The Unusuals (2009) – hidden gem

Just finished watching the 10-episode show of the Unusuals which I thoroughly enjoyed.

In brief, it’s about NYC’s 2nd precinct, its quirky cops, and their equally quirky cases.  The stories are good and there are some very funny lines and scenes.

The best part is the actors.

Amber Tamblyn, as Casey Shraeger, is trying to become a good cop without the help of her parents and their financial clout.  She kind of plays the straight character so she doesn’t get all the bizarre tics the others do.  On the other hand, she’s very sweet and likable.  Her new partner is Jason Walsh.

On why she wouldn’t be a slut: “not interested in seeing that many penises.”

Jeremy Renner, as Jason Walsh, is the experienced detective whose partner recently died in suspicious circumstances.  Walsh is a mysterious character but it is clear he is loyal to his fellow cops.  His romantic relationship is the most charming of the bunch.

Commemorating his murdered partner:

This is how it works: We pass the badge down ’til it kills you… and then we hang it on the wall. So let’s raise a glass. Because a cop is dead, and he most certainly will not be forgotten.

Adam Goldberg, as Eric Delahoy, is ill with what we soon discover is a brain tumor.  We don’t find out much more about it, as he refuses to go to a doctor.  He’s a tragic and sympathetic figure and also gets some funny scenes with his partner Banks.

Harold Perrineau, as Leo Banks, is terrified because he’s 42, and that  is the familial age to die.  Bottles of hand sanitizer stack his desk.  He always wears a bullet proof vest, even to bed.  I rooted for the guy to get over his phobia.

Kai Lennox, as Eddie Alveraz, is insufferably arrogant which causes him to be the butt of the pranks and quips that the other characters throw his way.  You find out some of what motivates him later in the series.

Monique Gabriela Curnen, as Allison Beaumont, never got enough focus on her character to know her.  But she was tough and wryly humorous.  Her partner is Henry Cole.

Joshua Close, as Henry Cole, is the pious prude with the nasty secret. I could not like this guy. He was humorless and hypocritical.  I think the writers didn’t give Cole enough humanizing touches.

The show is great fun and should not be missed.  It makes me want to rent everything these actors have been in because I want more of them.

Excellent recaps here.

Best Fictional Female Detectives, part 2

Television–

Veronica Mars of Neptune - the mash-up of teen angst and Film Noir was pitch perfect when Kristen Bell (whom I adore) took the lead.

Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote.  Mysteries don’t get much cozier than the ones of Cabot Cove.  Angela Lansbury gave her  warmth and smarts.

Brenda Johnson in The Closer.  The brilliant but troubled deputy chief who always gets the confession.  Eight seasons in, she’s less eccentric but not by much.

Daphne and Velma of Scooby-Doo – the fashionable Daphne and the clever Velma solve wacky mysteries with Fred, Shaggy and Scooby. People have their favorite but the two women make a good pair.

Beckett in Castle – Her character has certainly grown from the gruff detective to the warmer but  still level-headed partner.  Stana Katic makes her a delight to watch.

Honorable Mentions –

Tuppence of Tommy & Tuppence.  A kind U.K. version of Nick and Nora Charles.

Dr. Temperance Brennan on Bones.  I don’t watch this show much but the show’s fans love her.

L.  Anita Van Buren of Law & Order.  I’m very fond of this actress and she always lends her charm to any role she takes.

Another List–

Wikipedia

Best Fictional Female Detectives, part 1

This list of detectives could be argued with.  In fact, I encourage it because I’d like to be introduced to more like these fine sleuths.

Movies–

Clarice Starling from Silence of the Lambs.  Smart, tough, and determined to find out the truth even if she attracts the attention of the psychotic Hannibal Lector.

Marge Gunderson from Fargo.  You can’t much more girl power than the notably pregnant and clear-minded Marge.

Nora Charles of the Thin Man series.  I adore Myrna Loy to pieces.  As Mrs. Charles, she’s half of the best eccentric and happily married detective couple ever.

Books–

Nancy Drew – she of the titian hair in the endlessly and rightly  revised book series. I remember loving the illustrations on the covers of Mystery of the Lilac Inn and Ringmaster’s Secret especially.  I think she’s actually at her best in the computer game series made by Her Interactive.  Cheerful, fearless, and relentless, Nancy is a force to be reckoned with.

Jane Marple of the quintessential cozy mysteries by Agatha Christie.  Miss Marple is a magical crone who unerringly knows who is guilty and how to prevent more harm being done.  My favorite Marple actress was Joan Hickerson.

Precious Ramotswe of the Ladies’ Detective Agency.  Love the books by Alexander McCall Smith and loved the TV version with Jill Scott as the lead and the delightful supporting performance by Anika Noni Rose (also in Princess and the Frog and Dreamgirls).

Mrs. Emily Pollyfax  is about the senior spy written by Dorothy Gilman.  The author became cynical as the series went along but the early books are charming. (thanks Rose Kat for the correction)

Neil Hamel of New Mexico by Judith Van Gieso.  A hard boiled detective wandering the mean streets of New Mexico.  I lived near Albuquerque when I discovered this series and liked Neil and her much younger boyfriend quite a bit.

