The Curse is possibly one of the last Showtime original series, now falling under the easy to remember brand of Paramount+ with Showtime.
This is yet another project from Nathan Fielder (and Benny Safdie) whilst starring Emma Stone, Fielder, and Safdie.
Filmed a while back (June to October 2022) so could this have been held for the strike filler content? However the series has a high score on Rotten Tomatoes, like mid 90's high!
Commencing on Paramount+ in Australia mid-November (so for Aussie viewers this is switch off time for TV viewers) concluding yesterday. Yes it dropped on Australia weekly on Saturdays. Random right?
The ten episode first run explores "how an alleged curse disturbs the relationship of a newly married couple as they try to conceive a child while co-starring on their problematic new HGTV show, Fliplanthropy. Later in the series the show is changed names to be Green Queen. More spoilers below the trailer, so read at at your own risk!
We have a small jump forward to a heavily pregnant Whitney, who has in turn stopped taking money from her parents. Also her and Asher's marriage has improved.
Green Queen has been given a second season despite its middling reception. As a gift to Whitney, Asher gives a disinterested Abshir ownership of the property. The next morning, Asher wakes up to find himself stuck on the ceiling, yes you read that right!
Before they can figure out how to get him down, Whitney goes into labor. Her doula helps Asher out of the house, but loses his grip and gets him stuck on a tree branch. After the doula drives Whitney to the hospital, Dougie arrives and believes Asher is trying to avoid being a father.
As Dougie films Asher panicking, the fire department attempts to get him down by cutting the branch off with a chainsaw, ignoring his pleas to stop.
It gets weirder... Asher is sent flying upwards, eventually dying as he floats through space in the fetal position. At the same time, Whitney is given a caesarean section (GRAPHIC) and holds her son while Dougie remorsefully weeps over Asher. As he explains the situation to the police, onlookers recognize Asher from TV and wonder if the incident was a stunt.
So the finale titled Green Queen is hella weird. Will Paramount+/Showtime give a second curse a go? My bet is on not, time will tell.
I am also still waiting to see the second half of The Chi's sixth season. Will that also be the final episodes of the long running Chicago based series? I feel like Showtime have so little programming lined up, their extinct is almost here. Yes Yellowjackets is a hit, but even Netflix has nabbed streaming the series alongside Showtime/Paramount+.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is the sixth installment and the second television series in the MonsterVerse franchise, streaming on Apple TV+.
Following the events of the 2014 Godzilla film, the ten-episode run follows members of the Monarch organization as they encounter Godzilla and other monsters called Titans, across a half century.
Starring Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe (HOT AF), Mari Yamamoto, Anders Holm, Joe Tippett and Elisa Lasowski, plus Wyatt Russell and Kurt Russell in the shared role of Lee Shaw.
Monarch: Legacy of Monsters first streamed Apple TV+ mid-November, to positive critical reviews. The ten episode run concluded yesterday lunchtime.
So what's different from any other Godzilla film? Well for starters we head back to 2015, one year after the re-emergence of Godzilla, half-siblings Cate and Kentaro Randa investigate their missing father Hiroshi's connection to Monarch, the covert organization monitoring giant monsters known as Titans.
Two generations earlier, Bill Randa and Keiko Miura are scientists involved with the early development of Monarch. Former Army officer Lee Shaw becomes a close ally to the Randa family across both time periods.
This year we will also see Godzilla on the big screen, again with old mate King Kong for Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire. So is this series just released to wet our whistles?
I enjoyed this for the most part, it looks a million bucks. Each episode however follows a similar formula. Go back and forth through the past back to 2015, then see a "Titan" towards the end of the episode.
There is talk about a second season. Not sure how that will work, however apparently it's generally in the top 5 Apple TV+ series, alongside Slow Horses and favourite Ted Lasso. Which I still need to watch! I am onto Slow Horses right now, which is excellent BTW!
So what happened in the finale? SPOILER WARNING!
All the regulars end up fine, however it looks like we have discovered another film favourite. As the hangar’s barn doors closed after the crew lands. It appears that we are on Skull Island circa 2017, where the King Kong himself emerged from the horizon to thump his chest and roar.
Does this link up, set us up for the new film Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire?
It was a nice cameo surprise at the end of a very epic season one of Apple TV+ largest action series to date. The way the season all ends, I would really be surprised if this ends with Kong entering the story.
