Reflections and Horizons - Dec 31 - Friday Video Distractions

     Several false starts on this piece, as I remind myself this is about television, movies, and streaming media, not a place to clear my head, much less to do so moaning and kvetching. I can do that in a different blog.

     Last week Disney+ wrapped the latest for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with the sixth and final episode of Hawkeye. That series was strong on character development and emotional content, and continued to build and expand the universe of characters to be revisited and mixed in the future. In terms of plotting and details, however, it was unfortunately weak. The story (aside from some necessary flashbacks) was all set in the week of Christmas, and played strongly to themes of family, heroism and legacy, and I generally enjoyed the characters we spent time with, so on the whole it went into the "win" column for me.
     Venturing into the realm of the spoilery for a couple paragraphs:
     Even just that we came out of it with Kate Bishop, ably realized by Haileee Steinfeld, set up to take over the mantle of Hawkeye, is enough.
     I was particularly happy that we get to see - via a flashback scene and her involvement in this story - more of Yelena Belova (played so well by Florence Pugh) as the new Black Widow (not officially picking up that mantle, as she's one of many from that same program) for the first time since she was introduced in Black Widow last year. She's a fun character who's still sorting out her world, while mostly being used to behaving as if she knows everything going on. Much more mixed reactions to having Vincent D'Onofrio appear formally in the MCU as Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin, who had previously been used in the Marvel Netflix Daredevil series. It's a delicate subject, because they plainly want to use both the actor and much of what they built into him as a character, but at the same time it's not directly validating anything seen in those Netflix stories as official MCU canon. Here we get a more physically-enhanced version of the character, who's also much more hands-on. D'Onofrio brought as much of the character we met in Daredevil as he could. I'll be interested to see how far they'll be able to take this.
     I'm a little sad about the plotting sloppiness, knowing that such things are both unnecessary and much more likely to snowball, or at least serve as unfortunate precedent for unrelated sloppiness in the future, but I also know that the legacy of comics fandom includes clever people taking later steps to retroactively fix, patch and/or explain seeming incongruities (I've been one of them -- the well-intentioned fixers, that is) -- so in a season of hope I can let that be one more.
     This week's new weekly Wednesday entry for Disney+ is for the Star Wars universe, with the first episode of The Book of Boba Fett. Based on the first episode, we're being given a parallel set of

stories, as we're both seeing what immediately happened to Boba Fett following his disappearing into the great maw of the Sarlacc, beneath the sands of Tatooine in Return of the Jedi, and, later, as he assumes the local crimelord vacancy left by the death of Jabba the Hutt.
     This will be running for seven, weekly episodes, and will wrap February 9th.
     I've always been a casual Star Wars fan. I was in high school when the films began - too old then to have tapped into the toys, and never disappearing into the comics, novels, games, nor cartoons that variously named even minor background figures, and provided great swaths of character and culture backgrounds. I'd watch the movies, and then pick up some of the connecting information from context or (post-'90s) with Internet checks. I don't have any fan ego tied up in this, and am generally confident that if there's anything I'll really need to know, it will eventually be made plain. No one's paying me to be a fan, and I'm in no competition with the writers and directors to stay a step ahead of them nor to immediately spot every Easter egg. It's entertainment, neither a religion nor a job.
     As for this new series, I enjoyed this opening episode. As I've aged - though it's been something I've appreciated as long as I can remember - I've increasingly liked stories where someone on the wrong side of the law still has some restraint. A personal code of behavior, where while he wants to set up a situation that will serve him, providing wealth and power, he isn't interested in or even comfortable

with others abasing themselves as if he were a king or emperor whose ego needs constant polishing. I'm not surprised to find some people whining about it - that's what the Internet's for, right? Most of the complaints I've seen appear to be those who wanted a younger actor and more instant, non-stop, "badassery", not something that marks development and makes a character more interesting. We can only hope that these people eventually mature, have an epiphany, and experience an appropriate string of memory-prodded cringes as they remember rooting for the forces of stagnation.
      Here's the series trailer:

     I'd also suggest watching the 22 minute Under the Helmet: The Legacy of Boba Fett mini-doc that gives us more background on how the character came to be in the script and the portrayals. It's not needed for the story, but I thought it was interesting to get the development background pinned down.
    While you're on Disney+, for a different, much more grounded adventure, I'd suggest watching the six episode National Geographic: Welcome To Earth series. In it, Will Smith is our surrogate, accompanying explorers and scientists into fascinating and extreme environments here on Earth.

     A recent addition to Netflix is a Japanese adaptation of a 1957 Robert A. Heinlein novel, The Door Into Summer (2021  1h 58m). A brilliant, young robotics engineer and inventor is faced with yet another, devastating loss in a life rife with such losses, and tries to work his way out of it.
     Very sentimental, it was the right film at the right time for me, and despite at least one significant plot misgiving (I don't want to give away too much by being specific) I'm happy I watched it. This is the Japanese trailer, because it was the best YouTube option, so it's offered here for a likely non-Japanenese-speaking/reading audience, primarily for the visuals. One can watch the movie itself dubbed into English, or Japanese with English subtitles, etc.

