Matchbox the Movie, on Apple TV+

Just imagine if this movie has 19 sequels, but would people still remember the band by then? They will remember the toys. There will always be a market for the matchbox-sized diecast cars, so there are plenty of adults who fondly remember collecting them, just like the characters of this film. Sorry, there are no animated vehicles. However, plenty of cars will drive fast and flip over in Sam Hargave’s Mattel-branded Matchbox the Movie, which premieres tomorrow on Apple TV+.

Sean Walker and his friends always used to meet in Aimee’s uncle’s garage to trade and race their Matchbox cars. However, Walker had to cut ties to the group, after he was recruiting by a super-secret black ops division of the CIA. Yet, rather fatefully, he hears of Uncle Smalley’s demise right after his overwatch handler orders him to lay low, following an unusually messy mission.

Walker can’t help paying his respects to Uncle Smalley, so he inevitably reconnects with the old gang. It is great until they are all drugged and renditioned by the CIA. Apparently, someone gave the Agency the mistaken notion Walker stole the warhead he just recovered from terrorists and they assume his old pals are his accomplices.

Of course, you can’t keep an operative like Walker chained up for long. Pretty quickly, he engineers the gang’s escape. Much to his frustration, they intend to tag-along and “help” as he works to re-acquire the warhead and clear their names. Fortunately, he knows some contacts who also want to avoid a catastrophic false flag terror attack, including Grigor, a peace-loving FSB agent.

That’s right. An FSB agent is a minor good guy in Matchbox, while all the bad guys are in-fighting CIA Officers. Again, what an insult to the memories of 141 CIA Officers who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. Perhaps Hargrave and screenwriters David Coggeshall & Matt Westbrook have a seething hatred of the United States. Maybe they truly believe the FSB is a greater force for peace in the world than the CIA. However, that hardly seems likely for the average Matchbox afficionado. Seriously, what were Mattel, Apple, and Skydance thinking?

Previously, Hargrave helmed Extraction and its spectacular sequel Extraction 2. He balances the action and the humor reasonably dexterously. However, it is rather unsettling to see big, beefy Sean Walker fighting and killing his fellow black ops officers, even if they have “gone rogue.” Daniel Bernhardt (who co-starred in the Extraction sequel) still has the chops, so he makes a worthy foil for Walker. John Cena certainly knows how to fake fight and he forges some endearing chemistry with Jessica Biel, playing Aimee.

There’s No Place Like Home, Snoopy, on Apple TV+

Snoopy's doghouse is a lot like the Tardis. It seems to hold infinite storage space. Of course, that is really just the power of his imagination. Still, it is such a shame to lose it. Technically, it was Sally’s fault, but it is still gone just the same in There’s No Place Like Home, Snoopy, the new Peanuts animated special directed by Ridd Sorensen, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

It is time for Charlie and Sally Brown’s annual yard sale. Honestly, it really more of Sally’s yard sale, because he has trouble letting go of his old stuff, for sentimental reasons. In contrast, Sally has no sentimentalism when it comes to money. That’s how she accidentally sells Snoopy’s doghouse. Of course, she was so intoxicated by her sudden revenue, Sally cannot remember who bought it. Somehow, Snoopy will have to scrounge up another deerstalker cap and magnifying glass to track it down. At least his loyal “owner” Charlie Brown will stick with him every step of the way.

Like all of Apple TV+’s Peanuts specials, There’s No Place Like Home is just as cute and endearing as you might expect. In fact, thematically, it sometimes feels closer to Shulz era specials, except that Charlie Brown is maybe a bit more proactive.

Lucky, on Apple TV+

In The Flim-Flam Man, George C. Scott famously says: “you can’t cheat an honest man.” However, Lucky Armstrong’s dad was scummy enough to cheat a few relatively decent folks during the course of his checkered career. Priscilla Matheson was not one of them, nor was her boss, Whittaker. John Armstrong stole $9.9 million from them. Lucky was supposed make a clean getaway with the money, but once again someone steals those ill-gotten gains, leaving her broke, with some very angry gangsters on her trail in creator Jonathan Tropper’s seven-episode Lucky, which is now streaming on Apple TV+.

For Lucky, the betrayal was especially painful, because it was her husband Cary who double-crossed her. She never thought he could be capable of such duplicity, even though he is Matheson’s son. Matheson managed a wholesale gas re-sale scheme that Tropper and his co-writers never really explain, on behalf of Whittaker, the sleazy, psychotic kingpin, with whom she had a brief fling. It is hard to imagine them together now, because Whittaker clearly terrifies her—and Matheson is no shrinking violet.

So, it is a small world, which is bad for Lucky. She must track down Cary and the money, while evading both Matheson’s henchman, Harris Dutch, and his goons, as well as FBI Special Agent Billie Rand. Her father won’t be much help from prison, but his words and lessons in flim-flammery will guide her and haunt her.

Tropper’s plot points, adapted from Marissa Stapley’s novel, could have been lifted from a very average VOD movie. However, Lucky the series still works pretty well thanks to Anya Taylor-Joy and Timothy Olyphant, who are both highly charismatic as Lucky and John Armstrong. Taylor-Joy truly carries the show, quietly but forcefully expressing Lucky’s desperation and burning resentment. Olyphant brims with picaresque charm, but he also shows flashes of the deadbeat dad’s ruthlessness.

Likewise, Clifton Collins, Jr. plays Dutch with dark, twisted, down-home charm. Of course, the great character thesp William Fichtner also radiates malevolent sliminess as Whittaker Admittedly, Annette Benning gets in on the fun, serving up Matheson’s caustic dialogue with relish. However, she never projects convincingly sinister presence as Matheson. She seems more like the nasty junior high teacher students try to avoid.

