Blue Moon: Ethan Hawke stars in this movie directed by Richard Linklater. He plays Lorenz Hart in 1943 who was a very talented musical lyricist, who worked alongside the more famous Richard Rodgers (of Rodgers and Hammerstein fame). Hart worked with Rodgers for over 20 years, having met him in 1919 until Hart’s death in 1943.

The film opens with the death of Hart, drunk on the streets of New York and dying of exposure. He was an alcoholic and suffered from depression. Going back in time, the movie then goes to opening night of Oklahoma! which Rodgers worked with Oscar Hammerstein. Hart goes to Sardi’s bar/restaurant, a New York institution, and chats up the bartender, a piano player and another patron about this lovely young woman that he has met. Later on, Rodgers arrives, played by the excellent Andrew Scott, who makes time for Hart, but who can be seen to be increasingly uncomfortable in engaging further with him. Rodgers found Hart to be too unreliable with his drinking and attendance in working sessions, but still recognized the brilliance of the man with the words and ideas in songs. Songs which they worked on include “Blue Moon”, “The Lady Is a Tramp”, and “My Funny Valentine” among many.

The film is really almost a one-man show for Hawke. In an interview he described that his good friend and director Linklater had challenged him with this role, and said that he didn’t want to see any of the typical Hawke mannerisms. If he saw any, he would stop and do it again. Hart was a short balding man at around 5 feet tall. Hawke is 5’10” and so they had to do some camera tricks to make him this short. It was noticed but done well. Hawke captures an annoying, talkative, know-it-all person who was just sleighted by his collaborator in creating a memorable work without him. It is a divorce in a way. To Rodgers’ face, Hart gushes about Oklahoma, but behind his back and with others he condemns the piece as not reflecting the midwest or current values of the day (wartime USA). Hart rambles on about the young woman, who he talks about his love for her (despite those in New York scene thinking that he was actually gay) but one wonders whether she feels as he does in return. She arrives and we see how it plays out. Despite being an alcoholic, we see that Hart didn’t have a great deal of fortitude to keep the drink from running his life. It seems the part of him that made him an excellent lyricist also made him an insufferable human being. Having seen this past summer the most excellent play Good Night Oscar about an appearance by another addicted and talented pianist Oscar Levant, I could see a number of similarities between the two. In the end I think that Hawke was excellent here and it should garner a Best Actor nomination. The movie was only 1:40 long, and yet at times as an audience I felt like Rodgers in that we were spending more time than I wanted with this odd, talented, strange man. I am glad that I saw it.

Frankenstein: This is the new Guillermo Del Toro interpretation film recently released both in theatres and on Netflix. It was at TIFF this past September. It stars Oscar Isaac as the scientist Victor Frankenstein. I will preface my comments to state that I do not profess to be a Frankenstein expert in any way. I have never read the Mary Shelley book, but back in 1994 I did see the version of her story on film with Robert De Niro playing the monster and Kenneth Branaugh as Victor. I truly do not remember it. To be fair, this is 31 years ago! So this review is not going to be a comparison with that film, nor a detailed review of how this film diverges from the original material. This movie will stand on its own.

Del Toro has a certain style of film, and he tells certain stories. There is a Making Of documentary on Netflix as well which is a good overview of the filming process and his creative mind. Del Toro speaks about himself and stories that shaped him, and Frankenstein as well as Pinnochio were two stories that impacted him the most. Not surprisingly these are his last two movies, and both have been on Netflix. But both stories explore the relationship with fathers and sons, along with creators and their creations. Gipetto wanted a son and created one. Victor wanted to extend life or cheat death and created his monster. Del Toro wants to make films about people “who are full of villainy”. That is an interesting lens.

