Led by a mysterious figure known only as the Professor, a group of 8 people with city names for aliases, take on the heist of a lifetime from inside the Royal Mint of Spain!
Movie Moxie absolutely adores shows like these – an incredibly clever central figure with a grudging axe to grind, who convinces a group of followers to enact a daring plan that would normally get laughed at for plausibility, something to stick it to The Man and win a victory (and a f*ck-ton of money) for the common people! A 5-part story told in three sectional seasons, the show features time-jumps, flashbacks, hidden character motives, an “unreliable narrator”, spans the entire gamut of human emotions and motivations, and will have you cheering for freedom by the end!
Known for their distinctive red jumpsuits and Salvador Dali masks, not to mention the rather large and real guns they’re packing, the robbers storm the Royal Mint of Spain and take hostages, but that’s the barest hint of a beginning, and only skates over the start of the Professor’s genius plan to smuggle out upwards of €900 million out under the very noses of the cops, the Spanish Central Nacional de Inteligencia or CNI (their equivalent of the FBI or similar intelligence agencies), and the common people who’ve come out to root for them!
We begin not with the Professor, but the unreliable narrator, the enticing and bugsh*t-crazy Tokyo, also rarely known as Silene Oliviera (Ursula Corbero). Recruited early as one of the very first of the Professor’s crew and particularly beloved by him, Tokyo acts unofficially as the heart of the group, quick to find words of comfort and violent encouragement when the sh*t hits the fan, she never shies away from cheerful destruction to bring her point across. Tokyo loves just as fiercely as she fights, and it’s actually her reluctance to suffer to be tamed in a life of domesticity that leads to a daring if necessary rescue plan that opens Season 2, Part 3 of Money Heist!
Nairobi, also occasionally known as Agata Jimenez (Alba Flores), is an expert of counterfeiting and forgery, personally overseeing the money printing and gold smelting, always loudly encouraging and determined to move things along at a breakneck pace. She acts as the hands of the gang, forever gesturing, pointing out, circling back together when it all seems to be falling apart.
Berlin, the older and terminally-ill brother of the Professor, is a former jewel thief with a past full of betrayal, and not always from Berlin himself. Rarely called Andres de Fonollosa (Pedro Alonso), Berlin is the mouthpiece of the gang, a smooth-talking, elegantly bisexual man who loves to steal the finer things in life, he is never without a quip just sharp enough with truth to hurt, even a little.
Denver (Jaime Lorente) is the guts of the gang, passionate and roiling and reluctant, young and hot-headed and prone to geyser-like outbursts of emotion, he wears his heart like armor and is perpetually ready to f*ck some sh*t up. Denver is almost always the would-be trigger man, the over-eager grunt tossed to the front lines, never in charge but never afraid to lead the charge, Denver has guts for days and can always be counted on to lift the rest of the gang when things are falling apart! It should also be noted that it’s because of Denvers various passions that we get a new member of the gang somewhere along the way, the more than mildly crazy Monica Gaztambide (Esther Acebo), who adopts the most appropriate gang moniker ever – Stockholm!
Moscow (Paco Tous), father to Denver and a former miner turned criminal with the rest of our gang, serves as the blood of our combined gang-body, a connection that flows below the surface between everyone, a calming influence that is no slouch in the brains department either.
Then there’s Rio, known eventually by the cops as Anibal Cortes (Miguel Herran), hacker and lover of Tokyo, the perpetual baby of the gang, always in need of saving. Rio is the thyroid gland of the entire gang, the entirely necessary computer hacker that’s generally ignored until desperately needed, or until it begins acting strangely, both of which happens to and not because-of Cortes.
Helsinki (Darko Peric) and his cousin Oslo (Roberto Garcia Ruiz) are of course the meat and muscle of the operation, both veteran Serbian soldiers always ready to utterly destroy the opposition with their intimidating sizes, explosives, and appetite for destruction!
