Based on the classic novel by Paul Theroux, MOSQUITO COAST (2021, streaming on Apple TV) is a new series starring Theroux’s nephew, Justin Theroux, one of my favorite actors after he shredded THE LEFTOVERS and did great work in films like MUTE. It’s technically excellent, and its take on the novel offers a similarly powerful critique of capitalism, but in my view it’s missing something the novel had, which is a mythic story big enough to carry its big ideas.

The novel (and excellent 1986 adaptation starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren) shows us a critique of modern life through the eyes of firebrand Ally Fox, a thin-skinned genius inventor who refuses to take part in modern society and longs to go somewhere far beyond its reach with his family. He’s a bit of a megalomaniac, but the thing is, his rants are pretty much on the money, the way you read or watch FIGHT CLUB and find yourself nodding at pretty much everything that comes out of Tyler Durden’s mouth. While the answer in FIGHT CLUB is nihilism, which should be rejected, the answer in MOSQUITO COAST is a purist utopianism, which is also shown to be a flop. The Apple TV series takes a different approach that is good but ultimately fell short for me. I’ll explain.

In this version, the Foxes are wanted by the FBI and find themselves on the run, which is pretty much the entire thing. Along the way, we are shown the failings of capitalism through things like illegal immigrants, homeless occupying an abandoned shopping mall, and so on. This is all awesome, and it’s very well done in the way the fantastic 2006 CHILDREN OF MEN exposed the madness and self-destructive tendencies inherent in our species. But where CHILDREN OF MEN truly shined and made its point is in a powerful, intimate story using all this as a backdrop: a failed idealist who wanted to change the world only to give in to apathy finds new hope and purpose in protecting the only woman in the world capable of having children. In contrast, THE MOSQUITO COAST gives us … the Foxes are bad parents wanted for some crime that isn’t explained, and they’re on the run, which takes them into one dangerous situation after another.

The cinematography is great, the acting is superb (Justin Theroux is fantastic as always), and some of the characters, even the secondary characters, are superbly drawn. There are some clumsy directing choices–sluggish pacing at times and things like showing us a jug of water in the back of a truck in the desert several times, practically screaming at us that oh yea, this jug is gonna get bullet holes in it, and our heroes will be very thirsty–which is annoyingly ham-fisted, but no deal breaker. The same with some deus ex machina rescues and laughably poor choices by characters. I could live with it. Overall, there’s a lot to like in this take on THE MOSQUITO COAST when you view it as a whole. I just felt watching it like I was in rinse, recycle, repeat mode waiting for the real story to reveal itself. The show had a point to make but ultimately didn’t know what it was.

Which is a bummer, as I was real hopeful for this one. If you have Apple TV, I would encourage you to check it out for yourself, as you might connect with it. Me, I wanted to connect but just couldn’t get into the story.

Based on the terrific autofictional novel by Nico Walker, CHERRY (2021, streaming on Apple TV) presents a story of a young man who goes to Iraq to serve his country only to come home with PTSD and develop a drug habit, leading to him robbing banks to support his addiction. It’s stylish and Tom Holland does a great job in the lead role, but the whole thing bogs on its well-trod formula.

I absolutely loved the novel by Walker. It’s repetitive to the point of being boring in many parts, and its last act cycles through the same stuff until it just sorta ends, but Walker has an incredible voice, raw and self-deprecating and heart-breaking in its honesty. It’s a very American voice, crying, “I believed in something and I’m screwed up and that’s who I am, I thought I’d be better at all this.”

Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, who directed typical Marvel movies but produced some really interesting indie stuff like ASSASSINATION NATION, CHERRY tries to streamline this charming, sprawling novel into a tight, simple story with a highly sympathetic protagonist. As a result, it falls back on rote formula, which is only marginally improved by its overall competence and a lot of stylish direction borrowed from Martin Scorsese.

Overall, I liked it. In the end, it’s an important story, one that deserves repeated telling. The book just does it way, way better in my opinion.

MOSUL (2019, Netflix) is one of a string of fantastic war movies to hit the screen in recent years. In this film set in 2016, ISIS is losing control of Mosul, which they captured and laid waste in an orgy of looting, rape, and murder. As the ISIS forces flee, an Iraqi elite unit plunges deep into their territory. This is the Nineveh Province SWAT, bound on a mysterious mission.

The film was inspired by a real unit, which killed or captured so many ISIS fighters that ISIS would execute them on the spot if they were ever captured.

