What's To Watch? - Dec 2 - Seasonal Spirits, Mayhem, Monsters and more of Various Sizes and Nationalities

 

      Wow. So, it's December already.
 
     A busy, off-balance week for me, which I suppose makes it fairly typical. Unwanted distractions of all sorts enhanced my time mismanagement, and additional problems now find me rushing through buttoning down this likely Netflix-heavy entry.

     Oh, with this sort of weekly column I'd be remiss if I didn't at least mention the relative bombshell that just dropped, as Amazon Prime essentially poached Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy (The Haunting, Midnight Mass, etc.) from Netflix, signing them to a multi-year series development deal for Amazon. This naturally flowed into Netflix's announcement just a few hours later that their most recent series creation for Netflix, The Midnight Club, has been canceled after its debut season. Prime's overall financial situation is stronger than Netflix's, and they've recently been ramping their spending up much as Netflix had a few years back.

     Speaking of Amazon, I haven't gotten around to starting it yet, but it seems that everyone I've come across who's mentioned it has done so in a complementary way. It's a new series, starring Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer in a 6-part, revenge-driven western, it's The English.

     One of the odd things about this on Amazon is that they dropped the whole thing at once, Netflix style -- which is even odder since the Brits are seeing it on BBC2 as a weekly that will wrap December 15th.

     Over on Disney+, another of the properties they scooped up as part of the Lucasfilm buy-out years back, was the 1988 fantasy film Willow. I'll be completely honest on the point that I barely recall it, likely only catching it once on video back in the day. 1988 was a year of huge changes for me, when my free time started to take the first of several major hits. A Val Kilmer and Warwick Davis-starring fantasy adventure was something hanging out there in isolation, and it barely caught my attention. As is the way of things, it turns out it's a cherished memory for many others. As it's there as an offering, too, and it's where I'd be started in (re)acquainting myself, here's the trailer (in a fairly odd aspect ratio for some reason...) for that movie from 34 years ago:

     Here in 2022, Disney+ not only has the '88 movie, but just this week launched the first, 8-episode season of a sequel series of exactly the same name. The first two episodes arrived this past Wednesday, with new single episodes set to drop each Wednesday through January 11th. Judging by one fan of the original movie, who I know, the new series seems to conjure the same magic.

    Arrived on Netflix just this Wednesday is a Spanish film, set mainly in France, based "freely" on the life of Lucio Urtubia, an anarchist, bricklayer, and bank robber who targeted one of the world's biggest banks with a huge scam. It's A Man of Action (2022 TV-MA  1h 51m)

     Trying to force myself to at least point out a broader variety of items, another Wednesday arrival, also on Netflix, is what has all the signs of being another overly-excited, holiday-connected rom com with contrived misadventures, cliched characters, and an overload of Opposites Attract. An overly-planned man finds his girlfriend cheating on him, and ends up replacing her with a manic pixie-girl he meets, simply to get through the holidays with his family. At least initially, of course, she's a disaster. Roving Netflix agents apparently scour the world in their endless search for "content" -- and this one I believe they brought back from Brazil. It's A Christmas Full of Grace (2022  1h 45m)

     I suppose most of the fun in things like this is either looking to see if there's some breakout talent showing - someone who'll be mainstreamed in a few years - or just to guess who'll be cast in a U.S. remake.
     Arriving alongside that, also on Netflix, this one from Italy, a former Mafia enforcer whose buried past comes back to haunt him, and his daughter (three separate pieces on this film assure me she's "feisty") hide out in Milan, after the rest of their family is killed. There he brings his daughter up to speed on what he used to do for a living, and they plot their revenge. My Name Is Vendetta (2022 1h 30m)

     Arrived Thursday on Netflix, this time out of Norway, something huge and destructive awakens deep in the Dovre Mountain.  It's a Norwegian-American film more or less in the mold of Godzilla with aspects of King Kong. It's Troll (2022 1h 41m)

     I get the general sense that for what seems to be a central quartet of characters, they're each there simply and almost cartoonishly to fulfill one, specific role. Maybe I'm just concentrating too much on panicky, comic relief guy. Still, it looks as if it may be fun. And it's turning out to be just that.

     Likely adding to the "Was This Trip Necessary?" File, arriving on Netflix today is a seasonal offering from Timeless Films. An animated musical -- yet another Dickens adaptation, it's Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022  1h 36m)

     A well-worn narrative, to say the least, and the animation seems to make Dickens' London and everyone in it cuter and cleaner than one would have any reason to expect. On the other hand, I've read that they did make some tweaks to Scrooge's backstory and motivations in an attempt to make his origins and the path that led him here a little more relatable. Most of us, myself certainly included, may have grown too jaded for this, and I can't say this is firmly on my list of things to watch anytime soon, but I had to at least note its arrival. The core story endures for a reason, and I must remind myself that this will be for some people the first version of this story they'll see, and given all the truly crappy, compressed versions we've seen (especially as "special episodes" of sitcoms), I can't damn this one simply based on the trailer.

     If you instead want a sci-fi action film, this is a Chinese one out of Hong Kong, set in the year 2055. A world ravaged by mech-assisted war, the environment now so horribly polluted that what remains of humankind is failing to thrive. A meteor brings an invasive plant that quickly grows huge, not only spreading, but attacking destructively each time it rains -- however, it's also purifying the environment. Decisions, decisions...  This is Warriors of the Future (99m)

     What I've read is that it's visually strong, which makes sense as this is the directorial debut for someone whose career up until now has been as a visual effects artist, but is weak and conflicted in terms of plot and script. Well, hey, did anyone expect there wouldn't be more Michael Bays out there? It's fantastically lucrative line of work, if you can swing it.

    Coming to Netflix this Saturday is a Brad Pitt-starring action comedy, in a layered, manic adventure, with plots upon plots, double crosses, deceptions, mistaken identities, with players fueled by cash or vengeance. Pitt plays "Ladybug", an operative who really just wants out of the game following several missions where things went wrong and people died, and is only there as a last-minute fill-in for someone else. It all happens in Japan, aboard a Bullet Train (2022 R 126m)

     Mixed critical reviews, it still managed to do well at the box office. Often implausible action and eccentric characters are the show.

     Next Thursday, HBO Max will see the start of season four of Doom Patrol. I'm hoping I find it as  overall delightful as season three proved to be.

     Season one ultimately found its footing and worked for me, season two had several problems and likely got too mired in backstory, then ended up being truncated by pandemic shutdowns and was hastily recut for a nominal season-ender, but moved things forward, season three hit a fun rhythm once they cleaned up season two's loose ends. They're all over there on HBO Max.

     I've run out of time (again! Well, its inevitable) for this week! My Friday's fragmented from the start, between work demands, things that need doing at home, and being forced to find some accommodation with FedEx... but those are my problems. I hope this finds you well, and something in the piece above was good, or at least promising, news! - Mike