Butler's Cinema Scene

“GANGS OF London” (Max)

When the Brit series “Gangs of London” premiered in 2020 on AMC  it dished up the most graphic violence ever seen on mainstream cable. 

Each episode was highlighted by at least one state-of-the-art fight scene…sometimes featuring firearms, often with bladed weapons, frequently with fists, feet and teeth.

We’re talking John Wick-level action choreography melded with a gruesome  attention to the trauma inflicted on the human body. Sometimes balletic but mostly brutal.  In the middle of the first season nearly an entire episode was devoted to the siege of a remote farmhouse by a small army of mercenaries…it was an astounding action set piece comparable to Sam Peckinpah’s “The Wild Bunch.”

“Gangs…” Season Two just dropped on Max and, if anything, it raises the ante on onscreen mayhem.

The premise is pretty much summed up in the title.  Various gangs representing different ethnic groups (Pakistanis, Irish, Kurdish, etc.) vie for supremacy of the London underworld.  The authorities are conspicuous in their absence…apparently standard-issue law enforcement is utterly ineffective in curtailing the carnage.

Our nominal hero is undercover cop Elliott (Sope Dirisu) who infiltrates the gang led by the demented mother/son duo Marian and Sean Wallace (Michelle Fairley, Joe Cole). The idea is to undermine the Wallaces from within, but to prove his loyalty (and to elude discovery) Elliott must participate in the gang’s reign of terror. He’s the closest thing we have to a moral authority, but even he has way too much blood on his hands.

This being a Brit production, the acting is top-notch.  Season Two features the arrival of the loathsome Koba (Waleed Zuaiter), a platinum-haired enforcer from Georgia (the eastern European Georgia, not the American one) tasked with ending the infighting whether the warring gangs like it or not.  Kidnapping and torturing the wife of an uncooperative gangster is all in a day’s work for this ruthless killer…Koba may be the year’s best heavy.

Season Two also raises tantalizing questions about “the investors,” a shadowy group of plutocrats (we never see them) who are the mob bosses’ bosses. I have to imagine that Season Three (now in production) will find Elliott exposing their Koch-level shenanigans.

Just about every aspect of “Gangs of London” works.  The question is whether you can handle the series’ pervasive nihilism and unapologetic barbarity.  Because no matter how you approach it, you’ll  end up rooting for one of the bad guys.

“RESERVATION DOGS” (Hulu)

Apparently the world is made up of two kinds of viewers: Those who immediately recognized the genius of “Reservation Dogs” and those of us who discover it later.

When the show debuted in 2021 I gave it a go, but couldn’t slip into its distinctive vibe about slacker teens growing up hopeless on an Oklahoma Indian Reservation. There was something about the pseudo-amateurish performances that rubbed me the wrong way.

Or maybe it was some weird sort of white privilege. “Rez Dogs” has been written, directed and overwhelmingly acted by Native Americans, and it is unapologetic in unfolding from a distinctively N.A. point of view. To an old white guy it didn’t seem a good fit.

A friend, however, encouraged me start again, this time with Season Two.  I did…and am eternally thankful for the recommendation.

Most of the Season Two episodes put one or more of the characters through an experience that is simultaneously universal and specifically Native American.

One features young Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai) taking his first paying job…as a roofer. His experiences with the older crew members widen his perspectives and his growing satisfaction at delivering a good day’s work suggests his gentle shift toward maturity. 

An entire episode is devoted to the death of the grandmother of Elora (Devery Jaccobs).  Virually every major cast member shows up to pay their respects to the fading matriarch, and the interplay among them beautifully reflects the humor, loss and resignation experienced during such a pivotal moment. 

Gay kid Cheese (Lane Factor) finds himself in juvie (he was visiting his weed-growing uncle when the cops arrived).  And a handful of aunties travel to a Native American confab in a big hotel…it’s a chance to leave the rez behind, party like their old former selves and maybe snag a fine man.

The shows are funny, yes. The characters are periodically visited by the spirits of long-gone tribal members, like William Knifeman, a horse-riding, joke-telling warrior who is far more laid back than intimidating, and Deer Lady, a beautiful but vengeful creature who gruesomely settles scores with folk who have lived badly.

And in one absurdity-drenched segment straight arrow tribal cop Big (Zahn McClarnon) accidentally takes an acid trip and in the woods stumbles across a coven of white Oklahoma businessmen planning to seize Indian land.

But there’s a growing seriousness that comes to its full fruition in Season Three.  The overarching theme has the kids little by little coming to terms with just what means to be Indian. Though they are acutely aware of the ridiculous elements of their existence (a touchy-feely session with a couple of wannabe New-Agey Native American gurus is simultaneously hilarious and creepy), these young people are developing a sense of community and discovering a new respect for traditions.

The last few episodes pretty much left me an emotional wreck. But you know what? The kids are gonna be alright.

“WINNING TIME: THE RISE OF THE LAKERS DYNASTY” (MAX)

You don’t have to know anything about basketball to become a big fan of “Winning Time,” whose two seasons chronicle the rise of the L.A. Lakers and provide a veritable smorgasbord of acting treats.

As in most sports sagas there are ups and downs on the court, but the game itself takes a backseat to the potent characters drawn from real-life personalities.

These outsized egos include team owner and dedicated Lothario Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly), his doting mother (Sally Field), charming/naughty court superstar Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah), Kareen Abdul Jabbar (Solomon Hughes) and coaches like Jerry West (Jason Clarke),  Pat Riley (Adrien Brody), Paul Westhead (Jason Segel) and Jack McKinney (Tracy Letts).

