Cruising around the galaxy with my little alien buddy, the fall of a villain, a modest amount of Cage Rage (and two blistering heat waves!) is just some of what's been setting the tone of my May and June 2026...
Click "READ MORE" below to see this month's looks, sounds, vibes & flavours...
LOOKS:
Bob's Burgers: Season 15 & 16
The Boys: Season 5 - the big problem when you have a character that is the smartest person in the world, is that you never have writers who are able to match that level of intelligence. It seems that Sister Sage's entire purpose in life was to throw the world into chaos so she could be alone in peace and quiet. You know what she could've done instead? Just fucked off somewhere, covering her tracks so nobody could find her, and leave everybody else out of it.
The season over all? Scrappy, certainly messy (ultimately, two seasons of Gen V was pointless), occasionally it faltered and left some threads dangling, but there was enough entertainment, enough splatter, and enough satisfying moments to keep it afloat as Homelander's empire built on sand finally came crumbling down. The finale lacked some of the scale that was seemingly promised, but it at least provided a solid amount of closure on this particular portion of 'The Boys Universe', and it was delicious to see Homelander's hubris and insanity come to a crushing and humiliating halt. I'll be interested to see what happens with the Soldier Boy prequel, which will hopefully feel more vibrant than Gen V, which suffered from a propensity to too often feature mopey teens having mopey conversations in dimly lit drab rooms.
100 Years of Warner Bros. - an excellent four-part documentary series about the movie studio.
The Punisher: One Last Kill - is this a re-introduction of the character leading in to new stories (he will be appearing in the upcoming Spider-Man film), or just a one-off? Yes, we've had our fill of Frank Castle suffering the mental tortures of the damned (some is justified, but we got too much of it in the Netflix show), and so when shit gets real and the butt-kicking and name-taking gets going it nicely tickles the pleasure centres.
Bad Thoughts: Season 2 - maybe not as good as the first season, or perhaps that was my own expectations? It does feel like a few sketches go on a bit too long for what they are, but other sketches soar in shocking ways. One particular sketch is a real eyebrow-raiser throughout until it finally plants the punchline just in time. I'd still want a season three, mind you, so fingers crossed for that.
Spider-Noir: Season 1 - perhaps a touch too much Noir and not enough Spider, but over-the-piece this was a good solid piece of comic book entertainment with some very good highs throughout. The scene where we find out how he gets his spider-man powers is also genuinely horrifying, and when Cage gets to shake loose a little the fun factor escalates without turning silly. Authentic black and white was always the way to watch this one.
Four Seasons: Season 2 - maybe not as pleasantly surprising as the first go-round, but that falls somewhat on my expectations. The narrative lacks the level of conflict found in the first season, but I still enjoyed it, even though these characters seem to have plenty of money to splash around on their neck-breaking changes in direction according to their latest well-to-do whims.
Justified: Seasons 1, 2, 3 - I never got to this one when it premiered in 2010, but a chum extolled the virtues of it and, with our mutual interest in 'Olyphantastic', I kicked things off. It's a fun show and I'm digging it, even though season three lacked some of the spark that the excellent second season had.
Avatar: Fire and Ash (Blu-Ray) - there's some nice dramatic meat on the bone, some tough choices for the characters to make, and some dark shadows through which they have to walk, which gives the third Avatar film an extra dash of flavour compared to its predecessors. Despite the introduction of a new clan (with their intimidating leader) and their scorched home territory, the bulk of the movie sticks fairly close to the water-bound vibe of the second movie, and despite acting as a sort of close to a two-movie arc in some respects, Avatar 3 certainly leaves numerous threads and character stories unresolved for Avatar 4 (assuming a follow-up does happen). There's a few scruffy edges in the editing, leaving fates of certain characters awkwardly cut-short, or scene transitions a touch jarring, but that's a miniscule nitpick compared to the vast scale of the world of the Avatar films.
Clarkson's Farm: Season 5 - who'd have thought that a show about Jeremy Clarkson, of all people, becoming a farmer would be not only so entertaining, but also moving and even politically important, as it has helped highlight the various challenges facing farmers (the world over) on an annual basis. A fantastic show, keep it coming!
