Paul Levinson
Bio
Novels The Silk Code, The Plot To Save Socrates, It's Real Life: An Alternate History of The Beatles; LPs Twice Upon A Rhyme & Welcome Up; nonfiction The Soft Edge & Digital McLuhan, translated into 15 languages. Prof, Fordham Univ.
Stories (742)
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Review of 'Balthazar'
My wife and I just finishing bingeing two seasons, sixteen episodes, of Balthazar, the French series on Prime Video Acorn, made in 2018 and 2019, streaming here since April. Despite it being about a Parisian coroner (Balthazar) who cuts open dead bodies and hasn't gotten over the terrible murder of his fiance (or maybe wife) 15 years ago, the series is actually a great pick-me-up in these, our very troubled, times.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Criminal
Review of 'Absentia 3'
The third season of Absentia was up on Amazon Prime Video last month. I liked it the best of the three seasons so far because, well, I like James Bond type stories more than a vanished member of the family comes home after six years of missing, even if she is a high-powered FBI agent.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Criminal
Review of 'Hanna 2'
Hanna 2 starts a little slow, with a few too many episodes devoted to Hanna getting back to The Meadows and re-uniting with/saving Clara. But once it gets over that, this second season delivers a story with far more punch and complexity than the first season, especially the complexity part.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Criminal
Review of 'Reckoning'
My wife and I binged Reckoning, an outstanding psychological thriller about a serial killer and the detective bent on nabbing him that's been on Netflix since May. The ten episodes are each little masterpieces in themselves, and there's more than enough room for a second season, which I'd put at the top of any list to watch.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Criminal
Review of 'Uncut Gems'
I realized years ago when I saw Milton Berle in a serious dramatic role -- I think in The Oscar in the 1960s -- that, contrary to what you might think, comedians can make excellent dramatic actors. Robin Williams confirmed this decades later, with a vengeance, in Insomnia.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Criminal
Review of 'Code 8'
Caught Code 8 the other night on Netflix. It's at once a story of people with superpowers, robot cops, human cops, and criminals. The people with superpowers are feared by normal humans, with the result that most of the superpowered have become criminals. None of this is particularly original, but Code 8 is lifted by a real humanity that infuses the narrative.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Geeks
Review of 'Into the Dark: The Body'
I said in my review last week of Into the Dark's current episode, "The Current Occupant," that I'd be going back and coming back to review all the earlier episodes, so here's my review of "The Body," the very first episode in this Hulu series.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Horror
Review of 'Motherless Brooklyn'
The wife and I just saw Motherless Brooklyn on HBO. It's billed as an Edward Norton movie -- he also starred in it -- based on the Jonathan Lethem novel. I didn't read the novel (I was busy writing the sequel to The Silk Code when Lethem's novel was first published in 1999). But it's just as well. As readers of my reviews in Vocal may know, I like reviewing movies and TV series on their own terms, not on how they compare with the novels or short stories on which they may have been based. I will say that my wife mentioned that she saw that the Norton movie departed from the Lethem novel in many major ways.
By Paul Levinson5 years ago in Criminal
