michael_wells_gr Reviews

200 Meters (2020)

Ideology or Pragmatism

[6/10 · 5 March 2024]

I once listened to a Jordanian Ambassador to the USA talk before an audience about his search for a word in Arabic which meant "compromise" in the sense of the very western English expression to have a "win-win situation" where both sides give up something in order to gain something and both feel like they have 'won'. He said that despite his best efforts he never found such a word in Arabic. He said that in Arabic culture there is only a sense of winning and losing. If one loses something he cannot be a winner. It is all or nothing. Black and White! The Victors and the Vanquished! All of which he said illustrated the culture gap between western democracies and Arab countries. This film somewhat explores this ideological divide.

This ideological divide is essentially the huge gap that separates Mustafa who refuses to compromise his non-Israeli Arab ideology for the welfare of his family, and Mustafa's Arab-Israeli compromising wife who he allows to live on the other side of the wall in order to raise his children in 'better' schools, etc. The fact that they still love each other in this film is a bit of an anomaly in this war of cultures.

This theme is also the background to the huge gap that separates the Arabic speaking Muslims of the West Bank from the Hebrew speaking Israelis on the other side of the wall. While Israeli's have at times tried be more pragmatic in their relations with the Arab speaking Muslims, their efforts have not been generally reciprocated and the Israelis built a wall of separation as much to keep non-Israeli Arabs out as to keep Israelis in.

Neither side is innocent in the ongoing conflict and Mustafa and his wife epitomize this divide to a large degree: the divide that separates idealists and pragmatists which ultimately keep Mustafa and his wife on opposite sides of the wall. His wife is effectively a pragmatist as are most of the Israeli Arabs who live in Israel. Mustafa is an idealist who will not compromise on his principals and is willing to give up a normal family existence living with his wife and children for a life of separation.

Who's to blame for this wall of separation? The Israelis? The non-Israeli Arabs? The film doesn't really explore the blame game very deeply, it just tries to film the craziness of it all mostly, though not exclusively, through the filter of the eyes of non-Israelis. So a bit one-sided as might be expected and no real solutions are presented ... and the craziness just continues.

I have no personal skin in this conflict and I do not believe given the history and cultures of both sides that there is likely to be any really viable solution that would meet the definition of a win-win situation anytime in the near or the more distant future. This film sort of illustrates this as much as it can be illustrated.

It is worth a watch, though the film offers little hope in my opinion for any real change as it documents the 'craziness' of both sides!

Maigret: A Man Condemned (1963) Season 4, Episode 5

Maigret ponders a possible miscarriage of justice!

[8/10 · 16 February 2024]

The book version and the TV versions have some obvious differences. While both the book and TV version ponder about a possible miscarriage of justice which it seems is too late to fix, in the book, the convicted man, Adrien Josset, has already been executed whereas in the TV version Maigret races against time to try and prevent the execution of a man Maigret suspects is innocent and who had seemingly got himself easily condemned by just talking too much. The TV version, unfortunately, seems to show the probable killer, a real psychopath, just before the murder takes place, which apparently spoils the mystery as to the whodunit! Nevertheless, the TV plot centers around whether Maigret will discover the truth in time, and, though strongly hinted at, the answer is not definitively given.

The story was published in 1959 and was part of the Presses de la Cité books and at this later stage in writing, Simenon, the book author, uses the technique of 'flashbacks' told by Maigret to his good friend Doctor Pardon while the two men and their wives share one of their monthly dinners together at Maigret's home on this occasion in the TV version, though, in the book it takes place at the Pardon's where Maigret is particularly fond of Mme Pardon's rice pudding which reminds him of his childhood. Dr Pardon is one of the very rare persons whom Maigret ever confides with some of his own thoughts about his own cases. In the book version, Simenon writes more about his own philosophical cogitations on the subject of justice and guilt and whether or not justice can ever truly exist. The story being told switches back and forth between the present and the past as well as different points of view, Maigret's, Josset's, and the narrator, creating multiple and conflicting reflections of the same events.

