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Thanksgiving (2023)
ok slasher spoilt by some unnecessary torture porn
It's not a bad slasher movie. But with Eli Roth you have to have torture porn. There isn't much of it. But it is there, and it's something that's just lowers the tone, and debases the spirit. Where is the need? The film doesn't need it. It's just a trashy slasher feature: killer driven by revenge, stupid teens, inventive cum-uppances. That's all you need. You don't need people roasted alive. Or was the hypodermic a touch of mercy? Maybe. Either way, I'm tired of savagery and its celebration.
Other than that it's generally enjoyable but generic slasher, that doesn't deserve to stand out from the crowd just because the director is piece of work.
Ted Lasso: Inverting the Pyramid of Success (2021)
West Ham is the new Death Star
Brilliant episode. I think Nate made his decision long before but the final insult came not from any kindness perpetrated by Ted but from the completely untroubled 'don't worry about it' dismissal from Roy, upon Nate's confession.
No man can stand being thought of as harmless in such a context. This is truly Annekin Skywalker gone over to the dark side, which I guess makes Anthony Head's subtly Victorian villain (aka as Mr Gently Benevolent to radio 4 comedy fans) the New Empereror Palpatine.
Actually, I was a bit worried about this season. As someone who cares very little about football I even found myself thinking there should be more of it; that you can't have a sports comedy without some actual competitive sports. It was a long time coming, but eventually we did get some. And anyway, it's not like getting promoted back to where you were in the first place makes for the most compelling storyline in itself. No the real story here is something more akin to the drama involved in perfecting the soul. Or going in completely the other direction, in Nate's case, but we've already covered that.
Succession: This Is Not for Tears (2019)
High drama on high seas
This is a fabulous episode and seaoson finale, which ironically (given the scandal breaking out) is set almost entirely on a yacht cruising the adriatic.
We have some brilliant acting from Kendell (Jeremy Strong), some high tension at the sea borne high table as Logan deliberates out loud on who's best fitted to play the sacrificial lamb, and of course the slow burn simmering explosion of Oedipal betrayal and rage.
Despite that, and the fact that Strong delivers a bravura performance, particularly in the final scenes, what made the episode for me was some genuinely poignant scenes that take place between Shiv and Tom. If the whole of succession could be seen as some variation on the Oedipal myth, with Shiv and Tom we get to witness a much quieter tragedy, with a man who seems to genuinely love a wife who may be incapable ultimately of not betraying him, however much she may care about him in her own way. With Kendall his actions and betrayal seem to be driven by emotion and hurt. With Shiv, when she hurts others, it tends to be more a question of the collateral damage that follows on from trying to get what she wants.
Scream VI (2023)
stab, stab, stab, stab....oh, it's just a flesh wound
The first 15 minutes or lead you to believe you might be about to see something different. The first two/three murders in other words make you pay attention, but unfortunately it's just to get your attention. The rest of the movie is just sequel 5 again, with the same characters you don't care about and the same twists which aren't really twists because there's nothing really they can do that would count as a twist any more.
Jenny Ortega is really the only character I can tolerate with this new bunch. The main girl, who it seems may be discovering her darker side in movies to comes, isn't really vulnerable enough to care about, we just don't worry about her, and I'm not entirely sure we're supposed. That's no doubt down to progressive values (quite a lot of this film is down to progressive values) but it detracts a lot from the tension.
The other characters may potentially die, but this where we come to the most disturbing thing about this franchise (the film is at pains to let us know it's part of a franchise as opposed to being just a sequel): pretty much everyone in this film gets stabbed. The whole film is just people getting stabbed repeatedly, and most of the time absurdly, the survive. People do survive stabbings of course, but not in the way it happens in this film. Maybe it's not the case in the US but elsewhere in countries with no gun culture there is often real social problems with knife crime. The UK has an epidemic of knife crime, and most of the people who get stabbed don't survive. Slashers are fine, but there is something wrong with something so far removed from reality that it's as though stabbing has become something equivalent to what a punch up used to be in the movies. By the end, this film has become extremely, extremely unpleasant, that is on its own terms rather than in any absolute terms measured by gore.
I really wish this series, franchise or whatever would end.
