The Devil's Men (1976)

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

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

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

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

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

Knights of God: Episode 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

Iron Fist: Eight Diagram Dragon Palm

 "You're all I've got..."

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

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

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

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

Knights of God: Episode 1

 "You've got to live. For all of us."

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

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

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

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

Better Call Saul: Nailed

 "Like two hundred bucks expensive...?"

Oh Jimmy. Oh Kim. Oh Chuck. This penultimate episode is where, if I can play fast and loose with metaphotrical cliches, the chickens that are Jimmy's sabotage with the photocopier last episode come home to roost. Which is... yeah, a terrible sentence. But I'm going to leave it as it is, because I'm a terrible person.

Chuck, in court, is humiliated, meant to look a buffoon. Then, and shortly after, it's made clear that, while in recovery, he's mentally fragile, however intellectually sharp he may be, and however easily he may be able to realise what's happened... which leads us to a truly fascinating scene played with utter sublimity by three actors of the very first rank. Chuck explains to Kim what he believes Jimmy did, with great perception and accuracy. Bob Odenkirk is superb in playing Jimmy's blustering, while Rhea Seehorn is extraordinary, giving us a seething emotional reaction from Kim which could mean either she believes Chuck or she doesn't. Despite initial appearances, for Chuck's benefit... she does. And this is going to remain unspoken and drive a wedge between her and Jimmy.

As an interlude... Mike's subplot is the fun one, aa he stages a caper to steal huge wodges of cash. Very clever. Very Zorro. Well done. Drinks all round. Except... Nacho can put two amd two together. Will Hector? Worse: a "Good Samaritan" died because of Mike's actions. Yes, Hector was the killer, but... consequences.

So it is for Jimmy. He sees, with his own eyes, the consequences of his actions as a Chuck who is stressed, upset, not well... hits his head on a counter. Jimmy is charming, personable, likeable. It takes a while to realise what a malevolent, destructive, evil man he is. And yes, he is. You're right, Dave.

This extraordinary series gets deeper and deeper into the human condition.

Star Crash (1978)

 "Time for a little robot chauvinism!"

What's that you say?You suspect this hilariously low budget space opera, clearly based on the style of old movie serials, may not be entirely uninfluenced by a certain Hollywood blockbuster of the previous year? Really...?

In one sense the contrast between this film and Star Wars is hilarious. The star fields and models, while trying to evoke Star Wars, are rubbish. The script and acting are gfloriously cheesy, although Caroline Munro is genuinely charismatic and awesome. David Hasselhoff's hairstyle is not merely awful, but the most awful of all possible hairstyles.

I'll cut to the chase: this is a terrible film. But there are two types of terrible films- boringly terrible and hilariously terrible.This is a hilarious episode of the second kind, with absurd concepts, dialogue and plot twist. The emperor (played by a visibly embarrassed Christopher Plummer) at one point just stops time for plot convenience. Even better, at one point Akton seems to know things he wouldn't obviously know, and Stella immediately makes the leap of logic that he can see the future. But Akton then explains he can never tell her what's to come because she would try to change the future that's "against the law, so therefore I can tell you nothing"... all while he's merrily changing the future himself. Perhaps I ought not to be applying logic and reason here.

This is also a fascinating halfway house between Star Wars and the previous generation of space operas. This may be obviously influenced by movie serials, but there's none of the Joseph Campbell fairytale vibes. And we also have moments of stop motion animation right out of a Ray Harryhausen film. This film may be awful, but gloriously so.

1917 (2019)

 "Am I dying?"

"Yes, yes, I think you are."

Wow. How else can I begin? This film is at once a tour de force of cinematography, an epic quest that is at times both dreamlike and almost evocative of Lord of the Rings... and profoundly, deeply, realistic. It's a profound work of the cinematic art that will linger in my mind. And I'm sure there are subtexts and metaphors which have just swooshed right over my head.

The cinematography, by the great Roger Deakin, is sublimre, giving us a textured world that feels at once both of its time and utterly real. The first few minutes, from the field right through the trenches and what must be a cavernous set, are apparently a single shot... and the feat is repeated again and again as Schofield and Blake traverse the bleak sights of No Man's Land on their desperate mission.

The War and its very real horrors are superbly evoked- the rats, the mud, the fear, the grim humour, the bloody awful food, the normalisation of violent death. The dialogue feels real So do the characters- we get to know Blake and Schofield very well, and Schofield's slow metamorphosis from reluctance to absolute determination is well-earned and feels real.

And yet... there is also, somehow, a mythic element here, an epic quest, a kind of Odyssey, a picaresque tale of wanderings. It is hard not to see the cherry trees as metaphor- cut down in their prime, but they will grow again. And the poor orphaned baby, with milk from Schofield, is another sign that out of death comes rebirth. And yet, at the same time, war is unremittingly grim.

An extraordinary work of genius. Literally my only criticism is of Colin Firth's moustache.

Better Call Saul: Fifi

 "Things work out the way they're supposed to, I guess..."

We begin with an extraordinary tour de force of direction with a van crossing the border from the part of Mexico run by the Mexican government to New Mexico, a part of Mexico occupied by the United States since 1848. He said innocently. But this is all one shot, with so many camera angles, as exacting as theatre but in more dimensions. Exquisite.

This is part of Mike's sub plot where, as well as having a nice grandad/granddaughter scene, he plots his revenge against Hector. But that's for later. This episode is about Jimmy, Kim, and Chuck.

Kim, as I may have occasionally mentioned, is doomed. Yet the die is cast. She resigns to an oddly gracious Howard who, once again, shows himself to be tough but not necessarily a total bastard or without integrity, much as his management style is, thank the gods, frowned upon these days.

Thing is, she has all her eggs in the Mesa Verde contract. She does well, is about to get it, but... is sabotaged. By Chuck. Whose first day in the office without the tech hocus pocus is all aboit screwing over Kim, which Jimmy is somewhat displeased by, hence... and I never expected to type these words... a MacGyver-style photocopying montage.

Jimmy has, basically, set Chuck up to fail. And, in so many ways, his arrogant older brother deserves it. But Chuck expressesa his gratitude for Jimmy staying with him, which he disn't. Ouch.

Two episodes to go.So many twists and turns. This episode feels primed and ready to emit intense dramatic stuff. Simply masterful writing. And that's not without even deploring the characters' sadly realistic ignorance of the Pacific theatre of the Second World War.

The Mandalorian: The Return

 "Mandalorians are stronger together."

And so the season ends. Din Djarin gets an epic heroic quest to do, and shower himself in honour from all, with thev rather adorable help of R5, the honourable help of his lady liege Bo-Katan, and the rather awesome help of soon-to-be-Din Grogu, exemplar of how every fighter needs a magic user in the party to provide magical protection. This is the way.

This is an awesome finale. Yes, as has been discussed, this season has turned the focus somewhat away from Din Djaron and towards Bo-Katan and Mandalore. Yet the ending swerves decisively away from that, and why should a show called "The Mandalorian" not focus on such things?

Moff Gideon, I trust, is gone for good. He was a great villain, not least because Giancarlo Esposito (watch Breaking Bad and The Boys!) is an actor of the very first rank who needs to do some classical theatre very soon. He excels at morally flawed yet brilliant and charismatic figures. Prospero? Mark Antony? Coriolanus...? 

Anyway, this is both a dsuperb finale, destroying the Darksabre yet leaving Mandalore united and with hope, wheras Din Djarin and Din Grogu, shrouded in honour, unofficially set of to help the New Republic police the Outer Rim.

This is the way. This is how to cap an excellent season.

This Week

 Just to say that there’s a specific and temporary reason for my absence at the moment. I don’t expect to blog again until Sunday, most likely, but normal bloggery will resume from then on, fear ye not.

Before that, though, one more thing to blog…

Duck Children (2001)

 This is an eight minute short film, sperficially giving the message (Amewricans, this isaimed at you) that civilians owning firearms is, obviously, not coinsistent with not being a ***ing barbaric ****. Just saying, you know.

Anyway, this is film as theatre in thatr a camera is pointed at some young children being charmingly made to perform on stage as deucks. Lovely. Then some redneck ****, with a firearm, typica;;y owned by men woith very small penises, proceeds to murder them all, proving that all gun ownersa- minus farmers worried aboiut foxes, sporting types keeping their guns locked in clubs etc- are not human. Seriously. If you own a military type of gun, like a machine gun or some **** like that, stay away from me and my child, and think about your evil lifestyle.

Anyway, I adore the deliberately theatrical bent of this piece of very short cinema. School shootings are evil. Americans: if you believe gun ownership is more important than the lives of children... just die. Children's lives are precious, as though that needs saying.

