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No doubt, The Messiah, will strike a chord with many, resonate with many more, or be objectional to those who find its message or depiction of religion in disparity with their own beliefs. Taken from the perspective of the quintessential purpose of religion, with no other agenda, that of spiritual enlightenment, a oneness with God, and the spreading of peace and tolerance, The Messiah is filled with a message of hope. It is not about religion, or ideology, it is about commonality, that which is shared by everyone, not their ethnicity, beliefs, color or political orientation - but PEOPLE. It brings home the message that the only important thing in the world is not borders or class distinction, or whose god is the true god, but that people all share the same Universal cognizance. We are only divided because we divide ourselves, not because we are born divided and certainly not because some God has divined it so. The classification and thus, the division between people, was not the will of some Almighty - it is perpetuated by people - and certainly not those with the best interests of all concerned. The series ends on a cliff hanger, no spoilers, but it certainly demands a sequel so that we can see if in fact, the alleged "most powerful man in the world", which Americans believe is the case, their President, goes ahead with the admonishment of The Messiah, a strategic move which would result in world peace. Bring it on Netflix, this show is important - let us have a collective win.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, is an excellent sequel to the original Mamma Mia. It started out a bit slow, but then as the original cast of Mamma Mia started showing up, or not, the rhythm picked up and the humor kicked in, there were a lot laughs and enjoyable scenes as old flames and the back story of "Donna" (Meryl Streep) was brought to life. It's hard to make a good sequel because as always, it is being measured against the original and any slightest defect starts to erode the presentation; but in the case of this sequel, the empathy, the character build up, the emotional tone, didn't decrease, it just got bigger. And I gotta tell you, throwing Cher into this film as the grandmother was a brilliant touch, because her role towards the end (no spoilers) was a real blast from the past to any of us who grew up with Cher. This is a fun film, a happy film, one that gets you tapping your feet, and, might even get you to tear-up at the end.

Bosch is quite possibly one of the best crime series ever made. Titus Welliver, who plays the role of Detective Bosch is a hard-assed veteran cop and detective. Bosch has a proclivity for stepping in piles of trouble and his reputation as a man without any social veneer whatsoever doesn't exactly endear him to others, but in all respects, it makes him much more believable as a person. In the world of LAPD, with its miasma of dutiful loyalty to the corps, ego trips, dick versus dick, and female cops trying to compete in a highly structured man's world, Bosch makes CIS and other cop shows look like candy, Hollywood staged shows with their perfect models and perfect Colgate smiles and completely unrealistic investigations which are done in hours using the magic of technology. Bosch is diametrically opposed to the stereotypes that have invaded our televisions. The cops and detectives are fat, ugly, pretty and normal - like us. They use their brains and good old cop skills to find the bad guys, not DNA data bases and digital yahoo. It's gritty, bad-ass and always with a thread, the backstory that haunts Bosch throughout - who murdered his mother? Having lived in Los Angeles for 25 years, in the heart of Hollywood, I'd say they nailed it pretty well, because the City of Angels is anything but that if you've lived there.

Hidden Figures is an an excellent rendering and spotlight on a piece of the NASA space program which was not formerly broad knowledge. The fact that these African-American women played such a critical role in shaping the entire space program and getting people into space, and to the moon, is finally a matter of acknowledged history. The film does a very good job of presenting the context and ambient feel of the times, as NASA is racing to get ahead of the curve before the Russians dominate space, while at the same time, the civil rights movement to eliminate racial discrimination in America is also reaching epic proportions. There is a nice balance of technology and ethnicity presented, and one also feels not only the passion of these women to succeed in both a man's world and a racially discriminate one, but the passion to rise above the black-white threshold imposed by an ignorant and prejudicial culture. All performers did a fine job of presenting realistic characters and because the film is based on reality, and real people, it leaves one with a sense of inspiration about the courage and drive of these principled and under-acknowledged women.

Bright, the movie, has a great cast, with Will Smith, Edgerton and Rapace. There is some fun dialogue and a lot of good action. The concept was cool and of course, as with any Will Smith movie, his witty humor and candid approach, is refreshing. I would have given it a higher rating except it fell short on one very critical point. The movie is staged in contemporary Los Angeles, with current model cars and all, and yet, there are Orcs and Elves which now populate the city. The script writers fail to explain how it is that the Elves are now the rich and wealthy and somehow, the most powerful of its citizens, while the Orcs, who are everywhere, are considered second-rate citizens and regarded with contempt. Where did the Orcs come from? Where did the Elves come from. How did this whole society come about? It's a HUGE hole that leaves one trying to reconcile the anomaly from the very outset of the film. It never gets explained, as if its unimportant to include in the narrative that now involves alien species, so one finds it very difficult to connect with the plot and the characters. This is no slight on the actors who did a good job, but the screen writers cut corners and jumped the whole plot-line and did absolutely no build up to give the story the credibility it deserved. It's unfortunate, because otherwise, it was a good film.

