Movies and TV Shows Round Up

* Leverage season 3 - I may do a longer post later, but overall the season was surprisingly hit and miss. The last two episodes were great, and The Polygiest Job had so many amazing things packed into it that it pretty much redeems the whole season.

Tho, of course we also got this banger skeet out of it:



* The Librarians The Next Chapter so far. Honestly? Better than I expected. I really like the new Librarian, and it's interesting that they are dealing with a somewhat regional problem not in America. The pilot's script wasn't translated well to production, way too much standing still and taking when those characters would have been taking action, but it's already tightening up. Also with two whole seasons already filmed, the show has a lot of time to find it's feet.

* The Fountain Of Youth, that new Guy Ritchie film I was so looking forward to. It's bad. It's not even bad in a fun way. Swell Entertain made made a 35 minute video on how annoying the film is, which I am not going to watch, but I am glad it exists. For me the problem is easy to sum up: imagine a film with a white male main character where everything is going to work out for him no matter how horrible, self absorbed and immature he is... but also make him genre-savvy. It's like the character knows he can pull whatever and be okay.

* Wolfs - Loved the trailer, the movie was okay. Part of it were solid, parts of it has my wondering why the fixers were being derailed by situations I could have gotten out of. I see what it was going for, but it wasn't there. It could have been a great movie, but it just wasn't there. Having two great actors who have worked together before really carried some weak points.

* Murderbot so far - Also hit or miss for me. I am just trying to enjoy the bits I like and the visuals. I will not be sad to lose access when I cancel AppleTV.

Grishaverse - Shadow and Bone through Ruin and Rising

I finished up the trilogy while I was away. My main take-away is that the plot:pages ratio is wild.

( No plot spoilers, but some plot structure talk )

Ending spoilers under the other type of cut

I had trouble vibing with the way the story resolved because Alina spent way more time homesick for the Little Palace or even the army tents than where they grew up. Them not feeling like they ever had a home was a recurring theme and even a plot point. Them going back and making it a home is a lovely idea, but it's kinda sad to me that they are mostly isolated from the other survivors and just have staff that think they are loony tunes.

Also, happy or tragic I wanted more resolution for poor Nicolai, who could only really be understood by Alina or maybe Mal. Even just as friends, I wish they where still in each other's lives and not just rare visits.

In certain ways the ending was beautiful and bittersweet, but I never got the impression that that's what Alina would want from anything in the previous pages of the series. Protect the kids and get away from positions of power? Sure, but actually run the orphanage herself? Have all the other adults, besides Mal, profoundly mis-understand her? I'm glad they are together and the place is under their control, but...idk maybe I'll feel differently if I read more of the books in the series or re-read them later.