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Previous December 31, 2024 Next A BITESIZE CHAT WITH ANGEL MANUEL SOTO Director Ángel Manuel Soto (Blue Beetle , Charm City Kings ) joins Amarú to talk about the importance of telling authentic Latino stories in film, his plans for the future of Jaime Reyes’ Blue Beetle, and even tease his upcoming film Wrecking Crew starring Dave Bautista and Jason Momoa. Make sure to check out Blue Beetle now on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray™ and DVD. Interview conducted on November 2nd, 2023 by Amarú Moses. Photo Credits: Banner - Chris Pizzello; Photo 1 - Warner Bros.; Photo 2 - HBO

Previous Next July 7, 2025

THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL: SEASON FOUR Starring: Rachel Brosnahan, Alex Borstein, Michael Zegen, Marin Hinkle, Tony Shalhoub, Kevin Pollak, Caroline Aaron, and Luke Kirby Created by: Amy Sherman-Palladino JACOB Were it not for stellar production/costume design, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel ’s fourth season would be a uniquely disappointing enterprise. The dialogue, while often funny, is overly repetitive, with each conversation being a series of quips between multiple characters that ultimately doesn’t come to anything, even if the performances still work. The only truly profound moment is Luke Kirby’s excellent Carnegie Hall speech. What really sinks this season, though, is a distinct lack of growth for its protagonist. Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) is a straight-up asshole all season long, and the show refuses to call her on it. Hopefully, next season will actually confront that. QUENTIN In its penultimate season, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel makes a weird choice by deciding to be about everyone EXCEPT Midge Maisel (Rachel Brosnahan). She just kinda bounces from side character to side character with no real story arc, functioning merely as the connective tissue that holds the other characters’ disparate storylines together. For better or worse, all the hallmarks of the series are still there (the impeccable costume design, the pitter-patter dialogue, feminist messaging, etc.), but in getting away from the titular character, it feels like the show ran out of ideas for her. Maybe it’s good that next season is the final season.

MINX: SEASON ONE Starring: Ophelia Lovibond, Jake Johnson, Idara Victor, Jessica Lowe, Oscar Montoya, Lennon Parham, and Michael Angarano Creator: Ellen Rapoport QUENTIN Behind the groovy 70s sheen, bubbly personalities, and Jake Johnson’s affable magnetism, Minx delivers a sharp and funny (but not insistent) commentary on feminism, racism, and sexuality. For a show in its first season, it has a tremendous amount of confidence, which is aided by the cast’s stellar chemistry. Fair warning, Joyce (Ophelia Lovibond) is a tad unlikeable in the early episodes because of her buttoned-up, entitled naivete, but know that is just where her engaging character arc starts. Given that Minx was dropped on HBO Max somewhat unceremoniously (plus the sheer amount of dicks present), some might decide to skip it. Don’t do it.

THE BETTER SISTER Starring: Jessica Biel, Elizabeth Banks, Corey Stoll, Kim Dickens, Maxwell Acee Donovan, Bobby Naderi, Gabriel Sloyer, Matthew Modine, Lorraine Toussaint, and Gloria Reuben Creator: Olivia Milch QUENTIN While The Better Sister has prestige talent involved, the series can’t overcome its campy, Lifetime-esque vibe to be taken too seriously. I mean, this is a show where rich Chloe (Jessica Biel) is married to murdered Adam (Corey Stoll), who is unstable Nicky’s (Elizabeth Banks) ex-husband. Also, Chloe and Nicky are sisters. That is the level of movie-of-the-week plot devices we are dealing with here, and they come with over-the-top acting, derivative twists, and all the typical genre clichés. If trashy thrillers — and I use that term lovingly — are your thing, then give it a go. Otherwise, this is another forgettable “beach read” show.

BLUE EYE SAMURAI: SEASON ONE Starring: Maya Erskine, George Takei, Masi Oka, Brenda Song, Darren Barnet, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Randall Park, and Kenneth Branagh Creators: Michael Green and Amber Noizumi PRESTON Blue Eye Samurai is certainly a unique take on the oft-animated trope of the lone samurai-ronin beset by perilous misadventures. Its success lies in its willingness to go to extremes, but is hindered by a somewhat disjointed narrative regarding its primary protagonist and odd gratuitous sex scenes that add little to the story. Audacious thematically, it masterfully broaches the subjects of gender roles, mixed-race, class-system hierarchy, greed, and much more. Overall, the bingeable series is beautifully violent, and the interspersed points of levity bring together a strategically cohesive ensemble cast. I am already looking forward to Season Two! QUENTIN As a person who doesn’t typically like anime, I came into Blue Eye Samurai with some trepidation. While it certainly hasn’t driven me to reassess my feelings about the entire genre, it delivers enough Tarantino-esque vibes to make for a worthwhile experience. The thematically and gratuitously adult story (there are heavy doses of nudity, sex, and violence) and the engaging animation that looks like a mix of Akira ’s traditional style, the vibrant colors of Archer , and the 3D-effect of the Spider-Verse movies, more than make up for some lackluster pacing and sometimes stilted vocal performances. If nothing else, it made me interested in Season Two.

