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The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)
To the Victors go the spoils.
It's taken a few years of the podcast, and a couple of decades for Hammer themselves to get to the sort of film that they would become synonymous with during the 1970s. And though the Quatermass film had pointed them in the right direction, "The Curse of Frankenstein" is a big, bold and successful step.
From his prison cell, Victor Frankenstein (Peter Cushing) recounts his story to a priest ahead of his execution for murder. Having brought a dog back to life, Frankenstein and his tutor turned partner Paul Krempe (Robert Uruqhart) disagreed about what to do next. Whereas Krempe favours publishing the results, Frankenstein wants to go further into the research and resurrect a human, but not just any human, an idealised one, created from the best elements of various bodies.
Unlike a lot (but not all) of Hammer's output so far, this actually looks like a proper film. Sets, special effects, good sound recording, colour images are all here. It actually looks like it could pass for an American movie of the time. It doesn't look like the Universal versions of the characters though, with Christopher Lee's Monster being very different, less stylised (and therefore less Iconic) but maybe a bit more realistic, than the Karloff creation. There is a gory, though basic effect when the monster is shot that lives in the memory.
It's not a straight adaptation of the Shelley story by any means. Characters are invented and there is much more of a focus on the Doctor himself, played with aplomb by Peter Cushing. Far from rushing into the science and then regretting it - Victor this time seems like the science is just an excuse to get to the murdering that he's always fancied trying and he is forced into restarting the monster several times. (and, based on the sequels will presumably continue to do so).
But I enjoyed this one, a well-acted and well directed film that, for the first time, feels like a movie that doesn't suffer in comparison with what was being created in the US.
Inside No. 9: The Trolley Problem (2024)
Combustion Engine
A good old Pemberton/Shearsmith two hander for the second episode of this final season (with the exception of a couple of phone voices). Whilst it never quite twisted up to a level I was overjoyed with, I like the darker, more horrific, episodes best of all and this was certainly one of those.
Having become concerned with his wellbeing, after finding him standing on a bridge alone at night, therapist Blake (Steve Pemberton) brings Drew (Reece Shearsmith) back to his house for a cup of tea. Whilst they begin with mild therapy chats, Drew's fragile and explosive mood swings quickly have Blake wondering whether this was a good idea.
Not a super funny episode this time, barely a joke in it save for a funny line about Gregg Wallace. Instead, this one is all about ratcheting tension. You could have guessed, from the premise, and the previous episodes writing, that one of them was not what they seemed, it was all about how it was going to go. Whilst I appreciated the way it did go and, as I say, the more disturbing the episodes are, the more I like them, I did wish that perhaps it had found another way to tie itself more tightly to the formula of the Trolley Problem. By that I mean, and this is as spoiler free as I can make it, I think the decision maker in the problem is supposed to make a fully informed choice, which the character here doesn't get to do.
It was great though and another example of just what we'll be missing when the show ends in a months' time.
Doctor Who: The Church on Ruby Road (2023)
Crooked Spire.
Having decided to review these episodes of the quasi-rebooted "Doctor Who" as they air, I realised I needed to jump back an episode to review the Christmas special, which was the full debut of Ncuti Gatwa as The Doctor. So, last night, I rewatched it - the night after watching the "Space Babies" episode. It feels quite similar, in that I like the character and the overall arc building but am a little less enamoured with the creature element.
Beset by a run of bad luck, Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) attracts the attention of The Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa). Ruby is the adopted daughter of Carla (Michelle Greenridge) who has fostered dozens of other children and receives another baby on Christmas Eve 2023. Ruby is in charge of the baby for only a few minutes before she's kidnapped by Goblins, who intend to eat her. Ruby engages in a rooftop pursuit, where she's joined by The Doctor and they climb aboard the Goblin ship.
As with the next episode I like the mythology building that Russel T Davies was always so good at. We establish the mystery of who is Ruby's mother, when she is left on a church doorstep on Christmas Eve. The adopted daughter angle plays alongside The Doctor still coming to terms with the fact he was also adopted by Gallifrey (Interesting that Davies intends to keep that bit of lore and work with it, rather than ignore that controversial Chibnall idea).
The Goblin's themselves weren't a bad effect, as much as an uninteresting design. Everything about them felt a bit haphazard though, for example, they're feeding the baby to the Goblin King, but he's so unfeasibly large the Baby wouldn't even make a snack for him. Why does the female Goblin have a perfect human singing voice whereas none of the rest do? Everything to do with tying Ruby into the days with the accidents and co-incidences didn't really make much logically sense either. (The less said about the song the better).
As with the episode that follows, the good news is that I like the continuing elements, though felt underwhelmed by the episodic elements. Hopefully the series will get those right soon too.
Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver (2024)
Giver me strength.
Sigh. I've put it off for a few weeks but unfortunately, I have to now admit defeat and settle in for Part two of "Rebel Moon" - a series that, most worryingly, nobody seems to be able to determine how many films it's planned to be spread over. That confusion is demonstrated here, with a movie that should have been the third act of the last film but is instead dragged out to two boring hours.
A resurrected Atticus Noble (Ed Skrein) sets his dreadnaught on a course for Veldt. His plan is now not only to take the grain, but to capture Kora (Sofia Boutella) and present her to the motherworld, where she is public enemy number one. Titus (Djimon Hounsou) starts to teach the farmers the art of guerrilla warfare, so they can defend themselves. Kora plans to attack the ship and kill Nobel properly this time, before she does, she admits to the gang her part in the assassination of Princess Issa (Stella Grace Fitzgerald).
