CINEMA SEEN - "Paying My Respects!"
     By William Margold
     
          Apparently being SO "under whelmed" by the paucity of quality films that I saw as last year was staggering to an end, I mistook the entire 12 month period just past for 2007...instead of 2008...in my 12-18 column.
     Therefore...I’ve decided to enter into 2009 by wrapping up a wildly diverse (as evident in the images that adorn this page) number of loose ends, before (hopefully) discussing a few "quality" major holiday efforts in next week’s issue.
     
     WILD BURRO RESCUE SANCTUARY---Truly a "pet project" among many concerned LAXPRESS staffers...the Hee-Haw Haven in Olancha, CA 93549...has become the repository for whatever tips the flow of fascinating customers give the XPRESS’ ad sales force. Indeed...it takes an ass to appreciate an ass...on both sides of the counter. And the dollars do add up...with another $50 being sent---right after this page is printed, so it could be included with the donation---to the facility that is "dedicated to the live capture-rescue, rehabilitation and lifelong care of otherwise doomed wild burros."
     
     DAY OF ANGER---The pleasure of getting to see this smartly involving Lee Van Cleef starring Italian western was provided to me by a lovely lady named Marla, who with her late husband Don, were tirelessly helpful to my various X-rated organization "fun"draising ventures through the infamous adult star stuffed "Lingerie Auction Shows" that I staged at The Toy Box (1999 W. Arrow Rte. Upland, CA 91786) for many years between the mid-80’s up to December 1999. In fact, there were plans to recreate (last month) a "Lingerie Auction Show" in honor of Don’s passing in December 2007, but saner, authority fearing heads, prevailed, and the event was cancelled. What made the watching of "Day of Anger" even more enjoyable was the fact that among the DVD extras was a feature called "Almeria: Now and Then"--- that was thoroughly researched and photographically produced by Marla and Don wherein they visited the exact locations in Spain where director Tonino Valerii’s "Day of Anger"...and a number of legendary director Sergio Leone’s masterworks (including "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly") came to gloriously lusty and histrionically violent, life. This was a very passionate quest for Marla and Don, and I was very much enthralled with their images of what was then as compared to what is now.
     
     FIREFLY---I devoted last week’s page to paying "fond farewells" to two of my favorite TV series---"The Shield" and "Boston Legal." Here, thanks to the sagacious insistence and warm generosity of Scorching Images’ Dave Michaels, I would like to endearingly acknowledge the genuine pleasure that I derived from watching the sadly short (only 14 episodes including a two-part opener, and the three that were never aired, during the last few months of 2002 on FOX) but superbly bittersweet existence of a thought-provoking space/western rollercoaster ride created with childlike wonderment by Joss Whedon (of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" fame). The wild and wooly adventures of the crew---slyly captained by Nathan Fillion, and fiercely aided by Gina Torres, Adam Baldwin and Alan Tudyk---of the good galactic transporter Serenity, were the rascally loyal stuff that ignited the desire for many extended periods of recess in my soul. And while I experienced the guilty pleasure of seeing FIREFLY in its entirety in virtually one joyous fell swoop, I also felt true twinges of guilt over having missed it when it first aired six years ago. Which led, of course, to my introspectively wondering if I would have found it as fascinating back then as I did now. Which brings up the next item on this page.
     
     SERENITY---Much to the delight of its legion of faithful fans...Joss Whedon’s TV series "Firefly" was exhumed and brought to the big screen in 2005. And again, thanks to Dave Michaels, I was provided with the opportunity to watch it on DVD. And while it did manage to wrap-up quite a number of loose ends, particularly in the case of Summer Glau’s tortured River character, I must admit that given a choice, I would have been content simply watching "Firefly" episodes over and over again, particularly the lyrically longing one called "The Message"...and the rambunctious ones---"Our Mrs. Reynolds" and "Trash"---guest-starring the radiant redhead Christina Hendricks (currently heating up AMC’s magnificent "Mad Men").
     And now, if you’ll excuse me...I’ve decided to stake out a considerable portion of my immediate future TV viewing time to discovering why Whedon’s aforementioned "Buffy The Vampire Slayer" became the stuff of cult series lore. And once again...I’ve got Dave Michaels to thank for loaning me the first set of "Buffy" DVDs. (And after watching the entire first season, I’m pleased to report that it’s an amusing high school themed amalgam of "The Night Stalker"/"The X- Files.") And Michaels has happily promised to continue to replenish the "Buffy" sets until I’ve completed them. And as added bonus, Dave gets literally gleeful by advising me that he will also eventually be letting me borrow the spin-off from "Buffy" called "Angel." However he has cautioned me that once I am given "Angel"...I must watch that series concurrently with "Buffy." Sounds VERY mysterious...doesn’t it?
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     NOTE: Originally published in LA Xpress, January 1, 2009 issue.

