Media Notes: Roundup for June 2023

 

  

 

This is a somewhat random selection of the movies and series on DVD and/or online I watched during June 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):

• Wish Upon (2017. Horror. Drama. Fantasy). Plot description: "A teenage girl discovers a box that carries magic powers and a deadly price for using them." I picked this up out of curiosity when I saw it on a list of lesser known horror movies (can't quite recall, somewhere on social media). Also, it reminded me a bit of the original Wishmaster, which I watched and reviewed back in September 2020, so I figured why not. The opening scene starts innocent enough, yet a bit foreboding with a woman tossing a mysterious package in the trash. Her daughter comes out to play, and the woman goes back inside When the girl comes back, mom has committed suicide. From there the movie moves to what is present day. That little girl is a school girl teen now, and the story goes from there. Setting starts out in school, with the usual teen dramas, bullies, etc. To be honest the kind of brats you can't wait to start dying off. By the way, her dad and a friend of his make a living as scavengers; they dumpster dive for things they can sell. He finds the box. It looks nice, so he gives it to his daughter as a gift. It has Chinese writing on it, but she happens to be studying Chinese in school. It says something about seven wishes. She makes a wish, just as teens do, casual, with no idea what she unleashes. However, when she sees her first wish comes true (revenge against a school bully), she starts making other wishes, mostly the kind of stupid stuff teens often wish. What she does not realize right away is the price of the wishes, a connection she does not make right away. The prices, deaths basically, are not necessarily connected to the wishes either, at least not apparently, which adds to the suspense. The teenie bopper music soundtrack does not really do the movie any favors. She eventually finds a scholar translation to tell her it is a Chinese wish pot and the basics of how it works. The film has some suspense, but overall it is seriously slow. It is also a bit by the numbers, wish is granted, then the death happens, and it is pretty predictable who dies. Despite the girl starting to realize there are consequences, she just keeps making wishes because high school sucks royally, she is not popular, and figures she can use the box to fix all that. We are not dealing with the sharpest tool in the shed here. We know where this is headed; it is going to be bad. By the time she gets all the facts of the box, things are way beyond messed up. The end is a bit sudden, but given the established rules, we knew it had to happen. Overall, it is pretty predictable, so lessens the suspense. The teen drama thing is more annoying and stereotypical than anything else. The premise had potential but between the annoying teen drama, the slow pace, and formulaic progression, not really a good movie. The girl being such an idiot makes it hard if not impossible to sympathize with her, and if you do not even care for the protagonist, why bother? For horror, not really that shocking nor suspenseful. Nothing really is surprising. I fail to see the appeal that list author saw in this movie. 1 out of 5 stars, barely. You can skip this one. Via TubiTv. Watched 6/2.
  
• Many reviewers compare this movie to the short story "The Monkey's Paw." If anything, I suggest you go read the short story and skip this movie.
• The Punisher (1989. Action. Crime. Thriller. Comics adaptation). Plot description: "When Frank Castle's family is murdered by criminals, he wages war on crime as a vigilante assassin known only as The Punisher." This is the 1989 adaptation of the character with Dolph Lundgren in the title role and Louis Gossett, Jr. as Castle's former partner who is now hunting him. Way before the MCU, we had movies like this. In this time, when the Japanese Yakuza tries to take over the local mafia by kidnapping the children, the mafia leader has to strike an uneasy alliance with The Punisher to rescue the children. Still, for The Punisher, justice will be served. Overall, this is a decent action film. The strength is that it captures Castle as a tormented man haunted by the loss of his family. His monologues when alone can be a bit haunting and capture his darker side and personal pain. The movie leaves an opening for sequels, but we never get them, well, not with Lundgren at least. Later versions go for higher violence. In this one, Castle is a violent man and a good fighter, but he is also more introspective and has a darker presence. Film overall is more atmospheric in contrast to later versions going for more explosions and flash. Lundgren's portrayal of the character works. They did pretty well by the comics with this one. Years later, I still like it well enough.  3 out of 5 stars. Via YouTube. Watched 6/2.
• Trench 11: (2017. Horror. Thriller. War). Plot description: "In the final days of WWI, an allied army unit led by a shell-shocked soldier is sent to investigate a mysterious abandoned German facility located deep underground. What they find is fate worse than death." This is a nice concept. Usually we get the genre of bioweapons and experiments of war from Nazis in World War II, so this taking place in World War I sounds interesting. The Germans are still the bad guys, but still a departure from the usual. The allied team goes in to see what the Germans left behind, but then the Germans do send their own team to seal the facility for good. Add to this then what is inside the underground complex. This is a pretty good thriller overall, very atmospheric, and a bit claustrophobic at times. Not too many jump scares; it is more about the suspense and seeing who might survive in the end. Not too much gore for a zombie virus film. The setting is well made, and the acting is decent. I liked it, but it is not a big deal. I think it is worth a watch for the overall sense of suspense. 3 out of 5 stars. Via TubiTv. Watched 6/17.
  

