Only Murders in the Building- Season 4

Grade: A

NOTE: There are no spoilers for this season, but this will include a significant spoiler from season 3 if you haven't seen it yet.

In season 4 of this popular Hulu show, true crime podcasters Charles-Haden Savage (played by Steve Martin), Oliver Putnam (Martin Short), and Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) try to solve the murder of Charles' long-time stuntman and friend Sazz Pataki (Jane Lynch). Meanwhile, a movie is being made of their first podcast.

This feels like a real step up from season 3, and that season was perfectly good. The various storylines and people the gang meet make for a diverting time, with the story taking you to some surprising places you might not expect. The writers are firing on all cylinders in terms of both story and jokes (episode seven is hands down the best one) and the show's focus on how people often don't really know other people may be at its strongest and most effective here.

I think most of us are sad to see Sazz die as she was a fun character who had been around since the beginning, but it was an effective move to kill her off. Though, she could get on Charles' nerves, you could tell she was his oldest, closest, and most loyal friend. A good portion of this is Charles dealing with the sorrow and anger of his friend's demise in his own difficulty-expressing-himself-way. (Martin does some of his best work with the character here). The season also allows us to really see (through flashbacks) into Sazz and her life more than the show ever did with her before. (I honestly feel this is the best performance I've ever seen Lynch do).

This season also involves the trio being portrayed in the movie and shadowed by Eugene Levy, Zach Galifiankis, and Eva Longoria. Having them interact with the leads is a lot of fun, and Galifiankis, who has an eccentric combativeness toward Oliver, and Eva, who is basically playing a parody of out-of-touch celebrities, are the real highlights.

Highly recommended. Honestly, this might be the second best season.

Agatha all Along

Grade: B+

In Disney+'s limited series follow-up to Wandavision, amoral witch Agatha Harkness (played by Kathryn Hahn), is back. On a quest to restore her lost powers, she travels on the Witches' Road, which grants the desires of whichever witches complete its challenges, alongside the mysterious young warlock Teen (Hearstopper's Joe Locke) and her new coven.

The showrunner is Jac Schaeffer, who also helmed Wandavision, and this really feels like one of the most seamless transitions from one MCU product to another. Some may be annoyed that the majority of the episodes is just one trial after another without any big story threats, but this still makes for an entertaining piece. Characters are strong, the show is imaginative, and it excels at plot payoff and timing on info dissemination.

However, pacing may bug people. It feels like certain moments and other elements appear haphazardly and aren't done as effectively as they could.

Also, know how what was happening in Wandavision was rather dark? This is a lot more. I can't say this is as dark as that "one" plot point of Moon Knight, but this feels like the most nihilistic of the MCU Disney+ shows (yes, even more than Secret Wars). One can't help but ask "What happened to you Schaeffer? What made you like this?"

This includes a certain team from the comic. If you don't like it when comic movies/shows simplify characters, make them more grounded, and take away some of the over-the-top aspects of them, you won't like what they did here (. Honestly, why even use the characters if you have no love for them. (Admittedly, Disney is trying to make its MCU shows more cost effective and some of the appearances of said characters would've cost dough. Also, this is a team that not everyone knows, so a lot of you probably won't care).

If you feel that Agatha may be too much like Loki, don't worry. Whereas there is part of Loki that wants to be the hero, and he puts up a face to hide his security, Agatha remains a confident, me-first sociopath who's always thinking of a quick way to come out on top. Not that the show doesn't show that she has a human side, but it doesn't try to glide over what she has been or done or suddenly soften her. 

Hahn (who I'm guessing is one of the major reasons this show got made) continues to have this presence about her. Agatha may be awful but Hahn makes her very entertaining as she wisecracks and proves she's the cleverest one in the room.

