"American Skin" touches on raw nerves in the midst of a chaotic historical moment, which is ultimately the whole point. Following his 2016 feature debut "The Birth of a Nation," writer-director-star Nate Parker seeks to bore into the issues surrounding policing and Black America, through a provocative but flawed dramatic vehicle that strains against its confining central device.
Marvel flexes different muscles with "WandaVision," leveraging major assets while stretching its creative formula in this first series for Disney+. The result wields more of a scalpel than a hammer, wryly celebrating the history of television while slowly, very slowly, pulling the viewer into an enticing "The Twilight Zone"-esque mystery.
Anyone who has felt their relationship tested by quarantine (no need to raise hands, we see you) will at least partially relate to "Locked Down," which takes the idea of a couple trapped by those circumstances, then builds an improbable heist plot around it. Thanks to Chiwetel Ejiofor and Anne Hathaway it's mildly watchable, but mostly an artifact that might look better after a few years in the Covid time capsule.
Before suiting up as Marvel's Falcon again on Disney+, Anthony Mackie produces and stars in "Outside the Wire," a futuristic action vehicle that thinks inside the box and feels as generic as its title. Netflix has found an eager audience for such adrenaline-rush movies -- perhaps especially with theaters hobbled -- but this is a wire-thin addition to the "You might like" tier.
Yes, Martha Stewart received her first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine near a facility named for her, but rest assured, she says she didn't jump the line.
It truly is the most dramatic season yet. Just two episodes into the new season of "The Bachelor," a contestant nearly collapsed during the rose ceremony.
