Netflix Pick of the Week: Ginny & Georgia

 

Netflix’s newest show Ginny & Georgia is a dramatic comedy with a thriller twist that is sure to catch your fancy, and if it doesn't, what else do you have to watch?

The series begins with the title characters, Ginny & Georgia in crisis. After a series of unfortunate events kept the family on the move for over a decade, Georgia Miller (Brianne Howey)–a cunning 30-year-old single mother–resolves to settle down in New England with her alienated 15-year-old daughter Ginny (Antonia Gentry) and nine-year-old son Austin (Diesel La Torraca). 

The 10 episode season explores the cracks in Ginny’s relationship with her ever-secretive mother, together with her first forays into friendships and romance, all the while tackling issues of race, class, and identity.

Georgia, on the other hand, drowns in her financial troubles while attempting to maintain her facade of charm and proper southern upbringing.

 Episode 1: Georgia arrives at Wellsbury, Mass. with her teenage daughter Virginia "Ginny" and 9-year-old son Austin after her husband dies from a heart attack. 

On Ginny's first day at her new school, Ginny faces off with her English teacher and is befriended by Maxine, through whom she meets Maxine's bad-boy twin brother Marcus and another guy, Hunter.

Aftwards, Georgia meets cafe' owner Joe; Wellsbury's mayor, Paul; and her next-door neighbor Ellen, the mother of Marcus and Maxine. 

Ginny while on her first date ever, with Hunter, she smokes marijuana; when Ginny gets home from the date she has sex with Marcus, losing her virginity.

 Georgia attends a board meeting held by the Mayor and blackmails Joe to give organic food to the school at a low price; this gets her a job at the mayor's office. 

Flashbacks throughout the episode reveal more about Georgia's past... She was abused as a teenager, became pregnant at 15 with Ginny, and that her husband's crash was no accident.

 

 

 

Netfix Pick of the Week: F Is For Family Season 4

Set in the 1970s, this animated raunchy comedy is inspired by the life of stand-up comic Bill Burr, who is a co-creator and executive producer of the series. Burr also voices the character of Frank Murphy, a short-tempered veteran who lives in the suburbs with his wife, Sue (Laura Dern) and their three children. Frank, who works at an airport, has a penchant for shouting and profanity-filled rants. The series celebrates all things 1970s, including the lifestyle, the music, and all sorts of other nostalgic details.

Burr co-created F is for Family with Michael Price, a writer and co-executive producer on Fox’s The Simpsons and Lego Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles and Lego Star Wars: Droid Tales. Along with the creative duo, the show’s array of executive producers consists of Vince Vaughn, Peter Billingsley, Katie O’Connell, Elisa Todd Ellis, Sidonie Dumas and Christophe Riandee. 

Joining Burr on the series is an impressive voice cast that consists of names like Laura Dern, Justin Long, Sam Rockwell, Debu Derryberry, Mo Collins and David Koechner.

The trailer for F is for Family Season 4 previews the arrival of Frank’s long-estranged father, Bill, voiced in a signature ominously-paternal form by Jonathan Banks.

Netflix Pick of the Week: Dead To Me Season 2

Jen's husband recently died in a hit-and-run, and the sardonic widow is determined to solve the crime. Optimistic free spirit Judy has recently suffered a tragic loss of her own. The ladies meet at a support group and, despite their polar-opposite personalities, become unlikely friends. As the women bond over bottles of wine and a shared affinity for "The Facts of Life," Judy tries to shield Jen from a shocking secret that could destroy her life as she knows it. The dark comedy -- which explores the weirdly funny sides of grief, loss and forgiveness -- features a cast that includes TV veterans Christina Applegate and Ed Asner.

Season 2 of Dead to Me picks up right where it left off, with Jen (Christina Applegate), Judy (Linda Cardellini) and a dead body in a swimming pool. Said body is Steve (James Marsden), Judy’s emotionally abusive ex, whom Jen killed in either self defense or a fit of murderous rage, depending on who you ask.

The pitch-black comedy loves to tighten the noose around Jen and Judy’s necks, as they must deal with the fallout of Steve’s murder. Detective Perez (Diana Maria Riva) is still suspicious of the duo, and things get even more complicated with the surprise arrival of Steve’s twin brother Ben (also played by Marsden).

