My viewing has been very nostalgic of late. Maybe it is my ongoing frustration with the sorts of movies being released into cinemas these days (big expensive spectacle or smaller budgeted indies - but what I love is those star-driven mid-tier films... the relationship dramas, the comedies, the courtroom dramas, etc), or a weird side-effect of having a toddler in the house prompting a reminder of experiences of youth, but a lot of my viewing has been of the films I watched as a child and into my teens.

One of the films I have been keen to revisit is Splash, a film I haven't seen since the mid 90s. The film is sitting right there on Disney+ to watch, but Disney stripped the film of its appeal by covering Daryl Hannah up. You may remember a year or two ago the outrage that they went back into the film and using CGI, changed her hair to now run down beyond what was a previously naked bare behind.

It isn't as though I am so desperate that I need to see the mermaid's butt. I can imagine what it may look like quite easily. But something rankles about the fact the film was censored and that it was for something so silly that it just robs me of any real desire to click play.

Good news today, however. Disney+ now has a shiny new 4k transfer of the film available to stream and it has restored the film back to what it was. Maybe, just maybe, I will click play on the film this weekend.

Source: CBR

Is Star Wars to blame for Andor not being bigger?

Andor has proven itself to be one of the surprise really great shows of the year. But is the fact that its quality is such a surprise part of the same reason why the show hasn't been a huge hit?

Could it be that after a couple of not-great Star Wars shows (the awful beyond belief Boba Fett show and the disappointingly middling Obi Wan) that our expectations for these shows is that they're more of an obligation-watch than something we are genuinely impressed by?

Andor is very good. Impressive at times. And yet it just hasn't found the mass audience it should have.

“I think I was surprised,” the “Andor” showrunner said in a recent interview with Variety. “I thought the show […] would have this gigantic, instantaneous audience that would just be everywhere, but that it would take forever for non-‘Star Wars’ people or critics or my cohort of friends to get involved in the show. The opposite happened. We ended up with all this critical praise, all this deep appreciation and understanding from a really surprising number of sources, and we’re chasing the audience.”
Where Is ‘Andor’s’ Massive Audience? Blame Disney for Too Many Bad ‘Star Wars’ Stories
Tony Gilroy says his Disney+ series is still “chasing [an] audience.” One reason may be that casual fans are burnt out after years of franchise disappointments.
IndieWireBen Travers

TV went meta in 2022

No, not meta like Zuckerberg's efforts to control the future of virtual computing, but metatextual. Leila Jordan at Paste has noticed that there were an awful lot of TV shows that had commentary to make about the state of TV and of their own specific shows this year, citing She Hulk, Barry, and more:

And not all critiques have equal purpose. She-Hulk isn’t trying to change the formula for the MCU, it’s just arguing that more is possible when you have such a hold over pop culture. Kevin Can F-k Himself wants the audience to rethink the tropes they’ve accepted, not destroy the sitcom entirely. Rebootand Barry are more active in their desire for people to understand the absurdity of the situation, but the problems in streaming also add texture to the stories they’re telling. If everything was transparent and made sense, we couldn’t have Vanessa Bayer make incomprehensible noises!
From Barry to She-Hulk, How TV Went Meta in 2022
In 2022, many shows went meta and shined a light on the TV industry in the age of streaming and Peak TV.
Paste MagazineLeila Jordan

Noted awful person Candace Cameron Bure is awful

Earlier this year Candace Cameron Bure, star of Full House, left Hallmark where she has starred in and produced a lot of TV movies over the years and has set up a new deal with the cable network/media company that is now branded as Great American Family.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, she explained concerns that Hallmark has gotten too darn woke and that she wants to:

...tell stories that have more meaning and purpose and depth behind them.

What she really means by that is that she isn't happy that Hallmark is making movies that feature gay and lesbian characters. It offends her religious sensibilities.

I'm always deeply confused by anyone who works in the arts that is revealed to be homophobic - who do they think is making, well, pretty much everything in the arts. Who does Candace think is working alongside her looking after make-up artists, costumers, set designers, lighting, cinematography, writing, directing, etc etc etc

Candace Cameron Bure Talks Hallmark Exit & Reveals Great American Family “Will Keep Traditional Marriage At Core” And Not Feature Gay Couples
Candace Cameron Bure is opening up about her move from Crown Media Family’s Hallmark Channel to Great American Family and reveals if holiday movies will feature gay couples. “My heart w…
DeadlineArmando Tinoco
  • Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway has further increased its stake in Paramount Global with analysts seeing it as a sign that they view the company as a target for acquisition (or as successful in the 'streaming wars', but surely acquisition is the far more likely scenario). Read: Indiewire
  • Season 2 of Amazon Prime Video show Hunters will be its last. Read: TV Line
  • Does it actually matter how real The Crown is? Read: Vox
  • Over 107 million hours of the new season of The Crown has already been streamed. Read: Deadline
  • Netflix will now let you kick individual devices off your account. Read: The Verge
  • Former film critic Stormy Daniels will host a dating show for LGBTQI-themed TV channel OUTtv. Read: Deadline
  • Could Greta Gerwig be set to direct two Narnia movies for Netflix? Read: Dark Horizons
  • As cable TV subscribers flee, pressure is mounting on streamers to deliver greater profits. Read: THR
  • Seth Rogan will co-write, direct, and star in a new Apple TV+ comedy about a movie studio head. Read: Variety

Something From Tiffany's debuts on Amazon Prime Video Dec 9.

Qala debuts Dec 1 on Netflix.

Set in 1940s Kolkata, "Qala" chronicles the complicated relationship between a young singer and her mother. Will all her sacrifices be worth the success she gets?

A Man of Action debuts on Netflix Dec 30.

Drama loosely inspired by the life of Lucio Urtubia. 'A Man of Action' explores the figure of Spain's most famous anarchist who carried out a counterfeiting scheme to cheat the world's largest bank.

First Love debuts Nov 24 on Netflix.

Young, free and madly in love. As teenagers, the world was their oyster - but as adults, their lives seem dimmer, like a very important piece is missing.

Black Snow debuts Jan 1 on Aussie streamer Stan.