I feel sorry for Sofia Boutella, this and "Argylle" in the same year is an unenviable double bill. To be fair, none of the problems with this film are down to her, or any of the actors really. They're all just playing boring, lifeless characters in a boring, lifeless film. To be fair, this part is a bit less of a mess than part one was. That was a mishmash of cribbed and stolen ideas. Part two is, at least, coherent by only stealing one idea. The "mercenaries teach the village to fight" plot from "Seventh Samurai". It still looks good too, with the CGI budget being put to good use and still heavily leaning into Snyder's obsession with slow motion.
But I just don't care. I don't care about these tedious cliché characters or their story that I've seen done before and better. I don't care whether they die or succeed, or what they reveal about their pasts. It's all so anodyne and I hate the artifice of the "directors cuts", exploiting history for a cynical attempt to make me watch this rubbish again.
This is better than the first one, and if they continue to improve at this rate, Part seven might just scrape into acceptability.
LMA Manager 2007 (2006)
Pardew for an update.
Picked out a random game from my 360-collection looking for something new to play and landed on "LMA Manager 2007". I wasn't overly excited about it as, with the exception of the PSP "Football Manager" series, I've never found that the mouse free interfaces lend themselves particularly well to Football Management games, but after a while I settled into this one, and thought it worked quite well.
Take charge of an existing football team and guide them to glory or establish a new team and guide them up from the bottom. As well as influencing tactics, player recruitment and training mechanisms, the game allows you to get involved in the commercial side, with advertising and ground development choices to be made.
Immediately I struggled with getting around in the game, but I did eventually work it out. There is a top menu, that you navigate with the Left and Right triggers and then another menu level within each top option that is navigated with the left and right bumpers. The Y button then switches you into the contents of that menu. Initially I struggled with other selection choices too, like swapping players in and out of my team, but I settled into that too.
I never watched the actual games I managed being played in the engine, preferring instead to race through to the end of the game and fight out the result. That was unusual, because I wasn't in charge of substitutions or changing tactics, though it looked like that was a possibility, so maybe that was something I chose. After you've played a match, there is optional analysis available from Alan Hansen and Gary Lineker. The game only has one licensed song, "Arms Open" by Snow Patrol, which it played on a loop as I was setting the game up. I like the song but it began to grate pretty quickly on the third play through. Once you start the game though, it stops playing that song.
It doesn't feel like it has the depth that Championship Manager had at the same time, let alone comparable to the game now but I've played other games that did this same thing worse, and I do think it's a little sad that nobody offers a challenge to "Football Manager" anymore.
Doctor Who: Space Babies (2024)
Snotts Landing.
Not sure how I feel about this being dealt with as a new "show" rather than a new season of "Nu Who", but I guess it gives me an excuse to jump away from reviewing every episode of that iteration and to start again from here.
Introducing Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson) to how the Tardis works lands she, and the Doctor (Ncuti Gatwa) on a space station manned by a crew of babies, seemingly abandoned by their creators and looked after by an overseeing computer (Golda Rosheuvel). The abandonment isn't the crews only problem though as, in the lower decks, between them and the Tardis is a vicious looking creature nicknamed "The Bogeyman".
Mixed feelings about this episode. The good news is that I liked the elements that are going to stay, for this season at least. Gatwa and Gibson are both great and there's a nice dynamic between them. It's got some funny lines and it's continuing to do what Davies' previous run did and layering in the season story - which looks like it will be focused on Ruby's parentage, the mystery of which began in the last Christmas special.
The actual episode though was a bit confused and had some horrible CGI. The creature effect was fine, if perhaps a little generic. The CGI mouths of the talking babies though was both badly done and off putting, and I really didn't like seeing it. The show also felt confused as to whether they were actual babies though, I think the logic was that they were 6-year-olds that hadn't developed but they didn't act like that sometimes. (Also, that's not how an airlock would work). The Disney Dollars seemed to have been spent on a CGI dinosaur world that appeared earlier and shots of the Tardis.
Davies is perhaps a bolder writer now, from the shows he's written since his first run with The Doctor, and, whilst the show has always been socially conscious, there are explicit analogies made about both the abortion laws and refugee policy within this story.
Whilst this first episode is a bit underwhelming, particularly to proclaim the shows new start, I'm not overly concerned that the shows headed in the wrong direction or anything like that. Hopefully, without the need to do all the introductions stuff from now on, and with more time for the story, things will pick up.
The Fall Guy (2024)
Cunning Stunts
Another slightly tough review for me to write, this one, as I do think that some of the problems I had with the film were caused by situations quite specific to me. If you're not going to read any more of this review then the top line is that I liked the film, but I didn't love it.
Stuntman Colt Seavers (Ryan Gosling) is called back to work by producer Gail Mayer (Hannah Waddingham) a year after a serious accident injured him during a stunt. The accident also prematurely ended a relationship he was having with Camerawoman Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt) who is now directing this film, her first feature. Gail had an ulterior motive for calling Colt though, as the films star Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) has fallen in with a bad crowd and disappeared. Desperate to save Jody's film, Colt begins to track Tom across Sydney and finds his stuntman skills are soon put to use.
