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)

Resurrected Rides (serial)

Season 1

A new car restoration series paid for by Netflix. The team takes regular people rides and dresses them up. It is a fun twist on the genre and the team is great. Chris Redd, not so much. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Car Masters (serial)

Season 6

Back to basics. Burnt in the past season, the team returns to building fun cars that they enjoy and have their stamp on them. Basically pursuing artistry instead of the monster payout. Better.

4 stars (out of 5)

Family Pack

French version of Jumanji, but set in a medieval village instead of the wild. A "normal" family gets pulled into a game that is basically a real-life version of werewolf. Cute, just clever enough. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Inside Out

Pixar animation about the emotions that are inside all of us. In this case, the emotions Joy, Anger, Disgust, Fear, Sadness are all characters in the life of a 12 year old girl who moves with her family across the country. The moral of the story, Joy can't always win in order to be a complete person. Well written and for its target audience, an important (probably revelatory in some cases) message about how to think about and manage emotions. Even so, for me it was pretty message heavy and once I got the message, the impact wore off, meaning it was an "on in the background" kind of watch. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Brooklyn Nine Nine (serial)

Four Seasons

Andy Samberg is the lead in this Brooklyn cop comedy with one of my all time favorite actors Andre Braugher in support. So over the top, but every episode was entertaining and novel in some way. I am sure they had a blast filming it and that oozes through to make if fun to watch. Every character was spot on fun. And the series ended in a way that I am sure no series has ever ended, for better or worse. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Maine Cabin Masters (serial)

Nine Seasons + Italian Family Season

A reality show featuring a group friends who rebuild cabins in Maine. Partly this is fun because of the creativity in design and construction that Chase Morrel shows. Partly it is fun to see Maine. Partly it is fun because it really is just a bunch of craftsmen that love hanging out with each other. Not an arrogant soul or "heel" character in sight. So overall, just fun. 

4 stars (out of 5)