Your neighbour owns a gun, and is not a farmer? Call the police. This person is a criminal.

Better Call Saul: Inflatable

 "There are wolves and sheep in this world, kid."

Oh Kim. We know you're doomed. The dramatic irony is blatant. The script wants us to know what you don't: turning down the awesome job to rely on Jimmy is going to destroy you. And it's not as though you haven't been warned. You're a sheep, Kim. Remember what Chuck told you about Jimmy?

Mike, you are obviously a wolf, but a fascinating one. You have principles. You're a genuinely great father-in-law, your ulterior motives are good...but you're a world-weary cynic who knows the world and how to survive in it.

And Jimmy... you're no alpha male. But you're a wolf. In possibly ironic contrast to Chuck- not in this episode- who, desapite his career and material success, is a man of sheeply principle. But you have no principoles, Jimmy. The opening flashback tells us how this came about- and yes, your dad was the sheepiest of sheep, even if that 70s newsstand was awesome to behold.

But Kim... oh, Kim...

Wolves and sheep aside, this episode is obviously awesome, and the "trying to get fired in a way which doesn't forfeit the bonus" montage is Office Space levels of funny. Telly seldom gets better than this.

Carry On Regardless (1961)

 "P.. P.. Panting?"

"No, that's the way I always breathe."

These early Carry Ons are fascinating... and, don't get me wrong, they're not unfunny. But it'll be a while before we get to the really good stuff. I'm afraid I'm anal about these things. I'm doing them in order.

Like most of the early films, this is a much gentler farce than would later become standard. It fits the early pattern. Surprisingly, Kenneths Connor and Williams predominate, with Williams slightly evolving from "intellectual" to "camp", and Charles Hawtrey sidelined a bit, although his boxing skit is hilarious.

Yet we have interesting, nay fascinating features here. A young, tough, Bill Owen, long before Last of the Summer Wine. Joan Simms giving an extraordinary performance in the wine tasting skit. The unique Stanley Unwin, with a language of his own. Incidentally, on the subject of said oddball, I suggest you type "Wubble U" and "Petal". This is a man of the '50s who looms large-ish in rave culture.

The film is... quite good, but no more than that. Sid James makes some progression towards the laughing lech he would become, but at this point is still far more of a straight man. Esma Cannon, as ever, is superb. Why is she not more well known?

Overall, though, it's clear why this film, while perfectly fine, is no highlight. It's a stepping stone. Greater stuff lies ahead.

Ninja Champion (1986)

 "Not the wine. My nipples, you jerk."

Oh, look. It's a cheap Hong Kong action film from the mid-80s, directed by Godfrey Ho and with the word "Ninja" in the title.  This will be a cinematic materpiece, right? And in no way a hilariously cheap little film full of laugh out loud moments and the most blatant of "as you know, Bob" clunky exposition?

Well, no. I mean, you could tell where that first paragraph was heading. I could, if I was feeling lazy, just say "this is a Godfrey Ho ninja film, you know the drill" and leave it there. But let's talk about the film, because it's fun.

The thing is, the plot is actually pretty well-constructed and satisfying, with clever reveals amongst the action, if you'll forgive the sudden use of a previously unmentioned identical twin sister. But the acting, dialogue and sheer 80s-ness of everything make it impossible to take the film seriously. There's a scene with a horny wife trying to turn on her frigid husband until the scene suddenly switches to her, on a beach, building a high, vertical tower out of hard stones. I'm sure there's subtext here but I can't quite put my finger on it.

There is a whiff of that very 80s nastiness where a woman is raped and sets out to kill her rapists, and this is at the centre of the film. Worse, the "hero", George, subsequently abandoned Rose as she was "soiled" by her rape. But I think he both comes to repent what he's done and is adequately punished by the end. He has lost Rose and will now be alone forever.

Hilariously, the ninja sub-plot is basically crowbarred in, and only really intersects with the main plot at the very end. But the fight sequences are fun. And that is, with a film like this, the main thing. 

Yeah, this film is rubbish. Gloriously so.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 23- The Spies

 "Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes."

Oh my. This is how you do a penultimate episode.

It's simple, really. Two sets of plans are made to retake Mandalore. The first by the united tribes of trad and rad Mandalorians under Bo-Katan, the second by Moff Gideon, finally revealed... and appearing in a splendid scene of imperial realpolitik that both references and rubbishes Grand Admiral Thrawn from the '90s Timothy Zahn books.

The Mandalorians' return to their home planet has an epic tale and feels like an ancient saga in how the events unfold. There are great character moments. Bo-Katan relating her surrender and betrayal by Gideon as Mandalore fell. Din Djarin declaring that he serves her not because of her royal blood but because of her character. That awesome, Michael Moorcock-like sand ship that evokes The Dragon in the Sword. How all seems hopeless at the end, like a film I need not mention. The heroic sacrifice of noble Paz Viszla.

And yes, IG-12, piloted by Grogu. The perfect comic relief to leaven this bread. Bring on the finale.

Iron Fist: Rolling Thunder Cannon Punch

 "It's my name!"

Like the two previous episodes, this is utterly gripping. We have the narrative of Danny trying to prove who he is and asserting his rights against the Meachums. Colleen (I liked the reference to Daughters of the Dragon) has an interesting arc with her joining in the cage fighting she'd previously denounced as dishonourable: sher's up to something. More compellingly, though, what drives the status quo forward now is connections with the wider Netflix Marvel world.

We know from laast episode that Harold wants to defy the hand. We now see him humiliated, controlled and belittlred by Madame Gao. Meanwhile, a seemingly desperate Danny finds none other than Jeri Hogarth, gains her trust, and suddenly his legal situation is looking up. The legal machinations of Jeri are hugely entertaining. What's more Danny seems to be starting to suspect that Harold may well not be quite so dead...

So far this is as good as any of its predecessors. Acting included, overall.

BMX Bandits (1983)

 "Your little walkie talkies... have gone walkies."

I had my opening line all planned out. You know, Mad Max II, Picnic at Hanging Rock etc always get cited as Australia's greatest cinematic achievement, yet this- a childhood favourite of mine, hired often from a local video shop- never gets a mention.

Well, having seen it again for the first time since the '80s I must admit it's not quite in such exalted company: this is a fairly formulaic action film for kids, notable, to those without my nostalgia, only for the early appearance of Nicole Kidman. But, while a formulaic film can't truly be compared to the greats of the cinematic arts, there's absolutely wrong with using a formula if it's executed well, as this film is. It may not be one of those films helmed by Brian Trenchard-Smith that makes one Mr Tarantino rate him so highly, but it's bloody good fun to watch and a perfect example of this kind of film.

We have charismatic young leads, a quietly witty script, loads of kid-friendly action sequences, and baddies who never actually kill anyone while striking the right balance between comedic and threatening. Best of all, we have loads and loads of extremely cool BMX stunts. This film is every bit as good as my fond memories were hoping for.

Even better, it wears its 80sness loud and proud. One of the baddies wears a Minder T-Shirt with Arthur Daley's face plastered all over it. And Sydney has never looked better than when BMX bikes are being chased by cars. This is a very, very fun way to spend ninety minutes,

Dead Set: Part 5

 "This makes you the winner of this year's Big Brother".

That quote up there... yeah, it's an empty prize, but aren't they always, zombie apocalypse or no? Blimey, this is far more Hobbesian than I remembered. Utterly, splendidly bleak.

The dark catalyst of a character is, of course, Patrick- a toxic boss and an utter wanker, a liability in normal ligfe but absolutely impossible in a situation of base under siege. This isn't a message of conformity or that individualism is bad; the group are diverse, different and act as a democracy. But the Patricks of this world have no time for the collective. Here, his pointless escape will open the gate and risk everyone. He has to die, as decent people must realise. It's horrible.

Worse, we have Joplin- weak, pretentious, not as clever as he thinks, the perfect pause. And so things degenerate into utter hopelessness. Kelly's heroic last stand consists of just an immediate short scream. We end with a landscape of only zombies and cameras. Metaphor much?

Wow. Zombie apocalypse? Thatcher's children stand no chance. Simply superb.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 22- Guns for Hire

 "I don't think they get many of our kind here..."

The Mandalorian can pretty much do no wrong at the moment. Take this episode, for example. Narratively, it's a case of the season arc quite transparently stopping for an episode so we can have a quasi-whodunit set in a decadent society where all citizens live lives of leisure, served by droids, and where blatantly Asimov themes of robotics, as on the Spacer worlds, play out.

