WOMAN IN THE WINDOW disappoints, but MYTHIC QUEST soars in season two

We're all over the place in today's Friday Free-For-All

It’s Friday, May 14, and here’s where we are…

David Lowery’s Pete’s Dragon was almost criminally overlooked when it came out, and I get it. I’m not a huge fan of the original, and the Disney nostalgia cash-ins seem to either land on the audience like a billion-dollar ton of bricks or bounce off completely, and it’s hard to predict which it’ll be. The genuinely terrible live-action Aladdin was a monster hit, while Lowery’s sweet, gentle family film with an enormous genuine heart was a modest hit but feels like it left absolutely no mark on pop culture.

Lowery seems like an odd fit for mainstream success anyway. When I used to publish reviews he wrote at Ain’t It Cool News, it was clear that he loved experimental films, independent voices, personal expressions. He covered festival films for us, and he loved discovering voices that could have only made their films outside the system. It seems fitting that he used to call himself “ghostboy,” since I feel like A Ghost Story might be the best expression yet of who Lowery is as a filmmaker.

I think the new trailer for The Green Knight is thrilling, packed with striking imagery, and it’s exciting to see his take on this material. There have been movies made about the Green Knight myth before, but Lowery’s take feels like something fresh. This is exactly the kind of thing that I have been missing this last year, the excitement over knowing I’m going to sit in a darkened room and watch this play out on a giant screen with sound that envelops me… I can’t wait.

My first big day of actual press screenings is coming up on May 17th, and I’ll have reviews for you soon after that for both A Quiet Place Part II and F9. It’s exciting to be heading back into theaters, but it’s not going to really feel like things are starting to get back to normal until I’m going with my family. Both of the boys got their first vaccination shot today, so as soon as they’re two weeks past their second shot, I’m going to try to get them into a theater. It may be possible to have everyone ready by the time In The Heights comes out, and I can’t think of a more exciting reason to get everyone down to the Alamo Drafthouse downtown. Fingers crossed.

There is a veritable tsunami of new options for you to watch this weekend, and I’m curious to see what you prioritize. I’m dying to start watching The Underground Railroad and I’m very curious about Ewan McGregor in Halston as well. Love, Death & Robots actually got the first play, though. I love that show, and I love that every segment seems to be a totally different style of visual storytelling.

On the film side of things, both The Woman in the Window and Those Who Wish Me Dead are arriving on streaming services today, while Army of the Dead and Spiral: From The Book of Saw both open in theaters. I know Snyder’s film will be at home next week, but I’ve got no idea when Spiral heads home. I don’t care enough about the Saw franchise to actually make it out to a theater for that one, so I’m not sure when or if I’ll write about it.

The Woman in the Window was supposed to be in theaters on October 4, 2019. It got pushed to May 2020 to allow for reshoots, and then the pandemic pushed everything and Fox 2000, absorbed fully into Disney by this point, sold the thing to Netflix. Even without a pandemic, I feel like Fox would have done their best to offload this one. Whatever promise he showed with Pride & Prejudice or Atonement or Hanna seems to be in short supply today. Pan was a startling mess, the kind of disaster that makes you wonder what happened that prevented anyone from speaking up at any point in that process.

image courtesy of Netflix

As bad as Pan was, The Woman in the Window seems almost like a parody of the kind of hopped-up trashy paperback airplane read that it was adapted from. It’s like Wright saw Rear Window once and didn’t really get it, but decided he wanted to do whatever it was he just watched. It is built on a witless twist that isn’t really a twist at all, and whatever mild clever there is in the initial set-up dissipates completely by the time the truth is revealed. It’s very slick, but that actually bugs me more when the script is this thin. This makes two world-class stinkers in a row for Joe Wright. I’m not sure any career could withstand a third.

I don’t really believe in the idea of director’s jail. Movies are living things, and even the best filmmakers have found themselves in the weeds when something didn’t go the way they wanted. You can only control so much and then it’s up to the intangible. I understand why filmmakers try to push themselves to do new things, and I think growth is absolutely an important thing for any creative person.

