Third Season of 'What If...?' Captivates Critics

         On December 22, 2024, Disney+ premiered the third and final season 'What If...?', which has received predominantly positive reviews from critics. In the series, the multiverse comes to life in new and exciting ways. The ensemble cast includes Anthony Mackie, Mark Ruffalo, Teyonah Parris, Simu Liu, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Kathryn Hahn, Seth Green, Samuel L. Jackson, Oscar Isaac, Laurence Fishburne, Tom Hiddleston, Tessa Thompson, Emily VanCamp, Dominique Thorne, Wyatt Russell, Hayley Atwell, and Jeffrey Wright. But what did the critics say?

       Arezou Amin of Collider says, "What If Season 3 caps off the series with a bleaker final outing that ultimately manages to keep hope at the center of it all." Adding, "Without a doubt, Season 3 of What If...? is the show's bleakest yet. While the earlier seasons had riffs on Christmas movies, winks at the heist genre, or cartoonish showdowns with the episode's villains, moments like this are few and far between in Season 3. This isn't exactly a surprise. It feels as though the world around us has been moving in a bleaker direction for quite some time, and all media is a reflection of the time in which it was made, be it intentional or otherwise. The topics that What If...? Season 3 touches on are hardly new to the MCU, or even the wider superhero genre; greed, power, violence, prejudice, and subjugation remain at the heart of what drives the villains. Episode 6, "What If 1872," is particularly unafraid to directly call out the injustices its heroes are fighting, and unsubtly hints at similar issues still occurring today. What is new, however, is how utterly hopeless so many of the episodes feel.Yes, every story needs a low point in which the characters believe they cannot continue the fight; every Marvel movie has that moment. But the sheer, colossal, multiversal scale of the series really amplifies that helplessness, with the scenarios The Watcher (Jeffrey Wright) chooses to visit feeling more cataclysmic than they usually do. Absent from this season is the lighthearted air of "What If T'challa Became Star Lord" and "What If Happy Hogan Saved Christmas," or the groundbreaking nature of "What If Kahhori Reshaped the World." Season 3 does have its relatively lighter episodes with fun concepts — those starring Howard the Duck (Seth Green) and Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) come to mind — but even those are tinged with the larger, cosmic scale of everything happening around them."

       Alan French of FandomWire notes, "When you dig into the creativity of What If…, it starts at the animation stage. For all the cool storytelling tricks that the series hopes to pull off, What If… Season 3 has to push the boundaries of what is possible in the medium. Like the two seasons before, a mixing and matching of styles allows the show to soar. In the old West, the vistas and gunslinging shine bright. Beyond the cosmos, the monsters look bigger and badder than ever. Magic duels between movie stars are larger than life, and even adding film grain to the frames feels bold and interesting.What If… Season 3 does not work unless this integral piece of the puzzle works. It’s not only that it looks gorgeous, but it adds dramatic tension to every episode. The fight sequences remind us just how tired the action has become in the live-action movies. With stunning creativity, What If… pushes the physical limits and creative uses of the powersets of its heroes. Even better, the writers never focus only on battle. Their powers are just as integral to their interpersonal relationships and antics as they are in battle."

Image Courtesy of Disney

'The Piano Lesson' Reviews: "John David Washington has one of his best turns"

         On November 8, 2024, with a streaming release on November 22nd, Netflix released 'The Piano Lesson'', which has earned rave reviews, currently holding at 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. In the film, which is "Set in 1936 Pittsburgh during the aftermath of the Great Depression, The Piano Lesson follows the lives of the Charles family in the Doaker Charles household and an heirloom, the family piano, which documents the family history through carvings made by their enslaved ancestor." The ensemble cast includes John David Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Ray Fisher, Corey Hawkins, and Danielle Deadwyler. But what did the critics say?

       Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood Daily says, "Continuing Denzel Washington‘s stated quest to bring new film versions of iconic playwright August Wilson‘s 10-play Century Cycle (aka Pittsburgh Cycle since nearly all take place in the writer’s hometown), he has now come in as producer (with Todd Black) of one of Wilson’s most celebrated works, the 1987 Pulitzer Prize-winning The Piano Lesson, previously made as a TV movie in 1995 and in 2022 the subject of a major Broadway revival. Finding success with his 2016 film version of Fences following its Tony-winning Broadway revival and bringing an Oscar to Viola Davis as well as Denzel’s 10th nomination, and then 2020’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, this seems like a natural move as well as a work that perhaps lends itself better than others in Wilson’s canon to a cinematic adaptation." Adding, "Acting honors go to Deadwyler, so great in the recent Till ,who captures Berniece’s love of family but also her own contradictions. John David Washington has one of his best turns, impressively embodying Boy Willie while acting opposite Jackson, the man who created him on stage all those years ago and now takes on another much older character in the story, still knowing just the right beats to play in Wilson’s sandbox of knockout dialogue. Jackson, Washington, Fisher, and Potts are all reprising their Broadway roles joined by an exceptional cast clearly drawn to doing Wilson proud."

       Lovia Gyarkye of Hollywood Reporter notes, "Deadwyler submits herself completely to the will of her character. She slips into her skin with a quiet ease and, once bonded, finds and reveals her truth. The results are often electric."

