The month of June is getting closer to being done and holy smokes there’s way too much stuff out and coming up to dig into. It’s still very much a golden age of great content for me and I’m enjoying a lot of shows, though finding the time to really sit down and watch continues to be the hardest thing. For me, I’ve got Obi-wan going and then with Ms. Marvel on June 8th when that debuts. I really wanted to do Star Trek: Strange New Worlds but I’m kind of glad I didn’t. It’s a fantastic show but there’s so much depth and connections for fans that I’d be way too distracted talking about that. At the same time, I’m not exactly in a place of feeling burned out but I am pulling back just a bit in order to not burn out.
Recent-ish shows that we did reviews for include Moon Knight, Star Trek: Picard, The Book of Boba Fett, Hawkeye, The Shrink Next Door, Foundation, Stargirl, Loki, Star Trek: Lower Decks, What If…?, Cowboy Bebop, and Star Wars: The Bad Batch.
First up, we checked out a new Apple TV+ film with Cha Cha Real Smooth. I was curious based on Dakota Johnson being in it as I’ve liked her for awhile and she generally chooses interesting projects. It’s also a film being promoted due to its writer-director in Cooper Raiff who is being described as the next big thing. With him also producing it, it’s a decent look at a slice of the modern world with what happens after college and the uncertainty of things complicated by parental relationships that have changed and aren’t stable and just the general uncertainty of what you want to do with your life. Raiff handles his role well overall and it hits a number of familiar but well-executed beats while Johnson, playing a mother with an autistic daughter and in a marriage that’s got some of the not-fully-visible complications of adult relationships in it. Raiff is the naive one getting caught up in it and his own attractions but also trying to be a good person. It’s interesting and certainly engaging, well-shot and with a solid cast. It’s not going to be the most memorable thing you’ll see but if Raiff can continue to write and grow from this and direct things that aren’t his own as well, there’s a lot of potential here.
The third season of For All Mankind hits the third of ten episodes for this season and I continue to be absolutely in love with it. The events here move forward in interesting ways as Helios makes its play to get to Mars first and we have them poaching from NASA in ways that are both good and bad. It remains to be seen what happens with Danny but he has so quickly become all the worst part of his parents while suffering in the white hot spotlight that’s always on them that it’s a real tragedy to see unfold. Ed has a good moment with his daughter that could have gone bad but he has such blinders when it comes to Danny that you want to smack him for being such a bad leader on it. The storyline with Margo kept having me wait to see if she had actually filled in people on her side about it in order to make it a counter-intelligence kind of thing, but she’s made terrible decisions here all around and as bad as it sounds, I want to see her fall and face real repercussions for it. I could understand it over the years to a degree but if it is as it seems and she went further than before, it’s time to bring that storyline to a close.
With Ms. Marvel, it delivers another consistently strong episode with the third one and is so close to being my favorite of the MCU Disney+ shows so far. Just prior to it starting I had done a binge of everything produced to see them after going through them weekly during their original release and they do generally come across better when taken in full. This one is quickly moving to the top of my list of what works and the execution of it as well as just the sheer joy and enjoyment of everything. The expansion elements in this with the Noor are interesting and I’m curious to see how much they rework some of what we’ve seen in the comics decades ago as well as how it ties into the other MCU aspects as teased here early on. I’m having a great time with this show.
The final installment of Obi-Wan Kenobi has come and gone a while there are areas where I’d change the pacing, add a bit more dialogue, or clarify a thing or two, the show as a whole is one that delivered really well for me. My hope is that if it does get a second season that the team behind it takes an honest look at some of the criticism and nudges things where they need to be. And I would not mind more of the flashback pieces, to be honest, as the one from the fifth episode was an absolute delight and I want to see more of Hayden Christensen as Anakin. It does seem like that when Andrew Stanton was listed as involved in the scripting that things came together better but at the same time there is a certain style and flow to a lot of core Star Wars properties that it adhered to.
This understandably frustrates fans who keep wanting the property to elevate itself to what else it can become. It’s a tough place to be in because the property knows its origins and its intentions and has to deliver on that open accessibility to kids. But my hope is that we can get a few more projects, like Rogue One and hopefully Andor, that start playing in the more serious elements well. Obi-Wan is definitely a love letter for the prequel fans while also being a connecting bridge to the original trilogy. It gave me much of what I wanted and surprised me with what I needed.
In catching up on older things that I’ve got in my collection that I’ve revisited while working while trying to avoid streaming so as to not use up my data cap, it’s an odd mix this week. Over the course of the week, I’ve background watched:
- Dune (2021)
- A slow re-watch of some Disney+ MCU shows with Moon Knight and Loki.
Movie reviews:
- Hustle Review
- Top Gun: Maverick Review
- The Bob’s Burgers Movie Review
- Chip n’ Dale: Rescue Rangers Review
- Stu’s Show Review
- Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition Review
- Bubble Anime Review
- Ryoma! The Prince of Tennis Anime Review
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Review
- Turning Red Review
- The Batman Review
- Belle Review
- Drive My Car Review
- The Power of the Dog Review
- Robin Robin Review
- BoxBallet Review
- Bestia Review
- Eternals Review
- Encanto Review
- 8-Bit Christmas Review
- Music Box: Jagged Review
- Ghostbusters: Afterlife Review
- Tick, Tick…BOOM! Review
- Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Review
- Free Guy Review
- My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission Review
- Dune (2021) Review
- Black Widow
- Jungle Cruise Review
- As the Village Sleeps Review
- Space Jam: A New Legacy Review
- A Quiet Place Part II Review
- Knots: A Forced Marriage Story Review
- School-Live! The Movie Blu-ray Review
- In the Heights Review
- Over the Moon Review
- Feeling Through Review
- Two Distant Strangers review
- Yes-People Review
- A Love Song for Latasha Review
- If Anything Happens I Love You Review
- Burrow Review
- Godzilla vs Kong
- Happy Happy Joy Joy: The Ren & Stimpy Story Review
- Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years Preview
- Raya and the Last Dragon Review
- The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run Review
- The Little Things Review
- In Other Words Review
- Earwig and the Witch Review
What did you watch this past week?
