Nerdy Squirrel Reviews by Pasckie Pascua

“Asphalt City” (2023, Hulu) thriller drama directed by Jean-Stéphane Sauvaire , based on the 2008 novel “Black Flies” by Shannon Burke .  Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan star as veteran and newbie paramedics working in New York City. The film explores the effects of psychological trauma experienced by first responders .         Dark, angry, gloomy. You save a life in one day, yet upon knowing others don't make it while on your watch the next day, drives you insane. The guilt isn't yours yet you own it, anyway. What a depressing movie. But admittedly well-made.          Tye Sheridan as the tormented Ollie Cross is a revelation. S ean Penn as Gene Rutkovsky is characteristic Sean Penn, always intensely focused but never hysterical.        Overall credit goes to Monsieur Sauvaire. He meant to shudder, no chasers in between. Yet he didn't do much with the camera, or rattled us with sound design, or whatever. Yet I shook. Bottoms up, then puke. 🎥👍📽 “The Unbearable Weight of M

“American Rust” (Showtime) crime drama . 2 Seasons. Based on the 2009 novel by Philipp Meyer, this series is set in a small Rust Belt town in Pennsylvania . Chief of police Del Harris takes on an investigation when the son of the woman he loves is accused of murder.        Del Harris is Jeff Daniels; the woman that he loves is Grace Poe, played by Maura Tierney. Reliable character actor Bill Camp is on Season 1. You can't lose with these three veteran performers.        On the outset, the sullen, grim and downcast photography sets you up to a lumbering side-trip to steeltown decay. You could almost smell the concrete stench of abandoned steel that is smothered by all kinds of dirt and filth. Which is, you know, good viewing to me.         Season 1 pretty much kept me glued. Fine aching, especially by Alex Neustaedter and David Alvarez as the tormented young men Billy and Isaac.        But we lost the intrigue in Season 2, aside from here comes again the super annoying dim lighting

“The Bear” Season 3, drama of some sort. I must say I enjoyed Season 1 and Season 2, regardless of some episodes that seem painstakingly stretched. Examples: Carmy's monologue and the family dinner “battle royale” of fiery mouths.        Season 3 is, uhh. I don't know. We were already on Episode 9 (of 10) but still I couldn't grasp a conflict or story or a real dramatic sequence other than the yelling and the F word. The only time that I sense a story is in E7, Tina's episode with Michael.        I don't question the overall acting though. But S3 is basically a ruminative, impressionistic redo of S1/S2 or Carmy's elongated mushy dramatics. And damn, this is NOT comedy as categorized by the Emmy people. Comedy is "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." 🎥📺📽 “The Perfect Couple” (Netflix) mystery drama miniseries based on the 2018 novel with the same name by Elin Hilderbrand . More like a daytime soap opera with a bit of Hollywood glitz confection.