David Bowie- Hunky Dory (1971)

 

It's odd I've never blogged this particular album before. I've got rather deeply into Bowie over the years- and by no means just the albums from The Man Who Sold the World up to Let's Dance that you're supposed to like; he did great work throughout his career, and yes, that includes the '90s.

But conventional opinion has this album as one of his very best, and sometimes, just sometimes, conventional opinion is right. 

It's not just the obvious huge hits- Starman"; "Life on Mars"- the whole album is full of bangers. "Bewley Brothers"; "Song for Bob Dylan"- literally every song on the album is absolutely as good as the singles.

This is the moment where Bowie stops being an artist who merely makes good albums and reveals himself as a genius, with much credit due to the rest of the band, of course, not least Mick Ronson. It's also arguably the best album of the early '70s, and a positive sign of something new for a new decade. 

Chances are high that the next album I blog won't be anhywhere near as good...

The Boys: Last Time to Look upon This World of Lies

 "With great power comes the certainty that you'll turn into a right ****!"

Wow. The Boys does it again. We have the Legend, a coke-snorting retired celebrity monger who may actually be based on Stan Lee. We have Ashley as CEO of Vought, but Homelander, like Trump, finds himself in power (the superpowers are, of course, a metaphor of that), but far too thick to exercise it effectively.

We have the loving but awkward relationship between Annie and Hughie. He, being male, feels he should protect her, hence his increasing addiction to Temp V. Yet he's wrong. She's a supe.She needs not his protection, but his love. And so the gender roles are reversed. Can Hughie be a real man and be the loving man the superhero Starlight needs? The signs are not good.

Homelander, who has always been the villain, takes shape even more as the big bad. His aggressive assault on Maeve- what happens to her? Is she dead?- is a shocking as Maeve herself who, in giving an increasingly unhinged Billy Butcher some more Temp V, and being told that supes like her shoild be destroyed... kisses him. Well then.

And Soldier Boy is loose, in the USA. His relationship with OnlyFans star Crimson Countess has disturbing parallels with that of Maeve and Homelander. Crimson Countess ends up dead. Does Maeve?

This is superb telly, outrageous and nuanced. A-Train's subplot, in which he gets to realise, at last, the true nature of a "supe lives matter" racist supe wanker wjho deserves a good kicking, is perhaps the most interesting. This is bloody brilliant.

Luke Cage: Soliloquy of Chaos

 "What are you, a pimp stormtrooper?"

I know, it's been a while: a confluence of Stranger Things, Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Boys meant new telly had to overshadow my planned content. But, now that only The Boys is still going, I can plough on.

Anyway, yes, as ever with penultimate episodes, this is an exercise in getting the pieces in place for the finale, so Misty can go after Mariah and Luke can give Diamondback a good kicking. And yes, it's a little eyebrow raising not only that Shades has a folder conveniently clearing Luke of the crimes Diamondback framed him for in the first place. Also, Luke doesn't even bother to check. And since when did Americans free black people from prison after their innocence was proven without dragging their feet? There's no justice in that country. And don't get me stsrted on their bail scams, their plea bargain corruption, their not letting people vote after they've served their time.

But this is a superb bit of telly despite the above plot hole. I'm no hip hop head, but the stuff with Method Man is profoundly moving, with the Harlem community coming behind Luke, a black man unjustly harassed by the police. I noticed the Trayvon Martin reference, which was highly appropriatre. Yet we also have Priscilla, by now established as hard but fair, as a counterpoint to a Misty who by now is entirely on Team Luke.

The tension, the action (Shades escaping his planned murder in the lift), the calm chess playing grace of Bobby, the characterisation of Mariah and Diamondback, the acting throughout, the fact that Luke has the cops on his side... my God, I'll miss Luke Cage. This is damn good telly.

The Boys: Glorious Five Year Plan

 "Let's just say that Maeve can bend a steel pipe without using her hands."

Wow. So much happens in this episode... and Homelander is even more out of control. Can anybody stop him? He nonchalantly outmaneovres pretty much everybody who tries to stop him, all while acting as much of a dick as he possibly can, from getting Victoria Neumann to destroy Stan Edgar's career in disgrace, seemingly- although Edgar is not without a parting shot- to killing Annie's ex as a chilling warning.

And yet... this isn't four dimensional chess. Homelander pulls the strings through fear, not cleverness. And, of course, there's a weapon in Russia than may be able to kill him.

Scenes in Russia are as shocking as any featuring Homelander or, indeed, the hints of Ashley's sex life. Kimiko is forced against her will to go on a mission, involving death by dildo to some oligarch, that profoundly shocks her to the point that she and Frenchie agree to leave Butcher. So. naturally- and shockingly- she is killed. That's two deaths this episode.

Oh, and it turns out the Russians'weapon is- Soldier Boy himself, somehow, to MM's disgust.

And Billy is as out of control as Homelander, even dragging Hughie along with him in his addiction to temp V and the powers it brings, very visibly coded as a Class A drug. It's war between the two of them. And neither seems to care about collateral damage...

Superb and shocking in equal measure. It always is.

Breaking Bad: Blood Money

 "Spock's like a toothbrush."

This, ladies and gentlemen, is quite simply the finest episode of television drama that I have ever seen. I've seen, and blogged, a lot of telly. Naturally, we choose to watch what we are likely to enjoy, so, despite my individual tastes and quirks, I'm biased towards quality.

And nothing I've ever see tops this. Oh, the script- even the extended Star Trek dialogue riff which brilliantly introduces us to Jesse's depression- Aaron Paul gives the single best  performance of the condition that I have EVER seen, and would be the standoiut performer in any lesser episode of television. He is, in that sense, incredibly unlucky to share this episode with Dean Norris, Because, although one could argue that he benefits from a first class script and first class direction, he rises to the occasion with superlative aplomb. His performance- in facial expression, line delivery, every possible nuance- will live not only in the history of television, but in the history of acrting. In a word: wow.

Mr Norris' performance here is equivalent to any performance of Hamlet I've ever seen. The man is an acting genius.

The episode itself is gripping. Jesse is depressed, and seriously so. Walt and Skyler believe themselves to be free of the life of crime, but such things are impossible. Both Lydia and cancer are there to puncture such illusions. I mean, we really ought to praise Brian Cranston's acting too. His genius is so constant that we take it for granted.

The final scene..I struggleto think of one better. Hank is a jock, a simple man on the surface. But no human being is without complexity, as the character study of Hank has revealed over the seasons. And war is declared betweemn Hank and Heisenberg, as there can be only one alpha male.

Go Hank. And the deepest of respect to anyone involved in this work of art. Thank you.

The Crow (1994)

 "Abashed the Devil stood, and felt how awful goodness is."

 I'm not religious, personally, but I certainly worship John Milton's Paradise Lost. If you haven't read it, go away and get drunk on its gloriousness before you continue reading this. I'll wait.

 It's rather embarrasing that I, being seventeen in 1994, have never seen this film before. And it needs saying, at the start, that the death of Brandon Lee through unprofessional carelessness is unforgiveable. Alex Proyas may be a talentless director but, given what happened here, it is unconscionable that he ever worked again. Shame on him.

Still, one cannot deny that this film is incredible. On the surface, it's a very simple revenge thriller with a gothic tinge. It's very '90s in style, in the best possible way, and the way this defines the direction has as much of an effect on the ausience as anything to do with the plot or performances. This has the best soundtrack of pretty much any film ever, including The Cure, Jesus and Mary Chain, the Rollins Band, and Pantera. Stone Temple Pilots are heard too but, in the circumstances, we can probably forgive that lapse.

Brandon Lee is captivating. Ernie Hudson, given a criminally rare chance to really shine, does so. Michael Wincott is a superb villain, chewing the scenery in a masterful and genuinely brilliant way; it's a shame his career seems not go havr exploded aferwards, jealous thoiugh I am that he can apparently grow his hair even longer than my own manly locks.

This is a simple yet ingenious film. It's style over substance, yes, but in the possible way. It's a directorial triumph which overcomes a very simple concept. I love it.

Spider-Man: Far from Home (2019)

 "I'm in love with Spider-Man's aunt!"

Yes, I know. I'm well behind oin the Marvel films; I intend to remedy that. And I'm being competist, and trying to track down Blade:Trinity. Anyway...

This film is awesome. It works brilliantly both as an action film and as a farce. It's totally a Spider-Man film- the characterisation of Spidey is spot on, and Tom Holland is superb, plus not only is Jake Gyllenhaal brilliant as Mysterio but the villain works perfectly. He's the master of illusion: what could be more gloriously cinematic?

And yet, at the same time, this is absolutely a big MCU film. It ties Spidey very strongly to the legacy of the late Tony Stark- including, with Happy, an important member of Shellhead's supporting cast. But it's deeper than that. The film takes place in the afteermath of the former dead returning after Thanos's snap. Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders take prominent roles... and turn out to be Skrulls.

