884 Best Film & TV Releases Translated Into Japanese
The Decameron
SimilarAll or Nothing at All, Faith, Finland Papa, Henry and Anne: The Lovers Who Changed History, Martín Rivas, Million Dollar Babies, Nuremberg,
Pride and Prejudice The Long Night, The Pillars of the Earth, Tracker, Twist of Fate, Warera ga Paradise, You Touched My Heart,
To say creator Kathleen Jordan’s adaptation of The Decameron is loose is to enjoy the gift of significant understatement. The source material, an Italian collection of 100 tales “told” to one another by ten characters, was a kind of Canterbury Tales for the plague set. Or, more accurately, Tales was a Decameron for the Brits. The Italian work, after all, has about 50 years on Chaucer’s book. While the TV series does gather ten characters together, initially to celebrate the arranged wedding of Pampinea (Zosia Mamet) and Leonardo (Davy Eduard King), then to try to ride out the Bubonic, it largely ditches the tale-telling.
In its place is a satirical take on today’s class inequalities smuggled onto screen under the veil of a period black comedy. While likely conceived of during or in the wake of COVID’s darkest early days, the tones and themes update nicely to now. It does not reflect our modern situation as literally as it did in, say, April 2020. Nonetheless, it smartly captures how certain global tragedies cannot be dodged and how the rich and powerful will still try at the cost of the larger society. If only it landed its jokes as well.
Zosia Mamet and Saoirse-Monica Jackson learn the importance of decanting from Jessica Plummer. (Giulia Parmigiani/Netflix)
It isn’t for lack of talent. Tanya Reynolds—so good in Sex Education—proves she deserves a bigger stage, stepping into one of the lead roles as the handmaiden Licisca. She finds herself tethered to the vain and selfish Filomena (Jessica Plummer) as they journey to Leonardo’s estate. How the kind and socially conscious member of the servant class evolves in isolation as she tastes luxury and power for the first time is genuinely interesting and well-acted by Reynolds. A scene where she goes from faking kindness to the hypochondriac aristocrat Tindaro (Douggie McMeekin) to genuinely delight with him feels wonderfully organic and honest. Continue Reading →
Lady in the Lake
SimilarA Menina Sem Qualidades, A Touch of Frost, About a Boy,
Agatha Christie's Poirot Better Man, Bleak House, Blood Ties, Bodies, Brides of Christ, Dangerous Liaisons, Die Wölfe, Emily of New Moon, Faith, Henry and Anne: The Lovers Who Changed History, Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway, Kakuriyo -Bed & Breakfast for Spirits-, Little Birds,
M*A*S*H Martín Rivas, Meteor, Million Dollar Babies, Monarch of the Glen, Murder Most Horrid, Number Woman Gye Sook Ja, Nuremberg,
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Piece of Cake, Platform 7, PLUTO, Pope John Paul II,
Pride and Prejudice Prom Pissawat, Quatermass II, Queer as Folk, Rencana Besar, Resurrection,
Sherlock Holmes Sweetbitter, Taken,
Tales from the Neverending Story Tales of the South Seas, The Boy Next World, The Cicada's Eighth Day, The French Atlantic Affair, The Keepers, The Long Night,
The Lost World The Loyal Pin, The Pillars of the Earth, The Rotters' Club, The Storm, To Kill a Cop, Twist of Fate, Vanished 46, War and Peace, We Are, White Teeth,
Wycliffe You Touched My Heart, Young Catherine,
For a show set in the mid-1960s, Lady in the Lake explores a basketful of issues relevant to today. From nearly 60 years in our past, it echoes modern “concerns” of all stripes. For example, characters range from dubious to outright hostile to the idea of Maddie (Natalie Portman) working as a journalist or Ferdie Platt (Y’lan Noel) becoming the first black detective in Baltimore. It doesn’t take much to see how that connects with today’s handwringing over DEI—bigotry dressed up to look like worries about the “most deserving person” getting the job. That the most deserving always seems to be a white man, in such concerned citizens’ opinions, is just a coincidence, no doubt.
Also spotlighted in Lady in the Lake are questions about women’s autonomy over their own bodies, grooming, legalized gambling, antisemitism, and politicians throwing over the people that got them elected for “respectability”. Homophobia, stranger danger, and the ramifications of untreated childhood trauma also receive small but prominent moments of attention.
Moses Ingram's too good to get lost in this series' chaos so often. (AppleTV+)
If that sounds like a lot for a television series to tackle in a single seven-episode season, well, it is. As a result, the show frequently —particularly the first two to three episodes—lapses into a sort of controlled but still frantic chaos. In its efforts, led by creator Alma Har’el, to wrap its arms around everything it wants to be about, the viewer can feel battered by incidents. The series’ occasional dalliances with hallucination and visual metaphor don’t help in this regard. They’re fascinating for certain. The sixth installment’s near episode-length exploration of Maddie’s psyche stands out as a season-high. However, they also sometimes make it overly difficult for the audience to find solid footing in the narrative. Lady in the Lake’s ambition is worthy of praise, but that doesn’t necessarily translate into good television. Continue Reading →
Me
SimilarBlack Butler, D.N.Angel,
Eureka Seven I'm a Virgo, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Trickster,
StudioApple Studios,
As metaphors for one’s tweens and early teens, a superpower that changes your body, often without your control or knowledge, and leaves you questioning who you truly are at any given moment isn’t exactly subtle. But when it comes to chronicling the travails of middle school, perhaps subtlety isn’t the best way to approach the problem anyway. It’s the metaphor Ben (Lucian-River Chauhan) finds himself living as a seventh grader in Me.
At school, he’s the new kid, an easy target for Jason (Brock Duncan), the bully who positively bristles with overcompensation. At home, he’s a visitor trying to become a resident as he and his mom, Elizabeth (Dilshad Vadsaria), move in with his stepdad Phil (Kyle Howard) and older stepsister Max (Abigail Pniowsky). His father is nowhere to be seen and quickly dismissed when mentioned. Max’s mom is a constant presence, even if it is usually just by mention. Then, one morning, Ben wakes up looking like Max’s friend (Jeremiah Friedlander). Like the mutants of Marvel’s X-Men, his superpower has kicked in just as adolescence is gearing up.
