Generations of stolen children, massacres of whole clans, children brought up and brainwashed 'white,' losing their language and culture: this is the darker side of modern Australia’s history. With this in mind, it adds significant emotional weight when you watch the Australian sci-fi series, Cleverman.
The upcoming series, picked up by Darren Aronofsky, is being adapted from the June 'New York' magazine article "The Boss of the Beach," and its bursting at the seams with potential.
Ash vs Evil Dead brings back all the gore, political incorrectness, and laughs you know and love from Evil Dead. While crafting it's own tone and great characters that elevate it past it's predecessors. Starz has a winner on it's hands. The King is back.
Season 1 of Atlanta turned out to be a surprisingly thoughtful and intimate comedy/drama that followed the lives of some very real and relatable characters. The casting was perfect, dialogue sharp, and was full of small moments that led to big laughs. Glover has produced a great first season with a unique voice and perspective wholly different from anything else out there.
Netflix’s original animated-series is a staple of artistic innovation. The creative teams’ choice to depict trauma through that of an animated horse is a testament to the program’s commitment to innovative storytelling and stunning art. Season four brings perhaps the most creatively stylized animation to modern television, while also incorporating design choices into their narratives. This critique is spoiler-packed, so please proceed with caution!
With Twin Peaks: the Return, David Lynch has once again proven himself to be the strange master of portraying the human experience. Let's look at three moments from the Return in which he perfectly captured the beauty, the darkness, and the bizarre.
With Season 2 fast approaching (October 27) it's almost time delve back into the show's fantastic world of nostalgia inducing pop culture references, incredible acting, and strange supernatural creatures. If you haven't jumped on the Stranger Things bandwagon yet, then what are you waiting for?
'Dramedies' and dark comedies that don’t make you forget your drama, but help you reevaluate it and capture some of its bitter-sweet beauty is the type of cinematic experience with real healing power.
While Season 7 of Game of Thrones was by no means perfect (it will undoubtedly irk some die hard fans), it was truly something to behold and delivered on it's promises of epic. With only 2 seasons left and 6 years of build up, epic is exactly what I was looking for.
There is a positive side to fandom. It can bring people together rather than tear them apart. It can foster a legitimate and lasting sense of community, and help make the work itself more enjoyable, rather than less. And there’s one fandom that exemplifies this more than any other: That of 'Twin Peaks.'
Once Netflix got ahold of all ten seasons of what seems to be regarded as the pinnacle of '90s programming, I no longer had an excuse for not investigating further. Also, I was kind of over not understanding references and wanted to see what all the hubbub was about.
Season 1 of Luke Cage was another extremely well put together series from Marvel and Netflix. The character and world building really brought Harlem to life, and the acting was fantastic. However, a weak end villain and an, at times, too small scale of a story keep it from being exceptional. Very solid, but not exceptional.
I caught up on a lot of streaming shows during quarantine, but 'I'm Sorry' might have been the best one of all. It may have been mostly unknown but it's absolutely worth a catch up and worth being picked up by another network.
For eons we have philosophized on the nature of the afterlife. Scholars have debated the existence of spiritual and dimensional realms and where we go after death. But what if you could live forever, the only fall back being you have to trade in your old body for a new one? This has become a reality In Richard K. Morgan’s Altered Carbon
Season 2 of Ash vs Evil Dead was full of all the crude humor and slapstick gore I loved so much about the first season. But outside of the core of Ash, Pablo, and Kelly there wasn't anybody really memorable that added much to the proceedings. In particular, the extremely weak main villain. But all in all, outside of a perplexing ending, it was another fun (albeit flawed) ride that couldn't quite reach the heights of Season 1.
Better Call Saul is without a doubt obscure, a bit flimsy, and idiosyncratic. The entire series has numerous complicated situations and provides deep insight into each characters' nuances. There will be a comparison with Breaking Bad in terms of plot and characters but Better Call Saul stands on its own with remarkable direction and writing by Vince Gilligan who is the creator of both series.
So many shows have gotten either reboots or continuations in the past year. What does this mean for our nostalgia and will these shows ever live up to their original hype?
Sure, there are reasons to be skeptical about the Sopranos revival. The flashback episodes of The Sopranos were never among the show’s better episodes, and the time period change alone indicates that however great it is, the movie won’t be the Sopranos that we remember. Even so, David Chase has been missed, and I can’t wait to see what he does with this project. Just don’t expect it to give you the Sopranos answers you never got from the show the first go-around.
In the first episode of Season 2 (2017), we discuss our most anticipated films and TV series scheduled to be released in 2017. Dareece also talks about his recent visit to the Trenton Doyle Hancock art show in NY and his impressions.
Traditionally, high fantasy fiction is seen as an escapist genre. The consumer, simply put, wants a place where their mind can roam in a magical setting. A place that is foreign and fantastic compared to their daily grind. Although this is the type of experience George R.R. Martin and HBO cultivated with Game of Thrones, when looking a little closer, it is clear that they are also using the veil of the fantasy genre to help the viewer take a closer look at some hard realities facing modern society.
The haters have spoken...well, more like Netflix has spoken. No more Miranda Sings and no more Haters Back Off, and that's a real shame because it was a truly unique show that championed the fact that it's alright for people to be their truly weird and gross selves.
In this week's show we have a frank and open discussion about this seemingly never ending cycle of sexual assault accusations/revelations and what we think is driving these people in power to risk it all. Then we give our initial and spoiler-filled reactions to Season 1 of Netflix and Marvel's The Punisher, as well as our reactions to the brand new Avengers: Infinity War trailer and discuss the DC vs Marvel cinematic universes.
The Good Place presents the topics it addresses in a way that is engaging and thought-provoking (end of the first season, hello!), and it proves that TV has the potential to at least cause us to ponder about ourselves, or even to transform us into better human beings - and that's a good thing.
Jessica Jones is vastly different than any other super hero property out there so if you go into it with that mindset there a fairly interesting dramatic, pseudo-noir story being told here; along with answers to long running questions about her past and potential for future highly personal conflicts.