Peacemaker, Crave
John Cena and Danielle Brooks in Peacemaker season 2 now available on Crave.Supplied
John Cena and his ludicrous arms star as the highly imperfect superhero Peacemaker in this HBO television series, back for a second season this week. Tonally, it’s not my cup of DC – featuring cursing, coke-snorting comic-book characters only a teen might find provocative, and jejune jokes that prove series creator James Gunn (Superman) works best when he’s constrained by a PG-13 rating. That said, Gunn’s plotting and use of the metaverse is original and intriguing.
Now living in the home of the evil father he killed and under investigation by his own agency, Peacemaker has access to a quantum closet into an endless Escher-esque chamber with doors to other dimensions. Letting his pet eagle fly around in there one day, he stumbles upon a portal to a universe where the central trauma of his life did not occur.
Though he knows it might create interplanetary instability, he can’t help himself from visiting for the most base of reasons – for instance, while drunk in order to text his ex. I’m two episodes in and along for the ride against my best instincts.
Match Game, CTV app; CTV.ca; Crave
Martin Short in a reboot of show Match Game which was first born in the 60s.Crave/Supplied
This celebrity panel game show born in the swinging Sixties came back this summer with new episodes for the first time since 2021. Martin Short, once again up for an Emmy for his superb comic work on Only Murders in the Building, has replaced Alec Baldwin as host for the new reboot that airs Wednesday – and has now built up a small collection of hour-long shows on CTV.ca and Crave. At first it felt like Short’s alter-ego Jiminy Glick might have been better suited to the job, but this week’s episode makes it clear he’s found his groove by being less groovy that his predecessors.
The Hamilton-born comedian comes up with inventive and often baffling ways to roast some stars (Annie Murphy, Ziwe), while just straight out insulting others (mainly Kevin Nealon). Short doesn’t hold back from lightly mocking the civilian contestants, too – and often seems, in his delivery, to be overtly mocking the team behind the scenes who have written the try-hard prompts. (“Are you a recently divorced man who loves his mom? Then move into the Oedipus Complex, each chic high-tech bachelor pad comes with a life-size BLANK of your mom.”) You could pass the time in worse ways.
Blue Lights, BritBox
Blue Lights is a Belfast-set police drama first aired in 2023.Steffan Hill/Supplied
I’ve had a couple readers who, like me, loved the first 2023 season of this brilliant Belfast-set police drama on BritBox write in and ask when Canadian subscribers will be able to watch the second. After all, it aired in Great Britain last fall, won the TV BAFTA for best drama in the spring, and is already up on the American version of the BBC-affiliated streamer.
The answer is: It’ll be up later this year.
Right now, specialty channel BBC First, available through your local cable provider, has dibs in Canada; you can also purchase the season through Apple. I’ll be waiting for it to land on BritBox – but it’s hard. The original episodes summoned up memories of the HBO classic The Wire with its rich characters, intricate plotting and overall humanism; they will make you never use the euphemism “kneecap” to describe a paramilitary-style punishment attack again.
Lady Bird, CBC Gem
Saoirse Ronan in Lady Bird which is now available on CBC Gem.CBC GEM/Supplied
After spending her early career acting in mumblecore movies, Greta Gerwig made herself heard loud and clear in her solo directorial debut, added to Gem’s library Aug. 22. This 2017 coming-of-age movie, suffused in early noughties nostalgia, sees “Lady Bird” (Saoirse Ronan) nearing graduation and yearning to leave Sacramento, Calif., for college in more cultured east coast environs; she encounters both emotional and financial resistance from her mother, Marion (the marvellous Laurie Metcalf).
There is no rookie-film handicap required in grading the excellence on display,” The Globe and Mail’s Barry Hertz wrote in his review. “There are no fireworks or twists or unnecessary frills here, nor should there be – this is simply perfect filmmaking from a voice that demands to be heard.”
A Night at the Opera (1935), Kanopy
A Night at the Opera is approaching its 90th anniversary later this year.Supplied
The Marx Brothers’ best movie – this according to Groucho, anyway – leaves the streaming service Kanopy (free via many Canadian public libraries) at the end of August, a few months ahead of the film’s 90th anniversary. The 1935 musical comedy may feature the first Dionne Quintuplets joke (RIP Cécile) committed to film.
In Milan, schemer Otis B. Driftwood (Groucho) is trying to sign an opera tenor represented by amateur manager Fiorello (Chico) and the two are going over side by side copies of a nonsensical contract. “Don’t you know what duplicates are?” Groucho says. Chico responds: “Sure, those five kids up in Canada.” (Chico’s more famous line caps the scene: “You can’t fool me. There ain’t no sanity clause!”)
My favourite scene is on the boat to New York when Chico’s and Harpo’s stowaway characters risk capture and deportation – in order to entertain children with their inimitable vaudeville-honed piano and harp skills.
