First of all, I need to have a shout out to my Mom who celebrated her 80th birthday on the weekend. I owe so very much to her, over and above the obvious. She has been providing support, encouragement and love through all of my choices in life, both good and questionable. Happy Birthday, Mom! Many more to come! I look forward to more get-togethers and good times ahead as we hopefully can put this pandemic and Stay At Home Orders behind us.

A Private War: Some people it seems are just meant to do the job that they have chosen. Even when you chose a vocation that is extremely dangerous personally. In this case, being a war correspondent is the only thing that Marie Colvin an American and writer for the UK’s The Sunday Times seemed to be born to do. Even after losing her eye in a close explosion in a war zone, she continues on. She just has to “see it for herself”. She lives life hard, and is challenged with her personal life as well as with drinking and smoking. She was awarded numerous awards including the 2012 Foreign Reporter of the Year. In the movie she is played with an edge by Rosamund PIke. Jamie Dornan plays her photographer sidekick, and Tom Hollander her boss. She suffers from the things that she sees. The truth of war, with unpredictable actions and results fills each of her days abroad. But she can make a difference like when she is specifically selected to speak with Libyan Leader, Muammar Gaddafi. She doesn’t punch a clock. She doesn’t sit behind a desk. She is bringing perspective to people comfortable in their homes and proving the lies of leaders. Pike doesn’t sugar coat her subject, and shows her with flaws and all. We as the audience understand her, even though we can’t fully comprehend what drives her. It really is an addiction for her; to be involved, to put herself in obvious danger, to provide a human story to something that seems so foreign and abstract. When this was released in 2018, Pike got some Award consideration (including a Golden Globe nomination and American Film Award for Best Actress). It was justified. This isn’t easy to watch, especially some of the things that she uncovered. But it was informative and interesting. Well worth the view if you can find it.

Dark Skies: This is a 2013 horror, thriller, sci fi thriller which deals with a young family (husband, wife and two young boys) living in the suburbs. Keri Russell and Josh Hamilton play the couple. JK Simmons is the notable actor involved in the project. The story is well-trodden horror ground, where a young couple in a house begins to encounter strange occurrences, which start out innocently enough and then escalate. Off the top of my head, films like The Amityville Horror, Poltergeist, The Entity and countless others have aspects in this. The couple has some money issues with Dad out of work. There are little hints dropped through out which points to some of their past. They eventually run into Simmons who explains what he believes that these disturbances are. I won’t divulge the details, but I don’t think that it’s really surprising to anyone. The last quarter of the movie focuses on the family’s approach to do what they can to protect themselves. There are better movies in this genre. This doesn’t really add anything to me. This can be found on Netflix.

Mare of Easttown: Kate Winslet stars in this series which is on Crave HBO. It started off slowly but has progressed well and has captured my attention. So far anyway. So I will continue to watch.