Friday, March 29, 2019

Auf Wiedersehen Berlin Station


Berlin Station was cancelled after three seasons:

https://deadline.com/2019/03/berlin-station-canceled-season-3-end-epix-1202585332/

For me it wasn't as as sad as it could have been.  I had said "adios" to Berlin Station already, after they killed  Daniel Miller (Richard Armitage) at the end of Season 3.  



I started watching Berlin Station because of Richard Armitage, so once I knew he wouldn't return for a Season 4, I wasn't as interested in paying the extra for a subscription to Epix.

I am one of those viewers that liked Berlin Station.  I liked the complicated plot twists and blind alleys. I loved all the great Berlin locations.  But I didn't like that Richard's character, Daniel Miller, was an underdeveloped character.

In many ways, and not just because of what happened to Daniel Miller, Berlin Station lost its way in Season 3. 

The mystery of Berlin Station is how did a series with an excellent cast never quite live up to it's promise.  It was a good series, a solid spy series.  But it could have been an excellent and groundbreaking series. 

I read/listened to several of Olen Steinhauer's books.  I didn't care as much for All the Old Knives, but I loved his Yalta Boulevard books series, and still think it would make an excellent series. But caution to the producers, just don't hire the writers from Berlin Station if you do make the books into a series.  But now I really don't have any desire to read any more of Mr. Steinhauer's books. 

It was a treat of course to watch Richard Armitage again in a regular series.  I cared for Daniel Miller, but his story as the lead character could have been so much more intriguing for us to watch and for Richard to play if only they had hired better writers.  

I greatly enjoyed all of Richard's interviews related to his series, and the times he shared Berlin and Budapest, and other locations with us on Twitter and Instagram.  

Daniel (RA) and Esther (Mina Tander) will always be one of my favorite TV couples. 




Michelle Forbes, I was already a fan since her Star Trek days.  And I also already knew Rhys Ifans, Ashley Judd, Tamlyn Tomita, Caroline Goodall, and others. I will miss them all.  I had never watched Richard Jenkins before, though of course I knew about him. And I enjoyed watching for the first time KeKe Palmer, Ismael Cruz Cordoba, Brandon Spink, and many others. 

I'm also grateful that the series introduced me to wonderful European actors that I have since watched in other TV series, mostly on MHZ Choice.  I'm now a fan of them all (see link below):

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5191110/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast

I'll have a separate post soon about some great shows you can watch on MHZ Choice with some of my favorite European actors from Berlin Station.




I do have a very special mention to a wonderful actor and lovely man, Leland Orser.  Especially in this last Season 3 he became the soul of Berlin Station for all the fans of the series. I wasn't really a member of the "WhiteTShirtGang" but I enjoyed following all the tweets, and even tweeted myself sometimes. Yes, I'll miss Robert. 

 I'll continue to follow Leland Orser, and Michelle Forbes, and Sabin Tambrea, and other Berlin Station cast members  on Twitter. 

We'll always have Berlin 😔😎






Saturday, March 23, 2019

Five Films ?






This was a difficult Twitter challenge - and I've given a lot of though since he posted the question. So below are the five titles to introduce someone to my taste in movies:

Persuasion (1995)

The Last of the Mohicans (1992)

Roxanne (1987)

The Guardians (2017)

Good Bye Lenin (2003)


The challenge is movies, so I'm restricting the list above to movies, no TV shows sneaking in there. That would be a different list.

If I only had a choice of five movies to show to someone what kind of movies I like, the above would be my list. 

But I'm going to cheat and include two other categories of movies and try to select five titles in each to introduce someone to my taste in those particular categories of films.


Classic Films:

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Now, Voyager (1942)

West Side Story (1961)

Wuthering Heights (1939)

Seven Samurai (1954)

When other kids of my generation (baby boomers) were watching cartoons, I was watching what today we call Classic Films.  Before cable TV, and streaming, and the Internet, we had only a few channels we could watch on TV.  And in the late morning and afternoons one or two of these channels would show wonderful classic films with the greatest movie stars in the universe and amazing character actors.  


Fantasy/Science Fiction


The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)

The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey (2012)

Star Trek II:  The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Star Wars (A New Hope) (1977)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

I will confess that compared to some fantasy and science fiction fans who are experts in these genres, I fall short.  But I do have my favorites and I'm easily lost in other worlds.  

What are your five films?

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