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Fellow Travelers: You're Wonderful (2023)
worth subscribing for
The first episode is a very good start, deftly combining a range of elements - repression of gays in the 50s, McCarthy communist witch hunts, the AIDS crisis of the 80s, even a bit about racism tossed in for good measure.
These elements are wrapped around a "love" story (not sure about that yet) between two very different people, with radically different philosophies - to be withdrawn and skeptical or to throw yourself into life with a whole heart. A good, solid theme likely to produce a worthwhile story.
This miniseries alone convinced me to subscribe to Paramount+, at least for a month. It's striking how little else the service has on par with this series, except for stuff I saw years ago. Maybe if they focused more on shows if this caliber and not cookie-cutter cop/doctor/lawyer shows, the company wouldn't be on the auction block now.
Shôgun: A Dream of a Dream (2024)
bring on season two!
This last episode was an excellent season finale but certainly not a series finale. This first season has served the purpose of developing the characters (both Toranaga and Blackthorne) and putting in place all the elements for a great season two.
This is not a miniseries, it's a prelude, and expertly done. The fact that Clavell's novel does not cover more material should be no barrier. Even if the writing for season 2 is half as good, it'll still be better than most other series.
Now that we have confirmation that Toranaga has ideas beyond simply surviving the Regent's machinations, this could run for several seasons. Toranaga's vision of the future isn't necessarily going to come to pass. What if the note he received is luring him into a trap?
And what of Blackthorne's scenes of his own future? The cross he held couldn't be the same one that we think it is, so there's more to his story as well. Was that a dream? Is it even meant to be taken literally?
Shôgun (2024)
best show of the year so far
I'm sure everyone has heard about Shogun by now but if you haven't, what are you waiting for? It's basically Game of Thrones in feudal Japan but that description really sells it short. It's better than that.
Instead of having a fantasy society to build, it delves into the real society of feudal Japan, with its own set of stringent rules that sometimes can seem alien and incomprehensible to the single European in the story who is a major character, John Blackthorne.
Blackthorne starts as a churlish pirate/sailor (though he disputes being a pirate) and over the course of the season, evolves tremendous growth. The other major characters have amazing journeys of their own: Toranaga, a descendant of ancient Shoguns, who is suspected by others in the samurai class of wanting to revive that title; and Lady Mariko, a steely, intelligent and elegant interpreter for Blackthorne.
Don't be put off by the fact that the dialogue is almost all subtitled Japanese. You get used to it quickly.
Supposedly this is a miniseries but I don't believe it. It's too popular and where the story ends feels like a prelude to a bigger story.
Shôgun: Crimson Sky (2024)
you are kidding me!
No spoilers in this review (and if you haven't seen it yet, avoid spoilers like the plague!)
This is the best episode of the season. You could cut the tension with a samurai sword. The direction of the episode is superb. The writing is also top notch, depicting characters that act cleverly but also in accordance with their inner convictions. The acting is completely on point as well. Everything builds to a conclusion that I guarantee you won't see coming.
This series seems to be hewing its own path with an eye towards ongoing seasons, which it fully deserves. I hope it runs for 10 years. There is no way what this episode sets up can be resolved in one friggen episode!
I've timed my viewing so that I just saw this episode and I won't have long to wait for the finale, which I'm very happy about because no way would I want to wait a week to find out what happens next!
Shôgun: A Stick of Time (2024)
veering from the original story but I'm still interested!
This was a dark, dire episode that does a great job of setting up tension with the nerve jangling music, the grey-and-green pallete, the misty deep forests that seem to be clothed in perpetual night.
We also get more insight into the characters, not just the big three, and hear about their hopes and fears and perspectives on what is happening. Yabushige's nephew seems to be on a collision course with Toranaga now, as Buntaro is on a collision course with Blackthorne.
The details of this episode are very Game of Thrones-y. That's all I'll say, to avoid spoilers.
