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Remember back several years when we adults used to have to wait until fall for the serious movies to hit the theaters? You know the ones that were good and satisfying. Well written, acted, choreographed. The Life List checks all those boxes.

Legitimately checks all those boxes.

A little original, a couple of curves, well placed and plotted. Believable characters I genuinely cared about.

Yes, there were a couple of on-the-nose corny moments but that's okay when the movie is several cuts above the typical direct-to-streaming Netflix fare.

An 8 to 8.5 is much more reflective of the quality of this movie than the current 6.8. In my humble opinion.

We see a side to Izzy we never saw with him in Flip or Flop which is nice to see and refreshing. The strong influence of small family business is effective and seems genuine.

Izzy and his brother showcase their contracting skills and Izzy's wife impresses with her vision and ability to design on a dime. The two step-children might be the heart of the show and both seem genuine.

Episode one did not seem as good as episode two, which really came together for me and underscored what this show wants to and can be about.

I don't know if these first two episodes were a trial balloon but I sure hope HGTV keeps it going. A cut above most of the competition.

Is it perfect, hell no. No one's walking out of the theater thinking "best movie I ever saw!" But what I did think was, pretty satisfying, kind of funny, somewhat touching, well written and directed, exceptionally well acted across the board, with an award caliber performance by Bobby Cannavale and the little "on the spectrum dude who plays his son.

It's definitely got an 80's/90's vibe so maybe in today's environment for some people it's not politically correct enough, hep enough, or whatever but it entertained me, my wife and our adult daughter on enough levels we left the theater quite satisfied.

Btw, and I don't think this is a spoiler, at the very end, it might have even been in credits, there's a pretty funny Jimmy Kimmel-Guierrmo (sp?) skit, which was a nice added touch.