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Everything Nonfiction

Reviews

December 18, 2020 By Emilio Leave a Comment

Review of the Netflix miniseries Selena

Review of Selena: The Series rating *****

What’s it take to go from playing in local venues to selling out arenas? The answer is that it takes talent, determination, luck, and a driving force. In the case of Selena, the driving force is Selena’s father, Abraham.

On the one hand, Abraham is the worst example of a parent taking on the manager’s role for their talented offspring. On the other hand, if it wasn’t for Abraham’s persistence and vision, Selena might not have achieved the heights that she did.

The first season of this nine-episode miniseries covers the period from first inspiration to the point where Selena’s fan base has grown large enough that they need to find someone to handle the growing stack of fan mail. That is when the person eventually charged with her murder enters the picture.

I’m quite sure that Abraham Quintanilla had a role in this series. Abraham comes across as both a caring father and a control freak. The actor playing Abraham, Ricardo Chavira, plays both sides of this dual personality expertly. His presence, either directly or indirectly, influences every scene. This is especially true when Selena tries to hide a romantic relationship with a member of the band.

As for the actress playing Selena, Christian Serratos, they could not have found a better actor. The same is true for the entire cast. They are believable as a family. Anyone who has had to sleep together with family members can appreciate the fart jokes.

If this miniseries brings anything new to the Selena story, it would have to be the importance of Selena’s brother A.B. If not for his creative contribution, Selena would never have gone further than a cover band.

Based on the quality of the first nine episodes, I look forward to the second season.

Filed Under: Docudrama Tagged With: Abraham Quintanilla, Review of Selena: The Series, review of the Netflix miniseries Selena, Selena

December 17, 2020 By Emilio Leave a Comment

Review of the Netflix docuseries Manhunt

Review of the Netflix docudrama Manhunt: Deadly Games
Rating *** 1/2

Let me start by stating that I’m not a fan of films based on true events where the filmmakers make shit up to add drama. Take the final escape scene in the Oscar-winning movie Argo. It was suspenseful. Without that scene, the film would have gone nowhere. But it never happened. This Richard Jewel adaptation had a lot of scenes that are not backed up by facts. At the same time, the vast majority of this nine-episode docudrama was factual. So, do you give the filmmakers a pass?

As much as I enjoyed this series, I can’t give the filmmakers a pass on this one. There were too many issues.

Anyone who has ever taken a screenwriting class can tell you about a writing device known as the character arc. The idea is that every character in a story has to evolve in some way. The problem with this technique is that in the real world, people don’t always evolve. Some of the most compelling stories are the ones involving ordinary people caught in extraordinary circumstances. You don’t need a character arc to tell that kind of story.

In this docudrama, every character, except one, has a very defined character arc. The by-the-book FBI agent finally decides to listen to outside advice. The nutcase South Carolina militia members change their tune and aid the FBI in searching for Eric Rudolf. Richard Jewel’s mother goes from believing his guilt to supporting him.

The one character who holds the whole thing together is Richard Jewel, played by Cameron Britton. His is the sole performance that comes across as authentic. Everyone else in the series is a caricature.

It was all there. The true story had plenty of drama and intrigue. They didn’t have to draw from other films to tell it. Remember the pompous FBI agent in the film Diehard. That is the prototype used for the FBI agents in this film. The armed militia members seen in countless other movies. They’re here. They’re in the bar looking menacing. They’re running around like maniacs in their trucks and firing weapons just because. The one militia member who wasn’t a stereotype was Big John. He had some sense, which is probably closer to the truth.

The one character who bothered me the most was Richard Jewel’s mother, played by Judith Light. Maybe it was the whole character arc thing. Maybe it was the overacting or the stereotyping. If you want to see another way to play the same character, watch Kathy Bates’ portrayal of Richard’s mom in Clint Eastwood’s Richard Jewel film.

I’m going to criticize one more scene that stood out to me. This story has an ATF bomb expert who plays a critical role in the film. In one of the first or second episodes, his partner enters a makeshift bomb analysis room ( the ATF agent’s garage) and exclaims that there’s no need to continue analyzing the evidence. The FBI has named a suspect in the Olympics bombing. Rather than having the bomb expert look at the report and then finding inconsistencies in their findings, he dismisses the whole thing as if he already knows that the FBI got it wrong.

