Media Captures: January 2026

MOVIES

Hamnet – 10

There’s a thrill in exiting a theater having been astounded by a movie.  I remember going to movies in the incredible 1970’s when it was one movie after another.  The last time I experienced that was with " A Complete Unknown.”

Hamnet delivered that feeling for me.  This is the story of William Shakespeare and his wife Agnes who have 3 children but lose their son to a plague.  Will is laboring far away at the Globe theater when the son, Hamnet, dies and that creates a gulf between the parents.  Jessie Buckley, whom I have always been a fan of, brings her grief to life so vividly that she is the odds-on favorite to win an Oscar for her performance.  I’ll be rooting for her. 

Although this movie won the Golden Globe for best drama, not all the critics have been kind to it.  It moves at a slow pace, but the ending packs a wallop that I won’t discuss here.  I’m just going to say that I may have broken my personal tears record previously held by Rudy.  Take that for what it’s worth.

Abang Adik – 9

I’m going to have to quote from Wikipedia here:  “Abang Adik is a neo-noir crime drama film written and directed by Jin Ong.  It tells the story of a pair of undocumented orphans in Malaysia.” 

Abang is the deaf-mute older brother of Adik.  They live in numbing poverty.  Graphically realistic and heartbreaking in its circumstances, this is a tough one to watch, but should you venture down that road, you’ll be rewarded with a great story. 

The Rip – 8

Gotta give it to Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.  They are the buddy heir apparent to Clooney and Pitt who have lost their luster recently.  This straight to Netflix film probably would’ve done ok at the box office given the star power.  The close friends play Miami narcotic cops caught in a murder mystery and the temptation to abscond with a $20 million “rip” found in a narcotics stash house.  Someone in their crew may be the traitor who was an accomplice to their boss’s murder which begins the movie.  Loyalties will be tested.  This one actually hits its marks a little better than expected, although it will disappear into the backlog ether that is the Netflix catalog

People We Meet on Vacation – 8

Nothing new with this movie.  Poppy (Emily Bader) is a travel writer who is tired of traveling alone and finds a guy from her Ohio hometown that will travel with her.  Alex (Tom Blyth) is not nearly as adventurous but as the years go by begins to develop some feelings for his sometimes travel companion.  There’s a nice sequence in New Orleans, and nice sequences in other locations, but there’s only one thing that carries this movie.  It’s Emily Bader, whose charisma is by far the most interesting aspect of the movie.  There’s little chemistry between them, but she makes it believable.

Song Sung Blue – 7

Remember that feeling I was talking about leaving a great movie?  Well, it didn’t happen here.

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson play a real couple named Mike and Claire Sardina who have a brief career as a Neil Diamond cover act.  They’re known as Lightening and Thunder, but that’s overselling it a tad.  It’s kind of sad to me that of all the great (and some not so great) music Neil Diamond produced it’s Sweet Caroline that has become omnipresent, like a bad drinking song.  Oh well.  I’m sure it’s just me.

Meanwhile, it’s Kate Hudson that carries this movie as Claire.  Her singing is terrific and she does the heavy lifting in the tragedy department, and what happens to her is truly tragic.  Hudson got a surprise Oscar nomination for the part and it’s well deserved.  Meanwhile slip Love on the Rocks, September Morn, and Kentucky Woman into your playlist.  And I still think his duet with Barbra Streisand on You Don’t Bring Me Flowers is the best thing I’ve seen on the Grammys.  Don’t believe me? Here:

STREAMING/BINGING and what’s left of Network Television

Landman (season 3) – 9

I doubt there’s anything streaming now just as outright entertaining as this series from Taylor Sheridan.

His writing, although it’s occasionally over the top, is brought to life by the incomparable Billy Bob Thornton.  He spits out his lines like he’s creating them on the spot and that’s his special gift.  Plot?  Yes, there’s a plot.  It’s about oil exploration and risk taking and crazy family, and the seasons are coming in rapid succession, so just buckle in your lazy chair and enjoy.  It ain’t perfect, but you don’t want to miss a minute. 

Bad Monkey – 8

Vince Vaughn is hilarious in this overly long, but entertaining adventure series from Apple TV, set in the Florida Keys and the Bahamas.  Vince plays a frequently suspended detective who can’t help but do good things when he suspects bad things.  This may not be for you, and there are a lot of subplots colliding, but for some reason Vaughn’s one liners just tickled my funny bone about every 5 minutes.  This was a fun watch. 

Gone Girls:  The Long Island Serial Killer – 9

Netflix has a whopper of a documentary here, especially if you like the story of catching serial killers.

In three concise episodes it pieces together how a 2010 discovery of a body on Gilko Beach led to numerous other bodies in the swamp and the hunt for missing women.  It’s a pretty amazing story of investigators intermittently dropping the ball, then persevering, including through some unexpected corruption and incompetence.  Enthralling series.

