Freeze Frame: “Fly Me to the Moon” (PG-13), “Dandelion” (R), “Sunny” (TV-MA)

Flimflamming advertising exec Scarlett Johannson fakes a moon landing and lands hunky NASA flight director Channing Tatum in the spacey but stylish romantic comedy, “Fly Me to the Moon.” Tatum is working hard to make sure that the Apollo 11 project successfully lands and returns to Earth and Johansson becomes an attractive distraction. It’s overlong, utterly implausible and Tatum is badly miscast. But somehow this well produced Hollywood product manages to generate a few looney laughs. While it never fully takes off, “Fly Me to the Moon” is a pleasant enough flight.

In the romantic drama “Dandelion,” KiKi Layne stars as a struggling singer/songwriter who engages in an ill-fated affair with a shiftless musician, played by Thomas Doherty, whom she meets at a festival in South Dakota. While the filmmakers strive for earthy realism, the movie never quite rings true. The original songs by Taylor Swift collaborators Bryce and Aaron Dressner are a bright spot, but “Dandelion” is as lightweight and flighty as a dandelion seed.

Just who is the Apple TV+ sci-fi mini-series “Sunny ” made for? I’m not sure even the show’s creators know. Rashida Jones stars as Suzi Sakamoto, a woman living in Japan in the near future whose husband and son mysteriously disappear after a plane crash. She’s given a robot named Sunny from her husband’s electronics company that was designed to comfort her. It isn’t compelling enough to be a thriller, mysterious enough to be a whodunit or funny enough to be a comedy. Full disclosure, I could only make it through four episodes of “Sunny” before I bailed. Better title: “Gloomy.”


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