Dexter: Season 4 (2009)

Warning: This review spoils content on the TV show Dexter, from Season 1 through most of 4. Please stop reading if you are not caught up on this show.

Boy, what a season of Dexter this was. After the past season's admittedly lame Miguel Prado storyline, in which Dexter tried to create a partner and was usurped by the man's utter lack of control, we get a return to the formula that I surmised was going to define the show from Season One: Dexter hunts another major serial killer. The Ice Truck Killer, a.k.a Dexter's brother Brian Moser, was Season One's big one, but otherwise there hasn't been anything of interest. Season Two shook up the formula before it was established by having Dexter himself be the hunted. And the Skinner, from Season Three, stayed in the shadows most of the time, only revealing himself at the end in a kind of lame twist on what was expected.

But that brings us to Season Four, and the decision to invent the creepiest, most effective fictional serial killer on Dexter: Trinity (John Lithgow, in an amazing performance). His cold, calculated method of three kills, one bathtub murder of a young woman, one forced suicide of a mother of two, and one bludgeoning of a father of two is a great little system. But more fascinating then the method of the serial killer is the performance by Lithgow. But more on that later.

Season Four began with Dexter dealing with his new life: father of three, married man, full time job, yet still trying to satisfy that Dark Passenger we've come to know so well (and who has been embodied by Dexter's dead foster father, Harry Morgan (James Remar)). The first two episodes alone provided some nail biters, as Dexter flubs a kill and tries to retrace his steps.

Briefly back on the scene was FBI Special Agent Frank Lundy (Keith Carradine), retired, hunting the Trinity killer because the FBI for some reason thought that the best serial killer hunter was off his rockers. Right. Regardless, it provides this season with an exciting villain, and after Lundy is offed in front of Deb (Jennifer Carpenter), and Deb herself is harmed, it leads Dexter to hunt Trinity as the suspected killer.

The show, in its first half, is fairly routine for Dexter: he repeatedly juggles family and work and killing, and slowly unveils the Trinity's identity, a.k.a. Arthur Mitchell, Christian, family man. There's a particularly annoying, but thematic subplot involving Angel Bastita (David Zayas) and LaGuerta's (Lauren Vélez) office romance. And Deb's search through her father's old CI files, while paying off in the end, takes a bit of time to get going.

But the show really takes off with the character of Arthur Mitchell. Dexter's discovery that he has a happy family (much like Dexter himself), using them as a cloak. Here, the show repeats the third season in several places, with Dexter seeking knowledge from Trinity, learning to hide himself in plain sight instead of in his very awesome apartment. This is in contrast of him seeking a friend in Miguel Prado last season. Differing, but similar storylines. That, and a repeat of Dexter killing an innocent man was leading this season towards redundant hell.

But lo and behold, in the show's Thanksgiving episode "Hungry Man," Dexter witnesses Trinity's true persona in front of his family, and the constant state of terror they live in. It was with this episode that the season really took flight, and in the last four episodes, cemented the season as, in my opinion, the second best of the show's current four seasons (Season 1 being first, 2 and 3 after).

John Lithgow is terrifying, terrific, and many other "t" adjectives. He brings life and humanity, as well as a monstrous side to the character of Arthur Mitchell, and is believable for every moment of the show, down to the end. Few actors have stood out as much as Lithgow does here, and I hope he is honored in many an awards show to come. He rightly deserves it.

But what officially cements the show is its ending. Season Two and Season Three ended on happy notes: Dexter frames someone else for his crimes, Dexter gets married. What made Season One so terrific was it ended leaving you wanting more; Dexter kills his brother, Doakes begins tailing him, and his then-girlfrend finds out her jailbird ex is telling the truth about Dexter. And this season delivers in a poignant, half-expected yet still totally surprising and devastating moment that leaves you waiting for the next season. Where Dexter will go from here is hard to say, but one knows it will be completely different from the show we've come to love these past four years. It really creates overarching themes for the whole season: it is about Dexter seeking a new life, it is about how Dexter's recklessness cost him, it is about how life is unfair. I eagerly await September 2010 with baited breath.

District 9 (2009)

A lot of people have been fawning over a movie called District 9, directed by unknown Neill Blomkamp and released by Peter Jackson. Harry Knowles of AICN said that this was "...the most accomplished, provocative and intelligent science fiction I've seen in this new century." Now I have learned to take what the AICN fanboys say with a grain of salt, and this is no disrespect against them, but they usually don't make statements this bold, and I've seen many other people on the Internets raving about this movie.

So of course I had to go see it. It did look good after all, the teaser trailer and theatrical trailer enticing you but giving none of the story away. This is one of the few movies I went into as blind as possible; I didn't read any reviews until after I had seen it, to gain a perspective on what those other critics had thought of it.

The movie's premise, I have to say, is one of the most original premises we have had in a while. Aliens land not over Chicago, New York, D.C., or L.A., but over Johannesburg, South Africa. The movie is not about what the aliens do to us, but what we do to them. In a very well done mockumentary at the opening, the situation of the Aliens are set up, nicknamed Prawns for their crustaceanlike appearance, and because that associates them with bottom feeders. The Prawns are moved into a slum, which shares the movie's title, and live a fairly disgusting life, loving catfood.

The main character of the film is Wikus Van De Merwe (Sharlto Copley), an employee of MNU (the company that maintains the Aliens living conditions) who is assigned the task of going through District 9 and getting the Prawns to sign an eviction notice, merrily killing the eggs of the Prawns and arresting/killing those who resist. He has an unfortunate accident which makes him a refugee from humankind.

One might be surprised to learn that this only cost $30 million to make, considering the amount of visual effects are in the film. The Prawns, using the motion capture technology that Jackson's Weta Workshops has perfected, are realistic and exist within the realm of each scene perfectly. You forget they are computer generations and except them as actual beings, much like you did Gollum in LOTR. One Prawn, Christopher Johnson (yes, that is his name) and his son become surprisingly empathetic, and it is one of the movie's great accomplishments.

But alas, this movie is not all that others have made it out to be. While the movie has a terrific set-up and premise, once the movie starts following Wikus' exile it becomes surprisingly formulaic. The villains, and there are many, are so one-dimensional and evil that you can predict their every move (the aliens are not really the enemy, I might add). The fighting and action is badass, to be sure, and is probably the most inventive of the summer, but it goes on and on and on to no end.

And I am getting really, really sick of the shaky camera thing. Jim Emerson, a blog writer for Ebert's website, posted an article titled "Ten Limitations for better movies," and number one on that list was "Get a Tripod." Blair Witch Project (1999) was probably the first to make this popular, though you can most likely trace the origin of shaky cam farther back; the Bourne films kind of made it more Hollywood, and Cloverfield (2008) ushered in a new age of shaky cam. And now I've had enough. Your film will look good even if you don't have it shaking every the whole time. The beginning of the film makes sense, since this stuff is being filmed, but after that I got bored of the shaky cam and wished that it would sit still.

This movie had so much potential to be better then it is. A lot have been recalling Blade Runner and comparing it to that, and while I am not the biggest Blade Runner fan, I think it is a smarter and better movie then this. The movie starts strong, and the transformation the main character goes through is great, but the message of corporate greed is hackneyed, and the movie has the most routine third act for something that started off so fresh and original.

Rated R for Alien/Human swears, a ton of violence, and implied Alien prostitution.