TV Series: "The Last Tycoon" (2016-2017)75 years of the initial release of the unfinished novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940), "The Last Tycoon" TV series distributed by Amazon Studios and created by Billy Ray, who mainly made his living with screen writing since 1994 for Hollywood Studios and shared credits as a writer for some successful movies in the last five years as "The Hunger Games" (2012) and "Captain Phillips" (2013), building a solid characters' grit in the first two episode surrounding the power struggle between the character of Monroe Stahr, performed respectively, yet too much of a stare, actor Matt Bomer and the studio magnate character of Pat Grady, portrayed by no further grief nor struggle sharing, actor Kelsey Grammar to additionally share in times of leisure with his wife, played by Rosemarie DeWitt and the character of his daughter, giving face by actress Lily Collins, who had been able to round-up the all too straight storyline of running a movie studio by acting with, just before WW2-raging in Europe, arriving alien artists in Hollywood; here creator Billy Ray skillfully written in real-life characters of director Fritz Lang (1890-1976) and actress Marlene Dietrich (1901-1992) in order to show the discrepancy between world apart of handling story and character in film, before living out fantasies in private as well, making the passion for the artform one whole experience in life."The Last Tycoon" (2016) strikes with elegant and excellent production design by Patrizia von Brandenstein, which are of cinematographic use in Episode one and two directed by Billy Ray, who seems to improve his directing skills in visual eye and interactive beat work since his last picture "Secret In Their Eyes" (2015), a remake of "El secreto de sus ojos" (2009) directed by Juán José Campanella and based on the novel "La pregunta de sus ojos" (2005) by Eduardo Sacheri. Nevertheless the directorial vision differs from episode three with switching to close-to incompetent director, when major failures in costume design and overall non-smoking environment becomes evident, starting to distract bumpy story developments centralizing a major loan from the another real-life character of Louis B. Mayer (1884-1957) at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios to the fictitious movie studio Brady American, led by Pat Brady and Monroe Stahr, who fight for new innovative pictures under immigrated Directors to be made with fresh faces, here given part by actress Dominique McElligott, who seems out of place as the new shining starlet of Hollywood's golden era and further to be the relentless love interest of the character of Monroe Stahr, who does not shy away to engage to her and fight off the drunkard of a former agent, when finally in episode seven some signs of life returns this television series, which has been cut short to a mini series, concluding with episode nine again under the direction of creator Billy Ray, making "The Last Tycoon" (2016) worth a watch for a weekend while because it already comes to an satisfactory end, but no more.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

The series is brilliantly produced, directed and acted. The smallest and lightest detail is perfect for final reception. Just as a series it is both dramatic and suspenseful. It deals with characters that are provided with depth and complexity, at times contradictions. And yet the subject of the series is grave and serious. We are dealing with Hollywood around 1936 when Hitler is arising in Germany and starting to open the concentration camps (Dachau is named). We are in the USA, and in Hollywood the debate about what we can say or show about Germany is raging. The Germans are heavily blackmailing American producers with the very dynamic cinema market in Germany. That's the first element. Some, like Monroe himself, have to hide their Jewishness by changing their names. The subjects dealing with Germany have to be absolutely apolitical. You can have the sound of the music but certainly not the sound of any protest in Germany or in the world against Hitler. There is a tremendous lack of courage among the people in the cinema industry at the time. This is a serious question that is pushed aside by many at the time.The second dimension of the series is the hyper-realistic description of the ugly and often criminal atmosphere among the professionals of the cinema in Hollywood. They are ready to recuperate Fritz Lang, at least for a short while, as a Jewish and German refugee, but they are not ready to support any opposition to Hitler. And among them, we have family practices and professional practices that magnify the power of the bosses of the studios, then the power of the producers over all artistic professions, and then a dependency hierarchy with some who can block the system, like of course authors. Then we have a professional environment made of rivalry, hatred, exploitation, ambition, ruthlessness, inequality and hypocrisy. They do one little good action to cover all their crimes and they show to the world a positive and beautiful façade that has nothing to do with their reality. They smile to photographers and they kill one another with daggers in the back all the time. And it is in this atmosphere that some beautiful films are produced and Oscars are won. And Oscars have their feet in blood, literally: the blood of assassinated people or people worn out and burnt out so much that they can only cut their wrists and take an overdose of opioids or whatever other drug they can put their fingers on and grab. But the series is a real beauty and you will like it if you are not too sensitive to airsickness or vertigo. Be sure – and do not overlook the following fact – that the dead people on the screen correspond to dead people off the screen. Hollywood is not ethical and has no morality. It is all about money and fame, Oscars and domination. Hollywood is a control freak at the level of the global planet. And it hurts when some shares of this market evade them. It hurts so much they are ready to sacrifice a few sacred cows, or stars, to regain the ground they've lost.Dr. Jacques COULARDEAU

Season 1 of TLT should win Emmys for many in the cast and for many of the usual production categories. It is breathtaking TV. The story line from FSF's novel and all of the screenplay are close to being a perfect drama. Dominque McElligott, a transported Dubliner playing a Wisconsinite, is a treasure. Matt Bomer is convincing in the romantic (heterosexual) lead. Although FSF did not finish his book, I rather think that having more seasons would detract from a beautiful beginning, middle, and end.

I started watching this past week and couldn't wait to see the next episode so I watched Season 1 within 3 days. I love, love, loved it. The story line and the actors played their part perfectly, I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. Monroe, Pat, Rose, Celia, Kathleen all the characters came to life and the actors played their parts perfectly. I loved the costumes, cars, the movie sets everything made me go back to that period in time. Please, please let us see more with Season 2. I am anxiously waiting to watch more. Thank you Amazon for a job well done.