And, yes, at the end, a dying Mysterio outs Spidey as Peter Parker- via J.K. Simmonds as J. Jonah Jameson once more!!!- which will have future consequences, but which is also a sign of the MCU disdaining the concept of secret identities. We do not rely on cliched tropes here.

It's mostly an adorable and light farce, though, with lots of comedy, bits of action and romance between Peter and Mary Jane, which is incredibly sweet. Yet at the same time it manages to  be a very Spider-Man film set far from his territory of New York- imagine!- and a brilliant MCU film.

Kevin Feige, you and your underlings triumph yet again.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part VI

 "It's not about us, is it? It's about you and him."

This is the perfect finale to a series which, well, has no pretensions to greatness in the same way as The Mandalorian, and could be fairly well described as what we Doctor Who fans call "fanwank", in that ot's the sort of thing that a talented fan might do as fan fiction, only on Disney Plus. That's what this is. It isn't high art. 

But there's nothing wrong with not being high art. Not being a clever pastiche of a Western like The Mandalorian is no crime. This isn't great, but it's bloody good fan service, and that's ok.

So I'm going to sing the phrases of this awesome final episode. It's jolly good, after all. The fight scene between Obi-Wan and Darth is superb, despite how predictable ot inevitably has to be in a serial where the scaffolding of continuity already exists. The scene where Vader's mask is punctured, and Hayden Christensen's voice replaces that of James Earl Jones, is effective. Somis the late moment where the Emperor (77 year old Ian McDiarmid) rebukes Vadervfor his obsession with Kenobi, conveniently enabling to eke out an existence on Tattooine until Star Wars.

Reva's redemption arc is touching: I hope we see her again. Unable to kill Anakin's son Luke as revenge, she is freed from the prison of her past, and able to be who she wants to be. This is a powertful message; abuse as a child or young person need not define you as a person.

The parting between Obi-Wan and Leia is lovely. And it's incredibly predictable- as is much in this episode, not that it's a bad thing- that Qui-Gon Jinn's ghost shoud appear at the very end.

Ah, thos is fanwank, pure and simple. But fanwank doesn't get better than this.

Breaking Bad: Gliding Over All

 "Lydia, learn to take yes for an answer..."

SPOILERS. Be warned. Be very waerned.

Wow. This episode is extraordinarily played and shot, with a mood of foreboding and tension surrounding literally everything. This is, seemingly, the tale of Walt and Skyler rescuing their family, and retiring rich from criminality to a life of happiness ever after... something which we know damn well will never happen: Walt isn't in this episode at all. Only Heisenberg.

He has much blood on his hands, and not just Mike's. The nine potential informants- cleverly handled via the prisoner's dilemma by Hank- are all betrayed, stabbed multiple times in the chest, like Julius Caesar. Et tu, Heisenberg? This kind of darkness underlies the appatrent international success, shown by montages of success to ironic soundtracks, and literally more money than they could ever spend.

There is one notable loose end, of which we are purposefully reminded: the ricin, the Chekhov's Gun that seemingly never gets fired. But everything else is closed- even Jesse being paid off in an incredibly tense scene.

And then that ending, at the very last moment...

I'm glad I don't have to wait as long as the original viewers. Wow.

The Green Hornet, Episode 6: Highways of Peril

 "I never saw a car move so fast!"

It should have been Luke Cage in this slot but I needed something shorter, so here’s the next Green Hornet instead.

This is, essentially, another instalment in this superior movie serial much like all the others, with the same heavy usage of the theme tune as incidental music and all the same tropes. This is no bad thing. Not is the repetitive plot, as our hero faces racket after racket and peril after peril, this time with Reid stuck on a bus with no brakes about to crash over a precipice, as you do. 

Incidentally. The victimised bus company is called Whippet Lines…

We end with a shootout, with lots of action for our heroes and our comedy Irishman in the meantime. There no real plot whatsoever, but who cares?

The Boys: Barbary Coast

 “I. Am. Homelander.”

I realise I could say this about any episode… but where to start?

Let’s start with Grace Mallory’s tale of Soldier Boy and the whole gang in ‘80s Nicaragua, engaged in that all-American pursuit of fighting left-wing movements in Central America in the name of the Monroe Doctrine, and doing so via deals with Khamenei’s Iran and selling cocaine specifically to minority communities. God bless Uncle Sam, Oliver North and Ronald Reagan. 

Anyway, we see the whole team in their, er, heyday, including a Black Noir who speaks(!), and an early example of why supes in any military is such a moronic idea. But the big Soviet supe-killing gun is quite the McGuffin, causing Billy to lose his brown stuff and alienate his son to protect him.

He does this because of his deep desire to kill Homelander, who is increasingly sadistic and out of control, like a cross between Superman and Donald Trump only capable of stringing a sentence together. He brings back the Deep into the team despite the reality TV comprtionion nonsense, just to troll Annie in the worst way possible before announcing that the two of them are an item. He makes the Deep eat an octopus, despite the fact he can hear it begging for its life. Worst of all, he calmly faces down Annie’s threat to release the plane footage by threatening to turn against America. It’s increasingly clear that he’s the big bad.

There’s so much else. The nicely done demonstration of Islamophobia on the reality show. Hughie’s reluctant conversion to fighting dirty. A-Train learning about a supe called Blue Hawk who is responsible for at least one BLM type atrocity. And the, er, revelations about Frenchie’s sexual past. 

Ah, The Boys. You’re dirty. You’re amazing. But I’m not taking you to meet my mother.

The Green Hornet, Episode 5: The Time Bomb

 "He's got two murders to his name."

"They haven't been proved!"

Apologies for the wait. It's just that new seasons of Stranger Things, Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Boys all started simultaneously, but I'm now up to date with the first two. This and Breaking Bad have been added to the schedule; Luke Cage resumes next week.

It's good to be back in movie serial land, though, and the greatest theme tune ever. Who cares if the car crash, completre with explosion, is a cop out? Complete with, er, the cops chasing Green Hornet and Kato. I love how they all comically suspect he's a criminal- all but Britt's comically trusting secretary, the only female to be seen-

Again, we have the behatted hoods with their terrible suits from the 1940s, the decade taste forgot almost as much as the 1970s. Again, we have Britt/Green Hornet slowly investigating the racket, getting one rung higher this time, with a bit of help from Michael the Comedy Irishman.

Hilariously, we end with yet another car exploding. Ah, I've missed this.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part V

 "Was beginning to think you weren't coming, Master..."

SPOILERS!

This  is the finest episode so far, full of both excitement and character stuff between Obi-Wan, Darth and the mysterious Reva, who in the same episode is made Grand Inquisitor, which will annoy lots of people, and has her origin revealed. It is at once an impressively jaw-dropping revelation and an apparent plot hole: how the Hell can a former youngling have managed to become an Inquisitor without arousing suspicion?

Tala, too, gets an origin reveal of sorts, confessing at her past complicity oin atrocities, including upon force-sensitive children, which is why she has since dedicated her life to this proto-Rebel cause. It's appropriate that this moment should come moments before she atones with a heroic death in one of those tropes that often works despite the fact you can usually see it coming.

Obi-Wan gets to be a hero, with his new lightsabre. There's lots of Darth. We even get a meaningful flashback to their younger days, complete with actual Hayden Christensen. And we getr an interestingly ambiguous ending. This may not be grreat telly, but it's certainly good. And it's ok to just be good.

Stranger Things: Season 4, Chapter 7- Massacre at Hawkins Lab

 "Where others saw order, I saw a straitjacket..."

SPOILERS. Be warned. .

But, like, wow. I mean, yes, there are other plot threads- although the California contingent are suspiciously absent from the whole episode, suggesting that they have big things to come. But, well before we discuss Eleven's memories and the huge bombshell, let's do a tour of the characters.

So the police are a bit wet. Dustin, Lucas, Max and especially Erica are awesome. Yet poor Nancy, Robin, Steve and interestingly Eddie fare well in the Upside Down- Eddie in particular being his cool metalhead, D&D self. The kids avoid the police materdfully. The bikes blatantly reference ET.

And we get the suspense of the veryblovely Joyce and the indefaiigable Murrat rescuing action hero Hopper and his mate... and the Russian Demogorgon.

Yet this is all about Eleven’s past, about who did. About who One is, who Vecna is. The revelation is masterfully handled, and will hopefully restore Eleven’s powers. It really does come as a huge revelation, masterfully delivered. Yet we end worried about Nancy.

There’s so much character stuff here. The bug between Joyce and Hopper. The chat between Steve and Eddie where they connect and Eddie tells him not to let Nancy go. Erica being awesome. Dustin being a genius.

I now need to wait until 1 July. Bastards.

Breaking Bad: Say My Name

 "Do you really want to live in a world without Coca Cola...?"

So that's it, then. Mike and Jesse (for now!) are out of the meth business, like people who win big in the casino, go home and quite sensibly never gamble again. But Walt... no, Heisenberg... can't do that. He's addicted, and thus doomed. He's going to stay in the business, so it' a case of when, not if, he will fall.. I'm convinced that the rest of this season is purely about how this plays out.

