Looking for your next binge-worthy series or film to add to your streaming queue? Check back with Village Life every Friday for Jordan Parker's comprehensive insights on the week's most buzz-worthy programs from top streaming services like Netflix, Crave, Amazon Prime, and beyond.
On Netflix – The Gentlemen
While it can’t compare to the thrilling, hilarious film it’s named after, this episodic series from British gangster film auteur Guy Ritchie is rarely boring.
In a departure from the film, it focuses on socialite lifestyle when Eddie Horniman – a soldier – inherits the family fortune, leapfrogging his high-strung, screw-up brother. He soon realizes there’s a crime syndicate growing marijuana underneath the property, and they’ve been there a long time.
He struggles with following his late father’s lead and taking the hush money to let them stay or ridding himself of them for good. However, when his brother’s own shady dealings threaten to pull the family empire down, he has no choice but to find help from his newfound tenants.
Eddie is played by Theo James, who delighted in the latest season of The White Lotus. Daniel Ings, Nip/Tuck alum Joely Richardson, Vinnie Jones and Breaking Bad villain Giancarlo Esposito also co-star. But it’s weed kingpin Kaya Scodelario that truly makes this show shine.
It’s definitely uneven and isn’t a classic TV triumph, but this crime tale is infused with enough comedy and intrigue to keep most happy.
On Amazon Prime Video – The Holdovers
You won’t find me bemoaning the Oscar wins of Oppenheimer and that film’s star Cillian Murphy any time soon, but believe me when I say The Holdovers is definitely the more light-hearted film experience.
Alexander Payne re-teams with his Sideways star Paul Giamatti for this touching, hilarious film I truly adored.
The Academy Awards darling received a much-deserved nomination for Best Picture, and Giamatti also got a nom as Paul, a cranky prep school history teacher who hates the world, and knows it hates him back.
He is voluntold to stay over Christmas break to chaperone and care for the kids who don’t have anywhere to go for the holidays, much to his chagrin. But he soon strikes up a bond with young Angus Tully, a troubled young student.
The two push through the holidays with the help of grieving school cook Mary, and they find solace and comfort in each other.
The script from David Hemingson is terrific, and the performances are all fantastic. Giamatti is a major highlight, but Da’Vine Joy Randolph earned the Oscar last weekend for her supporting turn as Mary. Young Dominic Sessa is also truly heartbreaking.
It’s a different kind of coming-of-age film, and one I will always cherish. It is an instant-classic in my eyes.
On Crave – O.G.
When Jeffrey Wright was nominated for his first (!!!) career Oscar this year, I realized just how underrated the versatile actor can be.
Enter O.G., and HBO-backed film that provides a glimpse and insight into Wright’s on-screen prominence.
He plays Louis, a man who has been incarcerated for 25 years after he murdered someone during a robbery in his youth. He’s content to lay low as he waits out his final days before parole, but when he meets young inmate Beech, it all changes.
He tries to protect him from a life inside the prison where politics and involvement in gangs will get him killed.
Wright is formidable, and the script by Stephen Belber is fiery and crackling. Performances from Theothus Carter, William Fichtner and Boyd Holbrook round things out.
This is a tense drama that I truly loved, and Wright is the main reason why.
On Disney+ – Poor Things
This is without a doubt one of the strangest, most absurd, grotesque films of 2023, but I couldn’t take my eyes off it for a second.
A satire to the umpteenth degree, Poor Things follows Bella Baxter, a young woman who is Frankenstein’d back to life by Dr. Godwin Baxter.
Possessing few verbal abilities, Bella is a woman in the body of someone barely learning to speak, eat and walk. She is fascinated by the world around her, and not yet tainted by jaded thoughts or ideals about what society “thinks” she should be.
As such, when Bella decides in a flight of fancy to leave her soon-to-be fiancée and doting-but-strange “father” Dr. Baxter to have a tryst and trip with eccentric Duncan, she is following her desires without much worry for how others feel about it.
Writers Tony McNamara and Alasdair Gray create a screenplay that is so funny and vibrant. Even if I have to say I didn’t absolutely adore all of Poor Things like most critics did, it’s certainly not forgettable.
Emma Stone won the Oscar last week for Best Actress here, with turns from Mark Ruffalo, Willem Dafoe, Ramy Youssef, Margaret Qualley, and Christopher Abbott adding to the proceedings.
Director Yorgos Lanthimos has a style and vision all his own, and it surely comes to life here in his most ambitious work. Not everything was to my taste, but I have to say I respect the effort and inventiveness wholeheartedly.
On Paramount+ – The Kill Room
The Kill Room is worthwhile for a viewing for one primary reason – The reuniting of Uma Thurman and Samuel L. Jackson.
The two appeared in Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill Vol. 2, but have never really shared much screen-time. They get a true chance to shine together here.
Thurman stars as art dealer Patrice, who is crumbling under debt. She offers a painting as payment to her drug supplier Nate, and the painter becomes a cult sensation. The catch is the painter is actually a hitman, and his work catches the eye of the Nate’s boss Gordon.
Soon, the painter must hide his real profession while also using the gallery as a money-laundering scheme for the criminal underworld.
Thurman, Jackson, and Joe Manganiello are a lot of fun here. They’re joined by Maya Hawke (daughter of Ethan) and Matthew Maher.
It boasts some really fun satirical bits, but the tone is pretty dark. It’s uneven for sure, but I found plenty to like here.
About The Author:
Jordan Parker is a freelance journalist and runs entertainment firm Parker PR. A huge lover and supporter of the local arts scene, he’s an avid filmgoer and lover of all genres.
