Saving Private Ryan contains what has been described as the most realistic portrayal of what it was like on the beaches at D-Day ever filmed. And for that reason alone, it is worth watching.

The main part of the story starts after that first day, when a unit receives orders to find a soldier (who has been 'misplaced' with all of the confusion) and give him the news that his 3 brothers have ...

Saving Private Ryan contains what has been described as the most realistic portrayal of what it was like on the beaches at D-Day ever filmed. And for that reason alone, it is worth watching.

The main part of the story starts after that first day, when a unit receives orders to find a soldier (who has been 'misplaced' with all of the confusion) and give him the news that his 3 brothers have been killed in the landing, and that he is being sent home.

The details of this story are fictional, but based on real events. When all the sons of one family were lost in the Pacific, a policy was put in place to try and prevent that from happening again. This occurred on D-Day as well, but the location of the surviving brother was known, and no search was required.

The intensity of the opening landing scenes and the sacrifices made by Tom Hanks' unit to find Ryan make this a must-watch show.

You don't need to have seen the original series, Orphan Black, to enjoy this sequel. The backstory is that a daughter (Kira) of one of the original series clones has grown up to be a scientist. She has created a process that allows human organs for transplant to be "printed". This is done under the umbrella of a billionaire who aspires for the process to be used for more than just individual ...

You don't need to have seen the original series, Orphan Black, to enjoy this sequel. The backstory is that a daughter (Kira) of one of the original series clones has grown up to be a scientist. She has created a process that allows human organs for transplant to be "printed". This is done under the umbrella of a billionaire who aspires for the process to be used for more than just individual organs.

By the end of the show, you must consider a couple of questions. Does this fall into the category of "just because you can do it, should you"? And does the potential for human advancement outweigh the ethical concerns?

A good, but not great show; I watched an episode a day. It has some interesting story elements, but just can't bring the same intensity and great acting that let its original soar for 5 seasons.

Here's my review of the original.

While For All Mankind was a balance ...

While For All Mankind was a balance between technology, personalities, and open celebrations of successes; Star City is much darker, with a strong focus on the paranoia of the Soviets about American spies inside their program. As one character says, "You think EVERYONE is working for the Americans".

The show is in English with all English-speaking actors, which was done for convenience in the production. It would have been nice if the actors had tried to use more of a Russian accent.

This is an alternate history, so there are some events that never happened in our timeline. But given the Soviet obsession with secrecy, perhaps they did ?!

A good show -- I binge-watched it in one weekend.

The Sheep Detectives is a fun little show with talking sheep that must step up to solve the murder of their owner, played by Hugh Jackman. Every evening, Hugh reads murder mysteries to his sheep. Little does he know that they understand him and often figure out who the killer is before he does.

They will need to find a way to help the police solve the mystery. And there's lurking danger ...

The Sheep Detectives is a fun little show with talking sheep that must step up to solve the murder of their owner, played by Hugh Jackman. Every evening, Hugh reads murder mysteries to his sheep. Little does he know that they understand him and often figure out who the killer is before he does.

They will need to find a way to help the police solve the mystery. And there's lurking danger for the herd -- who is going to get ownership of them?

The herd has some fun personalities, and there are opportunities for some of them to overcome fears and insecurities.

In Phantom Lawyer, it is not the lawyer who is a phantom, but his clients. Or ghosts, to be more precise. When moving into a new office that, at one time, belonged to a shaman, Shin I-rang begins to see ghosts of people whose loved ones had once come to the shaman -- wanting to contact them.

The show starts off pretty much as a comedy, with I-rang's shock and adjustment to what is ...

In Phantom Lawyer, it is not the lawyer who is a phantom, but his clients. Or ghosts, to be more precise. When moving into a new office that, at one time, belonged to a shaman, Shin I-rang begins to see ghosts of people whose loved ones had once come to the shaman -- wanting to contact them.

The show starts off pretty much as a comedy, with I-rang's shock and adjustment to what is happening to him. To complicate things, the ghosts can take over his body to interact with the world -- often at very inconvenient and funny times.

I-rand then works to resolve the issues that are keeping the ghosts from moving on. This results in some interesting court cases in which he cannot reveal how he knows some of the details the ghost has told him. It shares this idea of ghosts needing to resolve issues and resentments before moving on with the show Hotel del Luna.

But this is not a pure comedy; about halfway through the series, the cases start to become more serious, touching, and personal.

The show stars Yoo Yeon-seok, who is perfect for the role. We also liked him in Hospital Playlist and Mr. Sunshine.

The Wonderfools is about a group of kids who were experimented on as children and are now young adults with superhero skills starting to manifest. This group of four has been stumbling through life, and their struggles with their emerging powers are played for laughs.

But not all the children in the experiment are as adrift as these four. There is another group working with the mad ...

The Wonderfools is about a group of kids who were experimented on as children and are now young adults with superhero skills starting to manifest. This group of four has been stumbling through life, and their struggles with their emerging powers are played for laughs.

But not all the children in the experiment are as adrift as these four. There is another group working with the mad scientist who is behind all this, and they have a grand plan.

There are some action scenes that will test our heroes' new skills, and they must foil the grand scheme of the doctor who is looking for the formula for eternal life.

So, a cute little 8-episode show to pass the time. Maybe watch one a night. Watch with subtitles or English dubbing.

Stars Park Eun-bin, whom I liked in Extraordinary Attorney Woo, Castaway Diva, and The King's Affection.

The books were epic reads, spanning 8.5 inches on my bookshelf. And while necessarily reduced for television, the show is very dense in content. Which is to say, there are no throwaway lines of dialog. Every scene has material that will surface later. So pay attention to everything that is going on.

There are a lot of characters, and a character map may be useful to understand the ...

The books were epic reads, spanning 8.5 inches on my bookshelf. And while necessarily reduced for television, the show is very dense in content. Which is to say, there are no throwaway lines of dialog. Every scene has material that will surface later. So pay attention to everything that is going on.

There are a lot of characters, and a character map may be useful to understand the relationships. Here is one

The setup ... The Targaryens were rulers of the Seven Kingdoms for centuries. One key to their power was their mastery of Dragons, which they bred, rode, and could command fire from the sky when needed. But eventually, breeding among the family and dragons led to dragons the size of cats. And the final Targaryen King was overthrown primarily because he became known as "The Mad King."

