Nightcap 5/30/21 The Brooklyn Film Festival starts this week, Movie Rules, NCIS season finales

In what is almost certainly the last Nightcap until after Tribeca some random pieces.

---

The Brooklyn Film Festival starts this week. It's a hybrid of in person and virtual screenings. 

Normally I would cover a number of films but that won't be the case this year. The shifting nature of life and commitments are keeping me to only a couple of titles That is not an indication about the films or the festival - both are great- it only means that I don't have the time to do it right.

Do yourself a favor and get tickets to something- anything- it will be time well spent.

Ticket info here.

---

Going back through some old posts I discovered a couple rules concerning movies

Not long after I started Unseen and when I was attending my first film at my first Tribeca I came up with THE BURIED LAND RULE which was if you are watching a questionable film and you think the only way a film can be made better is to have someone "walk into a minefield" it will never happen so just get up and go home.  It's so named for a film that had a great first 15 minutes then went off the rails before I kept hoping someone would walk into the minefields that littered the landscape. 

Mondocurry's manga/anime test was devised when he reviewed ASSASSINATION CLASSROOM at Fantasia. He had argued that the reason manga/anime adaptions tend not to work when made into live action films is that they never transcend their origins. The films remain primarily of interest to fans of the source because:

1: They are made with the fan base in mind and don't explain enough for the non-fan to get it
2. The films remain episodic in structure and don't become one unified tale.
If a manga/anime film is to work you have to be able to walk off the street and be able to follow it. Additionally the film has to feel like its one story not a series of chapters with fade out every couple of minutes.

---

The  season ending of NCIS: LA was sweet. It was so nice that everyone was on the show. It was even nicer that there was no tragedies and upheavals. With all the pain and suffering they have had at the end of the last few seasons it was nice that it was happy.

The end of NCIS: New Orleans was bittersweet. I think the series just hit its stride and it's over. While the last few episodes seem contrived as they raced to finish a plot line that would have extended into next season, it was still good.. I could argue this maybe the best bunch of agents. It was also a very sad with Pride's mom in terminal stages of her illness and the probable death of Sasha Broussard. I really wish this had continued.

Lastly Season 18 of NCIS has ended and I’m kind of yawning.

Its not that I don’t care about the characters, I do, rather I think the writing  this season has been awful. None of it feels natural.

The whole plot line involving Fornell’s daughter and drugs never worked because of how it was put into the series. Additionally the turns of the whole plot line felt manipulated, its as if they decided to kill her off and then marched to that. It’s like when they killed off Clayton because they didn’t know what to do with him.

While there was foreshadowing of the Bishop turn the rushing through getting her out of the way in the last episode was way too rushed.

And as for the Gibbs story line, things felt off before but it’s clear they had no f-ing clue as to what to do with him once they put him on suspension. While it was interesting to see him with Pam Dawber it always felt contrived as if it was a victory lap that they didn’t know how to take.  

The blowing up of the boat  and the swimming off of Gibbs was a mixed blessing- no I didn’t want to see him go, but if you’re going to kill him kill him. I’m not so sure about the whole serial killer bugging them twist.

And as for the new girl- One episode isn’t enough to know. Her popping in for the last episode didn't seal the deal

I’ll watch next year- though I think it may have jumped the shark.