Family Frights and Perils

Family Frights and Perils

by Kristin Battestella

Zombies, ghosts, cults, fanatics – daughters, grief, moving, and politics are frightful enough with out these recent good, bad, and ugly horrors.

Maggie – Sad voicemails, outbreak news reports, desolate cities, quarantines, and martial law immediately set the bleak outlook for infected daughter Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) and her gray bearded father Arnold Schwarzenegger in this 2015 zombie drama. Wait – Arnold? In a drama movie? About zombies? No choppers?! Nope, this is not an action horror movie, and gruesome gurneys, gangrene encounters, and blackened decay are not played for scares. Here the body horrors and social breakdowns go hand in hand – science can't put a dent into the virus fast enough, and loved ones must wait as the vein discolorations and white out eyes spread toward heightened smells and cannibalistic tendencies. Minimal technology, chopping wood, rustic generators, cassettes, and older horseshoe phones accent the isolated farmhouse as insect buzzing, infected neighbors, and animal dangers mount. Younger siblings are sent away, and step-mom Joely Richardson (Nip/tuck) struggles with her faith, strength of conviction, and the promises they've made despite the deadly risks. How does a teenager keep it together when she has nothing better to do but sit around and die? Do you call friends for a last hurrah? This flawed father won't send his daughter to die in quarantine with strangers, but he can't give the painful lethal injection at home or make it a quick end, either. Creepy doctor visits amplify the stigmas and paranoia regarding these in between infected, and nice teen moments soon give way to growls and necroambulist changes. Where is the line between siege removal authorities and family compassion? Someone has to take control and there's no time for sympathy – just the inevitable breakdown of families desperate to stay together. Governator Arnold produced the film sans salary, and the off-type surprise provides heart wrenching results and must see performances. Granted, most audiences probably expected zombie action thrills a minute and there are unnecessary artistic shots, long pauses, and plodding direction at times. However, this is a strong story with hefty goodbye conversations, and it is surprising such realistically upsetting and horrible circumstances rather than horror went unnoticed. Without mainstream box office demands, indie releases are free to tell their story as it needs to be told, and this tearjerker delivers a great spin on the flooded and increasing derivative zombie genre. 

 

We Are Still Here – Grieving parents moving to an isolated country home only to find a deceptive paranormal force may seem like nothing new to start this 2015 eighty odd minutes. However, it's lovely to see older protagonists with a lot to say yet little dialogue. Clearly this couple is disconnected over their loss, and this situation is already tough enough before the snowy bleak, creepy noises, and horrific basement. Exterior blues contrast the warm, seventies orange patterns, record player, and glowing lamps inside – the classic cars and country setting should be quaint but we know better. By being period set, there's no need to bother with technology explanations, either. How do they find the place without GPS? What's the cell phone reception? It doesn't matter, but retro psychics and hippie highs add to the simmering build, fire crackling, and shrewd use of light and dark schemes. The small cast and simple locations are well shot with no shocks and jump scares, just a tight camera focus on people feeling the suspicious or reacting to ghostly smells. Recent horror movies try to scare the audience by calling attention to the gag rather than making us feel the discomfort of a character in peril. Without such orchestration, the viewer is allowed to gasp by paying attention to the suspect baseball and glove, moving photographs, and every other part of the frame. This looks great on blu-ray, and rather than yawning at the usual predictability, it's more fun inching toward the screen for what happens next. Here, creepy neighbors sharing about the Victorian funeral home history is the closest thing to the cliché person who knows research moment, and the awkwardness over cocktails and cryptic warning notes works. The creepy crawlies aren't shown clearly at first – conversations are peppered with words like souls, demons, aura, and hot as hell instead – and our at odds husband and wife need to be on same page to best these horrors. Yes, it takes a half hour for something to happen, but the excellent twists and experienced cast do not disappoint. A superb séance is done with nothing but voice, and the nightmares escalate into siege terrors, plenty of blood, and nowhere to turn. I don't want to reveal everything, but this little picture does all it sets out to do in telling a darn good ghost story. Why isn't this kind of horror movie in the mainstream cinemas instead of the rinse repeat trite?

