Steve Stebbing

Breaking down all things pop culture

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Apr 27

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April 27, 2023

New Releases:

Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret – Margaret Simon is just 11 going on 12 when her family moves from New York City to Farbrook, New Jersey. Margaret’s mother is Christian and her father is Jewish. Margaret has been raised without an affiliation to either faith and does not practice an organized religion, although she frequently prays to God in her own words, beginning by saying, “Are you there God? It’s me, Margaret.” She is beginning to feel uncomfortable with her lack of religious affiliation. For a school assignment, she chooses to study people’s religious beliefs, hoping to resolve the question of her own religion in the process. Part of her study involves attending different places of worship to better understand the religious practice and see if one might be right for her. She enjoys spending time with her Jewish paternal grandmother, Sylvia Simon, who loves her as she is. She hopes Margaret will embrace Judaism after taking her to her synagogue for Rosh Hashanah services.

Expectations: One of the most celebrated coming-of-age stories of all time gets a feature film adaptation and it’s crazy to think that in the fifty years of the book’s existence, this is the first time it’s been put on screen. The cast really is winning here with young lead actress Abby Ryder Fortson being surrounded by some top talent including Canadian actress Rachel McAdams, Oscar winner Kathy Bates and Uncut Gems writer and director Benny Safdie. The film comes from director Kelly Fremon Craig who also did the Hailee Steinfeld comedy Edge Of Seventeen which I absolutely loved. I think this film is the big winner this week in theatres.

Peter Pan & Wendy – Based on J. M. Barrie’s novel Peter and Wendy and inspired by the 1953 animated classic, Peter Pan and Wendy is the timeless tale of a young girl who, defying her parents’ wishes to attend boarding school, travels with her two younger brothers to the magical Neverland. There, she meets a boy who refuses to grow up, a tiny fairy and an evil pirate captain, and they soon find themselves on a thrilling and dangerous adventure far, far away from their family and the comforts of home.

Review: Following up on the masterpiece that is The Green Knight, director David Lowery heads back into the world of adapting animated Disney. Yes, we’ve seen live-action Peter Pan before but not one so rooted in the origin of the character for many of us now, the 1953 iconic piece of history. The film is a mix of that same family-friendly tone and action we all remember, recreated to a meticulous level, and broad sweeps of Lowery’s focused filmmaking with his bold uses of light and texture as well as imaginative camera angles and movement to keep it interesting. Even with a film like Peter Pan, a large commercial venture for Disney+, Lowery will always retain his soul of cinema and he makes Jude Law look like an incredible Captain Hook.

Big George Foreman: The Miraculous Story Of The Once And Future Heavyweight Champion Of The World – The film is based on the remarkable true story of one of the greatest comebacks of all time and the transformational power of second chances. Fueled by an impoverished childhood, Foreman channelled his anger into becoming an Olympic Gold medalist and World Heavyweight Champion, followed by a near-death experience that took him from the boxing ring to the pulpit. But when he sees his community struggling spiritually and financially, Foreman returns to the ring and makes history by reclaiming his title, becoming the oldest and most improbable World Heavyweight Boxing Champion ever.

Expectations: You would think this is a straightforward biopic about the boxer and grill entrepreneur but the trailer for the film suggests that it will focus more on the man’s faith. This kind of disinterests me as the faith-based stories have had such a hard time connecting with me at all and the storytelling within always seems to take a back seat to the message. The American Underdog film with Zachary Levi playing Kurt Warner managed to skirt this trope a little bit but it still wasn’t that great. I kind of expect the same from this biopic.

Sisu – During the last desperate days of WWII, a solitary prospector (Jorma Tommila) crosses paths with Nazis on a scorched-earth retreat in northern Finland. When the Nazis steal his gold, they quickly discover they have just tangled with no ordinary miner. While there is no direct translation for the Finnish word “sisu”, this legendary ex-commando will embody what sisu means: a white-knuckled form of courage and unimaginable determination in the face of overwhelming odds. And no matter what the Nazis throw at him, the one-man death squad will go to outrageous lengths to get his gold back — even if it means killing every last Nazi in his path.

Expectations: I fully expect this to be the knockout of the week, a film that will delight any action fan that wants a bit more John Wick-style action in their lives crossed with a Finnish Rambo. The trailers for this film are an action nut’s glory dream with insane action and a one-man army taking down droves of Nazi soldiers with a satisfying visceral nature. It’s safe to say that this is my kind of movie and I really hoped we got it here in Penticton but, you know, small-town problems.

My Happy Ending – Andie MacDowell stars as a famous actor who goes incognito to seek treatment for a medical issue. While at the hospital, she meets three unique and remarkable women — an aging rocker, a young mother, and a forever single retired schoolteacher. Together, they help her face adversity with humour and camaraderie while coaching her for the most challenging role she has ever played…herself.

Review: I went into this film believing, if anything, Andie would be great because I’ve always loved her work and I’m happy to see her back in movies again. Unfortunately, this movie plumbs the depths of obvious emotional manipulation and cliched melodrama in a film that could have tightened the whole experience with better writing. It was great to see Miriam Margolyes and Tamsin Greig in this, as I really love their work as well and Tamsin plays the uptight and standoffish person like no one else.

Blu-Ray & DVD:

Triangle Of Sadness – This is a special one to me as this film was celebrated by the Oscars in even being nominated and now it makes its first Blu-ray debut in the Criterion Collection. When you sit down for a movie by writer and director Ruben Ostlund you have to know that you are in for something unpredictable and sometimes as scathing as having a bucket of cold water thrown in your face. He’s taken on marriage dynamics in Force Majeure, and the volatility of the art world in The Square, but this time he has the 1% and influencers in his crosshairs, which is very “shoot to kill”. The initial story follows a celebrity model couple named Carl (Harris Dickinson) and Yaya (Charlbi Dean), who are invited on a luxury cruise for the uber-rich, helmed by an unhinged boat captain (Woody Harrelson). What first appeared “Instagrammable” ends catastrophically, leaving the survivors stranded on a desert island and fighting for survival. Ostlund is going for the throat in an even spicier version of his firebrand and as soon as the story starts to slide down the slope of chaos it is unrelenting into a totally unpredictable third act. Not everyone is loving this movie as much as I am but it hit me in all the right spots even if it is massively stomach-churning in certain places.

Marlowe – I know I’ve been ragging on Liam Neeson every time one of his new geriatric action thrillers is released but I will obtain from it his week because his new film is directed by the legendary Neil Jordan, the man behind films like Interview With The Vampire, The Crying Game and Mona Lisa among others. I’m also digging into the fact that this is an old-school film noir following one of the iconic characters of the genre, Philip Marlowe, which Neeson is pretty perfect for. The story is set in a late 1930s Bay City, with the brooding, down-on-his-luck detective being hired to find the ex-lover of a glamorous heiress, setting up all the delicious cliches of a damsel in distress or a femme fatale. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm started to wane when I found that it was all talk and no bluster as Jordan’s Marlowe knows how to construct the dialogue but has a hollow quality underneath as it starts to parrot much better detective stories. Neeson also can’t seem to get out of that gruff Taken gear and it becomes distracting more and more as the film goes on. I thought this was a break out of the slog he’s put himself into for more than a decade now, but we are still in the rut.

Alice, Darling – Anna Kendrick is generally known for comedic roles or ones that lean into comedy from the drama side as she was a mainstay in the three Pitch Perfect movies, the protege foil to George Clooney in Up In The Air and many more projects but this new film heads into some dark territory. Domestic abuse is at the forefront of her new drama and the word of mouth on it has been stellar. In the film, Kendrick plays a young woman trapped in an abusive relationship who becomes the unwitting participant in an intervention staged by her two closest friends. Kendrick This is really Anna’s movie and she nails it with a phenomenal performance that makes up for any mistakes in the storytelling. What is crafted is a story about friends creating a support network to try and save a friend who hasn’t gotten the courage to make the exit of a toxic and dangerous relationship. Bill Nighy’s daughter Mary makes her directorial debut with this film it is a bright first feature and I can’t wait for what’s next from her.

Justice League x RWBY: Super Heroes & Huntsmen, Part One – Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg, Green Lantern and Vixen are transported to the strange world of Remnant and find themselves turned into teenagers. Meanwhile, Remnant heroes Ruby, Weiss, Blake and Yang must combine forces with the Justice League to uncover why their planet has been mysteriously altered before a superpowered Grimm destroys everything.

Review: I honestly don’t know what to make of this one as it leans heavily into the world of the Warner Bros.-produced anime RWBY more than the Justice League side and, although both sides are in a neutral world between the two worlds, it curtails more to that style. With o prior knowledge of RWBY and the characters, who have seven volumes of adventures, it was hard to get into their story as it has been established for a while and I think you need the back stories to see their connections to each member of the Justice League. That said, I did like Batman’s look for this world, one of the best out of the group.

Star Trek Lower Decks: Season 3 – The third season of the animated and comedic version of Star Trek has now landed on DVD this week after beaming onto Paramount’s streaming service near the end of last summer at the perfect time as lead voice actor Jack Quaid had been riding the tidal wave of the third season of the Prime Video series The Boys and anything he touches seems to be gold at the moment. I’m looking directly at my copy of Scream from last year as I say that. For those uninitiated into the “Final Space” -ing of Star Trek that this show is, the series is about the support crew serving on one of Starfleet’s least important ships, the U.S.S. Cerritos, following them as they keep up with their duties, often while the ship is being rocked by a multitude of sci-fi anomalies. The supporting cast with Quaidis great, including Jerry O’Connell, Space Force’s Tawny Newsome, Loki’s Eugene Cordero and fellow podcaster Paul Scheer, and I’ve really enjoyed my dive through the series and I’m looking forward to the forthcoming season three. It lacks a little of the consistency of the heavyweights like South Park but it is still a solid show with some great Trek references.

Primal: Season 2 – One of the greatest creators in the game, Genndy Tartokovsky is back with the second season of another incredible epic that he can put alongside Samurai Jack and beam with pride. A decidedly violent tale, this series follows a caveman at the dawn of evolution as he forms an unlikely friendship with an almost extinct dinosaur. Again, without a single word of dialogue, the series is a painting come to life, relying solely on music and graphic imagery to tell the story of two unlikely allies as they navigate through a treacherous world and, after bonding over unfortunate tragedies, they seem to become each other’s only hope of survival against a common enemy. The show is mind-meltingly beautiful in a way that Tartokovsky has the utmost command over and The emotional resonance of even the first episode had me bursting into tears with how heavily it was handled and the fact that it relies on just visuals without any dialogue. I think he has released yet another masterpiece that will be celebrated for years to come, just like the legend of Samurai Jack and each episode resonates with me so much. This show is incredible and hits me on an emotional level consistently.

Steve’s Blu-Ray Geekouts:

Gypsy – Rose Hovick (Rosalind Russell) pushes her two young daughters into the entertainment industry, travelling and promoting them with minimal success. After years in the business, younger daughter June quits and elopes, leaving Rose searching for work for her other, less talented daughter, Louise (Natalie Wood). The only offer is at a burlesque house, but Louise takes to it and transforms herself into the popular Gypsy Rose Lee. As Louise gains notoriety, she grows tired of her mother’s influence.

Review: This was an important one for me to seek out for my collection as it is the first entry into the Warner Archive collection, the first acquisition in my start at the beginning of their many releases. The film was an adaptation of a famed Broadway production and, after the HBO documentary from 2020, I’ve been fascinated by the performances of Natalie Wood, an actress taken during her prime, and this is one of the big ones in her career. I’m not big on stage musicals but her performance is full of energy and she outshines Russell from time to time.

When You’re Strange – A chronological look at The Doors, focusing on the lead singer, Jim Morrison (1943-1971), from the formation of the band in 1965, its first gigs, and first album, to Morrison’s death, after years of alcohol and drug use. Along the journey, we see archival footage of rehearsals, performances, and private moments including a Miami concert resulting in Morrison’s arrest and trial for indecency. His love of the spotlight, his desire to be a poet, and his alcohol-fueled mood swings lead to a back and forth between public and private desires, successes, and failures. The band’s music plays throughout.

Review: Admittedly, I can’t call myself a Doors fan as I never really connected with the music that much and always thought that the shadow of Jim Morrison’s star status blocked out the real talent within the actual musicians in the band themselves. Even so, I’m a sucker for a music documentary, especially one made by the legendary Tom DiCillo, and I do completely acknowledge this band’s mark on rock music. The film itself does more to affirm that Morrison’s superstar status was the cause of the band’s lightning-rod success than the actual music which may hit a divisive line for a lot of music lovers out there. Then again, the Oliver Stone biopic with Val Kilmer also divided people as well. I dig the Stone movie myself.

Steve Byrne: The Byrne Identity – Steve Byrne has established himself as one of the premier stand-up comedians of his generation. In his second one-hour special, Steve asks the universal question “Who are you?” The result is a poignant, inventive, and immensely funny look at how we identify ourselves in America.

Review: This is a fantastic stand-up comedy special from a comedian who I found on a mid-2000s special The Kims Of Comedy with Bobby Lee and Ken Jeong and really loved his work. Keep in mind, this special is from thirteen years ago so the America he’s trying to identify with is a very different one. I won’t say better or worse, I’ll just say that 2010 was very different, quaint almost by comparison.

Television:

Sweet Tooth: Season 2 (Netflix) – Ten years ago “The Great Crumble” wreaked havoc on the world and led to the mysterious emergence of hybrids babies born part human, part animal. Unsure if hybrids are the cause or result of the virus, many humans fear and hunt them. After a decade of living safely in his secluded forest home, a sheltered hybrid deer boy named Gus (Christian Convery) unexpectedly befriends a wandering loner named Jepperd (Nonso Anozie). Together they set out on an extraordinary adventure across what’s left of America in search of answers about Gus’ origins, Jepperd’s past, and the true meaning of home. But their story is full of unexpected allies and enemies, and Gus quickly learns the lush, dangerous world outside the forest is more complex than he ever could have imagined.

Review: As a guy who has read all of Jeff Lemire’s brilliant comics that this is based on, Sweet Tooth is easily one of my favourite Netflix shows ever made, a story brimming with heart and imagination. Produced by Robert Downey and his wife Susan, this series is like the comic has leapt onto the screen and the second season has lost no momentum from that great finale in season one. I feel like anything I write next is going to head into spoiler territory so I better end it here.

Love & Death (Crave) – Candy Montgomery and Betty Gore had a lot in common: They sang together in the Methodist church choir, their daughters were best friends, and their husbands had good jobs working for technology companies in the north Dallas suburbs known as Silicon Prairie. But beneath the placid surface of their seemingly perfect lives, both women simmered with unspoken frustrations and unanswered desires.

Expectations: There is something consistently enticing about stories of church crazies and this show has it written all over it plus it has the added charm of starring the fantastic Elizabeth Olsen in a main role as well as the always great Jesse Plemons. The show is actually the second adaptation of Montgomery’s story in a short couple of years as Jessica Biel took on the role in the Peacock series Candy almost a year ago exactly. This show also has some veteran television experience behind it, giving the show some buzz, as it’s the latest in the David E. Kelley HBO partnership after The Undoing and Nicole Kidman co-produces as well.

Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens: Season 3 (MuchMusic) – Nora Lum and her cousin struggle with young adulthood in Flushing, N.Y., with a little help from her father and grandmother.

Expectations: Another hilarious outing with Awkwafina and her hysterically funny family played by B.D. Wong, Bowen Yang and the scene-stealing Lori Tan Chin. This was an immediate watch for me when it premiered and I haven’t seen a bad episode from it yet. People are surprisingly quiet on this show in my opinion and I lump it in with some of the great crop of single comedian-led shows in recent years like the FX show Dave. Underrated but some of the best comedy on television today.

