Media Captures: August 2024

MOVIES

Contratiempo – 10

This is a Spanish movie with the American title of “The Invisible Guest” which is not an enticing title at all.  I had to buy the movie, but I saw one of those videos where a reviewer said this was his favorite murder mystery, so I sprung and we watched it.  Then we watched it again within the 48 hour ownership period.  Yes, it’s that good, and watching it the second time was even more satisfying. 

A man greets his new lawyer and they begin to go through what happened to him.  He is accused of murder when the police break into his hotel to find his bludgeoned girlfriend and the man claiming someone had been there with him, knocking him out before committing the crime

The lawyer begins to unravel a long, complicated story full of twists and turns as she tries to figure out how to defend this guy. The movie is subtitled and the reading is fast and furious as the lawyer and the defendant go round and round.  I enjoyed this movie so much that it may enter my top 250 by the end of the year. 

 

Strange Darling – 9

We made a rare venture out to something called a “movie theater” and watched a movie that wasn’t shot on an iphone, but on real film, a fact it is intensely proud of.  It is a small, independent film that has opened to (mostly) rave reviews.  It’s a horror movie about a serial killer, because that subject matter is rare in today’s culture.  I’m kidding of course.

The innovative part of this movie is that it’s told in 6 chapters, but they are mixed up in the re-telling.  It’s a nice touch, but not earth shattering.  However the story is pretty riveting, and it’s a beautifully executed movie, in all its bloody glory. 

The story centers on a man pursuing a woman.  The performances of the two principals, Kyle Gallner and Willa Fitzgerald and both extraordinary, with Willa giving an award-worthy performance, even if it’s in what is essentially a slasher movie.

The reason I don’t give this movie a 10 is because of 2 ridiculous scenes that are just stupid.  But don’t let that stop you from seeing this, if you enjoy this kind of movie.  It’s a bloody mess, if that’s your thing.

Unthinkable – 8

I came for Samuel J Jackson and I stayed for Carrie-Ann Moss.  This is a 2010 thriller that slipped right past me.  In a role that must have been written just for him, Samuel L. Jackson is right at home as a torture specialist.  He’s Jackson thru and thru.  Here’s the premise and you tell me - would you do the unthinkable? 
How far would you go to find out a where a captured terrorist had planted 3 Nuclear weapons on US soil.  Would you torture?  Would you start cutting off fingers?  Plucking out eyeballs? 

Or even torture the terrorist’s family?  Well, don’t try to hold SLJ back.  He’s done this before.  Others on the case are horrified, until he starts getting answers.  Are they correct?  Are you sure?    Lots of tension, lots of action, and lots of dilemmas.. 

 

Land of Bad – 8

At one time Russell Crowe was a Gladiator, in the ring, doing buff things.  Now, he has descended into middle age and instead of swords, he uses drones.  The is a made for Netflix movie, and apparently, it’s a big hit.  Chris Hemsworth is a rookie (callsign Playboy) on a Delta Force mission to rescue a CIA informant held in the Philippines.  Here’s a surprise.  The mission goes sideways and Playboy is in a 48 hour fight for his life.  He’s going to have to do a lot of heroic things.  He wasn’t expecting this. 

Fortunately, Reaper is on the drone.  Just like a great video game, or at least what I imagine a video game is because I haven’t played one since Mario Brothers, Reaper has to pick off all kinds of troublesome obstacles.   What’s most interesting about that is the language.  I could be wrong, but this seems like authentic military verbiage, and it’s rather fascinating.  So, I got caught up in the code words and the action and I’m kind of glad Russell looks more like me than Maximus these days. 

The Instigators – 7

Matt Damon and Casey Affleck crack wise in this light story that Affleck co-wrote.  It was directed by Doug Limon.  The two buddies are incompetent criminals who stumble on a potential big pay day when the Mayor of Boston loses his reelection bid and is driven out of office the next day (rather idiotic) because he is crooked and has to relocate his cash.  In step the two buddies.  While the repartee is snappy, the movie is so lightweight, I barely remember it

About My Father – 7 

Sebastian Maniscalco builds off his successful standup act that often features references to his father.  His act is hilarious.  This movie can’t match the exuberance of his stand-up, but it tries.  Unfortunately, the great Robert DeNiro plays his father, and he works hard, and does fine, but just is the wrong casting choice here.  He’s in everything, and it would have just been a better movie if the role had been more authentically cast.  It’s not that he’s bad, it’s just that he is so prolific, and we feel like we’re watching the Godfather, Senior edition.  You can almost see the meetings where Maniscalco is trying to get the movie greenlit, but is being told he has to get a bankable star to play his dad. 

There’s some great material here, but it just kind of falls flat.  Maniscalco is holding himself back.  Too bad.  A surprising miss. 

Love Lies Bleeding - 7

Let me start by saying there are very few movies that go completely off the rails in the final third like this one does.  And for no reason.  Up until that point what you have is a fairly decent, nearly pornographic thriller with Kristen Stewart burning up the screen and Ed Harris taking on his newest oddball persona, with a jarring bald head and long hair falling from the sides.   He plays Lou Sr, a kingpin of sorts and father of Lou, Jr (Stewart).  They are kind of estranged, and when Jr falls hard for a homeless female body-builder, we’re off to the races. There will be sex.  There will be blood.  There will be murder.  There will be clean up.  And there will be a ridiculous final few scenes which someone will have to explain to me.

Everybody gives their all, but using a title of a classic Elton John song was a risk that was going to be hard to live up to, although it doesn’t take much of a leap to guess that it’s all going to end that way.

Shot Caller – 6

A stockbroker (played aggressively by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) goes to prison on a DUI manslaughter conviction and ends up a kingpin. At what law school he picked up the particular set of skills he needs to whip butt on his way to the top of a crime syndicate is what I want to know.  Can you say “B” movie?  Just because it’s buried deep on the Netflix depth chart, doesn’t mean there is a lack of effort as the body count mounts. 

The Bricklayer – 6
Chief of Station  - 6

Aaron Eckhart appears to be entering the “Liam Neeson” portion of his career, with some long dormant action skills and in these outings he turns into a spy/diplomat trying to avenge the death of similar character.   Another “B” movie for when you want to kill some time with overblown violence.

 

STREAMING/BINGING and what’s left of Network Television

The Americans (Season 1, 2) – 10

This FX series, now on Hulu, is a spy thriller that ran from 2013 to 2018.  The fact that I’m just now getting around to it should be an example of how often I’m late to trends and fads, if indeed I ever know about them.  The first 2 seasons are simply as good as television gets.  Kerri Rusell and Jonathan Rhys play Russian agents in deep cover as an American family.  Their ruthlessness and loyalty to the motherland is jarring.  They seem to be constantly ahead of the FBI, and they are efficient and organized. 

Russell and Rhys make a formidable pair as others drop by the wayside. I don't know how realistic this cold war depiction of Reagan's America is.  I guess i was too busy repossessing cars to know about all the spying going on.  I don’t know how many awards the series won, but it wasn’t enough.

 

Troppo – 9

Another Australian surprise.  I’ve watched a couple of these Australian series, and they are always a strange brew, but this one is pretty terrific.  Thomas Jane plays Ted. a detective who is living in a remote part of Australia as he tries to recover from a false accusation.  But the centerpiece of the story is an ex-con named Amanda, played by an exhilarating Nicole Chamoun.  She murdered a friend as a teenager and after serving her time has come back to her unwelcoming hometown.  Inexplicably, she becomes a private investigator who then teams with Ted to try to solve the mystery of a Korean tech pioneer who has disappeared.  Naturally, the clues mount up and the mystery widens.  You’d never guess that a huge conspiracy was underfoot, and Ted and Amanda are going to have to unravel it.  Great characters trying to regain their footing in life.  Well worth watching

Wyatt Earp and the Cowboy War – 8

A deep dive that I don’t think anybody asked for, but we get anyway, into the tiniest details of the legendary Wyatt Earp.  Any fan of Tombstone is going to love this, but it’s almost more than I want to know.  It’s a reenactment, and some of us never tire of that shootout. 

