Sidney Poiter Excels in the Impressively-Realized Mystery Thriller In the Heat of the Night

There's plenty to unpack in the 1967 Best Picture Oscar winner In the Heat of the Night, including the fact that this is just an all-around excellent motion picture but something that stood out to me was how a number of crucial aspects in regards to how the feature treats the topic of American racial tensions between black and white citizens stand out as being completely different, in a good way, from how many modern high-profile American films treat the same subject. For one thing, In the Heat of the Night is set in what was then the modern-day world, it doesn't try to set its story in the past as a way of portraying racism as only a thing that happened in yesteryear America.

The Camerawork In The French Connection Is Outstanding, The Characters Less So

Praise must be given to The French Connection for its boldly bleak ending. This 1971 feature from director William Friedkin has a gangbuster conclusion that dares to allow key plot points to go unresolved, for good to not triumph over evil and for our lead character to be sucked into his own mental abyss.  It's a daring way to close out the proceedings and its mighty well-executed, however, such a capper does not remove all the shortcomings previously seen in The French Connection, which ends up being a movie that's more successful in terms of camerawork than it is at character work.

True Detective Season One Review

Early on in the first season of True Detective, Martin Hart (Woody Harrelson) tells his homicide detective partner Rust Cohle (Matthew McConaughey) to be way of applying too much of a story to a crime scene early on in the investigation since you could begin to warp the crime scene to fit your narrative. Turns out, though, Rust's early intuition was a solid indicator for what kind of narrative was behind a vile murder that left a naked women tied up with antlers surrounded by various tiny wooden objects said to ward off the devil. Of course, it takes Rust a while to figure out that he's onto something, with the narrative that unfolds from the investigation he and Martin undergo managing to impact both men's lives in profound ways.

The Time Has Arrived To Watch The Trailer For True Detective's Second Season

True Detective was one of the biggest TV shows of last year, and while I haven't watched it yet (I'll catch up on it on HBO Go before it's next season debuts, I promise), I'm still excited for the second season of the program, if only based on the cast. Rachel McAdams in anything gets me interested, but toss in dramatic Vince Vaughn and Taylor Kitsch and I'm totally in. The first trailer for this new season has just arrived, and you can watch it below.

Black Or White Review

A Race To The Bottom

Kevin Costner has had one of the more bizarre cinematic career resurgences I've seen in a while. while someone like Matthew McConaughey has built his comeback on the likes of True Detective, The Lincoln Lawyer, Magic Mike, Dallas Buyers Club and Interstellar, Costner seemed to get a massive boost solely from a Hatfields & McCoys miniseries. After appearing in only two movies from 2008-2012, he's managed to pop up in five different movies over the past year and a half, with two more to come this year. The reason such a comeback puzzles me is because none of the performances I've seen (I haven't watched the aforementioned Hatfields & McCoys miniseries) were that good. I've never seen him give a wretched performance or anything, but two of his 2014 films wound up being among the worst of last year.

Fast Five Director Justin Lin Will Go Where No Man Has Gone Before....To Direct Star Trek 3!!

A shortlist was released recently for directors who could potentially direct the third entry in the series of Star Trek movies started by J.J. Abrams 2009 reboot. Among the names was Rupert Wyatt, rumored to be the favorite for the job. Well, it looks like Justin Lin, another name in that shortlist, is getting the job, as he's officially onboard to direct Star Trek 3.

Editorial: The Future of Television Can Be Seen In This Years Emmy Nominations

I haven't done anything regarding the medium of television in the month-and-a-half of running this site, but that should change quickly. Starting with The Strain on Sunday, I'll be writing up reviews of several different TV shows as well as putting up Editorials regarding programming that can be found on the Boob Tube.

Also, before we go any further, go here for the list of nominations.