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- HBO
- Aug 16, 2015
- HBO
- Aug 16, 2015
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Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 33 Critic Reviews
85
91% Positive
30 Reviews
30 Reviews
6% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Universal Acclaim
Based on 33 Critic Reviews
85
91% Positive
30 Reviews
30 Reviews
6% Mixed
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
3% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
It's like a procedural drama, about the drama of procedure--it isn't ever dry. There are some superbly mounted, loud, crowded big scenes--Simon is a great orchestrator of chaos --but there is an intensity to the quieter, more private moments as well. I wouldn't trade it for a bushel barrel of tortured detectives or all the kings and queens in Westeros.
It isn’t always easy to watch, but it’s always compelling, and almost unfairly stocked with stellar performances.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 115 User Ratings
7.3
76% Positive
87 Ratings
87 Ratings
8% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
17% Negative
19 Ratings
19 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 115 User Ratings
7.3
76% Positive
87 Ratings
87 Ratings
8% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
17% Negative
19 Ratings
19 Ratings
This is HBO at its best. Powerful, comeplling, moving, clever mini-series with brillant acting. This social dram will take you through years of politics battling with the issue of social housing integration. Thank God for HBO. This is superb TV.
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SEASON 1
Astonishingly majestic series it is. Amazing story writing, directing, acting, no lack in anything. A story that is said amazingly by every single actor and actresses. A story that puts every single person up on their feet. Staring from acting Oscar Issac is a true genius, the way he acted and showed rage and power was incredible. And also other actors and actresses like Catherine keener, Winona Ryder, Alfred Monila and Carla Quevedo and others they all were so great. From every character's perspective is shown and pretty delightfully. A mark **** which is put on by Paul Haggis. Surly a must watch series.
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SEASON 1
While it might seem that Show Me A Hero ... has a distinct "eat your vegetables" aroma to it, what becomes apparent when you settle down to watch is the unmistakable lure of being hooked by the storytelling and the first-class acting.
We are brought into the story when the housing case has already been battled over for years, by dozens of political and legal players who are introduced to us in rapid-fire succession. But if you stick with the show, the confusion clears, not with the help of expository chunks of dialogue, but through a lifelike repetition of names, issues, and stakes.
These rather didactic scenes [of meetings] contrast with more relatable ones that detail the lives of Yonkers’ disenfranchised minority citizens, whom you know will clash with their white counterparts. Isaac receives excellent support from a large cast.
The potential emotional satisfaction of this melodrama, which is insultingly pat to begin with, is hampered by the seemingly endless scenes of council meetings that Simon characteristically loves, which are contextually diluted by the stock dialogue and cartoon acting that surrounds them.
It's a fascinating rendition, and at once both a return to the past and a new trail being blazed for the David Simon enterprise. Far from the usual collection of unknowns, the screen here is littered with famous actors, and a famous director behind the scenes, and yet, the sense of authenticity for which Simon's earlier pieces became known is not lost.
Who's star could possibly be blazing hotter than Oscar Isaac's? He's nothing like his Ex Machina mastermind or his upcoming Star Wars hero here, selling the location and the period completely. And somehow, the ridiculous period styles and accents, the mix of characters on all sides of the issue, and the obtrusive Blake Leyh soundtrack selections all come together to form a greater whole.
Perhaps more interesting than the central tragedy and the politics was the astonishing display of NIMBY-ism and hypocrisy. It beggars belief that this battle over housing even happened, but it did, and unlike pieces that focus on characters disparate to the audience, the mostly white middle-class viewers of HBO will have to contend with a disturbing blend of community activism and terrorism that paints white America as being on the wrong side of history.
The sixth episode is by far the best, as the piece swells to a conclusion, finally putting all its different characters into the same place at the same time, and twisting the knife as it reaches its eminently knowable but gut-wrenching end. By the time you reach it, you'll no longer wonder why you're watching a six-hour miniseries on small-town political bureaucracy and public housing.
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SEASON 1
The acting is very good. Oscar Isaac is always mesmerizing. I still can't believe he is the guy in Ex Machina.
The story is way too long to be such a one note song. The low income housing issue is exhausting over six hours. The side stories about the families are for the most part boring. The end feels rushed. More detail about his feelings toward the end of the series would have been good.
