TV of 2022

[therewillbeblus]

I don’t think it has terribly much depth, but I don’t find any of Mann’s films to and the attempts in The Insider don’t work for me to the extent that it instantly becomes a least favorite.

See, I think his films are capable of containing tremendous depths, though they're mostly subtle and kept in elisions of the action rather than on the surface content (i.e. The Insider, which I remember liking when it came out, but doesn't fulfill what I see as Mann's "depth"). I believe I went into more detail about my thoughts here. All that said, I like a third of his work, pretty much hate at least half, and I'm not sure I love any of his films despite getting close on a few and absolutely loving sequences from them.

[knives]

Let me rephrase, I mean depth through narrative. Depth through aesthetic I do think he has and Foxx as a disruption to aesthetic is what makes Collateral work so well for me.

[RIP Film]

From the two episodes I have seen so far, Tokyo Vice has all the trademarks of Michael Mann’s ability to render emotion for some pretty tough people, whether it’s a young American journalist in Japan in close contact with Yakuza and police forces, or the rugged detective with the mix of both decency and danger Ken Watanabe is capable of. If the season continues ratcheting everything up as I suspected from how the show starts and then the story, this might be the best thing Mann has had his name on since directing Collateral.

Yeah, I’ve found it engaging enough to have watched the first three episodes. Didn’t know Mann was attached until the credits, though it seems like he didn’t direct the following two. Still they maintain the same kind of restraint and visual style that distinguishes Mann’s projects from other underworld crime dramas; that willingness to go into the weeds without pantomiming everything alien to the audience.

Ansel Elgort and his hair do a serviceable job, even while speaking what sounds like convincing Japanese. I don’t really get the shade thrown against him, he’s a charismatic actor albeit lacking depth, but seems to fit in well here.

[flyonthewall2983]

He’s perfect as the fish out of water, but smart enough to adapt despite the immediate barriers against him. It’s actually a very well-rounded cast. The Yakuza guys and people who work at the newspaper all have chemistry and presence needed for this kind of show to work.

[John Cope]

Like what I've seen of it so far very much. The Mann first episode is a perfect template setter which thankfully seems to be followed up on by the subsequent eps. He establishes something here that is perhaps surprisingly steadily paced, even meditative in the way in which we are allowed to sink into this environment with its transportive exotic locations and set pieces and all of the quotidian minutiae too. Elgort's character provides our passport to this and effectively so. In Mann's episode in particular there is an emphasis upon the alienation involved with an often disquietingly close camera; it's a very experiential focus rather than one that is overwhelmingly plot based.

Mann likes characters that are ambitious, who reach for much and accomplish much and who are willing to cut ties that bind along the way. As such this piece is also notable for what isn't there, as in much in the way of background info that could explain what motivates the characters (Elgort's especially) to make the major life changes they have. Mann doesn't bother with it because for him what is significant is what is happening right now and who they are as demonstrated by what they do right now; again, it's a cinema of immediacy and whatever reflection comes from that is not encumbered by obligations to address anything else--for him, I think, what brought them all to where they are now can be recognized in and deduced by exactly what you see now and further elaboration or explication is not necessary.

Mann has also always had an interest in Asia which has evidenced itself throughout his work in ways sometimes obvious and sometimes slight (e.g. Castillo's Thai wife and the overall orientation of his sensibility in Miami Vice). The contrasting parallel with Miami Vice is actually revealing. As the world has gotten smaller Mann has had to cast the net further to capture exactly the kind of transportive exoticism he's searching for; for him that is experientially meaningful, providing access to what cannot otherwise be reached; it is a serious pursuit (as someone here chastises the Elgort character: "This is no place for tourists.").

[Persona]

Had huge whiplash from the stylistic difference between Mann's episode to the next one. It's like they didn't even try to do what Mann was doing.

[flyonthewall2983]

Really digging Outer Range

[therewillbeblus]

WeCrashed suffered a weak dip in its final three episodes that didn’t sustain the interesting balance of satire and empathy cultivated in its onset, but the denouement finds it again by pulling no punches in both eviscerating the central duo for their narcissistic traits and softly admiring them for managing to work the system to come out okay. There’s a perverse neutrality in how the series approaches the act of staying true to what they believe, even if that’s simultaneously a ludicrous offense causing damage to others, because it’s also a piece of the American Dream so many are chasing in some selfish form.

Yes, the irony that such rampantly reinforced individualism is gravitating around a delusion of collectivist principles is worth emphasizing, and it’s one the series sobers us to aggressively on multiple occasions in this final stretch- especially around Hathaway and her WeGrow school. However, it’s never completely negating the authentic place this stems from- even if the consequences are frustrating and disconnected from the core values, and even when no responsibility is taken for the gap between the idea and the result. I think the show is saying that in America, you don’t have to take responsibility, and the Me and Mine attitude of being only responsible for yourself can prevail when it comes to the deals behind the scenes, muting all the rest. The series does a good job at reminding us of our humanity, demanding that we see it as worthy of important attention and the space where most of our dreams come from, with intention to do good.. and then zooms out to show us the Real World that doesn’t and perhaps never really did give a shit.

This also resembles two strong parts of the western opportunist’s cognitive functioning - the needs dependent on engagement (social, emotional, moral, spiritual) and the needs sourced in personal gain (social superiority, ego, power, ambition) and demonstrates how these characters- much like all of us- can oscillate between them when it serves them. It’s just that, with these two central principals, their inanity is more public, pronounced, on a larger scale with sprawling consequences- which makes me wonder if the zoom-in method could have forced us to identify on a behavioral rather than purely emotional level with these egotistical agents of change. I’m not sure the show is as effective as it could have been at getting us to look at ourselves in the mirror, but in a sneaky way it’s making things far more complex and ironic with a strain of sincerity within the satire than I expected, and that was good enough for me.