The extent of his hubris is shown in the extraordinary opening scene, in which a threatened Heisenberg arrogantly takes charge and probably gets himself a distributor. Yes, his hubris is punctured whe he fails to get Jesse to stay and instead has to employ that thick, child-killing psych... but that won't last. I bet.

Todd, incidentally, is an interesting contrast with Heisenberg. He's young, and just natutrally evil, noty pushed into it by hardship, like Walt. He's therefore a boring, mundane little tit. No wonder Skyler is so disgusted by Walt's attempted small talk aboit work, and rather sensibly prefers to spend time with her wine instead.

Then we have Hank- moved up in the world through histenacity, but getting chewed out for that same obsessiveness, showing signs of lacking the big picture perspective a boss needs. And we have Mike, methodically retiring from the business, like the Mr Fixit he is...  until Hank makes it all go pear shaped, and ensures the money will no longer flow to those who must be paid off.

The ending is ambiguous and fascinating... and pointless, as Walt notes. He didn't even need to threaten Mike. But he has. And the consequences can only be big...

Obviously, this is first class telly. We're long past the point where I need to say it.

The Boys: The Only Man in the Sky

 "A hamburger with a donut for a bun? There really is no God here."

This is a brilliant episode, and one f the reasonds it's brilliant is the sheer complexity of all the stuff that's going on, yet with such perfect character beats, aided by extraordinary performances from the likes of Karl Urban and Antony Starr.

We know that Homelander is a monster, but it gets truly scary when things don't go his way. The scene where he's trying to stop a girl from jumping off a building, then they both change their minds and he makes her jump even though she's changed her mind... yeah, that's dark. As it the fact that his first thought after Stormfront's suicide is that she has to do it on his birthday. But his horribly self-centred monologue at the end is a huge moment. There's so much dramatic tension in wondering what he's going to do.

Meanwhile we get more backstory on Soldier Boy, who seems pretty much the Comedian from Watchmen. All the research done by the gang is fascinating, with Laurie Holden guest-starring as the Crimson Countess, while Gunpowder is a dark, dark character, sexually abused as Soldier Boy's boy wonder as a kid and now grown up into a far-right MAGA gun nut. He dies, of course, but at the hands of a Billy Butcher who has temporary supe powers, the one thing you'd think he'd never do.

The psychology and motivations of Hughie, Billy, MM and Homelander are dwelt upon at length here. This is deep, thoughtful yet deliciously irreverent stuff.

Satan's Slave (1976)

 "Don't forget- tomorrow is your special day!"

This film has such a lurid title, and an equally lurd opening scene and sequence. There's a fair bit of female nudity in it. Indeed, there's even a flashback to the witch hunting days of the 17th Century as a naked woman is branded, whipped and then immolated. Er, lovely.

Shame the film is so slow, dull and talky, then. Even with a scene of Mochael Craze being nebulously enchanted in a lift, causing him to die by suicide. Even with Michael Gough starring- he's phoning it in here, but he's incpable of not dazzling the audience with his charisma.

Candace Glendenning and Martin Potter are ok, but they can't phone it in as well as Michael Gough can. And, let's face it, they are playing cousins who have incestuous sex with each other. That's disgusting, and one wonders what they thoiught they were playing at.

The film drags terribly, consisting of mediocre actors and Michael Gough chatting nonchalantly in a country house while the direction fails to establish any kind of horror atmosphere. Even the twist at the end, with a little light gaslighting of Catherine and James Bree delivering a much less mannered performance than usual, underwhelms. The whole film reeks with the air of "that'll do". If you want a good horror film about Devil worshipping cultists, watch The Devil Rides Out. If you watch this, the only possible reason could be because of an actotr within it (for me, Michael Craze, seen sleeping in the most awful bedding in history) and no other reason. This film is pants.

Stranger Things: Season 4, Chapter 6- The Dive

 “What’s the Internet?”

Obviously, this is bloody good. It's Stranger Things. But things are getting pretty intense in all plot arcs, and something has to give.

There's one arc, pleasingly, which is there to provide contrasting light relief, as the California kids find Suzie in Salt Lake City, where her highly religious Mormon family prove to be... not quite as expected. But her dad is a dick, keeping her away from Dustin just because the lad doesn't believe in God. I hope he gets his just desserts. Still, Suzie fulfils her plot function while the whole plot thread lightens the mood. Plus it's always amusing seeing early Internet stuff.

But there are not many laughs elsewhere as the tension builds, although Joyce and Murray have some fun at Yuri's expense in Siberia. Hopper, though, isn't having much fun at all, facing imminent sacrifice to a Demogorgon.

Eleven is having a fascinating but horrible time reliving repressed memories in order to get her powers back, while the Hawkins contingent are caught between Vecna (not much apparent this episode, despite Steve finding the, ahem, "Watergate"), the cops and a frenzied mob whipped up by the conspiracy theory weirdos. This mob is by far the most terrifying thing in this season, Vecna included.

The cliffhanger is incredible. There's great character stuff here too- Nancy and Robin bonding; Max and Lucas slowly manoeuvring to hopefully get together again. This is simply awesome.

Venom (2018)

 "Eyes! Lungs! Pancreas! So many snacks, so little time!"

I thought, given that current stuff that must be blogged is interrupting my consumption of the former Netflix Marvel seasons- damn you, Stranger Things, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Boys- I'd best start to attack the current backlog of Marvel films. So it starts here.

This is one of those films that starts off as though it's going to be rubbish. I don't like the texture, the coliuring, the cinematography, surprising from the director of Zombieland... but the script and acting win through. 

This film doesn't pretend to be clever. But, after getting obver the music video direction, it becomes apparent that the script is decent, if not exceptional, and that both Tom Hardy and Riz Ahmed (as Elon Musk, in every detail) are very good indeed.

It's odd in a Venom film not to see Spider-Man- Sony own him for cinematic purposes at present; is this film part of the MCU? We see Stan the Man, I suppose. But it's interesting that a film based on Venom and Eddie Brock can succeed without reference to Spidey- although, of course, we get a subtle appearance from John Jameson.

Tom Hardy and Michelle are both impressive in the vrewlationship that anchors the film. Hardy impresses as the Symbiote. The story beats are good, despite the lack of Spidey and directorial shortcomins., and I look forward to more Sony Marvel stuff.

Stranger Things: Season 4, Chapter 5- The Nina Project

 "You're bigger than Madonna to them!"

Yet again we have an insanely long episode that juggles so many plot threads and so many characters, and does so with real aplomb. This season is extraordinary, and this episode, with the Creel mansion as a haunted house, is more Lovecraftian than ever. So much so that the subtitles keep describing sound effects as "eldritch".

Much of the episode is taken up with the splendidly directed sequences of Eleven in her own, very dreamlike, Groundhog Day, back with "Papa" in that hellish institute from whence she came, regaining her powers but at the price of facing the demons of her bloody past. Meanwhile, the conspiract theorist loons nearly catch up with Eddie, until Vecna gets one of their number. And there's excitement for Joyce and Murray as they escape from Yuri while crash landing a plane.

But it's all about the chatacter moments, too. A severely depressed Hopper thinking he's a curse who destroys all he loves. A sweet moment between Max and Lucas. An ironic conversation aboit the pains of potentially unrequited love between Mike and Will. A frisson, again, between Nancy and Steve. Robin being awesome, as ever.

There are, I think, a few more clues about Vecna. But I'm clueless, and that's how I like it. This is excellent telly.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part IV

 "I let them go..."

This is, one senses early on, a middle episode that's there to get from A to B in preparation for the last two episodes- Obi-Wan recovers from his ordeal at the hands of Vader, rescues Leia and acquaints himself with more Rebel allies.

We have Obi-Wan and Tala (I like her, and not only because she's Susie from Torchwood) being heroic and brave. We have some new trebel characters. We have lots of fan-pleasing use of Imperial tropes- officers, droids, Stormtroopers, TIE fighters. It's fun, and it's exciting.

Indeed, it echoes Star Wars- the film, not the franchise; there's no such film as A New Hope, whatever George Lucas may wish- in that Leia is brave under the threat of torture and she is ultimately rescued by a Jedi with a blue lightsabre, assisted by a Rebel fleet. Yet it's interesting to see the dynamic between Darth and his protege, sort of, Reva, who is an inyteresting character, very well played by Moses Ingram in a way which perhaps flatters the writing a little.

This episode is, perhaps, merely transitional. But the action sequences are fun and I enjoyed it. What more needs to be said?

Stranger Things: Season 4, Chapter 4- Dear Billy

 "I am still very much in Hell..."

No Eleven this episode, although her absence is very much felt. But we get a fittingly creepy cameo from an eyeless Robert Englund, and lots of arc stuff happening- as well as excellent character development- in what is the longest episode yet.

In California, Mike and Will reaffirm their friendship a little, but they and Jonathan are forced to flee due to the slightly alarming occurrence of feds with guns trying to kill them. Lucas has had enough, and abandons the cool but conspiracy theory-obsessed kids for his true friends. And, in the centrepiece of the whole episode, Robin and Nancy hear Victor Creel's story from his own lips, in a magnificently gripping performance from Freddy Krueger himself.

