Originally published on 22 April 2020.
Last updated on 6 January 2021.
After I stopped writing my yearly “Best Of” articles in 2014, I still wanted to update my friends on what I watched and give some comments and recommendations. First I did so on Google Plus, but those posts are unfortunately lost to the void. Since 2017 I’ve been giving quarterly updates on Facebook, and since Spring 2020 I’m also publishing them here. I don’t change the language, nor do I adjust the recommendations with insights I gain after the fact. The only modifications I make are corrections of grammar mistakes, and the additions of some markup and images. Below are the posts covering 2020.
As always, you can find the entire list of all the movies, series and documentaries I’ve seen here.
2020 Q1
Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)
Career Opportunities (1991)
Crazy Rich Asians (2018)
Hip-Hop Evolution (2016, Season 3-4)
Jojo Rabbit (2019)
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017)
Little Women (2019)
Macross Plus (1994)
Memory: The Origins of Alien (2019)
Professor Marston & the Wonder Women (2017)
Sex Education (2019, Season 1)
The Irishman (2019)
Tomb Raider: The Final Hours - A Story of Survival (2013)
True Detective (2014, Season 3)
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
Vikings (2013, Season 4)
Bohemian Rhapsody: the third movie I saw within a year (after Yesterday and Rocket Man) where a British band/artist provides the background of the movie, Bohemian Rhapsody has all the great Queen songs and a stunning performance by Rami Malek as the late Freddy Mercury. Apparently it’s historically wildly inaccurate but that was no issue to me as I know relatively little about Queen. Ignorance is bliss.
Career Opportunities: Sure, it’s written by John Hughes and I like high school comedies, but I admit watching this mainly because Jennifer Connelly is the lead actress. She can’t save a stinker of a script.
Crazy Rich Asians: rom-coms are firmly within my wheelhouse and there’s a lot of glamour to look at, but very little romance (or chemistry) and even less comedy. Waiting for scene-stealing Awkwafina’s spin-off.
Hip-hop Evolution: the third and fourth season feel less sparkly and interesting than the first two. Maybe because the characters are less vivid, or because the hip-hop is less gripping as it moves from underground to mainstream?
Jojo Rabbit: a touching coming-of-age story set in Nazi Germany in which the protagonist is a small boy who has Adolf Hitler as an imaginary friend. The movie is much less silly than the trailer implies. This could’ve failed on so many levels but writer/director/actor Taika Waititi (“What We Do in the Shadows”, “Thor: Ragnarok”) hits it out of the park.
Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle: I have never watched the 1995 original (yeah, I know, heresy) but this remake is surprisingly fun.
Little Women (2019) on Little Women: this is the seventh movie adaptation of the 1868 novel by Louisa May Alcott. (I was only familiar with number 5, with Wynona Ryder, Kirsten Dunst and Claire Danes.) This version, written and directed by Greta Gerwig (Lady Bird) and stars Saoirse Ronan, Emma Watson, Florence Pugh, etc. It might be the definition of “Oscar bait” but it hit me right in the feels, and shows that you can find new ways to tell a story 151 years after it is originally published. Highly recommended.
Macross Plus: a 4-episode mini-series that’s somehow connected to the bigger Macross saga (just don’t ask me how) this story is much easier to grasp than Super Space Fortress Macross. It basically boils down to Top Gun meets an AI vocaloid uprising. Hey, I didn’t say it’d make sense.
Memory: The Origins of Alien is not so much a making-of as a deep dive into the sources that the creators of Alien drew upon. Interesting if you’re a fan of the movie, probably boring and/or pretentious if you’re not.
Professor Marston & the Wonder Women: a look into the origins of Wonder Woman and the private lives of her creators. Beautifully shot, but apparently highly speculative. Worth it, if only for Rebecca Hall’s performance.
Sex Education: my big surprise of this quarter. I deemed its premise banal (high school kid of sex therapist becomes sex therapist for his peers) but started watching it upon recommendation from a friend. The premise is quickly elevated by the charming characters, terrific humour and above all heartfelt renditions of teenage drama, both of the “ha ha” and the “oh wow that hits home” variety. Beautifully shot in a weird Britain that is always sunny.
