Meet Me In St Louis: What Appears To Be A Creepy Age Gap

As I was watching this film I had to look up the age difference between Judy Garland and the male lead as he looked multiple decades older than her and it was distracting in an uncomfortable way, however, upon checking it turns out that it’s only a few years apart.

I think the greatest strength of this film is the characters and the believable stakes of the film, everyone can relate to having to move when you don’t want to, and how your parents don’t care about what you want as a kid or a young person. The character struggles are believable because of that and it helps you to relate to the characters. A lot of modern films aim away from believability or relatable stakes much to their detriment.

The songs are terrific and a good number of them are instant classics, which you will without even having watched the film. I knew of them before I had watched the film and then when I heard them in the film I realised this was where they originated from.

A negative is that this film really isn’t a Christmas film, it was sold to me as one, however it features really only during a tiny portion of the film and as such the labelling is questionable.

In addition the pacing is quite off at times, and does slow down to a point wherein you may begin to lose interest.

Overall, a fun musical.

3.5/5

Pros

The Songs

The reliability

It is fun

It is somewhat Christmassy

Cons.

The pacing

Some of the more old fashioned elements

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Man VS Baby: Putting The Christ Back Into Christmas

Summary

Rowan Attinkson puts the Christ back into Christmas.

I mean that in several ways, he calls the Baby Jesus, this show features a school nativity plot line, and also it has moral lessons about helping the less fortunate at Christmas. This is a million miles away from other recent TV heroes such as LGBTQ+ rapist Carol on Pluribus, or the sea of other morally grey protagonists.

This short series is the short of slapstick you would expect of Atkinson and some times it does get a bit long in the tooth it is quite true particularly as it starts to escalate with the introduction of a dog later on in the run, however, for the most part it lands. Atkinson here, much to his personal chagrin, is probably one of his nicest and most self-less characters and goes out of his way to befriend and be nice to nearly everyone he meets, as referenced by the end feast scene.

Whilst this is more of what you would expect from Atkinson it is a nice winter warmer and does a lot to restore your sense of hope in your fellow man, and gives you a nice positive glow that few shows these days do. Just think of what Netflix could achieve if they made more things like this and less CGI slop about gay kids and monsters.

Overall, one of the better Christmas programs from the season.

4/5

Pros.

It is watchable

It is funny

It has charm

It has old school appeal

Cons.

It gets a bit repetitive in the end

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The Choral: Another Depressing Film About The War

Summary

A choir sing songs in Yorkshire during the War.

So I like to support the British film industry, but this just didn’t seem to be coming out in my region anytime soon, so I decided to simply use a VPN and watch it on streaming.

I probably would have resent paying a cinema ticket price for this, mainly because it is depressing. It is the usual Oscar bait sort of film, there is a lot of diversity, it is sad, and there is some sort of allegory. The issue with it is that these sort of films are ten a penny and so this is nothing remarkable.

There is also a horrible scene wherein a character who is presented to you as sympathetic throughout the film coerces his ex into a sexual act when she is now with someone else. This then makes the fact that this does not get mentioned again or cause any further conflict in the film seem odd, the fact the film still wants you to root for him thereafter seems like a moral failings.

Overall, another depressing film about the War.

2/5

Pros.

It is well shot

The period feels real

Cons.

It is Oscar bait

It is depressing

The assault

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All’s Fair: Ryan Murphy Shouldn’t Be Allowed In Hollywood Anymore

Summary

For a while I have been on the precipice of cancelling Disney +, but this show pushed me over the edge.

So you have a girlboss show about female divorce lawyers, who all of course have messy person lives. Because in the year of our Lord 2026, we need Hollywood to show us that women can be anything, even though this was already established years ago by Legally Blonde with regards to the Law.

It is very clear this series was created by Ryan Murphy as it feels like his sort of incredibly vapid writing, that reflects how no one really talks. Murphy seems to have a real issue writing for women and really doesn’t seem to understand them, the way the heroines? Behave herein makes them instantly dislikable from the off and over the course of the show you actively root against them.

I don’t know why Murphy is trying to force Kim Kardashian on us as an actor, but I will say she gave a better performance in the ‘leaked’ sex tape than she does in any of the projects Murphy tries to stick her in. In many ways Kardashian is like a black hole, her inability to act also ruins the performances of people who actually can act like Naomi Watts.

