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Stream It: The Residence

by on October 9, 2025 at 4:02 pm
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Scott

I dunno what it is about Netflix lately, but it’s been serving up good little mystery shows, and Marisa and I have had a real taste for them. We’re not always on the cutting edge, sometimes waiting a few months to delve into the watch-list. But we’re watching them a-plenty.

And “The Residence” has been, I think, my favourite of the lot.

It brings together a stacked team both in front of and behind the camera. The series was created by Paul William Davies, (Scandal) and the cast is Uzo Aduba, fresh off Orange Is the New Black and Mrs. America, paired with Randall Park of Fresh Off the Boat and Veep. Giancarlo Esposito adds gravitas as the Chief Usher (Breaking Bad and The Mandalorian) came on to the project late after the passing of Andre Braugher. The ensemble rounds out with familiar faces like Ken Marino, Bronson Pinchot, Susan Kelechi Watson, and Jason Lee, and the rest of the cast flushes out the world with quirky, but punchy life.

First off, I gotta say, this show is funny. It gave me so many quick, unexpected barking laughs. The dialogue is so quick, so witty, the comedy sneaks up on you and then hits you like a quick jab to the nose. It might be the show that made me laugh the most this year. It’s brilliant.

But it’s not a comedy. It is a murder mystery, part Knives Out, And Then There Were None via Grand Budapest Hotel. Someone is killed in the White House during a State Dinner. Everyone is a suspect. The world’s greatest detective is called in. She’s very smart. She has a particular way of doing things. You know the drill.

But, the mystery is good, the patter is sharp, and the funny strange parts are so damned funny.

And the sets! Hugely expansive (and expensive), faithful recreations of the rooms in the White House, they seem to glow on screen. It looks unlike any other media set there, from Veep to Indepence Day. It’s big and detailed and seems so real, it makes the other efforts seem upsettingly face by contrast.

Uzo Aduba is a star. Detective Cordelia Cupp deserves more. I demand a recount, and you should watch this show.

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Stream It: Sandman Season 2

by on September 5, 2025 at 11:36 am
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Scott

Neil Gaiman sucks. He’s tainted.

In late 2024 and early 2025, several women publicly accused Neil Gaiman of sexual misconduct ranging from coercion to non-consensual acts. He then denied all wrongdoing, stating, “I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever.”

In response, Dark Horse Comics canceled his Anansi Boys adaptation, a Coraline musical was discarded, and several screen and publishing projects including Good Omens, The Graveyard Book, and Dead Boy Detectives were halted or altered.

The Sandman season two was deep into production as this was becoming public knowledge.

Gaiman sucks, and The Sandman is pretty good.

The Sandman Season 2 brings back Tom Sturridge as Dream, known for Sweetbitter and Far from the Madding Crowd, alongside Kirby Howell-Baptiste (The Good Place, Barry) as Death. Gwendoline Christie (Game of Thrones, Severance) returns as Lucifer, with Patton Oswalt (Eternals, The Goldbergs) voicing Matthew the Raven and Mark Hamill (Star Wars, The Mandalorian) as Merv Pumpkinhead.

New additions include Adrian Lester (Hustle, Mary Queen of Scots) as Destiny, Barry Sloane (Revenge, House of the Dragon) as Destruction, and Esmé Creed-Miles (Hanna) as Delirium. Jamie Childs (His Dark Materials, Doctor Who) returns to direct.

Mired in being Mired in Controversy

The second season, under the cloud of Gaiman’s controversy, is also muddied up with a grim, slow march towards martyrdom for Morpheus, and it’s hard not to see Gaiman (as executive producer) projecting into the character. The parallel application of the “I made one mistake and now I must pay, woe.” Is often too hard to ignore.  It is a shame, because Director Jamie Childs does a great job of creating a wondrous, deep universe for the characters to play in, and every episode is soaked in atmosphere. The show looks great.

The cast does remarkably for what must have been countless hours in front of green screens. Sturridge cements himself as the goth-king of television, tight-lipped an on the verge of tears. Esme Creed-Miles puts on a decent manic pixie performance as Delirium (a trope that feels much more 2002 than 2025) but remains likable nonetheless. Donna Preston’s turn as Despair gets a lot less screen time but delivers a very strong, nuanced and deep turn as she shows why she is one of the Endless. As a whole, the casting is on point. Everyone has a distinct look. Characters have unique voices, at least, when they have something to say.

