Album (NEXT) Week - GENESIS OWUSU {Struggler}

Winter Watchlist Warmers - The Summer I Turned Pretty - Season Two

The Summer I Turned Pretty is back for a BIG second season. Big emotions, tears galore with the love triangle to end all love triangles!

Jenny Han's trilogy of novels is the inspiration for the Amazon series. Amazon has had some big series this winter. Or USA summer. This show had a massive ass billboard at LAX airport for starters.

Lola Tung (Belly) returns with two brothers played by Christopher Briney (Conrad) and the hotter one Gavin Casalegno (Jeremiah). They kind of look nothing alike.

Earlier this month the series was renewed for a third season, which will consist of ten episodes. However just today Amazon has scrapped two series (A League of their Own and The Peripheral) after previously renewing them. That said alongside Citadel, this is for real one of Amazon's biggest hits!

The season opens with Susannah's cancer worsening means her sons coming to terms with her looming death and their conflict over Belly. 

Belly wants to resolve the conflict as well but also wants to help the two families stand up to an apparent threat against their beloved summer house. Valedictorian Steven seems to act strangely after his high school graduation.

Steven is honestly worst than ever. He is the biggest cringe of the show. For real!

Last season we got all eight episodes in one hit. This season the episodes (all almost one hour in length) came weekly. However the first three episodes dropped all at once. That's when I realised (so did others) the shows quality had well.... gone slightly downhill. The drama was a little much, Belly was just, well annoying.

However the season did improve from around episode six to the big finale that streamed yesterday. SPOILER ALERT!

Conrad's continuing conflicted feelings about Belly come to a head when he, Belly, and Jeremiah are stranded in a storm and forced to share a motel room for the night. 

Steven convinces Laurel to attend a writers group meeting she fears, and Laurel seems to make a new friend of a fellow suburbanite writer who also attends. 

Despite Taylor's ex making a recording that seems to embarrass Steven, he and Taylor admit their feelings for each other. 

Jeremiah tells Conrad that he’ll step back if Conrad really still has feelings for Belly. Belly assures Jeremiah they are together and share more passionate kisses. The next morning, after confessing to Belly that he still wants her, he takes it all back saying that he didn’t mean it and they’re friends.

She also reconciles with her volleyball coach after appearing at the volleyball camp, asking forgiveness, with the coach allowing Belly to suit up and re-join as Jeremiah watches her and the team enthusiastically.

So where will season three take the love sick teens/early 20's. Jeremiah would 100% be my choice too. Good job Belly. So if you need some summer lovin' escapism this weekend, look no further than Amazon's The Summer I Turned Pretty.

Album of the Week - Offical Music Videos

Winter Watchlist Warmers - Tiny Beautiful Things - Miniseries

After travelling to the USA I realised our Disney+ offering is a pile better than the USA version. With ours including Hulu titles like, Tiny Beautiful Things.

The miniseries premiered on Hulu back in early April. So I am playing catch up here.

Based on the 2012 book of the same name by Cheryl Strayed. Tiny Beautiful Things has been adapted by Liz Tigelaar and produced by Best Day Ever Productions, Jaywalker Pictures, Hello Sunshine, and ABC Signature. 

The show has since received two Primetime Emmy Awards nominations for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie for Kathryn Hahn as lead Clare Pierce. While Merritt Wever (Nurse Jackie) as Frankie Pierce, Clare's late mother was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie.

The eight half and hour episodes tell the story of Clare (Hahn), a writer who reluctantly becomes a popular advice columnist during a period of turmoil in her life.

Cheryl Strayed had discussed adapting her book of essays Tiny Beautiful Things with Laura Dern & Reese Witherspoon while they worked together making the 2014 film Wild. This was also adapted from Strayed's memoir.

Liz Tigelaar serves as series creator and writer on the project which is being produced by ABC Signature and Hello Sunshine. 

Tigelaar is also executive producer, alongside Witherspoon, Dern, Lauren Neustadter, Stacey Silverman, Jayme Lemons, Cheryl Strayed, and Kathryn Hahn. Tigelaar described the show as depicting an alternate version of Strayed "that hadn't hiked the Pacific Crest Trail" in Wild.

So with this superstar group behind the series it goes without saying. This was a great watch. A hidden gem on Disney+ worth checking out.

Now I have seen Disney's offering overseas, we are super lucky here to get all the quality Hulu content like Only Murders in the Building, Life & Beth, Love, Victor and more.