Split Call

The Attic – A derivative prologue and picturing Mad Men's Elizabeth Moss as 11/17/83 young makes this one tough going alongside throwaway cameras and a giant family computer suggesting a setting older than 2007. Indeed, this melodramatic, diary writing teen daughter feels ten years late in her nineties mood – Emma wears wispy white but is fresh and flirty with older men as her crazy look escalates to a black slip and icky food substitutions. Jason Lewis (Sex in the City) seems dubbed with bad dialogue delivery, and although there would seem to be an internal reason for this, the nasty implications with dad John Savage (The Deer Hunter) also go unclarified. Annoying strobe ghosts, popping lights, dream flashes, and creepy mirrors are also shocks more for the audience than the characters. Ominous clues, symbols, and objects in different places do better gaslighting with doppelganger blinks and head injuries adding duality to the agoraphobia and filming through windows, open doors, and faces in the glass frame. Rattling doors and violent twists layer this spiraling out of control reality, making the viewer unsure if this a ghost, a dead twin, or all in Emma's head. Is she acting out over other hatred and abuse or just enjoying the attention? Brief scenes with parents and doctors away from Emma accent the who's telling the truth unreliable view. Which whispers are real or imagined? Numerous possibilities including Wicca and the occult or evil hauntings are left hanging with poorly edited, nonsensical montages beating the audience over the head with cheap effects and obvious suggestions. This picture both needs more time to explain itself yet pads the eighty minute duration. Did director Mary Lambert (Pet Semetary) not have the time or money needed to finish? One can really see the difference between the direct to video stigmas here compared to the theater quality on demand today. Confusing ghost physicality and figments of Emma's imagination logistics contribute to a weak ending with too many twists and no answers beyond a Matrix believe what you see, what your mind tells you, and what is real to you meta. Leaving the crazy up to the viewer isn't a free pass to throw everything at the screen but leave your premise unexplained. Why would a house spirit make her go crazy with an occult twin theory when it could just do creepy ghost stuff? Fortunately, the cast is good fun – including a looking great Catherine Mary Stewart (Night of the Comet) – and this is shout at the TV trying to be avante garde bad entertainment watchable if one can accept the crazy as an excuse to ignore the plot holes.

Avoid

Red State – This 2011 eighty-eight minutes establishes its small town mood quickly with bigoted protests, homophobia, and rebelling against redneck Middle America ignorance and hypocrisy. The too chill classroom and modern teens are however immediately annoying – three dudes spewing gay slurs and lame, compensating gang bang talk deserve what comes to them and the audience never has a reason to care. There are smartphones and porn sites, but mullets, back road car crashes, a trailer in the woods, cages, and sex being the devil's business comments forebode a rural horror potential that instead gives way to misused hymns and Biblical quotes in uncomfortable cult dressings. Disturbing family congregation cheers and askew, from below camera angles are meant to reflect this warped, but the gross, in real time sermon steers the picture into heavy handed commentary. The first five minutes were already unnecessary and I really wanted to skip over this icky segment and turn the movie off all together in the first half hour. If I wanted to get disgusted by corrupt shit, I'd watch the news. Every fifteen minutes viewers are continually betrayed with a pulling the rug out bait and switch combining for some kind of clunky horror FBI raid meets zealot save the children siege. I see why stars like John Goodman and Melissa Leo were interested in the subject matter, but there's no finesse in the attempted statements or falling flat scares. Hate crimes and horror really don't mix. Trying to be witty dialogue ends up as corny misses – and I love Kevin Smith's humor in Clerks and social winks in Dogma. Once again, a one and the same writer/director really should have had another person tell him you can't squeeze a bigoted drama horror movie political action film together and expect something fulfilling. While I applaud the edgy approach and true indie notion of for the people by the people film making, the self promotional on demand distribution and lack of recognition here is not surprising. Not only does this toss in every taboo possible, but the wanna be shrewd controversial never makes up its messy mind.

Olympus Has Fallen

Olympus Has Fallen an Entertaining Action Yarn

By Kristin Battestella

Even after seeing a resurgence of ‘Butler Did It’ charm in all the press, interviews, and promotions for Olympus Has Fallen, it still took me more than six weeks to catch Gerard Butler’s latest kick ass action release at the cinema. This first of two 2013 ‘Save the White House’ thrillers is waning in theatres now, and only three other people attended my early morning showing.  Don’t you know it; two of them talked most of the time! What are the odds?