The writing is less focused than the first season. More maudlin. Overly prone to showing Dream’s depression over his ties to the stories around him. The first season was able to have episodes that stood out, making me think of X-Files or Buffy in a way that the second season doesn’t even try to do. The show seems happy to fade out. I was happy to simply get to the last page.

At Least it’s Over

Ultimately, season 2 made me sad. A drawn out funeral march. A wake where the mourners kept wanting to give one more eulogy. A desperate plea to remind your former lover that “it wasn’t all bad, was it?”

 

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Stream It: Dept. Q

by on July 3, 2025 at 10:52 am
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Scott, Uncategorized

What happens when an asshole is traumatised? What if he’s smart, and working to save someone; how do you root for him? Dept. Q is out now on Netflix.

Dept. Q is developed by Scott Frank, known for writing and directing The Queen’s Gambit and for screenplays such as Logan, Out of Sight, and Minority Report. He co-created the series with Chandni Lakhani, who previously wrote for The Dublin Murders and Your Honor. The show stars Matthew Goode, recognized for roles in The Crown, A Discovery of Witches, and The Imitation Game. He is joined by Chloe Pirrie, who appeared in The Queen’s Gambit and The Victim, and Alexej Manvelov, known for Chernobyl and Before We Die.

It’s hard to review this series without giving to much away. It’s about a cop, Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck. He’s a smart cop, and he’s also an asshole. He is battling PTSD and depression, but he was an asshole before those struggles, so it’s not as if his colleagues suddenly see him in a new light. But he’s smart, and he’s a good detective, and he can’t help but need to figure out this case.

Full Acting

Goode shines in this role. His body language is exquisite. Exuding annoyance and patience worn thin. It’s a masterclass. He’s gone beyond the dialogue and facial expressions and pushed his posture into his character. It’s really a delight.

Alexej Manvelov plays Akram, Morck’s assistant and partner on the case, and he is the perfect foil. Quiet, patient, and softly pushing too far as they work, Akram is the one you root for. Manvelov is excellent, the way he breathes in a scene, pauses, and shows things down for a beat. It might take an episode or two, but he’ll be your favourite.

Dept. Q is streaming on Netflix, and if you like David Fincher flicks like Zodiac, and are a bit tired of the near-horror cop shows that Criminal Minds and CSI morphed into, it’s worth it.

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Stream It: Love Hurts

by on June 23, 2025 at 12:17 pm
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Movies, Scott

Over the weekend, my wife and I sat down at watched Love Hurts, which is now streaming on Prime. It is a zippy, weird fun action movie, and is delightfully original. In a world of Missions Impossible and Marvels-a-many, it is great to see fresh fun on the silver screen.

Love Hurts (2025) is directed by stunt veteran Jonathan Eusebio (John Wick, The Fall Guy) and produced by David Leitch and Kelly McCormick (Bullet Train, Nobody). It stars Oscar winners Ke Huy Quan (Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Goonies) and Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), alongside Daniel Wu (Into the Badlands), Mustafa Shakir (Luke Cage), and Lio Tipton (Crazy, Stupid, Love). It also features another Goonies-alum in Sean Astin, as well as former NFL-star, Marshawn Lynch. The script comes from Matthew Murray, Josh Stoddard, and Luke Passmore.

Ke Huy Quan; Action Star

Ke Huy Quan seems like an odd choice for an action lead. As a former child-actor (Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom) who then took a long break from being on screen, he has a background in both acting and stunt work, including roles as a stunt coordinator and rigger. He worked on X-Men as a stunt rigger and assistant fight choreographer. Quan also performed some of his own stunts in Everything Everywhere All at Once, including the fanny pack scene and wushu rope dart sequences. 

He has a second-degree black belt in Taekwondo and draws on his martial arts background for his action scenes. He has a mild and unassuming presence, and on shows like Loki, he was able to lean into that kind and quirky charm. For Love Hurts however, Quan is putting all his experience out there at once, with his likeable nice-guy persona balancing out his butt-kicking chops.

Love Hurts, 25 years ago would have been a Jackie Chan vehicule. It has real Rumble in the Bronx energy to it. Quan plays Marvin Gable, a positive energy real estate agent who loves his boss, treats his employees like a mentor, and only really has conflict with rival agen Jeff Zaks (played by real-life reality show agent Drew Scott). He dresses houses for sale. He bakes cookies. Marvin is a feel good guy.

