Perry Mason (Season 2)

It has been some months since Perry (Matthew Rhys) won the Emily Dodson case.  Well, it was a hung jury, but the DA declined to try the case again, so essentially a win.  Despite that, Perry has avoided criminal law.  He and Della (Juliet Rylance) have acquired a litigious grocer (Sean Astin) as a client who allows them to pay the bills and even hire a receptionist.  Though his legal career was on an even keel, his emotional state was a wreck.  His farm was sold, so he lived in an apartment and was reduced to riding a motorcycle.  Emily Dodson had since drowned herself.  Yes, time for more drinking and feeling sorrowful.

Then a big case arrived.  Two Latino brothers were arrested for the murder of Brooks McCutcheon, the son of the wealthy wheeler-dealer Lydell McCutcheon.  Though Perry was approached by the family of the brothers, he initially declined the case.  However, Della pushed and he investigated just enough to think they might be innocent.  And so began his latest case.

Much of the cast from last season is back.  Detective Holcomb (Eric Lanuge), who killed his partner in the last season, has returned as a shady business partner to the murdered Brooks McCutcheon.  Pete Strickland (Shea Whigham) had split from Perry at the end of last season and now works for the DA's office, a fact which Perry proves oblivious despite it hearing about it repeatedly.  Assistant DA Hamilton Burder (Justin Kirk) has been elevated to DA, but he is being blackmailed for being gay.  Paul Drake (Chris Chalk) was the prime investigator for Perry, but also had outside jobs, including one for the DA's office.  Then there is Perry's ex-wife and son, who move back to Los Angeles.  His son is enrolled in a private school where Perry soon finds himself involved with his son's teacher, Miss Ginny Aimes (Katherine Waterston).  Della Street's love life also so a change, where he abandoned Hazel (Molly Ephraim) for the more exciting & wealthy Anita St. Pierre (Jen Tullock).

In order to fill 8 episodes, it had to be a more complicated case than expected.  Of course, that also means that all the introduced characters are probably linked to the crime.  Yes, that proved to be the case.  Brooks' antics were small time but, if investigated, could reveal much bigger crimes related to his father and his father's business partners.  The murder was strategic, to prevent something worse.  Are the Latino brothers just scapegoats or assassins for hire?

Perry proved to be mostly an idiot.  In an early episode, he took measurements about the murder scene and of the two brothers.  This convinced him that they were not the shooters and that he should take the case.  He never brought this up in court and it proved to be bogus.  So, he was an idiot then, but you should have forgotten that from episode 2 by the time we reveal evidence in episode 5.  Right.  Later, the DA somehow learned of critical evidence in the defense's hands.  How could that possibly be?  Well, the obvious solution is that Pete Strickland - who had been in the office many times before and was now working for the DA - might have done some snooping.  This is even more likely when you consider how Pete and Perry have had a falling out.  What does the brilliant Perry Mason deduce?  It must have been his son's teacher, Ginny Aimes!  He confronted her immediately.  Ugh.  When Pete later admitted to it, Perry was dumbfounded.  What?  The DA's investigator investigated my office?  Duh!

By contrast, Della was on the ball.  She gets to have the final confrontation with the main villain and she gets to do much of the strategizing.  She not some depressed drunk, but a mostly well-adjusted lesbian whose life and career are looking good.  And just to battle those rumors, she and Hamilton start attending events together and hint at marriage.

The season ends with Perry Mason in jail!  Yeah, his withholding of key evidence - accessory after the fact - put him in the klink.  Is it any surprise that the series was cancelled after this?

Skip

The January Man (1989)

Bernadette Flynn (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio) and her friend, Alison Hawkins (Faye Grant), headed home after a New Year's Eve Party.  They shared a cab to Alison's apartment building.  Drunk and happy, Alison stumbled into her apartment and said hello to her fish.  Then, a figure appeared behind her and strangled her to death with a blue ribbon.  This was the 11th murder in the last 11 months with the same M. O.

Mayor Flynn (Rod Steiger) was furious and vented his anger to Police Commissioner Frank Starkey (Harvey Keitel).  Bernadette is his daughter, so this struck alarmingly close to home.  The mayor demanded that Nick Starkey (Kevin Kline), who happened to be the commissioner's brother, get reinstated as a police detective to solve the case.  Frank was less than keen, but obeyed orders.  Nick had been with the fire department since his scandalous departure from the police.  Nick's methods were unorthodox and his choice for an assistant - an artist named Ed (Alan Rickman) - raised eyebrows.  Captain Alcoa (Danny Aiello) was apoplectic that Nick was reinstated and that he was required to provide whatever the crackpot needed.