The Baker (2007)
Badly written comedy of errors
This is a very bad film that nonetheless manages for the most part to make you interested enough to carry on watching. Basically, as befittingly since the Damien Lewis' hitman main character is called Milo Shakespeare it's probably best thought of as a comedy of errors, of the kind where misunderstandings create characters as cross-purposes with hilarious or in this case not so hilarious results. Here, the scenario is that a hitman with a heart (we never actually see him kill anyone) seeks to retire from his profession by starting a new life as a baker in a pretty Welsh village, but unbeknownst to him his cover is blown by the locals who then decide to secure his 'professional' services using the codewords of the baker/hitman profession.
At the best of times your comedy of errors tends to be fairly unfunny, and to descend into farce. That's probably not the main problem with this film. The problem here is that the film just isn't smart or well written enough. It takes skill to negotiate believalbe misunderstandings and the script just doesn't have what it takes. More than that it is incomprehensibly lazy in its presentation of that the above situation. There are serious continuiity issues, and complete failures to establish the kind of character development that might make such misunderstandings believable.
Occasionally the film descends into cartoon like silliness while still trying to present itself as a believable drama. The only actual kill in the film for instance occurs when the rival hitman pops his head through a hole in bathroom ceiling, only for both hitman to emerge seconds later in an underground car park. Milo's introduction to his love interest comes seconds after meeting another main character who blows up a sheep whose head then knocks him unconscious. She appears for no apparent reason to rescue (well, retrieve) him from the situation, and takes him to her cottage. She is actually a vet but the script doesn't make this clear until to later, so it could have been made to make sense, but the writing is so bad it's just a succession of absurd events.
The scenario that plays out is not without its charm, and while I don't like the film, I almost understand how some are able to enjoy it to the extent they can enter into the spirit of slightly inept comedy drama silliness. There's also the fact that the main cast is good if incredibly wasted on such a poorly written and directed film, and it's mostly watchable just for that reason.
Overall, provided I can complain about just how bad it is I'm almost glad I watched it. But not quite. I'm still frustrated by the ridiculous denouement, - I have no problem with traditional tropes etc, but the whole tied up to be rescued love interest while hitman lover foxy boxes with bad hitman (who used to love him?) was just too silly and badly executed for words. I hate woke films, but stuff like this almost makes me feel sympathy for where they're coming from.
As for the supporting cast, they're funny but not particularly good, much of the time.
Watch if you must, but please understand that even if you enjoy it, this is not a good film.
The Mandalorian: Chapter 18: The Mines of Mandalore (2023)
Slow, episode dedicated to BoKatan
The scenes in Mos Eisley are good. Those in Mandalorian mines aren't bad, but everything else is pretty bad. It's clear now that Din Djarin took off his helmet in the last season in order for him to have to make good 'the sin'. So in this episode he is an incredibly diminished force compared to what he should be, once was and presumably iwll be once he's rehabilitated. While this makes sense at a superficial narrative level, it's not really something we care to see. Nor does his sin seem real. Worse, the writers use the opportunity to establish Bo-Katan's street-cred, but not in a way that makes them equals but in the context clearly establishes her as the superior fighter (for the moment at least). As every other review points out not only does she have to traverse a solar system to rescue him from the weird insecty creature with a spear she ends up saving him twice. Now I love Katie Sackhoff as an actress, and from Battlestar but they are diminishing the main character quite frequently in recent episodes (i.e. This episode and in season two) and invariably this is done to establish female charcters as as good as or (temporariliy) better. It's now becoming woven into the storylines to such an extent its weighing down the action, and impairing the character to the point that it is hard to say what makes him even remotely interesting any more.
One more thing on the gender front, as we've seen clearly with the Hammer (Mjolnir) in Thor Love and Thunder the sword here functions here in the phallic sense of conveying power. In fairness Bo-Katan does have a history with the darksaber (she rejected it previously) but that's not the point: wielding successfully seems to represent power. Mando fails to wield it at all successfully. Bo-Katan wields like it a pro. In a context where Din / Mando basically can't get it up the entire episode, that is not insignificant but entirely calculated. Effectively it functions as a Baton to be handed on from one gender to the next. Ok maybe that's fair or no big deal, but really I don't watch the Mandalorian for a lecture in gender studies. I watch it because the main character is supposed to be a kick-ass hero and at this rate things are beginning to seem like another ba it- and switch.
