Thirteenth Annual FMS Scarelicious October Movie Series: #10 Werewolf By Night

While Marvel's Werewolf By Night (on Disney+) is not technically a movie, it is a thematically-relevant special so I'm including it here.  At only 53 minutes long, and being a one-off, I guess you could call it a short film.  I'm calling it so much fun.

Quick plot synopsis: Famed monster hunter Ulysses Bloodstone has died and his widow assembles some prolific but lesser hunters to compete for his magic relic, a bloodstone that imbues its holder with strength, protection and power.  There are four tough-looking characters (whose names I didn't catch), plus Jack (played by Gael Garcia Bernal), a quiet Mexican, and Elsa, Bloodstone's estranged daughter.  It's obvious that Jack and Elsa will eventually and reluctantly team up, but that doesn't diminish any of the charm.

From the opening moments, I was in love with Werewolf By Night: almost entirely in black and white (like a 1930s monster movie), slightly campy and yet still creepy, with wonderful retro music.  And the titular werewolf is all practical effects - a person in a wolf suit - which is just how I like my werewolves.  The climactic fight is just awesome: bloody, vicious and violent, definitely more along the lines of Jessica Jones/Daredevil than the Avengers and their ilk.  Plus there's a frickin' flaming tuba!  What more could you possibly want, except more of it?

Watchlist, late spring edition

 Since the end of March (that's really not that long and I haven't accomplished all that much, tbh):

• Russian Doll S2 - Not as mind-blowing as the first season, which was so unexpected and original, but still vastly superior to most of what's out there.  Adore Natasha Lyonne.

• Moon Knight - Liked it, wanted to love it but didn't.  Kind of dark and gloomy.  Oscar Isaac's English accent was distracting and I wanted much more of Layla, Egyptian Superhero.

• Eternals - Meh.  Felt like a missed opportunity.  Cast too big to get to know, CGI distracting.

• Happy Endings - Finished it.  Seems like it went out with a whimper, rather than a bang.

• Sweet Tooth - Really quite liked this one, having gone into it with no expectations or knowledge of the source material.  Hope it gets a second season because the ending just seemed abrupt.

Currently: almost done with The Mandalorian and am into S3 of Sex Education.  Looking forward very much to S3 of Umbrella Academy (I just rewatched S2 in anticipation) and She Hulk, Attorney at Law.

Watchlist, spring edition

 And this is what I've done since December 5, 2021:

• Finished S1 of Wheel of Time.  I think it finished stronger than it started - I actually wanted more when I wrapped up the last episode - but I very much take issue with what they're doing with Mat Cauthon's character.  I've been sporadically rereading the book series (midway through Book Four) and Mat is not evil and not a coward.  He's a charming troublemaker, and a reluctant hero, who does the right thing in spite of himself, with a big part to play.  This is not what the series is doing and I'm not happy about it.  I'll be waiting for S2 to see if they course-correct.
• I stalled out on Cowboy Bebop and am halfway through S6 of The Expanse.  I am just not interested in the Philip storyline and it's taking up too much time away from the core characters so I am having difficulty rallying to the finish.
• I watched Hellbound and while I very much enjoyed it while I was watching it, I can barely remember it now.  Pretty gnarly violence (CGI blood and burning).
• If you're a fan of stop-motion animation (I am), The House is fun.  Three tangentially connected stories, the first is very creepy and the next two are more charming and clever than eerie.  
• Loved Only Murders in the Building (Hulu).  Selena Gomez holds her own against legends Steve Martin and Martin Short.  Mr. Mouse actually wants to watch it so I'll watch it again with him.
• Got through WandaVision and Loki; started but fizzled out on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.  WandaVision was fantastic and heart-breaking - kudos to Elizabeth Olsen.  I enjoyed Loki too but wanted much much more time with all the multiverse Lokis.  AlligatorLoki!
• Speaking of watching things with Mr. Mouse: we powered through all eleven (?) seasons of the live action Trailer Park Boys.  The first half of the series is very, very funny (being from Maine, we could recognize a lot of the Nova Scotia stereotypes and tropes); the last few seasons were a little too shouty but we needed to complete it.  Will not be continuing with the movie or the animated series.
• We also completed Money Heist.  The first heist was terrific.  The second heist had diminishing returns but we were vested in the characters at that point.
• I don't know where I stand on The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window.  I adore Kristen Bell and I liked the show ... but the tone was odd, swinging from tongue-in-cheek to playing it straight.  I would have been happy if it was all satire (I mean, the title alone) but also it was an actual thriller.  Just pick a side.
• I did a rewatch of the original 2001 Wet Hot American Summer movie (last day of camp) and also the revival series for the first day of camp.  Absolutely brilliant, so fun to see how young that massive cast was for the movie, before they all got famous.  Paul Rudd.
• Is It Cake?  Yes, I binged it.  Doesn't hold a candle to the Great British Baking Show/Bake-Off but isn't really trying to.  It is a silly, silly show and yet I got sucked in because all the contestants were supportive of each other and the host seemed to be enjoying himself and them.

