Genre: Animation, Kids, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Actor: Judah Edwards, Layla Capers, Sevien Desuyo, Sid Kamat
Genre: Animation, Kids, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Actor: Judah Edwards, Layla Capers, Sevien Desuyo, Sid Kamat
Berlin has everything it needs to be a big hit, from its connections to global sensation Money Heist; to the polished qualities of a Netflix production and the easy, pulpy thrills of a heist led by a cast of attractive people. But early on there's a sense that this spin-off/prequel is just spinning its wheels, stoking the obligatory sexual tension between crew members and getting its characters out of sticky situations far too easily. Berlin is familiar for sure, which means it can still be entertaining in bursts, with well-shot, well-edited heist sequences jolting each episode awake. But it's difficult to find any sort of emotional foothold here, as the title character's actions become even harder to understand.
Genre: Action & Adventure, Crime, Drama
Actor: Begoña Vargas, Joel Sánchez, Julio Peña, Michelle Jenner, Pedro Alonso, Samantha Siqueiros, Tristán Ulloa
Although the sequencing of the four segments makes sense, the overall result does not land in this new installment of the Lust Stories franchise. It shines with Konkona Sensharma's 'Mirror,' an unexpected take on voyeurism and camaraderie between women. It loses touch with Sujoy Ghosh's 'Sex with Ex,' which sticks out with a weak storyline and questionable use of a green screen. The bracketing stories are engaging if only for the stark difference in tone and conclusion. They round out the film well enough, allowing for an entertaining experience but a lukewarm memory after the credits roll.
Genre: Drama, Romance
Actor: Amruta Subhash, Angad Bedi, Anushka Kaushik, Hemant Kher, Jugal Hansraj, Kajol, Kanupriya Pandit, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kumud Mishra, Mrunal Thakur, Mukti Mohan, Neena Gupta, Tamannaah Bhatia, Tarun Khanna, Tillotama Shome, Vibha Chibber, Vijay Varma
Director: Amit Sharma, Konkona Sen Sharma, R. Balki, Sujoy Ghosh
The messy, non-linear process of grieving is always tough to capture meaningfully on screen—and there are definitely parts of Good Grief that trail off without much feeling or go on for too long without making new points. But the good still outweighs the bad in Dan Levy's directorial debut, with the inherent impracticality of death taking center stage. At a certain age when one has too much going on in life, grief can become just another responsibility that needs to be managed, that often clashes with the priorities of one's friends. The film just falls short of making truly astute insights into loss or crafting complete characters, but it's reassuring all the same in how ordinarily it views something so tragic.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Actor: Arnaud Valois, Celia Imrie, Cyrielle Debreuil, Dan Levy, David Bradley, Emma Corrin, Himesh Patel, Jamael Westman, Kaitlyn Dever, Luke Evans, Mehdi Baki, Nigel Lilley, Ruth Negga, Yoli Fuller, Zoé Bruneau
Director: Dan Levy
At its core, The Trust is everything you expect from American reality TV, complete with several highly irritating contestants and drama that just never hits as hard as it tries to. So it's good that the central game mechanics are simple yet designed to have the players sow as much discord among themselves as possible. With the constant temptation of higher individual shares dangled in front of them, and each contestant having the power to send somebody home with a single, anonymous, uncontested vote, the paranoia runs rampant fairly quickly. Unfortunately, the players themselves aren't the most interesting bunch to watch, and their strategies are decent at best, completely illogical at worst. There's still lots of excitement surrounding every voting session, but getting to know the players becomes a slog.
Genre: Reality
Actor: Brooke Baldwin
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Steve Trevino
Director: Renae Trevino
There’s something frightening about being consistently spurned due to circumstances out of your control. This is the main concern of Pulimada’s Vincent, since he’s not marriage material due to his family’s history of mental illness. The twisty plot is reminiscent of old gothic mysteries, complete with a tiger metaphor, but the execution is off, especially since it takes more than two thirds of the film before there’s anything to fear. It’s clear that Pulimada has an engaging, though dated concept, and Joju George’s transformation for Vincent could have definitely gotten there. But entering this tiger’s den feels like a letdown when there’s no risk, no style, no intrigue in the film’s approach.
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Actor: Abu Salim, Aishwarya Rajesh, Balachandra Menon, Chemban Vinod Jose, Dileesh Nair, Jaffer Idukki, Jeo Baby, Johny Antony, Joju George, Krishna Prabha, Lijomol Jose
Director: A K Sajan
Social media has undeniably changed the way we perceive each other, and Netflix’s South African series Miseducation understands this. The show has fun getting its characters canceled online and getting them to ridiculous antics to make up for it. The cast, including the charismatic Buntu Petse and the hilarious Prev Reddy, seems to have a great time getting into hijinks only university life offers. However, inconsistent characterizations and being unwilling to get more deep keep this show from meeting its full potential. It’s still a fun watch, if you’re into soapy teenage comedies.