Oh, and we get a dramatic and nail-biting escape attempt from the tough-as-nails Hopper, only for him to be recaprtured through betrayal.. with Joyce and Murray also fated for the gulag.

But it's all about Max, Sadie Sink's aazing acting, and a focus on Max's demons, literal and metaphorical in an amazing bit of character development as she works through her complex feelings about Billy, and why she pushes people away. She seems doomed, although Vecna rather fortunately seems to be taking his time killing her, until her ever-reliable friends, and Kate Bush, come running up that hill to the rescue. It's phenomenal, and anything that makes young 'uns discover '80s Kate Bush has to be a very good thing indeed.

This is amazing. If only the episodes weren't so bloody long and hard to slot into your day.

The Boys: Payback

 "He's trying to get in my ass!"

I'm not sure there's much I can say about THAT particular CGI-heavy scene that is a twisted parody of Fantastic Voyage with added sexual bizarreness and gore, but... yeah. It pretty much epitomises The Boys. There's no point thinking "don't go there"; it will. That's why we love it.

Although I will now never think of the Atom or Ant Man  in the same way again. Ahem.

Anyway, as a season opener this is a masterpiece. It introduces and develops an impressive number of characters and threads with wit and aplomb. It's all logically developed, too, in ways that work perfectly with the characters. So Billy chafes at having Hughie as his boss, while Hughie seems happy and contented reducing supe killings by 60% working for Congresswoman Victoria Neumann... until he discovers, at the end, that she has a past, and incidentally that she makes heads explode.

There's so much going on, though. The animosity between Homelander and the gone-to-seed A-Train, who no longer runs. The fact that Edgar wants Starlight to be co-boss of the Seven with Homelander, pissing off the infantile superman and poisoning the rather good sexual dynamic between Annie and Hughie. It's the temptation of power: will she be corrupted? Will she use it for good? Hughie certainly could have reacted better, particuarly as the ex (from a reality show to audition the next member of the Seven, a delicious concept) is so wet.

Fascinatingly, though, we have Homelander trying to connect with Billy of all people- going clean for his son- after visiting a hospitalised and permanently disabled Stormfront who unrequitedly worships (and, er, hand jobs!) him as an ubermensch ("No one suffers like you do" uttered by a paraplegic half-blind Nazi). We also have a director who gets off sexually on being humiliated on how shit a director he is, and... yeah. Welcome to a new series of The Boys, ladies and gentlemen.

Stranger Things: Season 4, Chapter 3- The Monster and the Superhero

 "They're nobodies. And you're a superhero."

This season is getting better and better. And also, for this episode at least, slightly shorter, which makes it somewhat easier to squeeze in an episode and blog it.

We see lots more awesomely done CGI of the Upside Down, with the house and with Vecna at the centre of the web looking terrifying. He doesn't do much this time- well, until the very end- but just stands around looking terrifying as investigation happens. And we learn stuff. Robin and Nancy have a hilarious dynamic together, and also it seems Vecna's first known killings happened in 1959, long before Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson did their alchemy, with poor old Victor Creel perhaps taking the rap.

The witch hunt against Eddie continues, as menacing as any monster, with Lucas caught awkwardly in the middle, a dilemma portrayed superbly by Caleb McLaughlin. The bromance between Dustin and Steve, who are both awesome, is as touching as ever.

But that ending? Both previous victims had an association with the trailer park and seem to have been dealing with trauma... how could we have possibly have imagined that Max was safe, even before she sees the grandfather clock that must surely be the harbinger of her doom? There's hope in that she get's a cliffhanger, I suppose. But if they kill her I shall not be best pleased.

This is brilliant.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part III

 "He's coming, Master..."

Halfway through and, yes, this series is somewhat predictable in how it's padding out. It looks good, it's acted well, but the story is nothing ground-breaking, still, prepared to the work of Jon Favreau. But that's actually ok. This may not be awesome, or ground-breaking, but it's very good nonetheless. It's pure fanwank, but very good fanwank.

This is essentially about Obi-Wan trying to get Leia to safety without getting caught by Stormtroopers, and there are a lot of suitably dramatic tension-filled scenes. But it's also, from the first shot, in which Vader emerges from his flotation tank to put on his armour, about the countdown to a lightsabre fight between Obi-Wan and Vader, which is a huge event but which Kenobi essentially loses but survives- much like Luke in The Empire Strikes Back.

The chemistry between Obi-Wan and Leia here, moving realistically from wariness to mutual affection, is brilliant, and makes us see her message to him in Star Wars quite differently. But the cliffhanger is deeply horrifying, as it should be. And I love the deliciously petty power struggle between the two Inquisitors, and the real sense of political divisions over order vs freedom now the Empire is in charge.

It's also great to see Indira Varma, who was superb in Torchwood and is superb here, and it's especially awesome to hear James Earl Jones. This may not be original stuff, but I'm having fun with it.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part II

 "You're not a Jedi any more, Kenobi. You're just a man. And you're bleeding all over my floor."

Episode two... and we leave Tattoine to a markedly different, and much more studio-bound (if CGI-heavy) hive of scum and villainy. The plot works out as we expected- Obi-Wan rescues Leia, who turns out to be a cheeky little minx, and ends up being successful despite the inquisitors, especially the impressive Reva, who seems to have a chip on her shoulder.

Ewan McGregor is good. Flea is excellent. Moses Ingram is increasingly impressive. And some interesting stuff happens- Reva kills her annoying boss for being a snob; she reveals to Obi-Wan that she's working for Darth Vader- and Anakin lives; Obi-Wan uses his Jedi powers to save Leia having not used them at all until this point; and at the end we see Vader himself (er, Hayden Christensen!) in a flotation tank.

It's good. It's entertaining. It's just pretty standard, Joseph Campbell stuff- admittedly not inappropriate for Star Wars- and so far doesn't have the creativity or take the risks of those spin-offs whose protagonists wear Beskar.

Stranger Things: Season 4, Chapter 2- Vecna's Curse

 "I thought we were watching Thundercats?"

Once again, we have a movie length episode, and a bloody good one. Nt only is this top '80s nostalgia with plenty of period-style scares and a proper dig at those utter morons who equated D&D players with devil worshippers, it juggles what by now is a huge cast with aplomb-no mean feat- while handling a large number of plot threads.

Hence we have Vecna, a creepy new baddie who kills its second victim in as many episodes- this time a young man wrestling with guilt at killing someone in a car accident- as Dustin leads Max, Robin and Steve to investigate. Meanwhile Joyce has her own sub-plot looking for Hopper in some gulag hellhole in Kamchatka. Perhaps worst of all, bulling scum (I have no sympathy for Angela) get their violent comeuppance from poor Eleven in a way which seems to reawaken long-repressed memories.

There's more- a new sheriff, Jonathan facing a terrible dilemma and seeking solace in, er, "Palm Tree Delight", awesome visuals and perfect characterisation. As ever the performances are first rate. This new season is humming already.

Obi-Wan Kenobi: Part I

 "It's been ten years. I'm not who I used to be."

We begin with a"previously on" showing us a succint summary of the events of the three Star Wars prequels. I would comment about this being the perfect alternative to going through the horrors of actually watching these films, but I won't. Partly because, while they are certainly very flawed and downright bad in many places, that would be a little harsh.

Well, I said "a little"

But mostly it's because I'm blogging this first episode three days after it dropped, and I know for a fact every single blogger who got there before me will have made that quip.

I'm sure I'm not the first, either, to raise an eyebrow and warily point to the fact that yet another Star Wars spin-off on Disney appears, so far, to be Tattoine-based, even if the premise sort of justifies this rather well. Nor will I be the first to lightly remark at the lack of Mandalorians, or the actual non-involvement of Jon Favreau. 

I think, for now, I'll confine myself to expressing satisfaction. This is a logical seam of continuity for a mini-series to mine. Yes, it's all very Joseph Campbell as the episode is all about an ageing ex-hero in Obi-Wan, jaded and reluctant to do any further heroics after the shock of losing Anakin and the horrifying drudgery and poverty of his current life, which is shown extremely well in the many repetitice factory montages. The whole thing is exquisitely directed by Deborah Chow, and Ewan McGregor is outstanding.

The Inquisitors are a superb creation, too, and the last minute revelation that the kidnapping of Leia (who is awesome, and the daddy in me loves the touching father/daughter scene) is a big trap for Obi-Wan by the nastiest Inquisitor is nicely done. Flea is excellent too.

It's all a bit of fun, nothing original and nothing new. But it's extremely well-executed, so far, in every way. I'm enjoying this.

Stranger Things: Season 4, Chapter 1- The Hellfire Club

 “I like boobies. You like boobies.”

It’s back. And it’s… seventy-seven minutes long. With the following six episodes to be released thus far being a similar length. Gulp. Oh, and those episodes don’t even comprise the whole season.