Netflix Pick of the Week: Happy! Season 2

HAPPY! is based on New York Times best-selling author Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson’s graphic novel of the same name. The series follows Nick Sax (Christopher Meloni, Law & Order: SVU) – an intoxicated, corrupt ex-cop turned hit man – who is adrift in a world of casual murder, soulless sex and betrayal. After a hit gone wrong, his inebriated life is forever changed by a tiny, relentlessly positive, imaginary blue winged horse named Happy (Patton Oswalt).

Season two is set during the Easter holiday (following the first season's Christmas setting).

Season one ended with Nick tracking down Very Bad Santa at his hideout to find all the children he'd kidnapped – and lobotomised – over the years. Very Bad Santa is about to do it to Nick's daughter Hailey, but she escapes while Nick chases down Very Bad Santa and kills him.
After reuniting with his daughter, Nick suffers a heart attack, leading to rumours that he is actually dead. However, he has survived and is reunited with Happy after Happy said goodbye to Hailey.

The post-credits scene also saw crime boss Mr Blue visited by his nephew Mikey who breathes into Blue's ear before dying, meaning that "Orcus" who was possessing Mikey is now possessing Blue and is "hungry".

Netflix Pick of the Week: The Platform

The Platform is the feature directorial debut for Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia working from a script penned by David Desola and Pedro Rivero. It takes place in a facility called “The Hole,” a prison of sorts but one with a stacked vertical layout and two people assigned to each floor. Some of The Hole’s occupants committed crimes but then there are others like Ivan Massagué’s Goreng who agreed to spend six months in The Hole in exchange for an accredited diploma.

Once a day, the platform is made available to each floor. The first floor is served an untouched feast. There’s the sweet, the savory, protein, greens, cakes, wine – you name it. It’s a glorious sight for the two occupants on floor 1 – and probably the folks on the next few floors as well – but the thing is, the platform spread is never replenished. You’ve got a set amount of time to eat your fill and then it’s on to the next floor and the next floor and the next floor until there’s no more food left. And even then, there are still dozens of floors to go.

Netflix Pick of the Week: Harlem Nights

Sugar Ray (Richard Pryor) and his adopted son, Quick (Eddie Murphy), run a speakeasy called Club Sugar Ray. When gangster Bugsy Calhoune (Michael Lerner) learns that Sugar Ray's place is pulling in more money than his own establishment, the Pitty Pat Club, he pays corrupt cop Phil Cantone (Danny Aiello) to close Club Sugar Ray down. Quick doesn't exactly help the situation when he falls for Calhoune's gun moll, Miss Dominique La Rue (Jasmine Guy).

"Harlem Nights" is a nice, enjoyable movie where Eddie Murphy doesn't overplay his street-smart shtick, where Pryor is the nice guy and sometimes a touching father-figure who tries to keep things in control and Redd Foxx is the subject of a great running-gag involving his poor sight, his interactions with Della Reese are as enjoyable as Murphy's. In fact, they all have great chemistry all together. And for all its black casting, white actors also play funny and entertaining parts.

Michael Lerner steals the show as a believably intimidating mobster with then-"Different World" star Jasmine Guy as his mole. I reckon her character could have been more developed, but she inspired an interesting twist on the usual femme-fatale trope... and prevented the film from a predictable romantic subplot. And Danny Aiello plays with perfection the corrupt cop, his role seems limited, but he carries on with such arrogance and self-confidence we just love to hate him.

"Harlem Nights" has all the ingredients: cops, thugs, fixed gambling bets, boxing, music halls, heists but these are only decorative aspects, the film is more about relationships and interactions that go from funny to touching, from violent to... well, funny again. If the film isn't flawless, it never goes so bad it deserves to be bashed. I'm pretty sure the film will age better for those who didn't like it first.

Netflix Pick of the Week: Semi-Pro

Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell) uses the profits from his only hit single to fulfill a longtime dream of owning a basketball team. His team languishes in last place, with few fans in the seats. Jackie dreams of a merger with the NBA. A tough-minded point guard named Monix is at the end of his career; he's played on the champion Celtics but accepts a trade to Flint to be close to Lynn, the love of his life. Clarence "Coffee" Brown dreams of stardom: he's the Tropics' best player, but he's a hotdog who doesn't value teamwork. When the trio learns that a merger is in the works that won't include the Tropics, they pull the team together to try to achieve the impossible.