House of the Dragon: The Black Queen (2022)
A show that started poorly, then really took off
I don't have much to add to the many exhaustive & generally very appreciative reviews for this episode (and now season), but I will say this much, I can't offhand think of a single show that has started off so badly yet finished off so well.
Well, there were always the die-hard true believers, who thought the slow beginning, endless dialogue and indulgent character explorations were actually leading somewhere, but I certainly wasn't one of them. I am not entirely ready to concede that I was wrong in all respects. I still think the early episodes were pretty poor and for quite a while I really didn't care for any of the characters very much, but the last half of this season has really redeemed itself. About the season mid-point the leisurely character development and plot exposition began to pay off, and particularly since King Valeryis' great feast & swansong we've had some extraordinarily good writing and this season finale brings us to satsifyingly tragic conclusion.
On this occasion then I am glad to have been for the most part wrong. Secretly I wish the pace would quicken a little in the next season, but otherwise things are looking good for the future....albeit not so much for the Targaryens themselves.
Rituals (1977)
Kind of grim, and difficult to follow or care about
Didn't care much for this one. It's pretty well done in the main, but there's a lot wrong with it. The dialogue is hard to follow, the quality of the picture is degraded and what is going on is often quite difficult to determine.
The main problem though is none of the characters is remotely likeable or for that matter to begin with that easily distinguished from th others, with the exception of course of Hal Halbrook.
More seriously, there's a reason slasher / horror films don't generally feature middle age men and - I'm sorry - it's because nobody cares enough whether they live or die.
At least not in a movie, not when you don't know the characters or have a reason to like them. There's an odd paradox in the slasher / horror genres in the sense that while they are often "misogynist" to the extent so many of the victims tend to be young attractive females, they are also in a sense the opposite too, because young women tend to be the victims more often because they are easier to care about them. It's a harsh truth perhaps but our social instincts are about protecting women and the young, not about protecting middle aged guys.
Taking 5 crotchety middle men who you probably wouldn't care to meet in real life and filming them being picked off one by one doesn't exactly make for the optimum amount of tension.
Eventually though the terrible predicament they are in claims our interest. The final few kill situations are pretty nasty and fairly hardcore. The film could also be seen as a study in friendship or rather how things go wrong between friends when placed under terrible pressure, but unfortunately none of that is particularly interesting.
Not bad but I didn't find it enjoyable or particularly worthwhile.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: The Eye (2022)
Long, dull and inauspicious penultimate episode
Dull as dishwater episode. It's obviously an episode intended as a respite, a breather from last week's action, and the calm before the storm if storm there is 'next week' in what will be the season finale, but the pace is incredibly and quite unnecessarily slow. By the looks of it this would appear to be the longest episode in the season so far, but the only reason why that seems to be the case is that there is endless 'character development', or rather what stands in for it: endless dialogue, ponderous pontification, emoting and going through the motions of suspense.
Unfortunately, although most of the characters aren't badly developed by now, there are very few that we - well I at least - actually I care about very much. The Numenor crowd: not a single one really. That's a problem because it means the suspense & the emotion has to be faked for the most part. Maybe we care a little bit more about the half-foots. Maybe, but even there it hardly compares with Frodo & friends in the Peter Jackson adaptations. Actually I think the stranger & his relationship with the halffoots is fairly well done in comparison with the Numenor fall-out but it's still drawn-out.
Out of all the story threads the only that really interested me and made me actually care was Elrond and Durin, and the sub-plot about the fate of the Elves. Sure, there's just as much dialogue but here alone the drama and tension makes sense. Minor tension between father and son becomes something much more serious, with potentially huge consequences for two peoples. I actually do want to find out what happens in this story-line but that's about it.
Except perhaps for the alien type strangers seeking out the stranger who fell from the skies, who perhaps we kind of care about in terms of who they are supposed to be.
Beyond that there is no action. A non-eventful orc encounter, and the only promise of something better to come in the last episode......lies, we learn at the bottom of khazad dum.
Altogether a quite astonishingly poor set up for a final episode.
Fall (2022)
Clever script does great things with limited material.
