Reviews for January 2024
Spoilers!
Movies
Leave the World Behind
This movie hangs on the fact that dealing with the owners of your Airbnb showing up and needing to stay there is way harder to deal with than the actual end of the world. This is totally true and pulled off in a masterful and cringeworthy way. I loved Sam Esmail's Mr Robot and there are similar vibes and shots at work while leaving the world behind. I think it's supposed to be more explicitly about race, but nearly every line would work without that dynamic. The social awkwardness here is universal. The ending is great as well. Highly recommended.
Level 16
Level 16 is about a residential school for girls who will get adopted soon. Of course something darker is going on and it's pretty dark. It's super derivative but nicely done and worth a watch.
Rebel Moon – Part One
Rebel Moon has an incredible visual style, a disturbing bad guy and some off-brand lightsabers. The dialog is clunky and I have already forgotten the plot. I'm sure I'll watch the second part and maybe it ends up going somewhere but this installment is just pulling the gang together in the style of the first few minutes of an A-Team episode with a decent SFX budget.
Music
Lazy
I love a lot of Baby Queen. This one is an anthem for my current Saturday morning.
TV
Doctor Who 2023 Specials
I drifted out of watching Doctor Who at the start of the Jodie Whittaker / Chris Chibnall era. It has always been an uneven program with some silly concepts occasionally punctuated by enough sci-fi genius to make it all worthwhile. With Chibnall that equation changed for me and it just seemed boring. I was pretty excited to see that Russell T Davies was back at the helm and the four specials were pretty good, an unexpected encore for David Tennant and Catherine Tate and a brief introduction for Ncuti Gatwa. I'll be tuning in next year to see how Davies and Gatwa do once out of the confines of Christmas Special land. I couldn't be happier that the TARDIS is recognizably the machine from my youth even if it is filled with questionable ramps. What was great about the 80's TARDIS is that it was bigger on the inside but only a little bit. You have complete control over time and space and you just move the walls over a foot to fit in a hatstand (I know, there was more behind another door, but that rarely came into play). I really hated the steampunk control room and I hope it never comes back. My fondest wish for the program is that the Doctor drops his sonic screwdriver down a wormhole and has to start relying on his wits a bit more. An occasional plot device has become almost the only plot device and he's a Time Lord not a superhero Anyway, fingers crossed for the next series.
For All Mankind Season 4
For All Mankind is getting into middle age, but it's still a great series. This installment is all about an uneasy Mars base and the future of space exploration. Also some moonshine.
Slow Horses Season 3
Slow Horses just keeps getting better. A must watch series.
(All images included with ITHCWY reviews are the property of their respective owners and are used to illustrate reviews only.)
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