Weekend Watch: Fallout, Don't Tell Mom The Babysitter's Dead
Post-apocalyptic wastelands and family chaos
Image Credit: Amazon Studios
Welcome to the latest edition of Weekend Watch, where I recommend (or occasionally warn against) movies or TV shows I’ve been checking out. This week, the world has ended and one family’s summer changes in a big way. Follow James on Twitter: @jamwhite and Threads/Instagram: @jammerwhite
As if you needed more proof that, thanks to some recent successes, video game adaptations are slowly and stealthily stealing more of the market from superheroes, along comes Fallout. Adapting the sprawling universe of the Bethesda Studios games (but smartly putting its own story in place, this comes from Geneva Robertson-Dworet, Graham Wagner, with Westworld’s Jonathan Nolan as executive producer and director of the first three episodes.
Fallout splits its narrative between different strands that warp and weave together mostly smoothly. Following a prequel that introduces the world as it was –– a retro futuristic take on American society that seems trapped in the 1950s aesthetic while also featuring some very space-age tech, we meet star-turned-party trick Cooper Howard (the always-excellent Walton Goggins), shortly before a nuclear apocalypse leaves the world a ruined, irradiated wasteland.
Cut to 219 years later and we meet Lucy (Ella Purnell), a charismatic, talented yet also naive young woman living in the relatively safety of one of the vaults where those who could afford it have been maintaining their way of life for several generations. But her life is upended in spectacularly violent fashion, and she’s forced to venture out into a blasted world of mutants and mayhem. That’s where we catch up with what happened to Cooper –– he’s become what’s known as a “ghoul”, a mutated, long-lived creature who in the future world makes a living as a bounty hunter.
And then there are the Brotherhood of Steel, a militaristic faction dedicated to rebuilding the old world from the fragments they can recover. Utilising power armour to protect their warriors, its among their ranks we fined squire Maximus (Aaron Moten), who quickly finds himself in a very different situation.
Unfortunately, it’s this strand of the story that is less compelling and feels more straightforward. While other aspects –– particularly Lucy and the Ghoul –– see their narratives pumped full of the bonkers humour of the game, Maximus (while not without the odd laugh), definitely doesn’t have quite the same entertainment value.
All in all, though, this is a fantastically fun and worthy new take on a popular title. You’ll see things you won’t expect, and you’ll have a blast (pun entirely intended) going on this journey.
All eight episodes of Fallout are on Prime Video now. I’ve seen the first six.
Image credit: BET
Once in a while, a film comes along to surprise you. I’m more than willing to admit that I was sceptical when I learned of the idea to remake 1990s comedy Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead, consigning it to the pile of “yet another re-imagining in place of making a new movie.”
But this new offering is bolstered by two important factors; one, that the original is hardly a stone-cold classic and two, while it follows the same basic structure, the remake adds lots of touches and an entire subtext that makes it work.
Because while the family here certainly lives well, their race plays an important factor in various storylines, not least what might happen once their babysitter (a hilarious June Squibb in a naturally small role) passes away –– this is not some white family that can get into wacky hijinks unscathed.
It’s also helped by a truly charming young ensemble playing the family, led by Simone Joy Jones as Tanya Crandell, who sees her plans for a hot girl summer in Spain with her friends vanish when her single mother freaks out and work and needs to go on a medical retreat. Cue trying to find the money to feed her siblings, starting a new relationship and dealing with the vagaries of a more grown-up life.
But the whole family has a fun role to play, from her younger sister who is obsessed with true crime or her slacker brother who shows hidden depths. Heck, the film even finds something interesting for Nicole Richie to do.
It’s not every remake I can so heartily recommend, but this is one I really enjoyed.
Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead is on limited release in US cinemas now. There is no information on UK distribution yet.