Movie Review: Upgrade

Stars: 2 out of 5

Pros: Interesting premise

Cons: Several overly violent scenes; ending doesn’t quite work

The Bottom Line:

Creative premise

Marred by violence, ending

So does not quite work

When Technology Seems Too Good to be True

I hadn’t heard of the movie Upgrade until a friend suggested it for a movie night.  It sounded intriguing from his description, so we gave it a try.  There was certainly an interest premise in the movie, but the execution didn’t quite work.

The movie is set is the near future and tells the story of Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green).  He’s happy with his life rebuilding classic cars while his wife, Asha (Melanie Vallejo) brings in the big bucks working for a tech company.  They are happy until one night when their self-driving car suddenly crashes in the bad part of town.  They are attacked after the accident.  Grey is left a quadriplegic, but Asha is killed.

Grey is offered a chance at a normal life from billionaire Eron Keen (Harrison Gilbertson).  Eron has a new technology that could help Grey walk again just like nothing had ever happened.  Grey is supposed to keep this a secret from everyone, however.  But when he returns home, Grey discovers that he has a few unexpected upgrades in his life.  Will they help him find the men who killed his wife?

This movie can’t quite decide what it wants to be.  It is part mystery/thriller.  As an avid mystery reader, I enjoyed that aspect of things.  It is part science fiction movie, with the near future setting and the upgraded technology.  And there are another couple of genres mixed in as well that I don’t want to get into so as not to spoil things.  It’s not that these parts can’t mix.  They just don’t quite seem to completely mix here.

I did like Grey.  The more he is pulled into his strange new life, the more I was pulled into the movie.  I couldn’t figure out where exactly it was going, which was a good thing.  The credit for this goes to Logan Marshall-Green.  He has to carry much of the movie on his shoulders, and he does a great job of it.  This isn’t to diminish the performances of the rest of the cast.  They just don’t have the same amount of screen time he does.

Despite the futuristic setting, there aren’t a ton of special effects.  What there are work well, however.  Likewise, the stunts are good.

There are two places where the movie falls apart.  One of the violence.  There are several pretty graphic scenes that weren’t needed.  They could have gotten the story points across with much less graphic images.

The second is the ending.  It many ways, it felt like the movie just stopped instead of ending.  Part of that comes from some late breaking twists that don’t wrap everything up and make us question why some of the earlier things that happened happened.

The premise for Upgrade was good, but there were some flaws in the execution that made me feel the writing needed an upgrade.

Flag Day's Sunday/Monday Post

Happy Flag Day!  (At least here in the USA.)  Let's celebrate with a Sunday/Monday Post where I will link up to:

Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

I got the extra reporting finished up at work.  I didn't make it quite as far with the account recs as I had hoped, but I am in good shape with them.

This coming Monday marks that day I thought I would be working in the office four days a week.  Instead, it will mark the beginning of week four of working from home again full time.  Still rather hard to believe.  I hope they don't change their mind at some point.

I went out paddle boarding again on Thursday.  This time I met up with a friend and his daughter.  They were in their kayaks while I was on my board.  It was nice to chill with them.

And, since today is game day and I have much to do before I go, let's get on with it, shall we?

Joke of the Week:

I wondered why that Frisbee kept getting bigger.  Then it hit me.

(As a retired ultimate Frisbee player, I prefer this version of the joke.)

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Book Review: Hot Stuff by Don Bruns

Tuesday - Ornament Review: Gardener Mickey

Wednesday - Book Review: Crown of Chaos by Sarah E. Burr

Thursday - Movie Review: Supergirl (1984)

Friday - Book Review: Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Movie Review: Upgrade

Tuesday - Book Review: Lost and Clowned by Dana Mentink

Wednesday - TV Show Review: Step by Step - Season 2

Thursday - Book Review: Murder Takes the Stage by Colleen Cambridge

Friday - Friday Post

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

I've just got three books to tell you about this week.  I can hardly believe it myself.

The first is The Quirky Quiz Show Caper by Sally Carpenter.  This is book four in the series.  I'd gotten book five a couple of weeks back and told you that I should be getting book four soon.  Here it is.  Actually, I've already read it and enjoyed it, so look for that review coming soon.

I also got Mystery Most Senior, the anthology from this year's Malice Domestic convention in April.  Author Ellen Byron did a giveaway for a copy signed by her and Jacqueline Winspear, the Lifetime Achievement Honoree from this year's convention.  I'm really glad I won it since I haven't seen it pop up for sale anywhere yet, and I did want to get it.

