A pitch-perfect adaptation of the beloved graphic novel series.
Immaculately cast, beautifully shot. I’d have personally liked it to skew just a bit darker and stranger, but really there’s not much to pick at.
If you’ve read the series, you’ll be delighted to find how faithful it is. If you never read it, this is the perfect introduction.
Fingers and toes crossed that WB/Netflix greenlights the rest of the adaptation, this one really deserves it.
Highly recommended.
When Breaking Bad finally wrapped, it seemed unlikely that we were going to see a show as good again for a long time.
And then, here comes a prequel/spinoff which somehow manages to not only surpass it, but to actively improve and build on the original series.
It’s remarkable. Even knowing full-well where things are going, BCS manages to wring an incredible amount of tension and character growth out of every moment of screen time.
It’s superbly shot, brilliantly acted, and up there among the best written and directed shows of all time.
Even if you’ve never seen Breaking Bad, this is an absolute must watch.
Highly, highly recommended.
A little janky to start, but otherwise a solid little sci-fi adventure.
Four girls on their paper route in 1988 end up thrown across time, on the run, in search of their future selves.
It’s a neat little exploration of expectations vs reality, and the possibilty of changing fate.
Already seems to have deviated somewhat from the comic series it’s based on, but I’m interested to see where it goes. The cast is solid, and the concept has enough of a spin on the usual time-travel tropes to make it feel fresh.
Worth a watch.
Excellent thriller series with … a twist.
The cast is fantastic, the pacing is perfect, the mystery is strange and intriguing without overcomplicating itself.
To say much more about it would quickly step into spoiler territory, and it’s definitely worth experiencing firsthand.
If you have any interest in unconventional procedurals, this one is highly recommended.
Another banger from AppleTV.
… On a related note, WHY has nobody cast Jamie Bell and Tom Holland alongside each other? They’d make perfect brothers, or older/younger versions of each other. The similarity is uncanny.
There’s not a lot to say, really. It takes a leaf from Stranger Things (literally, if you factor Finn Wolfhard’s casting) by putting the focus on kids chasing a supernatural mystery.
It’s most interesting when it’s doing this, and kinda loses steam in the back half when it more or less becomes a beat-for-beat recreation of the original film, but with a few creative spins.
It’s weird to think of “how tasteful is the fan-service?” as common consideration in modern filmmaking, but here we are. And it’s fine. Lots of callbacks and cameos and references, nothing too egregious or eye-rolly.
Perfectly servicable legacy-quel, and not much more. Worth a watch, don’t think about it too much.
It’s fine.
Sure, the CGI is distracting, the cast is a mix of flat and overused or charismatic and underused, and the mystery is eminently guessable from the first few scenes, but…
…well, there is no “but”. Much as I like Branagh, his Poirot is at his best in the opening flashback before being largely set aside until it comes time to start throwing around accusations in the final act.
Honestly, I worked out the guilty before the murder had even taken place, and was only briefly diverted from my confidence by thinking maybe there was a meta-twist that I wasn’t considering. Solving the mystery early isn’t in itself problematic—it’s arguably the point of a mystery thriller—but unfortunately there isn’t any real sort of tension or curiosity drawn out.
Passable light entertainment, but there are far, far better whodunnits out there.
Another cracking season from one of the best shows on television.
It’s surreal, hilarious, meandering, thoughtful, unexpected, harsh and subtle, often all at once. Whenever you think you have a handle on things, it just zags around you in really wonderful and creative ways.
This season has the primary cast (Donald Glover, Brian Tyree Henry, Lakieth Stanfield, Zazie Beetz) on tour in Europe — this time tackling new success and the same old bizarre tics of humanity. There seems to be even less of a focus on Glover’s Earn this time around, which only gives the rest of the cast more time to shine.
Every episode is its own self-contained story, every one of them is a strange little gem. There’s no real moral lessons: it’s just odd and messy and human.
Oh, and there are some fantastic unexpected cameos throughout.
Really, the worst part about this show is that there’s only one season left.
Highly, highly recommended.
Unfocused but nonetheless enjoyable followup to a stellar first season.
Natasha Lyonne puts in an absolutely killer effort to a strange, meandering season of an overall great show. She’s a treasure.
The emotional through-line resolves itself much later and less clearly than the first season, choosing instead to reach for a broader scope and losing some of it’s razor edge as a result.
Still, it’s quick and punchy and all the performances are excellent at holding up a messy time-travel concept.
Loved it, even if it didn’t have the same kick of the first season. Third season welcome.
Recommended.
Strap in boys, new hypermasculine ideal just dropped.
A bloody, visually stunning Nordic revenge epic.
As much as Eggers’ previous masterpiece (2019’s The Lighthouse) was a thesis on masculinity, this is all of that dialled up past eleven. This particular time and place in the world is more brutal and cruel, and so the protagonist must match it on all fronts in order to exact his revenge.
Alexander Skarsgård is a terrifying presence throughout; absolutely enormous, animalistic and violent—not so much a human as he is an archetype, an icon.
While it’s mythic and blunt, there is still an elegance and economy to The Northman that sets it above and beyond a standard action flick. It feels incredibly tangible and authentic, even when dabbling in mysticism and legend.
Astoundingly well shot, brilliantly performed, exceptional worldbuilding. A definitive modern “historical” epic.
Recommended.
Above average family action film, but never quite rises to truly exceptional.
All the individual elements are well done: the cast is charismatic, the VFX are top notch. But there’s something in Shawn Levy’s execution, same as with Free Guy… they’re kinda flat?
A bit too polished and clean, so that all the real quirk and personality has been buffed out of them. They feel like products. Products with heart and charm, sure, but never truly unique enough in their own rights to elevate them above pretty good.
My hope is that having the Molyneux sisters (Bob’s Burgers) handling the script and Kevin Feige doing his Marvel overlord thing, the next Levy/Reynolds collab on Deadpool 3 will really click.
As for The Adam Project, it won’t stick with me longer than the next big action film I see.
NERVE.SQUID.PILOT 