Okay, so sometimes I'm dumb, sometimes I'm stubborn, and sometimes I'm wrong. When it comes to the transcendent television series Fargo, originally on the FX Network and now streaming on Hulu, I was all three.
Friend and colleague Steve Lewis raved about the greatness of this show to me at least two years ago, but the title was an immediate turn-off. Fargo the movie is one of his favorites; I absolutely hated it, especially the stupid Minn-Ah-SOOOO-Tah "oh yah you betcha" accents throughout the film. I've never really understood all the praise for the movie, and for me, at least, the Coen Brothers are definitely hit-and-miss over the course of their career.
So I wasn't inclined to give a TV series of the same name much of a chance, even if the storyline was new and only slightly related to the original movie. But now, in the age of coronavirus and not-so-bottomless-after-all streaming content, I was in the market for something new, and at Steve's repeated urgings, I decided to give Fargo the series a chance.
To say that I was blown away is a gross understatement. The first season decimated me like a nuclear blast. I've never seen a first season of any series be this good at such an impossibly high level of excellence since perhaps Lost. It took Breaking Bad until season three to get this good.
First of all, the writing is some of the best dramatic script work that you'll ever see. Even when the dialogue seems mundane, seeds are being planted that will grow to fruition later on. This is a mystery that has more levels, more twists, more unseen connections than three seasons of Sherlock. This is a series that demands your attention and warrants it as well. Writer and producer Noah Hawley should be considered in the top echelon of screenwriters today.
Those flat, nasal, northern accents are back, too, but I found them all far less intrusive and irritating this time around, maybe because I felt far more invested in the characters the series creates. The acting performances are all astounding, but the star turns deserve individual praise.
Keith Carradine gives the best understated performance of the series as Lou Solverson, a retired state cop and local diner owner who says more with a silent stare than most actors can with a page of dialogue. His foil, performance-wise, is Colin Hanks (son of Tom), a well-meaning but inept police officer who talks and talks and talks because he's afraid to say what he really feels.
Next is Martin Freeman, so appealing as John Watson in Sherlock and so appalling as Lester Nygaard, a loser in every way until he becomes a murderer and finds his spine and his balls as a result. To see his transformation from pathetic wimp to a calculating manipulator is nothing short of astounding. His inherent weakness is the catalyst for the chaos that results.
Allison Tolman is the star as Molly Solverson, a police officer with the heart and mind of a true detective. She's an echo of the movie's Marge Gunderson, but watching her journey is like seeing Marge in her younger days learning the skills that served her so well in her own investigation. Molly is always five steps ahead of her bumbling boss, Bob Odenkirk (the star of Better Call Saul), and miles ahead of her fellow deputies. She is the emotional heart of the show.
The most amazing character, however, is the villainous Lorne Malvo, a killer for hire who sees himself as a predator, a wolf among sheep, and who I started to suspect was actually the devil himself and not a human being at all. Played with cold intensity and piercing intelligence by Billy Bob Thornton, his performance reminds us of just how good of an actor he is.
I've been assured by others that seasons two and three are just as good, and since I'm still doing my best to stay at home and avoid public contact with others, I'm certain to have enough time to view both of the subsequent seasons by the end of this month. Don't be dumb, stubborn, and wrong like I was. If you haven't already seen it, watch it now!
It's a new Golden Age of television, with streaming services completely changing the viewing landscape into a fever dream of amazing shows. In turn, this is driving networks to innovate their content as well, with mixed results so far but with the promise of better shows in order to survive. Debate the quality and post your own picks as you please, but these are the ten shows that constituted "must-see TV" for me this year.
#10: Castle Rock, season two (Hulu)
Remember batshit crazy romance novelist Annie Wilkes, from Stephen King's paean to novelist paranoia, Misery? Well, we get her origin story here in a mishmash with part of King's Salem's Lot and a tenuous connection to the somewhat disappointing first season of this show. The result is a nail-biting series in which the protagonist, played brilliantly by Lizzy Caplan, is also a diabolical killer. As a bonus, we get Tim Robbins (but not as Andy Dufresne) living in the same town as Shawshank State Prison. Castle Rock is catnip for King fans who love Easter eggs from his novels.