Finally, I decided it was time for another audio book.  Since this was a last minute decision, I was lucky to get my first choice, The Law of Innocence by Michael Connelly.  It's the next in my effort to read all of Connelly's books in order, and it's one I've been anxious to read since it came out in 2020.  I just had to get here.

What I'm Currently Reading:

Yep, I've already started The Law of Innocence.  I'm not quite an hour into it, and it's is a twelve and a half hour audio book, so I have my listening cut out for me.  But yes, I am completely hooked already.

I'm also working on Pour Choices, the second Mixology Lounge Mystery from Adrian Andover.  I'm about 45% into my eARC of this book and really enjoying it so far.  This time, the comedian at an event the main character is hosting at his cocktail lounge is killed the next morning.  The book will be out June 30th, and I'll have my full review up then.

If everything goes according to plan, I will be on to Murder at Ochre Court by Alyssa Maxwell on Monday.  I'm anxious to get back to her Gilded Newport Mysteries.  Hard to believe I'll be starting July books that early, isn't it?  But I do want to stay this far ahead of my posting dates.

That's it for me.  Have a great week!

June 13th's Weekly TV Thoughts

I've got two shows this week...for one week.  The Quiz with Balls is taking a few weeks off, I suspect for the soccer tournament.

American Ninja Warrior – From something I read, I thought this filmed last October.  But, you couldn’t update the narration?  I mean, talking about someone hoping to make the winter Olympics team for the Olympics that just happened?  Weird.  There were another couple of moments like that.  Overall, it was nice to see old favorites back and most of them doing well.  I knew poor Lance wouldn’t do well when he went first.

The Quiz with Balls – As always, there are many questions and categories I would have struggled with, but I was almost screaming at my TV during the fictional detective question.  They missed one of the most classic detectives every!  Granted, I didn’t know the one from Miami Vice since I’ve never watched the show or movies.  And yes, the theme was perfect with the World's Cup starting this week.  Almost as if they planned it that way.

Book Review: Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide by Rupert Holmes

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Fun word play and premise

Cons: One less main character would have helped

The Bottom Line:

A school for murder

There is fun to be had here

Needed more focus

Planning the Perfect…Deletion

I think I first heard about Murder Your Employer: The McMasters Guide to Homicide when it first came out.  And, I heard such great things about the audio version I put it on my list to get from the library…and forgot about it when it came time to get new audiobooks.  I was locked into my typical rotation.  But I finally checked it out.  While I enjoyed parts of it, it needed some work.

If you’ve never heard of McMasters, there’s a reason for that.  It’s a prestigious and completely unknown place of higher learning.  But, unlike most campuses, it has only one subject matter – murder.  The students come from all over the world to the campus, wherever it might be, to learn how to get away with the perfect crime.  But students are given a rigorous admissions process beforehand to make sure they are going to kill someone who actually deserves it.  We have to be ethical about it, after all.  Once the student graduates, they must complete their thesis (that perfect murder) or face consequences from McMasters.

The book takes us back to the 1950’s and tells us the story of three students who were at McMasters at the same time.  Cliff Iverson wants to get rid of his former boss in order to make sure potentially lethal changes aren’t made to an airplane design.  Gemma Lindley is a hospital administration who is being blackmailed by her boss.  And Dulcie Mown is an actress who is being held to her contract by a studio boss who is interested in only one thing.  I’m sure you can guess what it is.  Will these three learn enough to complete their graduate thesis successfully?

When I first started this book, I thought I was in for a fun ride.  It’s told a bit differently.  It is presented as a handbook for those of us who can’t attend the school as written by an administrator.  Parts of it are taken from Cliff’s journal that he is keeping so his mysterious benefactor can learn how things are going.

And we get some fun word play, like deletion instead of murder or the graduate thesis I’ve already talked about.  Lover of puns and word play that I am, I was eating this up.  And I found the discussions of ethics ironically fun as well.

However, as the book went along, I found it less fun.  The word play became routine with nothing really new to make it stand out.

The biggest flaw, in my mind, was the three stories.  While the characters interacted while on campus, we had to return to the real world as some point, right?  And, for this portion, we try to follow all three of them.  It was hard to really do that since we were jumping into each of the lead’s lives and I had a hard time keeping all of their supporting players straight.  I think if we’d just focused on two characters it would have helped.

For the audio version, Neal Patrick Harris narrated Cliff’s journals, with the rest being narrated by Simon Vance.  Both were great at bringing the story to life.

