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

 

Another week! Where does the time go?
 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What's To Watch? - Apr 15 - Where We Were. Where Are We Going?

 

     April 15th! Tax Day here in the U.S. (okay, we technically have until Monday the 18th this year), and this year it's also Good Friday - which by some odd company history not worth going into here and now is also a day off for me - and, as with every year, it's also my birthday. Taxes (federal, state and local) have been taken care of (Just! I let them go very late this year), so I'm going to be trying to enjoy this three-day weekend... though I've so very much to do to begin to prepare for some big changes at and of home in the months ahead, along with tending the paying career. I can't just be watching my stories all day.

     As if often the case, as I get around to watching items I'll try to loop back and add generally non-spoiling comments.
 
     I've already watched and enjoyed this week's episode of Moon Knight (Disney+), which is now halfway through its 6-episode run. Nearly all of the players are in action, and we have a much better sense of how supernatural these events really are. Interesting characters so far, and the underlying dynamics of ancient gods at work, with the primary struggle being between the choices of being violently reactive or violently pro-active underlying the conflict. In that respect it's the whole (Marvel) Civil War conflict of ideologies being played out again, this time with backing from another plane of existence. As is the way when dealing with gods, we also see what we've always pretty much known: they're as varied and flawed as human beings are. Authority comes from power and conviction, and it's ultimately always flawed and up for debate.

     My next, weekly, leisure stops (not necessarily in this order) will be the latest episodes of Star Trek: Picard (Paramount+), crime-beat investigative reporter memoir-based Tokyo Vice, and French Chef biopic series Julia (those latter two both on HBO Max). All three continue to engage me in their own ways, even if Picard feels much like wheel-spinning in its main plot. It's best to just focus on the character arcs. Meanwhile, Tokyo Vice has me interested in seeing how this comes out for the key characters, while Julia has become a sentimental favorite for me, where with only three episodes to go I'm already beginning to miss the characters. There I'm just enjoying it, including the many, many human moments, and trying not to focus on the more contrived elements that try to expand the cultural footprint, such as the confabulation that is Alice Naman (ably brought to life by Brittany Bradford), who is carrying the load of being not merely a young woman trying to navigate a 1962 workplace, but also being African American. Still, I'm enjoying the interactions of the characters and am not fixated on policing the show for historical accuracy.

     Caught by a DVR preset in place from at least a couple years ago, the eight-episode, fourth and final season of British spy thriller series Killing Eve (BBC America and AMC/AMC+) had been building up, week to week, since the end of February. Knowing in part that I'd prefer being able to binge it, I kept putting off getting to it, and came perilously close to just clearing the memory and leaving me to find it later. Happily, I instead decided to start in on it last week, and rolled through it an episode or two or three at a time.
     Fans will of course differ on how well or poorly they thought character arcs were resolved, especially in a world where brutal, final options are common, but at the very least I certainly enjoyed the ride. At its core through the four seasons was both the relationship and the individual journeys of personal development for both British intelligence investigator Eve (Sandra Oh) and psychopathic assassin Villanelle (Jodie Comer), complete with romantic tension. This final season includes revelations about the long games behind the mayhem, and the players backing the various pieces.
     This final season even included the very interesting introduction of two more assassins, one a savage pro, the other a neophyte. Particularly with respect to the latter, the audience's empathy is repeatedly tested.
     Back to the core pair, we see the arguable evolution/degeneration blend arc for one, and the murkier attempt at self-improvement and trying to determine her ability to be a human being for the other. Villanelle's journey by itself makes for an interesting compare and contrast with the recently-concluded life arc for serial killer Dexter Morgan, late of Dexter and Dexter: New Blood (both from Showtime.)
     Anyway, here's the season four trailer for Killing Eve

     The end of the series was... abrupt, and understandably disappointing to some faction(s) of the fans. It's difficult to believe that this is someone's clear concept of an ending.
     Currently the most reliable spot to catch the entire series (at least in the U.S.) would be by trying out a subscription to AMC+, one of the services I've yet to add.

     Today on Amazon Prime, the first two episodes of an eight episode first season for supernatural mystery thriller series Outer Range. In it, Royal Abbot (Josh Brolin) is a rancher in Wyoming, who finds himself in the thick of a mystery following the arrival of Autumn (Imogen Poots), a drifter with some connection to his ranch. Two episodes this week to start, then two each of the following three Fridays.

     In the New To Me category, arriving today on Hulu is a documentary that's come up repeatedly as a reference in things I've read: Drunk, Stoned, Brilliant, Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon (2015).

     Next Monday, the 18th, a little over two years since the final episode of season five aired, Better Call Saul returns with the first two episodes of the sixth (and final) season. To emphasize that, this is the final season of the terrific Breaking Bad prequel series that turned out to be so much more than I ever expected when I stepped on the Saul Goodman ride back in February of 2015.

