I have enjoyed seeing Ncuti Gatwa as the 15th-ish Doctor, but as an honest reviewer I can’t say that I’ve enjoyed his overall arc. He plays the Doctor as a little -too- emotional, even a bit much with vulnerability. I think the Doctor is hitting some of the same problems the Superman has encountered over his 87-year existence. How do you make the stories about a god interesting after all this time? Part of that is the Companion’s-eye-view of the adventures. This season there’s been an overarching “get her home on time” refrain, which really didn’t even pay off until the next-to-last episode. All in all, I’d call this Doctor a very uneven telling.
Karate Kid: Legends, 2025
I couldn’t see this over the opening weekend, but took advantage of retirement to see a morning show on a Monday morning, which meant an almost-empty theatre. No matter.
I have been a fan of the Karate Kid movies since the first, down to the fact that they need DC Comics’ permission to use the title. (Shoutout to Val Armorr!) As an adult, I trained in Okinawan Goju-ryu karate, which means that the story of a sensei named Miyagi means a little more. After the recent Cobra Kai series finish, I was curious how this movie would tie the gung fu of Mr. Han and the karate of Daniel-san together.
My biggest complaint is that it barely does. Sure it’s a logical and consistent way to create a Miyagiverse, but Ralph Macchio is barely in this movie, and while he fakes moves fairly well at this point, he suffers being in the same shot as Jackie Chan. The movie itself never rises above the predictable level of plots the KK movies have always had, and like the others it follows the same arcs of characters, love interests, and bad guys. It’s not a complete retread, though, so at least there’s that!
One of the things the movie has going for it is that the fight choreography is probably the best the KK franchise has ever seen. Ben Wang is likeable and a good martial arts practitioner. Jackie Chan is still doing his own stunts!
I have no idea if they are going to try to mine this well for any more stories. I am still mad that Cobra Kai didn’t find a way to include Julie Pierce, and nothing was said about Dre Parker in this movie, either.
For all that was formulaic about this movie, I still liked it because at its core it emphasized that martial arts really aren’t about fighting, but the strength to keep going.
A Man on the Inside Season 1 (Netflix, 2024)
I admit that I came late to the party for this series. I am getting to the point in my life where I appreciate a series that can talk about the problems we encounter as we confront growing older. It’s also really nice to watch a comedy with simple interactions that can resonate.
I remember watching Friends when it first aired and thinking that having the Friends just want to stay at home and put their feet up instead of going out to a bar sounded pretty true for our age group. And now here I am commiserating with a recent widower with time on his hands. (The time part, my wife is fine, thank you very much.)
The series makes you care about the residents of a senior-living apartment house and Ted Danson’s arc as the widower. This is the coziest of mystery series and that suits me just fine! There’s going to a be a season two, and that will make it to my Watch List as well–and be watched a lot faster!