The series follows Grace Fraser (Nicole Kidman), who is living the only life she ever wanted for herself. She’s a successful therapist on the brink of publishing her first book, has a devoted husband and a young son who attends an elite private school in New York City. Things aren’t as easy flowing and straightforward as the plot makes it seem though with things quickly unraveling towards the latter parts of the first episode with more details revealed in the subsequent episodes. Adding to its prestige is legendary actor Donald Sutherland who plays Grace’s father Franklin Reinhardt: a retired financier and loving grandfather, tasked with protecting his family when turbulent revelations come to light.

Created and written by David E. Kelley and starring Nicole Kidman, the six-episode series is, like their previous HBO collaboration, Big Little Lies (another one we’re huge fans of). It’s based on Jean Hanff Korelitz’s 2014 novel “You Should Have Known,” whose title referred to a self-help book Grace had written and, more obliquely, to her failure to see the truth about that charming husband.

Judging by the above you would swear that we were painting a perfect picture but that’s not entirely true especially since we feel more could have been done with the story line, the fact that just after episode 2 the plot becomes clearer, works both in its favor (it gets to the point quickly) and against it (the initial intrigue around it lessens). Having said that there’s plenty more to keep audiences watching especially when trying to figure out what really transpired. This is so much so that we can’t wait to see the remaining episode and the fact that we have to wait that long doesn’t put us at ease.

The strength of its cast plays a huge part in carrying the entire series especially Kidman who the series heavily revolves around and as expected, she delivers a great performance throughout. Hugh Grant also adds star power with the legendary Donald Sutherland adding his usual flair to proceedings. A special mention also goes out to the gorgeous Matilda De Angelis who the story line is mainly based on.

It being a 6-part miniseries makes it a short and sharp affair meaning if you had access to the entire thing you could easily consume and binge in a day. It’s a solid addition to HBO’s rich library which lately has consisted of once off series that don’t have a second season worked into them, a good example of this in action and done better than most was Watchmen, a resounding success that hit all the right cords with most who (including us) wish there was more. An interesting approach but one that’s seemingly working and sets the company apart. The Undoing doesn’t quite do enough to reach ‘Watchmen like’ heights but that’s not the point behind it. What it is instead is a solidly put series that most will enjoy.

Thank you to the team at M-Net for indulging us and the opportunity to look into their latest exciting piece of work.

By now it’s no secret that DC is in a huge battle with Marvel who, it’s safe to say, have more than won the battle however that doesn’t mean there’s no space for DC despite all of that. We especially still enjoy what the studio comes up with and when you consider the rich characters it has under its stable (including Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, The Green Arrow, the Joker, Harley Quinn, Deathstroke etc.) you can’t argue with this.

Cast – Jason Momoa, Amber Heard, Willem Dafoe, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II & Nicole Kidman

Director – James Wan

Genre – Fantasy/Science Fiction

Running Time – 2h 22m

The Plot & Trailer

Prior to officially watching the movie, a lot of what we saw from some reputable international sites was promising with the words visually stunning being thrown around regularly. After officially seeing it for ourselves we couldn’t dispute that even if we tried. This is one of the best visually appealing movies we have seen to date and the fact that most of the elements were done in an underwater setting makes it even more spectacular. Like Wonder Woman, DC opted for a slightly different approach with this one and no doubt in both movies the studio has a winning formula.

You might be wondering what we mean by slightly different approach, well generally DC has been known to produce movies that are very dark and moody in nature with the not so successful Dawn of Justice being a perfect example of that. In this instance though, Aquaman is lighter and fun in its approach perfectly led by the swag and charm of Momoa throughout. Everything in the movie is set up perfectly with it being very much an origins story. The only small criticism we have is the beginning felt very rushed with not much great effort being put into clearly defining the origins of our hero. With it being an origins story this goes without saying but that’s a small issue that hasn’t affected our overall views about the movie.

Aquaman is the perfect blockbuster to help wrap up the year, a year which has included some fantastic movies with this one being one of our firm faves. It’s a fun filled movie complete with moments of laughter and action, the perfect blend to any comic book based movie.  No doubt DC did very well with this one and we are hoping that their momentum continues in their other upcoming offerings that include Shazam!,  Birds of Prey, Joker and more. Well played DC and more of the same please going forward…Aquaman opens in cinemas on 21 December, seeing it is a no brainer. A very cool 8 out of 10 rating is what it gets from us.

Thank you to MNet Movies (in partnership with Ster Kinekor) for the screening.