Excellent film. Not sure it should be categorized as a thriller though, although technically I suppose it is. . Likewise there seems to be a consensus that there is little realism involved. I have no knowledge of climbing so that's probably a plus when watching a film like this. There are things that don't make that much sense, but compared to a lot of films it's gritty and provides an air of verisimilitude - so long as you don't scrutinize too much.
It has a good script, well developed characters - well two of them - and motivations that that make sense. It's often surprising how well writers do developing drama within highly constrained circumstances, and it is hard to imagine anything more constrained that being trapped on the top of the platform of a tiny radio tower. Maybe Simon Stylites woudl have handled it better, but these two girls do a pretty good job in my opinion. Time and again some small detail we've been prepped for becomes relevant within the plot, and the tower itself of course becomes a central character around which that plot is cleverly unfolded. Compare that to a regular climbing drama and you can see the skill involved in the set up here. It probably won't win a best script award but in many ways, when it doesn't cause you occasionally to cry out in disbelief, it really is quite masterful.
In some ways this film moreover gives the lie to the Bechdel test as a measure of female characters having value in and for themselves rather than as support to male protagonists. The motivation in this film - and I don't think this is giving anything away - has a great deal to do with the dead guy / husband - and not a small part of the conversation relates to him. Yet there is - arguably - nothing about that which makes this less about the two women involved, or which otherwise diminishes them. Indeed Taylor is pretty much a power-house of independent female spirit and the motivating force behind the whole escapade.
I don't want to over-state the positives. There are lots of silly things too, and if you want realism over thrills then you're going to find this a frustrating film - not least of course the upper-body strength these girls appear to possess, but if you can put that aside, and don't mind the inherent discomfort of watching people in what in many ways is a nightmarish situation, you'll probably have a pretty good time.
Cobra Kai: Downward Spiral (2022)
80s feel episode with greater focus on the kids this week
I've put lord of the rings on hold while I watch this series. I'm beginning to think Cobra Kai is the only thing I like about this millenium so far.
The writing is so relaxed, sashaying between comedy and drama, wickedness and goodness. After previous episode focused on the karate brass and the Miguel & Johnny situation down in Mexico, we're back to familiar territory and the rival teams chilling out at the water park, with predictable results. I say 'this millenium' but in fact this episode feels like an eighties movies in parts (which of course is the era which birthed the karate kid itself), and it almost give me hope that there might be good times to come in this century just like there used to be.
Misunderstandings, tee'd off women-folk, break-ups, sneakiness, games of chess by grandmanster Terry Silver and the (likely) abuse of Bonsai trees makes this is a super fun episode, with the added bonus of Johnny Lawrence Doing Uber driver as God intended so he can be a responsible father.
Sit back and enjoy.
House of the Dragon: The Rogue Prince (2022)
Mother like Mother of Snails than Mother of Dragons
I really don't know what the fanboys just watched but this episode absolutely crawled. Daemon started off as someone to be reckoned with, but at this point the great villain of the show has already been bested by a 15 year old girl. This is episode two. We had to wait until the many seasons before that started happening in GOT.
Paddy Considine is a good actor, but he's just dull as dishwater in this show. Not because he's weak, but because he doesn't portrayed without any kind of real qualities at all beyond vacillation.
There is absolutely none of the story-building of GOT. There's some trouble in a far off realm and a lot of talk about that, and who the king should marry & some intrigue that supposed to sound dastardly but isn't even obviously treasonous.
At the end of episode two I know there's is really nothing I want to find out about this show, nothing which I want explained, no story arc I would like to see develop in one way or another. Just nothing. I literally have confidence in the show's writers to create a story worth watching.
At least the first episiode had some shocks and dilemmas. This episode is just talk right the way through, and more importantly talk by people I don't care about.
Until I hear that the show has massively picked up or gathered pace, I'm out.
Prey (2022)
do we think more of the heroine or less of the predator?
I quite enjoyed most of this movie. For much of the movie it doesn't feel like a Predator movie or even an action movie. I actually pretty enjoyed Predator vs Bear. On that note, I would have enjoyed it if that had been the whole movie, but it's kind of the opposite. Instead of Predator vs Mighty Beast or Mighty Warrior we have Predator vs teenage girl.
