Reservation Dogs is a fan favourite on FX. Created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi the three seasons have followed the lives of four Indigenous teenagers in rural Oklahoma, as they spend their days committing crime and fighting it.
This third and final premiered back at the start of August. Concluding in Australia later last night on Binge. For some reason it is delayed in Australia. Whereas Stateside this airs on a Wednesday via Hulu.
It is the second (semi) long running show of mine (Physical on Wednesday) to have a curtain call this week.
However I feel Reservation Dogs went out on its own terms. Concluding while still on a high.
Having had received widespread critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including a Peabody Award, two Independent Spirit Awards, and nominations for the Critics' Choice Television Awards and Golden Globes, and was named one of the best series of 2021 and 2022 by many critics.
While the American Film Institute named it one of the ten best television programs of 2021 and 2022.
In the third season, the show explores the history of the elders in the community and how the events and choices of their youth led to their present day lives. Parallels are drawn between the Rez Dogs and the younger selves of the aunties, uncles and grandparents.
You can read a full recap of the show's finale ever episode HERE.
This was one of those comfort shows. A few laughs, some heartwarming moments, nothing too crazy. Nothing Taika Waititi Marvel level that is.
With Binge in Australia also wrapping up Fear the Walking Dead next month, no HBO series I watch on for a while, I may need to go through that Binge list. At least Shining Vale with Courtney Cox returns next month.
We also learned this week (speaking of HBO) True Detective Season 4 returns mid-January 2024. Apparently for 6 episodes only!!!
C*A*U*G*H*T landed on Stan, Thursday. It was maybe the easiest watch of the last few months. With eye candy galore from (often shirtless) Lincoln Younes (Last King of the Cross).
Four Aussie soldiers are deployed to the island nation of Behati Prinsloo on a secret mission. Mistaken for Americans they are captured by freedom fighters, where they soon realise the government isn’t coming to save them. Their only chance of going home is to make the greatest hostage video of all time.
The cast alongside Younes is all-star, both locally and abroad. Kick Gurry (Edge of Tomorrow), Sean Penn (Gaslit), Matthew Fox (Lost), Bryan Brown (Palm Beach), Ben O’Toole (Detroit), Alexander England (Stan Original Series Black Snow), Mel Jarnson (Mortal Kombat), Fayssal Bazzi (Stateless) and Dorian Nkono (The Twelve).
Australian TV has had a heap of hits this year. Deadloch, RFDS's second season, Beetoota Advocate landing a TV series as funny and smart as the website, socials. So C*A*U*G*H*T has tough competition. But it does well. The Today show content is slightly awkward as Karl Stefanovic along with A Current Affair's Allison Langdon portions of the show being random AF.
Karl gives zero fucks with breakfast TV looking more stupid than ever.
No spoilers today, however the series really leaves the door open for a second instalment of this Aussie made all-star comedy.
With stars to appeal to a wide demographic, this could be a hit for Stan. Not just here but abroad too. With US networks needing content while the strike trickles on with the actors negotiations happening next week.
C*A*U*G*H*T is a series I can easily recommend, while saying to those who say there is nothing on Stan, check this out! For more info and a chat on TV's only decent breakfast TV series, click here.
Halo streams on Paramount+, which is based on the video game franchise of the same name. So it been a hot minute since it started streaming late March 2022.
The show concluded its first season back in late May 2022. So I am a little behind, that said season two has not yet released a trailer or a release date. So I am so ready for the second season.
Pablo Schreiber & Jen Taylor star as Master Chief Petty Officer John-117 and Cortana.
While Shabana Azmi, Natasha Culzac, Olive Gray, Yerin Ha, Bentley Kalu, Kate Kennedy, Charlie Murphy, Danny Sapani, Bokeem Woodbine, and Natascha McElhone make up the cast.
The nine-episode first run was an easy watch. The action scenes and visual effects were outstanding.
For non-gamers (like me) Halo follows an epic 26th-century conflict between humanity and an alien threat known as the Covenant. Halo will weave deeply drawn personal stories with action, adventure and a richly imagined vision of the future.
So the show has been done for a while, but I will give the red SPOILERS below warning, NOW! Read on at your own risk.
In the season one finale, Transcendence Makee escapes Reach, Silver Team enters into a standoff that is only defused when Captain Keyes arrives and reveals to Vannak and Riz the truth about the Spartan program.
Kai helps to apprehend Halsey, but Miranda realizes that the "Halsey" that was captured was actually a flash clone of the real Halsey, who secretly escapes from Reach.
With Cortana's help, John deduces the location of the Covenant planet, Raas Kkhotskha, and leads Silver Team on a mission to recover the Forerunner keystones.
On Raas Kkhotskha, Silver Team engages Covenant forces. When John is overwhelmed, Makee activates the combined keystones in order to generate a blast to save John, generating a star map leading to Halo, and inadvertently locking John into stasis.