And yet... look at the world building. The ultimate culprit, played by the wonderful octogenarian Christopher Lloyd, is a Separatist devotee of Count Dooku. Mando gets to show off his experience of Ugnaught culture. We have a brief appearance of star-cross'd lovers, a Quarren captain and a Mon Calamari prince. And we get a droid bar. I love the droid bar. Yet I also love the depiction of a post-work society which will, in a few generations, collapse into utter decadence.

It's such fun seeing droid-hating Mando interact with Bo Katan here, both joint stars of the show here. Yet the conclusion almost transcends all as Bo-Katan wins over the mercenary Mandalorians by taking the Darksabre from a willing Mando... on a devilishly clever technicality. This is all just bloody brilliant. And Grogu even gets a bloody knighthood...

The Taming of the Shrew (1929)

 "O my word, she is a lusty wench."

This is not, of course, a very good adaptation. It is, nevertheless, the first big Hollywood Shakespeare film of the sound era. I shall save discussion of the play itself- is it misogynistic or ironic? What did Shakespeare intend? Does that matter, as Roland Barthes would bid us ask?- for a better adaptation, although I would note that Mary Pickford portrays Catherine's "taming" with a literal wink to the fourth wall. 1929 was not the dark ages. Straight misogyny just would not do.

Yet this isn't very good. Early talkies often aren't. Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks are good silent actors, but there are reasons why sound killed their careers. Their big acting styles, so evocative in silent movies, don't suit sound. Also, the chemistry here is of a couple whose marriage is ending, not beginning... because their marriage was ending.

Nevertheless, and controversially, I'd say that Pickford is pretty good here. You can tell she wasn't hired for her spoken acting, but she's fine, and her visual acting, while not subtle, is very good indeed and suited for comedy in a way lots of the slapstick here falls short. Fairbanks, as Petruchio, is... rubbish.

As is the film. Shakespeare's dialogue is changed beyond reason. This is Shakrespeare for the groundlings which... is not, actually, intrinsically a bad thing. But this is not a path down which Hollywood would continue.

A bad film, then, despite patches of merit. But fascibatingly bad. Also, well out of copyright and on YouTube.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 21- The Pirate

 "Bo-Katan walks both worlds..."

Wow. The Mandalorian gets better and better. This season is on fire.

The plot is simple, time-honoured, life-affirming Western stuff. Greef Kargo's decent, hard-working community are attacked by pirates, overrun, and become refugees. The New Republic won't help because of bureaucracy, or rather the understandable realities and limits of power. So it falls to the Mandalorians, who successfully fight off the pirates and are rewarded with land of their own. Simple.

Except it's not about the plot, it's about the nuances and little things. The Salacious Crumbs pointing out the ambush. The fact we all knowdamn well what Kargo is doing when he bends down to the R2 unit. The fact that the New Republic colonel who refuses help is portrayed not as a stupid pen-pushing staff officer but as a reasonable man with competing, impossible priorities who is, while we may not like it, probably making the right decision. The subtle plotting of G68. Paz's unextectedly supportive speech.

And so, after some awesome action sequences, the Mandalorians have some security. And the Armourer- I live her- bonds further with an increasingly spiritual Bo-katan and bids her remove her helmet(!) and go forth to recruit others so Mandalore may be retaken. And if that bombshell wasn't enough... we learn that Moff Gideon was sprung... by Mandalorians???!!!

Wow. Just wow,.

Dead Set: Part 4

 "I mean, don't forget, this place used to be like a church to them."

Things are hotting up. The Big Brother house is under siege by zombies who are quite blatantly lampshaded as cheerfully blatant metaphors for consumers of celebrity culture. This cheerfully winks at us, knowing that it isn't very clever. But so much else here is.

At last Pippa and Patrick get out to the others, and Patrick- surely based on real producers Charlie Brooker may have encountered: he says, after killing zombie Davina, "I hired her. I can do what I want." And his effect on the group is immrediate, profoundly obnoxious, alienating and clearly making no friends, which may not be very clever in the long run. Yet he's ruthless, makes the hard choices, and you can see how he got where he is.

Meanwhile, we have Riq, the decent romantic, and Alex, the hardened cynic who, in the end, sacrifices her life for romance hoped for vicariously. The characterisation, darkly witty humour and encroaching sense of threat are approaching perfection.

G.I. Joe: The Movie (1987)

 "I hope you both get fleas!"

The previous year, the creators of thisfilm gave us Transformers: The Movie. It was, for a great big toy advert, genuinely quite good for what it was. The script and the dialogue were genuinely good for trhe kind of thing it was. I loved it as a kid. I appreciate it now, load of old tosh that it is.

Ten year old me also loved this. Forty-five year old me, while being regularly hit by blasts of nostalgia, can appreciate that this film, which went straight to video, just isn't very good.

I'm British, so therefore we have the complex Action Force/G.I. Joe thing. Let's not go there. Instread, let us acjnowledge that G.I. Joe belongs to Larry Hama. His superb and lengthy run on the comic book is THE true version. The cartoon was rubbish, full of silly fantasy elements. Yeah, like this. I mean, the baddies are a hidden civilisation with some silly Graham Hancock origin, with a science based on organics, who plot to use space spores to reduce humanity to mindless snakes. This is not the sort of gritty, witty stuff that the esteemed Mr Hama would write.

Also, the focus on Lt Falcon is unmerited- given the stakes, what does he matter? Also, the new trainee Joes I barely remember, hinting that the film must have come out when the toys were experiencing a drop in sales. 

The animation is superb, very anime, very active camera angles. But the characterisation, dialogue and most of the voice acting are shocking. Compared to Transformers: The Movie, this is very poor. Yes, there's a good set piece with Pythona. Yes, Burgess Meredith is always charismatic. But this is a tragic misfire, whatever ten year old me may think.

Iron Fist: Shadow Hawk Takes Flight

 "We're not bad guys, if that's what you think..."

For a series apparently disliked by the critics, this is pretty damn good so far. Yes, I know it's a cliche: the hero is stuck in a psychiatric ward where no one believes who he is and he's in the Catch-22 of having to pretend to be someone else- but it works here, and it's a nice means of both developing character and giving us more exposition.

So Danny was in K'un Lun, one of the seven capital cities of Heaven, that appears on Earth only once in fifteen years.There he learned to focus his chi into the Iron Fist... that won't work when he's drugged up. We see him slowly convince everyone that he's Danny- Joy, Colleen, Harold, even his doctor... who, ironically, proceeds to detain him for superhero fantasies, a nice touch.

Harold thinks Danny may be useful as an enemy of our old acquaintances the Hand... but Ward has a different agenda, as we see at the end. I'm not sure why, plot-wise, Danny's power suddenly works, but it's an awesome conclusion. More please.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 20- The Foundling

 "But it was real!"

Before I gush about this wonderful bit of telly, let me first gush about geekier matters. Carl Weathers, that septugenarian movie star, directs, and superbly, for the second time. Even cooler is that we get a flashback to Grogu's youth and how he's the only Jedi youngling saved from the massacre by a rather cool and heroic Jedi, played by... Ahmed Best, who now has a place in the Star Wars mythos that isn't Jar Jar Binks!

Grogu gets a special piece of armour from the armourer, and is taken on as a foundling, winning a rather cool little duel. It's all at once extremely cute and nicely revealing about aspects of Mandalorian cultutre.

The tribe bonds over the taking of a foundling by a kind of pterodactyl thing. Mando is great as ever, yet it is Bo-Katan who is the star this episode. She covers herself in glory in rescuing the foundling, and is praised by the armourer, who she seems to accept as a mother figure. Bo-Katan's arc is fascinating: she utters the words "This is the way!" Is she losing faith in her doubts? She has seen the Mythosaur...

This is mythic, beautifully crafted telly.

Dead Set: Part 3

 "I'm only on the front cover of Heat!"

These episodes following the first are only twenty minutes long and the whole thing isn't obviously structured in an episodic way. Was it originally planned as a TV film? Never mind, this is good stuff, mixing typical zombie tropes with good characterisation and social commentary.

Thus we get to see the scary, pointless, power tripping behaviour of the police once society has collapsed, interesting to see on the day when a scathing report into the Met is published. Concepts like looting are now meaningless. We hear, via the radio, that France is swiftly following the UK to zombie apocalypse.

Yet there's still time for Joplin to show himself a perv and a coward as well as a pseud. For Patrick to poo his pants, yet indeed. And for the pathetic laddishness of Marky to be contrasted with the loving joy of Riq discovering Kelly is alive. Humanity is often pathetiuc, yet there is hope. This is very, very good and, oddly, far less bleak than Brooker's later Black Mirror despite the premise.

Iron Fist: Snow Gives Way

 "That's my building."

