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Tag: Kim Cattrall

Watchable the week of Sept. 21, 2020

September 21, 2020 /

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Fargo (Sept. 27, 10 p.m., FX)

Chris Rock anchors the cast of “Fargo” Season 4 as Loy Cannon. PHOTO CREDIT: Elizabeth Morris/FX

“You play the hand you’re dealt,” says the “Rabbi” (Ben Whishaw), one of the vivid ensemble of characters in the fourth season of Noah Hawley’s “Fargo.” Here, the hand is a gorgeously shot tale of two crime syndicates fighting for control of the underworld in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1950.

This season is unlikely to appease critics who found Season 3 too diffuse in the way it spread its characters around, but there’s a lot to be said for these characters and the actors who play them.

Chris Rock anchors the cast as Loy Cannon, boss of a Black criminal gang trying to maintain an uneasy peace with the local Mafia, led by Josto Fadda (Jason Schwartzman). Loy is well aware of what white America thinks of him and determined to snatch his share of riches in spite of it. “I will do whatever it takes to win,” he says.

The Italians see themselves as higher up the food chain because of the colour of their skin, but Josto is fighting on two fronts: against Loy’s gang and against his own brother, Gaetano (Italian actor Salvatore Esposito), who’s fresh off the boat from Second World War-ravaged Italy and thirsty for blood.

Other characters weave in and out of the main plot, including twisted nurse Oraetta Mayflower (Jessie Buckley, turning her Irish brogue into a credible Minnesota accent); brainy teenager Ethelrida Pearl Smutney (E’myri Crutchfield), who has a white father (Andrew Bird) and a Black mother (Anji White); Zelmare (Karen Aldridge) and Swanee (Kelsey Asbille), a pair of lesbian, ex-con outlaws; Mormon U.S. Marshal “Deafy” Wickware (Timothy Olyphant) and twitchy detective Odis Weff (Jack Huston).

So yes, there’s a lot to take in and some of the story threads seem less relevant to the main plot than others. 

In part, it’s a story about the hollowness of the so-called American dream and about who gets to pursue it. It’s also about power and family and loyalty and the illusion of control. You can do your best to exercise control, as Loy and Josto do, but you can’t dictate what hands you get dealt.

Filthy Rich (Sept. 21, 9 p.m. CTV)

Gerald McRaney, Aubrey Dollar and Kim Cattrall in “Filthy Rich.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Alan Markfield/FOX.

If you’re looking for nuanced character development and plot lines with gravitas, don’t look here. If you’re looking for a soap opera that mixes sex, greed and religion, and boasts a formidable leading lady, you’re in the right place.

This dramedy created by Tate Taylor, who wrote the screenplay for “The Help,” is primarily a vehicle for Kim Cattrall to strut her stuff as Margaret Monreaux, the matriarch of a, yes, filthy rich family of televangelists. Things start to go to hell, if you’ll pardon the expression, when the plane carrying her husband, Eugene (Gerald McRaney), crashes while he’s being entertained by a couple of prostitutes, no less, and his will reveals the existence of three illegitimate children.

That sets the scene for a battle of wills between Margaret and one of those kids, Ginger Sweet (Melia Kreiling, “Tyrant”), who runs a porn website and is determined to squeeze as much as she can from Margaret and her multi-billion-dollar empire.

There are plenty of side plots involving Margaret’s disgruntled children (Corey Cott and Aubrey Dollar), stepsons Antonio (Benjamin Levy Aguilar) and Jason (Mark L. Young), the slick but slimy Reverend Paul (Aaron Lazar) and a group of shady investors who want a stake in Margaret’s newest moneymaking venture, a shopping club that peddles Christian values along with the soap and toilet paper.

Utopia (Sept. 25, Amazon)

From left, Ian Byrd, Desmin Borges, Jessica Rothe and Ashleigh LaThrop in “Utopia.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Amazon Prime Video

It’s hard at times to tell the heroes and villains apart in “Utopia,” a remake of a dark British thriller of the same name. 

There’s plenty of killing in the eight-part series, not to mention a little torture, and it’s not just the obvious bad guys snuffing out lives. Luckily, the viewers have several proxies to guide them through the mayhem, a group of comic book nerds who get swept into a conspiracy involving a deadly virus and a plot to save the world.

It starts with the discovery of an unpublished graphic novel called “Utopia,” the sequel to a cult comic called “Dystopia,” which appeared to predict the existence of several real-world viruses.

Utopia obsessives Becky (Ashleigh LaThrop), Ian (Dan Byrd), Samantha (Jessica Rothe), Wilson Wilson (Desmin Borges) and Grant (Javon Walton) travel to a Comic-Con-like convention in Cleveland aiming to get their hands on the book, only to discover that it’s also being sought by a very dangerous and ruthless group of people.

