Reviews
Peacemaker Review: The Suicide Squad Spin-Off Series Soars Like a CGI Eagle Thanks to Its Ensemble
The Pitch: If you watched The Suicide Squad last year and got told that one of the characters would be getting a spinoff TV show, would Peacemaker (John Cena) have been your first guess? Even with the post-credits scene setting up the series, probably not. Nonetheless, James Gunn‘s first major TV project takes this blunt instrument of an anti-hero and uses him as the base for an at times strange, at times pretty fun action-horror adventure. (The term “superhero”… does not feel particularly applicable, in this case.) “Previously, in The Suicide Squad…” That’s not a bit — that’s literally how the first episode of Peacemaker opens, treating the film like the true pilot episode of the series. (Which, it could be argued, it was.) What’s important to remember from that movie, if August 2021 is u...
A New Adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days Has Exactly the New Year’s Energy We Need: Review
The Pitch: In terms of literary adaptations, Around the World in 80 Days hits right in the sweet spot established by decades of Masterpiece programming in general and the BBC adaptation of Sherlock in particular. But there’s one huge exception to this: Unlike Sherlock, which is a series that worships the concept of genius, 80 Days features a protagonist who’s far more often in over his head. Set in 1872 (the same year that the original Jules Verne novel was published), 80 Days is an adventure inspired by a bet: specifically, the bet made by eccentric gentleman Phileas Fogg (David Tennant) that he can circumnavigate the globe in the time period allotted. Eighty days might sound like a lot of time, but when one’s primary means of transportation are ship, train, or camel, it’s a frightfully s...
Cobra Kai Is Still Nostalgic Fun, But Starts to Pull Its Punches in Season 4: Review
The Pitch: At the end of Season 3, things were changing for the inexplicably-karate-obsessed denizens of Encino, California. Sensei John Kreese (Martin Kove) is now fully in command of Cobra Kai, with Johnny Lawrence’s (William Zabka) troubled son Robby (Taylor Buchanan) now his trusted sempai; the school’s firmly back on its ‘strike hard, strike fast, no mercy’ kick, especially in a softened Lawrence’s absence. But as a new year (and a new karate tournament) dawns, Lawrence has one way of getting Kreese out of town for good: if either he or his former-rival-turned-reluctant-ally Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio) can get their dojos to win the All-Valley, Kreese is gone forever. It’s a tall order, considering that a) Johnny and Daniel-san’s decades-long rivalry still simmers below the su...
Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts Is More About the Memories Than the Magic: Review
The Pitch: You’ll spend a lot of time thinking about chairs, while watching Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts. Not just who’s sitting in them, and where, and with who, but the chairs themselves: plush vintage armchairs, high-backed wooden thrones, and the wide spectrum of options in between. The anniversary special dropping on New Year’s Day is a loving look back at the global phenomenon, as told by the stars and directors involved with the journey along the way. It also, despite best efforts made to add some visual flair in the form of wandering about archived film sets, is about 80 percent just footage of people sitting and talking. While tracking the chairs people are sitting in is oftentimes necessary to understand the context of the soundbite you’re hearing, overall th...
In The Book of Boba Fett, the Bounty Hunter’s Not a Regular Crime Lord, He’s a Cool Crime Lord: Review
The Pitch: Do you already think Boba Fett is cool? Your answer to that question is 1000% going to drive your interest in the second Star Wars series (of many) to finally debut on Disney+. Featuring Temuera Morrison in the role he was set up to play by the prequels, The Book of Boba Fett is a love letter to an action figure, with occasional glimpses at a deeper significance lurking in the shadows. Do you not already think Boba Fett is cool? Well, that’s a concept which creator Jon Favreau and pilot director Robert Rodriguez clearly find to be inconceivable. If you don’t even know who Boba Fett is, and/or feel disinclined to learn more — well, sorry, this show has no patience for your kind. This is a true super-fan effort designed to reveal just how much of the core fanbase is still excited ...
The LCD Soundsystem Holiday Special Aims for Nostalgia to Mixed Effect: Recap
Even after COVID forced LCD Soundsystem to cancel the remaining three shows of their 20-night Brooklyn Steel residency, the band hasn’t given up on trying to keep things jolly. On December 22nd, James Murphy and co. brought the holiday cheer to Amazon Prime Video with their part comedy, part concert film Christmas special, appropriately titled The LCD Soundsystem Holiday Special. Directed by Eric Wareheim (of Tim & Eric fame), the hour-long special aims to capture nostalgia twofold. It opens with a parody of a ’90s sitcom titled “All My Friends,” in which Wareheim stands in as Murphy in a fictionalized version of LCD Soundsystem. With Macaulay Culkin portraying drummer Pat Mahoney, the band fumbles through assembling the perfect setlist for the night’s gig. Spanning their 2005 de...