Streaming on Disney+, in the dead middle of a long hot summer, the Sizzlin' Summer Streaming Part II, so to speak. The spin-off of previous miniseries Hawkeye (from 2021), sees Maya Lopez (as Echo) return to her hometown where she must come to terms with her past, reconnect with her Native American roots, and embrace her family and community.
Alaqua Cox is Maya Lopez / Echo, with Chaske Spencer, Tantoo Cardinal, Charlie Cox, Devery Jacobs, Zahn McClarnon, Cody Lightning, Graham Greene, and Vincent D'Onofrio also starring as Fisk. Fisk returns from previous Marvel series as the ultimate bad guy.
Echo is the first Marvel series to be released in its entirety simultaneously on Disney+, earlier this week.
It consists of just five (short-ish) episodes, making it a quick and easy binge.
It is also the Marvel Studios' first television to carry an MA rating. Part of Phase Five of the MCU, while also serving as the first series under the "Marvel Spotlight" banner.
Following the events of Hawkeye (2021) in New York City, Maya Lopez is being pursued by Wilson Fisk's organization, leading her to return to her hometown in Oklahoma.
We get some origin story background, from a character previously introduced in one of many Marvel series. To be honest like Ms. Marvel (despite the MA rating) this felt a bit teeny bopper. Also with very little new ground covered, this was very same-same.
Marvel is in murky waters now. Failing box office performance at the cinema, lack of interest in TV series. Will this be one of the final Marvel shows to land on Disney+? Will this make them rethink the masterplan of years to come loaded with bloated Marvel content?
Was the postponed streaming of the miniseries a sign of little faith in the series? Was the binge drop also another, get it out, get it over with, drop it in the middle of the depths of the USA winter, Australian summer to just get it out there?
Time will tell. Also will Loki get a third season? It's been a good minute since season two concluded?
Is Echo worth a watch? Maybe pop it on in the background if you got nothing else on the watchlist.
Will Paramount+ renew Wolf Pack for a second season? Anyone who watched it when it commenced this time last year would be wondering.
I for one however just stumbled upon this teen wolf wannabe.
The Paramount+ series is based on the 2004 book of the same name written by Edo van Belkom.
With a fresh faced cast, featuring Chloe Rose Robertson, Bella Shepard, Armani Jackson, and Tyler Lawrence Gray, they join scream queen, Sarah Michelle Gellar alongside Rodrigo Santoro, it's a good looking cast, thats for sure!
The opening episode, has a terrific first ten minutes or so. As a deadly fire ravages California and drives a supernatural creature to attack. A few people are killed and many more are injured, including animals.
Teenagers Blake Navarro and Everett Lang are bitten. Everett is sent to the hospital to be treated for his injury and discovers that his bite injury has healed mysteriously. While at the hospital, he receives a phone call from an unknown caller telling him to leave the hospital immediately as the creature that bit him will come looking for him.
He runs away from the hospital just as Kristin Ramsey, a detective comes looking for him. Blake's bite injury is also healed mysteriously and she struggles to take care of her autistic brother as her parents are going through a difficult split.
She sees a vision of Everett in the hospital as does Everett. The two are inexplicably drawn to each other. Meanwhile, Harlan and Luna are two teenage werewolves who know what is behind the mysterious happenings and are looking for their adoptive father.
After Blake and Everett are chased by a huge werewolf animal, they run into Harlan and Luna.
Episodes two and three aren't as exciting as the first, however the series really starts to pick up the pace from episodes four and five.
There are so many abs, hot gay erotic moments, Wolf Pack did hook me in on the superficial side of Hollywood, however the story was a little same-same from recent supe series.
Paramount+ have cancelled a number of series of late, Fatal Attraction, Rabbit Hole and Why Women Kill, so will this series join the list of cancelled shows? Time will tell as post strike it appears the streaming services appear to be watching their balance sheets a little more closely.
Big finals over the next week or two. Reacher season two, Echo on Disney+ and The Curse, also on Paramount+. Well it is one of the final Showtime series, which means it is also likely to get the old axe. See you for those finales soon.
I have to be honest, I never saw the the OG film Australia.
The 2008 Aussie adventure/drama is the only film by Baz Luhrmann, I have yet to see. After working on the stage version of Strictly Ballroom the musical, I felt it was my responsibility to see the TV version of this film. Since I do have an active Disney+ subscription and all.
Like the film, Faraway Downs stars leads Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman.
The drama is set between 1939 and 1942 with the backdrop of events across northern Australia at the time, such as the bombing of Darwin during World War II.
The film was originally released in cinemas late November 2008.