When John tries and fails to talk Makee down using another shared vision, Kai frees John from his trance by shooting Makee, shutting down the keystone before it can show Halo's location.
After John takes a fatal hit, Cortana assumes control of John, rescues Silver Team, and escapes with them and both of the keystones. As they depart, Kai asks John if it is really him behind the helmet, but he only glances at her, wordlessly.
Bring on season two!
Reservation Dogs finale incoming. Next week it's a big week of finales, RFDS, Ahsoka, The Continental and Only Murders in the Building.
2023 is turning into the year the long-running (or shorter running in Physical's case) shows are calling it a day. Billions will end after seven long seasons next month, Reservation Dogs ends Friday night on Binge, whilst this week we learnt two season runs on Starz (Stan in Australia) Heels and Run the World (I did predict this one being dropped) have also ended.
The Blacklist has also recently ended, whilst The Other Two also got the boot before its final episode recently.
No more adding links, but also recently calling it quits, Riverdale, Nancy Drew, Succession, Barry and The Flash.
So Rose Byrne as Sheila Rubin is in good company. However this is not on network US TV where the shows are all under the spotlight now the writers rooms will reopen. However will all renewed shows make it back on air?
The Apple TV+ commenced back in mid-June, 2021. The series was renewed for a second season ahead of its first season finale, this premiered on in June, 2022. Two months later the series was renewed for a third season. While in May this year, it was announced that the third season would be the final season.
We got the final ten episodes commencing back at the start of August. The third series was still set in 1980s. With the dark comedy following Sheila Rubin through her journey of self-discovery via aerobics. While also building herself an empire. On fitness of course.
Zooey Deschanel joined the cast for the third season, which was honestly a random AF role.
Critically the final season has an approval rating of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes.
The consensus reads, "Physical packs it in with a final season that, much like a good workout, is bracing but pays off with a satisfying endorphin rush."
While I really enjoyed the stripped back finale tonight, overall the third season was really lacking something for me.
Deschanel's role was a little all over the shop too. This show had promise early on. And as a massive fan of group fitness, there is so much comedy in a group fitness setting. Whilst niche, it's funny AF to me.
Rose Byrne continues to slay. Making Australia proud. She honestly is consistently excellent. Physical joins the above long list of series saying goodbye to our screens in 2023.
See you Friday night or Saturday to farewell Reservation Dogs.
It's a hard act to follow, following yesterday's glowing review for Apple TV+'s H/JACK.
While it might not feel like Summer this week, it sure did this time last week. This series will see us all the way till December 31st. Next year I will roll out a series each quarter, as let's be honest all the seasons are kinda fucked up.
So onto, Harlan Coben's Shelter for your Tuesday.
Starring Jaden Michael, Constance Zimmer (UnREAL) and Abby Corrigan, this is based on the 2011 novel Shelter by Harlan Coben.
Landing on Amazon Prime Video on mid-August, concluding last Friday. So I was late to the party, then caught up to watch the finale last Friday afternoon. Here is a brief summary of the show ahead of the trailer.
After his father's sudden death, Mickey Bolitar starts a new life in Kasselton, New Jersey, where he becomes entangled in the mysterious disappearance of Ashley Kent, a student at his school, leading him to discover a dark underworld in the quiet suburban community.
Amazon Prime Video have delivered over recent months giving us the number one series over my LONG winter series, Deadloch.
I thought this had miniseries vibes, however there is no word on a second series or it ending at this point. I enjoyed the first episode. It had me hooked and shook. However it lost pace over the eight episode first run.
It became a little like every other high school, mystery series. But better than Riverdale. Not that that's a high bar these days.
So with the writers strike looking like reaching a resolution we will soon be spoilt for choice again. That is of course if the actors get the deal they are after too. Me thinks though that US network TV will look a lot different moving forward. Also streaming may also need to look at cutting costs. With streamers like Amazon Prime Video heavily invested in expensive series like Lord of the Rings and HBO with House of Dragon.
So if you enjoyed Constance Zimmer in UnREAL, I'd recommend this. She is the MVP in this little series.
Starting off the Summer/Q4 series hot, with the exceptional Hijack (stylized as H/JACK). Apple TV+ has had some exceptional series over the past few months.
Platonic, Physical, Shrinking, Loot and Morning Wars/The Morning Show has just returned for a third run.
This seven-part thriller miniseries created by George Kay and Jim Field Smith, starring Idris Elba, concluded last month. So I am playing a touch bit of catch-up.
If H/JACK is new to you, here is the basic plot ahead of the killer trailer! Sam, a talented business negotiator, must use his skills to broker a peaceful end to a hijacking of a seven-hour flight from Dubai to London. NOW SPOILERS below. Beware!
Full disclosure this is an EASY AF watch. Seven hours in real time. Kinda like 24, but way better. Here is what went down in Brace Brace Brace!
The passengers mount a successful takeover of the cabin, and Sam convinces Atterton to give up his pistol.
