What To Watch? - Jan 14 - Recollections, Rebirths and Rescues

 

     Two weeks into the new year, and I've no more idea what to make of it than I did much of 2021. For good or ill, at least part of the time we get to climb into our electronic cocoons and stream shows and movies, new and old.
     My personal, starting focus today will be the final episode of The Expanse, arriving today on Amazon Prime. I'll be watching that as soon as my time is once again my own, whenever that'll be, on Friday. (Post-viewing notes are in green) Solid finish -- or, more accurately, resting point. While the series on Prime is at an end, I know they intend to continue to story in some form. Would I have liked to see more - a longer season six? Sure. Still, with respect to the main conflict that dominated the final two seasons, we got a good resolution. As good a resolution as one can get in any realistic scenario where everyone doesn't die. We're left with much uncertainty, and more than one real cliffhanger with regards to the new frontier, but especially for the characters we're been invested in over the bulk of the series, we're at a good plateau. A good point to let it ride for a while, and maybe have us catch up on how things pan out after a few years. I'm going to miss not having a confirmed, new season on the way, though.

     This week on Disney+, we reached the third episode of the Star Wars series, The Book of Boba

Fett. Another home run by Jon Favreau (as ever, IMHO, as a self-confessed casual Star Wars fan), this series is bringing us three timelines of origin for Boba Fett, one (the most lightly trod so far) from his childhood, as the only clone Jango Fett rose as his son, another immediately post-Return of the Jedi, as he escaped the Sarlac, was stripped of everything, and had to work his way back up, and of his later path, fully re-armored, establishing himself as the official crime lord, the Daimyo, on Tattooine, which includes a growing band of recruits he wins over.
     I've been enjoying it from the start, though I've seen grumblers who apparently only want a sizzle reel of top-form, mystery man Boba kicking ass, apparently utterly unmindful of how monumentally boring that would be for a main character in the series. No, instead we're getting to know the man beneath the armor, someone who has seen and known what it's been like to be powerless, to be seen as a thing - be it a commodity, a tool, or a weapon - and has quietly resolved to not do that to anyone else. He is determined to build his new position on a foundation of respect, rather than the fear that his opponents and competitors rely upon.
     While I can sympathize with the (apparently) many, or at least more vocal fans who are finding the absence of a mysterious, ass-kicking bad-ass to be pablum, I'm looking forward to the next installment so far.

     A non-spoilery, behind-the-scenes Easter egg of sorts (I'm abusing the term a little here) is that as the new Daimyo on Tattooine, Boba now has a sort of court protocol droid, 8D8, and I was immediately taken by the voice. It's a quality voice and delivery, with only a little of the effect coming from an electronic robotization of it. It has a proper dignity and a subtle edge of menace, reminding me obliquely of (mostly) voice actor Paul Frees, and what actor James Mason could deliver - without doing an impersonation of either. It turns out to be the work of English, (mostly) comedic actor Matt Berry. Matt is known most broadly, I expect, as the vampire Lazlo Cravensworth on the tv version of  the always fun What We Do In the Shadows, was supporting character Douglas Reynholm on the series The IT Crowd (from not long after the point when that series got good - the first four episodes are abysmally moronic, so don't judge the show on its start), and for voice work in the animated series Disenchantment, and Toast of London.

   Ricky Gervais has an interestingly mixed reputation. Many have long since written him off as a bitter, snarky, cynical little man who makes fun of people's beliefs, and/or as the insensitive, self-deluded David Brent character in the original, U.K. version of The Office. (I know a few people who simply won't look at his work in anything based on some part of that.) Others have been drawn in by the sensitive side of his interests and projects, ranging from protection of animals to sentimental series such as Derek (two seasons, then a completing special back in 2014 - often and increasingly treacly, but effectively so) and After Life which is concluding as of today, as season 3 arrives on Netflix.
     After Life follows a misanthropic man in the wake of his beloved wife's death by cancer, where she recorded a series of videos to help him seek out the social help he'll need to build a rounded life in her absence.

    I enjoyed the first two series (6 episodes each, released in March 2019 and late April 2020, so we've been waiting a while -- thanks, COVID-19), and am looking forward to this. All are available on Netflix.

    A horror series loosely based on a podcast of the same name, Archive 81, also lands on Netflix today. An archivist takes an assignment to fix damaged videotapes, and is drawn into a 25 year-old investigation of a dangerous cult. It's a partially "found footage" item with ample cheats, as we get to see the documentarian filming the footage. Granted, I guess that was how they did it with part of The Blair Witch Project, so why not? The 8-episode series will unfold in two time frames, with the 1994 investigation by Melody Pendras, and the contemporary work by archivist Dan Turner as he's drawn into the mystery. James Wan serves as executive producer, but I've no clear idea what he provided aside from the gravitas of his name for promotional purposes in the supernatural horror community.