Saint X (Disney+) – A young woman’s mysterious death during an idyllic Caribbean vacation creates a traumatic ripple effect that eventually pulls her surviving sister into a dangerous pursuit of the truth.

Expectations: This is a mystery of a show that should be right up my alley but I’m not really gripped by it after the first episode. I will say that, s an X-Files and Californication fan, it was cool to see that David Duchovny’s daughter West has a prominent role in this show and it also features the 100 and Fear The Walking Dead’s Alycia Debnam Carey but I need a bit more non-wooden depth of character to get really on board. I feel like shows like Lost spoiled us in the beginning and sometimes it needs a bit more to pull me into a grand arching mystery.

The Afterparty: Season 2 (AppleTV+) – When a high school reunion’s afterparty ends in death, everyone is a suspect. A detective grills the former classmates one by one, uncovering potential motives as each tells their version of the story – culminating in the shocking truth.

Expectations: The first season of this show hit all of my expectations as it comes from one-half of the showrunners of Clone High, the writers and directors of the 21 Jump Street movies and so much more, Christopher Miller. It also has an incredible cast of hilarious people like Be Schwartz, Sam Richardson, Tiffany Haddish, Ike Barinholtz and so many more. I really thought, after watching the first series, that it would just be a limited one-off series and am so happy to see that we get more. I wonder if there is a story beyond this one as well.

Citadel (Prime Video) – Eight years ago, Citadel fell. The independent global spy agency – tasked to uphold the safety and security of all people – was destroyed by operatives of Manticore, a powerful syndicate manipulating the world from the shadows. With Citadel’s fall, elite agents Mason Kane and Nadia Sinh had their memories wiped as they narrowly escaped with their lives. They’ve remained hidden ever since, building new lives under new identities, unaware of their pasts. One night, when Mason is tracked down by his former Citadel colleague, Bernard Orlick, who desperately needs his help to prevent Manticore from establishing a new world order. Mason seeks out his former partner, Nadia, and the two spies embark on a mission that takes them around the world in an effort to stop Manticore, all while contending with a relationship built on secrets, lies, and a dangerous-yet-undying love.

Review: The opening scene of this show was so corny that I thought I was trapped in a Mr. Ad Mrs. Smith wannabe starring Priyanka Chopra-Jonas and Richard Madden that leaned into cheese and cliche a little too hard. Thankfully, this was only the prologue to our main story and the series itself played a bit more interesting and features Stanley Tucci and the eye in the sky tech guy and I was sold with whatever it wanted to do. The show is a flashy spy thriller featuring an amnesiac who must relearn his reflexes to guard his new family but, being on Prime, it has more room rating-wise to do it. This would be so bad on network television.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Apr 20

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April 20, 2023

New Releases:

Evil Dead Rise – In the fifth Evil Dead film, a road-weary Beth pays an overdue visit to her older sister Ellie, who is raising three kids alone in a cramped L.A. apartment. The sisters’ reunion is cut short by the discovery of a mysterious book deep in the bowels of Ellie’s building, giving rise to flesh-possessing demons, and thrusting Beth into a primal battle for survival as she is faced with the most nightmarish version of motherhood imaginable.

Expectations: With a Twitter handle like Stevil Dead, it is no surprise that these movies are the tops of the genre for me and I love them deeply. That said, none of the films have disappointed me and from what I’m hearing, director Lee Cronin has gifted us with a glorious and gory entry that will keep us on the edge of our seats and give us nightmares for weeks. I can not friggin’ wait.

Beau Is Afraid – Following the sudden death of his mother, a mild-mannered but anxiety-ridden man confronts his darkest fears as he embarks on an epic, Kafkaesque odyssey back home.

Expectations: It really looks like this week is a cinematic gift to me as I get not one but two of my most anticipated movies of the year but I doubt my small town of Penticton will receive it unfortunately. This puts the words most anticipated in bold though as it is the follow-up for Ari Aster after his masterpiece Midsommar and pairs him with one of the best actors on the planet right now, Joaquin Phoenix. The reviews are praising Phoenix but I will say there are a lot of detractors saying that Ari is wasting studio money but that just makes me want to see it more. 

To Catch A Killer – A modern-day Clarice Starling, Eleanor (Shailene Woodley) is a young police investigator wrestling with the demons of her past when she is recruited by the FBI’s chief investigator (Ben Mendelsohn) to help profile and track the work of a disturbed individual. As the police and FBI launch a nationwide manhunt, they are thwarted at every turn by the individual’s unprecedented behaviour. Given her tortured psyche, Eleanor may be the only person who can understand the mind of their assailant and bring him to justice.

Expectations: The buzz for this film is damn near non-existent as it seems studios are unwilling to even try selling Shailene Woodley films now or something, maybe a residual effect of her Divergent franchise tanking at the box office repeatedly over a five-year span. This film does look interesting, a cat-and-mouse FBI agent versus a serial killer but the Silence Of The Lambs reference in the synopsis will do only harm to the end result I think. Even still, it has Mendelsohn in a main role as well as The VVitch’s Ralph Ineson, some character actor studs in my opinion.

Chevalier – It looks like the big-budget, big studio period films are back or at least for this week as we head to Marie Antoinette’s France for a music-focused drama spearheaded by a fantastic performance from Waves actor Kelvin Harrison. The film is definitely ambitious in scope with costuming, lavish sets and gorgeous art direction and is the first feature film from veteran television director Stephen Williams. It is based on the true story of composer Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the illegitimate son of an African slave and a French plantation owner, who rises to heights in French society as a composer before an ill-fated love affair with the wife of a Marquis destroys everything he has built. Co-starring Samara Weaving, Lucy Boynton and Minnie Driver, the film manages to circumvent the stuffiness usually exhibited by this dramatic genre with a script and story that is interesting from the start and characters that don’t feel like biopic stereotypes. Harrison keeps getting better and better in every film as well, an actor on a fast track to awards glory.

Ghosted – Salt-of-the-earth Cole (Chris Evans) falls head over heels for enigmatic Sadie (Ana de Armas)–but then makes the shocking discovery that she’s a secret agent. Before they can decide on a second date, Cole and Sadie are swept away on an international adventure to save the world.

Expectations: Years ago when a film went straight to video, pay per view or streaming it was usually the nail in the coffin of a bad film but since the pandemic in a big way some blockbuster-sized films have been getting the streaming release treatment and action is a regular candidate with studios that are unsure what to do with them. This film looks like exactly one of those types of films, an action romantic comedy, sort of like the recent JLo flick Shotgun Wedding on Prime Video, This one has the very gorgeous and likable Chris Evans and Ana De Armas starring in it, making it the third time they’re been in a film together. The trailer is enjoyable enough but I don’t think this is going to do huge streaming numbers for AppleTV+.

Judy Blume Forever – The radical honesty of the books by trailblazing author Judy Blume changed the way millions of adolescent readers understood themselves, their sexuality, and what it meant to grow up, but also led to critical battles against book banning and censorship.

Expectations: One week before one of this author’s greatest works, Are You There God, It’s Me Margaret?, hits the big screen, this documentary arrives on Prime Video to give her some very deserved flowers. Featuring Judy and some of the women she inspired, like Molly Ringwald, Samantha Bee, Lena Dunham and many more, I love a good biopic doc and this looks like a solid one that is already getting stellar reviews.

Blu-Ray:

Magic Mike’s Last Dance – “Magic” Mike Lane (Channing Tatum) takes to the stage again after a lengthy hiatus, following a business deal that went bust, leaving him broke and taking bartender gigs in Florida. For what he hopes will be one last hurrah, Mike heads to London with a wealthy socialite (Salma Hayek Pinault) who lures him with an offer he can’t refuse… and an agenda all her own. With everything on the line, once Mike discovers what she truly has in mind, will he–and the roster of hot new dancers he’ll have to whip into shape–be able to pull it off?

Expectations: I know these movies are a big reason for a good amount of Channing Tatum’s fame and I thought the first movie was great but my enthusiasm stalls with XXL and this third film, even with a returning Steven Soderbergh behind the camera, feels forced. As the title implies, this is Mike’s last time on stage so it makes it all that much worse to fizzle at the end of your trilogy.

Emily – The film imagines Emily Brontë’s own Gothic story that inspired her seminal novel, ‘Wuthering Heights.’ Haunted by her mother’s death, Emily struggles within the confines of her family life and yearns for artistic and personal freedom, and so begins a journey to channel her creative potential into one of the greatest novels of all time.

Review: A gorgeously filmed period piece from the first moment, the bold first feature from actress turned filmmaker Frances O’Connor who also wrote the screenplay as well. Emma Mackey has a bubbling intensity to her that is fascinating to watch as Emily, the gifted black sheep in the mix with two equally gifted sisters and Fionn Whitehead and Oliver Cohen-Jackson are two character actors who keep getting better and better. This film was a total win that took chances and escaped being a dry romantic drama biopic.

Kids Vs Aliens – All Gary wants is to make awesome home movies with his best buds. All his older sister Samantha wants is to hang with the cool kids. When their parents head out of town one Halloween weekend, an all-time rager of a teen house party turns to terror when aliens attack, forcing the siblings to band together to survive the night.

Expectations: Jason Eisener, the brilliant mind behind Canadian Grindhouse actioner Hobo With A Shotgun has returned with something a little bit different for Shudder but guaranteed to have the same charm. What has me more excited about this film in particular as it is the fully realized version of the short film which appears in the anthology horror flick, V/H/S/2. If you are a genre fan, I think you owe it to play Canadian this weekend with this film.

Steve’s Blu-Ray Geekouts:

Neptune’s Daughter – Aquatic dancer Eve Barrett (Esther Williams), now partnered with Joe Backett (Keenan Wynn) in a swimsuit design company, tries to prevent her sister, Betty (Betty Garrett), from falling in love with Jose O’Rourke (Ricardo Montalban), a suave South American polo player. Unbeknownst to Eve, Betty has actually fallen for Jack Spratt (Red Skelton), a masseuse who is posing as Jose. To protect her sister, Eve finds the real Jose, agrees to a date, and falls in love.

Review: An Oscar winner for Best Original Song, this is the film we have to credit for bringing the Christmas song “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” which would ignite debate seventy years later. The film itself is the definition of easy and breezy fun with an early English-speaking performance from playboy Ricardo Montalban. The film also features a rare on-camera appearance by legendary Looney Tunes voice actor Mel Blanc doing a sort of Mexican accented performance, reminiscent o Speedy Gonzalaz, who wouldn’t debut in animated form until four years later.

The Prince And The Showgirl – A travelling party of royals from central Europe arrives in England in 1911, as the host country prepares to celebrate the coronation of a new king. But when the visiting Regent (Laurence Olivier) goes to a musical theatre, his attraction to American performer Elsie (Marilyn Monroe) makes it hard to stay focused. Soon, Elsie learns of a potential coup in the Regent’s home country, and it’s up to her to smooth things out — or watch as the nation hurtles toward instability.

Review: This is an interesting one as it was directed by Olivier as well and the only one of the few to not be Shakespeare or Chekov. The first movie from Marilyn’s own production company, she and Olivier had trouble filming together. He would often get angry at her for forgetting lines or being late to the set. Monroe was furious one day while filming when Laurence told her to “just be sexy.” The odd thing is, in the final product, I thought she upstaged him in a lot of their scenes together as the movie star quality wins out over his polished deliveries. Late to seeing her actual product on screen, I’ve found her performances really likable but this one might be her best.

Attack Of The Killer Tomatoes! – After a wave of reports of mysterious attacks involving people and pets being eaten by the traditionally docile fruit, a special government task force is set up to investigate the violent fruit and put a stop to their murderous spree. Included in this crack team are a lieutenant who never goes anywhere without his parachute, an underwater expert who’s never out of his scuba gear, and a master of disguise who conceals his appearance by dressing as a black Adolf Hitler.

Review: This was a many-time rental for me when I was a kid and after getting a refresher with this MVD Rewind Collection Blu-Ray I can’t tell you why I was so obsessed. The campy cult status of the movie bleeds off the screen with its ridiculous premise and it is very cool to see this spoof classic restored for home release. One of my favourite pieces of trivia from this film is that the big helicopter crash in it was unintentional and totally spun for story in the aftermath. All this length to make a horror film about man-eating tomatoes made out of sponge.

Television:

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Once & Always (Netflix) – Thirty years after the wise and powerful Zordon formed the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the team comes face to face with a familiar threat from the past. In the midst of a global crisis, they are called on once again to be the heroes the world needs. This 30th Anniversary Special is inspired by the legendary mantra from the franchise “Once a Ranger, Always a Ranger,” meaning once you become part of the Ranger family, you are always welcome back.

Expectations: This one is bittersweet for obvious reasons with the recent passing of Green/White Ranger Jason David Frank and the return of the old cast here but the film was actually made when he was still alive. The reality is that Frank and famed Pink Ranger Amy Jo Johnson had actually declined to return which makes the extra-long episode more of a partially transparent cash grab for Netflix. That said, I’ll most likely still watch it, being an old-school Power Rangers fan.

The Diplomat (Netflix) – In the midst of an international crisis, Kate Wyler a career diplomat lands in a high-profile job for which she was not suited, with tectonic implications for her marriage and her political future.

Thoughts on the show: On the outside, the show looks really formulaic, like a series ripped off of a CBS drama like Madam Secretary but that feeling is dispelled a few scenes into the pilot episode. The show then starts to rise in interest with great character work from the lead star Keri Russell, still riding that high from The Americans, and Rufus Sewell as her former ambassador husband. The show manages to set up a great political drama in the first hour and then pull the rug from under you in the last thirty seconds before the credits and that is how you hook an audience. It got me on an immediate binge so I think it will be pretty effective.

Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head: Season 2 (Paramount+) – The iconic animated duo are back and dumber than ever. The ’90s pop-culture phenomenons return, voiced by creator Mike Judge, to confound common sense, torment each other, and showcase some of the dumbest comedy imaginable.

What to expect this season: Really what can I say about this one? If you are into it, you will love it. If you hated this show the first time around, well, expect more of the same.I will say that the original film that got us here to a new Paramount+ series is entertaining as hell and I really liked season one so hopefully the well hasn’t run dry yet.

Dead Ringers (Prime Video) – A modern take on David Cronenberg’s 1988 thriller starring Jeremy Irons, Dead Ringers will feature Rachel Weisz playing the double-lead roles of Elliot and Beverly Mantle, twins who share everything: drugs, lovers, and an unapologetic desire to do whatever it takes–including pushing the boundaries of medical ethics–in an effort to challenge antiquated practices and bring women’s health care to the forefront.

Expectations: The track record for remaking the works of the amazing David Cronenberg hasn’t been great but the casting of Rachel Weisz as our lead twin characters causes me to be so intrigued that I will likely finish every episode by the end of the weekend. The story always was fascinating and I’m really looking forward to the modern take as well as the new avenues the gender swap could lead to as two brilliant women surgeons.

Barry: Season 4 (Crave) – Disillusioned at the thought of taking down another “mark,” depressed, low-level hitman Barry Berkman seeks a way out. When the Midwesterner reluctantly travels to Los Angeles to execute a hit on an actor who is bedding a mobster’s wife, little does Barry know that the City of Angels may be his sanctuary. He follows his target into acting class and ends up instantly drawn to the community of eager hopefuls, especially dedicated student Sally, who becomes the object of his affection. While Barry wants to start a new life as an actor, his handler, Fuches, has other ideas, and the hitman’s criminal past won’t let him walk away so easily.