Then, Love Hurts takes it’s twist, and it becomes a blender of Shoot’em Up, Rush Hour, and Smokin’ Aces. Calling back to the late 90’s/early-aughts, this film brings a fun frenetic energy in it’s fight-scenes and stunt-work to balance out the cartoonish uber-violence it shows. It’s a throwback, with wild set dressing and cool cars. The film could be an underdog classic.

My one knock on the movie is the soundtrack’s slavish devotion to the Valentine’s Day theme. It’s cute at times, but sometimes gets a little too cutesy with itself, and could have used a little more faux-Tarantino or Edgar Wright flair. The way “Bell-Bottoms” (in Baby Driver) or “Battle Without Honor or Humanity” (Kill Bill) hit is missing from this one. One or two deep cuts in the right places would have punched things up a notch.

If you’re looking for a VHS classic, a hidden gem at Blockbuster kinda movie, Love Hurts will be your date.

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Stream It: 3 Body Problem

by on June 13, 2025 at 9:51 am
Posted In: Blogs, Featured Post, Homepage, Scott

I like a good science-heavy sci-fi show. There just aren’t enough of them out there. I get the appeal of a good ol’ fashioned space western — The Mandalorian and Cowboy Bebop were both great entries in that genre over the last few years. They’re fun, dusty romps, and I’m totally here for that too. (Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon, less so.)

But give me a solid run of people trying to science their way through a fantastical problem, and I’m all in. The Martian, Neal Stephenson’s SevenEves, or James P. Hogan’s Giants series — those just click with me. There’s something deeply satisfying about watching characters figure stuff out, something that’s often missing in all the laser cannon pew-pew stories.

Which brings me to Netflix’s 3 Body Problem.

3 Body Problem comes from David Benioff and D.B. Weiss — best known as the creators and showrunners of HBO’s Game of Thrones — along with Alexander Woo, who previously worked on True Blood as a writer and executive producer. Together, they’ve adapted Liu Cixin’s sci-fi novel of the same name.

The cast includes Benedict Wong, known for his role as Wong in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and for standout performances in Annihilation and Marco Polo; Eiza González, who appeared in Baby Driver and Ambulance; and John Bradley, reuniting with Benioff and Weiss after playing Samwell Tarly in Game of Thrones. The series also features Jovan Adepo (Watchmen, Babylon) and Rosalind Chao (The Joy Luck Club, Mulan), blending genre veterans with fresh talent.

The creative team’s track record with epic storytelling, along with the cast’s mix of sci-fi and drama experience, helps ground the show’s ambitious narrative and global scope. Wong is a standout, bringing a weary, hard-boiled noir energy to this wildly expansive science-fiction world. He’s got shades of Bunk and McNulty from HBO’s The Wire — and that’s all to the show’s benefit. Jess Hong (Inked, Edamame) also gives a strong performance as Jin, balancing stress, loss, malaise, and determination.

 

I don’t want to dive too deep into the plot — the twists and turns are part of what made the show so gripping for me. I thought it was going to be one thing, and then it turned into something else entirely. It’s part X-Files, part Ender’s Game, all stewed together in one intense pot.

3 Body Problem is also fearless — no sacred cows here. Everything’s on the table. No one is safe from the existential threat, and that dread flows like a river, always rushing at you.

All in all, 3 Body Problem is a hit, and the news that it’s been picked up for a second season is fantastic. There’s just not enough premium sci-fi out there — and more is always welcome.

 

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Stream It: Dead Boy Detectives

by on June 11, 2025 at 11:53 am
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Scott

Dead Boy Detectives: A Fun, Ghostly Whodunit That Netflix Has Already Ghosted

Marisa and I crush a lot of television. It’s how we unwind after getting the kiddo to bed and squeezing in some “grown-up” time before she crashes. Luckily, we’re pretty aligned in taste—comic book adaptations and crime procedurals are our shared comfort food. Dead Boy Detectives nicely mixes both.

Developed by Steve Yockey (The Flight Attendant, Supernatural) and Beth Schwartz (Arrow, Sweet Tooth), Dead Boy Detectives is a supernatural mystery series based on characters from Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner’s corner of The Sandman universe. It stars George Rexstrew and Jayden Revri as Edwin and Charles, two teen ghosts solving otherworldly mysteries—think The Hardy Boys, but deader. They’re joined by Kassius Nelson (Last Night in Soho) as Crystal Palace, a psychic who’s lost her memory; Jenn Lyon (Claws) as Esther, a witch who might have missed the Wiccan PR memo about not being evil; Briana Cuoco (Harley Quinn) as Jenny the Butcher; Ruth Connell returning as the Night Nurse from Doom Patrol; Yuyu Kitamura (The Expatriates) as Niko; and Lukas Gage (The White Lotus, You) as the delightfully smug Cat King.