Unfortunately its second season, which I completed slightly after the March 31 “deadline”, falls prey to a sophomore slump where the main character is largely a dick and the episodes seem in a rush to hit all the high-school movie tropes.
The Irishman: it’s good, but honestly, it didn’t grip me. Great acting, great directing, great script. And yet, it didn’t grip me. Its 209 minutes runtime begs the question whether it would’ve been better if somebody could’ve reined in the maestro. 10 Oscar nominations, 0 wins: I can see how that happened.
Tomb Raider: The Final Hours - A Story of Survival: nice promo-reel for the computer game.
True Detective: more coherent and focused than the second season, and that while this season has three timelines interweaving. Mahershala Ali gives an acting class (as he often does), but Stephen Dorff matches him. Beautifully shot, grim and slow-burning.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets: sometimes it feels as if Hollywood forgot how to make these: beautiful entertainment giddy with its own sense of possibility and creativity. Luc Besson never forgets though! Unfortunately, its male lead isn’t up to the task, as Moviebob puts it succinctly: “Dehaan trying to look roguish mostly just looks like a ten-year-old doing an impression of Star Lord.”
Vikings: the disappointing Season 3 of Vikings ended on a strong note, so eventually I bit the bullet and watched Season 4. It has 20 episodes instead of 10 and indeed feels as if two seasons were rolled into one. There are some amazing scenes (often those involving Travis Fimmel, Katheryn Winnick, Linus Roache or Gustaf Skarsgård) but there are entire plotlines that feel superfluous and boring. Probably won’t watch again?
Rewatch-Watch
I’ve finished re-watching Season 1 of Code Geass and stopped there when I remembered the weirdness that would follow in Season 2.
2020 Q2
Assassin’s Creed: Lineage (2009)
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)
Cheer (2002, Season 1)
Derry Girls (2018, Season 1)
Dunkirk (2017)
Get Carter (1971)
Narcos: Mexico (2018, Season 2)
Network (1976)
Ocean’s 8 (2018)
Ready Player One (2018)
Sex Education (2019, Season 2)
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006, Season 1)
The Last Dance (2020)
The Only Living Boy in New York (2017)
The Witcher (2019, Season 1)
Assassin’s Creed: Lineage: beautifully rendered prequel to the game Assassin’s Creed II. Heavy in portentous scenes, relatively light in action. Made me want to play the game again.
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure: this early Keanu Reeves movie is apparently a classic so I decided to check it out. Two slackers use a time-machine for their high school history presentation, hijinks ensue. Funny but I guess you had to watch the movie at an earlier age to fully appreciate it.
Derry Girls: I’d vaguely heard some positive stuff about this British high school sitcom set during the 1990’s in Northern Ireland. Yes, there are some good jokes and black humor, but there’s also a lot of awkward unfunny stuff. Won’t continue to the second season.
Dunkirk: Nolan’s war movie about the evacuation of allied forces from Dunkirk in 1940 is told in technically brilliant terms. There are three interleaving storylines which have different timescales: one week, one day and one hour of action. Sparse dialogue leaves us with little room to bond with the characters.
Get Carter: a scruffy crime movie with a (relatively) young Michael Caine. Unmistakable in its Seventies feel and its British bleak grimness.
Narcos: Mexico: this spin-off’s first season never really reached the quality of the first season, and this second season can’t, either. Still a very capable crime thriller, although the number of plans-within-plans can become tiring.
Ocean’s 8: after refreshing my acquaintance with Ocean’s 11, I dove into this all-woman sequel. Having a smaller cast, this movie allows a little bit more characterisation but I want more of Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna and Awkwafina just hanging out. That’s the excuse for making these movies, so just lean into it. The plot is ridiculous (even more than usual for the franchise) and the sudden reveal is just that: sudden, as it comes out of nowhere.
