By Anne Brodie Season Two of Netflix’ The Umbrella Academy debuts this week and fans couldn’t be more excited. I’ve had a peek and will say this season exceeds the excellent first series oin its scope and imagination. OK so Sir Reginald Hargreeves is dead and the superhero children he adopted must keep the world rotating. Apocalypses come and go,… View Post
By Anne Brodie Longtime ABC News anchor, war correspondent and investigative reporter Bob Woodruff was sidelined from a stellar career when an Iraqi roadside bomb struck, leaving him with serious brain injuries. He worked his way back to health, and in order to help his son Mack face the world without fear, took him a series of adventures to some… View Post
By Anne Brodie J.J. Abrams produces a wonderfully analog series about a girl in New York, a voice and a dream starring Brittany O’Grady. Hers is anything but a Little Voice but she needs to find her way. “Bess’ is always taking care of others, her autistic brother, father, backup band, friends and the folks at the old age home…. View Post
By Anne Brodie Dave Franco does himself proud with The Rental, a horror film he wrote and directs starring Alison Brie, Dan Stevens, Sheila Vand and Jeremy Allen White. Franco’s original take on the old couples-trapped-in-a remote-house trope is startling, authentic and psychologically complex; imagine that after all retreads we’ve seen. Two couples and a dog head arrive at a vacation… View Post
Václav Marhoul’s dark odyssey The Painted Bird follows a young orphan boy wandering through an identified Eastern European country in the closing days of World War II. The boy’s episodic adventures are appalling, poignant and defy the idea of human goodness, he looks for food and a place to rest. Udo Kier, the wonderful German actor once dubbed “the most… View Post
By Anne Brodie Rod Lurie’s The Outpost is finally available on VOD in Canada as of Tuesday. Based on Jake Tapper’s book of the same name, it’s a military thriller covering events of The Battle of Kamdesh in Afghanistan in 2009 when US soldiers were trapped in a geographically hazardous valley, easy prey for well-armed Taliban forces. The American lives… View Post