 

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:

 

• Midsomer Murders (1997 to present, still going. Mystery. Crime. Detective. British series). I commented on this series in the July 2020 roundup. Via TubiTv, which has up to Season 21 now. Picking it up this month with season 17. 
• Season 17, Episode 1: "The Dagger Club." Plot description: "A crime festival is jeopardized when a manuscript is stolen and a woman is fatally electrocuted." By this season, the Barnaby baby is here now. Plot of the mystery revolves around the last manuscript of a detective fiction writer recently deceased. The executor was going to publish it locally, which would be a big deal for the small press. Meanwhile, the town's crime festival is going on. The electrocution seems to go or be inspired by one of the writer's novels. As often happens in these mysteries, we soon start finding the obnoxious people we would love to see dead. As someone commented in the story, the woman should have put the manuscript in a safe. On the surface, there are the two murders and the manuscript lost, but as often happens in Midsomer, it's the small town politics and social sins under the surface that are often the big issue. Soon there is more than just the literary mystery, and an interesting twist with the dead author. 
• Season 17, Episode 2: "Murder by Magic." Plot description: "Barnaby and Nelson uncover a conflict between the village church and ancient pagan traditions." This is another episode where the local church has issues with local paganism; the series has done this sort of plot before. This time, the episode starts with a local magic show, which apparently they booked the local church as venue, and a younger priest of the church is not happy about it. He is one of those zealot Christians that show up in the series once in a while. The magic show looks pretty good, until an apparent accident happens. It soon turns out to be murder. The show was done to raise funds for the church. Soon, there is a connection to an active pagan cult, and a crime from the past that comes to haunt one of the locals, and a very zealous mother. In the end, religion here was the red herring.
• Season 17, Episode 3: "The Ballad of Midsomer County." Plot description: "Barnaby investigates whether a ballad could have been the inspiration for a murder." When one of the promoters of a local folk music festival is found dead, the mystery is on. The detail with the housekeeper in the opening was a bit cold, but very much in keeping with the pettiness of some folks in Midsomer County.The promoter wanted to move the festival out of the town to a location closer to London, which basically pissed off a lot of the locals who would lose the business. So there are plenty of suspects in this one, plus the revelation that the promoter and his partner were close to being bankrupt, largely due to the partner blowing a lot of the money. When the partner dies, one does wonder. And that one song seems connected. In the end, boils down to a stereotypical band doing relatively well breaking up due to dysfunction, and the one woman effing up the band, or women rather. 
• Season 17, Episode 4: "A Vintage Murder." Plot description: "When a wine launch turns deadly, Barnaby tries to find out who is targeting Midsomer Vinae Winery." This is the last episode of season 17. Quite the opening, a winery is launching a new wine, and they bring in an expert to taste it. The expert gets on stage, tastes it, and proceeds to literally trash it. Then a bunch of people drop down, poisoned it seems, a light poisoning, mostly making people vomit. Is it sabotage? Some other conspiracy? Turns out this is just one of a few incidents, and it seems a local "Farmers' Wives Group" may be behind it. The group seems more a bunch of bitchy Karens. However, in this series, matter of time before we find out the actual issue. The winery is in debt. The critic turns out took bribes for good reviews, and gets killed, not to mention she was an alcoholic. The family that owns the winery is dysfunctional. In the end, it is the family dysfunction; the Karens even disappear early on in the episode. This one was quite a family mess, going back to a death years back. 
• Season 18, Episode 1: "Habeas Corpus." Plot description: "Wealthy landowner Gregory Lancaster's body goes missing on the night of his death." Soon another body goes missing, this time from a cemetery. The second deceased has a connection to the Lancasters. Meanwhile, the heir wants to sell the estate to an old friend who happens to be seriously wealthy. And there is the somewhat shady undertaker, who happens to share space with the local doctor. Then a third death happens, and again, a body goes missing. Soon, we find out there are questionable deals going on behind the scenes, and family secrets begin to surface.It goes back to those secrets. 
• Season 18, Episode 2: "Incident at Cooper Hill." Plot description: "Mysterious lights are seen in the sky over famous UFO hotspot Cooper Hill." Episode starts with a lights in the night incident, and person in the car missing the next day. The town is conflicted about the UFOs. Some like the business UFO chasers bring, and others do not. And since it is UFO territory, of course there is a military base nearby. Turns the lady missing, a local forest ranger, is daughter of a captain on base. Soon, in addition to mystery lights, as happens in the series, small town issues soon surface, and the mystery is much more mundane. A bit convoluted, but very mundane.
  