The problem here is not necessarily in such an unlikely death-match pairing, but the fact that in the final reckoning it isn't handled very well. Naru, is quite likeable for the most part. She is obviously ambitious and has an interesting relationship with her tribe and brother, but her motivation isn't sufficient. Wanting to be a great hunter because other people don't think you can do it, is just contra-suggestibility - arguably a personality flaw than a virtue - the fact that she comes across as largely motivated by selfish or self-absorbed reasons doesn't help either. In the original Predator a special forces team led by Arnie are simply trying to survive against this unthinkable killing machine. Here to Naru's credit she sees the evidence of the Predator's existence when others don't but treating it just as about the hunted becoming hunted just doesn't cut it. It diminishes the story, and ultimately it diminishes the Predator too.
After seeing this film is the Predator even a worthy adversary any more? Being defeated by a teenage girl, and pretty easily too just doesn't do much to enhance an iconic villain's reputation. We're not left thinking more of Naru, or of what young women are capable of. We're left thinking less of the Predator. This is nearly always a problem with films that are trying to persuade of how powerful women can be. It's not that women can't be powerful or rise up against the odds, it's just that when that's the message it nearly ends up ruining the film's dynamics. There was far more sexism in the 80s or 90s but nobody thought Ripley was unworthy of her victories. That was because they seemed real. And because she really was breaking through the moulds.
The reasoning in her triump probably sounded good on paper but it works far less well in practice. This is the idea - fairly explicitly propounded in the film - that Naru has an advantage because the Predator doesn't think she is a threat: basically, she is able to defeat him because she leverage her apparent vulnerability. The problem with this is that before that part she has just spent the whole of the film shouting at the sexist males in her tribe how she is just as good as them. In other words, she does not have an advantage through her cunning or skill in manipulating the perceptions of others. She simply has the advantage because all the males - in the entire universe by the looks of it - are jerks and underestimate her because's she's a girl.
What's more while this could have been a very believable way of defeating the predator it actually just seems mean-spirited. If it had a question of survival then being sneaky and under-handed would have been justified. But being sneaky and under-handed in order to become the greatest hunter and the greatest warrior is incongruous with being those things.
It's still a good movie, but this is ultimately just a tired re-hashing of the david vs goliath story (her rope on an axe isn't a million miles away from a sling) but spun so David is female in this case.
All told, pretty enjoyable throughout most of the film, but as always begins disappoint when it gets to the message.
Possum (2018)
endlessly and desperately tries to evoke existential horror. Achieves for all the wrong reasons
Repetitive and unrewarding. Why are there two puppets, one of which disappears in due course (I mean in to a drawer presumably)? The lack of dialogue, the constant posturing and looking in mirrors, and and running around on moors, & gurning in existential horror, it all adds up to very little.
There is a story, some traumatic stuff, and a missing child quasi mystery, but it doesn't add up to much, and I'm sorry I wasted time on this. Everything about this film is grim and miserable and hammed up, although that isn't a criticism of the two - almost the only two - actors in the fim, both of whom are good
Sorry, just didn't didn't like this. It isn't the classic some people are making it out to be. It isn't good. It isn't horror and it's beyond low budget.
Watcher (2022)
a fantastic homage to a kind of film I didn't think they made any more
They're not to everybody's taste, but I just love films lilke this.
Although there are elements of many other classic films / thrillers / horrors this particular bend is really something I haven't reallly seen before, although perhaps that's to overstate its originality.
Props to the director, the principal actors and for using Bucharest as a background. Bucharest is a very apt setting. Still very much a mix of the beautiful and the ugly I remember from having visited and with that sense of ancient decay you only really get in certain parts of europe and eastern europe. In this case I really don't think one of the more usual capitals - prague or budapest etc would have had quite the same appeal.
I'm not familiar with the director but it's clear she has an instinct for the genre and for creating exactly the kind of brooding atmosphere you need in a film like this.
Is it a masterpiece. No certainly not. You might get bored, but although it's anything but fast-paced it's tightly scripted and tells its story with an effective economy.
Probably the film I've most enjoyed in a while, but that's probably due to my penchant for european horror. I didn't think they made films like this any more.
The Old Man: VII (2022)
a masterclass in wasting talent and goodwill
Such a pompous show about nothing. In reality this whole drama would barely register. Nobody would care about these events, let alone what this story turns out to be al about.
