Seen in October

The Wild Robot

This was a strange October. At times it was so warm that we thought we had woken up in August. Other times, it was cold enough to be December. Pick a lane October. It felt as though we had missed the autumnal glow that comes with warm light and chilly breezes and had walked into a malfunctioning sauna/freezer. Rest assured, there was always something to watch.

Only Murders in the Building S04
Disney+
Our stalwart comedy murder mystery got all "meta" this season. Hollywood has come calling to make a film from the podcaster's life and crime-solving adventures, which is also a way to double down on the cameo quotient. There was some point in this season when we thought some previous red herrings would be put to rest, unfortunately, by the season's end the only thing put to rest was yet another murder victim. While I enjoy this show I'd like to see Martin Short and Steve Martin get a little spicier, with some more of the edge they show in their other work.

Slow Horses S04
Apple TV+
This is one of my favourite shows in a very long time. I've always wanted a spy thriller written by Douglas Adams, but maybe one like a cross between John le Carré and Armando Iannucci (creator of Veep and The Thick of It) is better. I hope that the creator of the series of books this show is based on, Mick Herron, would take this as the compliment it's intended as. Herron has admitted he didn't know much about the spy world of MI5, but he knew office politics and the internal conflicts within any bureaucratic office, so that was his starting point. It continues to be one of life's great joys to see Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb act across from Kristen Scott Thomas as Diana Taverner. This show is so packed with talent that the great Jonathan Pryce appears in a small recurring role. I can't recommend it enough.

The Wild Robot
Motherhood, purpose, and learning by listening are all themes in this gem of an animated film. A service robot of the future washes ashore on a remote island, which lacks the very people the robot is intended to serve. It's a funny and moving film rendered in an incredibly beautiful style. It's amazing that as computer animation advances, filmmakers are finding ways to improve it by returning to traditional tools blended with new ones.

The happy couple making everyone else unhappy.

Nobody Wants This S01
Netflix
I didn't hold much hope for this story about a non-committal single modern woman (Kristen Bell) who podcasts about sex falling for a rabbi (Adam Brody). OK, to be fair, he's a sexy, progressive rabbi, but even a sexy progressive rabbi comes with some exceptional ground rules. I was a little taken aback by how quickly "Sexy Rabbi Guy" goes from breaking up with his betrothed to falling in (bed) with a lovely little shiksa. Yet the show is compelling if not for its talented cast, then for its writing that has found ways to move from rom-com and sit-com tropes to some engaging discussions of faith, or lack thereof. There is an unbelievable scene when Bell's character doesn't know prosciutto was ham (reminding me of Steve Martin's joke, "When I arrived in Hollywood I didn't even know what prosciutto was, and now I drive one!"). Of course, there is plenty of stuff that seems unrealistic but that's why they call it "fiction" and not "faction". Wait, did I just come up with that? I'm sure I heard it somewhere else, but I'll take credit for now.

The Doctor and Ruby Sunday.

Doctor Who 2024 Disney+

This incarnation of Doctor Who (season number… umpteenthifinitum?) has struck some kind of gold with Ncuti Gatwa (pronounced as "Schoo-tee Gat-wah", I think) as The Doctor and Millie Gibson as The Doctor's human companion Ruby Sunday. The pair are excellent together as they travel through time and space in The Doctor's trippy updated spaceship, The Tardis. Doctor Who has always been a bit camp and over the top, and is more full of sci-fi magical nonsense than any show has a right to have, but it also doesn't take itself seriously. An important underlying feeling of this franchise is its exuberance which few other shows can capture. It also has this overall sense of fun and awe that is part of its secret sauce. If you're not up for that kind of Sci-fi that's fine, just please close the door of the Tardis on your way out.

Nate Bargatze: The Tennessee Kid
Netflix
Until a Saturday Night Live sketch about the kind of America George Washington dreamed of, I had never heard of standup comedian, Nate Bargatze (rhymes with Yahtzee). Now I have and yeah, he's funny. Strangely he seems like he might be the kind of Southern comedian who would cuss and roll with the best of those "Blue Collar Comedians" (Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy etc.) but his brand of humour is without cussing or Southern stereotypes.

Colt Seaver doing some stunt guy stuff.

The Fall Guy
Prime Video
It's been argued there is no original IP ("Intellectual Property") any more, and this film is no exception. It is a reboot of the basic story points of the 1980s TV show starring Lee Major as a Hollywood stuntman who finds himself solving crimes. In this film, Ryan Gosling takes the Lee Majors role of Colt Seaver, who is working through some issues with his director, Jody Moreno (Emily Blunt). One of those issues is that the Tom Cruise-like star of Jody's directorial debut, Tom Ryder (Aaron Taylor-Johnson), has gone missing. That's when the film's producer asks Colt to use some of his stuntman capabilities to track down the missing star. That's basically it. It's a well-made film that's a lot of fun and chocked full of great stunts and cameos. The film has a good Rotten Tomatoes score, was well reviewed and liked with a charismatic cast and was expected to save cinemas. Unfortunately, it didn't save cinema and didn't make enough money so don't worry, this film won't become another unoriginal IP film franchise, but it will remain an original take on some old IP. Maybe Hollywood should care less about intellectual "property" and more about stories.

Homer gets a driving lesson from Candy.

The Cider House Rules
Netflix
This film from 1999 is the adaptation of John Irving's novel of the same name and to be honest I'd forgotten much of the story. I remember it as a love triangle between Homer Wells (Tobey Maguire), Candy (Charlize Theron) and her fiancé Wally (a strikingly youthful Paul Rudd), set against a backdrop of an orphanage run by Dr. Wilbur Larch (Michael Caine). Really, the film is about Dr. Larch as an advocate for abortion and protecting women's health. Taken in today's context of diminishing protection of women's access to health, this film is an angry rebuke to those who would impose their morality over someone else's body.