What to expect this season: The end, that’s what to expect. The end of Barry himself? Probably. Most likely. I really don’t think it could happen any other way by this point but the one thing that this show and creator Bill Hader has managed to do is always keep us on our toes, always keep us laughing and guess at what will happen next and constantly blurring the lines between true comedy and the darkest of souls. The final season of Barry has arrived so buckle up, I think we’re going to get pummeled.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Apr 13

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April 13, 2023

New Releases:

Renfield – R.M. Renfield (Nicholas Hoult) decides to leave his centuries-long line of work as a henchman and familiar to Count Dracula (Nicolas Cage) and finds a new lease on life in modern-day New Orleans when he falls in love with a feisty but perennially aggressive traffic cop named Rebecca Quincy (Awkwafina).

Expectations: Cage, not even a year after the self-lampooning comedy The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent, returns to carve a bit of 2023 out for himself. Bloody fun with a hilarious script and more self-awareness make this an easy crowd-pleaser.

The Pope’s Exorcist – Inspired by the actual files of Father Gabriele Amorth, Chief Exorcist of the Vatican, The Pope’s Exorcist follows Amorth as he investigates a young boy’s terrifying possession and ends up uncovering a centuries-old conspiracy the Vatican has desperately tried to keep hidden.

Expectations: Russell Crowe leads this possession horror flick that looks pretty formulaic in its trailer. The film’s bright spot comes from director Julius Avery who delivered the insane World War II action horror Overlord, an experience way better than expected. He also needs a win after the letdown of Sylvester Stallone’s Samaritan and a Crowe-led horror could deliver a box office surprise.

Mafia Mamma – An American mom (Toni Collette) inherits her grandfather’s mafia empire in Italy. Guided by the firm’s consigliere (Monica Bellucci), she hilariously defies everyone’s expectations as the new head of the family business.

Review: The terrible trailers for this movie nearly scared me off completely but the mere fact that it stars Toni Collette, who I would watch in anything, and directed by Thirteen and Lords Of Dogtown director Catherine Hardwicke kept me on board. That said, Collette is the saving grace in a film that is cartoonish and slapstick but oddly charming in the end. If you read elsewhere bout this movie you will see many low scores for this one but I kind of had fun with the movie.

How To Blow Up A Pipeline – A crew of young environmental activists execute a daring mission to sabotage an oil pipeline, in Daniel Goldhaber’s taut and timely thriller that is part high-stakes heist, part radical exploration of the climate crisis. Based on the controversial book by Andreas Malm.

Review: A low-fi thriller that bubbles with intensity from the get-go and doesn’t let up until its very unpredictable end. I haven’t seen writer and director Daniel Goldhaber’s previous work, Cam, but this film is so well thought out and so driven in its goal. Lead actress and co-writer Ariela Barer is magnetic in her performance as an actress and storyteller to look out for.

Showing Up – A sculptor (Michelle Williams) preparing to open a new show must balance her creative life with the daily dramas of family and friends, in Kelly Reichardt’s vibrant and captivatingly funny portrait of art and craft.

Review: Consistently one of the best pairings in modern independent cinema, Reichardt and Williams always deliver poignant character stories that are believable to the core. It also has the MVP of 2022, Hong Chau in a main role and we get another Judd Hirsch movie after his appearance in Steven Spielberg’s The Fabelmans. I love Kelly’s very quiet approach to all of her films and the cinematography from usual collaborator Christopher Blauvelt is exquisite.

Kids Vs Aliens – All Gary wants is to make awesome home movies with his best buds. All his older sister Samantha wants is to hang with the cool kids. When their parents head out of town on Halloween weekend, an all-time rager of a teen house party turns to terror when aliens attack, forcing the siblings to band together to survive the night.

Expectations: Jason Eisener, the brilliant mind behind Canadian Grindhouse actioner Hobo With A Shotgun has returned with something a little bit different for Shudder but guaranteed to have the same charm. What has me more excited about this film in particular as it is the fully realized version of the short film which appears in the anthology horror flick, V/H/S/2. If you are a genre fan, I think you owe it to play Canadian this weekend with this film.

Blu-Ray:

Living – Bill Nighy is an incredible actor with a plethora of fantastic performances on his resume but he may have just put a new and bright gem in the crown of his career with this new drama and it also happens to be inspired by one of the greatest creative minds in cinema history. This new character-driven film driven by Nighy’s stellar outing is based on Ikiru, a drama written and directed by the legendary Akira Kurosawa in 1952, a film he considered his greatest work. The story follows Nighy as a humourless civil servant who decides to take time off work to experience life after receiving a terminal diagnosis from his doctor. Realizing that he has no legacy, he strives to make his life mean something for the community he’s served all of his life. I cannot stress enough how beautiful Nighy’s portrayal is in this film and the direction from Moffie director Oliver Hermanus is on a whole new level with intimate and gorgeous cinematography from Jamie Ramsey who also shot the unfortunate fanfare silent See How They Run. Presented in a fascinating 4:3 screen ratio, it added so much to the experience.

Infinity Pool – After six slow years of inactivity, unsuccessful novelist James Foster now questions his talent. And at this point in life, James is willing to try everything to overcome the chronic writer’s block–perhaps the sandy beaches and the picturesque serenity of a tropical paradise would do the trick. Instead, as the blocked author and his supportive publishing heiress wife, Em, look for inspiration in an exclusive resort overlooking the sea, a millisecond of inattention destroys the couple’s tomorrows. Now, isolated from reality and bound by the draconian laws of a strange land, James and Em have some tough, life-altering decisions to make. But money buys everything. As things get out of hand, can those who can afford sin find a loophole to save their skin?

Review: Brando Cronenberg is back and coming for the 1% just months removed from Ruben Ostlund coming for their skins in Triangle Of Sadness. Skarsgard is a great conduit in this nightmare ride of a hedonistic vacation that doubles down on debauchery, body horror and mind-bending visuals but Mia Goth is where this film excels in another gonzo performance. Not for the weak of heart but a highly recommended thriller.

The Fisher King – A former radio shock-jock (Jeff Bridges) sinks into a boozy depression when his flip comment on the air is blamed for a shooting spree in an upscale cafe. Living off the kindness of his long-suffering girlfriend Anne (Mercedes Ruehl, who won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress), Jack has an epiphany when he is rescued from street punks by Parry (Robin Williams), a homeless former professor who has created a world of his own invention to insulate himself from the pain of witnessing his wife’s death in the cafe shooting spree.

New Criterion edition: Landing on Criterion Collection 4K this week, Terry Gilliam’s presence in this prestigious group of films is a clear indicator of his profound effect on cinema, a visionary who is definitely an all-time favourite for me. This movie is a masterpiece with career-best performances from the top-billed three and another showcase of Robin’s incredible range.

Juniper – Veteran actors usually are a good selling point for me in any character study drama and Charlotte Rampling has had a handful of these types of films that I have loved like Swimming Pool and 45 Years. This film is also deeply rooted in the country where it takes place, New Zealand and, like Aussie films, I have a certain affinity for their cinema as well. The film follows a self-destructive teenager spiralling into suicidal thoughts that is asked to look after his ailing grandmother when he is suspended from school. Obtuse to each other at first the two start to bond over each other’s strong will and battle for control over their situations, hers as it dwindles to a close and his as he searches for meaning and a purpose in it. The film is well-acted and beautifully shot but I feel like it doesn’t do enough to secure its own singular voice and kind of gets lost in the shuffle of other films like it and dwarfed by ones that are better. I still love the mauri culture that is represented, an indigenous voice that has such a great presence in all New Zealand productions.

Steve’s Blu-Ray Geekouts:

B’Twixt Now And Sunrise – When struggling supernatural fiction writer Hall Baltimore (Val Kilmer) arrives in an isolated small town as part of his book tour, he hears about the local lore of vampires and an infamous mass murder. Eager for inspiration, Baltimore is swept into a surreal fever dream of eccentric characters, from the oddball sheriff (Bruce Dern) to the ghost of a young girl (Elle Fanning) to visions of Edgar Allan Poe (Ben Chaplin), that force him to confront his own troubled past.

Review: As film fans, we all have to gather around the great Francis Ford Coppola when he releases something because of the gifts he has given us in his past. This film, first released in 2011, was decidedly not good but, like another misstep of his, The Godfather Part III, he has gone back into the editing room to create a new definitive cut of this horror film. The outcome? A marginally better ghost story that reminds us from time to time that this man did Apocalypse Now but that was over forty-five years ago.

Confessions Of A Nazi Spy – FBI agent Ed Renard (Edward G. Robinson) goes on the hunt for a Nazi spy ring bent on subverting the citizenry of America. Beginning with Nazi rabble-rouser Kurt Schneider (Francis Lederer), Renard uses his well-honed instincts to find his way to the ring leader of the espionage campaign, Dr. Karl Kassell (Paul Lukas). With the Nazi secret police rounding up any security leaks and passing them back to Germany, Renard races to extract the information that will bring down the conspiracy.

Review: One of the rare pre-World War II anti-propaganda films, it’s very cool to see Warner Archive celebrating this, at the time, big studio gamble and giving it a high-def treatment. The reception of it got very personal too as Adolf Hitler reportedly planned to execute the makers of this film upon winning the war. As for the film itself, Edward G. Robinson was a definite star of his era and had the balls to take on this film when other stars like Marlene Dietrich feared what repercussions would happen to their families in Europe.

Flamingo Road – Dancer Lane Bellamy (Joan Crawford) tours as part of a carnival, but is deserted in Boldon City when they flee to avoid their debts. Deputy Fielding Carlisle (Zachary Scott) arrives and, secretly smitten with her, helps Lane find employment as a waitress. However, scheming Sheriff Titus Semple’s (Sydney Greenstreet) ambitious plans for Fielding to become a rep in the state legislature does not include his dating an itinerant woman, so he runs her out of town. Lane seeks revenge, but at what cost?

Review: A favourite American film from German new wave master director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, this underappreciated film noir drama gets another chance at modern relevance with this Blu-ray edition and I think it deserves its flowers now. Joan Crawford is great and I love the tough-talking script for it. It’s a forgotten Michael Curlitz gem that gets overshadowed by giants in his career like Casablanca.

Television:

Blindspotting: Season 2 (Crave) – As Miles, Ashley’s partner of 12 years and father of their son, is suddenly incarcerated, she is left to navigate a chaotic and humorous existential crisis when she’s forced to move in with Miles’ mother and half-sister.

What to expect from this season: A brilliant follow-up to a film I consider required watching from 2018, the first season of the series picked up so nicely, this time following Ashley’s struggles in her Oakland neighbourhood as a newly temporary single mom. The snappy writing is still so present in the story and Jasmine Cephas Jones is so likable in the lead role. This is one of my current favourite shows right now so I’m so excited to see it return.

The Marvelous Ms. Maisel: Season 5 (Prime Video) – It’s the late 1950s and Miriam “Midge” Maisel has everything she has ever wanted — the perfect husband, two kids and an elegant apartment on New York’s Upper West Side. Her seemingly idyllic life takes a surprising turn when she discovers a hidden talent she didn’t previously know she had — stand-up comedy. This revelation changes her life forever as she begins a journey that takes her from her comfortable life on the Upper West Side through the cafes and nightclubs of Greenwich Village as she makes her way through the city’s comedy industry on a path that could ultimately lead her to a spot on the “Tonight Show” couch.

What to expect this season: The end, that’s what we should all e expecting because that’s what this season is, the final story for Midge, her insane family, her ex-husband Joel and her manager Suzie. I will say one thing is for certain, I will miss everything about this phenomenal series and will possibly watch it over again in the near future. There is something special about this show and it shined from the get-go with the snappiest scripts I’ve ever heard and character building on a whole new level. We were spoiled by this show and it will have a lasting legacy for it I think.

Rennervations (Disney+) – Jeremy Renner teams up with expert builders to acquire large, decommissioned government vehicles and reimagine them as “mind-blowing creations” that serve kids in communities worldwide.

Expectations: I honestly have no idea as Disney didn’t even supply me with a pre-screener for this show but I’m in it just for the charm of Jeremy himself, an actor I have enjoyed for decades now. Does the world need another celebrity-hosted renovation show? No, probably not but with the name Rennervations such a slam dunk-sounding title, you have to give it a small chance I think.

Florida Man (Netflix) – When a struggling ex-cop (Edgar Ramírez) is forced to return to his home state of Florida to find a Philly mobster’s runaway girlfriend, what should be a quick gig becomes a spiraling journey into buried family secrets and an increasingly futile attempt to do the right thing in a place where so much is wrong. The series is described as a wild odyssey into a sunny place for shady people in the spirit of Body Heat and Elmore Leonard’s Out of Sight.

Expectations: I can’t believe it’s taken this long for the internet what the fuckery of The Florida Man to get any sort of series mention and now here we are with a Netflix show starring Edgar Ramirez, an actor I really like. Costarring Mad Max: Fury Road’s Abbey Lee and Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Clark Gregg, the series was created by Donald Todd, a mega-producer and writer on giant shows like This Is Us and Ugly Betty but it doesn’t give me much foothold in his ability to deliver a story like this. When you throw a name around like Elmore Leonard, certain expectations arise.

The Last Thing He Told Me (AppleTV+) – Based on the novel The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave. Before Owen Michaels disappears, he manages to smuggle a note to his beloved wife of one year: Protect her. Despite her confusion and fear, Hannah Hall knows exactly to whom the note refers: Owen’s sixteen-year-old daughter, Bailey. Bailey, who lost her mother tragically as a child. Bailey, who wants absolutely nothing to do with her new stepmother. As Hannah’s increasingly desperate calls to Owen go unanswered; as the FBI arrests Owen’s boss; as a US Marshal and FBI agents arrive at her Sausalito home unannounced, Hannah quickly realizes her husband isn’t who he said he was. And that Bailey just may hold the key to figuring out Owen’s true identity–and why he really disappeared. Hannah and Bailey set out to discover the truth, together. But as they start putting together the pieces of Owen’s past, they soon realize they are also building a new future. One neither Hannah nor Bailey could have anticipated.

Expectations: I feel like this show has been kind of done before, most recently with the Hugh Grant and Nicole Kidman HBO show The Undoing, but a lead actor can make a seemingly formulaic show a bit more interesting. The star of this series is Jennifer Garner and as a huge fan of her early 2000s series Alias I’ll give anything she does in the episodic form a chance and this has her with Jamie Lannister himself, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The show is the showrunner debut for Academy Award-winning writer Josh Singer, known for Spotlight, First Man and The Post, all great films, so I’m looking forward to what he produces here.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Apr 6

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April 6, 2023

New Releases:

The Super Mario Bros. Movie – For a nineties kid like myself, I am owed an accurate adaptation of possibly the most widely recognized video games of all time because the one we got in 1993 feels like a fever dream. Nintendo partnering with the Despicable Me studio Illumination Entertainment might be the gift we never knew would deliver as the trailers for this new animated version look like a love letter to all of our starts in gaming. The story follows a Brooklyn plumber named Mario who travels through the Mushroom Kingdom with a princess named Peach and an anthropomorphic mushroom called Toad to find Mario’s brother, Luigi, and to save the world from a ruthless fire-breathing Koopa named Bowser. Pretty standard and I’m almost guaranteeing a massive win for Illumination and a greenlit sequel as both Mario and Sonic see successful franchises, as they should be, being the heavyweights. I would even say that this is an early Oscar contender in the Best Animated department for next year.

Air – It’s been thirteen years since Ben Affleck was behind the camera, the last being his Dennis Lehane adaptation Live By Night, so knowing he had, not only just a new movie but one starring Matt Damon alongside himself, I was very interested. It also happens to be based around the greatest basketball player of all time and one of the most iconic pieces of footwear as well. The film follows the story of shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro, played by Damon, and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball who hadn’t even set foot on an NBA court yet, Michael Jordan. Affleck stars in a supporting role as the founder of the company Phil Knight and a huge cast backs them including Jason Bateman, Chris Tucker, Chris Messina and Academy Award winner Viola Dais. The early reviews for the film are stellar and it’s great to see Affleck return to the acclaim that he was receiving over a decade ago with Argo, The Town and Gone, Baby, Gone.