Cape Fear, on Apple TV+

This time around, Max Cady wisely ditches the “love” and “hate” knuckle tattoos, in favor of the more New Age-sounding “Lost” and “Past.” Admittedly, it makes it easier to fool the media, the cops, and the public interest lawyers. Cady’s 1991 tattoos originally came from Night of the Hunter, not the original 1962 film adaptation of John D. MacDonald’s The Executioners, but it seems like the one element Scorsese and De Niro fans would most likely miss. On the other hand, they won’t miss Bernard Herrmann’s thunderous score. Just like Elmer Bernstein reworked it for the 1991 remake, Jeff Russo reorchestrates the reorchestrations for creator Nick Antosca’s ten-episode—yes, count them, 10—re-remake of Cape Fear, which starts streaming today on Apple TV+.

This time around, the focus shifts to Anna Bowden, who was the defense attorney who advised Cady to take a plea bargain for the murder of his wife. Since then, she has risen to prominence as the chief counsel for a death row exoneration non-profit. She also married Tom Bowden, the well-heeled assistant district attorney who prosecuted Cady. Even they admit it looked super awkward, but it was never an issue until Cady’s ex-girlfriend committed suicide, leaving behind a confession and evidence that cleared Cady.

Bowden knows that Cady is toying with her and her family, but she can’t prove anything. Unfortunately, she must put on a show of solidarity when her boss agrees to handle Cady’s suit against the prison. That shows what public interest groups really care about: financial interest. However, viewers know full well all the trouble that befalls the Bowden’s emotionally disturbed son Zack and his half-in-the closet half-sister Natalie are not coincidences. Yes, Natalie’s true father will be a source of speculation and rumor. Could it be Tom, which would be scandalous, given the timing of the trial and her birth, or could it be someone even more scandalous?

Scorsese’s remake was just a few minutes over two hours, while J. Lee Thompson’s original was considerably shorter. In contrast, Antosca needed ten full-hour episodes for his retelling (out of which eight were provided for review). Not surprisingly, there is a lot of padding. Episodes two and three could (and should) have been condensed down to 15 minutes each. He and the writers also introduce wild new complications. This time around, not only does the stalker have his own stalker, perhaps his stalker does as well. Frankly, it all gets very silly.

Amy Adams tries to sell all this madness with her relatively grounded performance as Bowden, but her spotty southern accent is not much help. Javier Bardem recycles all his snarling No Country for Old Men Bond villain greatest hits as Cady, but frankly, his on-screen personas are not as sinister as his off-screen extremism.

Star City, on Apple TV+

When Neil Armstrong first set foot on the Moon, he proclaimed it was a step “for all mankind.” In this alternate history, the Soviets are not so inclusive or unifying. They explicitly identify that step is of and for the Soviet Union. Yet, the KGB and security apparatus routinely surveil, interrogate, and even purge the very scientists and Cosmonauts who made that triumph possible. Despite their success, there is no more toxic workplace than the Gagarin Cosmonaut Center in co-creators Ronald D. Moore, Ben Nedivi, and Matt Wolpert’s Star City, their spinoff from For All Mankind, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

Landing on the Moon was huge moment, so the Party carefully scripted the landing speech. The mission was such a coup, the Party immediately orders another mission, to land the first woman. Yana Akhmatova (a fitting name, if you know your Russian literature) should be that woman, because she is the best Cosmonaut in Star City. However, one of the drones working for KGB security chief Lyudmilla Raskova in dreaded “Building 12” uncovers information that calls her loyalty in question. Naturally, a confession is quickly beaten out of her and she is scrubbed from the mission.

The Party—but decidedly not the director of the Soviet space program, known simply as “The Chief Designer”—select Anastasia Belikova as her replacement. Her loyalty is beyond reproach, but her competence is highly suspect. Not surprisingly, fellow Cosmonauts Valya Mironov and Sasha Polivanov bitterly resent her selection. However, they warm to her after she flubs her but speech, but subsequently helps avert disaster on the return-trip home.

Fortunately, Belikova’s prominence protects her, at least temporarily. However, nobody is safe while Raskova conducts her mole hunts. Recent Building 12 recruit Irina Morozova sees her boss’s ruthlessness first-hand. The transcriber-turned-operative impresses her boss with her intelligence and initiative, but she knows she is playing with fire.

If you have not seen For All Mankind (you’re not alone), but the first five episodes provided for review (out of eight) easily stand alone for viewers with no prior familiarity. Perhaps it might be preferable, since several roles were recast with English thesps replacing their Russian predecessors (including Morozova and Belikova), which might be distracting for the previous audience.

Regardless, Moore, Nedivi, Wolpert, and the battery of directors (including Nick Murphy, who also helmed the underappreciated The Awakening) do a nice job recreating the paranoia and mandatory hypocrisy of the Brezhnev era. The surveillance is constant and freedom of thought is non-existent. Indeed, the series was produced with a good deal of historical insight, such as the rapid disillusionment of Lakshmi, a scientist from “non-aligned” India, who immediately finds her apartment bugged and her professional credibility tokenized.

Unconditional, on Apple TV+

At this point, everyone should be extremely cautious when visiting Russia or China, because they are hostile powers that employ hostage-taking as a tactic to negotiate political and economic concessons. That caution should also apply to layovers. Orna Levy and her daughter Gali learn that the hard way. They were traveling from India to Israel, but Gali was arrested on dubious drug trafficking charges during their Moscow connection. Orna Levy is neither a lawyer or a diplomat, but she is a mother, so she fights tenaciously for her daughter’s freedom in co-creators Adam Bizanski & Dana Idisis’s 8-episode Israeli drama, Unconditional, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

Orna assumes they would simply eat between flights and that would be all they would see of Russia. Instead, the police swarm and arrest Gali, leaving her mother confused and alarmed. The timing is terrible, because the Israeli embassy is closed for a national holiday. Eventually, she learns the charges, but neither Levy or her lawyer can speak to her daughter, because the cops keep transferring her from prison to prison, like a game of three card monte.

