Binge or Savour?

The Dukes of Hazard, The Fall Guy, Knightrider, Battlestar Galactica, The A Team, Magnum, P.I.  I remember watching all of these movies as a kid.  One thing they had in common with all TV of the time, I watched one episode a week for the duration of their time on TV.  If I missed an episode, I missed it, unless I happened to catch a rerun.  On the whole this was never an issue as most shows were made up of self contained episodes.  There are exceptions, to this day, there still remains an episode of magnum that I haven’t seen, the second of a two part story. 

Things changed a few years ago with programs like The Sopranos, Firefly and the new version of Battlestar Galactica.  Shows that I watched on DVD not when they aired on TV.  This was my first experience of binging TV shows.  With Amazon and Netflix shows like Bosch, The Man in the High Castle, Preacher and The Marvel TV shows Binging took on a whole new meaning. 

I recently bemoaned that American Gods was released one episode per week, however, some shows better savoured.  The long awaited third season of Twin Peaks and the TV version of The Handmaids Tale are perfect examples.  While every episode of American Gods leaves you wanting more Twin Peaks in particular needs time to sink in.  Part 8 is a perfect example, esoteric in the extreme and abstract in places.  After watching it, I wouldn’t have watched another episode straight after that even if it had been available.   

So what is the conclusion to all this?  Are TV shows best savoured or binge watched?  There probably isn’t an answer, it depends on the show, and the person watching it; I just thought I would share my thoughts and ramblings, what else is a blog for!

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De Palma and Me!

I have had something of a strange and strange relationship with the director Brian De Palma. I remember watching his movies as a teenager, movies like: Carrie, Obsession, The Fury, Dressed to kill, Blowout, Body Double, The Untouchables, Casualties of War, The Untouchables, Carlito’s Way, and of course Scarface. I enjoyed all of these movies, however, I was immersed enough in a in film to see some of the problems with some of them. This however, did not detract from the filmmaking skill on display. But then things changed. I went to university and started studying film. De Palma was persona non-grata. He was considered something of a hack who had built a career on ripping off Hitchcock. As an impressionable student I quickly took on this mantle too. But then I watch Carrie again and realised this is a dam good movie. And started evaluating and questioning what I’ve been taught.

Then something even stranger happened, De Palma directed the first Tom Cruise, Mission Impossible movie.  This was before the Bourne movies and before Sam Mendes had made a film, let alone a Bond film.  Given the gig to direct the first in what turned out to be a hugely successful franchise, De Palma had suddenly gained credibility by directing what was essentially an action adventure popcorn movie. The hugely successful Tom Cruise vehicle started asking questions about other similar movies within the genre. The suggestion was that James Bond maybe better if it is listed top big-name directors like De Palma.

Little did I know this was the beginning of the end for the director as his output began to slow dramatically he has today’s only made six movies in the 21 years that followed Mission Impossible. These movies have been varied to say the least. Snake eyes is a bit of a mess but a tremendous fun of a mess largely thanks to an over the top performance by Nicolas Cage and the stylish long tracking shots and use of split screen. Of the other five movies only femme fatale is interesting. It is clearly not a great movie, it is clichéd and a little disjointed; the plot is unnecessarily convoluted, having said all of this it is actually an enjoyable and fun movie to watch. And this is what De Palma its best that. His films may not be as good as those of Hitchcock but they are largely of the time and very watchable. It is difficult to imagine what more we can expect other filmmakers. True, we want to be challenged and maybe even educated but ultimately we want enjoyable entertaining experience and that is what De Palma has always given us.

Why am asking these questions and making these points now? Very simply I have just watched the documentary entitled De Palma. Hearing him talk passionately about the films he has made has reminded me how much I am enjoyed many of them and really should watch some of them again. In this age of movies that are contrived with the bottom line more important than the entertainment and artistic merit of the film we really should be embracing directors like this, directors who love what they do, directors who love movies.

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The Female Bond?