DOCUMENTARIES 

Mel Brooks:  99 Year Old Man – 10

Wow, have we been lucky!  Mel Brooks is an American treasure, and here he gets the extended Judd Apatow two part treatment.  Judd has never made a movie that he couldn’t lengthen into a bladder tester.  But, here the subject is worth every minute.  Mel is still working at 99, and his classics like Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, both released in 1974 (I may have mentioned how great the 70’s were) were landmarks.  Has anyone ever duplicated a one-year feat like that?  None comes to mind.

When I was growing up I heard about the legendary “Your Show of Shows” with Sid Caesar, but this is the first time I’ve seen actual footage.  And so it goes, a backstory extravaganza of movie after movie, star after star, show after show.  Hilarious, and heartwarming in so many ways, let’s hope Mel goes on for several more years.

Cover Up – 10

This is a profile of legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.  His amazing reporting uncovered the My Lai massacre, and Abu Ghraib prisoner torture.  His persistence and methodology are great examples of what journalism can and should be.  I hear a lot of shots taken at the main stream media, but this is an education on the processes that ethically must be followed to break a story.  A lot to learn here as nowadays it’s hard to know if it’s entertainment or journalism.  This is a great starting point. Hersh has often been in trouble, and that’s a good way to win a Pulitzer prize. 

Secret Mall Apartment – Inc

It’s very rare that I don’t see something through to the end, especially when it’s a Music Box production from Bill Simmons and company.  But after you get past the initial story that 8 people set up an apartment to meet at in a nook in a mall, it lost my interest in the extreme.   Oops

STAND-UP

Ricky Gervais:  Mortality – 5

I’m a big Ricky Gervais fan, and this special won the Golden Globe for best stand-up, but that’s not nearly warranted.  He rips off a few good lines, but that’s about it.  I’d like to have my time back. 

CLASSICS

Friday Night Lights – 8

Lately, prompted by Landman, we’ve gone back over a few of Billy Bob Thornton’s movies, and somehow I had never seen this one.  He was making a lot of talk show appearances telling stories about his old movies, so we decided to go down his rabbit hole.  This one is a  tad formulaic and Billy Bob’s Head Coach character is a little too cliched for me, but it’s still entertaining.  Every single tackle is a bone-crushing, flip over in the air job, so realism isn’t the name of the game here.  But I can see why it was adapted into a TV series, which I’m sure would have been an improvement.  Just seems better suited for the intimacy of the small screen.

Media Captures - December 2025 and the YE Review

MOVIES

Train Dreams – 10

This Netflix entry is a melancholy contemplation of one man’s life as a traveling physical laborer.  He often dreams in reflection of memorable events, good and bad, and this takes you slowly through his life.  Joel Edgerton, who I usually think is terrific, plays Robert, a tortured and simple soul who toils in the Pacific Northwest, mostly in lumber.  He has simple aspirations that center on his family and the cabin he and his wife build on a stream.

The greatness of this movie is in its pacing.  It reminds us of both the speed with which life goes, and the parts that seem to go on forever.  Edgerton is joined by Felicity Jones, Kerry Condon, and William H Macy in a wonderful cast that plays it low and slow. 

My only quibble, and it’s not really with the movie, is that we often watch films with closed captioning turned on so we don’t miss an important word or sentence.  I don’t know why it’s necessary to document every breath at the bottom of the screen.  I found it terribly distracting and overdone on this movie.

I highly recommend you take this movie in, and if at all possible, leave the close captioning off. It's better that way.

Black Bag – 9

I’ve never been a big fan of director Stephen Soderberg, so I struggle through his movies.  They are sparse, static, with a cheap soundtrack and simplistic photography, in my opinion. Such was again the case with this highly acclaimed movie.  Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett star as married British Intelligence agents who are suspected, separately, of being traitors.  They set out to clear their names.  There are 5 suspects.  Fassbender’s character, George Woodhouse is tasked with ferreting out, and eliminating the traitor, which may even be his wife. 

Fortunately, about two thirds of the way through, there’s a lie detector scene followed by a “big reveal” dinner party that is downright enthralling, substantially elevating this to one of the best endings of the year.

From the World of John Wick:  Ballerina – 8

With the most ridiculous title of the year I guess they are trying to communicate that there’s a lot of over-the-top gun play, sword play, and hand to hand combat, but the fact that it’s Ana De Armas kicking derriere across several countries in search of a dark secret about her past, but of course, makes this a pretty good action film.  Technically, Ana De Armas can’t be the next James Bond because she’s already been a character in the last 007, but I think she’d be a great successor.  “Give her a double 0 and turn her loose,” I say.

Spinal Tap II: The End Continues  – 8

I will never forget the night we watched the 41 year later sequel to the great Spinal Tap, Rob Reiner’s groundbreaking Mockumentary and his first movie.  About half-way through the movie, my wife turned to me and said that bodies had been found in Rob Reiner’s house.  Later we would learn it was Rob and his wife.  It was a heartbreaking period as the news developed.

