“Instant Family” stars Mark Wahlberg, Rose Byrne, and Octavia Spencer in a film directed by Sean Anders, who shares co-writing credit with John Morris. Comedian Tig Notaro appears quite significantly as a social worker who helps facilitate adoptions. She is one half of an amusing double act with Spencer.  Notaro and Spencer were probably my favorite pairing in this particular film.  I had heard seen some slips of Notaro’s stand-up work, so I knew she could be funny. I suspect that her character in this film would not have worked quite as well without the always helpful presence of Octavia Spencer, who can often pretty much save a picture from being a total waste of time, in my estimation.

A rather hapless, impulsive couple decide to take on the noble act of foster parenting and of course find themselves in over their heads.  Wahlberg and Byrne are saddled with some fairly cliché roles in a film of this sort, however they are not devoid of any charm or cleverness.  The problem is that whatever wit this film manages to pull off does not stay consistent.  There are just some moments of utter stupidity.

The three children at the center of this thing are appropriately cute. Isabela Moner plays the oldest of the three children and is the typical overly rebellious teen-ager who has understandable trust issues.  The issue of these kids being Hispanic being fostered by a Caucasian couple had to be somewhat hammered home rather clumsily.  A scene where this was addressed between the couple and the social workers just came off as rather stupid, to be honest.  There did seem to be a bit of an over emphasis on this thing of adopting children of different ethnicities throughout the other characters who were entering this complex world of foster parenting.

Personally, I didn’t entirely dislike the movie, but I think it could have done with a little less corniness.  The casting was fine. Wahlberg has done movies of this sort before and can be rather amusing.  Byrne also performed reasonably well, but both leads could have used a better script, as with any competent actor.  There were some successful comedic moments, but there were other moments that just could have used a bit more subtlety.

It’s not a movie that I minded seeing very much, however whatever sentimentality or empathy I experienced while watching it isn’t likely to stay with me that long, which is a shame considering the message behind it is such an important one.

“Creed II” is the sequel to the 2015 “Creed”, which is a continuation of the “Rocky” franchise.  Michael B. Jordan reprises his role as boxer Adonis Creed, the son of Apollo Creed, who was killed off in “Rocky IV”, during the match with the absurdly imposing Russian fighter Ivan Drago, who was played by Dolph Lundgren.  Sylvester Stallone is back as favorite cinematic underdog Rocky Balboa.

Steven Caple, Jr. directed this latest installment co-written by Stallone and Juel Taylor and does so with style.

When I first heard this film would be revisiting the Drago rivalry, I was stricken with some exasperation at what I considered to be a lack of originality.  Now, I think it makes a strange sort of Hollywood sense to explore this storyline.  Ivan Drago killed Apollo Creed in the ring in “Rocky IV” which really changed the course of what could have been Adonis’ life.  Florian Munteanu brings his impressive physique to the screen to play the part of Viktor Drago and does a decent job in the role.  There was actually an attempt to bring a bit more of an explanation as to why this victory was personally important to the Dragos.

The “Rocky” films typically had a well-worn pattern, and this film does little to really break that, however the performances are compelling enough to shrug that off.  The fight scenes were pretty sensational in spite of the lapse in realism.  Jordan is an excellent actor and pays off the more implausible circumstances quite effectively.  I am not usually a fan of the practice of trash talking I sporting events, but I found myself appreciating the swagger of the character in this film.  That’s probably because Adonis is quite broken throughout this ordeal and finds himself with other obligations that often worry him and then inspire him.

Stallone also hits the right notes of nostalgia and sympathy throughout the film.  Rocky Balboa has his own emotional journey as well as he has become estranged from his son for some reason.  He still has to overcome his sense of guilt in not stopping the fight that claimed the life of rival turned friend, Apollo Creed more than three decades ago.  Stallone does not have the greatest range as an actor, but he still manages to keep this role pretty compelling and relevant even if someone else is actually the main protagonist.

Tessa Thompson is as charming as ever as the aspiring songwriter girlfriend of Adonis.  There were times when the brief exploration of her career felt a little forced in.  I guess it makes sense to give her own dreams and aspirations separate from Adonis’ path, the effort to showcase her musical talent in this movie did not seem to fit this particular story all that naturally.  I liked her portrayal of Bianca Taylor though, and she was by no means unimportant or unnecessary to the film, but there were some moments I thought she could have been used a little more effectively.

I also just like seeing Phylicia Rashad onscreen.  She returns as Creed Sr.’s widow and adoptive mother to Adonis.  A lot of the ways she moved the story forward could have been as easily accomplished by Thompson’s character, so the necessity of her being in this one can be questioned. In spite of that, I was still glad to see her.  She is too good for me to really complain about her participation in much of anything.