"You should sell it and buy some shoes,"

Apologies, but I'm having trouble sourcing further watchable episodes of Robin of Sherwood so that will have to be paused for now. Instead, having caught up with the Disney Marvel series, I'm going to crack on with the Netflix stuff so it's hopefully done in toime for Daredevil: Born Again. I can only hope. I'll continue to alternate with other stuff, Dead Set for now.

So, Iron Fist. I read a few issuyes of Power Man and Iron Fist in the '80s not long before cancellation, mostly the Secret Wars II stuff. I vaguely know the broad strokes of the origin story. That's about it. So I enjoyed thr mystery here. It's an intriguing sert-up- Danny Rand, in theory a rich man, arrives back home after fifteen years to find himself unrecognised, friendless, homeless and, perhaps, conspired against by the family of his late father's seemingly dead business partner. The family dynamic is well developed so we get to know the characters- Danny is naive and good; Ward will always be the bully he was as a kid.

There is mystery upon mystery, though. Harold faked his death a dozen years ago: why? What happened to Danny after that plane crash, of which we see only dreamlike flashbacks. What and where is K'un Lun? Why indeed hid humanity abandon the paradise of hunter gathering for the hard slog of agriculture?

Also, we meet Colleen Wing, having met Misty Knight in Luke Cage.And we get some very, very cool and borderline supernatural martial arts. I'm aware the critics are a bit lukewarm about this show but so far I'm intrigued.

Scream (1996)

 "There's a formula to it. A very simple formula.

Best horror film of all time? That's a hard question. But this is a work of genius. It does a lot of violence, but as much of it is directed at the fourth wall as to the killings of Ghostface.

The metatextuality is as exquisite now as it was then. I mean, watching this in 2023 one winces at the passing of time, that we no longer living in a world of landlines, video shop and the great state of California being guilty of judicial killing. Yet we have Randy outlining the rules of how not to get killed in a horror movie. We have a character declare that A Nightmare on Elm Street was great but the sequels were not, in a film directed by Wes Craven. Hmm. We have so many references. After this point, is a straight, non-metatextual slasher truly even possible?

This is a wonderful thing, a B movie genre turned into very clever, if very fun, riffing on all sorts of postmodern stuff. It's very clever indeed. Yet it's accessible.This is a Hollywood horror hit. And it's not lowbrow. There is hope for humanity, and this is the highlight of Craven's career.

The cast is superb, although the ensemble outshines Neve Campbell. The opening set piece is the perfect set up, with Drew Barrymore selling it to perfection. Yet, despite the very meta humour, the whole thing is structured as a perfect slasher, with the big reveal handled very well indeed. This is, simultaneously, a superb horror film and a superb deconstruction. One of the best of its decade.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 19- The Convert

 "This is the way!"

This is, perhaps, a less obviously crowd-pleasing episode, despite the events at the start and finish, and much of it focuses on unexpected characters, which is brave. It is, nonetheless, compelling. And no doubt much is set up for the rest of the season. Will the devious Elia Kane be the big bad, the cuckoo in the Coruscant nest, a former devotee of Moff Gideon?

We meet Dr Pershing again- reformed, now a successful product of a programme designed to convert former Imperials into loyal citizens of the New Republic. Yet Elia- with much excitement- slowly exploits Pershing's scientific idealism- though his ethics are debatable- into a trap leading ultimately to the mind flayer, the name of which surely deliberately evokes both Dungeons and Dragons and Stranger Things.

We explore Coruscant in a way we never really have before. The Imperial capital is a veritable Trantor of a planet, full of both naive New Republic functionaries and cynical amoral senators- naive idealism coexisting with the potential for corruption. This Eden does not feel secure, and the snakes are there.

Yet Dr Pershing is not the only eponymous convert; almost by accident, so is Bo Katan. The action scenes at the start are fascinating, as well as showing the increasing bond and trust between her and Din. They escape to a refuge of trad Mandalorians who follow the way. Din is redeeemed... yet, as she has taken the waters and not since removed her helmet, so is Bo. By circumstance. How will she react? Is her arc one of acceptance and seizing her inheritance?

Dead Set: Part 2

 "Does this mean we're not on telly any more?"

After all the Big Brother fun of the first episode we were always going to slip into more of a standard zombie story. Hence the characterisatyion as everyone adjusts to the fact civilisation is over... and we have the tension of knowing that Angel will die and become a zombie.

We get more of Riq, and are introduced to the magnificently blunt Alex. I love her. Meanwhile, the gloriously rude Patrick and the delightfully stupoid Pippa keep up the comic relief. They're both doomed. The fun bit is working out who else is, Angel aside. Marky? His sense of guilt for pretty much killing Angel is palpable.

It's the 2000s: zombies were in the zeitgeist. But this is Charlie Brooker and, much though the metaphor of poular telly consumerisn has to break down a bit from now on, this is still brilliant.

Better Call Saul: Bali Ha'i

 "The price is fifty thousand dollars..."

This is another episode of set-up... yet the tension is nicely set simmering. Indeed, it's inherent in the very structure of the episode. The pre-titles sequence shows Jimmy, unable to sleep, symbolically unsettled and disaffected, an obvious metaphor for the fact he doesn't belong at the firm, and his days there are numbered. To drive the point home, he sees the advert for Sandpiper, with his ideas ignored. The episode ends similarly, with the same old cupholder metaphor we saw before. But this time he acts forcefully. Perhaps this harbingers his quitting?

There is, quite deliberately, no trying to hide anything here. It's all foreshadowing. Similarly with Kim. Howard hates her, even if the worst of her disgrace may be over, courtesy of Chuck. She's headhunted for a better job... but won't take it, out of her self-defeating love for Jimmy. She's clearly doomed, and it's tragic. She's a good, loving, loyal persaon whose faith in Jimmy, despite even Chuck's warning from last episode, is going to ruin her. It's quite clear, a slow motion car crash.

Completing the triptych of doom is Mike, a decent man forced to make moral compromises through necessity while remaining decent- he behaves with extraordinary honour towards Nacho. On the face of it, he's forced to an arrangement, although he shows guts in a successful attempt to save face. But they threatened his grandaughter. He isn't going to let that slide...

They're all doomed. But the pacing, the nuances, the acting... this is sublime stuff.

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

 "That's right, buddy. You show that turd who's boss."

It's 1997, Cool Britannia amd that. That brief period of time when the Union Flag meant Noel Gallagher's guitar, not fascism. Where the flag of our nation was not considered as a sign of fascism by the dimmer kind of right winger, as though conceding the key national symbol to nationalists who are in no way patriotic is a clever thing to do. Sigh.

Anyway, isn't this film fascinatingly dated while still being awesome, bearing in mind that today's "dated" is tomorrow's "period"? I mean, let's look at the version of 1967, through the prism of 1967. It's shown as a decade of universally accepted free love drugginess and grooviness that bears zero relation to the actual decade in which my parents both grew up, in Leicestershire. Which is, of course, part of thejoke.

Indeed, while Space appear in the closing credits, this is not a Britpop reimagining of the decade. This is a '60s of Burt Bacharach and Nancy Sinatra.

This is a bloody funny film. Obviously, it's the same style as Wayne's World, but better. The James Bond pastiche is on point. Austin Powers is in no way like James Bond in character, puns excepted: he's more obviously the popular image of the decade. But Doctor Evil, the consummate pastiche Bond villain, is exquisite pastiche. The laughter scene alone is priceless. An then we have the comical canonisation of the deceased henchmen.

Groovy baby. Sgagadelic.

Robin of Sherwood: Robin Hood and the Sorcerer, Part 1

 "Beware the Horned One!"

I dimly remember reading the comic strip in Look-In in the mid-'80s, of which I remember nothing, but until tonight I'd never seen an episode of Robin of Sherwood, though its reputation precedes it.

It's fascinating to see what was in the zeitgeist in 1984: Herne the Hunter features prominently in The Box of Delights too, albeit the subtext of his being Woden- god and protector of the downtrodden English- is more explicitly present. We have a magic sword, a New Age score by Clannad, Robin's iconic duel with Little John involving mystical possession. 

And yet... the way this is shot, acted, written, is grim and gritty. This is not the clean, fantasy Middle Ages of Errol Flynn; this is a dirty, lived-in Norman England, a place of despair and unspeakable tyranny where the Norman lords, universally, are cynical, world-weary and cruel and the English, up until now, are meek and downtrodden. It's all so very well thought through. Yet the effect is far from a Flynn-style swashbuckler. This is both action adventure and drama. And, yeah, with that fascinating mystical pagan twinge.

One slight criticism: this is Sherwood Forest, which bestrides Nottinghamshire and the South Riding. So what's the stone circle? Why so many southern accents? 

