khalifakhella Reviews

Beauty and the Beast (1987–1990)

A unique Fantasy series that contained some of the best TV ever produced

[3 May 2006]

"Beauty and the beast" is a one of a kind show. It has remained popular for almost two decades now despite its romantic nature and it being labeled (wrongly I might add) as a show for women. While it was a predominantly romantic show, it was romantic in the sense that it really combined elements of fantasy and love in the mix along with many other ingredients which all helped make it a truly unique show.

The series began life as a romantic fantasy with the atmospheric series opener "Once upon a time in New York" which set the tone and introduced the two main characters of the series, the driven but sensitive Catherine Chandler and Vincent, the timeless Beast with a heart of gold. As the series progressed the two fall in love and Vincent introduces Catherine more and more to the underworld (literally) that he and many others live in under the city of New York, a world of tunnels, shadows, secrets and love. Together they go through many adventures and dangers most of which have to do with a case that Catherine is working on as a lawyer for the DA's office or with enemies of Vincent's underworld.

Although the concept sounds corny, the series avoids the downfalls of its concept most of the time, instead the writers and producers delivered a show that was mature, highly atmospheric, fantastical and truly one of a kind. By combining elements of Fantasy, Romance, Adventure, urban realism and crime, they reached a formula that was more than effective, it was addictive.

The first two seasons had their rough spots (as the tone of the show sometimes wavered between its romantic leanings and its crime aspects), but for the most part most of the stories were of a humanist nature and were touching and well-written. The second season continued with that direction opening with the sublime episode "Chamber Music", but that season also added more Fantasy elements resulting in the best season of the three as it opened up the world of the Tunnels below where Vincent lived and also opened up the whole mythology of the show, which culminated by what was labeled as "The Trilogy", which were the last three episodes of the second season and arguably the best episodes of the entire series (the episodes dealt with Vincent succumbing to his dark nature with tragic results).

But then we come to Linda Hamilton's departure of the show and the mediocre third season. Although fans of the show (and the writers and producers of the show as well) all agree that the reason for the decline of quality of the show was due to Hamilton's departure and thus the need for removing Catherine Chandler's character from the series, I disagree and think it has less to do with Hamilton leaving the show and more to do with the direction the writers and producers chose to take with the third season as in that season the show lost most its humanity and uniqueness and became a much darker and more violent show (it became a mostly action-laden crime show!) to the justified dismay of the fans and the show ended not very gracefully with the abysmal two-parter "The Reckoning".

But all in all, the first two seasons and the world created by the series live on, despite the show's failings in the third season as those two seasons will always be there to entertain and delight and remind people the TV could reach storytelling heights and a level of quality that is seldom reached today.

Blue Tiger (1994)

An ambitious revenge drama

[6/10 · 8 March 2006]

"Blue Tiger" is a rare example of ambition almost overcoming budget, almost. The film tells the story of a young single mother who loses her 5 year old son when he is hit by a stray bullet in an attempt on a crime-lord's life by a Yakuza hit-man and her obsessive descent into the American Yakkuza underworld in search of her son's killer. The story which is rather original and urgent, is told in a straightforward manner, with some moments of stylish direction by Norberto Barba and cinematographer Christopher Walling who manage to give the film a much more lush look than would be expected from such a low-budget effort. But what truly sets this film apart are the combination of the stylish production and the energetic performances of the cast headed by the ever admirable Virginia Madsen who gives a touching and mesmerizing performance as the revenge-bent mother. Despite a mostly mediocre (and sometimes annoying) musical score, a first half that suffers from overly choppy editing that doesn't allow the first act enough time to breathe and develop properly and some misjudged moments of melodrama, this is one of those forgotten, ambitious B-movies that deserve a second chance for its sheer energy and ambition to transcend its humble origins.

Point Pleasant (2005)

A poor attempt at modern supernatural horror

[21 February 2006]

"Point Pleasant" is a 13 episode TV series with a problem. It is a TV series that suffers from a lack of a personality, lack of style and lack of overall sense. It is a meandering and dumb series that tries to come off as smart and dark and although it occasionally succeeds, the overall result is hugely disappointing.

The whole problem with the series can be traced back to its creator, Marti Noxon, a writer whose heavy-handed and cliché-ridden approach ruins almost everything she contributes to. Take her involvement in "Buffy the vampire slayer" for instance. She was that show's show-runner during its sixth season while Joss Whedon (Buffy's creator) was busy doing other things, and the result was the most atrocious season Buffy fans had ever seen. And the same applies to "Point Pleasant", here is an intriguing (if clichéd premise) about a young woman who washes ashore a small town, bringing with her misery, destruction and the unraveling of deep dark secrets, which is all linked to her being the daughter of the devil. But that premise which looks good on paper is executed in the blandest and most commercial way possible with attractive but dumb teens, soapish story lines that border on the ridiculous and a tone that can't seem to make up its mind. Although the series takes a much darker turn beginning with the fifth episode (after the horrible first four episodes), the weak writing keeps the series quality at bay. Combine that with one of the blandest leading ladies ever in Elizabeth Harnois, and you have a series that is doomed to failure (the series was canceled after only a handful of episodes). The series finale tries to tie loose ends and be a dark little closer, but it is too little too late.

Fans of supernatural TV will obviously be attracted to this series nonetheless and there are worse things out there, but there are also much better things out there (like the groundbreaking and wonderfully written "American Gothic").

The Turn of the Screw (1992)

A peculiar if intriguing attempt at adapting Henry James' Novella

[6/10 · 30 January 2006]

This 1992 adaptation of "The Turn of the Screw" is a strange experience indeed. Taking the Henry James Psychological ghost story masterpiece as a starting point, writer/director Rusty Lemorande makes a film that is ultimately a failure, but a very intriguing failure nonetheless. The director takes the central premise of the well known story about a governess coming to doubt the innocence of the children under her care and realizing slowly that they may be haunted by the ghosts of her malevolent and sick predecessors, and produces a film that is much more modern (and by modern I mean graphic) which turns the story into a much more perverted psycho-sexual story about child abuse, the occult and of course repression (all themes that were addressed in Henry James' novella but in a much more subdued manner). But despite achieving moments of true dread and an overall ominous and doom-laden atmosphere (aided tremendously by the beautifully Gothic locations and the occasionally brilliant cinematography), the director errs by making the story lose all the subtlety that was imbued in the original novella and instead relying too much on graphic sex scenes and overt violence (although these only appear in dream sequences which are somewhat brief) and ultimately as many filmmakers do when adapting a classic story, reading too much into the story in terms of sexual repression and perversion. Although James' novella mainly dealt with issues of sanity, perspective and depravity, the main strength of the story was the ambiguity that James imbued the story with, something which made the story much more frightening and disturbing even a century after it was published. But director Lemorande throws all subtlety out the window by using ear-shattering musical cues, gratuitous blood and sex and by portraying the apparitions as some sort of demonic beings, which are all things that do not correspond with the original tone or intention of the original story. But in the end the film has its merits as Lemorands succeeds in creating some moments of visual ingenuity as well as the aforementioned atmosphere which is truly haunting and unnerving, things which many other adaptations of the same story failed to achieve.