Monster Problems (2020):

Dylan O’Brien from the “Maze Runner” movies stars in this Australian film in which, seven years before the action opens, a “Monsterpocalypse” changed the world as we know it, into something quite different. Huge monsters invaded the earth, pushing the surviving humans underground. Quite by accident, Joel (O’Brien), while scanning with the radio, comes across the voice of his high school girlfriend Aimee (Jessica Henwick from “Game of Thrones” and “Star Wars”), finding out that she is in a coastal colony just 120 kms away. As they talk on the radio, he begins to feel that old flame for her, and decides that he has nothing to lose by trying to take a journey out among the monsters to find her and to get reacquainted. Teaming up with a couple of buddies, this becomes a road movie as the boys set their sights on getting across country, trying to avoid the horrific monsters that now populate the surface. An action-adventure sci-fi thriller with enough of a sense of humour to make it very watchable. Rated 14A.

12 Hour Shift (2020):

Horror blends with comedy here, a difficult genre to pull off, as we get an inside look at the organ trade, in this sci-fi action story set in 1999. Mandy (Angela Bettis) is a hospital nurse just starting her shift. She is also a junkie, which impedes any good judgement she ever might have had. Along with her scheming cousin, Regina (Chloe Farnworth), and a gang of black market organ traders, Mandy’s life is about to get extremely complicated on this, which could be her last shift in the Arkansas hospital, not because she may quit or get fired, but because she may end up being murdered, along with other members of her team. David Arquette also stars in a small role as an escaped convict as the body county threatens to pile up. One challenge after another presents itself, each time having Mandy overcome it with creativity and a touch of fear, only to have something even more severe rear its ugly head. A most interesting thriller. Rated 14A.

Triggered (2020):

Nine old high school friends go camping in the woods. They all have issues, and even though they don’t all know it, any of the things they have done are intertwined – and some of those things are just not nice. Secrets abound, but they act as if this is just a passive sort of reunion. Until they wake up. Each has a bomb strapped around their neck, and each has a timer counting down until the device is activated with a massive explosion. It turns out that their old science teacher has installed the bombs, and he has his own problems with the former students. Every timer has a different end time. Do they simply sit there and wait to be blown to bits? Not quite … they learn that there is a way to substitute one bomb for another and soon they are working to make sure that the next guy blows up, and not them. The last one to figure out how it works lives …. Everyone else dies. Rated 18A.

Enola Holmes (2020):

Netflix acquired the distribution rights for this whodunnit after it was decided to stream the movie rather than put it in theatres.  It's a Sherlock Holmes story, but unlike any that have come before.  Enola (Millie Bobby Brown who played "Eleven" on ``Stranger Things") is a much younger sister to Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, but she has the detective genetics that it takes to go looking for a mystery to be solved.  None of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle books mention a younger sister, but here she is, and when her mother goes missing, Enola sets off to find her.  Helena Bonham Carter plays Mother Holmes, and Henry Cavill is Sherlock.  When it's discovered that mother is missing, and that there are a number of gifts and trinkets that she has inexplicably left behind, big brother Sherlock continues to insist that Enola leave the matter alone, and head off to boarding school.  Not her ... soon she is searching all of London, looking for clues.  A crime-adventure, rated 14A. 

Country-ish (2020)(TV series):

This Netflix original is a reality series that features country singer and internet star Coffey Anderson and his wife Criscilla.  It walks through their daily lives with the couple, and focuses on their careers - she's a hip-hop artist - their Christian faith, and their desire to provide wholesome entertainment in a world that seems to want things a lot more raunchy.  A former U.S. Marine, and an active participant in the Nashville music scene, Coffey has released nine albums so far, about half of them faith-based and the other half mainstream.  He was a contestant on season 2 of American Idol in 2003 where he made it as far as the Hollywood round.  Rated PG.

Pets United (2020):

A perfect animated film for youngsters, parents, and grandparents, but only if they watch with the kids. The central characters are all pets of one sort or another, and their common thread is that they are spoiled, they are selfish, and they live a life of luxury, because their owners have all the mechanical denizens of Robo City doing the hard work.  But what happens when the robots run amuck and the humans have to flee?  Time for the skate-boarding pug, the self-aggrandizing Siamese, a pet pig, and a smart fox to grow up and take some responsibility.  Good fun for kids of all ages - meaning, much past 13, they will probably think it's lame, but younger ones will relish it.  Rated G.