"What do you mean, we aren't allowed to say cap?" demanded Kyle Howard and Dilshad Vadsaria. (AppleTV+)
That bit might resemble the lives of Cyclops of Jean Grey, but in most other ways, Me feels a lot more like a junior version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the Gen Alpha set. Like Buffy’s Slayer mantel, Ben’s shapeshifting abilities become a gateway to a far stranger and more dangerous world existing just under the surface of his new home. And just like that series, Me plays best when it focuses on the growing pains of adolescence. Continue Reading →
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (In Japanese: ビバリーヒルズ・コップ: アクセル・フォーリー)
SimilarAmélie (2001), Armageddon (1998), Barton Fink (1991), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), Blue Velvet (1986), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Cape Fear (1991), Chinatown (1974), Die Hard (1988),
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) Fallen (1998), Freedom Writers (2007), Garden State (2004), Go (1999), Gone Baby Gone (2007), I ♥ Huckabees (2004), Ice Age (2002), Insomnia (2002), Italian for Beginners (2000),
Jackie Brown (1997) Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Klute (1971), Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), Lethal Weapon 4 (1998),
Live Free or Die Hard (2007) Mary Poppins (1964) Men in Black (1997), Men in Black II (2002), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005), Muriel's Wedding (1994), Natural Born Killers (1994), Night on Earth (1991), Oldboy (2003), On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Pretty Woman (1990), Saw (2004), Se7en (1995), Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014), Stolen (2024),
Strange Days (1995) Street Kings (2008), Swimming Pool (2003), The Bone Collector (1999), The Karate Kid (1984), The Long Goodbye (1973),
The Party (1980) The Party 2 (1982) Transamerica (2005), True Romance (1993),
Early on in the proceedings of the long-gestating Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F, an actual Beverly Hills cop, looks over files chronicling Axel Foley’s previous visits to the city of glitz and glamor. The officer remarks, “94–not your finest year,” a clear shot at the dismal Beverly Hills Cop 3. Ironically, as bad as it was, 3 feels like a near-masterpiece compared to Axel F. This installment is a wheezy, depressing collection of franchise tropes that have long exhausted their comedic value. Eddie Murphy delivers one of the more listless performances in a career that has been, to put it politely, uneven. It somehow pulls off the seemingly impossible task of making Bad Boys: Ride or Die seem vital and cutting-edge.
This time, our hero continues to cause chaos as a Detroit cop, chasing crooks through the streets in a snowplow in the opener. Almost immediately, he’s once again summoned to Beverly Hills when he learns that his estranged daughter Jane (Taylor Paige) is receiving death threats. As a defense lawyer, her current case, involving an accused cop killer and possible police corruption, has apparently upset some dangerous people. Axel teams up with Jane and her former flame, the honest cop Det. Bobby Abbott (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) to investigate the threats. It isn’t exactly Chinatown in its complexity, though. The bad guy, corrupt top cop Capt. Grant (Kevin Bacon) essentially announces his villainy the minute he appears. Cue the alleged wackiness.
Villain or not, Kevin Bacon has that jawline. (Netflix)
The original Beverly Hills Cop was not a particularly great film, an often-uneasy fusion of violent cop thriller and comedy. But it did effectively milk its basic fish-out-of-water premise with a just ascending to superstar status Murphy. At this point, however, that premise has long since been milked dry. Former outsider Axel is now such a fixture in these posh surroundings that I suspect there’s a sandwich named after him at Nate’N Al’s. Continue Reading →
Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears
So it’s fairly obvious that the first two seasons of The Bear had a whole birth/death thing going on. The show opens in the aftermath of the shocking and abrupt suicide of Mikey Berzotto (John Bernthal), and the first season charts the slow, inevitable death of his restaurant, The Beef, under the stewardship of his little brother Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and best friend Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). The second follows the birth of The Bear, the new restaurant that rises from the ashes of The Beef, as well as the blossoming of many of its employees from a sloppy blue-collar crew to a careful, refined, highly efficient team. And Carmy flirted with birthing a life outside the kitchen through his relationship with old-flame-from-back-in-the-day Claire (Molly Gordon).
But while the first season ended in pretty unambiguous triumph when Carmy, Richie, and the rest of the Beef staff were suddenly flush with cash and a plan for the future, season two ends on a significantly darker note. The Bear manages to open its doors on time and have a successful opening night, but Carmy’s relationships with Richie and Claire are in tatters—casualties of Carmy’s rage and anxiety. There was a kind of dry run for the catastrophe that closed the end of season two near the end of the first. Carmy loses his shit, breaks a bunch of stuff, yells, and alienates pretty much everyone. But the final episode brought them all back together, stronger than ever. Carmy is what George Costanza would describe as a “delicate genius,” ferociously gifted but intense and unpredictable. To work with him is to warm yourself by the raging fire of his mind while trying to avoid getting burned by the constant sparks and flares that burst from it.
“THE BEAR” — “Tomorrow” — Season 3, Episode 1 (Airs Thursday, June 27th) — Pictured: Jeremy Allen White as Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto. CR: FX.
The show did an elegant job pacing Carmy’s assholeishness with revelations about his past home and professional life. He grew up in a single-parent home with an alcoholic, mentally unwell mother, prone to fits of rage and depression. He worked under a monstrously critical chef while he was coming up, who criticized and undermined everything he did. These revelations are for the audience, not necessarily the other characters in the show. So when Carmy melts down in a fit of panic and self-loathing on opening night, we know it’s informed by his hyper-tense childhood and abusive mentor. But the people who work under him don’t. Some know parts, but no one knows everything. And it’s harder for them to understand.Now we come to season three, and the completely reasonable expectation is that it will open much like season one closed. Having learned a valuable lesson, Carmy will gather the crew back together, apologize, and things will return to normal in the kitchen. Oh, it might take a little longer for some of them to come around than others, but everything will work itself out. Except it doesn’t. Because while the first two seasons were concerned with birth and death, the third is a lot more about life. And the thing about life is that it’s its own thing, separate from birth and death. They’re related, obviously, but life is also a distinct thing in ways that birth and death are not. Continue Reading →
Sunny
Similar'Allo 'Allo!, 'Cause You're My Boy, A Dance to the Music of Time, A Gentleman in Moscow, A Menina Sem Qualidades, A Touch of Frost, A Very English Scandal, About a Boy, Addicted Heroin, Advokát ex offo, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York,
Agatha Christie's Poirot All in the Family, Americká tragédia, Anna Karenina, Arn: The Knight Templar, Arthur Hailey's The Moneychangers, Babel, Backstrom, Be with You, Black Raven, Blood Ties, Blossoms Shanghai, Bodies, Boy Swallows Universe, Catterick, Dangerous Liaisons, Deep Night, Devil in Ohio,
Dexter Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves, Emily of New Moon, Fatherhood, Finland Papa, From Scratch, Fushigi Dagashiya: Zenitendou, Game of Thrones,
Gossip Girl Harlan Coben's Shelter, Hello Anne: Before Green Gables, Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway, I Feel You Linger in the Air, If Tomorrow Comes, Jesus, Kakuriyo -Bed & Breakfast for Spirits-, Kiss Me First, Kita Yoshio's Tomorrow, Lady Chatterley, Little Birds, Love in the Big City, Love Sea,
M*A*S*H Magpie Murders, Martín Rivas, Mayfair Witches, Memorial de Maria Moura, Monarch of the Glen, Monsieur Spade, Mother Is Wrong, Murder Most Horrid, My Hero Series, My Lovely Boxer, Nero Wolfe i Archie Goodwin, New Amsterdam, Nice Work, Nuremberg,
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Os Maias, Our Secret, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Perfect Love, Perry Mason, Piece of Cake,
Planet of the Apes Platform 7, PLUTO, Portrét Doriana Graya,
Pride and Prejudice Prom Pissawat, Ramon y Cajal, Rencana Besar, Resurrection, Rivals, Santa Evita, Shangri-La, Shangri-La Frontier,
Sherlock Holmes Shining Girls, Sinking Spring, Soul Land, Stavy rachotí, Stranded, Supreme God Emperor, Sweetbitter,
Tales from the Neverending Story Tales of the South Seas, The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, The Bourne Identity, The Boy Next World, The Cicada's Eighth Day, The Echo, The End of Love, The Flatshare, The Girls on the Bus, The Journey of Chongzi, The Last Convertible, The Little Drummer Girl,
The Lost World The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, The Night Sister, The Old Man, The Pillars of the Earth, The Prey, The Rector's Wife, The Red Sleeve, The Rhinemann Exchange, The Rotters' Club,
The Shining The Sign, The Sun Also Rises, The Venture Bros., To Kill a Cop, Tracker, Transformation, Trickster, Under the Bridge, Vanished 46, War and Peace, Warera ga Paradise, We Are, We Rent Tsukumogami, When Heroes Fly, White Teeth, Wimarn Din, Wolf Pack,
Wycliffe Yonder, You, You Touched My Heart,
About fifteen years ago, an era of “complicated” protagonists ruled the television landscape. These anti-heroes—Walter White, Don Draper—were the sort of people one wouldn’t associate in their day-to-day life. Safely sealed in a flat screen, though, and viewers couldn’t get enough of them. It was a glorious time to be unlikable on TV. Still, as Erik Kain pointed out, it was an honor almost entirely reserved for men. Sunny is a late-arriving corrective, centering a fully complex and often unlikable Rashida Jones.
