Reign: The Complete Third Season is a silly show for sure, a CW-ized version of Game of Thrones sans the fantastic acting and amazing set designs. Watching this series, though, I had a hard time sitting through and listening to inane dialogue and bad performances almost all around.
NCIS: The Thirteenth Season is another solid year for the venerable series and while not all 24 episodes were top level, more than enough were to make this one of strong years, however the departure of Weatherly’s DiNozzo will test the writers and cast as he is a hard actor and character to replace.
On a technical level, Warcraft isn’t terrible but in today’s and age and the advancement in the visual effects realm, it’s should be a given especially with a big budget tentpole. Outside of the VFX, and as someone unfamiliar with the source material, I found the film to be dull and filled with thinly written characters.
Like A Boy Named Charlie Brown, Snoopy Come Home is a Blu-ray release for big-time fans only. Both of these have been previously released on DVD already so what you’re buying here are upgraded picture and audio, but the lack of features makes me hesitate to give it a recommendation.
Quantico starts off well enough but by the third or fourth episodes, I was becoming impatient, not so much with the A-story (i.e. who the terrorist was) but instead the constant back and forth from present day to 9 months in the past; it’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine.
Love Me or Leave Me is a fun music-romance-drama featuring two wonderful performances from the elegant Doris Day set against the rough-and-tumble James Cagney in one of his many gangster roles and for this one, received an Oscar nomination.
Edge of Winter is a slow burn, character-driven, thriller with some potential but never quite reaches it in spite of an earnest performance from Joel Kinnaman with honorable mention to Tom Holland.
Mankillers might be a fun romp for those longing for the crappy low budget flicks of the ‘80s and ‘90s, but for me I didn’t find it all that amusing though I did manage to enjoy some of the “performances”, otherwise this release is for die-hard fans only.
Writer/director Mark Pavia makes a valiant attempt with Fender Bender to create a throwback to the slashers of yesteryear and while there are a few touches to admire (scenes that remind you of Halloween in particular), the rest of the writing and plot points were utterly laughable and not in a good way.
Beauty and the Beast is still a phenomenal animated movie all these years later and still holds up as one of Disney’s best and an argument can be made, the best of the modern era.
Neighbors 2 is yet another needless sequel to a comedy and although it deviates somewhat from the original, the laughs, albeit a few, weren’t as consistent and there was an uncomfortable mean streak at times, something I generally loathe from a comedy.
To be honest, I’m not the biggest fan of Charlie Brown yet I at least find these movies and specials enjoyable enough even if I don’t laugh. The message behind them are great and for families.
The Jungle Book is a success in Disney’s obsession with adapting beloved animated movies into live action features and while the likes of Maleficent and to some extent Cinderella weren’t great, this one is entertaining for almost the entire family, though some scenes might be a tad too frightening for younger viewers.
Elementary: The Fourth Season is another fun ride with some decent mystery storylines mixed in with further character development, and obstacles, for Sherlock and company.
It’s not always a given that a series going into its seventh season would be any good but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed NCIS: Los Angeles thus far and appreciate the advancements the writers and producers have made with these characters.