#9: Good Eats: The Return (Food Network)
My love for cooking is directly caused by Alton Brown's landmark series, Good Eats. Most of my techniques and favorite recipes come from those classic episodes that perfectly blend food science, cooking skills, and a Monty Python-esque sense of humor. Brown came back with a handful of new episodes that are as warm and comfortable as your favorite pair of slippers. Nothing has really changed, which is part of the appeal. Brown is a genuine foodie celebrity; Good Eats reminds us all how he got there in the first place.
#8: The Good Doctor (ABC)
Yeah, it's a total soap opera, with as much emphasis on the various personal relationships among the physicians at a hospital in San Jose, California, but like any good soap, the characters are all appealing (or repugnant, in a couple of cases), which makes their stories compelling. At the center of it all, however, is Dr. Shawn Murphy, played with unsympathetic honesty by Freddie Highmore. Shawn is a surgical genius because he's an autistic savant, and his autism is never played for humor or sympathy. His mind allows him to see medical solutions that others can't, but it also makes him frustratingly difficult to communicate or connect with, and it's watching him live this out that makes this a good hour of old-fashioned TV drama each week.
#7: Rick and Morty (Adult Swim)
The entirety of season four has not played out yet, but in the four episodes I've seen, the series creators aren't backing off the dysfunctional dynamics of the Sanchez/Smith family in any way. In fact, they've doubled down on Rick's nihilism, Morty's existential angst, Summer's hedonism, Beth's Sphinx-sized denial, and Jerry's utter worthlessness in ways that are simultaneously sicker and funnier than the three genius seasons that preceded it. This show is definitely not for everyone, but I guarantee that if you connect with it, it will make you think more than any other show out there.
#6: The Boys(Amazon Prime)
This show certainly owes a large debt to Alan Moore's Watchmen, which dealt with the idea of superheroes who were less than super (or downright evil), but The Boys puts it into the context of modern media and the gargantuan corporations that push product for profit. In this case, the heroes are, for the most part, hedonistic sociopaths protected by a corporation that owns them lock, stock, and flashy costume. Enter Karl Urban, a former cop turned vigilante leader determined to literally pull the mask off these "heroes" and their true identity. If you haven't already watched this, and you have a few days off this week, binge it. The last episode will leave you breathless and demanding a second season ASAP.
#5: The Blacklist (NBC)
There is absolutely no explanation for why this show has lasted for seven seasons. It features literally the dumbest FBI agent in the history of the nation (Elizabeth Keen), who lives at the center of a decades-long conspiracy involving her KGB-agent mother (Katarina Rostova) and the world's most-wanted criminal, disgraced CIA agent Raymond "Red" Reddington. Each season doles out a new "mystery" about these characters and their hidden past, leading them all to get tantalizingly close to finding the answers but always falling short (usually in a season-ending cliffhanger). It should have gotten stale and used-up after maybe three seasons, but this past year has been the best of all, revealing new details that have turned our previous knowledge upside-down, most of all concerning Red's true identity. The real strength of this show is James Spader's portrayal of Reddington. Every episode is a master class in acting from the William Shatner Academy of Drama, and it is as delicious as the most decadent dessert you can imagine.
#4: Good Omens (Amazon Prime)
Written by Neil Gaiman based on his collaboration with Terry Pratchett, Good Omens is the best buddy comedy available right now. The six-episode series bases its plot around the rise of the Antichrist (a charming young lad from Oxfordshire) and the coming of Armageddon, but the heart of the story is the 6,000-year-old friendship between angel Azirophale (Michael Sheen), the guardian of Eden, and demon Crowley (David Tennant), the serpent who started all the fuss in the Garden to start with. Sheen and Tennant are marvelous together, and the rest of the cast do a wonderful job of grounding an immensely complex story in believable relationships in spite of the absurd situations they all find themselves in. The wit and clever humor of Gaiman and Pratchett are present in each and every episode. This series alone is worth the price of Prime membership.
