Batman: The Animated Series- Appointment in Crime Alley

 "Good people still live in Crime Alley..."

Another excellent episode this time, if more low key than some. Yes, the plot is basically a race against time to stop a bomb. But there's a lot more going on than that, and I don't just mean "corner of Finger and Broome"- see what they did there? I love the way this series names its streets after writers and artists who've worked on Batman and Detective Comics.

I kniw I say this a lot, but I'm very impressed aty how the Animated Series continues to build nuances into its world buildfing. Here we're introduced to Dr Lesley Thompkins, a figure from Batman's origins, and of course to Crime Alley. And once again we see one of the regular less colourful criminals, in this case Roland Dagget, who naturally ends the episode slithering away, his murderous schemes defeated but wioth no evidence to link them to him.

And that final scene, humanising Batman as a character, is a fascinating choice. But one that works. I'm so glad the series has time for episodes like this.

Better Call Saul: Plan and Execution

 "Is this how these usually go?"

Wow. SPOILERS, obviously.

This was a perfectly crafted mid-season finale, with all the pieces fitting together prefectly. I'm still reeling.

It was clear from the start that sonething big was about to happen. The word "Execution" in the title made me nervous from the start."D-Day", Kim and Jimmy's plot to do over Howard is one plan, but there's also Lalo's plan to do over Gus, with Lalo and Mike between themselves playing three dimensional chess. Perhaps not quite as well  as Jimmy and Kim do in manipulating Howard, but, well...

It's constantly emphasised how decent Howard is. Kind to junior employees, with a real sense of perspective and wisom, optimistic even at the end. And this decent man has been going through "debt, depression, my marriage falling apart". So yes, as ever, it'ds fun watching him get done over, all ther littler reveals as one of Jimmy's biggest schemes comes to fruition. He's going to get his share of the Sandpiper money quickly, and he's done over Howard. And yet- the script is at pains to emphasise Howard's decency. Should we be feeling entertained...?

And this is why the ending is so devastating, as Lalo suddenly shoots a Howard who has no idea what is going on. A decent man, dead, the last day of his life one of suffering and humiliation. And all for such childishness. Not just Jimmy this time, but also Kim, as Howard correctly states, are irredeemable after this.

Because the games played by the likes of Lalo and Gus are of an entirely different level of seriousness. Jimmy and Kim, now utterly fallen, seem to be about to learn that hard lesson.

Good.

Carry On Camping (1969)

 "Do you know, she's been showing me how to stick the pole up!"

It's back to the contemporary world of 1969 after all of the recent historical action, and another one of the best Carry Ons here- much though the setting really does give us a proper little time capsule anda reminder of how different we were as a country backin 1969.

It can't be denied, though- the humour is great here. The gag with Mr Fiddler and the sign at the entrance to the campis simply inspired. And all the regulars are in fine form here, with the addition of the wonderful Betty Marsden, who is hilarious (as a character called Harriet Potter!) and has superb comic chemistry with Terry Scott. The dynamic from Carry On Doctor between Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jacques is revived here... even revealing that this is the exact same Matron, in a nice little breaking of the fourth wall.

But my God... it was such a different time. Wearing a suit to the cinema. The older generation still insisting on no sex before marriage despite the fact that, now that it's the '60s and the pill exists, this shows a rather irresponsible and cavalier attitude to getting married. City gents with bowler hats. Hippies!

Most of all, though, the blokes' perving attitude to sex now... aspecially the eponymous Sid and Bernie, both clearly midde aged, lusting after presumably teenage pupils of a finishing school, which is rather icky, to say the least. Then there's Peter, the hen pecked husband, who discovers at the end that the answer to his problems is to give Harriet a damn good seeing to, after which he seems to be in charge. Yep. It was a very different time.

No denying it, though- this film is very, very funny.

Batman: The Animated Series- The Clock King

 "I'm here to clean ypur clock, Fugate."

Last episode may have been a little below the usual standard, but this one is as good as ever. The quality of this series is consistently high.

And Temple Fugit (see what they did there?) is an excellent villain with a nice gimmick, well handled, as well as a compelling backstory and a quirky character. The use of Hamilton Hill continues the world building, with the series continuing to stlowly develop a surprisingly large supporting cast. Oh, and I like what they did with the roads, all named after a prominent Batman or Detective Comics artist. There's also a nice reference to Harold Lloyd's Safety Last.