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Buntu Petse, Lunga Shabalala, Micaela Jade Tucker, Mpho Sebeng, Prev Reddy
Genre: Action, Drama, Romance
Actor: Birkan Sokullu, Esra Bilgiç, Fırat Tanış, Hakan Ummak, Nil Keser, Osman Alkaş, Ushan Cakir
Director: Recai Karagöz
With every chaotic fight scene, ridiculous stunts, and crazy scheme, All-Time High is a wild ride where two scammers lie to each other and fall in love. It’s fun to see these irresponsible people reap the consequences, and it’s fun to see the way Youssef and Stéphanie recognize that they’ve met their match, made all the more fun with the natural chemistry between Nassim Lyes and Zoé Marchal. That being said, the film’s irreverent humor depends a bit too much on stereotypes and gags, and can be a bit too specific for viewers outside of France.
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Actor: Adèle Exarchopoulos, Adrien Essamir, Alexandre Kominek, Ciryl Gane, Guillaume Canet, Gustave Kervern, Hakim Jemili, Hedi Bouchenafa, Ichem Bougheraba, Kenza Fortas, Nassim Lyes, Panayotis Pascot, Paul Deby, Yassine Stein, Yousef Ramal, Yovel Lewkowski, Zoé Marchal
Director: Julien Royal
If you’re familiar with the classic supernatural romance Ghost (1990), Why Didn’t I Tell You A Million Times? will remind you of it. It doesn’t have the comedic banter of Whoopi Goldberg, but it does have a back-and-forth dynamic between the ghost and the detective that sees him. It doesn’t have the leading lady’s potential murder, but it does have a murder to investigate. It also has more food porn, as the main couple is bound by Japanese hamburg steak and salty custard puddings. There’s something here about love transcending the physical realm and troubled pasts lead to a lifetime of service or a lifetime of crime. However, the series can’t decide on one perspective to start from and relies too much on flashbacks to tell its story. Why Didn’t I Tell You A Million Times? had the potential to be a moving supernatural romance, but it’s let down by lackluster execution.
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Actor: Kami Hiraiwa, Kenichi Matsuyama, Mao Inoue, Shim Eun-kyung, Takeru Satoh
The new stand-up special from Pete Davidson won't win over any skeptics, but there's something to admire in how the comedian heads straight towards edgy material, tells us he's going to go there, and still manages to surprise when he follows through. Which is to say Davidson's audacity might be more impressive than any of his actual writing in this special, with a good number of his jokes highlighting the bizarre situations his fame leads him into, but little more than that. It's stoner comedy for better or worse—observations about a strange world from a hazy point of view that may not always be coherent.
Genre: Comedy
Actor: Pete Davidson
Director: Jason Orley
With the ingredients of a standard sci-fi animated series, Mech Cadets almost shines with its thoughtful approach to grief, parental expectations, and self-discovery for its child-to-teen audience. From Stanford losing his father and his dream of being a pilot to Frank becoming a Robo pilot despite his prosthetic leg, the series tries to build something substantial beneath the generic giant mechas and alien antagonists. But with so many mecha/robot franchises coming to mind, the show has no distinctive qualities to stand apart. It's an overall straightforward animation that carries expected lessons on responsibility and teamwork, which kids will surely enjoy, that is, until the next Transformers-esque show is released.
Genre: Action & Adventure, Animation, Family
Actor: Anairis Quinones, Aparna Brielle, Brandon Soo Hoo, Josh Sundquist, Victoria Grace
As far as heist stories go, Choona gets points for placing so much importance on the act of getting its team together. The first two episodes watched for this review don't advance forward in plot as much as they pivot from one point of view to another around the same moments in time. Unfortunately, because the series is so particular about its own structure, it loses sight of the reasons why we should be emotionally invested in the heist in the first place. There is a world of gang violence sketched out in these early episodes, but little sense of what's actually at stake. And with the show's over-reliance on voiceover narration, Choona sucks the tension out of its plot, as this seemingly omniscient voice constantly keeps us at a distance.
Genre: Comedy, Crime, Drama
Actor: Aashim Gulati, Arshad Warsi, Atul Srivastava, Jimmy Shergill, Namit Das, Vikram Kochhar
Director: Pushpendra Nath Misra
Genre: Drama
Actor: Bimbo Ademoye, Gabriel Afolayan, Kunle Remi, Sola Sobowale, Taiwo Hassan