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Los Angeles Times
16 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
‘The Rainmaker' brings back blue skies to USA with colorful characters and a mystery
Are we in for a new age of scripted basic cable television? Given the successes of the old age, which threaded its way between broadcast and premium cable TV, a little bolder than the former, less pricier than the latter, making up what it lacked in resources with invention and charm — producing such shows as 'The Detour,' 'Halt and Catch Fire,' 'Lodge 49' and 'The Closer,' to name just a few of my favorites — I'd be all for it. Premiering Thursday on the USA Network, lately devoted to sports, reality shows and reruns, the legal drama 'The Rainmaker' is the first fruit of an intentional return to the network's self-styled 'blue sky' era, when its slogan was 'Characters Welcome' and 'optimism' in storytelling was a stated goal. 'Psych,' 'In Plain Sight,' 'Monk' and 'Suits' — whose recent success after being recycled onto Netflix would seem to be a factor in this turnaround — were among the series born in that period. Based on John Grisham's 1995 novel, faithfully adapted by Francis Ford Coppola into a 1997 film starring Matt Damon and Claire Danes, the TV 'Rainmaker' has been kitted out with some new and altered characters and a novel focus, and in order to keep you on the hook across 10 episodes, it stirs in a case of arson and a serial murderer. (And surely some additional complications — only five episodes out of 10 were available for review, so even though I wouldn't tell you about what's coming later, I couldn't.) Serial killer notwithstanding — nothing drearier than a serial killer — the nuts and bolts and girders and panels of a USA show are here — colorful characters, one part comedy to one part drama, a mystery to solve, and just a tiny bit of sex. (This is basic cable, remember.) We meet hot-headed good guy Rudy Baylor (Milo Callaghan) and his cheery girlfriend Sarah Plankmore (Madison Iseman), both not long out of law school, both yet to take the bar exam, at a legal-aid event, providing free advice to the sort of people who could never afford a lawyer, wouldn't know where to start or maybe just want someone to listen to their stories. They meet Dot Black (Karen Bryson), who is very much not over the death of her son while in a hospital whose name I can't recall but for my own convenience will just call Bad Hospital. Badspital. That the hospital — the Badspital — has offered her $50,000 while their motion to dismiss is still pending, sets Rudy to wondering what they might be trying to hide. Anyway, Dot, whom we'll see again, finds the offer insulting and also needs an apology. Rudy and Sarah have both been hired by the 800-pound gorilla law firm Tinley Britt. On their first day, he arrives late to work — and bloody, having gotten into a fight with his mother's shiftless, but large, boyfriend. He proceeds to get into another fight, abstractly, with senior partner Leo F. Drummond (John Slattery), who fires him. (In the novel, Rudy is merely laid off in a merger — not so dramatic!) Moaning to friend and bar-owning sometime boss Prince Thomas (Tommie Earl Jenkins) that he's been turned down by every other respectable firm in town, Thomas suggests 'a not so respectable one.' Here things depart significantly from the text, and the fun begins. Rudy is delivered to the law offices of glamorous Jocelyn 'Bruiser' Stone (Lana Parrilla) and associates, located in a partly converted Mexican restaurant — though past the receptionist the only associate in sight is 'paralawyer' Deck Shifflet (P.J. Byrne). A purely comic character, Deck has failed the bar seven times but has many useful skills and qualities, not least a flexible sense of professional ethics. He insists on calling Rudy 'Boo Boo.' It takes him a minute to realize it, but Rudy has found his people. Gender flipped from the novel's J. Lyman Stone, Bruiser (when not in court) favors animal prints, plunging necklines and short skirts. 'I only need three things,' she says. 'Kentucky bourbon, a bloody steak and a man who won't spend the night.' You get the picture. But there's more to her than that. When Rudy, who has been with Deck trolling the Badspital for clients, suggests he wasn't cut out to be an 'ambulance chaser,' she also has this to say. 'You know where the term ambulance chaser came from? It was used by white shoe firms in the '20s to crap on any lawyer that wasn't a member of their club. When the contingency-fee law was enacted, small firms rose up full of attorneys who were just like their clients, the ones on the Statue of Liberty, the tired, poor, the huddled masses — those same people are our clients now, and if you think you're better than them, you're not. You are them.' It's good to know someone still takes Emma Lazarus seriously. Among the figures Rudy and Deck encounter at the hospital, or the Badspit — oh, never mind — is Melvin Pritcher (Dan Fogler), whom we have seen in the series' opening scene, escaping a house fire that kills his mother. There are several things to say about him that probably constitute spoilers, so I'll just note that though Melvin is quite unpleasant, Fogler is very good. With Sarah working for the Empire and Rudy embedded with the rebels, their relationship has been engineered by the writers to be problematic, possibly to break down — though each does seem to be trying. (They're good kids.) She's got a trust fund; he's doesn't own a suit of his own, dressing rather in one passed down from a dead brother. They'll wind up in court opposite one another like Tracy and Hepburn in 'Adam's Rib,' for Tinley Britt is defending the hospital from Dot, who has become a client of Bruiser's firm. Their future together is also potentially complicated by Kelly Riker (Robyn Cara), a woman who lives in Rudy's building who is obviously being abused, and Drummond's smarmy lieutenant Brad Noonan (Wade Briggs) — of course he'd be named Brad — who has been assigned to weaponize Sarah against Rudy. Callaghan gives off a scintilla of Matt Damon vibes, but is his own Rudy, keeping his naive idealist free from leading-man tics. Parrilla finds the balance between Bruiser's sauciness and seriousness; Byrne plays the clown adeptly; and Slattery, a boss again after 'Mad Men,' softens his villainy with some Roger Sterling insouciance. Developed by Michael Seitzman and Jason Richman, it's a very watchable show — serial killer passages notwithstanding. There's nothing fancy in the execution — it's the opposite of stylish — but everything's clearly defined and dialed up a step past normal into that space we call entertainment. Welcome back to the blue sky.