     Back over on HBO & HBO Max, I greatly enjoyed Street Gang: How We Got To Sesame Street (2021 1h 47m). The history, heart, energy and creativity of the show, it was another desperately needed message of hope this year. Not everything has to be driven by financial profit, and vital, creative individuals can find worthy aims to rally around.

     I was too old to be among the target audience for Sesame Street, but I still got a little taste of it out on the periphery when it debuted, even if I didn't appreciate it at the time. I try to keep this in mind moving forward, to try to avoid summary dismissals of things simply because they don't immediately fit my needs or desires.
     Also on HBO, arrived just this past Wednesday, is another documentary that was worth the time. Not a high-minded subject, like Sesame Street, but an interesting deep dive, done with much obvious affection, of dry comedian Bob Einstein. It's The Super Bob Einstein Movie.

     Here I have to confess that this was almost completely me looking in from the outside of a career I was barely aware of. I didn't recall him from his bits on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (I was too young to be part of the target audience being between 6 and 8 during that run), don't recall him from The Sonny and Cher Show, never saw an episode of John Byner's Bizarre, while I may have heard of Super Dave Osborne I never caught an episode of any of his shows, his appearances on Letterman didn't make an impression on me - the straight-faced, irritated to angry persona that was much of his trademark never

connected with me in an entertaining way - and I've not seen much beyond commercials of either Curb Your Enthusiasm or Arrested Development; the former has perpetually hovered in that "I heard good things, I'll get around to it" zone, and a couple of attempts at starting at the beginning with the latter show found me bailing because I didn't enjoy my time with the characters. None of that is set in stone as far as tastes are concerned, and there's always the chance that a year from now I'll be a staunch fan of one or more of those series, but right now I can only report where I am. This was someone who had a big time career, almost all of which I was never looking in his direction. Generally someone has to be a sports star for me to be this level of disconnected, where I knew little more than that there was someone out there by this name, who others knew.
     That said, even for an outsider, it was an interesting documentary and tribute. I can only expect that for anyone who was a fan of any of his work it would be a must-watch.
     Arriving today on Netflix, we have the fourth season of the Karate Kid sequel series Cobra Kai. The first three seasons surprised me by drawing me in to something I didn't expect to be drawn into, and I'm hoping this fourth one will manage to do that again. All ten episodes of this latest season will be in place. I have no idea if I'll start to tug on that thread right away, or will leave it for another time.

     Also arriving on Netflix today is the latest Harlen Cobin novel adaptation via an eight-episode crime drama miniseries Stay Close. This is the latest Cobin adaptation under his five-year development deal with Netflix, where Cobin gets to adapt his own novels into new screenplays. One thing that seems unusual is that after so often seeing stories set in other countries rewritten for the screen with U.S. locales, the 2012 novel this is based on was set in Atlantic City, NJ, but the series adaptation sets it in the British seaside resort of Blackpool. As is key to most of Cobin's work, the plot plays off shocking secrets about their pasts that they'd hidden from friends and family... until someone shows up who knew them when.

     The cast includes Cush Jumbo, James Nesbitt, Richard Armitage and Eddie Izzard.

     While it's available to be rented or bought online via Prime, Vudu or AppleTV, it doesn't appear any of the streamers (maybe via Roku?) are just carrying Soylent Green (1973) at no extra charge at the moment. TCM is where I've usually seen it in recent years, but they don't currently have it on their schedule. The timely point of interest here is that that particular dystopic future, with pollution, overpopulation, and runaway greenhouse gases was set in the then far-off year of 2022, a seemingly impossible 49 years off.
     I have very clear memories of watching that with an old friend at the Eric Fairless Hills back in 1973, and watching it decades later I was thrown by how solidly it had printed on my memory. I was surprised to see how much of it I could recite the dialogue along with the film when I saw it again many years later. It was a film I'd only seen once on the big screen, but the performances were good, with particularly strong chemistry between leads Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson, the latter playing his final role.
     The two trailers for the movie are terrible -- when they're not openly misleading, they're giving away too much of the plot. Rather than running either of those here, I've found that someone uploaded the themed opening sequence, which ends with the title. That's a much better choice.

    Here on the final day of 2021, I'll close with a few minutes of gentle reflection on those in the broad world of film and entertainment for whom 2021 became a final, Earthly destination. I'd already forgotten we'd lost several of them this year.
     I've watched for an updated version of this (current 4:55 run) knowing this list was posted Dec 21st, and that even then it had already omitted at least one - Sally Ann Howes, who while celebrated largely for her Broadway and West End stage career, was also a film and tv actor, passed on the 19th - missing the cut-off for when this was compiled. (If I see a newer version sometime soon, I'll swap it out.)

      Oh, for those with TCM, starting at 8pm (Eastern) they'll be running six Thin Man films back to back, starting with The Thin Man (1934), and ending with Song of the Thin Man (1947.) Here's the trailer for the first film. Pretty snappy company to have any New Year's Eve.

