Burn Notice Season 6

Howdy readers. Cox is still not on yet so finding alternative means to blog has been a challenge. But enough of that, howzabout the further adventures of everyone's disavowed spy? No? Too bad, we are going over that anyway. This is Burn Notice Season 6.

The Sun!!  It burns us!!!

We we last left Weston and gang, Michael was framed for a murder he did not commit, The CIA wanted answers and his balls were on the chopping block. Michael has been re-instated with the CIA and is trusted to handle missions again all the while still helping the little peoples. That is until Dead Larry (Tim Matheson) makes another appearance after escaping and faking his death in an Albanian prison that Michael set him up for his misdeeds. As Larry has always viewed Michael as a son, you can imagine Poppa's plenty pissed. With a break-in to the British Consulate, Larry is shuffled off to his well-earned demise with a focused detonation courtesy of Fi but additional explosions take the lives of guards working there and Fi blames herself. Enter head shrink/supreme jackass Anson (Jere Burns of Dear John, Good Morning, Miami, Las Vegas, Kim Possible,All of Us, Burn Notice and Love Begins) who blackmails Michael to getting the ceased funds, his personal records expunged and recruiting new agents i.e. Burn them for a new and exciting endeavor or Fi goes to Federal prison.

Split screen brings the TV show closer to you...I guess.

Watching Michael work with Anson, Fi surrenders to the proper authorities in order to get him out from under Anson's thumb.

The CIA finally on Michael's side believes him about Anson and prepares a manhunt only to watch him die from a sucking chest wound. The questions Michael had just got amplified. If Anson was in charge of this off the books black ops team then who killed him? What will be come of this concept? How many more innocents have to die to keep their secrets safe?

Naturally Michael is not alone in the search for the truth as he is backed up by Sam and Jessie, even his little brother Nate and mom Maddie. Will that be enough to keep his nearest and dearest safe while unraveling the mysteries laying ahead?

For fans of the show and the TV movie: Burn Notice: The Fall of Sam Axe they will be happy to see what happened to the two CIA twits stationed in Columbia both Bailey and Manaro reprise after 5 years from the incident that got Sam an "honorable" discharge. Hey go watch the film if you want to know more or stick around. Maybe I will review it. That's all for now, folks and seriously give these seasons a view. Did I mention stand-up comedian/character actor and now newly added alumni to the rebirth of MST3K Patton Oswalt is in as well? 

Ta dah!  Villain.

 

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.

Hitchcock Week: The Lady Vanishes

Howdy all and welcome to the end of Hitchcock Week.   A film that is clever, witty, confusing and conflicting is clearly in order here.  So head out to the lobby, get a soft drink and a heaping bowl of popcorn. This is The Lady Vanishes.

Average waiting line at Olive Garden.

If only we hadn’t missed that spoiler at Budapest.

A young English tourist named Iris (Margaret Lockwood of Honours Easy, Midshipman Easy, Irish for Luck, Doctor Syn, Three on a Weekend, Rulers of the Sea and Night Train to Munich) arrives back at the Gasthof Petrus Inn with her two friends after a long hike and soon to head back to England to marry an aristocrat she does not even love.  A local avalanche has blocked the railroad line so Iris, her friends and several other people are stranded in this village in Europe.   Two of the tourists are typical Englishmen Charters (Basil Radford of The Girl Was Young, Captain’s Orders, Convict 99, Night Train to Munich and Whiskey Galore) and Caldicott (Naunton Wayne of For Love of You, Night Train to Munich, Millions Like Us, Dead of Night, A Girl in a Million, Helter Skelter, The Hidden Room and Trio) and by typical I mean they gripe about the food, the weather, the service and in general life itself.   Iris complains to the innkeeper about the music and dancing above her room.  With a fistful of cash later the innkeeper is officially bribed to remove the noisy hooligans.  

A spoonful of sugar? It helps in the most delightful way, dearie.

