Ash vs Evil Dead
Greetings, ‘Ash vs Evil Dead’ is a horror comedy television series that ran from 2015 to 2018 for three seasons before it was cancelled due to low viewership. It had numerous directors involved including Sam Raimi who is known for directing the original ‘Evil Dead’ trilogy that this programme continues on from, the critically acclaimed ‘Spider-Man’ trilogy from the 2000s and stylistic Western ‘The Quick and the Dead’. Bruce Campbell reprises his iconic role of Ash Williams while new cast members to the franchise include Ray Santiago, Dana DeLorenzo and Lucy Lawless. Jill Marie Jones and Samara Weaving, who is known for the 2017 slasher movie ‘The Babysitter’, also appear in the first season. The conductor is Joseph LoDuca who composed the soundtrack for the original ‘Evil Dead’ films as well as the 2001 period French horror movie ‘Brotherhood of the Wolf’ and would be later contributing to the ‘Chucky’ TV Series.
The plot picks up 30 years after ‘Army of Darkness’ in which a much older Ash hasn’t progressed in life at all. He’s still working as a stock boy in a department store and being his wild partying, womanizing self as he lives alone in a trailer. His life is uneventful as the Deadites, the demonic evil that Ash had previously defeated, had been dormant for decades but that soon changes when he goes to a local dive bar. After he picks up a loose woman and has his way with her in the restroom, he is disturbed to notice that for the briefest moment her face had become deformed during the act and she warns that they are coming for him. The deformity is one he is all too familiar with as it indicates the person has been possessed by a malicious Deadite. At that moment he recalls that he recently read from the hidden away Necronomicon while high as he was using it to impress a prostitute named Lucy during a ‘poetry read’ and unwittingly unleashed the ancient evil.
Elsewhere Michigan state police detective Amanda Fisher and her partner, John Carson, are responding to reports of a disturbance. A neighbour had claimed they had heard a woman screaming from inside her home. Once inside the dark house, the cops find a corpse and eventually encounter a weeping woman at the other end of the room. The crying woman is Lucy. Amanda asks Lucy to turn around and put her hands up but Lucy merely snaps her head around, revealing she has the face of a Deadite. Lucy attacks Amanda and stabs her in the hand with a pair of scissors before she impales Carson on wall mounted antlers. A stunned Amanda pulls a pistol from out of her ankle holster and kills Lucy by shooting her in the head. As Amanda attempts to recover from the shock, she becomes increasingly confused as Carson’s body is no longer in the room. Her undead partner emerges from the shadows and attacks her until the adrenaline filled Amanda shoots him dead as well.
I enjoyed seeing Ash again after such a long time and liked how the show delved much deeper into his background, including visiting his old home town, as the films never did explore that to any great degree. I also appreciated how the show added quite a lot of new details to the lore of the Necronomicon and how it paid homage to the movies by returning to the sinister cabin in the woods where Ash’s troubles began. The series also isn’t afraid to kill off major characters which is good for suspense although the main trio of Ash and his two friends, Pablo and Kelly, remain largely unscathed throughout the seasons. The three series feel fairly cohesive when watched consecutively and I don’t think the show ever ran out of steam but it could feel a bit repetitive at times. If you are a fan of the ‘Evil Dead’ trilogy or even the remakes, of which I am yet to see, then you’d probably enjoy this latest instalment in Raimi’s cult horror hit.
Plot=7/10
Characters=7/10
Special Effects=7/10
Overall=7/10
Quote of the Day
When you bring me out, can you introduce me as Joker?
Arthur Fleck / The Joker
A Confederacy of Dunces
Greetings, ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’ is a comedy novel by American writer John Kennedy Toole and this work is often cited as one of the best pieces of modern literature ever produced. It was released posthumously in 1980, 11 years after the troubled writer killed himself in part due to his inability to get his works published during his lifetime. Some other struggles likely contributed to his death, such as the unverified belief that he was a closeted homosexual who struggled to accept his desires. The often depreciating way he wrote his gay characters in ‘Dunces’ would certainly suggest there is some truth in the notion that he was repressing his feelings. After years of trying to get his work appreciated by the literary world, his mother Thelma was eventually successful when she gave a copy of ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’ to a novelist by the name of Walker Percy. Walker was suitably impressed by it and their combined efforts ensured the novel won a Pulitzer Prize a year after it was published. John only ever wrote one other novel called ‘The Neon Bible’ that he had completed while in his teens but he regarded it as a rather adolescent effort.
