Show Me a Hero (2015)

Memorable, crazy movie

Good concept, poorly executed.

As Good As It Gets

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Nick Wasicsko was a councillor in the city of Yonkers, New York, when he went for the allure that power wields and became mayor. This was at a time when the council was being told that it had to build low income housing and 'affordable' homes. The problem was that these had to go in the nice part of town where all the white voters loved. And if you want to be re-elected then you do what the voters want.Now this sounds like the usual tale of haves and have nots but it is more than that. The series follows the lives of some of the 'would be' new tenants and the people objecting and all the lovely Machiavellian politicians and their scheming ways. It is a warts and all kind of approach and at times you find it hard to single out the god guys and indeed the gals.It is very well made as you would expect from HBO but it does take its time to get going and find its stride, but at 6 episodes long it does have the time to do that. All acted really well with good period detail and a kind of inevitability about it that made me keep coming back for more. A social drama with a heart but it kind of wears it on different sleeves and is all the better for it.

I suppose you know when a show is so good that you keep thinking about it and thinking about it after it's over. That was my reaction to Show Me a Hero. I thought it started out a bit slowly, but kept building and building, and the final episodes were just great.I lived in Northern NJ at the time of this, so I remember this story a little bit in the local news. I had no idea how Nick Wasicsko ended up, and it is indeed tragic.This could have been a VERY politically slanted film if it wanted to. However, I think it tried hard not to be, and for that I applaud it. I just wanted to watch the story, and not be preached to.As others have noted, Oscar Isaac is amazing in this role. When I first saw him in, "Inside Llewyn Davis," he was so unlikable that I figured he was either a jerk or a great actor. It's definitely the latter.And I don't think we've seen the last of Carla Quevedo, who played Nick's wife. She's gorgeous AND, she can act!My only minor criticism of this was in its presentation during the initial run on HBO. I would have preferred six one-hour episodes rather than three two-hour episodes. Although it's the same amount of running time, it was a bit ambitious to try to watch the show in two hour chunks. Thank God for the DVR so I was able to break it up a little.

The only reason I threw this show some stars is because of Oscar Issac's performance. Other than that, it didn't really need to be made into a show. If for whatever reason, you're interested in 1980's Yonkers politics, then this brief series of event can be read on Wikipedia in about 15 mins. INSTEAD OF WATCHING ABOUT IT FOR 7 HOURS!! It really was like sitting through a long boring conference meeting, where people squabble about politics, we follow the lives of some mildly interesting characters, while our HERO(?) fights earnestly to slightly improve their living arrangements. Show me a Hero? I'm still waiting...

Just amazing. It's rather understated and procedural many of the times (but nothing unsurprising if one has seen David Simon's TV series). What it does in the six hours is amazing though. Its character development is exquisite, and by the time it's over it feels like it was a run of an actual television series. Of course, it could only be this long, but that doesn't stop me from wishing it WAS a longer series. Oscar Isaac is an amazing actor. I've said it before and I'll say it again, he's doing things not many actors right now are (or even can). The amount of raw talent he has, as well as the amount of warmth he can convey is staggering. That's what makes the end of the series so heartbreaking. I really hope this wins the Miniseries Emmy next year, and that Isaac also takes home the trophy.