The movie was pretty sports-comedy formulaic, with the down-and-out lovable losers getting a big chance, then introducing a new character who will inspire them, and a few montages later, the big finale. The R-rating was used mainly on adding in lots of cuss-words, with mixed humorous results. There was a really funny joke about masturbation. I was hoping for a little more basketball craziness, but oh well.

The highlight, of course, was Will Ferrel meeting the 70s. I myself was not alive in the 70s, so I only know about the culture through the disco-funk lens of caricature cinema. Ferrel is one funky mofo so he thrives. I would say this was one of his better efforts, topping Taladega nights, Elf, and the ice skating one. It's not as good as Anchorman, mainly because it's just not as quotable.

In short, if you like Will Ferrel, or 70s funk, see this movie.

Netflix Pick of the Week: Lost In Space [Season 2]

"Danger, Will Robinson!" The rest of the Robinson clan should be on the lookout for danger, as well, because they are facing challenging times. It's 30 years in the future and the family has been chosen to start a new life in a space colony. On the way to what they believe will be a better world, the Robinsons' ship is abruptly thrown off course and they are thrown into a dangerous alien environment. Now light-years from their original destination, they must forge new alliances and work together to survive. Stranded with the Robinsons are unsettlingly charismatic Dr. Smith and inadvertently charming Don West, two outsiders who are thrown together by circumstance and a mutual knack for deception.

Netflix Pick of the Week: The Movies That Made Us

Is Home Alone one of your must-watch holiday films? Have you ever argued with a friend over whether Die Hard is really a Christmas movie? If so, then the Netflix series The Movies That Made Us is for you. 

This new series from the folks that brought you The Toys That Made Us looks at the stories behind four beloved films: Home Alone, Die Hard, Dirty Dancing, and Ghostbusters. Each episode features interviews with key players involved in each movie, including actors like Dan Aykroyd and Daniel Stern and directors Ivan Reitman and Chris Columbus.

The Movies That Made Us wants to tap into the same sort of fuzzy nostalgia as its predecessor The Toys That Made Us, and it’s likely to succeed. Season 1 is very ’80s-heavy, with episodes focusing on Die Hard, Ghostbusters, Dirty Dancing, and Home Alone (which is technically a ’90s movie, but still fits into that ’80s mold since it arrived in 1990).

Netflix's 'The Movies That Made Us' Trailer is here! Series debuts on November 29th. pic.twitter.com/Mc9eMd1cVj

— TVweb (@TVweb) November 22, 2019

Netflix Pick of the Week: Peaky Blinders Season 5

The fifth season opens with the Wall Street Crash of 1929, and the Shelbys have lost a great deal of their income as their ill-gotten wealth was heavily invested in the American stock market. This forces Tommy and Arthur (Paul Anderson), now the chairman of Shelby Co. Ltd. in Tommy's absence, to rely more heavily on the family's more familiar criminal enterprises, including making cash deals with high court judges to take out vile men or striking deals with the Chinese to transport pure-grade opium. It also opens the door for what is, unfortunately, a very timely story about the rise of fascism in the years leading up to World War II.

But financial woes and fascists are the least of Tommy's worries this season, as much of his turmoil once again stems from his internal scars. Tormented by suicidal thoughts brought on by his own swirling, guilty conscience, Tommy's death wish makes him increasingly unstable. Relying on laudanum to dull his lingering grief and the pain his rise to the top has ultimately caused him and those he loves, he's not sleeping, hallucinating apparitions of his murdered wife Grace (Annabelle Wallis), who appears to him and accuses him of not only killing her but also attempts to persuade Tommy to join her in death.

Contributing to Tommy's uneasy mental state this season is the fact he has also become convinced that someone close to him is after his crown, namely his cousin Michael (Finn Cole), who ignored Tommy's order to sell their stock before the crash. It's difficult for Tommy to accept that Michael's ideas for the company might actually be a path toward greater success in the future — and might relieve some of the pressure from his own shoulders — so he and Arthur continue to cling to the way things have always been done.

