Half Light (film)
2006
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Rated: 4/5 Sep 4, 2023 Full Review Alison Lanier Pajiba The Night Sky is an undeniable misfire, but inside the slow first season is a gem of a story. I want to take the whole thing into Final Cut ...
- (48)
- May 20, 2022
- Sissy Spacek
75% Avg. Tomatometer 48 Reviews 82% Avg. Audience Score 250+ Ratings Irene and Franklin York have kept ... Sissy Spacek and J.K. Simmons Praise Night Sky’s Intimate Sci-Fi New on Prime Video ...
- (48)
- 1
- TV-MA
- Stargate-keeping.
- Night Sky Gallery
- The best movie portal is in...
- Verdict
By Matt Fowler
Updated: May 20, 2022 10:36 pm
Posted: May 19, 2022 5:12 pm
This is a non-spoiler review for all eight episodes of Night Sky: Season 1, which lands Friday, May 20 on Prime Video.
J.K. Simmons and Sissy Spacek are absolutely mesmerizing in an otherwise humdrum series about an elderly couple caught up in a mystic conspiracy involving an ancient space portal buried in their backyard. The elements that do work here revolve heavily around Simmons and Spacek's characters and their personal journeys while the rest of it -- involving vague lore, overarching world-building, and side characters -- dully pads things out. Yes, it's a rare sci-fi series where the "sci-fi" part is the least interesting contribution.
Obviously, in casting award-winning actors as the two leads, you're going to get some damn fine performances. Simmons (slumping and aging himself a little bit, considering he's buff Jim Gordon elsewhere) and Spacek feel genuine and lived-in as Franklin and Irene York, a longtime married couple living in the shadow of their son's tragic death 20 years earlier. The best scenes in Season 1 involve these two, either interacting with each other or different characters, speaking genuinely about their relationship or their past hardships. Nothing about the Stargate they've visited hundreds of times since their son's passing, or the mysterious visitor who, one night, comes through from the other side and changes their current life in profound ways, makes anything better. Nope, all the strongest stuff here is just normal life, pushing the sci-fi portal story far off to the side, far removed from our interests.
Without the conspiracy parts of the story, which involve refugees from a space cult being hunted by "Guardians," Night Sky totally works as a much smaller Twilight Zone-type tale about a husband and wife in their golden years being both gifted and cursed with a miraculous invention that allows them to see a planet... a dead planet, one that's beautiful but also a constant reminder of the unreachable. It's the thorny rose of being able to see farther than anyone else, but to also see emptiness. The desolate planet they sit and stare at, from behind a protective barrier, is gorgeous and uplifting while at the same time being hugely depressing and frustrating.
So, all in all, not knowing what this place is, or where the portal came from, works better for the story. It allows the sci-fi parts to become a metaphor for different things, as the stunning rocky planet both illuminates the best of the Yorks' life while also quietly sounding an alarm about their pain. Suffice to say, the series is firing at its brightest when it operates on this level. It starts this way and then, sparely, returns to it over the course of these eight episodes. The rest of it, especially time spent with Adam Bartley's overbearing neighbor Byron or Beth Lacke's resentful caregiver Chandra, feels tacked on and unnecessary, even given the story's expansion pack involving a mother and daughter in Argentina -- Julieta Zylberberg and Rocio Hernandez -- who exist with secrets of their own, ones pertaining to the Yorks' portal.
Stargate
Coraline
Monsters, Inc.
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
Being John Malkovich
Other -- let us know in the comments.
Night Sky is best as a bare-bones fable about a couple in their twilight years taking stock of their life together in the presence of a confounding miracle. Sissy Spacek and J.K. Simmons are powerhouses here, delivering poignant performances, and even carrying the weight when the show spirals into numbing nonsense. The attempts to expand the story ...
May 20, 2022 · The Night Sky is an undeniable misfire, but inside the slow first season is a gem of a story. I want to take the whole thing into Final Cut and chop it down to a short film. Full Review | Jun 15, 2022
May 19, 2022 · The Bottom Line A padded slow-burn kept watchable by two superior leads. Airdate: Friday, May 20 (Amazon Prime Video) Cast: Sissy Spacek, J. K. Simmons, Chai Hansen, Adam Bartley, Julieta ...
May 18, 2022 · Night Sky is a new sci-fi series on Amazon Prime Video that stars Sissy Spacek and J.K. Simmons and debuts on May 20th.
May 16, 2022 · Night Sky review: This is not the Sissy Spacek-J.K. Simmons drama we (or they) deserve. The Oscar winners anchor the Amazon Prime Video drama, which drowns a heartfelt allegory in sci-fi silliness.