This is the biggest season of Stranger Things this far. Judging by this highly eventful first episode, although there’s a long way to go, early signs are that it’s a contender for the best.

There are, by now, so many characters to keep track of. Now in California we have Eleven, being bullied, and Will, while Joyce discovers a clue in a creepy Russian doll (brrr!) that Hopper may still be alive. Simultaneously, in Hawkins, Lucas is turning away from geekdom towards basketball and the popular kids, but his awesome sister Erica is more than a suitable replacement.

There’s more. Steve and Robin make great friends, talking about girls they like. There’s a new, awesome, weed dealing geek metalhead character, Eddie. And there’s the poor girl who is so horribly and effectively killed by Vecna who, as is traditional, is a D&D baddie- in this case, I believe, a lich from the Greyhawk campaign. Incidentally, I loved seeing the 1st Edition AD&D paraphernalia.

So far there’s a lot of very well done character stuff, and the villain seems to be terrifying in a way that truly uses the grammar of cinematic horror. It’s very well directed indeed by the Duffer Brothers. And I’m already hooked.

Loving the title too; I suspect it's a reference not so much to Joseph Dashwood as to Chris Claremont.

Update

 So at the moment I’m blogging Breaking Bad, Luke Cage and Green Hornet, plus the odd film, novel, and album.

That won’t change.

However, this week and next see the launch of new series of Stranger Things, Obi-Wan Kenobi and The Boys. These series are likely to take over just a tad, but normal service will then be resumed.

Ring (1998)

 Frolic in brine; goblins be thine."

This is a very late '90s film, full of truly great interior decor. It's also the greatest horror film ever made. The concept is genius: a videotape (this dates the film, in the best possible way) that kills you in seven days. Yet there's no gore, just exquisite suspense arising from truly superlative direction in the grammar of horror, a genre which relies on the directorial voice more than any other. Unlike any other genre, it hinges on the effectiveness of specific shots. This film achieves said effectiveness triumphantly.

It's a very human film, too. We follow one woman, a journalist, with her cute little son, as she investigates, and ends up seeing the video, enlisting her academic ex-boyfriend. The drama of each day passing towards death is enormously effective. The film rides the concept to the end: there isa nothing else, despite the hints at redindled romance. Although, er, he slaps her face in the well when things get hard. Well then.

But that moment (SPOILERS ABOUND!!!) when the seer's daughter comes out of the telly is incredible. I love the minimalism of the horror. We see only this shamblingly feminine figure, here hair covering her face, until we see... yeah, The make-up is minimal, and all the better for it. She is terrifying. She is iconic horror. She is nightmare fuel. Yet she is achieved without CGI, in a film without gore. That's real horror.

So is the conclusion.This is genius, extraordinary, and as of today the greatest horror film I have ever seen.

The Green Hornet, Episode Four: Pillar of Flame

 "He'll be getting a visit from the Green Hornet!"

It's fascinating to think that literally all the movie serials I've done this far have been based on (very early iterations of) superheroes, but this comes from a different tradition: the pulp hero. And the Green Hornet is not even a character from pulp magazines but from radio, from whence the awesome theme tune comes. Yet, with a superlative directorial team (look at the wipes between scenes) don't treat this genre any different to that of its successor, the superhero. Then again, I suspect they're both themselves, within the movie serial format, basically fitting within an adventure crime genre.

I mean, there's no plot here. Last week it was insurance fraus via booby trapped plans; this time its a car racket. I don't care. It's fun, it's classy, and Kato's costume (goggles and bow tie) is hilarious. The DA has an English butler; it's 1940. There's a brilliant succession of brilliantly directed plane crasahes, car chases, brilliant set pieces.

Luke Cage: Now You're Mine

 "What you talkin' about, Willis?"

This is a taut, exciting episode crammed full of action and drama in equal measure. It's a hostage situation in Harlem's Paradise, with Luke in hiding protecting Misty, who now at last believes wholly in his innocence. But Stryker is willing to kill hostages, and happy to manipulate the police outside into blaming Luke for everything.

It's gripping drama, full of Luke being stoic, noble and heroic as ever in a world that doesn't deserve him. But Claire, too, is awesome, as is the wounded Missy, realising the truth and being big enough to apologise to Claire. We hear more of Stryker's backstory, and his unfair prison term while his mother died alone. It's intertesting that it should be held back this late.

There's a guest appearance from Blake Tower of Daredevil, making these Netflix shows (which they still are) feel more of a coherent unit. There are also signs that those who matter, if not those higher up, are beginning to believe in Luke's innocence. Perhaps. But he does the right thing regardless.

The ending, with Luke in custody, Misty badly injured and Diamondback free, leaves everything up in the air. This is brilliant telly. Two to go...

The Green Hornet, Episode Three: Flying Coffins

 "Any landing you can walk away from isa good landing!"

A summary of this episide wouldn't give much of a clue as to how good it is. Insurance frauds continue, this time through the dastardly practice of insuring the lives of young traineee pilot and sending them up in planes rigged to crash. Again, the Green Hornet investigate, there's a death, and the Hornet is framed.

Yet the action sequences are genuinely superb. There's a car chase where a car goes off a cliff. The cliffanger resolution ends excitement on top of a train. And the cliffhanger has the Green Hornet, brave and stubbern to the pointy of being utterly bonkers, force the boss of the flying schoolinto one of the planes known to be dodgy- with himself- and uses the insane levels of peril to get answers to bhis questions. That's intense, to put it mildly, and leads to quite the cliffhanger as the plain goes into the inevitable tailspin and the equally inevitable explosion. It's all so wel, shot it isn't obviously stock footage.

It's not the fairly bog standard movie serial plot- just one set piece after another- that makes this a cut above your average movie serial. It's just really well made.

Luke Cage: Take It Personal

 "I am my brother's keeper. Whether I like it or not."

This is an episode of answers, as the season starts to inch towards its denouement. Yes, the new team of Maria and Diamondback are cleverly manipulating all of Harlem- including the cops, by framing Luke for a cop killing- against the ever-decent yet unfortunate Mr Cage, who also suffers the heartbreak at this point of realising that Reva, whom he loved, betrayed him from the start. At least Claire is a true friend... just a friend? She's certainly a far better medical professional than that Dr Mengele assisting her...

But answers there are. Luke and Claire discover the true scale of the experiments at Seagate, and learn more of his powers- he is ageless. Meanwhile, Misty learns the identity of her attacker, that Luke was Carl Lucas, and that he and Stryker were tried together for grand theft auto, I'm sure wew shall hear more of this.

There are bigger bombshells, though, in Georgia- Luke realises, through the medium of flashbach, that Stryker is his half-brother through his father's affair. Wow. 

Mistry is extraordinary here, going a long way to redeeming herself, even as the rest of the police disgrace themselves with reckless and racist witch hunts. She finds Stryker, he shoots... and all hell breaks loose. Once again, after last episode's cliffhanger, it's topped this time as Luke protects an injured Misty from an armed mob with his body...

This is a wonderful television series, with so much social subtext. There's so much here about the interplay between racism, business and police brutality. Superb.

Breaking Bad: Buyout

 "I said I threw them. I would never come to the headquarters of our illegal meth operation, dragging a bunch of cops, would I?"

This is an extraordinary episode full of twists, turns, character moments and a very real sense that this final season is the last act of a very long theatrical tragedy, as Walt/Heisenberg spurns a golden chance to cash in, walk away from all this, and cash in as a rich man to try and rebuild relations with the family he's lost. But he won't. He's Heisenberg. And, in a pivotal two hander betweewn Walt (well, Heisenberg) and Jesse, he reminisces about the business (as we saw in Season One) that is worth billions today, yet he sold his stake for $5,000.

Walt is cursed by a tragic flaw which, I'm sure, will cause his downfall. He's addicted to the criminal life. He's Heisenberg.

Jesse and Mike are not like him. Admittedly, for Mike, it's the constant DEA harassment, but it's nonetheless clear that he's shaken by the murder of a child. As for Jesse, he's absolutely devastated. Aaron Paul, incidentally, is superlative here, not only in his very human reaction to the murder but in the awkwardness of the meal with Walt and a Skyler who is really downing the wine. This competent, intelligent if uneducated, morally complex man is suddenly reduced again to a child.

The cliffhanger is interesting, though. Both Jesse and Mike want to sell out for $5 million each, and leave the meth business forever. Yet there's a snag; the potential buyers need Walt out of the business, setting up a conflict of interest between Walt and his erstwhile comrades. But Walt, smug despite the gun to his face, has a plan.

I'm loving this.

Neuromancer by William Gibson

 I last read this novel in something like 1996. That was long ago, and the world has changed. We all live our lives, to a large degree, within the Internet, and it’s strange to see elements of this here, in the first major novel to predict the kind of technological future we ended up having. Not that it uses its crystal ball with perfection: this is a future very much forged in the anxieties of the ‘80s, with fear of nuclear war (a limited exchange took place in Germany but it rightly not much dwelt upon, corporate power and the rise of Japan. Everyone still smokes.

