May was a month of movies & more, with 16 programs in the can. Two were about Julia Child, the perfect companion to Stanley Tucci's return to "Searching for Italy" CNN series. There are a bunch of documentaries and docu-dramas, a musical and two trips to an actual movie theater. Numbering picks up from previous months and programs marked with an asterisk are ones I had not seen previously. The rankings go from 0-5 cans of tuna, with 5 cans the top score.
60. Julia* (2022, HBO Max) – This delicious 8-part program relives the “French Chef” series that debuted on WGBH Boston in 1963, starring the indomitable Julia Child. The author of a cookbook, Julia is invited to discuss her tome on a talk show, but when she shows up asking for a hotplate and toting all the fixings for what looks like the best omelet ever, a star is born. Sara Lancashire embodies Julia, dwarfing her husband Paul (David Hyde Pierce) and taking public broadcasting by storm. I’m still not sure where she acquired her odd accent, but all I know is that the food and camaraderie, along with the relationship between Julia and Paul will have me coming back for season 2. 4 yummy omelets!
61. Winning Time: The Rise of The Lakers Dynasty* (2022, HBO) – No one gets off easy in this dramatized series about the rise of the Los Angeles Lakers under new owner Dr. Jerry Buss starting in 1979. His show biz style needs a dynamic young star like Magic Johnson, fresh out of college and ready to play ball. All-star and eventual Hall of Famer Kareem Abdul Jabbar is depicted as sullen and aloof. Johnson’s college and Celtics rival, Larry Bird, comes across as mean and nasty, and Johnson’s Laker teammates are self-centered clowns. Hall of Fame Laker Jerry West probably gets the worst treatment, as he is shown as a failing coach with alcohol and anger issues. Magic Johnson, with his electric smile and womanizing ways, comes off looking self-centered and careless. The actors who play these roles take it to the limit and then some, but special kudos must go to John C. Reilly for playing Buss. The bad comb-over, the shirts open to the navel, the smarmy behavior are all brought to the screen with great gusto. This is NOT your typical sports movie/series. I don’t think I’ll follow this series beyond this one memorable season. 3 cans.
62. Challenger: The Final Flight* (2020, Netflix) – Remember Christa McAuliffe, the first teacher scheduled to go into space on the Space Shuttle? Remember the “O-rings?” That fatal day, January 28, 1986, was the worst disaster in the history of NASA, as there was an explosion in the solid rocket booster just seconds into the ill-fated flight. Seven astronauts lost their lives in a controversial explosion that may well have been avoided if not for the insistence of NASA that it was safe to launch despite record cold temperatures. This four-part documentary takes us through the selection of the astronauts, their training, the detailed preparation undertaken by manufacturer Morton Thiokol – the maker of the O-rings – the role of NASA, the red flags raised in advance of the launch and the work of the committee charged with investigating the failure. I was fascinated and saddened by what transpired then and now. 4 cans.
63. Anything Goes* (2022, PBS Great Performances) – Great performances indeed in this classic Cole Porter musical starring actress, singer, dancer Sutton Foster as Reno Sweeney and a talented cast. This madcap comedy – just short (in my mind) of zany – gives Foster an opportunity to show off her singing and dancing chops, especially in the tap dance centerpiece title song. She is a whirling dervish, tapping away endlessly while I watched breathlessly. The story is sweet and a little silly but this performance, recorded in London, brings the joy and the energy. If you are a fan of musicals and Cole Porter, you will want to see this! 4 cans.
64. A Walk on the Moon* (2022, live theater at the George Street Playhouse) – The producers of this musical have translated a movie I have always loved into a stage experience that is worthy of Broadway. It is 1969, and men are landing on the moon, protestors are marching against the Vietnam War and women are awakening to the feminine mystique. But in a Catskills bungalow community for the summer, Pearl Kantrowitz (Jackie Burns, who carries the show) is expected to tend to her husband Marty – who comes up from New York for summer weekends – her rebellious teenage daughter Allison and her young son, Danny, along with mother-in-law Bubbie. Pearl feels her life lacks something beyond the mah jongg games with the ladies but she isn’t sure just what. Then she meets the “blouse man” who comes to the resort to pitch his wears. He pitches more than that. Just as her daughter is awakening to being 15, Pearl awakens to see herself being more than a wife and mother. Burns belts out some terrific tunes as she strives to understand emerging hippie culture at Woodstock and falls for the Blouse Man. The cast is outstanding, the staging extremely imaginative and the show itself thoughtful and entertaining. 4 cans.