Perhaps the best sequence, though,is where the Clock King hasb Batman locked in a bank vault with only five minutes' worth of oxygen, and he uses his extreme cleverness to survive... although it'sfortunate this sequence occurs in a pre-digital age, dependent though it is on reels of tape.

I've no idea whether we'll see the Clock King agsin, despite his apparent escape. But I certainly hope so.

Twin Peaks: The Man Behind the Glass

 "I love you, Sheriff Truman."

Less weirdness this week, possibly not unconnected to the fact that David Lynch doesn't direct.  Instead we have a series of events, clues and plot developments. However, it's amusing to see Agent Cooper matter-og-factly tell both the bluthely accepting Harry Truman and the ever-cynical Albert about the giant. And the confrontation between the Sheriff and Albert may itself count as weird.

Elsewhere, a song raises Nadine from her coma, but she thinks she's eighteen.because this is the Twin Peaks definition of "not weird". There's a bizarre triangle developing between Donna, James and Maddy. We meet Harold Smith, much younger than expected although asweird aswe might expect... and his house is full of orchids, symbolising beauty and fertility so, yeah, "not weird"...

In other developments, Leland is arrested for Jacques' murder. Audrey is being filmed in a plot to blackmail Ben... and kill Cooper. Lucy has a very pretentious and odd boyfriend, Ben, who seems to be the father of the child growing in her belly. And Harold seems to have known Laura well, we (and Donna) think at first... until we see that he has her diary in his possession...!

Even without the direct Lynchian stuff, this is gripping, and just weird enough. I don't know where it's going... but that's not the point at all. I'm loving this.

Batman: The Animated Series- Fear of Victory

 "There's enough powder in that helmet to panic a pachyderm!"

After a run of very good episodes, we finally hit one that's... well, certainly ok, but no more. The Scarecrow, in the light of strong introductions toother well-known baddies, is perhaps coming across so farcas a little, well pedestrian? 

I mean, he's scaring sportsmen in a scheme to... win bets at an illegal bookie. Hardly the most dastardly evil scheme of all time. It all plays out well enough, and I like the scenes of Robin being courageous despiter his artificial fear, all good character stuff. I also enjoyed the Arkham cameos of Poison Ivy, Two-Face and especially the Joker, who gets a nice little cameo. But overall the episode is simply... good enough.

And what of Robin? Why is he in some episodes but not in most? It is because (he has a roommate, Brian, potentially a recurring character) he's in college? Either way, why not make it clear? Perhaps they will.

Still, I suppose there's nothing wrong with a given episode just being ok: it just speaks to how high the quality has been of late.

Twin Peaks: Coma

 "I do not introduce the log..."

A lot of plot stuff happens here, pertaining to what happened witrh Lauraand all the many plot threads. Leo is in a coma and may be brain damaged. Audrey, it seems, is in lots of trouble. But, well the surrealness quotient has just increased here, hasn't it. And i'm so here for it. I strongly suspect that it's about symbolism rather than things that will literally be explained, but it's all so wonderfully... Lynchian.

So Donna does her meals on wheels thing and finds a decidedly weird old lady with a tuxedo clad grandson who can do magic, and the magnificent weirdness is all in the direction, the acting, and most of all the slow, lingering pace, all deliberately made to feel a bit "off". And so we, and Donna, learn of the mysterious Mr Smith. 

Then there's the reactions of various people tothe figure in the wanted poster. The paradoxical reasoning of Ben and Jerry as they ponder whether to burn the real ledger for the mill or the forged one. And, indeed, the somewhat kinky circumstances in which Audrey finds out the full extent of what her old man has been up to.

But the stuff with Major briggs tops everything. The Log Lady delivers a message from the log, which of course he immediately understands. So he tells Agent Cooper a snippet of what he knows from his top secret job... a message from another galaxy, that "the owls are not what they seem"....

This is utterly, utterly mad. And magnificent.

Better Call Saul: Axe and Grind

 "Pop Pop, it's not that kind of gas!"

Quickly checking the cast list on iMDb made me realise why Gus isn't in this- Giancarlo Esposito directs, shortly after Rhea Seehorn did the same! 