Eventually, Gali is “arraigned,” but with one whispered word from the prosecutor, the judge denies bail with no explanation. Viewers had better take note at this point. This could happen to any American traveling to Russia, if Putin and his lackeys feel they need an extra bargaining chip.

Awkwardly, Gali’s case turns out to be a little more complicated. As Levy conducts a media campaign back home to pressure the Israeli government secure her daughter’s release, she starts to pick up hints Gali might have been intertwined with some sort of international intrigue. For starters, she had a bundle of strange passports hidden in some of her possessions that her mother was carrying. Consequently, Levy starts distrusting her own government, even including her sort of former lover, Dori, a not-exactly former member of the Shin Bet.

Regardless, Gali most likely wasn’t precisely the naïve girl her mother presumed. Indeed, her parting advice to her mother—do no eat or drink anything—was quite sage. As her Russian lawyer later explains, Putin’s cops often lace water provided during interrogations with trace amounts of drugs, to produce false positives to present in court.

The early episodes of Unconditional are smart, nerve-wracking, and urgently timely television. Unfortunately, the conclusion is fairly ridiculous and leaves major national security questions unresolved—and not in a cliffhanger kind of way. The writers clearly just didn’t consider it important.

Admittedly, Bizanski & Idisis target fans of Not Without My Daughter rather than Tom Clancy, but given the Russian and Israeli setting, they could have anticipated a crossover techno-thriller market. To be fair, as previously stated, there is a great deal of valid cautionary, ripped-from-true-life sequences.

Nevertheless, the mother-daughter relationship is the engine driving the series and its reason for being. Consequently, it is also a heck of a showcase for Liraz Chamami, whose performance as Mother Levy is both magnificent and harrowing. She is a ferocious mama bear and a poignant everywoman, misunderestimated (as George W. Bush aptly says) at every turn.

Evgenia Dodina is also wonderfully acerbic and flamboyantly sharklike as Rita, the mysterious Israeli spymaster, who might possibly do more good than harm for Levy. Yossi Marshek also deserves credit for his sensitively understated portrayal of Benni, Levy’s husband suffering from acute early Alzheimer’s. Yes, when it rains for Orna Levy, it pours.

Widow’s Bay, on Apple TV+

Islanders are supposed to be tight-knit and stick together, but the locals on this island off the New England coast must take it to ridiculous extremes. Those who were born on the island must never leave the island—ever. Yet, Widow’s Bay also has a macabre history of serial killers and mysteriously deadly accidents. It seems like their doomed either way in creator Katie Dippold’s ten-episode horror-comedy Widow’s Bay, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

Tom Loftis was elected mayor, even though he is considered an outsider. He was born on the mainland, but visited his father on Widow’s Bay for the summers. (His mother once spent a very fateful vacation there herself.) Loftis has heard all about the curse business, but he refuses to believe it, except maybe deep down he does. After all, he has never let his obnoxious son Evan visit the outside world. Nevertheless, he is determined to save the local economy by turning Widow’s Bay into the next Martha’s Vineyard.

Wyck is a local fisherman who has lived in Widow’s Bay long enough to know Lofttis’s plan is a terrible idea and he is onery enough to challenge the mayor, loudly and often. Wyck oobviously understands Loftis’s weaknesses, but he shows more respect than Sheriff Bechir, a contemptuous mainlander nearing the end of his contract. City Hall staff, like the mousy, poorly-socialized Patricia, generally humor Loftis, but deep down they mostly agree with Wyck.

Like it or not, Loftis will have to admit the truth after a series of supernatural incidents, including encounters with the ghost of a Gacy-like serial killer and a spectral “Sea Hag.” Despite its comedy-hybrid classification, Dippold manages to incorporate all kinds of horror staples, even including a masked Michael Meyers-inspired slasher, who seems to impossible to kill. The series initially borrows heavily from The Fog and Stephen King’s Storm of the Century, but it adds plenty distinctive nightmares of its own.

In fact, the horror elements work better than a lot of the comedy, which is highly reliant on public humiliation and the cringe factor. Frankly, the best comedic bits are those that embrace the surreal. Regardless, series directors Hiro Murai, Ti West, Andrw DeYoung, and Samuel Donovan achieve a consistently eerie atmosphere, while Dippold creates some seriously creepy lore.

My Brother the Minotaur, on Apple TV+

The more you think about the origins of the Minotaur Theseus slayed on Crete (according to mythology), the more you realize it is not a topic you should dwell on. After all, he was the offspring resulting from Queen Pasiphae’s “dalliance” with King Minos’s prize bull. So…yeah. Wisely, this minotaur has a radically different origin story, especially since his show was produced for kids. Nevertheless, finding acceptance is still frustratingly hard for young, horned Lorcan in creator Donal Mangan’s My Brother the Minotaur, which premieres today on Appl TV+.

Being a minotaur, Lorcan ought to live on an island. In this case, tight-knit Bryony isle voluntarily closed itself off to visitors after Lorcan’s adoptive grandparents discovered him in the woods, to protect him from the outside world. His new parents had given up on having their own children, but his younger brother Charlie came along as a happy surprise a few months later.

Charlie is devoted to his older brother, but some Bryony residents have started to resent Lorcan, especially the former hotelier, dastardly Mr. Craignelder. Recently, Craignelder has kidnapped several local pets, hoping to frame Lorcan and drive away residents. If enough Bryony islanders leave, Craignelder will have the votes to sell out the community to a mining concern.