#3: Unbelievable (Netflix)
This is the best series on Netflix that few of you, I'm betting, have seen. You need to watch it, and start as soon as you finish reading this blog, please. A teenage orphan, trapped in the disinterested and dismissive foster care system, is awakened in the night by an intruder, who carefully and systematically rapes her. She reports her attack, only to find herself attacked by the police, her various foster parents, her employer, and the residents of the halfway house where she lives. Literally no one believes her story except for us, the viewers, and eventually, two female detectives, one reflective and empathetic, played by Merritt Wever, the second incisive but jaded, played by Toni Collette. Wever and Collette work tirelessly to identify and capture the insidious serial rapist, and in the process, reveal the truth of the orphan woman's account. Inspired by true events, this series is not only one of the best of the year, it's one of the finest limited-run series I've ever seen.
#2: The Mandalorian (Disney Plus)
Will someone please tell me why John Favreau wasn't put in charge of the recently concluded third Skywalker trilogy? Because, my friends, Favreau is a true fan who GETS what Star Wars is all about. This amazing series redefines the whole Star Wars universe to perfection. In the wake of the fall of the Empire after the destruction of Death Star 2 (Force Lightning Boogaloo) at Endor, the New Republic is still struggling to establish a New Order (see what I did there?). Essentially, much of the galaxy is like the Wild West. The Mandalorian is Clint Eastwood, the man with no name (literally...most of the characters call him "Mando" because his given name is a secret). Baby Yoda (don't even bother trying to call him anything else) is The Kid, an orphan adopted by the hard-edged loner. Favreau takes the best elements of Star Wars and American Westerns and blends them into such a perfect series that I'd pay twice what Disney's currently charging for a D+ subscription just to see season two. Favreau is so money...and I guarantee with this, he KNOWS he's money.
#1: The Good Place (NBC)
Mike Schur's afterlife comedy about Hell and human ethics keeps raising its own bar, then leaping way above it to set an even higher bar. There's no way this show should work, considering all these strange, unpopular elements (everybody hates moral philosophy professors, right?), but this series has become something like the Rosetta Stone for the Meaning of Life not only for its fans but for the cast and crew, as well. This is, quite literally, a life-changing experience, but like so many others, not everyone gets it. But besides that, it's a hilarious show with tremendously appealing characters played by equally appealing actors, most notably Kristin Bell and all-time TV MVP Ted Danson. The writing is also equally inspired, blending the philosophical with the whimsical and silly. Watch this clip for an example of what I mean. Chidi has just found out that he died and went to Hell, and it's 100 percent guaranteed that he's going there again:
I swear to God, if I'm ever approached by a drug dealer, my response will be a quote from Nietzsche. There are five more episodes to go until this series reaches its planned conclusion. Again, like most of the precious things we discover in this life, it didn't last long enough, but it was so wonderful to experience. If they stick the landing, which is so hard to do with entertainment (see: Lost, Game of Thrones, etc.), you can chisel this in stone as my favorite series of all time. For today, at least, it's at the top of 2019.
Let's get one thing straight right off the top...no one is EVER allowed to remake An American Werewolf in London. Don't mess with perfection. Having said that, I could fill an entire list like this with Stephen King movies, but since most of these are all getting remade anyway (most notably The Stand, which will appear on CBS's All Access pay-to-stream service in the next year of so), I limited myself to the one I would most like to see remade (honorable mention: Firestarter). Thanks for joining me this week in this bit of revisionist fun, and thanks for all the comments and debate...Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!
Ghosts sold separately
Christine
One of the first Stephen King books I ever read (and one of the only ones to really scare me as a reader), the movie version was a good effort but flawed in several fundamental ways, most notably casting. It's like the people casting movie versions of books never bothered to read the books, although the recent "IT" movies did an outstanding job for the most part. This movie deserves to be worthy of its original material.