Anyway... it's getting very obvious that next episode, the mid-season finale, is going to be somewhat eventful. We know that it's "D Day", we've seen many glimpses of elements of what Jimmy and Kim are planning, but we haven't seen the big picture of what they're planning... although it's likely to do over Howard in some way. And the fact that the judge in questiion has an arm in a cast threatens to derail things... or does it?

We begin with an interesting flashback to kim's childhood: her mother was a scammer too, a direct parallel to Jimmy. This is significant- part of the attraction for her? I note she grew up in Nebraska, too: the same state where Jimmy lives in the show's present day. Coincidence? Perhaps.

It's interesting to see how much Cliff obviously admires Kim as both a brilliany lawyer and an ethical one- the polar opposite of Jimmy, although very much in the process of being corrupted. And hereby lies another tragedy- Cliff makes an offer that could help her struggling career, which it looks as though she's just going to throw away, for "D Day". What could be that important...?

Elsewhere, Francesca realises the ethical dodginess of working for "Saul". Lalo is still in Germany, violently trying to work out exactly what Gus was building underground. Howard's marriage is looking a little shaky, nothing overtyly wrong but with he and his wife gradually drifting apart. Mike is a good grandad...

It's all excellent television, as ever. But oh, next episode...

 

Hawk the Slayer (1980)

"I'd sooner eat cow dung.

Oh my. What did I just watch? 

I absolutely adored this movie. I mean, yet again, I make no bones about the fact that it is, let's face it, very much in the "so bad it's good" category. No camp humour here; the hilarity is not intentional.

And yet, as is often said, there's bad films and bad films. Some bad films can be highly entertaining: the real crime is to be boring, ad boring this is not. The action, melodrama and excitement never stops.

And yes, the acting is... shall we say, very B movie.But, yet again, it's hugely entertaining. I always enjoy a proper scenery chewing baddie, and Jack Palance really does chew the scenery with aplomb here as Voltan. Given the woodenness of John Terry as Hawk, he quite rightly gets top billing. 

But there's so much else to amuse and divert. There's Patricia Quinn's cyclopean sorceress, who is always rescuing our motley crew from their silly little escapades and is blatantly the only one of the goodies with any brains, yet is always addressed casually as "Woman"! There's the comic scenes between Bernard Bresslaw's giant and the dwarf. There's the actor spotting fun with all the many British character actors that briefly appear. There's the music, which falls slap bang in the middle of a genre that can only be described as "'80s sword and sorcery soundtrack". And, of course, there's the effects.

This film is a load of old tosh. It's also great.

The Blob (1958)

 "Excuse us, we were just looking for a monster..."

You know how you can sort of cheerfully accept that a film is flawed in many ways but still love it? Yep. This is yet another example. All the same, though, a lot here is genuinely good. This is far more than just another '50s science fiction B movie...

Yes, Steve McQueen- although he's very good- is far too old to be a teenager. Yes, it's blatantly obvious that they are (quite wisely) relying on suspense and keeping the Blob out of sight as much as possible. And yes, worst of all, too much of the film's run time consists of Steve and Jane trying fruitlessly to get the police to believe that the Blob exists, and being disbelieved. This sort of thing is never fun to watch.

And yet... the plot makes good sense. The characters may be very flat indeed but they all have clear roles. And it all looks very impressive, with a strong climax and a satisfying conclusion.

And the central conceit may be simple, but it works. The Blob as a parasite that falls to Earth inside a meteorite- very Quatermass II-  and the slow realisation that it will, if unchecked, continue to absorb people and grow bigger until it's absorbed all of humanity. 

If it wasn't for Steve... it would surely have absorbed the whole town. And then...?

A flawed film, yes. But still quite good overall.... actually, no. I've changed my mind. Because that song over the opening titles really is that awesome. With a song like that, how can the film be merely "quite" good?

Batman: The Animated Series- Vendetta

 "I've had cats that made more noise than you...!"

Another good episode here. Oh, we introduce Killer Croc, whosew portrayal is fine but qho was never one of the more meaningful members of Batman's rogues gallery. No: this episode is noteworthy for how it fleshes out the broader supporting cast.