In a case of bad timing, Lorcan’s past simultaneously comes looking for him. Apparently, there is a hidden portal on Bryony to a fantasy realm, where war ages between the despotic minotaur regime and a fairy army, who protect our world against invasion. Something wants to drag Lorcan back, so it uses a shapeshifting Pooka to do its dirty work on the human side of the portal.

Recently, Ireland emerged as one of the most anti-Semitic nations in Europe, with new reports of anti-Jewish vandalism, discrimination, and harassment recorded at a record rate. Apparently, there is also a great deal of prejudice against minotaurs as well. Frankly, the nation desperately needs to hear this series’ message of tolerance.

Clearly, there is no denying Minotaur’s Irishness, since it was produced by the Irish animation house, Cartoon Saloon and filmmaker Tomm Moore (who helmed Song of the Sea) signed on as an executive producer. Like all Cartoon Saloon projects, the new series has a charming hand-drawn style.

Although written with kids in mind, Mangan’s series often takes its dark fantasy elements in a very horror direction. There are a lot of dark and stormy nights on Bryony. Yet, it also celebrates family bonds, especially those that were not originally based in blood. In fact, the relationship between Lorcan and his grandfather George is especially memorable and endearing.

Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, Season Two, on Apple TV+

Some of the best Godzilla lately has come in comic book form. Where else could you see the King face off against the Power Rangers, the Marvel Universe superheroes, and literary figures like Jay Gatsby and Sherlock Holmes (in Godzilla: Monsterpiece Theatre). Arguably, the recent Japanese films, Shin Godzilla and Godzilla Minus One are as good or better, but they have come less frequently. Regardless, the Apple TV+ “Monsterverse” series has far outclassed Legendary Pictures’ films. With the release of second season, episodes are also arriving more frequently. Plus, Kurt Russell and his son Wyatt return as shoot-from-the-hip Col. Leland Shaw (or Captain in scenes from the past) in season two of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, which is still releasing new episodes on Apple TV+.

Season one ended with a massive cliffhanger, trapping crusty “old” Shaw in Axis Mundi, the monster dimension. However, it is quickly resolved in season two when Cate and Kentaro Randa, the Randa step-siblings, and their ambiguous friend May Olowe-Hewitt (who are sort of like Mystery Incorporated) devise a Doctor Who-worthy plan to save him.

Unfortunately, their operation rouses a new titan from hibernation. That would Titan X, who apparently grew up in the 1980s. This kaiju also has a cooperative symbiotic relationship with a horde of armored crabs known as Scarabs. It turns out Shaw and Mari and Bill Randa have seen these creatures before—and it wasn’t much fun for them the first time, either.

Ironically, when his boss’s presumed death elevates the nebbish Tim, who still has no last name, to command of Outpost 18, the new role surprisingly suits him. Unfortunately, he will have to navigate Apex, a politically connected tech company, who temporarily wrangles control of Titan policy away from Monarch.

Frankly, just about everyone goes rogue at some point in the second season, including both Randa step-siblings, Olowe-Hewitt, and, of course, Shaw, who was born a maverick. Understandably, the destructiveness of Titan rampages brings out strong feelings in the characters and inspires very different strategies to prevent them.

Much of season two feels like one step forward followed by one step back, or vice versa. However, a late season episode, “String Theory” written by Joe Pokaski and directed by Gandja Monteiro, understands what fans have been hoping for. It doesn’t quite happen, but Kurt and Wyatt Russell, who both play the younger and older Shaw, sort of, kind of participate in a sequence of scene. Thy obviously can’t be on-screen together, but the workaround solution is satisfyingly clever.

The Hunt, on Apple TV+

Sure, Franck and his cronies are French, but they own guns, hunt, and drink heavily, all at the same time. They are not the only ones. During a Sunday hunting excursion, a rough, somewhat legally questionable hunting party opens fire on Franck’s friends, so they shoot back, killing one of them. It was self-defense, but it ignites a feud worthy of hill country in writer-director Cedric Anger’s six-part The Hunt, which (finally) premieres today on Apple TV+.

The Hunt was delayed several months due to legal issues when the rights holders of Douglas Fairbairn’s novel Shoot and the 1976 film adaptation (starring Cliff Robertson and Ernest Borgnine) objected to similarities. Yes, they share common elements, but if they were truly actionable, hundreds of films should have paid clearance fees to Richard Connell’s estate for The Most Dangerous Game, before it fell out of copyright in 2020.

Regardless, Franck, Xavier, Simon, and Gilles all find themselves in a fire-fight that fateful day. The gang shot first, giving a Xavier a profusely bleeding trump-like bullet wound to the ear, but apparently Franck’s group are more accurate shots. Fearing the consequences of their actions, the ambushed hunters hope to return to their lives and pretend it never happened. However, the outlaws soon start stalking and threatening Franck and friends.

Clearly, Franck is the alpha male of their pack, so the well-heeled hardware store owner takes the lead sleuthing out their rivals. In contrast, Xavier, Simon, and Gilles are all quite sad and rather passive. Leo is easily the next most formidable member of their circle. He did not accompany them on that particular trip, but he immediately rallies behind them. As a medical doctor, he can also treat Xavier’s wounds off the books.

Logically, Franck also has the most to lose, starting with his more sophisticated wife Krystel, Leo’s medical partner. They also have a young son with discipline problems and a teen daughter who just started dating a suspiciously older boyfriend. However, Franck’s greatest vulnerability might be the mistress he has kept out of sight.

