Continuity, dialogue, and acting are somewhat inconsistent. The young boy's gauze eye patch somehow survives a raucous swim to remain in place for days (with variable appearances from day to day). Some aspects of the script are excellent, but some exchanges are so cliched that actors struggle to stay genuinely in character. That's all easy to overlook because some aspects of the acting and some shots are powerfully real, AND the overall arc is meaningful. This movie tells a good story, and I can well imagine many sorts of young people enjoying it thoroughly and being anxious to discuss it afterwards. Reaching the end of my review, I realized.
Reviews
3 Reviews
Endlings
(2020–2021)
Broad-Brushed Excellence
8 January 2022
Understood in the correct context (roughly, "after-school special"), Endlings shines as a well-told story with compelling characters. Yes, the depth of character development is not what we experience in adult serials or Hollywood movies; we often wonder, "hold it, why...," and it is easy to imagine how finer-grain character details could make Endlings even better. Still, these children and this foster father are wonderfully real characters -- rising from and toward real challenges in the midst of fun fantasy challenges. Many foster parents are wrestling with their own losses and being emotionally present. Yes, yes, we want to know more about the children's backstories -- but what is revealed rings true. And lotsa luck finding any such portrayals elsewhere in television and movies. I watched this with my teenage foster son and, initially, we had some great conversations after each episode. Eventually, it got to the point where he would grab the remote and pause mid-show to talk about what was happening with a character. The actors are quite good, and the acting is similarly good (though a bit constrained by the production approach in this genre). The reviews/ratings to date are misleading. Children love MacNCheese and a Michelin restaurant rating for MacNCheese would be wholly misleading regarding your child's enjoyment of that food. Adult scifi enthusiasts who wandered into this show would be disappointed. Kids won't be disappointed (and parents might enjoy some shared quality time).
Everything's Gonna Be Okay
(2020–2021)
I want to like this so bad, but the first two episodes were SO BAD
19 January 2020
Though the acting is good and some lines are amusing, the first two episodes are as incoherent as the sophomore attempt of a soon-former film school student. Not dark and edgy. Not pushing an envelope. Not a fresh take. Just cacophonous -- constant awkward mismatching of situation, character, emotion, dialogue.
In "Please Like Me," Josh Thomas demonstrated an exceptionally nuanced feel for characters young and old. He resisted formula and achieved a rawness that made the viewer feel almost voyeuristic. A masterful cast helped.
"Please Like Me" excelled from the first scene of the first show to the last shot of the finale. Thomas' new creation gets off to a cringe-y start. The premise of siblings-on-their-own is promising. Instead of starting there, he chose to attempt an episode about getting there -- and it revealed a gross misapprehension of how relationships work, the nature of grief, child development, etc. To be clear, these weren't failed jokes, they were just awful television.
Still, instead of 1 star (it was a 1-star launch for this series) I give it 4/10 stars, and I plan to keep watching -- as long as I can stand it. Josh Thomas' talent makes it possible that the series' title is prescient: as bad as this launch was, Everything's Gonna Be Okay and the series will deliver some resonant stories and great laughs in the future.
In "Please Like Me," Josh Thomas demonstrated an exceptionally nuanced feel for characters young and old. He resisted formula and achieved a rawness that made the viewer feel almost voyeuristic. A masterful cast helped.
"Please Like Me" excelled from the first scene of the first show to the last shot of the finale. Thomas' new creation gets off to a cringe-y start. The premise of siblings-on-their-own is promising. Instead of starting there, he chose to attempt an episode about getting there -- and it revealed a gross misapprehension of how relationships work, the nature of grief, child development, etc. To be clear, these weren't failed jokes, they were just awful television.
Still, instead of 1 star (it was a 1-star launch for this series) I give it 4/10 stars, and I plan to keep watching -- as long as I can stand it. Josh Thomas' talent makes it possible that the series' title is prescient: as bad as this launch was, Everything's Gonna Be Okay and the series will deliver some resonant stories and great laughs in the future.
Tell Your Friends