Fans of Lee Child’s novels will instantly recognize Alan Ritchson as the imposing, inscrutable powder-keg known as “Reacher.” 

A former military police officer-turned-hobo, hyper-analytical Jack Reacher has acute powers of observation, which come in handy when he’s arrested and accused of murder.

This saga begins as 6’5”, 250-pound Reacher gets off a bus on the outskirts of the small (fictional) town of Margrave, Georgia, and casually saunters into a diner. Before he can take a bite of the peach pie he ordered, he’s suddenly taken into custody by the local police who demand to know why he’s there.

His explanation that his brother Joe told him about the area’s connection with Blind Blake, a famous blues musician, doesn’t really convince buttoned-up, Harvard-educated Detective Oscar Finlay (Malcolm Goodwin) and feisty officer Roscoe Conklin (Willa Fitzgerald), even when nerdy accountant Paul Hubble (Marc Bendavid) confesses to the murder.

So terrified Hubble and taciturn Reacher are taken to the local prison, where they’re brutally ‘targeted.’ That bone-crunching encounter, along with another skirmish at the local motel, leads to Reacher’s realization that the once-dire economy of Margrave has been totally revitalized by a mysterious enterprise known as the Kliner Foundation, and there’s a twisty crime conspiracy just waiting to be unraveled.

Based on Lee Child’s first novel, “Killing Floor” (1997), this new, eight-episode Amazon series is steered by astute showrunner Nick Santora (“The Sopranos,” “Prison Break,” “Lie to Me”), while charismatic Alan Ritchson cleverly incorporates Reacher’s physical stature with high intelligence and deadpan wit.

Jack Reacher is a fascinating character. Living off his military pension, he’s a stealthy loner who relishes his anonymity, traveling around the country with only a folding toothbrush, lapsed passport and the clothes on his back.

FYI: If gigantic Ritchson looks familiar, he spent three seasons as the crime-fighting Hawk on the “Titans” series. 

FULL DISCLOSURE: My son, Don Granger, is one of the producers.

On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Reacher” is an authentic, action-packed 8, streaming on Amazon Prime.

Actor Mahershala Ali just received a well-deserved BAFTA nomination in London for his dual role in the Apple TV+ sci-fi drama “Swan Song.”

In 2017, Ali won his first Academy Award for his supporting performance as the dope dealer in “Moonlight” and a second supporting Oscar in 2019 for “Green Book,” in which he played jazz musician Don Shirley. Now, in a dual tour-de-force, he’s competing in the leading actor category – with additional producer credit.

Written and directed by Benjamin Cleary, making his feature film debut after winning a 2016 Oscar for his short film “Stutterer,” this story is set sometime in the future, when advertising artist Cameron Turner (Ali), who has been suffering headaches and seizures, is diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Acknowledging his fatal prognosis is the first step, according to Dr. Scott (Glenn Close), who offers Cameron a unique opportunity to shield his family from grief. 

If he chooses not to tell his wife Poppy (Naomie Harris) about his inevitable demise, he can be replaced by a molecularly regenerated ‘healthy’ clone.

But he’s warned: “The second you tell your wife that you are dying, your opportunity to do this is gone.”

The obvious challenge for Mahershala Ali was differentiating between two physically identical characters. Resentful, sorrowful Cameron is obsessed with memories, particularly those involving his beloved Poppy, and he’s not really ready to surrender his life, while Jack (as the android clone is called) tries to comprehend his new existence.

Since Cameron is only the third person to participate in this still-experimental procedure at Dr. Scott’s luxuriously forested facility – he commiserates with Kate (Awkwafina), a real estate broker who preceded him and is now in hospice care.

And if the premise seems familiar, it’s similar to the “Black Mirror” episode “Be Right Back.”

FYI: Mahershala Ali has been cast as Blade in upcoming chapters of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as teased in the “Eternals” closing credits.

On the Granger Gauge, “Swan Song” is a soulful, secretive, syrupy 7, streaming on Apple TV+.

While Academy voters are weighing Oscar votes for his performance in “The Power of the Dog,” Benedict Cumberbatch made another 2021 film, “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain,” that somehow slid under the radar.

Narrated by Olivia Colman, this story revolves around British artist Louis Wain (1860-1939) who became famous for his brightly colored drawings of anthropomorphized cats with huge eyes and dilated pupils. He was also an eccentric who believed electricity could transform everyday life.

Born with a cleft palate, young Louis had to support his widowed mother and five sisters. When governess Emily Richardson (Claire Foy) moved in, socially awkward Louis fell in love with her, only to lose her several years later to breast cancer. 

To amuse Emily, Louis drew sketches of Peter, their beloved cat, in comical poses. In December, 1886, Wain was commissioned by Sir William Ingram, publisher of the Illustrated London News, to create a double-page spread depicting “A Kitten’s Christmas Party.”

Its immediate success made him the cat’s meow, but Wain never bothered to copyright his images which were reproduced on biscuit tins, tea cups and postcards. Between 1900 and 1940, more than a thousand postcards were distributed by 75 different publishers, none of whom paid him anything. Deeply in debt, Wain then created cartoon strips for Hearst newspapers.

In 1924, he was certified as insane, confined in the pauper ward of Springfield Mental Hospital in Tooting with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. He spent the rest of his life in psychiatric hospitals – from Bethlem to Napsbury. During that confinement, he fashioned his most original work.

Scripted by Simon Stephenson and director Will Sharpe, this film is beguilingly visual – thanks to cinematographer Erik Alexander Wilson and production designer Suzie Davies.

FYI: Wain was a fluent mirror-writer, sketching with two hands simultaneously. Instead of CGI, animal wrangler Charlotte Wilde worked with 40 different cats, rewarding them with tasty snacks.

On the Granger Gauge, “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain” is a poignantly surreal 6 – unless you’re a feline fanatic – then it leaps to a 7…streaming on Prime Video.