LUCKY Starring: Anya Taylor-Joy, Timothy Olyphant, Annette Bening, Drew Starkey, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Clifton Collins Jr., Mo McRae, and William Fichtner Creator: Jonathan Tropper NICK With its high stakes and strong casting, Lucky is another solid entry into the Apple TV library. Anya Taylor-Joy is given an opportunity for a more grounded performance, and she thrives with it. She’s surrounded by a great supporting cast, including the likes of Timothy Olyphant and Annette Bening, but she remains the key reason this show works. With a focus on different parental relationships woven throughout a fast-paced, seven-episode heist, I was entertained throughout. I know Apple loves extending their limited series, but this is a complete and satisfying story that they don’t need to expand on. QUENTIN While Lucky may have been better as a movie, for most of its seven episodes, it’s a fast-paced thriller built on cliffhangers, twists, chases, and devilish charm. Although it certainly has flaws, including a weak villain in Priscilla (Annette Bening) and a very predictable finale despite subverting expectations for most of the season, Taylor-Joy’s layered performance as she outsmarts everyone in the room keeps the viewer enthusiastically entertained and engaged as the story zips along. Granted, I also could have used more Timothy Olyphant (as always), William Fichtner, and Clifton Collins Jr., but to co-opt the famous saying: it’s better to be Lucky than good.

INVINCIBLE: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON Starring: Steven Yeun, Sandra Oh, J.K. Simmons, Gillian Jacobs, Andrew Rannells, Walton Goggins, Chris Diamantopoulos, Zazie Beetz, Kevin Michael Richardson, and Sterling K. Brown Creators: Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, and Cory Walker KATIE PART ONE Invincible feels like the perfect antidote to the recent prevalence of superhero fatigue. It’s compelling and bold, with sensationally gory violence, nuanced characters, and genuine emotion driven by a voice cast that brings deeply expressive performances to underscore the provoking themes of trauma and grief. However, it unfortunately suffers as a result of the season being split, losing some momentum and rushing through several subplots that kept getting forgotten, particularly Atom Eve’s (Gillian Jacobs) familial drama and Mark’s (Steven Yeun) relationship. Despite lacking some focus, I’m excited to delve deeper into Mark’s journey in the next half of the season. PART TWO Part Two of Invincible ’s second season hits just as hard as the first, delving deeper into Mark’s journey and his internal struggle with identity and purpose, while featuring plenty of action, witty humour, and dramatic twists. Similarly to the first half of the season, some side characters and their subplots are a little underdeveloped simply because there are so many of them and not very many episodes. Nonetheless, Yeun’s performance as Mark is phenomenal, and the dynamic between Mark’s “normal” life and his responsibilities as a superhero is the beating heart of the show. QUENTIN PART ONE I don’t know what Invincible is doing. Season One was mostly made up of filler episodes, with only the premiere and finale being truly necessary to the core narrative. In Season Two: Part One, the series has leaned into that approach even more. There are just four episodes, and you only need Episode Four for Mark’s (Steven Yeun) story. Between the voice cast, vibrant Saturday Morning Cartoon animation, and interesting storyline of Mark coming to terms with his heritage, there is so much potential here, but the writers seem content focusing on poorly developed subplots. Guys, the show is called Invincible . Let’s focus on his story… PART TWO To its credit, Part Two of Invincible ’s second season does focus a bit more on Mark’s story; however, not so much that it has retained me as a viewer. I’m officially done with this series. The only storyline I care about revolves around Mark and the Viltrumites, but the writers keep tripping over themselves to give me side stories about the Guardians, Mark’s girlfriend, and other frustratingly wheel-spinning dalliances. Interestingly, this is a Robert Kirkman series. The Walking Dead – a show I hate-watched for several seasons before giving up – also was a Kirkman series. They have the same “sprawl” issues. I’m not falling for it again. AMARÚ PART ONE Invincible continues to be one of the best comic book adaptations out today because it takes both its comic and grounded aspects seriously. There is fun and action and gore and tropes, but that never gets in the way of telling authentic stories to which people can connect. Season Two: Part One tackles themes of grief, guilt, and responsibility through multiple storylines, but still keeps its sights on Mark Grayson’s (Steven Yeun) main journey. This is all uplifted by a tremendous voice cast who brings every emotion to life in this true comic series. PART TWO Part Two of Invincible ’s second season gives Part One’s disparate-yet-entertaining aspects a focused and intriguing finish. Yes, you might be here for the title character, but I greatly appreciate how much purpose the writers give to every side character. Only having eight episodes does make the parallel plots feel slightly thin, but this second half does an amazing job of pointing themes of grief, trauma, and personal choice all towards Mark’s direction. As brutal, funny, and self-aware as ever, the totality of Invincible : Season Two continues to buck whatever superhero fatigue y’all are talking about. PAIGE PART ONE Although the first four episodes of Invincible ‘s second season are packed with action, drama, and violence, not to mention being a solid continuation of the stellar first season, the overall structure of these episodes doesn’t pack a big enough punch storywise. Following a rocky start, it eventually finds its footing with a shocking reveal in the mid-season finale, but it takes too long to get what we were all longing for. With that said, this series is still as bold as they come, and it remains one of the better superhero shows on TV. PART TWO While the last few episodes feel a little rushed, there is no denying that the second half of Invincible ‘s second season is far more engaging than the first. The latest batch of episodes contain some of the most compelling character development of the entire series, and they do a fantastic job of balancing action with subdued, heartfelt exchanges between the show's numerous characters. For me, though, the most intriguing aspect of this season is Mark’s (Steven Yeun), aka Invincible’s, internal struggle throughout this coming-of-age comic book tale.