The problem with "The Fall Guy" that's just for me is that the trailer includes a lot of the film's key moments, including elements of all the stunts and the banter between Gosling and Blunt. That trailer has been running for a long time and I go to the cinema a lot, so I have seen that trailer dozens of times. Although it does keep some of the plot hidden, so doesn't give the game away in that sense, I did feel like I'd seen the film almost before it started. There are some regular issues with the film too, it does keep us, the audience, in the dark about it's actual plot for too long. Some aspects of the resolution, spoiler free but related to the veracity of visual and audio recordings, don't ring true.
There are plenty of positives though, the leads and the supporting cast are good. Aaron Taylor-Johnson has a lot of fun with the McConaughey-esque drawl. The stunts, which are all done practically as, if nothing else, the film is a love letter to the stuntmen and women of Hollywood are all really good.
It's not that it doesn't add up to very much, as much as it doesn't add up to as much as I wanted it too.
The Negotiator (1998)
Fall of the Roman Empire.
One more DVD watched, for the first time in a long time, on its way out of my house. I used to really like "The Negotiator" and watched it quite a bit. There's a great big dollop of uncomfortableness watching the film now though, but it still has a great cast and a good story.
Hostage negotiator Danny Roman (Samuel L Jackson) is arrested for the murder of his former partner, who had recently disclosed to Roman that members of their unit were embezzling money from the disability fund. In a desperate bid to clear his name, Roman takes Internal Affairs detective Terence Niebaum (J T Walsh), commanding officer Grant Frost (Ron Rifkin), Neibaum's assistant Maggie (Siobhan Fallon) and a con man Rudy Timmons (Paul Giamatti) hostage at the I. A's downtown office complex. As Roman attempts to find out what Internal Affairs knew about the embezzlement, he asks for colleague Chris Sabian (Kevin Spacey) to negotiate on behalf of the police.
Obviously, there's a big Kevin Spacey sized issue with so many top films from the late 90's and early 2000's and I write this review in the week another documentary of allegations about his behaviour has been released. This is Jackson's film, but Spacey is definitely the second lead and is in the film an awful lot. Your tolerance for this may vary but, for me, I can't look at him in a film anymore without automatically thinking about the allegations instead of whatever he was doing in the film.
The rest of the cast is amazing though, it's a who's who of character actors from the time. I've not yet mentioned John Spencer, David Morse, Paul Guilfoyle, Regina Taylor, Michael Cudlitz, Nestor Serrano and Dean Norris all of whom are here and all of whom are great. This was one of J T Walsh's final films, before his death and the film is dedicated to him.
I was surprised to learn that the film was a financial failure, as it was quite popular at the time, and I remember it being well reviewed. Provided you leave enough time between viewings to forget who is actually behind the embezzlement then I think the story is good and this is an engaging grown up thriller.
Inside No. 9: Boo To A Goose (2024)
Something in the (Canada) Water.
The ninth and (probably) final season of "Inside Number 9" begins with a really good episode, that hides a political, or perhaps societal, message in its typical blend of comedy and twisty horror.
A late-night tube train breaks down, trapping eight passengers in a carriage. During the power failure, the purse of Nurse Elena (Phillipa Dunne) is stolen, and suspicion quickly falls on homeless Mossy (Charlie Cooper), who arrived, begging for change, moments earlier. Authoritarian teacher Raymond (Mark Bonnar) leads the accusations and impromptu investigation, but his methods stoke division between the other passengers.
The societal message is clear, as the carriage divides along the lines of who resists Raymond's despotic orders and who chooses a quiet life of obedience. This is particularly pronounced when suspicion falls on Joel Fry's conspiracy theorist Finn, who categorical refuses to allow his backpack to be searched, until a vote takes place on it. It's perhaps the most forthright that the lads have been on wider society since the "Last Night of The Proms" episode.
As is typical of the show, the performances are really good and there's some funny lines mostly coming from Pemberton and Shearsmith themselves, as bawdy drag queen Wilma and reserved Gerry respectively. The twist, I have to say, I did not see coming - which is always welcome, and like all the best twists the series as done, some of the earlier moments and lines will work differently if you rewatch the episode with that knowledge. It's almost impossible to talk about that twist without spoiling it, or even referencing the sorts of films it's aping. I will say that, despite not guessing it, I found it a tiny bit anticlimactic, which is why the episode hasn't scored even higher.
Tough to accept that there's only five left. I'm already looking at tickets for the stage show.
Ripley (2024)
Really good. Believe it or not.
I've never read the Patricia Highsmith books, but I have seen "The Talented Mr Ripley" and a few other adaptations of his stories. This gorgeous Netflix adaptation, perfectly cast, is an excellent and probably definitive version of the first story.
Believing him to be one of his son's friends, conman Thomas Ripley (Andrew Scott) is asked by industrialist Herbert Greenleaf (Kenneth Lonergan) to travel to Italy and convince his son, Dickie (Johnny Flynn) to return to the U. S from his trust-fund playboy lifestyle. Dickie though is having rather a good time, writing and painting and romancing another ex-pat Marge (Dakota Fanning). Tom quickly comes to see the appeal of the life, and ingratiates himself in Dickie's life, to the chagrin of Marge and of another friend, Freddie Miles (Eliot Sumner)
It's a production of high quality. Oscar winner Steven Zallian pens the adaptation and directs every episode. The black and white aesthetic apes the classic 60's produced Italian films of Fellini and Antonioni, though the high-definition camera work picks up the specifics of Scott's face and his thrilling central performance. Scott is brilliant. Whilst too old for the role as written, he's able to convince as Ripley in his twenties whilst (hopefully) being able to keep playing the character in his later stories, when the character is a little older. He makes the character a distant, mirthless character, but somehow you still root for him to evade capture for the murders he commits.