But Michael isn't the only person who wants something from Tommy. The Billy Boys from Scotland want his racetracks in the north, while Sir Oswald Mosley (Sam Claflin), a fictional version of the very real, very controversial Member of Parliament who founded the British Union of Fascists in the 1930s, wants to use his popular support to help launch a new party. Tommy wants to bring him down because he believes it's the right thing to do, but a number of roadblocks are also created by his own hand in attempting to do so.

Netflix Pick of the Week: Insatiable Season 2

Insatiable season 2 sees Patty dealing with, well, a lot. Her past is haunting her, and her struggle to be “good” is becoming harder and harder each day as she battles her inner demons. And Bob (Dallas Roberts) – well – he’s helping her cover up Christian’s murder, but just how far will his loyalties go? Will he continue to allow his romantic relationships, his career ambitions, and his integrity to take a beating, just to help Patty pursue her pageant dreams? And when beauty queens start going missing, who’s to blame? Patty’s rage? Or is there more at play?

Season 1 Recap:

After being bullied for being overweight, Patty returned to school after three-month liquid diet. Shocked at the amount of weight she lost her fellow students gave her a new found amount of attention. Patty is then convinced by former pageant coach Bob Armstrong to enter beauty pageants.

Throughout the season Patty attempts to get revenge on those that bullied her while also competing in the beauty pageants. Patty continuously finds herself in more and more controversial situations. This culminates at the end of the season with Patty killing her stalker and former boyfriend Christian. After Bob and Patty attempt to hide the body in a car they push in a lake, it fails to sink. The season ends with Patty confessing to Bob that she thinks she may have killed Stella Rose.

Netflix Pick of the Week: Stranger Things Season 3

Stranger Things 3 takes place in the summer of 1985 and the gang is starting to grow apart.

Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo), newly back from summer camp, winds up bonding even more with his old pal Steve (Joe Keery). Steve, in turn, is working at the new Starcourt Mall; he’s serving ice cream in the food court’s Scoops Ahoy, where he’s regularly mocked by his deadpan coworker Robin (Maya Hawke) and strategically undermined by mall patron and ice cream connoisseur Erica (Priah Ferguson).

Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) and his girlfriend Max (Sadie Sink) are mainly spending their time helping Mike and Eleven avoid breaking up due to pressure from Chief Hopper (David Harbour), who doesn’t seem to know how to handle his adopted daughter having a boyfriend. Hopper turns to Will’s mom Joyce (Winona Ryder) for help, but since he isn’t ready to listen to her, his efforts only serve to drive a wedge between El and Mike.

Will (Noah Schnapp) hates that his friends all seem way more interested in having girlfriends than in embarking on new D&D adventures. He’s also distracted by his constant sense that the Mind Flayer is still lurking around town.

Meanwhile, Mike’s older sister Nancy (Natalia Dyer) has started working as an intern at the local newspaper, alongside her boyfriend (and Will’s older brother) Jonathan (Charlie Heaton).

A group of evil Russians have built a covert underground lab beneath the Starcourt Mall food court and they’re working to secure access to the Upside Down.

The Russians are presumably why Will keeps sensing that the Mind Flayer is back to wreak havoc on Hawkins; it seems they’ve already opened the gate just enough to let the monster through.

Netflix Pick of the Week: Black Mirror Striking Vipers

Friends Danny and Karl (Mackie and Abdul-Mateem) have lost touch a bit over the years, but a new version of Striking Vipers – the video game they obsessively played during the heyday of their friendship – seems like a great way to reconnect, especially given how immersive it is.

In the revamped game, no matter what character you’re playing you feel every punch, kick and….kiss,  the latter of which the pair discover, almost by accident, during their first bout.

Netflix Pick of the Week: Dead To Me

Jen's husband recently died in a hit-and-run, and the sardonic widow is determined to solve the crime. Optimistic free spirit Judy has recently suffered a tragic loss of her own. The ladies meet at a support group and, despite their polar-opposite personalities, become unlikely friends. As the women bond over bottles of wine and a shared affinity for "The Facts of Life," Judy tries to shield Jen from a shocking secret that could destroy her life as she knows it. The dark comedy -- which explores the weirdly funny sides of grief, loss and forgiveness -- features a cast that includes TV veterans Christina Applegate and Ed Asner.

