‘THE DEUCE’ ON HBO

New York City’s Times Square, the site of massive crowds to celebrate both Victory in Europe and Victory over Japan at the end of World War II, soon thereafter became a symbol of the Big Apple’s decline.

From the 1960s to the early 1990s, Times Square, particularly along 42nd Street, descended into a mix of peep shows, adult theaters, massage parlors and seedy bars. Prostitution and drug peddling were common occurrences in daily life.

Released in 1969, “Midnight Cowboy,” starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight as street hustlers, depicted Times Square as a gritty, dark and desperate venue that only got worse in the 1970s and 1980s, before Mayor Rudy Giuliani cleaned it up and Disney bought real estate.

HBO has launched a new gritty drama series in “The Deuce” that revisits those bad old days of Times Square starting in 1971, with a cast of interesting characters involved in the illicit trades of the neighborhood.

Appropriately, the title of this eight-episode series is taken from the nickname for Manhattan’s 42nd Street between Seventh Avenue and Eighth Avenue, a stretch of then-rundown real estate where the most prominent features were garish theater marquees and trash-littered sidewalks.

This new HBO series has been created and written by former police reporter David Simon and his collaborator George Pelecanos. “The Deuce” is to the sex industry what their series “The Wire” was to the Baltimore narcotics scene.

The creative team of Simon and Pelecanos has a knack for weaving various storylines and characters through different layers of law enforcement bureaucracy, criminal enterprises and societal upheavals.

The setting of “The Deuce” in a decaying New York is ripe for exploration.

In a great cast of exotic characters, the emblem for a downward spiral incongruously mixed with hope for something better might be James Franco’s dual role of twin brothers Vincent and Frankie Martino.

At least in the early episodes, Vincent, working double shifts as a Times Square bartender and trying vainly to hold his fractured family together, is not the focal point of “The Deuce” but more of a mirror image of the degradation and exploitation at hand.

On the other hand, Frankie stands more as a symbol of moral decline. He’s a notoriously reckless gambler in debt up to his neck with mobsters who pressure his brother Vincent to make good. Frankie also has a bad temper that creates needless tension for Vincent’s ambitions.

The real star is Maggie Gyllenhaal’s Candy, the rare streetwalker working without the oppressive oversight and control of one of the many violent pimps who constantly cruise the area in flashy Cadillacs and Lincoln Continentals.

Not driven by sentiment or deep feelings, Candy rejects the notion of being exploited by anyone, but paradoxically her chosen line of work is inherently submissive to the base desires of others.

Nevertheless, Candy may realize better than other sex workers that her career has a brief shelf life, and as a result an escape from the street life could be in the porn industry that may soon be emerging from the notorious underground black market.

Candy’s personal life is also complicated by the fact that her young son is living somewhere in the outer boroughs with her mother who seems to naively believe that her daughter is constantly away on pressing business.

Of the many hookers plying their trade, some are less hardened than others. Lori (Emily Meade), fresh off the bus from Minnesota, falls into the sex trade when pimp C.C. (Gary Carr) plays the part of a smooth operator to show her the ropes in the business.

The most intriguing of the prostitutes is the sweet-natured Darlene (Dominique Fishback) whose interest in literature and classic films proves to be unsettling to her volatile, violent pimp Larry (Gbenga Akinnagbe) who always intimidates his stable of women.

One of Darlene’s regulars is an old man who pays her extra just for her company to watch films from the 1930s on his television set. This too is a source of aggravation for the intense and demanding Larry.

NYPD officers, outside of occasional paddy wagon raids, appear somewhat indifferent to the illicit activities, with Det. Flanagan (Don Harvey) as the one most likely to look the other way even after arrests are made.

“The Deuce” has far too many notable characters to follow, but Michael Rispoli’s mob boss Rudy is one to watch when he becomes Vincent’s unseen partner in the launch of a new cocktail lounge called the Hi-Hat.

The attention to period details of 1971 is truly impressive. The creative team behind “The Deuce” has very effectively captured the realism of the festering corrosion of Times Square, from dirty sidewalks to the rotting core of the area’s deteriorating businesses and structures.

“The Deuce” has so many moving parts that a viewer can become invested only by committing to watch each episode of the series for the interesting multiple layers of human drama to unfold.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – The Middletown Art Center, or MAC, the “Painting Resilience” class will feature “Drawing the Inside Out” with center Director Lisa Kaplan.

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I've lived in the country for 30 years and during that time my wife and I have hit four deer. All of them leapt away over the nearest fence, unharmed, leaving our cars with hundreds of dollars' worth of damage. But, hey, the deer lived.

