Greetings from Newcastle
Although I’ve slipped into a fairisle jumper (I hesitate to call it a Christmas jumper), I’m holding off on the Christmas movies until as close to December as possible. At least until after my annual viewing of Trains, Planes and Automobiles on Thanksgiving (it enables me to participate in that purely US tradition in a small way). But after that, it’ll be a Christmas movie extravaganza! For the moment, though, my reading fits the season, and my viewing has skewed mainly towards very bloody comic book adaptations.
Welcome to the Sunday Shuffle.
All platforms mentioned below are the UK version, unless indicated otherwise. Amazon links may be affiliate links and Amazon may (at no extra cost to you) give me a small commission from any qualifying purchases made, which will helpfully contribute toward my writerly running costs.
🎬 Deadpool & Wolverine - Disney+. I missed this one at the cinema, and bloody Facebook posts spoiled basically every cameo appearance in this fucking movie. I’ve spent months unliking things I used to follow when I ran the comic book shop, trying to stop FB feeding me comic book and comic movie-related posts. I think maybe it’s starting to diminish. Anyway, this didn’t change the world for me. It’s a good laugh, gory as hell, and yeah, those cameos. A good send-off for the old Fox X-Men movies before everything gets sucked up under the main Marvel Cinematic Universe banner.
📺 Daryl Dixon: Season 2 - Now TV. I didn’t love this season as much as I enjoyed the first one, but it was still decent. I love the variant zombies we’re getting in this one, and can’t help wishing the original show had done a bit more of that - they only seemed to do it towards the end. Anyway, still good overall, and the show, if not quite this season, is probably my favourite of the new Walking Dead spin-offs.
📺 The Penguin - Now TV. When they announced this one, I thought, “Here we go again, another DC, Batman-adjacent project where we see everything but Batman.” And it was. But it worked really well. To a point. In it’s own right, I thought the show was excellent. Great cast - and particularly, Colin Farrell is brilliant as Oswald Cobb, Cristin Milioti does a phenomenal job as Sofia Falcone, as does Rhenzy Feliz as Victor Aguilar. You could easily forget these characters exist within the world of Batman - more specifically, the world of the movie The Batman. But, yeah, it seems like when gangs are annihilating each other (and all the innocent folk who get caught in the crossfire), Batman doesn’t give all that much of a fuck about it… Highly recommended, though. Think The Sopranos in Gotham City and you’re not far off.
📺 The Boys: Season 4 - Prime TV. This season meanders about, groping at various subplots, some stronger than others. It’s the usual edge-lord, over-the-top splatter and toilet humour, but my God, I laughed out loud a bunch of times. There was some iffy stuff in here too, involving Hughie unwittingly ending up in S&M dungeon, that I’ve seen some reviewers take extremely seriously. I tend not to think of it as seriously as others have, but it was an uncomfortable watch - like it was on the cusp of some extraordinarily dark material, even for The Boys. The whole US political scene being parodied endlessly in these latest seasons is getting a bit stale, though. I’m glad they’re ending it at season 5, but they really stuck the landing as they brought this season to a close. Amazon US|UK.
🥊 Mike Tyson Vs Jake Paul - Netflix. (SPOILER ALERT) Yeah, I had to spark Netflix back up for a month so I could watch the fight. I checked out the 3-part hype series to get into the zone and I was pretty pumped. But the event itself? Well… the second and third televised fights on the undercard were very good. And the main event? Unfortunately, I think I was sucked in by seeing Tyson in great physical shape over these months, in quick-cut montages that made it look as though he could actually do this. And as a middle-aged bloke, there was some part of me that wanted to see Iron Mike wipe the floor with the cocky upstart… but almost immediately it was clear Mike had no business in the ring with a guy less than half his age. Whether Jake Paul was concerned he might get hurt if he stayed too close and unleashed barrages on Tyson, or if this was a respect thing and he didn’t want to humiliate an idol (despite all the pre-fight talk), there was a feeling Paul could have done more damage. Some people say it was scripted. Whether or not it was, I’m glad we didn’t see an old man being absolutely hammered. Tyson needs to hang those mitts up once and for all, and enjoy his retirement, I’m afraid to say. I’m pleased I didn’t stay up to watch it live - but it was worth it for two of the four televised fights. The main event just made me feel a bit sad! Did you see it? Sound off in comments and replies!
📺 Celebrity Masterchef - BBC iPlayer. My sons, particularly the youngest, really enjoyed this year’s contest. I’m not usually a fan of reality TV, but I don’t mind this show, because it involves actual skills. There were surprisingly few dickheads on it. I wish I could say there were none. But it’s great to see people becoming really excellent at something and making beautiful food - especially when it isn’t necessarily their strongest suit to begin with. This is the sort of celebrity thing I don’t mind my kids being influenced by. Little man likes Masterchef anyway, so he’s not bothered whether it has celebs in or not. No doubt we’ll be watching Masterchef: The Professionals next, so he can see regular cooks and chefs plying their trade.
📺 Currently Watching: The Day of the Jackal - Now TV. Just phenomenal so far.
📺 Currently Watching: Cobra Kai - Netflix. The final episodes have dropped - I have to see how this ends. It’s such a fun show when you just need to power your brain down a bit.
📘 Currently Reading: The Haunting Season - At time of writing, I’m four stories into this collection and it’s perfect for this time of year. Very atmospheric and the book is just a nice-looking artefact, too. To join me in reading this one, grab a copy from Amazon US|UK.
If you have recommendations or comments, and you’re reading this in your inbox, you can reply just like any other email, and if you’re reading this via the Substack app or on my website through a browser, remember to hit like and drop a comment - and feel free to forward this and share with friends you think might like it.
Best wishes and bad dreams,
Jack