September 21, 2024 • 5 mins
Viewers can visit the world of Matt Reeves' Batman in Neon's new upcoming crime drama.
The Penguin is an eight-episode miniseries exploring the journey of Oswald Cobb rising from mafia chauffeur to mob boss in Gotham City.
Flicks.co.nz editor Steve Newall explains whether or not this show is worth a watch in a superhero-saturated landscape.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talk SEDB Time to.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Talk entertainment, and joining me now is Steve Newill, editor
at Flickster, cot and Z.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Good morning, Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
The Penguin, which has just started on Neon, is going
to be my Sunday afternoon entertainment? Is it going to
be good entertainment? Are going to love it?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Yee I reckon, that's a really good pick. Actually, the well,
it partly depends on where you stand with watching superhero
style antics in twenty twenty four. But what makes this interesting.
It's a spinoff from twenty twenty two's movie The Batman
starring Robert Pattinson, which was another kind of gloomy, grimy
take on Gotham City that really focused on Batman as
(00:52):
the world's greatest detective and followed him through kind of
a serial killer type story, but introduced Colin Farrell wearing
three hours worth of prosthetics as the Penguin Oz Cobb,
but really just as a supporting character. The show put
some front and center, and it's refreshingly superhero free. It's
(01:12):
just a story about mob machinations in Gotham City, and
it's really enjoyable.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Now, this isn't something that you gather the family around
and that the young kids go.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
There's a high body count, there's a few f bombs
here and there, and it's a bit it gets Yeah,
it's a bit sadistic in places as well, so not
family viewing. This isn't your Adam West batman. Andy's on
the wrong side of her trousers superhero stuff.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
And we're TV series.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
TV series and having watched the all eight episodes of
the of the show, it kind of becomes a very
interesting I guess origin story, taking someone from mid level
mob functionary to kind of true villain status by the
By the end of the show, Farrell disappears under the makeup.
(02:02):
It's a it's a it's a big suit. It kind
of makes them like one but Harvey Weinstein, one but
Tony Soprano and an opposite. Farrell is the scene stealing
Kristin Miliotti as as the daughter of a mob boss
who's making her own moves really great kind of it's
kind of like I guess, Breaking Bad esque two a
(02:28):
moral people kind of circling each other and constantly raising
the stakes until stuff starts to get out of hand.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
We've got the Joker. The film also been released in
the next week or so. Is there a market for
all these spinos question?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
The Batman was reasonably well. The bat was pretty successful.
The successful enough to warrant the show and a sequel
which comes out in a year or two. As to
The Joker, look, look, I didn't like Todd phillips first
Joker film with Jaquin Phoenix. Generally don't really like, Hey,
let's try and make a way for this kind of
silly stuff to be serious and grounded, because, let's face it,
(03:05):
it's kind of not. But I liked seeing Gotham come
to life and this show it opens with, i mean,
spoilers for a movie that came out a couple of
years ago. The Batman ends with the poorer areas of
Gotham being flooded and a huge amount of damage being
reaped upon the city, and that really kind of sets
up a lot of the class struggles and haves and
(03:28):
have not conflicts of this series as well. So it's
kind of nice to see a setting of a superhero
story brought to life in a bit more detailed.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Look it is here one of my favorite film festivals
is going to kick off soon to Show Me Shorts
Film Festival. I think it is harder to tell a
story beautifully and articulately and move people in a short
film that it is when you've got ninety minutes, right,
And I think what people can achieve with short films
is incredible. And they I reckon that they show Me Shorts.
(04:00):
They put on some fantastic nights where you go and
you laugh and you cry and you leave and you go,
oh my goodness. I had no idea I was to
be so moved by a collection of short films.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Yeah. I feel the same way. And it shows like
there's not just an art to making a short film,
and as you say, kind of conveying that with a
relatively limited run time. But also in the way that
these Show Me Shorts sessions are curated around a theme
or a concept or a country of origin and really
(04:29):
a matter of you know, okay, look, maybe this one
isn't the one that got me, but the next one
might or the one after that. I really love the
way they program the festival, and I say they I
have to confess, I probably should say we. I'm on
the board of show Me Shorts a recent edition, but
I would be here seeing its praises anyway.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So let's just take we do every year. So but
the programs all out is.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
That, Yeah, it is. So the festivals taking place from
the tenth to the twenty eighth of October, so that's
very very shortly. There's one hundred and twenty six screenings
across the country, and they've managed to whittle down the
festals managed to whittle down twenty four hundred submissions. Yeah,
two four hundred short films. I've gone through to get
to eighty five shorts from all over the globe, including
(05:14):
a bunch of world premieres.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
And I also love the fact that they really do
try to get across the whole country. They screen, they
have screenings.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Yeah, absolutely, And look, if you have I think anyone
that's ever been to Show Me Short screening before, we'll
know that it brings together a really interesting group of
people and you know, there really is something in it
for everybody.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah. Look, maybe in a few weeks time we can
talk about one or two other films that would be fantastic.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Sounds great, We'll do for more from the Sunday session
with Francesca Rudkin. Listen live to news talks they'd be
from nine am Sunday, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News Talk SEDB Time to.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Talk entertainment, and joining me now is Steve Newill, editor
at Flickster, cot and Z.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Good morning, Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
The Penguin, which has just started on Neon, is going
to be my Sunday afternoon entertainment? Is it going to
be good entertainment? Are going to love it?
