A Netflix series that modernizes an Alan Alda film, a very sexy Apple TV+ series, a Nicolas Cage performance to remember … .
Are all worth watching? We have some thoughts.
Here’s our roundup.
“The Four Seasons”: If you’re a person of, ahem, a certain age you might remember director/screenwriter and co-star Alan Alda’s breezy dramedy, with the divine Carol Burnett, set around a series of vacations that three couples took together over the years. If you’re thinking “that storyline doesn’t exactly shout out for a remake,” Tina Fey, Lang Fisher and Tracey Wigfield disagree. The trio have teamed on a new “Four Seasons” and the result is a pleasing modern renovation told in eight episodes on Netflix.
The trio bring in an entertaining gay couple (Colman Domingo and Marco Calvani, both stage veterans who punch it up) and opt to play up the challenges that couples confront as they clock more years together. For college sweethearts (Fey and Will Forte) that means their oil-and-vinegar personalities grate on each other all the more so; another couple (Steve Carrel and Kerri Kenney-Silver) faces the fallout of a midlife crisis. But eight episodes is too much for a thin premise like this, and “Four Seasons” sometimes feels as if its overstayed its welcome. Fey’s potshots at Forte become so repetitive, for instance, that you want this couple to just go away already. Still, the veteran cast and Erika Henningsen, as a radiant late arrival to the tightly knit group, often sparkle and an Alda cameo certainly warms the heart. It’s an enjoyable trip even if you happen to be a person of, ahem, a certain age and long for the Burnett and Alda original. Details: 2½ stars out of 4; drops May 1 on Netflix.
“The Legend of Ochi”: Isaiah Saxon debut feature is a fable to remember, whisking us off to the enchanted fantasy realm of Carpathian Island where 12-year-old Yuri (Helena Zengel) bonds with a cute creature she’s told to fear and hate: the ochi. Yuri sure could use a friend since she’s surrounded by lost boys who take their advice from her deluded father (Willem Dafoe), ready to stomp out the ochis forever. Baby ochi and Yuri understand each other ever so well, and both need the comfort of a real home, one that neither have since baby ochi got wounded and separated from her tribe. Saxon ignores conventional plotting and screenwriting by relying heavily on the details (this film is rich with them) and the wonders of environments (captured with such sweeping beauty). Both flesh out who these people are and what their living situations are like. The approach works best with the character of Dasha (Emily Watson, wonderful as always). She’s Yuri’s estranged mom who lives in an isolated cabin. Her car explains more about who she is than any two pages of dialogue ever could. “The Legend of Ochi” is a gentle fable that imagines people being able to realize there is a better way of being and living in harmony together. It’s certain to warm the heart and tug at it too. Detail: 3 stars; in theaters now.
“Carême”: The French aren’t really known for their spicy cuisine, but good lordy have the cooks in the Apple TV+ kitchen concocted one steaming hot dish that’s loosely inspired on the life of 19th-century chef Antonin Carême. Created by Ian Kelly and Davide Serino and based on the book “Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin Carême, the First Celebrity Chef,” this eight-parter sizzles like a grade-A steak on the grill and certainly features an extra hot actor, César Award winner Benjamin Voisin. He is tousled-hair dreamy as the titular character, a former pastry chef who satisfies the demanding tummies of historical notables such as Napoleon Bonaparte and Louis XVII. He spends much of his time with Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (Jérémie Renier) who takes him on as his chef while cooking up his own political plans. When the father who adopted Carême gets jailed, this upstart chef vows to stop at nothing to try to get him released. When Carême’s not in the kitchen whipping up savory and sweet items (there’s a good deal of food porn), he’s tumbling in and out of beds and even tempting Bonaparte’s very ambitious wife. But wait, there’s much more, including a girlfriend (Lyna Khoudri) who’s secretly meeting up with his nemesis Fouche (Micha Lescot, a superior villain) and an exceptional sous-chef (Alice da Luz) who has the hots for him, too. Most everyone here is beautiful and equipped with a voracious sexual appetite that we see in action. Director Martin Bourboulon (“Les Trois Mousquetaires: D’Artagnan”) takes full advantage of that and keeps things at a high boil. “Carême” is the hottest thing to hit streaming services in a long time, and it’s sinfully fun even as it gets more and more preposterous. Seconds, please! Details: 3½ stars; two episodes available now with one additional episode released each Wednesday through June 11.