King Baratheon is in power as the story begins, but the kingdom is far from stable, and the heads of the Seven Kingdoms are all looking for a way to claim the throne. The book series is A Song of Ice and Fire, but the first book is called The Game of Thrones. "When you play the game of thrones, you either win or die."

And yes, a lot of people die. Sometimes one of your favorites. Here is a game you can play with your family: make a list of the main characters (or ask an AI to give you one) and give a score to each one as to their chances of surviving to the end and/or becoming the eventual king.

Yes, there is violence, and some of it is directed toward women. When the author J.R.R. Martin was asked about it, he said that, unlike Lord of the Rings, where evil was done by fantasy characters such as Orcs, wraiths, and such, throughout the ages it has been men who excelled in doing evil things.

Martin points out that his books are based on the Middle Ages— ”not a time of sexual egalitarianism”—and in the midst of war, no less. “If you’re going to write about war, and you just want to include all the cool battles and heroes killing a lot of orcs and things like that and you don’t portray [sexual violence], then there’s something fundamentally dishonest about that,” Martin argued. “Rape, unfortunately, is still a part of war today.”

That said, if you are playing that game of betting on who is going to survive to the end. Don't bet against the women.

What about that last season? Yes, when the series outpaces the books and the TV writers are left to their own devices, the quality of the ending suffers -- mostly by fewer episodes and a feeling that the ending was rushed. But don't let that turn you off to the rich detail and characters of the rest of the series.

Bonus fact: Why dragons? Because J.R.R. Martin's little girl asked for them when he said he was going to write a book.

Tehram follows a Mossad computer hacker named Tamar, who is sent to Tehran to hack into Iran's power grid and disable their radar system so Israel can attack their nuclear power plant. But when that mission goes south, while she is still in contact with Mossad, she is on the run from the authorities.

She has a sort of on-again-off-again relationship with her Mossad handlers. Doing some ...

Tehram follows a Mossad computer hacker named Tamar, who is sent to Tehran to hack into Iran's power grid and disable their radar system so Israel can attack their nuclear power plant. But when that mission goes south, while she is still in contact with Mossad, she is on the run from the authorities.

She has a sort of on-again-off-again relationship with her Mossad handlers. Doing some cool stuff, but disobeying orders sometimes as well. Includes some very tense moments, but not a non-stop thriller. There is time to watch her character develop and change.

I thought Season 2 was not quite as strong as Season 1, but Season 3 is very good. Although some late twists make you go WAIT -- WHAT?

Good actors. Hugh Laurie (Dr. House) shows up in Season 3.

Season 1 aired in 2020; since then, there have been some delays due to the story being a bit too close to real-world situations in the Middle East. Likewise, season 4 is delayed due to the current war.

But now you can watch all three seasons and follow the story better.

Ponies - "Persons Of No Interest" defines the two lead characters as the wives of two American spies working attached to the embassy in Moscow in the 1970's. When their husbands are killed, instead of going back to the US, they stay to try to find out why their husbands were killed. Somehow convincing the CIA that they could be useful in doing so.

So OK, you have to just go with the idea ...

Ponies - "Persons Of No Interest" defines the two lead characters as the wives of two American spies working attached to the embassy in Moscow in the 1970's. When their husbands are killed, instead of going back to the US, they stay to try to find out why their husbands were killed. Somehow convincing the CIA that they could be useful in doing so.

So OK, you have to just go with the idea and not think too much about the impracticability of the story. Bea (Emilia Clarke - Mother of Dragons from GoT), speaks Russian well enough to pass for one, and her partner Twila is a bold, brash, street-smart "we can do anything" sort of girl. They stumble their way into a web of Cold War-era audio and video surveillance, where every other person seems to be working for the KGB.

While there are mysteries to unravel, the best part is the interactions between Bea and Twila.

Started watching La Brea --- just because it was on the home screen on Netflix before I checked out any reviews.

It is a bad show and worthy of the 5.8 rating on IMDB. But, here's the thing. It is so bad, the acting, casting, and writing -- that it is almost a comedy. You must keep laughing at the bad decisions being made by people, and some of this show's version of Star Trek's ...

Started watching La Brea --- just because it was on the home screen on Netflix before I checked out any reviews.

It is a bad show and worthy of the 5.8 rating on IMDB. But, here's the thing. It is so bad, the acting, casting, and writing -- that it is almost a comedy. You must keep laughing at the bad decisions being made by people, and some of this show's version of Star Trek's "techno-babble" when it comes to science or computers.

The setup is that a giant sinkhole opens up at the La Brea tar pits and swallows a good chunk of LA. But luckily, people who fall in go through a crack in time and end up landing (gently) on the ground - still in LA, but 12,000 years ago.

All sorts of useful stuff falls through this crack in time as well. and the people have a wide variety of skills that allow them to set up a pretty good camp. Except when they need a crisis, and then whatever they could really use is not there. Over the three seasons, they do a really good job of keeping themselves and their clothes really clean.

Just about every stereotypical character is present. There is a psychologist who has issues of his own: a pot head, a drug dealer, a guy that says I should be in charge, and everyone says "NO". One of the key characters is an ex-Navy Seal, who has become a doctor. But when he has to give CPR, his hands are nowhere close to the correct position, and in the few fights that occur, he seems to have forgotten all this training as a Seal.

I could list more of the absurdities, but I don't want to spoil the fun for you. So ... watchable enough for 3 seasons -- while sorting junk mail or other tasks. I gave it 2.5 hearts for the laughs.

Young Sherlock is not just another series of cases brilliantly solved by Holmes. Yes, each epidode has a "Case of the ___" title, but they are actually elements of two series long story arcs.

And we don't see Sherlock as the polished, 'knows everything from a single glance', adult we met in the books. Here, he is just out of college and still a work in progress.

Two characters, his ...

Young Sherlock is not just another series of cases brilliantly solved by Holmes. Yes, each epidode has a "Case of the ___" title, but they are actually elements of two series long story arcs.