I was thoroughly enjoying the somehow realistic update to a fictional band.  It is just as entertaining as you would expect.  Not a classic, but a worthy follow-up, considering that once you’ve seen Stonehenge, how do you ever top that? 

Relay – 8

The answer to the question “whatever happened to Riz Ahmed,” is that he makes good movies where sound is important.  First it was the great “Sound of Metal.”  Now it’s a most interesting story that pivots on the fact that there is a “relay service” where avengers for hire communicate with their client.  There’s a little bit of a twist which unfortunately I had scented out pretty quickly, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that the story, about a corporate whistleblower, is something that I hadn’t seen before. 

Marty Supreme – 7

A frenetic vehicle for the talented Timothee Chalamet, director Josh Safdie repeats his formula from “Uncut Gems,” a movie I did not like one bit.  In that obnoxious piece the protagonist is played by Adam Sandler, and the acting in this movie is a significant upgrade, if the story is not. 

Chalamet is all-in on his performance as Marty Mauser, a fictional US ping pong champion in the 50’s.

He’s extremely confident, gets his married (and equally obnoxious) girlfriend pregnant, improbably beds an older movie star (Gwyneth Paltrow), and moves through a series of outlandish but entertaining scenes.  It's non-stop and he's impressive, but much like an action movie, there's not a believable moment.

The word is that Chalamet will certainly be nominated for an Oscar, and is the favorite to win, but to me it will be a make-up Oscar for the far superior “A Complete Unknown.”  They should just let me decide these things.

F1 – 7

Brad Pitt’s latest starring vehicle is an extravagant salute to Formula One racing.  The first part, where Pitt’s character Sonny Hayes is one leg of a Daytona 500 team is like a music video and it’s pretty thrilling and I cranked up the Led Zeppelin volume and watched it a couple of times.  Unfortunately, the rest of the movie stalls in the pits. 

Let me summarize: The racing action is terrific.  The racing strategy is fascinating.  The acting is good.  The plot is formulaic.  The dialogue is laughable.  Pitt, who produced this should know better.  He won an Oscar with some snappy dialogue.  Aren’t there script specialists who come in and punch up the dialogue?  Oh well, it’s a worldwide financial hit, so I’m happy for him and his Plan B productions, who consistently churn out the hits.

Jay Kelly – 4

When it comes to bad dialogue, nothing will take a back seat to Adam Sandler as a manager calling not one, but two clients “Puppy.”  It’s so bad, it’s offensive.  I have no idea what George Clooney and his team are doing at this point in his career.  This movie has gotten good reviews, and I’m truly bafflied. 

Except for a few moments, this movie is so tedious I would rather watch grass grow.

STREAMING/BINGING and what’s left of Network Television

Pluribus – 8

My mother used to buy various artifacts and place them around the house, calling them “conversation pieces,” although I don’t recall anything like that ever happening.  Apple TV’s series, because it is helmed by Vince Gilligan, the mastermind behind “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” is certainly a conversation piece.  There’s a lot to talk about.

Fortunately, he tapped the luminous Rhea Seahorn to play Carol, an alcoholic author and one of only 11 worldwide survivors of a viral takeover of the human race.  Reminiscent of the great thrice filmed “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” the “possessed” have become a mind melded cult-like force, with some strange characteristics.  Carol doesn’t like it, and maybe wants to beat the alien virus.  She’s not going to get much help.  Yes, there’s a lot to talk about in a series that is rather slow moving and deliberate.  There’s a second season coming and we’ll have plenty of time to discuss.

Godless (2017)– 9

Jeff Daniels plays the evil-personified Frank Griffin in this acclaimed Netflix western.  I’d always wanted to see this, so one day I watched the 7 episodes straight through.  Daniels won a supporting Emmy, and he gives one unique take on evil.  He leads a band of about 30 marauders laying waste to everything in their path as they search for a former member who rebelled against their brutality and wounded Griffin, costing him an arm.  He carries the arm with him.  Yuck.  There’s a great supporting cast as the story moves to a mining town where all the males met their fate in a mining accident, leaving a largely female population which will eventually and inevitably deal with the Griffin gang.  Excellent series anchored by the irresistible force of evil. 

CLASSICS

Nashville – 10

Fifty Years after being astounded by this creative masterpiece, we held a re-watch party of one of the few Criterion classic DVD’s I own.  Robert Altman crafted this around a meandering narrative of musical performances and an obscure Presidential campaign.  A year later, Martin Scorcese would do the same thing in “Taxi Driver.”  Thus, Hal Phillip Walker begets Charles Palantine and two of my top ten movies of all time were seared into my memory.

Five of my ten favorite movies were released in those fertile 70’s and it was a decade that I don’t think has ever been matched. 

If you haven’t seen Nashville, check it out.  I can’t think of any movie that resembles it, and it features at least two of the greatest musical scenes in the history of movies, and they aren’t “Singing in the Rain.”  I could go on forever about my love for this movie and it was great to re-watch, re-live, and re-appreciate.   Most importantly, like most of those great movies from the 70's - It holds up.  

