'Disclaimer' Reviews: Limited Series "finishes strong, Cuarón making a powerful statement"

         On October 11, 2024, Apple TV+ releases 'Disclaimer', which has earned predominantly positive reviews from critics, currently holding at 84% on Rotten Tomatoes. In the miniseries, "Acclaimed journalist Catherine Ravenscroft (Cate Blanchett) built her reputation revealing the misdeeds and transgressions of others. When she receives a novel from an unknown author, she is horrified to realize she is now the main character in a story that exposes her darkest secrets. As Catherine races to uncover the writer's true identity, she is forced to confront her past before it destroys her life and her relationships with her husband Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen) and their son Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee)." The ensemble cast includes Kevin Kline, and Lesley Manville. But what did the critics say?

       Dominic Patten of Deadline Hollywood Daily writes, "If you are expecting a work of towering originality, Disclaimer will disappoint. However, if you want a compelling and disturbing story within a comfort zone of discomforting tropes, Apple TV+ has the follow-up for you to its Presumed Innocent revival."

Photo Courtesy of Apple TV+

        Rodrigo Perez of The Playlist praises the drama, stating, "Ultimately, “Disclaimer” finishes strong, Cuarón making a powerful statement—not anti cancel-culture so much—but about the need for compassion, restraint, and how over-zealous condemnations all make us complicit in a slippery slope culture of spiteful and ungenerous castigation. There’s also a holding-up-a-mirror element of “He who is without sin should cast the first stone” confrontation to its painful conclusion. It’s not a censure from Cuarón, but perhaps a plea for more tolerance and charity between human beings. Where does forgiveness fit in all of this? “Disclaimer” doesn’t quite say, but it does end with an ellipsis suggesting that mercy and kindness are the only viable paths to healing."

       Sean Boelman of FandomWire says, "Alfonso Cuarón is one of the few auteur directors who has conquered the worlds of both prestige and blockbuster filmmaking. His latest project, the Apple TV+ miniseries Disclaimer, falls firmly into the former category, suffering from inaccessible storytelling, but is made worth watching by the committed efforts of its excellent cast and stunning production values." Adding, "Despite the talent in front of and behind the camera, Disclaimer ends up being somewhat underwhelming."

       Daniel Fienberg of Hollywood Reporter notes, "Disclaimer is, then, like one of those Penn & Teller magic tricks in which they tell you exactly what they’re doing and, if they spin their meta-yarn enthusiastically enough, you know you’re being manipulated and you’re still amazed." Continuing, "Adding nuance, even when the story spins its wheels, is the cast. Blanchett is icy and then brittle as Catherine’s life begins to crumble, supplying an aloofness that plays into different interpretations and judgments of her character. Cohen — worthy of recognition for never falling into a single “my wife” punchline — supplies the wishy-washy credulousness that any good story requires, that the audience is meant to emulate or critique. And Smit-McPhee is heartbreaking as a young man doomed to be a supporting player in other people’s tales. It’s a deep enough and good enough cast that it took me multiple episodes to even realize that Catherine’s assistant — assistant in who knows what, since her profession is only relevant to the theme and not the story — is played by HoYeon Jung, so wonderful in her Emmy nominated Squid Game role."

'Moonflower Murders' Reviews: "Fans of British old-school mysteries who enjoy a smattering of eyebrow raising material will want to cozy up with this second investigative romp based on author Anthony Horowitz’s engaging Agatha Christie-esque series"

         On September 15, 2024, PBS premiered 'Moonflower Murders', which has received predominantly positive reviews from critics. In the series, "Editor Susan Ryeland is tasked with finding the solution to a real-life cold case hidden within one of Alan Conway's early Atticus Pünd novels." The ensemble cast includes Lesley Manville, Daniel Mays, Timothy McMullan, Conleth Hill, and Claire Rushbrook. But what did the critics say?

         Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times notes, "Moonflower Murders” — newly arriving on PBS starting Sept. 15 — is great fun. Scripted, as was “Magpie Murders,” by Horowitz (whose many credits, on page and screen, include “Foyle’s War”), it unfolds as two mysteries in one. Susan, who’s given up editing due to the events of “Magpie Murders” (go read and/or watch it immediately, before watching this show), is trying to run a hotel in Crete with her partner Andreas (Alexandros Logothetis), but gets pulled back home when a couple asks for her help in examining a novel by the late mystery author Alan Conway for clues to a recent murder at their British country inn. That novel, “Atticus Pünd Takes the Case,” set in the 1950s and involving the murder of a movie star in her English country home, provides the second plotline. We hop in and out from period film to present day, watching as the stories intertwine."

