Tomorrow (serial)

Another Korean drama that is quite powerful. The setting is modern day Korea in Jumadeung, which is the company that manages Korean grim reapers. The Director of Jumadeung has created (controversially I might add) a Risk Management Team, whose purpose is to find people seeking suicide and help steer their life to avoid that ultimate sin. It is a small team and gets an "intern" of sorts when a guy in a coma joins the team for a 6-month stint while waiting to wake up. So it is a bit cheeky, and has its fun buddy-team moments. But it also takes on deep and emotional topics as each episode is focused on a person seeking or near suicide. The series hits many of the major mental health mountains that people struggle with every day (body image, relationships, bullying, self image, depression, money, loss of a loved one, terminal diagnosis, sexual assault, etc. ). And it doesn't just gloss over them, but really exposes the struggle. Highly recommend.

5 stars (out of 5)

Extraordinary Attorney Woo (serial)

Woo Young Woo is a rookie Attorney at one of the biggest law firms in Seoul in this Korean drama. She and two other rookies are working together with their senior mentors, and generally provide the breakthroughs to make the cases. Well, Attorney Woo does. She is also an autistic woman who lives alone with her dad (does not know her mother) and has a fixation on whales. One storytelling device is that every time she has an epiphany about the case, her hair blows and a whale floats by her vision. It is a lightweight, enjoyable series with comedy, drama, romance, relationship and coming of age elements. I never lost interest.

4 stars (out of 5)

Secret Headquarters

An alien energy source comes to earth and chooses Owen Wilson to be the guardian. This means he gets to take advantage of the energy source, and the technology it allows to fix all bad things on earth. This includes a secret lair beneath his house, but costs him time with his kid. The bulk of this movie is the kid and his friends finding the lair, and then protecting it against the bad guy, while Wilson is out on a mission. Pretty derivative, with a Spy Kids feel.

2 stars (out of 5)

Blown Away (serial)

Season 3

Ten artists compete in weekly challenges in glass blowing. Much like Inkmaster the joy in this series is in watching the artistic process. But there is no drama here, no snippy competition show angst. Just a bunch of artists trying to put out their best work and supporting each other through the process. Some really fantastic work is shown as a result. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Carter

A man wakes up in a bloody bed in Korea. A CIA team breaks in and asks him a bunch of questions, but he has no memory. Then a com in his head starts giving him instructions. Turns out he is the sole resource available to prevent the further spread of a massively contagious virus while simultaneously working toward North/South collaboration. Within the first 10 minutes, the body count is well above 100 as Carter fights his way out of his opening bloody bed. I lost interest...

1 star (out of 5)

Uncharted

A treasure hunt that shows its fantastical nature in the first scene (jumping up a chain of containers hanging from a C-137 while fighting) consistently through the last (Sikorsky sky-crane helicopters in dogfight while towing 500 year old 3-mast wooden ships). So knowing this, it is DaVinci Code + Indiana Jones + Romancing the Stone. Nate, Victor and Chloe (Tom Holland, Mark Wahlberg and Sophia Ali) are all treasure hunters, seeking Magellan's lost gold. Santiago Moncado (Antonio Banderas) is the bad guy whose family originally funded the trip and believes he is the rightful owner of the gold. Summer diversion: check.

3 stars (out of 5)

Alone (serial)

10 people are dropped for a solo survival adventure in remote northern canada. They must shelter and hunt/gather to survive and the last person standing wins the cash. It is kinda fun to watch the different techniques (build a boat, hunt, fish, dig up mushrooms, just starve) at the beginning, but after awhile, these particular characters lost my interest. 

2 stars (out of 5)

The 355

When a hardware decryption device is created that can crack any network and take control of any system comes on the market, every intelligence agency in the world is in pursuit. So are all the bad guys. This movie centers on CIA, MI6, BND, MSS agents and a Colombian therapist who all get thrown together in hunting down the device. They are all "I don't have a partner" types and all women who are at the top of their game. Overall, it is predictable and yet still fun to watch. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Car Masters: Rust to Riches (serial)

Season 4

I continue to like this series. Mark and the Gotham Garage crew are entering new territory, gunning for the high end client (getting away from the trade-up model). The feature builds this season include a baja beetle, viper 3-wheel camaro, an army ambulance party bus and a zephyr sedan/panel van hybrid. 

4 stars (out of 5)