House (TV Series)

Dr. Gregory House (Hugh Laurie) an unconventional doctor with amazing skills at a fictional hospital (Princeton Plainsboro) in New Jersey. He works as the head of Diagnostic Medicine with his team working on the most puzzling cases, . He deals with constant pain from muscle damage by popping pain relievers. His physical disability causes him to be depressed and moody, as a result Dr. House is not exactly a ‘people person’, quite the contrary, he is frequently quite offensive to people around him but his medical brilliance and dedication tend to overshadow his rudeness.

I love watching House even if it’s the reruns, but I think it might be an acquired taste for many. The cases they face can be quite amazing! I was surprised how good Hugh’s American accent was, since he is British, it was spot on.

Cast includes: Hugh Laurie, Lisa Edelstein, Omar Epps, Robert Sean Leonard, Jennifer Morrison, Jesse Spencer, Peter Jacobson, Kal Penn, Olivia Wilde, Amber Tamblyn, Odette Annable, Charlyne Yi

Available on: Netflix, Google Play, Amazon

Longmire (TV Series)

Walt Longmire(Robert Taylor) is the sherrif of the fictional Absaroka County in the state of Wyoming. He leads his office against the criminal element in his area. Walt is a widower but has one grown daughter. With only four police officers available the Sherrif’s office personnel are in high demand even though it is a rural area. With big ranches,indian reservations, and industry nearby racial, and environmental tensions cause problems too.

The Longmire TV series is based on the book series called The Walt Longmire Mysteries written by best selling author Craig Johnson. The show obviously has a old west feel with all the western trappings such as horses, cowboy boots, and cowboy hats. The main character even reminds me a bit of Matt Dillon(James Arness). As a matter of fact the show is a lot like Gunsmoke just adding in a few modern conveniences and production advances. I like it.

Cast includes: Robert Taylor, Katee Sackhoff, Bailey Chase, Adam Bartley, Cassidy Freeman, Lou Diamond Phillips

Available on: Google Play, Amazon, Netflix

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit

Jack Ryan is a former Marine who was wounded in Afghanistan, After a long recovery he hooks up with the medical student who helped him in physical therapy. He is recruited by the CIA and winds up working in a major Wall Street brokerage firm as a compliance officer. His CIA mission is to watch for transactions that might indicate terrorist activity. What do you suppose happens then? Hello! Action movie!

Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit is based on characters created by Tom Clancy. This is an action movie done right, great actors, plausible story, great directing, right score(sound track album is available) and everything else that goes into a great movie…all great. If you are looking for an action movie I’d consider this one.

Cast includes; Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Kenneth Branagh, Keira Knightley

Available on: Google Play, Amazon, VUDU, Netflix

Hit & Miss

Hit and Miss a British television show about a transsexual woman assassin named Mia. She finds out she has an 11-year-old child from a previous relationship before she began MTF (male-to-female) transition, and his mother is dying of cancer. Upon receiving the notification Mia goes to the smallholding where her son and two other siblings live. She finds out she is too late and the mother has died. She is then left to decide what her next course of action is.

The series is well done. What was a surprise was how well they incorporated the unique challenges transsexuals face. The acting is very well done. The plot is well thought out. I expected a big deal to be made about the gender identity issues, but it really didn’t. I enjoyed the series and would recommend it.

Cast includes: Chloë Sevigny, Peter Wight, Jonas Armstrong, Vincent Regan, Ben Crompton, Karla Crome, Reece Noi, Jorden Bennie, Roma Christensen

Available on: Netflix.

I, Frankenstein

Frankenstein’s monster has been on the run fending off attacks by demons for 200 years. A policeman is killed trying to intervene in an attack in an American city and this causes the guardians of the human race, gargoyles, to intervene. They discover that the demons want Dr. Frankenstein’s ability to reanimate corpses to create hosts for more demons. Since the gargoyles and the demons are adversaries keeping the reanimation technology away from the demons is vital to them too because of what a demon army would do to the human race.

