TV Show Review - The Four Seasons

Season: 1
Genre: Drama/ Comedy
Number of episodes: 8
Year: 2025
Starring: Tina Fey, Will Forte, Steve Carell, Colman Domingo, Marco Calvani, Kerri Kenney, Erika Henningson   

Description: Three suburban couples vacation together each season, but tensions arise when one couple splits up and the husband brings a much younger woman on subsequent trips.  

Review: A 25-year marriage is hard work, but the love is worth it, the group friends in “The Four Seasons” agree. Until one of them decided to end their marriage.

A trio of befriended couples can’t figure out how you define love after 25 years of marriage. Is it a soulmate? Or just devotion?

When the friend meet up in Spring, one of them decides he wants to leave their partner. He is unhappy and is marriage is boring, he tells his friends. We follow the group of friends a full year; during Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Each season taking up two episodes.

You really fly through this series, since each episode is about 30-minutes long. And you will effortlessly care about these characters. Especially Danny, played by Colman Domingo, and Claude, a role by Marco Calvani, really stole my heart. “The Four Seasons” is a lighthearted, warm and comical series, without becoming bland. Not a series you would expect a shocking twist from, but it does happen.

It's a fun series, that will have a second season, which is needed after that major cliffhanger. A great assemble cast, that portray characters you really care about. Would recommend.

Movie Review - Sing Sing

Director: Greg Kwedar
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 107 minutes
Year: 2024
Starring: Colman Domingo, Clarence Maclin, Sean San Jose, Paul Raci, David Giraudy, Patrick Griffin, Mosi Eagle, James Williams, Sean Dino Johnson
 
Description: Divine G (Colman Domingo), imprisoned at Sing Sing for a crime he didn't commit, finds purpose by acting in a theatre group alongside other incarcerated men in this story of resilience, humanity, and the transformative power of art.
 
Review: Sing Sing Prison is one of the best known and most closely guarded prisons in the United States. Some big criminals have been executed in this New York jail in the past. Therefore, you wouldn’t expect to find theater people in that prison. In 1996 a number of inmates founded the theater company RTA (Rehabilitation Through the Arts).

Through the theater arts, inmates try to get in touch with their emotions and find themselves. It changes the men considerably. This breaks the American stigma of prisoners as machos, trouble seekers, violent men. Within these walls there are also sensitive theatrical types.

This contrast with our expectations immediately makes you feel sympathy for the main characters. An implicit but clear distinction emerges between who these people were before their imprisonment and who they have become. Such a contrast can quickly come across as implausible, but not in “Sing Sing”. It also helps that many of the actors play themselves, with the exception of Colman Domingo and Paul Raci.

Despite their minimal experience in front of the camera, the actors convey their strong personalities beautifully and authentically. There is a lot of nuance in their roles, allowing them to display a broad spectrum of emotions. In the process, they also reinforce each other: the group dynamic is without a doubt the strongest aspect of the film. The way the men interact with each other immediately shows the deep connection they share.

Colman Domingo shines as the main character John “Divine G” Whitfield, but it’s Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin who steals the show. His transformation from the tough, emotionless jailbird to passionate actor is simply brilliant. As an initial outsider, he comes up with ideas the regular members didn’t think of before. This beautifully exposes the contrats between the characters.

“Sing Sing” is a crowd pleaser, it has emotional depth, an excellent script and great performances. Loved it!

Rating: 5/ 5

20s Movie Review - The Color Purple

Director: Blitz Bazaluwe
Genre: Musical/ Drama
Runtime: 141 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, Halle Bailey, Phylicia  Pearl Mpasi, Ciara, H.E.R., David Allan Grier, Louis Gossett Jr.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2024 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 19: A MUSICAL
 
Description: A woman faces many hardships in her life, but ultimately finds extraordinary strength and hope in the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood.

Review: This is the musical rendition of Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book “The Color Purple”, already very successfully adapted into a drama film by Steven Spielberg in 1985. And seen as a play in 2005.

In the hands of director Blitz Bazawule, the raw account of the oppressed Celie, who slowly breaks fre from an environment filled with misyny and violence, does not gain the depth and layering of the original and its source material. However, lead actors Fantasia Barrino, Taraji P. Henson and Danielle Brooks and the beautifully executed music make up for much.

I still think they should have left the original film alone and leave it as is, it’s not the best story to be turned into a musical.

Rating: 3/ 5