Butterfly is one of the best Amazon spy/thriller series I've seen in a hot minute.
The six-episode series is based on the Boom! Studios graphic novel series created by Arash Amel, written by Amel and Marguerite Bennett, and illustrated by Antonio Fuso and Stefano Simeone.
Starring Daniel Dae Kim (who keeps it TIGHT AF) as David Jung, a former U.S. intelligence operative living in South Korea whose past resurfaces to threaten his life and family.
Also starring, Reina Hardesty, Park Hae-soo, Kim Tae-hee, Nayoon Kim, Piper Perabo, Louis Landau, Sean Dulake, Kim Ji-hoon, Charles Parnell, Sung Dong-il and Lee Il-hwa.
The action sequences across the series are second to none. Daniel Dae Kim is a national lead. With Butterfly mixing a complicated family drama, with some spy, action in the mix too.
Episode six also leaves you wanting so much more! And for now. On the topic of more Butterfly? There is zero news sadly.
I smashed through all six (short for Amazon) episodes. Compared to the other macho-action-Amazon series streaming now, Countdown, this is a far superior season. Short, sharp to the point. Where Countdown feels bloated at 13 long episodes.
Speaking of Amazon, next week, the final four (ever) episodes of Upload land for the fourth series. So much August TV, so little time!
Bob Odenkirk returns as suburban husband, father and workaholic assassin Hutch Mansell in the new chapter to Nobody,. Look I'm having trouble remembering the hit 2021 first Nobody film, however it did open at number one at the U.S. box office.
So where do we find Hutch? Four years after he inadvertently took on the Russian mob, Hutch remains $30 million in debt to the criminal organisation and is working it off with an unending string of hits on international thugs.
Odenkirk is joined by his wife Becca (Connie Nielsen), their kids (Gage Munroe, Paisley Cadorath), his brother Harry (Grammy and Emmy nominee RZA) & Hutch’s dad (Emmy winner Christopher Lloyd). Yep it's a full family affair.
While Hutch & Becca, find themselves overworked and drifting apart. They decide to take their kids on a short getaway to Wild Bill’s Majestic Midway and Waterpark, the one and only place where Hutch and his brother Harry went on a vacation as kids.
With Hutch’s dad in tow, the family arrives in the small tourist town of Plummerville, eager for some fun in the sun.
But when a minor encounter with some town bullies yanks the family into the crosshairs of a corrupt theme-park operator (John Ortiz) & his shady sheriff (Colin Hanks), Hutch finds himself the focus of the most unhinged, blood-thirsty crime boss he (or anyone) has ever encountered (Sharon Stone).
Yes Sharon Stone is the BIG bad! Nice! Like in comparison to The Naked Gun, this is solid gold.
I'm not sure why action film, Nobody slipped my memory, however this was damn good entertainment. Perfect at the end of a long, wet, dull week!
If you need an escape from the weather, I recommend seeing this an hour and a half, full metal action assault. They even use a Little Mix song, in the mix! Did you know too, that queen JADE on the new Confidence Man song, Gossip, is Jade from Little Mix! Fun fact!
Duster is sadly, a one and done crime/thriller series created by J. J. Abrams & LaToya Morgan.
Starring Lost legend, Josh Holloway, Rachel Hilson, & Keith David.
Set in 1972; Hilson portrays the FBI's first Black woman agent & Holloway plays a getaway driver using a 1970 Plymouth Duster. So there is 70's fashion, music and culture! Meow!
The HBO Max series had a short two month run during May & July this year before being canceled after one season.
Now HBO Max are having a moment. With And Just Like That.. finally wrapping, we finally get into Peacemaker's second season this week.
I really didn't mind this eight episode run. The action was fun, the characters were most likely, and J. J. Abrams, I'm not sure why this didn't work out.
Either way Duster was a fun little watch. It does though leave HBO Max with not a great deal of content left when it only just launched. Hacks in Australia streams on Stan whilst The Pitt only just streamed.
For a new streamer with a large HBO branded library, maybe they can rely on nostalgia. However for someone like me who seeks new content, if they keep cutting new series like Duster, maybe its lucky the OG brand HBO has Task, IT: Welcome to Derry, with new series of Euphoria, The White Lotus and The Last of Us coming over the next few years.
For now Duster streams it's only eight episodes now.
BMF (or Black Mafia Family) may not be part of the Power franchise, however the storylines and subject matter are similar enough to think, does Starz have a gangster/drug/crime obsession?
