Ancient Black Ops
Ancient Black Ops takes a look at some of the most notable “black ops” missions of history. Combining recreations with modern narration from very enthusiastic experts, the show will feel very familiar to fans of Deadliest Warrior.
Age of Ultron‘s legacy is a victim of both its past and its future. It follows in the enormous footsteps of the original The Avengers but it also came out not long after the plans for the next four years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe were revealed. What do you even do with that? It’s not even that the movie isn’t entertaining, it’s just that there aren’t any stakes. The plans are already in place, the timeline has been published. It’s one thing to speculate about the inner workings of the machine but when they’re laid out so openly, it’s hard to not feel cynical.
This seems like a fascinating documentary all about the so-called “gay accent.” For some, it’s a flashcard to their sexuality, for others it’s a cause of bullying and shame. This is one of those topics that’s lurked around in the back of my mind and I’m glad someone asked the questions so I could hear some answers.
Empty (Series 1)
The first (and only) series of Empty is about two chaps in Glasgow who work for a property maintenance company, cleaning out old houses. I’ll let Wikipedia’s description take it from here.
Jacky and Tony are also given to re-enacting silent comedy and music hall routines, and always take a polaroid photo of themselves which they date and hide in a crevice somewhere. The pair also like to guess what they will find behind each door before they open it. As befits their personalities, Jacky’s guesses are usually amusing and fanciful, while Tony’s are often gruesome, even macabre.
The series is written by Robert Florence and Iain Connell, whose sketch comedy Burnistoun, also had its first season added to Canadian Netflix this week.
F is for Family (Season 1)
The trailer for F is for Family, the new Netflix Original Bill Burr animated sitcom, seems to be evocative of a time and a place that we’re better off having moved past. I wrote it off fairly quickly but Rotten Tomatoes‘ 85% has me giving it a second thought. Apparently, the vulgarity is just the pepper on top of a surprisingly poignant family story.
It’s a well-reviewed Indian crime drama that was originally shown as a 319-minute movie. When it was released in India for general audiences, it was decided it would be best to split it into two movies for easier consumption. Netflix’ has chopped it up again, releasing the film as 8 separate episodes.
At first, I thought “well bully for you, people who watch The Good Wife” but then I realized that I have heard nothing but good things about it. How good could it be, though? Season 1 was apparently the low point, scoring only 85% on RT, with every subsequent season scoring universal praise (100%). I realize now that this isn’t just some show that’s passed me by, it’s a bandwagon I should probably jump on to.
Our second Scottish sketch comedy this week, Limmy’s Show! is critically acclaimed, as the winner of the Scottish BAFTA for Best Entertainment Program in 2011 and 2013. As best as I can tell, it combines bizarre sketches with wry observations.
Making a Murderer (Season 1)
NPR has Serial, HBO had The Jinx, and now Netflix has Making a Murderer. Filmed over 10 years, the show looks at a man, exhonerated by DNA evidence after 18 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Now, he’s under investigation for a whole new murder. Sarah Koenig, eat your heart out.
The Monster of Mangatiti
This one’s rough. It’s the real-life story of one of (at least) seven women who were victimized by a sexual predator in New Zealand. What’s especially fascinating is that the story is narrated by the victim herself, in hopes of inspiring others to come forward and find a way to deal with their own traumas.
I’ll honestly probably never get around to watching this show but this a Canadian blog, damnit, so when Canadian content gets added, we’re going to talk about it.
Les Parent is a Québecois french-language family sitcom and has been a part of Ici Radio-Canada Télé (the French CBC) for 7 seasons. It’s a hard series to find much about, except over on French Wikipedia, although it holds an average 7.6 rating on IMDb.
It’s not enough for those criminal masterminds over at The Asylum to make awful monster movies and mockbusters. Now they’re making Christmas movies… with talking cats. The trailer makes it look like someone spliced together an Air Buddies movie with The Santa Clause.
Tyke: Elephant Outlaw
Back in my day, we had fictional animal deaths to upset us. It was enough for Old Yeller to get rabies or for Bambi’s mom to participate in the circle of life. I think it’s a positive step that the camera lens has turned itself toward actual animal suffering, like 2013’s Blackfish, in that it at least starts a lot of conversations that lead to awareness and compassion toward other living creatures. In Tyke: Elephant Outlaw, we get look at a circus elephant that killed its trainer and ran loose on the streets of Honolulu. The Netflix description promises that “tough questions” are asked about animals as entertainment.
NetFlakes 