Death Race 2000 (1975)

 "I think you're one very large baked potato."

There's such a concept as "the greatest film ever". This film doesn't, it's fair to say, stand comparison with The Godfather. There is, however, a category of "greatest B movie ever". This film, at least of those I've seen, is the clear winner. It's cheap. It's bonkers. It's brilliant. It's produced (not directed) by Roger Corman.

I mean, it's Wacky Races where killing people gets you points in a dystopian future where this serves as both bread and circus. It's a delicious black comedy in a dictatorial America in 2000(!) where "Mr President" has a Winter Palace abroad and blames the French for everything, as in Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. The violence is hilarious, as is the not too serious documentary style. There's a moment where Joe kills a race official, and suddenly they're fair game.

David Carradine is superb, entirely embracing the fim's camp aesthetic. Sylvester Stallone, pre-Rocky, is, well Sylvester Stallone. Between them, they carry the film, although it's sad the superb Simone Griffeth never did much else.

It really is Wacky Races with more skulduggery and more gore ('70s style), but the dry, deadpan humour is delicious. It's very much of its time- one of the racers is a Nazi!-but it's gloriously dark, gloriously violent, and gloriously funny. 

Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970)

 "The're going to kill you, and then dissect you. In that order."

This is, perhaps, a mainly predictable sequel in which another human astronaut- Brent- arrives on the tail of Taylor and discovers the same society in a slightly more ecomomical manner. It seems, at first as though we're getting a rerun of the first, but with a B-movie actor (James Franciscus, of the splendid Valley of Gwangi) instead of an A-list one- although Charlton actually has a significant role here.

Yet ultimately, as the apres invade the Forbidden Zone, after a nice bit of gorilla vs chimpanzee conflict, we learn more, as it now seems the Zone is inhabited by telepathic humans (I love how we don't hear their voices as they interrogate Brent, but his responses are carefully worded so we can follow...) who feel very futuristic and worship a nuclear bomb.This is all delightfully twisted, especially the extended fifty megaton version of "All Things Bright and Beautiful", culminating firstly in all of them removing their suspiciously convincing masks to show their ravaged faces, then a scuffle, then sudden armageddon, which makes me rather interested in how come we shall be getting several more sequels. It's all delightfully bonkers.

The underground bomb worshippers were a definite influence on The Face of Evil, fellow Doctor Who fans. And we get no fewer than two former foes of Adam West's Batman in Maurice Evans and Victor Buono. The latter plays a character calls "Fat Man." Although Don Pedro Colley plays a character called "Negro"which is... yeah, 1970 was a different time. Fortunately.

Breaking Bad: Face Off

 "All I can say is... if I ever get anal polyps, I'll know what to name them."

Wow. That's how you do a finale. This is the perfect showdown- tense, clever, beautifully shot (with Vince Gilligan himself writing and directing)- and with a magnificent climax.

This whole season has been Walt vs Gus, life or death. Here we reach resolution, helped my absolutely superlative performances from Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Giancarlo Esposito and Mark Margolis, who utters not a word, as ever, but conveys so much.

The various twists and turns of the plot are a delight, but ultimately Walt succeeds in having Gus killed... and the scene of his calm, collected, horrific death is extraordinary. So, of course, is the final revelation that little Brock was poisoned, not with ricin, but by Walt. Like Gus, Walt is now not above risking the life of a child. How far he has fallen.

This is not a Skyler episode, but her hands, too, are dipped inexorably in the blood. At the end, on hearing of Gus' death, she asks "Was it you?" and is told that "I won". She gets the rather obvious subtext loud and clear.

Ultimately, though, this is a big step, but one that makes sense, in the extraordinary evolution of Walt from mild-mannered, dorky chemistry teacher to a kind of drug Corleone. Simply sublime.

And the title? Nice pun, but my God, that's dark.

Breaking Bad: End Times

 "There will be an appropriate response..."

The landscape in Breaking Bad, showcasing the severely expansive vistas of New Mexico, have always brought about thoughts of a Western. Well, it's high noon. This is a showdown. The tension is unbearable before we even start, as Walt allows Skyler (who is starting to realise the fuller implications of what she's got herself into), Walt Jr and the baby to escape to protective custody with Hank and Maria. But a man's got to do what a man's got to do. So Walt holes up at home with that gun from a few episodes ago. Cranston is, of course, sublime throughout.

But so are Paul and Esposito, as Gus continues to manipulate Jesse, perhaps with too much transparency by now, paralleled by Hank manipulating Steve Gomez into a raid on the laundry... that seemingly accomplishes nothing. The umpteen dimensional chess continues, even as the stakes rise.

The tension rises, helped by some extraordinary directorial technique: I see Vince Gilligan directed this himself. And then suddenly the tension implodes, as we slowly, along with Jesse, absorb the news that Brock, the son of Jesse's erstwhile girlfriend, has been poisoned with ricin. That ricin. And we're so shocked at this point that we almost forget how exquisite is the plotting here.

Things speed up. Jesse tells his girlfriend (how will he explain it?) that it's ricin. And, in a scene that oozes superlative acting and direction from every pore, he visits Walt, blaming him and about to kill him. Only with Walt's gentle coaxing does it dawn on him that it's Gus who has the motive- manipulating Jesse, the one man stopping him from killing Walt, into doing his work for him- and the form, having killed children in the past.

Walt and Jesse are united, at last, against Gus. Yet Walt's intricate assassination attempt fails. Gus seems almost supernatural in his aloof, non-macho yet alpha male invulnerability.

I can't wait until the next one. My only regret is the fear that I will never again see television as good as this.

Breaking Bad: Crawl Space

 "This man needs help!"

"This man pays my salary..."

The walls are closing in. Walt has alienated both Gus and Jesse, he's in an awkward position with Hank, and Gus is now recovered from his poisoning, getting all avuncular with Jesse and in quietly vindictive mood as we see with his cruel goading of Tio Salamanca, whose children and grandchildren are now all dead. That's what happens when you mess with Gus. Jesse may be brave in insisting Walt not be killed, and he actually has some leverage, but it's all looking pretty ominous.

Skyler has her own problems, although of a much less immediate nature: Ted still won't pay off the IRS, he's in full denial mode, and Skyler is desperate in parallel with Walt, conspiring with Saul to get Ted roughed up. She's stepping, incrementally, further and further into criminality, just as her husband did. And this time, with grim comedy, she has blood on her hands as Ted is accidentally killed. Ouch.

Walt may manage to deter Hank through increasing desperation, and is lucky to arouse suspicion. But it's only a matter of time until Hank checks out the laundry. 

So finally we come to a denouement: a hooded Walt kidnapped and sent to face a visibly angry Gus in the desert. He's offered freedom and a clean break at the cost of giving up meth for good, and he could take it; with the car wash, his family is probably secure. Yet his defiant pride makes him refuse the offer, and so his family is doomed. The intricate plotting reaches a moment of true sublimity when a desperate Walt, hoping to give his family a new life, can't do so because Skyler used the money for Ted. Bryan Cranston gives a performance here which is absolutely top tier. The man is one of the greats.

The walls are closing in. Two episodes to go. This is televisual perfection.

Why Didn't They Ask Evans?- Episode One

 "Do you have any balls?"

This is an interesting concept for what is the first original BritBox series I've blogged or, indeed, watched. Directed by Hugh Laurie, it looks amazing, with some very gorgeous direction of the Denbighshire coast. I like also how it immediately diagnoses and addresses the main problem wth Agatha Christie (look, no Poirot!) in her snobbery. This is addressed directly in making it clear that Frankie (Lady Frances) clearly cares not a lot about the relative inferiority of the clever but struggling vicar's son (Bob) she fancies. Yes, Bob himself is no horny handed son of toil, but the wider question is nicely addressed by the character of Dr Jones, a Welshman of very ordinary origins who os neveryheless treated as intelligent, wise, and very much to be respected.

This is an intriguing mystery, based on the intriguing mystery of a man falling from a Denbighshire cliff with the intriguing words "Why didn't they  ask Evans? with some intriguing items in his office. It's also an exploration of the seemingly wonderful Frankie- beautiful, incredibly witty, which we men find VERY sexy, and determinedly unsnobbish.

The mystery is intriguing. But so is the nuanced father/son relationship between Bob and his well-meaning vicar father Richard. So is the delightful romance between the lovely Frankie, more innocent than her wit implies, than him. I'm very intrigued, and this is tantalising stuff.

Inspector Morse: The Ghost in the Machine

 "You'll never get on if you can't master your subjunctives!"

This is, if I recall correctly, only the second episode of Inspector Morse, beginning its third series, not to be adapted from a novel by Colin Dexter- although it's based on his idea- and thus to be a script developed directly for television.

It shows.This episode is not particularly atypical, but it is the finest so far. It is, admittedly, helped by a dazzlingly charismatic performance by the sublime Patricia Hodge as (spoilers!) a very human murderer who hides behind aristocratic iciness. It's an episode with a pleasingly intricate plot and- always important, and what the likes of Agatha Christie neglect- excellent characterisation. Unlike Christie, both Colin Dexter and Morse himself were not born with silver spoons in their mouths, as many ordinary RP native speakers are not, and Morse's contempt for the aristocracy, I'm sure, reflects that of Dexter. And the irony of his snobbery- particularly foregrounded here- of Lewis' Geordie origins, whereas he is, of course from a fine part of the world. Not like them Mackems who, I'm told, are oiks.