Back in 2008, the film grossed $211 million worldwide. Around 15 years after the films release, late November last year, Faraway Downs, an extended version of the film presented in the form of a six-episode mini-series, debuted on Disney+/Hulu in the USA.
The serialized version of the film featuring additional unused footage from the original production.
Faraway Downs debuted back in late October 2023 at the SXSW Sydney Festival. Which was actually a huge success in and around my parts of town.
There is so much happening across the six episodes, I cannot imagine how the (almost) three hour film got through, the Stolen Generation, First Nations relations, life on the Outback, WWII, romance and life in the NT in war times.
All the Australian actors look so much younger. Hugh Jackman still mostly ripped, with David Wenham as Neil Fletcher the series villain.
Some things never change with Bryan Brown starring in a smaller role alongside Jack Thompson and Barry Otto. Brandon Walters as Nullah is terrific.
Ben Mendelsohn as Captain Dutton looks particularly youthful.
So if you (like me) never saw Australia at the cinema or streaming or back in the old days of DVD, maybe Faraway Downs is for you.
I am happy I have watched it, whilst loving the new tune, The Way, performed by Budjerah and Matt Corby. Beautiful piece of music. The new soundtrack features a wide range of music from Aussie legends including King Stingray, Jessica Mauboy, Miiesha and more.
So if you are like me, on Disney+ maybe give this a summer viewing. The Australian Open isn't on yet, the cricket is boring AF, network TV is in full holiday mode, so what are you waiting for?
What have I been doing all summer break? Swimming, so was Night Swim the best film to see at the end of my (now over) holidays?
Well it also had been poorly reviewed prior to me sitting down to watch this Jason Blum and James Wan produced supernatural horror film.
Yes there are supernatural elements, however it's more just based around a suburban family pool. A film should always worry me (like Cat Person) when it's based on a short film of the same name by McGuire and Rod Blackhurst.
Starring no one major other than, Wyatt Russell and Kerry Condon. This is probably one of Jason Blum and James Wan least scary efforts. I feel like Blumhouse Productions were everywhere, now it's A24 or bust.
So spoilers, however there are some jump scares. But mostly a tame viewing.
Probably not the best time of the year to release a horror film when a lot of folks around this fine brown land are spending time around the family or neighbourhood pool.
Paper Dolls follows NCIS: Sydney on Paramount+ telling more Australian stories this summer. Also staying in Sydney, Paper Dolls feels a lot like the story of Popstars season one winners, Bardot.
Based on an original concept created by Belinda Chapple, created and written by Ainslie Clouston (Amazing Grace), with writers David Hannam (Darby and Joan), Marieke Hardy (Heartbreak High), Jenna Purcell, Sara Khan (Heartbreak High) and Thomas Wilson-White (Heartbreak High).
Viewers find themselves, at the cusp of the new millennium, five aspiring singers are thrust into the spotlight in pursuit of pop-stardom and fame.
Paper Dolls is an eight-episode drama which may eventually air on Network 10, however for now, the finale streamed Sunday on Paramount+. Airing deep into the holidays season, with loads of promo around town, this might have paid off for the relatively new streaming platform.
We follow the meteoric rise and fall of fictional manufactured girl-group: Harlow. They are never far from the watchful eye of the cameras, fans and critics, Harlow is born out of music reality television show Pop Rush, redefining pop culture in the process.
However, the five young women must navigate the dark side of a glamorous industry determined to commodify them. Featuring mostly newcomers, Emalia (Australian Gangster), Naomi Sequeira (Evermoor Chronicles), Miah Madden (Redfern Now), Courtney Clarke (Last King of The Cross) and Courtney Monsma (Frozen The Musical) as the five members of Harlow.
They are joined by Blue Heelers veteran Ditch Davey, manager Emma Booth and Bump star paying a character a lot like 90's Recovery host Dylan Lewis, Carlos Sanson Jr.
Maybe not the best Aussie series of the summer, but it was original while also being an interest look into the world of what happens behind the reality TV curtains. Who is pulling all the strings, whilst who is being exploited the most.
We all know now reality TV is definitely not creating popstars like Triple J Unearthed who have given us Grinspoon, Missy Higgins, The Kid LAROI, The Rubens, Flume, Gang of Youths, Ballpark Music and a guy by the name of Vance Joy.
Paper Dolls is now streaming all emotional, dramatic AF episodes now on Paramount+, alongside The Curse, NCIS Sydney, Halo and more!
