Stories (679/0)
Review of 'Fatal Attraction' (2023, the TV series), Season One
Fatal Attraction -- the new 2023 series -- finished its 8-episode first season on Paramount this past Sunday. Yes, it's the same story as the 1987 stunner of a movie, retold and refigured in all kinds of significant and even profound ways, and I think it largely succeeded.
By Paul Levinson6 months ago in Criminal
Review of 'Citadel' 1.3-1.6
So, I said in my review of The Diplomat that it had elements of James Bond. Citadel, an outright spy thriller, set in the future, of course has elements of Bond, too. And watching the third episode, I was struck by the vibe of Star Wars it conveys, too: Citadel which fell, with just a few disparate agents left, is a lot like the Jedi, and the few of them that remained in the darkest days of the fall and the rise of the Force.
By Paul Levinson6 months ago in Futurism
Review of Silo 1.4-1.5
The excellent episode 1.4 of Silo up on Apple TV+ last week was entitled "Truth," no doubt after the word inscribed on the back of Holston's sheriff badge, now in the possession of Juliet. But there wasn't much truth revealed in this episode, as far as I could see, and hence no spoiler warning immediately after this paragraph. But the episode was still a pleasure to see, and my guess is some of what we saw will be crucial further on in the series.
By Paul Levinson6 months ago in Futurism
Review of 'Silo' 1.1-1.3
Just saw the first three episodes of Silo on Apple TV+, show-run by Graham Yost, whose previous impressive credits include The Americans, Sneaky Pete, and Justified, based on the Wool series of novels by Hugh Howey that I haven't read. These first three episodes bear some resemblance to most post-apocalypse stories, and even more to Apple TV+''s much lauded Severance. But Silo has a story and an ambience all its own, and it looks to be on its way to a top-notch science fiction series.
By Paul Levinson7 months ago in Futurism
Review of Pretty Much the Final Episode of 'Picard'
Well, I stopped reviewing Picard Season 3 after the 3rd episode of that season in March. Why? A combination of work on the radio play of my alternate history story about The Beatles, "It's Real Life" ... and, truthfully, I wasn't finding this final season all too captivating. But I've watched the rest of it in the past few days, and I thought the final four episodes were pure gold. Here's why:
By Paul Levinson7 months ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Diplomat'
My wife and I just binged the first season of The Diplomat and loved it. [Spoilers ahead ... ] To begin with, it seemed like for most of the first episode -- in fact, until to the very end of that episode -- we were watching an updated, 2023-rendition of West Wing, on a more global scale. Which would have been very welcome. But the news at the end of this first episode made The Diplomat much more than that. Almost a James Bond, without the central character being an MI6 agent with a license to kill. So think The West Wing in politics, and Bond in terms of intrigue bringing the world to the edge of nuclear war, and that's even more welcome than just an updated West Wing. More welcome, that is, as fiction on the screen, not of course as reality.
By Paul Levinson7 months ago in Criminal
Review of 'The Last of Us' 1.9
The Hollywood Reporter tells us that as of last night's season finale, The Last of Us surpassed House of the Dragon in "full season viewers," and I'm not the least bit surprised. House of the Dragon was superb. The Last of Us was something else, something more, and well, the season one finale on HBO Max last night was the best episode in the series.
By Paul Levinson9 months ago in Futurism
Review of 'The Last of Us' 1.7-1.8
[Spoilers ahead ... ] Well, first of all, I was glad to see that Joel was alive at the beginning and conclusion of The Last of Us 1.7, fulfilling what I said in my review of 1.6 a few weeks back, that if you don't see a character's head cut off or blown to bits, there's always a chance that she or he survived.
By Paul Levinson9 months ago in Futurism
Sam's Requests
The sepia-toned 45 turned on the table, twisting souls -- I know -- and mashing potatoes. Soul Twist The ship operated on sheer thought. This was a big advantage -- no fuel was needed -- but the thinker had to be awake and focused. If there were no enemies or obstacles ahead, she could doze, even sleep, and the ship would coast, as her eyes floated under her rippling lids. But today was not such a day.
By Paul Levinson9 months ago in Fiction
Review of 'Sharper'
This seems to be a season for non-linear neo-noir caper thrillers set in the New York City area. A few months ago, Kaleidoscope appeared on Netflix (here's my review on Vocal), which was so linear you were invited to watch the episodes of that series in any order you chose. Sharper, which debuted on Apple TV+ a week or so ago, is a movie, not a TV series, so you can't really choose the order of the parts you watch. But the parts are equally non-linear, and the story every bit as captivating.
By Paul Levinson9 months ago in Criminal