Die Hard – 10

Did a Christmas rewatch of what many consider still the best action movie of all time.  That’s amazing because this is a movie that was released in 1988, and I’ve seen it like this in its entirety several times since, not to mention the clips. What was really impressive is the masterful editing.  The story is pieced together to perfection.  You’ve seen it.  You know.

The Greatest Showmen – 8

Hugh Jackman stars as PT Barnum in what I would call a clickety-click musical.  There is an emphasis on the rat a tat tat of the music and it’s a little gimmicky at the beginning, but the movie settles in and although I had never seen this before, I quickly realized most of the music is pretty good.  “Never Enough” sung by the character Jenny Lynd, the Swedish Nightengale, is now considered a classic, but for me, there is an amazing number that I hadn’t heard about - one featuring Zendaya, who I confess I didn’t really get until I saw her singing and swinging on a trapeze with Zac Efron.  A great scene in an otherwise predictable, but very well-done musical.  You don’t see many of them these days, mostly because there’s only so much Hugh Jackman to go around. 

My 2025 Movie Rankings

Sinners – 10
Flow – 10
The Outfit (2022)– 10
One Battle After Another – 10
Train Dreams - 10
September 5 - 9
The Fall Guy – 9
Anora – 9
Weapons – 9
A Quiet Place:  Day One – 9

Life of Chuck - 9
Black Bag – 9
Emilia Perez - 9
Rogue Agent - 8
Juror #2 - 8
Spinal Tap II – 8
Springsteen:  Deliver Me From Nowhere - 8
Relay – 8
Gladiator II - 8
The Gorge – 8
Working Man – 8
28 Years Later – 8
Accountant 2 – 8
The Order – 8
99 Homes - 8
Sovereign - 7
Marty Supreme – 7
Naked Gun - 7
A Real Pain - 7
F1 – 7
Dune 2 - 7
All of You - 7
Wolfman – 7
The Exterritorial - 7
Havoc - 6
Night Bitch – 6
Back in Action – 6
Old Guard 2 - 4
Saturday Night - 4
Jay Kelly – 4
House of Dynamite - 1
Superman – 1

The Ozzies:
Best Picture:  Sinners
Best Actor:  Michael B Jordan
Best Actress:  Jesse Buckley in Hamnet (even though I haven’t seen it yet.  I’m allowed because she’s been a favorite of mine for years, AND no one else jumped out at me.)
Best Director:  Ryan Coogler

 

My 2025 Rankings of Streaming Series:

Task – 10
Adolescence – 10
Slow Horses (5) - 10
Apple Cider Vinegar – 10
Resident Alien – 10
Hacks - 10
Reacher - 10
Landman – 9
The Diplomat (3) – 9
1923 – 9
Prime Target – 9
The Survivors - 9
Ozark - 9
Godless – 9
The Pitt – 9
Bosch - 9
Running Point - 9
Silo (2) - 8
Pluribus – 8
Fubar - 8
Zero Day – 8
The White Lotus (2) - 6
The Night Agent (2) – 5
The White Lotus (1) – 5

The Lizzies

Best Series – Task
Best Actor – Billy Bob Thornton in Landman
Best Actress – Alexandra Dutton in 1923

My 2025 Rankings of Documentaries:
One Shot with Ed Sheeran – 10
Celtic City – 10
Billy Joel (And so it goes) – 10
Mr. Scorsese – 10
Carville:  Winning is Everything, Stupid - 10
Buy Now:  The Shopping Conspiracy – 10
Score:  A Film Music Documentary - 09
Dear Zachary – 9
Crisis:  Behind a Presidential Commitment – JFK - 9
John Candy: I Like Me - 9
Sunday Best: Ed Sullivan - 9
Pee Wee Herman as Himself – 9
The Hollies – Look Through Any Window 1963-1969 - 8
The Search for Instagram’s Worst Con Artist - 8
Let It Be – 8
America’s Team:  The Gambler and His Cowboys - 7

 

My 2025 Rankings of Some Classics I Watched:

Nashville (1975) - 10
Amour (2012) – 10
Heat (1995) - 10 
Die Hard - 10
10 Things I Hate About You (1999) - 9
Adaptation (2002) – 9
The Greatest Showman - 8
Chuck – 7

The Quarter Century Mark

And here’s my last treat.  25 Years into the 21^st Century and here are some opinions on the greatest movies so far at the Quarter Century Mark.  Contrarian that I am, mine are way different from the consensus.