The nerds team up with real-life comic book character Jessica Hyde (Sasha Lane) to unravel the clues contained in Utopia’s pages and try to puzzle out what dangers the villain known as Mr. Rabbit has in store for the world.

Occasionally, diving into the Utopia mythology can feel a bit like going down a rabbit hole, but the series is fast-paced, the twists are compelling and the pieces eventually click into place.

It was created by Gillian Flynn, known for novels-turned-screenplays like “Gone Girl” and “Sharp Objects.” And Dennis Kelly, who created the original “Utopia,” is a writer and executive producer on this one.

John Cusack is the name star, in his first regular role in a TV series, playing scientist Dr. Kevin Christie. Rainn Wilson (“The Office”) also stars as virologist Dr. Michael Stearns.

“Utopia” has a definite dystopian bent along with a misanthropic heroine in Jessica Hyde, but its humanity manages to break through, sometimes in places you’d least expect it.

Odds and Ends

Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy and Jennifer Ehle as Elizabeth Bennet in “Pride and Prejudice.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of BritBox

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Jane Austen fan in possession of a BritBox subscription must be in want of a remastered version of “Pride and Prejudice.” If you’re a fan of that novel, Austen’s best in my opinion, then I’m preaching to the choir with my bastardization of one of her most famous lines. I’m also a massive fan of the 1995 BBC adaptation of the book, which made international stars of Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle as quintessential Austen couple Fitzwilliam Darcy and Elizabeth Bennet. The digitally restored version of the miniseries debuts on BritBox Sept. 25 in honour of the 25th anniversary.
BritBox also has a remastered version of “Agatha Christie’s Partners in Crime” debuting Sept. 22.

Jann Arden is back for the second season of her sitcom “Jann” (Sept. 21, 8 p.m., CTV). If you loved the TV version of Jann in all her narcissism and self-deprecation in Season 1, then you’ll be down with Season 2. You can read my Toronto Star interview with Jann here.

HBO has “Agents of Chaos” (Sept. 23, 9 p.m.), a new two-part documentary by Oscar winner Alex Gibney (“Going Clear”) about Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. election and ongoing efforts to disrupt democracy, surely a vital topic with a new presidential election coming up.

Staying with the political theme, Crave has the Showtime two-parter “The Comey Rule” (Sept. 27, 9 p.m.), based on the book “A Higher Loyalty” by former FBI director James Comey. The series dramatizes Comey’s take on the election of Donald Trump (played by Brendan Gleeson), the role that Russia played in that election and the events leading up to Comey’s firing by Trump, with Comey played by well known Trump critic Jeff Daniels.

If you like true crime documentaries, “A Wilderness of Error” is worth checking out (Sept. 25, 8 p.m., FX). Produced by Jason Blum and Marc Smerling (“The Jinx”) and written by acclaimed documentary maker Errol Morris (“Fog of War”), it involves the shocking 1970 murder in Fort Bragg, N.C., of a pregnant woman and two little girls, allegedly by their husband and father, army doctor Jeffrey MacDonald, who continues to maintain his innocence.

Finally, Apple TV Plus has “Tehran” (Sept. 25), an espionage thriller about a Mossad agent who goes deep undercover on a dangerous mission in the Iranian capital. It stars Israeli actress Niv Sultan and was co-created by Moshe Zonder, known for the Netflix series “Fauda.”

Watchable the week of July 5, 2020

July 5, 2020 /

Happy Canada Day and 4th of July! This week’s list is a “to be continued” situation since reviews of “Little Voice,” from Apple TV Plus, are embargoed until Monday morning. In fact, I’m running into embargoes more and more these days, so starting next week I’m going to transition “Watchable” from a Sunday to Saturday list, to a Monday to Sunday list since Mondays seem to be the day many of the embargoes lift. In the meantime …

SHOW OF THE WEEK: Above the Law (July 11, 8 p.m., CBC Docs POV and CBC Gem)

Godfred Addai-Nyamekye has been unable to work since being assaulted
by police in Calgary in 2013. PHOTO CREDIT: CBC

This doc is both infuriating and disheartening: infuriating because it shows lives lost or maimed through the actions of violent Calgary cops; disheartening because the stories the victims and their families tell are all too familiar to anyone paying attention to the news across North America.

In December 2013, Godfred Addai-Nyamekye, an immigrant from Ghana, was acting as a designated driver for his friends when their car got stuck in the snow. When police pulled up and told them to move on, Godfred explained that they’d tried to push the car to no avail. He was wrestled to the ground, handcuffed, driven away and dropped off in an industrial area he wasn’t familiar with, in minus 28 C temperatures, in a tracksuit. He repeatedly called 911 for help and when the cops finally responded he was punched in the face, kneed in the back and then HE WAS CHARGED with assaulting police. Sound familiar?

Godfred now suffers from post-traumatic stress, hasn’t been able to work because of his back injuries and a once promising future has been derailed thanks to a police officer’s anger management issues.