The cast all around is pretty good. Aubrey Plaza is on the same level as Hahn as Rio Vidal, a mysterious witch that has a past with Agatha. Plaza is the queen of being weird and wild, but she really proves her acting job as she can show her more human side with just a look. Patti Lupone who is a theater star, but doesn't get a lot of high profile show/movie roles these days, is lively as a fortune seeing witch, and Debra Jo Rupp returns as the neighbor from Wandavision, and retains her trademark buoyant personality. SNL's Sasheer Zamata is a witch and high priestess in this. Honestly, I wasn't a fan of hers back on the sketch show. She really wasn't working for me. (Though to be honest, it could be the show may not have been using her properly. Wouldn't be the first time). But she was killing it here as a person with a confident personality and the one who likes Agatha the least. Honestly, I felt Zamata was underutilized here.

Recommended. I don't have quite as high opinion of this as many others online, but it does make for a solid watch that doesn't get boring, and definitely feels more confident and stronger than the recent likes of Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and Secret Invasion.

Time Cut

Grade: B

In this new Netflix movie, smart high school student Lucy (played by Outer Banks' Madison Bailey) happens across a time machine and is sent back twenty years ago to a before Summer (Ginny & Georgia's Antonia Gentry), the sister she never knew, and her friends were murdered by a serial killer.

There are going to be the natural comparisons to last year's Totally Killer, given that they have similar concepts (also it's super weird that the killers' masks look alike), but it appears that production on this film actually started first. Just one of those X-Men/Doom Patrol parallel ideas at the same time situation.

I admit that Totally Killer was more entertaining and had a better cast, but I felt this had the more interesting story. TC does some stuff I haven't seen done before with a "someone-travels-back-in-time-and-meets-their-younger-family" story. We've seen people interact with their parents as teens and learn more about them stories, but meeting a sibling you never knew is one I haven't really encountered. The relationship between the two sisters with contrasting personalities and personal problems, but they also work well off of each other, is really the backbone of this.

I'm pleased with the killers' identity. This isn't one of those movies where the killer is too obvious or the movie is forcing on one suspect so hard that it's obvious a red herring.

This is probably more for time travel fans than horror ones. This honestly feels at times more like suspense than slasher. Totally Killer, which was also a comedy, actually had more slasher action in it.

Recommended. I know this has been critically panned, but I felt it had a solid story and characters with some interesting ideas.

Here

Grade: A

Here based on the magazine strip turned graphic novel by Richard McGuire is shot from the exact same angle and follows a spot of land and the house that is eventually built on it throughout history with emphasis on said house and the marriage of occupants Richard (played by Tom Hanks) and Margaret (Robin Wright). 

In recent years, Zemeckis' films have been more hit or miss and the last few in particular haven't been well accepted, but I felt this was a real return to form. It honestly feels like an old-school feel-good drama. Admittedly, some may feel the movie to be a bit maudlin, especially by today's more cynical standards, and the main sources of conflicts in Richard and Margaret's stories respectively may not feel quite like how these circumstances would play out in real life, but honestly this was still an entertaining slice-of-life film.

The slipping between timelines and the various vignettes is what really makes it work. You ever seen an educational video or animatronic performance at Disney World (World of Tomorrow is the best example)? It has that kinda feel, with sort of a lets have fun with the presentation kind of way. The stories work, heck most of the shorter ones are actually more interesting than the main story.

Zemeckis' does a solid job of transitioning between time periods, often in a way where things don't all change at once, and incorporates panels, being reminiscent of the format of the original comics. Hearing the basic description of this, you wouldn't think this would be fancy-looking giving the limited locations, but a lot of effort was put into making the background look like the appropriate time periods. The set design and props are also pretty effective at selling the era.

The deaging technology works really well and usually only seems odd if you're  specifically focusing on it. Zemeckis makes the wise choice of avoiding having the characters close up to the camera too often. I wished the movie had used makeup for old age instead of digital effects. There is a couple usages of that where it feels the most fake.

