PBS’ Compelling Crime Drama Sets Itself Apart With Authentic Casting and an Exciting Cliffhanger
In the first few minutes of Patience, PBS' latest crime drama, a man throws an envelope filled with cash in a bin and later burns himself to death. Although all the clues point to an unsuspicious suicide, leading the local…
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Mike Flanagan Successfully Mixes Genres In Exciting Stephen King Adaptation
This review was originally published on September 9, 2024, as a part of our Toronto International Film Festival coverage. The Life of Chuck is a departure for Mike Flanagan, who’s brought us memorable horror projects like The Haunting of Hill…
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This Problem Can Be Solved by Comfort TV and Violence
Editor's note: The below recap contains spoilers for Murderbot Episode 6. To say things are heating up on Murderbot would be an understatement. Last week, just hours after Murderbot (Alexander Skarsgård) and the Preservation Alliance survey crew had a necessary…
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I’m Disappointed This Vampire Horror Flick Squandered A Premise With So Much Potential
Bleeding reimagines the classical vampire story as a story about drug addiction and classism, which is admittedly one of the most common interpretations of vampire stories since they first began. As a movie with a smaller budget, and the feature…
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Taron Egerton’s Compelling Apple TV+ Miniseries Could Use a Little More Heat
The first thing that came to mind when watching the first two episodes of Apple TV+'s new miniseries, Smoke, was, "Boy, does this remind me of Black Bird." The latter is Dennis Lehane's 2022 miniseries starring Taron Egerton as a…
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HBO’s Most Consistent Period Drama Is No Longer Playing It Safe
It's rare for any series, particularly one as prestigious as HBO's The Gilded Age, to maintain such consistency in its identity. Yet, three seasons in, that's exactly what Julian Fellowes and Sonja Warfield's period drama has achieved. You'd have a…
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Bryce Dallas Howard, Orlando Bloom, and Nick Mohammed Say “Yes, And?” to This Wild, Slightly Too Far-Fetched Action-Comedy
"Improv comedy is like going into battle. If you want to kill, you have to be willing to die." This is the quote that opens Tom Kingsley's Deep Cover. And, while it must make a lot more sense in F.L.…
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‘John Wick’s Scott Adkins Brings the Action, but This Thriller Gets Tripped Up by Its Villain
It doesn't take long to get to the action in Diablo. By the end of the first scene, we've been treated to a well-staged fight where direct-to-video action legend Scott Adkins beats the crap out of two guys who try…
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Netflix’s Sci-Fi Is The Wildest Rom-Com You’ll See This Year With Commentary That Isn’t Entirely On Point
Our Times had overwhelming potential to be a fresh rom-com, but it needed some fine-tuning of the dialogue and the story, as well as better genre signifiers. Our Times follows married physicist couple Nora (Lucero) and Héctor (Benny Ibarra), both…
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A Visceral, If Predictable, Experience
In his latest directorial outing, Sean Byrne (The Loved Ones, The Devil’s Candy) crafts a tense, if formulaic, survival horror film with Dangerous Animals—a grim tale of shark-infested seas, human depravity, and gritty female resilience. With a script by Nick…
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Prime Video’s Action Comedy Has A Simple, Predictable Plot That Is Saved By Its Hilarious Lead Trio
Prime Video’s new action comedy, Deep Cover, has a great high-concept premise, as the Met hires a trio of improv performers to work on undercover sting operations. It goes back to Reservoir Dogs’ assertion that undercover cops have “gotta be…
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Tyler Perry’s New Gritty Crime Drama
Tyler Perry’s latest directorial outing, Straw, is a somber, slow-burning psychological crime drama that lands somewhere between gritty realism and heightened melodrama. With Taraji P. Henson anchoring the film in a raw, heartfelt performance, Perry crafts a story that attempts…
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