Debuts, Departures, Dystopia and Debacle - Aug 12 - What's To Watch?

 

     Rolling into the heart of February!
     As discussed last week, this week's already seen the return of Resident Alien (Syfy) for the start of the back half of its second season, and the arrival of the third and final season of Locke & Key on Netflix. The former's going to be a week-to-week affair which should take us to the last week of September; this week's new episode quickly brought me back up to speed on the plot points; mid-March seems longer ago than it probably should. The latter series had all ten episodes land at once, and will most likely fall for me this weekend; at 61 I still have no portion-control skills.
     Casually watched fairly quickly - the longest episodes were 47 minutes, and there were only eight episodes for this season. Locke & Key's final season gave it an appropriate send-off, in part by changing the perspective on the nature of the keys. The very final scene had some formulaic winces, but we're left with a reasonably well-rounded and complete tale, while still having options open for someone to pick the story up somewhere in the future.
     This Sunday will see the third season finale of Evil arrive on Paramount+, with a Rockne S. O'Bannon script. This season was pared down from the 13 episodes each of the previous two seasons, to a mere ten. I can't be happy about that shrinkage. I'm curious to see the state of the characters by the roll of closing credits. A fourth season was greenlit last month, so barring a new national/global upheaval it seems reasonable to expect we'll see that season commence roughly next June -- a world away. If things go as planned I'll be a couple months into looking at a different set of walls by then.
     Watched that season finale of Evil around 4AM - a peaceful time of day to wake up, especially on a day when you know you can go back to sleep when you want. (Which I did... and I did.) The story moved fairly well along, including some intentional frustrations, and gave us an interesting starting place for next season. Now to see if Kirsten, her husband and daughters, and their allies all put their heads together to be sure they have as clear a picture as possible.
     A cleverly-written show, I'll be watching for the full fallout from the revelations in this season-ender... and to see what the tone of season four will be now that the season's pop-up book changed just ahead of the new season. Also, I'm wondering if Wallace Shawn's Father Ignatius will be sticking around for the new season.  
     Monday will see he final episode of Better Call Saul arrive on AMC. It's been a pleasure seeing the story unfold, and now we'll finally see the end of that journey. Grievous flaws and all, I'm still sympathetic to Jimmy/Saul, and Kim, and so am conflicted in figuring out what to realistically hope for. Self-destruction seems to be the theme, though.

     An odd item I came across on Amazon Prime recently is a 2017 film co-written and directed by Bill Watterson. A fantasy adventure comedy horror piece about a largely aimless 30 year-old with a history of never finishing anything. In a weekend plunge of creativity, with his girlfriend out of town, he creates something surreal. Using cardboard boxes and art supplies, he builds an elaborate labyrinth inside a fort - all in their apartment - that is vastly more than it appears to be. It's Dave Made a Maze (2017  NR  81m)

     It's a whimsical fantasy adventure piece, though it does ultimately stick with the horror category; however abstract and craft-y the carnage may be, it's of lasting consequence. The film's peppered with familiar faces and voices from various (often genre) shows, including actors from Criminal Minds, to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Venture Brothers.
     As with nearly anything on Amazon Prime, I've no idea how long it's going to stay put, or more importantly how long it's going to remain as a free to Prime members item; things randomly slip back behind additional paywalls all the time. It's also available on Tubi, where there'll be some commercials, but it's much more likely to stay accessible. References along the way at least suggest that it is/has been part of both Shudder and Epix, so if you have either of those it's possible it may be found there. I currently do not, or else I would have checked.

     My experience with concert events has been minimal, both because I've never been a fan of large concentrations of people, and I've seldom seen one that was a good listening experience. Oh, some great performances have come out of live music events, but I've still found that the recordings from properly miked bands are the way to go if I really want to hear and enjoy it. Live and in-person the crowd's going to ultimately put me off, the chances I'll be able to hear anything clearly on-site are low, and sense of "connection" with the performers is almost guaranteed to be illusory. Your mileage may certainly vary, and I'm genuinely happy for fans of big venue, live music events -- I wish you weren't so routinely being absolutely ripped off by the criminal ticket sale system.
     Sometimes these things go so horribly wrong that no one can sanely claim anything to the contrary.
     Between HBO/HBO Max and Netflix there's roughly four hours of critical retrospective about the debacle that was Woodstock 1999. A tragic failure at almost every level, made so much worse by the unbridled, unprincipled greed behind the (nominal) organizers' actions. From food and water, to sanitation and security, organizational ineptitude, and a bottom line focus on maximizing profit, it was a perfect shitstorm.
     On HBO/HBO Max it's the 2021 documentary (that had previously been on Netflix, where I hadn't taken notice of it last year) Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage (1h 50m)

     (Related aside, HBO Max also currently has a director's cut of the 1970 film about the 1969 Woodstock concert, for historical and cultural contrast.)
     Meanwhile, back on Netflix, there's the recently-arrived, three-part documentary Trainwreck: Woodstock '99 (2022)

     The three-parter currently on Netflix has some issues, particularly in how it covers the sexual assault aspects. They seemed to manage to upset various viewers by simultaneously rushing through that aspect, while including graphic, insufficiently edited material that struck some as insensitive to the victims.

     Shifting back to the far more comforting world of a purely imaginary apocalypse:
     Arriving on AMC (with advance episodes appearing on AMC+, as they will doubtless stress during commercial breaks and most assuredly as the first episode ends - AMC in 2022 increasingly exists as marketing for an AMC+ streaming subscription) this Sunday is the first of a six-episode series set in the zombie apocalypse of The Walking Dead.
     These are to be six, separate slices of life, wherein we see how different people reacted to the catastrophic changes, survived (or failed to), and came to see that world. Stand-alone stories offering different perspectives on a catastrophically changed world. Tales of the Walking Dead.

     When The Walking Dead premiered back in 2010, I had already been having one of my personal worst years, with a death back in April that was a bookend of a nineteen month stretch of mostly surprise deaths that had been violently flipping my world since September of 2008. No need to relive those specifics here.

