There are times when making the mental commitment to myself to write a review each and every week can be more challenging than other times.   This week was such a time.   First it has been glorious out, and I feel as though I should soak up every bit of the sun and warmth while it lasts.   Also, there has been so very little to watch or even to be excited about.   So it has been Netflix and Crave watching instead of going to the theatre.   For all the price increases with Netflix lately, one can lament that having paid just $9.99 not that long ago, and now $13.99 it seems like a cash grab.  Yet it’s still cheaper than the price of a full-priced ticket at the theatre, especially if you partake in 3D or other add-ons!     But having said that there is some reviews to pass along.

This weekend I saw The Happytime Murders with Melissa McCarthy.   Maya Rudolph also stars (a common co-star for McCarthy) along with Elizabeth Banks.   This is a police caper with McCarthy playing a human cop, and her former puppet partner (voiced by Bill Baretta).  There is a back story there.   This is an adult caper in a similar vein as Team America,  although not quite as cutting (nor profane) as Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s work.    There are some funny moments, I did laugh out loud in a couple of places.  There are some good quips and one liners.   McCarthy has very good comedic timing.   She also delivers an insult as well as anyone.   The scene in question that had my attention takes place in the office where Rudolph (as Bubbles) fends off some inspectors.   You’ll know the scene when you see it.   But beyond that and a couple other laughs it is pretty standard fare.   Yes, the graphic scenes of puppets having their stuffed heads blown away are funny to start but then there is more and more.  It isn’t John Wick, but there is enough cotton carnage to go around.     In the end this was able to fill some time, and provided a few laughs on a warm, comfortable cottage evening.   By the way, McCarthy has shown a great deal of range in the last few pictures I have seen in, like Can You Ever Forgive Me?   This strikes more of a mailed in performance for the pay cheque or a film commitment to a studio.

While Happytime trying hard to make us laugh and smile, the Margret Attwood tale The Handmaid’s Tale that I spoke about earlier continues into Season 2 as I watch to be filled with tears and dreariness.   It is damn depressing.   That is the point of course.  A dystopian society as a subset of the United States, where women have no rights and are kept (or those who are fertile) as human incubators with the affluent and powerful men deciding their fates and taking their babies to give to their barren wives.   There are some episodes that are decidedly slow moving, the the episode where Elizabeth Moss is looking to escape.   That plane epsiode could have been done in 15 mins and not a whole hour.   Mid-way through the Second season a couple things happen that are more interesting and show some elements of change are brewing but it is still plodding along.   It’s okay.   It still does not approach the best of the series TV that has been on lately.    Not sure where the accolades and awards come from but maybe there is something I am missing.   Likely.

So another week goes by and I am hopeful at some point to see something worth writing about.   Enjoy the sun!!