The film doesn’t shake up the formula of the franchise very much.  Much of it is still quite predictable, especially to long time “Rocky” viewers, however the performances made all of that forgivable, and there wasn’t an abundance of dialogue that made me wince with despair.

It’s a film with some of the familiar shortcomings of its predecessors in this franchise, but there is plenty that works well enough for me to shrug those off quite comfortably.

“The Front Runner” is a film chronicling the collapse of Democratic Senator Gary Hart’s 1988 presidential campaign after the exposure of an affair.  Hugh Jackman stars as the disgraced senator from Colorado. Vera Farmiga plays his wife, Oletha Hart.  Alfred Molina, J.K. Simmons, and Sara Paxton are also part of the well-chosen cast. Jason Reitman directed this piece and co-wrote it alongside Matt Bai and Jay Carson.

Jackman is unsurprisingly quite compelling in his portrayal of Senator Hart.  It’s not that easy to sympathize with Hart in the grand scheme of things, however Jackman does well to bring out the other more human side of the story.  It is easy to see why so many people were captivated by Hart and probably disappointed by the behavior that led to the demise of his presidential run.  I don’t quite remember how Hart presented himself at the time, but Jackman’s interpretation does appear quite accurate.

A rather surprising facet the film puts forth is the question of how far reporters should go to pursue the story.  It delves into the apparent sleaziness of them basically staking out Hart’s townhome to catch him in a compromising position.  It also explores the impact and emotional consequences Donna Rice faced when she was exposed as the other woman.  I had not heard of Sara Paxton before, however she seemed pretty convincing as the beleaguered Rice.  Really, there wasn’t a performance in this film that I found unnatural or problematic.

The movie does spend quite a bit of time displaying the initial campaign before the big story broke.  It takes some patience to get to the meat of the story, but upon reflection I think the wait was worth it.

Hart was a charismatic and complicated guy apparently as many politicians are. The movie does a good job of covering many aspects of this situation and avoiding just telling the audience as to what side to come down on.  I could side with the reporters sometimes and yet still agree with some concerns Hart raised.  The concerns I could agree with had to deal with how the journalists sometimes conducted themselves to get the story.  I probably wouldn’t have much sympathy for Hart’s political positions.  This is one movie where some ambiguity is tolerable.

I thought Hart raised some good points regarding the methods the reporters used to discover his infidelity even through he clearly was rather deficient in the morality department.  How much intrusion should his wife and children have suffered from the press after his affair was discovered?  One the other hand, the reporters depicted have a pretty strong point in that this man wanted to be President of the United States and how he treats his marriage could be indicative of his views on ethics and morality.  Should the people place that much trust in someone who could not keep his vows to his wife?

It’s not a movie that will get the heart racing with excitement, but it is thought-provoking.  The cast all gave solid performances.  The film seems to drag a little at times due to the various meetings and debates, however I am not sure how could have been left out since that’s how probably much of the decisions were reached.

It’s probably not a film that everyone would appreciate, but I think it raises some interesting points for discussion.  Hart did continue to have a public service career even after this hullaballoo and some depiction of the aftermath of Hart’s scandal could have been explored a bit more.

The strengths of this effort significantly outweigh the weaknesses here.  It turned out to be a pretty good film.

“Kerblam!” is the latest Doctor Who episode starring Jodie Whittaker in the title role. Kerblam! is an interstellar mail service that finds the Doctor in the time vortex and drops off a package.  The Doctor and her companions are intrigued when a request for help is within the package, and they travel to the enormous moon-sized warehouse to find the source of the plea.

This is one of the better episodes of the eleventh series of the revived Doctor Who.  It’s still not great, but it’s a little less preachy.  Pete McTighe is the scriptwriter and still doesn’t pull off anything particularly special with this contribution.  It’s not a complete wreck, but I am not expecting much of an improvement in the ratings.

Whittaker has some decent moments, but she cannot quite pull off the sense of authority her predecessors in the role could when the Doctor is threatening who she thinks is behind the mystery of the week.

The main cast are fine once again.  Bradley Walsh remains my favorite, but I found myself liking Mandip Gill’s character a little more.  Yasmin Khan isn’t really that bad, but she still feels somewhat superfluous when compared to the more interesting dynamic between Graham and Ryan.

It’s a better episode this time around, but not by much.