At the end, Blackthorne seems poised for a different journey that diverges from the one Toranaga and his clan are on. But since they're in the same story, we can be assured their paths will cross again, probably in the next episode.
The Holdovers (2023)
instant Christmas classic
Put this one up there with Scrooged and Bad Santa as required Christmas viewing. Or anytime really.
First off, the script - genuinely hilarious without a word that seems artificial or wrong. Okay the bit with the cherries jubilee seemed a little forced. The waitress was just doing her job! But it stands out only because the rest of the writing was impeccable. Not enough to change my score
Then you have stellar performances from the three leads, including a great debut by the kid who played Angus. This is a beautiful, hilarious and wonderfully insightful movie that is definitely among the best of 2023. Better than the overrated Oppenheimer, maybe it should have won Best Picture!
Shôgun: Ladies of the Willow World (2024)
character growth
The main plot inches towards the inevitable showdown between Toranaga and the Regents but the real point of this episode is the development we get for Blackthorne and Lady Mariko.
Until now, Blackthorne has been something of a cypher. We know he came to Japan as a fortune-hunter and he holds animosity for the Portuguese, but that just seems like something he's inherited from his culture. Is there something more to him?
This episode exposes his core conflict: he's a man without a home. He left England presumably because of dissatisfaction with his life there, despite having a wife and children. Now he wants to leave Japan, still as antsy as ever. Is there any place he would ever feel at peace?
Not coincidentally, there are hints about the future of his currently icy relationship with Mariko. The romance plot, which everyone expects who's seen the 1980s version, is being handled with deft restraint. This is some very good writing, and avoids any possibility of the romance being forced or soapy.
Mariko's backstory gets fleshed out more but in her case, it's been pretty obvious what her struggle is: she's intelligent and sensitive in a world that makes it very hard for a woman like that. Her current husband will never appreciate that aspect of her, so she needs a new hubby, hint hint.
Put it together and you have two people whose core conflict can be resolved by the other. Maybe not this season at the pace they're going but certainly there will be a season two and beyond.
Shôgun: Broken to the Fist (2024)
a rollercoaster of an episode
What didn't they pack into this episode? Continuing on from the previous (also outstanding) episode, we get more insights into the psychology of Japanese culture. The more Blackthorne learns, the less he understands and accepts it. More developments on his rocky relationship with Mariko.
A surprise guest to Blackthorne's home results in a dinner that starts out with comedy and turns ink-dark. Blackthorne's attempts to bring Western cuisine to Japan result in rejection and worse.
Blackthorne is obviously making progress from one episode to the next learning Japanese but his halting attempts to communicate can wreak havoc in a society as brittle as this.
Just when things seem bleakest, we get a truly out of left field event that gives Blackthorne the chance to once again prove his worth to Toranaga. The episode ends back among the scheming regents of Osaka, where a new and very surprising power player emerges.
Rick and Morty: Fear No Mort (2023)
you can be great or you can be around forever
Well we know Dan Harmon's greatest fear now, since he just treated us to a whole episode on the topic. That Rick & Morty will drag on so long that it starts to suck like Lost or drag on embarrassingly like Futurama (catch that Problem with Poppler's scene?)
Rick & Morty is halfway to current Futurama status now, with a season that was more than 50% sucky. However this episode, in classic meta-fashion, argues for the show to continue on during its dwindling half-life. Better to suffer through 5 bad episodes to get 5 good ones, than get no good episodes at all, right?
As for the fear of being dispensable, I haven't thought about the new voice actors since early in the season.
I wonder whether this episode might be revisited two seasons from now...
Civil War (2024)
nope
If you're going to make a war movie where the message is, "war is bad, m'kay?" then you really do need to say what kind of war you're talking about and make it at least passably plausible, not the fantasy scenario in this movie that might as well be the Hunger Games.
How about the real Civil War, was that bad in the sense that it shouldn't have occurred? 4 million freed slaves might say otherwise. Balance that against 1 million dead, countless maimed, the South's economy in ruins.