Overall, who is this for?

0.5/5

Pros.

It helped me fall asleep

Cons.

The characters are dislikable

The writing is awful

It is cringe

Kim Kardashian

It is slop designed to destroy your brain

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Stranger Things: The Final Episode

It is a shame we didn’t get more of this across the season. It would have been nice to have had this set up better, rather than have a 30 monitor Will coming out scene.

The action was good and the scope was good, for the first hour, it was fun seeing the gang fighting the military and Vecna, although the latter didn’t get to do much. Having Eleven’s friend die gave us some stakes. It is a real shame more characters didn’t die to give the finale a more final feeling rather than just to be continued.

I had issues with the ending, it makes no sense that Sarah Hamilton would just let them go, it makes no sense that the show wants you to believe that even with an 18 month time jump Nancy and Robin are good friends despite never sharing a scene together, it is also horribly paced and the ending wrap up takes longer than it does to beat Vecna.

I am glad they didn’t go down the road of oh Vecna was actually a goodie all along or try and redeem him, the scene of Joyce cutting his head off was earned. I really hated that we had to have a follow up scene to Will’s coming out between him and Mike that just added to the needless subplot, but hey they didn’t have him kill Vecna with a rainbow so that’s progress. Also I really hated the Jonathan and Steve scene wherein they set up Jonathan saving him hence why they have been quarreling all season.

It is also incredibly telling they gave Mr Wheeler nothing to do and made Hopper incompetent meanwhile Nancy was a deadeye.

Overall, it was better than the rest of the season but not hugely, they also forgot that Demegorgoans exist in the finale battle.

2/5

Pros.

It had some epic moments

It brought it to an neat end (this won’t be the end they’ll do a sequel series)

Cons.

The Will’s gay plotline went nowhere

Vecna didn’t have much to do

The plot holes

Cinema Issues: Netflix’s Doom

In this edition of Cinema Issues we will be talking about is the unsure future for Netflix in the aftermath of Stranger Things.

Netflix had three big shows that people cared about in the current year, they were Wednesday, Stranger Things and Squid Game. Two of those three programs have since ended. The issue becomes what is the value proposition for Netflix going forward, what do they have. Their only remaining, franchise, is you want to call it that which they can keep spamming out new seasons of is Wednesday now. They need new hits, there is an argument that can be made well they are about to get WBD so they will have lots of new content in the medium term, and that may be so, but I am talking about the short term after Stranger Things ends. You can imagine on the second of January masses of people all around the world cancelling Netflix, this is an immediate short term problem.

The issue has been for Netflix for quite some time that they are making slop for second screen viewing, a lot of Netflix originals have flopped after one season and been cancelled, there has been few truly good productions that has lasted the test of the time particularly in the modern era. Early Netflix had shows like House of Cards, Orange Is The New Black, Arrested Development etc, but modern Netflix just can’t seem to generate any more mega hits. This really is due to a focus on virality and the need to be the dominant thing online as opposed to quality. One only needs to look at the output of competitor Apple TV to see that Netflix is making a choice in putting internet clout chasing over quality.

Some people will say that Netflix has diversified and that it will be okay due to ventures in sports and gaming, however, the former may get someone to subscribe for a month to watch a game and then leave, but the latter hasn’t shown any potential to get people to come in at all, so the idea that this can make up for the lack of sure fire hits that litter Netflix’s future is lacking.

We could be awakening to a future wherein Netflix is no longer the big dog and has more direct competition, it may even lose some of its market share. These issues could be remedied in the medium term if they get WBD but in the short term there could be a good chance that Apple TV, Prime and Disney could gain ground.

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Ella McCay: A Lisa Simpson Issues Episode

Summary

A Lisa issues episode of the Simpsons stretched for over an hour.

So I want Hollywood to learn, most people outside the US don’t care at all about their government, or seeing their officials have to negotiate themselves out of law breaking. You, US reader, may care, but the rest of us don’t. This is a film about an elected official who breaks the law and has to find their way out of it which flopped, to no one’s surprise.

Really the only redeeming thing I can say for this film is that Emma Mackey is great, she has a real energy throughout the film. You care about her character and want her to be okay. That is about it.

The side plots about the womanising father or the brother and his ex-girlfriend kill time but do very little else. Jamie Lee Curtis plays a version of the same character she has been playing for the last twenty years, and is quite unbearable at times.