And we don't see Sherlock as the polished, 'knows everything from a single glance', adult we met in the books. Here, he is just out of college and still a work in progress.

Two characters, his father and mother, who were never mentioned in the books, play key roles in this story.

Plus, we meet Moriarty as a classmate and friend. He is just as clever as Sherlock, and we get a glimpse of his future as he is much more comfortable with bending or breaking the rules than Sherlock is.

And of course, Watson is far in the future as well.

So this is a good origin story for Sherlock and a starter for this series, A second season has been green-lighted.

Bugonia is mostly a 2-person film starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons (who you will immediately recognize, but may not be able to name what you've seen him in).

Jesse is not the sharpest knife in the drawer and falls into an "aliens are among us" conspiracy hole on the internet. Convinced that he has identified one, he pressures his brother to go along with a plan to kidnap the head of a ...

Bugonia is mostly a 2-person film starring Emma Stone and Jesse Plemons (who you will immediately recognize, but may not be able to name what you've seen him in).

Jesse is not the sharpest knife in the drawer and falls into an "aliens are among us" conspiracy hole on the internet. Convinced that he has identified one, he pressures his brother to go along with a plan to kidnap the head of a tech company and force a confession from her.

It is a tense psychological drama with a few scenes of brutality, which is also humorous due to the absurdity of some of the story elements.

So while I would not rate it as a great film, I couldn't stop watching.

The Night Agent starts with a low-level FBI employee with a desk job, who suddenly finds himself propelled into the lead field guy in a critical situation.

I was not impressed with Season one, as it seems a lot like "The Recruit", "Jack Ryan", and other shows. But my wife loved it and we stuck with it for its three seasons.

If you like this genre, stick with it as season three ...

The Night Agent starts with a low-level FBI employee with a desk job, who suddenly finds himself propelled into the lead field guy in a critical situation.

I was not impressed with Season one, as it seems a lot like "The Recruit", "Jack Ryan", and other shows. But my wife loved it and we stuck with it for its three seasons.

If you like this genre, stick with it as season three really does deliver as a tense, fast-paced thriller with nice surprises.

"The Last Thing He Told Me" book did not get great reviews, and the show inherited many of the flaws. Most of which are that you can see what the mystery is long before the characters. Also, they do some pretty dumb things occasionally.

Despite that, we found the show interesting enough to watch the 8 episodes in 3 evenings, mostly for the performance of Jennifer Garner.

The story ...

"The Last Thing He Told Me" book did not get great reviews, and the show inherited many of the flaws. Most of which are that you can see what the mystery is long before the characters. Also, they do some pretty dumb things occasionally.

Despite that, we found the show interesting enough to watch the 8 episodes in 3 evenings, mostly for the performance of Jennifer Garner.

The story starts with a missing father and husband, on the day of an announcement of an FBI raid on a startup company related to fraud during their IPO. The abandoned wife and daughter must try to piece together what has happened.

While it's hard to describe this old series as great, it is just a lot of fun to watch. went back recently and watched the entire series again, and I only found a few episodes that I thought were just so-so.

In case you don't know, the premise is that thousands of years ago, aliens did visit Earth regularly in Egypt. They had discovered that the human body could be 'repaired' easily ...

While it's hard to describe this old series as great, it is just a lot of fun to watch. went back recently and watched the entire series again, and I only found a few episodes that I thought were just so-so.

In case you don't know, the premise is that thousands of years ago, aliens did visit Earth regularly in Egypt. They had discovered that the human body could be 'repaired' easily with their technology and used us as hosts for their actual form. What we know as the Egyptian gods were actually the names of these aliens.

They also transplanted humans all over the galaxy, so there would be a ready supply, using the "Stargate" to travel between worlds.

The Egyptians revolted and buried the gate, where it remained "off-line" until recently. The movie told the story of how we figured out how to work it. This series picks up the story as we start visiting these other (now human-populated) worlds.

So there are a multitude of worlds to visit, and of course, those aliens are still out there. Very episodic but with good writers. And most importantly, it doesn't take itself too seriously. There are a lot of funny elements. You just love the characters.

I have to also recommend the spin-offs: Stargate Atlantis and Stargate Universe.

I think "In the Blink of an Eye" is a film that is trying to say something about how short a span of time humankind has really existed. It's an OK little film that I found more interesting than the critic's reivews.

The story spans 46000 years of human existence with three story lines: 45000 BC, present day, and 400 years in the future. There is a thin connecting element to the stories. ...

I think "In the Blink of an Eye" is a film that is trying to say something about how short a span of time humankind has really existed. It's an OK little film that I found more interesting than the critic's reivews.

The story spans 46000 years of human existence with three story lines: 45000 BC, present day, and 400 years in the future. There is a thin connecting element to the stories.

I found the characters in the pre-history story the most interesting. The future story takes place on a spaceship going to colonize a new world. I thought the crisis that had to be solved was really bad engineering design.

There were a lot of interesting ideas presented, and I wish the first and last time periods could have had more time given to them.

Chief of War tells the story of Hawaii's Kamehameha's rise to power from the point of view of his Chief of War (think general) Ka'iana. Filmed in Hawaii with Hawaiian actors, and speaking Hawaiian much of the time. It is reported to be very historically accurate.

The story takes place on three islands where regional chiefs are all plotting to become the next king. It also follows ...

Chief of War tells the story of Hawaii's Kamehameha's rise to power from the point of view of his Chief of War (think general) Ka'iana. Filmed in Hawaii with Hawaiian actors, and speaking Hawaiian much of the time. It is reported to be very historically accurate.

The story takes place on three islands where regional chiefs are all plotting to become the next king. It also follows Ha'iana's travels on a "paleskin's ship" to Alaska, China, and the Philippines, where he learns things that will help him in the future war when he returns home.

Ka'iana is played by Jason Momoa, a big guy who you may recognize from Game of Thrones and a lot of other shows.

Georgia lost her husband 3 years ago, in a plane crash in the Congo, where he visited occasionally while working with a charity. When she thinks she sees him in the background of a news story about violence in the DRC. She leaves the quiet comfort of her home in Wales and goes to the DRC to investigate.

