While Castle: The Complete Eighth Season is one of the weaker seasons, there were still some entertaining episodes here and there even if the writing wasn’t as tight and the relationship between Castle and Beckett seemed… off. While it’s probably a good thing the studio pulled the plug, I wouldn’t have minded a 13-episode ninth season to nicely wrap things up
Code Black: Season 1 is a well acted medical drama practically on the parts of Marcia Gay Harden and Luis Guzman. However, as compelling of a drama that it is, there’s not much here that distinguishes it from the numerous others that have come before. Still, the characters are at least well written so it is worth watching.
NCIS: New Orleans is hardly a great show and a shell of a series compared with NCIS or even NCIS: Los Angeles, however it is at least fluff entertainment and with Scott Bakula at the helm, enjoyable enough even if the stories aren’t entirely memorable.
“Scandal”, when it first aired, wasn’t a half bad series but with each subsequent season, the show has jumped right into the soap opera pool and the storylines and characters have suffered. This fifth season might not be terrible but going from season one to this, you can see how much it has fallen.
Weiner is a great documentary showcasing the rise and, particularly, fall of someone, although feisty, is a narcissist and as such is probably a poster child of what’s wrong with politicians. Still, it’s a fascinating look with both uncomfortable yet funny moments.
While not quite as strong as its inaugural season, “The Affair” excels mainly on the acting more so than the stories which, for me, aren’t quite as compelling. Still, it’s at least entertaining and at only 12 episodes, can binge watch, well over the course of only a couple of days anyway.
Sundown actually isn’t a half bad little comedy with likeable enough characters and some decent club music that will make usage of your surround sound system. The DVD released through Lionsgate has a lengthy making-of featurette and some deleted scenes while the video and audio transfers are both top notch for DVD.
Viral is a well made and breezy horror-thriller featuring two fine performances by young actresses Sofia Black D’Ella and Analeigh Tipton. Not sure if it’s the kind of movie you buy right off but it’s probably worth a rental as any TV airing would neuter it.
Last Days in the Desert seems to be a passion project from all involved and anyone not interested in movies with a personal journey, as a fair portion McGregor treks through the desert, this might bore you. Still, Ewan McGregor does turn in a nice performance but otherwise it’s a throwaway movie that I have no interest in seeing again.
Peter the Redemption is the latest in the Christian-based releases and although I’m sure those devout might get something out of it, for others it just looks like a bad stage play down to the costumes and sets, though John Rhys-Davies seemed to be trying…
My Fellow Americans is sort of the prototypical comedy from the 1990s and although not terribly well written, it’s a passably amusing film that excels due to the talents of Jack Lemmon and James Garner, with some honorable mention to John Heard who elicited a few laughs out of me.
Outside of the R rating, Careful What You Wish For is pretty much the kind of material you see on a Lifetime Channel movie of the week down to the sultry, steamy and scandalous sexuality and bad writing to go along with it.
The Levenger Tapes blends traditional filmmaking with the overused found footage style but beyond that, I never found this very compelling though the acting from a mostly unknown cast to be half decent (at times).
The American Side starts out well enough as a throwback crime-mystery before, for whatever reason, the writers decided to throw in a “Da Vinci Code”-like story arc that really failed to connect. On the plus side, the cast isn’t bad led by Greg Stuhr (who co-wrote), Camilla Belle, Matthew Broderick and Robert Forster.
Louder Than Bombs is an uneven but well acted drama featuring strong performances by Gabriel Byrne and Jesse Eisenberg. It’s nothing memorable but for who enjoy character dramas, it’s certainly worth a rental. The DVD released through Sony offers good audio and video transfers.