More titles to come in my Winter Watchlist Warmers series as Spring is just around the corner. How warm has this winter been?

Winter Watchlist Warmers - The Horror of Dolores Roach - Season One

The Horror of Dolores Roach is one surprising, good find on Amazon Prime Video.

Starring Six Feet Under star, Justina Machado as Dolores Roach. The series is based on the one-woman off-Broadway play Empanada Loca and the podcast of the same name, created by Aaron Mark. 

The eight episode run sees Dolores Roach being released after an unjust 16-year prison sentence. She returns to a now-gentrified Washington Heights neighbourhood, where she reunites with an old stoner friend, Luis.

Luis lets her live and work as a masseuse in the basement under his empanada shop. When the promise of her newfound stability is threatened, she must go to extremes to survive. Being a Blumhouse Television production, you know there is going to be some sorts of horror.

Spoiler alerts as we must talk about the frantic season one finale, Stop Me.

Luis and Dolores make frantic plans to leave New York as suspicion against them mounts. A friend of Dolores confronts her and asks her for a massage. She inadvertently upsets Dolores and Dolores snaps her neck. 

Luis frames Nellie, for the murders. The cops come as quick as New York minute, as the season finale whips into a frenzied pace.

Jeremiah enters the basement and tries to find the bodies. Luis kills him. The body count in the finale is HIGH!

Dolores tries to run and is stopped by Luis. She sets him and the kitchen on fire, and uses Jeremiah's truck to run away, leaving everyone to believe she's dead. 

In the present day, she concludes her conversation with Flora Frias, and declares her intent to find Dominic. She forces Caleb, the show-runner of the play that Flora ran, to drive her to Dominic's home. 

The final shot of the show is Dolores laughing hysterically before staring into the camera and "killing" (maybe) Dominic? Who knows really? But the house they go to is nice AF.

A lot of what's online indicates this is a one and done, however there was a sequel podcast, so maybe Amazon will roll this out for a second season?

The show has been well received with critics, so maybe?

I liked this a lot. It felt fresh, the thirty (or less) minute episodes were seriously easy to binge. Winter Watchlist Warmers RATED top 10 could be dominated by Amazon titles at this rate.

There is so much good streaming series right now, so come back soon for more reviews as Riverdale, Nancy Drew, The Summer I Turned Pretty and And Just Like That... will all end in coming weeks too!

Get Outta da House Cinema 2023 - Meg 2: The Trench

Back in 2018, a little known new shark film, The Mag landed. In 2023 we get Meg 2: The Trench.

Based on the 1999 novel The Trench by Steve Alten. The sequel to The Meg (2018), brings back Jason Statham, while Page Kennedy (Weeds), Cliff Curtis and Sophia Cai return from the first film. New to the film series Wu Jing, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Skyler Samuels while there is no sign of Ruby Rose anymore. Much like Batwoman!

Like the OG Meg, it follows a group of scientists who must outrun and outswim the titular Megalodons when a malevolent mining operation threatens their mission and forces them into a high-stakes battle for survival. However add in greed and some double crossing scientists, along with Fun Island! It takes a turn for the worse, real quick.

OK back when the OG film was out at the cinema, it was fun, stupid but OK. This was just plain awful. Like literally awful.

Jason Statham went into full blown action star adding in more fighting, insane stunts than I remember from the first film. It felt a little like Fast and Furious on water at times. Particularly at Fun Island.

The film is also very much made for the Chinese market. Which is not surprising as again it was again produced by a Chinese film company.

Meg 2: The Trench is not a good film. After seeing three excellent films back to back. This was a real let down. However the session was near sold out I attended so the heavy marketing campaign is working.

That said the film due to "Barbenheimer" was sent to one of the smaller cinemas.

Look if like me you like a shark film, maybe take on the sequel. However it is nowhere near as fun as the first one. I have a feeling a third film may be on the way. That's after the writers strike however. Well that said this is based on a book series, plus the dialogue is awful so maybe ChatGPT will come up with The Meg 3's script in a super quick turnaround.

Depending on how this week's strikes talks go, films maybe be pulled from release schedules. So as cinema honestly gets back to pre-COVID, event style sales, let's hope the strike doesn't undo all the good work "Barbenheimer" has done to get people back to the cinema. In droves!

In 2023 cinema is back baby! Just not Meg 2: The Trench. 1 Star.

Album of the Week - G FLIP {Drummer}