Bad doggie...
Wolfen
There's practically zero chance that any of you ever saw this 1981 film starring Albert Finney and Gregory Hines, but let me assure you that the original was a great late-night HBO scare-fest, especially one death scene toward the end that will literally haunt your dreams. An updated version with a new cast and modern effects would be the perfect vehicle for the still-resonant theme of what happens when the upper-class continuously oppresses a disadvantaged minority. Wait, what makes this a horror movie. Dude, it's a psychological thriller about Native American werewolves. Take that, Team Jacob!
That's an Excedrin headache
Scanners
Yes, this is the 1981 David Cronenberg movie where a guy's head explodes, but there's so much more to this weird, creepy, unsettlingly good horror film. It's about a small group of psychically powerful people ("Scanners") who are telepathic and telekinetic, and one of them is trying to organize them into a force to take over the world. Another one tries to stop him. Because it's Cronenberg, it's uber-weird. It's also super low-budget, so an update done right would just be epic. It would also be fun to bring Michael Ironside back this time in the Patrick McGoohan role.
The Lost Boys
Get past all the hype and the MTV gloss, and what do you have? A single mom with two teenage boys moves in with her weird, old beach bum dad in California. The younger son falls in with a bunch of geeky nerds who turn out to be vampire hunters (or so they claim). The older son falls in with a bunch of good-looking motorcyclists who turn out to be vampires. After years of romantic vampires (Twilight) and sexy-cool vampires (The Vampire Diaries), I'm ready for some good, old-fashioned scary-as-hell vampires, and remaking this Eighties film that had more flash than substance (with some memorable moments, for sure) might be just the ticket.
The Hidden
I'll bet cash money that none of you reading this have ever seen this gem from the Eighties. Kyle MacLachlan plays a human body inhabited by an alien being in pursuit of a criminal from his planet, a parasite who moves from one human body to the next in an ongoing spree of indiscriminate theft and murder. Michael Nouri is the human cop who teams up with the alien, eventually coming to believe the unbelievable. A great story that did the best they could with a very low budget, this entertaining sci-fi thriller would be a great big budget remake, especially for an innovative action director like someone from the MCU films.
If there is any genre of movies from the Seventies, Eighties and early Nineties in more dire need of a modern treatment that includes state-of-the-art special effects combined with the highest quality of acting, directing, cinematography, and production design, it's science fiction. Here's five of my picks for science fiction films that would make a huge splash if given the "Marvel Comics" treatment (i.e., treating a genre film like a serious, big-budget production)
Flash Gordon
A veritable fondue buffet of cheese, the original Eighties version is operatic in badness. In fact, it's so bad, it's good, and that's what makes it fun. Everything about this movie, with the exception of Queen's soundtrack, is laugh-out-loud ridiculous, which is absolutely part of its charm. Don't even try to replicate it. Instead, go back to the original black-and-white serials and update it for the 21st Century. Think about Raiders of the Lost Ark...inspired by serial movies from the Forties but given a modern seriousness without losing the original fun. In fact, let's get Spielberg to do this one, too.
Logan's Run
A lot of purists are going to complain about this pick, and I know where you're all coming from. I love this movie, too; it's one of my favorite sci-fi films of all time. But just think of what an A-list director could do with a top-flight cast of young actors (everyone dies at age 30) and the latest in effects technology. The story is compelling all by itself with little adjustment. A big budget remake has been in discussion for decades; it's long overdue to get this one done!
Johnny Mnemonic
With the Keanu Reeves renaissance that everyone is so blissed out about (and deservedly so...Keanu is not only an icon but also a genuinely wonderful human being, by all accounts), this high-concept film about a data courier who is carrying a computerized time bomb in his head sounded great, but the execution on the screen was a mess. Keep Keanu in the primary role and fix everything else.
