Nerdy Squirrel Reviews by Pasckie Pascua

“Castle Rock.” (Hulu.) Horror. Two Seasons. Featuring and inspired by characters, settings, and themes from the stories created by Stephen King and his fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. The lineup is topnotch: Sissy Spacek, Scott Glenn, André Holland, Lizzy Caplan, Tim Robbins, Barkhad Abdi.          Special mention to Ms Caplan as Annie Wilkes, a mentally ill nurse who gets stuck in Castle Rock—although she tends to overact in some instances. The overall horror/thrill though is run-of-the-mill Stephen King. That is, if you are familiar with Kingsville as cinema scares.        However, these two castle rocks can be sluggish and at times blurry or vague. But as I said if you know your King, you already pretty much know what’s up next. Overall acting is cool though. And still, this is a not too shabby dalliance on a lazy weekend. Especially if you are the snotty kind (like me) who’s sick and tired of the politically correct “contrivedness” in most shows on streaming. Besides,

"The Mosquito Coast" (Apple TV+), political action/drama, based on the 1981 novel of the same name by Paul Theroux. The book coaxed me to watch the 1986 film, which starred Harrison Ford. The much-better made 1988 movie "Running on Empty" by directed by Sidney Lumet, treads a similar story. Those two movies could be accompanying watch later. THE TV series, starring Justin Theroux and Melissa George as the fugitive Fox couple Allie and Margot, is on Second Season.        I first read the book in the 1990s but although my memory sometimes fails me, I am sure the "...based on" kicker took so much liberty that the series doesn't seem like what/how it was. Understandably, cellphones were not a thing then so in a significant sequence I didn't get that Allie was working on floppy discs for a cartel dude. And, of course, absence computer technology in the novel and presence of it in the series totally subverts plotpoints.        Anyhow, acting by the main

"Echo 3" (Apple TV+), political action/drama thriller, based on the Israeli series "When Heroes Fly" by Omri Givon, as inspired by the eponymous novel of Amir Gutfreund. According to military phonetics, Echo is the military alphabet for “E.” In the military, the phonetic alphabets are used to communicate over the radio. CRACK military dudes Prince Haas (Michiel Huisman) and Alex "Bambi" Chesborough (Luke Evans) are out to rescue Amber (Jessica Ann Collins)--Prince's wife and Bambi's sister--who is captured by rebels in Colombian jungle while on bioresearch then transported across the border into the hands of Venezuelan leadership. Backstory: Amber was also "working" for the CIA. somehow. Prince and Bambi only found that out after the fact.        Worse, Washington dismisses official rescue and Prince's dad, who is a rich and powerful arms manufacturer that has cool relations with the Pentagon, isn't so sympathetic over son's l