The Kilkenny Observer Friday 06 May 2022
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Advertisement TV & Streaming COMING soon to Netflix is a new dark fantasy series with a huge budget of $165 million – called The Sandman, it comes from mind of Neil Gaiman, the writer behind American Gods, Good Omens and many others, and the new series has a seriously huge budget. If there’s one thing that Netflix does well, it’s helping you escape into another world. From The Witcher to Sabrina, the streaming service knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat and in between realms. Now, The Sandman looks set to be no exception, and the highly anticipated 2022 release has the budget to back it up. Based on the bestselling Neil Gaiman comic book series created for DC, the story centres on the immortal embodiment of people’s dreams – and we’ll give you one guess what his name is... Morpheus. Bet you didn’t see that one coming, right? He’s also called the Sandman but we think his given name is way more fun. DC Comics explains that the story centres on a ‘vast hallucinatory landscape housing all the dreams of any and everyone who’s ever existed’. It continues: “Regardless of cultures or historical eras, all dreamers visit Morpheus’ realm – be they gods, demons, muses, mythical creatures or simply humans who teach Morpheus some surprising lesson.” The series is sure to thrill fans, with a typical Gaimanesque premise of a magical figure having more than a few flaws. Or, as a synopsis for the series reads: “The Lord of Dreams has been summoned, and captured, by mortal men. Once free from his captivity, this eternal ruler of Dreams will realise that his troubles are only just beginning.” And if those troubles were money-related we certainly see why, because the series
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A psychological thriller from 2020 that dives deep into the surreal. I’m Thinking of Ending Things definitely won’t be for everyone, but it connects you to the frustrations of the young woman (Jessie Buckley) at its heart, who grapples with breaking o` her seven- week-relationship with her boyfriend Jake (Jesse Plemons). While it overstays its welcome a little, I’m Thinking of Ending Things always keeps you on your toes, with atmospheric cinematography and strong performances from Toni Collette and David Thewlis as Jake’s fairly odd parents. Fans of director-writer Charlie Kaufman will be pleased.
New dark fantasy has biggest ever budget budget was $165 million. Still, the cost is a small price to pay if the series is as successful as other fantasy stories on the platform, withThe Witcher reaching 76 million households in its first few weeks, as Digital Spy reports. And, in comparison, The Witcher had about half the budget of The Sandman, at $70-80 million for the first season.
The new series set to star Tom Sturridge as the Sandman, Gwendolyn Christie as Lucifer, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Asim Chaudhry as Cain and Abel. Writer Gaiman is also determined to keep you entertained throughout the series, with the writer explaining that each episode is as varied as the characters. “You watch Episode 1 and
think, ‘Oh, I get this thing: it’s like Downton Abbey, but with magic,” he told Empire. “Then you’ll be wondering, ‘What the hell is this?’ by Episode 2, when you’re meeting Gregory The Gargoyle in The Dreaming. Episode 5 is about as dark and traumatic as anything is ever gonna get, then you’ve got Episode 6, which is probably the most feelgood of all the episodes.”
Finance crisis sees Meghan Markle dropped AS we reported last week, Netflix has been having a tough time financially. Their stock prices are falling to a new low, and subscribers are rapidly leaving the streaming service due to a sharp hike in subscription prices and dwindling quality of content, prompting the streamer to cancel some shows and films to save costs. Meghan Markle’s animated series Pearl happens to be one of them. Founded by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Archewell Productions announced Pearl last year, where Markle would serve as executive producer.
super movies to watch right now on Netflix
The series would revolve around the escapades of a 12-year-old girl whose journey is inspired by the stories of various women in history. Markle had previously said: “Like many girls her age, our heroine Pearl is on a journey of self-discovery as she tries to overcome life’s daily challenges”, where the series was meant to celebrate “extraordinary women throughout history”. While Netflix has cancelled Pearl, they are continuing their partnership with Archewell Productions on the documentary series Heart Of Invictus, focusing on the injured veterans competing
in the Invictus Games in The Hague this year. Besides Pearl, the streamer has also cancelled other animated children’s series like Boons and Curses and Dino Daycare. The streaming service saw a sharp fall in subscribers in April 2021 and is anticipating two million other subscribers to quit their subscriptions by July 2022. This has led to a $50 billion decrease in Netflix’s market value, causing the streamer various problems. After a successful 2021 with shows like Squid Game generating massive revenue, Netflix’s ambition for expansion grew exponentially. They
began investing in creating more content to tap other demographics, including subscribers in India and Africa. However, the streamer’s decision to increase subscription prices in the United States, Ireland, the UK, Canada and Australia has proved to be detrimental. It led to a massive loss in the subscriber base who are now moving to other competitive streaming services like Amazon Prime, Disney+, Hulu, etc. Netflix has recently laid off writers and journalists from its editorial fan site Tudum owing to the website’s financial loss in the first quarter, aiming to curtail finances.
Two movies named The Call came out in 2020. Watch the South Korean one, a time travel thriller revolving around, yep, a phone call. Twenty-eight-year-old Seo- yeon finds a phone buried in a closet in her childhood home. It rings -- and the caller, it turns out, is living in the same house 20 years earlier. Twists right up to the final moment, plus a wild cat-and- mouse chase that alters the past and present make this a must-watch.
This taut 2018 thriller set in the remote Scottish Highlands is far from an idyllic getaway. Prepare for a full-on nerve-wringing nightmare that its protagonists are desperate to wake up from. Vaughn and Marcus set out on a lads’ weekend hunting trip, but after a night of drinking, they find themselves facing events they never could have planned for. Calibre lives up to its name, delivering a slick package of grim, gripping drama. Let the full force of this one wallop you.
The fifth film on Angelina Jolie’s directing CV turned out to be her best. Based on Cambodian author and human rights activist Loung Ung’s memoir, the 2017 biographical thriller recounts the horrors Ung suffered as a child under the rule of the deadly Khmer Rouge. With an empathetic lens framing a shocking story from the perspective of a child, First They Killed My Father is a unique war movie made with control and finesse.
If you’ve had a bad day, this might be the movie for you. When the police refuse to help with a robbery, nursing assistant Ruth and her weird neighbour Tony take matters into their own hands. The 2017 I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore spots the idiosyncrasies of everyday life, before escalating its story into dark places with even darker humour. With a touch of Coen Brothers’ flair, its perfectly packed 96 minutes will leave you surprisingly emotional.