I was familiar with the beats of the story from the Mingella adaptation but what perhaps was unexpected is quite how funny the show makes aspects of it. Also new are some more fantastical dream elements, Ripley is haunted by his victim or by grandiose comparisons to Caravaggio that he engages in.
It's not lost on me that not everything in entertainment needs to be an intellectual property that is monetised to breaking point, but I really think there's an opportunity here to do a proper adaptation of the other four Ripley books, even if not on a strict timeframe. Leave two / three years between them - maybe more if the source novel suggest it. Very good.
Fallout: The Beginning (2024)
Season One Review
I was trepidatious about the idea of a "Fallout" series when it was announced. Though there are definite signs of an upswing in this department, generally, adaptations of video games have been poor. "Fallout" though could be used as the template for how to adapt an open world game into a show.
Two hundred years after nuclear war devastates the earth, the inhabitants of Vault 33 await the time when the surface is safe enough to repopulate. They are attacked by raiders though, and overseer Hank MacLean ((Kyle MacLachlan) is kidnapped. His daughter, Lucy (Ella Purnell) decides to risk leaving the vault to rescue him. Maximus (Aaron Moten) a squire with the Brotherhood of Steel, heads out with his Knight on a mission to locate a missing Enclave scientist, but he's not the only interested party and a ghoul bounty hunter Cooper (Walton Goggins) is also on his tail.
"Fallout" succeeds by being extremely loyal to the world created in the video game series, but not directly adapting the storyline of any of the games. It's a pretty similar starting point, leaving the vault to track down your missing father, but from there it's an entirely unique story that cleverly builds on the lore but doesn't directly adapt it. Which is sensible because everyone's experience of the Fallout games is different, with the choices you make affecting the available plot. That, in and of itself, isn't enough. Netflix's awful "Resident Evil" series did something similar, but "Fallout" works for the traditional reasons too, because the casting, humour, visual effects and storyline are also really good.
The attention to detail though is the most impressive aspect of the endeavour, stim Packs look like stim packs, radaway makes an appearance, Sugar Bombs. The hacking looks like the hacking in the game, the guns look like the guns, the way the vault opens. It's all only really for the benefit of the people that have played the game, but it demonstrates an appreciation and respect of what you're adapting.
It does seem like it's a series that could run and run and tell alternative stories within this established world and I'm looking forward to all of it.
Tarot (2024)
Tar-No!
I've mentioned in my posts before that, when you end up doing quite a lot of reviews, the vast majority end up being diverting enough that you come away feeling relatively positive about them. So, it's nice to occasionally find a film that you really like and can enthuse about. Perversely it's also nice to come across one that's laugh out loud awful and I'm afraid that "Tarot" falls into that latter category.
To celebrate their friend's birthday, a group of college students rent an old mansion in the Catskills. Exploring the house on the hunt for alcohol, they discover an ornate set of Tarot cards and Haley (Harriet Slater) gives each of them a reading. When they return to campus, Elise (Larsen Thompson) is killed and, though it's deemed to be an accident, they eventually come to realise that they are all being picked off by personifications of the key card in their reading.
There are many problems with "Tarot" non-perhaps more so than the fact it's simply not scary. It utilises all the cheap jump scares, but each personification of the card is an unconvincing GGI effect and there's nothing memorable, new or inspired about any of them. It's desperately chaste with its violence too, definitely skewing closer to the 12A side of the 15 certification than the 18. The cast are poor too, even Jacob Batalon, who I like in the "Spider-Man" films, is horrible here and it's hard to care about their demises when they are so thinly drawn.
Tonally and logically it's all over the place. What the film desperately wants to be is "Final Destination". It tries to lift the idea of the subtle foreshadowing of the deaths in Haley's readings but it's so ham-fisted it's genuinely laughable. If you've seen the trailer, you'll know that Elise is killed with a loft ladder. It's not much of an exaggeration to say that the reading is "you'll soon be climbing the 'LADDER' of success but beware of a nasty 'FALL' and things might come 'CRASHING DOWN' around you. Each one is as horrible as that.
One final complaint, if you were trying to pick music to destroy any mood of foreboding or threat then that was a job well done.
I don't normally like to go after filmmakers, but "Tarot" is badly written and ineptly directed and is the worst film of the year (so far).
The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart (2023)
Clone Wars
After it's sad cancellation, after twenty years of sporadic production, Adult Swim gave Jackson Publick and Doc Hammer the chance to fill in a few of the blanks in their characters lore with a feature length episode "Radiant is the Blood of the Baboon Heart". Whilst it was certain a welcome addition to a show I loved, it's not quite as strong as the final seasons of the show.
Venture Industries latest invention, the Helper Pod is due to be shipped out, but supplies are hijacked by Mantilla (Nina Arianda) leader of a new flashy rival to the Guild of Calamitous Intent named ARCH. With the hover function activated on all the units, VenTech Tower is lifted out of New York, up into orbit. Dean (Michael Sinterniklaas) is wracked with guilt of his affair with Hank's (Chris McCulloch) girlfriend and recruits Dr. Orpheus (Steven Rattazzi) to help him find where Hank has gone. Hank is wandering his past, both physically and metaphorically.
