What's To Watch? - Dec 23 - Pocket O' Leisure

 

     I'll note - potentially apologize for? - this week's piece not having a real holiday theme... aside, I suppose, for anticipating more leisure time in the coming week for most of us. While we'll likely all be getting to spend some time with family and friends in here somewhere, there are at least three, big, viral infections out there, leaving me wondering how many people will either be out sick, or dragging their diseased selves back into the workplace to spread it all anew, when we step into the new year in about 11 days.
    My slow, gradual move into Apple TV+ territory continues. Since last time, I completed the

remainder of Ted Lasso's second season - the most recent - and so have that behind me. The second season ended with much more emotional weight, but still much more in a good way than a threatening one. Much for fans to conjure with as they await season three, likely somewhere off in 2023, when the series will conclude. My expectations are that it will finish strong, but optimistically open. The ripples started by Ted spreading and, within the natures of each of those whom he's influenced, magnifying. A world of optimism to conjure with. I would welcome that.

     The downsides of moving on from Ted and his world, includes almost anything else seeming depressing in contrast.
     This is all the truer since I've moved on to another series of a very, very different sort and mood, that I'd also only heard and read good things about: the psychological thriller science fiction series Severence.
     The arguably hellish concept at the heart of this series is the titular procedure, severence, where via the deep implantation of a small device, one's brain has been effectively split into two beings, access of each to their surroundings dictated by the how that inner switch is set by outside tech.
     When someone with this procedure is at work, they have no memories of their life outside of work. Indeed, they can't recall anything of their non-work existence. Whether or not they're married or in some other relationship. Whether or not they still have parents, what their names are or what they look like.

     When they arrive at work, before proceeding to their section of the building, they go to a locker to leave their phone and personal effects, retrieve their badge, a generic watch, etc., then ride a single-person, creepily claustrophobic elevator to their work level, during which elevator ride the partition switching of their brain occurs. Their existence, that of both of these beings, is a series of shifts, beginning and ending in that elevator. There is an extremely sophisticated scanner system in the elevator, employees are told, capable of detecting any form of communication, so information can't be smuggled in or out.
     The result, which is formally ignored as a matter of corporate convenience, is that one person is divided into two, distinct entities -- given two, mutually-exclusive existences. The work self is, in terms of conscious existence, always on the job, and has no recollection of any aspects of the person's non-work life, activities and relationship. The workplace is the only world they've ever known, and whatever notions of art and literature they have have solely been shaped by corporate materials. The non-work self (colloquially referenced as an

"outie" by the work personas) has no recollection of what they do on the job. As the ramifications of the severence procedure, which they are told is irreversible, are explained ahead of time, and the prospective employee reads a set of cards explaining it for a recording to be played for their understandably disoriented work self, certain legal requirements are fulfilled, and there's a plausible, if suspect, sense that everything is purely voluntary.
     For the prospective employee, the future outie, it's not difficult to understand that it seems a sweet deal. While one will still be missing the chunks of time demanded by the workplace, the person is otherwise sold the idea that they'll never know another moment of workplace tedium, of personally meaningless drudgery as they do whatever they do. They're freed to lead a conscious life potentially filled only with activities of their own choosing. funded by an unseen, unfelt existence during those weekdaily stretches that disappear between elevator rides.
     Each work persona's life begins with them waking up, alone, sprawled on a large conference table, to the prompts of a voice over a speaker.
     The workplace identity has only and will only ever exist inside the workplace, so were they to resign (how much that even really is an option comes into question before long) it would not even merely mean the end of their existence, but their erasure. Aside from the memories of the workmates and supervisors they left behind, it would be as if they never existed. How much this resonates with our personal realities will vary widely from person to person.
     It's all a dark take on the distinctly deceptive, arguably, oddly (and unintentionally, I'm sure) dehumanizing Human Resource rhetoric of "work-life balance."

     
     Such a drastically darker mood, trying to binge this would be painful. Plus, both from the base concept and the developments as we go, there's a need to step away from it and process the information. So.... this was relatively, deservedly, slow-going. Which was fine, as it's not as if I was in a rush. Still, I was through it by mid-week.
     There's so much to discuss about the series details, the metaphors in play, etc., but only among those who've seen it. I've tried not to spoil anything with the above.
     The 9-episode first season ran on Apple TV+ from February 18th to April 8th this year. The announcement that it had been granted a second season was made in April. That new season began filming in October, and it set to wrap that stage by mid-May, so I'm presuming the season will run late in 2023.

