#SetTheVCR: September 29 – October 05, 2025

Monday, September 29

Bodyguard of Lies (Anytime / Paramount+)

The first unvarnished documentary of the history of the Afghanistan war, exposing the falsehoods told to Americans and the secrets kept over four administrations.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: THE MAN IN MY BASEMENT (ANYTIME / HULU)

Charles Blakey, an African American man living in Sag Harbor, is stuck in a rut, out of luck and about to lose his ancestral home when a peculiar white businessman, Anniston, with a European accent offers to rent his basement for the summer.
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Charles Blakey lives in Sag Harbor Hills, a historically Black community on Long Island, New York. He is the final representative of a family that has occupied the area for eight generations. Thing is…Charles is in terrible shape, financially and emotionally. Out of work and out of money, he is about to lose the house in which he was born. Enter Willem Dafoe who offers to pay Charles a substantial sum to occupy his basement. Dum, Dum, Dum…and here we go! This’ll probably a bargain-basement thriller but there’s enough in the trailer to “cellar” me on this premise. Programming Note: This is a TIFF 2025 movie.

Tuesday, September 30

Karate Kid: Legends (Anytime / Netflix-US)

It Is What It Is: After a family tragedy, kung fu prodigy Li Fong is uprooted from his home in Beijing and forced to move to New York City with his mother. When a new friend needs his help, Li enters a karate competition – but his skills alone aren’t enough. Li’s kung fu teacher Mr. Han enlists original Karate Kid Daniel LaRusso for help, and Li learns a new way to fight, merging their two styles into one for the ultimate martial arts showdown. Programming Note: This’ll be on Crave on Friday, October 10.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: THE NAKED GUN: REBOOT (ANYTIME / PARAMOUNT+ & MGM+)

Follow the misadventures of Detective Frank Drebin’s son, Frank Drebin Jr., in this sequel to Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult.
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Is this a joke? Is this supposed to be funny?! What…you’re supposed to just watch Liam Neeson’s Naked Gun unnecessary reboot by mentally partitioning the comedy classics with Leslie Nielsen and O. J. Simpson and Priscilla Presley? You’re a straight up coward if you partition. Don’t Be Weak. First, yes it’s despicable to return to Naked Gun. I don’t believe this new movie can pull it off. Is this unnecessary reboot as good or even capable of surprising the greatness of the original? Remember Liam Neeson’s A-Team where the A stood for Atrocious? Case Closed. Bigger Picture though? In part what made OG Naked Gun successful was the 80s comedy format: it was wall to wall jokes. Naked Gun, Spaceballs, Airplane I and II etc. were dense with witty jokes and background jokes and more. They were dumb fun. I miss dumb fun. But this 2025 movie looks like it’s only gonna be dumb.

Wednesday, October 01

Believers: Boston Red Sox (Anytime / ESPN+)

The three-part series, produced by Religion of Sports, retraces the Boston Red Sox’s haunted history and chronicles decades of heartbreak, myth, and near-misses, culminating in the 2004 championship that redefined what it meant to believe. Featuring Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Donnie Wahlberg, Bill Burr, Uzo Aduba, Katie Nolan, Curt Schilling, David Ortiz and more.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: CHAD POWERS: SEASON 1 (ANYTIME / HULU & DISNEY+ CANADA)

Eight years after an unforgivable mistake nukes his promising college football career, hotshot quarterback Russ Holliday tries to resurrect his dreams by disguising himself as Chad Powers – a talented oddball who walks on to the struggling South Georgia Catfish.
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Glen Powell’s pipeline needs work: unearned Expendables, 2 decades later sequels (Top Gun: Maverick and Twisters) and now a worthless Running Man remake? Yo man, c’mon. That “Glenissance” junk is a subpar con job. Dude’s flawed Running Man remake drops like a log on November 7. Why? Who Asked For That?! We just went through this nonsense with The Crow: No Remakes. Yet for now here we are at Chad Powers: “a narcissistic college football quarterback whose career has been nuked after disgracing himself in a championship game.” Well that all tracks looking at Powell’s work so far. Russ Holliday, “disguises himself as Chad Powers to start over as a walk-on player for a college team.” Glen’s football skills were provided by Nic Shimonek, who is Patrick Mahomes’ QB coach, Pat O’Hara, the offensive coordinator for the Titans and QB’s Peyton and Eli Manning. (I hoped Peyton and Eli Manning also contributed to the show’s comedy, those brothers are witty dudes. Their pipelines are fantastic, often making great work.) Well, let’s see how Powerful Chad really is. Programming Note: The six-episode comedy series premiered with the first two episodes; followed by new episodes every Tuesdays through October 28.

