Wayward Pines

I'm an M. Night Shyamalan fan. Yes, I admit it, and I've continued to watch and have faith much longer than many folks. When I first heard he was moving to episodic television with a limited series that was reminiscent of "Twin Peaks," I put it on my watch list.

My friend, editor over at Biff Bam Pop!, and a "Twin Peaks" authority, Andy Burns, got around to seeing and reviewing "Wayward Pines" before me. He was unimpressed, and you can read his thoughts here. I have to say we're pretty much in agreement. This story of a Secret Service agent, waking up after a car accident while in search for two other agents, and finding himself in a small town full of strange characters and paranoia, is nowhere near as good as it could have been.

"Wayward Pines," or the pilot at least, had potential. The books it's based on - The Wayward Pines Trilogy by Blake Crouch - I have not read but have heard are quite good and recommended for folks who dug "Twin Peaks" because of the similarities and vibe. Between that and the M. Night connection I was starting to look forward to this. Add in that it was going to be on Fox, who had brought the TP mood from "Broadchurch" in their American remake called "Gracepoint," I could definitely see it working.

Andy Burns had good things to say about the cast, not their performances, mind you, but their casting. If I'm being honest, other than Melissa Leo (and she is hands down the best part of this show) and Toby Jones, I thought the casting better suited to a parody of a drama than an actual drama. Speaking of drama, lead Matt Dillon to me has always been the real life version of his brother Kevin Dillon's character Johnny Drama on "Entourage," and I've never been able to take Juliette Lewis seriously.

The rest of the cast stumble through this mess like zombies overacting in a school play. Terrence Howard is an embarrassment, and unbelievable as the potential heavy. This could have been good. There is more "Lost" and "The Prisoner" to this stinker than "Twin Peaks," and M. Night does little to distinguish himself or improve his rep here. The pilot is it for me, I won't be watching further. Consider this a case of having me watch something, so you won't have to.

The Girl

The Girl ~ Wow, what a piece of crap. That's what I'm tempted to say about HBO's pseudo Lifetime movie of the week about Alfred Hitchcock and Tippi Hedren, The Girl. The story is obviously one-sided, vengeful, and is about as fast and loose with facts as a Presidential candidate on the losing side of a national debate.

Here are the facts. Hitchcock was one creepy dude, and a control freak, but was a loyal husband and one of our greatest directors. He definitely had a thing for blondes. And he certainly treated Tippi Hedren like crap, both with scenes he made her shoot and not letting her out of her contract. He might have made advances on her as she alleges, or she simply may have just been difficult to work with and he wanted to hurt her career. There are cases for either option, but The Girl is simply Tippi's revenge filled side.

All of that out of the way, Sienna Miller is an adequate Tippi Hedren, suitably mediocre for the real actress. Toby Jones, on the other hand, is absolutely stunning as Hitchcock. Much like his Truman Capote in Infamous, Jones' Hitch is hypnotic. It's also a fascinating look at how The Birds and Marnie as movies may have been made. Again, this is a matter of perspective, and who is telling the story. The nice thing about making a movie about events that happened fifty years ago is it's not easy to find folks to disagree with what's truth and what's not.

The story of Marnie is used as a plot device in The Girl. I really wonder if screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes actually understood what Marnie was really about before she used it here as Hitch's revenge on Hedren. It's plausible but I think unlikely. The film's last words, "Marnie is now hailed as Hitchcock's final masterpiece." Wow. Really? Again it's a matter of history being written by the victors, I suppose, or those who live the longest.

The Girl is not for anyone with a good memory, a sense of history, or who is a Hitchcock fan. I am reminded of Oliver Stone's JFK and Nixon where we have scenes where everyone involved is dead, so who knows really what happened in that situation. That said, like all HBO productions, it is top tier television, just in my opinion, short on facts.

The Girl is worth seeing for the great performances of the actors, nothing more. This is simply Tippi Hedren's revenge on Hitchcock. I wonder what fellow blonde and Hitchcock actress Grace Kelly would have had to say about The Girl?