W2W for the Week of 9/29
While we are about to enter SPOOKY season (aka October), which means there will be a lot of stuff trying to scare us. Luckily, we no longer have to be scared that the writers strike will go on forever as the studios and the writers finally reached an agreement this week. This will let some stuff come back (things like late-night shows, daytime talk shows, and presumably talk shows that happen at any other time of day), but for almost anything else, we’ll need the actors to agree to a deal. So fingers crossed that happens soon too. And with that, let’s get to this week’s list.
1.) Lupin - Part 3 (Netflix on 10/5) - The French gentleman thief and master of disguise (Omar Sy from “The Intouchables”) is back. I know this show isn’t reinventing the wheel or anything like that. But it’s just a really good version of it. And it’s not just me saying that, it’s all the critics too.
2.) Loki - Season 2 (Disney+ on 10/5) - Most of the Marvel TV shows have been bad. Maybe that’s overstating things a bit, but they certainly haven’t been good. The first season of Loki was a (very) positive outlier, so I’m excited for season 2. I don’t really know what the plot of this season is, and I don’t know how, if at all, they are adjusting things for Jonathan Majors’ legal issues. But for me this show is more about getting to hang out with Loki (Tom Hiddleston who used to date Taylor Swift), Mobius (former wedding crasher Owen Wilson), and Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino from “Yesterday”). Plus they’ve added Ke Huy Quan (“Everything Everywhere All at Once”) to the cast this season.
3.) Gen V (Amazon on 9/29) - I know that “The Boys” is dumb. And gross. And crass. But I really enjoy it. And because of that, I’m willing to try this show that extends the universe. Gen V focuses on a group of superheroes that know about Compound V (if you watch “The Boys” you know what that is), and are attending a college for Supes. But maybe there’s something more sinister going on? The reviews are also very positive, so I don’t feel like I’m too far out over my skis being excited about this.
4.) Flora and Son (Apple+ on 9/29) - Writer/director John Carney (“Once”, “Begin Again”, and the least well known, but probably best of the three “Sing Street”) knows his way around a movie with music. Here he is with another one, and this time he’s got Bono’s daughter (Eve Hewson from “Bad Sisters”) in the titular role. She plays a single mother who gets her rebellious son (relatively new actor Orén Kinlan) an acoustic guitar to try to give him something to do. Early reviews are very positive, with the only real negative thing they have to say being that it’s potentially a little too sweet.
5.) Our Flag Means Death - Season 2 (HBOMax on 10/5) - Recommending comedies are hard as people have very different tastes. But if you like the comedies of Taika Waititi (“JoJo Rabbit”) or Rhys Darby (“Flight of the Conchords”), then you should definitely be watching this show about a wealthy land-owner (Darby) who decides to be a pirate. But not just a regular pirate, a Gentleman Pirate! I should note that while I enjoyed season 1, I did think the premise and jokes were starting to get a little long in the tooth by the end of the season. The fact that reviews for season 2 are even better than the very positive reviews for season 1 is encouraging.
Shows I’m Currently Working On: The Gold, Only Murders in the Building (season 3), The Challenge: USA, and Ahsoka..
Other stuff:
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (available now on Paramount+) - Seth Rogan and the rest of his production team get their crack at the turtles. And while they brought along a number of recognizable voices (like Ice Cube, Jackie Chan, Maya Rudolph and many others), they let kids voice the turtles. The movie generally got very good reviews, but it’s a movie targeting kids and my son saw it and didn’t really like it. So it ends up down here.
Meg 2: The Trench (HBOMax on 9/29) - The first Meg movie could only aspire to be a B-movie, and yet it was a big hit at the box office grossing over $500 million. In today’s movie world, success like that means you have to make a sequel. While the movie tries to “supersize” the original, with multiple megalodons on the prowl. And yet, wouldn’t you know it, the reviews this time were even worse than last time. Jason Statham (“The Transporter”) is back as the rescue diver who is also an oceanographer who is also a man capable of fighting a 75 foot long shark. Maybe let me describe this another way, I used the threat of taking my kids to this movie as a way to get them to behave this summer.
Heist 88 (Showtime on 9/29) - Based on the true story of a bank robbery in Chicago in 1988 where somewhere between $70-80m was stolen. Beyond that bit of truth, I have no idea how much the rest of the show’s conceit is based in reality. A criminal mastermind (Courtney B. Vance from “The Hunt for Red October”) convinces 4 young bank employees to steal the money. I like a good heist show, but the reviews suggest this one won’t steal your heart (or your eyes from looking at your phone).