I asked my knowledgeable movie friend David Jones for his top 25, not sure if they are in order:

Mine	David Jones	Time Magazine
Gone Baby Gone	Almost Famous	Parasite
Mad Max:  Fury Road	Mulholland Drive	Mulholland Drive
Mission Impossible: Fallout	City of God	There Will Be Blood
Minority Report	Lost in Translation	In The Mood for Love
Serenity	Children of Men	Moonlight
There Will Be Blood	4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days	No Country for Old Men
Kill Bill Saga	There Will Be Blood	Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
A Complete Unknown	No Country for Old Men	Get Out
Star Trek	Michael Clayton	Spirited Away
Pan’s Labyrinth	The Diving Bell and the Butterfly	The Social Network
The Wolf of Wall Street	Wall-E	Mad Max:  Fury Road
Arrival	The Social Network	The Zone of Interest
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind	Moneyball	Children of Men
Zero Dark Thirty	The Grand Budapest Hotel	Inglorious Bastards
Memento	Mad Max:  Fury Road	City of God
The Secret in Their Eyes	Manchester by the Sea	Crouching Tiger
The Social Network	Get Out	Brokeback Mountain
Blinded by the Light	Roma	Y tu mama tambien
Spotlight	Parasite	Zodiac
I, Tonya	Once Upon a Time.in Hollywood	The Wolf of Wall Street
The Imitation Game	The Worst Person in the World	The Royal Tenenbaums
Inception	Poor Things	The Grand Budapest Hotel
Whiplash	Flow	Boyhood
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo	A Complete Unknown	Her Here's a link to all 100: https://www.imdb.com/list/ls599610113/

Media Captures Sept - Oct - Nov 2025

MOVIES

Longest I’ve ever gone without an update, so

The Outfit – 10

I Love being guided to a little unknown movie that packs a punch and delivers way more than expected.  Such is the case with this simple little 2022 gem set in Chicago.  Mark Rylance once won a Supporting Actor Oscar, and he gets his chance in a lead role here as the English tailor, Leonard Burling, to various mob figures.  They come and go in his little shop where he custom makes beautiful suits for them, while also offering up a drop point.

Leonard was trained on Savile Row, but he’s got to use all his wits to avoid disaster when two mobsters, Ritchie and Francis come to his shop after a shootout that suspiciously looks like a setup.  It is one of those one-night thrillers, that is nearly perfect in its plotting and execution.  Hope you’ll check it out and discover its brilliance. 

One Battle After Another – 10

The heavy favorite to win the Best Picture Oscar is a sprawling epic directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, who will likely also pick up his first Best Director award for pulling together this all-star cast, of which my favorite was Teyanna Taylor as a terrorist.  Apparently, Teyanna is a singer, of the breathie-chantie type, who sets the movie off and running, before she gets captured and forced into a difficult legal choice. 

Leonardo DiCaprio takes up the narrative from there as Bob Ferguson, a drugged-up conspirator on the run for 16 years with a daughter he’s trying to protect from his past.  He’s not too good at that, nor remembering the old passwords.  It’s all rambling, with great supporting performances from Sean Pean as the lawman in pursuit, and Benecio del Toro as a sympathizer. 

All the word of mouth over its apparent left vs right immigrant views makes me clueless as to what the long-term view of this movie will be, but if you can set aside your political views for just 3 hours, it sure is entertaining. 

Weapons – 9

One of the biggest hits of the year is a old fashioned horror movie.  Julia Garner plays a third-grade teacher who comes to school one day to find that 17 of her 18 students didn’t come to school.  No, not a protest.  All at the same time in the middle of the night, the 17 got up and walked out into the night, and disappeared.  Josh Brolin as one of the more aggressive parents, wants to know just what the teacher was teaching.   It actually gets pretty scary when Amy Madigan checks in as one of the more frightening characters you’ll see, and I’m hoping she gets some award recognition.  Good movie, not my usual genre.

Springsteen:  Deliver Me From Nowhere – 8

This is a movie about a very simple album, Nebraska, cut in 1982 by Bruce Springsteen.  It was famously recorded on a recorder in Bruce’s bedroom.  The record company reluctantly released it, with no p/r, and no tour support, and yet it became a best-seller and eventually legendary.  This is a nice effective story of an artist at a mental health crossroads as he struggles with the beginnings of his fame.  It’s dark, and far from the crowd-pleaser it would have needed to be to make money.  Despite the hype, especially around Jeremy Allen White’s performance and Bruce’s active participation, I couldn’t help but think this would have made a good “Behind the Music” episode, but can’t imagine why it was made with any expectation of the box office needed to break even.

28 Years Later – 8

Director Danny Boyle’s third film in the series is all over the place as he continues the story of a rage pandemic which turns people into zombies.  The emphasis seems to be on the zombie makeup, and if you’re a fan of the series, you’ll like this.  In Great Britain the ending of the movie was controversial because it apparently portrayed a real-life celebrity who fell into disfavor after his death, but us Americans probably won’t know that.  What we will see is the immensely talented Jodie Comer and that was the highlight for me.

Sovereign – 7

The great Nick Offerman plays one of those guys who doesn’t believe that any law is constitutional and as a part of an anti-government group is trying to indoctrinate his son in his ways, as they are on the verge of losing their house in a foreclosure he refuses to acknowledge.  The pair go on the road preaching their conspiracy theories and things begin to go awry when they are pulled over by a cop.

Predictable but fun, in a conspiratorial kind of way. 