    I've no set plans for how I'll pass into the new year.
    Only in very rare years have I done it in a party setting. Usually I just bury myself in some activity, reading or writing, and am only reminded of the local change of day by the sudden noise outside. 2022 is planned to be a year of some hugely substantial changes for my family, and I'm trying my best to embrace the coming changes warmly, but that's a big ask for me. The current plans will see the dynamics of place change radically, and will also see me separated for the first time from one family member. It's tough for my first reactions to be other than trepidation and sadness. I'm not a truly, openly hopeful person by nature, feeling that open happiness is begging the lightning to strike. All that said, here's to seeing out 2021 pleasantly, and to 2022 being an improvement. I hope to see you back here next week, for the first Friday of 2022. Welcome to the future. Don't forget your meds.- Mike

Maybe this isn't the story we think it is - Dec 17 - Friday Video Distractions

 

   A week out from Christmas Eve, and I'm feeling especially frayed. Anxiety overload - professionally, personally, existentially - easily threatening to make me even more useless, which will then become part of the same, depressing, feedback loop.  It's no way to live.
     I've done you the small service of deleting the three paragraphs that followed - and expanded on - the above. No one's paying you to be my therapist, and it's off-topic for a blog series that's supposed to be about movies, tv, and streaming entertainment media.
     Once again, not much in the way of a focus this week.

     My recent/current favorite weekly fixes include series I've talked about before: Star Trek: Discovery (new episodes Thursday on Paramount+), Hawkeye (Wednesdays on Disney+) which just aired it's fifth and penultimate episode of the season, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (Wednesdays on FXX), with its cast of people behaving very badly -- more characters who are only funny as characters, being that were they real people in one's life they would be horrors, Dexter: New Blood (Sundays on Showtime) which had nearly convinced me they were still too close to the sloppy mechanics of the series final season, when matters tightened up and got more interesting this past Sunday, and The Expanse (Fridays on Amazon Prime), the second episode of this final season being the reward I'll give myself for getting this piece posted.
     Today on Netflix, season two of supernatural adventure series The Witcher arrives.The titular character, aka Geralt of Rivia, is played by Henry Cavill. A superhuman monster-hunter, he's generally welcomed when he's needed, but otherwise shunned as a potential monster himself. Deep, dark forests, magic, castles and various schemers of schemes of revenge and conquest.
     When I first tried to get into the series, back in late 2019, it was initially a rough grind, but that had more to do with my natural defenses against epic fantasy. Too many attempted introductions of not merely characters but of kingdoms and Great Houses. I need a substantial hook into characters and events before I'm sufficiently interested even attempt to remember anyone's name - something that's almost as rudely true of me in real life as it is with fictional people and places. However, I did get back to it later and enjoyed it. (Though I don't seem to have made mention of that with a follow-up piece.) So, here's the trailer for this new season:

     I expect that, especially given the production delays that made for a two-ear gap between seasons, that it'll start with a recap/reintroduction.
     Currently in theaters, and set to arrive on Amazon Prime next Tuesday, the 21st, is the Alan Sorkin- written and directed Lucy & Desi biopic Being The Ricardos (2021 R  2h 5m). Regardless of how well one believes their comedy work has aged, they were an unconventional, powerhouse couple whose impact is still echoing. I've deliberately steered clear of even promotional material until now, and am interested primarily in the details, though I'm more than a little curious to see how Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem handle the lead roles -- not to mention seeing what J.K. Simmons and Nina Arienda do with their roles as William Frawley and Vivian Vance, though I don't know how much screen time those latter two will have.

      Over on HBO Max, I've been revisiting the still engaging The Matrix (1999), and (with less enthusiasm) the pair of 2003 sequel films, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, all as the lead-up to The Matrix Resurrections (2021  R  2h 28m), which will be arriving there (and in theaters) next Wednesday, the 22nd.
 

     Living in a world where our entertainments can reasonably convincingly be rendered to sight and sound, and where many of us over the past 21 months (at least) have been looking into screens far more of the time than at someone's in-person face, the nature of personal reality has arguably never been slipperier. The flux of reality & artificial reality have been themes for my entire conscious life, and have become so much more mainstream in the past 30 years. It's interesting to me to contemplate how this all seems to newer generations that have soaked in it since childhood as part of the cultural broth.
    I've been catching various movies recently, each of which deserves more attention than I'm prepared to give them via a write-up today. Among them was The Humans (2021 R for sexual subjects and language 108m) Written and directed by Stephen Karam, adapting his Broadway stage play. Set at Thanksgiving, it was released in theaters and on Showtime (where I saw it) the day before Thanksgiving.
     A six-character drama, three generations of the Blake family converge on the new-to-them, somewhat creepy Manhattan apartment of one of their daughters and her new husband. Numerous tensions are in play, old family items and more recent, unpleasant matters come to a head, but there are also warm moments.  The reading of something the family's living matriarch, Momo, now in the depths of sudden shouts of gibberish and general dementia, wrote back when she realized her faculties were beginning to slip, was my favorite part.
     I went into this with no information, completely unsure of what was to be offered, acting on a whim, and immediately being familiar with at least half of the cast: Richard Jenkins, Steven Yeun, and Amy Schumer. The crumbling, pre-war, duplex lends a creepy atmosphere to some of it, but I'll give you the advantage of telling you that there's nothing overtly supernatural going on. The haunts are all in characters' pasts and secrets. As with many an extended family gathering, it's a mixed bag of emotions. One has to choose which elements to emphasize, and which to allay.
     I'd only just recently become aware of a 1997,made-for-tv version of 12 Angry Men, made 40 years after the 1957 (math!) version that starred Henry Fonda. This newer version is available on available on YouTube, with commercial breaks. (I checked Tubi, but it's not available there. Both versions can be bought or rented on Amazon Prime.)  12 Angry Men (1997 1h 57m)