That aside, though, this is extraordinary. I'm hooked.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 18- The Mines of Mandalore

 "Did you think your dad was the only Mandalorian?"

This is an interesting and fascinating episode: a bit of humour with good old Peli- it's good that we get to see her every now and again- on Tattooine, and then it's off to explore the ruins of Mandalore. I'm not sure why Mando was so keen to resurrect that IG droid last week when it seems like any half-knackered R5 astromech droid will do, but never mind.

It's superb, tension-filled stuff, with evocative ruins, monsters and a splendid end of level boss, a skittering insect thing that pilots a big robot that in turn pilots this big mecha thing. As all-out action it's superb. Yet as lore, it's fascinating. We see the mines, the waters, we hear of the mythology, in no way based on the tale of Theseus. And we get to know Bo-Katan a little better as she not only rescues Din butbthe two of them seem to bond, despite their differences. As Bo-Katan says, it's more important than ever for Mandalorians to unite.

The characterisation is handled superbly. It's all subtext, all showing and not telling, but the relationships between the two Mandalorians and the increasingly brave and capable Grogu are fascinating. It's also deeply evocative to see what's left of Mandalore, which looks dead from space. That ending, too...

Superb as ever.

Dead Set: Part 1

 "Please do not swear!"

Long before Black Mirror, in 2008, when Charlie Brooker was still giving us his excellent Screen Wipe on BBC4, we had this, what is at first glance a high concept bit of fun about the Big Brother house during the zombie apocapypse. But it's so much more than that and, indeed, so much more fun than that.

I first watched this as it aired. Watching it today reveals starkly how long ago 2008 feels- the "edgy" vibe, the toxic workplaces and bad bosses, the pre-#MeToo mores, Heat magazine, the phones, trashy pop culture on mass market telly as opposed to the online ghettos to which it is now rightly consigned. Reality TV is well made, and there's an art to it, but in the same way that there's an art to Sun journalists managing to present the news in words of one syllable. It's genuine talent, wasted.

And the zombies are the most bleeding obvious of metaphors. They first attack the screaming crowd after a Big Brother eviction. Are the ensuing ravenous zombie hordes really much different from what they replaced? There's a glorious shot of a dead eyed zombie watching the feed from the Big Brother house. It says it all.

The script is wonderful. Charlie Brooker gives us a fun and real-seeming set of housemates and, in Jaime Winstone's Kelly, a star we can identify with: a runner, probably an unpaid, exploited intern, The satire of the TV industry and its working is splendid too, from a writer who knows his stuff. And, of course, zombie Davina McCall. Need I say more?

First class stuff.

Foundation: The Leap

 "It's time the dynasty bent..."

Oh my. That was an eventful finale and, ultimately, a rather good one. This season hasn't been excellent but it has, I think, been very good, as much where is departs from canon- inevitable and sensible- as where it follows it.

The big set piece of Hari Seldon in the Vault works well, despite necessary changes- this is not a hologram, but a resurrection, courtesy of magic nanobits, who will awaken only for each Seldon Crisis and then, presumably, live in the new civilisation created by both Foundations. Everything the people of Terminus knew was wrong but, although hurt, they accept it. They, Thespis and Anacreon plausibly unite. So far, so broadly similar to the novel.

But then we turn to the three Cleons. Brother Day's punishment for Azura is truly horrific, proving him to be a tyrant and symbol of a dynasty that must fall. His mercy for Dawn, to the fury of Dusk, is predictable after his religious experiences; we must not have stagnation.

Less predictable, yet utterly logical, is Demerzel's sudden killing of Dawn. She is loyal to the dynasty.

Yet there is a sting in the tale; the rebels have affected the genetics of all future Cleons, starting generations ago. The emperors will evolve. Will this assist their survival? Time will tell.

Both Day and Demerzel have lost a beloved child, although the reaction of Demerzel is more.,.. human. Parenthood is a big theme here, not least for Salvor Hardin, who discovers her genetic heritage. And meets her genetic mother. Yeah, bombshell upon bombshells.

What next?

Better Call Saul: Rebecca

 "My brother is not a bad person. He has a good heart. It's just he can't help himself..."

I find myself saying variations of this exact same sentence in relation to many serialised television dramas, but let's say it here... this isn't a landmark episode. It contains no set pieces or big moments. It exists for arc plot reasons, moving the pieces around the board so that future episodes can have those moments. It's a self-abnegating but necessary task. This episode is, at its root, functional.

Yet it's bloody brilliant.

Episodes like this, in the greatest television shows, transcend their functionality. An episode like this can still be well shot, can have writing that exposes character subtly and beautifully, and said exttraordinary writing can be riffed upon by extraordinary performances.

So we see how Jimmy is a con man compatred to Chuck as the rigorous professional... yet he has charm that Chuck doesn't. We hear, from Chuck, the family backstory of hoew Jimmy's inability to resist temptation can hurt those he loves to the ultimate extent... a warning to Kim of what, I'm sure, certainly awaits her. Jimmy may be in the doghouse right now, but Kim's love for him will be her downfall. I say this unspoiled, but I have zero doubt of this. She's doomed. Which is awful, Her realism, patience and professionalism are a huge contrast with Jimmy- con man, salesman, whose tricks work until one day, inevitably, they don't, like Wile E Coyoye running for a few feet after the edge of a cliff.

There's a highbrow cultural reference for you.

Then we have Mike, approached in that diner by Tuco's dad, at this point still walking and talking. He's given a proposition to testify and reduce Tuco's sentence. And, yeah, this is Mike. Proud, principled, a good man morphing into a criminal for the berst of reasons.

He's going to say no. There's no tension intended here.

Oh, and we're introduced, in flashback, to Chuck's eponymous wife. The questiuon of what happened to her hangs in the air.

This is as good as television gets.

Carry On Constable (1960)

 "A dog! That's a sign of Pluto, the darkest, most evil planet of all!"

Ok, this is no one's favourite Carry On film. The best years lie ahead. And yet... these films have an early format. Kenneth Connor has a type of character. Kenneth Williams is less camp, playing pretenbtious gits... yet the scene where he and Charles Hawtrey dress as old women is gloriously gay for 1960. Such nuances fascinate.

Leslie Phillips is absolutely a fixture in these early films, and both he and Kenneth Connor get contrasting love plots. That's an intrinsic part of the plot at this point. Although the pairing of Hattie Jacques and Sid Jameas- in a surpreisingly straight yet superb role- dominates here.

The cimedy is amusing but, like the previous film, not great. That is no condemnation, heaven forbid: the film should be judged on its own terms, those of a time where the sixties show no signs, yet, of swinging.

It's a fascinating glimpse of policing, and indeed life. sixty-three years ago. Policing is very military: police officers march in the morning and leave upon reaching their beats. "Phrenology" is not dismissed as a pseudoscience by self-declared intellectuals. 

This film isn't great. But it's perfectly good, and fascinating. Also... wasn't Hattie Jacques lovely?

The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)

 "You speak treason?"

"Fluently!"

I've been meaning to watch this rather fascinatinhg film for some time, anfd it doesn't disappoint. The very Hollywood Middle Ages; the decidedly swashbuckling slant; the very peculiar Technicolor... none of these surprise me. But the wit of the script was a pleasant surprise, and both Errol Flynn and Olivia De Havilland, the prettiest young lady ever to utter the words "I'm a hundred and four, you know" are absolutely triumphant. Basil Rathbone is also a revelation as Not Sherlock Holmes.

This is very much a faithful telling of the myth, to the extent that the myth is consistent, with Little John and Friar Tuck getting their traditional entrances and the famous archery contest for Maid Marian's heart, although the Sheriff of Nottingham is notably sidelined. Yet it's also a swashbuckling film, with Robin as much a swordsman as an archer- the early set piece with Robin cheekily inviting himself to feast with Prince John and his daring set piece escape is utterly magnificent, but it's nevertheless clear that the swashbuckling angle is crowbarred in somewhat. This is, of course, no bad thing, but it's very notable.

The attitudes of the time raise an eyebrow on occasion- Richard the Lionheart is off crusading against "infidels"- and the film portrays the England of 1191 as very much an apartheid state with "Normans" against "Saxons". But why are the English so loyal to Richard, that absentee landlord of a king? But this is, of course, Hollywood, and such things are of a piece with the very fairytale mediaeval visuals on display here, and it all fits the mood of the film.

This is enormous fun, in no way trying to be big and clever but just to entertain and wow us, which it does superbly.

The Mandalorian: Chapter 17- The Apostate

 "Now that's using your head..."