Why Hawkeye Was the Best MCU Adventure of 2021
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the season finale of Hawkeye, “The Boss.”] 2021 was the MCU’s busiest year to date, thanks to films and shows delayed by the pandemic. It was also a period rich with the inclusion of new voices behind the scenes and on-screen, as well as some of the franchise’s most experimental storytelling to date. From WandaVision breaking all the fourth walls to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings incorporating wuxia and mythical wonder to Loki giving us the gift of Richard E. Grant in that costume, Marvel delivered some truly wild moments. Given all of that, it could have been the case that Hawkeye, now having completed its six-episode run on Disney+, would have ended up being a bit of an afterthought. Instead, the complete series may not f...
The Matrix Resurrections Review: A Wild, Meta, Sometimes Muddled, Occasionally Transcendent Love Story
The Pitch: Here’s the problem with reviewing The Matrix Resurrections: At this point, we basically have to accept that the franchise peaked with the first installment. This isn’t meant as an insult, but an honest statement of fact– this is what happens when a film is a masterpiece. If 1999’s The Matrix is a nearly perfect movie, almost transcendent at some points with how it blended genre and technology in service of its storytelling, then yeah, it may be impossible to top it. What makes Resurrections such a fascinating viewing experience, though, is the fact that the movie knows this. And, rather than try to shift the narrative to some different angle on the original, director Lana Wachowski, who co-wrote the script with David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon, decides to take on that problem...
Metallica Dig Out More Deep Cuts for Second and Final 40th Anniversary Show: Review
Setting the Stage: The first night of Metallica’s two 40th anniversary shows at in San Francisco’s Chase Center delivered a strong career-spanning set, so expectations ran high for Night 2 a couple of evenings later (Sunday, December 19th). Once more, no special guests were present for this final performance (unlike their 30th anniversary concerts), but quite a few setlist surprises occurred. Similar to the first night, the setlist was constructed in a manner that featured a tune or two from each album chronologically. But, this night, instead of starting from 1983’s Kill ‘Em All and running through 2016’s Hardwired… To Self-Destruct, it was set up in reverse order, starting with the band’s last album and finishing up with selections from their debut. Taking the Stage: As with the fi...
Metallica Rep Every Album At First of Two 40th Anniversary Shows: Concert Review + Photos
Setting the Stage: It’s hard to believe, but it has been 40 years since thrash legends Metallica first formed. And to celebrate this impressive career accomplishment, the band — frontman James Hetfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett, bassist Robert Trujillo, and drummer Lars Ulrich — booked two arena shows (December 17th and 19th) at San Francisco’s Chase Center. When those concerts quickly sold out, the metal titans announced they were making the shows available to stream for free via Prime Video and Amazon Music. Unlike their livestreams from last year, including the charity show Helping Hands Concert & Auction, Live & Acoustic from HQ, each night of the “40th Anniversary Live” performances is taking place in front of a sold-out arena, with tickets initially being made available exclusi...
Spider-Man: No Way Home Review: A Daring Narrative Feat With a Lot to Say About the Web-Slinger
The Pitch: It’s very very hard to make specific references to much of what happens in Spider-Man: No Way Home without spoilers. But at one point, while discussing the memory spell that Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) has agreed to perform for Peter Parker (Tom Holland), Peter voices his concern over his beloved MJ (Zendaya) forgetting that he’s Spider-Man. Doctor Strange then points out that if MJ is only Peter’s girlfriend because he’s Spider-Man, then what does that say about their relationship? It’s perhaps the smartest thing Doctor Strange says in the entire movie, and evaluating No Way Home leads to a similar dilemma. What director Jon Watts and writers Chris McKenna and Erik Sommers have done with this film is an unprecedented piece of corporate-produced art. But attempting to ...
The Succession Season 3 Finale Confirmed Why the HBO Series Is One of TV’s Most Fascinating Dramas
[Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers through the Season 3 finale of Succession, “All the Bells Say.”] One of the elements which stood out the most about Season 3 of Succession was location: specifically, a shift to the sun-dappled splendor that is rural Tuscany, site of both Lady Caroline Collingwood’s (Harriet Walter) wedding and her betrayal of her children. While the HBO series has always been aesthetically lush, with an emphasis on the elegant homes and offices in which the Roys seem born to dwell in, having some of the series’ most ugly behavior to date take place in such a beautiful place seems like the ultimate distillation of the show as a whole. The finale once again featured the Roy children coming after control of the company, this time in an effort to prevent tech mo...
