Search Results

ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING: SEASON ONE Starring: Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez Creators: John Hoffman and Steve Martin AMARÚ The first episode of Only Murders in the Building was rough. I don't know... Maybe the charm of Steve-Martin-Short (yes, I did that) is of a bygone era. Plus, Selena Gomez's flat affect is slightly off-putting. Yet, something kept me watching the next episode, then the next, then suddenly binging all the released episodes until I was waiting impatiently for the finale. Turns out an old-fashioned "Whodunit?" is the kind of fun missing from TV. Gomez grows on you too, mixing modern flavor with nostalgic comedy. Add a great season ending stinger. and the mood is set for more murders. QUENTIN Although it takes an episode or two to get going, Only Murders in the Building easily coasts on the chemistry between Steve Martin and Martin Short. It also playfully mocks the current obsession with true crime podcasts, but in a way that doesn't feel malicious. It's quite charming, actually. The story moves at a solid clip, with several engaging cliffhangers to propel the viewer to the next episode, and the score is delightfully elegant. Selena Gomez doesn't really have the charisma or screen presence to stand toe to toe with the two legends, but it hardly derails the series.

CLICKBAIT Starring: Zoe Kazan, Adrian Grenier, Betty Gabriel, Phoenix Raei, Abraham Lim, Motell Gyn Foster, and Jessica Ann Collins Creators: Tony Ayers and Christian White QUENTIN Clickbait isn't great. The acting is middling and there are two very annoying characters, the sister and the youngest son (it's always the kid). On top of that, the final resolution is random and comes out of nowhere. That said, it lives up to its title. At the end of each episode, it compelled me enough to sit through another generally uninspired hour, which wasn't a huge drag at only eight episodes. It has a lot to say about the dangers of the internet, but this is mostly just a quick mystery binge that you'll forget soon after watching.

Previous Next September 26, 2025 As we decompress and process everything from the Toronto International Film Festival, it's time to gather our thoughts and talk about all the films we had a chance to check out at TIFF 50. Spoiler Alert: There were a lot of them. Frankenstein , No Other Choice , Wake Up Dead Man , Sentimental Value , Hamnet , Roofman , The Smashing Machine ... There were nearly 300 films at this year's festival and Amarú, Nick, Adriano, and our guest Amanda Guarragi are here to talk about all the highs and lows of TIFFTY. Click HERE to subscribe to our YouTube channel for all of our latest video content including our Early Reactions, and be sure to give us a thumbs up and comment your thoughts!

DEVIL IN DISGUISE: JOHN WAYNE GACY Starring: Michael Chernus, Gabriel Luna, James Badge Dale, Michael Angarano, Chris Sullivan, Marin Ireland, Augustus Prew, Brandon McEwan, Cricket Brown, and Thom Nyhuus Creator: Patrick Macmanus QUENTIN In the current glut of miniseries about famous serial killers, Devil in Disguise separates itself by bringing a fresh approach to the table. Instead of the typically exploitive path of sensationalizing John Wayne Gacy’s (a terrific Michael Chernus) gruesomeness and depravity on screen, Devil quietly explores the monster’s psychopathy without caricature. It’s a powerfully grounded endeavor, especially because — in a rarity — it truly honors the victims, giving life to those who were taken too soon and the people they left behind. For once, genre fans are reminded that their entertainment is derived from actual tragedy and not faceless MacGuffins. Ryan Murphy’s Monster should take notes. NICK Considering victim neglect (and homophobia) played a large part in the number of murders John Wayne Gacy (Michael Chernus) committed, it's nice to see Patrick McManus' main focus of Devil in Disguise is the victims. It's also the thing that sets this above other true crime dramas. Gacy isn't sensationalized here (as is often the case), but it makes him no less compelling or frightening. This should be the new blueprint for telling these kinds of stories. Had the authorities handled this case with as much care as McManus, some of those boys would still be alive today.