     I'd been a fan of Robert Kirkman's source series, The Walking Dead comic, since its debut in 2003 as a black and white comics version of "the zombie movie that never ends," which is how Kirkman framed the project in the first issue. His intention at the time being that aside from the normal market element of being canceled if it failed to sell well, this would be his own Romeroesque story of a zombie apocalypse that would go on and on. In the end, he pulled the plug on it in 2019 (confessing that he'd come close to doing so at one or two much earlier junctions in the story, changing plans mostly because the inspiration for new character and plot directions struck), not wanting it to become repetitive -- but that, too, is incidental.
     While I rode out the monthly comic through its unannounced end (Kirkman took pains to make it seem as if the comic was still going to be in production, only announcing the end of the story in what became its final issue), when the tv series went to its (very) roughly "mid-season" break in November of 2017, during their war with Negan's forces, I was finding it all too depressing against the day-to-day backdrop of a MAGA-infested U.S. out here in the so-called real world. While the tv show had made selective changes to the story from the comics, it was still following an outline of key events, so I had a good idea of what was coming for the characters. I wasn't in the mood for seeing them take the losses they would, nor to see them coming within a stroke of winning only to lose all over again, at least in the short term. So, I put it all on pause... and have yet to get back to it. That series is set to finally end just before Thanksgiving this year, btw, but that's not important now.
     The six-episode, standalone format for this new show will let me step back into that universe, no strings attached, for the first time since late 2017. That feels like just the right comfort level for me.

      Coming to Disney+ next Thursday, the 18th (why they shifted from Wednesdays as their new release day I've no idea), is the latest Marvel series. An action comedy starring Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) as Jennifer Walters, an attorney who also happens to be the cousin of Bruce Banner, aka The Incredible Hulk. It's a nine-episode first season of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

     I know, I know, "She-Hulk" was and will always be a terrible name. So blunt and unimaginative that it's barely juvenile. One of the more embarrassing ones. You're going to need to get past that.

     The thumbnail sketch reason for the leaden sobriquet is that in the late '70s Marvel's extremely one-sided contract with CBS (all the power was on CBS/Universal's side) for the Incredible Hulk tv movies and show, made Marvel vulnerable to CBS creating a female version, which they would then own outright. Show biz almost always moves to duplicate anything that's a success, the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferigno Incredible Hulk had been a hit for the network, and a successful, female-led spin-off of The Six Million Dollar Man - The Bionic Woman - had been done a few years prior.
     To preempt any such move, Stan Lee and the folks at Marvel slapped this

character together and launched her in her own comics series. That this hadn't happened until 1980 is probably the most surprising part. Lousy name, and nearly as poor of an origin story - that's not worth yet another digression here; I'll touch on the comics origin next week, after we've seen how they decided to handle the specifics in the show.
     It's important to understand how powerless and unsophisticated Marvel was back in the day. As a business it had been hanging by its fingernails through much of the 1970s; had they not scored a  contract to do a comics version of a new, little property no one had many expectations for - Star Wars - in 1977 it's well within the realm of possibility that the company might have collapsed. They did, however, and George Lucas' project was an unprecedented success, and all involved got a dynamic new lease on life.
      So, the creation of a She-Hulk (shake, shake, shake-off the cringe) was a blunt legal move, neither a creatively- nor an even remotely aesthetically-driven one. The lackluster, formulaic series that ran for just over two years did little to improve on any of that. It existed as a staked claim, which was all that was required of it. The early item most to their credit was that they didn't copy the rage-driven creature model the Hulk had long since fallen into, with Jen, instead, retaining her personality (what there was of it initially) and intellect in the transformation.

     It would take later writers to infuse her with more personality, and then take her one step farther by giving her a fourth wall-breaking shtick. She would eventually make occasional, narrative side-comments to the audience or the writer, showing signs that she was aware she was a character in an entertainment. It would also find her eventually finding herself back to some version of the career she'd studied so long and hard for prior to some of her cousin's blood being transfused into her.
     In introducing the character, as is the case with the MCU in general, Disney has the benefit of those miles and years of developmental rough road from the comics. Knowing what ultimately worked, the screen version appears to have skipped fairly straight to it. The series will abound with guest-stars, some of whom have already been introduced elsewhere, others making their MCU debut. We'll get to see, in a snappy, action-comedy format, how much they manage to expand and firm up elements of the MCU over nine episodes.

     Meanwhile, Summer Under the Stars (that link pops out to an interactive page of the listings) month continues rolling out for TCM viewers, offering 24-hour spotlights of various stars. The next block, starting with today:
         Friday Aug 12:     Jane Powell
         Saturday Aug 13:    Marlon Brando
         Sunday Aug 14:     Elizabeth Taylor
         Monday Aug 15:    Randolph Scott
         Tuesday Aug 16:    Raquel Welch
         Wednesday Aug 17:    Spencer Tracy
         Thursday Aug 18:    Shelly Winters
         Friday Aug 19:    Toshiro Mifune

     So many interesting choices in the mix, few of them I'll have practical time for with the work week and currently limited DVR space - I've so much on there, much of it from TCM, that I've yet to make time for. Far too much in the week for me to make a good highlights list for, but one of the items that popped for me is 2PM on Tuesday, as part of Raquel's day. It's the 1973 Stephen Sondheim co-written (with Anthony Perkins), multi-star whodunnit The Last of Sheila. Here's the theatrical trailer from back in the day:

     For me it's been another draining week, including some very unwelcome health news, and I need to try to... I'm not quite sure. Distance myself from the stresses will have to be part of the process, though. There's much to sort out, and I'm aces at putting such things off. Getting myself to accept, usefully, that time is running out will be a challenge. I'm used to hiding in the margins and uncertainties, and evading what I'm told is inevitable. Those are tough behaviors to break, especially when I don't want to.
     I hope you've found something in the movies and shows above (and in previous Friday posts) of interest, and that we'll all make it back here safely next Friday. - Mike

No Time To Rest! - June 10 - What's To Watch?

