Q Wave’s Watchlist: May 2022
"There's nothing to watch" is not a phrase that should exist in a world drowning in content. Join us every month to get curated content - from the latest and greatest to revisiting oldies - we'll help you avoid the dreaded “Netflix Block” and find something to watch!
Stranger Things (Netflix)
Our young heroes return (Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobbie Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Noah Schnapp) for the final season of Stranger Things and the end of the Upside Down. It’s been 6 months since the ‘Battle of Starcourt’ which saw the destruction of the Mind Flayer, the closing of a Russian portal to the Upside Down, and Hopper’s (David Harbour) mysterious transportation to a Russian prison. Now in high school, the group is separated for the first time as they try to solve the final threat posed by the creatures of the Upside Down.
This season will have a much more mature tone to go along with the aging cast, but retains its reverence for nostalgic accuracy. The Duffer Brothers (creators of the show) have stated they must be mindful of Winona Ryder’s rise to fame in the 80s (Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice) to avoid any paradox issues. With over 800 pages of dialogue/action, the estimated cost to produce this final season is roughly $270 million, which works out to about $30 million per episode! (For context, Game of Thrones cost about $100 million per season.)
Netflix is adopting a new strategy for this season, releasing the first volume on May 27th and the second volume on July 1st.
You'd like this if you enjoyed: Fear Street, Twin Peaks, I Am Not Okay With This
Runtime: 9 episodes
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Horror, Thriller
The Kids in the Hall (Amazon Prime)
They’re back! It’s been 27 long years since the Canadian sketch-comedy crew waved goodbye to their original series on CBC, but The Kids in the Hall are coming back to the small screen, this time via Amazon Prime.
The original show ran from 1988 to 1995 and is largely credited for being way ahead of its time and pushing the boundaries with its offbeat and irreverent comedy. The new season hopes to do the same with all it’s original members (Dave Foley, Bruch McCulloch, Mark McKinne, Scott Thompson and Kevin McDonald) returning.
The cast reunited in 2010 for an 8 part miniseries and have toured and done live shows together, but the Amazon series will see them performing televised sketch comedy for the first time since 1995. They’ve brought some new friends along for the ride too with big name guest stars like Jay Baruchel (LOL: Last One Laughing Canada), Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek), Mark Hamil (Star Wars) and Will Forte (MacGruber) to name a few.
The new season debuts on Amazon Prime on May 13th and a week later (May 20th) you can catch a new documentary about the group on Amazon as well, called The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks.
You'd like this if you enjoyed: Saturday Night Live, I Think You Should Leave
Runtime: 8 episodes, approx 30 min each
Genre: Comedy
The Batman (Crave)
In what represents one of the quicker turnarounds from theaters to streaming thanks to Warner Bros. new 45 day theatrical window model, the Caped Crusader is back in the biggest hit of 2022 so far.
Believe it or not, even though we seemingly get a new on-screen interpretation of the character every couple of years, The Batman traversed a bumpy road to make it to the screen. Originally, development of a new Batman movie began after Ben Affleck (Justice League) was cast as the character in the Zack Snyder directed films, with the plan being that Affleck would direct, star, and co-write the film. Eventually, after having reservations about the project, Affleck dropped out and Matt Reeves (director of the Planet of the Apes franchise) came on board to direct and write the movie. He ended up stripping away all of the connections to the previous DC films opting to make it a standalone movie that focused more on the detective side of the Batman character which had rarely been seen in previous iterations.
Taking place in just his second year of fighting crime, The Batman (Robert Pattinson) finds the titular hero venturing deep into the depths of a crime ridden Gotham City as he tries to catch a sadistic serial killer calling himself The Riddler (Paul Dano), who leaves behind a trail of cryptic clues in a game of cat and mouse. Along the way, Batman crosses paths with additional comic book favorites including The Penguin (played by an unrecognizable Colin Farrell) and Catwoman (Zoë Kravitz).
Filming for the movie started all the way back in January of 2020, but underwent several delays due to the pandemic that saw the release date pushed almost a full year from June 2021, to March 2022. It was, however, worth the wait as the movie has been met with positive reviews from fans and critics alike.
Fans of the film should be excited, as they shouldn't have to wait long to return to Matt Reeves’ Gotham City. The movie is intended to be the first in a trilogy, while also spawning a spin off series focusing on Farrell’s character, The Penguin.
You'd like this if you enjoyed: Batman Begins, The Dark Knight
Runtime: 176 minutes
Genre: Action, Thriller
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney Plus)
“I will take the child and watch over him.”
It has been ten years since Anakin Skywalker’s fall from grace and transformation into Darth Vader. The Dark Lord of the Sith has been busy training and dispatching his Inquisitors (first introduced in Disney’s Star Wars Rebels TV show and who have ties to Ahsoka Tano, another upcoming Star Wars show) to hunt down the remaining Jedi in the wake of Order 66. Meanwhile, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) has taken baby Luke Skywalker to Tatooine to be raised by his Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru. Under the new moniker, Ben Kenobi, he keeps a close watch on the boy, awaiting the day when Luke would be ready to fulfill his destiny and restore balance and order to the Force.
This series will see Hayden Christensen reprise his role as Darth Vader, Rupert Friend as the Grand Inquisitor, Sung Kang and Moses Ingram as Inquisitors, and Joel Edgerton as Uncle Owen. Fun fact: “Benny” will get his own theme written by John Williams himself, never having gotten one in A New Hope back in 1977.
Recommended Watching: Star Wars Revenge of the Sith, Star Wars The Clone Wars (Season 2 Ep 12-14, Season Ep 21-22, Season 5 Ep 14-16), Star Wars Rebels (S1E1, S1E14, S2E1-E2, S2E5, S2E18, S2E21-E22, S3E20).
Obi-Wan Kenobi premieres its first two episodes on May 27th on Disney Plus.
You'd like this if you enjoyed: The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett
Runtime: 6 episodes (approx 50 mins each)
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
CODA (Apple TV+)
Overshadowed by the slap heard around the world, Oscar night should have belonged to Apple’s most successful film to date, CODA.
A remake of a French filmed called ‘La Famille Bélier’, the heartwarming family drama centers around Ruby, the only hearing member of a deaf family, otherwise known as a CODA, child of deaf adults. She spends the majority of her life acting as an interpretater for her parents and working on her father’s boat alongside her older brother. Ruby eventually joins her high school’s choir club and discovers she is an incredibly talented singer, and must decide between her obligations to her family and pursuing her dreams.
The movie has received an overwhelmingly positive reception from critics, fans and the deaf community, who have praised it for portraying it’s deaf characters as nuanced and with considerable depth.
CODA was nominated for three Oscars; Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor and Best Picture and won all three. Troy Kotsur, who gives a particularly moving performance as Ruby’s father, became only the second deaf person to win an Oscar. The first? Actress Marlee Matlin, who stars as Ruby’s mother in the film.
You'd like this if you enjoyed: Minari, Lady Bird
Runtime: 111 minutes
Genre: Drama, Comedy