Wormwood is one of those docu-films which could easily go by the boards and not get a lot of notice, and yet, it is highly relevant. Typically, for decades, Hollywood has depicted the CIA, the Central Intelligence Agency, as a dirty black-ops hand of the US government. The agency that lives by the mantra "anything goes" in the name of national security. Wormwood takes us back to 1953 when a scientist, Frank Olson, working on a top secret chemical warfare program, under the auspices of the CIA, suddenly dies and his death is tagged a suicide. His son, Eric, goes on to spend decades trying to force the truth into the open and asking for accountability from the government who is supposed to oversee this agency. This is a true story, the details and re-enactments are quite brilliantly done. The duplicity of the CIA is well-revealed. It's a compelling rendering about one man who goes up against the might of the US government in a relentless search for the truth, and of course, what he discovers in the end is sadly shocking. If you want a dose of reality, watch the film - it will make you question things.

The Last Jedi is, in my humble opinion, the best of the Star Wars franchise. I saw trailers of the first Star Wars film even before it hit the big screen back in the 70's, and that one I felt held the title, until now. This story is overall well-developed, and I really liked that they built up the character of Luke Skywalker and made him very relevant again after so many years with him missing from the films. There is good emotion, heartfelt, and the fight scenes with Ben Solo are gritty and angry and filled with a lot of passion. Overall, I feel that the creators and the actors put a real nice spin on this ball, giving the viewer and life-long fans, such as myself, closure on aspects of the this story which have been hanging there for decades. And, no spoilers, it's set up for more sequels.

McFarland, USA, is an excellent and inspiring film. One cannot help but see the film, a depiction of a true story, as a reflection of the American dream, and it is certainly that, considering that it is a story about a group of boys, living in an Hispanic farming community, who, with the help of their coach (Kostner) become champions in their field of running. Besides the warmth, humanity and principled aspect of the film, it touches on this contemporary subject of the American dream, can anyone actually live it, and of course, Kostner proves to these kids that they can. This dream is not only shared in America, it is shared by everyone, in every nation because the American dream is nothing more than the potential to dream high, and to have the opportunity to achieve it, and that message resonates throughout the movie. The ending is extremely touching - but no spoilers. The film should be required watching for any elected officials - reminding them why they are in office and who they serve.

The Punisher, as portrayed by Jon Bernthal, is an excellent and realistic rendering of a Marvel comic vigilante. Finally, someone really took the time to develop a character that we can relate to as a human, as someone with real PTSD, and someone who believably could pursue a personal war against the corporate and government douche bags who screwed him and his family over. Bernthal does an excellent acting job, portraying a man haunted by the visions of his family being murdered, and a man struggling to reconcile the visions haunting him. His co-partner, and IT freak, who plays David Lieberman, is also a man with a mission to right the wrongs inflicted on him, and together, they play off one another very well. The action scenes are simple, yet compelling, and they are just enough to add balance to a story that draws one deeply into the lives of these two men who were betrayed by the system and the country they served. I'd say that this is Marvel's best rendering. It is mature and the attention to character development transcends the obsession for "action" and special effects, which, after a while, simply becomes trite and overused.

Honestly, I really tried to like "Inhumans". I think Anson Mount is a brilliant actor and I loved his role in Hell on Wheels, but now, in Inhumans, his role was ridiculous. A passive monarch who never speaks because to do so would result in catastrophic destruction. The sets are poor and trite, the special effects are 70s at best, and most of the scenes are just filmed in the forest or in cities, and poorly acted. The main action surrounds Anson's wife, the queen, and she might be a good actress elsewhere, but in this series she is always cynical and sneering and mad - and rarely changes facial features - making her cold and unlikable and difficult to empathize with at all. I like Marvel Comic movie renderings for the most part, but this was a very poor job of presenting a new series, and not well thought- out, as if the script writers were sort of groping their way along in the dark, with occasional action scenes thrown in and virtually no high-tech sci-fi special-effects for a series that is all about an advanced super-human culture located on a secret base on the moon. I can't find anything to say that I liked - so 4/10 was charitable. Sorry, Anson, you deserved better.