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LAKEPORT, Calif. – The 1937 seagoing adventure, “Captains Courageous,” starring Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore and Freddie Bartholomew, screens at the Soper Reese Theatre on Tuesday, Sept. 12, at 1 and 6 p.m.

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For sports fans in the United States, the general attraction of the World Series and the Super Bowl is undeniable.

The appeal of baseball and football touches every almost corner of our society.

Nevertheless, the annual event of the US Open Tennis tournament at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, the final chapter of this year’s Grand Slam tennis tournament, runs for two weeks and draws big crowds.

This year’s US Open managed to set all all-time Opening Day attendance record with a combined 61,839 fans passing through the gates for the day and evening sessions. The previous Opening Day record was set two years ago.

In one of the local New York daily free newspapers that commuters snatch up in subway stations, a feature article of the Big Apple’s Grand Slam event noted that “some view tennis as a stuffy sport for the privileged few.”

To be sure, you will notice that the crowds at the tournament, respectfully quiet when play is in progress, are definitely not the same as what one would find at the Black Hole during an Oakland Raiders home game.

But then, there is no concession stand in Oakland that sells a flute of Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial champagne at $25 a pop. Nor can you visit the restaurants of renowned chefs where you can feast on a 10-ounce filet mignon for $54 or get a sushi combo platter for $68.

Of course, the fancy restaurants are located on the suite level mainly occupied by the corporate sponsors, where the Lure Oyster Bar could set you back a couple of gold coins for the hackleback caviar plate priced at $59 per ounce.

For mere mortals without access to luxury suites or courtside box seats, there are plenty of great food options, from the chipotle-spiced shredded chicken tacos at Angry Taco to sweet and savory crepes at this year’s new Creperie stand near Court 17.

But enough about food, even though it is important because you could spend an entire day at the Open until the conclusion of final matches that often go past midnight. Despite the culinary choices, the excellent high level tennis on display is the best reason to be a spectator.

For many years now, we have been lamenting the sad state of American men’s singles tennis. Long ago, Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi were the US Open champions five times during a single decade, and the most recent American victory came with Andy Roddick in 2003.

This year, the hopes for American men has been pinned on John Isner, seeded No. 10, Jack Sock, seeded No. 13, and Sam Querry, the 17th seed, with each one competing in premium venues on the first day.

Sadly, Sock lost during the first round to Australian Jordan Thompson in five sets even after taking third and four sets without having to suffer the loss of the epic 26-point second set tiebreaker.

As of this writing, Isner lost the third round to Germany’s Mischa Zverez, 23rd seed, in three straight sets. Sam Querry is the only top-ranked American still standing and his fate is now to face Zverez in the fourth round (check the USTA website for results).

American women have fared better in recent years, but to be fair that’s because of the dominance of one of the Williams’ sisters. Serena has won the US Open championship title six times, with the most recent victory in 2014.

This year, after winning the Australian Open back in January, she had to forego other matches because of maternity leave, giving birth most appropriately during the first week of the US Open.

The anticipation for American women now rests with Serena’s older sister Venus, seeded No. 9, who last won on the hard courts of the US Open back in 2001. Venus has had much greater success on the grass courts of Wimbledon, winning five times but most recently in 2008.

So far, Venus has survived three rounds, but she’s not the only American chance. There is a crop of younger American women competing well, including Sloane Stephens, 15th seeded Madison Keys and CoCo Vandeweghe, seeded No. 20. 18-year-old Sofia Kenin didn’t survive a third round match.

In fact, Kenin lost to the red-hot Russian Maria Sharapova, who caused quite a sensation on the opening night match upset of Romania’s second-seeded Simona Halep, in what was one of the most exciting matches I happened to witness.

Moreover, Sharapova’s return after a 15-month suspension for testing positive for the banned substance of meldonium, a performance enhancing drug that seems to be popular with athletes in Eastern Europe, has stirred up grousing from some of the other players.

As of this writing, Rafael Nadal, ranked No. 1, and Roger Federer, ranked No. 3, are on a collision course to meet in the semi-finals round. Because Andy Murray, ranked No. 2, had dropped out just before the start of the Open, the second slot was not open to Federer.

The ranking situation creates dismay for tennis fans because there is obviously no opportunity for these two top-ranked players to have a terrific showdown for the championship title.

Still, a Grand Slam tournament is always fraught with the possibility that a favorite could be knocked off even before the semi-finals round. As it is, Federer struggled during the first two rounds, causing consternation that it required a full ten sets for him to advance.

Even as an older player, one who may soon qualify for the Swiss equivalent of Social Security, Federer is still one of the biggest draws who also got a lot of notice for practicing on an off-day during the first week at a public court in Manhattan’s Central Park.

