With The Wire finally out of the way — none of the screeners piling up by the door could possibly compete — I’ll try and quickly catch up with some of the bat-free movies I’ve seen over the last few weeks. Charlie BartlettWarm and funny coming-of-teenage tale about a wealthy kid (Anton Yelchin) who dispenses [...]
The Wire
We’re done! Getting through all five seasons of The Wire in one massive binge took weeks & weeks out of our usual movie-viewing schedule, but it couldn’t have been more worth it. Instead of yet another paean to “the best show on television” (which, in fact, isn’t praise enough), here’s a quote by David Simon [...]
http://jurgenfauth.com/2008/07/27/the-wire/
Peter Beard: Scrapbooks from Africa and Beyond
Palm Pictures is releasing this made-for-TV documentary about photographer Peter Beard in August. It’s an unassuming portrait of a versatile artist that made me feel that it would be lovely if TV was in the habit of introducing fascinating people every day instead of carpet-bombing us with familiar bores. An adventurer, playboy, fashion photographer, and [...]
http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/07/02/peter-beard-scrapbooks-from-africa-and-beyond/
Slings & Arrows
After Twitch City, another outstanding TV show from Canada. Set at a provincial theater, Slings & Arrows is populated with all the stock types: the borderline-mad artistic director, the sell-out manager, the nosy American board member eager to put on Mamma Mia!, the aging diva, the budding ingénue (Rachel McAdams). Don McKellar makes an appearance [...]
http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/06/12/slings-arrows/
Fingersmith
This skilled BBC adaptation of Sarah Waters’ novel is a lesson in structure: the intricate plotting of the Victorian crime story has been simplified by screenwriter Peter Ransley, but the carefully layered revelations still affect and surprise. Casting is excellent, with Elaine Cassidy and Sally Hawkins as the tender lovers embroiled in Dickensian intrigue and [...]
http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/05/17/fingersmith-2/
Twitch City
Most people seem to know Molly Parker from Deadwood, but to us she’ll always be the stripping drummer in that movie Paul Auster disowned. In this late nineties TV series set in a dinky Toronto apartment, she’s the hapless girlfriend of Curtis, a cereal-munching talk show addict shut-in played by Don McKellar, who also co-wrote [...]
http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/04/13/twitch-city/
Rome, Season 2
It’s rare that a TV show ends before it has outstayed its welcome. Rome, which offered equal parts history, soap opera intrigue, gore, and soft porn, has run its course now, and the adventures of Vorenus and Pullo will be missed. The series covered the events of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’ Cleopatra — one half per [...]
http://jurgenfauth.com/2007/04/04/rome-season-2/