Ex-Ranger and Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Butler) is removed from President Benjamin Asher’s (Aaron Eckhart) detail after a deadly car accident. Secret Service Director Lynne Jacobs (Angela Bassett) places Banning in a desk job at the U.S. Treasury where he watches helplessly as Kang Yeonsak (Rick Yune) and his North Korean terrorists lay siege upon the White House.  Kang holds President Asher and Secretary of Defense Ruth McMillan (Melissa Leo) hostage in an underground bunker while Speaker of the House Allan Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) must take control of the Nation. Using his previous knowledge from his time with the President, Banning is able to infiltrate the locked down White House in hopes of rescuing Asher and stopping Kang before valuable codes and nuclear fail-safes are compromised and threaten the globe.

That indeed pretty much sums up Olympus Has Fallen, which has understandably been compared to classic action fair like Die Hard or Under Siege. Honestly, when I first saw the trailers and promotions several months ago, I was reminded not of Die Hard so much as a more obscure, cheesy film called Chain of Command. This White House under attack story from new writers Creighton Rothenberg and Katrin Benedikt is simplistic enough, but director Antoine Fugua (Training Day) unfolds all the places, characters, and situations nicely.  Critical people are in peril – some are brave and heroic while others are stupid and make mistakes. The first hour of the film smartly layers this character angst, and one may even suspect Olympus Has Fallen has something more sinister up its sleeve.  Despite a few surprises and the opportunity for more round table depth and crisis emotion from the excellent ensemble – which might have taken this flick to the next level – there’s no need to make this straightforward action tale too complex. The second half of the film dispenses with any possible subterfuge and sticks to a strictly procedural execution. The clock is ticking and predictable firefights and kicking butt has to happen – and this is where the Die Hard motifs are most apparent. There is some humor, catchy quips, and chuckle moments both intentional and unintentional, but any more wit or sarcasm might have been a total Die Hard rip off.  It’s played serious and may be a little rough around the edges, but Olympus Has Fallen does exactly what it set out to do, no more and no less.

Granted, it’s preposterous that the mass movements and aviation logistics of these North Korean radicals would go unnoticed much less proceed as swiftly as they do to set Olympus Has Fallen in motion.  However, even with a suspension of disbelief and over a decade on since 9/11, it is very difficult to watch such an effective, action packed terrorist attack on the White House. The large-scale but character based intensity may be outlandish and movie cool but it doesn’t resort to bombastic impossibilities every second ala Transformers. Thus, Olympus Has Fallen stays disturbingly real, graphic, and hard hitting. The expected action approach and systematic twists are entertaining in their heavy, if overly serious delivery and it’s pleasing to see a solid R rated film instead of a watered down PG-13 easy.  Olympus Has Fallen stays smart with precious little blood and no over the top glorification of violence, but the editing feels uneven. Some scenes simply happen too fast to see all the action. This frenetic camera style works for the daylight attack action, but it’s tough for dark or nighttime scenes. Despite being a solid two hours, Olympus Has Fallen seems a bit too quick, with a hasty ending lacking in hugs, handshakes, ceremonies, or a literal picking up the pieces. A few more minutes of resolution might have gone a long way in resolving some of the characters left hanging.

He’s back!  After toiling in the Hollywood banal with these crappy ass rom coms, 300 star Gerard Butler surprisingly fits the role of Mike Banning to a T.  Yes, viewers immediately realize he’s not an American, but it almost doesn’t even matter. We believe Butler to start Olympus Has Fallen when all is cool for Banning just as we believe his disgrace and redeeming progression to kick ass. The character may be mostly superficial and not as sardonic as audiences may have hoped, but there’s nothing wrong with having a straightforward hero in a film like this. Banning’s secret service formalities and protocols are shed as the action gets down, dirty, and deadly, and Butler proves his special forces, one man killing machine presence and all around bad assery with some intense mano y mano fight scenes. There’s no need for a clichéd, over the top camouflage painting, shouting in the mirror muscle flexing, or beefing up weapons montage ala Rambo or Schwarzenegger here. It’s nice to have someone take names and save the day instead of the 21^st century trend towards ambiguous, grey, anti-heroes taking things down dark and deep, too.  Banning’s suave in a suit whether he’s stuck at a desk or killing bad guys with his bare hands and saving kids.  What’s not to love? I do wish Butler could have used his natural Scottish accent, but nowadays one is accustomed to his in between American sound anyway. Unfortunately, there should have been more scenes with Banning’s onscreen wife Radha Mitchell (Pitch Black), who is doubly under utilized as a wife in crisis and a nurse on the frontlines of the terrorist trauma. It might be a bit much, but I dare say I’d like to see further Banning, Secret Service Detail sequels or adventures. Butler produced Olympus Had Fallen, after all, so why not? Let him making steady action yarns like this – as opposed to some of those erroneous, desperate comedies. Butler needs to reinvent himself with this action effectiveness, but he has to stop doing most of his own stunts. In addition to whatever health issues and Hollywood vices with which he may struggle, some of this stuff really has to hurt!