As Suzi, Jones ditches nearly everything that makes her an on-screen appealing presence in the likes of The Office and Parks and Recreation. She also flattens the traits that make her stand out as a character worthy of empathy in projects like Silo and On the Rocks. In place of those, she offers a dead-eyed stare that only sparks to life when castigating her mother-in-law Noriko (Judy Ongg), random bureaucrats, and, of course, the titular android Sunny (voiced by Joanna Sotomura).
Rashida Jones does not, and this can't be stressed enough, have time for this nonsense. (AppleTV+)
It isn’t like she doesn’t have cause for anger and the thousand-mile gaze. As the opening minutes reveal, Suzi has justy lost her husband Masa (Hidetoshi Nishijima) and son in a plane crash. However, as the series unfolds, it becomes clear Suzi can’t blame her unpleasantness entirely on grief. As revealed in flashbacks, she’s been hard-drinking and foul-mouthed for some time. Additionally, although partially owed to her dyslexia, she wields her failure to learn nearly any Japanese like a cudgel. It is yet another tool for holding the world at bay. That world includes, often, her spouse. Of course, his own drinking and pile of secrets hardly made him an ideal partner either. Continue Reading →
WondLa
Similar3rd Rock from the Sun, A Discovery of Witches, Be with You,
Caprica Crusade D.N.Angel, Dark Skies,
Doctor Who Duck Dodgers,
Eureka Seven Evergreen, Fatherhood, First Wave, Fushigi Dagashiya: Zenitendou, Game of Thrones, Halo: The Fall of Reach, Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway, I Feel You Linger in the Air,
Justice League Kakuriyo -Bed & Breakfast for Spirits-, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, Kamichu!, Kiss Me First, Mayfair Witches, Mobile Cop Jiban, Mystery Science Theater 3000, One Step Toward Freedom, Out of This World, Percy Jackson and the Olympians,
Planet of the Apes Prom Pissawat, Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon,
Red Dwarf Resurrection, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Ronja the Robber's Daughter, Samurai Jack, Sentimental Journey, Shangri-La, Soul Land, Space Precinct,
Star Trek Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,
Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Voyager Star Wars: Droids, Stargate Atlantis, Supreme God Emperor, Taken,
Tales from the Neverending Story Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The 100, The Cicada's Eighth Day, The Head, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, The Journey of Chongzi, The Mysterious Benedict Society,
The Sarah Jane Adventures The Shining The Sign, The Tatami Time Machine Blues, The Venture Bros., The Wallflower, Threshold,
Torchwood Trickster, Ultraman, Ultraseven, Vanished 46, Voltes V: Legacy, We Rent Tsukumogami, Wimarn Din, Wolf Pack, Yonder,
There’s no honest way to say WondLa looks ugly or uninteresting. The environs, in particular, make wonderful use of gentle pastels broken by sharp primary colors to create a world both beautiful and utterly alien (no pun intended) to our protagonist, Eva (Jeanine Mason). But visually attractive isn’t the same as unique or arresting. Sadly, once one begins to scratch the show’s surface, it reveals many all-too-familiar elements. Sometimes, it is just a general sense of the thing. At others, it is nearly one-to-one. For example, Eva’s first otherworldly ally, Otto (Brad Garrett), is a furry talkative sibling to Raya and The Last Dragon’s Tuk Tuk.
Similar design elements are typically easy to accept for this critic, provided the story utilizing them offers enough to chew on. It is here that WondLa truly stumbles. A collection of other “coming of age” and “humanity’s end” stories’ greatest hits, the series never offers something fresh enough to get its audience to sit up and take notice. A collection of strong voice work, including Teri Hatcher—who has proven herself a real voice talent asset over the years—is further hamstrung because the voices come from mostly thinly sketched characters.
Sarah Hollis and Jeanine Mason love your new look. (AppleTV+)
In some unnumbered future year, Eva is the only child living in a vast underground bunker known as a Sanctuary. Her only true companionship is a robot surrogate parent, Muthr, who sees to the child’s physical—and, with time, inevitably—emotional needs. When Eva turns six, she—and the audience—learns she is part of a program to “save” humans from themselves. Under the direction of Cadmus Pryde (Alan Tudyk in a rare straightforward voice performance), the dwindling human populace built an array of Sanctuaries. In each, a robot raised children until the planet healed from the various environmental catastrophes and violent conflicts people visited upon it. When the Earth is ready and the children properly trained, they will be released to the surface to re-establish society and maybe treat each other and their planet right this time. Continue Reading →
Joko Anwar's Nightmares and Daydreams
Joko Anwar is no stranger to telling stories that serve as a mirror reflecting Indonesia’s sociopolitical situation. In his folk horror Impetigore, he delves into the topics of poverty and the abuse of power, while his superhero flick Gundala tackles the theme of mass hysteria. It is no surprise that in his 7-episode anthology Netflix series Nightmares and Daydreams, he portrays various everyday situations from his homeland, touching on issues like the struggle of being in a sandwich generation and systemic challenges faced by Indonesian society. Through his distinct narrative style, Anwar confronts pressing issues with a blend of supernatural intrigue and science fiction. In each episode, the show immerses us in compelling tales that not only entertain but provoke thought.