Perhaps it's understandable, due to the pressures of trying to fit everything in plotwise that they wanted too, but the balance between story and comedy feels just a little off to me here. There is lots to get done in 80 minutes; the nature of the relationship between Thaddeus and The Monarch, the returning of Hank to the fold and ... finally ... the explanation of who the boy's mother is. It's not that it's not good, it's just that, particularly after that final season it's not quite as good. I'd imagine it would be incomprehensible to anyone who tried to watch this without having watched the show before, but then how many people would really do that?
Occasionally it's not quite right visually too, there are a couple of occasions when characters look the tiniest bit off model.
It is still though remarkable that it exists at all and is testament to the creative strength and fan commitment of a beloved and underseen series.
Abigail (2024)
Abigail's Party
I've been neglecting the cinema a bit this month, with my weekends taken up by other things. I did make the special effort to go one evening this week and see "Abigail", largely because of Dan Stevens but also because I've enjoyed the last few "Scream" movies. Whilst it's nothing revolutionary, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
Six Criminals are tasked to look after Abigail (Alisha Weir) a young girl they've kidnapped and await the ransom for. Unbeknownst to them, Abigail is the daughter of a powerful and vicious criminal figure who has no issues making gory spectacles out of his enemies. Furthermore, they come to learn that they are all tangentially linked to Abigail's father and that the houses security system has been activated, meaning that none of them can leave.
If you've made it through the advertising for "Abigail" without finding out it's central twist then I'm not going to be the one to spoil it for you. However, if you have, say If you've seen the trailer where it was right up on front street, then knowing that going in doesn't spoil the film. That said, I'd have found it mind blowing had the twist been a surprise to me. As it was I enjoyed it quite a bit anyway and it's all down, I think, to a witty script and to the cast. I genuinely think that if you did a shot for shot remake of the film, with lesser actors then it might be dire. But this is a triumph of casting and everyone (with the possible exception of Will Catlett, who is just featured less than everyone else) is great. Whilst it's really Mellissa Barreras who is the lead, and does all of the heavy lifting, it's another film stolen by Dan Stevens, who somehow manages to keep his cliché written character on the right side of entertaining. Kevin Durand and Kathryn Newton do the same too and whilst the late Angus Cloud is awful, its clear that is what his character was supposed to be like. Alisha Weir is great too and, whilst I can't talk about why, offers many memorable moments to the film.
As I said, there's a very thin margin between this film and one that doesn't work half as well, but this was a blast.
The Piano (2023)
Pianist Envy.
Just a quick review here as I decided after the first episode that I'd seen all that "The Piano" had to offer and that I wasn't going to watch any more. Its not my sort of thing, and I only watched the first episode as the series appeared on the Guardian's best TV of 2023 list and I'm trying to give them all a chance.
Pianos have been a staple of the UK's larger train stations for years, offering a distraction and entertainment to people waiting for their journey. This series encourages volunteers, to play in front of the cameras and commuters. The twist is that they're also being judged by popular artist Mika and renowned pianist Lang Lang, and the winner of the competition will perform at a special concert at the Royal Festival Hall.
This falls into the "nice" bracket of reality TV. There are no delusional people thrown in front of the cameras for the public's amusement - everyone is a really good pianist, and each have a backstory that helps fulfil that narrative of why they should win. Claudia Winkleman presents and she's as enthusiastic and quirky as she always is. A couple of contenders play and disappear, and in the end wrap up it becomes apparent that several people have participated who we've not seen play a note - but four or five key players get the full 'camera at home', 'meet the parents' type back story video packages, as it's clear that the winner is going to come from one of those.
It's a show designed to tug on the heart strings and it's quite successful at it. I can certainly see why people enjoyed it but I felt I'd seen all it had going for it by the end of the first episode and that I could move on without watching any more.
Central Park (2020)
Itsy Bitsy
I've written individual reviews for each season of "Central Park", which you can find against the final episodes of each run. Now the show is cancelled, I thought I'd put something here to consider the show overall.
Big fan of both "Bobs Burgers" and "The Great North" so I'm not sure why it took me quite so long to get around to watching "Central Park" - another series from the same creative team, this time on Apple TV.
Owen Tillerman (Leslie Odom Jnr) is the manager of Central Park and lives at Edendale Castle with his family. His wife, Paige (Kathryn Hahn) is a reporter with a small newspaper, looking for a big story. His daughter Molly (Kristen Bell) draws comic books in which she is a superhero and his son, Cole (Titus Burgess) is obsessed with the pet dog of Bitsy Brandenhem (Stanley Tucci) a local wealthy hotel owner. They're lives are upended when Bitsy decides that it's time for Central Park to go and for high rise apartments to be in its place.
As "Bobs Burgers" has run on, the show has become more and more musically minded, with music breaks being a semi-regular idea and the shows credits often being sung by the cast. Perhaps this is the next logical step, with "Central Park" employing a cast of musical theatre performers and increasing each episode's song ratio to two or three. The other key to this is Josh Gad, who plays Birdie, the shows narrator, who speaks (or sings) directly to the audience, as well as the other characters when necessary.
I'd assume the show is expensive and time consuming to produce, requiring the scheduling of an in demand cast as well as the need to write three to four original songs for each episode, some of which utilise star names like Regina Spektor or Mike Shinoda and wonder if that was a contributing factor to the cancellation. All of which happens before the animation process begins.