The twists and turns are splendid. So are Clifford Rose and Patsy Byrne. But Patricia Hodge is truly extraordinary in what is the finest Morse yet.

Luke Cage: Suckas Need Bodyguards

 "Bugger off!"

This is, I must hasten to point out, a splendidly clever and entertaining episode in its own right,  but it's surprising in how suddenly it seems to tie up the first half of the season and offer what looks like an ending of sorts, with Cottonmouth arrested on the strength of Scarfe's detailed notes of his work for Cottonmouth and the full scale of the police corruption, now exposed and destroyed. The subplots of Cottonmouth's increasing desperation reach their climax, their nemesis here.

Also in serious triuble, both from her dodgy cousin's arrest and from a rather gleefully well-executed media ambush. It seems the baddies are defeated. Except... early in the episode, Maria suggests to Cottonmouth various ways to kill or hurt Luke. I suspect this will have consequences.

Luke's powers, too, have become very visible, at least locally. This, too, will have consequences. And there is much musing over this. From Trish (remember her, from Jessica Jones?) supporting him on the radio to the more determined suppirt of Claire, Luke has his friends. 

Yet there's another emotional heart of this episode; Scarfe's confession and death. His last few scenes may be mostly action, but he redeems himself by destroying Cottonmouth. But poor Misty loses her mentor. She's a decent person while he's a despicable human being who is directly responsible for his son's death by keeping a gun in his house. 

We end with... an ending. or do we? I'm calling it: Cottonmouth will in some way use Luke's fugitive past against him. This is good telly.

Poirot: The Dream

 "I am too understanding towards my employees!"

I may have been somewhat ambivalent towards this series- despite some solid acting and well-developed characters for a whodunit series- the scripts have been somewhat variable in quality, and I suspect that Agatha Christie's detective story talents lend themselves more to a longer format than the short stories upon which these stories are based. I shall, one day, return to Poirot.

Ot's pleasing, though, for the series to finish upon such a high. I love how the creative introduction to Farleys Foods via the nostalgia hit of British Pathe leads to a succession of scenes showing us how Benedict Farley is an old Victorian industrialist bastard who sneers at unions and is rude as hell. His thick glasses and muttonchops, surely an affectation in the much more modern 1935, mark him out as the pantomime villain he is, even sacking his daughter's lover for being too non-U.

The murder mystery is playfully clever, with Joely Richardson's character being almost metatextual in how she declares herself to Poirot to be so obviously guilty that she must surely be the red herring. I love, also, how Poirot has a comical moment of crisis with the Belguan sleuth equivalent of writer's block and the comical B plot with Miss Lemon's typewriter.

When I return tom Poirot, let's have more like this... but longer episodes, please. Until then, adieu.

Breaking Bad: Salud

 "I had to spank you..."

Wow. Yet again we see how this extraordinary season fits together like clockwork as we follow on from the Gus flashbacks from a few episodes ago and see that pool again, this tim ithout the yellow-tinted camerawork to tell us non-diegetically that we're looking at the past. Plot threads develop, and fascinatingly so, but for once the feud between Gus and Walt must yield to a much older feud of Gus'.

There's so much cleverness in how this is written, scripted, shown and played. A simple sub-plot about Walt missing Walt Jr's birthday becmes the catalyst for so much more, as Walt has to pretend it was a gambling relapse and experiences his son's tender concern... and accidentally calls him Jesse, something which is bound to be referred to again.

But the core of all this is Bryan Cranston's extraordinary monologue about his own childhood memories of his late father, who died of Huntingdon's Disease when he was six. It's an incredible bit of acting, followed in turn by Walt Jr's impression of how his own father has seemed over the last year.

There's also Skyler's plan to save Ted from the IRS- and herself and Walt from prison, of course- in a sharp example of how her plot threads have changed over the last season or so as she's fully embraced criminality, at least in its white collar form. The fictional "bequest" from an "aunt" in Luxembourg is to solve that debt problem... and he's spending it on other things! It's a fascinating sub-plot, especially as it shows how the power has shifted between them.

And power, of course, shifts south of the border too, as Gus serves cold his revenge on Don Eladio in an immaculately planned assassination in which an extraordinarily unflappable Gus takes a calculated yet dangerous risk. There is an air of menace. There is violence. There is Jesse proving himself in a shootout after Mike is wounded. And the sublime Giancarlo Esposito gives us what must surely be the most elegant vomiting scene in television history.

Breaking Bad: Bug

 "A guy this clean has got to be dirty..."

This entire season, as I've said more than once before, is something of a multi-dmensional chess game between Gus and Walt. There's a lot going on, you have to pay attention... yet the narrative is superbly done. And Gus is clearly winning.

All is not well with Gus as he is, seemingly, under siege by the rival gang. But literally everything with this is seen from Jesse's subjective point of view and we're left to question whether events are happening quite as he perceives them. This is a theme throughout the episode. Skyler, for example, sees the car wash becoming profitable and sees a possibility of Walt being able to give up his "other" job. She doesn't see the reality: Walt has two possible trajectories, taking over from Gus or death, and it's squeaky bum time.

Ted is back, and he's under investigation by the fraud people from the US equivalent of HMRC, who seem scarily powerful. Yet Skyler, cleverly, puts on a performance and makes the accounting dodginess look like incompetence rather than fraud, saving him from prison... and herself from dangerously prying eyes.

Then there's Hank's car tracker, which has its own point of view which is equally subject to manipulation, except at the end where Walt knows exactly where Jesse was the previous night and that he failed, yet again, to kill Gus, putting Walt in peril. Yet it's all so cleverly orchestrated by Gus- perhaps more of it than we realise- to divide and conquer yet again. And this time, it seems, for good.

I'm loving this season. Breaking Bad gets better and better.

Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils

 "Good, love it when there's not enough time."

Well, that was... perfectly fine. Yes, I'm damning with faint praise a bit here, but this is a genuinely engaging swashbuckling romp which will hopefully have appealled to the kids, which is no bad thing and indeed rather important. I'm the first to recognise that the sort of Who liked by fortysomething geeks like myself is not necessarily the family-friendly stuff that is necessary for its survival. It's a central paraxox of Doctor Who. Nevertheless, it was ever thus, and the programme has had periods of great success, far more so than now. I ought to not that Little Miss Llamastrangler is seven, perhaps not quite the target age, and Doctor Who just doesn't grab her.

Still, this is a pleasing little romp, although it certainly doesn't aspire to any great degree of depth. The pirate/sci-fi plot is well done, and the humour is relatively good, as are the performances. It's nice to see Doctor Who set in historical China with a largely Chinese cast and a Chinese director. The Sea Devils look cool and work well. There's no real explanation as to why the main Sea Devil baddie is behaving as he is, or what his story is, but that isn't necessarily a major problem, although it's something a better writer would have deftly handles without too much exposition.It's all very high concept, with a Sarlacc-style sea serpent (alas, no Myrka!) and the Sea Devils travelling around in a pimped-up pirate ship because of, er, reasons. The rule of cool tends to trump narrative logic here, but that's generally fine in Doctor Who up to a point, and said point isn't really overstepped here.

What doesn't quite work so well is the character stuff. It's nice and heartwarming to see Dan beginning to reconnect with Di, but the heartfelt romanctic scene between the Doctor and Yas falls flat. Yes, the Doctor can live forever, barring accidents, while Yas has a normal human lifespan. This isn't new or original, and we're even reminded within the dialogue that the Doctor has been married in the past. The actors do their best, but the scene just doesn't have the emotional weight than it should, and that's entirely due to the writing.

I genuinely quite liked it, though. And the trailer looks somewhat exciting.

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman, by Laurence Sterne

 I can honestly say, English graduate that I am, that I’ve never read a novel quite like this before. I’m familiar with the broad course of English literature but I must confess that there is something of a gap in my knowledge from roughly the plays of the Restoration up to Jane Austen. I have, in short, much neglected the eighteenth century novel.

I do not suppose for a moment that this magnificently bonkers text is in any way typical of its century. Yet the wonder is that such delightful weirdness should be possible at all. A mere half century later, the novel as an art form would be hedged about with all sorts of conventions in terms of plot, narrative, character, the whole lot. Yet here we have neither a beginning, middle, nor an end. We have a self-confessed unreliable narrator who cheerfully fails to deliver on what is promised by the title. We have no plot, no real structure, and characters who in their complexity defy description, much as real people do.

The whole thing is extremely silly, and full of the sort of metatextual fun- although we should not be anachronistic and call it postmodernism- that would be verboten a few decades hence.

Today, the novel is fun, certainly, but also dense with allusions and so not an easy read despite how enjoyable it is. But this is a pleasant and exhilarating taste of a century much earthier and less po-faced than the one which followed it. I enjoyed reading this immensely.

The World Is Not Enough (1999)

 "There's no point in living of you can't feel alive."