Set between the years 1985 and 2024, the series chronicles the experiences of everyday individuals in Jakarta who encounter peculiar phenomena while simultaneously navigating their struggles. While each episode focuses on different characters, the events depicted throughout the season are interconnected and gradually reveal something more sinister.
In our recent conversation with Anwar, he shed light on the inspirations behind Nightmares and Daydreams. From the show's inception to the intricacies of character development, Anwar's meticulous attention to detail underscores his commitment to crafting narratives that resonate on multiple levels. Moreover, his fascination with the aliens adds an intriguing layer to the series, sparking discussions among the audience. Continue Reading →
Thelma (In Japanese: テルマ)
SimilarAntonia's Line (1995), Bad Education (2004), Barton Fink (1991), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), Cars (2006), Catwoman (2004), Children of Men (2006), D.E.B.S. (2005), Die Hard (1988), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Frida (2002), Garden State (2004), Go (1999), Heavenly Creatures (1994), Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), Lethal Weapon 4 (1998),
Live Free or Die Hard (2007) May (2003), Mulholland Drive (2001), Night on Earth (1991), Notes on a Scandal (2006), Pretty Woman (1990), Silent Hill (2006), Snakes on a Plane (2006), Taxi Driver (1976), Terminator Salvation (2009), The Big Lebowski (1998), The Dark Knight (2008), The Elementary Particles (2006), The Karate Kid (1984), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Poseidon Adventure (1972), To Die For (1995), Transamerica (2005), True Romance (1993), Werckmeister Harmonies (2001), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988),
“How could Zuckembourg let this happen?” Thelma (June Squibb) stammers at the police officer trying to make out a report. Though her loyal grandson, Daniel (Fred Hechinger), assures her that Mark Zuckerberg had nothing to do with this, someone needs to be held responsible. She’s been the victim of a scam, convinced to drain her bank account for a fake emergency, and now it’s payback time—literally.
Writer/Director John Margolin’s Thelma is an endlessly thrilling action film that moves at its own speed. Clearly a loving student of the genre, Margolin uses the standard beats of an action film but on a much more senior scale. The chase scenes feel familiar; they just occur on mobility scooters. Working in tandem with the film’s composer, Nick Chuba, the filmmaker uses thumping action-thriller cues and whirling camerawork to give even the opening of a handicapped door a sense of life-or-death excitement. In some ways, simple falls are honestly more perilous for the 94-year-old protagonist. By using perfectly placed musical themes that feel archetypal to the action film, Thelma puts in her hearing aids like its Mission Impossible tech. Clearing pop-ups feels like hacking the mainframe.
June Squibb sets the tone for the whole film, which appears delicate but still full of hardscrabble tenacity, just like her character. There’s no stopping Thelma when she has an errand. We can say the same of Squibb in every scene she’s in. Thelma begins the story as a victim, but by the end, Squibb has straightened her spine and takes aim at the resolution with full guns blazing. Though people are constantly telling her character that she’s fragile, Squibb is always the center of gravity, not pulling focus but creating an orbit for her colleagues to perform and find the space to play. Continue Reading →
Fancy Dance (In Japanese: ファンシー・ダンス)
SimilarA Real Young Girl (1976), Antonia's Line (1995), Awakenings (1990),
Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Blood and Chocolate (2007),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), City of God (2002), Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), Copying Beethoven (2006), Desert Hearts (1985), Italian for Beginners (2000), Lolita (1997), Lords of Dogtown (2005),
Lost in Translation (2003) Michael (1996), Monsoon Wedding (2001), Monster (2003), My Life Without Me (2003), My Own Private Idaho (1991), Night on Earth (1991), Oldboy (2003), Sleepless in Seattle (1993), Stand by Me (1986),
Strange Days (1995) The Straight Story (1999),
Watch afterBarbie (2023) Dune: Part Two (2024), Killers of the Flower Moon (2023),
Oppenheimer (2023) Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), The Equalizer 3 (2023), The Menu (2022),
One of Fancy Dance’s most tender moments takes place in a place one wouldn’t normally associate with personal epiphanies. After glancing at a swarm of convenience store bathroom graffiti, teenager Roki (Isabel Deroy-Olson) sees an opportunity. Taking out a marker, she scribbles “Roki was here” in her native Cayuga language on the wall. It’s one of many instances in Fancy Dance of characters finding little ways to reinforce their presence even when they’re not physically around. Roki clings to trinkets, including a ritzy jacket associated with her missing mother. Performers at a major Powwow event dance to commemorate dead or lost loved ones.
This thematic motif is extra important given that Roki, like nearly all of Fancy Dance’s principal characters, hails from the Seneca–Cayuga Nation Reservation in Oklahoma. The norm in America is to erase Indigenous lives. Their children are stolen. Homes are wiped out. Cultures are suppressed. The figures on screen here find countless ways to refute that erasure. Such rebellion even manifests through something as small as convenience store bathroom graffiti.
Before Roki writes that fateful piece of graffiti, she’s living a quiet life with her aunt Jax (Lily Gladstone). With Roki’s mom missing for weeks now, Jax is the only parent this teenager has. She seems the only one concerned about that vanished lady, given how little effort law enforcement has put into finding her. Unfortunately, Jax’s criminal record from years past leads to the state deeming her unsuitable to be Roki’s guardian. This surrogate mother/daughter duo is now destined to be separated. In the process, this adolescent would also leave behind her reservation's home and culture. Continue Reading →
Inside Out 2 (In Japanese: インサイド・ヘッド2)
SimilarA Bug's Life (1998), Aladdin (1992), Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), Armageddon (1998), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), Back to the Future Part II (1989),
Back to the Future Part III (1990) Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Billy Elliot (2000), Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan (2006),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Bride of Re-Animator (1990), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Bring It On (2000), Brother Bear (2003), Cars (2006), Chicken Little (2005), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dirty Dancing (1987), Edward Scissorhands (1990), F9 (2021), Fame (2009), Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Free Willy (1993), Frozen 3 (), Ghostbusters (1984), Good Luck Chuck (2007), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), I ♥ Huckabees (2004), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Jaws: The Revenge (1987), Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), Lethal Weapon 4 (1998),
Live and Let Die (1973) Look Who's Talking (1989),
Lost in Translation (2003) Mamma Mia! (2008),
Mary Poppins (1964) Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous (2005), Moulin Rouge! (2001), Night at the Museum (2006), Ocean's Eleven (1960), Oldboy (2003), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007), Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Shrek 2 (2004),
Shrek the Third (2007) Snakes on a Plane (2006), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Superman Returns (2006), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), The Jungle Book 2 (2003), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), The Simpsons Movie (2007), The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2005), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009),
StudioWalt Disney Pictures,
Save for that movie where Larry the Cable Guy supposedly urinated in public, Pixar sequels are rarely terrible. Finding Dory, Incredibles 2, and Monsters University are vastly preferable to the average Minions or Hotel Transylvania follow-up. Even Cars 3 wrung more pathos than expected out of its ill-conceived universe. The greatest problem with these sequels has been that they’re merely competent. They’re serviceable watches, but many are safe retreads of the familiar. Risks are minimal, idiosyncratic animation flourishes are scarce.
