Flavours of the Month: November/December 2023...

Whammin' bammin' slammin' action, two very twisted brothers, and a flatulent cartoon quest are just some of what's been setting the tone of my November/December 2023...

Click "READ MORE" below to see this month's looks, sounds, vibes & flavours...

LOOKS:

Richard Hammond's Workshop: Series 3 - a little more attention paid to the actual restoration of classic cars wouldn't go amiss, the focus seeming to shift a smidge away from that this season, but it's still good viewing (and always fun to see some familiar roads and locations popping up). Hopefully there'll be a fourth season.

Upload: Season 3 - the remainder of the season didn't disappoint, so it was a really solid season all-said-and-done with genuine laughs and heart combined with a range of complex characters who are also fun to spend time with. With little, really, in the way of 'pandering', the show is free to follow the story where it needs to go and how it needs to get there, while securing the above point about richly-drawn, complex characterisation. Another season, please!

Get Gotti - from the makers of the excellent crime doc Fear City, this documentary mini-series tells the story of the rise and fall of New York City crime boss John Gotti from both sides of the law. Perhaps a little flawed here or there, but overall it was told in a pretty gripping manner with oodles of style and tension, with even a little bit of humour thrown in when the quirks of real-life outstrip what you could get away with in a scripted show/movie.

Mission: Impossible Dead Reckoning Part One (Blu-Ray) - perhaps I was a little too hyped for this one, especially after hearing some reviews from others about how full-on the escalating finale is, but while it maybe didn't quite click as much for me as previous entries, I still loved it and will no doubt settle into it more with repeated viewings. Being a 'part one' inherently hamstrings the script, leaving viewers without a real conclusion (also see Fast X), and as a result the script here is uncharacteristically a little rough around the edges. Still, it was always going to be a very tall order to beat the previous entry, Fallout. Still, there's lots of great action, even if some of the key setpieces were over-advertised and therefore lacked some added oomph (e.g. riding a motorbike off a cliff into a base jump was highly promoted and shown in numerous clips and trailers). I'm very much looking forward to the concluding part.

Beavis & Butthead: Season 2 - the new incarnation of the show, that is. Now this is how you bring back a classic, you don't mess about with it, you just do what was successful before, add-in some creative additions (e.g. the 'Old Beavis & Butthead stories), and take inspiration from today for more hijinks within the established order of things. Simple and effective.

Archer: Season 14 - a lukewarm final season of eight somewhat meandering episodes suggest the show has decidedly run its course. It doesn't help that so much time is spent trying to introduce a new character, who takes far too long to settle into the long-established vibe. Considering this is supposed to be the final season, there was also a distinct lack of finality to the season-long story. The strong three-part finale "Into The Cold" at least provides a much more focussed ending, but even its placement, tacked-on weeks later, speaks to the what has been a somewhat sloppy close to a show that has almost always hit the target.

Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story - hosted by the reliably affable and charming Keanu Reeves, this four-part documentary series (on Disney+ in the UK) covers the eventful 2009 season which saw a racing team on the brink of dropping out of the sport altogether (due to the 2008 financial crash), only to be bought for £1 and go on to achieve something incredible. It's a gripping and passionately told tale, featuring all the biggest players still alive today. Excellent stuff.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off - come the surprise twist at the end of episode one, you get the impression that the show might as well have been called 'Scott Pilgrim Gets Written Out Of His Own Story'. The trailers, which is really what most people are going to have gained their expectations from, decidedly don't give you a clue as to the 'remix' nature of this animated adaptation, created and co-written by Bryan Lee O'Malley and BenDavid Grabinski. I really don't think the 'bait and switch' nature of the trailer, suggesting this would be an adaptation of the graphic novels that would include a whole host of material that never found a home in Edgar Wright's excellent 2010 film only to then seemingly 'kill off' the title character was at all necessary and doesn't really bring any benefit. If you're down for the surprise, then whatever (does it really add any enduring value?), but if you've been expecting one thing and then get something very different, you're going to feel tricked and pissed off. Why not clue-people-in ahead of time?

Jarring and unadvertised switcheroo aside, as Ramona Flowers now mostly takes centre stage (with numerous supporting characters, including the Seven Evil Exes, all getting new, extensive material to explore), it is worth sticking around to see how it pans out. However, seeing as Scott only appears in three-and-a-bit episodes, his relationship with Ramona once again suffers from not enough screentime to really make it stick. With Ramona having only gone on one chaste date with Scott, and with her selfish nature of relationships past, why would she really feel so different and go investigating the curious vanishing of one Mr Pilgrim? Perhaps if the surprise had happened at the end of episode two, with more time to invest in their relationship, it would've made more narrative and emotional sense? At least, however, Takes Off does rectify one particular wobble of the 2010 film - namely the too-aloof nature of the cinematic incarnation of Ramona Flowers, who comes across softer and warmer in this version.

