Showing posts with label HBO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HBO. Show all posts

Jun 22, 2015

Watching True Detective Unless It Goes SciFi Blacklist Style........

'True Detective' recap: Bizarre murder threatens to derail land scheme


The torture-murder of a corrupt and kinky city official threatens to derail a lucrative land scheme in “The Western Book of the Dead” (Episode 201), the Season 2 premiere of HBO’s “True Detective.”
This eight-part anthology series, written and created by Nic Pizzolatto, is set in fictional Vinci, a small industrial city south of downtown Los Angeles.
Living and working in this grimy landscape is Ray Velcoro (Colin Farrell), a divorced, burned-out detective serving two masters.
Ray draws his salary from a rotten-to-the-core administration headed by Mayor Austin Chessani (Ritchie Coster). And Frank Semyon (Vince Vaughn), a career criminal aiming to become a legitimate entrepreneur, controls Ray behind the scenes.
This manipulation includes ordering Ray to pummel newspaper reporter Dan Howser (Stevin Knight) after he writes an expose on exorbitant salaries, extortionary tactics and other dirty dealings at Vinci City Hall.
Frank has risked his ill-gotten wealth on vacant property adjacent to the California Central Rail Corridor, a massive transportation project budgeted at $68 billion. Government grants will support commercial developments along the route, Frank emphasizes at a presentation, “and the feds have guaranteed cost overages.”
In other words, a taxpayer-funded gravy train is speeding toward Vinci.
Frank’s grand ambitions are jeopardized, however, when the mutilated corpse of his business partner -- City Manager Ben Caspere -- is discovered. Ben’s eyes were burned away with acid and he bled out from a severe pelvic wound.
Compounding Frank’s anxiety is the reluctance of a presumed investor, European mobster Osip Agronov (Timothy V. Murphy), to finalize a critical land deal.
“I thought we already had an agreement,” Frank protests, trying to mask his desperation.
“You know you have my complete confidence,” Osip replies. “But our organization has very old rules. Checks and balances. I have to perform my due diligence.”
Ray, meanwhile, is assigned by his superiors -- Police Chief Holloway (Afemo Omilami) and Lt. Kevin Burris (James Frain) -- to investigate but perhaps not solve the city manager case. Despite Ray’s objections, he is partnered with sleazy Det. Teague Dixon (W. Earl Brown).
When they enter Ben’s ransacked home, Ray and Teague realize a computer is missing but see there’s no shortage of erotic art and sex toys.
“I had no idea he was so ... adventurous,” Teague observes.
Because the victim’s body was dumped in Ventura County, Ani Bezzerides (Rachel McAdams), a Sheriff’s Department detective, is put in charge of the probe. And unlike the Vinci Police Department, Ani wants to figure out who killed the city official and why.
Just like most characters on “True Detective,” Ani is beset with personal problems. Besides being a heavy drinker and gambler who’s unable to form long-term relationships, Ani is mad at the world and suffers from a false sense of entitlement. This according to her estranged father (David Morse), a long-haired religious guru.
Ani’s rebellious sister Athena (Leven Rambin) also has issues. Athena kicked her drug habit, apparently, but now she’s involved in the online porn business, performing live sex acts via webcams for paid subscribers.
The final member of the murder investigation team is Paul Woodrugh (Taylor Kitsch), an emotionally and physically scarred motorcycle officer with the California Highway Patrol. Paul found Ben’s body at a rest stop.
This lurid homicide case provides a chance for Paul to redeem himself after being accused of accepting sexual favors from a headline-seeking actress, Lacey Lindel (Ashley Hinshaw), in exchange for not issuing her a reckless driving citation.
But Paul would much rather patrol Pacific Coast Highway than collaborate with detectives.
“It suits me,” Paul says of his adrenalin-inducing motorcycle duties. “I am no good on the sidelines.”


copied from the LA Times

Jun 21, 2015

True Detective Recommended by Kevin Finnerty and Chris Merrill on KOGO 600 AM Radio San Diego......

copied from eonline.com..........


NEWS/ 

True Detective is Back Tonight! Here's Everything You Need To Know About Season 2

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Finally, after what feels like years, the flat circle that is time has brought us to another season of HBO's current grittiest drama that does not involve dragons. 
Gone is the interrogation room framing device, along with the bromantic duo that is Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey, so in some aspects, it's a totally different show. However, strangely, even though everything is different, it all still feels comfortably the same. 
Season two of True Detective takes place in Los Angeles, where three detectives are tasked with investigating the murder of a city manager. Rachel McAdams plays Antigone Bezzerides, a tough detective with a screwed up family and a somewhat surprising backstory, while Colin Farrell plays her partner Ray Velcoro, another tough detective with a screwed up family, along with a screwed up sense of how to work out his problems. 
Tim Riggins, meanwhile, just wants to ride his bike. 
Sorry. Taylor Kitsch, of Friday Night Lights fame, plays Paul Woodrugh, a California highway patrolman who would always rather be patrolling those highways on his motorcycle than be literally anywhere else. 
Together, they're attempting to find the killer of the guy who was supposed to be helping businessman Vince Vaughn (this season's main philosophizer so far) close a very expensive land development deal. 
One of the biggest changes already this season is just in the number of characters. Season one was all about Rust Cohle (McConaughey) and Marty Hart (Harrelson), but season two definitely has more of an ensemble feel. There's even a woman in a lead role, working hard to fight sexism and prostitution all at the same time, and McAdams totally kills it. (Seriously, one time she punched us in the face. It wasawesome.) 


In fact, all of the acting is exactly as great as you might have expected it to be, given that this is HBO and an A-list cast.
"It's different, the second season, for sure," Colin Farrell told E! News earlier this month. "There's a similarity and a certain tone that the piece has that I think resonated with me as having a tone that was reflective of the tone of the first year and a sensibility that's the same. But the characters are very different, the aesthetic is very different, the pace is very different."
What's not different, however, is that feeling of never wanting to leave your house again after you watch an episode because you're now convinced the whole world is depressing and terrible and that you might get murdered, which is clearly a thing that HBO is going for lately with that Game of Thrones finale (still. not. over. it.). Nobody's really in a good mood at any time on this show, but perhaps that's all a clever strategy to keep you from getting off of your couch so you'll just keep watching TV all day, and if that's the case, it's totally working. 
True Detective season two premieres tonight at 9 p.m. on HBO.
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from the ronnie republic radio round-up:

Always listening to the radio.........
Seriously, sometimes there is nothing on television and I would rather listen to the radio and sew.

KOGO 600 is always on in my sewing room and one off  the best  shows is Merrill at Night and Kevin Finnerty from Showbiz  Junkies.

Kevin and Merrill are suggesting True Detective.....okay there  has to be a  few  good shows out there  besides the news and  PBS.
A fan of Blacklist and James Spader but the fiction of the thing is  hard to take at times.......Kevin says he is  waiting for the return of True Detective as  it shows a  more realistic side of the police force in LA.
Sounds good to me, Kevin, I  am going to take your advice and give it a  try.

Thanks for your tip--well done and keep  up  the good work.
Kevin Finnerty can be heard on KOGO from 7-9PM each evening with Chris Merrill and he also has  the website ShowBiz Junkies for plenty of TV and movie reviews.

here  is a link to the page: