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Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders: The Harmful One (2016)
The cast and audience deserved so much better
The show held such promise. Borne of the original, it should have been good, but the writing, directing, production quality, and pacing are painfully bad. The cultural insensitivity, overt propaganda, and fear-mongering are appalling. Having lived in Thailand and travelled to Mumbai and Egypt, I can report that CM:BB lampoons these people and their cultures. (And perhaps the others in the series; I could not force myself to watch past episode three.) The acting is not this cast's best and cannot rise above the paper-thin story lines. Having the team travel from one country to the next, episode to episode, there is no way for the show to explore and present a culture with any depth, resulting in stereotypical caricatures and plot lines penned by writers who obviously have never travelled to, nor spent time in any of these countries. (Nor, inexplicably, availed themselves of the internet, a rich repository of information on almost everything.) An FBI team swoops into a country with a big plane, SUVs, judgements, and threats, leaving soon after without having been affected by what they've seen or who they met. There are no sympathetic locals, only criminals and heartless civil servants. Had the creators chosen to delve into one culture for a multi-episode arc, maybe even half a season, and learn about the country, its people, and culture, and see the team grow as a team, struggling with the challenges of being American agents in a foreign country, breaking down their assumptions/misconceptions, forging working relationships with domestic policing agencies - that would have been an awesome series. There was good potential in the bones of this show. The cast and audience deserved better.
The Legend of Clipper Dos Santos (2006)
Silly satire, impressive for a budget of $600
I love that some cable movie channels use the time between major screenings to showcase short films that people would not normally get the opportunity to see. Some are really good and others are merely good efforts. Clipper dos Santos falls somewhere in between.
This film is an award-winning entry in the Toronto 48-Hour Film Challenge (i.e., write, produce, edit and submit a short film within a 48-hour period). Considering the time constraints and budget, this mockumentary does its job satisfyingly well. Mockumenting the disappearance of a well-known local barber, Clipper dos Santos, the cast of four represent the typical characters one sees in real documentaries - the attention-seeker, the affected, the too-emotional-to-be-genuine, and the sardonic.
The rating I gave considers the budget, schedule, and product - it's a few minutes of silly fun.
Bad Day, Good Day, Bad Day (2007)
Enjoyable gem -
I love that some cable movie channels use the time between major screenings to showcase short films that people would not normally get the opportunity to see. Some are really good and others are merely good efforts.
Bad Day, Good Day, Bad Day is one of the better efforts I've seen lately. The premise is simple - man is out for a walk. The choreography of the very large cast of background performers creates first the feeling of dull energy bordering on depressive. As the man walks on and turns the corner, so does the energy of the world and people around him, music and rhythm becoming lighter, brighter, more hopeful. Then he crosses the street and it changes again.
When you watch this great gem, pay as much attention to what's going on behind him, as watching the main character.
Riding the Bus with My Sister (2005)
Very good portrayal of the developmentally disabled -
I have worked with developmentally challenged children and young adults, and found Rosie O'Donnell's performance excellent. While Dustin Hoffman and Geoffrey Rush portrayed characters who were obviously handicapped, Rosie portrayed a character as we often perceive the mentally handicapped - looking "normal", and at first seeming "normal", then realizing that there is something different.
Previous posts complained that they were looking for laughs, but the synopsis, trailers and excellent book by Rachel Simon promised a touching story about the relationship between two sisters. Check out http://www.rachelsimon.com.
This is a network TV movie, a genre seldom equated with great film-making. Needing to sell to advertisers, Hallmark is not known for edgy, innovative films. What they promise is what they delivered in "Riding the Bus With My Sister" - a touching story simply told, that did not manipulate for sympathy, but instead sought understanding of the challenges faced by those with developmental disabilities.
This film is not going to make some aspiring film student (as one post derided) a great filmmaker. It's not going to be remembered in the annals of time...but if perhaps, through the effortless and realistic portrayal of Rosie O'Donnell, it inspires you to be a bit more patient and empathetic of someone with a developmental disability, then this film will have its own very worthwhile legacy.