Having felt a bit scorched during episodes two and three, reeling from that twist, I'm glad I stuck with it. To be fair, re-telling the same story beats for a fourth time (graphic novel, movie, videogame, and then animated show) would've most likely been a bit tired, even with the chance to explore the material the movie couldn't use. It's a bold move, but with the heavy involvement of Scott Pilgrim originator O'Malley it does ultimately pay off and proves to be mostly satisfying, taking inspiration from O'Malley's own life in recent years. Taking many of the familiar elements, throwing them into a blender, and exploring new angles opens more doors than it closes. While Scott is removed from the story for too-long, many supporting characters get alternative material to explore, although it's give and take: Young Neil and Knives Chau get far more to do while, Kim Pine, say, gets somewhat lost in the shuffle.

The animation style is great and the voice acting is mostly on-point, some vaguely disconnected wobbles aside, and it does somewhat suggest there could be a second season. Perhaps then we could see more of the existing material adapted along with new story ideas, while also getting much more time with Scott and Ramona on-screen together? I'd certainly welcome it. Quite the switch-up from those 'bait and switch' grumbles in the first few episodes, eh? Again, there was no need for that approach, and a trailer that was more open and honest about the 'remix' approach would've much more been the way to go.

Fast X (Blu-Ray) - did I enjoy it? Sure. However, this franchise has gone on so long now that it's struggling under its own weight. How many times can a villain be suddenly redeemed? How many times can a supposedly dead character be resurrected? How many times is Dom going to rebuild his Dodge Charger? These past couple of entries, with the keenly-felt absense of screenwriter Chris Morgan (responsible for films 3 through 8, plus the two Hobbs spin-offs), have somewhat descended into farcical territory, abandoning yet more shreds of internal logic and wildly throwing around the constituent parts of its recipe without properly understanding the appropriate measures and timings to use.

It's not without its daft charms and fun, but the franchise has become too over-the-top for its own good, while the continued absence of the late Paul Walker's character of Brian (who is still alive in the franchise from a story perspective) screams ever louder the more trouble Dom & Co find themselves in. Speaking of not quite understanding how to perform Chris Morgan's deft balancing act, those behind the scripts for the 9th and 10th entries in this series too often seem to be taking the more outrageous things too seriously and serious things too lightly.

Two Doors Down: Series 7 - Simon Carlyle and Gregor Sharp's brilliant Scottish sitcom returns and, with all the episodes available upon release, I absolutely stormed through it gasping with laughter. Sadly, co-cretor Carlyle passed away recently, but hopefully Sharp will be willing and able to continue the show and maintain its quality and humour. Over the winter break I even re-watched all the previous six series.

Pearl (Blu-Ray) - having already seen the first film in Ti West's trilogy ("X"), it was great to finally catch up with the follow-up prequel, which rewinds to 1918 and the events surrounding a young version of Pearl (from the first film), a farm girl with starry-eyed dreams of becoming a dancer, who is not only trapped by her circumstances but also her own warped mental state. A slightly slower burn than the original, Pearl nonetheless ramps up into some bloody violence as Pearl's world begins to crumble. I found this movie to be a real treat, a wonderful example of what can be achieved by taking some calculated risks and allowing creative minds to flourish, something sorely lacking throughout vast swathes of the Hollywood system. Co-written by Ti West and his titular star Mia Goth, this movie essentially came about as a result of discussions between writer/director and star, which have now morphed into a full-blown trilogy of films (Maxxxine is in post-production at the time of writing). Supported by A24, Pearl proves to be a wonderfully realised film in all regards: direction, writing, acting, cinematography, score; and what's more, it is boosted by its predecessor while also returning the favour.

X (Blu-Ray) - returning to this, now after having seen Pearl, it's a richer experience, with the withered and elderly version of Pearl now containing even more tragedy and sadness, while her unhinged mental state is also amplified as a result of the prequel film's heartfelt expansion of her backstory. I loved it when I first saw it, and I love it even more now. Here's hoping that the trilogy-closing Maxxxine will be a similarly superb home run.