Chupa – Shy 13-year-old Alex (Evan Whitten) flies from Kansas City to Mexico to meet his extended family for the first time. There he meets his grandfather and former lucha libre champion Chava (Demián Bichir), energetic, wrestling-obsessed cousin Memo (Nickolas Verdugo), and fearless, hip cousin Luna (Ashley Ciarra). But just as Alex begins to get his bearings, he discovers a mythical creature living under his grandfather’s shed: a young chupacabra cub, which he recognizes from stories of the feared, full-grown chupacabra, fabled to feed on farmers’ livestock. Alex soon learns that his new friend “Chupa” has a secret history with his family, and that dogged, dangerous scientist Richard Quinn (Christian Slater) is hunting the misunderstood creature to try and harness his powers. To protect Chupa from impending danger, Alex sets off on the adventure of a lifetime, one that will push the bonds of his newfound family to the brink, and remind him that life’s burdens are lighter when you don’t have to carry them alone.

Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now – Admittedly, Lewis Capaldi’s music isn’t something I would just put on during the weekend but I will acknowledge how powerful his voice is and his songwriting is really solid. That said, his music is just so sad at its core, with such heartbreak and loss in the lyrics, which is so crazy because Lewis himself feels like such a silly and funny guy at his core. This documentary, produced through Netflix, follows Lewis from his beginnings as a teen singer-songwriter who earned his fame after a performance went viral, leading to a big following on social media and the massive success of his first record. The follow-through of the film is in Capaldi’s journey in creating his follow-up record as well as dealing with personal issues in his anxiety and mental health. At points, the film feels pretty standard in the music dc department, a fly-on-the-wall look at this artist’s life but through Lewis, there is his personality that sets his story apart from everyone else. That said, I don’t see myself picking up his vinyl anytime soon but I walked away with more appreciation for his art.

Blu-Ray:

M3GAN – Cult horror got off to a jump start this year as the first release weekend of 2023 had this sci-fi horror from the genre audience’s favourite studio Blumhouse landing in theatres and it was an unexpected little piece of self-aware brilliance. Much like Barbarian took hold of moviegoers in September last year, this new film has all of the makings of earning that soft spot in horror lovers’ hearts and the fact that it has a full-on dance scene punctuated with murderous mayhem is just a cherry on the chilling sundae. The film follows a robotics engineer who builds a life-like android doll and decides to activate it to be a companion for her niece that has recently lost both of her parents. The friendship between the two is fast and the attachment between the two grows until our titular robotic doll starts to take it too far and begins to off anyone she deems a threat to her new friend. Based on a story by one of the greatest minds in modern horror, James Wan, the man behind Saw, Insidious, The Conjuring and Malignant, this feels like another facet of his creative prowess, this one being a sort of Chucky renewal for the modern age in a small way. Wan leaves the directing duties to Gerard Johnstone, a creator who astounded with his movie Housebound in 2014 and with this being his big North American break I think his introduction went very well as we have a sequel greenlit already.

Confess, Fletch – In this delightful comedy romp, Jon Hamm stars as the roguishly charming and endlessly troublesome Fletch, who becomes the prime suspect in a murder case while searching for a stolen art collection. The only way to prove his innocence? Find out which of the long list of suspects is the culprit–from the eccentric art dealer and a missing playboy to a crazy neighbour and Fletch’s Italian girlfriend. Crime, in fact, has never been this disorganized.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Movie Franchise – Now that the original cast has had the entire series and their movies moved up to the next echelon of physical media, it’s now time for the Next Generation movie to do the same. Whether you find yourself as a Wars or Trek fan, we can still agree that at least one of these four movies is awesome and I think we might even agree on which one it is. Now on Blu-Ray and 4K, you have the first foray into feature films with Generations, which had Picard meeting Captain Kirk, First Contact, the epic fight against the Borg, Insurrection, the discovery of a conspiracy with the Federation and Nemesis, Picard doing battle against his own younger clone. First Contact is my obvious favourite but all of these movies are awesome in their own right. You also have to give it up for a young Tom Hardy as the villain in the last film.

South Park: Season 25 – Let’s all take a trip back to the world created by demented Colorado native Trey Parker and Matt Stone as there is a brand new season of one of the greatest animated shows of all time. I will also say that it makes a good play to be the actual best of all time with the simple fact that it never had a bad season and continues to be subversive and edgy. Season 25 has the continued saga of Randy Marsh and his cannabis farm Tegrity Farms but now is facing off with his new neighbour, Tolkien’s dad who has successful dreams of his own farm. This season is also the set up to all of the streaming movies that were released on Paramount+ so it is worth catching up on to binge all of those.

Steve’s Blu-Ray Geekouts:

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – The initial adaptation of the bestselling Stieg Larsson novel, this was a landmark film for me beyond that as it put star Noomi Repace on my radar and I’ve been a fan ever since. This is also a decidedly messed up story that had my jaw on the floor and as much as I love the David Fincher remake with Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, this original has the edge. For those who have never had the sick pleasure of this revenge series, the story follows a journalist who is aided by a young female hacker with a hellbent path of her own in his search for the killer of a woman who has been dead for forty years. This movie is so rich with character and intrigue, one of my favourite thrillers in the last twenty years and it’s really sad that Larsson didn’t live to see the mark that his stories made and the effect that they would have on cinema. This film helped deliver an awakening to the R-rated thriller at the box office that is still felt today.

I’ll Cry Tomorrow – Deprived of a normal childhood by her ambitious mother, Katie, Lillian Roth becomes a star of Broadway and Hollywood before she is twenty. Shortly before her marriage to her childhood sweetheart, David Tredman, he dies and Lillian takes her first drink of many down the road of becoming an alcoholic. She enters into a short-lived marriage to an immature aviation cadet, Wallie, followed by a divorce and then marriage to a sadistic brute and abuser Tony Bardeman. After a failed suicide attempt, Burt McGuire comes to her aid and helps her find the road back to happiness after sixteen years in a nightmare world, not counting the first twenty with her mother.

Camille – An attractive woman going by the name of Marguerite lives in Paris and is a courtesan, kept by the rich aristocrat Baron de Varville. When the handsome young Armand sees her for the first time, he immediately falls in love. Camille is not so easy as to fall for his charms immediately. She lives a comfortable life, after all. As she comes to have feelings for him, Armand’s father intervenes asking her not to cast a shadow on his son’s future prospects and she agrees. In her greatest time of need, however, the loving Armand returns to her.

Television:

Beef (Netflix) – Two people let a road rage incident burrow into their minds and slowly consume their every thought and action. The show is the first A24-produced series and stars comedian Ali Wong and Academy Award nominee Steven Yuen.

Dave: Season 3 (Disney+) – The show centers on a neurotic man in his late 20s who has convinced himself that he’s destined to be one of the best rappers of all time. Now he must convince his closest friends because, with their help, he actually might convince the world. Simultaneously exasperating and inspiring to his friends, he vows to leave no stone unturned on his quest to become the next superstar. The half-hour comedy is based on the life of rapper and comedian Dave Burd, better known by his stage name Lil Dicky.

Schmigadoon!: Season 2 (AppleTV+) – In a parody of 1940s musicals, backpacking couple Melissa and Josh get trapped in Schmigadoon, a magical town filled with singing and dancing townspeople; they learn they can’t leave without finding true love, which they thought they already had.

Tiny Beautiful Things (Disney+) – Kathryn Hahn has been a favorite comedic actress of mine for years, ever since her supporting roles in Step Brothers and the wholly underrated The Goods: Live Fast Sell Hard so when she is given the lead role in a new Hulu original, you now I’m paying attention. Another thing that has me excited is that most of the series is directed by Desiree Akhavan, a gifted indie filmmaker who did a couple of great features with The Miseducation Of Cameron Post and Appropriate Behavior as well as episodes of Hacks, Ramy and more. This series has Hahn playing a woman who reluctantly takes on an anonymous, unpaid position with an advice column called Sugar. Unsure of herself at first, she finds a way to weave her life experiences together to help those seeking guidance even as she is in a rock bottom position in her own life. Seeing Hahn take on this dramatic role with a darkly comedic edge, she slips into it so brilliantly and, even though the character starts off as pretty sour and unlikable, you still want to root for her. As the series progresses, it becomes even more unpredictable and I think it will pick up an audience sheerly through word of mouth. It is a damn well-written series and I’m loving it.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Mar 30

stevestebbing

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March 30, 2023

New Releases: 

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves – When I first saw that this movie was being made, I audibly groaned as I was suckered into buying a ticket for the 2000s version of the popular role-playing game that was put into theatres by New Line, an absolutely terrible fantasy adventure. The more and more I see of this new adaptation, done by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the guys behind Game Night, I get more and more on board with it and now that it premiered at South By Southwest to great reviews, well, I’m excited now. The story follows a charming thief and a band of unlikely adventurers who embark on an epic quest to retrieve a lost relic for the wrong person, unleashing a dark and malevolent force on the world that threatens to conquer and destroy everything. There is a deep charm to this cast, led by Chris Pine, as it has depth in so many categories with action stalwart Michelle Rodriguez and rising stars like Detective Pikachu’s Justice Smith, It’s Sophia Lillis and Bridgerton’s Regé-Jean Page taking on a comedically villainous Hugh Grant and Ted Lasso and Buffy The Vampire Slayer star Anthony Stewart Head’s daughter Daisy is a killer evil role. This movie is going to be awesome and I feel pretty confident in saying that.

A Good Person – This movie hits me in two weak spots as it is the new film from Zach Braff, a guy I’ve loved and supported since Scrubs, and his ex-girlfriend Florence Pugh who has never turned in a bad performance in her entire career. Being a huge fan of Braff’s darker films like Garde State and Wish I Was Here, I was looking for more of a return to the focused character story after his remake of Going In Style and this looks to satiate that need. The story follows Pugh as Allison, a once-thriving young woman with a bright future who was involved in an unimaginable tragedy that took the life of the daughter of Morgan Freeman’s character Daniel. Grief-stricken, he navigates raising his teenage granddaughter and opens his heart to helping Allison achieve some sort of redemption for what she has caused. The reviews aren’t stellar but I feel the crowdpleaser lurking within this film and feel like I could be on the side of celebrating this film, surely another fantastic performance from a future Academy Award winner. Bet on that.

Rye Lane – Romantic comedies with a little edge of drama seem to be a dime a dozen over the last fifty years so going outside of the circle to achieve something new seems to be harder and harder as the years go by. Well, it seems like director Raine Allen-Miller has navigated that landscape well and taken influence from one of my favourites with Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy but infused a young and fully self-aware love story with it. The story follows Yas and Dom, two twenty-somethings dealing with bad breakups in very different ways. With Yas, her heartbreak comes across as anger and Dom wallows in the depression of loss but the two find common ground quickly with their respective losses as they walk the streets of their neighbourhood and slowly restore their faith in love, possibly with each other. The film is small and contained but features big performances from newcomers David Jonsson and Vivian Oparah who are endearing from the get-go and solidify their star status by the film’s end. It takes a lot for me to get fully engaged with a from com and this film seems to do it effortlessly which is so massively impressive in my mind. Such a great film.

Tetris – This may be a rarity here but this is a video game film that can’t be lumped into the video games adaptation category but rather the video game biography story because this is a true story comedy drama surrounding the releasing rights of one of the most iconic games of all time. That may sound a little dull in comparison of that type of film but the story behind the release of Tetris and the ripple effects the sale of it had across the Soviet Union is fascinating and Taron Egerton always makes a film more palatable with his energy. The film follows Taron as Henk Rogers, an American businessman who has the ambition of selling the convention discovery and acquisition he made to the biggest video game company in the world, Nintendo. The catch is he must get full permission from the Soviet Union, causing him to team with the game’s creator Alexey Pajitnov. Director Jon S. Baird, the flashy filmmaker behind the James McAvoyled Irvine Welsh adaptation Filth, gives the film a flashy and fast-paced delivery that always keeps you strung along with the story and Egerton excels as always with some great character work. The film definitely tries to be a crowd-pleaser, which it pulls off and I feel like it could have played well in theatres instead of a direct-to-streaming route on AppleTV+.

Blu-Ray:

Missing – The John Cho-led thriller Searching introduced a new kind of thriller to movie audiences and that is the storytelling through a computer interface and I have to say it was pretty effective. Presented through Facetime videos, Skype or Zoom calls and internet searches, it was truly intriguing in ramping up the intensity and writers and directors Nicholas D. Johnson and Will Merrick, who were editors on that film, made their feature film debuts by going back to that well. The film follows June, played by A Wrinkle In Time’s Storm Reid, who has free reign of her house when her mom goes on vacation overseas with her new boyfriend. The terror sets in when June’s mom doesn’t return and she is sent on a tech-driven search, fearing the worst with all signs pointing towards the new man in her life. The unpredictability of the story method had me pinned to my theatre seat with anticipation of what would be revealed next. Reid has transitioned very well to more adult roles and we are rooting for June as a result of her command in that role. With the sheer quality of this film and Searching, I hope this becomes a new subgenre in the thriller department as it has me in the palm of its hand every time.

Plane – It looked like Gerard Butler’s action movies were getting lazier in being named because this had to be the most ridiculously bland titling I have seen, so much so that the initial need to see it was as low as it could possibly be. The good news is the film is helmed by French director Jean-François Richet whose main mark on North American cinema was remaking the John Carpenter classic Assault On Precinct 13 which he did a decent job of. The plot has Butler as the pilot of a commercial airline with one passenger being a convicted felon being transported to a new prison. Lightening strikes the craft, forcing a risky landing on land occupied by a dangerous rebel force that takes the entire flight hostage leaving Butler and the prisoner to team up and dispatch all of the bad guys in a violent fashion. This film is, on the surface, completely formulaic in its setup and kind of the perfect fit for anyone that has loved all of the “Has Fallen” movies that Butler churns out but this thriller plays it a little differently in its execution. Butler and co-star Mike Colter from Paramount+’s excellent series Evil have solid action chemistry and playing with a lightly R-rated tether it manages some great fight sequences throughout. I’m hearing that a franchise has been born out of the characters and while I didn’t feel like I’d need more of these two, I’m game to watch more if they keep up this quality.

Chilly Scenes Of Winter – I always get excited when a new Criterion Collection edition lands on my doorstep and doubly so when it’s something I’ve never seen before. Well, I had neither seen nor heard of this month’s film, alternately titled Head Over Heels, which opened to bad reviews but found a cult following soon after when screenwriter and director Joan Micklin Silver re-edited the film, changing it’s ending to a more realistic and melancholy one. The story has John Heard playing Charles, a bored civil servant struggling through a harsh Utah winter. He spends most of his time reflecting on his romance with Laura, a coworker who left him to return to her husband, an A-Frame salesman. This is one of those winter blues films that speaks to a truth I think we all have when the season rolls around and it may now be my favourite John Heard performance. Criterion always seems to make some deep pulls and this is a seventies classic that I would never have stumbled on to.

Rick And Morty: Season 6 – It’s been a crash course in a cartoon that I was way late to the game for but I will say that I was on board so quickly because the writing is so good I get euphoric with its brilliant complexities. Admittedly, the show has gone through the wringer of controversy in the last year or so with co-creator Justin Roiland being let go from Adult Swim amid a sexual assault accusation but, really, the show has been speculated about ending for a few seasons now and still seems to keep rolling. Even more than that, the show is thriving just as popular as ever with no horizon of slowing down as they have to have more than twenty-five episodes in the tank from that last batch of contracted episodes. We also should be grateful that WB Discovery didn’t shut the show down entirely in those massive restructurings.