SHRINKING: SEASON TWO Starring: Jason Segel, Harrison Ford, Jessica Williams, Michael Urie, Luke Tennie, Lukita Maxwell, Christa Miller, Ted McGinley, Devin Kawaoka, Wendie Malick, and Brett Goldstein Creators: Bill Lawrence, Brett Goldstein, and Jason Segel NICK After a wonderful debut season last year, Shrinking : Season Two takes everything that worked and builds on it. Jason Segel and Harrison Ford may be the names on the marquee, but it's truly an ensemble where everyone shines. This sophomore season does an excellent job giving each storyline equal time to grow, making sure that no character remains stagnant. It also explores some darker themes, and by doing so, allows the series to evolve while maintaining its relatability. Season One was great, don’t get me wrong, but Season Two is an improvement in every sense of the word. This is my kinda therapy. AMARÚ I’ve been asked several times, “could such-and-such not-so-politically-correct movie/show from my childhood be made today?” My answer is always the same: yes, if it’s funny. Shrinking ’s second season proves my theory true because, shit, this show is dark. PTSD, drunk driving, dead wives, debilitating diseases, and domestic violence only scratch the surface of what this season tackles, and I can’t help but laugh every time I think about it. Season Two takes the hilarious dialogue, amazing performances, and bountiful humanity from the first season, tightens the script, and makes it even more relatable, cementing Shrinking as my favorite show on television.

MR. & MRS. SMITH: SEASON ONE Starring: Donald Glover and Maya Erskine Creators: Francesca Sloane and Donald Glover QUENTIN Fair warning, Mr. & Mrs. Smith is not a straight adaptation of the 2005 film of the same name, so if you’re hoping for glossy romance and stylized action sequences, you’ll be sorely disappointed. However, this (relatively) grounded series is all the better for having paved its own way. Yes, it has spy movie and rom-com elements (alongside strong Atlanta vibes), but they are mostly window dressing for the compelling relationship drama at the forefront, which is driven by the palpable and off-kilter chemistry between Donald Glover and Maya Erskine. Admittedly, the pacing and plotting are wonky, but it's otherwise funny, smart, relatable, sophisticated, and inspired. KATIE Donald Glover’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith is completely different from the film, and is all the better for it. The show is driven by the compelling and refreshingly authentic relationship between Jane (Maya Erskine) and John (Donald Glover), who are both very likable and share a genuine chemistry. My favourite parts of the show involve the new couple just talking and navigating the realities of their situation, which is a testament to their fantastic performances. Glover injects each scene with his distinctive brand of weird, much like Atlanta , and effortlessly moves the show between drama, romance, comedy, mystery, and fast-paced thrills. AMARÚ I had certain expectations going into a Donald Glover-created Mr. & Mrs. Smith television show, but I was quickly reminded that Glover doesn’t really do the “expected.” This show is nothing like the 2005 film and unlike anything currently on television. It seamlessly cycles from spy thriller to comedy to action to romance as effortlessly as it takes to believe the chemistry between Glover and Maya Erskine. Their natural charisma breathes energetic life into a stylish script, sleek music and far-off locations propel the show’s sexiness, and every well-placed cameo adds to a mystique that makes Mr. & Mrs. Smith the first must-see show of 2024. CALEB As someone who wasn’t a fan of the original film, Prime’s Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a welcome change of pace. I found the 2005 film corny, but this adaptation takes a much more grounded approach to the relationship between the titular spies. John (Donald Glover) and Jane (Maya Erskine) feel like a real couple with genuine insecurities. They have impeccable on-screen chemistry, and even in the show's slower moments, it’s a joy watching them interact. With amazing performances, stylish direction, and an energetic soundtrack, this new version of Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a total blast.

