Longest Third Date: This new Netflix documentary tells a feel-good, positive story about one New York based young couple, Khani Le and Matt Robertson and their early relationship. They met on the dating App Hinge, and while in NY had two pretty successful dates. For those not dating these days that means that they enjoyed themselves enough to decide to go on another date. That is really a success! Khani is 29yo and Matt is 31yo.
All this is taking place early in 2020. Matt suggests to Khani that prices for flights are quite cheap, and if she is up for it, then they could head to somewhere warm for a long weekend. He was suggesting Costa Rica. To both of their credits, they were adventurous enough to take the leap of faith, despite some protests from family and friends. In March 2020, NYC was just on the verge of shutting down as they boarded their mostly empty flight. The date because of various COVID delays lasts 79 days.
Matt early on had an affinity for his phone and filming virtually everything. Khani was a little hesitant about that, but in hindsight, without him doing that, this show never would have appeared. It was because he had taped the early dates and days and the time in Costa Rica as things unfolded that there was enough content for this film. Imagine as you head onto this adventure that a few days in, your flights get cancelled. NYC gets put into lock down and everyone is working from home. Matt and Khani had the foresight to bring their laptops to be able to do exactly that. They show the awkward first night where they need to share a bed with a stranger. What I liked about this, especially with Matt’s behaviour is that as he feels a lull in the action, he takes action to find something new and different to do. He makes the best of a challenging situation. He arranges for a memorable day away from their resort which shows creativity and attention to detail. Then more delays occur and they are forced to move out of their resort. They find another place to live. A vacation then becomes a living arrangement, very different from a resort life. Once again they are able to explore, seeing different parts of the country and get outside. Their story is posted online and then picked up by NY newspapers. They become celebrities overnight.
This is a fun story. As a guy who has been in the dating world for quite some time, I feel someone vindicated that I am not the only one who takes trips early with a new dating partner. To me, you learn a lot about a person when spending more time with them than just a couple hour date. You knew enough about them to invite the longer time together, and it’s more than just a dinner or a movie. It can be sightseeing, a show, a game or walks through museums or being on a beach. In any event, they see you and you better understand them. This movie was a story of a time with a lot of uncertainty and misery for everyone around the globe, but for this couple it is a memorable beginning.
Chris Rock: Selective Outrage: I am a big fan of live stand up comedy. I have been to Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal, I have seen George Carlin back in the day, more recently I have enjoyed Jim Jeffries as he taped his latest Netflix special from Toronto, Matt Braunger in Detroit and Daniel Tosh in Vegas back in November . I have tickets upcoming to see Jimmy Carr. Other comedians that I really enjoy would be Tom Segura, as well as his wife Chrstina P who both have specials on Netflix worth checking out. All that to say that I am up for a good laugh.
Chris Rock, the ex-SNL star, put this hour-long performance on Netflix. I went in with an open mind, and I have to say that this was pretty much a Meh for me. I think I cracked a smile a couple of times. The biggest selling feature for this special is Rock addressing “The Slap” at the Oscars with Will Smith as the aggressor, after Rock talked about Smith’s wife’s Jada’s challenge with her hair. That aspect of the set was fine, but I certainly didn’t laugh. Would I recommend this? No. Those stand up performers listed above all entertain me more than this did. If you can’t find them on Netflix, try finding them on YouTube. I love the fact that there is so much comedy available on various services these days since we all can use some laughs.
Jurassic World Dominion: Hard to believe that the original Steven Spielberg classic film was released in 1993. Thirty years ago when Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant are invited to be expert witnesses for a new amusement park from dreamer John Hammond. Of course the amusement park fails spectacularly due mostly to human foibles, but primarily because of the human arogance that genetic engineering can be controlled. Fast forward to the present and the sixth (yes SIXTH) installment of this franchise is released. I think I was even more surprised to see that Steven Speilberg has put his name to this one as Executive Producer. Why he would want to associate himself with this jumbled mess is beyond me.
So what is possibly new and different to bring you back to this rehashing of the older tale, while combining the characters from the first and then the most recent group. So that means bringing together Ellie Sattler and Alan Grant looking much older with the more recent Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) and Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard). All together they live in a new world where dinsaurs of all shapes and sizes are free, living among humans and animals alike.
All the dialog around kumbaya and everyone “just getting along” doesn’t make a whole lot of sense when you know that dinosaurs would have little problem making the current animals on the planet extinct. How is there possibly enough animals of any variety to feed all the large predators? There is further talk about redemption for the original confident scientist making the dinosaurs, as he tries to deal with humans who have mutated prehistoric locusts for their own gain. Blah, blah, blah. So many incredulous things take place that it all becomes more or the same. Nothing new to see here. So in short, having known that this wasn’t going to have anything new, I still watched for completeness. I didn’t need to. In the end, everything is tied up in a bow with the characters making nice and happily ever after. This would be a hard no.
Love is Blind Season 4: I guess the more newsworthy aspect of this show was that Netflix when trying to stream a LIVE Reunion utterly failed with it starting almost an hour late. Not exactly major network type of reliability or timeliness. The producers had brought together the couples who had made their decisions on whether to be married or not. The show itself finished over the weekend with predictable results. Those who seemed from all the coverage to be well connected, knowing of course that editing can be made to add drama where it doesn’t exist, did what we thought as viewers that they would.
This series has had some success. They have yet to produce a child among their couples. For those of you who enjoy relationship shows, this is mindless candy that one can fast forwadr until the end to see where they end up. It is an interesting concept to have people meet and converse to create a connection worthy of a proposal, and then see once they meet whether the connection can remain strong. For some they can embrace the experiment, while others cannot get over their preconceived ideas of their “type” of person.
