© by Gerald So | 6:00 AM
I binged the full eight-episode season of REACHER on Prime Video yesterday, an excellent adaptation of the first Reacher book, KILLING FLOOR. Reacher could become Alan Ritchson's signature role, but the show's supporting cast is just as memorable and brings the show up a notch with storylines of their own. Reacher being a wanderer, future seasons will also be judged on the strength of the chosen story and supporting actors.
In terms of pure action, REACHER is reminiscent of unrepentantly bloody 1980s movies, fitting as Reacher would've been played by Arnold Schwarzenegger then. I do have some plausibility bones to pick, but I'll do that sometime later on Twitter.
Saturday, February 05, 2022
Thursday, January 20, 2022
On Edge
© by Gerald So | 5:30 AM
With the new Spenser continuation novel published this week, several Amazon reviews have called it too political, featuring as it does a progressive congresswoman threatened by a white nationalist militia. I say why not have Spenser confront this present threat? Since his debut in 1973, Spenser has upset preconceived notions of manhood, religion, race, indeed even good and evil. He's an ex-boxer who enjoys poetry and cooking. He's a Gentile in love with a Jew. He's a white man whose best friend is black. He's a good guy who befriends bad guys.
Today's audience may have forgotten or never known all that because in forty years of writing Spenser, Robert B. Parker blurred how much story time had passed. Though that prolonged the series, it prevented him addressing more current events. TV's SPENSER: FOR HIRE held to the 1980s' standards. Later basic cable movies were similarly constrained. Spenser's true nature and full potential, though, are in shaking the trees, showing us people are and can be more than what we first perceive.
Parker's estate gave Ace Atkins a general order to keep Spenser contemporary. He chose to limit his run, letting him mirror real events and people during his time. Tackling white nationalism was a bold choice for a finale, but it's also in Spenser's makeup. If it shakes up some readers, that's the point.
With the new Spenser continuation novel published this week, several Amazon reviews have called it too political, featuring as it does a progressive congresswoman threatened by a white nationalist militia. I say why not have Spenser confront this present threat? Since his debut in 1973, Spenser has upset preconceived notions of manhood, religion, race, indeed even good and evil. He's an ex-boxer who enjoys poetry and cooking. He's a Gentile in love with a Jew. He's a white man whose best friend is black. He's a good guy who befriends bad guys.
Today's audience may have forgotten or never known all that because in forty years of writing Spenser, Robert B. Parker blurred how much story time had passed. Though that prolonged the series, it prevented him addressing more current events. TV's SPENSER: FOR HIRE held to the 1980s' standards. Later basic cable movies were similarly constrained. Spenser's true nature and full potential, though, are in shaking the trees, showing us people are and can be more than what we first perceive.
Parker's estate gave Ace Atkins a general order to keep Spenser contemporary. He chose to limit his run, letting him mirror real events and people during his time. Tackling white nationalism was a bold choice for a finale, but it's also in Spenser's makeup. If it shakes up some readers, that's the point.
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Blog the Vote
© by Gerald So | 1:00 AM
I started this blog, my first, eighteen years ago today. If it were a person, it'd be old enough to vote here in the U.S., but it's not. It can't. "Blog the Vote" just sounds like "Rock the Vote", which I suppose also ages me.
This blog has never had a schedule or a topic other than my life and interests. It's a look at slices of my life since 2004. You're welcome to search them for insight into me or just jump on the moving train.
I started this blog, my first, eighteen years ago today. If it were a person, it'd be old enough to vote here in the U.S., but it's not. It can't. "Blog the Vote" just sounds like "Rock the Vote", which I suppose also ages me.
This blog has never had a schedule or a topic other than my life and interests. It's a look at slices of my life since 2004. You're welcome to search them for insight into me or just jump on the moving train.
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