Nothing Lasts Forever - As everyone probably knows, this was the basis for “Die Hard” (and being a sequel to a book made into a movie with Sinatra, he had first dibs on the role of John McClane). While I won’t dwell on every minute difference, the book’s tone is extremely different, full of inner monologues about fighting monsters and killing when necessary.

“Beef” Season 1 and 2 - Some very unsympathetic characters get into a drawn out, petty feud. This quickly became one of my favorite dramedy shows (season 1, anyway), because I can crack up at the over-the-top, human trainwreck absurdities while still taking the plot seriously. There’s also some not very subtle satire of white people filling the void in their lives with exotic Asian trinkets, but that’s in the form of a lesser character and I didn’t find this part interesting.

Season 2 has a completely different cast and makes it clear this is an anthology. Oscar Issac is really good here, but overall I didn’t like it as much and the drawn out breakdown of both couples lost me at times. Not expecting the season 1 cast to return since it looks like their story is done.

“Focus” - Will Smith and Margot Robbie. Ugh. This is very close to a bad movie, and only a couple of smart writing decisions saved it for me. The cons are so asinine if this was a dvd I would’ve chucked it out on the highway. A good example (since nobody will watch this), it looks like Smith is getting himself in deep shit with compulsive betting, only to reveal he psychologically conditioned the subject to pick a designated number. And that’s not even the most stupidly convoluted stunt that can’t possibly work in here.