The Mosquito Coast, Cruel Summer , Shadow and Bone and Promising Young Woman

 My Top Three This Week

Greetings to all my semi-constant readers. Watching some final seasons of my favorites and while I am sad to say good-bye it is time to wrap up  the story and go out with a bang. Pose, Younger and Good Girls are all saying farewell and I have been in love with them all , but it is time to break up . I look forward to new relationships and new beginnings.

1)  The Mosquito Coast streaming on Apple TV+ is showing early promise. Starring Justin Theroux as Allie Fox - based on a best selling novel by his uncle Paul Theroux, this thriller is a fascinating story about a brilliant inventor and his family living off the grid. The Fox family is self sufficient and environment conscious , home schooling teenagers Dana and Charlie. But they are harboring a secret and a slip up costs them their safety and they must escape. Allie, Margot, Charlie and Dana are the perfect cast with Justin, Melissa George, Logan Polish and Gabriel Bateman. This might be Justin's best role since The Leftovers.

2) Cruel Summer on Hulu is a guilty pleasure and fun to watch. Told in 3 time frames, it can be a bit confusing but I am hoping the end result is worth it. Set in the early 90s a young  popular Kate goes missing while a previously shy bookworm Jeanette blooms and  seems to magically take Kate's friends and boyfriend. Her popularity evaporates quickly when Kate is found after being held prisoner and accuses Jeanette of hiding her kidnapping from the small Texas town where they live. Is Kate lying or is Jeanette covering up something darker and more dangerous.

3)  Shadow and Bone is so much better than I expected it to be.Streaming on Netflix this YA story is about a world where the youth is tested for gifts or powers and utilized for the good of the people. A young cartographer Alina Starkov is traveling to stay close with her best friend Mal who is a military and gets drafted to go on a dangerous mission to cross the "Fold" in a sailing vessel where many voyages have sailed and never returned. Alina offers herself to join the crew and they are attacked by winged monsters Volcra. It is at that moment that Alina discovers herself to be a "Sun Summoner" who can summon light. As a magical "Grisha" she just might have the power to heal her country. She will soon discover allies and enemies as she navigates her way in the world.

Bonus: Promising Young Woman available for rent is a very dark movie about revenge in tbe best possible way. No wonder it was up for awards. Carey Mulligan as Cassie makes a habit out of pretending to be wasted at bars and wait for the predators to pounce . And they do! She flips the script on them and this continues for a while as we discover a dark secret she carries from her college years. Then she reconnects with an old school mate who breaks down her walls and maybe we will see her happy but then she finds an even darker secret. Carey is fantastic in this role and some solid performances from Alison Brie and Bo Burnham and Laverne Cox.