I liked them both in "Heat" only quibbles were the too fast reaction to the nickname Slick - and Pacino's shouted "Tell me what you got" repeated twice in quick succession - I was thinking "Hey Al - that's De Niro's gig"!! De Niro does that a LOT. I don't know anything about De Niro's politics. There are some things that pass me by - he is in an advert for Niro cars over here - he is looking very old now - he is not aging gracefully - he is dressed in a check shirt and jeans with braces over the top that end about 6 inches above his ankles and great big brown boots with a loop at the back - on his head is a sort of knitted hat that falls down over the back of his neck - they are saying something about a Niro being trendy - I don't understand what they mean - I don't know if the way De Niro is dressed is trendy or not !! He looks ridiculous. I enjoyed the "Godfather" series for the most part - I didn't like the ridiculous scream from Al at the end and the whole "look at them chatting" as they awaited the performance of their son was so fake. I also hated the final scenes of that movie with his sister putting the shawl over her head in juxtaposition of what was happening on stage - it was bathos. I have been a movie lover since I was a child and I have very high expectations of actors and writers and directors !! Out of the blue - have you ever seen a series called "Reilly - Ace of Spies" it's old now - but it starred Sam Neill as a real life spy who was a Russian Jew but who went under the name of Sidney Reilly. It was a great series with some very good actors in supporting roles - it started my fandom of Sam Neill in earnest. I am not sure about "The Mission" it is familiar yet not if you know what I mean. I can't figure out how to do quotes I always seem to get it wrong - but I absolutely love your assessment of the reflection of reality in the chain of command depictions in police procedurals - and the brash female officers - it is absolutely spot on and concise.

Yes De Niro and Pacino both have aged a LOT in their faces. I wonder if they are hard drinkers, or if that is just the way men in their families look as they age. I suspect a bit of excessive hard living has played a role. One imagines coke fueled Hollywood parties and such.

I think I can be a harsh critic at times. I have learned to just overlook a lot of the nonsense since it is so commonplace. An example is the police department behavior we were speaking of. I expect to see it because that is just the way the film media does things these days.

Blue Bloods is an exception to that rule. I really like that TV show because it seems closer to reality, and it doesn't push leftist agenda issues constantly. When it deals with them, it does so in a sensible manner. It shows the conservative position and exposes some of the liberal manipulations and falsehoods.

I have been binge watching Glitch again recently since you are watching it now. I don't know where you are in the show so I won't talk about the story much aside from what I have already covered. It struck me again in the first episode just how emotional that cop, James Willis acts. When he first saw his back from the dead wife, he was understandably in shock at first. And then he was in denial, and started crying! I guess it would be understandable, but something about the way that guy reacts to things just seems to dramatic, and un-masculine at times.
His partner at the police station, Chris Rennox, isn't exactly a tough guy either.

Anyway, let me know which episode you're up to and any observations you have on the show.

I am on Series 2 Episode 3 - I find it a little slow and repetitive - especially with the Beau and Paddy plotline. They are taking a very long time for the dead folk to find out how they died - and now we have a new character who is Beau's mother' s lover who has a completely unexplained and unexpected connection to the cop's current wife. She, it seems, is now some kind of informant. I also found it implausible that the cop's dead wife is suddenly saying "we were over when I was alive" or words to that affect - it was ridiculous given her display of love for him and her jealous behaviour toward wife No:2. Then shortly after she says that she is bedding a total stranger - it is not consistent behaviour. It makes me laugh the political correctness seems to be if we have a gay male then we should really have a gay female - it was such a token gesture - thank goodness. I am trying to figure out Elishia's back story. She is a scientist who was in a gay relationship with a woman who had all her files - she dies - comes back to life and swaps her toe tag with another corpse so that people will think that she is dead - dare one ask why - she was in a loving relationship with one assumes a successful career. And it seems she is no longer a lesbian as she is madly in love with William who died 200 years ago - so she must have lived 200 years ago if she knew him then. I think I am missing something here - did I nod off or something? Anyway she is now dead - courtesy of Beau's mother's lover. Wife No:2 has had her baby - and almost made a dog's dinner out of it!! And Kirstie is now stalking her ex best friend who said she hardly knew her. That is where I am at. I think both policemen are pretty wimpish - and the mysteries are taking far too long to unravel.

