Binge Watching II: HBO "True Detective"

Sooooo….one of the things is… with this new generation of screen entertainment….is beginning to manifest itself as a problem for me.  Binge Watching.  I expounded on this once briefly when I had the pleasure over about a month of watching “The Wire” from start to finish. % seasons worth.  Fortunately my wife was in her busy season and I really was looking for ways to kill time at night that did not involve drinking and this seemed like a healthy way to go but now I am not so sure… or indeed, not sure at.  In short, there is no sureness.

Since that time I have avoided diving into new series.  My somewhat addictive personality does not do well with temptations like this.  As a youngster and up through the first 6 months or so of having my first child I had a problem with video games.  Even in high school when I was in the thralls of romance with my eventual wife, I would sneak off to the arcade (yes, we had to go places to play video games) and pump quarters into Space Invaders.  I was unstoppable and by the end could play for 20 minutes to an ½ hour on one quarter.  This continued into college and thereafter, through Atari and into the first Nintendo System and finally ended when my wife was in the midst of some trauma with our new son and I said, “HOLD IT! I AM ABOUT TO SAVE THE PRINCESS!”  The Nintendo game was retired to my parents house and other than brief flirtations with Madden Football and Tony Hawk Pro Skater (which I justified as something I could do with my children) I really, rarely lost hours (or days) of time but that is because, like an alcoholic, I knew I had a problem.

The same thing occurred to me when watching The Wire, so being prudent (52 year old) person who has some minor level of self knowledge I decided not to go down the road with another series unless I could watch with my wife, which would severely limit my intake and ti9me consumption.  But…as I type this I am flying home from a delightful trip to Europe with my entire family and I discovered that the tricky people at American Airlines and their nefarious allies British Airways (The creepily named “ONE WORLD ALLIANCE” has endeavored to put TV reruns on these overseas flights and they got some HBO content, in the form of the “True Detective” series which just started this year (or at the end of last year).

My TV watching friends with HBO (fortunately we have Show Time which although they have some great series occasionally generally tends toward seedier stuff I am embarrassed to watch like “Shameless and “Californication”) told me “you have got to watch “True Detectives” and these are people who “know” me.  They have also been encouraging me towards “Game of Thrones” but it seems too trendy for me.  Anyway… I have fallen back into the abyss.

When flying to Europe it is of paramount importance to sleep on the way over.  This softens the jet lag and leaves you in a slightly better condition for arrival and the endless walking that every trip to Europe seems to make mandatory.  Instead I watched the end of a movie I walked out (Wolf Of Wall Street) and then a horrible, stupid movie called “Ride Along” with the dreaded “Ice Cube” and then discovered the HBO feed and “True Detective.

I have always like Woody Harrelson, even in “Cheers” but his list of films which amuse and entertain for include “White Men Can’t Jump” and of course “Zombieland”.  Matthew Mcconaughey is a little more problematic (he has always been too pretty) but recently has been wowing me in his last few films (even before “Dallas Buyers Club” and allows me to say the words that my friends say, that I never say… “I was wrong”.

These two guys are detectives in Louisiana.  Mcconnaughy has a dark past and Woody appears to be a good cop trying to make a go with a nice family and a sweet wife but as they work on a troubling case involving the ritualistic murder of a young lady… their lives and psyches start to deteriorate.  Whomever wrote it (and I don’t know because I am still on the plane and have no internet access, really built some characters and as the saga moves on through the seven episodes it becomes hypnotizing.  I was able to watch 3 on the way over and the last 4 on the way home and each episode totally failed to disappoint in any way as we dug more into the guys histories and back stories as they recount the investigation to two other detectives who are talking to them for reasons that remain unclear till we move towards the end.

Riveting.

Well scripted.

Well acted.

The season ended somewhat ambiguously and although i cannot understand how they might continue it, I hope they do.  This is worth your time and although I worry for my continued mental health… the Binge Watching continues.

Dallas Buyers Club: The Diner Movie Review

Sooooo…. The Diner Review likes to go to the movies and there has been a reasonable amount of hype for “Dallas Buyers Club” which was released Friday.  It stars Matthew McConaughey and has Jared Leto as a costar and is… not a feel good film.  I have no question that McConaughey will be nominated for Best Actor and the timing is clearly geared towards the Oscars.  He has always been kind of a pretty face, more than a powerful actor and this is his bid and it is a pretty strong one.

People are saying he plays the roll of a red neck but that is really not fair.  He plays the roll of the worst kind of piece of shit, amoral, white trash, Texas bigots and in saying all those things I have mentioned all of the characters moral strengths.  This is not a movie for the morally squeamish and it opens with what appears to be a hazy threesome at the rodeo and although I do not consider myself a prude it is uncomfortable in every aspect.  

His character is clearly sick but not worried about it as he is an alcoholic drug abusing electrician but… he passes out, goes to the hospital and the beautiful Jenifer Garner as a doctor working with another doctor and they diagnose him with HIV and AIDS and tell him that he has about 30 days to get his affairs in order and do the right thing and die.  Based on what you have seen of his character you are certainly, at that point, hoping he dies quickly.

But he responds with defiance and the story starts to get interesting as he finds the medical community is clueless, money driven, and rather then helping him to get better is actively working against him.  The story tells the shameful back story of the rushed development of the AIDS treatment AZT and how those trials, for cash, distorted the picture for many victims and indeed killed some patients early. Although the movie does not get into South African Aids denial, there is a great article explaining the issues with AZT and reading it will help you to understand part of the horror outlined by this movie.

http://www.virusmyth.com/aids/hiv/abazt.htm

At the hospital he meets Leto’s character Rayon and there is no question Leto is going to be nominated for an award as well.  He was the dark troubled boyfriend in the orgininal MTV series and Claire Danes vehicle “My So Called Life” and I had not seen or heard from him since that time.  He appears in the second hospital scene and his “Butch and Sundance” relationship with Matthew McConaughey is the heart of the movie as Leto’s character is a drug addicted transvestite.  I had no idea, until I wrote this that Leto was also in "Fight Club".

And then as Rayon:

He through research and conversations and lucking into a disreputable American doctor in Mexico develops a treatment regime (you have to suspend your disbelief a little based on what you have seen of  McConaughey’s character) starts importing legal drugs which promote wellness, and treat some of the symptoms of the disease and he lives.  For a long time anyway.  And he keeps developing and refining treatment, with some slip ups on the way as the FDA and the medical establishment battle to stop and discredit him.  The movie gets his name because he sets up a “Buyers Club” because it is of course illegal to sell drugs but he would instead sell memberships and then supply people for 400 bucks a month.

As the movie runs towards it’s inevitable (at that time) conclusions, you are left with a nice portrait of the evil influence of money on the medical establishment as well as a portrait of the beauty and strength of people and how even the most useless, despicable people can lead changed lives.

This will not win the best picture but both Leto and  McConaughey will be nominated for best  supporting actor and actor respectively.  You should go see this movie but dont go planning on feeling good about anything when you leave.