• Season 18, Episode 3: "Breaking the Chain." Plot description: "Barnaby and Nelson are drawn into a competitive world of blackmail, bribery and bloodshed." Who knew the sport of cycling could get so mean? Turns out the teams are not all happy families; the lead team in the competition seems to be falling apart. A cyclist is killed, and initially it seems it was while doing a stationary cycling exercise after a race, but soon it is revealed he was poisoned. The plot thickens right away. As other cyclists die, the challenge is the method of the deaths. Question is if the suspect is from within the cycling world or outside. This one had a bit of a twist at the end. 
• Season 18, Episode 4: "A Dying Art." Plot description: "Art comes to the Midsomer village of Angel's Rise with the opening of a new sculpture park." The sculptures, to be honest, a bit on the creepy side, and then the first corpse appears in the sculpture park, and it's the owner of the park who also funded it. There is the man's estate, the park, and not everyone gets along, so plenty of suspects with motive. When the old man's will is changed, favoring the groundsman of all people, the mystery thickens. Then the groundsman gets killed. The mystery in the end revolves around artists, and one of them stealing ideas from another. This one they kept you guessing until the very end. Turns out as it often happens to be someone quite unexpected. 
• Season 18, Episode 5: "Saints and Sinners." Plot description: "A saint's bones are discovered during an archaeological dig, causing a stir." Seems not everyone is happy about the find, and soon the archeologist leading the dig is the first to die. The village has a whole tourist attraction around a local saint, except the dig may prove their saint is not THE saint. Needless to say, she becomes persona non grata in the village, along with anyone associated with the dig. And then there may be an academic rival or two of the good archeologist. Plus the local reverend has a stake on preserving the local story, which the dig disrupts. Plenty of folks with motives to kill. Add a treasure no one is sure is there, and it gets interesting. The mystery still goes back to the saint. 
• Season 18, Episode 6: "Harvest Souls." Plot description: "The annual harvest fair and the daredevil riders of the Wall of Death arrive in Whitcombe Mallet." This is the last episode of this season. In the season, the Barnaby baby is now getting to the toddler stage. The series so far maintains some good suspense in the mysteries. The competitiveness between Dr. Kam, the new pathologist this season, and DS Nelson does get a bit ridiculous at times. It does not quite have the humor the writers may think it has. As for this episode, the first death is a local landlord. Village has plenty of motive to want him dead since he had plans for the village's land, and those plans did not include the villagers. The mystery on this one seems a bit complicated, not as easy to tell motives. The death of the veterinarian was a bit puzzling. Soon we learn this may boil down to a custody battle and a family feud. A deep old feud based on an affair. The case goes from fairly broad to narrow once the family issue is revealed. 
• Season 19, Episode 1: "The Village That Rose from the Dead." Plot description: "DCI Barnaby hunts a killer in a formerly abandoned village undergoing big changes." There are three finalists for project proposals to reopen the village, which was military property during the World War II, and the army is finally letting go of the land to the owner for the village to be able to reopen back to normal. When a villager is run over by a tank in the middle of the night, the mystery is on.  This new season opens on a sad note as Sykes, the Barnaby's family dog, has died, and they are burying him as the story opens. DS Nelson is gone; he is off to undercover school, so time for a new detective sergeant as they do in the series every so often. We get to see the new sergeant, DS Jamie Winter. Betty, their child, is a bit older now. As for the mystery, soon the village politics and issues begin to surface. This is a particularly slow moving case where the issues are not totally clear other than the rivalry of the proposals' makers. Oh, and there is a family running an illegal exotic snake sales ring (that was a red herring). Turns out to be a case of blackmail and an illegitimate but rightful heir (or so he thought) of the land killing others to get the land. This one took a bit to become clear but an interesting twist.  
