What's To Watch? - Apr 22 - Guns and Cannolis

 

Another week! Where does the time go?
 

     In the news this week were worries for streaming king Netflix in the face of a sharp loss of subscribers and, likely, people feeling they needed to make public statements even when they hadn't yet decided on what to say. It's set off at least a small panic among streaming services as everyone else in the game had to at least pause to check their own plans.
      We're in the thick of a rapidly-evolving entertainment environment. Not a topic I'm going to lean into this week, but it'll be worth some attention soon enough. Shifting sands beneath our feet. A week and a half ago it seemed that Apple tv+ had the keys to the kingdom, now it feels as if HBO Max is where to focus.
     The optimist's view, and it's a supportable one, is that we're living in a great period for entertainment. However, in the absence of casual wealth we're likely going to have to adapt, and be open to selectively closing and opening some streaming accounts. Maybe think of it like shifting addresses with the season. I've yet to really begin to sort it out satisfactorily for myself. As I've said, it'll be worth some attention.

     I'm going to start this week with a list of show and movie premiere dates I'm looking forward to. The past two years saw delays and outright derailments of production schedules such that firm dates all but ceased to exist, and my attempts to keep this sort of list went with them. Not so much that Things Are Better, but simply that the biz adapted, the result of actual release dates (at least for items that are in post-production) is the same. I'm going to stick to 2022 for now - and particularly on the next two months - because even just on the public health scene there could easily be big ripples that will distort 2023's plans. I have a longer list elsewhere, which includes many things I'll be mentioning in future Friday pieces, but that so far I'm not necessarily having a reason to look forward to -- mainly for lack of info. Without a doubt I'm forgetting some things. I'll update this this weekend as they come to mind, but I have to start somewhere:

         Barry (HBO/HBO Max) season three April 24th. (Covered in today's piece)
         The Offer (Paramount+) a dramatization of the forces at work, pro and con, in the making of The Godfather. (Covered in today's piece.)
         Grace and Frankie (Netflix) Season seven final episodes (Final season, too) arriving next Friday, April 29.
         Ozark (Netflix) season four, part two. Final season. Also April 29.
         Doctor Strange In the Multiverse of Madness (theatrical) Officially May 6, but they'll begin having showings on the 5th. (I'm going to try to get out to see it sometime opening weekend, which would be a first since the start of the pandemic.)
         Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+) May 5.
         Bosch: Legacy (IMDBtv) May 6  Titus Welliver stars, continuing the story as he settles into a new routine after the seven-season Bosch which ran on Amazon Prime.
         Hacks (HBO Max) season 2  May 12 (1st two episodes)
         The Kids In the Hall (Amazon Prime) May 13
         The Kids In the Hall: Comedy Punks (Amazon Prime) docuseries May 20
         Stranger Things (Netflix) season four, set to release in two "volumes" - May 27th and July 1.
         Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+) Six-episode miniseries Friday May 27 (the remaining episodes will land on Wednesdays.)
         The Orville (Hulu) June 2.
         The Boys (Amazon Prime) season three June 3.
         Ms. Marvel (Disney+) Six-episode minseries June 8.
         Evil (Paramount+) returns to start a 10-episode third season June 12. Episodes releasing each Sunday.
         The Umbrella Academy (Netflix) season three June 22.
         Thor: Love & Thunder (theatrical) July 8.
         Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (theatrical) November 11.

     I haven't gotten to this week's episode of Donald Glover's Atlanta (Thursday nights on FX, arriving on Hulu Fridays), a series which returned March 24th for its looooong delayed third season. I continue to recommend the series as both real and surreal, with some odd moments and powerful themes. I want to point out that this season they've done two episodes (so far), the first ("Three Slaps") and fourth, that anyone can just jump in with because they don't involve any of the series characters. You don't need to know anything else with those. It's a chance to sample the overall quality and depth without spoiling anything.

     I want to particularly direct your attention to episode four, "The Big Payback", which I'm recommending with a little caution. There are people I know whom I wouldn't direct toward this, because it would fit in with some of their fears about where some social justice agendas might lead. An avid Fox news junkie's head might explode. It's a speculative, very near-future - as in, could be tomorrow - scenario that could have easily been a brief episode of Black Mirror. It's a prodding, evocative half hour that may drive you to your feet and start you pacing, even just as you wrestle with whether it strikes you as absurd or possible. I haven't had an opportunity to discuss it with anyone, but I'm sincerely interested in getting some people's reactions to it. And, again, it's a stand-alone item -- a mini-movie. It won't spoil anything about the main series, because none of those characters are in it.
     This week's episode, episode 6, "White Fashion" is back with Earn, Paperboi, etc., continuing to navigate worlds of privilege and oddly shifting advantage. The comedy continues to run to dark places, with cutting social commentary. As this continues, I'm hungry for a safe zone for Earn (Glover's character) to be able to openly react to the bizarre behavior of both the people he's meeting and those he's known long enough to have thought he knew well.

