Friday, September 25, 2020

Entertainment Round-Up—Death, Darkness, and Elementary

Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous—Is mediocre. Decent enough watch with my boys, but

AND she shoots bow?

even they had issues with some of the silly/dumb choices the characters made. Camp counselors seem more concerned about who is in charge instead of watching out for the children who are more concerned about their various nonsense issues to worry about personal safety. (Netflix)

Anna Karenina (2012)—Is beautiful. It’s also very dark, but then it’s Russian. Two hours really isn’t enough to do justice to Tolstoy’s story, but Tom Stoppard’s adaptation and Joe Wright’s directing make an incredible effort, especially setting much of the story as if it were a play in a theater. If I had one complaint, it’s that Aaron Taylor-Johnson Count Vronsky is far, far too pretty to be likable. (Netflix)

Enola Holmes—Is so fun! Entirely in keeping with the spirit of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, adding a teenage sister, Enola, to the Holmes family. Although Mycroft is slightly off, everything else is a reasonable facsimile, the acting is a delight, and the mystery is laid out for viewers to decipher on their own without any esoteric knowledge. (Netflix)

Tournament (2018)—Isn’t terrible. A lighter shade of “Clerks.” for the die-hard card-gamers. There’s some really good, witty dialogue, and then there’s some ham-fisted stuff. The camera work is passable, although sometimes wonky. I felt like the plot could have used one more rewrite to really knock out the third act. (AmazonPrime)

The Courier—Nope. I think they were going for a kind of Die Hard in a parking structure. All

I don't have a machine gun yet, but Imma get one!

the right elements are there, and I really wanted to like this. Olga Kurylenko does a worthwhile job with what she’s given, and Gary Oldman and Calli Taylor are respectably evil together. The plot and the bad guys are dumb when they should be smart, or at least smarter. (Hulu)

Quest of the Muscle Nerd—Doesn’t suck. It’s an interesting look into a sub-sub-genre of Dragon Con attendee—the cosplayer who also lifts an outrageous amount of the time. I wish there was a bit more focus on cosplay and the nerds who lift to cosplay, rather than just folks who lift and showed up for this particular event. Still, it was an interesting look. (AmazonPrime)

The Good Place (Season 4)—Rocks. It’s so much goodness I can hardly believe it. I know I’m late on this one, especially a series that I loved (mmmm, Kristen Bell!) but I kept waiting for it to show up on one of my streaming services. I finally had to get the disks, and DVD at that (yech!). I wish I hadn’t waited this long. If you haven’t started this series, do so. It’s hi-freaking-larious. (DVD—because I guess BETA wasn’t an option)

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

Entertainment Round-Up—Mystery, Mayhem, and Social Media

I forgot to post last week’s entertainment round-up, so here it is for you.  I’ll try to make sure I

What could possibly go wrong?

get this weeks up on Friday for your weekend enjoyment!

Knives Out—Is good. Very good. Rian Johnson returns to his genre of choice with a classic whodunnit framework but a plot turned on its head. Daniel Craig’s southern accent gets an impressive workout and never falters. Ana de Armas is the real standout, which is impressive given the supporting cast (Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Christopher Plummer, etc.). Johnson’s script is excellent! (Amazon Prime)

The Boys (Season 2)—Isn’t awful. The story doesn’t even miss a beat from Season 1, picking right up and running. I did have to find a recap on YouTube, as some of the details were fuzzy, but after that it was full speed on the A-Train! (Amazon Prime)

The Social Dilemma—Is complicated. It’s also worth watching. 90-minutes isn’t enough time to do anything but paint with a very broad brush. Social networks do a thing, they do it well, and then they get paid. They’re not in it for us. Most of us know this. Like any big corporation, they’re also not all bad. But as a first step to connecting the dots—hopefully toward meaningful change/regulation—it’s 90-minutes well spent. (Netflix)

Dragon’s Dogma—Is tedious. I applaud any show willing to introduce and endear us to a main character and then off him/her in a sudden, realistic, or sudden-AND-realistic manner. I gave this series four episodes and quit. There are some fun fights, the CGI animation could cut sushi, but when they aren’t fighting, it’s a lot of blah-blah and the characters aren’t interesting outside of their tropes to be worthwhile. (Netflix)

Glow Up—Isn’t terrible. The first season of most reality contest shows always have some kinks to work out. This one is no different. With make-up and artists running around, some of the judging does feel arbitrary. Overall, though, this is a fun and enjoyable start to a “Face Off” like show. 

