Knights of God: Episode 5

 "I find history rather boring..."

Sirprisingly, Gervase's gets relatively little screen time here. Plotlines elsewhere develop. Hugo's splendid;y arch scheming continues as he turns the senior Knights slowly against Mordrin. Edwards learns, and is devastated by, his son's apparent treachery... and is a little bitter at Arthur for setting things in motion. Again, we get vague references to Gervase's "true nature".

There's no longer quite the need for so much world building as the premise is by now established, but one again this vaguely Arthurian future Britain is fascinating, very V for Vendetta, a low tech, lived in near future. It has none of the corporate trappings of cyberpunk but the cynicism and lived-in look of Aliens and Blade Runner... on an ITV budget.

Of course, the point is that we (and Gervase) must think Julia dead, although we are allowed to see the truth. But Gervase, I suspect, will not turn against the Knights but follow them with deepening bitterness. The ending is heartbreaking, with Julia unable to go to him and declaring her love. This is good stuff.

Iron Fist: Felling Tree with Roots

 "And it makes my hand light up..."

Wow. This series is bizarrely all over the place. Last episode was pretty awful. This episode is pretty damn good. Yes, we get a very sweet, heartwarming sex scene between Colleen and Danny, the sort that feel very real between two people who genuinely feel an intimate bond. Yes, Danny has the courage of his convictions and gives a defient speech to the board of Rand, showing himself to be media savvy in the process.

Yet it's a dark, dark world. Madame Gao visits Danny in Rand's offices, where she has a pass: "I've been in Rand a lot longer than you have." She's there to troll him, yes, to annoy and disorient him, but also to warn him off. As it turns out she uses the thirteentrh floor of the building for her heroin trade. The continues to goad Danny about his father. Yet, by the end, after Danny, Collen and the Hand's rivals have trashed the heroin factory, it turns out that the whole operation is now, like much Western industry, outsourced to China. And it seems Danny's own father may have had connections to heroin too. Wow. Quite the bombshell.

The opiatre addiction between Ward and a frustrated Joy is not quite working, but it certainly shows the stress Ward is under from the way he's exploited by his manipulative, amoral father, who has Danny eating out of the palm of his hand. Ward's sudden patricide i shocking, yes, But not foreshadowed. It's quite the ending to quite an episode. Oh, and who is Bakuto? And what happens now that the board have removed Danny and the Meachums? This really feels like a turning point. Unexpectedly good.

The Beatles- Abbey Road (1969)

It's time for another Beatles album, and this time my favourite. I know it's fashionable to rave about the later Beatles albums and neglect the earlier ones- a mistake- but this, their last album in spirit if not chronologically, Let It Be featuring a lot of older, slightly retro material- is my favourite.

It's hard to say why and say something new, though. The songwriting at this point is creative and trailblazing while still solid, with none of the out-there experimentalism of the White Album. That's not to say the album isn't full of experimentalism- the second half medley is utterly sublime- but the songwriting remains nevertheless disciplined.

We have Lennon's R&B-esque "Come Together", a reminder that, in 1969, rock music and soul music were yet to quite be separated. In "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun" we have the height of Geoege Harrison's songwriting career, and a reminder of how good he was, and would have remained if he'd occasionally given that bloody slide guitar a rest in his later career.

For me, the best song on the album is "Because", although the medley runs it close. This album, though, is more than the songs that comprise it. More than any other Beatles album, it's as much a soundscape as a collection of songs. It's also the last album of theirs produced by George Martin, not the sort of man you'd expect to come up with such a forward-looking, clear yet trippy sound.

One could argue that rock music peaks here, and all that's left is to explore various side trips. Maybe I'm being a pretentious git. Regardless, I can't see how the Beatles could ever have topped this.

Knights of God: Episode 4

 "All hail the knights of God!"

This episode isn't quite as intensely totalitarian as the last one, and that's sauying something, as the main focus is on Gervase's brainwashing, done through typical fascist techniques alongside a little light experimental use of drugs, courtest of Michael Sheard as a very British Dr Mengele.

The drectorial style, wisely, avoids trippiness here: it would not suit the bleak, fascist aesthetic as Gervase is initiated, via a creepy ceremony, into the Knights of God. His brainwashing is oddly believable, even to the point of subjugating Wales, pursuing the rebels' mysterious leader... and betraying his own father. But I suspect his loyalty would be tested were he to discover that Julia has escaped... and been shot while doing so. Is she dead?

Meanwhile we're intruducted to Nigel Stock as Brother Simon, Mordrin's right hand man, while Hugo continues to archly plot and be performatively resentful. This is certainly leading to conflict.

An eventful episode, then, for a mere twenty-fice minutes. This continues to be very, very good.

Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

 "You know, what's remarkable is how much England looks in  no way like Southern California."

