Tag: 3

The Change (2023)

Where to find it: Channel 4
Length: Twelve 20-minute episodes
Synopsis: Forest-based midlife comedy-drama
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: righteous anger, rural setting, occasionally funny, Ryan, Tony
What I don’t like about it: attempts to build lore in second season

Review:
Linda, menopausal and aggrieved by a poor division of household labour, hops on her motorbike and leaves her husband for a life in the Forest of Dean. Features a number of carthartic and quite funny rants about suburban life, marriage, cancel culture. The characters are a mixed bag, some being broad satirical caricatures while others are surprisingly well-rounded. A solid, easygoing short show.

Content notes (may contain spoilers):

Star Wars: Andor (2022)

Where to find it: Disney+
Length: Twenty four 45-minute episodes
Synopsis: Overcooked political drama and half a billion dollars add up to a wasted day
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: cool designs, relatively easy-to-follow plot, great VFX
What I don’t like about it: rigid formula and pacing, terrible representation, poor worldbuilding

Review:
Firstly, I watched Rogue One before this, thinking it would enhance the experience. It didn’t and it’s terrible.

This most-hyped and most expensive Disney+ show is probably the best later Star Wars I’ve seen. The plot feels grounded and the stakes are small enough to make sense through the first season. The (largely British and European) actors are good and the tech concepts are mostly well-realised.

Unfortunately, the whole thing is stretched and squashed with a formula of two episodes of set-up for every one episode of payoff and it becomes painfully obvious after the first three. Its worldbuilding is lazy, with locations amounting to “Space Morocco”, “Space New Zealand” and “Space France”. Because it’s such an investment, it’s shockingly regressive with representation – people of colour die first, gays can’t do more than hold hands (except one easily-deleted kiss) and all are buried, even just the queer-coded ones.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): overlong scene threatening sexual violence, violence and blood, bury your gays trope

Creepshow (2019)

Where to find it: ITVx
Length: Twenty three 50-minute episodes
Synopsis: Horror-comedy anthology show
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: fun, campy, does plenty with the budget
What I don’t like about it: most segments are pointless

Review:
Each episode of this anthology series consists of two segments of 20-30 minutes. Their commitment to practical effects and getting a lot out of their low budget is admirable and impressive; the sense of humour makes each segment charming even though many are silly and entirely pointless. Overall, the show is a fun waste of time and if you want to waste a bit less time, skip the first couple of seasons.

Of particular note are two segments, worth seeking out even if you skip the rest. “Drug Traffic” from the third season is an Asian-style ghost story with fascinating interplay between a Communist border guard and a self-interested Democrat. Has a very well-directed monster sequence that is a terrifying bloody mess. Season 4’s “Twenty Minutes with Cassandra” was my favourite segment by far – it’s hilarious and eventually goes way deeper than it had to. I think I said “I love this” after almost every line and it’s just a great short film.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): blood n guts, body horror, scary monsters and swears

Penelope (2024)

Where to find it: Netflix
Length: Eight 25-minute episodes
Synopsis: Privileged girl runs away to commune with nature
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: nature scenes, casting, engrossing
What I don’t like about it: janky fucking ending, bad lessons for younger audiences

Review:
An enjoyable, low-budget series about a teenager who runs off to survive in the wilderness. Things go a bit too well for her at first, seeming unrealistic and irresponsible in how often she escapes danger unscathed. It’s fun watching her build campfires and try to fish and her happy dance when she gets it right is adorable, though things get worse as winter sets in. Lost a whole rating point in the last three minutes, deserved an ending with more finality.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): fish gutting and butchery, sex is alluded to but not shown, hardship and violence

Fallout (2024)

Where to find it: Amazon Prime Video
Length: Eight 1-hour episodes
Synopsis: Yet another adaptation playing it safe with their big budget
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: acting, sometimes looks good, some good scenes
What I don’t like about it: formulaic, padded, poorly written, often looks bad