Demolition Man
Another great concept ruined in the execution. Sylvester Stallone played a Nineties-era cop frozen in suspended animation and brought back to consciousness in a peaceful, crime-free future to track down his former ultra-violent nemesis. A classic "fish out of water" tale, this should have been much better than it actually was. My casting suggestions are straight out of social media heaven: Ryan Reynolds as the cop; Hugh Jackman as the criminal mastermind. Who wouldn't want to see their vicious online rivalry (phony or not, it's hilarious) on the big screen?
Timecop
One last chance to remake a good idea that didn't live up to its potential, this one suffers from the acting limitations of its star, Jean-Claude Van Damme. But the idea is amazing...a police force that regulates time travel to maintain the integrity of the time line is forced to defend himself from a corrupt politician who wants to control time for his own lust for wealth and power. Again, put together an A-list cast (this has Tom Cruise written all over it) and today's special effects, and this could be a blockbuster.
The
Eighties were a great time for movies, and many of them have already been the
foundation for remakes. One in particular that evokes strong emotions is Ghostbusters,
which is on my list of the five best comedy movies of all time. I liked the
female-centric version that came out a couple of years ago, and I’m
tremendously excited about 2020’s next-generation version, Ghostbusters:
Afterlife (watch the trailer...you’ll be excited too, if you’re a fan).
Today’s list consists of really good Eighties movies that would make great
rebooted updates in the context of today’s advanced technologies.
"Game Over" means death!
The Last Starfighter
The premise of this often-overlooked gem of a movie is that
a video arcade “Starfighter” game is actually a recruiting tool for an
interplanetary alliance who needs recruits to defend their planets from an evil
empire. Just think what modern SFX could do with the concept of a VR video game
that the best players get to experience in real-life outer space battles. A
remake has been rumored for years; I’d love to see it actually happen.
Everybody wants to rule the world.
Real Genius
If you missed this hilarious, thoughtful, subversive little
comedy about smart young men and women and the abuses of military overreach,
you missed a young Val Kilmer in one of his sharpest, funniest performances.
Lasers were still an emerging technology when this movie was made. I bet you
could remake it set in 2020 with old Val Kilmer returning to Pacific Tech as a
professor who shakes up the physics department and rattles the cages of the
academic and political establishment. I’ve also thought for years that this
would make a great TV series, if any creative types want to approach it from
that angle.
None of them looks like this today...
Weird Science
Most of the Gen-Xers I know probably saw this movie, a
mostly dumb but sometimes funny version of “horny nerds use computer to create
hyper-sexy girlfriend.” Let’s update the movie for the era of genetic
engineering while taking on the vicious environment of teenage social media. We
can even get Danny Elfman to update the Oingo Boingo-driven soundtrack. For
added fun, we could bring back Anthony Michael Hall to fill the Chet role
originally played by Bill Paxton (RIP).
Dabney Coleman = 80s Gold
WarGames
I can’t think of an Eighties tech-driven movie more in need
of a modern upgrade than this classic. In the original, tech nerd Matthew
Broderick (who looks 12 years old in this) uses a dial-up modem (that he has to
put his landline receiver into!) to break into a Pentagon war games simulator.
In doing so, he accidentally brings the world to the brink of global
thermonuclear war. Let’s update this baby for the modern Internet era, postwar
nuclear anti-proliferation efforts, artificial intelligence, and modern
political conflicts. Our global environment is overflowing with potential ideas
for a new thriller that builds on the forward-thinking ideas of the original.
Before Tom got his teeth fixed
The Outsiders
Another Eighties classic, this movie is likely to get
pushback from those who loved the original, with a Brat Pack who’s who cast of
young stars (L-R, Emilio Estevez, Patrick Swayze, Ralph Macchio, Matt Dillon, C. Thomas Howell, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise) in a mostly
faithful adaptation of S.E. Hinton’s novel. We can keep the same dynamic of the
poor kids versus the rich kids, but we set it in today’s Internet-driven social
media landscape with a reimagination of what today’s high school aged youth go
through. Look, if we can reinvent Archie and Jughead effectively (Riverdale),
this teen classic should be an easy slam-dunk.