I am laughing a bit now having read that. I agree on a lot of that. But having watched it a couple of times now I think I can clear up some of it.

Kate told her hubby James she now realizes that they were really over once she died. And of course when she found out her wimpy husband is married to her ex best friend and doesn't have the balls to tell either of them what is happening, she decides things are certainly over now. Plus, she resents him pretending he should tell her what to do. And who wouldn't? Even as a cop, James Hayes acts like someone without real authority, like he is pretending to be a cop and hoping others will play along with him. It's kind of funny how often people don't pay attention to him.

[By the way, since James and Kate were married, why is her name Kate Willis when his last name is Hayes? Is that supposed to be another indication that he doesn't wear the pants?)

Sarah, Vic, and Phil. These three all die and immediately come back to life, except it isn't really them. Someone else is in them, but retains their memories and so can act like them. Kind of. Apparently, the people who now sort of share those bodies with the memories of the recently, briefly dead, are on a mission to kill off the ones Elisha brought back, since the universal law says, when you die, you gotta stay dead. (Unless you are here to kill other people who died and then came back, then you get a pass, apparently. Keeping up?) Since Sarah and Phil both have the same mission after their deaths and revivals, they seem to recognize that in each other and know they have to work together, though Sarah is sort of slow to get with the program.

So they are different from the ones Elisha brought back in the cemetery with her electro magnetic, audio experiment.

And Elisha is different to both groups. She doesn't know how she came back into the body she got, that lesbian scientist, who is now straight. (Maybe there is hope for the world, if we can figure out how that happened. ) Her love interest William, aka John Doe, the quiet one, has also come back before.

Kirstie is a trip. I will let that story unfold in the episode you are watching now. There was a reason her friend told the cops what she did. Kirstie doesn't remember everything yet. Kirstie is a smart mouthed little girl. She is critical as hell of people. She started in on William that time he was minding his own business eating his meal, BECAUSE HE WASN'T SPEAKING! Doesn't take much to piss her off. And when he got up to leave she jumped up and put her hand on his arm while yelling at him, calling him a murderer, an idiot, and whatnot, at which point he snapped and over reacted. But I gotta tell you, I was on his side there. lol Then Charlie attacked him from behind and he knocked the poof to the floor.
Damn, he was just sitting there eating his meal and everyone started in on him.

Kirstie will find out eventually who killed her. That is a surprise.

The series two finale left a lot of questions for me to be answered next fall.

Flippin "eck - there's more !!! Thanks for the explanation - I didn't quite get the guy who was on the oil rig (Phil) actually died - I thought he had survived with minor injuries so that threw me off - also with Sarah - I thought she had survived the birth - they didn't make it traumatic enough to suspect otherwise - although I did have a smidgeon of suspicion with Sarah with her dropping cups and having headaches. I got it with Vic - at least he acted like he was a different person. I think that Kate - is a modern gal - she retained her maiden name on marriage - it would have been more appropriate if Mr Weak Knees had taken on her name because he is certainly hen-pecked. Kirstie is a spoiled promiscuous brat - I have no sympathy towards her at all - good on William for putting her in her place. I am not an advocate for male violence - far from it - but women have to realise they can't do and say what they like and hide behind that concept when a man reacts. So now Elishia has done an Ophelia the question is - can she come back again? The next question is - do we want her to? !! Can you imagine if there was a "cure" for Lesbianism - no more women in suits and ties or dungarees with cropped hair being the "guy" in the relationship. I had a recent thought about that - I wondered why male oriented Lesbians don't take the plunge and have the medication or the operation that will turn them into actual men (the Russians have actually done this with drugging their female athletes to the point of gender change) and if they did then they would become straight men. Else they remain just women pretending to be men who don't really want to be men - maybe I just think too much !!!