Season Two spends a lot of time with the Lakers’ nemesis, Larry Bird (Sean Patrick Small).

As far as I can tell, the series sticks pretty close to the historic truth, although clearly the writers have had to invent what went on behind closed doors.  I particularly love that the show is not in awe of its sugjects…there is a full panoply of human foible on display.

And the look of it all! Rarely have we seen a series which so consistently captures the visual and aural sensations of a past  era, in this case the 1980s. The makers of “Winning Time” dig up old newsfilm and video, but they also employ (or masterfully fake) now-abandoned visual formats.

The result is a series that feels more like a time machine than a conventional TV show.

| Robert W. Butler

Idris Elba

“HIJACK” (Apple+):  I’d watch Idris Elba clean his ears with a Q-Tip. In “Hijack” he is but one member of an excellent ensemble delivering the year’s best nail-biter.

This seven-part miniseries unfolds in real time.  Shorty after taking off from a Middle East airport, a British passenger jet is taken over by gunmen. Their motivations are unclear until late in the drama, but every episode cannily drops breadcrumb clues that we must sort through.

In that we’re like passenger Sam Nelson  (Elba), a heavy-hitting corporate negotiator flying back to his native London.  Nelson isn’t a man of action. No kung fu, no fisticuffs. He’s a thinker who places himself between the hijackers and the terrified passengers in an effort to prevent what looks increasingly like a high body count.

“Hijack” unfolds not only in the air, where we meet all sorts of passengers — as in John Ford’s “Stagecoach,” they represent all aspects of humankind, good and bad —but also on the ground as the British authorities, air traffic controllers and anti-terrorism experts  try to stave off a worst-case scenario in which the air liner is shot down by military jets.

Perhaps the show’s deeply satisfying complexity is the result of a seven-person writing staff who keep coming up with new and intriguing twists.  Meanwhile directors Jim Field Smith and Mo Ali make the most of the yarn’s claustrophobic elements. 

With its real-time delivery “Hijack” is the perfect one-day binge. 

“JUSTIFIED: CITY PRIMIEVAL” (Hulu): More Raylan Givens?  YES, PLEASE.

Timothy Olyphant reprises his signature role as U.S. Marshal Raylan Givens in this eight-parter (too short, but still) that finds our Kentucky-bred lawman working a case in Detroit (as gritty in its own way as coal country).

Nearly 16 years have passed since we last saw Raylan, and if anything he looks sexier than ever.  Maybe it’s because he’s now older and a bit wiser, long divorced and traveling with his teenage daughter, who is way too cocky for her years. (She’s played by Olyphant’s real-life kiddo Vivian…the apple didn’t drop far from this tree).

The villain this time around is Clement Mansell (Boyd Holbrook), a seductive/terrifying good ol’ boy who likes to preen in his tidy whities. Early on Mansell kills a judge and steals his little brown book of bribery.  The idea is to blackmail the “respectable” folk listed in this incriminating volume. 

Toss in Mansell’s grudge match with the local Albanian ganglord (Terry Kinney), his affair with a fortune-hunting casino cocktail waitress (Adelaide Clemens, suggesting the good girl she played in “Rectified” has gone bad),  and an uneasy partnership with a dive bar owner (Vondie Curtis-Hall), and you’ve got plenty of nerve-shredding action.

But there’s more,  with our boy Raylan finding a sympathetic soul in Mansell’s criminal attorney, winning played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. It may be the year’s most unexpected and satisfying TV romance.

Oh…and the final episode ties up loose ends with a coda that damn near rivals the final sendoff of “ Six Feet Under.”

Matthew Goode as Robert Evans, Miles Teller as Al Ruddy

“THE OFFER” (Paramount +): The making of 1972’s “The Godfather” was every bit as gripping as the film itself…at least according to this 10-part miniseries which, we’re told, was inspired by Al Ruddy’s experiences while producing the film.

Miles Teller plays Ruddy, whose track record (“Hogan’s Heroes,” a motorcycle movie) hardly seemed up to adapting Mario Puzo’s best-selling Mafia novel to the big screen.  Basically Ruddy learned the hard way, putting out daily brushfires (budget problems, location hassles) and finding himself aligned with real-world mobster Joe Columbo, who initially opposed the film as being anti-Italian and later padded the production’s payroll with his non-working “workers.”

Teller provides a solid center to the film, but the real fun comes from a small army of  supporting players who chew the scenery with relish:  Matthew Goode as studio head and ladies’ man Robert Evans, Giovanni Ribisi as frog-voiced Joe Columbo, and Brit character actor Burn Gorman as Charles Bluhdorn, the Austrian owner of Paramount and the very image of a capitalist martinet.

Though they have cannily cast actors who sound (and sometimes look) like stars Al Pacino and Marlon Brando, the series’ makers don’t try to re-enact moments from the actual movie.  But frequently we watch the faces of crew members as they oversee a scene being shot, and their awestruck expressions make it clear that movie magic is being captured.

For most viewers “The Offer” will be a huge package of surprise revelations.  Director Frances Coppola (an excellent Dan Fogler) had to fight off numerous attempts by the studio brass to fire Pacino (he was deemed too short, too actorish). The production barely scraped together enough money to send a skeleton crew to Sicily. 

And according to Ruddy’s telling, he was held captive by thug “Crazy” Joe Gallo who demanded money from a production that had none left.

For movie geeks “The Offer” is a total pigout.    And the highest praise is that as soon as you’ve finished it you can’t wait to watch the original “Godfather” one more time.

| Robert W. Butler