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The Flash Season 9 Episode 10 (CW/CW App): Last week’s episode may have felt like a series finale but this week proves that the final arc could not have happened without Barry and Oliver’s conversation about dealing with survivor’s guilt. Barry going back to the year 2000 to show the audience what they knew was coming from the finale of season one, namely the fight between Barry and Thawne that led to his mother’s murder is such a great payoff to explain why the future him told the past him to not interfere (time travel makes this very convoluted) that perfectly illustrates how much Barry has grown over a decade. His getting to tell his parents about the impact of their lives on him is reminiscent of the conversation between Henry and Barry in season one when they are both dancing around that Henry knows that Barry is the Flash but refuses to admit it. It is also good to see Rick Cosnett back and filling a role that’s been teased since season one.
Star Wars Visions Volume 2 (Disney+): Following the success of the first volume of Star Wars Visions, the second does more of the same but does take advantage of the source material in an interesting way. The episodes are beautiful and do a ton of unique things with the visuals, however, the stories do not do anything narratively different in the way that Love, Death, and Robots on Netflix do. Now granted, this show has a different conceit from the Netflix show in that this is about letting different studios do what they want with the Star Wars IP rather than trying to tell unique standalone science fiction stories, but still if one is working on one of these shorts they should probably think about the fact that the other studios are probably doing similar stories.
The Power Episode 8 (Amazon Prime): It is good that the show is picking up the pace as it reaches the finale because the pacing of the overall arcs has been a bit cumbersome as the show has gone on. That said, some of the things here feel like making sure the pieces are in place for the finale and it’s a lot of the characters moving towards learning what the audience either already knows or has extrapolated out as it is. The viewer knows that Jos was acting out on social media against Margot starting in the first episode. The viewer has likely figured out that Roxy was going to get power from her father and her father was definitely behind her mother’s murder. The characters need to figure it out, but it just feels like extra information since viewers already know it, especially this close to the show's end.
You May Have Missed:
A Man Called Otto (Netflix): Maybe A Man Called Otto is predictable, however, the strong performances from Tom Hanks and Mariana Treviño add something to what would have been an otherwise forgettable experience. It is definitely worth a watch, especially now on streaming. Click here
for a full review.
This Week In Theaters:
Book Club: The Next Chapter: Following the runaway success of 2018’s Book Club ($100 Million at the box office on a just under $15 Million budget) the sequel follows the same group of older women (Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, Mary Steenburgen, and Candice Bergen) as they go on vacation to Italy for a girls trip before a wedding.
Knights of the Zodiac: Continuing the fine tradition of adapting anime into live-action, Knights of the Zodiac adapts the late-1980s anime, Saint Seiya. Maybe this one will be the first good live-action anime adaptation, however considering the release date is one week after Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and one week before Fast X, this indicates that this is more of a niche title than one Sony thinks is going to have wide appeal.
Last Week At The Box Office:
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3: $114.0 Million
The Super Mario Bros. Movie: $18.6 Million
Evil Dead Rise: $5.7 Million
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.: $3.4 Million
John Wick: Chapter 4: $2.4 Million
Programming Notes:
Tickets are now on sale for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse which comes out on June 2nd, 2023.
