Media Notes: Roundup for January 2023

 

This is a somewhat random selection of the movies and series on DVD and/or online I watched during January 2023.

Movies and films (links to IMDB.com for basic information unless noted otherwise). Some of these I watched via TubiTv.com or other online source. The DVDs come from the public library (unless noted otherwise). In addition, I will try to add other trivia notes, such as when a film is based on a book adding the information about the book (at least the WorldCat record if available):

• The Silence of the Lambs (1991. Crime. Drama. Thriller). Plot description: "A young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims." I have seen this movie more than once, but I saw I had not reviewed it here on the blog. So when I saw TubiTv brought it in, I decided to watch it again. The film is one of my favorites. Something I notice watching it again now is that the film has a very good soundtrack, and it uses music very well to set atmosphere and tone. The performances are very good, especially from Anthony Hopkins (Dr. Lecter) and Jodie Foster (as Agent Starling). It is a pity they changed the actress in the next movie. Part of what works well in this one is Jodie Foster's petite build; she comes across as a woman in the FBI many underestimate because she looks small. We notice this first in the opening scenes when she is in the elevator at the FBI academy surrounded by men, all very big burly men. She was a good casting choice. This is a good thriller that builds up gradually. There are some gruesome parts, but not many. The emphasis is really on the more psychological and the deductions and work Clarice has to do to solve the case. Naturally, Dr. Lecter is quite the fascinating character as well. Overall, it is a very well made movie, and one that holds up well watched again. In a way, I do like the ending on this one. Certainly qualifies as a classic, so I am willing to give it 5 out of 5 stars. Via TubiTv. Watched 1/1/2023.
• The film is based on the novel The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris. I read the books years ago, but I have not reviewed it. May be time to reread it for a review.
• The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976. Western). Plot description: "Missouri farmer Josey Wales joins a Confederate guerrilla unit and winds up on the run from the Union soldiers who murdered his family." Clint Eastwood directed the film and starred as Josey Wales. This is another classic I have seen before, but I had not reviewed it until now. The film is essentially a feud and revenge tale where Wales seeks revenge for his family but also tries to start a new life away from those chasing him. However, those chasing him will not give up until they get him. Violent as Wales can be, Eastwood manages to make him a very sympathetic figure; the man just wants what he sees as justice for his losses. The movie also features other characters that are interesting with some depth such as Cherokee Native Lone Watie (Chief Dan George), a figure with some pathos,  and Fletcher, who gets stuck having to chase Wales after he sells out the rest of Wales' guerrilla group. Fletcher is one who understands Wales, but of course the captain hunting Wales does not listen. In his journey, a bit of an odyssey, Wales meets all sorts of characters, many of them quite evil, which naturally contrasts with Wales being an outlaw. The movie does have an epic scale as well as it tells the story over a long span of time. The movie itself is two hours and 15 minutes or so, and Eastwood makes good work of that time. There is violence, but it is also a film that shows a lot of humanity. In the end, Wales just wants to leave the violence behind and live, along with keeping those with him safe. I'd say 4.5 out of 5 stars. Via TubiTv. Watched 1/1.
  
• I did not know until now, I probably should have paid more attention to the opening credits, that the film is based on a book: The Rebel Outlaw: Josey Wales. (Link to Wikipedia entry on the book). Alternate title of the book is Gone to Texas. On a side note, turns out the author of the book had quite a controversial story of his own. Eastwood did not know of the book author's past when he made the film, which has gone on to become a classic western for many.
• Final Destination 3 (2006. Thriller. Horror). Plot description: "Six years after students cheated death, another teen has a premonition that she and her friends will be involved in an accident. When the vision comes true, the student and survivors deal with the repercussions of cheating the Grim Reaper." It is six years later from the last film, and here we go again with a new group of young folks, high school seniors. I watched the first two back in March 2022, so when I saw the rest of the series was available, I decided to keep watching. Opening credits with the fair and festival theme was nice. The film then starts with them in an amusement park. The initial roller coaster ride disaster is quite well made. Two of the survivors recall the events from the previous film, which gives them a bit of a reference to what may be happening now. The deaths are creative, which is part of what makes the films appealing, but the formula is basically the same as before. The film has an open last minute scare ending that to be honest feels a bit forced. Film could have ended before that last scene and worked well enough. This movie keeps a thin connection to the previous one, but if you have not seen the previous two, it can still stand on its own. Fans of the previous two will probably enjoy this one. It's basically a third helping of the formula the films have established. I liked it, but no big deal, so 3 out of 5 stars. Via TubiTv. Watched 1/14.
  