     It's a nice copy, and even has competent closed captioning -- as opposed to those where one's at the mercy of their interpreting software.
 

    Even though it's been more than a few years since I watched the 1957 version, I saw that more than once, and this is essentially the same screenplay. Each of the numbered jurors fills the same niche as they did in the earlier production, albeit now with a great deal more racial and cultural diversity. As the title locked in the gender of the main players, this newer version managed to work a woman in as the judge in the opening scene.
     The diametrically-opposed characters, initial hold-out juror #8, and the hot-tempered man, embodying toxic masculinity, estranged from his son for 14 years, juror #12, were played by Jack Lemmon and George C. Scott. In the earlier version they were played by Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb, respectively.
     I've set up a graphic lining up half of the jurors, the 1957 version on the left, the '97 on the right, to give you a sense of the casting choices. These include the meek, mild #2, the analytical, non-perspiring #4, the intensely bigoted #10, and the slum-born guy with hard-won dignity, #5. I've just used the default imdb head-shots for each actor, rather than trying to clip them from scenes from each production, especially as the resolution of the made-for-tv 1997 version is lacking the sharpness and clarity of the '57 film.
    Over the years I've seen the story come up as the subject of articles and rants various times, most often for discussions of juror #8's methods (and sometimes motivations), how and why they butt up against the sanctity of legal procedure (lawyers most uniformly take issue with the lone juror's move concerning the knife), but otherwise the pieces tend to reveal much more about the commentator than the source. I just read a doozy of an oddly anonymous Conservative blogger's piece on it that was so absolute as to be unintentionally amusing, mainly revealing the bats in his attic and the rats and rot in his walls. I'm not going to validate his efforts with a link, though.
     I do wonder when the screenplay will be cast anew, and if it'll continue to resist tinkering and retooling to expand the core social agenda, choosing to address other elements such as gender identity the way race and religion are here, simply through expanded representation. All these years later, issues of race and socio-economic class distinctions remain as ponderous as ever, and deserve to be a focus.
     Shifting near the close to a different bit of streaming entertainment:
         A recent music video of a George Harrison song from 51 years ago is a multigenerational and multimedia star/figure affair, where every face is at least a cameo. No crowdshot bystanders.

     I became aware of it when a friend who is generally far more laid back about such things had an initial reaction to it, largely by the way it was being virally marketed: On the basis of said cameos. The problem was that for a (fellow) sexagenarian, as the video rolls on, there are more and more faces that fail to register. The press for the video must have presented it in my friend's view as a sort of pop cultural intelligence test, at least implying that the cool kids and cultural cognoscenti will be lighting up with recognition with each frame, and those who don't are, well, lacking. That he's a lifelong Beatle fan, and so may resent any move to put any distance between himself and one of their members' classic solo songs, probably provided a little of the shading.
     I hadn't seen it when he brought it up, and so it didn't linger in conversation for long, but it was odd to have the tagging note for it being a note of irritation for him. This isn't someone who's prone to being easily irritated.
     I remembered to look it up during a quiet part of the evening. Opening with Mark Hamill and Fred Armisen, it started easy, then started to wobble between people whose faces and names I immediately knew, those whose faces I recognized but couldn't name nor in some places immediately place, and an increasing number of "I have no idea" faces. Now I know, between a check of the credits, some quick, targeted searches, and pieces such as this one from Variety on the project.
     The song is George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord." Here's the video, for you to take a look:

    How much of it clicked for you? The people you immediately identified, the ones you recognized but had to look up, and the I-have-no-ideas?
     If nothing else, after all these years, it was at least nice to have so much buzz around "My Sweet Lord" without anyone bringing up the successful (subconscious) plagiarism suit concerning the Ronnie Mack/Chiffons "He's So Fine." A rambling, tortured string of litigation and schemes that stretched from the early '70s into the early 1990s.
    Much, Much, MUCH to do, I'll wrap this here. As next week's piece will fall on Christmas Eve, I'll try to give it a more seasonal tilt. I hope your preparations for the holidays as you know them are going well, and that you're not driving yourselves crazy over it. I hope to see you next week, and for each of us to be feeling calmer, saner, and happier. As a last ditch move I'll go for the former and the latter, sanity be damned! ::reminder to pick up more rum and eggnog, and maybe something a little more creative::  - Mike

Rejuvenating Spirits - November 26 - Friday Video Distractions

 

   Black Friday, and for this year it's the final Friday of the month. Next Wednesday it'll be December.
     If you're here in the states, you at least have a shot at this being an extended holiday weekend. Workplace and other complications, blended with the all of the food prep, took over this past week through midday Thursday, followed by too much food and a necessary collapse. Now I'm regrouping, and trying to enjoy the momentary calm.
     Last Week's post still has some things I haven't yet gotten to (seriously, there's so much I've mentioned in this series of posts that I've not made the time for, that it's almost daunting), though I did watch and enjoy the full run of South Korean supernatural thriller Hellbound in the first half of last weekend.

