Crime Time... "Spenser Confidential"

Spenser Confidential (2020)

Rated R

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Winston Duke, Alan Arkin

Directed by Peter Berg


The Story:

Spenser (Wahlberg) is a former cop who has spent the last 5 years in prison for beating his commanding officer. On the day Spenser is released from prison, his old boss winds up dead. Spenser's alibi checks out, but now he's got to figure out who killed his boss and why, putting him in the cross hairs of the bad guys and the Boston Police Department, which may be one and the same!

Your mileage could definitely vary with this one.

Truth be told:

I've never read the Spenser books by Robert B. Parker.

Aside from casual memory of my dad watching Spenser For Hire back in the day, I barely watched any of those shows either.

So I cannot rend my garments and gnash my teeth for how Peter Berg and Mark Wahlberg have destroyed the character and tromped on my childhood.

Instead I can say that I had a pretty good time watching the film, and hope enough of us have tuned in since the Netflix Original premiered last Friday to green light further sequels.

:)

Looking around online, it seemed that many critics hated it, while audiences have pretty much given it a thumbs up.

One review said it harkened back to the dumb action flicks of the 80s.

Buddy, that's my bread and butter, and I consider that an endorsement, not a detractor! :)

Winston Duke fills out the role of Hawk really well, using his considerable size as both a weapon and that there is more to Hawk than just brawn.

Alan Arkin does his usual splendid routine as the put-upon father figure who just wants his boys to get along.

As with all Peter Berg action flicks I've enjoyed over the years, it's a fairly fast moving affair that keeps you buckled in and enjoying the ride from start to finish. This is his 4th collaboration with Mark Wahlberg, and perhaps they have finally found a franchise that can keep them partnering up for the foreseeable future, until Mark doesn't want to play action hero any longer.


Good job all involved!

Let's Go "Pocoyo"!!

Pocoyo (2005)

TV-Y

Created by David Cantolla, Luis Gallego, Guillermo Garcia

The Story:

Pocoyo is a curious little 4 year old boy who enjoys hanging out with his best friends Pato and Elly. The narrator (Stephen Fry) guides us through each episode as we wonder what exactly will Pocoyo be up to this time.

Oh. My. Goodness.

I've never been one to be first to the party, but I'm one that happily tells you how great the party is once I arrive.

Which leads us to Pocoyo.

Clearly, having started in 2005, I'm a little late to the adventures, but flipping through Netflix earlier this month, there Pocoyo was staring back at me while I was looking for something to watch with Remy.

And isn't he cute?

That's what I thought, so I figured what the heck, how back could it be?

I was greeted with adorable 3D animation with minimal (normally flat out plain white) backgrounds but some of the cutest characters ever to grace an animated series. These are roughly 7 minute episodes that are packaged together to make one full show that runs less than 30 minutes.

So, do you have children? Grandchildren? Just like fun animation? Then this is the show for you!

Okay, it's for your kids, but you're totally going to enjoy having it on in the background.

The music is good. The animation is adorable. The narration is soft and charming. The characters themselves absolutely charming.

Dialogue, aside from the narrator is minimal.

That said, the narrator will ask once or twice if the viewers can help Pocoyo (or whomever) if we can help solve the problem, and you will hear a few children voices chime in with assistance to get the story back on track.

Then 7 minutes later, the next segment begins with the theme song and the character introductions.

The writing is rather clever, and the characters all have very distinct personalities.

Given a choice of hundreds of animated shows that you can be forced to endure alongside your children, I would easily place this one in the Top 10 shows you could watch and enjoy on repeat viewings.

You might even find yourself watching along after the kid leaves the room...

Just saying...

:)

Viewer Discretion Advised:

The episode "Elly's Doll" darn near killed me.

I started laughing so hard, I could not catch my breath.

I thought, "this is it, I'm going to die...at least I'm going to die laughing..."

Thankfully I did manage to recover, though my wife's continued laughter kept triggering me to laugh again.

I was beginning to think she was after the insurance money!! :)

Needless to say, I did come back the next day to watch the episode from start to finish.

I did indeed still laugh, just not as hard, or as life-threatening as the previous evening.

Thank goodness!

