Damian Lewis and Guy Pearce star in the espionage thriller A Spy Among Friends. With its Cold War setting, incredibly complex plotting, and very slow-burn atmosphere, the series is decidedly more John le Carré in tone and style than James Bond – even if Ian Fleming happens to show up as a character in the… Read More I Rather Thought It Would Be You – A Spy Among Friends (2022) Series Premiere
Mel Brooks’ 1981 comedy History of the World Part I was never actually intended to have a Part II, but here we are four decades later and Hulu decided to make one anyway. Being so late in coming is part of the joke, I suppose. If anything, the time gap may actually benefit the show,… Read More A Festival of Zeroes – History of the World Part II (2023) Limited Series
HBO’s Perry Mason reboot is certainly not the flashiest offering from the network’s current slate of prestige dramas. The second season, which premiered this past Monday, could easily fly under the radar even of fans who enjoyed the first when it aired nearly three years ago. That would be an injustice. This show deserves, and… Read More The Illusion of Justice – Perry Mason Season 2 Premiere (2023)
Based on a 2019 novel by author Taylor Jenkins Reid, Amazon Prime Video’s musical drama series Daisy Jones & the Six takes viewers back to the 1970s, a time when a light pop-rock act in the vein of Fleetwood Mac could dominate album sales and become the biggest band in the world. Given the milieu,… Read More Nearly Almost Famous – Daisy Jones & the Six (2023) Series Premiere
Even for as contentious as Star Wars fandom can be, just about everybody seems to like The Mandalorian. While Disney’s other streaming series from the franchise have met with mixed to outright hostile reaction, most fans still eagerly awaited the return of beloved characters Mando and Grogu. Now that it’s back for a third season,… Read More Never Trust a Pirate – The Mandalorian Season 3 Premiere (2023)
Nostalgia reboots of old movies are so common right now (Fatal Attraction coming imminently to Paramount+!), one can hardly blame CBS for trying to revive James Cameron’s 1994 blockbuster True Lies as a weekly spy/action series. That it would be terrible should also be no surprise, given the network’s history. The trailers certainly looked awful.… Read More Well, This Was a Disaster – True Lies (2023) Series Premiere
The job market out there is hell. The company you work for probably has no concern for your welfare. Your boss may seem like a monster. Even if it started out as a good place to work, odds are it won’t feel that way forever. What’re you gonna do about it, quit? You really think… Read More He Gets Results – The Consultant (2023) Season 1
Absent nearly four years since the first season debuted, the return of Amazon Prime’s Carnival Row feels more like the fulfillment of a contractual obligation than a property the streamer is committed to supporting. The second season is already confirmed to be the last. As so many other outlets have tripped over themselves canceling in-development… Read More Just Standard Doom, Gloom and Inner Torment – Carnival Row Season 2 Premiere (2023)
Star Trek: Picard begins its third and final season haunted by the fact that (how to put this delicately?) the show’s first two seasons basically sucked. I’m honestly at a loss to decide which of the two was worse, but at the moment am inclined to say the second. Planned as a big reunion and… Read More The Past Matters – Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Premiere (2023)
I feel like I should be enjoying HBO’s latest prestige series The Last of Us a lot more than I actually am. I want to like this show, and don’t get me wrong, I don’t actively dislike it. As expected of the network, the program has excellent production values. It also has well-drawn, appealing characters… Read More HBO’s The Last of Us Doesn’t Make Any Damn Sense
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