Holiday weekend! What's To Watch? - July 1

 

      Friday once more! And, here in the U.S., it's an expanded, holiday weekend, with the 4th landing on Monday. It's difficult to get into the spirit of the holiday, given recent betrayals, but we make what we can of what we have. I couldn't help myself from coming back to echo one of the most distressing recent developments by the end of this piece - an obscure bit of sci-fi from nearly 30 years ago that was meant to be a cautionary tale about the path a rogue, partisan, selectively activist court has put us more firmly on.
      In the meantime, there's certainly no shortage of things to watch if one's looking for the relief of distraction -- and here's a little of it.

    Lost in the shuffle last time, I neglected to point out that Only Murders In the Building was returning for the start of its second season this past Tuesday on Hulu.
     Starring Steve Martin (co-creator), Martin Short and Selena Gomez, it follows this odd trio who were initially linked by being fans of a true crime podcast, but are now linked by a true-crime podcast of their own, focused on murders in which they've become entangled, which happened in the log-storied building they all live in. While I'd mentioned it several times subsequently, the introductory mention was back near the start of September last year.
     A busy week, I haven't gone through all three of the new episodes yet. Here's the trailer for the new season

     The season picks up moments after the last-minute twist ending of season one, so if you haven't given the show a try before here's an extra incentive to go start on it. You'll have the option those of us who followed it week-by-week didn't, to be able to roll into the next episode. I'd been unsure of how the cast would meld, and worried in particular about a sustained Martin Short character, but it all blended and balanced nicely, including most of the supporting players.

     Today, over on Netflix, we have "volume two" of season four of Stranger Things, wrapping this penultimate season. Whereas the episodes this season have been longer (each well over an hour long), and the first volume was seven episodes long, this back "half" are only two episodes (episodes 8 and 9), though that's with respective run times of 85 and 150 minutes each -- so 5 minutes shy of four hours.   Well, hey... holiday weekend, right?
     Presuming you're up to date on it, just waiting for this wrap to the season, here's the trailer for volume 2:

     For me, a very successful wrap for this penultimate season of the show. I appreciated the expanded length, affording us the time with the characters, unlike some of the noisier social media viewers who seemed to wanted it sped up. El's being powerless, and bullied, for instance, where the sustained beats of the beating were there to help us feel it, rather than reducing it to simple storytelling beats. I think some people just want want a blend of montages and a sizzle reel, worked into a synopsis. The only thing that bugged me along the way were the driving scenes where the driver kept turning for sustained bits of conversation with a passenger.

     While on recent arrivals on Netflix, here's more of a heads-up, just in the spirit of "this is there, too, if it looks interesting to you", than an actual recommendation. It's a Norwegian import, a sci-fi buddy comedy: Blasted (2022  TV-MA  1h 54m)

     Upon watching the trailer, my first thought was the writer and director are probably both big Edgar Wright fans. And, hey, I get it -- I'm a fan, too. Largely nostalgia-driven antics, where the child gets to re-emerge in the midst of adulthood and play with abandon as they once did, has an appeal. And it's not as if we can expect Simon Pegg and Nick Frost to regenerate and become eternally young so they can go back to making this sort of movie forever. I'm just thinking that - speaking for myself - it all looks a little frantically forced, and (taking some of the blame on myself) I may not be able to easily get past all that and arrive at a place where I can just enjoy these characters and this film as its own thing. As if fairly standard for Netflix, one can choose to leave the Norwegian soundtrack in place and rely on English subtitles, or opt for an English-dubbed version. You may not be carrying this baggage, though, and my prejudicial reflexes may be keeping me from enjoying some entertaining and even endearing characters/performers. Or it could be like watching a French film made by fanatic Jerry Lewis fans, trying to make their beat by beat version of a Jerry Lewis film.

