🎬 "It started with a chair."
Juno (2007). Welcome to the 24th edition of The Reel!
Estimated reading time: 6m 33s.
The “streaming wars” have reached a crescendo of late.
However, no matter what they have planned, Amazon, Disney, Hulu, TG4, Urban Outfitters, your local Spar, Joe.ie, the purple Snack bar and whoever else plans on releasing a streaming service are still all light years behind the Big Daddy™.
Netflix just passed the 200 million subscriber mark. 200 million! To put that into context, 200 million is also:
the average number of germs on a child’s finger
how many new Facebook friend requests you get after Irish college
the peak concurrent volume of pins and needles activated after hitting your funny bone off a table
the total number of times I’ve listened to OK Computer by Radiohead in my life
OK that last one was a lie, the total number of times I’ve listened to “Zach’s Song” from School of Rock in the last two weeks
Netflix also recently released their film schedule for 2021 (in video form), with an array of big stars building on the studio’s tried and tested method of “make it and they will watch”.
However, sometimes you don’t need bountiful budgets or radical running times to tug at the heartstrings and entertain millions.
The below “Dinosaurs In Love” (currently re-blowing up on TikTok) is an example:
The perfect tonic for a mid-lockdown slump.
Time for some reviews!
This week: Laser beams, embarrassing scenes, and full frontal nudity.
📅 What’s in a year?
Death to 2020 (2020), film, directed by Al Campbell & Alice Mathias.
Alas, poor 2020, I knew him well.
A momentous year, with so many… unique occurrences.
What better a way to remember a joke of a year then by making a joke of the year, with this absolute joke of a comedy special.
Death to 2020 is a mockumentary, annual recap, faux-television special. In the manner that BBC and Channel 4 like to publish hour-long specials recounting the top films or news events of the year, so too did Netflix bring together some personalities to look back on the time that was.
Created by Black Mirror’s Charlie Brooker, it stars Hugh Grant, Samuel L. Jackson, Phoebe from Friends and more as assorted “experts” that are nowhere near as funny as they seem to think they are.
Particularly cringeworthy congratulations must go to Grant, playing a doddery historian who seems to think that the events of Game of Thrones actually happened. Hilarious!
After a year that surely brought more interesting material than any in recent memory, this sorry special somehow managed to make molehills out of a mountain.
An unforgettable 12 months, but an entirely forgettable 70 minutes.
Look out for:
One of Kumail Nanjiani’s first performances since getting absolutely ripped for his role in the upcoming Marvel film The Eternals. His tech CEO character is probably the strongest featured here, and his biceps are probably the strongest featured anywhere because wow that man’s got some melons.
If you liked this:
As if Reeling in the Years wasn’t amazing enough already, the Instagram page @reelingintheweird is an absolute goldmine of quizzical and questionable Irish TV over the years. Special shout outs to male chauvinism and, of course, Boyzone on the Late Late.
Rating: ⭐⭐
🤓 Revenge of the nerds.
The Mandalorian: Season 2 (2020), series, created by Jon Favreau.
The Boys: Season 2 (2020), series, developed by Eric Kripke.
The Boys and The Mandalorian were two of the bigger series of last year, both releasing second seasons with significantly different satisfactions.
The Boys is an anarchic, violent and satirical take on superheroics, the central premise being: what would happen if superheroes were actually terrible people?
While the outstanding first season took many a shot at American media and corporate culture, the sophomore season goes full tilt at American politics. Expect right-wing extremism, liberal hysterics and general xenophobia, all coated with a pitch black dollop of dark humour.
Refreshing, and expertly delivered.
The Mandalorian’s first season was also a triumph, a Star Wars spin-off that eschewed the shackles of the film series to go back to basics with funky yet archetypal characters, traipsing through a Western, outer space setting.
Season 2 can be a joy to watch. Alien worlds are stunningly rendered, through a new green screen technology that has the potential to change the entire industry.
But what were once the show’s strengths are now its faults. The simple plot and thin supporting characters are now glaringly shallow, and a few too many dud episodes leave this season a fair shade duller than its predecessor.
In this miniature spandex vs. space opera showdown, the superpowered psychopaths come out on top.
Look out for:
A thinly veiled mock-up of Scientology, the “Church of the Collective”, forms a random but intriguing subplot of The Boys. The breakout character from either show has to be Anthony Starr’s terrifying Homelander in The Boys — look out for a surprise win at this year’s Emmys.
If you liked this:
There has been no better superhero series on TV than HBO’s Watchmen, aired in 2019. Mind-melting twists and visuals combined with pathos and biting social commentary to make what may (and should) go down as one of the best television series of all time (it won 11 Emmys from 26 nominations in 2020 😳).
Ratings: The Boys ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The Mandalorian ⭐⭐⭐
⏩ Quickies
Short and snappy reviews for a short and snappy time:
The Prom (2020, film, dir. Ryan Murphy): ⭐⭐⭐
This latest effort from Glee’s alarmingly productive creator Ryan Murphy is perfectly serviceable, but it’s no Chicago. Or Les Misérables. And it’s certainly no Trinity Musical Theatre’s 2017 production of West Side Story starring, yes, Alex Gogarty, in the iconic (and some say most important) role of Lieutenant Schrank.
Captain Fantastic (2016, film, dir. Matt Ross): ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Viggo Mortensen plays a cultured, anti-establishment artist and activist (not too dissimilar to the actor himself) who raises his children in the deep forests of Oregon. Moving and often very, very funny. And, if you’re into nice penises, this is one of several films where Viggo gets it out for the lads.
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010, film, dir. Edgar Wright): ⭐⭐
Here at The Reel, we like when people do things differently. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World is certainly different, and for the first 20 minutes I really thought we were on to something. But this graphic novel adaptation unfortunately devolves from interesting to silly, to stupid, to unwatchable.
📃 Quote of the Week(s)
“If you assume that there is no hope, you guarantee that there will be no hope. If you assume that there is an instinct for freedom, that there are opportunities to change things, then there is a possibility that you can contribute to making a better world.”
In Captain Fantastic, Viggo Mortensen’s character’s son Rellian quotes Noam Chomsky (the family’s idol) to inspire his despondent daddy.
📅 Previously, in pop culture…
Landmark events from the last two weeks in film & TV histoire:
Jan 14 - Alan Rickman of Harry Potter fame dies of cancer at 69 in 2016.
Jan 16 - In 1979, BBC One first shows the landmark nature series Life on Earth, presented by David Attenborough.
ABOVE: From Planet Earth II, this chase had me pure pissin’ meself with nerves so it did.
Jan 19 - Cult film Donnie Darko premieres at the Sundance Film Festival in 2001. Its poster shall adorn the wall of many an emo teenager.
Jan 24 - In 1927 Alfred Hitchcock releases The Pleasure Garden, his first film as director.
✅ Th-th-that’s all, folks.
Thank you very much for reading!
I very much hope you enjoyed it. 🥰
Next time we’ll be looking at two films with a lot of Oscar buzz, an Australian gem, and checking in with the wonderful Bridget Jones. 😝
I would absolutely love it if you could share The Reel with some friends, family, or colleagues, over WhatsApp or on social media — whatever works!
You can do so by clicking this button here:
Thank you very much again!
Yours in blog,
Gogzibear
xxx
Previous Reels:
🎬 Jan 13 - Wonder Woman 1984, Soul, Palm Springs, Little Fockers.
📚 Jan 4 - Milkman, Where the Crawdads Sing, Blood Meridian.
🎬 Dec 23 - The Holiday, A Bad Moms Christmas, Fred Claus.
You can find a catalogue of all previous editions of The Reel here.