Obsession: This is a four-part series on Netflix. In many ways it parallels Diane Keaton’s Looking For Mister Goodbar from 1977. It goes into detail about the destructive power of obsessive love. Is it really love? I think that the jury would reamin out on that. But there was no denying that even the most driven and successful people with a quality home life can fall for the perceived ultimate physcial connection.
Doctor Farrow, played by Richard Armitage, is married with two adult children. He has just completed a very successful siamese twin operation, and is at the top of his profession. He seems well connected with his wife, viewers will recognize from Game of Thrones, with a son and a daughter. Son has a new girlfriend, and she is older than him. Parents have heard her name before but that seems to be all we know. But as things unfold, we see that Dad has met with her before. The depth of that relationship is kept secret. Revealing itself slowly, the viewers get to see the dangerous game that is being played. It seems the woman, named Anna has some family secrets and that men seem to be very attracted to her. This a theme in her life.
By obsession, the definition being “an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person’s mind” which can paralyze someone and make them incapble of controlling themselves, even when it is clearly unhealthy. I think that it was a good choice to select Charlie Murphy as the actress in this role. She isn’t a drop dead raving beauty, but rather, for me, reminds me of Molly Ringwald, with the short hair and perky personality. So like Love is Blind, there is an obvious physical attraction but there is much more at work. The story shows not only the consequences of the actions, but also the impact on the woman involved. How does she feel? Does she recognize this behaviour and try to better understand it? Or does she give in to it and realize that she has a magic power over men for some reason. What do you do with this power? How does the obsessed man finally address all that he has done? All this gets addressed over the four episodes. I think that the performances were good. Everyone seeks love, but the degree of love that comes their way may be something more than they were expecting.
Succession – Final Season: Episode three. In the words of Alison as she texted me late Sunday night “Succession!” I think that about sums it up. For those of you who haven’t been watching this Emmy award winning series, the writing and acting have just been excellent. It is quite profane, but that is also part of the allure. There was intrigue building as the three adult children were looking to make a bid for a third party network that was in play, and Dad (with the help of other family members) was an opposing bidder. This was also the day for eldest adult child’s Connor’s wedding (the bearded one in the back, from the guy who played Ferris Bueller’s friend Cameron, and also the bus riding tourist in Speed).
The show’s latest episode has actually even made the mainstream news. I won’t say any more than that, but I will say that this has been a quality show from the beginning. A week ago I was spitballing ideas with Alison with her on how this final season was going to end and I am pretty proud of how prophetic it actually was. Relax, enjoy, let the drama unfold before you. This show may have been based loosely on the Rupert Murdoch family but I regard it as a Shakespearean tragedy, like King Lear.
Tetris: For those of you as old as I am, as well as those who enjoyed video games from back in the day when progress was being made away from “Pong” to more graphic ready devices, this movie may provide you with some background, which is way more involved and political then you could have ever imagined. For context as you watch this movie, Tetris was extremely popular and between the original release from 1989 for Nintendo and Game Boy handheld, and then later Electronic Arts has sold 143,000,000 copies, making it one of the top selling video games ever! This movie is also an Intellectual Property Lawyer’s dream, with the intrigue revolving around the license grant from the game’s creator, who happened to be Russian. For Nintendo and Game Boy this was the flagship app, which sold the device itself.
The intrigue involves the Russian government, which at the time was crumbling with the world watching and US President making pitches for Mikhail Gorbachev to “take this wall down”, referring to the Berlin Wall, but implying that the Soviet form of communism was teetering on destruction as well. Reagan was right. What this movie does well is showing the Russian government and the KGB minions are manipulating the situation with a successful video game with many interested suitors. Taron Egerton (formerly Elton John in Rocketman) plays Henk Rogers who is an American who sees the game at a trade show in Vegas and decides to purchase what he thinks are the Japanese rights to sell it for PCs and consoles. Henk learns however that the private deal between a London based rights purchaser and the sole Russian developer for $10,000 is in jeopardy. Very powerful people get involved, including now disgraced UK billionaire media mogul Robert Maxwell, and his son Kevin. Henk has mortgaged everything with his family in Japan and works diligently behind the scenes to craft the deal to support his own interests, despite not speaking any Russian. What becomes apparent is that the existing Russian government is scrambling to protect their own interests and believes the world is trying to steal their culture from under them. In hindsight it seems irrational, because there was a deal to be made to ensure that everyone could make a lot of money on this seemingly unimportant entertaining game. But they didn’t see it that way. So things unfold in ways expected and unexpected, but we all know as mentioned above that this became one of the top games of all time, and put Game Boys in the hands of millions of people. As a viewer we want to see that the young Russian developer and his wife and family were able to profit from his invention rather than those who decide to take what isn’t theirs. For me, this was entertaining because I lived through those years of playing the game and knowing the platforms on which it was played (Nintendo console, PC and the handheld). As a lawyer I am amazed at even in this instance where words matter and that if the grant isn’t made in the license (like handheld rights) then you don’t have them. Incidentally, Maxwell and his son are played out precisely as you would expect them to be played.
All Quiet On The Western Front: When I was reviewing my various reviews of the Best Picture nominees for 2023, I realized that although I had watched this movie on Netflix, for whatever reason I had failed to review it here. So that needed to be remedied for the Best International film Oscar winner. It also won three other Oscars, for cinematography, musical score and production design. If you happen to watch the Making Of All Quiet feature on Netflix, I think you will appreciate even more what they have done with this film.
I think that the star of the film, the young man Edward Berger is simple excellent in being the audience’s experience of the First World War from a German perspective. As a North American we are shown early century war movies (First World War and WWII) always with the Germans as the villians. They are the faceless enemy shooting down the Allied heroes mercilessly, efficiently but always with a view to being the true enemy. This movie turns that experience on its head, with the German perspective on this war.