Previous January 13, 2025 Next A BITESIZE CHAT WITH BRADY CORBET There is a genuine argument to be made that there wasn't a single premiere more buzzed about this festival season than Brady Corbet's The Brutalist . The three-and-a-half-hour epic chronicles the life of an immigrant architect named László Tóth, played by a never-better Adrien Brody. Corbet used VistaVision technology to bring his vision to life, and the results are extraordinary, with the film recently winning Best Motion Picture – Drama and Corbet winning Best Director at the Golden Globes (not to mention Brody winning Best Actor – Drama). The film is currently projected to perform similarly at the Oscars this year. BB: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us today. It is extraordinary how many different themes, metaphors, thoughts, and ideas are present in this film. Deciding you're going to do four hours is tough enough as a filmmaker right now, but to put such depth and complexity into a story is, I imagine, a massive challenge. Was there an organizing principle…for you as you were writing it to create the story so that you could layer that in, [and] how did that happen for you? BC:  I think that the film is primarily about post-traumatic stress and the way that post-war architecture and post-war psychology are intrinsically linked. I always start a project with themes as opposed to starting with characters. And for me, each character is emblematic of something, of an idea, and is a mouthpiece for that idea. I think that my wife and I write intuitively, we usually have spoken about a project for at least a year, if not two years, before sitting down to execute a draft, so we know it very well. Before we put pen to paper, I'm constantly thinking about the defining events of an epoch. BC: All of my films are virtual histories. They're concerned primarily with American culpability. My first film, The Childhood of a Leader , is about how Woodrow Wilson and his team inadvertently paved the way for fascist uprising with their participation in the Paris Peace Conference and the signing of the Treaty of Versailles. Of course, Vox Lux is a film that is about 9/11 and Columbine being the sort of jumping-off point for the new millennium. The last 25 years have really been defined by those two events. And then this is a film about the post-war generation, which is a period of time that conservatives in the U.S. really romanticize. This 1950s Americana when, of course, everyone was processing the events of the 1940s that almost everyone in the world was affected by one way or another. I think that I struggle a lot with biographies, I certainly struggle with most biopics, because they often represent history as being something linear. It's a series of dates and figures. It's cause and effect. Whereas I think I'm more interested in a sort of ambient tyranny -- what is in the air, what's in the water, what's in the atmosphere -- that is all contributing to these defining historical events and happenings. BB: Knowing that the film has been in development for so many years, since 2020, has anything actually changed, or is the final product that we ended up seeing the actual film that you envisioned so many years ago? BC:  Yeah, it's exactly the same. There's not a single scene that didn't end up in the film. There's not even a shot that didn't end up in the film. We were working on such a tight schedule that we had to use everything that we had because we really didn't have enough. So we had to find ways of… even in montages and stuff, I'm flipping shots, I'm flopping them, I'm reusing them, I'm reframing them… just because we didn't have that much raw material. BC: I think that there are about three sentences from the monologue at the Christmas party that were omitted. It was just for a pacing reason, something felt off about keeping them. And other than that, the film is really the screenplay just executed. I mean, the screenplay’s now available online and you can see that there's a way that they're formatted, where it says ultra-wide on this, long lens on that. When you read them, you have a sense of where the camera is in relation to the subject. And I think that's very helpful. It was very helpful for my production designer because what we had to do is, we could never really afford to design sets that we could shoot 360°, so we would sort of have to choose between “we're going to do the floor” or “we're going to do the ceiling,” but we couldn't afford to do both. BC: The screenplay sort of allowed for us to operate that way because everyone had a sense of the sort of frame that they were working within. And then we also prepped on the ground together for about 11 weeks. Which, for me, was actually quite a long pre-production. I'm accustomed to having more like five or six weeks before starting a film. So that was actually the one thing that our extraordinary producer on the ground in Hungary, Viktória Petrányi… she was, like, “You know, we can do the movie in 30-something days.” We ended up with 33, but it was sort of in flux for a while. But she was like, “we need the prep, we can't rush the prep.” So she really protected that and found sort of clever ways of making that work with our very kind of modest means. BC: I think that in a way, those limitations forge a very unique cinematic form. It gives it something as well. Maybe that's like looking at the glass half full, but I do think that something comes from not being able to do just anything. Because when you can do anything, somehow it frequently just turns into nothing. If we look at a movie like Metropolis or something, for example, it’s there, just so many clever solutions. And I felt like, you know, if we could do it a hundred years ago, we sure as hell should be able to do it now. Because it's mostly practical effects. We built massive models and the building was achieved through a few different methods but now we have visual effects that can digitally extend something if you combine it with something real. BC: The problem is that too many people nowadays use visual effects in a way where they create something from nothing. And that tends to look quite bad. So what we did is, we built a massive facade of the building and it was real concrete, real scale. And then it was just digitally extended. So