Pocoyo is currently streaming on both Netflix AND Amazon Prime.

There are 4 seasons available on both. The 4th season introduces a new character and changes narrators. Still enjoyable, but not quite the same as the first 3 seasons.


"Bye bye, See you soon!" ~ The Narrator

A Who Dunnit For the Ages... "Knives Out"

Knives Out (2019)

Rated PG-13

Starring Daniel Craig, Ana de Armas, Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Don Johnson, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Christopher Plummer

Written and Directed by Rian Johnson

On the night of his 85th birthday, Harley Thrombey (Plummer) gathers his family at his home to celebrate. However before the night is over, Harley is dead and everyone in his family is a suspect!


You can start with the old standbys when discussing Hollywood:

They're out of new ideas.
They don't make them like they used to.

Then Rian Johnson effectively says, "hold my beer" and dusts off the all-star murder mystery of days gone by and sends you on a twisty turvy ride that grabs your attention and doesn't let go.

Will you solve the whodunnit before the reveal?

Quite likely.

Will you still remain engaged throughout?

Absolutely.

I would almost dare to defy a movie lover to not enjoy this film.

I've bemoaned bloated running times and how many movies could/would have been much better if they had left 30 minutes (or more!) on the cutting room floor.

This film is precisely the opposite.

So well paced, it never feels like it stretches over the 2 hour mark, and I don't think I would have been bothered if there had been more scenes left in or extended.

It's a testament to Johnson's script and the assembled cast that they flesh out every character from the leads to the bit players and give everyone on a screen a fully realized three dimensional person.

The movie never cheats the audience or itself in the slow reveal of the entire story, and that in itself is worthy of praise.

A sequel is reportedly in the works, most likely centering on Benoit Blanc (Craig). If it's half as good as this first adventure, it will be a rollicking good time.

Don't Spoil "Avengers: EndGame"

Avengers: EndGame (2019)

Rated PG-13

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Mark Ruffalo, Paul Rudd, Scarlett Johansson, Don Cheadle, Josh Brolin, Brie Larson,

Directed by Joe & Anthony Russo

The Story:

After the conclusion of Avengers: Infinity War, what remains of Earth's Mightiest Heroes attempt to go after Thanos, retrieve the Infinity Stones and snap everyone back to life.

Buckle up for the 22nd installment of the greatest ride in cinema history.

No other franchise, no other studio has been able to do what Marvel Studios has done, 22 movies, 11 years of sustained excellence that have proven to be successful with audiences AND movie critics.

It all culminates here.

Go see it in theaters now, and prepare to have your list of favorite Marvel films be re-ordered.

Again.

:)

Houston, We Don't Have A Problem..."Captain Marvel"

Captain Marvel (2019)

Rated PG-13

Starring Brie Larson, Samuel L. Jackson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jude Law, Annette Benning,

Directed by Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck

The Story:

Vers (Larson) is a warrior of the Kree civilization who has been having recurring nightmares with flashes of a life she doesn't remember. When she is captured by Talos (Mendelsohn) an enemy Skrull, he helps unlock the secrets locked inside her and sets her on a collision course with Earth that will reveal everything that she cannot seem to remember.

Welcome to Part 21, Year 11.

Never in anyone's wildest dreams, except maybe Kevin Feige's, did anyone dream that when Iron Man was released in 2008 that this is where we would be.

Find me another studio that has enjoyed the success that Marvel Studios has enjoyed with the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Seriously.

I'll wait.

James Bond has had 25 films over a 50 year span. Some of the efforts have been good...some not so much.

Maybe the closest you could find would be the Disney animated films, which have taken decades to create over 21 beloved movies.

Even Pixar stumbled on their impressive early track record with the Cars franchise.

Someday, the audiences that have watched the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be able to look back and marvel (pun fully intended) at the actors and directors that brought this to life and be impressed by what they managed to pull off and string together.

21 down, 2 more to go this year, and judging by the previews, those will do just fine as well.

They resonate with critics and audiences alike.

However, with Captain Marvel, there seemed to be a larger disconnect, at least in cyberspace, between those that enjoyed it, and those that seemingly hated the movie.

I don't get the hate.

