TUBE!
Hell On Wheels takes place in 1868 as the Union Pacific attempts to win the race to get to the West Coast and complete the transcontinental railroad. And in this endeavor the Union Pacific has employed Cullen Bohannon. Cullen Bohannon is a Mississippi man who fought for the south, had freed his slaves a year before the war, who had lost his son and wife to the Northern troops, and a man to be reckoned with.
Cullen Bohannon is the badest, badest, badest bad-ass there ever was. He makes John Wayne look like Bruce Jenner. This guy could kick the crap out of John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, and Kevin Costner in like 2.4 seconds. BAD-ASS.
Anson Mount plays Cullen Bohannon in this incredible series. And he is surrounded by a wonderful cast of characters. There is Elam Ferguson a newly freed slave who brings himself up to be the Marshall of the Railroad police, played by the hip-hop artist Common. There is Thomas C. Durant the underhanded, unethical, snake in the grass head of the Union Pacific Railroad who connives and does diabolical things in his endeavor to make his fortune on the railroad. There is the diabolical and evil psychotic killer and head of security at one point, Thor Gundersen known as The Swede and played by Christopher Heyerdahl. And there is Eva, the one time whore, who was once a captive of Indians who tattooed her chin and made her unwanted by most men. And on and on. The show has back stories about the whores, the newly freed black men, the bureaucrats, the newspaper people, the Church people, and the saloons that make up the traveling railroad camp known as Hell On Wheels.
Bohannon starts as a laborer, eventually becomes a boss, and finally becomes the owner of the railroad, only to have it stolen away by the original owner the cunning and evil Thomas Durant played by Colm Meaney. This guy could not have a more appropriate last name. Durant is despicable. Just an evil piece of work.
Eventually as the town of Durant, later General Grant renamed it Cheyenne, is invaded by an underhanded pack of carpetbagger wolves sent by Washington - a territory Governor John Campbell, a Federal Marshall and others. And all the while Bohannon has been captured by the Mormons and ends up marrying a Mormon girl that he impregnated. This is the only thing that keeps him alive. He soon enough gets to return to Cheyenne with his new wife and baby son William. And he starts at the bottom again. Much to the chagrin of the Church lady Ruth who had serious designs on Bohannon.
And then there were the McGinnes brother Sean and Mickey. In time Mickey kills Sean and becomes the owner of a casino-bar-brothel.
And this isn't even scratching the surface. I haven't even talked about Indians. surveyor Lilly Bell, the black walking-boss Psalms, the Union Soldiers that Bohannon hunted to kill for murdering his wife and son, and how much General Grant likes Bohannon.
This is the second biggest show that AMC ever produced. That means that the darling of the critics, "Mad Men" gets demoted to number three. "The Walking Dead" is the most popular show on cable, and then "Hell On Wheels." Sorry "Mad Men" fans.
So please take a look from the beginning on Netflix to "Hell On Wheels." I am already wondering what the heck can replace this while I'm on the treadmill at the gym. This will be hard to replace. I love this stuff, but then again, I'm a western fan.
GRADE: A
Thursday, September 17, 2015
Tuesday, September 15, 2015
The End of The Tour
FLIX!
The End of The Tour is about the book tour of David Foster Wallace as he was being followed by Rolling Stone Reporter David Lipsy, who believed David Foster Wallace was the Hemingway, or Salinger of our generation. The film revolves around the relationship that consequently develops on five days of the tour as Wallace promotes his 90's breakthrough novel "Infinite Jeste". Wallace subsequently killed himself at a young age, and therefore we never got to experience the entire depth of his genius.
The relationship is confusing. The relationship is loving. The relationship is angry. And the relationship is genuine and interesting. But in a society when we can't stand a movie that doesn't have a super-hero and stuff blowing up, this might be hard for some to digest.
The movie stars Jason Siegel (Freaks and Geeks, and How I Met Your Mother) as David Foster Wallace, and Jessie Eisenberg as David Lipsy. And although this movie is very intellectual, (it's basically "My Dinner With Andre" but instead in a car and not a restaurant), it still has all of the Grand Rapids skylines in the background to make it fun for we West Michigan folks.
I saw this in the theater last week. It was down to one showing a day. So I am sure it's gone by now. But I can't wait for the DVD. Because it was such a great film? Nope. More because there was a book store patron at a book signing who was amazing! It's the guy sitting to the left of the brilliant redhead in the bookstore. Who is this future super-star?
Anyway. This really is a good movie. But it's one of those red-box once you've seen it, you've seen it kind of movies that I can't say that many folks will like it. I'll own it and give copies to my kids, but I'm thinking that none of them will actually watch it.
But I get to add another thing for my wife to place on my casket. He didn't do much, but he did this!
Oh yeah and if Jason Segal gets an Oscar nomination, that would be pretty cool too!
Grade: C+
The End of The Tour is about the book tour of David Foster Wallace as he was being followed by Rolling Stone Reporter David Lipsy, who believed David Foster Wallace was the Hemingway, or Salinger of our generation. The film revolves around the relationship that consequently develops on five days of the tour as Wallace promotes his 90's breakthrough novel "Infinite Jeste". Wallace subsequently killed himself at a young age, and therefore we never got to experience the entire depth of his genius.
The relationship is confusing. The relationship is loving. The relationship is angry. And the relationship is genuine and interesting. But in a society when we can't stand a movie that doesn't have a super-hero and stuff blowing up, this might be hard for some to digest.
The movie stars Jason Siegel (Freaks and Geeks, and How I Met Your Mother) as David Foster Wallace, and Jessie Eisenberg as David Lipsy. And although this movie is very intellectual, (it's basically "My Dinner With Andre" but instead in a car and not a restaurant), it still has all of the Grand Rapids skylines in the background to make it fun for we West Michigan folks.
I saw this in the theater last week. It was down to one showing a day. So I am sure it's gone by now. But I can't wait for the DVD. Because it was such a great film? Nope. More because there was a book store patron at a book signing who was amazing! It's the guy sitting to the left of the brilliant redhead in the bookstore. Who is this future super-star?
Yeah, that's me and I couldn't be happier that this is getting Oscar buzz for Jason Segal. Too bad the action that was filmed with the banged black haired girl in front of me didn't make the cut. I would have been seen much more than I was. But I was seen a goodly amount as these things go.
As a sidenote I would like to offer that this was a brutal shoot. There were times we were kept outside in cold temps for unGodly amounts of time, and there was the fact that we had a 11:00 call in Grand Haven. So I left the house at 9:00 meaning I had to get up at 7:30 to be ready. They let us go at 4:00 am. And then two hours home. So I got up at 7:30am on one day and fell in bed at 6:00am the next. Yeah, show biz can be really rough.
Anyway. This really is a good movie. But it's one of those red-box once you've seen it, you've seen it kind of movies that I can't say that many folks will like it. I'll own it and give copies to my kids, but I'm thinking that none of them will actually watch it.
But I get to add another thing for my wife to place on my casket. He didn't do much, but he did this!
Oh yeah and if Jason Segal gets an Oscar nomination, that would be pretty cool too!
Grade: C+
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