Dakota Johnson has had some real bombs at the cinema of late. Is Splitsville another bomb?
Well the critics love it! The Rotten Tomatoes score is currently 85%!
But what is the deal with Splitsville? Two couples whose friendship erupts into conflict when the husband of the divorcing couple sleeps with the wife of the open marriage couple.
Alongside Johnson, Adria Arjona, Michael Angelo Covino, Nicholas Braun, David Castañeda, O-T Fagbenle, Charlie Gillespie, & Simon Webster star in this sort of modern day rom-com?
Look I am posting this at the end of week one's screenings and locally where I am, week two the film gets around three screenings a day. That is the same number of people who were in my session last night.
So it is hard seeing a comedy with an empty cinema and no one laughing. However it had it's funny moments. Nothing laugh out loud wild funny, but entertaining funny.
Reviews have been super good for this small indie film. Even the Handmaid's Tale royalty O-T Fagbenle only has the most small, random role.
So whats my opinion? Is it worth the price of admission this weekend? Maybe. It presented an interesting way of looking at modern marriage. Was it bat shit crazy? Absolutely. Is Dakota Johnson out of the woods with box office bombs? Maybe not.
I did enjoy this film, its not too long, it is a little fresh. I will pass this one ahead of new release Thursday, with a new Aussie family film, Kangaroo incoming! Looks cute. or cringe, depending who you ask.
When Douda (Curtiss Cook) falls from the throne at the end of season six, the pivotal women of The Chi rise to reclaim their power in the recently dropped on Disney+ seventh season.
As loyalties are tested and new rivalries are stoked, it becomes clear that there’s only one crown, and it will come at a heavy cost.
With a lot of folks leaving at the end of season six, we got some new characters/returning ones from season six, who were new to the long running Chicago based, Showtime series.
Kennedy Amaya as Kenya, Aaron Guy as Zay, Daniel J. Watts as Pastor Zeke, Brett Gray as Damien (season 6–present), Rotimi as Charles & Wendy Raquel Robinson as Riley Dalton.
The show has already been renewed for an eighth season, which could very well be the last.
This is the one Showtime show that randomly drops on Disney+. It did conclude early last month, week-to-week in the USA, however I did like the entire season drop.
Watch out though, spoilers ahead.
I did smash all 12 episodes (down four episodes from the last season, up two from previous seasons 1-5) very quickly. Mainly cause I'm hooked on Jacob Latimore.
One of season seven’s most surprising deaths got an early reveal back in episode seven when Jada (Yolonda Ross, a fan favourite since the very first episode aired on Showtime back in January 2018) found out that her victory over cancer back in season four was not on repeat for season seven. Now another key, season one vet has gone, for me this means next season could be the swan song.
As unexpected and sad as Jada’s pending death initially was, it wasn’t a surprise in the finale. Telling her husband Darnell (Rolando Boyce), son Emmett (Jacob Latimore), along with others, was incorporated into her season seven storyline.
Darnell, on the suggestion of a grief counselor, gave Jada a living funeral so she could receive her flowers while she was still living. And though her final death was not a surprise, it was still an emotional kicker.
From the soap part of The Chi, to the crime part. Alicia Daniels Lafayette’s (Lynn Whitfield) murder, however, or at least her murderer, was a shock to most.
Her quest to find out who really killed her son Rob (one-time NBA player Iman Shumpert) had not gone well. On the word of silent kingpin Nuck (Cortez Smith), whom she knows killed Douda (Curtiss Cook) — who she also wanted dead for killing her brother Quentin “Q” Dickinson (Steven Williams) — she killed Zay (Aaron Guy), Nuck’s cousin who worked for him without realising it was Nuck who actually killed Rob.
Before Alicia’s murder, she crossed paths with Bakari (Ahmad Nicholas Ferguson) whom she gave a scholarship to college to give him a second chance. Not knowing Bakari’s loyalty to Nuck, she took his bait intimating that Reg (Barton Fitzpatrick) — middle brother of Victor aka Trig (Luke James), the oldest, and Jake (Michael Epps), the youngest — who, despite being presumed dead after an ambush in season two, showed up alive in season seven, really killed her son.
