Today, we look at two new drops on our streaming services. One is a reboot of a well-loved Patrick Swayze film—but it doesn’t involve any dancing—and the second is a valiant adaptation of a well-loved sci-fi magnum opus.

Road House (Amazon Prime) - The strangely popular 1989 film that starred Patrick Swayze gets a new lease on life via this remake that director Doug Liman and lead star Jake Gyllenhaal have created for Amazon Prime. I say ‘strangely’ as when released, it only grossed $61 million but went ballistic in popularity as a home video release, and this despite generally getting one of those ‘so bad it’s good’ reviews. So we get this latest reboot, and from Missouri, the narrative has relocated to the sunnier, more picturesque Florida Keys. It still has the basic premise of Dalton (Gyllenhaal) working as a bouncer at the Road House bar, and demonstrating that a heart of gold, a ready smile, and earnest kindness, can still come with an iron fist and mixed martial arts pedigree. Gyllenhaal trained for this, and it shows in a good way.

The main villain, Brandt, is portrayed with gusto by Billy Magnussen, and real-life MMA star Conor McGregor takes the role of one of his hired hands. His first scene is a beauty, with Conor leaving a crime scene with nothing but his boots on. It’s silly, it’s over the top, and there may not have been an excellent reason even to reboot the film, but it's also fun, has great action scenes, and knows how not to take itself too seriously. There’s an enthusiasm for exercise that’s hard to resist, even when you know so much is either physically impossible or just plain outlandish. The bands playing at the road house are great, relatively unknown ones, and I’d seriously consider seeking some of them out. The fight scenes are highlights of this energetic, worth-watching film.

3 Body Problem (Netflix) - From the same production team that gifted us with Game of Thrones comes this new eight-episode Limited series based on the novel of Liu Cixin. And you may be interested to know that this is the second film adaptation, as a Chinese television series happened last year. It’s a blend of hard science fiction and the thriller mystery genre. It’s set across multiple timelines, and interestingly enough, uses the Chinese Cultural Revolution as a starting point for much of what follows. There’s a labyrinthine plot, various narrative strands, and was widely regarded as one of those novels that was unadaptable for TV. Which, if you think about it, was also what most people said about Game of Thrones. But here we are, and the issue would be if lightning can strike twice.

The reply to this question has to be ‘Yes and No.’ I’ll give the team credit for finding ways to turn the novel into a watchable series and readjusting the narrative flow so that it’s more comprehensible to a general audience. But unlike GOT, after two episodes, I find the characters uninspiring and made of cardboard. The scenes set in the past, with the Cultural Revolution, are much more ‘alive’ than those set in the present day with the ‘Oxford Five’. And that is a shame as these five students are the most important perspectives of the narrative that follows. I’ll admit that two episodes in may not be giving them enough of an opportunity, but I’d counter that by saying that if, after two episodes, I still don’t have much of a read on any of the five, you’d have lost less patience than me.