The series ends in an OK way, as in there's no cliffhangers - but the wider plot points, such as Bitsy's plan to buy the Park aren't really resolved. I don't like the subsequent runs as much as I did the first, but it's certainly not bad and I would advocate for a single feature length episode finishing up the series properly.
Central Park: The Brandenpire Strikes Back (2022)
Season Three Review
Apple TV's animated series draws to a close with this third season, after which the show was cancelled. A cancellation on Apple TV is a fascinating situation, because given that viewing figures for anything on the platform are quite low, I'd imagine that given the names involved, the show was an expensive production, and that must have contributed to its downfall.
Owen (Leslie Odom Jnr) tries to establish a campaign extoling the virtues of Central Park, he gets the mayor's backing. Bitsy (Stanley Tucci) also wants to meet the mayor, to establish if her plan for buying the Park can continue. Paige (Kathryn Hahn) is planning on writing a book, and needs to meet with publishing houses about it, however, she's distracted when her sister, Abby (Kristen Bell), moves to New York to try and become an actress.
I mentioned in my review of season two that the 16-episode run (as opposed to 10 in the first) made the show a bit more of a slog that is previously was and that certain episodes, that were not quite bottle ones, but not far away, felt like padding. This third season is an improvement, back down to 13 episodes, but still with a couple of episodes with film parodies and another Fista-puffs episode that feel more like they're there to make the order. This season does have the most socially conscious episode of the show though, with Owen having to explain to Cole about the placation of white people's fear of African Americans that he'll have to deal with.
I'd assume the show is expensive and time consuming to produce, requiring the scheduling of an in demand cast as well as the need to write three to four original songs for each episode, some of which utilise star names like Regina Spektor or Mike Shinoda and wonder if that was a contributing factor to the cancellation. All of which happens before the animation process begins.
The series ends in an OK way, as in there's no cliffhangers - but the wider plot points, such as Bitsy's plan to buy the Park aren't really resolved. I don't like this run as much as I did the first, but it's certainly not bad and I would advocate for a single feature length episode finishing up the series properly.
Sneaky Pete (2015)
Mari-us and them.
Looking for something to try on Amazon Prime we settled on Amazon original "Sneaky Pete" as I've always been a fan for Giovanni Ribisi back to the film "Boiler Room". The first season is a smart, fun crime drama that gathers weight as it runs on and is full of excellent performances.
Released from prison, con artist Marius Josipovic (Giovanni Ribisi) needs a place to hide from a Gangster, Vince (Bryan Cranston) whom he tried to swindle. He heads upstate and introduces himself to the Bowman/Bernhardt family as Pete, their grandson who they've not seen since childhood due to familial estrangement. He's able to pull this off thanks to some quickly made documents and because the real Pete was his cellmate and told detailed stories about his time on this homestead. Agreeing to pay Vince a large sum of money for the release of his brother, Marius tries to get what he can from the Bowman's, but they've got financial, ethical and criminal problems of their own.
My initial concerns, that the show might be a scam of the week type one, proved to be unfounded, with the series providing one overall story across it's ten episodes, and only occasionally relying on Cousin Pete's smart mouth to get him out of a bind. Ribisi is great in the lead role, making Marius a character you care about, even though his problems are mostly of his own making. Producer Bryan Cranston takes an uncredited role as Vince and, though I'm not sure that his 'wiseguy' is as compelling as his 'chemist teacher', he still provides a convincing danger for our lead. A host of recognisable faces act as the Bowman/Bernhardt family too, including Marin Ireland as Julia, and Peter Gerety and Margo Martindale as the patriarch and matriarch of the family. All are excellent.
I'm torn between the fact that I really enjoyed all three seasons of "Sneaky Pete" and being happy that it's ended before it's high wire act of con artistry transferred from familiar fun to repetitive. This is probably as complex as the show can realistically get too, with Marius attempting to control two (or possibly three) cons at the same time each of which has its own (sometimes opposing) desirable outcomes. Efrat Dor is not the only newcomer for this season, with "Suits" Patrick Adams as a key character alongside a pair of faces who are unfortunately no longer with us, M. Emmet Walsh and Ricky Jay.
I'm OK with the ending which, though there were stories that could have been further explored, doesn't end on a cliffhanger and is satisfying enough. If you're on the fence about "Sneaky Pete" I'd say that it's underappreciated and underloved and certainly worth the time investment.
Sneaky Pete: The Brooklyn Potash (2019)
Season Three Review
And so, the third and final season of "Sneaky Pete". I've enjoyed the first two but I'm glad that the show isn't dragging out the attempts to keep the whole family in the dark for much longer.
With Julia (Marin Ireland) now knowing the truth about Marius (Giovanni Ribisi) she debates telling the rest of the family, as Marius tries to extricate himself from the situation - though his feelings for them make it more difficult than he thought. He's offered an opportunity though, when an old friend, Lizzie (Efrat Dor) offers him a chance to join a score that she's putting together. Marjorie (Alison Wright) has strong feelings that Marius shouldn't do it and refuses to offer her support this time.
I'm torn between the fact that I really enjoyed all three seasons of "Sneaky Pete" and being happy that it's ended before it's high wire act of con artistry transferred from familiar fun to repetitive. This is probably as complex as the show can realistically get too, with Marius attempting to control two (or possibly three) cons at the same time each of which has its own (sometimes opposing) desirable outcomes. Efrat Dor is not the only newcomer for this season, with "Suits" Patrick Adams as a key character alongside a pair of faces who are unfortunately no longer with us, M. Emmet Walsh and Ricky Jay.