Yes, I had fun with Murder Your Employer, but it tried to do a bit too much to be a truly satisfying read.

Movie Review: Supergirl (1984)

Stars: 1 out of 5

Pros: Brenda Vaccaro’s performance is fun

Cons: The rest of the movie is a mess

The Bottom Line:

Story has plot holes

Honestly, not much works here

You can skip this one

“You’re Superman’s Best Friend?”  “No, He’s My Cousin.”

I’d heard bad things about 1984’s Supergirl, but I was still curious about it.  And, since it was available on one of my streaming services, I figured I should give it a chance.  You know those bad things I’d heard about it?  They were all true.

Our story opens in Argo City, a giant floating ship filled with refugees from Krypton.  Among them is Kara-El (Helen Slater), who, when we meet her, is playing with the sphere that powers the entire ship.  Shocking, it gets away from her, dooming all those on the ship unless it is retrieved from Earth, where it landed.  So, Kara-El goes to retrieve it.

Unfortunately, before she lands, it is found by Selena (Faye Dunaway), a witch.  It actually makes her able to do magic, so Selena wants to keep it, figuring it will help her plans to take over the world.  Will Kara-El be able to find it?

This movie had so many plot holes you could have floated Argo City through each of them.  Okay, so Kara-El wasn’t the one who took the sphere in the first place, but still, why would anyone do that if it is what is keeping everyone alive?  Why, when Kara-El lands on Earth, did she bother taking on a secret identity since her parents and friends’ lives were dependent on her bringing the sphere back as quickly as possible?  How did Selena find a way to tap into some of the Superman mythos at random?  Why did Kara-El emerge from her pod in a costume so much like Superman’s?

Okay, so Kara-El’s secret identity was there to introduce us to characters from the Superman stories.  Her roommate is Lucy Lane, as played by Maureen Teefy.  And Lucy just happens to be dating Jimmy Olsen, as played by Marc McClure, the only actor from the Superman movies to show up here.  But still, that seemed to slow down what was supposed to be a ticking clock story.

I don’t know that I feel like the plot ever made up for the plot holes.  While it wasn’t quite as bad as a random series of events, it did throw in some truly random things, as if the writers really didn’t know what to do and had to fill screen time while including things Superman fans know about.  Even so, you can pretty much guess where it is going early on.  It’s just the details you’ll have no way of predicting.

Then there’s the acting.  Most of the cast is playing things so over the top it doesn’t work.  There’s fun camp, and then there’s this.  The exception to this is Brenda Vaccaro who plays Selena’s sidekick with the right level of camp and sarcasm.  I found her fun.  I’ve seen Helen Slater in other things, most noticeably in the recent TV show Supergirl, so I know she can do a wonderful job when given good material.  This wasn’t it.  Same holds true for others in the cast.

Of course, the effects are dated.  This came out in 1984, after all.  Even then, I’ve seen better effects from that time period.  Or maybe, I was just enjoying those movies more so I was more forgiving.

There’s a reason you haven’t heard much about 1984’s Supergirl.  And there’s no reason to seek this out to watch it.

Book Review: Crown of Chaos by Sarah E. Burr (Court of Mysteries #9)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Page turning story

Cons: Is Jax turning arrogant?

The Bottom Line:

War council is here

Bringing chaos in fire, death

Page turner for fans

Is War on the Horizon?

The Court of Mystery series from Sarah E. Burr has become a mix of mystery and political intrigue.  The ongoing political storyline comes to a head in Crown of Chaos, the ninth book in the series, and I couldn’t put it down.

This series is a bit different.  It’s set in a fictional continent made up of independent nations.  The main character is Jacqueline Arienta Xavier, Jax to her friends, the ruler of the most powerful of the kingdoms.  As she’s tried to introduce some reforms into her own country, she has encountered resistance from some of the other rulers.  This has led her to call for a War Council, a rarely used provision to bring all the leaders to one place.  And that war council is finally set to take place as this book begins.

There is more to the story.  Much more.  So, I suggest you start with The Ducal Detective, the novella that introduced the characters and setting.  You’ll be here before you know it.

As I said, the war council is finally happening, and Jax is happy to be able to present the evidence of the treason that has been happening in the realm.  But even before the council gets started, Jax learns of betrayal among those she thought were allies.  The first session ends with no progress, but things only get worse when a fire and a murder complicate things.  Can Jax figure out what is happening?  Or is she in over her head?