Back in 2001 I was hooked by an interesting piece of marketing.  A small booklet came with my copy of Empire film magazine.  I read it thinking it was a short story.  It was actually the first chapter of a book; Chameleon by Mark Burnell.  I went out and purchased the book and loved it.  I then went back and read the first book in the series The Rhythm Section.   It was announced yesterday that Blake Lively will star in an adaptation of the first book produced by Bond producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson and directed by Reed Morano who directed the first three episodes of the TV show The Handmaid’s Tale.

This isn’t the first time Burnell’s work has been suggested for a movie adaptation.  Back in November 2009 an article in Variety reported that Broccoli and Wilson had purchased the rights to an upcoming Mark Burnell novel Remote Control.  Neither the book or the film have appeared yet.  In fact, Burnell hasn’t published any books since 2005.

The film will probably differ greatly from the book, this isn’t a problem, like James Bond, Stephanie Patrick is a great character with a lot of millage.  A brief synopsis of the book: Following the death of her family in a plane crash the stories heroine, Stephanie Patrick is on the edge, she has developed a drug and drink problem and is working as a Soho prostitute. Her descent into self destruction is halted by a journalist who has discovered the crash that killed her family was caused by a bomb. What follows is a story of Stephanie’s search for the truth, for retribution and more than anything to find herself. This is a story about identity. She soon realises that she has moved too far from the person she was before the tragedy to ever be that person again.  She could never be the person she would have been if not for these events, she has to invent herself. This isn’t easy when she has so many aliases and plays so many different parts. She starts as Lisa, the “chemical blonde” prostitute but also becomes: Marina Gaudenzi, a Swiss businesswoman, Susan Branch, an American student Elizabeth Shepherd, an English management consultant and the most compelling alias the deadly and brutal Petra Reuter, German anarchist, mercenary and terrorist. As Stephanie gets involved with a mysterious government agency she becomes more embroiled in a terrorist plot that has frightening similarities to the September 11th terrorist attacks (the book was published two years before the attacks).

There are four books in the series:  The Rhythm Section 1999, Chameleon 2001, Gemini 2003, The Third Woman 2005.  Burnell also wrote two previous unrelated novels: a supernatural thriller Freak 1994, and a Vampire horror/love story Glittering Savages 1995.  It will be interesting to see further casting and the setting for the film, will it be set in the 90’s or updated to today?  With the inclusion of Californian Blake Lively will the character be English or American? As an international story, the origin of the character is probably not that important.  From one point of view it is good to see a female director getting the gig. From another prospective, it is a shame that it is news.  Reed Morano has a background as cinematographer.  Her debut feature was Meadowland (2015).  As well as The Handmaid’s Tale she has directed episodes of  Billions and Halt and Catch Fire.  She has an upcoming feature; I Think We’re Alone Now (2018) starring Peter Dinklage and Elle Fanning. 

For those interested in reading the book, to the best of my knowledge the book of the Rhythm Section is out of print but there are usually cheep second hand copies available from Amazon, if the film goes into production it will probably be reprinted. 

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Michael Bay has forgotten how to tell a story

Michael Bay is a director obsessed with spectacle, critic Mark Kermode has described him as having pornographic sensibilities.  His films have a certain leering quality that is sure to appeal to fourteen year old boys.  As a filmmaker this could be forgiven if not for the fact that he appears to have forgotten how to tell a story.  The perfect case in point is his latest opus Transformers: The Last Knight. 

The set-up: In Dark Ages England, Merlin (Stanley Tucci) has been keeping a crashed alien spaceship secret.  As King Arthur (Liam Garrigan) faces defeat from a hoard (I think they called them Saxons), Merlin begs the Alien for help.  He is given a staff and the aliens transform into a three headed dragon and fly to help.  1600 years later Quintessa who may or may not be the creator of the transformers plots to destroy earth to save Cybertron.

