Untamed is an American crime drama mystery starring Eric Bana, Lily Santiago, and Sam Neill, set in the stunning Yosemite National Park. Eric Bana (Hulk) plays Kyle Turner, a brooding park ranger who decides to investigate the mysterious death of an unnamed young woman who suffered a fatal fall from Mount Capitan.
Was she pushed or did she fall, either by accident or of her own volition? The powers that be would like this case to simply be dismissed, but there wouldn't be much of a story if that were the case.
Director: Felipe Joffily
Writer: Leandro Soares
Stars: Gabriel Goity, Leandro Hassum, Simon Hempe
Kyle receives help from a younger agent, Naya Vasquez (Lily Santiago), which causes some intergenerational conflict, but they still end up working well together.
Kyle, who has a troubled past, also receives support from his ex-wife (Rosemarie DeWitt) and his boss (the ever-reliable Sam Neill), as he and Naya embark on their search, reaching interesting places and meeting unexpected supporting characters along the way.
Yosemite National Park appears as an added character, although it appears most of the series was filmed in Canada.
Untamed is the brainchild of Elle Smith and Mark L. Smith, who worked together on Daughter of the Swamp King. Mark also co-wrote the Oscar-winning The Revenant and created American Primeval, which was a hit on Netflix earlier this year.
The duo clearly loves wild landscapes, and this new series (created by Warner Bros. Television and premiering on Netflix) is no exception, although it feels a bit more conventional, almost like a Scandinavian noir, but in a different setting/landscape.
The main characters learn a lot about themselves and what it means to be human, with the help of well-trained actors who do their best to add a little more meaning to a familiar story that's always worth retelling, because in the end, there's always more to it than meets the eye.
The Brazilian film Família, Pero No Mucho (or: Almost Family) is a rather weak attempt at a heartwarming family comedy. It follows a middle-aged father, Otavio (Leandro Hassum), who is coming of age with his talented daughter, Mariana (Julia Svacinna).
Papa always dreamed of one day taking over the family restaurant and perhaps even turning it into a franchise, but Mariana is a talented violinist and instead goes to Paris to study at a prestigious music academy.
And when she returns after three years, she has fallen in love and plans to marry her Argentinian boyfriend in the snowy town of Bariloche, in western Argentina, near the Chilean border.
Papa promises to behave, but rivalry (and possibly some hilarity) soon arises between the Brazilian and Argentinian families.
The characters are likable enough, and of course, bonds are forged along the way, but the main problem is that the comedy feels too broad, with jokes that don't quite land and no room for more subtle touches.
So, even at 81 minutes, Family, But Not Much feels too shallow.
The Institute is a new thriller series, based on a fairly recent Stephen King book and skillfully adapted by Jack Bender (Lost, From).
It tells the story of Luke Ellis (Joe Freeman), a teenager with special abilities. Not only is he a child genius who manages to get into the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), but he also has a special talent for telekinesis, allowing him to move objects at will.
One night, Luke is kidnapped and taken to a college somewhere in Maine called The Institute. There, a secret organization keeps other teenagers, skilled in telepathy or telekinesis, under guard while experimenting on them in a failed attempt to change the world for the better.
Luke's story intertwines with that of Tim Jamieson (Ben Barnes), a former police officer who left the force after excessive trauma and is now settling down after working as a night watchman in a small town in Maine.
It's only a matter of time before their paths cross, but first Tim begins to discover (more) strange things, while Luke becomes close with Kalisha (Simone Miller), while also getting to know the people in charge of the center, led by Mrs. Sigsby (the great Mary-Louise Parker), who is both authoritarian (in her career) and quite miserable (in her personal life).
The Institute takes a while to get going, but I actually quite enjoyed the slow pace of the first episode. I'm not saying it's great, but I liked that Jack Bender took the time to create the characters and the worlds they inhabit. A touching detail: Luke's room is completely replicated on the premises, except for one small detail (the lack of a hook) that immediately gives the game away.
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