These are all movies with ties to classic novels and stories of the past that, in most instances, have not yet been given a definitive film treatment deserving of the source material. I've overlooked countless others, so feel free to add your own ideas in the comments here or on Facebook.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
Based on the popular comic book of the same name by Alan Moore (Watchmen), the 2003 giant turd of a flop wasted what was left of the immortal Sean Connery's career in a horrid mess of an adaptation. This is a wrong that deserves to be righted. Check out the synopsis of the original and tell me you wouldn't want to see this movie done right: "Renowned adventurer Allan Quartermain leads a team of extraordinary
figures with legendary powers to battle the technological terror of a
madman known as 'The Fantom.' This 'League' comprises seafarer and
inventor Captain Nemo, vampire Mina Harker, an invisible man named
Rodney Skinner, American Secret Service Agent Tom Sawyer, the ageless
and invincible Dorian Gray, and the dangerous split personality of Dr.
Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Hell yes!
From Hell/Time After Time Speaking of Hell, Hollywood ruined another Alan Moore vehicle with this turgid swamp of further indulgences to Johnny Depp's chronically over-inflated ego. This was supposed to be about a psychic London detective who's trying to track down Jack the Ripper, but almost as if Moore's work is cinematically cursed, it was terrible, and the few who saw it were mostly disappointed. This brings to mind another of my childhood favorites, Time After Time, in which H.G. Wells follows his friend, Dr. John Stevenson (aka Jack the Ripper), into the U.S. in the late seventies. Starring Malcolm McDowell and David Warner, it was a great thriller that would also be a fun remake. Just to be safe, let's do them both.
The Island of Dr. Moreau Human-animal hybrids are not only the stuff of science fiction, but with modern advances in genetic engineering, this classic tale from the mind of H.G. Wells (the real one) would make an ideal remake. Some of the pluses would include the CGI technology to make the hybrids seem both real and terrifying as well as the current-day ethical questions raised by this technology that have become timely and necessary. This is the kind of film that a big star and well-known director could sink their teeth into. Of course, that's probably what they thought when they cast Marlon Brando in the title role in the 1996 atrocity...come on, Hollywood—get this one right!
The War of the Worlds No, not a remake of Spielberg's giant swing-and-miss with Tom Cruise in the lead role, and not an attempt to be true to the H.G. Wells novel, either. I'm talking about a modern remake of the 1953 original starring Gene Barry, one of the foundational sci-fi movies of my childhood, a work of extreme terror and suspense that made the overblown hysteria over Orson Welles' radio broadcast seem wholly plausible. I doubt there's a Gen-Xer out there who loves sci-fi movies who wouldn't be intrigued by this. As an added note, the 2011 sci-fi film Battle: Los Angeles has that same kind of vibe, buoyed by a gritty performance from Aaron Eckhart.
1984 Yeah, I know, we're living in it. That's why it needs to be made and updated for the social media and cable news bullshit era. I envision a Big Brother who is kind of a messianic Steve Jobs kind of guy who gives the public all the electronic gizmos and entertainment they want in return for slavish obedience. It does sound an awful lot like a documentary, though, doesn't it? I would love to keep this project in British hands, though...Orwell deserves that level of respect.
Die Hard is the archetype for all
modern action movies, pitting ordinary people against diabolical villains in
impossible survival situations. That film also gave us the pinnacle of humor
mixed against the backdrop of the life-or-death action. Keeping these
archetypes in mind, here are five movies from the past that I think would make
outstanding action comedies as 21st Century remakes. (Also, no one
ever gets to remake the original Die Hard. Don’t mess with perfection.)
Cannonball Run
For those of you who never saw this, it was
one of several Burt Reynold/Dom DeLuise movies from the late seventies. The
premise is simple…it’s a cross-country car race with a big prize at the end,
and an all-star cast of celebrity actors drive souped-up cars. I would approach
a remake like a combination of the Fast and Furious movies crossed with It’s
a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and have classic duos like Arnold Schwarzenegger
and Danny DeVito driving against modern actors such as Seth Rogan and James
Franco (stoned, of course). Make the race an NYC to LA affair with $100 million
prize for the winners, but the sponsor is a Donald Trump-style swindler who
will stop at nothing to prevent ANY of the teams from finishing within the time
limit, because he doesn’t really have that much money to pay.