     Meanwhile, over on Amazon Prime, a new Chris Pratt-starring action thriller series lands. In it, Pratt plays a Navy SEAL whose platoon is ambushed during a covert mission. He survives, returning home with confused, conflicting memories, survivor's guilt - even unsure how much of what went wrong may have been his fault - and gradually comes to realize there's a growing danger to him and his loved ones. It's The Terminal List

     Based on Jack Carr's novel of the same name, initial reviews have been less than kind. This has me expecting that much like Amazon's Jack Reacher series earlier this year, there will be those who will love it, catching the wave of the core theme and being detail-forgiving fans of the lead, and those who will have many moments of eye-rolling at simplistic formula and paint-by-numbers plotting. The heavier it leans on uniforms, flags, saluting, and other patriotic bric-a-brac intended to invoke notions of (misplaced) duty and (abused) honor, the less likely it's going to be to gain any traction with me. All that said, I usually enjoy Chris Pratt, and it looks to have a good cast, so I'm going to try to step into it with an open mind.
     The full, eight-episode season (each roughly an hour long, swinging from the 66 down to as few as 51 minutes) arrived today.
     I'll likely get to it along the way/eventually, though I'm reasonably sure that the first time I get to hit Amazon this weekend it'll be to watch this week's installment of The Boys. This week will be episode seven, the penultimate one of the season, with the finale landing July 8.

     I'm going to close this week on a more somber note, while simultaneously getting back to wrapping these with a free-to-all item, that anyone who can see this blog should also be able to watch at no cost. In this case that access is because it's on Tubi.

     This is a small-budget production that did extremely limited box office when it was released back in 1993. A science fiction film, done in a mock-documentary format, it's set in what was then fifty years into the future, but which at the moment, in 2022, is threatening to get here ahead of schedule. It's a story set in a dystopic future where abortion in the U.S. has been outlawed, and criminal charges are brought against those who even seek abortion in safe havens outside the U.S.
     We learn that a cascade of legal and social changes, and general erosion of personal rights, have codified personhood as beginning at conception, and those who are pregnant and attempt to leave the country seeking U.S.-illegal procedures can be charged with "fetal kidnapping." While barrier contraceptives are legal, IUD's are pointedly illegal. Culturally and collectively, feminism has not only become politically incorrect, but heavy historical revisionism has effectively wiped out any record of its positive impact on society.
     Released only in Los Angeles on Feburary 5, 1993 (hence the cumulative box office of $5000), it was released on video two years later. The movie is Rain Without Thunder (1993  PG-13 85 min). I don't even have a movie trailer to offer, but as mentioned above, it's available to be seen on Tubi.
     (The film was shot in 1992, when the Planned Parenthood v Casey case was being reviewed by the Supreme Court. That court ultimately ruled in favor of what was mostly an affirmation of Roe v Wade, though it teetered on the edge thanks to court appointments by both Reagan and Bush, and the trimester elements were replaced with those of fetal viability.)
     Most of the film's criticisms (aside from those coming from those who are ideologically opposed to the intent of the film -- likely the sort who are celebrating the Supreme Court's recent decision to rescind women's rights) are with it being a talking heads production, lacking in action and overt drama, between the mockumentary format and the characters (convincingly enough) being mostly systemically beaten down by the society they've been subject to most if not all of their lives. Collectively, it may be that it too aptly conveys the gray, beaten path it's showing us as a cautionary tale, while general audiences really want to see heroic rallying and optimistic turns. The intent of the film is to show us the bleak, cancerous outcome of complacency in the face of gradual erosion of rights, ideally in time for the audience to be galvanized to action. As I said, a cautionary tale -- it's not meant to uplift and reassure.
     Among the players, you should spot circa 1992 versions of Jeff Daniels and Ming-Na Wen, among other, familiar faces such as Betty Buckley, Linda Hunt, Ethan Phillips, Steve Zahn, and Robert Earl Jones, people whose faces and voices you'll likely recognize from television and movies, even if their names may not immediately pop for you.

     That's enough for this week, and hopefully not ending on too bleak a note. (The newflash announcements from the Supreme Court in just over the past week have been increasingly dismal, and not enough people are paying attention to it.) There's certainly enough entertainment to be easily had - see farther above, and previous weeks' posts. I also hope the gateway to your weekend opens smoothly and early, and it affords you some time to relax and get outside if the local weather's good for that sort of thing. See you back here on the 8th! -Mike