Senior Year
Netflix
The early 2000s seem to be making a comeback.
From fashion - crop tops, butterfly clips, bucket hats - to the redemption of the most infamous stars of the era (Britney Spears, Paris Hilton), and even Tobey Maguire donning the Spidey suit again, the Y2K period is everywhere.
And that's exactly what we get in Rebel Wilson's new high school comedy on Netflix.
Why is Rebel Wilson, decidedly not a teenager, in a high school comedy? Because in Senior Year, a cheerleading stunt performed by Angourie Rice's Stephanie goes wrong and sees her comatose for two decades, only to wake up as Rebel Wilson. Stephanie - shallow, rude and pretty irredeemable - is devastated that the picture perfect end to her high school career was ruined, so she decides she's going to just go ahead and finish it now, as a 37-year-old.
Her bestie Martha is now principal, and her friend-zoned bud Seth is the librarian.
And, of course, the daughter of her primary school rival Tiffany is now the new queen bee at school - a social media influencer, of course.
What's great about the film is the Y2K-era nostalgia. For viewers who grew up with that, it's a fabulous walk down memory lane - all the songs, phrases and pop cultural references are gold.
It's the actual story that's pretty lacking and cringey.
While Angourice Rice has the Alicia Silverstone-esque charm to make Stephanie somewhat likeable at the start of the movie, Rebel Wilson just doesn't have that quality and it's really hard to enjoy a film with such an unlikeable lead character.
The Time Traveler's Wife
Binge
In this week's first of two series based off books that were previously movies, we present The Time Traveler's Wife.
The new HBO series tells the same story as the film, but with more time to explore the nuances.
Theo James (Divergent) is the new Eric Bana as the Time Traveler of the title, Henry, while Game of Thrones' Rose Leslie steps into Rachel McAdams' shoes as Claire, his wife.
There's no way to avoid the inherently creepy nature of their relationship, which for Claire starts at age six (when she receives a visit from the roughly 40-year-old Henry who is already married to her in his timeline) but for a very confused Henry at age 28. James and Leslie's chemistry helps.
Claire describes their relationship timeline as something of a Mobius Strip (worth the Google) and it hurts the mind to try and figure it all out.
The very sunny series shows promise, especially if we get to see more of the excellent Katie Siegel (Midnight Mass) as Henry's mother.
The Lincoln Lawyer
Netflix
Book-to-film-to-series adaptation number two is The Lincoln Lawyer, now on Netflix.
Matthew McConaughey of the 2011 movie is replaced by The Magnificent Seven's Manuel Garcia-Rulfo in the Mickey Haller role, a lawyer who practices out of his car (a Lincoln).
After a prominent lawyer dies and wills his entire practice to Haller, the somewhat out of sorts solicitor has to step up to defend a rich man accused of killing his wife.
The series is co-created by prolific legal drama producer David E. Kelley.
