Super 30 (2019)

"The Old Guard" doesn't break ground, but it sure does bust boredom and fictional heads as an entertaining action romp on Netflix.

I was able to sit down and talk with singer/songwriter Carson Lueders about his career in the music industry. We talked influences from country music to Pop, and his working relationship with Quavo from the The Migos. 

The social issues The Half of it takes on are handled well, between the antagonization brought on to Ellie for her race and the conflict that arises from her being gay. Both aspects of her character are built up over the course of the film and don’t seem abrupt or rushed. The film shows racism towards Ellie and her and father in varying levels, from having her schoolmates specifically address her as "Chinese girl” to the fore mentioned way her Dad is treated due to language barriers. The same can be said about Ellie being a lesbian. While she never truly “comes out” in the narrative, that does not undermine her journey of self-discovery from being meaningful. These ideas aren’t thrust upon the viewer in a preachy manor, the scenarios that occur feel believable given the rural setting. The film presents watchers with problems whom those like Ellie may face, and leaves us to sit with them and reflect.

This groundbreaking summer blockbuster proves that diversity enhances the action genre.

Michael Shanks’ Together is a queasy, hilarious, and surprisingly heartfelt body-horror trip that fuses love and terror in the most literal sense. Starring real-life couple Dave Franco and Alison Brie, this midnight gem twists Plato’s soulmate myth into a gory, darkly funny tale of codependency, cults, and chainsaws — equal parts romance and nightmare.

The film may be a thriller, but I wasn’t thrilled by it. If anything, I was bored and annoyed.