A revenge-action thriller that gives Kick-ass and Deadpool vibes, if they were mashups with K-dramas (Kill Boksoon) or Kleo. Becky is a kid who aged out of the foster system and has taken on her own training - with an ultimate goal of seeking revenge on her fathers killer. She works at a local diner and encounters a plot to assassinate a visiting senator. Spoiler Alert -- she wins.
3 stars (out of 5)
Set in Paris, Inspector Maigret is a rising-star detective in charge of the major crimes division. Interestingly, this French setting has everyone speaking english... Maigret is a lone wolf detective who likes to play his cards close. He has people on his team he trusts, but others he doesn't. But he is politically astute and can navigate the halls of power. He also has a personal history which comes into play over the course of the season. In many ways, this is a prototypical dark, English police procedural. And it is good.
4 stars (out of 5)
A nice little french series where Charlie Holmes is the great granddaughter of Sherlock. She is working as a police detective, but doesn't really have the confidence of her captain. She is also battling bipolar disorder and detests the effect of her meds on her thinking. She is accompanied by a pathologist intern in the Watson role. Quirky and fun, with a running plot line of exploring this historical connection with the famous Holmes.
4 stars (out of 5)
A now broken up folk duo has been brought to a remote island under the guise of a concert with a big payday. From the beginning it is clear that this is an ultra-remote and oddly eccentric situation. And it turns out that the concert is a private showing for a super-fan who happens to be a lotto winner. Ultimately, this is an exploration of loss and renewal. It is charming, weird, heart-felt and engaging. Excellent small film.
5 stars (out of 5)
Can Jason Statham be any more typecast? And could I not even care if he is? In this version, Statham is a construction supervisor who left his British Special Forces life behind. When the daughter of his boss is kidnapped to be sold into the sex trade, he goes full metal. Along the way, his brash attacks on "The Brotherhood" end up causing him more trouble that had he been more thoughtful, but thoughtful is not what makes revenge action thrillers appealing. So now you know.
4 stars (out of 5)
A spinoff of late stage Avengers. I've been out of the MCU universe for awhile, but I loved Florence Pugh as Yelena in both Hawkeye and Black Widow. Here she is working as a mercenary and comes to find out that her patron (CIA special director Julia Louis-Dreyfus) has sent all the mercenaries on staff to kill each other in an attempt to clean up evidence of bad stuff. So it is a bunch of misfits that self identify as "not fitting in" who accidentally awaken the god of all misfits, only to find that the bipolar nature of his mental health makes everything really bad. "Can't have the good without the bad". So maybe it is an attempt to explore the space of workplace stress, mental health and the importance of a good community. Or maybe it is all that as a means to make another superhero movie. Felt like the latter, with the important character and story pieces filling a second priority. But in this age of watching tent-pole films at midnight on my couch, this is not bad.
3 stars (out of 5)
8 seasons
Allison Janey headlines this sitcom about recovery and relationship. She is the alcoholic mom with an alcoholic daughter, along with a group of alcoholic friends who are all simultaneously antagonistic to each other, self-absorbed and deeply caring and supportive. Over the course of the series, we see a progression of increasing wellness. Probably a full 1/3 of the setting is in AA meetings, and many times the jokes are "inside", and seem inappropriate for me as an outsider, or maybe just appropriation at best. But aside from that, there is something real about the struggle and healing that we are seeing.
4 stars (out of 5)