From the early days of being a new recruit with young enthusiasm with his friends at joining in the grand fight for the Fatherland, and early training will marches filled with song. The effective war machine sidenote with the lifecycle of a soldier’s uniform shown is dramatic in pointing out that our young man and his friends are pawns on a chess board. Dots on a map ina trench. The sets are incredible, with the trenches, the battles, the blood and the damp. Thank goodness that there isn’t smell-o-vision!!
As the war moves on, friendships are made, new characters are introduced with the German envoy looking to have peace negotiations with the French. The Germans are realizing with the new American soldiers re-enforcing Allied positions that it is just a matter of time. Our young soldiers are once again shown to have their lives subject to fate (bullets, bombs and illness hitting or missing them randomly) but also the pride of their leaders and those of their enemy. The French leaders are shown to be defiant at any suggestion of compromise, with a list of demands for any armistice which would be complete capitulation from the Germans to these arrogant French leaders. Of course leaders on both sides are human, and pride effects them too, as the weary soldiers again are put into action. They also live in luxurious rooms with fine dining and all the comforts of home as opposed to their men on the battlefields.
There are some memorable scenes in this, including one very similar to the one on one knife battle in the town in Saving Private Ryan. Killing someone with a knife is very personal. It’s not shooting from afar, but up close as you see the reaction of your enemy as the knife enters their body and takes their life in front of you. War is senseless. It is a colossal waste of men and resources from both sides. As we all know, the stage was set for WWII with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles by the Germans back in 1918. Shaming and belittling your enemy with economically catastrophic impositions against them sow the seeds of discontent. Those with nothing, have nothing to lose. I remember too that these young men were just boys, in their middle to late teens or early twenties. As a father with sons of my own, I cringe to think about them being put in harm’s way for the sake of the pride of a military focused leader. I have little doubt that Russian parents feel the same with their sons in Ukraine, no matter what their media tells them. I do think that this is an excellent film. It can be very tough to watch. War is hell. This shows this very well. No one is shown to be a hero, however heroic that their actions can be. In the end, they are struggling to survive in conditions are are just inhuman. People treat each other so badly, and we can do so much more together.
The Night Agent: This new Netflix series is very popular at the moment. The star is a young agent of the FBI, played by Gabriel Basso. I don’t think that they could have found another actor who looks more like Game of Thrones Robb Stark, and star of the similar UK’s The Bodyguard Richard Madden than him. See foe yourself:
The stories are in the early two episodes that I have seen quite similar. There is intrigue at the upper levels of the government. In The Night Agent, it is the White House, where there is apparently a mole within the Office of the President, where the young agent has been seconded from the FBI. A young women, has her family members killed dramatically and she comes to realize that they were not anywhere like she thought that they were. People have lots of secrets, and those in this plot are no different. The game of cat and mouse begins, with the woman who was in the cyber-security business, played by Luciane Buchanan, revealing more and more to the young agent who is supposed to be off this detail but manages (quite remarkably and with impeccable timing) to stay engaged. I won’t delve any further into the plot lines early on. Of course there are far-fetched stunts, and bad people who although they are paid assassins presumbly are quite horrible shots when it comes to taking out the woman and the young agent. Imagine that! Add high speed chases, plenty of shooting and polticial intrigue and you have a series to explore. I am not sure yet whether I am sold on this. I will watch a couple more episodes and see what develops. So stay tuned, and feel free to make up your own mind and comment if you like.
Boston Strangler: I am a fan of crime series and investigations. I readily admit that I really liked Mindhunter on Netflix as well as Manhunt: Unabomber which I think were simply excellent. I recommedn those to people who seek my suggestions for this genre. The latter dealt with not only the capture of the Unabomber but also the legal case against him and the decision of the Court. Add to that backstory a similar newspaper investigative journalism story similar to All The President’s Men, Spotlight, Zodiac,She Said and many others then this becomes something that I would seek out. Starring Keira Knightley, Chris Cooper and Carrie Coon. Set in the mid 1960s, with society changing tremendously from the 1950s as can be seen in other shows like Mad Men, the focus is a series of murders that are taking place in Boston, and yet no one seems to be seeing any relationship between them. Enter young reporter Loretta McLaughlin, who works the Lifestyle desk but wants to get more involved in Crime, and she notices some things that are the same. Bringing her ideas to the editor Chris Cooper, he shuns her back to her work.
The story unfolds as she finds out more facts connecting the various cases. There is a Homicide Detective who is working the case too and they uncover what they can, along with her co-worker played effectively by Coon. Mindhunter despite taking place a little later than this timeline, didn’t directly address this specific case in any detail. It was Loretta who coined the label the Boston Strangler. What is uncovered, from someone not familiar with the details of the killings, was more than a little surprising. The performances were solid and I remain interested throughout. Of course as part of the intrigue surrounding the cases, is the tension at home for a married woman with three young children, and a husband who concedes that he never pressed her to stay at home because he “knows better”. She is good at her job, and puts in long hours, but then still must come home and often put together a fancy meal. Life as a woman any time, but ceretainly in those times, was never easy. There are plenty of roles to fulfill. For Loretta it also means trying to protect women from a police force that didn’t seem to be putting much effort in coordinating the information gathered so far or being cooperative with others.
I am glad that I saw this. It works on a legal level, but also as compelling story telling. I suspect that the Boston Police in particular won’t appreciate it, as they didn’t necessarily welcome to backlash from the Catholic church in Boston for Spotlight. They may not appreciate the hits, but for the viewing public we can see a story that is more complex than was initially anticipated.