 

DOCUMENTARIES

Elizabeth Taylor – The Lost Tapes - 10

I didn’t know Elizabeth Taylor, but after this retrospective, I felt like I did.  Which is probably more than I can say for most people living today.  She may be forgotten, so here’s a little recall. 

First, she may have been the most beautiful woman to ever grace the screen

Secondly, she dominated the gossip headlines through her 8 marriages like it was as important as the Bay of Pigs.  She went from vivacious to a victim of Joan Rivers’ barbs (funniest stand-up line I’ve ever heard – call me and I’ll tell you) and her life went from black and white to living color right there in our living rooms.  Today, celebrities come and go, but she carried a fascination that today’s “influencers” can only dream about.  Jennifer Lopez is only halfway there on marriages (she’ll need to marry Ben one more time – can you imagine?) and Taylor Swift will have to do 10 more tours, 10 more relationships, and 10 more breakup songs, well into her 60’s.  Elizabeth Taylor was a terrific actress.  A career of singular beauty, and unsatisfied thirst.  This documentary, comprised of her own voice and extraordinary editing is fascinating.  When Stars were Stars. 
 

CLASSICS

State of the Union – 10

I’m a sucker for Director Frank Capra and his uniquely patriotic movie making.  I make no bones about “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” as my favorite movie.  I was urged to consider this as mandatory election-year viewing, so since I had pretty much forgotten it, I had to order the whole box set of Spencer Tracy/Katherine Hepburn movies from Amazon, and I’m off and running.  This is a classic, and I’ll be weighing in on more of their movies. 

In this one Tracy plays a rich guy, estranged from his wife (Hepburn of course) who decides to run for President and soon is selling his soul to get elected.  Will he see the light?  Snappy dialogue and great character actors, including Murder She Wrote's Angela Lansbury when she was a fox, make this fun and relevant.  

Mr & Mrs. Smith - 8

Alfred Hitchcock made exactly one comedy, and this is it.  He doesn’t appear to have done much directing, because the best course of action in a screwball comedy is to hire Carole Lombard and get out of the way.  She plays the wife of Robert Montgomery, until they find out that their 3 year marriage is illegal, and he makes the mistake of saying no, he wouldn’t get married again if given the chance.  Never, never say anything like that.  So, they break up and it turns out he wants her back, and they play ring around themselves for a short while.  It’s funny, not hilarious, and I had to find it on youtube. 

Love Crazy – 8

William Powell and Myrna Loy were a great screen pair and in 1941 they made their 10^th movie together.  Their chemistry never waned, which is why I have their box set too.   In this screwball comedy, Powell is trying to get his wife back by feigning that he’s crazy to delay the divorce.  Now this isn’t as great as Manhattan Melodrama (the movie I wish Clooney and Pitt would remake) but it’s a great way to watch some real acting. 

 

Movie Box Sets I have (or why you should attend the eventual garage sale)

Powell and Loy
Astaire and Rogers
Tracy and Hepburn
The Marx Brothers
The Ultimate Hitchcock
Woody Allen
The Bourne Trilogy
The Before Trilogy
The Dark Knight Trilogy
The Vacation Movies
That’s Entertainment Movies
The History of Rock N Roll
The Complete Monterey Pop Festival
17 Comedy Classics
100 Movie Classics
50 Horror Classic
50 Mystery Classics\ 

Maybe I should start my own streaming network. 

Media Captures July 2024

 

MOVIES

Furiosa:  A Mad Max Saga – 8

I’m a big fan of the Max Max storyline.  It started in 1979 with Mad Max, which was eclipsed by The Road Warrior, a 1981 masterpiece.  Then in 2015, director George Miller hit the jackpot with Mad Max:  Fury Road which if not the best movie of the 2010’s was certainly the best action movie.  Unfortunately, the 9 year gap between Furiosa movies was not an accension, but a little bit of a drop.  Anya Taylor Young credibly takes over for Charlize Theron, and the story and action are strong, just not quite up to the standards of Fury Road.  It was a big ask. 

Miller chooses to tell this origination story in chapters and it has a little bit of a let’s “fill in the blanks” feeling.  Maybe that was necessary.  Maybe not.  What’s inescapable is that the Australian Miller is now 79, and may have come to the end of the road as far as Mad Max sagas go.  The failure of this movie at the box office is a commentary on the current state of movie theaters, not necessarily the quality of the work.  How much longer will theaters last?  That’s the real saga.

Twisters – 8

The special effects are truly amazing even if the story is as ridiculous as you would expect in this kind-of-a sequel/remake of the Twister of 1996.  The Glen Powell effect continues as he capitalizes on his rising popularity by starring in as many movies as possible.  Maybe he’s got Jake Gyllenhaal in his sites  Meanwhile the charismatic newcomer Daisy Edgar Jones provides the complimentary eye candy of tornado storm chasers perusing the Oklahoma weather during the “storm season.”

Some of the dialogue is ludicrous, as are the details of the plot, but it somehow builds momentum into  a fairly farfetched but riveting conclusion. Turns out riding a tornado can be fun, but not all games.  I’ve got to give them credit for their portrayal of the devastation a storm can cause.  Nice move, and probably what will pass for a hit in the summer of 2024.  Maybe there's hope for theaters.

Knox Goes Away – 8 

Michael Keaton directs and plays Knox in a portrait of a fast-moving form of dementia.  Knox has been diagnosed and told he has just a few weeks to get his affairs in order.  That would have been enough of a storyline right there.  But, you see, Knox is a trained assassin.  Hollywood would have you believe that there are so many trained contract killers in the general population that they are everywhere.

Knox’s deteriorating condition is revealed when he loses his shopping cart.  I’m kidding of course.  A hit goes bad, and then his estranged son kills the predator who impregnated his daughter and shows up, begging for help.  Thus the clock starts running, and an action thriller begins where a character study would have been just fine.  Nevertheless, Keaton sells the whole thing and it’s a good movie where a great one could have been.

Beverly Hills Cop:  Axel F - 7

I have no idea where the brains at Netflix came up with such a ridiculous title for the 4^th installment of the Beverly Hill Cop movies, but there’s no doubt where they came up with the script.  This movie is like going to a class reunion when you’re 70 and going on a car chase for old times’ sake.  The snappy repartee is there because alzheimers hasn’t set in yet, but the body is a tad old and creaky.  So, in keeping with the tradition of BHC, let’s have Axel get arrested a few times, have a couple of ridiculous chase scenes, and befitting the name, end it with a Beverly Hills mansion shoot out, tearing it to shreds.  Seems like old times.  There are some ok action sequences, and Eddie Murphy is still a great comic actor, and the gang is getting off some great one-liners, but the first thing you acknowledge at that reunion is that we just aren’t as spry as we used to be, and maybe we shouldn’t be doing this.

