Mr. Burke Reviews

Review #16: Jessica Jones, Season 2 Season two of Jessica Jones dropped, and even though I didn't intend to binge it, I pretty much did. Watching the entire series in under a week is binging for me. There's still plenty of violence and death, but not as murder-y as last season was. It also addressed concerns I had from season one: is she going to get any real cases that pay the bills (even if they aren't the focus of the episodes), and is she going to give in to the villain to save the life of a person who's just going to die in the next episode anyway. (Pet peeve of mine: I hate that, and my hate grows exponentially when that gets repeated.) So there were a couple of jobs, or at least references to getting back to work, before the series arc kicks in. I won't say too much about it because of spoilers, but there's another "experiment" just like Jessica out there, but meaner. The season is definitely a "novel for television" or "mini

Review #15: Kings County Chocolate Whiskey Note to anyone who found this blog through a web search: this is NOT a whiskey reviewing blog. Okay, why am I reviewing alcohol? Answer: why not? It's a review page, and there's no reason to limit it to whatever I just saw on Netflix . I need to review something that I have an interest in and hope that the audience finds it interesting as well, at least enough to read to the end. That's one of the reasons I'll generally keep book reviews to my other blog: who is going to get excited about an obscure book from the 90s (or earlier?) that you might not find a copy of or some new freebie, self-published ebook, which you're not going to like. I'm an amateur when it comes to alcohol, and I drink it sparingly. My tastes are a bit pedestrian. Beyond beer at the ball park or concert, it's basically a Seagram's blend in my 7 & 7, or the occasional (more likely "seldom") shot of Jameson's , that I

Review #14: Black Lightning The CW has another hit on its hands -- or a hit, if you prefer -- with Black Lightning . I'll skip the "striking twice" or five or six times cliches. And it's a self-contained show, so you don't need to watch any of the other shows on the network, which will make many of you happy. First off, my knowledge of Black Lightning comes from reading a few comics back in the early 80s (maybe late 70s). I remember him appearing with Superman , in one comic or the other. And I remember that the Justice League invited him to be a member, and he turned them down because they had forgotten the little people that he was trying to protect in his neighborhood. The show takes the same approach of protecting the people of the neighborhood, but it's Freeland, instead of Metropolis. Still, there are some holdovers. The two that jumped out at me were Inspector Henderson and The 100 , which is not a reference to another CW show, but to a crimina

Review #13: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, Season 2 Even though I was thoroughly confused by the first season of Dirk Gently , which I will begrudgingly admit made more sense the second time through, I recorded the second season. For one thing, I did enjoy some of the characters. For another, I never deleted the timer, so it recorded anyway. However, I watched it of my own volition, and on purpose. Not much to say, except that it sets up another crazy tale that doesn't seem to make much sense, but comes together in the end when Dirk has to pull it all together. If you go for that sort of thing, this will be right up your alley. Just about everyone is back for the second season (the living people anyway) and the universe isn't done with them. They all have some destiny to fulfill, both in our world and in a fantasy world, Wendimoor, that looks like it was created by a child, where colorful-looking characters run, and fight, with giant scissors. And their magic