I'm not in the mood for anything serious, so this it is then. It is, of course, just more of the same sort of stuff from the first film with pop culture jokes combined with lots of metatextual fun, but I for one am not complaining. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

This time we're introduced to Mini-Me as well as Fat Bastard, a third character to be played with aplomb by Mike Myers. We get rid of Vanessa with hilarious simplicity and then get introduced to the wonderful Felicity Shagwel and... well, it's an Austin Powers film. You know the drill. It's very, very silly indeed.

What's interesting, though, about a film from 1999 being all nostalgic about thirty years earlier is how very '90s it all is from a quarter century later. Even this version of the '60s is very much a version of the decade curated to '90s sensibilities, more Oasis' "All Around the World" than "Yellow Submarine" in aesthetic. But we get the late Jerry Springer, absolutely in his pomp and a reminder of how even trash telly back then had a layer of basic decency to it that would eventually be got rid of. Even Starbucks was sort of newish back then.

The film works so well because it knows full well how daft it is and leans into that, with the time travelling shenanigans and the best knob, fart and poo jokes in cinematic history. The script is magnificent. So is the cast. But praise has to go especially to Mike Myers, absolutely at the peak of his career here. Brilliant stuff.

Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023)

 "How many holes do you have? I'm sorry, is that a personal question?"

I hear this film is not so well-liked as some Marvel films. I rather suspect that this may be connected to the fact that this film is utterly bonkers. I, for one, say that this is no bad thing.

Where to start? I'll briefly observe, with the MCU fifteen years in, that it offers a fascinating contrast with the comics in that there can be no equivalent of Marvel time: actors age. Even, at last, Paul Rudd. Even Michelle Pfeiffer, sixty-five and sexy. Even Michael Douglas, an action grandad living his best life as a Hank Pym in his late seventies. And, yes, Cassie is an adult xennial, part of that awesome generation that won't tolerate oppression and will save us all.

Then there's the wildness of the quantum realm. It's CGI, and obviously so, but it's perhaps the most out there science fantasy madness ever to be given to us by a mainstream Hollywood offering, full of trippy, utterly and deliciously insane visuals.

But... Kang. Wow. I'm aware of the... issues surrounding Jonathan Majors at the moment. And how, indeed, the Kang arc may be affected. With the post-credits sequences really leaning into Kang as a massive thing, too: Immortus, Rama-Tut, a proper Council of Kangs, all played by Jonathan Mayors. But damn, he's such a good actor- charismatic, believable as a villiain who is a cross between Einstein and Alexander the Great from a thousand years in the future. He comes across as psychopathic, yes; charismatic, yes; but a three dimensional person, with wit and a penetrating intelligence. Everything he says, one feels, contains a subtext that goes over one's head. He's quite the villiain, a triumph of both script and acting. He has both the eccentricity of a scientist and the believable threat of a man who can and will conquer for the intellectual challenge.

I haven't even mentioned the excellent humour, or the heartwarming daddy/daughter stuff between Scott and Cassie, something which this doting and denied daddy just gobbles up. Little Miss Llamastrangler will be just as brilliant. Then there's the love between Hope and Scott, Scott's insecurity as the man who talks to ants vs. his heroism, the glorious heroism of Janet and Hank, old people who kick arse. 

And, yeah, super-evolved, socialist ants. Although, you know, perhaps they should read a bit less Marx and a bit more Beveridge, and Lloyd George without the temperance. But I digress. The point is, the critics are wrong, This is one of the finest Marvel movies of this decade.

Iron Fist: Immortal Emerges from Cage

 "I had the fastest donkey cart in K'un Lun too."

Hmm. I liked the stuff with Ward's unravelling opioid addiction, sudden though it is, and Joy's alarm. I like the arse-kicking partnership between Colleen and Claire as they protect Radovan with their complementary talents. They're quite the team.

But the stuff with Danny and that monk from his past as he spends much of the episode fighting agents of the Hand in a contest... it's just a poor man's Luke from The Empire Strikes Back, isn't it? That monk is Yoda, encouraging Danny to destroy his ego, past and feelings to be Iron Fist. He cannot be allowed anger, lust, emotion, feelings. And he must focus only on destroying the Hand even at the expense of an innocent girl's life. 

Danny's act of mercy at the end is where he leaves Dagobah and metaphorically goes to Cloud City. He and the monk from his pazst turn their backs on each other. But... we've seen this all before. With Darth Vader. It's disappointing that an episode trying to show the depth of K'un Lun and its martial arts should be so derivative and shallow. I hope things donb't stay like this; this episode shows an alarming drop in quality.

Still, Madame Gao's revelations are shocking. She's lived in K'un Lunn? She has dirt on Danny's father...?

Better Call Saul: Klick

 "You finally got me where you want me..."