The Beekeeper – 4 

One of those movies that should’ve lasted about 10 minutes, if only somebody would have just shot Jason Statham from about 10 feet away, instead of rushing him so he could beat up 50 Seal Team 6 members at once.  Leaves you ashamed that you enjoyed some of it.  And those opening 10 minutes are actually pretty good, as it starts the story with one of those shameful scams where an old person loses their life savings over the phone.  Mrs. Huxtable is so distraught she does the unthinkable, and this puts the invincible Jason Statham into action.  Justified, but ludicrous.  I have to admit, I wish we could do this in real life, beat up a few thousand scammers. Mindless, blurry action, if that’s your thing.

Brawl on Cell Block 99 – 7

Vince Vaughn is at his most wooden in this preposterous, but mildly entertaining exercise in brutality.  Vaughn plays a bear of a man who apparently has no pain receptors.  When he gets laid off he decides it’s time to live a better life, and the pathway to that for him is through running drugs.  After a few successful years, the law catches up with him and he begins a journey through the prison system that culminates in a face-off for the ages.  It’s great to be a movie guy like Vince, or Jason. No pain no gain.
 

Holidate – 6 

A bonafide Hallmark movie that upgrades the acting talent from C- to C+ with a story you’ve seen over and over.  One of the main characters is usually clueless and here it’s Emma Roberts, who has no redeemable qualities as Sloane, but somehow has a pretty likeable guy (Luke Bracy) falling for her as the make a pact to go to family functions as a couple on holidays so as to not have to put up with the relatives’ “dating” questions.  My suggestion is to watch the trailer, which thoughtlessly has every funny scene in it.  It took us 3 nights to get through this.  A Three-Nighter. 

On Body and Soul – 8 

Of all things Forbes magazine cited a Hungarian movie on Netflix as worthy, so we tried it on.  A unique movie with a neat premise.  Two co-workers in a slaughterhouse find that they are dreaming the same dream every night.  Beautiful dreams.  How’s that for a launch of a relationship?  Well, it’s a rocky launch and this isn’t for everyone. But, as movies go in the 21^st century it’s a love story.  Certainly not a Hallmark one.

STREAMING/BINGING and what’s left of Network Television 

Tehran (Season 2) – 10

So Apple+ has a critically acclaimed drama with an authentic, unrecognizable cast and in an effort to boost profile, they decide to add an American star, Glenn Close.  She’s a great actress, but she’s as out of place here as I would be at a Phish concert.  Despite her unsettling and unnecessary presence, the storytelling is superb, and the momentum from the first season continues.  This is a great demonstration of spycraft, and I look forward to the third season, when I understand they are adding Hugh Laurie, because I guess they need a cranky but brilliant doctor.  Great conclusion to this season.  Didn’t see it coming, and that’s rare. 

The Outsider – 8

This is a 10-episode HBO series from 2022 based on a Stephen King novel.  I’m not a King devotee.  Don’t read his books, but I certainly admire his volume.  Unfortunately my love of the supernatural faded about 30 years ago.  I read that this was one of his best series adaptations, so I thought I would check it out.  The first 3 episodes are stellar, and boom I was hooked.  Then we dragged to the finish line.  The drag should have lasted about 6 episodes, but that’s not the way things work in the world of streaming. 

But, as these things go, pretty good.
 

Presumed Innocent – 7

Jake Gyllenhaal must work more than any other actor, although Glen Powell is nipping at his heels.   He wandered into the streaming wars with the Road House update on Amazon Prime, although in fairness he thought it was good enough to get a theatrical release.  (It wasn’t.)  Now he takes on a mini-series with an unnecessary remake of the Scott Turow popular novel.  In 1990 it was made into a hit movie with the legendary Harrison Ford as Rusty Sabich, (great name, right?) a Chicago prosecutor who investigates, and is later the prime suspect in the murder of fellow prosecutor, and lover Carolym Pohemus (another great name.) 

Jake takes over the lead role in this series, which is just as drawn out as you would expect.  My pet peeve are some minor, but horribly offensive baseball scenes.  The courtroom drama is not that sharp legal wrangling you’d like to see, it’s more personality driven, principally by Peter Skaarsgard, who proves once again that no one can snivel like he can.

Ruth Negga plays Rusty’s wife, who despite the piling up of infidelity revelations is gamely trying to hold the Sabich family together.  I guess the movie is largely forgotten, but there’s a critical casting issue in this version.  In the movie Greta Scacchi plays the ravishing Pohemus and her charisma is evident.  That’s the problem with this series.  I’m sure Renate Reinsve is a fine actress, but as Pohemus she just doesn’t display that “it” that would drive a man to the crazy passion Sabich confesses.  This should be a tour de force for Gyllenhaal, but while he’s intense, he’s too bland for the role, even when compared to Harrison Ford.  But, by now, we know this all too well. 

DOCUMENTARIES

Charlie Hustle and the Matter of Pete Rose – 8

As a Pirate fan, I hated Pete Rose.  He beat you, and it just seemed like he rubbed it in your face.  My personal opinion has always been that yes, he should be in the Hall of Fame (for his play), but no, he should never be allowed anywhere near baseball (for his betting while he was a manager.).  You may not know this, but when they put him on the ineligible list for betting on baseball they changed the rules to make him also ineligible for the Hall of Fame, which was previously just selected by the writers.  Not particularly fair, but not the most important decision ever made either.

Pete, now 83, knows he’s nearing the end and is making one more push to make it into the HOF before he croaks, and he’s found some willing allies at HBO who have produced an nice recap of his life, times, and arrogance.  Nothing has changed.  He’s his own worst enemy.  Unfortunately at 4 episodes of just under an an hour each, the documentary is about 42% too long.  There’s just so much one can take of Rose’s ego, narcissism, denial, selective memory, whining, and cries of “unfair.”  We’ve never seen anything like it!  All the sympathy I had for Rose going in was destroyed by the conclusion.

He still rubs it in people’s faces, and I can promise you that if he ever makes it into the hall, it will be long after he’s gone, and people are just looking at his records, and not having to deal with his attitude.  By the end of this thing, I had no sympathy for him. 

Here I am, a huge baseball fan, and the superstars of my lifetime of enjoyment, Rose, Bonds, ARod, Palmero, McGwire, Sosa, Clemens, and many more are not going to see the hallowed hall.  But, last year Scott Rolen was elected.  I can’t remember ever seeing him play.  Where has baseball gone, Joe Dimaggio?

Stevie Van Zandt:  Disciple - 10

This HBO documentary is a revelation.  Little Stevie has had a wondrous career.  From Bruce Springsteen’s main man to Tony Soprano’s confidant – that’s the way most of us him know him.  But there’s much more to his story.  He’s been an influential proponent of keeping rock n roll alive (yes, I’ve added his Underground Garage Sirius channel to my rotation as a result of watching this) and been a prominent producer of other artists, and a leader of his own band.

What most of us don’t know is that he left the E Street Band just when Springsteen’s Born in the USA fame was about to kick in.  He began an epic effort to attack apartheid in South Africa.  This culminated in his We Are the World-like production of “Sun City,” an anthem that had enormous impact.  It is this part of the movie that is the most “documentary” as I had no idea of his efforts and the effect they had. 

I love Rock N Roll Documentaries (and concert films) and with the social changes music has generated in the last century or so, maybe that’s what we should be displaying in classrooms.  I was reflecting on all the great music docs and here are some of my favorites (knowing I’ll leave some out):

There Will be Music
The Last Waltz (still the gold standard)
Monterey Pop
Get Back
WoodstocK
Amy
Stop Making Sense & American Utopia
Eight Days a Week
George Harrison:  Living in a Material World
Searching for Sugarman

I Am Celine Dion – 6

Prior to her epic comeback song at the Olympics I watched this Netflix documentary that will make you cringe at the gruesomeness of the disease Stiff Body Syndrome, that she now suffers with.  It is clearly stated that Celine was dedicated to her career and she misses her abilities. This is as tough to watch as any horror movie or political speech. I was convinced that we would never see her perform again.  I hope the film crew kept rolling as I was stunned to see her sing again. 