Love is Blind Season 4: As much as I like quality cinema and stories, sometimes the mind just wants some banal chewing gum. One wants to sit and watch senseless interpersonal drama, for drama’s sake. With me, shows like this one can fill that whole from time to time. I know that they are a train wreck. I know that they are filled with the “beautiful people” (outwardly anyway) who want their five minutes of fame on these shows. They recognize as participants, that unless they match up they aren’t getting any more screen time. As I have explained before, this series pits singles seeking marriage with the task of selecting a mate without ever seeing them. It is a connection on every level except physical and looks. Once a proposal is made, then they lay eyes on each other for the first time and head off for a grand trip to a beach location (in this case Mexico). There is drama in the selecting, but more of the drama takes place once selected and live interactions are taking place.
The first four episodes were released this past weekend. More are to come this week. What amazes me in all this drama, is how some people are willing to accept being a Plan B. Meaning, there are multiple dates going on simultaneously with many others, and connections are made. Eventually people have to make decisions, especially if they are attracted to more than one person. Tears ensue. But those willing to accept a proposal AFTER they know the person has already focused on another person. What about the person pining for a person who rejected them, but then can seamlessly pivot to another person without skipping a beat? All in the name of TV!! There is more to come of course, and there seems to be no problem with pining for people who matched with others, despite the fact that they are already “engaged”.
Money Shot: The Porn Hub Story: Who would guess that a documentary about a Canadian porn site, would turn into an in depth rights discussion between the “talent” and their right to try and make a living away from the hollywood porn film industry (think studios), then right wing religious types who want to shut down all sites involved with any adult entertainment (including Sports Illustrated and the swim suit edition) and the owners of a platform who facilitate the payments between end users and the talent? It seems odd, but all of those things were explored in this new Netflix documentary.
Headquartered in Montreal, by a company called Mindgeek, they were at the forefront of monetizing the porn industry, talent and images, putting them with end users. Their ultimate failing was not monitoring, managing content or policing who was putting up the images. Even when the NY Times came calling, they refused to engage with them. Without any oversight, videos were put up of minors, and people who did not consent to the images being displayed from those who didn’t produce them. Even when complaints were made, they were ignored to keep advertising dollars flowing. When the Canadian Federal Government brought the executives before a Parliamentary Committee, their explanations were weak and they did far too little too late. The payments systems (VISA and Mastercard) were shut down and it meant a dramatic shift back to the age before disseminated content. Interests are explored from the perspective of those who worked at Mindgeek, as well as talent and the lawyers who eventually got involved in the case. It is safe to say that no one thinks that images of children or of rape or anyone not fully consenting should not be placed on any platform. The question becomes one of what happens with that content not like that?
The Quiet Girl: At a time when a number of the Oscar nominees were depressing and down, like The Whale or EO, along comes this Oscar nominated entry from Ireland for Best International Picture. It is mostly in Gaelic with subtitles. It is based upon the book named “Foster” from Claire Keegan who is also a writer in the film.
Cait, is a young girl who lives in a family of modest to poor means in the early 1980s. As the movie begins, Cait is hiding from the family in the field as they search for her. You soon learn to know why. Young Mom is pregnant again, although there are already plenty of mouths to feed in the house. Dad is not exactly father of the year nor husband of the year material, if you know what I mean. Cait doesn’t say much and her actions reveal the inner turmoil that she is experiencing at home and in school. Cait’s Dad and Mom decide to send her off to spend some extended time with Mom’s cousin, who has presently no children of her own. The cousin and her husband run a dairy farm a lengthy drive away. Cait arrives and there is an awkward first meeting as she seemingly hasn’t been told what is happening. Dad absentmindedly even drives away with her suitcase. The young girl settles in and the rest of the movie is about her and her relationship with this couple.
As the title implies, much in this movie goes unsaid. Not just from the girl, but from the adults too. Everyone, as in life, has their issues to get over. Some have just had those issues longer to address. Silence can mean acceptance, but it can also be someone deep in thought or even processing how they feel at the moment. Actions say a great deal. Caring isn’t always isn’t about words, but the small acts of life. From a cookie left on a kitchen table to signify being sorry and seeking apology, to changing bedsheets or sweeping out a barn. Together it means connection. Despite what others might say or think, kindness is offering your home, your skills and resources to a virtual complete stranger, knowing that it likely won’t be welcome. I really liked this. It is a simple story well told. The ending I think is right. In a year where Best International Film is pretty much sewn up with All Quiet on the Western Front, this nevertheless is an effective story and entertaining revealing the story of this quiet, brown-haired girl.
The Last of Us – Season 1 round up: Welcome to HBO’s response to the completion of Game of Thrones with all those viewers and also those from House of the Dragon. Without repeating my introduction to the series, and how I was very reluctant to watch a series with zombies, I continue to be impressed how they overcome the zombie aspects. They are there of course, but much more of it is about human interaction, rather than humans and zombies. Our two heroes, Ellie and Joel are on a quest to find people who can help with trying to find a cure for this fungus-pandemic. What I can say is that this series builds and builds. Knowing that there will be more seasons to come, I had to wonder how they would address it.
People and their motivations stand in the way of the heroes meeting their goals. The series has nine episodes with the last one released last Sunday.
Those of you who haven’t watched so far, I would NOT recommend that you click on this back story for episode 8. I hadn’t seen these before, but I like the explanations for the episode. I have to keep reminding myself that this series is a video game with a story and scenes unto itself. Some of these are in this show, but others are not and others still are changed. In short, you don’t know what you are going to get! I am going in blind, with fresh eyes on every episode. It’s fun to watch and see where it turns. To say that the Final Episode was a surprise is an understatement. I won’t get into details here, except to say that it puts the overall story arc of being re-written or at least re-directed. I welcome it, because it means that there are many possibilities. With this series ending for a break, it is just in time for Succession to begin the last season. Kudos to HBO for keeping us entertained with good quality series back to back.