[Aspect]

Had huge whiplash from the stylistic difference between Mann's episode to the next one. It's like they didn't even try to do what Mann was doing.

Damn, you weren’t kidding. If anyone ever wants to apprehend the effectiveness of Mann’s impressionistic, experientially immersive style, this is the way to do it. The second episode of this show is as generically shot as these things get, serving as a sort of negative proof of Mann’s idiosyncratic, first-person formalism. The dreamlike intensity of Mann’s episode is completely jettisoned, leaving only the vivid, yet already fading, memory of a heightened aesthetic encounter. The generic qualities of episode two removed me completely from the spell Mann had conjured. I will not be continuing.

[RIP Film]

Well Tokyo Vice ended last night, abruptly after 8 episodes— pretty much demanding a second season. In retrospect I can see what others said about the absence of Mann, though I’m not sure he would have had much to do. It isn’t long before the tension insinuated by the pilot relaxes into more of a low simmer, with the ensemble cast establishing uneasy but working relationships between one another. It becomes much more TV in tone; but still I found it to be a compelling drama, mostly from the standpoint of Tokyo itself as this labyrinth of taboos and contingent relationships that doesn’t want to be put under a light. Hopefully Mann has more of a role if a second season comes.

[RIP Film]

Really digging Outer Range

Gave this one a shot. There’s some intrigue to the plot but the thin characterizations got really tiring, especially the rival ranch family who’re straight out of a Saturday morning cartoon.

[Bipper]

Well Tokyo Vice ended last night, abruptly after 8 episodes— pretty much demanding a second season. In retrospect I can see what others said about the absence of Mann, though I’m not sure he would have had much to do. It isn’t long before the tension insinuated by the pilot relaxes into more of a low simmer, with the ensemble cast establishing uneasy but working relationships between one another. It becomes much more TV in tone; but still I found it to be a compelling drama, mostly from the standpoint of Tokyo itself as this labyrinth of taboos and contingent relationships that doesn’t want to be put under a light. Hopefully Mann has more of a role if a second season comes.

As someone who's been to japan a couple times the cinematography has just been incredible and very nostalgic. Really enjoying learning about the Yakuza and stuff, even if some of the story isn't 100% factual.

It's kind of like Narcos IMO. Similar feel where the main character (not sure if technically a protagonist) is sort of a fish out of water. Learning about why the criminals are doing what they do, etc.

The acting on this show is immersive. The director really is setting a great tone with the show runner making everything believable and lived in. The languages flow together so beautifully and is a character all by itself. Such a gem of show that i hope gets more recognition.

All the characters stories are compelling and they all seem to have great chemistry.

The Tokyo Vice book was a phenomenal read as well!

[RIP Film]

Signed up for Disney+ to check out Obi-Wan Kenobi, but am finding it surprisingly dull and rote, and for lack of a better description “TV show like”.

[Roger Ryan]

Signed up for Disney+ to check out Obi-Wan Kenobi, but am finding it surprisingly dull and rote, and for lack of a better description “TV show like”.

It really does appear to be a continuation of Lucas' prequel films, complete with terrible dialogue and lukewarm action sequences. While the "Boba Fett" series was incredibly uneven up until the point where it decided to simply be Season 3 of The Mandalorian, it held a little more promise coming out of the gate than the first episode of Obi-Wan Kenobi (the only one I've watched so far). I'm hoping that Andrew Stanton can deliver some better scripts for the final two episodes if the series doesn't step up a bit before then.

[Persona]

Disney+ original content is truly dire. The only things I've found remotely watchable are Moon Knight and Mysterious Benedict Society.

[beamish14]

Disney+ original content is truly dire. The only things I've found remotely watchable are Moon Knight and Mysterious Benedict Society.

I’m so perplexed by the praise that stuff like The Mandalorian and Wandavision get, but being that I think Star Wars should never have had any further installments after 1983, I’m clearly not their target audience

[Persona]

Irma Vep is falling incredibly flat for me. Can't see myself continuing. Apparently the critics are loving it or something but this has to be one of the most obvious and uninspiring things I have seen from Assayas. I was astounded (in a bad way) that he wrote and directed all of it. It doesn't even feel like a pale imitation.

[flyonthewall2983]

The Old Man on FX is a really solid and emotional thriller

[Walter Kurtz]

Alicia Vikander (a fine actress and a sweetheart in person) could have won an Oscar for either The Danish Girl or Ex Machina in her annus mirabilis of 2015. Unfortunately, for the most part she has been cast only in excremental detritus ever since.

The Irma Vep HBO series is as epochically atrocious compared to the its glorious 1996 instantiation... as was Clapton's woeful lounge lizard version of Layla compared to its glorious guitar-wailing predecessor.

[Fiery Angel]

Alicia Vikander (a fine actress and a sweetheart in person) could have won an Oscar for either The Danish Girl or Ex Machina in her annus mirabilis of 2015.

Vikander did win the Oscar for The Danish Girl.

[domino harvey]

I think their point was that she won for one but it could have gone to either role? I don’t think she was even remotely remarkable in either film, but she was certainly It Girl that year so I’m in the minority

[Walter Kurtz]

... point was that she won for one but it could have gone to either role...

Exactly. And many people preferred her work in Ex Machina. But then again she had the (relatively) 'new face' advantage that year in two visible films.

[domino harvey]

One Redditor has exhaustively remastered, restored original audio to, and subbed an obscure and bizarre 2000 Japanese TV drama called Love Complex here

[Never Cursed]

That looks... amazing? Downloading right now

[Johnny8204]

Winning Time has so far been the best show I've seen this year. Adam McKay did a fantastic job making a fairly silly concept (1979 Lakers season) into something surprisingly compelling and well made.