The Short Count

I’ve been watching Karen Sisco (2003) ahead of starting Justified season 3 (where Carla Gugino sort of reprises her character), and I have to say I really like the opening titles. It’s evocative of that day-glo Florida, scummy, sun-drenched pulp. Something like Carl Hiaasen’s wheelhouse (but not him because none of his books have covers that have quite this same aesthetic—and I can’t figure out the search terms that would pull anything that matches up).

The show is pretty fun too, if too procedural, but has a great cast with Robert Forster and the awesome Bill Duke supporting.

I rewatched Michael Clayton (2007) and it was better than I remembered. It’s basically the skin of a legal thriller running around on the bones of a noir. And it has really distinctive aesthetic brought by Robert Elswit (the same year of his work that overshadowed this, There Will Be Blood). I think what makes Michael Clayton stand out among the amorphous blob of neo-noirs that exist, outside of maybe Chinatown, is the fact that the heavy here is a corporation.

Anyway, it’s a good excuse to shout “I’m Shiva, the god of death” at people and have it be an innocuous reference and not a delusional threat.

I Wang Chung’d. (wackity schmackity doo!)

But seriously, To Live and Die in LA (1985) is fantastic pulp. Even that score gives Friedkin’s LA the perfect seedy tone.