This should inspire some curiosity at the very least (especially from fans who were bummed out by Zack Snyder’s 2009 movie) but I swore I’d never watch another Damon Lindelof show again after Lost, and I intend to stick to that vow. No matter how good this cast is.
FX Drops Teaser for Final Season of 'Legion'
I hated the second season of Legion so much I almost quit, but hearing that Season 3 will be its last, I suppose that motivates me to finish it. Might as well, right? Maybe it’ll have a good final run, regain its entertaining yet coherent (enough) weirdness from the first season. It comes back Monday, June 24th.
The Roy Family Returns in 'Succession' Season 2
One of the best new shows of last year is back in August with a new season. I had some issues with its first season, but mostly nitpick-y things. It was pretty enjoyable overall and it even improved in my memory over time, actually. Looking forward to it coming back.
Veronica is Back in Neptune in New 'Veronica Mars' Teaser
Yay! I’m all here for the new season of one of my favorite shows ever, but I wish this was a longer trailer. Apparently all the episodes are dropping at once on Hulu on Friday, July 26th and they got everybody from the original cast back (or just about everybody- you still can’t see most of them in this teaser yet).
Horror Abounds in Trailer for DCU's 'Swamp Thing'
The latest original show from DC’s streaming service is Swamp Thing, premiering May 31st. This trailer makes it look like a straight horror series, hyping up James Wan’s name for credibility purposes in the genre. Hilariously though, the Swamp Thing himself doesn’t look all that different from the one in the Wes Craven 1982 B-movie with Adrienne Barbeau.
Ava Duvernay's 'When They See Us' Gets a Powerful Trailer
Ava Duvernay’s highly anticipated miniseries on the Central Park Five is expected to drop on Netflix May 31st. The trailer makes it seem every bit as compelling and tragic as the real life case, where Donald Trump infamously called for their execution by publishing a full page ad, an act which he has refused to apologize for to this very day, 17 years after the boys were completely exonerated and released from prison.
Peabody Winners for 2018 Include 'Barry,' 'Nanette,' 'The End of the F***ing World'
Some excellent choices for the eight entertainment winners for the prestigious Peabody award were announced today, to be handed out on May 23rd. Biggest kudos for choosing to honor The End of the F***ing World, my favorite show of 2018 by far. Nanette was fantastic too.
2018 PEABODY WINNERS
Barry
Hannah Gadsby: Nanette
Killing Eve
Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj
Pose
Random Acts of Flyness
The Americans
The End of the F***ing World
The Good Place
Meryl Streep Comes to Monterey in 'Big Little Lies' Season 2
This is one of those shows I enjoyed but did not think needed a second season, so who knows how this will go. It was only one book, so is there going to be a new mystery or is it all about the women keeping their secret from Meryl Streep, who’s playing the late Perry’s (Alexander Skarsgaard) mother? Even star Nicole Kidman said she didn’t know how it would turn out and admitted the fact that they all like hanging out together doesn’t necessarily justify doing another season, lol. But it’s starting June 9th so I guess we’ll see!
'Veronica Mars' Debuts a New Teaser and Premiere Date
Yay! As a longtime, original member of the Veronica Mars fandom, I’m all in for the new eight episode revival season being launched by Hulu. And now we have a premiere date! July 26th, everyone- a summer run. Mark your calendars. The (no longer teen) detective is back.
REVIEW: "Les Miserables" (2019)
The new BBC production of Les Miserables is back to basics- this is a non-musical, straightforward telling of the classic Victor Hugo novel in miniseries form, but for all that it doesn’t do what is required to justify revisiting this story for the umpteenth time, and that’s bring something new to the table. To be fair, at this point Les Mis is sort of like A Christmas Carol- we all know the plot, we know the characters, we know what has to happen to all of them and in what order. Aside from the choice to sing or not to sing, there’s only so much you can do with it.
Dominic West stars as Jean Valjean in this one, a good choice who brings a gruff physicality to the role along with a sincerity of struggle that goes into his existential crisis as he tries to transform himself into a good man. His charisma and presence carries you through the six episodes, as the other actors don’t bring a whole lot of life into their archetypal roles. Lily Collins is a fine Fantine, as we get a much slower, more drawn out process in her suffering and death this time around, but the role remains as melodramatic as ever, and David Oyelowo lacks spark as Javert, who hankers down on one note (re: angry) for the entire series and his scenes get tedious. Worst of all though, is Ellie Bamber and Josh O’Connor as the older Cosette and Marius. These characters are thankless enough, and I don’t know that there’s anything any actor can do to make these two interesting, but if there is, they didn’t find it with these bland performances. It’s a slog to get through the last couple of episodes while the two most irritating teenagers act like ignorant fools so that “love can conquer all.” Right.
One exception in the casting is Olivia Colman and Adeel Akhtar as Monsieur and Madame Thenardier, who bring a delicious Dickensian villainy to their relatively small parts, but it isn’t enough to recommend sitting through all six episodes of this show. You might get something out of it if you’ve never seen any other version of Les Mis before, but there are loads better ones than this. The most I can say is that it’s a faithful, meticulous and handsomely wrought production, but it gets very boring once Valjean and Cosette escape to the convent. The early scenes of his escape from prison and quest to do right by Fantine and rescue the little girl are as effective as ever (the story is timeless for a reason after all), and West really does do well at carrying this whole series on his shoulders, but there isn’t much reason for this one to exist. One thing they did do differently was color bind casting in many of the supporting roles (Oyelowo, Akhtar and Erin Kellyman as Eponine), so that’s nice to see, but it doesn’t change the framework of the story, and I think if you’re going to keep doing this you really have to spice it up to make it feel like something you haven’t seen before. Then again, how many versions of A Christmas Carol are there? Perhaps Jean Valjean’s redemption really is a story that can be retold over and over again.
Grade: C