"The Broken Hearts Gallery" is sticking to its guns and will be hitting theaters - not streaming - when it is released on September 11th. Because of that, this Selena Gomez-produced romantic-comedy is really one of the first comedic films aimed at this audience to hit the big-screen all year...and despite thinking that it was a contrived, mostly unfunny mess of a movie...I have a feeling that the target-aged audience might strongly disagree with my assessment.

While their motto of "be excellent to each other" couldn't come at a better time for our country, Bill & Ted's latest adventure/journey/romp is so awful, so painful and so inexplicable, it only makes sense that it is being released in 2020.

I'll start with the headline: I have COVID-19. I tested positive along with my wife and three-year-old son, and life has been brutal, scary and exhausting ever since.

Even still, watching movies from bed has been a saving grace...a much-needed therapeutic that has granted me some level of sanity and feelings of normalcy. My wife and son - thanks be to God or whatever other guiding forces willing to listen - have reacted much more mildly than me thus far...I have definitely gotten the worst of it. And whether this is a momentary plateau, or a sign that I am turning the corner, I wanted to catch up on some of the films that I've been able to view over the past few weeks but haven't quite had the chance to review.

Instead of "full reviews" of each of these films, all with separate articles, I've instead consolidated more shallow dives than usual into each recent film and have lumped them all together into this one piece. I wish I could do more, and give each movie the same thoughtful consideration that I try to bring to all of my written reviews. But I needed to write, for my own sake.  And this is hopefully better than nothing.

I hope to be back on track soon, fully invested into this dream job of mine. But in the meantime, please bear with me as I give you a few "drive-by" reactions to some of the latest movies that are seeing release this weekend, or may have been released on past weekends.  Here goes it. And thanks for your continued support.

Wait...haven't we seen this before? It's deja vu all over again in "Palm Springs," but that's sort of the point in this bizarre-yet-compelling "Groundhog's Day"-style rom-com.

There's a sense of disappointment in watching "Irresistible," for what's depicted in the film, but mainly because so many of us expect so much more from Jon Stewart. For years, Stewart became a beacon of common sense and truth as the host of The Daily Show, and his voice is one that is sorely missed in today's polarizing and often confusing political landscape. So while his newest film does include several shards of sharp wit and satire, it doesn't quite hit as hard as we may have wanted, or expected it to.

If you're American, it is very possible you have never heard of Eurovision. I admittedly never had until seeing this film. But to those in Europe, this would be a fascinating detail to discover, as Eurovision is every bit a part of Europe's pop culture as, say, NASCAR is in America.  You may not watch NASCAR or be a fan of it, but you know it's there. Having been around for DECADES in Europe, Eurovision is a televised international song contest (think "American Idol" or "The Voice" only bigger) that averages roughly 200 million viewers per year.

Knowing that Eurovision is something that really exists may in turn be a fun fact for Americans to discover, however this inherent disconnect with an American audience makes the new Netflix comedy "Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga" ("ESC:TSOFS") hard to grasp.

Expectations were high while reviewing my first film since the beginning of the stay-at-home quarantine, and even though "The Lovebirds" is a mindless diversion, it still doesn't quite sing.

After successfully teaming up for "Patriots Day," "Deepwater Horizon" and "Lone Survivor" (we'll forget about "Mile 22" for now), actor/producer Mark Wahlberg and director Peter Berg finally release a dud with the Netflix action-comedy, "Spenser Confidential."

This satire about the uber-wealthy is one odd film, a movie that doesn't quite add up to the sum of its parts.