CLASSICS

Don’t Look Now – 5

For several years I’ve been trying to work my way through what are considered the classics.  Many of these movies have not aged well and I’ve been disappointed. I’ve come to realize that it is asking a lot for a film to age well.  They can’t all be Casablanca.   Highly regarded foreign movies with subtitles have been the majority of these.  For some reason, I just had never gotten around to the Donald Sutherland/Julie Christie “classic,” but when Southerland recently passed away, it was back on my radar.

There are several reasons the movie is famous.  Most notorious is the stars’ sex scene which had long been alleged to be so realistic, that it was real.  The editing is famous for it’s intercutting, and its examination of the grief of losing a child is at its core.

None of this holds up very well.  There was no moment in the notorious sex scene that appeared at all real, which is what the stars have long said.  The editing, particularly in the critical moments is so distracting as to cut the effectiveness of any tension in pieces.  The story, which veers into the supernatural, unnecessarily, involves a lot of running around the streets of Venice in a disjointed way that makes you feel it’s a filler.  Here’s my guess.  In 1974 this may have worked.  Today, it doesn’t hold the Venice canal water.  A huge disappointment, and now I have no desire to go to Venice. 

Media Captures June 2024

 MOVIES

The Last Stop in Yuma County – 9

Is a gas station.  It’s out of gas.  A cast of characters gather at the local café, awaiting the fuel truck. There’s nothing else for miles.    Two of them have just robbed a bank.  Soon, everyone figures that out, and chaos ensues in a Tarantino kind of way.  Imagine a Pulp Fiction where they never left the diner.

This is one of those movies with the right blend of tension, humor, and violence.  It’s gotten a lot of good press, so I paid for it.  Universally well done, I don’t want to tell you much more because it would spoil the surprises, although by the time it hits the streamers you will have forgotten the following:

Francis Galluppi is the director, and it must be awfully hard for a new director to break in, but this movie signals a lot of promise.  Jim Cummings has the most prominent role as a travelling knife salesman, an attribute that comes in handy.  The actor that steals the show is Richard Blake as the most menancing of bank robbers.  As greed begins to take over the various customers, he realizes that since he’s outnumbered, he has to turn it up a notch.  Good movie, well worth a watch.

Hit Man – 9

New star Glen Powelll jumped from his minor role in Maverick to a couple of higher profile opportunities.  He co-wrote this with renowned director Richard Linklater, and since it’s about a real person who lived in New Orleans, I was prone to watch. 

Gary Johnson is barely noticeable as a teacher, but he contracts out as an undercover hit man for the New Orleans Police Force, which given the history of crime in NOLA is pretty surprising, that NOPD would be that inventive.  But, Gary is quite inventive and gets better and better at entrapping dumbasses until inevitable complications arrive.  I have no idea how much of this story is true, but it’s compelling and fun, and Glen may be headed for stardom.  But, I have a pretty poor track record on such predictions. 

Trigger Warning – 1

There I was, waiting patiently for the reappearance of Jessica Alba in this Netflix vehicle.  I wish I had never seen it.  Painfully implausible, more painfully horrible, Jessica plays a war vet returning for her Dad’s funeral to find out that his death in a mine was mysterious. An inordinate amount of time is spent in the mine, and it all left me in the dark.  I can’t believe I watched this.

 

STREAMING/BINGING and what’s left of Network Television

Tehran – 10

If I would have run for President I would have had a lot of areas where I would have needed guidance, but none more than the middle east.  I don’t understand it. Unfortunately, I’ve learned most of what I know from a sereies called “Homeland.”  I read this article ranking Apple+ series, and it ranked this as their best production, even ahead of Ted Lasso, so I dug in and swallowed season one of “Tehran” and found it not only educational on Israel and Iran, but a thrilling spy story, that grabbed me in the first episode and never let go.

Niv Sultan plays Tamar, a Mossad hacker who is trying to disable the Iran defenses so that Israel can bomb the nuclear sites, because “we can’t let Iran get the bomb.”  Aside from some makeup problems (her wounds from a beating go away rather quickly) she is a most compelling character, who has to constantly improvise and evade detection.  It’s cool stuff.

This Israeli series was the first to win an international emmy for best drama series, and in subsequent seasons it has started to add high profile talent.  Can’t wait.  If you have Apple+, dig in to this spy thriller and thank me later. 

Media Captures - May 2024

 

MOVIES

American Fiction – 10

On the night of the Oscars, as I watched the bloated Oppenheimer (I dissented on its greatness) steam through the awards, I was briefly encouraged when it lost one – Best Adapted Screenplay.  American Fiction surprisingly took the prize and it was one of the few nominees that night that I hadn’t seen, so I filed it away and then took months to get to it.  That was stupid on my part.

American Fiction is a brilliantly written and acted story that despite the accolades, still surprised me.  Jeffrey Wright, who I’ve been a fan of since he played Muddy Waters in Cadillac Records, plays Monk, a very serious black writer who wants to be taken seriously, but can’t.  He toils along writing stuff that doesn’t sell, and in a fit of desperation he writes what his agent tells him everyone wants – a story of the black experience, complete with slang and a backstory of him, using a pseudonym, on the run from police.  It just gets more complicated from there and the movie has a great ending.  Literate and funny thoughout, a high recommendation from me.

The Idea of You – 9

A 40 year old divorced mother art gallery owner falls for a 24 year old singer in an immensely popular boy band.  The most unbelievable part of that sentence to me is the fact that any boy band is immensely popular, because I’ve never really understood said popularity as they gyrate and bounce around a stage with no instruments except their looks, and I could go on and on.  But the reason the first part of the sentence is not that unbelievable is that the 40 year old mother is played by Anne Hathaway, and the young guy is played by I really don’t know who.  You see, yes I’m a fan of hers and with a lesser actress this movie would be a nothing burger, but she is so luminous in the role that it’s like she’s a 100 watt light bulb in a 40-watt world and it's no wonder boy meets girl/woman.

The movie is not great, and it’s the same ole formula for romances, it drags a little at the end, but it’s still satisfying for the romantics.  And did I mention Anne Hathaway?

 

Dreamin’ Wild – 7

A melancholy true story of a couple of teen-age brothers who cut an album and then get on with their lives.  Donnie Emerson (played not very convincingly as an adult by Casey Affleck) manages to eek out a musical career running a small recording studio, his dreams having died a long time ago.  Joe Emerson (Walter Coggins) was the not very good drummer when they were young, and Beau Bridges has been resurrected to play their too-supportive father.  When a record producer, played by the always irritating Chris Messina comes along with a desire to remaster their only long lost record as it becomes popular, dreams and problems are revisited. 

It's a pretty interesting story but told in such a melancholy and dreary way that makes it a struggle to get through.  Having said all that, the ending is quite cool, so I listened to the real Emerson’s music the next day, and it was pleasant.  I’ve always believed there are many talented people out there, and its just about getting a break.  The Emerson brothers never got theirs.

Atlas – 6

I guess when you’re Jennifer Lopez and you want to get out of the house because your latest marriage is on the rocks, a vanity project of your own is ok.  JLo probably thinks this review is about her.  It is.  If you’re going to produce an action thriller with gobs of AI special effects in a story about AI, you might want to include some action where you leave the cockpit of some Godzilla like robot, instead of just sitting there throwing off pithy one liners to a computer while you try to catch the really bad guy.  The story’s not that bad, but JLo and I both had claustrophobia by the end.

