January 7, 20178 yr Author #1 - American Crime Story: The People Vs OJ Simpson (FX) http://blondeepisodes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/aa-6.jpg Everything about ACS prior to its release suggested this would be more of the pulpy, flashy, camp that we have come to expect (and often love) from Ryan Murphy and co. What we got, however, was a show which took the Trial of The Century and reworked it into something fresh, exciting and compelling. The outcome was never really of concern, both because of how widely publicised both it and the trial were, but also because it doesn't actually matter all that much. This isn't really a show about whether OJ did it or not. It's a show about race, about sexism, about the law, about police corruption and brutality, about the human condition itself. Each episode focuses on a different aspect of the case, early episodes detail the crime to some extent but focus on the personal feelings of OJ, his family and also those tasked with defending and prosecuting him. They act as a functional, often engrossing, foundation for the rest of the show. Wow visuals and moments are the currency of the show as one would expect, but in the latter episodes these are tempered by excellent, grounded, real performances from Sarah Paulson and Courtney B Vance. It's only right that they have been lauded with near unanimous praise and awards, they inhabit the characters as if they know them personally. Vance's Johnny Cochran is a larger than life personality that feels 50ft tall and commands your attention. His iconic line ''If the gloves don't fit, you must acquit'' delivered as if his life depended on it. John Travolta doesn't so much create a human being as he does a bizarre, unearthly creature, half shark, half spineless toad, all eyebrows. His performance is the most overtly camp and bears little relation to the real life Robert Shapiro yet he is compelling and an integral part of the show. OJ himself is resigned to a recurring, bit player for the back half of the show which is a very conscious decision on the creative side to focus the attention on those with the power over his fate. As the show lays out, this wasn't really a trial about whether OJ Simpson, the enormously successfully, famous football player murdered his wife and lover or not. This was a trial about whether a black man murdered two white people, whether a female prosecutor could 'cope' with the trial whilst raising children or even whether she should be allowed to take the trial on at all? It asks us whether the jury can really ever be impartial in a trial as emotive and impassioned as this and examines the damaging culture of 24 hour news and our obsessive interest in the lives of celebrities and their families. Quite how they are going to come close to matching it with the second season is beyond me. I fear they won't manage it at all, but this is one of the most perfectly formed Limited Series ever and almost single handedly renders the genre's existence worthwhile.
January 7, 20178 yr Love Westworld Need to watch Kimmy Schmidt, OJ Simpson and Game Of Thrones sometime
January 9, 20178 yr Author Top movies of 2016 The following are films released in 2016 (some were only released in the UK in 2016 despite having 2015 releases elsewhere) that didn't make my top 10 for various reasons. It was a good year for films in general, especially franchises, however some long dormant franchises were best left that way such as the terminally unfunny Bridget Jones' Baby and the abomination that is Independence Day: Resurgence which commits the cardinal sin of sequels; existing without any purpose whatsoever other than to make money. It barely did that because it's beyond awful and even the CGI is generally of a poor standard. It's barely even FUNNY bad. Others were very pleasantly surprising like Batman V Superman which came off the back of one of the worst films I've ever seen (Man Of Steel) and looked like it would actually SUCK the joy out of you but turned out to be alright. Ghostbusters was a riot, but falls just short of the top 10. Star Trek: Beyond did manage to at least feel SOMEWHAT like proper Trek and had some lovely touches to mark the 50th anniversary, but as with the previous pair of films it lacked a good story and they still haven't done anything with these films which is quintessential Trek. It felt like any other sci-fi action movie, so whilst I enjoyed it, it's far from essential. Inferno was a welcome return from Robert Langdon and as riveting as ever, with a twist I didn't see coming and a fine turn from Felicity Jones but once again just falls short. Krampus is one I'm still unsure of, it wasn't really scary at all (not that I often find movies scary anyway) but it was quite funny. I'd watch it again, which is more than I can say for a lot of this list. Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice Bridget Jones' Babuy Carol Conviction Creed Florence Foster Jenkins Ghostbusters Ice Age: Collision Course Independence Day: Resurgence Inferno Joy Krampus Kung Fu Panda 3 London Has Fallen Pride And Prejudice And Zombies Star Trek: Beyond Suicide Squad Sully The Danish Girl The Divergent Series: Allegient The Girl With All The Gifts The Purge: Election Year The Revenant The Secret Life Of Pets The Visit Trumbo X-Men: Apocalypse The top 10 includes: - An HBO film - A documentary about a very stupid Congressman - 2 Marvel movies (surprise surprise)
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