Tag: Apple TV+

Flora and Son (2023) | REVIEW

Eve Hewson in “Flora and Son,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

Directed by John Carney — Screenplay by John Carney.

Set in Dublin, Ireland, John Carney’s Flora and Son follows the titular characters — Flora (played by Eve Hewson) and her son Max (played by Orén Kinlan) — as the struggling mother makes an effort to grow closer to her son, who is on the wrong track and on the bad side of the law. Flora, who had her son when she was in her late teens, feels like life has passed her by. She doesn’t have a good relationship with her rebellious son or his father (played by Jack Reynor), and all she has to look forward to is going to a local nightclub to dance, drink, meet men, and start all over again. In an attempt to reach out to her son, she finds an old guitar in a waste container, has it restored, and presents it to her completely disinterested son. Flora decides to take part in online guitar lessons with Los Angeles-based Jeff (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt), whom Flora is instantly smitten by. As the film goes forward, Flora and Max’s growing interest in music brings them closer together. 

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‘Hijack,’ ‘The Crowded Room,’ ‘Ted Lasso,’ ‘Silo,’ ‘Jury Duty,’ and ‘Black Mirror’ (2023) | Bite-Sized Reviews

(L-R) Jason Sudeikis in Ted Lasso (Apple TV+), Idris Elba in Hijack (Apple TV+), Rebecca Ferguson in Silo (Apple TV+), Tom Holland in The Crowded Room (Apple TV+), Ronald Gladden in Jury Duty (Amazon Studios), and Aaron Paul in Black Mirror (Netflix).

In this edition of Additional Bite-Sized Reviews, I take a look at six series or seasons that I recently finished, four of which are Apple TV+ releases. The outliers are Netflix’s latest season of Black Mirror and the Amazon surprise hit of the year titled Jury Duty, but the remaining four series do a good job of showcasing how Apple’s series library is growing rapidly. Are any of these worth your time? Well, let’s have a look.

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Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (2023 – Documentary) | REVIEW

Michael J. Fox in “STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

One of the things that I have thought a lot about since I was first made aware of this documentary has been my own relationship with Michael J. Fox’s work. I think I speak for a lot of people my age (and maybe even a slightly older generation) when I say that I grew up with his work. For my upbringing, Back to the Future was as important as Star Wars or Jurassic Park. Frankly, I think he might’ve even been my first favorite actor because I genuinely remember a young me watching films and shows solely because he was in them, including The Frighteners and Spin City. I remember hearing about his diagnosis when I was very young, and I probably think about him and his condition more than I realize. As such, I was always going to be interested in this documentary, which is why I am glad to say that Fox isn’t just a fantastic documentary subject, the documentary itself — from Davis Guggenheim (the Oscar-winning filmmaker behind An Inconvenient Truth, who, by the way, is married to Elisabeth Shue, who starred alongside Fox in Back to the Future Parts II and III) — is terrific as well.

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REVIEW: Ghosted (2023)

Ana de Armas and Chris Evans in “Ghosted,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

Directed by Dexter Fletcher — Screenplay by Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, Chris McKenna, and Erik Sommers.

A romantic action-comedy from the director of Rocketman, with a screenplay from the writers of Deadpool and Spider-Man: No Way Home, and starring Captain America himself and the Oscar-nominated star of Blonde and Knives Out (who, notably, proved her action chops with a memorable appearance in the James Bond flick No Time to Die) sure sounds like a winning combination. Apple TV+’s Ghosted is a film with so much marketable talent that it has several major cameos that almost feel crammed in there. However, even though this is a project that has attracted a lot of talent, Ghosted is a largely ineffective romantic action comedy where neither the romantic, action, nor comedic elements work all that well. 

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Top Ten TV-Shows of 2022

It’s time. I’ve seen everything that I feel like I need to see before I can publish my best TV/streaming shows list for 2022. Today, I’ll list ten shows that I think were absolutely fantastic last year. You’ll find a lot of different shows on this list. Some of them are big franchise entries, but there are also new favorites and an experimental show that I was obsessed with last year. So, without further ado, let’s get to it. Counting down from ten to one, these are the best television shows of 2022.

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REVIEW: For All Mankind – Season Three (2022)

Scene from “For All Mankind,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

Series Created by Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi — Available Now on Apple TV+.

For All Mankind is my favorite Apple TV+ show, which is saying something considering how much I absolutely love Ted Lasso. Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi’s historical fiction series started as ‘what if the Soviet Union had reached the Moon first and, as a result, the United States continued and accelerated the space race,’ and the second season explored this alternate history science-fiction by having the Cold War take place in outer space, essentially. If the first season was a ‘small step,’ and the second season a ‘giant leap,’ then this third season cements that the previous season wasn’t just a fluke. For All Mankind is still one of the best ongoing shows on any streaming service.

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REVIEW: Black Bird (2022 – Limited Series)

Ray Liotta and Taron Egerton in “Black Bird,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

Series Developed by Dennis Lehane.

Apple TV+ is starting to pick up steam as a serious streamer with several fantastic shows. Black Bird, from award-winning novelist and screenwriter Dennis Lehane, is one of its latest solid series. Unfortunately, since Apple TV+ is yet to have a massive subscriber count, shows like it, For All Mankind, Severance, Shining Girls, and so on and so forth will probably struggle to find an enormous audience. Black Bird should be an easy sell for many people in this day and age where true crime adaptations are all the rage. The mini-series is based on James Keene and Hillel Levin’s autobiographical novel In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, a Serial Killer, and a Dangerous Bargain for Redemption.

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Bite-Sized Reviews: First Half of 2022 – Must-See TV?

Britt Lower in “Severance,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

In this edition of my recurring movie and television catch-up article series titled ‘Additional Bite-Sized Reviews,’ I take a look back at the first half of the year to discuss some of the new shows that I’ve really enjoyed this year, but that I didn’t have the time to review. I think all of the shows in this article are good, but which of these shows do you absolutely have to put on your watchlist? Well, let’s have a look.

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REVIEW: Cha Cha Real Smooth (2022)

Cooper Raiff and Dakota Johnson in “Cha Cha Real Smooth,” now streaming on Apple TV+.

Directed by Cooper Raiff — Screenplay by Cooper Raiff.

Life is complicated. You go to school, then perhaps you go to university, and then you graduate. Life is then supposed to truly begin, but you can easily find yourself in some sort of arrested development because things don’t happen overnight. You just want to get started, and the longer it takes for things to get started, the more people in your life move ahead of you in ‘the game of life’ and they start to create things without you. Fear of missing out on that early can lead to you craving stability, to desire a life that you aren’t anywhere close to having. Maybe you don’t have the right job, maybe you don’t have the right relationship, maybe the world just isn’t letting you get started. That desperation can make you envious, it can make you oblivious to your own self-worth and your own needs. Life and the people you meet along the way can also send you mixed signals. Growing up sometimes means having to navigate those without crashing on your way. Cooper Raiff’s Cha Cha Real Smooth is about many things including those complications when life just isn’t letting you get started for whatever reason.

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Top Ten TV-Shows of 2021

“For All Mankind,” now streaming on Apple TV+ — Photo: Apple TV+.

In 2021, both the film and television industries tried to play catch-up after films or seasons had been delayed and pushed out of 2020. This meant that Succession: Season Three finally came out this year, for example. But something new also happened in 2021. That year marked the debut of Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe Live-Action series, and we got a lot of those, most of which I really liked. So, today, let’s have a look at what shows I thought were the very best in 2021.

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