Little Fires Everywhere

The innate bitchiness of Reese Witherspoon - let's talk. Since I first laid eyes on her with Mathew Broderick in Election, I've loved to hate her. She has a knack for picking roles about wealthy white overachieving women who you detest; she is really good at playing them. She was great in Big Little Lies and she is great in Little Fires Everywhere, her latest A-type bitch role. What's it all about? It's based on Celeste Ng's book of the same title. It's about  Elena Richardson (Witherspoon), mother of four, who never fulfilled her dreams because she had too many kids but puts on the facade that everything in her life is perfect. In walks Mia Warren (played by Kerry Washington) and her teenage daughter, Pearl. Mia is an artist with a mysterious past. Mia gets a part time job as a waitress at a Chinese restaurant and she discovers her co-worker left her baby one desperate night at a fire station. The baby ended up in the arms of white failed-fertility couple who just happens to be good friends of the Richardsons. Mia sets out to get the baby back for her co-worker. That's all I want to tell you. There is a lot going here. The show is about motherhood, it's about race relations, white privilege, coming-of-age experiences, gay love, and even poses the question, what is art? Lots and lots of stuff for only 8 episodes of an hour each. The entire cast is marvelous and the whole show is riveting. It's one of the most thought provoking series I've watched in a while and it gets my highest recommendation. My wife loved it too. Catch it on Amazon.

After Life

What's it all about? It's about Tony (Ricky Gervais) who has lost the love of his life to cancer and is in a very dark place. Tony is an atheist who doesn't believe in an afterlife and now that his wife is gone, doesn't really have any good reason to carry on. As a result, Tony says and does pretty much whatever he wants. He is a bit of an asshole, but a very charming one. Tony works at a very small community paper run by his brother-in-law who lets Tony get away with his outlandish behaviour because Tony is grieving hard for his deceased sister. The tiny paper is filled with oddball characters. They cover goofy and silly stories of people who just want their picture in the local paper for ten minutes of fame. Tony's life is jammed packed with characters - which is the charm of the show. He has a dad with dementia whom he visits on a daily basis and talks with the pretty nurse who works there; he has hilarious sessions with his toxic male therapist; a quirky relationship with a sex worker; and a funny hostel relationship with the postman. I've always liked Ricky Gervais  - partly because I'm also an atheist and I tend to like my humour dark - but in this role, as Tony, you can see Gervais stretching as an actor, diving deeper into more personal stuff. It's good, he's good. I was impressed. Catch it on Netflix.

I See You

The horror/thriller genre is hard to do well. My favourites in recent memory include Don't Breathe, Lights Out, The Babadook, and Mandy. I haven't seen a good one in a while. I See You is a good one. I loved it. What's it all about? Without giving too much away, we have a mystery of kids going missing. The lead detective on the case, his marriage is going through a rough time and then strange things begin to happen in his home. Helen Hunt plays his wife - nice to see her again. I can't tell you a lot more or I'm going to spoil all the great twists and turns of this thrill ride. It's clever and well put together. At a certain point I was glued to it. If you want a thriller, this should be on your list. I See You is something you should see. Catch it on streaming services (it's not like you are going out to the movie theatre). 

Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness

If you haven't heard of Netflix's Tiger King yet, I would be surprised. In fact most of you have likely already binged this. On the off chance you haven't, book off a six hour time slot and get busy. What else do you have to do these days anyway, right? Watching Tiger King is like drinking a couple of ice cold beers on an empty stomach and suddenly somebody put a bowl of greasy potato chips in front of you. You will devour it like a tiger would devour expired Walmart chicken. What is it all about? It's about people running big cat zoos in the Southern US. The main focus of the show is the feud between the gay, redneck, polygamist, county-singing (voice of an angel), Joe Exotic and a woman (who people believe killed her husband) named Carole Baskin. Both run big cat zoos. Baskin claims to be running a sanctuary but that seems dubious. There are also a ton of other characters running around that are right out of a Carl Hiaasen novel; people missing legs, an arm, teeth, tattoos everywhere, and everyone seems to be carrying a gun. It makes Hunter S. Thompson look boring. It's that bananas. Enough writing, enough reading. Go watch this on Netflix now. 