The conceit is very clever- Harvey Bullock is framed by Killer Croc for the murder of a prospective informer, with Boss Rupert Thorne in the mix. Right awayt it adds nuance to Bullock's character- a cop who cuts corners and not a pleasant individual, certainly, but not corrupt. The moment between him and Batman at the end, too, is nice and nuanced.

So are Batman's respective rapports with Gordon and Alfred, of course, but at this stage that comes as no surprise. But it's satisfying to feel this sense  of so many characters by now familiar- not just Bullock and Boss Thorne but also news reporter Summer Gleeson, Officer Montoya- this is an increasingly impressive aspect of the Animated Series.

And, by this point, we're on a solid run of really rather a lot of solid episodes in a row.

Twin Peaks: May the Giant Be with You

 "There are things in life that exist, yet our eyes cannot see them.

I finished blogging the first season in... April 2024. Wow. No wonder I'm finding it tricky to reacquaint myself with the sheer multitude of characters and the even greater multitude of plot threads... but this, of course, is the now sadly departed David Lynch (he directs personally here). Best not to try to keep track to closely, but rather to just let it wash over you. And this first episode is a long one. In a very long season...

So again there's the log lady and the wonderful look of the show, with the limited palette of colours focusing on browns and oranges, and the unique texture. And yes, there's the weirdness. We begin with an unsettlingly long scene with the recently shot Agent Cooper. Yes, obviously the giant gives us lots of dreamlike weirdness alongside cryptic clues, most strokingly "The owls are not what they seem". And he's back for more weirdness and clues at the end.

But even more weird, for me, are the deliberately lingering moments with the incredibly old room service man. Everything about this sequence is designed to be a little unsettling, a little off. 

And yet... the weirdness co-exists with himour (Albert's humour), lots of melodrama, and lots of real feeling. Yes, Leland's behaviour is weird, albeit changing, but we feel the reality of unbearable grief. The Major's dream, recounted to Bobby, may be weird and surreal, but it's the only way this emotionally constipated man can express his love for his son.

And yes, Audrey, investigating at One Eyed Jack's, has to use a very theatrical type mask (imagery again) to hide from her own father and avoid a very creeply act of almost incest. But she's in way over her head. It's moving, at the end, to see her admit this, but face her face with courage.

Elsewhere... well, I'm not going to even try and say anything about the progression of the plot. But even this is absurd, with a bit of slapstick involving Andy and a plank of wood. And I love Agent Cooper's little poirot moment in which she reveals that there was, yes, a third man on the night Laura died...

I'm loving this. Twin Peaks, I've missed you.

Batman: The Animated Series- Joker's Favour

 "You just toddle on back to your mundane, meaningless little life, and when I need you... I'll call..."

And there she is: Harley Quinn, for the very first time.

Not that she gets much depth here: she could easily have been a one-off character on the strength of this. But it'll be fascinating to see how she develops.

No: this is the tale of Charlie Collins, another one shot caharacter voiced by Ed Begley Jr, later to be known for Better Call Saul. Charlie at first seems like a bit of a Greek Chorus sort of character, commenting wryly on the action while having a bad day, but no; an impromptu act of road rage goes pear shaped as he realises the other driver is in fact the Joker, leading to a chase and the Charlie owing the Joker a favour... which will one day be called in... cut to two years later.

The whole sequence is very well done indeed, and the tale is highly satisfying overall. There's some nice stuff with Jim Gordon, and one of those moments where Batman comes out of the shadow, says something to the Commissioner, ad then vanishes.

Easily the best Joker episode thusfar. Mark Hamill is, by now, very good.

Dead of Night: A Woman Sobbing

 "I thought women's bladders were different?"

And so already we come to the last of the three surviving episodes of this rather interesting early '70s BBC 2 horror anthology series. Return Flight may have been... flawed. But I'm happy to report that this is a good 'un. Two out of three ain't bad. 

As I'm increasingly fond of remarking, the '70s was another age. Jane and Frank are a middle class couple in very eary middle afe, living in an enormous house in Sussex with their two young children, yet they are able to sustain this entirely via Frank's salary working in advertising (shades of Reginald Perrin here...) while Jane is a stay-at-home housewife and mother.

Oh, and the house can't be haunted, because it was built in 1910, and so is "no older than your mother", the equivalent of the early '60s today.

Yes, I know...

