By Peter Vonder Haar-
Release Date: August 1st
(SEASON 1) HBO
HBO has been best known for some time for its big budget genre efforts like Game of Thrones and Westworld, so it was somewhat surprising their latest hit was a miniseries following the relationships between three very different women in Monterey, California. Leveraging both its marquee acting talent (Oscar winners Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon, with excellent supporting turns by Alexander Skarsgård and Adam Scott) and writing by David E. Kelley (The Practice, Boston Legal), Big Little Lies moves past the glossy exteriors and occasional clichés and ends up making a bold statement about the nature of friendship and female empowerment.
Release Date: August 15th
Paramount Pictures
How much you enjoy the live-action adaptation of Masamune Shirow’s seminal Japanese manga may very well depend on how familiar you are with the source material. Larger questions of philosophy are cast aside in order to keep the high-tech action moving. What can’t be argued, however, is how visually arresting director Rupert Sanders’ effort is, or how dedicated Scarlett Johansson is in her portrayal of Major Mira Killian. Ghost in the Shell
isn’t perfect, but it is technologically impressive and raises interesting questions about the nature of identity at a time when many of us are feeling increasingly alienated and isolated.