REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED ONSCREEN
Nothing makes for better storytelling than a pissedoff hero — or heroine — out for blood
John Wick: Chapter 4
March 24
Mr. Wick, Gentleman Assassin, StillGrieving Widower, and All-Around Murderous Badass, is back. When we last left Keanu Reeves’ iconic action hero, he’d been banished by the secret organization known as the High Table, shot off the roof of a hotel by his dear friend Winston, and was being nursed back to health by associates on the Bowery. Now, he’s looking to get back into the good graces of his old employers (or at least avoid getting killed by their endless supplyply ply of highly trained thugs) — a feat that will involve a lot of yakuza, a marriage, a duel to the death with a mysterious aristocrat ( It’s killer clown Bill Skarsgård), and fighting a fixer in the form of martial-arts legend Donnie Yen.
The Curse
Showtime
Individually, Nathan Fielder ( Nathan for You, The Rehearsal) and Benny Safdie ( Good Time, Uncut Gems) have made some of the most profoundly uncomfortable filmed entertainment of this century — we’re talking the kind that can leave audiences burying their faces in their hands and questioning the life choices that led to watching this. The two of them teaming up as actors and co-creators of this comedy should create a vibe of awkwardness that’ll be palpable from outer space. Thankfully the premise — ”an alleged curse disturbs the relationship of a newly married couple as they try to conceive a child while co-starring on their problematic new HGTV show” — and the presence of Emma Stone as their co-star make
The Curse sound more appealing than mortifying. Even if we plan to watch it while hiding behind our couches.
Beef
Netflix
No, it’s not a spinoff of The Bear (the wonderful FX on Hulu show about a Chicago sandwich shop), because the beef in this dark dramedy is strictly the metaphorical kind. A down-onhis-luck contractor (Steven Yeun) and an overextended businesswoman (Ali Wong) get into a road-rage incident
that soon spirals wildly out of control, leading to a series of major and minor attacks that threatens to destroy both of their lives in the process. Yeun is a budding superstar who can play almost any tone well, and Wong showed an impressively expanded dramatic range in last year’s Paper
Girls. This show is a stark change from the last time these two teamed up, to voice a pair of happy lovebirds on the animated comedy Tuca & Bertie. (Not coincidentally, Beef was created by former Tuca writer Lee Sung Jin.) Making them into mortal enemies is sure to be explosive.