Pop Culture - Earwig, Earwig, Earwig Oh

Lots of spoilers, so go away unless you want things spoiled...

Generation Next

I might be getting too old for this kind of thing, but I struggled to feel attached or invested in The Boys spin-off series Gen V. It might be that it's essentially a TV show about teenage wannabe superheroes and we're both a long way from being teenagers (despite the fact I'd argue there were very few actual teenagers involved in the making of it).

The thing is it has all the trademarks of The Boys - blood, gore, perverse sex, corporate abhorrence and it's full of self-centred, social media-influenced obsessives, yet it feels... just a little too OTT. I know that sounds crazy given some of the fucked up stuff that has appeared in the series that spawned this, but in the opening three episodes we had a teenager killing her parents with her own menstrual blood, another teenager who can shrink to the size of your thumb hanging off the erect penis of a shallow fellow student, the top student being punched in his flaming penis and take a look at the picture above and tell me where you think the shrunken girl has been to be covered in some much blood? It also lacks the surreal humour of the show it spins out from - this has humour but it takes a back seat to the angst and seriousness of the idea.

Actually, it's Lizze Broadway - who plays the tiny Little Cricket - aka Emma - who is the character you feel the most sympathy for - not her room mate - the main character - Marie played by Jaz Sinclair - who appears to be happy to be manipulated by Vought to ensure she feels better about killing her parents with her own menstrual blood. Nor Andre, played by Chance Perdomo, who finds himself elevated to #1 after his best friend and former #1 Golden Boy - played by Patrick Schwarzenegger - goes rogue and kills the head of the university's crime solving unit - which, incidentally is where most of the action takes place, on a uni campus for Gen V kids. The thing is Emma might have cool shrinking powers, but this modern day Alice in Wonderland has to make herself sick to shrink and eat to get big again; she has an abominable mother, who like most of the other characters on show is twisted and fucked up. Emma's needy, but that's because her mother gave her V when she was a baby and is now constantly having her image and ratings forced down her throat - she's an excellent metaphor, it's just a shame she's about the only character you want to care about.

Anyhow, there's something sinister going on in the basement of Godolkin University; it's a place that is funded and probably policed by Vought and no one who works there has anyone's interests at heart apart from their own. Also, where The Boys is pure 18-rated comicbook silliness, Gen V has gone for a kind of sci-fi The OC or Dawson's Creek [I should point out right away that I use these as examples because I know they were teen themed TV series, having never seen them I would therefore not be able to say whether their choice is pertinent or just makes my analogy even weirder.] with a lot more teen angst and issues and a lot less humour - although the humour usually comes from the weird powers the attendees have - this is a kind of X-rated Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters sponsored by corporate USA.

My jury is out; we watched episode 4 and there is the bones of an interesting series here outside of the shock factor, but... nothing grabbed me by the balls the way they were in the show - if you don't know what I mean by that, watch it and you will. We've decided to stick with it for another week, but to be honest if I'm talking about this like I am then it needs some serious heavy lifting taking place or we might just call it a day. Whether that will affect The Boys when it returns could be the deciding factor. 

Vincent Has a Very Small Penis

Joe Gilgun's Brassic is back and it's as crazy as ever, in fact, if anything it's just a little more OTT than it ever was before. For those of you not familiar with this Sky TV series, it follows a band of thieving young drug dealers with hearts of gold and the minds of a sewer. Think This is England meets Little Britain meets Shameless mixed with a soupcon of Carry On Oop North, Like. Gilgun's Vinnie is the leader of the gang who spend as much time getting themselves into a mess as they do scheming and hatching plots to make themselves rich.

It's difficult to recap if you're not familiar with it, but it was essentially the story of Vinnie's relationship with his best pal Dylan and his - Dylan's - on-off girlfriend Erin, made more complicated by the fact that Vinnie is the father of Erin's little boy. When that relationship finished completely it relegated Dylan, played by Damien Molony, to the side lines and he has since quit the show (after four series). However, while this is essentially the main story, it is Vinnie and the gang's exploits with various criminal underworld characters, Vinnie's doctor and assorted waifs and strays that wander into the show and then wander out of it, never to be seen again that keep the show going.

