In the opening scene of The White Lotus, season 2, Daphne (Meghann Fahy), a Hollywood blonde with the highlights of the extremely pampered, is a guest at the White Lotus luxury resort in Taormina, Sicily. Gushing to the two women sitting next to her in cabana chairs under blue-and-white sunbrellas, Daphne lets them know that: “You’re gonna die…They’re going to have to drag you out of here”, because the resort is paradise. Sauntering into the Ionian Sea after spraying sunscreen on her exquisitely toned legs, Daphne breast-strokes into the waters reserved exclusively for the...
The Good Fight (Season 6 Finale)—No Sucker Punches
In this thrilling sixth and final season of one of the most politically-charged television series ever broadcasted, The Good Fight tolerates no fools. In up-to-the-minute scintillating writing by Michelle and Robert King (creators of “The Good Wife”), we see the simmering civil and race wars that could be just around the corner in a post-Trump, post-coup era. Echoing President Biden’s warning in September that MAGA Republicans are a grave threat to the nation’s future, the writers consider how current political views represent more than a given government ideology...
Top Gun: Maverick–Targeting Its Audience
This aviator cinematic sequel to the 1987 classic Tom Cruise movie, “Top Gun”, sees Pete “Maverick” Mitchell still having his need for speed, Fast and Furious style.
Top Gun: Maverick picks up the story thirty years later, with Maverick still addicted to testosterone-driven airborne risk. Always a rogue, he has not made any high-ranking friends. In the Top Gun academy to which he is now assigned a teaching role, not a combat pilot on a mission, Maverick comes face-to-face with Rooster Bradshaw (an underserved...
Extraordinary Attorney Woo—Palindromes Anyone?
In Extraordinary Attorney Woo, a newly minted attorney, Woo Young Woo (the exceptional Park Eun-bin) has just graduated from prestigious Seoul National University School of Law and is hired by one of the two top law firms in Seoul. It is somewhat unusual that the two top law firms are headed by female CEOs. But even more noteworthy is the fact that young attorney Woo has autism. She introduces herself with palindromes: “My name is Woo Young Woo, whether it is read straight or flipped: kayak, deed, rotator, noon, race car, Woo Young Woo.”
And...
Inside Man–Incarceration or Cancellation?
A dramatic four-episode mini-series by Steven Moffat (Doctor Who creator), Inside Man was released on Netflix October 31.
There are two parallel plots: Former law professor Jefferson Grieff (Stanley Tucci) is on death row for strangling and beheading his wife. A brilliant Hannibal Lecter-style genius for solving cold cases, he waits execution. The second plot involves an English vicar Harry Watling (David Tennant who played Doctor Who) and his wife Mary (Lindsey Marshal). The vicar reluctantly accepts a flash drive from the deeply disturbed verger (vicar’s attendant) who wants...
The Watcher–Don’t Bother
The Watcher (a seven-episode Netflix mini-series by Ryan Murphy, creator of Stranger Things and American Horror Story) was released on October 13 of this year and is currently rated #1 on that platform. Loosely based on a true story, a creative middle-aged couple Nora (Naomi Watts) and Dean Brannock (Bobby Cannavale), buy a mansion in a wealthy insular country-club enclave: Westfield, in upstate New Jersey.
Soon they are haunted by a stalker, and besieged with financial problems from purchasing a home they couldn’t really afford. Their teenage daughter is, at first,...