• The Final Destination (2009. Thriller. Horror). Plot description: "A horrifying premonition saves a young man and his friends from death during a racetrack accident but terrible fates await them nonetheless." And here we go again, fourth installment, with a new set of survivors, this time surviving an accident in a racetrack at the start. By the way, before I go further the movie title here is a total lie since there is a fifth installment of this series, and a sixth is in development as of this post. I guess the makers want to milk this ride for all they can. Anyhow, it falls to the man and his friends and some other survivors that followed him out of the racetrack to figure out death's pattern and try to save themselves from Death. Once more, film starts with a pretty good disaster opening scene. Again, the death scenes are what makes the film. I do admit the racist dying was kind of funny (he was about to go harass a Black man when Death took care of him). Soon the main survivor does some googling, as they do in the previous film, and starts figuring out what is happening. Challenge is he has to convince the others so they can save themselves. Again, it's a bit of variant on the formula, but it's pretty much the same formula. The deaths, fun as they can be, are getting more ridiculous as the series goes on. The bathtub one seemed a serious stretch. Thrilling but a bit of a stretch. At this point, the movie endings seem to be getting mean for the sake of being mean. Characters by now are less than memorable, since they are all Death's target pretty much. Once more, if you liked the previous ones, then you are likely to enjoy this one, though it just does not seem as good as the previous ones. Series has lost whatever originality or freshness it had. This one was OK, so 2 out of 5 stars. Via TubiTv. Watched 1/14.
• Final Destination 5 (2011. Horror. Thriller.) Plot description: "Death returns to claim the lucky survivors of a deadly bridge collapse in this fifth frightening installment in the series." Clearly the previous movie title lied since we got a fifth installment to the series. Tony Todd returns to the series, and we get an appearance by Courtney B. Vance (as Agent Block), so there is a bit of effort to get a couple of more known actors in the cast. Once the opening scene happens, and the main survivor is questioned by Agent Block, we know where things will go from there. If you've seen the previous movies, then you know the drill as Death will come after the survivors to get those due to it. For folks who have not seen the previous movies, or those needing a reminder of the rules, we soon get Bludworth (Tony Todd) at the first funeral to explain the rules to the survivors and the audience. To be honest, it is a miracle more people do not die in these movies given the subpar equipment and infrastructures that also seem to be part of these movies. Cheap equipment and shoddy workmanship are by now Death's best friends. As usual, once the initial disaster happens, we are just watching to see what creative forms Death will use. As I said, cheap equipment and shoddy workmanship are at work here. By the way, the scene where a woman is getting a Lasik (laser vision correction) procedure is why I am keeping my eyeglasses. The movie's pacing between the deaths is somewhat slow, drags a bit. Deaths are not as ridiculous as the previous movie; they seem more just bad coincidences combined with, as I mentioned it bad gear and shoddy workmanship. There is a new rule or twist, though one has to wonder if it is really a new rule, or if the survivors just misinterpret what Bludworth stated. I lean to them misinterpreting, but I leave it to viewers to decide. This movie seemed a bit less aggressive in terms of the deaths; they were good, a bit less outrageous than the last film. The last act seemed a bit of a stretch, but in the end Death does get its due. The very last scene illustrates the classic horror case of not listening to warnings. The formula is about the same; the cast mostly disposable as before. Not much new here, so I am giving it 2 out of 5 stars as it was mostly OK. Via TubiTv. Watched 1/21. 
• Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (2022. Biography. Comedy. Musical. Made for television film). Plot description: "Explores every facet of Yankovic's life, from his meteoric rise to fame with early hits like 'Eat It' and 'Like a Surgeon' to his torrid celebrity love affairs and famously depraved lifestyle." Daniel Radcliffe, who many may know from his younger days portraying Harry Potter, plays Yankovic here. The pool party scene at Dr. Demento's place with the celebrities is a bit surreal and fun. On a bit of trivia, Radcliffe learned to play the accordion for this film. The movie is much like his life, parody with a wee bit of his life in it (OK, not much really), and a little surrealism at times. It also has a moving moment or too. The film is mainly a parody of a biopic about a musician, rise to fame, fall, rebirth. Radcliffe really does great in his performance. Some of the cameos (real and impersonations) are fun too. Keep in mind Al in real life is not quite as he is in the film, which makes the parody work that much more. By the way, make sure also you stay all the way through the credits at the end for the last song. This is a film that you can tell the actors making it had fun with it, and that is a good thing. If you are a fan of Weird Al, you need to see this. If you are not, it is still worth watching. For me, this is most likely going to be my movie of the year. 5 out of 5 stars. Via the Roku Channel. Watched 1/27.
• Film won "Best Movie Made for Television" and Radcliffe won Best Actor in a Limited Series or Made for Television from the Critics' Choice Awards. It deserved every award it got and a few more. This was great. 
• Radcliffe after Harry Potter has made a good effort to do various roles. He really nailed it in this one, and I now want to seek out some of his other films to see how he does.
  