So much drama, so many characters wrapping their runs. From me this is one of Showtime's best series. Like Shameless (also set in Chicago) this drama has had a good, long run. However in the current TV climate, I feel The Chi is very much winding down in the windy city.
Until next time. Hopefully a movie tomorrow, also the the Winter Warmer Watchlist is coming to an end, it is 29 degrees today..... so.... seeya!
Since my Mum's 71st, its been a tick, since I talked music right her.
So for now, let's look at some of the fun happening over here, right now.
So the Friday Flash(back) season two is well and truly in full swing. Last Friday featuring Melbourne favourites, Cut Copy.
Their recent album Moments, is heading to stages around the country right now. The Friday Flash(back) continues next Friday with songwriting royalty, John Butler. His recent solo album, PRISM is topping the charts right now.
Let's take a look at the albums that shaped the Friday Flash(back) since my last music update.
Top End Bub is a sequel to the 2019 film Top End Wedding, with Miranda Tapsell and Gwilym Lee reprising their roles.
The eight-part sequel series is created, executive produced, and written by Joshua Tyler and Tapsell and produced by Goalpost Pictures. Filmed in The beautiful Northern Territory, as well as Adelaide, the series is directed by Christiaan Van Vuuren and Shari Sebbens
Released on Prime Video on Friday, I have already smashed all 8 deliciously short, sharp and funny episodes.
Lauren and Ned are living their best life in the city, which is tragically interrupted when Lauren’s sister Ronelle dies in a car crash in the Top End.
Rushing back to Darwin, Lauren and Ned are thrown into the chaos of Top End life with Lauren’s parents, Daffy and Trevor, and confronted with another curveball when they unexpectedly become the guardians of Ronelle’s lively and cheeky young daughter, Taya.
Alongside Tapsell and Lee, Ursula Yovich, Huw Higginson, Elaine Crombie, Tracy Mann, Rob Collins, Brooke Satchwell, Guy Simon, Clarence Ryan, and, making her acting debut as Taya ("Bub"), is Gladys-May Kelly.
The series ends with a wee bit of a cliffhanger, making me hopeful the series returns as Amazon's second local series based out of the NT. Yes we are still waiting for the return of the brilliant, Deadloch.
I have to say, there have been brilliant series during my Q3 Winter Warmer Watchlist blog series, average and down right awful series.
Top End Bub is easily one of the best. Hands down.
The series has heart, great local music, a superb cast and some truly beautiful scenery. I didn't even mind the Amazon ad's promoting the spectacular NT.
The advertising worked. I feel like I want to go there for the upcoming October long weekend.
Either way, watch this NOW! Like right now. Excellent, local viewing! Good job Amazon and creative team. Now give us more local content!
The Paper is the latest mockumentary sitcom series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Koman.
The series is a follow-up and spinoff to the American mockumentary series The Office, which originally ran on NBC from 2005 to 2013.
Starring Domhnall Gleeson, Sabrina Impacciatore, Melvin Gregg, Chelsea Frei, Ramona Young, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alex Edelman, Tim Key, Eric Rahill, Allan Havey, Nancy Lenehan, Molly Ephraim and Tracy Letts along with Oscar Nunez would be reprising his role as Oscar Martinez, from The Office.
The series from Peacock, landed in Australia on Binge, last week. Ahead of the series premiere, the series was renewed for a second season.
In Toledo, Ohio, the same documentary crew that followed the workers at Dunder Mifflin's Scranton, Pennsylvania branch twenty years earlier, focuses its efforts on the Toledo Truth-Teller, a historic but declining Midwestern newspaper trying to resurrect itself with volunteer reporters.
In episode one we meet the motley crew.