The unknown assailant, later revealed to be Amanda Taunton, a former Royal Navy aviation consultant, puts the aircraft on a course for central London.
Sam tries to convince her to allow him access to the cockpit, but to no avail. On the ground, DI Daniel realizes that Kai is in danger at Sam's house and rushes there to save him.
As the aircraft enters British airspace, the Royal Air Force dispatches two Typhoons to intercept it. Back on board, the cabin crew have returned the passenger's phones, and London ATC manage to establish contact with Sam.
Alice convinces him to tell her the truth about the situation on board. Aitchison pleads with the prime minister not to shoot the plane down and offers to take the blame herself.
Edgar and John bicker over when to close the short on Kingdom's stock, with John shooting Edgar and leaving him for dead. In the meantime, Daniel mounts a successful rescue operation of Kai.
On the plane, having found Amanda's phone and learned of her family, Sam eventually convinces her to let him into the cockpit. Fearing for hers and her daughter's life, Amanda is reassured by Walsh over the phone that she will not be arrested upon landing, and she reveals to Sam that their plane, by this point flying too low over the Thames through central London, has no more fuel and will flame out at any time.
Alice redirects her to RAF Northolt, seven miles away, but before they can reach the airfield, the engines die. Despite this, Amanda manages to land the aircraft, with all passengers safe. Emergency personnel reach the scene and assist with the evacuation while rounding up the hijackers.
Atterton, having broken free, shuts himself on the plane in an attempt to shoot Sam, who is still on board. The police storm the aircraft, and after being distracted by Sam, Atterton is arrested.
This was honestly a class act thriller. So good. Honestly if any catch-up streaming is half this good, I'll be shook.
H/JACK was super addictive, amazing, well acted by the DJ, the super star, the hunk Idris Elba. Get onto Apple TV+ ASAP to smash out this truly excellent seven hour plane ride from Dubai to the UK.
It felt like a short winter, however with the writers strike and less US network series wrapping. I nearly hit forty big series for the extended winter period.
This season saw even more new Australian dramas, of course there was some co-pro's with the UK like Riptide and No Escape whilst One Night had a leading UK lady.
Amazon had an outstanding season with Jack Ryan concluding (a spin-off is incoming) and Deadloch was by far the best series of the past few months.
1. Deadloch - Season One (AU) 2. The Horror of Dolores Roach - Season One 3. The Idol - Season One/Series Finale 4. Michelle Wolf - It's Great To Be Here 5. The Betoota Advocate Presents - Season One (AU) 6. Platonic - Season one 7. The Clearing - Miniseries (AU) 8. Tiny Beautiful Things - Miniseries 9. Heartstopper - Season Two 10. Bupkis - Season One 11. And Just Like That... - Season Two 12. The Walking Dead: Dead City - Season One 13. The Blacklist - Season Ten/Series Finale 14. One Night - Miniseries (AU) 15. Full Circle - Miniseries 16. Riptide - Miniseries (AU) 17. Heels - Season Two 18. Minx - Season Two 19. The Afterparty - Season Two 20. American Born Chinese - Miniseries 21. The Summer I Turned Pretty - Season Two 22. The Righteous Gemstones - Season Three 23. No Escape - Miniseries (AU) 24. Jack Ryan - Season Four/Series Finale 25. Fatal Attraction (2023 TV Series) - Season One 26. The Ex-Wife - Miniseries 27. The Other Two - Season Three/Series Finale 28. Class of '09 - Miniseries 29. Superman & Lois - Season Three 30. Run the World - Season Two 31. Secret Invasion - Miniseries 32. Mayans M.C. - Season Five/Series Finale 33. Barons - Season One/Series Finale (AU) 34. Gotham Knights - Season One/Series Finale 35. Rain Dogs - Season One 36. Nancy Drew - Season Four/Series Finale 37. Dead Ringers - Miniseries 38. Behind Her Eyes - Miniseries 39. Riverdale - Season Seven/Series Finale
So this is set to be the finale for the Winter Watchlist Warmers series. Coming soon my RATED post where you can see the best (and worst) of the last few months. Today is a random one. Unlike Sarah Silverman's latest HBO stand up special, Someone You Love (streaming now on Binge) Michelle Wolf has gone for a three part, It's Great To Be Here - Comedy Special.
Wolf has worked as a contributor and writer for Late Night with Seth Meyers and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
Wolf won me over, after she spoke at the 2018 White House Correspondents' Dinner.
This is her return to Netflix, following the comedy talk show series The Break with Michelle Wolf along with a stand-up special Joke Show.
She returns with three short episodes as part of It's Great To Be Here.
I did love this. It's controversial. She could get cancelled, but I did love this. She does push the envelope (hard at time) however she opens up the conversation.
Comedy is dangerous in the world of cancel culture, but I think Wolf does well to stay uncanceled (if that makes sense).
If you like me love comedy, loved Sarah Silverman's above mentioned special, this is totally for you. Michelle Wolf is totally unstoppable! Geddit GIRL!