I would argue if this was a quirky sardonic sort of film done in the style of The Thick of It then maybe it could have been good, but American’s don’t understand subtlety so that was never going to happen.

2/5

Emma Mackey

It is watchable

Cons.

The side stories add nothing

No one cares about US politics outside the US

It is predictable

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Emily In Paris Season 5: Making You Want To Burn A US Flag

Summary

The cultural cancer that is Emily In Paris is back for a 5^th season.

I thought that after reviewing the earlier seasons and then taking a break I was done with this show, but I decided to revisit it.

In light of modern events, the idea of American Exceptionalism particularly in Europe is more than a bad joke. Rather than help its allies out The US government would rather hangout with dictators and white supremacists, as such the US is pretty loathed right now by most of thinking Europe. The fact that the US thinks it can lecture Europe on policy, and encourage extremist parties in Europe , and maintain friendly relations is a joke, once again it is bad.

Europe didn’t need Emily’s brand of loud over the top, omg look at me energy, back when the first season came out, but now the idea of an American coming to Europe and telling them how to be, and being met with anything other than hostility is ridiculous to the point of being absurd. Emily doesn’t just spit on the French but the Italians get it this time as well. Every negative cultural stereotype you can imagine happens to Emily almost as soon as she arrives, seems nowhere can be as great as the US which seems to have multiple school shootings per day.

This show was conceived as mindless slop but has become so culturally loaded that I am surprised Netflix even allows this to air in Europe anymore.

Overall, this is why the US is loathed globally at the moment.

1/5

Pros.

At times this almost read like a knowing self-aware parody of American’s abroad, but that would be too clever for this show.

Cons.

American Exceptionalism was never real.

It is a hurtful collection of stereotypes

The characters are unlikeable

It is slop

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Marvel Zombies: The Woke Zombies Of Disney Marvel

Summary

Marvel Zombies, a cool comic book, becomes yet more girl boss Marvel fare.

In the classic Robert Kirkman comic run, the Zombies were made up of people like Reed Richards, Ant Man, and Captain America. Here they are made up of Okoye, Wanda and Carol Danvers, can you see what is going on.

Perhaps this will help.

We begin this series following Ms Marvel, Kate Bishop and Riri Wiliams, we then meet Blade, Yelena, and the Red Guardian. Following that we meet Shang Chi and Katie. Do you see it yet. Two things are happening here, firstly it is a girlboss show which ends with Riri, Kamala and Wanda, and secondly that there are close to no popular male heroes from before phase four, amongst the ranks of the living.

They also can’t quite seem to decide what sorts of zombies they want to have, intelligent zombies that can talk or mindless zombies that can’t. You’ll notice that zombie Clint Barton and Zombie Cap don’t say a word, whereas Okoye has many a monologue. Do you get it yet.

I feel like I am just repeating myself at this point. One thing I can say with certainty is that Disney + killed Marvel dead. Whoever is in charge of Marvel’s output on Disney + needs the sack.

0.5/5

Pros.

It has a few good moments that lean towards horror

Cons.

The characters are all phase four wash outs

It is a girlboss show to it’s core

It makes pops at legacy characters

It has awful Marvel humour in it

It ruins a great comics run

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Pluribus: Lesbian Rape

Summary

An interesting show about an end of the world type scenario, which then asks you to sympathise with a rapist.

Lets crack into it, I enjoyed this show until the penultimate episode. Carol was abrasive but you still bought her struggle to restore humanity from the hive mind it had turned into. Carol is a lesbian, and over the course of the show she comes to find a fondness in one of the infected, who is part of the global hivemind and has to do whatever Carol says, this is problematic as this woman is now herself she is part of the hivemind, she may not even have been bi or a lesbian before, she is a person who is not in control of her own body. Then to add to matters Carol sleeps with this woman who is not in control of herself and has to do whatever Carol wants this is rape, it is not informed consent. No two ways about it.

This is a fundamental issue as there is no way to fix what Carol has done or redeem her. The show has her turn against the hive mind in the end as it is stealing her eggs, rather than you know a turn of heroism she now wants to kill it out of spite.

Morality in Hollywood folks.

2/5

Pros.

The first seven episodes are good

The premise is interesting

Cons.

The lead rapes someone and the show asks you to like her afterwards

The character is fundamentally ruined

The writing breaks the show

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