The story takes place in New Orleans during the early 1960s and is about Ignatius J Reilly, a 30 year old unemployed slob with a degree in medieval history and a great dislike of the modern world. While waiting for his mother outside a department store, Ignatius is accosted by Officer Angelo Mancuso who wants to arrest him for being a suspicious looking character. An outraged Ignatius loudly declares his innocence and begins to berate the lawman, drawing in a crowd of people watchers around them. An eccentric older man by the name of Claude comes out from the crowd to Ignatius’ aid and starts to accuse Mancuso of being a communist. This distracts the police officer who is forced to redirect his attention on to Claude, who is arrested for his behaviour. Ignatius’ mother arrives during the ruckus and uses the distraction to flee from the scene of disorder with her son. The two walk into a club called ‘The Night of Joy’ as they hope to hide from Mancuso. The bar is a shoddy strip club run by the strict proprietress Lana Lee. Using it as a place of sanctuary while Mrs Irene Reilly and her son lay low, Irene makes the most of it as an opportunity to get heavily drunk.
Meanwhile, the poorly socialized Ignatius regales a dim-witted bartender by the name of Darlene of the one time he had attempted to leave the safe confines of New Orleans. The normal routine of a Greyhound Scenicruiser bus journey had horrified and forever scarred the mollycoddled Ignatius who became even more of an isolated shut in as a result. After watching them for a bit, Lana Lee decides that both Ignatius and his mother were bringing down the atmosphere of her establishment so she kicks them out. The two decide that the heat would have died down by then and wander home but as they start out on their way, the inebriated Mrs Reilly drives her car into a building. Mrs Reilly is caught red handed and is charged a sizeable sum for the property damage she caused. Unable to pay the fine herself, she forces her lazy son to get a job so the money can be raised. He had previously coasted by without one, shunning any notion of work in favour of self-indulgently pursuing his interest in medieval philosophy. Ignatius surprisingly does gain employment with Levy Pants but soon causes problems as he, thinking of himself as a great social activist, attempts to get the African-American employees to launch an armed coup d’état.
I can partially understand why so many people like ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’ with its bizarre characters but I didn’t quite get all of the appeal myself which may be down to the hype surrounding it. Once I figured out half way through the book that it was the sort of novel that didn’t really go anywhere, I found it a bit difficult to engage with the rest of it as there were no stakes. I personally felt that it was simply too long and that the jokes which were humorous at the start of the novel such as Ignatius’ barmy behaviour, felt lacklustre towards the end. Its rambling plotline is why there have been numerous failed attempts to make a film adaptation of it with the general consensus now being that it isn’t suited to the silver screen. I do like the morally indignant and repulsive character of Ignatius however as he is a quite a unique creation. I enjoyed that his actions, which are intended to better the world, are not driven by his desire to improve the human race but merely to outperform his equally batty pen pal Myrna Minkoff with whom he has a strange rivalry with. In conclusion, this novel is a hard one to recommend but those that do enjoy it seem to really get a kick out of it.
Plot=6/10
Characters=7/10
Wording=8/10
Overall=6/10
Quote of the Day
Harry thinks if you call him Harry again he's gonna make you eat that cat!
Harry Moseby
Night Moves
IT
Greetings, ‘IT’ is a 1990 television miniseries adaptation of the extensive Stephen King novel of the same name from 1986. It was directed by Tommy Lee Wallace who had previously worked alongside John Carpenter on a few films such as ‘Dark Star’, ‘The Fog’ and ‘Halloween’. He had also directed ‘Halloween III: Season of the Witch’, an instalment in which the horror franchise attempted to move away from Michael Myers. Due to the two part ‘IT’ series being set across different time periods, there is a large cast of actors and actresses involved in the programme including Tim Curry in a campy but fun iteration of Pennywise the Clown. Other cast members include Richard Thomas, John Ritter, Annette O’Toole, Harry Anderson, Dennis Christopher, Tim Reid and Richard Mauser. The soundtrack was conducted by Richard Bellis who also composed music for numerous Disney theme parks and attractions such as those found in EPCOT.
