Saturday, April 22, 2023

Pop Culture: Desperate Cannibal Housewives

This often has less spoilers than I think, but don't let that lull you into a false sense of security...

I'm really starting to have doubts about Yellowjackets now. I really hoped that the cast would find the plots they stumbled into a year ago, but instead we have lots of treading water, at least that's the case in modern times, back in the Canadian wilderness in the 1990s things are getting a little bit Lost. Yes, one of the things I was worried about was the supernatural element that's often touched upon and like Lost you get the feeling if they're just making it up as they go along. They had a good idea; pitched a great first series but didn't really have a clue where they were going after that. 

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It was Saturday night. we fancied something a bit throwaway, a little popcorn. So I looked through my library of old shite and we opted for the 2011 stinker Battleship

I'd just like to make the point that this film was made 12 years ago; it's got a silly story and a naff script, B-list (at best) actors and not the biggest budget in the world yet the SFX were considerably better than anything Marvel has released in the last few years. Why is that?

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The 7th instalment of Welcome to Wrexham is worth the admission price along. It's almost like Rob and Ryan realise this TV show isn't going to work without them, so they remedy that.

However, parts 8 thru 11 are a bit... socio-economic documentaries with some football and the occasional cameo from our heroes. It's still an entertaining show, especially the Parkinson's Passion meter.

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The latest episode of Ted Lasso was also the strangest. Getting the incomprehensible out of the way first; the team is in the Netherlands for a friendly (in the middle of the spring) against Ajax. Not something that would have or is likely to happen in the foreseeable future.

To say nothing happened would be unfair to inactivity and boredom, something always happens in Ted Lasso's world and yet this felt like all filler and no killer; like one of those Christmas episodes where something deep and meaningful happens to certain cast members, and they have epiphanies and everything will be back to normal next time. 

This was just odd, but not in a bad way, it's just, I don't really know what this show is about any more or even if Ted is the central character.

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My association with Star Trek is over. The conclusion of Picard is almost definitely not the last time I'll venture into the world of the Federation and Star Fleet even if I'd like it to be. I intend to see what they do with the reprieved and shortened final season of Disco Very, but I can't promise I'll finish it; it might simply be as a way of saying goodbye.

And what about the last outing of the Next Gen crew? Well, given that people were wondering how they were going to finish off the Borg and return everything to as it was, the conclusion was almost swift and succinct, leaving enough time to have games of poker and a whole bunch of nostalgia and fanboy wankage. This is the end; there's not going to be any more (unless they follow the adventures of Seven, Jack and Raffi on the new Enterprise or find some way to resurrect the brilliant Liam Shaw). It had its moments but in general it was not worth getting excited about. The finale was 50 minutes of television. 

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I considered ending this week's as I began it, with a review of the latest Yellowjackets, but we opted to watch a film instead. We had Quantumania to plough our way through and a couple of others, but we opted to watch John Carter again (which I suspect will have a lot in common with the Ant-Man film).

It's not a bad film; it dips badly in the middle and the actors - Mark Strong aside - are awful, however the special effects are largely better than anything Marvel does at the moment, but it has a weak and quite feeble ending setting it up for sequels that never happened. I understand why people hated it, yet despite the poor actors, a weak plot, some serious water treading and the need for a greater explanation of what was going on, I didn't fall asleep during it.

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Next time: more of whatever I've been talking about recently, some things I haven't mentioned and probably some other stuff. However, I'll leave you with this conundrum: Patrick Stewart is a bald British actor who plays good guys in virtually everything he's ever made (with one nasty film as an exception). Mark Strong is a bald British actor who plays bad guys in virtually every film he appears in. Why is that? Why can't Mark be a hero? It's just not fair; show Mark Strong some love!

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Next up Ant-Man & The Wasp: Quantumania, I don't expect it will be good...

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