The Sleepover, Katy Keane and Everything's Gonna Be Okay

 My Top Three This Week 

Greetings to all my semi-constant readers. Labor Day is coming up soon and quickly on its heels is October and November and Christmas. Not to rush the year away but 2020 in my rearview mirror would be a fine view to behold. There are some great things coming in the next few months but I have a few treats to hold you over until then.

1) The Sleepover  on Netflix is the perfect hybrid of True Lies and Adventures in Babysitting. A true 80's throwback that is the ideal Saturday night movie for everyone. When their parents are kidnapped, Clancy, her brother Kevin,  her best friend Mim and Kevin's bedwetter sleepover buddy Lewis discover their mother is not who she appears to be. They head to Boston on a quest to get their parents back from the bad guys. Malin Akerman and the hilarious Ken Marino play Mom and Dad who get tangled up with intrigue , glamour and crime and her ex fiancé played by Joe Manganiello. Sadie Stanley as Clancy and Maxwell Simpkins as the nerdy kid from every John Hughes movie are perfectly cast. But one of the real standouts is Cree Cicchino as Mim the wisecracking best friend.

2) Everything's Gonna be Okay on Hulu from creator/Australian actor Josh Thomas is another great offering featuring Josh as Nicholas, who while staying with  his father and two half sisters in the states finds out his dad is terminally ill. He promises to raise his two half sisters Matilda and Genevieve , one who is on the spectrum of autism while juggling a budding relationship with Alex. Even though  Nicholas is the centerpiece of the story , the show belongs to Kayla Cromer and Maeve Press as Matilda and Genevieve who shine in storylines of autism, consent, teenage angst and growing up with a guardian who is not ready to grow up himself and Ivy Wolk as Tellulah is on my actress watchlist.

3) Katy Keane on Netflix is for fans who loved Sex and the City and Riverdale. A crossover from Riverdale features a group of twenty-somethings in New York struggling to find themselves while they maneuver their way into adult relationships and jobs. Lucy Hale (Life Sentence) Ashliegh Murray, Julia Chan and Jonny Beauchamp form an unlikely support group with Katy Keane ( Lucy) a clothing designer working in retail and Jonny Beachamp as a Broadway hopeful performing as Ginger at Molly's Crisis and Julia as Pepper Smith an influencer/entrepreneur with no money. A fun watch.

Bonus: In case you missed this - Please Like Me streaming on Hulu is an award winning Australian series also featuring Josh Thomas in his brilliant series that he starred in and created about a young gay man coming to terms with his new out self and his three families-his bi-polar mother , his father and his Thai wife and his core group of friends. This incredible group of characters will annoy, make you laugh and tear your heart out at the same time. Thomas Ward, Keegan Joyce, Caitlin Stasey, Emily Barclay, David Roberts, Renee Lim are a bunch of natural actors that seem like people you already know.Debra Lawrence as Josh's  bi-polar mum is a revelation. Hannah Gadsby an already well known comedian in Australia, gives a bravura performance as a depressed friend of Josh's mom. 

Brave New World, Modern Love and The Stranger

My Top Three This Week 

Greetings to all my semi-constant readers. We had Christmas in July, Earthquakes, Staycations and still more sourdough bread than anyone could want.  It went so fast and somehow we all just are trying to get through until next month and the month after that. We are all devouring every bit of content that we might never have even paid attention to before. But there are some bright spots out there.

1)  Brave New World streaming on the new platform Peacock is based on the best seller by the same name by sci-fi author Aldous Huxley is a series exploding with visuals. In this world no one feels anything but pleasure or happiness and if they do there is a pill for it. In fact there are many skittle colored pills  called  "Somas"to fit any occasion. There is no such thing as monogamy, everyone belongs to everyone and there are no secrets thanks to a nifty eye contact implant that allows everyone to be connected to each other and to an "Alexa" entity. Not everyone is buying what they are selling and two characters - Bernard Marx (Harry Lloyd) and Lenina Crowne  (Jessica Brown-Findlay)are at a crossroads in their lives. These people are consumed by fashion , lavish parties thrown by entrepreneur Wilhelmina (Hannah John-Kamen) and visits to Savage Lands - a theme park where people struggle for a living and have entertainment such as shotgun weddings and the " House of Want". While visiting Savage Lands Bernard and Lenina encounter John the Savage (Alden Ehrenreich) and his mother Linda (Demi Moore) and smuggle them into New London. You have to keep watching past the first episode to really get the full flavor of the show. Some really great actors in this including Lloyd ,Brown-Findlay, John-Kamen and Nina Sosanya as seer Mustafa Mond. You will be surprised at how clever this series is once you finish episode one.

2) Modern Love on Amazon Prime based on a NY Times column is a cluster of vignettes focusing on all kinds of love and relationships that take place in New York. They explore mental illness, dating apps, empty nesters and a gay couple looking to adopt. Each one of these is unique and complete and the final episode has a surprise twist that I wont give away. The cast is a dream cast with Anne Hathaway, Tina Fey, John Slattery, Dev Patel, Andy Gsrcia, Julia Garner, Ed Sheeran ( in a cameo) and many more. I would love to see another season of this.

3) The Stranger on Quibi is an intense thrill ride. As is typical with Quibi each episode is short one and ends with a cliffhanger. Watching them all at once is like watching a full film feature. A young woman- Claire ( Maika Monroe) is starting her first day of work as a ride share driver when she picks up a young man in the Hollywood Hills  who claims to have just killed the occupants of the house he is being picked up at. In a vicious cat and mouse game the psychopath  Carl ( Dane DeHann is perfectly crazy) toys with Claire all around the streets of LA. Everywhere she turns he is there. I loved every minute of this and even the satisfying ending was better than I hoped for.

Bonus: : The Go -Gos documentary is everything we hoped for. A glimpse into the most famous all girl band in history and the rise and fall and coming together of  Charlotte, Jane , Belinda , Gina and Kathy who performed some of the most enduring pop music from a punk band in the space of a few years. This is for fans and for people who should watch history in the making. This film should secure their place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and it is a travesty if it does not. Check out the new Go-Gos single Club Zero.