Review- Cobra Kai Season Four

 Sensei and sensibility

Some series reach their fourth season and struggle to reclaim the magic that made them a success in the first place. Not Cobra Kai. This oddball series which once seemed an unlikely excursion is now firing on all cylinders. The fourth season, which debuted at the end of last year, is the best yet. Packed with incident it manages to overcome the potential hurdle of characters constantly shifting allegiances each season by stealth every bit as impressive as the fighting scenes. Mixing old and new characters there is more than enough for both long term fans who recall the films and viewers who have just become hooked by the series. That shorter episode ten part season approach pays off every year meaning there is no slack whatsoever. 

Review - Titans Season Three Eps 9 - 13

 

Titans has never looked more gothic than it does in `Souls` which could be a pilot for a spin off series. We left poor Tim Drake last episode after he’d been shot by Crane and this episode opens with him on an old fashioned steam train being bothered by an especially aggressive conductor. Also on this train is Donna Troy who of course died at the end of last season. Before long Hank turns up with a car as the other two escape the train and head into a snowy forest. We’re in a monochrome afterlife which makes a nice change to the usual grim Gotham streets. It’s best not to examine too closely just how any of this can happen- especially when they discover they can dream up weapons to fight off shadowy ghouls- and go with it. As well as being visually interesting this episode also contains some great character beats and given the subject matter some humour as well. Just listen to the song playing when Hank draws up- `Living on a Prayer`! This is intermingled with Rachel who is trying to bring Donna back to life on Paradise Island and it’s great to see so many characters back again.

Top of the Pops 10 Sep 1987

 

Reviewed by Chris Arnsby. Simon Bates: “Thursday night. Welcome to Top of the Pops. We're working our way to Number One just before seven thirty. Here's Peter Powell.”

Peter Powell: “Thank you Simon! And celebrating a massive hit in the States and now in the UK! Heart and Soul! Here's T'Pau!”

 [5] T'PAU: heart and soul. Last time, in the comments, Billy Smart pointed out that [“flame-haired songstress”, © All journalists ever] Carol Decker had problems deciding whether to mime along to the main vocal track or the chanted backing track, and she jumped between the two. It's true. She does have problems choosing a lane and tends to switch depending on which is most prominent. Watching and trying to guess when she'll change becomes mildly hypnotic and maybe there should be some kind of This Way Up drinking game which involves taking a slug every time [“flame-haired temptress”] Carol switches. Now, here's your chance to earn 50,000 pop points by naming another member of T'Pau without using Google. Too late.

T'Pau have, “been in the States, at the moment, for the last ten weeks,” according to Simon Bates. So who did I see two weeks ago on Top of the Pops, Simes?

 

"Flame haired songstress"

Review - Titans Season Three Eps 5 to 8

 Context is everything of course and albeit a tad late here we find out exactly what’s been going on with Jason in the excellent `Lazarus`. Arguably this would have made a great second episode even if it took way the shock of him seeming to die which was taken away in the actual second episode in any case. Essentially a four handed episode without any of the other Titans and an excellent script from Bryan Edward Hill unfurls a story of a boy trying to impress his mentor who in turns is doing his best to stop the kid getting into any more trouble. It reverses the arguments of episode one which painted Bruce as uncaring- as Dick saw him and accused him of- to reveal exactly the opposite. Stung by how his time as Robin damaged Dick, he is determined not to repeat the mistakes with Jason. The latter though, still traumatised by what happened to him in season two, thinks Bruce is trying to protect him because he’s weak and wants to show otherwise hence his attempt to confront the Joker. It’s a potent brew that bubbles constantly and includes some of the best scenes the series has so hitherto played.

