Month: January 2023
-
Echo 3, a military thriller
Echo 3 is an overlong, drawn out military thriller about a woman captured by rebels in Colombia and the efforts of her husband and brother to get her back. Like Helen of Troy, she was worth starting a war for.
-
Shotgun Wedding, a Jennifer Lopez comedy
Shotgun Wedding is an action-packed goofball comedy that will make you laugh out loud. A destination wedding for Darcy (Jennifer Lopez) and Tom (Josh Duhamel) is about to happen on a private island in the Philippines.
-
Showtrial, high profile crime story from the BBC
Showtrial is partly police procedural and partly courtroom drama. In only 5 episodes, directed by Zara Hayes, we see the crime, the police work, and the trial. After it’s all done and done, we still aren’t sure the right person was convicted of the crime.
-
Aftersun, fragments of a distant past
Aftersun is the story of a father and daughter on vacation in Turkey, but overarching that is the now grown daughter’s struggle to understand her father through adult eyes. This review contains spoilers.
-
Women at War (Les combattantes), heroic French women in WWI
Women at War (Les combattantes) puts the efforts and heroism of French women at the center of this story set in 1914 France as the Germans invaded France. Four popular actresses lead the cast.
-
Slumberland, a wildly imaginative dreamworld
Slumberland tells a wildly imaginative story about a girl’s journey through dreamland in search of love and family. When Nemo’s (Marlow Barkley) father dies, she turns to dreams to help her find her way.
-
The Paradise (Paratiisi) S2, Finnish/Spanish mystery series
Season 2 of The Paradise (Paratiisi) features the same 3 Finnish and Spanish cops we met in season 1. They’re on to a new case that involves both countries and again need to provide help for each other.
-
Invisible City, fantasy and mythology from Brazil
Invisible City (Cidade Invisível) comes from Brazil. It’s a modern day mystery that involves entities from Brazilian mythology. The series, in Brazilian Portuguese, has 7 episodes. A second season has already been approved.
-
The Last of Us, a review for the nongamers
Everybody knows The Last of Us is based on a video game. The first episode of the TV series based on that game aired on HBO Max this week. The question is, does the series look good enough to watch even if you aren’t a gamer (e.g., me)?
-
Language Lessons, human connection via video
Language Lessons is a two-hander with Natalie Morales and Mark Duplass as strangers involved in long distance Spanish lessons. He’s a student in California, she’s the teacher in Costa Rica. Their conversations lead to a friendship.