TheTruthofItIs

"Murderbot" (S01, 10eps, 30min, Apple) I really wanted to like this scifi series, but... writers Chris and Paul Weitz are not distinguished in their prior work and that doesn't bode well. You know what else doesn't? When it's obvious the cast was a showcase for DIE. The only notable actor is Alex Skarsgard and he's put in probably the most unlikeable role of his career. The production value of the series is decent but the writing is pedestrian, bland, boring, and you just don't care about any of them except maybe for Skarsgard's "Murderbot" though his incessant inner monologue gets tiresome quickly. Very disappointed in this Apple effort, fail.

"Justice on Trial" (S01, 8 eps, 45-min, Prime) Judge Judy Sheindlin writes and stars in this series devoted to trial re-enactments of landmark cases. It's a fine concept but this type of content demands proper attention to its execution. The show's concept turns the design of shows like Dateline and 20/20 around, where 90% of the presentation is the crime backstory with the trial bringing up the end. Here, it's the same sequence but the weighting is reversed. Each episode features Judy as commentator and judge with the same two guys playing prosecutor and defense counsel. On her other shows you get Judy turned up to 10 but here, she's greatly toned down to a 1 or 2 so that's refreshing. The cases and their outcomes are interesting but what I find time after time that irritated me is that so much of the story is left out. For instance, the 2nd and 3rd eps concerned how a 15yo boy was absolutely steamrolled by detectives into giving a false confession yet there was absolutely no discussion of his parents' role in his mentally/emotionally abusive interrogations and polygraph. Narrative oversights like this are inexcusable. Finally, there's no jury in these re-enactments, there's no information as to how long the real jury took to return verdicts, no "where are they now", etc.

"M3GAN 2.0" (6/27/25, 2hr, $40M w/w) Since this sequel failed at theatres, you'd think the "2.0" in the title would reflect its rating but no it does not! This is definitely an 8 and you could make the case for it being a 9. Not only is there more action, there's more story, it's more complicated, different story threads happening. For the film students out there, the film leans heavy into AI threat themes. It's Hollywood so the threat is grossly exaggerated and it's the same alarms you've been hearing for years. But if you set aside its preachiness you have a fun, popcorn movie.