     I've generally been enjoying the CW's 4400, (which I wrote a little about back in October, before it was launched) a reboot of the 2004 series built around the idea of 4400 people who had gone missing in wildly disparate places over the course of decades, all mysteriously reappearing in one spot, none of them appearing to have aged a day, and none of them seeming to remember any passage of time since the moment they disappeared. In each case they each gradually came/are coming to realize that somewhere in the process each one picked up a different paranormal ability.
     Even aside from other issues, the series concept is something to roll over in the viewers' mind at the level of wondering how it would be to be suddenly plucked from your life, then dropped back down years or even decades later. The people and world you knew, rolling on without you -- worse, them not being sure if something horrible happened to you, or if this was a choice you made. Depending upon how long the absence, there may not even be people to attempt to reconnect with. If there are, the reality is that they've gotten on with their lives -- lives that no longer included you.  As a point of necessity, they adjusted. The space you occupied in their lives has in some way been filled. Are you even welcome anymore, or have you long since become settled business?
     So far I'm letting this new series unfold as its own thing, rather than look to the earlier series (which ran 4 seasons/44 episodes) for how things were explained there. We've only had five episodes so far, and the cast is large, so it's taking time to establish and develop even just the characters they've been giving the attention to.
     The new series finds the reappeared people to mostly be people of color and minorities, though it also includes gay and transgendered people such that the general sense seems to be that what they have in common is that they're all representatives of marginalized communities.

     I watched and enjoyed the first two episodes - newly-arrived this Wednesday - of Disney's latest Marvel Cinematic Universe series: Hawkeye. The start of a reluctant mentoring process, as the now mostly former-Avenger finds himself tangled up in the life of a gifted superfan during a holiday reconnect trip to New York with his kids.
     So far it's the farthest along in the timeline that we've gone, with a battered and weary Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) trying to reforge bonds with his kids, and sort out his life while there's time. The situation Thanos' bejeweled glove snap - and the similar corrections made by the heroes -- left everyone's lives scarred. For Clint, specifically, five years passed where his wife and children were gone - turned to smoke - and he was in a dark, dark place, on a vengeance tour of criminal and terrorist organizations as the sword-wielding Ronin. At great sacrifice, the vanished were restored to being in a compromise move (in Avengers: Endgame) which brought everyone back as they were, to a world where the other half of the people had felt five, hard years pass.  As mentioned above, for Clint those

were especially dark years. Part of what this series will be about is his dealing with the legacy of his actions during that time, when he thought his life as husband and father was dead. Humor and pathos, the present and the past wash over him and the audience as we see events going back to the 2012 Chitari invasion of New York - the debut of The Avengers - and how it set the course for Kate Bishop, the above mentioned superfan, who is well on the path to taking on the mantle of the man who inspired her during the darkest day of her childhood. Part of the humor mentioned above comes in the form of a Hamiltonesque musical, Rogers, celebrating the life of the former Captain America. A production rife with factual errors, and understandably more than a little difficult for the long-suffering Clint to take in stride; the show is part of his family trip itinerary in New York.
     Anyway, I've been enjoying that so far. The first two episodes dropped this week, and the remaining four will drop one per week, each Wednesday, through the week before Christmas.
     Also as mentioned last week, and also on Disney+, Thanksgiving saw the arrival of part one (of three) of Peter Jackson's documentary Beatles: Get Back. I made it about halfway through that first

part before the odd hours, the holiday prep work, and the extreme fat and carbs of the holiday meal caught up with me. It's a terrific project for any fan of the group, really taking us inside what were the final few weeks of the Beatles, even though none of them really knew that's what they'd turn out to be.
     That first episode starts with a history of the group, going back to 1956 and the formation of The Quarrymen, quickly moving up to where the events of this documentary begin: The small stretch of time where the band was under the gun to pull together what would be the Let It Be album. They had a narrow window in which to adjust to a production space at Twickenham studios, compose (in some cases dusting off old, unrecorded songs) and rehearse the songs, and record them for both the album and a live performance, and to do all this in 21 days. Indeed, the production space they're using is booked to be rebuilt for the filming of the Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers film The Magic Christian, immediately after they vacate. (That also reminds me that I wrote a little about that film back in September of 2020, during the first year of this blog. The piece even includes a still-working link where one can watch the film on YouTube.)
     The mythology of these sessions in the past 50 years have been dominated by the dark elements, as the enduring take-away from the album was that the band broke up. This project is a fresh look at the reality, which reveals a great deal of camaraderie among a quartet who were bonded by years of collaboration, friendship, and head-spinning experiences.
     The second part arrives on Disney+ today, and the final one on Saturday.
     Shifting hard, I did want to take a moment to note an odd addition to my recent viewing. USA and