In the first scene, we see three police officers under siege by an ISIS unit. After they’re rescued, one, Kawa, is recruited to join the SWAT unit. His new comrades don’t trust him, and he has no idea where they’re going. They’re incredibly badass, which is revealed in how they fight rather than any artificial bravado from a ham-fisted script. They’re apparently on a rogue mission, that much is clear. And they’ll let nothing stop them and will kill anything that gets in their way.

I absolutely loved this film. The war-torn sets, the relentless tension, the intense action, Kawa’s organic growth to become SWAT himself, the realistic portrayal of the conflict, and the terrific emotional payoff at the end all make this a war movie to watch.

For me, UNDERGROUND RAILROAD (2021, streaming on Amazon Prime) is nothing short of a monumental achievement.

Based on the excellent novel by Colson Whitehead, RAILROAD chronicles the travels of Cora, a field slave on an antebellum Georgia plantation, as she escapes and tries to find a place where she can finally be safe. Her means of escape is the Underground Railroad, though this is where the story very quickly diverges from reality into magical realism. While the real Underground Railroad was a network of people who helped slaves escape to the North, in this story, it is an actual physical railroad, seemingly created by a people’s hopes and aspirations.

Cora’s adventures take her through the South to the North, with each state similarly diverging from history to take a different approach to race relations. One state crushes Africans in brutal slavery, another enacts a seemingly beneficial but patronizing type of control, and so on. Along the way, Whitehead examines the impact of slavery on a nation, how it leaves scars that last long after the lash stops, and how it also twists and scars people and a nation that do the enslaving.

In short, it’s a great story, powerful but without seeming to lecture or scold, leaving us to think and feel for ourselves as viewers. And what a loving, artistic, and powerful adaptation Barry Jenkins pulls from it. From the cinematography to the sound design, everything about the show sings with craftsmanship. The acting is terrific across the board. The portrayal of the slave catcher Ridgeway gives us one of the best villains I’ve ever seen on television, a man tormented and twisted by his spiritual conscience but given to dark impulses and believing in a natural order in which his race is on top and therefore can do what it wants. The camera takes its time and lingers on faces to bring the interior landscape of the characters quietly but richly into view. Jenkins had a free hand with this creation, resulting in episodes ranging from around 20 minutes up to 77 minutes, whatever the “chapter” needed.

So yeah, I loved UNDERGROUND RAILROAD and highly recommend it as a truly loving, powerful piece of art.

Based on the Image comic series by Mark Millar, JUPITER’S LEGACY (2021, Netflix) suffers from a few overwrought character tropes and comes to a sudden stop rather than a real story end, but overall it delivers one hell of a great superhero story, something that is deeply familiar yet new enough to create a bold result.

In the near future, the world looks a lot like ours, basically going to hell in a hand basket, but with one big difference: In the 1930s, a group of Americans with superhuman powers emerged to set an example of morality while dedicating themselves to fighting evil, notably criminals. Now they’re old, though still formidable, and raising the next generation of superheroes to take their place. This produces huge conflicts, mostly involved with parents who were always off fighting evil and were never there, the pressure of being raised to become the next superheroes, the difficulties in keeping to a code not to kill when the bad guys are willing to do it, the difficulties in resisting the urge to take over and govern to save humanity from itself, the challenge of being a superhero at all in an increasingly gray and confusing world.

It’s all very fertile ground for the great types of philosophical questions the existence of superheroes raise, and JUPITER’S LEGACY handles them well. The story digs handfuls of traditional tropes and drops them into modern reality the way THE BOYS does, but while THE BOYS is entirely cynical (and probably more realistic), JUPITER’S LEGACY takes the traditional tropes seriously, gives them incredible power, and then challenges them, which again results in something known but also bold. But it’s not all angst and drama. There’s quite a bit of superhero action, and I enjoyed seeing them express their different types of powers.

While all this is happening, an alternate timeline is explored where we see how the superheroes got their powers, which I found equally compelling.

For some reason, critics didn’t like it. I can say not everything hit the mark for me. I had a few issues with the casting and a few minor quibbles with a few character tropes that felt over worn. But overall, it’s a pretty fresh, engaging take on the superhero myth, not as fun as Marvel and not as dark as DC, but somewhere comfortably in the middle with its own identity. My only real complaint was the ending. It ends with a big reveal but also some major cliffhangers, likely following the comics, which I think is risky for a show that doesn’t arrive with a second season already signed. But again, getting there was a ton of fun, and I’d recommend this one for people looking for something fresh with the superhero myth.