As warmer weather finally deigns to join us, the streaming service offerings this month are a little less hot. A couple flashy Marvel-adjacent projects disappoint, and a series adaptation of one of David Cronenberg's best fails to hit the mark — but all is not lost! The final season of Barry is a fitting send-off, Elizabeth Olsen finds her stride as a woman who may or may not have axe murdered her best friend, and Michael J. Fox is given the documentary treatment in a touching film.
Be sure to read our past editions of Tune In or Turn Off for more streaming hits and misses.
Tune In: Barry, Season 4
(Crave)
Thanks to Skeleton Twins, I knew going into Barry's first season that Bill Hader was a fantastic dramatic actor. I didn't, however, know what a tremendous director the man behind Stefon was. Across three seasons of Barry, audience have seen Hader write, direct and star in some of television's most thrilling and hilarious moments. Season 4 is the show's final bow, and while there's a decidedly different feel, there's no doubt that Hader is going out in a blaze of glory.
Turn Off: Citadel
(Prime Video)
There's a lot of pomp and circumstance around Citadel. It's globe-trotting and swish, but all that glitters isn't gold. Like so many other Russo brothers productions that aren't under the Marvel banner, Citadel is all flash and no substance. The story is generic and not executed particularly well, and the characters are flat (even with Stanley Tucci trying his darnedest). There's a great, crowd-pleasing idea in here, and hopefully when they launch their international expansion as intended, they'll find that magic.
Turn Off: Dead Ringers
(Prime Video)
Being a huge fan of both David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers and Rachel Weisz, I was very excited for an updated, gender-flipped series adaptation of the 1988 film. Weisz doesn't disappoint and is stunning in the dual role, but the rest of the series pales in comparison to its predecessor. The most disappointing aspect of the series is how much potential was squandered: the change of Bev and Elliott to women is ripe for discussion, especially within the current discourse surrounding women's reproductive health, but the show never quite finds a way into these topics with any meaningful depth.
Turn Off: Ghosted
(Apple TV+)
It's almost impressive how bad this Chris Evans/Ana de Armas rom-com/action/spy thriller is. The action set pieces look cheap, and I'm still not entirely convinced that the script wasn't AI-generated, but the most egregious part of this movie is how it was possible for two exceptionally charismatic actors — who were magnetic together in Knives Out — to generate all the chemistry of estranged siblings. All I wanted from Ghosted was a fun movie, and while stuffing it with cameos may have been their idea of fun, it just felt like a Band-Aid for an aggressively dull movie.
Turn Off: Jimmy O. Yang: Guess How Much?
(Netflix)
I'm pretty much Jimmy O. Yang's target audience, with his comedy focusing heavily on the often-amusing experiences millennials of the Asian persuasion endure, but even I'm bored by his latest. The major misstep of Yang's special isn't in the content, however, but the weak overall structure of his comedy. Rather than feeling like a cohesive work, Guess How Much? plays out as a series of jokes awkwardly connected together.
Tune In: Love & Death
(Crave)
The story of Candy Montgomery is what true crime dramas are made of, it has all the fixins: a brutal murder, interpersonal drama, an acquittal and Texas. Elizabeth Olsen is reliably fantastic as Montgomery in Love & Death, and the series is well made with a layered script and high production values. Admittedly, Love & Death doesn't offer much that the Disney+ series Candy hasn't already covered about the same case, but for those who didn't catch Candy or who want another version of the same story, Love & Death is still worth a watch.
Tune In: STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie
(Apple TV+)
STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie grants audiences a compelling and insightful look into the life of one of Canada's favourite sons. Fox's humble beginnings, career highs and lows, battle with substance abuse, and ongoing fight with Parkinson's makes his story rich for the telling. Davis Guggenheim elevates STILL to be a remarkable piece of documentary filmmaking with his direction, particularly in how he incorporates clips from Fox's TV work and films to tell the actor's story. One of the best celebrity documentary profiles in recent memory, STILL is an unflinchingly honest portrait of a Hollywood golden boy turned activist that will make you laugh, cry and feel inspired.
