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The Regime (2024)
Are we watching the same piece of television?
Campy, out-there, and hilarious. I almost didn't give it a go due to lukewarm reviews but I am glad I did not miss out. This series won't just pick a single flavor, so it ends up giving you a lot of everything in a big, bold way. It's well-written and beautifully acted and very unpredictable--in that it makes almost no commitments to have to deliver on as it unfolds. The characters are fascinating and absurd, and mostly interact in ways that leave you wondering what the hell just happened. It certainly swings big with the comedy and the drama--I'd say it excels in the former department and mostly succeeds in the latter. The whole thing feels fresh, sharp and well-crafted. I'm not sure what is getting lost in translation for some, but to me, it's shows like this that keep me subscribed to MAX.
The Idol (2023)
Dumpster, meet fire
Dolores Umbridge shades of irredeemable. The makeshift trajectory of a woman trapped in a toxic industry clings to life for approximately twenty minutes before the Weeknd shows up to set you on a collision course with soft pornography. The plot, or glimpses thereof, mostly appears to revolve around getting characters from Shock Value Scene A to Shock Value Scene B. The show doesn't seem to have anything worthwhile to say in-between, and when it thinks it does, the script betrays a profound lack of understanding of the human psyche. None of the cast will be getting an Emmy nod for this, but while you can tell most of them are actors playing characters, the Weeknd is a pop star playing an actor. An episode in, I'm left wondering who greenlit this, and who greenlit them to greenlight it, and when was the last time my HBO subscription felt less justified.
White House Plumbers (2023)
Do your homework on Watergate or the humor swims right by you
I, a non-American with a shaky grasp on political history, had gleaned the basics on Watergate from this and that article over the years. If you are looking to learn more about the scandal through this series, your odds aren't great. The show expects you to know what's what, and cracks jokes on top of things it doesn't take the time to explain. Not a bad thing per se, just doesn't seem geared towards your casual non-American viewer, in that it's way too busy being a satire to spell out every little thing it holds up to ridicule. It can and will feel disorienting, befuddling, and mercilessly paced where your knowledge about the events falters.
The script is quite clever. Whatever jokes did land on my side of the fence got me chuckling. The cast is rather hysterical, with Justin Theroux being the standout. The story of Dorothy Hunt feels like a much-needed emotional anchor in a show that is easily distracted by retro glitz and succumbs to comedy every other scene.
Overall, it was watchable, though I assume it would fare better with someone who knows their history. Binge-watched it with some pals and half of them were gone after two episodes because they couldn't digest the plot, couldn't laugh along with the jokes, couldn't get invested in characters whose motivations are vastly told through the above.
Drag Me to Dinner (2023)
Quite funny, but had all the ingredients to be hysterical.
Whenever I finish a series thinking 'hm, funny enough', it was probably not quite funny enough. The Pit Stop and some podcasts make me cackle inanely. This made me chuckle respectfully.
Wish it were less scripted and the cast was allowed more natural interactions with one another, because that's where a lot of the magic lives and dies. Even when the script is on point, which it often is, mind you, the editing is not on par with what Drag Race has us accustomed to, and so it cripples many of the jokes that might have been funny on paper.
That said, once I got over how the humor would mostly be on the dry side, I made my peace and appreciated it for what it is. It's witty and riddled with tongue-in-cheek moments that will have you... not in stitches, perhaps, but smiling and shaking your head fondly. If you consider watching your favorite drag queens get moderately silly to be worth your time, give it a go. I comfortably give it a 7 while wishing I could have given it more.
Gil Bok-soon (2023)
Best Assassin Film I've Seen This Year
...and that's partially owing to the fact that it wasn't purely an assassin film.
The mother-daughter relationship is the undeniable backbone of the story, and as it was unfolding, I found myself thinking, more than once, 'This movie gets it. I have lived a version of this.' The themes they grapple with are handled maturely. It's refreshing to see a movie that calmly states its message as opposed to shouting it aggressively in your face (looking at you, Netflix coming-of-age flicks). Considering the over-the-top acting one often associates with Korean filmmaking, I'm pleasantly surprised by how reined-in some of the performances are.
The action sequences are crisp and fun. Something worth mentioning is that while, yes, there's a solid MANY minutes of trivial violence in there, I feel no punch is thrown in vain. The plot advances with every bloody betrayal. Throw some inspired stuntwork in the mix, and I mostly got through this film without feeling like I'd just spent two hours of my time watching people beat each other stupid.