Weekly Report from the N.T.A.B. Division of Media Review

The English/George and Tammy

Despite the deadline for Black Friday/Small Business Saturday/Day of Rest Sunday/Cyber Monday having blown past us, there are still many of you in need of recommendations for the Geeks in your life. Peruse The Shopping Notice from the NTAB Department of Trade and Commerce at your convenience and yearn for the days of the Sears Christmas Catalog and a big fat Marks-a-Lot marker. And lest we forget: Please Keep Your Nuts to Yourself.

Podcastery, Redux

Another spirited discussion over at the 42Cast, this time about the future phases of the Marvel Universe. I share some opinions with the Millennials that cause something of a freak out. Nothing controversial, mind you, but then again, a good podcast round table should involve at least one freak out. Do give a listen to Episode 166: Phase of Our Lives.

YouTubery

Over on The YouTubes, Michael K. Vaughn has a channel dedicated to pulp writing and in particular Robert E. Howard. He recently said some very nice things about Blood & Thunder, and I thought you might like to hear someone you don't know talking favorably about the book that will doubtless be the first thing listed in my eventual obituary. His review is pretty short, and very sweet. Check out Blood & Thunder: the Life and Art of Robert E. Howard by Mark Finn and like the video, in the interest of helping the algorithm direct traffic.

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The English (Amazon Prime)

Emily Blunt plays an English woman, newly arrived in America, looking for the man who killed her son. No sooner does she show up when she attempts to help a former Pawnee Scout, now mustered out of the Cavalry and on the road to claim the land the government promised him—currently beaten and hanging by his arms by the very people Blunt has been delivered to.

There’s some delightful, Tarantino-esque conversation, and then a lot of bloody violence. The pair end up traveling together, pulling each other’s fat out of the fire more than once, because apparently, towards the end of the so-called wild west, Women and Indians were equally hated and mistreated by just about everyone they came across, including other women and Indians.

I know it sounds bleak, and it kinda is, but it’s also fascinating to watch—I’ve never seen anyone thread the needle between BBC period drama and Spaghetti Western with a Tarantino-shaped needle before, but that’s this series, in a nutshell. It’s got a plot that is rich to the point of being almost too complicated, it relies on flashbacks and out of sequence storytelling, but each episode builds into a conclusion that is both jaw-dropping and heartbreaking. This is what they call now a “revisionist western,” which works okay, I guess. How many people can look at the trailer for The English and think, “Well, surely, there’s a singing cowboy on here somewhere, right?” No, Hoss, it ain’t that kinda western. But boy, is it good.

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George & Tammy (Showtime)

This mini-series chronicles the country-and-western fairy tale that was the romance between George Jones and Tammy Wynette. But never mind that: in the first five minutes of the first episode, Tim Blake Nelson is playing Roy Acuff, Walton Goggins is playing Peanutt Montgomery, and Michael Shannon is playing George Jones. That’s all before we get to Jessica Chastain playing Tammy Wynette. Boom. Done. End of Review.

Well, really, what else do you need to know? There’s not going to be any real surprises or twists in this mini-series. There never is with shows like this. Ergo, it all boils down to casting.

Example: if these movies and television dramas are to be believed, every female Country and Western singer from 1950 to three weeks ago was married to a small, petty, jealous, rat-eyed, weasel-faced, abusive shitheel, and had to suffer his various abuses until Johnny Cash/George Jones/Hank Williams/Take Your Pick shows up, spirits them away from all that, and then uncorks all new and different abuses. The two country powerhouses have unparalleled creative and public successes and a tumultuous personal life. Spoiler alert: one of them turns out to be an alcoholic! Whoa! Didn’t see that coming.

I watched the first episode, “The Race is On,” and checked off every story beat in the “Musical Power Couple Biopic” list. I won’t learn anything new, and neither will you. However, that doesn’t mean I’m not going to watch George & Tammy, because (a) the classic country music is baller, and (b) Tim Blake Nelson, Walton Goggins, Michael Shannon, Jessica Chastain, and that’s just the first episode. Shannon in particular is doing a hell of a job—no, he doesn’t look like George Jones, but he seems like he does, and I don’t know how else to say it. What Shannon does well is play seething intensity, and George Jones was a famous mean drunk, so the explosive temper and mercurial mood swings are Shannon’s bread and butter. This looks like a good, mildly salacious story of people who brought out the best in each other.