fiercely protective of Brennan, and she develops at least a mild affection towards him.
Dr. Brennan is assisted in her investigations, both criminal and scientific, by three specialists at the Jeffersonian. Angelina (Angel) Montanegro (Michaela Conlin) is a sexy, gregarious brunette who specializes in forensic facial reconstruction. She is trained in the fine arts and urges the somewhat reclusive Temperance to get out more. Zach Addy (Eric Milligan) -- who has a schoolboy crush on Dr. Brennan -- is a 24 year old genius having graduated college at the age of 16 and whose area of expertise is in the removal of dead skin from bones (debridement) as decomposed bodies need to be stripped of their flesh in order to properly study their bones. As a graduate student, he studies forensic anthropology under Dr. Brennan and acts as her personal assistant. A stereotypical super brain, Zach lacks many social skills that he humorously tries to mimic from others. Angel comments that she finds it amusing when Zach "tries to act like a human being." Rounding out the team is Dr. Jack Hodgins (T.J. Thyne), a somewhat kooky but harmless conspiracy theorist who has advanced degrees in entomology, botany and mineralogy. He refers to himself as the "Bug Man" as he can date very accurately the time of death raging from days to many months by the insects that accompany a decaying corpse. He can also tell much about a skeleton by its "particulates," tiny, sometimes microscopic, pieces of debris that are attached to the bones.
In an interview with Kathy Reichs, she says that all the science in the show is grounded in truth, which is a soothing note for purists such as myself who cringe at technical errors in scripts. I only wish the show were more plot driven than character driven. While Deschanel's portrayal of Temperance Brennan is enjoyable, Boreanaz's Special Agent Booth begs to be believable. It is also very unlikely that Angel, Zach and Jack would be as quirky as depicted. But I chalk this up to poor directing rather than bad acting. The pure science in the show is its redeeming quality. It is absolutely amazing to see how forensic anthropology is applied to solving crimes. It would be a much better show, however, if more focus were shifted to the solving of the crimes rather than character interaction, as done in the exemplary programs Law and Order and CSI. Still, though there is room for improvement, Bones is a very enjoyable program, though I thought its IMDB rating of 8.5 was a tad high. I myself would give it a 7.5.
The first season of Bones ends with a cliffhanger that is intriguing while not leaving one annoyed. It doesn't leave one completely hanging, but it does give one an added impetus to watch season two, which at the time of this writing is about halfway through. Having missed the beginning of season two, I have refrained from watching it. It would be like starting to watch a movie after it has already begun, which I refuse to do. But I would definitely recommend this show for anyone who would enjoy a mixture of science wizardry and whodunit suspense.
Special Features on DVD
Bones - Inspired By the Life of Forensic Anthropologist and Author Kathy Reichs [The making of Bones]
Character Profiles [Data and trivia in text form about the main characters]
*Through Netflix, who I use for DVD rental, it is a seven disc set, but some of the discs have only two or three episodes instead of the usual four. The boxed set consists of three discs that play on both sides and one conventional disc.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
The Internet Movie Database
When it comes to films and other media such as television one of the most useful resources on the Internet is The Internet Movie Database. It lists virtually every film and television show ever made and provides such useful information as directing, writing and acting credits as well as plot summaries and user reviews. Practically every name credited is linked to a separate page, which lists all of his or her projects, both post and pre-production, which are all linked. Practically everything on IMDB is linked to something else, and it is amazing the threads one can follow. The IMDB would make a cinch of winning The Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.
Rather than I preach its accolades, you should see for yourself. Unfortunately over the years the IMDB has become more and more commercialized as with many good resources such as Yahoo and Google, but it still remains an absolutely wonderful tool. And by supplying basic information and registering with IMDB, you can vote on movies, television series, and anything else that is listed. And by its sheer number of members, which is well over a million, the ratings on a scale of one to ten tend to reflect a very balanced view of serious movie watchers. In future reviews, I may compare IMDB ratings to my own.
If you haven't already been, please go and discover what you always wanted in a movie resource and more. You will not be disappointed.