I have been watching a bit more British TV of late. What with the US TV strikes, giving up watching free to air shit like the Masked Singer, I have gone back in time to finally watch, Behind Her Eyes.
This noir supernatural psychological thriller series created by Steve Lightfoot, is some weird ass shit. Well it starts out fairly normal, then takes a weird turn. Then a few more weird turns, before a bat shit crazy finale.
Based on the 2017 novel of the same name by Sarah Pinborough, this landed on Netflix back in February 2021. I do have a number of Netflix series banked up to catch up on, however I have found of all streaming services its quality is a little less than others. For Netflix its more quantity over quality.
The six parter stars Simona Brown, Tom Bateman, Eve Hewson and Robert Aramayo.
The story follows Louise, a single mother, whose world is thrown off kilter when she begins an affair with her new boss, David, and matters take an even stranger turn when she’s drawn into an unlikely friendship with his wife, Adele.
What starts as an unconventional love triangle soon becomes a dark, psychological tale of suspense and twisted revelations, as Louise finds herself caught in a dangerous web of secrets where nothing and no one is what they seem.
In the finale, OK first though if like me you haven't watched this 2021 series, SPOILERS AHEAD!
Its about to get bat-shit crazy up in here!
Louise pays a visit to David's former mistress, Marianne, in Brighton where the latter reveals how Adele vandalised her home and threatened her. She then confronts David about Rob's death when he explains it was Adele who threw his body in the well after he had overdosed on heroin.
After he discovers that Louise has informed the police about Rob's death, David decides to tell them Adele's truth and sets for Scotland. Meanwhile Louise faces Adele for her surreal use of astral projection.
When Adele finds out that Louise has told the police and David has decided to tell her truth, she decides to end her life while texting Louise. Worried, Louise arrives at Adele's house which she has set fire to.
Unable to break in, Louise decides to project out of her body to save Adele. When her soul reaches Adele's body, the latter's soul that was hiding, reaches for Louise's body.
Now both of them having swapped, Adele arrives in Louise's body and kills Louise in Adele's body with a heroin overdose, completely taking over her life and reconciling with David.
In the flashback, it is revealed that Adele had told Rob about swapping bodies and when they did, Rob cleverly refused to give Adele's body back and killed her in his own body with a heroin overdose because he fell in love with David himself. Now married to David, Rob lives as Louise while treating Adam cruelly.
So fucking weird. But if it sounds like your thing, it streams now on Netflix.
Full Circle is my latest miniseries binge. Funny I say binge, as it streams in Australia on Binge. Stateside it is a HBO Max or now, just Max title.
Created and written by Ed Solomon and directed by Steven Soderbergh, the series landed mid-July, concluding later that month. So I am playing catch up a wee bit here.
With just under an 80% score on Rotten Tomatoes I did expect a fair bit from this six parter.
I am really leaning into Steven Soderbergh this week also getting into the film, Kimi. More on that later.
The cast in this Max total is also hot AF! Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant, Dennis Quaid, Jharrel Jerome, Sheyi Cole, CCH Pounder, Jim Gaffigan, William Sadler and Happy Anderson all star in the series was inspired by the 1963 Akira Kurosawa film High and Low.
The series had its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival on mid-June before it's streaming launch mid-July. So what's the plot? An investigation into a botched kidnapping uncovers long-held secrets connecting multiple characters and cultures in present-day New York City.
So it all links up more and more over the six episode run. With all characters melting together in New York City.
However the story doesn't really start and end there. But you'll have to watch this on Binge to find out what I mean.
This is not the best or the worst, Winter Watchlist Warmers. However as we are already reaching 30 degree days, this will be one of the last Winter Watchlist Warmers posts. A RATED post will land soon.
A new series for the last quarter (or so) of the year will commence soon. With big series finales for Fear the Walking Dead, Physical and Reservation Dogs incoming. Also a number of other shows are returning during this strike period. Two weeks left until FOX call off all 2023-2034 scripted shows. Will the strike end in time? Me thinks no after the Nanny, I mean Fran Drescher's most recent, passionate speech.
Tony Award winner Ben Platt and Molly Gordon star in the original comedy THEATER CAMP as Amos and Rebecca-Diane. Could this be the most random film of 2023?
If you are not into theatre or musicals, be warned this is very niche. Like VERY niche!
Lifelong best friends and drama instructors at a rundown camp in upstate New York. When clueless tech-bro Troy (Jimmy Tatro) arrives to run the property (into the ground), Amos, Rebecca-Diane and production manager Glenn (Noah Galvin) band together with the staff and students, staging a masterpiece to keep their beloved summer camp afloat.
Alongside Molly Gordon and Ben Platt, Theatre Camp stars Jimmy Tatro, Patti Harrison, Nathan Lee Graham, Ayo Edebiri, Owen Thiele, Alan Kim, Alexander Bello, Bailee Bonick, Kyndra Sanchez, Donovan Colan, Vivienne Sachs, Quinn Titcomb, Caroline Aaron and Amy Sedaris as Joan.
