The "Santa Clarita Diet" Is Not For Everyone

Santa Clarita Diet (2017)

TV-MA

Starring Drew Barrymore, Timothy Olyphant, Liv Hewson, Skyler Gisondo,

Created by Victor Fresco

The Story:

Sheila and Joel Hammond (Barrymore & Olyphant) are realtors in Santa Clarita. They're struggling to make sales while also raising a teenage daughter (Hewson). Oh, and apparently Sheila has somehow become a zombie, and now they have to see if they can find a cure to save her!

Welcome to one of the newest original series on Netflix.

It's as if they saw how good iZombie was and said, "hey, we want a zombie show too!"

And here we are.

It's got a great cast, anchored by Olyphant and Barrymore.

Barrymore gets to let her hair down as she becomes more and more acting on impulse as she devolves further into her zombie state.

Olyphant gets to play broader comedy as the husband who vows to stand by his wife, even to the point of committing murder to help satisfy her hunger cravings.

The show starts off rather slow, but by the 4th and 5th episode, they hit their stride and things begin to take off.  It builds to a satisfying cliffhanger that leads to the second season.

The show, overall, is good, not great.

I've run into the usual problem I have with Netflix originals:

The #$@@#ing language!

We get it, you're not on broadcast tv, you can let the F-bombs fly.

And they do.

Repeatedly.

Too much for me to feel comfortable watching with any of my kids, even the older ones, in the room.

Or even the wife for that matter.

And that's too bad, as we both really enjoy both Olyphant and Barrymore.

I guess I'll just have to fill that void by rewatching Justified and Drew's old romantic comedies.

Final Grade: B-

Cumbersome Title, A Couple Laughs... "This Is Where I Leave You"

This Is Where I Leave You (2014)

Rated R

Starring Jason Bateman, Tina Fey, Jane Fonda, Adam Driver, Rose Byrne, Dax Shepard, Timothy Olyphant

Directed by Shawn Levy

The Story:

After their father passes away, all of his family reunites at his house and is forced to stay their for a week due to Jewish customs. They naturally all find this very odd, since their dad wasn't Jewish... Naturally, whenever a dysfunctional family is forced to be together under one roof for more than about an hour, chaos and insanity ensues.

For a very funny cast, the laughs are few and far between.  If you're expecting a laugh riot, you will be disappointed.

It's a dramedy in every sense of the word.

Divvying up screen time to allow the stories of each of the children to unfold is naturally rather difficult. Most centers on Judd (Bateman) who starts the movie with a shock to the system, even before he finds out his father passed away.


The cast does a fine job balancing their angst with their humor.

Not a bad movie in any sense of the word, just nothing that memorable that would require another viewing down the road.

Final Grade: C+

The Nic Cage Experience..."Gone In Sixty Seconds"

Gone In Sixty Seconds (2000)

PG-13

Starring Nicolas Cage, Angelina Jolie, Giovanni Ribisi, Will Patton, Delroy Lindo, Timothy Olyphant, Chi McBride, Robert Duvall,

Directed by Dominic Sena

The Story:

"Memphis" Raines (Cage) is an ex-car thief who went straight years ago. When his little brother (Ribisi) gets in over his head in a car-theft deal, it's up to Memphis to save the day, and his brother's life. He reassembles his old crew (McBride, Duvall, Jolie and more!) to get a mountain of cars stolen in one night. Meanwhile, the cops (Lindo, Olyphant) know he's up to something and are out to bust him.

This is just plain, stupid fun.
:)

I have no idea how much of this film is a remake of the 70s film by the same name, and I don't really care.

This is an all-star, popcorn film that doesn't disappoint.

And that says something, because Nicolas Cage is a myriad of disappointment on many of his films.

However, when he's on, and they're fun, there's no stopping how fun it can be!

(See Con-Air for the best example of Nic Cage/All-Star popcorn fun!)

The fact that this is a heist/caper film helps sway my opinion as well.

The movie is fun, dialogue is hilarious and the action stunts are amazing.

So many stars, many in different phases of their career (starting or peaking), but for me, it all works.

This is one of those films that if it's on, I'm watching it.

Which is why this review is coming now (better late than never) because when I had cable, I was surfing and it was on, so I watched.

Still loved it.

Great B movie fun.

In fact..

Final Grade: B+

All The Praise For This Show Is... "Justified"

Justified (2010)

TV-MA for language

Starring Timothy Olyphant, Walter Goggins, Nick Searcy, Joelle Carter, Jacob Pitts, Erica Tazel

The Story:

US Marshal Raylan Givens (Olyphant) is reassigned from Miami to his home state of Kentucky following a shooting where he warned a man that he had 24 hours to leave town or else.  Well, he didn't leave, then pulled a gun on the Marshal.  The shooting was...