Although there isn’t much character development in Olympus Has Fallen, the supporting players deliver as expected.  Angela Bassett (What’s Love Got to Do with It), Morgan Freeman (seriously?), and Melissa Leo (The Fighter) may each seem too big a talent for their respective roles, but they keep things entertaining when the camera is away from Butler. Iffy dialogue aside, Freeman shows his usual cool, with a touch of argument and crisis for good measure. Unfortunately, once each in the ensemble has his or her moment, they seem to disappear from the picture or have their stories easily resolved in a few scenes. Olympus Has Fallen hints to further scandal, intrigue, interactions, and emotion from these players, but as is, we get just enough to move the plot along. Cole Hauser (Ironically also of A Good Day to Die Hard) doesn’t get to do much, and although he’s good, the script fails Dylan McDermott (The Practice). Fortunately, Rick Yune (Die Another Day) as Kang adds some strong twists and suspense to what could easily have been clichéd villainy, but I’m not sure why his plans and most of Ashley Judd’s (Kiss the Girls) element are spoiled in the trailer. Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight) also suffers in the suave department, as he is, after all, a president taken hostage. Nonetheless, he delivers the tough lines whilst also keeping the family moments tender. In some ways, it feels like he and Butler make a good buddy team, and I wish there was a bit more back-story on their friendship. How did Banning and POTUS become friends? What if there had been a history between Banning and the First Lady? Why did Banning tell the Trumbull to go F himself? Touching upon these little things more would have added further dimension to Olympus Has Fallen, so here’s hoping there are some deleted scenes on the forthcoming DVD.  

 

Action may be its primary focus, but Olympus Has Fallen has some surprisingly unfinished effects and CGI. Not only is some photography simply too dark, but the Washington Monument scenes look incomplete, even amateur. Tricks and a reliance on computer imagery to recreate the White House are also apparent, even if the subsequent destruction is eerily well done. Naturally, I imagine the security protocols, call signs, and nuclear specifications aren’t genuine, but the use of intercut news and media footage is awkward. CNN can get closer to the action then the Pentagon and national security decisions are made based upon our crisis center’s watching of this news coverage? Misspellings on the news scrolls and television screens are plain to see, too. Whoops! Thankfully, the helicopter action, plane explosions, and machine gun fire exceed expectations. Perhaps the lengthy shootouts, gunshot wounds, and triage scenes even feel too realistic – but Olympus Has Fallen must show this action realism in order for the audience to accept the eventual rah rah heroics. The man-to-man fight choreography is intense and very well done, if tough to see at times due to claustrophobic, close quarters locations or the aforementioned dark filming. However, these are blessedly not 3D fake, Matrix panoramic, overly lit, and seemingly unrealistic ninja standoffs. I’m so glad Olympus Has Fallen didn’t resort to stereotypical, racist martial arts fights on top of today’s often awe struck, over produced action. Blows are exchanged, shots are fired, kill moves are made, next. The design isn’t super high tech, either – although some of the basic flat screens, standard smart phones, and current computer technology depicted will surely be dated soon. The hash tag reference is also too of the moment and the brief video game appearances have a whiff of product placement. Mercifully, there isn’t as much cool gizmos, fictitious gadgetry, or pop culture crutches as there could be, and Olympus Has Fallen smartly keeps the action more mature, even traditional. Yes, why not have another eighties action hey day this century?

