niamsuggitt

[niamsuggitt]

[niamsuggitt]

The Ides Of August 2017

Yo! What’s up? I’ll tell you what’s up, and it’s the goddamn Ides of August! Yeah, that’s right, I’ve written some words about all of the various media I’ve been checking out for the past 30 days. It’s been a bit of a rough month personally (hence this being late), but that does mean I’ve had a lot of time to watch a lot of films, including, for the 2nd month in a row, a trip to the actual in-the-RL cinema.

There’s also the small matter of the return of Game Of Thrones, more Nintendo fun and an intriguing fantasy novel from one of my new favourite writers.

Let’s do this thing.

—

Movies

Lots of movies to talk about this time around! I’ll start with more of my Universal Monsters Box-Set, as I watched 2 of ‘em. First up was The Invisible Man (James Whale 1933). I thoroughly enjoyed this film. The special effect of making Jack Griffin ‘invisible’ were very impressive for the 1930s, and it was refreshing that the main character was basically just an unrepentant dick with his power. He really is a darkly human monster and Claude Rains is a lot of fun and gives a great performance, especially as you never see his face until he’s dead. It was in line with my only previous experience with the character, Moore and O’Neill’s League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, which takes it even further (that rape sequence is horrific). I was also very pleasantly surprised to see Henry Travers, Clarence from It’s A Wonderful Life appear as Dr Cranley.

I then watched Bride Of Frankenstein (James Whale 1935) which was also very good. I really liked the opening sequence, which shows us the real world origins of Frankenstein, as Mary Shelley tells her story in the Villa Diodati. It’s a great moment when it’s revealed that the same actress, Elsa Lanchester plays Shelley and ‘The Bride’. I was less keen on the scenes that basically undo all of the ending of the previous film, as both Frankenstein and the Monster survive, but once Doctor Pretorius appears and the story really kicks in, I was back on board. The main thing people talk about when it comes to this film is the queer subtext, and it really is strong. Pretorious is a very gay-coded character, and you really can read a lot into his and Frankenstein’s relationship. Boris Karloff’s performance as the Monster is just as iconic as ever, and it was great to see him do a bit more in his scenes with the blind hermit. They were like an extended version of the little girl in the first film. I was actually surprised by how little we see of the title character, she appears, screams and dies. But still, it’s another iconic horror moment and an all-time great look. I would say overall that the first film is better, but I can see why some people prefer this film, if you like the auteur theory, there’s a lot more of Whale in this one.

I stuck with the monsters, but got a lot more contemporary next, with Kong: Skull Island (Jordan Vogt-Roberts 2017), which was a lot of fun, if flawed in some ways. I am a big fan of King Kong, going back to some GCSE coursework I did comparing the original film to Peter Jackson’s remake. One thing I appreciated about this film was that it wasn’t a remake, but instead used everyone’s favourite giant Ape to tell a new story, and in particular, an anti-War story. The decision to set this during Vietnam is a great one, and it gave us some fantastic imagery of Kong fighting helicopters. The action scenes here really are great, very stylish and fun. The Vietnam setting also provides a truly great soundtrack that thankfully doesn’t go full-on Suicide Squad in terms of needle-dropping. The main flaw with this film is that some of the characters, in particular Tom Hiddleston and Brie Larson, who are ostensibly the leads are boring and don’t actually do that much. You probably could have removed Hiddleston entirely and it wouldn't change much. Thankfully, the rest of the cast helps to elevate things, with Samuel L Jackson, John Goodman and particularly John C Reilly, who plays a WW2 soldier who’s been trapped on Skull Island for decades delivering great performances. But the real star here is of course Kong, who not only looks real, but is fucking huge, way bigger than other versions. Any time he’s on screen is brilliant, and the fights are, as I said, incredibly cool. I was initially a little wary of this being a shared universe with Godzilla, especially as the tone of this and Gareth Edwards’ film are very different, but I can’t deny that the end credit sequence was cool and the prospect of this Kong and that Godzilla fighting each other is tantalising. I suppose it’s the same as the Marvel and DC cinematic universes, just the idea of Batman Vs Superman or King Kong Vs Godzilla is enough to at least pique my interest. So far the so-called ‘Monsterverse’ is better than the DCEU, but far off the MCU. But it’s only 2 movies!

Speaking of Marvel, I then watched Logan (James Mangold 2017) and was absolutely blown away. It’s not only the best X-Men movie by far, but also one of the best superhero films I’ve seen, and I have seen pretty much all of them at this point. I think what makes Logan so good is that it really has that weight of history that the best superhero stories have behind it. We’ve seen Hugh Jackman as Wolverine and Patrick Stewart as Professor X on our screens for 17 years, nearly 2 decades now. Some people who were able to go to see Logan in the cinema were not even born when X-Men came out. So seeing these characters and actors age and (eventually) die really has an impact on us as a viewer. It also allows Jackman and Stewart to deliver far more nuanced and powerful performances. I can’t see it happening, but Stewart deserves awards recognition in my eyes. His senile Professor X is just heart-breaking. The other great performance in the film comes from Dafne Keen as Laura/X-23, who is fantastic, despite not saying much at all. Her action scenes in particular are excellent and surprising. That applies to much of the film, which really does have some impactful scenes, I really don’t think Logan’s claws caused so much blood to spray in previous films! The story here is refreshingly simple and light on mythology, but it works, and helps tie the story and character into the classic Westerns Mangold is drawing on. There’s a reason why they watch ‘Shane’ in the motel. Wolverine is comics’ original ‘Man with no name’ and this film really is true to those roots, delivering some truly iconic images of the character for me. I really can’t wait to watch it again, but Logan really is a great reminder of how great a character Wolverine is. I love that in 2017 the X-Men franchise, which has given us a fair amount of pablum is, with this and Legion and even Deadpool are stretching the kinds of superhero stories we get on screen.

One director who also stretched the superhero genre is Christopher Nolan, and up next I took a trip to the cinema to see his latest film, Dunkirk (Christopher Nolan 2017) which really gave me a lot to think about. I’m still mulling it over weeks later, which to me is the sign of a good film, and whilst I am conflicted about some of the messages, I really think it’s an incredibly profound and effective experience that really got across the horror of war and the Dunkirk evacuation in particular. Everything, from the soundtrack to the cinematography really put you in the shoes of the soldiers and I felt incredibly tense throughout. I particularly liked that this was a WW2 movie where you don’t see a single Nazi soldier. You see some planes, but that’s it. The threat they pose is all-encompassing, and you don’t know where they are coming from. All you get is the bombs, or the bullets coming through the hull of the ship. It really helps the paranoia and isolation the men must have felt, and means you can buy the scene where Harry Styles thinks Aneurin Barnard might be a spy (he turns out to be French). The way Nolan shot the aerial battle sequences and the sea also contributed to that feeling, where they are actually rather empty. At times, the English Channel looked like that endless ocean planet from his previous film, Interstellar! I thought the performances from everyone were very strong, whether from acting heavyweights like Branagh, Rylance and Hardy, or the younger actors. I mentioned Harry Styles earlier, and he’s actually very good here, and I think his casting works on a meta-level as well, because if Styles were to have been alive back in 1940, he wouldn’t have been able to become a popstar, he would have gone off to war. It really made me think about, despite the many problems of 2017, how lucky we are to be around today as opposed to then, something I was already thinking about given that the 100th Anniversary of Passchendaele happened the same week. My great-grandfather fought there when he was younger than I am now! That’s why I think the message of Dunkirk is a powerful one, it shows that even in retreat, we hailed these soldiers as heroes and eventually regrouped and won the War. It’s not jingoistic like many war films, contrary to what Nigel Farage may tweet! My only real issue is that it took me a while to work out how all of the storylines were taking place at different timescales and not at the same time, so when Cillian Murphy interacted with Fionn Whitehead’s character I was very confused, but I think that’s more on me that the film! Overall, Dunkirk worked for me, and is probably my favourite Nolan film since Inception.

Things are getting a bit heavy, so let’s lighten up with Moana (Ron Clements and John Musker 2016), another thoroughly delightful Disney musical from the same team that gave us Frozen and Tangled. This was a funny and fun romp with some great animation and a very strong vocal performance from The Rock as Maui. One thing I appreciated about this film is that it bucked the trend of Disney Princess stories and didn’t feature any romance at all really. Moana’s journey is to help her family and her people, not to fall in love, which is a modern touch I appreciated. The music was good, nothing here is quite as immediately iconic as ‘Let It Go’, but I found ‘How Far I’ll Go’ and ‘I Am Moana’ to be powerful songs. I’m obviously not the target audience for these films anymore, but this is certainly one of the better kids cartoons I’ve seen lately. There are enough jokes to get you through, and like I mentioned, the animation and look of this is brilliant. At times it reminded me of The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and there can’t be much higher praise than that!

Nearly done! I then watched The Incredible Jessica James (James C. Strouse 2017) on Netflix, and found it to be a very strong, modern romantic comedy with a truly great central performance from Jessica Williams. I had liked Williams as a correspondent on The Daily Show, but she really shows she can act here, as she really shines in every scene of this. She’s not only very funny, but able to handle the more dramatic parts of the story too. Not that this story is incredibly dramatic, it’s actually very straight-forward, and I imagine that many people are sick to death of hip sexy young people falling in love in Brooklyn. For me though, the performance of Williams elevates this above those familiar elements. The supporting cast is also strong, Noel Wells from Master Of None is great, and whilst I still find it weird that Chris O’Dowd is getting so many Hollywood Rom-Com roles, he’s great too. And of course Lakeith Stanfield is good as Jessica’s ex, he’s showing up in more and more lately, and he’s always good. It’s going to be a long wait for more Atlanta. I also liked how this film used social media. So much of modern romance is done online, and making Tinder, or unfollowing your ex on Instagram a plot point was intriguing, and something I want to see more of. It felt much more true to life than many films, and hopefully won’t date things too much. This isn’t ‘You’ve Got Mail’.

And finally, I re-watched Get Out (Jordan Peele 2017) again on DVD and enjoyed it just as much the second time around. Particularly how knowing the twist allows you to see earlier scenes in a new light. Like when you first see Allison Williams convince the Cop not to check Chris’ ID, you think she’s being cool and not-racist. But then you realise… she doesn’t want the Cop to know Chris was with her so they can trap him! Genius.

Television

There’s really only one place to start with TV, and that’s the return of Game Of Thrones (HBO) for it’s penultimate season. I am sort of conflicted about the season so far. On the one hand, GoT remains the best-looking, most lavish TV show on the air right now, and it’s gotten even bigger this year. The Dragon attack on the Lannister Army in Episode 4 was one of the most epic things I’ve seen on the small screen, and can probably rival most movies in terms of the CGI on the Dragons. It’s also been fantastic to see so many long-awaited moments and reunions, it’s been literally years since the likes of Arya, Bran and Sansa have been in the same place. The same goes for Tyrion and Jaime. And it’s been a lot of fun to see Daenerys actually interact with characters she’s never ever met before like Jon Snow and to see the series really cut to the meat of the story there. But therein lies my big issue with the season, and I think it’s because we really are ahead of the books now and we lack that wider context for these bigger moments. Because the show moves at a much quicker pace and has changed a lot of elements, previously, when they did that, we as fans knew the wider context and meaning because we had seen it in the books. But now, we haven’t, so things are just… happening. Awesome things for sure, but I can’t help but think that George RR Martin’s original versions will be better. The books have always been more humane and had more heart than the show, which takes the cynicism and darkness a bit too far. It’s odd, initially I thought that the show getting ahead of the source material would lessen my excitement for Books 6 and 7, but it’s having the opposite effect, I now want to read The Winds Of Winter more than ever. It’s certainly going to be different, especially because the show has cut so much meat off the bone. But I’m supposed to reviewing the show, not hypothetical novels. What else? I think the show has taken another step up in terms of editing and directing, I think that freedom from the novels has allowed them to do different things, like the toilet cleaning montage with Sam in the Citadel. That was a great sequence, and one I think they should do more of. Not the shit, but the montage, especially since so many people are complaining about how quickly people seem to move across Westeros now when compared to previous years. I don’t mind that too much, but it does add to that feeling off things just happening. But nevertheless, Game Of Thrones remains one of the best things out there in any media. I can’t quite believe there’s only 2 episodes to go this year. Hopefully by the time Season 8 rolls around my issues will have been resolved because I’ll have ben able to read that book!

Also in terms of new stuff, I watched the premiere of the revived DuckTales (Disney XD) and very much enjoyed it. Like most people of my age, I watched the original when I was a kid (even though it ended in 1990, UK Kid’s TV still repeated it a lot), particularly the movie where they get a Genie Duck, and as an adult I’ve gained a new appreciation of the Duck Family thanks to learning about the importance of the Carl Barks and later Don Rosa comics. I try to fight against my own nostalgia a lot of the time, but when that classic theme tune hit, I was hit with a proustian rush of it, it was great. But even as an adult, this new show has a lot going for it. It’s funny, the animation is strong and the voice acting is great across the board. David Tennant as Scrooge McDuck is one of those choices that is almost too good and having Danny Pudi, Ben Schwartz and Bobby Moynihan play Huey, Dewey and Louie is also great fun. It is a bit weird that Donald Duck is the only one to speak in the classic way, but I think it works because Donald really is a unique weirdo. The show isn’t back properly until September, but I’ll certainly watch it, if only to hear Paul F. Tompkins appear as Gladstone Gander.

Now for another cartoon about kids going on adventures with an older relative that has an entirely different tone… Rick And Morty (Adult Swim) is properly back for Season 3 now after the premiere on April Fool’s Day. So far I’m really enjoying this year, because it’s just as insane as previous years, but also delving far more into the darkness at the heart of the characters. This week’s superhero episode was just fantastic, not just because the superhero parody element was so good, but also because of how Rick was just straight up the villain. Pickle Rick was also a standout episode. The violence was insane (I think the rat slaughter shocked me more than the Dragon War in the same night’s Game Of Thrones) and the discussion of therapy at the end was just incredibly bleak. I can understand why some people are thinking the show has been fumbling a bit this year, but I’m still digging it, and it’s certainly not going down the same path Season 3 of Community did. At least not yet. I hope Dan Harmon can break his cycle of going up his own ass, and so far, for me, he has. Perhaps it’s going up Justin Roiland’s ass instead? And that’s just a better ass?

In terms of continuing shows, Preacher (AMC) is still thoroughly enjoyable in Season 2. I am a bit disappointed that we aren’t actually getting to the road trip aspect of the show, and instead have spent most of it inside a dingy New Orleans apartment, but I suppose that’s budgetary. The actual story has been very good, with the threats of the Saint Of Killers and Herr Starr and The Grail being handled very well, and faithfully to the comics. The character work has also been very strong, Jesse, Tulip and Cassidy have all had to deal with some heavy shit, and it’s been very interesting. I’m particularly worried about what is going to happen with Cassidy and his son Dennis, who has become a Vampire too. It’s going to be tragic. This character focus is really the best thing about the show, because like I’ve said before, whilst, story-wise, it’s very different from the comics, in terms of characterisation and tone, it’s incredibly faithful to Ennis and Dillon. I think that’s why I don’t mind the divergences here as much as I do in Game Of Thrones.

Now for my catch-up viewing! I finally got around to the last 3 episodes of the first series of Inside No. 9 (BBC Two) on DVD, and thoroughly enjoyed all of them. It’s just great to have each episode be entirely different. ‘Last Gasp’ was perhaps the worst of the series, but it was still enjoyable and had a great performance from Tamsin Greig. ‘The Understudy’ was a great Shakespearean send-up and man, the final episode, ‘The Harrowing’ was a real shock. It was barely a comedy, just straight-up horror. I kept waiting for the comedic twist to come, and it never did! Brilliant stuff. I have Series 2 to watch and then I’ll have to buy the 3rd. I really can’t believe I didn’t watch this when it originally aired, what was I thinking?

I’ve also finally tackled Vikings (History Channel) Season 3. I watched the first 2 seasons in fairly quick succession last year, but somehow never found the time to continue. Now I have that bit of time, and also an iPad so I’ve been streaming the shit out of Ragnar and his friends. I really enjoyed this season, Vikings has always been very consistent, but it took a step-up here I think. Travis Fimmel’s Ragnar remains a very underrated performance, you never know what he’s planning, and I also continue to thoroughly enjoy King Ecbert’s scheming. It’s going to be very satisfying if and when he finally gets his. I also like how the series continues to surprise by having events that you’d think would be save for a climactic finale happen at unusual junctures. Big characters that have been around since the first episodes die in the 3rd and 6th episodes of the season, and it really does keep you on your toes. So much so that I almost bought Ragnar’s ‘death’ in the finale, before realising it was just a ploy to get into Paris. The whole Paris storyline was great, in particular the battle scenes. The one that took up pretty much an entire episode, ‘To The Gates’ was just brilliant, and really bears comparison to some of the best battles in Game Of Thrones or Spartacus. The new French Villains are less exciting (Count Odo’s sadomasochism came a bit out of nowhere, and it was weird how only that scene in the entire series had nudity right?) but I imagine they will be fleshed out in Season 4. The same thing happened with The Saxons. The only real negative in this season was the weird appearance of Kevin Durand as a character who might be the actual Odin. In a series where the conflict between the Norse Gods and Christianity plays such a big role, having one side appear as ‘real’ just didn’t work for me.

Music

Only one CD to talk about this month, but it’s kind of a big deal, in that it’s the new one from Arcade Fire, one of the world’s biggest bands. So far I haven’t been able to listen to Everything Now (Sonovox/Columbia 2017) as many times as I’d like (though I am listening to it now as I type this. Right now. Right… now) but I think I like it rather more than what the general consensus seems to be, and certainly think it’s a return to form after ‘Reflektor’ which I never fell in love with. It’s not up there with ‘The Suburbs’ or ‘Funeral’, but frankly, few albums are. For me, this is a very enjoyable record with some interesting new developments for the band. Yeah, the title track does sound rather a lot like Abba, but I don’t mind that, and I would put ‘Signs Of Life’ up there with Arcade Fire’s best songs. You can really tell that Thomas Bangalter from Daft Punk produced those tracks, they feel much more dancey. I do think some of the meaning behind the songs and the cultural commentary is a bit wanky, but on the record itself, it doesn’t get in front of the music itself. I think Arcade Fire are kind of suffering from Jonathan Franzen-syndrome, where people focus way more on the interviews and news around the work, than the work itself. Who cares about fidget spinners and whether or not they enforced a dress code or if it was a joke or not. Just listen to the music and forget about ‘the discourse’. I know it’s hard, and I’ve certainly failed to do that here, but still, I’m going to make an effort.

Books

I’m going to keep this short because I wrote more general thoughts last week, but I really did blast through the back half of 33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History Of Protest Songs (2010) by Dorian Lynskey. It’s a fantastically readable book and even though it’s over 500 pages long, it never felt like a chore. I was up the the 1970s last time, and this month I read from then, through the 80s and 90s and up to Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’. The focus of the book spreads a bit wider, as the focus of the protest movements becomes harder to define and the culture as a whole became more diffuse. So the chapter that is nominally about U2’s ‘Pride (In The Name Of Love)’ is actually more about Bruce Springsteen and Live Aid than those loveable lads from Liverpool, and the Steve Earle track becomes about the musical response to 9/11 and the Iraq War as a whole. It’s still interesting, but does lack the immediacy of the anti-Vietnam and Civil Rights songs from earlier. If anything, that’s my only criticism of the book, in that Lynskey’s history only goes up to 2003, and is a bit too much a part of the ‘end of history’ neoliberal consensus era. With recent events showing that to have been completely wrong-headed, this is one history that will certainly benefit from an update in a few years, once we’re able to see the true impact of Trump and Brexit and all of the other huge events. That’s if there any good protest songs to come of the current climate? Last month I said there aren’t any and that’s still the case. Maybe Lynskey could sub in a podcast and write about Chapo Trap House?

I then took a turn back into fiction, in particular fantasy with Saladin Ahmed’s Throne Of The Crescent Moon (2012). I picked this up after being very impressed by the first few issues of Ahmed’s Black Bolt, which he does, along with the amazing artist Christian Ward for Marvel. He’s giving new life to the Inhuman King, and it’s probably the best comic to come along as part of the big Inhuman push we’ve had over the last few years (I sort of don’t count Ms. Marvel or Moon Girl as Inhuman books, even though I probably should). This novel is a fantasy, but what sets it apart from the standard is that it isn’t set in a quasi-medieval European setting, but in a Middle Easternish universe. A lot of fantasy novels have these oriental settings, but most of them are set apart from the ‘real’ action, like Game Of Thrones’ ‘Essos’, but here, the main focus is the magical Arabian Nights, and I found the setting to be very interesting, and something cool and different. But setting is only a part of it, the characters Ahmed uses to populate his world are well-developed, and I found Adoulla to be a very strong central character that went against cliche. He’s not a young chosen one, he’s a middle-aged magician who can’t really be bothered. I think the closest comparison I can think of for Ahmed’s book is Scott Lynch’s ‘The Lies Of Locke Lamora’, as both are not sprawling epics where people go on quests, but tighter stories where the action mainly takes place in a bustling metropolis. The scope of this story is a lot smaller than I expected, but that just means the focus is sharp. You can certainly tell there is a wider world going on, and I am excited to see how that is developed in future novels. If you like modern fantasy and what something with a little different spin on it, this is definitely worth a read, and it won’t take 3 months to read like a lot of others. And seriously, pick up Black Bolt, it is great.

Games

I feel like I’m finally getting into the real meat of The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (Nintendo Switch 2017) as I’ve actually started to do the main quest instead of randomly dicking around Hyrule. I’m now doing one of the ‘Great Beast’ stories having accidentally ran into a Zora during some of that aforementioned dicking around. It’s a bit of an adjustment going to a bit more of a traditional Zelda structure here, but I do welcome it. At times, the sheer scale of the game can be a bit overwhelming and I can't decide what to do. I wen through the same thing with GTA V if I recall correctly, before eventually knuckling down and completing the thing. I don’t have anything else to really say about how good this game is though, it’s superb and at this stage I’m just going to be updating you on my progress. I hope it doesn’t take too long, it took me over a year to beat Ocarina Of Time, and that’s a much smaller game! But then again, I was 12 then.

I’ve also played a bit more of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo Switch 2017) as my Cousin is back from China and wanted to play. It’s so much fun, particularly on multi-player and I’m enjoying slowly but surely unlocking more cool vehicles and extra stuff to play as. I also really like the fact that some classic tracks from older games are on here. I didn’t realise how well I remembered Mario Kart Super Circuit from the GBA, but it’s been buried there in my sub-conscious all this time.

And finally, I bought an Apple iPad this month! I’ve been meaning to get one for ages and I had a bit of a cash surplus so decided to be spontaneous. So far I’ve mainly used it for streaming video and surfing the web, but I do have one game, Football Manager Touch 2017 (iOS 2016). So far I’m very impressed, it’s exactly the same as the classic Football Manager… only on the iPad! For me, FM has gotten a bit too fiddly on the computer in the last few years, so this slightly more streamlined version is welcome. I just hope I don’t get too addicted like I have to past incarnations. I’m thinking the portable nature of the iPad will help with that, I can’t play for hours on end because the battery will run out! I’m only in pre-season with Sheffield Wednesday so far, but I did win one friendly 5-0, I’m definitely going to smash promotion, I can tell.

—

So there you have it. I’ll be back in September. Dunno what I’ll have to talk about, I’m in a bit of a funk so probably just… ‘I played Football Manager for a month straight and now it’s the year 2040 and everyone’s a regen’. I saw an article on Vice the other day where 2 guys played a Management sim for a thousand in-game years. This is my goal.

See you then!

#The Ides Of #August #2017 #Movies #The Invisible Man #Logan #Bride Of Frankenstein #Kong: Skull Island #Moana #Dunkirk #Get Out #The Incredible Jessica James #TV #Game Of Thrones #Preacher #Inside No. 9 #Vikings #Rick And Morty #DuckTales #Music #Arcade Fire #Books #Dorian Lynskey #Saladin Ahmed #Games #The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild #Mario Kart 8 Deluxe #Football Manager Touch 2017

[niamsuggitt]

The Ides Of July 2017

Hey guys! It’s time once again for The Ides Of, but this is a shorter column than usual. What can I say, it’s summer, there’s less TV on and I’ve been outside at least once. Don’t get me wrong, there’s still some damn good stuff in here,  but there’s notably less.

Part of me feels like I should compensate with a longer, ramblier introduction, but nah, let’s get on with it.

(Is ‘ramblier’ even a word? I don’t think it is. More rambly? No, that’s not right either.)

—

Movies

I began the month by watching John Wick: Chapter 2 (Chad Stahelski 2017), which picks up pretty much right where the first film left off, and doesn’t let go for the entire running time. It’s another hugely enjoyable action movie with some fantastic set pieces and a brilliant, central performance from Keanu Reeves. I would probably say it was a step down from Chapter 1, if only because it hits a lot of the same beats and doesn’t come out of nowhere as being surprisingly awesome. I think what makes these films work is the very slow, deliberate world-building that goes on around the rather basic revenge plotlines. John Wick’s world of assassins has a definite fantasy twist to it, and every new rule, every new artefact we see, such as ‘markers’ only asks more questions, and I think that feeling of only just scratching the surface of a mystery is very powerful. It’s why I think the fervour of my fandom for a new world is always at it’s highest right at the start. When every page is a new discovery. In John Wick,  both chapters, every scene is a new discovery. It’s why I’m both excited and nervous about the upcoming John Wick comics (even if they are by the excellent Greg Pak) and the possibility of a TV show. I want things to remain murky here. I mentioned Keanu earlier, but the rest of the cast is also great, with standouts being Ian McShane (of fucking course), Peter Serafinowicz and a very cool Matrix reunion with Reeves and Laurence Fishburne.  These John Wick movies are just a lot of fun, very cool action, strong (albeit, as I said, simple) stories and just that hint of something higher.

I then watched La La Land (Damien Chazelle 2016), finally getting around to one of this year’s big Oscar contenders after months and months of hearing and reading some rather heated debate. Now that we’re a bit removed from all that, I have to say that La La Land is a thoroughly enjoyable movie that deserves a lot of the praise it received and, in my view, not as much criticism. The opening musical sequence is just a delight, a blast of classic Hollywood movie magic in that most prosaic of places… a traffic jam. That sense of old-school big musical carries throughout, and whilst at times I feel like the balance between that and the more modern, plotty scenes is a bit off, it works more than it doesn’t.  All of the musical numbers are excellent, sticking in my head after the film, and I enjoyed how they fit into the story of Seb and Mia, both of whom are interesting, flawed characters with strong performances from Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. At first I was surprised that Stone won an Oscar here, because it’s not the kind of role that normally wins the big awards, but in a way, that makes it even better. She just sells the whole conceit here so well. One thing I found interesting is that the movie uses the classic Hollywood musical romance style to tell the story of a relationship that doesn’t end up working out. The two main characters aren’t able to live their professional dreams together. They have to sacrifice their being together to be successful in their own fields of acting and Jazz music (speak of the Jazz thing, that whole ‘La La Land white mansplains Jazz’ thing was way overblown, yes, Seb does do that a bit, but 2, 3 scenes later, John Legend’s character disagrees with him, and is shown to be correct!). I am conflicted about that final scene, where they idealise their romance and we see how it ‘could’ have gone. I can’t quite parse the meaning just yet. But overall, La La Land is great, effortlessly charming, with a directorial style and panache that hasn’t been discussed enough I don’t think. I think I definitely need to see ‘Moonlight’ now, just to see how they stack up. La La Land is good for sure, but I can see why others didn’t like it and don’t see it as ‘worthy’. Hopefully we can forget about that now and just appreciate what an experience it is.

And finally, I went to the cinema to see Spider-Man: Homecoming (Jon Watts 2017) and it should be no surprise at this point that I loved it. Not only do I like basically every MCU film, Spider-Man is my overall favourite superhero, so having him get his own story in that universe is just what dreams are made of for this particular dork, particularly after the relative let-down of the Amazing Spider-Man movies. I would probably say that Homecoming isn’t as good as an overall film as the first 2 Raimis (particularly Spider-Man 2), but that MCU connection gives it that extra edge. Think about it, when people talk about what makes Spider-Man so special, it’s pretty much always in comparison to other superheroes. Compared to Captain America and Thor his life’s a mess. A young kid can’t identify with Batman, but they can with Spidey. Superman’s costume shows his face, but Spider-Man’s hides his, so it could be anyone under there! Spider-Man’s charm is that he’s not like other heroes, so, as good as Raimi was, given that Spider-Man is the only hero in those films, that charm is missing. Lest we forget, the very first issue of Amazing Spider-Man sees Spider try, and fail, to join the Fantastic Four. This film follows a similar path, although swap out the FF for the Avengers. Post-Civil War, Peter Parker is desperate to join the Avengers and be like Iron Man. But throughout the course of the film, he, and the audience, realise that isn’t where Spider-Man is supposed to go. He has his own corner of the Marvel Universe. A friendly neighbourhood if you will! Basically everything in this movie works. I’ll start first by saying that Tom Holland is pretty much perfect. He showed that already in Civil War, but man, he doesn’t drop the ball here. He is funny, endearing, clever and heroic. Basically, he is Spider-Man. The cameos from Robert Downey Jnr’s Tony Stark are just enough, and the way other Avengers make their presence known is just hilarious. I thought Michael Keaton was brilliant as The Vulture, making the character understandable but also very menacing. But of course, with Spider-Man, it’s not just about the superhero action, but also about the personal drama, and I think Homecoming does the best of any adaptation at nailing Peter Parker’s home-life. The scenes between Peter and (the still disarmingly hot) Aunt May are great, hinting at the tragedy that binds them, but not dragged down by them. All of the high school stuff and characters are fantastic, feeling like the best combination of the classic Lee/Ditko days and the more modern, Ultimate Spider-Man. I mean, Ned is basically just Miles Morales’ best friend Ganke (speaking of Miles, loved the reference to him with Donald Glover’s character) and the new spins given to Liz, Flash Thompson, Betty Brant and MJ are great.   I really loved Zendaya’s performance as ‘Michelle’ here, she’s a different kind of love interest, in that she barely is one at all! She came out of nowhere to be perhaps the funniest character in the film. And man, is it funny, that’s another thing Homecoming delivers where other films perhaps didn’t, the humour. The MCU is always comedic, but this is taken to another level. Can you tell I really liked this movie? I watched it after a tough week personally, and it really turned things around. Spider-Man has always taught me a lot about how to live my life, and it’s great that he continues to do so. I hope Tom Holland is inspiring a new generation of kids.

Television

Given that it’s Summah, there’s not as much TV as there usually is, but what there is to talk about is good stuff. The only returning show for me at the moment is Preacher (AMC) which is back with one hell of a bang. This second season has the series feeling a lot more confident, both in it’s ability to stick closer to the comics now that we’ve left Annville behind, but also in how it deviates from the source material. Whilst I enjoyed Season 1, Preacher really should be a road trip story, and that element is front and centre, as Jesse, Tulip and Cassidy search across America for God. Not only are they being followed by the Saint Of Killers, but recent episodes have begun to introduce my favourite antagonists from the comics, Herr Starr and The Grail. The fact that their introduction has been somewhat surprising is a sign of how good this show can be. It is familiar, but also able to give me something new. I said this a lot last year, but whilst the story may differ, the tone of this show is pure uncut Ennis and Dillon, and that’s hard to beat. The opening sequence of the Season Premiere was just the perfect mix of comedy, gross-out and violence. It blew me away. I continue to love the central performances from Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga and Joe Gilgun. I don’t think any of them are likely to get Awards consideration, but they deserve it for me. The only real negative for me so far this season has been the Eugene/Arseface storyline, where we see what he’s up to in Hell. I get what they were trying to do, but making Hitler a sympathetic character doesn’t really work. It just felt like the wrong kind of ‘offensive’ for Preacher. But the sequences showing Eugene reliving his worst memory were some of the best the show has done. Preacher is a series that’s not for everyone, but as a fan of the comics, I really enjoy it a lot, Rogen and Goldberg continue to grow and evolve the show, and it’s really very exciting.