From my point of view, I have a soft spot for these old black and white TV Maigret detective stories even though the characters portrayed are mostly only two dimensional and lacking the depth and complexity one finds in more modern series. I like them because they hearken back to a simpler time before the Internet and computers had changed the world. The Rupert Davis series is no exception and lacks the complexity as well as the depth of philosophical thought that the author Simenon infuses into his books, but that is to be expected with the different mediums that one works with. Nevertheless, if you want to disconnect for three quarters of an hour and take a trip back in time to this wonderful age, I highly recommend this series.

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (1983 TV Movie)

A Questionable Bad-Kids-Turn-Good Story

[5/10 · 12 November 2023]

When Dallas Jenkins, director of "The Chosen" TV series, said he'd cried when reading the original book and was now going to make a brand new cinema version of this Xmas story, and, despite leeriness of too many 10/10 reviews hyperventilating with superlatives, I decided to watch this 1983 TV Movie version to see what the story was all about,

It's a bad-kids-turn-good story in which the original author of both the book and the film script invites readers and viewers to reconsider their own hypocritical attitudes to the down-and-outs and underprivileged children of the world, and consider instead how God looks at sinners and their capacity for redemption in His caring hands, all of which is essentially the gospel message, and all the while using exaggerated humorous relief to make her point.

The story of the worst kids in the world revolves around the unsupervised mostly orphan Herdmen kids who are big bullies, smoking cigars, burning down buildings, starving cats, stealing, blackmailing, cussing, talking dirty, racial slurs, you name it, if they could think of it they did it.

The fact is children's literature has changed a lot 50 years on from 1972 till today in 2023. Values of what is acceptable for 7-10 year olds to read have changed greatly. Many parents would find the 1972 story a shockingly horrible story to read to their young children today.

Elsewhere, as one reviewer points out, the book is also "about the parson, the church ladies, and the church members. They are rendered as mean and small and uncharitable."

As the story progresses, the bad kids, despised by just about everybody in the story, INEXPLICABLY sign up to act in an Xmas Pageant about Jesus' birth, a story none of them is familiar with. They learn the Jesus story is "about a new baby, and his mother and father who were in a lot of trouble-no money, no place to go, no doctor, nobody they knew. And then, arriving from the East some rich friends."

When some of the 'bad' kids see their own life's situation reflected in the Jesus story and identify themselves in the story, the kids seem to become part of some less-than-convincing redemption story that challenge the adults perceptions of them: for example, Imogene Herdmen cries for a change and brother Larry donates a ham, which are not overwhelming tear-inducing narratives that make one want to watch, or read it again and again.

So what did this writer think of this TV version? The 1983 TV Movie version of this story, starring Loretta Swit of M. A. S. H. fame, was in this writer's opinion not only cheesy but poorly done and underwhelming.

Dallas will have his work cut out for him to write a workable script for this story. At the very least he will have to use his talent in writing character backstories to flesh out the main characters and make them more human, sympathetic and credible. What are the likes, dislikes and personalities of each child? What led to them becoming bullies? Moreover, why do the kids want to take part in the play? And finally, this writer wonders if the director can leave us with a really thought-provoking and memorable lesson applicable to our own lives? This writer hopes Dallas can live up to his reputation. This story needs it!

Left Behind (I) (2014)

Not a Christian movie, just an airplane disaster flick!

[1/10 · 17 May 2023]

This was not a film about faith. It was not a film about how to face adversity as a Christian. This was not a christian movie, rather just an airplane disaster flick that had as a cause the prophetical Christian rapture and pilot error. This movie does not even pretend to show how to be a better Christian. All the main protagonists are non-Christians, and the few Christians that present themselves are shown to be troublesome fanatics or hypocrites. Not anything anyone would want to emulate.

The only redeeming Christian quote that was relevant to being a Christian was a brief quote by a Pastor Barnes who had been left behind when his flock was raptured. When confronted with the question of why he wasn't raptured also, after having worked in the ministry and having preached there, his reply was, "That's not what counted!" How true! He continues saying, "I knew the words. I could quote the chapters and the verses, but that was not enough. You have to believe!" The interlocutor replied for the audience watching the film, "Believe? Believe in what? In a God that killed my father. A God that grabbed my mother and my brother and whisked them out of this world. A God that crashes planes and destroys cities?" This film does no justice to the Christian community nor its dogmas!