This is the finest Brosnan Bond film so far. I was unimpressed with GoldenEye; Tomorrow Never Dies was better; this is a superb film that channels the best of Bond.

It's all very late '90s, of course. Q is about to retire, and his replacement, the fittingly amusing R, played by a sprighly John Cleese, a mrere sixty years old, describes the latest Bond supercar as having "six cupholders". Amongst the globetrotting to Bilbao, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Istanbul is a superb set piece boat chase through London, including the Millennium Dome. And, of course, Miss Moneyponey says of a cigar that "I know exactly where to put that."

There's only one decade where that line makes sense.Still, let us note tht Bill Clinton was an abusive wanker, and Kenneth Starr was the same by proxy. May they both suffer lifelong impotence.

There's an innocence to this world pf post Cold War, End of History hubris, where there are no significant hostile countries and where threats of tyranny or nuclear armageddon, that feels charmingly dated. Yet the whole dynamic of Bomd and Elektra offers a surprisingly thoughtful take on sex and to wthe extent it can involve deceiving and using people.  

All this, and we have some splendid set pieces, a supern Bond villain in Robert Carlyle, a nice bit of misdirection where we think Elektra is the Bond girl but she turns out to be the big baddie, and one of the best theme tunes ever. This is, quetly, one of the very best Bonds.

Luke Cage: Just to Get a Rep

 "Don't you need a gun?"

"I am the gun!"

This is yet another superlative episode. On the surface it's about the deliciously bad yet nuanced Cottonmouth- a bit man, but much reduced after Luke's coup last episode- against Luke, who has almost no resources but is super-strong and invulnerable. And Luke, by now, is determined to fight the good fight, despite Misty's entreaties that vigilanteism will just cause more suffering in a debate we've seen many times here, and in both Daredevil and Jessica Jones. The climax has Luke following Cottonmouth's nasty, populist speech at Pop's memotial- denouncing "foreigners" and "arcane abilities"- with a veiled and uplifting denunciation of cottonmouth.

This round is to Luke, then. Especially as he successfully puts a stop to Cottonmouth trying to make Harlem's businesses suffer to get revenge on Luke. But it seems there's trouble ahead. Cottonmouth may be in financial trouble, but he's acquiring special bullets (an alien metal?) that may be able to hurt Luke. And Shades finally recognises Carl Lucas, and explains all to Cottonmouth: this could prove equally troublesome.

Yet it's not just about that; there are character moments aplenty. Cottonmouth has a genuine pride in refusing to sell his club because "No one black has ever done anything like this". He may be a bigot, like his cousin, but he is what he is for a reason. And there's lots of subtle social commentary on Harlem and what it means to be a black man in America.

There's also Claire, fresh from quitting at the hospital after the cover-up in the second season of Daredevil, arriving home and reminiscing on the strange things she's seen. It's clear she's going to do something.

I'm loving this. Excellent telly.

Poirot: The King of Clubs

 "Dear oh dear! Here we go again..."

This is one of those stories with a very Agatha Christie twist about the very murder itself. It feels well-executed. It's well-acted and well-produced. Yet, once again, despite all this plus the very palpable period richness, it somehow isn't anywhere close to being as satisfying as, say, the Granada Sherlock Holmes.

It's clever, yes, but in a very clockwork, very typical Agatha Christie way. I suppose, being from a ahort story as all this series is- suggesting this format is not deal- this is inevitable, and perhaps explains why I feel so lukewarm about a firt series that,objectively speaking, seems to have much to recommend it.

Neverthleless... it's a nice glimpse into the film industry in the 1930s,with more than usual period charm. There is, again, a nicely judged ense that Japp, although Poirot may run rings around him, is nevertheless a seasoned and competent professional who is, alas, not a genius.

It's an entertaining and well-made fifty minutes, I suppose. Buta certain spark is missing,

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

 

This is the first time, I think, that I’ve ever blogged a novel after seeing and indeed blogging the film adaptation, something I vaguely try to avoid. But I enjoyed this.

I’ve not read any twenty-first century science fiction novels, really, having focused more on the classics, so I’ve no idea whether cyberpunk is still a thing in our online age. This could certainly be a cyberpunk novel, but one written in an an age of MMORGs, augmented reality and a general blurring of real life and online life, which is a theme here. The Oasis is a refuge from an environmentally devastated corporate dystopia, but said dystopia is making incursions into said refuge.

What makes the novel such fun, though, is the quest for the egg and its twists and turns… alongside the pop culture references which appeal to this fortysomething geek.

This is a lightweight read, nothing particularly clever or groundbreaking. But it’s fun, and just being fun is no crime.

The Curse of the Mummy's Tomb (1964)

 "The public love to live dangeroiusly, as long as there's no real danger in it..."

Not every Hammer horror is a classic sadly. This isn't an awful film, and it looks gorgeous in places- the spectacle of the treasures from the toom, upon which we linger during the openimng titles, are so dsumptuous and impressibve we can very much forgive the obvious matte painted backgrounds in the obviously studio-bound desert scenes early on.

This is, I suppose, a fairly traditional mummy romp. The mummy looks good. The plot is decent, although one has to raise an eye at Adam's seduction technique of saying that an intelligent woman should not be a bluestocking but should instead use her intelligence to run a household and not worry her pretty little head over all that academic learning. Well then.

There's a very vulgar American stereotype, an ncultured P.T. Barnum wannabe. There's the inevitable George Pastell as a native Egyptian red herring, a man who proves to have noble intentions, even if his unexpected heroic sacrifice is shrouded in embarrassing stereotyping. 

Yet what stops this film quite catching fire, I think, is partluy that the cast, while generally competent, does not quite have the charisma that one would expect from such a film. There are no real stars and, while it's not necessarily a bad thing to cast character actors as leads, here it doesn't quite work. Everyone is competent onscreen but there is no magnetic screen presence.

Then there's the slow pacing in what is an awfully padded fim for one so short, and the fact we don't even see the mummy until far toolate. That said, though, the film is well made,and George Pastell is superb even if the stereotyped part he plays is not.

Luke Cage: Step in the Arena

 "I'm kind of strong..."

Wow. I'm on record as saying, several times, that superhero origin stories often disappoint. I'm not familiar with the no doubt very '70s original from the comics, but this was superb. Perhaps we had something of a textbook prison drama with, as the esteemed Mr Zimmerman once put it, "an innocent man in a living hell", complete with overt Deep South racism, illicit gladiator fighting, an evil governor you love to hate, lots of exercise equipment, violence, and a doomed best friend. 

Thje sheer number of cliches is a strength here, though, not a weakness. Sometimes a cliche can provide a short cut to allow you to whiz through lots of events at pace, which happens here. This is absolutely in tune with the thoughtful mood of the series while also being absolutely a superhero origin story. Best of all, we get a glimpse of Luke dressed, briefly, in a version of his proper Power Man costume until he catches himself in a mirror and remarks that he looks like a "damn fool".

We even get links to Jessica Jones as Luke first meets Reva in flashback, although not all is revealed- we still know not how or why Carl Lucas was originally framed in the first place. But this is a massive and superb episode, framed by brief sequences in the present day as Luke helps Connie to escape from the rubble. 

Surely Misty has to be wondering what Luke's secret is?

Poirot: The Incredible Theft

 "No, no, no, Hastings! Women do not want to talk about Berninis and cubic thingummies!"

This episode was... actually pretty bloody good. By far the best yet.

It's a twist on that old detective story standby as epitomised by Conan Doyle's The Naval Treaty, where top secret plans are stolen.It's quite an interesting setting for such a story- the 's, with Hitler and Mussolini causing trouble and an arms race in full swing with the spectre of war looming while all this between-the-wars existence of country houses and passing the port carries on regardless.

The script and dialogue, far more than usually, are witty and fun, and the cleverness of the plot is fun in its own intricate way, not so much a whodunit as a devilishly clever howdunit with more than one big double bluff.  

All this, and the characterisation of Poirot, Hastings, Miss Lemon and Japp is in full swing by this point. I enjoyed this. At this rate I may even return to do the second series after this one. We'll see.

Breaking Bad: Hermanos

 "You're not in Chile any more...."

Breaking Bad doesn't have bad episodes. It doesn't really have good episodes either; just variations on excellent. This is one of the better variations, ans something new, something we've been waiting to see: a character study focusing on Gus. 

That's not to say it's all Gus, of course. We get to see a tenacious and rejuvenated Hank and a fascinatingly jittery and stressed out Walt who must surely be close to a breakdown with the need tourgently off Gus while Hank is prowling around... all while Jesse, under similar pressures, is as calm as a cucumber. We also learn that Jesse is giving money to his ex and her son but refusing to do the emotional labour of seeing them as that would mean having actual feelings.

Just as fascinatingly, Walt's panicking is preceded by a scene of him talking to another cancer patient and warning him against passive fatalism and letting go: Walt knows very well that he's mortal, but his life is bleeding well his for as long as he has it.

But, yes, Gus. Giancarlo Esposito owns this episode, with the slight variation of a blank facial expression being the key moment in several gripping scenes here. We get to see him handle a police interview with rehearsed aplomb, and how he can make Walt squirm with a look. And then, through a brief dreamlike shot of some water, we move towards an incredibly filmed, red and yellow tinted, glimpse into the past of the enigmatic Chilean. He's a compelling character, compellingly acted. And it's quite clear how, and why, he hates old Hector.