When absorbing these follow-ups, it's hard not to yearn for more challenging original Pixar titles like Turning Red, Ratatouille, or WALL-E. Still, details like the unexpected third-act detour of Monsters University or the charming new characters in Finding Dory are absent from your standard Ice Age or Illumination sequels. If we must live in this franchise-dominated pop culture landscape, Pixar has delivered more hits than most. Goodness knows the Toy Story sequels are outright masterpieces of long-form cinematic storytelling.
The newest example of the label’s pleasant, if far from groundbreaking, sequels, is Inside Out 2. Directed by Kelsey Mann (a new feature film helmer taking over for previous director Pete Docter), the sequel expands on the world of Riley’s mind established in 2015’s Inside Out. Continue Reading →
Ultraman: Rising
SimilarAladdin (1992), Alice Through the Looking Glass (2016), Armageddon (1998), Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), Batman (1989), Batman & Robin (1997), Batman Begins (2005), Batman Forever (1995), Batman Returns (1992), Brother Bear (2003), Cars (2006), Catwoman (2004), Cellular (2004), Charlotte's Web (2006), Chicken Little (2005), Constantine (2005), Dawn of the Dead (2004), Deadpool 2 (2018), Dr. No (1962), F9 (2021), Fantastic Four (2005), Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019), Four Brothers (2005), From Russia with Love (1963), Ghost Rider (2007), Godzilla (1998), Godzilla Raids Again (1955), Goldfinger (1964), Hellboy (2004), Ice Age (2002), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Inspector Gadget (1999), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), King Kong (2005), Meet the Robinsons (2007), Men in Black (1997), Men in Black II (2002), Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), Night at the Museum (2006), Shrek (2001), Shrek 2 (2004),
Shrek the Third (2007) Snakes on a Plane (2006), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Superman Returns (2006), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Crow: Salvation (2000), The Dark Knight (2008), The Legend of Zorro (2005), The Matrix Reloaded (2003), The Matrix Revolutions (2003), The Simpsons Movie (2007), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), You Only Live Twice (1967),
Watch afterRaya and the Last Dragon (2021),
StudioNetflix,
Big old monster brawls are a delight. They're one of the great pleasures of the Ultra series, the Eiji Tsuburaya-created science fiction series that's brought joy to folks worldwide for 58 years and counting. While the series kicked off with the monster mystery series Ultra Q in 1966, it was Ultraman (launched in July of that year, shortly after Ultra Q wrapped), the tale of a benevolent alien superhero who lived among humanity and fought aliens, giants, and giant aliens alongside a human Science Team (in capital letters).
In the decades since Ultraman broke out, the series has proven flexible. It's first and foremost a kids' superhero show, but it's made space for experimentation and idiosyncrasy. See, for example, the great Shinji Higuchi and Hideaki Anno's 2022 film Shin Ultraman, a loving tribute to and riff on the original 1966 series that embraces kaiju wrestling and contemplation of humanity's place in the cosmos equally. Or, heck, head back to 1966 and dig into the episodes of the original series directed by acclaimed filmmaker Akio Jissoji.
At its best, the new animated feature Ultraman Rising proves the strength of the Ultra series' core ideas—right good monster mashing mixed with a journey into humanity—with loveliness and style. Unfortunately, it's not at its best often enough to clinch the game. Rising is a messy, disjointed picture. Continue Reading →
The Boys
SimilarAlias, Arrow, B: The Beginning, Bad and Crazy, Bad Guys: Vile City, Batfink, Batman, Batman Beyond, Batman: The Animated Series, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, Birds of Prey, Black Butler, Black Scorpion, Brave Beats, Captain Midnight, Captain Star, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Constantine: City of Demons, Dead Boy Detectives, Doom Patrol, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, Eternal Faith, Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes, Fantastic Man,
Flash Gordon Freedom Fighters: The Ray, GARO, Gekisou Sentai Carranger, GoGo Sentai Boukenger, Golden Bat, Gosei Sentai Dairanger, Happiness Charge Precure!, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, HUGtto! Precure, I'm a Virgo, Inazuman, Japanese Spiderman,
Justice League Kamen Rider, Kamen Rider Black Sun, Kamen Rider Jeanne & Kamen Rider Aguilera with Girls Remix, Kamen Rider Outsiders, Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, Kinnikuman Perfect Origin Arc, Legacies, Longing Heart, Loonatics Unleashed, Madan Senki Ryukendo, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Mirai Sentai Timeranger, Mobile Cop Jiban, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, My Hero, Ninja Sentai Kakuranger, Ninpuu Sentai Hurricaneger, Panji The Millennium Man, Power Rangers, Raising Dion, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Samurai Jack, Seijuu Sentai Gingaman, Silver Surfer, Sonic the Hedgehog, Space Sentinels, Spider-Man, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, Static Shock, Super Force, Supernatural, Swamp Thing, Sweet Tooth, Tales from the Crypt, Tattooed Teenage Alien Fighters from Beverly Hills, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Avengers: United They Stand, The Batman, The Boondocks, The Eight: The Next Generation, The Fantastic Four, The Flash, The Incredible Hulk, The Kingdoms of Ruin, The Protector, The Venture Bros., The Walking Dead, Tira, Titans, Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger, Ultraman, Ultraman 80, Ultraman Ace, Ultraman Regulos, Ultraman Tiga, Ultraseven, Voltes V: Legacy, X-Men: Evolution,
StarringJack Quaid,
If you’ve watched any previous season, you should have a good idea of what The Boys Season 4 offers. More to the point, it is almost certainly clear to you if it’s something you enjoy or despise. If you have formed an opinion, that should inform your decision to tune in. Because, five years after its debut, one thing you can absolutely count on is The Boys remains completely, unapologetically, itself.
That isn’t to say there isn’t anything to discuss. In fact, there’s almost too much as the series continues to offer some of the most boldfaced political commentary on streaming. Not bad for a show that also boldly illustrated how that whole “Ant-Man should shrink down and enter Thanos” thing might look if the MCU took the bait.
