Category Archives: Television / Movies

You Should Be Watching

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Everything Everywhere All at Once

Michelle Yeoh is great!

This was originally published in the Watch The Skies July issue.

The multiverse. A certain MCU character has brought this theory to the attention of the public in recent months. Multiple universe theories, quantum physics, philosophy and all the other Schrodinger equations are generally WAY past my understanding. A version of this theory that I understand is that each choice we make during our lives causes some sort of branch to happen. The alternate choice sort of spins off and becomes another world where our other self continues on that other path. It’s more complicated than that, but that basic thought is the core of this film. What if we made that other choice? Where would that other path have taken us? It’s a thought that runs through most peoples’ heads at some point. I recommend this movie to a science fiction / fantasy based group purely on the strength of using this multiverse theory in an absolutely bonkers way.

What if you could access the knowledge, emotions, life experience of those other lives you might have had? In this movie, a middle aged woman who is struggling with many of the same sort of things any of us struggle with is suddenly confronted with this access… and is told she needs to use this knowledge to save the world. She needs to reach out and draw from those lives and the knowledge those other versions of her have gained.

Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu and Ke Huy Quan are absolutely fantastic in their roles. They are all believable, earnest and relatable, even when the entire world around them seems to be going mad. There is a randomness to this film that would be hard to ride if they weren’t just so good. There is action, humor and romance. I don’t know that any single genre or category would do this movie justice. Absurdist fits, but isn’t fair to the beauty of the performances and the depth of the feelings that show through. There is another big name movie star in the film. This big name star is so deeply into the role that I didn’t realize that’s who it was while I was watching.

Do yourself a favor, stay away from spoilers – even the trailer honestly – and just check this movie out. It’s only just leaving theaters and headed to DVD or home streaming, but it’s worth the effort. You should be watching this movie.

You Should Be Watching

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Love, Death & Robots

This was originaly published in the June 2022 edition of Watch The Skies.

I don’t think I can overstate how much I am taken with this art.

I went back through the list of shows that I have recommended in the history of these articles and was stunned to see that I had not brought up Love, Death & Robots. I don’t know how this has escaped previously, but no longer.

Love, Death & Robots is an animated series, but this is very specifically aimed at adults. The creators original intent was to have something similar in nature to the animated film Heavy Metal (from 1981). Do not for a moment think this is a children’s cartoon. It is NOT. It is brutal, sexy and mind rattling in varying degrees throughout. Netflix loaded up the first season of LD&R back in March of 2019. There were 18 episodes for the series, each coming in with a viewing length under 20 minutes. The second season of 8 was released in May of 2021, and the most recent season of 9 episodes launched just last month (May of 2022).

The stories for these animations all come from some of the best writers in modern science fiction, fantasy and horror. Names like, Bacigalupi, Asher, Scalzi and Sterling. There’s even an episode showing a story written by Harlan Ellison. These stories carry weight and have real punch in such a short time frame. The set up to the closure, if there is any, come right at you. The first two seasons each won an Emmy. The story telling is only rivaled by the pictures that accompany the stories.

IF you dislike ‘cartoons’ for some reason, I challenge you to watch these and NOT become a fan of animation. The art, the shear beauty of so many of these works will make you question how they were created. Admittedly, they are not all hyper realistic, but even the goofiest stories are well animated. The colors, the smoothness, and the pure vibrancy of even the darkest pieces still amazes me. I have some that I re-watch for the story and many that I re-watch just to see them. Just to experience their beauty again. I don’t believe they needed more marketing, but the third season has actually done something neat to accompany all this art. There were some clues hidden in certain episodes of the third season. If you followed the clues, you’d find your way to some computer art from the show. The hunt, and the clues have continued on various social medial platforms since the third season was released.

I highly recommend this show. You should definitely be watching.

Check out the trailer for season three here:

Amazing work

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The Owl House

Fun animation style too!

This was originally published in Watch The Skies May issue.

I’ve noticed a trend lately toward animated shows. While this show is once again aimed at kids, I have found a number of interesting and fun writing choices being made. The show follows a human girl named Luz who stumbles through a portal into another world. The land known as The Boiling Isles is filled with startling, weird and amazing characters living on the remains of some kind of giant or titan. There she becomes friends with a rouge witch named Eda, also known as the Owl Lady. Luz decides to stay and learn magic from this most powerful witch.

