“It was my first time reading Chandler, and yet it didn’t feel like it: I’d devoured so many of his influences that the writing seemed familiar, even if there was nothing quite like getting it from the original source.”
Max Bledstein (@mbled210) is a Montreal-based writer, musician and world-renowned curmudgeon. He writes on all things culture for a variety of fine North American publications. His highly anticipated debut novel will write itself one of these days, he assumes.
“The show is moving without being sappy, fast-paced without feeling like it runs at anything other than the speed of life, and insightful without being driven by political messages.”
“The problem of Birdman isn’t its maximalism, but the direction in which it’s aimed.”
“Building on the impressive groundwork laid by Season One, the first half of the new season provides a closer look at the trials and tribulations of the Pfefferman clan and also zooms out, giving Transparent both an emotional claustrophobia and a wide canvas.”
“Even removed from the extraterrestrials and murderous Midwestern crime families, the world of Fargo is a violent and disturbing one, and Hank attempts to do his part by creating an Esperanto-like universal language.”
“Like the film, as much as Fargo looks like it’s set in our universe, dashes of the absurd emphasize that the series works under its own logic.”
“Will Ed and Peggy get what they deserve? What do they deserve, exactly?”
“Throughout Season Two, Fargo has maintained an impeccable balance between comedy and tragedy.”
“One of the most impressive aspects of Fargo this season has been the show’s ability to digress without ever losing focus.”
“The voice of a fictional Ronald Reagan (played with a perfect mix of jocularity and sincerity by Bruce Campbell) looms over ‘The Gift of the Magi,’ setting a tone in the first act that never wanes throughout the episode.”
“In Noah Hawley’s show inspired by the Coen brothers’ work, a high body count and a willingness to laugh at it have been no less a part of the universe, in some ways serving as the most direct connection between the series and the film.”
“Gallows humor is a trademark of just about all of the Coens’ work (and Fargo in particular), and Noah Hawley and his writers have done a brilliant job of coming up with gags worthy of their show’s namesake.”
“Beyond being a neat stylistic trick and an effect that would make Abel Gance proud, the use of split-screens in the first two episodes of Fargo Season 2 has the helpful narrative role of directly uniting the show’s disparate narrative elements.”
“The little side comments throughout “Waiting for Dutch” keep the episode light on its feet, but never in a way which overwhelms the story or characters, making for a fantastic start to the season.”
A Column by Max Bledstein
A Conversation about Netflix’s Polarizing Series
“Narcos resorts to cheap tactics to depict just how ‘bad’ these characters are.”
“Netflix’s new series Narcos begins with a quote regarding the birth of magical realism, and its point of emphasis reveals quite a bit about the series it precedes.”
“If The Wrath of the Lamb doesn’t quite work as a series finale, it’s only because it wasn’t really supposed to be one.”