Would it have been better to let slavery continue for say a few decades, however long it would have taken to die of its own accord? Push the civil rights movement back by the same amount of time. There would have been other consequences, none of them good, to the spectacle of evil triumphing by violence.
Most sane people would say the Civil War was worth it, especially for later generations, who gain the advantages of that war and don't directly pay the cost. Now there's an interesting topic for a movie: the undeniable fact that war can be good but only for the generations that aren't paying the cost.
Everyone reading this is a beneficiary of war. Imagine if WWII had gone the wrong way. "War is bad" is fatuous nonsense that only comes from a very privileged attitude.
Shôgun: The Eightfold Fence (2024)
deepening themes and character relationships
This is a pivotal episode that does a lot of work to deepen and expand the story.
If you remember the 1980s Shogun with Richard Chamberlain, the romance between Blackthorne and Mariko was a big part of the story. Here, they're slow-rolling it, which is believable, considering what different personalities they have and what different cultures they come from.
They don't even seem all that compatible, really. But if they try to sell a romance to the audience, at least they're not foisting it on us unrealistically.
Blackthorne's relationship with Fuji is well done, and deepens his characterization well beyond the rather crude and thuggish pirate/sailor that he seemed to be at the start.
We get more insight into Japanese social psychology and (crucially) some smart thinking from Blackthorne, who gets out of the pickle he's in, trying the advise the Japanese on military maneuvers he knows nothing about. That's good since we need to see him as a clever, quick-minded asset to Toranaga, not just a strange exotic pet that gets dragged here and there.
And then Toranaga's kid, angry at being seen as a "Minawara brat" coasting on the family name, does something that amps up the conflict considerably.
Rick and Morty: Mort: Ragnarick (2023)
Rick takes on religion
Well you know Rick's got to be a rampant atheist so it's no surprise that this goes into hilariously sarcastic and heathenistic humor.
It's a big improvement over last week's lousy episode but some of the humor isn't exactly fresh. Repeating the same thing over and over, with the same results for example. Haven't we seen that before in Rock & Morty, not to mention other shows?
But this episode shows a lot of the imagination and irreverence we expect from this series, plus some appropriately whacky science as the basis of the premise.
So far this season has four solid episodes out of nine total. Not so hot.
Shôgun: Tomorrow Is Tomorrow (2024)
more action, deepening plot
I remember enough of the 80s version of Shogun to recognize a lot of the events happening, but they're so much sharper and more engaging in this version.
The visuals are vastly better. This feels like an immersive trip to feudal Japan, putting you right in the middle of the action, with arrows whizzing past your ears and the salty smell of the sea in your nostrils.
Blackthorne is more believable here than the Chamberlain version, who was far too gentlemanly. Somebody in Blackthorne's profession, an adventurer with few qualms about piracy and mayhem, would have been more like the crude but basically heroic guy depicted here.
Lady Mariko is a stronger presence as well but the real star is Toranaga. Love this series!
Rick and Morty: Rise of the Numbericons: The Movie (2023)
no Rick, no bueno
When the numbers-vs-letters side story was introduced, I remember it being fairly fresh and clever, even if it's really just an excuse to have Ice-T as guest star.
But now whatever juice it had is gone. This is just a weird episode that could be from any animated series. I could see it being an episode of Futurama for example. I'll admit that some of the wordplay is fun, but that's a pretty sparse attraction for an entire episode to hinge on.
I'm getting worried about Rick & Morty now. There have been far too many weak episodes and only three really strong ones. I hope this downwards trend doesn't continue in future seasons.
Shôgun: Servants of Two Masters (2024)
not as action-packed but good development
Comparing this with the 80s version, I don't recall the political machinations to have been so intricate with wheels within wheels within still more wheels.
Maybe because Blackthorne was more of the focus, whereas here, Toranaga is clearly the main character. He must always be scheming, simply for survival. He values Lady Mariko because of her sharp, incisive mind and excellent intuition. They made a formidable pair.
