Black Doves (serial)

Keira Knightly plays the titular Black Dove, a deep cover spy working for a non-governmental agency who deals in information for sale to the highest bidder. Pure capitalism - or at least that is the idea. But information is power, and the political interweaving of this power with corruption and the requisite mistrust that accompanies state actors (China, England and U.S. in this case) means that more is at stake than just money. This series is exactly what serial story telling should be. Coming in at 6 episodes, we have plenty of time to have plot depth, character depth, intrigue and several interweaving storylines. And at 6 episodes, we don't have time for fluff. There isn't even one interstitial scene to just fill time and make another episode. More creators could learn from this editing. Not much gets 5 stars from me these days, but this I loved. 

5 stars (out of 5)

Captain Nova

From the Dutch film industry, Nova is an astronaut from the future. A post climate change apocalyptic future. She travels back in time to intercept one of the tipping point events that takes place in 2025. Sort of a 12 Monkeys for climate change. Pretty basic in many ways, but the plot device of time travel leading to actual time change for the traveler (she travels back 25 years, so she becomes 25 years younger) is great. Lots of fun behind the scenes thinking about the implications of this mechanism. 

4 stars (out of 5)

The Six Triple Eight

Historical fiction telling of the WWII unit of soldiers who were sent to England to fix the army's mail problem. Mail was deprioritized by the leadership, with the result being a massive backlog of deliveries (17 million pieces) and the associated low moral that comes with being cut off from communicating with family. The 6888 delivered all of this mail, while simultaneously fighting sexism and racism since they were an all black, all women company. I am sure that this telling glorifies the work and overlooks the awfulness of war. But it is a feel good, crowd pleaser in the end. 

4 stars (out of 5)

First Shift

Seemingly made-for-TV moving about a NY detective who doesn't like people who is paired with a new partner detective just moved up from Atlanta. Slow, deliberate, angsty. Plays like a serial with very little actual arc of tension. Just another high tension day at the office, with the net effect being that these detectives are definitely going to be alone and burnt out in another 5 years. 

2 stars (out of 5)

Gladiator

The 2000 Russel Crowe vehicle that tells the story of Maximus, the star Roman general of Marcus Aurelius. After conquering the germans, Aurelius dies and his sociopathic, tyrant son names himself emperor. Maximus becomes a slave/gladiator who works from that stage to support the senate and overthrow the emperor... of course. Subtly touches on the meaninglessness of war, just enough to be able to say it is not a warmongering movie, but not enough to really shine through the warmongering movie that it is. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Tex/Mex Motors (serial)

Season 2

It has been awhile since I saw the first season, so I didn't really remember any of the characters. Apparently this season has a few changes, although Scooter and Rabbit still play prominently. Otherwise, the characters themselves only play minor roles in this reality series. The real star this season is that in the 10 or so cars that are restored and flipped, they are all wildly different genres. Without a characteristic style that the team needs to live up to, they can be creative in new ways and make the project fit the car. So in that way, I liked this season. 

3 stars (out of 5)

The Painter

A former CIA assassin (code name The Painter) gets pulled back into the life when his daughter tracks him down and people start trying to kill them both. Sort of like Hanna with a child abduction, trained assassin vibe. Actually pretty ordinary in terms of spy thrillers and pretty low quality in terms of motivation for action. Most of the painter killing CIA agents is gratuitous for the sake of action. I suppose there is some hope for a follow-on series (also a la Hanna the series) where the child assassins are tracked down and rescued from the life while father and daughter renew their relationship and find common ground in a shared skillset. 

2 stars (out of 5)