Following the Black Mafia Family, a drug trafficking and money laundering organisation, the fourth season premiered early June, concluding on Friday, along with And Just Like That... & Smoke. All on different streamers, all concluding the same Friday. BMF in Australia streams on Stan.
Alongside BMF, Starz still have a reboot of the Spartacus franchise incoming, the final run of Power: Force, Tommy's story and P-Valley. The later about strippers has been missing in action for three years since the second season finale aired.
BMF with Covid, writers strikes has been one of the most consistent series airing almost yearly, with a short year off in 2022.
Season four continues the journey inspired by real life street legends and brothers, Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory (Da’Vinchi), who created one of the most influential crime families in the country, Black Mafia Family.
This season, as Meech and Terry fight to keep their American Dream alive, staying ahead of their rivals and law enforcement takes a toll on their relationship. The brothers occasionally put aside their differences for their common goals but the events of what happened in Mexico will change them forever.
With a sprinkle of music, strippers, full frontal female nudity and a high body count, BMF continues to kill off large numbers of cast members. A lot of which you barely get to know before they are knocked off. Making it very hard to grow a connection with the ever growing, then shrinking cast.
BMF feels a lot like a Power spin-off while also feeling like season four might be the last time we see the Flenory brothers. The show is usually renewed ahead of a season finale. And with Starz launching into Spartacus (again), another Power spin-off (Origins), two UK co-productions (Sweetpea - renewed and The Couple Next Door) plus growing the Outlander universe, Starz seems fairly full at present.
Each season it feels like there is less and less of a story to tell with BMF.
Time will tell if indeed it gets a fifth and final season, or if indeed, it ended last week.
Filmed across New South Wales, from the scenic Hawkesbury River region to the rugged south coast, Playing Gracie Darling is set in a town where everyone knows each other, secrets are tightly held, and being different is impossible to hide. The Paramount+ miniseries commenced streaming last Thursday. It was a very easy watch, with me finishing it over the weekend.
The six episodes follow the events of Gracie Darling and her friends who haven't seen Gracie since a séance went wrong 27 years ago. Joni, her friend feels like she failed her and when she receives a mysterious call saying another Darling sibling has disappeared, Joni's haunted by the events of the past catching up to the present.
From Curio Pictures (The Narrow Road to the Deep North, The Artful Dodger) led by New Zealand powerhouse Morgana O’Reilly (The White Lotus Season 3, Friends Like Her) as Joni, Dame Harriet Walter (Succession, Ted Lasso) as Pattie, and Rudi Dharmalingam (Wakefield, The Lazarus Project) as Jay.
ABC favourite Celia Pacquola (Love Me, Rosehaven) also stars as Ruth, with Annie Maynard (Colin From Accounts, Upper Middle Bogan) as Anita, Dan Spielman (The Code, New Gold Mountain) as Peter, and screen icon Anne Tenney (The Castle, A Country Practice) as Moira.
Can an Aussie series actually pull off a small town gripped by the unknown? An Australian horror series? Really? Surely not...
Horror is a hard genre to get to work on the small screen.
When Joni was 14 her friend Gracie Darling disappeared after séance went wrong, she harbours guilt and hasn't been the same since. Joni, now a child psychologist, is still haunted by her past and when she gets a call from a local cop that another Darling has gone missing after a séance all the guilt of the past comes to the present.
I'm not sure if I was 100% in on this one. The Family Next Door set the bar high for Aussie content of late. This was the first local series on Paramount+ since the shared US NCIS: Sydney concluded a couple of months back.
We are also still awaiting word on a final or another season of The Last King of the Cross. At least in October the local NCIS version returns potentially for a longer third season.
Playing Gracie Darling had potential, the Hawkesbury is as gorgeous as ever, however this just didn't 100% suck me in. Even though it was an easy watch, you were left thinking, was that it... No epic conclusion, just the end credits rolling. Oh well. At least The Twelve has returned and Mystery Road is incoming next month for another Origin series.
Oh dear, like Bride Hard, what the hell did I just watch!
A preview weekend of The Naked Gun, landed over the weekend. So before it officially opens Thursday, I'm here to tell you, AVOID this at all costs!
Directed by Akiva Schaffer & written by Schaffer, Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, this serves as a sequel to 1994's Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult.
This is the fourth film in The Naked Gun franchise, starring Liam Neeson, with Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, CCH Pounder, & Kevin Durand.
The Naked Gun, follows the son of Lt. Frank Drebin who must succeed in his father's footsteps to prevent the closure of Police Squad.
