Sonic Affair

It’s certainly not bad. But it’s certainly not good. There’s too many side stories going on, relationships to manage, pay offs, etc. that after a while it gets monotonous. I get it. Two brothers own a bar restaurant while having to owe the mob x amount of money and still attempting to turn a profit and grabbing a Michelin star as they expand in a hustle and grind environment. But it’s just overload. And then there’s the business of the Black Rabbit. Seriously, with the amount of drama the place creates every night, it’s best to burn it down. Of course that’s not going to happen, so there are alliances being formed in terms of who is going to overtake the establishment. It just gets messy. Jason Bateman plays his usual witty smart-ass self as he does with just about every character in any show or movie. And you still love him for it. But Jude Law- dude it’s obvious you’re not from NYC much less the States. He’s passable as the head of the Black Rabbit. That’s about it. All the other characters, primarily the women, either seem frazzled, confused or scorned. It’s a bearable show if there’s nothing else to watch. It does make the time go by. But I’ll switch the channel once something good is on.

It’s as if someone hired Bollywood writers and directors to make this series: over-the-top antics, hijinks, oil and water siblings that are obviously not going to connect. Some stereotypical cold blooded characters and of course love relationships that have to be salvaged. Trying to get through the first 3 episodes was painstakingly hard. It simply doesn’t flow. Raj and Mir. I don’t know if they’re Indian-Americans trying to act Indian; or are they Indians trying to act American. If it’s the latter than their personalities are hyperboles of how Indian-Americans/American Muslims act in this country. It’s so caricatured that it’s cringe. And then there’s the premise. Come on- you didn’t know your dad was in a mob dealing cocaine until after he dies? How would you not know that? The whole show is asinine. Episode 4 was the last I could muster and it actually was decent with the demand of the hostage. Clever. But it wasn’t enough for me to binge through the rest. I really would like to see a more pragmatic approach to show Asians in this country with realistic expectations dealing with life through the eyes of first and second generation kids. Their stories, struggles, and accomplishments. But Deli Boys is simply too Bollywood, following the same lame scripts and pretending that it’s American.

After two episodes this is really a home run production. Not as intense or complex as Narcos but not as glorified as Scarface, Griselda moves effortlessly, the characters evolving organically from one scene to the next. Sofia Vergara is on another level as Griselda. If anyone had doubts about her acting this show will squash it. As for the story itself, like all other tv series based on a true person, there are major creative liberties taken as to this drug Queen and how she got to the top of the cocaine business in the 80s (she was pretty deep in the game as early as ‘64). But there is enough truth and veracity in her Miami days that it’s perfectly OK to just go with it. The best content about Griselda is really the conflict between a woman who is trying to raise her family and getting ahead in a rather male-dominated and violent world.

Good show which moves quickly. Easy binge watching. Yes the premise has a lot of mob cliches and it’s corny at times. There’s no way in todays day and age the mob would work so out in the open like they do on this show. But the premise works and the story flows nicely. Stallone is amazing- and it’s great to see him play a mafia character for once! Didn’t think he could pull it off.

If there is anything people learned from 9/11 it’s that when handguns and boxcutters are the preferred choice of weapons for a hijacking, the best thing to do is bum-rush the hijackers, especially when there are 200 passengers and a handful of them. Because at the end, 200 against, say 5, is simply too good of and odds not to take that chance. In Hijack we get a similar scenario. A relatively large plane (possibly a 777 or 737) that has been taken over by 5 terrorists. All of them are packing Berettas or Glock handguns. But that’s about it. No knives. No explosives. You have Idris Elba playing the protagonist, a corporate negotiator who has a knack with handling tense situations. Insert him here as the subversive diplomat. He provides instructions, plays the double agent and assists where necessary to alleviate the tension. Meanwhile the gang of 5 are going up and down the aisles carefully monitoring the passengers, while no one is in the cockpit and the plane is flying on auto. There are interesting sub- plots that gather momentum as the series expands one show to the next. The hijackers are not very intimidating although austere in personality. But what gets me is that they’re simply not strapped. They really don’t have the ammo to place fear. I mean if they had used a detonator no one the plane would have dare moved a muscle. But there’s nothing of this sort- so why don’t the 216 passengers onboard simply overpower the hijackers? Sure someone would have gotten shot. Maybe a few deaths. But a planned ambush would have mitigated the situation very easily. Heck just get one or two guns and now you have a stand-off. The writers may have forgotten this rather pedestrian but effective response. And I’m not sure why. Still the show was entertaining and at the least a good way to pass time.

M. Night Shayalman has plummeted from his earlier works. It’s as if his scripts have never been able to piece together a full comprehensive plot and narrative that can take his later movies to that Sixth Sense or Signs Level. Even his Apple series Servant just never grasps a constructive plot line which reverberates a tension that creates an ambiance of horror. It’s certainly thrilling (at times) and occasionally suspenseful. But scary, tense, cinematically fearful has fallen by the wayside. His latest, the psychological apocalyptic Knock on The Cabin meanders into a moral Dilemma with a Gay couple who must make a family decision that can save the world from destruction. Just the magnitude of such a film with its dependency on global destruction based on the decision of a couple is completely asinine. That isn’t to say the plot doesn’t make sense. It does work. But it’s attempt to establish some horror premise is comical. That being said the dialogue is engaging at times and does have moments where the page curiously needs to be turned. However it oscillates between the past and the present, the significance of the adoption, the meaning of the woods as the backdrop to the cabin in the and of course the creepy group of grim reapers who are the proponents to “the decision.” All of it gets monotonous after 30 minutes and really at that point the only thing to do is fast forward to the end. The entire movie is an introspective of humanity and it’s sacrifice to mankind. Yawn. And that’s what makes it so boring.