While I have not yet finished the first season, I suspect I will consume the entire series. Yes, each episode is relatively short and contains a ‘lesson of the week’ kind of format, but there are much longer story threads being woven through the background. It’s got some really fun and funny moments that are clearly aimed at the adults watching the show. At one point Eda is relaxing and says (fourth wall breaking style), “Ah, a quiet moment of domesticity… I wonder how long that will last” and in moments she is rewarded with a crash and screams. “Ah, there it is…” and she moves into the story. It was such a small moment, but anyone that has dealt with kids of any age knows that moment, deeply, and would just feel that come right through the screen.

In looking up some information about this show I’ve encountered a few spoilers that I will not share here. Anything beyond an abridged third season seems to be in jeopardy as the comedy / horror vibe (along with a couple of other factors) seem to not fit with the current Disney+ vision. I can say with certainty that I am not the only one believing in the writing for this show. It first aired in 2020 and won a Peabody Award in 2021. Weird, whimsical and believable fun – you should be watching this show.

Check out the trailer here:

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Cat Burglar

This was originally published in Watch The Skies April edition.

CAT BURGLAR (L to R) James Adomian as Rowdy and Alan Lee as Peanut in Cat Burglar. Cr. COURTESY OF NETFLIX © 2021

You need to know right up front that there is cartoon violence involved in what I’m recommending this month. IF that’s not your thing… definitely skip it. IF you’re not put off by the old school Loony Tunes style bashing and blowing up, then this show is for you.

The main characters in this short are /Rowdy (rotten criminal) and Peanut (guard dog). Rowdy is after the most valuable painting in the world and Peanut is trying to keep that painting right where it is in the museum. The catch here is that YOU help decide how it all works out. This animated feature is interactive. There will be a series of questions at various points in the show that require your input via the remote control. Get all the questions right, get one result. Get a question wrong, get something totally different. Run out of chances and you can go back and try again, giving you a completely different result. The run time was listed at something like 12 minutes, but be warned! I ended up going through multiple times to see various options and endings and was watching for far longer than the listed run time.

A creative cartoon from the same group that produced Black Mirror (Bandersnatch anyone?) this will be something folks craving that old school feel will really get into. Here’s a link to give you some in depth info: https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/news/cat-burglar-netflix-interactive-special/

If you want to check out the trailer – it’s here:

Legend of Who?

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Pre-pandemic, if you’d asked me about the Legend of Vox Machina I would have stared at you blankly. I had heard, vaguely, of Critical Role but that would be about it. The team producing the web hit Critical Role has certainly made a massive impact on media and the route things have to production.

I’ve talked in other places about something people are labeling “the Mercer effect” as it relates to the expectations of people when they play Dungeons and Dragons. The team at CR (and it IS a team, including a lot of production) create a drama that people can follow along with BUT it doesn’t meet the expectations of players when said players get to their own game tables. Most people don’t have a production team to help run their game, nor do they do it as part of their job so even regular old game / planning time is limited. A new players view of the game can be warped by production quality.

Now, take that same story with all the warping. Get professionals to set the script, trim the action, do the voices and then have crazy good animation and you get Vox Machina’s first season on Amazon video.

I have watched the whole season. I can say that I enjoyed it. It is a very well done animated series.

The criticism(s) I have for it revolve around that warping.

I don’t watch CR when they role play their campaign on YouTube. IF I have that many hours, I’m playing or I’m designing my own game for when I’m playing. It’s not a polished show and you’ve got to wade through it all to get to the good stuff. That’s the whole point I hear you saying, but really – I don’t have that kind of time. Am I maybe missing some Easter eggs or not understanding the ‘in’ jokes? Absolutely. Do I care? No. No I do not.

Having watched the show I get what people mean about expectations. They fight and kill a dragon in the first or second episode. I have NO idea what the actual level of the characters are in the CR game, but in MY world dragons are epic, boss level fights that don’t get resolved that quickly. Dragons are part of the name of the game and defeating them like some kind of minor winged reptile without the kind gravitas they deserve just doesn’t seem right to me. It set me off for the whole series. This is made worse by the fact that one of the main bad guys is (or appears to be) a vampire. That in NO WAY works out that way in my world. Are vampires exceptional and challenging monsters? You bet. Do they have more power than dragons? Never. So – my hang up on that one, but I think it ties in with expectations.

Percy has a gun. Yes, it’s demon related and possibly magical in nature, but it’s still a gun. This is not a chocolate in my peanut butter kind of situation. I don’t want guns in my swords and sorcery game. I play fantasy for a reason. IF I want guns I’ll play a role playing game with guns. This was an aspect of the show that clearly worked, but just took me out of the right head space.