Promo materials describes the film as, only one man has the particular set of skills... to lead Police Squad and save the world! Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) follows in his father's footsteps in THE NAKED GUN, directed by Akiva Schaffer (Saturday Night Live, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) and from producer Seth MacFarlane (Ted, Family Guy).
I hated the TV show Ted, so I have no idea why I took in more Seth MacFarlane, while I remember totally hating Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.
So let's just get to it, how many stars? I dare you to watch the trailer to this 80 minute insane film.
OK so I am loving having Pamela Anderson back on the big screen, but this is no The Last Showgirl. This is horrid.
Whilst it's meant to be slapstick, a lot has changed since the last film and 1994.
The jokes were lame, cringe and borderline insane. I really wonder why Paramount decided to throw money at this, along with still owning the failing Channel Ten in Australia. Hows 10 News+ doing now The Project is RIP?
So this was not that impressive, actually along with Bride Hard, comedies are really struggling at the cinema right about now. Bring on another horror film I guess.
Hopefully the next film I see is a little more entertaining. The Naked Gun gets a solid 1 star. Mainly for Pamela.
Please Note: I also saw the incredible Urzila Carlson Saturday night at the ICC. So I know good comedy when I see it. The Naked Gun, wasn't it.
Another HBO Max bites the dust. Following Bookie, Sex Lives and College Girls and recently one and done, Duster.
The revival & sequel of the HBO television series Sex and the City created by Darren Star, which is based on Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same title.
Season one was billed as a one-off miniseries, however, a second season was announced in March 2022. The following August, the series was renewed for a third season, which was announced to be its last the same month, expanding the season from 10 to 12 episodes, & therefore concluding the Sex and the City franchise.
Across the three seasons, AJLT has received mixed reviews, with some critics deeming it unnecessary and inferior to the original Sex and the City series.
The third season however was awful!
But how'd it all end? Was the series finale as bad as the rest of the cringe third season? With so many cringe moments, this season went to new lows.
Could AJLT be the worst ever reboot? With Dexter currently rewriting wrongs of that terrible season ending, along with the average OG reboot. Dexter is currently airing a second brilliant reboot in a row. Original Sin was a fun, prequel series, while Resurrection, is a super charged sequel series, which takes the lead to New York.
But back to AJLT.
Miranda and Steve admit they are unready to be grandparents.
Harry regains his sexual function. FUCKING CRINGE!
Lisa and Marion confront their mutual attraction and agree to be strictly professional. Lisa and Herbert reaffirm their relationship, and Herbert rebounds from his election defeat. Why were these character added? So boring.
Guiseppe assures Anthony that he does not consider him as a parental figure. Likewise here, Guiseppe was good looking but Anthony was just too much!
Seema accepts that Adam does not believe in marriage. This was a better storyline than the crystal as an alternative deodorant!
Miranda's large Thanksgiving dinner party dwindles as invitees bail, including Harry and Charlotte, the Wexleys, Steve, Seema, and Anthony. Meanwhile, Mia arrives with two eccentric friends, one with dietary issues. God this was CRINGE! Everything involving Miranda this season was DIRE!
Carrie is surprised when thrice-married Mark Kasabian also arrives, apparently as a set-up arranged by the absent Charlotte. But will Carrie end the run a single lady? Answer below.
Chef Brady, dealing with an undercooked turkey, is annoyed by Mia being there. Miranda briefly leaves the party to comfort Joy, whose dog is having emergency surgery.
The evening finally washes out when the toilet backs up and floods Miranda's bathroom. This could not symbolise the series any clearer. Shit all over the floor! A clogged toilet caused by a young lactose intolerant brat, named after a Disney park! FUCK!
Back home, Carrie amends her novel's epilogue to read that the heroine realised she was not alone but was 'on her own'. This is what we watched all 12 final episodes for?
Thank god that is over. HBO Max better deliver with the second run of Peacemaker. Thank god for them, The Pitt was a hit.
Hacks is still their best series. But with limited shows incoming, does HBO Max still need to exist? I think it's time for HBO just to operate on its own. With Task and IT incoming, HBO could finish the year on a high, however some of the Max titles have been questionable as fuck!
AJLT left our screens with a whimper, this was a trainwreck!
Friday was a big day of TV finales. I was a little swamped yesterday, so over the weekend, I will get into the three finale Friday.
Smoke is first up.
A crime miniseries created by Dennis Lehane, inspired by Firebug, a podcast about the crimes of arsonist John Leonard Orr.