Honorable Mentions –

Thursday Next of the Eyre Affair.  I liked Jasper Fforde’s literary-centric world but it was too rarefied for me.  I am open to another attempt if anyone would make a case for it.

Stephanie Plum of the numbered mysteries (One for the Money, etc) written by Janet Evanovich.  Irreverent bounty hunter solves mysteries.

Kinsey Millhone of the Alphabetic Murders by Sue Grafton.  I never read past the first book of her lengthy series.  However, I know people who love it.

Elizabeth McPherson.  I love Sharyn McCrumb a lot but I think I prefer her non genre books better.

Related articles

• Disney Acquires Untitled Female Detective Pitch (collider.com)
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Ringer: Pilot

Image via Wikipedia

Watched the first episode of Ringer last week.  I was a bit trepidations about it because I had read such dismal previews. It wasn’t great but it wasn’t horrible.

However, due to circumstances, I didn’t see the second episode but I’m going to remedy that.

Flaws

I didn’t really feel connected to any of the characters and whew! there were a lot of them.  Not even the twins that Gellar is playing were appealing.  Everyone was pretty flat and there was no connection between any of the characters.  Gellar was playing to nothing because she’s taken both parts but the other actors seemed to be oblivious to other human beings in the scene too.

Not much of the funny.  The show needs it.

But then Vampire Diaries‘ pilot was the worst I’ve ever seen and now it’s one of my favorite non-nutritional TV shows.

Potential

Lots and lots of lies and secrets, and I like intrigue.

Many bad guys skulking about, most of them plotting to kill both Gellars.

Gellar in some glamorous dresses.

The teenage daughter Juliet amuses me, I hope she’ll play a big part.

*SPOILERS SPOILERS*

Dr. Renault’s Secret (1942)

Tagline: His animal instinct cannot be tamed!

Young Dr. Larry Forbes (John Shepperd) is traveling to his his fiancée’s home in France.  He is delayed by bad weather and stops in an inn before he reaches the villa.  He switches rooms with another drunken guest and later the guest is found murdered.

Rather than a science fiction story, this is more of a mystery.  The suspects include a slow-witted assistant Noel (J. Carol Nash), an unctuous butler, and a truculent gardener Rogell (Mike Mazurki).  And not least, her reticent father Dr. Renault (George Zucco).

Noel behaves in suspicious and odd ways.  When the murdered guest is said to have been strangled by “fingers of steel,” Noel quickly hides his hands.  (This was funny enough that we began referring to the movie as “Fingers of Steel.”) Noel is acutely sensitive to the presence of dogs but drifts off readily and has difficulty with simple conversations.

Larry would rather ignore the sinister events and focus on being reunited with fiancée Madelon (Lynne Roberts).  His fiancée is a piece of work.

She states that she is kind to Noel but nothing she says or does proves this. She insists that he drive back to town  to pick up something trivial that he forgot.  She’s unfailingly condescending to him in her speech and body language.  She even is furious with him for trying to protect himself when a stray dog savages his arm.  The dog was not the bitch in the movie.

It’s pretty obvious what the titular secret is but it takes some time for anyone to figure it out.  In the meantime, there are corpses piling up.

The sets were of high quality and gave me hope that the story would be a little more sophisticated that it ultimately proved to be.  The finale is so abrupt that my viewing partner and I started laughing.  On the other hand, it didn’t outstay its welcome.  I don’t recommend it.

highlight for spoiler–Nash works hard at his characterization of the ape man, how he moves and holds his body.  He is sympathetic and intriguing as a sinned against beast.–end

The featurette, with critics and film historians such as Kim Newman, was twice as entertaining as the movie.

DVD Talk review

Science Fiction, Horror, and Fantasy review

Pop Matters review

PWI Pop review

Fantastic Movie Musings & Ramblings review

Mike Mazurki

…

Rogell

Charlaine Harris’ ‘Dead’ series

Back in 2001, I had the opportunity to read Dead until Dark the first book in the series.   However, it wasn’t a paranormal romance, and I wasn’t interested at the time.  But with the buzz from the True Blood series, I thought I’d give it another try.  I’m glad I did since the mystery/horror elements are much more appealing than the paranormal romance this time around.

Dead Until Dark

The story: a socially isolated waitress (Sookie) at a bar in rural Louisiana encounters a vampire and goes to his rescue when he is attacked in the parking lot of the bar.  This action embroils her in a supernatural murder mystery.

I love Sookie’s wry observations on her own and everyone else’s behavior.  She doesn’t easily accept all the bizarre revelations about the supernatural people but she doesn’t waste time protesting her new reality either.  Her tenuous place in the social structure makes it believable that she’d fall into the ‘outgroup’ of vampires and such.  I hope that Harris enriches all the minor characters – the community members are all quite interesting.