There is a parallel story about a blind man who has some connection to the crash, and ...

Georgia lost her husband 3 years ago, in a plane crash in the Congo, where he visited occasionally while working with a charity. When she thinks she sees him in the background of a news story about violence in the DRC. She leaves the quiet comfort of her home in Wales and goes to the DRC to investigate.

There is a parallel story about a blind man who has some connection to the crash, and these will eventually come together.

The show also provides a look into the issues that make the DRC such a volatile place. (It was actually filmed in South Africa, because it was too dangerous in the DRC). Each episode includes a twist that will keep you watching.

Kate Beckinsale stars as the widow who is determined to understand what actually happened with that flight and what her husband was actually involved with in the DRC.

The ending of the show felt a little rushed and too easy, but it is worth watching. There was only one minor thread that was left unresolved.

Apple TV's Plur1bus is a new take on an alien invasion. The tag line is "The most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness. Not that you find anything unpleasant about Carol, but she doesn't start as a character you immediately like. But she is definitely a glass-half-empty person.

When almost everyone in the world passes out Carol finds herself in a world where ...

Apple TV's Plur1bus is a new take on an alien invasion. The tag line is "The most miserable person on Earth must save the world from happiness. Not that you find anything unpleasant about Carol, but she doesn't start as a character you immediately like. But she is definitely a glass-half-empty person.

When almost everyone in the world passes out Carol finds herself in a world where everyone has woken up being happy, helpful, and determined to fix her so she will be happy too. But because their primary concern is her happiness, and she tells them that fixing her would make her unhappy, they agree to leave her alone... sort of.

But she is not alone; there are a dozen others like her, but scattered all around the world. So how do "they" know there are a dozen others? They are joined in a sort of a hive mind where the knowledge of anyone can be available to anyone else. There is no longer a need for phones, TV shows, or the internet, as all knowledge and communication can be telepathically shared. Their desire for happiness extends to most other living things as well as the planet.

So there is now a universal desire to fix climate change, poverty, and live in harmony with all other living things on the planet. Think about that last statement. Can you think of any side effects of not wanting to harm any living thing?

The show doesn't obsess with the ramifications of this, but they are there for us to think about. And I think this is a show that you might want to pause between episodes to give yourself time to think about what that world would actually be like.

In a world where no one is dissatisfied, where is the spark of inspiration for invention? There will never be a new novel, play, or musical composition, because as soon as someone starts to think of it, everyone can know how it ends or what it sounds like. Everyone is happy, but with no real reason to be so. But they don't realize this; for them, it is the most wonderful thing.

So, back to the tag line. Carol is a fantasy-romance book writer, not a scientist. So what can she do to save the world?

I have been watching Blacklist off and on over the years and have been sort of hot and cold to it. It stars James Spader, from Boston Legal and the original Stargate Movie. In Blacklist, his character has a lot of similarities to that of Boston Legal, especially his attitude, so if you enjoyed him in BL, you should give this a watch.

In this show, he is a master mind criminal, named ...

I have been watching Blacklist off and on over the years and have been sort of hot and cold to it. It stars James Spader, from Boston Legal and the original Stargate Movie. In Blacklist, his character has a lot of similarities to that of Boston Legal, especially his attitude, so if you enjoyed him in BL, you should give this a watch.

In this show, he is a master mind criminal, named Raymond Reddington, but he does have some limits -- he will not work with drugs -- but has no hesitation about killing anyone. But he will facilitate the transfer of just about anything else for a nice fee, and he is at the top of the FBI's Most Wanted List. But he has decided to turn himself in to the FBI, and become an informant --providing the FBI with leads on a host of criminals, most of which the FBI doesn't even know exist, in exchange for an immunity deal. This is The Blacklist.

He delivers, and each episode has the FBI tracking down one of these criminals. But it is a deal with the devil. Reddington is still flying all around the world and running his criminal empire. The FBI catches some big fish and stops terrorist plots, but has to look the other way, as more often than not, Reddington finds a way to profit from having the FBI remove a competitor.

It is episodic, with each show focusing on another person on the list, and some are better than others. And there are times when I find myself screaming at the TV because the FBI is so inept at some things. And then there are the times when the FBI hacker can get into any database in the world in only a few seconds. Except when the story requires more time. So don't look for consistency in competence.

But just when I start getting bored, they come up with an exceptional episode and I keep watching.

The overall story arc is the mysterious relationship between Reddington and Elisabeth Keen, one of the FBI agents. She is special to him in some way, but that story will take 8 seasons to become clear.

So I found it uneven at times, but the first several years are very entertaining, so I do recommend taking a look.

Been seeing a lot of ads for Greenland 2, so I watched the original 2020 movie.

Pretty typical disaster movie. A family trying against all odds to get to shelter before the end of the world as we know it. Numerous plot holes and improbable events are occurring. I was doing some photo editing while watching it and didn't feel that I missed out on any key parts of the story.

So, an OK ...

Been seeing a lot of ads for Greenland 2, so I watched the original 2020 movie.

Pretty typical disaster movie. A family trying against all odds to get to shelter before the end of the world as we know it. Numerous plot holes and improbable events are occurring. I was doing some photo editing while watching it and didn't feel that I missed out on any key parts of the story.

So, an OK movie if you like this genre.

Will be interesting to see if Greenland 2 is more of the same - crisis after crisis, or deals more with challenges of rebuilding a destroyed world.

WPC 56 is a nice little British police series about a woman who starts working at a small town police station in the 1950's. She faces a lot of resistance from men who initially treat her more like a secretary. She slowly earns the respect of some of the men, but it is a constant struggle in that male-dominated environment and time period.

Pretty good puzzles to solve. My wife, who is into ...

WPC 56 is a nice little British police series about a woman who starts working at a small town police station in the 1950's. She faces a lot of resistance from men who initially treat her more like a secretary. She slowly earns the respect of some of the men, but it is a constant struggle in that male-dominated environment and time period.

Pretty good puzzles to solve. My wife, who is into British crime shows, liked it, but I found it just OK. Oh, and they changed the lead in the 3rd season, which was a disappointment for me.