I also watched 2 Netflix originals in their entireties. First was Five Came Back (Netflix), a 3-part documentary series about the filmmaking exploits of 5 famous Hollywood Directors during WW2; John Ford, William Wyler, John Huston, Frank Capra and George Stevens. The series uses a lot of fascinating archival footage, and also pairs each of the 5 with a modern director; Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Guillermo Del Toro, Lawrence Kasan and Paul Greengrass. I found this to be a fantastic, powerful documentary, which made me look at not just these individual directors differently, but also see cinema as a whole and WW2 in a new light. The first episode is a little slow, introducing us to the 5 men’s lives before the War, but the later episodes are on a whole other level, and just blew me away with the footage they shot. One thing that really brings it home is the fact that a lot of what, particularly Ford and Stevens shot, was in colour. You don’t often see WW2 in colour, but it made it feel so much more real and effective. The football of Dachau concentration camp in colour was particularly harrowing. You just don’t expect to see that in colour. It was incredibly powerful and you really see why, after his experiences, George Stevens felt he was no longer able to direct comedy films, and instead only did drama from then on. It changed him so deeply. One thing that’s particularly cool about this series is that Netflix have also put a lot of the propaganda films the Directors made on the site as well. I haven’t watched any yet, but I am intrigued. It’s certainly made me more interested in their wider careers. I’ve seen most of Ford and Capra’s big pictures, but the likes of Wyler, Huston (who I know more as an actor) and Stevens I don’t think I’ve see any films of. If anyone can show me how I can see ‘The Best Years Of Our Lives’ in the UK, let me know, it looks like a fantastic counter piece to ‘It’s A Wonderful Life’. If you have any interest in the golden age of Cinema or WW2, you have to watch this series, it is a superb examination of both.

Over the space of just about 3 weeks I watched every episode of GLOW (Netflix), which really is fantastic. Given that I like the bastard art form that is professional wrestling, I was already pre-disposed to liking this series, but it transcends that to become a top quality series in it’s own right that, actually acts as a fantastic explanation of why ‘sports entertainment’ works. If you have any friends or family that don’t quite get it, I think GLOW, rather than any 5-star match or amazing promo will help you explain. Over the course of 10 episodes GLOW introduces some truly fantastic characters, delivers some brilliantly funny moments and also provides enough depth and drama so as not to be ridiculous. The way the series plays with stereotypes is just excellent, as pretty much everyone defies your expectations. The central performances from Alison Brie, Marc Maron and Betty Gilpin are the standouts, but really, everyone is good. I was very surprised to see UK pop star Kate Nash appear as Rhonda. I had no idea she could even act, but she was hilarious in all her scenes. It was also great to see Knives Chau from Scott Pilgrim, Ellen Wong appear, and as a fan of the much maligned 3rd season of Veronica Mars and poor Piz, Chris Lowell was fun as Bash. But the main thing here is Brie, whose Ruth is just one of the great modern TV protagonists. She manages to be both sympathetic and also an awful person at times, and it was great to see her slowly get her confidence back as she develops the ‘Zoya The Destroya’ persona. Her Russian heel accent is so damn good. One thing I liked is that the show treated Wrestling seriously, and that the matches we do see were kind of good, by 80s standards. It was great to see so many cameos from real wrestlers, the likes of Johnny Mundo, Tyrus, Carlito, Joey Ryan, Alex Riley (surprisingly good? How did this happen, he was so bad!), Kazarian and Daniels and of course, Awesome Kong/Kharma, who plays the biggest role in the series. GLOW is just a fun ride from start to finish, and I think it’s probably the best paced Netflix show I’ve watched. Most of their shows, as much as I enjoy them, tend to lag in the middle, but with this? I could have easily watched 3, 4 more episodes. Perhaps it’s the 1980s setting? Both this and Stranger Things kept the pace. I can’t wait for a second season, and man, if WWE knows what they’re doing, they should try and get some of the stars of GLOW to appear at Summerslam a la Stephen Amell. I mean, Smackdown already has a sexy Russian villain and a heroic champion who literally feels the Glow. It makes almost too much sense.

Now for some quick hits!

The 2-part iZombie (The CW) was really excellent, and set the series up for a very different 4th season next year. Zombies are now public knowledge, and a significant proportion of Seattle’s population are now Zombies. This is what the series has sort of been building to all along, but I don’t know if I ever actually expected it to happen. Now that it has, I am very excited to see what it will be like. Part of me will miss the classic dynamic of eating brains and solving crimes, but I have faith that the writers can keep the sense of humour and we won’t lose what makes the show fun.

The finale of American Gods (Starz) was very strong, particularly for an amazing Ian McShane monologue, the appearance of several Jesuses (Jesi?) and another brilliantly stylish flashback sequence focusing on Bilquis, but man, 8 episodes was too short a season, I feel like Fuller and Green have only just gotten started! Part of me thinks I should re-read Gaiman’s novel before Season 2, but I also like the fact that my memory is so hazy, it means I can still be surprised, like Preacher. These 2 shows actually have quite a few similarities now that I think about it.

Silicon Valley (HBO) ended it’s 4th season with the departure of one the main characters, Ehrlich Bachman, and I have to say it was bittersweet. I will mis T.J. Miller’s scene-stealing performance, but they way he left? Just abandoned by Gavin in Tibet to do drugs? It was so damn funny. I hope the series will be as strong without him, I think it might actually help them shake things up a bit and allow the plot to progress a bit more, because whilst this series is always funny, Season 4 did feel a bit like ‘2 steps forward, 1 step back’ at times.

The last few episodes of Veep (HBO) Season 6 were a bit like that too, although probably intentionally? Especially given that the finale featured flashbacks to throughout Selina’s political career. I am wary of her running for President again, but at this point I could watch these actors do anything, they are so funny, and I think that David Mandel and his writers, whilst different from Iannucci, have a firm handle on them. Veep is just a comedic classic at this point, and if a Presidential comedy can still be funny in the age of Trump, it really is good.

Music

Two albums to talk about this month, and both a returns for recent favourites of mine. First up is How Did We Get So Dark? (Warner Bros. Records 2017), the second album from Royal Blood. With this record, the Brighton two-piece don’t exactly reinvent the wheel, once more delivering 10 blistering rock tracks in the space of about 35 minutes. But when the wheel you’ve already got is so damn good, then it doesn’t really matter does it? This is another great collection of rock songs, that hit hard and stick in your memory. Given that this is reportedly a break-up album, the subject matter of the songs is probably a little darker than the self-titled debut, but with Royal Blood, the lyrics tend not to matter as much as the feel of the song, of the bass and the drums just kicking in your face. I would say my my favourite song on here is probably ‘Hook, Line And Sinker’, but the title track is also great, and really, they’re all excellent. I suppose it would have been interesting to see what a more experimental Royal Blood album would be like, but for now, I’m fine with a bit more of their formula. If they haven’t changed after 2 or 3 more albums, then I’ll be worried.

Public Service Broadcasting’s Every Valley (PIAS Recordings 2017) does however represent a rather big evolution for the band in question, as they are now no longer sampling old films and documentaries, but actually feature some singing! This record is another concept album, with the band once again examining an area of history. One might think that Welsh Mining would be nowhere near as exciting as ‘The Race For Space’, but it turns out it is, and, in my opinion at least, makes for a better album, their best yet. Given the current surge in left-wing politics in this country, this is now a very timely album and one that has resonated with me a lot. One of my great-grandfathers was a miner, albeit not in Wales, so there’s that personal connection too. The mines allowed so many working class people to provide for their families, and that allowed subsequent generations to prosper, leading to my generation of the family being far more middle class and comfortable. When the mines and other industries were gone, I think Britain lost that social mobility, and we need to bring that back. Enough politics though, what about the music? It’s fantastic, with PSB’s familiar excellent musicianship married not only with iconic, memorable samples, but as I said, also with some original singing from some great guest-stars, such as Tracyanne Campbell from Camera Obscura and James Dean Bradfield of The Manic Street Preachers. However I think the best song features singing from the band itself, as J. Willgoose Esq himself duets with Lisa Jen Brown on the heartbreaking ‘You + Me’. That song is just wonderful even outside of the concept. It has extra meaning because of the other songs around it, but can stand alone I think. The same can also be said for the final track, ‘Take Me Home’, which features a resounding chorus from a real Welsh men’s choir. The last few tracks here, after the strikes and after the mines have been shuttered just wreck me. I almost cried when I first heard them. This is just a wonderful album, from a brilliant band that always impress and look to do new things. They could easily be a novelty, gimmick band, but this shows they are so much more.

Books

Not to toot my own horn too much, but sometimes I can be an astute, intuitive motherfucker. Last month, when talking about Moonglow (2016) by Michael Chabon, I wrote that it reminded me a lot of Gravity’s Rainbow. Well, only a few pages later… Chabon brings up that book in the text! That brought a real smile to my face, as did the rest of this novel, as well as a fair few tears. Chabon’s depiction of his grandfather’s life comes together very well, telling a fascinating story about some very interesting people. The revelation of just what Chabon’s grandmother’s secret was blew me away, especially in the rather nonchalant way it was explained. It wasn’t some big bomb-shell (this book has enough literal ones of those!) but a slow unravelling. Like I said, it was emotional, and I can only imagine what it was like for Michael Chabon and his family to discover and for him to write about. This is a very strong book from a brilliant writer, yes, it’s a deeply personal story about his family, but I think the themes brought up are applicable to almost anyone. It certainly made me reflect on my relationships with my parents and particularly my grandparents. All 4 of them are dead now, but I certainly feel like I should speak to my Dad and Aunts and Uncles to get a better sense of where I come from.

I’m currently reading Dorian Lynskey’s 33 Revolutions Per Minute: A History Of Protest Songs (2010), which is, as the title would suggest, a history of protest music throughout the 20th century. Lynskey writes about 33 songs and how they reflected and even formed social change. This is a very interesting read, and in these politically tumultuous times, one that feels very vital, even if it is 7 years old. One thing that I appreciate here is the breadth of songs Lynskey chooses to write about. Some of them are very familiar to me, like ‘Strange Fruit’ or ‘Give Peace A Chance’ and others I’ve never heard of! I’m excited to find out more, and luckily, every song in this book apart from one is on Apple Music, so I’ve been able to compile a playlist so after reading a chapter I can listen to the actual song. I’m currently just getting up to the 1970s, with the next chapter to read being ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televised’ by Gil Scott-Heron, which is just a classic. Of course, this book is more than just a music book, and instead reflects the changes in Western, particularly American, society.  A lot of these early chapters are about Civil Rights, and then Vietnam. From reading the contents,  that’s going to evolve into Gay Rights, and feminism, and many other causes. Every chapter teaches me something new, not just about the musicians, but about the protest movements themselves. The only negative thing really is that reading this book has shone a light on the fact that our current political climate is sorely missing any good protest songs. The final chapter in this book is Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’, and that song is nearly 15 years old! I think it’s because the left is so much more cynical nowadays, when we see a song with a ‘message’, we dismiss it as preachy and smug? That’s certainly what I tend to think,  but then again, I do like a lot of the songs in this book! I suppose if he did an update Lynskey could write about ‘Oooohhhh, Jeremy Corbyn’ to the tune of Seven Nation Army? That’s about as close as we get these days.

Games

Much to my shame, I have barely had any time for video games this month. I haven’t even touched Zelda! I am a failure to the people of Hyrule. I hope they'll forgive me. I have however still been playing Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo Switch) when I have a spare half an hour or so. I’ve been playing it in Hand-Held Mode this time, and it is just so awesome to be playing a hand-held Mario Kart Game with such awesome graphics. I can remember playing the shit out of Mario Kart Super Circuit on the Gameboy Advance, and this is bringing back fond memories… only it’s 100 times better and bigger. One thing that I think is going to increase my playing time going forward is that I’ve just picked up a Switch Carry Case. Now I’ll have nothing to worry about in putting it in my bag and gaming on the go. Now that I have this case, I think I’ll start using the Switch to it’s full potential and perhaps actually get on with Zelda once more.

—

So that’s your lot, I hope you enjoyed it. I must admit that even though this was shorter than normal, writing this was a bit like pulling teeth!

Hopefully next month will be easier, especially because Game Of Thrones is back! Oh man, I’m excited for that.

#The Ides Of #July #2017 #Movies #John Wick: Chapter 2 #La La Land #Spider-Man: Homecoming #Television #Five Came Back #iZombie #American Gods #GLOW #Silicon Valley #Veep #Preacher #Music #Royal Blood #Public Service Broadcasting #Books #Michael Chabon #Dorian Lynskey #Games #Nintendo #Switch #Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

[niamsuggitt]

#GLOW #Alison Brie #Ruth Wilder #Zoya The Destroyer #Wrestling

[niamsuggitt]

The Ides Of June 2017

Hello there! And welcome all to this month’s ‘The Ides Of’ column, where I write just a little bit about all of the various stuff and nonsense I’ve been enjoying over the past 30 days. Yes, this instalment is late, but it’s been lovely and warm, so I haven’t had the inclination to stay indoors and write this stuff. I’ve actually been outside and I’ve even been wearing shorts! What is the world coming to?

This month is a decent one I think, there’s a lot of movies (although some are rewatches), 2 intriguing books, more great TV and I bought another Switch game! Unfortunately there’s no new music this time out, but next month will change that, with new Royal Blood and Public Service Broadcasting albums on the horizon.

So let’s do it to it!

—

Movies

Lot’s of movies to talk about this time, so let’s not waste any time with preamble! First up is Prometheus (Ridley Scott 2012), which I finally actually got around to watching due to the release of it’s sequel, Alien: Covenant, which I haven’t actually seen. That’s kind of me in a nutshell really, the release of a new thing makes me realise I haven’t actually seen the old thing yet! See also Schmidt, Kimmy later on. Anyway, I mostly enjoyed Prometheus, although as the rest of the internet has already explained ad nauseum, it certainly has it’s problems and, at a bit of a remove, doesn’t really make that much sense. I like the previous Alien films, and have the Quadrilogy box-set, but wouldn’t say I was any kind of mega-fan, so I don’t have any real issues per se with Scott going back and removing some of the mystery. Especially because, every answer he gives only raises more and more questions! I came out of the film wanting to know more, so in that way, it was a success. I think the things that really stood out to me here were the visuals, because whatever you think of Ridley Scott, the man has one of the best eyes for science fiction out there, and also the fantastic performance of Michael Fassbender as the android, David. He is just superb, although his role in the plot is one that frustrates me, as it’s never really explained why David is fucking with things, he just… is. Maybe the answers are waiting for me in Covenant? I also found that frustration with Charlize Theron’s character. She’s just kind of a dick for no reason, you find out Weyland is her dad… and then she dies. There must be more to it than that, but there isn’t. A lot of the other performances are like that really, good actors doing something potentially good, but not as much as you like, Idris Elba, Race Spall and Sean Harris all deserve more I think. Especially as Noomi Rapace, who is nominally the lead, isn’t quite as interesting, at least to me. Her performance is good, particularly in the fantastic ‘abortion’ scene that’s probably the film’s highlight. Unfortunately for Rapace, in an Alien film, a female lead is always going to be compared to Sigourney Weaver, and she doesn’t quite match up! Prometheus is, I would say, not a particularly great film, but it is a very interesting one.

Next, I watched a documentary that actually uses footage from Prometheus in parts, Jodorowsky’s Dune (Frank Pavich 2013). This film tells the inside story of Alejandro Jodorowsky’s failed attempt to adapt Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ novel into a movie in the 1970s, and wow, this movie that never got made is far more interesting than most ones that do make it! Jodorowsky’s ambition here was huge, and I would go as far to say a bit insane. If you’ve seen any of his actual films (I really like El Topo), you’ll know that he’s a bit out there, but this would have been something else. He wanted Salvador Dali, Orson Welles and Mick Jagger in the film, he made his young son learn to swordfight, it is mental. The film features some fascinating interview snippets not just with Jodorowsky and others who worked on the film, but also with outsiders like Nicolas Winding Refn, who once sat with Jodorowsky all night whilst he acted out the film. In the end, this is not just an intriguing look at a film that never came to be, but also a great monument to the power of creativity, and a unique creative mind. Because even in failure, Dune had a massive impact. It brought Jodorowsky together with Moebius, and they would later collaborate on the Incal comic series. It had a huge influence in so much other science fiction, including Alien (Dan O’Bannon and HR Giger worked on Dune, and some of the structures in Promethus are straight from the Dune sketchbook), Flash Gordon, Star Wars and basically… everything we nerds love today. My only complaint would be that, a lot of the interviews were in French, and there were no subtitles, so I couldn’t grasp what Michel Seydoux was saying. But other than that, highly recommended.

I wrote earlier about a Michael Fassbender performance being the best part of a movie, and whilst that’s true for Prometheus, it’s definitely the case for X-Men: Apocalypse (Bryan Singer 2016), which I found to be really quite a mess, and definitely indicative of how far behind the X-Men film franchise is lagging behind others right now (please note, I haven’t seen Logan yet). As a comics fan, I of course love the X-Men, but I must admit that I haven’t really been behind the X-Men movies in a while. X3 was the last one I saw in the cinema, and Deadpool and First Class are probably the ones I would actually say were good movies these days. I haven’t watched 1 or 2 in ages, but I fear they won’t have aged well. Apocalypse is indicative of this malaise really. The plot is incredibly perfunctory, with Apocalypse just coming back, being evil, and the X-Men stopping him. There’s barely a hint of a plan from him, which is incredibly disappointing, especially as it means the normally brilliant Oscar Isaac is just wasted under layers of Ivan Ooze make-up. The rest of the cast is actually good, I mentioned him earlier, but Fassbender is just superb as Magneto. He and James McAvoy’s Professor X basically make this period piece series work singlehandedly. I initially rolled my eyes at the film manipulating our emotions by giving Magneto a family only to immediately kill them off, but damn, Fassbender sells it. Jennifer Lawrence is once again inexplicably front and centre as Mystique. I really find it weird how they’ve insisted on making her such a big hero, obviously it caught them off-guard after First Class how big a star she became, but it just doesn’t make sense to me, especially when compared the the comics. The film re-introduces a lot of familiar faces with new actors, so we now have a teen Cyclops, Jean Grey, Nightcrawler and Storm. These young actors are fine, but they aren’t given too much to do really. It pissed me off how the film has Storm side with Apocalypse for most of it and then switch sides and tries to plays it off as a big surprise. Storm one of the most famous X-Men of all of them, everyone knows she’s a good guy, you can’t get away with silly shit like that. This film just felt a bit flat and uninspired throughout, there’s an entirely unnecessary Wolverine cameo (that I actually managed to be surprised by), a decent enough Quicksilver sequence that just feels like a poor re-tread of the one in Days Of Future Past, and just a whole heap of bad CGI and lame moments. I liked parts of it, but it in no way stands up to the MCU, and isn’t even aggressively stupid bad like Suicide Squad. I really hope the X-Men movies can improve, I know that Logan is supposed to be good, and the Legion TV show was amazing, but there needs to be another good, main franchise X-Movie. Will Dark Phoenix manage that? I have my doubts. Maybe New Mutants will be good.

Speaking of New Mutants, the future Magik, Anya Taylor-Joy, is the star of the next film on the docket, The Witch (Robert Eggers 2015). This is a very atmospheric and creepy horror film set in 17th Century America, as an isolated Puritan Family comes face to face with, well, a witch. This is my kind of horror movie, not so much made up of jump scares and gore, but instead an overall unease about it, and slow ramping up of terror until everything boils over into weirdness and a talking demon goat. There are some truly unsettling sequences in this story, and it really did keep me guessing throughout as to what was going on. One thing I really appreciated was the script, as Eggers tried to make it as period accurate as possible. At first the language seems odd, but you soon get used to it. The performances are all strong, Taylor-Joy is excellent as Thomasin, and it was great to see Leeds’ own Ralph Ineson get a starring role after being excellent on so many TV shows throughout the years. And what can you even say about  Black Phillip? A tour-de-force from that Goat. The Witch is really strong film, but it is genuinely scary, it took me about 3 months to build up the courage to watch it, and it has stuck with me!

I continued the horror by watching The Babadook (Jennifer Kent 2014), and yes, I was inspired to watch it because of the ‘Babadook as a gay icon’ meme, which is just hilarious. I didn’t find that much queer subtext in the film (although he does come out of a closet…) but I did very much enjoy it. Like The Witch, this film delivers the kind of scares I like, psychological, and lingering in the background, and most importantly, rooted in real human emotions. The Babadook might not even be real, and is probably some kind of grief manifestation. But, again, like The Witch, I enjoy the ambiguity about it. Another thing I really liked is how willing the film was to make the kid into an unlikeable dick, whilst also still allowing us to care about him. The two main characters here a very complex, and there’s a lot to unpack still. The design of the Babadook is another really cool thing about this film, it’s just iconic (gay or otherwise) and I think this character could end up in the pantheon of great monsters, it really is that effectively creepy.

I also re-watched 2 big blockbusters on Blu-Ray that I wrote about more extensively when they were in the cinema; Doctor Strange (Scott Derrickson 2016) and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Gareth Edwards 2016), or as I like to call them ‘Mads Mikkelson does Disney’. Both held up on a second viewing, and I think I actually liked Doctor Strange more this time around. The visuals were amazing, and, along with Guardians Of The Galaxy 2, show that they really are willing to take the Marvel Cinematic Universe into different places. Rogue One’s tragic ending didn’t quite hit me as much this time out for obvious reasons, as I knew it was coming, but I still enjoyed it. I paid more attention to the performances, in particular Diego Luna and Ben Mendelsohn. I think Cassian Andor might be one of the most interesting characters in a Star Wars movie, I certainly would like to see more of his story, so get on it Marvel!

Television

There’s no new or returning shows this month, it’s all quick hits, and I will try and be quick!

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) wrapped up it’s season in fine form with a bunch of double-episodes. I really enjoyed Gina Gershon’s guest role, and the way the season ended, with Rosa and Jake being sent to prison was a great cliffhanger, even topping last years! As an Earwolf podcast nerd, it was of course also great to get cameos from Scott Aukerman, Kulap Vilaysack in the finale. I get a kick out of hearing those familiar voices come out of actual faces. This is now one of the most consistently funny US sitcoms out there… hell, it’s one of the few.

The ending of Better Call Saul (AMC) Season 3 was also very good, particularly the fate of Chuck, which was just shocking and tragic. When BCS is on, it’s the best drama on TV, and it certainly has the best characters. I will say though that this 3rd season has been a bit too disjointed, as those characters were too disparate. I can’t remember the last time Jimmy and Mike shared a scene (Episode 4?) and the same can really be said for Mike and Nacho. At times it felt like 2 different shows, maybe even 3, happening concurrently. Now, all of those shows were good, but it didn’t cohere as well as it might. Hopefully Season 4 will bring things closer together. Gus’ knowing look at the end seems to indicate he knows what Nacho was up to, so I can imagine the criminal element consolidating. Plus, with Chuck dead and Kim sidelined with injury, things are bound to change for Jimmy McGill, and I imagine we’re only going to get more and more of Saul Goodman. This was an odd year for the show, but it’s still excellent, and Michael McKean really should win all the awards, he was superb throughout this season, making us loathe and sympathise with Chuck all at the same time. Any awards that don't go to him should go to Odenkirk of course.

I’m basically just going to be talking about finales this month aren’t? Archer (FXX) ended it’s ‘Dreamland’ storyline with some seriously surprising violence, I couldn’t believe how far they actually took Barry’s rampage. In the end, I thought the concept of Archer being in this Noir fever dream petered out a bit, and they didn’t stick the landing. But it was still funny, with all of the voice actors on full cylinders. I do think that it might be time to end Archer though, they’ve stretched this tone and character as far as it can go. After a whole season that’s a dream, what next? Take a leaf out of the LOST podcast joke and do a zombie season?

Gotham (FOX) got even more silly and ridiculous at the end of Season 3, with the introduction of Ra’s Al Ghul and the revelation that long-time henchman extraordinaire is Butch Gilzean is actually called Cyrus Gold, and is therefore eventually going to become Solomon Grundy. As dumb as this is, I loved it. This show is best when it verges on the camp, and these last few episodes delivered, particularly as Morena Baccarin finally got to be a bit interesting when playing an ‘evil’ Leslie Tompkins. It was great fun seeing her chew the scenery. And man, that final scene, where Bruce Wayne goes out on the streets to fight crime… it’s mad that they are doing that so soon, but I don’t care at this point. Gotham needs to go full on Adam West (RIP by the way) and never look back.

I must admit to being rather disappointed by the finale of The Flash (The CW), because the fake out of it actually being HR to die instead of Iris felt way too easy, and also because HR was just the best. I’ll miss him, but I’m sure whatever the hell version of Wells Tom Cavanaugh plays in Season 4 will also be great. The real highlight of this last set of episodes was the return of Captain Cold in ‘Infantino Street’. I can’t say it enough, but Wentworth Miller is just the best in that role. The ending of the Season redeemed things for me somewhat though, with Barry disappearing into the Speed Force, in what I think is meant to be the show’s version of his ‘death’ in Crisis On Infinite Earths (a story I have actually never read). How cool would it be if Wally was the Flash for like, half of Season 4? I would dig that. But it won’t happen.

Rounding out Superhero Corner until The Defenders comes out in the summer, Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC) had a great finale to a really strong season. It’s brilliant to see how far this show has come. They managed to tie all of the separate ‘pods’ of the season together, as Ghost Rider returned to help take out Aida in a very satisfying way. I really hope they keep this up in Season 5.

Like with Better Call Saul, it really has been an odd year for The Americans (FX), as the series shifted gears and became much more of an introspective character piece, particularly when it comes to the character of Philip. It took a while to get used to, and by the finale I was still a bit let down by how little ‘happened’, but in the end, I like where we are now. The characters, who were already well rounded, are even deeper now, and things are set up for a fascinating final season. And when you think about it, these smaller stories actually show the impact of Philip and Elizabeth’s job better than big missions. That slow grind, that loss of humanity, as driving a teenage boy to attempted suicide becomes the aim of a mission. It’s the more human side, rather than just chess pieces. And that’s really what I think The Americans is about, seeing what the Cold War was like on the ground. Let’s hope that Season 6 can marry what was good about Season 5 with the previous 4, and we really do go out with a bang. You can rest assured the acting will be fantastic, because Rhys and Russell always are.

Now for some shows that I haven’t watched the end of yet! American Gods (Starz) is still rolling along very nicely indeed, and even though as I said, I don’t really remember the book all too well, it’s adapting the story well, and even in some places improving on it. What I’ve found interesting is that, in a season of only 8 episodes, they’ve had the confidence to do 2 whole episodes that didn’t feature the 2 main characters of Shadow and Wednesday at all. One of those was all about Laura Moon coming back to life, and the other told the back-story of Mad Sweeney and Essie. Both were fantastic, and that willingness to switch things up really impressed me. The visuals of this show continue to be superb, and I am excited for the finale. It’s sitting there waiting for me right now…

iZombie (The CW) is rocketing towards it’s finale by piling on storyline after storyline and mashing them all together. At times it’s felt a bit over-stuffed, what with Blaine, Harley Johns, Stacey Boss, the conspiracy about the guy committing suicide in his cell, investigating Wally’s murder and the Mayoral Election, but mostly I think it’s worked. The most recent episode in particular did a good job a streamlining things I think and the ending was great, the world now knows zombies exist? What the? The performance of Rose McIver continues to be superb, and I loved the conceit of having her, Blaine and Don E all on the same brain at the same time, it’s awesome how they can still switch things up. I’m also enjoying the arrival of Logan Echolls himself, Jason Dohring. Can we dare hope for a Kristen Bell appearance?

Silicon Valley (HBO) is still delivering consistently strong laughs and intriguing twists and turns. I think my favourite part of this run of episodes has been Haley Joel Osment as Keenan Feldspar, he’s just really funny. I am worried about the finale now that we know that T.J. Miller is leaving the show, I don’t know how they are going to write out Ehrlich, but I don’t want them to! Hopefully Bighead will return to fill the void. I swear, he hasn’t been in like, the last 5 episodes or something.

Veep (HBO) has kicked it up a notch towards the end of Season 6, as a lot of chickens came home to roost, and Selina Meyer’s secrets were leaked to the world. It was a great episode, and was a strong use of continuity. I do still think this show has gotten a bit too broad when compared to the Iannucci years, but it is still very funny and the level of profanity and meanness still at times truly shocking. I can’t wait to see how the finale up-ends things. Selina is in a good place right now with the world finally knowing that she freed Tibet, but that can’t last, we all know it.

And finally, inspired by the start of it’s third season, I finally got around to finishing off Season 2 of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix). I did the same thing with Season 1, and will probably do the same thing with this new season. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Anyway, this was another very funny, surprisingly dark season of what is a fantastic show. I loved Tina Fey’s role as Kimmy’s therapist, and the casting of Kimmy’s mother was brilliant. I also found the romance between Titus and Mikey to be surprisingly sweet, but mainly because Titus is one of the best characters on television. My only complaint would be not enough Jon Hamm, but given that cliffhanger, I’m sure that will change!

Music

As I said in the intro, no new music this month so I won’t be able to contribute to any ‘Song Of The Summer’ debate just yet. Although that’s not actually a thing and we all know it.

Books

2 books to talk about this month, and both of them are from writers linked to my one true passion, comics. First up is Norse Mythology (2017) by Neil Gaiman, which as the title would suggest, is a re-telling of the Norse myths from Gaiman. It’s pretty cool to read his take on the direct myths, as these characters have popped up throughout his work. Whether in Sandman or American Gods, Gaiman has put his stamp on the likes of Odin and Loki, and it’s interesting to see him interpret the original stories. Like Gaiman, I first encountered the Norse Gods in the pages of Marvel Comics, and whilst these versions are therefore familiar, there’s something different about them, something darker for sure. This felt like a faithful, albeit poetic adaptation of the stories, as most of them were ones I knew, whether from the comics (if you’ve never read Matt Fraction and Patrick Zircher’s series of Thor one-shots that re-tell the myths you need to rectify that) or from previous takes on the myths or even just cultural osmosis. All of the familiar Gods appear, and you get stories like when Thor dressed as a woman to kill a Frost Giant, or the old beggar who built Asgard in a year. One thing I liked is that Gaiman really gets across how these stories are part of an oral tradition, and not all of them survive, so you get intentional continuity errors and characters just disappearing. It’s clear that there were other myths back then, but not all of them have survived to today. The short chapter length means that this book would probably actually be perfect for reading aloud, and I may even listen to the audiobook if Gaiman is reading it himself. He has a fantastic voice for audiobooks, it’s how I read The Graveyard Book for the first time. One other advantage this re-telling has over the comics is that Gaiman is able to actually reach ‘Ragnarok’, the death of the Gods, and go through with it. In the Marvel Universe, even though Ragnarok has happened (a couple of times in fact) and Thor has died or been replaced even more, you still know that nothing will change, but not in this case. All of the Gods, particularly Balder and Loki, meet their eventual tragic ends. This is a very enjoyable read, especially for someone who, like me, has an interest in myths and legends. It’s clear that Gaiman has a lot of affection for these Gods (particularly Loki, who is wonderfully complex here) and stories, and he more than does them justice. I would certainly be interesting in seeing Gaiman tackle other Pantheons, I personally like Greek Myth the best, but would like to know more about Egyptian as well.

I’m currently just under half-way through Michael Chabon’s Moonglow (2016) and am very much enjoying it. This novel is styled as a memoir and sees Chabon detail the life of his grandparents, particularly his grandfather. Jumping back and forth throughout his life, Chabon allows us to see what his grandfather was like as a child, as a soldier in WW2, as a newlywed, and and as an old man. So far it’s a fascinating book, both in terms of how Chabon details the complex characters of both grandparents, and also in how he tackles the hazy nature of memory and truth. It’s never clear just how much of the book is actually true, the characters are never actually named (it’s just ‘my grandfather’ or ‘my mother’) so it could all be 100% fiction. I tend to lean into it mostly being true, but in the end, it doesn’t really matter does it? As is usual with Chabon, the writing here is very strong, with some very beautiful sentences and moments. The fact that we know that the central characters here die at the very outset makes everything, particularly the romance, bittersweet, and Chabon nails that. It’s interesting, but the book I keep comparing this to is Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow. Both books are about V2 rockets in WW2, but one is a weird, sprawling epic, whereas the other is an intimate character piece. It just shows how different writers can approach the same topic in completely differing ways. I don’t think Moonglow is quite as good as Kavalier and Clay, but what is? It’s still a very good book and I am excited to read the rest of it.