HAWKEYE Starring: Jeremy Renner, Hailee Steinfeld, Vera Farmiga, Tony Dalton, Fra Fee, Alaqua Cox, Aleks Paunovic, Piotr Adamczyk, and Linda Cardellini Creator: Jonathan Igla QUENTIN In Hawkeye , Marvel successfully fuses the street-level-style adventures of Netflix’s The Defenders universe with the light-hearted tone and connective tissue of the MCU. Overall, Jeremy Renner carries the show, playing Clint Barton with a mix of exasperated dad energy and “I’m too old for this superhero shit” weariness, which creates an excellent odd couple dynamic with the overeager Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld). While the story, stakes, and even production design are a tad slight, they can be overlooked for the additional depth this show brings to previous MCU entries and the small nods that make this universe feel more lived-in. AMARÚ When MCU offerings are more than just regular superhero fare, they successfully create something as unique and rich as its source material. Hawkeye is the latest to do so, with its buddy cop approach to Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) and Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner). Steinfeld’s charm hilariously balances Renner’s stoicism, and while her wide-eyed wonder can be a bit campy, it fits the Christmas backdrop and makes the in-depth look into Clint’s struggles since Endgame much more impactful. Hawkeye is another strong entry into Disney+’s ever expanding slate of MCU shows. PAIGE Hawkeye must be Cupid because those arrows struck my heart! The series, which brings a grounded look to the street-level crime fighting that the MCU has been lacking, gives more depth to Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) while also introducing an energetic Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld) to the MCU. Between Barton’s grumpy man routine and Bishop’s untamable but impressionable youth, they truly are a dynamic duo! Steinfeld is an especially amazing addition, as she makes arguably one of the more boring Avengers genuinely entertaining. This has been my favorite MCU show thus far, so give me a season two, Disney+! NICK Ranking the MCU series is difficult, but it's hard to argue against Hawkeye 's standing as the most fun entry. Once the forgotten Avenger, the story of Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner) since Infinity War has stepped its game up. Hawkeye continues that journey as Renner gives his best performance as the character, continuing to delve into Clint's humanity as a reluctant mentor to Hailee Steinfeld's Kate Bishop. Steinfeld, in her own right, is fantastic and her quirky chemistry seems to work regardless of who shares the screen with her. Add in a few surprises and you have a highly entertaining miniseries.

THE TERMINAL LIST: SEASON ONE Starring: Chris Pratt, Taylor Kitsch, Constance Wu, Riley Keough, Arlo Mertz, and Jeanne Tripplehorn Creator: David DiGilio QUENTIN The Terminal List is wholly unremarkable. But, even if you ignore the overly serious tone, generic and convoluted plot, and general predictability, it could have been an okay enough, Tom Clancy-style distraction had they cast someone other than Chris Pratt as the lead. Pratt’s main appeal is his goofy charm, so forcing him to play a brooding silent type kills any chance this show might have had at being watchable. Pratt just doesn’t have it in him (it really needs a Liev Schreiber type of guy), making this series further evidence that “The Worst Chris” isn’t all that great outside of Guardians of the Galaxy .

TRUE STORY Starring: Kevin Hart, Wesley Snipes, Tawny Newsome, Paul Adelstein, William Catlett, Chris Diamantopoulos, John Ales, Theo Rossi, and Billy Zane Creator: Eric Newman QUENTIN Be it my lack of expectations or the actual quality, True Story is the most surprising show of 2021. It succeeds on excellent chemistry between Kevin Hart and Wesley Snipes, breakneck pacing, well-placed cliffhangers, and a runtime that doesn’t overstay its welcome (under four hours). Snipes steals the show (bring on the comeback!), but Hart shows plenty of promise as a dramatic actor too (admittedly, it’s a baby step since he basically plays himself, but still…). If you don’t think too hard about it, this highly addictive and compellingly bingeable series makes for a viewing experience akin to watching You .

