Tom Holland is coming back to Apple TV+ with The Crowded Room, a 10-part limited series about a very unusual murder investigation.
It was created and written by Akiva Goldsman, best known as the screenwriter of A Beautiful Mind.
Tom Holland is coming back to Apple TV+ with The Crowded Room, a 10-part limited series about a very unusual murder investigation.
It was created and written by Akiva Goldsman, best known as the screenwriter of A Beautiful Mind.
★★★☆☆
Apple TV+ climate disaster show Extrapolations takes a road trip this week to the sweltering underbelly of a continent in crisis. Across two long days, unlikely allies will transport a secret package that many other interested parties are gunning for.
Extrapolations is essentially an omnibus series about the future, as seen through the eyes of people affected by climate change. That means every episode bears a distinct identity. In this week’s installment, entitled “2059 Part II: Nightbirds,” the creative team hits upon something partly neo-realist, partly Bourne-inspired action and party speculative fiction. It’s the most consistent and engrossing episode of the very patchy show so far.
★★★★☆
Apple TV+ espionage thriller Liaison comes to its breakneck conclusion this week. Alison and Gabriel get Samir and his information to England, but can they make it to the right authorities in time to save the continent from terrorism and extortion? And just who is the right authority, anyway?
Samir and Sabine have an appointment with Antropa, Bob and Didier must pay the piper, and Gabriel has one last trial in which to prove himself. All things considered, the Liaison finale brings a pretty decent conclusion to a star-studded limited series.
★★☆☆☆
New Apple TV+ movie Tetris is part of a trend I hope goes away — making movies about advances in capitalist innovation. Perhaps the least-interesting subject possible, it’s been done justice precisely once in David Fincher’s The Social Network, because it understood that behind every “genius” is a shell game played by a feckless coward. And trust me, Tetris never reaches the highs of that particular example.
A movie too interested in the destination to enjoy the journey, Tetris tells the tale of the sale of the world’s most ubiquitous video game. The movie, which premieres today on Apple’s streaming service, possesses some small virtues but suffers from big problems.
PlayStudios launched a Rewards Store Friday for the classic puzzle game Tetris. The program will let millions of mobile players earn rewards, including a free one-month subscription to Apple TV+.
Of course, this comes “just in time for the premiere of Apple Original Film Tetris, now streaming globally on Apple TV+.”
Because of course it does.
★★★☆☆
New Apple TV+ children’s show Eva the Owlet is a typically cute entry into the streaming service’s very respectable collection of kiddie fare. Eva and her friends, her family and her pet bat, Baxter, get into one misadventure after another in the little village of Treetopington.
The animated show, which premiered Friday, is about creative problem-solving and making room in your heart for everyone. Memorably animated and earnestly performed, this one’s an easy recommendation for kids.
★★★★☆
Hello Tomorrow!, the Apple TV+ show about a Space Age con man and the hapless people stuck in his whirlwind, makes a fateful stop at a baseball game this week.
Lunar real-estate salesman Jack Billings goes deeper into his deception now that he’s found a financier with even fewer scruples than he has about cheating people out of their money. And his son Joey, desperate to get through to his dad, decides to finally start trying to put Jack away for his crimes.
Meanwhile, Shirley and Eddie are in deep money trouble and have nowhere nice to turn. And Herb is left picking up after everyone. The episode, entitled “Certain Forces Once Unleashed,” delivers a bracing half-hour of television.
After the success of Tiny World, Apple TV+ is going to the opposite extreme with Big Beasts. The documentary series puts whales, bears, gorillas and many more in center stage.
Tom Hiddleston is narrator, and the multi-part docuseries premiers on Earth Day. A new trailer gives a sneak peek.
★★☆☆☆
Ted Lasso wrangles with a fresh face — and even bigger ego — this week. There’s a new player stealing the spotlight from everyone else on the pitch in the Apple TV+ hit comedy about the little football club that could. And star striker Jamie Tartt isn’t happy about the new guy’s arrival at all.
Plus, Ted endures his own crisis when he calls home at the wrong moment and finds another man’s voice on the phone. And Rebecca gets an eerie prediction. The episode, entitled “4 5 1,” is a fairly standard edition of the show about how positive thinking can change everything (except maybe my attitude toward Ted Lasso).
★★★☆☆
New Apple TV+ high-concept sci-fi comedy The Big Door Prize stars perennial sad sack Chris O’Dowd as a man whose little world is rocked when a strange machine appears in the general store of his small town. Suddenly, friends and neighbors are changing their lives — and he feels out of step.
Funny, thought-provoking and sad, The Big Door Prize makes an interesting addition to the Apple TV+ lineup.