Nerdy Squirrel Reviews by Pasckie Pascua

“Reptile” (2023, Netflix) crime thriller. Lead performer Benicio del Toro co-wrote the screenplay so the “slow burn” pace of the storytelling benefited his acting style. Cool as a sleeping Magnum, calculating as a deadly copperhead. The sort of vicious quiet that fits a serial killer or a patient hitman. But in “Reptile,” Senor del Toro as detective Tom Nichols is the hero (sorry for the spoiler). Yet a hero with some quirky tastes: Perennial song “Angel in the Morning” by Juice Newton on his car stereo and a “The Oogum Boogum,” a 1967 song by Brenton Wood, as cellphone ringtone.         Plot: A real estate businessman finds his girlfriend brutally murdered in a rural Maine house that they had been showing for sale as realtors. When questioned by the police detectives assigned to the case, Tom and his partner, real estate dude reveals that he was planning on marrying GF but couldn't because she was technically still married to another man. And so on and so forth.       Fine perfor

“Mayor of Kingstown” (Paramount+ via Amazon) crime thriller . Going Season 3. Kingstown, Michigan is a fictional company town where the business is incarceration. The McLusky family have been keeping the peace in Kingstown for decades, acting as the mediators between the street gangs, prisoners, guards, and cops. The series tackles themes of systemic racism, corruption, and inequality–with cold, uncompromising glare that its dramatic weight loses any hope of any lighthearted detour.         Heavy stuff, indeed. But I am not complaining. I’d say this is the best brawn bravado and bullets opera that Taylor Sheridan has put up, so far. Tight scripting, fleshed-out characters, the eerie plotline could be implausible and fantastic but, hey, what do I know, right? System shit like this happens; streaming TV tells it as it is better than today’s journalism.         Performance is A-1. Jeremy Renner as Mike McLusky a.k.a. The Mayor, is a battered soul inside a creaky, dilapidated armor. Th

“Luther.” (Amazon Prime) British psychological crime thriller . Five Seasons/Series. For his performance as DCI John Luther, Idris Elba has been awarded a Critics' Choice Television Award , Golden Globe Award , and Screen Actors Guild Award . Cool restraint, intense grip. More than all, African American John Luther isn’t explored per current color-coded correctness here. You wouldn’t notice that he is black; he simply is a dedicated copper, that’s all. No understated, suggested, or pushed racial politics and that’s what I love about this series.         Some of the violence and gore may turn off the squeamish but you can forgive those. Writing is tight, pace is contained, and the action isn’t bombastic a-la Hollywood banger. Side story is Alice Morgan, portrayed with flirtatiously deadly gusto by Ruth Lewis though her presence could be implausible or “unbelievable” at times. Yet Alice shatters Luther’s vulnerable persona and sends him emotionally reeling, which no bad guy could ev

“Special Ops: Lioness” (Paramount+ via Amazon) spy thriller , follows Force Recon Marine Cruz Manuelos who is tasked with befriending the daughter of a suspected terrorist who is being surveilled by the CIA . Primary magnet to this series aren’t the performers, though Nicole Kidman has a top-billing role and Morgan Freedom, on a cameo. Not them.          My focal interest: Taylor Sheridan, mainly a writer who ups the macho rambo, sensitive dad quotient in recent years and it has been working lately. Mr Sheridan, who is also a part time actor, is connected to brawn and bull series “Sons of Anarchy,” “Yellowstone,” and “Mayor of Kingstown.” He also wrote the screenplay to the kickass neo-Western, 2016’s “ Hell or High Water ” and war actioner 2015’s “Sicario” and its 2018 sequel “ Sicario: Day of the Soldado .” A third film, titled “Sicario: Capos” is in development. I just finished “Tulsa King,” but I must say, this Sly Stallone mumbler is Taylor’s worst.         So what do we expect i

“Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Amazon Prime. Comedy. Going 12 Seasons. Created by Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself, a semi-retired TV writer in Los Angeles. Mr David is a natural, he is funny without trying to be funny at all. A nonsensical, seemingly trivial matter evolves into hilarious sequences. And that’d be 11 seasons, 11-episodes saga of wackadoo uncurbable enthusiasm.         My other favorite characters? Susie, wife of Larry’s manager/bestfriend Jeff. Susie reminds me of my dearly departed Aunt Nora, minus the language. And, of course, J. B. Smoove, who joined in Season 6, as Leon Black. He delivers the word better than Samuel L. Jackson, and funnier—as long as you don’t take “funny” as political. Uh huh. 📽👍🎥 “Deadwind.” Netflix. Finnish crime drama. Three Seasons. The Scandinavian cold exterior renders chilly unease to the proceedings, which is all fine viewing to me. Sofia Karppi is a widowed Finnish police detective in her 30s, with two children. She

“Physical.” (Apple TV+.) Dark c omedy-drama . 3 Seasons. Set in 1980s San Diego , this series follows Sheila Rubin through her journey of self-discovery via aerobics. You either like this show, dislike it, or you just have to carry on, hoping some “Ozark” level twist crops up somewhere. None. But you still watch it, anyhow, essentially because Rose Byrne as Sheila Rubin stays engaging, focused, and earnest. You gotta stay on that energy.         Yet I must say the characters are stereotypically stereotyped, uh huh. Especially Sheila’s husband Danny and religious zealot mall owner John Breem, portrayed by an annoying Rory Scovel and a static Paul Sparks . Add another annoyance, Geoffrey Arend as Jerry Goldman, an old friend of Sheila and Danny who channels a Berkeley hippie but emerges as a typical Asheville homeless hipster. The usually affable and lovable Zooey Deschanel appears as Kelly Kilmartin, a sitcom star and aerobics instructor, in Season 3 but that didn’t help.