Hanks and Wright, not surprisingly, are solid. Yeah, Hanks does sound a little old if you listen to him long enough, but I did feel he intentionally put more energy into his younger performance. Wright manages to not sound old when playing her younger self. Honestly, some of the supporting actors here are even more entertaining. Paul Bettany as Richard's father gives a particularly lively and multifaceted performance.

The music didn't work for me. It was too 90's light-hearted and didn't feel like it appropriately fitted certain scenes.

Recommended. I know a lot of critics don't like this, and not to say there are no valid criticisms about the main story, but I thought this was a sincerely emotional, impressive, entertaining, and unique work.

Sing: Thriller

5.5/10

In this new short on Netflix, from the Sing franchise and featuring the popular Michael Jackson song Thriller, Buster Moon (voiced by Matthew McConaughey) and company head to a party, only for the guests of said party to be infected by a strange goo and transformed into zombies. 

This has a pretty good opening, but the rest is unimpressive. Stuff happens, but plot is minimal, and the short doesn't feel fun or visually interesting enough to keep one's attention.

This does manage to maintain several of the big name stars (and their impressive singing voices) from the original films, but no Reese Witherspoon, sadly.

Not recommended. I mean if your kids liked the movies, there's a good chance they'll like this. However, this won't have much of an affect on adults.

Monster High- Season 2

8/10

Continues to follow the exploits of Clawdeen Wolf (voiced by Gabrielle Nevaeh), Frankie Stein (the West Side Story remake's Iris Menas), Draculaura (Courtney Lin) and the other monsters at Monster High. Also, Clawdeen has to deal with being the new Were Ruler.

MH continues to do a solid job of being both entertaining and teaching kids lessons. I also admire this as one of the more progressive shows out there. Characters are still fun, and they do a surprisingly decent job of giving a large cast (due to this being made to sell all the toys) distinct personalities (mostly, I don't think the writers really decided on how to write the ghost Spectra (Valeria Rodriguez)). 

Ongoing plot isn't as strong as the last season, which was kind of impressive in that it had more going on than you'd expect, however the storyline ain't half bad.

Animation is still nice: colorful with distinct character and building design. For a computer animated show, they manage to include more background characters than some others do; really makes Monster High feel populated.

Recommended for kids. Doesn't have strong grown-up crossover (though, I think many will appreciate how modern some of the lessons are). I think kids, particularly the main demographic of young girls, will like this.

One Piece Fan Letter

10/10

One Piece Fan Letter is a special created in honor of the 25th anniversary of One Piece, one of the longest running anime of all time and, is lossely based on the novel Osaki Tomohito (Straw Hat Stories). It takes place at the Seabody Archipelago a while back in the storyline where the characters begin the second half of their journey. Rather than focus on the leads, Fan Letter follows average Joes and their reactions and feelings about the Straw Hat Pirates, including a girl who idolizes Nami, the crew's navigator, and wants to give her a letter, a group of Navy officers, and the owner of a bookstore.

What has contributed to the success of One Piece is its sheer world building with a healthy emphasis on characterization and a message of seeking hope in a hard world. It is how detailed the island-based of One Piece has gotten that a special focused on the little people of this world who aren't part of the main action feels so real and defined. The special does a remarkable job of introducing its moderately sized cast in its twenty-five minute run time. Fan Letter truly embodies the heart of One Piece as we truly get the characters dreams and motivations, and the way the script manages to tie in how the Straw Hat Pirates have influenced them without directly meeting them is so well done. 

Naturally, this appeals more to those who are fans or are at least able to keep up with the basic plot of One Piece. It'll feel natural to them, but this might not be the best fit for newbies. However, one could kinda get the main characters' actions here even if one is unfamiliar with the world.

The animation in here is really fluid. I particularly enjoyed the look of the compact town of Seabody and the general, can-only-happen-in-an-animated-fantasy-world, look of the island.

Highly recommended. This is brimming with sentiment and love for the show and has a tight script. Really, just an enjoyable, pure time.