Just saw it, thanks again! Very well done all around. I wonder if at least some of the so-called comedy revolved again around a maid, in a way that Brazilians have been primed to laugh at.
I like to read reviews to sort out my thoughts after good movies. This was the best I read:
Spoilers for both shows in case you’ve never seen them (though it’s been years since both shows went off the air)… I think this hits at why I like Six Feet Under better than the Sopranos…
I just watched The Second Mother on Kanopy! 
It was so much better than My Wonderful Wanda. Seeing it made me realize what was missing from the other film. If only they’d included some conversations between Wanda and the other women on the bus… 
I haven’t seen My Wonderful Wanda, but I agree, The Second Mother is great! As I said above, I do rec The Maid (from Chile) as a companion piece. I’m undecided which I like more, but I liked them both more than another recent and much more widely acclaimed movie about a maid, Roma.
I don’t know if I’m going to watch that new Spider-Man movie in theaters or not but I liked this joke:
PETER PARKER: Doctor, I’m depressed. Life seems harsh and cruel. I feel all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain.
DR. OCTOPUS: Treatment is simple. The Great Spider-Man is in town tonight. Throw a car or two at him; that should pick you right up.
PETER PARKER: (Bursting into tears) …but doctor…
I watched Venom: Let There Be Carnage a couple of days ago, and the easter egg at the end hints at a Venom/Spiderman confrontation in Tom Holland’s future.
I still think it’s weird to completely separate Venom’s origin story from Spider-Man like that, but whatcha gonna do.
New series Harlem on Amazon. It’s hitting the ground running… 
a few times in the first 15 minutes.
Very retro noir
Definitely passes the Bechdel Test
Thanks to a relative’s subscription to hbomax, just saw the first series of this, mentioned upthread:
It is rather remarkable so far, a cross between Alien Nation and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. The second series is about to air.
I watched the first two eps, and I enjoyed the hell out of them.
After watching the Netflix one, I’ve gone back and am rewatching the original Cowboy Bebop (this is actually my first time watching in Japanese without subtitles, which really is different).
I think that what the Netflix series lacked was the original’s sense of whimsy. I also think that they changed the characters of Vicious and Faye too much. They turned Vicious into a nervous wreck and made Faye a bit too worldly. The original, as voiced by Megumi Hayashibara, has this delicate mix of innocence and worldliness that really makes her feel like someone who was unfrozen at the tender age of 20 and has had to learn how to survive on her own since then.
“People from the past mysteriously appear in the present” seems like a popular premise these days
It surprises me, after watching many shows with people from the future travelling to the past. Travel in the other direction tends to involve the mystery of how that travel was made possible.
I have been mum mostly because I don’t want to be “that person” who fan-gripes things, but I really think they destroyed the emotional arc of the overall series. Things happen in an order that makes the ending deeply… we’ll say ‘profound’ to save spoilerage. Another way of saying it would be “soul crushing”.
We aren’t even halfway through the original storyline and some things are already busted as if it were the end. I hope they have a plan to move things in the same way, but I think we are looking at a very different ending for the series.
There were a million little things I missed. Where is the pet shop lady, and that episode’s awesome chase with Ein? I missed Spike helping the Bloody Eye lady with the groceries and stuffing a sammich in his mouth. Where was the “beef and peppers” conversation in the opening? They effin just dumped Ein… Just ABANDONED EIN??? The whole Ein storyline is a bit mangled.
That said, I enjoyed it, I did. I enjoy it the same way I enjoyed I, Robot, and even I Am Legend. I enjoy Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies even though he completely misunderstood the importance of the scouring of the shire, and I mourn Saruman’s silly death when the original is so moving.
They aren’t the original, they are something different that I can appreciate as they are. I am sad, though, that the creators really didn’t get the genius mood and pacing of overall story arc of the original. It wasn’t “monster of the week” they could just rearrange.
I truly hope people watching it will go back and see it for what it was.
Last season is underway
The excellent Icelandic series Katla, which I think I mentioned a while ago, has a similar but slightly different premise.
Same. I enjoyed it, but that’s not my Faye.
A well done movie, but very heavy… It’s set in Leningrad right at the end of the war, so you can imagine it’s not a film filled with joy.
It’s great to see Jane Campion back on form with The Power of the Dog.
I love the eventual turnabout in terms of who the real monster is. I wondered about Kirsten Dunst’s character, though. Seemed…underdeveloped at best.