Django (Netflix on 10/1) - Don’t confuse this with the Quentin Tarantino movie, though it is sort of related. This is a TV reimagining by Italian and French production companies of a Spaghetti Western of the same name from the 1960s. The actor (Franco Nero who played the foreign General in “Die Hard 2”) who starred in the titular role of the original “Django” did have a role in “Django Unchained”. Now that I’ve got that out of the way, this series follows a wanted man (Matthias Schoenaerts from “The Old Guard”) who travels to a new city where all are welcome. Then old west type stuff happens. Unfortunately, the reviews from when this aired in England aren’t very good.
Winnie-The-Pooh: Blood and Honey (Peacock on 10/1) - A little over a year ago the trailer for this movie was the best thing I saw that week. Well this horror film about a feral Pooh and Piglet on the hunt for prey, even if it’s human prey, is finally hitting streaming. Maybe not surprisingly, this is one of the worst reviewed movies I’ve ever come across. But those aren’t really going to stop you from watching this, you’re either in or out.
Appendage (Hulu on 10/2) - I don’t like horror movies. But I REALLY don’t like body horror movies. Here, a young woman (Hadley Robinson from “Winning Time”) bottles up her self-doubt until she begins to develop a ferocious growth on her body - the appendage. Turns out, she’s not the only one out there with one of these. Reviews are mediocre.
Make Me Scream (Amazon on 10/3) - A reality contest involving what could best be described as C-level celebrities (Jaleel White aka Urkel is maybe the most famous one) go through “scare zones” with the winner being the one who screams the least. It’s shows like this that make me really happy to have the writers strike coming to an end.
Haunted Mansion (Disney+ on 10/4) - The Disney theme park ride that twenty years ago was turned into a bad movie starring Eddie Murphy is back with a new version. The good news is that while critics described the first one as “not scary and not funny”, they described this one as being “not scary nor funny enough to recommend.” So, they’re making progress!
Beckham (Netflix on 10/5) - A docuseries about David Beckham (maybe you’ve heard of him? Or his wife?). The most interesting thing about this may be that one of the executive producers is Beckham’s former Manchester United teammate Gary Neville.
The Boogeyman (Hulu on 10/5) - Based on the Stephen King short story, this horror movie is from one of the hottest horror directors currently working (Rob Savage who got his big break with the movie “Host”). A new widower (Chris Messina from “The Mindy Project”) is a therapist and has two daughters. Then a strange patient (David Dastmalchian from “The Suicide Squad”) shows up at the house and leaves behind a spirit that preys on families that are suffering. Reviews are medium.
Bargain (Paramount+ on 10/5) - I skip most Korean shows, but this one has the kind of premise that deserves a mention. A man gets lured to a remote hotel for what he thinks will be a sexual encounter. Turns out, that this woman drugs him and when he wakes up he is surrounded by strangers participating in an auction of his organs. Luckily for him, before they actually cut into him, there’s an earthquake that kills some and traps the rest of them in the hotel. Now it’s a fight to survive.
Everything Now (Netflix on 10/5) - This is the first show from nepo baby Riley Parker (her dad is writer/director Oi Parker who wrote and directed “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again” and her mom is Thandiwe Newton from “Westworld”). The concept is a teen (Sophie Wilde from “Talk to Me”) is released from the hospital after dealing with anorexia. When she gets back to school she realizes that while she was gone, her friends have gone through a number of life’s milestones. Obviously the only thing to do is to make a list and try to check everything off it as quickly as possible.
This isn’t my favorite time of year on the sports calendar, but I’ve been watching a lot of sports, which has cut into my viewing time for scripted content. That said, I found time to watch “John Wick: Chapter 4” and really enjoyed it. But, the best thing I saw this week was in episode 9 of this season of “Only Murders in the Building”, when Steve Martin’s character wants to get a person to sympathize with him and tries/pretends to cry unsuccessfully. His face is great. The sounds he makes are absurd. It’s just another example of his incredible ability as a physical comedian. Unfortunately, season 3 of “Only Murders in the Building” hasn’t been as good as the first two, but it’s still better than a lot of stuff on TV.