This is, yet again, extraordinary television.

Breaking Bad: Problem Dog

 "Let's ditch the thesaurus..."

I'm loving this season. It is, as I suspected, all a (mostly) very calm and totally zero sum comnpetition between Walt and Gus, only one of whom can survive. Gus is ultra-cool, calm and collected, a man of no drama and no sudden movres, for whom nothing is unplanned. Waly, or Heisenberg, may not be the polatr opposite but, well... he's capable of joyriding in a stupidly expensive car, setting it on fire ad having to pay $52,000 to but off the consequences.

There are other consequences too. One of them is a staggering income of millions per year, far more, as Skyler now realises, than one mere car wash could possibly launder. Still, I'm sure sjhe will find a clever solution. Skylrer, despite her protests, is proving to be quite adaptable,including in terms of her morals. With time to adjust, she's happy to accept a life of comfort from criminality, and also clearly finds Heisenberg sexier than Walt...

More immediately significant is Walt and Jesse plotting together to kill Gus. There's a clever, and well-earned, bit of misdirection here as we learn that Jesse, while he has his demons (the opening scene, with him shooting baddies in a video game but seeing one of the baddies turn into Gale, is dripping with significance for his character), is no fool, and realises exactly how he's being played by Mike and Gus. Yet the opportunity never quite presents itself.

Gus's trouble proves to come from another angle; there's a reason why Hank is doing so well lately as the gripping final scene has him doing his Poirot routine to his old DEA colleagues on why Gus is their man... and he has Gus' fingerprints as the coup de grace.

Yet it's Jesse's episode, and Aaron Paul is phenomenon. His final speech at the 12 step programme, angrily deconstructing the selfish amorality of the 12 step philosophy, is powerful. And he finally burns that bridge magnificently.

This is all very clever, and things are speeding up. Television doesn't get a lot better than this.

Aliens vs Predator (2004)

 "And they usecus like cattle. They're hosts for us to breed."

 I was poised to watch something su/btitlred and intellectual until, at the last moment, I decided to watch this. Parasite will come later. It's Saturday night, the little one is in bed, the missuys is gaming, and I have a bottle of Rioja.

You know what? This is goodf. Yes, I know: it centres on a mysterious pyramoid found in Antarctica from prehistorical times, showing clear influences from Aztec and Cambodian culturres as well sas Egyptian civilisation, which is orders of magnitude older, making nonsense of the history.

I don't give a shite.

This is, if we ignore the fact it ends in the middke of things and doesn't actually end, actually not a bad film at all. LKet's hooe, however, that we get a resolution.

The script is excellent until it suddenly stops without resolution. It's a plus that the cast abounds with resoected character actors rather than stars. Lance Henriksen shines as a tycoon who is actually acting in the interests of the greater good, if not entirely without the sae desire for glory that they all share. It's interesting that this should be set in comntemporary times and, er, recycle the general vibes from both Sgtargate and Erich von Daniken.

Notghing here is original, But it's actualkly fairly well written with a strong intitial hook, and the cast is superb. It may be exploitative tosh, but thus is avtually pretty decent.

Clockwise (1986)

 “It's not the despair, Laura. I can stand the despair. It's the hope."

I was probably still in primary school when I last saw this film, expecting a straightforward comedy that, after all, starred John Cleese. That's not what I got, and I recall being disappointed.

What a difference thirty-five odd years makes.

I'm not, as a rule, one for farces. They run like clockwork; they tend to be masterful exercises in plotting and to showcase superb comic acting but, for me, they tend to be more a thing to admire than to love.

Yet this film, although genuinely funny in a gently facical way and showcasing a bravura performance from John Cleese and lots of fun little appearances from various familiar character actors, has a lot to say beneath the surface humour. Brian Stimpson is a man obsessed with punctuality and propriety who was, we learn, perpetually late in his youth. He has overcome his own flaws through fear of his own weaknesses. I can identify with that, certainly, in my own life.

Yet he's also a man with a slight chipon his shoulder but determinedly ambition. He's the firsty head of a state school to char the Headmasters' Conference, which is dominated by the public school clique that runs far too many things. He knows, deep down, despite his upper middke class lifestyle and respectability, that he will never be as "good" as they are, but he's chairman now. And, with all those evenings at Tory party events, he hopes this may be a step to political success. He can dream.

And yet, alas, not all ambitions can be realised in Thatcher's Britain. Hubris is still a thing. Sois nemesis. Stimpson's arrogance lets him down in the end, ruining his life but bringing him, also, a much-needed momemt of self-realisation and genuine self-awareness, wearing a monhk's robe on the side of a country road.

This is a superblyu crafted and surprisingly deep film. I'm impressed.

Luke Cage: Who’s Gonna Take the Weight?

 “He was fine!"

This episode has, in contrast to the last two, a relatively simple plot. Luke Cage decides to strike back at Cottonmouth by attacking several of his stash houses and then his main fortress so that the money is all confiscated by investigating cops. The centrepiece is a big set piece of his doing exactly that, to a rather fitting Wu-Tang Clan soundtrack.

There are consequences though, not the least of which is Cottonmouth gettig his very personal and very fiery revenge at the end. Luke, I suspect, can't be hurt by this, but his friend at the rerstaurant very much can. The peoople he cares about are very much vulnerable, even if he isn't.

Misty Knight knows damn well what Luke is up to, as shown by an amusingly confrontational yet flirtatious conversation. A later conversation between Misty and her partner Scarfe is fascinating, and eches debates about vigilanteism in Daredevil- should we approve of what Luke is doing?

Yet all this, and the various criminal diplomacies and wars around Cottonmouth and Mariah, is overshadowed by the big reveal that Scarfe is working for Cottonmouth- and kills Chico to stop him talking.

This is good. Very, very good indeed.,

Poirot: Problem at Sea

 "One cannot hurry the little grey cells, captain."

This is another decent episode, not only as a whodunit which works well and does so in a shrt format but, for once, also as a drama. The poor murder does the deed because he is a vivtim of what we would today call coercive control. None of the characters, in 1935, would have used the phtrase, but they all knew damn well what was going on.

It's all nicely done. All the characters behave like real people with real motives and, again, 1935 feels not quite so long ago, despite the inevitable casual racism of the characters as they wander around the Alexandria of King Fuad. Yet, despite some differences in social mores, these people are not so different from ourselves, if somewhat posher on the whole.

The summing up is the best yet, as showman Poirot has a little fun with ventriloquism. This still is not exactly my favourite television drama, but it has its moments.

Breaking Bad: Cornered

 "I'm not in danger, Skyler. I am the danger!"

Another fascinating character episode here, in the middle of the seasaon, as tensions build towards what feels like an inevitable clash between clever improviser Walt and the heavily controlling, calm, collected, and careful Gus. These episodes feel like chess at times, with us following one of the players. And this is a dangerous game, as the superbly shot empty scene shows us with the two blokes dying horribly of carbon monoxide.

And Gus' manipulation of Jesse here, driving that wedge between him and Walt, is materfully played. Jesse, self-loathing waster that he is, is no fool, yet Gus has him exactly where he wants him- and the fact that Walt knows exactly what's going on won't help him.

I love the scenes with Jesse and Mike; Mike is swiftly becoming a favourite character with his exasperation, yet also with his wrldly yet respectful dealings with the coldly inscrutable Gus.

This is a dangerous game. And Skyler, at last, is beginning to understand that, and perhaps what her husband is. Finally, she sees a flash of Heisenberg, and it scares here with the hint that Walt is not some innocent nebbish of a man who might be in trouble, but something much darker.

So she runs, as far as she can, to a literal crossroads, a cool little spot where fur states- Utah, Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico- meet. She's back, but the sexy times are over.For now. I'm betting Skyler will adjust yet again.

This is, needless to say, television of the very first class.

Breaking Bad: Shotgun

 "Since when do vegans eat fried chicken?"

This is a bloody clever, subtle, psychological episode, from the opening char chase with it's fittingly panicked-looking directrion to the final scene with Hank discovering the Los Hermanos Pollos connection.

At a surface level, much of thus episode is on the everyday mundanity of the work required in the meth trade, from cooking to money drops. There are multiple speeded up montages to the same soundtrack. Yet behind it all is tension; what is Gus, the unseen puppetmaster, forever in control with his all-seeing cameras, going to do to Jesse and then to Walt? This season seems to be shaping up to be a contest between the two of them but, at this stage, it's hardly an equal one.

Gus is controlled and controlling, his lack of presence being a sign of strength. He decides, and then stays in the background while his decisions are implemented. Doing, and having to be seen, is for underlings. Not having to be seen is power.

And Gus wins here. The manipulation of Jesse through clever psychology, driving the beginnings of a wedge between him and Walt through divide and rule tactics, works like clockwork. Walt may be having sex with Skyler again (crime is sexy, as in the first season), and be back in the family home,]the proud co-owner of a car wash-cum-money laundromat.