We’ve saved the absolute best for last, because really, the Professor (Alvaro Morte) as the brains of the operation is like sex on toast for a sapiophile like Moxie! Hardly cutting any kind of striking figure, the Professor looks exactly as his moniker sounds – glasses, shirt-sleeves, adorably ruffled puppy-dog hair, skewed tie, harried, lovable expression. And yet somehow, the Prof is the whole of the entire heist, or series of heists, the soul of the group who drives with his passion and determination and ultimately, love, of not only years-long vengeance in the making, but the people he chose to surround himself with for this caper, who became family in the crucible of this trial. Stuck together in some Spanish villa in the countryside for months on end, planning and working and training together under the Professor’s calm, assured guidance, the gang unites under their patriarch and sets out to enact the most daring heist in history!
Plenty of bumbling cops, corrupt CNI officials, and other would-be credit-takers coalesce to try and get our robbers out of the Royal Mint by means fair or foul, but the most important of them is Inspector Raquel Murillo (Itziar Ituno), placed in charge of the original Mint heist. By Part 3, there is no more Raquel, she is now Lisbon and gleefully sporting a crimson jumpsuit and a Dali mask with the rest of them!
The love and care shown in each and every episode to the lost, the forgotten, the marginalized and the repressed – most especially in the LGBTQIA+ community – is truly impressive, and comes across in a beautifully haunting way. For a show fraught with the spectrum of human emotions, a daring plan pulled off by some incredibly zany characters, and the determination to seize justice with your own two hands, Money Heist is an incredible adventure worth repeated viewings!
His Three Daughters, Netflix’s emotional family drama, explores the strained relationships between three estranged sisters who are reunited by their father’s terminal illness. Set in a small, intimate family home, the film follows Katie, the eldest daughter and caretaker, Christina, the rebellious middle child, and Laura, the youngest, who carries the weight of family expectations. As they come together to care for their ailing father, old wounds resurface, leading to intense confrontations, moments of reconciliation, and ultimately, the rediscovery of familial bonds.
The narrative is a slow burn, focusing on the sisters’ personal journeys as they grapple with their father’s decline, unresolved issues from the past, and the impending loss of their patriarch. Director Azazel Jacobs captures these emotionally charged moments with precision, delivering a raw, honest portrayal of sibling dynamics, grief, and love. The performances are gripping, with each actress bringing depth and vulnerability to their roles, making the audience feel the weight of their complicated relationship.
The house, almost a character itself, is filled with memories, secrets, and tension. As the sisters sort through their father’s belongings, they also untangle their own emotional baggage, confronting their fears, regrets, and hopes for the future.
His Three Daughters is a powerful character-driven story that captures the complexities of family ties and the inevitability of loss. The film shines with its strong performances, subtle direction, and poignant dialogue. While its pacing may feel slow for some viewers, those who appreciate emotional depth and character development will find this drama deeply moving. The film’s realistic portrayal of sibling rivalry, grief, and reconciliation makes it relatable and impactful.
Rating: 4/5 – A deeply affecting family drama that hits all the right emotional notes.
Kingdom
What could be better than a beautifully realized Joseon-period K-Drama, starring the excellent actor Doona Bae, fresh off her grand success in Netflix’s ‘Sense8’? All of that, but with zombies!
Oh this is a great one ya’ll. Adapted from a webcomic known as The Kingdom of the Gods, the show addresses the huge gap between the high and low classes plaguing (sorry) our Kingdom and of course has several engaging mysteries running throughout, but also happens to be a monster mash in the fantastic new zombie way reminiscent of Train to Busan! The show got not one but two well deserved seasons and even spawned (very sorry) a Netflix special, Kingdom: Ashin of the North, that yes, spoilers, features a zombie tiger. And it is absolutely amazingly rendered too.
Kingdom on Netflix gives us a breathtakingly possible story from long ago, both lovely and terrifying in equal measure, that should get a view from everyone!
Goblin: The Lonely and Great God
Whatever other great supernatural romance KDrama you think is awesome, Goblin did it first. Also known as Guardian: The Lonely and Great God, the show graces us with outstanding performances from Gong Yoo as our Lead and Lee Dong-wook as the Grim Reaper, and is a romance with a supernatural twist for the ages. Like, literal ages. So Ji Eun-tak (Kim Go-eun), a bubbly high school student despite her tragic family history and her ability to see ghosts, who knows diddly about fate and the machinations of destiny, is skeptical in the beginning. But as the supernatural of the Goblin and the Grim Reapers and the search for a destined bride across space and time catches everyone in its clutches, love in all its messy, gloriously alive splendor may just save the souls of everyone involved!