Next up: finish The Expanse, plus Archive 81 and Wentworth, Moon Knight and The Mandalorian.  I've also been sucked into Happy Endings, which found a rerun home on Netflix.  That is an underrated sitcom that got better as it went along - laugh out loud funny.

Where the hell have I been?

Apparently I needed to take a l o n g break after October!  I haven't been paying much attention to what I've been consuming, mostly needing to turn my brain off and just veg in front of a screen of late.  I've watched a bunch of stuff, including:

• Batwoman which I rather like, just like I like the other Arrowverse shows (Legends of Tomorrow is my favorite, I think).  Like the others, Batwoman will have some growing pains but even the first season is improving as it goes.
• Crisis on Infinite Earths - since I was doing Batwoman, I figured I'd watch the Crisis episodes too, even though I haven't kept up with any of those shows besides Legends.  I'm a little in the dark as to Arrow - adult daughter from the future? - but I think I've figured everything else out.
• At the repeated urging of a high school friend, I've started Lucifer.  My friend says it has supplanted Buffy as his favorite show (!!!) so I'm giving it a go.  Tom Ellis is certainly charming, and I think it's getting better as it goes along, but I'm not 100% sold yet.
• I'm catching up on Legion episodes on Hulu too.  I never half know what's going on at any given time but it sure is pretty to look at.
• With this Hulu subscription, I've watched the first two Castle Rock seasons.  These are mixed, with some parts being very strong and others just ... meh.  I think S2 was better than S1, in large part because Lizzy Caplan (as Annie Wilkes pre-Misery) is SO AWESOME.  I also appreciate the fact that no one really tries to do a Maine accent (Tim Robbins skirts along the edge but never commits, thankfully) because I just don't think anyone who isn't a Mainer can do it.
• I've just started The Witcher, knowing nothing about the books or the games going in.  Reviews say that this show definitely gets better as it goes along, which is good because E1 was borderline incomprehensible.  I'm not sure I'm ever going to accept that godawful wig Henry Cavill wears, though.
• Finally, I watched The Shape of Water.  I'm a huge Guillermo del Toro fan but ... this movie won an Oscar for Best Picture?  Really?  Where was the plot (aside from being Beauty and the Beast)?  Pan's Labyrinth is a way, way, way better movie on all fronts.

Bits and pieces

Progress report: the Discworld series has stalled - but I haven't given up yet - but I finished the available episodes of Legends of Tomorrow, got sucked into Pretty Little Liars somehow (??!?), watched two episodes of Good Omens (I know it's an unpopular opinion but: I don't love it, although I do love the book), and have one episode to go on S3 of Stranger Things.  The Mindflayer monster is SO GROSS - I love it.  Very The Thing and The Fly.

I've also watched, and loved, Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.  I watch all the Marvel superhero movies but I don't read comics, so my knowledge of Spider-Man lore is broad strokes at best.  But that didn't matter.  Into the Spiderverse is a fantastic superhero movie and a damn fine movie even without the genre tag.  It is funny, heart-breaking and never lets up for a moment.  The voice cast is phenomenal - Mahershala Ali! Hailey Steinfeld! Chris Pine! Kathryn Hahn! Lauren Velez! Lily Tomlin! Nic Cage! Liev Schreiber! and the perfectly-cast Jake Johnson! - and the movie simply gorgeous.  You've never seen visuals like that in a superhero movie.  I plan on watching it again soon because I'm sure I missed a bunch, just sitting there agog.

We interrupt your regularly scheduled posting

With my apologies, this week's The Walking Dead recap will be late because I spent my Sunday and Monday nights bingeing my way through the back half of Netflix's Marvel's The Punisher and I just haven't watched Sunday's TWD episode yet.  I have to say that I really enjoyed The Punisher, more than I expected to.  I've never read the comics and so my only exposure to the character was through Daredevil S2.  Frankly (haha see what I did there?), I thought Frank Castle was the best part of Daredevil's second season.  I never liked Jon Bernthal in The Walking Dead but now I realize that it was his character - Shane, ugh - whom I hated because Bernthal is FANTASTIC as Frank Castle.  He can be charming as hell and then turns on a dime to be brutal/sad/scary; he has fantastic chemistry with pretty much anyone he is paired with, especially with Deborah Ann Woll/Karen.  The Punisher is truly brutal but it is also very thoughtful and if I wished it had been even more introspective/exploratory in some of its themes, it is still not the Rambo-esque bulletfest I feared it would be.

Netflix/Marvel series, in order of preference:  Jessica Jones; The Punisher; Daredevil S1; The Defenders/Luke Cage* (tie); The Defenders; Daredevil S2 (as a whole because too many damn ninjas); stupid/insipid Iron Fist.

*  I'm torn on where to put The Defenders: parts of it I LOVED (anything with Jessica and/or Luke; and anything with someone giving Danny Rand shit) but then you had to have Danny Rand and Matt in his mope-y iteration which was less enjoyable.  On it's own, I liked Luke Cage quite a lot but they killed Cottonmouth too soon OOPS SPOILER and I may have dozed off during some of the later episodes.  In any event, Claire Temple should be in all the shows more.