Yet Skyler is still naive, having no idea of the dangers Walt is in. Not least of which is his own tongue, as a tipsy Walt ends up perhaps saying things to Hank that he shouldn't have. 

It's going to be fascinating seeing how all this plays out. I'm loving this season.

Clash of the Titans (1981)

 "Once he tried to ravish me disguised as a cuttlefish..."

This is Ray Harryhausen's last film. His career was, of course, long and magnificent, but the best bits were the three Sinbad films and this. Harryhausen the American stop motion genius- surely the greatest special effects maestro of all time, from a time before CGI- finished his career here, gracing us with his presence in this England until the end of his pleasingly long days. By all accounts he was a really nice bloke, a good thing to hear particularly of a genius.

He does his usual brilliant stuff in this film- the kraken, the owl, the vulture, Medusa and so on, as he always does. As usual, he gets his ezxecutrive producer credit to demonsrate that,unusually, the special effects guy is one of the stars. Ray Harryhausen was unique. I can't see us knowing his like again.

This is the tale of Perseus, from the myths, pretty much straight, or at least as straight as the practicalities of stop motion will allow. Harry Hamlin and Judi Bowker are competent and pretty, but the real acting chops lie elsewhere. We have Burgess Meredith, first and foremost, outshining everyone. But we also have the gods, capricious as the myths demand. And so we have Larry himself as Zeus, Jack Gwillim as Poseidon and a veritable pantheon of goddeses with Ursula Andress, Claire Bloom and the extraordinary Maggie Smith as Thetis.

The film is a refreshingly straightforward and highly straightforward retelling of the myth. It's a B movie, whatever its fame. It may be a tad slowy paced at times, but I challenge you not to love it.

The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 7: In the Name of Honour

 "I gave you my word. I'm with you until we both fall."

So the season has ended already. It's been a little uneven and experimental at times in recent episodes, yes, but that's no bad thing. And this is a true climax, the ending to a Western movie in which the sheriff and his gang have to do the right thing to protect the townsfolk from the baddies. It's all quite topical, really; I'm typing this as Putin and his fascist underlings murder their way to lebensraum in Ukraine, not an inch of which must be surrendered. May Zelenskyy be as successful as Fett.

This is at once a splendid selection of great-looking CGI set pieces and full of surprises, sort of. The suspense lies in which allies will arrive and the answer is, of course, all of them, from Baby Yoda to the entire population of Freetown. But there's good  haracter stuff, too, as former bounty hunter Boba finally learns what it is to be a hero, to be respected, to... ride a Rancor. And yes, the extraordinarily well done CGI Rancor, cleverly foreshadowed a few episodes aho with Boba saying he wanted to ride it, is the visual highlight, even more than those two ED-209's with force fields that turn up as end-of-level bosses.

But what really matters is when the Freetowners turn up, enraged by the murder of their sheriff and, of course, Grogu returning to his dad, Beskar armour clad, to help save the day by putting the Rancor to sleep and then, er, curling up to sleep next to it in an incredibly cute way.

This is a perfectly structured and awesome finale to a bravely experimental variation on The Mandalorian which develops Boba Fett while reminding us that Westerns are often metaphors for not appeasing fascists and shooting them instead, whatever John Wayne's dodgy politics.

Luke Cage: Code of the Streets

 "Jesus saves." I don't."

Wow. That was an unexpectedly eventful and deeply layered second episode with a lot going on. This is classy, richly textured television.

There's a lot of development here. We get the backstory of Pop, Chico's dad and Cottonmouth all being young thugs together, until Pop turned himself around after serving a ten stretch in prison as his lady was pregnant. Ouch. That goes to show how the concept of prison is so problematic- it punishes not only the guilty, but their innocent family and children too. We get more of Pop encouraging "Power Man" to be a hero. We get the We get emphasis that the barber shop is "Switzerland", so it's a betrayal, and shocking, when Pop dies the way he does.

We get some fascinating philsophical debate between Cottonmouth and Mariah, much of it framed by black history. We get an eventful appearance by Turk. We get Luke learning who Misty really is. And we get a superb shot, by the same Paul McGuigan who directed similar scenes in Sherlock, of Misty standing at a scene of a crime and literally seeing what happened. She's pretty good at basketball too.

This is extraordinary, easily as good as Daredevil and Jessica Jones so far, in a similar style but definitely its own thing. I'm loving it.

Poirot: Triangle at Rhodes

 "At least he's not a bottom pincher, Mr. Poirot."

This episode decidedly departs from the norm- no Hastings, no Miss Lemon, and the whole thing is set entirely on location on what looks genuinely to be Rhodes- the locations are truly breathtaking.

These episodes are based on Agatha Christie's short stories. She's better known for her longer form whodunits, so these are bound ro be somewhat basic in comparison, This is no exception, being relatively simple despite some minor cleverness. But the murder mystery is not so much the draw here.

No; this is an amusing and fascinating glimpse of the English on holiday, with their '30s bathing costumes, evening dress and casual racism, in 1935 as the papers discuss Italy's invasion of Abyssinia. Indeed, Rhodes at this time was part of the Italian Aegean, and the Greek natives are ruled by an Italian bureaucracy. Poirot has to deal with a local inspector who is, alas, no Japp, and has a portrait of Il Duce (why not the King Vittorio Emmanuele?) above his desk.

This is no more than mildly diverting, and it's still likely that I'll not be returning tomPoirot for a while after this first series, but I was happy enough with this.

Breaking Bad: Bullet Points

" The ozone layer is already thin because of the cow farts..."

This is a second set-up episode in a row, a brave choice but a necessary one as scenes giving us the appearance of a semblance of order gradually yield to the realisation that Walt is in a chaotic and perilous situattion.

Skyler, in being the brains behind both the car wash and the gambling cover story, is showing herself to be an impressively efficient administrator. Yet the thought has to be admitted that her thirst to impose order arises out of a kind of wishful thinking, a refusal to accept the reality that Waly now leads- and so, behind the curtain, does she. For all the tension- and little character moments between the two of them- as they rehearse their story for the benefit mainly of Hank, there are in reality far bigger things to be afraid of that are (as yet) beyond Skyler's comprehension.

All of which Walt pretty much says to Saul as he ponders the precariousness of his situation, with Hank closing in (I love the chat between Hank and Walt as Hank proudly declares Gale to have been Heisenberg; these scenes of Hank getting close are clever and fun, yet it's not easy writing to keep them nevertheless so plausible. Yet the threat of Hank is as nothing compared to the certainty that Gus will kill both Walt and Jesse if they're not on their best game.

And they aren't, particularly Jesse. His dissolute, squalid lifesryle belies a man who has given up hope, who sees no future and is just waiting out the days until his murder as hedonistically as he can, devoid of meaning or human connection. And the arrival of Mike, lately of arather cool opening sequence, indicates that things are set to reach a crisis point.

This episode is masterful. Next episode looks eventful.

Breaking Bad: Open House

 "What? I'm Nixon now?"

This entire episode is about a failure to communicate. Mostly. But it's also, of course, about Skyler mirroring the Walt of earlier seasons as she slips slowly into criminality... and not without success. 

Walt lies to Skyler about his black eye, a failure to communicate. There's a camera in the lab, a bluntly one way mode of communication to which Walt has an entirely mature and adult response. Walt and Jesse are barely communicating and, in Jesse's disgusting cesspit of a house which is an endless round of soulless parties mongst the squalour, Jesse just sits and gets high, interacting with no one.

Hank and Marie are, of course, mot communicating in a healthy way, and Hank's understandable depression does not in any ay justify his behaviour towards Marie. However, Marie seeks refuge in absurd lies and fantasies ultimately leading to disaster, humilation and criminality of a very white, middle class lady kind.

But Skyler is triumphant here, cleverly getting Bogdan's business of him for very little, and doing it through awesome skill and excellent communication. Yet the only skilful piece of communication in this episode is about swindling a poor bloke out of his business, not meaningful human connection.

Communication aside, this is a transitional episode that subtly advances the arc and moves pieces around rather than a big "event". Such episodes have to exist, and are rarely done with such skill.

Bad Boys (1995)

 "It's ok to be a homosexual, Mike..."

Some evenings you just need a big dumb '90s action film. And some dumb '90s action films are not dumb at all, even when directed by Michael Bay, a director who certainly has his highs but equally has an awful lot of lows.

This, though, is one of his highs. To a large extent this is because of Martin Lawrence.Oh, Will Smith is superb and charismatic, as always: he may be a pretty boy but you can't deny his acting chops. He tends to pick damn good scripts too. But Martin Lawrence's Marcus is the real hero- the family man with real rsponsibilities rather than the shallow trust fund playboy.

The two of them are a magnificent double act, though, in a sparkling script which mixes comedy and sction superbly in a Miami which mixes high and low life, druggy villainy with domestic drudgery, but keeps the tone light and the action fun. The car chases alone are magnificent.

There's nothing whatsoever that's clever about this film. But it works. The heroes are both likrable and charismatic and the plot works, despite being just set piece after set piece. It's all very '90s in the best possible way- the first scene riffs on the fact that cars are now expected to have cupholders, while pagers abound. There's also the cars, the awful clothes, the awesome music, the direction.

The '90s were a golden age for big dumb action movies. This film epitomises why.