DOCUMENTARIES

Stax:  Soulsville USA – 9

This documentary is 4 episodes of approximately an hour each and its educational in parts, thrilling in others.  It starts when white brother and sister Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton decided to open a studio in Memphis to record their beloved country music.  Little did they know they were actually starting what would be become a legendary R&B label.  There are great stories here about the music I grew up with.  How a B side (that’s on a little 45 RPM record folks) called “Groove Me” by Booker T and the MG’s (the house band) unexpectedly launched them.  How Otis Redding became a star, and how his biggest hit was recorded just days before his death in a plane crash.  Isaac Hayes, Sam & Dave, and many others are discussed in loving detail.  And then there’s the ill-fated partnership with Atlantic Records.  Business rise and fall stories are always interesting, but when music is involved, it’s even better.

Beach Boys – 7

All these movies about the Beach Boys are fun, fun, fun, but this ground has now been covered so many times in so many different formats, there’s just nothing more to say.  I’ve seen it all by now, even if its still fun to sing along.

Procession – Inc

The latest documentary on the atrocities of the Catholic Church and their priests was so heartbreaking and gruesome, I just couldn’t watch it all.  That’s rare for me.  But I’ve sat through Spotlight, Mea Maxima Culpa, and Deliver Us From Evil, and I’d love to say they should be required viewing, but I just can’t.  Maybe I’ll go back and finish this one day, but I’m not sure I can.  It’s a rough one.

Media Captures - April 2024

MOVIES

Musica – 9

Gosh, I do love things that are original.  In a rough month, this was the thing that enthralled me the most.  Rudy Mancuso stars and directs, and it’s easy to see why.  There was probably no one else who knew what he was talking about.  It’s the story of a young man who hears music in everything, from plates rattling to spoons falling and yet he is tone-deaf in an unsatisfying relationship.  He toils as, of all things, a puppeteer in the subway.  No one else sees or hears what he does, and we’ve all probably been there at one time, when no one around us was on our wavelength. 

Fortunately, he meets (and of course loses) his muse, then starts the chase for her and financial stability.  We know he’ll make it, we’re just not sure how.

Unfrosted – 8

Somewhere between Idiocy and genius is the Jerry Seinfeld obsession with cereal.  He was born 360 days after me and every morning we poured milk over our corn flakes.  Or Cheerios,  Or Frosted Flakes.  He has launched a total domination of all media for the last few weeks to get you to watch his movie about pop tarts, and why they threatened the cereal industry.  I’ve had quite an experience with this movie in that the first 4, yes 4 times trying to watch it, I fell dead asleep within minutes, which may have been circumstance, but is certainly strange. 

There are some incredibly funny scenes in this movie.  Your tolerance for the movie will probably be in direct proportion to your love of breakfast nostalgia.  I can see some people turning off after 30 minutes, and some giggling all the way through.  To each his own.  I woke up this morning to see it has ascended to the top spot on Netflix, certainly a testament to Jerry’s all out promotion.  Here’s the truth:  because of his relentless promotion, a gazillion people will see it on Netflix.  I can’t image one person paying at the box office to go see this movie.  It is the perfect Netflix vehicle, and it gives him the ticket to do another one in about 5 years.  Maybe about his lost socks.  For now, he will go back to stand-up having left one key question unanswered.  What ever happened to Rice Krinkles?  They were the best. 

Anna – 8

Saw this touted as a great spy thriller, and it’s not.  It’s kind of the female version of Bourne or Jackie Chan except she is even better at dispatching a large group of men patiently, patently, politely waiting to take her on one at a time when the obvious play is to shoot her from a distance.  An acceptable way to spend 2 hours if you like this kind of stuff.

Anyone But You – 8

BGG, BLG, BGGA, BLGA, finally BGGFG with two largely unlikeable characters played by two likeable new stars, Sydney Sweeney and Glen Powell.  You’ll be seeing a lot of them.  A cool, if totally implausible script which is best ignored.  Just watch the Gable and Colbert in the making.  Well, that may be an exaggeration.  

The Flash – 7

A not that bad Super Hero flop that is weighted down by at least 45 minutes of unnecessary special effects.  Give me the scissors and let me recut this movie and I’d guarantee a hit, because there is some really nice stuff here, but the movie is more bloated than me leaving a Pizza Hut.

The Greatest Hits – 6

It has been said that Lucy Boynton, who is the star of this movie, is the most beautiful woman in the world.  You will probably remember her playing Freddie Mercury’s one-time girlfriend in Bohemian Rhapsody.  Here she is torn between a lover in her past, and one in her present, and what sinks this movie like a stone is that she has zero chemistry with either.  She had way more with Freddie, and he was gay.  The premise here is that when she hears a song she gets transported through time.  Don’t we all?  Isn’t that kind of the point of great music?  Nice idea but executed about as well as a Derek Carr screen pass.

 

STREAMING/BINGING and what’s left of Network Television

Baby Reindeer -9

Ever heard of the phrase “car wreck you can’t take your eyes off of?”  Well, this is the plane crash version.  It’s the allegedly too-true story of a floundering comedian and the pleasant, then unpleasant stalker who drains his life blood.  The truth appears that neither are too stable and we get to watch as the plane goes into an unpredictable tailspin.  This is gross, graphic, and definitely not for everyone.  I could have lived without it, but once on-board, I had to know where it was going to not land.

Ripley – 8

You will never see black and white cinematography like this again.  Mostly set in Italy, I could’ve just watched it with a musical background.

Unfortunately, there’s a story to be told, or re-told, and if you’ve seen the movie, “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” you’ve seen this.  I often watch media and think would this have been better as a movie, or better as a mini-series, and this is a tough call, because I’m not a big fan of either.  In this 8-episode retelling, it is slow and so lowkey as to rival a good nap.  Or a bad nap, if there is such a thing.  I’ve read some high acclaim and some pans, and I’m not in either camp.  The actor that plays Tom Ripley here, Andrew Scott, is properly creepy in his dead pan delivery, but I just never really bought it.  On the other hand, I stayed for Dakota Fanning as Margo, as I didn’t remember the movie that well, and I was hoping she would avoid disposition by the evil Ripley.  She directs a dubious stare at Tom that any married man will recognize.  On the positive side, I loved the ending, but just not sure if it was worth the time. 

Good Behavior – Season 2 – 9

I was expecting a drop-off that never came as we settled into the second season.  See last month’s right up, but this series took a storyline turn that floored me in season one, and season two couldn't possibly match it, but they sure tried.  Worth the search.

DOCUMENTARIES

The Truth vs. Alex Jones – 10

The saddest “truth” of this movie is that those who most need to watch it will refuse to.  I’ve always been very conscious of what I consider the two tenants of human life.  I won’t give them both away, but one of them has been to always be aware of the difference between “belief” and “knowledge.”  As I’ve gained perspective with age, I have realized that I KNOW very little and that as humans we have settled on criteria for when we move something from the belief to the knowledge column, and yet it’s not universally accepted.

There are some devastating scenes in this documentary by Dan Reed.  He had incredible access to the subjects and the court room and it all illustrates that “belief” can be a costly concept.

Image this unspeakable grief of losing a child.  In this case at the hands of a gun man.  And then, the compounding of that grief be taking an incredible amount of degradation at the hands of a for-profit media star that’s found his golden goose. 

It’s unbelievable.  And yet, here we are.

