When it comes to animation, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have earned an incredible amount of my goodwill. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs expanded a brief childrens book to feature length by getting super weird. In The Lego Movie, they managed to turn an idea that wasnt really an idea (Lego… are… movie?) into a zany, heartfelt and brilliantly rendered all-ages entertainment. And Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse is not only the best Spider-Man movie, but one of the best superhero movies, period. But have they engendered enough goodwill that Ill watch their new Netflix adult animated series?
Hoops (available Aug. 21), created by comedian Ben Hoffman, looks to cash in on the success of Big Mouth with another high school-set series with an incredibly foul-mouthed cast. This time the focus seems to rest more squarely on a sad-sack failure of a teacher (voiced by The New Girls Jake Johnson, who also played one of the Spider-Men in Into the Spider-Verse) who sees coaching a basketball team as his ticket out of a dead-end job.
The trailer exhibits some of the Lord/Miller energy that also gave the Jump Street films an edge, but doesnt exactly instill confidence with a gay panic joke about getting a boner in the shower.
Heres everything coming to and leaving Netflix this week.
Available August 16
- Johnny English
- Les Misérables (2012)
Available August 17
Available August 19
Available August 20
Available August 21
Leaving August 18
Leaving August 19
Leaving August 20
Leaving August 21read more