Jeff Bridges has a great screen presence, but for the second half of the season nothing very much to do. As for John Lithgow, this towering thespian talent is reduced to hand-wringing endlessly about an unconvincing paternal relationship with the daughter-substitute of an agent he took under his wing. I have never seen Lithgow so humiliated by a rubbish script
The revelations all amount to nothing, but it takes forever to get there. The writing is pompous, overblown, drawn out for as long as it possibly takes and each word and cliche savoured as though it were Shakespeare.
This really is a masterclass on how to completey waste a great begining and an even greater cast.
The Boys: The Instant White-Hot Wild (2022)
Why diminish a character as great as Homelander like this?
Unsatisfying ending to what I found to be the most satisfying season so far - at least up to this episode.
I never liked the whole thing with Noir and an inner life involving cartoon characters. I would be money that the writers just decided at some point they'd portray him as having kind of 'Looney Tunes' & then just decided to follow that idea literally. It might have gone somewhere but then to have Homelander just waste him like that on a whim was just a shame.
As for Maeve & the final fight, this probably won't come across positively, but that's what you get when have a female director who evidently wants to empower the female superheroes. Actually though Starlight had her moment it too didn't amount to anything. The real focus of course is on the heroic Maeve, who is basically a progressive hero, representing all that is good and 'progressive'. In fairness seeing her practising with a sword earlier in the season did set it up a bit, but having her face off against Homeland, who'd already been humiliated by Soldier Boy, then almost beat him even though through the entire series it's been made clear that he could end her or any one of them (he literally ended Noir just 10 minutes earlier) doesn't make her seem strong, it makes Homelander seem weak. And the entire story is about Homelander as representing superman as a nazi. It's a serious issue. A father and son set of superheroes duking it out makes sense, taps into something primal, even visceral. Having Maeve almost beat Homelander is just pointless & threatens to derail the entire force of the narrative.
What's more having both Maeve & Soldier Boy survive after a nuclear type explosion just means that viewers will no longer trust the writers. It's sitting on the fence, having your cake and trying to eat it or some other cliche.
I note that not every body like's Ryans seduction by the dark side. I agree it was very sudden, but I think if done right it might make for an interesting thread next season. Having said that I'm far less excited about next season than I should be as far as I'm concerned.
The Orville: Shadow Realms (2022)
comedy horror dilemmas
I enjoyed this episode more than the prevoius one but as others point out it could have been a fair bit better with some tighter writing. The sloppiness here - like the non-existent health / safety protocols on entering the alien space station - could have easily been overcome by just nodding in the right direction. I think the problem here is that on account of the comedy element the writers feel it doesn't always have to take itself that seriously. That was kind of in evidence here when the chief security officer. Lt Talla takes on the aliens with almost cartoon like effects - it makes logical sense given her strength & skillset - yet is clearly (and unavoidably) played as comedy. In the context then that equates to an episode whose genre becomes 'comedy-horror': now, have you ever seen a comedy horror that had the tightest of scripts, the finest writing etc? Maybe, but probably not & I think that's the problem here, in one of the rare instances when the Orville went or at least gestured in the direction of horror, it couldn't quite take itself seriously enough to do it properly. The result is a fun episode, but a frustrating one on account of its flaws.
As others point out the writers need to focus a bit more on some other characters than the Dr & her kids now. I'd like to see more of Seth & Palicki & of course Bortas.
Despite all that, it's just lovely to be back in the presence of a series that has genuine affection for the star trek legacy, unlike of course the ideologically charged star trek we get from Picard etc. That's not to say the Orville doesn't do 'progress' or touch on social justice issues, but it does it in a way that feels natural & unforced.
Here's to hoping things improve a bit. I'm staying with this though even if it doesn't because I love the series.
The Last Kingdom: Episode #5.4 (2022)
How to adapt history to tell a great story
With episode 4 this season finally comes into its own. The death of Athaelflaed is poignant & comes with unwelcome speed both for the characters who care for her & for the viewers. Her death is more than poignant though as she is Queen of Wessex, with a daughter for an heir and the ambition to put her on the throne to succeed her. Her death in other words will affect the lives of those around her whether they loved her or not.