 

STAND-UP

My Next Guest Needs No Introduction – 9

David Letterman just couldn’t stay away, and I’m glad.  Like Howard Stern, he has mellowed.  The outrageousness may be gone, but not the insightfulness.  His interviews, more portraits, are enjoyable.

This month he interviews John Mulaney, and Letterman is obviously a big fan of Mulaney’s work.  This one is noteworthy in that they both spend time in, and crap on, Biloxi, without bothering to ask anybody how to pronounce it.  When you live in the south you’re used to it, but as they both point out, Letterman had a talk show for 30 years and you’d think at some point he’d have to come across the correct pronunciation. 

CLASSICS

Go – 8

Director Doug Liman is a big deal these days (the current Road House), but he was largely unknown when he piloted this movie to cult classic status in 1999.  It was likened to Pulp Fiction, and I’ll give it that there’s a frantic vibe to it, but its main characteristic is that it tells the same story over and over from different characters’ perspectives.  The story is about the buying, selling, and flushing of ecstasy pills, and you can see the Liman potential, if so inclined. 

Media Captures - March 2024

 MOVIES

 Blackberry – 9

This chronicling of the development, deployment, and eventual demise of the Blackberry phone is a blast.

This was before the internet revealed EVERYTHING that was going on, so this story is all new to me. It points out that no matter how creative you are, and how innovative your product is, it’s never enough.  Someone is going to catch up, and you better keep innovating.

In this case, and it’s in Canada, the co-CEO makes so much money so fast, he quickly gets distracted by his efforts to buy an National Hockey League team.  Talk about taking your eye off the puck.  Fun movie, with great portrayals by Glen Howerton, Jay Burchel, and Matthew Johnson as the three very different dudes shoving the Blackberry into the market.

The Man From Earth – 9
The Man From Earth:  Halocene – 7

These movies have budgets so low, they practically never leave one room.  But, the story is interesting.  A college professor has resigned, much to the dismay of his contemporaries, but the reason is rather unusual.  He thinks they are going to notice that he doesn’t age.  In fact, he was once a caveman, and he’s had more than a few brushes with famous people.  Thus, it’s time for him to move on, a constant in his life.  He makes a decision he will probably regret when he chooses to spill the beans to this particular group of friends.  The questions begin, and it was pretty cool to me. 

In the sequel, a group of students at his next university become suspicious at his depth of historical knowledge and begin to figure out who he is.  The sequel isn’t as good, but they never are.

Nefarious – 8

Here’s a 2023 Amazon Prime movie that may give you the creeps.  On the day of his scheduled execution, a serial killer torments the psychiatrist sent to evaluate him and sign off on his sanity.  Hard to do when you’re dealing with a man who claims to be a demon and plays Jekyll and Hyde minute to minute.  Sean Patrick Flannery is properly over the top as the killer and his manipulation of the psychiatrist, played by Jordan Belfi is fun to watch. 

Dream Scenario – 8

I’ve never been a big fan of Nicholas Cage, even in his famous roles, but he seems suddenly perfectly for this one.  He plays Paul Matthews, a college professor who suddenly starts appearing in the dreams of people he has never met.  Now that’s an original idea.  It’s all kind of fun, until the dreams take on, shall we say permutations.  Haven’t seen this story or anything like it before, and while it’s not perfect, it’s fun to watch movies like this. 

Road House – 8

If you are looking for realism, this ain’t the place.  It's a great place to see Abs though.  Don’t know whose idea it was to remake one of those cable “over and over” movies, but Director Doug Lymon, who has done some good movies, said “why not?”

It’s exactly what you would expect in 2024.  Jake Gyllenhall cuts loose with some semi-cute one-liners, a lot of punches, and Conner McGregor, of UFC fame plays his tormentor with such wide eyed gusto he practically steals the movie.  The original Road House is far from a masterpiece, but (spoiler alert) there is a level of depth added when the legendary Wade Garrett (played by heartthrob Sam Elliott) is a victim of the bad guys.  In 2024 you can’t kill off heroes, so none of that here, and I think this should have been called Road House Florida, thereby opening the can for about 48 more movies.  Take a moment to think about what they could do in your state.  And check it out if you want some diversionary mano a mano.

Wishmaster - 8

t’s rare that I get caught up in a B movie, and the reason I watched this was only because I saw a Reels clip that was striking.  It was what I expected and pretty decent for the genre.

STREAMING/BINGING and what’s left of Network Television

Good Behavior:  Season 1 – 10

I was alerted to this series and got into it pretty slowly, as the characters certainly have their challenges. Its 10 episode first season was a TNT production that flew under the radar until it was licensed to MAX where it has gained some traction.  There is a lot of this cross licensing going on.  I wonder when The Wire will come to Disney plus.

This is the story of a con woman/thief named Letty (Michelle Dockery) out on parole, trying to maintain her good behavior.  Soon she meets an assassin-for-hire named Javier (a charismatic Juan Diego Botto) and they meander through the first six episodes, doing mostly bad things.  Interesting, but nothing special so far.  Then, boom!  Nothing prepares you for the bombshell 7th episode, The Ballad of Santini.  It centers on the Javier's reluctant Argentinean family reunion. It's about as good as TV gets and the final 3 episodes pack quite a wallop.  We'll be checking out season 2 soon, but for now I'm just going to savor this sleeper.  Don't miss it, and don't give up too soon.     

DOCUMENTARIES

Turning Point:  The Bomb and the Cold War – 10

This is a devastatingly complete history of the Cold War and the constant threat of Nuclear Armageddon.  It marches us through the leadership of the Soviet Union, the United States, and all the other pertinent nations since World War II.  I firmly believe this will be used in teaching history, and should be a must-see as it explains Putin, his objective of putting the Union back together, and how we got to this point.  If you have any interest in history, like you were prepped to get under your desk during the Cuban Missile Crisis, don’t miss this.

The Dynasty:  New England Patriots – 10

This Apple+ Series covers the 20 years of the Belichick/Brady era.  It’s pretty controversial as many Pats fans and even former players consider it a hit piece on Bill, and a Robert Kraft crafting of what happened.    I didn’t see it that way at all.  I thought it was a microcosm of how hard it is to manage people.  Yes, Belichick’s inflexibility has finally caught up with him, but his defensive teams of those years were stellar, up until the point where he benched Malcolm Butler for a Super Bowl, just 2 years after Butler saved the Super Bowl vs the Seahawks.  That was probably the turning point for Tom Brady’s loyalty to the Coach.

Here’s what I saw.  First Brady’s secret weapon was his passion. I had seen some of the footage before, but there was a lot I hadn’t seen.  You don’t play until that age without an incredible self-motivation, and it’s on showcase here.

Secondly, if this was a Kraft production, he doesn’t do a very good job.  He comes off as whiney to me, especially when the Patriots keep getting caught in their litany of transgressions.

Lastly, there’s Bill.  To me he didn’t progress with the times.  Young people of today are different and Bill didn’t change much.  But, in fairness I don’t think the accusation that he lost the locker room is accurate either.  How can you lose a room where the average player has a 4 year career?  He lost his quarterback.  Then he lost his job.  In the NFL you can’t win without a Quarterback and in some warped thinking Bill kept wanting to move on from the greatest player in NFL history.  My only quibble is that they left some things out that would’ve provided even more context.

I found it all to be fascinating.  Building a winner and keeping it going is an incredible story.