For those interested in the trailers along with Olympus Has Fallen, there wasn’t much for which I’d return to the theater to see. Monsters University had a fun, college commercial angle to it, but The Internship feels like the same old Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson retread. How many times are these middle-aged guys going to hang around with the same twenty something college plot elements? After Earth does look very good, but Will and Jaden Smith’s paging Dr. Nepotism takes over its charm. Thankfully, Man of Steel looks promising.  Of course, there was no trailer for that other Die Hard in the White House flick White House Down, hehe. Olympus Has Fallen is already available for pre order on blu-ray from Amazon – probably to keep it fresh in audiences’ minds as the R rated, badass, cheaper home video alternative now that White House Down is indeed afoot for the summer.  Though it’s not uncommon to have annoyingly similar but different dual approaches in Hollywood – Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Hunstman for example, or the musical Sweeney Todd compared to Ray Winstone’s straight adaptation – it is ridiculously bizarre to have two so similarly plotted films out at nearly the same time. Could Olympus Has Fallen have shaken itself up by making Banning an intriguingly traumatized secret service agent who messes up and bleakly doesn’t save the day? Haven’t we seen enough of that cynicism or forced political propaganda and self-referential heavy already? I really enjoyed Olympus Has Fallen’s win the day John Wayne modern hero and modestly mature if sometimes mindless action.  

Terrorist violence, possible political controversies, and unevenly fleshed out but mostly straightforward telling notwithstanding, Olympus Has Fallen has been a box office success and a return to form for Gerard Butler. Audiences will shout at the screen during the White House takeover or call out other plot holes, but there were times when I was holding my breath at the intensity and smiling at the kick ass. This is either a film you love and can watch over and over or something you immediately hate and will not finish much less ever see again. Non-action fans or viewers expecting a complex political thriller will probably dislike Olympus Has Fallen, but old school action audiences and fans of the cast can delight here. Is Olympus Has Fallen a bad movie? No. Could it have been a heavy, emotional, political thriller? Sure, but this isn’t meant to be a statement making movie – even if the cast is here for such meaty. Take Olympus Has Fallen for what it is, a fictional, entertaining depiction of us kicking some butt. 

Scarlett

Scarlett No Gone With The Wind

By Kristin Battestella

I wanted to like Alexandra Ripley’s 1991 Novel Scarlett, but the book holds little against Margaret Mitchell’s original or the classic film adaptation. Likewise the 1994 miniseries Scarlett boasts lavish locales, costumes, and all the soap opera scandals one could ask for. These visuals and shockers are fine and dandy, but in the end William Handley’s adaptation holds little weight onscreen or off.

Now that Melanie Wilkes is buried, Scarlett O’Hara Butler (Joanne Whalley-Kilmer) pursues her wayward husband Rhett (Timothy Dalton) to Charleston. Despite a brief, yet passionate reconciliation, Rhett rejects Scarlett and marries Anne Hampton (Annabeth Gish, The X-Files). Although she is pregnant with his child, Scarlett does not tell Rhett, instead traveling to New Orleans to find her O’Hara relatives. Cousin Father Colum O’Hara (Colm Meaney, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) is returning to Ireland, and Scarlett leaves America for her ancestral homeland.

While the supporting cast does well with what they are given, no one is given that much, except Scarlett herself. Joanne Whalley Kilmer made a name for herself somehow in the early nineties, but I’ve never seen her in a part that stole the show for me. Navy Seals? Willow? Outside of being the former Mrs. Val Kilmer, what has she done? A better actress could make do with such a convoluted script, but nothing about Kilmer’s (or rather Whalley’s now) performance harkens to the powerful Scarlett we’ve previously viewed or read. Vivian Leigh was by no means perfect, but she commanded attention when entering a room. Little Joanne is actually quite short in comparison to her leading men.

Timothy Dalton is actually my favorite Bond (The Living Daylights, License to Kill, and the quirky Beautician and the Beast!) but he has precious little to do here. Everyone in Scarlett is made to look stupid. All Rhett does is bat his eyes at Scarlett, then whisk away again. Over and over they taunt each other. I would have liked to have seen Dalton more. He seems capable of giving Rhett weight, but his shining moment in Scarlett never comes. Likewise Sean Bean’s (Sharpe) barely there English Lord Fenton is reduced to his usually villainy. At least his and Dalton’s accents are authentic. It’s a joy just to hear them talk so we break from Miss Whalley’s horrendous southern delivery.

