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The Last Manhunt (2022)
This is an Artful tale, not a Taylor Sheridan-esque modern Western
Whoever marketed this film needs to be reprimanded. This film has all the hallmarks of old classic storytelling. Slow paced retelling of historical dramas. With Arthouse direction and raw cinematography. It wasn't a masterpiece. But it wasn't supposed to be either. It was a gritty Period Drama.
This films posters have Momoa front and centre and I think that did it a disservice, he cameo'd in a film he co-wrote and that's about all. And the story was served by that decision. It was supposed to be about the story and not a Hollywood lead.
Go into this film expecting a Romeo and Juliet type tragedy and you'll be set. This is not about action, it's about contemplation. In many ways it serves as a neat last rites to the dying Wild West.
The Last of Us: Long, Long Time (2023)
Don't downplay the whole Arc
Undoubtedly this episode of the Last of Us is a total inversion upon its source material. But, ultimately, after two viewings, it's a tasteful rethinking with intended purpose.
You spend roughly two hours of gameplay with Bill in the game. But you learn about him mostly through notes left by Frank and dialogue between him and Ellie.
He serves as a prophecy for what Joel could become if he surrendered to survival and discarded love. It works for the game, because in the game YOU are playing Joel. But for a show I think it would have come off as cold and callous and somewhat dismissive of the humanity that the story has grown to embrace even more with time.
The value that this rendition adds is in three major parts:
Reflection on Loss
Assertion of Survival in the face of that loss
And the remembering of Love as the meaning of life
The episode breathes to life as Joel grieves for Tess, privately, secretly and ashamedly. Ellie also grieves for Tess, privately, secretly and ashamedly. They are both at odds with their emotions about the grief of loss and survival is their current course. Joel tries to orient himself away from guilt and Ellie tries not to lose herself in the sadism of her situation. There is immense growth in their segments of the episodes.
Upon the road we are reminded just how much loss there is for humanity as a whole and how surviving, pushing down emotions can ultimately get you through this world. It can even prevent you ending up in a mass grave.
We jump to Bill, and we see just how effective surviving is. We see how he managed to circumnavigate death and run an entire town alone. But we also see the broken shell of a man. We see someone emotionless and without direction. Someone who had come to hate the world long ago, contrasting heavily with Joel. And then Frank lands in his life. Contrasting with Ellie to Joel.
The love story, whilst beautiful and tasteful, is secondary to the reminder of why it is we survive. It's a nudge to keep Looking for the light.
The complaints I see about this show are that it should be a "zombie story first" but that has never been the case from Neil Druckmans, The Last of Us, beginning with the title, this story is about The Last of Humanity. And this episode managed to set up how humanity surviving at all costs, is not always as valuable as protecting and holding dear what you love.
A theme that by the end of this story, leaves the viewer grappling with their own emotional turmoil,
what would you do to survive?
What would you do for Love?
-and what would you do when faced with losing everything you live for in this world?
A brilliant episode that just lit the coals for the deeper and more painful things to come, and ultimately this stories weighty ending and sequel.
The Northman (2022)
A Spectacle
This movie was a true Viking spectacle. A glorious retelling of Amleth that had me engaged til the end. Dipped in witchcraft, gut punch moments of cruelty, malice and Viking lore, this film has all the hallmarks of a modern mythology masterpiece. My greatest qualm was with Nicole Kidman, whose acting, accents and look were wooden and I feel as though she did not suit the role of the Viking queen. To her credit, she portrays madness well.
This film is the kind of Viking spectacle that makes you crave for more. I didn't want it to end and haven't feel this kind of immersion since the peak of History channels Vikings. It's a must watch, especially for those who prefer their mythology and historical fiction to have the rich allusions to magic and the macabre.
The Watcher (2022)
Ryan Murphy
Ryan Murphy. That's what you need to keep in the forefront of your mind when entering this depiction of the sinister, real-life inspired drama. And don't be fooled, it's a drama first, mystery second.
My biggest gripe with this series is it's heavy lean on a who-done it type approach to what Is in reality, a seriously disturbed, unsolved crime.
Ryan's approach to this story is to rug pull the audience expectations at every turn. Which can be fun. Maybe once or twice, but not six episodes into a seven episode series. You can't have characters die, then un-die with seemingly no consequence. You can't have police both uphold the law and seemingly not care simultaneously. You can't have a security system installed on a house that reveals absolutely nothing to the homeowner. - well you can have all these things. But we're going to lose interest.
The decision to take what is a very real and incredibly creepy story and mash it up with what is the "American horror story" formula makes it fall flat and feel theatrical in nature.
The chilling horror of a menacing unknown is lost behind the drama of a twilight zone-like neighbourhood of eccentric people that have seemingly no basis in reality. The only people who seem to be living on this planet are the children. Which is very Stephen King- but is contrasted by the foolish reveals that make the threat to their lives of very little consequence or concern. They, much like the plot, are one of too-many threads created in this narrative.
The greatest threat to this family, so the story shoves down the throat of the audience, is greed. Coming from all sides. Unfortunately, it's greed in the form of a bloated storyline that ultimately leaves what could have been a beautifully acted and sinister thriller, feeling a little lethargic by the end.
House of the Dragon (2022)
A Song of Fire and Blood... and?
The reason Game of Thrones, both the book and the first series had people across the world hooked was not dragons (because there were none in season 1) - it was not enormous battles (because there were none in season 1)
It was because an extremely intriguing cast of characters, with dynamic backgrounds, clear and concise motivations (or mysterious and elusive ones) played off of each other in dialogue and in contrast. Scenes such as Varys and Littlefinger discussing the succession in the first episode. Tyrion and Jamie jesting about their father. Polticking that gave meat to a world we didn't understand, but quickly wanted to understand.
The opening sequence gave us a map that showed us from where our characters came and played on the great houses.
House of the Dragon assumes because the Targaryens are Targaryens we care about them. The varying houses are all well established, Otto Hightower is a secretive and despicable man... but why? Who is he? Why is he the kings hand? Who is he to the king? These are questions the Game of thrones initial episodes gave us for characters like Ned and his relationship to the baratheons. We understood why Robert Baratheon gave little care to Cersei, because in the opening minutes we see his obsession for Lyanna.
House of the Dragon has failed in its three episodes to explain anything of meaning about Daemon, Rhaenyra, her father, his Hand, his wife...
They are still pretty faces with no backstory, and there is a grand difference between lack of backstory and crafting mystery. One conceals an absence of depth and the other implies there is depth whilst revealing it along the way, piece by piece. So far these characters feel like generic substitutes who happen to carry the last names of characters we once adored.
I hope, because I love the work of Miguel and George and the team at HBO, that they have crafted something of far more substance than has currently been shown to us!