The Expanse - Season 4 (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Creators: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby
	Actors: Steven Strait, Cas Anvar, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham, Shohreh Aghdashloo (X-men: The Last Stand, Star Trek Beyond, 24 TV-series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: August 2020, VOD, 32" TV screen
Synopsis: An apparent peace is reached in the Solar System, while it is now time to colonize new worlds. Belters are on the forefront and the UN sends a ship to check what they found.
Review: When Syfy cancelled the series after its third season, fans pressure was so high that Amazon decided to buy the rights and continue the series, and I was glad to hear that because I love the first seasons. The result is unfortunately disappointing, although it managed to keep most of the same characters (and actors) and develop a story following the events of the previous season. The small annoyances from the previous season are still present, in particular how ships travel in vacuum: they are continuously in full burn and apparently stop moving when the motor stops. This doesn't make any sense and is in contraction with the understanding the authors have in other scenes of having to turn 180 degrees and use the reactor to decelerate. Also some easy shortcuts are taken by the same authors; physics fails when it pleases them, and the planet Mars is conveniently on the path between Earth and Uranus. For a series praised for its realism, this is a let-down. Anyway, those are details but what disappointed me most is the story. After a Solar System-wide conflict, a threat against the whole of Humanity and an opening to hundreds of new possibilities, we now settle for the exploration of a single world. And as the story didn't manage to put all the characters in contact, we follow three storylines that almost never connect, in particular the one of Bobby on Mars is totally disconnected and the one around Mao's daughter is too obviously trying to keep a connection to him. I would hate for the series to continue this way (one season, one world), so I rather take it as a steering towards future events, a transition season which introduced new characters and a larger Universe, necessary after the neat conclusion of the previous season which wrapped-up pretty well the three first ones. Indeed in this season we get a glimpse of future possible turmoil in the political landscape, as well as an opening to a larger Universe. Let's see how the season 5 goes. Its postponed release date is not yet announced.
Rating: 4 /10

The Expanse - Season 3 (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Creators: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby
	Actors: Steven Strait, Cas Anvar, Dominique Tipper, Wes Chatham, Shohreh Aghdashloo (X-men: The Last Stand, Star Trek Beyond, 24 TV-series)
	Country: USA
	Genre: SF
	Conditions of visioning: August 2020, VOD, 32" TV screen
Synopsis: As the war between Earth and Mars ignites across the solar system, the terrifying next phase in the evolution of the protomolecule threatens the very existence of humanity. Caught in the middle, the Rocinante crew struggles to deal with tensions amongst themselves.
Review: Read my review of the first season of this series to learn why I liked it. In a nutshell it is for the realistic Solar System Exploration Science Fiction, in addition to some relatable characters and a suspenseful investigation. The quality went down in the second season, but it was still addictive. I was very tempted to watch them both again before continuing to be fully immersed, but I preferred using my time watching the new episodes. The complains I had were about handling of time periods and the effects of gravity, and they keep increasingly annoying me in the third season, taking me out of the action sometimes. An addition is how they handle ships motion in vacuum. Another annoying detail is how they make the UN Undersecretary Chrisjen Avasarala swear with the F word for no reason. It doesn't fit her character to do it so often and I don't remember it from the previous seasons. The series still looks very good but I noticed a trend of having more and more one-on-one discussions in an alleyway or in a reduced set, showing a tendency to reduce the cost of using large sets or the full cast at the same time. That's OK, it is what series do, it just looks slightly more like a soap opera sometimes. Apart from those criticisms, I liked the third season. It keeps on expanding (ahah) the Universe we learned about, while focusing on the adventures of the characters we like. Like in the previous seasons, it is a bit hard to swallow that they keep on being at the center of everything that happens, but it is less disturbing in this season because they are integral part of what happens and they have their own objectives. What kept me addicted to the series in this season are the lovable characters and how naturally they are played (I miss Miller though). I can't help but comparing Dominique Tipper playing Naomi Nagata with Sonequa Martin-Green in Star Trek: Discovery and the latter is no match. I also love the Science Fiction story in this season which, as I wrote, expands the Universe and ramp up the stakes to come to a nice conclusion I find. This story reminded me of the excellent novel Forever War by Joe Haldeman and the graphic novel Universal War by Denis Bajram, which I both highly recommend. Now that I think of it, the space crew, now more like a family, reminds me of that other TV-series Firefly by Joss Whedon. Another element they have in common is that they were cancelled early in spite of having a strong fan base. Those fans fought hard (via petitions etc...) to get the show brought back, which led to the movie Serenity in one case and to the transfer of the series from Syfy to Amazon for The Expanse, which was indeed cancelled after this third season. We will see in the fourth season how this turned out.
Rating: 6 /10