Games

After going months, nay, years, with no games section, I now have 2 games to write about! You wait for a bus…

Anyway, along with Zelda, I’ve now also bought Mario Kart 8 Deluxe (Nintendo Switch 2017) and whilst I haven’t played it a whole lot, is a whole lot of fun, because, well, it’s Mario Kart! Those games are always fun, the more things change, the more things stay the same. They may have added a boat-load of new characters (including Link, which is weird) and added a bunch of bells and whistles and para-gliders onto the Karts, but it’s basically the same game I’ve been playing since the N64, a mad-cap race on some insane courses. I haven’t played every track yet, but I’m getting there. One thing I really appreciate about this particular version is that you can use a single Switch Joycon as a controller, so I didn’t need to shell (heh) out £60 for another controller in order to play multiplayer. I’ve always enjoyed playing against someone else who’s actually in the room over online, so that’s a huge plus, not just for Mario Kart but for the Switch in general if future games follow suit. Mario Kart is hard to really talk about critically because it’s so pure at what it is, but I do love it. And who do I play as you ask? Yoshi of course, always Yoshi. Although sometimes Toad.

As for The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (Nintendo Switch 2017) I’ve spent most of my recent time trying in vain to capture and train horses. I’ve really been embracing the freedom the game provides to do things in whatever order I want. I haven’t even gone to Kakariko Village yet! I’m probably a bad player, but I don’t mind, I’m having a lot of fun and the game is still as beautiful and clever as ever. There’s a real romance to this game, I find it an emotional and exhilarating experience to play.

—

So that’s your lot, hope you enjoyed it. I’ll be back in about a month with some more. It’s summer, so expect there to be a lot less TV and maybe just a whole lot less of everything if this weather keeps up! Although you can take Switches outside…

#The Ides Of #June #2017 #Movies #Prometheus #Doctor Strange #Jodorowsky's Dune #X-Men: Apocalypse #The Witch #The Babadook #Rogue One: A Star Wars Story #Television #Brooklyn Nine-Nine #Better Call Saul #Archer #Gotham #The Flash #iZombie #Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD #American Gods #The Americans #Veep #Silicon Valley #Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt #Books #Neil Gaiman #Michael Chabon #Games #Mario Kart 8 Deluxe #The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild

[niamsuggitt]

The Ides Of May 2017

Hi guys! It’s that time of the month again, time for me to write a ‘lil bit about all of the various media I’ve stuffed into my gaping eye and ear-holes over the past 30 days. I would have included mouth-holes there too, but Nintendo deliberately made Switch cartridges taste horrible so unfortunately I haven’t been able to eat one. Oh well.

This month includes the return of some Sitcom favourites, more of me slowly, ever-so-slowly playing Zelda, a Booker Prize winner and a nice heap of Marvel Cinematic Universe fun.

Let’s do it!

—

Movies

Once again there’s only 2 movies this month, and whilst they are both very different, both provide quite a bit to think and talk about. Up first is Anomalisa (Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson 2015). This may be surprising given the types of films I normally like, but before watching Anomalisa I have to admit to not liking Charlie Kaufman as a writer. I’ve seen Eternal Sunshine, Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, and none of them resonated with me like they do for so many others. I just find him a bit… pretentious? Like he tries too hard to do different things and in the end it just obscures what he’s actually trying to say? I dunno. But much to my surprise and pleasure, I really enjoyed Anomalisa, which is different from Kaufman’s other work in that it’s animated. This stop-motion story follows a man (voiced by David Thewlis) who is on a business trip to Cincinnati. This man, Michael, sees everyone else in the world, including his wife, a former girlfriend, as the same person. They have the same face, and the same voice (Tom Noonan). That is until he stumbles across one other person who looks different, Lisa, (Jennifer Jason Leigh). It’s a complicated, dare I say, pretentious set-up, but for me it works. The animation is fantastic, incredibly detailed, and it’s used to go to places other animated films wouldn’t. This is a truly adult film, so if after Team America you wanted to see more puppet nudity and sex… I’ve got you covered. The way the technique of having everyone except Michael and Lisa be the same person works is incredibly effective and disorientating. It took about 10 minutes for me to twig it, the unease sort of snuck up on me. I said earlier that I think Kaufman’s gimmickry gets in the way of what he is actually trying to say, but that is not the case here, I think I pretty much got what the film was saying about solipsism, and how so many other films feature a ‘manic pixie dream girl’ who shakes a depressed male protagonist out of their funk. Anomalisa flips your expectations here. Lisa is not Michael’s soulmate, she’s just a blip in his mental illness. If it even is that, he might just be an asshole. That’s not to say that Lisa isn’t a well-drawn character, because she is, and Leigh’s voice acting makes her come to life. Then again, maybe this isn’t what Kaufman and Johnson are saying at all and I’m an idiot. Either way, Anomalisa is a fascinating film that has been rotating in my head since I watched it. It’s unlike anything else I’ve seen lately, and has me reconsidering my position on Charlie Kaufman. I certainly plan on watching the other film he directed, rather than just wrote, Synecdoche New York, and maybe I’ll go back to those other, older films.

Up next, I took a step away from the esoteric puppet show towards the mainstream blockbuster and into the cinema, as I went to see Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 (James Gunn 2017) which is of course (of course) the third film in the third phase of the monolithic Marvel Cinematic Universe. As is par for the course when writing about these films (and some, most, of the TV projects) I feel like I have to fully lay out a bit of bias. I love these films and just seeing these characters on screen and being done justice like this takes away a lot of my critical faculties. Problems I have with other, similar movies, I can brush aside because, hey, it’s the MCU, I trust these people. But that aside, I thoroughly enjoyed Guardians 2, and whilst I don’t think it’s quite as good as the first one, I really appreciate it’s weirdness and how much crazy Marvel Universe lore it puts out there, if only just to hint at. The film of course sees all of our favourites from the first film, Star-Lord, Gamara, Drax, Rocket and Groot return for another adventure, but this time, the stakes are far more personal, as Star-Lord meets his father, Ego, who is brilliantly portrayed by Kurt Russell. Firstly, it was just awesome to be back with these characters again, they are just so much fun. The Guardians are perhaps the MCU versions that are the most different from the originals (of course, the comics have in turn, begun to reflect the movies far more) and as such I have a different emotional attachment to them. I’m not constantly comparing Gamora to the 500 Gamora comics I’ve read in my life, I’m just invested in her relationship with Nebula, and with Star-Lord. As I mentioned, the main plot here is Peter and his father, but the script makes sure that every Guardian (except maybe Baby Groot, but he’s adorable enough that you don’t mind) has their own story. Drax forms a bond with the newcomer Mantis (who is great!), Gamora fights her sister again, but even more personally, and Rocket deals with his anger driving people away. I found myself invested in all of these storylines, and it mean that, whilst the overall plot did sag a bit in the middle of the film, I didn’t mind. I will say that I am a bit sick of people dismissing Star-Lord’s story as ‘just more daddy issues’ or something like that. I think that’s reductive, and to me, the real plotline is how much Peter Quill still cares about his mother. His love for her is what snaps him out of cosmic brainwashing, and let’s not forget that, as awesome as the classic soundtracks are, they do serve an emotional purpose, as they are his only link to Earth, and to his mum. Maybe it’s just because my mother died of cancer as well (although hers wasn’t put there by an evil Celestial, at least I don’t think it was), but if anything, this is far more of a ‘mommy issues’ movie than a daddy issues one. I mentioned the soundtrack earlier, and I will say that this particular ‘awesome mix’ was a bit of step down, with the songs either being too mainstream (Fleetwood Mac, ELO) or way too obscure. Maybe I’m asking too much, but the first movie’s track selection was just perfect, hard for lightning to strike twice I suppose. The other character I want to specially highlight is Michael Rooker as Yondu, who is just amazing here. He has real pathos behind him and makes a character I never really knew into an absolute favourite. His storyline also sees the film do something I really didn’t expect and bring in more of the ‘original’ Guardians, the ones who, in the comics, were in the future. This movie has Sylvester Goddamn Stallone in it as Starhawk and I went in without knowing! I love that Gunn hasn’t forgotten the likes of Charlie-27 and Martinex, and that a major movie can feature characters as weird as them. That’s what sets this film apart from me, it’s not afraid to get a bit odd, and to use weird elements from the source material to their full potential. A few years ago, Ego The Living Planet would be considered way too goofy for a film, but not here, here he’s Kurt Russell! Some of this is pure fan-service, but as mentioned, when it comes to these films, I don’t mind that at all. The Stan Lee cameo was amazing, the teaser in the credits for Adam Warlock blew my mind (it took me an embarrassingly long time to connect Ayesha and her golden skin to that classic cosmic character). This film’s links to the wider universe are like that, more hints. I did expect some big Thanos developments, but ultimately, I don’t mind spending 2 hours just inside these goofball’s messed-up heads. I can’t wait for Vol.3, and I hope that, when the Guardians appear in Avengers: Infinity War, they don’t lose what makes them special. This film was just a blast, it delivers more of what you want, as well as surprising you with where it goes, the best kind of sequel.

Television

There’s one new TV show for me to talk about this time out, in the form of American Gods (Starz), the long-awaited adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s 2001 novel. This is an interesting series for me adaptation-wise because, whilst I have read the book, it was a long time ago and I don’t really remember a lot of what happened. Just the basic gist really. This isn’t like Game Of Thrones or The Expanse where the source material is fresh as a daisy in my mind and I’m constantly comparing the show to what I already know. Here, I’m kind of hazy on the details and it’s a lot of fun being surprised both by what I didn’t know, and what I forgot I knew! The basic plot has barely begun, but basically, Gods are real, they live in America, they are at war, and a man named Shadow Moon (as far as I can call this dumb-ass name does have a good explanation) is drawn into their world after the death of his wife and his release from prison (on the same day). Not only is that, to me, a great intriguing premise, but it’s really elevated by some fantastic performances and amazing visual flair. One of the show’s main producers is Bryan Fuller, from Hannibal, and the opening 2 episodes where directed by David Slade, who directed a fair few episodes of that show too, so you can really tell that there’s a link in how the series looks and feels. The dream sequences and trippier moments are straight out of Hannibal, they are brilliant. There’s a sex montage in Episode 2 with Bilquis that is just insane. The performances so far have been great as well, Ian Fucking McShane is of course stealing the show as Mr Wednesday, but Ricky Whittle is really doing well as Shadow, which must be a hard role to play as he’s kind of intentionally inscrutable and a bit blank. And, if you watch nothing else, watch Orlando Jones’ monologue as Anansi that opens Episode 2. It is one of the best single scene performances I’ve ever seen, it knocked me for a loop. It’s only been 2 episodes, but this is already a fantastic, ambitious series that’s unlike anything else on TV. I can’t wait to see where it goes, and what else I can remember.

This month also saw the return of 2 of my favourite US Comedies. Silicon Valley (HBO) is back for a 4th season of tech-based misadventures. So far this season has managed to somehow feel like more of the same, but also change things up in a lot of interesting ways, as the characters move about into new situations. At the end of Season 3 it felt like we were right back to the beginning, but that wasn’t the case, as we’ve seen multiple characters leave companies, join new ones, sell companies, and all sorts of other manoeuvring. The prospect of Richard actually working with Gavin Belson is very exciting. In amongst all of these shake-ups, the characters have continued to be as funny as ever. I love how Big Head continues to fail upwards, he’s now a Professor at Stanford! And seeing Dinesh get a girlfriend is something we haven’t seen before. I’m also enjoying the increased role for Jian-Yang. Jimmy O. Yang has always been very funny in his brief scenes, but now he’s getting actual stories, which is cool. And man, Zach Woods is still killing it as Jared. He had one moment of madness in Episode 4 that had me wetting itself. At times it does feel like Silicon Valley is in a groove, but it’s such an enjoyable groove!

One series that hasn’t been afraid to get out of it’s groove is Veep (HBO), which is now in Season 6, and is a very different show this season. Of course it changed when Armando Iannucci left, but now that Selina Meyer is out of office, it’s even more different. With the character scattered all over the place, I did feel like the first one or two episodes were a bit lacking, but after that, it’s really found it’s feet and become just as funny and scathing as ever. In the wake of Trump it was going to be difficult for Veep to be the same show as it was before, so wisely it’s pivoted, it still has a lot to say about America and politics, but really, it’s become more about seeing who these characters are in new situations. I’m particularly enjoying Dan working as a TV News Anchor and Jonah as a Congressman has just been brutally brilliant, especially with Mary Holland joining the cast as his new ‘girlfriend’. It’s also interesting that the series has started to delve deeper into Selina as a character, and her backstory. She may be a bit ridiculous, but in the world of the show, she is the first ever female Vice President and the President, she is interesting. So yes, Veep has changed, but it’s still intelligent and funny and well worth watching. When real politics is as scary as it is these days, we need this magnificent bastards to laugh at.

Now for quick hits! We’ll start with comedies. LOL! LOL indeed.

The final episode ever of Girls (HBO) was a bit of an odd one, it jumped ahead to the birth of Hannah’s baby (the horrifically named Grover, and that’s a ‘Niam’ saying that) and only featured Hannah and Marnie from the main cast, out in the middle of nowhere. In a lot of ways, it was a typical Girls way for the series to end, Lena Dunham has never really done the conventional thing. I enjoyed it, particularly Becky Ann Baker’s performance. She’s always been excellent and underrated as Hannah’s mother. I will miss Girls, it was funny, different and always provoked debate, and I can’t wait to see what projects Dunham does next. As infuriating as she can be, she is very talented. How about a Dunham/Max Landis collaboration? That could destroy the internet.

I reached the end of BoJack Horseman (Netflix) Season 3, and holy shit, that was brutal. What happened to Sarah-Lynn just fucked me up. And then it’s followed up by the sublime ridiculousness of Mr. Peanutbutter’s spaghetti strainers actually being useful! That sums up BoJack for me, it can be gloriously silly and funny, but at it’s core it’s a dark series about depression and the sadness at the core of humanity (or animality, whatever). It’s one of my favourite shows ever at this point, and I am very excited for Season 4, and just where BoJack is going to go now. It’ll be bad… but also so, so good.

The Last Man On Earth (FOX) also wrapped up its 3rd season very well. Jasper has been a fun addition to the cast, and the 2-part finale in particular was a great, as the series once again upended it’s cast. Erica gave birth to her baby, but then Nuclear Reactors started going off and they had to flee. This series continues to be brilliant at balancing comedy and real dark drama, as the consequences of a post-apocalyptic world are actually thought out. The very last moment also brought Kristen Wiig in contact with the main cast, and what a way to do it.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) has continued to be very funny and strong, and one episode in particular really surprised me, as ‘Moo Moo’ became a serious examination of racial profiling in the Police Force. It’s rare that Brooklyn Nine-Nine addresses real issues, but it did it very well here, I think it should actually do more, especially in this era where the Police, in America especially, are not so popular. I don’t want it to become propaganda for the cops, but it can certainly shine a light on some real issues. As well as being dumb and funny with great actors of course.

The ‘Dreamland’ arc of Archer (FXX) is still going strong. It’s just a lot of fun to see these characters in this setting, and the storyline by itself has actually been rather arresting, with a lot of fun twists and turns. I’ve particularly liked Eugene Mirman’s performance as Cheryl’s brother. He’s delightfully creepy. Also, is Pam just a man in dreamland? Her character isn’t meant to be a woman in drag, here, she’s just a man? I kind of love that.

Oh, and I watched one more episode of Inside No. 9 (BBC Two), ‘Tom & Gerri’. It was very good, and actually managed to surprised me with the twist at the end. It was fun to see Lord Varys himself, Conleth Hill play an actually nice person, and Gemma Arterton was good too. That’s the strength of an anthology show, they can bring in really big names for just one episode.

Bridging the gap from comedy to drama is Better Call Saul (AMC) which is having an excellent third season, as it gets closer and closer to Breaking Bad territory. Not only has Gus finally appeared (with Giancarlo Esposito just as good as ever) but the whole tone of those scenes is straight out of the parent show. Episode 4, ‘Sabrosito’ barely seemed to feature Odenkirk at all. But that doesn’t mean that the series has just become Breaking Bad-lite, as the following episode ‘Chicanery’ was all courtroom stuff, and really did a fascinating job at delving into the central Jimmy/Chuck relationship. It really needs to be said again, but both Odenkirk and Michael McKean are amazing in this show, tour-de-force performances. This stretch of episodes has been a great microcosm of what makes Better Call Saul so good and basically the perfect prequel. It has plenty of links to what came before, including themes and cameos (Huell!) and camera work, but it’s also very capable of being it’s own, separate thing. So good.

The Season 2 finale of The Expanse (Sy Fy) was another strong episode in an exceptionally strong season. It was an incredibly tense episode that brought a lot of things to a head. The central plot of the Protomolecule monster being on the Rocinante tied everything together and, perhaps most importantly, brought the central crew of characters onto the same page. It’s interesting that the show isn’t precisely following a ‘1 season = 1 book’ model, and I like that, it’s allowing for things to unfold at a different pace.

The Americans (FX) is having an… interesting season. It’s still very good and all of the performances and episodes have been good, but, maybe it’s just me, but it doesn’t seem as focused as it used to, which is odd, because the writers know they only have this and next year to wrap things up. Maybe that’s actually the reason, they know they have a guaranteed 26 episodes, so can pace things differently? Either way, there doesn’t seem to be any particular driving plot, missions and side characters come and go, and whilst each individual hour has been strong, it’s not a satisfying whole. Yet. I think maybe something big is going to happen (Pacha’s suicide? Something with Pastor Tim?) that will lead to a major event in the finale. Or at least I hope so. This is a fantastic series so maybe I just have too high expectations.

Now it’s time for everybody’s favourite corner… superhero corner!

So far in iZombie (The CW) Season 3, the biggest pleasure for me has been the classic thing, seeing Rose McIver play Liv on various different types of brain. Hippie Yoga Liv, gossipy bitch Liv, Dominatrix Liv and Hot Mess Liv have all been hilarious. I really think McIver is underrated by how she manages to play so many different shades of the same person. Some of the individual cases of the week have been a bit weak, but her performance, along with the new development of Clive knowing she’s a Zombie have made it work. As for the over-arching plots, I liked the way the show revealed that Blaine had been faking his memory loss, and what that means for Major and Liv going forward. The Fillmore Graves plot has been on the back burner a bit, but you just know it’s going to explode later.

Gotham (FOX) has returned with some really great episodes and has become a show that really embraces it’s ridiculousness, and is all the better for it. Corey Michael Smith in full on Riddler mode, green suit and all, is so much fun, as is Penguin and Poison Ivy gathering an ‘Army Of Freaks’ and a goddamn clone of Bruce Wayne. I’m also really enjoying this take on the Court Of Owls, I’ve said this before, but I get an extra kick out of seeing more recent concepts like this used in other media, and so it’s awesome to see something Scott Snyder invented on TV. Gotham is dumb, but it’s the good dumb.

The Flash (The CW) revealed who Savitar was, and it was… actually satisfying. The fact that Barry (or at least a Time Remnant of him) becomes his own worst enemy is interesting, and it’s a perfect expression of the consequences of too much time-travel meddling. What I found cool was that the show followed this big, tragic reveal with a somewhat broad comedy episode where Barry lost his memories. Not only was this funny, but it showed why the show needs a bit more levity. When Barry gets too Emo, things get bad (as shown by the trip to the future, where Barry literally was Emo). I’m also really enjoying Anne Dudek’s guest role as Tracy Brand. Her chemistry with Tom Cavanaugh is a lot of fun. 2 episodes left, and I hope they continue to get the balance between drama and fun right. The Flash is one of those characters who needs to stay optimistic.

Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.LD. (ABC) has continued it’s hot-streak with more really fantastic episodes. This Hydra alternate reality arc really has been excellent. It’s allowed us to learn more about the characters, had a real impact, and also allowed the show to comment somewhat on real world political elements. It was cheap, but referring to Hydra’s ‘alternative facts’ and ‘fake news’ was great. The performances have also gone up a gear, Henry Simmons choosing to stay in the Framework was a great, although I do think that somehow they’ll use that machine to bring his daughter into the ‘real world’. Although they might be saving that for Face Turn Grant Ward. I also want to praise Iain De Caestecker, who has taken Fitz from somewhat of a comic relief character into probably the most complex person on the show. He played the ‘evil’ Fitz so well I almost feared he would still be bad once he was back. Mallory Jansen has also been very good, whether as Aida, Agnes or now Ophelia, she has played the same person in 3 very interesting ways. I can’t wait to see how this finale ends things, and to see what Season 4 brings. It feels weird to say this after the slow start, but Agents Of SHIELD is one of the better adventure shows on the air.

And finally, I finished watching Marvel’s Iron Fist (Netflix), and whilst it does have it’s share of problems and is probably the least of the ‘Defenders’ shows, I still very much enjoyed it and am excited to see more of this version of Danny Rand, particularly alongside Luke Cage. Heroes For Hire! I’m not going to re-tread the race conversation as we discussed that last time, so instead I’ll say that, as is customary, some of the episodes did drag a bit in the middle before an exciting ending, and I do think the show’s budget was a bit too low. I think that really hurt things as we never go to actually see K’un Lun or the Dragon Shou-Lou. I wanted a goddamn dragon getting it’s heart ripped out of it, is that too much to ask? I don’t think so. I also think it took way too long for Danny to realise that Howard Meachum was a bad dude, but that naïveté is intentional, and a great character bit. The performances only improved as it went on. Finn Jones is actually very convincing, and both Jessica Henwick and Tom Pelphrey were brilliant. I actually think Pelphrey’s Ward Meachum might be one of the best performances in the MCU, as he manages to make some pretty dumb plot developments work just through his performance. I did like how, by the end, things had been twisted and it was Ward who was working alongside Danny, and Joy who had become his enemy. That was unexpected and fun. Her working alongside Gao and Davos should be interesting in a second season. I did like Davos’ role later on too, Sacha Dhawan was very good, although why does someone from K’un Lun sound so Mancunian? I admit it, I am an MCU mark, but Iron Fist really isn’t that bad, if you give it a chance, it is well worth it, and can only improve. Look, it took Agents Of SHIELD 3 years to get good, I think sometimes we need to appreciate that.

Music

There’s only one album this time out, but it’s kind of a big deal, as Gorillaz are back with their first album in 7 years, Humanz (Parlophone/Warner Bros. 2017). Now the Gorillaz are pretty significant band for me, their eponymous debut was one of the first CDs I bought from myself and I must have played that and Demon Days hundreds of times. Plastic Beach had less of an impact, and I don’t think I’ve actually listened to The Fall. So I’m kind of a lapsed fan, however this particular hype train, and the idea that this was some kind of politically vital and contemporary record brought me back in, and I bought the album, hell, I got the deluxe edition! After listening to it a few times, it’s pretty good, but a lot of that hype is way over-blown. There’s nothing here that’s particularly timely, it’s just the usual Gorillaz mix of interesting backing beats, fantastic guest contributors and Damon Albarn getting to experiment. That’s not a bad thing, but I think I went into it expecting something truly game-changing. That’s probably more on me than Gorillaz though. As I said, the guest stars on here are fantastic, I particularly like Vince Staples on ‘Ascension’, Grace Jones on ‘Charger’ and Benjamin Clementine on ‘Hallelujah Money’, those are great tracks. It’s also a lot of fun to try and spot Noel Gallagher on ‘We Got The Power’. How crazy is it that Albarn and Gallagher are on the same song? Britpop Hell has frozen over. So yeah, this album is decent, but as is probably par for the course with Gorillaz, the ideas and concepts around it are more interesting. The idea of all of these artists reacting to Trump (or not Trump, an un-specified huge event) is great, but the end result isn’t that amazing. I say par for the course, because what’s always appealed most about Gorillaz isn’t just the music, but the whole package, the artwork from Jamie Hewlett, which is fantastic. I think I like the artwork in the leaflet more than the album! Gorillaz are a unique project, and I’ll always appreciate them, but I think I want more than just cool artwork and weird samples from my music at this stage.

Books

2 books this month. I think my reading pace has slowed down a bit, not sure why. Hmm, anyway, I started the month with the last 100 pages or so of Jonathan Wilson’s Angels With Dirty Faces (2016). The history of Argentinian Football got pretty much up to date, as Wilson gets up to the current era of Messi, Aguero, Tevez, Higuain etc. It was pretty much I thought it would be, as the Argentinian domestic game has been basically ruined by all of the best players moving to Europe. What I didn’t know was the state of hooliganism and fan violence in Argentina, which was surprising, and also the continued political links in the game. The fact that the Argentinian government owns the broadcasting rights to league football and uses it for propaganda purposes is very unique, and I would have liked more exploration of that. Imagine if Theresa May was on Match Of The Day or something, At least we know Corbyn is an Arsenal fan. Overall, the end of the book lived up to the rest of it, this was a very readable, informative history of a fascinating subject and culture. Argentina’s national identity is inextricably linked with it’s football, and now, I feel like i understand that country so much more.

After this, I got my fancy literature on, as I read the winner of the 2016 Man Booker Prize, The Sellout (2015) by Paul Beatty. Only this isn’t the kind of novel you’d really expect to win such a lofty, some would say wanky, prize. It’s an incredibly dark satire of American Race relations, and it’s actually very funny. The plot sees an unnamed African-American man (he’s only referred to as ‘Me’, which I think is his surname (So his name is like ‘Dave Me’ or ‘Tom Me’ or something) who somewhat accidentally brings back both segregation and slavery to the LA suburb he lives in. It’s an insane premise, but it works, and Beatty’s witty writing carries it through even the largest logic leaps. Much like with last month and ‘Get Out’, I don’t feel like I can fully parse a lot of the more caustic racial elements, being a white non-American, but it was shocking at times, and certainly made me look at certain things differently. I would be interested in reading some of Beatty’s other books, he has a unique sense of humour. I will say that I didn’t really laugh out loud at reading this, like many of the blurbs did, but then I’m struggling to think of many books that did make me LOL. I just don’t do it, even with comics. I think seeing something written down elicits a different reaction in me. More of a wry smile, or an ‘oh, that’s funny, I get that’ than actually laughing. The Sellout comes close though! Maybe literary prizes aren’t so bad…

Games

As mentioned in the intro, I’m still making my way rather slowly through The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (Nintendo Switch 2017). I need to carve more time out to play it, but video games, even ones as good as this, are still bottom of my entertainment list. I only really play it when  I have nothing else to watch, read or listen to. As of now, I’ve finally got off the Great Plateau and am in the wider world of Hyrule, and man, it is intimidatingly big. That sense of freedom to do what you want can be both very freeing, but also kind of freezing. I can’t decide where to go, so in the end I don’t really go anywhere. Does that make sense? I’ve just been wandering around and not really advancing the plot. But still, this is an incredibly good game, the look of it is so beautiful, and it’s even more so after the Plateau. I think that is what’s holding me back from playing more, because it looks so good on the big TV, I’m not putting the Switch’s handheld mode to use to play when someone else is using it. The controls are just that level of intuitive that, for me, only Nintendo can reach. The Joycons on the Switch are bit flimsy, but after while, I’m used to it. I’m of two minds on what to do next video-game wise. I really want to pick up Mario Kart 8, especially because my girlfriend wants to do multiplayer,  but can I justify it when I’ve barely scratched the surface of Zelda?

—

That’s it! Just an addendum for you, after writing that last bit about the Switch and whether I should by Mario Kart… I went and ordered it on Amazon. So expect something about that next week. I also bought La La Land, so you’ll get to read my lukewarm take on that film on or near June 15th. I’ll probably be lame and quite like it, that’s the kind of person I am, I can never bring myself to truly hate things like the rest of the internet. Anyway, I’ll see you then! Hopefully we’ll be living under a Labour Government by then.

#The Ides Of #May #2017 #Movies #Anomalisa #Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2 #TV #Girls #Veep #BoJack Horseman #Brooklyn Nine-Nine #Better Call Saul #Archer #The Expanse #iZombie #Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD #Marvel's Iron Fist #The Americans #Silicon Valley #The Last Man On Earth #Inside No. 9 #Gotham #The Flash #American Gods #Music #Gorillaz #Books #Jonathan Wilson #Paul Beatty #Games

[niamsuggitt]

The Ides Of April 2017

Howdy! And welcome along once again to ‘The Ides Of’, where I write a little bit about all of the varied ways I’ve distracted myself from thinking about the futility of existence and the impending nuclear apocalypse over the past 30 days (or there or thereabouts, sometimes I’m a little late).

This month is a pretty bumper crop of stuff, with 2 horror movies, one new and one very old, a fascinating book about Argentinian football, a new album from Kendrick Lamar and the return of some of my favourite TV shows.

Oh yeah, and the return of a whole goddamn section! Not only do I have a new video game to talk about, but a whole new console, as I’ve only gone and bought a Nintendo Switch! It was on impulse too! I’m a whole new man.

Movies

I began the month with another film from my Universal Monsters Blu-Ray box-set. I bought this set back in October, and haven’t made my way through it as quick as I would have liked, but every time I watch one, I really enjoy it, they really are classics. This time out was The Mummy (Karl Freund 1932), which, like Frankenstein, starred Boris Karloff as the titular monster. It was a little cheesy at times, but also had a great sense of unease and weirdness to it. I was surprised by how Karloff’s Mummy appears in the film. It’s only at the very start that he’s the cliche bandage-covered shambler. Most of the time he’s dressed in normal clothes and just looks like he’s got a skin condition. It makes you wonder where that cliche actually came from. Probably Abbott and Costello or some cartoons. It was great to see Edward Van Sloan pop up again, even if he’s basically played the same character in all of the previous 3 Universal Horror films I’ve watched, and I was very impressed with Zitan Johann as the heroine/damsel, there’s just something about these classic Hollywood actresses that the modern ladies lack. The only issue here really is that the film is kind of, if not racist, then at least racially awkward when it comes to Egypt and Africa in general. I try not to judge old media by the standards of today, because if you do that you’ll struggle to enjoy anything, but yeah, it was a bit uncomfortable. The Mummy is probably the least of the Universal Monsters I’ve seen so far, but it was still good, and interesting to compare with the Brendan Fraser version from a few years ago, and also the upcoming Tom Cruise Mummy movie, which looks completely different!

Speaking of racially awkward, I also watched Get Out (Jordan Peele 2017) this month, and it more than lived up to the massive hype. It’s fantastic, one of the most interesting, intelligent films I’ve seen in a long time. I saw it weeks ago and I’m still thinking about it. Not just in terms of the race element, but also just in a pure film-making, storytelling sense. It’s just so well structured and smart, even in just how it pokes holes in Horror conventions, by actually having it’s characters use Google and figure out what’s going on and just about the same rate as the audience. As a white person, I don’t feel fully qualified to really dig into all the race stuff, but I will say that I loved how complex this was. The white people weren’t doing what they were doing because they hated black people, no, it was because they fetishised them, and in some ways, wanted to be them. That's a more pervasive racism, and one that’s really complex and difficult to solve. In some ways, white people wanting to engage with black culture is good, because we should all celebrate good things, no matter where they come from, but it can get awkward. Just wait for the music section to see how I mangle my opinions on Miles Davis and Kendrick Lamar. Oh God, I’m just like the parents! (I’m not). The acting throughout is fantastic, I’ve liked Daniel Kaluuya since his comedic roles on Skins and particularly Psychoville (Tealeaf!), so it’s awesome to see him get this big success and to be in something a bit more serious. He’s yet another Brit who’s so good at the American accent you sometimes forget he’s British! Allison Williams was also great, it’s always been difficult to tell how much of Marnie from Girls is acting, but here, she gets to play a very different role, and is excellent at it, so that shows she’s probably always been better than I thought. And man, Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener were so good as the parents. I think Whitford is inspired casting, playing of the reverence well-meaning white people have for all West Wing characters. Get Out is simply put, one of the best films of the year. Not only is it clever, but it’s actually scary for a horror film, and, this should come as no surprise given Jordan Peele’s background, is still very funny at times, almost every line that comes out of Lil Rel Howery’s mouth as Rod is a laugh-out-loud moment. It’s brilliant to see a comedian like Peele take a risk like this and have it pay off so well. He’s gone from being a great sketch guy to one of the most exciting new directors out there, and I can’t wait to see what he does next. And I should probably also get round to seeing Keanu sometime too.

