Godzilla without Much Godzilla | Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023) Apple TV+ Series Premiere

The corporate zeal to turn every piece of remotely valuable I.P. into a shared cinematic universe will eventually have to hit a tipping point where the gambit simply no longer works anymore. I’m not sure that we’ve gotten there yet, but I think we’re close. The latest in the cycle comes with the premiere of… Read More Godzilla without Much Godzilla | Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (2023) Apple TV+ Series Premiere

Hysterical Blindness | All the Light We Cannot See (2023) Netflix Limited Series

Based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller novel by author Anthony Doerr, the new four-episode limited series All the Light We Cannot See is a prestige production with all the high-gloss production values a hefty Netflix budget can buy. It’s also completely ridiculous, to a frankly laughable degree. I suppose that’s what you get when you… Read More Hysterical Blindness | All the Light We Cannot See (2023) Netflix Limited Series

Know You Are Loved | Bodies (2023) Netflix Limited Series

Based on a 2014 graphic novel published by DC Vertigo, Bodies has the type of intriguing high-concept premise that feels like it almost must have been written for the express purpose of being adapted into a Netflix limited series. At least, the Netflix limited series adaptation of it sure gives that impression. Some cursory research… Read More Know You Are Loved | Bodies (2023) Netflix Limited Series

A Perfect Spy Novelist | The Pigeon Tunnel (2023) on Apple TV+

For his latest cinematic interrogation, Oscar-winning documentarian Errol Morris (The Fog of War) trains his cameras onto David Cornwell, better known to fans and the public at large by his pen name, John le Carré. Over a sixty-year career, the acclaimed author published dozens of hugely popular and influential novels, mostly in the espionage genre.… Read More A Perfect Spy Novelist | The Pigeon Tunnel (2023) on Apple TV+

Madness Is the Loftiest Intelligence | The Fall of the House of Usher (2023) Netflix Limited Series

October is the season for spooky delights, which makes it a fine time for Netflix to roll out the latest horror miniseries from producer/director Mike Flanagan. These things are getting to be nearly an annual tradition for the streamer. This year’s is The Fall of the House of Usher, based (extremely loosely) upon a mash-up… Read More Madness Is the Loftiest Intelligence | The Fall of the House of Usher (2023) Netflix Limited Series

The Final Friedkin | The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (2023) on Showtime

The latest adaptation of the famed courtroom drama The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial arrives under the cloud of a double sadness, for the dual losses of co-star Lance Reddick and director William Friedkin, both of whom passed away in the time between the film’s completion and its premiere on the Showtime cable network. In the case… Read More The Final Friedkin | The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial (2023) on Showtime

Scream to the Future | Totally Killer (2023) on Amazon Prime Video

If the nearly three decades since Scream have given us an abundance of meta slasher movies, including a whole bunch of sequels to Scream itself, the new Amazon film Totally Killer tries to do one better by throwing in the added twist of being a meta time travel/slasher movie. Its heroine has seen plenty of… Read More Scream to the Future | Totally Killer (2023) on Amazon Prime Video

Shit’s Getting Out of Control | Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) 4K Ultra HD

Despite having once again sworn that he was done with Transformers and ready to hand the directing reins over to somebody else after the very successful Age of Extinction, Michael Bay wasted almost no time jumping right back in to helm the next sequel himself anyway. Unfortunately, by this point, even longtime fans had enough.… Read More Shit’s Getting Out of Control | Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) 4K Ultra HD

Dahl by Anderson | A Quartet of Wes Anderson Short Films (2023) on Netflix

Wes Anderson has had a quite productive year. Just a few months after the theatrical release of his latest feature Asteroid City, the director has now also delivered no less than four new short films to Netflix. All based on stories by Roald Dahl (from whom Anderson had previously adapted 2009’s Fantastic Mr. Fox), The… Read More Dahl by Anderson | A Quartet of Wes Anderson Short Films (2023) on Netflix