Editing the story down to basically half hour episodes is both good and bad. It’s good, because the writers got to the meat of what’s going on without requiring me to wade through all the dice rolling and background decision making that goes with any good role playing game. I really appreciated being able to get through the shows in a timely manner. What they did while doing that is skipped past longer story arc development. I know – can’t have it both ways, but this is the expectation thing again. Part of the joy of the game is working up all those deep character backgrounds and having all the other players know and use that info. It’s that shared aspect that makes the game great. The animated show didn’t give the feeling of weight that all that stuff was in there. It’s not easy to describe that feeling when you don’t know all the backstory, but you KNOW all that backstory is there. You can feel it with little details.

In the end, it was a fun ride. I found myself pointing and laughing on more than one occasion, remarking that actions / choices reminded me of our own game or that we’d had remarkably similar actions in our game. It’s relatable, but it’s just one version of how the game goes. It’s not MY version and maybe it’s not YOUR version either. It’s worth checking out. It’s fun. I look forward to the next season – just don’t expect to see a dragon defeated that easily in any game I run.

You Should Be Watching

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This post was originally published in Watch The Skies January 2022

Welcome To Earth

The Beauty You Expect

I’ve done this before, and I’m doing it again here. We’re about to have an out of genre experience. The show I’m going to recommend this month is not animated, it is not a science fiction spectacular and is not a block buster with mountains of promotion behind it. It has all the action, beauty and fascinating story lines of one of your favorite genre pieces though. It’s from National Geographic and Disney and is available on Disney+ right now. What is it? Welcome to Earth.

Welcome to Earth is a journey. There are 6 episodes that follow Will Smith around the planet on various adventures. Having Will Smith there allows for an excellent window into the amazing, vibrant and often terrifying world we all inhabit. The diverse scientists that allow him along for the trip give fantastic information on the places on our own home world that we know so very little about. From tops of volcanoes to the bottom of the ocean (the journey with marine biologist Diva Amon is very cool) we get a glimpse of just how much we don’t know about the place we live.

It would be easy to justify this one as science fiction related, but I really don’t think we need to. The photography and cinematography are amazing. The pictures are exactly as amazing as you have come to expect from the folks at National Geographic. In fact, words don’t do it justice. You should be watching Welcome to Earth.

Check out the trailer:

Check out the article on National Geographic too!

Deja Vu

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The Matrix Resurrections – a no spoiler review

Great to see them together again

I won’t give you spoilers, but the trailers for the movie certainly will. I find that to be one of the most frustrating portions of any movie these days. I used to truly enjoy the excitement and anticipation of upcoming films and would be sure to check out the trailers. These days I want to know a very small amount about the film along with how it’s going to be released – and that’s it. I hate that some of what I think are the coolest parts of the movie are in the trailer. Saw them before the film ever started… and then was underwhelmed when I saw them in the film itself.

Speaking of trailers… it feels like movie houses are attempting to devour themselves in a desperate effort to get our attention. We were early to the film to be sure we got seats that we preferred. The movie was supposed to come in around 2 ½ hours. We had almost a half hour of previews lined up to watch before the movie ever started. I’m not kidding. I timed it at somewhere between 24 and 27 minutes of previews… to the point that we were sitting there doing the “rolling” motion with our hands in the theater. As in, OK – WE GET IT – you want us to be excited about movies… how about the one we just paid for and want to see? It was ridiculous.

I think it’s wonderful that we have so many options for movies these days. I’m glad the theater experience is still out there. More on that later.

The movie itself. It has a lot of the look and feel of the original. The sounds and colors were all familiar. Some of it was a little too familiar. There was a lot of reused footage from the previous movies, tying things together. There were lots of call backs and continuations. It makes sense in the story for the most part, but it’s difficult to talk about it in depth without spoiling things. What I DID NOT like was the way the action sequences were shot. It accentuated and doubled down on the shaky cam and unlit (really dark) action sequences. They were hard to watch and almost impossible to follow. IF you’re a fan of breaking down film things like this, I suggest checking out this short video on how action scenes are shot. Dark and hard to see, and I’m not sure it needed to be.

The characters were good. Keanu and Carrie Anne were great. I really enjoyed Jessica Henwick as Bugs. I hope to see more of her in the future. Then there was Neil Patrick Harris. I’m not going to say anything about his character. No spoilers. NPH was easily my favorite character and I’d LOVE to see more of him in films like this going forward. He made this movie for me.