Dropping cups of hot tea: yes it seems that those newly returned from the dead don't understand about cups of hot liquid. They drop them as though they are totally surprised. The pain from grabbing the hot part of a cup of steaming liquid appears to shock them, as if they are experiencing it for the first time. It has happened in this show so many times, people ought to start catching on to this. You know, someone grabs a cup of scolding liquid, then drops it yelling "Fuck! That's hot" (as Sarah said). And you casually say: "So... recently back from the dead, eh?"

On a serious note about gender and orientation, I am slightly familiar with work on the issue of gender dysphoria. There was some ground breaking work done at Johns Hopkins University by research physicians on gender identity disorders. One of the early pioneers in this field, whose name I will have to look up later on, has come under heavy criticism in recent years by liberal radical activists because he has been unflinching in presenting evidence which does not support the current frenzy to push hormones on children, push gender change, etc. This doctor cares deeply for the people who are genuinely suffering from gender dysphoria and is only advocating those treatments which have been shown to help these patients.
Frankly, I have great sympathy for these patients, as I believe you would also. I don't want to see people suffering deep emotional pain, as these patients often do. I think most people have some level of sympathy aroused in them when they witness another person who is depressed, and in emotional pain.

But critics have attacked this doctor because he cannot support some of the objectives of the liberal, radical activists, objectives which are medically untested, or those which medical science indicates are harmful to the patients.
In short, the liberal political goals, their social engineering goals, are often harmful to the very patients which they purport to seek to protect and to heal. It is an anti-intellectual position.

That issue is sometimes different to the lesbian who likes to dress and act very masculine. These ladies are not necessarily suffering from a gender identity disorder. It is something else, perhaps a fetish, perhaps it reflects a dominant personality, something along those lines.
But the masculine lesbian may have gender identity disorder, so the lines sometimes appear blurry.

Given that they have grown up as women, it might be too great a change to attempt to switch completely over to living as a man. They may already be socialized as lesbians, and switching genders all the way would rob them of an essential element in their social network.

And the same with males who feminize themselves. They may not want to have the operation and lose what has always been an essential part of their identity.

Of course that raises the question: are these people really suffering from gender identity disorder since they do not want to change their sex organ?

Again, for those suffering emotionally from these issues I have great sympathy and hope they can find relief from their pain.

But I absolutely detest the radical, anti-intellectual, often militant, activists whose goals are social upheaval. They don't really care about these patients at all.

I would never like to see any person of any sexual orientation in emotional pain.My question was genuine - I wasn't making fun - I just can't understand how women would want to dress and act like men and yet not become one. It is a far more complex subject than I had realised. I guess there are many shades of sexual orientation - some of which blend into each other - and many reasons -both psychological and societal - why they choose their own lifestyles. They should be left alone - and not used by anyone to further their own agendas. On a lighter note - I have just watched "Den of Thieves" - it wasn't bad - elements of "Heat" and "The Usual Suspects" but a movie that ultimately stands on its own. With regard to "Glitch" - what are the chances that a guy would end up with two dead alive wives? He's no "Lucky Jim" is he?!! And did you recognise Ned Dennehy (Paddy) from "Peaky Blinders" - he is one of those actors who turn up everywhere.

Yeah I saw Ned Dennehy and recalled him from Glitch when I started watching Peaky Blinders. His character in Glitch is bigger, more rounded, if that makes sense.

I didn't think you were making fun of the lesbians or the gender issue. I just meant that I think we see it the same.

I will search for Den of Thieves and give it a viewing.

Yeah, poor James. He hasn't been lucky in the wife department. Two wives died and came back, and neither one worked out the second time around. I am a little harsh on the guy because he cries so much, and is a bit too dramatic for my tastes. Actors must learn to express various emotions on cue, which cannot be easy. I guess maybe Patrick Brammall just finds it easy to tear up and so doing that emotion is easier for him. I imagine that male acting students are encouraged to do this. It fits the 'softer' male ideal Hollywood (my generic term for film media in general) seems to want to promote.

