Nerdy Squirrel Reviews by Pasckie Pascua

“Payback” (Amazon Prime) British crime thriller. Created by Jed Mercurio , who gave us the remarkable “Line of Duty,” this miniseries never lacked edge of your seat suspense while devoid of the “obligatory” cop-shoot-bad dude banger. Mr Mercurio’s detective/police excursions are more drama than action.          Morven Christie (remarkable in two seasons of “The Bay”) is Lexie Noble , an unsuspecting wife who becomes entangled in a police operation to topple a notorious crime lord in Scotland. Veteran Peter Mullan is mob boss C al Morris and Steven Mackintosh is his second in command Malky Roberts . Mr Mullan could be the other half of today’s cinema’s most sinister old man, along with Brian Cox. But it is Ms Christie’s focus and grip that keeps the tension riveting and the intensity sustained. 🎥📺📹 “Fisk” (Netflix) 2 Seasons, and ongoing. Australian comedy. Revolves around the life of lawyer Helen Tudor-Fisk, who leaves Sydney for Melbourne after her career and marriage fall apar

“Pain Hustlers” (2023, Netflix) crime drama , centers on a high school dropout who lands a job with a failing pharmaceutical company in Central Florida, where she soon finds herself at the center of a criminal conspiracy. In case you already saw Hulu’s remarkable “Dopesick” and/or Netflix’s “Painkiller” (which I haven’t seen), both tackling the opioid crisis via oxycontin, according to the sins of the Sackler family’s Purdue Pharma, then you are pretty much entering the same hayride.         Based on the 2022 book of the same name by Evan Hughes, “Pain Hustlers” is a bit of fiction account of the downfall of the real-life Insys, headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, and its boss Dr. John Kapoor in 2019. According to Reuters , Kapoor was the "highest-level corporate executive convicted at trial of crimes related to the opioid epidemic." Uh huh.         I love Emily Blunt, always. So I can’t afford not to see this movie. All the others are simply support character adornments, and

“See.” (Apple TV+) Three Seasons. S cience fiction drama , set in a post-apocalyptic dystopia in the distant future where humanity's descendants have lost their sense of sight , and the ability to see is considered to be a myth. The plot is set in motion by the birth of twin-sighted children in a mountain tribe.         First to notice in this futuristic albeit tribal epic is the swashbuckling set and the astounding photography. Shot in several areas in Vancouver Island , British Columbia in Canada, production costs for “See” rivaled that of HBO's “ Game of Thrones .” Rumors had it that the budget for the first two seasons was $240 million, or $15 million per episode. Not hard to believe the numbers, really.         Second to notice: As Baba Voss, a fearless warrior and the leader of the Alkenny Tribe, Jason Momoa actually acted here, for real. In a limited role, Dave Bautista as Edo, the vengeful younger brother of Baba, acted as well. LOL! I am seriously saying these hunks

"Raymond & Ray" (2022, Apple TV+) comedy-drama . Truth is, and quite sadly, there’s nothing much to choose from with regards to (Hollywood) feature films these days. Premise: Raymond drives on a late, rainy night to a remote cabin to inform his half-brother, Ray, that their father, Ben Harris, has died and wished that all his sons attend his funeral. Ray is at first reluctant to go, but due to Raymond losing his license because of a DUI and some persuading, Ray finally agrees to attend.         More or less, you know how’d this “I hate dad, he hurt mom, he tortured me” recitation will go. Director Rodrigo Garcia scored with HBO hit “In Treatment” but I haven’t it so! But then that night, I was simply basically surfing names, familiar names that would most likely deliver fine performances, regardless of the movie per se.         I must say I am biased about Ethan Hawke, I dig this guy. He is almost always great, although I wasn’t so pleased with his John Brown take in 2020

“The Quarry” (2020, Hulu) mystery thriller . In case you are as old as I am who spent 95 percent of his life watching movies, you’d concur that the majority of what we see these days, good or bad, are mere derivatives of past output. Regardless, I never lost my appetite for cinema. My addiction is simply incurable. In saying that, “The Quarry” is no different. We’ve been through this road trip before.         The story: Preacher David Martin finds a man unconscious at the side of the road in West Texas . David is traveling to the small town of Bevel to be the new preacher. When they reach a quarry nearby, the man kills David and heads to Bevel. Arriving at the house where David was to stay, the man claims to be David, and is given room and board from Celia, girlfriend of Chief John Moore, of the three-man local sheriff's department.         Should you allow 98 minutes of your time on this exercise. Sure, for me. After all, the cop is Michael Shannon, who is never boring, and the