Content consumers wary of any film or TV series branded as a Netflix original may understandably hesitate about adding The Highwaymen to their watch list. The Highwaymen chronicles the events after the government hires legendary retired Texas Ranger Frank Hamer (Kevin Costner) in 1934 to essentially do an OO7 on violent celebrity gangsters/folk heroes Bonnie and Clyde. The no-nonsense Hamer brings another Ranger colleague out of retirement for the road trip pursuit.
Tag: Netflix (Page 3 of 3)
The one-season Egyptian television series Disappearance (original name Ekhtefa) by writer/directer Ayman Medhat is currently streaming on Netflix. According to the Netflix summary, “A university lecturer in Russia returns to Egypt after her husband’s sudden disappearance, uncovering further mysteries the more she investigates.”
Nothing says Christmas like a kick-ass crime drama, right? Over the holidays, you might be scrolling through the Netflix menu — or another streaming platform — trying to find something, anything to watch that looks interesting. This is otherwise known as first-world problems.
The television series Money Heist (which originally aired in Spai as La Casa de Papel – “The House of Paper”) is currently streaming on Netflix with subtitles. Be advised that you’ll have to power through 22 episodes of the show created by Alex Pina which has excellent production values until you reach the end of the two-season saga.
In its 1Q 2018 report to shareholders, the streaming service indicated that Money Heist “was the most watched non-English series on Netflix ever.”
The character-driven, entertaining, and twisty plot, albeit with various predictable elements, admittedly gets you hooked immediately.
Spoilers Follow
That said, the annoying contrivances are beyond belief to the point that you may be tempted to throw your remote at the TV screen even if you aren’t taking sides between cops and robbers or if you are rooting for the robbers for political or ideological reasons (see below). The only reasonable conclusion is that the latter was the intent of the showrunners.
There may be even a political component. “If the ticking time-bomb approach isn’t gripping enough for you, the top-notch direction, writing, and smart symbolism (a little socialism versus capitalism, anyone?) are all points in the series’ favor,” the New York Post‘s “Decider” section claimed.
The basic premise of Money Heist, which seems to have received lots of positive reviews including a Rotten Tomatoes 88-percent average audience score, revolves around a passive-aggressive, detail-oriented mastermind called The Professor who recruits eight hardened crooks to break into the Royal Mint of Spain, a caper that they spend five months game-planning at a secluded estate.
An Ambitious Scheme
You’ll quickly realize, even before it’s revealed, that the caper goes beyond just a grab and go for the cash on hand inside but actually a far more ambitious scheme (suggested by the title) to loot $2.4 billion euros and which prompts a hostage situation with cops surrounding the Madrid facility.
Each episode includes key flashbacks to the planning mode as well as each bandit’s backstory.
As the events move forward, each of the characters face conflicting loyalties.
The crafty Professor runs the operation from the outside, and the engaging robbers in Salvador Dali masks go by city code names, Berlin (the George Clooney doppelganger who leads the group after they break in to the Mint), Tokyo, Nairobi, Moscow, Denver, Rio, Helsinki, and Oslo.
money heist 10/10 !! pic.twitter.com/RoQsGmaCfY
— nArDy (@narrddy) September 26, 2018
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Alvaro Morte does a stellar job in the role of The Professor with the amazing ability to go from a benign or confident demeanor to abject horror within seconds.
Reminiscent of Walter White from Breaking Bad, he also mind-games all of the police investigators with alacrity. You could say that while he is playing chess, the ability of the cops In Money Heist doesn’t even rise to the checkers level.
With a big assist from the aforementioned very-slow-to-catch-on law enforcement, he is able to outwit and manipulate the police at almost every turn in the standoff and throw them off the trail. The other crew members, such as sultry Tokyo (Ursula Corbero), who narrates the opus, give strong performances too, as do the entire ensemble, including other actors in supporting cast, such as the hostages, that you get to know as the plot unfolds. Alba Flores (Nairobi) and Paco Tous (Moscow) are also standout performers.
Hide the Cheese?
Itziar Ituno plays the gullible, neurotic National Police Inspector Raquel Murillo, “the most qualified officer to handle a hostage situation,” who — apart from occasional flashes of insight — completely bungles the police response. She also allows The Professor to worm his way into her personal life under his alter ego Salva, with predictable results.
The cat-and-mouse game between The Professor and the inspector has a simultaneously predictable and unbelievable resolution.
If you begin to watch it.. you can't stop 💛😉 #MoneyHeist #lacasadepapel #lacasadicarta #enjoyablesurprise #Netflix #TVseries #mymix1and2season #bellaciao #excellentcast #action #funny #love #family #brilliant #strong #watchitandenjoy 👋 pic.twitter.com/tjl421PJaH
The answer to the above headline question is probably no, because according to Vanity Fair, Gypsy is one and done. Netflix announced that the 10-episode first season would not have an encore just six weeks after its premiere, “the quickest Netflix has ever canceled one of its original scripted dramas.”
A so-called psychological thriller with minimal thrills, Gypsy is the epitome of first-world problems. It centers on an obsessive, self-destructive Manhattan clinical psychologist Jean Holloway played by Watts who passive-aggressively (or sometimes aggressively) manipulates her patients beyond any ethical boundaries.
Watts delivers a fine performance as does Billy Crudup, who is solid as Watt’s lawyer husband. In fact, you’ve probably met someone very much like the Crudup character in real life.
It’s not clear whether the creators/showrunners are mocking the pampered lifestyle of Holloway and those in her Manhattan and upscale Fairfield County, Conn., orbit or presenting the narrative as a legitimate slice of life. If it’s the latter, the showrunners would seem to be wholly disconnected from the real world.
That said, Gypsy contains occasional perceptive dialogue about the human condition as well as some interesting verbal jujitsu when the Watts character almost spills the beans about her extra-curricular activities/alter ego to her clients during office sessions.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
“Watts doesn’t play Jean as victim or villain and Gypsy doesn’t judge Jean, though many viewers are probably going to think it should. Professionally, the things she’s doing are wrong and the show’s only real tension comes from playing the same, ‘Is she about to get caught in her latest lie?’ beats over and over without offering an alternative perspective, allowing us to root for the cruelly manipulated patients…Even if we’re aware that Jean is screwing up everybody’s life, including her own, we’re supposed to be complicit in her desire.”
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