Oscars Recap: First of all, kudos for the second consecutive year for my brother to win the Oscar pool. This year he won by 1 point over Alison. Well done and really good picking. I came fourth. I think that he should be betting on his ability to predict the winners. Obviously my skills are lacking.
It wasn’t inaccurate of me to state that I felt Everything, Everywhere All At Once would have a good night at the Oscars. I just didn’t expect it to be as good as night as what eventually transpired. I had predicted Best Picture, Director and Best Supporting Actor. I called Best Supporting Actor one of the easiest calls of the night, along with All Quiet as Best International Film. I hadn’t expected Best Supporting Actress for surprised Jame Lee Curtis. Incidentally, both Best Supporting Actors gave heartfelt speeches.
There were some great outfits from people like Salma Hayek, Cara Delevigne, Jessica Chastain or Emily Blunt.
The musical performances were good generally, I missed the earlier performances by Lady Gaga gave a good live performance. She has so much talent, and dressed down decidedly for the time on stage (torn jeans and comfy top).
All Quiet on the Western Front also did very well at the Oscars. I think that the two directors from Everything, Everywhere would be fun to work with. For those of you who have actually seen the movie, we’ll see if you think it is Best Picture worthy. As I said earlier, time in my view will move on from this Best Picture which was an extravaganza for the senses, on multiple plains but hard to follow if you didn’t pay attention, and certainly not for all viewers. There were some laughs, but it is difficult to compare this type of film to others. Time will tell. I think that Jimmy Kimmel did a decent job. I always like the Matt Damon jokes.
Living: Starring Oscar nominated Bill Nighy this film starts in a very slow, quiet, deliberate pace. Set in London in the fifties, I will admit that I look to opening credit sequence that takes me back to films of the 50s and 60s. I had hoped that same visual effect could continue throughout the entire movie. It didn’t, but that was okay. This is a new adaptation of the 1952 Japanese movie Ikiru from acclaimed director Akira Kurasawa. I had been looking forward to seeing this, and about an hour into it I wasn’t so sure. It was slow and I found Nighy hard to understand at times because he was speaking so softly. There was very little energy with the men in the black bowler hats waiting for the train heading into the City in the morning commute. A new recruit is going the civil service in the Public Works Department. Nighy is the elder manager of the group who acknowledges his team as he enters at his stop, yet doesn’t join them. There is a very formal, unspoken protocol among the team members as they head ton work with Nighy leading the way.
As a public sector employee, I think that this would be an excellent film for each civil servant to watch. The principal story involves Nighy and his journey, but accompanying it is a story of a bureaucracy who spends their days looking to find obstacles to put before the public. In this instance a group of women would like to have a playground erected where an old bombed out building used to stand. The new recruit is asked to assist the women who have already spent days walking around the building with no resolution, or even anyone who will take up their cause in any meaningful way. What happens amongst these team members and specifically to Nighy is a cry for action for people in every place in life.
Without giving too much away, Nighy after some time of reflection and poignant discussions with those around him, decides to have a change of heart. It is at this point that the momentum of the film changes. I really enjoyed the message that he demonstrates, and that his team take away from his efforts. There is this idea that it is never too late to impose a change on one’s life. How many of us are really going to be remembered beyond a generation or two of our families and the mark that might be left on the world. We can’t all be Mozart or Shakespeare or even Elon Musk or Bill Gates. But what we can do is bring about positive change and make those around us feel a little bit better with the gifts that we each have. I think that in these times, this is a message that bears repeating time and again. I am very glad that I saw this.
EO: This Polish film is a Best Foreign Film nominee. I watched this right after finishing Living. I am sorry that I did. I say this because this movie, which Alison reminds me is another in a series of Polish Best Foreign Film nominees with the same overall theme. No spoilers but I don’t think that it says too much to reveal that the donkey is a spectator to the things that humans do to each and to animals. There are some who are kind and gentle, mindful that every living creature should be given some respect, while others are decidedly not as concerned.
2023 seems to be a popular year with donkeys, noting that the young donkey in Banshees of Inisherin plays a vital role in the relationship between the two friends in that nominated movie. Maybe it is the same donkey, I couldn’t tell you.
Our young donkey starts off in a circus, and from there his travels can take him to the countryside, to be shipped around the country. He is a very well travelled donkey and those who have him (or her) their care tend to be rather forgetful. The donkey manages to get away and see many other places near and far. Suffice it to say that there is not a positivity in this world for the donkey and in what he observes. TIFF was abuzz with this movie and I had tried to see it there, but now I am glad that I didn’t. I can watch the news and feel much the same as I did after watching this movie. Between this and Living, and I will take the message from Living every time. Movies are meant to make you feel, and sometimes it’s not always very positive, but there is an element of being entertained. I will say I think that the shots of the donkey show a well well behaved animal which is extremely comfortable in front of the camera, and many close ups. It would have been a challenging set to work on.
MH370: The Plane That Disappeared: Netflix has released a three part documentary about the mystery surrounding the disappearance in 2014 of a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 239 people aboard that in the early hours just simply disappeared. Vanished. Inexplicably this enormous plane and all its passengers and crew ceased to exist.
So what can we explore in three hours of documentary? A good question! In truth the answer lies in various people putting forth their own theories without many facts to support their position. Three theories are explored: (1) the captain/pilot did it (2) the Russians did it and (3) the US government did it. I will leave it to you to decide which one is the more plausible scenario. For me, the crux of it is as a member of the travelling public who goes onto a plane as often as I can, I find it more than a little disturbing that a plane of this size can simply vanish. I feel great sympathy for all the family members of those who cannot be found. They cannot get closure even nine years later. How agonizing!! Each of the theories on what happened cannot fully how a plane goes off radar screens, both civil and militarily in a heavily travelled part of the world.