Photo by Roxxie Blackham on Unsplash

        Randy Myers of San Jose Mercury News writes, "Fans of British old-school mysteries who enjoy a smattering of eyebrow raising material will want to cozy up with this second investigative romp based on author Anthony Horowitz’s engaging Agatha Christie-esque series. The Masterpiece PBS sequel mashes up, as it did with  the first outing, “The Magpie Murders,” two tales of murder. The mystery is stuffed with clues involving a recent murder that late author Alan Conway created for his ace detective Atticus Pünd (Timothy McMullan) to sleuth through. The other is tied to a case yet to be solved by that snoop and former book editor Susan Ryeland (the divine Lesley Manville). True to form, both the “fictional” murder — the killing of a diva actress — and the present-day one involving a hotel worker leads Susan to leave Crete and come back to England as she tries to puzzle out how the book and her investigation interconnect. The actors enlisted to play the lengthy list of suspects are a treat. “Moonflower Murders” is pure comfort food for the mystery lover, and holds true to the Christie spirit. Details: 3 stars; first episode airs Sept. 15 on PBS."

        John Anderson of The Wall Street Journal says, "It is actually far easier to watch this first-rate “Masterpiece” mystery than to map it out: Like its predecessor, 2022’s “Magpie Murders,” this adaptation of Anthony Horowitz’s second Ryeland novel offers parallel plotlines—Susan on one track, Atticus on another—with various performers playing vaguely corresponding characters in each. Other than Ms. Manville and Mr. McMullan, few actors here have only one part. (Another is the winning Pippa Bennett-Warner as Madeline, Pünd’s savvy new assistant.) A listing of the dramatis personae would be as illuminating as, oh, a family tree of the crowned heads of Europe. One needs to catch up with Susan first."

'Queer' Reviews: "Craig gives us a pinch of that glowering Burroughs DNA, but the trick of his performance, which is bold and funny and alive, is that he's playing the younger Burroughs, before he'd passed through the looking glass of cultivated insanity"

         At the 2024 Venice Film Festival, 'Queer' quickly garnered predominantly positive reviews from critics, not only establishing itself as an early award season contender but a score of 79% on Rotten Tomatoes. In the film, "In 1950s Mexico City, WILLIAM LEE, an American ex-pat in his late forties, leads a solitary life amidst a small American community. However, the arrival in town of EUGENE ALLERTON, a young student, stirs William into finally establishing a meaningful connection with someone." The ensemble cast includes Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Lesley Manville, Jason Schwartzman, and Henry Zaga. But what did the critics say?

       Owen Gleiberman of Variety says, "Craig gives us a pinch of that glowering Burroughs DNA, but the trick of his performance, which is bold and funny and alive, is that he's playing the younger Burroughs, before he'd passed through the looking glass of cultivated insanity." Adding, "The last third of “Queer” may prove to be a challenge for audiences — much more so than the film’s explicit eroticism. Yet Luca Guadagino is telling a version of the same compelling story that he told in “Call Me by Your Name”: that of a queer love that, instead of delivering the salvation it promises, withers under the gaze of the real world. The film’s final shot is stunning. It shows that you after all the drugs, the warped crusades, the queerness he owned, the one thing William Burroughs could never figure out was how to heal his broken heart."

Photo by Christina DelliSante on Unsplash

         Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair writes, "Queer is meant to be prickly, withholding, enigmatic. To want anything more from it might simply be repeating Lee’s mistake, grasping for something that could never be ours." Continuing, "Queer is offbeat, abstract, erratic in mood and tempo—befitting an adaptation of Burroughs’s work. It can be a mean and off-putting film, though some of our revulsion is born of the horror of self recognition. To liven the mood, Guadagnino stages a few sex scenes that—when stripped of context, maybe—certainly qualify as hot. He uses anachronistic songs—there are two Nirvana covers, for example—to score scenes, alongside Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’s pulsing, mechanical original compositions. The film is a riot of style and technique, growing ever more surreal as Lee chases after Gene, and after a validation that will never come."

       Ryan Lattanzio of indieWire notes, "Guadagnino wants not only to expand your consciousness as a moviegoer, but to cut you open and rearrange all the parts of you that see and feel things when you watch a film at all."

       Zhuo-Ning Su of Awards Daily praises the film, stating, "By turns sexy, heartbreaking, and extraordinarily trippy, the film mutates in front of our eyes in its exploration of this strange, strange thing called love... Queer is a triumph."