Justified - Justifiably Good To Me / Sad to See it End

Tonight one of my favorite shows on television comes to an end as Justified ends it's 6 season run and rides off into the sunset. Not every season has been fantastic (which is normal for any show) but I have always been entertained while watching and will miss it. Follow this link for the Series Final Teaser.

Justified tells the story of Raylan Givens (played by Timothy Olyphant), a Deputy US Marshal.  The character of Raylan was originally created by the late novelist Elmore Leonard and only appeared in three of his works: Two novels - Pronto (1993) and Riding the Rap (1995), and one novella - Fire in the Hole (which Justified is based on) which was included in the story collection, When the Women Come Out to Dance (2002).  If you haven't had a chance to read these I would encourage you to make the time.  Elmore Leonard was a fantastic writer.  After you read the stories with Raylan in them check out his other work.  You can find a complete list of Leonard's work here: Elmore Leonard complete works.  Kudos to the show creator Graham Yost and his team of writers for always writing stories that embody Elmore Leonard and bring his characters to life.

The show began in 2010 with Raylan in Miami, FL.  After he shot a criminal (a result of his quick draw - see it here: The Beginning / Quick Draw clip) he is sent back to his rural, coal-mining, hometown of Harlan, KY to work where he is assigned a case on his childhood friend Boyd Crowder (played by Walton  Goggins).  Check out the first introduction of Boyd here: Introduction of Boyd Crowder

The relationship between Raylan and Boyd has always been where the true entertainment of Justified lies.  While Raylan has chosen the path of law enforcement, Boyd has become a career criminal, a criminal mastermind at that.  These two may be on opposite sides of the law, but they are the same in many ways. They share a history of being friends and all the baggage that comes from being from Harlan.

I can not think of two other actors better suited to play Raylan and Boyd than Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins.  These two are fantastic as these characters.  They were believable and likable - despite their crazy shenanigans.  You can't help but hope their journey continues with each episode. While the goal has always been for Raylan to get his man (Boyd), it's hard not to enjoy the game of cat and mouse these two play.  I'm not sure if it would have been as entertaining with other actors in these roles and look forward to seeing both of them in their future endeavors.

Check out Timothy Olyphant's work here: Timothy Olyphant - IMDB
He has many credits to his name but some of my favorites are:

• Scream 2 (1997) (Yep, he was in the Scream franchise!)
• Gone in Sixty Seconds (2000)
• Hitman (2007)
• A Perfect Getaway (2009)
• Damages (TV series) (2009-2010)
  

Check out Walton Goggins' work here: Walton Goggins - IMDB

He also has many credits - here are some of my favorites:

• In the Heat of the Night (TV series) (1989-1992)
• Murder She Wrote: The Last Free Man (TV movie) (2001)
• The Shield (TV series) 2002-2008
• Straw Dogs (2011)
• Sons of Anarchy (TV series) (2013-2014) (He was AWESOME as Venus!)
  

Justified also had a great cast of supporting characters throughout the years.  Don't worry, I'm not going to list all of them...just a few of my favorites.

Nick Searcy as Raylan's boss Art Mullen cracked me up in almost every episode.  Can you imagine being Raylan's boss??  And I can't not mention Jacob Pitts as Deputy Tim Gutterson, and Erica Tazel as Deputy Rachel Brooks.  These characters have pretty much been by Raylan's side from the beginning...and never had a problem telling Raylan exactly how the felt.

I have mixed feelings about Natalie Zea who played Winona Hawkins - Raylan's baby Mama.  I love her as an actress, but while I really wanted to root for her and Raylan, I just couldn't.  The real life part of me loves them together and is happy at the thought of them having their "happily ever after". But the TV lover in me wanted strife and discomfort between them, if not no relationship at all. Raylan is a better law man when he is unhappy and looking for happiness.

Joelle Carter was amazing as Ava Crowder.  She has almost always played the devoted supporter / lover of Boyd but lately has been leaning a little more towards Raylan.  There have been a lot of underlying tones with these three, and no matter how it plays out in the series finale, I'm sure it will be entertaining.