The only reason to watch this film, if one can be found is if you are a fan of airplane disaster flicks of which I tired of long ago.

Q.E.D.: Murder on the Bluebell Line (1987) Season 8, Episode 9

Conan Doyle the Hoaxer

[2/10 · 21 December 2021]

My favourite comedic line in the whole episode was Watson's remark after learning that Conan Doyle is alleged to have been part of a scientific hoax, "My dear Holmes, 'Arthur the Hoaxer', surely not! This is serious - Damned Serious! Do you realize what this could mean? If Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created Pilldown Man from his imagination, we too could be a complete fiction. We must put an end to this scurrilous accusation!" This was not a Sherlock Holmes story as we usually know them. We do not actually meet any of the culprits except in visual flashbacks as the prime suspects are dead now. Furthermore, no real murder ever took place - unlike what is hinted by the episode title, 'Murder on the Bluebell Line'. In fact, this episode is less a Sherlock Holmes story and more of a fictional expose of frauds perpetuated in the name of science - which seems to be the real objective of this strange 1987 BBC episode.

The main role of Sherlock Holmes is played by Hugh Fraser better known as the witless sidekick 'Captain Arthur Hastings', opposite David Suchet who played Hercule Poirot, in the BBC Agatha Christie Poirot series. Interesting enough, in this episode Dr Watson is played by none other than comedic actor Ronald Fraser who in reality is Hugh Fraser's father - so Watson and Holmes are played by a father and son duo.

At least one reviewer has said that although they were 'disappointed in this movie., they appreciated 'the acting by Hugh Fraser'. I cannot say I agree. I found Hugh's performance of Sherlock underwhelming. Unlike Jeremy Brett whose role as Sherlock Holmes is perhaps the best portrayal I have ever seen and whose sharp piercing and radiant steel blue eyes reveal intense underlying emotions that expose more than just the rational logic of his sharp mind and bringing to life this supposedly cold and unfeeling detective, Hugh Fraser's portrayal of Sherlock is both insipid and lacking in intensity. Fraser's Sherlock is too laid back and unemotional due to Hugh's constant deadpan look which worked well as a witless Captain Hasting but not as the main protagonist in a Sherlock Holmes role.

In conclusion, this somewhat comedic BBC episode is one that uses Sherlock Holmes and Watson as a tool to explain the nature of scientific hoaxes rather than solve any actual murder story and as such does not really belong in the pantheon of authentic Sherlock Holmes' stories.

Heavenly Deposit (2019)

Midlin' to Fair!

[6/10 · 3 May 2020]

This faith-based film had a redeeming story, however, it had two main weaknesses in my opinion: 1) the pacing, and 2) the charismatic appeal of the lead actors. The former resulted in a very slow and long drawn out development of a plot-line that seemed to move at a snail's pace much of the time and resulted in the reduction of the drama and impact of what should have been a very emotional story. Furthermore, the abyss into which the lead character, Peter, fell should have been much deeper with a much bigger and looming chasm opening up before him.

The latter weakness was highlighted by the fact that John Savage playing Peter's boss Donald and Mike Madrigal playing Peter's best friend Matt were much more engaging personalities in the film than those of the two main starring roles of Peter and his wife Ellie, played by George Vincent and Kristina Denton respectively. Even Peter's mother Sylvia and Ellie's co-worker Jenny were more interesting characters than the two leading roles.

I watched the film and as someone said, it was OK; however, I probably do not have the patience to watch it again. For that I would give it 5 stars, and I add one star because it is a faith-based film, something that in this reviewers opinion more is needed of. In fact it is the only reason for which I watched the movie in the first place. My recommendation - watchable but not remarkable!

The Chosen: The Shepherd (2017) Season 1, Episode 0

The Start of Something Big!

