Robert Lloyd

You can look for metaphors and social comment here — there are references to conspiracy theories and industrial noise pollution and such — but it seems to me to operate most effectively as a beautifully rendered mood piece and character study, and, certainly in the case of Hall, whose story this is, a platform for some exquisitely subtle acting.

A marvelous six-part British comedy. .... Walker makes a magnificent wreck, though she is brilliant in every mood.

I can’t say I felt much of anything for the characters, or was concerned whether the Bowdens would emerge from their ordeals a stronger family. (Whatever the outcome, I’d say they have work to do.) Having been given only eight of 10 episodes to review, I’m interested, in a disinterested way, how this all will shake out.

An amiable, sweet-tempered romantic ensemble comedy with a heftier than usual emphasis on professional ambition.

The writing and the acting boldly flirt with cliche and caricature, which, as the show is about 100% pastiche, drawn from films more than three-quarters of a century old, could scarcely be avoided and isn’t really a problem. (In a way, it’s the point.) .... But the overall what and why of the story is clever and the conclusion satisfying.

Once you get on its wavering wavelength — sentimental, sincere, sweet, a little silly, not overly concerned with making perfect sense — and realize the show is not out to hurt you, it’s a very enjoyable watch.

Tatiana Maslany is the best reason to watch “Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed,” a new thriller premiering Wednesday on Apple TV, and since there is a lot of her in it, across 10 episodes, you can take that as a recommendation, of a sort.

There are good results here, and some less than good. One might say it is less than the sum of its parts; if in the end I was not moved in the way I was surely meant to be — the five-part series is a little repetitious, a little exhausting — there was much to like along the way. It did prove interesting.

The hour plays as a kind of shaggy dog story, through lighter and darker territory on its way to a droll punchline involving the contents of the box, before it jumps forward into its brief present-day coda. .... Both [Bernthal and Moss-Bachrach] are phenomenal.

Above all, Munden and his crew have done a fine job of wrangling good work from masses of kids, some quite little, in what must have been challenging conditions.