Having said that, I am unreasonably excited that David Cronenberg’s done with the growing and the changing for the moment now that he’s announced his return to sci-fiction/body horror with Crimes of the Future. He’s got Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart, and Lea Seydoux attached to star, he’s going to shoot in Greece this summer, and when he calls this a return to the ideas he explored earlier in his career, I’m curious how specific he’s being.

After all, he made a film in 1970 called Crimes of the Future. It’s one of the very first things he did, and it’s a really wild ride when you look at it today. He’s been clear that he’s not remaking that film, and I’m sure whatever he’s doing, it will have its own distinct identity that will reflect the 51 years of experience Cronenberg’s had since he made that earlier film. But it’s fascinating that he’s using that title again, and when you look at that early movie, you get a real sense of who he was going to be as a filmmaker and it certainly feels like he could mine that film for ideas that he could explore more fully now. The thing that’s most interesting about the longevity of Cronenberg’s career is how it feels like reality lapped him and now he’s going to have to redefine the boundaries of body horror.

The entire notion of trans-humanism has evolved so much since he made The Brood or Scanners or Rabid, and it feels like many of the most extreme things he suggested no longer feel as extreme. The entire idea of an “accelerated evolution syndrome” is fascinating. One of the characters in this new film is a performance artist who can spontaneously grow new organs that he removes as theater for audiences. That’s already a wild idea for a film, but I’m sure it will be just one part of the larger glimpse we get at a culture that has embraced a post-human state. Cronenberg has always been a deeply political filmmaker, but not in the easy facile way that so many filmmakers are. He’s not concerned with transitory party politics; he’s more focused on the deeply personal issues of identity and bodily autonomy, and we’ve never had more widespread conversations about those ideas than we are right now.

A Cronenberg film in 2021 will be a radically different affair than one made in the ‘70s, and I love that this doesn’t feel like a commercial move at all. He’s more than proven that he will follow his own interests, and he’s not going to make a movie just because he thinks it will sell or because it is what people expect of him. He’s too particular, too individual. There are very few filmmakers who I would want to see return to youthful interests with an older man’s experience and aesthetic shifts, but I have a feeling this could be something very special, like Lynch’s return to Twin Peaks.

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AND FINALLY…

I don’t want to do the same thing I’ve been doing lately, putting off publication just because things are busy. I’m going to try to publish more, even if they’re shorter than they have been. I have several Library entries up on blocks, almost ready to go, and I may experiment with the way things are divided up here on the site. Substack’s been introducing a lot of new tools on the back end of things that I haven’t taken the time to really learn yet, and I would like to make sure that I am taking full advantage of them.

I’ll leave you with a few thoughts about a returning series. I wrote about the first season of Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet, which I thought was mildly successful. It’s the kind of show that grew on me over the course of those first nine episodes, and I ended up just invested enough to want to see what a season two would look like.

image courtesy of Apple TV+

Episode three was just released, but I binged the entire thing over the course of two days because I found this second season so much more enjoyable. I’m embargoed on most of it, so I’ll just say that the two special episodes they did between seasons were fantastic, and it feels like they carried the energy from those episodes into this new batch of nine. You can feel how much more focused the character are this year as you watch these first three. I like that they give the entire ensemble a fair amount of attention over the course of the season, and they do a nice job of reflecting the changes that the pandemic brought to things without making the entire season one big COVID joke.

If you didn’t see the special episodes, one of them was shot during the middle of the pandemic, and it may be the best thing I’ve seen out of that entire period. It is more nakedly emotional than the rest of the show, but it captures just how raw we all felt as it started to sink in that something very serious was happening to all of us. Their other special was about their first day back at work. Taken together as a one-two punch, they made a powerful statement about how this last year felt while also offering up big laughs and making our investment in these characters stronger.

The first three episodes only build on that goodwill and that storytelling energy. The show still focuses largely on the dynamic between Ian Grimm (Rob McElhenney) and Poppy Li (Charlotte Nicdao), the creative director and lead engineer for Mythic Quest, a AAA-style MMORPG. It’s a workplace show, first and foremost, focused on the strange dynamics that exist in this particular industry as well as the broader dynamics that exist in any workplace “family.” McElhenney is terrific as Ian, pompous and vain and often infuriatingly right about things. He is every Silicon Valley douche on the surface, and while the show scores big laughs on him and his insecuritie, it doesn’t just lean on that as the whole joke. Like every character, Ian is given a number of different sides, and this season drills deeper on his vulnerabilities. His main one appears to be his dependence on Poppy, something that gives her power over him whether she knows it or not.

