Movies

X-Men First Class – This movie has not aged as well as I had thought it would.  I remember really enjoying this movie when I saw it theaters, but watching it for the first time since I found it incredibly disappointing. Other than Fassbender’s excellent take on Magneto, it mostly just jumps from scene to scene without telling much of a story. ***

Mission Impossible Rogue Nation – see review here ****

The Three Amigos – A family favorite. This farcical western is delightful, with Chase, Short and Martin all giving funny performances.  It is just a delight. ****

Fantastic 4 (2015) – see review here *1/2

Goldeneye – I know this is an unpopular opinion right now, but I prefer the Brosnan Bond movies to Craigs.  I like Craigs, but I grew up with Brosnan.  Goldeneye is his first and best.  Trevelyan doesn’t quite live up to his billing as an evil Bond, but the rest of the movie works almost perfectly. ****

Tomorrow Never Dies – This is the one of Brosnan’s films that I didn’t see more than once.  It tries to be future looking, dealing with China and powerful media empires. I don’t think it is quite as engaging as Goldeneye, though.   ***½

The World is Not Enough – In some ways this is movie has the wheels starting to fall off the Brosnan as Bond train.  Things are getting really dumb and they weren’t that smart to begin with.  Still, Brosnan remains as charming as ever and some of the set pieces come off well. Uneven, but fun. ***½

American Pie – I don’t know why I sat and watched this Saturday morning while doing laundry. It wasn’t any good 15 years ago, and it isn’t any good now.  There are some brief glimmers of comedy here, but it isn’t enough to sustain it. **

American Pie 2 – Pretty much the same as the first, just a little more strained and unnecessary. *½

American Wedding – This one at least tries to do something new and interesting, but letting the characters age at least somewhat, but it still has little to recommend. Like many things people liked about high school, it is kind of embarrassing looking back on it. *½

The Man from UNCLE – see review here ****

TV

Psych S2 – There is just something soothing about this show to me.

Wet Hot American Summer – There is a hard to accept air of unreality about this show.  It has actors, many of them very good and/or famous, playing characters that are upwards of a quarter century younger than they currently are. This is compounded by them playing characters that they played 15 years ago. The show really runs with the weirdness of its set up.  And with the pointlessness of being a late comer prequel to a movie that just didn’t need one.  That doesn’t stop them from adding an origin for nearly every element from the original movie.  This is a strange, entertaining beast.