     It was only yesterday that I looked around again for recent additions, and found that season three of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, the John Krasinski-starring political thriller series, dropped in a single packet on Wednesday, the 21st. Season two landed back in November 2019, which is long enough ago that I'd forgotten the full season drop was how this show has come out each season. So, it's something for fans to have as a binging option as they roll into the holiday block. With the various winter weather conditions most seem to be facing this year, providing the power and Internet connections hold, having something to stay inside with is a good idea. I'd first noted the series when I tried out the first season back in late 2019, shortly before the second season appeared. As noted then, political action thrillers weren't so much my thing, but the series drew me in. Here's the season three trailer.

     In checking on this, I see that they announced a fourth season just before releasing this one, aiming to have that out, possibly, by late next year. That will also be the final season for this series, though they're at the same time developing a spin-off series for Michael Peña's Ding Chavez character.
     Pulled me straight in and through, over a few sessions between Friday and sometime Sunday, though it did feel a little forced/staged during parts of the final two episodes. Minor quibble, though.
     As a sidelight - nothing to do with this series - I did find it a little odd that once this wrapped it lined me up for the 2014 Chris Pine movie, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. I'm going to presume it's maybe the only movie in the series that is currently running openly for Prime members, as opposed to behind a paywall. What makes it a little funny is that it's such a forced entry in the series, having originally been written for other characters - nothing to do with Jack Ryan or anything by Tom Clancy - but was subsequently rewritten to be a Jack Ryan film.

     Speaking of Prime, I'll once again recommend Three Pines, a detective series starring Alfred Molina as Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Adapted from Louise Penny's series of novels, the fourth and final pair of episodes of that show's first season arrive today on that streamer. Well-received critically, and with what appears to be a cast enthusiastic about their characters and the production, I'm hoping to soon read of a second season being approved. Being streaming content, the more people giving it a try the better the chances are Amazon will greenlight a second season; given the number of source novels, I expect that part of the reason this was chosen in the first place was a combination of knowing the characters already have a print fan base, and that there's ample material for multiple seasons.
     The series took us through a gripping finale, one that will make most viewers very angry with Amazon should they fail to give us a second season. It continued to be worth the investment of time through all eight episodes.
    
     While any number of things can spoil it, we've entered the end-of year stretch when I try to take something resembling a block of days off from work. I started it by Thursday night, as I tried to clear some final, pre-holiday work items. No battle plan surviving contact with the enemy, some things are spilling over into today. Still, I'm much more on holiday now than not... even if I'm not really prepared for the holiday.

     Back to streaming --

     Following a brief theatrical preview last month, today Netflix sees the arrival of Rian Johnson's sequel to 2019's Knives Out. Daniel Craig reprises his role as master detective Benoit Blanc, back again to solve a murder among a wealthy group in an exclusive setting. -- Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022  PG-14  2h 19m)

     I'd seen very promising reviews for this when it hit theaters last month for its surprisingly brief theatrical run.
     Great fun! Wonderful cast, and as much as I enjoyed Knives Out I enjoyed this one more.

    Saturday the 24th sees a Screen Gems theatrical release from late summer reaching Netflix, a horror thriller.
     Evie, a young, struggling artist who's recently lost her mother, the only family she's ever known, takes a DNA test. The results connect her to a distant cousin in England, part of a very white, wealthy, family, who fills her in on the family scandal involving her grandmother, Emmaline, and a Black footman, that a generation later led to Evie. This leads to an invitation to come to a wedding, and an opportunity to meet more of the family she never knew. It's The Invitation (2022 R 104m) - though in what seems to be an all too common move, the trailer is not at all shy about giving much of the movie away.

     Most of the negative critical reviews were of the genre-jaded type, who found the film too formulaic and banal, with scenes, dialogues and scares that seemed too familiar and expected after having seen too many romance and Dracula films. It performed relatively well at the box office, though, being a commercial success.
     It's not to be confused with the Liam Hemsworth movie of the same name from 2016.
     I almost didn't bother putting the above into the mix -- it's by far the least likely choice for me during this holiday block -- but I try to remember that different things appeal to different people, and this entertainment-on-demand age is all about options.