I’ve found the last couple of books struggled to find the balance between the political intrigue and murder mystery, causing the pacing to be off.  That wasn’t the case here.  If you pick up this book at random, you might still feel like the story starts slowly, but for fans, they will be hooked.  We’ve been building to this book for the last several entries, so I was there for the drama unfolding.  Things only kick into high gear later in the book, and I couldn’t wait to figure out how Jax was going to piece things together and get out alive.  Another character gets some of the story told from his point of view, which really gives us the full picture of what is going on.

This isn’t to say that the book is always light.  There are some darker moments, but they are earned and make sense with the direction the series has taken.

There’s a subplot that has been bothering me for the last couple of books, and I am hopeful it has been resolved or is getting near being resolved.

We don’t have all the regulars in this book.  Like Jax, I missed them, but there was more than enough chaos without them.  We still got some updates on what is happening with them in addition to the growth that we saw for the characters who did make the trip.  I’m very curious to see where Jax is going.  I’m noting some arrogance from her that hadn’t been so prominent previously.  It will be interesting to see if that continues going forward.

While this book may have been what we’ve been building to for the last several books, it opens to door to the next arc, leaving me anxious for more.  Jax’s fans will be glad they read Crown of Chaos.

Settle in for the rest of the Court of Mysteries saga.

Ornament Review: Gardener Mickey - All About Mickey #4 - 2025 Hallmark Release

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Mickey representing gardeners

Cons: I can’t garden as well as Mickey

The Bottom Line:

Highlighting hobby

Mickey shows off his green thumb

Its appeal grows

I Hope Mickey Has a Greener Thumb Than I Do 

I was planning to only buy the ornaments in the All About Mickey series that I really connected with. Yet, somehow, I wound up with Gardener Mickey after Christmas. And I’m glad I got it. 

Each ornament in this series features Mickey enjoying a hobby or interest outside of his movie career. And this year, he’s showing off his gardening skills. He’s dressed in blue overalls with a hat on his head. In one hand, he has a trowel. In the other, he’s holding a potted plant. There aren’t any flowers on it, but it is green and looks healthy. 

And I’m sure all the gardening Disney fans were anxious to get it. Why did I hesitate? Because my attempts at gardening end in a dead plant. Usually, I forget to water, but sometimes I water too much. And the planters I had on my balcony were killed off by a squirrel and I couldn’t get him to leave my planters alone. I wish I could grow some flowers. But I just can’t get them to stay alive. 

But this is about Mickey and not me. 

As I was saying, gardeners will love this one. It’s a cute homage to an important skill and rewarding hobby. 

Mickey is standing for this ornament, but his feet are position such that he is balanced precariously if you set him out. He will likely fall over easily, but it’s best to plan to hang him from your tree.

When you do that, you’ll find he hangs a little to the right, but not enough to be a big issue.  Tree branches will easily hide it.

You’ll find the series marker on the bottom of his feet. 

Gardener Mickey really is a cute ornament. Which is why I am glad it wound up being added to my collection. 

You know it’s All About Mickey, so get more of the ornaments. 

Book Review: Hot Stuff by Don Bruns (Stuff Series #6)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Growth for the leads, especially Emily; good mystery

Cons: A couple characters under developed; pacing at the beginning

The Bottom Line:

Sous chef stabbed to death

What is Emily hiding?

Penultimate book

James and Skip are in Another Hot Situation

I’m closing in on the end of Don Bruns’s Stuff series. While I haven’t enjoyed every entry, I did find myself enjoying Hot Stuff, the penultimate book.  

The series follows James Lessor and Skip Moore, best friends and roommates who are struggling just to make ends meet in Miami. James especially has dreams of riches, and he’s come up with a few elaborate schemes that have not worked and have put the two in the path of killers. Along the way, the two have become licensed private investigators. 

When Skip is out with his girlfriend, Emily, at a fancy restaurant, the sous chef is stabbed. Emily and the victim, Amanda, had been friends, and she had set Amanda up with James on a couple of dates. The owner of the restaurant doesn’t trust the police to solve the case, so he hires Skip and James to go under cover in the kitchen to figure out if someone on the staff killed Amanda. But Emily is hiding something about Amanda. Can Skip and James solve the case without driving a wedge between Skip and Emily?

The characters in this series can be a bit immature at times. I’m happy to say that they’ve been slowly maturing as the series progresses, and that holds true again here. I especially appreciated the spotlight that Emily got in this book. She had quite a bit to deal with, and we got to see her mature through it. The majority of the characters are new. There were a couple that I had a hard time keeping straight, but for the most part they were well developed. 

