Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

Schitt's Creek, Season Five:
Another quickly-watched season with a good balance of awkward and heartfelt humor. Free on Netflix.

Final Grade: B

Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm (R):
The majority of this movie is a retread of the first with less reason for existence -- while there are a few laugh out loud one-liners here and there, most of the humor feels obligatory and the targets seem too easy. It's also no longer clear who's in on the shtick which reduces the shock value. The wrap-up and final reveal is good though, just barely making the rest of the movie worth watching. Free on Amazon Prime.

Final Grade: C+

Outside the Jukebox:
This autobiography of the Postmodern Jukebox creator reads easily, blending musical nerd trivia, motivational one-liners, and a minimum of self-aggrandizement. I finished it in a couple days and enjoyed it, but you'd have to be already be a fan of Postmodern Jukebox to consider it

Final Grade: B

The 100, Season Seven:
I'm pretty sure Netflix finally got around to implementing "Watch at 1.5x" speed for this show. The extended 16-episode final season consists of a ton of one-off origin stories that all end up exactly where you expect them to, and a revolving array of beautiful people covered in mud and wounds so they all look the same. The 100 has always been a show where interesting worldbuilding ideas smother any sense of character development, and this season tries so hard to answer every question (even those I didn't really care about) that it forgets to elicit any investment in its characters. Like previous seasons, people suddenly have changes of heart and betrayals and lamentations to keep the plot moving, but thankfully we don't spend endless episodes with the main characters hating each other. The season is an unfocused whiplash of factions, new worlds, and lore until, suddenly, the writers realize there's only a few episodes left and they have to wrap everything up. The ending was fine. Free on Netflix.

Final Grade: C-