Though it seems they aren’t exactly out of work…
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The Crown (Season 5)
Still very good, and then suddenly Timothy Dalton appears, and despite his advancing age he is still absolutely commanding and charismatic.
Someone, finance a spy movie with him!
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Sad about Westworld. But I can’t say I’m surprised, given the low ratings for Season 4.
We’ve been watching Avenue 5, an HBO series, and also Mr. Inbetween, a dark comedy out of Australia. Scott Ryan is remarkable in the lead role. And, for a bit of lighter viewing, we are watching Yes Minister, if you can believe it. Rewatching, actually. My husband was a fan back from before we met, and so after we got together I started watching it with him. I’m pretty sure PBS was carrying it at the time. It’s amazing how much of the satire still holds up today! But it’s also a little sad to realize that all of the actors in the original main cast have passed on.
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Deserves a long life. It holds up magnificently.
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If bleakly predicted the future…
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Again, emphasised the series loyalty to the game - the biggest change in the trailer is Ellie’s mother turning up, played by the actress who played Ellie in the game; Ashley Johnson (I gather Troy Baker also appears in the series, but he doesn’t seem to be in the trailer)
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Features the constantly under-used Olga Kurylenko.
Summary
One word Marvel? Really?!?
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Okay, since the next Doctor Who has started shooting I finally sat down to watch the great Jodie Whittaker‘s final season Flux.
Again, I love Whittaker as the Doctor, and she is great in this season, too.
But, again, she is wasted in a story which is developed so thinly, explaining exposition constantly and still ending up uninvolving and boring, despite throwing everything at the viewer in break neck speed.
And why, oh, why did they decide to spend less time with her Doctor in all her seasons and give too much time to too many companions?
One compelling companion is enough, and it worked so well for Tennant.
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The crowded TARDIS was one of many Chibnall ideas that just didn’t work out. Of that era it was Graham who came off best, mostly due to Bradly Walsh having the biggest personality. Flux was especially frustrating as it looked like they were about to just have the Doctor and Yaz but then dropped Dan in too. Nothing wrong with Dan, just would have liked a bit more focus on the existing companion.
Flux may have fallen apart at the end but it had it’s moment, War of the Sontarans was the standout for for me. The dog aliens were fun and I really liked the villains Swarm and Azure, up until the last episode anyway.
And speaking of Doctor Who, this dropped yesterday:
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Agree 100%
“Maybe there’s some world where it can get completed somehow,” Marsden noted. “Maybe that’s just wishful thinking, because I know we had plans to finish it the way we wanted to.”
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Definitely agree that Jodie Whittaker never got her moment as the Doctor. I blame the writing as much as anything. And, yes, there were too many companions, none of them given a really compelling relationship with the Doctor. Yaz almost got it … but not quite.
The last half hour of “The Power of the Doctor” made the whole thing worth it, but I just am not a fan of Sacha Dhawan’s Master. That undermined the finale, at least for me. (Possible spoilers in the summary:)
Summary
The end wasn’t a total surprise to me (and I wish it had been), because I’d read the news about David Tennant returning. So it was just a question of how it was going to be done. It was one of the better moments of the episode. If you’re looking to score, the end is a good place to do it.
But I felt rather underwhelmed by the rest of it. A lot of frenetic activity, but also a lot of exposition which, as the mantra goes, if you’ve got to explain things, then maybe the story isn’t as coherent as it should be. That’s my main frustration with Chris Chibnall’s writing. He seems to feel the need to explain too much. I think he missed the “show, don’t tell” rule of writing. I was also surprised by the early exit of one current companion, and the later return of another recent one. The timing of both muted the emotional impact of farewell and reunion … at least for me.
And, did we have to have Cybermen … and Daleks … and the Master, all in the same story? I suppose the three-pronged threat, a sort of hit parade of the Doctor’s greatest foes, was meant to heighten our sense of imminent danger, but for me all it did was to clutter up an already convoluted plot.
On the plus side: The many faces of the Doctor was done well, as was the return of two long-ago companions. I especially enjoyed Ace, who doesn’t seem to have missed a step from her youth.
And I enjoyed Jodie Whittaker. I still think she was under-served by her scripts, but I also appreciate all that she did to bring her Doctor to life. Even if her Doctor wasn’t all that she could have been, as written, I think she gave her all to the role.
I must say, this teaser trailer has me excited in a way that’s sadly been missing during this most recent run. Warning, lots of potential spoilers!
But why, oh why must they move Doctor Who exclusively to Disney+ (outside of the UK)? I really don’t want to sign up for yet another subscription streaming service.
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Turns out this is more than a TV series, it’s a Tomb Raider “universe” spanning TV, film, and games.
If that’s how Amazon is seeing MGM properties…
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MGM’s rights expired when they were sharing it with WB. Then Amazon bought everything so MGM probably now have more they can do with Tomb Raider when they originally “owned” it. Funny how life plays out.
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Currently watching True Detective on HBO. First season: Amazing! Gave me a whole new appreciation for Matthew McConaughey. The pairing with Woody Harrelson was perfect. This is my first exposure to Cary Joji Fukunaga’s directing work, other than No Time to Die. We’re about halfway through the second season and, while not as impressive as the first, is still better than much of what’s on TV. It’s an anthology series, so each season features a completely different cast and directors. Fukunaga directed the entire first season, while the second season has several different directors, but the writer has been the same throughout both seasons. Hoping that Season 3 comes closer to the eerie perfection of Season 1.
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While I also like season 2, season 3 is again more in line with the tone of season 1.
Still different but on its own extremely well done. Enjoy!
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Binged Extraordinary. Was not at all what I was expecting, but absolutely hilarious. The casting of Siobhán McSweeney and Ardal O’Hanlon as Jen’s parents was definitely a declaration of intent.
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YES
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