The mystery is entertaining. It felt a bit slow to start to me, but I was fully engrossed before too long. The climax was logical and wrapped things up to my satisfaction. 

While these books aren’t cozies, the language and violence is kept to a minimum. Anything else is implied. 

I’m very curious to see how this series will wrap up. Hopefully, I enjoy the last book as much as I did Hot Stuff. 

Get more stuff with the rest of the Stuff Series.

June 7th's Sunday/Monday Post

Hello, and welcome to this week's Sunday/Monday Post.  I'll be linking up to:

Sunday Post
Sunday Salon
Stacking the Shelves
Mailbox Monday
It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

Wow, I'm late getting this drafted this week.  I might not post until late on Saturday, but I usually at least have it drafted by now.

This past week was busy at work.  Thanks to our slightly off fiscal year, I had extra reporting to do.  I thought I was finished when I logged off on Saturday, but I think I need to redo one of the reports come Monday.  Shouldn't be too bad.

Thursday after work, I went over and got passes for paddle boarding again.  And I paddle boarded that evening.  My goal is be over there every Thursday this summer.  We'll see how that goes.  And I'll probably mix some Saturdays in as well, although it is harder when I'm trying to do other things on Saturdays.

Speaking of which, today, my small group went over and cleaned the church.  Then, I headed down to Burbank to the game store down there to join up with a group to play some games.  I almost left at one point, but I wound up staying until about seven thirty.  Been doing some other stuff, which is why I am just now getting to this blog post.

At least I have all my reviews for this coming week drafted, although I am still behind on book reviews.  I've got to buckle down and get some blog work done soon.

Pun-Official Holiday of the Week:

June 11 – Have an a-maize-ing time today.  It’s Corn on the Cob Day.

This Past Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - May Reading Summary

Tuesday - Book Review: One Final Turn by Ashley Weaver

Wednesday - Movie Review: Superman III

Thursday - Book Review: The Lady from Burma by Allison Montclair

Friday - Friday Post featuring Crown of Chaos

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

This Coming Week on the Blog:

Sunday - Sunday/Monday Post

Monday - Book Review: Hot Stuff by Don Bruns

Tuesday - Ornament Review: Gardener Mickey

Wednesday - Book Review: Crown of Chaos by Sarah E. Burr

Thursday - Movie Review: Supergirl (1984)

Friday - Book Review: Murder Your Employer by Rupert Holmes

Saturday - Weekly TV Thoughts

Book Haul:

I've got five new books to talk about this week.

Two of the books are eARCs from NetGalley.  The first of those is A Taste for Murder by Matt Baker (no relation).  This looks like an import that will finally be published in the US in August.  Either way, it sounds like something I would enjoy.  Hopefully, that will be the case.

The other ARC is Hell Hath No Fury, the fifth Detective Honeywell Mystery from Annette Dashofy.  I always enjoy her books, so I'm very much looking forward to reading this one.

I also got a couple of books for reading later this year.  They are both in series I'm actively working on catching up on.

The first of those is Thicker Than Water, the sixth Laurel Highlands Mystery from Liz Milliron.  I still have book five to go, but I should be getting to this one in a few months.

The Cambodian Curse and Other Stories is a short story collection from Gigi Pandian featuring the characters from her Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt series.  I have the last book in the series on the July TBR pile, but I'll get to this story collection this fall.

Finally, my preorder of Murder by Design by Lee Goldberg arrived.  This is the first in a new series from him.

What I'm Currently Reading:

When Murder by Design arrived, I decided I'd go ahead and read it.  I usually enjoy Lee's books, and he's got another entry in another series coming later this year, so I didn't want to fall behind.  Of course, I got almost nothing read today, so I'm still about 10 pages in.  But I'm sure I'll get hooked soon.

That's it for me.  Have a great week!

June 6th's Weekly TV Thoughts

Wondering where my TV Thoughts post was last week?  I didn't have any shows to watch.  It's that weird time of the year when I only have a show or two on anyway, and the one show I have at the moment didn't air on Memorial Day.  American Ninja Warrior is back next week, so I'll have two shows, both on Mondays, for a little bit anyway.  I think I'll be checking out a few others shows later in the summer.

Quiz with Balls – I wonder if that was intended to air closer to Memorial Day.  It felt a bit weird to be airing June 1^st.  But it was a fun episode.  I was really happy with some of my solid answers (like the Peanuts question), but there were quite a few I would have gotten wrong.

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