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - Season 7 (2020)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2020
	Creators: Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly)
	Actors: Clark Gregg (Iron Man 1-3, The Avengers), Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons
	Country: USA
	Genre: Action, SF
	Conditions of visioning: May-July 2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: The Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have traveled back in time to follow the Cronicoms and stop their plan to conquer Earth.
Review: This final season follows closely in time the sixth one, and I advice you to read my review of that one for a status overview of the series. As I predicted, they use this scheduled last season to call back previous seasons and have old characters return, but in a much better way than I could have anticipated. We get very few returning actors, but many many references to past events and younger versions of characters we know. Indeed if the Agents already tackled Time Travel in the fifth season, they now run another season fully revolving around it. You may think this contradicts the idea that they explore a new movie sub-genre in every season, but in fact in this one they explore one every episode!! And this includes matching style for the title card, story and visual identity (like an episode in Black&White): they go through 40's Noir, 60's Polar, Roswell-time alien invasion, early 80's computer-geek a-la-WarGames, or later 80's disco SF like in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Pretty awesome. This showed me that the cast and crew really enjoyed working on that season and gave all their love to complete it. This team spirit also shows on the interviews you can watch online. Even if this season is not amazing or at the level of some of the others (like season 1 and season 3), it is still very pleasant to watch because of its generosity. As in all the other seasons, the crazy pace (in that case time jumps) slows down mid-season to focus on the principal story and bring it to a close. By the way those time jumps between every episode remind of series like Quantum Leap or Sliders. As I wrote in the review of the previous season, it is appreciable that the end of the series was scheduled so that it could be done properly and even though the ending could have been better, it still had a great feeling of saying goodbye, at least until a rumored series Agents of S.W.O.R.D.? Watch this breakdown on YouTube for more details. A few more lines about why I liked this final season: it is not so much about the crazy story (tending to the eccentricities of a comics book) and the not-so-charismatic enemies, but about the fan service (references to past seasons and to MCU characters and events even though the series is not canon to the MCU) and the related characters like Koenig, Gordon, the Malick family, Jiaying, Enoch, and the fantastic idea to cast James Paxton, son of the regretted Bill Paxton, to play a young version of the character his dad played. So long Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Rating: 6 /10

MARS - Season 2 (2018)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2018
	Creators: André Bormanis, Mickey Fisher, Karen Janszen
	Actors: Jihae, Alberto Ammann, Clémentine Poidatz
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary, SF
	Conditions of visioning: July-August 2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: 2018: Experts discuss the challenges which await a permanent Human base on Mars, in particular the collaboration with private companies. 2042: terraforming progresses on the Red Planet, but living there is not easy and gets more complicated when the company Lukrum lands and start exploiting the planet's resources.
Review: I loved the first season of this series for its original mix of up-to-date Documentary, mostly interviews of people having something to say about the conquest of the solar system, and Science Fiction, not blockbuster-level but realistic and anchored in a probable Future. The second season is basically more of the same, except that this time the focus is not anymore on the motivation and means to reach the Red Planet, but the effects (on people) of staying there and even more present: the relationship between government-led agencies and private corporations. This is the heavy topic of the season, and quite timely I would say in those years when NASA has successfully sens astronauts to the International Space Station using the private company SpaceX's rockets. Of course its CEO Elon Musk is still part of the interviewees in the series. The Documentary/interviews parts are informative, but nothing you couldn't find on YouTube. The Fiction parts project the audience in the Future and make the predictions more palpable. We get to see the characters we learned to love in the first season and meet new ones. By the way I advice watching a recap like this one on YouTube if you have forgotten about the details of the first season. The Fiction is of course dramatized with coincidences and extra tension build-up, but it is still very facts-based and you can watch it like a Documentary of the future, not like pure SF using technology which doesn't make sense. I hope they keep on with a third season, maybe taking place when the population has really started to grow, and parallels made with the settling of the USA in the 1800's and at some point the will for independence. Well that comes later in the future and is already the topic of The Expanse.
Rating: 6 /10