The main conceit is that Jane is being increasingly driven mad by hearing the sounds of a woman sobbing, with a nice little twist ending. As horror, it works well. Yet there's a deeper horror here, the Beddy Friedan awfulness of the existence of a housewife, with the ennui and the Valium and the au pairs and the awful children and the sexlessness.

It may not be a subtle subtext, but it hits hard. This episode works very well indeed, anchored by apowerful performance from the late Anna Massey.

Bank Shot (1974)

 "I'm learning how to swim, and I'm coming after you!"

This is... well, it may not be the greatest comedy ever made, but it's a lot of fun. Silly heist films always are, and this one is literally about not just robbing a bank but stealing the entire wheeled edifice. As a high concept basis for a heist film, that's pretty impressive.

And George C. Scott is simply superb as the mildly world-weary and deadpan Walter Ballantine, genius heist planner who gets involved despite his better judgement with this highly unreliable motley crew.

But the film is equally carried by Clifton James as Bulldog Streiger, Ballantine's prison governor nemesis. Oh, and Ballantine's main underling is played by none other than Boss Hogg from The Dukes of Hazzard... 

There are some genuinely laugh out loud moments. This is, essentially, a farce. It's not so much a comedy of one liners as one of circumstance, with Ballantine being very knowing about the sheer existential absurdities of life, as displayed to perfection by the ending. The prison break early on is also a delight. And there are some delightful little clever comedic set pieces towards the end, as the gang are on the run with, yes, the whole bank.

This may be a fairly anonymous little heist comedy, but not every film has to bev the greatest of all time. If a film is entertaining, as this one is, then that's enough.

Bicycle Thieves (1948)

 "You live, and you suffer."

I am, unsurprisingly, going to praise this film.It is, after all, a known classic of cinema. It's a masterpiece of Italian neo-realism, a meditation on both the despair and the suffering of truly grinding poverty and the uncaring nature of society.Yet, for a film with a run time of less than ninety minutes, the fact is that it's quite slow, uneventful and challenging.

I like arthouse films, including avant garde ones, and I don't routinely struggle to hold my attention as I did with this. Perhaps it's the realism, the lack of spectacle,of something weird or overtly artistic to stimulate the mind.... athough the visual of all those men on theitr bikes, carrying ladders, was certainly arresting.

And yet, I can't justly criticise the film for this. It's visual poetry, and the slow pace is the point. Antonio depends on his bicycle to keep his precarious job by which he can feed his wife and young children. The theft of this precious object destroys his world, and as the film unfolds we see both his desperation and the sheer impossibility of finding a stolen bicycle. There's no hope for him.

And yet the film is also about Antonio's relationship with his little son, Bruno. He's not a perfect father, none of us are, but he's a decent man under trying circumstances. And yes, the ending packs quite the punch. 

Not, perhaps, an entertaining film. But a most worthy one.

Dead of Night: Return Flight

 "He'll shut up soon, Skip. He's, er, got no legs left."

It's an amusing start as a plane descends to land at Heathrow and the stewardess requests the passengers to "Please extinguish your cigarettes". 1972 was a long time ago, even if it's only five years before yours truly was born...

This one promised to be good. Written by Robert Holmes, known to us Doctor Who fans as being bloody good. A premise that seems to have a fair bit of potential- a recently bereaved airline pilot with his little demons and greavances ishaunted by the subtle presence of the ghost of a Lancaster bomber, with inevitably grim results.

And the thing is... in some senses the  script is good. The characters, from Captain Rolfe to his friends to the surprisingly decent investigator are all well-rounded and believable. Peter Barkworth, too, is excellent. There's a level in which it works as drama.

And yet... there's just no tension. As horrow, it fails utterly. There's a surprising lack of emphasis on the supernatural here. And, well-written though the characters may be, the whole thing is so slow, uneventful and... well, dull.

Unusually for a Holmes script, I'm afraif this is a bit of a dud.

Batman: The Animated Series- Feat of Clay, Part II

 "There is no Hagen. It's only me now... Clayface!"

A strong conclusion, this, ramping up the tragedy for Hagen, who is now stuck as Clayface, a total shapechanger with scarily extensive powers... but the trade off is the sheer effort it takes. Clayface as a villain is one of those who forgoes the usual Batman realism (although there are others in the rogues gallery that do the same...), but this is counterbalanced by hisbackstory as someone mafdeaddicted to a harmful substance against his will, ruining his life.

