Consequently, I've been running light on video viewing in favor of getting sleep when I could this week.
The final episode of the Steve Carell-starring The Patient released on Hulu this week, wrapping that drama with thoughtful weight. A self-contained, ten-episode miniseries, just understand going in that it's not a comedy. While I've seen Carell in many popular items that I didn't really care for, I enjoyed him much more here as a quiet, steady psychologist trying to navigate an unusual, dire and desperate situation.
I've so far only gotten through the first three of the eight tales in Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities (Netflix; I talked about them in advance last week), finding them varied and generally well-acted so far. The opener, "Lot 36", is a tad heavy-handed with the moral message, and ends much as one would expect. "Graveyard Rats" is a manic, gothic, period romp, buoyed by main character Masson's (David Hewlett) plaintive, comically ever-shifting, moral relativism. That it has a fairly Tales From the Crypt-ish ending wasn't unexpected, but was less than hoped for.
Of the opening three, the third, "The Autopsy", has been the most striking. David S. Goyer wrote the screenplay, adapting a short story by Michael Shea, and it was very nicely directed by David Prior. It's a surprisingly rich, layered tale. Set in a small, coal mining town, with F. Murray Abraham as a forensic pathologist dispatched to the town in the wake of a suspicious mine disaster, and Glynn Turman as the similarly elderly local sheriff who is bending under the weight of too many bad days. It grabbed me from the opening shot, as what seemed to be starry sky is revealed to be the wall of a coal mine; that's quite a mental shift. As for the story itself, I couldn't help but draw some parallels between Abraham's character here and Carell's Dr. Strauss in The Patient, mentioned just above. Thoughtful people making extremely difficult choices.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the collection, including the two Lovecraft adaptations that arrived Thursday. As of today all eight stories are in place. I'm encouraged that the best of them still lie ahead of me.
Also looked forward to will be this week's new episode of The Peripheral (also among last week's previews) on Amazon Prime. That's the William Gibson novel adaptation, set both in a future not too far off, and one around the turn of the next century.
Arriving today on Amazon Prime is another of the film releases that was almost sadistically tortured by the COVID-19 pandemic. It had its world premiere at Sundance January 27, 2020, but both the scheduled South By Southwest screening in March and the May theatrical releases were scuttled by pandemic closures. That May, Amazon acquired distribution rights for it... and then for some reason waited all this time to release it.
A single mother gets set up by her boss for a date with a high-end client. He's solicitous and charming... until he suddenly is the opposite. She's forced to flee on foot, and soon finds refuge is difficult to find, and that her pursuer has far more influence and control than she'd imagine.
It's Run Sweetheart Run (2020 R 97m) Screenwriter and director Shana Feste based the film on a traumatizing blind date and sexual assault experience in which she had to flee on foot.
Also just arrived on Amazon Prime is a six-part, British, thriller series starring Jessica Raine and Peter Capaldi. The sole plot information offered early on in the (light) promotion of this is: A woman who wakes up every night at exactly 3.33AM, in the middle of the so-called devil's hour between 3AM and 4AM. Beyond that and the cast, I only have this trailer. It's The Devil's Hour (2022) They decided to drop this Netflix style, with all six episodes available at once.
Coming to Netflix on Monday, Halloween, is a four-part drama-thriller directed and written by Steven Moffat, directed by Scottish film and television director Paul McGuigan. It aired on BBC One in late September/ early October to oddly mixed reviews due, reasonably enough, to mixed and uneven content. Several reviewers who were drawn into what seemed to be an examination of human nature and a capacity for violence, but felt it was upended by plot flaws and silly actions that suddenly veered into sitcom territory. That it seems to be at least in part built on a compounding cascade of mistakes once a vicar (Tennant) accepts something exceptionally toxic on a memory stick from a parishioner - one or more lives will be destroyed - and foolishly treats it too cavalierly. How far will someone who believes himself to be good go to protect himself and others?
With David Tennant and Stanley Tucci in prime roles, and Moffat usually managing something entertaining, I'll likely give it a look. It's Inside Man (2022)
As I've been enjoying the new, ongoing adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire (AMC/AMC+), for this week's free-to-all choice I'll once more send you to Tubi to watch the Tom Cruise/Brad Pitt 1994 theatrical version, which has much to offer. Now that the tv adaptation has gotten into its version of the story of the adopted daughter, Claudia, I'm curious to refresh myself for the compare and contrast. I'll also note that that one's on a short fuse, with that film set to disappear from Tubi once Halloween's done. Here's the trailer:
At the moment, that's what I have to offer this week. Aside from what's mentioned this week, take a look at previous Friday posts for more choices -- we're awash in choices!
I'm spent and in need of realignment and a recharge before being able to face another work week. Ever dizzied by time's passage, I can't quite grasp that when we next get together we'll be four days into November. I'd better start stocking up for Thanksgiving! -- Mike.
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