In the end what is drawn out over three episodes could very easily could have been covered in thirty minutes. You gain nothing in watching all three hours. The end result remains the same. It is either an incredible coincidence of factors or a confounding plot with so many active players that it makes your head spin. What I do know is that I don’t want to put myself in the position of being a pawn where giant players like China, the US and Russia could have a vested interest.
Oscar Night!Some preliminary thoughts
The Oscar ceremony is tonight, and I will have commentary about it, along with what I had predicted. For the record I think that Everything, Everywhere All At Once will win the Best Picture award. I will say that this is expecting what WILL happen rather than what I WANT to happen. If there was a movie that most profoundly impacted the movie industry more than any others this year it was Top Gun Maverick. At the tail end of a pandemic it put people in the theatres in record numbers. It did this because it was a KICK ASS blast of a movie. I love military aircraft, and this was jet porn in its highest. Like the original Top Gun back in 1986 where 19yo me drove home from the theatre feeling like I was in the cockpit of an F-14, this movie did the SAME thing! I saw Top Gun Maverick twice in IMAX, and it was worth every penny. I don’t ever have to see Everything, Everywhere All At Once again. That is a measure of a movie as well; staying power and how it bears repeat viewings. The best movies reveal themselves on more than one viewing and even then after time still show more things about themselves. I have to admit that I was surprised that Viola Davis was not even given a nomination for The Woman King. Same for Clare Foy in Women Talking. Note that I saw all nominees in the Best Actress category save Andrea Riseborough in To Leslie that I couldn’t find. I think the easiest pick for Oscar is All Quiet on the Western Front for Best Foreign Film, followed by the annoying kid all grown up from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and Goonies, for Best Supporting Actor Ke Huy Quan. Enjoy the show!
Women Talking: It is trite to say that “women have it hard” and always have. We men find ways, and impose structures around them, which making getting through this life very challenging. Case in point is the particular situation that the women in this isolated religious community are experiencing from the director Sarah Polley. It is based on the book by Miriam Towes, which was based upon true events. On its face it would appear to be similar to an Amish community, with horses used for transportation and seemingly no electricity. A group of women have gathered to discuss a situation where one of their group has been drugged and raped. The dilemma is that the men run the community and won’t be doing anything about the situation. To add further uncertainty, these women have been told that their doorway to everlasting life with God, is by remaining in the church and within the community. They have met to decide the merits of leaving or staying.
The assembled cast is an impressive one with Frances McDormand, Claire Foy, Rooney Mara, Jessie Buckley and Ben Whishaw who has been asked to be a scribe for the women as they cannot read nor write. The performances are all excellent, and I think notably Foy, of The Crown fame, and Mara, who was the victim in the event and pregnant as a result, provide really insightful descriptions of their conflicted feelings. Having said that, the older women in telling her horse story near the end uses the word “frenetic” for which I can’t imagine that one who isn’t educated in reading or writing would ever hear or use. As much as this is obviously a movie, it is directed and set as if it is a play. Much taking place inside the barn as they women discuss issues and options. Not many men are involved as the title suggests. In many ways I see parallels with the classic Henry Fonda film 12 Angry Men. One room with a great deal of dialog and many dissenting opinions. Women who would seemingly have the same common issue to deal with, but in practice each has their own challenges and reality to overcome.
This was the last Best Picture nominee that I needed to see. I think that some of the performances are Oscar worthy and the nominations for just Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay are not reflective of the work of Foy in particular. I am glad to have seen it. I think that it is a small screen film, addressing some overall issues with women and how they are treated. Sadly the acting did not garner any nominations. I don’t feel that this was the best film of the year. But as with each year, it is difficult to measure this film from many of the others that are nominated as Best Picture.
American Underdog: I have to admit that I was not looking to rush out and see a movie about football QB Kurt Warner. It just didn’t interest me. I am not a Rams fan, and I wasn’t particularly fond of Warner himself from very little that I knew about him. However on a late Sunday afternoon this movie came out on Crave and I decided to check it out. The movie is really a relationship movie and a story about Warner and his wife Brenda; how they met, her background, how he wooed her and his journey with her.
Having been in the hockey agency business, this is a movie too about the business of sports, and particularly football obviously. What separates football and the NFL from other sports is that in hockey and baseball there are minor leagues where players can continue to play and hone their skills. In football, there isn’t anywhere else to go, and the released football player has to go and find a job outside the sport. The NFL also allows players to be released and there is no guaranteed contract, unless stipulated in the agreement itself with that particualr team. What you see as the movie progresses is how the QB Warner who had talent was prevented from given the opportunity to show what he could do on his way up. He was at a smaller Iowa college with a coach that demanded a QB “remain in the pocket” and take the hits when an offensive line breaks down. Warner didn’t play much and he was never drafted into the NFL. So he was stocking shelves at a grocery store at one point in his life after college.
With his relationship, Brenda was a woman with two young kids from a previous failed marriage and a healthy skepticism of all men. Her trust was very low and he expected the worst from men in a relationship. However much she tried to push Kurt away, he refused to do so. His love and devotion to her at an early stage, despite her protests, is a testament to who he is. Anna Paquin plays Brenda, and I found the hairstyle on her didn’t work. I would like to have thought that she would be more supportive for this man who was showing time and again his commitment to her. But everyone has their own reasons to hesitate. Kurt played by Zachary Levi is a determined and respectful man living life on his terms and looking to comply, for the most part, with those who have power over him, even if he disagrees. His choice ultimately to pursue the arena football league was a good development strategy, which kept him playing but importantly working on a quicker release for passes.
