The Unreal and the Real - Nov 12 - Friday Video Distractions with Mike Norton

   

  November 12th! Another, generally standard week coming up, with the following one (at least here in the States) rolling into Thanksgiving and the more or less formal start of the end-of-year holiday block. At least that's how it's divided in my mind. Still, that's much more a topic for next week.

    An expensive final quarter of the year for me includes a substantial hit on my emergency fund. A transmission's being built to get my car back on the road, the not inexpensive rental car is also in the mix, all the more so as there is a roughly two week wait on the transmission. Looking forward to better days, I remind myself that it's at least good to have an emergency fund in place; I've been in similar straits before without one, and that's a bad, sad place to be. Still, the speculative accounting for getting me back on the road in my own car's already at a ghastly level -- which I'm telling myself that if I get through this without it going higher I should accept it, gracefully, as a victory. Should.
     On the momentary plus side, I (technically) have the day off, and I've already made today's dinner (beef stew, developing slowly in a crock pot) a couple hours before dawn. A gray, damp day outside, I'm fine with the idea of staying put.

     Quick note: Given all the wonderful films the channel shows it seems appalling to shine this particular spotlight, but I'll mention that the box office and critical bomb Skidoo (1968) is scheduled to air 2AM Saturday on Turner Classic Movies.
     I did a full piece on it back in February 2020, while we were still in the first half year of the Consortium of Seven, which includes a link near the end to a very nice copy over on YouTube -- which I see is still there. As I went on about at some length then, it's almost entirely of interest only for the parade of familiar faces (mostly to those of us on the high side of 50), and how & why the film was made. It's a very particular brand of bad, dated movie that's much more fun to be familiar with than to, well, watch.
     Moving on...
     Disney+ is celebrating their second anniversary - the streamer launched on this date in 2019 - by, among other things, offering a month of their service for $1.99. Today they've also added new content, including having 2021 theatrical releases Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and Jungle Cruise now available - the former had been theatrical release only, while the latter had been one of the last of the items that was behind a separate pay wall. As it's the anniversary, and we're nearing the end-of-year holidays run, they're looking to add new subscribers and get as many existing ones to stay, so as we roll into the extended Thanksgiving weekend in less than two weeks we'll see the launch of the next Marvel series, Hawkeye, and the debut of the multi-part Beatles documentary from Peter Jackson, Beatles: Get Back. (Specifics and trailers on both of those next week.) A one-month buy-in for the service would give someone access to all that's already in place on the service, and would allow them to see all of the Beatles doc (released in three, daily, parts on the 25th, 26th and 27th), but would just get one part of the way through the Hawkeye series, being released weekly.
     This Sunday (the 14th) Paramount+ will begin a 10-episode first season of a crime thriller series. Mayor of Kingstown centers on the McLusky family, power brokers in Kingston, Michigan, where incarceration is arguably the only thriving industry. Stars Jeremy Renner, Dianne Wiest, and Kyle Chandler.

     Plenty of themes to track, among them corruption, inequality and systemic racism, it'll be interesting to see if they have something useful to say.
     Between this and Disney+'s Hawkeye, Renner is starring in two series launching this month, btw.
     Arrived on Netflix this week is another action film (they're piling up) that's not of immediate interest to me, but I know the formula's a comfort for some, and comfort's a big part of the whole streaming entertainment game. In Seized (2020  85m) a former Special Forces operative (aren't we all by now?) finds himself pressed into an unwanted mission against three crime syndicates as ransom for his son. It's the sort of premise one will quickly not be able to remember if it's for a film or a video game. Starring Brit martial artist Scott Adkins, and by Israeli director Isaac Florentine (and I am not pretending I knew either of these names fifteen minutes ago), here's the trailer.

     Again, not what floats my particular boat, but I know people who might munch this like a tub of popcorn.
     While on both Netflix and recently-arrived action films, we have the action-comedy, buddy/caper film Red Notice (2021, PG-13  h1 58m), which has just appeared today. Formulaic? To be sure, but with Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot as the leads there's no shortage of attractive people to root for, and quick movements to engage that kittenish part of our brains looking for dangly, twitchy bits of string.