The Invisible Man

My first thought when I heard this movie was coming out was why? Then adjectives like ridiculous, dumb, and needless floated around inside my noggin. But then I noticed that Elisabeth Moss was attached to it and I thought, well maybe I shouldn't be all so judgmental. But a spring release of a horror movie is never good. Then I noticed it's directed and written by Leigh Whannell - he is not a household name. This is James Wan's (Saw, The Conjuring) buddy who he started out in Hollywood with. Leigh Whannell directed and wrote a highly underrated sci-fi film entitled, Upgrade in 2018 (if you haven't seen it, check it out, it's a lot of fun).Leigh is a good writer, maybe even a great genre writer for this type of material. He elevates the horror genre the same way that Hitchcock did. The Invisible Man is a film Hitchcock would have been proud to have made. Yeah, I really enjoyed myself. What's it all about? Elisabeth Moss plays Cecilia, who is in a horrible abusive relationship with a brilliant, rich, sociopath who happens to be a leader in the field of optical technology. Cecilia splits and guess who shows up, invisible douche bag. The whole thing is rather transparent (I couldn't help myself). However Whannell really does a fine job keeping us on the edge of our seats. Elisabeth Moss is great in this. I had so much fun with this movie. It's quite clear to me, (snicker) you shouldn't miss seeing (snicker) this one. Catch it on streaming services.

The Outsider

Since the Syfy channel cancelled Channel Zero, my favourite horror series ever, I've been in mourning. Maybe there is a monster running around out there feeding off my grief? I've tried other shows, American Horror Story, the new Twilight Zone, and I even managed to watch almost all of Castle Rock - I gave up two episodes before the end because, well, I didn't care. And Castle Rock had lots of things going for it, and lots against - both of them being Stephen King. Stephen King, for me, can be hit or miss. Some of my favourite horror movies are Stephen King adaptations. However, there are more bad ones than good ones. I'm very happy to report that The Outsider ranks among the very best of Stephen King's translations to screen. This HBO miniseries is outstanding. The musical score by Daniel Bensi & Saunder Jurriaans is brilliant and haunting - it's half the reason you should watch. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, after all, it's still horror. It made me forget about Channel Zero, at least for a little while. So, what's it all about? I don't really want to spoil it. There is a child murder and we follow the investigation. Things get weird fast and not everything is as it seems. That's all I want to tell you. The big names attached to this thing are Jason Bateman (Ozark) and Ben Mendelsohn (Bloodline), but everyone in this is fantastic - big props to Cynthia Erivo as Holly Gibney (one of the most memorable characters to grace the screen in a while). If you are looking for something to take your mind off of COVID-19, try this. Catch it on HBO.

Fleabag

If you haven't watched this British Amazon award winning show already, well it's time to get to it. What's it all about? It's about Fleabag (staring the uber-talented Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who is not only the star of this series, but who's the writer and creator of the show) who is a thirty-something, highly sexually-active girl who runs a guinea-pig themed café in London. Fleabag, at least in the first season, isn't the nicest of characters. In fact, Fleabag is rather a pain in the ass; a drunk who makes most things about herself. As a result she has made some very poor choices, ones which she has horrible regrets about. Fleabag is charming though, smart, and self deprecating enough we can warm to her profane irreverent observations on what's going on around her. It also helps that she is always breaking the fourth wall (talking to the viewing audience just like Ferris Bueller). It's like we are her secret confidant. It's hard not to like her. Fleabag has an uptight successful sister who is married to an American alcoholic asshole (played wonderfully by Brett Gelman). Fleabag also has a dead mother, a distant father, and a godmother who is truly a piece-of-work (played by the fabulous Olivia Colman). Each episode only runs about 24 minutes and there are only 12 episodes total (6 per season). It's all highly binge worthy material. The second season is about Fleabag's complex relationship with a priest (Andrew Scott) and redemption. It's a dramady. The characters are all filled out in 3D and it's far more moving than you think it should be. Fleabag gets a very high recommendation from me. Catch it on Amazon.