Blackthorne in this story is a rougher-hewed, less romantic, somewhat pathetic character compared with the Richard Chamberlain version. A lowly sailor who lives by what passes for his wits.
There's some action in this episode but mainly it's an impressively written compendium of the various political threads and plots that Toranaga and Mariko must navigate, with the help of the crude, dog-faced outsider.
Rick and Morty: Wet Kuat Amortican Summer (2023)
and now for another meh episode
Well they can't all be winners but at least this isn't as painful as the Obama one. It's definitely a step down in quality, back to the "is this someone's fanfic?" level of writing. That has been popping up far too often.
It starts off well showcasing Summer's ongoing social anxiety about her place in the teenage pecking order. The implication that Rick sees her resemblance to Diane's personality is interesting and suggests that we need more episodes where Summer replaces Morty as Rick's sidekick.
But really they just need to find a way to capitalize on the comedy potential of Summer and Morty's sibling rivalry. This one wasn't horrible and at they're not having babies together - shudder - but they can do better.
Shôgun: Anjin (2024)
gritter and more realistic than the older version
The old Shogun with Richard Chamberlain is still perfectly watchable but the differences here are apparent in the first episode. This is obviously going to be well worth watching too.
Richard Chamberlain's Blackthorne was an elegant gentleman but this new guy is a rough and tumble, profit-motivated sailor without a lot of social graces. Much more believable that a guy like that would survive a round-the-world voyage.
His harsh religious attitudes demonizing Catholics might be shocking for modern audiences but it's perfectly in line with his times. And he has noble qualities as well: loyal to friends, brave, quick to recognize and respect bravery in others.
But the real focus is on the Japanese characters. Blackthorne is just the wild card being thrown into their roiling political situation.
Other big changes: special effects, of course. The "storm" sequence in the 80s version is pretty hilarious. Here, it's hair-raising.
And Nestor Carbonell steals the show as the Spaniard Rodriegues.
Thank you, FX, for making a serious historical drama of the type we get far too infrequently.
Rick and Morty: Rickfending Your Mort (2023)
we're back, baby!
This episode was such a relief. I'm always on tenterhooks, expecting this to be the season when Rick & Morty loses it for good. Maybe what's happened to Futurama has given me animated-sci-fi-series PTSD. But there were a few really good episodes this season and now we have a real winner.
I howled like a demon through most of it. The absurd "Guardian of Forever" sentient geode. The 17 different lunatic episode concepts delivered rapid-fire. Classic stuff.
It's okay if future seasons mean we suffer through How Poopy Got his Poop Back and Air Force Wong, as long as they are still capable of knocking it out of the park on occasion.
The Zone of Interest (2023)
Banality of Evil: The Movie
I decided to check out this movie for its renowned sound design and got a better movie than I bargained for. I expected it to be semi-boring and focus relentlessly on the house next door to Auschwitz where the commandant and his family lived.
But it's actually an eerie and highly effective exploration of Hannah Arendt's "banality of evil" concept. Holocaust movies almost always are focused on the actual camps, and the Nazis are strutting goons or at best, conflicted headcases who are easy for the audience to dismiss.
But what if the Nazis are beige bureaucrats who are just trying to do their jobs and fill their quotas? It just so happens their quotas are dead bodies going up smokestacks. Makes you wonder what's just out of sight over that wall in your own life.
Men (2022)
weird
Maybe it's just me, but I bailed on this movie after 40 minutes. It was a good setup. The lead character is recovering from a trauma that has saddled her with guilt that she is not overtly showing. The audience is waiting for the other shoe to drop as her guilt expresses itself in some way.
She goes for a walk in dark, wet, spooky woods along a path that looks like it used to be a train track, so it's in a gulch, providing a sense of being enclosed and exposed at the same time. She has an unsettling encounter.
The scene where she's at home and the unsettling encounter follows her is where I had to turn it off. It was unintentionally funny. Maybe someday I'll try to watch the rest without laughing my head off.