The original Blade Runner film remains one of my most favorite sci-fi films of all-time, so I was really looking forward to the remake. At first, it seemed slow, over-developed, but then as the film progressed, I began to appreciate the pace. This is one of those rare finds in science fiction films coming out of Hollywood, where the character is dominant to the action or special-effects. In fact, the special effects in this remake are nothing to gawk at. A very dark and morose setting for the Los Angeles of 2049, with some flybys with futurist cars, but overall, the story is what carries this film and Gosling's performance is touching. One feels his pain and desperation to find his relevance in a post-apocalyptic world, and I loved his association with his holographic computer, and their special bond. Overall, it's a long movie, but it taps on the doors of our inner emotion; and on both sides of the story, the human sense of entitlement to survive above all other species, including even those they created too well; and the Replicants, the engineered Ai cybernetics, who simply want a chance to become everything they can be.

Hard not give Homeland a top rating. As far as television series go, it was very well made. The actors were believable characters. Their foibles were real to a point of becoming nearly intolerable at times, especially the lead protagonist, Carrie. The episodes were a great balance of subjectivity and objectivity - and frankly, it was really great to see a series where the scriptwriters seemed to be controlling the story line, where character-development was scripted in and provided a real sense of identification with many of the players - and not, as is the case with so many series, where they rely on action scenes and CG to carry the series. It is also noteworthy, although this this might be considered a moot point by some, but the series did a great job of vectoring all the attention at the beginning to terrorists and terrorism "outside" the American domain which was attacking America, to eventually showing the very real scenario and depth of corruption and "terrorism" right inside the US government and its collective intelligence agencies. Watching Homeland, one cannot help but reflect on real-life events which have occurred, from Edward Snowden's exposure of the NSA, beta-data-gathering on US civilians, Camp Gitmo, intrusive surveillance, and a government that seems to be more paranoid about protecting itself than in really running a country. The ending, no spoilers, is not too far from the reality of what we see happening today with the new Administration at the helm. A great series, truly in the top row of series.

The Path is an excellent rendering of a contemporary cult and the machinations, lies, delusions and outright corruption engaged upon to ensure its survival. If one studies cults and how they lure in followers, and how they manipulate them into buying into their ideas and eventually losing touch with their own sense of reality, self determinism and free-will, the Path brings all of that out into the open. Sometimes it is actually painful to watch if you have ever known someone, especially someone close to you, who has been caught in the maws of a cult. Moreover, the producers did a great job of showing just how such a cult as The Path, can hide behind the mantle of religiosity, and using peer pressure, and more importantly, peer-mentality, cover up all manner of abuses, violations of human rights and corruption. Although the characters, in some cases, appear to be extreme, it can only be said that until one has experienced the reality of life inside the inner sanctum of a cult, that it is hard to believe that people can become, literally, another person altogether once they have turned over their loyalty to the cult. Normal people become abnormal. Kids disconnect from their families and loved ones. And social personalities become toxic - all in the name of the pursuit of spirituality. The contradictions are well played in this series. Definitely worth watching.

Iron Fist started out strong - really, it had a good flow to it, the character was likable and not over the top. The character development was well-done in the first several episodes, and all in all it was measuring up to be a good series. Somewhere around half way, the scriptwriters committed that terrible travesty which they all too often do with such series, they turned it into a trite melodrama. The lead character, Iron Fist, goes from being a lighthearted and very cool fighter, with great fight scenes, a good heart and a good conscience, and suddenly he becomes this maudlin, crying, weeping sack of potatoes who can't hold it together every time he thinks about the death of his parents. He trained for 15 years to become the greatest fighter in the world, but he can't discipline himself not to lose it at every turn. The shift in his personality and the terrible acting from that point on (on his part) was a turn-off. Not to mention the inconsistencies entered in later in the series, (no spoilers), you'll see. Honestly, if they had just kept up the pace and consistency of the first half of this series, it would have been a winner. Unfortunately Hollywood does this - they go for trite melodrama - and frankly, superheros and melodrama simply do not mix. Spiderman crying, Superman having a meltdown over his cat, and Iron Fist grimacing at the very mention of his dead parents - enough! If there is to be a second season, can it please be real to the character - no melodrama - please!