I’m glad we went to the theater to see the movie. I don’t know how the combo with home screening will change the box office numbers, but it will be interesting. As I said above, I am glad the theater experience is making a comeback. Things still feel different because of the pandemic. The place was only about half full. That’s far more than recent movies, but far less than I’m betting they hoped for. I certainly thought there would be more people there for a 7 o’clock show on opening night. The movie is worth seeing on the big screen if that’s a thing you’re comfortable with. I expect I’ll be watching this movie again on the small screen at home. There were tons of little details to catch that I’m sure weren’t caught while trying to take in the story itself for the first time. It’s a well done film and I hope it does well.

Also – there is a little something at the very end of the credits too, so don’t leave early.

What movie are you looking forward to seeing on the big screen?

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This post was originally published in Watch The Skies November 2021 edition.

Maya and the Three

Cabra Kan

From the Netflix description: A spirited princess with the heart of a warrior embarks on a mission to fulfill an ancient prophecy and save humanity from the wrath of vengeful gods.

I have always enjoyed stories of the magical and fantastic. Swords, sorcery, prophecies and epic battles get my attention every time. This new cartoon series Maya and the Three checks all those boxes. The art is beautiful. The story has excellent pace even with short episodes. There are deep emotions, epic battles and moments of true humor. I had no intention of doing the classic Netflix binge, and then sat there and devoured the whole series.

One of the best parts of this show is the reality of the characters. There are indiscretions (read – cheating on your spouse), emotional confrontations, and genuine repercussions from all the fighting and battles. Nobody comes out of this story unscathed. Without giving away specifics, not everyone makes it to the end of the series.

To paraphrase one particular character, “There’s a word for folks that always do heroic things…”

“Heroes?”

“Dead.”

Netflix lists this show as a children’s cartoon, but I believe this is definitely aimed at a middle year student level. That is not to say this traditional coming of age story can’t be watched by adults. It indeed should be watched by adults. In fact, my hope is that enough people watch it to keep the studio in a mindset where they will produce more and more stories like this. You should be watching Maya and the Three.

Check out the trailer:

Expensive Art

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Many years ago I wrote up a post here about this bonkers concept for creating a Dune movie that I’d caught wind of on the net. I went and found the documentary and consumed it. I was enthusiastic about the concept at the time.

In the intervening time it has been pointed out that the creator of this concept brought out some very problematic things about how he created his art. Creating art using rape is NOT acceptable. It is probably a very good thing that his vision never actually made it all the way to the point of filming.

All that being said, I would still love to see the mythical book that was created to showcase the concept for this film adaptation. With all the attention being given to Dune again, one of the ultra rare books has popped up and will be sold at auction.

IF I had the money, I suspect I would have gotten in on the bidding, just for the chance to check out some of the artwork inhabiting that book. Maybe someday they’ll market a digital version and we’ll get a chance to peek at the art from some masterful creators.

Check out the article about the auction here.

Dune – the meme

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This was originally published

Visions

Star Wars is a cultural phenomenon. It has become part of the culture of media. The first film hit screens more than forty years ago. Lately the franchise has come under new ownership. These new owners have pushed forward with many, many new works in the universe of Star Wars. There’s a lot out there, even for fans. I have considered myself a fan for a very long time. I was exactly the right age when the first movie hit theaters. I scrambled to get action figures and play sets as a kid and spent seemingly endless hours pushing my imagination out to all the various places in the Star Wars universe. The movies are deeply entrenched in my personal nostalgia along with all the entwined media. I can effectively say that I’ve ‘always’ been a fan.

I’m also a fan that just doesn’t want or need to devour the seemingly unending supply of hot off the presses Star Wars stuff. Maybe I’ve outgrown certain aspects of the story telling. Maybe the abundance of available material has taken the shine off the whole thing. I could just be tired of seeing the same old thing. This ennui is at the very root of this recommendation.

Star Wars, only done as anime. Imagine taking a team of amazing story tellers and artists from an anime studio and saying, “Go – play in our universe. Make something great”. That is precisely what they’ve done. Now streaming on Disney+ (because I think they own everything?) Star Wars Visions gives us seven all original stories in the same galaxy, using the same background and the same legendary ‘Force’. The stories vary in style, but never lack in beauty. The art is amazing. The stories are fresh. The look of it all is straight up anime. They’re short, so you can sneak them in between other things, or you can easily binge them. I would suggest one at a time, to give each the attention it should have. I think this may even be a way to draw new fans in; fans that might not have given a tired old franchise a chance otherwise. You should be watching Visions.

Check out the trailer: