Reviews

The Tick is an Amazon Prime original series about a group of quirky superheroes that live alongside normal people. This version is a parody, a silly, simi-dark comedy story about an accountant named Arthur Everest who is played by Griffin Newman who befriends and maybe imagines creating The Tick played by Peter Serafinowicz. In the first season Arthur is convinced The Terror (Jackie Earle Haley) is back and trying to take over the city. Terror was the one who killed the Fab 5 along with Arthur's father. I compare this show to be much like Greatest American Hero and Hero's. Yara Martinez played The Lint where she plays the bad guy and in the follow up season she pretends to be good in order to take over the city for herself. Scott Speiser plays Overkill with his sidekick ship is voiced by Alan Tudyk. Valorie Curry plays Arthur's sister Doty, Devin Ratray as a homeless person with powers, and Francois Chau plays Arthur's step father who was a former agent of AEGIS. The second season Tick and Arthur end up joining AEGIS which is a justice league type group filled with weird superhero's only to learn John Hodgman is trying to take over control of AEGIS. The show was simi funny but watchable, too bad there isn't going to be a third season because there many unanswered questions by the end of the series. Patrick Warburton who played the original Tick series and voiced the animated version produced this show. I would suggest to watch it if you like superhero stories.

Hunters is an Amazon Prime series about a group of Jewish holocaust survivors that know former Nazi officers had been extracted right after the Second World War. During the first season we learn about Operation Paperclip where the US government brought over 1,600 German scientists, engineers and high ranking officials to the states rather than being captured by the Russians. Set during the 70's New York City, a team led by Al Pacino, Logan Lerman, Josh Radnor, Carol Kane, Tiffany Boone, Louis Ozawa, and Saul Rubinek search and hunt down Nazis to make them pay for what they did to their own people. Wish sometimes the same would have been done to the Turks who killed 1.5 million Armenians. Dylan Baker acted as Secretary of the State but we learn he was a former Nazi officer. The group learned the Fourth Reich led by Hitler's wife, Eva who was played by Lena Olin, had planned to poison the American people with a non sugar substitute in our food chain. Greg Austin acted as a one man army to help white supremacy to create a new empire. By the end of the first season we learn Hitler is alive and living in Argentina. The first season was quite good but the second seemed corny and filled with bad acting. They put Hitler on trial for his crimes against humanity. The second and final season felt like a time dilation on a different dimension. This is something producer Jordan Peele would have come up besides the creator, screenwriter and director David Weil. Jennifer Jason Leigh acted as Lerman's aunt although her age does not seem correctly assessed during this timeline. This was Pacino's first TV series of his career and he was the biggest surprise of the storyline. Overall it started out well but it ended unwatchable.

Dead Boy Detectives is a Netflix series based on DC universe characters Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine. George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri are the actors representing these lovable characters. The story follows these two boys who were killed and their murders went unsolved. The boys instead of moving on to afterlife, they decide to stay on Earth and solve cases that involve the supernatural. The series felt like a CW show filled with characters that pertain towards the Gen Z kids. The initial episode takes place in London and thinking it was a good start but then it moves to a small town in America. Charles and Edwin help Crystal (Kassius Nelson) and winds up using her psychic powers to help the boys with their cases. Yusu Kitamura played Niko who also adds another dimension to the group. Jenn Lyon played the antagonist witch where she kidnaps kids to use their blood to be able to stay young much like the witch from Disney's Sleeping Beauty. Michael Beach is the only known veteran actor on the show who played a walrus that choose to be a human instead of being with his own kind. Andi Armagarian and Amanda Tapping were the directors of a few episodes. Overall the series felt like I was watching Supernatural, I was hoping for something better but felt this series was just checking off boxes as the series was developing. It had a good start and it was fun, but it could have been better if they had just stuck with the boys instead of adding weirdly odd gay characters.

Jean-Claude Van Johnson is an Amazon Prime mini-series about Jean-Claude Van Damme's career as a global martial-arts actor and as a secret agent with a surname "Johnson." After years of retirement Johnson is pulled back into action to have a chance encounter with his ex girlfriend Vanessa who is played by Kat Foster. His acting agent is played by Phylicia Rashad and her boss is played by Richard Schiff. JC finds out the truth about his acting agency once he got rid of the competition who is headed by Carlo Rota. The series has numerous references to JC's previous movies and characters from Timecop to Sudden Death to Double Impact and Kickboxer. Alex Carter, Moises Arias, and Bar Paly costarred in this series. Dave Callahan created and wrote this storyline and it was produced by Ridley Scott. The story was a bit over the top, silly and quite funny. Callahan has had quite a list of good list of hit movies like Shang-Chi, Spider-Man and Expendables. I thought this was a miss for him but it was funny.

Wonka is a prequel musical storyline based on Roald Dahl's characters he had created. Timothee Chalamet plays young broke Willy Wonka who is set out to embark on his mom's dream (Sally Hawkins) to open a chocolate factory. Willy discovers the greedy chocolatiers cartel gentlemen Stugworth, Prodnose, and Fickelgruber are keeping all the town's chocolate for themselves under the bowls of the church. The cartel were named by Dahl's characters from his other books and these men were played by Joseph Peterson, Matt Lucas and Matthew Baytown. They pay off the town sheriff who is played Keegan Michael-Key to arrest Willy and put him in manual labor at Mrs Scrubitt's (Olivia Colman) laundromat. He finds out Scrubitt has contracts to hold individuals in her custody for as long as she can but Willy helps them and along the way help him to open his shop. We learn that Willy stole the cocoa beans from the Oompa-Loompa (Hugh Grant) who is set out to take back what was stolen. Rowan Atkinson played the head of the church and this is the second time Rowan and Hugh have been in a movie together but don't share a scene. Calah Lane, Jim Church, Rakhee Thahrar, and Natasha Rothwell were held captive by Colman. Overall this was a pleasant fun colorful adventure that the whole family can enjoy. Paul King did a great job utilizing a few of the original movie's musical numbers and adding a few new ones to this film. Great cast, story was a little all over the place but definitely a good movie to add to your list.

All the Light We Cannot See is a Netflix four part mini series based on Pulitzer Prize winning novel written by Anthony Doerr. The storyline follows a blind French teenager Marie-Laure who is played by a real life blind actress Aria Mia Loberti as her first role ever in any production. The story is set during WWII when France was occupied by the Nazi regime under Hitler. Marie and her father Daniel who is played by Mark Raffalo escape Paris and take refuge with other family members in a seaside town of Saint-Malo, France. The Germans are lead to believe the Leblancs have a diamond that cures diseases, Lars Eldinger torments Marie to give up the diamond that she doesn't know much about. Louis Hofmann's character listens to Marie's voice that is aired throughout the countryside to send messages to the Allies and the secrets are provided by Hugh Laurie. Shawn Levy directed the series and Steven Knight helped develop the show for television. Although the show had great smart actors, their accents were the low point of the show. I did like the cinematography and the love story between the teenagers. Hopefully there will be a follow up to see if they ever meet again.

Luther: The Fallen Sun continues the story of DCI Luther as a movie on Netflix. Idris Elba returns as Luther as a disgraced detective who escapes prison to try to stop a deranged serial killer who is played by the brilliant Andy Serkis. The storyline seems to be rehashed from the original series but it was just as good. Cynthia Erivo takes over the role of head of police from Dermot Crowley. Vincent Regan played a cameo role to help Luther escape prison. I don't know if it's true or not but it seems this character will lead Idris Elba to be the next Bond. You will see what I mean if you watch this movie. This film was not as equivalent to the series created by Neil Cross but Jamie Payne did a good job putting this together, just not something I would watch again.

Luther is a BBC London based series about a badass unconventional detective that does not like to use guns to bring criminals to justice. Luther is played by the ever clever Idris Elba who has a knack for getting inside the mind of murderers. From the very beginning, Ruth Wilson who played Alice Morgan acted as the antagonist much like Hannibal. She did everything in her power to not only help Luther but together they played a cat and mouse game. Throughout the series Luther had numerous mates but in the first three seasons Warren Brown who was a former two time World Thai Champion Boxer helped solve his cases. Indira Varma acted as Luther's wife who ended up being with Paul McGann, while Dermot Crowley was the head of crime unit, and Michael Smiley acted as the tech wizard. Mary Day (Sienna Guillory) acted as Luther's love interest during season four and former DCI Mark North (Paul McGann) wanted to put an end to Luther's antics. The series had such a fantastic cast of characters played by great actors that also included Wunmi Mosaku and Aimee-Fiona Edwards. Neil Cross wrote and created the series with Sam Miller was one of the directors. The storyline was dark, in depth gore killing and very interpersonal. Although the murders are over ten years old, it felt very real and up to date, loved every minute of it.

Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story is a Netflix prequel miniseries based on the love story when Princess Charlotte of Germany who met and wed King George III on the same day of her wedding. The story is loosely based on the historical events that took place during the late 1700's. India Amarteifio played Charlotte who at her tender age of 17 was promised by her brother who was played by Tunji Kasim to gain an ally and prestige amongst their people. King George III who was played by Corey Mylchreest had a mental disorder that ran in the family. The disorder could have been derived from inter family relations from previous generations. Michelle Fairley played the Queen mother for the third time, one of them being Catelyn Stark from GOT. This was a good storyline with beautiful costumes and wonderful backgrounds. The couple eventually ended up having fifteen children with a few grandchildren to which King George IV took reign of the kingdom. Overall it was good series but I wouldn't watch it again.

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire is WB's 70th year in its franchise. This film was less about Godzilla and more about Kong. Godzilla had only eight minutes of screen time and the storyline surrounded Kong as he is aging. He is longing to find more of his kind and somehow there is a portal to hollow earth where all sorts of prehistoric creatures exist much like the show Brea. Kong finds himself not alone but cannot find his place amongst his own kind. He ends up fighting battles against Skar the Gorilla while Godzilla is helping humanity fight against titans. The two team up to destroy Skar and bring order to his new kingdom. Kong represented the good in humanity while Skar was the worst part of human habits and cruelty. Besides all the CGI and all the monstrous roars were overpowering the movie just too much with less human involvement. Rebecca Hall acted as a head of Monarch while her adopted daughter who is played by Kaylee Hottle is trying to find her place in her world. Brian Tyree Henry is the only person that reprised his role from the previous film. Alex Ferns played a military officer much like his character from Andor. Dan Steven's acted as Trapper an 80's type character in a style like a G. I. Joe figure. Overall it was an okay movie with a good premise but I wouldn't watch it.

The Afterparty: Season 2 follows Aniq and Zoe's relationship to attend Zoe's sister's wedding to the Minnow family. The Minnows are wealthy with Elizabeth Perkins as the head of the family and ready to marry off her son Edgar who is played by Zach Woods. Unfortunately there happens to be another murder and Aniq calls upon Haddish to help solve the case. Everyone is a suspect from Ken Jeong who plays the father to John Cho as the Funcle to Paul Walker Hauser as Grace's ex boyfriend. Anna Konkle acts as the adopted sister who falls in love with Grace who is played by Poppy Liu. Jack Whitehall played Edgar's best friend since high school and he has his own motive to get back at Edgar. Vivian Vu played Ken's wife and Cho's love interest which became the center of attention of the storyline. Ben Schwartz and Jamie Demetriou reprise their roles from the first season with small insignificant scenes. Martin Mull acts as the town sheriff and non coincidentally he had a role in the original Clue movie. Jaleel White, Elijah Wood, Paul Scheer, Keke Palmer, Daniel Radcliffe, and Gemma Chen had cameos this season. Much like the first season and the order of the story was just as good but unfortunately there will be not be any follow up murder mysteries.

The Afterparty is an AppleTV+ mystery murder Clue like series created, written and produced by Christopher Miller. Miller was the person behind The Lego Movie and 21 Jump Street. This series was smart, well thought out and fun to watch. This first season a group of adults attend their high school reunion, then they gather for an after party at the most popular high schooler Xavier's house who was played by Dave Franco. Franco's character is found dead with Tiffany Haddish as the lead investigator on the scene to figure out who killed Xavier. This was meant to be a movie but it turned out be a pretty good series with a great cast that included Sam Richardson, Zoe Chao, Ike Barinholtz, Ben Schwartz, Llana Glazer along with cameo's by Channing Tatum and Will Forte. Each episode was named about the character that is going to be questioned to try to figure out who had the most motive to have killed Xavier. Much like Only Murders In The Building, I loved the series and we are currently watching the second season.

Napoleon is an epic biopic film directed by Ridley Scott and produced by Apple. Joaquin Phoenix plays the part of Napoleon Bonaparte and this is the second time he has played an emperor in a Scott film. The movie starts out with the beheading of Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution. The rise and fall of Napoleon is depicted through his seventy battles and he became one of the greatest generals that France has ever had in their history. His tactics are used in today's military operations. Besides his love for his country Napoleon was deeply in love with Josephine who was played by Vanessa Kirby. The story delivers deeper into their marriage. The only problem was Phoenix is older than Kirby but Napoleon was six years younger than his wife which shows why they had problems having a child together. Rupert Everett and Tamar Rahim costarred but I got to say the story felt short of expectations. It was beautifully directed but not in the heroic sense. I would not watch it again, it was good just once.

Ted is a Peacock prequel original series to the movie version by the same name. Seth MacFarlane voiced Ted, as well as directed, wrote and produced this show. The series is set during the 90's when Ted and his human brother John Beckett who was played by Max Burkholder get in various life circumstances to learn and grow from it. Max was the perfect fit to portray a younger version of Mark Wahlberg's character. His parent's are portrayed by Scott Grimes and Alanna Ubach, along with their cousin Blaire who is played by Giorgia Whigham. Scott has had numerous roles alongside Seth and various shows like Orville and Family Guy. The narrator was voiced by Ian McKellen replacing his friend and fellow actor Patrick Stewart. Although this show is filled with profanity, it is very hilarious, loved every minute of it. I hope there will more to see in the near future.

Night Sky is an Amazon Prime series about an elderly couple The York's who are played by Sissy Spacek and J. K. Simmons. They find an alien chamber that transports them to another planet. Unknown to them the Yorks only realize their gift after their son commits suicide leaving behind a daughter. A young man shows up and interrupts their lives and he ends up helping the couple but at the same danger follows him. Apparently he was part of a cult and committed a crime or some disagreement that caused the Apostle to bring him to justice. The series was created and written by Holden Miller who is also Dennis Miller's son. The show isn't half bad, it started out slow but it gets interesting and ends with a cliffhanger. Unfortunately we will never know what happens to their neighbor Byron who is played by Adam Bartley. Amazon cancelled the series before they could continue the storyline otherwise I would say it would be worth watching it.

The Miracle Club is a small movie about several ladies from Ireland set during the 1960's who win a pilgrimage trip to Lourdes in France. Maggie Grace, Kathy Bates, and Agnes O'Casey have great chemistry to come together in order to win a trip of a lifetime meanwhile Laura Linney returns home to attend her mother's funeral. Each of the ladies are looking for a miracle to either cure a physical ailment or to help with their emotional breakdown. These academy award nominated and winning actors were enjoyable to watch, the movie was well received with great direction and cinematography. Stephen Rea also joined the cast as Gates no good husband who took his wife for granted. I would definitely recommend this Thaddeus O'Sullivan film for the whole family to enjoy.

Invasion: Season 2 on AppleTV+ continues for each of the same characters as the first season. While I half way enjoyed the first season, this season was all over the place. I surely don't know what to write and none of the storylines ever explain the premise of the alien invasion. It was a mix bag of other movies from Contact to Stranger Things. Somehow human children have some sort of psychic connection with the aliens. The five characters are split across the globe but yet connected. As each episode comes to an end something interesting or over the top takes place. The ending leads to another season is in the works and hopefully we will know why the invasion took place.

Invasion is an AppleTV+ series about another alien invasion. The show follows five specific characters from around the globe that are played by Golshifteh Farahani as a doctor in America, the beautiful Shioli Kutsuna as a science communication engineer for JASA, Shamier Anderson as a military officer in Afghanistan, and a group of kids from London. You would think the invasion would have been explained or at least make some sense. I felt like I was watching War of the Worlds which has already been done and at least explained. The first season mankind thinks they have achieved victory, while everyone is concentrating on the crash, another bigger invasion is in the works leading up to another season. Casper who is played by Billy Barratt has seizures and knows how to communicate with the aliens much like Picard did in Star Trek with the Borge. There was just too much characterization and not enough explanation. Ray Haratian played an Afghan father, Tom Cullen as a school teacher, Michael Harvey as a rancher, and Sam Neill costarred as a small town sheriff in the first few episodes and never appears again, don't ask me why. I could care less about the story, just too confusing and having storylines from different perspectives did not help. Hope the second season is any better.

For All Mankind: Season Four continues the storyline of the global space race on Mars. The timeline is sped up to 2003 and we see Ed and Dani up against each other but on friendlier terms. Ed is now in his 70's and has made Mars his home. Following the bombing of the Johnson Space Center it was believed Margaret had perished but this season she is alive and well in Russia under Gorbachev 's regime. Al Gore is the current President and the whole premise is to capture an asteroid that might be worth trillions of dollars. Much like Expanse series there is a divisional and cultural problem between Earth and Mars colony. Although the stories are similar I would have thought this season would have been better. The script was solid but the acting and direction could have been, I am sure there will be another season in the making. Let's see where next season will lead to the colony on the asteroid.

The Gentlemen is a Guy Ritchie Netflix spin-off series based on his 2019 movie by the same that starred Matthew McConaughney. In this series Theo James plays Duke Eddie Hornman who ends up inheriting the family business and all its assets. After completing his duties in the military Eddie returns home to learn that his father has lent the farm to an illegal marijuana growing crime family. Eddie's older brother Freddy played by Daniel Ings had misused the family money to make horrible decisions that caused the Hornmans to work for Susie Glass (Kaya Scodelario). Kaya and Theo were both in the Divergent trilogy and they had great chemistry although they backstabbed each other throughout the series. Guy Ritchie co-wrote, created, and directed this fun, smart and excellent series and I am hoping to see a follow up season to this wonderful show that also has several references with the Godfather trilogy. Vinnie Jones, Michael Vu, Max Beasley costarred and Giancarlo Esposito acted as the American drug dealer trying to buy out the family business. Overall I loved the script, cast, and the cinematography, definitely add this to your must watch list.

Killing It: Season 2 continues the struggles of running a business for Craig and Jillian. Together they purchased their dream farm to grow and ship their goods but they encounter problems with the redneck neighbors and the city agricultural officials delaying his shipment. Beck Bennett played Johnny the inspector, Dot-Marie Jones played the head of the Boone family, and Tim Bagley was the bank manager who denies Craig from getting a loan to save his farm. This season Craig heads into a whirlwind of headache including his ex wife playing surrogate for a rich white family. All hell breaks loose by the end and the season ends with somewhat of a cliffhanger between Jillian and Craig. The second season was somewhat all over the place and it wasn't as exciting as the first season. Not sure there will be a third year.

Killing It is a Peacock series about a down and out father who is played by Craig Robinson. The first season takes place drug the 2016 election between Trump and Clinton. Craig is a divorced father living in Miami and his deaf ex wife who is played by Stephanie Nogueras and she is dating Marco (Arturo Del Puerto) that wants to move Craig's family to Ohio. On a last ditch effort Craig enters snake hunting contest to win the grand prize of $20,000 where he meets and partners with Jillian (Claudia O'Doherty). He is looking to be an entrepreneur to build a nut farm to help support his family. Along the way he competes and befriends Scott MacArthur who is trying to be the next internet sensation. Rell Battle played Craig's younger brother that constantly double crosses his brother to stole to make a quick buck. Overall I liked the characters and the storyline was funny, it hooked me from the start. Definitely add this to your list.

House of Ninjas is a Japanese Netflix production series along with Toho Studios bring us a show about the last shinobi family The Tawara family. The dysfunctional family tries to recoup after the loss of their eldest son Gaku who is played by Kengo Kora who died by the hands of the Fuma clan. They learn Gaku had survived and changed sides to join and take control of the Fuma clan. The Tawara family family was taking orders from politicians to control their positions and to subdue their opponents. Hanu who is played by Kento Kaku is haunted by his brothers passing and works on his emotions and his love interested who is played by Riho Yoshioka. Nagi is Gaku'sister and she is played by Aju Makita tries to find her own place by stealing and returning ancient artifacts from the local museums. Tae Kimura played the mom and Yosuke Eguchi played the father and he was the backbone aka The Monster as he was referred to. I loved that this was all Japanese cast with a story written and created by Dave Boyle. This isn't a typical ninja show with blood and gore but rather a romantic slight comedic thrilling series. There has to a second season, I want to know if Hanu finds himself and gets back to Karen, does the family Brewery survive, do they take down Gaku and the Fuma clan. I sure hope this season is renewed.

Resident Alien is a Syfy series created and written by Chris Sheridan, the person behind Family Guy. The first season surrounds an alien that crash landed on Earth during his mission and assumes the body of Dr Harry Vanderspeigel played by Alan Tudyk in a small town of Patience, Colorado. His mission is derailed when pieces of his ship are missing and a murder of the previous town doctor makes headlines. He is forced to take the role of the town doctor and with the assistance of Asta the town head nurse who is played by Sara Tomko, Harry learns to make friends and to feel love and be loved. Corey Reynolds played the town sheriff along with Elizabeth Bowen as his deputy. The town mayor is played by Levi Fiehler and his wife is played by Meredith Garretson, they have a son who has the ability to see Harry's true identity. Terry O'Quinn played the alien catcher who can also see the true identity of the aliens ever since he was abducted by them. Linda Hamilton had a cameo as the leader of the Men in Black. Overall I loved this series, it was funny, charming, family oriented and definitely want to keep watching. Tudyk was brilliant and he made the show funny with his antics and Galaxy Quest like humor. You have to add this to your list.

Platonic is an AppleTV+ comedy series about former childhood best friends who reunite after so many years apart. Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne have a great chemistry together in their previous roles in Neighbors and Neighbors 2. Nicholas Stoller created, directed and wrote Neighbors and this series. Luke Macfarlane acts as Rose's lawyer husband and they live in a small one bathroom house with three children. Rose tends to spend time with Seth whenever they needed each other and they end up partying together. Ted McGinley acts as the owner of a restaurant chain that wants to add Seth's brewing skills only to hit on Rose. Overall I liked this series especially Seth's awkward dress code and man purse. The series was funny and definitely worth binge watching. A second season is in the works that looking forward to the follow up season.