[10/10 · 29 April 2020]

After having had dismal box-office results from directing a previous Hollywood faith-based 2015-2016 film production called "The Resurrection of Gavin Stone", Director Dallas Jenkins, was thinking that there might probably be no future career for him in film directing. He later recounts the moment of change came in his life when a FaceBook pastor friend of his messaged him with the following message: "It is not your job to feed the 5000, your job is just to bring the five loaves and 2 fishes," all of which hit a resonant chord with Jenkins. He said that at that moment he decided to leave his future career, whatever it might be or not be, to God. This moment is what Jenkins credits as the beginning of the most amazing project of his life - "The Chosen", of which this short film, "The Shepherd" is the beginning.

That summer in 2017 Dallas Jenkins, who was on his Baptist church's video production team and had been involved in producing their annual video vignettes such the "The Two Thieves" produced in 2014 for the Church's Good Friday celebration, persuaded his church to produce this short video, "The Shepherd", about a Shepherd named Simon and his involvement in the story of the birth of Jesus, for the church's annual Christmas celebration.

Filmed with a limited budget in the backyard behind a barn at a friends farm, this short film got into the hands of VidAngel productions who became excited about the potential of creating a whole TV series about the life of Jesus Christ and offered Jenkins the role of Director while their job would be to finance the series. While films and mini-series had often been produced about the life of Jesus Christ, no one had up until then created a TV series about the life of Jesus Christ. This was going to be something new and never before tried.

To add to the novelty, VidAngel proposed to do something never before achieved in order to finance the series. They suggested, much to Jenkins dismay, to crowdfund the TV series. The most any major film undertaking had ever raised up to that point through crowd funding was about $5.7 million dollars. The first season of a planned eight seasons of the series called 'The Chosen', with eight planned episodes per season, alone needed about $10 million. Jenkins believed they would be lucky to raise $800. Much to his surprise VidAngel raised the $10 million through crowdfunding with over 19,000 investors responding after having watched this short film 'The Shepherd' which was now designated as the pilot for this new TV series that would be made available through the streaming services of VidAngel.

With the funding for the first season in place, shooting began in earnest and the first eight episodes were released in 2019. All that started with this short video production, 'The Shepherd' which along with The Chosen's episodes can be viewed through a mobile phone app found online and which also has the capability of streaming it to your home television, or through a subscription to the VidAngel streaming services. Additionally, in the spring of 2020, this pilot as well as season one can now be found on The Chosen's YouTube channel where Director Dallas Jenkins is the driving force behind a another round of the crowd funding operation to finance season two of The Chosen - and as of this review has already raised over $2.8 million from over 165,000 people worldwide for the first three episodes of the second season. This phenomenon of crowd funding a TV series about the life of Jesus and his chosen followers has never been attempted before and has been amazingly successful setting never before achieved records in the film industry. As Jenkins can be quoted saying, the defining moment in this project came when he realized that it was not his job to feed the 5,000 but only to bring the five loaves and two fishes and then to leave the rest in God's hands and it seems that God has blessed this project abundantly.

So what makes 'The Shepherd' and its subsequent series so special? It is the focus on the humanity of the both Jesus and the people involved in the Jesus' story, his chosen followers - bringing to the screen as Jenkins says - real people with real problems and real quirks that get caught up in the greatest story ever told. Fans worldwide have wept at the story of the Shepherd boy in this pilot short film as well as in the first eight episodes of The Chosen as they relate to the challenges and feelings of the main characters caught up in the Jesus story.

Having talked about the background and subsequent impact that this pilot short film called 'The Shepherd' has had on the changing world of TV production, it is now time to let the viewer watch and see for themselves what has made this short film so beloved and ultimately has given this film its historical merit.

Christmas Time (2017)

What happened to warm and fuzzy feelings?

[3/10 · 29 April 2020]

To say this is an Xmas film with an unusual ending is an understatement.

This film has a twist ending that takes away all the warm and fuzzy feelings that a Xmas film is supposed to leave you with, which is all I should say so as not to reveal any particular details. I didn't like the end at all even though most of the film has the kind of somewhat enjoyable holiday banter from a more or less dysfunctional family that one might expect from a Christmas movie.