Syfy have been running a limited series (8 parts) continuing the story of Chucky, the serial killer who mystically migrated his soul into a child's toy, a Good Guy doll. I'd seen the early films in the franchise, going back to the debut Child's Play (1988), but had long since lost count. It turns out there were seven films in the franchise, the most recent of which was 2017's Cult of Chucky. This series follows the events of that film, and allowed them to have 8 hours (minus commercials) to both advance the story and answer numerous questions its fan base had about the character's history.
     Somewhere along the line in the movies, and particularly emphasized in this series, the story's gotten enmeshed in gender fluidity, queer identity and relationship issues, along with related (mostly) dysfunctional family dynamics, and bullying. The series even features contemporary versions of multiple characters from the film franchise, and even includes a fourth wall busting part for Jennifer Tilly as Jennifer Tilly, now inhabited by the soul of the homicidal character she played earlier in the franchise - who turned out to be a big Tilly fan. If you have a means of moving onto someone else's body, becoming your favorite star becomes an option. It's a bit of a head-spinner, but somehow it all, oddly, works.  Here's the trailer for the series.

     The resounding critical and fan success of this series, combined with the general bombing of the recent attempt to reboot the franchise, seems to put character and series creator Chuck Mancini in the driver's seat, should he be interested in staying there. The eighth and final episode will air next Tuesday. Whether or not there are plans to continue hasn't been stated - at least not where I've seen - and I'm not sure how much this project was built as a final word on the character. As it's a property tied to corporate interests, and appears to be making money, it's unlikely it's just going to be abandoned.
     It's all very violent and profane, as you might expect. Somewhere in the blur of quick research on the details someone stated that one of the odd rules negotiated allowed the Chucky character to say the word "fuck" up to 10 times in an episode. I find the accounting style intersection of prudish decorum and someone's odd notions of artistic expression to be a hoot, conceptually. It's a strange, new world out there. If you have cable you almost certainly have Syfy and USA, which also means you have access to these On Demand.
     Speaking of decorum defied, I was very happy to see that starting next Wednesday, December 1st, FXX will see the return of It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia for a new season - its 15th. This is the season dreamed up during the pandemic, and the first new episode immediately takes us into what The Gang was up to during it all. The remainder of the season appears to, paradoxically, see them traveling more than usual. I'm looking forward to it.

     They remain a set characters one only wants to encounter as fiction - where they're entertaining demons. No sane person would want real-life versions of these characters anywhere near their lives.
     We'll be getting two episodes each week, with them appearing on Hulu the following day.
     That same Wednesday, over on Netflix, we'll see the return (for a third and final season) of that streamer's reboot of '60s series Lost In Space. I was fairly recently able to let one fan know that this was coming back for a final season, which was welcome news to him because he'd presumed it had simply, quietly, been canceled as the second season arrived way back on Christmas Eve 2019 -- just weeks shy of two years ago.

     The trailer reminded me I should do a little memory refreshing about how and where everyone was left at the end of season two. The full series will arrive all at once, as things generally do on Netflix.
     There's a long tradition of shows being created in other countries only to have U.S. versions produced. One recent addition to that category is the current CBS paranormal sitcom Ghosts.

The thumbnail core is that a young couple inherits a run-down estate from a recently-deceased, not-quite-aunt the wife didn't know about, they check it out, and the idea to turn it into a bed & breakfast takes root. There's some misgivings in the mix, but circumstances eventually get the couple on the same page. An incident (more on that in a moment) sees the wife momentarily killed, but revived. Upon recovering, she gradually comes to realize that she can now see and hear the spirits of the dead. Moreover, she learns that the estate she inherited has a cohort of disparate spirits from various eras, all geographically bound by their deaths, and apparently having some unresolved issues that prevent them from doing what most spirits do -- disappearing into a white light.
     The spirits have generally gone a little buggy in their years of being incorporeal, unable to interact with the world of the living, and doing so on an isolated piece of property. Having a "Living" who can see and hear them is a great joy for them, but a major distraction and general burden to poor Alison (BBC)/Samantha (CBS), who constantly has to remind herself that they're not physically there, and no one else can see or hear them. Their appearances, including dress, are essentially how they were when they died. As much as being able to interact with someone who's alive is a treat for them, in general the living are an annoyance. Not only noisy and intrusive, and inclined to rearrange the physical environment, the sensation of having someone walk through them is disruptive and painful. Consequently, when they overhear the plans to convert the place into a bed & breakfast/hotel, potentially disrupting their afterlives with waves of vacationing invaders, they're strongly opposed. Initially they try to use their abilities to scare the couple off.
     The BBC One version began airing in 2019, is in its third series/season (the six episode series already aired, but with a Christmas special coming), and has been renewed for a fourth. Here in the states it's part of the vast, deep archive of material to be found on HBO Max, which is where I'm catching up on it. Here's the BBC version's trailer.