It is another premium Apple TV+ drama which started late June.
Taron Egerton & Jurnee Smollett lead this nine episode series as, a detective and an arson investigator work together to stop two serial arsonists in the Pacific Northwest.
Alongside Egerton & Smollett, John Leguizamo, Rafe Spall, Greg Kinnear, Ntare Mwine & Hannah Emily Anderson also star.
The series was filmed in Vancouver last March.
So was this any good over 8 or 9 Friday's?
I didn't mind this at the start. I felt the wheels feel off a little towards the end. It was a very intense finale between leads Egerton & Smollett.
I reckon over six tight episodes with less filler this could have been amazing. The US teams need to learn from the UK. Keep it short and sharp!
Next up Sex & the City finally wraps! BMF also incoming. It was a huge Friday. Not to mention that big Dexter episode!
The Family Next Door just landed on ABC. With episode one airing on Sunday, with all episodes landing on iView too. All six excellent episodes can be binged nice and easily of the local series, based on the novel of the same name by Sally Hepworth.
It’s peak holiday season in the popular seaside town of Osprey Point when an enigmatic stranger, Isabelle (Teresa Palmer), rents a family home in a quiet cul-de-sac. As Isabelle charms her way into her neighbours’ homes and lives, she quickly discovers that everyone at Pleasant Court has something to hide.
With an all star local cast featuring Aussie TV's IT girl, Teresa Palmer as Isabelle.
Alongside Palmer, we have, Bella Heathcote as Ange, Catherine McClements as Barbara, the super hot Bob Morley as Lucas, Ming-Zhu Hii as Fran, Jane Harber as Lulu, Daniel Henshall as Nigel & Philippa Northeast as Essie.
The series filmed on location in Anglesea, Victoria, and several suburbs alongside the coastline. The series created over 200 jobs for cast and crew.
This is ABC at its best.
It gives real Liane Moriarty vibes. Family secrets, local drama, the mystery, the build up.
This was exceptionally addictive TV. I am also very happy to report the ABC will next up air the second run of Mystery Road: Origins in late September! Cannot wait!
The local TV just keeps flooding in this week with Playing Gracie Darling landing tomorrow on Paramount+.
Well, well, another horror film on our screen. If the international news isn't enough horror for you, New Line Cinema and Zach Cregger, the wholly original mind behind Barbarian, comes a new horror/thriller: Weapons.
Yes whilst there is horror, there are elements of a thriller in the mix too. Weapons starts, when all but one child from the same class mysteriously vanish on the same night at exactly the same time, a community is left questioning who or what is behind their disappearance.
Lead by Josh Brolin, Ozark's Julia Garner, Alden Ehrenreich, Austin Abrams, Cary Christopher, with Benedict Wong, & Amy Madigan.
Rotten Tomatoes, has lead the critical praise for Weapons, which currently sits at 96%. A big improvement on Bride Hard which I saw earlier in the week.
Rotten Tomatoes states, Zach Cregger spins an expertly crafted yarn of terrifying mystery and thrilling intrigue in Weapons, a sophomore triumph that solidifies his status as a master of horror. Now that is a big call!
So what did I think?
Well it does take a minute to get out of the blocks, however I did like the different perspectives take on letting the viewer know how and what horror was to unfold.
The film does go for a little over two hours, however seeing the film from a wide range of characters really worked for me. Leading up to that big ending.
Horror continues to dominate the big screen with Jordan Peele's next film, Him hitting the cinemas next month, along with another The Conjuring film.
So was Weapons the horror movie we needed in 2025? Look it was good, but not life changing for me. 3.5 Stars.
Starring Mark Ruffalo, Lili Reinhart, Cooper Raiff and Betty Gilpin and, from the Award winning filmmaker of Cha Cha Real Smooth comes the new series.
Hal & Harper streams right now on Stan across all nine episodes.
Following two siblings (Reinhart and Raiff) as they try to preserve their childhood even though their single father (Ruffalo) forces them to grow up too fast.
The series landed late June on the Aussie streamer. I struggled getting into the show. Even though the episodes are relatively short, the first four episodes were a real struggle.
I did start it a while ago, leaving it and moving onto other more upbeat series. Maybe I am too lowbrow, but this was just a bit too arty for me.
Hal and Harper had its world premiere at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival in January. Oversees the series will air on Mubi. I feel like this is a one and done however there is limited info online about the series.