(Retro) Review round up: Avatar (2009), Best of Bowie (2002), The Warlord (1998)

 

Somehow, I had not seen Avatar in the thirteen years since its release neither do I really know that much about it which is curious for such a popular movie. So just before the sequel is released Avatar is back in cinemas and so I finally got to see it this week. While the digital effects look more commonplace now than they would have done in 2009 this only serves to enhance the urgency of the story. An allegory for colonialism in the past and imperialism today as well as ecological issues the subject matter is unfortunately just as relevant if not more so in 2022 even though it is set two centuries from now. There is a righteous anger that permeates the movie especially after we spend an extended period exploring the world of Pandora. It’s a beautiful planet full of jaw droppingly exotic creatures yet also the source of a much sought-after mineral. Tasked with getting to know the native Na’vi in order to persuade them to move, paralysed marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) becomes an `avatar` inhabiting a full size genetically produced Na’vi which he controls while asleep in a tank. However, he is working to double agendas. While ostensibly helping a team led by Doctor Grace Augustine (Sigourney Weaver) to further the scientific knowledge of the planet, he’s also tasked with deadlines by the hawkish General Quaritch (Stephen Lang). Inevitably these priorities clash when Sully falls in love with the planet and with the Na’vi girl Netyri (Zoe Saldana) who shows him it’s wonders.

Top of the Pops 27 Aug and 3 Sept 1987

Reviewed by Chris Arnsby. 
27/08/87
Gary Davies: “Hi, good evening. I hope you're well. We have a superb show for you tonight. In the studio we've got Wet Wet Wet, we've got Black, we've got T'Pau, we've got Rick Astley but first we start with a mega-band at number twenty three, Then Jerico, The Motive.

 [23] THEN JERICO: the motive. A mega-band? I vaguely remember them. The song is pleasant enough but I spend most of the performance worrying why the guitar player has a jumper wrapped round his shoulders when he's already wearing a jumper? Also, shouldn't it be spelt “Jericho”? BBC camera operators can be spotted in action as the first chorus kicks in. There's a wide camera shot of the stage which slowly pans round from stage left to the front. At the extreme left of the picture there's a hand held camera operator in a blue shirt who dashes along the front of the stage to change position. His camera cable nearly gets snagged on the head of another operator who is there capturing profile shots of lead singer Mark Shaw.

“Their first appearance on Top of the Pops,” says Gary Davies, “but be sure it's not going to be their last.” He's right. Then Jeric(h)o will pop back eighteen months in the future to perform Big Arena on an edition hosted by Gary Davies and... Anthea Turner? Oh no. Stop the world I want to get off.

 

Film Review- Moonage Daydream

 

Great clips- shame about the presentation

The only likely way anyone could satisfactorily encompass the length and breadth of David Bowie’s career is a ten- part documentary series. Moonage Daydream is a two and a quarter hour long montage of some of his best bits albeit with notable omissions. The clips are great and like many a modern documentary you wish we could just watch them in the best quality possible but as ever we have a director with some ideas of his own. Brett Morgen appears to have been inspired by Bowie’s own preference for cut up imagery, mixing and matching material to create something new. It worked so well for the singer, less so when it comes to a film about him. The results are a bit of a cheat- yes you get to see some rare footage but you also have to sit through increasingly irritating visual gimmickry that makes even the `Little Wonder` video seems normal. I suppose you could say that it is an achievement to make Bowie seem less interesting than he was!

 

Review - Titans Season Three Eps 1 - 4

 First shown a year ago, season three finds the series re-locating to Gotham

One of the more fascinating aspects of US episodic shows is their ability to morph into something different. Ostensibly a series about some super heroes ought to be repetitive and focussed mostly  on action but the season three opener Barbara Gordon, shoehorns most of its fight scenes into the opening section.  Now back in Gotham and Robin once again, Jason remains as hot headed as ever plus he appears to have cooked up some sort of mega inhaler of yellow stuff. Yet for all his bravado in defying Batman to confront the Joker, he falls woefully short. Flinching from the first body he finds and some manic laughter he’s easily taken down and, it seems, killed by the villain whom we only see in silhouette. This contrast vividly with the very cool re-introduction of the Titans as they take out another villainous brigade with supple skills all to the soundtrack of `Ca Plane Pour Moi`. It’s a great sequence, perfectly directed and edited. As a season opener you couldn’t ask for more.