The Boxcar Children: Surprise Island is the second film adaptation of the popular literary series of 1920s. Going into the series I knew very little about it. I wasn’t even aware that there it was a book series until the making of featurette, but we will get to that later. The series focuses on the Alden children, who live with their grandfather following the tragic death of their parent. What these children are most known for his going on adventures and solving mysteries. However, the director said it best, “When the boxcar children solve a mystery, it doesn’t end with someone going to jail, but with someone being emotionally healed."

In this latest film, the group learns that they will be spending their summer on a private island that their father and their grandfather before him used to spend their summers on. Excited for this new adventure, the group meets a kind stranger who lives on the island. He is very pleasant and always eager to help the children out, but it is very clear that he has a secret, one that affects him very much. It is up to these junior investigators to discover what is and help their new friend.

You have to go back to the early 40’s for when Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica first appeared in comic book form.  Over the years, though, their characters have changed with the times, though the town of Riverdale always seemed to maintain an innocent charm where nothing bad ever seemed to happen. Well, that is until recently where the comics took a shift and thrust our characters into various scenarios, one even including Riverdale being overrun by zombies. These changes occurred when Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa took over the brand, and now he has brought the town of Riverdale and its inhabitants to the small screen for the CW network.  Though this iteration differs from the early days of the Archie comic universe, all the familiar characters are here, and they are showing us the shady underbelly of Riverdale that I’m so glad we are getting a glimpse of, one episode at a time.

When Season 1 left us, we were with Archie (K.J. Apa), and his dad, Fred Andrews (Luke Perry) lay bleeding in Pop’s Chocklit Shoppe after a “botched robbery”. Season 2 picks up right where the previous season left us and wastes no time ramping up the danger in town as a mysterious killer dubbed “The Black Hood” begins killing off the residents of Riverdale.  Wanting to protect his town and his friends, Archie forms a group called The Red Circle. As you can expect, this glorified neighborhood watch group is simply a recipe for disaster, but also entertaining television. While Archie is on the hunt for “The Black Hood”, Betty (Lili Reinhart) finds herself caught up in the mess as well as the killer plays a sort of cat-and-mouse game with her by leaving her clues to their identity. Jughead (Cole Sprouse) is keeping busy this season, as he’s relocated to Southside High and he is adjusting to his life while becoming a member of The Serpents. Personally seeing how Jughead evolves as a member of the Serpents, from his gang initiation to the power struggles we see develop over the course of the season, is one of the best things going for this season. Finally we have Veronica (Camila Mendes) who is adjusting to her father’s early release from prison and coming home to continue with “The Family Business”.  As you can imagine, Season 2 is loaded heavily with material for our characters, and there is so much that continues to work its way into the story that it almost never hits a lull.

The First World War long existed in the shadow of the second. When it was fought, the term World War was not yet in existence. Until after the Second World War, it was referred to mostly as The Great War. The footage from this war is far more rare. Most of us have seen little of it. Clips from the Second World War have been used over and over for countless documentaries. There are no longer any survivors left alive from that Great War. You won't find them interviewed on television, and you won't hear their stories told to the extent you've heard accounts of other conflicts. The results of that war do still live with us today, but how many of us truly understand any of it? Mill Creek brings us the 10-part documentary series from 2008 WWI: The War To End All Wars.

The start of the war is more complicated than just the assassination of an Archduke. Unprecedented feelings of nationalism, an intricate web of alliances, and an arms race fed by new technologies in weapon technologies: all of this created a powder keg that was merely ignited by that fateful assassination. It's a story worth hearing in the detail provided here.

"What would you do if the person you loved walked out the front door and never returned? What would you do if the next day you were pulled into a police station and interrogated quite aggressively, under suspicion of murder? And what would you do if your kids were taken away and put into foster care and you were accused of being a bad mother? What would you do?"

That's pretty much the premise for the Acorn release of the first season of Keeping Faith, or first series as the Brits like to say. It's an 8-episode slow-burner drama that deals with the aftermath of the disappearance of a guy who appeared to be your average Joe with a loving family. On the surface you have the makings of an interesting series. But the real devil is in the presentation.