     CBS is still currently rolling out its first season of the show, and I recently caught up with the 8 episodes aired so far via Paramount +. The U.S. version has Rose McIver as the wife/one who can see and hear the ghosts, and it took me a few beats to realize I knew her from her lead role on the CW series iZombie (2015-19. There she was a reanimated, undead character who could absorb the memories and personalities of others (deceased) by eating their brains -- which makes this latest role a little funnier. Here's the series trailer for the U.S. version.

     Early indications are that the U.S. version is going reasonably well for CBS, beating out the viewing numbers on all but Young Sheldon among CBS' sitcoms, but it's still far too early to tell if this will be enough to see it renewed for a second season. I've no idea what the show is costing them to produce, between the size of the cast, effects and whatever licensing agreement is involved with the folks across the pond.
    The U.S. version's ghosts are largely North American analogues of those found in the BBC version, perhaps the greatest difference in versions being that while the BBC version's oldest ghost is a caveman, the U.S. version is a viking. They each died due to a lightning strike, and each have a ghostly ability to disrupt electrical lighting.
     In general, both versions are entertaining and the characters varied (if simple) enough to be interesting. The formulaic sitcom elements can wear a little, primarily when a gag is telegraphed and one is faced with the painful roll-out of some awkward situation anyone without severe brain damage saw coming several beats earlier, but generally it's innocuous fun, and we find ourselves wanting to find out more about some of the characters' back stories, along with seeing if any of them will be allowed to grow as characters.
     A quick TCM note for this Saturday: They have a theme pairing, with 8 pm (Eastern) showing It! The Terror From Beyond Space (1958) and at 9:30 Alien (1979).  Each with the same core plot of a long space voyage where a dangerous, alien stowaway is picking off the crew, one by one. The earlier film's age and extremely limited effects budget is going to suffer in the comparison - how far the tech and industry respect for the genre changed over those 21 years! - but it was one of those fondly-remembered films from childhood.

     Certainly, as ever, TCM has a wide and sometimes wild array of programming, so it feels foolish to narrow the selection this way, but this was one of those instances where the pairing was what made it pop for me. I'll be recording them mainly for the intro and outro presentations for each, as they're prime time selections and are almost certain to have them. I don't know if a guest host is involved.
     As I don't have a ready link to a free copy of that film, I'll add both the trailer:

     ... and five and a half minute intro and outro piece from a TCM evening where guest-host/curator John Carpenter discussed the film with late, lamented TCM front-man Robert Osborne. Poor video, but a good frame of reference for the film.

     It's likely I've forgotten to spotlight a few things, but not only are there still too many things I've already brought up in recent columns that I haven't made time for,  I also simply don't want to delay this week's piece. Nothing prevents me from adding something to this later in the day, if it comes to mind.
      My personal schedule's largely suspended for the holiday weekend, my hours in disarray, and I'm having the twin urges to make a breakfast plate of Thanksgiving leftovers and catch this week's episode of Star Trek: Discovery... because it's a semi-holiday Friday and I wanna.
     Once more, I hope this finds you well, warm, fed, and with some time to enjoy something. I hope to see you back here next Friday. -- Mike

Preparing To Be Stuffed - November 19 - Friday Video Distractions

 

    Next week - believe it or not - will be for those of us in the U.S., Thanksgiving week. Those of us with office or similar jobs may be looking forward to a four-day weekend, so by this time next week we may have decadently devolved into overfed, possibly intoxicated, house cats, having fallen into holiday mode by Wednesday night. Aspirations. Let's see how that works out on each front, from what's happening at work, to whether or not I'll have my car back (and what it cost me) and if I'm chosen as a juror on Monday. (Yeah, it's been three years and I'm back in the pool. Yay.) Jury update: They decided I didn't need to come in Monday, tossing me back in the lottery pool for some other time. So, at least one complication's off the table for next week.
     Keeping a good thought, and getting on topic:
     For those of us both with Disney+, and who are also so inclined, we'll have the opportunity to kick off that Wednesday with the first two episodes of the six-part Hawkeye series, the latest entry from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In large part it's a legacy tale, setting up a young, female character to take on the titular mantle. Stars Jeremy Renner and Hailee Steinfeld, and will both introduce at least one new action character (Echo, a deaf character with an aptitude for duplicating fighting styles she's seen), while also bring us the first new appearance of Yelena Belova, the new Black Widow (played by Florence Pugh), since we were introduced to her during the Black Widow movie.

    As mentioned, the first two episodes drop Wednesday, then there'll be one new one each week through December 22nd. So, starting just before Thanksgiving and ending a few days before Christmas - which fits in with the time frame of the series itself.
     Landing that same day (Wednesday) over on Amazon Prime is the third (and final) season of the action drama series Hanna. I'm left in a weird, senior moment state where I can't 100% recall if I got around to season two...

     On Thanksgiving (the 25th) itself, on Netflix, an anime, super-action series, part of Mark Millar's Millarworld block of properties, lands. It's the less-than-stunningly-named Super Crooks.

