Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power (first episode):
I have no skin in the RING for whether this show succeeds (I'm not a big LotR fan at all, either the books or the movies) but I thought it was interesting that it had been review-bombed so heavily that Amazon actually hid all reviews from their site. I gave the first episode a shot and was pretty bored throughout. The dialogue, plots, and characters felt exceptionally generic. There should be a dRINGking game for all of the cliched touches. The lush, orchestral score behind every single scene was completely distracting and unnecessary. Introducing a new fantasy show or world is really tricky to get just right -- The Dark Crystal on Netflix had an awful first episode and an amazing rest of season while Game of Thrones on HBO had such a great first episode that even Rebecca liked it. This one was fine, but not intriguing enough for me to keep on watching. On Amazon Video.

Final Grade: C-

The Outlaws, Season Two:
Season two picks up right where the first ended, and feels more like the missing half the story rather than a brand new season. It felt like the writers weren't sure what to do with all of the characters and plots at the end of Season One, but they recover nicely here. The ending is a satisfyingly final wrap-up without cliffhangers. On Amazon Video.

Final Grade: A-

Sorry to Bother You (R):
This movie stars Lakeith Stanfield (who we loved in Atlanta) as a struggling call center employee who suddenly finds success by using his "white voice" (dubbed in perfectly by David Cross). It's bizarre, unsubtle in its message, and kind of morphs into a weird dystopian sci-fi movie for the last half hour. Even so, we were entertained throughout.

Final Grade: B

Reservation Dogs, Season One:
This is an under-the-radar series about friends on an Oklahoman reservation trying to get enough money to get away to California. It's very fun, especially the scenes of Dallas Goldtooth channeling Doug from Weeds as a spirit known as the Unknown Warrior. On Hulu.

Final Grade: A