Speaker 3 (00:29):
Yee I reckon, that's a really good pick. Actually, the well,
it partly depends on where you stand with watching superhero
style antics in twenty twenty four. But what makes this interesting.
It's a spinoff from twenty twenty two's movie The Batman
starring Robert Pattinson, which was another kind of gloomy, grimy
take on Gotham City that really focused on Batman as
(00:52):
the world's greatest detective and followed him through kind of
a serial killer type story, but introduced Colin Farrell wearing
three hours worth of prosthetics as the Penguin Oz Cobb,
but really just as a supporting character. The show put
some front and center, and it's refreshingly superhero free. It's
(01:12):
just a story about mob machinations in Gotham City, and
it's really enjoyable.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Now, this isn't something that you gather the family around
and that the young kids go.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
There's a high body count, there's a few f bombs
here and there, and it's a bit it gets Yeah,
it's a bit sadistic in places as well, so not
family viewing. This isn't your Adam West batman. Andy's on
the wrong side of her trousers superhero stuff.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
And we're TV series.
Speaker 3 (01:42):
TV series and having watched the all eight episodes of
the of the show, it kind of becomes a very
interesting I guess origin story, taking someone from mid level
mob functionary to kind of true villain status by the
By the end of the show, Farrell disappears under the makeup.
(02:02):
It's a it's a it's a big suit. It kind
of makes them like one but Harvey Weinstein, one but
Tony Soprano and an opposite. Farrell is the scene stealing
Kristin Miliotti as as the daughter of a mob boss
who's making her own moves really great kind of it's
kind of like I guess, Breaking Bad esque two a
(02:28):
moral people kind of circling each other and constantly raising
the stakes until stuff starts to get out of hand.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
We've got the Joker. The film also been released in
the next week or so. Is there a market for
all these spinos question?
Speaker 3 (02:42):
The Batman was reasonably well. The bat was pretty successful.
The successful enough to warrant the show and a sequel
which comes out in a year or two. As to
The Joker, look, look, I didn't like Todd phillips first
Joker film with Jaquin Phoenix. Generally don't really like, Hey,
let's try and make a way for this kind of
silly stuff to be serious and grounded, because, let's face it,
(03:05):
it's kind of not. But I liked seeing Gotham come
to life and this show it opens with, i mean,
spoilers for a movie that came out a couple of
years ago. The Batman ends with the poorer areas of
Gotham being flooded and a huge amount of damage being
reaped upon the city, and that really kind of sets
up a lot of the class struggles and haves and
(03:28):
have not conflicts of this series as well. So it's
kind of nice to see a setting of a superhero
story brought to life in a bit more detailed.
Speaker 2 (03:37):
Look it is here one of my favorite film festivals
is going to kick off soon to Show Me Shorts
Film Festival. I think it is harder to tell a
story beautifully and articulately and move people in a short
film that it is when you've got ninety minutes, right,
And I think what people can achieve with short films
is incredible. And they I reckon that they show Me Shorts.
(04:00):
They put on some fantastic nights where you go and
you laugh and you cry and you leave and you go,
oh my goodness. I had no idea I was to
be so moved by a collection of short films.
Speaker 3 (04:08):
Yeah. I feel the same way. And it shows like
there's not just an art to making a short film,
and as you say, kind of conveying that with a
relatively limited run time. But also in the way that
these Show Me Shorts sessions are curated around a theme
or a concept or a country of origin and really
(04:29):
a matter of you know, okay, look, maybe this one
isn't the one that got me, but the next one
might or the one after that. I really love the
way they program the festival, and I say they I
have to confess, I probably should say we. I'm on
the board of show Me Shorts a recent edition, but
I would be here seeing its praises anyway.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
So let's just take we do every year. So but
the programs all out is.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
That, Yeah, it is. So the festivals taking place from
the tenth to the twenty eighth of October, so that's
very very shortly. There's one hundred and twenty six screenings
across the country, and they've managed to whittle down the
festals managed to whittle down twenty four hundred submissions. Yeah,
two four hundred short films. I've gone through to get
to eighty five shorts from all over the globe, including
(05:14):
a bunch of world premieres.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
And I also love the fact that they really do
try to get across the whole country. They screen, they
have screenings.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
Yeah, absolutely, And look, if you have I think anyone
that's ever been to Show Me Short screening before, we'll
know that it brings together a really interesting group of
people and you know, there really is something in it
for everybody.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah. Look, maybe in a few weeks time we can
talk about one or two other films that would be fantastic.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Sounds great, We'll do for more from the Sunday session
with Francesca Rudkin. Listen live to news talks they'd be
from nine am Sunday, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio
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