Here are two new drops on Netflix that have their roots in the 1990s. One is a live action adaptation of the 1998 anime-hit Cowboy Bebop, and the second chronicles the life of Broadway composer Jonathan Larson during his 1990 pre-Rent days.

Cowboy Bebop (Netflix) - For many anime fans, this is the goldmine, the series that helped put anime on the map and will be revered for posterity. So it’s quite a gamble to turn this into a live action adaptation. I know my middle boy Matteo won’t bother watching it, believing the animated series is perfect as it is, and shouldn’t have been tampered with. And as the animated series can still be watched, this was a risky project to undertake. But what I will concede, is that the producers have true love for CB, and are doing this with enthusiasm and respect for the source material. It’s 10 episodes, and they’ve tried as much as possible to capture the mood, mayhem, and craziness of the original series - and it’ll probably be more a matter of whether it’ll create a new following.

John Cho plays Spike Spiegel, with a bouffant hairstyle and a suit that’s straight out of a Duran Duran music video. Mustafa Shakir is Jet Black, and Daniella Pineda is Faye Valentine. For those unfamiliar, it’s about futuristic space bounty hunters, in a world that’s a far cry from the vast emptiness of space we might anticipate, and is instead a cramped, topsy-turvy, blighted urban nightmare of the future. So it’s heavy on style, and even heavier on the action sequences. And while Cho tries to charm his way as Spike, there isn’t much establishing of character here to make us invest more in what’s happening. It’s like we’re just waiting for the next action sequence, and this is a shame as the anime had more atmosphere and our investing. Here, it’s more quipping and keeping things light.

Tick, Tick... Boom (Netflix) - Here is the latest chapter of the continuing Lin-Manuel Miranda 2021 saga. It seems that no matter what you’re watching on any of the streaming services, our omnipresent Lin is somehow involved in one of the new offerings. These last two months of the year alone, we find him directing and co-producing this adaptation of the Jonathan Larson autobiographical musical, and he composed the songs of the upcoming Disney animated feature, Encanto. The story of an aspiring composer in New York City in the early 1990s and the constant artistic struggle of whether he’s making the right choices, it’s quite evident that this is a passion project for Miranda, who has more than empathy for the tragic life of Larson.

For those who are unaware, Larson wrote Rent, but never got to see his musical staged on Broadway, as he passed away from an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm the night before its off-Broadway premiere. Andrew Garfield, bouffant permed hair and all, is nothing short of impressive as Larson, nervous tics, insecurities, and badly handling the pressures of a creative life. He severs several relationships that he eventually realizes were truly precious, and it’s not lost how this is the NYC of the 1990s, when AIDS/HIV was rampant and affecting the artistic community of the day. Cameos by a host of Broadway personages dot the landscape of this film - from the diner scene, to the workshop and watching a Sondheim musical. In fact, Sondheim voices himself towards the end of the film. A true treat for theater-lovers.