The Horror of Frankenstein (1970)

 "Times are hard. People just aren't dying off so quick..."

This isn't the first time I've seen this film, but it's probably pushing two decades since I last saw this, and it's lost none of its power. It's a shame the film, apparently, flopped at the box office; the script, direction and Ralph Bates are all superb, and even Kate O'Mara's inexplicable mittel-European Irish accent strangely works.

The Curse of Frankenstein introduced Hammer Horror films properly, telling the familiat story with a focus on Frankenstein himself as an amoral and obsessive villain rather than a tragic figure. This film absolutely doubles down on that, with Bates' Victor Frankenstein being a cynical, manipulative, cold bastard who not only kills for his work but demands sex from his housekeeper and cruelly refuses to marry Elizabeth, who is besotted with him, but cruelly exploits her financial troubles to make her his housekeeper. This Frankenstein is a deliciously nasty piece of work, and Bates carries this film in an absolute tour de force of a performance, although Dennis Price is absolutely wonderful as the splendidly camp grave robber,.

The monster turns up fairly late on in the film, but that doesn't matter. It's all about Frankenstein himself as the antihero we love to hate. Best of all, he survives unharmed at the end, unlike all of those who have crossed or even annoyed him. This is peak, confident Hammer, and t's superb, box office be damned.

Luke Cage: Moment of Truth

 "Everyone has a gun. No one has a father."

This is a superb first episode. I'm hooked.

Obviously, I was rather annoyed when all the Defenders episodes vanished from ther former abode but, now they've been rehomed, it's time to resume marathoning the whole lot. I'm of a generation a little too young to have read more than the odd issue of Power Man and Iron Fist back in the day, and never really read the early '90s Luke Cage issues, so I know the character from more than Jessica Jones, although I know much of the outline.

Knowledge of the comics means little, though; you can start here very easily, give or take the odd Easter Egg. We have some vague exposition and a brief flashback telling us Luke was framed in the past, Shades was involved, and he receiveda beating in rison that gave him his powers. But we see that he's a decent, hardworking fellow, honestly working dead end jobs to make ends meet and trying to do the right thing- with a little shagging on the side; the ladies seem to like him.

We also get to know- Biblically, in Luke's case, the police detective Misty Knight, not a PI here, who also seems essentially decent. Yet we also see some other major characters, one being Harlem itself which really shines out here as  place with glamour on the one hand and a hopeless trap on the other; a place of racial tension as waves of immigrants move into a traditionally black neighbourhood; and organised crime syumbolised my Cottonmouth, already giving the impression of being a superbly written and played villain, as nuanced as Wilson Fisk and with politcal connections through his corrupt councillor cousin Mariah.

Much of the plot here focuses on Cottonmouth and the doings of his underlings, as well as his rivalry with the mysterious Diamondback. But we end with Luke, having tried to stay out of the hero business, unable to stop himself- although, ironically given the chacter's origins, he's not for hire.

This an excellent opener, splendidly done and already addictive.

Breaking Bad: Thirty-Eight Snub

 "They're not just zombies. They're Nazi zombies."

The opening scene with Walt/Heisenberg carefully buying a gun is fascinating, much as the boring detail reminds me of when I'm talking to a mechanic about my car, the workings of which which I know nothing. It shows, of course, that Walt realises he's in danger of being killed every time someone walks down the stairs into the lab. But his decision to buy a firearm illegally, despite the permissive laws of New Mexico, further underlines his commitment to go deeper and deeper into criminality. He can go only in the one direction.

Jesse is less pragmatic, spending with abandon and throwing over-the-top parties for his two friends and a load of strangers, horrible parties that I would hate. Yet he's a passive observer, in charge of the parties but not really part of them, the Boris Johnson of Albuquerque, trying to buy friendship with money alone. And he's passively lost his girlfriend, although not without leaving her with money he hopes she will use wisely, as he never will.

Hank isn't in a good place either, struggling with therapy. He's coldly pushing Marie away, rejecting her help as an undermining of his masculinity. He's also acquiring an interest in minerals, which is oddly nerdy for him. I'm not sure where this is going, but their marriage is looking decidedly troubled.

Walt and Skyler, meanwhile, despite superficial disagreements, seem to be getting closer as Skyler invests more and more deeply in Walt's criminal empire. Her plan to buy the car wash is aggressively (and misogynistically) rebuffed by Bogdan, still resentful of Walt, but she shows real skill as a bookkeeper.

Yet the episode hinges around the duo of Walt and Mike, two very intelligent and very ruthless men. Mike prevents Walt from making a very bad mistake in trying to kill Gus- who doesn't appear in the episode and from whose presence Walt is, apparently,banished, in an even more extreme manifestation of silence meaning power.

Yet, as Walt approaches Mike to seek a mutual understanding with Mike in one of those conversations thatare all subtext,trying to seekan ally against Gus, he gets a violent response. Yet has he truly lost in the longer term?

This is a fascinating, and masterfully crafted, episode.

Breaking Bad: Box Cutter

 "Well? Get back to work."

This is, of course, a superlative episode of television in its own right as well as being, although I say this unspoiled, the perfect season opening to set us up for a season based on competition between Heisenberg and Gus.

Yet it all boils down to one long scene, which I'll turn to immediately. Because we may start with a nice little flashback with Gale, ironiclly sowing the seeds of his own destruction, in flashback, as he encourages Gus to hire the creator of the mysterious blue meth. And we may then move on to the moment of the fateful shot- the camera focusing, as it should, on Jesse's horrified face as he does something he can never undo. But ultimately it's Jesse and Heisenberg (not Walt; only Heisenberg appears in this episode. That's a first.) who have to face the music as they wait for Gus.

As Gus enters, the tension is electric. Heisenberg is immediately out-alpha maled as he tries to justify his actions and emphasise his value- intrerestingly, taking a risk to protect Jesse. It seems what Jesse has just done has made Walt even more loyal to his friend. It's an extraordinary scene, which works due to the power of Bryan Cranston's delivery and the sheer menacing presence of Giancarlo Esposito. It's truly shocking when Gus, calm and silent up until this point-silence, in this case, means power- slashes Victor's neck and kills him. Walt and Jesse are too valuable, for the moment, but someone has to die.

It's an extraordinary and haunting few moments of television. The status quo is restored, on the surface, but it's kill or be killed.

Elsewhere, Skyler goes deeper into acceptance of her new criminal lifestyle- how far will she go? And Hank is not in a good place. He'd be in an even worse place if he knew what was funding his recovery. The direction is sublime, with objects used as reference points- that teddy bear eye again, and the knife used to kill Victor is seen earlier, like Chekhov's Gun. But this superlative episode is, ultimately, based around that one scene.

Doctor Who: The Macra Terror (Revisited), Parts Three and Four

Part Three

"We are all happy to work..."

Three episodes in, and The Macra Terror feels like a totally different story with visuals, especially in an episodelike thiswhere the TARDIS crew (minus that snitch Ben) are put to highly dangerous slave labour in the mines, even if the Doctor does have it rather cushy by acting as "supervisor".

It's true, perhaps, that this is not the most visually arresting episode, consisting mainly of dangerous and back breaking sweatshop labour in the "pit". But it doesn't half help in following the plot.

There's some good drama, and good acting from Michael Craze, as Ben struggles against his conditioning, lots of the Doctor being mischievous, and a scary cliffhanger, but this is treading water somewhat.

Part Four

"We want something gay and cheerful!"

It's a pity, I suppose, how a story with such a great concept sags so noticeably in its third episode, as this final episode piles on the revelations and the drama. The revelation that the planet is literally controlled by parasites that look like an STD is full of all sorts of potential for political the political subtext of your choice. It's a nice touch that, even after being given their freedom, the colinists are still a cultural desert, a nightmare of forced jollity and cheery songs even without the giant crabs. No wonder this uniquely anarchic Doctor can't wait to be rid of the place.

Again, though, the visuals are great. Somehow I suspect the wiped original wouldn't have featured all those Macra in the control room, er, controlling things. Conversely, it's a pity we don't get to see Frazer Hines' actual attempt at the Highland Fling.

But there's Troughton, too. This is very much the early, anarchic, slightly sinister if not for the innocence, "I would like a hat like that" Second Doctor. He's great, but the actual footage would be priceless,

Poirot: The Third Floor Flat

 "Birds do not run, Hastings."

Again, we have an episode that is rather clever. What initially looks like a murder with a dearth of suspects ends up having a rather clever and satisfying resolution, all being resolved in a classic summing up by Poirot, with added car chase. Suchet is excellent, yet again, with our four regulars being well-characterised by the use of plenty of gentle humour.

Yet there's also a clever bit of fun with the fourth wall as Hastings takes a hypochondriac Poirot to a whodunit play, and our esteemed Belgian gets the killer wrong, proceeding to criticise the author for blatantly failing to adhere to Father Ronald Knox's famous rules of detective fiction, something of which Agatha Christie can never be accused of doing without justification.

Again, too, the 1930s are a fascinating period. Things look and seem modern much of the time, but people living in upmarket flats will typically have a maid, while what passes for popular music is pre-rock 'n' roll and so utterly alien. I'm not sure I'll be blogging the second series any time soon, but I'm enjoying this first series more than I expected at first.