Oh, I've missed The Mandalorian. It may not be particularly deep or philosophical, intelligent though it is: it's a western, and deals with the inherent themes that arise from the mythology of the Old West which are, yes, by no means shallow. The Old West is every bit as evocative and worthy of art as any mythology, and admired as such everywhere in the world except for its native United States. And this episode reinforces that, balancing character, plot, wit and action.

The arc is set up. After last season, the Mandalorian has a hopeless task to redeem himself for removing is helmet, alongside Grogu, now his apprentice. He must bathe in the Living Waters below the Mines of Mandalore that probably don't exist, presumably as a season-long quest. There seems to be little hope. Even Bo-Katan has given up, yet Mando has achieved the impossible.

We meet Grief Kargo again, who has made a decent, honest success of his town. He's pleased to see Mando, and is keen to enlist this potentially useful citizen as landed gentry or at least sheriff; pirates look increasingly menacing, and seem set to loom rather large this season.

It's all such fun, with a giant crocodile and trees full of Salacious Crumbs; tiny little droidsmiths; a proper gunfight. I loved Andor with a passion, but there's room for this too.

Foundation: The First Crisis

 "And Sometimes emotions shout larger than logic..."

We're slimmed down to two plot threads in this penultimate episode- perhaps Gaal will appearat the climax, or more likely next season- but both the Cleon subplot and the Salvor Hardin one are full of revelations.

Things all come to a head with Brother FDawn, with plot and counter-plot. The implied suspicions of BrotherDusk force him to flee, but it turns out Azura was only manipulating him all along, for the benefit of her boyfriend, a random Cleon clone plotting to replace Brother Dawn as the cuckoo in the nest to destroy the Dynastry. And yet... even they are being manipulated by Dusk, who's been manipulating everyone.Wow.

It's an extraordinary sequence of events, and we end with Dawn waiting for the return of the absent Day, who will rule on his fate. And yet... Day's recent religious experiences, however empty and tinged with realpolitik, may perhaps have opened his mind to the concept of even clones needing to evolve and grow? We shall see.

More straightforward, and more faithful to the books, sort of, is the thread of Salvor on Terminus, where the Vault is the centre of everyone- Anacreon, Thespis, Terminus- converging, with the Huntress being suddenly out of the sapirit of the times.

Those of us who know the novels will not be surprised by the ending, but Hari Seldon makes quite the entrance. I'm still suspicious: psychohistory is about broad historical forces, yet there is a lot of "great man" history here, with individuals changing fate. But I can't deny that this is good telly.

Better Call Saul: Gloves Off

 "Just saying... you went a long way to not pull that trigger. Why?"

This is a fascinating episode. Yes, lots of plot happens. Yes, there are lots of characters from Breaking Bad doing rather cool cameos.But this is, at its core, a character study of both Jimmy and Mike, both of whose essences get a pretty thorough and pretty fascinating examination here.

Jimmy is lucky not to get fired. He may work for a snooty law firm. His bosses are right. We didn't keep them informed. Yes, hisb type of advert is successful. But Sandpiper isn't the firm's only case, and they have to be snooty because their upmarket clients are. Image matters, and that overrides day-to-day case needs. Jimmy, at heart a con man and salesman, an extrovert in a world of cautious introverts, is a fish out of water. We know he has no future here.

Does Kim? That's the question. She's the one who suffers here, unfairly. This is, quite simply, a dumping offence, yet Kim doesn't seem to dump Jimmy. She really, really likes him despite everything. And it's because of that, I suspect, that she's going to fall very far indeed.

The argument between Jimmy and Chuck, roles now reversed, is fascinating, deeply revealing in multiple ways, and superbly acted. Each has the measure of the other. Chuck is right that Jimmy is no lawyer, just a quick tongued shyster. Yet Jimmy sees Chuck's rigid hypocrisy too. I suspect neither of them will have a happy season.

But the excitement comes from Mike's strand of the plot. There's a tendency for episodes of Bettef Call Saul to revolve around clever plans, usually from Jimmy, with the fun being in seeing the plan play out. This time it's Mike's turn. Even better, it involves our old friend Tuco, with Raymond Cruz exqwuisitely menacing as ever.

And we end with the question posed by the quote. Yes, Mike is fiendishly clever, albeit fortunate that the police arrive exactly when the plot requires. But when Tuco gets out, Mike will be a target. Is he so determined not to kill? It's fascinating seeing the character get such depth, a deeply moral man who ends up as the Mike from Breaking Bad. The parallelk between his trajectory and that of Walter White can only be deliberate.

Shock Waves (1977)

 "Why, some say they're more afraid of the water than little old ladies are of the dark..."

This is, let us be clear, a B movie. It glories in being so. It is also, I think, the progenitor of the Nazi zombie genre. It is what it is, but in both categories this movie is actually bloody good. And Peter Cushing is simply superb, despite his limited screen time for a top billed star villain.

And I'm disappointed. I wanted a so-bad-it's-good bit of silliness thart would be fun to blog. Instead I get an excellent, tautly directed thriller that plays it straight and, wisely, relires on suspense, so much cheaper than spectacle.

it's a tautly plotted, quietly good film here. And... may I say something? We Birits, with our population of 60 million, have a fairly limited number of character actors, whom we love to spot in production after production. The USA, all things being equal with its much larger population of 300 million, will have six times as many character actors, but, alas, these actors will never achieve the relative fame that they would in relatively smaller countries.

Let us just say here that the entire cast is unusually magnificent, as is the direction, treating a B movie with respect. They deserve to be knoewn, if not as stars, as resprected character actors.

Incidentally, Nazi zombies emerging from the sea in the wake of a rotting ship... non-Doctor Who fans, please indulge me. But could Ian Briggs have seen this prior to writing The Curse of Fenric?

Carry On Teacher (1959)

 "They've taken the pea!"

My very, very slow marathon of the Carry On films continues with this fascinating third film. It's still the '50s, of course, and the format hasn't settled down to that we will soon come to expect. The film is good, but not great. Funny, but not quite hitting the potential that will soon be realised.

The plot is simple; the popular headmaster plans to lreave, so the kids set up a series of practical jokes during a school inspection to ensure he stays. Meanwhile, two comical romances between inspectors and teachers are pursued. That's it. The jokes are quite funny. The cast is superb, but constrained by a certain early tameness in the material.

More fascinating are the social mores on display here. 1959 was only eighteen yesrs before my birth, but it's a world away. The opening sketches evoke St Trinian's and the Bash Street Kids, a hintat the gulf in time that is to come.

The school is a Secondary Modern. Discipline is far stricter than would be thinkable today. Child psychiatry is caricatured and mocked. and yeah, the beating of children is an unbridgeable gulf. In 1959, it was routine correction of children. In 2023, it's kinky sex and decidedly adult. It's interesting to note that all but one of the teachers dislikes caning children, but they all reluctantly accept it as necessary. We can only shudder.

This is quite good. But, more than that, it's fascinating both as an early Carry On and as social history.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law- Whose Show Is This?

 "Bruce smashes buildings. I smash fourth walls and bad endings. And sometimes Matt Murdock."

Those who dislike postmodernism, self-referentialism, Jacques Derrida, Police Squad, The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, and other jolly japes with the fourth wall, will not like this finale. Many, but by no means all, of said critics, will not be aware that violence to the fourth wall have been a fixture of the character of She-Hulk ever since those dim and distant days when John Byrne was on speaking terms with Marvel.

This finale, a splendid, sparkling, first class conclusion to a series which has generally been good but not necessarily great, is a masterpiece. It takes that absolutely traditional She-Hulk style and applies it to a different medium. Yes, it makes no sense that Jen would be in so much trouble for property damage. Yes, the online toxic baddies make no sense- although, to be fair, nor do real life right wing virgin keyboard warrior bros, many of whom have genitals almost as tiny as Andrew Tate's.

And then the contrived attempt at a climax- Abomination, Titania, Hulk, Todd Hulk... yeah, I love how Jen takes control and gives the creative team a piece of here mind. I love K.E.V.I.N. (a tribute to H.E.R.B.I.E. is probably in the mix) and the metatextual riffing on MCU storylines. This is unique television gold.

Also, the opening tribute to the '70s TV show is enough in itself to elevate this episode to greatness.

Foundation: The Missing Piece

 "I would not wish that emptiness on anyone..."

Again, we are moving away from the novels here-although there's some interesting use of the mythology here- what is the history of the Spacers here? Were they the first to leave Earth, with their robots? Did we have the fifty Spacer worlds? Time will tell. Certainly, Demerzel is the last sentient robot.

