🎬 "Hey, you wanna see a dead body?"
The Big Lebowski, 1998. Welcome to the 40th edition of The Reel!
Estimated reading time: 5m 23s.
For what died the Golden Age of Television, was it greed?
They say it began with 1999’s incomparable The Sopranos and ended somewhere around the mid-2010s with Better Call Saul.
Much has been made of the supposed steep decline in quality since then.
Is TV dead?
Read reviews of four recent TV series in the blog following, and find out for yourself!
All that besides: anyone from the UK and Ireland knows that the real Golden Age of Television started with Shayne Ward and ended at Little Mix — with Rhydian, Eoghan Quigg and Rachel Adedeji along the way.
This week: Whodunits, who wants it, hootenanies, and maith thú.
💀 But she caught me on the counter?
The Perfect Couple (2024), series, created by Jenna Lamia.
Presumed Innocent (2024), series, created by David E. Kelley.
“Forget the plot. Give me a pretty place with pretty people, and you’ve got yourself a show!”
- whoever commissioned The Perfect Couple, presumably.
Someone is murdered the night before a wedding at a wealthy residence in Nantucket, and everyone is a suspect.
The Perfect Couple isn’t awful. Eve Hewson is compelling, Nicole Kidman is as faultless as ever, and there is some genuine drama in the first few episodes.
But it swiftly reveals itself to be a desperate White Lotus knock-off, with half the charm and 1/4 the plot.
Compare that with the chilling, not relaxing in the slightest Presumed Innocent.
I believe the creators of this show started with the cliffhangers and worked backwards, because boy howdy are we looking down the gorge with this one!
It just about sticks the landing… but intriguingly has been renewed for second season?
See you at the bladdy cliffs next year, baby.
Look out for:
I’ll give The Perfect Couple one thing, the flashmob title sequence had potential to be terrible but it had me shaking my flat pancake ass along every. Damn. Time.
If you liked this:
Why do we like murder mysteries so much?
Shouldn’t the death of another person be reason for sorrow, not titillation?
Have we become so far removed from our own humanity that we celebrate the loss of each other’s?!
If you haven’t seen Broadchurch or Happy Valley then you should die.
Ratings: The Perfect Couple ⭐⭐, Presumed Innocent ⭐⭐⭐⭐
🕍 Speak for yourself!
Nobody Wants This (2024), series, created by Erin Foster.
Hot podcast girl (Kristen Bell) meets nerdy Jewish boy (Adam Brody).
Could it ever work between these two seemingly opposing characters?
I’m uniquely positioned to answer this in that I am a nerdy boy who once had a podcast.
It reviewed films and TV (how original 🙄) and every episode finished with a 60 second rap. No, really.
Like Nobody Wants This, it was light-hearted and carefree. Unlike Nobody Wants This, it was uninteresting and ultimately an inefficient use of everyone’s time.
You win this time, talented and qualified entertainment professionals!
Look out for:
I still find it jarring when “new media” like podcasting is featured heavily in any kind of fictional narrative. What next, a romcom about two people who meet on a dating app?!
If you liked this:
Though Brody’s Noah is charming, he is outshone by the brilliant Bell. He also falls significantly short of the most proudly Jewish, hilarious and charismatic male character in recent TV history.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
💍 Looks like meek’s back on the menu, boys!
Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Season 2 (2024), series, developed by J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay.
How can you spend this much money to look this pretty, but end up so shallow and soulless?
I don’t know, ask my ex-wife! 😂
Rings of Power’s second season is an improvement over its first, I can say that much.
But I’m probably a better goalkeeper than my dad — doesn’t mean you’d be putting in nets for Ireland any time soon.
RoP lacks most of the elements that made the film trilogy so excellent: an epic score, three-dimensional characters, a gritty and detailed world, and real stakes.
It’s well-acted, pleasantly paced, and the scenes with Sauron + Celebrimbor are gripping.
But it wants to be Helm’s Deep, when it’s a poor man’s Edoras. 😢
Look out for:
The first appearance on celluloid of everyone’s favourite Tolkien side character, Tom “Mr. Boombastic” Bombadil. I’m more of a Glorfindel man myself, and he’ll apparently be in the next season… if there is one.
If you liked this:
As the nights get darker, colder and shadows and threat are growing in your mind, heal yourself with a re-watch of the greatest film trilogy in the history of cinema. The perfect fantasy epics directed by Peter Jackson: The Hob- I mean Lord of the Rings.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐
⏩ Quickies
Short and snappy reviews for a short and snappy time:
Kneecap (2024, film, dir. Rich Peppiatt): ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Not since the groundbreaking podcast Movies (And a Rap) has Irish rap caused such a stir! Kneecap is kinetic, chaotic and the best Irish film this year. Maybe the best film as Gaeilge ever? As good as 2022’s An Cailín Ciúin — maybe just behind the postmodern, proto-body horror classic Cáca Milis.
Dark City (1998, film, dir. Alex Proyas): ⭐⭐
Chances are you’ve never heard of this film that strongly influenced The Matrix. That film has aged remarkably well… this has not. Strange bald men in black leather, no one smiling, gloomy skies and industrial decor — is the titular city Berlin?
Small Things Like These (2024, film, dir. Tim Mielants): ⭐⭐⭐
This had all the hallmarks of a devastating classic. Devastating it is: it takes a discerning look at the lives of the oppressed, abused women in the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland. But it’s not the unforgettable gut punch that it could (and probably should) have been.
📃 Quote of the Week(s)
“Every word of Irish spoken is a bullet fired for Irish freedom.”
Michael Fassbender’s Arló in Kneecap. Be still my beating patriotism!
✅ Th-th-that’s all, folks.
Thank you very much for reading! ❤️
If you enjoyed this edition, I would appreciate so much if you could share it:
Thank you v much again, and see you next time! 🙏🏻
Gogzibear
xxx
📅 Previous Reels:
🎬 Aug 1 - Furiosa, Inside Out 2, Challengers, Hit Man.
🎬 Jan 24 - Rebel Moon, Anatomy of a Fall, The Boy and the Heron.
🎬 Dec 6 - Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon, Saltburn, Bottoms.
📒 Catalogue:
You can find a list of all film review scores (and opening movie lines!) here.
🎙️ Podcast:
I’ve also published 10 episodes of a film review podcast Movies (And A Rap) — you can listen on Spotify here.