when you have the real scale, you have real light, real shadow, real minerality from the concrete, then it just becomes about duplicating the pattern. And that's something that obviously people couldn't do back when F.W. Murnau was making movies. So for me, it feels like we should be able to do almost anything at this point. BB: In the film's first act, when László is asked why he chose architecture as his trade, he replies, “is there a better description of a cube than its own construction?” Do you feel that same statement encapsulates your approach to The Brutalist ? How do you feel the film's construction, using the outdated 70-millimetre format with the classical presentation and the overture intermission, informed the film's meditation on the American myth-making of the American dream? BC:  Absolutely. I think that the sentiment that there's no better description of a cube than that of its own construction… I, of course, feel the same way about the film because if you could tell a film, then why make a film? It's hard to even qualify what drives me . When I think about why I do what I do, I really don't know. I really don't know. It comes from a place of obsession. It comes from a place of real stubbornness. You know, I never start something that I don't finish. That's of course a blessing and a curse. BC: It can be extremely productive, but it's not a very easy way to be. I'm probably not a very easy person to live with. My wife and daughter are very patient. And I think that in the Venn diagram, I think that there's a lot of overlap between architecture, building a building, and making a movie. It is something I can relate to, and that my wife that wrote the film with me, Mona [Fastvold], she absolutely relates to as well. BB:  What drew you to tackling the idea of this broken promise of the American dream and the immigrant experience specifically through the eyes of an architect or an artist? BC:  Well, I think the characters were mostly written to their circumstance. It was predominantly Central and Eastern European Jews that were at the Bauhaus. So for me, the characters were always from that part of the world because it's a film that chronicles the life of a Bauhaus architect. For me, the artistic experience and the immigrant experience have a lot in common because an immigrant is fighting for their right to exist, and an artist is fighting for the right for their project to exist. BC: We were looking a lot at the life of Marcel Broyer, Paul Rudolph, Mies van der Rohe, Vláclav Moholy Neuge, you name it. And the character is sort of an amalgamation of all of these real-life characters. They all had something in common. With maybe the exception of Paul Rudolph, they were all coming from Europe. And it was such a big deal. The radical style of architecture in the era that gave us I Love Lucy , you know, and so I sort of just had this vision of that 1950s aesthetic being interrupted by these designs that they must have looked like a spaceship at the time when Breuer was doing St. John's Abbey or something like that. It was written long enough ago at this point that it's hard for me to pinpoint what drove each of our decisions and choices, but we always start with real life. And then once you start writing, it becomes fiction. BB:  There's a lot of sexual content in the film, especially compared to other mainstream American films that are generally sexless right now. Was it important for you to include that? And has there been any pushback to remove it or condense it since the festival run? BC:  Yeah. I mean, the film was finally rated R, but I think it was kind of on the bubble for an NC-17. I just think it's preposterous. This puritanism, I don't know where it comes from. It's 2024, for Christ's sake. I find it odd to condemn the human body. You walk around a museum and everyone's fucking in every single painting. I just think there are a few things that are very important for this film in particular, which is that this movie is about a character that is trying to reclaim his body of work and about him reclaiming his body. We understand in the first 10 minutes that [László’s] impotent following the war, and that even when he and his wife reconnect, it takes them a long time to physically reconnect. Which after 10 years, of course, it's like touching a stranger. You don't know how to interface anymore. BC: It was very important to me to portray a survivor, two survivors, that are trying to reclaim their bodies for themselves again. Because they've been used and abused for over a decade at that point in the story. So yeah, I don't know. My wife is Norwegian and my in-laws are, like, always skinny dipping and stuff at the holidays. I don't think anything of it. It didn't even occur to me that this film might get an NC-17. And I'm very glad that finally it didn't because I never would have changed anything anyway. I don't give a fuck. BB:  Nor should you. During this press tour, you've made many references to how challenging it was to bring The Brutalist , and many films in general, to the big screen. How do you feel about that complicated relationship that an artist has with themselves, their vision, and maybe the commercial nature of the business? And how do you think that relationship informs your storytelling? BC:  I think this film happens to be about exactly that. I remember when we finished the screenplay with this line from Zsófia as an adult (Ariane Labed) saying, “in fact, it is the destination, not the journey.” It dawned on us back in 2017 or whenever it was when we first started this project that it would probably be a long road. It was longer than we expected, mostly because of COVID and the shutdowns, because we were originally meant to shoot the film in Poland. The very day that my crew was supposed to arrive in Poland to start pre-production, Poland shut their borders. And then the tax credit for a period of time became unstable a year later because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. And so we had to pivot and shoot the film in Hungary. Part of the reason that I decided on Hungary was that I had shot my first film there, and I had scouted the country, and I kind of knew what was available, so I was able to scout virtually in Hungary because it was still a tricky time for travelling