 

(Notes for any who are revisiting any of these pieces: First, I apologize for any of the inevitable, broken links. Things get pulled from YouTube all the time. Second, for the most current streaming availability for anything, go to JustWatch and type in the name of the show or movie. Streaming platforms are swapping material all the time these days. That JustWatch link will pop out into its own window. - Mike)
 
    Another busy week for me, probably for you, too. Too many uncomfortable things in the news, well outside my control, and too many moves back to Old Normal that I'm just not comfortable with yet. Local eateries taking down plexiglass protections, and too few people opting to go into stores masked. The coverage of the public hearings on the insurrection in the Capitol have begun, but I've little stomach for the blow-by-blow theater of the moment, including the pacing. My hope is that this slowly-turning mill will grind exceeding fine and thoroughly, and will lead to successful prosecutions of so many more, including Trump and the various, scheming, hangers-on and sycophants. However it goes, I'll largely be taking it in as daily postmortems and analyses from trusted sources. Don't worry, I won't be aiming to cover that here.
       It's good to have work to focus on, even if it has been reaching into my personal time of late. I've been giving some attention to trying to get one, extra, small but noticeable thing done after getting home (beyond the basics, like making dinner) before letting myself collapse. Thursday, that extra step was getting the lawn cut. That, and then taking care of dinner wrung the last drops out of me for the day, only to have word that an old comics buddy of mine has landed back in the hospital with a scary situation. The next 24 hours should tell most of the tale, as surgery Friday appears certain. That's some seven states and better than 1300 miles away, so I'm depending on update messages.
     Work, etc. continues to cut in to my entertainment screen time, but I still manage to see some things and to see some of what's about to arrive.

    Oh, a quick note on the latest Marvel debut, Ms. Marvel, as mentioned last week. It's a pleasant expansion of the MCU, with the high school perspective of early Spider-man, and reasonably relatable ethnic family elements such as worked well (with different cultures, of course) in something like Kim's Convenience. Inclusion handled fairly well - or at least so it seems to me from my more aged, mainstream perspective. The true nature of well-executed inclusion has to pass the sniff test of people from that group; in this case, that will be Pakistani Muslims. That part's not for me to say. I like the seed concept of getting to know the "brown girl from Jersey City" who might just save the world, and hope this helps broaden the spectrum of people to feel like part of it all.

   I'd lost track of the season length for the second season - the series' latest - of Hacks (HBO Max), in part because some of the release info incorrectly told us season two would be another ten-episode season, like the first. So, I was thinking that this week (the series drops 2 new episodes each Thursday during its run) would see the season finale. Instead, I was surprised to find, when I got around to it on the weekend, that the season had wrapped. Moreover, it wrapped in a way that has left the fans (and, based on what I've read, the people involved in the show) unsure if that season finale was also one for the series. The creative team behind the show say they have more to go - that when they pitched the show they included endings for the stories, and the season two finale was not that. Still, HBO Max has not yet officially picked the show up for another season. Hopefully it's all just part of a promotional calculus, they're listening for any buzz and/or grumble, but are otherwise just delaying the announcement.
     I wrote a little about the series early this past November, when I'd gotten around to checking it out. The second season built nicely on the first, story arcs for each of the characters advancing in satisfying ways for nearly all of them. I'm hoping to get to follow them the distance. (2024 note: Hacks' third season is currently rolling out over on Max, with the first six episodes in place.)

     While on the topic of HBO/HBO Max, some renewal and cancellation announcements came through this month: the semi-biographical pirate series Our Flag Means Death was renewed for a second season (thanks for the pass-along, Kate H.), while the sci-fi drama Raised By Wolves failed to get a third season. The HBO Max series Julia was renewed back in May. As a fan of all three series, that was more good news than bad. (2024 update: Unfortunately all three series were subsequently canceled, so those then-coming seasons proved to be the final ones for each.)

     On HBO, this past Monday saw the debut of a new series I'd heard nor read nothing about prior to running across its debut on HBO Max. It's largely a skewering of the film industry and the players in it, as it primarily follows an American actress on the rise who has come to Paris to star in a remake of a

1916 French film, Louis Feuillade's unusually long (roughly 7 hours) lurid crime thriller titled Les Vampires. The series is named for the character she will be playing in the piece, a sinister, seductive Irma Vep, a conspicuous anagram for "vampire." This was all part of the mystique of danger, not anything involving actual vampires, for a violent, criminal gang.
     Alicia Vikander plays the lead, Mira, who is trying to navigate the swirling waters of celebrity, hoping to better define herself and steer both her life and career in a better direction. However, she has to be careful not to recklessly abandon the games of a celebrity lifestyle. In part she's trying to distance herself from much of what got her into the spotlight (made trickier inasmuch that she's still part of the promotional machine for a recent sci-fi costume adventure movie), but do so without sinking her career by being too harshly honest about it. Among the challenges, the director of this new project may be worse than simply "troubled."
     Written and directed by Olivier Assayas, this is an expanded remake of his 1996 film Irma Vep. That film is also available on HBO Max, but I've decided to wait to watch it until after I've seen the 8-episode miniseries, expecting that the film almost couldn't help but spoil key elements.
     Here's the trailer for the series.

     The first episode hooked me enough to watch for the second. The layered nature of the fiction - that this is largely about the pitfalls and scandals of imaginary celebrities - is much more inviting to me as story elements than the "reality star" programming out there.

     Arriving today on Amazon Prime (2024 note: That final Craig Bond film is currently streaming on Peacock, long-gone from Prime) is a film I'd forgotten about, lost in the various pandemic decisions. Daniel Craig's reportedly final outing as James Bond, it's 2021's No Time To Die (R   163 min.)  Earlier production & director-related changes saw this delayed, then once those were settled the pandemic hit. So, a film originally targeted for a 2019 release became a September/October 2021 one, which was still too early for me to seriously consider packing back into a theater with the other, potential plague rats. Oh, it was almost certainly a good move for them, especially with all the money that had been sunk into this for production and post-production work, but that timing just wasn't going to work for me. As it wasn't streaming, it was out of sight and mind.
     Roll here to June 2022, and it was an "Oh, yeah. That." moment when I saw it would be hitting Prime this week.  Here's what was the final, U.S. theatrical trailer for it.

     Catching that - with a few interruptions - as Friday rolled through, it was a good, emotionally-rounded outing for Craig's final turn as Bond. While I'm sure I still would have enjoyed it, including taking in the sweep of action on a big screen, even pandemic considerations aside this was more entertaining for me as a home-view item. I'd have been squirming at least a little in the theater seats. Here, on a 50" screen, where I can pause it at will, especially makes a film approaching two and one half hours much easier to enjoy. 