Two bright spots in Scarlett that earn their keep (Sean Bean’s rapacious self is always a keeper) are Colm Meaney as Scarlett’s cousin Colum and Melissa Leo (Homicide: Life on the Street) as her sister Suellen. Both are few and far between in the series, but their accurate portrayals and authentic looks lend real honesty to their scenes. Sure we love the over the top bits, but it’s nice to remember most of the people during this time were not like Scarlett, Rhett, or Lord Fenton. Many were poor, working class, humble folks.

Accents and dialogue may suffer, but Scarlett is the best looking miniseries since North and South. Scarlett’s clothes reflect each of her situations perfectly. Despite her somewhat humble dress in Ireland, Scarlett is never seen in the same outfit twice. We don’t spend much time in any one locale, either. Atlanta, Tara, Charleston, New Orleans, Ireland, London all look stunning. I’m in heaven making my ‘beautiful scenery’ screen captures. The post Civil War opulence is certainly a delight to look at, even if it is a bit overwhelming. How many different places does Scarlett own? Buying the fabrics to make her gowns today wouldn’t be cheap, either.

Pretty and shiny things onscreen, however, are not enough to explain the mishmashed story presented by Hanley. The end of the novel is completely forgotten in favor of a new, murderous idiocy, and the only worthy subplot regarding the Fenian Brotherhood vanishes partway through.

The DVD presentation hinders the viewing of Scarlett as well. The six hour mini series is split over two discs, with no breaks. It’s one straight mother load without even additional credits introducing the players in the second half. So if one did want to pause and return, it’s a matter of skipping chapters instead of having definite episode beginnings. Upon my first viewing, I thought there would be an end at which to stop. Instead I was fighting to stay awake, wondering when Scarlett would end.

Despite my complaints about Scarlett, there is an audience out there who will adore this film. Period buffs, romance fans, folks who like to see Sean Bean stripped and oiled for now matter how brief a time- Scarlett is affordable enough for these indulgences. My set was $6.99 new. Gone with the Wind it is not, but take Scarlett for what it is; guilty visuals to sleep to.

Homicide: Life on The Street, Season 4

Homicide Season 4 Still Great

By Kristin Battestella

Always a critical darling but never a ratings winner, Homicide: Life on the Street survived for seven seasons on NBC. After Emmy success and high profile guest stars in its shortened first three seasons, Homicide’s studio executives insisted on changes in an attempt to grab ratings. Even with studio interference, Season 4 of Homicide is still top notch.

Homicide’s iconic jump-cutting, gritty styles and great music continue in the Season 4’s two part opener, “Fire”. Storylines and issues presented here leave their touch throughout the entire season. New hot head Detective Mike Kellerman (Reed Diamond) joins the Homicide unit after butting heads with Frank Pembleton (Andre Braugher)-who confides in his partner Tim Bayliss (Kyle Secor) that his wife is pregnant. Gone are Detectives Stan Bolander and Beau Felton (Ned Beatty, Daniel Baldwin). After off season shenanigans, both are conveniently suspended for the length of the season. Now partnerless, John Munch (Richard Belzer) and Kay Howard (Melissa Leo) compete in taking the Sergeant’s exam. Captain Megan Russert (Isabella Hofmann) is still dealing with the politics of her promotion, as is Shift Commander Gee (Yaphet Kotto).

It seems like a lot I know, and it’s tough to summarize Homicide’s complexities without giving everything away. Some purists dislike Kellerman’s introduction to the series and the poor handling of Megan Russert, but each have their it moments this season. Kellerman is presented as a studio induced pretty combination of Felton and Bolander. He’s divorced but still in love with his ex, sometimes juvenile-admitting he dreams of Bugs Bunny. Kellerman acts like he’s a frat boy on the outside, declaring “Fun is my God”, yet he can’t quit smoking and eventually shares some of his issues with new partner Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson). Lewis, of course, is still getting over Crosetti’s suicide.

One of Homicide’s strengths is it’s lack of one off stories or stand alone episodes. Crosetti, Russert’s affair with Felton, these issues from Season 3 aren’t forgotten. Season 4 does lose a touch of the show’s early ensemble feel. Instead we begin the focus of pairings and partnerships. Munch suffers the most from this. Without Bolander, his comedic wit and banter suffer, but this Munch is still superior than his touch and go appearances currently seen (or not seen) on Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Of course, Homicide staples Pembleton and Bayliss have their share of stand out episodes and bonding experiences.