in 2021 because of COVID. I knew it was the only place that I felt I knew well enough to plan remotely, which is what we did. And then finally, we arrived at the top of 2022 and shot the film in March. Then I was in post-production for two years, primarily because of the length of the picture. BC: Also, for financial reasons, we were continuing to raise money throughout the entire process because we actually started the film with a budget of closer to $8 million. And it really didn't fit inside of that box. $10 million was really the minimum and the maximum that the market would allow it to be made for. The good thing is that there's a budgetary restriction. That mostly just affected our quality of life while we were making the film, so I believe it would have been the same film if we had an additional $1.5 or $2 million. I really do. But we wouldn't have had to work seven days a week. We wouldn't have had to work 20-hour days. There was literally one day in the mix that was like 23 hours long. It's because we could only afford the studio for X amount of days. And when we got to the last day, we just weren't finished yet. We were moving very quickly, but we just weren't finished. BC: What's very tricky is that filmmakers are frequently exploited because filmmakers are treated, not as if they're someone doing a job, but that it's a privilege to be able to make your film. So frequently, the powers that be sort of lean on the filmmaker who are so desperate to get their project off the ground that they're willing to do it for free, which becomes increasingly difficult as you get older. I've got a 10-year-old daughter and we live pretty modestly. But as we get older, of course, life is becoming more and more expensive, not less. Every single filmmaker I know is grappling with this. You'd be surprised how many people are currently campaigning their movie for Best Picture right now that can't pay their rent. BC: It's ultimately not acceptable. I mean, I've done three movies this way. And when I make the next one, I just need to be able to pay my rent while I'm working on the project because a lot of distributors and exhibitors and producers and studios benefit because of the filmmaker's work. Not always, but frequently. So, I think that the magic number for this movie would’ve been $12 million, but I wouldn't have wanted more because with more money would have come more voices. More checks. More people, you know, more cooks in the kitchen. And for me, when I pick up a novel, I don't want to read a book that was written by 24 people. I certainly don't want to read a book that was written by 24 executives at a streaming [service]. I think that a singular vision, a singular point of view, matters. And it's something that we should encourage and foster, culturally. Audiences actually do speak up. It seems to happen a lot in the world of these superhero films where people hear about a director's cut and start beating on a drum about it. But in fact, everyone should be beating on a drum for the director's cut of absolutely every film because even if a film is imperfect, there's a consistency and continuity of vision. It will always make for a better film. Otherwise, it ends up looking something like an exquisite corpse. BB:  And when you talk about the time constraints, the budget constraints, the scheduling, all of this stuff. It's no secret that The Brutalist took many, many years to come to fruition. Now, it’s being regarded as a massive American epic masterpiece and something that we just haven't seen the likes of in a very, very long time. When you sit with this movie, being made, getting released, and hitting IMAX in a few weeks nationwide. Is there a particular scene that you look back on in fondness and think, you know, “Wow, that's really cool that that made it from my mind, to the paper, to the screen”? BC:  Oh, yeah. Honestly, I'm just so grateful to my team on the movie. Even as recently as last summer, I had just started to run out of gas because I'd been working so relentlessly for so many years in a row and really without a break. We'd run out of money, and I was like, “You know what? it's fine. We'll do a 35-millimetre print and maybe eventually down the line, let's just save and enter negative so that we can make a 70-millimetre print, which is the only way to appreciate the full resolution of VistaVision,” My producing partner, Andrew Morrison, said, “um, absolutely not. We're going to do it. We're going to figure it out.” And he went out and he raised more money. BC: You know, when Ingmar Bergman was directing Fanny and Alexander - the iconic funeral sequence in the film, the beautiful winter sequence - Ingmar Bergman got sick. And his crew had been working with him for such a long time that they continued on shooting without him. And it's funny because it's very much a Bergmanian sequence. But they'd worked together for so many years that when he was struggling, his team got him through to the finish line. And so, my composer [Daniel Blumberg] who we made this film with… I mean, it's 110 minutes of original music, and he made it truly on a shoestring budget. Or my production designer, Judy Becker, who really managed to do so much with next to nothing. I’m just so grateful. I'm very proud. I'm very proud of all our films that we've done together. Every movie is a miracle. Even a bad movie is kind of a miracle that it gets made. But with this, we certainly fought the good fight for many years, so I'm just really touched that they are all being recognized because that doesn't always happen that every member of the team sort of gets their due. For the most part, on this one, everyone's been acknowledged. BB: Well thank you for taking the time and I wish you and your team all the best of luck in the award season, I hope to see you guys up on the stage in March. BC:  Appreciate it. Thank you. Well, we've already made it this far and just being a part of the conversation, in all seriousness, that's actually what matters. More than anything, because just being in the conversation has a real impact on the film's box office. And if the film performs okay, then it means that more movies like this get made. Make sure to check out The Brutalist now in theatres. Interview conducted on December 17th, 2024 by Adriano Caporusso.