Rather than I preach its accolades, you should see for yourself. Unfortunately over the years the IMDB has become more and more commercialized as with many good resources such as Yahoo and Google, but it still remains an absolutely wonderful tool. And by supplying basic information and registering with IMDB, you can vote on movies, television series, and anything else that is listed. And by its sheer number of members, which is well over a million, the ratings on a scale of one to ten tend to reflect a very balanced view of serious movie watchers. In future reviews, I may compare IMDB ratings to my own.
If you haven't already been, please go and discover what you always wanted in a movie resource and more. You will not be disappointed.
"Band of Brothers" 6 DVD Set
"In 1942, the U.S. Army assembled a volunteer parachute regiment to jump behind enemy lines. Within this unit was a company of men who found themselves at the forefront of the war in Europe. They parachuted into Normandy on D-Day, ... fought for the liberation of Holland, ... held the front line in the Battle of the Bulge, ... and captured Hitler's Eagle's Nest. This company suffered one of the highest casualty rates of the war. These were the men of Easy Company..."
The epic miniseries "Band of Brothers" tells the story of Easy Company -- of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division -- from their jump school training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia to their post-VE Day R&R in Austria, and all their hard-fought battles in between. Comprised of 10 one-hour episodes, the first of which originally aired on HBO September 9, 2001, "Band of Brothers" is adapted from Stephen Ambrose's nonfiction book of the same name. It is a Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg production, a collaboration presumably spawned from their efforts together in making "Saving Private Ryan." Hanks also produced the critically acclaimed 1998 HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" -- chronicling NASA's Apollo program -- after he starred in "Apollo 13."
If "Saving Private Ryan" is the quintessential World War II film, then "Band of Brothers" is its companion piece using the miniseries format to fully bring the book to the screen quite faithfully. It draws on a cast of mostly unknown actors, most notably Damian Lewis who plays the pivotal character Richard "Dick" Winters who assumes command of Easy Company on D-Day when its commanding officer is missing. After one successful mission after another, Winters is finally "bumped up" to battalion executive officer essentially taking away his direct command of Easy Company. As the war progresses, Winters matures from the young lieutenant from jump camp to the seasoned Major we see as the war draws to a close. And though each episode tends to focus on a different group of central characters, Winters is always a prominent figure.
Each episode adds to its realism by devoting the first couple of minutes to interviews with the actual men of Easy Company who speak of the events that will play out in that particular part. Along with impeccable directing, top-notch special effects including pyrotechnics and CGI gives one the feeling of "being there." Most of the intense battle scenes are filmed with the same documentary style of "Saving Private Ryan," and purists with a stickler for realism will not be disappointed. In part 5 "The Breaking Point," in which Easy Company comes under unrelenting, brutal German artillery fire in the Ardennes forest, two soldiers lose legs and while the gore factor is not overplayed, it is definitely apparent.
The first five DVDs contain two episodes each, and the sixth, a bonus disc, contains the excellent 78 minute documentary "We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company" in which rare archival film footage and photographs augment interviews with the original Easy Company survivors as they reminisce about events ranging from life before the war, the war itself and returning to civilian life. It provides a very personal view of what it is like to survive the horrors of war, most notably losing one's friends on the battlefield. Also shown is one of the annual Easy Company reunions that have been held since 1946.
A most helpful feature on disks one through five is the "field guide." Each episode has an accompanying field guide that includes biographical information on the soldiers portrayed in that episode, as well as the entire miniseries; a historical timeline chronicling pertinent events from the end of World War I to the end of World War II; a map of Easy Company's troop movements from Camp Toccoa to England and throughout France, Holland, Belgium and Germany with accompanying text; a chain of command reference from five-star general to buck private; and an extremely helpful glossary of military terms. I found for myself the soldier guide to be most helpful, as I easily lose track of Easy Company's cast of characters as the story progresses. At one point or another, I used every feature of the field guide, which has information specific to the episode as well as the entire miniseries.
