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Somewhere between Dudikoff and Seagal: Anthony Mackie (left) in "Outside The Wire"
Photo:
Jonathan Prime / Netflix
"Outside The Wire," Netflix
Time budget:
115 deafening minutes
for fans of:
"Platoon Leader", "Red Alert"
Here it is, one of the 70 announced films that Netflix plans to show at least this year.
Good news for cinema operators: You don't have to tremble with every one of these titles, "Outside The Wire" shows that very clearly.
There are quite a few genres that have long since disappeared from the cinemas - Netflix is now taking care of them.
Romantic comedies.
And action films somewhere between the first and second leagues.
That includes this war film set in the near future.
Combat robots go into battle with human soldiers, and a sophisticated cyborg (Anthony Mackie) goes on a secret mission to save the world.
Or is he really a dangerous killer?
Let's put it this way: it doesn't get much more complex.
This shooting orgy looks better than it used to be because of advanced trick technology (and it sounds extremely dynamic, especially in home theater), but in truth it would have been in the video stores between Michael Dudikoff and Steven Seagal in pre-streaming times.
Whereby, this B-movie has made a decisive evolutionary step: Both heroes are black (besides Mackie, Damson Idris), and the patriotic undertones are far more subdued than in earlier Stars and Stripes cheap spectacles.
That's not a little.
But it still doesn't make a good film.
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Looks pretty old: The third season of "American Gods"
Photo: Amazon
American Gods, Season 3, Amazon Prime Video
Time budget:
ten episodes of 50 minutes each
for fans of:
"Watchmen", "Black Panther"
If the gods are involved in the production of new series, the third season of "American Gods" shouldn't actually exist.
The series constantly wears out creative staff, and Charles H. Eglee is now the third showrunner on board.
Perhaps the producers at US cable station Starz, where the series runs in the US, should have listened to the signs.
Because nobody really needs this third season.
It is also based on the novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman, new gods are still fighting for the souls of the people, and in the middle of it the ex-prisoner Shadow Moon (Ricky Whitle) stumbles around between the trenches that are invisible to normal mortals.
What began as an intoxicating iconoclasm and parable of an ungodly, highly technical world has meanwhile degenerated into a silly mummery.
“American Gods” seems particularly lazy and old-fashioned when a goddess tries to sow discord using social media.
It really doesn't need omnipotent beings for this.
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The eccentric as the grand master: Nicolas Cage has swear words explained
Photo: Adam Rose / Netflix
"The History of Swear Words," Netflix
Time budget:
six episodes à fuckin '20 minutes
for fans of:
"Arizona Junior", "In the body of the enemy"
"What the fuck are you lookin 'at?" Is the first sentence that Nicolas Cage, the presenter of this documentary series, says directly into the camera about American swear words.
It's clear why the makers wanted him for the performance, the man has finally lost his reputation as an eccentric.
Cage's Joe Pesci homage from "Goodfellas" is nice too, but otherwise his choice for this job is just too obvious, and his appearance in a dark suit is at most semi-interesting.
No more exciting are the comedians and actors that Netflix brings up so that they can shout about their experiences with this or that curse word.
This show would have been really good if one had trusted the linguists, who speak with true passion and great humor about the origins of »Fuck«, »Shit« and »Bitch«.
That would have been the very best educational television.
It's not shitty like that, but it is unnecessarily diluted into a bland entertainment soup.
Damn it!
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Without him it would only be half the fun: Rupert Grint (center) in »Servant«
Photo: Apple TV +
"Servant," Season 2, Apple TV +
Time budget:
ten episodes of 30 minutes each
for fans of:
"Rosemary's Baby", "The Sixth Sense"
If M. Night Shyamalan is planning a horror series that will run over six seasons and 60 episodes, there are good reasons to be skeptical.
After all, the director is not only known for the modern classic "The Sixth Sense", but also for cracks like "Glass".
So it's all the more surprising how well the second season of »Servant« works.
Part of the reason is that the creators remain true to the introduced recipe: The story of a dead (or alive again?) Baby, a broken married couple and a mysterious nanny still looks like an extremely effectively staged chamber horror play with ambiguous images, that undermine any expectation.
The best special effect remains a baroque unshaven Rupert Grint as the wife's brother who likes to drink.
And where the mysterious story will develop remains to be seen.
That this should work over six seasons still seems unlikely, even with a good will, but here and now "Servant" is a big, beautiful series spook.
And here is the current »crime scene«.
Icon: The mirror
