TV
Stranger Things
It’s hard to see Private Joker from Full Metal Jacket aka Matthew Modine as the lead bad guy on Stranger Things! 😉
First World Problems
I always think of this time of year as the sort of doldrums of movies and TV and this summer’s no different. This year there’s a lot of interesting TV series on like The Night Of, Stranger Things and The Tunnel, and there are a few summer movies left that look worthwhile like Suicide Squad, but for the most part the summer TV/movie season has now reached its apex. Soon, summer TV finales will head into fall TV premiers that are set to begin in a few months and the same for films where movies switch from action to films geared towards the awards season start premiering. In fact, I believe the only TV series left to premiere this summer that I’m interested in, and I’d categorize it as barely being a summer premiere, is Halt and Catch Fire that starts at the end of August.
What I want to do in these Direct Beam Comms updates is, among other things, just review the first episode of a given TV series each season and then the season as a whole after the last episode airs. But since most of what I’m watching right now is in the middle of their runs, and since I really want to avoid talking about each and every episode of TV I watch since a) this isn’t my paying job and b), that stuff’s boring, I don’t have much to write about TV now either.
What sucks too is that movie releases on home media are no better. Right now the movies that are being released are ones that debuted just before the summer movie season which is another doldrum. Or, they’re movies that were released at the start of the summer season but didn’t do as well as expected, which area also movies I’m happy waiting to see when they pop up on cable in a year or so.
Some movies I would like to checkout once they’re out are things like The Nice Guys and X-Men: Apocalypse but those aren’t available for a few weeks. I suppose what I should do in situations where I don’t have anything to talk about is to just rent a recent release on iTunes and then talk about that, even if it’s not something I’d generally see. The only problem with that is that I really don’t enjoy posting negative things about movies and TV series I review, though I sometimes do, so I try and avoid that. And if it’s something that I wouldn’t generally see it makes it more likely than not that I wouldn’t enjoy the movie and would have to write a negative review.
I do find it amazing that almost every week this summer I’ve been able to review new TV series all debuting throughout the summer. When, even just a few years ago, summer was a dumping ground for reality TV or, even farther back, strictly a place for TV reruns. And most of what debuted this summer was good with a few outstanding shows like Stranger Things and The Night Of too.
The Reading/Watching List
- The Making of Prince’s Symbol
- The Typography of ‘Stranger Things’
- References to 70–80’s movies in Stranger Things
- Farewell – ETAOIN SHRDLU – 1978
On the Horizon
I have longer articles planned out all the way until next February. In the near-term, I’ve got columns written, or at least first drafts of, Suicide Squad, Star Trek’s 50th anniversary, new and returning TV series this fall, one about sci-fi and one about my experiences going to the drive-in as a teenager. I also have articles planned out for the movie What We Do in the Shadows for Halloween, Doctor Strange and The Man in the High Castle too.
That year was an almost “perfect storm” of quality films released to cinemas. Movies like Spider-Man, The Mothman Prophecies, The Sum of All Fears, Minority Report, Solaris and The Bourne Identity all debuted in 2002. And though Spider-Man did go on to become one of the highest grossing franchises in modern movie history, the only other film in this list that would become a “franchise” in the strictest sense of the term would be The Bourne Identity.
The Bourne Supremacy would act as director Greengrass’ first real introduction to American audiences, but the first time I took note of the director was when I caught his film Bloody Sunday (2002) on TV late one Saturday night. This film follows the lead-up and eventual massacre of a group of Irish civil rights protesters in what would become known as “Bloody Sunday.” Shot from within the action in a fauxcumentary style (aka shaky camera and grainy film), Greengrass would go on to use these same docu-techniques he used to great effect in Bloody Sunday in both The Bourne Supremacy and his next film United 93 (2006).
Vice Principals, the latest HBO series from Jody Hill and Danny McBride of Eastbound and Down fame, looks, feels and has the same tone as that earlier series. And I supposed if you really dug Eastbound and Down you’re going to really love Vice Principals too. But if you thought Eastbound and Down was just okay you’re probably not going to be that into Vice Principles.
The new series Stranger Things debuted on Netflix last Friday (July 15) and currently all episode are available to stream.
In the beginning of the first episode when young Will’s being chased by the something I can only described as a human-looking shape, I found the hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention. And at another part of the show when Winona Ryder’s character gets a weird phone call I took a breath so that I could hear every creepy thing emanating from the receiver.
This French series that’s available on iTunes, the first episode of which is free, is an interesting show about spies that feels a bit like the classic British drama 
And Aliens did not disappoint. Myself as a 12 year old loved it, my brother at eight was a little too young to get it but I think he liked it since his big brother liked it. But I think Aliens hit my ten year old cousin a little hard. When we finally decided to try and get some sleep after the movie had ended it was getting late and we all climbed into our sleeping bags in the dark of the living room. I’d begun to doze off when the air conditioner in the living room clicked on. At the time we had several window units around the house and when they’d automatically turn on from time to time there’d be a loud “snap” then a growl as the unit powered up and came to life.
To me, Aliens is a seminal film. Before I always thought sci-fi was mostly things like Star Wars and re-runs of the original Star Trek. The universe of Star Wars might have been a lot dirtier than that of Star Trek, but both were similar in tone. The good guys always won and no one died who didn’t deserve it — or at least died in order to move the story along.