TV reviews: Brats, The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare, Dirty Pop, Time Bandits and The Decameron

Brats

Streaming now on Disney Plus

“Don’t youuuuu, forget about me, Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t . . . ”. If you watched The Breakfast Club as a teen, chances are you’ve had that Simple Minds song living rent-free in your brain for the better part of three decades.

Hearing it, you’re probably transported to the time and place you first watched the seminal 80s flick, no doubt thinking of all the actors who starred in that and all those other John Hughes flicks we all loved — St Elmo’s Fire, Pretty in Pink, The Outsiders . . . what a time to be alive.

Back then, that assorted crew of hot young things were known as The Brat Pack, a term I’ve not had pause to think about until dipping in to check out Andrew McCarthy’s brilliant new doco.

I now realise this moniker was unwanted by almost all of them.

In the film, McCarthy reunites with his old co-stars, Emilio Estevez, Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy and Demi Moore — Brat Pack royalty — to discuss what it meant to be a part of this group of actors.

Almost all of them hated the association, which really only came about after a New York Magazine journalist spent time profiling Estevez. The resulting article is dismissive, pejorative and, well, just downright mean.

Still, we didn’t care back then, we loved them all regardless, aspiring to be everything we thought they personified.

It’s fascinating to spend time with them again after all these years, getting their take on what the whole phenomenon meant to them personally.

It truly is an era worth remembering — even if much of it they’d rather forget.

A trip down memory lane worth taking.

The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare

Thursday, streaming on Prime Video

Let’s face it, Guy Ritchie doesn’t always hit the mark. But in my eyes he redeemed himself with the raucously great TV iteration of The Gentlemen, which dropped recently on Netflix.

He’s also kicking goals with this film, which is based on recently declassified files from the British War Department — it’s based on true events.

It details how Winston Churchill and a group of secretive military officials, including Bond author Ian Fleming, formed a top secret combat unit, which used decidedly ungentlemanly fighting techniques to help thwart the nazis.

This is such good fun, I can’t help wishing Ritchie had made it into a series instead.

I need more, darn it!

Dirty Pop: The Boy Band Scam

Wednesday, streaming on Netflix

He’s the man behind boyband juggernauts Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. Feel free to hold that against him as you watch this doco, all about all the other awful things Lou Pearlman did. Beggars belief.

Time Bandits

Wednesday, streaming on Apple TV Plus

Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi are behind this TV adaptation of the 1981 movie of the same name by Monty Python comedian Terry Gilliam. They’ve crafted a series suitable for all the family to watch — and a second season is already in the works.

The Decameron

Thursday, streaming on Netflix

It’s hard to believe that The Decameron, a tome first published in 1348 detailing the exploits of a group of noblemen and women sheltering from the Plague in the 14th century, could make for good source material for a comedy. But in Tony Hale, Zosia Mamet and Saoirse-Monica Jackson’s hands it’s silly, watchable and tailor-made for Netflix.