Despite the setup, the murder mystery is almost secondary as far as the plot is concerned.  A great deal of time focused on Nick's obsession with his brother's wife, Christine (Susan Sarandon).  Indeed, it would seem that they were an item before his exit from the police.  He even accuses her of marrying the wrong brother.  Oddly, Nick's one requirement for returning to the police was that he could have dinner alone with Christine.  Bizarre.

Later, Nick clumsily followed Bernadette, only to be spotted by her.  Okay, so he's not that good at tailing someone.  Then, rather than talk to her about the case, he convinced her to go to a hotel and hop in the sack.  She agreed!  Um, is this a murder mystery or a romance?  Bernadette moved in with Nick and became his Girl Friday for the remainder of the film, with relatively little pushback from her father, the mayor!

The movie has no idea what it wants to be.  None of the relationships are sufficiently developed.  The brothers more or less hate one another and it was Frank who was guilty of the crime that got Nick kicked off the force.  Christine rejected Nick at the dinner but later returned to find Bernadette at his apartment; now she was jealously incarnate and couldn't wait to leave Frank.  Huh?  Ed is an artist and computer whiz with a Maynard Krebs view on life; kind of a wasted use of Alan Rickman.  Rod Steiger is just a blowhard with a bad perm.  So, is this a romantic comedy, a murder mystery, a thriller, a whodunit, or what?  All of the above in a hodge podge fashion.

With such a great cast, this is an astonishingly mediocre film.  Skip.

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

In the post-apocalyptic world, two young girls were picking fruit in a garden-like oasis in the middle of a vast Australian desert when they spotted a band of bikers.  Furiosa (Alyla Browne) sneaked through the brush to investigate but was grabbed by a biker.  She fled and blew her whistle but was soon slung across the bike - bound hand and foot - which raced into the desert.  Her mother (Charlee Fraser) gave chase, picking off members of the band, but the last one successfully returned to the camp of Dementus (Chris Hemsworth).  Furiosa became the faux-daughter of Dementus and never spoke.

Dementus was an ambitious man, eager to secure more power in the Wasteland.  When he came upon the citadel of Immortan Joe, he immediately sought to capture it.  That didn't go well.  However, he was a crafty fellow and soon had an 'understanding' with Joe.  The understanding cost - among other considerations - Furiosa.  For the next decade, Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy) quietly - almost entirely mute and posing as a boy - earned a spot for herself among the mechanics.  Praetorian Jack (Tom Burke) - a noted road warrior - recognized her talents during a mission and apprenticed her as a road warrior.

A prequel to Fury Road (2015), this movie gives the story of Furiosa's rise.  I preferred the vague backstory from Fury Road rather than this detailed chronology.  Initially, she was brought into Joe's harem to eventually be one of his brides, but she ran off before she was of age.  Where did she go?  Down to the garage.  Clearly, Joe's efforts to find her failed.  Rather than explore this transition, the story just jumps forward a year or two with her already established among the laborers.  By the time she is Praetorian Jack's apprentice, it is clear she is a woman and no one seems to care.

The movie has some great road combat, very like those of Fury Road.  However, it was harder to be invested in the characters.  Praetorian Jack gets a lot of screen time but not so much character development.  Throughout his time with Furiosa, he's the leader but at the same time he plays like her sidekick.  Yeah, it didn't quite work.  Imagine a Batman movie where Robin was the main character.  Furiosa's mission is to get revenge against Dementus and then return home.  This movie tells her revenge story - mostly - while the next one is her return home story.  Early on, Dementus is an impressive villain and it is hard to believe that dainty Furiosa could overcome him.  By the last act, he's easy to kill, a mouse to her cat.  He's no threat to her at all, having destroyed himself and his gang in a futile war against Immortan Joe.

As far as the acting, the only stand out is Chris Hemsworth.  His Dementus dominates any scene he's in, being a loud-mouthed braggart who is supremely confident in his abilities.  He's clever and daring.  If not for his cruel villainy, he might be a fun fellow to have over for dinner.  By contrast, Anya Taylor-Joy is stuck being mute for most of the movie, offering the occasional glare to mar her otherwise expressionless face.

Just okay.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (2017)

Mildred (Frances McDormand) wanted justice.  Her daughter was raped and murdered six months ago and the police have made no arrests.  In order to remind Chief Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) that the case is pending, she rented three accusatory billboards with the chief's name on the last.  Unsurprisingly, the news media reported the billboards.