      Returning this Sunday (on Paramount +) is the frequently quirky Evil, back for its third season. The first had been broadcast on CBS, but the decision was made to thereafter shift it to be one of the streaming exclusives, this back before the rebranding, when it was still called CBS All Access. I'd last written anything about it back in mid-October of last year, just after season two's finale aired.

     The show's seed concept is an odd trio of people who've been tasked by the Catholic Church to investigate specific claims of either the miraculous or the demonic. They represent the spectrum of faith and extreme skepticism, and as the previous two seasons have shown, while each had considerable baggage before accepting this assignment, each has added enough during the show's run that they're in need of a psychic porter. Belief systems repeatedly challenged and at least somewhat altered.
     This wasn't a series I was initially drawn to upon hearing about it, but I was very happy that I gave it a chance. The writing is generally clever, the interplay between the characters entertaining, and while it can get dark and authentically creepy, the cast has not only good chemistry but the comedic chops to play scenes to good effect.

     Each of the first two seasons was a tidy 13 episodes, and I (foolishly) expected that that would be the case for season three. No, it will be ten. New episodes drop on Sundays, and I'd braced myself for Paramount + to have odd spacing past a point, spreading it out well into the fall, as that's what they've done previously. However, initial info says they're going to follow an unbroken release schedule, one per Sunday, so the season will begin June 12th and wrap August 14th. If that holds I'll be pleased, even while lamenting a shortened season.
     Having a streaming show that lands on a Sunday is something I've found particularly cool, as it's there anytime after 3AM here on the East Coast. My fragmented sleeping schedule would often find me catching it hours pre-dawn Sunday, after which I might go back to sleep or just start my free-form day early.
     Here's the trailer for this new season - which isn't particularly spoilery as it's largely a series of dramatic cuts, and the show has enough of a fantasy/dream/illusion element that one can't necessarily take anything (especially in isolation) as real.

     Oddly, I pretty much slept through the night, and only remembered this was waiting for me after I'd been up for an hour or so. It was fun to have the crew back, and early misgivings about some specifics of both last season's ending moments and the same ones for the early stages of this episode, evaporated as I was reminded that we can't take all that we see as the clear truth. They do need to hire a reasonably savvy high-schooler as a technical consultant, though, because a mass spectrometer is not really what they seem to think it is. That aside, a special nod to this week's guest star, Wallace Shawn.
     I can already tell that this season - especially with it being shaved down by three episodes to a simple ten - will be flying by. In the meantime I'll enjoy my mid-weekend visit with them.
     2024 Note: The long-delayed fourth season of Evil is set to begin May 23rd.

     While (based on the trailer) not fully to my tastes, I want to at least mention that this past Wednesday Netflix premiered an original film that's also appearing in theaters. (Hey, I can't fault anyone for chasing a possible nod from the Academy.) A sports drama (basketball, specifically) starring Adam Sandler as a talent scout who's been at it for decades to too little real success, who takes a possible career-ending risk by bringing an unapproved player to the states. LeBron James is also involved, largely as a gateway to a raft of NBA talent peppered through the movie. Presumably if you're into the pro sport, this'll be a gold touch feature as that facial recognition area of the brain lights up again and again for you. (Me? Unless you stacked the line-up with white guys and people well under six feet tall, I wouldnt' be able to pick James himself out of a line-up.) As with most sports the list of things I'd rather be doing than watching a game is nearly infinite. I didn't grow up with them, I have no affection for them -- I do not care. If I ever do watch and manage to connect with the movie it'll be at the level of the characters, their aspirations, struggles and relationships. Every second of action on the court will find an almost immediate glaze forming on my eyes, though, and any characters' passion for the game itself will fall flat for me.
     Hey, after such a rousing build-up, how could you not want to watch the trailer for Hustle (Netflix  1h 58m)

     Sticking with Netflix releases where I'm not quite in the marketing cross-hairs, a new, supernatural adventure, queer, interracial romance, young adult series launches there today. Two young women, each at a coming-of-age point in their lives, each being told by their families that it's their time to step up and make their First Kill

     To belabor the obvious, it's a Romeo and Juliet tale with gender and race shifts, and at least a more obvious and justifiable reason for the enmity between the two family houses. We've seen again and again the importance of representation in entertainment media, so even if this isn't distinctly for you, maybe you know someone who might be interested in checking it out. Eight, roughly hour-long, episodes all arrived on Netflix today.

     One last one for Netflix, before turning our sights elsewhere, is a film from 2021 that's having its debut on Netflix. It's in that murky area of being "inspired by true events," that finds me looking for more details. It's set in 1994 Rwanda, while the horrific genocide against the Tutsi was ongoing. A disparate quartet of young women hide out beneath the kitchen floorboards of one of their family's homes, where they are trapped for a considerable time.
     It's Trees of Peace (2021  1h 37m)

     The horrific genocide is fact, as is that women spearheaded the rehabilitation movement in Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide, and reportedly today that nation's government is one of three nations which currently have a female majority elected government. On the negative side, it appears that making the overriding concern the prevention of another genocide, the laws are so broad and exclusive that even basic dissent is essentially illegal, leading to what is effectively a single-party state. Both Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have been critical of the process. The president, Paul Kagame, has been in office since 2000, this in a country where the president appoints the Prime Minister and the whole of the cabinet, though they are overseen by a popularly-elected, two-chambered Parliament (an 80-seat Chamber of Deputies and a 26-seat Senate), which have mandated minimum percentages of seats for women, and as noted above has had a majority female membership.

     Next Thursday (the 16th) FX sees the debut of a new series. Starring Jeff Bridges, John Lithgow, and Amy Brenneman, it centers on Dan Chase (Bridges), who disappeared from the CIA decades ago, living off the grid. After all this time he's located by an assassin, and it soon becomes clear to him that the only way to save his future is to reconcile his past. It's The Old Man.

    It seems almost surprisingly straight-on and serious, absent intentionally ironic or comedic elements. Maybe they're there, but if so the trailer's not tipping that hand. With Bridges now 72, I expect there'll be a mix of reactions to his playing the action hero -- albeit the title of the series provides him some cover.
     As mentioned, it'll be on FX on Thursdays, which also means it'll be available to stream on Hulu by Friday.