I don't know if I didn't enjoy Captain Marvel as much as I should have, because the whole time a voice in the back of my head was wondering, "what is everyone else complaining about"?

Shame on me for that.

I left the theater with my lovely date, and said, "okay, tell me about all of the plot holes you found and how much you didn't enjoy this one."

To my surprise, she said this was one of the better MCU films that she has seen and she was very impressed.

I'm a lucky guy, right?

So there you go.

About as spoiler-free of a review as you're going to get.

You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll see Stan Lee in perhaps his greatest and most logical cameo ever!

Now, let's see her help save the day in Avengers: Endgame!

Armageddon It... "The Umbrella Academy"

The Umbrella Academy (2019)

TV-14

Starring Ellen Page, Tom Hopper, David Castaneda, Emmy Raver-Lampman, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, Mary J. Blige, Cameron Britton,

Created by Jeremy Slater

The Story:

In 1989, 43 children were born on the exact same day, none of whom came from mothers that were pregnant when the day started. Reclusive billionaire Reginald Hargreeves scoured the globe attempting to adopt as many as he could. He wound up with 7 of them. As they grew, he trained them to become a team of superheroes as they all exhibited superpowers, except one. Now, decades later, they are reunited for the first time in ages at the passing of their father...

So what to say and where to begin?

It's based on a comic book, and as I've mentioned, it's got superheroes in it.

The first episode is a little slow with introducing everyone and setting the stage, but it's a trip well worth taking.

Without spoiling too much, one of the siblings, Five (Gallagher) returns from the future where he has witnessed the end of the world. It's up to him and his family to try and avert that catastrophe from coming.

However, temporal assassins have been dispatched back in time as well to ensure Five fails.

Yeah, that's spoiler-free enough.

The storyline is spread among the cast as they get their own character arcs and intersect with one another as deemed appropriate from the plot.

There is also heavy flashbacks/flash forwards as the narrative requires. 

With such an ensemble cast, some characters will grow on you and become favorites: Five, Klaus (Sheehan) and Hazel (Britton) and some you may just want to throttle...Luther (Hopper) I'm looking at you.

As everyone in our house has finished the series, we all came to one conclusion:

Vanya (Page) is the character that nobody liked from the very beginning.

That we watched it all in different viewing groups and didn't discuss anything until it was over makes this outcome even more amusing.

If you've watched/read enough superheroes in your life (or ever read any book or watched a tv show or movie...) you will likely know each and every twist and turn that is going to happen over the course of the show's 10 episodes.

That's okay, at least you don't have any last minute twists that make no sense coming at you just as a "gotcha" moment.

While fans are still mourning the loss of the Marvel properties on Netflix, it's good to see that they are shoring up the superhero front with other properties that probably cost a lot less to produce.

I'm intrigued by the possibilities that Season Two will hopefully hold for this show, and we'll all be back to watch when they're ready.

How Dare You! "Deep Blue Sea 2"

Deep Blue Sea 2 (2018)

Rated R

Starring Danielle Savre, Rob Mayes, Michael Beach, Aaron Ellroy, Nathan Lynn,

Directed by Darin Scott

The Story:

A billionaire decides to do some experimenting on sharks... and chaos ensues!

Come on folks, this premise works great.

See: Jurassic Park.
See: Deep Blue Sea.

See?

As I've well documented over the years, when a new shark movie comes along, I'm always looking to add it to the pile and give it a try.

Most of the time, even if it's not a great movie, I appreciate that it was made and I have a good enough time to justify spending 90 minutes on a low budget B movie.

In the last few years, I've even been rewarded with some pretty good shark movies to boot!

When I saw the trailer for Deep Blue Sea 2, I was amused that it seemed like it was going to be a note for note remake of the original film.

Well, how bad could that be, because I absolutely love the first one!

Yet it wasn't... and I didn't.

Everything that was great about the first one was missing from this tired retread.

They got nothing right for that matter, except for sharks gnawing on people... and even that wasn't very well done.

No stars of any caliber at all... wooden performances...

Not one bit of interesting plot or action...

It made 90 minutes feel like a 3 hour tour of the worst kind.

Had they called it any other cheesy shark movie name, I may have been kinder.

But when you hang an anchor around a fun franchise and sully its good name, I'm less kind.