This week, we review an old-school adaptation of a Stephen King thriller and a ribald Netflix romantic series from “Girls” creator “Lena Dunham. Both are worth your streaming time this weekend. We also check out a slick new Hulu series from Spain and then point you to a surreal head tripper of an indie film from a visionary filmmaker.
“The Institute”: For a long stretch of time, miniseries based on a Stephen King novel or screenplay flooded the TV market. Amongst them were two versions of “The Stand,” along with one each of “Under the Dome,” “The Tommyknockers” (a snoozer) and even a misguided 1993 three-part adaptation of “The Shining,” an inadvisable slap to Stanley Kubrick’s big-screen classic.
MGM+ conjures some TV deja vu with its solid take on King’s 2019 bone-chilling novel of the same name, wherein a mysterious organization snatches kids with special abilities and then subjects them to horrific experiments that are designed to serve secret purposes. The series belongs in the comfy midsection of those old-school TV adaptations; a taut eight-parter that’s way better than “Tommyknockers” (face it, the source material was terrible) but not as polished as HBO’s brilliant “The Outsider,” one of the best King adaptations ever.
The ace up its sleeve is a Nurse Ratched-esque performance from Mary-Louise Parker. She’s both creepy and unhinged as the head of the Institute where 14-year-old Luke (Joe Freeman) has been imprisoned in a room replicated room from his home, all due to his extraordinary psychic abilities, a recurring theme in King’s best works. Parker plays the part with zeal, as if she’s zonked-out in fear of losing her power ranking. She’s so good, she’ll make you laugh until she barks out orders to underlings about doing something cruel and deplorable to the kiddies.
Freeman meets the challenge of playing a young genius who is sorting through options for breaking out from this hidden-away monolith.
As all this intrigue plays out, disgraced cop Tim Jamiseon (Ben Barnes) arrives at the town nearby and quickly assumes the role of a night knocker, basically the town’s watchman. One night, he catches wind of the strange shenanigans going down at the Institute, partly from the conspiracy blather uttered by an unhoused person Annie (Mary Walsh), a sweet but addled soul. The plot thickens from there with likeable characters getting snuffed out — a King staple.
Creator Jack Bender (“From”) knows his way around King’s plot and works admirably within a limited budget. He leans heavily on his main actors — Parker, Freeman and Barnes — to relay the nuances of the shrewd storytelling, and they’re up to the job. There are some twist-filled developments (Episode 7 hits you with a jaw-dropper twist) and King’s uncanny knack for tapping our innate fears about what higher authorities might be doing to us. Due to modest budget, “The Institute” isn’t a vintage King production — even though the author is an executive producer on it — but it keeps you on edge and speculating why these children are made to suffer.
Details: 3 stars out of 4; premieres July 13 on MGM+ with new episodes dropping every Sunday.
“Too Much”: The bitter end of a seven-year relationship with extra-picky Zev (Michael Zegen) prompts a massive meltdown by Jessica (Megan Stalter of “Hacks”) who then hops on a flight from New York to London for a new job in commercial production work. Jessica envisions she’ll glide into an Jane Austen-like romance but winds up plucking the heartstrings of cute and sensitive indie musician Felix (Will Sharpe of HBO’s “The White Lotus Season 2”). He comes with a variety of issues as does the highly energetic Jessica, who possesses an oh-sister-please-stop penchant for divulging everything that springs into her mind even when no one’s asked to hear any of it. If you’re thinking these two sometimes annoying lovers as well as their colorful assortment of families and friends, each packed with issues, are tailor made for a Lena Dunham series, you’re onto something. Dunham is a co-creator, co-writer and co-director of the raunchy/boozy/druggie series, in which she co-stars as Jessica’s stay-in-bed-depressed and divorced sister Nora. Her husband Luis Felber is also a co-creator and co-writer. The 10-part series delivers wall-to-wall instances of cringey behavior along with frustrating and authentic characters who are sometimes obnoxious and often inappropriate. So if you’re looking for a prim and proper Austen-like romantic comedy, expect to drop out of this series by Episode 1.
But that’s the real beauty of “Too Much,” which sometimes lives up to its title but has a way of staying vigilantly true to the nature of its unhinged, often messy characters. Yes, it threatens to go overboard, and sometimes does, but keeping it afloat are its two terrific leads. They anchor this warts-and-all romance that involves an ex-girlfriend (Adèle Exarchopoulos), Jessica’s ex-boyfriend’s social influencer girlfriend (Emily Ratajkowski) and kvetching relatives on her side (Rita Wilson and Rhea Pearlman) and his (Stephen Fry and Kaori Momoi). Also working in its favor are the numerous smallish appearances from Jessica Alba, Kit Harrington, Rita Ora and more, as well as bigger ones from Naomi Watts and Richard E. Grant (as Jessica’s new party-hard boss and his wife), Andrew Scott (as a vain and needy director), director Janicza Bravo as Jessica’s co-worker who winds up looking up for a new love, Andrew Rannells as the seemingly more with-it ex of Nora’s. That’s a lot of star power to cram into a series and it’s a credit to both Stalter and Sharpe — who is so deft at portraying mental illness onscreen — that they are never outshined by any of them. OK, maybe just one, Jessica’s cute but terribly ugly dog Mia. Details: 3½ stars; drops July 10 on Netflix.
“Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story”: Just how influential has Steven Spielberg’s trouble-plagued adaptation of Peter Benchley’s phenomenal bestseller “Jaws” been? Consider this: It was arguably the first summer blockbuster; not to mention one of the best movies ever made, a textbook example of how a filmmaker can create almost unbearable suspense by slowly revealing the breadth and scale of the monster lurking below.
Laurent Bouzereau’s fond plunge into the making of “Jaws,” illustrates how the release became a pop-culture milestone and reflects, through the eyes of its visionary filmmaker, Steven Spielberg, how it filming almost broke him and left him with PTSD long after the movie finally chomped its way into theaters. Castmates, non-actors from Martha’s Vineyard where “Jaws” was shot and members of the crew are interviewed, as well as directors (Steven Soderbergh, Guillermo del Toro and others) along with actors (including Emily Blunt) who offer their views on why “Jaws” remains forever young decades later.
“Jaws @ 50″ s a cinematic underdog story unto itself, in which an upstart young filmmaker beat the odds, triumphed over adversity and went on to score one of the most stunning victories in cinematic history.
Details: 1 hour, 28 minutes; streams July 10 on National Geographic and available to stream July 11 on Hulu and Disney+.
“Suspicious Minds”: The heist itself is downright silly — snatching a bejeweled $240 million tiara right off a bride-to-be’s noggin’ during a swanky rich-and-famous tropical destination wedding. The cast — Silvia Alonso as sexy thief Amber and Álex González as her smoldering colleague and romantic counterpart — are so good looking, your glasses almost steam up. So if you’re in the mood for a pleasant enough time-waster that’s packed with stunning vacation-ready locales, PG-13 flirtations, squabbling newlyweds and a batch of thieves (including a gymnast) seeking to stick it to the ultra-rich Mexican oil tycoon Emilio Villegas (Asier Etxeandia), kick back and let it all in. Logic goes overboard from the start of this slick, superficial Spanish production that bounces from Las Vegas (a peppy little dance number between the two principals dressed as Marilyn and Elvis serves as a high point) to the family’s sigh-worthy private island. Everything gets played too broadly, which kills some of the thrill and joy that could have been had here, but this is serviceable entertainment that demands absolutely nothing from your grey matter. Details: 2½ stars; drops July 10 on Hulu.
“Kill the Jockey”: Luis Ortega’s wild fever dream transforms — much like its tortured protagonist played by Nahuel Pérez Biscayart — into something more special and unusual as it goes on. From the opening scene, you know you’re in for some bold filmmaking as Ortega takes the framework of a genre — as he did with the serial killer drama “El Angel” — and then entirely blows through all of its conventions. He shakes up this “horse arcing drama” by making it a surreal head trip through the horse-drug addicted jockey Remo (Biscayart), whose habit and hard livin’ has landed him in trouble, including with the Mafia. Ortega’s film is a mesmerizing experience as it centers on Remo and his jockey girlfriend Abril (Ursula Corberó of Netflix’s “Money Heist”). A wakeup call of a crisis sends Remo galloping into a much-needed existential journey of identity and expression that leads to a seismic shift and liberating outcome that makes the film even bolder than expected. Biscayart’s kaleidoscopic performance is something exciting to behold, as is Ortega’s vision of the film and this character. Both are aided immensely by Timo Salminen’s striking, sensual cinematography. Details: 3½ stars; opens July 10 at the Smith Rafael Film Center and July 11 at the Roxie in San Francisco.
“Abraham’s Boys: A Dracula Story”: Horror author Joe Hill’s short story about the Van Hesling brood’s blood-drenched legacy and the family’s reckoning after relocating to 1915 Central Valley gets expanded into a full-length feature. It would have been far more effective if it was the length of the story itself — featured in Hill’s collection “20th Century Ghosts” — and part of a horror anthology. Natasha Kermani’s adaptation plods and waits to strike too late in the game. There are artful Hammer throwback touches, including its aspect ratio framing, and kitschy violence but it forgets one core ingredient: to be scary, and that’s a dealbreaker. As Van Helsing, Titus Welliver gives a commanding, dead-eyed and stern performance while Brady Hepner as older son Max curries our sympathies for having to endure the tyranny of an obsessed father. Hill, the son of Stephen King, is an enthralling storyteller. So if you’re looking for some real frights, dive into his books. Details: 2 stars; opens July 11.
Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy&gmail.com.
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