#SetTheVCR: April 21-27, 2025

Monday, April 21

Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints: Part 2 (Anytime / Fox Nation)

Part 2 of Martin Scorsese Presents: The Saints is now streaming through the Easter season. Hosted, narrated and executive produced by Martin Scorsese, the docudrama explores the remarkable stories of men and women who risked everything to embody humanity’s most noble and complex trait – faith. Throughout each episode, Scorsese journeys over 2,000 years of history focusing on these extraordinary figures and their extreme acts of kindness, selflessness, and sacrifice. With each episode focusing on a singular saint, the final three episodes of the season will spotlight Francis of Assisi, Moses the Black, and Mary Magdalene. The season first kicked off in November 2024 with Joan of Arc, John the Baptist, Sebastian, and Maximilian Kolbe.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: COMPANION (ANYTIME / HBO MAX & CRAVE)

During a weekend getaway at a secluded lakeside estate, a group of friends finds themselves entangled in a web of secrets, deception, and advanced technology. As tensions rise and loyalties are tested, they uncover unsettling truths about themselves and the world around them. One of the guests is not what they seem…
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Sexy Sophie’s Choice: do you wanna mash Megan Fox or Sophie Thatcher? Last year we had Subservience with Fox, this year the killer sex robot is played by Thatcher. It’s all the same horny 2001: “I Can Do That Dave” premise. We’ve come this far since Her. Programming Note: More slap and tickle on HBO with Babygirl later this week.

Tuesday, April 22

Andor: Season 2 (Anytime / Disney+)

The series is a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; this season takes place as the horizon of war draws near and Cassian becomes a key player in the Rebel Alliance. Everyone will be tested, and as the stakes rise, the betrayals, sacrifices, and conflicting agendas will become profound.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: THE ORDER (ANYTIME / HULU)

A string of violent robberies in the Pacific Northwest leads veteran FBI agent Terry Husk to a white supremacist group; the group plans to overthrow the federal government.
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Bah, I was so annoyed covering TIFF 2024 that I missed The Order. It’s a bank robbing movie. I’m always down like I’m brown for those. Although, turns out it’s a bit more than just about robbing banks. This ain’t Point Break or Heat. Based on true events, The Order is set in 1983 Idaho. Jude Law is an FBI agent tasked with following a series of violent bank robberies. Dude comes to realize that they’re the work of a gang of domestic neo-Nazi white supremacist terrorists. Inspired by the real-life radical leader Robert Jay Mathews (played by Nicholas Hoult), The Order are plotting a war against the U.S. government. The heists are their way to fund The Order’s activities. Oh. I was only expecting bank heists. I didn’t expect to also overthrow the American government. Though that explains why The Order was buried in America. Vertical (the film distributor) gave The Order a U.S. release on 600-700 screens starting December 6. Well, that’s dumb. In Canada it’s all in good Order here: it streams on Prime Video-Canada.

Wednesday, April 23

Bullet Train Explosion (Anytime / Netflix)

When panic erupts on a Tokyo-bound bullet train that will explode if it slows below 100 kph, authorities race against time to save everyone on board.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: 2073 (ANYTIME / HBO MAX)

Inspired by Chris Marker’s iconic 1962 featurette La Jetée; the year is 2073—a not-so-distant dystopian future—and the setting is New San Francisco, the scorched-earth tech-dominant police state where democracy and personal freedom have been well and truly obliterated.
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It’s 37 years after something called “the event.” Welcome to 2073 where New San Francisco, the capital of the Americas. As you hear in the trailer: “the event wasn’t just one thing. It was a slow creep.” Turns out this is a science-fiction docudrama where the sky is falling. I’ve lived through Satanic Panics so I’m hard pressed to muster any dense enthusiasm for all this scary warning. Adults have a consistent and gross habit of crying wolf. Is there any significant value to this project or is it just lazy scaremongering? Smells like The Lincoln Project dressed up in sci-fi trappings and just about as ineffective. Shall we visit the future and determine if it’ll be our future?