Naked Gun – 7

Liam Neeson steps into the franchise as the son of Frank Drebin, and he brings the comedic chops if not the soul of Leslie Nielson.  Liam plays it straight and that’s the correct approach, but this film will fade into oblivion and be forgotten quickly, except for the set being where Liam and Pamela Anderson fell in love.

House of Dynamite – 1

I give it a one for the presence of Rebecca Ferguson.  Everything else is horribly wrong about this made for Netflix movie directed by Kathryn Bigelow, whom I normally love.   I thought the movie was offensive in that it portrayed every single U.S. military character, except one, as incompetent and unable to do what was needed when under attack.

A nuclear missile of unknown origin is hurtling toward the U.S. In case you don’t get that, they tell the story 3 times from different perspectives.  It is phony tension and terribly redundant.  What a disappointment.

All of You – 7

The breakout star of Apple’s hit series Ted Lasso, Brett Goldstein gets his first chance to write and star in a rom-com and teams with Imogene Poots.  She’s one of my favorites, and if you have seen Roadies you’ll know why, and if you haven’t seen it, seek it out.  It’s a real sleeper. 

Unfortunately, she seems flat here, and Brett never seems the least bit suited for this role.  There are some nice moments, but one where they have any real chemistry is not among them.  This Apple+ movie had promise, but it didn't materialize and I hope it doesn't sink the stars. 

STREAMING/BINGING and what’s left of Network Television

Task – 10

Ever wonder what happens when a crime spree merits the formation of a task force?  Well, HBO gives you a chance to find out in spectacular fashion with this crime drama from the folks that gave us the terrific Mare of Eastown.  Here it’s Mark Ruffalo in the Kate Winslett-type role of angst-ridden crime solver.  His wife was killed by his foster son, who may get set free soon, and Mark’s character Tom is just not sure how to feel about that, and his two daughters are equally unsettled.   He’s been out doing recruiting for the FBI when he asked to head up a task force to find perps who are robbing Eastern Pennsylvania drug houses. 

Over the course of 6 episodes we learn there is an informer on the task force, and the thieves are faily sympathetic.  It’s a great story as Tom closes in on the bad guys, and it may be the best thing on tv lately, with 3 dimensional characters you care about.

Slow Horses (season 5) – 10

Fortunately, Apple TV maintains the high quality of this London based spy drama centered around MI5 outcast Jackson Lamb played with all the acerbic wit that Gary Oldham can bring to the role.  I would be hard pressed to decide which of the 5 seasons so far that I’ve enjoyed the most.  The misfits of Slough House continue to outshine their MI-5 counterparts in crime solving, and this season’s mystery about some Libyan terrorists working their way through London is no exception.

The Diplomat (season 3) – 9

While it was hard to maintain the momentum of the stunning ending of season 2, there’s just enough intrigue in this 3^rd season to set up a 4^th season of this top notch Netflix political drama.  Anything I could give you would be a major spoiler, so let me just say that the Diplomat and her estranged husband end up on different sides of the pond trying to protect a President they don't really like.  

 
The Survivors – 9

One of those offbeat Australian series about a cold case.  Fifteen years after the death of 3 friends drove Kieran Elliott away from his Tasmania hometown, he returns with his own young family only to have a murder dredge up all the grief and mystery of the past.  Rarely do mysteries offer this much surprise and if you're looking for a new mini-series, this is a good one.  

DOCUMENTARIES

ONE SHOT with Ed Sheeran -10

I’m not sure that this is a documentary, but I’m sticking it in that category, even though it deserves a category all its own.    It is one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen.  It’s like a concert film in motion.  Ed Sheeran walks and rides around New York City singing up a storm, and it is filmed in one shot, one take.  I was not a fan of Sheeran’s but I knew of him.  That phase ended 60 minutes later.  If you like music at all, stop what you’re doing and tune in.  This is a thrill.

Mr. Scorsese – 10

Any movie fan is going to love this 5-part Apple series, that marches through the life of times of one of greatest directors in movie history.  His success rate is phenomenal, and this captures the high wire act that Scorsese has lived and experienced in each movie.  My personal favorite is episode 2 which covers the making of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and Taxi Driver, two of my top 5 favorite movies.  But each episode is worthwhile, and to me it’s only recently with The Irishman and Killers of the Flower Moon that I felt a drop-off in Scorsese’s magic.  Nevertheless, I think he’s probably my favorite director, and my ranking of his best movies would bear no resemblance to anyone else’s. 

John Candy:  I Like Me – 9

I was an early John Candy fan due to SCTV which I was watching religiously when most were watching Saturday Night Live.  I always thought he was great, and it was gratifying to watch him rise to stardom.  His death was heartbreaking, and his demise is chronicled here.  It’s sad, but well worth watching.

America’s Team:  The Gambler and His Cowboys – 7

Did we really have to have this sometimes-interesting story of Jerry Jones, how he bought the Cowboys and he’s tried to build on his early success with one bad personnel decision after another?  As over-hyped as the Yankees and Notre Dame, the Cowboys monopolize the news, and that's a shame.  

