Author: Justin

Well, that was quick. Netflix is already back with a second season of She-Ra at roughly half the episode count. Did the quick turnaround hurt quality? No, this is the same smart show for kids, but it definitely focuses in a new direction for its abbreviated second round. While the first season of She-Ra focused heavily on the war between the Rebellion and the Horde, this time that main storyline mostly takes a backseat to focus instead on the characters. Almost each individual episode is really a character study as we learn more about their background and motivations, including Bow,…

Netflix’s new zombie series, Black Summer, is basically what The Walking Dead’s first few seasons would feel like if you stripped them of all the melodrama. It’s a lean, mean, cannibalistic machine, and that works up until a point. Unfortunately, that point is well before the first season comes to a close. The timeline of the series can be a little confusing. At one point it’s mentioned it has been many weeks since the outbreak, but at other times it feels like it’s just happening or has been going on for months or even years. We meet assorted survivors separately…

Twenty-one films later we’ve finally arrived at the end of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Or, at least Phase 1. Well, actually it’s Phase 3. No, that actually ends with Spider-Man: Far from Home. Confused? Yeah, me too at times. Marvel has built something truly grandiose and auspicious, and in the process created an enigma for description. However, perhaps it’s not a coincidence that this finale comes in at film number twenty-two, or the typical number of episodes in a modern television season. More than anything, Avengers: Endgame feels like the biggest season finale you’ve ever seen. After suffering through the…

I won’t bore you with my thoughts on the individual DC films from the last few years, except to say prior to Shazam! I had only really enjoyed Wonder Woman. Well, now there are two DC films I can praise. Shazam! is easily DC’s best attempt since that film, and in many ways is a better blueprint for their future adaptations. Shazam! is about Billy Batson, a young boy who is granted powers by a wizard to transform into a buffed-out superhero whenever he says his name, Shazam. If that all comes off a little wordy, it’s worth noting he…

In recent years Disney has been raiding its animated film vault in order to make live-action remakes of each and every single one of them. While some such as Pete’s Dragon and The Jungle Book have felt inspired, most have been more on the pointless side of things. Beauty and the Beast is arguably not just one of the best animated films of all time, but flat out one of the best movies ever made. How can you possibly hope to recapture that magic regardless of the talent involved? Unfortunately, the same might be said for Dumbo. This reinvention of…

Unicorn Store marks the feature directorial debut of Oscar winning actress Brie Larson. Many actors would choose a small film (which this is) for their first feature, but Larson eschews your normal indie drama for something dabbling in magical realism. That turns out to be both the biggest strength and biggest downfall of the film. Larson stars as Kit, a young art student who’s more interested in vibrant rainbow colors and fantasy than what is acceptable from her stuffy art school professors. She moves in with her parents played by Bradley Whitford and Joan Cusack, and they’re probably the best…

Here’s a strange beast. Love, Death & Robots apparently began as a sequel to the Heavy Metal animated film before morphing into a Netflix anthology series. It’s still animated, but the focus here is mostly placed on the titular robots. At times, these Twilight Zone with robots stories can be quite clever, but there’s a major caveat hiding in plain sight. Love, Death & Robots’ first season contains 18 animations ranging from 6-17 minutes. I mentioned The Twilight Zone and you’ll see why almost immediately. Most of the stories here have some minor twist to them, though not all are…

You might expect to find lots of things in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Miniature golf? Sure. T-shirt shops? Definitely. Bears? On occasion. But a pinball museum? That’s just what this east Tennessee town situated at the entrance to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park now features. The Gatlinburg Pinball Museum claims to feature over 100 pinball and arcade video games, and it certainly feels like that or more. For $15 for adults and $12 for children (10 and under), you get a wristband that allows free play on all the machines inside. That’s right—no quarters or tokens needed. It’s a similar offer…

Director Paul Feig has made some inspired comedies in recent years such as Bridesmaids and Spy, but he was also behind the camera for the lackluster 2016 Ghostbusters reboot. So, hearing that he was making a thriller starring Blake Lively and Anan Kendrick was certainly confusing as to what kind of film we’d be getting. Turns out, the final product is a exactly the mish-mash it sounded like, but somehow works. A Simple Favor sets up Emily Nelson (Lively) as the New York City working mom who seems to prioritize her handbag over her family. Stephanie Smothers (Kendrick), on the…

The spy comedy genre definitely has its heavyweights—from Austin Powers to Top Secret to Spies Like Us. For the first hour or so, The Spy Who Dumped Me does its best to hang with those classics, if never quite achieving their same level of effortlessness. It’s that second hour where things start to devolve. Audrey (Mila Kunis) and Morgan (Kate McKinnon) are two best friends who get drawn into the international world of spy vs. spy when Audrey’s boyfriend, who is a real spy, gets murdered in front of them but not before handing over a top-secret flash drive. If…