Reviews

Before the widespread use of the internet, there was something called 1-900 or 1-800 connections on the telephone for "services". In the 1990's, in the multitude of late-night infomercials was the Psychic Readers Network, a group of people hired to read Tarot cards in a system that charged in the neighborhood of $5/minute. The biggest name of this group of people was Miss Cleo. I really don't know if you are not aware of who this person was that you would be interested in this documentary, but it is interesting anyway for a handful of reasons. People from Seattle were perplexed to see this woman who claimed to be a Jamaican voodoo priestess since she seemed so familiar to them. Her life in Seattle is a good basis as to how to take this person as you see this story unfold. The irony of this is that she was used by the PRN to make millions for them while some poor souls poured their hearts out to her and others in a desperate need to find answers to their problems. The Florida people who owned PRN used her identity (?) to make their money while paying her and others very little. The ending of this movie really confused me as she bravely fought her own confusions and angst to find a happy resolution to the rest of her life. The problem was for me. . .what self image was being addressed? I found the whole thing to be ironically confusing, yet I could not stop watching this.

I became a big Keri Russell fan after watching her work in ABC's The Americans; so, when I heard she had a series coming on Netflix, I could not wait until the end of the school year so that I could start watching this. I was not disappointed. I also read an article before watching this about some actual diplomats who were asked to comment about the show, and they said there were some similarities in what they did, but not a whole lot. I don't care. This is one of the smartest series I have ever seen. She plays Kate Wyler, the American (or is she Russian, hmmmm--j/k) ambassador to the UK, after being yanked from a previous position that she preferred and more fitted for. She is married to Hal (Rufus Sewell), an impressively knowledgeable veteran in foreign affairs, who likes to work behind the scenes in trying to fix tense situations. The problem is Kate is not always appreciative of his efforts to the point where she feels the marriage cannot survive his shenanigans, despite his complete devotion to the marriage. Their physical attraction to each other does not help in deciding the fate of their relationship. The main crux of this season is that a British ship gets blown up, causing the PM to come to the conclusion that the Russians were behind it. Kate is not so sure and goes to work with her aides to find out what she can. The cast is fantastic. The writing is crisp. The ensemble work is near perfect. The situations are fun. The people playing reactionary (I wonder how they came up with this approach) Prime Minister Nicol Trowbridge (Rory Kinnear) and the ancient yet wily tactician (I wonder how they came up with this approach) American President William Rayburn (Michael McKean) are also pretty much perfect. I look forward to the next season, but I fear that it won't live up the standards set by this first season.

Jimmy (Jason Segel), a psychologist lost his wife, leaving him with a teenage daughter, but he is so distraught that he is nonresponsive to her needs. His boss, Paul (Harrison Ford), has issues of his own from a health point of view by staring into the face of old age, while his cohort Gaby (SNL's Jessica Williams) is a sharp, effervescent shrink with no holds barred and tends to take up the slack that Jimmy had been incapable of with his daughter. This is not exactly the greatest scenario for a knee-slapping comedy. It is a comedy, only because the writing allows the cynicism of the characters to flourish. The show does have a good sense of humanity, however. Growth is eventual in this heartwarming show, and it can be pretty comforting in its observations. The cast is really good together and gets better as the characters and situations start to define themselves. The only issue I had with this series is that they tried to stick with a 30-minute time limit with each episode, which made a lot of the resolutions to be rushed and nonviable; so, I thought that some extra writing should have been allowed for the aroma of the wine--er, I mean plot--to have a fuller body.

This 4-part limited series follows the lives of members of a church in the town of Wylie, Texas--particularly 2 of them: Candy Montgomery (Elizabeth Olsen) and Allan Gore (Jesse Plemeons). Candy is married to a "boring" techy guy named Pat, while Allan is married to Betty, who suffers from deep depressions. An affair is initiated by Candy, who insists that the affair must end if they start to get too attached or if suspicions arise. Alan was uncertain this was a good idea but relented. Candy's best friend, Sherry Cleckler, warned her of the consequences but supported her anyway. And away they went, leading to a series of unfortunate events involving the police, a Houston psychiatrist using hypnosis, a first-time trial lawyer, and one of the best courtroom scenes in a series that I have seen. While Candy was irritating and Allan was impossibly resilient to making sense sometimes, the actors were, as one would expect, perfect in their roles. The first two episodes set up the drama as the last two paid off really well. Watch the interesting "where-are-they-now" messages before the credits. It confirmed much of what I expected. After it is done, just say "Shhhhh".