65. As We Rise: 25 Years of the WNBA* (2022, NBA-TV) – This women’s professional basketball league is the longest running pro sports league for women. As I got more interested in women’s college basketball in this century, I started following the players I had seen in college go on to their professional careers and become WNBA stars. This documentary traces the origin of the league from its establishment by the NBA, its first superstars, championship teams and expansion. Today, the players earn more money than ever before, and they have committed to a social justice platform that supports the oppressed. I could not be more impressed with 144 women who also put a round ball into a hoop for a living. 3½ hoops.
66. Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story* (2014, Netflix) – If you need evidence of food waste, you need go no further than my house. But this movie does go further in detailing the massive food waste issue, where perfectly good food is discarded every day. That’s why filmmakers Grant Baldwin and Jenny Rustemeyer decided to conduct an experiment to see if they could get by just living on discarded food for six months. They started with the extra stuff in a friend’s refrigerator and progressed on to stores “culling” – tossing out – merchandise that was damaged or past its expiration date. They dumpster-dived to source their food, finding plenty of packaged goods that were still well within their usable lifespan. They also feasted on fruits and vegetables too bruised to put on display. The movie shares plenty of statistics about how much food is consumed and wasted, and also links food waste to energy waste, enlarging the issue further. I’m sure I wouldn’t last a day in this experiment, but these folks did. All that waste is a sobering thought that made me feel guilty for getting rid of things before their time. 3½ cans of unexpired food.
67. The Duke* (made in 2020 but just released at the movies) – All I had to see was that this movie stars Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren and I knew it was for me – and I saw it on “Half-Price Tuesday,” so it only set me back $4! The theater didn’t make much money on this one since I was one of only people there. The story centers on Kempton Bunton (Broadbent), a feisty 60-year old (who looks much older) taxi driver living near London who delights in ruffling feathers. He rails against paying taxes and is especially miffed at the government requirement that people with televisions purchase licenses to watch the BBC. He constantly demonstrates, which occasionally leads to some modest jail time. His wife Dorothy (Helen Mirren) doesn’t agree with his ideas or actions and the two go at each other in a way only an old married couple can. When all of England is smitten with the addition by the National Gallery of a Goya painting of the Duke of Wellington, Kempton makes his way into the Museum and somehow walks off with the painting, which he totes home and hides in the back of a bureau. He’s not looking for a ransom, just using it to make a point. This is a charming little movie and the chemistry between the leads is irresistible. I would have liked it even at full price! 4 cans.
68. Our Father* (2022, Netflix) – This jarring documentary is about women in the Indianapolis area who were treated by a fertility doctor, Dr. Donald Cline, and became pregnant with what they thought was the help of sperm donors – or, in some cases, the sperm of their own husbands. But years later, one woman whose mother was treated by Dr. Cline decided to check her DNA. The only blond, blue-eyed child in her family, Jacoba had questions. Her findings were devastating. The doctor who told his patients their sperm donors were medical students, and that no one donor was used more than three times, had lied. In fact, he was the sperm donor, impregnating dozens of women in one location, resulting in a very large number of half-siblings. The implications of his acts were people who knew each other being related, some with medical conditions that they could not explain from their family histories until they discovered the truth. I won’t even tell you how many siblings resulted from the evil acts of this man. Watch the movie to learn more. 4 cans.
69. Only the Brave* (2017, On Demand) – I have new respect for firefighters after seeing this drama about the elite Granite Mountain Hotshots, a municipal fire department in Arizona that was elevated to the highest status because of their record in fighting deadly fires. Josh Brolin is the tough superintendent, surrounded by younger men who worship him and are dedicated to their jobs. Family life is tough for all of the men, who never know when they will be called into action. They fight fires, deal with constantly changing conditions of shifting winds and work with other squads to contain and control enormous blazes. This isn’t the typical Tina movie, but I wanted to see Myles Teller in something else (I’m watching the series “The Offer” about the making of “The Godfather” on HBO Max, and he stars as producer Al Ruddy). Here he is a very young guy who can’t seem to get his life together, but when the Hotshots take a chance on him, he rises to the occasion. There is an abundance of testosterone on display here, lots of action and plenty of heat and heart. 3½ cans.