CONSTELLATION: SEASON ONE Starring: Noomi Rapace, Jonathan Banks, James D’Arcy, Julian Looman, Lenn Kudrjawizki, William Catlett, Barbara Sukowa, Carole Weyers, Rebecca Scroggs, Henry David, Joshua Spriggs, Michel Diercks, Sandra Teles, Clare-Hope Ashitey, Davina Coleman, Rosie Coleman, and Chipo Chung Creator: Peter Harness QUENTIN Constellation , which Apple is calling an “action-packed space adventure,” has very little action and zero adventure. This series is a pure psychological thriller, and a bad one at that. It’s a slow burn that piles mysteries on top of mysteries without ever giving the viewer enough bait to become curious about the answers. Sure, things come into focus eventually, but the slog to get there simply isn’t worth it. It’s a confusing and convoluted mess that will often leave you questioning if you missed something…and I say that as someone who binged the entire season in one sitting. I can’t imagine watching this on a week-to-week basis. PRESTON Constellation , Apple TV+’s new psychological thriller features a recognizable cast in Noomi Rapace and Jonathan Banks, and while the acting, cinematography, and score are fantastic, the series, as a whole, is not. The absolute lack of action and ridiculously drawn-out scenes seem to be its attempt at suspenseful intensity, yet they fail to thrill on almost every (but not quite all) occasion. There is complete confusion in the first half of the series, followed by annoyance in the second half with its repetitive nature. There is potential for any possible seasons to come, but this first outing was just too damn slow.

MURDERBOT: SEASON ONE Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Noma Dumezweni, David Dastmalchian, Sabrina Wu, Akshay Khanna, Tamara Podemski, and Tattiawna Jones Creators: Paul Weitz and Chris Weitz QUENTIN Apple’s Murderbot is an extremely bingeable show despite its flaws, most of which are in the pacing and narrative department. I could feel my mind drifting midway through some episodes, which isn’t a great sign when most episodes are barely 20 minutes long. That said, those short episodes — coupled with solid sci-fi action, nice special effects, and Alexander Skarsgård’s cynically droll, often hilarious, and personally relatable inner monologue — make it easy to keep forging ahead to the end. Plus, when Murderbot (Skarsgård) says something along the lines of “humans are stupid. I just want to be left alone to watch my shows,” I felt seen.

AMERICAN SPORTS STORY: SEASON ONE - AARON HERNANDEZ Starring: Josh Rivera, Jaylen Barron, Lindsay Mendez, Ean Castellanos, and Tammy Blanchard Creator: Stuart Zicherman PAIGE Although some of the plot points depicted in the show feel a bit fabricated and over the top, I, as a Patriots fan and Massachusetts resident, remember watching this all unfold in real time. I must say, the overall approach of the story delivers interesting nuance to the bigger picture of what was possibly happening behind the scenes in Aaron Hernandez's (Josh Rivera) life. It’s a fascinating and gripping show that does an admirable job of examining Hernandez as a man fighting his innermost personal demons. Plus, Rivera blew me away with his portrayal of the famous tight end. QUENTIN As a fan of the Patriots and football-themed stories, American Sports Story: Aaron Hernandez kept me compelled and engaged even though I had already seen Netflix’s documentary Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez . That said, it’s not without some flaws that could ruin it for those without my biases. Josh Rivera is great as Hernandez, aptly conveying the double life and inner conflict that troubled Hernandez, but bit supporting players who play the likes of Tim Tebow, Rob Gronkowski, and Urban Meyer are laughably ridiculous, as are the cheap-looking in-game sequences. Still, if you can look past that, it’s worth a watch.

1883: SEASON ONE Starring: Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Isabel May, LaMonica Garrett, Marc Rissmann, Audie Rick, Eric Nelsen, James Landry Hébert, and Noah Le Gros Creator: Taylor Sheridan QUENTIN Let’s call 1883 what it is: Oregon Trail: The Series marked with the Yellowstone brand. That doesn’t make it a bad show, but something about the unnecessary synergy sours me for some reason. That weird personal gripe aside, the series is best when it focuses on the ex-soldiers (Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, and LaMonica Garrett) leading the group west. However, they take a backseat to main character Elsa Dutton (Isabel May), a free-spirited 18-year-old girl who falls in love way too easily and narrates the series with an awful accent and laughably cheesy monologues. That narrative choice threatens to derail an otherwise watchable western.

INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE: SEASON TWO Starring: Jacob Anderson, Sam Reid, Delainey Hayles, Eric Bogosian, Assad Zaman, and Ben Daniels Creator: Rolin Jones QUENTIN After two seasons, Interview with the Vampire remains one of the most beautiful shows on television, featuring a twisty, lavish, and gothic love story that one can’t help but to be invested in. That said, Season Two isn’t quite as good as Season One, almost exclusively because of the absence of Sam Reid’s Lestat, who is little more than a recurring guest character this season. However, with Season Three already greenlit, and the announcement that it will be based on The Vampire Lestat , the second book of Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles , the small complaint of not enough Reid seemingly will be remedied with haste.

Previous Next August 8, 2023 WRITTEN BY: JACOB In the vast history of the cinematic art form, much has been written regarding the idea of firsts and lasts. Yet, for all the authored ruminations on the audiovisual firsts and lasts present in movie history, there remains a distinct lack of material exploring the idea of the final glance shared between two characters, an idea I like to call “Last Looks.” For obvious reasons, this piece comes bearing a hefty SPOILER WARNING. TRIUMPH CASABLANCA (1942) Our start takes place in 1942, with the release of what I believe to be the quintessential old Hollywood classic, Casablanca . There are more than a few iconic moments both leading up to and immediately following this film’s Last Look, from Humphrey Bogart’s delivery of “Here’s looking at you, kid,” to his final line of the film, when he says to Claude Rains’ Louis Renault, “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” But it’s what happens between those two lines that draws our focus with respect to this idea of mine. Just after the first of these exchanges, but just before the latter, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) and Rick (Bogart) share one final look. If one glances deeper, this look is revealed not to be one of mere love or loss, but of triumph – costly, tragic, and all too bittersweet. As Rick and Ilsa look into each other’s eyes, one can see the idea of victory come across each of their faces. A wisdom that the end of the war and a defeat of the forces that keep them apart is in sight, even as their view of it remains years away. Triumph over evil – in each meaning that takes – is on the distant horizon. DEFEAT THE GODFATHER (1972) On the opposite end of the spectrum, we come to perhaps the most famous film in this piece. Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather , for all the subsequent praise and criticism thrown its way since its release in 1972, remains one of the great achievements in movie history, both from an adaptational perspective and as one looks upon its oceans of influence. Everyone remembers the more famous lines and sequences from the film, but few talk about that last shot, where Kay (Diane Keaton) looks, not to Michael (Al Pacino) as he ascends to the status of Don, but to Al Neri (Richard Bright) as he closes the door. It is, in every respect, a glance of defeat, with Neri’s return glance an acknowledgement that Kay will never truly win Michael out of this life that has now been cemented into his legacy. Despite any aversion to it that Michael has attempted, and despite any allure that Kay may represent away from this love affair with organized crime… there is simply no victory that can pull Michael from his ultimate fate, and there is no safeguard against destiny. LOVE THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE RETURN OF THE KING (2003) As I sat in a movie theater some months ago watching the 20th Anniversary re-release of Peter Jackson’s epic conclusion to The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I was struck by something in the film that I had not noticed before – or, if I had noticed it, had never been quite so attentive to – and that moment is what became the inspiration behind this piece: the Last Look between story protagonist Frodo (Elijah Wood) and his three Hobbit friends on the shores of the river that would carry Frodo to The Grey Havens, thus ending his time in Middle Earth forever. There is no dialogue accompanying this gaze, no final declaration or quippy joke; there is only the beauty of the score and an almost imperceptible zoom on Frodo’s face as his eyes communicate to the others that he loves them, and always will. This is especially punctuated as we cut from Frodo’s gaze to Sam’s (Sean Astin) and understand that, though the look is given to all three of the Hobbits standing on the cobblestone, it is especially meant for him. Within Frodo’s gaze, we see a love not only given to the other Hobbits, but directed towards Sam specifically as a final farewell and reassurance that – in Sam’s heart – he will never truly leave. HOPE SING STREET (2016) As we turn to more obscure material through the mid-2010s, and as the 2010s themselves become laden with blockbuster entertainment slightly less concerned with unabashed sincerity, we come upon subtler but all-too-potent examples of the Last Look that began to permeate the indie filmmaking scene. One such instance is in John Carney’s severely underrated Sing Street . Throughout the film, we come to understand that Jack Reynor’s character, Brendan, may never truly attain the life he so badly needs to rise above his own station, but that he would do anything to help his brother Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo) achieve a