If you manage to make it through the credits, which do say "to be continued", and get to the very last seconds of the credits, then another twist is thrown in, which I suppose is the nod to something Sci-fi in a Xmas film but left me almost as perplexed as I was at the end of the movie. I do not think I would watch it a second time.

USS Angeles: The Price of Duty (1998)

The Star Trek fan film that started it all .

[3/10 · 29 November 2017]

The history of this Star Trek fan-film began in 1995 when the USS Angeles Star Trek fan club was established in southern California by trekkers and started recruiting members, some of whom worked in Hollywood and others who didn't.

In 1998, a young member, Rob Caves proposed to club members that they make a Star Trek fan-film. He proposed using some cheap film equipment and video editing software on Amiga computers to make a full length Star Trek film which might possibly be followed by a series of shorter 20-30 minute episodes called Voyages of the USS Angeles. He took a story written by a fellow club member, Jason Muñoz, and wrote a screenplay adaptation with the help of Muñoz, Janice Willcocks the chapter President and her friend Jennifer Cole. Rob and Janice were to be the producers and Rob was to be the director. They then invited fellow trekkers to come over to Rob's parents house to film the movie they called "USS Angeles: The Price of Duty" in front of green screens in his parent's living room. Rob would then use the editing software to composite the actors with backgrounds taken from a "Captain's Chair" CD-ROM that contained set photos. By keeping the camera angle from moving, they effectively had a whole starship set to act in. Some outdoor scenes were also filmed near Los Angeles in the San Gabriel mountains and Vasquez Rocks.

The film is not remarkable for its technical quality. In fact, the film was not even meant originally to be distributed outside of the cast and crew for fear of being sued for copyright infringement by the Star Trek franchise owners, Viacom and Paramount Pictures in those days. It was just to be a home-grown film with a script designed to provide fun for as many chapter members as possible including kids and older people. The sound quality was dubious, and the low-resolution image quality has been frequently criticized for a halo effect often seen around the actors due to the compositing effects. The film was little more than a bunch of Trekkie fans having fun filming a Star Trek film over a number of weekends. Back in 1998, how many fan clubs produced their own 1 hour and 11 minute full-length movie complete with special effects and music all on virtual sets and with almost no-budget except their own pocket money and the use of cheap hand-made or inexpensively bought costumes and props.

Initially only crew and cast members got a DVD or VHS copy of their production. Eventually though, after James Cawley from Star Trek: New Voyages, another Star Trek fan produced series released online, was given a list of conditions from Paramount to govern fan-based works based on the copyrighted Star Trek franchise in 2003, clarity about what could or could not be done made the situation for fan-based Star Trek production clearer. In 2012 the USS Angeles: The Price of Duty film's DVD was remastered and released free-of-charge online for the first time.

What is remarkable is that it was the first complete full-length Star Trek fan-film to be made and it gave rise not only to a series of episodes but also gave rise to another independent effort by Rob Caves called the Star Trek: Hidden Frontiers which produced an amazing 50 episodes released online for free and which also gave rise to another three to five series of Star Trek fan films. This is why this film is referred to as the Star Trek fan film that started it all.

What was important to these early fan film productions was just for trekkers to have fun and at the same time avoid trampling on the toes of Paramount and the Star Trek franchise copyright owner's business. Everything was on a non-profit free to distribute basis. That all came to a head in 2016 when Paramount sued another "fan-group" called Axanar Productions for among other things selling merchandise for their Star Trek based "fan-made" $1 million Kickstarted crowd-funded high quality full-length movie production. Newly published restrictions limited fan films to 15 minutes and no more than two episodes to the story to be at most 30 minutes in length. Funding was to be limited and no professional actors or crew, especially those who had ever worked for a commercial Star Trek franchise production, were to be allowed to contribute to fan films. It is unlikely under the present conditions for another full-length fan-made Star Trek film ever to see the light of day.

Lock Up: So Shall Ye Reap (1960) Season 1, Episode 36

A seminal scene ...