Steve’s Blu-Ray Geekouts:

Detective Knight: Independence – With Bruce Willis having to end his career so tragically, I felt I owed it to the action movie legend to take in his last trilogy of films, a former dirty cop versus bad guy saga that hit the direct-to-Blu-ray market over the last eight months. That said, they definitely reflect their quality, a sad affirmation of where the majority of his career had been, most likely to get as much money as he could with his now public diagnosis. The finale of the series has Bruce’s Detective Knight being given a last-minute assignment of covering the July 4th shift when an EMT has a mental break and masquerades as a cop, enacting a deadly barrage of vigilante revenge. Even with a young up-and-comer like Jack Kilmer and genre stars like Dina Meyer, this movie adds up only to vapid thrills in a formulaic action thriller but I couldn’t miss out on seeing the man who brought me so much tough guy joy’s swan song.

Inland Empire – There should just be a general rule that any film in the filmography of David Lynch should automatically be a Criterion Collection release. I mean, they do it for Wes Anderson, so this isn’t really a stretch. Well, I can at least take solace in another title in the catalogue of one of my all-time favourite filmmakers has seen a new blu-ray release and it’s one of his most divisive films additionally. The film stars Laura Dern as actress Nikki Grace who starts to lose the connection between reality and her new project as the line between her and the character Susan begins to fade. I will admit that this movie really lost me when I first watched it at the time of its release in 2006 but time and a re-watch has definitely turned me around on it. This Blu-ray also has the added awesomeness of containing two fantastic documentaries on the creator himself, released in 2007.

Brooklyn’s Finest – I’m doubling up on the Fuqua for the past two weeks in this section but I feel like this one was an underrated one in his filmography and picked it up for under ten dollars. The cast is definitely here as Don Cheadle stars and Training Day actor Ethan Hawke reunites with his 2001 director. The story follows three unconnected Brooklyn law enforcement, an undercover narcotics, a corrupt cop and an imminently retiring beat cop who all end up at the wrong place at the wrong time and are forced to make a life-altering decision. Co-starring Richard Gere, Wesley Snipes and so many more, I really liked the gritty and unpredictable feel Fuqua was going for and his eye from Training Day was still there, just not with the David Ayer written nuance. For a great price, this one was a no-brainer and well worth checking out.

Television:

Succession: Season 4 (Crave) – This was a series I was certainly very late to the game on but after the audience and critic buzz as well as the awards acclaim that it was evident that I needed to change that and I crash coursed it before the third season was released. Now entering its final season, the basic story follows the Roy family who controls one of the biggest media and entertainment conglomerates in the world and their lives as they start to make power moves in the hopes that their ageing father begins to step back from the company. The series stars Brian Cox as the patriarch of the Roys as well as Kieran Culkin, Nicholas Braun and Jeremy Strong but the standout for me is Hiam Abass as Cox’s wife who constantly delivers knockout performance after performance and Sarah Snook as the lone daughter, Shiv. This is a winner for sure and the more people talk about it the more “watercooler talk” that it will be and those who aren’t on board will relive the things they went through when they didn’t watch Lost, Game Of Thrones or Breaking Bad. You snooze, you lose and this show is going, going but not yet gone.

Rabbit Hole (Paramount+) – Being an original fan of Keifer Sutherland’s first foray into television, the landmark series 24, I have followed every series that he did afterwards like Touch and Designated survivor. What got me even more excited about this new project was that it was on Paramount+ and escapes the boundaries that network television presents. Keifer goes spy mode sort of for this show, playing John Weir, a private espionage operative who heads his own firm that is framed for the murder of an American diplomat and finds himself on the run from an enemy that seems to be outsmarting him at every turn. The pilot for the show is fantastic and sets up a charming Keifer mixed with the action chops we’ve come to crave from the former Jack Bauer. I think this might be another sizeable hit for the Canadian legend.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Mar 23

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March 23, 2023

New Releases:

John Wick: Chapter 4 – The anticipation of the most incredible action film of 2023 is so big in my mind right now and seeing the advance reviews from critics I respect online and friends who have gotten the privilege of seeing it last week has me over the moon with excitement. I really can’t be surprised as every film in this series has been awesome but to be reassured of this is very satisfying. Picking up after the events of the last film, John Wick uncovers a path to defeating The High Table but before he can earn his freedom, he must face off against a new enemy with powerful alliances across the globe and forces that turn old friends into foes. This one will now be admittedly bittersweet after the death of franchise mainstay Lance Reddick but it should serve as a finale to an amazing character actor. The trailer for this film leaves me absolutely jazzed every time I see it and, at almost three hours long, I know we are in for an epic ride in every moment. Buck up, people, this one’s going to get wild.

Blu-Ray:

Babylon – Damien Chazelle has been one of those must-see filmmakers for me ever since I saw his Academy Award-winning drama Whiplash and it’s been about four years since his last film, the awards snubbed Neil Armstrong biopic First Man, so I was eagerly anticipating this one. A sort of old-fashioned filmmaker in a lot of ways, it’s interesting that the La La Land writer and director has done a classic Hollywood film and has one of my favourites in the cast as well with the great Brad Pitt. The main story is a mosaic of three characters, Manny, played by newcomer Diego Calva, a dreamer doing odd jobs to get into the movie industry, Nellie LeRoy, played by Margot Robbie, a seductive bombshell willing to do anything to get in from of a camera and Jack Conrad, Pitt’s character, a legend of the silent era on his way out but clawing tooth and nail.  A tale of outsized ambition and outrageous excess tracing the rise and fall of multiple characters during an era of unbridled decadence and depravity in early Hollywood, I thought this movie was a completely unpredictable riot from the go-go and definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. The film’s reception landed on the negative side of mixed reviews but I found myself loving ti, almost like it was Damien Chazelle’s sort of Clockwork Orange in his filmography. It pushes boundaries and succeeds with great satire and a biting sense of humour.

The Whale – This is a big one to talk about in the last we, no pun intended, as lead actor Brendan Fraser has completed the full comeback by winning the best actor Academy Award for this character-driven film from one of my favourite filmmakers, Darren Aronofsky. Honestly, it’s a long time coming as Fraser has been giving incredible performances since films like Gods And Monsters but the general public only recognizes things like The Mummy or George Of The Jungle. The film follows Fraser as a reclusive English teacher who is massively obese and descending into dangerous levels of mortality. Feeling like he needs to make amends in his life before his situation kills him, he reaches out to his estranged daughter, played by Stranger Things actress Sadie Sink. When I saw this film at my local theatre I was glad that I was the only person attending it because, no lie, I was bawling my eyes out for possibly the entire film. Fraser is riveting as a man seeking some sort of redemptive closure in his life, trying to rectify the mistakes his lifestyle has presented to his loved ones. This film is special and will be remembered as one of the great performances of this decade, especially that ending. No spoilers here though.

Dragonslayer – Another one of my childhood favourite films has now been immortalized in a special edition restoration from Paramount Pictures. The amount of times I made my mom rent this movie alongside Conan The Barbarian, Conan The Destroyer and more is uncountable but she should be grateful that it led to me appreciating this one today. See, it was all for SOMETHING, Mom! Future Ghostbusters II actor Peter MacNichol stars as a wizard’s young apprentice who volunteers with his master to kill a dragon that has been preying on the girls from a nearby kingdom which the king has made a blood pact with. The film was made by filmmaker Matthew Robbins who only directed a small handful of films but they were memorable, like the Mark Hamill movie Corvette Summer and the underrated Helen Slater action film The Legend Of Billie Jean. The film also has the distinction of being called the greatest dragon on camera by the creator of Game Of Thrones, George R.R. Martin himself. That is a hell of an accolade I think. 

Star Trek Strange New Worlds: Season 1 – Well, I have made it a habit to check out everything Star Trek the streaming service of Paramount+ has done, ever since it started as CBS All Access, launching with what would set the flagship assail, Star Trek: Discovery. It was the second season that brought in Anson Mount as Captain Kirk’s processor, Captain Christopher Pike, along with his number two, played by Rebeccas Romijn and this universe’s version of Spock, which served to set up this brand new spin-off that might be the best that the new shows have done. Effectively, this is exactly a prequel to that original series and how close we snug up to the Willaim Shatner and Leanard Nimoy landmark series is really unknown but I do know that what we’ve gotten so far is exciting and colourful stories punctuated by great character work and deep digs in the Star Trek lore. I suggest that viewers get fully emersed in this show as season two is just around the corner and it’s going to get much better, which is a crazy thing to say about an already awesome show.

Steve’s Blu-Ray Geekouts:

Training Day 4K – One of the best crime dramas of the past twenty years gets the full 4K treatment from Warner Brothers and I am absolutely elated. An Academy Award winner for lead actor Denzel Washington, I really don’t have to explain how iconic this damn near-perfect thriller is. For those who need a refresher, the film follows a rookie cop’s first day with his new partner, a Los Angeles narcotics detective who has a lot more ties into the system he is supposed to be investigating than is legal. The tension in this film, the sophomore film from action-heavy director Antoine Fuqua, makes it an undeniable rewatch perfect for the upgrade of format. This is easily one of my favourite films of all time and I’m so psyched that I have it in the collection.

Rocky: The Knockout Collection 4K – It feels like a late after-effect to be bringing this one to the geek outs as Creed III has been out for a while now but the upgrade in picture and sound to 4K for the first four Rocky fans can’t be denied. Why didn’t they include the fifth movie? I guess street fighting Rocky wasn’t something they wanted to get into in the restoration department. That said, all the best Rocky films are here including all of his best opponents like Carl Weathers’ Apollo Creed, Mr. T’s Clubber Lang or Dolph Lundren’s Ivan Drago and there is no better time to relive this thoroughly entertaining franchise than now. Then you can proceed with V at your own discretion then one to the fantastic remaining four films. A hell of a group of films in my opinion.

D.O.A. A Right Of Passage – On my continued path to being an ultimate film nerd in the collector’s department, I came across the MVD Rewind Collection which a few titles were sent to me by the distributor and as soon as I saw it was a numbered collection of cult hits, well, I was hooked in. The first title in this collection happens to be this High Times-produced documentary. The film chronicles the rise and fall of the punk movement with rare interview footage of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen and also concert footage of the Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop, The Clash, X-Ray Specs and anymore as well as newsreel stories. I had never seen the film before and after watching Danny Boyle’s Sex Pistols series Pistol, I feel like I was in exactly the right frame of mind to watch it. As a kid who grew up with a lot of this music in my headphones, thanks to a mother with some eclectic rock tastes, it combines things I already knew with the context I never had. If I knew about this movie during my video store days I would have been all over it.

Television:

Up Here (Disney+) – The biggest reason I wanted to get my eyes on this new series produced by Hulu was that Mae Whitman is the star, an actress I’ve loved for a long time, back to her child star days, and one that has just gotten better and better as her career progressed. The biggest turn off heading into it was that, unknown to me, it is a musical and I’m sometimes allergic to those. The story is set in the late 90s and follows Mae as Lindsay, a woman who decides to give up her boyfriend and home life for New York City for a fresh new start and the same old neurosis of the voices in her head, flesh out as imaginary versions of her parents and the school bully who gave her some obvious lifelong trauma. She eventually comes across Miguel at a party and the possibility of a new romance is high but the quality of the music is low and as soon as the second song rolled around I was pretty much out. Just not for me. The show also has a difficulty finding it’s tone between a sugary sweet musical and a horny bridge from the teen to twenties mind and an adult. If it opted for the second option and leaned away from the Disney Channel feel I definitely would have stuck around for episode two.

The Night Agent (Netflix) – I will admit that this series, on the surface, looks totally bland and something we’ve seen before, a thriller that focuses on the search for a man or woman on the inside of a government organization that must be sought out to save America. Well, this one happens to be written by executive produced by Shawn Ryan, the creator of The Shield starring Michael Chiklis and Walton Goggins, one of my favourite shows of all time. For that reason, I gave this series a chance which follows Gabriel Basso as a low-level FBI agent named Peter Sutherland who works in the basement of the White House manning a phone that never rings. Things are just filling reports and fending off boredom until the night the phone finally does ring, propelling him into a conspiracy that leads all the way to the Oval Office. I was surprised about how much I felt myself getting into the series over the first few episodes and was happy to see 2022’s MVP Hong Chau show up in a supporting and very important role. This isn’t anything insanely awesome but it is entertaining enough to keep me following it.

Yellowjackets: Season 2 (Crave) – Okay, this one is embarrassing because I usually pay close attention to Showtime releases and this one totally slipped my radar. Mere episodes in, it was called one of the best shows of last year and hit Twitter like fandom wildfire. I was already a huge fan of actresses Christina Ricci, Melanie Lynskey and Juliette Lewis and now Jasmine Savoy Brown from Scream and Scream VI but I was unprepared for the awesomeness of this show. The series is set in the nineties and in modern times and follows the lead-up to and fallout of a high school girls soccer team whose plane crashes in the mountains, forcing them to fight for their survival. The show definitely has a Lord Of The Flies angle to it but the originality and depth of character blew me away. Both the young and older cast are fantastic and the intrigue of the storyline gives me a Lost level feel. This is the must-see series right now in my opinion and with a second season now here, it could possibly cement that to an even bigger audience.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Mar 16

stevestebbing

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March 16, 2023

New Releases:

Shazam!: Fury Of The Gods – After a few delays, what appears to be the final part of the DC Cinematic Universe as we know it is ready to debut. It is unknown, in the future, if Zachary Levi will continue to be the super version of young Billy Batson but I really hope he does because the first film was a lot of fun and I expect the same from this one. The film picks up right after the first film where, spoilers, Billy’s entire group home got the same mystical powers of Shazam and became superpowered. This angers two of the fallen gods, Hespera and Kalypso, played by Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu, who decide to do anything to strip them of their newfound abilities and mould the planet into their personal thrones. As I said before, this movie looks like so much fun and the teenage sensibilities of Billy in the adult body of Levi add so much charisma and charm to a different style of superhero films. Director David Sandberg, a guy that started out in the horror genre with Lights Out and Annabelle: Creation, has adjusted so well to this superhero genre and I hope that James Gunn and Peter Safran keep him in mind for the new DC rebirth that’s to come in the next few years.

Boston Strangler – I have a weakness for a good serial killer investigation film and this has to be one of the most notorious in the unsolved murders section of mass murders. At the top, the leads of the film got me immediately invested as it stars two personal favourites with Keira Knightley and the always underrated Carrie Coon, an actress on her way to a definite Oscar win in the near future. Knightley plays Loretta McLaughlin, a reporter who always is relegated to the fluff pieces of her newspaper until she starts independently linking murders in the Boston area, creating the narrative of the Boston Strangler. When the case picks up steam, she is paired with undercover reporter Jean Cole to report on the city’s most notorious serial killer and challenge the sexism of the early 1960s in doing so. Written and directed by Matt Ruskin in his big studio debut after a few indie features, and he brings grit and intrigue to this story that had me very enthralled. I also love seeing Academy Award winner Chris Cooper in anything and he is pretty solid as McLaughlin and Cole’s editor who is at the forefront of the public’s outcry against the two’s reporting. I also thought the implications of the investigation were fascinating but that conversation gets into spoiler territory.