THE SHRINK NEXT DOOR Starring: Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Kathryn Hahn, Casey Wilson, and Cornell Womack Creator: Georgia Pritchett QUENTIN When you see a cast list that features Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, and Kathryn Hahn, you likely expect a laugh-out-loud riot. This miniseries is not that. It’s still pretty decent, but it’s far more serious than what you’d want from those involved. Rudd and Ferrell do a great job playing against type as schemingly manipulative and sadly tragic, respectively, though, and while it’s a little slow, it still manages to rope you into its true story by the end. Also, the “based on a podcast” aspect is palpable, as the tone, approach, dialogue, and score feel like Visual NPR.

Previous Next November 12, 2025 WRITTEN BY: AMARÚ The end of Halloween marks the official time of year when a teacher is in stride. Whether that stride is good or bad, the longest month of the first semester is over (screw October), and the steady breaks coming from the gaggle of holidays at the end of the year make for a very quick next couple of months. By now, we know our kids, and one of the key incentives we give to motivate them for the rest of the year are end of quarter awards. Positive acknowledgment is a key part of reaching these kids. But, right now, I am not a teacher. I am an adult movie critic, and every time I see a child, tween, teen, or adolescent on screen, I have one response and one response only: FTK. It’s a daily mantra that allows me to switch back and forth between my profession and my passion without losing my sanity. Every so often, as you’ve read in previous articles I have written (like my Movie Teacher Accuracy Report HERE ), I commingle the two things that take up the majority of my life to entertaining effect. So, I present to you my inaugural FTK Awards, which is strictly “For The Kids” (I’d like to keep my job people, so if you know you know, but I ‘m never going to explicitly put that in writing). I have gathered some of the child characters I have watched on a movie screen and assigned them awards to describe my admiration or disdain for what feelings they evoke in my life. With so many deserving candidates to love and hate, this won’t be a list of usual suspects like Kevin McCallister (Macauley Caulkin), Veruca Salt (Julie Dawn Cole), or Hermione Granger (Emma Watson), but those who stood out to me over my life both before and after I was perfectly equipped to judge the merits of children. With that, after yet another wordy introduction to the actual content of my article (you know who you’re reading), here are the 2025 FTK Award recipients. THE TITULAR FTK AWARD Alfred Milano (Noah Bromley), Final Destination Bloodlines I repeat… if you know you know. I came up with the idea for these awards after watching this annoying, undisciplined, rude, self-centered, punk-ass, “who’s child is this?” kid be the cause of all the horrible things that happen to the Reyes family in Bloodlines . He embodies my daily mantra, the perfect example of a child who knows better and straight up chooses to be an asshole. I personally decided to add racist to the list of this demon spawn’s characteristics because, in the late 1960s, he fakes being respectful to the Black attendant of the Sky View who warns him not to toss the penny off the tower. I am probably wrong in that assumption, but I don’t give a damn because this kid sucks. We all prayed that it was coming, then we all saw it coming, and then we all cheered when it finally came: the MVP of the film, the most cathartic piano in 2020s cinema. Thank you, you beautifully heavy percussion instrument for delivering the justice we all desired and handing The Penny Kid his “Titular FTK” award for 2025. He truly deserves it. THE SOURPATCH KID AWARD Ronnie Shields (Bobb’e J. Thompson), Role Models There’s a huge difference between children who are straight up assholes, and those you would call loveable assholes. Yes, they can be vulgar, and yes, they can be disrespectful, but underneath it all, they are actually really funny. You often have to walk away for fear of them seeing you laugh when they get a good joke off at another person’s expense. Once you get to know them, the best way to describe them is that, at first, they’re sour, then they’re sweet. That’s Ronnie from Role Models . If you have ever watched Bobb’e J. Thompson, you know the exact skillset he has for this award. If you haven’t seen Role Models , you should remedy that because you are missing his best use of those skills. Before Ronnie is set up with his court-mandated “Big Brother,” Wheeler (Seann William Scott), he had scared off every other “Big” he’d been paired with, and things start off the same way between him and Wheeler. However, the things you’d expect to happen when Scott and Thompson team up gradually come to fruition as they realize they are the adult and child versions of each other. They bond over superficial likes (boobies) and underlying trauma (father abandonment), quickly endearing you to both characters. So, between the funny disses, character growth, hilarious dynamic, Kiss face paint, and unavoidable charm that Thompson oozes throughout this R-rated romp, you can’t help but love every asshole tendency that Ronnie displays to season the truly sweet child underneath. MOST LIKELY TO TRY TO STEAL YOUR GIRL AWARD Edmund Pevensie (Skander