Television

As I said in the intro, this month has seen the return of lots of old favourites, but the flip side of that is that there haven’t been many episodes of them, so who knows how much I have to talk about? I’m sure I can pull something out…

Review (Comedy Central) may have only had 3 episodes, but that was actually the entire 3rd and final season! Even with a truncated run, it was great to have this show back and to have Andy Daly finish off Forrest MacNeil’s story in his typically twisted and surprising way. Review has been one of my favourite, most underrated comedies of recent times, and it went out on a real high, as all 3 episodes were fantastic and surprising in different ways. I particularly liked how they challenged the very concept of the show when Forrest had to be the co-host and A.J. chose not to slap anyone’s ass. Forrest’s shock at someone just refusing to do the review was brilliant. Doing that has never crossed his mind and that’s what’s led to his tragic life. The finale was also brilliant at confounding expectations. Having Forrest’s wife Suzanne ask him to review ‘Not reviewing anything ever again’ was a great moment, but then having him veto it, ruining his last chance at happiness… only to have the show be in-universe cancelled anyway? It was perfect. If you’ve still not watched Review, you need to do so, it’s 22 episodes of comedic perfection. Andy Daly’s performance as Forrest is one of the all-time greats and it really did go places you would never ever expect.

On April Fool’s Day, Adult Swim played the best possible trick on us by debuting the Season 3 Premiere of Rick And Morty (Adult Swim) a couple of months early. It was, as you’d expect, fantastic. The animation has taken a leap forward and the way the story managed to balance comedy, insane sci-fi concepts and the show’s increasingly complicated continuity was fantastic. When Morty and Summer went to dig up the dead bodies of Summer’s universe’s versions of R&M? It blew my mind. It was the perfect way to get me even more hyped for Season 3 than I was before. I binged through the first 2 seasons in about a month last year, so the long wait is killing me, but it will be worth it. And hey, if McDonalds do bring back that Mulan Szechuan McNugget sauce, it will make me go to Maccies for the first time in… wow, about 3 years.

Another returning cartoon is Archer (FX) which, in it’s 8th season is switching it up again, becoming ‘Archer: Dreamland’. After the shocking finale last year, Archer is now in a coma and the whole season is him dreaming of himself and all the other characters in a 1940s crime noir setting. I absolutely love this, I’m a big fan of noir type stories, and it’s a lot of fun seeing these characters in that setting. The personalities and voice acting is so good that you pretty much can plug them anywhere. H. Jon Benjamin is as funny in 1940s LA as he is anywhere. Plus, the ending of the second episode ‘Berenice’ seemed to indicate this Dreamland could get even weirder. I think it’s really interesting how this show continues to reinvent itself, first with ‘Archer: Vice’, and now this, without ever sacrificing it’s central tone and sense of humour. I also think the animation has never looked better than this season, they seem to have stepped things up with their depiction of old LA.

iZombie (The CW) has also changed a lot it’s 3rd season, and so far it’s pulling it off very well. The insane finale of Season 2 has set up a lot of interesting new storylines, particularly Fillmore Graves and their plan to turn Seattle into some sort of Zombie Utopia. So far they’ve been depicted as good guys, but I’m sure that’s going to change. So far the best element of this season has been the change in Clive’s role. He now knows the truth about Liv and Zombies in general, and it’s been a lot of fun to see him on the inside for once. Plus, the second episode focused on him a lot. The central murder mystery is very personal to him, which is going to be exciting. And he had a sweet moustache in the flashback. The second episode as a whole was reassuring, as it showed that even though a lot has changed, iZombie can still deliver some classic humour when it comes to the brain-eating and switching personalities. Liv on Dad brain and Major on teenage girl brain was just hilarious. Rose McIver has always been superb at playing different sides of Liv depending on who’s brain she’s eaten, and it looks like Robert Buckley is almost as good.

Only one episode of Better Call Saul (AMC) Season 3 to talk about, but it was a good one. Bob Odenkirk and Michael McKean are just so good in their scenes together, and I love how complex their brother relationship is. I am very excited to see Gus Fring appear, and was actually rather surprised he wasn’t in the premiere. Mike is very close though. Those scenes where he methodically figured things out were wonderful. A great wordless performance from Banks and some great film-making. I think in amongst the great writing and performances, we forget how visually great Better Call Saul and Breaking Bad are, they look so fucking great. This season has barely got started, but I am hyped to see where it’s going to go, Gilligan and Gould always surprise me, that started with a prequel actually being good, and it’s only continued.

In terms of new stuff, I’ve watched 2 episodes so far of Marvel’s Iron Fist (Netflix) and I’ve actually rather enjoyed it. This is probably a case of diminished expectations considering the critical panning it’s received, but nothing in these 2 episodes is particularly better or worse than the other Marvel Netflix shows. Well, the opening credits are a bit rubbish, but who really cares about that? I actually think that Finn Jones is doing good, subtle work as Danny Rand, he really seems like a kid who never grew up in modern society and doesn’t quite get it. I am intrigued to see what this show’s version of K’un L’un is like. So far the villains are rather uninspiring, but David Wenham seems to be doing something weird, and the promise of The Hand is exciting. It seems to me that a lot of people decided that Iron Fist was bad because of the racial issues beforehand and that skewed their perceptions. I personally think a white Iron Fist is… OK, if only because it makes the fish out of water story work better. It’s a complex one, especially as having the kung-fu guy be Asian is equally as difficult. Best to stick to the comics. But this is an argument that’s been happening for ages (although curiously, not until Iron Fist was being adapted to another media, unless I missed that discussion around Brubaker. Fraction and Aja’s run). I am looking forward to watching the rest of the series and making my own mind up, before finally getting Danny together with Luke Cage in Defenders. In fact, in a perfect world, I would have had them not do separate Power Man and Iron Fist series, and instead have them be a team from the start. A lot of the white privilege problems inherent in Iron Fist are removed by having him work on the streets with his best friend. But now I’m fantasy booking. Anyway, Iron Fist, really not that bad… so far.

For my Birthday I received a DVD box-set of Series 1 and 2 of Inside No. 9 (BBC Two), the comedy anthology series from the dark minds of Reece Shearsmith and Steve Pemberton. Given that I am a huge fan of The League Of Gentleman and Psychoville, I don’t really know why I didn’t watch this series when it first came on TV. I really should have because it is genius, and, as each episode is completely self-contained, perfect for just putting on when you only have a spare half-hour. I’ve only watched the first 2 episodes so far, but both were excellent. ‘Sardines’ was very funny, and built to a brilliant twist with Tim Key’s character and ‘A Quiet Night In’ was just amazing, a whole episode with basically no dialogue. As usual with Shearsmith and Pemberton, this show mixes comedy with horror and drama brilliantly, and the performances are superb. The two main men are so versatile, and then the array of guest stars is amazing. I can’t wait to watch the rest and also to pick up Series 3. I really feel like I’ve missed out on a lot of recent UK comedy over the last few years. I need to get on and watch not just Inside No. 9, but also Catastrophe, Uncle, Flowers, People Just Do Nothing and so much more.

Now for quick hits yo yo yo.

Baskets (FX) ended it’s second season with 2 very strong episodes that set things up very interestingly for the 3rd Season. Mama Baskets has now bought the old rodeo and she and her sons are going to run it together. That all sounds like set up for a terrible old sitcom, but it was actually done really well and quite emotionally. I’ve said it before and I’ve said it again, but the relationship between Chip and his mother is one of the best on television. This is still a strange, unique show, but once you’re in it’s rhythms, there’s few better.

The Expanse (Sy Fy) has continued to be very strong in Season 2, as the world and story continue to grow and we move onto the 2nd book. I’ve been impressed by how they’ve adapted and streamlined things, especially when it comes to the character and storyline of Prax. I do think that the show is missing Thomas Jane as Miller, but others, like Bobbie and particularly, Amos have stepped up in his absence. Plus, spoilers, but Miller will be back soon anyway! This series has just become more and more confident with each passing episode, and right now, it’s some of the best science fiction out there in any medium. I am very excited for the finale and to see how they interpret the upcoming books in the series, because things are really about to change.

Season 5 of The Americans (FX) is still perhaps moving a bit too slowly, but that’s not a bad thing. A lot has been put into place and you can trust these writers that it’s going to pay off in a big way. I was surprised by how the Mischa storyline seemed to end. He got all the way to America, only for Gabriel to tell him he couldn’t see his dad. But that’s surely not the end is it? It’s certainly had a big effect on Gabriel, and I can see him actually meeting Paige leading to him having a change of heart. It certainly seemed like his words to Philip in the most recent episode were setting up something big. Could we actually see the KGB turn on Philip and Elizabeth and burn them? That would certainly shake things up. The Oleg and Stan storylines are meandering a bit, but Oleg’s in particular has picked up recently, and if Stan’s new girlfriend does actually turn out to be an agent… man. One more thin, and it’s my monthly moment of being shallow… Keri Russell’s wig and look when she’s in Topeka seducing the grain guy… it’s her hottest look yet. And she looks good pretty much all the time. I apologise, but it has to be said. (It really didn’t).

Black Sails (Starz) came to an end in very satisfactory manner, with some of the best action scenes the series has ever delivered. I particularly liked how Captain Flint’s story ended, with him being reunited with Thomas. Those flashback scenes revealing their relationship and thein Season 2 where probably what elevated this show above just being average, it gave Flint real depth and complexity, and at times I think Seasons 3 and 4 forgot that, but it all came back around at the end. Black Sails is not the perfect show, and I think it spent far too much time talking about what it was about rather than showing, but it was enjoyable. As I said, the battles were good, with the Pirate ships looking fantastic, and it really did have some great performances. Toby Stephens as Flint of course, but my favourite will always be Toby Schmitz as Jack Rackham. That’s an all-time great character for me. A tale of Two Tobys I suppose!

Now it’s time to run through some sitcoms! Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) has returned after long break, only 1 episode, but it was a good one. I’m glad Gina isn’t dead, and it was funny as per usual. These characters are just so much fun. I am very excited to see what Kimberly Hebert Gregory is like in her guest role as Terry’s ex who is auditing the precinct. She was amazing in Vice Principals so this should be great.

New Girl (FOX) wrapped up it’s 6th season with some strong episodes, not just in terms of comedy, but also emotionally, as Nick and Jess finally, finally got back together. I normally try and not get sucked in to sitcom love triangles or whatever, and prefer to focus on the jokes, but New Girl is probably the best show in a long time for this stuff. All of the romances, even Winston’s, have been effective. It seems unclear if we’ll get another Season of New Girl, so if we don’t this was a good way out, but I personally would like a seventh and final set of episodes, if only to see Schmidt as a father. And Winston’s dad. Oh god, I’m emotionally invested.

The best thing about the last few episodes of Detroiters (Comedy Central) first season was Big Daddy Cool, Big Sexy, Diesel himself, Kevin Nash guest-starring as Tim’s insane father. Not only was this cool casting as Nash is from Detroit, but he was also really funny. He’s always been charismatic as hell as a wrestler, and it’s great to see him act in something like this, rather than just a wordless giant in Ninja Turtles. Although he was in John Wick as well wasn’t he? Former members of the nWo aside, Detroiters is a really funny show that showed a lot of different kinds of types of humour, and a different side of the beleaguered city. Tim and Sam are not only funny characters, but the stories they wrote are great too. I am excited for a second season, and to see how they develop things.

The Last Man On Earth (FOX) continues to deliver, although this month’s set of episodes weren’t quite as exciting and different as the last few. No Kristen Wiig or shocking deaths, just the return of the regular cast getting into weird situations. The introduction of a kid into the mix is going to be interesting. ‘Jasper’ hasn’t even said anything yet but he’s already had a big impact.

I’ve also been making my way through the 3rd season of BoJack Horseman (Netflix) and it’s still absolutely superb, one of the best TV shows I’ve ever watched, and this 3rd season may be the best yet. I loved the silent episode set almost entirely underwater, and how BoJack continues to plumb new emotional depths, particularly with Princess Carolyn. The last episode I watched was the one where he fires her and they fight in the restaurant. It was brilliant, and actually brought a tear to my eyes on more than one occasion. The voice acting on BoJack is next level already, but Arnett and Sedaris just blew me away. The one negative to this season is that Diane has kind of just been there, but there’s still 3 episodes left for her story to change. And we still need to see how those spaghetti strainers pay off. It’s going to be huge!

Girls (HBO) is almost at an end, and this final season has to be up there with the best the show has done. Nothing has topped ‘American Bitch’ in the past month, but it’s just been consistently, funny, clever and actually surprising. The way they turned the relative lack of Shoshanna around into her having been engaged and just not telling Hannah was very well done, and the series as a whole has done an excellent job at showing how friend groups drift apart slowly and almost without you noticing. The brief reunion of Adam and Hannah was also depicted perfectly. There was that spark of hope, and then… Only one episode left, and I’m excited to see how Dunham leaves things, and just how many thinkpieces it can generate. Girls was a hugely influential show, if only for things like that, for changing how people write and think about TV.

Like last month, I’m going to use Powerless (NBC) as a bridge from comedy into superhero corner. It’s still an enjoyable series with some really good performances, and things have picked up a lot with the addition of Natalie Morales as ‘Green Fury’ (Fire from the JLI!), Morales was great in Parks and Rec, and she’s a lot of fun here. This is just a great concept, and I’m enjoying seeing it’s unique take on a superhero world, and how it still manages to feature good jokes that have nothing to do with the DCU. It could coast on references, like certain other nerd-related comedies do, naming no names, but it actually doesn’t.

Not many episodes of The Flash (The CW) to talk about, as it’s gone on another break, but it did have that musical crossover episode with Supergirl, where Barry and Kara were basically zapped into Archer Dreamland by the Music Meister. Given Gustin and Benoist’s Glee past, they can obviously sing, and it was fun to see all the familiar faces having a bit of fun in this context, ‘I’m Your Super Friend’ stuck in my head for a few weeks after for sure. The Flash has always had comedic elements, but lately it’s been rather mopey, so ‘Duet’ was a fun break from that. Of course, that darkness has come back, as Caitlin has fully succumbed to evil and become Killer Frost. The Flash is always enjoyable, and I am excited by what the last few episodes will bring, part of me thinks they are actually going to kill off Iris, but they can’t can they?

DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow (The CW) certainly stuck the landing with it’s finale and last few episodes, they were fantastic and show just how much the series has improved from a rather shaky beginning. The visit to WW1 was handled very well, and having JRR Tolkien appear was just as cool as George Lucas. There was a lot of fun with the alternate reality, and even if the time travel did get a little wibbly-wobbly (to steal from Arthur Darvill’s other series), it mostly made sense. I think? Plus, they continue to fantastic work with Heat Wave. He’s so much more interesting than the comics version. Let’s hope Season 3 continues this improvement, this show is silly and dumb, but it leans into it in the best way.

Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC) has returned for it’s final set of episodes in Season 4, and it hasn’t lost momentum after ‘LMD’. These episodes are all set inside the Framework, an alternate reality where Hydra are in charge, and so far it’s been a great example of how to do these stories right. The changes are interesting, and it’s shining new light on all the characters, particularly Fitz and Coulson. It’s also good to have Grant Ward back, I know some people think he’s bland, but ever since his Hydra allegiance was revealed, his character worked for me, and now, in the framework, he seems to be a good guy… which is odd. I said this last month, but it’s very interesting to compare this ‘Hydra in charge and some of our heroes are Hydra’ storyline to the one that’s rumbling in the actual Marvel Comics, Secret Empire. That one has gone to great lengths to say that Hydra aren’t Nazis (which is of course established continuity), whereas AoS straight up says they are. Secret Empire is very controversial, and I am enjoying the build so far, but I think the TV version may be doing it a bit better. If only because it’s clear this isn’t the real world. Captain America actually is Hydra in the comics. For real.

And finally, Legion (FX) ended it’s first season with some truly fantastic episodes. I really think this is the best X-Men adaptation that’s ever been put on screen, it’s that good. I said last month that the series was barely even X-Men related at all, but that turned out to not be true, as the last few episodes really dug into David Haller’s origins and his father (Professor X!) and his battles with the Shadow King. That was straight out of the comics, and it was great. Aubrey Plaza continued to be a revelation as the Shadow King, I really think her performance deserves some kind of awards recognition. It’s going to be very fun in Season 2 to see her alongside Jemaine Clement’s Oliver, another great performance. The actual ending was really weird, with David getting grabbed by a mysterious drone thing. I have no idea what it is? Mojo? Could they lean even more into X-Lore and do fucking Mojoworld? I would love it. Legion is the best new show of the year for me, and shows just how you can tell a superhero story on screen in more than just one way. It took a while for the comics to make that step, and it’s almost more exciting to see live action takes do that as well. I can’t wait for Season 2, and to see how it influences others.

Music

2 records to talk about this month, one of which was a Birthday present. I’ve talked before about being a bit of Jazz music dilettante, and how, as such, I only really know the big names. Well, one of those is Miles Davis, and I received a compilation called Ballads (Lucky Stars Music 2015). As the title would suggest, this is a set of Davis interpretations of classic ballads, such as ‘My Funny Valentine’.  Along with Miles himself on Trumpet of course, this album features contributions from some true greats; John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Charles Mingus and more. It is of course excellent, but as I’ve mentioned, I don’t feel like I have the vocabulary to really discuss Jazz. At least until I’ve seen La La Land and Ryan Gosling has explained it to me! As these are ballads, this is a slower, mellow Miles Davis, and it’s perfect to put on in the background as you cook or clean or just chill out. It’s the perfect writing music actually and I’m listening to it now as I type. As a self-admitted dilettante, this is the perfect collection for me. It’s musically interesting, but not too out there, and boy, does it make you feel cool.

The next album is of course the new one from Kendrick Lamar, DAMN. (Top Dawg/Aftermath/Interscope 2017). Now, DAMN. only came out on Friday, so I’ve only had the chance to listen to it twice, so these thoughts aren’t exactly going to be detailed. So far I like it, but it’s not quite up there with ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ or ‘good kid, m.A.A.d city’. But that’s probably only just because I haven’t had this record drilled into my brain nearly as much. It’s still excellent, but I just need a few more listens. Lamar is, at the moment, untouchable as a rapper, I don’t think there’s anyone out there who’s as good as him. Drake and Chance The Rapper mainly sing, Kanye’s going through some stuff, and, well, who else is there? Some of the lines on here are just hilarious, as well as being insightful and searing. I think there’s a rawness to the anger here that even TPAB missed. That was more of a conceptual album, with the Jazz elements, but this… DAMN. is purer hip-hop, with a harder edge. I think my favourite song is probably the lead single, ‘HUMBLE.’, but that’s also likely a matter of timing, I’ve had an extra week to listen. I also really like ‘XXX.’, if only for the weirdness of Lamar working with U2. If Kendrick can get us a new episode of U Talkin’ U2 To Me, he really is the GOAT.

Books

I’ve only had time for one book in my life this month, but that’s because it’s a big ol’ bastard of a tome. At over 500 pages, Angels With Dirty Faces (2016) is a hugely comprehensive history of Argentinian Football by Jonathan Wilson. Wilson is one of the best writers about the game out there, and I highly recommend all of his previous works, particularly Inverting The Pyramid, which charts the evolution of Football Tactics throughout the years. This particular book is interesting not only because Argentina are one of football’s great nations, having won the World Cup twice and produced some of greatest ever players (Maradona and Messi, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg), but also because Wilson charts just how central Football is the country as a whole, and it’s perception of itself. As an outsider, before starting, I realised that, apart from Evita and The Falklands War, literally all I knew about Argentinian History was football-related. When I think of that country, I think of football. Maybe that’s just me being narrow-minded and ill-educated, but I also think it holds true for a lot of people. Wilson charts not only Argentina’s footballing history, but also how that existed alongside politics and society. It’s no surprise that Peron used Football as a propaganda tool, as did the Military Junta of the 1970s. One recent chapter is even called ‘The Failure Of Neoliberalism’! A series of match reports this ain’t. I also think it’s very interesting how Wilson explores the central conflict of Argentinian football philosophy. Menottismo Vs Bilardismo, named after 2 legendary managers, it’s basically ‘good, passing football’ Vs ‘pragmatic, win-at-all costs gamesmanship’. Hence the name of the book really! Argentina has wonderful, skilful players, but also dirty cheating bastards. Often even in the same player! See, Maradona, Diego. I find that dichotomy fascinating, and Wilson delves into it thoroughly. As always with a Jonathan Wilson book, this is a very enjoyable read, with the writer always finding an interesting take on what happened, and often diverging into some very odd side-stories, particularly in the footnotes. The Argentinian game is full of fascinating characters, and even familiar names like Bielsa have new details revealed here. I’ve learned a lot about Argentina here, not just the sport, and there’s more to come, as I’ve still not finished. I’m just about to the 2000s, which will see the rise of Lionel Messi, and a new ‘Golden Age’ of great players, like Tevez, Higuain, Aguero. Yet all of these players have never really done it for the national team. In fact, this is a fascinating time to read this book, as the team is really struggling. They have just sacked their manager and might not even qualify for the 2018 World Cup. If you have any interest in Football and particularly it’s place in wider society, I highly recommend this book. I know England fans are supposed to hate Argentina, but after reading this book, I’m struggling to, it really is fascinating.

Games

Here it is, the long-awaited return of the Games section! I’ve only gone and bought a Nintendo Switch, and with it, The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild (Nintendo 2017). Unfortunately I don’t really have much to say as I’ve barely scratched the surface of the game and haven’t had much time to play it. I’m still on The Great Plateau after all. But so far, I am absolutely loving it. The Legend Of Zelda series is probably my favourite game franchise of all time, with Ocarina Of Time, Majora’s Mask and Wind Waker being up there as my favourite games, and so far Breath Of The Wild is hitting those same emotions. That moment right at the start where you get out of the cave and see the scope… it made me gasp, literally. There’s that sense of beauty and wonder that you only get with Zelda. It reminded me of when you first get out onto Hyrule Field in Ocarina. Just that epic space. I love how open the game is. You basically get set out and can do whatever you want. No long tutorial section like in Twilight Princess, just freedom. In many ways it hearkens back to the original NES game, which I always found to be way too difficult. I’m very excited to really get to grips with the game and dig in sometime over the long weekend. So far I’ve only played on the TV, so I haven’t really used the Switch to it’ true hand-held capabilities. But I think with Zelda, you need the big screen. As much as I loved Link’s Awakening and Phantom Hourglass on the handheld systems (that reminds me, I never actually finished Spirit Tracks!) you do miss something when not playing on a telly. But when it comes to other games, I am excited to be a bit more versatile. The Switch is a genius idea and I hope it will bring Nintendo back to the prominence they deserve. Even with the Wii U being a flop, the 3DS has still been huge, so having basically everything be handheld and console based… it should be a home run. I can only imagine what a Pokemon Switch game could be like. Or Smash Bros. Or a million other concepts! I’ve fallen out of gaming in the last few years, and I hope the Switch can bring me back around.

—

So there you have it. Man, I’m exhausted. Full disclosure, I’ve written all of this whilst suffering from a pretty crappy cold, so if it makes no sense, don’t blame me, blame the germs!

I’ll be back in 30 days or so (I’m always late this month) with even more stuff, hopefully I’ll have gotten off the Plateau in Zelda. I did actually used to be good at games, I think.

#The Ides Of #April #2017 #Movies #The Mummy #Get Out #Television #Baskets #Review #The Expanse #The Flash #DC's Legends Of Tomorrow #Legion #The Americans #Black Sails #Girls #The Last Man On Earth #Inside No. 9 #New Girl #Detroiters #Powerless #BoJack Horseman #Rick And Morty #Archer #Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD #iZombie #Marvel's Iron Fist #Better Call Saul #Brooklyn Nine-Nine #Music

[niamsuggitt]

The Ides Of March 2017

Hello! And welcome to the one time of the year the name of this thing actually makes sense. It’s March 15th (or maybe I’m a bit late), it’s my 28th Birthday and I’m writing about all of the hot content I experienced in my last 30 days of being 27. It’s actually a rather light month, with only 1 book and no new music at all. Hopefully the films and TV shows I’ve got to talk about will make up for that. If you have any new music to recommend, I would certainly appreciate it!

Anyways, happy birthday to me, and let’s get down to it like a boss.

—

Movies

I started off the month with a trip to the cinema to see The Lego Batman Movie (Chris McKay 2017), which I found to be not only hilariously funny, but also a very astute and powerful take on the character of Batman. If you read last month’s The Ides Of, one of the books I wrote about was Glen Weldon’s ‘The Caped Crusade’, which is a history of Batman, and, in essence, a description of the ongoing battle between the grim and gritty version of the character with the more light-heated versions. I mentioned how the comics were moving towards something a bit lighter, and not only does Lego Batman do this, but it’s also about that very conflict. At the start of the story, Batman is an (albeit cartoonishly over-the-top) dark loner obsessed with his war on crime. But this intensity is masking a loneliness, the fact that he lost his family. Through the course of the film, he gains a new family, in the form of Robin, Batgirl and Alfred, and becomes a stronger hero because of it. This is the central battle that Batman has been going through for decades, is he better alone, or with a family. The Lego Batman comes down on ‘family’ very hard, and very powerfully. Even though he’s a ridiculous little Lego Man, Will Arnett’s performance is nuanced, and the simple animation allows for emotions to be expressed very well. It should come as no surprise that the voice behind BoJack Horseman is able to do more than the joke machine Batman was in the original Lego Movie. The voice cast as a whole is very strong, Michael Cera is perfect as Robin, and, after seeing her act as a sidekick to so many Marvel Heroes on Netflix, it was awesome that Rosario Dawson got to be Batgirl. I would also say that Zach Galifianakis’ take on the Joker is up there with the best, maybe not quite Hammill or Ledger, but very strong, and I was pleasantly surprised by how far the film leaned into the homoerotic elements of the clown prince of crime. Throw in a ton of great voice cameos doing some even better character cameos (not all from the pages of DC Comics!) and this is one of the most enjoyable films I’ve seen in a fair while. Kids will love the humour, but adult fans of the character will find a depiction that does justice to Batman’s grand history, and one that has something to say about the character. Certainly more so than Batman V Superman did. The further I get from that film, the more I dislike it. It’s quite something when the Lego versions of superheroes are more faithful than the regular movie versions. I certainly would rather see a Channing Tatum Lego Superman movie than another Man Of Steel!

Next was David Brent: Life Of The Road (Ricky Gervais 2016). This is film that I was rather wary of watching, because, as much as I love The Office and his podcasts and stand-up, Ricky Gervais has been delivering diminishing returns for quite a while now. Extras was good, but Life’s Too Short was only OK and I  don’t like what little I’ve seen of Derek at all. I suppose Cemetery Junction was decent. But the idea of a less-than-his-best Gervais returning to the world of The Office, without Stephen Merchant and without the other characters gave me some trepidation. Luckily however, Life Of The Road is quite good! It’s not up to the levels of the original series, but it’s a very funny film, with some real pathos to it. In the end, I think it’s all down to the fact that David Brent is just a superbly realised character. Deep down he’s a good person, but his pathological need to be liked renders him incredibly unlikeable. Gervais mines all aspects of this here, and you alternate between thinking Brent is a massive dick, to feeling very sorry for him. Sometimes within the same scene. The plot of the film sees Brent take a holiday from his current sales job, to have another jab at fame as the lead singer of the band ‘Foregone Conclusion’. The songs in here are all solid, and some of them are just genius, particularly ‘Slough’ and ‘Please Don’t Make Fun Of The Disableds’ which is one of those Gervais jokes that is just clever enough to not be offensive. Or maybe it is offensive? Irony is hard. The supporting cast, whilst obviously not up to Tim, Dawn, Gareth, etc levels, are good, particularly Doc Brown as Dom, Brent’s rapper friend. I found some of the scenes set at David’s new place of work to be the best in the movie, with one in particular, about how the world has gotten crueller since The Office, being actually rather emotional. It’s true, the world has gotten worse! Part of me thinks Brent would have been better served by a film just seeing him at Lavichem. But then we wouldn’t have any of the songs. Hmm. Anyway, overall, I was pleasantly surprised by Life Of The Road. Gervais may veer towards the broad and boorish in his public persona nowadays, but we shouldn’t forget how funny he can be, and how well he’s observed a particular slice of British life. If you, like me, were wary, give it a try.

And finally, I watched Inside Llewyn Davis (Joel and Ethan Coen 2013). I wrote about this film when I saw it in the Cinema back in The Ides Of February 2013, so you can read some lengthier thoughts there, but I enjoyed it just as much on second viewing as I did the first, and would actually say it’s my favourite Coen brother’s film. I haven’t seen them all, so take that how you want. Like with Scorsese, the Coens are directors I’ve been considering filling in all the gaps and watching their entire oeuvres. Let me know which you would prefer! Inside Llewyn Davis is intelligent, hilarious and telling. Some of the lines have stuck in my head ever since I watched it (“What’s that you said about your father? He exists?”) and I think it has a lot to say about the nature of creativity and integrity. But mainly it makes me laugh, and the songs are wonderful. Oscar Isaac is not only a brilliant actor, but the man can sing. John Goodman’s performance also stuck out for me way more this time. It’s just a superb film, I can’t really praise it any more.

Television

I’ve only good one new and/or returning show to discuss this month, and only one episode of it at that! But it’s still a big deal as The Americans (FX) is back for Season 5, which is of course the penultimate season. This opening episode was a strong one, with the continuation of several ongoing plotlines, and the beginnings of some new ones. I think I’m most intrigued at the moment by Mischa, Philip’s son, and his journey to America. I hope they don’t stretch that out all the way to the end of the season. The Americans has always impressed me by how it paces surprising events out throughout seasons, insane shit doesn’t only happen in episodes 9 or 10 like many other shows, it can happen at any time. Like when Nina died or Martha being found out.  And you can see that already, as the premiere ends with the death of a fairly significant supporting character. That final 10 or so minutes, which was pretty much entirely silent, was fantastic, so atmospheric. The Americans remains one of the best shows on TV, and one that, as much praise as it gets in certain circles, needs to be watched more. As rumours about Russian manipulation of the American Government continue to swirl, it’s perhaps an even more vital watch than ever!

Now for quick hits! Taboo (BBC One) wrapped up it’s first series with some really strong episodes, and basically ended with a bang. I was right in my prediction of Tom Hollander and Lucien Msamati improving things, they were fantastic. In the end, Taboo is not the best period drama going, but I would recommend it based on the excellent performances throughout, particularly Tom Hardy, and also for the fact that it’s an original story, not the adaptation of a book or a real event. These days those are few and far between on UK telly, so Taboo was a welcome surprise. It is a bit ridiculous and grim, but still enjoyable. Is there going to be a second series? I’d certainly like to see what James Delaney and chums get up to in America.

Season 2 of The Expanse (Syfy) is developing very nicely indeed. We’re now really getting into the meat of the second book, ‘Caliban’s War’ and whilst that means no more Thomas Jane (who was superb, I can’t say that too often) it does mean the story is getting more and more complex and there are other characters getting more spotlight. I really do think the TV show has done a better job at fleshing out the likes of Amos, Alex and Fred Johnson at this point than the books had. But that is probably only because they’ve been able to bring in elements of backstory forward. The special effects have taken a leap forward as well, and the whole series is just on a confident footing. I can’t wait to see what other slight tweaks there are, and how they handle some of the storylines to come. I was also incredibly glad to have Jared Harris return as Anderson Dawes. Now that’s a great character, and a great actor.

Black Sails (Starz) is fairly rocketing towards it’s conclusion, and I have to say I am having a bit of trouble keeping up. There are so many shifts in allegiance that it sort of makes my head spin. I think the show has always had this problem, especially as it relies so much on characters talking about things, rather than doing it. At this stage, I don’t want to see people talk about how important Nassau is, I want to see them fight for it. Hopefully that’s to come in the last 3 episodes, especially with some of the big deaths.