Of course, when any show takes the cast change plunge, it can make or break a series. Homicide could not maintain the edgy work it does without its exceptional cast. Braugher (Glory) is in Emmy form again, particularly in the special two part crossover with Law and Order. Although her role is slightly reduced on the show, Melissa Leo continues to bring new dimensions to the already unconventional Howard. Yaphet Kotto brings more light to oft passed over Lieutenant Giardello, and most surprising of all is perhaps Clark Johnson as Detective Lewis. His family life, potential problems with women as authority, and relationship with Kellerman becomes in some ways the heart of the series. As much as some early fans love the Lewis and Crosetti pairing, there simply wasn’t enough of it when compared to the amount of time and issues that spring from Meldrick and “Detective Mikey”.

Not to be outdone, the standout episodes of Homicide this season still belong to Pembleton and Bayliss. Although guest star Marcia Gay Harden is the focus of the fourth episode “A Doll’s Eyes”, Homicide’s signature detectives are caught in a family’s difficult decision of what to do when their son is shot and left brain dead. Although he lost his faith in season 3, Pembleton’s religious conflicts are still very much at the forefront. Braugher and the Homicide writing team know when to give the perfect dialogue -“God wasn’t returning calls that day” (in the “For God and Country” L&O crossover) or just let the image speak for itself-like when Pembleton sneaks into a back room to watch the Pope visit Baltimore. Tim Bayliss is also never without issue. Kyle Secor walks a tough line between being over dramatic and just right for the sensitive detective. He revisits his unsolved first case in “Requiem for Adena” and debates his homophobic issues in “Hate Crimes”.

Homicide never seems like a special sweeps episode even though each hour tackles real life issues and touchy subjects. The pop score and musical montages never seem out of place in such a rugged, yet sensitive show. It’s 1995 and Homicide is talking about gay bashing and immigration problems, work politics, and race relations. Homicide is ingenious in its play on ‘it’s not an issue, but it is.’ Pembleton’s declaration in “Hate Crimes” is that ‘We learn how to hate.’ It’s very true, nearly a fact, actually. Everyone knows it, but nobody actually says it. Some much dialogue on Homicide is like a revelation. Writer David Simon and producer James Yoshimura’s work is fascinating in contrast with tales of studio memos telling them there are too many black actors onscreen at once.

Unfortunately, Homicide: Life on the Street DVDs are nearly devoid of special features. The case file interface is cool, but audio commentaries and behind the scenes shorts are few and far between. The extras are no less insightful-I just wish there were more. Another hardship is the lack of subtitles as well. Such crisp dialogue should be there for all to see. It’s so refreshing to hear such tight and life like yet makes-you-think writing on a television show.

I know I’ve probably meandered more than a review should here, but it is impossible to capture everything about a season of Homicide in so little. Even in reviewing episodes one at a time, I doubt a viewer could keep track of all the references, subtext, comparisons and characterizations. I can barely keep track of Kellerman’s bad ties and his penchant for eating in every single episode. It’s quirky things like this that fascinate me. Even bottle type episodes leave their mark on Homicide. You really learn to know and love everyone on the show, the squad room, Baltimore itself. One of the things that initially attracted me to the show was its real city look. I’ve been to Baltimore many times. I live near crime ridden and downtrodden cities like Camden and Philadelphia. It surprises me to know Homicide reruns are popular in Europe. Maybe they don’t understand the absurdity of deliberately overturning a truck on North 95, but the people and emotions presented ring true for any culture.

Although I don’t think kids can understand all of its subtleness, Homicide is an intelligent option for tween viewing. The show helped break a lot of television barriers, and unfortunately controversies like mild language, drug use, and violence are now nothing new to younger demographics. After finding a lot of Homicide fans online, I learned many of them are educators or students who use episodes in their lectures and thesis-although its tough to pick just one episode out of so many great ones.

The education and experience of watching Homicide: Life on the Street cannot be found on television today. A cop show about the cops. Eureka! If you’re a fan of The Shield, SVU, The Wire, or any other cop show, Homicide has to be witnessed. The complete mega set and later seasons can be pricey, but look for sales or used editions of the first Season 1 and 2 set. Against network odds and pressures then and now, season four of Homicide: Life on the Street is still better than anything on television today. Strike or no strike.