Despite my criticisms, I still enjoyed it enough to watch all ten episodes. I’d be interested to hear what other viewers thought. Leave your comments below.

Filed Under: Docudrama Tagged With: Judith Light, Review of the Netflix docudrama Manhunt: Deadly Games, Richard Jewel

December 17, 2020 By Emilio Leave a Comment

Mank Quicktake

Review of Mank rating ***

As the year draws to a close, I will soon be putting out my best of everything nonfiction list. My criteria for making the list is four out of five stars or better. I liked this film. It kept my attention. It was entertaining. But I couldn’t get past Gary Oldman’s performance. The real Mankowitz did die from alcoholism. But in this film, the character was under the influence in nearly every scene. I got tired of seeing Gary Oldman stumbling around and being obnoxious to everyone he meets. His character was not likable.

I was also not a fan of the constant shifting timeline. I don’t mind a flashback or two. But this story jumped around a lot. The script was written by the director’s father. It had the feel of an early Hollywood film.

As for the story itself, I liked that a lot of the characters and plotlines were factual. But I’m not a fan of the film Citizen Kane. I would have liked to have seen more about the differences between Mank and Orson Wells and how Mank’s script morphed into the final film.

Bottom line is that this film is worth your time, but it’s not going on my best-of list for 2020. Catch it on Netflix.

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: David Fincher, Review of the Netflix film Mank

December 11, 2020 By Emilio Leave a Comment

Review of Room 2806

Review of Room 2806: The Accusation rating *****

Nafissatou Diallo

An uneducated immigrant brings down one of the most powerful men in the world. That is the theme in this excellent four-part Netflix docuseries.

Before Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, R Kelly, and a host of other powerful men brought down by women in sexual assault cases, there was the story Dominique Strauss-Kahn (also referred to as DSK). Dominique Strauss-Kahn was the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF); he was also on track to become France’s next president.

On May 14, 2011, police arrested Dominique Strauss-Kahn for the alleged sexual assault of a hotel maid named Nafissatou Diallo. The incident occurred at the Sofitel hotel in New York City. The documentary lays out the facts of the case against DSK, the subsequent investigations, and the efforts by DSK’s legal team to discredit the victim. While you might expect that a man with the resources of DSK would try to discredit the accuser, you wouldn’t expect that the New York prosecutor’s office would be the ones doing the discrediting. But that’s what happened in this case.

DSK’s arrest was a big story at the time. The filmmakers show how the story was covered by the media both here and in France. As is the case with almost all sexual assault cases, it is a he said she said type of crime. Who are you going to believe? A man destined to become the president of France? Or a low-wage worker who can’t read or write?

The New York prosecutor hires an ex-New York-detective to dig into the backgrounds of both individuals. He does not have any experience investigating sexual assault cases. He forms an impression early on that something isn’t right. He uncovers the fact that Nafissatou lied on her application for asylum, claiming sexual assault in her home country. That lie plays a factor in the outcome. If she lied about sexual assault then, how can you believe her now?

It’s easy to see how the defense could use that single lie to discredit the victim. But as the lawyers representing Nafissatou point out, the facts of the case don’t support DSK’s version of events. For one thing, DSK is the one who has a history of deviant sexual behavior. The entire incident took just nine minutes. No jury would conclude that Nafissatou Diallo entered a man’s hotel suite and consensually agree to a sexual encounter that lasted nine minutes, and then only admit to what happened after being pressed by a supervisor.

Then there were the conspiracy theories. The whole thing was a setup. Nafissatou Diallo was part of a plot to bring down DSK. She was a prostitute. The Sofitel hotel, where the incident took place, was nothing more than a high-priced prostitution ring, where all the maids were prostitutes. Nafissatou Diallo planned the whole thing to extort money from DSK.

On top of these ridiculous claims, were the many people who tried to dismiss the whole thing as much to do about nothing. So what if he had sex with a maid? He has a strong sexual appetite. He likes women.