Logan is the darkest of the X-Men/Wolverine series. Thankfully, it is more realistic than its predecessors. When Wolverine cuts loose there is blood and split heads and body parts flying all over the place - instead, as with earlier series, one barely saw a blood spatter. Logan is dark because Wolverine is battling himself in this rendering more so than ever. He doesn't want be what he has become and the battle that rages inside is killing him. Without spoiling the movie, a surprise player appears and she gives Logan a new injection of life and purpose. The fighting scenes are pretty thrilling, the twists are good, but for reasons which are inexplicable the creator decided to enter a short segment with a bunch of young kids living alone in the wilderness, happily surviving on hot dogs, smiling and all clean and normal, like, "What!!?" as if they had all the luxuries of life in the middle of nowhere!!! That one small segment was like injecting some scene from the Wizard of Oz into the middle of Platoon. Nonetheless, Logan delivers up. It is heartfelt and Jackman delivers his best performance ever. His acting is sincere, the pain he feels, you feel, and the conflict that roils through him to the last scene of the movie is indelible until the end. But please, no more Wizard of Oz - this is real life, lots of killing and blood... I mean, duh.

Harley and the Davidsons was an excellent film rendering based on the true story of the start and growth of the Harley Davidson MC covering over 30 years of its beginning. It was well-acted, the attention to detail, the spicy human interaction and complexities, along with, of course, the trials and tribulations of testing and losing and testing again until the Harley finally came into being, kept me glued. It was also interesting to see just how fast the motor industry exploded at the turn of the century, how many MC brands suddenly appeared and how crazy the world became over motorcycles. I think this is a very human story, quite inspiring and just easy to watch. And, having seen it, I want a Harley more than ever!

I don't usually like watching anything about British aristocracy, or anything on that class-type, simply because it is not a representation of the true grit of humanity, but rather, a sort of lavish and haughty clique, but, nonetheless, my wife turned me on to Downton Abbey and I was hooked. It was tremendously detailed, paralleling the rapid shift in culture, of an aristocracy trying to survive in an industrial age where workers rights, women's equality, and the general standard of living no longer supported the oblivious rich-class and those servile to them. A great deal of attention was put into showing the rapid shift in fashion, technology and the morphing of the culture from strict old crusty British tradition with lords and dukes and such, to a leveling of the playing field. The plot is well-thought out, the intrigue is enough to hold you, and if you can stomach the snobbery and the over-rated sense of important that the aristocracy entitled themselves to, the dialogue is both eloquent and insightful. I really enjoyed it, and for me, considering my dislike for this class, that is saying a lot. I recommend it and it is one of the few television series I have seen which has the ending you would like to see.

I thought that Independence Day (the new one) was bad, but London Has Fallen is right up there with the worst film of the year. The script writer(s) for this film would appear to have been coached by White House officials or the Pentagon, to make sure that this film could be officially categorized as pure propaganda for the US military and the general message of terrorism in the world. It didn't matter to anyone that at the very beginning of the film a wedding party of hundreds of people in some "Islamic nation" was wiped out by an American droid. That was no big deal. Then when the US President goes to London with his Secret Service agent (Gerard Butler) and they take on and nearly defeat by themselves, an army of terrorists who have attacked London - I mean wow, this is incredible and toots the big horn for "America to the rescue." Look, I love America, but films like this are just an insult. It made the British police and their military look stupid, as if they couldn't chew gum and negotiate an attack in their own city at the same time. And it certainly delivered a big punch to the message that "the world is a dangerous place and terrorists are everywhere... blah blah." I expected better from Morgan Freeman - who was mouthpiece for the same message. Generally, these are good actors - but this was a very disappointing and poorly done production. Don't waste your time watching it.

This film delivered. Matt Damon, as always, did a great job of staying in character. Great action scenes - lots of action in fact, and a pretty hair-raising car chase which was pounding. The only thing that fell short is that the main vehicle (a SWAT vehicle), after crashing into and through about 50 cars, didn't show a single dent or a broken head-lamp, which was kind of a stupid oversight on the part of the movie-makers. Nonetheless, the movie was gripping, and it it had a nice build-up, climax to climax. For me, it was a great message about the on-going corruption of the CIA and its agenda to put in an ultimate surveillance net, and it also championed the private sector who fought for privacy and freedom from surveillance on the worldwide net. The ending had a great final twist - loved it, and as always, it was a fist in the face to the agency dicks. Good movie, watch it and enjoy the ride.

