What I Watched in January

Best Things I Watched

Three very good movies to start off the year when I’m usually fairly meh on most movies
The Death of Dick Long (A24)
100% go into this comedic Southern crime mystery blind.
This has been on my “I need to see it” list for awhile and finally got around to it, it didn’t blow my mind as much as I’d hoped but still really enjoyed it in the end (a movie I like more than I’d rate it perhaps). This is what indie filmmaking should be all about; so delightfully weird and off-kilter with a hilarious deadpan performance by Andre Hyland (I was in stitches with his every line of dialogue and reaction, put to good use (all too briefly) in a fourth season episode of Search Party) that should’ve opened the door for him getting a million roles.
The Climb (Sony Pictures Classic)
Haven’t laughed this hard and consistently since probably Get Duked! 100% lived up to the glowing reviews (82/7.8 on metacritic critics/audience, 89/80 on rottentomatoes critics/audience). Again, this is what indie movies should be about. A burst of freshness with deceptively simple scenes that simultaneously showcase some audacious technical wizardry that never distracts but adds to the scene. Looking forward to the next one from writer/producer/director/stars Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin. Also another good performance from Gayle Rankin who’s quietly turning in a strong string of performances in indies and is a strong challenger to fellow GLOW stars Alison Brie and Betty Gilpin for having the best (if not the most high-profile) film career, who woulda thought that from Sheila the She-Wolf.
Les Misérables (Amazon Studios)
Like a really strong episode of a good cop show (particularly Southland), that may seem like a pejorative but it’s meant as anything but. Kinetic where it needs to be and calm when it needs to be. Glad to see a damn entertaining movie be nominated for a Best Foreign Language Oscar (and would’ve/should’ve been a strong contender to take the prize if it didn’t get caught in Parasite‘s domination)

The Investigation (TV2 | Denmark)
Danish Crime Story: Submarine
If you watched the scene in Chernobyl‘s fifth episode where Jared Harris’s character explains nuclear reactions and thought, “yes, more of that even-keeled, low-key explanation from a cool-headed, meticulous character please” then this Danish slow-boil, nose-to-the-grindstone dramatization of a true crime investigation is for you.
There’s an episode whose plot is largely around “cadaver dogs” (dogs that sniff for scents released by a decaying body that travels from the seabed to the surface) and East European river current directions, which sounds like it should be boring and yet the show is able to make the low-key mundane watchable.

The Day (Dutch: De Dag) (Telenet)
As with most hostage dramas, it gets a bit more convoluted and conspiratorial everyone-is-involved-many-people-are-not-who-they-first-appear-to-be by the end but not in a way that loses its watchability; sure, there are eye-rolling, contrived moments but absolutely not fatal flaws.
An engaging watch and works as a thriller with some white-knuckle scenes. Synth score is lightly used to great, propulsive effect.
A very enjoyable 6.78/10

Pls Like (BBC Three)
Wonderfully mimics/mocks vlogger/influencer culture packaged in 15-minute episodes

One & Done

Dickinson (Apple+): I didn’t bother with any Apple+ programming when they came out last year as most of them had a lukewarm response, but Dickinson had the best of the lukewarm responses and strong notices for John Mulaney’s guest turn so when season 2 came around with even better reviews I decided to give it a try.
No thanks, it’s very much not my thing.

It’s a Sin (Channel 4): Russell T. Davies is kinda hit-and-miss for me, when he hits he hits (Years & Years; Doctor Who; A Very English Scandal) and his misses aren’t so much misses as ‘not for me, thanks very much.’ File this under the ‘not for me’ category.

Cobra Kai (Netflix): Similar to Dickinson, no interest whatsoever in this despite generally strong notices and an appreciable audience, decided to give the season 3 premiere a whirl and yikes, 100% not for me and baffling how much it’s liked.

