Tag: Amazon Prime

Streaming guide: new releases and family friendly programming

Locas Por Cambio is available on Amazon Prime Video. Courtesy photo, used with permission.

The holidays are a time to spend with family and some of those moments are spent watching television.  The following is a guide for family-friendly shows and films to watch this season.  (H + M Communications, 2020)

Family Friendly

Universal Pictures – The Croods: A New Age Release date: December 18 on PVOD.  The Croods have survived their fair share of dangers and disasters, from fanged prehistoric beasts to surviving the end of the word, but now they will face their biggest challenge of all: another family.

Focus Features- Half Brothers Release date: December 4. Renato, a successful Mexican aviation executive, is shocked to discover he has an American half-brother he never knew about — the free-spirited Asher. The two vastly different brothers are forced on a road trip together, masterminded by their ailing father, to trace the path he took as an immigrant from Mexico to America.

Pantaya – Celebremos: Eterna Navidad Release date: December 4. Juanes hosts a group of A-list Latinx celebrities in his home.  Not the typical holiday special because there is a fun story intertwined with music, food, and fun.  Premieres on the Spanish language streaming service Pantaya.

Peacock – Saved By The Bell Release date: available now. California Governor Zack Morris closes low-income high schools, relocating the affected students to Bayside, the richest school in the state. The new students give the oblivious Bayside kids a much-needed reality check.

Peacock – Shrek Release date: available now. To save his home, a monster with a donkey makes a deal with a mean lord to rescue a beautiful princess.  Available free with ads to all Peacock users.

Peacock – Trolls World Tour Release date: available now. When a rock ‘n’ roll king and queen set out to destroy other forms of music, Poppy and Branch embark on a daring mission to unite six different troll tribes to save the diverse melodies from becoming extinct.

Adventure/comedy

Amazon Prime – Locas Por Cambio Release date: available now. Tells the funny story of Paula (Mariel Molino) who has had a life full of privileges that have led her to feel satisfied with her life, and of Paulina (Sofía Sisniega) who has experienced the opposite and who feels overwhelmed with the responsibilities of modern life. Everything will change one fateful day when they step into each other’s shoes and discover that not everything is what it seems.  Between tangles and adventures, they will experience what makes them so different and similar at the same time.

Amazon Prime Video – El Cid Release date: December 18. El Cid is a Spanish Amazon Original series about the man behind the legend of El Cid Campeador (played by Jaime Lorente). A journey that narrates the trajectory of the young “Ruy” until he became a faithful vassal, knight, and hero of the Spanish crown in the 11th century.

Television adaptation: ‘Tales From the Loop’ by Simon Stålenhag

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Tales From the Loop is available on Amazon Prime. Photo: google

Simon Stålenhag is a Swedish artist, musician and designer specializing in retro-futuristic digital images focused on nostalgic Swedish countryside alternate history environments. Most of Stålenhag’s artwork was initially only available online but was later released for sale as prints. Since then, it has been turned into two narrative art books, “Tales From the Loop” in 2014 and “Things From the Flood” in 2016. Both focus on the construction of a supermassive particle accelerator called the Loop. The settings of his artwork have formed the basis for the Amazon television drama series Tales From the Loop. All eight episodes of the first season were released simultaneously April 3 on Amazon Prime Video.

Tales From the Loop science fiction drama television series based on Simon Stålenhag’s art book. It explores the mind bending adventures of the people who live above the Loop, a machine built to unlock and explore the mysteries of the universe. The machine is now making possible what was once considered science fiction. It stars Rebecca Hall as Loretta, Tyler Barnhardt as Danny Jansson and Daniel Zohlgadri as Jakob.

I have not read the book, but after watching the first two episodes, it is understandable why Amazon calls it “perfect for fans of E.T. and Stranger Things.” The series is set in the 80s and has that nostalgic look and feel that has recently become popular. With science fiction themes like time traveling, body swapping and robots, it appeals to fans of The Twilight Zone who appreciate mind-bending stories.

According to Amazon, “Tales From the Loop” is the first narrative artbook from acclaimed author and artist Simon Stålenhag about a fictionalized suburban town in the 1980s inhabited by fantastic machines and strange, imaginative beasts. In 1954, the Swedish government ordered the construction of the world’s largest particle accelerator. The facility was complete in 1969, located deep below the pastoral countryside of Mälaröarna. The local population called this marvel of technology The Loop. These are its strange tales. From the same author who wrote the imaginative artbook The Electric State, this “haunting,” (The Verge) “sophisticated sci-fi” (The Nerdist) follows the bizarre stories from otherworldly creatures and is a page-turner readers will not be able to put down.

Television adaptation: ‘Good Omens’ by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

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Good Omens will be released on Amazon Prime on Friday May 31.

Neil Gaiman is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, nonfiction, audio theater and films. He is best known for the comic book series The Sandman and the novels “Stardust,” “American Gods,” “Coraline” and “The Graveyard Book.” He collaborated with English author Terry Pratchett for the 1990 World Fantasy Award-nominated novel “Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch.” The book is a comedy about the birth of the son of Satan, the coming of the end of times and the attempts by the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley to sabotage it, having grown accustomed to their comfortable surroundings in England. It was adapted into a six-part series and will be released on Friday May 31 on Amazon Prime and stars David Tennant and Michael Sheen.

“Good Omens” is about the coming of the End Times; the Apocalypse is near and Final Judgement will soon descend upon humans. Aziraphale was the guardian of the Eastern Gate of Eden and Crowley was the serpent who tempted Eve to eat the apple and respectively, the representatives of Heaven and Hell on Earth. They have become good friends and have decided to work together and keep an eye on the Antichrist. He is destined to be the son of a prominent American diplomat stationed in Britain and their plan is to make sure he grows up unable to decide between Good and Evil, therefore postponing the end of the world.