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.