And yet, like so many walkers before it, the universe simply refuses to die. Where the main series has ended, many smaller spinoffs have sprouted up to seek more flesh (and audience’s eyeballs) for some of its fan-favorite characters. “Dead City” is the first of these, and thus a test to see how these splintered … Read more
With many episodes written by co-creators Simon Beaufoy and Alice Nutter, our heroes find themselves in mildly amusing situations, however contrived, like in the pilot when Gaz is suddenly under the control of a show-dog who was accidentally kidnapped by his joyriding daughter Dez (Talitha Wing) and her friend Cal (Dominic Sharkey). Gaz is called … Read more
But by episode six in this first season, “Based on a True Story” finally develops into something meaty and noteworthy. With a darkness that’s familiar to “The Boys,” “Based on a True Story” starts showing how true crime isn’t fun when you’re in the narrative. And with brazenly open dialogue (“Money’s great!”), the series riffs … Read more
It turns out that a group calling themselves the Lazarus Project has been keeping humanity afloat by jumping the whole world back in time whenever natural events or human actions threaten a “mass extinction event,” to use their language. And while most people don’t remember the alternate timelines, George has somehow woken up to them. … Read more
Back in 2019, Robinson appeared on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” in which the host summed up the show aptly: “People who will not admit they are wrong.” “I Think You Should Leave,” with six more 20-minute episodes, has hardly changed from such a set-up. And yet these skits prove that it blissfully still works. … Read more
Arnold plays Luke Brunner, a spy who is about ready to retire—the star is 75, after all—when he’s called in on a final mission to rescue an asset from the grip of a villain named Boro (Gabriel Luna). Brunner can easily get behind enemy lines because he has known Boro since he was a child. … Read more
The best and boldest updates from the source occur whenever the lens is shifted to Jin’s parents, Simon, and Christine. Unhappy with the banality of their lives, Simon has worked in the same position for decades, and Christine is an unfulfilled church-going housewife. Now that they’re middle-aged, their desires dwindle, and their respective rut affects … Read more
We don’t hear a lot of the backstory about how the two were friends, and sometimes that makes for clunky exposition dialogue spoken by outsiders (“You were like teenage girls!” says Audrey [Alisha Wainwright]). And yet we don’t need flashbacks or many pictures to get a sense of that chemistry because it’s apparent in the … Read more
Enter young Sam Wing (Izaac Wang), an ordinary kid who loves to make tea at his family’s shop with his cautious parents, Fong (Ming-Na Wen) and Hon (BD Wong). However, Sam’s adventure-seeking grandfather (James Hong) implores him to leave his comfort zone. Grandpa takes Sam to a circus where they see an enslaved Gizmo perform; … Read more
Now streaming on: “Branded to Kill” (Criterion) Seijun Suzuki’s 1967 hitman flick was such a disaster that it basically led to his exile from filmmaking for a decade. How ironic that it’s become one of the most influential movies of its era, with John Woo, Quentin Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch, Park Chan-wook, and others singing its … Read more