     If things go well and reasonably according to plan (Hey! It happens sometimes!) I'll have a satisfyingly busy Friday, having effectively shifted the past work week back a day at the expense of a chunk of last weekend. Somewhere in there I'll get around to this week's episode of The Boys (Amazon Prime), Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount +), and this Sunday will see the season finales on HBO for both The Baby (which I've fallen behind on) and Barry, which I've been following closely from week to week, but am envious of those who haven't watched it yet who will have the option of moving quickly from week to week instead of having to wait.
     For now, though, that'll have to do for this week. Let's all try to take better care of ourselves and those close to us, and come back here next Friday. - Mike

Bada Binge! Where the time goes, and where it may go next - Oct 15 - Friday Video Distractions

 

      Somehow, suddenly -- mid-October! Paradoxically sunny and set to top out at 81° hereabouts Friday, but also set to suddenly change over the course of a rainy Saturday, ushering in much cooler weather next week. Probably a good time to be thinking of things that need doing out in the day, saving the video hermit's life for colder, darker days... but that's not why I'm here. Come! Grow fat, indolent, sleep-deprived and eye-strained with me!

     Such notes as I'd put together for this week are primarily for things coming out next week, and there are so many items I've mentioned in previous posts - including all of the various new items mentioned last week - that I haven't gotten around to watching.
     I've been plowing through my first ever rewatch of The Sopranos, all the way through the still-controversial finale, and finished that up overnight Wednesday. The aim is to get in a rewatch of series prequel film The Many Saints of Newark, which I'd talked about several weeks ago. While, yes, it is a prequel to the series, much of what drives it for the audience is what will happen to the many characters decades later as seen in the series. I don't see it as a film that would draw someone into the series; it works best as a supplement. That'll be available on HBO Max neatly through the month of October, and I'll want to give it at least that one additional viewing now that I've refreshed myself on the full series.
     Beyond that, my most recent viewing's included a couple of season wraps.
     Evil (Paramount+) closed its second, 13-episode season with some character milestones and growing complications. It's fair to say the characters have been tied - tied themselves - into a knot of Gordian complexity. It's likely to take more than a single slice of a sword to resolve the complications. Leads Kristen (Katja Herbers) and David (Mike Colter) get to a particularly sticky turn in the closing frames of the season, and her character's moral polish has taken almost as much damage as her mother's (played by Christine Lahti). I'm curious to see what redemptive arcs, if any, are to come.
     The cast is a joy to follow, so much so that I continue to be reluctant to single anyone out, as even the supporting players often shine.

     Season two brought us a new recurring character with comedic actress Andrea Martin (who most of us have known since her SCTV days) as Sister Andrea. She rises in prominence over the course of the season, as an ally and mentor, managing to bring a coiled intensity to her character that soon draws our attention whenever she's in a scene. I don't know how much of this is unique to those of us who were in a Catholic school setting, where holy sisters (colloquially "nuns", but as one of them pointed out to us many, many years ago, they're "sisters", because nuns are cloistered, not out in the world) were often intimidating figures, but she does a wonderful job of channeling the threat, authority, and a sense that she knows just what you're up to, young man, through a tiny frame beneath that black and white habit. Her best scenes have been as adversary/foil to Leland Townsend (Michael Emerson), who is the series' #1 agent of evil, and her relationship with series lead David. Knowing moments between Leland and David have made for sudden, comedic highlights during this second season, too.
     Checking, I see that season one has disappeared from Netflix, where they'd cannily placed it to help fish for viewers (a move that worked -- that was where I watched it) and even from CBS.com, despite the first season being broadcast on the network. Paramount+ is the sole place to watch both seasons of the series. Exclusive content is all part of building a streaming service, I suppose.
     Currently, my primary reasons to go to Paramount + are Evil, and the still-ongoing Star Trek animated action comedy series Star Trek: Lower Decks. A fourth season of Star Trek: Discovery will begin next month.
     I should note that third season of Evil was approved back in July, so that's off for us somewhere in 2022.
     As I'm on the subject of Paramount+, I'll mention a new series that's just launched there this week. Starring Kate Beckinsale as a disgraced reporter who is looking for a way back for herself, making for potential moral and ethical complications as she latches onto the story about a woman who may have been falsely convicted of murder, it's Guilty Party.

     If you've watched the trailer then you know almost as much about it as I did about the show fifteen minutes ago.
     It's being promoted as a dark comedy, and I think that's near the root of the show's likely conceptual problems. The danger of setting something up for humor is that often that's used as a cover for poor plotting, as it's in service of a joke.
     This was one of those items that I wasn't aware of until it landed on my doorstep. The first two episodes of the series are available on Paramount+. As best I can tell it's set up as a 10-episode series, though I'd be more encouraged if it was being pitched clearly as a limited series -- so we'd know the aim is to give us a complete story rather than to get a nod for a second season and make those mortgage payments.
     The initial critical response on the whole is a wait and see call, as few to none seem to be convinced the show has a real direction or can even justify its foundations -- the main character has a reputation as a star journalist we're told to just accept how good she is despite seeing no signs of it in her approach to anything, and she ends up working for a clickbait celebrity and fashion site... why? Just because it's frustrating to her? None of it can't be overcome, but the most positive calls to come out of the early episodes are that newcomer Jules Latimer, playing Toni Plimpton, a woman convicted of killing her husband the previous year, is the one to watch.
     With episodes roughly half an hour long, it likely would have been a better call to either drop the entire series before the audience at once, or at least give more than the first two episodes. Give people a little more chance to get some traction.

     The other season-ender I got to this past week was the season 12 close of the animated action comedy Archer. The 8-episode season wrapped with a story that gave a graceful exit for character Malory Archer, the hard-bitten, hard-drinking matriarch of the show, and more pointedly to the late Jessica Walter who was her voice. They combed through the show's archives to select lines for her (and for another, departed, character) to provide an appropriate bow.
     New seasons of Archer run on FXX, and all are available on Hulu. Season 13 was approved for production by late September.
     Today (October 15th), Amazon Prime sees the launch of a slasher style series based on horror film franchise, which was itself based on a 1973 novel of the same name. It's I Know What You Did Last Summer.