Girls (HBO) really is having an excellent final run of episodes, and I think that the 3rd, ‘American Bitch’ is among the best they’ve ever done. Lena Dunham and guest-star Matthew Rhys (from The Americans!) deliver fantastic performances, and the story they told was superb, timely and nuanced. It had so much to say about our attitudes to sex and creative people, and about society as a whole. It blew me away. The more ‘normal’ episodes have been good too, I really like the Ray storyline and the whole thing with Adam and Jessa making a movie about Adam and Hannah is brilliant, I can’t wait to see that blow up. I’m less hot on the pregnancy storyline, but it did lead to one shocking moment with Elijah. Girls really is firing on all cylinders now, it’s generating thinkpieces and laughs at basically the same rate, and that’s all you really want from it isn’t it?

New Girl (FOX) is still delivering consistent laughs, although I don’t think the storylines are as strong as they usually are right now. I think we’re kind of in a holding pattern until the whole Jess/Nick/Regan thing comes to a head. The most recent episode ‘Socalyalcon VI’ was a step towards that I think. At least Winston has continued to be delightfully fun and weird, and we’ve had the introduction of Schmidt’s terrifying assistant Jeremy. I am not tiring of that joke.

I’m also still enjoying Detroiters (Comedy Central), which has developed into a wonderfully odd show with a very big heart. I like how they are building their own, slightly off, version of Detroit. It’s not quite ‘Atlanta’ but it’s close. I think the episode where Sam becomes a male prostitute is my favourite, but they’ve all been good, and have all delivered something different. Detroiters certainly isn’t formulaic, which is good.

When it comes to Baskets (FX) I want to focus on Louie Anderson’s performance as Christine Baskets. Is it sexist to say that one of the best female characters on TV is played by a man? I don’t think so. Anderson has been superb this season, particularly in the last few episodes, where some shocking things have happened to Christine. This series has always done well at balancing comedy with tragedy, and it has been better than ever lately.

Also brilliantly balancing comedy with tragedy is The Last Man On Earth (FOX) which has returned with 2 very good episodes. The first was another one of those episodes they occasionally do which moves the focus away from the usual characters to someone else. Last season we saw how Jason Sudeikis’ Mike fared when he fell to Earth. This year we were introduced to Kristen Wiig, an incredibly wealthy woman who has avoided the virus and is hiding in a secret underground bunker. Not only did this allow for more backstory explanation than we’ve ever had before about how everyone died, but it also allowed for the show to kill off every single member of Trump’s cabinet in one scene. Cathartic as hell! I can’t wait to see how Wiig’s character will intersect with Tandy and the gang in the future. The more ‘normal’ episode was good too, especially as it killed someone off in shocking fashion. I could barely believe how ballsy that scene was, so clever.

Lastly in terms of comedy, we bid a fond farewell to Workaholics (Comedy Central) which came to an end this month. This seventh season wasn’t up there with the show’s best work, but it was good, and I found the finale to be particularly fun, and nicely meta. I think it’s appropriate that the finale featured both Paul Scheer and Jason Mantzoukas of The League, another comedy series that lagged by the end, but was still funny enough that I’ll always enjoy it at a base level. I’m interested to see what Holm, Devine and Anderson do next, they are funny people, and I’d like to see the stretch themselves beyond stoner stuff.

Let’s ease our way into superhero corner with Powerless (NBC). See, there is a structure to this! I’m continuing to enjoy this series a lot, the premise is allowing for different kinds of sitcom stories than the usual, and even the jokes that aren’t reliant on superheroes are working for me. There was one bit about The Hobbit movies that killed me. It was fun to see Major from iZombie show up as a henchman, and the main cast are settling into their roles well. This is a unique show, and I hope it doesn’t get cancelled. It reminds me quite a lot in fact of last year’s Muppets series. A ‘high-concept’ show that got a fair bit of backlash, meaning that when it actually turned out to be under-the-radar very funny… it was too late.

The Flash (The CW) is still having a solid 3rd season, although I have to admit to being slightly disappointed by the big Gorilla Grodd two-parter. I guess the The CW really doesn’t have the budget to pull of a huge battle against evil apes. Although the way they explained Earth-2 Africa looking like Canada was inadvertently hilarious. I think the highlight of these last few episodes has been getting to see Tom Cavanaugh play 2 versions of Wells at the same time, Harry and HR. His performance has just been so good, and it has me looking forward to the inevitable episode where all 3 versions, or even more, team up, Doctor Who style. Some of the personal drama on The Flash has been a bit eye-roll-inducing lately, but I always enjoy it.

I also always enjoy DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow (The CW), which is just a blast at the moment. I was initially a bit disappointed that ‘Camelot/3000’ wasn’t set in the actual Camelot 3000 from DC Comics, but it was still a lot of fun. In contrast to The Flash, I am enjoying the more soap opera-y elements, the romance between Vixen and Steel has been refreshing, because it’s refused to get all mopey… yet. Even the episode set entirely inside the ship and Rip Hunter’s mind was was good. Legends Of Tomorrow always goes full tilt towards silliness, and that’s a good thing. The next episode is about NASA, and I am pumped.

Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC) wrapped up it’s LMD storyline with some of the best episodes it’s ever done. ‘Self Control’ was just a brilliant piece of television, working almost as a standalone horror story, but also of course playing a large part in the continuing narrative of Doctor Radcliffe replacing everyone with LMDs. The ending was brilliant too, with our heroes ‘losing’ and being trapped in an artificial reality where it looks like Hydra are in charge, but they are Agents of the evil organisation. Not only am I pumped that this means a return for Grant Ward, but it’s going to be fascinating to see how people react to this story, particularly as reactions to a similar Hydra-related twisted in the pages of the Captain America comics have been… mixed, shall we say. The fact that this is much more clearly an alternate reality (in the comics, on Captain America has been altered) should mean it’s less controversial.

Aaand finally, Legion (FX) has become perhaps the best show on TV right now. I’m reluctant to even put it in superhero corner, because it transcends the genre, but that’s probably an insult, and anyway, it’s all in my head anyway. Just like a lot of Legion takes place in David’s head! Damn I’m good. I am just in love with the tone and atmosphere of this series, and how weird it’s willing to get. I want to particularly praise Jemaine Clement, who made a brilliant appearance as Oliver Bird, and also Aubrey Plaza, who really has taken things to the next level. She manages to be both very funny and terrifying at the same time. I don’t want to really discuss the plot stuff here, because you should all watch the show unspoiled, but man, the way they’ve parcelled out certain reveals has been perfect. I kind of hedged my bets last time, but fuck it, Legion is the best X-Men adaptation ever and I love that Fox have really started to take risks with the property. It started with Deadpool, but with this and apparently Logan (which I haven’t seen yet) they really are going beyond the formula that a lot of other superhero fiction sticks to. Now, I happen to quite like that formula, but it needs deconstructing to remain fresh, and if that’s not coming from the comics themselves (and aside from maybe one or two Big Two books and maybe Black Hammer, it isn’t), then TV and movies is the best place. More people will see it for sure!

Music

As I said in the intro, no new music this month. What can I say, home taping is killing music. I have been listening to random singles and theme tunes on Apple Music, but no full albums, and that’s what qualifies for an entry here. I’m listening to the new Grandaddy album, ‘Last Place’ as I type this, maybe that’ll be on here next month, it seems pretty good so far.

Books

I may only have one single book to talk about, but at least it’s the return of a familiar series in the form of Babylon’s Ashes (2016), the 6th book in James S.A. Corey’s The Expanse. I wrote about the TV show earlier, and it was initially a strange experience to be reading Book 6 at the same time as watching the events of Books 1 and 2 on the show. It was an adjustment in my head-space for sure, and it really does demonstrate how much has changed in this sci-fi world over the years.  The two men who make up Corey, Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck are not afraid to really fuck things up.  This book was mainly dealing with the fall-out from Book 5, where the Earth was basically destroyed and a new, very fragile status quo for humanity was established. I enjoyed it, there were lots of cool moments and twists and turns, but it has one major flaw in that it has too many POV characters. Normally The Expanse POVs are James Holden and maybe one or two others. Here, there were too many characters getting chapters to themselves that the novel felt a bit scattered and unfocused. Part of this may be intentional, as a way of showing how scattered the people are, I don’t know. It did allow for the return of some familiar faces, like Prax, but overall the effect was a negative. A Song Of Ice & Fire is obviously a huge influence on The Expanse, and that series has also suffered from ‘POV bloat’ in the last 2 books. Stories obviously do grow in the telling, but sometimes it’s too much. But with all that, I still enjoyed the book, this is just an enjoyable setting with some fantastic characters (who don’t necessarily all need POVs!) and I am definitely excited to see what’s going to happen next. I personally think the time as come for a lot of the human in-fighting to stop and for the true threat to emerge, but who knows, there’s probably another twist coming, even with the Free Navy gone.

—

So that’s it, another column done, another year older, and more fun to come I hope! I’ll see you in 30 days or so with a lot to talk about. I already know I’ll have at least one CD to cover, as I got one for my Birthday, and I also got some pretty cool books and also cash to buy more stuff for the big day.

Laters!

#The Ides Of #March #2017 #Movies #The Lego Batman Movie #David Brent: Life On The Road #Inside Llewyn Davis #TV #Taboo #The Expanse #Black Sails #Girls #New Girl #Detroiters #The Flash #DC's Legends Of Tomorrow #Workaholics #Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD #Powerless #Baskets #Legion #The Last Man On Earth #The Americans #Books #James SA Corey

[niamsuggitt]

The Ides Of February 2017

Hello, and welcome the second ‘The Ides Of’ instalment of 2017. It’s only Month 2 and I’m already slightly light. Blame Valentine’s Day, blame Trump, blame it on the boogie, whatever, it’s late, deal with it. I, like George RR Martin, am not your bitch.

This month is a return to normality a bit, as there’s plenty of TV and far fewer movies. I think it’s interesting to see that sort of ebb and flow, and how I prioritise things. When there’s less TV, I watch more films. I would generally say that I like the big screen more than the small, but I suppose serialisation is a big part of that. I can’t put off episode 3 of say, The Flash for too long because soon I’ll build up a backlog, but I can watch The King Of Comedy at any time really, there’s no rush.

Maybe I just need to watch less telly in general. But most of it so good! And there’s loads of apparently good shit out there that even I don’t watch.

Away from screens, this month also sees the return of one of Modern Rock’s best bands, and also a book about everyone’s favourite rodent-themed vigilante, Batman.

So let’s do it to it.

Movies

First up this month is Hunt For The Wilderpeople (Taika Waititi 2016), which I thought was absolutely delightful. Waititi is the New Zealand director behind the likes of ‘Eagle Vs Shark’ and ‘What We Do In The Shadows’ and he’s also set to direct the third Thor movie later on this year. I have to say that on the basis of this, and his previous films, I am very excited to see what he can do with a big budget. This is a brilliant comedy-adventure film, and that’s basically what the Marvel movies are right? Well, the best ones certainly are. The film tells the story of a troubled pre-teen, Ricky Baker, who is sent to live out in the sticks with a new foster family. After a tragedy occurs, he and his new Foster-Father (or Uncle) are forced to go on the run into the woods, they are the titular Wilderpeople. It all sounds a bit weird, and it is, but it’s very fun and funny. There are some fantastic jokes here, and the performances are brilliant, Sam Neill has never been better here than he is as Uncle Herc. I mean that. Fuck Jurassic Park, give me Hunt For The Wilderpeople. Julian Dennison is also superb as Ricky, one of the best, most nuanced kid performances I’ve seen in a long time. And of course, given Waititi’s Flight Of The Conchords connections, it should come as no surprise that Murray himself, Rhys Darby. This is simply a charming film that will I think surprise a lot of people who watch it. It’s not totally a kid’s movie, but I would let kids watch it for sure. Waititi has shown himself to be a very diverse director, as this looks nothing like the documentary feel of ‘What We Do In The Shadows’, so as I said, whilst he might seem like a weird choice for Thor, I think he’s going to be perfect. And Julian Dennison should be in it, as like… Pip The Troll or something.

Up next, after watching the first film over Christmas, I moved onto Gremlins 2: The New Batch (Joe Dante 1990), which was almost more timely than the original, as the whole film is a massive Donald Trump piss-take, and I watched it on January 28th, which was of course the day after the start of his horrific Muslim Ban. It made for a strange viewing experience. On the one hand it, it was cathartic to see ‘Daniel Clamp’ get ripped a new one and to see the Gremlins wreak havoc on his tower, but on the other hand, it was incredibly depressing. People have known that Trump is a charlatan since 1990, hell, since before that, and it didn’t stop him, in fact he’s become even more powerful. There’s been a lot of talk about whether satire can be effective in the face of Trump, and in the case of Gremlins 2… I would say it wasn’t. That’s not to say it’s not a good movie, it’s very funny, full of madcap energy and cool meta moments. It was certainly weird to have the film stop halfway through until Hulk Hogan restarts it. It’s much broader comedically than the first one, but I think it mainly works. The stop motion animation is fantastic throughout, and the performances are fun. I think I might be in love with 1980s Phoebe Cates and Robert Picardo and Christopher Lee are strong too. John Glover is the man tasked with playing Clamp/Trump, and he’s just a great actor, however, if anything, he imbues Clamp with too much humanity. You end up sort of liking him by the end! Again, depressing. But should I really be judging a silly comedy film from 1990 differently because of political events from 2017? Probably not, but on the day of the Muslim Ban, it was hard not to. If nothing else, we really should get a Gremlins 3 set in the White House out of this mess.

To lighten my mood after the heavy political thriller that was Gremlins 2, I then watched Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone 2016), the hilarious pop music spoof from The Lonely Island. I’m a big fan of The Lonely Island’s music and their previous film venture, ‘Hot Rod’, so I of course loved seeing them combine the two, and do a film about music. This is a mockumentary style film, and the plot isn’t really what’s important. What’s important are the songs, and the sheer number of great jokes and cameos they pack into less than 90 minutes. Every song is not only funny, but also kind of good (‘Turn Up The Beef’ would genuinely be a hit in real life I think) and there are so many fantastic lines and bits. I think my favourite recurring thing was the send up of TMZ, with Will Arnett, Chelsea Peretti and Eric Andre just going so damn hard in their take-down. I also really enjoyed Hunter The Hungry and his general awfulness. It’s a very specific parody of Tyler The Creator, but it works. Popstar is, I can tell, going to be one of those comedy films I come back to again and again over the years. Perhaps alongside the glory of ‘Hot Rod’, or maybe in a music parody double-bill with ‘Walk Hard’.

And finally, I began my attempt at filling-in all my Scorsese-holes (ooh, sexy) by watching The King Of Comedy (Martin Scorsese 1983, although apparently it came out in late ’82 in Iceland, which is weird to me) and I really enjoyed it. It’s a fantastic companion piece to Taxi Driver, and also terrifyingly prescient in it’s depiction of celebrity culture and people’s desire to be famous without really putting the effort into honing a craft. I think Robert De Niro’s performance here as Rupert Pupkin is simply superb, he’s funny, but he’s also deeply creepy and scary. It’s somehow both a very subtle and very broad performance, one of his best, and that really is saying something. I was also very impressed by Sandra Bernhard, and whilst I’m not that familiar with Jerry Lewis, he was good as Jerry Langford. But really, this is all about De Niro and Scorsese at it again. I just love how Rupert escalates, and how, weirdly, his comedy routine on the show is not particularly good or bad, like you might expect, but just kind of good. You get the sense that if he just followed the advice he was given and actually went to comedy clubs and practiced his act, he would end up on Jerry Langford anyway. But instead he takes an insane shortcut by kidnapping Jerry. And it works! I think the ending is one that has parallels with other Scorsese films, like ‘Wolf Of Wall Street’ or even ‘Silence’. I mentioned this last month, but I like how often Scorsese films seemingly reward bad behaviour. People get angry at that, but really, he is just depicting life as it really is. Pumpkin becoming famous for kidnapping a talk show host is disturbingly plausible right now.

Television

The idiot’s lantern came back in full force in January, with the return of some familiar favourites and some rather off-beat new additions to the world famous superhero corner. I feel like I these days watch more superhero TV shows than I read superhero comics! (This is not actually true).

Let’s begin with Baskets (FX) as Zach Galifianakis’ wonderfully sad and strange comedy has come back for a second season. These few episodes have seen the show move away from the high concept ‘clown’ stuff, and instead just following the characters of Chip Baskets and his family in their melancholy lives. I love the way the series mixes ordinary life with the slightly off. So you can have Christine’s fun shopping trip to her beloved Costco, contrasted with a deliriously heightened fight between Chip and Dale. This most recent episode, simply titled ‘Fight’ really highlighted to me what an amazing job Galifianikis doing at playing two characters. At times I actually find myself forgetting that he is both Chip and Dale. The camera trickery required for this is also superbly done. This small budget TV show does a better job at that then some major Hollywood films! Baskets is not a show for everyone, but I just love it’s tone and take on life.

Another returning comedy is Girls (HBO), which is now in it’s final year. In a way that’s sad, because I thought Season 5 was the best one yet, but it’s probably best to go out on a high. There’s only been one episode so far, but it was a strong one I think. Riz Ahmed (with his appearance, Hannah has now had sex with 3 characters from the Star Wars Universe, Kylo Ren of course, but young Lando and Bodhi Rook, weird) was great in his guest appearance, and it’s always fun to see Hannah outside of her NYC comfort zone, in this case, Montauk and surfing. The scenes with the other characters felt a bit like just catching up with them for the sake of it, but there were some nice, odd moments, like Adam and Jessa eating yoghurt on the sofa in the nude, or Desi’s increasingly brilliant awfulness. Let’s hope Girls’ last season is a good one, and that we don’t spend all our time talking about the stupid shit Lena Dunham says sometimes, or whether it’s right that she’s naked sometimes (there was some top class nudity in this premiere), when Girls is on form, it’s one of the best TV shows out there, not just a thinkpiece generator.

Also in the throes of it’s final season is Black Sails (Starz). The series continues to be a lavish, stylish production, but I must admit that until this most recent week’s episode, I wasn’t feeling things. It felt like there was too much manoeuvring to set things up, like, I didn’t really understand just why Billy Bones turned on Flint right at that moment. But now, with the death of Blackbeard in a fantastically brutal keel-hauling sequence, I’m back on board (not a boat pun). That was a shocking scene, and, along with the Pirates re-taking Nassau, one that really upped the stakes for the last 6 or so episodes. I do think the series has suffered after the death of Charles Vane, but it does seem like Jack Rackham (always my fave, my Pirate bae) and Long John Silver are stepping up. There’s a lot to do by the end if we are going to get to ‘Treasure Island’, but I’m excited to see how it all plays out. Black Sails has always had too much political wrangling before it gets to the fight, but when the fight does happen, it is good.

Lastly for the returns, it’s The Expanse (Syfy), which continues to be the best science fiction series on television since Battlestar Galactica in my book. Speaking of books, I am liking the way the series is mixing things up and adapting things at a different pace. Parts of the story are still at the end of Book 1, but we’re also partly in Book 2, with the introduction of Frankie Adams as Bobbie Draper, who looks pretty much just like I imagined her. Now, we are seeing events from all 3 perspectives, Earth’s, the Outer Planets, and Mars. The show is doing a great job at building and depicting the world of James S.A. Corey’s books. The best thing about this timeline fudging is that it means we get more of Thomas Jane as Miller. His performance is excellent, his lived-in rumpledness really gets across what sets this science fiction universe apart from other, less realistic ones. I’m also enjoying the show getting to explore the rest of the cast in a bit more detail, we knows things about Amos, Alex and Naomi at this point in the show that we didn’t find out about until Books 4 or 5. I’m intrigued about what other changes are going to be made going forwards. I just hope the fact that I have ‘Babylon’s Ashes’ next up on my reading pile doesn’t confuse me!

Now for some ‘new new’ shows!

I’ve really enjoyed the first two episodes of Detroiters (Comedy Central) a new sitcom set in, well, Detroit. It follows the exploits of 2 small-time local Ad Men, and really is like a bizarre, low rent Mad Men at times. I really like their old lady secretary, who still acts like she’s Joan Holloway, even though she’s 80 years old. It’s a great joke. This series comes from Sam Richardson and Tim Robinson, and whilst I’m not too familiar with Robinson, Richardson of course plays the glorious Richard T. Splett in Veep, and he’s just as good here as he is on that show, playing a rather different, somewhat cooler character. This is a very funny show, and in amongst the silliness, it does seem to have something to say about the world, about the city of Detroit, which as we all know has been going through some tough times, and also about class and race in America. It’s not quite as ‘important’ as Atlanta, but it’s almost as funny, and could really grow into something great.

Now for the new entrants for superhero corner, both of which offer something a little different. First is Powerless (NBC), which is basically a workplace sitcom set in the DC Universe. It’s a great concept, and one that for me is working very well so far, mainly thanks to the strong cast and some on point comics lore references. The series follows the people who work at Wayne Security, a subsidiary of Wayne Industries run by Bruce’s hapless cousin, Van Wayne. I was very surprised to learn that Van actually comes from the comics, that just shows how much effort the show is putting in. Alan Tudyk is brilliant in the role, and he is ably supported by Christina Kirke, Ron Funches and Danny Pudi. I love that the actor who played such a classic nerd like Abed from Community is now literally in a comic book world. Although I suppose he was in The Winter Soldier. Vanessa Hudgens plays the main character of Emily, and although she’s not known for her comedy, she is very cute, and you can see that working with the rest of the cast is helping her get funnier and funnier. It’s only been 3 episodes and she’s improved a lot. This show is set in a generic DC Universe, not the dour DCEU or the Arrowverse, so it means they’ve got to reference pretty much anything and anyone, and we’ve even had appearances from D-Listers like the Crimson Fox and The Olympian. It’s a lot of fun to see the world of superheroes from a slightly different perspective, and I hope the series continues to improve at the rate it already has. If nothing else, the opening credits are fantastic. I urge everyone to watch those at least, they are a perfect summation of the concept.

Also looking at superhero from a slightly different angle is Legion (FX), an X-Men series that, despite barely being about the X-Men, manages to be probably the best on-screen adaptation they’ve had. Legion is David Haller, the son of Charles Xavier, an extremely powerful mutant who also suffers from mental illness. I don’t know much about him, but you don’t need to in order to enjoy this show, because as I said, it barely feels like a superhero story at all. They don’t say the word ‘mutant’ until 40 minutes into the first episode, and everything remains highly ambiguous. In fact, I’m struggling to know whether or not to watch Legion in ‘nerd mode’ or not. Should I be looking for links to established continuity, and theorising about whether or not the weird goblin man is The Shadow King, or should I just be appreciating the artistry and interesting performances? I suppose you can do both, but I think I’m going to try and turn off my X-Brain from now on. I think it’s going to be more fun that way. I love that this show is treating the world of the X-Men in such a different way, and I think it’s an exciting step-forward for superhero storytelling on-screen. It’s not just another action-adventure series, which even the Netflix Marvel shows basically are. It’s the equivalent of when a visionary writer takes over a D-List character and totally reinvents them in new and artistic ways. It’s Grant Morrison on Doom Patrol, James Robinson on Starman, Tom King on The Vision, Alan Moore on basically anyone, hell, Si Spurrier on Legion himself in X-Men Legacy. For my shame I’ve not read that run, but I certainly will now, as well as finally get around to Noah Hawley’s other TV series, Fargo. The cast here has been excellent so far, Dan Stevens, who I loved in The Guest is superb as Legion, and the supporting players have also impressed. Rachel Keller is great as the love interest he can’t touch (Rogue reference? No, stop it, X-Brain off!), but I’ve been most impressed by Aubrey Plaza and Katie Aselton moving away from comedy and doing something different here. Plaza is particularly great as Lenny, David’s best friend from the Mental Hospital. She captivates evert time she’s on the screen, and that’s surprising considering what happens in the first episode. Legion is a fantastic series so far, I can’t wait to see where the hell it’s all going, and just how weird it can get.

Now for quick hits! I will actually try and be quick!

The final episode of Sherlock (BBC One) was similar to the previous two instalments in Series 4, the plot was ridiculous and way too over the top when compared to older series, but it was stylishly done and saved by very strong acting, in this case, not just Cumberbatch and Freeman, but Sian Brooke as Eurus Holmes, who was amazing. Overall, I think I’m fine with another long wait for more Sherlock, it seems to have lost it’s way a bit. And man, they really regret killing Moriarty don’t they? He’s been in more episodes since he died than he ever did when alive!

I finished up Season 2 of BoJack Horseman (Netflix) this month, and wow, what a fantastic stretch of episodes. I’ve said before how much I enjoy the way this show mixes humour with absolutely crushing darkness, and that has never been truer than in the penultimate episode ‘Escape From L.A.’. I was blown away by what I was watching, by how far the writers were willing to go. It fucked me up basically. That’s not to say Season 2 wasn’t funny, I loved everything involving Mr Peanutbutter’s game-show, and Todd’s adventures with Improv, but really, I was mostly left reeling by the sadness in BoJack’s soul. I am taking a break before Season 3, but this show is rapidly becoming one of my all-time favourites.

New Girl (FOX) is continuing to have a strong 6th season, I am enjoying the return of Megan Fox (a sentence I never thought I’d write) and how it’s shedding new light on the inevitable Jess/Nick relationship. I’m also really like the increased focus on the insanity that is Winston, with his proposal to Allie. That’s been a very fruitful storyline.

Workaholics (Comedy Central) has rather disappointed me so far in this final season. From the premiere, I got the sense that maybe they were going to start exploring how Blake, Adam and Ders were getting a bit too old to act like they do, but instead, it’s just the same old hijinks. Don’t get me wrong, some of it has been very funny, but it is a bit worn out. I did like that they got Dennis Quaid to guest star, that was great.

I have a lot to say about the final two episodes of The Good Place (NBC) but I don’t want to write about them because I want everyone to watch the show and not be spoiled. Needless to say, they were very funny, and the surprises at the end blew my mind. If I had the time I’d go back and re-watch everything again to look for clues. Just… just watch The Good Place, you will not regret it.

Taboo (BBC One) continues to move propulsively forwards, and I really liked how the already excellent cast has been bolstered by the additions of Tom Hollander and Lucien Msamati. This historical drama is not quite up to par with the best of the genre storywise, but it has so many good actors. Tom Hardy is delivering the kind of performance you can’t take your eyes off, as is Jessie Buckley, who I am a little bit in love with.

Let’s finish things off with more superhero corner. Gotham (FOX) came back for 3 episodes then went away again, I really hate US TV scheduling sometimes. But they were fun episodes, especially as they saw the return of Jerome, who it looks like actually is The Joker. I really like Cameron Monaghan’s performance, he reminds me of the best sides of Heath Ledger and Mark Hamill. That may be too high praise. I also thought the Bruce Wayne storyline has picked up a lot. The moment when he made his vow to never kill was fantastic. You can see how David Mazouz’s teenage kid could become Batman. I’m going to talk more about the nature of the character of Batman later, but, after a rocky start, Gotham really is starting to nail the character down.

The Flash (The CW) has come back from hiatus with a series of fun episodes, particularly the one involving the battle between Cisco and Gypsy. I don’t see how anyone can hate Cisco at this point. He’s not just comic relief, but also a great character. The development of Kid Flash has also been very enjoyable, and I’m liking the addition of Tom Felton’s character to the good side, although I am expecting another sudden but inevitable betrayal. The next two instalments should be even better though… Gorilla City baby yeah!

Also coming back strong is DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow (The CW). I absolutely adored the episode where the team had to save George Lucas. It’s a silly idea, but it totally worked. Rip Hunter’s heel turn is also working out very nicely, Arthur Darvill gets to deliver a different kind of performance with a real edge. Apart from that, I have to shout out Heatwave’s opening episode recap, that was hilarious.

And finally, Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC) is on a very strong run right now. I might be missing Charles Vane on Black Sails, but luckily Zack McGowan is delivering the goods as Ivanov on this show. But he’s not the real villain, John Hannah’s Radcliffe is, and he is fantastic, because he’s complex. You get the sense that he genuinely does believe he’s in the right. I’m less keen on the whole ‘Coulson is in love with May’ elements, but they are making an effort with flashbacks. The twist at the end of the most recent episode was great. Everyone’s an LMD! Yay.

Music

As mentioned int he intro, this month saw the long-awaited return of one of the best modern rock bands around, Japandroids, as, 5 years after ‘Post-Nothing’, they finally released their 3rd album, Near To The Wild Heart Of Life (Anti- 2017). So far I’m enjoying it a fair bit. It feels a bit more mainstream and polished than the first 2 albums, but still has that raw, anthemic Japandroids feel that makes it perfect for blasting at loud volumes late at night and singing along too drunkenly. Which really, when you get down to it, is what Rock and Roll should be about. There are some clunky lyrical moments, like when they attempt to rhyme ‘carry it’ with ‘chariot’ but I don’t think this is a band that’s really ever been about the words. It’s about the feelings behind them. They can imbue ‘north, east, south, west’ with real emotion and power. It’s quite something. I think my favourite track from this particular group of 8 songs (every album of theirs has 8 songs, must be some kind of special number) is the closer, ‘In A Body Like A Grave’, which is just… I already used the word anthemic, so I don’t know what else to say. It’s a top of your lungs belter. I love it. But most of the tracks are strong enough to stand there with ‘Celebration Rock’. I think I do need to revisit their other albums too, that’s either a sign of this album being really a great… or not as good as those. I am still not quite sure.

Books

I finished off The Wrong Side Of Goodbye (2016) by Michael Connelly first this month, and I don’t really have too much to add to what I said last month. This was an enjoyable Bosch novel, that saw two separate mysteries handled very well, they linked thematically I suppose, but I was glad there wasn’t too overt a connection. I am glad that Harry has become a full-time Cop again by the end, he’s not quite the same character when he’s a PI, although it does allow for a different kind of story. I think my favourite aspects of the story were when Bosch was teaming up with his half-brother, Mickey Haller. We’ve had 3 Bosch books in a row now, I think it’s time for this year’s Connelly novel to be a solo outing for The Lincoln Lawyer. Hopefully that’s what we get for Christmas 2018. But I’d be happy with anything Connelly writes at this point, hell, bring back Henry Pierce or Jack McEvoy (he’s not dead is he?).

I then read Glen Weldon’s The Caped Crusade (2016), which as the title suggests, is a book about ‘Batman and the rise of Nerd Culture’. As you probably (definitely) already know, comics and superheroes are my main avenue of nerdiness, and whilst Batman is not my favourite superhero, I do like him a lot and found this book to be a fascinating look at not only his history, but also how that history has reflected the wider society around him. I knew I was onto a winner when Weldon quoted Scott Aukerman in the introduction. This is a book from a like-minded soul! The central aspect Weldon explores here is the conflict between the ‘Dark’ Batman, as opposed the lighter, campy, more fun Batman, and how they have gone back and forth over the years, with nerds defining what they see as the ‘real’ Batman in the comics pages, as opposed to the popular perception. Batman started out dark and gritty for about 2 years, then Robin arrived and things got light, with the 60s TV show. Then you had Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams bringing back the darkness. Then Frank Miller doubling down. Then Joel Schumacher brought back the light, before Christopher Nolan and now Zack Snyder and Ben Affleck. I found this vacillation between two extremes to be very fascinating, especially since it’s been going on for over 50 years. Weldon recounts how future (very good) Batman writer Chuck Dixon got into a fistfight as a child over the Adam West Batman, and some of the excerpts from 1960s fanzines are crazy. We talk these days about if fandom is ‘broken’, but what this book shows is that it’s always been broken! At the moment, with Lego Batman (which I haven’t seen… yet) we seem to be moving back towards the lighter spectrum. But I tend to agree with Weldon that the best takes on Batman are the ones that combine both light and dark and find something in between. That’s Batman: The Animated Series, and the actual DC Comics of the last 10 years or so. Grant Morrison started it with his belief that every story ‘counted’ and that’s continued to the current writers of the main Batman titles, Tom King, James Tynion IV and Scott Snyder. Those books treat Batman seriously, but also allow him to be a bit ridiculous, to even make jokes at times, and also embrace the wider ‘Bat-Family’ in exciting new ways. I perhaps would have liked more attention to be paid to the more recent comics, but that is hard to do. It’s hard to know what real impact Morrison will have had compared to Miller, O’Neil, etc until a fair few more years have gone by. This was a really fun read and one that kind of reignited my passion for Batman. I want to go and re-watch all of B:TAS, I now want to re-read Dark Knight Returns for the first time in years, and I’m even considering buying the 60s TV show box-set! I’ll probably just go see Lego Batman though. Apart from one noticeable error when he says that Dave McKean drew Watchmen, this is a well-researched book that had some new tidbits for even a hardened nerd like myself, and is a must for any Batman fan I would say. Weldon made me see the character in a new light.