Steve! (martin) a documentary in 2 Pieces – 9

This Apple+ documentary by famed Documentarian Morgan Neville is, in the first half, a gentle recap of Steve Martin’s career.  It brought back memories of the two wildly funny concerts he did at Southern Miss that I attended.  It may have been the hardest I ever laughed.  I couldn’t catch my breath.  Steve went on to what I considered a legendary career making comedy classics like The Jerk, Roxanne, All of Me.  He has been recognized as a one of the great comedians of our time.  

The second half is less of a history lesson.  It’s more about the man and how he has mellowed, and how he remains dedicated in his late 70’s to being funny and to entertaining anyone he can, while enjoying a late marriage, and a late child, which made me hope he lives forever. 

Joan Baez:  I Am a Noise – 6

This is a rather lifeless documentary about the legendary folk singer.  She is an important musical figure to my generation, but this one had me nodding off.  Still love her and fondly remember her overpowering concert.  

STAND-UP

Steve Trevino:  Simple Man – 9

I love it when a guy I’m a fan of moves up to what must be the ultimate prize, the Neflix special.  He continues to grow and the story of he and his wife’s adventures range from amusing to hilarious.

 
PlAYS

Ain’t Too Proud to Beg – 9

This is the Broadway musical road show that I saw at the Sanger in New Orleans.  It’s the story of The Temptations and their many members.  Great music, great performances, although not quite the punch of Jersey Boys, it’s in the same vein, and for those of us who sang Motown like crazy, kind of a thrill.

Media Captures - February 2024

MOVIES

The Whale – 10

At first you will be grossed out by this movie, but as it wears on, you realize that director Darren Aronofsky and Brendan Frasier, who took home a best-acting Oscar for this, have crafted a compelling and heartbreaking portrait of a man who is essentially eating himself to death over the trauma of an ended relationship.  I saw someone say Frasier gives the greatest performance in the history of movies, and while I wouldn’t go that far, or even close to that far, I will say that he total commits to a role that is built on an emotional roller coaster.  I feel like I’m spouting off cliches here, but I don’t know how else to express my admiration. 

It’s a complete movie.  It’s hard to watch.  It’s tough to absorb.  You may not like it.  But, it will be a while before you forget it.

The Fabelmans – 9

Steven Spielberg’s thinly veiled story of his childhood is a nice little story with some interesting scenes that would rate about a 6 without the phenomenal performance of Michelle Williams as the mother.  Her complexity, and her pain as she breaks her family apart elevates this movie to rarified air.  I’m going to confess that I’ve never made it through last year’s Best Picture Oscar Winner and its accompanying Best Actress Michelle Yeoh, but now I’m pissed.  For Michelle Williams to get passed over is criminal.  This is a stunning performance, and she picks up the whole movie and carries it on her shoulders.  This is a master class in acting.

Plus One – 9

After watching a lot of disappointing romcoms this year, this one caught me by surprise.

Attending weddings with those boring speeches, watching the evening deteriorate, the predictable dance play list, it’s all here, and you just want to yell at the screen, “Yes, yes.”  So, what was the main reason I watched?  Well, it’s the lead Maya Erskine, who I saw in the pretty bad new Mr. & Mrs. Smith series.  She holds up her end of the bargain in both, and I’m not going to say we have a new rom-com Meg Ryan, but she’s expressive and winning and I like her.  You either have the gift of comedy timing or you don’t, and it looks like she’s got it.

Most importantly, I laughed a lot.  It swung towards a more serious side, but it never let go of its heart.

Time Trap – 8

Production values couldn’t be any lower, as 90% of the movie takes place in a cave in this 2017 Sci-fi.  There’s a time tunnel and it’s kind of cool the way the calendar jumps around as they go up and down in the cave.  I like time travel movies just enough to like this one.  If you like the hypotheticals of time travel, check this one out.  It’s no “Time After Time” but still a fun trip.

The Abyss – 7

First, let me say that this is one of the great trailers ever.  They cherry picked the best sequence in the movie, which is great as a preview, but not great when you’re watching the movie.  This is one of those hybrid Netflix movies that seems to have been filmed with everyone speaking their native language and the non-English speakers dubbed in.  This is very distracting to me, and I’m not sure why.  This is based in Sweden, and a town build on a mine.  Or maybe they mined under the town.  Either way, it's collapsing in a spectacular fashion.

There is a lot of family drama which telegraphs who is going to survive and who isn’t.  Other than the other pretty compelling action sequences, not much here we haven’t seen before, although I like the fact that the actors are unknown, which makes it seem real.  But in the end, it was just a nice try.
 

Maggie Moore(s) - 6

This is the story of a murder for hire that gives itself away pretty early.  There is some chemistry among the stars, Tina Fey, Jon Hamm, and Nick Mohammed (of Ted Lasso fame), as they try to figure our why two people with the same name would be murdered within a week of each other, but the movie is flat and uninteresting, and the script was so lacking of punch, I couldn’t help but wonder why, if you’ve cast Tina Fey, why wouldn’t you use her to punch up the script.  To me, Tina Fey is an American Icon, and I have no idea why she is in this movie.  Any of a million actresses could have played this role.  I watch movies for entertainment, and I was not entertained.  Not close.  I’m a big fan of Tina and this is a puzzling misstep.

You Hurt My Feelings – 5

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is the other icon that underdelivers in a flat performance in a flat movie.  She plays a female writer who overhears her husband say that he didn’t much care for her last book.  That sends her spiraling toward a divorce.  In my estimation, her husband is so uninspiring, I’m surprised it took her this long.  But fear not, the plot goes exactly where you think it’s going, and nobody was harmed in the making of this movie.  Only in the watching.

Knock at the Cabin – 7

M. Night Shyamalan is down to recapturing the magic about every 5^th movie, and I’ll have to admit he got close here, but no cigar.  This is one of those “cabin” movies where people rent a cabin and things go awry.  Here the awry is a bunch of loonies who break in with the claim that only the 3 renters can prevent the Apocalypse, by executing each other.  I don’t think I’d buy this, but maybe you would, if presented with the evidence the loonies carry, as well as their commitment to the cause. 

I’d rather stay out of cabins.  Give me Motel 6, with the light left on. 

 

STREAMING/BINGING and what’s left of Network Television

Criminal Record – 10

This is one of those British mysteries, purchase by Apple+ that are unusually complex and well done, with a logical and believable payoff.  Sure, we have a lot of hours to fill, and the story drags from time to time. but when the dominos start to fall, they do so with a clatter.  Cush Jumbo (The Good Wife/Fight) is DS June Lenker who thinks she has discovered a wrongful conviction based on a bogus confession.  The officer who pulled this off is DCI Daniel Hegarty played by Peter Capaldi, a capable and believable actor.  They punch and counter punch for 8 episodes as June pushes toward the truth.  Nicely done.

Resident Alien – 10 (so far)

The great Alan Tudyk, who is a no guts, no glory type of performer, anchors this rich and funny take on the “alien crashes on earth” theme.  After his forced landing he assumes the identity of a retired doctor, who is soon called out of retirement.  If you’re not a Tudyk fan since Firefly/Serentiy like I am, you can google his top ten performances.  It will reveal a bunch of his really good performances.  But, it’s what is not listed that is indicative of his fearlessness.  Nobody wants to talk about his cringeworthy epitaphs as a manager opposite Jackie Robinson in "42."  On any list of thankless roles this would be number one, but I can’t see many going for it like Tudyk does. 

That “let it all hang out” is evident here, but what you won’t expect is the heart.  It’s the chemistry of the whole cast as the residents of Patience, Colorado that I love here.  A bunch of the characters, especially 5 or 6 young ladies, grew up in the town.  They love and care for each other, while having a good time, and navigating their lives.  It reminds me of some of my friends from my high school class, who started 1^st grade together and still hanging around together into their 70’s.  You can’t buy that, but somehow this cast captures it.  Perfectly.  I’m only half way through the second season, but it’s the camaraderie that’s got me.  Come for the alien, stay for the affection.

