Happy 2024, everyone! We've made it to another year and, as the weather turns frigid across the country, there's no better time to ditch unnecessary trips outside and sink into the couch with some streaming options.
Over the holidays, Netflix released a handful of films that range from excellent to okay to terrible, and Marvel continues its recent legacy of mediocrity. Tackling the sophomore jinx, Reacher returns for a second season with great gusto, while Emerald Fennell's follow-up to 2020's Promising Young Woman hits Prime Video.
Wishing everyone a healthy and joyful year ahead with plenty of movies and series to enjoy and hate-watch. Ne sure to read our past editions of Tune In or Turn Off here for more streaming hits and misses.
Turn Off: Echo
(Disney+)
I don't revel in the downfall of Marvel Studios — the joy they've brought to many cinema goers is innumerable, even if it comes with a side of content milling and blind-faith fandom — but, once again, it's time to report that their latest outing is another miss. Building off of Alaqua Cox's Maya Lopez (a.k.a. Echo) introduction in Hawkeye, Vincent D'Onofrio also returns as Wilson Fisk (a.k.a. Kingpin) and, despite their formidable performances, the series can't get over the Marvel malaise of empty storytelling.
Tune In: Good Grief
(Netflix)
Unsurprising and inoffensive, Dan Levy's feature film directorial debut is an exercise in vanilla filmmaking. A heartwarming and at times thoughtful journey of love, loss and friendship, Good Grief feels like the perfect embodiment of Levy as a filmmaker and performer, for better and for worse. Ultimately, though, it's a perfectly pleasant watch that can fill the silence while folding laundry and washing dishes. Vanilla is, after all, a flavour.
Turn Off: Lift
(Netflix)
The combination of F. Gary Gray and Kevin Hart should have been far more buoyant than Lift, an aggressively mediocre outing that is as formulaic as it is boring. A heist movie in which Hart sheds his comedy persona for the suave George Clooney-type simply feels misguided and a waste of time. Here's hoping that Hart can muster up some passion and effort for Borderlands later this year.
Tune In: One More Time
(CBC Gem)
A workplace comedy set in a second-hand sporting goods store, One More Time shares a resemblance with The Office, but Canadian. D.J. Demers assumes the lead role as a perpetually optimistic, people-pleasing manager with good natured ribbing. The show hasn't quite reached the heights of other workplace comedies, but as a first season, it's a fun, light show that's an enjoyable crowd-pleaser.
Tune In: Reacher, Season 2
(Prime Video)
Perhaps one of the most surprising film-to-TV-series adaptations, Reacher follows up its excellent first season with a wildly pulpy delight. Using Lee Child's Bad Luck and Trouble (the 11th Jack Reacher book) as the season's focus, Alan Ritchson returns as the brawny Jack Reacher in an eight-episode stretch that understands exactly what its audience wants. Never attempting to be too clever or stylish, Reacher continues to deliver on its promise of mindless entertainment.
Tune In: Saltburn
(Prime Video)
Emerald Fennell's Saltburn may be a lesser version of The Talented Mr. Ripley, Single White Female and Brideshead Revisited, but, up until the third act, it's suitably engaging. Jacob Elordi, Barry Keoghan, Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant turn in fantastic performances against a moody English backdrop, and while the final reveal will induce eyerolls, Saltburn has encouraged some interesting debates and opinions. Of all the zany releases last year, Saltburn discourse (and dickscourse) is the only one I've truly enjoyed keeping up with.
Tune In: Society of the Snow
(Netflix)
Hauntingly beautiful, Society of the Snow is an Oscar contender worth seeking out. Telling the story of the Uruguayan 1972 Andes flight disaster through its survivors, J.A. Bayona's latest outing balances the gripping nature of the story with the heartfelt terror and connections created in the face of death. A stunning film that deserved to be seen in cinemas, Society of the Snow will still astound and devastate, regardless of screen size.
Over the holidays, Netflix released a handful of films that range from excellent to okay to terrible, and Marvel continues its recent legacy of mediocrity. Tackling the sophomore jinx, Reacher returns for a second season with great gusto, while Emerald Fennell's follow-up to 2020's Promising Young Woman hits Prime Video.
Wishing everyone a healthy and joyful year ahead with plenty of movies and series to enjoy and hate-watch. Ne sure to read our past editions of Tune In or Turn Off here for more streaming hits and misses.
Turn Off: Echo
(Disney+)
I don't revel in the downfall of Marvel Studios — the joy they've brought to many cinema goers is innumerable, even if it comes with a side of content milling and blind-faith fandom — but, once again, it's time to report that their latest outing is another miss. Building off of Alaqua Cox's Maya Lopez (a.k.a. Echo) introduction in Hawkeye, Vincent D'Onofrio also returns as Wilson Fisk (a.k.a. Kingpin) and, despite their formidable performances, the series can't get over the Marvel malaise of empty storytelling.
Tune In: Good Grief
(Netflix)
Unsurprising and inoffensive, Dan Levy's feature film directorial debut is an exercise in vanilla filmmaking. A heartwarming and at times thoughtful journey of love, loss and friendship, Good Grief feels like the perfect embodiment of Levy as a filmmaker and performer, for better and for worse. Ultimately, though, it's a perfectly pleasant watch that can fill the silence while folding laundry and washing dishes. Vanilla is, after all, a flavour.
Turn Off: Lift
(Netflix)
The combination of F. Gary Gray and Kevin Hart should have been far more buoyant than Lift, an aggressively mediocre outing that is as formulaic as it is boring. A heist movie in which Hart sheds his comedy persona for the suave George Clooney-type simply feels misguided and a waste of time. Here's hoping that Hart can muster up some passion and effort for Borderlands later this year.
Tune In: One More Time
(CBC Gem)
A workplace comedy set in a second-hand sporting goods store, One More Time shares a resemblance with The Office, but Canadian. D.J. Demers assumes the lead role as a perpetually optimistic, people-pleasing manager with good natured ribbing. The show hasn't quite reached the heights of other workplace comedies, but as a first season, it's a fun, light show that's an enjoyable crowd-pleaser.
Tune In: Reacher, Season 2
(Prime Video)
Perhaps one of the most surprising film-to-TV-series adaptations, Reacher follows up its excellent first season with a wildly pulpy delight. Using Lee Child's Bad Luck and Trouble (the 11th Jack Reacher book) as the season's focus, Alan Ritchson returns as the brawny Jack Reacher in an eight-episode stretch that understands exactly what its audience wants. Never attempting to be too clever or stylish, Reacher continues to deliver on its promise of mindless entertainment.
Tune In: Saltburn
(Prime Video)
Emerald Fennell's Saltburn may be a lesser version of The Talented Mr. Ripley, Single White Female and Brideshead Revisited, but, up until the third act, it's suitably engaging. Jacob Elordi, Barry Keoghan, Rosamund Pike and Richard E. Grant turn in fantastic performances against a moody English backdrop, and while the final reveal will induce eyerolls, Saltburn has encouraged some interesting debates and opinions. Of all the zany releases last year, Saltburn discourse (and dickscourse) is the only one I've truly enjoyed keeping up with.
Tune In: Society of the Snow
(Netflix)
Hauntingly beautiful, Society of the Snow is an Oscar contender worth seeking out. Telling the story of the Uruguayan 1972 Andes flight disaster through its survivors, J.A. Bayona's latest outing balances the gripping nature of the story with the heartfelt terror and connections created in the face of death. A stunning film that deserved to be seen in cinemas, Society of the Snow will still astound and devastate, regardless of screen size.
