Again, some short opinion pieces about movies and TV shows that I watched over the last couple of months.

(Update 2023: Added five-star-ratings [may diverge now from what I had in mind, years ago, when I wrote the text…].)

Film

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019)

It was fun, although maybe a bit less fun than the first time.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Peppermint (2018)

Utterly forgettable shitty vengeance film!
★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 stars

Glass (2019)

The unexpected sequel of Split and Unbreakable. It was not really bad, but in a sort of way also not needed and not really delivering what or how I anticipated it to go (and sadly also not offering a positive surprise instead); especially the ending was very frustrating.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Unfinished Business (2015)

From the trailer, I expected a campy, juvenile slapstick comedy, but it was much darker than that. Still not a great movie, but not bad either.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Happy Death Day 2 U (2019)

Not really a sequel that the world needed. It’s alright (if you liked the first one), but no need to turn this into a franchise with even more parts (but which I fear will happen, considering the ending of this one).
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Vice (2018)

Impressive performance by Christian Bale, but to be honest, I didn’t care or pay attention to most of it: These parts of US-internal politics/history is too far removed from me.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Captain Marvel (2019)

Another episode in the MCU, as needed for the growth of the franchise and to pave the way to “Avengers: Endgame”. Other than that, not really remarkable.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Get Hard (2015)

Had some funny scenes, but (again) not a great comedy. It also doesn’t help that I’m not the biggest fan of Will Ferrell (a very one-note actor/comedian, IMHO).
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Red Heat (1988)

Rewatch – Saw it again, after many, many years. Let’s just say that, except for a few memorable scenese (Arnie in Russia!) it’s a very mediocre buddy cop flick that also didn’t age very well.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Commando (1985)

Rewatch – Saw it again, after many, many years. Also, a child of its time. If you knew it before, or can relate to it, it has some nostalgic entertainment value – otherwise, rather not.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Tron: Legacy (2010)

Rewatch – I still like it. Too bad that we didn’t get more stuff from the Tron universe. Of course it’s campy as hell, especially considering that nowadays computers are part of everyone’s daily life.

On the other hand: Just because seemingly everyone knows how to handle a smartphone doesn’t mean they also know much about the inner working of these devices 😄
★★★★☆ 4/5 stars

Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017)

Well, slow burner with the usual ultra-brutal explosions expected from a S. Craig Zahler film. I’m torn about it: Not really good, but it was kind of mesmerizing.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)

OK, that was the last one for me. (Update 2023: Nah, I also watched part 4…).
The first one had a certain freshness to it, but part 2 and 3 are just treading water and look fancy.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Green Book (2018)

Terrible and boring. Even the expected plot points for such a socially-conscious Oscar-baiting movie were missing.
★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 stars

Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

Yawn. Not my cup of tea.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Hellboy: Call of Darkness (2019)

Not on the same level as Del Toro’s previous two entries, but also not terrible; just pretty meaningless and forgettable big-budget-mainstream fluff (“content”).
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Pirates of the Caribbean 5: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)

Suprisingly entertaining during most of the runtime, especially considering it’s the fifth entry of this franchise. On the other hand: It was not really needed and I certainly don’t need more (for a long time); let it rest a while.
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Oh well, kind of what was to be expected, kind of not. Hard to put it in a few words.
In general, I see it as just yet another episode in the MCU (yes, even if this is sold as the “End of Phase Whatever”); and I’m not a fan of these huge superhero ensemble tentpoles.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Shaft (2019)

Quite entertaining (which is high praise for a Netflix production).
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

TV

Van Helsing — Season 1

Fast-forwarded and skipped most of it. It had some trash and camp entertainment factors at times, but not much more of value.
★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Van Helsing — Season 2

(See text for season 1.) ★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Van Helsing — Season 3

(See text for season 1.) ★★☆☆☆ 2/5 stars

Star Trek: Enterprise — Season 4

This final season focused mostly on plots that would span over two or three episodes, instead of one season-long plot. Not all of these stories work, but I appreciate the idea behind it.

Comparing these ‘mini arcs’ with the (almost) fully serial storytelling of the current Discovery show, or with the “Alien of the week”/procedual way of TOS and TNG in the past and the interwoven/intermediate storytelling of of DS9, this was a good compromise.

All in all, the season was OK: Better in some aspects, and worse in others, than previous ones. I was relieved that they finally left the Temporal Cold War/Xindi behind (that whole plot never worked for me anyway).

So, the show was now still (or again) in a mode of self-discovery, which on the one hand could be seen as a good thing (instead of repeating itself for five or six years), on the other hand I imagine that you will loose casual viewers that way, when the direction is constantly being changed.

From my point of view, things could have been improved over the next seasons, but sadly the show was canceled herafter. (Oh, and regarding the infamous very last episode: Yes, it was a disgrace to the show and its cast.)
★★★☆☆ 3/5 stars

Russian Doll — Season 1

Oh well… I endured the first half of this season, then started to fast-forwarding it. Didn’t like any of the characters and the weird story didn’t go the way I wanted it to go.
★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 stars

Star Trek: Discovery — Season 2

I can’t put it better than the fine gentlemen of RedLetterMedia did in their “re:View”: They analyze and dismantle it very accurately.

It’s just a terrible, terrible show. Even if it wouldn’t have the ‘Star Trek’ brand attached to it (which is tarnished by this show), it would still be just another terrible, terrible sci-fi show.

And if you wonder: Yes, of course I will watch also the third season — it’s Star Trek, I can’t help myself… (Although, I did skip VOY and ENT after a few episodes, years ago. I did catch up with Enterprise in the meantime and plan to do the same with Voyager [Update 2023-08: Hasn’t happened yet; but I’m soon done with my TOS rewatch…])
★☆☆☆☆ 1/5 stars