Catch Goblin or Guardian whatever you want to call it, on Amazon Prime now!
Squid Game
This choice is obvious, though honestly it’s kind of sad at the same time. The main reason most of us enjoyed Squid Game quite that much, was because it was entirely possible, for pretty much all of it, to happen tomorrow. The show was so engaging in its many different portrayals of the lowest, pettiest, and darkest parts of humanity that were given to us by these actors like it was pulled out of their very souls and offered up to us the audience on a platter, and we ate, we consumed, with relish. Hell, we demanded a sequel series, which should be coming out soonish.
It says a fair bit about us as a species as we watch these poor, both literally and figuratively if you think about it, people participate in what are actual Games of Death. The show launched another wave of interest in large-stakes games, Korean culinary culture (ask me about the dalgona crack!), and became iconic with the jumpsuit and the blank mask with a shape on it. Have you seen the tinies who wear the jumpsuit and shape-mask to go trick-or-treating? They’re five years old. Did you let them watch the show?! Wow.
We all know Squid Game is a Netflix show, right? Right.
Tale of the 9 Tailed
Plenty has been said about the kitsune, the magical Japanese 9-tailed fox, while the Korean version is known as a gumiho, and is similar-ish in nature and magical powers. Like their other Asian counterparts, the gumiho is known to be otherworldly and long-lived, snarky and arrogant when it comes to humans, unless the prospective human love interest happens to come entangled in the threads of fate and destiny. … Well, guess what!
Celebrated lead Lee Dong-wook is our Korean fox main character Lee Yeon, former mountain spirit and guardian who now spends his earthly time carrying out missions from the Afterlife Immigrations Office while looking for the reincarnation of his former love, the exiled 7th daughter of the former King of Joseon, she who carries the fox bead, Yi Ah-eum, or Nam Ji-ah (Jo Bo-ah) as she’s known here in the modern era.
We’ve got Spirits of Darkness, shamans and Dragon Kings, shapeshifters and turning-humans-into-trees type curses, long-standing grudges and the binding if not choking ties of fate and destiny, all bound together with great love that spans lifetimes! Chase those nine tails of the gumiho on Netflix!
Bulgasal Immortal Souls
This is a hard one ya’ll – featuring pretty constant violent death-and-rebirth, a craptastic ton of guilt everywhere, actual physical and emotional abuse from trusted authority figures and family, no sexual abuse but it sure is strongly threatened and implied, and the equivalent of a vampire crossed with a demon for the supernatural element to tie it all together, Bulgasal Immortal Souls is not for the faint of heart, or stomach.
However, the show is a gorgeous read and wonderfully shot, finding beauty in the (eventual) redemption of its characters, but boy do they take awhile to get there. And the constant, if unintentional, betrayal can start to get on your nerves. And they do, the characters do manage to find their way across fate and lifetimes to be together for a few precious moments, which is great. Be warned though, Bulgasal believes in playing things out to the final, often very bitter but in theory deserved, very end. Treasure those few precious moments, the show says, they will be gone before you know it. Not only a great horror, the show also works as an anti-valentine’s day Bulgasal Immortal Souls on Netflix now!
His Three Daughters (Netflix) – A Heartfelt Family Drama
Top 5 Korean TV Horror
Who Ya Gonna Call ?
Zack Snyder’s Mythic Epic Delivers Bold Fantasy Twilight of the gods
A Tribute to James Earl Jones: The Top 10 Favorite Films of a Legendary Actor
‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’: Get on the Soul Train!
Orphan First Kill
Charlie Covell Brings us into a World of KAOS!
Top 5 Performances of John C. McGinley: A Versatile Actor with Unforgettable Roles
‘Speak No Evil’: Chop-chop-CHOP
Comic-Con 2024: Arthur C Clarke’s Venus Prime TV series
Comic-Con 2024: Max Collins’s TRUE NOIR
Comic-Con 2024: Will Wight’s Cradle
Interview With Heroes & Villains Creative Director Doug Johnson
Thatsmye Interviews: Les Weiler on Henchin’: the Series