But I don't like it. He actually breaks down into weeping fits at times, losing it much worse than the women in the scenes. I think it would seem more realistic if he were emotional without sobbing and shaking, as he did in the first episode when he saw Kate. But like I said, I am probably being a little harsh, over critical of him. If I were an actor, I doubt I would want someone like me posting comments about my performance. lol

I think if actors read these posts they might improve their craft !! I don't mind weeping men so much - what I cannot stand at any price is the runny nose school of acting - of which Eddie Marsan seems to be a leading light - it turns my stomach. I also don't much like the heaving down the toilet (or anywhere else) method. Speaking of Eddie Marsan - have you seen "Ray Donovan". It was OK - apart from some scenes with Jon Voight where he overdid the "having a great time" scenes. Overall it was a strong story line with good acting. One scene I liked was where Liev Schreiber was doing a dance along in front of the television - he looked like he was really trying and that made it funnier because he is such a solemn looking guy. It deals with a guy in L.A. who is a fixer for just about anybody who will pay him well. He and his brothers have been abused by Catholic priests in childhood and it has left them all emotionally scarred. He is not on good terms with his father (Voight) who comes back into their lives - much to his anger and resentment. I would recommend it. Did you say you had seen "Dexter"? Only I don't remember discussing it with you - I am sure I would if we had.

haha. OK, what is "the runny nose school of acting"? Is that crying with a runny nose?

I saw a couple episodes of Ray Donovan during a promotional period when I got Showtime for free. It seemed like it could be a good show.

I did watch Dexter. It was a strange show for sure. I kind of liked it partly because I used to live in Miami and it's nice to see places you've been, places you know in the shows. And it had a very unique plot. The show kind of had a cult following, and actors seemed to covet a guest spot on the show. It sort of launched the careers of a few actors. David Zayas, the guy who played Angel Batista has had some big roles since Dexter. Jennifer Carpenter, Dexter's sister Debra Morgan is starring in a series now called The enemy within.
It was a good show in many ways and it attracted some great talent.

But no I don't think we have ever talked about Dexter.

UPDATE I just watched the trailer for Den of Thieves. It looks good. Gerard Butler is always good. He had a great line in the trailer. The bank robber Ray Merriman tells him "I ain't cuffing up", and Big Nick says "That's OK. I didn't bring my cuffs anyway."

translation: I came expecting to shoot you.

The runny nose school of acting is exactly that - people in emotional scenes who let their noses run all over their faces without attempting to clean it off - I feel so sorry for the actor who is usually the one who is causing this person to blubber and he/she has to stand close to this disgusting spectacle and not react to it - personally I would throw up. Ray Donovan is good - I watched the first seasons free on Amazon - but they always give a certain amount free and then you have to pay for the final series - I actually bought all the final seasons of Dexter - Ray Donovan - and The Americans. And if you knew me well you would know that I am not easily swayed into parting with my cash. !! I loved Dexter - I know it is not PC to like a serial killer - but to me he was dispensing justice to hateful people. He never killed anyone who was innocent. As I recall I mentioned John Lithgow appearing in this show - he was so good - he can be quietly terrifying. The only thing I disliked about Dexter was his "sister" thinking she was in love with him - that was a step too far - I also think they could have done without her finding out about him and the fact that she went from rookie detective to Lieutenant in about six months. I like David Zayas - he has appeared in a LOT of shows since then - including "Gotham" a show I didn't think I would like but ended up enjoying. He was also in "The Blacklist" and "Grimm". The transformations in "Grimm" were done really well - it's worth watching for that alone. "Den of Thieves" is good - better than a lot of the straight to video trash that Netflix seems to buy up in their thousands.