This movie is well done. This movie has some negative reviews out there and for the most part I can’t get through their jargon to figure out why. Don’t listen to the negative people out there. Judge for yourself but I enjoyed it. If you did not, why not? The effects were good, the lore was well thought out, There certainly was nothing wrong with the acting.

Happy New Year! Best of luck to everyone!

Cast includes: Aaron Eckhart, Bill Nighy, Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto, Socratis Otto, Jai Courtney, Kevin Grevioux

Available on: Google Play, Amazon, VUDU, Netflix

The Family

An Italian-American mobster in witness protection is relocated to Normandy, France with his wife daughter and son.  As they attempt to assimilate each family member finds challenges. Prejudice against them as Americans, School difficulties, and romantic difficulties are some of their problems. Being a mob family they take care of themselves old school. They have determined enemies though and…no more spoilers. Have fun!

The pros in any field can show you how to do a job right. That is what this movie is pros with some talented support doin’ it right. Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Tommy Lee Jones show that experience is king. Dianna Agron and John D’Leo were really good too along with everyone else in the cast. I really like this movie.

Directed by Luc Besson

Cast includes: Robert De Niro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Tommy Lee Jones, Dianna Agron, John D’Leo

Available on: Netflix, Google Play, VUDU

Terra Nova TV Series

Terra Nova is about one families’ choice to join other colonists and go 85 million years back in time and begin the human race over again. The world they left was dying and the scientists hope is that doing so will create a parallel time stream where the human race does a better job taking care of the Earth. The Shannon family have to try secretly joining the colonists due to the fact they have a third child and the legal limit is two.

I like good science fiction and this is good science fiction. Excellent sets, acting, camara work, effects, and stories. This show has it all. Fox dropped it after the first season but Netflix may pick up their fumble and get a touchdown with a second season!

Cast includes: Jason O’Mara, Shelley Conn, Christine Adams, Allison Miller, Landon Liboiron, Naomi Scott, Rod Hallett, Alana Mansour, Stephen Lang

Available on: Netflix, Amazon

Lady Gaga and the Muppets’ Holiday Spectacular

Lady Gaga and co-stars along with the Muppets celebrate the holidays. Lady Gaga performs musically with everyone and also in some skits with the Muppets. Especially Kermit causing Mrs. Piggy to get jealous. Mrs. Piggy is the jealous type anyway and considering Lady Gaga’s outfits, especially the first one, I understand. A guy might watch that frame by frame to get the full…never-mind! The whole family can enjoy this as part of your holiday.

Cast includes: Lady Gaga, Kristen Bell, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elton John, RuPaul, Youthful Praise,

Also performing: Steve Whitmire assisting Kermit the Frog, Beaker, Rizzo the Rat, and Statler;  Eric Jacobson assisting Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle;  Dave Goelz assisting The Great Gonzo, Bunsen Honeydew, Waldorf, Zoot, and Albert the Rabbit; Bill Barretta assisting Rowlf the Dog, Dr. Teeth, Swedish Chef, Pepe the King Prawn, Bobo the Bear, and Big Mean Carl; David Rudman assisting Scooter and Janice; Matt Vogel assisting Camilla the Chicken, Floyd Pepper, Lew Zealand, and Norman the Sheep; Peter Linz assisting Walter

Available on: Netflix, YouTube

Stakeland

A pandemic of vampirism has gripped the world. The afflicted prowl the nights looking to feed. One night a family is attacked and only a young boy named Martin survives and is taken in by a hunter called Mister. Mister teaches Martin to survive and together they travel toward New Eden which is rumored to be a safe, vampire free area. The trip turns out to have even greater challenges than the vampires…

American Horror Story

American Horror Story is a show that provides variety for the viewer. Don’t expect the next season to be like the previous season, I liked the first and third season, but the second one wasn’t as appealing and was very slow. From my view of the show it seems that each season has it’s own writer or they were having a over-encumbered year , and weren’t focusing on the show at the time. I can’t give you many names of the actors since their were so many, but many of the actors were reused for different seasons so you’ll see them in the next season. One of my favorite actors out of all of them is: Jessica Lange she was in every season even the new fourth season.