Overall this was okay. I cannot recommend, but it provided to me some more insight into this one football player and struggles that I didn’t know were there. Any athlete in any sport can take solace that an undrafted player becomes the MVP and Superbowl MVP of that sport. Warner won the Superbowl twice. Pretty impressive for a young man who idolized Joe Montana from his days with the 49ers and winning Superbowls there.
TheLast of Us: First and foremost, I am NOT a zombie movie person. I will avoid a zombie movie like the plague! I had heard some positive buzz about this HBO series, based upon the video game (!!) and starring Pedro Pascal and Game of Thrones Bella Ramsey (in GOT she was fiesty Lyanna Mormont). I had asked Alison about this series and although she conceded that there was a zombie aspect to it, that there was much more to it. I would agree with that assessment.
Episode one made me more than a little skeptical about that claim. As it moved forward there were scenes that couldn’t be more typical zombie with the odd walking gait for the zombies, and their aggressive feasting on those who weren’t zombies. I shrugged and decided to carry on into episode 2. One of the things that drew me forward was the introduction of Tess, played by Anna Torv who was the professor in the excellent series Mindhunter. As an aside, I dearly wish that they would do more Mindhunter. Pedro Pascal has a very good resume, from his role in Game of Thrones himself, to The Mandalorian, and the excellent Narcos about Pablo Escobar. I have never played the video game, and never even knew it existed. It is apparently excellent on the PS4 gaming system. I can say that one doesn’t need to know the game to appreciate the series. I will say that there are some surprises that take place along the way. Further the depth of the series, especially in episode 4 with Nick Offerman is just excellent. It tells a story unto itself, but that also contributes to the story of the main characters in a way that was unexpected. How refreshing! For a guy that doesn’t like zombies I am not being inundated like in the movie World War Z with Brad Pitt. I see similarities to The Quiet Place, also with The Mandalorian too. Is Pascal playing the same character as the Mandalorian just without the helmet, armour and space ship? There is a goal, and a quest and then challenges that are put before the primary characters to challenge them. With surprises along the way, you are interested in the main characters as they reveal themselves slow bits at a time. Early on we see what happened with Pascal’s character as what was explained in the first 10 minutes of this series could happen back in 1968 is slowly materializing. I will keep watching. John Oliver in the tenth season of Last Week Tonight reflected that his show with ratings just happens to come after successful shows like Game of Thrones and then this one. I think he is right. I have binged the first five episodes and I will continue to watch what happens with Melanie Lynskey, who first came to my attention with a young Kate Winslet in Heavenly Creatures.
Almost Famous: I realized once again as I rewatched this past week this movie with some time off just how good this 2000 movie really is. Remarkable that it is 23 years old. An early effort by writer and director Cameron Crowe, this is more or less autobiographical with the young Crowe, named William Miller, as a 15yo teenager, following a band, fictionally named Stillwater. I hadn’r known that Crowe himself had been married to Nancy Wilson from Heart from 1986-2010. This has an impressive cast with the 21yo Kate Hudson stealing the show, and garnering an Oscar nomination as a result as Supporting Actress. Other members of the cast include Billy Crudup, Jason Lee, Frances McDormand (as William’s mom and conscience of the film), Zoey Deschanel, Anna Paquin, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Jimmy Fallon among others. See if you can find a very young Jay Baruchel in this cast!
William lives at home with his opinionated Mom, played by McDormand, and his older sister who is clashing with Mom’s controlling ways. She ventures forth and leaves as soon as she is legally able to be a flight attendant. William likes music that his sister introduces him to, and is a good writer. He meets Hoffman who teaches him about being a music writer, for his magazing and then later giving tips on working for Rolling Stone. William is given an assignment by Rolling Stone to follow this up and coming band Stillwater, with lead singer Jason Lee and lead guitarist Crudup, who is recognized as the stellar talent in the band. What starts off as a road trip movie, with excellent music (including Elton John’s Tiny Dancer in a memorable bus scene), becomes more as the band, the manager, the groupies, fans of the band and others interact. Hudson plays a fan, who is in love with Crudup. For him, she is one of the ancillary benefits of being in a band and on the road.
For me this is a story about learning and redemption. Making mistakes and growing from them. Maturing and getting older. This happens to William and his immediate family, with his Mom and his sister. It happens with the members of the band Stillwater. William learns this through his work, Rolling Stone but also the members of the band and the entourage. It feels good to see these people learn from one another and grow. You care about them and hope that it goes well. I think that the ending is just excellent. If you have an opportunity, seek it out and enjoy again for the first time!
Blackberry: Variety and The Hollywood Reporter have both posted reviews of this movie. It is scheduled for release in Canada in April according to IMDB. On October 17th, I saw a pre-screening of this movie at the local theatre in Toronto. It stars the aforementioned Jay Baruchel and Glenn Howerton as the Blackberry principals Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie. It explores the rise and fall of the Waterloo based IT company Research in Motion. RIM’s primary product was the Blackberry phone. RIM was a Canadian success story with mobile devices/mobile phone before the days of Apple IPhones and Android devices. Called Crack-berries by some for how addictive that they were. The University of Waterloo campus size exploded with new buildings from RIM as they expanded. RIM owned the market with the Blackberry, including being used by the President of the United States (Obama) when he was first elected at its height of popularity. Much like the Apple launch for their computers, as seen in the 2015 film Steve Jobs, you saw the early days of the nerdy engineers working diligently on a device to improve upon pagers in a “fake it until you make it” kind of way. With Lazaridis as the tech-genius who slapped together the device with pieces and parts that he scrounged, he was able to sell a US phone company to purchase the devices. Lazaridis was not a business genius, nor a marketing genius and that was where Balsillie came in.