“The Bad Seed” has had a couple of adaptations over the years, and is probably one of the earlier movies with a creepy kid at the center of the tale.  The 1956 version is directed by Mervyn LeRoy and stems from a 1954 play written by Maxwell Anderson, which actually is an adaptation of a novel by William March.  The cast includes Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Evelyn Varden, and surprisingly William Hopper, who will be come better known for his role as Paul Drake in the “Perry Mason” television series.  Hopper was the only one I really knew on sight, so I was kind of excited to see him.

McCormack plays the little girl, Rhoda Penmark, who just knows how to lay on the charm until her mother, played by Nancy Kelly, starts figuring out that her precious little eight year-old daughter has a bit of a murderous streak.  The father is deployed as part of his military obligations so he is out of the loop for much of the movie.

Overall, I enjoyed the film, but I had to forgive some moments of atrocious dialogue and over the top acting.  The film took on some tough subject matters for that era of cinematic entertainment, so my respect and appreciation for the courage exhibited putting this thing out ticked up quite a bit.

There were times when mother and daughter could get a little too shrill for my taste. I could understand that some kind of hysteria was warranted at times considering how the story unfolds.

McCormack did have some genuinely creepy moments, but she could sometimes have utilized a bit more subtlety when Rhoda is back into charming the socks off everyone mode.  If course, this is a young kid having to deal with sometimes clumsy writing, so I could forgive some lapses in her ability to be entirely convincing.  There were moments where I could see a talented young actress lurking throughout this piece.

I found the movie to be very interesting in many ways in spite of what could often be fatal flaws.  It apparently did well at the box office at the time of first release, and it was not that hard to see why.  I would still recommend for anyone with interest in classic films to add this to the viewing list.

“The First Wave” is a Doctor Who audio drama from Big Finish Productions and is an episode from Companion Chronicles range.  Simon Guerrier completes the trilogy of adventures which featured an original companions named Oliver Harper.  Peter Purves returns as Steven Taylor and narrator.  His impression of the late William Hartnell as the First Doctor is still quite convincing.  He doesn’t pull off a perfect impersonation, but it’s still serves the purpose quite nicely.  Tom Allen returns to conclude his run as Oliver Harper that follows up “The Perpetual Bond” and “The Cold Equations”.  A couple of extra performances are added with the talents of Alex Mallinson and Lisa Bowerman. Bowerman is also the director of this and many of the Companion Chronicles range.  She is quite a consistent contributor to Big Finish plays as both director and actress, most notably as Professor Bernice Summerfield for the past two decades.

The Doctor, Steven, and Oliver arrive on a planetoid known as Grace Alone to find out why they would be wanted for crimes they didn’t commit which would lead to their deaths.  They find a murdered crew and a race known as the Vardans waiting for them. The Vardans had been seen before in a Fourth Doctor television serial called “The Invasion of Time”.  The Vardans are a race that exist within radio waves.

It took this one until the second part to draw me in for some reason.  I ended up liking this one very much in spite of a bit of a slow start.  It is one of those episodes where much of it seems to be done in flashback.  I actually found the whole trio of stories with Oliver to be quite creative.  Purves really consistently puts in a compelling performance. He is another actor for Big Finish who is almost 80 years old and manages to keep a strong, youthful voice.

I am not a fan who thinks a whole lot of the Vardans as adversaries for the Doctor, but I thought they were appropriately menacing in this one.  I would not mind them making further appearances, but I don’t want to hear them too often.

The episode turns out quite well overall, especially with a very interesting and moving epilogue scene at the very end.

“Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald” is a return to the magical, wizardly world of J.K. Rowling and continues the prequel series to the renowned Harry Potter series.  This film is the second to feature Eddie Redmayne as Newt Scamander, the magizoologist, who studied and catalogued the impossible creatures of the magical realm of the wizards.  He is joined by familiar allies played by Katherine Waterston, Dan Fogler, and Alison Sudol.   Johnny Depp joins the cast as the persuasive yet malevolent dark wizard, Grindelwald.  Jude Law plays a much younger Dumbledore.

This film has spectacular visual effects and creativity in the realization of the various creatures and characters.  The performances are all very convincing.  Grindelwald actually seems to have more intriguing depths than Harry Potter’s nemesis, Voldemort. I am actually rather fond of Newt because he seems to be the epitome of the reluctant hero, who is still anything but cowardly. I actually may like Newt a bit more than Harry Potter.  I may think on that more.  Newt also seems to have some difficulty with being comfortable around others, but he manages to convey an awkward charm..  He could be considered quite eccentric, but he is also just a nice guy with some formidable magic at his fingertips.