The plot begins in May 1990 and is set in the town of Derry, Maine during the rumblings of a thunderstorm. A young girl by the name of Laurie is in her backyard while her mother is dashing back and forth between the house and garden, bringing her washing in before it rains. The mother calls her child into the house but unbeknownst to her, Laurie is mesmerised by a figure hiding behind drying out sheets hanging on the line. The imposing figure is a colourful clown who greets the child warmly. When Laurie doesn’t come inside as she was beckoned, the mother heads outside and is horrified to discover her child has been brutally murdered. The police later turn up to the scene of the crime and it also attracts the attention of an unnerved librarian called Mike. Fearing the return of a horrifying entity from his childhood, Mike gets in contact with his old school friends and warns them that Pennywise has returned to Derry as he always feared he would.
30 years earlier in the spring of 1960, a young child called George is playing outside in a heavy downpour with a paper boat made by his older brother Bill. The torrential rain causes the boat to quickly float downstream until it disappears down a storm drain. George is upset over the loss of his boat and quickly looks into the dark drain to see if there is any way he can retrieve it. As he gives up and is about to go home, he hears a voice call out his name. George turns his attention back to the sewer system and a brightly coloured clown has appeared, peering out of the drain. After an attempt to lure him in with balloons, Pennywise introduces himself to George as the boy was instructed not to speak to strangers by his parents. George agrees the two are no longer strangers after this and can therefore talk to each other. Pennywise holds up George’s paper boat and teases him to come closer. An elated George outstretches his hand which Pennywise suddenly seizes hold of and reveals a terrifying row of sharp teeth.
I had heard a lot of good things about this series before I sat down to watch it and the years of hype around it thankfully didn’t lead to disappointment as it easily could have. I’ve watched some other made for TV adaptations of King’s work around this period, such as ‘The Langoliers’, and ‘IT’ certainly holds up well after the many years that have passed since it first debuted. While both the child and fully grown actors gave great performances, Tim Curry is an obvious standout among them as he plays Pennywise with the perfect level of sinister comedy that further cemented him as a pop culture icon. The series wisely sidesteps the controversial elements of the novel with one moment in particular being skipped altogether. I do intend to read the novel at some point in the near future but I am a little daunted by the sheer length of it and have been told it rambles along.
Plot=8/10
Characters=7/10
Special Effects=7/10
Overall=8/10
Quote of the Day
Are you driving with your eyes open? Or are you, like, using "the force"?
Axel Foley
Beverly Hills Cop II
Educating Rita
Greetings, ‘Educating Rita’ is a 1983 comedy-drama film that was directed by Lewis Gilbert and is based off of Willy Russell’s play of the same name which debuted 3 years earlier. Gilbert is known for directing a number of films such as ‘Alfie’, ‘Sink the Bismark!’ and three James Bond movies including the outlandish ‘Moonraker.’ The playwright, Russell, is also known for writing ‘Shirley Valentine’, ‘Our Day Out’ and ‘Blood Brothers’. The picture stars Michael Caine, who had worked with Gilbert beforehand in ‘Alfie’, and Julie Walters as the two main leads with Michael Williams, Jeananne Crowley and Maureen Lipman in supporting roles. The music was composed by David Hentschel who has collaborated with numerous notable artists over previous decades including Elton John, George Harrison and Ringo Starr while also writing the score for a few films.
The plot begins with Rita, a 26 year old hairdresser, who has become bored of her monotonous life as she lives and works in a dreary working class estate. As she goes through her life listening to the usual inane gossip of her clients and having the same boozy company in the same old pubs, Rita decides that she wants more from life. She wants to feel like she has accomplished something and become a ‘someone’, escaping the constraints of her blue-collar background. A main driver behind this decision is the heavy societal pressure to start having children that is coming from her husband, Danny, and her wider family. Rita, who is actually called Susan, is afraid that having a child will chain her to a life she is becoming disillusioned with. As such, Rita decides to go back to school and seeks out higher education.
Her decision leads her to literary professor Dr Frank Bryant whom she hopes to learn from under his scholarly tutelage. Much like Rita, Bryant has become dissatisfied with his life and he has taken to drinking to cope with his lack of meaning or purpose. While Rita is frustrated with the simple-mindedness of her often inebriated peers, Bryant has grown wearisome of the pompousness and inauthenticity of the academics he surrounds himself with. When the two first meet, Frank is immediately impressed by Rita’s hunger for knowledge and her common sense answers that bring a fresh new perspective to topics he has been teaching for years. Despite admitting that he is an atrocious teacher and trying to dissuade her of an academic life, Rita still wants to learn from Frank and the two grow closer together as they both reinvigorate the other.
