Lately I've Been Watching

More mini TV and film reviews; I watch mostly on Netflix and Amazon Prime.  For more, click the 'Lately I've Been Watching' tag at the bottom of the post.


Series: Perpetual Grace

5 stars plus ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

A darkly, darkly humorous series about a scam that goes terribly wrong, starring Ben Kingsley as a psychopathic pastor and Jimmi Simpson as the poor guy who gets roped into it.  Think Breaking Bad; it's that sort of vein, though some of the scenes, cinematography and characters reminded me of a Tarantino film.  Violent, but... also very funny.  It really is excellent; highly recommended.
10 episodes in Season 1, 8 have been on so far. 

Series: Fear The Walking Dead (Season 5)

4.5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

For my thoughts on this, see HERE 

Series: The Boys

4.5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Fun series about a New York of the not too distant future, in which superheroes are the new celebrity, especially 'The Seven' - the best of them, who are owned and managed by the evil Vought corporation.  It's all deliciously corrupt, and some of the superheroes are more reluctant than others.  Stars Anthony Starr (the hot guy in Banshee) as the main hero, Homelander, and Dennis Quaid's son Jack, whose character gets involved into a gang trying to expose said corruption after one of them (A Train, the fastest man in the world), kills his girlfriend.  Highly entertaining, and well done.

Series: Castle Rock

4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Based on a Stephen King book - a cursed town in Maine, a mysterious young man appears who is thought to be the devil.... flashbacks throughout reveal the sinister happenings of long ago.  Features Shawshank Prison, and stars Sissy Spacek, Terry O'Quinn and some others that I recognise but whose names I can't recall.  It's good because, hey, it's Stephen King, but I found it a bit slow; I liked it but didn't love it.

Comedy series: HUGE in France

4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Gad, a famous French comedian, arrives in LA to see his estranged wife and son.  The son, Luca, is determined to become a New York model; the wife's new boyfriend is a handsome former model and (unsuccessful) actor, who has become Luca's new father.  Gad discovers that his celebrity means nothing in the US.

It's funny, but filled with pathos and great characters.  What I liked most is that it doesn't fall into the cliché of making the new boyfriend a high-achieving dickhead; his confidence is but a thin veneer, and he turns out to be as hopeless and likeable as Gad—it is the wife and son who are the monsters.  Very good, I liked it alot.

Film: The Upside

4.5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Based on a true story.  The wonderful Bryan Cranston stars as a quadriplegic billionaire who, on impulse, hires an ex-con (Kevin Hart) to be his full time 'life auxilliary', who will perform most of the duties that will enable him to live something approaching a normal life.  It's funny, sad, 'feel-good'—I usually run a mile from anything with the 'feel-good' tag, but I'll watch anything with Bryan Cranston in, and liked it much more than I feared I might not.  Definitely recommend.

Comedy Series: The Impastor

3 stars ⭐⭐⭐

Dodgy guy (who has even more dodgy guys coming after him) accidentally falls into another man's life, and escapes the mob by pretending to be the new pastor in a quiet town in upstate New York.  As the person who was watching it with me said, 'It would be good if it wasn't shit', and yes, it's pretty daft, but I quite liked it; it's entertaining.