• Season 19, Episode 2: "Crime and Punishment." Plot description: "Barnaby investigates the death of a neighborhood watch group member revealing a quest for control." For the most part, the watch group is mostly a group of old people who are too nosy for their own good and some younger cop wannabes; they are all pretty much on a power trip (apparently they can have some authority unlike the ones in the US who are pretty worthless; they seem to issue citations for instance). Part of the reason they got a watch is it is isolated, they formed the watch to lower crime since the nearest police are a bit too far for responding right away. Apparently setting up a small police station at least was too much bother for the village and/or government. (I did find the whole premise a bit ridiculous to be honest). However, when a dead body appears, Barnaby is on the case. Basically, soon we learn the watch is about as bad as an American HOA, i.e. seriously odious. No wonder someone may want them dead. They are not particularly sympathetic or likeable. The watch is basically the good squad for a local town administrator. When more watch members get murdered, to be honest, some of us may not be feeling too sympathetic (I know I did not). A disgruntled town person harassed by the watch? Or something more sinister? Turns out a bit of a scam by the local administrator running the watch. Watch funding was getting cut, so she "arranged" for some crimes to happen, but soon murders happen, things get out of hand. Plus soon it goes back to a hit and run death from years past. To be honest, good case but pity the watch administrator lived. Oh well, can't have it all. 
• Season 19, Episode 3: "Last Man Out." Plot description: "Barnaby and Winter investigate the death of a star cricketer during a tournament." We start with a cricket game, and some root for the winner, some do not. The mystery happens when the start of the winning team is killed after the game by someone unknown at the moment. DS Jones, who had been gone in undercover work, makes an appearance in this episode. The cricket game is part of some new league from Australia the promoters are trying to introduce, but seems some locals are opposed to the idea. In addition, there is a scam going to throw games. There are plenty of folks then with motives to kill. Turns out Jones, a DI now, is investigating game fixes. It seems simple, but turns out the murders are one thing (an old family matter) and the game fixing racket is another matter. Pretty good episode overall. 
• Season 19, Episode 4: "Red in Tooth and Claw." Plot description: "Barnaby and Winter stumble across a startling discovery when they find a body engulfed in rabbits." The story opens at a small pets show, featuring rabbits, guinea pigs, so on. Who knew show rabbit competitors could be so ruthless and snobbish? So, was there sabotage of the show? (breeding the pets is valuable). Other village issues? The mystery soon goes down to a certain property sale, sabotaging the show to force the sale (the property is where the show happens), and local issues as often happens. There is an interesting murder, by allergic reaction (the "allergen" was shoved in air vents in a car, victim dried from the reaction as she drove). On a side note, for some reason a lot of the competition pets all have mythology names like Hercules for a stud rabbit and Xena for a hamster. In the end, some of it had to do with breeder rabbit fraud, and a somewhat stalker boyfriend. 
• Season 19, Episode 5: "Death by Persuasion." Plot description: "A young woman is stabbed to death with a quill at a Jane Austen fantasy event." Another episode with a bit of a literary theme. We are reminded a bit more we are in the 21st century by a couple of drones featured through the episode, which some villagers may not be too thrilled about. On an interesting note, we see at least one drone being used for medical deliveries in a village. Turns out the quill per se did not kill the victim; it was laced with a drug that paralyzed her including the lungs to thus suffocate her. Quite a gruesome way to go. Then the drone company has a break in, where a laptop is burned. Is there a connection somehow? Soon as often happens, the small village politics emerge. That includes a man from the village seeking revenge for a bad youth. This particular episode has a bit of a convoluted set of secrets that do not always seem connected to the murders (and a bit of a Jane Austen touch that may be a bit much). In the end, much like in an Austen novel, it was about old romances, unhappy marriages, and crossed lovers, oh, add in an arsonist and also a meddling woman not really helping things
