Keanu (2016; Peter Atencio; Jordan Peele and Alex Rubens)

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49182158

I hadn't seen their show but the clip below — intelligent, understated, hilarious — boded well for their first venture into features.

I wasn't disappointed, almost wetting myself with laughter at a couple of places in the film.

Try it. Tell 'em I sent ya.

Marvel's Jessica Jones S01 (Netflix, 2015–)

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47431125

Couple of years back, I was dubious: the awesome Brian Michael Bendis & Michael Gaydos comic, Alias, was to be adapted for the small screen. In the time between announcement and its debut, my interest was piqued:

1. they didn't turn the comic's love interest, the indelibly street Luke Cage (The Good Wife's Mike Colter) into a white dude; and
2. it's from Netflix who did a pretty good job with Daredevil.

So I watched the show and…

1. gone are the case-of-the-issue/mini-arc structure of the comic, replaced by a whole damned season of damned backstory;
2. where the comic had nuance and subtlety, the show defaults to television-grade exposition and enough cringe-worthy cliches to fill a bingo card with cringe-worthy cliches; and
3. where the comic's lead was profane, damaged and still heroic in classic noir fashion, the show's lead is unlikeable, a leaden sulk, and shown as often as possible in her skin tight jeans and singlet.

Ah well, fuck it. At least I tried.

The Walking Dead S06E16 (AMC, 2016)

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=50044387

… What the fucking clusterfuckery fuck was motherfucking that?

Did I just invest fourteen hours (I'll explain) of my life, hooked by decent characterisation and a propulsive narrative, only to be rewarded with a ninety-minute season finale of nothing for the first 75 minutes, eventually introduces us to Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan, making a decent fist of his villain despite inhabiting an MA-rated world), and in its final seventeen fucking minutes treats me like I'm a fucking moron?

Why fucking yes, by fuckity fuck, I most mothefuckingly fucking did.

Fuck you, The Walking Dead TV show. Fuck you fuck you FUCK YOU.

(Fourteen hours of viewing when it's a sixteen ep season? Because I miscounted, went straight to the finale and barely noticed I'd missed anything.)

The Walking Dead S06E05–14 (AMC, 2015)

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47883318

Ten eps on from the beginning of this season and I'm hooked. I shit you not.

Carol's (Melissa McBride) character arc from stone cold killer to broken survivor was mightily believable. Glen (Steven Yeun) gets some cred for following through on what it takes to be a survivor in this new world. Eugene (Josh McDermott) gets the best and most drolly delivered lines.

I even thought Denise's (Nurse Jackie's Merritt Wever) behaviour — doing everything a stupid zombie-story character does to deserve to die — was acceptable because she had to test herself to know that she was worthy. (Maybe you have to watch the ep to see what I'm getting at.)

Shit's looking good, man.

Deadpool (2016; Tim Miller; Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick)

"You're probably thinking, 'This is a superhero movie, but that guy in the suit just turned that other guy into a fucking kebab.' Surprise, this is a different kind of superhero story."

Mos' def'.

Gleeful, puerile, unapologetic fun.

See it.

The Intern (2015; Nancy Meyers)

What did I expect from the director of Something's Gotta Give and It's Complicated, films I started watching with the Better Half before I ran screaming and retching from the den after ten minutes of running time?

Yeah, it was mawkish and lead-footed, and I paused the player at the ten, then fifteen minute marks, not quite in agony or nausea, but still ready to throw in the towel.

But leads Robert De Niro and Anne Hathaway have a nice chemistry that make this film watchable. Sure De Niro continues to cruise through his golden years — hey, he's allowed to — while Hathaway does a decent fist of a start-up entrepreneur struggling with the pulls of motherhood and wifehood.

I'm glad I unpaused the player both times. But it was a close run thing.

Star Wars VII (2015; JJ Abrams / Abrams, Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt)

"Star Wars The Force Awakens Theatrical Poster" by Source. Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia.

First and only thoughts upon leaving the screening of this long-awaited instalment:

• it's a shameless, shameless remake of Star Wars IV;
• after twenty minutes of ads and trailers, I’m like, “Fuck you, Cinema Theatre Experience: I’ll fuckin’ wait”;
• upon hearing it's likely the first of another Star Wars trilogy, the Better Half said, “I love you but I'm not watching any more of this rubbish”;
• to the Canadian salesman who responded to a lukewarm review by wishing reviewer Andrew O’Hehir dead: fucking drop dead yourself, you motherfucking loser;
• I goddamned guarantee you that the final of this trilogy will be motherfuckin’ split into two parts.