The latest Fast and the Furious film, FAST X (2023) gives us Jason Momoa as the vengeful son of the crime-lord from Fast Five, out to pay Dom back for his father’s death by destroying everything he loves. 
As Shaw (Jason Statharn) already did the same thing in Furious Seven, Momoa has to do more than burn down houses or kill people. He frames the team for a nuclear terrorist attack on Rome, vows to kill Shaw and Hobbes and sets the Agency on their tail despite protest’s from Nobody’s daughter (Brie Larson). Momoa’s plan is so big and diabolical, it ends on a cliffhanger to be resolved in XI!
The film is very continuity heavy, recapping the team’s history and making references to elements of past films such as the Godseye spy tech. And while I like Momoa but he’s playing the character as a deranged Joker-wannabe and it doesn’t fit him at all; Charlize Theron, by contrast, steals any scene she’s in (“I met the devil and it was disappointing — I thought it was me.”). I’m still impressed how the series manages to bring in name actors such as Larson, Momoa or Rita Moreno as the Toretto family matriarch.“If it can be done in a car, they did it. If it violates the laws of god and gravity — they did it twice.”
What if midway through Groundhog Day, Andie McDowell had become trapped alongside Bill Murray. That’s the premise of PALM SPRINGS (2020) which proves there’s life in the genre still. The maid of honor (Cristin Milioti) at her sister’s wedding follows one oddball guest (Andy Samberg) into a Glowing Cave despite his warnings and discovers she’s joined him in an endless replay of the wedding day. Will they hook up? Have they already? Is Samberg right there’s no way out of the loop?
This assumes we’re familiar enough with the genre to pick up on what’s not said, such as Samberg reacting to his girlfriend cheating with a comment that nothing can stop it — we can assume he’s tried and failed. It suffers a little at the end: groom Tyler Hoechlin gets a free pass on some questionable behavior and I’m not sure what the mid-credits scene implies. Overall, though, a fun one; Peter Gallagher plays Milioti’s father. “It would allow an observer access to the indeterminate universe the other side of the event horizon.”
The fifth and final season of MCMILLAN AND WIFE (reviews of earlier seasons here) gives the McMillans’ (Rock Hudson, Susan St. James) baby the Chuck Cunningham treatment, completely ignoring Sally gave birth in S4 (not even the first time they erased a pregnancy of hers). The mysteries are enjoyable but not their best; the last episode, Point of Law, is noteworthy for the heavy “It wasn’t rape, she was a slut!” element in a courtroom case. That episode also has the weird detail that there are characters named Geena Davis and Terry Farrell — that’s odd but 1976 is too early for it to be an in-joke, I think. Another episode introduces Martha Ray as Mildred’s (Nancy Walker) never-seen sister; it should have been funnier after all the buildup.
This was the last season: S6 became McMillan as Susan St. James left in a contract dispute. Nancy Walker also left with Ray coming on board as the new housekeeper (as Walker left for a show of her own, perhaps Ray’s appearance in S5 was seeding). While I have it on DVD, this show without St. James isn’t anything I want to watch.“So instead of a large amount of heroin you wound up with a small amount of lead.”
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