Apple TV+ – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

NAPOLEON – Review by Susan Granger

November 27, 2023November 29, 2023 Susan Granger Apple TV+, David Scarpa, Joaquin Phoenix, Napoleon, ridley scott, Rupert Everett, vanessa kirby

Big-budgeted Napoleon is an epic bore. Working from David Scarpa’s history-heavy script, director Ridley Scott (Gladiator) spends 2 hours, 38 minutes alternating between brutality on the battlefield and violence in the bedroom, succeeding more in the former than the latter – since he used 11 cameras, filming simultaneously for the frontline carnage. In the titular role, Joaquin Phoenix is almost as quirky and creepy as he was as Arthur Fleck in Joker. He whines, sneers and – almost comically – habitually covers his ears after ordering the canons to fire. What he lacks is charisma.

Reviews

LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY – Review by Susan Granger

November 27, 2023November 27, 2023 Susan Granger Alice Halsey, Apple TV+, Bonnie Garmus, brie larson, Courtney McBroom, Elizabeth Zott, Lee Eisenberg., Lessons in Chemistry, Supper at Six

Looking for something different? Try Lessons in Chemistry, based on Bonnie Garmus’s 2022 novel about Elizabeth Zott (Brie Larson), a brilliant but solitary scientist who becomes the host of a cooking show, a precursor to Julia Child. Elizabeth’s mantra is: “Cooking is chemistry and chemistry is life. Your ability to change everything, including yourself starts here.”

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WEEK IN WOMEN: Katherine Jakeway’s THE BUCCANEERS takes on Edith Wharton – Brandy McDonnell reports

November 8, 2023November 9, 2023 Brandy McDonnell Apple TV+, Edith Wharton, Katherine Jakeways, Stella Mozgawa, Taylor Swift, The Buccaneers, the week in women, twiw

Led by an all-female creative team, The Buccaneers makes its global debut on Apple TV+ with the first three episodes on Wednesday, Nov. 8, followed by new episodes weekly, every Wednesday through Dec. 13. The new eight-episode drama, inspired by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Edith Wharton’s unfinished final novel of the same name, comes from creator Katherine Jakeways.

Reviews

THE RETIREMENT PLAN – Review by Susan Granger

November 8, 2023November 12, 2023 Susan Granger Apple TV+, Jackie Earle Haley, Nicolas Cage, Prime Video, Ron Perlman, Thalia Campbell, The Retirement Plan, Tim Brown, Vudu

After a brief release in theaters, Nicolas Cage’s newest action-comedy The Retirement Plan is now streaming. The story begins in Miami with a heist that goes terribly wrong. As a result, Jimmy (Jordan Johnson-Hinds) and his wife Ashley (Ashley Greene) are in possession of an incriminating flash-drive that mobster, Donnie (Jackie Earle Haley) promised to give Hector (Grace Byrne), who heads an organized crime syndicate.

Reviews

FINGERNAILS – Review by Susan Granger

November 8, 2023November 8, 2023 Susan Granger Apple TV+, Christos Nikou, Fingernails, jeremy allen white, Jesse Buckley, Riz ahmed

As a critic, I’ve seen wretched sci-fi romantic dramedies – but few as ludicrous and repugnant as Greek filmmaker Christos Nikou’s Fingernails. The premise is simple: What if technology could determine whether you and your partner are perfectly matched and in love? Would it matter to you if that simple test involved ripping out one of your fingernails – without anesthesia?

Reviews

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON – Review by Susan Granger

October 27, 2023October 29, 2023 Susan Granger Apple TV+, David Grann, eric roth, jesse plemons, Killers of the Flower Moon, Leonardo DiCaprio, Lily Gladstone, martin scorsese, Osage Nation, robert deniro, tantoo cardinal

Master storyteller Martin Scorsese’s harrowing epic Killers of the Flower Moon relates an American true-crime drama, set in the 1920s.

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INVASION – Review by Susan Granger

August 29, 2023September 3, 2023 Susan Granger Apple TV+, Golshifteh Farahani, Invasion, sam neill, scifi, series

On the advice of my friend critic-turned-director Rod Lurie (The Outpost), I just caught up with the ominous sci-fi series Invasion that made its debut in 2021. This 10-episode saga begins as strange objects descend from the sky. In Oklahoma, a mysterious circular crater in a cornfield attracts the attention of retiring small-town Sheriff John Bell Tyson (Sam Neill), who is searching for meaning in his career. Everywhere, spiky, metallic, seemingly indestructible, spider-like creatures from outer space are wreaking havoc and destroying cities around the globe.

Reviews

HIJACK – Review by Diane Carson

August 12, 2023August 12, 2023 Diane Carson Apple TV+, Hijack, Idris Elba, Jim Field Smith, Kingdom Flight KA29, Mo Ali, series

Hijack feeds that adrenaline rush of events unfolding in real time, this one over seven hours. There’s no ticking clock, but time is of the essence after Kingdom Flight KA29 leaves Dubai for London. Within minutes, several hijackers—men and one woman—take control of the plane. it doesn’t take long to establish that on the aircraft and on the ground in London, these terrorists will murder without hesitation. The stakes are astronomical, literally life and death for two hundred plus passengers. Idris Elba elevates the intensity as he charismatically commands the camera.

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WEEK IN WOMEN: Aniston/Witherspoon’s MORNING SHOW sets Season Three Premiere – Brandy McDonnell reports

August 12, 2023August 13, 2023 Brandy McDonnell Apple TV+, Billy Crudup, Charlotte Stoudt, Greta Lee, jennifer aniston, Jon Hamm, julianna margulies, Karen Pittman, mark duplass, Mimi Leder, Nestor Carbonell, nicole beharie, Nicole Beharie and Julianna Margulies, reese witherspoon, The Morning Show, the week in women, twiw

Apple TV+ will premiere next month the highly anticipated third season of The Morning Show, starring and executive produced by Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. In Season 3, the future of the network is thrown into question and loyalties are pushed to the brink when a tech titan takes an interest in UBA. Unexpected alliances form, private truths are weaponized, and everyone is forced to confront their core values both in and out of the newsroom. The Emmy-, SAG- and Critics Choice Award-winning drama, which has already received an early renewal for Season 4, is directed and executive produced by Mimi Leder.

Reviews

SILO – Review by Susan Granger

July 31, 2023August 3, 2023 Susan Granger Apple TV+, Common, David Oyelowo, Geraldine James, Hugh Howey, rebecca ferguson, sci-fi series, Silo, Tim Robbins, Will Patton

If you enjoy sci-fi thrillers, stream 10 episodes of the first season of Silo on Apple TV+. Based on a series of dystopian novels by Hugh Howey, it revolves around the inhabitants of a 144-story subterranean bunker built to shelter 10,000 people after an apocalyptic event left Earth uninhabitable. Designed with a huge spiral staircase in its center and no elevator, living space in the Silo is strictly stratified. Those in authority and the elite occupy the top floors; the white-collar labor force is in the middle; and the blue-collar mechanical workers are down below.

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