Power is this season’s overall theme, and no one makes that more clear than Jessie Ennis as Jo. She began as the assistant to David Brittlesbee, the game’s executive producer, but quickly started angling to get closer to Ian because she saw how powerful he was. David Hornsby does very strong, eccentric character work as David, and Jo’s disgust with him was one of the best running threads in season one. Now she’s ready to learn from Brad Bakshi, the studio’s head of monetization, a gleeful scumbag played with open joy by Danny Pudi. Ennis and Pudi are a delight any time this show cuts to them, and Ennis is emerging as a real monster, a hilariously awful creation, hungry to learn about power from the most horrible people she can find. Meanwhile, Poppy is struggling to figure out how to assert herself and she starts to lean into her own worst nature. I like Nicdao’s work a lot this year, and I love that they’re not afraid to let these characters show their ass. They all have flaws, and the show doesn’t pretend that people are supposed to have all the answers or be perfect.

The more the show focuses on the specific work relationships of these people, the better. And I can’t wait until later this season when we can discuss a very strange but satisfying left turn that they take narratively. Mythic Quest is rapidly turning into another reason to actually subscribe to Apple TV+, and it will make a lovely appetizer while I’m waiting for the return of Ted Lasso this summer.

Are there shows you guys found yourself really falling for once they reached a second season? I know Parks & Recreation is probably the most famous example. I’d love to know what you’re watching right now as well. It’s been a while since I opened it up to a Friday Free-For-All, but I figure this may be the only free issue I publish this month, so why not? You can reply to my question or just vent about what you’ve been watching or reading or listening to. Keep it civil, but otherwise, anything goes.

I’ll have a few things for you next week. I feel bad that we got off to such a slow start for May. My birthday is at the end of the month, and I want to do something special for that actual day. Plenty to get to before that, though, so let’s wrap this up so I can go get started.

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This is my media diary for the last… twenty days? Something like that? It’s been a while. Seeing this much of it all in one place, I’m shocked. As always, anything I particularly enjoyed is in bold.

THIS WEEK’S BOOKS: Deep Focus: Heathers by John Ross Bowie; The Scream by John Skipp and Craig Spector; Way Station by Clifford D. Simak; Creepers by David Morrell; Find You First by Linwood Barclay; Pronto by Elmore Leonard; Skywalker: A Family at War by Kristin Baver

THIS WEEK’S COMICS: Epic Collection: The Amazing Spider-Man - Ghosts of the Past; Epic Collection: The Amazing Spider-Man - Venom; Epic Collection: The Amazing Spider-Man - Assassin Nation; Epic Collection: The Amazing Spider-Man - Return of the Sinister Six; The Amazing Spider-Man: Origin of the Hobgoblin; The Amazing Spider-Man: Birth of Venom; Epic Collection: The Amazing Spider-Man - Cosmic Adventures; The Good Asian #1; Star Wars - The High Republic Adventures #4; Norse Mythology Vol. 1 by Neil Gaiman and Craig Russell; M.O.D.O.K. Head Games #4; Savage Avengers #20; Star Wars: Darth Vader #11; Alien #1, #2