The only thing that likely saved Godfred from being convicted — because we all know who judges and juries believe when it’s the suspect’s word against officers’ — was a video from a police helicopter that clearly shows the vicious assault on Godfred.

Let’s move on to 2015. The same cop who assaulted Godfred is still on duty, despite Godfred filing a complaint against him, and is caught on video removing a handcuffed man from a cruiser, punching him from behind several times in the head and slamming him to the ground. The man, Daniel Haworth, who’d been arrested for breaking into his ex-girlfriend’s house, suffered a traumatic brain injury. He later died of a fentanyl overdose, which the cops say isn’t connected to the assault, except the brain injury caused memory loss, which led to Daniel being kicked out of drug treatment, so you can connect the dots.

At least in that case, officer Trevor Lindsay was charged with and convicted of aggravated assault, and was still awaiting sentence when the documentary was made.

The doc also profiles a third case, involving a man named Anthony Heffernan, a drug addict who’d had a relapse after a couple of years clean and had refused to vacate the hotel room he was in, which led to police being called. Anthony wasn’t armed, but apparently the five officers who responded found one drug-addled white guy such a threat that one of them had to shoot him in the head several times.

ASIRT, Alberta’s version of Ontario’s SIU, referred the case for charges against the officers, but the deputy minister of justice refused to prosecute, saying there wasn’t sufficient evidence the use of force was “unjustified.”

I’ll just echo what Anthony’s brother, Grant, says in the doc: this is “complete bullshit.”

I’ll also quote Anthony’s father, Patrick: “This must never happen again in Calgary or Canada.” Except incidents like this are still happening across Canada and the United States and will continue to do so until somebody finds a way to rein in police violence.

Employable Me (July 5, TVO, 10 p.m.)

Ariana in “Employable Me.” The young woman has Down syndrome and is looking to land her first job.
PHOTO CREDIT: TVO

This is both doing good and feel-good television. The series, which is in its third season, features subjects with physical or neurological impairments who just want to work. Through interviews with them and their families, and professional assessments of their skills, it’s proven — both to potential employers and to viewers — that they are indeed employable. And if you’ve never interacted with someone who’s what society regards as disabled, you might learn a thing or two. The episode I watched featured an intelligent young man named Jordan on the autism spectrum, who is mad about trains; and a charming young woman with Down syndrome named Ariana with untapped people skills.

An Inspector Calls (July 7, BritBox)

From left, David Thewlis, Finn Cole, Ken Stott and Chloe Pirrie in “An Inspector Calls.”
PHOTO CREDIT: BritBox

The play on which this TV movie is based was first performed in 1945, but contempt for the poor and downtrodden is ever with us, perhaps even more so today than in J.B. Priestley’s time or the Edwardian era in which this is set.

The inspector of the title (David Thewlis) calls on a rich family in the midst of a self-congratulatory dinner: father Arthur Birling (Ken Stott) is expecting to be knighted soon and daughter Sheila (Chloe Pirrie) has just got engaged to the son of a rival captain of industry. But their smugness dissipates when the inspector, who gives his name as Goole, delivers news of a young woman who has just committed suicide. He then demonstrates how each member of the family, including mother Sybil (Miranda Richardson) and son Eric (Finn Cole), contributed to her downfall.

The victim, Eva Smith, who goes from being a worker in Birling’s factory to pregnant and utterly destitute, is played by the ever reliable Sophie Rundle (“Peaky Blinders,” “Gentleman Jack”), who’ll soon be seen in Acorn TV’s “The Nest.”

There’s a twist at the end that I won’t give away if you’re not familiar with the play.

Odds and Ends

Kim Cattrall as Davina Jackson in “Sensitive Skin .” PHOTO CREDIT: Bell Media

Canadian actor Kim Cattrall, who will forever be known as Samantha from “Sex and the City,” stars as a woman coming to terms with aging in “Sensitive Skin,” a Canadian remake of a British series. It’s still viewable on Crave TV, but if you’re an Acorn subscriber, Season 1 will also be available there as of July 6.

Netflix has several debuts this week that I’d love to tell you all about, except preview episodes weren’t provided — not to me, anyway. They include “Stateless” (July 8), a drama set in an immigration detention centre in Australia co-created by Cate Blanchett and starring Yvonne Strahovski of “The Handmaid’s Tale”; “Down to Earth With Zac Efron” (July 10), a travel documentary about finding healthy, sustainable ways to live; and “The Twelve” (July 10), a Dutch drama about jurors adjudicating the disturbing case of a woman charged with murdering her own daughter and her best friend.

“Tough as Nails” (July 8, 8 p.m., Global and CBS) was created by U.S. “Amazing Race” host Phil Keoghan. The contestants are Americans who do physically demanding jobs and whose strength, endurance and mental toughness are tested in a series of “real-world” challenges until one is left standing.

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