It is here that the show does something interesting. If this were not the final season it's quite possible that the daughter, flighty but brought to her senses by the end of the episode, would have been shown as ascending to the Wessex throne as she did in fact in history. Instead the writers excise that two year period and have Edward take the throne before there arises any need to depose her.
In the event this is done brilliantly & in a way that both reveals character and shocks us. Reading up on this period - superficially at least - the current consensus among historians of the period appears that though Athaelflaed has always been considered a great queen, Edward it seems has been unfairly neglected & under-rated.
To some extent then we might wonder whether his portrayal in the Last Kingdom is intended as a rehabilitation of sorts. Edward is shown as a generally wise, if not imperfect king, as sensitive to the subtleties of court politics as he is to relations with the Danes & other Kingdoms. In the Last Season he has always been one of the good guys. What the ending shows us is that if indeed he has been unfairly neglected it may have been because he was capable of taking hard & arguably cold & cruel decisions. What we learn of Edward takes everyone aback. It is a sad but realistic conclusion to his apparently beloved sister's hope for Wessex's survival under the tutelage of her young daughter. It's almost as though being a 'good' king may not primarily be about being a nice one.....although he reverts to the norm quickly enough.
The other good thing about this episode is the unpopular Brida strand of the story takes a break, at least for the moment. This too is done well, and makes the last half of this episode a peculiarly contemplative affair, leaving the viewer a little bit disoriented & uncertain as to the direction this season will take.
The cartoon characters are gone, and that's a good thing.
The Last Kingdom: Episode #5.1 (2022)
Brida - written out of history presumably because she's annoying
I've looked ahead at the episode ratings so based on that I'm going to stick with this season, just as I've stuck through the series, but it really isn't off to an auspicious camp.
There are lot of objections here to the black priest in 10th century england. I'm generally historical licence for the sake of diversity, but I think too many people are getting worked up about something that could quite well have occurred, givven its prominence in north africa centuries earlier. What people fear is that a show that was defined by story & realism may now have been taken over by imperatives that relate more to diversity.
I am more inclined to see this direction in the character of Brida, who clearly is irritating many people on this board. She was fine as a feisty & fiery side character, but now as the head of an army, she is just annoying & unbelievably so. Whether the purpose here was to give a female character a bigger role I don't know - we'll have to see how it plays out - but if so, it seems kind of pointless, given that the show has a major historical queen in the cast of characters in the form of Aethelflaed. Why not just give her a bigger part & leave the done to death viking women were warriors theme alone. It's just tired & exaggerated at this point.
As others point out the writing so far has been uninspiring & the final battle scene where Brida takes the town was just lacking.
I'm going to keep watching because this is a great show, and the episode ratings suggest it's going to get better in due course, but I can't say I'm not disappointed so far.
Gomorrah: Episode #4.12 (2019)
Love & death in an ancient city
I'm of the view that this is a contender for the best season so far. There seems to be a division between those who can and those who can't survive without Ciro. Ciro has been a compelling charcter, but frankly I've enjoyed his absence in this season. As others point out Genna develops as a character in this season in ways one could never have anticipated in season one or even season two.
The other star here is Patricia. Again a divisive figure, but for me she was a great character, albeit an unlikely one, and it's as with the previous season she finds herself vying not just against the old guard who have difficulty accepting a woman in her position, but also the women in the background, here less her new husband's family, which is traditionally catholic & patriarchal, and more that of Genna's beautiful wife. There is something quite terrifying about the way that Genna's wife, dresses up to the nines to to let Patricia, the new boss of Secondigliano, just who's who.
It's Genna though who's in charge, as we'll discover.
One last note. A few of the episodes, particularly the one where Patricia gets married, shows us the stunning beauty of the Neapolitan coastline. If one remembers the sheer bleakness of season one, set in the slum tenements of Secondigliano and compare it to the beauty of of old naples, and the neapolitan coastline it's a true revelation.
In my view another triumpant season, but obviously not everyone agrees.
The Outfit (2022)
Tight little thriller with a lot of flaws
I enjoyed this because it's something different, but you need to moderate your expectations beforehand to enjoy this, then perhaps moderate them some more as the film progresses and you realize this is very far from the masterpiece you might be expecting.