Again, its' a lot of fun watching Marius juggle all these issues and desires. The seasons secondary story sees the family come to Los Angeles trying to find out whether Audrey's other daughter is still alive, as Maggie suggested.
I'm OK with the ending which, though there were stories that could have been further explored, doesn't end on a cliffhanger and is satisfying enough. If you're on the fence about "Sneaky Pete" I'd say that it's underappreciated and underloved and certainly worth the time investment.
The Venture Bros. (2003)
If it ain't Brock, don't fix it.
I've written reviews of each season of "The Venture Brothers" as I've watched it again over this last year or so, you can find those against the final episode of each season. I knew that I loved what I'd seen before, but each viewing only seems to make me appreciate it more, as I make the connections of the show.
As a child Thaddeus 'Rusty' Venture (James Urbaniak) was the son of a super scientist, travelling the world and getting to unimaginable peril at every turn. Now an adult, and scientist himself, things have not turned out well for him as he's been unable to escape his father shadow. Along with his own two sons, Hank (Christopher McCulloch) and Dean (Michael Sinterniklaas) and their bodyguard Brock (Patrick Warburton), the family continue to travel the globe taking whatever opportunities come Rusty's way and avoiding the supervillains that target them.
Whilst poking fun at superhero characters and plot, as well as spies, secret agents and, of course, Johnny Quest, "The Venture Brothers" grows far beyond being a simple parody. Whilst never sacrificing the humour, there's a depth of thought in the storytelling, the seeding and the call backs that few shows attempt to engage with. I suppose the trade off is that quality of writing meant that the show, entirely written by the duo of Jackson Publick (Chris McCulloch) and Doc Hammer, took twenty years to produce just 86 episodes - often leaving gaps of two or three years between episodes, which makes it difficult to maintain a fanbase.
But it's brilliant, funny, thoughtful stuff - though never unwilling to add a lowbrow joke along the run. The animation looks a little shaky in the opening season, with the occasional off model character, but it settles down and looks brilliant throughout the remainder of the run. The vocal performances are universally great, and the choice of guest stars is another tremendous element of the series.
It's unquestionably one of the shows of my life and the only question now is how long I leave it until I watch it again.
The Venture Bros.: The Saphrax Protocol (2018)
Season Seven Review
And so, sadly, my latest run through one of my favourite ever TV shows comes to an end (apart from the movie) as, for the first time, I watch season seven of the show. I was not disappointed.
A new and terrifying problem at the VenTech Tower building leads to revelations about the parents of both Dr. Venture (James Urbaniak) and The Monarch (Chris McCulloch). The Monarch disavows his Blue Morpho period and settles down to work for the Guild, trying to raise his threat level so he can return to arching Rusty. Dean (Michael Sinterniklaas) heads off to college, but his problems seemingly come with him. Hank (Chris McCulloch) is enjoying his relationship with Sirena (Cristin Milioti) but worries about being kept apart by both her schedule and her villainous father.
The three-part opening to this season is utterly fantastic and might be the best set of stories that the show has ever done. It's another wonderful series overall though, again mixing the humour with revelations and callback to moments we've seen in the show. Case in point being a recontextualiation of the problem light that was flicking on Gartantua-1, all the way back in the second episode of the first season, or the significance of previous Monarch arch Dr. Dugong.
This seasons storylines also allow for a return for Dr. Orpheus and the Order of the Triad, and for Dermot, as well as a continued showing from Wide Wale and Red Death.
Brilliant stuff, perhaps the best season that the show ever did. I just have the movie left to go! Then what will I do !
I Am a Killer: Something Hideous (2020)
Season Two Review
It's taken me three years to get around to watching the second season of Netflix's "I Am a Killer". Re-reading that review now, I could almost post exactly the same one here as my thoughts are the same.
As with Season One, we meet an inmate who was formally on Death Row, but has had their sentence commuted, usually due to a change in the law regarding sentencing guidelines. The inmate explains their crime from their point of view. From there, we meet other parties in the story, victims, associates, or law enforcement who give their assessment of what happened and either support or (more often) dispute the specifics. Three months later, the inmate is interviewed again and gets to react to the details provided by the other parties.
So essentially, it's ten more stories following the same formula that worked in the first run. Again, generally the criminals were selected because of some aspect of their story that might be considered as a mitigating factor, even if that mitigation is only the difference between first- and second-degree murder. Again, the show leaves the conclusion to you, the audience, as to whether you feel the sentence was/is justified. I can't remember if it was true of the first season, but it certain is striking here how many of the inmates tell a similar story of parental neglect, or abuse, a degree of sexual abuse is often involved too, leading to drug taking from an exceptionally young age and often directly to the crime in question.
I feel about the same here as I did about the first season. It's not particularly revolutionary or memorable, and though I made it through this second run, the fact it took me three years to get back around to it probably tells you something about how enthused I was about the show. I will take another break and get back around to the shorter season three, probably not another three years this time though.
Blonde Bait (1956)
Four out of Ten(ko).
Another Hammer movie watched to go with the "House of Hammer" Podcast and after a few welcome weeks of otherworldly horror, we're back with a noiry crime thriller. I usually write my reviews a few days after watching the film, so as an aide memoire I usually make a couple of little notes. Here I've just written down one word, in big letters, "BORING".