The best parts of The Island are Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor as residents in a facility where everyone has names like Lincoln Six Echo and wears pretty much identical clothes. The similarities to "Logan's Run" don't end there; the film borrows elements from a lot of ideas from other stories, such as Fahrenheit 451 and THX 1138.

The residents are told that there has been a ...

The best parts of The Island are Scarlett Johansson and Ewan McGregor as residents in a facility where everyone has names like Lincoln Six Echo and wears pretty much identical clothes. The similarities to "Logan's Run" don't end there; the film borrows elements from a lot of ideas from other stories, such as Fahrenheit 451 and THX 1138.

The residents are told that there has been a contagion that has killed most life on earth, and the facility they are in finds survivors and nurses them back to health. Occasionally, someone is randomly selected to go to The Island, which is the last untouched place on earth, to live -- like the film "3%".

But our characters begin to feel that something is a bit off, and when they escape the facility (though a hatch that is labeled "Silo"), they are shocked to learn the truth.

There are a lot of car chases and crashes, and ultimately, the film wraps up the story way too easily.

The Eternaut is an Argentine series, based on a graphic novel from the 1950's. It follows a group of ordinary people who work together to survive when an alien attack occurs. But there are no spaceships and death rays; the attack comes from overcast skies and a snow that kills everyone it touches. Something apparently like an EMP has stopped all electronics from working and with that, all ...

The Eternaut is an Argentine series, based on a graphic novel from the 1950's. It follows a group of ordinary people who work together to survive when an alien attack occurs. But there are no spaceships and death rays; the attack comes from overcast skies and a snow that kills everyone it touches. Something apparently like an EMP has stopped all electronics from working and with that, all communications. The result is an immediately silent world with a gentle snowfall.

The group's solutions to problems are low-tech but inventive. This is a story that pulls you into this world slowly, and the true nature of the invaders is also revealed very slowly. A second season is in the works that will complete the stor.y

Bon Appétit, Your Majesty could be called a K-Drama or a rom-com, but it plays most scenes for laughs, with the two lead characters often giving voice-overs for their thoughts. As with most Korean Joseon period shows, there are those in the Royal family and Ministers who are plotting against the King.

The story has a modern-day chef who has just won a major cooking competition, reading a ...

Bon Appétit, Your Majesty could be called a K-Drama or a rom-com, but it plays most scenes for laughs, with the two lead characters often giving voice-overs for their thoughts. As with most Korean Joseon period shows, there are those in the Royal family and Ministers who are plotting against the King.

The story has a modern-day chef who has just won a major cooking competition, reading a Joseon manuscript about cooking during a flight. When a lunar eclipse occurs, she suddenly finds herself transported into that time period where her appearance draws accusations of being a witch. When she protests that she is just a cook, the king demands that she prepare a meal which he will judge to decide if she should be beheaded.

What follows is a series of cooking challenges, which all look just like something you would see on the cable cooking channels. If you enjoy those contests, you should find this show interesting.

Will she and the King fall in love? Will the King be deposed? Will she find a way home?

This is a fun show, but not one that we needed to binge-watch; one episode a night was enough for us. It is available in English, and the dubbing is good enough so that any lip-sync issues are not a distraction.

Amy Adams (as Louise Banks), leads a team of scientists working with loosely cooperating military from all over the world to attempt to communicate with aliens. There are some stereotypical people that want to shoot first ... but the focus is on the scientists.

The problem is the aliens language is visual and defies all anticipated methods of attempting communication. And there are ...

Amy Adams (as Louise Banks), leads a team of scientists working with loosely cooperating military from all over the world to attempt to communicate with aliens. There are some stereotypical people that want to shoot first ... but the focus is on the scientists.

The problem is the aliens language is visual and defies all anticipated methods of attempting communication. And there are events occurring that create some time pressure to solve the puzzle.

Of course they will eventually solve the syntax and name puzzles but only Louise will truely understand the powerful secret that fully comprehending the language provides.

This understanding will change her life and present her with an interesting philosophical choice. Something that you can consider as well.

Nine Puzzles is a good mystery, and it is available dubbed in English, which makes it more accessible for some viewers. It starts with a teenager discovering the body of her uncle and is traumatized to the point that she can't really remember much about that day. In fact, she begins to wonder if she might have killed him.

There is no evidence to say she did, and later in the first episode, ...

Nine Puzzles is a good mystery, and it is available dubbed in English, which makes it more accessible for some viewers. It starts with a teenager discovering the body of her uncle and is traumatized to the point that she can't really remember much about that day. In fact, she begins to wonder if she might have killed him.

There is no evidence to say she did, and later in the first episode, we skip ten years into the future, where she is now a criminal profiler. But still getting counseling.

The puzzles come into play when another killing occurs and a jigsaw puzzle piece is delivered to her. She then reveals that she had another puzzle piece from her uncle's death. The two fit together, and it will not be the last puzzle piece to show up after more killings.

My problem with the show, and hence my low rating, is that the actress was apparently cast for the opening scene as a teenager, but then also plays the same character 10 years older. She has a higher-pitched voice and a look that fits with a teenager, but is not convincing as an adult. Add to this her choice of clothes, and it is hard to keep from constantly thinking she is too young to be an experienced criminal profiler.

But putting that aside, it is a good mystery and worth watching.

In Dept. Q, Carl, a brilliant but hard-to-work-with detective, is played by Matthew Goode ("A Discovery of Witches").

He returns to work after having been shot and is assigned to a newly formed cold case department. It seems more of a reason to marginalize him, as he is given a basement bathroom for this team's office. His "team" is one guy (Akram) who is a consultant for the police ...

In Dept. Q, Carl, a brilliant but hard-to-work-with detective, is played by Matthew Goode ("A Discovery of Witches").

He returns to work after having been shot and is assigned to a newly formed cold case department. It seems more of a reason to marginalize him, as he is given a basement bathroom for this team's office. His "team" is one guy (Akram) who is a consultant for the police department. He does pick up another misfit partner along the way.

When there is some interest by the press (due to his notoriety of having survived being shot in the neck), in what cases he will be working on, they decide to look into a prosecutor (Merritt Lingard), who simply vanished one day four years ago.