Ready Player One: I read the book in 2012 and I think the movie is a somewhat faithful adaptation. I can’t fault it for doubling down on the style and the nostalgic references, as that is a large part of the book and easily translates onto the screen. It’s gorgeous! This also means that what little subtleties are present in the book, are nowhere to be found in the movie.
Sex Education: As I mentioned before, the second season “falls prey to a sophomore slump where the main character is largely a dick and the episodes seem in a rush to hit all the high-school movie tropes.”
Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (2006) on Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip: Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is a big favourite of mine, so I decided to watch the series he wrote after The West Wing. It features the “main” crew and cast of a Saturday Night Live inspired late-night show. A producer (Bradley Whitford) and writer (Matthew Perry) are invited to return to the titular show that they once made great after the former producer spectacularly flames out live on the air.
If this sounds like a mix of The West Wing and The Newsroom, I’m right there with you. Sorkin would use the “spectacular flame out” again in the pilot of the latter. (Turns out it’s an homage to Network, so I dug up that one, too.) But hey, I love both of those series so a mix of them is my jam. There’s a bit of filler in the season and the premise isn’t as fertile as either the predecessor or the successor, but Sorkin’s witty writing, human warmth and drama are still there. The stellar cast (some of them West Wing regulars) do the rest. I never knew Matthew Perry (best known as Chandler in Friends) could act but here he really does. Amanda Peet is another great find, playing the capable network executive. Unfortunately, she kind of fades from view in the last bunch of episodes.
Network: As I mentioned above, this got on my radar because Sorkin’s use of the inciting incident: a news presenter, fed up with the quality of the news coverage he’s been giving for years, flames out and delivers a heart-felt rant. In this dark satire, one of the suits upstairs (an Oscar-winning role by Faye Dunaway) thinks this is exactly the kind of thing the ailing network needs and gives him his own show as “the mad prophet of the airwaves”. The writing is very sharp and makes an impression even after 44 years, even though some of the details feel dated. I wonder how it felt watching this movie when it was released.
The Last Dance: I don’t know anything about basketball, nor do I particularly care to, but this got a lot of positive buzz so I decided to give it a shot. I’m glad I did, because the documentary is perfectly structured to draw you in, jumping to and fro in the great Michael Jordan’s career, culminating in his final season at the Chicago Bulls, the titular “Last Dance”. No prior knowledge on the subject is needed. Someof his peers were interviewed, but this is very much the Michael Jordan show. While there are some cursory attempts at showing that Jordan is no angel and there are downsides to playing with him, and to the glory, it’s all very perfunctory. This being an ESPN production, I guess we can’t be surprised that winning at all costs is celebrated.
Cheer (2020) on Cheer: After liking The Last Dance I heard that Cheer was another good sports documentary, so I dug in. Surprisingly, I liked it even better. Look, I have no knowledge of the sport of collegiate cheerleading beyond liking Bring It On, but apparently it’s serious business. These young athletes train their asses off to perform their two-and-a-half-minute routine at the finals in Daytona. We follow the Navarro College Bulldogs Cheer Team from Corsicana, Texas on their quest to win (yet another) Grand National. The narrative is simple as we focus on five key performers and their coach over six hour-long episodes. The documentary is superbly crafted and although the arc is predictable, it’s still highly engaging. We get little peeks into the personal lives of the diverse cast, the sacrifices they have to make, their insecurities, we see them rise and we see them fall — both literally and figuratively.
The Only Living Boy in New York: I’ll readily admit I only watched this movie because of the promising trailer and Kate Beckinsale, but there’s no need for you to watch it. Its plot drags on at a snail’s pace, the protagonist is a narcissistic elitist dork, there’s little emotional debt and absolutely no chemistry. If you want to watch New York neurotic intelligentsia, watch a Woody Allen movie.
The Witcher: I’m lazy so I’ll just copy what I wrote in an earlier post:
After reading the 7 books, I was ready to watch the Netflix TV series, which stars Henry Cavill. You might not like Cavill’s Superman, but he’s expertly cast as Geralt: a gruff, mostly silent slayer of beasts, with a human heart, who lives by his own code. Freya Allen as Ciri is pretty well cast, but she’s held back by the fact that the character is fairly boring in the books (which happens to a lot of “chosen ones”) and that she lacks any agency in this first season. Anya Chalotra as Yennefer gives it her all but again, her character is just barely sympathetic.