     This last season of the series will be 13 episodes, three more than each of the previous five, which is good as we still have a great deal a ground to cover in the final stretch of this pre-Breaking Bad supporting character origin story. That of con man "Slippin'" Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) who became a lawyer, then, frustrated in his career path, used some innate showmanship to work his way into becoming a garish, regional, defense attorney, rode high only to see his life implode. Also, we hope and have good reason to expect, we'll close on more detailed word of his ultimate fate -- or, at least, something farther down the road than we've previously seen. Is there any hope of happiness for Our Anti-hero? I'm rooting for him.
     The series so far has been superb television, and while this is technically a mostly prequel series it's really best enjoyed if one first watches Breaking Bad.

     The same day, HBO Max subscribers have been told to expect the latest relaunch for Batman with the streaming release of The Batman (2022 PG-13  2h 56m)

     I'm curious to see it, but this wasn't a driving matter for me. I was content to wait for it to come to my home screens. I'm open to (yet another) interpretation of the characters, but despite being steeped in decades of related lore these DC items remain very casual-level fan involvement for me. Warner/DC's approach of recasting and re-presenting different directors' interpretations of the same characters and city across the years - frequently including variations on the same first meetings - leaves it all with little to no convincing momentum. Don't care for this one? Wait a few years and you'll get yet another one to choose from.
      That's also set to hit HBO itself that Saturday, the 23rd.

     This past Tuesday I was saddened to see that comedian, actor and podcaster Gilbert Gottfried had died. Only 67. While my experience of Gilbert strictly as a comedian had been limited for most of his career, the past few years his podcast (I'll get to that shortly) has been a fun and informative show, and had unexpectedly endeared the odd, little man to me.

     In another of those synchronicitous moments, I'd earlier in the week watched Can We Take A Joke? (1h 15m) a 2015 documentary examining the chilling effect of outrage mentality in the era of social media. It drives along with a handful of comedians who relate situations and experiences, along with looking at some of the longer history of censorship, including Lenny Bruce's pivotal role in (posthumously) shattering the obscenity laws that dogged him. Gilbert is one of the recurring comedians in the mix. It's available to stream freely for Amazon Prime users.

     It continues to be a tricky area to navigate, though I'm coming to more fully realize we as individuals would do better concentrating on our own shortcomings, blind spots and journeys of growth, and less on playing a game of pointing to gasp or guffaw. A little less emphasis on silencing the world.
     Today I turn 61 (which is a horrible thing to happen to a 19 year-old), and I almost daily still catch myself detecting "humor" where there really is none, but which social programming in my youth convinced me by example that there was. Even just the area of dialect humor, with the underlying audacity that the ability to speak English is a measure of intelligence, in league with the asinine notion that other languages are just nonsense sounds to be derided, is a frequent point of self-correction. Realizing one's own ignorance, and trying to keep from punching down, or at The Other, requires constant vigilance - especially for those of us who are getting well along in life.

     I'll also note, as it's streaming entertainment (if audio only), that I've yet to be disappointed by any of the interviews that make up the hundreds of Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast series. Gilbert and his stalwart researcher, straight man and merry enabler, Frank Santopadre, started doing the podcast back in 2014. While Gilbert had an adolescently-arrested development aspect to much of his sense of humor, the pieces are a treasure trove of celebrity, screenwriter, director, tv and movie memories. They celebrated their 400th podcast just this past January.
     Also, while it's from 2017 and so won't have the more recent years, much less include the end of his story, there's a documentary about him that can be seen over on Peacock, even by we lowly sorts who just have a free account and will see commercials during it. (Note: While it was on Hulu back when the trailer below was made, it ain't no mo'. Such are the vagaries and tides of the streaming seas in our glorious, treacherous, future age!) It's titled, appropriately enough, Gilbert (2017 1h 36m)

     Something that crept up on me due to DVR series presets is this Sunday's Doctor Who special, an episode dropping on Easter Sunday. It's The Legend of the Sea Devils (45m). This is the penultimate episode with Jodie Whitaker as The Doctor and with Chris Chibnall as showrunner. After this there's just one more special, sometime late this year, where Jodie's version of the Doctor will bow out, regenerating into whoever once and returning (for 2023) showrunner Russell T. Davies has chosen to take on the mantle next. I'm hoping the trailer for this episode is just very poorly assembled, because it has no (good) energy that I can detect.

     Ah! Another oversight! Next Wednesday (April 20th) Netflix will bring us the second season of the time-looping comedy-drama series Russian Doll. Another of the pandemic-enhanced gaps, the first season appeared over three years ago, on February 1, 2019. Natasha Lyonne again stars as Nadia Vulvokov, though we're rejoining her four years after we last left her. Then it was all about a looped 36th birthday day, now she's fast-approaching her 40th.
     Here's the second season trailer, which gives us a good sense that season two will not be hinging on a single time-looped day.

     While the first season was eight episodes, this one will be seven.

     And that will do it for this week! I've much to do Friday, and some of that will be me trying to enjoy the day, too. I keep forgetting to do that.
     Take care, and see you next Friday! - Mike