Review:
Ella Purnell plays a guileless sheltered liberal who explores the wasteland, chasing a series of macguffins and running into Walton Goggins as a hardened cowboy zombie. It’s entertaining enough but twice as edgy and half as satirical as it should be, full of stock dialogue and stretched-out scenes of violence. The animation and soundtrack are both inconsistent, often falling flat.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence, gore, brief obligatory sex scene in the pilot

Carol & The End Of The World (2023)

Where to find it: Netflix
Length: Ten 30-minute episodes
Synopsis: Autistic woman longs for routine amid the apocalypse
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: representation, ambitious
What I don’t like about it: ugly and slow (albeit intentionally)

Review:
The main character of this adult animated comedy-drama, Carol Kohl, is 42 and unemployed when a planet mysteriously appears in the sky, due to collide with Earth and wipe out all life in 8 months. This causes the breakdown of society, with people choosing to follow their dreams and make the most of the time they have left. Carol is encouraged to do the same but she enjoys her routine and doesn’t desire adventure.

It was very nice to see such a person represented, enjoying a small life even if it’s limited. As expected for a series about routine, it’s very decompressed and ponderous but overall sweet and artistic.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): sex and nudity, corpse

Deadloch (2023)

Where to find it: Amazon Prime Video
Length: Eight 1-hour episodes
Synopsis: Australian comedy-murder mystery
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: fuuny, good characters, sustains interest
What I don’t like about it: a little long, tone doesn’t always mesh, underwhelming payoff

Review:
In this example and parody of dark murder mysteries, a Tasmanian cop finds that the town’s misogynistic men are being murdered and has to partner with a brash out-of-town detective to find out whodunnit. The comedy and mystery elements blend surprisingly well though not perfectly, especially at first.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence

Interview With The Vampire (2022)

Where to find it: Buy on Amazon, now on iPlayer
Length: Seven 50-minute episodes
Synopsis: Camp, gory gothic fun à la True Blood
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: writing, acting
What I don’t like about it: source material, season 2 a step down but still fun

Review:
Aging New Journalist Daniel Molloy travels to Dubai to re-do an interview with immortal vampire Louis De Pointe Du Lac, who tells the story of his afterlife through flashbacks. It’s a remarkably clever adaptation and is paced reasonably well.

Unfortunately it’s still Anne Rice – accursed grandmother of a million Twilights – and her flowery prose and unsettling obsession with young flesh make it to screen largely unscathed. Adds some good stuff around Louis being Black and a pimp in 1910s Storyville but criminally under-utilises its “birthplace of jazz” setting.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): violence, gore, sex, sexual assault, racism, domestic abuse

Ted Lasso (2020)

Where to find it: Apple TV+
Length: 34 one-hour episodes
Synopsis: American football coach with winning personality takes over English football club with losing record
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: gentle, occasionally gets a chuckle
What I don’t like about it: unfunny, unrealistic, costs too much, inconsistent acting

Review:
This transatlantic comedy-drama is easygoing but bland, full of painfully performative writing and paper-thin liberal fantasy characters. Being an Apple product, it burns through needless millions and far too much of it takes place on iPhone screens.

Content notes (may contain spoilers):

The Muppets Mayhem (2023)

Where to find it: Disney+
Length: Ten 25-minute episodes
Synopsis: Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem get a family sitcom
Recommendation rating: 3/5

What I like about it: puppets, consistent characters, funny enough
What I don’t like about it: not very funny, forced drama, musical numbers, tiresome cameos

Review:
We’re introduced to legendary touring band Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem, who have never recorded an album, and Nora (Lilly Singh) who works for a failing record label. When Nora discovers an unfulfilled contract for a Mayhem album, she believes she can save the label, but corralling Muppets is never an easy task.

The script could have used a few more passes, there’s too much exposition about Nora’s dead dad and the endless cameos are mostly expendable. The musical numbers are horrific and it wasn’t a good idea to have screechy puppet voices cover “classic” rock songs as much as they did. Whether to watch this one depends how much you like the Muppets, I don’t regret it but I’d watch them file taxes.

Content notes (may contain spoilers): drug references