• Season 19, Episode 6: "The Curse of the Ninth." Plot description: "The winner of a music award is found strangled with a violin string moments before a performance." This is the last episode of Season 19. The winner of that award may not have been popular with certain people, plus other village politics emerge, such as some gin bar chain displacing local pubs, oh, and there is a missing Stradivarius. The world of music is full of prima donnas, so there are some suspects. By the way, the "curse of the ninth" is a real superstition among musicians, composing your ninth symphony means you are destined to die, and some people do start dying. On a side note, Barnaby's wife now is in a writer wannabe stage, a bit on the ridiculous side. Overall, she does not quite have the charm of the first Barnaby's wife. On another side note, I love how conveniently people tend to just leave their laptops wide open. Like they close them, and some other person comes and opens it, finding everything they may need. Did none of these people hear of things like passwords and just shutting the machine down? I never leave my machine just open for cripes sake. It is a fairly constant plot device in this series, especially in later seasons. Then it gets really interesting when the first victim turns out is not the person they thought, an impostor. So there was an extra murder as the real guy was killed years ago, over a relatively silly thing. As for the impostor, he was a con man silenced by someone who knew. This one was quite a plot, and not that much connected to music. It was more about a bit of greed and an act of cowardice. And because the season needs to end on a happy note, Barnaby's wife manages to get a publisher interested in her novel, but we lose Kam, the forensic doctor, who gets an offer to work in Montreal. 
• Season 20, Episode 1: "The Ghost of Causton Abbey." Plot description: "Barnaby and Winter investigate a murder at a new brewery located in a supposedly cursed Abbey." Episode opens recreating the medieval scene of the abbey where a monk is apparently executed by the others (accused of poisoning others with the beer he made) and curses them before dying. In the present day, a brewery opens in the old abbey, even using the curse as part of the brand, Cursed Brew IPA. However, not all is good in the abbey as the first corpse is found the day after a tasting. And a local beer society don, member of the local city council, does not approve of the abbey brewery either, making things complicated for them. Oh, there is a new forensic doctor, and she is not particularly friendly or a people person (obnoxious is more like it). Which by the way, Barnaby apparently finds it amusing to bring her over to dinner without telling others how obnoxious she is, wanting others to find out. Not exactly the humor the writers thought, makes him look obnoxious now. In the end, she is not bad, just seriously not a people person and not terribly tactful at times, but does the job. As for the brewery, some of their practices are shady, to put it mildly. There is a cute scene where Barnaby reads a fairy tale to his daughter. Soon it goes back to a situation of domestic abuse and an alcoholic parent, and a ghost writer who knew too much. Quite the twist, the brewery was a big red herring. 
• Season 20, Episode 2: "Death of the Small Coppers." Plot description: "When a butterfly collector and founding member of an elite IQ society is found murdered and pinned to a wall like one of his treasured specimens, Barnaby and Winter have to investigate a crime that has an international impact." By this episode, Dr. Fleur the pathologist is settling into more of an eccentric rather than the obnoxious she appeared in the first episode of the season. The Danish detective Barnaby worked with earlier appears in this episode; she is there to join the IQ Society Circulus; we soon learn she is also investigating a case. Again also we get another parent living vicariously through their kid, in this case a father obsessed with his kid joining Circulus. Soon what seems simple turns out there is an industrial espionage secrets trafficking racket, and some environmental activism gone a bit too far to save some rare butterflies. In the end, as often happens, a much simpler issue closer to home.
  
• Next Level Chef (2022-. Reality. Cooking competition). I commented on the show and its first season back in May 2022. This is the second season that just ended in May 2023, and Tubi just brought it in. The second season has 15 episodes. The two celebrity chefs that worked with Ramsay last year return to coach contestants hoping to win $250,000 and a year of mentorship from the three chefs. Overall, they kept the same format from the first season. In the early episodes, the contestants make a lot of small careless mistakes that put them in jeopardy. By the fifth episode, one wonders if they will ever learn, but I suppose that adds to the drama.  Overall, I do like this show better than Hell's Kitchen. Watched the second season over weekend of June 16.