Photo by Martti Salmi on Unsplash 

       J. Don Birnam of Next Best Picture praises the film, stating, "And the eponymous Piano may as well be Berniece’s very heart and soul. It carries the heavy history of their family, the suffering, but also the perseverance. Willie’s desire to rid their family of the instrument so that he can take over the land of the man who oppressed them for generations is superficially appealing and quite understandable. What better way of turning the tables on your enslaver than owning his land? In the face of this, Berniece’s desire to hold on to this piece of wood, to this shrine to the suffering of Charles’ family, seems to make no sense. However, the piano holds a lesson that does not immediately meet the eye, and as “The Piano Lesson” reaches its climatic third act, the beauty of Wilson’s lessons becomes apparent. The point is that suffering can be expiated in more profound ways. Willie wants to simply move on from the past. But, for Wilson, it is not sufficient or satisfactory to just do so. Instead, confronting the past and bringing its souls with you will build out the true path toward redemption. “The Piano Lesson” gets a bit over the top in its climatic rendition, with Washington acting too much like he’s still on stage and not in front of a camera, and the schizophrenic editing by Leslie Jones betraying the director’s own inexperience. But the proverbial ghouls of a first-time director are exorcised just in time before they can bring down the entire edifice he had carefully constructed." Continuing, "When the dust settles, and the Charles Family contemplates its future, Wilson’s signature humanism will be on full display, together with the compelling, complex nature of his characters, thanks to the talent of this remarkable cast. And the principal motif of his play, the piano’s core lesson—that a single, perhaps unremarkable object can hold the key to personal salvation—will take your breath away."

'Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist' Reviews: Performances from A-List Stars Save this Drama

         On September 5, 2024, Peacock released 'Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist', which has received predominantly positive reviews from critics, currently holding at 89% on Rotten Tomatoes. In the miniseries, "In a city bursting with fight night anticipation, streetwise hustler Gordon "Chicken Man" Williams plants himself at the center of the action. His big ambitions, and even bigger talk, put him on a collision course with ruthless criminals, each consumed by their own insatiable hunger for the spoils of the event. As dawn breaks on a city reeling from the heist, JD Hudson, a pioneering Black detective, is thrust into a high-stakes game of cat and mouse as the body count rises. With time running out, JD and Chicken Man race against the clock to clear Chicken's name and survive the dangerous forces closing in." The ensemble cast includes Kevin Hart, Samuel L. Jackson, Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle, and Terrence Howard. Read the full review round-up below.

       Julian Lytle of RIOTUS praises the drama, stating, "Ali, Crime, and Ambition: ‘Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist’ Is a Must-Watch Miniseries" Adding, "Cheadle is great here, but after seeing him as an actor for thirty years, he’s always good. He has excellent onscreen scenes with Hart and later Jackson, who some might be used to because of the MCU, but his character is very much just as empathetic as Hart’s Chicken Man, even if you’re on some F*** the Police ethos. Taraji P. Henson plays Vivian Thomas, who is Chicken’s hustle partner and mistress. At the same time, he’s married and has this Black working-class suburban dreamlife of sorts elsewhere; Vivian is very much his real partner in life up until now. Henson plays a character that feels familiar for her, at least for the viewer, and I wish there were a bit more to her overall, but Henson is enjoyable to watch on screen and has a good arc throughout the entirety of the series. She’s great in many of the scenes she’s in with her co-stars, and that’s something you can say with the whole cast."

       Terrell Smith of What To Watch says, "When Peacock announced the cast of Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist, it was understandably easy to get excited about the limited series without even knowing its premise. After all, you have four Oscar nominees in Samuel L. Jackson, Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle and Terrence Howard, and arguably one of the most marketable men in Hollywood, Kevin Hart, leading an A-list cast. Plus, there was the safe assumption that there would be tons of on-screen chemistry given a few of the stars had previously worked together. WTW had it pegged as one of our most anticipated fall TV shows. Yet, with all this star power and assumed chemistry, the performances offered in Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist were disappointingly just solid. To be clear, the performances weren't horrible by any means. However, it just seemed as if the stars could be replaced with other actors and my fascination with the series would relatively remain the same."

Photo by Viktor Hanacek on picjumbo

        Carla Meyer of San Francisco Chronicle notes, "Shaye Ogbonna and its talented directors, including former Vallejo resident Craig Brewer (“Hustle & Flow”), rarely let the proceedings grow self-indulgent the way those other all-star heist stories featuring Cheadle (the “Ocean’s” movies) often did."

        AV Club's Josh Spiegel writes, "The ingredients that make up the new limited series Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist will be all too familiar to anyone who’s paying attention to this TV moment. The eight-episode series is inspired by a true-crime podcast that itself was an unearthing of a shocking robbery connected to Muhammad Ali’s return to boxing in 1970. It’s available on Peacock, one of a host of streaming services continuing to battle for audience attention. It boasts a recognizable ensemble cast, as well as a well-known director and producer. It starts in medias res to potentially amplify the tension and make the audience wonder how its antihero lead could wind up with a gun in his face. And it is, as is almost a requirement with new shows, at least two or three episodes too long—to the point of raising the question of why the series exists at all. The story it tells is indeed fascinating, but at heart, its intent is to prove that A-list actor and stand-up Kevin Hart has a secret well of dramatic talent. And in that respect, it’s a miss."