The casting is excellent across the board. Everyone is given space to breathe, and even minor characters feel lived in. Take Jenny the Butcher—she’s technically a side character, but she’s not there for cheap laughs or goth aesthetics. She gets moments of genuine vulnerability, sarcasm, and chaotic fury, all packed into surprisingly little screen time. It’s the kind of character writing that makes you want to see more.

Unfortunately, this is Netflix, where good shows go to get half a chance before being unceremoniously yeeted into the algorithm void. Dead Boy Detectives is a one-and-done, which feels especially frustrating. It’s a bit geeky, a bit niche, and absolutely the kind of series that needs time to find its people. Remember how Locke & Key got 28 episodes? Or Chilling Adventures of Sabrina got 36? This show easily stands alongside those—and in some ways, above them. The silver lining? The single season is a complete story, so at least you won’t be left mid-arc holding a ghost-shaped cliffhanger.

The episodes are brisk and snappy, with self-contained mysteries that build toward a cohesive season arc. It’s clearly got comic book pacing—fast, punchy, and designed for bingeing. I wouldn’t have minded a little more atmospheric lingering in some of the cooler, spookier sets, but I get the choice to keep it tight. It’s spooky without being gory, which is honestly refreshing. Not everything needs to be The Walking Dead with teenagers.

If you liked The X-Files, Supernatural, or Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, these eight episodes are absolutely worth your time. Just don’t get too attached—Netflix already ghosted them.

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Stream It: Predator Killer of Killers

by on June 9, 2025 at 12:46 pm
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Movies, Scott

A new Predator flick just dropped on Disney + this week, and I was able to watch it with my wife over the weekend; Predator Killer of Killers.

Predator: Killer of Killers brings together a team with a strong history in genre film. Director Dan Trachtenberg, best known for helming 10 Cloverfield Lane and the re-energized and kick-assPrey, has a proven that he understands the key elements in monster movies are characters and creative action. Co-director Joshua Wassung has primarily worked in animation and visual development, helps bring Trachtenberg along for this feature. Writer Micho Robert Rutare, co-creator of cult-favorite mockbusters like Sharknado and Z Nation, brings his flair for high-concept chaos and genre-savvy storytelling. Together, their combined experience across horror, science fiction, and action genres delivers Killer of Killers as a strong entry in the Predator franchise, standing up there with Prey.

KoK is animated, and some stylistic choices seem a bit dated. The character design has a bit too much “Clone Wars” blocky-ness to them for my liking. But the action is fluid and dynamic while also using great creative camera angles that make the film fly. There is a good amount of blood and guts, and the animation doesn’t muddy it up with smore of dim lighting, so it’s not for kids.

Killer of Killers is an anthology, telling the tales of three visits to earth where the Predator hunts and battles a Viking war party, a Samurai and a Ninja, and a World War II air fighter squadron. It’s not quite the viral TikTok samurai film, but it’s not too far off either. All three stories deliver different angles, tell fun hunter tales while still being original and interesting, and they all feel like they exist in the same world as Predator, Predator 2 and Prey.

We both really liked it. I think Trachtenburg just gets Predator. I kind of hope that these films will earn him a shot at making something with the Xenomorphs to see if he can make something new with them. He has a viewpoint almost like a Mark Waid or Brian Michael Bendis, a comic book writer that understands what came before is important to building something new, and that for fans, that’s fun.

 

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Stream It: The Ritual (2017)

by on June 6, 2025 at 3:57 pm
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Movies, Scott

I know I’m not the horror aficionado around these parts, what with Keith and Jon always ready to dive into the dark and the bloody. But on occasion, I can be convinced to sit down for a little bit of the old spooks and jumps. Usually, I’ll lean into the slasher or horror comedy side of things, but last week, Marisa and I watched a good, creepy scary one.

The Ritual was directed by David Bruckner, known for his atmospheric and unsettling approach to genre filmmaking. Before The Ritual, Bruckner co-directed the cult horror anthology The Signal and contributed standout segments to V/H/S and Southbound. The screenplay was written by Joe Barton, adapting Adam Nevill’s 2011 novel. Barton would go on to create the sci-fi crime series Giri/Haji and work on projects like The Lazarus Project. The film stars Rafe Spall, whose prior work includes Life of Pi and Prometheus.