DREAM PRODUCTIONS Starring: Paula Pell, Richard Ayoade, Ally Maki, Kensington Tallman, and Maya Rudolph Creator: Mike Jones NICK On the film side, Pixar has knocked it out of the park with its Inside Out efforts. So, it only makes sense to expand into the Disney+ series library. Dream Productions is the first foray into that realm and it’s… fine. At four half-hour episodes, it’s an easy watch, but the lead character Paula Persimmon (Paula Pell) really feels like a retread of Joy (Amy Poehler). She’s another arrogant character who is adverse to change, and stuck in her old ways. Even her journey of growth is the same thing we’ve seen in Inside Out . It all makes for a harmless, yet unnecessary watch. AMARÚ I was initially worried that Dream Productions was going to tread the same territory Joy (Amy Poehler) did in the first Inside Out ; however, in four concise, tightly written, character-driven episodes, Pixar was able to take the established strengths of workplace mockumentaries and solidly combine them with the ever-expanding world of Riley’s (Kensington Tallman) imagination. Messy drama, stubborn characters, and great voicework, especially from Richard Ayoade and Paula Pell, set up invigorating surprises in a short and sweet package to prove Inside Out has a vast well of unique ideas to create from. PRESTON Borrowing from the successful, documentary style of The Office , Dream Productions continues to reveal the inner workings of Riley’s (Kensington Tallman) mind. The Inside Out mini-series doesn’t take on too much, focusing solely on dreams, as the title suggests, and is a cute and very digestible little series. The characters don’t elicit the same inherent connection that we feel when compared to the emotions, but the mystery of dreams in our own lives makes the overarching story quite compelling. The result is a breezy, smile-on-your-face watch that you can enjoy by yourself or with the whole family.

BILLIONS: THE FINAL SEASON Starring: Damian Lewis, Paul Giamatti, Corey Stoll, Maggie Siff, David Costabile, Dola Rashad, Asia Kate Dillon, Kelly Aucoin, Daniel K. Isaac, Dan Soder, Daniel Breaker, Eva Victor, Toney Goins, Dhruv Maheshwari, Louis Cancelmi, Ben Shenkman, Allan Havey, Piper Perabo, and Jeffrey DeMunn Creators: Brian Koppelman, David Levien, and Andrew Ross Sorkin NICK Yes, the final season of the underrated Billions makes up for some of Season Six's struggles by bringing back Damian Lewis' Bobby Axelrod, but also by turning Corey Stoll's Michael Prince into a worthy adversary. Stoll's Prince is cold-blooded this season, which takes him from powerful to fearsome. It's an improvement over last season while still maintaining the quippy pop culture references and ability to subvert the expectations of its audience. The finale admittedly lacks a little punch, but it works for what it is, and makes for a fitting goodbye to one of my favourite series of the past 10 years. QUENTIN After seven seasons, the last couple of which were semi-derailed by covid and the tragedy-fueled departure of Damian Lewis, Billions mostly returns to form in its final season. I say “mostly” because it doesn’t fully happen until the later episodes. The first half, while still good and boasting all the typical Billions -isms of incessant pop culture references, random cameos, and witty repartee, is more of a scheme-of-the-week show instead of having an overarching narrative. However, once it focuses on the serialized storyline that often is just background early on, it races to a fun, fitting, and satisfying conclusion for Succession ‘s less-prestigious-but-more-enjoyable counterpart. PRESTON The king of similes, metaphors, and pop-culture historical references is back for its seventh and final season, like a beloved president finishing out their term with the knowledge that things might just never be the same. Billions ran a beautiful course (with the ubiquitous exception of COVID) and knew when and how to call it quits. Although not perfect, this finale continued doing what the series did in its most successful seasons by providing an intriguing story featuring cameo appearances, nostalgic fodder for its loyalists, and a nicely wrapped-up overarching-yet-complicated storyline with a little bow on top.

KALEIDOSCOPE Starring: Giancarlo Esposito, Rufus Sewell, Paz Vega, Rosaline Elbay, Jai Courtney, Tati Gabrielle, and Peter Mark Kendall Creator: Eric Garcia AMARÚ I love me some Giancarlo Esposito. And I love me a good heist. But, apparently, a Giancarlo Esposito-led heist series doesn’t guarantee greatness. Netflix’s Kaleidoscope banks on his charm and the heist’s inherent intensity to hook you to something that, without its randomized episode order, would be no more than a predictably generic caper. I started with a non-chronological view of the past, then a chronological post-heist reveal before the finale; that helped build more tension and greater connection to the crew. Filling in those missing pieces out of order covered for, when viewed in order, a formulaic story. Order watched: Yellow, Green, Blue, Orange, Violet, Red, Pink, White PAIGE While Kaleidoscope 's unique and clever storytelling approach delivers an engaging, binge-worthy watch, I’m sad to report that the end result does not reach its full potential, leaving me unsatisfied. Don’t get me wrong, the concept is fascinating. Telling a story by jumping to different time periods within these characters’ lives, leading to an elaborate heist, is such a brilliant and distinctive way to tell a story like this; however, the last few episodes about the heist and its aftermath are just weak and not fleshed out enough to tie the series together coherently. Order watched: Yellow, Green, Orange, Violet, Blue, Red, Pink, White QUENTIN As a gimmick and narrative, Kaleidoscope doesn’t completely work. The “watch-the-episodes-in-any-order” approach means that the viewer will inherently lose tension and mystery depending on the order watched. Also, given the bingeable structure and episode formatting (i.e., “Seven Years Before the Heist,” “Five Days Before the Heist,” etc.), it’s not always easy to remember when in the timeline key plot points are subtly hinted at, making certain revelations less clever than they could be. Still, all that aside, Giancarlo Esposito is never not compelling, Jai Courtney is always a fun loose cannon, and there are enough episodic heist elements to keep fans of the genre engaged. Order watched: Green, Yellow, Blue, Violet, Orange, Red, Pink, White

