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.

The Afterparty, Season Two, on Apple TV

Apparently, Aniq Adjaye is a lot like Jane Marple and Jessica Fletcher. He is not a little old lady, but murders seem to follow him around. He successfully cleared his name when he was accused of killing pop star Xavier in season one, so this time around, he must prove the innocence of his girlfriend Zoe Zhu’s sister Grace. Unfortunately, he uncovers a lot of embarrassing dirty laundry for the Zhu family in season two of creator Christopher Miller’s The Afterparty, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

Despite being a murder suspect, Adjaye managed to win over Zhu, his high school crush, during the Xavier investigation. He wants to take things to the next level, but her parents really seem to hate him. At least Grace likes him and so does the groom, as far as Adjaye can tell. Edgar is a wealthy tech tycoon and crypto investor, but he is definitely a cold fish. He only shows real affection towards Roxanna, his pet lizard he always carries on his shoulder. Awkwardly, he will also be murdered on his wedding night.

Edgar’s boozy mother Isabel immediately accuses Grace, so Adjaye calls Danner to find the real killer. She retired from the force after solving the Xavier murder, for reasons that will be explained during her flashback. Like season one, each Rashomon-style witness statement is rendered in a different style, but it is not always immediately obvious what genre each episode is spoofing.

The black-and-white film noir homage is obvious for Travis, Grace’s schlubby conspiracy theorist boyfriend. Edgar’s adopted sister Hannah seems to exist in a Wes Anderson film, while the victim’s business partner Sebastien gets the split-screen caper treatment of the Ocean’s movies or The Thomas Crown Affair. Danner’s story is sort of a 1980s erotic thriller, much to Adjaye’s discomfort, whereas the perspective of the bride’s father, Feng Zhu (Ken Jeong doing his sad clown shtick), unfolds entirely through smart phone videos. Unfortunately, the longest episode is also the slowest: Grace’s Austen-esque costume drama explanation of her unlikely romance with Edgar.

Adjaye and the bride provide a lot of exposition in the first two installments, but the second season gets much funnier once they finish. The assorted directors helming episodes, including Miller, Eric Appel, and Anu Valia, nicely handle the flashbacks, rather slyly revealing more context and explanation with each eye-witness account. Each guests’ recollections fit together rather cleverly.

The Afterparty on Apple TV

Usually, in movies or TV, high school reunions are either the setting for slasher horror (Mostly Likely to Die, etc.) or super-awkward cringe comedy (D Train and so forth). These partiers returning for their fifteen-year get off easy, because there is only one dead body, at least for most of the show (granted, the cops “lose” a suspect or two, but they are dumb enough to simply misplace them). Unfortunately, poor Aniq will suffer all sorts of comedic indignities. He also finds himself the prime suspect in creator-director Christopher Miller’s The Afterparty, which premieres today on Apple TV+.

Everyone is excited to see the Vanilla Ice-ish rapper and actor “Xavier” at the reunion, even though they all hated him in school, when he was known as Eugene. Nice but nebbish Aniq is the exception, for reasons that will be revealed over time. However, still attends, in hopes of re-connecting with Zoe, his former lab-partner and eternal crush. Rather inconveniently, suspicion immediately falls on him when someone pitches Xavier over the edge of his Hollywood Hills mansion, to his death below.

Regrettably, Aniq was passed out for most of the night and when he woke up, he immediately started shouting incriminating threats towards Xavier, who would take his swan dive shortly thereafter. Det. Danner and her bumbling partner, Det. Culp immediately key-in on him, but at least they go to the trouble of getting the other guests’ statements, which collectively paint a Rashomon-ish picture of the night.

Everyone is comparing Afterparty to Only Murders in the Building, but it is far less neurotic, because how could it not be. It also has its own peculiar charm. Although Aniq is ostensibly a straight-man-like character, Sam Richardson (who played a similar personality-type in Werewolves Within) gets a surprising share of the laughs with his deadpan responses. He has appealing maybe-yes-maybe-no romantic chemistry with Zoe Chao, as her namesake, and also nicely riffs along with manic Ben Schwartz, playing his goofball friend (and failed musician) Yasper.

Based on the seven episodes (out of eight) available for review, it seems Miller and his co-writers were undecided whether Danner is dumb-as-a-post or crazy-like-a-fox. Weirdly, Tiffany Haddish’s loud bull-in-a-china-shop portrayal maintains that uncertainty, which is arguably a real trick. In contrast, the totally on-point Ilana Grazer is scathingly acerbic as the boozy, scandal-tarred Chelsea (think of her like Juliette Lewis in Yellowjackets, but without the shotgun).