Anger’s non-adaptation is a presentable thriller, but a tighter, shorter presentation would have thrilled even more. Frankly, this could and probably should have been a feature, because Anger gives us more than enough scenes of Franck driving on endless errands and tripping around the thugs’ roadhouse. However, the subplot following Krystel’s efforts to find a missing runaway teen pay-off better than expected.

F1: The Movie, on Apple TV+

It must have been bizarrely ironic for Lewis Hamilton to see the Sphere emblazoned with the likeness of Brad Pitt in the Formula 1 racing film he produced and appeared in, as he sped through the course of the Las Vegas Grand Prix, unable to advance past the first qualifier. His Hollywood foray should have been the cherry atop the 2025 season, but instead it was the only real highlight of a frustrating year. Fortunately, everybody likes a comeback story, like that of Pitt’s character, Sonny Hayes. His first Formula 1 stint ended poorly. Since then, Hayes raced anything with four wheels, often with great success. The world of Formula 1 is less than thrilled to have him back, but for the APXGP team owner, desperate times call for desperate measures, and hiring Hayes definitely qualifies as that in Josph Krosinski’s F1: The Movie, which premieres Friday on Apple TV+.

To be fair, Hayes just helped his team win the 24 Hours of Daytona. Frankly, he wins quite regularly, but not in Formula 1. However, at this point, that is good enough for his old crony, APXGP team owner Reuben Cervantes. If his drivers do not start scoring some points, his board will shutter the operation.

Of course, Kate McKenna, the team’s technical guru is skeptical. She also resents Hayes smug confidence, so obviously we know they’re eventually getting together. That skepticism goes double for Joshua Pearce, the team’s entitled rookie, who rightly considers his position threatened by a driver who might be even older than Gen X. Nevertheless, he still looks good, as McKenna might grudgingly admit.

The next few races will be rocky, but Hayes will be Hayes. He will even scratch out some points through guile and sheer audacity. As a result, McKenna starts taking his feedback under serious consideration. Unfortunately, snake-in-the-grass board member Peter Banning sabotages their efforts, to assume control of the team.

Reportedly, Tom Cruise commenced development on a Days of Thunder sequel, but it is hard to understand why he would bother after the release of F1. Basically, Kosinski (the director of Top Gun: Maverick) just served up Brad Pitt as the Maverick of race-car drivers. Frankly, the sound and visuals are comparable to that of the Top Gun sequel—and at this point in their careers, Pitt has the greater screen charisma.

The First Snow of Fraggle Rock, on Apple TV+

It never released on home video, but for 80s kids, the TV special John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together was a Christmas tradition, thanks to the classic companion album. It is way overdue for a restoration and re-release. Maybe next year. Regardless, Jim Henson’s creations and the holiday season go together like mistletoe and holly. The Fraggles do not exactly celebrate Christmas, but they have their own seasonal festivities. Unfortunately, Gobo Fraggle is supposed to perform a new song for their annual winter frolic, but he has a persistent case of writer’s block in the new special, The First Snow of Fraggle Rock, which premieres Friday on Apple TV+.

Some might try to blame “climate change,” but the new Doc’s experiments are probably more at fault. Her lovable dog Sprocket isn’t too thrilled about them either. Regardless, the lack of snow at Fraggle Rock is a blessing for Gobo, because he has nothing to perform. Eventually, the snow must come, so he ventures into Doc’s house, in search of his Uncle Traveling Matt’s latest postcard, hoping it will provide inspiration.

Instead, Uncle Traveling Matt (that is his full name, you know) sends magical instructions that allow Gobo to join him in the Human World. Frankly, Gobo might be better suited to our world, because he eventually crashes a recording session for vocalist Lele Pons, who improvises a duet with the Fraggle.

Frankly, Apple has been out to lunch when it comes to promoting the original songs commissioned for their programs at the Emmy’s. Honestly, Ben Folds’ “It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown” and Mick Jagger’s “Strange Game” for Slow Horses are both award-worthy tracks. First Snow features two quality originals that maybe aren’t quite as impressive, but they are highly catchy and thematically appropriate: “Can You Feel It” by Harvey Mason Jr., Andrew Hey, and Sam Ramirez, along with “Our Melody” by Philip Balsam and Dennis Lee.

Down Cemetery Road, on Apple TV+

Where are Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis when we need them? A house blows up in Oxford but the local police barely bother to notice. Admittedly, the UK deep state (which can’t be bothered to prosecute Chinese spies) does everything possible to block their investigation. That leaves a neurotic art restoration technician and cynical private detective to crack the case in creator Morwenna Banks’ eight-episode Down Cemetery Road, based on Mick Herron’s novel, which is now streaming on Apple TV+.

Just down the street (presumably, it must be on Cemetery Road) a house blows up, just while Sarah Trafford’s conspicuously desperate husband Mark tries to butter-up a skeptical wealthy client. Despite several fatalities, young Dinah survived the inferno—and then she disappeared. Nobody seems to know anything, least fo all the police, so she hires Joe Silverman to track her down. Weirdly and tragically, he kills himself shortly thereafter. Of course, Trafford is skeptical, while Silverman’s partner and philandering wife Zoe Boehm is even more so.

Of course, they team-up as an odd couple, to battle the sinister assassin brothers contracted by Hamza, a nebbish intelligence officer tasked with covering up a disastrous chemical weapons program. It was a rather unsavory experiment that used enlisted British soldiers as guinea pigs. Downey was one of them. He also happens to be Dinah’s uncle and possibly Trafford’s other ally. If exposed, the top secretoperation could be a three-alarm scandal, but Hamza’s abusive boss “C” would still rather humiliate him then offer constructive leadership.

