Media Captures - July 2022

Nope - 6

Ventured out to see Jordan Peele’s latest.  It’s about UFO’s.  And it self-propelled itself right over my head.

There are brilliant sequences in the movie.  There are some incomprehensible ones.  There’s a lot of explaining of the symbolism in the movie floating around the internet, and I guess I may change my mind about the movie after I read it all.
But I shouldn’t have to.
The good:  The sound in this movie may have been the best I’ve ever heard in a movie.  It envelopes the theater in a way I’ve never experienced. 
The bad:  Almost everything else.  Daniel Kaluaha, whom I normally think is great, moves like a tortoise throughout the movie, slowing it to a crawl.  The other characters were irritating at worst, and uninteresting at best.  I didn’t buy any of the characters.

There’s an interesting back story to the family who trains and provides animals for the movies, and I actually think that would have been an interesting non-sci-fi plot. 

I’m not going to give up on Jordan Peele (not that he would care) but I fear he is on an M.Night trajectory.  The good news for Peele fans is that I’m probably the only person on the planet that feels that way, but I was really disappointed.

STREAMING

Better Call Saul – 10

Hook, line, and sinker I fell for this prequel to Breaking Bad.  It’s not as ground-breaking or as shocking as BB, but it’s more enjoyable.  Bob Odenkirk as Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman is riveting as the con man turned lawyer, but it is Rhee Seehorn as Kim Wexler who breaks bad and steals the series.  Seehorn, who finally just got an Emmy nomination, does a slow steady burn from straight law-lover to a bend-the-rules attorney, and it’s unlike anything I’ve seen in a long time.  I remember when Jodie Comer stunned me in Killing Eve.  I got that same feeling, but more slowly as Seehorn took over the show. 

There’s so much entertainment in this show, from the cons to the law, it will keep you guessing.  Just a great show.  By watching Netflix I’ve caught up to the present, and there are two episodes left. 
I’m on the edge of my recliner.

 

The Old Man – 7

Far-fetched in its premise, that a 72 year old man who has been “out of the game” for 30 years still has those killer CIA skills, there’s not as much action as you would think.  To make matters worse, Jeff Bridges seems to play older than his actual 72.  Along comes Amy Brenneman, 58 in real life, and she’s attracted to him.  For some reason.

There are a few nice twists over the course of the 7 episodes, and John Lithgow and Bridges are terrific as usual.  Here’s what’s totally unique to me:  The flashbacks of Bridges as a young operative, played by John Heck, are more interesting than the main story.  I usually hate flashbacks.  Here, they were far more interesting than the present.  And the ending is such that there’s no doubt there will be a season two.  It wasn’t great, but I’ll probably watch, and wish my 69 year old body was as nimble as Bridges.  I guess I could use some movie magic.

Black Bird - 10

The writer Dennis Lehane first caught my attention as the writer of Gone, Baby, Gone.  Here he’s adapted a pulse-pounding true story.  He may be the best crime writer out there today.  And Paul Walter Hauser may be the best actor on the planet.  Hauser plays a schlub.  Nobody plays a schlub better than he does.  I first saw him in I Tonya, and he played Richard Jewell, and he is as anti-movie star as you can get.  The schlub is Larry, who may or may not be a serial killer. 

Jimmy, an equally spectacular Taron Edgerton, is the fellow con who has been recruited to try to get some info out of Larry as to where he may have buried the bodies.  The clock is ticking in that Larry has an appeal pending and the other inmates are suspicious of Jimmy.  Five of the Six episodes have aired.  This is some disturbing subject matter involving the disappearance of over a dozen young girls.  Enter these prison walls with caution.

The Bear – 9

Eight episodes of restaurant chaos that brought back memories of my 5-year adventure in restaurant ownership.  This is probably the most realistic depiction of a restaurant kitchen you’ll ever see.  Jeremy Allen White (of Shameless) is the James Beard award-winning chef from The French Laundry (on my bucket list) who has come home to Chicago to take over his brother’s hole in the wall restaurant that was left to him when his brother died.  He has to improve the food and change the culture, neither of which is as easy as it sounds.  It’s a good story, and the ending, although far-fetched, really makes me look forward to season two.