For World War II enthusiasts and students of history in general, "Band of Brothers" provides a personal telling of what it was to fight in "The War to End All Wars." It is truly an up close and realistic rendering of the true story of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division from its inception to the end of World War II. It is a miniseries of the finest caliber. The Internet Movie Database, which rates movies and television programs through registered member votes, rates "Band of Brothers" a 9.6 out of a possible 10, the highest rating of any listing. By comparison, "Saving Private Ryan" scored an 8.6.
I highly recommend this series for anyone who wishes to have a better understanding of 20th-century world history as well as anyone who just plain enjoys good filmmaking.
The epic miniseries "Band of Brothers" tells the story of Easy Company -- of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division -- from their jump school training at Camp Toccoa, Georgia to their post-VE Day R&R in Austria, and all their hard-fought battles in between. Comprised of 10 one-hour episodes, the first of which originally aired on HBO September 9, 2001, "Band of Brothers" is adapted from Stephen Ambrose's nonfiction book of the same name. It is a Tom Hanks/Steven Spielberg production, a collaboration presumably spawned from their efforts together in making "Saving Private Ryan." Hanks also produced the critically acclaimed 1998 HBO miniseries "From the Earth to the Moon" -- chronicling NASA's Apollo program -- after he starred in "Apollo 13."
If "Saving Private Ryan" is the quintessential World War II film, then "Band of Brothers" is its companion piece using the miniseries format to fully bring the book to the screen quite faithfully. It draws on a cast of mostly unknown actors, most notably Damian Lewis who plays the pivotal character Richard "Dick" Winters who assumes command of Easy Company on D-Day when its commanding officer is missing. After one successful mission after another, Winters is finally "bumped up" to battalion executive officer essentially taking away his direct command of Easy Company. As the war progresses, Winters matures from the young lieutenant from jump camp to the seasoned Major we see as the war draws to a close. And though each episode tends to focus on a different group of central characters, Winters is always a prominent figure.
Each episode adds to its realism by devoting the first couple of minutes to interviews with the actual men of Easy Company who speak of the events that will play out in that particular part. Along with impeccable directing, top-notch special effects including pyrotechnics and CGI gives one the feeling of "being there." Most of the intense battle scenes are filmed with the same documentary style of "Saving Private Ryan," and purists with a stickler for realism will not be disappointed. In part 5 "The Breaking Point," in which Easy Company comes under unrelenting, brutal German artillery fire in the Ardennes forest, two soldiers lose legs and while the gore factor is not overplayed, it is definitely apparent.
The first five DVDs contain two episodes each, and the sixth, a bonus disc, contains the excellent 78 minute documentary "We Stand Alone Together: The Men of Easy Company" in which rare archival film footage and photographs augment interviews with the original Easy Company survivors as they reminisce about events ranging from life before the war, the war itself and returning to civilian life. It provides a very personal view of what it is like to survive the horrors of war, most notably losing one's friends on the battlefield. Also shown is one of the annual Easy Company reunions that have been held since 1946.
A most helpful feature on disks one through five is the "field guide." Each episode has an accompanying field guide that includes biographical information on the soldiers portrayed in that episode, as well as the entire miniseries; a historical timeline chronicling pertinent events from the end of World War I to the end of World War II; a map of Easy Company's troop movements from Camp Toccoa to England and throughout France, Holland, Belgium and Germany with accompanying text; a chain of command reference from five-star general to buck private; and an extremely helpful glossary of military terms. I found for myself the soldier guide to be most helpful, as I easily lose track of Easy Company's cast of characters as the story progresses. At one point or another, I used every feature of the field guide, which has information specific to the episode as well as the entire miniseries.
For World War II enthusiasts and students of history in general, "Band of Brothers" provides a personal telling of what it was to fight in "The War to End All Wars." It is truly an up close and realistic rendering of the true story of Easy Company, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division from its inception to the end of World War II. It is a miniseries of the finest caliber. The Internet Movie Database, which rates movies and television programs through registered member votes, rates "Band of Brothers" a 9.6 out of a possible 10, the highest rating of any listing. By comparison, "Saving Private Ryan" scored an 8.6.
I highly recommend this series for anyone who wishes to have a better understanding of 20th-century world history as well as anyone who just plain enjoys good filmmaking.
