Salem Rogers: Model of the Year 1998

A cruel and socially inept model who has been in rehab (and still drinks) for 10 years goes back to the real world. She finds that her assistance is now an author and life coach; and that she is know too old for modeling. She makes a fool of herself at a mall fashion show and becomes a YouTube (social media) icon almost instantaneously. This is so bad - writing especially. All in all, I say: SKIP IT

Just Add Magic

A girl and her two best friends want to make the middle school basketball team. One of them also wants to make the best dessert ever like she use to with her grandmother. Her grandmother has alzheimer's. It's a sweet and innocent - teaching a lesson kind of tv show. It's an Amazon pilot show. All in all, I say: SKIP IT - unless you're under the age of 12.

Table 58

An Amazon pilot which takes place at a middle school. It's a kids show, so the humour is unique. At this middle school each table is for a different clique. Table 58 consists of students that have been kicked out of the clique table. They devise a plan to get back to where they each belong. All in all, I say: SKIP IT unless you're under the age of 12 and like kids shows.

Down Dog

An Amazon pilot about the son of a marijuana farmer who takes his good looks into the Yoga industry. It's boring and predictable. All in all, I say: SKIP IT

Kingsman: The Secret Service

A group of wealthy men found themselves without heirs at the end of WWI or II. They decide to use their money and power for good - the good of England and the world. They are led by a man that goes by Arthur and they each take the name of one of the Knights of the Round Table. Firth (The King's Speech) who plays Galahad picked a lower class kid to be trained and join the Kingsman. The kid is killed leaving Galahad to want to make it up to his family. Years later he takes on the dead kid's son and trains him. Strong (Sherlock Holmes) plays Merlin - the science and technology guy. At the same time a world class bad guy (Jackson from Long Kiss Goodnight) is planning to thin the world's population. Hamill (Star Wars) and Caine (The Dark Knight) also star. The action is AWESOME! All in all, I say: SEE IT - it's got humour too.

John Wick

Reeves (The Matrix) use to be a feared hitman for a local Russian mob. He fell in love (Moynahan from Blue Bloods) who later dies. She leaves him a puppy so he can love something. A young man and his gang take a fancy to Wick's classic car and decide to take it. During the robbery the gang kills Wick's dog. Leguzamo (Carlito's Way) runs a chop shop. The kid brings the car in and Leguzamo hits the kid. Nyqvist (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) the kids father and the Russian mob boss calls Leguzamo and discovers that his idiot son (Allen from Game of Thrones) has killed the dog and stolen the car of the mobs most feared hitman. He prepares for the massacre that will ensue. Reeves is amazing - the martial arts has really paid off. He is graceful and smooth. The action scenes in this a simply amazing. The are art - they are beautiful! Dafoe (Platoon) plays a friend of Reeves. Winters (OZ) plays assistant to the mob boss. McShane (Deadwood) plays a hotel owner - a hotel that is neutral ground and if you break the house rules he has you killed. A lot of HBO former actors appear in this. All in all, I say: RENT IT

Allegiance

Davis (Real Steel) is a Russian spy sent to the US when she was young to marry a man (Cohen from The Carrie Diaries) who had a large company that did work for the US government. They fall in love for real. In order to get his wife out of the spy business he agrees to commit treason. Their oldest daughter (Levieva from Adventureland) - who was rebellious & still is - was trained by Davis' Russian contact to also spy. Thinking they were out the couple at two more children. One of which is Autistic or has Aspergers or something like that. He recent got a job with the CIA. Russia wants him to get a file that lists all their assets in the US. The parents do not want him to know, so they work together to spy on their son in hopes of getting the file first. He is too smart though and figures out who they are. The first episode was fast paced and I'm interested. I'll watch a few more before I decide for sure. All in all, I say: TRY IT

Jupiter Ascending

From the writer directors of The Matrix. Do NOT get your hopes up. It is a convoluted plot. The action is decent. The acting is very decent. The costumes are spectacular. It just didn't mesh well - I think it's editing to blame - that and the typical too philosophical plot. A lot of Hinduism stuff in this. Tatum (Magic Mike), Kunis (The 70s Show), Bean (Game of Thrones), Redmayne (The Theory of Everything), and Booth (Noah) all star. Visually & action wise I would say RENT IT. All in all, I say: SKIP IT at the big theatre.

