Random Picks Week: Burn Notice Season 3

Welcome to Day 2 of Random Picks Week.  I have not touched base on this particular TV series in some time and it clearly it needs addressing.  We will be reviewing the continuation of the USA series Burn Notice.   Bringing back Michael Westen and his unusual team with Sam Axe, a former Navy SEAL and now a booze hound and skirt chaser and Fiona Glenanne, a former IRA commando and Michael's ex girlfriend.   This is Burn Notice Season 3.

Ohh, no more Charlie Sheen parties... ever.

Fiona: Should we spoil them?
Michael: I have enough to worry about than killing three FBI agents.





Michael Westen (Jeffery Donovan of The Pretender, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Touching Evil, Crossing Jordan and Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe) had just gotten out from under the thumb of his handler Karla only to meet the head man running the operations, simply known as Management.  Westen demands these people out of his life and gets his wish and tells him they will stay out of his way until he realizes how much he needs them as much as they need him.  With former colleagues selling him out, potential cake wake missions turning into disasters barely escaped, Michael tries to figure a way to take down this shadow organization that has been haunting him for three years.

Hops, hotties and humidity Mikey.  Miami has been good to me.

Aiding him begrudgingly is of course his oldest buddy Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell of Evil Dead,  Army of Darkness, Escape From L.A., Ellen, Icebreaker and Jack of All Trades) and Fiona (Gabrielle Anwar of Scent of a Woman, For Love or Money, The Three Musketeers, The Grave, Sherlock, Water Under the Bridge and The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines)  diving into more and more danger as it takes its toll on their friendship.  Michael has an admirer this time around and is finding out if Westen's burn notice is true and that he is the naughty boy it claims him to be.   Mason Gilroy (Chris Vance of Stingers, Macbeth, All Saints, Prison Break, Mental and Rizzoli & Isles) a freelance sociopath has a lucrative business opportunity for He and Michael but he has to see Michael in action as it were before he commits.  Can Westen and gang get him out of this hot water or will they boil after being burnt?

A few observations about this season.  The dynamic between Madeline Westen (Sharon Glass of The Miracle of Kathy Miller, House Calls, The Sky's No Limit, Cagney & Lacey, Honor Thy Mother and The Trials of Rosie O' Neill) and Michael flushes out problems of the past that they both must come to terms with.  Each show the other they have more warmth and depth than they normally exhibit. Michael and his estrained brother Nate (Seth Peterson of Godzilla, Can't Hardly Wait, Providence, Hard Ground and Unlucky Charms) start to mend fences and come to terms that they will never be the best of friends but they can be family.

Hmm, three more seasons, please.

Kung Fu Theater Week!

Welcome boys and girls to Kung Fu Theater Week!  This week I will tackle the genre of Martial Arts Movies or affectionately referred as Kung Fu and Ninja movies.  This particular craze starts in the 1960’s up the 1980’s and the Americans got to experience these splendid films from the lazy bijous, the drive-in theater  to cable television, we saw these films with either English subtitles or voice dubbing which does take away a lot of the dialogue but the essence of the film is still there.

Hikibah!!!

Western civilization got to appreciate Eastern philosophy, discipline and ways of life but brings everything that we already have to our own story lines.  Warriors combating barbarians, wizards against sorcerers and good versus evil these films cover the current timeline and fantasy based with monsters and men aplenty.   Admittedly there are more than a few very violent films or having disturbing content to them and frankly they are considered Grind house movies but most are gems that get overlooked so this week I shall comprise a collection of favorites and cult beloved.

Hitchcock Week: The 39 Steps

Hitchcock Week is moving in stride and we will tackle another forgotten gem.  A story of espionage, murder, conspiracy and in general a thrilling concept to the likes we have not seen in cinema because the formula was lost.   Of course that could also just be my bitter theory regarding modern spy thrillers. So grab that bucket of popcorn with the real imitation buttery flavor, over ice your coke and avoid the row with the necking teenagers.   This is The 39 Steps.

 

Great Title Card, right?

There are 20 million spoilers in this island and I get to be chained to you.