Thursday, April 24

Catching a Serial Killer: Bruce McArthur (Anytime / Crave)

Bruce McArthur was many things; friend, grandfather, mall Santa, landscaper, and a ruthless serial killer who buried body parts in the yards of his posh clientele. This is the true story of the race to catch Toronto’s most prolific serial killer. Who buried his victims’ body parts in the yards of his posh clientele.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: YOU: SEASON 5 (ANYTIME / NETFLIX)

In the epic fifth and final season, Joe Goldberg returns to New York to enjoy his happily ever after… until his perfect life is threatened by the ghosts of his past and his own dark desires.
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Smell Ya Later: Man: by 2025 Netflix will have lost Umbrella Academy and Stranger Things and You. It’s now up to Emily in Paris to do a lot of heavy lifting and bring in subscriptions and up viewers. You premiered on Lifetime in September 9, 2018. You was ignored on Lifetime. Then it blew up on Netflix when it moved there for Season 2. There’s a commentary there about streaming. And now the end is nigh…for Joe and his Ron Burgundy glass case of emotion. 10 final episodes. What’s the over/under Joe Goldberg dies? If You want to say goodbye to all the girls who are so dense they ignore red flags, well then: here You go.

Friday, April 25

Nine Bodies in a Mexican Morgue: Limited Series (Anytime / Crave)

Canadian Limited Series Premiere: A light aircraft with nine passengers crashes in the Mexican jungle – and everyone survives. But then, one after another, they begin to die in strange and violent ways and very soon they begin to realize that, for some inexplicable reason, somebody wants them dead. Nine Bodies In a Mexican Morgue is an original mystery series…it’s not adapted from a book or a comic book or anything. There’s no way to know who is killing the airplane passengers who survived the crash. The only way to find out is to push…play. Such a novel concept. Programming Note: This premiered on March 2nd on MGM+.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: HAVOC (ANYTIME / NETFLIX)

After a drug deal gone wrong, a bruised detective must fight his way through a criminal underworld to rescue a politician’s estranged son, while unraveling a deep web of corruption and conspiracy that ensnares his entire city.
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Team Ruckus Reporting For Duty!! We got a criminal underworld. We got politicians and a city’s dark web of conspiracy and corruption. I like all those things. So yeah, I’m so in the mood for some Havoc tonight. Let’s go!!

Saturday, April 26

Universal Basic Guys: Season 1 (Anytime / Crave)

Saturday Morning Cartoons: Universal Basic Guys centers on two brothers, Mark and Hank Hoagies, who lose their jobs to automation and are given $3,000 a month in a new basic income program. Now, they’re using their free time and free money to find purpose in a world where they’re no longer needed. FOX has already given Universal Basic Guys an early Season Two renewal. This new animated series premiered on Sunday, 8th September 2024, on FOX. New episodes are available at Hulu as well.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: BABYGIRL (ANYTIME / HBO MAX)

A high-powered CEO puts her career and family on the line when she begins a torrid affair with her much younger intern.
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I missed Babygirl at Toronto International Film Festival 2024 so I dunno how it compares to 50 Shades etc. all those slap and tickle types. (Netflix recently contributed Fair Play and Obsession.) The aptly named Dickinson plays the intern if you wanna focus on the age gap. That’s always a big deal in America!! (We just endured a meltdown over Anne Hathaway in The Idea of You when she got horny for youth.)

Sunday, April 27

Resident Orca (Anytime / Crave)

A decades-long mission to free Lolita, a captive orca (captured 53 years ago as a baby) held in America’s smallest whale tank, unites Indigenous leaders, experts, and activists. As her health declines, they race against time to reunite her with her wild family. When Lolita falls ill under troubling circumstances, her advocates are faced with a painful question: is it too late to save her?
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: BRETT GOLDSTEIN: THE SECOND BEST NIGHT OF YOUR LIFE (ANYTIME / HBO MAX)

Brett Goldstein brings his irresistible charm and quick wit stateside for his first HBO stand-up special sharing his hilarious insights on love, sex, masculinity, Sesame Street, and everything in between.
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Shrinking killer got a comedy special. He’s mowing down audiences with his jokes, now.

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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.