Keynes), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe Thank goodness there are two more movies for Edmund to show his worth, because in 85% of the first Narnia film, Edmund is the absolute worst kind of jealous and whiny. It’s bad when those you thought were your friends are people who see what you have and want to take it from you. It’s even worse when it’s your own brother. From the start of the film, Edmund thinks of only himself, putting his siblings in danger because of it. While literal bombs are being dropped on his home, Edmund runs back to grab a picture of his father but gets mad when his older brother Peter (William Moseley) scolds him after having to put his life in danger to save him. On the surface, this looks brave and dumb on Edmund’s part, but then you see how he betrays his siblings out of jealousy for the low price of a TURKISH FUCKING DELIGHT. Then, he lies on his little sister Lucy (Georgie Henley) about seeing Narnia just so he doesn’t look crazy. THEN after he is caught in his lie and “apologizes” to Lucy, he leads his siblings to the White Witches’ (Tilda Swinton) castle because he can’t help but choose poor judgment, self-victimization, and envy over the kindness, leadership, and patience his three siblings demonstrate around him. First-film Edmund would 100% lie about you to your girlfriend just to slide into her DMs after y’all breakup. Bro… all it took was Turkish Delights??? THE GOOD DAKOTA FANNING AWARD Lupita “Pita” Ramos (Dakota Fanning), Man on Fire When thinking about Dakota Fanning and her very successful child-acting career, the “annoying kid” performance that usually gets brought up is that of Tom Cruise’s daughter in War of the Worlds (originally that was going to win the “Bad Dakota Fanning” Award, but then I realized I don’t remember anywhere near enough about that film). That’s not the performance that stuck out to me for these awards, though. Her ability to live up to and match the greatest actor of all time in one of his most entertaining, brutal, complex, and bad-ass films is the one that stands above the rest. Plus, in addition to Denzel Washington, she also had to contend with charisma personified in Christopher Walken. The range of achievements unlocked while acting alongside these giants is astounding. Pita outwits Washington’s John Crease in their car rides to school, faking him out when she deservedly cries by jumping out the car just to move to the backseat when he’s being an asshole. She gets most of the license plate number of the bad guys tailing them. And more importantly, she eloquently and charmingly chips away at Crease’s hard exterior to create the cutest relationship between pseudo father-and-daughter you may ever see. The swimming training montages between them makes you want to be Pita’s father, her loving nickname for John (Creasy Bear) makes your heart absolutely melt, and the screams she screams for Creasy before, during, and after she is kidnapped make you want to burn the world down. We love you Pita, and we believe you with every fiber of our being when you say you love Creasy. THE RIGHT KID DIED AWARD Beau Abbott (Cade Woodward), A Quiet Place The pattern of these awards so far has vacillated between kids I couldn’t stand and kids I quite enjoyed on screen. Based on the title of this one, you might be thinking “insert Friday DAYUUUUM meme here” and “what did this kid do for you to hate him that much?” In actuality, though, this is the perfect final award of the night because it straddles the love/hate line nicely while ultimately being an award Woodward can be proud of. For me, Beau is the MVP of this film, both for the audience and for his family. For one, he gave me one of my favorite theater experiences ever. Sitting in a Magic Johnson theater in Harlem, New York, when Beau gets snatched by the Death Angel, the crowd went from pin-drop silent to “AAYYYOOOOOO” batshit bonkers. That set up not only the film’s top notch entertainment value, but also how director John Krasinski was playing no games with the stakes as he showed that everyone can get got, no matter their age. Even more so, Beau’s demise is a key reason the rest of the family is able to live so long. In a world where any sound will get you killed, it was inevitable that a young child wasn’t going to understand the gravity of the situation. His mother, father, and slightly older siblings will never forget the lesson the youngest member of the Abbott family taught them in death. Beau, I’m sorry it had to be you, but we all are thankful for your sacrifice. We salute you, young sir.

SMOKE Starring: Taron Egerton, Jurnee Smollett, John Leguizamo, Rafe Spall, Greg Kinnear, Ntare Guma Mbaho Mwine, Hannah Emily Anderson, Anna Chlumsky, Adina Porter, Dakota Daulby, and Michael Buie Creator: Dennis Lehane QUENTIN As a fan of author and screenwriter Dennis Lehane — not to mention being a bit of a pyro — it brings no joy to say that Smoke is, at best, a middling series. The performances are solid enough, I suppose, but the story is far too sprawling. There are subplots, flashbacks, and fantasies meant to drive character development that mostly just take away from the main arson investigation, which, frankly, isn’t much of a mystery since you discover who the arsonists are pretty early on. It’s certainly watchable, especially if you like Lehane’s vibe, but this tale may have been better in book form.