The Offbeat Critic

Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video The second season of "The Test" comes out almost three years after the first season debuted. This season has only four episodes compared to the eight in the first season. The season begins just before the 21-22 Ashes series when Tim Paine stepped down as Captain of Australia's Test team. The first two episodes focus on the Ashes Series, Pat Cummins' captaincy (and Steve Smith's during the second test match). The third episode shifts focus to the Australian Cricket team returning to Pakistan for the first time in over two decades to play a three-test match series. The final episode is Australia's Tour of Sri Lanka (Only the Test Matches). If I had to judge this installment, I would do it in 2 parts; the first two episodes had a slower tempo (maybe because it was one-sided) while the last two episodes were riveting. This series could have been better if it had two more episodes. The episodes covering the Ashes focussed more on ...

 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...