STAND-UP

Sebastian Maniscalco:  It Ain’t Right - 9

Maniscalco’s latest, parked on Hulu, is funniest when he’s coming face to face with the stiffness of old age.  Come on man, you’re 20 years younger than me.  Just you wait.

CLASSICS

Heat – 10

Decided to revisit this classic, because if I’d seen it before, I didn’t remember it.  Its reputation continues to grow, so I thought I’d take another look.  Pacino and DeNiro face off with Val Kilmer in support and with that kind of fire power, it’s hard to ignore.  Director Michael Mann began to build his career on this movie and the pinnacle of it is a street shoot out, as good as it gets.

Chuck – 7

Well, this wasn’t a classic, but I’d never heard of it, and it’s the second “Chuck” movie I’ve seen this year.  This stars Liev Schreiber as Chuck Wepner, a fighter who went 15 rounds with Muhammed Ali, as a great white hope.  In our house we followed every Ali fight like it was the event of the year, and I remember this fight well.  Allegedly, the movie “Rocky” was based on Wepner, who later sued for compensation. 

Scheiber is unrecognizable as Wepner, also known as the Bayonne Bleeder.  I love sports movie, but this one is an afterthought, notable for some supporting performers like Elizabeth Moss and Naomi Watts.

Media Captures July & August 2025

STREAMING/BINGING and what’s left of Network Television

Resident Alien – 10

I lead with my favorite thing I've watched during these two couch-ridden months.  There’s not much to watch on network television.  I think the last thing we watched was The Good Place.  Just when I had given up on comedy, (except for HBO) along came AlanTudyk as the observational alien, sent to destroy earth.  Of course he ends up loving earth and in Patience, Colorado where he lands, there’s a lot to love.  This is one of the best cast, and best written shows I’ve seen in years.  Over the course of the 4 seasons we've fallen in love with the flawed but wonderful residents of Patience as they cope with a possible alien presence.   

But, it’s Tudyk that steals the show.  He won’t win any awards, but his comedy is low-key Mork, and normal Newhart.  A wonderful show that we were sad to see end.  

Hacks (all 4 seasons) – 10

With networks having given up on the situation comedy, it’s HBO that gives me more laughs per week than any other network. I don't think they’ll ever top “Veep” but they are giving it a run with Hacks, anchored by Jean Smart as the unapologetically wealthy obnoxious comedian Deborah Vance.  I talked about how good the first couple of seasons were, but they amp it up in 3 and 4, as more characters develop.  Leading the way is Hannah Embinder as Ava Daniels, Deborah’s on again, off again writer. 

When Deborah gets offered her own talk show, what should be a dream come true turns into a nightmare of politics.  It ain’t Garry Shandling, but it’s damn good TV.  Maybe there's hope for comedy after all.

Ozark (endless) – 9

Couch-ridden is the proper posture to slog through the last few episodes of Ozark.  I had given up on the last season because of its ridiculous length, and the increasingly ludicrous suggestion that the Byrde family could survive all this time.  Nevertheless, I have to admit they keep up the intensity and ridiculousness going right up to the end.  This will probably go down as a classic series, and that’s ok with me.

Bosch (season 1-5) – 9

This Amazon Prime detective series has been my main source of entertainment through a recovery period.  It’s been consistently entertaining with enough plot twists to sustain suspense.

Titus Welliver plays Harry Bosch in such a low key manner, the absence of charisma is unusual for a series like this.  Bosch is a former special forces (of course) detective in the Hollywood division of LAPD.  He’s a great detective with incredible persistence, but that’s also his greatest weakness, as he’s in and out of trouble frequently.  You know, doesn’t play by the rules and all that. Divorced, with wife issues.  Punches his boss.  Solves crimes like no one else. 

I take one point off for the rather boring political subplots, but otherwise, well done, and one of those addictive series that before you know it you’ve spent several days of your life on.

MOVIES

Amour – 10

The New York Times just came out with the top 100 movies of this century, as selected by people in the industry.  I found that I had seen 75 out of 100, so I of course set out on a quest to see the 25 I’d somehow missed.

Amour was the first one I grabbed, because it was definitely relevant to my physical condition.  Good choice as it turns out to be a masterpiece.  It won the Palm D’Or in 2012 at Cannes and it’s easy to see why. 

We humans have many unique practices that other species don’t have.  At the top of the list is marriage, where we pledge to stay together in sickness and in health – just words at 25, but a harsh reality many decades later.  Any other species throwing weddings?  They may commit, but they don’t make an event out of it.  Fortunately, the journey can be way more fulfilling than the promises.

Anne and Georges have lived a long satisfying life as music teachers, enjoying their quiet, devoted marriage.  Old age is taking its toll in their eighties.  When Anne has a hauntingly well-depicted stroke her husband is relegated to caretaker.  Determined to fulfil his duties he falls farther and farther behind and begins to realize he’s not up to the task, but wants to keep promises he made to his wife.  It’s thoughtful, logical, and well-played until its heartbreaking conclusion.  I was so impressed with this work of French Director Mike Haneke I’m going to seek out some of his other films.  This is a don’t miss.