—

That’s it! I’ll be back next month on The Actual Ides Of Actual March, when it’s my Birthday. I’m going to be 28. Oh God that is old. I am old.

#The Ides Of #February #2017 #Movies #Hunt For The Wilderpeople #Gremlins 2: The New Batch #Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping #The King Of Comedy #TV #Sherlock #BoJack Horseman #New Girl #Gotham #Workaholics #Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD #The Good Place #Taboo #Baskets #The Flash #DC's Legends Of Tomorrow #Black Sails #Powerless #The Expanse #Detroiters #Legion #Girls #Music #Japandroids #Books #Michael Connelly

[niamsuggitt]

The Ides Of January 2017

Hello! Welcome to the first Ides Of of (does that make grammatical sense? Probably not!) 2017. It’s a bit of an unusual one this month, normally, the biggest category of nonsense by far is TV, but over Christmastime, I watch a lot less of that, and far more movies. I’ve got 11 different films to talk about! Including not one, but two trips to the actual cinema. Crazy. There’s also a healthy amount of books, 2 interesting CDs and, after a long absence… I played a video game! It was only on my phone, but still, it’s a game.

So without further ado, let’s do it to it.

—

Movies

The first film I watched in this epic month of months was Deadpool (Tim Miller 2016), which much to my surprise was actually really good. I say this because I am really not a fan of Deadpool in the comics. I don’t find him very funny, and most of the time he’s just annoying. The only times I can really tolerate him are when he’s in a team book, like Rick Remender’s excellent Uncanny X-Force series or the current Uncanny Avengers. So this film had a mountain to climb, but it did so. Mainly because the jokes here were actually good and funny. There were several laugh out loud moments here. But I also think that the movie did well in not forgetting the sadder, darker side of Deadpool. He makes jokes to distract from his fucked-up face and life, and Ryan Reynolds sold that deeper emotional well. I also found this to be, weirdly, the X-Men film that’s the most faithful to the source material. The version of Colossus featured here was great, far better than what we’ve seen before, and Negasonic Teenage Warheard, despite being basically a new character, looked great in that classic uniform. So yeah, Deadpool is a pleasant surprise, let’s hope the success doesn’t fuck up the sequel and it keeps that self-deprecating underdog tone. That period when Deadpool had like, 4 ongoing series at once was terrible, we don’t want that again.

I then continued my sojourn through my Universal Monsters box-set by watching Frankenstein (James Whale 1931). This film, like Dracula, is another one that I’ve basically absorbed by cultural osmosis, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a stone-cold classic. Boris Karloff is brilliant as The Monster, and that scene where he plays with the little girl by the lake is simply amazing. An all-timer, and one of those much-hyped moments that actually lives up to it. I was most surprised by the fact that Dr Frankenstein’s hunchbacked assistant wasn’t called Igor, instead, Dwight Frye (awesome again, just like in Dracula) is ‘Fritz’. Weird. Apparently he’s Igor in later, lesser, movies.

My one concession to watching a Christmas film this year was a re-watch of Gremlins (Joe Dante 1984), which, as ever, I thoroughly enjoyed. I wasn’t really feeling the festive spirit this year, so a movie like this, which both likes and hates on Christmas, was perfect. It’s just a classic film, with superb practical effects and some really great jokes. I think what stood out to me most this time around was that Jonathan Banks, AKA Mike from Breaking Bad is in this movie, and also the performance of Phoebe Cates. Not only is she insanely pretty, but her story about her dad dying at Christmas just sums up the whole tone of the film for me. It’s messed-up, but also funny, and also a Christmas story. Whilst I am a bit sad I couldn’t find time for It’s A Wonderful Life this year, Gremlins was a worthy, if more cynical, replacement. Although I find Capra’s film to be pretty cynical at times too!

This year saw my family continue our new Christmas Eve tradition of eating at Five Guys and going to see a new Star War, as we stuffed our faces with burgers and saw Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Gareth Edwards 2016). Overall, I enjoyed the film a lot. It had a darker tone than the main Star Wars Saga, particularly in it’s depiction of the Rebel Alliance, who are a lot more morally dubious than previously thought, but it still had that epic scale of fun, and it did really well in telling a standalone character story, as well as linking in with the wider Universe around it. It’s annoyed me ever since I was a child that the Death Star had such an obvious weakness for Luke to shoot at out, but now, after this film, we have a decent reason for that. It was an intentional flaw put in there by Mads Mikkelson. This kind of continuity futzing isn’t entirely necessary, but I liked it, and sometimes you just have to let your fanboy flag fly. The connections between Rogue One and the other movies were pure nerd-service, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t great. As weird as CGI Peter Cushing was, seeing Grand Moff Tarkin again was great, and it was even cooler to see Darth Vader unleashed in a more modern fight sequence. I even popped for Jimmy Smits, and that’s a Prequel thing! But as I said, the standalone, new characters were good too, I really enjoyed Felicity Jones as Jyn. I feared she would be too similar to Rey, but that was unfounded, and the rest of her crew were fun too, the Robot stands out, but that’s only because he told jokes. It was great to see Donnie Yen in a Star Wars film. I think what really elevates Rogue One is that all the characters died. You kind of knew it had to happen, but that didn’t make it any less powerful. I kind of wish I was younger so these deaths could have really fucked me up. Whilst I am still a bit wary of Star Wars becoming over-saturated and getting a movie every single year, so far, so good. I suppose it gives me an excuse to go to Five Guys!

On December 25th itself, I watched Snoopy And Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie (Steve Martino 2015) which was absolutely delightful. Like most people, I love the original Charles M. Schulz comic strip, and this film lived up to them perfectly. It was funny, it was heartfelt and it was clever. I think the animation was a real highlight too. It was 3D CGI, but it still looked somewhat 2D and straight off the page. The voice acting was also straight out of the old cartoons (which makes sense, they used archive footage of the late Bill Melendez for Snoopy and Woodstock). I think I mainly liked it because it didn’t sell out Schulz’s style to become just like every other kid’s animation, with lazy references and jokes ‘for the parents’ or celebrity voice cameos. The most famous name here is Kristen Chenowith, and she just makes Snoopy-esque dog noises as The World War 1 Flying Ace’s love interest. Perfect family viewing for Christmas really.

Up next is The End Of The Tour (James Ponsoldt 2015) which I had purchased for my brother as a Christmas gift. I had bought it because he, like me, enjoys the writing of David Foster Wallace, and this film is about him. Jesse Eisenberg (redeeming himself for me here after Batman V Superman) plays David Lipsky, a journalist and less-successful novelist who accompanies Foster Wallace on the last leg of his Infinite Jest book tour for an article. Wallace is played by Jason Segel, and he is superb here. I always liked him in comedies like How I Met  Your Mother and Forgetting Sarah Marshall, but he’s really on another level here. His depiction of Wallace is incredibly realistic and layered, very funny at times, but also with darkness. He was a fascinating person, and I think Segel manages to capture him. The story here is slight, but it’s just enjoyable to watch Segel and Eisenberg converse with each other, and to gain an insight into a unique creative mind. If nothing else, it made me want to re-read Infinite Jest, but I don’t know if I have the time. I certainly would like to see more films like this, not everything has to be a massive franchise reboot!

Although I’m not above enjoying those, as I then watched Ghostbusters (Paul Feig 2016), which was a lot of fun. I will say that the storyline here was rather uninspired and simple, but it was a good film thanks to the performances from all of the new Ghostbusters. I, like pretty much the rest of the world, fell in love with Kate McKinnon’s Holtzmann, who is just bizarre and weird and does something interesting pretty much every second she’s on screen, but Leslie Jones, Kristen Wiig and Melissa McCarthy were all also really good. Chris Hemsworth was very funny too, he’s great in the Marvel Movies when Thor is allowed to get a little silly, so it was fun to see him unleashed here. The special effects were strong, and I liked how the Proton Pack lasers escaped from the widescreen letterbox, but the main thing here were the performances, as well as the fun cameos from the old Ghostbusters. I did not expect Bill Murray to deign to be in this, so that was really cool. It’s a shame that this film somehow became ground zero in the online culture wars, because it’s obscured what it actually is, a fun film that, whilst not as good as the original, is certainly better than Ghostbusters 2 and a worthy entry into the series. I certainly would like to see these characters again, hopefully without the pressure of having to defeat Gamergate and usher in a new era of feminism. It’s insane that this couldn’t just be a movie!

Holy crap this is a lot of movies!

OK, next was High-Rise (Ben Wheatley 2015), which both confused and delighted me. I haven’t read the JG Ballard novel this film is based on, but I certainly want to know. It’s hard to really describe this film. Tom Hiddleston moves into a new, supposedly self-sustaining tower block that contains Britain’s class divides in a microcosm. Then everything breaks down and everything goes to hell. I think the way this film depicts this breakdown in society is superb, it just kind of… happens, and everyone just goes along with it. You know how everyone on Twitter is banging about not ‘normalising’ Trump and other right-wing nut jobs? High-Rise shows what happens when terrible shit does get normalises, and thankfully, without that annoying handclap emoji. The central scene where Wheatley basically skips a few steps is wonderfully disorientating. High-Rise is full of great performances, Hiddleston and Jeremy Irons are of course excellent, but I was most impressed by Luke Evans, who plays working class agitator Richard Wilder. Evans had kind of struck me as a nothing in The Hobbit, but he is superb here. Elisabeth Moss, James Purefo and Sienna Miller are also good, and it was incredibly cool to see some British Comedians pop up. Reece Shearsmith has of course worked with Wheatley before in A Field In England, but Dan Skinner (Angelos Epithemiou) is almost unrecognisable here. This is fucked-up, stylish film, the Portishead cover of Abba’s SOS has stuck with since I saw it, and I can’t wait to not only read the book, but also rewatch the movie. I’m not sure I fully buy the message, but I do appreciate it.

I then watched Suicide Squad (David Ayer 2016) which, despite being kind of a massive mess, I didn’t completely 100% hate. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not good, but it’s certainly better than Batman V Superman… if only because it’s shorter. Let’s start with the positives. Margot Robbie is brilliant fun here as Harley Quinn, she’s sexy, she’s funny, and she’s always got your attention. Jared Leto as The Joker, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Jay Hernandez as El Diablo and, surprisingly, Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang are also good performances. The rest… is a confused muddle. Nothing sums this up more than the music. The first third or so is full of needle-drops, using classic songs to signify cool moments. That drops of and suddenly you get a more traditional score. Then the pop soundtrack comes back at the end! It doesn’t work, and just smacks of studio interference, trying to make things move like Guardians Of The Galaxy. It doesn’t work. The plot is also so rubbish and inconsequential that I don’t even really want to talk about it. Cara Delevigne tries her best, but the Enchantress doesn’t make sense. The whole film, and hell, the DCEU as a whole, feels poorly thought-out. Take Slipknot’s death. It’s supposed to be a shock, but it isn’t, because he’s the only member of the team not too get their own focused flashback. Any idiot could tell you that, for the surprise to work, they needed to treat Slipknot just like the rest, like he’s going to be important, then blow him up. Not have him show up unceremoniously. Just bad writing. And what’s the deal with Katana! She just shows up for no reason and does nothing. Her role is emblematic of the DCEU’s problems for me, it’s not fitting together. This is supposed to be a universe where Superman only jut appeared and there are not that many metahumans. But then Rick Flag just casually tosses off a line about a demon sword stealing swords and everyone just shrugs. How does that work? I said this after Batman V Superman, but they are rushing this too quickly when compared to the MCU. Even cameos from Batman and the Flash don’t have an impact. Ugh, I’m trying to be positive about pop culture these days, but the DCEU is just so damn frustrating. I am praying for Wonder Woman to be good now.

Next was a re-watch of Up (Pete Docter 2009) which, whilst not my favourite Pixar film, is absolutely wonderful and makes me cry like a baby multiple times. That opening sequence remains fantastic, and I forget how many good jokes there are. All of the characters, particularly Russell are fantastic, but the main thing is the emotions. I think it got me worse because it’s the first time I’ve watched it since my mum died, but man, it was sad.

And finally, another trip to the theatre, as I saw Silence (Martin Scorsese 2016). Like most film fans, I love Scorsese, and any new film from him is appointment viewing. I wouldn’t necessarily say that I enjoyed Silence, because it is grim and heavy, but it has made me think a lot over the last week or so. I’m not religious myself, but the story here isn’t necessarily about Christianity or religion, it’s about having faith in something and what that means. What does it actually mean to believe in Christ? Do you have to say it publicly? Or can you do it in secret? Is Andre Garfield quietly, secretly, still believing after many years a heroic undertaking, or a cowardly one? At least that’s what I took away from it. I found it fascinating that the Japanese kept saying that ‘apostatising’ and stepping on the face of Jesus was just a gesture, you didn’t have to mean it, but then when someone refused, they chopped his head off. As usual, Scorsese doesn’t endorse one particular view, he presents the world as it is. It’s like in Wolf Of Wall Street, where people got annoyed at the film seemingly endorsing Jordan Belfort, when in fact it was just reflecting a reality that endorsed him. But it’s easier to blame a film than society as a whole. This is the same, Scorsese is does not out-right say how you should feel about Andrew Garfield or Liam Neeson. Those two actors have the standout performances, but I was also impressed by the Japanese actors who I didn’t know. Scorsese is a master, and this has spurred me on to finally fill in the gaps in my knowledge of his work. I have The King Of Comedy on deck for next month, and I would expect a lot of Marty in the Ides Of for 2017.

Television

As I said in the pre-amble, there’s a lot less TV to talk about than usual, but still some good stuff, and even some new and returning shows!

First up is the long-awaited return of Sherlock (BBC One), which has so far aired 2 episodes of the usual 3. I’ve found them to be a return to form after the rather self-indulgent special from last year, but still a bit too sprawling and all over the place. Put me amongst the people who would like a return to the more small-scale stories of the first 2 series. It’s become less of a detective drama and more of an espionage epic. I suppose it would seem a bit basic just to do a mystery, but I would prefer it to more nonsense with Mary’s super-spy past (I had tried to forget all about that, it was so dumb). That said, it’s all helped by performances that continue to be excellent. I could watch Benedict Cumberbatch do his smug Sherlock thing pretty much all the time, and this series has allowed both him and Martin Freeman to stretch themselves a bit. Toby Jones was also fantastically creepy in his guest-role, and the twist at the end of Episode 2 may very well redeem the whole series, especially when it came to Watson’s ‘affair’. Let’s hope Episode 3 is good and closes things out with a bang. If nothing else, the scarcity of Sherlock means it’s one of the last true ‘event’ TV shows we have left, so it makes sense that it’s getting bigger and bigger in terms of story.

Another BBC Drama that’s all kinds of silly and all over the place, yet redeemed by strong acting is Taboo (BBC One). So far the first 2 episodes of this new historical drama from Tom Hardy, Steven Knight and Ridley Scott have been atmospheric and cool, but it is very derivative of other historical shows, and seems rather unfocused. But none of that matters when Hardy is on screen as James Keziah Delaney, who is just the right kind of Tom Hardy unhinged. You can’t take your eyes off him when he’s on the screen, and it’s not just because of his handsomeness! I’m also really enjoying Jonathan Pryce as the villainous head of the villainous East India Company. He was great in Game Of Thrones as a guy whose motivations you were never sure of, but he’s even better here as an out and out heel. Another GoT alum, Oona Chaplin appears as Delaney’s half-sister, and whilst she’s not gotten much to do, you can sense there’s more to their relationship. Perhaps more Game Of Thrones cribbing in the form of some incest? The show is called Taboo after all! I am intrigued by where all this is heading, as it seems like Delaney is trying to play the UK and the baby United States against each other. Will the show leave London and head to the former colonies? I think that would help it stand out a bit. I also hope they actually introduce some African characters soon, Delaney was obviously shaped a lot by his experiences there, but they are edging a bit too close to ‘White Saviour’ territory, where he’s the only one who hates Slavery and goes against it because he suffered it himself. They even have one character call him the N-word. I feel like it’s well-intentioned, but could go a bit awry soon.

Workaholics (Comedy Central) has returned for it’s final season, and so far the one episode was only OK, but I like where it seems to be going. In this episode, Blake, Adam and Ders have to deal with a group of new employees who are younger than them. Yes, it leads to some kind of pat Millenial jokes, but the ending was strong. Alice said that their antics were funny and sort of acceptable 7 years ago, but now? The guys are basically 30! It’s a sign that it’s probably time to end things, and also that the writers know what they are doing. I think this may be a thread that goes throughout the season, or it could just be one line and next week is more dumb hijinks. Either way will probably be funny.

In terms of quick hits, I watched the Christmas special of BoJack Horseman (Netflix), which was fantastic. I loved the conceit of BoJack and Todd watching an old holiday-themed episode of Horsin’ Around, and how, in typical BoJack fashion, it got far deeper and darker than you would expect. I’m getting more and more cynical about Christmas lately, but this episode worked on me very well.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) aired an hour-long special episode, and it was very good. I always enjoy an appearance from Craig Robinson’s Pontiac Bandit, and this was up there as one of his best. I love it when Sitcoms introduce traditions and episodes they can do regularly, and Doug Judy, along with the Halloween Heists, are great ones for B99 to have. The subplots were less strong, but they did lead to an insane ending, where Gina got hit by a bus. I can’t believe they would kill of Gina, but it was a truly shocking surprise. It’s insane that we have to wait until fucking April to find out what happened. I hate American TV and their hiatus’. Yes, UK shows may only get 6 episodes, but at least they are regular about it!

New Girl (FOX) has returned with some strong episodes, I am enjoying seeing Megan Fox back in the ensemble, and the Jess/Robbie relationship has continued to be surprisingly fruitful, both for laughs and emotion. This show is in a nice groove at the moment, it’s a comfort watch, but like with Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Gina, I sometimes need to be out of my comfort zone. Let’s do something crazy New Girl. Just don’t hurt Winston.

After a 2 month gap (those pesky hiatus’ again!), The Good Place (NBC) is back, and it’s not missed a beat. This is a show that’s never in a comfort zone, and I really appreciate how much plot the writers get through without ever forgetting to be funny. The standouts for me this month have been Chidi, who has gotten some much-needed focus, and the bizarre romance between Jason and Janet, who, remember, is not a girl, but a computer. The scenes between those two are just insanely weird and funny. The most recent episode also saw the debut of ‘Shawn’, the cosmic judge who will decide Eleanor’s fate. I thought it might be a huge shocking name, but who they got was even better. Marc Evan Jackson is a deadpan master, you’ll recognise him from Parks and Rec and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (he’s Holt’s husband) and even with 2 lines he’s nailing it. This is a great, ambitious series, and I am so pumped to see where it all goes.

Superhero corner is a lonely place this month, with only one episode of one show, as Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.LD. (ABC) returned. Sadly without Ghost Rider, but instead with more Life Model Decoys. LMDs are a classic SHIELD concept, so it’s cool to see them play a big part in the show, and I did like the twist with Dr Radcliffe being behind it all, rather than the Darkhold. John Hannah made a superb villain in Spartacus, so hopefully he’ll do the same here. I think my favourite element of this episode was the relationship between Daisy and Jeff Mace. Mace, along with Mac, may very well be the best character on the show right now. The other Inhuman/Watchdog storyline is less interesting, but there are good actors involved, so who knows.

Music

First up when it comes to music, it’s time to get a little jazzy, as for Christmas I received Kamasi Washington’s The Epic (Brainfeeder 2015), and never before has an album title been so appropriate, as this truly is an epic. It’s nearly 3 hours long, 3 discs and it’s musical ambition is just as big. I’m not a massive Jazz fan, and only asked for this because Washington has played saxophone with a couple of big name hip-hop artists, like Flying Lotus, Run The Jewels and, most pertinently for me, Kendrick Lamar. He was a big part of ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’ and so I’ve followed him here. One of these songs also soundtracked a fantastic segment of the ‘Atlanta’ TV show, so it’s also Donald Glover approved. That’s what great about music, you can follow it down so many rabbit holes. And what a rabbit hole this is! I kind of feel I lack the critical vocabulary to really talk about this record and really, Jazz as a whole. I’ve had it since Christmas and have barely scratched the surface. It’s a challenging, but always enjoyable listen that can encompass a whole day of listening. I must admit I’ve probably started it and not got to the end a few times, so Disc 1 sticks in the brain more than 2 or 3 (even though 3 is the only disc to see Washington do versions of other people’s songs, including the very famous Clair De Lune). I kind of just put it on in the background and it soundtracks my day. I want to get more into Jazz, but it is intimidating, so if anyone has any recommendations of where to go after Washington, let me know. I like Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Chet Baker and Sonny Rollins, but other than that, I know nothing.

I’ve also been listening to I See You (Young Turks 2017), the third album from The xx. Whilst I would never describe myself as a huge The xx fan, I do like them a lot, and they are one of the few bands I actually own a t-shirt for (I found it on the floor at Leeds Festival in like… 2009, still fits, still looks great) and their self-titled debut was in particular a big part of my University days. I would put it on my iPod and walk around the rainy streets of Brighton. It only came out on Friday, so like with The Epic I feel like I’ve not really gotten too deep into it, but so far I’m liking it. It feels a bit more like mainstream dance music, with more vocals than previous albums, so it feels more like a collection of discrete songs than a complete work, but it’s still strong. I might be a bit weird, but my favourite xx song is probably the wordless ‘Intro’, it builds a perfect atmosphere for the rest of the album. I sometimes feel like The xx don’t even need words. But the vocals from Romy and Oliver are probably necessary. There’s a reason the best song on Jamie xx’s solo album features Romy. At this point my favourite track here is probably the single, ‘On Hold’, but that’s probably because I’ve been hearing it on 6music for the last few months, and the other songs are too new. I do like ‘Performance’ as well. I think perhaps what I need to do with this album is what I did with the first one, put on my headphones and walk around the rainy streets. This time of Leeds rather than Brighton, but if anything, those streets are even rainier!

Books

The month began with me finishing Jonathan Franzen’s The Twenty-Seventh City (1988). The novel ended in a rather surprising, and violent way. I predicted that Jammu and Probst would begin a sexual relationship, but the way that, and the election of county vs city went did surprise me. In a way, I do feel like the deaths at the end were a bit unearned, but they were effective. Perhaps that feeling of unearnedness (not a word I know) comes from this being Franzen’s first novel. When similar big events happen in his later works, they work better because he is a better writer. I would still say this debut novel is worth reading, and, because it’s about an election between a gentrifying metropolitan elite and a man of the people, actually really rather timely. I have now read all of Franzen’s novels except Strong Motion (it’s on the list) and I feel like I need to once again re-iterate that, if you ignore all of the meta-narratives around him, he really is a fantastic writer. It’s a shame he, and we, won’t let the work speak for itself.

I then moved onto The Football Ramble (2016) by Marcus Speller, Luke Aaron Moore, Pete Donaldson and Jim Campbell. This is of course the book version of the very popular football podcast and if you like the show, well it’s pretty much guaranteed you’ll enjoy this book. I’ve been a regular listener of the podcast for 6 or 7 years ago, and have even gone back to listen to all of the older episodes (it’s surprisingly re-listenable for a show that has to be incredibly topical, talking about that week’s matches and other events). It’s an always funny and enlightening listen, as the hosts both do and don’t take the game of football too seriously. The book is much the same. It’s full of very funny moments and jokes, but is also well-researched and gave me some interesting nuggets of facts and history I didn’t know before. A lot of the jokes and stories will probably be familiar to podcast-listeners, as many Ramble-Favourites pop up, but that’s never a bad thing. I will never not enjoy hearing about Bela Gutmann. This is a light read, but a very enjoyable one. The 4 writers cover the game from pretty much every angle, and it really is the perfect companion piece to the show. Given that I can’t be bothered to subscribe to acast+, buying this book and seeing them live (this is a signed copy) is the perfect way to pay back the Ramble Four for years of free entertainment. Maybe I should buy a t-shirt as well?

And finally, an old The Ides Of favourite is back, as I’m currently about halfway through the latest Harry Bosch novel from Michael Connelly, The Wrong Side Of Goodbye (2016). Regular readers will remember I read through about 20 of Connelly’s books in 2014, but since then I’m all caught up and only get one a year. Connelly is a master of crime novels, so every book is a treat. I’m not as big a fan of Bosch no longer being a Cop, but given that he ages in real time, it does make sense, and it does allow for Connelly to do things a little differently. This particular book sees the now semi-retired Harry pick up two different cases as a Private Eye and reserve officer. One is a serial rapist, the other an old, Howard Hughes type searching for a possible heir, who may not even exist. One thing that’s interesting is that, by this halfway point, Bosch seems to have already solved that second case. But of course, he’s going to follow it all the way, particularly as it has a connection to the Vietnam War, as as such, with Bosch personally. He’s such a fantastic character, that it’s just great to see him continue his ‘mission’ even without the LAPD backing. I’m excited to finish the novel, and see what other twists Connelly can cook up. I’m also reminded that I still, still, haven’t watched the Bosch TV show on Amazon Prime. I need to rectify that soonish. Although I think I said the exact same thing after reading ‘The Crossing’ last year. I am terrible, but there is too much content.

Games

When I first started writing this rubbish, I used to also write about what video games I’d been playing in the month. But since then I’ve got a) a job and b) a girlfriend and I simply just don’t have time to play games. I don’t understand how anyone does to be honest. I suppose they just don’t watch as much TV or read books or listen to music whilst playing (I can’t do that, I like to hear the fame) and have them as a higher priority. But for me, ever since University, games have dropped to the bottom. But that doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a good one, especially if it’s not too much of a time-suck, which is why Super Mario Run (Nintendo 2016) has been so great. It’s Super Mario, but on your phone! I was a Nintendo kid, so love Mario, and as such, I love this game. It’s a streamlined Mario for sure, but it is definitely Mario and it’s a hell of a lot of quick fun. Each level can be played in about a minute, and they are always more complex than they seem, particularly when you get to the later levels of different coloured coins to collect. At this stage I’m being a bit of a cheapskate, and haven’t shelled out for the full version of the game yet, but I will soon. I can actually feel this game spurring me on to play more games, especially with the launch of the Nintendo Switch in March. I may actually get one of those. But then I’ve said I’m going to buy a 3DS to myself every month for about a year. Again, games are not a priority for me. But if anything can bring me back around, it will be Mario and Zelda.

—

So that, is indeed that. A lengthy instalment, but a good one. I’ll be back on February 15th with more fun and games. See ya then!

#The Ides Of #January #2017 #Movies #Deadpool #Frankenstein #Gremlins #Rogue One: A Star Wars Story #Snoopy And Charlie Brown: The Peanuts Movie #The End Of The Tour #Ghostbusters #High-Rise #Suicide Squad #Up #Silence #Television #BoJack Horseman #Sherlock #Brooklyn Nine-Nine #New Girl #The Good PLace #Taboo #Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD #Workaholics #Music #Kamasi Washington #The xx #Books #Jonathan Franzen #The Football Ramble

[niamsuggitt]

#Community #Donald Glover #Santa #Jehovah's Most Secret Witness

[niamsuggitt]

The Ides Of December 2016

Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry 10 Days From Christmas! Or as I like to call it, the last Ides Of of the year. Yeah, I’m waging a new front in the War On Christmas and it involves writing about all of the various media I’ve cast my eye on over the past 30 days. The nights have been drawing in, so there’s not much else to do really is there?

Apart from get drunk. But I can’t review that can I?

Maybe I should…

Anyway, this month features yet another Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, some Jonathan Franzen, a surprising album and a talking cartoon horse. You know who I’m talking about.

—

Movies

I started the month with the final instalment of a Trilogy I’ve been slowly making my way through, yes, it’s Ip Man 3 (Wilson Yip 2015). Regular readers will know that this is a series of Chinese Martial Arts movies starring Donnie Yen as Ip Man, a real grandmaster of Wing Chun who taught Bruce Lee. The main appeal of these movies has always been Yen and the insanely good fight sequences, but this 3rd chapter adds some cool new wrinkles in the form of Iron Mike Tyson and a surprisingly emotional storyline in between the fights. Tyson appears as an American Crime Boss in Hong Kong, and whilst he’s not in the movie as much as I expected or probably would have liked, he has a strong screen presence and his fight against Yen is pretty damn fantastic. Now that we’ve seen Yen Vs a Boxer, how about an Ip Man 4 pitting him against a Wrestler? Ip Man Vs John Cena, book it. The emotional storyline I mentioned earlier revolves around Ip Man’s wife dying of cancer. It’s not what you’d necessarily expect from a film like this, but I thought it was well done, giving both Yen and Lynn Hung the opportunity to do a different kind of acting. This kind of visit from the real world isn’t what I want from my Kung-Fu flicks necessarily, but when you’re dealing with real life people, then you have to deal with real life stuff. Overall, Ip Man 3 is a fine ending to the story, although it might not even be the end. I remain sceptical about how truthful the whole series is, but it doesn’t particularly matter. The fight scenes here among the best I’ve ever seen and I can’t wait to see more of Donnie Yen in the new Star Wars and other roles.

Despite the fact that I actually kind of hate Halloween (I won’t elaborate because it will just make me seem like a fun-hating grump, but ugh, it’s a rubbish holiday, the worst), I tried to get in the spirit this year by purchasing a blu-ray box-set of Universal Monster Movies. Only, when October 31st actually rolled around, I didn’t end up watching any! I watched WWE Hell In A Cell instead and had a grand old time. But I still like Horror movies, and so expect me to make my way through this box of classics over the next few months. First up was Dracula (Tod Browning 1931). This is one of those old films where, even though I’d never seen it before, I’d pretty much absorbed 2/3rds of it through cultural osmosis. Bela Lugosi is of course iconic as Dracula, but even individual lines and moments like ‘I never drink wine’ were things I’d seen referenced and homaged many times throughout my life. But rather than take away from the experience, it actually added to it for me, as I could see just how important this film was. It’s not actually very scary, because you don’t ever see Dracula really do anything and there’s no music, but it kept me interested throughout. I was surprised by a lot of the changes made to the familiar Bram Stoker story, but most of them worked, especially the way they sort of switched up Renfield’s role. It has to be said that Dwight Frye is fantastic as Renfield. Lugosi of course is the main attraction, but I actually think Renfield is scarier? Because this film is so old, I don’t think watching it in Hi-Def Blu-Ray made too much of a difference, but it did look interesting, I am continually amazed at how older films achieved so much with so little resources when compared to today. Without the crutch of CGI they had to actually try. That’s probably why I’m so excited to get through the rest of this set and see the classic Frankenstein and Wolfman and Mummy in all their glories, with the fantastic make-up and lighting techniques.