Thursday, October 02

It: Limited Series (Anytime / Crave)

Yo, this is Tim Curry IT!! In 1960, seven pre-teen outcasts fight an evil demon who poses as a child-killing clown. Thirty years later, they reunite to stop the demon once and for all when it returns to their hometown.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: PLAY DIRTY (ANYTIME / PRIME VIDEO)

An expert thief embarks on the biggest heist of his life. Parker (Mark Wahlberg), along with Grofield (LaKeith Stanfield), Zen (Rosa Salazar), and a skilled crew, stumble onto a score that pits them against the New York mob in this gritty, clever caper.
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Shane Black + Marky Mark + The Atlanta Stoner = A Caper. Oh yes. We got a score, New York mob and a caper…I like all of these things. I’ll Play Dirty with this movie.

Friday, October 03

V/H/S/HALLOWEEN (Anytime / Shudder)

A collection of Halloween-themed videotapes unleashes a series of twisted, blood-soaked tales, turning trick-or-treat into a struggle for survival.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: THE LOST BUS (ANYTIME / APPLE TV+)

A white-knuckle ride through one of America’s wildfires as a wayward school bus driver and a dedicated school teacher battle to save 22 children from the inferno.
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According to the Apple press release: this “is based on Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire, by Lizzie Johnson.” Yeah, it’s a real-life disaster movie about California’s terrifying 2018 Camp fire. (I don’t remember this fire?). Before the fire, Matthew McConaughey is a loser and a screwup, alienated from his son and ex-wife, on the verge of getting fired from his school-bus-driving job. Ah sweet Hollywood redemption: the fire is his dare to be great situation. Now, he gets to drive the bus—the very job he was about to get fired from—and save 22 children. And 1 slightly hot teacher. He’s determined driving the rescued kids through the chaotic inferno, out of radio contact but never out of hope. God Bless Hollywood and nowhere else. Programming Note: This is a TIFF 2025 movie.

Saturday, October 04

Haunted Hotel: Season 1 (Anytime / Netflix)

Saturday Morning Cartoons: A single mother of two struggles to run a haunted hotel with the help of her estranged brother, who is now one of the ghosts haunting the hotel and thinks the other ghosts have some pretty good ideas.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: STEVE (ANYTIME / NETFLIX)

Cillian Murphy stars as a troubled high school teacher for boys with societal and behavioural difficulties in this drama inspired by the novel Shy.
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Oh, remember the White Benevolent Teacher Genre? It’s been a while since we scored a teacher-savior movie. True to the genre in Steve they’re all at-risk kids. Nobody believes in them. Except for Steve. Though this looks closer to Dead Poets Society than say Lean On Me. What was the Antonio Banderas movie where he taught poor kids how to ballroom dance? If Steve’s soundtrack features a song like Gangsta’s Paradise (that time it was Michelle Pfeiffer who was the white save em all teacher!) this movie will hit. I did not see this at TIFF, lesson learned, I suppose. Now, let’s see how many students Steve can save? Programming Note: This is a TIFF 2025 movie.

Sunday, October 05

New Orleans: Soul of a City (10 p.m. / CNN)

Twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina tore through the Gulf Coast, flooding much of New Orleans and driving tens of thousands to seek shelter in the storm-battered Superdome. Once a scene of desperation, the stadium became a cornerstone of the city’s recovery — its revival culminating in the New Orleans Saints’ 2010 Super Bowl win, a moment that told the world the city was back. The four-part series features interviews with former Saints players Malcolm Jenkins, Deuce McAllister, and Devery Henderson, former mayor Mitch Landrieu, former Superdome general manager Doug Thornton, Wendell Pierce, James Carville, Pam Oliver, Emeril Lagasse, Wynton Marsalis and other New Orleans icons.
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SAMMY SUGGESTION: ALI HASSAN: CHEF’S KISS (ANYTIME / YOUTUBE)

Chef’s Kiss is a deliciously funny comedy album, serving up Ali Hassan’s sharp wit, spicy stories, and growing anxiety about health! In Chef’s Kiss, Ali Hassan stirs together his life as a former chef, current father of four, and proud Canadian-Muslim with hilarious results.
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I call Ali Hassan Brown Bob Saget because he hosts CBC Radio and TV shows including Laugh Out Loud and Canada Reads. Just like Bob Saget he does stand up. That’s where I know Ali from…making the funny. His latest comedy contribution is Chef’s Kiss a 42 minute stand up comedy special featuring comical reactions to being a hockey dad to unsuccessfully navigating Disney+ to the witty struggles of learning a new language. Ali was a recent My Summer Lair guest. Ali and I talked about his Designated Survivor role, to making school lunches for his kids, to Taste of Egypt (Track 19 on Chef’s Kiss the comedy album) to Pulp Fiction. (This MSL episode mirror’s Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. It’s not exactly linear and we’re jumping from story to story…but oh it’s a lot of fun.) Here is Ali Hassan’s latest comedy special…will you give it a Chef’s Kiss?

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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.