     On Disney+, starting on Thanksgiving, we'll finally get to see the first of three parts of Peter Jackson's documentary The Beatles: Get Back. Originally intended to be a much shorter theatrical release, the timing of the pandemic pushed Jackson even deeper into his editing process (he ultimately spent roughly four years of studio work on it) and saw the project evolve into three, 2-hour long parts, which we'll see that Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
     Jackson had access to roughly 57 hours of film and 140 hours of audio, previously from which Michael Lindsay-Hogg's 1970 documentary Let It Be was assembled. Jackson took pains to avoid reusing any of the film that appeared in that earlier film, and used film restoration techniques developed for They Shall Not Grow Old to restore a vibrancy to the footage. A substantial difference between this new project and the 1970 documentary is that the earlier film had an overall negative tone, and felt more like a headstone for The Beatles, whereas much of the source footage spotlights the camaraderie and fun that was still an integral part of the band-mates even in what would prove to be their final sessions as a group. I'm looking forward to this.

     As for things that are either already here or which will be available sooner...
     I'll begin by pointing back to last week's piece, where I mentioned The Wheel of Time fantasy series getting started on Amazon Prime, and the live-action version of futuristic bounty hunter noir anime Cowboy Bebop landing on Netflix - both as of today.
     Also noted last week, the new season of Star Trek: Discovery began yesterday on Paramount+, and it hit the ground running.
     Also newly-arrived on Netflix is another Korean import. Season 1 (6 episodes) of Hellbound, centers on people who gain foreknowledge of their own deaths and fates in the afterlife, and are subsequently hunted by "death angels."
     The current  marketing reference point, especially as this is also from Korea, is the speculation that this might be "the next Squid Game," which only means they're hoping a week or two from now it'll trend strong for viewers and be a hot topic. As this is directed and co-written by Sang-ho Yeon, who made his huge international splash with the fast-zombie/contagion instant classic Train To Busan, I'm encouraged.

     I'm genuinely interested in seeing how the metaphysical and moral details are handled, and far less in the cgi menaces - which remind me of the Cavity Creeps, with stringy body hair.
     This one caught my attention strongly enough that I'm four episodes into it, and aside from a couple, short-term quibbles, I've been enjoying it -- complete with rollercoastering emotions.
     We see that however seemingly implacable the supernatural threat, the one from other humans ends up being arguably worse. I'm very interested in seeing how this plays out, given the concept twists.
     Something that, if you care, you're likely already aware of, is that there's a second season of "reality" show Tiger King. I'm one of those who didn't make it past the promotional materials with the first season, despite the pandemic, so I can't tell you anything more about it than what they show in the trailer... and if you watched the earlier season I'm guessing it'll all mean something more to you than it does to me. Every time I got anywhere near the show I wondered why I'd want to spend any time with these people, and never came up with

     One last one for Netflix - tossed in here more for the sake of variety than immediate interest on my part, is a musical about a man on the cusp of 30, coming to terms with his life. Starring Andrew Garfield, written by Jonathan (Rent) Larson directed by Hamilton creator Lin Manuel-Miranda It's the semi-autobiographical (Larson's) Tick, Tick... Boom! (2021 115m).

      What I believe is the last of the Marvel Television development shows - from back when they were keeping those separate (they were folded into Marvel Studios operations in 2019, where several of the planned projects were humanely snuffed) - reached Hulu this week. It's a Marvel show largely only inasmuch as Marvel comics published some comics involving him circa 2010, some of which included other Marvel heroes/villains and anti-heroes, including Deadpool and Spider-man. It's Hit-Monkey.
     So, it's here, in its spot on Hulu, and should offer some violent action and fun if one's in a receptive turn of mind. The voice cast includes Jason Sudeikis, George Takei, and Olivia Munn. Ten episodes, each running between 22 and 27 minutes, all dropped in place at the same time.

     A tip from old pal L. Laney Loftin put me on to a series of roughly 7 to 15-minute pieces that spotlight failed, single-season shows, providing an overview, background and highlights. Called 13 Week Theater, it's available on YouTube.
     The majority of these were tv failures I was aware of, though in many cases not ones I'd seen as their low number of episodes and lack of success made them unlikely to be syndicated. Fun not only for the general theme of debacle, but also in remembering failed shows that contained later stars, some that might have hit in another time, and even one or two that were likely cancelled too hastily, like the 1965-'66 Gidget, which fizzled during the main season but became a breakout hit during summer reruns... too late to call everything back, as actors had been released from contacts and the studio demolished the sets.
     There are also episodes focusing on CBS and NBC's failed attempts to cash in on the 1966 camp superhero show splash that ABC's Batman had, Mr. Terrific and Captain Nice. Of course, there's an episode for Fred Silverman's near network-bankrupting 1979 failure, Supertrain, too.
     Here's the 13 Week Theater series promo.

     Surely, there are more than enough suggestions above on which to squander your waking hours in the coming week! Take care, and ideally we'll all be back here next Friday, fat(ter), happier, and looking for the next thing to watch. - Mike