Bob Vance of Vance Refrigeration explains how Dunder Mifflin has gone out of business and its trademark was sold in 2019 to Enervate, who owns the Toledo Truth-Teller, a paper company where Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson) is about to start his first shift, which is run by Esmeralda Grand (Sabrina Impacciatore).
This was an easy, breezy, quick comedy watch. All ten episodes just breeze by. It gives a (slightly) more adult Abbott Elementary vibe.
Today Binge (along with Foxtel) will announce their 2026 schedule. This will likely be on it, along with other new (and some) returning Peacock titles. I am really to see the fate of some local series like the currently airing, The Twelve, Strife, along with if The Real Housewives of Sydney will actually continue.
Time will tell. For now on Binge, this fun, little comedy, The Paper streams all ten episodes now.
Do you like action movies? Yes, well you will probably like, Fight or Flight. If you don't like em, well you will probably hate this bat shit, Snakes on a Plane replaced by chainsaws and mad fight scenes on a plane.
All the way from Bangkok to TBA. It was meant to be San Fran, however it gets more and more vague about where the plot is going with Fight or Flight as it goes on.
Directed by James Madigan in his feature film debut, and written by Brooks McLaren and D. J. Cotrona. Starring former heart throb, Josh Hartnett as a man who is recruited to identify and protect a wanted criminal aboard a commercial airline; Charithra Chandran, Marko Zaror, & Katee Sackhoff also star.
Fight or Flight has received positive reviews from critics, who praised Hartnett's performance. Which is fairly interesting as the film is literally wild! Like bloody wild.
Some scenes are like, WTF did I just see. When I left the cinema I was like WTF was that! WILD!
Did I love Fight or Flight? Not really but it was a wild ass plane ride. From Bangkok to wherever the film kind of leaves you on a cliffhanger. However after 97 minutes the film doesn't really over stay its welcome.
I enjoyed this but didn't love it. It was great seeing Josh Hartnett back on the big screen. He returned last year in the thriller Trap, but in the late 90's he was in, Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, The Faculty (both 1998) & The Virgin Suicides (1999).
Okay, so maybe not the action film of the year, however it was damn fun. 3 Stars.
Say Nothing landed last November on Disney+ and this winter I have focused myself on getting through my watchlists across my streaming subscriptions. Hence the title of this series, Winter Warmer Watchlist.
The historical drama limited series created by Joshua Zetumer is an adaptation of the 2018 book by Patrick Radden Keefe.
Detailing four decades in Northern Ireland during The Troubles.
The series follows the lives of people growing up in Belfast in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s during the Troubles, as well as their involvement in the Provisional Irish Republican Army, and inquiries into the Disappeared and particularly the murder of Jean McConville.
Interviews from the Belfast Project are woven into the narrative which also includes depictions of the 1973 Old Bailey bombing and the subsequent hunger strike by the Price sisters, Dolours and Marian.
The cast is lead by, Lola Petticrew, Hazel Doupe, Anthony Boyle, Josh Finan, Maxine Peake, Michael Colgan, Kerri Quinn, Stuart Graham, Laura Donnelly, Rory Kinnear, Amy Molloy, Helen Behan, Damien Molony & Judith Roddy.
Say Nothing also follows Gerry Adams as being a senior IRA commander. Adams has always denied any involvement in the IRA. Each episode contains an endnote stating "Gerry Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA or participating in any IRA-related violence."
At the end of episodes 7 to 9 there is an additional disclaimer that "He further denies any involvement in the abduction of Jean McConville."
Episode 9 (the final in the series) depicts Marian shooting Jean McConville. Marian Price has denied any involvement in the death of McConville.
The episode contains an endnote stating "Marian Price also denies any involvement in the murder of Jean McConville." In December 2024, she initiated legal action against the makers of the show for the depiction.
Say Nothing was well made and something I've always wanted to sit down and watch. I was not disappointed. FX make some great series. The currently screening Alien: Earth, Shogun, The Bear and I don't mind me some American Horror Stories.
Next up on Disney+, All Fair, the final four episodes of The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox and Reasonable Doubt returns.
