Scout Tafoya - page 21

Dave Bautista’s blind rage spices up See’s second season [Apple TV+ review]

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See season 2 review: Big Dave Bautista almost makes See worth seeing.
Big Dave Bautista almost makes See worth seeing.
Photo: Apple TV+

For season 2 of See, show creator Steven Knight warms up a second helping of his weird, post-apocalyptic gumbo for Apple TV+. This time, he spices things up with a key ingredient — the inimitable Dave Bautista — that almost redeems See’s crazy mix of bizarre rituals, bombastic fight scenes and bad dialogue.

The addition of Bautista proves most welcome indeed. The former pro wrestler and Guardians of the Galaxy star lends his steely gravitas to a sprawling show that wants nothing more than to make its mark as a sci-fi epic.

In season 2, which kicks off on Apple TV+ today, we learn a lot more about living in a blind society. And we come to grips with a blood feud that will haunt all concerned.

Engrossing Truth Be Told returns to the scene of the crime [Apple TV+ review]

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Octavia Spencer as Poppy Parnell on Truth Be Told
Octavia Spencer plays true-crime podcaster Poppy Parnell.
Photo: Apple TV+

Truth Be Told, the Apple TV+ series about a true-crime podcaster, makes its triumphant return this week after winning a host of awards and setting up a new-yet-old-fashioned kind of TV heroine.

In the show’s second season, which kicks off today, star Octavia Spencer and a host of the greatest actors in America keep Truth Be Told rooted in a relatable reality.

Sundance smash CODA checks all the boxes you’d expect [Apple TV+ review]

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Emilia Jones and Eugenio Derbez in Coda
CODA delivers just what you'd expect from a "Sundance movie."
Photo: Apple TV+

CODA, this year’s Sundance Film Festival hit, is here to add some family-friendly laughs and musical feel-goodery to Apple TV+.

Will you enjoy this award-winning film about a teen with a deaf family? Very probably. Will you remember it? Very probably not. But not everything has to be Citizen Kane, right?

You can stream Mr. Corman now. Don’t. [Apple TV+ review]

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Mr. Corman review on Apple TV+: Debra Winger deserves better than what Joseph Gordon-Levitt delivers.
Debra Winger deserves better than what Joseph Gordon-Levitt delivers.
Photo: Apple TV+

With new Apple TV+ series Mr. Corman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt returns to our screens after a brief hiatus and well … I can’t say I was ready to have him back. A few more years in the deep freeze might have taught him no one’s interested in the foibles of a white man trying to navigate sexual politics in 2021.

Watch the Sound With Mark Ronson is a fun dive into music production [Apple TV+ review]

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Watch The Sound with Mark Ronson review: The producer breaks down the elements of music on the hugely enjoyable new Apple TV+ docuseries.
Mark Ronson breaks down the elements of music on the hugely enjoyable new Apple TV+ docuseries.
Photo: Apple TV+

In the latest docuseries from Apple TV+, the world’s most in-demand producer takes a step out from behind the boards to lead us on a meditative quest to better understand the elements of music and music production that inspire him. Watch the Sound With Mark Ronson serves as a master class in mixing, mastering, experimenting and breaking it down.

In season 2, Ted Lasso settles into being the world’s most positive sitcom [Apple TV+ review]

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Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt and Nick Mohammed in Ted Lasso
Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt and Nick Mohammed survey the pitch.
Photo: Apple TV+

The big American heart in the body of the United Kingdom is beating again. Ted Lasso is back for another season of relentless positivity, and fans of the hit Apple TV+ comedy can rest easy. They know exactly what they’re getting.

The title character, played by Saturday Night Live alum Jason Sudeikis, returns for more unorthodox soccer coaching with his deep bench of homespun aphorisms intact. In short, if you liked the first season — and who didn’t? — you’ll enjoy this one as well.

Take a gamble on Schmigadoon!, the inventive Scream of musicals [Apple TV+ review]

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Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key in Schmigadoon!
Cecily Strong and Keegan-Michael Key wind up in a surreal situation.
Photo: Apple TV+

With a murderers’ row of talent behind and in front of the camera, and nods to handsome musicals and TV of the past, Schmigadoon! could become a major crossover hit for Apple TV+.