Adaptation – 9

This is a movie that won several awards for its script and its easy to see why.   Written by the great screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, it stars Nicholas Gage as the great screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, and Charlie’s twin brother.  I’m going to try to describe the plot.

Charlie has been commissioned to write a movie adaptation of The Orchid Thief, a best seller by Susie Orlean, who is played by Meryl Streepl. The thief she writes about is John Larouche, played by Chris Cooper (who she inexplicably falls in love with-fictionally) and who rightfully won an Oscar for the role. Kaufman has writer’s block, as anyone would attempting this absurd subject, so he and his “fictional” twin, also a writer, wander around and stammer and fight.  Often hilarious, often ridiculous, I suggest you see it to believe it.  If you know me, you know I’m no Nicholas Cage fan, but his perennial angst is perfect for the twin roles. 

Superman – 1

I actually went to the theater to see this movie and I can’t remember when I hated a movie this much. 

It was like watching a stranger play a video game you’ve never seen before.  I grew up reading Superman comic books, and have enjoyed some of the iterations, but this is just horrible.  What I will remember most is Superman flying vertically over and over at faster and faster speeds for some reason.  There’s the latest version of Lex Luther, of course, because there are no other villains, and if I never see the overactor Nichola Hoult again, it will be fine with me.  But you can’t really fault the actors, who must have spent 90% of their time in front of green screen.

I’ve always felt a little out of place in this world, but after reading the rapturous reviews and listening to the enthusiastic audience, I realize the distance is greater than its ever been fcr me. I gave up on the Avengers.  Now I must give up on Superman.

DOCUMENTARIES

Billy Joel (And So It Goes) – 10

HBO covers all the ground with its documentary about Billy Joel.  Almost every hit song is covered, and no punches are pulled when it comes to Billy’s personal life. What was most fascinating was his ties to classical piano.  He’s always been the real deal and this doc illustrates the how and why.  

Score:  A Film Music Documentary – 10

What a wonderful movie for movie music lovers.  This movie tells the story of how a movie score comes to development, and it’s just enthralling.

The Hollies:  Look Through Any Window 1963 – 1976 – 8

Historical accounting of what turns out to be a damn great group, and as they run through their many hits you’ll develop an appreciation for Graham Nash and Buddy Clark.  It all fell apart when Nash went to America, but it was great while it lasted.

Sunday Best:  Ed Sullivan – 9

This Netflix documentary is a must-see for anyone interested in the evolution of television.  It was Ed who ushered America through the infancy of television.  His life was a rather simple one.  Born in Harlem, his aspiration was to be a writer.  As a columnist he beczme famous for writing The Talk of the Town until he was picked by CBS to host a variety show. 

As everyone knows, he gave America their first glimpse of hundreds of acts.  This included many Harlem and Vaudeville acts for whom he stood up against popular opinion and advertiser pressure. This made me nostalgic for the days of variety shows that followed him, like Carol Burnett and The Smothers Brothers.  They have been replaced by amateur hour shows like America's got Talent, which are cheaper and only sometimes compelling.   It's z different day, and Topo Gigo isn't walking through that door.

THE 20^TH ANNIVERSARY OF KATRINA - I watched them all. 

 

New Orleans:  Soul of a City   ( Rebirth of a 5uperdome) -9

CNN is running a series on New Orleans and this is apparently the first episode.  It highlights the recovery of the city and how it rallied around the New Orleans Saints, (who they almost lost to San Antonio) culminating in the first game in the Superdome.

Hurricane Katrina:  20 Years After the Strom with Robin Roberts – 8 

This is an ABC 1 hour special, and it focuses much more on the Gulf Coast.  Robin is from Pass Christian where we’ve been planted for 26 years now, and were fortunate enough to come through Katrina with minimal damage.  Robin does a little too much reminiscing and too little showing, but the video’s she does show are devastating.

Katrina20:  The Storm that changed Everything. - 9

This is WLOX’s local special, and it’s probably the best of the local lot.  It covers all that transpired on the Mississippi Gulf Coast with local footage, and local commentary.
 

Katrina:  Come Hell and High Water - 9

This is Netflix 3 part comprehensive look at New Orleans before and after the storm.  Spike Lee is the executive producer, and it’s familiar ground for him as he did a 4-part HBO epic called “When the Levees Broke:  A Requiem in Four Acts.  His footage is fantastic, and he highlights how the income inequality of New Orleans and

STAND-UP

Jim Jefferies – Two Limb limit  8

By far, this Australian (an admitted alcoholic, bipolar, drug user) is the crudest, most vulgar comic working today.  There’s nothing he won’t talk about.  If you want to explore his work, don’t start with this one as it’s a gut punch.  Watch his many specials in chronological order.  If you dare.