Sisu (Blu-Ray) - essentially meaning grit and determination in extreme circumstances, or to extreme degrees. Written and Directed by Jalmari Helander, who teams up with some familiar faces from his 2010 film Rare Exports, this blood-soaked tale of Aatami, a Finnish gold miner who takes down a ragtag group of battle-weary Nazis, proves to be a rollicking good time with gallons of gung-ho gusto, "fuck yeah!" action beats, and splashes of jet-black humour. I would've loved to have watched this movie with my Dad, who no doubt would've been chuckling along to the escalating chaos and Aatami's increasingly inventive ways to reclaim his gold.

World War II: From The Frontlines - Netflix documentary series featuring restored and colourised footage. The technical aspects of how the footage has been handled isn't anywhere near as impressive as what Peter Jackson and his team achieved with They Shall Not Grow Old, but it mostly works quite well, helping to diminish the barrier between now and then. It tells an expansive overview of the conflict, but it nonetheless has some glaring omissions. Among them, there is absolutely zero mention of the creation of the SAS and their efforts which helped enable the fight back in North Africa, while D-Day - rightly described as a huge undertaking and a massive swing in momentum - is rushed through a mere minutes, trying to sell footage of support troops landing on a calm beach as an initial assault. Flaws aside, it was pretty good overall.

Tremors 2: Aftershocks (Blu-Ray) - just like the first movie, it has a perfect screenplay (again written by Brent Maddock and S.S. Wilson, the latter of whom also directed this time), which catches just the right balance between playing on what we know and what we want while also giving enough of a twist to mix things up and create new challenges and thrills. I fondly remember walking into our local video shop one day, not even a teen at the time, and being pleasantly stunned when I saw Tremors 2 on the shelves and available to rent. Back in those days you could easily be totally unaware of a sequel coming along and get a cracking little surprise like that. I adore the first film and the second film equally. The Arrow Video disc is maybe a bit light on extras, especially when compared to the first film's release by the same company in 2020, but what's there is generally good and very informative.

Crime: Series 2 - there's some clumsy and occasionally heavy-handed portions of writing in the earlier episodes of the second series, made all the more baffling by how they seem to have next-to-no impact on the actual story, vanishing from the narrative to such a degree you wonder why some of these minor subplots were ever inserted. That said, there's a pleasingly rich and complex array of characters with practically none of them in the slightest bit squeaky clean, proving most of the writing on-show to be superior to far too much of what's out there in mainstream entertainment these days.

Reacher: Season 2 - I certainly enjoyed the first season, and so far the second season seems even more confident, having figured out exactly what it needs to be and how to achieve that with, seemingly, a bit more cash to splash. Proper good telly, so much so that season three was confirmed even before this second outing began streaming. I've found myself eagerly awaiting each new episode week-to-week.


SOUNDS:

Green Day "Look Ma, No Brains!", "Dilemma"

The Newton Brothers "Dies Irae/Violet" and "The Overlook"

Sex Bob-Omb "I Feel Fine"

VV "Neon Noir" (album)

Twin Peaks "Music From The Limited Event Series" (album)

Twin Peaks "Limited Event Series Soundtrack" (album)


VIBES & FLAVOURS:

"Not Forever, But For Now" by Chuck Palahniuk - more delightfully grotesque storytelling from the Fight Club author. It somewhat flags in the middle portion, feeling a little in-need of some extra oomph or wider escalation on a grander scale, but I thoroughly enjoyed it most certainly.

South Park: The Stick of Truth (Xbox) - I played it back on the Xbox360 in the dying days of that console generation (where it had dreadful loading times), so this was a nice little replay and it's still a damn good game with, mercifully, much smoother traversal of the map (no nuisance loading pauses as before). Last time out I missed the friend-making achievement by one and was going for that, but because I missed one specific Chinpokomon I was therefore damned once more. Grrr!!!

"Didly Squat: Pigs Might Fly" by Jeremy Clarkson - there's something really quite enjoyable about these books he's putting out in connection with his Clarkson's Farm show on Prime. They're brisk reads that get you chuckling, while also providing some intriguing insider knowledge about the everyday tribulations of farming while also holding a searing light up to the face of governmental incompetence and ignorance when it comes to the farming profession. Plus, the little sketches that punctuate the articles have a real charm to them.

Crackdown (Xbox) - a bit of Xbox360 era nostalgia (available for free on the Xbox Store). I played it back about fifteen years ago now (eep!) and the sheer fun of just leaping about the city collecting glowing orbs hasn't aged a bit.