Au service de la France - Season 1 (2015)

	Also Known As: A Very Secret Service (English)
	Year of first release: 2015
	Creators: Jean-François Halin, Claire Lemaréchal, Jean-André Yerlès
	Actors: Hugo Becker, Wilfred Benaïche, Christophe Kourotchkine
	Country: F
	Genre: Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: March-June 2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: 1960: the French intelligence service hires the 23-year-old André Merlaux (Becker). Handsome, well raised, intelligent but impressionable, Merlaux has much to learn to serve and defend the interests of France.
Review: Since its release I was intrigued by this series and I finally took the time to watch its first season. The last good French series I saw was Marseille and I still have to watch its second season. The topic, time-period and style of humor remind of the OSS 117 movies with Jean Dujardin, but as much as I didn't find the movies funny at all, I quite like the series. Should I try the movies again? Probably not because I remember what I hated was the on-purpose exaggerated acting and the not-funny jokes lasting far too long. What they have in common is a humorist look at the French Secret Services at a time when the country still had colonies in Africa, when it was ruled by the General de Gaulle still in everybody's favors after his participation to the WWII victory 15 years prior, when France thought it was a super-power matching USA and USSR, a very chauvinist France. And the success of this humor is in those secret agents (Jacquard, Moulinier and Calot) pretty incompetent but believing they are the best. For example when they mock a CIA agent for a grammatical mistake in French while they don't speak anything else. The series is peppered with such hilarious moments, like when often the agents are organizing their missions to suit their monetary needs, when the excessive administration burden is highlighted, or when the agents strike and expect the world to burn without them but nothing happens. In parallel we witness the growth of the naive main character Merlaux, his love affair with a girl discovering the sexual revolution, some intrigue around the hierarchy of the services, and a light take on the dramatic events which occurred during the de-colonization, especially in Algeria ("L'Algerie c'est la France!" they say). For a more serious take on those events, you should watch Florent-Emilio Siri's 2007 L'ennemi intime. The season doesn't really wrap up its story but rather invites watching the second, which I will do in the near future. 20-minute episodes are easy to fit.
Rating: 7 /10

Rick and Morty - Season 4 (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Creators: Dan Harmon, Justin Roiland
	Actors (voices): Justin Roiland, Chris Parnell, Spencer Grammer
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, SF, Black Comedy, Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: December 2019 - May 2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: Teenager Morty and his genius alcoholic grand-pa Rick continue with their intergalactic multi-dimensional adventures.
Review: I am less crazy about this season than I was about the first three. Maybe partly because this time I watched the episodes as they went out, and I had time to watch each of them several times before the next was released. This is even more true between the two halves of the seasons which were released months apart. But it may also be that the series has lost its edge. It doesn't appear so because the stories and animations and frantic pace are still all present, and the Universe keeps on expanding, but on a sub-consistent level I may feel the series repetitive, in need for fresh air. Again this is not by lack of trying, and the episodes are more crazy one than the other, between the heist movie parody in S4E3 One Crew Over the Crewcoo's Morty, the Dungeon&Dragons adventure in S4E4 Claw and Hoarder: Special Ricktim's Morty, the unexpected side story in S4E8 The Vat of Acid Episode, or finally a time travel story (with snakes) in S4E5 Rattlestar Ricklactica, the show is bursting with ideas more than ever. A second viewing is in fact mandatory to catch more references and visual details in episodes which are denser than in the first seasons, and I even recommend aid form the YouTube channel NewRockstars which dissects the episodes for you. This may be part of the problem I have in fact, that I have to pause and rewind the episodes several time to understand what's going on, instead of watching more relaxed jokes that have time to sink in. And if the show apparently doesn't follow up on stories the fans would like to see (like Evil Morty), it does on the last episode S4E10 Star Mort: Rickturn of the Jerri which is one of the best of the season. Not so thrilled by this series like I used to, but still very satisfied by the best adult series available for me today. More seasons are confirmed to be coming, and with less wait between each.
Rating: 7 /10