Justified.

But back home, Givens is immediately immersed in issues by the Crowder clan, led by old friend Boyd (Goggins) and it appears that Givens is going to have to keep his gun handy if he wants to survive his trip home.

Ah, a series I always wanted to watch but never did.

Saw that it was streaming on Amazon Prime, so I gave it a whirl.

The pilot episode was pretty good, so I kept going.

Through the course of the next dozen episodes, new developments happened to progress the story forward, but always adding new layers to what had happened before.

By the conclusion of the season, a lot of characters are no longer standing in Kentucky, and I'm looking forward to see what happens next.

Always been a fan of Olyphant, and am enjoying his take as a no-nonsense lawman.  An Goggins is an excellent foil as the man that Raylan wonders just how much he can trust before it blows up in his face.

Great stuff!

Final Grade: B+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Doubtful that I need to buy it, and watching it once should be good.  Good show though!

The Title is the Best Part of the Movie..."Dealin' With Idiots"

Quite possibly my least favorite baseball movie of all time...

The Story:

Max (Jeff Garlin) is a comedian and a father who watches in horror as his son's youth baseball team flounders on the field, and the parents drive him batty in the stands.  Then he realizes that he could do a documentary on youth baseball for his next movie, and it's sure to be a comic hit!

If only...

This is a comedy with a shotgun approach.

For every joke that hits, 7 sail by and are either mildly amusing or miss completely.

Which is sad, because there's a pretty talented cast hiding amongst the players including Jami Gertz, Gina Gershon, Nia Vardalos, Timothy Olyphant and Fred Willard.

Garlin pulls triple duty as star, writer and director.

I give him credit for putting together a movie that isn't a complete waste of time, and I wanted to like it.

However, it just sort of stutters and jerks along from quirky scene to quirky scene as Max attempts to find the source for his next big hit by interviewing each of these parents.

The finale to the baseball game itself is both amusing and heartbreaking at the same time.  Pee Wee baseball has some strange rules, and I wouldn't doubt that the one that is invoked is indeed a real rule.  However after the realization,  then the movie didn't seem to know how to end.  It just sort of rambles on and on,  so anything touching that that could be gathered from that moment is lost

Ultimately, disappointed in the movie.

Now available to stream instantly on Netflix if you'd like to try it.

Final Grade: C-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: No thanks. ;)
in the foolishness of what happens next.

The Fourth for the Fourth..."Live Free or Die Hard"

I'm getting too old for this...

Whoops.

Wrong franchise!

The Story:

After over a decade, John McClane (Bruce Willis) is back in action again.  This time, he is asked to check on a computer hacker suspect named Matt (Justin Long).  He arrives in time to save Matt from an assassination attempt.  Now it's a race to get Matt back to the FBI and figure out what is going on.  It turns out that ex-Fed Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant) is going to bring down the Federal Government by hacking into it and destroying it from within.  Only Matt has a chance of stopping him, and McClane is going to make sure he survives.  But when Gabriel kidnaps Lucy McClane (Mary Elizabeth Winstead)...

Well saving the world takes a backseat to saving his daughter.

This movie gets more right than it gets wrong in the franchise.  Say what you will about it, but it definitely was great to see Willis back on screen as John McClane.  Could they and should they have embraced the heritage of the film and embraced the R rating?

Probably so.

And I think that's where most longtime fans had an issue.  Not nearly as bloody or violent as its predecessors, and not nearly as much sarcastic profanity-filled snark from our hero.

Plus, I think a lot of people simply hated Justin Long.

Me, I liked the guy, and as was proved in Part 3, McClane with an everyman partner works.  Matt is clearly in over his head, but McClane is there to help out throughout the film.  Plus Long works as someone who is in so far over his head, he is just amazed at what looks like second nature to McClane, and he just doesn't see how that kind of heroism is possible.

Again, this installment straddles the heist versus political stance like part 2, but comes off more on the side of the heist, which is a good thing.

It was a nice reminder of how great the franchise was, and unlike say the 4th Indiana Jones movie, it didn't come back and run the franchise into the ground.

Yes, I'm willing to forgive the fighter jet surfing at the end, they had to get McClane off the freeway somehow... ;)

Giving this one a slight edge over Die Harder in the overall scheme of things.

Final Grade: B+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: This one is growing on me.  : )