Following that memory, the gore seems as good a place as any to engage with this new season. There has perhaps never been a show as impressive in its ability to wield its considerable blood and guts touch on a wide range of emotional beats. The Boys Season 4 does not fall off in this department. If anything, it has an even more impressive level of control this time out. One moment, it proves itself intensely capable of pulling out sick laughs as a Vought event rehearsal unravels into an ever-escalating series of mishaps. Imagine it as a sort of a Rube Goldberg machine of carnage. And yet, later, when a confrontation forces a character to kill someone, the camera captures both the arterial spray and the guilt play across the protagonist’s face. Both moments play, and neither feels out of step with the series. It’s quite the magic trick. Continue Reading →
(In Japanese: バッドボーイズ2バッド)
Oh, hey, look, a new Bad Boys movie is out. That makes sense. The last one was the best-reviewed and most financially successful of the series, and Martin Lawrence and Will Smith aren’t the hit machines they once were, so another bite at the apple is just good business. That said, Bad Boys For Life was kind of a meh movie, right? It wasn’t, like, terrible, but it wasn’t exactly memorable either, you know? They do the whole “boy times sure have changed, huh” schtick that’s required to a sequel released seventeen years after the previous entry. They try to age the Bad Boys up a little, saddle them with a squad of sassy rookies to train, make Marcus (Martin Lawrence, still in the league) a grandfather, and give Mike (Will Smith, right before everything changed) a heretofore unknown to him, grown son.
It’s a perfectly cromulent Legacy Sequel that hits all the right beats at the right times to deliver a tidy nostalgia hit to fans of the franchise. But that’s about it. It lacked the scrappy, low budget, “what are we even doing here” energy of 1995’s Bad Boys, the movie that returned Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer to the big time while also establishing then-sitcom performers Martin Lawrence (top-billed, if you can believe it) and Will Smith as viable action heroes.
It also introduced the cinema world to a certain enfant terrible named Michael Bay. Bay is the primary reason Bad Boys worked. He understood how to best utilize Lawrence and Smith’s more intimate TV-sized charm via long sequences of improvised character banter, and he knew precisely when to transform the squabbling comedy duo into believably imposing Big Time Action Stars (Will Smith famously didn’t want to do the sequence when he ran down the street with an open shirt, and Bay convinced him, cementing him into the minds of moviegoers as a tough, sexy, badass. Mission obviously accomplished). And he was the one who took a nineteen million dollar budgeted B-movie originally written for Dana Carvey and Jon Lovitz starring The Fresh Prince and Sheneneh and turned it into a fifty million dollar smash. Continue Reading →
Presumed Innocent
SimilarA Dance to the Music of Time, A Menina Sem Qualidades, A Model Family, A Native of Beijing in New York, A Nearly Normal Family, A Touch of Frost, About a Boy, Addicted Heroin, Advokát ex offo,
Agatha Christie's Poirot Arn: The Knight Templar, Arthur Hailey's The Moneychangers, Backstrom, Baywatch Nights, Best Choice Ever, Blood Ties, Bodies, Boy Swallows Universe, Brimstone, Broadchurch, Brotherhood, Cold Courage, Deadly Class, Devil in Ohio,
Dexter Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves, East of Eden, Emily of New Moon, Epitaphs,
Fallen Fearless, Finland Papa, From Scratch, Fushigi Dagashiya: Zenitendou, Game of Thrones, Genesis,
Gossip Girl Harlan Coben's Shelter, He's Into Her, Higehiro: After Being Rejected, I Shaved and Took in a High School Runaway, I Feel You Linger in the Air, If Tomorrow Comes, Kakuriyo -Bed & Breakfast for Spirits-, Kidnapped, Kiss Me First, Lady Chatterley, Little Birds, Long Time No See, Love in the Big City, Luther,
M*A*S*H Magpie Murders, Mayfair Witches, Memorial de Maria Moura, Miracle Workers, Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced, Miss Marple: The Body in the Library, Miss Marple: The Moving Finger, Monarch of the Glen, Monsieur Spade, My Hero Series, My Lovely Boxer, My Ride, Nero Wolfe i Archie Goodwin,
Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit Our Secret, Pandora's Clock, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Perfect Love,
Planet of the Apes Polisen i Strömstad,
Pride and Prejudice Prime Suspect, Prom Pissawat, Ramon y Cajal, Rebus, Rencana Besar, Resurrection, Ridley, Ronja the Robber's Daughter,
Sherlock Holmes Shining Girls, Sinking Spring, Soul Land, Stavy rachotí, Stranded, Svadba bez nevesty, Sweet Magnolias, Sweetbitter,
Tales from the Neverending Story Tales of the South Seas, Tamas, The Bourne Identity, The Boy Next World, The Cicada's Eighth Day, The End of Love, The Flatshare, The Inspector Lynley Mysteries, The Keepers, The Little Drummer Girl,
The Lost World The Loyal Pin, The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, The Night Sister, The Old Man, The Rector's Wife, The Rhinemann Exchange, The Rotters' Club,
The Shining The Sun Also Rises, Thriller, To Kill a Cop, Tracker, Transformation, Under the Bridge, Unsolved Mysteries, War and Peace, White Teeth, Wimarn Din, Wolf Pack,
Wycliffe Yonder, You,
For a large segment of Gen X and Millennials, legal thrillers have an undeniable comfort food quality. These generational cohorts grew up as authors like Scott Turow and John Grisham rose to prominence, dominating best-seller lists. With that beachhead established, it wasn’t long before the legal thriller came to screens, large and small, via adaptations. While rarely deeply prestigious works, many, if not most, boasted big stars, well-established directors, and compelling enough storytelling.
Presumed Innocent, an 8-part limited series—Apple provided critics with all but the final installment—arrives with that wind at its back for a considerable portion of the audience. It is further helped in the comfort department by being the second adaptation of the titular novel by Turow, following a well-regarded Alan Pakula-directed Harrison Ford-starring cinematic turn in 1990. The book also spawned a sequel and a made-for-TV adaptation of that sequel.
Uh-oh. Jake Gyllenhaal and (Renate Reinsve) just spotted you across the bar. (AppleTV+)
No one can accuse Turow’s Rusty Sabich (played here by Jake Gyllenhaal after Ford on the silver screen and Bill Pullman for the at-home audiences) of being the central star of a law and order-driven MCU. However, when it comes to legal thrillers, he’s about as close as you can get. Playing with that house money, creator David E. Kelley and star Gyllenhaal don’t exactly reinvent the wheel. Nonetheless, they offer a solid series to slip into just as summer kicks in. Continue Reading →
Sweet Tooth
SimilarArrow, Batman, Batman: The Animated Series, Birds of Prey, Captain Midnight, Captain Star, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Constantine: City of Demons, Dark Angel, Dead Boy Detectives, Deadly Class, Doom Patrol,
Earth 2 Ergo Proxy, Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes,
Flash Gordon Freedom Fighters: The Ray, Il Mondo di Yor, Japanese Spiderman,
Justice League Longing Heart, Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation, Pandora's Clock,
Planet of the Apes Pop Out Boy!, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Silver Surfer, Something in My Room, Sonic the Hedgehog, Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends, Spider-Man: The New Animated Series, Swamp Thing, Tales from the Crypt, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The 100, The Avengers: United They Stand, The Boys, The Fantastic Four, The Flash, The Incredible Hulk, The Passage, The Tribe, The Walking Dead, ThunderCats, Thunderstone, Tira, Titans, TRIGUN, World's End Harem, X-Men: Evolution, おくさまは18歳,
Watch afterDark Matter,
Loki Lupin, Sweet Tooth,
It is not typical when I review a new season of an established series that I find myself utterly lost and befuddled. Nonetheless, Sweet Tooth Season 3 earned that rare achievement. I retained the broad strokes. Gus (Christian Convery), a hybrid child, travels a US ravaged by the Sick with Big Man Tommy Jepperd (Nonso Anozie). Together, they search for Gus’s (who’s also the titular Sweet Tooth on account of his, well, sweet tooth) mom and anything that might bring the plague to an end. The quest is complicated by many survivors' hatred of hybrids. They blame the animal-human kids for the virus and Gus is Baby Zero of the new species.