Rick and Morty: Season 9 - the previous season made the error of mostly focusing on stories that featured only one or two characters at the expense of wider ensemble episodes and, in turn, even dispensing with 'B plots' altogether. Season 9 seems to get off on the same foot, which I think is to the detriment of the show. It's also getting a bit tiring with the continual focus on intricate action sequences in which Rick always has yet another fancy gadget literally up his sleeve, which can make it all feel a bit 'samey'. There's still greatness here, but lately it has been feeling a bit lost in its own complexities.
SOUNDS:
AC/DC "For Those About To Rock" (album), "Let There Be Rock" (album), "Powerage" (album), "Flick of the Switch" (album), "Stiff Upper Lip" (album), "High Voltage" (album), "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" (album), "Highway to Hell" (album)
Foo Fighters "Your Favorite Toy" (album)
John Carpenter "Lord of the Underground"
Billy Idol "Hot in the City"
Vilma Jaa "Manalan Mailla"
The 69 Eyes "In The Misery"
VIBES & FLAVOURS:
Star Wars Outlaws (Xbox Series S) - I'm very much enjoying it, despite some bloat busywork missions and fetch quests, and some wonky design choices (silly back-and-forthing, for example, or difficulty for the player in being able to recognise the world they're playing in - so you're constantly referring to the map to find your way in the open world). It's a bit strange to see so many references to Solo: A Star Wars Story in this one, too, considering just how much of a flop that particular movie was. I the Solo movie once circa late 2018 and never went back to it until now, just to see how it feels upon reflection, but it's still a crushingly dull movie with a slipshod story, atrocious dialogue and characterisation, and a pace that just plods like an AT-AT.
There is also, once you notice it, a very deliberate (and cynically corporate, you might even say) approach to the casting of a majority of the characters (main, side, supporting, and just small roles like vendors, mission-specific individuals, or NPCs populating the world). Had it been flipped the other way there would have been opinion pieces swamping the internet with frothy-mouthed indignation. When you're playing the game, though, it becomes laughable like a meme.
It would've been nice to let the player have a choice over their character - like Cyberpunk 2077 did (a very inclusive game that did so with a deft hand) - with much more customisation. I don't mind Kay Vess at all (although the current-year style of dialogue does grate on occasion), and I very much enjoy her relationship with her best l'il guy Nix, but that said, more player control over who their character could be was a missed opportunity. It also would've been nice to associate character perks to a skill tree instead of to clothing, which would allow for more choice and customisation, rather than limiting oneself because a specific perk only goes with that set of trousers, for instance.
"Apt Pupil" by Stephen King - from the "Different Seasons" collection, in which a teenage boy obsessed with WWII discovers that an old man in his neighbourhood is in fact a Nazi-in-hiding. The flip-flopping power dynamics and the creeping sense of corruption, the secrets and lies, make for an intriguing and dark tale. The 1998 film adaptation starring Ian McKellan and Brad Renfro was very good, despite some streamlining and some pointed softening of some of the darkest aspects of King's original story.
Battlefield V (Xbox Series S) - I just played the single player campaign on this as I'm not one for multiplayer at all, and it was on sale dirt cheap (I needed a break from Star Wars Outlaws just to refresh the ol' palette). The aim can be a bit fussy depending on the weapon, the level design lacks panache (stealth is particularly shitty), and mission objectives can easily got lost in the fog. It's also not a great idea to have the player trying to read subtitles (for linguistic authenticity's sake) without any English language option, because you're too busy looking out for enemies!
The first two story chapters strangely focus on fairly contained one-person-army situations on a modest, infiltration-focused scale, which is at odds with a game titled BATTLEFIELD. It's only when you get to the third (of four) chapters that you finally get more of what you've been expecting. However, even then you too often feel like the tip of a spear that rarely has your back and is typically lying in wait for you to cross some invisible line before your comrades really show up. Narratively, the game can be a bit heavy handed at times, but it looks good and you've gotta love a booming explosion that literally knocks your character off their feet if you stand too close. That said, I won't be coming back to replay this one, unlike Battlefield 1, which was an all-round far better game.
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