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SEASON 1
Started off like it was laying the groundwork for a great mini-series and I assume that was why the critic reviews were so high. But oh did it disappoint in the later episodes as it just kept doing the same acts over and over. Wasiksco became a bore and his constant angst about his political career an even bigger bore. The characters were rigid, stereotyped, and there was very little development of plot and characters. Sorry I wasted six hours on this.
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SEASON 1
As a superfan of the Wire I was expecting so much. But then I adjusted me expectations much lower. And I was still disappointed. Were we supposed to find the lead character compelling?? Or for most of the other characters for that matter?? I can truly say that it was a waste of over 6 hours of my life. Do not waste your time. Hands down the least satisfying long form television I've ever had to endure. And I am very patient usually as a viewer.
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SEASON 1
Thinking of Oscar nominations. I would watch films possibly like Crash showing interconnecting people and themes, or politically Mr Smith goes to Washington. Where any issues raised emotionally bring out a great story, out of award winning content.
What I don't watch is another pretentious series that thinks to associate itself with issues plaguing society today. A series that comes across as all kinds of bling bling and phoney. Show me a Hero means what it says on the title. Meaning I want to understand how a 28 year old became the mayor. When I see those projects, I want to understand the people living there.
I don't want to see two minute segments dedicated into nothing, jumping around everywhere, but are shown to be about what?
This series starts out in a courtroom showing how the last mayor wasn't terribly competent on the issue raised concerning affordable housing. He fails to connect. Our hero in the opening sceen, and every later sceen regarding his position in public office, does nothing, says nothing, he intsead stares dreamy at the camera.. Any sceens that are shown last about a minute each before jumping onto the next. Later on there is a public debate, also showing anger from the public and the mayor to be quite disconnected. The mayor also asks his councilors for their vote of support on this issue, when he starts losing some votes and when he is pressed by the court for decisions.
The mayoral campaign is shown with our "hero" handing out about 5, or so leaflets outside of a supermarket. He helps a lady carry her shopping, hoping to give her a leaflet. He complains at how far he has to walk., but he drives a car.. He successfully hands out other leaflets mostly to his own age group of peers. Previously he was supported by somebody offering the sum of 40 grand to support his campaign. There was no real lobbying seen, or any real message of campaigned policies.. The leaflets he had typed himself, lazily punching a single key before giving up. He tries copying his own leaflets. He has a friend helping him with his campaign who is around the same age. He is shown getting later support when a young adult shakes his hand, telling him, he will get his kin to vote. The mayor also shakes his hand wishing him luck with his campaign.. However what we actually see him doing most of the time, is him flirting with a secretary. The secretary offers to copy 300 more leaflets for him, because other staff at city hall won't support him running against the mayor. When he was talking with his friend in a diner about his campaign, it was spent largely talking about girls. He gives the secretary a ride home, kissing her, she offers to help him with getting pickets set up. Later on pickets magically appear everywhere within the mayor's district. In city hall he kisses the secretary. Than it jumps to a pub or somewhere serving drinks, he is with his girlfriend and his friend. He has just won being the mayor by starring at a TV. The relationship he with his girlfriend the secretary, in opinion was quite creepy and juvenile, fumbling eyeballs constantly half giggling smirks. She didn't want to kiss him, but no definitely meant yes, twice, in the car and than again in a public place city hall flustering her, causing him to be late to a meeting. In the meeting he gives excuses, a meeting that couldn't care too much about,.
We see glimpses of other segments given about a minute each, before jumping around. In the projects there are some youth dope dealers, and a single mom wanting more for her children and her child minder. The mom was a carpenter struggling to get a raise, so instead she has to move out of her tenement block. The mom was saying that she couldn't afford much, but she was eating 5 different vegetables in the family feast, and her children are seen leaving their toys behind. The dope dealers are flashing lots of cash, even thinking about buying diamond rings, typically slagged everybody off, including the mayoral staff walking on their turf.
I really don't know what I have watched in the opening episode putting me off this entire series. A series I consider to be absolutely pretentious and meaningless, showing me nothing and hasn't really manage to connect to the offered themes. I am annoyed that it jumped around everywhere constantly,, but has left me with little empathy, or any real concern. I wanted to understand how a smart and talented 28 year old supposedly the "hero" managed to become the mayor? I didn't want to see some dreamy eyed charmer magically getting elected, every..
Jokes almost always lost in some kind fo correctness. It seemed some people considered Yonkers something else, slurred from any dutch?
I thought why not make a better go of it this final time.
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SEASON 1