    I haven't watched any of it yet, and based on what I've seen and read of it I'm thinking I'm not part of the target audience, though it seems there's some confusion as to who the target audience is supposed to be. It may be fun (for me) to watch it and then revisit the three reviews I skimmed, as much to take note of what things are touchier subjects (no pun intended) for particular reviewers, as nudity seems to be pushing some reviewer's buttons more than violence and death. Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter even used the phrase "...unsightly and unexpected penises..."  It could be fun to turn this experience into a psychological profile tool for some of these reviewers. The general nudity, including full frontal, seems to be rattling a few cages.
     They opted to drop the first four episodes (each around 48 minutes, give or take) on this premier Friday, with one episode each Friday thereafter. That's half of the eight-episode limited series. I know that the hook of the show is reportedly revealed near the end of the first episode, and to expect attempts at shock value to be more prized than reason by the filmmakers. As with any of the items I mention in these pieces, if I get around to watching them I'll come back to this piece and add comments in green.
     Sticking with that seasonal theme and primary target demographic, coming to Netflix October 20th: College student Benny, working part time as a chauffeur picks up two women, Blaire and Zoe, for a night of club-hopping across Los Angeles. Before long, Benny discovers there's something dangerously different about these two women, and that the night's dangerous in ways he'd never expected. It's Night Teeth (2021  1h 48m)

     Yes, it's not the smoothest of titles. It's almost like something an A.I. would have come up with if told to come up with a two-word title that hadn't been used before, that had two, key elements from the movie.
     It seems to be a teen/young adult-focused item, and - again - so far I only have the trailer to go on. Hopefully it'll be at least fun, but for the moment I only have the trailer, and I'm not getting my hopes up.
     The same day (also on Netflix) a comedy from France takes us back to the early peak of fearful excitement for the COVID-19 pandemic, as strangers living in the same building get to know each other during a three-month lockdown. Perhaps a tad too quirky, I found myself wondering if this is a film Jerry Lewis might have made. (I know, that's a dusty, cheap, lazy shot at the French. Still, it seemed at least a little warranted by some of the antics in the trailer.) I'm not familiar with Dany Boon, who co-wrote, directed and stars in Stuck Together (2021   1h 5m) That's the U.S. title they decided to go with, rather than the direct translation of 8 Humanity Street.

     Might it be genuinely funny? Anything's possible. Might it be interesting even just as a view of how others have been reacting to the pandemic, lockdown and general safety measures, and dealing with people? Sure, it could be.
     I expect this will be available with the usual range of Netflix options, including dubbed into English, or French with English captions.
   Arriving on Netflix next Friday, the 22nd, is the long-awaited second season of Locke & Key. I almost held off and made it part of next week's post, but wanted to mention it ahead of time in case, harking back to season one (we were still in the Consortium's first year, and it's odd to look back to when one of these Friday posts was on a single show), the week's lead time might find some either wanting to refresh themselves with a partial or full re-watch, or simply try it out if they hadn't already. The season two trailer is already starting to bring many of the details back.

     The same day, arriving both on HBO-Max and in theaters, is Dune (2021  155 m).
     I'll confess, that while I've been peripherally aware of this being in development for the past couple years I have not been following any of the details. So much so that until I started looking for info for this piece, I didn't know whether this was going to be a feature film or a miniseries. Plans for new adaptations of Frank Herbert's 1965 novel have been announced as in the works in various places since shortly after the novel first hit, the majority of times ultimately falling through. I'm not involved in the process, certainly not being paid nor polled as part of a focus group, so I long ago decided to wait to see what runs the gauntlet and makes it to market.
     As it turns out, this one's a feature film, covering roughly half of the 1965 novel. At least that's better than the 1984 attempt, where they aimed to handle the full thing in a single, albeit roughly 3-hour film (then cut to a ridiculous 137 minutes for theatrical release). Part of me is still thrown by the decision to go the route of a feature film again in a world where pay channels and streaming services are flourishing, and epic tales being adapted into series - where more of the characters and plot elements can have a chance to be explored and savored - seem to be doing well. The impression here seems to be that they are hoping to make this work after the fashion of Peter Jackson's adaptations of Tolkien.
     I've only just finally gotten around to watching the trailer, despite being aware of when it debuted, and of the many people who seemed very appreciative of it at the time.

     Amazingly, all that's been reportedly done for the sequel/second half is that writing has begun on the script. This is almost shocking to me, as I'd have expected this to be one of those projects where all of the principal photography for both films would have been done at the same time, allowing additional time for post-production work. I know that Warner's decision to handle this as a simultaneous theatrical release and 31-day HBO-Max streamer greatly disappointed director Denis Villeneuve, for a combination of financial and artistic reasons - the latter including the filming of it for a theatrical showing. The project's vision was for the big screen, and it's upsetting to him to know that so many will be watching it on small ones.
     As of this writing it appears that there hasn't been a formal approval given for the second film -- a fact that manages to surprise me each time it comes up. This just seems like the kind of project where both parts (or at least much of the second part, too) would have been filmed at the same time.
     Shifting gears here at the end, I'm not ending this week's piece with an old horror or sci-fi film. It's not that there's a shortage of them to draw on, but last week I indirectly linked to three of them (if you go to that page, scroll down to the bottom where the links are for the three Vincent Price revenge films spotlighted), and I just wasn't in the mood this time.
     While I was looking around for some other items, I saw that Tubi has the full four-season, 13-episode run of the period sleuth series Cadfael.
     Adapted from The Cadfael Chronicles, a series of novels by Ellis Peters (pen name of linguist and scholar Edith Pargeter), they center on the (fictional) 12th century Benedictine monk Cadfael. He is what is known as a conversus, someone who entered monastic life after having lived a (for the times) long and full life out in the secular world, as a man in his forties. He had been both a sailor and a soldier, including service as a crusader in so-called the Holy Lands. It was there that he became a knowledgeable herbalist, learning it from the Muslims. His worldly experience and knowledge, an analytical turn of mind, and being a keen observer of the human condition, combine to find him becoming a sort of detective, primarily solving murders. Given his status within a religious order, and the complications of the church and crown, he has to take considerable care at times in how he approaches each mystery.
     The source novels were set between the years of 1137 and 1145, a time known broadly as the Anarchy, when a dispute over the crown of England was going on between King Stephen and Empress Maud. Various historical events were woven into the stories, presumably to encourage readers to seek out more information on the period. Along with the political history, elements of then-contemporary culture, custom, and technology play parts in some of the stories. Each episode is a self-contained tale, running about 75 minutes. It's been roughly a quarter century since I saw these, so I can't recall if there were elements that made the order important, but I'd still defer to trying to watch them in order even just to give it the best chance of allowing the revelations to the audience about Cadfael's pre-monastic life to be doled out as intended.
     Starring Derek Jacobi, and with scattered appearances by other faces familiar to various audiences over the years, these shows were produced by ITV between 1994 and '98. Here in the states, I saw them as part of PBS' Mystery! series.
     As mentioned, these are currently on Tubi, and are also on imdb.tv (which can also be accessed through Amazon Prime), and most of them are on YouTube, too - so, all of these essentially free. The YouTube videos I've looked at are clean copies, so that might be the place to start. Otherwise I'd lean in favor of Tubi over imdb.tv, as the latter seems noticeably more aggressive with their commercials, but as all are free you can see which suits you best. Here's the first episode, "One Corpse Too Many"

