2024 TV Highlights Thus Far, Pt. 1 | Bite-Sized Reviews

(L-R, 1st row, then 2nd row) SHOGUN (FX / Hulu), RIPLEY (Netflix), FALLOUT (Prime Video), MR. AND MRS. SMITH (Prime Video), and Presumed Innocent (Apple TV+).

You don’t really understand it when you’re a kid, but, boy, it really feels like time flies by as you get older. When you’re stressed or overworked or even just have more important things on your mind, it can be difficult to find the time to do what you want to do before it feels like you’re too late. This is, in part, why I started doing these review compilation posts sometimes containing bite-sized reviews about shows or films that I feel like I still need to talk about, even though I missed out on the moment right after the release. If you read my website frequently, then you know that I’ve recently posted two backlog/catch-up compilations for last year’s TV series. With that out of the way, I now want to focus on some of the shows of the past seven or eight months that I really want to give you my thoughts on. Today, I’ll focus on some of the shows that I think are the very best of the year thus far, including, but not limited to, a video game TV-adaptation and an incredibly stylish reimagining of an iconic Patricia Highsmith story.

Continue reading “2024 TV Highlights Thus Far, Pt. 1 | Bite-Sized Reviews”

REVIEW: The Northman (2022)

Alexander Skarsgård has transformed himself to play the role that I think he was born to play in THE NORTHMAN – Photo: Universal Pictures.

Directed by Robert Eggers (The Witch) – Screenplay by Robert Eggers & Sjón.

Inspired by Icelandic sagas and Saxo Grammaticus’ Gesta Danorum legend of Prince Amleth of Jutland (the latter of which was supposedly the inspiration for William Shakespeare’s Hamlet), The Northman is a $90 million budgeted epic viking revenge film from Robert Eggers, the director of the relatively low-budgeted indie ‘art house-esque’ horror films The Witch and The Lighthouse. It is a dirty, violent, blood-soaked, and brilliantly-made film, and it is easily Robert Eggers’ most accessible film, even though it definitely isn’t your average big-budgeted action film.

Continue reading “REVIEW: The Northman (2022)”

REVIEW: Long Shot (2019)

Theatrical Release Poster – Lionsgate

The following is a review of Long Shot — Directed by Jonathan Levine.

It would appear that I have a soft spot for Jonathan Levine films. His is a name that immediately gets me excited to watch a film if his name is attached to it. I am one of the few who thinks Levine’s 50/50 is a genuine masterpiece of the genre within which it belongs. Furthermore, I think his 2015 holiday film The Night Before has the makings of a modern Christmas classic — in fact, it has already become a tradition for me to watch that film every Christmas. Likewise, I really enjoyed my time with Long Shot, which is Levine’s attempt at Rogenesque romantic comedy with a political twist. While I doubt that Long Shot will become as memorable to me as the aforementioned efforts, I think it is another example of a hip Levine film that goes down well. Continue reading “REVIEW: Long Shot (2019)”

REVIEW: MUTE (2018)

Release Poster – Netflix

The following is a review of the Netflix Original Film MUTE — Directed by Duncan Jones.

Duncan Jones’ fourth feature film MUTE, which is dedicated to his late father David Bowie and his late nanny Marion Skene, is a science-fiction film in the vein of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner. It tells the story of a search for a missing person in the melting pot of a futuristic and dirty Berlin, which, in true Blade Runner fashion, is bathed in neon lights and bluish colors. The film’s protagonist is an unlikely outsider — a tall and mute bartender named Leo (played by Alexander Skarsgård) who lost the ability to speak as a child in a violent motorboat propellor accident.  Continue reading “REVIEW: MUTE (2018)”