And finally, just making it before the cut-off point, on December 14th I finally got around to going to the cinema and seeing Doctor Strange (Scott Derrickson 2016). I had to book the day off work and be in town ridiculously early, but in the end, it was worth it, just me and 4 other people watching Benedict Cumberbatch do his magical thing at 11:15 in the morning. I thoroughly enjoyed the film, I’ve said it before, but I do find it hard to be truly critical of the Marvel Cinematic Universe at this point, it is just delivering on its goals so damn well, and even though there is definitely a formula for these movies, if it works, then it’s not an issue. This is an MCU origin movie, so we get to see Strange first as a cocky surgeon, then get knocked back down to Earth with his injuries and then discover a new world and become a hero. It’s familiar territory, very similar to the first Iron Man actually, but there’s enough new elements here that it all works. The magical side of the MCU has only just started to be explored with this and Ghost Rider in Agents Of SHIELD, and I think the film did a great job at making seem mysterious and weird, but not stupid and goofy. I think the best thing in the movie is the CGI effects in the magic battle sequences. They built on stuff like Inception but took it too another level. Some of the scenes here are truly trippy, a fitting tribute to the best thing about the Strange comics, Steve Ditko’s backgrounds. The performances were also great, and I think it’s no coincidence that the vast majority of the cast were Brits, who better to sell some of the ridiculous words?. Cumberbatch’s American accent was a bit dodgy at times, but I think he was a great choice overall. The two best performances came from Tilda Swinton and Chiwetel Ejiofor. I know the casting of the Ancient One is a controversial decision, but for me, all that went away when actually watching Swinton in action, she was wonderful. And man, Ejiofor was brilliant as Mordo, a complex character who could very well be the first actually good MCU movie villain since Loki if he is the main bad guy in a sequel. The fact that they kept his heel turn until after the credits worked very well, and in fact, his position is very understandable. It’s an interesting moral lesson at the end, where Strange and the audience are basically like ‘sometimes being a hypocrite is necessary’. But I liked it, it was complex, and fit into Strange’s position as a still not altogether great person who has nevertheless learned to be less selfish. Mordo’s rigidity could actually be seen as selfishness, putting his moral code over the wellbeing of the multiverse. I’m rambling now, but anyway, Doctor Strange was great, the MCU is great, and man, 2017 looks like being the best year for them so far. Spider-Man Homecoming, Guardians 2 and Taika Waititi directing Thor 3! Maybe I am a fanboy, but sometimes you have to let your cynicism behind and just enjoy things. Seeing Cumberbatch and Hemsworth together at the end got me so damn hyped.

Television

Only one new TV show this month and it’s really only new to me. It’s on Season 3 right now so I am very late to the party but man, is BoJack Horseman (Netflix) fantastic. I’ve now watched all of Season 1 and the first few episodes of Season 2 (I am saving the Christmas special for a little closer to the day) and it is so much better than I ever thought it would be. It’s funny as hell, but also very bleak. It’s not quite The Last Man On Earth, but it’s close. BoJack is one of the most complex protagonists on TV and this show’s depiction of fame and Hollywoo(d) is just brutally honest. I think the episode where BoJack takes a load of drugs and tries to re-write his book in a week kind of changed my life. The animation is superb (Lisa Hanawalt may be a genius), particularly all the background jokes and all of the voice cast is top notch. Will Arnett can be a bit one note at times, but BoJack may very well be better than GOB. Paul F. Tompkins has long been one of my favourites due to his podcast work, and he is just as good here as Mr Peanutbutter, just a glorious idiot. Alison Brie, Amy Sedaris and Aaron Paul are all brilliant too. Even the guest voices blow my mind, Stanley Fucking Tucci! I can’t wait to get caught up, especially because I hear that seasons 2 and 3 get even darker.

OK, now for some festive quick hits!

Comedy Bang! Bang! (IFC) sadly came to an end this month, but it did so with a flourish a fan-pleasing, injoke-heavy flourish. The penultimate episode brought back Reggie Watts for an insane time-travel episode which saw them literally revisit previous episodes, it was great to have Reggie back, as much as I enjoyed Kid Cudi and Weird Al, he was definitely the best band-leader. The final episode eschewed special guests and just had PFT as Lord Webber and Nick Kroll as Fabrice Fabrice, so you know it was great. I’m sad that CBB has ended, as it always delivered something different, but it went out on a high.

New Girl (FOX) has had a really strong month, mainly thanks to Winston, who has been on top form, particularly in the episode ‘James Wonder’, where he debuted the titular alias to help Jess. I think Winston might be the best comedy character on TV. The Christmas episode was strong too, cool to have Megan Fox back. I’m not sure about the Jess/Robbie relationship, but it has been funny.

Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) has been re-energised by the return of Jason Mantzoukas as Adrian Pimento, and also a series of strong Holiday episodes. Jimmy Smits was great as Amy’s father in the Thanksgiving episode, such good casting.

The biggest thing to happen in Superhero Corner this month is of course the big crossover, so, along with my regular viewings of The Flash (The CW) and DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow (The CW) I also watched one episode of Arrow (The CW) as the heroes from all 3 shows and Supergirl teamed-up together to fight Aliens. It was a huge amount of fun to see all the characters together, and the whole thing was just about the most comic-booky thing I’ve seen, it was glorious. Since I don’t watch Arrow on the reg, I could barely believe that Z-Listers like Ragman and Wild Dog are on there. It’s insane how many superheroes have been in TV and movies now. Some of the Arrow back-story was a bit over my head, but it did once again remind me that I should probably watch that show. I think I type that every month! In terms of the individual series’ own ongoing plots, I continue to really appreciate The Flash’s continuing commitment to having Christmas episodes that are majorly eventful and dramatic, but also still nice and festive, every year they deliver a real seasonal highlight. Legends Of Tomorrow went back to 1920s Chicago which was fun, and I am also so glad to have sassy Wentworth Miller back as sassy Captain Cold. The best.

I can’t really remember what happened in the the 2 most recent episodes of Gotham (FOX) because I watched both of them whilst drunk. It worked at the time because I remember enjoying them, but… I remember Mario got all Tetched up with the evil blood and Jim shot him. He really can’t win can he?

Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC) has continued a very strong 4th Season, juggling several interesting plotlines at once. The main focus has been Ghost Rider, which is still surprisingly awesome, but I’m also very intrigued about where the LMD stuff is going. After a few seasons of Inhumans and now Ghost Riders, I think this story is perfect, as it’s classic SHIELD.

And finally for superhero corner, I got to the end of Marvel’s Luke Cage (Netflix) which ended very strongly. Whilst I don’t think Diamondback is as strong a villain as Cottonmouth, the final fight between him and Luke was very well done, and I do like where the ending left things. Luke is headed back to Georgia to face criminal charges. It’s not what I expected, but it does mean I’m expecting The Defenders to surprise me. Overall, I think Luke Cage was a very strong series, it had a tone and style that set it apart from the other MCU projects, and, even though, like I said earlier, I do like the formula, it is cool to see them step away from it.

The two-part You’re The Worst (FXX) finale was fantastic, and kind of broke my heart a bit. I know this series is an anti-rom-com, but I’ve actually become more invested in the characters and their romances than I am for more traditional examples of the genre. I also continue to love the running joke of Steve Agee’s character having his career ruined in every single season finale. So good.

I cited it earlier when talking about BoJack Horseman, but man, The Last Man On Earth (FOX) continues to be the bleakest TV show on the air. The plot with Gail being trapped in the Lift is so dark, as is Melissa’s mental breakdown. Sometimes I forget it’s a comedy! But then Will Forte does something weird and I laugh my arse off. An odd show, but a great one.

Finally, Westworld (HBO) ended it’s first season in fine form, with more genuine surprises and some some fantastic moments. I said last month how reading online discussions ruined the ‘Bernard is a host’ reveal for me, and the same is true for ‘William is the Man In Black’ thing. If I hadn’t read it online, I never would have guessed that, I thought it was all one time line. But even though I had read it, I didn’t believe it, so it still mostly worked. But as I’ve also said, I don’t think Westworld is really about the mysteries, it’s about the nature of sentience and what it means to be alive, and the finale had a lot to say about that. Hopkins was fantastic throughout, but he was superb at the end, when his true plans were revealed. I’ll miss him in Season 2, but who knows, maybe he’ll come back as a robot! This first season was a real triumph, it’s just a shame we’re going to have to wait so long for Season 2.

Music

Only one album again this month, but it was a very pleasant surprise, as Childish Gambino released his new record, “Awaken, My Love!” (Glassnote Records 2016) seemingly out of the blue. Childish Gambino is of course better known as Donald Glover, and even though I’ve written a lot before about how much I enjoy his comedy and acting work on the likes of Community and Atlanta, I’ve never truly warmed to his music… until now. This album is different from his other work, given that it’s not a rap record at all, but instead is old-school funk and soul. I wasn’t expecting this at all and it’s all the better for that.  At times the album does feel a bit too close to pastiche, rather than taking things into a truly modern direction, but that’s only a few moments, overall, it’s a great mix of the old and the new that’s not like anything else I’ve listened to this year. I think my favourite song is ‘Zombies’, but really, it all works as a whole, with the tracks transitioning into each other seamlessly. I still don’t like this album as much as Atlanta, but then again, what am I doing trying to compare music to television? I think maybe if I didn’t know that Childish Gambino was also Donald Glover I’d have a different opinion? Like the comedy raised my expectations too high? It’s something for me to ponder.

Books

This month saw me finish reading Jill Lepore’s The Secret History Of Wonder Woman (2014), which continued to be fascinating, especially once it reached the actual creation of the character.  As I said last month, most of the first 100 pages or so were about William Moulton Marston’s life before he turned to comics. Once again, a lot of the information contained here I knew about in broad strokes, but the detail of the secrets Lepore discovers is amazing. The home life of Marston and his 2 wives is just bizarre, particularly the web of lies they used even with their own children. It really did mess them up. People talk a lot these days about how polyamory is the way forward, but I dunno, it definitely has it’s downsides. Overall I think having two women at once was another extension of Marston’s massive egotism. He wanted them both, so why shouldn’t he? I would perhaps have liked Lepore to continue her examination of the character beyond Marston’s death, in particular the weird period in the 60s where WW lost her powers and started dressing like Emma Peel, but I suppose everything after Marston is just corporate superhero decisions. He was a strange, unique man who created a strange, unique superhero that has, a few standout stories aside, really been sanded down. I would urge anyone with an interest in the character to read this book, it gave me a new appreciation for a character who is too often surface-level signifiers of a nebulous feminism. Look at this week’s UN Ambassador stuff as an example. How many people either pleased/outraged about the character losing that position actually know anything about the character or her creator’s intentions?

I’m currently reading The Twenty-Seventh City (1988), which is the first novel by Jonathan Franzen. I’ve said before that Franzen gets a bad rap online, people rag on him for his obnoxious interviews and opinions whilst not actually engaging with his work. This is a problem that goes beyond him, but he seems to be a particularly virulent example of it. But as I said, if you do read his novels, they are all very strong, and even this debut is very good, and not at all the story I thought it would be. From reading the plot description (a young Indian woman takes over as the Chief Of Police in St. Louis) I thought it would be about a plucky heroine taking on racism and prejudice. But nope, the Police Chief, Jammu is much more complex than that, and is arguably the villain of the piece, as she is manipulating the city, faking terrorist attacks and kidnapping people in order to gentrify it and merge St. Louis City with the wider, richer County that surrounds it. It’s more interesting that it sounds. I think it’s interesting that Franzen’s first book is focused on an Indian woman, when recently he got in trouble for saying that he felt he couldn’t write about minorities in the same way as he does white people. But here I go again, talking about interviews! There are plenty of white people in this book of course, but they are all well-written, particularly Martin Probst, who is leading the charge against Jammu in her County/City merger referendum. You can see hints of Alfred Lambert from The Corrections in Probst’s mid-western stoicism, but he’s much more likeable. I’m very glad this book is surprising me, and I don’t really know where it’s going to go in the last third or so. Especially because Franzen seems to be hinting at some kind of attraction between Jammu and Probst. Also a pleasant surprise is that a lot of the book is set over Christmas. I’ve been struggling to get festive this year, and never would have anticipated Franzen would have helped me get there! But then again, I suppose The Corrections was about a Family Christmas…

—

So there you have it. I’ll be back in 2017 with (I’m assuming) a lot to talk about. I normally use the Christmas period to watch a lot of movies, and I’ll probably get some gifts too. Oh, and there’s a new Star Wars! Man, I’m excited for Rogue One. A new Star Wars film two years in a row, this truly is a great time to be alive (apart from all that pesky real world nonsense).

#The Ides Of #December #2016 #Movies #Ip Man 3 #Dracula #Doctor Strange #TV #Comedy Bang! Bang! #New Girl #Brooklyn Nine-Nine #Gotham #The Flash #You're The Worst #DC's Legends Of Tomorrow #Marvel's Luke Cage #The Last Man On Earth #Westworld #Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD #Arrow #BoJack Horseman #Music #Childish Gambino #Books #Jill Lepore #Jonathan Franzen

[niamsuggitt]

The Ides Of November 2016

Alright? How’s it going? I’m pretty good. Well, apart from that whole collapse of Western Civilisation thing we’ve got going on, I’m pretty good. Especially since I’ve managed to distract myself over the last 30 days with the following stuff!

This month is actually a bit shorter than usual, as I went on Holiday to both Prague and Amsterdam. I don’t review cities, but if I did, they’d both get positive ones! Lovely places and I highly recommend a visit to both. But all of this world travelling does mean that I didn’t watch very many films or listen to much new music. But now I’m back in the UK, it’s dark as hell and there’s not much else to do, so expect December to be back to regular-size. Maybe?

Movies

I only watched 2 films this month, and both explored different aspects of Los Angeles and some of the different creative industries that chew people up and spit them out over there. First up was the music biz, in the form of Straight Outta Compton (F. Gary Gray 2015) which of course tells the true story of the hugely influential N.W.A. As I’ve mentioned before, my taste in Hip-Hop leans towards the mainstream artists that crossover into my lame white yorkshire world, so of course I liked N.W.A, and it was very interesting to see this group and this subject get the music biopic treatment. The problem is that it’s just like every other music biopic you’ve ever seen, regardless of musical genre. It follows almost the exact same structure of rise and fall and then rise again. It has the same drug use, the same groupie stuff, the same sneaky record executives, the same scene where a character says a famous lyric in an actual conversation… the same everything. I swear, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox story may actually be the greatest parody of all time, because it has ruined an entire genre. I spent half of this movie shouting about it was a ‘dark fucking period’. Despite the somewhat cookie-cutter nature of Straight Outta Compton, I will say it’s worth watching. The performances from the central group are excellent, although it must be weird for O’Shea Jackson Jr. to play his dad. I also enjoyed Paul Giamatti as Jerry Heller. His cliched sneaky recored executive is up there with the best. Another thing that sets this film about is the music itself, every N.W.A performance scene crackles with energy and righteous anger, and you do get a sense of powerful it was back then, and still is today. There’s a lot of scenes of the Cops being racist to the band, and that sort of thing has gotten worse in the last 20 years if anything. The N.W.A are a very important group, and so in one way it’s weird to see them be subsumed into mainstream media narratives, if this film introduces them to a new generation of kids, it can only be a good thing.

Next, I watched The Neon Demon (Nicolas Winding Refn 2016) which sees the antagonistic Dane turn his stylish eye towards the world of Fashion Modelling. Like most, I was introduced to Refn with his 2 most mainstream films, Bronson and Drive, but I must say I kind of like him best when he’s doing something a bit different, and off-putting. Even 2 years on I’m still not sure if I liked Only God Forgives or not, and The Neon Demon is in the same bracket, I really can’t say if I enjoyed it. I have been thinking about it a lot though, which says something. It of course looks fantastic, Refn just knows how to frame a ‘cool’ shot, and when you combine that with another fantastically synthy score from Cliff Martinez (bring back The Knick damn you) the film is, on the surface beautiful, but what’s under that is more interesting. Hey, that’s like a metaphor or something! The story sees Elle Fanning’s Jesse arrive in LA to become a model, she quickly rises to the top, but inevitably, there’s jealousy from other models, and… things… get… dark. Seriously, the last 20 minutes of The Neon Demon are supremely fucked-up, I loved it. I couldn’t quite believe what happened. I still can’t! I must say I was impressed by Fanning here, the only thing I’ve seen her in before was Super 8, but she delivers a proper, adult performance, and she has show a lot of different sides of Jesse, innocent and cute, but also sexy and seductive. The rest of the cast is also very good, particularly Jena Malone and Keanu Reeves, who only has a few small scenes, but leaves a big, messed-up impression. I am so glad we are getting a bit of a Keanu re-appreciation with this and John Wick, he is always fun. So yeah, The Neon Demon is a weird one. It’s certainly interesting to see a Director like Refn, who has a big mainstream hit like Drive veer so far away from doing that again, he is making challenging, original, adult dramas with real panache. I would prefer them to be perhaps a tad less hateful and nihilistic, but still.

TV

After the insanity of last month, things are mercifully a little quieter this time out, with only one new or returning series, in the form of Comedy Bang! Bang! (IFC) which is back for it’s final run of 10 episodes. I am sad to see the TV version of CBB come to an end, because it’s always entertaining, but I think it’s probably a good decision, they are going out before running out of steam, and this should hopefully allow for Scott to devote more time and energy to the podcast, which is of course my first, true love. The 6 episodes that have been on so far have all varied from good to great. My favourite was probably the one where Scott himself was the guest, fulfilling a podcast injoke as Jason ‘Hey Nongman’ Mantzoukas filled in as host. I also really liked Gillian Jacobs returning for the Halloween episode, and Krysten Ritter and Allison Janney were delightful, especially when they couldn’t help but corpse. Weird Al has had some great sketches and storylines this time out too, so really, it is better to burn out than fade away. The next 2 weeks are going to be bitter-sweet, but surely full of surprises.

Now, a boat-load of quick hits!

Westworld (HBO) is continuing to enthral and delight, especially as the mysteries get deeper and the twists get… twistier? I just love the world this series has created, and how many different elements and characters there are. As a Western fan, I probably enjoy the ‘Park’ scenes more than the ones that take place behind the scenes, but that very well may have changed with what happened at the end of this week’s episode, ‘Trompe L’Oeil’, which kind of blew my mind so much I don’t want to spoil it. And I love spoilers! In terms of performances, I’ve been most impressed by Thandie Newton as Maeve this month, she didn’t get much to do when compared with the likes of Hopkins, Wright, Wood and Harris in the first few episodes, but lately? Her storyline has been the most exciting, and her performance superb. Especially when you consider she spends so much of her time maked and motionless! I’m loving this show, I’m content to just see where it takes me, enjoy the turns and epic moments, no conspiracy theories here.

Atlanta (FX) ended it’s first season with 3 very strong, very different episodes. I think that’s what made this series stand out, every episode offered something different, whilst never diverging so much that it didn’t feel unfocused. I particularly enjoyed ‘Juneteenth’, which was incredibly daring in some of the things it said about race. I said this last month, but it’s always great to see fiction from a perspective very different from your own, and Atlanta certainly delivered that. Donald Glover’s perspective is unique, hilarious and exciting, I can’t wait for more. And for more Darius, these last few episodes didn’t have enough of him, he’s the best.

Still also kicking ass is You’re The Worst (FXX). After a sort of slow start, Season 3 has been amazing lately. Last month we had an episode all about Edgar, and this time out, one all about Paul and Vernon, two of the best supporting characters on all of TV. At times the Paul/Lindsay cuckold stuff is a bit too brutal, but man, is it funny. The most recent episode is perhaps the best ever showcase of what this show is all about, it was fun, until the dark emotions hit and Jimmy said he couldn’t see himself having children with Gretchen. It left me speechless.

The Last Man On Earth (FOX) also left me speechless in it’s latest episode. It doesn’t go for emotion that often, but when it does… wow. The scenes with Tandy and Louis visiting Seattle and Gail and Carol dealing with motherhood were very powerful. It’s very easy to forget sometimes that this series takes place in a world where 90% of everyone is dead, so these periodic reminders are perfect. Of course, it’s not all doom and gloom, we also have January Jones’ increasingly bizarre performance as Melissa, and the glory that is Todd. I love Todd.

The best thing about The Good Place (NBC) this month is the guest appearance of Adam Scott, who is playing The Bad Place’s version of Michael, ‘Trevor’. He is just the worst, and the perfect reminder that, no matter how great Ben Wyatt was, Adam Scott is far, far better at playing an unrepentant douche. He’s worse than Step-Brothers here, seriously. The rest of the show is still excellent, balancing high concept mystery and world building with great jokes. It’s going to be a long wait for the rest of the season.

I’m going to finish things off in my favourite place… superhero corner! Yay!

Gotham (FOX) continues to be the… oddest show on Television, with elements I really like, and a lot of things I really don’t. The best stuff continues to involve Penguin, who, as well as being Mayor, is in love with Edward Nygma. It surprised be how much I like the idea of The Penguin being gay, I could certainly see that working in the comics, but that version is far less interesting that Robin Lord Taylor’s performance in so many other ways. I also like the overt Vertigo homage they’ve got going on. The evil Michael Chiklis storyline is less intriguing, but as a fan of The Shield, it is fun to see him once again playing a Cop that goes too far. Detective Barnes is no Vic Mackey though.

The Flash (The CW) is improving as it gets back to basics. I think my favourite episode of the season was ‘The New Rogues’, which introduced versions of Mirror Master and The Top, it was like a really good Season 1 episode, which is high praise. Perhaps the best element has been Tom Kavanagh, who for the third year in a row is playing a different version of the same man. It’s brilliant to see him do something new every time, HR is different from Harry is different from Dr Wells. I hope they never run out of dimensions.

DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow (The CW) has visited 2 of the periods of history I find the most interesting, Feudal Japan and the American Civil War, so you best believe I’ve been enjoying it. It’s such a ridiculous show, but it is very fun. I think the balance of the team an cast is far better this year, Nate Heywood and Vixen are big upgrades on Hawkgirl and Rip Hunter. I do still miss Captain Cold though, Wentworth Miller is so damn good in that role.

Still solid is Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC), especially in how it’s dealing with Ghost Rider. I can’t believe I was so sceptical about this show using the character, it’s worked out so much better than the Inhumans did. Oh, wait, that’s why I was sceptical! The other plotlines have been good too, particularly Jeff Mace as the new leader of SHIELD, but really, it’s all about Ghost Rider here.

And last but not least, I watched another 3 episodes of Marvel’s Luke Cage (Netflix), but I still haven’t finished it. They were good episodes though, the death of Cottonmouth was a shock, but so far, Diamondback has been a decent enough replacement. I think I’ll save the rest of my thoughts for next month when I actually see the ending. It is very good though, with a unique tone you just don’t get with other Marvel properties.

Oh, I also watched one episode of the new Black Mirror (Netflix), San Junipero, but it was only one, I was drunk, and I was with a woman, so don’t really have much to say! My plan is to re-watch every episode of the anthology over Christmas now that it’s on Netflix, so expect some more next time? Maybe?

Music

Only one album this month, and it’s POP! Oh yes, I’m not ashamed to talk about how much I like Lady Gaga and her new record,Joanne (Streamline/Interscope 2016). Like most people, I didn’t really like 2013’s Artpop, so this new album is something of a return to form, in that it’s not a total mess. I would say that there are no tracks on here that really stand up to Gaga’s best, like Bad Romance, The Edge Of Glory, Marry The Night or Paparazzi, but it all hangs together well, and when it it goes for it, it’s a lot of fun. I particularly like the opening song, ‘Diamond Heart’, which has a fantastic chorus and ‘John Wayne’ which is just great. I’m not too keen a lot of the more ballady and, hell, some of these songs are straight up country, which is odd. I think this album is a great reminder that, behind all of the weirdness, the strange outfits and camp, Lady Gaga really is a good pop song-writer and singer. Yes, she wears dresses made of Kermits, but there’s more to her than that, and whilst it’s not insane, it’s not boring either.

Books

I started the month by finishing off the last third or so of The Pale King (2008) by David Foster Wallace, and, given that this is an unfinished novel, it didn’t really end, but rather just… stopped. But then again, how much of that can you put down to being unfinished? Infinite Jest was much the same way and The Broom Of The System literally ended in the middle of a sentence. In some ways it’s good that we can never quite be sure just how close to the ‘real’ and ‘complete’ version this Pale King is, there’s so much potential left to unlock, and to think about just where Wallace was going. I’m overall left with a huge amount of sadness that such a great writer is no longer around. He managed to write a book about boredom that tried to be boring but never was. That is some feat, and now, I miss him more than ever. Still don’t like This Is Water though!

I’ve now only just started The Secret History Of Wonder Woman (2014) by Jill Lepore, and I’m really enjoying it. This year is Wonder Woman’s 75th anniversary, and the character is having a bit of a resurgence, with Greg Rucka’s run on her ongoing series picking up steam, some interesting new Original Graphic Novels (Grant Morrison’s Earth One is… quite something) and of course the big screen debut in Batman Vs Superman and the solo film next year, so what better way to celebrate that than reading a book all about the secrets behind Diana Of Themyscira’s creation and creator, William Moulton Marston. I already know many of the broad strokes from books like Gerard Jones’ amazing ‘Men Of Tomorrow’ (they really should make a movie based on that book about the early days of comics, it’s perfect, like Boardwalk Empire and Mad Men combined), such as the polyamory and the invention of the Lie Detector, but Lepore is going into far more detail, and it is fascinating. The book hasn’t even really touched on Wonder Woman yet, and already I’m hooked. As always with these specified histories, they also serve as a window onto what the wider world was like, and so Lepore is showing how the women’s suffrage movement effected Marston and of course, led to his famous creation. It’s certainly timely to read this now, as there are a lot of protests taking place in America, and discussion about whether it’s right to or not. The suffragettes protested, and were criticised, but were right. In my mind, it’s always better to speak out, better to go too far and make your voice heard, than not do enough at all and change nothing. But I’m not in America, I’m in the UK, you do you! Anyways I’m rambling. Wonder Woman has never been my favourite superhero, but she is hugely important, and this backstory is uniquely, perfectly odd. I am very excited to see just how Wonder Woman was created and what other secrets Lepore has discovered.

-- So there you have it. I'll be back in 30 days, it'll be nearly Christmas then, so I imagine there will be quite a lot to discuss.

#The Ides Of #November #2016 #Movies #Straight Outta Compton #The Neon Demon #TV #Westworld #Atlanta #You're The Worst #The Good Place #Gotham #The Flash #DC's Legends Of Tomorrow #Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD #Marvel's Luke Cage #The Last Man On Earth #Comedy Bang! Bang! #Black Mirror #Music #Lady Gaga #Books #David Foster Wallace #Jill Lepore

[niamsuggitt]

The (late again) Ides Of October 2016

Hey there, welcome along to yet another edition of my regular ‘Ides Of’ column, it’s supposed to come out on the 15th of each month but lately…  I actually have a modicum of a social life right now, and I went to Prague, so my apologies for the lateness. Not that you’d be able to tell I’d been out at all this month with the amount of TV I’ve got to talk about! It’s the start of the new season in America and wow, there are a lot of new and returning shows. Throw in a movie or two, some books and music, and it’s been a packed 30 days for yours truly!

Let’s not waste anymore time then eh?

—

Movies

I only watched one film this month that was new to me, which is unusual, but I did also see Captain America: Civil War (Joe and Anthony Russo 2016) again on Blu-Ray. It was just as strong the second time around, I am just blown away by how well the film manages to juggle so many characters and plotlines whilst never giving the main character of Steve Rogers short shrift. It’s very impressive, and I think a lot of Marvel Comics could learn from it in fact! Part of that is of course helped by how good the regular actors are at playing their respective superheroes, but it’s also very strong writing and pacing. Second time around, I found I was more drawn into the Scarlet Witch and Vision scenes than before, as well as having a better handle on what Zemo’s meticulous plan actually is, but really, Civil War is still all about Tom Holland’s Spider-Man for me. Every minute he’s on screen is just the perfect Spidey. I say this again and again, but I know I struggle to be critical about the MCU, but I don’t really care, it’s a triumph in shared world storytelling and delivering on potential. Civil War was fantastic and it took the story forward in a big way.

I then got around to The Nice Guys (Shane Black 2016). I had huge expectations for this film, given how much I enjoyed Black’s previous two movies, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Iron Man 3 (there’s that MCU again!) and it did not disappoint at all, in fact, it basically exceeded all of them. From start to finish, the movie is a blast. The look and feel of 1970s Los Angeles is perfect it it’s sleaziness, the soundtrack is amazing, the plot is expertly labyrinthine and clever, the dialogue crackles, and the performances from Russell Crowe and Ryan Gosling are fantastic. I particularly like Gosling here, who is hilarious throughout. Gosling has this reputation as being a super cool handsome bad-ass, but really, he’s better at playing pathetic, wimpy (albeit still handsome) losers. See also The Big Short and Only God Forgives. The scene where Gosling tries to point his gun at Crowe whilst on the toilet had me in stitches. I was also very impressed by Angourie Rice, who played Gosling’s daughter, a child character who isn’t annoying is rare, but Black is now two-for-two with this and Iron Man 3 (the kid from that is in this too). The Nice Guys is perhaps the most enjoyable cinematic experience I’ve had this year, even though it wasn’t in the cinema. It’s the kind of film I want to see more of, an original idea, for adults, with a great cast and a sense of humour. As much as I love seeing my favourite characters from other media on the big screen, it’s one thing to have Shane Black on Iron Man, but a whole other thing to get him doing purely his own thing.

Television

As I said at the top, there is an absolute mountain of TV to write about this time out, and I’m frankly a bit concerned about how long-winded I’m going to be. I’m gonna try and be brief, but… you know.

Let’s do the new and returning shows first, yo.

The Good Place (NBC) may be the only new network comedy I’m watching this year, but I feel comfortable in saying it’s also the best. This very high concept series comes from Michael Schur of Parks And Recreation fame, and explores a unique take on the afterlife, wherein people who scored enough points in whilst they were alive go to the titular ‘Good Place’ and everyone else… doesn’t. But it’s more than just a sitcom set in ‘Heaven’ as Kristen Bell’s central character has ended up in The Good Place whilst definitely deserving not to. I’ve been a huge fan of Bell ever since Veronica Mars, and she is fantastic here, playing a real jerk. The rest of the cast is all excellent, and mostly made up of people new to me. I mean, I recognise Jameela Jamil from T4, but didn’t know she was an actor too, and she really is surprisingly excellent. But the best thing here is the legendary Ted Danson. Schur is on record as being hugely influenced by ‘Cheers’ so it’s so damn cool to have him writing for Sam Malone. Rhea Perlman guest-starred in Brooklyn Nine-Nine too, so he’s living the dream. Pretty much everything Danson says here is funny. I just think this show is fantastic, the core idea is a unique one, it’s genuinely hilarious, and in these dark times, it’s really great to have a series that’s main focus in what it actually means to be a good person. I had a long-running disagreement with my brother over the fact that Parks & Rec was too optimistic, but I don’t see a problem with that at all, comedy doesn’t always need to be bleak, you need a world with both The Good Place, and You’re The Worst.

I’m bunching Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) and New Girl (FOX) together, mainly for expediency, but also because they had a crossover! As a comics fan, you best believe I love a good sitcom crossover, and this one was pretty damn fun. I thought they could have made more of Winston also being a Police Officer, but the scenes we did get, were the right kind of fan service. Both shows have continued their consistency really in their new seasons, nothing truly spectacular to talk about about, just reliable laughs. I had fears about the return of Jess/Nick as romantic thing, but they are taking it slow, and being married has unleashed a great new side of Schmidt. As for the Nine-Nine, their Halloween Heist episodes are always great, and this year’s was no exception.

To round up ‘sitcom corner’ The Last Man On Earth (FOX) has also enjoyed a strong start to Season 3. They had yet another fantastic cameo of a character who immediately dies. Last year was Will Ferrell, this time out it was Jon Hamm, and he was killed by January Jones! It was amazing, I laughed for about 10 minutes. It was excellent to have Mark Boone Jnr back as ‘Pat’ and so far Kenneth Choi has been a good addition to the cast. This is a weird show, as for a comedy it’s had a lot of deaths, but it all works, you have to be attuned to the weird mix of darkness and absolute stupidity from Tandy, but I am definitely attuned now, and it’s so much fun to have no idea where things are going to go next.

Now for ‘superhero corner’! Man, I have a lot of corners. Marvel’s Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. (ABC) has changed a lot for it’s 4th season, and mostly for the better. S.H.I.E.L.D. has a new director and is moving back to being something a bit closer to what it is in the comics, and all of the characters are in interesting new places. It’s the new stuff I’m most excited for, Dr Radcliffe (the always awesome John Hannah) and his attempts to build artificial intelligence is something you just know is going to go wrong eventually, but then again, Life Model Decoys are a corner-stone of S.H.I.E.L.D. so you never know, it could all work out fine. Hahahahaha, nope. I’m also surprised by how much I’m digging the use of Ghost Rider. I never read the Robby Reyes comics series (My Ghost Rider tastes are basically just Jason Aaron’s run and that’s it, although that female version from a few years ago was underrated) but he’s very cool here and the CGI looks great. This show’s use of Inhumans has to go down as a bit of a disappointment, but so far this attempt at getting a bit closer to the comics is working.

