Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

1899, Season One:
I really liked Dark but this follow-up show is a miss. It starts out intriguingly like a multi-language LOST but then sputters through endless reaction shots with few reveals. The plot is glacial, the puzzling nature of things is too cerebral, and every character is a cipher with no reason to care about them. I'm not surprised it was cancelled after this season. On Netflix.

Final Grade: C-

Best of Standup 2022:
Rebecca and I like to use these pu pu platters of comedy to find full-length specials to watch. Apparently the best of stand-up in 2022 was pretty awful. The only good jokes were from specials we'd already seen, like Ali Wong and Ronnie Chieng. All of the lesser-known comics fell flat. On Netflix.

Final Grade: D

Knives Out: Glass Onion:
The original Knives Out was a pleasant whodunit elevated with a great performance from Daniel Craig. This tangentially-related sequel is even better. The characters are fun and the build-up to the final reveals work well. I also appreciated that there was a "bigger purpose" at the end -- the point of the movie wasn't just to reveal the murderer. On Netflix.

Final Grade: A

Willow, Season One:
This series captures the cheesy, campy 80s style of the original movie very well but sometimes feels a little off. The middle parts drag (Episode 4 is awful and other episodes feel like they left out key bits of exposition that would make the plot make more sense) but the last few episodes are worthwhile. Treat it like a CW-inspired road trip through the Willow universe and you might be pleasantly surprised. Also, I could never get over the fact that one of the main characters looked and acted like a budget version of Lin Manuel Miranda.

Final Grade: B-