http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/06/18/Meadowlands--Planned-Community-or-Purgatory.aspx MEADOWLANDS is a new Showtime series based in England. It is also the name of a sports complex in northern New Jersey where they say Jimmy Hoffa is buried. Watch the series and you might conclude that Hoffa got the better of the deal. Like beauty, weird is in the eyes of the beholder. One man’s David Lynch is another man’s Steven Spielberg. I admit that I, for one, fall into the Spielberg camp. It’s not that I need linear filmmaking to enjoy a show — nevertheless, I instinctively bristle when directors labor to obscure their work rather than make it accessible. And, it’s not just directors who make me fume; I also get upset with members of the critical community who frequently abet the Lynches of the world, perhaps fearing scorn if they yell that the emperor has no clothes.    As an aside, consider the largely favorable critical reaction to the late Stanley Kubrick’s EYES WIDE SHUT. How could anyone say something negative about a film by the man who gave us classics such as DR. STRANGELOVE, SPARTACUS and PATHS OF GLORY? Well, few did. Yet, when I saw the film, I was convinced that Kubrick, who passed away shortly after completing it, died of embarrassment.    While I don’t believe any of the creatives behind the new Showtime series MEADOWLANDS (Sundays at 10 p.m.) need worry about going to that great film studio in the sky anytime soon, watching it is an exercise in confusion. en-US Critics Rant info@criticsrant.com Subtext Version 1.9.4.0 http://www.criticsrant.com/images/default_gravatar_bullhorn.png http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/06/18/Meadowlands--Planned-Community-or-Purgatory.aspx 77 60 http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/06/18/Meadowlands--Planned-Community-or-Purgatory.aspx#2168 anything with a local sadistic cop in it has to be good. brokun1 http://www.criticsrant.com/archive/2007/06/18/Meadowlands--Planned-Community-or-Purgatory.aspx#2168 Mon, 12 Nov 2007 12:46:24 GMT