WELCOME TO WREXHAM Starring: Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney Creators: Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney QUENTIN As a non-soccer fan living in Europe, I was hoping that Welcome to Wrexham , through the involvement of Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, would jumpstart my interest in the sport. While it didn’t do that, it’s still a solid watch for those who already enjoy the game. It plays a lot like HBO’s Hard Knocks meets Ted Lasso , giving background on the team, the game, the city of Wrexham, and most importantly, the dedicated fans. As a love letter to all those things, it objectively succeeds; however, for me, I just can’t get myself interested enough in the footie to care all that much.

UNDONE: SEASON TWO Starring: Rosa Salazar, Angelique Cabral, Bob Odenkirk, and Constance Marie Creators: Raphael Bob-Waksberg and Kate Purdy JOSEPH Despite my initial excitement at Undone getting a second season, I was highly skeptical. The first season felt like a self-contained and finished story, and in all fairness, it was. Still, Season Two is a fantastic follow up. It offers the same heartfelt themes, offbeat humor, and mind-bending visuals as the first season while telling a different kind of story. It’s evocative and engrossing, with a new core mystery that makes this season worthy of existing. I understand the animation can be a little strange to some people, but this show deserves to be seen by everyone.

Previous Next With Rocket Raccoon's story coming to a close as the Guardians of the Galaxy franchise end, the crew decided to compile Bitesize Breakdown's consensus Top Five Animated/Mo-Cap Characters in Live Action Films. Each writer ranks his or her top 15 characters in the category. Those lists are then weighted on a reverse point system. After all the points are tallied up, the entries with the most total points make up the Bitesize Top Five. 5. DAVY JONES In a movie that has a noticeable dip in quality and narrative coherence than its predecessor, one of the shining standouts of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is Bill Nighy's performance as Davy Jones. One of the most underrated creature designs of the modern era, the half man/half aquatic pirate is ripped straight from lore and reimagined as a pipe-smoking, peg-legged menace to Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and his crew. Nighy's voice work, ILM's animators (combining both computer-generated images and hand-drawn animation), and Gore Verbinski's direction makes Jones a delightful character overshadowed by Sparrow's zany antics. - Darryl 4. ROCKET RACCOON Everyone’s favorite trash panda, aka Rocket, has got to be one of the best motion-capture characters to ever grace the silver screen. He’s certainly my favorite Guardian of the Galaxy. By having Rocket voiced by the talented Bradley Cooper, combined with Sean Gunn’s great motion-capture work, the character pops off the screen. It makes their work some of the best in the MCU. Together they crafted a realistic approach to the character that made Rocket resemble his comic book counterpart perfectly. - Paige 3. SMÉAGOL/GOLLUM The history of motion-capture should be divided into two time periods: Before Sméagol and After Gollum. Three minutes of Sméagol talking to Gollum is better than some actors’ entire career. Yes, there may be more acclaimed Andy Serkis mo-cap roles, but nothing brought more clout to the seriousness of the art form than this transformational dual role. - Amarú 2. THANOS From a character perspective, Thanos is a presence that haunts more than 20 MCU movies without being on screen all that much; a big bad that is mostly just alluded to until he finally arrives in full form in Infinity War . When he takes center stage, Josh Brolin delivers an incredible performance, bouncing easily between outright villainy, measured reason, and, at times, heartbreaking relatability. Even on a superficial level, I’m not sure I could have picked a better voice for The Mad Titan either. - Quentin 1. CAESAR When I think of mo-cap performances, Andy Serkis' portrayal of Caesar in the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy is always the first to come to mind. The three-film arc of Caesar is among the best character arcs in years, mo-cap or otherwise, and it is all thanks, in large part, to Serkis' ability to humanize the ape. He's exceptional and the strongest case yet for a mo-cap performance deserving a Best Actor nomination. The final shot of his eyes in Dawn of the Planet of the Apes still sticks with me. - Nick HONORABLE MENTIONS ROGER RABBIT KING KONG HULK KORG TED Photo Credits: Photo 1, 2, 4 - Disney; Photo 3 - New Line Cinema; Photo 5 - 20th Century Studios