Jere Burns is fantastic as Wynn Duffy - but crazy as a loon. Neal McDonough played the devilish Robert Quarles. Both of these characters blended in perfectly in the Justified world.  Here's a clip that highlights both of them with Raylan: Wynn Duffy and Robert Quarles

One of my favorite actors, Jim Beaver, spent 14 episodes as Sheriff Shelby Parlow, and made me hate his character in the process. Raymond J. Barry played Raylan's father Arlo Givens (such a lovable fellow - HA!). Damon Herriman played Dewey Crowe and Jeremy Davies played Dickie Bennett.  Patton Oswalt played Constable Bob Sweeney (and was hilarious!).  One of the most entertaining characters is Kaitlyn Dever as Loretta McCready, young and smart as a whip (as my Papa would have said). Watching her grow up on this show has been incredible. And the baddie of the current season has been none other than Sam Elliot as Avery Markham (who I really like better WITH a mustache).

Outside of Raylan and Boyd my favorite Justified character was Mags Bennett played by the fantastic Margo Martindale. This character was both entertaining and scary!  I loved her talks with Raylan and found her love of apple pie moonshine hysterical.  Check out this clip of when we first meet Mags.

We may say goodbye to new episodes of Justified tonight but I will continue to embrace these characters when watching them again (I have a tendency to do that with shows I really like).  I will miss that silver-tongued chameleon Boyd and my favorite modern day gunslinger Raylan.

And finally, one more clip to remind you of Raylan's motto:
"You make me pull, I put you down.": A Tribute To Raylan

IMDB page: Justified IMDB page

The Gunman - A Sure Shot For Me

The Gunman 

Rated R / Action, Crime, Drama

Stars: Sean Penn, Idris Elba, Jasmine Trinca, Javier Bardem, Ray Winstone, Mark Rylance…

**spoilers ahead**

With two new movies out this weekend Ron and I decided to start early and take in one of them on Thursday night.  Last night we went to see the new Sean Penn flick The Gunman.  The movie is based on the 2002 novel The Prone Gunman written by Jean-Patrick Manchette. 

The Gunman is an action movie and in many ways is presented like every other action movie I’ve seen – which is not a negative thing in my opinion.  Sean Penn, who is now 54 years old, looks great physically!  He has obviously been spending lots of time in the gym as evidenced by his buff and toned body (you can get a good look at it during a surfing scene later in the movie – yes, I said a surfing scene).  My only complaint about him in the entire movie is his continual need to smoke a cigarette!

Sean Penn plays Jim Terrier.  Jim is a private security contractor who also happens to be a sniper on a mercenary assassination team in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).  The movie starts in 2006 with images that I would definitely have rather not seen…but were important for the theme of the movie.  Thankfully the images of starving babies, war, and other atrocities were brief as they were extremely hard to look at.  While showing these images there were also clips from news programs as well as voice over discussing things like the private security contractors, world’s deadliest conflict, rape, vast mineral wealth, and meeting the demands of the Western world.  From this you know right up front that there will be lots of political overtones throughout the movie.

Jim’s girlfriend Annie is played by Jasmine Trinca, and exotic and beautiful woman.  Annie is an aid worker at a local clinic – where she gets to see firsthand the results of all of the atrocities in the Congo.  From the way they look at each other it’s obvious that Jim and Annie are deeply in love…something that seems to be a problem for Jim’s colleague, Felix (played by Javier Bardem).

During an operation, which I’m sure was supposed to be one of those “good for the country” operations but seems more like a “good for greed” operation, Jim kills the minister of mines of the Congo on the orders of an unknown client, unknown to everyone but Felix anyway.  As a condition of the successful operation Jim must immediately leave the Congo and his girlfriend Annie behind.  But don’t worry about Annie…Jim asked Felix to look after her so she’s bound to be in good hands…right?

