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| The Bourne Identity (1988) |
This Static Age’s spotlight
goes to The Bourne Identity (1988), a
two-part mini-series (both episodes are feature-length, typical for ABC at the
time), based on the same-titled 1980 book by Robert Ludlum, adapted for the
small screen by Carol Sobieski and directed by Robert Young. The now-famous
story (catapulted to households the world around thanks to the 2000s theatrical
films, that we will have a look at on a later post of this blog) follows Jason
Bourne (Richard Chamberlain) who wakes up in a small French town, suffering
from heavy memory loss. Trying to recover his memory, he realizes that people
want him dead, and in order to solve the puzzle of his past he will have to
fight secret agents and assassins. A captivating winner actioner that should
not be missed.
And now, let’s switch our focus towards some recent series…
Penny Dreadful: City of Angels (2020)
Homicide detectives Tiago Vega (Daniel Zovatto) and Lewis Michener
(Nathan Lane) investigate a series of murders in the 1st (and sole)
season of creator John Logan’s Penny
Dreadful: City of Angels (2020), which is set (as you might have already
guessed) in Los Angeles, and in 1938 in particular, when a mixture of Nazi
politics and influence will mix with evil tradition and witchcraft, to an
astounding result. Some of it is very stage-like, but strangely the series
manages to get away with it successfully.
The 1st season of Amazon Prime’s Carnival Row (2019 – present) is set in a 7th Century
European Capital, in which the human ruling class co-exists unwillingly with
the hordes of the migrating fae, a form of fairies, each with his/her own
peculiarities. On this background a series of brutal murders of fae lead
investigator Rycroft Philostrate (Orlando Bloom) on the trail of a serial
killer in a uniform, but maybe there is more to the case than meets the eye. Featuring
stunning production design and very intelligent commentary on migration and
racism, this fantasy/horror series is ideal for binging and its mere 8 episodes
leave us desiring more.
Doctor Who - Season 10 (2005 - present)
The 10th season of Doctor
Who (2005 – present) brings us more adventures of the titular alien
(returning Peter Capaldi with his rock star qualities). In ‘The Pilot’, the
Doctor and Nardole (Matt Lucas) join forces with Bill Potts (Pearl Mackie) in
order to fight against a watery alien life form. In ‘Smile’ our protagonists
find themselves in a human colony in the future when emoji robots rule; they
want you happy and if you don’t comply you might as well die. ‘Thin Ice’ takes
the action to 1814 and in River Thames in particular, where people disappear in
the frozen setting. ‘Knock Knock’ is an eerie episode about a mysterious house.
‘Oxygen’ is a weak episode about lethal spacesuits, that however proves that
Peter Capaldi would be excellent in a David Cronenberg film. Possibly the
season’s best episode, ‘Extremis’ finds the Doctor researching an ancient
Vatican text that has the power to force who ever reads it to commit suicide.
‘The Pyramid at the End of the World’ may be featuring impressive monsters and
– you guessed it! – a pyramid, but it is overall boring; the story continues in
‘The Lie of the Land’. ‘Empress of Mars’ is proving – once again – that a ‘man
in a suit’ is better than CGI, but you still can’t do much with it if you
haven’t got a decent script. ‘The Eaters of Light’ is mixing Scotland with the
Roman Empire, revealing that this is indeed the weakest season of the series.
‘World Enough and Time’ and ‘The Doctor Falls’ feature some creepy imagery and
at last some decent antagonists, but the series still feel very tired.
Mainstream films are not films at all, let alone auteur works of art,
they are merely a committee-made products and deeply undemocratic at that.
Whereas many filmmakers have the chance of making a $10 million horror show,
pretty much nobody can direct a $200 million superhero crapper. Having said
that, I do watch some of those mainstream films from time to time, and I will
share with you my thoughts on some recent ones right now …
Black Widow (2021) poster
In Marvel’s Black Widow
(2021) directed by Cate Shortland, the titular superhero (Scarlett Johansson)
travels around the world and searches for her past; she’ll find that and much
more, including a large-scale Russian conspiracy (unsurprisingly involving
Cuba) and several super-villains. Full of high-end production values, stunts,
and CG, this is very enjoyable and quite a bit feminist as well.
I don’t like origin stories. I mean, what’s the point in wasting a
film’s worth of time for lame introductions and needless character development?
All I want to see is maybe a 10-minute introduction on the hero and the
villain, and then unleash them and have them kick each other’s butts. Another
boring origin story in the seemingly endless array of them in recent Hollywood
is Robert Schwentke’s Snake Eyes
(2021) which is focusing on the birth of the titular character (Henry Golding)
from the G.I. Joe toys. If you are like me – meaning having grown up in the
1980s and spent much of that decade playing with the aforementioned toys – you
might find something to like here (as I did), but the film only takes off in
the second half where all the action happens.
 |
| The Suicide Squad (2021) |
Presented by Fox Searchlight Pictures, Ready or Not (2019), directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler
Gillett, is a fun horror/comedy about a gorgeous bride (Samara Weaving) about
to join a rich and eccentric family. Since said family is on the board game
business, on the wedding night she must play a game; it turns out to be ‘hide
and seek’ but it is also revealed that the version they are about to play in
the family mansion is quite deadly. Gothic, fun, and entertaining, this comes
highly recommended.
Prisoners (2013) poster
Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners
(2013) is about two young girls that go missing and the struggles of their
parents and the detective assigned to the case to find them, all of them
finding themselves in a dark labyrinth that may make them as monstrous as the
person/s who kidnapped the kids. Featuring an all-star cast (Hugh Jackman and
Jake Gyllenhaal), this is elevated from the standard police procedure tropes to
a crime epic (it is longer than two and a half hours), reminiscent of 1990s
genre hits. Bleak and depressing, it had me biting my nails throughout its
running time.
And finally, I enriched my bookshelf with the following addition…
Bleeding Skull! A 1990s Trash-Horror Odyssey (2021, Fantagraphics) by Joseph A. Ziemba, Annie
Choi, and Zack Carlson is focusing on SOV trash/horror that went mostly
straight-to-VHS, and benefits from the unparalleled passion and talents of its
writers, who offer a machine-gun-like approach to sharing their knowledge and
views. The book wastes no time with introductions or historical context and
goes straight into reviewing more than 200 of these films. Lavishly designed,
but the real value here is the text, which is generally better than the movies
it tackles.
Get books, comics, graphic novels and more at bunny17media.com. Use the code CHC at checkout for 15% off your purchase!
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