E-Mail Of The Week

Dear Bob,

I like Tom Newsom. I think it’s cool that he wants to go to Applebee’s. Everyone is harshing his mellow. Uncool. Very uncool. This aggression will not stand, man.  Dude doesn’t want to pay that much. Everyone has their own economics. We never know how they feel about fees till we stand in their shoes. Plus Applebee’s is a good place to meet people. One time I ate there and the busboy got me stoned in the back  alley with some really good weed he bought from the dishwasher.  Then he gave me a free hot fudge sundae. That was a savings of 11 dollars. Cheaper than seeing the dude from Yes. He also had a Bluetooth speaker so we listened to Rush and danced by the hostess stand. (It was a slow night)

So I hope I see Tom Newsom somewhere on the road when I’m touring. He will always have free tickets to my shows because I’m sick of all your readers picking on him.

In closing I’d like to say that Tom Newsom is my new guru and I like him better than Joe The Plumber.

Yours in Christ,

Steve Poltz

https://linktr.ee/stevepoltz

Apple Antitrust/Streaming Future-SiriusXM This Week

Tune in Saturday March 23rd to Faction Talk, channel 103, at 4 PM East, 1 PM West.

If you miss the episode, you can hear it on demand on the SiriusXM app. Search: Lefsetz

Paul Brady-This Week’s Podcast

Singer-songwriter Paul Brady is an Irish icon whose songs have been covered by Tina Turner (“Steel Claw” and “Paradise Is Here”), Bonnie Raitt (the title song of her album “Luck of the Draw” as well as “Not the Only One” and “Steal Your Heart Away” and more), Brooks & Dunn (“The Long Goodbye”- co-written with Ronan Keating), Jimmy Buffett (“The World Is What You Make It”)…the list goes on and on. This is Paul’s story.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/paul-brady/id1316200737?i=1000649970196

https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/9ff4fb19-54d4-41ae-ae7a-8a6f8d3dafa8/episodes/0fa3aec2-d10d-423c-8e8c-f7355757b968/the-bob-lefsetz-podcast-paul-brady

The Gentlemen

Netflix trailer: https://tinyurl.com/bdzah3kr

RottenTomatoes: 70% Critics/86% Audience

That’s about right. Meaning this is an enjoyable watch, but it fails to be a classic, to resonate in a way that you want to tell everybody about it.

Then again, the hoi polloi love it, my inbox is overflowing with fans of this show.

So what you’ve got here is a crime drama. And those who live outside the law are so interesting, because they play by different rules. Oh, the concepts of leverage and footprint/power still remain, but there is no court, no arbitrator keeping everyone honest.

However, unlike in real life in these crime dramas many times the manipulators who stand up to the bullies/enemies continue to live, when in truth if you play this game you might not make it out alive, you may be cut down long before your kids grow up.

So what we’ve got is an English family with a huge estate and cash flow problems. The patriarch dies and…

The lead character, Eddie Horniman, played by Theo James, is good, but he’s not long on personality.

Unlike his mother, Joely Richardson, who appears briefly at first, but then more and more. She appears to be a flighty nitwit but ultimately she is extremely savvy and a mother who knows what is going on with all of her children. Ultimately, you want to see more and more of her.

Unlike her son, Freddy. Who’s akin to Fredo in the “Godfather.” Part of the family, but treated badly because he’s not smart enough and worldly enough to know what is going on and is constantly screwing up. Unfortunately, there are many analogues in the world today. Especially rich, overlooked progeny, spending and messing up. But Freddy is too much of a one note character. You get sick of him.

But not Susie… Kaya Scodelario is one of those thirtysomething actresses you think you’ve seen before but probably have not. She’s the star of the show, without chewing up the scenery. She’s true to character. And she never breaks character, which is the case in most of these shows. You know, the gangster woman softens up, falls in love and loses her mind. Not Susie!

And not her father, cult actor Ray Winstone. Who is excellent as usual. He owns the character of the big boss.

And the head of the travelers. That guy is great. As is the Asian lady who sells the exotic automobiles.

So every episode there’s a caper, a situation that has to be resolved. It gets predictable. Then again, the solution is always interesting.

But the show is too often dry. You’re watching it as opposed to being involved in it. You admire the construction, the writing, but you are not on the edge of your seat, invested in the life of any of the characters.

It’s akin to watching a puzzle.

Nowhere near in the league of “The Bureau.” Why do I keep mentioning this French series? Because it plays like a big screen movie, you feel the tension, your mind never wanders, you’re invested.

Like in the Israeli blueprint for “Homeland,” “Prisoners of War,” which has little production but is so gripping, so tense.

As is “Fauda” oftentimes. But Doron is three-dimensional in a way that Edward Horniman is not.

I was never taken away by “The Gentlemen,” never suspended disbelief.

I guess I’m just the antidote to the buzz. I don’t want you to watch this and even expect “Narcos.” It’s well put-together, and edgy, I admire it, but I didn’t love it. I enjoyed seeing it, I don’t want my time back, but if I’m going to recommend a streaming series, “The Gentlemen” would be nowhere near the top of the list. In other words, you’re on your own.

But you won’t hate it. You’ll want to watch it. To marinate in the above-referenced performances and to find out how it all works out.

But somehow the directors/creators/scriptwriters/actors saw this more as math than something fuzzier.

Yet once again, I looked forward to watching it every night, but I wasn’t enraptured.