The film introduces three new main characters: Vivian Wembley (Laura Haddock), Izabella (Isabela Moner), Sir Edmund Burton (Anthony Hopkins) who are joined by Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) from the previous movie.  So what do all these new characters do to save the world? Actually not a lot:

• Cade Yeager: Uses a sword that appears from nowhere (if actually transforms from a MacGuffin) to save Optimus Prime from execution.
• Vivian Wembley: Pulls the staff (another MacGuffin) out of the ground stopping whatever the fuck is going on.
• Izabella: tells her transformer sidekick to go and blow up a gun.
• Sir Edmund Burton: not much, he is basically Basil Exposition.

To make matters worse it is suggested that Quintessa can only make her dastardly plan work with the staff that only Vivian Wembley can find.  So what do our heroes do? They track the staff down from its secret hiding place and give it to the enemy to set up the obligatory big thing hovering over earth impending doom finale required for this type of movie.  Furthermore, Viviane Wembly’s presence is only required as she is the last living member of the “Witwiccan”, does this mean that Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky (seen in a photograph) is dead. 

So in summation, the plot of the movie is: The big bad has a plan that can’t come to fruition without the help of the heroes finding a MacGuffin.  The heroes only know of the existence of the MacGuffin because the person who is supposed to keep it secret has told them about it.  Not only do they lead the enemy to the MacGuffin but they hand it over then go on a mission to get it back.  For a film that is about two and half hours long it appears they forgot to write a middle act, the film is equal parts set-up, exposition and conclusion.

Please Michael Bay, if you intend to make more movies go away and learn how to tell a story. 

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Movie of the Month: June 2017

Eight films is a somewhat improvement of last Junes sport interrupted three.  Amongst them there are two films that would have been movie of the month contenders in other months along with the eventual winner that as we hit the half way point of the year is certainly on my shortlist for the year end top ten. The contenders are:

Wonder Woman: Origin story of Wonder Woman from Diana an Amazon princess through her first adventure.  Perfect castling, a good story and sublime direction make for a classy comic book movie.  I would go as far as to say, the best DC movie since The Dark Knight nearly a decade ago.

Gifted: Family drama about a single man raising a child maths prodigy.  Not totally original but not falling into all the clichés you would expect.  Its greatest strength is its performances couples with well told story.  Proof if you needed it that Chris Evans has a career beyond Cap.  

The Mummy: Universal launches its “Dark Universe” reimagining its classic monsters.  Unfortunately, it isn’t very good.  There are some good moments,  Tom Cruise and Sofia Boutella are good, Russell Crowe is terrible.  All in all, it is a missed opportunity. 

My Cousin Rachel: A young man is unsure whether to plot revenge against, or fall in love with his late cousin’s widow who may or may not have killed him.  Rachel Weisz is sensational in this Daphne Du Maurier adaptation.  Not perfect but extremely good. 

Baby Driver: the story of a getaway driver since before he was old enough to drive sounds like a genre B picture, in a way Baby Driver is, but in the best way.  Is it Edgar Wright’s best film?  That is too subjective to answer, but it is certainly his most accomplished and my favourite. 

Churchill: Brian Cox is perfect as Winston Churchill, Miranda Richardson is even better as Clementine Churchill.  The film is both interesting and largely enjoyable but considering the subject matter sadly a little lightweight and insignificant. 

The Book of Henry: With a Rotten Tomatoes rating in the low 20’s  and reviews including: “Grotesquely phony and manipulative” and “a sub-Spielbergian pastiche, “The Book of Henry” is mostly a tedious”. This is unkind, the movie is flawed and predicable (other than the mid movie left turn/genre change) but is well made and well acted.  it isn’t great but it doesn’t disserve the vitriol. 

Transformers: The Last Knight: A total mess of a film with an ill-conceived and poorly realised plot.  It looks good and the actors appear to be having fun.  There is little to recommend it beyond saying it is less offensive than the last couple of instalments of the franchise. 

Had it found its way to the screen in any other month, there is a good chance Wonder Woman would have achieved the accolade of movie of the month, but there is one film that is head and shoulders above the rest, the movie of the month is:

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