It is surprising that the wickedly smart Slow Horses series was also based on Herron’s novels, because Cemetery Road always takes the most obvious, least surprising fork in the road. Frankly, eight episodes of Boehm bickering with Trafford and C berating Hamza is punishingly excessive. At most, this story could have been better translated as a TV-movie, but even that would have been wholly unnecessary.

Instead, we have schtick all over the place, starting with Emma Thompson’s intermittently amusing Philip Marlowe act. Ruth Wilson’s chronic breakdowns grow increasingly tiresome, but she certainly dispels all memories of her femme fatal glory in Luther while portraying Trafford.

The Last Frontier, on Apple TV+

Alaska would be a terrible state to be a fugitive in. The weather is cold, gun ownership is high, and probably one out of every ten residents has their own reality TV show. Nevertheless, that is exactly where a special prison transport plane crashes. It will be Federal Marshal Frank Remnick’s job to coordinate the massive manhunts. In addition to the FBI, he has the dubious help of a scandal-tarred CIA officer thrust upon him as well in co-creators Jon Bokenkamp & Richard D’Ovidio’s ten-episode The Last Frontier, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

For some reason, the transport was diverted to Alalska, where a mystery prisoner, later identified by the codename “Havlock” was loaded Hannibal Lecter-style. Shortly thereafter, the plane crashes in the Alaskan wilderness. Remnick and his men have no idea regarding any of this when the land to investigate the remote crash-site, which soon becomes the scene of an ambush. Frankly, this might be one of the most spectacular and brutal action sequences ever filmed for television (directed with verve by Sam Hargrave).

Barely surviving, Remnick quarterbacks the search, ordering a statewide lockdown. He intuitively distrusts Sidney Scofield, who initially won’t even admit her CIA credentials. Eventually, she concedes she was reluctantly dispatched by the corrupt Deputy Director Bradford, because she was Havlock’s handler back when he was an asset, not so long ago. Obviously, she is supposed to make the problem go away, but Havlock always seems to be two steps ahead, especially when he kidnaps Remnick’s wife Sarah, an ER nurse treating the recovered survivors.

Honestly, The Last Frontier starts off amazingly, but eventually deflates into a stagnant puddle. Beyond the super-charged action set pieces, the early episodes have a lot of insight into Alaskans’ “frontier” identity and what community means up there. At one point, Remnick’s deputy Hutch, memorably portrayed by Dallas Goldtooth, explains to a suspect that Alaska is hard country, so if you aren’t connected to a wider community you will die up there. Likewise, Remnick utterly shames Scofield for her elitist Beltway snobbery.

Unfortunately, later episodes embrace juvenile “deep state” paranoia and a rather cynical “ends justify the means” approach to problem-solving. Frankly, Bokenkamp and D’Ovidio end up glossing over a whole lot of dead law enforcement officers and innocent civilians, just because “CIA bad.”

There is also a gross imbalance between the two co-leads. Jason Clarke is gritty and forceful as Remnick, but also appealingly grounded and almost “down home.’ In contrast, Hayley Bennett’s shallow, one-note charisma- and energy-challenged portrayal of Scofield probably does more than any of the stilted, conspiratorial agency backstabbing to undermine confidence in the CIA. However, there is a lot of good, earthy work from those portraying Alaskans, including Goldtooth and Simone Kessell, as Sarah Remnick.

The Lost Bus, on Apple TV+

You would think after the 2018 “Camp Fire” killed 85 Californians, local politicians would have fixated on the dangers of forest fires—but they didn’t. Nor can they pretend they had no time to prepare contingencies for the 2024 California wildfires when real estate developer and civic leader Rick Caruso managed to arrange private firefighters and water tanks to safeguard the Palisades Village development. Paradise, California was at the epicenter of the painful lesson that went unlearned. It could have been far worse without Kevin McKay. Instead of a politician or a first-responder, he was a school bus driver who had to drive through Hell-on-Earth, inspiring Paul Greengrass’s true-life drama, The Lost Bus, which starts streaming on Apple TV+ this Friday.

You can blame global warming, or like Trump, the environmental policies that halted underbrush clearing. Either way, it won’t much matter to McKay once the fire starts blazing. He is a bit of a sad sack, who is particularly down since his father’s death a few months past and euthanizing his loyal dog during the opening minutes. Frankly, the latter probably hit him harder. Regardless, his petulant teenaged son Shaun is not about to stop arguing and sulking.

Nevertheless, McKay’s first instinct is to evacuate his son and somewhat infirm mother (played by McConaughey’s real life son and mother) when he first sees the black smoke choking the horizon. Yet, he agrees to pick up the 22 elementary school kids, who have no ride. Of course, he cannot take them alone, so by-the-book teacher Mary Ludwig reluctantly agrees to ride shotgun. Based on America Ferrera’s portrayal, she must be a real pain in the classroom.

Inevitably, each detour leads to another, forcing McKay’s bus into several precarious positions. Naturally, the spotty radio and cell service completely crash, leaving them cut-off from the rest of the world. They could really use a driver like Liam Neeson in the Ice Road movies, but the scruffy McKay turns out to be more resourceful than he looks.

In fact, Matthew McConaughey is aptly cast as the beleaguered McKay. McConaughey can both convincingly embody his working-class soul, while finding the tragic poetry in his existential struggles. Likewise, Yul Vasquez is credibly grizzled and commanding as Chief Martinez, whose role in the film is strictly business. Conversely, Ferrera’s character’s sole purpose seems to be making McKay’s job harder. Still, they do have a late but effective meeting-of-minds scene that helps build last-minute chemistry.

The sequences of runaway combustion look okay, but not great. Arguably, the little-seen documentary Paradise (ironically titled, given it follows insufficiently supplied Russian fire-fighters waging their own losing battle) more successfully captures the sensation of a raging woodland fire. However, Greengrass and cinematographer Pal Ulvik Rokseth vividly convey the ominousness of billowing black smoke.