The US Open Tennis Tournament, which generates the highest attendance of any sporting event given its two-week run, is well worth the visit even during the early rounds when you have more choices of players to watch.

Sometimes you get lucky, such as I did by stumbling into a match at the temporary Louis Armstrong Stadium, where 19-year-old Russian Andrey Rublev knocked off 7th seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in an exciting, hard-fought straight three-set victory.

The US Open runs until women’s final on Saturday, September 9, and the men’s final on Sunday, September 10, and once again the action is being televised by the ESPN network.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LOGAN LUCKY (Rated PG-13)

Just one of the many pleasures of director Steven Soderbergh’s heist caper “Logan Lucky” is seeing Daniel Craig in the role of a hillbilly safecracker aptly-named Joe Bang, playing very much against his character of the suave secret agent James Bond.

For his part, the eccentric Bang, sporting a bleached-blonde buzz cut and neck tattoos and speaking with a Southern twang, would be the perfect demolition expert to crack the vault underneath the Charlotte Motor Speedway on the day of the big NASCAR Coca-Cola 600 race.

West Virginia coal miner Jimmy Logan (Channing Tatum), recently dismissed from his job when his pre-existing medical condition of a bum leg becomes evident, had been digging the tunnels below the race track and figured out how to stage a heist during the biggest payday.

Jimmy convinces his reluctant one-armed brother Clyde (Adam Driver), an Iraq War vet now tending bar at a local dive, and his car-obsessed hairdresser sister Mellie (Riley Keough), to join his plan for a daring heist at the Speedway in neighboring North Carolina.

The Logan family is perpetually down-on-their-luck, and though Jimmy wants to be a family man, his ex-wife Bobbie Jo (Katie Holmes) has sole custody of the daughter he loves. The chance for a big score might make it easier for him to spend more time on family matters.

The Logans need outside help to pull off the complex robbery, and this is where Joe Bang and his seemingly dim-witted, country boy siblings, Sam and Fish (Brian Gleeson and Jack Quaid), come into the picture.

The catch is that Bang is currently incarcerated, so Jimmy and Clyde hatch a plan to get him out just long enough to blow the race track vault and sneak him back into jail before the warden (Dwight Yoakum) notices he’s missing.

The scheme of freeing Bang for his services involves the staging of a prison riot where the inmates demand the last two “Game of Thrones” books by George RR Martin which have yet to be published.

As if it is not funny enough that the prisoners would be worked up over fiction books, Yoakum’s Warden Burns is amusing for his inept leadership and feeble attempts to squelch any public notice of the prison system’s failures.

Often the small details in Soderbergh’s work are telling pieces to the overall construct of the film’s narrative, such that it is best to pay close attention along the way lest you miss some juicy morsels.

Having worked underground at the Charlotte racetrack, Jimmy acquired a lot of knowledge about the operation of cash transfers through pneumatic tubes into the vault, and none of his superiors had any concern that this blue-collar worker would be smart enough to use this information.

At first, no one else had much regard for Jimmy’s innate criminal abilities, considering that he was a working stiff devoted to his young daughter Sadie (Farrah Mackenzie) and his ambition seemingly did not extend far beyond his beloved West Virginia roots.

“Logan Lucky” benefits from a great cast of oddball characters. If there is a villain to this piece, it has to be Seth MacFarlane’s arrogant British race team owner Max Chilblain, who insists on promoting his line of energy drinks that his driver (Sebastian Stan) abhors.

One of the many interesting facets of “Logan Lucky” is that the principal characters of Jimmy and Clyde Logan are two brothers that might look dumb to outsiders but their staging of the heist proves that they are resourceful and ingenious, maybe even cunning, as criminal masterminds.

But then, there is FBI agent Sarah Grayson (Hilary Swank), snooping around and suspicious of everyone, trying to piece together the puzzle of the inventive heist when the other authorities have given up on solving the mystery.

Just when it seems the Logan crew has pulled off the most incredible robbery in North Carolina history, the question is whether the Logan brothers are truly unlucky in the face of a relentless FBI agent unwilling to give up the investigation.

As a director, Steven Sodenbergh has the right touch for heist movies, as he proved with “Ocean’s Eleven” and its two sequels. You can also count his directing of “Out of Sight” and “Haywire” as works in the same wheelhouse.

One could say that “Logan Lucky” is the blue-collar version of the “Ocean’s” trilogy and not be far off the mark. To underscore the point, one character in the film dubs the heist gang with the moniker of “Ocean’s 7-Eleven.”

Filled with quirky humor and offbeat characters, “Logan Lucky” works well as a heist film, one that doesn’t have any pretense to be anything other than entertaining. For late summer fun, you won’t feel robbed for the price of a movie ticket.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.