Frankenstein Unbound (1990)

 "This is not the end of the world."

Some films are very good, so you enjoy them. Some films are pants, so you dontr. This film fits into an interesting third category: the interesting failure. And this is one of those: Roger Corman's first film in twenty years and one which is, although right up his street- a mainly period adaptation of a novel by serious science fiction author Brian Aldiss featuring both interesting ideas around time travel and a postmodern riff on Mary Shelley's Frankenstein featuring the lady herself... er, shagging John Hurt's hero. Er, yes.

The film starts in the (this being 1990) far fututre of 2031, where there are no longer any Brazilian rainforests and KITT from Knight Rider exists, thus predicting both the disgusting Jair Bolsonaroand self-driving cars. If only cars in 2022 looked so cool.

Anyway, John Hurt is maverick scientist Joe Buchanan, selling out his country to the Yankee dollar, tut tut, and risking tim slip side effects in his attempt to sell a superweapon to the US military. He fails, but is propelled back in time to 1817, where he meets not only Mary Shelley but Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, both of whom are played for laughs, at Lake Diodati, in an early Nineteenth Century Switzerland where language differences are airily handwaved. There's all sorts of what I rather suspect are clever subtexts about the meaning of "unbound" from the novel that are never quite explored and which remain unclear.

John Hurt is superb. He cannot be otherwise, Bridget Fonda is adequate, as ever. Raul Julia chews the scenery with his usual class. Yet something doesn't quite work. Nevertheless, the film is far from dull.

The Book of Boba Fett, Chapter 6: From the Desert Comes a Stranger

 "Can we takre your helmets for a cleaning?"

Well, Boba Fett is in this one. A bit.

This is a most oddly structured series. There are seven episodes in total, with the next one being the finale. The first four are the meat of the series, buioding up to the finale... but the fifth and, now, sixth episodes suddenly move off to follow other characters entirely.

And it's a disjointed series of scenes that dance around the preparation for the strike against the arrogant Pyke Syndicate that is to come. We have extended scenes of the Mandalorian trying to visit Baby Yoda (Grogu) with a Luke Skywalker played jointly by Mark Hamill and some surely very expensive-looking CGI, returning him to 1983 vintage. We have lomg scenes of Luke training Baby Yoda that are enormous fun, We have Ahsoka Tano looking cool and spouting exposition. We have some rather cool insect droids building that structure we see in the recent film trilogy. And yet there's pathos- Mando is discouraged from seeing Baby Yoda as encouraging his attachments will supposedly harm his Jedi training. And, when Mando gives his gift of Beskar armour, cruel Luke makres him choose between that and the lightsabre, at such a tender age. The Jedi attitude to attachments is, without a doubt, wrong.

Then, on top of all this, we have Sheriff Cobo Vanth, armourless but with his trusty sharpshooter and hat, trying to protect his town from trouble, with the Pyke Syndicate lurking in the background. It seems uncertain whether he's going to be able to convince the peace loving townsfolk to fight for Fett at Mando's urging, but then the Syndicate send a sinister black-hatted alen, terrifying to look at, who shockingly shooyts not only the sheriff but also the deputy.

Meanwhile, there's Boba Fett and co aboiut to stike. What will Grogu choose? Is Vanth dead? Will Boba Fett be in the finale of his own show? This is all very oddly structured and disjointed. Yet it's oddly compelling.

Doctor Who: The Macra Terror (Revisited), Parts One and Two

Part One

"Well, this is gay."

The animation begins with the rather relevant reprise from the end of The Moonbase, showing us how the TARDIS regulars are to be animated. It's all mostly pretty good, and the Doctor is very good. But Polly isn't quite right. The animation works, the visual storytelling is very good, but it has its limitations.

Still, it's great to have visuals and actually understand what's going on for the long stretches without dialogue. The storytelling is rather nice; we meet Medok first, suggesting something wrong with the colony, and there are hints from the beginning that things are quite right with all this creepy conformity.

The visuals here- so important in these early stories as Patrick Troughton evolves his performance into what it would become- shows that this is still the elfin, nimble, unpredictable and mischievous Doctor of the early stories- anarchistic, openly and cheerfully resistant to authority, and at times seeming not enormously trustworthy. The animation leans nicely into this.

Part Two

"They're in controooool!"

The opening titles have been nicely colourised for this animation, with animation of Troughton's face and the colour scheme being the same as Pertwee, belatedly showing me what should have been the obvious fact that Pertwee's era, despite the big changes, would eventually keep Troughton's opening titles for four years.

This episode is much talkier and hence less absolutely dependent on the visuals, with the Kafkaesque tyranny of the colony becoming more and more apparent as Ben is brainwashed and Medok sentenced to hard labour for life. The sequence with the Controller is animated superbly for effect, and I suspect the Macra look far much better here than they would have at the time.

I'm rather enjoying this, if mostly because I'm reminded what a brilliant, politically clever story this is.

Poirot: Four and Twenty Blackbirds

 "Cricket. The English enigma. I know not of any other game where even the players are unsure of the rules."

This is rather good, perhaps the best episode far, and not just for seeing the novelty of Jim Branning from EastEnders as an attendant in the gents. I'm warming more to the little character quirks of Suchet's Poirot- the seriousness with which he takes his food, and his subtle humour.

The story is quite clever too, even if I twigged straight away that the change in Henry Gascoigne's eating habits was explained away by an impostor. There are a pleasing number of twists and turns, and for once there's some nicely judged and amusing character moments. There's a nice little guest spot from Hilary Mason as a stern housekeeper, and nice nods to Japp's embrace of deductive science- no Lestrade he- and the relaxed friendship between the two of them and Hastings.

The period continues to fascinate- the social attitudes, the cars, the clothes, the art, the architecture.

I may be getting into this series a little. May.

Breaking Bad: Full Measure

 "That's like Thomas Magnum threatening that, like, prissy guy with the moustache."

This is a big, important finale: we know, as Vince Gilligan is writing and directing himself. 

It's all really a big chess game between Walt and Gus. Yet it's all done with such humanity, reminding us that these are all people with lives and loved ones; even Mike is shown as a doting father immediately before he goes and kills some people in a rather cool little mission.

The start, a flashback with an incredibly young-looking Walt and Skyler, is a curiosity, certainly, and reminds uswhat a perfect couple they once were, in an empty house so full of infinite possibility, Skyler pregnant with Walt Jr and Walt both ambitious and irrepressibly confident. Yet it also serves to remind us how far Walt has come to be such a cold blooded killer, as we see this episode.

Walt talks his way out of immediately being killed on the orders of a superbly menacing Gus, but we all know it's just a temporary reprieve. As soon as we see his assistant- Gale- it's clear that a successor is being groomed for after his death. And the conversation between Gus and valuable pawn Gale is a triumph of scripting and acting, one of those conversations that are 100% subtext.

There's so much tension in this episode, as Walt knows he's to be killed very soon. The solution- to kill Gale and thus render himself irreplaceable- is brillant but desperate, and that final scene, as Walt is about to be killed, is an amazing bit of television, ending with a moment of high drama.

Where now...? Things are looking very much like Walt vs Gus, with Walt about to move upwards against the odds. We shall see...

Shivers (1975)

 "

David Cronenberg is a favourite director of mine, He occupies that strange middle ground between respected auteur and body horror genre director, at least in the early part of his career: later on,the body horror disappears and Cronenberg safely gets the approval of the snobbish critics whi sniff at his earlier work, even this film, which is safely gathered into the canon of we horror aficionados, Yet this is no B movie. It deserves more.

Amonst the cast, of course, is Barbara Steele, to whom the phrase "horror queen" could be applied. And this very modern film (for 1975), opening with a posh advert for a load of posh aparments on the St Lawrence in Montreal, is certainly within the horror genre. Yet it centres ver specifically on a body horror equated exactly with sexzuality. As Janine says, while trying to seductively kill Dr St Luc, mere existence is sexuality; we exist to reproduce, The species is all. So here we have a Dr Hobbes who plans to replace malfunctioning organs with useful parasites that do the same job, yet (after the nonce dies after murdering a schoolgirl he'd been shagging, causing distressingly little outrage) his true philosopjy is that humans are too cerebral and insufficiently sexual. This is the perfect premise for a film based on the phenimenon of disgusting little phallic worms which can hardly do other than represent male sexuality. There's a clearly rapey theme here, intended to evoke bloody disgust, and no one gets out alive, as we're all guilty of having sexual desires, if not necessarily violent ones. 

This is at once a superb horror film, belying its low budget, and a harbinger of what Cronenberg has yet to bring us.The man's a genius.

The 39 Steps (1935)

 “There are twenty million women in this island, and I've got to be chained to you..."

I ought to begin with a confession that I've never read the John Buchan novel.

This is the earliest Hitchcock film I've yet to blog, and it's rather good; a cleverly and appropriately directed tale of paranoia where reality is a slippery thing and, brilliant, the spy plot remains somewhat vague and unreal throughout, leaving us to question our sense of reality no less than Richard Hannay himself.

