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Reviews
Sprung (2022)
Exceeded every expectation...
The entire ensemble is about perfect. Garret Dillahunt is brilliant as always and Martha Plimpton is fearlessly hysterical, but everyone shines, there are no weak links here. The writing hits a perfect balance of humor and humanity, wholesomeness and vulgarity, all against the backdrop of the craziness in the beginning of the pandemic. Just wish I could binge em all now....
StartUp (2016)
So close, and yet....
I've now binged the first two seasons. There's a lot to like here, and Edi Gathegi alone makes it a show worth watching. Martin Freeman is excellent as always, Adam Brody does his usual thing, which is an enjoyable thing. It both rises above and sinks to the level of typical tv in it's writing and story-telling choices. The one major knock I have is their main protagonist is just not in any way likable or someone you want to root for. It starts bad and gets worse. At first I blamed the actress, but have since decided this is on the writers. It's like they've gone out of their way to make her unlikable. I think if it were acting choices, a correction would've been made a few episodes in. Baffling.
Hunters (2020)
Blew the lay-up.
You'd think a show about real-life Nazi hunters in America would be hard to screw up. Really a waste of one of the better Pacino character/ performances in years. I really wanted to like this show, but weak writing/dialogue/direction/characters/performances make it almost unwatchable when Pacino isn't on-screen. More campy than compelling, I'd almost like to see them try again with a mostly re-vamped cast and someone who can write dialogue (or actors good enough to make it work) and some directors who won't insult the audience with the completely ridiculous. Using modern lingo and references in a show set in the 70s, a character who stands in the middle of the street holding up several bags of heroin in his hand and makes no effort to conceal it when the cops loudly come rolling in, in spite of ample time - he not only doesn't try to stuff it in the backpack in his other hand, he continues to HOLD IT UP - you get the sense some people in the chain just aren't trying.