October 27th, 2025

Love Is Blind Season 9: This was a trainwreck. From the beginning to the end. This was a waste of time. From strange men, who find new ways to be deceptive, to the women who seem to be focused on things like their botox injections it just didn’t get any better. The wedding episode was dropped this past week with predictable results. For me, I have to admit that I just fast forwarded through talking to cut to the chase. Yawn. Not worth your time. I am hopeful that producers find a way to screen better “contestants”.

A Big Bold Beautiful Journey: I saw the trailers for this starring Margot Robbie (playing Sarah) and Colin Farrell (playing David) in the romantic comedy with some fantasy undertones. By fantasy undertones I am meaning that a mythical car rental agency (manned by Kevin Kline and Phoebe Waller-Bridge – go figure!) and they are looking to help out Colin Farrell. They rent David a 1994 Saturn, and they insist on him taking their version of GPS guidance, and he proceeds to head towards a wedding. At the wedding he sees across the aisle in the church Sarah. They have a first conversation later outside the church. Romantic comedies live and die with your connection to the couple and how much that you cheer for them. For me, my initial reservation about this couple was the age discrepancy (he is 49yo and she is 35yo). Yes, it’s a movie, but it was a first impression. She early on says to him “I am afraid of hurting you. No matter how this plays out, I’ll end up hurting you”. They part but not before she asks “do you want to marry me?” That was very weird. Especially after what she had just said to him.

The initial premise seemed to work as the GPS within the car seems to know a lot more about David than you would expect. He later is asked about whether he is interested in a “big bold beautiful journey” to which he hesitantly responds “yes” is a maybe voice. Then he is taken to a Burger King and meets Sarah one more time, and then her 1994 Saturn won’t start. It seems that Sarah ended up at the same car rental agency. They start to travel together and have stops along the way that have random doors, like pictured above which takes them to various places in time and place. Over the visits we learn about some of the life issues that these people have experienced. They, like everyone, are flawed and we learn about both David’s idealism and Sarah’s issues. One stop is with David in high school, with him performing in the school play as the lead. David reveals there one of the early romantic relationships that he had and how it has impacted his life going forward. The rest of the scene for me was just too contrived. The story continues.

In the final act, they decide to take this in an unusual direction involving parents which is as far as I will describe it. One involves going to a place with an unusual view as seen above. Where exactly are they – clearly it appears to be from space – but is this necessary and does it make sense? The scenes with the parents don’t really work for me, save for the one conversation where a parent suggests to an adult child (who they THINK is MUCH younger) that they need to be “content”. I think that is sage advice where consideration should be made towards how you yourself feels with a potential partner. So you need contentment with you, how you feel in your life, in order to be able to bring someone else into your world. I will make a further comment that I am not so sure how one can fully embody another person without a full knowledge of that person’s life experience. But in the end, despite things concluding as you would expect, it still falls flat for me.

The Diplomat Season 3: I finished this latest season on Sunday. I think that this is one of the most well written series out there currently. The actors are universally good, and notably Rufus Sewell as Hal, Allison Janney, Ato Essandoh (as Stuart) and Ali Ahn (as Eldra Park) in addition to star Keri Russell.

The level of drama between the US and Britain grows in each episode. In culminates with the cliff hanger. I will note that there is time that passes between some early episodes of half a year. This will explain the new romantic relationship for Kate as the US Ambassador to UK. One of the things that troubles me is how Kate as the Ambassador is put in a position and meetings where she becomes a rogue element. More senior people than her voice concerns and make decisions and then she does her level best to look to influence those decisions in other ways. As a senior leader herself, she should know the value of people who work for her doing what she asks them to do. An actor who is actively working to countermand your decisions, would ensure that you are not viewed as reliable nor a team player. There is a point in this season when a comment is made to Kate that “if you are trying to do two jobs at the same time, you can only do them poorly”. I also feel as though Kate in her position should not be viewed, nor the implication made that she has gotten into her position by “sleeping her way to the top.” There are many women in power in this show which I embrace, but I do think that Kate has shown her affections along with men who provide her with status or inside information. It’s not necessary but keeps the story moving. But I still regard this as an excellent season and some of the best TV out there. Worth your time to watch, and certainly worth the time to catch up if this isn’t a series that you have watched before, and catching up for two seasons is not an inordinate amount of time to spend. I had slowed down my watching of Season 3 since I didn’t want it to end. Enjoy.