Redundant though it may be to say so, the suspense is exquisite. Robert Donat is excellent, despite his questionable Canadian accent, with Madeleine Carroll excellent too. The two of them are convincing in the tempestuous yet sexually charged situation in which they find themselves, with lots of sexual chemistry. A very young John Laurie is also superb as a religious zealot and, unlike literally all of the other characters in a film largely set in Scotland, has a genuine Scottish accent.

Yet this is a film about how the world we think we know may have less comfortable realities lurking bebeath, which feel almost supernatural in their unreality. The thirty-nine steps; the missing fingertips; the shadowy nature of the whole conspiract and, of course, the grand guignol circumstances of the mysterious woman's murder all combine to give us a film which establishes a creepy mood well beyond its mere plot. There's nothing supernatural here on the surface, but it certainly doesn't feel that way. Superb.

Mad Men: The Wheel

 "You'll have to give back that copy of Ayn Rand..."

This is an interestingly brave, yet satisfying finale. We don't have the climaxes of last season- Peggy aside- as we end not with a dramatic peak but a satisfyingly relaxed wrapping up. This finale is all about families, none of them perfect.

This is obviously the case for Don, who never has one growing up and- as we found last week- feels semi-detached from his family, preferring to work rather than join them for Thanksgiving. Yet he has an epiphany of sorts in his presentation- brilliant as ever- for Kodak, using his own family snaps and getting a little emotional- a sublimely judged performance from Jon Hamm- at the thought of the family he has. Yet the scenes of his returning home, gathering his children in his arms and joining the family for Thanksgiving are shown just to be in his head; the reality is a cold, lonely house, all alone.

Betty finally realises, too, after Francine comes to her for help with her own husband's infidelity, that she's always known about Don's unfaithfulness and is finding it harder and harder to pretend. Then there's Pete, in his strained marriage, under pressure from his fayher-in-law to sire an heir. There's Harry, thrown out of his house after his dalliance last episode and sleeping in the office. Even Peggy's promotion to junior copywriter, a huge achievement for this quietly ambitious young woman- and another humiliation for Pete, who seems desperate to please a stern, uncaring father figure in Don- is followed by the shock of realising she's pregnant and about to give birth, a woman in a man's world after all. And, when shown her baby son, she turns her head away...

The Kodak Carousel may show a surface world of happy families. But they are nothing but.

Another season of Mad Men will be coming to this blog before too long. This is delicious, exquisite telly.

Poirot: The Adventure of Johnnie Waverley

 "See also under marriage?"

Well, after an improvement last episode... we have another disappointment. At this stage we're looking at one good episode from the first three. Not a good strike rate.

This isn't terrible; it's good telly. David Suchet is excellent, as is Philip Jackson as the nicely relatable and believable Chief Inspector Japp.Beyond that, however, we are struggling. The guest cast are ok in their functional roles, but Hugh Fraser really is appallingly silly as Captain Hastings.

And the plot, with its big reveal, doesn't work here. This may have worked better in print, but I for one worked out what was going on long before it was revealed, and that isn't usual for me. Yes, the clues were fair and it all worked like clockwork, but it was all a little transparent; so much for Agatha Christie's unique selling point.

Sigh. I'llcarry on until at least the end of the season...

Mad Men: Nixon vs Kennedy

 "Mr Campbell, who cares?"

It's interesting that this should be the penultimate episode rather than the finale, seeing how it reaches a climax in a number of ways- including, I hope, for both Harry and Trudy, however deliciously awkward their morning after may be.

Sterling Cooper's unfortunate connection to the Nixon campaign allows a focus on the election night drama for that very close Kennedy. Yet, unlike in 2020, there genuinely is electoral fraud, although I understand the historical consensus is broadly that it didn't determine the outcome. Yet it feels strangely old-fashioned to see Nixon concede so gracefully. Of course, in those days, the Republican Party was an institution of the mainstream centre-right, and was in favour of freedom and democracy while opposing Russian authoritarianism. How times change.

The party is, of course, drunken, decadent, and full of inappropriate and sexist behaviour. Peggy, of course, leaves early, and endures a little light bullying. Yet I suspect, in the long run, she's going places.

The final act, though, has Pete using the info he's gleaned to try and blackmail Don. Don has a crisis of confidence- it's a brave and nuanced piece of writing to show this with him visiting Rachel and begging her to run away with him. As she rightly points out, this is cowardice, especially as he has kids he would seemingly abandon. We're allowed, here, to see Don at his weakest, and to see him propose to do something irredeemably contemptible. What matters is that he doesn't do this, and instead finds courage- but too late to salvage his affair with a disgusted Rachel. It's probably for the best.

Don's calling Pete's bluff is glorious, especially given how Bert Cooper's absolute indifference utterly humiliates him. Cooper is an admirer of the deluded fool Ayn Rand; he sees Don as a self-made man, a Nixon rather than an aristocratic Kennedy.

The coda is fascinating, even if Jon Hamm is perhaps a little too old to play the younger Don.We see how he passively accepts the identity of a dead lieutenant, receiving a free upgrade in social class, and leaves everything behind. Wow. This is brilliant telly, as ever.

Poirot: Murder in the Mews

 "Well, I should think it's a jolly good night for a murder."

Ok, that was better.

No snobbishly depicted working class characters here to remind me of what rubs me up the wrong way about Agatha Christie, and Poirot comes across as a more interesting and nuanced character.The Thirtes period detail is on point, and fascinating; an age where interior decor seems so much more contemporary that just a couple of decades earlier.

Yet none of that is the point- our second episode finally gives us one of Christie's signature clever twists,and it is this that gives the episode its glory. We have our first proper summing up by Poirot at the end, and all the clues are presented fairly to us. Interestingly, we see Inspector Japp's methods here. He's no Lrestrade r Gregson, but a professional with an eye for detail; he simply lacks Poirot's intuitive leaps.

I'm relieved to have enjoyed that. Perhaps I shall enjoy this series after all.

Breaking Bad: Half Measures

 "I won't be wearing bells..."

This, yet another exercise in how to make sublime television from Breaking Bad, is an extraordinarily clever and extremely hard hitting episode. The title is very apt indeed, and the conclusion is even foreshadowed by a littl story told to Walt by Mike about his former days as a beat cop: he decided to give a regular wife beating piece of scum a warning rather that just killing him, and the long suffering lady died two weeks later.

That's the little microcosm, but the overall structure of the episode is incredible, from the opening montage with the prostitute we occasionally see, shot like an advert, to the shocking conclusion. There are other plot threads, too; Skyler continues trying to persuade Walt to lander the money her way. And Hank, after briefly coming to question how Walt is staying afloat financially without a job, is finally persuaded by Marie to leave hospital, using methods that, I imagine, must have been interesting to read in the script as an actor...

But it's clear what the main plot thread is here; the uncharacteristic pub conversation between Walt and Jesse make it clear where things are headed. Jesse, ever protective of children and wanting to avenge his mate from last season, plots the deaths of the dealers who did the deed and are using his gorlfriend's brother Tomas as a mule and a killer. Walt, of course, thinks this is madness. It will fatally rock the boat, and it's a little absurd to have moral standards if you're dealing meth.

Walt, after pondering a really bad idea, finally seems to hit upon a solution in making a clean breast to Gus, who brokers a truce. Jesse shows guts, but not brains, in insisting no more use of children, but Gus capitulates. And that's that... except that consequences are unpreductable. And Walt hears on the news, conveniently, during a family dinner- a phenomenon that must certainly have its own TV Tropes page- that Tomas has been killed in a contracr killing.

The final scene is superbly shot and soundtracked (the unsettling music sounds like Trent Reznor but probably isn't) as high noon approaches and Jesse begins a shootout with the two men responsible. So it's a real shock to see Walt, from out of nowhere, ram into them with a car and shoot the survivor dead. The bridges are all burned, and no one is safe. Roll on the finale. Wow.

Willow (1988)

 "Ignore the bird. Follow the river,"

This is, let's be honest, a fantasy B movie script made to look like Hollywood fare by Ron Howard, a very conventional Hollywood director but ina good way. Yes, the evil Quene (a delightfully proto-Morgaine-ish Jean Marsh). Yes, the whole concept of an evil monarch destroying all babies because of a prophecy, let alone the narrative of a baby floating down the river, have potentially pretentious Biblical overtones.

This isn't a clever film. It isn't a great film. It's a highly polished B movie, where one may freely chortle at Warwick Davis' shifting accent even while conceding he's acrtually bloody good as a lead, outshining the disturbingly young pretty boy Val Kilmer who is merely adequate as a rogue turned hero. His arc works, though, from petty thief in a cage to lover to a princess. And the tempedtuous beginnings of their relationship are fun, as is much else.There;s a nice mix between straightforward adventure and comedy.

Jean Marsh is, as if it needed saying, the perfect baddie, chewing the scenery exactly to the right degree. It's good to see Billy Barty, a year after Masters of the Universe, as a cheerfully winging it wizard. The cast is, overall, a success. There's no CGI here;the special effects are real, eithet green screen or stop motion.

Yet it's hard not to see this film as a cheeky reworking of Lord of the Rings, and a cheeky little prompt to Peter Jackson in doing the real thing,