15 | Weekly Roundup #4
In this issue: Spiderman: Across The Spiderverse, Upload, Citadel, Based on a True Story, and Never Have I Ever.
Good to see you, shall we get into some reviews? Here are some titles I’ve watched recently:
Spiderman: Across The Spiderverse
Genre: Superhero
Language: English
Gist: While Miles has taken over as the neighborhood-friendly Spider-Man in his universe, he dearly misses his friends from the other universes. When Gwen finally visits him, he starts to question his own destiny.
Review: The Spiderverse never disappoints! You don’t spend four years on a movie and not have it be a blockbuster. ATS is a visual buffet1 that will take you two/three viewings to catch all the details, references, and Easter eggs. In terms of paying homage, ATS outdid any other Spidey movie out there.
Still, plotwise, it felt a little weak to me. You keep traversing the multiverse trying to figure out what the real problem is or when the other shoe will drop… and before you know it, it’s the last 15 minutes of the film. You get some answers but it’s not rewarding at all.
SYWT? You go in for the sheer art of it. But if you want a story that makes sense, it’s better to watch Spiderverse 2 and 3 back-to-back.
Upload (S1-2)
Genre: Sci-Fi Comedy
Language: English
Gist: It’s a futuristic world where once you die, you get the option of “uploading” your consciousness online, allowing you to "live” forever. When Nathan reaches the gates of this so-called virtual heaven, he realises that he was actually murdered and has to solve his case from beyond the grave.
Review: There was something so charming about Upload that I ended up liking it waaaay more than I should’ve! The setting of the show itself feels fresh and fun, teeming with mystery, romance and comedy – a perfect cocktail. What may tickle your fancy more is how highly imaginative this show’s take on our world’s future is: oval self-driving pods that saunter as cars, electronic badges you wear during sex to ensure safety, and phones replaced by wristbands, to name a few. Of course, even science can’t fully rid humans of their malicious nature and like a lot of sci-fi/dystopian narratives, this becomes one of the show’s main plugs.
SYWT? A big yup.
Citadel
Genre: Spy Drama
Language: English
Gist: Two spies whose memories have been wiped out try to uncover how their organisation was destroyed, slowly unraveling that their own relationship may have been one of lovers to enemies.
Review: A big snooze fest. I’m struggling to find the words for this review, because I spent all of six episodes trying to find something substantial but didn’t. It felt like opening a box inside a box inside another box, only to find yet another empty box. The plot, characterization, emotions, etc, that pretend to be larger than life were all nothing but a huge farce for the show’s weak writing and even weaker execution.
SYWT? Nope, noppity nope.
No Hard Feelings
Genre: Comedy
Language: English
Gist: Broke 32-year-old Maddie is offered an interesting opportunity to make money by dating 19-year-old Percy and helping him get ready for relationships in college. How hard can that be?
Review: Despite the proposed relationship plot being a little icky and borderline taboo (which thankfully, never crosses the line), I found it to be wholly funny — the kind of comedy you’d expect from The Hangover, Bad Neighbours, etc. The only difference here is that it is a woman helming this kind of humour that is often thought of as crass and unladylike. It was a tough job to pull off, but there’s no one better than JLaw to do it! She’s already owned this persona in real life as well and besides, this was a great deviation from her other serious roles.
Sidebar: It also felt like we got a bit of the 1990s/2000s cinema back in our life and I need more!
SYWT? Perhaps not in the cinemas (like I did), but do catch it on streaming when you’re having a night in with your friends.
Based On A True Story
Genre: Crime Comedy
Language: English
Gist: When Ava and Nathan stumble upon a serial killer, they make a deal with the devil to make a million-dollar podcast about his cases in exchange for their silence.
Review: I expected great things from this show, something along the lines of what Only Murderers In The Building did. I’m still on the fence on whether the show revealing to us who the murderer is in Ep 2 itself was a good thing or not — On one hand, you rob the viewers of the pleasure of solving the case themselves. On the other, Mr Murderer was the best character on the show! He was equal parts charismatic and volatile, and his unpredictable next moves made up for any mystery lost. Still, since he wasn’t the protagonist, nor is the show centred around him, it’s a little disappointing that he was the show’s only saving grace and that I have nothing (positive) to say about the actual protagonists.
SYWT? Not worth your time.
Never Have I Ever (S1-4)
Genre: Teen Drama
Language: English
Gist: Devi Vishwakumar is ticking off a lot of never have I evers before graduating high school. Yup, that includes having sex with Paxton Yoshida-Hall, getting into Princeton, and somehow stopping herself from seeing visions of her dead dad.
Review2: During S1 and S2, a lot of viewers dissed Devi, and with good reason — she was dysfunctional, gave in to her worst instincts, made all the wrong choices, and seemed to care little about how her actions affected others.
What most people forget is that this is an ongoing series… Devi’s premise was that she was a troubled, traumatized teen whose father died in front of her and who had no proper avenue to process that grief. So, not only did her “crazy” responses to different situations have a viable backstory, but they were also widely entertaining. (This kind of entertainment is why you pay for your Netflix subscription!)
The point of Devi’s perpetually misguided actions is about how even if we make the worst decisions ever, there’s always space to grow from it. Devi made horrible choices so that we don’t have to.
By S4, you see how much Devi had matured, learned, and changed. Because that’s the story: As teenagers, we’ve all been reckless and naive, we’ve done embarrassing, awful things… but we sure do grow. 🌱
SYWT? It’s on crack — But if you take a liking to it, it’s a fun show!
This past week has not been great as I’ve been down with a viral flu. This little issue was written a few weeks ago, so I thought of getting it out of the drafts while I recover. I hope you enjoyed it!
What have you been watching this week? Let me know in the comments!
Before I go:
If you’d like to read the previous issues, here’s a link to SYWT’s archive.
Looking for any title in particular? Cue the database — This has the list of movies/TV shows covered so far with ratings and links to the newsletters they were reviewed in.
What’s stuck in my head:
See you soon,
sal.
Some points in this rating are purely for having an Indian Spidey on screen.
This review is dedicated to my partner in crime, La La.