Gotham (FOX) continues to be the most confounding series on TV for me right now. It has about 10 subplots, and half of them are awesome, and the other half are just batshit (no pun intended, OK maybe a bit) insane and stupid. I absolutely love the Penguin running for Mayor of Gotham storyline, especially as it’s brought him back together with Edward Nygma. Those two are on another level when it comes to OTT Gotham villainy. The Mad Hatter has also been fun, he’s very creepy, and it is of course great to see The Court Of Owls on TV. Jim Gordon’s romance with Valerie Vale is also working, as is the introduction of Leslie Tompkins’ new boyfriend being a Falcone. But on the other side, you’ve got Clone Bruce Wayne and Poison Ivy being magically aged-up into a sexpot. It’s nonsensical. But I’ll keep watching because it’s so odd and fun. Gotham is a lot of things, but it is never boring.

The Flash (The CW) has, rather ironically, had a bit of a slow start to Season 3 for me. This may sound odd considering Barry has literally re-written time twice, but it all feels a bit repetitive. There’s a mysterious villain who’s bringing along new meta-humans. Season 2 had Zoom do this with people from Earth-2, and now Alchemy is bringing people over from ‘Flashpoint’. I kind of want something different from my ‘Big Bad’. At least Alchemy isn’t another speedster! (The piss-taking use of The Rival here has been a highlight). There have been some cool changes to the show with the timeline shifts though, I’m really enjoying Draco Malfoy as Barry’s dickhead new colleague (Yes I know his real name is Tom Felton) and it was definitely cool to see Wally West as Kid Flash in the other timeline. It’s going to be awesome when he gets his speed for real. Though he needs a different name, he is only about 3 years younger than Barry right? The Flash is still a very fun series, that does so much right when adapting from the comics, but it definitely needs to change the formula a bit. Maybe to 3X2(9YZ)4A? (That is maybe the nerdiest reference I have ever made).

Also in the ‘Arrowverse’ (should I still call it that if I don’t watch Arrow?) is the ludicrously comic-booky DC’s Legends Of Tomorrow (The CW) which has been a lot of fun in the first 2 episodes of Season 2. A lot of the least enjoyable elements of the first season (The Hawks and Vandal Savage) are gone, and they’ve been replaced by stuff that’s a lot more fun. Nate Heywood is kind of a dork, but he’s a reliable everyman, and if he eventually becomes Captain Steel, Nick Zano should be able to pull it off. I love the idea of this show using Reverse-Flash as a villain, it’s a great use of the shared universe. Although where the fuck were The Legends when Barry made Flashpoint? The use of the JSA in episode 2 was great as well, I love that we now live in a time where Doctor Mid-Nite and Obsidian and Hourman can be on a major TV show. It looks like the 1940s version of Vixen is going to join the team, which should be fun. Not only is the actress very very pretty, but without Hawkgirl, the team was getting a bit too male. Although Caity Lotz is so good as Sarah that she makes up for that! Legends Of Tomorrow is silly at times, but it is the purest distillation on television of the wild imagination possible in the world of superheroes, so I can’t help but enjoy it.

And last but not least for the superheroes, is a show that probably couldn’t be further from Legends Of Tomorrow if it tried, the gritty and street-level Marvel’s Luke Cage (Netflix). I’m taking my time with this one, and am 8 episodes in (no binge-watching here, I’m developing a hardline anti-binge stance) and absolutely loving it. Mike Colter was of course great as Cage in Jessica Jones, but he’s stepped it up here, delivering a take on the character that really is straight of the comics, in particular Bendis’ masterful reinvention in the 2000s. In fact, the whole series is a great blend of the 2 sides of Luke Cage, there are the 1970s, blaxploitation elements, which mainly come across in the music, and the more modern edge. I would perhaps prefer if the series was even more modern, a bulletproof black man is the perfect vehicle for doing a story about racist cops, but to be honest, having a superhero television series that deals with race in any way at all is ground-breaking, so I feel Luke Cage should be applauded. Yes, a lot of people may be tired of ‘respectability politics’ but this is probably the first time many people have been introduced to these ideas. Maybe this is me speaking from a position of privilege, but I find the idea that every show that has to be progressive has to be 100% at the bleeding edge. Just having a series like this is major, don’t go insane at the few mis-steps when there are still some TV shows with no black characters at all! The rest of the cast outside of Colter is also excellent, Simone Missick is a standout as Misty Knight, but I am also very impressed with how they’ve handled the villains. Cottonmouth and Black Mariah could have been cliches, but they decidedly aren’t. The episode that delved into their pasts was just fantastic, and what happened at the end was a huge surprise. I can’t wait to see what happens in the final 5 episodes. Here’s some more binge-watch complaining, but I really think if people slowed down when watching these Netflix series, they wouldn’t complain about them being too long. I have enjoyed all 8 episodes so far, and it’s because I didn’t watch all 8 in a row and get impatient.

That’s the silly superhero nonsense out of the way, now for a serious drama about sex robots and cowboys! Westworld (HBO) is the big new prestige drama of the year, and I’m enjoying it about as much as everyone else. I’m not really one for theories and trying to ‘work things out’ anymore (not sure if I ever was TBH) so for me, the real draws here are the themes of artificial intelligence and humanity and morality, the performances, the amazing direction and production values (man, the Western vistas here are something else) and the way the series uses video game techniques. The way ‘hosts’ approach guests inside the Park and ask them to join quests is straight out of a game, and it’s a lot of fun to see that, even if it is making me rethink my actions in sandbox games like GTA and of course, Red Dead Redemption. Man, this show is really making me want to pick that up again and finally finish it, but I just do not have the time. As I said, all of the performances are fantastic, particularly from the people playing the ‘Hosts’. Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, James Marsden, all of them. I can’t wait to see what happens when they realise the truth and break their programming. The ‘human’ side of things is a bit less interesting, but it’s always great to have Anthony Hopkins hopkinsing it up. I’ve only watched 2 episodes so far, but both have been superb. I’m perhaps most excited to see what Ed Brubaker’s episode is like. He’s been downplaying his involvement, but his comics are so damn good… this has to be great too right?

Now for some quicker hits on shows that aren’t new. I can’t believe I have more to go! Luckily there are only 4…

Atlanta (FX) has continued to be absolutely fantastic, I especially love how each episode delivers something different. Whether it’s a focus on Van, a fake TV channel, a black Justin Bieber or a surreal odyssey at a Club, you never know what to expect. Well, you can expect it to be funny and clever and relevant and have great performances. Donald Glover (Lando Calrissian!) is the big star, but really, LaKeith Stansfield and Bryan Tyree Henry are delivering even more. Paper Boi is surprisingly one of the most complex characters on TV right now.

Also continuing to surprise is You’re The Worst (FXX), which has also continued to deliver in Season 3. My favourite episode was ’22’, which focused on Edgar and his struggles with PTSD, which is a mini masterpiece, but every episode has been very funny, with that reliable YTW cynicism and dark edge. I can’t quite believe how low the show is taking Lindsey and Paul. The cuckold stuff is incredibly uncomfortable… but of course hilarious.

There's only the finale of Vice Principals (HBO) but it was a doozy. Gamby and Russell succeed in their goal of ousting Belinda Brown, but then that ending... holy shit. I literally have no idea what Season 2 will look like, but I know it's going to be insane and offensive and funny. I know this series has rubbed people the wrong way, but I think it's fantastic. And finally, finally, finally, the last few episodes of Halt And Catch Fire (AMC) showcased how the series has become one of the best dramas on TV right now. They executed not one, but two big time-jumps, and I am incredibly enthused by the promise of a final Season 4, where it looks like Joe, Gordon and Cameron are going to properly take on the World Wide Web. HaCF has perhaps the best, most complex characters of any drama right now, in alternating episodes, or even scenes, you go from empathising to and hating certain characters. I don’t know what I really think about Donna anymore, but I know I’m fascinated by her position. If you’ve not watched this series, I really recommend it. It had a rough start, but now it’s truly fantastic, intelligent TV.

Music

Two records to talk about this month, first up is A Loud Bash Of Teenage Feelings (Big Scary Monsters 2016), the second album from Beach Slang. I wrote about their first album with a title that’s too long for me to type out again here, so you’ll have to bear with me if I repeat myself, as this sophomore effort really is rather similar to that first one. That’s not a bad thing by any means, as Beach Slang have a great, energetic, rocking sound that befits the album title, but I perhaps would have liked to have gotten a bit more of a sonic evolution from them. There are some excellent songs on here that really get the blood pumping, especially with headphones on. My favourite is probably ‘Atom Bomb’ or the lead single ‘Punks In A Disco Bar’. This is straight-up rock, and it does the job. I also once again appreciate how the album is nice and lean. Each song is a short sharp blast, and the whole thing is (exactly, I just checked) 30 minutes long. I say this all the time, but too many albums these days strive for importance or relevance in terms of length, and whilst it does work, it is in impediment to repeated listens. If I’m perusing my shelf for something to listen to, I’m far more likely to choose Beach Slang because it’s not a longer commitment than a movie! It sounds like I’m damning with faint praise a bit, but I really do like this album a lot. The band are playing here in Leeds in November, I may have to get a ticket, I think my appreciation of these songs would go way up in a live setting.

I’ve also been listening to the new Bon Iver album, 22, A Million (Jagjaguwar 2016) and whilst it is very good, I do think it’s struggled to live up to the massive hype. But really, that’s the hype’s fault, not the music’s. It’s the same as Frank Ocean, one has to be careful not to review the hypothetical masterpiece in your head and how the real thing doesn’t compare, and instead actually appreciate the actual songs. I think this is a fascinating record that moves all over the place in terms of sound, and has some beautiful and profound moments. It is a bit pretentious (especially when it comes to the song titles) but that pretention helps it, as Bon Iver attempt to go beyond what you think their sound should and could be. It is interesting how little flak Bon Iver get for autotuning. Maybe it’s because it’s so obvious? I think my favourite tracks on here are “22 (OVER S∞∞N)’ and ‘715 - CRΣΣKS’, but really, it’s all interesting. I think I need to give it a few more listens, and probably on headphones. Bon Iver’s first album, For Emma, Forever Ago really got it’s hooks into me whilst I was commuting from Brighton to London every morning during a work placement at Uni in the first few months of 2009, and this could do the same. If there’s one thing to take away from this month, it’s that I need to see a band live or just use headphones to really know what I think. Why did I buy a CD player and bluetooth speakers then? What a mug.

Books

Firstly, I finished off Emma Cline’s The Girls (2016) which really did live up to the promise and delivered one of the best new books I’ve read in a while. The sense of underlying menace and corruption eventually boiled over, as Cline’s ersatz Manson family commits their equivalent of the Sharon Tate murder. For all of the great prose stylings and fascinating history, the real thing that’s sticking with me is this book’s gender politics and the way it depicts the relationships between not just women and men, but also women and other women. Yes, Cline is saying a lot about how men use and control women, comparing the Cult that Evie joins to the way modern men treat their girlfriends. I initially found the scenes set in the present day to be a bit clunky, but by the end, I understood where Cline was going. Russell/Manson is not just an insane outlier, he is in fact the logical extension of a culture that primes men to believe that women should do what they tell them, and also makes women need validation from men. But it’s actually more complex than that, as the person who really draws Evie into the Cult isn’t Russell, isn’t a man, but instead another woman, the older, cooler, Suzanne. So much of the novel is actually about Evie being under her spell, in a mostly non-sexual way and I found that incredibly fascinating. As a man, I obviously don’t know much about female friendships, but this extreme case was… somewhat enlightening. The Girls is an excellent debut novel from a writer with big things ahead of her, it’s about the past, it’s about today, and like all the best novels, it has something to say about people.

I’m now roughly 2/3rds of the way through The Pale King (2008) by David Foster Wallace and I’m really enjoying it. I wrote about ‘The Broom Of The System’ a few months ago, so I’ll spare you my thoughts on DFW in general, and instead focus on this, his final, unfinished novel. So far I’m still not entirely sure what it’s all about, and it is, both by design, and by dint of not being complete, all over the place, but it is very funny, and a lot of fun. Wallace seems to be trying to say something about the nature of work and how boring it can be by writing boring passages, and I also dig just how meta it is. Several chapters are written as Wallace talks directly to us as ‘the living author’ (a bit awkward) and explains how even though the book has to be labelled a novel for legal reasons, it is actually non-fiction. Except of course this is another fiction. Or is it? It doesn’t even matter! Throughout these chapters, Wallace sends up himself and Infinite Jest with increasingly long and deliberately unnecessary footnotes. I think this most recent chapter had 65 footnotes! It’s a tough humour tightrope to walk, but so far Wallace is pulling it off. Most of all, this book is making me realise just how sad it is that this unique, brilliant, hilarious mind is gone, and how fucked up depression is. I’m generally against ephemera and cash-grab posthumous releases, but this is working as a fitting tribute. There’s nothing quite like David Foster Wallace, and this is up there with his other novels. It’s clever, it’s ambitious and it’s not a pompous commencement speech, it’s the best.

—

And that’s it. Woof, I’m knackered. Again, sorry for the lateness, I promise to be back on track on November 15th. Except I’m off to Amsterdam… and then there’s Thought Bubble comic-con… and then the aforementioned social life…

It’s gonna be good.

#The Ides Of #October #2016 #Movies #Captain America: Civil War #The Nice Guys #Television #The Good Place #Brooklyn Nine-Nine #New Girl #Atlanta #You're The Worst #Gotham #Marvel's Agents Of SHIELD #Halt And Catch Fire #The Last Man On Earth #Marvel's Luke Cage #Westworld #The Flash #DC's Legends Of Tomorrow #Vice Principals #Music #Beach Slang #Bon Iver #Books #Emma Cline #David Foster Wallace

[niamsuggitt]

#Atlanta

[niamsuggitt]

The (slightly late) Ides Of September 2016

Hey there! I’m back once again (with the renegade master) with some words and sentences about all of the TV shows, films, books and songs I’ve absorbed over the past 30 days. This is the last ‘Summer’ edition of this column for 2016, so it’s a nice quiet one before things go crazy, especially when it comes to TV, in the Autumn. I don’t know if I’ll be able to cope!

Movies

I began the month with an ending. I reached the end of the Akira Kurosawa Samurai film box-set I’ve been working my way through by watching Sanjuro (Akira Kurosawa 1962). This is the sequel to Yojimbo, and once again sees Toshiro Mifune’s Samurai With No Name wander into an adventure. I thoroughly enjoyed it, although the opening scene, with a bunch of men confusingly explaining their plot was a bit too much of an info-dump, and it took quite a while for me to fully understand just what was going on. But Mifune’s performance was enough to power me through, he is just so cool and watchable as ‘Sanjuro’, even when he’s sleeping, he’s awesome. It’s interesting, this film is simultaneously more comedic than  the other Kurosawas I’ve seen, and also more violent. The gush of blood at the end when Sanjuro kills Hanbei was truly shocking, because I’d pretty much gotten used to sword slashes drawing no blood in these films. I have thoroughly enjoyed watching these films for the past few months. They more than lived up to the hype, and I see why Kurosawa, and also Mifune as an actor, are so well-regarded and influential. The BFI have a couple of other sets available, but I can’t quite decide which avenue to go down. Early? Crime? Classic? Probably all 3 eventually…

I kept things in Asia next, by watching both Ip Man (Wilson Yip 2008) and Ip Man 2 (Wilson Yip 2010), however, since these are Hong Kong productions, it was a bit of a whiplash to suddenly have the Japanese appear as villains! My colleague/friend Edd has been badgering me to watch these Donnie Yen vehicles for what seems like years now, and after seeing the whole trilogy in Morrisons for only £5, I felt it was time. I’ve really enjoyed both films, I’m by no means a martial arts movie aficionado, but these have to go up there as some of the best I’ve seen. The fight scenes here are inspired, and some of the stuff that Donnie Yen pulls off I can’t quite believe. The man is a marvel, I can’t wait to see him in Star Wars: Rogue One. I will say that the plots are a bit simplistic, and sometimes the acting is a bit OTT, especially when it comes to the British Villains of Ip Man 2. It’s a good job none of them had moustaches, because otherwise they’d have twirled themselves to death. But it was rather great to see a historical narrative from a perspective I don’t normally get, Hong Kong and China. We Brits were bad news back in the day, and it was actually a lot of fun to root for Ip Man going up against the Boxer, ‘The Twister’ in their fight that inadvertently invents MMA. I’m intrigued to know just how much of this is true to actual history, as Ip Man was a real, well, man, who trained Bruce Lee. Some of it rings true, but some is just ridiculously false. Surely? Be here next month, when I’ll have watched Ip Man 3, which has Mike Tyson in it! It only gets better.

Back to mainstream Hollywood now, as I got around to watching Zoolander 2 (Ben Stiller 2016). I had been putting off seeing this, as the first Zealander is one of my favourite comedy films of all time, and I was scared it would be bad. Like… Anchorman 2. Luckily, it’s far better than Anchorman 2, and actually, I thought it was pretty good. It’s certainly a step down from the original, but it’s funny throughout has some genuinely fantastic jokes and moments. I think the biggest problem is that, as a sequel, it feels hidebound to repeating some jokes, and we as an audience are trained to expect them to. So you’re sitting there thinking ‘Hmm, I wonder who they are going to use in place of David Bowie in an amazing cameo’ and so when Sting shows up, you’re just like ‘tick’ and not ‘HOLY SHIT IT’S STING’, even though he’s great and actually plays an important role in the plot. It’s the same with Billy Zane’s appearances, or the foamy lattes. Repetition of jokes can work of course, but sometimes it’s too much. The best elements here were original, like Hansel’s amazing orgy subplot, or Kyle Mooney’s hipster send-up, Don Atari. The best returning performance was Will Ferrell as Mugatu. I don’t know what it is about Mugatu, but I find everything he says hilarious. He’s basically just ‘shouty Will Ferrell’ all the time, but it works. I SAID IT WORKS DEREK, YOU IMBECILE! So anyway, yeah, Zealander 2 is fine, if you’ve been dreading it like me, get over your fear and just enjoy it. If nothing else, Penelope Cruz is insanely attractive. That’s a bit sexist… for the ladies… it’s got Alexander Skarsgard? Briefly? He’s still a thing right, I mean… he’s Tarzan!

Finally, I was also pleasantly surprised by The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (Guy Ritchie 2015) which I watched on Sky Movies. My only previous experience with this, can you call it a franchise? This intellectual property, was the excellent DC Comics mini-series, where the titular spies teamed up with the Adam West version of Batman ’66. This film, being from Guy Ritchie, wasn’t exactly in the same tone, but it was still a lot of fun! I’m a bit of a sucker for spy movies, and this was a great one, with a ridiculous plot, fun villains, great action set-pieces, beautiful women and cool heroes. Hell, it had not one, but two of those! Can you just imagine if Henry Cavill was able to be even half as fun as Superman than he is as Napoleon Solo? Those DCEU movies would be so much better. He’s a good actor, and could be a good Superman if the material allowed him to be! Sigh. I wrote enough about Superman last month, let’s not waste anymore words this time out, Armie Hammer is excellent too, and I continue to fall a little bit in love with Alicia Vikander with every performance I see of hers. Not just with her looks, but because she gives even fluffy roles like this some real heft. Gaby is far more than your average ‘Bond Girl’. This isn’t by any means a great, groundbreaking, film, but it’s a blockbuster that didn’t leave me angry, which is a good thing, and, now that I think about it, it might be my favourite thing Guy Ritchie has ever done. Well, tied with Swept Away of course. I wouldn’t be adverse to a sequel, or at worst, the James Bond movies cribbing from this (and Kingsman) rather than just Bourne, or themselves.

Television

Even though the ‘New Fall TV Season’ hasn’t properly started yet, there’s actually quite a bit of new and returning stuff to talk about. Premieres seem to happen earlier and earlier these days, it’s like the Premier League season. There is now almost no gap! Or at least it just seems like that in my addled mind. Anyway, Halt And Catch Fire (AMC) is back for it’s 3rd season, and it still has to go down as one of the best and most underrated American Dramas going right now. This season has seen the entire cast leave Texas behind and move to San Francisco, but it hasn’t really lost anything in the transition. All of the characters are in fascinating places, as Donna and Cameron struggle with Mutiny’s growth, Gordon struggles with his illness, and Joe… well, it’s still not quite clear what Joe is up to, but Lee Pace’s enigmatic performance is enough to keep you going. There are a few strong new characters too, with Annabeth Gish’s Diane showing Donna and Cameron just how to be powerful businesswomen, and Ryan serving as some kind of ersatz Gordon fro Joe. I’ve also really liked Matthew Lillard’s appearances as a douchey 80s board-member. If H&CF is the dawn of a Lillardaissance, I could get behind that. I will say that so far, the various plot threads have been a bit aimless, but that’s what this show is at this point, it’s more about character, and damn, am I invested in these characters. The scenes in this most recent episode where Cameron and Bos went back to Dallas were just emotionally brutal. This show won’t be for everyone, and some of the technology stuff is a bit ridiculous, but it, along with Better Call Saul is the only thing keeping AMC going as a proper channel for me. It’s their Mad Men successor really.

You’re The Worst (FXX) has also returned for a 3rd year, and it’s also still firing on all cylinders. It’s just the perfect combination of hilarious jokes, and seriously dark subject matter. I mean, in 3 episodes we’ve had Lindsay stabbing Paul, Edgar going off his meds, Gretchen going into therapy, and Jimmy’s dad dieing. And it’s all been funny! It must be a very difficult balance for the writers, but they always manage it. There are a lot of shows in a similar vein (more on them later), but I think this one might be the best purely because it is the funniest. Nothing makes me laugh harder than Sam, Shitstain and Honey-Nutz arguging. No, wait, maybe Vernon talking about being born dead makes me laugh harder. Throw in a cameo from Lucha Underground’s Dario Cueto, and You’re The Worst continues to be, well, the best. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist).

Speaking of shows that balance comedy and drama, I’ve been very impressed by the first 3 episodes of Atlanta (FX), the new show from Donald Glover. I was a big fan of Glover’s work on Community, so it’s brilliant to have him back on TV, especially on his own series, and one that’s so unique and confident in itself. The show follows Glover as Earn, a down on his luck young man who discovers his cousin is an up and coming local Rapper, Paper Boi and starts to manage him. But it’s of course about more than that. It’s very rare to see a major American show from this perspective, ie, black, and poor. We might get one or the other, but both? This is pretty groundbreaking, and as someone who is very removed from this experience himself, I really enjoying getting to see it and understand it. Some of the stuff here is truly shocking, but crucially, like You’re The Worst, Atlanta doesn’t forget to make you laugh, I particularly love Darius, Paper Boi’s spaced out hanger-on, played by Keith Stansfield. Everything he says is bizarre and hilarious. After only 3 outings, Atlanta is already one of the most interesting comedies out there, I can’t wait to see where Glover takes things from here.

And what’s this? Another dark, dark comedy? Over the recent bank holiday weekend, I watched all 6 episodes of the amazing Fleabag (BBC Three) on iPlayer (although you can only get BBC3 on iPlayer now, so I don’t know why I specified. I guess it’s because it’s being repeated on 2?) and it may very well be the best thing I’ve seen from the Beeb since… I dunno… The Thick Of It? It’s that good. Phoebe Waller-Bridge writes and plays the titular Fleabag, an angry young woman dealing with a lot of shit. It starts of bitter, and only gets better. I was hugely impressed by Waller-Bridge by how far she was willing to take this character, and her acting is wonderful throughout. I loved the way she broke the 4th wall, something that can be a bit hackneyed, but somehow the way it’s done here makes it work. I think it’s the subtlety of it. Sometimes she doesn’t even talk to the camera, just side-eyes it. It’s fantastic, Martin Freeman as Tim level stuff. The supporting cast is also superb, Olivia Colman is everywhere, but she’s everywhere for a reason, she is just so hateable as Fleabag’s step-mum, and it was awesome to see Brett Gelman appear here too. I also want to single out Hugh Dennis, who appears in a few episodes, and blew me away. He does proper acting here, and isn’t just his usual Now Show smug. As someone, who, like Fleabag, is dealing with the death of their mother, (although none of my friends have jumped into a bike lane… yet) some of the stuff here hit me very hard, which made it all the better I think. I saw the ‘twist’ coming after a few episodes, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t very well done. Fleabag was a revelation to me, and I urge everyone to watch it. I believe it’s going on Amazon in the states, and it’s all on iPlayer, so there’s no excuse.

Now for quick hitz (I used a ‘z’ this time to liven things up, living dangerously yo):

Vice Principals (HBO) continues to be absolutely fantastic, I am just in awe of the 3 central performances. I highlighted Walton Goggins before, but both Danny McBride and Kimberly Hebert Gregory are also delivering absolute tour de forces here. The scenes in the most recent episode, ‘Gin’ where Hebert Gregory gets fucked up on, well, gin, were amazing, hilarious, but also tragic. There’s only one episode left in this season, and I am so excited to see where McBride and Hill leave things. I don’t understand why people seem to have such a weird reaction to this series, it’s brilliantly funny and clever in the way it makes you simultaneously root for and against so many characters. It’s even briefly made me feel bad for Lee Russell because of his terrible mother-in-law! Too many people need simplistic, likeable characters, but hopefully, this, and basically every other show I’ve talked about this month is changing things.

Another Period (Comedy Central) wrapped up Season 2 with some seriously eventful episodes. A surprising amount of characters died! It was crazy. I think my favourite moments were the duel between Dodo and Chair (those are real character names), or anything Jemaine Clement did as the corrupt priest. What surprised me was how many plotlines all came together at the end. This may be a silly series, but it isn’t stupid. Are we getting another season? I certainly hope so.

And finally, I watched Season 2 of Vikings (History) on the ol’ Amazon Prime. I found it to be a step-up over Season 1, with all the characters growing in depth, and a couple of exciting new ones appearing. I particularly enjoy Linus Roache (Ken Barlow’s son!) as King Ecbert of Wessex, he’s a great quasi-villain, and a real challenge for Ragnar, as, let’s face it, King Horik ended up being a disappointing foe, as much as I love Donal Logue. His machinations were perhaps the only negative, especially as Floki’s seeming duplicity came out of nowhere and wasn’t ever explained, but then I suppose that was the point. It was all a long con from Ragnar. The most interesting thing about Vikings for me is the pacing, how willing they are to make big time jumps. After only 2 episodes of Season 2, the show skips ahead 4 years, which is ballsy, and works very well. I was initially skeptical of the ‘new’ Bjorn, but Alexander Ludwig is very good in the role, so it all works. For me, Vikings is firmly in that 2nd tier of current TV shows, it’s solid, but not amazing, it’s mainly serving to scratch my Game Of Thrones itch, but you can see at times how it could turn into something special, particularly with the character of Athelstan, and his crisis of faith between Christianity and the Norse Gods. Powerful, stuff, and George Blagden is so good at depicting it. I’m not sure where I’ll find the time to watch Seasons 3 and 4, but I am intrigued, it is getting better and better.

Music

Only one album this time out, but it’s a big one, a much anticipated one, in the form of Blonde (Boys Don’t Cry 2016) by Frank Ocean. Like everyone else on this hemisphere, I was enraptured by Ocean’s previous effort, Channel Orange, and whilst I didn’t find the 4 year weight that interminable (just listen to other stuff! Sometimes I think the internet only listens to Frank Ocean albums and only reads George RR Martin books) it was a long one, and it meant this album had a lot of hype to live up to. Right now, after nearly a month… I’m not sure. It’s good, it’s very good, but it’s not as good as Channel Orange and it doesn’t feel nearly as vital and important and… defining. Don’t get me wrong, there are some beautiful moments and fantastic songs here, particularly ‘White Ferrari’, ‘Godspeed’ and ‘Skyline To’ but a lot of this record just kind of washes over me, and I find each song is too similar. Normally I like it when an album has a certain feel and tone, but the best thing about Channel Orange was how varied it felt, even within one song, like the bat-shit ‘Pyramids’. Here, it’s a more cohesive whole, but that’s less fun! Maybe I’m just being a luddite here, I dunno. I do like Blonde a lot, as you can tell, it’s basically the only thing I’ve listened to this month (I haven’t gotten around to the new Wilco yet because of Blonde), so it is good. This is the problem with hype. If Blonde wasn’t already being hailed as masterpiece before it came out, before it was even called Blonde, I’d probably be more effusive. I try to avoid ‘hype aversion’ (I am averse to it) but sometimes you can’t help it. Ocean is still a fascinating, important artist with a beautiful voice and a lot of exciting ideas, but I just wish he’d put a few more of those ideas into this record. Maybe he was too sad.

Books

I started this month by finishing off The Wheel Of Osheim (2016) by Mark Lawrence, and I think it pretty much stuck the landing and completed the story and trilogy in strong fashion. I continued to appreciate how Lawrence mixed traditional fantasy with science fiction elements, and the character of Jalan remained fascinatingly flawed until the end. It’s odd though, it’s only a a few weeks since I finished it, but… I’m struggling to recall many specifics. My bad. I would like to write more here, but I’m pretty sure that, apart from Michael Connelly and Joe Abercrombie, Lawrence is the writer I’ve written about the most for this. He’s in good company there! As I’ve said before, if you want your fantasy with a bit of a twist, Mark Lawrence is your man, and I think that his actual writing ability is at the top of the genre.

I then moved onto a book about ‘real life’, in Sara Pascoe’s Animal (2016). Pascoe is a stand-up comedian, and this is a comedic examination of the human body, especially when it comes to gender and sex, and especially when it comes to the female side of those equations. Interestingly, I found this book to actually be more informative than it is particularly funny. Don’t get me wrong, Pascoe’s conversational style is always entertaining and the book has some great jokes in it, but the main thing I took away was that… I actually learned things about humanity, evolution and, well, sex. Pascoe explores the evolutionary, biological reasons why sex and sexual organs work the way they do, and also explores how this scientific fact works alongside modern morals and theories about gender. That balance is incredibly interesting. The human body is hardwired to try and do certain things, but our society tells us otherwise, for good and ill. Pascoe’s explorations of consent, menstruation and abortions are very well done, and she manages to make some very heavy subjects much more palatable with her humour. I think this book has changed the way I think I about certain things, and I highly recommend it, even if, like me, you’re not a woman.

I’m currently about 120 or so pages into The Girls (2016) by Emma Cline, which is a book with a lot of hype  behind it, and so far, I think it’s deserved. Cline is telling the story of a woman who was a member of a fictionalised Manson Family as a teenager, and whilst things are only just getting going (Evie has only just met Russell AKA Charles Manson at the point where I am up to), the book has set the perfect, woozy, creepy tone. You know bad things are going to happen, but you, and Evie, are drawn to it. The thing it’s reminding me of is whenever Mad Men went over to California, and things were just slightly off, that’s what the Mansons were. The horrifying thing at the edge of a the free love movement. Mad Men never trusted California in the 60s, and I can’t either. Evie is a strong central character, and Cline’s prose is very evocative. I can’t wait to see where things go from here, and just how fucked up it’s going to get. What’s freaking me out is that Cline is 27, the same age as me. Big literary novelists are now my age, and soon, oh God, soon, they are going to be younger than me. It was bad enough with footballers!

—

That’s your lot! I’ll be back in 30 or so days with more waffle. There’ll probably be a shit load of TV, but I dunno a this point, I may start culling some shows I’m not truly enjoying, there’s just too much ‘tent.

Laters!

#The Ides Of #September #2016 #Movies #Sanjuro #Zoolander 2 #Ip Man #Ip Man 2 #The Man From UNCLE #Television #Vice Principals #Another Period #Halt And Catch Fire #Fleabag #You're The Worst #Vikings #Atlanta #Music #Frank Ocean #Books #Mark Lawrence #Sara Pascoe #Emma Cline

[niamsuggitt]

#Kevin Owens #Universal Champion #KOmania