‘Educating Rita’ is considered one of the best British films of all time and it is not hard to see why it has earned such an envious position. Its encaptivating from beginning to end and never seems to drag at any point in my own opinion. Both Michael and Julie give very memorable, charming performances as two people struggling to find satisfaction in their own lives but providing it to the other through their companionship. Rita’s transformation into an educated woman is interesting to watch as she develops a healthy self-confidence but slowly discovers her new social group is just as flawed as her old one. I’d be eager to watch the original play someday if given the opportunity as I would like to see how faithful the film is to the source material.
Plot=8/10
Characters=9/10
Special Effects=8/10
Overall=9/10
Quote of the Day
No, it's the truth! I swear it! Danny told me! He went up into one of the bedrooms, the door was open, and he saw this crazy woman in the bathtub! She tried to strangle him!
Wendy Torrance
The Shining
Archer
Greetings, ‘Archer’ is an animated comedy series that was created by Adam Reed and ran continuously from 2009 to 2023. Reed also previously created ‘Frisky Dingo’ and ‘Sealab 2021’ but I must confess to not knowing much about them. The show racked up 145 episodes in 14 seasons during those years and, after the decision to cancel its run was made, ‘Archer’ concluded its extensive storyline with a crowd pleasing 3 part finale. The series stars H. Jon Benjamin, best known as the voice behind the iconic Bob Beltcher of ‘Bob’s Burgers’, Aisha Taylor, Chris Parnell, Judy Greer, Lucky Yates, Amber Nash, the show’s creator Adam Reed and Jessica Walter of ‘Play Misty for Me’ renown. In the last season, the unusual decision was made to add Natalie Dew as another main cast member to the mix which felt a little jarring after being so used to the core line up for so long. Numerous guest stars have also appeared in the show as well such as Peter Serafinowicz, Timothy Olyphant, Bryan Cranston and Burt Reynolds. The music was provided by Australian musician JG Thirlwell.
The series follows the exploits of secret agent Sterling Archer, a quick-witted, womanizing alcoholic who works for the International Secret Intelligence Service. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the acronym of ISIS was dropped some years into the show’s run after the terrorist group of the same name began making headlines for their atrocities across the Middle East in 2014. The show begins with Archer being tortured but it is quickly revealed that it is only a training exercise after he mocks his fellow agent, a character called Crenshaw, into giving up his faux torture techniques. Malory, Archer’s stern boss and mother, is watching the training and is unimpressed by her son’s flippant behaviour. The next day Archer is called into Malory’s office where he is berated for misspending his work account on frivolous things and it is made clear that he will be fired from the agency unless he clears his accounts. Archer realises that if he can access the agency’s mainframe, he could alter his financial records and get himself out of trouble. He knows that two of his co-workers, named Cyril and Pam, are able to get into the system.
Archer plans to get his colleagues to help him clear his account but it is apparent he is disliked and they are unwilling to lend a hand after his previous boorish behaviour. After some attempts at half-assed apologies and a concocted story about hunting a mole in the workplace get him nowhere, Archer tries to break into the mainframe himself. This turns out to be a simple operation as he breaks into the office which has poor security mechanisms and the password to the mainframe is ‘guest’ which Archer guesses correctly. While fulfilling his scheme, Archer is surprised when his fellow agent Crenshaw pulls a gun on him and orders Archer to transfer $50,000 into his account. Crenshaw reveals himself to be a mole working for the Russians who believes that he was found out due to Archer’s fictitious mole hunt story being spread around the office. Crenshaw intends to flee the US and keep Archer as a hostage during his escape. Lana, another of Archer’s co-workers and former paramour, arrives and aims her gun at Crenshaw after a silent alarm had been triggered earlier.
