Reportedly Netflix’s most expensive movie to date, The Gray Man pits on-the-lam Ryan Gosling against a psycho Chris Evans. On a more intimate scale, Pose’s Billy Porter makes his film directing debut in the unconventional teen romance Anything’s Possible. After being canceled two years ago by A&E, Live PD is resurrected as On Patrol: Live. Netflix’s addictive glass-blowing competition Blown Away is back for a third season.
Paul Abell/Netflix
The Gray Man
After a brief theatrical window, this elaborately chaotic chase thriller arrives on Netflix with much ado about its extravagant budget (reported to be in the $200 million range) making it the streamer’s most expensive movie to date. If mayhem’s your thing, dig in to watch some of the world’s greatest cities—Prague in particular—be reduced to rubble as a CIA assassin known to most as Sierra Six (Ryan Gosling) is targeted by a corrupt boss (an ill-used Regé-Jean Page) for execution. On his trail: Chris Evans as Lloyd Hansen, a mustachioed psychotic contractor who revels in torture and doesn’t blink when kids or other innocent collateral damage are put in peril. In other words: Things go boom. Grim, noisy, relentless and mostly preposterous, like a Bond film on steroids (not in a good way), this film from Anthony and Joe Russo may get plenty of views, but you might end up thinking of all the better, smaller movies that could have been made for this money.
Anything’s Possible
Case in point: A charming teen romance, marking Emmy- and Tony-winner Billy Porter’s (Pose) film directorial debut. This swoony coming-of-age story, filmed on Porter’s home turf of Pittsburgh (and written by Ximena García Lecuona), stars Eva Reign as Kelsa, a high-school senior who, being trans, revels in the uniqueness of all living creatures. She’s not looking for a soulmate, but finds one in Khal (Abubakr Ali), a shy guy from art class who has a serious crush on her, with ensuing complications including a love triangle and the usual transphobia.
On Patrol: Live
When Live PD was canceled two years ago in the wake of anti-police brutality protests following George Floyd’s murder, host/executive producer Dan Abrams vowed it would eventually return. The result is this series, airing in three-hour blocks on Fridays and Saturdays, showing police officers at work in locales across the country. Abrams returns as host, providing on-the-spot analysis with retired Tulsa Sgt. Sean “Sticks” Larkin and South Carolina Deputy Sheriff Curtis Wilson. The opener features police departments from New Jersey, South Carolina, Indiana, New Mexico, Florida and Nevada.
Netflix
Blown Away
The title of this reality competition, now in its third season, accurately describes the experience of watching these glass-blowing artists in action as they melt their materials down to shape them into amazing creations. The new season brings 10 contestants, from as far away as England and Belgium, to compete for the “Best in Glass” title. Reality-TV veteran and science influencer Nick Uhas is host, with glass master/resident evaluator Katherine Gray.
Apple TV+
For All Mankind
Things heat up on Mars in the gripping space-race drama when a water source is found on the Red Planet by the Russians, who invite the independent Helios team to join them on the drilling operation, excluding the fuming scientists of NASA. Because this has worked so well for them before, and what could possibly go wrong? While the episode builds to one of the season’s best cliffhangers, subplots back on Earth pale by comparison, including a sex scandal ensnaring the closeted First Couple in the White House.
More Apple TV+ activity:
- Trying: Sunday is National Parent’s Day, reason enough to tune in to the third season of the British comedy starring Rafe Spall and Esther Smith as Jason and Nikki, would-be parents who’ve finally realized their dream of adoption, but now need to get to know their two kids.
- Best Foot Forward: A new family series, based on a book by Paralympian Josh Sundquist, opens when 12-year-old Josh Dubin (Logan Marmimo) heads to public school after years of homeschooling, hoping his classmates won’t make such a big deal about his prosthetic leg that he can’t enjoy all the opportunities middle school has to offer.
- Black Bird: The intensely psychological prison drama finally reveals the meaning of its symbolic title as suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser) and Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton), the inmate befriending him with an agenda, each reflect on their childhoods and fraught relationships with their dads. A violent prison riot and subsequent lockdown gives them time to get to know each other better. And the more time we spend with Larry, the more unsettling it gets.
- Loot: Could this be new love for Molly (Maya Rudolph) when suave Frenchman Jean-Pierre (Olivier Martinez) invites her and her team to his vineyard? Or, given her fortune, is it strictly business?
- Physical: In the eighth episode, Sheila (Rose Byrne) gets to peek behind the curtain of rival Vinnie Green’s (Murray Bartlett) fitness empire.
Inside Friday TV:
- Blood & Treasure (9/8c, CBS): Don’t get too excited. CBS is billing this as a “one-time” showing of the international action series’ Season 2 premiere, prompted by schedule changes after Thursday’s prime-time hearings. It’s flanked by repeats of Blue Bloods at 8/7c and 10/9c. (The Season 2 premiere of Secret Celebrity Renovation has moved to next Friday.)
- César Millán: Better Human Better Dog (9/8c and 10/9c, National Geographic): The renowned “dog whisperer” works his magic on human owners as well, working through their trust and fear issues as he tends to troubled canines at his Dog Psychology Center in California. Season 2 opens with back-to-back episodes involving an aggressive Rhodesian Ridgeback, a confused mini-schnauzer and an accidental guard dog.
- American Anthems (10/9c, PBS): Grammy-nominated country artist Cam works with songwriter Dre Williams to craft a new song honoring the work of Meredith McKinney, who founded the Black Book Project to distribute children’s books celebrating diversity to local communities.