Now Streaming: THE NIGHT AGENT S2, SATURDAY NIGHT, SAKAMOTO DAYS

As Sundance gets underway, what about those of us who are not able to travel to Utah and/or purchase online tickets?

The Night Agent S2
All 20 episodes of of Season 1 and Season 2 are now streaming on Netflix.

I quite enjoyed Season 1, which debuted in March 2023, and followed a deskbound new agent in the so-called "Night Action" secret government agency team who teams up with a civilian cybersecurity expert and must take to the field to protect her; he ends up saving the president from an assassination attempt.

Created by Shawn Ryan (The Shield), Season 2 picks up some months later, as fledgling field agent Peter Sutherland (Gabriel Basso) is part of a mission that goes fatally wrong in Thailand. So, he goes back on the run, eventually reteaming with cybersecurity expert Rose Larkin (Luciane Buchanan).

This time, the head of the secret agency gets intimately involved, with great suspicions and doubts about Peter's capabilities; as she says plainly, the President forced him upon her and into the field, so her actions are quite cloudy.

The Night Agent is filled with characters who take actions first, including murder (frequently), and then explain themselves and/or justify their actions later. I've only watched the first six episodes so far; it's packed with incidents and hurtles through the story, with a major thread revolving around threats from Iran and innocent people. Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Alone at Night) directs multiple episodes.

The show is far from any type of authenticity, as far as the narrative is concerned, but it's flooded with menace, angry and/or arrogant characters, and fits the bill for disposable entertainment.

SNL 50: Beyond Saturday Night
All four episodes are now streaming on Peacock TV.

What's most interesting about this four-part series from executive producer Morgan Neville is that each episode approaches the topic at hand from a different perspective. The first episode spends an hour as cast members from the past 50 (?!) years reminisce about their experience on the show and watch their audition tape with great bemusement and/or ashamed horror.

The second episode switches gears and spends a typical week with the writers for a recent show -- hosted by Ayo Edebiri (The Bear) -- as they pitch, write madly, get shot down (mostly), get greenlit for a sketch, produce that sketch, and then see if take off and/or go down in flames during the final rehearsal.

The third episode goes very, very deep on a single sketch, the famed "More Cowbell" sketch, featuring Christopher Walken and Will Farrell. It's the ultimate 'inside a favorite few minutes' that captures why and how the sketch came together.

Finally, the fourth episode goes deep on what went wrong with the infamous Season 11, in which creator Lorne Michael returned after five years away and the cast included actors, like Robert Downey Jr and Anthony Michael Hall, who were completely out of their depth on a show built around sketches.

As a whole, I found it fascinating and entertaining, and easily while away an afternoon watching and reminiscing myself.

Saturday Night
The film makes its streaming debut Saturday on Netflix.

Since we're talking about Saturday Night Live, Jason Reitman's Saturday Night will be making its streaming debut tomorrow. Our own Mel Valentin filed his review when the film opened in theaters this past October, stating in part:

"Properly roused and energized, the show does, in fact, go on, history made, and the next fifty plus years set into motion, the audience entertained, if not exactly wiser or enlightened before the end credits roll on a nearly two-hour film."

Sakamoto Days
The first two episodes are now streaming on Netflix. Subsequent episodes will debut every Saturday.

Down to earth, witty and frequently LOL, and filled with splattery action, the show starts with a legendary hitman in retirement. Happily gone to seed, Sakamoto quietly runs a store with his wife and their young daughter until his former mob boss declares that he should be executed for daring to quit the mob.

Killing Sakamoto is not as easy as it might seem, though, as the fat older gentleman still has his moves on. This has been a pleasure to watch in its first two episodes, and I'm eager to see what they do next.

Babanba Banban Vampire
The first two episodes are now streaming on. Subsequent episodes will debut every Saturday.

Less successful is this supposedly comic tale of a vampire who works at a bathhouse, lusting after the owner's 15-year-old son. The old vamp is waiting for the young man to turn 18, which the vampire considers to be the peak time to suck his blood, but the young one's blood will only be tasty if it's pure and virginal, which means he must do whatever is necessary to keep the young man from pursuing his absolute crush, a comely young fellow student.

Through two episodes so far, the old vamp is getting more and more creepy, and sounds more and more like he's grooming the young man, so I think I'm outta here. Not for me, but maybe for you, if you're into creepy old men lusting after young men, with a little bloodsucking on the side?

Castlevania: Nocturne S2
The first two seasons, 16 episodes in all, are now streaming on Netflix.

"Welcome back from Hell." If you're in the mood for darker vampire fare, Season 2 is now available in its entirety. The synopsis and the trailer provide all you need to know.

"Richter Belmont is done running - this ends now.

The legendary Alucard, Richter Belmont, and his band of vampire hunters are in a desperate race against time. Erzsebet Báthory, the near invincible Vampire Messiah, seeks to plunge the world into endless darkness."

Now Streaming celebrates independent and international genre films and television shows that are newly available on legal streaming services.