Season five kicks off with an even more heavily tattooed Gilgun lamenting about the disappearance of Dylan (who was kidnapped at the end of season four). Look, I appreciate if you've never seen this there's very little I've said or will say that would want to make anyone watch it. It has idiotic supporting characters like perverted Tommo (the brilliant Ryan Sampson), innocent idiot Cardi and strange gay traveller Ash, along with Michelle Keegan's Erin, Bronagh Gallagher as Carol, and Dominic West as Vinnie's doctor friend Chris - who is very much a highlight of the show because he's absolutely 'addicted' to weed and likes hanging around with Vinnie and his dodgy mates. West's appearances tend to be for a few minutes each episodes and act almost like an interlude to the stupid shit the gang gets involved with - such as the first episode of the new series where they hijack a car transporter that is supposed to be being driven by an insider but ends up being Lee Mack, whose life is even more tragic than all of Vinnie's mob. What follows is a barrel of bodily fluids, babies, Bullseye homages and the kind of Robin Hood antics that make Vinnie something more than just a stupid two-bit crook.

The second episode starts off with a strange discovery which is quickly followed by an unexpected exploding bomb death - yes you read that correctly - and then things quickly descend into borderline farce as Vinnie and his gang lose Barry McDonagh's body parts and get involved in a revenge apology scenario - yes you did read that correctly. 

I often wonder why I like the series and then realise it's essentially an X-rated pantomime full of absolute wankers. If you've not watched it you'll either bail after one episode or become addicted - and then wonder why you watch it. It is bonkers TV and needs to be watched in small doses because frankly I'm not sure you could watch too many on the trot without going a little doo-lally.

Unheavenly Monsters

We finally got around to watching Peter Jackson's Heavenly Creatures starring Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey - almost 30 years after it was made. This film is a fantastic snapshot of mid 1950s New Zealand - a sort of slightly backwards UK with different accents; it's also a massive reflection on Victorian values, how uncomfortable people were around the subject of sex and how bigotry spreads. It's also about class, love and most of all brutal murder. It is a strange and uncomfortable film that lulls you into a false sense of perspective despite the plot being given away - in a way - from the very beginning.

It tells the story of Juliet, the daughter of the new chancellor of Canterbury College - in Christchurch, New Zealand - arriving at her new school and instantly befriending Pauline, a local girl who is looking for something new in her dull 14-year-old life. The pair's friendship grows, despite Juliet contracting TB, and the two invent this fantasy world where the actors and singers they have crushes on live along with others, in what is depicted as a world with characters made of clay - the girls are often seen sculpting new characters. This starts as a relatively benign fantasy, but the special effects and general sinister feel to the clay characters bestows an unsettling feel on the story, especially as the girls' start to invent stories about the 'royal family' who reside in this made up world and the people the heir to the throne kills.

As more people grow concerned about what is now being looked at as an 'unhealthy friendship', more pressure is put on both sets of parents to split the kids up. However the breakdown of Juliet's parents' marriage and Pauline's growing anger and rage at her own parents starts to gnaw at the girls until the puzzling scene at the very start of the film is explained. It is an odd, quirky film, but also one of the best Jackson has ever made. Lynskey is brilliant and so is co-debutante Winslet, but the latter is really really annoying (well, her character is) and while both of them are still big stars, it's interesting to see how their careers have been similar, but the English actress is the one with all the Oscars and other awards. It's worth a watch if you ever get the chance.

Cold Blooded Creatures

The new Benicio Del Toro film Reptile is pretty much the best thing we've seen in the last couple of weeks. In fact, it made a change to sit down and watch something that had us second guessing and wondering WTF was going on from almost the opening scene.

This is a film that starts off with co-star Justin Timberlake and his girlfriend sorting out a house that their characters are in the process of selling - we're in the world of expensive real estate and it's clear from the opening that this is a power couple who are also in a relationship. However the clues are there in some of the scenes with the girlfriend - Summer - chatting to her friend in the local swimming pool - things might not be all good in paradise. The next thing you know Timberlake is meeting her at the house and finds her mutilated body in one of the bedrooms; she's been fucked up good and proper - stabbed 37 times and has been raped. Enter Del Toro as the detective on the case - a good cop with a bit of a soiled reputation from when he worked in Philadelphia, where he had a crooked partner but didn't know about it.