        Arriving Sunday, Christmas Day, on Netflix is this year's film production of Roald Dahl's Matilda the Musical. The musical version was first developed as a stage production in 2011, with usually comedic composer-performer Tim Minchin. Most of Minchin's songs for that production carried over into this film, though some were cut to keep the run time manageable, and he came back to compose a new closing number for the film.
     Here's the trailer.

     Another Christmas Day Netflix arrival is a four-part prequel series, telling of the creation of the prototype Witcher, the events leading to the Conjunction of the Spheres, merging the worlds of monsters, elves and men. It's The Witcher: Blood Origin

     As ever, I'm certain I'm overlooking/neglecting various other shows and movies, but aside from the above and more than a few other items I've covered in just the past month of so of Friday pieces, I have other things to get done during this end-of-year break, before the jaws of the new year yawn wide and swallow us whole. I'm sure the same goes for you.

     As an odd but potentially interesting item, a 30-minute documentary on Glen Goode and the fiberglass giants known as Muffler Men. Only edited together and released earlier this week, free for all to see via YouTube.

     While I know we still have just over a week to go in 2022, and the gruesome reality is that we're likely to lose another figure of stage and/or screen in the time that remains, but here's the most recent TCM Remembers reel for 2022. I'm choosing to do this now, though, with Christmas and the last week of the year as an emotional buffer, as I don't want the final couple days of the year to be a morose look backward.
     I'd forgotten we'd lost so many this year. Some almost immediately lost in the flurry of other events. More than a few, I'd specifically forgotten they passed this year until their faces appeared. They'd used such a young reference for character actor and musician Conrad Janis that the face didn't immediately spark recognition, but the name did.
     I expect this reel will get at least one, last minute update in 2022, as they've already missed the death of director Mike Hodges this past Saturday, known for a broad slate of films, from crime thrillers including Get Carter (1971), and Pulp (1972), to campy action with Flash Gordon (1980).
     The nods to all go by too quickly, most getting perhaps two seconds. Maybe watch it through once, then during a second time pause it, frequently, to open another screen and dive into that person's life and career.

     One thing these year-end remembrance reels does is to remind me to try - try - to look a little into the details of people who are still around. To better appreciate them while they're still here.
     Oh! A timely update, thanks to a heads-up from Terry Beatty.
     Tinseltown, the Holiday Movie Podcast, has uploaded a long-lost kinescope of a live, 1959 broadcast of Miracle on 34th Street. This one has Ed Wynn in the main role, and Orson Bean buried a little more in the cast. I haven't watched it yet, but I'm interested! Originally aired November 27, 1959.

     I'm glad something more seasonal made its way into this week's mix -- and it's another free one, too!
     This was a good adaptation, well worth having been saved. Wynn being Wynn, made an affable lead. Orson Bean plays the Macy's psychologist, Dr. Sawyer, and so the snarky, pedantic foil for Wynn's Kris Kringle. Bean perhaps played him a little comically over-the-top, but I'm sympathetic because who really wants to be an effective villain in this story? Peter Lind Hayes and Mary Healy, a married couple since 1940, often playing as a pair (they even co-hosted an episode of the Tonight Show in 1962, along with having their own sitcom for a season the year before that) played the other leads. Susan Gordon, a child actress who'd mostly worked in television from the end of the '50s through the late '60s, did a nice turn as Susan Walker, the little girl who, following her mother's lead, was skeptical of Kris.
     The commercial spots for Westclox, the show's sponsor, were all done by Betsy Palmer - film and tv actress and personality (including game show panelist, especially I've Got A Secret, where she was a regular for 375 episodes) primarily of the '50s and '60s, though for especially for those under 50 she's likely best known for being Mrs. Vorhees, Jason's mother, in the original Friday the 13th (1980) - a role she only took because it was quick work and gave her a check she could immediately use to replace her then recently-dead car. She normally would have turned her nose up at that sort of film, but the timing and money a serendipitous fit. It essentially delivered a whole new fan base and a refreshed career for her once she embraced it. 

     I hope this finds you warm, safe, comfortable, and able to enjoy a little peace and some good company here in the depths of the season. When next we get together it'll be to see the year out,and see the first signs of the new one. - Mike