11.22.63

11.22.63

TUBE!

Stephen King and JJ Abrams have teamed up together to produce this TV show/mini-series based on King's novel of the same name. Perhaps King felt he wanted to oversee this production to keep the integrity of his novel, remembering the shameful disaster Stanley Kubrick committed by decimating King's novel The Shining. At any rate if one is going to team up with someone, JJ Abrams [director of the latest Star Wars film, as well as the new Star Trek franchise] would be a pretty good choice.

It truly is a mini-series, as there won't be anymore, but since it was so long it was fed to us weekly for eight weeks like a TV show. But since it has now all been downloaded, one can binge it all if they so desire.

It is the story of a diner owner named Al [Chris Cooper] who shares a secret with a young man named Jake [James Franco]. The secret is that Al has found a time portal in the back of a closet in the diner. When one steps in, they are transported back to October 21, 1960. Every time. And Al, since he has become cancer-ridden, has enlisted Jake to complete a mission that Al himself is now too ill to complete. And that task is to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Al supposes that if Kennedy lives, Bobby will undoubtedly live, and Vietnam would never have escalated, all of those boys didn't have to die, and the world would be so much better off. And besides, even if you spend the three years back there, only 3 minutes have passed back in 2015. Jake is reluctant at first, but finally agrees.

Al has put together a kit for Jake to take. Clippings of the past, properly aged currency, and most importantly a notebook of all the sports scores and boxing matches from 1960 through 1963. So that if extra cash is needed, a bet or two can be placed along the way. But Al warns: get an unassuming car, keep the bets modest, and don't get involved with other people. But of course Jake doesn't listen.  Jake makes mistakes all along the way. He inadvertently gets involved with a hillbilly boy Bill who ends up being an assistant, and of course meets a beautiful young lady. And a mysterious eerie man who keeps showing up saying "You don't belong here."

And just when you think, "Well obviously I know the outcome, because President Kennedy did get assassinated," not so fast. This one throws you a curve. And that's the beauty of this story. And the final episode is a masterpiece in story-telling.

I was so high on this and was telling my wife how good the ending was, that the next day, since it was her day off and it was a miserable horrible day outside, we binged it all. And she loved it. And we both got choked up at the ending. And for me, that meant all over again. I can't wait to own this on disc. I have to make sure as many people as possible see this.

A.