The Offbeat Critic

 Where to Watch: Amazon Prime The Spanish title translates to "Spain National Football Team: Strength of the Group". This is a 2-episode fly-on-the-wall documentary that captures the story of the Spain National Football team in the UEFA Euro 2020. I couldn’t help but compare it with 5-Episode “All or Nothing: Brazil National Team” a documentary filmed in a similar style during “2019 Copa America”. Although at 5 episodes that documentary was too long, I felt that at 2 episodes, “Selección Española de Fútbol, la Fuerza del Grupo” was too short. The episodes are around 35 minutes each and I think they could have had one more episode. One can argue that Spain did not win the Euros and hence the 2 episodes should be enough, but I think there are a lot of good moments involving Coach “Luis Enrique” and his team. I felt the coach and his style, the build-up to the Euros, which was a bit rushed, deserved more time. These minor shortcomings aside, I feel this is pretty watchable and w...

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video All or Nothing, a “fly-on-the-wall” series that has covered various sports like Rugby, Ice Hockey, American Football, and Soccer (just) Football, is back with its’ next installment covering Italian Football Club Juventus’ 2020-21 footballing season. Many football teams have had documentaries made on them, notable clubs include, Borussia Dortmund, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspurs, Boca Juniors, the Brazilian National Football Team which have all lasted one season. There are only two football documentaries that come to my mind spanning two seasons, namely Netflix’s “Sunderland ‘Til I Die” on English Football Club Sunderland A.F.C. and Amazon Prime’s “Takes us Home: Leads United” on English Football Club Leeds United. Both of these series capture clubs that have fallen from grace and are vying to play in the “Top Echelon” of the English Football System, albeit with differing fates but satisfying to watch nonetheless. But the case with Juventus ...

Where to Watch: Disney+ Hotstar Premium Luca is Pixar's 24th movie and has released direct-to-streaming similar to Pixar's previous, "Soul". Set in a fictional town called "Portorosso" in Italy, it follows the main character named "Luca Paguro" a "sea monster" that lives underwater that can take the appearance of a human being when out of the water (which he later finds out).  Luca is warned by his parents not to get out of the water and they call the humans out of the water "land monsters" (It is all about perspectives you see). Now Luca comes across and befriends Alberto who also happens to be a "sea monster" and encourages him to venture out of the water. The pair when out of the water look at a poster of a Vespa scooter (Product Placement?) and start making plans to first build and later purchase one and travel the world. What happens later on forms the crux of the story. I have seen every one of Pixar's previo...

Where to Watch: Netflix Drive to Survive, a fly-on-the-wall documentary series first debuted in 2019 and covered the 2018 Formula 1 Season. Since then the series has had a lot of following and is into its third season. Truth be told, "Drive to Survive" is the reason I started watching Sports documentaries. I hadn't seen any race in 2018 before the first season came out, and I only saw the final race of 2019 before the second season. I was eagerly awaiting for the 2020 Formula 1 Season to start before "you-know-what" delayed sporting action across the globe. The season finally kicked off in July with certain races either being canceled or postponed. The good parts about this series are its intensity, behind-the-scenes action, the interviews with the Drivers, and the "key-personnel" of the various teams.  Now even though I saw all the races of 2020, it became a bit difficult to follow because the episodes go back and forth in time rather than in a sequen...

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime This two-episode series follows the Australian Women's Cricket Team while playing at the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup. The organizers have a plan of smashing the record attendance at a women's sporting event.  The previous best being 90,185 at the 1999 Women's FIFA World Cup Final. (Check the second episode of "This is Football", another Amazon Prime Series). They choose the MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) as the venue for the final.  The 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup features ten teams split into two groups of 5 and, the top 2 teams from each group progress to the knockout stages. The focus is on the Australian Cricket Team and the games that they play. There are glimpses of how the results of the other teams went. I couldn't help but compare it to the "The Test" (again another Amazon Prime Series, following the Australian Men's Cricket Team after the "2018 Australian Ball-Tampering Scandal" leadi...

Where to Watch: Hotstar Premium As far as comedies are concerned, I have seen a few silent movies of Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. Although many would classify their works under the "slapstick" tag, in my opinion, they are much better than "Modern-Day" slapstick comedies. I have also given a lot of sitcoms a run, only to leave them midway.  If I was to recollect series that I have completed over the past decade, there are three of them that stand out! The first one is Dexter (2006-13) [although Dexter last aired in 2013, it has been renewed for another season scheduled to come out in 2021]. The second one is Breaking Bad (2008-13). The third, its spin-off series Better Call Saul (2015-present).  These series, although fall under the "Drama" tag, are also classified as "Black/Dark Comedies" ! So, I went about and searched for series having this brand of Comedy and I stumbled upon "Barry"! Barry stars Bill Hader (who also serves as t...

 Where to Watch: Amazon Prime "Fernando" is a five-episode series that follows racing driver Fernando Alonso taking part in  2019: 24 Hours of Daytona 2 018-19 FIA World Endurance Championship  (which also includes the 24 Hours at Le Mans ) 2019 Indianapolis 500  and the 2020 Dakar Rally This is the third documentary I have seen that has Fernando Alonso. The first being " Grand Prix Driver ", an Amazon series that released in 2018 when he was racing with " McLaren " in Formula 1 alongside Stoffel Vandoorne . The second series was Netflix's " Drive to Survive: Season 1 " that covered the 2018 F1 calendar. Alonso and his team McLaren were also part of the mix. This is the first series with Alonso in focus. The series starts with covering his childhood and then the aforementioned races in a chronological manner. Now, Alonso is after the triple crown that means winning the " Monaco Grand Prix "; " 24 Hours of Le Mans " and ...