If you’ve seen the series and were wondering why the point of view changes so often, and the timeline is scattered all over the place: well, that’s because the books do it like that.
The separate episodes are styled mostly after the separate short stories and chapters, and they work best like that. The overarching plot is slow in building, just like in the books. In other words: the series is much like the books, for better and for worse. Some aspects are of course expanded (Yennefer’s motivations and hang-ups are barely mentioned in the books but play a large role on TV), as others are lessened. We’ll see where the second season brings us.
Rewatch-Watch
After listening to Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting singing “All for Love” I thought it was time to rewatch the 1993 The Three Musketeers. Unfortunately, it never even approaches the awesomeness of the song. Nonetheless, there’s a lot of fun in watching young Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland and Oliver Pratt having fun. And Tim Curry is eating all the scenery as the villain.
Ocean’s Eleven is still entertaining, in a “I forgot what exactly happened a day later” way. The cast is too big to really get to know them, so a lot of the roles are decidedly one-note. But hey, George Clooney, Brad Pritt, Matt Damon and Elliot Gould in one movie!
2020 Q3
Assassin’s Creed (2016)
Chinatown (1974)
Clueless (1995)
Drew: The Man Behind the Poster (2013)
Ford v Ferrari (2019)
Good Omens (2019, Season 1)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Making the Witcher (2020, Season 1)
My Generation (2017)
Russian Doll (2019, Season 1)
Taylor Tomlinson: Quarter-Life Crisis (2020)
The Witcher: A Look Inside the Episodes (2020, Season 1)
Tom Papa: You’re Doing Great! (2020)
Watchmen (2019, Season 1)
Zombieland: Double Tap (2019)
Altered Carbon: Resleeved: A prequel movie to the second season of Altered Carbon, this anime is pretty but rather forgettable.
Assassin’s Creed: Earlier this year I watched the animated short Assassin’s Creed: Lineage. This movie adaptation of the games is much like the source material, for better and worse. It looks very pretty (beautiful shots that feel like moments in the game), the historical storyline is much more interesting than the current timeline, the main characters remain cyphers.
The historical timeline is set in Andalucía during the Reconquista, which is of course totally my jam, and an era pregnant with possibilities. Too bad we mostly spend our time elsewhere, but at least we get some scenes in Sevilla and Granada so I could go “oooh I’ve been there”. (Turns out those are sets and not shot on location, but oh well.)
Chinatown: Interesting film noir that still holds up as a great example of the genre. Great performances (especially by Jack Nicholson) drive the movie, while the complicated (convoluted) script keeps you guessing.
Clueless: I never saw Clueless before: not when it came out, nor in the 25 years since. I heard it was a cult classic, but I never took the effort to look it up. Until this summer, when there were some articles celebrating its anniversary. AV Club writer Caroline Siede wrote about it in her amazing column When Romance Met Comedy and her glowing recommendation put me over the threshold. I’m glad I did, because Clueless is a smart, funny and quotable movie. What’s more, the main character is endlessly positive and optimistic and I think that in 2020 we all need a bit of that.
Drew: The Man Behind the Poster: If you’ve ever seen a movie poster for Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, or any of 100s other movies, you’ve seen the work of Drew Struzan. I love those iconic posters and it turns out a lot of them were made by just one man. There are some interesting anecdotes (courtesy by collaborators and luminaries like Lucas and Guillermo del Toro) but it’s not necessarily an interesting enough to carry an entire documentary.
Ford v Ferrari: I’m not into car racing but this very solid movie is not so much about car racing as it is about: a David versus Goliath, blue-collar petrolheads versus corporate shenanigans, personal demons, the drive to be the best and the sacrifices you have to make for that, and really great actors (Matt Damon, Christian Bale, Jon Bernthal and Caitríona Balfe).