The new musical comedy injects a thoroughly modern sensibility into the classic Brigadoon storyline. Loaded with the obligatory singing and dancing you’d expect, it’s good and occasionally great.

If you like musicals, you’ll almost certainly love Schmigadoon!. The only question is, is the public’s thirst for musical theater enough to sell this high-concept gamble?

Lisey’s Story finale cements show as one of Apple TV+’s finest [Review]

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Lisey's Story finale review: Lisey learns to carry on.
Lisey, played by Julianne Moore, learns to carry on as the Stephen King-penned mini series concludes.
Photo: Apple TV+

The time has come for a bool hunt in Lisey’s Story! In the Apple TV+ series finale, Lisey and Dooley reach their final showdown — and get their last look at the brutal past just in the rearview mirror.

It’s a fitting end to the Stephen King-written miniseries about the widow of a famous writer and the crazed superfan who hunts her down. If you’re an Apple TV+ subscriber and haven’t watched this show yet, a rewarding binge awaits.

Lisey’s Story paints provocative portrait of incel culture [Apple TV+ review]

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Lisey's Story review: Dane DeHaan plays a particular kind of creep in the Stephen King miniseries.
Dane DeHaan plays a particular kind of creep in the Stephen King miniseries.
Photo: Apple TV+

Lisey has both of her sisters by her side as crazed stalker Jim Dooley approaches for their final showdown. But is everything as cut-and-dried as it appears?

The penultimate episode of Lisey’s Story, the Stephen King miniseries on Apple TV+, has one last round of games to play.

Sisters steal the show this week in Lisey’s Story [Apple TV+ review]

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Lisey's Story review: It's a total sister act this week.
It's a total sister act this week.
Photo: Apple TV+

With a showdown on the horizon, Lisey gets back in touch with her sisters — in the most intense way imaginable — in this week’s installment of Lisey’s Story, the fantastical Apple TV+ series based on Stephen King’s novel.

It’s only a matter of time before Lisey has to take down her foes, real and imaginary, and she’s gonna need all the help she can get.

Who Are You, Charlie Brown? pulls the football on Peanuts doc [Apple TV+ review]

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Who Are You, Charlie Brown?
An early drawing shows Charlie Brown on the mound.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ has another hagiographic documentary for you, and this one proves just as insubstantial as its last aimless doc. It’s called Who Are You, Charlie Brown?, and it premieres today on Apple’s streaming service.

Unfortunately, if you were hoping for a deep dive into the craft and artistic impulses behind Charles M. Schulz and his world-renowned Peanuts characters, maybe read a book instead.

Central Park season 2 will bore you with the worst of Broadway [Apple TV+ review]

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Central Park season 2 review: Can things really get worse?
Can things really get worse in season 2? Of course they can.
Photo: Apple TV+

Central Park, the Apple TV+ animated musical about a family living and caring for the titular New York park, returns for more arbitrary, up-with-people high-jinks in its second season.

Nothing brings out the worst impulses in a writer’s room like encouragement. And the second season of the show — created by Bob’s Burgers duo Nora Smith and Loren Bouchard along with Josh Gad (Frozen) — is aggressively larger and more precious than the first. If it’s not your thing, you’ll be looking for the nearest open window.

Fathom goes in search of whale song and finds a little more [Apple TV+ review]

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Dr. Michelle Fournet stars in the Whaling documentary Fathom
Michelle Fournet wants to understand the humpback whale's song.
Photo: Apple TV+

Fathom, the new Apple TV+ documentary about whales, tells the story of a couple of women who made it their life’s work to figure out why the humpback sings — and what that song means. Though there’s a lot to like here, and the vibes are admirable, the whole effort could have used more … (30-minute pause) depth.

Fathom, which premieres today, keeps the network’s focus on mass-market biological documentary alive. It joins such outstanding efforts as Tiny World and Earth at Night in Color.

Physical’s endless cliches won’t get your blood pumping [Apple TV+ review]

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Rose Byrne gets Physical
Even the talented Rose Byrne can't save this mishmash of cliches and misfires.
Photo: Apple TV+

Apple TV+ went fishing for its own Glow but instead landed the transparent, overcooked and overdetermined Physical, which debuts today.

Star Rose Byrne tries as hard as she can to enliven this mishmash of cliches. However, its grotesque, fetishistic anti-nostalgia goes nowhere fast.