In the end, Nafissatou Diallo came out victorious despite the absence of a criminal trial. Dominique Strauss-Kahn is a failed politician who thought he was above the law. His wife divorced him. His political career crashed and burned. His two defense lawyers Benjamin Brafman and William W. Taylor III came across as arrogant and clueless. And Nafissatou Diallo came out with enough money to keep her and her daughter financially independent.

Filed Under: Documentaries, Docuseries Tagged With: Benjamin Brafman, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Nafissatou Diallo, Review of Room 2806: The Accusation, William W. Taylor

December 7, 2020 By Emilio Leave a Comment

Review of Murder on Middle Beach

Review of Murder on Middle Beach HBO rating *****

Barbara Hamburg

A murder mystery. A family drama. A coming of age story. These are some of the central themes covered in this excellent HBO documentary series. Madison Hamburg was a film student when he first learned of the brutal murder of his mother. The police couldn’t solve the crime, so Madison attempted to solve it himself, turning his search for a killer into a four-part documentary series.

While Madison isn’t successful in finding the person or persons responsible for his mother’s death, he does run down numerous leads that point to several suspects, with some of the most promising suspects being family members.

The filmmakers lay out the facts and identify suspects. I won’t go through them here. I will, however, point out one significant clue that stands out above all others. The day before the murder a man wearing dark clothing and a ski mask was spotted wandering the property.

Each episode leads to a different suspect with different motivations. However, the weight of the evidence leans heavily towards the one person who had the most to gain from Barbara Hamburg’s death – her ex-husband and Madison’s father. On the day of the murder, Barbara had an appointment to attend a court hearing over money related to the couple’s divorce. That hearing would have had serious repercussions for Jeffrey Hamburg if he were to lose.

There’s one moment in the series that stood out for me. It happens when Madison and his sister, Allie, are talking about their mom and Madison’s film project. Madison asks his sister what she would say to the person responsible for the murder. I don’t remember her response to the question, but I remember Madison’s answer when his sister turned the question around and asked him what he would say. “I’m coming for you,” Madison said. That remark says a lot about Madison’s motivation.

A story like this takes years to unravel. The series ends with Madison winning a FOIA request for documents in the criminal investigation. Hopefully, there will be more to come.

Filed Under: Documentaries, Docuseries Tagged With: Barbara Hamburg, Jeffrey Hamburg, Madison Hamburg, Review of Murder on Middle Beach HBO, true crime

December 4, 2020 By Emilio Leave a Comment

Trump 2024

(NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images)

I really hope that Trump keeps his promise to run in 2024. Let’s assume that he somehow manages to stay out of prison by using the money he’s milking from his supporters to pay his way out of trouble. He’ll probably let Eric, Ivanka, and Trump Jr. take the fall. That will leave him four full years to keep his fan base alive and provide me the opportunity to keep my Trump-bashing going. While his dedicated followers hang on to his every conspiracy theory, the rest of the country can get on with tackling the problems facing the world: climate change, clean energy production, clean air and water, infrastructure, healthcare, smart immigration policies, smart trade policies. While Biden surrounds himself with smart, qualified people rather than handing out positions based on the size of a campaign donation, Trump supporters will still be posting about Clinton’s emails and Biden in Burisma.

That’s not to say that the Trumpers won’t be busy trying to disrupt Biden’s administration just like they tried to disrupt the Obama administration. Fortunately, the Trump fanatics will be too mesmerized by Trump’s latest antics to pay attention to what Biden is accomplishing. They’ll hang on to every tweet. They’ll follow him to campaign rallies and get all whooped up for 2024. They’ll be too busy honoring their fallen hero to follow world events.

With Trump sucking up all the oxygen, that will mean that none of the other Republican nutcases can run. We don’t have to worry about Tea Party candidates like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. Pence will be out of the picture. Pompeo will be forced to work as a lobbyist.

And what if Trump manages to win in 2024? It will never happen. He will take the entire Republican party down with him and the Democrats will get anther eight years to repair the damage caused by one deranged egomaniac.

Filed Under: Misc

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