     Time to make my exit for the week. I hope you found something of interest to look into above, or in one of the previous installments. There's no shortage of things to watch, only of time. Take care, and come back next week. - Mike

Various Beginnings, Returns, Continuations and Endings - Sept 10 - Friday Video Distractions with Mike Norton

     Welcome back! My first post of Year Three of the Consortium of Seven!
     I've been revisiting these pieces to add comments after getting to the movies/shows, which I'm putting in this blue font.
    The latest of this year's big screen & HBO Max simultaneous releases arrives today, as a woman's childhood imaginary friend is introduced to everyone around her. No, it's not Drop Dead Fred (though that might make for an interesting double feature), it's Malignant (2021 R  1h 51m Available on HBO Max till October 10th)

    I can't say this one grabbed me strongly. As ever, your mileage may vary, as is seemingly the case with many James Wan fans. The opening flashback section, indirectly introducing us to Gideon, and his powers of control over electricity and electrical equipment struck me as comic book cliche, almost to a level of parody.
     Speaking of HBO Max, I was too busy last week to do much with it, but I'm happy to report that my Vizio smart TV finally saw them adding the app for it, so I can finally make proper use of the service.  Having to navigate it via a browser was irritating with my clumsy set-up.
     Now to figure out how to get it to default to showing me closed captions... It keeps resetting, even when I'm watching a series and it moves on to the next episode.
     Arriving today on Netflix is the sixth and final season of the fantasy crime dramedy series Lucifer.
     Largely as a matter of licensing, and how the deal was made to bring the series to television (and how could one properly deal with this character without having deceptive deals involved?) it's technically noted that this is some form of adaptation of the Lucifer character created by Neal Gaiman,

Sam Keith and Mike Dringenberg first in the pages of Sandman, and then spinning off into his own solo series for seventy five issues. That set up expectations in the minds of the comics cognoscenti which were immediately dashed when they saw that what came to Fox was a crime procedural with sexual tension between the two, too attractive to be believed leads - a kick-ass, female LAPD detective, and the fallen angel, former king of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar; the latter having decided to abdicate a throne he never asked for, come up to Earth, and open a fancy night spot in LA. A charming fellow, he's a deal-maker with the special ability to get anyone to reveal their deepest, truest desire -- well, anyone but detective Chloe Decker, which is part of what attracts him to her. Also, Lucifer never lies. But when someone with supermodel looks and a suave style opens a club in LA, everyone takes it in stride that a guy presenting himself as Lucifer Morningstar is just spinning a glamour. It's all part of the show, so absurd truth becomes easily-accepted lie.
     I was on board from the start, interested to see where this might go, content to let it be its own thing.
     The infamously vile Christian fundamentalist organization American Family Association, under the misnomer banner of One Million Moms, had gathered a bit over 134,000 signatures to try to block the show from airing only raised interest. The many critics who dumped on the show because it was "another crime procedural" only proved to me why I generally don't care what critics have to say.
     It ran three seasons on Fox, then following a decision not to renew for a fourth, a fan campaign helped steer it to a pick-up from Netflix, bringing us these three seasons.
     Here's the brief story so far trailer they put together to accompany the release date announcement for this final season, back in late July. It's mostly a riff of scenes from the previous seasons which wouldn't in the least bring any newcomers up to speed -- and nor should it.

     I'm hopeful for it getting a proper send-off with this final group of ten episodes.
    Happily, it did. I hadn't gone into it with a marathon in mind, and even pointedly broke it up, nudging myself to do and watch other things after an episode or two, but then I went back for a couple more, and the final ten were casually gone by early Sunday.
     Starting Monday, exclusive to FX on Hulu, is an adaptation of the Brian K. Vaughn, Pia Guerra series Y: The Last Man.

     The comics series ran 60 issues from 2002 to 2008. It won industry awards, and I know many who are excited to see it adapted to the screen.
     I found the initial pitch - which sounds suspiciously like one for a pornish, adolescent fantasy - to be a little off-putting. The main character is meant to be the only hetero date option remaining among  billions of women. Indeed, the seemingly supernatural sweep is down to the cellular level, wiping out not only the living males at every stage of life, but even any sperm that had been kept frozen in storage.
     Ideally, the people behind the series have a distinct plan for the length. That they have a specific endpoint in mind - I'm perfectly fine with them having various subplots they'd like to get to if the show is successful enough to give them the room - but I demand (to the extent I can do such a thing) that they are given the opportunity to wrap it up. If it's not pulling the viewership that they want, and the people paying for it decide it's not the asset they thought it would be, that they are told to skip to the endgame, and then given a set number of episodes to resolve it. I'm presuming this has been greenlit to be a permanent part of the Hulu archive, and that by this stage they have the sense to know that it's far more valuable to them as a potential subscriber draw over the long haul if it presents a complete story.
     Caught the first episode when I innocently ran across it during another splash of insomnia early, early Monday morning. So far, so good. They dropped the first three episodes there on day one, which is likely a good idea. It gives more of an opportunity to dig in and start to get acquainted with the players. The remainder of the run will be one per week.
     Back over to Netflix, having arrived this past Wednesday, is the second season of Into The Night. Produced in Belgium, it deals with a seeming sweep of death across the Earth as the Sun rises, with us following a desperate group flying to outrace the sunrise by flying West, searching for sanctuary.
     I'll risk that it's not too much of a spoiler to reveal that some of them made it to a sanctuary by the close of season one. How safe a haven that may be is the open question of season two. If I recall correctly Netflix provides options for this, including a full English dub.