As we see in the A plot, with the middle Cleon taking the extreme pilgrimage- a true sacrifice for one who has never known physical discomfort- for clear politcal gain, there's a contrast between the Emperor and his positronic assistant. She, a robot, has a soul. He, ironically in more ways than one, does not. The whole theme is dealt with superbly, from Demerzel's tears at the murder she must perform, to the fact that she, a robot, saw a vision... and he did not.

Gaal eventually gets to escape Hari and will get home... in 138 years. But we get some exposition. The Second Foundation, still "Star's End", is on Seldon's native Helicon and is to remain secret even to Terminus... but we are told no more than this, just tantalised.

Salvor's victory over the Anacreonians is clever, if desperate. But the ancient ship Invictus is fascinationg. Before Spacers... or, perhaps, before the Spacer worlds had been rediscovered?- navigators were surgically wired to the ship. Wow.

It is, I suppose, too soon to judge how far we are moving from the novels. But I'm enjoying this.

Update

 Just to say that, for life reasons, I probably won’t post as much this week as usual, although I hope I’ll still do some blogging. All is fine, though, nothing bad, and things will be back to normal next week.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law- Ribbit and Rip It

 "Why do you pretend to be blind, man? Cos that is really problematic."

Before we get to you-know-who, because it's Jen's show... this is a superb screwball comedy and equally superb as a pre-finale. I love how the episode ends with, er, a bang, and Jen blatantly lampshades to us that there are a few minutes left to go, which will be followed by a twist. And oh, what a twist. Is Jen ruined? Do the haterswant not to kill her, but to doxx and troll her? Such is the age we live in.

But yeah, Daredevil, with that retro, pre-issue #7 costume. Charlie Cox being awesome. The simultaneous rivalry and flirting, with the inevitable conclusion. Jen finally finding the right man. And, er, Leapfrog being an utterly hilarious character, although I love the prickliness of Luke Jacobson.

It's all aboit the screwball comedy, though, and both leads nail it in both acting and charisma. Also, I know we've seen Matt on the big screen in the definitely proper MCU, but this is your actual Daredevil. Let'ds not let the guest star take over, though. It its own right this is a bloody good episode in a series which has impressed but not always dazzled.,

Foundation: Mysteries and Martyrs

 "The Empire must be protected from mistakes. Like me."

This is an extraprdinary episode, full of revelation and, as good dramas do, wrapping up all the copious exposition in character development and drama.

Hari, it seems, uploaded himself to an AI afterlife at the point of death. Raych knew everything and was in on it; his execution is truly tragic. And Gaal was supposed to lead the Foundation on Terminus... the "First" Foundation. Those of us who have read the novels realise the implications of this.

It's a great scene, with a furious clash between the two geniuses and a realisation that Gaal is... different. With precognitive instincts. This is huge. 

Meanwhile, we learn more of Brother Dawn's horrible gilded cage. It's not the colour blindness; there are other differences. And he must expend effort to hide them every waking second, or he will be killed and replaced with one of many spare Cleons, grown in a vat. It's the perfect metaphor for monarchy- a monarch cannot be an individual and is not free. They all live in gilded cages. They live lives of luxury, but all of them are slaves.

And then we have Salvor and her ever-decreasing number of friends- she mourned her father lastvepisode, now she loses Hugo too, who had such faith in her- as the Anacreonians force them to repair the legendary ghost ship Invictus, with its randomised jump drive. The concept is blilliant.

And then there's Brother Day, concerned by Demerzel's conflicted loyalties with her religion, and with a problem of religious politics to solve, of a type Seldon predicted. So he, the Emperor, resolves to undertake the most arduous pilgrimage possible...

This is superb, the best episode yet, however much it may diverge.

Foundation: Death and the Maiden

 "Hari said an entire galaxy can pivot around the actions of an individual."

Hmm. Not sure he did, love. Psychohistory sees only multitudes, not individuals. That's sort of the point. But never mind. The episode, and the series, are awesome regardless.

I mean, we actuallly meet some Spacers; this is indeed the wider Asimov universe. They are clearly enhanced, spacefaring humans. We get a flashback to Hari persuading Raych to kill him, as part of a pre-ordained plan. He being happy with Gaal would destroy the future- individuals again- so the plan is to split them up. The escape pod is meant for Him. Gaal was never meant to be involved. This makes sense.

We're also meant to see Salvor as destinred by the Great Plan. She gets a lot of development and a lot of heroism here. She kicks arse. She bonds with, and loses, her father. Yet Hugo not only loves her but has total faith in her.

And yet the tale of the three Cleons takes precedence. Brother Day fails to stop a very fascinating religious heresy which verges on treason in nhinting that cloning is decadent stasis that cannot evolve. Yet more fascinatring is that Eto Demerzel- an ageless robot- is an adherent of this religion, a fascinating character point.

And then there's Brother Dawn, who continues and makes explicit his romance with ther gardener. And.. he's the first colour blind Cleon. In contrast to the religious adherents, it seems that even clones eventually mutate. What does this mean?

This is utterly fascinating and deep. Faithful to Asimov not in a banal, literal sense but with real conceptual though. It's superb.

Better Call Saul: Amarillo

 "Beautiful penmanship, a lost art."

Here, I think, we see the beginnings of why Jimmy, despite his genuine talent, will never thrive at this big, swanky law firm.Not because iof snobbery, or Chuck trying to trip him up- his boss seems to side with him there- but it's the fact he's Slippin' Jimmy. He just is. He's riding for a fall. And the tragedy is that he's certainly going to bring Kim down with him. And she's given everything for him. It's a slow motion car crash. The trajectory is certain.

We begin with Slippin' Jimmy in the most hilariously Texan con ever... but it's solicitation, something for which he can be disbarred. It's a worrying omen, much though he gets away with it this time.

Inevitably, he doesn't. The TV commercial may be clever, it may be right, but- as the previous commercial shoews- it's a clash of cultures. Jimmy just doesn't fit in with the way things are done. And, as soon as we realise he's airing the commercial, events have only to play out.

The B plot is fascinating too, with some superb facial acting from Jonathan Banks. Mike has his morals. He's a good grandad, and an honourable man, but he's a criminal by necessity. And, as we see at the end, his ethics don't necessarily mean he won't kill. So is he a good man? The answer is, as it will be for any real, nuanced, human being, ambiguous.

This continues to be first class television drama.

Hamlet (1948)

 "This is thevtragedy of a man who could not make up his mind.

Said quote is the popular opinion of the play. It has truth to it. Yet, as always with Shakespeare, there is nuance.

This play is a deconstructioin of the late 16th century revenge tragedy. Hamlet is, yes, hesitant. He is inytrospective, introverted. Naturally he hesaitates. Right?

Yet the ghost of his father gives him clear information. we can't excuse his procrastination. And he is not the student, intoverted, poetic hero. His reaction to his father's ghost is not revenge but a crying-for-help version of suicidal thoughts- see that soliloquy- and misogyny. His treatment of ophelia, and his mother, is unforgivable.He is not a likeable charactor. Here, that is a brave and right decision by Sir Laurence Olivier, whise charisma ois beyond all.

Contrasted to Hamlet is Laertes, an extrovert, who just gets on with his revenge. Good on him. Hamlet loses our sympathy when he kills Polonius, perhaps. After failing to kill the unshriven Polonius in the church. One could construct an argument that he does, in fact, kill Claudius as soon as reason and circumstance permit. I mean, I did this play at both A Level and University. The question persists- does Hamlet procrastinate? There's an argument to say not. His father's ghost interrupts only to rebuke him for being nasty to his mother.

Olivier is superb here.The soliloquys are exquisite. The play, long and bloated though it is, remains a piece of art up there with the best. That Warwickshire boy could certainluy pack a sentence with meaning.

Julius Caesar (1970)

 "This was the noblest Romam of them all."

Obviously, I know this play. I also know the 1953 film with Marlon Brando, and with John Gielgud in a less exalted, but more electrifying part. I mean, is the superlative Sir John Gielgud... phoning it in? I do believe he is.

Not that this film is crap. It's just not the 1953 film, probably. I mean, I saw it probably twenty-five years ago, long before this blog. Memory is an imperfect intrument. But it- and Brando, especially- made a deep impression on me. Any subsequent Mark Antony has big boots to fill. And those big soliloquys must be approached with trepidation. An actor lives or dies by them.

So how does this compare? Well, the standard British characters actors are very RSC. Robert Vaughn impresses with Casca, giving a daring yet pleaasingly arch performance. Diana Rigg shines during her one big scene.

But what of Charlton Heston? Well, this was brave of him. He's no Brando, not even close, but he's good enough. His "Pardon me, thou bleeding piece of Earth" is so so, but his funerary speech for Caesar is fascinating. Not as passionate as many, but great facial acting and restraint, which really, really works.