The White Queen

Based on the real events that followed the War of the Roses in England. Ferguson (The Red Tent) stars. The acting is pretty bad. There wasn't really anything that would draw someone to get involved - just read a history book. All in all, I say: SKIP IT - it wasn't even up to starz caliber - not that the bar is high there.

Reached

3rd and final book in the Matched series. OMG this dragged on and on and on and on and on....
The poetry was way over done. The plot was all about a disease. It was painful. All in all, I say: SKIP IT

Point of Honor

A Virginia family split by the war - some for South & some for the North. The acting is horrible - really bad. I mean really bad! All in all, I say: AW LAWD NO!

Fresh Off the Boat

A Taiwanese family from DC moves to Florida to open a steakhouse. The restaurant isn't really doing well, the kids are struggling to fit in (sort of), and the parents are having to make some adjustments. Even though they lived in DC for awhile -- they lived in Chinatown. In Orlando there is no barrier between them and American culture. It is quick, half hour comedy. I like the comedy, too. All in all, I say: TRY IT

The Man in the High Castle

Japan and Germany won WWII - this is how they would have divided up the states. At first I thought it was just an alternative scenario - it's not - it appears to have a supernatural twist to it. No one is who they seem - which I always find somewhat irritating. I don't get the point, so I got irritated and fast forwarded a lot. Sewell (Dark City) and Davalos (Defiance) star. All in all, I say: SKIP IT. It's an amazon series.

Mad Dogs

IMDb writes, "A group of guys travel to Belize to see an old friend, when things take an unexpectedly dark turn." Chaplin (Murder by Numbers), Imperioli (The Sopranos), Malco (Weeds), and Zahn (Modern Family) are the friends that think they will just vacation, but end up owing a gangster a boat. Zane (Titanic) is the soon to be number one on everyone's hit list. This is an Amazon series. It has my attention - I'll have to see a few more to know if I truly like it. All in all, I say: TRY IT

Grantchester

PBS - Masterpiece Mystery - IMDb writes, "Adapted from book series by James Runcie; Cambridgeshire clergyman Sidney Chambers finds himself investigating a series of mysterious wrongdoings in his small village of Grantchester." It takes place after WWI. It's so good to see Green (Wire in the Blood) again, and Norton (Belle) is cute. It's not your typical murder mystery show. It's also no gore - which is a nice change. All in all, I say: SEE IT

Cocked

Trammell (True Blood) has been trying to get away from his family and their gun business. He is brought back into it and must find a way to make a profit quickly. Lee (Almost Famous) is his addict of a brother. Dennehy (Silverado) is the father. It is a bit to much of slap stick and gross humour. All in all, I say: SKIP IT.  It's an amazon series.

Ellen's Design Challenge

Furniture designers with the help of some famous carpenters make furniture out of various materials within a deadline. It is then judged. The first episode there was a desk that I just drooled over. I don't usually watch reality tv, but I like furniture. It wasn't a bad show on HG TV. All in all, I say: TRY IT - especially if you like design shows.

The Judge

Downey (Less Than Zero), D'Onofrio (Full Metal Jacket), and Strong (Zero Dark Thirty) are three brothers who's father (Duvall from Open Range) was an abusive small town Judge. After the death of their mother they come together to help their father who is not only suffering from terminal cancer, but is also accused of murder. Thornton (Fargo) is the prosecutor, Shepard (Parenthood) is the defense attorney, and Farmiga (Up in the Air) is an ex-girlfriend. It is supposed to take place in Indiana, but it's filmed in Massachusetts. The screenplay is fast paced. The actors they picked are excellent character actors - the characters exceptional. All in all, I say: SEE IT - I rented it.