TV/streaming - Oct 27-Nov 2
I've already watched and enjoyed this week's penultimate second season ep for Star Trek: Lower Decks and the Frasier series (both on Paramount+), each as part of quiet island block when I wake up somewhere between midnight and two AM on a workday, and am up for two to four hours before dropping off for a pre-workday nap. Both of those I watched pre-dawn yesterday. This week's Lower Decks starts to bring this season's mystery arc out of the shadows, while Frasier continues to build the new show, in part, with thematic echoes of the old.
Today even just Amazon Prime/freevee has five new episodes of shows I'm following: Two each for the recently-returned Bosch: Legacy and Upload, and the seventh/penultimate episode of the first season of Gen V. (Gen V's been renewed for a second season, btw.)
Hopefully, with next Friday wrapping this season, and the events of this season of Gen V meant to dovetail into season four of The Boys, we'll finally get a debut date for the latter. Eric Kripke had said at the end of June that they were holding off the new Boys season until after the WGA strike was settled, so hopefully they've not decided to extend that until the SAG-AFTRA strike is also resolved.
Oh, coming to mind in part because it's another comics-to-screen item, and it's also on Amazon Prime, next Friday will see the long overdue return of the animated series Invincible for its second season. That'll be an 8-episode season, but they've decided to break it into halves, so we'll get eps 1-4, weekly, November 3rd through Black Friday on the 24th, and the other half early in 2024. I'm mentioning it a week early in case anyone wanted to do a season one rewatch, or get a running start if they hadn't taken a look before. It's been over two years since season one, which ran March-April of 2021. As I'll be highlighting the new season next week, this week I'll just post the season one trailer from two years ago instead. As I recall, the episodes ran roughly 50 minutes each. The level of violence and carnage when it really cuts loose may surprise some who will be coming at it as a teen-centered coming-of-age series.
Now that five episodes have built up over on Peacock, I may finally step in to sample the NBC crime drama The Irrational. It stars Jesse L. Martin (most recently having ended his run as Detective Joe West on The Flash) as world-renowned behavioral psychologist Alec Mercer, who consults on government, law enforcement, and corporate cases. It's a good series premise, with a likeable lead, so the unanswered question for me is whether or not the writer's room for this is smart enough to handle the character and premise competently, and if they remain unhampered by meddling studio execs whose rate of pay and level of control often seems to be in inverse of their intelligence.
For more directly seasonal schlock, landing on Peacock (and in theaters) today is the long, long in development (lost in development Hell, burning through a series of named talent and complete rewrites), based on a video game franchise: Five Nights at Freddy's (2023 PG-13 109 minutes) Expectations for this are low. Too many chefs along the way, too many unwise re-thinks, unnecessary, clumsy plot additions and compromises, I'm expecting something that was assembled in scenes, some trying for one audience, some for another, ultimately lacking a Dr. Frankenstein talent and nerve to properly instill the patchwork monster with life. As I've never even played any of the games from the series, word from at least one reviewer that it's packed with fan service nods does nothing for me. I will receive no dopamine hits for spotting in-jokes and references.
My recommendation might be to instead go over to Hulu and seek out Nic Cage's fun, Freddy's-inspired Willy's Wonderland (2021 NR 1h 28m). That's a fun time made all the better by Cage playing an intense character who is beyond laconic, willfully mute, complete with a work ethic so intense as to be entertaining. Keep it in mind either just as its own, or as a "this is what they should have done" palate-cleanser after seeing Freddy's.
In looking for the Five Nights At Freddy's info, I saw that the former Regal Oaks Cinema complex, which was one of the locations Regal shut down in February this year as part of their bankruptcy-driven restructuring reopened under new ownership apparently back in August. For over a decade it was my go-to cineplex. It's now the Oaks Center Cinema. A Valley Forge company has apparently reconfigured the space such that it has a mix of movie theaters, with other live events, laser tag, etc. in the mix.
I may give it a look sometime soon, though I'm still going to want to stick to early/odd show times because I don't want to be in an even remotely crowded theater, and my standards for "crowded" are those shared by hermits.
With Halloween next Tuesday, TCM's continuing to swing in and out of seasonal mode as it moves through the month. Tonight they start back into it again at 8pm Eastern and Pacific, to roll through the night:
Frankenstein (1931) 8pm
Bride of Frankenstein (1935) 9:30pm
Horror of Dracula (1958) 11pm
House of Usher (1960) 12:30am
Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954) 2am
Phantom of the Opera (1925) 3:30am
Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde (1932) 5am
Cat People (1942) 6:45am
by noon they swing back in with a horror musical Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1982)
Those with TCM should also take advantage of their WATCHTCM section, where one can watch an assortment of films. Some go up there there for weeks on end, some for shorter stretches. The pair of Vincent Price's styled revenge films from the early '70s, as Dr. Phibes, they ran earlier this week, for instance, are available there through Halloween. Robert Wise's excellent The Haunting (1963) is there through November 19th. There's a broad selection of genres and eras of films, and TCM subscribers should make a point of checking it out periodically.
That's all for today. Feel free to leave a Comment, even if just to note that you'd come by. - Mike.
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