Moving On – I think that legendary actresses Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin have found a way to constantly and consistently work together for the rest of their movie and television careers after the end of their hugely popular Netflix series Grace & Frankie. It has already proved lucrative with the unexpected success of 80 For Brady so, just a handful of weeks later, they’re going to try it all over again with another comedy. This film has them as estranged friends who reunite to seek revenge on the petulant widower of their recently deceased best friend, played by a personal all-time favourite, Malcolm McDowell. Along the way, Fonda’s character reunites with her great love, the original Shaft, Richard Roundtree, and each woman learns to make peace with the past and each other so they can start “moving on”. This is sure to clean up with the same audience that made the Tom Brady film a hit and the fact that both films have received favourable reviews, better than I was ever expecting, with solidify these two stars as the base for successful films going forward. I expect many more films like this to come, starting with the Book Club sequel on Mother’s Day.

Brother – So happy to include some Canadian content this week, especially coming after the big win for Sarah Polley at the Academy Awards so there is hotness in the air for our home and native land in the film department. This one comes from acclaimed filmmaker Clement Virgo, a major television director but also one who brought us the steamy Lie With Me over fifteen years ago. His new film is set in the early nineties and follows two brothers with Caribbean immigrant parents who are growing up and influenced by Toronto’s early hip-hop scene. Exploring themes of masculinity, identity and family, a mystery unfolds during a sweltering summer and escalating tensions set off a series of events that change the course of the brothers’ lives forever. This is a deeply interesting character drama featuring two very strong performances from lead actors Lamar Johnson and Aaron Pierre, two actors I’m only a little familiar with, but Pierre was unforgettable in the M. Night Shyamalan thriller Old and Johnson is having a strong 2023 too with a feature role in HBO’s The Last Of Us. It is also shot gorgeously by Guy Godfree, the cinematographer of Slash/Back, Wildhood and so many other stunning-looking films.

Blu-Ray:

A Man Called Otto – 2023 kicked off in theatres with a trope that Hollywood studio filmmakers love to do, remake a fantastic foreign film that probably didn’t need to be done. This new film is a remake of a 2015 Swedish film, A Man Called Ove, but it has the added bonus of starring Tom Hanks which is, at most times, a win. The film has Hanks playing against type as Otto, a grump who’s given up on life following the loss of his wife and wants to end it all. When a young family moves in nearby, he meets his match in quick-witted Marisol, leading to a friendship that will turn his world around and renew his joy in life. The film was adapted by Monster’s Ball and Kite Runner filmmaker Marc Forster and does a great job of not just adapting the original film by Hannes Holm but honouring it as well with a very Swedish feel to it and a great deal of heart. Because it was one of my favourite comedy-dramas of 2015 and a film I didn’t really feel got the love it deserves, I maybe had a bit of a chip on my shoulder about an English language version but I really enjoyed it.

Spoiler Alert – I have to admit, I saw the trailer for this film before Bros and it really did absolutely nothing for me, felt pretty formulaic and bland. After I read up on it, I saw that it is based on a true story about television journalist Michael Ausiello, a man whose work I have read many times and my interest was piqued, just another Hollywood drama that suffers from an excessive bland trailer. The story follows the relationship of Ausiello and his husband, photographer Kit Cowan, from its inception through to Kit’s diagnosis of terminal cancer. Jim Parsons plays Michael, an actor I still place in the role of Big Bang Theory’s Sheldon Cooper, a stigma that this movie helps to clear away in small scoops. The winning formula is it being directed by Michael Showalter who will always have a place in my heart with his partial biopic The Big Sick and a filmmaker who excels with dialogue that feels fresh new and, in this film, heartwarmingly funny. The final result is a film that feels a bit “paint by numbers” but the ending still swoops in to make you shed all your tears as it was handled so beautifully. I’m also starting to really love the actor who plays Kit in this, Ben Aldridge, who was just in the Shymalan thriller Knock At The Cabin a few weeks ago.

The Apology – With the sad news coming before Christmas about the layoffs at AMC it appeared that a major part of the horror-centric streaming service of Shudder had been cut and laid off so I still wonder how much longer we will get Shudder original films like this one, now debuting on Blu-ray. Featuring Breaking Bad’s Anna Gunn, Mandy villain Linus Roache and comedian Janeane Garofalo, it has a hell of a roster of talented character performers to give a chilling and thrilling tale. The story follows a recovering alcoholic who is preparing to host her family’s Christmas celebration while still dealing with the trauma of the disappearance of her daughter twenty years earlier, when her estranged ex-brother-in-law arrives unannounced, bearing nostalgic gifts and a heavy secret. The film is the feature debut of a new voice in horror with writer and director Alison Locke and it looks like a successful endeavour as the story looks unsettling and unpredictable with a cutting edge that could lead to a shocking ending. I also appreciate that it is a Christmas-set thriller to join the side nice of holiday horror. It’s something, as a genre fan, that gives me pleasure, especially with my horror podcast Tremble, rate and subscribe!

The Good Fight: The Final Season – Al good shows eventually should come to an end and, as a big fan of the series that this show spun off of, The Good Wife starring Julianna Margulies, I feel it’s finally time to move on from the characters. I have been a fan of this show since it started on the less constrained CBS All Access for two reasons, the carryover star from that show, Christine Baranski’s Diane Lockhardt and the always incredible Delroy Lindo but also the returning actors like Alan Cumming and Michael Boatman, make this. For those out of the loop, this series picks up one year after the events of the final broadcast episode of The Good Wife, where an enormous financial scam has destroyed the reputation of a young lawyer, played by Game Of Thrones’ Rose Leslie, while simultaneously wiping out her mentor and godmother Diane Lockhart’s savings. Forced out of Lockhart and Lee, they join Lucca Quinn at one of Chicago’s preeminent law firms to hopefully rebuild an empire. The show plays heavily on real politics and it is going out with a big one as it tackles the overturning of Roe V. Wade by the Supreme Court. I will miss how biting this show was in current events but glad it’s going out on its own accord.

Steve’s Blu-Ray Geekouts:

Goodbye Mr. Chips – It’s all Warner Archive stuff this week on the geek out-side as the good people there hooked me up with a trio of classic films. The first is this romantic drama from the late 30s that earned seven Academy Award nominations, won one of them for Best Actor and was included on the American Film Institute’s top four hundred of the greatest films of all time up until 1998. Starring Robert Donat and Greer Garson, the film follows old classics teacher looking back over his long career, remembering pupils and colleagues, and above all the idyllic courtship and marriage that transformed his life. Playing his one-time wife, Garson ended up earning her Leading Actress nomination with just twenty-five minutes of screen time. She would ultimately lose to Vivien Leigh for Gone With The Wind, the juggernaut of that year, but the accomplishment is still so impressive.

Wife Versus Secretary – Let’s peel it back a few years for the second entry of the week and this one has some heavy star power with Clark Gable leading, Myrna Loy and Jean Harlow rounding out the top cast and James Stewart in a supporting role. This would be the fifth of six films paring for Gable and Harlow, and the fourth picture for Gable and Loy starring together. It was the first film Loy and Harlow appeared in together and they would be cast together again for “Libeled Lady” in 1936, which I’ve covered in this section before. The film follows Loy as the wife of a publishing executive who starts to question the professional relationship between her husband, played by Gable, and his new secretary, played by the alluring Jean Harlow. Pretty standard story here but it ended up a success for MGM at the time, bringing in a profit of $876,000 which would be about $15.2M in modern inflation according to studio records. It is a fun audience pleaser that is definitely trapped in the gender roles of its time but this can’t keep down the star power of the leading ladies who always find little pieces to shine, even dwarfing Gable in some points.

The Long, Long Trailer – When I initially posted this film on my Instagram feed which sends to Facebook as well, I got a lot of feedback on it from some older friends and my mother-in-law as apparently this was a big movie in their childhood and was absolutely cherished. Just on the outside, I can see its charm as it stars one of the greatest husband-and-wife comedy pairings ever, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. It also was directed by one of the biggest filmmakers of the era, the legendary Vincente Minnelli, husband to Judy Garland at one point and the father of the iconic Liza Minnelli. The film follows the hilarious couple as Nicky and Tacy, two bigger-than-life people in the midst of a whirlwind romance, looking to be married. When it comes to their living situation once married, Nicky has a more traditional idea planned out with the house of their dreams but Tacy has bigger thoughts in the more mobile trailer approach that would add some excitement to their young marriage. This was the first film of a multi-picture deal Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz signed with MGM when I Love Lucy was America’s top-rated television show. When their second vehicle Forever, Darling, released two years later, turned out to be a box office and critical disaster, the rest of the contract remained unfulfilled. That film aside, which I have never seen, this one brilliantly showcases exactly why these two were America’s sweethearts for so long.

Television:

Shadow And Bone: Season 2 (Netflix) – Let’s head back into a world of fantasy within the Netflix fold that gain a lot of popularity and one that still may catch the attention of rabid streaming fans looking for their next binge. Adapted from the Leigh Bardugo written book of the same name, the first of the Grisha trilogy, the first season of the series drops you in a war-torn world where a lowly soldier and orphan named Alina Starkov has just unleashed an extraordinary power that could be the key to setting her country free. With the monstrous threat of the Shadow Fold looming, Alina is torn from everything she knows to train as part of an elite army of magical soldiers known as Grisha. But as she struggles to hone her power, she finds that allies and enemies can be one and the same and that nothing in this lavish world is what it seems. There are dangerous forces at play, including a crew of charismatic criminals, and it will take more than magic to survive. The show has a really great look to it and I loved the solid production value that keeps the fantastical story driven and not waiting on how cheesy it looks. I also have to praise actor Ben Barnes who seems to get better and better every time I see him. He also isn’t a stranger to Netflix as he did the villain thing on the awesome Marvel series Punisher.

Agent Elvis (Netflix) – The animation section on the streaming giant Netflix has become incredibly deep over the years with many different genres of shows for adults so when Matthew McConaughey wants to voice Elvis in a new action-oriented show, I think you have another hit on your hands. That is if the bosses don’t get antsy and axe the show after one or two seasons. Yes, the glorious Texan voices the King in this series that has him trading in his jumpsuit for a jetpack when he joins a secret government spy program to help battle the dark forces that threaten the country. Obviously, Priscilla Presley has spearheaded this new show that is definitely trying to capitalize on the Oscar-nominated biopic from last year bringing Elvis back into the pop culture conversation and I love the supporting cast around McConaughey with Christina Hendricks, Kaitlin Olsen, Simon Pegg, Kieran Culkin and more. I’m really liking the art style of it and the showrunner is Mike Arnold, head writer on Archer for years, so the potential is there.

Ted Lasso: Season 3 (AppleTV+) – Probably one of my most anticipated shows of 2023, the moustachioed Jason Sudeikis is back for one more time as he tries to guide his club, Richmond FC, to the top of the Premier League. Is this doable? well, first he must get over the obstacle of former assistant coach Nathan Shelley who has left the club under bad circumstances and become the coach for the villainous West Ham, run by Richmond owner Rebecca Welton’s ex-husband Rupert. While it feels sad to be saying goodbye to a series that I have loved every single moment of, I am grateful that it is going out on its own terms and not getting itself to a “jump the shark” moment that makes us all turn on the writers and producers. I believe that all of the focus will be shifted onto the new series Shrinking from that same team and I am okay with that as the show is phenomenal. That said, I will be hanging on every second of this final season and I’m guaranteeing that there will be some tears along the way.

Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming With Dave Letterman (Disney+) – My love for the music of Irish rock legends U2 is all owed to my mom, a die-hard fan who has sentimental attachments to a lot of their catalogue. For fans like her, this movie is for you, a special love letter that is unforgettable in both being a celebration of U2’s past and a freshening of some of their greatest songs. The film follows David Letterman on a trip to Dublin for a one-night intimate experience of Bono and The Edge playing some of their greatest songs with a new perspective for a modern time. The film also explores the band’s beginnings and its relationship to their country, beliefs and legacy. I loved this film so much and the new versions of songs like One, Vertigo and A Beautiful Day will stick with me, just as hearing the origins for a forever favorite with Sunday Bloody Sunday.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Mar 9

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March 9, 2023

New Releases:

Scream VI – It really is impressive how fast Paramount moved on to the next installment of the Scream franchise and the second without series creator Wes Craven as the fifth film just came out in January or last year. The writers and directors behind this film, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, collectively known as Radio Silence, have got the aesthetic down well. This one takes us from the familiarity of Woodboro and into New York City and I’m happy that the time between these movies is so quick as it feels like a rare studio gift I wasn’t expecting. The film follows surviving sisters of the first film Sam And Tara Carpenter who are looking for a fresh start in the Big Apple. As it turns out, the legend of the ever-changing Ghostface killer isn’t done with them as the killings start all over again, bringing Scream veteran Gail Weathers aback into the fold as well as Scream 4’s Kirby Reed, which franchise fans are surely applauding. I have big hopes for this movie, especially as they are pushing the move to New York as a big game changer and at a two-hour run time, there has to be so much bloody mayhem included there. This is the big movie this week and another indicator that the blockbusters are now arriving weekly in 2023  

65 – To set this one up in a quick synopsis to get genre fans going, this movie is Adam Driver with sci-fi weapons defending himself from dinosaurs. I readily admit that the kid in me loves that idea and could have possibly come up with it in his imagination, as it feels like a surface-level kids’ playtime narrative. Now, this is actually a new big-budget thriller from A Quiet Place writers Scott Beck and Bryan Woods which makes this one. a must-see as I really enjoyed their last effort, an indie feature called Haunt in 2019. To go a little deeper into the story, Driver plays an astronaut who crashes lands on a mysterious planet with a cargo of cryogenically frozen passengers only to discover that the earth is inhabited by giant reptiles who we know as the dinosaurs, including tyrannosaurus rexes and raptors. So, yeah, it is sci-fi action meets Jurassic Park but given the awesome trailers I’ve seen everywhere for it, this looks like my type of movie fully. It also reminds me of a toy series from my childhood called Dino-Riders and if this s the closes conduit I get to that, then I am satisfied.

Champions – The mistakes in Hollywood comedies always feel doomed to repeat themselves and get into sensitive topics to get laughs in centrifugal and it can be seen right here in this new Bobby Farrelly film. The great thing about this new comedy is that it reunites star Woody Harrelson with one-half of his Kingpin directors, a movie that is still hilarious but I experience trepidation with everything else. The film has Woody as a hothead basketball coach who is ordered by the court after a public incident to manage a team of players with intellectual disabilities. He soon realizes that despite his doubts, together, this team can go further than they ever imagined in a movie that looks really formulaic at its core and has learned nothing from the cautionary tale that was Johnny Knoxville’s The Ringer from 2005. It may be comforting to see that, unlike Peter, Bobby has retained his comfort level in making comedies like what kept him popular with There’s Something About Mary and Dumb And Dumber but we also must regard it in the same sentence as The Three Stooges big screen adaptation and The Heartbreak Kid. This movie just looks like such a dud to me.

Luther: The Fallen Sun – This may come off as a bit of hyperbole but the Idris Elba-led BBC series Luther will go down in history as one of the greatest mystery thriller shows of all time. Elba is fantastic as a serial killer profile and a definite sociopath over the five seasons that aired from 2010 until 2019, the last time we saw the character. Well, he’s back in this new Netflix original, and as the film opens the brilliant detective is locked away in a prison as a gruesome serial killer is terrorizing London. Haunted by his failure to capture the cyber psychopath who now taunts him, Luther decides to break out of prison to finish the job by any means necessary. Original creator Neil Cross returns to write the film with stalwart episodic director Jamie Payne making his feature film debut here and the results are really solid. If this is the last time we see Idris step into this role again, at least we have some sort of closure and it does feel like an inconsequential as the Breaking Bad movie El Camino.