A couple of Korean men run a black-market adoption system by taking abandoned children and finding couples who want to adopt them. Of course, this is illegal in South Korea, but this seems to be a fairly lucrative profession for some. They set up a system in which a baby box in a church designed to help desperate mothers to leave their babies there so that an orphanage will take care of them is monitored by them so that they can get the kids first for selling them. They notice a young woman dropping off a baby, leaving a note behind, saying that she will be back. They take the baby and dismiss the note since most mothers make the returning claim only to never show up. Unfortunately for them, the mother does return and demands to make sure the baby gets a good, loving home. She goes with them on their trek to find such parents, creating a kind of road movie. Unfortunately for all involved, the police are trailing them for reasons that are explained as the film progresses. I know little about the rules, laws, and personal preferences of the Koreans about unwed mothers, babies, and social structure in supporting orphanages; so, I don't know if the orphanages are as horrific as described in Occidental literature; however, problems sure seem to be an issue with them in Korea. This was an interesting film with a strong ensemble making this quite believable. Evidently, the director of this film (Kore-eda Hirokazu) is the same director in Shoplifters, which I really enjoyed. I strongly recommend this film.

Road rage causes a series of devastating results that leaves the lives of the two combatants in ruins. This series about a pair of strangers (Steven Yeun and Ali Wong) who become enraged with each other in a traffic kerfuffle that was of no initial consequence with the exception of how they reacted digs into the souls of them. It is, technically, a comedy, I think (probably because Ms. Wong is an incredibly funny comedian who had never acted before), but the discomfort that the viewer experiences as the combatants become more and more vengeful is tantamount as to how long one is willing to stay with this. What really gets exposed is the failures each one has in their lives. Talk about a car wreck! I enjoyed it because I trusted the writers in having a point to this. The last episode really paid off, but what a ride it was. Just be prepared for the extreme tension and bad decisions that were continuous.

What a transformation this show took! The first 3 seasons about a veteran of the Afghanistan War (played by SNL alum, Bill Hader) comes home to become a hitman made this a solid comedy. During a reconnaissance for a potential hit, he realizes that his future victim is going to an actor's school, led by Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler). He decides that in order to be able to get at this guy more easily, he needs to blend in with the class. The problem is, of course, that he is far from in touch with his feelings and is an abominable actor. As to show progresses, he finds he really likes it, much to the chagrin of his director of his hits, played by Stephen Root. (I love this guy. My two favorite roles of his are the red-stapler guy in Office Space and the bank teller in The Ballad of Buster Scruggs.) As the series progresses, we get introduced to the Chechen mob and its "leader", the very polite (NoHo Hank) and his seeming incompetence. In the first 3 seasons, there are so many gems, particularly when Barry tries to blow up a house using an app. Then, the fourth season occurs. At this point, it is not much of a comedy but becomes an existential examination as to what life is really about and how to deal with it along with the past staring him in the face. This may sound boring, but it is not. In fact, there is one scene in the last episode of the series, titled Wow, that is pretty amazing. The last episode is a tip of the cap to the concept of an ugly main character who finally figures it out, but. . .There was one really irritating character in it, who was dealt with in a way that makes people cringe when she displays her narcissism in such a stark manner. The violence in this series was disturbing, which keeps me from giving this a 10 out of 10. Some people will love it, others may have their reservation.