     Personal highlights for the past week included Better Call Saul (Mondays on AMC), Last Week Tonight (select Sundays on HBO), Julia and Tokyo Vice (both HBO Max miniseries). Each have one or more elements that I've been turning over in my mind since seeing them.
     From last week's items, I largely enjoyed what was done with The Batman, which arrived on HBO, though yet another reinterpretation of the characters keeps it all at least a little distant for me. Good cast and performances, but some choices among the changes (the origin and nature of the Riddler, perhaps making him a little too much like the Joker blended with Scarecrow, and changing yet again the particulars of Bruce's parents' histories and death) are at least fair game to be questioned.

     One of those items I'm noting, without any immediate pro or con bias because I pretty much only know what's in the trailer, arrived just yesterday, the 21st. It's a Japanese comedy-drama about a 32 year-old adman who discovers he's pregnant. He's Expecting (Netflix  8 episodes) is loosely based on Eri Sakai's 2012 manga
Kentaro Hiyama's First Pregnancy.

     The trailer doesn't give me much indication that it rises above the level of simple gender-swap for the sake of perspective -- not that exploring the topic of how becoming pregnant can, in social and professional circles, effectively dehumanize a person, or at least override their status as an individual isn't worth consideration, but if it doesn't have more style and nuance it could easily wear out its welcome in far less than eight episodes. This could be one of those things that keeps slipping away, remaining an option I never quite get around to, so (and this applies to so much in these weekly pieces) if you happened to watch it, please let me know how it struck you.

      This Sunday (24th) 10 PM Eastern on HBO will see the long-awaited return of Bill Hader and Alec Berg's, multiple award-winning (nominated at least 30 times, with three wins), dark comedy series Barry.
     Hader plays the lead, as a man whose talent for killing was discovered while he was a Marine, and who has continued that as a managed, private contractor as a civilian. Deeply dissatisfied with his life, an assignment in Los Angeles finds him drawn to acting, prompting the attempt to change his career. Some careers don't have a built-in exit, though, and given the clients they'd likely prefer any retirements include an exit from life, too.
     As with so many things, this third season was long-delayed by the pandemic. We last saw Barry, friends and enemies waaaay back in May 2019, so nearly three years!

     During the long hiatus, reportedly, a fourth season's already been written, but no clear word's come out as to whether or not HBO's given it a green light. As a fan, I'm seeing this as a missed opportunity, as they could have given the nod and allowed the show to get a head start on the next season's shooting, drastically-delaying the gap between seasons.
     As with the previous two seasons this will run eight episodes. They pack a great deal into these roughly half-hour (26-35 min) episodes, and so with just 16 episodes and a nearly three year break, I'm doing a series rewatch to get myself back up to speed.

     I've also done a season one refresh and then plowed through the seven-episode season two of Russian Doll (Netflix), another series that recently returned after a little more than three year hiatus. I did a preview of that late in last week's piece. Fast-paced and glib, and as I noted based on the trailer, this season sees a different, broader twist in play.

   Starting next Monday (25th) and running weekly through May 30th on HBO (and, so, streaming on HBO Max, too), is a 6-part miniseries from The Wire creator & showrunner David Simon and frequent collaborator George Pelecanos. It's another Baltimore-set, police and crime-centered drama based on a nonfiction book by a Baltimore-based reporter. A tale of power and corruption, based on the rise and fall of Baltimore P.D.'s Gun Trace Task Force. Jon Bernthal arguably headlines a strong cast, with faces that will pop for viewers of The Wire, Treme, Bosch, Mercy Street, and Vera. It should be hitting most of the notes that The Shield did. It's We Own This City

     Out on the brink of next week's piece, Thursday the 28th will see nearly all things Corleone arriving on Paramount+. The Godfather (1972), The Godfather Part II (1974), and The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone (1990) will all appear, along with the first three parts of a 10-part miniseries (the remaining parts will arrive weekly) aiming to dramatize producer Albert S. Ruddy's experiences adapting Mario Puzo's novel to the screen, surrounded by people for whom either getting the movie made or keeping it from being made were nearly life or death matters.
     I'm presuming there's no need to run a trailer for the movies, so here's the one for the miniseries: The Offer

     Depending on one's schedule, all of that goombah action may be more properly the province of next weekend and beyond, but knowing it'll be available Thursday could be useful.

     An update: With so many channels and streaming platforms in play, I keep overlooking things. Often I'll just let it slide into a later column, especially with the vast majority of the items being things we can summon to suit us. Still, I'm up for additions especially while the weekend's fully in play.
     So it is that I just noticed that Showtime (that's for us in the U.S. International audiences will find it on Paramount+) is launching a new series this Sunday (the 24th) based on a 1963 science fiction novel of the same name, that was also previously adapted into a 1976, David Bowie-starring movie. It's The Man Who Fell To Earth. This version stars the always captivating Chiwetel Ejiofor as Faraday, the interstellar traveler on a desperate mission to Earth. The rest of the cast is pretty promising, too, as the trailer shows.

     I've no idea how many episodes this season will be (only five are listed so far, running through the end of May), nor how open-ended their intentions are for additional seasons. I so far presume this will likely run about ten episodes, but we'll have to see.

     That's all for this week. We have some major life changes for me and mine starting by mid-May, with an uncertain elasticity. There's more prep work involved than I would have the stamina for even if I could find the time -- yet, I'll somehow have to find both. That's life, and it's better than its opposite. So, take care, and we'll meet back here next Friday. - Mike