Since The Ritual, Bruckner has continued to solidify his reputation in horror, directing The Night House and the 2022 reboot of Hellraiser, both of which continue to explore the themes of grief, guilt, and supernatural dread.

I don’t want to spoil anything here, but the story begins with four friends who take a hiking trip in Sweden to honour a fifth friend in their group who died suddenly. It it like a cold, hearty wake to help them remember their buddy and work through their feelings. Then they are forced to take a shortcut off the trails and through the woods, where creeps occur.

What separated this film from others is the amount of emotion that is dragged into the plot. Parts of the movie feel like the director was asking “What if Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was a Lovecraftian tale of terror?” and it works incredibly well. The woods themself were dark, lonely, and isolating. The location scouting was just perfect. It had me feeling uneasy and nervous, mixing in the slow paranoia of a “Blair Witch Project” with the monsters of the woods out of “Princess Mononke”. It was slow when it needed to be. It was creepy. It had some blood and guts, but nothing that made me squirm in misery.

If you liked stuff like “Dig Two Graves”, “Helboy: The Crooked Man” or “Bone Tomahawk”, then The Ritual is worth your time.

 

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Scott Ate It: Cucumber Chips

by on March 11, 2023 at 5:02 pm
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Scott

Close to two-decades ago, my girlfriend at the time went on vacation with her mother to China. It came at a bad time in our relationship, as she was away at school for most of the year, so any time off she had were the only times that we had a chance to spend time together, and so, in mine eyes, was precious. That being said, I don’t begrudge her the chance to travel to far away lands. (At least I didn’t at that time. It would happen again later on and it didn’t go… well.) Regardless, during her time there, she picked up a few souveniers for me; a nice calligraphy set with solid ink and a traditional brush, (it’s very pretty and I thought it was very cool and I have never used it. I still have it, in a box somewhere.) and a can of cucumber-flavoured Pringles.

 

It’s going to sound facetious, but that can of chips was amongst the all-time greatest snacks I have ever had. I savoured them for weeks on end, limiting my snacking to one or two chips at a time, because I knew that once they were done, there would be no more on the way. Trips to Chinatown in the months that followed were fruitless, and so, these chips were consigned to memory. I even saved the can for the better part of a year, as proof that this snack did in fact exist, and wasn’t a fever dream brought on by the heartbreak and massive amounts of alcohol consumed as my relationship (and rest of my life, to be honest) collapsed in on itself.

 

This article has gone way, way off the rails, but I don’t care. You’re still reading and this is my blog, so I’ll (cry) ramble if I want to.

 

The next chapter of this story is, as expected, life goes on. Life, ah er, finds a way. We were so caught up asking ourselves if we could, we never stopped to ask if we should. 

 

No, wait, that’s Jeff Goldblum’s character in Jurassic Park. 

 

I broke up with that girl. I met my wife-to-be. We had a kid. Bought a house. Obla-dee obla-da.

 

Then one day last week, my loving (and really quite pretty) wife came home with these:

 

 

Lays Cucumber Potato Chips.

 

It was like going back to your high-school years after graduating and getting one of those big gooey oatmeal cookies they sold in the caf that you could never replicate at home, no matter how hard you tried. (The secret, according to my pastry-chef sister is to use margarine in place of butter. The butter crystalizes and doesn’t stay goopy and chewy.)

 

The chips tasted great, weird and fresh and distinctly like cucumber. But they also tasted like a memory. I know there is lots of science out there linking taste to memory, but in this case, the taste IS the memory. This was a chip that I had committed to the recesses of my mind, the memory of the flavour tied to the flavour memory. I didn’t have any sudden recall of times past, but instead a clear recollection of “Yes, this is how those chips tasted!’ 

 

Marisa was subtly impressed with the accuracy of the flavour, if not particularly fond of it. Archer ran to the nearest trash can and spit the chip out. 

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Scream 6: Walking Through The Set Dressings

by on August 24, 2022 at 10:47 pm
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Movies, Scott

Scream 6 is currently filming in Montreal. Yes, Neve Campbell is not in it, and yes, they should pay her. And yet, the movie is still getting made.

Shooting was done on Sherbrooke St. West today, and they had dressed up a whole block to look like New York. I thought it was hella interesting so I snapped a ton of pics to show off here.

The Subway entrance was cool, but didn’t go anywhere. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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