RIP

Two from HBO ...

THE ZEN DIARIES OF GARRY SHANDLING (B+) - At a staggering four-and-a-half hours, this bloated character study from undisciplined fanboy Judd Apatow nonetheless provides a fascinating glimpse into the comedy and psyche of pioneering comedian and guru Garry Shandling. In the mode of HBO's "Montage of Heck," about Kurt Cobain, we delve deeply into the neuroses of an artist and performer.

Some of his disciples, including Sarah Silverman and Kevin Nealon, offer heartfelt insights, and peers like Bob Saget and Peter Tolan provide a bit of psychoanalysis, as does Linda Doucette, the former lover who sued Shandling after he fired her from "The Larry Sanders Show" as a response to their breakup. We feel the burden of the man who nearly single-handedly invented the millennial Golden Age of television, mainly through those diaries, which lay bare his insecurities through the self-help koans he scribbled throughout his life -- from Stuart Smalley-like aphorisms to devastating personal insights.

Shandling's brother died during childhood, and that painful experience -- which complicated the relationship with his parents, particularly a narcissistic mother -- provides a solid foundation for a narrative structure. There are plenty of clips of the comedian who, along with perhaps Albert Brooks, was arguably the funniest man of his generation. That there was heartbreak and fear underlying his art is no surprise.

KING IN THE WILDERNESS (B) - This standard two-hour documentary focuses on the final years of Martin Luther King (assassinated 50 years ago this month) and the frustrations he experienced in pursuing is seemingly outdated nonviolent peace movement during a rapidly evolving Black Power era and while his supposed civil-rights ally, President Johnson, was getting bogged down in a horrible war in southeast Asia.

The documentary humanizes King in some ways but continues the mythologizing in others. Stokely Carmichael is put forth as his key rival. Harry Belafonte and Andrew Young figure here as key talking heads. Director Peter W. Kunhardt ("Nixon by Nixon") does a workmanlike job. His choice of footage can be inspired at times. (It's difficult not to be moved by the sight of MLK Sr. wailing over his son's casket.) Nothing spectacular here, but a valiant attempt at bringing nuance to the King story on the 50th anniversary of the man's death.