 Rounding out the new Netflix offerings today, we have a special, featuring three stories, by three different directors, all done in stop-motion animation. Creepy, but promising. It's The House (1h 37m).

     Yesterday, on HBO Max, a Suicide Squad (2021) spin-off launched with the action comedy series Peacemaker.
     John Cena reprises his role from last year, with James Gunn back to write all eight episodes and direct five of them. Peacemaker is the embodiment of toxic masculinity, a technically proficient dealer of violence and destruction, but emotionally stunted. This series is set to explore the character's origins along with following subsequent missions. The first three episodes dropped Thursday, and the remaining five will appear each successive Thursday. Here's the Red Band trailer, which in this case mainly means they're not filtering out the profanity.

    I'm curious to see how this plays out, with him being the central character. So much will depend on the supporting cast to balance things out. I'm expecting the brow here to be more uni- than high-. ...and so it pretty much is. Special note that the along with profanity, there's ample nudity, sex, and graphic violence. I roll through most of it barely noting it, but I know these things make a difference to some. This certainly isn't some Disney+ super-action piece, and children shouldn't be anywhere near it.
  That said, the packet of the first three episodes is an often playful mix, with musical touches... which is pretty much a James Gunn standard move. So far the series has been giving us some insight into how Chris Smith/Peacemaker came to be the profoundly messed up person he is. We see more of his internal struggle, and once we meet his profoundly racist, xenophobic father (played by Robert Patrick) we understand a bit better. I've no idea how far they'll want to take any road to redemption for him, in what's essentially a violent action comedy series, but it's not as if this sort of character's going to be fixed quickly or easily. As mentioned above, from here through February `7th it'll be a new episode each Thursday.
      Here's the opening credits dance number for each episode, showing the cast and bringing the whimsy.

     Back over to Disney+, two days ago, the least-anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe release so farfinally arrived: The Eternals (2021 PG-13   2h 37m).
     During these plague years, this was the easiest one for me to let wait until it came to me. I was never fond of the comics source material, all the way back to when Jack Kirby brought it to Marvel in 1976. I thought then, and maintain now, that the Marvel Universe didn't need this "ancient astronauts" mess shoehorned into their continuity, much less another pantheon of inscrutable, cosmic, space giants returning to potentially pass Doomsday judgement. Unfortunately, those in editorial power disagreed, and the interweaving began primarily with Roy Thomas' work over in issues of Thor in 1978. Other characters' histories were retroactively changed to make them Eternals... and Hell, only comics nerds care about any of this. There's no reason to put you through that here. Let it suffice to say I've never cared for, nor had much use for, The Eternals.
     However, they're intellectual property held currently by the House of Mouse, and are now part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so here we are, and here's the trailer for the film.

     I can't see any of this clearly due to the personal history with the source material, so I can't yet tease that out and just see the events of the film as their own thing. To be bored with a film while watching the trailer isn't a good sign, though. I expect I'll at least find some good character interaction moments - the MCU has yet to fully let me down - but I'm in no current rush to get to this, especially as I'm all but certain the central threat is going to be horrible nonsense.
     Moving on.

     On Showtime, fans of Liev Schreiber's "fixer" Ray Donovan, which had a run of seven seasons, are today getting a series finale via Ray Donovan: The Movie.
     A slightly shorter seventh season (10 episodes rather than the standard 12) aired its final episode roughly two years ago, with Showtime announcing a couple weeks later that that was the end of the series. That that was a surprise to the fans was one thing, but that it was also a surprise to the people in and behind the show was wholly another, as they hadn't approached that season as a final one. Season six closed at what could have been a credible exit point, but seven ended largely in chaos.
     Pressure from the fans and from people on the show speaking out through various media resulted in Showtime authorizing a film to help tie up the various loose ends, and provide more definitive background on key bits of pre-show history for Ray and key members of his clan. The announcement was made a little over a year following the cancellation announcement, and now the film's finally here. I'm likely going to rewatch at least the final episode of season seven ahead of this, to better bring myself up to speed.

     Meanwhile, over on HBO Max, I recently started to watch a Norwegian series where people from various eras, going back to prehistory, begin to appear in waves in the present. The people appear in flashes of light, in bodies of water, and the energy involved has short-term disruptive effects on electrical power

and computer technology in the area. After us seeing the dawning, puzzling evidence of the new reality posed by the first wave, the show jumps ahead several years to a point where it's just part of daily life.
    The phenomenon remains unexplained, but presents an ongoing, pressing issue as society has to at least attempt to integrate those open to such things, and otherwise is presented with something analogous to dealing with the functionally mentally ill. Police and social assistance agencies have buckled under the strain.
     Secondary social impacts include views held by those of different eras gaining some resonance and traction with some in contemporary society. While the phenomenon is a global matter, the show is based in and centered on Oslo, which more than has its own hands full, so we're focused on what's happening there. The clusters of time-displaced appear to be coming from the Stone Age, the Viking Age, and the 19th century. The show is Beforeigners, and it has just recently finished its second, six-episode season. Here's the trailer for the first season.

