TV News: I understand their choice, but I was kind of into the really campy nature of the show, but MAX has cancelled their Pretty little Liars reboot after 2 seasons, the same length their Gossip Girl reboot got. It’s not actually a “good” show, but it was entertaining.
TV Shows Watched: The Penguin: S1E1 (MAX) with audio description, the Rings Of Power: S2E6 (Amazon) with audio description, The Old Man: S2E3 (Hulu) with audio description, How To Die Alone: S1E5 (Hulu) with audio description, Twilight Of The Gods: S1E2 (Netflix) with audio description, Monsters: S1E3 (Netflix) with audio description, 911: S6E20 (Hulu) with audio description, Young Sheldon: S3E10 (MAX) with audio description, Emily in Paris: S4E6 (Netflix) with audio description, What’s Next with Bill Gates: S1E1 (Netflix) with audio description, and Frasier: S2E1 (Paramount Plus) with audio description.
Podcasts: None.
YouTube: The Oscar Expert (Review: Queer)
movies: his Three Daughters (Netflix) with audio description, and Child Star (Hulu) with audio description
A lot of stuff to choose from, but today we have an official “Critics Pick”, which is the best I’ve got when I’m not really doing a full out review of a TV series. Stop what you are doing and watch The penguin. My YouTube review isn’t even coherent because my mind was so utterly blown by the show. I think it is by far the best pilot of the year, and possibly in like a decade. the first episode is already over an hour long, but I would have stayed watching this show over and over if there had been more episodes. I was so captivated by the program, that even though I’m not someone who prefers binge watching, I would have gleefully blown through this on accident. the biggest compliment I can give it is that it doesn’t feel like a Mattt Reeves show, but it actually feels like Martin Scorsese took all those years directing mob movies, and mob adjacent movies, and decided to direct a TV show. it is actually that good.
there’s no Batman here. Just Oswald Cobblepot, a former lieutenant for the recently deceased head of the Falcone crime family, who is making a play for himself. He’s brash, but disarmingly intelligent. He seems like someone who would hide in the shadows, but drives proudly in a purple car for everyone to see. He is everyone and no one, and he is the character we are rooting for in a sea of criminals. IN a world full of bad behavior, somehow we’re hoping this guy winds up on top.
it’s a conversation we haven’t really had since The Sopranos, and we were offered a sympathetic look at Tony Soprano as a family man. his home life. his kids. he became both a larger than life figure on TV, and also incredibly relatable. Even when we were witnessing the harsh realities of a mob drama, Tony Soprano was still “the guy”, and in The Penguin, they’ve pulled off the same thing. We know Oswald is a villain, but he’s the one we’re rooting for. And it isn’t in the same way Joaquin Phoenix captivated people in Joker either. there’s this human quality brought to Oswald, as realized by his interactions with different characters, that all work to humanize him just enough to make his future something worth investing in, and keep The Penguin as this gritty power struggle that transcends its genre. It sheds any notion of being a comic book story by having a very relatable version of Cobblepot, but also by giving Batman the vanishing act. Vengeance is everywhere, but also nowhere to be found. Vengeance has taken new form as Oswald seeks to take what he believes is rightfully his, and is something he believes can only be taken.
This is the best show I’ve seen all year. The audio descritpion by International digital Center is so good. it helps shape the performance of Farrell, which is so integral to your ability to like the show and the character. His little quirks, how he walks, how his face reacts, his crooked toes, all the details that make the man are relayed through the description. And the intentional and perfect voice casting of REN Leach who has this perfect tone for a crime drama. I thought instantly, as the series was going, all these films I’m not even sure have known audio description tracks that he would be great for. From something as recent as MAX’s hosting of Knox Goes Away, to Scorsese films like Once upon A Time In America and Goodfellas, I can hear his voice complimenting those as well. It’s not quite performative as much as it is just a terrific casting choice.
So, stop what you’re doing, and watch the damn thing. it is possibly perfect.