It’s not as refined as Fennell’s own debut, but van Aart’s feature directorial debut, with a script by his long-time creative partner Daan Windhorst, often delights in the kind of bluntness that Fennell’s film studiously avoids for most of its running time. And while that is pleasurable in fits and starts, the overall result is a jumpy, fast-tracked feel and an overeagerness to get to the meat (and gore) of a story that needs more grounding....

That’s not to say that “The Crown” hasn’t had its successes over the years, notching 10 Emmy wins out of 39 nominations, but it feels as though the series — which tracks the (ongoing) reign of Queen Elizabeth II — has never quite lived up to its potential when accolades come into play. Too often, the show ends up the bridesmaid instead of the bride or, if you prefer to stick with royal references, the series always seems to be too far down the line of succession....

Every president has had their successes and failures, but it’s far too easy to cast these women as just moral arbiters of the creator’s own perception of said president’s accomplishments or misjudgments. Director Susanne Bier’s anthology falls into this category. The series blends the stories of three First Ladies: Eleanor Roosevelt (Gillian Anderson), Betty Ford (Michelle Pfeiffer), and Michelle Obama (Viola Davis). Each woman navigates issues, both personal and professional, as they enter into the ill-defined job that comes of being married to a man voted president....

Like many other shows stuck in production limbo last spring, “The Good Fight” didn’t end last season quite the way it intended. The show certainly left on a memorable note, but to describe the details for the uninitiated is to spoil one of the great reveals in recent history. If anything, navigating the void left by three unfinished episodes made series co-creators Robert and Michelle King more determined than ever to tell a full, complete arc in Season 5....

The first trailer for the Apple Original Film “The Greatest Beer Run Ever” gives a glimpse at Efron as Chickie Donohue, a real-life hero who traveled to Vietnam during the war to bring soldiers their favorite American beer. Per an official synopsis, however, what started as a well-meaning journey quickly turns into the adventure of a lifetime as Chickie confronts the reality of this controversial war and his reunions with his childhood buddies thrust him into the complexities and responsibilities of adulthood....

Vaughn’s latest entry into the series is a prequel, the long-delayed “The King’s Man,” which traces the early-20th century origins of the Kingsman organization. While it explains how the Kingsman organization was founded, it doesn’t get too bogged down in mythology or callbacks. Instead, Vaughn switches up the playbook by making a remixed World War I epic that “reflects” on the nature of violence and historical chaos. In most cases, it sticks to the historical record; in others, it exaggerates motivations and invents figures whole cloth....

Some of them should be so lucky. At one point, during what can only be described as the worst bachelorette party ever conceived in movies and/or real life, Kristen Bell is submerged in the River Thames on a crisp fall afternoon while dressed in nothing but an American flag bikini (and that’s before the activity goes wrong). At another, Ben Platt pisses on iconic “No Fear, No Die” star Isaach de Bankolé out of spite, which is not a sentence I ever expected to write....