Franz Kafka

Lack of narrative framework leaves one waiting for clues as to exactly what is going on. When does Anthony actually go to work? Why doesn't Julia recognize Anthony's track marks as a sign of heroin use? Dense, turgid, and unintelligible at times, few of the characters elicit genuine sympathy. Julia apologizes to Anthony for getting mad at him for stealing all of her possessions to sell for drugs. Anthony is an IV drug user with an extensive wardrobe of expensive clothes. What's going on? Souvenir tests a viewer's capacity to endure cloying sensitivity and interpret the dewey facial studies of Julia over and over again. On the plus side the film is beautifully photographed, the music is perfectly chosen and suited to the story, the early 80's timeframe is a charm to revisit with no cell phones, laptops, or GPS. Easy to see why the film quickly disappeared into the ether.

Fallon has never met a celebrity he couldn't girlishly swoon over. His humor is pure Lawrence Welk. He has the cutting edge of a bowling ball and the gravitas of a three year old with a bag of marshmallows. He is the whitest man on television and has all the soul of Liberace on helium. Please give the man a daytime game show and keep him with the demographic he caters to. Why he is on late night is a mystery. His audience goes to bed at 8pm.

If high fructose corn syrup was a movie this would be it. Virtually nothing has a shred of bearing on reality. What the hell was life like in 2004? Maybe the most cloying part of this fantasy is the thick sugary music. So take off your thinking cap, lower your standards and travel back in time to when Steven Spielberg's brand of schmaltz had social relevance.

The latest season is slower than the magnificent first entries but the stellar cast and the historic accuracy of the writing, the atmospheric sets and production levels equalling anything on screen anywhere are all back in full force. IMHO the only way to watch BB is with English subtitles keeping the expressive cadences of the German language in their full authenticity. The acting is again absolutely superb.