F/X
Today is a great time to update this little gem from
the eighties…a movie special effects artist (Bryan Brown) is hired by
government officials to publicly fake the death of a mob boss turned informant
(Jerry Orbach), only to find out he’s been double-crossed and targeted for
death himself. He teams up with a salty detective (Brian Dennehy) who’s been
trying to arrest the mob boss for years. You could even keep the basic script,
just update the actors and really pump up the special effects tricks. This was a
good movie that most people never saw; it would make a really super “mismatched
buddies” flick.
The Gauntlet
One of my favorite Clint Eastwood movies,
he stars as a renegade detective set up by his corrupt boss to be killed while
escorting a witness (Sondra Locke, his girlfriend at the time) to testify in
court. Basically everyone, both cops and criminals, tries to kill the two of
them, who hook up in a steamy romance along the way. If you wanted to play this
up more for laughs, cast real-life awesome couple Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell.
Sharky's Machine
Another overlooked gem from Burt Reynold’s
career, this is a gritty cop drama that could be updated with a bit more “48
Hours” style humor with the right casting, especially with the supporting
roles. Here’s the plot summary from IMDB: “Tom Sharky is a narcotics cop
in Atlanta who's demoted to vice after a botched bust. In the depths of this
lowly division, while investigating a high-dollar prostitution ring, Sharky
stumbles across a mob murder with government ties, and responds by assembling
his downtrodden fellow investigators (Sharky's ‘Machine’) to find the leaders
and bring them to justice before they kill off all his partners and witnesses,
including Sharky himself.” Now tell me that wouldn’t make a great remake with
an A-list cast…maybe Clooney or Pitt in the lead role with Oceans 11 director
Steven Soderbergh directing?
Smokey and the Bandit
Now, wait a minute, and hear me out…
For those of us old enough to remember the
late seventies, this classic car-chase comedy starring Burt Reynolds, Jackie
Gleason, Sally Field, and Jerry Reed is wonderful in every way. I’m not making
that argument. But so much has changed in forty years, and a star-studded
remake might be as huge as the original. Coors beer is no longer illegal in the
eastern U.S., but guess what’s legal in Colorado that’s not so much in many
southern states? Yup, Willie Nelson’s wacky tobaccky! So you cast Matthew McConaughey
as Bandit, David Harbor (Stranger Things) as Sheriff Justice, Zoey Deschanel as
Carrie, and country star Brad Paisley as Snowman. For extra fun, give Willie
Nelson the “Big Enos” role who gives the crew its raison d’etre to get all that
medicinal agricultural commodity cross-country in less than 48 hours. Cell
phones replace CB radios, and get the guy who directed “Guardians of the Galaxy”
to helm the project.
Next is Martin Freeman, so appealing as John Watson in Sherlock and so appalling as Lester Nygaard, a loser in every way until he becomes a murderer and finds his spine and his balls as a result. To see his transformation from pathetic wimp to a calculating manipulator is nothing short of astounding. His inherent weakness is the catalyst for the chaos that results.
Allison Tolman is the star as Molly Solverson, a police officer with the heart and mind of a true detective. She's an echo of the movie's Marge Gunderson, but watching her journey is like seeing Marge in her younger days learning the skills that served her so well in her own investigation. Molly is always five steps ahead of her bumbling boss, Bob Odenkirk (the star of Better Call Saul), and miles ahead of her fellow deputies. She is the emotional heart of the show.
The most amazing character, however, is the villainous Lorne Malvo, a killer for hire who sees himself as a predator, a wolf among sheep, and who I started to suspect was actually the devil himself and not a human being at all. Played with cold intensity and piercing intelligence by Billy Bob Thornton, his performance reminds us of just how good of an actor he is.