Theater Camp was released mid-July in the USA, getting a small release here down under recently. So it was off to Bondi Junction I went. Sydney's Eastern suburbs. Oh dear god. One of the ad's before the film was for a retirement village deep in the Eastern suburbs. I honestly laughed as much in that 30 second ad as I did in this film.
Look that was a bit harsh, but this film is hella niche. Some of the kids do really well, however Ben Platt is just really annoying. Remember him in the Politician? Whatever happened to that half baked Ryan Murphy idea?
Back to the plot.. As summer rolls around again, kids are gathering from all over to attend AdirondACTS, a scrappy theater camp in upstate New York that's a haven for budding performers. After its indomitable founder Joan falls into a coma, her clueless “crypto-bro” son Troy is tasked with keeping the thespian paradise running. With financial ruin looming, Troy must join forces with Amos, Rebecca-Diane, and their band of eccentric teachers and students to come up with a solution before the curtain rises on opening night.
Look maybe adding Will Ferrell as a producer under his Gloria Sanchez Productions banner, was why I didn't love it. I may be the only person who just doesn't find Ferrell that funny.
Either way it was enjoyable, just not excellent. A few too many gaps between LOL moments. 2.5 Theatre love/hating stars.
Heels has just concluded its second season with High Flying. It ends on a bit of a cliffhanger on Stan. Airing in the USA on Starz. Unlike Power and BMF there are no gangs here. So how does the finale go down?
The cross-promotion event is here. Everything culminates with Harmageddon: DWL versus Dystopia. Can Jack (Stephen Amell) and Ace (Alexander Ludwig) forgive each other and right their wrongs? Or will it all fall apart in the ring yet again?
The eight episode second season commenced back in late July. Those eight weeks has passed by so fast.
The second season resumed directly after the season 1 finale with Ten-Bell Salute.
Ace storms out of the arena before anyone can calm him down. However, due to the successful State Fair show, the general locker room vibe stays positive.
Meanwhile, The Florida Wrestling Dystopia promoter promises to get revenge on Jack for messing with him.
Ten-Bell Salute primarily connects the present with the past rather than taking the story forward. Tom Spade’s funeral is shown in a series of flashbacks and highlights of how his death affected those closest to him. Jack is so angry and sad that he dramatically refuses even to read his farewell letter. Ace is even worse off as he is shattered by the feeling of not living up to Tom’s expectations.
Also starring in this wrestling, family dram, Alison Luff was cast as Staci Spade, Jack's wife. While Chris Bauer, Allen Maldonado, James Harrison, Kelli Berglund, and Mary McCormack also star across the two seasons.
A third season is yet to be announced with Starz roster of titles in "waiting" for their future growing. Minx was last week, Shining Vale will return after a long absence next month. Finally Power Book III: Raising Kanan returns for a third outing December 1st.
Way more last minute Winter Watchlist Warmers posts to come, all this week! Later!
Dead Ringers lives on Amazon which is really churning out the decent content of late. Harlan Coben's Shelter, Gen V, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart.
This is another one of my last minute Winter, catch ups. The series landed late April this year, however I am just getting around to finishing it now. The miniseries is based on the 1988 film of the same name by David Cronenberg, itself adapted from the 1977 novel Twins by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland.
Rachel Weisz is the two sisters, Beverly and Elliot Mantle. Joining Weisz is Michael Chernus, Poppy Liu, Britne Oldford, Jeremy Shamos, Jennifer Ehle and Emily Meade.
So this series is weird, creepy, a little drawn out and crazy. While it does rate 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, whilst also ranking highly with TV critics.
This was a bit of a full on watch, however I have really leaned into the TV miniseries this season. Which is indeed coming to an end. Yes the weather is warming up, the back burning is happening and school holidays is again, almost upon us AGAIN!
So is this worth around six hours of your viewing time? Maybe it depends how much you like a psychological thriller.
It does jump around a fair bit, have some wild sequences along with some gory births.
Dead Ringers, will not be everyone's cup of tea. However it looks great, shows Amazon is willing to give different ideas a go. Which I like. Amazon is also now finally creating great Aussie content like Deadloch.
Coming up soon, another TV end of year blog series. Followed by a long hot summer series January to February. Can you believe it's almost Christmas AGAIN????
A Haunting in Venice is the sequel to Death on the Nile (2022) along with in the same universe as Murder on the Orient Express (2017). This is the third film in which Kenneth Branagh portrays the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot.
Based on the 1969 novel Hallowe'en Party by Agatha Christie, starring alongside Branagh, Kyle Allen, Camille Cottin, Jamie Dornan, Tina Fey, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird, Kelly Reilly, Riccardo Scamarcio, and Michelle Yeoh all star in this whodunnit.