Did I get it right? Wrong? What would you like me to review next?

Tell me in the comments below!

Friday, September 11, 2020

Entertainment Round-Up—Survival, Laughter, and Yawns

Alone (Season 5)—Not bad. Mongolia is simply beautiful! This one was a bit more anti-

She's all business!

climactic. Also, I was VERY annoyed at the contestants who didn’t put a roof on their shelter. Maybe I’m just not that knowledgeable about survival and physics and whatnot. Still, seems like a solid, insulated roof would go some distance to keeping the warmth in your shelter. (Hulu)

Cobra Kai (Season 2)—Is good. A solid follow-up to Season 1 and a good lead in to Season 3. It’s pretty clear where the writers are taking us throughout, and at a few points it’s frustrating how slowly they’re taking us there. There are some REALLY smart moments but a few REALLY dumb ones. That’s people in the real world, too. (Netflix)

Star Trek: Lower Decks—Doesn’t suck. I wasn’t fully sold on this animated sideshow, but some/most of the story arcs would be cost prohibitive. There’s nothing overly serious about this one, which makes for some laugh-out-loud and some aww moments. (CBS All Access)

Away—Is a struggle. With Hilary Swank and Josh Charles along with the supporting cast, there’s some incredible acting going on. I just wish they had a better vehicle. A three-year round trip to Mars should be awesome. Most of the drama is conjured and forced into place with a hydraulic press. The writers ignore the practicalities/realities of pretty much any situational obstacles that come up, and break then shatter then stomp on the shards of willing suspension of disbelief. It makes it hard for me to enjoy something that otherwise checks all the boxes. (Netflix)

Mulan (2020 Live Action)—Doesn’t suck. It doesn’t rule either. As a Disney conversation to live action, this one diverges the most from its animated release, pulling a bit more from “The Ballad of Mulan”. That makes the movie better than a retelling of a Disney story which is a good thing. Really good wuxia, solid acting, and beautiful visuals. (Disney+)

Did I get it right? Wrong? What would you like me to review next?

Tell me in the comments below! 

Friday, September 4, 2020

Entertainment Round-Up—Nostalgia, Loss, and Hope

Alone (Season 4)—Not bad. Partners makes it a bit less “alone” but making one partner hike

It's like they KNOW us!

ten miles through the horrible, horrible scrub that is Vancouver Island was fascinatingly horrible to watch. Like the slowest slow-mo car crash ever. Season 5 is set in Mongolia so you KNOW I’m onboard with that! (Hulu)

Cobra Kai (Season 1)—Strikes first and strikes hard! It’s a nice where-are-they-now update of Daniel “The Karate Kid” LaRusso and Johnny “Sweep the Leg” Lawrence. There are some flashbacks to the movies, but they don’t overdo it. In this longer format we get to see more depth to both Daniel and Johnny, and there’s some real growth in almost all the characters (Netflix)

Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe—Is a solid addition. It’s not as great as the 2011 movie, but they were in the middle of the series at that point. A few of the voices sound a bit different, but not enough to ruin the illusion. Candace has had more growth than she's portrayed at this point, but it serves to tell a good story. (Disney+)

Bill & Ted Face the Music—Is, to coin a phrase, EXCELLENT! It’s silly, stupid fun, but it’s a good cap to the series. I may have just been in the right mood for it, but I don’t mind telling you I got a bit misty as the action rose to the conclusion. (Vudu)

Black Panther—Great but mournful and sad. This weekend, we lost a wonderful and relatively young actor in Chadwick Boseman. His was a bright light even from the beginning. Phylicia Rashad mentored him, Denzel Washington helped pay his tuition. He is and will continue to be missed. (Disney+)

Did I get it right? Wrong? What would you like me to review next?
Tell me in the comments below!