Friday, March 23, 2007
Fast Food Nation
Inspired by Eric Schlosser's non-fiction best-seller "Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal" and directed by Richard Linklater, this modern day film parallels Upton Sinclair's muckraking novel "The Jungle" by exploring the abuses of illegal Mexican immigrants who work in a meatpacking plant that incorporates unsafe and unsanitary working conditions so that it might fuel the fast food industry with a cheap supply of ground round of questionable quality.
Both Linklater and Schlosser are credited for this film's character driven dramatic screenplay, and if not successful as a film in its own right, it is a gripping damnation of this nation's fast food industry and the ensuing greed of the meatpacking conglomerates who exploit cheap labor while employing slipshod processing practices to supply said industry with inexpensive, and potentially unsafe, beef.
While the screenplay is weak, its subject matter is not, and a host of excellent actors both well-known and unfamiliar give some stellar performances. While incorporating such noted names as Greg Kinnear, Patricia Arquette, Kris Kristofferson, Bruce Willis and Ethan Hawke in mostly cameo roles, the real stars of the film are mostly unknown actors who portray a group of Mexican illegal aliens and American youths in Cody, Colorado.
The story begins with Mickeys (a fictitious fast food chain) marketing executive Don Anderson (Greg Kinnear) being sent to investigate how cow feces is making its way into the chain's number one selling burger, Big One. While Anderson travels to Cody to visit Uni-Globe Meat Packing "where every single Big One patty in the entire country gets made," the film follows a small group of Mexican men and women crossing illegally into the US. They travel day and night over the open Mexican desert led by a guide to a deserted dirt road where Benny (Luis Guzman) picks them up and deposits them at various locations including Cody where Uni-Globe waits to exploit their labor. In an early scene, which foreshadows the link between cheap Mexican manpower and Mickeys fast food, Anderson pulls up beside Benny's van at a stoplight in Cody.
Anderson tours the Uni-Globe plant and its shiny stainless steel machinery and employees in spotless white uniforms impress him. He is sure his boss's worries are unfounded until he speaks with rancher Rudy Martin (Kris Kristofferson). Martin's Mexican housekeeper, whose brother works at the plant, explains to Anderson how cow feces get into the meat. The workers removing the intestines are forced to work at such a rate that inevitably an intestinal wall is punctured, and, "All the poop and stuff just pours out all over the meat." Inquiring how often this happens, Anderson is told quite matter-of-factly "every day."
Towards the end of the film we are shown up close and quite graphically the slaughtering of cows. This is not for the squeamish. I can appreciate graphic violence in films when it is intrinsic to the story, but the slaughterhouse scene in Fast Food Nation is truly repulsive. And I don't really see how it adds to the message of the movie except to possibly turn one's stomach to the point of not wanting to eat beef anymore. While the act of killing the cow is quite painless, to see what happens to it after the fact is terribly gruesome.
Had it not been for the cameo appearances of Bruce Willis et al., the film would have been interminably boring. But there is a part of the film that I rather enjoyed, which is towards the end when Amber (Ashley Johnson) and Brian (Paul Dano, from Little Miss Sunshine), employees at the local Mickeys, together with some of their high school friends, in a show of civil disobedience, decide to free the cows by cutting a hole in the fence. One young dissident after hearing the perils of prosecution under the patriot act, pipes up, "Right now I can't think of anything more patriotic than violating the patriot act." They are all disappointed, however, when the cows refuse to leave. "Next time we take cattle prods."
For all its shortcomings, I am glad that I watched Fast Food Nation. While it is not a great film in itself, it proves to be a bold statement regarding the state of our nation. As Rudy Martin points out to Anderson, "This isn't about good people versus bad people. It's about the machine that's taking over this country. It's like something out of science fiction. The land, the cattle, the people. This machine don't give a shit. Pennies a pound, pennies a pound. That's all it cares about. A few more pennies a pound." Somber words, indeed.