Netflix Pick of the Week: Slasher Solstice

Slasher: Solstice places the terror on the occupants of a middle class level apartment building due to their inability to help a young man, Kit (Robert Cormier), as he was viciously murdered within eye or earshot of them. Beginning with that night, the mark of the Summer Solstice, the occupants use social media and their own prejudices, hatred, and secrets to literally tear apart any semblance of a community.

A year later, and the current Summer Solstice is upon them. As the Solstice returns, so does The Druid – the name given to Kit’s killer. We follow the occupants of the building throughout the 24 hours of the day of the Solstice, as well as a couple of detectives who are trying to figure out who the Druid is, and why the killer is doing what it’s doing.

Netflix Pick of the Week: Lucifer Season 4

Based on characters created by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg, this series follows Lucifer, the original fallen angel, who has become dissatisfied with his life in hell. After abandoning his throne and retiring to Los Angeles, Lucifer indulges in his favorite things (women, wine and song) -- until a murder takes place outside of his upscale nightclub. For the first time in billions of years, the murder awakens something unfamiliar in Lucifer's soul that is eerily similar to compassion and sympathy. Lucifer is faced with another surprise when he meets an intriguing homicide detective named Chloe, who appears to possess an inherent goodness -- unlike the worst of humanity, to which he is accustomed. Suddenly, Lucifer starts to wonder if there is hope for his soul.

Reeling from the aftermath of Chloe seeing his devil face, Lucifer faces a new challenge: Eve, the original sinner herself, is back. Does she want revenge for when he tempted her out of Eden oh so many years ago… or something else entirely? Lucifer Season 4 premieres May 8 only on Netflix.

Netflix Pick of the Week: Hap and Leonard Season 3

The third season is based on The Two-Bear Mambo, the second novel by Joe R. Lansdale. This time the two friends (Hap who is white and Leonard who is black)  head to that Klan-active backwater looking for another friend: the brilliant and beautiful Florida Grange (Tiffany Mack). She was there to help the grandson of the blues legend sell a copy of an unearthed recording, until that grandson turns up dead, hanging from a bridge. Florida then goes missing herself, and the duo get pulled into an emotional mystery that puts their own lives in danger.

Netflix Pick of the Week: Russian Doll

Natasha Lyonne stars in this comedy-drama series as Nadia, a young woman who is on a journey to be the guest of honor at her 36th birthday party in New York City. But she gets caught in a mysterious loop as she repeatedly attends the same event and dies at the end of the night each time -- only to awaken back in the bathroom of the party and unharmed as if nothing had happened. In addition to starring, Lyonne co-created the show with "Saturday Night Live" alum Amy Poehler and serves as a writer and director for the Netflix original series.

Netflix Pick of the Week: Velvet Buzzsaw

Velvet Buzzsaw is a thriller set in the contemporary art world scene of Los Angeles where big money artists and mega-collectors pay a high price when art collides with commerce. Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Toni Collette, Zawe Ashton, Tom Sturridge, Natalia Dyer, Daveed Diggs, Billy Magnussen, and John Malkovich star in the new mind-bending film written and directed by Dan Gilroy.

Velvet Buzzsaw is a deliriously entertaining and frighteningly pulpy movie, in which Gilroy attempts to understand the co-dependent relationship between critic and creator, and between art and commerce.

Netflix Pick of the Week: Friends From College [Season 2]

Years after becoming friends at Harvard, Ethan, Lisa, Sam, Nick, Max and Marianne are heading into a new era -- their 40s. This series, created and executive produced by Nicholas Stoller, delves into interwoven and complicated relationships, including former romantic entanglements and comedic explorations of old bonds. As everyone tries to manage their lives as adults, they also experience nostalgia.

Keegan-Michael Key (Ethan), Cobie Smulders (Lisa), Annie Parisse (Sam), Nat Faxon (Nick), Fred Savage (Max), and Jae Suh Park (Marianne) star on the show as best friends who met at Harvard and now all live in New York City. Guest star Billy Eichner plays Felix, Savage’s love interest.

As “Friends From College” returns, it picks up about a year after the Season 1 finale where they acknowledge that the affair between Ethan (who had been married to Lisa) and Sam did not go over well.