His story goes as expected, with a particularly creative take on the "he's dead... or is he?" ending trope. I suppose, unlike last episode which fizzed with ideas and events (is Marv Wolfman less involved this time?), there wasa lot more focus on Batman v. Clayface here. Bruce Wayne gets cleared and released conveniently quickly, perhaps undermining the cliffhanger a little. 

This seems to be a running theme of the animated series so far... bringing out the pathos in the villains. First Two-Face, then Mr Freeze, now Clayface. I'm impressed.

Dead of Night: Exorcism

 "Just my husband frightening the life out of me- it's quite normal">

You may be wondering what is this new series I've started to blog, because it's somewhat obscure. Dead of Night was a horrow anthology series broadcast on BBC 2 in late 1972. This being British television of the early 1970s, only three episodes exist of the seven which were made. I'm going to blog all three of them. Let's just say that all three may just be possible on a certain online medium known for pronouns and tubing...

Anyway, this is simply a superb piece of horror and social commentary, once you get over the shoch of seeing Clive Swift looking so young, with a full head of ginger hair. It's Christmas, it's a remote thatched cottage which is rather charming, if renovated with all mod cons such as, er, a rotary telephone, a big wooden television that needs to warm up, and (gasp) a stereo. And two rather posh couples in their mid-thirties are looking forwards to a slap up Christmas dinner with lashings and lashings of booze.

It's the most early '70s dinner party of all time, with talk of the mind's hidden potential, the recent three days week and the recent miner's strike, as well as lapsed Marxist views, something which will become relevant later. These couples are privileges, and know they are.

I won't spoil things, but lets say that odd things increasingly happen, and the bleak and brutal conclusion has a very pointed subtext about rich, poor and the evils of living in luxury as others starve. It's all so very astoundingly political, yet as horror it's no less effective. Superb.

Batman: The Animated Series- Feat of Clay, Part I

 "Once they're hookred, they stay hooked..."

We get another first appearance here from another traditional member of Batman's rogues gallery, and on the strength of this two parter it certainly promises to be another good one. Matt Hagen is a sympathetic figure and the script (by Marv Wolfman, no less!) is clever, effective and surprisingly complex for a twenty-minute piece of television, but it works.

Particularly effective is the opening set piece, with "Bruce Wayne" apparently betraying Bruce Wayne, but the appearance of Batman showing us that all must not be as it seems. There are a number of different characters here, and the unfortunate Matt Hagen has become dependent on a substance which can remove his disfigurement for awhile.There's a clear subtext here, of substance abuse and addiction arising from tragic experiences.

The episode is interesting in otherways, though. Batman's use of the Batwing to interrogate Bell is...edgy, to say the least, and clearly earns the disapproval of Gotham's police. It all feels very dark, very noir.

So far I'm very impressed.

Night of the Hunter (1955)

"They abide and they endure!"

This film is, I suppose, unique. Yes, it's a '50s film noir...but it feels like something else entirely. But it's a masterpiece, with Robert Mitchum's "preacher", Harry Powell, being surely one of the most fearsome villains of all time.

Incredibly, it was a flop upon its release, hence its being the one and only film that Charles Laughton ever directed. But I suppose one can see why it may not have been what an audience may have expected. It's fairly short, with a fairly simple plot. It shows a bleak and dark West Virginia of the Depression, suffused with poverty, hypocrisy and lurking evil. One mighy expect a film like this to be shot with gritty realism, but no- the camera angles, the framng and... well, the owls(!) owe far more to the German Expressionism of the silent era than anything of its own era.

Robert Mitchum is superb as a serial killer who hides behind the appearance of respectability, and the combination of his performance and the direction push the menace up to truly intense levels. The cellar scene...brr!

The other standout performance, though, is from Lilian Gish, another totem of the silent era, as Rachel, a surprisingly well-rounded, grizzled yet kindly character who feels very real, and stands for hope, decency, forgiveness and understanding. This is a film of grim beauty, of bleakness, a meditation on the suffering that is life... yet it has heart, too. One of the greatest films I've ever seen.

