Review Day

There are no major spoilers in these reviews.

Cobra Kai, Season One:
This is a follow-on TV series to the seminal movie, Karate Kid, and can be enjoyed even if you've only seen the first movie in the trilogy. I liked that the show has more to say about the original characters -- it's not just a typical reboot with young actors playing the exact same types of roles as the original. There's a good balance of cheesiness throughout even though the setting and character depth has been modernized (no one's a villain but no one is perfect). On Netflix.

Final Grade: B+

Last of Us, Season One:
This HBO show is based on a video game I've never played, featuring a hardened mercenary type escorting a young teen across a dangerous post-apocalyptic US. The premise of a fungus that turns people into zombie-like infected ends up being a loose skeleton that allows the show to focus on smaller, character-driven stories. The show is warmly bleak, and occasionally too bleak.

Final Grade: B

Elemental (PG):
This Pixar movie is a gentle step back from the movies that were a little too abstract to succeed (Inside Out, Soul). It's pleasant ride but not one of Pixar's greatest movies -- it kind of covers similar ground as Turning Red.

Final Grade: B-

A Kiss Before You Go by Katzenjammer:
Katzenjammer's second album is slightly less rough-hewn and more polished than the first, with the overall sound moving more towards pop. There are lots of catchy tunes here, and it's definitely worth a listen. Rock Paper Scissors is a good representative track from this album.

Final Grade: B+