7NEWS
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- 7NEWS
Practical Magic 2: Everything we know about Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock sequel
Something wicked this way comes. The Practical Magic sequel is shaping up nicely with confirmation Stockard Channing and Dianne Wiest will be joining Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman in the cast. Channing and Wiest, if you remember, played aunts to Bullock and Kidman's characters in the original 1998 film, and taught their nieces everything there was to know about magic. Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today The romantic drama starred Bullock and Kidman as Sally and Gillian Owens, two sisters who are descended from a line of witches who have been viewed with suspicion by the people in their Massachusetts town for generations. There is also a family curse that dictates any man who falls in love with an Owens woman is doomed. Sally's husband was hit by a truck, which is when she goes to live with her aunts. Gillian is the wild sister with a string of flings, including with Jimmy, an abusive serial killer. The Owens women ultimately call on the town's women to form a coven to drive Jimmy's spirit away. Sally also embraced her witchy heritage. Despite not making its production budget back during its original cinema run, the film has become a favourite on home entertainment. Almost three decades on, it's still beloved and eminently rewatchable. Faith Hill's number one hit, This Kiss, was also on the soundtrack and closely associated with the film. When the sequel was announced, Bullock and Kidman voiced a promotional video that was written as an incantation, 'Tooth of wolf and morning dew, something old and something new, let the spell begin to mix, September 18, 2026'. Also joining the cast are The Dark Knight Returns' Joey King, Game of Thrones' Maisie Williams, Halt and Catch Fire's Lee Pace, Cobra Kai's Xolo Mariduena and Tom Jones' Solly McLeod. Someone who's not returning is Evan Rachel Wood, who confirmed on the weekend she won't be part of the sequel. She wrote, 'I offered my services, even if it was one scene or one line. I was told they are recasting. I am sorry to disappoint the fans. It was not in my control or my choice. I would have happily rejoined my sisters.' It's not clear if King or Williams have been recast as Sally's daughters, who were primary school-aged in the first film. King wasn't born at the time of the first film's release while Williams was one – if they are slated to play Sally's daughters, that suggests the story is not set 28 years after the original timeline, or, you know, (Hollywood) magic. There's also no sign yet of Aidan Quinn, who played Gary, an investigator that Sally ends up with at the end of original film. The previous cast also included Goran Visnjic, Margo Martindale and Camilla Belle. The 1998 movie was directed by Griffin Dunne but Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier will take over on the sequel. Bullock worked with Bier on Bird Box and Kidman has as well, on miniseries The Undoing and The Perfect Couple. The film was based on Alice Hoffman's 1995 novel, and she later wrote a sequel, The Book of Magic, in 2021. The screenplay for Practical Magic 2 is being written by Akiva Goldsman, who worked on the first movie, and Georgia Pritchett.
Daily Mirror
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'One of the best dramas' now streaming for free as fans say 'it's a must-watch'
All episodes of critically-acclaimed period drama Halt and Catch Fire have just landed on ITVX "One of the best drama series" is now streaming for free as fans say "it's a must-watch". US series Halt and Catch Fire, created by Christopher Cantwell and Christopher C. Rogers, offers a fictionalised insider's perspective of the personal computer revolution of the 1980s, as well as the early days of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s. The programme's title refers to the phrase used for computer machine code instructions that cause a computer to "cease meaningful operation". The synopsis reads: "It's the early 1980s, and the spirit of innovation in personal computing is about to ignite. "Hot on the trail is a renegade trio - a visionary, an engineer and a prodigy - who risk everything to realise their vision of building a computer that can change the future," reports Surrey Live. The series features Lee Pace, Scoot McNairy, Mackenzie Davis, Kerry Bishé, Toby Huss and Aleksa Palladino in leading roles. Recurring stars include Anna Chlumsky, Annette O'Toole, August Emerson, Cooper Andrews and David Wilson Barnes. Halt and Catch Fire first aired on AMC back in 2014, and ran for four seasons with a total of 40 episodes, which concluded with a two-hour series finale in 2017. All episodes of the show have just been added to ITV's free streaming service, ITVX, so UK-based fans can now relive the drama with ads. Eleven years after its release, Halt and Catch Fire currently boasts an impressive 90% critics score on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. The show has also resonated with viewers, who have praised its "compelling" storyline and "wonderful" characters, drawing comparisons to the hit period drama Mad Men. "One of the best drama series of all time. Can't remember when I last cried watching a TV series, but Halt and Catch Fire left me sobbing. Wonderful characters. Compelling mixture of fact and fiction. What more could you want?" one person wrote. Another added: "The very best show no one really watched," while a third said: "I love this show. I can't believe how underrated and under the radar it is. What a special show, it should have gotten way more credit." A fourth fan echoed the sentiment, saying: "This show catches the nostalgic momentum that so many of us old school geeks long for," with another similarly sharing: "This is a highly addictive story and the character development is excellent. It's a must watch!!!"