Deadloch – 9 (so far)

Way better than True Detective, and in a wacky Australia kind of way, this is a murder mystery in an absurd town in Tasmania.  Most of the women are lesbian and they bounce around like pinballs as the mystery unfolds.  Believe me, it’s better than I made it sound.

My only beef with this one is that the episodes are so long, and we aren’t even halfway yet, but it’s unfolding like a classic mystery and I hope we will work our way to the end.  My score may go up or down later, but so far, I’m very impressed.

 

The Tourist – 8

After you get past one of the most ridiculous opening scenes in history, you just have to buy that the main character, played by Jamie Dornan, has lost his memory.  Was he a good guy or a bad guy?  Why are people chasing him?  This was an Australian original that Netflix bought, then ordered a second season, which I understand opens today.  Which means it was good enough for Netflix and if its good enough for them, its good enough for me.  This was the precursor to a series I loved last year from down under called Black Snow.  I’m not jumping up and down, but I’ll probably watch the 2^nd season.

True Detective – 4

Nothing has been able to top that first season of True Detective 10 years ago, and this one doesn’t come close.  Again.

There are so many problems and things I disliked about this series, which never found any connective tissue.  It was like slogging through the mud. Or the snow.  It takes place in Alaska during the long night, but nobody ever looks particularly cold, until the last episode.  I don’t get the point of a whodunit where you can’t even guess whodunit because the culprits (spoiler alert) never appear until the last show. 

The fallen icon here is Jodie Foster, whom I’ve loved since her scene stealing appearances in 1975’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and 1976’s Taxi Driver, both early Martin Scorcese works.   Now there’s two classics you should watch!  Here her spin as a promiscuous, heterosexual, police deputy is just out of the bounds of believability for me..  At least she was much better in Nyad for which she got an Oscar Nomination this year.  I just never really bought her character in this one.

For 6 long episodes, Liz Danvers (Foster) and her hesitant again-partner Evangeline Navaro (Kali Reis,) with who she has a complicated history, wander about stabbing at a couple of mysteries, the biggest one being why did a bunch of scientists walk out into the tundra and stay until they froze.  The two aren’t so much looking for clues as they are just bouncing off scenery, other characters, and themselves.  With 5 minutes to go in the next to last episode, there is a gun battle, to which I shouted, “finally, something happened.”  Up to that point I felt I was stuck in a snowmobile that wouldn’t move.  I’m a simple viewer.  Not crazy about symbolism or symbols, nor faint call backs to the first phenomenal season.  The final episode is good, not great, and they try to pay off some of the babble, but it’s too much for me.  Maybe when Fleetwood Mac sang “Over My Head” they were singing about me. 

Mr & Mrs Smith – 2 (so far, and this as far as I’m going)

It’s not the fault of Donald Glover and Maya Erskine who play the title roles, that this is such a dismal call-back to a pretty dismal movie.  The original, which appears to be when Brad Pitt and Angelina fell in love during the filming, is almost all chemistry.  They light up the screen, which was a good thing, as there wasn’t much else to like.  In real life their chemistry went south, and here, it’s just no help.  Maybe the series gets better, but I watched 2 or 3 and I’m not going to pursue the Smith’s.  If you choose to, let me know what you think.  Maybe all the good spy stories have already been written. 

The 100 – no score yet

One of those series that may or may not gain traction after being lifted from the CW to Netflix.  The premise is interesting.  It’s about 100 kids who are airlifted back to a dead earth many years after earth was ravaged.  Will they survive?  Not sure.  Will they dwindle in number?  Very Likely.  I’ve watched 4 and been impressed, but it could take me months to get through 7 years of episodes.  I’ll let you know, but so far the production values are the pleasant surprise.

DOCUMENTARIES

When Cary Grant Introduced Timothy Leary to LSD – 7

This is the strangest of creatures, about a 20 minute docudrama based on the rumor that Grant was an avid experimenter with LSD and he was sought out by Timothy Leary, who tried it, loved it, and told us to turn on, tune in, etc…  Mildly interesting, and not very credible, but what do I know?

STAND-UP

Mike Birbiglia: The Old Man & the Pool – 8

Mike Birbiglia is so low key as a stand up comedian that I couldn’t help but think, “I could do this.”  Except of course, I’m not funny.  Mike is, as a gentle story teller in one of those well crafted Netflix comedy specials, that brings you around to where it started. 

CLASSICS

The Terminal – 8

I didn’t think it was possible for a Steven Speilberg effort to fly under my radar, but this 2004 one did, and it stars Tom Hanks no less.  What was I doing?  Oh yea, the restaurant years.  My only entertainment those years was 6 am episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  But, I digress, and I have to admit Speilberg and Hanks (and Catherine Zeta-Jones) won me over, by conveying that compassion that they’ve made their hallmark. 

Hanks plays Viktor Navorsky, from a fictional Russianesque country that goes into a civil war, and when he flies into a US airport, the US won’t let him in, so he takes up residence at JFK.  It’s based, mildly, on the true story of an Iranian refugee who lived 18 years in an airport.  Speilberg is sharp enough to truncate the story, wise enough to cast Hanks, and smart enough to let Hanks’ accent diminish rather quickly.  Nice movie.

From Dusk to Dawn – 8

I’d never seen this Robert Rodriguez cult classic starring George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino, who also wrote it.  For example, I never knew Q acted this much.  As frenetically as he directs I might add.  The two leads play brother bank robbers on the run who end up in a famous truck stop/strip club which is also a haven for, Vampires.  It’s rather entertaining, but not enough for me to go to the television series that was later made from it.  It apparently starred Eliza Gonzales, who is a knockout and appears in the opening scene of Mr & Mrs. Smith, I guess as the Angelina Jolie character.  Charisma alert for the month, if nothing else.

Klute – 9

Jane Fonda won her first Oscar in 1971 right about the time she was the least popular person in America for going over to Viet Nam and saying something stupid.   She won her second Oscar in 1978 for “Coming Home” along with Jon Voight (the father of Angelina Jolie – I swear I’m not doing this on purpose,) about, you guessed it, the Viet Nam war.  If I had one wish it would be to put Fonda and Voight in a room together today, let’s say on Bill Maher, and hear them go at it.  Or maybe do the Jane Fonda Workout.  All this is beside the point.  Klute is an excellent, but dated movie and Fonda shows those Fonda acting chops as the hooker who knows somebody, or something like that.  It’s great to see Donald Southerland, who is excellent, investigating and falling in love with Jane.  Glad I finally ticked this one off.

In the Mood for Love – 5

Been reading about this “classic” for 20 years and it put me in the mood for sleep.  It’s about two neighbors who finally figure out their spouses are having an affair and are kind of smitten with each other, and trying to figure out what to do with that attraction.  Today, that wouldn’t be an issue, but I guess in 2001 it was different.  This is a Chinese and French effort, dubbed and while the color pallet is interesting, not much else is.  Sometimes the word “classic” is bandied about a little too loosely.  They should consult me first.

Blow Up - 7

Michaelangelo Antonini’s first English speaking film was this 1966 thriller about a London photographer who may or may not have filmed a murder.  At least this one held my attention even though it seems to take forever to get to whatever its point is.  This is one I’d encourage you to watch, as the artistry and story are at least interesting.  It might catch your fancy, even if it missed mine.