October 13th, 2025

Anemone: When the greatest living actor decides to return for a film, any film, then I will choose to seek it out. In this case, it is Daniel Day-Lewis, taking on a passion project undertaken by him and his son Ronan. Newly released I wanted to see this in the theatre. I saw a quick interview from Ronan where he talked about working through the script with his Dad, and then also directing his first major motion picture. Ronan had a self professed photography background and you can see it from the images in the film. The movie stars DDL as Ray Stoker, with Sean Bean as his brother Jem, and Samantha Morton as Jem’s partner who is raising teenage son Brian. It is a good cast. It tells an Irish story.

The movie starts with young Brian who is at home, and Sean Bean’s Jem tells him that he is going away for a few days. He embraces Mom, Samantha Morton and then heads out. Through the beautiful Irish countryside Jem seeks out the elusive, reclusive, quiet Ray, his brother. Even upon meeting very little is said between the brothers. The movie itself is sparse on dialog and much more about shots with silent characters, either panning in as a close up, or panning back. There are some beautiful shots, certainly those with the sky and oncoming weather. It takes time for the movie to get to the point. It seems that both brothers have military backgrounds, and years before they were dealing with the troubles in northern Ireland. Ray has stories to tell, and this is the strength for DDL. Day-Lewis embodies Ray, and takes his time in telling the stories that have profoundly impacted him. He has a number of soliloquies throughout which provide the background but also the desire for his brother. I just wish that there was more. There is plenty of brooding and quiet as men are wired to do it seems, but that doesn’t take away that as an audience we want to better understand it all.

Certainly there are some universal truths involved with relationships between partners, brothers and family but also fathers and sons. Add in some environmental turmoil, and the situation can turn toxic for those involved. Everyone has scars, and however much one feels that they can relate to one perspective, another party can view it quite oppositely. Boys grow to men and have particular relationships with their parents. Sometimes despite that history, they can unknowingly also have negative impacts on their own offspring, and can channel a parent that they didn’t feel served them well at all. Welcome to being a parent! The pace of the movie was slow. Some actions weren’t always explained. There was a Magnolia-like moment that takes place which in my interpretation was nature, viewed as a safety net by the humans, then having a sudden turn. Religion is also explored in depth and most starkly between the brothers. I am glad that I saw this. I don’t see this as a popular film for the masses, but for those who want to see more of a legendary actor it provides a taste to whet the appetite.

Love is Blind Season 9: The latest season of this franchise was dropped by Netflix October 1st. Nine episodes have now been released (the last three dropped October 8th) with the last two to be released on October 15th. The format remains the same, couples talk in pods with each other, without seeing one another to establish a relationship and become engaged. Only then do they get to meet one another. They then head off for a tropical vacation before returning to the real world of their cities. This latest group of hopeful romantics (or 15 minutes of fame TV wannabes) is from Denver. Note that there are some spoilers included below. You have been warned.

I cannot in recent memory think of a more disheartening group of people to provide cringe-worthy television than this crew. My goodness. I don’t even know where to start. From the first ever proposal in the first episode that I can recall, which is just shocking in its own right, to the later virtual pronographic descriptions used by a temptress (Kacie) to enshare her man (poor Patrick) for good. But then, just moments after setting eyes on her prey, confessing that she just “can’t proceed with the experiment any more”. Apparently love is definitely NOT blind for her, and her desire to find her “Chad”. A Chad is a good-looking, successful man with the three sixes; six feet tall, six pack abs, and six figure income. Now you know. But the men are also as disturbing if not more. From liars who blantently hide with a wink the number of tattoos they have, to another who professes his love to two separate women literally minutes apart and to the emotionally crippled man who can’t seem to stop crying while being passive aggressive with his fiancee at the most inopportune times. It all amounts to a train wreck, where I am genuinely shocked that in previews for the coming two episodes, there are actually couples who will be putting on wedding dresses and tuxedos! Really??!! It is a forgettable season with unlikeable people involved. A couple of seemingly genuine people were dissed earlier by those playing the multiple people juggling act (“my Number One just did [insert offensive act or speech]”). They should consider themselves very lucky to have dodged a bullet with those who chose otherwise. From my perspective, if you are so torn about which of your opposites might be the right one for you, then the answer is, neither! You’re not ready to be heading into marriage if there isn’t some true certainty for you. The fact that you bring your families and friends into this is quite shocking. So in the end, I cannot recommend this and you are welcome from being saved from almost eleven hours of mindless TV.