Yet this, along with Blade Runner, is the traditional starting point of Cyberpunk, perhaps personified by the cyborg, beshaded sexiness of the awesome Molly. 

Oddly, the tropes of cyberpunk- the cyborg surgery, the Matrix, the corporate dominance- are all very much fully-formed here, but they are primarily visual, and this novel is not. It is deeply clever and contextual but the prose style and narrative do not hold our hand. This is a supremely effective prose style but one which leaves much to the reader. It is also a prose style that would simply confuse and annoy if used by a lesser writer- as it would be, often, in the following decade.

This novel is at once cutting-edge cool and rather difficult. You can definitely see the much-discussed influence of William S. Burroughs. There’s a reason that a novel so famous has never been filmed: much of it takes place in confusing, abstract and dreamlike landscapes. It is, nevertheless both phenomenally important and a work of pure genius.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982)

 "Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!"

This is a very unusual curiosity. For one thing, it's the only film in the Halloween franchise not to star Michael Myers- very much part of John Carpenter's original conception; he wanted each film to be an original story- and that this is a Hollywood film written by Nigel Kneale.

Naturally, Kneale took his name off the script. It was butchered by committee, as is the Hollywood way. And yet- minus the creepy crawlies, bizarre besuited robots and the drill up Teddy's ear (uurgh!), this is basically his story, only with the dialogue altered to be more rubbish. Oddly enough, cdespite its profoundly Irish California-ness, it's utterly Kneale.

We have the dark view of human nature, not only in the concept but the fact the hero is a drunked divorced father whois constantly, and not always reasonably, finding reasons not to see his kids. We also have the hero being a stentorian man of science- in this case a medical doctor. And again we have acient evil in the form of the murky pagan origins of Halloween.

I rather enjoyed this. It's flawed, but ultimately rather engaging. Even the bits Kneale didn't envisage- the spiders and snakes, the bizarre besuited robots, the motel setting- work, and add to the atmosphere. Even the gore is more subtle and off-screen- mostly- than its reputation.

And Dan O'Herlihy, '80s Hollywood baddie per excellence, puts in a careeer best, scenery-chewing in the best possible eway, performance.

Forget Michael Myers. Just enjoy this film for what it is. It's flawed, but Kneale's ideas still define it.

Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie (1994)

 "I can't stand women who jabber like parrots!

I never really was a gamer in the modern sense of headphones and immersive games. I played computer games until about '94 or so when I discovered rock music, and from that point on I stopped buying games for the Sega Mega Drive and started buying CDs. It all seems so quaint now.

I've never really been much of a gamer since, and my interests in the genre these days are decidedly retro. Hence my interest in this, what I believe is only the second anime I've ever blogged, as I have fond memories of playing the game in the arcade- yes, the arcade- in the early '90s.

There was, of course, a live action film of the game released in the same year, which I blogged some time ago. This animation, cheerfully daft though it is, with hilariously rubbish dialogue, is far superior. It actually features all the characters, faithfully, although many of them (Guile, E. Honda and especially Ken) are absolute wankers and M. Bison's fictional terrorist organisation is risible. 

Despite this, it's great to see the characters all shown as true to their appearance, all getting reasonable amounts of screen time despite the focus on Ryu and Ken, and some truly aweesome animation. The fights, in particular, look amazing. And those are the main things, really; this was never going to be great drama, although the scene where Ken proposes to his girlfriend in the clumsiest possible way and then sulks when she says no is hilarious.

This is a load of old tosh. But it's enjoyable tosh.

Incidentally, the soundtrack is awesome, with Alice in Chains, and Korn from when they were good.

The Green Hornet, Episode Two: Thundering Terror

 "This man has been shot by the Green Hornet!"

Once again it's clear that this is a superior movie serial. The direction, the acting and even the script(!) are a cut above the usual enjoyable bit cheerfully cheap fare. And, this being the second episode, we get a crawl of text as recap that might well have been seen by a young George Lucas. On its own terms, it's a classy way to fulfil a narrative function.

It's also becomig clear how bloody good Gordon Jones as the Hornet/Britt Reid and Keye Luke as Kato are; movie serials don't usually get good actors. Even the portrayal of Kato, so far, soft-pedals the racism in ways we probably have to say are impressive for 1940.

Yes, the cliffhanger resolution is "cut to a bit later". Yes, there's a comedy Irishman with a terrible accent. Yes, the baddies are all behatted 1940s hoods. Yet it's all done so well. And the basic set-up- for one whose only actual knowledge of the Green Hornet comes from two episodes of Batman, although I have heard the superb theme tune before somewhere, is actually pretty awrsome. The Green Hornet is suspected as a criminal by the 1940s Keystone Kops, and Britt Reid is an outwardly cynical millionaire news editor.

Also, this is about rreal social issues, such as exploitative insurance fraud. Also also, the cliffhanger is a chase on top of a train.

This is going to be fun.

Breaking Bad: Dead Freight

 "Everyone sounds like Meryl Street with a gun to their head..."

This is a heist episode, obviously. The heist is splendidly tense, magnificently helmed and hugely entertaining, as every heist should be, Yet that ending, with the hired help killing a kid who witnessed it, having been told earlier by Walt that there had to be no witnesses... ouch. Last season Walt was accusing Gus of killing children, which he would never do. He's really crossed a line here, one from which there can be no redemption.

So Skyler is right to stick to her guns in using what power she has to resist him, keeping the kids safe and away (at what cost?) as a quid pro quo for tolerating him- in a way that implied cold eyed, meaningless sex. And Hank, going all David Brent after his promotion, is naive to trust the man who bugged his office- just as Walt and Jesse are, perhaps, also wrong to trust the devious Lydia as Mike postpones her execution yet again. She's a fascinating character- scheming, moral, yet she'd do anything for her daughter. I love how eager Mike is to kill her.

It's a paranoid episode, full of bugs, mistrust and unexpected problems, much like organised crime itself. And it's an episode in which Heisenberg get what they want and solve their little problem. But in doing so they pass the point of no return into real darkness.

This is dark, dark, brilliant telly.

Luke Cage: DWYCK

 "What's up, Doc?"

So much happens in this extra-long episode, in which Luke truly reaches rock bottom and literally everything is in flux. There's clearly a lot to happen as the season enters the final stretch. This is bloody good telly.

Luke is wounded, seemingly dying, and lucky to be looked after by the awesomely determined Claire as he ends up with the doctor from Seabrook prison who originally experimented on him, zooming towards a dramatic cliffhanger as the dramatic and tortuous cure turns out, perhaps, to be as deadly as Diamondback's bullets. It's extraordinary stuff.

Speaking of Diamondback, who is he? Is he Luke's brother, unacknowledged? He's certainly a chaismatic villain, with his Biblical quotes and his slow taking over of all that Cottonmouth once had... including Mariah, clever and manipulative as she is, whose talents are now to be used by him in an extraordinarily murderous gangland scene which changes Harlem's underworld for good.

Finally, and mostvimportantly, we get some extraordinary character stuff for Misty, with an extraordinary performance from Simone Missick as a psychiatrist teases out of her why she snapped at Claire; the fact that Diamondback performed that sadistic mock exacution, something that's going to take a lot of healing.

Action, drama, suspense... this is top telly.

The Green Hornet, Episode One: The Tunnel of Terror

" I think the Hornet is the modern Robin Hood this city needs!"

Time for a new series to take the non-Marvel spot, and what better than this classic movie serial from 1940, a birthday present (nope, not telling you how old) from my brother and sister-in-law, who are well aware of my odd tastes. This serial is quite a prospect, partly because it stars a classic pulp radio noir hero who, twenty-seven years later, would guest star in Batman with Adam West, but mostly because Kato is played here by Keye Luke, who would go on, forty-four years later, to play the old man who sold Gizmo in Gremlins.

That's real stardom. Beat that, Bruce Lee.

Yes, this is standard movie serial stuff, with a pulp edge, but it's by Ford Beebe and Ray Taylor. Yes, it follows the tropes, and there's lots of hilarious "as you, know, Bob" exposition, but this is a superior example, however silly the Hornet's mask may look. Both Gordon Jones- as a Britt Reid who leans farvmore into the playboy persona than Bruce Wayne ever will- and Keye Luke- as a gleeful Korean Q with a regular supply of gadgets- are superb.

The plot, no doubt, bears no relation to what is to come, centring on health and safety for miners of all things, with the cliffhanger being the collapseof a mine tunnel, but this is gloriously random, the cars are great and the social attitudes are fascinating. Let's see where this goes...

Breaking Bad: Fifty-One

 "Tell me, can a geezer do donuts?

So Walt is fifty-one, exactly one year before the fast forward that opened the season... and little more than a single year, diegetically at least, from all this first started , which feels scarcely conceivable.This birthday episode is not full of action but of deep character drama, with both script and performances- all round- being simply superlative. Also, Rian bloody Johnson directs.