         Also recently-arrived on Netflix is season one of a hoarding-adjacent reality show - Swap Shop. Loosely spinning out from the Tennessee-based radio show World Famous Swap Shop (on the air in some form since 1954, connecting buyers and sellers), it focuses on people whose business is hunting down (ideally) rare items to buy, sometimes restore, and ultimately to flip for a profit. The line between avocation and business is often blurry, and it's easy to see how in some cases any potential profits are much more than eaten up by the effort and materials involved. Still, if it keeps them busy and happy, and mostly pays for itself, it's not a bad life to aspire to.
     The trailer is immediately reminiscent of American Pickers, and much like that show (and other buy-and-flip formulas like Pawn Stars and Storage Wars) might be a no-cost/no-space way to vicariously scratch an itch that might otherwise lead to a hoarding problem of one's own. (We get some of that relief valve here in the Consortium of Seven blog on Thursdays, when Joseph brings us his Trawling Through the Thrift Stores -- though of late it's mostly been print and video media.)
     Also, as with those other shows, we know that virtually nothing we see is spontaneous - everything's staged - but we roll with it on the relative strengths of the items of interest and the personalities involved.
   To help keep things varied, the show moves among a trio of partnerships: Tori and Larry run an antiques store in Johnson City, Jason and Bob each have businesses that auction or directly sell an eclectic mix of items, while Dale and Scott own Kyker's Extreme Automotive, finding vehicles (or pieces thereof) for restorations and rebuilds. This helps make it potentially interesting for a broader audience.

     On Hulu since late last month, but my just becoming aware of it, is a series on food, and innovations in food science, as chef David Chang brings us The Next Thing You Eat. It's a look at technology, much of which is already in play, and how it's changing food, its preparation and delivery. Six, roughly half-hour, topic-targeted episodes.

     Amazon Prime, today, sees the arrival of two documentary items, tied by a theme of representation. One is a documentary on Pete Buttigieg: Mayor Pete.

    ...the other is a four-part docuseries (all parts available immediately) about Jane Noury, a transgender teenager living in Sparta, New Jersey: Always Jane.

     Next Friday, the 19th, Amazon Prime will launch their adaptation of Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time (series of fantasy novels) with the first three episodes. The remaining five will air weekly, concluding December 24th. Season two was given a go-ahead back in May.

     Also arriving next Friday, Netflix will premiere the live-action version of the anime Cowboy Bebop. A sci-fi noir series centered on bounty hunters in 2071 (at least that's where the 1998 anime series was set -- we'll see if they adjust that for this live action series) trying to make a living, live with themselves, and trying to stay at least a couple steps ahead of their pasts.

          John Cho is likely the most familiar face in the cast. Animation/comics/tv & film writer Christopher Yost is series writer.
     This is a 10-episode series, each running - roughly - an hour. (I'll revise that once I know better.) As this is Netflix, it'll all appear at once.
     Just ahead of that, Next Thursday (18th), Paramount+ will have the season 4 premiere of Star Trek: Discovery.
     What began as a largely Star Trek prequel series has since become the most futuristic of the franchise. (I can't be precious about "spoilers" from two seasons back.) The last episode of season three was back just in January, but it feels much longer ago than that. I'm looking forward to getting back in with the characters and their bold, new times.

     I know the filming for this season was heavily impacted by the pandemic, resulted in some rewriting, and a likely reduction of number of scenes for one or more of the characters. (Most pointedly Tig Notaro's Jett Reno, as cancer-survivor Notaro was being especially careful about exposing herself to possible infections.) As we cut through the trailer, too, I couldn't help but notice some changed faces,

which may or may not reflect radical changes in daily routine for the actors.
     On the other hand, I know this season is also the first one where an elaborate video array was built and used for filming. (This is similar to the StageCraft system used on Disney+'s The Mandalorian, so we know it's very promising. It'll also be what we'll be seeing right from the start when Star Trek: Strange New Worlds debuts sometime next year.)  A horseshoe-shaped, 70 x 30 ft, 270° array of LED video panels that project real-time backgrounds for filming, using game software Unreal Engine. Ideally it provided more of an immersive environment for the actors, where previously all of the peripheral effects had to either be constructed, "practical" ones, or saw the actors performing in front of green screens, being told what to imagine they were seeing, as those visuals were added later, elsewhere.    
     I hope that was enough variety to find you with at least one item potentially interesting enough to check out. Looking back over even just the past few Friday entries, I still see so many things I have yet to make the time for.
     Stay safe, and let's meet back here next Friday, when we at least start to lay out the overstuffed Thanksgiving holiday weekend of possibilities to meld with the most comfortable, screen-adjacent piece of furniture you own -- and fresh batteries in your remotes.  - Mike