Released on Thursday, this was a bit of cinema fun. Set in a beautiful big space in Venice. Kelly Reilly shines outside her role as Beth Dutton on Yellowstone (RIP). While Tina Fey is actually a fun addition to this film series.
The setting is excellent, the cast a very fun ensemble. So if you are looking for some murder without the horror and blood and guts, A Haunting in Venice may be your perfect movie/date night. The movie has totally bounced back now that Barbie has slayed the cinemas. So let's keep em' going!
Kenneth Branagh's Hercule Poirot's third run, gets a solid 3 Stars.
Seeya with more film reviews and one last feature album soon! Bye-Bye! Hello SPRING!
Heartstopper has returned on Netflix. Yes I am a little late to the party, however I binged the majority of the second season extremely quickly. The series based on Alice Oseman's webcomic and graphic novel of the same name, also has a third season in development. This was announced along with the second one.
The series primarily tells the story of Charlie Spring (Joe Locke), a gay schoolboy who falls in love with classmate Nick Nelson (Kit Connor), whom he sits next to in his new form. It also explores the lives of their friends Tao Xu (William Gao), Elle Argent (Yasmin Finney), Isaac Henderson (Tobie Donovan), Tara Jones (Corinna Brown) and Darcy Olsson (Kizzy Edgell).
SPOILERS below the trailer, WARNING!
In Perfect, the second season' finale, Nick comes out publicly on Instagram.
Elle tells Tao she is going to Lambert, then accepts his proposal to be his girlfriend. At a school prom, everyone is present but Darcy, who later shows up and opens up to Tara about her situation at home.
Nick and Charlie's friend group leave the prom to celebrate at Nick's house. When Nick and Charlie remain, Nick requests to know about his past bullying experience; Charlie opens up about it and how it caused him to self-harm.
Nick tells Charlie to always open up to him if anything happens. Charlie reluctantly accepts, before going home. On the way home Charlie drafts an Insta message to Nick, but then the credits roll on in.
Fused with indie pop tunes and animations across the screen, this is a refreshingly sweet gay series. No crazy wild sex like Queer as Folk both reboot and former Showtime original. Just young love.
It is a super sweet show, however for me the standout this season was Fisayo Akinade as Nathan Ajayi and Nima Taleghani as Youssef Farouk. The teacher on teacher romance was super sweet.
This season could be the warmest Winter Watchlist Warmers of 2023. It's like a warm hug through all eight episodes. A third season is set to land in 2024. Being an English series no strikes could stop this bad boy landing.
Netflix is my last go to for new shows of late. However Heartstopper drew me right back to the warm embrace of Netflix.
One Night is the latest Paramount+ local title. With an all star cast including Doctor Who's Jodie Whittaker, Nicole da Silva, Yael Stone, George Mason, Erroll Shand, Noni Hazlehurst, Tina Bursill, Damien Strouthos and Jillian Nguyen.
The series follows Tess, Simone and Hat, three friends whose lives have been changed by the traumatic events of one night in their home town twenty years previously.
After that night, only Hat remained in the town, but they all reunite when Simone comes back to look after her father with dementia, and Tess brings her wife and kids from the UK to spend a year in Sydney.
Without telling the other two, Simone has written a novel, One Night, about what happened to them. As it becomes a bestseller, the women relive the painful memories and discover old secrets.
Filming started this year, in Sydney. Particularly around the Illawarra region of New South Wales, while also having a city scene at Parramatta Square. I could tell the new library/council building a mile off with that red roof.
So was One Night any good against all the current Aussie dramas streaming/airing. Right now we have RFDS, Home and Away on Network Seven. The Newsreader and Mother & Son on the ABC. Five Bedrooms on free to air after also streaming on Paramount+.
That is up against recent Amazon titles Deadloch and The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart. Netflix is about to launch the second season of Surviving Summer, while Stan have a bevy of upcoming titles. The Tourist season two moves abroad, Bump will return for another season (after being bumped from the US TV schedule), C*A*U*G*H*T is coming as is the second season of Wolf Like Me.
So there is plenty of competition right now.
However One Night, is a well acted, beautifully shot, masterclass in a six part series. Big names, the beautiful South Coast makes One Night an enjoyable, easy watch. I think I had it all done and dusted amongst all my weekly week-to-week shows in only a week.
Paramount+ need a special mention for all the good work they are doing telling local stories, even bringing Sydney into the NCIS mix. That also lands soon.
So if you are not already a subscriber, do a free trial on Paramount+., I don't think you'll be disapointed.
The Nun II is awful. Full stop. The end. This was a very LOW point in the now lengthy The Conjuring Universe franchise.
This is the long awaited sequel to the 2018 film, The Nun.
The ninth instalment in The Conjuring Universe, stars Taissa Farmiga, Jonas Bloquet and Bonnie Aarons, Storm Reid and Anna Popplewell.
2023 has had some solid horror films, this sadly wasn't one of them. Check below the trailer for the star rating. Spoiler alert its low AF.