It is nice to see a film that celebrates blue-collar heroism, which is genuinely how Greengrass and co-screenwriter Bruce Inglesby seem to relate to McKay’s story. They also largely avoid politics and ideology, except for some mushy and vague environmental throwaway references.

Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical, on Apple TV+

The Peanuts comic-strip premiered in 1950, but Charlie Brown and the gang have always been Gen X’ers at heart. Think about it: they stay outside all day long and they never have any adult supervision. That is why they love camp, except maybe Sally. She is like the Gen-Z’er of Peanuts, who would rather stay home watching TV. Just for the record, this is not Camp Remote from Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown. This is Cloverhill Ranch, where everyone feels welcome, even a blockhead like Charlie Brown. He is excited to introduce Sally to the camp’s activities, but it turns out this might be the last hurrah in Snoopy Presents: A Summer Musical, directed by Eric Wiese, which premiers this Friday on Apple TV+.

Of course, the Peanuts kids can sing. They had their own hit Off-Broadway musical, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown. Group singing also happens to be a very camp thing to do. Frankly, Charlie Brown enjoys everything about Cloverhill, which seems very un-Charlie Brown, but the recent Apple TV+ specials have cut Chuck a lot of breaks. It is sort of nice, because we all love the character, but it still feels sort of wrong, because it breaks with the tradition established by Charles Schulz.

Regardless, Cloverhill is his happy place, but Charlie Brown cannot help noticing there have been fewer and fewer campers every year. Yet, he initially focuses on convincing Sally to be less of a miserable Gen Z wet blanket, while Snoopy and Woodstock commence a treasure hunt using the map they accidentally unearthed. Unfortunately, just as he starts to make progress with Sally, the invisible adults announce this will be Cloverhill’s final season. How can the Peanuts gang save the camp? This is a musical, so that should be your first clue.

In fact, this happens to be a pretty solid musical. It isn’t quite Good Man, but it features two pleasingly melodic and memorable tunes penned by Ben Folds. “When We were Light” is a standout that measures up to anything you can currently hear on Broadway, while “Look Up, Charlie Brown” has a really nice musical theater dramatic arc. However, Folds’ best Peanuts tune remains the title song to Snoopy Presents: It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown, which should have won an Emmy (or even a Grammy).

Chief of War, on Apple TV+

King Kamehameha I was the Garibaldi or Charlemagne of Hawaii. He unified the Islands, but he was a King, so apparently, we must remove his statue from Congress’s National Statuary Hall, because “no kings” is the new motto of the righteous, right? Regardless, Keawe-Ka’iana-a-Ahu’ula (commonly referred to as Ka’iana) was a big part of Kamehameha’s campaigns, at least until he wasn’t. Their relationship was complicated, as viewers soon glean from creators Thomas Pa’a Sibbet & Jason Momoa’s nine-episode historical drama Chief of War, which premiere today on Apple TV+.

Like Dom Toretto, “family” is everything to Ka’iana. He once served as the Chief of War for King Kahekili of Maui, but he tired of the ruler’s bloodlust, so he and his family—wife Kupuohi, brother Namaki, sister-in-law Heke, and his loyal dude—Nahi led to Kauai, where they are treated like lowly refugees. At least, they are no longer party to Kahekili’s cruelty, until the King summons them back to Maui.

Reluctantly, Ka’iana once again leads Kahekili’s army, during Maui’s time of need—except the circumstances are not exactly what the King led him to believe. Horrified by their complicity in Kahekili’s atrocities, Ka’iana’s family once again flees Maui. This time, the find shelter in the Kingdom of Hawaii (a.k.a. “The Big Island”), just as a succession battle erupts. Keoua succeeded his father as king, just as he expected. However, the late monarch willed Hawaii’s war god-idol to his nephew, Kamehameha. Essentially, that was like cleaving the Commander-in-Chief duties from the office of the President of the United States. Keoua takes it as a rebuke, which indeed it was.

As the civil war unfolds, Ka’iana’s family aligns with Kamehameha, but it will be an uneasy alliance. However, Ka’iana might not even get that far. While escaping Kahekili’s army, Ka’iana resorts to a death-defying cliff dive, after which an English trading vessel fishes him out of the ocean, on their way to the rough-and-tumble Spanish-Filipino port city of Zamboanga. Ka’iana will get quite an education there, on subjects like guns.

Time will tell how the indigenous Hawaiian community feels about the depiction of famous chiefs like Kahekili and Keoua. For those coming in without any preconceived notions, the series hums along quite briskly as a big, bold, violent historical epic, very much in the tradition of Mel Gibson’s before-scandal films.

Indeed, Chief of War represents an unusually cinematic streaming series. The Hawaiian Island backdrops look stunning and the battle scenes are spectacular. Although Sibbett, Momoa, and cowriter Doug Jung often cast Westerners in villainous roles (especially with respects to the Spanish slave trade), the series itself is much less concerned with the colonialism than the tribal warfare enveloping the islands.

Smoke, on Apple TV+

If Rober De Niro in Backdraft was the last fire department arson investigator you can remember seeing in movies or TV, you might want to keep it that way. You will definitely remember Taron Egerton in this series, no matter how hard you try to forget him playing arson investigator Dave Gudsen, who never stops talking. During his rare quiet moments, he either grinds out his thinly fictionalized, wish-fulfillment “novel,” or engages in dangerous criminal behavior. Those arson investigations won’t solve themselves—or at least that is what Gudsen hopes in creator Dennis Lehane’s 9-episode Smoke, which premieres tomorrow on Apple TV+.