Wow. I thought this episode was going a certain way, with Cbhuck dying because of Jimmy's acts and decisions while he keeps up the nice guy act, thus cementing how morally awful he is. Certainly, this is all his fault. And the scenes of Chuck undergoing medical examination with bright lights and much electricity are shot superbly, reminding me of certain scenes from Trainspotting.

Yet the episode takes an unexpected turn.Chuck suffers, the MRI scan leaves him in a catatonic trance for twenty hours... yet he survives unharmed, returns home... and traps Jimmy into a recorded confession. Yes, I saw it coming. But it's a bombshdell of a moment, and elegantly earned.

This is a clever bait and switch. The opening flashback deceived me, perhaps... Jimmy clearly not having such deep feelings for their dying mother than Chuck, yet her dying words are "Jimmy! Jimmy!", to Chuck's heartbreak. Naturally, Jimmy is not told. Moments like these make us see Jimmy through Chuck's eyes. Yes, Chuck is an arrogant snob. But he has integrity. Jimmy, to put it mildly, doesn't. Poor Kim.

Then there's Mike, put off from his attempted assassination by Nacho and... someone else, perhaps? Mike looks scared, in a superb bit of facial acting from Jonathan Banks. Could it be an early sign of Gus? I know not, butr this is fascinating.

This isan't an explosive, dramatic finale. It's a quietly devastating one. And it works. This is exquisite stuff.

The Wrong Box (1966)

 "Yes, I enjoy an egg myself. They don't make good pets, though."

This splendid film is, yes, a farce, quite literally, and one executed with delicious clockwork precision, the climactic scene at once wonderfully chaotic and utterly orderly in how everything is tied together. This is entirely true. Yet the farce, perfect though it is, is merely the plot as background: this film is memorable for the wit and the performances.

There is, of course, exquisite visual humour, not least at the end whith the hearse chase, the unexpected real funeral, the band. The concept is delicious: a tontine. A sum of money is invested for a large number of young boys, with the last surviving to inherit all. The film begins with a highly entertaining series of, well, stupid deaths, crammed with cameos from British character actors. Finally, we are left with two brothers, played by those great theatrical knights John Mills and Ralph Richardson, both as adept at comedy as one might expect. The peerless Peter Cook and the no less inspired Dudley Moore steal the show, of course, but Michawl Caine is a superb comic straight man.

It's a shock to see Tony Hancock in colour, at this late stage. He is, let's be honest, phoning it in, and past his best. Yet he phones it in with aplomb. Peter Sellers is superb, but that's a given.

This superb cast, though, would be nothing without the sparkling, witty script, of a type that, despite its Vicxtorian setting, is redolent of the era between the satire boom and Monty Python, when British comedy was in glorious ferment, with Peter Cook at the centre of most things that mattered. A masterpiece that ought to be much better known.

Knights of God: Episode 3

 "Aim..."

Crikey, this is bleak, bleak stuff and an unflinching study of fascism. And this is a kids' programme? 

Things take an unexpected turn; Julia and Gervais don't end up escaping afgter all, their acts of sabotage being far too serious fr the punishment block... and when Mordrin arrives they are interrogated while being sleep deprived and forced to stand for hours. Things are already pretty damn intense by the time they are separated and Mordrin begins the real mind games.

It's an impossible choice. Gervais must sign a document renouncing his father and the rebellion, and pledging to become a Knight of God, or Julia will be summatrily executed by firing squad. The tension is horrifying... and poor, brave Julia gets to experience all the suffering of thinking she's about to die until the execution is called off.

Surely a promise brought about by coercion is worthless? Regardless, this is devastating, brilliant telly.

Iron Fist: Under Leaf Pluck Lotus

 "I want the leak under the sink fixed!"

Things get more and more intriguing. There's a new, synthetic heroin on the market, being pushed by the Hand, manipulating the Rand corporation. Yet there are other kinds of drug abuse too. Ward, ignoring Harold's calls, takes pills and gets high, much to Joy's consternatiion. And Rand's drug factory appears to be emitting chemicals that cause cancer in children. We see the dodgy ethics of big business, the dangers of under-regulated capitalism, and juxtapose this with the innocence of Danny.

Speaking of said innocence, this is the episode where Danny and Colleen start exuding huge amounts of sexual chemistry and it becomes clear, in the cutest possible way, that these two socially awkward martial artists rather like each other.

Conflict is brewing between Ward and Danny about business, that is clear. Yet we also start to see both the insidiousness and the power of the Hand, with Claire Temple turning up to explain what happened in Daredevil. Suddenly, Danny, fish out of water, has a purpose. And Colleen too.

I'm not sure we quite have a format or status quo yet, but thatr's no bad thing. I'm enjoying this,

The Devil's Men (1976)

 "I beliewve the Devil has taken possession of this village!"