THE WITCHER: SEASON TWO Starring: Henry Cavill, Freya Allan, Anya Chalotra, Joey Batey, and MyAnna Buring Creator: Lauren Schmidt AMARÚ The Witcher ‘s lore is deep and complicated, but even if you enter season two ignorant of all the names, places, and creatures, you quickly connect to the characters, especially Henry Cavill’s Geralt and Freya Allan’s Ciri, which allows you to overcome the propensity to get lost in the first couple of episodes. The strong performances are as committed as the action sequences are brutal, and every aspect of the show is carefully detailed, making it easy to jump right back into a world we haven’t seen in two years. Hopefully, we don’t have to wait that long for season three. JAMES Being a fan of fantasy writer Andrzej Sapkowski's stories, The Witcher delights and frustrates me in equal measure. The casting is sublime, the visuals are lush, and there are even a couple easter eggs referencing The Witcher video games. Unfortunately, the show hasn't adapted the juiciest character moments from the books as cleanly as I'd like. We are robbed of three very powerful, female-positive plotlines this season, and the politics of the world are getting lost in translation. However, there are a couple of truly creative plot revelations that I hope the screenwriters take advantage of next season.

LOKI: SEASON TWO Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Owen Wilson, Sophia Di Martino, Wunmi Mosaku, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Eugene Cordero, Tara Strong, Ke Huy Quan, Rafael Casal, and Jonathan Majors Creator: Michael Waldron NICK With its first season, Loki put the spotlight on the TVA and gave Jonathan Majors' Kang a thorough introduction. With its second... it unfortunately has a bit of a sophomore slump. The storyline is still interesting and the chemistry between Tom Hiddleston's Loki and Owen Wilson's Mobius is still there, but there's a magic lacking. Aside from the welcome introduction of Ke Huy Quan's OB, the new storylines feel unnecessarily convoluted while the follow-up as it refers to Kang doesn't make many strides to advance the character. Still a good watch, don’t get me wrong, but a step removed from the quality of Season One. AMARÚ The difficult part about telling time-travel stories is that the stakes can instantly disappear. But when your temporal romp is actually a vessel to tell a deeply poignant, meticulously executed character study, the emotional weight shines within your protagonist’s journey. Loki : Season Two does an excellent job of taking you on a suspenseful ouroboros through the entire series while simultaneously creating an epically satisfying landing for the MCU’s longest running, most densely developed character. I laughed, I cried, I held my breath wondering where we’d end up, and when we found out, the joyful sadness I felt confirmed this show’s greatness. QUENTIN While considering two things…1. Loki : Season One is among the MCU’s best series, and 2. the MCU series have not been great lately...I was unsure of where Loki ’s second season might fall. As it turns out, it exemplifies both of those ideals. The performances, particularly in the context of the chemistry between Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson, are great. However, the story gets bogged down in expository technical mumbo jumbo, anticlimactic and underexplained stakes, and timey-wimey convolution. For you, that means if you’re here for the characters, you’ll enjoy yourself; however, if you’re here for the story, you’ll be underwhelmed. For me, it was entertaining enough. CALEB The second season of Loki is exhausting. It’s bloated, tedious, and just like the current state of the MCU, it’s a total mess. It features a whole lot of time traveling, dimension hopping, and mumbo jumbo-ing, but very little of it is actually interesting. I could forgive the convoluted sci-fi jargon if the show was entertaining, but it’s not. Besides the finale, almost every episode was a total slog. If it weren’t for the visuals, I would have a hard time finding anything to praise. The art direction, costume work, and set design are essentially Loki Season Two’s only saving graces. ADRIANO The Marvel Cinematic Universe may be in trouble, but thankfully we have Loki to give us some hope. I'm not gonna pretend I understood everything in its admittedly convoluted story, but the emotional development of Loki (played phenomenally by Tom Hiddleston) and its entire cast of characters had me in the palm of its interdimensional hand. The show looks great from a production standpoint and goes in directions the MCU has never been before. Even if you take away the MCU of it all, Loki is a fantastic show, period.