Now, there are some shortcomings that undermine the strengths in this film.  There are too many characters and relationships to keep track of.  There is also what I would call a lack of cohesion in the storytelling.  I am not sure director David Yates signed off on the best editing decisions.  I think some of whatever ended up on the cutting room floor would have actually been more helpful for the audience to track the ploy a bit better.

The film also seems to run pretty long, which I am sure makes the fans of this franchise rather happy.  I probably would be less exasperated if there weren’t so many unexplained threads and rushed explanations.

There is quite a bit of fun to be had, in my opinion, however there were some aspects in the storytelling that could have been better thought out.  Rowling wrote the screenplay herself, however it seems that she let some of the novel writing tendencies bleed through.

I did eventually get more drawn into the story as it progressed onscreen, however it took some concentration.  I liked it better than I expected, but it was tough going through some of it.

“The Tangled Skein” is a Sherlock Holmes audio drama from Big Finish Productions.  It was initially written as a novel by David Stuart Davies and was adapted to an audio script by Richard Dinnick.  Nicholas Briggs and Richard Earl return to the roles of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, respectively.

The script and the sound effects work well enough.  Briggs’ interpretation of Holmes isn’t really a favorite performance of mine, but I am getting used to it.  Earl does really get into the more exciting scenes as he narrates the story.  The actors are well chosen.

Here’s the problem: Holmes meets Dracula…again. This is another pastiche work in which someone can’t keep other works of the period out of the realm of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  We have other works who have indulged in this pairing out there.  A lot of these pastiche writers keep wanting to push the supernatural through the doors of 221B Baker Street, and I just find that it gets old.

I was especially annoyed when Briggs or one of the other cast members said something about the Bram Stoker’s creation fits so well into the Conan Doyle canon during the cast interviews on the CD Extras..  I don’t know  which canon they were reading, but the supernatural was only addressed in about three stories or so in Doyle’s stories.  None of them actually depicted Holmes meeting a ghost or vampire.

I get it though. Since Holmes was such a stubborn rationalist, the temptation to create situations where his grounding in reality is challenged is hard to resist.  I just get rather weary of some of these writers thinking that they are churning out something unique by having yet another story where someone brings some ghost story or curse to be investigated by Holmes.  This story is kind of a sequel to “The Hound of the Baskervilles”, which is actually one of my favorites in the original canon. I didn’t entirely mind revisiting the Grimpen Mire or Devonshire, but I have to say that has been done before by other pastiche writers.

Giles Watling assumes the role of Bram Stoker’s Godfather of Vampires and performs well.  I do have to admit being rather captivated when Holmes and Dracula exchange their first menacing introductions and threats in spite of my exasperation.

I do hope Big Finish will resist the urge to have Holmes have too many cases where he meets other Victorian fictional characters or supernatural beings.

In spite of the ranting here, this particular release is not without its good points.  I just think the whole business with Holmes, vampires, and curses has just been overdone with the pastiche works, and it just isn’t as faithful to Doyle’s original concept for this world as much as these authors claim.

“The Threat” is a crime drama released in 1949 and stars Michael O’Shea, Charles McGraw, and Virginia Grey. A crime boss and murderer escapes prison and kidnaps a detective, a district attorney, and a nightclub singer.

Charles McGraw as Arnold “Red” Kluger is pretty convincing as he tries to collect on the heist that landed him in prison from his partner who had fled to Mexico.

Michael O’Shea plays the tough, honest cop who is taken along with the district attorney who managed to get Kluger convicted.

It’s quite a brutal movie for that era.  It’s also a pretty short film, which is fitting because this feels like a short review.

This release from RKO Radio Pictures is directed by Felix E. Feist and is not all that memorable for the most part.  I did not find it to be that awful, however I am not too likely to revisit it anytime soon.

Stan Lee died today at the age of 95 years old.  I have not collected comic books for several years now, but I would always count Spider-Man as my favorite super-hero. Lee’s impact on pop culture and entertainment is profound beyond description.  I have seen some interviews of him over the decades and thought that he was a very nice man who cared for his audience.

I will not pretend to know all of the ups and downs of his long career.  I have yet to read any biographies on him although I may change that.

Stan Lee lived a long time.  His legacy will live on longer.  I never met him, but I did see him from a distance at Dallas Fan Expo convention in 2016.

He was a very old man when he died, but it will seem strange for a while knowing that he is no longer out there.  I imagine there are a few more cameos filmed for upcoming Marvel movies, so we may have some reminders of his impact there for a little while anyway.

There is not much else to say other than Stan Lee will be missed and deservedly so.