Gudsen has been investigating not one, but two serial arsonists. One is a nasty serial killer, who uses fire to kill his victims. The other is the D&C, or “Divide & Conquer” arsonist, who takes advantage his competitors’ three-alarm fires to set his own impulsive blazes. So far, Gudsen hasn’t caught either, partly because he happens to be the latter.

Lehane and the battery of co-writers make little secret of Gudsen’s guilt. His new partner, Det. Michell Caderone on loan from the real police, also figures out pretty quickly. Gudsen’s current wife #3, Ashley, does no suspect him of outright criminality, at least not yet, but she is getting pretty tired of his attitude and anger management issues. However, Gudsen’s boss Harvey Englehart remains shockingly cluesless.

As both arsonists grow increasingly reckless, Calderone assembles a task force to catch Gudsen, which includes his former partner Ezra Esposito, whose disgrace Gudsen engineered and her boss, Captain Steven Burk, whom she dumped as her lover as soon as he decided to leave his wife for her. They obviously have a lot of collective baggage, but the two arsonists each have more individually.

Frankly, Smoke probably sounds much more twisty and thrilling than it really is. Unfortunately, it is hamstrung by tonal issues that start with Egerton, who seems to think he is playing the Joker in the latest Batman movie. Seriously, Egerton is so ridiculously over the top, it is impossible to believe anything that comes after the first episode. Yet, it is based on the very real story of John Leonard Orr (an arsonist-arson investigator with literary ambitions), who was the subject of the Firebug podcast Lehane used as source material, as well a true crime book by Joseph Wambaugh.

Egerton was terrific in Lehane’s Black Bird, but he is embarrassingly unintentionally funny as Gudsen. In fact, casting was generally disastrous for Smoke, because Jurnee Smollett is also miscast as Calderone, but not to such a spectacular extent. To give credit where it is due, she even has some poignant moments when processing Calderone’s family trauma and betrayal.

Echo Valley, on Apple TV+

Kate Garretson should have stuck with horses. All the animals at her stables seem nice and calm, but her daughter Claire is a real piece of work. Her father Richard has had enough, but her mother keeps giving her money and shielding her from the consequences of her mistakes. Unfortunately, that indulgence has deadly consequences in Michael Pearce’s Echo Valley, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

Garretson has neglected the stables since the untimely death of the wife she left arrogant old blue-blooded Richard for. He has given up on Claire, but he still gives his ex “loans” for barn repairs. We are supposed to dislike him, but he is remarkably generous to his ex-wife, especially given the circumstances—and totally right with respects to Claire’s ungrateful, anti-social behavior.

Yet, again the prodigal daughter returns home, but this time her creepy dealer Jackie Lawson follows her. Garretson is sufficiently country to ward him off the first time. The next time Claire comes home, Lawson soon follows again, but this time he has the upper-hand. Thus begins the cat-and-mouse game, which constitutes the guts of the film.

It is easy to lose patience with this film and its major characters. They are whiny, make horrible decisions, and their potential identity box checking clearly was prioritized over wit or uniqueness. However, Brad Ingelsby’s screenplay shows sudden third act signs of life, when the momentum between the two antagonists starts to shift back and forth.

Admittedly, Julianne Moore puts on a master class projecting Garretson’s still raw bereavement (bordering on depression) and her mama bear protective drive. After the first stilted scene with her ex-husband (another thankless appearance for Kyle MacLachlan), every second she is on screen rings true.

Bono: Stories of Surrender, on Apple TV+

If you are a celebrity, never let a good near-death experience go to waste. Much like Jamie Foxx did in his Netflix special, Paul David Hewson frankly discusses how his heart nearly did him in too. Of course, you probably know Hewson by his stage name, Bono. In 2022 (predating Foxx), he performed a run of sold-out one-man shows (with musical accompaniment) adapted from his memoir. The rest of U2 was not present, but their songs (mostly written by Bono/Hewson) form the meat of the Beacon Theatre show captured for posterity in Andrew Dominik’s Bono: Stories of Surender, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

Although absent, Bono pays tribute to his U2 bandmates, assuring the audience Larry Mullen, Adam Clayton, and The Edge, were, are, and always will be an important part of his life. In fact, he met them the same week he first became acquainted with his future wife, Ali. That was a good week, but the show devotes more time to difficult moments, such as his mother’s tragic early death, his own health scare, and his challenging relationship with his father, especially after Hewson pere’s cancer diagnosis. That is all heavy stuff, but Bono breaks up his confessional with about a dozen of U2’s biggest hits. There are no originals in Stories of Surrender, which is exactly what most fans would prefer.

Instead of The Edge’s guitar, Bono is backed by frequent U2 collaborator Jacknife Lee on keyboards, Kate Ellis on cello, and Gemma Doherty on harp. The instrumentation is unusual, but it really suits Lee’s arrangements of “Pride,” “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking for,” and “Beautiful Day.” Ironically, the tie-in EP tunes, “Desire” and “The Showman” are not as grabby, despite Doherty’s electric power-harp.

However, Erik Messerschmidt’s cinematography—in glorious black-and-white, just like Phil Joanou’s U2: Rattle & Hum (mostly)—always works. As Bono notes, the staging for his solo show is not as elaborately grandiose as recent U2 stadium concerts, but the lighting effects are quite dramatic, especially when creating halo effects and boom flares, which look cool in a rock & roll kind of way.

Unfortunately, Bono’s soul-searching analysis is only applied to his relationships and never to his activism. Instead, he clings to simplistic slogans, like African debt-forgiveness, even though any college econ major will understand the continent’s perverse adherence to command-and-control economic models inevitably prevents any possibility of prosperity. Frankly, Bono often sounds rather defensive when discussing his political advocacy, with good reason.