Lisey’s Story mixes psycho with silly in a very Stephen King-y episode [Apple TV+ review]

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Lisey's Story review
Julianne Moore and Clive Owen go to a strange place in this week's episode.
Photo: Apple TV+

Our widowed protagonist comes face to face with the bane of her existence in this week’s episode of Lisey’s Story, the Stephen King miniseries currently giving Apple TV+ a welcome shot of weird. Lisey must face some painful memories in order to avoid an even more painful future.

Lisey’s Story goes even deeper in unnerving third chapter [Apple TV+ review]

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Boo'ya Moon, the dream world of Lisey's Story
Boo'ya Moon, the dream world of Lisey's Story.
Photo: Apple TV+

The wild Apple TV+ adaptation of Stephen King’s Lisey’s Story gets even richer and more imaginative in this week’s episode. Having introduced Lisey, the troubled widow of a famous writer, the miniseries starts drawing out the details of the other people who populate its real and imaginary worlds.

Director Pablo Larraín continues to flex his artistic muscles as he creates a compelling fantasy world. And one character in particular proves delightfully unnerving.

Here’s a scoop: Home Before Dark finally finds its stride [Apple TV+ review]

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Deric McCabe, Brooklynn Prince and Jibrail Nantambu need to be Home Before Dark
Deric McCabe, Brooklynn Prince and Jibrail Nantambu investigate a new mystery.
Photo: Apple TV+

Home Before Dark, the Apple TV+ show about a cute and cuddly girl reporter, returns for more incongruous drama and more bad parenting. The show got off to something of a generic start in its first season, sandwiched between popular styles and uncertain of its identity.

But in its second season, which debuts today, the show digs a little deeper into the setting and characters. As a result, the creative team produced something close to an essential season.

The Mosquito Coast season finale will leave you desperate for more [Apple TV+ review]

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The Mosquito Coast review season finale: Where will the Fox family go next season?
Where will the Fox family go next season? We can't wait to find out.
Photo: Apple TV+

The Mosquito Coast, the bold Apple TV+ potboiler about a family on the run from the law, wraps up its impressive first season this week with the end of the road — a few roads actually — in sight.

It’s a gripping finale that will leave you breathlessly waiting for the show’s just-announced second season.

Lisey’s Story looks like a Stephen King adaptation done right [Apple TV+ review]

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Lisey's Story review: Julianne Moore shines in this adaptation of Stephen King's novel.
Julianne Moore shines in this adaptation of Stephen King's novel.
Photo: Apple TV+

With Lisey’s Story, Apple TV+ officially enters the Stephen King business, a step every streaming service must eventually take. The new miniseries, based on King’s novel of the same name, just so happens to boast an astonishing pedigree. So the inevitable move reads less like calculation and more like certainty for once.

This is a miniseries that, at least initially, looks like it’s firing on all cylinders.

Mosquito Coast buzzes with lies, uncertainty and confrontations [Apple TV+ review]

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The Mosquito Coast review: Things get tense between Allie Fox (played by Justin Theroux, right) and Calaca (Paterson Joseph and Justin Theroux in “The Mosquito Coast,” now streaming on Apple TV+.
Things get tense between Allie Fox (played by Justin Theroux, right) and Calaca (Paterson Joseph).
Photo: Apple TV+

The Mosquito Coast, the Apple TV+ show about a family of environmentalist fugitives, soldiers on into the unknown this week. Less and less about father Allie Fox feels like a certainty. And his family continues to be put to the test while they search for freedom.

Some things are about to change permanently, though. And they’ll happen so fast you won’t have time to think about them until next week’s final episode of the season.

The Mosquito Coast ratchets up the tension in Mexico City [Apple TV+ review]

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The Mosquito Coast review on Apple TV+: Things keep getting dicier for the Fox family.
Things keep getting dicier for the Fox family.
Photo: Apple TV+

The Foxes hit Mexico City this week on The Mosquito Coast, the simmering new Apple TV show about a family off the grid and on the run. They’re fugitives, but that doesn’t stop them from becoming tourists, with all that entails.

This week’s episode, titled “Elvis, Jesus, Coca-Cola,” tightens the noose around the criminal family of four, while showing off the wider world they’ve been missing out on.