Do you ever watch something where half of it works so very well and the other half feels, a little, like they just weren't trying that hard?  That's the way we feel about "Elemental," Pixar's latest which features a great world, wonderful characters, gorgeous animation, and the most lackluster romance we've seen in a while.

Not every podcast ends where you think it might when you begin.  Today's episode is a case in point as we discuss the new version of "The Little Mermaid," where it goes right, where it goes wrong, and where it might teach us some things.

We will be honest with you, the "Fast and Furious" franchise does not operate in our world.  The physics are wrong.  The inability for so many people to die is wrong.  There is just so much that could not happen.

Okay, that may be true, but so what?  

On today's episode we celebrate "Fast X" for what it is -- insanely fun.

There is something wonderful in the notion that the new film "Kandahar" (2023) attempts to give us a more nuanced, multi-faceted, look at Afghanistan, the surrounding nations, and the world at large.  It is admirable, particularly when we have such a strong tendency to flatten alternate perspectives on the big screen.  What doesn't work as well here is the execution.  Today we look at both.

With "Volume 3" now out on blu-ray and digital, our time with this version of the "Guardians of the Galaxy" is done.  Where do folks end up?  Well, we're not possibly going to tell you that, but we are going to offer up some of our thoughts on what works and what doesn't in James Gunn's final entry in the series.

Up this week on the podcast, "Book Club:  The Next Chapter," which could also be titled "Book Club 2," but isn't.  Heck, it could also be titled "Let's Take a Trip to Italy Rather than Making a Great Sequel."  There would be truth in all those titles and we're going to explore that a little bit more this week.

James Cameron's "Avatar" is now available in 4K and that makes it the right time to look at the movie once more.  But, upon doind so, we find out opinions wholly unchanged.  Stellar in some respects, it is a complete disappointment in others.  Let's talk.

A not-quite-untold story, "Chevalier" offers up beautiful sets and costumes and a truly charismatic lead performance.  But, is that enough to win our hearts and minds or is there something, unfortuntately, missing from the overall tale?

Out now on Blu-ray and digital is the bloody good film, "Renfield."  It is not, sadly, bloody great, just bloody good.  And yet, it starts off in absolutley brilliant fashion.  Where does it go right?  Where does it go wrong?  Just how deep will your teeth sink in?  Listen and find out.

Out a couple weeks ago on digital and in a couple of weeks on Blu-ray is the third Ant-Man movie, "Ant-Man and the Wasp:  Quantumania."  It is good enough, surpassing the second film in the series but not as enjoyable as the first.  But, what concerns us more this week is the way in which real people's lives are used as fodder for speculation on the direction of a film franchise, and that is what we're going to talk about.