For the first hour of this film it's a straightforward murder mystery, but it's a strange film that feels slightly surreal, possibly dreamlike. There's an unusual quality about it that makes you feel slightly uneasy, like all is not what it seems and that pretty much is what the second half of the film explores - the fact that quite simply it isn't at all what it seems. There's some great supporting cast work by Alicia Silverstone (looking very middle aged) and Eric Bogosian, as our hero faces up to the fact that his perfect life as a cop is about to be blown out of the water and he can no longer trust anyone. 

It's a great film, well worth watching and second guessing - it's full of red herrings, twists and turns and shedloads of paranoia.

Trailer Trash

I shouldn't, but I am... The latest Doctor Who trailer for the interlude before Ncuti Gatwa takes on the mantle and the first shows in the return of Russell T Davies as showrunner, look fucking awesome and it's stoked me up for it. 

It looks and feels like we're getting our Dr Who back. Of course, the huge disappointment and the feeling of being let down - which has pervaded the series since Peter Capaldi left - will never be too far away, but this US action film-styled trailer just pushes EVERY. SINGLE. BUTTON. Even with Donna Noble in it and the inexplicable (although I'm sure there will be an explanation) return of David Tenant, there's a sense of expectation and hope. I'm very excited, and that's from someone who is pretty ambivalent about DW and has been since 1974. 

Also in the last few weeks I've been seeing more trailers for The Creator - a new film from a director I rate on the same level as Christopher Nolan and other cinematic auteurs, Gareth Edwards - the man responsible for Monsters (one of my favourite films ever), Star Wars: Rogue One (the best SW film ever) and Godzilla (which could have been so good had the studio not butted in and changed so much). It's a sci-fi thriller about how AI becomes a force that eventually scares the humans of the USA into going into full scale war after AI does the unthinkable and drops a nuke on LA - however, it's very much the anti-Terminator of films and ideas. It looks utterly mesmerising and it's getting really good reviews in the last week - someone even described it as 'A Masterpiece'. It's pretty much the first film in two years that I am actually excited about - MCU films aside, which I tend to look forward to and usually hate, the last Guardians film being the exception to the rule and ironically I wasn't really looking forward to that.

The Hunter of Trolls

It's been 13 years since we watched Troll Hunter a Norwegian film about a man employed by the TSS - Troll Security Services in Norway and his job of eradicating trolls that escape their government sanctioned enclosures. It hasn't lost any of its craziness or impact, in fact, if anything on second watching it does a great job of [ahem] trolling its audience with silly humour mixed with monsters. 

This is a 'found footage' film that drips black comedy while simultaneously behaving like a very serious movie in places. It takes all of the myths, legends and fairy tales about trolls and turns them into a documentary styled 90 minutes, as a trio of student film makers begin by following Hans - the troll hunter - and eventually join him in his quest to find out why so many trolls are leaving their own areas, eating livestock and threatening the lives of humans.

I'm not really a fan of found footage films, even the better ones suffer from the need to have the camera running when the cameraman is running for his life. I get it that cameramen are determined to get the shots that earn them the big bucks, but if your life is on the line you're not going to ponder the angles or requirements of your art, you're going to get the fuck out of Dodge and that's what I like about this movie, the fact that a lot of stuff is lost either through running away or because the cameraman - whether it's the original one or his replacement - couldn't give a fuck about the 200 foot tall monster about to eat them, they just want to run as fast as possible. This does a great job of balancing the two while treating the subject totally straight despite the amount of fairy tales that get trounced by it - such as trolls under bridges, them being able to smell Christians and tying it all into a depiction of them as mammals that eat, sleep, procreate and fart - especially fart.

In places it's simply quite hilarious, intentionally of course, while in others the fear expressed by the young documentary makers is clear to see, especially the one who looks like Michael J Fox with a bad hair cut. It's a film that takes itself seriously while taking the piss out of itself and Norway acts as a fantastic backdrop and a desolate place where you could imagine these giants living without many people ever knowing they really exist. It's a bonkers movie that needs to be watched when you can concentrate enough on the subtitles. The special effects are also superb - Norwegians have made two troll films in the last 13 years and both of them are excellent.