Living Dead in Dallas

The story:  A co-worker at the bar where Sookie works is murdered.  She is hired by vampires to solve the mystery and she learns far too much about supernatural world.

I was slightly disappointed with this one.  It may be that the author is moving from a single novel to a series and so has to lighten the tone a bit.  I also missed Sookie’s hometown politics and interactions.  Dallas was less interesting to me here.  I do like how Sookie is changing due to her adventures: she’s more confident, more daring and a bit more sophisticated.

Club Dead

The story:  Sookie’s having boyfriend trouble and then he goes missing.  She’s got to find him and upbraid him.

I don’t like the urban setting. Moreover, this one got way too painful for me.  I really hated what some of the characters in this book did.  So much so that I contemplated dropping the series.

Dead to World

The story:  Sookie is bitter and alone after her breakup.  It never rains but it pours since her brother disappears and she has an amnesiac vampire dropped into her lap (more or less).

But I did pick up the fourth book and I’m happy for doing it.  Sookie’s back at home which pleases me no end.  Sookie’s becoming more resilient emotionally and mentally, and I think she’s becoming a force to be reckoned with.  Normally I’d find fault that every guy she meets is instantly attracted to her.  But I can buy that her psychic powers are the real lure and they are all supernatural beings.  No humans for Sookie.

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Veronica Mars – season two

Quick Comments on season two.

I gave up thinking of the characters as teenagers. They don’t look or act like teens and few of the situations or problems felt youthful.  Still, almost as good as season one.

I’ve been puzzling over why I liked the bad boy Logan in this series. He’s not especially gifted with moral fiber. Well, actually, neither of Veronica’s love interests (Duncan or Logan) are worth much. But Logan is articulate and somewhat aware of the larger picture. Duncan by contrast is silent and reacts to his surroundings much like a rock.  I guess that’s good for romance but not fun for watching on TV. Duncan seems so self-involved, I’m surprised he manags to notice anyone else.

The penultimate episode horrified me so much that that I couldn’t watch the last episode Not Pictured for a couple of days.

a few spoiling comments…

Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

This movie was recommended to me a long time ago by moviesmusic whomI should thank.

Mike Dixon (Dana Andrews) is a cop who is reprimanded by his superiors for getting rough with suspects.  On his next case, he makes a mistake and tries to cover it up; miring himself deeper in trouble.

The movie is very much the moral dilemma for the Mike but Otto Preminger keeps this one moving fast and Andrews does a good job of keeping me rooting for him.

Morgan Taylor (Gene Tierney) is lovely and looks too glamorous for the movie as a whole. 

It was very satisfying to watch.

Romeo’s Ex and Drama!

Nightingale by Jerry Pinkney (2002). This was a beautiful picture book version of the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale but set in Morocco. There is a little girl with more than her share of common sense in the story. The symbol of death is a little creepy but otherwise a lovely, lovely book.

Drama! the Four Dorothys by Paul Ruditis (2007). This is a cute mystery with a teenage detective Bryan Stark. He attends the elite Orion High School filled with Hollywood’s progeny. The egos are so big that the school’s musical production features four leading ladies. The mystery is so-so as the Dorothys are incapacitated one by one but Bryan’s amusing observations more than make up for it. It’s the first in a series.

Romeo’s Ex by Lisa Fiedler (2006). This is Rosalind’s story in which we find out that she was much smarter and more mature than Romeo. She finds a worthy man but not without death, revenge and a painful amount of self-destructive behavior by everyone involved. Not for the fan of the romantic Romeo & Juliet.

Improper English by Katie Macalister (2003). A young American woman Alexandra goes to London to write a romance novel. She regales everyone from her cabdriver to her landlady with her progress. The problem is, the stuff is awful. It’s abysmal. In fact, Macalister could have eased up on us a little.

Alexandra does meet a handsome man there, named Alexander. He, understandably enough, shudders whenever she approaches him with her manuscript in hand. Not bad but I like Macalister’s vampires better.

The Westing Game

This is classic children’s mystery, written by Ellen Raskin, which won the Newbery in 1979.

A disparate group of people all become tenants of the same apartment building, Sunset Towers. They are surprised when they are named heirs of an eccentric, wealthy man Samuel Westing. However, to gain their inheritance, they must solve the mystery of his murder.

The characters I liked best were ten year old Turtle; her lovely but spineless older sister Angela; and the unhappy but virtuous Judge Ford.

I can’t help but like Turtle because she’s smarter and more persistent than anyone else in the book. Plus, she kicks people in the shins when they touch her hair.

Ford, although successful, resents the man who funded her education. The enormous chip on her shoulder is affects her peace of mind.

Angela is beautiful and is soon to be married. Other than that, she’s a nonentity to everyone she meets. This does not comfort her. Usually I dislike Angela characters but I couldn’t help rooting for her.

All the characters change as they attempt to solve the mystery. Everything wraps up neatly once the mystery is solved.

I wish I had read this when I was younger, I would have loved. Since Raskin isn’t condescending to her readers, I enjoyed it still.