     At this point I have no idea whether this second round of six episodes concludes the story or not.
     Before moving on from Netflix, I'll mention that while doing a sweep for items I decided to add  Tidying Up with Marie Kondo to my watch list.

     Her new series, Sparking Joy with Marie Kondo, is being pushed now, which was what reminded me of her. To say that I have nearly lifelong issues with clutter (honestly, in some significant ways I'm a hoarder) would be a mild statement. I need to at least start to get myself into a more receptive state of mind. Wish me luck, and I won't shy away from any inspirational, personal experiences any of you might have about de-cluttering one's life.
     Over on Amazon Prime a couple things caught my eye.
     A 4-part documentary on the rise, cultish fanaticism and twists, then fall of a company I'd never heard of is laid out in LuLaRich (2021)

     This may simultaneously scratch that shadenfreude itch, and also be an oddly fun palate-cleanser for the investing focus I've been drawn into in recent months, wherein I've been giving special attention to a list of factors one looks for in a company worth investing in. Seeing past the hype and often genuine enthusiasm - nearly ignoring it in deference to facts and figures - is an important part of the process.
     Another casual watch that first weekend, it pulled me along and through, even though I deliberately broke away between episodes. It was an interesting ride, even just tracking my own sympathies with the players. I had a sense of general, genuine good will through the first and a chunk of the second episode, as it seemed to be a case of good intentions leading to an out-of-control situation. The shades of Mormon conditioning coming through were the first warning sign, revealing an intrinsic narrowness of  view and fairly typical blindness to one's own privilege. After that my sympathies started to turn harder and harder against the LuLaRoe founders. Beyond that it was mostly a matter of the ultimately unknowable, and whether or not they were saying what they were saying from a position of belief or as a defensive legal posture.
     It was interesting to track the journeys of several people, including seeing where they settled by the end.
     Arriving on Amazon Prime is a 2019 independent film project that's being branded as 2021 because this is its big, U.S. debut: The Tangle (1h 39m).
     In a near-future world, all mankind is linked by a nano-bot maintained Artificial Intelligence that connects every mind and is supposed to make violence against each other impossible. A secret agency polices it from within special tech-safe rooms that allow them to operate unaffected by the bots pervading everyone else.

     A neo-noir tech thriller, I'm approaching it warily as most of the criticisms have to do with protracted, less than natural exposition. Very talky. Ideally this will turn out to be the root of praise, marking it as a more cerebral outing that resisted devolving into an action picture with broader, lower common denominator appeal.
     As for ongoing, current series tv, I've been enjoy the latest seasons of the FX/FXX (I can't keep which is which straight) series What We Do In the Shadows, and Archer. Episodes of both series show up on Hulu the following day. Over on Paramount+ each Thursday is bringing us a new episode of the Star Trek animated adventure comedy Star Trek: Lower Decks, and on Sunday a new episode of Evil. 

    The former manages to be episodic, moving the stories and relationships of the characters along while deconstructing the various tropes of over half a century of Star Trek adventures. The latter is clever fun, as the trio of often philosophically-differing investigators move from assignment to assignment, investigating claims of the supernatural, employed by the Catholic Church. Significant subplots run alongside, connecting the episodes. The cast is terrific, and not just the leads, and the writing sharp, with humor, drama and creepiness blending with deceptive ease. Definitely a show to watch from the beginning, to just jump in with a random episode would be to cheat yourself.
     The ninth episode of season two is this Sunday, and we're in a straight-shot run of Sundays through October 10th's season finale - refreshing after the aggravating dry patch that was nearly all of August. I've been devouring each new episode early (early) Sunday mornings (they appear just after 3AM Eastern), and will miss it when we're again between seasons. At least I know it's been renewed for a third season. I've mentioned the show a few times, talking about it at some length the first time back in October of last year.
     Another hectic week, despite the Monday holiday. My staff gradually returning from out-of-state trips (one delayed an extra day by food poisoning), and us observing stepped-up COVID protocols for a a while in case either of them asymptomatically brought back anything. Meanwhile, well, that's not for here. I just have other matters on my mind, and they're tapping me out. I am the world's largest, delicate, hothouse flower.
     Closing this week with another '50s/'60s sci-fi or horror picture, I've decided to go with one that's really more interesting in its origins than its end product: Battle Beyond the Sun (1962  64 min). I'm offering it in the spirit that it's an interesting work of piracy and repurposing - more interesting to be aware of than necessarily sitting through it.
     This US version of the film was set up by Roger Corman, who hired young film-school student Francis Ford Coppola to re-cut, culturally scrub, and add footage to a 1959 Soviet science fiction fantasy Nebo Zovyot ("The Sky Calls").
     As I understand it, Corman negotiated a price to have the right to distribute it in the West, and had no qualms about turning it into a very different film. Even the actors, director's, etc. names are changed in the credits to anglicized ones. Other footage is worked into the film, ranging from stock rocket launch footage, to gratuitous giant monsters, to some footage from the Rose Bowl Parade - the latter used as part of a heroes' homecoming finale.
     The original Soviet film was very distinct about the two nations represented being the USSR and USA, and was a decidedly pro-Soviet, anti-American piece, framed as the speculative imaginings of a reporter who's just interviewed a space scientist and ponders a time perhaps not far off when a manned mission to Mars is being planned. In the U.S. version, the dream/fantasy framework is removed, it's set in 1997, years after an atomic war, and the two nations are the post-apocalyptic ones of North Hemis and South Hemis.
     Here is the US version: Battle Beyond the Sun

     ...and here is the Soviet original (with English subtitles) Nebo Zovyot ("The Sky Calls")

     That wraps things for me for this week. Tomorrow's art post by Esther will wrap the first, full week of posts for Year Three of the Consortium of Seven. I hope you check out all of the other contributors' posts, and come back to see me next Friday. -- Mike