So many elements of this five-part HBO mini-series (available next week on DVD and Blu-ray) are impeccable, including the production design, cinematography, and an overall production value that takes you back to the 1930’s Los Angeles in the most believable way imaginable. You also have James M. Cain’s classic source material, a respected and talented feature director in Todd Haynes, and an A-list cast that includes Academy Award-winners Kate Winslet and Melissa Leo, along with Mare Winningham, Guy Pearce, and a host of terrific character actors.

So what went so wrong?

“Mildred Pierce” is based on Cain’s classic potboiler of the same name, about a woman living through the dark days of the Depression in the generic suburb of Glendale, California. Mildred’s attractive, smart, and knows her way around a kitchen. Her ongoing downfall, however, is perpetually brought on by an attraction to bad men and an unnatural dedication to her oldest daughter Veda, a monster of need and manipulation — who’s really just a carbon copy of Mildred minus humanity.

After Mildred (Winslet) kicks her cheating husband out of the house (a very good scene), she has no car, no way to make a living, and in these economic times, no real prospects. She eventually “lowers” herself to accept a waitress job in a cafe where her smarts and notable cooking abilities gives her the know-how and confidence to open a place of her own — with a little help from her husband’s former business partner, the shady Wally, who Mildred is also enjoying loveless sex with.

As fate would have it, on her last day of work, Mildred meets Monte (Pearce), a handsome playboy with a Clark Gable mustache who haunts the attic of the mansion (that’s now up for sale) his family once occupied until the Depression wiped him out. On their first date, Monte and Mildred enjoy passionate HBO-ey sex and spend the night together. Fair or not, the consequence of this behavior sets the stage for the next decade of Mildred’s life, which will include professional successes, failures, and more personal turmoil than a full season of “One Life to Live.”

(more…)

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“The world’s in bad shape, Father. Who wouldn’t welcome a savior right now?”

Aliens arrive offering “hope” and telling us not to be afraid of “change.”

To grab power they set out to manipulate the media and create a culture of devotion around themselves.

But they are not who they appear to be.

In fact, they’re out to destroy our way of life.

Hmmm??? (more…)