Veronica Mars (serial)

Season 1

Kirsten Bell is Veronica Mars, high school junior (yes, 24 playing 17) in Neptune California, land of beach and wealth and class divisions galore. Her father (the fabulous Enrico Colantoni - who I first saw in Person of Interest) is a private detective, formerly sheriff, who was forced out of office by the wealthy class after accusing them of murder. The season long theme is the solving of that murder. And each episode has Veronica playing detective in her school. Definitely a cross between Gossip Girl and Nancy Drew. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Barbie

I don't think I was the target audience for this movie. I didn't play with barbie nor really did my sisters growing up, so the nostalgia factor was only peripheral. I also don't feel the need for a cheerleading session or unveiling of the truth on the horrors of capitalism and the patriarchy, so the messaging was a bit on the nose. Aside from that, the 80's/90's visuals were fun and the satirical illumination of patriarchy did have me laughing out loud at times. Definitely a cultural touchpoint of this summer. 

3 stars (out of 5)

The Takeover

This Dutch action-thriller follows a hacker (mostly white hat) who uncovers a nefarious scheme by some nameless Chinese firm to capture facial and identity data on all Dutch citizens. It becomes seriously dangerous. Running for her life, trying not to get others involved, and trying to prevent identity apocalypse. Quite the ride. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Fubar (serial)

A fun little family-spy series that reminds me in tone of The Burn Notice. Arnold Schwarzenegger is a retiring CIA operative working his last mission, when he encounters his daughter undercover, also a CIA operative. And to save the world, they have to work together. In many ways this is cliché, but even in that it is fun to watch, the writing taking itself just seriously enough. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Heart of Stone

Gal Gadot is an operative for a top secret, extra-governmental, global operations organization that pulls all the strings to keep the bad guys from killing everyone. To assist them they have "the heart", a quantum supercomputer that can process data so fast that it seems omniscient. And it gives pretty cool real-time data to heads up display contact lenses over massively remote distances (aka science fiction). Gadot is betrayed, the heart is stolen, and she must recover it. A completely solid action thriller. The only reason I would say it isn't a franchise maker/starter is that I can't remember for the life of me Gadot's character name or the secret organization name (a la Ethan Hunt, Jason Bourne, Jack Reacher, Luke Skywalker, etc.). And this list kind of makes me sad because that list just rolled out of my head and I can't seem to recall a single female character name from a movie/series. It's just a bunch of "that girl from..." or "___'s character in ..." Alas.

3 stars (out of 5)

The Thieves

Rewatched this from a decade ago. Still a top 10 heist films of all time. 

5 stars (out of 5)

The Meg

Jason Statham is a deep sea diver who lost a couple friends on a rescue mission. He claims to have encountered a massive something that caused the loss, but no one believed him. So when he is asked to do another rescue mission (this time his ex-wife), he carries all that baggage. But he does it and in the process is exonerated for his crazy as the rescue releases a Megaladon into the pacific ocean. And now that he has done that, he has to kill it to save (literally) everyone. Pretty straight forward plot and action sequences, moves along with a nice pace and has the appropriate mix of convenient coincidence and marginally plausible capabilities (both human and tech). 

3 stars (out of 5)

Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3

I didn't want to like this movie. I am saturated on Marvel and have not really got into the last several. And on the surface, this is a manufactured plot for the sole purpose of showing the Guardians at their best. And it is done well. In short, Rocket is the subject of an attempted retrieval by his maker. The Guardians spend the entire movie rescuing him. We get flashbacks about who Rocket his and his backstory. I enjoyed the process, and a vast improvement over vol. 2. I will say, my favorite character is Cosmo with his good dog/bad dog routine. So on point. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Dream

A Korean Soccer star runs afoul of the media, and quits soccer in an effort to make some money in TV. To jumpstart his career, he agrees to participate in a documentary as the coach of the World Cup of Homeless Soccer (which is actually a real thing). So he goes from not caring, to caring, to actually changing the minds and outlook of everyone around him. Feel good sports/underdog movie.

3 stars (out of 5)

Resident Alien (serial)

Season 1

An alien crash lands on earth, kills a local to blend in by taking over his appearance, and begins the search for his device that he will use to kill all humans on the planet. Oh, and its a comedy. Harry takes on the temporary job of local doctor, interacts with your typical small-town eccentrics, and can be seen in his real form by the mayor's son. All the while, Harry becomes more and more in touch with his humanity as he seeks his device that will allow their termination. Clever, low stress, and oddball funny. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Army of Thieves

A prequel to Army of the Dead (which I tried to watch and couldn't), this is moderately good. A heist crew is looking to break into a series of legendary safes (known as the Wagner Ring) before they are moved to undisclosed locations. The planning is all done, and the new safe-cracker to the team makes all the difference. The team runs into internal strife and ultimately, only the safecracker (Dieter) makes it on to the next in series. Quirky characters and relationships make it fun, but in reality, low quality heist thrill prevents this from being an outstanding film. The safes just seemingly crack them selves??? Probably there is lots of foreshadowing that I would have appreciated if I watched the original, but on its own, only mid-level quality. 

3 stars (out of 5)