Later that evening the music producer Gilbert(Michael Redgrave of Climbing High, The Stars Look Down, Lady in Distress, Jeannie, Thunder Rock and the Importance of Being Earnest) drops by to Iris and complains how if she learned to appreciate the folksy music she won’t be such a stick in the mud.  Reluctantly Iris asks for the innkeeper to give back Gilbert his room and she learns to take in the jaunty tunes as she slumbers. As she closes the window to her room a singer downstairs has been…dealt with BUM BUM BUM DA DA BUMMMMM!!!!  

The next day Iris is accidently clocked with a planter pot and a nice mature woman Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty of The Little Minister, Night Must Fall, The Thirteenth Chair, Conquest, Parnell, Mary Rose, The Royal Family and Rake’s Progress) helps Iris to the train and keeps her company for fear that Iris is suffering from a concussion. Also on the train is Gilbert, Caldicott, Charters, a young lawyer name of Mr. todhunter and his “wife” Mrs. Todhunter.  Iris wakes after fainting prior and Miss Froy invites her to tea in the dining car.  Unable to hear above the train’s noise; Miss Froy writes her name on the window with her finger.  After tea, Iris needs more sleep.

Shortly after awakening, Miss Froy has up and disappeared.  Searching desperately for the lady, Iris finds that no one on board claims to have seen this woman and that she may be delusional.  Gilbert is the only one that believes her and the two attempt find our interpret lady.   People seem shifty, shady and all sort of curious on this train and nothing truly is what it seems.

 

One can hardly resist a girl in a fetching lobster bib.

A few notes on the story and technical specs if you will.   The train shots are done with a series of proper lighting and side projection, meaning a screen is running footage while being recorded for the movie itself. A few objects are waved in front of the lights to give the effect of motion and the cabins via train are on a soundstage being rocked from side to side by a few strong lads to show a variance in the track and motion once again.

This film has suspenseful moments, comic relief and quite possibly some adventure to be had.  A must for any Hitchcock fans.

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.

Burn Notice Season 2: Electric Boogaloo

Well folks you know how when a show is created and feel nothing will come as close to the same level of writing the first season offered you?  The same jam packed action or suspense clearly cannot be topped.  Pin your ears back, open your eyes and prepared to be wowed.  This is Burn Notice Season 2.

This message will contain spoilers and self-destruct if you dislike it.

Well we last left Michael Weston (Jeffery Donovan of Burn Notice, Hitch, Another World and Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2) he was getting his buddy, former SEAL and likable alcoholic Sam Axe (Bruce Campbell of The Evil Dead, Army of Darkness, The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. and Spider-Man) and former IRA girlfriend Fiona Glennanne (Gabrielle Anwar of For Love or Money, Body Snatchers, Scent of a Woman and Three Musketeers) out of a tight spot with some heroin dealers, then he was loaded up to meet his mystery date/keeper of his leash regarding his burn notice.   Hours pass and Michael is aching for some action when his mild dozing is interrupted with explosions, assault rifle fire and a bit of odd screaming.  His cell phone goes off and man his reception is amazing in my opinion; a female voice informs Michael her name is Carla and she wants to know if he is up for a few errands

From this rather impressive build-up it really sets the tone for the season.   Fiona and Sam are slowly and against their collective will start to like one another.   The insanity and repercussions of last season is taking a toll on Michael’s family as well and Michael has that series of issues to contend with.

From layman’s eye this show takes another leap into very technical camera maneuvering, high speed car chases, mixed martial art hand to hand and more gun fights than a Segal movie.  Creator Matt Nix sets the bar and tries to push this show to the letter Director of Photography William Wage ( Love Potion No. 9, Purgatory, Down in the Delta and Surface) combines crane shots, on-board cameras ,dolly tracks and just about anything needed to get the shot.  Hell I am just shocked to not find cameras mounted on the actors for some bizarre POV shot.  Familiar faces ranging from science fiction, comedy and drama emerge this season and you will be stunned when you see them.   If you made it through Season 1 and were blown away by this series with complex characters leading complicated lives and odds are against them, you will thoroughly enjoy season 2 , but don’t tell anyone were you got this information or we are all in the soup.