Amy Acker

MacGyver (2016) – The Complete Series

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  • Title: MacGyver (2016) – The Complete Series
  • wiki: link

All five seasons of the MacGyver reboot are collected here featuring Lucas Till as Angus MacGyver working for the covert Phoenix Foundation solving problems all over the world with the help of his friends Jack (George Eads), Riley (Tristin Mays), Bowser (Justin Hires), and in later seasons Desi (Levy Tran) and Russ Taylor (Henry Ian Cusick).

More high-tech than the original MacGyver, often with some kind of hacking need by Riley, the reboot saw more team action in the field but still worked in MacGyver’s various on-the-fly inventions to get out of tough jams. The show was hit hard by the COVID-19 outbreak, which was worked into an episode after filming began again,  leading to some shortened and truncated final seasons.

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Dear Santa

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  • Title: Dear Santa (2020)
  • IMDb: link

Dear Santa movie reviewIn a year of quarantine, social distancing, and both political and social unrest, Dear Santa is the salve we need. Not to be confused with the 2011 film starring Amy Acker, the documentary from Dana Nachman highlights the work being done in several cities around the United States to get Christmas presents to families in need. The documentary focuses on the United States Postal Service Operation Santa program which collects letters sent to Santa and allows anyone to adopt and send gifts on behalf of Santa Claus.

Nachman’s documentary highlights the history of the program, those currently in charge in multiple cities, how the program works, and volunteers from an elementary school classroom to a group of friends to an organized coalition who work every year to identify and offer Christmas cheer to those who need it most. In a year about what pulls us apart as a nation, Dear Santa reminds us of what can be achieved when we come together. If you are looking for some cathardic holidy schmaltz to make you feel better about where we stand, or if you are interested learning more about the program and helping out on your own, Dear Santa might be the right gift for you this Christmas.

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Superman: Red Son

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  • Title: Superman: Red Son
  • IMDb: link

Superman: Red Son Blu-ray reviewBased on the comic mini-series of the same name, Superman: Red Son re-imagines a world where Superman‘s (Jason Isaacs) rocket crashed in the Soviet Union rather than Kansas. As with Mark Millar‘s comic, the film’s greatest strength is the set-up and the juxtaposition of seeing Superman grow up under a Communist regime rather than learning to fight for truth, justice, and the American way.

The script by J.M. DeMatteis makes changes from the original comic which are most evident in in the character of our protagonist who is far darker than as presented in the comic. DeMatteis certainly take’s the nurture over nature view as this Superman has far less respect for life than any we know (with the exception of Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel). A common conceit is that Lex Luthor (Diedrich Bader) would have been a great hero if not for Superman. While still a flawed human being, the version of Lex is certainly less gray than even the Red Son mini-series portrayed.

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Human Target – The Return of Baptiste

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: Human Target – The Return of Baptiste
  • wiki: link

Human Target - The Return of Baptiste TV review

Throwback Tuesday takes us back to the Second Season of Human Target. “The Return of Baptiste” features the final appearance of a character who previously appeared in the two best episodes of the series. While not a bad episode, Human Target goes to the well once too often by bringing back Baptiste (Lennie James) who Christopher Chance (Mark Valley) temporarily liberates from a Russian prison in order to enlist the assassin’s help in the recovery of a journalist being held by a South American drug dealer (Jorge Montesi). There’s some fun back-and-forth between Chance and Baptiste, including the pair getting into a bar brawl, but given the events witnessed in “Christopher Chance” and “Baptiste” it strains the show’s credibility that Chance would even consider going to the man for help or that Baptiste would be open to offering it. The episode refuses to even mention or allude to Katherine Walters (Amy Acker) and how her death ended the pair’s professional relationship.

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The Gifted – coMplications

/ / Television Reviews
  • Title: The Gifted – coMplications
  • wiki: link

The Gifted - coMplications television review

Baby Dawn’s decreasing health means the Stepford Cuckoos (Skyler Samuels) are sent after the one person who may be able to save her life – her father. This leads to a reunion for Eclipse (Sean Teale) and Polaris (Emma Dumont) and an all-too-short daddy-daughter moment that Marcos is not willing to leave without a fight. Although he isn’t successful in his fight to keep his family together, he’s not about to leave Polaris and Dawn to the Inner Circle. Speaking of distraught fathers, Turner (Coby Bell) continues to try and fight the fight by attempting to partner up with local law enforcement, which works for a time but falls apart once they learn about why he left Sentinel Services. As the show amps up to a battle between the two mutants sides, I’m a little surprised that so much of the show continues to be dedicated to Turner.

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