STAR TREK BEYOND was very good. No disappointments whatsoever. They maintained the quality, the thematic content of intelligence vs force which has always been the hallmark of the Star Trek series, and they inserted some great nostalgia and a nice touch with Leonard Nimoy. Overall, high action, good twist on the plot, some laughs and light- heartedness to offset the grimmer aspects. I have to say that Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, who play Kirk and Spock respectively, are excellent players for these parts. They stand on their own, even though they are, in the back of our minds, representing icons of the Star Trek franchise from the original cast of the 1960s. STAR TREK BEYOND presents a glimpse of the future which is coming - it's just a matter of time and technology. Someday, just like landing men on the moon back in the 1930s and 1940s was considered "science fiction", the perspectives depicted in this film will some day become fact and no longer be seen as sci-fi. Definitely a recommended watch.

This film was excellent. The build-up of the backstory, the main story and the characters was very well done. Instead of playing on just action scenes, this movie played on the quality of the people and their stories. The suspense crescendoed very nicely - and the climax was good edge-of-the-seat stuff. Alexander Skarsgård did an excellent and believable job of playing Tarzan. Samuel Jackson was a good contrast of humor and edgy wild-west America - a nice change from his usual roles. The whole message about man and nature and fact that the animal world is so much more than a bunch of "stupid animals" was beautifully done. The panoramic scenery of the country and the wild-ride and explosive action scenes were gripping. Overall - this movie hit it right on the head. I'm sure that Skarsgård's abs hit it big with the ladies - but personally, I was impressed with his ability to downplay the character and maintain a sense of humble humility throughout the story. Definitely recommend this film.

At the outset I have to say that I LOVED the original Independence Day film, which is why I was looking forward to the sequel. It was a horrible disappointment. Besides the fact that they failed to do any character build-up, and they had us bouncing back and forth from four or five different scenes, the film was insulting. I lived in America for 31 years before moving to Europe. Watching this film was insulting because it propagandized the military mentality that America will save the world. It depicted only American forces fighting the aliens, on Earth, in space and on the moon. Not a single other nation was shown to have even raised a finger against an attack which was portrayed as doomsday for the world. The small snippets showing other nations, depicted them as tribal groups under tents, cowering and listening to battery operated radios as the American President declared that they would save the world and "please pray for us". At least in the original Independence Day film they correctly represented the war against the aliens as a global one where all nations were involved. Besides the general disappointment about the film, I walked away feeling as if I had just attended a rally in support of America's right to continue to exercise its sense of entitlement as a dominant military presence on the planet. Maybe that wasn't intended. Maybe the script didn't get a once-over by the Pentagon's PR department. But I wasn't the only one who felt that way - as if the "global invasion" was one-sided, and the rest of us poor schmucks had to stand by doing nothing. It was an insult and understandably, the film got poor ratings.

This was an excellent presentation of how Steve Jobs stuck to his guns and his dreams and refused to give up in the face of incredible odds. Where his friends and associates turned on him, he refused to turn on himself. The movie gave enough balance in terms of his personal life, his weaknesses, and most importantly, his undying determination to change the world through personal computers. Steve Jobs was a people's man, in reality. He wanted the power of computers put into the hands of every living person on Earth, and that passion carried his dream into reality and helped him to overcome all the road blocks put in his way. It's an inspiring life and the movie captured it well. Definitely recommend watching it.

This movie was terrible. It had the signature trademark of a brand of Hollywood films which are shallow and which focus on sexy girls and being "cool" and "dangerous" but in fact, none of the characters were believable or authentic and there was no character build-up and no sense of empathy for them. Without giving a spoiler, the "bad" guys that the FBI agent is trying to expose actually have a good reason for what they are doing - but it is completely misplaced in the plot and it has nothing to do with the original thematic thread of the original make of this movie. The lead actor simply doesn't act. He's just a sporty-guy. There was some good extreme sports scenes, but nothing more than one might find on YouTube, otherwise, bad acting, boring and trite plot. The original make of this movie with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze was the cream. Too bad because there are a few decent names in this new rendering. Anyhow, I hate to be so negative about it but I literally couldn't watch it anymore after about 40 minutes into the film and I had been looking forward to seeing this movie.

Dexter is a brilliant thriller. One is forced to binge-watch this series to know what happens next. The main character, Dexter, a serial killer, is both dysfunctional, brilliant and lovable. Each season is wonderfully plotted and paced and gives one the satisfaction of seeing this series achieve the next plateau. The only downside, and truly, the only downside, is the disappointing ending. I didn't see it coming and considering the quality of scriptwriting up till then and the build-up of expectancy throughout the series - it was a let-down. It could have been really epic buildup and ending - a shame. Otherwise, fabulous acting and a great story overall. Still worth watching.