I love the retro vibe of Stranger Things. Dustin is my favourite character.
But I couldn’t care less about the monsters. And monsters get a lot more screen time in season 4.
I made it through the first 7 episodes. But it’s a hard pass on the final 7 episodes.
I’m out.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I’d never heard of Keigo Higashino before randomly trying this novel.
Devotion of Suspect X is fantastic.
Turns out almost twenty of his books have been turned into films and TV series. But not all have been translated to English.
The pacing is slower than a typical American or British whodunnit.
But mathematician Tetsuya Ishigami and Manabu Yukawa, a physicist who often consults with the police, are two of the best fictional characters I’ve read in a long time.
I highly recommend it.
Click PLAY or watch the trailer of the Chinese TV adaptation on YouTube.
Bosch Legacy pretty much picks up right where the original Bosch series ended.
And it’s equally good. 100% on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Harry” Bosch has retired from the LAPD, and works as a private investigator.
Defense attorney Honey “Money” Chandler, has him work on some cases for her.
His daughter Maddie navigates her first days as a patrol officer with the LAPD, working from Hollywood Station, where her father used to be assigned. Bosch investigates businessman Carl Rogers, who previously hired a hitman to kill Chandler. Billionaire businessman Whitney Vance asks Bosch to discreetly investigate a private matter.
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Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
The Lincoln Lawyer is attorney Mickey Haller, half-brother of Michael Connelly’s mainstay character Detective Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch.
I like the Mickey Haller character, but not as much as Bosch himself.
They appear together in some novels.
Matthew McConaughey played Haller in the excellent 2011 movie adaptation.
Manuel Garcia-Rulfo is Mickey in the 2022 TV adaptation. MUCH different than McConaughey.
My favourite in the TV show is Becki Newton as Lorna Crain, Haller’s 2nd wife and office manager.
I also like Krista Warner as Hayley, Mickey’s teenage daughter. She’s very natural and believable.
Though reviews have been mixed, I quite enjoyed the acting and the plot lines.
The ending is strong. I’m confident season 2 will get the green light.
I’ve never been much of a fan of courtroom procedurals. BUT both this series and the book I was reading — Full Disclosure by Beverley McLachlin — both have cases with tunnel vision. The police assumed from the beginning that husband killed wife.
Hooked on the book series by C.J. Box, I felt obliged to try the TV adaptation.
Successful enough to be renewed for a second season.
Michael Dorman is well cast as Joe Pickett.
I was surprised to see “outlaw falconer” Nate Romanowski as a Black man. Nate’s personality is a little different in the TV adaptation, as well.
In the book Nate’s a lean, tall, angular predator — with a blonde ponytail.
He’s everyone’s favourite character.
For me the show is a bit slow. The pace of the books is more engaging.
And there are too many flashbacks, for me typically a sign of weak storytelling.
But the TV show is well done. I do recommend it for fans of the Joe Pickett books.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
This TV series is on Paramount+.
I was able to watch it via Apple TV free for a week. Then cancelled my subscription.
Excellent TV. 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Original. Non-cliche. Surprising, at times.
It reminds me a bit of the film Nomadland.
Real people in America. The USA is a terrible place to be poor.
Main is inspired by Stephanie Land‘s memoir Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive.
Story focuses on a young mother who escapes an abusive relationship, subsequently struggling to provide for her daughter by getting a job cleaning houses.
Margaret Qualley plays the lead. Very compelling. Very real.
She’s a former Pete Davidson squeeze — but who isn’t? 😀.
More importantly, she’s the real daughter of Andie MacDowell, who plays her crazy artist Mom in the series.
If I had any complaint it would be pacing. Too slow. Fewer episodes would have improved the story.
Also — I have to admit that I quit after 7/10 episodes. It hurt too much to see the sincere Mom making mistakes despite her commitment to do it right.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Great cast. Not much a film, however.
Too preachy. And I felt they tried to include too much. Fewer story lines would have made it better.
Charlize Theron, Nicole Kidman, and Margot Robbie star in this film based on the accounts of the women at Fox News who set out to expose CEO Roger Ailes for sexual harassment. …
After co-moderating the 2016 Republican debate, Megyn Kelly faces numerous insults from Donald Trump, who is upset because she asked him about his offensive comments toward women. …
Fox eventually paid the victims of sexual harassment $50 million, while paying Ailes and O’Reilly $65 million in severance.
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Roger Ailes died age-77 in 2017.
Rupert Murdoch hired him in 1996 to become the CEO of Fox News. In 2016 Ailes was fired, taking a $65 million golden handshake. He was under investigation for sexual harassment from Megyn Kelly and many other women.
Other FOX old men accused of harassing blonde women included:
Fox Sports President Jamie Horowitz
Fox Business Host Charles Payne
Fox News host Bill O’Reilly
Fox News Latino vice president Francisco Cortes
Fox News co-President Jack Abernethy
It was the culture of FOX. Hopefully things are better now.
Personally I wish some billionaire would buy FOX News and fire most of the opinion talking heads.
Doc Martin is still keeping me amused.
Doc and Louisa finally get married. And then, unsurprisingly, separate.
Doc is hopeless.
Eventually … they go to couples therapy.
Over the last few seasons, Jessica Ransom, as Doc’s harried receptionist Morwenna Newcross, has become my favourite character.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Bloodlands is a police procedural set in Ireland.
Intense with unexpected twists and turns.
Veteran detective Tom Brannick is still looking for his wife who disappeared 20 years earlier. Her possible assassin, code-named Goliath, might be back.
It’s well done. But too dark for me to continue to season 2.
Also, there’s no character I particularly like.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
I pretty much like any and every British murder mystery TV show.
I picked this show at random out of dozens of options.
And I enjoyed it though the only character that really appeals is Bailey Patrick as Rob Brady. He’s got the look.
Jennie Jacques as Amber Saunders, a street person, is well done too. A well crafted performance.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Rick McCharles 