We start with Walt and Walt Jr being all laddish with fast, horrible cars. I realise, at forty-five, it's long past time for me to start planning m own mid-life crisis, but I don't think I'll be doing it like this, thank you very much. It's another sign of Walt's reckless side, and the hubris that suffuses this episode.

This is Walt vs Skyler. Emerging from the depths of her depression- literally; once again the swimming pool acts as a great big metaphor- Skyler is determined, even if only vaguely, not to accept Walt's criminal lifestyle. Not sharing his hubris; she can see what he can't; it inevitably ends only in death. Which is how I'm sure the season will end for Walt. Skyler realises she's powerless, her threats don't work after an almighty and extraordinary row between her and, well, Heisenberg. But she can wait, for the cancer. And outlive him. Compromised and helpless, this is her only option. This is intense stuff.

Skyler is right about the danger, but she's wrong to think there's any escape from the meth business. You leave it only by death. Dangers abound. Hank is doing sterling work at the DEA, making connections that will lead him, I'm sure, closer to Heisengerg,,, and he's getting promoted. Much will come of this, I'm sure. But for now it's fascinating to see the interplay between Walt and an unsuspecting Hank.

Then there's Lydia, the plotting psychopath, who is trying to get out of the meth business and whom Mike wants to kill because of it. There's a lot going on here, and so much tension. I'm not sure if the implied time bomb at the end is real or metaphorical, but it's the perfect ending either way. This is televisual perfection, as ever.

Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007)

 "That's crazy. The government doesn't lie to people!"

This is a terrible film. It stinks. And let me be quite clear about this: this is not one of those B movies that aren't very good but we can have a good laugh about, enjoying the silliness. No; this is unwatchable.

It's actually fascinating how on Earth a film this bad can be made. The plot is confusing and, indeed, confused; the visual storytelling fails along with the script. We don't care about the characters. Actors like Sam Trammell, so good in True Blood, are perfectly decent in other stuff but pants here. The whole thing is incoherent. Even the lighting is rubbish; unclear, and contributing to the fundamental failure to tell the story here. We just aren't told, diegetically, what on Earth is going on. I needed to look at a synopsis to learn that the plot is based around a "Predalien", a Predator-Xenomorph hybrid, being hunted by a Predator with the humans as collateral damage.

The concept for the film is even pretty decent, with all this happening to one small Colorado town. This could, with competent direction and script, have been a decent film. Sadly, we get neither. This is shockingly bad. It's a film about an Alien-Predator hybrid on the loose... and it's boring.

The Hills Have Eyes (1977)

 "Do you always try to stop trespassers by hanging yourself?"

Wow. This is the first of Wes Craven's films not involving Freddy Krueger that I've ever seen, and it's extraordinary. It's one of the seminal slasher films of the '70s, the decade that truly explored the genre creatively before the following decade dissolved into cliche, but it's more than that. It's the progenitor (as far as I can tell) of the trope of the inbred, cannibalistic family in the wild, very flyover parts of the USA. Although, rather diplomatically, the state in question is not named. There is, perhaps, a debt to Tobe Hooper's Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but this is easily the superior film.

And there's a lot going on here; the father of this twisted family is himself the son of a kindly old man to whom we are introduced at the start. This film articulates a profoundly conservative anxiety, and one particular to those of the World War Two generation towards their baby boomer progeny, with their long hair and drugs and free sex and loud music.

There is hope, though. Ruby may be savage, but she's not completely evil. We younger generations, though depraved, may not be entirely beyond redemption, however smelly we may be.

I'll not be surprised if none of this subtext, which may be entirely from my rather pretentious imagination, was in Wes Craven's mind as he wrote and directed this film, doomed to be underappreciated by the mere fact of its genre.

This is a very human, very real, very likeable and very conservative American family, in love with the twin vices of guns and religion. The characterisation is strong, which really matters in the slasher genre. The direction is superlative. If it wasn't for Nightmare on Elm Street, I'd call this a masterpiece.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)

 "I do like his cereal, though. I'll give him that,"

This film is delightfully metatextual throughout, as only an animated film can be. I stopped reading comics circa 1993, despite being a Marvel fanatic for the preceding decades: I have no idea who Miles Morales is. Yet I thoroughly enjoyed his starring role here as a fresher alternative to Peter Parker who shows that Spider-Man doesn't have to be white, but can absolutely fulfil the spirit of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, much as the latter of those two late geniuses had some very dodgy politics. 

We have an ingenious plot, with an interdimesional thingummy allowing for lots of alternative Spider-Men, inclusing a future Peter Parker to replace the blond, dead one of Miles Motrales' world. But we also have an anime girl with a robot; a noir Spider-Man straight from the '30s pulps played by Nicolas Cage; Spider-Gwen, a character I've heard of but have no idea whether this represents her; and.. Spider-Ham. Forbush Man, eat your heart out. We Marvel geeks have the mother of all Easter Eggs.

Ok, this isn't the greatest Marvel film. It's a bit of metatextual fun, despite the perfect balance between pathos and humour. It has a female Doc Ock. It has, deliberately and perfectly, a grossly oversized Green Goblin and Kingpin. It has a killer revelation involving the Prowler, played by the exemplary Mahershala Ali, whose performance in Luke Cage I have recently been marvelling at, no pun intended.

This is a bit of fun. But it's a very clever bit of fun, with much metatextual glory. I loved it.

Luke Cage: Blowin' Up the Spot

 "Who the Hell is Luke Cage?"

... And suddenly, the status quo is gone. Cottonmouth is shockingly dead, with the actual season big bad being either Mariah, Shades or both. Luke is on the run, crrudely but effectively framed for Cottonmouth's murder, but his innocence will help him: any scrutiny threatens to expose his status as a fugitive.

Oh, and he's been shot- and hurt, by a special bullet fired by Stryker, or Diamondback... and is shot once again at the end. He and Stryker clearly have a history; he once wronged Stryker and was framed as a result. Yet more is to be revealed. And, through it all, Luke never stops being decent, upstanding and honourable. No wonder Claire sticks with him through thick and thin, unlike Misty, who has her doubts and makes some very serious mistakes, losing Claire's respect in the process. That's a nice touch; a characyer we like proves to have flaws and nuance.

The status quo has utterly changed, and it's shocking to see. Luke is desperate. Stryker, Mariah and Shades all seem to have linked plans. I don't generally enjoy stories of framing and injustice, but this is fresh and exciting.

Breaking Bad: Hazard Pay

 "Just because you shot Jesse James doesn't make you Jesse James."

This is, perhaps, a quiet episode, one which has time to breathe and time for character development. Hence we have Skyler's breakdown, unsurprising after recent events, and Walt's inspired explanation to Marie, a brilliant scene. We have Walt and Jesse actually having a friendly conversation about Andrea, and Jesse is shocked to see Walt treat him with absolute trust and respect in how to handle it.

What makres the episode fun and fascinating in equal measure, though, is the premise: this is how one sets up a meth lab. We see Walt, Jesse and Mike- with assistance from Saul- inspecting potential front businesses before Walt hits upon a possible solution. Yet we also have a fascinating clash of the alpha males as Mike schools Walt on the realities of "business", of the many necessary underlings who need to take a cut, of the need to buy silence, of reality.

I strongly suspect, once things get harder, that Walt will cut corners, not do things Mike's way and show honour amongst thieves, and that may be his downfall in a final season which must surely end with his death. Walt, as the quote makes clear, is not Gus, after all. But I speculate.

This is an unusual change of pace, still bloody good telly but not in the usual way.

Why Didn't They Ask Evans?: Episode Three

 "Well, this is a pickle."

"Just a bit."

In the week where Ncuti Gatwa was announced as the new Doctor Who (he'll be great; Sex Education shows he has charisma as well as serious acting chops in both comedy and tragedy, of which Aristotle would have approved. Say no more.), I have to say that the winderful and very sexy Lucy Boyton as the delightfully clever and delectable Lady Frankie is basically the Doctor, thirty years earlier. Also, every man loves a girl who is posh and witty.

Anyway, much as modern editing is less clear in terms of storytelling than earlier decades, this episode of a well-helmed serial from Hugh Laurie himself manages to be clever and well-helmed, putting its two leads in peril and following through a devilishly clever conundrum. The happy wedding at the end is earned.

This is, it must be said, gentre television. But it is, on the whole, well done, and Lucy Boynton is a revelation. This isn't great telly, but it's bloody good.

Terminator: Dark Fate (2019)

 "Also, this is Texas..."

Meh. This film  is a bit rubbish, Yes, it has Linda Hamilton and Arnie in it. Yes, they're both good. But the plot, co-written by no less than David S.Goyer, is just a selection of Terminator greatest hits.

Yes, there's a mildly satirical comment about automation. Yes, there's a very pointed comment about Trump's barbaric immkgration policy. In fact, the script is not bad, with decent characterisation of a bitter Sarah Connor, a redeemed "Carl", and a budding hero in Dani, the real stae. It's also nice for an American film to show a positive depiction of Mexico.