However, the specifics of how Season 2 led to Season 3 had utterly vacated my brain. I realized why after doing my due diligence and doubling back to watch the previous season first. Season 2 was a dark, dreary affair. It was still well-made and acted but a largely unpleasant viewing experience. It stood in contrast to Season 1’s almost fairy tale vibes, where pain and tragedy existed, but an undeniable sense of hope buoyed the show. In retrospect, it seems I forgot so much of Season 2 as something of a defense mechanism.
Rosalind Chao and Louise Jiang's mother-daughter relationship may trigger some past unpleasant memories. (Matt Klitscher/Netflix © 2024)
I say all this as, yes, an acknowledgment that I had to play catch-up with Sweet Tooth Season 3’s first two or so episodes. But also, I do so as a warning to prospective viewers. To truly immediately get Season 3—not necessarily like, but at least understand—it would not be a bad idea to take a quick look back on Season 2. Continue Reading →
Hit Man (In Japanese: ヒットマン)
Similar50 First Dates (2004), A Beautiful Mind (2001), A History of Violence (2005), Amélie (2001), Annie Hall (1977), Arlington Road (1999), Bad Education (2004), Bangkok Dangerous (2008),
Boys Don't Cry (1999) Chocolat (2000), Face/Off (1997), Human Nature (2001), Léon: The Professional (1994), Life Is Beautiful (1997), Lucky Number Slevin (2006), Mamma Mia! (2008), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Pretty Woman (1990), The Apartment (1960), The Simpsons Movie (2007), Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), Wild at Heart (1990), Wonder Boys (2000),
I have to admit, I wasn’t really on board with Hollywood’s attempt to make Glen Powell the Next Big Thing. I thought there was something a little generic and forgettable about him, like he had been grown in a laboratory that specialized in manufacturing blandly handsome blonde actors.
But I’m not too proud to admit that I was wrong, at least as far as Hit Man is concerned. Powell may at first blush be little more than a chiseled jaw delivery device, but as it turns out he has a lot of charm to spare, and a witty sense of humor, if the script he co-wrote with director Richard Linklater is any indication. It’s a fun, spicy comedy thriller for adults that might just give the struggling film industry a bit of juice, but of course in this era of truly baffling decision-making by those who earn far more money than they deserve for such things, it’s only getting a limited theatrical release before going direct to Netflix.
Like Linklater’s criminally underrated Bernie, Hit Man is loosely based on a Texas Monthly article, this time about Gary Johnson, a Houston-area philosophy teacher who worked a side gig with the local police, passing himself off as a killer-for-hire in dozens of sting operations. Powell plays Johnson, an unassuming dork who lives quietly with two cats and considers a day of birdwatching to be the peak of excitement. Continue Reading →
Bad Boys: Ride or Die (In Japanese: バッドボーイズ RIDE OR DIE)
Similar28 Weeks Later (2007), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999), Back to the Future Part II (1989),
Back to the Future Part III (1990) Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), Beverly Hills Cop III (1994), Die Hard 2 (1990),
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) F9 (2021), Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007), Fantomas vs. Scotland Yard (1967), Frozen 3 (), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009), Jaws: The Revenge (1987), Lethal Weapon 2 (1989), Lethal Weapon 3 (1992), Lethal Weapon 4 (1998),
Live Free or Die Hard (2007) Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (2008), Mary Poppins Returns (2018), Men in Black (1997), Men in Black II (2002), Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997), No Good Deed (2002), North by Northwest (1959), Ocean's Twelve (2004), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Shooter (2007), Shrek 2 (2004),
Shrek the Third (2007) Spider-Man 2 (2004), Spider-Man 3 (2007), Superman Returns (2006), The 39 Steps (1935), The Bourne Supremacy (2004), The Bourne Ultimatum (2007), The Crow: Salvation (2000), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003), The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002), Toy Story 2 (1999), True Romance (1993),
StudioColumbia Pictures, TSG Entertainment,
Two questions face most rational people when confronting the existence of Bad Boys: Ride or Die. To the first, why did the filmmakers give it such an anonymous title? Especially while the previous installment had the seemingly more apt name Bad Boys For Life? For that, there is no answer. To the second? Yes, there is a joke involving Will Smith and someone getting slapped. And, yes, it is just as smug, stupid, and predictable as one would fear. The one compensating factor is one can describe the film as smug, stupid, and predictable too. That leaves hope most viewers will feel too numbed by the cacophony of crap to even register the slap gag.