The era ‘Archer’ is set in is difficult to pin down as there is a Cold War-esque feel to the show but it also references more modern events and phenomena. I believe this vagueness brings some charm to the programme and often works in its favour. The large cast of characters, such as the unhinged scientist Krieger and equally chaotic heiress Cheryl, are a big strength of ‘Archer’ as are the relationships they have with each other. The complicated ‘will they/won’t they’ relationship between Archer and Lana is certainly one of the more interesting aspects of the show. Understandably, the show loses steam towards the end of its run and a few of the routine jokes become tired but it tried some interesting concept during the ‘coma seasons’ which played about with numerous genres in self-contained seasons. ‘Archer’ has always been a reliable show for me throughout the years and I had some real fun with it, especially in the first half of its run, but I believe it reached its natural ending point when it was forced to wrap itself up.
Plot=8/10
Characters=9/10
Special Effects=8/10
Overall=8/10
Quote of the Day
A medium dry martini, lemon peel, shaken, not stirred.
James Bond
Dr. No
Cop Land
Greetings, ‘Cop Land’ is a crime film from 1997 that was written and directed by James Mangold. Mangold’s cinematic career was briefly discussed a few months ago on this blog as he later went on to direct the disappointing ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ in which the titular hero is trotted out once more for a lacklustre adventure. For a movie I wasn’t familiar with until recently, I was surprised to learn how much of an all-star cast ‘Cop Land’ had. It boasts an impressive roster of talent including Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Ray Lolita and Harvey Keitel among its primary cast with actors like Michael Rapaport and Robert Patrick playing more supporting roles. The music was composed by Howard Shore who is known for his musical contributions to the ‘Lord of the Rings’ and ‘The Hobbit’ trilogies as well as collaborating on some of David Cronenberg’s movies including 1986’s ‘The Fly’.
The plot begins by introducing the fictional town of Garrison in New Jersey, a place that is a short distance from New York City and home to many serving police officers who patrol the American metropolis. The law states that NYPD officers are supposed to reside in the city itself but a number of cops, using a legal loophole, categorized themselves as ‘Auxiliary Transit Cops’ and were therefore able to reside in Garrison. The officers suggested that their reasoning behind this decision is so they don’t have to live in constant fear of gang reprisals but it also means they aren’t subject to NYPD’s Internal Affairs Division. Garrison is a peaceable place and is under the protection of one Sherriff Freddy Heflin. He is a man who wants more from his life than watching over a town in which nothing seems to happen but he had his aspirations of joining the NYPD dashed after he lost his hearing in one ear during a successful rescue attempt. When Freddy was a younger man, a woman had steered her car off a bridge and plunged herself into a river. The heroic Helfin had dived in after her and saved her life without any hesitation.
After a night of drinking in a seedy bar, off duty Officer Murray Babitch tries to drives himself home and runs over a glass bottle while starting off his journey. He is nearly involved in an accident when two African-American youths intentionally swerve their car aggressively at Babitch when he is attempting to cross the George Washington Bridge. The spooked cop hears a loud noise and believes he is being shot at by the aggressive driver. Babitch instinctively opens fire and kills the two delinquents in a state of panic. With their car brought to a halt, the trembling police officer checks it out and is distraught to find no weapon in the vehicle while he discovers his own wheel was blown out by a puncture. It isn’t long before the paramedics and NYPD show up to the massacre. A frightened Babitch informs his uncle Ray Donlan, a figure of authority in the police force, what happened. Donlan attempts to clear his nephew’s name by ordering one of his men, a dirty cop, to plant a used gun in the car. This act was caught by one of the paramedics and causes a fight between the medical team and the corrupt cops. During the commotion, an alarmed Ray shouts that the distressed Babitch had jumped off the bridge and he demands that a search party is sent out immediately.
I went into this movie with no real expectations of what it would entail but when the credits began to roll I knew that I had definitely enjoyed it. Stallone gives a very down to earth performance that is among his best works and the rest of the seasoned cast are very memorable. The movie is a far cry from the dumb over the top action flick that I half-thought it would be but that style of genre appeared to be in decline during the late 1990s when ‘Cop Land’ was made. It’s a gritty story in which the plot slowly unravels and it takes its time in building up to a satisfying showdown that feels very plausible. I’m not entirely sure why this film has been largely forgotten as time moved on or why it never developed more of a following than it has but if you are in the mood for an underappreciated crime picture then this might just be the one for you.
Plot=8/10
Characters=7/10
Special Effects=8/10
Overall=8/10
Quote of the Day
A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice Chianti. You fly back to school now, little Starling. Fly, fly, fly. Fly, fly, fly.
Dr. Hannibal Lecter
The Silence of the Lambs
