The World We Deserve - 305 – If You Have Ghosts

Another excellent episode of HBO’s True Detective! We finally get to meet Old Man West in “If You Have Ghosts”, and the wait was worth it. Both funny and poignant, it appears that 22 years of bad blood and as yet unknown extra-judicial shenanigans have left a rift in their relationship. But Wayne’s memory gaps ironically serve to bridge the two men back together. At five episodes in, we’re still not really sure where the mystery is going, but the chemistry between Wayne, Amelia, and Rolland is so good that the case of the missing Purcell children is almost a distraction from “the good stuff”. That’s a pretty high compliment to pay a Detective show. We discuss all this plus lots of your great feedback. See you next week!

Bald Move Prestige - Velvet Buzzsaw (2019)

Jim and A.Ron checked out the latest Netflix original film, “Velvet Buzzsaw”. Directed by Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler) and starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Rene Russo. It functions well enough as a horror story, a farcical look at art criticism, as well as an introspective look at the creative process and the related critical process. We have quibbles here and there, but the film looks great, has some inventive/gruesome deaths, and the main cast has a lot of fun being terrible people.

Bald Move Pulp - Kingdom, Black Earth Rising

Jim and A.Ron give their thoughts and opinions on the entire first season of Netflix’s Korean medieval zombie series, Kingdom, as well as the first two episodes of Black Earth Rising. Kingdom is much needed breath of fresh air in the mouldy zombie genre, with lush locations and sets, impressive costuming, excellent plotting and performances, and genuinely creepy and terrifying monsters. The boys both were very into the premise and promise of Black Earth Rising, but are worried two episodes in from the series penchant in getting distracted with Jason Bourne types of intrigue and assassinations as well as the complex and confusing personal lives of the main characters. Whether the excellent performances and important questions the show has to offer can overcome the clunky writing and execution remains to be seen. 

The World We Deserve - 304 – The Hour and the Day

Jim and A.Ron break down all the decade spanning clues of HBO’s True Detective’s latest episode, “The Hour and the Day”. Who done it? The priest? The one eyed man? The cousin? The pumpkin lady? We sift through the evidence and theories and opine about the excellent character work this episode, as we get ready for what promises to be some hellacious action going down at the Woodward residence!

Bald Move Pulp - Polar (2019)

Jim and I have seen the new Netflix original movie, “Polar”. Based on a graphic novel of the same name, “Polar” is an ultraviolent revenge flick combining elements from “John Wick”, “Crank”, and “Sin City” with an engaging and energetic performance from Mads Mikkelsen as anaaginh hitman. Unfortunately, it’s also a tonal mess, careening from slap stick humor to gory horror and back again, never sure of when to take itself seriously and commit to a point of view.

Bald Move Pulp - The Punisher Season 2 Wrapup

Jim and I haven’t finished The Punisher season 2 yet, but we’ve seen enough to tap out. As we discuss in our spoiler filled review, The Punisher has the chief sin of these Marvel/Netflix collaborations; a bloated 13 episode runtime, and adds to it ludicrous character details and plot-points until this grimdark ultra-violent fantasy pushes through the drama boundary and hits unintentional comedy. 8 episodes in, we still don’t know why we should care about Amy, or what makes the Pilgrim tick, or why Frank let Russo off the hook when he should be worm food except, oh right, this is a 13 episode season instead of a more reasonable 8-10 episode season and if things made sense and had dramatic urgency they’d be five hours of content short. 

Bald Move Pulp - Aquaman (2018)

Jim and I missed Aquaman when it first washed up on our shores late last year, but we were lured in by general positive reviews and the massive audience and bank it’s pulling in. What did we think? Unfortunately, while it is clearly the second best DCU film after Wonderwoman, in our opinion it’s not nearly that good, and is still trying to play catch up to their more marvelous competition. Like a lot of these DC properties, it feels equally rushed and bloated, as if they stuffed three Aquaman movies into one. Any one act of this movie would have made an excellent installment of a kickass Aquaman trilogy, given a chance to breathe and establish their characters our connection to them. 

Bald Move Pulp - Fyre (Netflix) and Fyre Fraud (Hulu)

Netflix and Hulu had dueling documentaries on doomed Fyre music festival, Fyre, and Fyre Fraud respectively. With slightly different focuses, the documentaries broadly outline how founder Billy McFarland built several ponzi schemes on the idea of selling a fictionalized “baller” lifestyle to young, naive, rich people and took them for a ride. Built on the back of a few dozen paid influencers and a long list of impossible promises, Fyre was supposed to be the event of the decade. Instead, it barely avoiding being a genuine humanitarian disaster. We discuss influencing, the morality of excess, and engage in the kind of barely contained glee at seeing narcissists fall from grace that you’d expect in this discussion of all things Fyre.

The World We Deserve - 303 – The Big Never

HBO’s True Detective continues to build their triple layer mystery over three decades in “The Big Never”. A lot of new clues come to light; the children being secretive in the woods; handwritten notes and maps; a photo of Will taking communion that looks suspiciously like the way his body was staged in death. Meanwhile detective West recruits Hayes to help with the re-opened case in the 90’s, and in 2015 Hayes has to face gaps and inconsistencies with the official investigation while being confronted by the ghosts of his past. All this plus a rollicking discussion of feedback and the latest theories harvested from the psycho-sphere!