No purpose, no point, too dark, cheap jump scares, lost vision, this was just all wrong! Boring, wrong, over long, could have been a short film. A very short film. 1 Star. Worst horror movie of 2023.
Minx joins a list of series Starz has picked up from other networks streamers. First was Step Up (from film to TV version) from YouTube followed by Minx (which has just concluded) and soon, Three Women based on the 2019 book of the same name by Lisa Taddeo.
This was set to premiere on Showtime. However earlier in the year, Deadline reported that Showtime had decided not to air the completed series. Starz picked up the series a week later. Maybe they knew the writers strike was incoming, thus having a decent amount of content on their books.
Back to Minx, a comedy television series created and written by Ellen Rapoport and starring Ophelia Lovibond & Jake Johnson.
From HBO Max to Starz, or Stan in Australia, the eight episode second season commenced late July.
Woman of the Hour was the big finale of season two. However was it the finale, finale? Already cancelled once by HBO Max having the second series already filmed and ready to roll. Will Starz keep Minx on the books?
With the writers strike now continuing into September around the time the network series all return for the new TV season. It looks like this strike is set to continue for some time now. With Christmas just around the corner, I may have a lot more time to catch up on previous series.
So Minx, do we need to see more penis in a now defunct media medium? Magazines have died so will this series go by like the content it portrays?
I enjoyed season two, however there was a little less nudity (with full bush of course for the era) but a whole lot of sass. Its girl power all the way in season two. Woman of the Hour is an excellent title for the finale episode of the run.
Ophelia Lovibond as Joyce Prigger is excellent, whilst new addition of Elizabeth Perkins as Constance is a great add to the mix.
For me though Jessica Lowe as Bambi continues to be the MVP of this series.
So we may have a wait to find out if Minx will return for season three. We are still wanting on Starz to continue or cancel, Run the World, Heels (concluding next Friday) along with recently returning Power - Force. OK Tommy has only been back two weeks, so that can hold off for a bit.
The tenth and final season of The Blacklist has now concluded. Well actually it officially concluded the series on July 13, 2023 with the final two episodes on NBC.
However in Australia we had to wait till the entire season landed on Netflix recently.
James Spader, Diego Klattenhoff, Hisham Tawfiq, Harry Lennix returned for the season, while Anya Banerjee debuted in a new main role. Amir Arison only appeared in the first episode, while Laura Sohn as agent Park also left at the end of season nine.
It is also the second and final season without Megan Boone.
So after 218 episodes, ten seasons, between September 23, 2013, and July 13, 2023, The Blacklist is finally over. I sat through all 218 episodes, alongside the spin-off, The Blacklist: Redemption. Sharing the same fictional universe with the original series and was entirely focused on Ryan Eggold's character, Tom Keen. Elizabeth Keen's (Megan Boone) husband .
Back to episode one, the pilot, this gathered 12.6 million viewers in the United States.
During its run, The Blacklist won a Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Award and was nominated for six more, as well as received nominations for two Golden Globe Awards, two Saturn Awards and two People's Choice Awards.
SPOILERS AFTER THE TRAILER!
So how does it all end? After all those episodes? Read on to find out about the last network series I will be watching for some time!
Reddington and his squad deliver Dembe to the closest nursing home where Reddington's blood is transfused to Dembe after he loses a significant amount of blood. After the transfusion is done, Reddington escapes to Andalusia, Spain and recovers from blood loss at his mansion, suffering from his disease.
Meanwhile, the investigation continues and Nixon is furious after Hudson's death.
Herbie leaves the Task Force, deeming it a betrayal to his friend.
Cooper and Siya head to Red's safehouse and find out that Red returned there to pick up Islero's skull. It appears that Red escaped to Spain to bring Islero's skull to its homeland, the abandoned Miura ranch.
Dembe awakens, his condition improves. The court has decided to relieve Dembe of duty after Red is captured. He gives details on Red's closest place to the ranch, the mansion, and Ressler is sent there.
However, his arrival is late; Red has set off to the ranch, without the skull or any protection weapon. When he finally reaches the ranch, weakened after an arduous walk, an angry bull gores him, and there is nothing Ressler could do.
Ressler picks up and dusts off his brown fedora hat and places it on the deceased Reddington's body.
So James Spader's Reddington could only up one way. Dead. The net was closing in too much. A dead senator (who look a little like Ted Cruz) and the team, FBI and others all chasing him.
It was a decent season. A super easy watch. Something you could switch off to at the end of a LONG day. The Blacklist might have gone for a few too many seasons, however it did end fairly well. Even without the majority of the initial cast.
We never really knew that much about Raymond Reddington, however Spader did play an impressive, is he a good guy or a likeable bad guy?
The Blacklist streams ALL ten seasons on Netflix in Australia. Minx season two finale to come!
The Afterparty may have just had its final episode on Apple TV+. In this uncertain time of renewals and cancellations with the writers strike now continuing almost right up until the usual US TV season.