I was raised on watching tons of Westers--movies and TV shows. As I watch in horror all of the shootings in schools, theaters, churches, and more, I have become hesitant in dabbing my toes into the violence waters that people take for not only good entertainment but also for a begrudging way of life in our society. Still, when I look at them as an art form, I do look for redeemable material that has teeth and a message instead of meaningless us-versus-them hatred fests. There was a list of the top 10 Westerns that are overlooked that I watched, and this film popped up; so, I went to Peacock to watch this. Generally, almost anything with Gregory Peck has a good payoff. Add that to the comment I heard was that it was a Western film noir, and that did it for me. Jimmy Rango (Peck) is a gunslinger who is tired of all the "squirts" that look at him and think he's not a formidable foe; so, they pick a fight with him in order to be the one who kills him. Sure enough, in the opening scene, a punk pulls this stunt and gets himself shot. Immediately, the town is abuzz, including the sheriff, who knows Ringo, and the three brothers of the punk, who want vengeance. This is traditional stuff, but this is not a traditional Western. What we get is a series of relationships that appear that add depth to the Ringo character, as he goes on to the next town to escape the wrath of the bros. The script is rich with great characters, fascinating conversations, and side plots, or should I say, sprouting plots from the existence of Ringo. The script was nominated in the 1950 Oscars and rightly so.

A movie about the shoe industry--really? Yeah, and it's a pretty interesting film. Matt Damon plays Sonny Vaccaro, a basketball talent scout with no seeming direction in his life gets tasked by Nike to find a spokesman for the Nike shoe line. The problem is that at the time Converse, Puma, and Adidas are really big in the industry in comparison to Nike. I remember during my coaching times in Georgia in the mid to late 1970's that they started going after the high-school market with their suede low-cut shoes that we got from them. The kids loved them, and I felt at the time that they had designed the most comfortable shoes I had ever seen up to that moment. Unfortunately, the budget that Nike used to try to get a spokesman was woefully too small to attract a big name. The film does a great job watching Vaccaro doing his analysis of what incredible potential Michael Jordan had as a pro by watching his performances as a Tarheel of UNC. I know this does not sound like a great idea for a film, but the drama of Vaccaro's certainty of what he say counterbalanced by the unlikelihood that CEO Phil Knight (Ben Affleck) was going to go all-in on Jordan and Jordan's family, particularly his mother Deloris (the incredible Viola Davis) and their reservations about committing to a fairly new company makes for an intense set of circumstances. Anybody who follows sports will not consider these comments as spoilers since Nike is the juggernaut it is because of Jordan, but one can not help get caught up in all of the tensions created by going out on a limb for a relative unknown--from Nike's position and Jordan's family's position. I really enjoyed this film.

This documentary about Nan Goldin and her battles throughout her life--personally and professionally--is many pronged with New York as the background. She was part of the art movement in the 1980's when AIDS started to invade that scene unabated since the administration of the time felt it was only a gay disease and would not be addressed. Her anger could have been surmised as the beginning there, but then we got a glimpse of her life growing up with the poor treatment her sister got by her parents. Things progressed from there. Her activism developed in the 1980's and continued into the age of Purdue Pharmacy's creation and rampant spread of oxycodone. The documentary may seem to be a bit of a hodgepodge of memories, but when you understand that her anger was developing almost from the moment she was born, you can understand how heartfelt her concern was for those who died around her. This was nominated as Best Feature Documentary for the Oscars It is an uncomfortable yet quite informative watch.

A father and daughter go to a distant moon with small hopes of leaving it to find a treasure in its woods that will make them wealthy beyond belief. Suffice it to say that they are not the only ones with such aspirations. This is a more traditional form of science fiction than what I have viewed recently. I have always thought of many science fiction films as dressed up versions of good guys versus bad guys, which tend to bore me with their usually familiar processes. This, unfortunately, was kind of in this vein, but it did have some good moments, particularly when one of the bad guys turn out to be Pedro Pascal. I know, shocking to see him in a science-fiction film. The twist that held my interest was not his presence, but instead, it was the fact that the daughter was beginning to see what her father was really all about. The evolvement of the daughter (Sophie Thatcher, who is one of the soccer players in my guilty pleasure known as Yellowjackets) is the highlight of this film.

I am a big Ethan Hawke fan. I could go on and on about his films and how I enjoy his work (the "Before" trilogy, Boyhood, First Reformed, as examples); so, imagine my surprise when this was recommended to me that this film even existed. He plays a Temporal Agent, basically a time-travelling policeman, who is trying to reel in a terrorist who reeks havoc in various places and times while escaping from him constantly. The terrorist, known as the Fizzle Bomber, is played by Sarah Snook, an Australian actress in Succession, 0f whom I know little. This is one of those films that you either watch very, very closely or that you watch twice to find what you missed after seeing the ending. This is another of those underappreciated science fiction films that was probably ignored because of the massive amount of details that you need to follow to figure out the ending. If you like puzzles, you will really like this film.