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CINEMA SEEN - "Gone But Not Forgotten!"
By William Margold

     I take my television series watching seriously.
     VERY SERIOUSLY!
     Indeed...I spend more time studying the latest issue of TV Guide than I do reading the LA Times daily sports and entertainment sections.
     And I have a specially dedicated-to-TV- watching calendar on my weathered coffee table that is barely decipherable from being marked upon in blue ink---and then marked over in red ink---as each new episode of one of "my shows" airs. This process keeps a very important part of my life on track, and prevents me from being run over by reruns.
     Having long admitted to being afflicted with STVSA (Severe TeleVision Series Addiction)…I am currently going through a truly traumatic period during which many of "my shows" have either ended their runs...or, as in the cases of PUSHING DAISIES and DIRTY SEXY MONEY, are having their runs ended for them.
     But I still have (in order of preference) DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES, GREY’S ANATOMY, LAW AND ORDER and LAW AND ORDER CRIMINAL INTENT, PRISON BREAK---plus the mind-boggling LOST and the perpetually pleasing SIMPSONS---to rely on. And although I resisted it at first, I have take a fancy to FRINGE, as it conjures up amusingly eerie images of one of my long gone bedeviling pleasures---THE X-FILES.
     And apparently, after spending almost 14 years with me---my magnificent Himalayan cat Samson has figured out when I am approachable, and when it is wise to stay away from me---as my "special shows" flicker in the confines of our teddy bear cluttered, obstinately unkempt living room.
     Recently two of my all-time favorite shows---THE SHIELD and BOSTON LEGAL---came to an end within a week of each other.
     And Samson could sense that I was very unhappy.
     VERY UNHAPPY!
     And he was uniquely aware that my unhappiness was laced with nervous tension and ominous suspense, so he watched me warily from a protective distance, while the final episode of THE SHIELD (Shawn Ryan’s savage cop show on FX) played out, and the fate of TV’s most tortured anti-hero, the pit-bullish Vic Mackey (etched with mesmerizing brilliance by Michael Chiklis) was pigeon holed into a cubicle. But wait...perhaps the warped work of the dirtiest Harry of them all isn’t over yet, as the whine of a police siren was Mackey’s Circesque call back into action. So he burrowed deep into a desk drawer and pulled out a gun. And all of a sudden...perhaps the bad guys out there have someone to really worry about again. And this time Mackey’s cage could extend onto the big screen where he gets to roam free with R-rating impunity.
     From the first episode, when Mackey kills one of his own (a cop who is informing on his associates), I knew that I was in for a show that was aimed below the belt, that took no prisoners on either side of the badge, and that was going to be like trying to chew beef jerky with broken teeth. Many times...as the conclusion of an episode shattered my senses...I could only shudder a stunned "Wow" before turning off my TV...and then staggering off to my bedroom to try and go to sleep.
     Sterling supporting performances throughout the run of THE SHIELD were rendered luminously (and appropriately, very painfully)---particularly by the staunchly fierce CCH Pounder, and the unnervingly edgy Walton Goggins. (Both Pounder and Goggins are way overdue for at least Emmy nominations. Chiklis won one for his work during the show’s first season back in 2002.)
      On the other side of the "farewell to a favorite show" pillow, I can’t remember appreciating Samson any more than I did during the final two hours of the delightfully deranged BOSTON LEGAL. Nestled in my lap, snoring softly, with an occasional rearrangement of his body to remind me that he was there to provide solace, he comforted me as I unashamedly wept my goodbyes to the characters of Alan Shore (James Spader) and Denny Crane (William Shatner). David Kelley’s hysterically sensible series about a law firm that took on impossible cases, while palatably preaching a very liberal message, was first and foremost about the remarkable friendship between the two men that transcended affection, admiration and adoration...and became a weekly source of the reaffirmation of life itself. When Shore and Crane sat down on their law firm’s balcony for cigars and fine booze at the end of each episode, they brought a supreme stability of resolve and resolution with them, and in turn they allowed me to reflect on the few "very special" friends that I have been fortunate enough to experience during my existence. And in the warmth provided by my life’s memory logs as they burned brightly in mind, I found even further fortitude that during the final BOSTON LEGAL moments, with the presence of Samson, a feline friend of the highest order, was in my lap.
     He called me later that year, and we spoke for over two hours (with much of what we discussed winding up in a Men’s Journal article). During our conversation we shared the mutual depression(s) brought on by "our team." But in the end...we both fully realized that we were "Lions fans...’Forever!’" No matter how in the Hell long "Forever!" is.
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     NOTE: Originally published in LA Xpress, December 25, 2008 issue.

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