Good Omens (2019) on Good Omens: Written by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, Good Omens is one of my favourite books. This six-episode series follows it rather faithfully. It tells us about an angel (played by Michael Sheen) and a demon (David Tennant) who are friends and don’t want the End Times to happen. They’re comfortable on Earth, they like it here, they like each other, and they like humanity. In other words, they’ve gone native, so when the higher-ups enthusiastically gear up for Armageddon, our protagonists are less than enthusiastic. Hijinks ensue, as one says: there’s a beautiful witch, an incompetent witch-finder, an under-age Anti-Christ with a hound of Hell called “Dog” and his three friends, etc. The actors are great, especially Sheen and Tennant. The production looks solid enough: sometimes amazing, sometimes a bit cheap, but never annoyingly so. It helps that the special effects never have to carry the scenes, the effects are making them pretty. The real spark is in the dialogue, the humour and the interaction between the characters, not in the action.
His Girl Friday: Spurred on by this article on the AV Club (again by Caroline Siede) I dove into this romantic comedy. The leads have great chemistry and the dialogue is more rapid-fire than Sorkin’s, which is saying something. It feels a bit dated, which is allowed for a 80-year-old movie. I think it’s mostly in the cinematography.
Making the Witcher and The Witcher: A Look Inside the Episodes: Two behind-the-scenes series about the first season of The Witcher. The first one is the obligatory “talk about each main character and why the actor is so great”, the second one is a bit more interesting: showrunner Lauren Schmidt gives us her thoughts on the role of the episodes in the bigger arc, including some remarks about themes. I’d love “notes” like this for more series, Netflix, make it happen!
My Generation: Michael Caine (you probably know him as Alfred in Nolan’s Batman trilogy, or any of his other 172 credits) guides us through this charming but harmless documentary about the Swinging Sixties, together with celebrities like Paul McCartney, Twiggy and Marianne Faithfull. I would’ve liked some deeper digging, but what there is, is interesting.
Russian Doll: A modern version of Groundhog Day, which means it’s more cynical, less romantic, but also more intricate. New Yorker Nadia Vulvokov is a game developer (here’s a clue!) who’s witty and sarcastic and not a little bit damaged. She dies during her birthday party, and “respawns”, over and over again. Just when you think “OK this is getting boring” there’s a nice twist.
Taylor Tomlinson: Quarter-Life Crisis and Tom Papa: You’re Doing Great!: American stand-up comedy is not necessarily my go-to genre. I’m not sure if it’s because it’s American or because of the stand-up, or a combination thereof. Netflix makes it very easy to watch more of it, and with “specials” that last about an hour it’s not a big deal if it’s not great. Tom Papa has some good jokes, but doesn’t really go anywhere. His message (life is hard, you’re doing OK) is heartening but also feels a bit… defeatist? Taylor Tomlinson is much funnier with some laugh-out-loud moments and she has better follow-up on seeds planted earlier.
Watchmen (2019) on Watchmen: I’ve read the graphic novel multiple times, and actually liked the Zach Snyder movie. (It might’ve helped that I watched it before I read the novel.) This sprawling sequel however, blows the movie out of the water and shows us what a true sequel can do, delivering it with all the sophistication, subversion and inventiveness the original had and, quite frankly, the movie lacked. The cast is stellar, the themes current, the direction impeccable. Best series of the year, so far.
Whose Vote Counts, Explained:
Another excellent explainer by Vox, this time about the American electoral system. There are 3 episodes, which dig into who can actually vote, the role of money, and whose vote actually counts. Prepare to be amazed about the convoluted rules (or lack thereof) of the American system. While there is an attempt of being impartial, there’s a pronounced anti-Trump leaning. Celebrity voice-overs this time: Leonardo DiCaprio (excellent), Selena Gomez (somewhat irritating) and John Legend (indifferent).
Zombieland: Double Tap: A pleasant but largely redundant sequel to the 2009 surprisingly fun original. Watch it if you like Emma Stone, Jessie Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson do occasionally funny stuff and don’t have any expectations beyond that.