Lupin (Netflix): This French-language Netflix original managed to climb into the Top 10 in the U.S., staying there for several days (and topping the Netflix charts in France for half of January), and garnering very strong reviews (some calling it the first great show of 2021); it’s fine but I felt no need to watch another episode after finishing the first nor adding it to my “check back on it later when I have time” list

Painting with John (HBO): HBO Fridays has been the home to wonderfully out-there half hours such as hysterical and quirky (for once I don’t mean it pejoratively) Los Espookys (hmmm, not a bad companion show for Search Party fans looking for something to watch), pleasant surprise How to…with John Wilson, the chillaxed vibes of female skater show Betty and others like Room 104 and High Maintenance so I had high hopes for the warmly-received Painting with John, it’s fine.

Resident Alien (Syfy): Generally likeable and Alan Tudyk is absolutely solid in this but the show itself isn’t enough for me to invest six hours into (the part where he’s dancing and everyone’s cheering him on at a bar to extremely dated pop music was cringe-inducing to the nth degree

and Others

30 Coins (HBO Europe): I started this one at the tail end of last year as it was airing in Europe prior to premiering in America, and, while I never loved it (I watched one or two of the first episodes at double speed), it was a ‘good enough to toss on and mindlessly’ watch sort of deal. There were legitimate scares in the first couple of episodes but became less horror and more mystery and, especially in the latter part of its run, adventure. While I gave up Lovecraft Nation halfway through (great first episode, pacing and tone shifts a mess afterwards). Megan Montaner is eminently watchable as the spunky Elena and Macarena Gómez is also fun as ‘the wife’ character trying to get her husband to stop chasing ghost stories. Unfortunately it just went batshit insane (in a bad way) in the last 2 episodes and the whole thing just fell in on itself. I really really enjoyed the main title credits though, my favorite of 2020 alongside The New Pope‘s Nunnery-cum-Crucifix-Rave. Absolutely deserves an Emmy mention for it.

Staged (BBC): While there were 2 expertly used celeb cameos in the first season, the second is chock-full of them almost at the risk of capsizing the season. None of them are bad per se but some shone brighter than others (and interestingly, a minor celebrity (Ben Schwartz) playing an actual character was the brightest cast addition or cameo appearance).
While season 1 didn’t end up being my fear of two actors being actorly at each other with the amount of amusement one got from it directly proportional to how much one was already a fan of the actors, the second season relies a bit more on liking the actors than funny writing (though there’s still plenty of funny lines, just a bit more padded out, the eighth episode in particular felt very self-indulgent). One positive improvement is more scenes with the wives, more importantly with the wives talking to each other taking the piss out of their husbands. Georgia Tennant showed she could deliver a throwaway line about not knowing where her kids were with utmost hilarity at how indifferent she was to her children’s well-being so giving her more lines is generally a good thing.

WandaVision (Disney+): Very indifferent to the superhero genre (worsened by my tendency of liking the ones everyone else dislikes and disliking the ones most people like) but I was intrigued by the first big Disney+ MCU series. Hardcore fans were into it from the beginning while casual fans disliked the oldie sitcom format largely played straight for the first episodes. I liked it weird and once it became more of a conventional MCU show I felt the “real world” scenes were a reminder of why I’m so blah on general superhero stuff. For the foreseeable future, the first seasons of Netflix’s Jessica Jones and FX’s Legion set an insurmountable high bar for superhero shows.

Kieler Street (Norwegian: Kielergata) (TV2 Norge): Intriguing Norwegian show that’s not exactly Nordic/Scandinavian Noir (perhaps Nordic/Scandinavian Noir-adjacent) but certainly has its mystery, murder, and “lots of folk in a small town with mysterious backgrounds” elements down. Generally likeable but has its ups and downs (too much focus on insufferable dramatic high school teenage girl character), dragging particularly in its middle batch of episodes.

Search Party (HBO Max): Not as consistently good as season 3 but still enjoyable

American Gods (Starz): I’d thought season 3 was the last season and all the build up would actually lead to something this season, unfortunately not and it’s just plodding along. I enjoyed season 2 despite the behind-the-scenes changes but watching season 3 as background noise will likely be the end of the road for me in watching American Gods (unless, ugh, they renew for a fourth and final season in which case the completist in me will probably force myself through it)