TV | The Kennedys | Didn't Like It

Who cares about the story of somebody's wacky family? It was like The Goldbergs...and equally unfunny. I sure do like Parkinson, though. But this wasn't a great project for her, especially in all of the other great things she's been in lately (hello....Inside No. 9!!!!!).

TV | The Walking Dead (Season 6, Second Half) | Really Liked It

Still marvelous and must-see tv. Funny how the plot(s) wandering into a full-on soap opera-level who's sleeping with who drama. That's hilarious but it did make perfect sense, too.

Movie | Gog | Didn't Like It

Another stinker.

TV | Cuckoo (Series 3) | Really Liked It

The genius Britcom continues to roll. Hilarious and just plain awesome!

Movie | The Future | Didn't Like It

The stuff with the cat was absolutely heart wrenching, but I wanted to punch the two main human characters they were so annoying. Just painful, though it was beautifully shot.

Movie | Beyond the Time Barrier | Didn't Like It

Just too slow and not terribly entertaining, even though there was some really good B-movie funk going on.

Movie | Arena | Didn't Like It

Like a bad episode of the original Battlestar Galactica.

TV | The Aliens | REALLY Liked It

So much more fun than Colony.

Movie | Kill or Be Killed | Liked It

Classic low budget Western; well made, with a mostly unrecognizable cast. This is how it was done back in the day and the usual critiques that the acting was less than stellar still apply...but that doesn't ruin a thing if you truly love Westerns as much as I do. The dialogue was extremely difficult and could have used some simplification, I think. It seemed hard for the actors to spit them out at times and it was hard to understand them at others.

This was a really decent movie, for what it was. No, it isn't as slick as recent genre entries like Diablo and Bone Tomahawk, but then it probably cost a fraction of what those films did. I particularly liked Justin Meeks' performance, who also co-directed and co-wrote it.

Rule 2.

TV | Cardinal Burns | Liked It

Tried this again and this time it did catch on with me.

TV | Crims | Liked It

I'm becoming quite the fan of Elis James.

Movie | Burnt Offerings | Didn't Like It

This is what The Shining could have been if it were a tv movie.

TV | Broad City (Season 3) | Really Liked It

The ladies continue to lay it down brilliantly.

Movie | Ip Man 3 | Liked It

I enjoyed it. Fortunately, there's minimal wuxia. The Mike Tyson character doesn't make a lot of sense but this isn't a documentary. Remember that, relax and you too will enjoy watching it. Disappointing soundtrack that at best retreads the original hook and at worst sounds like Chinese elevator/bad soap-opera music, but an excellent addition to the series. Thanks WG, for the preview copy!

TV | Ordinary Lies | Really Liked It

This was far better than I expected. It's from the guy who wrote Shameless, so I shouldn't have been surprised.

Movie | Antiviral | Really Liked It

Brandon Cronenberg follows in his father's footsteps and creates a grotesque, fantastical, intelligent horror feature starring the excellent Caleb Landry Jones, who was also in the interesting Byzantium. Even though there truly is nothing new under the sun, Antiviral was superb in every which way. It was fun to see some good actors in supporting roles, like Malcolm Macdowell, Douglas Smith from Big Love and Joe Pingue. I also really enjoyed the atmospheric soundtrack, which was really more of a soundscape. I'm looking forward to what's next from B. Cronenberg. Thanks for the excellent recommendation, KW!

Movie | The Evictors | Didn't Like It

Movie | War Gods of the Deep | Liked It

Though it's based on a Poe story, it felt very Lovecraftian. Neat to see David Tomlinson outside of a Mary Poppins and similar type movie. Plus, there's a chicken for absolutely no reason other than to lighten things up.

Movie | Encounter at Raven's Gate | Liked It

Rolf de Heer serves up a classic ozploitation. While nowhere near as good as Bad Boy Bubby or The King is Dead! it had enough Down Under funk to be entertaining but don't believe that Variety tagline...it wasn't that good. Also known as Incident at Raven's Gate, for some unknown reason.

Rule #1 broken.

Movie | Insurgent | Liked It

TV | Vinyl | Liked It

Movie | Planet of the Vampires | Liked It-ish

Awesome costumes. Really. Plus, it's interesting how much of an influence this was on the Alien franchise. It's hard to miss the elements that they directly ripped off.

Movie | Calvary | Liked It-ish

It was an okay pick for St. Patrick's Day; Brendan Gleeson is always great and the rest of the cast is outstanding too, including Chris O'Dowd, Dylan Moran and M. Emmet Walsh. But I didn't find this film funny whatsoever; not even sort of. Whoever wrote that it was "wickedly funny" needs to have their head examined. So while this was expertly done, it was ultimately very depressing.