There was, around 1976-ish, a sudden craze for movies about robed devil worshippers sacrificing groovy youngsters in stone crypts, of which this is one. It's of it's time; the youngsters of 1976 may have considered themselves as hip and groovy, but punk was coming along to give them a good slap. 1976 was forty-seven years ago, as 1919 was to them. In some ways they were modern, yes, but the women shopped and cooked, and were slapped when, ahem, hysterical. It was a long time ago. It was the year I was conceived.

This is, I suppose, a silly B movie by a Greek director shot on sumptuous location saturated with visual culture, with Peter Cushing and Donald Pleasance imported for star power. The critics, it seems dislike it. Yet, accepting the fiulm for what it is, it's an enjoyable romp, full of lots of little cultural nuggets that become apparent, even in a B movie, after so many decades.

This is an X rated movie. There are boobs. There is Satanism. There is Kensington gore. Yet the hero is a friendly, likeable, boozy Catholic priest- played by a Donald Pleasance who will never be square jawed but is a hero more than one might expect- who gets to save the day with exorcism. The Pope would almost like this film. If not for, you know, the naked ladies and the fornication.

This film is a load of old tosh in the best possible way. It's on Netflix. Watch it. I advise a bottle of wine.

Knights of God: Episode 2

 "Worshipping a god of power, strength, and vengeance..."

We begin with a "previously on"... and then it's straight to a concenttration camp. In England. It's not an extermination camp, but it's bloody grim, a place of brainwashing, indoctrination and mind crushing military style discipline without purpose. We see, too, that Prior Mordrin can only maintain a semblance of order by the ceraseless executions of those who would be free.

It's grim. It's bleak. This 2020 may actually be worse than the one we got, and that's saying something.

We get a bit of exposition- throughout the '90s there was conflict between a rich south and a poor north, an interesting perspectibve from the Thatcherite '80s, leading to civil war. And somehow the Knights of God took over, replacing Christianity with a harsh religion of vengeance. Like the concentration camps, this has certain historical echoes.

Gervase suffers the camps but is slowly falling in love with the rather lovely Julia. Shre has a plan to escape via, er, being put in the cooler. It's a good thing too. Because his dad Owen is rumbled, tipped off by Arthur in another delightful scene between Gareth Edwards and Patrick Troughton. But they'rer on to Owen and, via their incredible futuristic computer power, they're on to Gervase.

This is excellent stuff. But bloody hell it's dark for kids' telly.

Iron Fist: Eight Diagram Dragon Palm

 "You're all I've got..."

Suddenly it all changes: Danny doesn't fall far, fortunately, and wakes up to a charm offensive by Harold, who is not dead after all. He's welcomed back into the company, 51% stake and all. Is this it? Has Danny won?

Well, no. From the start his new role has tensions. To the existing board members he's a cuckoo in the nest, and he would be wise to show some patience before throwing his weight around. Yet, on day one, the board meeting brings a moral dilemma about the pricing of a new drug... and Danny does the right thing, rather than the diplomatic thing.

There's more backstory, too. Harold did die of cancer. But he did a deal with the Hand, who resurrected him, but at the cost of secrecy and being their "good servant". Why do the hand want that pier in Red Hook, Brooklyn? They're certainly prepared to terrorise a triad for it.

Meanwhile Danny and Joy bond further, while Colleen continues with her cage fighting. I have no idea where this is going, as the arc has taken an unexpected turn. But the Hand, I'm sure, are the Big Bad. With Madame Gao at the centre of it all. I'm still enjoying this. It may not be quite as good as previous Netflix Marvel stuff, but the margin isn't great.

Knights of God: Episode 1

 "You've got to live. For all of us."

I have only the vaguest of memories of seeing bits of this in 1987 when I was young, and it's been unavailable since, so I know not what to expect. What's that, you ask? How am I seeing this? Oh look. A squirrel.

Anyway, this first episode is an outstanding piece of worldbuilding, a very 80s cross between Arthurian legend and a V for Vendetta type vaguely dystopian, Fascist future. John Woodnutt is dictator of the South and Midlands, he has recently conquered a defiant Wales, but the North remains free and lawless, called a "wasteland". The Knights of God rule a land called "Anglia" from Winchester, as London is ruined. There are direct parallels here with Anglo-Saxon England where the same was true.

This fits Arthurian myth perfectly: Arthur defeated the Saxons at Badon; presumably young Gervase, seemingly fated by legend, will pull some sort of sword from some sort of stone within these thirteen episodes.

Even more intriguingly, Gervase is watched over by an older, Welsh accented Gareth Thomas as Owen, and he is seen talking to a white-bearded Patrick Troughton, whose character seems to be called "Arthur". I'm loving this so far.