A woman wakes up to see her strapped up and electronically connected to a pod. She has no idea how she got there. The only communication she has is with the AI system in this pod. While she struggles with her memory, her situation is not helped by the AI as it constantly reminds her that the oxygen level keeps decreasing while it frustratingly denies her access to its memory files and any actions she wants to get information. This French film unwinds slowly to reveal what is actually happening. This was recommended to me as an under-rated science fiction film. That was a correct assessment. I had never heard of this film, but it was really well done. I watched the dubbed version, which I rarely do, but it also was worth it. If you want to be transported to an unknown mystery, trying to figure out what the heck is going on, then this will be a fun 100-minute ride.

These two actors showed off their stuff in this interesting film that addresses many issues: the nursing shortage, the lack of support for the nurses who are overworked, the corporating of hospitals that causes rules that do not protect patients, and more. Jessica Chastain, who I believe has evolved into one of this generations greatest actors, plays Amy Loughren, one of the overworked nurses who has a severe medical issue that she can not adequately deal with since she also has kids. When her hospital loses a fellow nurse on her floor, they struggle to find a replacement, causing her to be even more overworked. Enter new hire, Charlie Cullen, a new hire, who quickly develops a strong professional relationship with her. This allows her to address her issues more than before. The only problem is that patients start dying at a faster rate than before his hire. This is based upon real events. Redmayne's performance, while I have not particularly cared for his previous performances, was really good and chilling.

This most aptly named movie is about the women of a religious cult/commune who are brutally attacked by the men residents of their group who have a meeting about what to do before the men get bailed out to return. Ben Whishaw plays the failed farmer/university grad/boys' teacher (since girls are not allowed to be educated) who is asked by the women to take the minutes of the meeting. Suffice it to say, the strength of the movie is the ensemble representing the women (Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley, Claire Foy, Frances McDormand--who was also an executive producer along with Brad Pitt and more--as well as many more actresses who were more than up to the task of delivering this thoughtful and powerful allegory to so many subjects. While there is no action shown, much to the power of the validity of not using violence to underscore the themes, this is powerful stuff. The hashing out of decisions to be made takes predictable and, at the same time, unpredictable turns that made me accept this film as a great presentation of many of the issues that we are experiencing in a less confined setting. The anger, the confusion, the scariness of the potential and of the unknown, the lashing out, the resignation, and much, much more makes this so relatable, even to a male like me. The teacher character was perfectly performed and presented as the only adult male presence that attempted to make him understand his place in this consternation of emotions. One part of the film that unexpectedly changed the tone of the film was a child who had a cherry stuck in his nose. That was fascinating.

Andrea Riseborough had been in the entertainment news when the Oscar nominations were announced, and she surprisingly was in the Best Lead Actress category because of a social-media blitz done by her associates that seemed to work. People were outraged, but I was intrigued, wondering why people would fall for this if the film was not known and, more importantly, not very good. After watching this independent film (which I feel is the reason why some people expressed outrage about her nomination), I feel it was a good performance. Do I think she was better than the phenomenal Viola Davis or Danielle Deadwyler (lead actress of Till, which I have not seen yet but this is another name brought up in the outrage)? Her performance is not to the level of Davis, but then that is a height that few actresses can attain. Still, this film about a blue-collar Texas mother who wins $60,000 in a lottery. Six years later, she is broke after antagonizing everybody she knows to the point where she has to take a job as a motel maid just to have a room to live in. This film does not rely on her performance only, as the supporting cast is superior: Mark Maron as the co-owner of the motel, Allison Janney as her sister, Nancy, and my favorite in this film, Stephen "Red Stapler" Root as Nancy's Biker Dude hubby/boyfriend. This is definitely worth watching when it goes free on a streaming service.