Yeah the thing about Dexter was that everybody enjoyed the idea that scumbag killers who kept slipping through the system and getting away with murder were now finally getting justice. In Dexter we had our own serial killer, weaponized for good. It was a weird feeling because he acted normal, as his father had trained him to act, yet he was a grisly murderer, but trained to only kill bad guys. So we could rationalize supporting him. That first couple of seasons are coming back to me now. Some diver found his dump site and presto, the "Bay Harbor Butcher" is the biggest serial murder case in memory.

Maybe we have talked about it before because I do recall you mentioning John Lithgow before, but I don't think we talked about it a whole lot.

Yeah his sister Debra had a lot of love interests. It was weird when she figured out that she liked her brother. Of course, he wasn't a blood relative so it would have been legal, and medically alright if they had kids, but....ewww. They are brother and sister.

the runny nose thing. Sometimes I think actors just want to evoke some strong visceral reaction in us, no matter what it is, even if it is disgust.

If I see a runny nose I turn it off - I have a weak stomach - so actors are shooting themselves in the foot as far as I am concerned. I think that Debra and Frank (Keith Carradine) should have been allowed to marry and move away. There should have been some kind of happy events in that series - it was downbeat by nature and needed the odd ray of light. I think that black female detective who suspected Dexter was a bit of an idiot - when she had found him and Deb and confronted them she says to Debra "Put him down" like he was a dog or something not Debra's beloved bro. Who did she think Debra was going to choose? I also got fed up with Debra's potty mouth - it became grating after a while. Over all though I enjoyed the series - particularly as it was a long series and the characters had time to develop.

I agree; actors, and also the directors and producers, shoot themselves in their feet with their techniques. I turn off lots of shows rather than suffer through them.

I read somewhere that Jennifer Carpenter is something of a potty mouth in real life. I guess it made it easier for her to play the role by keeping it closer to her own personality. Doesn't say much for acting ability though. Yeah, Lt. LaGuerta should have told Debra to cuff him or something, and promised to get him help or whatever. Pretty stupid to tell her to shoot her brother. I guess LaGuerta thought Debra was committed to upholding the law, but it came down to "who do I like better, you or him? ummm sorry, I like him better."

As the show went on year after year, the freshness of the idea of a serial killer taking out society's garbage wore off. The writers needed to find ways to create tension, conflict, keep the story fresh, etc. So while in the first season Dexter seemed to glide along, killing bad guys and going to work, everything fine, as time went on he faced more and more close scrapes and dilemmas. It changed the show somewhat. Also, the writers seem to think they have to reach for more and more unrealistic scenarios, to keep topping what they did before. The danger is that they lose viewers who find they can't keep buying into the fiction.

At times they had Dexter make some dumb mistakes in order to set up the crisis he made and found himself in. That is pretty standard fare, but when it is too obvious I get fed up with the show. I don't recall any specific instances right now.

I knew they couldn't give Dexter a happy ending. And once Debra found out about Dexter and kept it a secret, a happy ending for her was out as well. There is a "crime doesn't pay" message they have to deliver. They created a 'hero' of sorts who goes round murdering people, even though they are all murderers themselves. They had to show bad consequences for Debra once she decided to help Dexter.

I agree the first series was the best. It went off the rails when other people began to know what Dexter was doing - I think Jimmy Smits was one of them - it's a while now since I watched it - but I recall I didn't like those episodes. I think Dexter's "work" should have remained a secret. Have you been watching any new shows recently? Anything you could recommend? I am on Series 2 Episode 6 of "Glitch" and James has found out that dead wife 2 is another one of God's assassins. Poor old Paddy has carked it - but he achieved his mission at least. That facility - Noregard - wouldn't win any prizes for security would it - no alarm in reception - hidden or otherwise - just bang on the window girl !! Oh, by the way - James is crying again!! I love the way that people are simply chucked in a hole in Yoorana - it's like they are burying dogs - or should that be dingoes. At the moment I can't imagine how this is going to make a third series.