Be sure to read our past editions of Tune In or Turn Off for more streaming hits and misses.
Tune In: Barry, Season 4
(Crave)
Thanks to Skeleton Twins, I knew going into Barry's first season that Bill Hader was a fantastic dramatic actor. I didn't, however, know what a tremendous director the man behind Stefon was. Across three seasons of Barry, audience have seen Hader write, direct and star in some of television's most thrilling and hilarious moments. Season 4 is the show's final bow, and while there's a decidedly different feel, there's no doubt that Hader is going out in a blaze of glory.
Turn Off: Citadel
(Prime Video)
There's a lot of pomp and circumstance around Citadel. It's globe-trotting and swish, but all that glitters isn't gold. Like so many other Russo brothers productions that aren't under the Marvel banner, Citadel is all flash and no substance. The story is generic and not executed particularly well, and the characters are flat (even with Stanley Tucci trying his darnedest). There's a great, crowd-pleasing idea in here, and hopefully when they launch their international expansion as intended, they'll find that magic.
Turn Off: Dead Ringers
(Prime Video)
Being a huge fan of both David Cronenberg's Dead Ringers and Rachel Weisz, I was very excited for an updated, gender-flipped series adaptation of the 1988 film. Weisz doesn't disappoint and is stunning in the dual role, but the rest of the series pales in comparison to its predecessor. The most disappointing aspect of the series is how much potential was squandered: the change of Bev and Elliott to women is ripe for discussion, especially within the current discourse surrounding women's reproductive health, but the show never quite finds a way into these topics with any meaningful depth.
Turn Off: Ghosted
(Apple TV+)
It's almost impressive how bad this Chris Evans/Ana de Armas rom-com/action/spy thriller is. The action set pieces look cheap, and I'm still not entirely convinced that the script wasn't AI-generated, but the most egregious part of this movie is how it was possible for two exceptionally charismatic actors — who were magnetic together in Knives Out — to generate all the chemistry of estranged siblings. All I wanted from Ghosted was a fun movie, and while stuffing it with cameos may have been their idea of fun, it just felt like a Band-Aid for an aggressively dull movie.
Turn Off: Jimmy O. Yang: Guess How Much?
(Netflix)
I'm pretty much Jimmy O. Yang's target audience, with his comedy focusing heavily on the often-amusing experiences millennials of the Asian persuasion endure, but even I'm bored by his latest. The major misstep of Yang's special isn't in the content, however, but the weak overall structure of his comedy. Rather than feeling like a cohesive work, Guess How Much? plays out as a series of jokes awkwardly connected together.
Tune In: Love & Death
(Crave)
The story of Candy Montgomery is what true crime dramas are made of, it has all the fixins: a brutal murder, interpersonal drama, an acquittal and Texas. Elizabeth Olsen is reliably fantastic as Montgomery in Love & Death, and the series is well made with a layered script and high production values. Admittedly, Love & Death doesn't offer much that the Disney+ series Candy hasn't already covered about the same case, but for those who didn't catch Candy or who want another version of the same story, Love & Death is still worth a watch.
Tune In: STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie
(Apple TV+)
STILL: A Michael J. Fox Movie grants audiences a compelling and insightful look into the life of one of Canada's favourite sons. Fox's humble beginnings, career highs and lows, battle with substance abuse, and ongoing fight with Parkinson's makes his story rich for the telling. Davis Guggenheim elevates STILL to be a remarkable piece of documentary filmmaking with his direction, particularly in how he incorporates clips from Fox's TV work and films to tell the actor's story. One of the best celebrity documentary profiles in recent memory, STILL is an unflinchingly honest portrait of a Hollywood golden boy turned activist that will make you laugh, cry and feel inspired.