Daredevil: Born Again, and Future Plans

 I know; Daredevil: Born Again is streaming right now and I always blog the latest Disney series on Disney Plus reasonably quickly...

But, afyter a bit of tghinking, I'm going to wait. I know it's been designed so that you don't have to have seen all the Netflix stuff, but all of that is now officially canonical now. I sort of paused the Netflix shows because, essentrially, I was facing Punisher: Season One, and I don't like the character of the Punisher, who was often written as right wing authoritarian wish fulfilment in the '80s and '90s... but sod it, I'll watch the remaining Netflix shows in the slot currently occupied by Batman: The Animated Series once I finish the first season.

Meanwhile, The Sweeney Series One is over now In that slot I'll do sonething quick and quirky, and then probably return to Twin Peaks. The films (Night of the Hunter in the morning) and occasional novels will continue, as will Better Call Saul. And I'll carry on doing an Inspector Morse every now and then.

But always happy to take requests...

The Sweeney: Abduction

 "One by one they stopped inviting us. One by one the Christmas cards stopped coming. One by one I lost every friend I ever had."

Yes, there are the usual "look it's the '70s" moments here. A Wimpy. An old warm-up television set that I remember from my childhood at Regan's ex's house. Eight year old childsren walking to school alone. But damn... this episode knocks all of its predecessors into a cocked hat. This is a truly compelling bit of drama.

The conceit is simple: Rergan's daughter is kidnapped, and he's warned to take no action about an expected robbery if he wants her to go unharmed. But it's not really about the plot, which ends up being fairly straightforward. It's about character. And my God, Regan is such a nuanced, real character.

Once again we see how George's wife Alison is no fan of Regan's. But we also see that he's divorced, and he doesn't see his daughter as often as he should. And we get the astonishing scene in which his ex really lashes out at him, including the above quote. This, and the companion scene that ends the episode and shows them coming to a reconciliation of sorts, tells us exactly how the marriage unfolded, and how Regan's addiction to his job means he may never find happiness in his relationships.

The final confrontation with Haskins and the Inspector handling the investigation into the kidnapping is similarly dramatic, real... and, in the end, nuanced. The relationship between Regan and Haskins will never be smooth. Yet there's a genuine mutial respect, however grudging.

Extraordinary television. 

As we've come to theend of the first series, I'll be giving The Sweeney a rest for a while. But it'll be back...

Trancers III (1992)

 "Only squids can be tranced!"

Oh yes. Not long after seeing the first two, I'm back, blogging the gloriously awful, straight-to-video, next instalment in the increasingly questionable adventures of Jack Deth.

Mind you, the first two films, while they were silly and they damn well knew it, wewre by no means bad films, quite the contraries. They were just B movies, and of the very best kind. 

But this one... well, Tim Thomerson is good, but it's just basically a slow paced yawn fest. On paper it seems ok- it's 1992, Jack is divorcing Lena so the studio can limit the appearances of the increasingly expensive Helen Hunt, and Jack finds himself in a future with humanity almost overwhelmed by trancers. His only hope is to hop back in time to 2005(!) and the trancers' origins as a creepy military drug injection programme.

Oh, and there's a very rubbish robot that looks sort of like a fish and really does look and sound terrible... but, this being low budget, it's not on screen much. Both cast and setting are visibly very cheap indeed. And, well, naff all happens.

There are bright spots. Andrew Robinson, as the villainous Colonel Mutha, chews the scenery with aplomb. Thomerson is always watchable. But, well... I may have watched one Trancers sequel too far.

Batman: The Animated Series- Prophecy of Doom

 "We are but radios for the cosmic transmitter..."

So Heather Locklear plays Lisa! Wow. That's unexpected. And, indeed, possibly the only notable feature about this rather anonymous episode.

I mean, it's not bad, exactly. And it's good to see the animated seroers try to create its own new villains. Not every story can sustainable develop the characters or feature one of the traditional rogues gallery. Everything about this episode is... fine.

We have a fraud of a soothsayer... well, is there any other kind? This one's plot is totrick gullible rich people into giving him loads of money in order to in some way survive a massive economic collapse. Good use is made of Bruce here, and there's a nice little set piece with a lift. But the final set piece with a load of planets hanging on wires just doesn't work.