The setting is a gentleman's tailors in Chicago owned by an old English tailor played by Mark Rylance. I say tailor, but as he will point out more than once he's a cutter not a tailor, and while you might think the opposite a cutter is a several notches above a tailor. When I say the setting is a gentleman's tailor in Chicago I do mean that, because the entire film, apart from the external shots at the beginning is set in that shop. Action occurs elsewhere, but only off stage so to speak. This gives the film something of the character of a stage play, indeed if it wasn't originally written as a play it could certainly be effortlessly transferred to the theatre, where there wouldn't even have to be a change of set.
I'm not sure where this was filmed but I suspect it wasn't Chicago & given that about half or more of the cast appear to be British I suspect it was filmed in England. Rylands is brilliant and utterly believable from the word go. Ms Deutzch is good too as as the two main gangsters. The fact that the head gangster and his heavy / bodyguard was played by I suspect English actors detracted from believability. Nothing wrong with the actor who played the crime boss but he simply did not convince in the role, both on account of an accent that did not seem American and the complete lack of menace in his character. Normally such a thing could be overlooked but because everything takes place indoors there is nothing external to tell us that we are actually in Chicago so the presence of English actors playing Chicago mobsters just makes it feel by this stage that we're in the audience of the Old Vic or somewhere.
Another thing is the mobsters seem far too gentlemanly. Even if they are respectful of Rylance's character, it just seems odd that the mob boss should allow him at critical moments just to expatiate on some or other subject, or narrate some personal anecdote from his past.
Rylance's character plays a dangerous game the whole way through, but his it never really feels as though things are as bad or desprate as they should do. In a sense, because of the nature of his character and intelligence, it feels almost as though he is in control the whole time, a spider in whose web they have fallen, someone bursting to say the lines 'I am the danger'. The problem here is that although that is the slow reveal of his character it does detract a bit from the tension the director tries so hard to build up.
It's good film though, certainly something different, and will likely keep your attention to the end.
Family Guy: The Fatman Always Rings Twice (2021)
Family Guy's hommage to Noir
Loved this episode. The script is sharp & it's actually plotted better than a lot of Film Noir films, not least in that you're highly unlikely to guess the denouement.
One tiny negative: I was waiting for Quagmire to show up in a part, but for some reason they didn't give him a role in this outing. No matter
Trigger warning: the episode deals with some weighty social issues like the inter-war racism and the inequality of horses being allowed to crap in the street while humans could not. Fortunately most American cities seem to have redressed that grave injustice.
The Postcard Killings (2020)
Watchable but grim & feels kind of jaded overall
It's not a bad film perhaps, but I can't say I liked it. Part of the problem is the genre, or rather the type of serial killer this film tries to be: the whole thing just seems rather jaded. It's one thing for serial killer film to feel like a Seven copycat in at the end of the last thing, quite something else for it to happen in the 2020s, where we've seen nearly every variation on the every serial killer expressing himself through the medium of murder one could possibly imagine.
This one has some quirky aspects, a twist or two, & is internally satisfying, but the whole concept of killers arranging bodies to reproduce famous artisitic scenes just doesn't ring either original or true.
The central character of the grieving father of a recent victim, who also happens to be hard boiled New York cop does a good job, but it's such a grim situation one doesn't exactly enjoy the time spent in his company or for that matter the euro-vacation he gets to take in his search to bring his daughter's killer/s to justice.
It's worth a look, but the nastiness of the murders never seems justified in terms of what is being presented. As to the solution, that's probably the most interesting part. The film even has something to say perhaps in this respect - it examines an interesting issue in a sense - but although it all comes together in the end, it never really feels entirely satisfactory or worth it.
Wrath of Man (2021)
Engaging movie. The writing could have been a bit tighter
Great movie with the usual strong narrative edge you expect from Guy Ritchie. Having said that I did feel the telling of the story, or rather the unveiling of what was going on, did become a bit clunky at times. The narrative is divided up into explanatory chunks, three of them if I remember correctly, which together take us to a pretty explosive climax.
Statham and the rest of the cast are uniformly reliable. The one thing which slightly annoyed me were the bad guys, who go too quickly from being relatively decent men to desperadoes prepared to do pretty much anything to achieve their goal. This goes double for the main bad guy, who goes from reluctant killer to virtual psycho in what for us is a fairly short-time frame.
Other than that this is another very enjoyable movie from Ritchie & Statham.