THIS WEEK’S PODCASTS: How Did This Get Made? - “The Visitor with Rob Huebel,” “Supergirl with Brie Larson”; With Gourley & Rust - “Body Double,” “Terror Train,” “The People Under the Stairs”; The Kingcast - “Bonus: Dollar Babies and the Stephen King Rules Festival,” “Creepshow with Matt Braunger,” “Needful Things with Mallory O’Meara,” “Wizard and Glass with Scott Ian”; Galaxy Brains - “Justice League,” “Mortal Kombat,” “Josie and the Pussycats,” “The Bad Batch”; High & Mighty with Jon Gabrus - “420 Mega Sesh,” “Paranormal,” “Fear with Rob Huebel,” “Pasta with Jamie Lee”; Doughboys - “MrBeast Burger with Jason Concepcion,” “Oliver Garden 3 with Alison Rosen,” “Cosmic Wings with Jana Schmieding,” “Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen with Eva Anderson”; The Dana Gould Hour - “Important Portents!”; Screen Drafts - “BFFs with Rachel Walker and Anam Syed”; Stay Away from Matthew McGill - “The Box”; The Dollop - “In God We Lust,” “Women on River,” “Harry Decker,” “Otto Wood”; You Must Remember This - “Gossip Girls: Small Town Girl,” “Gossip Girls: The First Lady”; MBMBaM - “The Star of the Sandwich Show,” “Funeral for a Friend,” “The Moon Sent Me”; Blank Check with Griffin and David - “Don Jon with Hollywood Handbook,” “Ishtar with Clint McElroy,” “Boyz n the Hood with Aisha Harris”; Boogie Monster - “Bad Knees and Baby Dinosaurs,” “Anti-Faxx,” “Not So Squatchy”

THIS WEEK’S TV: Rutherford Falls S1 E1 - E8; Invincible S1 E7; Shadow & Bone S1 E1 - E6; The Falcon and the Winter Soldier S1 E6; Mare of Easttown S1 E1 - E4; Sasquatch S1 E1 - E3; Dickinson S1 E7 - E9; The Circle S2 E4 - E13; Infinity Train S2 E1; The 93rd Annual Academy Awards; The Nevers S1 E2 - E5; Never Have I Ever… S1 E8 - E10; Made for Love S1 E4 - E6; The Handmaid’s Tale S4 E1, E2; Married at First Sight S12 E16, E17; Wellington Paranormal S1 E4; The Oprah Winfrey Interview - Eliot Page; The Mosquito Coast S1 E1, E2; Home Economics S1 E1 - E3; The Bad Batch S1 E1; Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist S2 E11, E12; Community S1 E4; Taxi S2 E2; American Idol S19 E16, E17; The Simpsons in The Force Awakens From Its Nap; Creepshow S2 E5; Mythic Quest - Raven’s Banquet S2 E1 - E9; Jupiter’s Legacy S1 E1; Girls 5Eva S1 E1 - E3; That Damn Michael Che S1 E1; Bob’s Burgers S11 E20; Fridays S1 E3; Barney Miller S1 E7; Physical S1 E1; Lisey’s Story S1 E1; This Is Us S5 E14; Hacks S1 E1

THIS WEEK’S GAMING: Spider-Man (PS5); Returnal; Resident Evil: Village; Horizon Zero Dawn

THIS WEEK’S MOVIES: The Visitor; Predator; My Octopus Teacher; Ishtar; Leo and Loree; New Order; Spider-Man: Far From Home; The Virtuoso; The Night of the Hunter; Rikki-Tikki-Tavi; Penitentiary; Blow-up; Little Rural Riding Hood; The Cuckoo Clock; Magical Maestro; One Cab’s Family; The Cat That Hated People; Doggone Tired; The Flea Circus; Field and Scream; The First Bad Man; Out-Foxed; Droopy’s Double Trouble; The Three Little Pups; Drag-A-Long Droopy; Homesteader Droopy; Dixieland Droopy; The Counterfeit Cat; Ventriloquist Cat; The House of Tomorrow; Car of Tomorrow; T.V. of Tomorrow; The Farm of Tomorrow; Justice Society: World War II; Draft Day; Voyagers; Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse; Boys from County Hell; Spider-Man 2; Casino Royale; The Mitchells vs The Machines; Superman; Predator (no, it’s not a mistake that this is on here twice); Star Wars: The Last Jedi; The Ten Commandments; [Redacted]; Casino; Rock’n’Roll High School; Saturn 3; The Fast and the Furious; mother!; The Amazing Spider-Man; Airheads; The Brood; Grease; The Last Married Couple In America; The 50 Best Horror Films You’ve Never Seen; 2 Fast 2 Furious; Ghost In The Shell; Addicted To Love; Zodiac; The Interview; Oxygen