Sonal Pandya

The new Apple TV+ series Government Cheese is billed as a family comedy but veers into deep drama at times as well. Set in 1960s California, the surreal comedy never seems too sure about its initial premise and veers all over the place. David Oyelowo is the cheerful protagonist and former felon who is ready to do everything to get things back to where they were with his family. However, his criminal past can never quite escape him. The meandering dramedy pushes off strong but loses itself as more characters are introduced. Oyelowo is Hampton Chambers, a check forger sentenced to the Chino State Prison, who is let out early with certain conditions. His family, wife Astoria (Simone Missick), and sons, Einstein (Evan Ellison) and Harrison (Jahi Di’Allo Winston), have all moved on in his absence, and Hampton struggles to form their bond again. Working to launch his new handyman invention and pay off the local crime family to whom he owes a debt, Hampton falls deeper into chaos.

The post-apocalyptic drama The Last of Us instantly became a global hit after its release in 2023 on HBO. Based on the enormously popular game, which sees players take on character perspectives, the series returns with a darker tone and new conflicts. The first episode reintroduces viewers to the story while taking the story down a dangerous path that could expose several characters. Co-created by Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, The Last of Us Season 2 wastes no time in getting hooked in again. Returning with a five-year jump, the show picks up with an estranged Joel (Pedro Pascal) and Ellie (Bella Ramsey) adjusting to life in Jackson, Wyoming, and integrating within the community there. Within the safe haven, there are lots of little conflicts while other threats seem to be on the horizon. The premiere episode is set around New Year’s Eve 2029, which should indicate promise but instead holds foreboding for the residents of the tight-knit community seeking a peaceful life away from the pandemic and the zombie clickers infecting the rest of the world.

Your Friends and Neighbors really wants you to feel bad about Jon Hamm’s Andrew Cooper, a suburban family man who loses it all and resorts to stealing from the wealthy neighbourhood. But the deeper trouble Coop lands himself in, the harder it becomes to worry about his easily avoidable problems. Hamm gives Coop some depth as he struggles after life post-divorce. However, creator Jonathan Tropper’s dark comedy tiptoes around certain issues while giving the protagonist opportunities to keep behaving badly. The Apple TV+ series deviates midway with a big twist that leadens the narrative even further. After 18 years of marriage, newly divorced Coop (Hamm) finds himself adrift from his wife, Mel (Amanda Peet), and teenagers in more ways than one. He resents his friend Nick (Mark Tallman), who is now dating Mel. To make matters worse, he is fired from his job as a hedge fund manager. Living in a wealthy community and taking care of his family, who have expensive taste, gets worrisome too. Coop also takes his sister Ali (Lena Hall), who is struggling with mental health issues. So what does Coop do? He begins to steal from his friends and neighbours to fund his lifestyle. Coop manages to stay under the radar for a bit and even picks up a partner. Until, however, the house of cards that he’s erected around himself begins to come down.

In the new Amazon Prime Video action film, Viola Davis checked off two items in her career that most of her male contemporaries have probably done several times over theirs. G20 sees the Oscar winner as American President Danielle Sutton, who is heading an important international summit when it is hijacked by terrorists. The action thriller, directed by Patricia Riggen, doesn’t have anything new to offer. Although Davis gets the chance to save the day over and over again. Before heading to South Africa for the G20 summit, President Sutton has a mini crisis to deal with at home after her teenage daughter Serena (Marsai Martin) is caught at a party after she snuck out without her security detail. Soon, the Sutton family has bigger problems to contend with. The hotel where the G20 summit is held is taken over by terrorists who oppose the world leaders plans to end world hunger through cryptocurrency. Neither side’s plans are explained properly. Luckily, Sutton and a handful of leaders manage to escape, and soon it is a game of cat and mouse.

A year and a half later, we pick up back where Canada returned Kaala left viewers after being arrested in the Season 1 finale. Paramvir Singh Cheema’s Kaala has new innings and a new mission to accomplish in this musical revenge saga. While certain narratives from Season 1 move forward, others take you back as the series adds more unnecessary drama to the proceedings. The SonyLIV series, Chamak-The Conclusion, suffers from wanting to do too much but not knowing where to trim down the sprawling saga. Unpredictable singer Kaala (Cheema) reconciles with music label owner Pratap Singh Deol (Manoj Pahwa) after it is revealed he is Tara Singh’s (Gippy Grewal) son. As they prepare to take Teeja Sur to newer heights, internal conflicts and past histories threaten to derail everything. By the end of the six episodes, mostly all the characters have a rise and fall, not all of them satisfactory.

Netflix’s first Tamil original, Test, is a fine character study with star power. However, in the sports portions, S Sashikanth’s feature lacks the tension that would elevate the film further. R Madhavan, Nayanthara, and Siddharth play characters who are forced to expose their darkest sides when they are pushed to their limits. When the film remains focused on their internal conflicts, the ’test’ they are enduring, Test, is at its best. If you’re coming in looking for a sports drama, this thriller is more interested in the human aspect and the damage we can inflict upon one another. Test is the story of three headstrong individuals. Siddharth is Arjun, India’s most successful batsman on the verge of retirement. Saravanan (Madhavan) and Kumudha (Nayanthara) are a couple on the verge of having their dreams come true. After a decade of trying and failing, Kumudha is going for one last attempt at motherhood through IVF. A former MIT graduate and scientist, Sara is about to land a deal that will revive his career and help the country. Sara’s and Kumudha’s futures are tied into Arjun’s as an important test match begins in Chennai against Pakistan.

Netflix’s The Life List is designed as a tearjerker but doesn’t really push any exceptional buttons while trying to reach viewers’ emotions. Sofia Carson plays Alex, a young woman either in her late 20s or early 30s who gets her kick in life from her dead mother. Alex supposedly becomes a grownup in the course of the feature; however, it feels as if the film is pushing too hard to make us feel without actually showing us why. The film opens with Alex at a crossroads in life without the job of her dreams, directionless and not serious about her future. After the death of her mother, Elizabeth (Connie Britton), Alex is shocked by the directives in her will. In a move that will remind Bollywood fans of Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, her mother sends Alex her teenage bucket list to complete. Upon completion of each one, she receives a video message and moves one step closer towards her inheritance. Reluctantly, Alex agrees but not before arguing with everyone about it, including the handsome young lawyer Brad (Kyle Allen) assigned to handle her mother’s estate.

The new crime drama, MobLand, directed by Guy Ritchie, holds all the hallmarks of the filmmaker. And yet there is something distinctive missing from the gritty gangster saga as Tom Hardy plays Harry Da Souza, a fixer left to clean up the many messes of the Harrigan family. So far, the nine-episode London-set series is keeping a cliffhanger for each chapter in trying to raise the tension. Ronan Bennett’s series has had a slow-moving start, but it needs to amp things up to match the intensity of Ritchie’s other projects. Hardy’s Harry has been loyally serving Conrad Harrigan (Pierce Brosnan) for a long time now. The fixer saves the old crime lord and every member of his family whenever they get in a bind. But we join the story at a bit of a power struggle between the Harrigans and their rivals, the Stevensons, before erupting into an all out war. As Harry tries to smoothen things over, his family life suffers as well. Who will be left standing at the end when the lines are all drawn out against family loyalties?