Chief Willoughby was a competent police chief and well-liked by the citizens.  Though he would like nothing more than to solve the crime, there were no leads and no evidence to follow.  He has nothing but compassion and understanding for Mildred's point of view, but there isn't anything he can do.  On top of that, he has terminal cancer.

Deputy Dixon (Sam Rockwell) was a racist bully who was completely loyal to Chief Willoughby.  He was more offended by the billboards than the chief and intended to do something about them.  One thing was to confront the man who rented them to Mildred: Red Welby (Caleb Landry Jones).  This visit involved beating the man and tossing him from a second story window.  This clearly criminal behavior was witnessed by a senior officer who did nothing more than fire Dixon from the force.  Yeah, that's some justice for you.

Mildred, Willoughby, and Dixon are the three main characters and each is surrounded by support characters.  Mildred has an ex-husband (John Hawkes), a son (Lucas Hedges), a man eager to date her (Peter Dinklage), and Father Montgomery (Nick Searcy).  Willoughby has a wife (Abbie Cornish) and daughters.  Dixon has his mother (Sandy Martin).  The movie revolves around them, initially with Willoughby standing between Mildred and Dixon, but later with Mildred and Dixon coming to an accord.

Of all the characters, Dixon has the most dramatic character arc.  He begins as quite detestable but ends as a man who is seeking redemption.  Still, he should be in jail for tossing Red out the window and smacking Red's secretary in the face.  Willoughby is the only one who was likeable throughout, a really decent man who was dealt some tough cards to play.

Both Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell won Oscars for their performances.  Rockwell did an impressive job of bringing Dixon to life and making him both a terrible human being but also one who improves through adversity.  By contrast, McDormand is just a grieving mother who is acting out.  She is the same person at the end as at the beginning.

Just okay.

Convoy (1978)

Rubber Duck (Kris Kristofferson) was a trucker when the speed limit was changed to 55 miles per hour.  Between the new speed limit and the regulations on how many hours per day could be spent driving, some truckers were having trouble staying solvent.  This was made all the worse by sheriffs like Dirty Lyle Wallace (Ernest Borgnine).  Dirty Lyle used CB chatter to set up speed traps where he would let the truckers go for a bribe; that way their insurance premiums wouldn't increase.

Rubber Duck was at an Arizona truck stop when Dirty Lyle started rousting Spider Mike (Franklyn Ajaye) and threatening to arrest him.  The Duck moved to intervene and a fight broke out.  Soon, all the truckers joined into a brawl against three police officers.  The truckers skedaddled, disabling the police cars on the way out of the lot.  Soon, a line of trucks drove east across Arizona and into New Mexico and Texas.  Many others got word and soon more trucks joined.  It was a convoy!

The movie doesn't make a lick of sense.  Somehow, the states are powerless to stop the convoy and the governor of New Mexico (Seymour Cassel) wanted to negotiate with Rubber Duck.  Negotiate about what?  When Spider Mike heads home - leaving the convoy - he got arrested and jailed.  Well, he did participate in that brawl.  In response, many of the truckers went to the town where he was jailed and flattened buildings, destroyed a police car, and crashed through the jail.  Um, okay.

Now they knew they were in big trouble.  Duck suggested crossing into Mexico.  So, he led the way but all the other trucks were cutoff by an ice cream man accident.  Alone, Duck approached the dinky bridge that crossed a river - presumably the Rio Grande - but Dirty Lyle was waiting on the other side with an armored vehicle.  In Mexico?  Huh?  Nonetheless, Duck raced across the bridge and the machineguns opened fire.  The wreckage plunged into the river.  So much for Rubber Duck?

Melissa (Ali MacGraw) was a traveling photographer who had a run-in with Rubber Duck in the opening and then encountered him again at the Arizona truck stop.  She needed a ride.  Despite the brawl, she climbed into Duck's truck and became part of the convoy, often nagging Duck about the ongoing events.  She repeatedly declined offers to get out.  Like most of the other characters, she also acts like some great injustice is occurring and Duck should make demands.  Huh?

Amazingly, this was Sam Pekinpah's most financially successful movie.  Of course, trucker movies were all the rage in the mid to late 70s (e.g., Smokey and the Bandit) and CB culture was everywhere for a time.  However, the movie has not aged well.  It's thin on plot and often inexplicable.  Why are the police so stymied by the convoy?  It feels like a chunk of the movie that explained the grievances of the truckers ended up on the cutting room floor.

Mediocre.  Skip.