2020 Q4
A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote (2020)
Adam Devine: Best Time of Our Lives (2019)
Altered Carbon (2018, Season 2)
Aquaman (2018)
Dirty Dancing (1987)
Gimme Danger (2016)
Greg Davies: You Magnificent Beast (2018)
Katherine Ryan: In Trouble (2017)
Knives Out (2019)
Parasite (2019, Gisaengchung)
The Crown (2016, Season 3)
The Old Guard (2020)
The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)
The Umbrella Academy (2019, Season 1)
Tremors: Making Perfection (2020)
Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia (2018)
Weathering with You (2019, Tenki no ko)
A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote (2020) on A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote: Regular readers know that I’m a big fan of Aaron Sorkin’s scripts and adore The West Wing in particular. When it was announced that the original cast would re-stage “Hartsfield’s Landing” (a third-season episode) I was excited but also wary. Could they rekindle the spark that made especially early-seasons-West Wing so great, so many years after the fact? Turns out they can. What’s more, the bare-bones sets (forced by the Covid-19 regulations) makes the production feel like a stage play and focuses our attention on the great acting and brilliant dialogue.
Altered Carbon: Admittedly, I’d largely forgotten the intricacies of Season 1. Which was unfortunate as Season 2 definitely assumes you remember these to deliver poignant moments. This amid heady stuff which leans heavily into the possibilities duplicating consciousness and cloning provide. It’s maybe telling that the most effective and affecting storyline is the relationship between two AIs.
Aquaman: Superheroics with Jason Momoa as the titular hero, child of Queen Atlanna of Atlantis. Yes, it’s that kind of superheroics, the one that leans hard into the silliness of the source material. Some of the underwater vistas are amazing, the action is competent, Momoa is a charismatic presence, Willem Dafoe chews some scenery (in a surprising low-key manner). This entry in the DC Extended Universe shows that not every movie needs to be part of such a “cinematic universe” and might indeed be better for it, and that just good clean fun can be had from an action-adventure romp.
Dirty Dancing: Like Clueless, I never watched Dirty Dancing. I guess I dismissed it as a “movie for girls”, or “so hyped it can’t possibly be that good”. Sure, I knew the song, and the jump/lift, but that happened through cultural osmosis. Like Clueless, I finally watched it based on an essay by Caroline Siede, and once again I’m glad I did. I expected a breezy, sexy rom-com, and that movie is certainly in there. But it’s also about class differences, back-alley abortions and doing the right thing.
“Each time Baby is faced with a choice between doing the easy thing or the right thing, she takes the morally righteous path. And in doing so, her unflappable sense of integrity reshapes everyone around her for the better.”
Gimme Danger: Documentary about Iggy Pop and proto-punk band the Stooges and their turbulent history. Iggy Pop is a charismatic raconteur and although the documentary doesn’t surprise, it’s perfectly interesting.
Adam Devine: Best Time of Our Lives; Greg Davies: You Magnificent Beast; Katherine Ryan: In Trouble; Trevor Noah: Son of Patricia: With the whole Covid-19 thing I needed more laughs and Netflix has an enormous amount of these shows. Unfortunately, not all of them are actually really funny: Devine is forgettable, Ryan has some nice moments. Davies is a lot better, but Trevor Noah (you might know him as the host of The Daily Show) is easily the best. He actually has something to say to his audience.
Knives Out (2019) on Knives Out: Easily my favourite movie this quarter, this excellent update of the whodunnit brings it briskly into the modern times. Written and directed by Rian Johnson (The Last Jedi), it shows what he can do when not burdened by a franchise. The star-studded cast brings the rest of the goods.
Parasite: 2019’s big winner at the Oscars is written and directed by Bong Joon Ho (The Host, Snowpiercer) who brings his own undeniable style to this story about greed and class discrimination. It’s stylish, strong and confident, but I’m unsure if it’s really deserving of all the hype?
The Crown: A new cast brings new flair and new interpretations to the real-life drama of the British monarchy. This season mostly focuses on the characters around Elizabeth II, not the Queen herself. As such, Olivia Colman has to do a lot with what little screen time she’s given, which she does effortlessly. Likewise, Helena Bonham Carter elevates her part as the younger sister Margeret. Hopefully we’ll also see more of Erin Doherty as the sassy Princess Anne.