At the London Music Hall Theatre, Richard Hannay (Robert Donat of Over Night, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Ghost Goes West, The Citadel, The Young Mr. Pitt, Vacation from Marriage and The Magic Box) witnesses a demonstration of the recall of stage act “Mr. Memory” (Wylie Watson of Leave It to Me, Radio Lover, Queer Cargo, Pack Up Your Troubles, Danny Boy The Saint Meets the Tiger and The Sundowners) a man with an Eidetic memory explaining something in detail when gunfire erupts from the crowd causing a mass panic in the building.  Hannay finds himself pressed against a frightened girl named Annabella Smith (Lucie Mannheim of Danton, Madame Wants No Children, The Bear, Yellow Canary, The Mistress, The Paris Express, Ich und Du and You Can No Longer Remain Silent) who talks him into taking her back to his apartment.  Fast mover is gal, eh?  

And now, a speech from the Minister of Silly Walks.

There the only revealing is that she is a spy being pursued by assassins and she has uncovered a plot to steal British Intelligence secrets, conducted by a man miss the top joint of one of his fingers.   She speaks of the “39 steps” but clearly she doesn’t go into giving the meaning behind it.  That evening Annabella bursts through Hannay’s bedroom with a knife in the back telling him to escape while he still can.  Clutched in her hand is a map of Scotland with a town circled.   Fleeing his apartment disguised as a milkman Hannay makes his way to the train yard for Scotland as a manhunt has been issued for him.   Can Hannay clear his name; circumvent this league of assassins and save the day?

I just have a quick couple of comments to be made about this film.  Filmed in glorious Black and White via 35 mm Spherical, Lime Grove Studios gets another visit for most of the interior shots but surprisingly enough several of the Scottish village shots were done in Edinburgh and Glen Coe but most of the exterior of the village itself was conducted at Welwyn Studios,Welwyn  Garden City, Hertfordshire, England.  This studio was known for some of the earliest works of both Boris Karloff and Bela Legosi.  This same studio shot Richard Attenborough’s tenth major motion picture Brighton Rock.

Ahh, the healing power of booze.

The film is compelling, clever, witty, dark and downright confusing.  Make no mistake folks, if you need to have a bathroom break hit pause.   To miss a scene means you are out of the loop of this impressive body of work.

Season 1: The Story Begins

Normally I am not a huge USA network fan.  I skim through it every so often for series in repeat or marathons on episodes I have missed and generally do not care for films that have been censored and neutered to make less offensive.   So in 2007, I heard on the IMDB grapevine that a new show is coming out I do a brief scan and it looks interesting, I watch the first 3 episodes and it becomes captivating so grab your cell phone, your Sig Sauer and prep your lies.  This is Burn Notice Season 1.

The review you are about to read may contain spoilers and above all else is "need to know" information that is classified…(okay I was having fun that last bit).

Series creator and head writer Matt Nix (Burn Notice and The Good Guys) devised a complex series of episodes outlining a spy’s life of point and counterpoint.  Who are enemies and who allies are and lastly who blurs in between those lines.  To cap off this series is one Michael Westen (Jeffery Donovan of Touching Evil, Hitch and The Pretender) who narrates throughout the chapter.  At first I feel like it was unnecessary and just let the show unfold as it is but after a few episodes I got the feeling that the narration is integral to the action and scenes.  While conducting a little hush money transaction to a ruthless warlord in order to smooth diplomacy to warring nations, Westen’s alias has be compromised and is cut loose from any back up.  The warlord’s men proceed to beat him and he comes up with a decent lie to formulate a plan of escape. 

 Making his way to the agency plane he passes out and wakes up in a cheap hotel in Miami where he is greeted awake (by a light boot in the bruised ribs) by former girlfriend and IRA terrorist Fiona Glenn Anne (Gabrielle Anwar of Scent of a Woman, The Three Musketeers, Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead)   Given all his assets and money are frozen he has to seek operating funds elsewhere and speaks to former SEAL and friend Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell of Evil Dead, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr., Spiderman)   Michael has to figure out who set him up and who he can turn to for help.   Family is always a good choice unless you are a Westen.  Mother, Madeline Westen  (Sharon Gless of Cagney and Lacey) could teach the KGB a thing or two about manipulation but she has a good heart and should have blacken lungs from how often she chain smokes.

This show feels like an action movie.  The fight choreography is a very similar approach to the Bourne Trilogy.  Very fluid motion and it does not feel staged.   Car chases have such precision; it is mind boggling.  The gun fights are intense.   Which each new scene you get the sensation that this conspiracy against one capable man is very elaborate and a far bigger puzzle than Michael has put together thus far and it is only going to get worse before it gets better for him.   As for the viewer, if you appreciate a well rounded cast, good writing and impressive story telling then give this show more than the once over.  You just might be pleasantly surprised.