The Angry Birds Movie might be fine for younger viewers and the animation looks gorgeous, the voice cast talented and a decent enough core story but the jokes fell flat and I was mostly bored throughout its 90-minute running time.
“Once Upon a Time”: The Complete Fifth Season is another success for ABC/Disney and although I’m getting a bit tired of the stunt “casting” of these fictional characters, I will admit I did like the inclusion of Merida who, in her few episodes, was a breath of fresh air. Even for casual fans, this will not disappoint.
Keanu is a cute, sometimes funny, comedy from Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key and while the jokes don’t always land, the satirizing of various other movies did manage a few chuckles out of me.
Scooby-Doo and WWE: Curse of the Speed Demon is a harmless film for the entire family though if you’re not into the WWE or its roster of superstars, there’s not much to appreciate considering seemingly half of the movie is devoted to them rather than Scooby and the gang.
“Supergirl”: The Complete First Season has its issues, especially early on, yet as the season wore on, the writing got better, particularly the dialogue. But from beginning to end, the casting was pitch perfect starting with Melissa Benoist who is both beautiful and charismatic to pull off a character like Supergirl/Kara.
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.
“The Knick”: The Complete Second Season is another triumph from Cinemax and includes amazing performances by Clive Owen, Andre Holland (who probably was the standout amongst them all), Juliet Rylance and Eve Hewson, though the other supporting members never disappoint either.
“The Girlfriend Experience” is one hell of an experience. It’s probably one of the more sexually explicit shows I’ve seen in quite some time yet there’s a good story at the core with just the right amount of mystery to keep one’s attention not to mention a strong performance by Riley Keough.
“Blindspot”: The Complete First Season doesn’t exactly harness its full potential and there is some predictability in Doe’s character arc, yet I can’t say each of these episodes at least were somewhat entertaining but I can’t say much more than that.
The Return of the Living Dead is an incredibly fun zombie flick. No, it doesn’t have the subtext of a George A. Romero film but it’s unique in its own right with some on-point humor that is consistent from beginning to end.
“The Magicians”: Season One is a fun new series that borrows from books like “Chronicles of Narnia” and “Harry Potter” with some CW-like drama thrown in for good measure. Still, the acting isn’t half bad and it was at least compelling enough to keep my interest through the relatively short 13-episode first year run.
Melissa McCarthy continues her usual schlock in The Boss and teaming up with her director/husband following the atrocious Tammy, this might be a step above that movie but not by much as the laughs are few and far between and worse yet, is kind of mean-spirited at times.
No Escape is an all around entertaining film perfect for a Saturday movie night. No, it doesn’t make you think or have any profound performances but the acting isn’t bad with Owen Wilson serving as a fine everyman type of character and Pierce Brosnan in his small part is a lot of fun. This is probably worthy of a rental.
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.