Of course the whole thing is still splendidly produced, it practically drips glamour and competence. However, the show takes some liberties with history.
The Old Guard: Based on a comic book (which I haven’t read), The Old Guard is a neat spin on the comic book movie formula. Charlize Theron stars as the leader of a quartet of warriors who’ve lived for centuries and can’t die. (Until they can.) While a big pharma company hunts them for the secrets of their DNA, a new immortal is discovered.
The worldbuilding is terse and restrained: many movies would try to explain all the secrets of the characters’ existence, the who and why and how, but this Netflix offering blessedly skips past all that. The character moments are graceful, the action is satisfactory, and I’m all for the sequel that the ending so obviously sets up.
The Trial of the Chicago 7: More Sorkin! This direct-to-Netflix movie (a Covid-19 victim) is about the 1968 Chicago riots and the following trial, something I didn’t know anything about. Apparently Sorkin didn’t either when he first heard about the project in 2006, and he certainly brought some serious poetic license to the historic events. Still, a courtroom drama, an ensemble cast, and a historic event made topical by current events: I’ll happily weather the Sorkinisms. Standout performance by Sacha Baron Cohen, who you might know better as Borat.
The Umbrella Academy: Another adaptation of a comic book (another one which I haven’t read either), this serves as a nice contrast with The Old Guard. The Umbrella Academy is a sprawling affair full of lavish set-design and baroque plotting. It draws out the underlying secrets but the Big Twist is telegraphed since pretty much the first episode. While there are some great episodes (and it’s nice to see Tom Hopper from Black Sails in action again) it’s all a bit overblown and of little substance. I won’t be seeing the second season.
Tremors: Making Perfection: The original Tremors (1990) is one of those excellent B-movies that did very little upon release but blew up on VHS. If you don’t know it yet, I recommend watching it. If you do, you might be interested in this celebratory Making Of, 30 years afterwards. It’s 30 minutes, it’s fun, it’s free on YouTube. (There are more elaborate interviews with other cast and crew, too, but I didn’t dive into those.)
Weathering with You: From the writer and director of the acclaimed Your Name. comes another inventive anime. Hodaka, a teenage boy tries to make things work in unwelcoming Tokyo, where it has been raining for months at a time. Then he meets Hina, a girl who has the power to make the sun shine by prayer. They use this gift to make money, but of course there’s more going on.
Beautifully animated, the backdrops are especially splendid and worth the price of admission alone. The CGI effects are not as integrated as they could be: they are sometimes disruptive of the beautiful shots and dreamlike atmosphere.
Rewatch-Watch
I was right in the target group of Heartbreak High, the Australian 1994 high school series and I watched a lot of episodes when it aired in the Netherlands. When I heard it was on the Dutch Netflix it hit me right in the nostalgia-feels. I’m not sure how many episodes I originally watched, let alone which ones. Apparently there are seven seasons with a grand total of 210 episodes, and the first season contains 38 episodes! I just started at the beginning and will keep watching as long as it’s fun.
I remembered a breezy, easy-going series but there are unexpectedly heavy topics and themes. Sure there are the staples of teenage romance and sexuality, teenage pregnancy and student-teacher relationships. But this stretches into children of broken homes, marriage issues, homophobia, the death of the mother of the main protagonist, refugees from the Salvadoran Civil War, immigration, interracial (and inter-religion) relationships, the works. (And I haven’t even crossed the half-way mark of the first season yet.)
Not all of this is dwelt upon for long, nor does it often result in change for the characters, but it’s certainly there, part of the show. Of course, the drama is mixed with large dosages of the high school series’ staples of humour, teenage romance and cringe, where every event is of enormous import.
What I also didn’t remember was the sheer amount of ’90s “fashion” on display. The amount of flannel blouses, baggy pants, Benetton colours, shoulder-padded suits and hair-sprayed hairdos is a sight to behold. This is what peak ’90s looked like, ...at least on Australian TV.