Created by Christopher Miller, the second season premiered on mid-July, extending its episode count to 10, up from 8 in season one.
The second season takes place the day after a wedding and follows the same formula of each guest's perspective of the day before.
Tiffany Haddish returns Detective Danner, along with Sam Richardson and Zoë Chao are set to reprise their roles for the second season.
With Elizabeth Perkins, Zach Woods, Paul Walter Hauser, Poppy Liu, Anna Konkle, Jack Whitehall and Vivian Wu joining round two as, respectively, Isabel, Edgar, Travis, Grace, Hannah, Sebastian, and Vivian.
Also starring big hitters Ken Jeong and John Cho for the wedding afterparty.
I remember almost bingeing all episodes of season one almost back to back. Look I gave it a second go, however this was one of those anthology series that actually did start from scratch new and improve.
It actually remained the same with Tiffany Haddish honestly being the saving grace of the second season. Her Danner's Fire episode was the BEST by far. This episode was funny, a little horny, but overall focusing on the best character this show has produced.
Apple TV+ must have a few shows in the bag as the content just keeps rolling out. We will farewell Physical after three interesting seasons in a few weeks.
My prediction for this series is it may be another casualty of the writers strike. It seems to be biting at HBO with little high quality content on the way. Unless you liked the Gilded Age, as that's returning. Showtime also seem a little stuck with The Chi airing the current sixth season in two parts and on Stan I can't see the final Yellowstone episodes coming anytime soon.
Thank god they have Starz content with another Power spin-off on now, with another to come, followed by BMF returning in March 2024. Shining Vale also on Starz stateside but Binge in Australia will also return after a lengthy break next month.
The Equalizer 3 lands several months after the television ironically concluded its third season. However in place of Queen Latifah we get Denzel Washington as the title role, The Equalizer. We did however get to see RnB Friday's star Kelly Rowland in the TV version! The version I am talking about is the second TV series, the first, from 1985-1989 is which this film series is loosely based on. the television series of the same name
The film version however sees Dakota Fanning, David Denman, Sonia Ammar, and Remo Girone star alongside Washington.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua, this is a sequel to The Equalizer 2, while potentially becoming the final instalment of The Equalizer film series.
Washington, reprises his role as retired U.S. Marine and DIA officer Robert McCall. In the third film, McCall discovers that his new friends of a small town in south Italy are intimidated by members of the Camorra, after which he sets out to free them from their control.
Filming locations were lush, in the Amalfi Coast in Italy, followed by Naples, before wrapping production by January, in Rome.
The Equalizer 3 looks a million bucks with some big, gory action scenes. It has a decent plot which sort of reminds me of Mafia Mamma from earlier this year.
Now I was very kind to that film giving it a glowing 4 stars. However I feel like being a little tougher. The films are of a high standard right now. We have The Nun 2 coming out, another murder mystery with, A Haunting in Venice and in similar action vein, EXPEND4BLES.
For now The Equalizer 3 will have slightly limited sessions in, its second week due to the dream box office run Barbie is continuing to have.
So if you want to catch the action film, Get Outta da House NOW!
How many stars you ask? Let's go with 3 for this shot, stab em, punch em up picture.
Full disclosure, I never watched the 1987 film, which this eight episode series is based on. Fatal Attraction premiered late April, this year on Paramount+. It concluded late May so I am still (sort of) playing catch up.
A passionate affair takes a volatile and dangerous turn when a woman (Lizzy Caplan) refuses to allow her married lover (Joshua Jackson - Dawson's Creek) to put an end to it.
Is Jackson the most successful Dawson's Creek star? The Affair (similar theme to this series really), Dr Death, a few films and now this.
Lizzy Caplan was cast to star as Alex, portrayed by Glenn Close in the film. While Joshua Jackson was cast as Dan, portrayed by Michael Douglas.
Also starring Amanda Peet, Alyssa Jirrels, Toby Huss, Reno Wilson, Brian Goodman,Wanda De Jesus, Doreen Calderon, Jessica Harper, John Getz, Toks Olagundoye, David Sullivan, Isabella Briggs, Walter Perez, David Meunier and Dee Wallace all star.
It feels a bit on the B grade side, if I am honest. Paramount+ have given us some decent dramas of late. Tulsa King, The Flatshare, Evil, Five Bedrooms and The Betoota Advocate Presents.
So my subscription does get a decent workout. In this light on week to week TV era right now. The writers strike, end of winter, too much reality TV on Australian TV. It's time to catch up with some series on my watchlists.
So no spoilers here, however I don't think you will ever pick the killer. I needed to read a recap to completely understand what I just watched.
Will a second series come? We are left on a bit of a random cliffhanger, despite the killer being revealed. Also could this have been slightly shorter? I feel they dragged it all out a little too much. Six episodes would have been tighter.
That said this isn't a bad watch, it's just not the best. It's addictive, easy to consume but the conclusion is a little underwhelming.
Paramount+ is the home of Fatal Attraction's 2023 remake.