Director Cooper Raiff, in 2020, described the plot as following two siblings and their single dad who is making them grow up too fast. With that in mind, the 7-year old and 9-year-old characters would be cast with adult actors
If you like a random drama with major family ties or just like Mark Ruffalo, this might be for you. Ruffalo, will also appear next in HBO miniseries Task. Apparently set to air next month.
It's the weekend folks, I'm set to see Weapons tomorrow, so expect another film review real soon y'all!
Big finale week next Friday. BMF, Smoke and the last ever And Just Like That.. episode incoming!
Michael Theo, a neurodivergent participant on reality series Love on the Spectrum, makes his acting debut as the title character Austin. Austin landed on ABC TV last June. With the second season currently airing or all episodes now streaming on iView.
The Australian-British comedy, starts off at a book tour in Canberra, recently cancelled English children’s author, Julian, is approached by a 28 year old man named Austin, who claims to be his biological son conceived in London. Austin, who is autistic and lives with his mother and grandfather, may provide Julian with a path to redemption.
The second season kicks off as, Austin grapples with sudden literary fame when his novel, “An Autistic Guide to Britain” is picked up by an international publisher.
Meanwhile, his previously estranged father, Julian, and stepmother, Ingrid, sell their beloved Big Bear series to Australian TV. Julian is swiftly cut out of the process due to his status as a social media pariah, leaving Ingrid to take the wheel. As Austin tries to stay true to himself, everyone else scrambles for relevance.
Alongside Theo, the series stars Ben Miller as Julian, Sally Phillips as Ingrid, Gia Carides as Austin's mother Mel, Roy Billing as Austin's grandfather Bill, Kate Elliott as Heidi, Zahra Newman as Monica, Charlotte Nicdao as Yolanda and Billie Piper as herself in the first season.
I binged both seasons back-to-back after sleeping on season one last year.
This was a sweet local comedy, shot on location in sleepy Canberra. Which is refreshing in a way to see another city used as a back drop for a local series.
Hopefully this Sunday, The Family Next Door will also be a good new drama series on the ABC. Following the ABC cleaning up at this years Logies (which Austin was also nominated) they need to lay the foundations down for next years nominations.
No word on a third season yet. However the ABC is short of comedies, given Optics has been given the green light for a second run yet, nor another run of award winning smash hit Fisk.
If you need a comfort viewing series this week, maybe give Austin a go.
Not usually one my blog's post, but the Logies was the talk of the town late Sunday night, Monday morning. TV is not dead yet. But close. Also how'd they pick the winners? Is Irene really Australia's best actress?
Why'd Netflix get so many nominations and nearly no Logies.
Also how'd A Current Affair get a Logie for Most Popular News or Public Affairs Presenter? Weird right.
Oh dear, Bride Hard falls flat in every way possible.
The action sequences, lame.
The one-liners, mostly fall flat.
Is the Rebel Wilson honeymoon period over?
Directed by Simon West and written by Shaina Steinberg, this film is honestly one of the most average films I have seen this year.
Alongside Rebel Wilson, fresh from her double run in You, Anna Camp, Anna Chlumsky, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, Gigi Zumbado, Stephen Dorff, & from US network TV's biggest drama, Tracker, Justin Hartley
Unsurprisingly the film was panned by critics.
Let's keep this quick and painless, 1 Star. Oh Anna Camp you are better than this. Also Stephen Dorff, WTF!
Also Anna Chlumsky this is definitely no Veep doll. Bride Hard will 100% appear on the The Golden Raspberry Awards nominations for 2025(also known as the Razzie Awards).
Together is a supernatural/body horror (remember Demi Moore's body horror film, The Substance) filmed right here in Australia.
Directed by Michael Shanks, in his directorial debut, starring real-life married actors Dave Franco and Alison Brie.
Years into their relationship, Tim and Millie (Franco & Brie) find themselves at a crossroads as they move to the country, abandoning all that is familiar in their lives except each other. With tensions already flaring, a nightmarish encounter with a mysterious, unnatural force threatens to corrupt their lives, their love, and their flesh.
Together is a fresh take on the horror genre. With Victoria looking damn fine on the big screen.
Local, Damon Herriman plays Jamie McCabe, one of the only other main characters in the film focusing on Franco & Brie
Honestly I didn't know what to expect, however I left going, well that was fun. Along with the use of the Spice Girls, 2 become 1 as a closing piece.
I am back to the cinema again with yet another big wet this winter.
If horror is your jam, you want something fresh in the genre, give locally shot, Together a crack.