Arsehole on the Radio

I have a strange relationship, if you can call it that, with James O'Brien, the talk radio host on LBC. I used to listen to his morning show all the time before we moved to Scotland; he was the perfect anti-Brexit, let's show the world how bad the Tories really are kind of radio personality, who many of us know is really just a socially conscious conservative, but it was refreshing to have a voice so anti-establishment on the radio. Then he started, I feel, to be hoisted by his own petard and began cutting people off mid-sentence, prompting this fabulous comment: "I'm sorry... Did the middle of my sentence interrupt the beginning of yours?" from one of his listeners when he continued to be unable to get his point across because of JOB's love of his own voice.

I was, as many people know, a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn's policies, I still am even if no political party is even close to emulating them, but it was his almost rabid attack dog style approach to anyone phoning in to his show that sounded like they were remotely supportive of the aged allotment owner that finally got me to turn off the radio. I was not going to listen to this wanker again. However, five years passed and I started to listen to him again, more in an effort to change my morning rituals which needed shaking up. While I would often flit between him, TalkSport and BBC News, the fact that BBC News is awful and TalkSport seemed to spend a lot of time waffling on about boxing, JOB got the nod most days and using the Global Player - a form of radio iPlayer - meant I could skip things I didn't want to hear.

JOB is still a bit of a Labour supporter and seems to be a wee bit priapic about Obi Wan Keir Starmer, someone I have a mountain of problems with, which drove me to support the SNP. There's much that 'Kid Starver' has done that I oppose massively and I think he's no better than the Tories in his populist approach to politics and I'm not the only one. In the last few weeks whenever the phone-in topic has swung near Labour there have been people going on his show trying to make the case, with examples, of why the Labour leader isn't to be trusted - at the moment - and every single time O'Brien uses his platform and his ability to talk over people to essentially make anti-Starmer people look and feel small and out of touch and in this first week of October, about six months after I started listening again, I gave up on him, again. The man is an egotistical wank stain who doesn't deserve your support. 

A Low Key Return?

To prepare for the new season of Loki, we watched episode six of season one and ended up wondering if maybe we should have watched all of it again. I'm sure it helped because season two starts pretty much where season one finished with Loki talking to a Mobius who didn't seem to know who he was. 

What follows could be construed as a case of getting back on track - you see, this entire episode, save for a couple of things, felt like it was fixing a mistake, or trying to explain away something that in retrospect maybe they no longer wanted - point in case Mobius not knowing who Loki was. Bearing in mind the first season was over two years ago, I can't believe they had this planned from the beginning; I think this was literally a case of 'we're not going in that direction any more, you need to fix this - you have one episode.'

The other overarching thing with this particular episode is it doesn't really make a lot of sense. Don't get me wrong, it was a very entertaining 40 minutes of TV, but that line from Mobius felt/feels like something that needed to be expunged from the series and while it's done in a very clever/funny way, it also felt like the actual story wasn't going anywhere. Yes, Loki tried to explain to Mobius what happened at the citadel at the end of time with He Who Remains, but he didn't really get very far as there was too much else going on, which was all connected to him but with no real explanation as to why it was happening to him. Or why it was even happening...

I do feel as though Hiddleston is the best the MCU has to offer at the moment and with the exception of his portrayal in the film this variant of Loki was lifted from - Avengers Assemble - he's been the most consistent of characters and worthy of his own film let alone his own TV series. So it's no wonder that Loki feels like a proper Marvel series and not just another notch on the bedpost.

Anyhow, we got introduced to some new characters and that did get a little confusing especially when Liz Carr turned up and one of the hunters starts having a speaking part and appears to be more important than the other non-descript hunters, but I suppose that's called development and expansion. The problem with the series is I don't think it's even started yet, as I said this one felt more like spending 40 minutes tidying up one line. I expect next week we'll get back to the main event. Or will we? One thing that was clear from season one - nothing was really concluded; yes, the staff of the TVA found out they'd all been lied to, but nothing really happened until Sylvie plunged her sword into 'Kang' and now we have to hope that more things happen, because it will be very disappointing if this series concludes and we're still no further along with the story than season one, episode one.

Next time...

More Loki, more Brassic, more Gen V, it's like TV has returned and rid us of the need to watch countless old films - which we will watch anyhow because they're there. Plus, I'm going to try a new approach to the column because I feel it gets bogged down by my waffle...