Mind over Murder – 9

There’s a rape and murder in the small town of Beatrice, Nebraska.
A private investigator solves the crime and gets 6 suspects to confess.
They are convicted and go to jail.
Years later DNA clears them all.
How can this happen?  Well, this HBO documentary delves into this incredible story, and when I say incredible, that’s what I mean.
No reason for me to spoil it, because this may be the strangest thing I’ve ever seen.
Six suspects confess and five recant.  What the hell?

Dark Wind – 10,9,8,7,6,2

AMC’s heist and murder mystery takes place on an Indian Reservation, where the police chief has many puzzles to solve.  This series started out as enthralling, and fell flatter than a pancake in the final episode.  They say it will be back for season two.  I won’t be.

Street Food: USA - Incomplete

A nice Netflix documentary accompaniment to The Bear.  I’ve only watched the New Orleans and New York episodes so far, and they could be a little more emphasis on the food and less on the people, but it’s still pretty good.

After Life – Season 3 – 9

Ricky Gervais, never shies away from stretching the envelope and he concludes his three-season examination of grief with what I thought was a perfect tone.  It’s crude and funny, but mostly it’s heart wrenching as Gervais flounders through life without his late wife.  He won’t even cash the life insurance check because he doesn’t feel good about profiting from the death of his beloved. He struggles, really struggles to put his grief behind him.

This is not easy viewing, but it’s worthwhile.
 

The Tinder Swindler – 9

This is supposedly Netflix’s most watched documentary ever, and it’s not hard to see why.  An Israeli man spends money prolifically to romance women.  Then when he’s got them on the hook, starts to ask them for money.  Why?  To fund dating the next mark and his extravagant lifestyle. Several women come forward to tell the story of how they got charmed and swindled and are still trying to pay it back.  It’s compelling, but I kept asking “how could you fall for this?”

Toscana – 4

A silly, not remotely believable, romance movie set in Italy.  Worse than the Hallmark channel, and a bad ending to boot.

Laurel Canyon – 8

Right before I cancelled Epix on Directv (my bill is coming down), I watched this documentary about the music makers near LA in the 60’s.  Nostalgic and moving, it made me miss the great music that emerged from the likes of Jackson Browne, the Mamas and Papas, and CSN&Y just to name a few.  Great trip down memory lane.

Blue Bayou – 8

Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander somehow picked this story to bring to life.  She is married to a Korean immigrant who came to this country at 3, was adopted, and now, with a young daughter and another child on the way is arrested and could be deported.  The drama and the heart string pulling is just what you would expect, plus I never miss a New Orleans movie.

Justin Cho wrote, directed, and stars as Antonio LeBlanc the Korean-American who is trying to make his way with his family in Louisiana and he doesn’t provide any easy answers, just a glimpse into what can happen.

 

The Last Movie Stars – 9

Ethan Hawke takes the director’s chair for this HBO Max deep, very deep dive into the career and marriage of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.  Event by event, movie by movie no stone is left unturned in their relationship and their family life.  This documentary was made during covid so Hawke had to get the participants to testify and reenact by zoom, and it takes awhile to get used to that.  The production values of those interviews can be off-putting, but it ends up being enthralling.  For a movie buff, it couldn’t be better.  When I saw that his was 6 episodes I never thought it would hold my interest that long, but it did.

And the answer to your question is “Cool Hand Luke.”

 

CLASSICS

Red River – 10

One of those Howard Hawks directed John Wayne westerns that will stick to your ribs if you let it.  John Wayne plays Thomas Dunson whose cattle ranch is on the ropes after the Civil War, so he undertakes a massive cattle drive with his protégé Matt Garth (Montgomery Clift) to Missouri to get the best price for his herd.  The drive doesn’t go well, and the hands get restless.  Soon, Garth and Dunson are at each other’s throat.  Will the drive fall apart?  Who will win the battle of wills? 

The more I see of these old westerns, the more I like them, and this one’s a good one.