The Infiltrator

The story of Bob Mazur, an FBI undercover agent in the mid 1980's and his work in the war on drugs with the Columbian drug families. Bob goes under as a money manager and gets his marks to begin to invest in his legitimate companies as a launder mechanism. When he gets high enough up the chain, the trap is sprung. This felt like a cross between Argo and Sicario. That is, felt like Argo, in the world of Sicario. The real drama here is the interplay of relationships shown. Bob maintains his relationship with his family, while developing new relationships. All of them are damaged and strained. There is no good way to be a bad person, and even faking being a bad person will harm you in ways you cannot anticipate. Good historical fiction.
4 stars (out of 5)

Ghostbusters

Meh! Pretty much what I expected. I love all four actresses here, and each had their opportunity to be the star (although Kate McKinnon as Holtzmann was by far the best IMO). As a remake, the plot follows the original pretty closely. Evil guy is working to bring demons and ghosts to this plane of reality so he can control the world. Ghostbusters (a combination of scientific genius and crackpot persistence) are just getting started when the influx of ghosts lends them legitimacy. They predict and track the evil guy, eventually preventing the end of the world. This didn't expand the world of the original, nor did it diminish (truly a remake, not a sequel). Maybe this reboot gets us a sequel now? Where we can expand the world?
3 stars (out of 5)

Limitless (Serial)

Season 1 (22 episodes)

A followup sequel series to the film version of Limitless, which was awful. But in hindsight, if the entire purpose of the original film was to set the scene for the series, then it was worth it. But I don't think that is true. The setting is one where a drug NZT exists that allows users to see connections they normally wouldn't and to have perfect recall of anything they have ever experienced. However, NZT has horrible side effects and kills people. We pick up with Bradley Cooper (from the film) having spent his NZT time to develop a side effect antidote booster that keeps you save for a month or so. Our hero, Brian Finch, is recruited (conscripted) by now Senator Cooper to infiltrate the FBI, take NZT and work as a double agent. Every episode follows Brian as consulting detective for the FBI on a particular case, with the season story a progression of the intrigue and conspiracy around NZT and the antidote booster. Good balance between the two and fun along the way.

4 stars (out of 5)

The Shannara Chronicles (Serial)

Season 1 (10 episodes)

Based on the books by Terry Brooks... loosely. Well, this is not really Brooks Shannara, nor is it the Shannara of my imagination. The broad strokes of the premise (demons are held at bay by the magic of the Elcrys tree that is currently dying, Wil and Amber are charged with saving the world) are straight from Brooks. But the writers take lots of creative licenses with the details, the timeline, and the world to create effectively a new form. So compared to the book series, awful. Putting the books aside, and looking at this as a new sci-fi/fantasy entry, I liked it. A little bit cheesy with the visualization of the reaper and the trolls. A little bit "after school special" with the attempt of the characters to demonstrate romantic interest. But also a fun look at a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by humans, elves, gnomes and trolls, and integrating clear connections to the modern world. Not bad, and if a second season comes out, I will watch it.
3 stars (out of 5)

Spy Time

Spanish spy thriller. A son, who works as an hourly "security guard" at a local electronics shop discovers that his father is a feared and world renown spy. The father gets involved in an assassination plot that threatens to take down the very organization that he works for and protects the Spanish people from "the bad guys". When the son gets involved, he discovers a newfound respect for his dad, and also new found skills that his dad has secretly trained into him from a young age. In the end, things work out pretty much as expected. In fact, there is not really anything particularly novel or great about this film. But somehow, since it comes from the Spanish perspective, it feels fresh. If this exact film was made in the US, it would flop, and be considered a bit of a spoof. None-the-less, I appreciated it for what it was.
3 stars (out of 5)

Suburra

An Italian gangster movie with the gangsters trying to ... well, I never really understood what they were trying to do. There was some sort of confusing intrigue with the Pope, and some politician caught in a sex scandal while the gangsters were going to make some money somehow. Too confusing and slow, with not even enough interest to get me to watch the whole thing.
1 star (out of 5)

The Shallows

Girl v. Shark.

Ok, so in terms of thriller tension, and keeping a viewer on the edge of their seat pretty much the entire film without resorting to ghosts and demons, this does a pretty good job. Our heroine (Blake Lively) has traveled to a secret beach in Mexico where her mom once surfed. She is there as a tribute to her mom, who has recently lost her battle with cancer. While surfing, a great white comes into the picture and the battle begins. Now, having stated that this film fulfills its goal of providing thriller tension, let me reveal some of my pet peeves. When there is no reason for science to be bad, why do filmmakers allow it to be so. For example, I don't think that a great white will really circle a rock for hours and hours because a potential food source sits on that rock, especially when a readily available food source in the form of a dead whale is 40 feet away. This implies that the shark is angry, or holds harmful intent toward the girl on the rock, which is just not true. However, this I can overlook because it is necessary for the story. If the shark in fact just eats a bit of the whale and leaves, then it is not a very good movie. On the other hand, the filmmaker also manufactures that there is only one tide per day in this secret bay, and then proceeds to explicitly show through a series of cuts between rock and wristwatch, that the tide is basically unchanged for 23 hours, and then increased by 6 feet in 10 minutes. This is not necessary for the story. It demonstrates (and teaches) an incorrect understanding of tides, and the story would have been just as effective had the filmmakers included good science. Maybe my original assessment that I was on the edge of my seat "pretty much the entire film" was not quite correct if I was able to pick up on (and be bugged by) tide science throughout.
3 stars (out of 5)