Paradise PD - Season 2 (2020)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2020
	Creators: Roger Black, Waco O'Guin
	Actors (voices): Sarah Chalke, David Herman, Kyle Kinane
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: March 2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: In the glorious Paradise Police Department, some believe that the Kingpin has been captured, some not.
Review: This second season is at least as outrageous as the first one and I was waiting for it, but I ended up being disappointed. I don't know whether the surprise effect has just passed, or if this seasons really contains less good ideas. Maybe a bit of both. Anyway, I already can't remember much of it, and in particular not any particularly good episode. In general it is OK to watch as we get to spend more time with the characters we know, and discover a few others as crazy as them. The story is not badly done in that it escalates until the final episode, while giving us more background on the characters. It probably works better if you watch it with friends or under influence or both.
Rating: 4 /10

Final Space - Season 2 (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Creators: Olan Rogers, David Sacks
	Actors (voices): Fred Armisen, Tom Kenny, Olan Rogers
	Country: USA
	Genre: Animation, SF, Comedy
	Conditions of visioning: December 2019 - January 2020, VOD, 10" tablet.
Synopsis: After their failure, Gary and his crew struggle to find a new goal.
Review: After a very exciting first season, I was looking forward to this second, and was thus rather disappointed. Most of the same elements are there, like the connection between Gary and Mooncake, but some energy is missing. Also the stakes are less relatable. From the first episode S2E1 The Toro Regatta new characters are introduced to fill in the gap of the ones we lost in the first season, and too add some more complexity to the show. This feels a bit rushed and I didn't manage to connect much to those new characters. I found the whole season less funny, maybe because less centered on Gary and his crazy traits (and his addiction for cookies). It reaches the level of the first season in the central episodes S2E7 The First Times They Met and S2E8 The Remembered, but then goes back to a lower quality. Again, the ending calls for another season but I will not be eagerly awaiting that one.
Rating: 4 /10

The Movies that made Us - Season 1 (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: -
	Director: Brian Volk-Weiss
	Actors: Donald Ian Black, William Atherton, Richard Edlund
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: January 2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: The story behind the creation of some iconic movies.
Review: This series is brought to you by the same team that did The Toys that made us, but while I watch that other for its pop culture stories, this one really talks about some of the Movies that made me. As I mentioned in my other reviews, I was not much playing as a kid with brand toys and their story as depicted in the series didn't happen in Europe: most of the associated TV-shows were non-existent and those toys were really expensive. Movies on the other hand, I could enjoy for free and from an early age (dubbed in French of course), like three of the four presented in that first Season: Home Alone, Ghostbusters and Die Hard. Believe it or not, I had never seen Dirty Dancing before. It is not so surprising that this girly movie about dance didn't "make" me like the others, but I had plenty of opportunities to watch it since but I never did. This is now fixed, as I watched it in order to be able to complete my review of this TV-series! The presentation of the series is similar to The Toys that made us: humoristic and dynamic narration, interviews with the main contributors, no fear to mention the failures and conflicts, tons of archive footage, and apparently a lot of research. The series is different from the kind of making-of we usually see as bonus on DVD/Blu-ray editions for several reasons. First they managed to get a lot of footage and interviews around those relatively old movies. Then the narration and interviews make the story less neutral. In particular it is often annoying that in a making-of everything seems to have gone well, people are all in good terms with each other... which is not real life, and the series is more fair in that respect. The movies selected for this first season have in common that they were small productions from the 80's that had a huge success, although very few believed in them at the start. It means that kids who saw them in theaters or soon after on TV are now in their 40's, like me, and able to talk about how those movies influenced them, and eventually make a TV-series about them. I definitely recognize myself as one of those. Being transported while watching those movies at home with my parents, by the fireplace, after a family dinner, with my brothers, built found memories that I will never forget. It is thanks to such movies that I grew a love for Cinema and Genre in particular, and that I started this blog years later. OK the series is well-done but is not a masterpiece, but I give it an extra rating point for the meaning behind the title. What other movies from that time period made me and could be in the second season (also inspired by what his creator is planning)? Jaws, E.T., Indiana Jones 1, 2, 3, Jurassic Park, Alien 1&2, Terminator 1&2, Predator, Robocop, Total Recall, Lethal Weapon, many Westerns.. If you add the constraint that the movie has to be an underdog the list shrinks.
Rating: 7 /10

The Toys that made Us - Season 3 (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Director: Brian Volk-Weiss
	Actors: -
	Country: USA
	Genre: Documentary
	Conditions of visioning: January 2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: The history of the success of famous toy lines, and anecdotes behind those.
Review: The original concept of the "eight-part Documentary series about the toys that we all know" must have been successful because after those 8 episodes split into Season 1 and Season 2, the series is back for more! The mechanics of the series are now well in place and the creators start to dig into less known toy lines in this third Season. It is well in line with the second season and gets the same rating, not as good as the first one because the novelty effect has passed, and again I miss the "context of the period: political, social, economical, fashion". Still it is pretty entertaining to watch. The Power Rangers episode fascinated me more for the concept of the TV-series (Japanese Super-Sentai series dubbed and with additional scenes shot with American actors) than the one of the toys. My Little Pony was just OK. The Wrestling episode gives more insight on the business, and the one on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is quite interesting for the comics book origin and the participation of its creators to the toy lines. There is not much more to say.
Rating: 5 /10

