over that one.
I mean, the filmmaking is
So after a fair amount of berating from some film snob friends, I decided to familiarize myself with Fellini. So far I’ve struggled through La Dolce Vita and Amarcord, and I’m not impressed. I’ve still got Juliet of the Spirits waiting on the coffee table, but Northern Exposure Season 5 just keeps winning out artful. I can appreciate the films on that level, but so far the movies overall just bore me. I just don’t see what all the fuss is about.
Northern Exposure, tho — what a great show, yeah? It’s innovative by today’s standards when it comes to the storytelling. Entire episodes revolve around visions and dreams, Shaminism is taken seriously, characters deal with complex philosophical questions. And this show was made in the early 90s.
I’ve noticed the stories often have some kind of parallel. In one episode, two regular characters have unrelated indentity crises: One because an old girlfriend can’t tell the difference between him and his brother, um, sexually, and the other because the character feels he’s lost his NY edge and acclimated to small town living. In another episode, three characters deal with situations in which literal and metaphorical children return to the nest. Good Stuff.
On the other side of the TV on DVD spectrum, there’s a recent BBC botching of Robin Hood. I gave the first season a shot last year and was disappointed. I mean, Robin’s hood is a damn hoodie. A Crusades-era hoodie. Putting lacing on the front does not make it acceptably medieval.
The first season lacks a sense of continuity. In one episode, Robin and his gang get into trouble, then narrowly escape and share a laugh at the end before the credits roll. The next episode, this repeats. It’s a silly show and it’s repetative. Somehow, i got duped into giving season 2 a try.
The second season gains a bit of a continuing story line, as the sheriff devises various plots to kill the king. At the end, the sheriff just says, “fuck it,” and goes to the holy land to find the king himself and take care of business. Robin and the gang follow, there’s a fight at the end, and the king thanks Robin for saving his butt and sends him home. “I know my country’s turned to complete shit in my absence and my brother’s a tyrrant, but there’s a war on. Bye!”
Needless to say, I’m not even going to bother with season 3.