Graham Yost

A smart and beautifully character-driven show where you never quite know what will happen next -- and even when you think you do, you sometimes find you were wrong. Or at least I did. The first few seasons were exceptionally great, with amazing characters, delectable dialogue and both (innumerable) hilarious and (fewer, but even more memorable) heart-wrenching moments. The later seasons perhaps lost a little bit of creative steam in comparison, but could probably still go toe to toe with show more most dramas out there. "Justified" was something special, standing out from the crowd of cop-and-robber shows that are so familiar that they become (even when done very well) rather a dime a dozen: "Justified" was something else entirely. It had perhaps more in common with crime dramas, regularly spending a lot of time with the antagonists as well as the protagonists, but even there it is something of its own. It's not about good people or bad people, but just about people, and their decisions and relationship, which can be good or bad. Or often a little bit of both. The term 'frenemy' sounds a bit silly, but the core relationship of Raylan and Boyd is nothing short of a beautiful example of just how rich and rewarding a well executed relationship like that can be in a long-form drama. I'm fairly omnivorous when it comes to good television, but it's no secret a list of my main genre preferences hardly would include a modern day western in pseudo-procedural cop show trappings. "Justified" somehow still managed to make a mark on me that few other dramas do, and I'm excited at the thought of revisiting it -- hopefully many times throughout my life. show less

Jack Traven and Harry Temple are LAPD SWAT officers who start this movie off by outsmarting a mysterious bomber and saving an elevator full of people. The incident leaves Harry with a wounded leg, and everyone thinks that the bomber died. However, a short while later, Jack witnesses a mass transit bus explode and receives a call from the same bomber who targeted the elevator. The bomber tells him that a similar bomb has been rigged on another bus. Once the bus reaches 50 mph, the bomb will show more be armed and will go off when the bus slows down to under 50 mph. None of the passengers can leave, or the bomber will immediately blow the bus up.

Jack manages to get onto the bus and does his best to follow the bomber's instructions while trying to figure out the bomber's identity and somehow rescue the passengers.

Hey look, it's baby Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock! It's been at least a decade since I last watched this movie, and I wondered how well it was going to hold up. The answer: it's complicated.

I had forgotten how awkward the dialogue was. Some of the actors could make it work: Sandra Bullock and Dennis Hopper. Some, not so much. Most of the bus passengers made me cringe whenever they opened their mouths (granted, Doug was supposed to be cringeworthy), and I'm sorry to say that Keanu Reeves also had trouble making his lines sound believable.

That said, for the most part the movie's excitement factor still worked. Yes, the premise was ridiculous, and there's no way that certain scenes, like the bus jumping the bridge gap, would ever have worked in the real world. Still, I could appreciate the effort that was put into making this movie as much of a nail-biter as possible. Everything that might possibly make audience members nervous was there. Children in peril? A baby in peril? An incapacitated bus driver? Bus passengers made desperate with terror? All there. I think the only thing that wasn't included was a pet in peril.

Jack was always the rock steady SWAT officer who did his best to keep everyone calm and always had a plan...except for one moment when he broke due to a tragedy that affected him personality. Whatever the issues with Keanu Reeves' script, I thought that aspect was very effective. I do wish that the movie had left Jack and Annie's chemistry at just the "they have good chemistry" stage rather than trying to turn it into a romance by the end, though.

All in all, this was decent entertainment as long as you didn't try to engage your brain too much and could get past the issues with the dialogue.

While working on this review, I learned that an attempt was made at a sequel, and all I can do is wince at the thought.

Extras:

Commentary tracks I didn't listen to.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

A mad bomber booby-traps a city bus.

It's completely ridiculous, but for some reason doesn't want to admit it. It takes itself too seriously (with the exception of the requisite comic relief one-liners) to be much fun, and is too inherently silly to be very suspenseful. It's well done on a technical level, though.

Concept: C
Story: D
Characters: D
Dialog: D
Pacing: C
Cinematography: B
Special effects/design: B
Acting: D
Music: C

Enjoyment: C

GPA: 1.8/4

(Oct. 2013)

Like most early Baby Boomers, one of my parents was part of the "Greatest Generation," although in my case, it was my mother who served during World War II rather than my father. She was motivated to enlist because her nephew, First Lieutenant Irwin Wolf, died of wounds he sustained in the Battle for Guam. Naturally, because of this fact, I wanted to know a little more about the War in the Pacific. Thus, I watched _The Pacific_ with great anticipation.

I was not really prepared for my show more visceral reaction. It's one thing to read about the War or to watch one of the period films made about it. But to live the fight for the Pacific Ocean vicariously through the lives of the real men and woman that are portrayed here is entirely different. Watching the fight for Guadalcanal, seeing men that I'd come to know die at the hands of men they didn't know, and knowing that my cousin had been in that battle ... I finally thought I could understand the some of the reasons that caused him to fight.

I don't hold with the current lessening of the term "hero," since the definition I learned as a child made this word applicable to only the very few who went beyond what others would or could. But I was hard put not to want to apply the term to all the Marines and soldiers who fought, died, or were wounded in heart and mind by their experiences. I finally understood saw how why these courageous men (and even those who ran under fire), fashioned of a different fabric than we, went through their lives unable to talk about their experiences, with the same nightmares and agonies that my generation would later call "post-traumatic stress disorder." They had lived with much of their lives without the fear of nuclear holocaust, in a world that was smaller and quieter. They were taught that men hid their emotions (thank the god this is no longer the case!), and so they did.

Most of these men are gone now, and the few who are left are in their 80's and 90's. But now, when I see one, I can only wonder in amazement at their lives, and thank them for having given of themselves to the World. And all I can do is pray that the years have been kind to them and their brothers, and that they at last found peace of soul for what they experienced to bring us peace for a few years. show less