The Mandalorian - Season 1 (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Creator: Jon Favreau (Iron Man 1-3)
	Actors: Pedro Pascal (Narcos TV-series, Wonder Woman 1984), Kyle Pacek, Gina Carano
	Country: USA
	Genre: Fantasy, Action
	Conditions of visioning: December 2019 - January 2020, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: Bounty hunter Mando (Pascal) is hired to retrieve a heavily-guarded package on a distant planet.
Review: This is the first and biggest original series produced by the brand-new streaming service Disney+. Remember that Disney bought the Star Wars franchise from the hands of Georges Lucas in 2012 and has since then delighted us with tons of Star Wars material (ironic). The Mandalorian turned out to be one of my favorite Star Wars production since the original trilogy, far before the prequel and new trilogies, right after Rogue One and at the level of the non-canon Genndy Tartakovsky Clone Wars and The Clone Wars Animated TV-series. OK it is neither amazing nor reminiscent of the first trilogy but it is trying its best. Mandalorian are a creed of people I guess rather unknown to the general public except because Jango Fett was one of them, but more familiar to the audience of The Close Wars as many episodes depict them. Still it is hard to twist one's brain around the place of that story into the Star Wars canon. For starters, just know that it takes place 5 years after the fall of the Empire in Return of the Jedi, and long long before the rise of the First Order in The Force Awakens. The influence of the former is still very present, for the delight of the 40-years old fans. The showrunner of the series is Jon Favreau, partly responsible for the success of the Iron Man franchise and the MCU in general and its guiding principle is fan service. In every episode you get at several references to other Star Wars material, starting with the revelation at the end of Chapter One (spoiler, highlight to read, but you live in a cave without internet if you haven't seen a picture of "Baby Yoda" yet). Some of them are deeper cuts than other. But I have to admit I shivered when Mando enters the Mos Eisley Cantina in S1E5 The Gunslinger. For all the details you may have missed you can refer to this YouTube channel and its detailed breakdown of all episodes. The tone of the series is one of a Western which is pretty nice and original. The soundtrack by Ludwig Göransson borrows some themes to John William's classics while adding a fresh contribution. The special effects look pretty good. Some episodes are more interesting than others but they all contribute to discovering this Universe, which pays off in the last two episodes Chapter 7: The Reckoning and Chapter 8: Redemption. The supporting actors are well cast: magnificent Carl Weathers (Predator, Rocky 1-2) reminding of a Billy Dee Williams, Gina Carano, Werner Herzog (Into the Inferno), Nick Nolte (Hulk), Mark Boone Junior (Sons of Anarchy), Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad), Ming-Na Wen (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.), Clancy Brown (Starship Troopers). Even Thor Ragnarok director Taika Waititi is there as voice actor and episode director. All are supporting the main character played by the trendy Pedro Pascal (soon in Wonder Woman 84) but as we never see his face and rarely hear his voice, I suspect a double plays the role most of the time. Still, I was sometimes impressed by how those actors have to deliver some emotion using only body language, when for example a group of four is composed of Mando behind his mask, another actor with heavy facial prosthetic make-up, a CGI creature and a piece of metal representing a robot. Welcome to Star Wars. My favorite parts are some space battles, a fight in the last episode, Carl Weathers and Werner Herzog, the robot IG-11 (voiced by Waititi), the infernal apparition of an AT-ST in Chapter 4: Sanctuary, the episode on Tatooine, of course Baby Yoda, and the realistic way in which our hero is depicted: not perfect and invincible but flawed and getting his ass kick in every episode. So the series is a nice addition to the Star Wars Universe and I rather liked it but I find it relies too much on fan service, and this and special effects don't always hide major plot hole and inconsistent characters' reaction. But again, the original trilogy is far from perfection, but that's what makes it charming.
Rating: 6 /10