The entire production is fascinating. We begin with a bird of prey, circling. The battle is visceral, as is the bloody murder. There is no honour in war here, only bloodshed. Shades of Vietnam, and Oh, What a Lovely War?, the 1970 zeitgeist. This is not the best version, being quite flat. But hey, it's Shakespeare.

R.E.M.- Automatic for the People

I first discovered R.E.M. via this album, and I know that immediately marks me out, potentially, as a fashion conscious wanker. Let me, then, assure you that i was genuinely seventeen, exploring music, and pointed towards this by no less than Kurt Cobain.

With any band that makes it big, there's a critical consensus on the best album. For R.E.M., it's this. It's uncool to say this is their best album, but... it is. I challenge you to name any filler within this album, single or no.

No? Well then. This is an album where the deep cuts are Ignoreland and Try Not to Breathe, not singles only by mere chance. Like every damned song on the album.

The album, while awrsome throughout, steps up a gear, incredibly, with the ending duopoly of Nightswimming and Find the River. Two sublime examples of songwriting.

This album, more so even than its excellent predecessor, exalted R.E.M. from the unfderground to the mainstream. I'm not so sure that was a good thing. Yet the band deserves success. Such was the tension of ethics back then. Yet R.E.M. will never belong to them. Always to us. They are real.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law- The Retreat

 "Spanish is a language, not a nationality, so..."

"You've never heard of Spain?"

In fact, Spanish is a nationality but not a language, which I think you'll find is called Castilian. God, even I know that was bloody pedantic,

Anyway, this episode is enormou fun, with the plot contriving to get Jen to Emil Blponsky's ranch of New Age nonsense, where he and a bunch of hilariously realised crap baddies from the comics (yes, Man-Bull, Porcupine and El Aguila are now in theb MCU...) somehow help Jen get over being dumped.

Yet there's more to it, I think. The script doesn't side with Blonsky and his twaddle, but mocks it. Jen has every right to be angry at the Wrecker, and the others are wrong to de-legitimise the anger of a woman assaulted by a man. 

The early scenes are heartbreaking. Jen and Josh start their relationship with a dating montage, only for Jen to wake up alone and be on tenterhooks for the next text, as we all have been with a new partner. The reveal at the end is shocking- all Josh ever wanted was to steal Jen's secrets, all on behalf of those online haters whom Jen casually dismisses as "losers".

Things are clearly about to go very, very wrong. And this continues to be highly entertaining telly.

Foundation: Upon Awakening

 "I was not afraid of the dark..."

We are, it must be said, diverting a little from Asimov here, not that we haven't already. Yet this is a path not at all trodden by the books, although of course the nature of television drama makes this necessary from time to time.

So we have Terminus in very serious trouble and seemingly in the procerss of being destroyed by Anacreonians, coded very much as terrorists, who blame Seldon for what happened to them. We have the imperial military being rigidly incompetent behind the bluster. Yet we have Salvor Hardin, creative and clever, thinking. We know she's going to save them all.

But, most of all, the story focuses on Gaal, freshly awoken from stasis after thirty-four years. The flashback to her upbringing on a world where catacysmic climate change gave rise to extreme religioius reaction against all learning, and how she was inspired to reject such idiocy at the cost of parental rejection. The metaphor of a black hole, and the event horizon from which there is no escape, works well here.

Gaal is brought up to speed. She sees she is suspected of taking part in Hari's murder. She sees Raych's execution, and how Hari's murderer's dying words are to trust in the plan. What is going on? For Gaal, who shows how bloody clever she is herself by working out where she is, there's the fear of going to Helicon, Hari's home, as his suspected murderer. And yet... is Hari seemingly right there? What? This is clever, intriguing telly, much though I hope it know's what it's doing with this.

Better Call Saul: Cobbler

 "It looks like a school bus for six year old pimps."

This episode, fascinatingly, takes place in two different worlds, one of high flying lawyerly professionalism and one of criminality. Yet, as we see in the person of Jimmy, the two worlds are of course linked.

We know, of course, that Jimmy isn't going to make it as a high flying lawyer; this is a prequel, after all. But it's fun, for now, to see him doing well. Even Chuck turning up for a couple of hours. He even has the love of a good woman in Kim, who right now is very keen on him indeed. He's living the dream. But that's the thing with dreams: you wake up.

His career is doomed. His relationship with Kim is doomed. The only question is how.There's no suspense here and the brilliance partly lies in the fact that the script is well aware of this, with subtle little metatextual moments. Kim's present for Jimmy, a cup entitlred "world's second best lawyer"? And the cup, ahem, not fitting as he tries to slot it into the cupholder? Yeah. Not exactly the world's most subtle metaphor. But the script is winking at us.

The other plot this week concerns the rather inept and comical Mr Wormald, in way over his head, and Mike, who exhibits the patience of a saint but ends up solving Wormald's considerable self-inflicted problems rather neatly, prefiguring his future work for Gus, in a way that is hugely entertaining to watch.

And then Mike calls Jimmy to help, which he does, cleverly, humiliating Wormald into the bargain, which is quite fair. And... yeah. I have no doubt that is a real fetish. Rule 34. No, I'm not Googling. But why does Jimmy get involved? He now has no reason to. This indicates, perhaps, a compulsion for the legally murky that may destroy him. 

The last scene with Kim is brilliant. Kim is appalled at the risks Jimmy is taking. They are self destructive. And this is a superb character moment. Jimmy is surprised that Kim, so impressed with the cons last week, is appalled now. But she's right. They're doomed. He's doom. And no amount of cake, however much untouched by human buttock, can alter that.

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

 "Youtr brother is with the ancestors"

This is an interesting film, centred on Letitia Wright as Shura, yet full of thoughful subtext, full of lots of glorious Agfrican cultural imagery. Yet... it's average.

Sadly, Chadwick Boseman- a man my age-is dead. That usual Marvel spiel at the start makes a fitting tribute here, being entirely dedicated to him, is wonderful to see. And is more than just avtribute. Because this is a film defined by his absence.

Black Panther was one of the MCU's finest films at the time, and even more in hindsight. It's brilliantly Afrofuturist message and visuals have percolated into society and had a hugely positive effect within this world we live in, in which American police officers, supposed to protect the public, seem to routinely torture and murder young black peope, and where far too many black people in the west live in disproportionate levels of poverty and, indeed, imprisonment. The social legacy of slavery is real. And that's before we get into the legacy of colonialism in Africa as well as elsewhere. Black Panther is at once escapism from this depressing reality and a message of hope.

Yet Chadwick Boseman, an actor of huge charisma, is no longer with us, and cannot just be replaced. Recasting would, of course, have been repugnant. So this film, wisely, reflects this reality, being entirely about grieving and loss amongst an overwhelmingly black and female cast. Shuri takes on the mantle of Black Panther- and of queen- only with reluctance and after much grieving for T'Challa.

Wakanda faces a more hostile world without the respected T'Challa, with other powers openly jealous of Vibranium and quick to scapegoat the African nation for hostile acts with a highly suspicious eagerness. There's also a new power in the world, also with Vibranium, as the MCU finally introduces us to Marvel's oldest protagonist- Namor the Sub-Mariner, a bit less of a dick here than he is in the comics. Wisely, Namor's underwater kingdom is not called Atlantis but rather "Talokan", and is given a rather less silly origin with its roots in Meso-American culture and colonialism- thematic unity- rather than the Hyborean Age and the Great Cataclysm. It's great to see Namor at last, and Attuma too. 

The film perhaps lacks the sheer excellence of its predecessor, perhaps understandably. But for a film so bloody long I found this thoroughly enjoyable.

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law- Just Jen

 "Yes, itr's a self-contained wedding episode."

Another short little sitcom episode ensues with more fourth wall-breaking, this time by playing with the tropes of mid-seasdon wedding episodes. So Jen-powerful and successful- is a bridesmaid at a wedding where none of that matters, she's not one of the queen bees and is expected to act as a servant, and her achievements mean mothing besides the mere fact of her singledom. Ouch

Ginger and Mallory get a nice little sub-plot with Mr Immortal, who is no Great Lakes Avenger here but someone who just temporarily dies to avoid conflict, leading to some rather amusing relationship problems, and all because he can't avoid conflict.

Jen, of course, is stuck in a trap from Titania but, once green, is easily able to defeat her. She seems to have found a nice man too. All seems to be going well. But Bruce is missing. And on the Internet there are rumours that there are those who wish her ill.

This is not, perhaps, the greatest episode but nevertheless it makes for entertaining viewing. We now seem to be moving into the endgame with a season arc becoming prominent...