Eight years later Jim returns to the Congo, but this time is not there as a private security contractor; instead he works for an aid group providing safe drinking water.  See, Jim is a good guy after all.  Jim is still having flashbacks from the minister’s assassination in which he pulled the trigger.  The flashbacks are accompanied by horrible headaches (as they should) which we later find out is because he has “post-concussion syndrome”.  While I don’t doubt that he would have these flashbacks, I do doubt that a person that can accomplish this kind of assassination would not have done MANY other things that would also be causing him duress, yet we never see flashbacks of those.

While working with the aid group the group is attacked by locals looking for “the white man”.  Jim manages to evade death (after killing most of the others in true action star style) and then commences his trek to find out who sent them.  He is certain it has something to do with the DRC assassination so he hunts down some of his old colleagues in London, Terry (played by Mark Rylance), who is now an executive at the security firm they both used to work for, and Stanly (played by Ray Winstone), who appears to be a beach bum.  You know that one of these is going to end up being a bad guy for sure.

Jim eventually ends up in Barcelona, where he finds that Felix and Annie are now married.  This seemed to surprise him but I doubt that anyone in the audience was surprised by this. After some “as expected” confrontations between the three of them, and some adultery between Jim and Annie (you knew that was going to happen right?), the action (and violence) in the movie really starts to heat up. 

It turns out that Jim has been keeping journals containing evidence of all the things the security company, including himself, did over the years.  Needless to say, the security company doesn’t want this information to come out….enter Interpol.   Of course Interpol is very interested in obtaining this information and they have the perfect agent for the job – Idris Elba.  Idris Elba really doesn’t do a lot in this movie…but he still looks good just standing there.

The remainder of the movie is full of action sequences, including a bull fight, leading up to the “happily ever after” ending.  Ok, so maybe I left out some significant scenes…I don’t need to tell you everything, do I?  You really need to watch this movie to truly appreciate the action scenes. 

I’ve seen some bad press about this movie criticizing everything from the Africans in the film not having any lines to speak to Sean Penn’s performance to the degrading of women to the predictable storyline.  But I enjoyed it.  I knew exactly what to expect when walking into the theater…an action film with political overtones.  I thought Sean Penn’s performance was great.  The movie actually kind of reminded me of the Bourne movies and the Taken movies….and I wouldn’t mind seeing other movies with the Jim Terrier character in them.  So even though some may not like it…it was a sure shot for me. 

You can find the movie info on IMDB here:

IMDB - The Gunman

And the official site here:

Official Site - The Gunman

And if you want to read the novel it was based on you can get that here:

Novel - The Prone Gunman 

  

TV

Today's photo is TV.  Anyone that knows me knows how much I love TV!  I have always loved TV...since I was a little girl.  There are a lot of people that criticize watching too much TV...but for me there really isn't such a thing as too much TV.  :)

For me TV is a form of entertainment, a form of escapism, and sometimes just simply background noise.  I watch many different types of shows on TV but my favorite genre is crime shows such as Criminal Minds, Law & Order, Chicago PD, The Following, etc... I rarely watch sitcoms because I am not a fan of most of the things that are considered "funny" now-a-days (however I do really enjoy The Big Bang Theory).  I read TV Guide from cover to cover (and several other entertainment magazines).  Not only do I follow the listings but I love the articles.  I love to know everything I can about the shows that I watch...everything about the actors...everything about what's happening behind the scenes...everything!

My favorite show on TV right now is The Walking Dead.  The show has a huge following yet there are a lot of people who still refuse to watch it because they don't like zombies.  I think any other fan of the show would agree with me that The Walking Dead is about so much more than zombies.  In fact the zombies are really just a small part of the show.  The show is about how people deal in crisis situations.  How do people relate to others when everything they have ever known has been taken from them?  How do you survive when nothing is "normal" anymore?  When watching it I always wonder how I would reach in a similar situation (Don't worry...I'm prepared fro the zombie apocalypse).   If you haven't watched this show you really should give it a shot.  If you are fan like me I know you are anxiously awaiting for the Season 5 mid-season premiere on Feb 8!!