[8/10 · 11 June 2013]

The following scene in this episode is somewhat unique in the LockUp (59'-61') Classic Black and White Crime Drama TV series as it sheds light on the history and motivations of the two main characters: Herb Maris and John Weston.

Setting: Philadelphia Corporate Lawyer Herb Maris enters into Police Lieutenant John Weston's office ... and sits down.

John: (sitting at his desk with a smile) What can I do for you Herb?

Herb: I'd like to talk to you about Duke Joyce.

John: (face suddenly turns sour ... ) Now just a minute Herb. I've checked it out and it all fits tight. Now look! I've stuck my neck out for you time and again and I've had it shoved it back a few times too. I'm not saying we haven't done some good but no thanks on Duke Joyce. The evidence is all there! The DA feels he'll get an indictment, period!

Herb: You got time for a story?

John: No!

Herb: It happened to a rookie patrolman twenty years ago, fresh out of the academy. He'd picked up a man for murder. The evidence was enough for a jury to convict. The man was executed.

John: Just a minute Herb. You're talking about two different cases.

Herb: Three years later, the rookie was a detective. He walked into a building alone to pick up an armed gunman. Though fatally wounded, the gunman confessed to the killing for which an innocent man had been executed. The detective was in no way responsible, but it affected his every move for 20 years. He'd rather quit his job than believe an innocent man might be convicted if he believed he could do something about it. Then worse, this detective met a lawyer.

John: (stands up) Now wait a minute Herb.

Herb: This lawyer had something in his craw too. The feeling that while thousands of dollars were being spent to convict people, not very much money was being spent to prove them innocent. So, the two of them started to work together. They spent long hours on cases, and there was never a buck in it. Any sticking out of their necks, any wasted shoe leather... or sweat... was a cheap price to pay for their inner satisfaction.

John: (picks up his hat and says with a smile) Let's go.

Lock Up: Stakeout (1959) Season 1, Episode 1

"I've just read your mind!"

[7/10 · 15 May 2013]

My Analysis: In this series the plot is the classic lawyer story: save the innocent from injustice. There are no surprising revelations and the class of criminal doesn't rise above the mundane. The short 1/2 hour format does not give rise to any significant plot development and all the episodes revolve around the interaction of only two characters: Herb Maris, the lawyer and the Police Lieutenant John Weston. The former reluctantly accepts to defend someone, he believes innocent, accused of a crime where the evidence seems cut-and-dry while the latter stubbornly sticks to the evidence.

There are four parts to each episode: i) the before-credits crime scene which usually lasts for 3-4 minutes, ii) the initial investigation by Herb Maris in the Maris-accepts-to-defend-the-accused-against-the- advice-of-Lt-Weston part, lasting about 10 minutes, iii) the Maris- discovers-and-stops-the-real-criminal-with-the-help-of-Lt-Weston part also lasting about 10 minutes, and iv) the final post-credits scene which lasts for about 1 minute where the innocent is usually seen being released. Total time: 25 minutes.

These black-and-white 50s &60s style classic television seem to pale in comparison to the modern high-budget hour-long crime dramas currently produced for television, but they do make for a nice retro trip into the television of another bygone age. I particularly enjoy watching episodes of early performances by well known actors such as Leonard Nimoy and Robert Conrad among others. The episode directors and script writers change constantly and while the scene formula is rigidly adhered to quality of episodes varies noticeably. For example in this first episode I noticed a number of "I've just read your mind!" moments of Maris' almost telepathic like powers to get inside the head of one of the protagonists and his ability to use that insight to persuade them one way or another to help him in his pursuit of the truth. This aspect was not usually brought out by other script writers of other episodes.

This first episode contains four such "I've just read your mind" moments as Maris sees into the heads of not only Robert Arnold, an ex-con charged with a crime, but also those of Lt. John Weston, a no-nonsense police investigator, Ed Stark, another ex-con who tries to put other ex- cons on the straight and narrow path, and finally Margie, the main criminal's girlfriend and weak spot, all of whom play a part in Herb's pursuit to overcome damning evidence and to prove innocent, or not, an ex-con charged with complicity in the murder of a policeman.