There are some good funny moments that you would expect from a Baruchel film, but also some insight into the fatal moments and the downfall. Jim had great ambitions, and these lay not just with Blackberry which we heard about in Canada as he looked to bring another NHL hockey team to the Greater Toronto area in Hamilton. Jim also had some very interesting recruiting practices to entice new talent to join the Blackberry team from Silicone Valley. But it doesn’t all fall back on Jim, because from a technology perspective Mike was married to his idea of the touch keypad. Mike and his best friend Doug (pictured above in the orange headband) was a relationship that suffered as the desire for global dominance took precedence over friendship and loyalty. When the talk was that Apple was looking to release a new device, with a virtual keyboard it was dismissed as a “toy”. Mike felt customers wanted to keys to punch and had no interest with the lack of encryption offered by the Apple product. He was satisfied with putting a track ball in the latest phones. What we take for granted now with the IPhone and annual releases, was something new for Blackberry. This is what phones USED to look like!
I enjoyed this movie when I saw it. I have a good friend who worked for Blackberry in sales back in the day and he confirmed a number of things about Jim and his personality. It isn’t really all that surprising. He was profane, business type who cared only about financial numbers, stock price and making money. Integrity took a back seat. Once again, as is often the case, the principals get drunk of their own success, in this case overnight success, and lose the ability to listen to others, see where the market is going and then adjusting. It would be a very good business school case study, as I am sure that it gets discussed frequently. I think that the actors did a good job. I hope that it can have some success but it isn’t a movie that really needs to be seen in a theatre, like the new movie 65 which deals with dinosaurs with Adam Driver coming out soon.
Empire of Light: Starring Oscar winner Olivia Colman, and Colin Firth and written by Sam Mendes, I had (I think) higher hopes for this movie. Set in the 1980s on the English coast, The Empire is a theatre from back in the day. It had seen better days from before, as once upon a time it had two levels with multiple screens. It still has an old fashioned, large projector loading the celluloid films.
Within it, there is Colman along those who are operating the theatre to the local clientele. Firth plays the manager of the theatre, and they have just recently hired a new young black man to act as a ticket-taker and host to greet guests. His colour becomes relevant as the scenes progress, and we are shown that prejudice and racism is alive and well in the 1980s Britain. The plot continues as the young man becomes more involved with his team, and there is an opportunity for the theatre to show it past glory. A premiere is coming, and there will be some money to spruce up the place.
I have to admit that I expected more from this. In some ways there is some similarity with The Majestic, with Jim Carrey, in that a theatre plays a role and is the centre of the story telling. In this, though, there is a mental illness aspect which was tepid. It is sad to see what the young man goes through, as he is just looking to move forward in life. Some of the choices he makes are questionable, but that is true of many of the characters. Firth and his talents I feel are wasted. His story feels artificially shortened. Colman for her efforts creates a character that seems stuck in the same gear, but looks to make some changes. I enjoyed the description and demonstration of using the large cameras, and flipping from reel to reel. It’s cool. Still an effort that missed the mark.
Somebody I Used To Know: This 2022 effort that is on Prime, is written by actress Alison Brie (of GLOW and Mad Men fame). I basically stumbled upon it while flipping channels when down in South Carolina. I wish I hadn’t. Brie plays Ally who is already involved in producing TV shows in LA. We learn that she was a documentary film-maker and then moved over to reality TV, because more people would be watching her. Her series is about cooking, but more viewers watch because of the cast interacting. Those details really aren’t very important. Ally decides to take a break, and spend some time at home to visit her Mom, back in Leavenworth WA which seems to have a very sizeable German population given the scenes that were shot there. Ally meets back up with ex-boyfriend Sean, who was devastated when Ally chose to pursue her goals in LA, leaving him behind. There are flashbacks showing them interacting. Things happen which are for the most part very predictable, at least by me as I was able to successfully predict a number of the twists and turns. Ally needs to think on her own behaviour as she re-examines her own choices and how she has worked with those around her.
This, like Empire of Light, is written by someone who thinks that they can write, like Mendes. Mendes a director, while Brie an actress. Dave Franco directed this, and was a co-writer with Brie. This is not to pigeon hole either one of these known Hollywood names. I can see why an executive decided to green light both of these projects. But still the results were less than stellar. I didn’t like the writing. I think that Brie is worthy of better roles, and one can hope that she writes better parts and dialog for herself. Sadly, this was an effort that was not worthy of my time. In a rare occurrence I almost turned this off midway, but decided to stick with it.
Downton Abbey: A New Era: Downton Abbey was very successful and compelling TV series from 2010-2015. It was a modern take on the Upstairs, Downstairs British series from years ago. It is a period piece, set at the turn of the century as the 1900s begin. It follows the Crawley family, in each of its generations. This movie is the second movie since the series completed. The first movie was released back in 2019, to modest success.
All the characters from the movie and original series are back, save Mary’s husband who seems to have disappeared. Much like the first movie when the Queen was to visit the estate, in this installment a movie crew wishes to spend a lot of money to rent the premises for a new movie. The movie is during the transition from silent films to talkies, in the same way that Babylon did. Also like Babylon, the actors who show up to perform have various levels of skills with one having limited speaking skills. The results are fairly predictable. Much of it seems to be an artificial plot device to engage with virtually everyone in the cast, from the butlers to the kitchen staff and the main members of the family. Maggie Smith in the original series was absolutely excellent. She steals her scenes each and every time. Some of the grandchildren from Mary to Edith and others. For me, this was a M’eh. It strings along the story but seems all too predictable. It seems every story has to be forced within a two hour timeline, versus in a series where certain characters aren’t shown for episodes at a time. So for those who just need to see the next installment with some old friends, this can be okay. But it isn’t mandatory viewing by any means. Buyer beware in knowing what you are getting into before it begins.
Mondays With Robbie 