While this is ostensibly intended for longer form reviews and such I will use this inaugural entry as a brief roundup of what I’ve been watching lately, good, mediocre or otherwise. Just recent.
TV
“Bosch” – Amazon Prime
I am probably biased towards this series because I love the books and characters of the Michael Connelly series, but we have really been enjoying it. Titus Wellever is excellent in the title role, and you get to see the wonderful Lance Reddick in some of his last work. It avoids at least the more obvious tropes it might have fallen into – wannabe noir, standard police procedural – and there is some fun minor character development that is engaging. And it is a bonus feature for us as they run around LA and we get to say “Hey, we’ve been there.”
“Landman” – Paramount+
I don’t know if this is before Taylor Sheridan became an idiot or he just kept it together for this one – we might find out as season two is slowly coming but we haven’t started yet – but it is solid. Billy Bob Thornton is at his irascible best and the rest of the cast keeps up. The writing occasionally begins to strain credulity but then snaps back when you realize that some of the stuff that makes you start to say “no way” actually becomes readily plausible. It’s weird and oddly disconcerting. It is also genuinely funny at surprising times.
**A note on Sheridan, while he apparently has become a total dickhead as he takes over the industry – he has four shows actively running, two shooting and two in development all while his Yellowstone universe continues to be widely watched – and some of his projects were just plain bad, I remind myself that he wrote “Sicario” and “Hell or High Water” so he still has some grace coming, from me at least. I actually really liked the first couple of seasons of Yellowstone until it went oh so far south. I blame Kevin Costner. I don’t know if it was his fault but he deserves plenty of blame just in general.
“Great British Baking Show” – Netflix
I couldn’t give a damn about baking – I think I went through a phase of homemade biscuits once but that’s about it – but this is show is great. We just finished the last season and will probably go looking for seasons we missed while waiting for new. I have no idea why, but there is just something amazingly comfortable and happy and fulfilling about it. And Noel Fielding is a gem.
MOVIES
“Midnight Sky” – Starring and directed by George Clooney, while probably sci-fi it does a certain amount of genre defying. It has some pacing issues but is nice to look at and I will admit to being pretty gripped for the most part. I wouldn’t go out of your way but it ain’t bad.
“Train Dreams” – This on the other hand I recommend heartily. A lovely and quiet love story and personal journey hidden in a period piece, it is gorgeous and compelling. Joel Edgerton – finally getting the love I feel is long overdue – is fabulous and some small parts are played very well by others. Good stuff.
“Frankenstein” – Sigh. Because I love Guillermo del Toro so much and this seemed like a move he was perfect for I might have had outsized expectations, but I was underwhelmed. To be sure in many ways it was as much or even more del Toro as I could have hoped for – incredible to look at, grandiose and subtle all at once and always slightly off balance – it just didn’t take. There were no glaring flaws or anything, the principals (Oscar Isaac as the Dr., Christopher Waltz as someone not in the Shelley and Jacob Elordi as the Monster) were all excellent as expected – especially Elordi, and there was plenty to engage with throughout. I honestly don’t know why it didn’t work, but I don’t think I’m willing to revisit it to find out. Oh, I will say that the always seamless connection of set, costume and production design of which del Toro is the master was on fine display. Nobody does that better.
I’ll circle back at some point to some of the stuff I really loved next time. Thanks for reading.