Happy Death Day 2 U:

A smart and entertaining sequel to 2017's Happy Death Day, the heart of this horror-mystery thriller is its lead character, a young woman named Tree (Jessica Rothe) who, in the first film found herself trapped, Groundhog Day-style, and a 24 hour loop that she kept reliving, ending each time with her death at the hands of a masked adversary, out to kill her.  She dies by stabbing, shooting, strangulation, and falling, each time reawakening in a college dorm room to the same song on the radio. In that film, Tree was not a very nice person, snobbish, a bad friend to others, and completely self-centred.  As she relived each day, she felt she learned more about herself, and believed that she was trapped in this loop to teach her to become a better person.  In the end, she is able to kill her killer, get out of the loop, and move on as a happier, better-adjusted individual.  This time the movie opens with another character, Carter's roommate, trapped in a same-day loop, which quickly transfers to Tree, and here we go again.  But now we get the back story on how Tree got trapped in the first movie, and we see a much more complex challenge of parallel dimensions in which all the character live, but with subtle differences.  Rothe is an excellent actress and adds a great deal of humour to the story, and she still dies in a variety of ways. The movie works at every level and the only proviso is that you need to see the first one, or you will miss a lot, and be somewhat lost.  Rated 14A.

Fighting with My Family:

Prior to seeing this true story of a British family of low-end wrestlers, I had little interest in such things as the WWE and all that goes with it.  Now, having watched this Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson feature film version of a British documentary on the Knight family of Norwich, England, I have even less interest in such things as the WWE and all that goes with it.  Don't let my personal feelings put you off though.  The very real events that led their daughter, known as Paige in World Wrestling Entertainment circles, a young woman who grew up, along with her brother, wanting nothing more than to go to the U.S. and become a big performer in the ring, is a tale well-told, and is quite engaging.  What put me off was the crude nature of the life that the family lived - Dad served eight years in prison for bank robbery before taking his tacky little wrestling show on the road in the UK - the language and situations are somewhat unsavoury - but it's the real world of what Paige tells us early on is a sport that is "fixed, but it's not fake."  The situation improves once Paige gets to the States - her brother was not invited to "make the team," something that caused a major rift in the family - but still, not my thing, but many who know the players well, and the sport too, will likely enjoy it.  Rated 14A.

Apollo 11:

Produced by CNN Films, this documentary follows the real drama, the real danger and the real courage demonstrated by Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, as well as thousands behind the scenes who made the first steps by humans on the moon occur.  Even though we know how it all turned out - they walked on the moon, they came back home safely - it's still a nail-biter of a production.  There is no commentator, but much of the reports of Walter Cronkite, the most trusted man in America, appear in an archive voice track, making it sound like he is our host.  There is a lot of footage here that has never before been released, so if you are a space buff such as I, you will enjoy this.  Watch the camera panning crowd scenes at Cape Canaveral on launch day, and you'll see such famous faces as those of Johnny Carson, Richard Nixon, and Lyndon Johnson.   An excellent film!  Rated PG.

Wine Country (2019):

A Netflix original that has all the usual suspects show up for an R-rated comedy written, directed, and starring Amy Poehler.  Along with the former SNL regular are many of her best friends including Maya Rudolf and Tina Fey, as a group of long-time friends go to Napa for wine tours and fun as part of a 50th birthday celebration.  Unfortunately, it seems that, for this group uninitiated in the ways of wine tours and tasting rooms, nobody told them it was about sipping and appreciating the bouquet and the flavour.  Why take a sip when you can down a whole glass ... and then a whole bottle?  In short order, things boil over when sins of the past come to light and what began us just fun, turns ugly with sarcasm and competition.  Rated 18A.

The Society (2019 TV series):

Another Netflix original, this one has an old Steven Wright routine that rings a bell ... "one morning I woke up," says the standup comic, "to find that everything in my apartment had been replaced with an exact duplicate."  Well, there's no Steven Wright here, but the idea could have been his.  This dark, suspenseful teen drama focuses on a group of friends who find themselves transported to an exact duplicate of the town in which they all lived ... except all of their parents and relatives are gone, and something seems to be watching them.  Season one ready for streaming.  Rated 14A.