Time for Rambler to play TV critic. I tuned into Life on Mars last night on ABC. The premise is that a New York cop in 2008 gets run over while searching for his missing cop girlfriend (played by a still hot Lisa Bonet) and wakes up in 1973 New York.
Of course I was going to be into this show, especially since it cast includes Harvey Keitel and Michael Imperioli. I'll touch on the plot a little but for now I'll focus on the show's look and feel since that is obviously its big selling point.
Even though they filmed a lot of it in New York, it still looked as if it was done on a backlot. Actually, it looked more like it was shot on the set of Sesame Street (see below). Because this city has changed so much in the last 35 years, most shots had to be very tight otherwise one would probably see a Starbucks logo or Duane Reade in the background. That's not the producer's fault but it did take away from the gritty look they were trying to convey.
Imperioli's character looked like a guy dressing up for a 70s costume party. Keitel, however, didn't pull it off. Honestly, he's too old for the role. He sort of resembles Mick Jagger these days and not in a good way. Neither his hair or clothes seemed right for the era.
Now what would've been funny is if the main protagonist actually comments on a Starbucks-free New York City or one where there aren't banks every 50 feet and the banks that do exist are Manufacturers Hanover vs HSBC and Chase. Maybe he can step in dogshit and be all `what the fuck???' It'd be more amusing than hearing jokes about Diet Coke that were played out in Back to the Future.
With regards to the plot, well the old bump on the head sent back in time thing seems a little tired and we're not really clear why he's there and if he is there to stop something he could do it easily enough by killing the little boy who later grows up to be the serial killer he's chasing in 2008. Oops. Well if you read this far you probably already watched the pilot anyway.
Me, I'd just bet people on the Mets battling their way out of last place to make to the series and make a killing.
2 comments:
Methinks you are too harsh in your criticism. Besides, they played Little Willy by Sweet. In third grade, we played that 45 record every day on one of those public school turntables that looked as if it was manufactured in the USSR. We were into glam and hip.
Yeah, I'm a perfectionist. I was thinking it would've been cool to use "All The Way From Memphis" for the opening credits.
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