Drive Angry (2011)

Milton (Nicolas Cage) escaped hell because he was on a mission.  He needed to find his newborn granddaughter and save her from a Satanic cult that intended to use her as a sacrifice.  Shortly after returning to the land of the living, Milton encountered Piper (Amber Heard).  What is particularly interesting about Piper, from Milton's point of view, is that she drives a 1969 Dodge Charger.  He hitched a ride.  Of course, hell was not keen on Milton's escape and dispatched the accountant (William Fichtner) to collect him.  Can Milton find Jonah King (Billy Burke) the cult leader who murdered his daughter and planned to also murder his granddaughter while keeping ahead of the accountant?

The movie is just shoot 'em up fun with lots of gun battles, car chases, and gory deaths.  One particular fight scene had Milton actively engaging a prostitute during a gunfight.  Since Milton is already dead, he can't be killed.  All his injuries heal, given time, even the bullet through his eye.  The revenant has come for the satanic cult members.

William Fitchner steals any scene he is in.  He is quite entertaining as an officious bureaucrat from hell.  Amber Heard is unremarkable.  Yeah, she's beautiful, but her character is tacked onto the story because the writers needed a pretty woman along for the ride.  There is nothing between Milton and Piper, just a chance encounter.  Nick Cage is Nick Cage.  He hits all the usual beats and proves to be a serviceable, run-of-the-mill hero.

Mindless popcorn fun.

J'Accuse! says Hunter Biden

Hunter Biden has recently been on a tear on X, accusing the media of ignoring the financial shenanigans of the Trump children where they had blasted the previous president's son for the same; that would be him, by the way.  Yes, he had that sweet no-show gig on the board of directors for Burisma Holdings in Ukraine, which looked a bit fishy.  It looked even shadier when Vice President Joe Biden threatened to withhold $1 billion in loan guarantees to from Ukraine unless Viktor Shokin - a prosecutor investigating Burisma - was fired.  Sure, there may be a lot of nuance in here, but that looks bad.  Also, the nuance, if there was any, was not reported.  Then there was his art career while Joe Biden was president.  It was amazing how valuable his paintings were during Joe Biden's presidency and then the bottom fell out when he was not.  What exactly were the buyers buying?  Then there is the laptop, but there is no similar scandal with any of the Trump children, so let's skip that.

Hunter's Accusations:

1. Vulcan Elements, a defense startup backed by Donald Trump Jr., secured a $620 million loan from the Pentagon.  Ha!  Where is the outrage?  Why is this not plastered across every newspaper and news program like Hunter's crackpipe?  Let's look a little deeper.  Donald Trump Jr. has a stake in 1789 Capital, a venture capital firm.  No, he is not the CEO or on the board of directors.  Nor does he have a controlling share in the company.  1789 Capital has invested in Vulcan Elements.  1789 Capital does not own Vulcan Elements or have a majority shareholder position, but merely owns a part of the company.  So, a company that Don Jr. has shares in bought shares of another company that got a loan from the Pentagon.  Oh, what a scandal.

2. Israeli Drone Manufacture (XTEND) is going public through a merger.  Both Eric and Don Jr. are attached to the $1.5 billion deal.  War profiteering!  As with the Vulcan Elements case, the link is not so direct.  American Ventures, another venture capital firm, put $150 million into the merger, thus being 10% of the whole.  American Ventures is a branch of Dominari Holdings Inc.  Don Jr. and Eric have a combined ownership of 12% of Dominari.  Moreover, Don Jr. has a stake in Unusual Machines - another drone manufacture - that is also invested in the merger.  Again, the Trumps are attached not because they are driving this merger but because they have investments in the companies responsible.

3. Jared Kurshner and Ivanka Trump have acquired a wildlife sanctuary in Albania where they plan to build a luxury hotel.  That's a scandal?  In the western world today, BANANA is the rule.  What is BANANA?  Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone.  Recall, there was the long-running debate about drilling for oil in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) because nature and stuff.  The refuge is the size of South Carolina, but a few hundred acres to drill for oil would spoil the region.  Good grief.  The same is true of the Albanian coast.  Sazan Island has plenty of room and the suggested coastal region is mostly dotted with orchards.  This same story could be told of ANY builder anywhere in the western world; the environmentalists always oppose developers.

The Trump children are just pursuing the same sort of business dealing that their father did prior to his presidency.  They are investors, builders, and deal makers.  Are their efforts benefited by the fact that their father is president?  Almost certainly!  However, Hunter Biden's efforts benefited ONLY because his father was vice president and then president.

In any case, the reason the press isn't delving into these stories is because they don't stand scrutiny.  The one sentence accusation may sound damning, but the deep dive reveals them to be no big deal.  The very idea that the press is covering for Trump where it savaged Biden is ludicrous.