A Dilettante TV & Film Review

Available on Netflix. An otherwise healthy twentysomething has a comically early midlife crisis when he gets slapped with a cancer diagnosis -- and a 50-50 chance of survival.

Grade: C-

Available on Netflix. As he's about to commit suicide, downcast Richie is interrupted by his estranged sister asking him to babysit her daughter. When events force Richie to spend more time with his niece than expected, she prompts him to reassess his dark views of life.

Grade: A-

Available in Theatres. A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by members of his own hunting team.

Grade: A-

Available on Netflix. Simpleminded Karl has just been released from a psychiatric hospital, where he'd been confined since age 12 for murdering his mother and her lover. He lands a job at a garage fixing motors and befriends a young boy -- but can Karl outrun his past?

Grade: A

Now available in select theatres. Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution, to paint a portrait of the man at its epicenter. The story unfolds backstage at three iconic product launches, ending in 1998 with the unveiling of the iMac.

Grade: A

Available on Netflix. Preparing for the 1988 Olympics, two sibling wrestlers cross paths with a paranoid schizophrenic millionaire in this drama based on a true story. The competitive Schultz brothers soon learn their new acquaintance is a dangerous distraction.

Grade: A

Available on Netflix. Director Steven Spielberg takes on the towering legacy of Abraham Lincoln, focusing on his stewardship of the Union during the Civil War years. The biographical saga also reveals the conflicts within Lincoln's cabinet regarding the war and abolition.

Grade: D

Available on Netflix. Based on his memoir of the same name, this military biopic centers on legendary sniper Chris Kyle, who amassed a record number of kills on the battlefield during his 10-year career as a Navy SEAL.

Grade: A-

Available on Netflix. In Red Flag, a filmmaker takes hi independent film on tour hoping to escape the pain of his recent breakup.

Grade: A

Available on Netflix. Soon after returning to his native Oklahoma with a beautiful woman he met in Paris, Neil finds himself drifting toward an old friend. Meanwhile, the woman he brought back with him has unfinished business with her first husband.

Grade: A