AppleTV+ is headed back to the future, again. The streamer has found real success with sci-fi, including future-set series like Foundation and Silo. (To say nothing of Severance, which could be set in the future, the present, or even the past.) Their latest adapts Martha Wells's The Murderbot Diaries, keeping the film's dystopian tone and dark humor intact. Shortened to simply Murderbot, Alexander Skarsgård as the titular android. He breaks free of his programming, becoming more interested in TV than contract killing.
The series marks a reunion for brothers Chris and Paul Weitz. The writer-director team burst onto the scene in 1999 with American Pie, but split up after 2002's About a Boy. Chris went on to direct a Twilight sequel and the Oscar-nominated A Better Life. Paul continued to make more modest dramedies like In Good Company and Grandma. It marks the former's first show since the semi-disastrous Cracking Up and the latter's first show since the critically acclaimed Mozart in the Jungle.
Murderbot premieres exclusively on AppleTV+ with two episodes on Friday, May 16.
About Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about.
I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague.
Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work.
In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo.
I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.