Geostorm (2017)
too much plot getting in the way of the movie
Joe Bob Briggs used to talk about B movies where there was too much plot getting in the way of the stuff we watch B movies for.
Why does anyone watch a disaster movie. For the splosions of course! I know that's the expensive part vs the scenes of moderately talented actors (and a few good ones slumming) trotting through a dopey, cliche-ridden script.
A little bit of conspiracy-and-science talk is fine to set up the atmosphere and what passes for a plot, but it takes up a majority of the movie and makes us wait far too long to get to the CGI-powered festivities.
Lastly: don't have a shoot-out on a space station. Why do these people never learn?
Fool's Paradise (2023)
good idea, terrrrrible execution
I got maybe 30 minutes into this movie before I couldn't take it anyone. I love It's Always Sunny and Charlie Day, and I see what he was going for - a revival of the childlike Charlie Chaplin/Monsieur Hulot naif who stumbles through an insane world - but this just didn't work.
Maybe the Hollywood satire needed to be sharper. The Western they were filming for example looked like something that wouldn't even work on TV nowadays. A modern Western would be dark, angsty and self-important, not a silly farce.
How about making it a TV series along the lines of Yellowstone instead, which would be self-important and ripe for satire in another way, with Sir Whoever slumming it and ruining everything? Whatever the solution was, I didn't want to slog through the rest of it.
We Were the Lucky Ones (2024)
solid series
Four episodes in, and every one is a consistent 8/10. Not great art, a little hokey, but the compulsive gotta-see-what-happens-next factor is very strong with this one.
The cast is mostly unknowns and surprisingly strong. I particularly like Moran Rosenblatt as Herta, the kind of tough cookie who can survive anything.
Logan Lerman as the Parisian sophisticate Addy is also very good. He looks like someone who could have been an actor in the 1940s. Reminds me of Tyrone Power in his glory days, has a lot of the same angsty energy.
I always like seeing attention to detail in historical stories to avoid anachronisms. Seeing someone in the streets of Paris wearing a WWI era gas mask wouldn't have been surprising. They would think the last war would pose the same dangers as the coming one.
When Addy plays "Puttin' on the Ritz," the lyrics are from the original version, about Harlem. A sloppier show would have used the more well known lyrics that were written for a post-war Astaire film. Nice job on research there.
It's a good thing Hulu is doling this out weekly. Otherwise I'd just binge watch the whole thing in one weekend.
Feud (2017)
10 for S1, 2 for S2, works out to a 6
How the heck are we supposed to rate this series? It's an anthology where each season has nothing to do with the last other than the general theme of feuding.
S1 is about Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. It's a total hoot! Olivia DeHavilland used over how she was portrayed (cmon it wasn't that bad) so for a long time it was hard to access but I finally bought it from Amazon. It's on Hulu now. Watch it, you won't be disappointed. Sorry, Liv.
S2 is about Truman Capote and some high society gal pals. It's got to be the best execution of the worst premise I've ever seen. Capote publishes a tell-all and the gals freeze him out. He mopes, drinks too much, gets beat up by his creep boyfriend, etc. The gals act snobby and say b*tchy things at lunch. Repeat ad nauseum.
So basically the story happens in the first three episodes and then gets draaaaaged out pointlessly thereafter. Stop before you get to the black and white episode about the black and white ball. Life is too short to bother with boring stories, even if they do feature excellent acting performances.
Rick and Morty: Unmortricken (2023)
is this really the end?
Okay I'm very happy that the slog of the first three episodes this season is over and that this episode, and the previous one, shows that Rick and Morty has once again found its footing.
But - and not to be spoilery - allow me to be skeptical and wonder if the plotline featured in this episode is really and truly over. It would be in keeping with the nihilistic philosophy of Rick and Morty to end an important plotline with a sense of emptiness. It didn't really accomplish anything or bring happiness or resolution.
But it would also be in keeping with this show to pull the rug out from under us in a future episode when we least expect it. Especially since there are how many seasons left to run?