The show switches between the events of Merritt's life before she disappeared, the parallel investigation of his shooting, and the current work on uncovering what happened to her.

The story is based on a series of books by a Danish author, some of which have been made into Danish TV shows, which are part of a type of detective/mystery shows popular in several Scandinavian countries (Search for the genre: Nordic Noir to see a list of other shows I've reviewed). So this is a remake of the Danish show that has been relocated to Scotland.

There are plenty of suspicious characters and some good twitches. It's been renewed for a second season.

The Lazarus Project has a unique concept for time travel stories and is worth watching.

Instead of people traveling back and forth, someone has created a singularity and a way to control it, such that it can act like a checkpoint save in a video game. This means that if you are about to do something dangerous, you save the game, and then if you die, you can go back to your last ...

The Lazarus Project has a unique concept for time travel stories and is worth watching.

Instead of people traveling back and forth, someone has created a singularity and a way to control it, such that it can act like a checkpoint save in a video game. This means that if you are about to do something dangerous, you save the game, and then if you die, you can go back to your last checkpoint and try again. This checkpoint resets automatically each solar year on Midnight July 1st.

Science nerds will recognize that the solar year is really 365.25 days long, so it would not occur at midnight each year, but ... whatever.

There is a machine that can trigger the singularity to restore the world to the checkpoint. No one knows this has happened, except for a few who control the machine. They have a serum that can allow their team to remember what happened.

There are very few people in the world who are aware of this. You don't really want governments to know about it, because they would all want to control it. So we have a team of ethical mad scientists (and tactical team) that work in secret to save the world (or at least humanity) when necessary. The worst case being WWIII or a true extinction-level pandemic. It has only been used a few times.

This idea does allow some interesting ideas to be explored by the show. Take, for example, the film House of Dyamite in which an ICBM is targeted at the US. If it should explode, should this team act to try and prevent it?

If it triggers a nuclear exchange, then obviously they should. But what if the US does not respond with nuclear weapons? If you reset to the checkpoint, there is no guarantee that events the next time around will unfold exactly the same. Perhaps you end up making things worse. So, how many deaths are enough to risk changing things?

Another philosophical question is what you would be willing to do in your attempt to prevent the disaster? On your first time looping back, you gather information but can't stop the disaster. Remember, you will be able to remember what bits you learn in the next loop. So you keep resetting and get closer and closer to finding the right thing to change to prevent it. But let's say someone has information you need. Could you torture them or kill their family to get them to talk? Knowing that it will all be reversed on the next retry. But you still have to live with those memories of what you had done forever.

So a good show -- at least season one is. But in season two, they introduced another group building a true time travel machine to send people back, and we get a typical convoluted story with multiple versions of the same people fighting each other. *sigh* Rotten Tomatoes gave it 100%, but that was just for season one. My 3.0 rating was also just for their effort on season one.

So do watch season one, and then decide if you want to continue to season 2.

House of Dynamite tells a single story from 3 points of view -- the events leading up to a missile attack on the United States. It highlights the confusion that can occur in such a situation when your expected sources of information and capabilities fall short.

The problem is that the 3 points of view are not interwoven, but told serially.

That first segment is very well done. ...

House of Dynamite tells a single story from 3 points of view -- the events leading up to a missile attack on the United States. It highlights the confusion that can occur in such a situation when your expected sources of information and capabilities fall short.

The problem is that the 3 points of view are not interwoven, but told serially.

That first segment is very well done. But in the other segments, all of the suspense and surprises are gone, and you are left with just details of the characters who were represented only by telephone or video conference in the first segment.

A great cast, but it really should be the first installment of a two or three-part mini-series.

One of the items that came with him was a photograph of him and Miko. But when her image on the ...

One of the items that came with him was a photograph of him and Miko. But when her image on the photograph begins to fade as he starts to use his modern medical skills, it occurs to him that doing so might change the future and perhaps his own future life.

Time travel stories can easily get messy depending on how the time travel is supposed to work, and this one is no exception. So don't think too hard about it.

Japan in the 1860s is in the middle of a shift of power from the Tokagawa Shogunate back to the Emperor. Contact with the Western world has brought guns and some medical knowledge. Jin is accepted into the "Western Medicine" group of doctors who come to recognize his expertise, even though he can't tell them how he knows it all.

Season one has a strong focus on medicine and developing relationships, including a couple of complicated love interests. Season two includes more of the historical drama and conflict of the Meiji Restoration.

An attempt to explain the time travel is made in the last episode, but it still leaves some questions. But overall, a series worth watching if you are interested in the genre or historical period.

The Pitt deserves the Emmy it received for Outstanding Drama. It is the best medical drama I've ever seen. The story develops in "real-time", like the show 24, with each episode covering an hour of a 15-hour shift in the ER department of a Pittsburgh hospital.

As you would expect for an ER department, it is fast-paced with several overlapping mini-stories with several patients. Another ...

The Pitt deserves the Emmy it received for Outstanding Drama. It is the best medical drama I've ever seen. The story develops in "real-time", like the show 24, with each episode covering an hour of a 15-hour shift in the ER department of a Pittsburgh hospital.

As you would expect for an ER department, it is fast-paced with several overlapping mini-stories with several patients. Another factor is that this is the first day of several Interns' rotation in the ER.

You do need to pay attention because, in between the medical action, a lot of information about the backstories of the doctors and nurses is included, but delivered in small bites.

Perhaps not for the squeamish, as the medical procedure closeups are very realistic looking.

This film is perhaps more popular for the music than the story. It borrows a lot from Korean folklore about demons, spirits, messengers, Gwi-Ma - mastermind evil guy, and animals such as tigers and magpies. As the name suggests, it is a musical, and with a simple story, the music is the main enjoyment of watching it.

There is also a mystical barrier called the honmoon that keeps all ...

This film is perhaps more popular for the music than the story. It borrows a lot from Korean folklore about demons, spirits, messengers, Gwi-Ma - mastermind evil guy, and animals such as tigers and magpies. As the name suggests, it is a musical, and with a simple story, the music is the main enjoyment of watching it.