And yet..Linda Hamilton and Arnie are good.Natalia Reyes is a revelation. But the plot- yet another future Skynet to be foiled, is tired and repetitive. Plus, although it's not necessarily the fault of this film in isolation,  I'm really getting sick and tired of every film in this series since the second one- in fact, every one not directed by James Cameron- being decanonised with every passing film, despite all but one of them being pretty decent

It becomes clear from early on that this film feels tired, derivative and not clever enough to justify a retread. Yes, the action scenes are ok, but the whole thing, despite the occasional attempt at jokes, is so bloody humourless. The direction is technically ok, drspite the excessive CGI, but lacks either wit or seriousness. This is, despite a decent, ill-aserved script, far from a decent film.

Arnie is holding up well, though.

Led Zeppelin- IV (1971)

This was the first Zep album I ever heard, back in my mid-90s teen heyday. Inevitably, perhaps; this is the most famous album, and has Stairway to Heaven on it. That's obviously a sublime track, building up and up in a truly epic way. Yet there's so much more to this album than that, from The Battle of Evermore to its true highlight, When the Levee Breaks, which to my ears is right up there with Kashmir as Jimmy Page's masterpiece.

And the band is, lets face it, about Page, with John Bonham and John Paul Jones. Robert Plant is a decent enough singer but in a style which, well, has dated somewhat. It's also true that a hell of a lot of what the band did, far more understood now than it was at the time, could fairly be described as white boys plundering the musical heritage of the Mississippi Delta Blues.

Yet there's far more to them than that, and even at their bluesiest- see When the Levee Breaks- Page manages to develop those influences into something incredible. And, in a case of conventional opinion sometimes actually being right, this is probably their best album.

Why Didn't They Ask Evans?- Episode Two

 "We have to have blood. Blood is of the essence."

I havew no idea wha's going on, butb I'm loving this. This is Agatha Christie done right- Bob fumbling after the truth, Frankie being rather more successful but in sexy outfits to boot- with a compelling mystery that seem to become less and less clear even as Hugh Laurie reveals himself as the dreaded and much heralded shrink whom everyone fears. This is all very between-the-wars and Freudian with its body horror fears of electric shock treatment. This is not what one expects of Christie.

This is superbly shot, acted, written, The confusions is palpable. It's a bug, not a feature. There seems to be authorial criticism of shock treatment, which is a very good thing. The plot is fast-paced, intriguing, and mostly driven by the charismatic performance of Lucy Boynton as Frankie. The characters are fascinating, the mystery multi-faceted, the cliffhanger exciting.

I tentatively think the vicar might have done it…?

Luke Cage: Manifest

 "Sometimes, if you want justice, you have to get it yourself."

Wow. The middle episode, just after all seemed so neatly wrapped up last episode, and we have such a reversal of fortune here. Without Scarfe to testify, the evidence won't stick against Cottonmouth, so he's released. Misty's captain is replaced by a hardarse who suspects Misty, but especially Luke. Cottonmouth uses his knowledge of Luke's past to blackmail him. Suddenly, he has things to fear.

Yet he has two women with conflicting advice. Misty, despite her soft spot for him, wants him to top meddling and leave policing to the professionals. But then there's Claire, positively evangelical in urging him to use his power for good, and not to run from his demons. It's moving how he trusts Claire enough to tell her everything.

Mariah's political career is falling apart after last episode. Yet Shades, displeased with Cottonmouth on behalf of his boss, has plans for her. The flashbacks of the two of them are fascinating; we learn of Mariah's studying, the sexual abuse she suffered, and of the young Cottonmouth's piano playing proclivities, neglected in favour of the family business of crime... and we see his first murder, at his matriarch aunt's bidding, of his traitor uncle who was also sexually abusing Mariah.

And then the episode finishes with real force as Mariah, goaded by Cottonmouth about the sexual abuse, throws him through a window to his death... and there is Shades, to suggest blaming Luke, about whom the police are now suspicious. Ouch. And, if that isn't bad enough, we end up with someone (Diamondback?) shooting him with bullets that can actually hurt him.

Wow. It's an interesting structure to the season to seemingly end things and then do this. And it seems Cottonmouth is not the big bad after all. Who is Diamondback...?

This is compelling telly.

Breaking Bad: Madrigal

 "You are a time bomb. Tick, tick, ticking. And I have no intention of being around for the bomb."

I have the distinct impression that Mike may well be right about the above. Perhaps literally. I've no doubt Walt will not survive the season.

However, this is brilliantly executed telly drama. Mike, perhaps, after a few episodes of neglect, is the main character here. He's interrogated by Hank (now the golden boy again) and Steve Gomez, ho know that he, and eleven colleagues, hold the key to what Gus was up to, and if one should squeal...

We meet Lydia, whois nervous about this. She sets off to start killing all eleven but, as Mike confronts her and is about to kill her, she impresses him with her dignity,so she lives. I'm sure she's a chgaracter of which we'll learn more.

Walt and Jesse are certainly bonded closer than ever before. After a  clever little searching montage, Walt has Jesse find the poiuson cigarette... and has him as putty in his hands. For Walt is now mostly Heisenberg, Skyler is suffering depression after what she did to Ted, but Walt hugs her and consoles her that evil gets easier over time,

Shiver...

The theme here- Mike; Walt and Skyler;  Lydia... os that evil is often done for the sake of the children, a horrible truth.

This is, as if it needed saying, top telly.

The Magnificent Seven Deadly Sins (1971)

 "You're a walking repository of carbohydrates."

I suppose I have to start that this is a rubbish film, made by pretty much the cream if British comedy writers and performers as of 1971, but it ends up as (mostly) utter pants. But they are, at least, interestingly soiled pants.

Yes, I shall indeed go into a corner and think about what I've just typed.

This is a portmanteau film, with a very crude (in all senses) cartoon linking device separating seven long comedy sketches of varying quaity and various styles. The use of the seven deadly sins as a basis for portmantaeu film is not an inherently bad idea; its just that most of the sketches are rubbish.

Yes, the Galton and Simpson sketch with the stand-off between two cars on a country road is good, but we've all seen it before and here we have it wheeled out again, this time with Ian Carmichael. There's also a sketch on gluttony, penned by Barry Cryer and Graham Chapman that's rather good. Sadly, beyond that we have rather a lot of sub-Benny Hill nonsense (hot take: Benny Hill wasn't cancelled in 1988 because of "political correctness", but because hisentire format was unfunny and crap) and Blakey from On the Buses as a tyrannical park warden. We even have Harry Secombe blacking up- badly- at one point. The social attitudes are certainly of another era.

Still, rubbish though it is, this film is a fascinating snapshot of the variable state of British comedy fifty years ago. We tend to remember the best stuff, but there was also a lot of dross out there.

Breaking Bad: Live Free or Die

 "What about that stuff you young guys wear on the end of your pricks? Speak now or forever speak soprano."

This is an interesting opener. On the surface, it's a matter of tying up loose ends following the eventful finale. Yet there's a sombre mood throughout, while Walt is very, very Heisenberg indeed. Could this final season see Walt become a true kingpin... but not ultimalely survive?

Fundanenttally, the main thrust of this is a heist. As a heist, it's fun, with the use of the magnets reminding us of Walt's cleverness and big science brain. The urgent mutual need to destroy the recordings from Gus' six quadrillion cameras is a suble way of getting Mike (he's back!) together with Walt and Jesse. Will he stay with them?

It's interesting that Skyler starts out being distant with Walt. She's now seen he's capable of killing, and he scares her. Yet, when she hears that Ted has woken up, and she visits him, appalled at the sight before her, he's clearly scared of her, and as much as begs for his life. Skyler, too, has dipped her hands in the blood, and this is a dramatic reminder. Unsurprisingly, this brings her and Walt together.

As for the opening scene, with Walt turning fifty-two and engaging in spy type stuff... I have no idea. But this is enthralling stuff.

The Machine Girl (2008)

 "Well? How do you like my drill bra?"

This  is, quite obviously, a B movie: the premise is a girl avenging her younger brother against murderous bullies linked to the Yakuza, lots of rather eccellent grand guignol gore happening, and, er, her arm being chopped off and replaced with a machine gun which she can somehow mentally control.As you do.

This is, essentially, B movie heaven. Our heroine, never changing from her sailor girl uniform for the benefit of you chaps who enjoy that sort of thing, is first introducedin a gloriouly gory vignette before we flash back twelve months and discover how sge came to be the avenging cyborg that she is.

One thing is certain: any decent owner of a garage would nbe able to equipo any girl with a machine gun for an arm. Drill bras are definitely a thing. Chainsaws really do work like that. 

The plot is gloroiusly and knowingly silly. This is the goriest film I've ever probably seen in my life, but the gore- with its many sprays of CGI blood- is cartoonish enough to amuse all but the most squeamish.

Then there's the awful CGI shurikens, but they're part of the charm, as are the Yakuza and ninjas. This very gory film is almost stereotypically Japanese. The gory revenge set pieces are brilliant.

If you don't love this film, you're wrong. That is all.

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.