CRIME AND PUNISHMENT

 

Griselda is a limited series on Netflix starring Sofia Vergara, the Emmy Award winning actress from the very popular network TV series, Modern Family. Largely, based on facts from Miami’s Cocaine Cowboy era of the 1970s and 80s, the series is worth your attention if for no other reason than Ms. Vergara’s performance in the last two episodes of the six presented by the same team that brought Narcos to our home screens via Netflix.

There is no reason to elaborate more on the project save to caution the faint of heart that Griselda is rife with scenes of violence and sexual references. You have been forewarned.

Max (in better days known as HBO) has come out with a new True Detective edition. This one stars Jody Foster and takes place during a particularly dark time of year in the frozen north of Alaska. I have, in days gone by, often admired this mystery series but I am having trouble slogging through the tundra with Ms. Foster on this one.

It ain’t over yet, and they might very well bring me around, but, frankly, I am not sure I can stick with this. Four episodes in and I have absolutely no idea what this story is about and, what is worse, I don’t much care. None of the characters have come forth as compelling and not one performance has yet proven to be noteworthy. 

Maybe it can be salvaged. Spring could be coming. Maybe a sunrise? Hope springs eternal. If you want to see Ms. Foster enforce the law in better circumstances and a more hospitable climate, I recommend you re-visit the now semi-classic motion picture, Silence of the Lambs. You should be able to see it on Max or by renting from I-Tunes or Amazon.

Monsieur Spade is a series on Acorn TV that answers the query about whatever happened to Sam Spade after The Maltese Falcon? Clive Owen takes on the (one would think, thankless) task of replacing Humphrey Bogart. It may be hard for those of us of a certain age to believe it, but Mr. Owen acquits himself quite well.

Also high on the scale of acquitting oneself is the very talented writer Tom Fontana (St. Elsewhere, Oz). He does a very nice job with this, especially with the requisite one-liners that emanate from the show’s leading man.

The plot is appropriately convoluted, the scenery of the French countryside and the basic premise both hold up well, and the whole thing is… for want of a better descriptive phrase… very nicely done… especially for grownups.

What really counts is that Mr. Owen pulls this thing off with no small amount of thanks to Monsieur Fontana. Were he still alive, I believe, writer/director John Huston would approve.

I must add, for it would be remiss of me not to remind you, that Huston’s original The Maltese Falcon, replete with an ensemble of some of Hollywood’s finest character actors, is readily available on Amazon Prime. If you have not seen it in a while, it is worth revisiting.

In fact, consider a great trifecta of film noir and parlay from The Maltese Falcon to Apple TV for The Big Sleep (also with Bogart… this time as Philip Marlowe and this one directed by the great Howard Hawks from a very convoluted screenplay by none other than William Faulkner), then finish with Jack Nicholson as J.J “Jake” Gittes in the best of them all, Robert Towne’s Chinatown, directed by Roman Polanski. This last is a really well mounted motion picture from Towne’s brilliant (and award-winning) screenplay, it can be seen on Paramount Plus, Netflix or Prime Video.

The crimes in the above range from murder to drug dealing to extortion and incest. The punishment? Watching the first four episodes of the latest incarnation of True Detective on Max.

 

Barney Rosenzweig