Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

Lie to Me, Season One:
This is a show about a group of investigators skilled at knowing when people are lying based on their reactions and facial tics. There may be a germ of truth to the underlying science, but the show overdramaticizes it for entertainment's sake. It's more procedural than serial, but is fun enough to watch while running my treadmill into the ground. Free on Amazon Prime.

Final Grade: B

In a World... (R):
Although the premise seems a little too targeted for widespread appeal, this movie about movie trailer narrators competing for voiceover gigs in Hollywood was a short, pleasant diversion with enough fun jokes and cameos to keep things moving. Free on Amazon Prime.

Final Grade: B+

Homeland, Season Three:
No season of Homeland has been as good as the original, and I was mostly checked out for this one. The writers run a few plot points into the ground this season, especially involving Brody's teenage daughter, who I was already sick off after her first episode. The season wraps up nicely, but you may lose interest along the way.

Final Grade: C+

Choose Your Own Autobiography by Neil Patrick Harris:
The gimmick of writing an autobiography in second person tense gets old pretty quickly, but luckily the book also works as a series of related vignettes that can be read cover to cover instead of skipping around like a Choose Your Own Adventure book. There are no big surprises, and NPH comes off about as likeable as you could imagine, but this might be a good book for an airplane ride or a dentist's waiting room.

Final Grade: B-