better life. In one of the film’s sweetest moments, Conor decides that he and newfound love Raphina (Lucy Boynton) are to leave their island on a boat bound for England so that they can achieve their musical dreams, a move that Brendan is made aware of just prior to its occurrence. One could focus on the final glance between Conor and Raphina, but in this particular case, I find the final look that Brendan gives Conor most compelling, not simply because of what it represents, but because crucially, this is the one example in this piece where the look is not mutually given. As Brendan looks out to the water, and as Conor and Raphina sail on, we are able to see in Brendan’s eyes a kind of hope, not only for Conor’s future, but for any life outside of the island they’ve occupied. As low as Brendan has been for most of the film, the central power of hope is in how it is gifted to other people, and it is evident in Brendan’s gaze towards the distant vessel that whatever hope he has, he is sending towards his brother. TRAGEDY PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE (2019) Celine Sciamma’s work is destined to be remembered as some of the finest filmmaking in the entirety of French cinema, but I find it unlikely that any of her films will be so revered as her masterful 2019 hit Portrait of a Lady on Fire . The film’s delicate ballet of heartache – mirroring the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice – sets the stage in its first 90 minutes for a final look between the two main characters that can only be understood as tragedy. As Marianne (Noémie Merlant) is set to leave Heloise (Adèle Haenel) behind to a marriage she does not want with a man she does not know, she begins to exit the premises in which she had been commissioned to paint a portrait of Heloise. However, unlike the tale of Orpheus and Eurydice, the viewer understands something infinitely more heart-wrenching: whereas in the ancient tale, Eurydice (Heloise, in this case) is given the option to escape; in this version, there is nothing that can be done, which renders Marianne’s final turn – a look back at her one love in ghostly white – a profound and inescapable tragedy. Therefore, we understand that it is not necessarily the character’s Last Look towards Heloise that informs this idea, but the viewer’s. It is our gaze that sees Heloise and understands that just as Marianne is helpless to rescue her, we are helpless to do anything but watch. CLOSURE PAST LIVES (2023) As luck would have it, Past Lives was not originally part of this piece. In fact, when this idea was conceived, the film had not yet debuted in theaters. How fitting, then, that it would show up just as the text is set to end, giving us one last reference point… and perhaps the most emotionally poignant one of all. As Hae Sung (Teo Yoo) is set to go back to Korea, Nora (Greta Lee) walks him to his Uber, where the two share one Last Look. It lasts for nearly a full minute before the glance is broken, but within that minute, everything is wordlessly communicated, including that this look - this moment - is it for them. They are likely to never meet again, and this chapter has come to an end. This is the wordless catharsis both Nora, and we the audience, have been longing for over the course of the film, and even if the work is barely seven months old, it remains one of the finest examples I can give of the idea behind Last Looks. Photo Credits: Photo 1 - Warner Bros; Photo 2 - Paramount Pictures; Photo 3 - New Line Cinema; Photo 4 - Lantern Entertainment; Photo 5 - Pyramide Films; Photo 6 - A24

TULSA KING: SEASON ONE Starring: Sylvester Stallone, Andrea Savage, Martin Starr, Jay Will, Max Casella, Domenick Lombardozzi, Vincent Piazza, A.C. Peterson, Garrett Hedlund, and Dana Delaney Creator: Taylor Sheridan NICK Tulsa King isn't a great show. In fact, it's actually a fairly generic mob story, but, man, does Sylvester Stallone elevate the material. In his best original role in years, he commands the screen as Dwight Manfredi. Series creator Taylor Sheridan must have written this role with him in mind because few actors would have the same level of success with it. Unfortunately, there are some tonal issues throughout, and the series ends a little flat, failing to build hype for a sophomore season. In spite of this, it’s still an entertaining and worthwhile series I’ll return to. QUENTIN Coincidence or not, as prolific series creator Taylor Sheridan adds more shows to his Paramount+ empire, one can really start to feel how thin he has stretched himself. Although I enjoyed Tulsa King quite a bit, every ounce of credit goes to the screen presence and charismatic magnetism of Sylvester Stallone. Outside of Sly, who honestly isn’t doing anything all that special, the series has a level of camp and cheesiness that is a little goofy, while, somehow, the characters and plotlines are both underwritten and overwritten at the same time. Plain and simple, this show does not work without Stallone, who remains infinitely watchable. JTE Tulsa King is the newest series from Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, starring Sylvester Stallone as a New York mobster who is exiled to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Anyone who is familiar with me knows I grew up a huge Stallone fan, so to say this show was high on my must watch list is an understatement. Thankfully, the show is exactly what I was hoping for. Sly has never looked so at ease or excited to play a role; he commands the screen, carrying the show on his bulky shoulders. It's the ultimate dad TV show.