Author: aliceklar

Dark Winds (2022)

Where to find it: No UK streaming
Length: Six 50-minute episodes
Synopsis: Native American crime drama
Recommendation rating: 2/5

What I like about it: compelling start, good acting and setting
What I don’t like about it: bad story, loses steam, confusing timeline

Review:
In the 1970s, Navajo Tribal Police chief Joe Leaphorn investigates a brutal double murder which may be linked to witchcraft. He has a new deputy, Jim Chee, who is an FBI plant investigating a bank robbery years earlier which may be linked to Leaphorn and the nation. Squanders its early interest by not developing much character and killing off mysteries with anti-climax.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence, racism

Somewhere Boy (2022)

Where to find it: All 4
Length: Eight 25-minute episodes
Synopsis: Mawkish miniseries
Recommendation rating: 2/5

What I like about it: good acting, Yorkshire setting
What I don’t like about it: inspiration porn bullshit

Review:
A neurodivergent kid, raised in isolation by his mentally-ill father, is forced to finally leave the house which has been his only surrounding after his father swallows a shotgun. He moves in with distant family and, as they’re trapped by an oppressive normality and world-weariness, his childlike oddity proves inspirational to them. I really didn’t appreciate it but the neurotypicals say it’s “uplifting”.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): suicide, hit-and-run, sex

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022)

Where to find it: Netflix
Length: 2 hours 20 minutes
Synopsis: The worst character from the first movie returns!
Recommendation rating: 4/5

What I like about it: fun, funny, good targets, acting
What I don’t like about it: doesn’t deliver on murder mystery or live up to its predecessor

Review:
I didn’t relish the thought of a Knives Out sequel, the first being a near-perfect genre movie with artistic ambitions and themes, any sequel was sure to fall short. Going into this with those low expectations, I found it to be an enjoyable outing with the same kind of big characters and visual flair. However it definitely fell short in both the genre thrills and the themes – the plot being so different as to not really be a murder mystery and the main theme, aside from a retread of the first film’s clinging-to-privilege beats, is “tech billionaires are not geniuses, they’re egotistical, greedy and stupid” which probably was a less obvious statement when this film started development a few years ago.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence, suicide, fire

Irreverent (2022)

Where to find it: Not currently streaming UK
Length: Ten 50-minute episodes
Synopsis: Bland, trope-filled comedy-drama
Recommendation rating: 2/5

What I like about it: pulpy fun
What I don’t like about it: perfunctory and pointless

Review:
A mob ‘fixer’ flees Chicago and winds up in rural Australia. Along the way, his money is stolen by a priest. He has to pretend to be the priest in his small-town post. The cynical protagonist takes a kid under his wing. There’s a will-they-won’t-they with a by-the-books cop.

It’s standard USA network fare (Burn Notice et al.) and all been seen before. They do seem to care about chronic illness, featuring characters with multiple sclerosis and endometriosis, and even squeeze out a half-decent theological conversation or two but unless you have a whole lot of time to fill, this isn’t worth picking up.

Content notes (may contain spoilers):

Devil in Ohio (2022)

Where to find it: Netflix
Length: Eight 45-minute episodes
Synopsis: Dark prestige drama for evangelicals
Recommendation rating: 2/5

What I like about it: sometimes intriguing
What I don’t like about it: mostly pointless

Review:
In this cheap Netflix drama, a teenaged girl escapes from a cartoonishly evil Satanic cult. She finds refuge with a child psychiatrist (Emily Deschanel) and her family but the behaviours she has learned in the cult begin to cause problems. It can occasionally be interestingly psychological but mostly it’s pointless melodrama that seems designed to adhere to Christian morals.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence, scars, abuse

I Hate You (2022)

Where to find it: All 4
Length: Six 25-minute episodes
Synopsis: Flatmate frienemies fuck with each other for fun
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: absurd humour, fun acting
What I don’t like about it: fast pace seems forced and annoying at first

Review:
Britcom mainstay Robert Popper’s latest sitcom finds two young women living together in London. Becca (Melissa Saint) and Charlie (Tanya Roberts) both work assistant jobs that they hate and spend the rest of their time nihilistically dicking around and amusing themselves at the expense of each other and anyone unlucky enough to cross their path. They clearly have a love for one another but express it through pranking and teasing.

Panned by the papers, this show certainly isn’t unmissable but it’s a little better than the aging journalistic establishment give it credit for and, after weathering the first couple of episodes, its awkward absurdity made me laugh several times.

Content notes (may contain spoilers):

Clark (2022)

Where to find it: Netflix
Length: Six 1-hour episodes
Synopsis: Swedish crime biography
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: characterful editing, acting, can be funny
What I don’t like about it: glorifying, annoying

Review:
Based on the self-aggrandising autobiography of Clark Olofsson, a Swedish career criminal, this series follows his rakish exploits with some interesting (if eventually tiring) editing techniques and a great performance from Bill Skarsgård.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): loads of sex, some violence

Uncoupled (2022)

Where to find it: Netflix
Length: Eight 25-minute episodes
Synopsis: NYC real estate agent is unexpectedly left by his long-term boyfriend
Recommendation rating: 2/5

What I like about it: cheesy, easygoing fun
What I don’t like about it: not good, outdated viewpoint

Review:
Created by Sex and the City‘s Darren Star, along with noted purveyors of quality television MTV, this is a cheesy comedy starring Neil Patrick Harris as a 50-year-old who has to start over in New York’s gay scene when his long-term boyfriend moves out. The script is terribly outdated, with catty lines pulled right out of Will & Grace.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): sex

Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio (2022)

Where to find it: Netflix
Length: Two hours
Synopsis: He made another antifascist fairy tale
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: visually stunning, some clever scenes
What I don’t like about it: generally miserable, target-audience confusion, tonal whiplash, songs

Review:
This career-defining passion project for del Toro is definitely a well-crafted stop-motion animation but is alienatingly hard to connect with. Certain scenes seem very unsuitable for children, while others – especially a “poop and fart” song – seem entirely unsuitable for adults. Like all his works, it’s a beautiful masterpiece that I had no fun with and am in no rush to watch again.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence, war, grief, peril

Ms. Marvel (2022)

Where to find it: Disney+
Length: Six 45-minute episodes
Synopsis: Superfan turns superhero
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: characterful, funny, good acting
What I don’t like about it: second half is too Marvel-y

Review:
This show has a winsome charm and a very fun lead. There’s a lot of fun had in the editing of the pilot that sadly (but predictably) isn’t sustained further in the series and it definitely lulls in the second half as the CGI action is turned up to 11. This is the most fun I’ve had watching a Marvel product since The Avengers but it would be better if all the character weren’t replaced by garden-variety comic book action at the half-way point.

Content notes (may contain spoilers):