This is filmed beautifully, and once again in Toronto for much of it, in the studios on Kipling and they made and filmed the ship on the Docks area near the waterfront. The sets are detailed and the costuming is excellent. It is a period piece with it separated into three Acts, with the Victor story, the Monster story and then the final Act with them back together. Early on we see Victor’s young life with an overbearing father Leopold, played by Charles Dance from Game of Thrones fame, who berates the young Victor and treats his mother horribly. Victor becomes obsessed with making a mark on the world and science. The acting is good with Isaac, but add in Dance, Christoph Walz as the father of the fiance (played by Mia Goth) to Victor’s brother named William. Jacob Elordi plays the monster, and he has initially a very physical role and then he obtains more vocabulary to speak on his own behalf. The monster has abilities that simply belie explanation from a biological perspective. So on that front, this takes away from overall believability. I was also surprised that Victor in interacting with his creation, decides to treat the monster horribly, berating him for his lack of language skills. He shows no kindness, no joy in completing his lifetime ambition, and this perceived requirement for perfection before showing the world the achievement. So then the monster then becomes more monsterous, and begs the question about nature versus nurture.

Overall this was competent, and shows the love of the material by Del Toro. The movie byline is that “Only Monsters Play God”. There is a desire to create sympathy for the monster with mixed results. The final message reflects onto those who live in miserable cirsumstances and have no real way to escape from it. So where does it fall in comparing with other more recent horror/thriller movies? Is it better than Nosferatu which I would say that it is the closest comparison? I think that they are both decent efforts. This is not a Best Picture nomination for me. I don’t see acting honours in here either. As a movie available on Netflix, it is worthy of an evening to watch a talented director show one of his favourite stories.

Black Mirror: It was recommended to me that I check out some episodes of this series on Netflix. It was a British series at first from back in 2011, but then Netflix got involved in five further seasons from 2016 until 2025. It was recommended to me that there were a few episodes to start me out and see if I liked it. The first one was in this latest season (series 7) and the episode entitled Eulogy with Paul Giamatti. Think of this series like a modern day Twilight Zone with a more technological bent. There is a theme from the few episodes that I have seen which utilizes a technology that will interact directly with our minds and memories.

In Eulogy, Giammati plays Phillip who is a bitter, angry older man who lives on his own. He receives a random phone call with a name that was initially not familiar, and then he recognizes as a former girlfriend. It turns out that she has passed away. He is asked by the mysterious voice whether he has any memories or something that he would like to add to the memorial/wake proceedings. It can be pictures or memories, and to assist Phillip is offered to put on a small metal disk on his temple to explore the memories. Music can help. Pictures help as he can be brought back into those pictures (literally) and talk about that moment in time. What begins as a cursory review for Phillip then digs deeper and we realize that he knows this person Carol more than casually. It was a serious relationship. We come to realize that this was likely the most significant relationship in Phillip’s life and that there are lessons still to be learned. It is so very well done, and I would recommend this to anyone, especially older people, who have a past which covers relationships and lost loves and crossroads where paths were taken and others were not. We can see that the same set of circumstances viewed with both parties in mind, and their attitudes can shape things very differently.

I was then told that if I liked that, which I very much did, that I should watch an early episode in season 1, The Entire History of You and also a dating episode from Season 4 called Hang the DJ. Both were very thought provoking, and shows in a critical aspect of our lives (our relationships) how technology can play a part, in both a positive way, but also negatively. Imagine upon first meeting someone that you could press a button on a machine, and it would tell you the length of that relationship in hours, days, or years. Intriguing. Both are worthy of your time.

Then I was told, if I liked the original Star Trek with William Shatner to check out from Season 4, episode 1 USS Callister with Jesse Plemons and Cristin Milioti, from Penguin fame. Then in Season 7, there is a follow up episode (Season 7, episode 6) entitled USS Callister: Into Infinity where I will say that Cristin Milioti really shines. Together this could be a feature film. There is star power here in the acting but it is also a compelling story.

The “real world” has a new immersive video game, using the metal disk technology on the temple, where game players can enter a Star Trek-like world. The players enter this RPG (role playing game) and create an online persona. This digital version of themselves moves around that world and interacts with others. If you are a gamer, you know very much what I am talking about. These episodes explore what happens when these lines are blurred, and where a nefarious character with questionable scruples decides to manipulate others without their consent. I will leave it at that, because the result is a thrilling and fascinating exploration into the issues that are raised. I am very pleased that I was introduced to this series, and I will continue to review more episodes. I have been told that it can be hit or miss, but mostly quality programming. Check it out.