The film begins inauspiciously with an extended and mostly pointless act in which Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence) foil a convenience store robbery while on the way to Mike’s wedding to love Christine (Melanie Liburd). Shortly after that, Marcus upstages things by having a massive heart attack and near-death experience at the reception. Those beats out of the way, the cobbled-together plot finally kicks into gear. The local news fills with posthumous accusations that their beloved Capt. Howard (Joe Pantoliano) took bribes from cartels to allow drugs into the country. This cannot stand, of course. But when the two start an investigation to clear his name, everyone with information starts turning up dead. Continue Reading →
The Acolyte
SimilarA Discovery of Witches, Amazing Stories, American Horror Story, Bad and Crazy, Baywatch Nights, Bodies, Broadchurch, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Chicken Nugget, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Constantine: City of Demons, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, D.N.Angel, Dante's Cove, Dead Ringers,
Dexter GARO, Happiness Charge Precure!, Harlan Coben's Shelter,
He-Man and the Masters of the Universe HUGtto! Precure, I Dream of Jeannie, Legacies, Lilo & Stitch: The Series, Luther, Madan Senki Ryukendo, Miss Marple: The Body in the Library, Mortal Kombat: Conquest, New Amsterdam, Out of This World,
Planet of the Apes Prime Suspect, Revolutionary Girl Utena, RoboCop: The Series, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Samurai Jack, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Supreme God Emperor, Tabitha, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, The Dead Zone, The Eight: The Next Generation, The Ice House, The Woods, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Thriller, ThunderCats, Twin Peaks, Uchuu Sentai Kyuranger,
“Brief, they made a monk of me;
I did renounce the world, its pride and greed,
Palace, farm, villa, shop, and banking-house, Continue Reading →
Eric
SimilarA Dance to the Music of Time, A Gentleman in Moscow, A Little Princess, A Model Family, A Native of Beijing in New York, A Nearly Normal Family, A River Runs Through It, A Storm for Christmas, A Year in the Life, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York, Amnesia, Anna Karenina, Arn: The Knight Templar, Ash, Ashes to Ashes, Beach Girls, Better Man, Beulah Land, Boy Swallows Universe, Boys from the Blackstuff, Breaking Bad, Brides of Christ, Captains and the Kings, Celebrity, Chaser Game, Chicken Nugget, Close Relations, Common As Muck, Copenhagen Cowboy, Culpa - No One Is Innocent, Dead Head, Deadly Class, Devil in Ohio, Die Diplomatin, Die Wölfe, Don't Ever Wipe Tears Without Gloves, East of Eden, Elizabeth R, Faith,
Fallen Felipe y Letizia, Full Circle, G.B.H., Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Genesis,
Golden Years Gossip Girl Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones, Harlan Coben's Shelter, Henry and Anne: The Lovers Who Changed History, Herzogpark, Higurashi: When They Cry, Houdini, I Know My First Name Is Steven, Intrusion, Island at War, Järnvägshotellet, Jekyll, Joseph Balsamo, Kamen Rider Black Sun, Kamen Rider Jeanne & Kamen Rider Aguilera with Girls Remix, Kamen Rider Outsiders, Kiri, Krupp: A Family Between War and Peace, L'amaro caso della Baronessa di Carini, La Chambre des dames, La Cloche tibétaine, Lady Chatterley, Life of Shakespeare, Little Tragedies, Long Time No See, MALICE, Marco Polo, MIGNON, Million Dollar Babies, Miss Marple: A Murder Is Announced, Miss Marple: The Body in the Library, Miss Marple: The Moving Finger, Monsieur Spade, Mosaic, Mother Is Wrong, My Lovely Boxer, Nacht der Frauen, Nancherrow, New Amsterdam, Nice Work, Noah's Ark, Nothing Remains the Same, Number Woman Gye Sook Ja, Nur eine kleine Affäre, Nuremberg, Olivia Twist, On Marriage, One Trillion Dollars, Orient Express, Orphan Black: Echoes, Pälzisch im Abgang, Pandora's Clock, Paper Giants: Magazine Wars, Paper Girls, Paul Gauguin, Per amore del mio popolo, Perfect Murder, Perfect Town: JonBenét and the City of Boulder, Person of Interest, Pompeii, Pope John Paul II,
Pride and Prejudice Quatermass II, Queer as Folk, Rage of Angels, Re:Mind,
Scully Seven Seconds, Seventh Avenue, Six Survivors, Spies of Warsaw, Studs Lonigan, Sweetbitter, Taken, Takin' Over the Asylum, Tales from the Crypt, Tarzan, Taxi, Thai Cave Rescue, The Amazing Grace of Σ, The Beat, The Bourne Identity, The Brothers Karamazov, The Day of the Triffids, The Final Cut, The First Olympics: Athens 1896, The Forest of Love: Deep Cut, The French Atlantic Affair, The High School Heroes, The Last Convertible, The Last Cyclist, The Little Drummer Girl, The Narrow Road to the Deep North, The Night Sister, The Pillars of the Earth, The Playlist, The Quatermass Experiment, The Rector's Wife, The Regime, The Rhinemann Exchange, The Secrets of Lake Success,
The Shining The Singing Detective, The Sun Also Rises, The Sympathizer, The Twilight Zone, The Woods, Thriller, Twenty Thousand Streets Under The Sky, Twist of Fate, Ultraviolet, Underworld, Unsolved Mysteries, Vocation, When Heroes Fly, Where Your Eyes Linger, You, Young Catherine,
Eric is a tough sit. Whether that sit is worth the difficulty is a question I struggled with before tentatively arriving at yes.
The story begins as a tale of a missing child, Edgar (Ivan Morris Howe), the son of Vincent (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Cassie (Gaby Hoffmann). After the couple’s latest row the night before, Edgar doesn’t wait around for them to sort themselves in the morning. Instead, he walks to school on his own as his father tries to make amends with his mother. But Edgar never arrives at school that day.
Vincent is a creator and puppeteer on a formerly top-rated children’s show—think Sesame Street with no on-screen humans and only one set—with his creative partner Lennie (Dan Fogler). Edgar, aware of the show’s downturn and the need for a new puppet, has been doodling and dreaming up just the solution, the titular Eric. When Edgar disappears, Vincent’s desperate and possibly delusional reaction is to finish his son’s work on the giant felt monster. He reasons that if his son could only see the puppet on television, the boy would understand how important he was to his parents and come home. Others, confident Edgar is not gone of his accord and likely no longer alive, cannot get on board with the plan. Continue Reading →
Tires
Similar'Allo 'Allo!, Alice, All in the Family, Catterick, Complete Savages,
Executive Stress Fawlty Towers, Hyperdrive, I Dream of Jeannie,
Is It Legal? Joey, Men Behaving Badly, My Hero, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Off Centre, Peep Show, Quark,
Red Dwarf Supernova, Taxi, That '70s Show, The Boys, The Comeback,
The John Larroquette Show The Munsters, The Simpsons, The Thin Blue Line, The War at Home, The Wayans Bros., Two and a Half Men, War and Peace,
After six about 20-minute episodes of the Shane Gillis-Steve Gerben-created sitcom Tires, one can begin to understand why Netflix would want to work with him. He has a certain charisma and some acting chops. In one scene during the first episode, Gillis’ character, also named Shane, tries to snow a very unhappy reporter. In the sequence, Gillis has to convey to the audience that he doesn’t mean a word he’s saying and is using the moment to humiliate his boss and cousin Will (Gerben) while playing authentic convincingly enough that one can see why the reporter might fall for it. It’s not an easy lift, but Gillis makes it work.
The story is fine enough for a hangout comedy. Will is a failure whose father owns several tire stores. Either as punishment or because it’s where he can do the least harm, Dad has exiled Will to manage one of the two lowest-performing branches of the chain. Physically slight and coded as a kind of nerd, Will doesn’t fit in with the mechanics, including their seeming ringleader, Shane. To save the shop and his job and earn his dad’s affection, he spends every episode of a “marketing” idea that derails spectacularly.
Catch a glimpse of Steve Gerben. (Netflix)
The bad news is that, despite a sound enough premise, everything the show says or tries has the shape of jokes without actually including a laugh line. It’s the essence of humor without any of the pesky chuckles. Continue Reading →