“The Surfer”: Nicolas Cage’s acting career has been an insane roller coaster ride, with highs such as “Leaving Las Vegas,” for which he won an Oscar, and “Pig”; and a larger depository of lows, including “Season of the Witch,” “Ghost Rider” and so on. His has been a reliable presence in straight-to-streaming duds, guaranteeing that at least one performance will be interesting. What a relief then that Cage lands a complicated role that demands he acts instead of overreacts, and that leads to another career high. Be prepared, though, director Lorcan Finnegan’s surreal exploration of toxic masculinity that surfs and turfs on an Australian beach isn’t for all tastes. “The Surfer” is unnerving, sometimes gross, and intent on showing us a beaten-down guy unraveling as he attempts to buy a beachfront property his dad used to own and gain a little respect from his teen son. Every obstacle gets thrown in his path, including a macho but charismatic brute (Julian McMahon) and his stable of bad-boy surfers who belittle, berate and strip him of his masculinity. Screenwriter Thomas Martin blurs the lines between sanity and insanity, and real and imagined, and it makes for a more challenging cerebral experience than we expect from than the average Cage film. Truth is, without its great anchoring performance, “The Surfer” would be a wipeout. Cage does go all in, but remains in control and never fully succumbs to overdone theatrics as in the recent past. It’s a performance that makes his unnamed “surfer” sad, tortured, pathetic, relatable and redeemable. Finnegan deserves props too, for drawing the best out of Cage and McMahon. Details: 2½ stars; opens May 2 in area theaters.
“Rosario”: Hotshot Wall Street stockbroker Rosario Fuentes (Emeraude Toubia) encounters a day of reckoning as she tangles with supernatural forces in a creepy apartment building where her abuela has just died. Director Felipe Vargas’ feature debut is first rate and genuinely scary but also has higher aspirations by reminding us of the dangers of ignoring our family history and for choosing to help out the wealthy and not those in need. A good message right now. Toubia should be commended not only for her acting abilities, but for meeting all the physical demands placed on her as she tangles with demons. Vargas is an exciting new voice in horror. Details: 3 stars; opens May 2 in theaters.
“Hell of a Summer”: Billy Bryk and Finn Wolfhard’s amiable sendup of summer camp movies and slasher flicks seemed to not stick around very long in theaters. It deserves better. Not necessarily scary but quite gory, this campy delight has a thimble of a plot per the summer camp norms: 11 camp counselors gather at Camp Pineway the day before it opens and are targeted by a serial killer in a devil’s mask. There are nods to genre classics – including “Friday the 13th” and “Wet Hot American Summer” – but the best parts of “Hell of a Summer” are its quirky characters and its big cast of actors. Fred Hechinger (“Thelma”) generates the most laughs as 24-year-old Jason Hotchberg, an aimless guy who takes his job seriously but should be more concerned about getting a “real” job. He takes command since the camp’s hosts have gone missing. Soon dead bodies start piling up and fingers start getting pointed in all directions, most often landing on Jason as the killer. Bryk is hilarious as a vain and insecure counselor while D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai (“Warfare,” “Reservation Dogs”) has fun as the “pretty boy” that other guys so want to be. Even the killer’s identity offers a good, appropriate twist. “Hell of a Summer” made me laugh and kept me thoroughly engaged. It’s no classic, but it’s still oddly charming and fun, and points to good things ahead for filmmakers Bryk and Wolfhard. Details: 3 stars, now available to rent.
“Bullet Train Explosion”: The inspiration for the Keanu Reeves-Sandra Bullock classic“Speed” gets a reboot and sticks to its original 1975 concept. It finds a fully stocked passenger train barreling toward Tokyo and carrying a a ticking time bomb that’ll go off when the speed drops below 100 kilometers (just over 62 mph). How to stop it? Fork over $100 billion yen, an excessive sum the government balks at. Pandemonium and panic ensue aboard as an Irwin Allen-loaded cast of characters – a grandstanding millionaire blogger, female politician who has gone viral in a bad way and an incognito oddball with a past – feud with each other and make life a living hell for train personnel. The reveal of the bomber’s identity doesn’t track that well in the end but forget about that and just buckle up to enjoy director Shinj Higuchi’s (“Shin Godzilla”) empty-headed thrill ride that’s edited so fast you won’t notice, mostly, the bumps along the way. Details: 2½ stars, available now on Netflix.
Contact Randy Myers at [email protected].
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