The Wire (2002-8)

David Simon landmark series holds up in the waning years of the Golden era of television. The technology may be outdated by now, but the drama is timeless. Simon pioneered bingeable television (along with the Sopranos, I suppose), plotting a mystery to unfold over the course of a whole season. And today in the streaming era, every TV show worth its salt has an overarching plot. Some may criticize him for being slow, but it's a methodical slow burn that allows for deep characterization of even secondary characters. We come to know not just the cops, not just the head honcho drug dealers but even the street level kids (a very young Michael B Jordan). His sense of realism comes through in his unknown actors, character actors, non-actors, and many real Baltimoreans. The show is about characters who are trapped by the institutions (a set of rules) that plague the city.

The Wire is Simon's love letter to Baltimore. It may not always seem that way given all the crime and corruption he highlights but indeed it is. No city has ever gotten such a thorough treatment on TV, exposing its underbelly. He doesn't do it out of malice or hatred but he genuinely believes that it can do better. Despite the specificity, it could have been about any city because in general terms it is about the decline of the American city. Other cities also have drug problems, docks, corrupt city government, schools, and print media. He would give post-Katrina New Orleans a similar treatment in Treme, but Simon has a personal connection to Baltimore. He (and writer Ed Burns) have first hand experience about the things they write (the Baltimore Police and the Baltimore Sun).

Seasons 3 and 4 are the strongest. Simon's analysis on the flaws in our education system is brilliant. I thought season 2 at the docks was kind of weak while watching it but in retrospect it was also very good. There are so many characters and by the end I felt like we got satisfactory closure on each one. It was kind of weird that McNulty doesn't feature much in season 4, but honestly, it's all the better without him. His twisted story line in season 5 is probably the weakest, most cynical (most ironic).

The Square (2017)

I don't think I fully understood the message of The Square. But the vignettes are hilarious. The monkey scene is absolutely absurd but you can't look away. I can understand some of the abstract "what is art" stuff, but what was he trying to get across in that scene? I like the scene in the Tesla where they're arguing over who will go inside the building. There are some funny situations. I'm just not sure they all come together.

Chicago (2002)

I thought the movie was much better than the play. The movie's style does not replicate the revival's minimalist sets and costumes. It is much more extravagant, thankfully. What is so brilliant about the movie, though, is that it is theatrical. The musical numbers are staged, performed on a vaudeville stage with an audience rather than in the context of the story. It gives it an almost dreamlike quality that is just mesmerizing on the screen. The movie is all the better for it--praise for Rob Marshall's direction. The best numbers in the movie are still the best ones from the musical: All That Jazz and Cell Block Tango.   (I admittedly thought Nowadays was very good in the movie too). Cell Block Tango would've been very different if filmed in the prison. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Renee Zellweger are both phenomenal. In a musical you're obviously looking at the singing and dancing, but in the non-musical scenes as well, they are acting. Their desperation (for fame) comes through.

Money Monster (2016)

So I was generally in the same vicinity as George Clooney when I was at Cannes, but I couldn't get in to the premiere screening and I didn't see him but I know he was somewhere there! The movie has a promising premise. A man threatens to kill George Clooney, a Jim Cramer-type character, on live TV after a stock pick he makes collapses. And they slowly, too slowly for a thriller, unravel a conspiracy. I didn't really like the resolution of the film. It was almost satisfying but ultimately the ending was disappointing after the whole buildup.