There is also a mystical barrier called the honmoon that keeps all these nasty beings out of our world. Maintaining the strength of this Honmoon is the job of the three-girl K-pop singing group Huntr/x. If they can get all of their fans united in singing along and feeling the song's emotion, then the Honmoon barrier will be strengthened and be good for another generation. (Or something like that).

But there is trouble brewing -- Gwi-Ma is sending a competing group of boy K-pop singers, The Saja Boys, into the world to compete for fans.

A fun little animated family film with some good songs. You can listen to the best of them here on Spotify.

On top of the fight to save the world, there is a forbidden love story involving the lead singers of the girl and boy groups. Plus a secret to be revealed.

I was going to say this was a slice of life sort of series, but it's actually almost an entire life -- the life of Ae-Sun.

We meet Ae-Sun as a young girl living with her mother on the island of JeJu. Her mother is a diver who collects critters from the seafloor by hand to sell in the local market. It's a hard and sometimes dangerous way to make a living.

As a young girl, Ae-Sun ...

I was going to say this was a slice of life sort of series, but it's actually almost an entire life -- the life of Ae-Sun.

We meet Ae-Sun as a young girl living with her mother on the island of JeJu. Her mother is a diver who collects critters from the seafloor by hand to sell in the local market. It's a hard and sometimes dangerous way to make a living.

As a young girl, Ae-Sun wants to leave the island, go to college, and become a writer. But escaping the life she was born into is going to be challenging.

She, of course, falls in love. But even with a partner in life, escaping from the island and poverty is not easy.

When Ae-Sun eventually has a daughter, we are told that the daughter looks a lot like her mother did when she was a child. This allows the same actress (IU) to play Ae-Sun as a teenager and also Ae-Sun's daughter -- and IU does it very well.

This can make the show a little confusing at first, so it's important to notice the year that occasionally pops up in the lower right-hand corner of the screen, as there are a lot of flashbacks

Ae-sun's life has a lot of ups and downs. Just when things seem to be going so well, there is something new to struggle with. Hers is a story of perseverance against all odds. This is not an action show; your enjoyment of the story will depend on how well you can settle in and pay attention to the details of her life journey.

The show is dubbed in English, but as always, I prefer the original language with subtitles.

In this five-part series, which originally aired on PBS, we learn a bit about a group of women who worked with Alan Turing at Bletchley Park during WWII, solving the riddle of and decoding German Enigma-coded messages. All of their work was highly classified - even after the war.

Now, years after the war, one of them becomes interested in a series of murders and enlists the aid of her ...

In this five-part series, which originally aired on PBS, we learn a bit about a group of women who worked with Alan Turing at Bletchley Park during WWII, solving the riddle of and decoding German Enigma-coded messages. All of their work was highly classified - even after the war.

Now, years after the war, one of them becomes interested in a series of murders and enlists the aid of her former co-workers to find the killer. Skilled in pattern recognition, the group finds clues that are beyond the scope of normal police methods.

Wicked tells the story of how the Wicked Witch of the West became Wicked. The film starts with the Munchkins celebrating the death of the witch. When Good Witch Glinda arrives to confirm the news, she happens to mention that she was once friends with Elphaba and that she wasn't always Wicked. The rest of the film is a flashback telling that story.

We learn Elphaba was born green and ...

Wicked tells the story of how the Wicked Witch of the West became Wicked. The film starts with the Munchkins celebrating the death of the witch. When Good Witch Glinda arrives to confirm the news, she happens to mention that she was once friends with Elphaba and that she wasn't always Wicked. The rest of the film is a flashback telling that story.

We learn Elphaba was born green and despite being scorned and ridiculed, loves and is protective of her sister, who is confined to a wheelchair. When they go off to college, she is assigned to a room with Glinda, and they eventually become good friends.

When Elphaba's natural talent with magic becomes evident, she attracts the attention of one of the teachers, and this is when the story turns dark.

The film comprises only Act 1 of the stage show, but with the 2:40-plus hour to work with, I felt that the characters still ended up being somewhat one-dimensional. Glenda especially seems to be patterned after Barbie.

Good songs, and the singing was good. And the Defying Gravity closing was well done. But while I enjoyed it, it just didn't wow me.

Firefly is a fun show that can best be described as a space cowboy show --- mankind has traveled to another star system that has abundant planets and moons that are habitable. Some settlements are modern, but others appear to be stuck in the 1880's.

Firefly is the story of a small crew of a space transport ship that hauls goods between worlds, and if the opportunity arises, some ...

Firefly is a fun show that can best be described as a space cowboy show --- mankind has traveled to another star system that has abundant planets and moons that are habitable. Some settlements are modern, but others appear to be stuck in the 1880's.

Firefly is the story of a small crew of a space transport ship that hauls goods between worlds, and if the opportunity arises, some contraband as well. It has an eclectic set of memorable characters that interact well with each other. Including very young actors: Morena Baccarin (V and Deadpool) as a 'companion', Jewel Staite (Stargate: Atlantis) as the ship's engineer, Alan Tudyk (Resident Alien) as the pilot, and Nathan Fillion (Castle) as the Captain, plus 4 more.

It is somewhat episodic but does have an overall story arc. Canceled after 13 episodes, but there was a follow-up movie: "Serenity".

Resident Playbook is a spin-off of the very popular Hospital Playlist series. It follows 4 OBGYN Residents through their first year. This show has more comedy than its parent show. It highlights their frustrations, self-doubts, successes, and romances.

The main character Oh Yi-young, started a residency but was let go because she kept making so many mistakes. She went to work at a ...

Resident Playbook is a spin-off of the very popular Hospital Playlist series. It follows 4 OBGYN Residents through their first year. This show has more comedy than its parent show. It highlights their frustrations, self-doubts, successes, and romances.

The main character Oh Yi-young, started a residency but was let go because she kept making so many mistakes. She went to work at a clinic, but then left that job due to unexplained circumstances (at least until the end of the show). Now with a great deal of debt, she returns to work at the hospital, where she is given another chance due to the OBGYN department being understaffed.

Yi-young and the other three 1st-year residents struggle to please the professors and the 2nd-year residents. They bond together in their shared position at the bottom of the hierarchy. Each one of them is dealing with their own issues with the work and the senior staff.