     As mentioned above, I've only just recently started this, and so am still in the first season, deliberately avoiding looking into too much about the series so as to avoid spoiling the remaining episodes. As best I can tell, so far nothing official's been said about a third season. Presumably they're waiting to see how much of an audience it comes to pull, as exclusive content for their streaming service. (This was the first series set up by HBO Europe, and so is bearing the extra burden of being a test case for whether or not this is the best use of funds, or if they should do more as Netflix has and just look for international shows to buy out and import.)
     The show has multiple layers, and aside from the crime procedural aspects (the show's male lead is a police detective whose life has been upended by the new arrivals, while his young partner is the first time-shifted person in that area to go through the police academy) that lend greater urgency, it's the conflicts and meshing of the beliefs, mores and cultures of these various timelines, and the influence of those time-displaced people on current society, that's generally of much greater interest.
     There's a fun segment where two warrior women, who in their time had been shield-bearers for those who worshiped Odin, drunkenly mock the idea that Christianity, formed around the iconography of a bloodied, physically-broken god (in their view) has become the culturally dominant religion.

     The next two weeks' posts will be themed, so today, while I'm talking about new/upcoming items, I'll include some for later in the month.
     January 21st Netflix will have the first half of the fourth and final season of the Justin Bateman crime drama Ozark. In season one, Bateman played a partner in a business where, unbeknownst to him, his partner was in up to his neck in business with organized crime. Mistakes were made, the partner was killed, and the innocent partner had to quickly negotiate terms to keep from being killed. (That's all pretty much the opening episode set-up arc, as I recall.) I watched season one however far back it was that that was the only part around, and while I liked it enough to finish that season I wasn't immediately in the mood for season two... so I have no idea where the story's gotten by this point. I'm dropping the season four, part A, trailer here in case you're up on the series and looking forward to it, but I'm not going to watch it just yet.

     Arriving on Syfy starting January 26th, is season two of Alan Tudyk's sci-fi crime procedural comedy Resident Alien. I wasn't an immediate fan of the show in the first season, but it quickly grew on me. This preview piece is more of a behind-the-scenes set-up, and so treats the events of season one as written and known, so, fair warning there if you haven't watched any of it. If you have cable, and they provide the Syfy channel, then you can sign in at Syfy's website and watch the first season there. If you don't then it's available for purchase on Amazon, and behind their subscription paywall on Peacock. (I enjoy the show, but I wouldn't see myself paying something extra for it.)

     Off on January 28th, Netflix will present season one of All of Us Are Dead, a Korean zombie series. At this point my initial reflex, upon reading just that much, was that I wasn't looking for more zombie action just now, but the trailer's caught my attention. Highly energetic! Looks as if it could be fun, and if nothing else it'll remind me that I'm well and truly waaaaaaaaay too old and slow for a fast-zombie apocalypse. It's still fun to watch from over here.

     
     Closing with a trippy piece I first saw at least six years ago, it's the complete 1939 The Wizard of

Oz -- with the film chopped up and reshuffled (with the help of some apps) to be presented in alphabetical order. It starts with every instance of someone saying "A" in the film, laid out in chronological order, then does the same with every instance of someone yelling "Aaa!" in surprise or fear, and so on, and so on. The titles/credits were snipped and resorted so they would be in alphabetical order, too, and so this is of Oz The Wizard.
     Years ago this used to be on YouTube (and it may yet lurk there, under some other name to avoid narcs), but currently I'm only seeing it on Vimeo, so with Blogger's structure it seems I can only just provide you with a link (it should pop out on its own screen when you click on it):  Of Oz the Wizard.
     Being drunk, high, or punchy from lack of sleep may be critical to the entertainment experience. Some I've shown this to over the years have quickly hated it. I've found it to be something I'll find a little mechanical and even tedious one moment, but then suddenly hilarious the next as it riffs through a chain of sounds, with varying voices and inflections, some spoken, some sung, some munchkin. Because the film itself is so familiar to most of us, there's something about this that works through all of the disjointed resorting, pulling us through the story. Looping us through large chunks of the film, via unique slices, again and again.
     Seriously, that's far more than enough for this week. Between what's above and various items from the past several Friday posts, there should be more to watch than you have conscious time for.
     Take care, feel free to let me know if you watched any of these (for good or ill), and see you back here next week with (probably) part one of a two-part theme! - Mike