Ten new titles with a good chat ice factor
TV CHRONICLE This year too, much will be about the big, returning summer series “House of the dragon” and “The Bear”.
But there are a bunch of upstarts who have the potential to compete for oxygen with people who can talk to dragons and restaurateurs with anxiety.
Two of the summer’s most anticipated series have already premiered.
Partly Nick Antoscas kitschy, violent new version of the revenge classic “Cape Fear” on Apple TV Plus, which is running so that it says great things and can already be fairly risk-free named the year’s sweatiest and slickest summer thriller. Javier Bardem reaches grand levels of insanity as the released prisoner Max Cady and it’s all so neat, so neat.
And partly Prime Video’s young, summery, sun-drenched and languishing drama “Every year after”, which is admittedly of little interest to people over a certain age, and not great either, but nevertheless designed to go like a rocket with the same romantically inclined YA audience that has previously embraced series such as “The summer I turned pretty”, “We were liars” and “Off campus”.
And on the same streaming service coming soon “Elle”, which is a prequel to the “Legally blonde” films of the 00s, about the not-so-stupid arch-blonde Elle Woods as a high school student in 90s Seattle, and can be interesting for both a younger audience and for us slightly older nostalgics.
Reese Witherspoon is executive producer, and in her old role we now see Lexi Minetree.
And Witherspoon is also current as a producer for a new miniseries with Anya Taylor-Joywho made a big hit in “The queen’s gambit” six years ago.
In Apple’s crime thriller “Lucky”, she plays a prankster who gets lost during a multi-million dollar coup and is forced to go on the run, with both the FBI and a ruthless gangster boss on their heels.
Both “Elle” and “Lucky” premiere in Julyand then there will also be several Netflix series that are worth watching:
The Japanese-Korean venture “Human Vapor”, which is based on Ishirō Honda’s cult film from the 60s and is about how a man who can assume gas form uses his ability to commit various atrocities.
The new version of the family-friendly western classic “Little House on the Prairie”, which seems to be seen in the seams by all 60s and 70s people who grew up with it.
And the golf comedy “The Hawk”, which surfs the last few years’ wave of sports comedies and med Will Ferrell as both sender and main actor has a good chance of becoming a viewing hole-in-one.
And in July we also see summer’s big Swedish news, when SVT rolls out the coming-of-age thriller “Black”, after John Ajvide Lindqvist “Summer 1985”.
The scene is Stockholm’s archipelago, where a group of boys in their early teens are drawn into an enigmatic drama when an older boy drowns under mysterious circumstances and they themselves find a strange, mermaid-like creature.
The series was awarded for its music at the spring television series festival in Cannes, and the trailer gives me hope for a successful cross-fertilization between “Vi på Saltkråkan” and “Stranger things”.
And SVT also has a possible audience favorite in the German-Czech-Austrian “Widow Killer”, which is a historical detective story from German-occupied Prague and is about how a young Czech policeman must work with a Gestapo agent to stop a sadistic serial killer who targets widows. With Jonas Nay from the highlight series “Deutschland 83”.
And finally, a possible favorite towards the end of the summer, in the form of HBO’s DC-based “Lanterns,” with Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre as two intergalactic cops who are drawn into a dark mystery while investigating a murder in Nebraska.
Admittedly, the well-known “superhero fatigue” has affected me as well.
But here both “True detective” and “Slow horses” seem to have served as inspiration, so I am prepared to reevaluate.
FJELLBORG’S FAVORITES
Proud
An award-winning Polish gem on HBO Max. About a young and handsome gay slacker (Ignacy Liss) who lives the good, irresponsible life in the hustle and bustle, until his sister dies and he decides to take care of her child.
Sugar
Apple TV Plus “Sugar” started as a stylish neo-noir mystery, but then shocked with a bizarre twist that turned everything upside down. So as the second season now begins, I feel torn, though Colin Farrell at least keeps things interesting as friendly, wistful private detective and film connoisseur John Sugar.
The Agency
This spy thriller on Skyshowtime, which is based on the French thriller “False Identity”, is right back with new episodes. It’s a bit tough sometimes, but also very elegant and with an ensemble (Michael Fassbender, Jeffrey Wright, Richard Gere, Hugh Bonneville, Dominic West) which does not go off for hoes.