Inside – An easy way to get my butt in a seat for a movie is to say “Willem Dafoe stars as a…” and I’m there immediately. This is an easy indicator of why I wanted to cover this film, even if the studio was unable to hook me up with a screener to fully review it. No worries, they will still get my money eventually. Dafoe plays Nemo, a high-end art thief, who is trapped in a New York penthouse after his heist doesn’t go as planned. Locked inside with nothing but priceless works of art, he must use all his cunning and invention to survive and see his next plan come to fruition. The film is the English language debut of Greek writer and director Vasilis Katsoupis and the advanced word on it is that it is a blend of Dafoe’s on-screen mastery of his craft and a contained heist film that explores its subject in just one location. All of Dafoe’s work with Abel Ferrera and Paul Schrader in the last few decades has taught me a valuable lesson of paying deep attention to leading performances from this legend.

I Like Movies – Well, they made a Canadian movie that, on its surface, plays as exactly my sort of film, with a main character who has a deep obsession with cinema that may be construed by others as possibly unhealthy. Judge all you want. Underneath that is a story about a deep need to become something that ends up blinding our main character with a massive ego and an inability to read social cues. Coming from writer and director Chandler Levack, the film follows Lawrence Kweller, a socially inept seventeen-year-old cinephile who dreams of being the next Paul Thomas Anderson. With the next step to achieving his goal being attending NYU’s film program, he gets a job at the local video store and forms a platonic bond with his store manager. I was enthralled with this movie, so well written and wears its heart on its sleeve. The film plays with the same quirks that made us love John Hughes and Kevin Smith movies but also brings a naive reality to it that tugs on your emotions with its familiarity. This is an impressive first feature from Levack and I’m excited for whatever comes next from her.

Blu-Ray:

Women Talking – Sarah Polley is a Canadian treasure that we’ve loved for decades since her debut as Anne Of Green Gables on Road To Avonlea and, for me, her leading role in Terry Gilliam’s The Adventures Of Baron Munchausen. In my adult years, she also devastated me as an actress in the drama My Life Without Me and as a filmmaker in the drama Away From Her and now she is back in the director’s seat to deliver a film that is the best shot film of 2022 in my opinion and wholly important to the current gender conversation. Featuring a stacked cast with Frances McDormand, Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley and more, the film is set in 2010 at an isolated religious commune and follows the lives of a group of women trying to make a life-altering decision of leaving the colony or forcing the men who assault them on a nightly basis. With the cast this film has in place, it is certainly a powerhouse level, but it might have a harder time with a broader audience as it very much feels like a play adaptation that was originally conceived as a one-set production. The conversation that derives from the film is a thoughtful discourse that starkly frames damning metaphors that fully exist in our own reality and leads to a lot of self-reflection, hopefully in those that sourly need it. Polley gives a meaningful voice to the ongoing struggle for equality and equity between genders and it truly might be the best film of 2022, although I doubt the Oscars will recognize it as such. They wouldn’t dare wade that deep into its politics.

Christmas Bloody Christmas – Another Christmas horror after the blu-ray release of Violent Night a few weeks back, yes, I know, but this one aired originally as a streaming title on Shudder and gets the physical release treatment now.  This ultra gory and sort of music hipster descent into mayhem comes from the mind of writer and director Joe Begos, a brash filmmaker who debuted with the killer-tortured L.A. artist story Bliss and kept the ball rolling with his old guys versus gangbangers action horror VFW. His new film’s premise is deadly simple and follows record store owner Tori who just wants to get drunk and party on Christmas Eve. This all gets thrown out the window when a robotic Santa Claus at a nearby toy store goes haywire and begins a rampant killing spree through her small town, putting her in a fight for her life. Filled with bright neon, torrents of blood and five fucks per minute in the dialogue, this film is really entertaining on a B-movie level but I don’t think it has a real appeal beyond that level. The characters in my opinion are largely unlikeable, aside from our main who becomes better as her horrible night continues. Not my favourite of the Begos library but he brings a Rob Zombie-like style slammed into an homage to Richard Stanley’s Hardware that won me over.

Steve’s Blu-Ray & DVD Geekouts:

The TV Set – In my continuing journey to collect all of the entries into the numbered collection from Shout Factory known as the Shout Select series, one of my best friends Mark, sent me a copy of this, the 111th title, and it was a film I remember loving when I work at Rogers Video. The film was an early one from Walk Hard and Orange County director Jake Kasdan and one of those early 2000s films that had an ensemble cast to die for. Starring David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver and more, the film was a sardonic and sarcastic fly-on-the-wall comedy-drama that shows the ins and outs of a television series set and all of the chaos contained within. It’s an interesting exercise in showing the creative process but applied to a situation in which the man behind the idea is using it as a catharsis to say goodbye to a loved one. I feel like a lot of set knowledge fueled this film as Jake is the son of legendary screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan and is for sure pulling from a lot of experience. This was a hidden gem that really only had a rental run rather than a theatrical one and I think people should check it out.

House Party – Being a kid of the nineties, I am well-versed in the escapades of Kid and Play and their three house parties which is why I’m so very wary about this remake that invokes nostalgia with the name but I was unsure if it would with it’s follow through. I do like that original director Reginald Hudlin is an executive producer on the film alongside Lebron James but new stars Jacob Latimore and Tosin Cole definitely have sweet shoes and high fades to fill. The story this time around follows two house cleaners who get the opportunity of a lifetime when they are assigned to clean Lebron James’ mansion while he is overseas. They decide to make a life-changing decision to throw a giant party in a quest for immortality and some cash and, as the party gets out of control and one of Lebron’s championship rings goes missing, which may turn the dream night into a felony. I will say that this movie is by no means great but it still manages to recapture the fun vibe of the first film with great music and cameos from Kid Cudi, Mya, Bill Bellamy and the original stars themselves which made me really happy. Those who scoured the shelves for VHS tapes in 1992 will be as into this as I was.

Television:

Perry Mason: Season 2 (Crave) – As a kid, I used to sit with my grandparents and watch reruns of this classic lawyer show starring the legendary status Canadian Raymond Burr and was captivated time and time again. Well, Robert Downey Jr. made my dreams come true as he and the global force of HBO collaborated to bring this new series set in the era that creator Erle Stanley Gardner intended it to be in and it stars The Americans’ Matthew Rhys in the title role. Set in 1932 Los Angeles, the series focuses on the origin story of famed defence lawyer Perry Mason who is living check-to-check as a low-rent private investigator, haunted by his wartime experiences in France and suffering the effects of a broken marriage. The first season followed him on a case of a kidnapping gone very wrong which led to Mason exposing a fractured city as he uncovered the truth of the crime and uses it, sometimes lawlessly, to find some redemption. Needless to say, this show rocks in every way and Rhys is powerful, gripping and definitely deserving of all the acclaim that has come his way, I’m so excited to see where the series goes next.

History Of The World: Part II (Disney+) – I can’t believe this is a reality but possibly one of the longest anticipated sequels ever is finally here and, even better, it has expanded to being a series. Yes, Mel Brooks has returned, twenty-eight years after Dracula: Dead And Loving It to follow up a film he made forty-two years ago and to put that in context is pretty amazing. The king of the spoof is clearly here with an updated look at the history of this planet in a style that is very Brooks and a modern sensibility with Ike Barinholtz, Nick Kroll and Wanda Sykes who co-wrote it as well as starred in it. I feel like this is something I’m going to watch again in its entirety after ingesting all of Brooks’ filmography. This series has inspired me to do so.

Chang Can Dunk (Disney+) – Disney+ has a brand new series hitting the service this week, unrelated to Star Wars and Marvel or something that was previously released on Hulu and FX previously in the states but something a little more heartwarming. Looking to join the Mighty Ducks sequel series in the family sports shows, this series follows Chang, a young Asian-American teen and basketball fanatic who just wants to dunk and get the girl, the full NBA dream. Though his peers treat him as though he is insignificant, he becomes obsessed with learning how to slam dunk and becomes determined to beat the high school’s all-star named Matt, all while hopefully winning the adoration of his romantic interest, Kristy. I found the show really quite charming, having never heard anything heading into it, and the young cast shines with a really fun script that I hope catches on with the older audience. Heck, you don’t even need to like basketball to find the draw with this show.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Mar 2

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March 2, 2023

New Releases:

Creed III – I had no idea that we would get movies set in the Rocky cinematic universe that didn’t feature Sylvester Stallone but now, with this third film in the spin-off movies, we have hit that point. It’s acceptable because both of the Michael B. Jordan films have been great up until now, and he steps behind the camera in his feature film directing debut. The film picks up with Adonis thriving in both his career and family life until a face from his past comes back to threaten the empire that he’s built. With a mentality that Donny has taken everything that was owed to him when he was incarcerated, Damien looks to be the most formidable foe of our hero and he’s played by the incredible Jonathan Majors. It really is the year of Majors as he was just the best thing about the last Ant-Man movies and also features in this week’s Blu-ray release, Devotion. I have high hopes for this film as I’ve loved every movie that was connected to Rocky since I was a kid.

Joyride – I’m always in for a good Olivia Colman film and with Empire Of Light last week and her doing a voice in Puss In Boots: The Last Wish this week, it really is an embarrassment of riches if you enjoy the Oscar-winning actress. This one wasn’t on my radar at all until Level Film brought it to my attention and after a few weeks delay, it is here now. Colman plays a headstrong attorney who has made a plan to offload her newborn baby to her sister and is scrambling to adjust when a vulnerable but opinionated teenager steals their taxi. Colman carries this film squarely on her shoulders as she is the sole reason to give it any thought at all as it clearly lacks something in the credibility department. The manipulation of it trying to tug at your emotions feels moot because there isn’t a moment that you feel the characters won’t resolve their situations and, aside from Colman, it’s very hard to get immersed in their problems as the exposition feels very shallow.

The Quiet Girl – Having just seen the Academy Award-nominated story of a young friendship destroyed in the film Close, I was not ready for another tragic tale of childhood tragedy and this new Irish film took quick advantage of that weakness. I can easily say that it made itself memorable in how much it devastated me and a very deserving entry into the official submissions for the Oscars, in which it is the first ever Irish language film to earn the accolade. The story is set in rural Ireland in the early eighties and follows a quiet, neglected girl who is sent away from her dysfunctional family to live with foster parents for the summer where she blossoms and starts to become comfortable with herself in their care. Of course, the fairy tale can’t last forever as discovered secrets end up bringing an abrupt end to the new happiness she has found for herself. This film is punctuated by a fantastic performance from young actress Catherine Clinch who is able to tell so much in an obviously very subdued way and the final scene is so heartbreaking and resonant that it will stick with me for a while. It’s such a tough race for Best Foreign this year, I’m really curious as to what will take it. 

Huesara: The Bone Woman – Have you ever wanted a version of What To Expect When You’re Expecting but from a total horror perspective? I know, this is a completely focused projection but that has to be what writer and director Michelle Garza Cervera had in mind when she conceptualized this horror drama. The story follows Valeria, a woman who has long dreamed about becoming a mother and that day has arrived. The happiness quickly turns to worry and concern as the pregnancy begins to veer into supernatural depths as she connects everything to unsettling dark magic. This is a film that is destined to mess with your mind and push you to revulsion with the disturbing body horror contained in a seemingly straightforward story. Cervera and her lead actress Natalia Solián have crafted a character journey that is disturbing in ways that set itself apart from other horror films like it and the final product is definitely not for the faint of heart. I really wish I saw this one in theatres with an audience, it is so atmospheric in some scenes and the reactions must have been wild.

Return To Seoul – A fish out of water sorry is always compelling but there is something about this new film, mostly spoken in French but set in South Korea, that hits a whole new level. At the heart of it, I think it’s incredible that the lead performance in this drama is from a plastics artist named Park Ji-min who gives such a soulful and complex depth that resonates with so much experience. The film follows Ji-min as Freddie, a twenty-five-year-old French woman who returns to Korea, the country she was born in before being adopted by a French couple, for the very first time. Out of her element and unaccustomed to the traditions and ways of the locals, he decides to track down her biological parents, a decision that she might have not thought through the impact of before pursuing. This film is an enlightening and sometimes heartbreaking journey of one character’s seemingly aloof quest for self-discovery and the process seems to run the gamut on how the audience can feel about our main character. This is one of those great dramas that excels in the human condition experience.

Blu-Ray:

Puss In Boots: The Last Wish – It feels like the Shrek franchise and spin-offs are so long ago in the pop culture zeitgeist that it really only exists in an internet meme cache and oddball nostalgia posts but then this film comes along. Not only is it a follow-up to the spin-off for the Antonio Banderas voiced character but it also has a new animation style to boot which is incredibly dynamic especially in the fight scenes leaving me to think that, given the film’s success, we may get more from the big ogre that got the ball rolling for Dreamworks Animation. This film follows our titular fairy tale character as he discovers that his passion for adventure has taken its toll and he has burned through eight of his nine lives. With knowledge of something that can restore him to his adventurous self, he sets out on an epic journey to find the mythical Last Wish with the prize of a brand new nine lives and with a villainous Goldilocks, voiced by the lovely Florence Pugh, on his tail. Much to my surprise, this might be the best-animated film of 2022 or at least in the top echelon of that category.. The film leans into a Sergio leone style coupled with an anime sense o storytelling featuring a bold voice cast that brings a punch, fun and funny script to life. I found myself fully engaged with the story within moments and am delighted with the fact that they could rejuvenate something that, honestly, felt stale going into. This was possibly the biggest movie surprise of last year.

I Wanna Dance With Somebody – I have to admit, every time I saw the trailer for this film it looked worse and worse to me and maybe it’s just that I feel a little burnt out on the music biopic scene. Yes, we’ve had great ones recently with Rocketman for Elton John and, to a slightly lesser degree, Bohemian Rhapsody for Queen but we’ve also had the bland Respect for Aretha Franklin and the unapproved disaster of Stardust and I just have a feeling that a lot will be omitted or glossed over in this one. The film stars Star Wars actress Naomie Ackie as the hit-generating but tragic singer in her meteoric rise to superstardom against a backdrop of family betrayals and a whirlwind but misguided love affair. I do love that Stanley Tucci is playing mega-producer and collaborator with Houston, Clive Davis, which is just perfect casting for me. After loving the documentary on the man himself, this might be the shining piece in a film that looks very mediocre to me.

Violent Night – Just describing this film, you know exactly why one like this would be at the top of my list for the best holiday films ever and, yes, David Harbour is a big reason for it. Not being a huge Christmas movie guy except for the classics, it takes a hook to get me immersed in a new one and this one definitely has it. The story follows a team of elite mercenaries who breaks into a wealthy family compound on Christmas Eve, taking everyone inside hostage to obtain the millions in an underground vault. The team isn’t remotely prepared for a surprise combatant in the form of Santa Claus who takes it upon himself to dispatch each one of these naughty listers in increasingly gruesome ways. Translation? My type of movie. The film comes from the producers of the Bob Odenkirk action flick Nobody and is directed by the madman Tommy Wirkola, responsible for the Nazi zombie comedy horror films Dead Snow and its sequel, a team that has created absolutely glorious insanity from start to finish. Harbour is charming as a Santa disillusioned with the greed of the modern world and John Leguizamo plays a fantastic villainous foil with a certain charm of his own. The script is biting and hilarious at times and the action is ferocious and pops off the screen. I loved this movie.

Devotion – It’s really interesting that we got this true story fighter pilot film nearing the end of 2022 as it was the same year that Top Gun Maverick was released and, not only that, it also shares a leading star with Glen Powell who played Hangman in that long-anticipated sequel. Now it goes to a Korean War story featuring the great Jonathan Majors, on blu-ray now the same week as Creed III and just a couple weeks after Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania, both in villain roles. The film tells the story of the friendship between two of the elite pilots in the American air force who are sent on the most dangerous of missions due to their precision strikes. The issue of racism in the leadership is another element of the film obviously with Majors being black and the action looks pretty rip-roaring in ti but it will have to do a lot to best Top Gun. The pandemic really messed this release up as it should have come out two years after the biggest film now of 2022 and I think it, unfortunately, hurt the film’s box office chances which is a total shame because it was a damn good movie.