Watchmen - Season 1 (2019)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2019
	Creator: Damon Lindelof (screenplay writer for the Lost TV-series, Prometheus, Star Trek Into Darkness, World War Z)
	Actors: Regina King, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Tom Mison, Jeremy Irons (Die Hard 3), Tim Blake Nelson (O' Brother Where Art Thou?)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Fantasy, SF, Drama, Thriller
	Conditions of visioning: December 2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen.
Synopsis: In a uchronic world that has seemingly been attacked by an interdimensional giant squid 30 years ago, masked heroes are still outlawed. But the members of the 7th Kavalry (a branch of the KKK) do wear masks, as well as the police officers in the town of Tulsa.
Review: Watchmen was one of the first movies reviewed on JoRafCinema back in 2012. In that post I described the adaptation work that had been done by Zack Snyder from a cult comics book to a visual candy that was unfortunately quickly forgotten. I still like to watch it once in a while. But be careful: this TV-series by HBO is NOT a sequel to the movie but to the comics book. This is most important considering that the movie ending was changed with respect to the book and at some point the series doesn't make sense following the films ending. Having read the book will also make you enjoy other small details that were not adapted to the movie. So I can only warmly recommend you to read Watchmen the comics book before watching the series (I want to read it again). Well in fact there is not much way around it if you want to enjoy the show. At the very least you must read or watch a YouTube summary for example, like the brief one given by NewRockstars at the beginning of the their breakdown of the first episode. Still, when watching the series I couldn't help but constantly having scenes and music from the movie in my head, making me also want to watch it again! But I didn't find it to be a bad thing. Putting the ending aside, there are no conflicts between the movie and the series: the time period is different as are the main characters and the one that are common are shown aged or ... different (trying not to spoil). The main location is different (Tulsa) and the few common places (like Ozymandias' Karnak temple) just look the same. This is very well thought. About the cast: Regina King is pretty good especially when dressed at Sister Night, Don Johnson reminds of his role in Machete, Jean Smart plays excellently an old Laurie and Tim Blake Nelson is awesome as Looking Glass (he reminds so much of Rorschach when he eats from a can although he is not the same at all). Without forgetting Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Angela's companion, Hong Chau as Lady Trieu and some other masked heroes. But the best cast is Jeremy Irons as Adrian Veidt / Ozymandias. When the movie was released I was telling everybody that a young Jeremy Irons would have been perfect for the role of Veidt and that Matthew Goode who got the part was a valid lookalike. And now Irons IS Ozymandias. Awesome! He is so much better in that role than in the one of Alfred in the Ben Affleck Batman movies like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. I only regret that his acting is not energetic enough even in the flashbacks, and DC could have used some the sweet Marvel de-ageing technology for a better effect. So what about the series?? I loved it, as reflected by the rating of 8/10. It takes a few episodes to dive into the tone that was selected and the strong emphasis on racial conflicts. Watching the YouTube review of the series first episodes Watchmen was already woke made me learn this new term that "refers to a perceived awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice". Yes the series is that, but it is totally fine as the comics book was also a reflection on the contemporary political / social landscape. The series pilot is also great at publicizing the 1921 Tulsa Race Riot which I though at first was a made-up event for the series (sadly it isn't, check the Wikipedia page). The series counts only 9 episodes but once you are familiar with the Universe, you get hit by the origin stories in S1E5 Little Fear of Lightning and the two best episodes of the season S1E7 This Extraordinary Being and S1E8 A God Walks into Abar. I enjoyed them like I haven't a movie or series in a long time. And I did so by taking my time and watching them in better conditions, one at a time and on a large TV. I realize I came that far without even mentioning the story! Well, tension rises in the town of Tulsa between masked bad guys and masked police officers. Slowly the link is made to the events of the Watchmen story. There are many mysteries at the beginning (the creators of the show did Lost) but answers come when needed so that you don't get frustrated like by that other show. The last episode S1E9 See How They Fly is slightly disappointing, I think because it suffers from the comparison with the crescendo of the three preceding ones. Still I appreciated the conclusion, and for one would be perfectly happy without further seasons.
Rating: 8 /10

Fargo - Season 3 (2017)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2017
	Writer: Noah Hawley + others
	Actors: Ewan McGregor (The Island, Transpotting), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Deathproof, The Thing), David Thewlis (Wonder Woman)
	Country: USA
	Genre: Black Comedy, Polar
	Conditions of visioning: May-November 2019, VOD, 10" tablet screen
Synopsis: A twisted sibling rivalry leads to murder, mobsters and cutthroat competitive bridge in a small Midwestern town.
Review: The movie Fargo is fantastic, and the concept of the series (Season 1, Season 2) is pretty good. This one follows the same spirit, and has even less connections to the rest but as I read online, they "really don't need a bunch of criss-crossing characters and storylines in order to feel like they take place in the same universe". Indeed the usual ingredients are sufficient: snow and cold weather, Minnesota, simple people, a female police officer in conflict with her male hierarchy, normal people ending up doing bad deeds in spite of their good heart, and true bad people. It's a special recipe that always brings back memories from the other stories. Of course the movie and series relies on very good actors and this season is no exception: Mary Elizabeth Winstead is great and dynamic, David Thewlis is devilish, and it took me half of the first episode to recognize Ewan McGregor playing two roles with a make-up that really hides his face and who uses an accent and acting far from his usual self. Brilliant. The rest of the less-known cast is no less wonderful. The season slows down in the middle, which caused me to take a break of several months, but I then quickly completed it. the story is convoluted as expected and you feel bad for the characters stuck in the situation they are.  Still working after three seasons, let's see what the fourth brings with a synopsis like "The head of an African American crime syndicate goes to war with the Italian mafia in Kansas City, Missouri during the 1950s".
Rating: 5 /10