Paul McGuire Grimes, creator of Paul’s Trip to the Movies, sat down with the cast of Apple TV’s new crime drama, Presumed Innocent and gives us his rating. Plus, the new movie Inside Out 2.

PRESUMED INNOCENT (AppleTV+)

Jake Gyllenhaal is well known for his films and theater work, but now he’s entering the world of episodic television with the new limited series Presumed Innocent. The new limited series comes from legendary television writer David E. Kelly who is no stranger to a juicy legal story with shows like Ally McBeal, The Practice, and Boston Legal just to name a few. He’s now adapting Scott Turow’s classic novel into eight gripping episodes. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Chicago District Attorney Rusty Sabich who has been having a sexual affair with his co-worker Carolyn. Harrison Ford previously played the role in the film adaptation in 1990. Carolyn is found bound and murdered in her home, and all eyes fall on Rusty who becomes the lead suspect in the case. He proclaims his innocent, but all the evidence points back to him upending his career and marriage to his wife, Barbara.

-Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Renate Reinsve, Peter Sarsgaard, Bill Camp, Ruth Negga and O-T Fagbenle.

-Creator David E. Kelly knows he has to lure his audience in with the first episode and he wastes no time in setting up all of these key players and the mess that Rusty has found himself in. He finds himself on trial while unofficially acting as his own lawyer to prove his innocence.

-I’ve seen seven of the eight episodes as AppleTV has held the final episode from critics. David E. Kelly knows how to keep this like the page turner it stems from. The series is filled with flashbacks that lead up to Carolyn’s murder and how it may be connected to a previous case she and Rusty worked.

-The series has a strong ensemble on its hands. Jake Gyllenhaal brings that explosive intensity that he’s known for into Rusty. It’s a familiar role for him and shows what we can expect from his character moving forward. He plays by his own rules, and part of the show revels in the steps he’ll take to prove his innocence despite adding more evidence to the contrary.  

-David E. Kelly steers away from having too many red herrings or subplots in the name of drawing this story out for eight episodes. It stays focused on the murder and the toll Rusty’s affair has taken on those around him.

–Presumed Innocent isn’t anything new, but it sits in that strange comfortable place like Law & Order or Dateline. It’s dark, steamy, and intriguing leaving the audience scratching their head episode by episode as another bombshell drops.

RATING: 3.5 out of 5 TICKET STUBS

INSIDE OUT 2 (in theaters)

Pixar’s masterpiece Inside Out took audiences into the emotional headspace of a young girl named Riley. The sequel picks up with Riley whose now 13 and going through puberty. She’s voiced by Kensington Tallman, and we find Riley excited about attending a three day hockey camp with her best friends. It’s a big time for Riley as she doesn’t understand what’s happening to her body and mind. Her emotions like Joy and Sadness know Riley inside and out until the literal wrecking ball of puberty takes over and new emotions like Anxiety and Envy move in and take over Riley’s brain. Hockey camp and puberty bring out all these new feelings for Riley as she wants to prove herself to the coach and wants the older cool girls to like her.

-Features the voices of: Amy Poehler, Maya Hawke, Phyllis Smith, Lewis Black, Tony Hale, Paul Walter Hauser, and Yvette Nicole Brown

–Inside Out 2 has a fairly lean story telling a small chapter in Riley’s life. The beginning of puberty is a time of epic change for anyone, and we all remember those crushing feelings that take over.

-Setting this all within the context of kids sports is genius to show how fast our brain works in this environment and how it reaches all of these complex emotions from one moment to the next.

-Joy and Anxiety are really at odd in Riley’s brain as they take command over the control board. Amy Poehler continues to show why she’s been one of the smartest casting choices in Pixar history, and Maya Hawke is a riot as Anxiety. She perfectly nails all the nuance that can come from anxiety from the hyperactive talking to the manic frenzy of where we find her in the climax.

-This story illustrates how anxiety can get the best of us and be the loudest voice at times.

-If the first film felt like it was all about the emotions, the sequel seems to give more screen time to Riley with how the emotions then manifest on the outside with her everyday choices. It’s wise for Pixar to show the inner and outer connection.

–Inside Out 2 doesn’t feel like a rehash of the first, but rather a fresh take on how our emotions change as we grow up. It’s that reminder that one emotion isn’t better than the other, but how we need to allow and accept all to be present and work together to make us our whole self.

RATING: 4 out of 5 TICKET STUBS