Television and other series (basic show information links via Wikipedia unless noted otherwise). Some of these come in DVD from the public library. Others may be via YouTube, which, as noted before, I keep finding all sorts of other old shows in it, often full episodes:

 

• Iron Chef (1993-1999). I continue watching this full run via TubiTv. Watching season 7. 
• Hell's Kitchen (2005-). Description: "Twelve aspiring restaurateurs compete before chef Gordon Ramsay." I remember watching the first season of this when it was on the air, and while I liked it OK, I never kept on watching after that. Since Tubi has the full run (up to season 20, season 21 is the current one as of this writing), I figured I would give it a try again, so I am starting at the beginning in season one.I managed to watch into season 11.
  
• Interesting for me to watch that first season since at the time I can still recall who won it, so it is interesting to see the eventual winner put through the experience and how they grow.
• In season 2, episode 2, the scene where they look at the food the contestants wasted after the first night is quite the visual. I mean, I know food service can often be wasteful, but damn that was a lot. Overall, they did ramp up the drama in the second season, especially a lot of the bickering between the contestants. 
• In the season 3 opener, the brief "moment of calm" with Ramsay at the beginning was a light bit of humor. As if him staying calm was going to happen. In season two, they started the initial teams as all men and all women. They kept the men versus women in the initial teams on this season. To be honest, I sort of liked a bit better when the teams were mixed as in the first season. 
• Don't recall if season 4 opened close to Halloween that year, but the opener credits had a bit of haunted house/horror vibe. This season starts with 15 contestants; the number increases from 12 in the previous seasons. Also, Ramsay's first appearance was a bit of good humor too. This season also starts the two teams with a team captain, which the other team members elect. Similar to the previous seasons, Ramsay does the waste exercise with these contestants. I always find that visual both awful (it does look bad) and a bit amazing at the amount of initial waste the contestants generate. Also in this season it seems they decided to amp the level of obnoxiousness in some contestants. Jen and Matt stood out for being particularly obnoxious and rude. In addition, the show by now seems to have a pattern that at least one contestant will need medical attention, including a hospital stay. Another pattern seems to be the louder a contestant is, in addition to obnoxious, the less likely they will make it to finals.
  
• Season 5, the number of contestants goes up by one to 16. The season opener claims this was, at the time, the strongest pool of contestants they've had. That remains to be seen as the season opens. First episode pretty much eliminates the opening pleasantries, and it starts with the contestants already cooking their opening dish. Also, the initial teams now have names, chosen by the contestants. By now, the last two episodes, where they do the finals, do feel like they got a bit of filler. In this season, the idea of having family members oversee the finalists' remodel felt awkward and a bit forced. I wonder which script writer came up with that nonsense. Still, the ending on this one was pretty moving. 
• In season 6, the asshole behavior from the contestants gets ramped up because the show needs more drama. Apparently finding contestants with bad attitudes that no one would hire in the real world is an easy way to tweak the drama in the show. 
• Trivia note: Masaharu Morimoto, the Iron Chef Japanese in the original series, makes a guest appearance in season 8, episode 2. At the time, Morimoto had earned a Michelin star. Also in this season, J.P. the Maitre D' is replaced by James. I think I liked J.P. a bit better. 
• Season 9, it is starting to show Ramsay at times is keeping certain contestants longer to keep the drama going. Elise should have gone home a lot sooner were it not for her big mouth and drama, which I am sure the producers and Ramsay thought made good drama (to be honest, those diva ways are the kind of thing many real workplaces would not likely tolerate, or who knows, she'd be a CEO. Not I am not saying a CEO is a good thing given how some of them behave so badly). 
• By the tenth season, new contestants have seen the show, so the drama is amped up, so are the antics. As I watch season 10, I finally notice they are increasing two-part episodes. This seems to be a way to stretch a season and add to the drama doing things like delaying the final elimination of an episode to the following episode. This season has gone up from 15 episodes all the way to 20. I guess they needed more filler. 
• Season 11 we are now up to 22 episodes, two more. They keep adding filler it seems, though the formula is pretty much the same. In this season, J.P. (Jean Phillipe) the Maitre 'D returns after a three seasons absence.