Filler, then. But necessary filler.

Better Call Saul: Black and Blue

 "You've mistaken my kindness for weakness."

This is, as if it needed to be said, a superb episode, but aren't they all? It feels like the calm before the storm, not least with the ever-present threat from Lalo: there's a certain tension pervading everything. 

The opening sequence is blurred to keep us guessing. It looks at first as though this isa chemistry lab. Could it be...? But no. I'm sure the teasing is deliberate, though.

Lalo hasn't been seen for a long time now, yet his presence pervades everything. Gus is positively paranoid... although Lalo genuinely is about to get him. But he seems to end up with some sort of plan...

Meanwhile, Howard realises what's been going on aftef Cliff confronts him... and he confronts Kimmy and goads him into a boxing match! This is unexpected, and leaves things in an interesting place. Howard, who isno fool, despite his decency, is now no longer just a passive victim but an active player, and he's taking steps to have Jimmy watched...

Another piece clicks into place as"Saul" starts business in his shell of a new office... and has to offer Francesca a lot of money to work for him again.She's visibly shocked by how much has changed over the last year or so, which should really give us pause. Jimmy, and even Kim despite her surface altruism (she's samoking more, which seems to represent her dark side, and indeed her poor choices), are moving to some dark places, and this won't end well.

Finally, we have Lalo, in Germany, turning on his psychopath charm to seduce Werner's widow and find out more about the future meth lab.. the same lab that seems to form part of Gus's own plans. 

Something is going to happen. Something huge. 

The Founder (2016)

 "You know,contracts are like hearts.They're made to be broken."

This is not, by any means, the sort of film I'd naturally gravitate to watching- the origin story of a major corporation. Yet, as a drama, this is quietly brilliant, both in terms of characterisation and what it has to say about business, morality, and the chimera that is the "American dream".

We're introduced to Ray Croc, a struggling salesman, viuaa straight to camera sales pitch, a device that, rather cleverly, gets us rooting for this underdog... only later pulling the rug out from under us and show that hehas, all this time, been not only a deeply driven go-getter but a callous dick with no morals or integrity, a terribe husband and utterly amoral. Michael Keaton, whose career seems to have had a real renaissance over the last decade, captures this superbly.

The contrast with the McDonald brothers is instructive. They are business geniuses, introducing thbe methods of Henry Ford to the burger bar, but still with a core of morals and integrity. And, while Kroc genuinely deserves credit for the success of the franchise model, he turns out to be an amoral parasite.

And there is, I think, something deeper here... the cruel concept of the American dream, that anyone can make it if they work hard enough. This is an ideology that crassly ignores the fact that we do not all start out from the same position- poverty, illness and discrimination exist as barriers for many. Capitalism goes hand in hand with a social safety net, making it safe to take risks. And ethics must be enforced by laws. Without such things... we won't have real, creative entrepreneurs like the McDonald brothers. We'll have the world of Ray Kroc.

Doctor Faustus (1967)

 "Why, this is Hell, nor am I out of it".

I fear that, much though I enjoy the deliciously irreverent work of Christopher Marlowe, I've only read two of his plays (The Jew of Malta and Edward II), and until now had never seen a performance of any kind. One may certainly say that this isan odd place to start- a mostly amateur production from students at Oxford University (including one Ian Marter!), directed by a don, and somehow not only starring Richard Burton but, oddly, featuring Elizabeth Taylor as second billing despite the fact she has no lines and hardly appears.

The play is witty, delicious, but also odd- theologically deep, reflecting an age of alchemy rather than science, where the nature of academia itself was utterly alien to the modern mind. Marlowe is riffing on an existing German tale here, where the eponymous doctor sellshis soul to Lucifer for a mere four and twenty years in return for knowledge and... well, not much else. Not love, power or happiness. This is a version shorn of the comedic scenes, but both the power and irreverence of the play will speak for themselves in any production.

I'll admit this version is no classic. Burton is far too old to play the younger Faustus and his performance, while good, does not inspire. Yet the haunting music and the bizarre Hammer Horror style sort of actually work. The Seven Deadly Sins portion is well handed, with the masks echoing classical Greek theatre. And Andreas Teuber is a genuinely compelling Mephistopheles. This film isa bit mad, yes... but that's rather why I like it.