A fun show. It's also dubbed in English, but I usually prefer to hear the actors' original voices.

Of all the Star Wars spin-off shows and films, this is by far the best. While the official genres may include action or thriller, I think this show is more about characters and ideas.

This story takes place in between Episodes III and IV of the films and tells the story of the early days of the rebellion.

Remember the projection of Leia with the Death Star plans? How those ...

Of all the Star Wars spin-off shows and films, this is by far the best. While the official genres may include action or thriller, I think this show is more about characters and ideas.

This story takes place in between Episodes III and IV of the films and tells the story of the early days of the rebellion.

Remember the projection of Leia with the Death Star plans? How those plans got into the Droid is explained in the film Rogue One, which featured the character Cassian Andor. Now, Cassian becomes the focus as we learn his backstory.

From a guy just trying to get by and take care of his mother, We see how he was pulled into being a dedicated member of the rebellion. Along with him, we see how so many people sacrificed their lives to the cause of resisting the imperial control of people's lives.

While Luke, Leia, and Han are celebrated as heroes, nothing they did would have been possible without the efforts of many years of the people you meet in this series.

when the head usher is found dead, the police bring in an outside detective to investigate.

In addition to her own oddities, there are a lot of stereotypical characters with obsessions that border on the absurd. And it seems that everyone might ...

when the head usher is found dead, the police bring in an outside detective to investigate.

In addition to her own oddities, there are a lot of stereotypical characters with obsessions that border on the absurd. And it seems that everyone might have a motive. It will keep you guessing until the end.

In this case, a the son of a Pakistani official has been kidnapped by a ...

In this case, a the son of a Pakistani official has been kidnapped by a group claiming to shortly behead him on a live steam as a warning to the influx of refugees.

While all of MI5 is working on finding and stopping this group, things are not as they seem.

Flow is a wonderful animated film about a cat's struggles to survive after a great flood destroyed its home --- and pretty much everything else.

The story follows the cat through a series of narrow escapes and periods of respite. Most of the time, the cat is on a boat that drifts/sails through a landscape that the yet still high water has transformed. During its journey, it faces ...

Flow is a wonderful animated film about a cat's struggles to survive after a great flood destroyed its home --- and pretty much everything else.

The story follows the cat through a series of narrow escapes and periods of respite. Most of the time, the cat is on a boat that drifts/sails through a landscape that the yet still high water has transformed. During its journey, it faces constant new dangers but also meets other animal refugees that work together to help each other.

There are no humans, and the animals do not speak. Their only communication is through the actions and vocalizing they naturally make. Some of their actions are human-like, but this is not excessive like you would see in a Disney film.

They exist in somewhat of a fantasy world, familiar to but not quite ours.

Well worth the 85 minutes. It's not an animated film you can just keep an eye on while doing something else. Turn the lights down and let yourself be immersed in the story of this Oscar-winning film.

Prime Target is about a young brilliant mathematician who is working on a formula to find prime numbers. This is significant because prime numbers are used in cryptography, and the premise of the show is that if he is successful, all personal and National secrets that are encrypted could be exposed.

When he starts to get close, all sorts of people and organizations begin to get ...

Prime Target is about a young brilliant mathematician who is working on a formula to find prime numbers. This is significant because prime numbers are used in cryptography, and the premise of the show is that if he is successful, all personal and National secrets that are encrypted could be exposed.

When he starts to get close, all sorts of people and organizations begin to get interested in him, and not all of them have his best interest at heart.

This reminds me of a Dan Brown book where they don't let actual facts get in the way of telling a story.

1. What he is doing doesn't really impact the security of anything.
2. And the idea that the NSA wants to get it so they can "keep it safe"is ludicrous. In that case, just shoot the guy and be done with it.
3. His girlfriend seems to be able to hack into any system she wants without his super algorithm.

But the show doesn't focus on any details of the math --- it's really just him and one friend trying to stay one step ahead of people who are trying to find him. There are several murders and constant questioning of who can be trusted

It's an okay thriller; just don't think too much about it.

This pairs her with him for the investigation as they try to unravel the leads. The FBI's BAU is missing from this show, and it's up to these two to profile the killer and run ...

This pairs her with him for the investigation as they try to unravel the leads. The FBI's BAU is missing from this show, and it's up to these two to profile the killer and run down major leads.

I thought it was good but not exceptional. My wife, who likes detective shows, enjoyed it more.

Shailene Woodley who plays the rookie cop was the lead in the Divergent series.

Zero Day is the name given to a major cyber attack on the US that kills 3600 people. A former president (Robert De Niro), is asked to head the Zero Day Commission to investigate and is given broad (unconstitutional ?) powers to do so.

There are several twists and false leads, but one of the main aspects is that we are not quite sure that the older president is mentally up to the task. ...

Zero Day is the name given to a major cyber attack on the US that kills 3600 people. A former president (Robert De Niro), is asked to head the Zero Day Commission to investigate and is given broad (unconstitutional ?) powers to do so.

There are several twists and false leads, but one of the main aspects is that we are not quite sure that the older president is mentally up to the task.

The show also plays with the question of how we can tell what is true these days.

It was Entertaining enough that we watched two (of the six) episodes a night.

In The Gorge, we meet two expert snipers. One an American, the other from Lithuania. Both are offered a special assignment that will require them to have only limited contact with the world for a year. Only when they arrive on site are they told, by the person they are replacing, what the exact assignment is.

They, along with several automated weapon systems,are to prevent anything from ...

In The Gorge, we meet two expert snipers. One an American, the other from Lithuania. Both are offered a special assignment that will require them to have only limited contact with the world for a year. Only when they arrive on site are they told, by the person they are replacing, what the exact assignment is.

They, along with several automated weapon systems,are to prevent anything from getting out of a deep, narrow gorge. They each live in an observation tower on opposite sides of the gorge where they can each see and shoot anything coming up their side or the other side.

While they work together, they are forbidden to have any contact, but with one of them being an attractive woman, you can guess that rule might not last long.

There is a bit of a mystery here. Just what is in the gorge that they are protecting the world from? Why not just bomb the place and be done with it?

An OK action flick with some romance and a bit of a mystery.