New Year, Evolving Approach; Be Aware & Beware - Friday Video Distractions with Mike Norton

 

    As last week's post fell squarely on the holiday, while technically the new year it was still part of the suspension of "real" time that is the promise of that holiday block. Here, a week later, like it or not, we're thrust fully into the already insane new year. While we hope this is a waning, lingering trail of 2020's lunacy, we still need to find other things to get lost in for a while.
     What I'm trying this week is to split this into relatively quick hits on shows or movies, then swing the spotlight onto a special project or a theme.
     Mixed Bag of the Existing/Current and the Upcoming:

     I'll quickly note (again) that CBC All Access has just wrapped it's third season of Star Trek: Discovery - I'll miss not having that each week, but was happy to see it had been renewed for a fourth season back in October - and delivered the fourth episode of the 9-part adaptation of Stephen King's The Stand. The latter continues to present an interesting reinterpretation/translation of the novel, both in how some of the characters are portrayed and, especially, in its non-linear presentation.
     I'd be very interested to see how the show is being received by those who are taking the story in for the first time, because I know the character arcs and so keep losing track of what I know from this presentation and what I know from both the novel and the 1994 adaptation. It's the nature of these things that we can't help but bring the information in with us, which can sometimes do the filmmaker's work for them, and sometimes leave us with contradictions and conflicts. Ultimately, this miniseries will be its own, King-approved thing.
     January 1st saw Netflix return with new seasons of a couple series where I'd watched the first season a year or more earlier, but for various reasons, while having enjoyed those first seasons, I'd set aside the second for a later time.
     In the case of Cobra Kai, I'd watched the first season shortly after Netflix acquired the first two seasons this past June, but because of an unwelcome (at least to me) character's return in the final

episode of that first season, I wasn't anxious to dive into season two. So, I let that sit as I moved on to other things. As January 1st saw season three arrive I decided to start in on season two... and ended up rolling straight through that into and through season three.
     The series, starring Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, each reprising their roles from the Karate Kid films, started off by picking up with where each character's life had taken him in the 34 years since the first film's climactic tournament. It shifted the perspectives from those of that first

film, away from the white & black, good & evil simplicity of its David & Goliath underdog story. 
     Our entry point for the new series was finding out how badly life had turned out for the loser in that climactic match, and then showing us how well things had gone for the victor. Each man, now in what could only be very generously thought of as a "mid-life crisis", considering that they're at or just past the 50 mark, has seen the events of that first film lead each man into a complete reversal of fortunes from their teen years, each now with a child in their teens.  
   The modern story is set in motion as the tournament's loser, finally hits bottom strongly enough to shake him more fully awake, and starts him looking to retrace where his life went so wrong. The show proceeded to get us to see each of the characters more completely, simultaneously emphasizing their humanity, which is to say both their good and bad points. A key, recurrent theme is that each is a product of their past, and the reminder that we're each the hero, or at least the protagonist, of our own story. We also come to see more underlying similarities between the adversaries, in their histories, challenges, and a key, underlying drive to want to offer the help each received when he needed a mentor as an early teen. Here's the trailer for the first season.

     While I'd seen the films back in the day, I was probably about a decade too old to be the primary target demographic for them, so the pitch wasn't an immediate sale for me. As the series was developed for YouTube Red (their paid subscription service) I'd been seeing ads for it for a couple years by the time it showed up as an option on Netflix. The combination of that advertising marinade and a sudden

flurry of approving comments by a diverse group of people moved me to give it a try.
     The other Netflix series back with new installments was The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. The occult, Riverdale spin-off centered on the titular teenage witch, her family, friends, and adversaries in the town of Greendale.
     For whatever reason, they don't label these blocks of shows as seasons, but as "parts", so the latest block of 8 episodes to drop was part 4. I honestly couldn't remember how far I'd watched before, but as it turns out I'd only watched the first season. While I enjoyed it as a sort of Buffyesque horror and magic adventure series, I hadn't been in a rush to get back to it -- or maybe the timing when the second block landed was just bad for me -- I don't recall. Diving in with season part two, I caught up on things pretty quickly and found myself rolling all the way through. Again, rather than risk the potential spoilers of showing the latest trailer, I'll just run the first one here.

     If you enjoyed Buffy the Vampire Slayer (the series, not the movie), but maybe wanted more sex and magic along with a considerably more woke set of themes, then this may work well for you. Many of the same dynamics - a teenage girl trying to adapt to a legacy, related powers and responsibilities, who is trying to navigate two incompatible worlds -- that of non-magical mortals, and that of nearly immortal witches. All including high school chums and cliques.
     Without giving any spoilers, they do take it through to a conclusion with the end of this latest block, so when I went to check afterwards on any plans for a 5th part I wasn't shocked to find they'd announced that this was to be all there was. Such stories as remain, we're told, will be over in the comics.
     Arriving today on Netflix is a 7-part, limited series documentary starring Fran Lebowitz, which appears to be observational humor about New York City. It's titled Pretend It's A City.

     Directed by Martin Scorsese, the trailer was oddly off-putting to me, as it felt as if we were being elbowed in the ribs by perhaps Scorsese himself while he randomly says "Isn't she outrageous?" "What won't this woman say?!" "Isn't she hilarious?!" "She's right, you know!"
     I'm taking the trailer as a nadir point of reference, lowering expectations and setting me up to be entertained and ultimately engaged. Aside from just wanting to hear what Fran's reactions to many elements of modern, NYC life are, I'm also interested in trying to tap into a long-term New Yorker's frame of mind. It's much as with any dedicated urbanite, the experience is so alien to suburbanite me that there's an odd fascination with it. As mentioned earlier, it's in 7 parts. Each roughly half an hour.
     Update: Ended up rolling through all seven parts over a few sessions Fri-early Sun. Entertaining and thought-provoking throughout, with the first episode being the weakest/lightest of the bunch. Especially given its short running time I'm thinking I'll be doing a rewatch soon to try to distill a few, useful items for me to remember. I wasn't taking notes the first time, and one insight was often displaced in my mind by the next one. - 1/10/21
     The Deeper Dive:
     This last bit is much more of an academic item than a strictly entertaining one, though I enjoyed it.
     An impressive project completed several years ago, it's Beware of Images: The Media Literacy Documentary. It's a history of the power of images. Here is a wordless (at least spoken) trailer.

     
     The full documentary is found at this link. It runs 2 hours, 40 minutes and 55 seconds, and is worth the time and consideration, though you may find yourself viewing it in parts. Embedding it here in the blog isn't an option, as the creators of the video have kept it to their own site -- which is open for all on the Internet.

     That's more than enough for this week. Thanks to you if you've read this far. Next time I expect to include a movie or two about an immortal, and be reminding you about a strange, new adventure masquerading as a sitcom -- along with some other things, I imagine.
     Take care, and let's hope no one burns the country down in the interim. -- Mike