Angie Booth (Beverly Michaels) a lounge room singer of some renown, plans to marry her shady boyfriend Nick (Paul Carpenter) on New Years Eve. With Nick out of the country, Angie is imprisoned for an assault on her murderous club promotor and will miss the arranged date. However, the British and American authorities are aware of the planned nuptials and, using an informant, 'Granny' (Thora Hird), try to organise a Prison break, so Angie can lead them to Nick.
Despite not one, but two, salacious titles, the version of this film I saw on Youtube was catastrophically dull. There appears to be two very different versions of the film, with "Blonde Bait" recasting Nick and adding new actors and scenes, I think I was watching the original though.
The women's prison seems remarkably clean and organised and there's not much antagonism going on between the staff and convicts. Some of the other prisoners have an impact on the story. Marguerite, played by April Olrich, has had a baby that will be taken from her and put up for adoption soon, as the rules of prison dictate and so joins the escape and bigamist Babs (Sheila Burrell) who has married twice and is released before the escape takes place. There are a couple of recognisable actors in this, recognisable to me anyway. One is Thora Hird, who is playing a character called Granny in 1956, it's almost incomprehensible that she'd still be playing elderly characters on TV fifty years later, she's great though. Gordon Jackson is also in the film too.
What should be an interesting thriller, about a state mandated prison escape leading to the capture of a wanted felon gets hopelessly lost in the mundanity of the second act, so much so that I can't even recall the specifics of if they catch Nick at the end. It's not surprising that a new ending was created for "Blonde Bait" as this one is very underwhelming.
This feels like a step backwards for Hammer, after the horror successes of the last couple of films and I'm glad it doesn't appear to last too long.
Upload: Flesh and Blood (2023)
Season Three Review
In my review of season two of "Upload" I used the term 'grudging completionism' as to why I was still watching it. I think that, had it not been announced that the fourth season will be the last, I'd be drawing a line under it here but, as I'm so close to the end, I will watch the fourth run.
Having uploaded into a real body again, Nathan (Robbie Amell) tries to begin a relationship with Nora (Andy Allo) in the real world. They continue to investigate the business dealings of Horizen, and return disk drives of people to their families but Nathan is hiding that his body may be failing. Panicking about there not being a version of Nathan at Lakeview anymore, Tinsley (Mackenzie Cardwell) restores him from a backup. This back up doesn't remember leaving Ingrid (Allegra Edwards) for Nora, a fact that Ingrid decides to exploit.
My problem remains that "Upload" is neither fish nor fowl. Admittedly mixing genres can work for an interesting and inventive time, but it doesn't here, for me anyway, and "Upload" has too much daft humour to work as a comedy drama, but too much convoluted plot to work as a sitcom. I don't know if it's my brain, that is conditioned to work one way with what I perceive as a comedy, but almost none of the plot points of this show will stick in my head. I don't remember who killed Nathan, I only vaguely remember why, I couldn't remember what the court case that leads into the conclusion of the series was about. It might be that, or it might be that I actually only care about the love story between Nora and Nathan and, like in all these shows, it's another occasion where the show no longer works once that "will they won't they" is concluded. That is slightly untrue though, as I also care about Ingrid, and again it's all the credit to Allegra Edwards that what would have been a one note rich girl character is imbued with enough heart that I sympathise with her.
Let's not go overboard, generally it's amiable enough stuff that I don't hate my time with it, but, as I say, were it not for the confirmation that the show is ending with the next run, I think I've had my fill.
American Horror Stories: Organ (2023)
Season Three (A??) Review
I'm not sure what's really going on with season three of "American Horror Stories". It might have just been truncated by the SAG-AFTRA strike, or that might be it for this run and the show will return with season four at a later date? For now, I'm going to review these as 'season three', and if more are added I'll review those as 'season 3B'.
A young girl is encouraged to acts of violence and self-harm by a friend she meets online. During a pandemic, an art dealer bonds with his new virtual assistant, until she becomes fixated on him. An aspiring model goes to extreme lengths to maintain her weight loss and stay at the top. A sexist womaniser has his kidneys stolen following an online hookup, but a new unidentified organ is there in its place.
I keep saying this about all forms of "American Horror Story" at the moment, both these and the main show, they're not scary - they're just boring. Again, I wonder if the problem with this series is that, what could be a high-profile showcase for new and inventive writers, is largely dominated by the existing team that Ryan Murphy uses. Two episodes of these four are written (or co-written) by Manny Coto, who unfortunately passed away last year, but has been a regular contributor to Murphy's work. The rest are written by regular producers on other Murphy shows.
The scariest is probably the first one "Bestie" and that uses the unfortunate trope of a physical disfigurement as the basis of the horror. That one at least had me guessing as to what might be going on, and I maintain that my idea for the resolution of the episode would have been better. The other three are all painfully obvious from the premise, each of which can be explained in a couple of words and none of which have a resolution worth talking about. The opening credits of each episode remain the best aspect of show, maybe whomever does those should be asked to contribute an episode.
I'm disappointed to learn that I've been alive long enough that Seth Gabel now plays, father of protagonist, rather than slightly unhinged, charismatic protagonist though, that was a shock to the system.
It's an anthology series still, so I guess at any point one could come along and be brilliant, but it still feels like a pedestrian show, unwilling to do anything too interesting or clever to be worthwhile.