DVD extras
Screenwriter Audio commentary by director/screenwriter Richard Linklater and author/screenwriter Eric Schlosser
Manufacturing Fast Food Nation [The making of the movie]
Photo Gallery
The Meatrix [Short Animation -- See http://www.meatrix.com]
The Meatrix II
The Meatrix II 1/2
The Backwards Hamburger [Short Animation Promo for Film]
Both Linklater and Schlosser are credited for this film's character driven dramatic screenplay, and if not successful as a film in its own right, it is a gripping damnation of this nation's fast food industry and the ensuing greed of the meatpacking conglomerates who exploit cheap labor while employing slipshod processing practices to supply said industry with inexpensive, and potentially unsafe, beef.
While the screenplay is weak, its subject matter is not, and a host of excellent actors both well-known and unfamiliar give some stellar performances. While incorporating such noted names as Greg Kinnear, Patricia Arquette, Kris Kristofferson, Bruce Willis and Ethan Hawke in mostly cameo roles, the real stars of the film are mostly unknown actors who portray a group of Mexican illegal aliens and American youths in Cody, Colorado.
The story begins with Mickeys (a fictitious fast food chain) marketing executive Don Anderson (Greg Kinnear) being sent to investigate how cow feces is making its way into the chain's number one selling burger, Big One. While Anderson travels to Cody to visit Uni-Globe Meat Packing "where every single Big One patty in the entire country gets made," the film follows a small group of Mexican men and women crossing illegally into the US. They travel day and night over the open Mexican desert led by a guide to a deserted dirt road where Benny (Luis Guzman) picks them up and deposits them at various locations including Cody where Uni-Globe waits to exploit their labor. In an early scene, which foreshadows the link between cheap Mexican manpower and Mickeys fast food, Anderson pulls up beside Benny's van at a stoplight in Cody.
Anderson tours the Uni-Globe plant and its shiny stainless steel machinery and employees in spotless white uniforms impress him. He is sure his boss's worries are unfounded until he speaks with rancher Rudy Martin (Kris Kristofferson). Martin's Mexican housekeeper, whose brother works at the plant, explains to Anderson how cow feces get into the meat. The workers removing the intestines are forced to work at such a rate that inevitably an intestinal wall is punctured, and, "All the poop and stuff just pours out all over the meat." Inquiring how often this happens, Anderson is told quite matter-of-factly "every day."
Towards the end of the film we are shown up close and quite graphically the slaughtering of cows. This is not for the squeamish. I can appreciate graphic violence in films when it is intrinsic to the story, but the slaughterhouse scene in Fast Food Nation is truly repulsive. And I don't really see how it adds to the message of the movie except to possibly turn one's stomach to the point of not wanting to eat beef anymore. While the act of killing the cow is quite painless, to see what happens to it after the fact is terribly gruesome.
Had it not been for the cameo appearances of Bruce Willis et al., the film would have been interminably boring. But there is a part of the film that I rather enjoyed, which is towards the end when Amber (Ashley Johnson) and Brian (Paul Dano, from Little Miss Sunshine), employees at the local Mickeys, together with some of their high school friends, in a show of civil disobedience, decide to free the cows by cutting a hole in the fence. One young dissident after hearing the perils of prosecution under the patriot act, pipes up, "Right now I can't think of anything more patriotic than violating the patriot act." They are all disappointed, however, when the cows refuse to leave. "Next time we take cattle prods."
For all its shortcomings, I am glad that I watched Fast Food Nation. While it is not a great film in itself, it proves to be a bold statement regarding the state of our nation. As Rudy Martin points out to Anderson, "This isn't about good people versus bad people. It's about the machine that's taking over this country. It's like something out of science fiction. The land, the cattle, the people. This machine don't give a shit. Pennies a pound, pennies a pound. That's all it cares about. A few more pennies a pound." Somber words, indeed.
DVD extras
Screenwriter Audio commentary by director/screenwriter Richard Linklater and author/screenwriter Eric Schlosser
Manufacturing Fast Food Nation [The making of the movie]
Photo Gallery
The Meatrix [Short Animation -- See http://www.meatrix.com]
The Meatrix II
The Meatrix II 1/2
The Backwards Hamburger [Short Animation Promo for Film]
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