Yu Yu Hakusho (serial)

A 5-episode series based on a Manga of the same name. Yusuke is the protagonist, a tough guy school student who shows signs of caring for the underdog. When he dies saving a kid from a runaway truck, he gets a second chance. The price, he becomes a spirit investigator. First job, recover some stolen artifacts from demons who have infiltrated the human world. Which leads to the bigger job of preventing a permanent rift in the barrier between the demon and human world. He makes friends along the way, and everyone discovers something about themselves and the importance of relationship and trust and friendship. Appropriate length and really fun imagining of demon forms and battle scenes. Really fun. 

5 stars (out of 5)

Tetris

The 'based on a true story' telling of how the rights to the tetris game were sought after. Tetris was created by a Russian programmer and sold licensing to a western game developer. But the western companies were unethical, creating and distributing the game without actual regard for the licensing rights. When a small developer gets into the mix to bring it to Nintendo for their new GameBoy handheld, he ends up having to travel to Moscow to negotiate new rights. Interesting, but the first 2/3 was really necessary but to much setup. The final 1/3 actually gets interesting and pulls you in. 

3 stars (out of 5)

The Family Plan

Mark Wahlberg is Dan, used car salesman and dad extrordinairre in Buffalo NY. He is the ultimate homebody and social-media avoider. Only to find out that he is a former government black-ops secret assassin. Well, we find out, the family still doesn't know. And when the bad guys come to find him, he and the family have to go on the run. So road trip to Vegas. Nothing novel, but fun. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Ghosted

Romantic Action Comedy, leaning more to action than comedy. Think Romancing the Stone, Knight and Day, etc. Chris Evans is a classic 30-something, ever-single guy living at home and helping out dad on the farm, putting his own life on hold. He meets Art Ana de Armas for a 24 hours first date/one night stand and the chemistry is sparking. And then she ghosts him. So he follows her on a whim (the encouragement of mom Amy Sedaris) to London...where he gets mistaken for a secret agent and finds that de Armas is actually the secret agent. So they spend the movie keeping the chemistry boiling and saving the world. Fun.

4 stars (out of 5)

My Life with the Walter Boys

Cheesy hallmarkish teen drama. New York Jackie just lost her family in an accident and is sent to live with her mom's college friend in Colorado. She arrives to find a ranch family of 10 kids, all boys except one. She falls for a couple and has to navigate her new life as "country Jackie" and deal with her grief all at once. Everything you expect to happen does. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Car Masters: Rust to Riches (serial)

Season 5

Picking up after season 4, the team picks up a couple new members and trys to hit the high end market. It doesn't all go smoothly and the most fun this season remains the upgrade and trade sequence. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Family Switch

A retelling of the Freaky Friday, body switch story, but this time it is the whole family. Mom switch with Daughter, Father with Son and baby with dog. All of the hijinks you expect happen. All of the derivative mechanisms that you would expect of this kind of switch plot happen. And the writing wasn't careful, with several instances of post switch wrong reactions (mom actress responds with the mom reaction when that should be the daughter persona). So at best, it is a Christmas, feel good family reconciliation movie to have on in the background that may be interesting to anyone who has never seen a body switch movie before. 

2 stars (out of 5)

My Daemon

A really fun anime series, 13 episodes of <30 min each. Set in Japan in a world after nuclear events where the use of nuclear bombs has created daemonium particles that eventually hatch into daemons. This sets up the inevitable human/daemon conflict. Enter Kentu, a young boy who has befriended a daemon Anna and seems to have a connection with her that befuddles other humans. When Kentu's mom is killed, he and Anna set off in search of a rumored time reversal daemon who can bring her back. The series tells the story of Kentu and Anna and the people and daemons that they meet along the way. It is creative and fun and ultimately helps us explore compassion, attitudes towards difference and how effective personal relationship is in allowing people to organically change their long held beliefs. 

5 stars (out of 5)