God’s Country – Thandiwe Newton has been one of the best character actresses in the business for at least a couple of decades now but it was her brilliance in Westworld that made us go “oh yeah!” to a large degree. She can play big but when she is understated, this is where her best work comes out and this slow-burn character drama thriller from first-time feature film writer and director Julian Higgins makes brilliant use of that. Newton plays a grieving college professor who is forced to confront two hunters on her rural property land and gets the authorities involved to keep them away. What starts as a simple but tense confrontation turns into a daily terrorizing as the two enlist their community to push her over the edge and escalate the problem to a dangerous and possibly deadly level. Newton is so stellar in this but it was co-star Jefferson White who grabbed my attention, only known to me for his role on Yellowstone as the ranch hand looking for redemption, Jimmy Hurdstrom. He gets to play into the menacing a bit more in this film and he does it so well plus the final scene does so much heavy lifting with just sound and the audience’s imagination, I couldn’t help but be massively impressed. I think Higgins has a big future in rural thrillers if he makes a niche of it.

Pretty Little Liars Original Sin: Season 1 – There are honestly so many network television shows that I have been picking up on very late into airing or even after the full run of the show and the original series for this spinoff, Pretty Little Liars, was one of them. It was massively popular with a faithful fanbase so it made sense that they would want to keep that magic going and after ingesting all of that first show into my brain via Netflix, I was ready to go for more. Knowing where the money is in the meat of their storytelling, Original Sin brings a whole new mystery to the little liars of Millwood but with an all-new cast of characters and I have to say I appreciate that all the homages and references to other horror and mystery properties seem to be consistent. Although I do miss the old cast, there is a charm to this new series and I’m digging the originality of it, not to get all punny and referential to the subtitle.

The Adventures Of Batman – Warner Brothers sent me this new update of a revamped old Batman series that I can’t even research on IMDb because apparently, it doesn’t exist but what I can say is that it is really a product of its era and Casey Casem voices Robin in it proving that he was the busiest voice over artist with this Scooby Doo and Josie And The Pussycats to name a couple. The plot is really simple, Batman and his sidekick Robin solving mysteries and foiling his rogues’ gallery in some of the cheesiest episodes I have ever seen. Seriously, it makes the live-action series look edgy and Josie and Scooby’s show look more palatable in comparison. It looks good in my Batman collection but I can’t say I will be revisiting it.

Steve’s Blu-Ray Geekouts:

Our Dancing Daughters – Going classic this week as all three films were released years before I was born and we are starting with the oldest one, thanks to the great people at Warner Archive, and it is a film that is five years away from being one hundred years old. It also is a two-time Academy Award-nominated film although it was in the writing and cinematography department. The film follows the legendary and iconic actress Joan Crawford as Diana, a well-put-together girl who works as a flapper with her friend Ann, looking for the love of her life. She finds herself at odds with Ann when the two compete over the affections of Ben, a soon-to-be millionaire and it then comes down to how attractive Diana’s good-girl nature is against Ann’s devious attitude. This is the film that would propel Crawford’s name to the a-list, a path that would lead her to multiple Oscar nominations and even a win but not for a couple of decades. The film also proved to be a massive hit for the studio, MGM, turning a profit six times the amount of its production cost. People really loved this classic and the blu-ray revisit it well put together.

Rancho Notorious – Thi is a really cool release from Warner Archive from the mid-fifties as it features a formidable star of the time, Marlene Dietrich, was a western genre film and came from legendary filmmaker Fritz Lang, the mind behind M and Metropolis just to name a couple. The film was notable for pushing the limits of the MPAA at the time with its depictions and discussion of sexual assault and murder, a theme central to its main plot. The story follows Arthur Kennedy as Vern Haskell, a likable rancher who seeks out to avenge his fiancé’s death when she is slain during a robbery. His revenge leads him to Chuck-a-luck, Altar Keane’s ranch set up to hide criminals where he quickly finds that he may be in over his head. At the time the film was made, Dietrich was considered one of Hollywood’s most glamorous leading ladies and, at fifty years old at the time of filming, used every trick in the book to get lighting and camera to show her youthful side. Disagreements about this creative turn almost lost the film its cinematographer, who contributed to the film’s iconic and celebrated look and style.

Elvis – While everyone is still talking about Austin Butler’s star-making and Academy Award-nominated turn as Elvis Prestley, I went out and bought the Shout Select edition of John Carpenter’s version of the story starring a young Kurt Russell. In their first collaboration and a made-for-television movie at that, it was a must to have all of their films together and this was the last piece in the collection puzzle. Covering the rise of Elvis, the film starts with his early years in Mississippi and Tennessee raised by his parents, Gladys and Vernon, before he forms a partnership with “Colonel” Tom Parker that leads to the release of his first song, “Heartbreak Hotel,” which zooms to the top of the charts. Elvis soon catapults to stardom, marrying the beautiful Priscilla and cementing his legendary status in pop culture. The film has a really interesting cast around Russell including Shelley Winters as his mom, Pat Hingle playing Parker and Kurt’s own father Bing playing the father of the King which is a really neat detail. Being a Carpenter die-hard fan, this was a must-own for me as I continue to buy all of these films in the numbered collection.

Television:

The Mandalorian: Season 3 (Disney+) – The wait is finally over as we get more of the continued adventures of the Mandalorian and his sidekick, the “child” or “Baby Yoda”, Grogu. Every season of this has been absolutely incredible in my mind and, yes, I include the little mini-season of it in the Book Of Boba Fett series which seemed to be paned by a lot of viewers. For those who aren’t fresh to this incredible series, the story follows the travels of a lone masked bounty hunter in the outer reaches of the galaxy, far from the authority of the New Republic, where he takes jobs and completes them with ease until one mission changes the entire trajectory of what he believed his legacy to be. This is another notch on the belt of actor Pedro Pascal who has to be the hottest television actor on the planet right now with this series and the currently running The Last Of Us on HBO. I’m so damn happy this show is back and it is a big reason to look forward to Wednesdays.

What The Hell Should I Watch? – Feb 23

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February 23, 2023

New Releases:

Cocaine Bear – We kicked off the year with a living doll in M3GAN and had Mia Goth give another gonzo performance in Infinity Pool and, now, 2023 is giving us the next installment of horror risk-taking with this piece of insane genre filmmaking which is, believe it or not, inspired by a true story. Judging from the trailer, this looks like a Tarantino-esque ensemble grouping of stories around our titular forest creature and I’m here for every second of it. The film follows an oddball group of cops, criminals, tourists, and teens who converge in a Georgia forest where a five-hundred-pound black bear goes on a murderous rampage after unintentionally ingesting cocaine. Besides the insane premise, this film is notable for being the final completed role of Ray Liotta before his passing last year, so it will be a few bittersweet moments within the carnage. I can’t wait to see how big this film will go as the trailer features some really hilarious and totally out-there stuff. I can’t believe that this is Elizabeth Banks in her follow-up to directing the Charlie’s Angels reboot. That directorial range in my opinion.

We Have A Ghost – Let’s get this clear, if David Harbour is leading a movie, I’m in. This has been a newer development since Stranger Things debuted and it has worked against me, like in Hellboy, but this holiday season he played a kickass Santa in Violent Night and now, well, he’s a ghost. This new film from Freaky and Happy Death Day director Christopher Landon follows a teen named Kevin and his family who move into an old house that has a current inhabitant named Ernest who has been haunting the attic. Immediately deemed a non-threat, Kevin is intent on finding out the mystery about Ernest’s death and ends up forming a friendship along the way in a film that is sweet, charming and a whole lot of fun. This movie could easily come off really cheesy but Landon gives it great self-awareness and a funny script tinged with his fantastic horror prowess to give it a knowing flavour. I enjoyed this film a lot and I hope it finds its audience on Netflix.

Juniper – Veteran actors usually are a good selling point for me in any character study drama and Charlotte Rampling has had a handful of these types of films that I have loved like Swimming Pool and 45 Years. This film is also deeply rooted in the country where it takes place, New Zealand and, like Aussie films, I have a certain affinity for their cinema as well. The film follows a self-destructive teenager spiralling into suicidal thoughts that is asked to look after his ailing grandmother when he is suspended from school. Obtuse to each other at first the two start to bond over each other’s strong will and battle for control over their situations, hers as it dwindles to a close and his as he searches for meaning and a purpose in it. The film is well acted and beautifully shot but I feel like it doesn’t do enough to secure its own singular voice and kind of gets lost in the shuffle of other films like it and dwarfed by ones that are better. I still love the mauri culture that is represented, an indigenous voice that has such a great presence in all New Zealand productions.

Blu-Ray:

Empire Of Light – My initial feeling on this new drama was that it seemed like the perfect pairing to put acclaimed filmmaker Sam Mendes and Academy Award-winning actress Olivia Colman together for a story loosely based around cinema, or at least the holy temple for movie fans, the theatre. Add to that the film nerd panache of the legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins shooting it and you have all the makings of a Steve-certified favourite. The story is set in a small English coastal town in the early 1980s and follows a cinema manager struggling with her mental health and her new employee who longs to escape the provincial town where he faces daily adversity as a black man in England. Together they find a sense of belonging and experience the healing power of companionship in the quiet solitude of the closed-down section of the Empire Theater where they work in. Olivia Colman gives another astounding performance that hit runs the gamut of emotions, proving her grit as a character actress once again. I’m in awe of every beautiful shot that Deakins created in this film and still find myself surprised that it scored so low with critics as I really loved it.

The Inspection – It’s a telling sign that I got a tingle up my spine when I saw the A24 logo because, as usual, I knew I’d be seeing something special, either incredibly personal, definitely resonant and something that no other huge studio would take a chance on. That said, so much of this film was unknown to me. I didn’t know who Jeremy Pope is as I don’t watch Pose (yet), I was unfamiliar with writer and director Elegance Bratton and I didn’t know anything about the plot itself other than being a military story. A semi-autobiographical story from Bratton, the film follows a young, gay Black man who has been rejected by his mother and, with few options for his future, decides to join the Marines, doing whatever it takes to succeed in a system that would cast him aside. The character building of this film is so fantastic and this isn’t just focused on our main lead as the squad around him seems to grow and develop alongside him. The command Bratton observes in just his first feature is that of a creator who has been running this film in his mind for a long time. I also have to acknowledge how incredible Gabrielle Union is in this as the main’s homophobic mother.

Nocebo – I always love a good Shudder original and know that no horror films appeared in last week’s list, so I’m overdue. This film also has the added gravitas of having the incredibly alluring Eva Green in the lead role and Mark Strong as her husband, a definite favourite of mine, all to make a film that definitely borrows in its tone from the Italian giallo style. Green plays a fashion designer who is suffering from a mysterious illness that puzzles her doctors and frustrates her husband until help arrives in the form of a Filipino carer, who uses traditional folk healing to try and cure her ailment. Director Lorcan Finnegan really surprised me with his last film, the thriller Vivarium with Jesse Eisenberg which had a “blink and you miss it” release during the pandemic and this follow-up has a lot of those same qualities that made that one work but with a bit of a disturbing edge to it. The ending was a bit divisive for me but it was still a really thrilling ride. 

Dazed And Confused 4K – I know I’ve talked about this film a few times here but the 4K is out this week so I revisit it once again. Richard Linklater is a Criterion giant so for this to be my first of his films to own in the format is pretty poetic because it was the first one of his films I had ever seen and it is an all-time favourite and one that hits the same every time I watch it. The film is also the launching point for a huge cast including Matthew McCougnehey, Rory Cochrane, Adam Goldberg, Milla Jovovich, Parker Posey and so many more. The film is a seminal last day of high school classic set at the end of the 1976 school year in a Texan small town. The upperclassmen are hazing the incoming freshmen, and everyone is trying to get stoned, drunk, or laid, even the football players that signed a pledge not to, an act of rebellion from our quasi-lead Pink, played by Jason London. This is one of those tent pole movies in the mid-nineties that still finds itself being discovered by generation after generation because that is how good and relatable it is. There is a damn good reason why it is a part of this prestigious collection.

Steve’s Blu-Ray Geekouts:

The Dentist Collection – Most people know actor Corbin Bernson as a television actor from his days on the David E. Kelley series L.A. Law but for me, it was, firstly, the first two Major League movies and then these shlocky horror films that followed in the footsteps of his co-star Larry Drake’s hilarious thriller Dr. Giggles. Yes, over-the-top gags, dumb one-liners and that classic nineties cheese make these movies so much fun to watch and it all came from director Brian Yuzna, one of the minds behind Re-Animator as well as the iconic Society. The first film follows Bernsen’s Dr. Feinstone, an extremely successful dentist who goes off the deep end after he catches his wife cheating on him while the second film has him freshly escaped from the mental hospital where he has been since being caught at the end of part one. Of course, the second movie tries t up the ante a bit but it does so by getting totally insane in dream sequences and an abundance of gore. These will only appeal to a certain audience but those people will enjoy the blu-ray upgrade as I do.

Bones And All – Is it weird that Luca Guadagnino made a film about cannibals just a few years after his award lauded drama Call Me By Your Name which starred now-outed weirdo Armie Hammer? I’m definitely not the first to bring that connection up but even so, I’ve been really excited to get my eyes on this new collaboration between the Italian director and his star, Timothee Chalamet. The film is the story of first love between Maren, a young woman learning how to survive on the margins of society, and Lee, an intense and disenfranchised drifter, as they meet and join together for a thousand-mile odyssey which takes them through the back roads, hidden passages and other trappings of a Ronald Reagan era America. Oh, I also have to mention that they both have an incredible and undeniable urge to eat human flesh, another element that bonds them but inadvertently puts them on the path of like-minded but dangerous individuals. This film may go down as one of the most underrated films of 2022, a story rich with brilliant character work from two young actors in Taylor Russell and Chalamet as well as some career-best stuff from Academy Award winner Mark Rylance and another scene-stealer for one solitary moment by another one of Luca’s favourites, Michael Stuhlbarg. This movie is going to be one that is re-evaluated in the future and we will realize that we did it dirty for sure.

Television:

Party Down: Season 3 (Crave) – This is a show that I heard a lot about before and never gave it a chance for unknown reasons. It just was an unnecessary blindspot as it has actors I love with Adam Scott Ken Marino, Ryan Hansen, Jane Lynch, Martin Starr and Lizzy Caplan so when the new season was announced it gave me an opportunity to correct my mistake. Originally debuting in 2009, the series focuses on a group of wannabe actors and writers who work their day job as part of a catering company. After burning through most of the first season already, I’m kicking myself for not supporting this show earlier as it is hysterically funny and definitely my type of humour. So many great guest stars feature in this and it is a show that definitely shouldn’t have been cancelled after season two initially.

The Reluctant Traveler (AppleTV+) – When Schitt’s Creek made its farewell, the question on people’s minds was mostly relegated to what is next for Daniel Levy and Annie Murphy because Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara have already done so much in their careers so whatever was next was just icing on a fantastic career cake. Well, I will say that a travel show for Eugene wasn’t a prediction for me but here we are. This new docuseries follows the adventures of the Canadian comedy legend as he visits some of the world’s most remarkable hotels, as well as explores the people, places and cultures starting with Finland in the opening episode that features all of that charm and nervous reservation that Levy exudes so easily. I’m not generally into shows like this but I can’t resist a good host and that is their strength here in a show that would be pretty bland otherwise.

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