Couch Potato: Suicide Squad, The Last Kingdom, Marcella

Harley Quinn doll on Amazon

Suicide Squad Guest Review

Kid the Younger wants to see Suicide Squad, so when my blog friend Ann went to see I asked for a a report. Here's her review:

When we left the movie, I didn’t want my money back, so there is that.

Negatives?

1) The script was a hot mess with at least 3 “main characters” too many. Just too much in too little time. Some of the flash back stories were done better than others. Hubby made the comment that he thought they left a lot on the cutting room floor (no idea if that is true, but 15 minutes more of movie, and a lot more humor, would have helped).
2) In the third act I kept waiting for the Staypuff Marshmallow Man to appear.
3) Without Harley Quinn, I’d have been bored.

Positives?

1) Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn. She chewed up her scenes and spit them out.
2) Viola Davis. My goodness she does evil/good good/evil well.
3) I liked the sound track!

As far as bringing kids… very violent. Some cartoon-y type violence, some not so cartoon-y violence. Pussy was the worst word I heard.

Bingeworthy: The Last Kingdom, Marcella

I watched the first season of The Last Kingdom. It's a historical drama based on Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Chronicles series. I thought it was well-done. The main character, Uhtred, can be annoyingly pig-headed and do stupid things, but I liked the show. It's set in the 9th Century, and is about how the Danes invaded England. Through Uhtred's eyes we see both the Danes and the court of King Alfred of Wessex. I have heard the show leaves out a lot of material from the books, so they're going on my to-read list now. It's a BBC production, currently on Netflix, and also on Amazon.

I also watched Marcella, mainly because Netflix suggested it after I binged on The Last Kingdom. Marcella is a modern British police mystery drama, with the titular character being a stay-at-home mom who goes back to being a police detective when an old unsolved goes hot. The twist in the show is that Marcella, the character, is an emotional and psychological mess and has episodes where she loses time and can be violent. So it's kind of a cross between Luther and Dexter where the viewer isn't sure where the main character stands. It keeps the audience guessing. It's kind of addicting and the first season leaves a lot of unexplained open threads.

Speaking of binge-watching, Amazon Video has an August TV Sale going on, with a lot of TV shows free on Prime, or cheap to purchase individually. You can get an Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial here.