This nomination for Best Animated Feature Oscar is a Netflix entry with really good artwork. A kingdom is out to destroy as many sea beasts as possible so that their ability to travel the seas is unencumbered. A famous captain runs a ship that specializes in killing these creatures. No cartoon is complete without a kid being involved, and this is no exception. She is a castaway on the ship who brings the humanity to the situation. She sees the creature in a light of a child who understands the emotions of all creatures, which is missed by the adults. I have seen 3 of the 5 nominees in this category, and I understand why it was nominated. It does have a depth at times that traditional animated features don't have, but I don't feel this is the best in this category. Still the visuals are very good.

This nominee for Best International Film Oscar is a look at how humanity treats animals by using the perspective of the animal. In this case, Eo is both a work and a star donkey of a bankrupt touring circus that gets shut down. His true love is his co-star in his part of the show, Kassandra. When the authorities shut down the financially-strained circus, he is part of the confiscation, causing him to be torn away from Kassandra, upsetting him greatly. He escapes to go on a trek to find her. The movie focuses on him and his travails. I thought the perspective was refreshing, but it comes with a caveat that one experiences as the film progresses. I could not help getting caught up in the emotionalism that this displayed. I saw this a week ago and can not get it out of my head.

This is the movie that Wakanda Forever should have been. This is a really good movie with good acting beyond the marquis performer (Viola Davis). The young actor who played her protégé (Thuso Mbedu) perfomed circles around the entire supporting cast of WF (not to be confused with WTF, although that would be understandable). Based upon true events, this is the story of a general (Davis) who led a group of women against a rival tribe whose ruler she has a history with. The action scenes are not cartoonish but genuinely well choreographed and exciting for its ilk. I know Davis got robbed from an Academy Award nomination this year, but this was one more reason for many of us to believe she is one of the five best actresses still working today.

(No, that is not a picture of me.) When I was a senior in high school and was working a couple of jobs, I started my now-voluminous record collection. The first two albums I bought at Glendale Mall in Indianapolis were Abbey Road by the Beatles and Crosby, Stills & Nash's first album, both albums that I listen still listen to. I have read two books about CS&N and CSN&Young, finding that the four of them were narcissists, with Crosby definitely leading the way of their bad behavior. Still, I have learned to separate the art from the artist and have loved his music. His co-writing of Southern Cross is one of the most emotional songs to me. I saw CS&N preform the song in Moline, and it gave me chills and still does just thinking about it. This documentary acknowledges both parts of his humanity: his genius as a musician and his accepting responsibility to the pain he caused to the women and co-performers he was involved with. I know there is a lot of pain still out there about him, and I hope his death has allayed some of that pain. He even acknowledged there is no rational way to explain his 8o-plus-year life span. Still, from a fan point of view, I am deeply grateful for the music he produced. I still believe most of the album accurately name "If Only I Could Remember My Name" is in my top ten of albums I own.

This is a nominee for Best Documentary Feature for the Oscars. It is about three brothers who, being urged on by their mother, to look after injured rakes (predatory birds similar to falcons) that are incredibly important to the ecological health of Delhi, India. Delhi is an incredibly large city with exactly one official landfill, which the birds inhabit, allowing the waste from being any larger a pile than it could be without them. They go around the city to pick up these birds. They were originally body builders who learned how to attend to the birds from what they learned from the magazines about body building. The neighbors appreciate their efforts, but the brothers struggle with getting funding for expanding their "hospital" from being into their basement to putting a hospital on top of their house. This is a fascinating look at their admirable efforts, all the while Delhi has become a hotbed of violence with three religions basically at war with each other.

The world of entertainment was mildly shocked by the inclusion of this film on the list of nominees of Best Film Oscar. This is a tricky film to explain without spoiling too much; so, forgive my vagueness that may crop up in this review. The film is basically a wealthy versus the rest of society type of film, but that description does not even come close to justifying how well done this is. The main part of the movie takes place on a yacht that echoed some of the themes seen on Below Deck, where the differences of the two classes are distinct. A storm comes along, creating a minimum of five minutes of interesting moments that may remind some of a number of Caribbean ship vacations that were in the newspapers. At that point, the movie goes from the humorous (my wife, Kathy, was laughing loudly through these scenes--ironically after earlier not wanting to see this film because she was tired of so much sadness in the majority of critic favorites this year) to a great sociological hypothesis, similar to what was proposed by Lord of the Flies. I was fascinated and intrigued by this.