Steve Carell, Noah Emmerich, Lisa Kudrow and John Malkovich are the stars of new Netflix 10 part comedy series Space Force.
Created by Carell and Greg Daniels, at the centre of the story is four-star general Mark R. Naird (Carell). Naird begrudgingly teams up with an eccentric scientist to get the U.S. military’s newest agency Space Force ready for lift-off.
I’m definitely getting Veep vibes. Plus the list of professionally funny people involved is pretty promising.
Are you tempted to watch this one? I never did watch the American version of The Office but suspect that Carell’s role here may be a little similar.
Jane Lynch, Ben Schwartz, Jimmy O. Yang, Tawny Newsome, Owen Daniels, Diana Silvers, Alex Sparrow and Don Lake also star.
The Morning Show (2019), Jennifer Aniston, Apple TV
The Morning Show is a new Apple TV series starring Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carell and Mark Duplass.
Set in the wake of a major scandal at an early morning news channel, The Morning Show follows the unique challenges faced by the men and women we trust to tell the truth, and what happens when they prove themselves to be dishonest…
Aniston and Witherspoon on screen together; that’s a key reason I’m looking forward to this one. I’m a fan of Carell, Mark Duplass and Gugu Mbatha-Raw too, of course.
I was also listening quite closely when Crudup’s character said ‘Watching a beloved woman’s breakdown is timeless American entertainment.’ Now I know that I can’t wait to see how said woman will be fighting back.
The Morning Show brings to mind Gabrielle Union’s Being Mary Jane. I’m curious about the ways it’ll be different.
Nestor Carbonell, Karen Pittman, Bel Powley, Victoria Tate, Desean Terry, Shari Belafonte, Katherine Ko and Ian Gomez also star.
Beautiful Boy (2018), Timothée Chalamet, Maura Tierney
At the centre of Beautiful Boyis a father’s struggle as he tries to help his drug addicted son turn his life around. Starring Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet and Maura Tierney, this one is a story as heartbreaking and inspiring as everyone said.
I wanted to see director Felix Van Groeningen’s Beautiful Boy because of my curiosity about the experience of a parent whose child is battling addiction. Another motivation was a desire to witness Carell deliver yet another notable dramatic performance, which he does, of course. Then there’s Chalamet. It really was about time that I understood the reason behind all the hype concerning Chalamet’s acting skills. I understand the hype and I have zero objections.
Besides being fifteen to twenty minutes longer than is preferable, Beautiful Boy is well told and moving story. If I had to pick a favourite moment, I enjoyed the moment at the airport that conveyed the strong bond between father and son. The scene that moved me most however is the one with the vehicular pursuit near the family home. It’s a great moment that really brought to the fore the considerable suffering experienced by family members outside of the father / son relationship, one family member in particular.
Watch Beautiful Boy for the insight and a reminder of what a truly huge undertaking parenthood truly is. Praises be to all the great parents, who remain great especially when their children mess up.
Vice, writer /director Adam McKay’s biography of Dick Cheney (Christian Bale), the most powerful Vice President in history is a movie I both enjoyed and did not enjoy.
The parts I found least engaging were the moments that explained the ins and outs of the White House and / or American politics during Cheney’s time as VP. It’s quite unfortunate because I’d actually hoped that Vice would be a movie that caught me up on some of America’s political history. It turns out that the way McKay’s story is told just didn’t hold my attention the way I’d hoped it would.
The parts that did have me most engaged were the moments that revealed Cheney’s character and emotional journey. Especially as he grew into a successful man. To put it another way, I liked the parts that revealed Cheney’s heart, the character study rather than the political details of his operations post 9/11.
Where his wife Lynn Cheney (Amy Adams) is concerned, even though I may not agree with much of what she stands for, it was great to see a strong, confident woman speaking up for herself and taking charge of her destiny.
In addition to the great performances by Bale, Adams, Steve Carell, and Sam Rockwell, I also want to congratulate the makeup and prosthetics team for a job well done. I was most impressed by the transformation of Rockwell into George W. Bush.
As for the all important question of whether Vice is worth your time… if politics, American politics in particular is especially interesting to you, perhaps give it a go. I can’t guarantee that you’ll like the way McKay chose to tell this tory but you may enjoy the content. I myself probably would have stopped watching Vice long before the end if I wasn’t such a big fan of Bale and Adams.
Beautiful Boy is the heartbreaking and inspiring story of survival and recovery in a family coping with addiction over many years.
Based on two separate memoirs by David Sheff and his son Nic Sheff, Beautiful Boy is directed by Felix Van Groeningen and stars Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, Maura Tierney…
This looks like a good in-depth look at addiction, how it deeply affects those involved. I’m excited to seeing what I’ll be shown. The dialogue between father and son should be interesting, especially considering how close they used to be.
Welcome To Marwen (2018), Leslie Mann, Steve Carell
In Welcome To Marwen, Steve Carell plays the victim of a brutal attack, one who finds a unique therapeutic outlet to help him through his recovery.
Janelle Monae, Leslie Mann, Eiza González and Diane Kruger also star, while Robert Zemeckis directs…
I’m in for all the things that make this movie special, including Carell’s likely notable performance and all the hardwork that made the dolls / figures possible. I’m also looking forward to finding out how Carell’s character’s coping method is characterised psychologically.
I never, ever thought I’d say this, but it’s official, the minion magic no longer works on me. The minions are not even in Despicable Me 3 that much but long gone is the version of myself that would literally squeal with delight at the mere sight of them. Now they’re more like a favourite song played over and over again that I can kind of no longer stand.
I actually found myself adequately bored in parts as I watched Despicable Me 3. The main reason being, my favourite moments in the movie were the ones I already saw in the teaser trailer with the Michael Jackson loving super villain, months earlier. One of the newest things in this instalment, namely the introduction of one of Gru’s relatives unfortunately felt a little too much like a desperate attempt to find any reason, any reason at all to keep the franchise going.
Just to be clear, I’m definitely not saying that Despicable Me 3 is terrible, generally speaking. I’m saying that I didn’t love it because it felt tired and I’m over all the characters; most surprisingly to myself, I’m tired of the minions.
Immediately below are just some of the thoughts that went through my mind as the credits rolled. In some ways, I really should have known.
‘What was I thinking?’
‘Why was I looking forward to this when I knew that I never really enjoyed the first two Despicable Me movies anyway?’
‘I simply must have forgotten that the minions were the ones I really loved (back then) – not super villain Gru and his children.’
If you’re super intrigued, watch it and see how you like Despicable Me 3.
The Movie My Life 