Rule #1 broken.

Movie | Maggie | Really Liked It

I was really looking forward to this and it was quite good. Excellent, in fact.

Beautifully shot, edited and Breslin was fantastic, as usual. What was surprising was how downright excellent Schwarzenegger was in this. Could this actually be his best performance to date? His lines are minimal and he used his face to act out most scenes...to fantastic results. Good on him. This is definitely the second coming of Ah-nuld. If he keeps pumping out Grade A performances in these smaller, interesting movies, I think I might end up a huge fan. Who knew. He was good when he was younger, but now he's closing in on great.

The only thing that disappointed me about this movie - which is a zombie movie, but it's really much more than that in its simplicity - is that there wasn't anything particularly creative about the script. There were no twists and turns...but that worked in this case. It's a simple story about simple people caught up in the inevitable.

Personally, I think this is a must see even though it's not necessarily going to get your blood flowing. Instead, it has real ethos and emotion, played out with skill and reverent respect for the situation.

The director and writer are definitely ones to watch in the future. This was their first feature film and they knocked it out of the park.

Rule #1 broken.

Movie | Jupiter Ascending | Liked It

Was it goofy? Yes, at first. But no more than blockbuster bonanzas like Lord of the Rings and After Earth. Like that last film in particular, early viewers and critics panned Jupiter Rising for reasons seemingly other than the film itself and the rest of the sheep just blindly parroted all of that back. People like that have no business opening their mouths and should keep their idiotic, fictional opinions to themselves. Believe me when I tell you, this movie had moments of fun - lots of them, in fact. This was actually pretty darn good sci-fi. Even Tatum didn't ruin it. Plus, there was a superb cameo from Terry Gilliam. I liked this movie and you can stick that in your pipe and smoke it. Don't listen to the naysayers; see it for yourself and then decide.

The Wachowski (now) sisters continue to figuratively reach for the moon. So far, only Cloud Atlas was an utter failure in my book and that was mainly the fault of the cast. Oh, and the stillborn Speed Racer, which I'm not going to even talk about. Count Jupiter Ascending as, while not a huge success, at least a brilliant entry into an outstanding career.

TV | Kingdom | Really Liked It

Great show. Not only does it perfectly capture the MMA world (the people who are involved are really like this), but also the rougher side of SoCal. It will kill you if you poke the bear too much. Plus, Jonathan Tucker is in this; he was so great in Justified and he's even better in this. Bonus that there are plenty of real MMA star cameos, too.

Movie | Henry Rollins: Up For It | Really Liked It

I've always liked HR's stand up...er, spoken word...and this DVD was more of the same. Thanks for the loan, PW.

TV | Josh | Liked It

At what point does my love of Britcoms blind me to less than stellar output? This show got me wondering precisely that. This isn't particularly clever or even all that well done. And yet it has charming characters and the scripts are entertaining. So this is not the line that is drawn in the sand of what is a good or bad Britcom. Well it is and it's on the side of good.

Movie | Seventh Son | Liked It-ish

Kinda empty and shallow sword 'n dragon actioner.

Movie | Kill Me Three Times | Really Liked It

Fun thriller with comedic bits that had a couple of great twists. A bit bloody! I think a lot of viewers won't pick up on how clever this script is. That's too bad because it really was.

TV | Clone High | Liked It

Cute show with a clever premise.

Movie | The Dark Past | Liked It

Good noir.

Movie | Inherent Vice | Really Liked It

Populated by a huge cast of well known actors who blow in and out of the script, I liked this more than I thought I would. Surprisingly so. Reminded me a bit of The Spoils Before Dying, which had some of the same actors in it and it's definitely a mix of Chinatown and The Big Lebowski.

Movie | David Bowie: Five Years | Really Liked It

Talk about guided by an invisible hand...amazing stuff.

Movie | Vicious Lips | Liked It

Pure cheese but surprisingly good. I loved how nightmarish it was, with great ambiance. Deserves its cult classic status.

Movie | Android | Liked It

Klaus Kinski kick continues. Max 404 (Don Keith Opper in his first movie) looks a bit like Peter Murphy.

Movie | Ninja Eliminator 4: The French Connection | Liked It

Fun short film from the makers of  the amazing Turbo Kid.

TV | Death in Paradise (Series 1) | Liked It

Unrelentingly, unrepentant formulaic crime procedural just like the old Murder She Wrote, Columbo and other similar shows. And yet, charming.

Movie | This Island, Earth | Liked It-ish

Movie | Dracula Untold | Liked It

The premise that Vlad the Impaler was a regular joe and a family man was hilarious. Despite that, that movie was...melodramatic much? Oy vey. Not terrible, though.