70. Julia* (2021, Prime Video) – This documentary movie is my second go-round with Julia Child this month, and it was worth the trip. Julia started cooking relatively late in life. It took her 12 years to write her classic “Mastering the Art of French Cooking” and get it published, and, to everyone’s surprise, her first appearance on a book show on public television’s WGBH made the audience take notice. She was one of public broadcasting’s first real stars, and it could be argued that she is responsible not only for elevating the art of cooking in this country but also for the enormous popularity of cookbooks in general. She really was the first celebrity chef! This program traces her life, but let’s face it, it is the food that catches your eye. Every bit of it looks delicious (using all of that butter doesn’t hurt, either) and, while nothing she made is as simple as she tried to make it sound, Julia, who trained at Le Cordon Blu in Paris, had excellent technical skills. I’ll have what she’s having! 4 skillets and a pound of butter.
71. Mona Lisa Smile (2003, HBO) – Julia Roberts’ megawatt smile will always outdo the one on the classic Mona Lisa – at least in width. Here she is Katherine Watson, an art history professor from California (you know those liberal artsy folks) who has migrated east to teach at very snooty Wellesley. Most of the bright young ladies there are transfixed on getting an MRS degree, meeting and marrying a suitable young man and willing to subjugate any career dreams to defer to their man. But Katherine is determined to make her students see beyond the obvious, both in their choices for the future and in the works of art they study. The school emphasizes the importance of subservience to your man; his career and needs must come first. When Watson tells one student (Julia Stiles) that she can apply and attend Yale Law School and still be married, the very idea is revolutionary in the 1960s. The excellent cast represents a variety of types from the studious to the rebellious, but all are affected by the teaching of Ms. Watson, in and out of the classroom. 3½ cans.
72. Downton Abbey: A New Era* (2022, Manville Cinema) – I spent some time with some dear old friends today, the sprawling Crawley family and their staff, and, like time spent with real-life friends, there was laughter and tears, happy memories and future hopes. The plot summary is simple: The Dowager Countess (Dame Maggie Smith) unexpectedly inherits a villa in the South of France from an old suitor and several members of the family go to check the place out. (Asked why she didn’t turn it down since her one-time flame eventually married someone else, Lady Crawley points out that she would not be someone to turn down a villa in the South of France.) Meanwhile, back at Downton, Lady Mary is supervising a movie crew that is using the estate for a silent movie, much to the delight of the servants who are enamored with the idea of movie stars in their home and much to the consternation of former butler Mr. Carson, who is shipped off to France to stay out of the producer’s hair. The Crawley’s are in it for the money: the Downton roof is leaking, and the producers offer plenty of cash to cover the replacement. Even rich people have money problems, I guess. The plot may be a bit contrived (is Lord Grantham the son of Violet’s suitor? Will Mary fall for the dashing director in the absence of her traveling husband? Is Moseby actually capable of doctoring the movie script?), but that doesn’t matter. Once again, we get to see these characters relate to each other in a heartwarming way. I’ll admit it, I was choking back tears at the end. I don’t know if Julian Fellowes can go to this well again, but if he does, I’ll be on hand to see the results of his imagination. I’ll give it 4 cans based on my overall love for this program, not limited to the new movie.
73. Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, Season 2* (2022, CNN) – Actor Stanley Tucci and his discerning tastebuds set off for new regions in Italy in the second season of this scrumptious series, from Venice to Umbria. He visits with local restauranteurs and old friends as they uncover the delicacies and the methods used to prepare regional favorites. Oddly enough, the 4th episode of this disappointingly short season (only four episodes!) focuses on the enormous appetite for Italian food in London, of all places. The look of pleasure on Stanley’s face when he samples something as simple as pasta with garlic and lemon is enough to make me drool. I hope Stanley has another trip planned because I am hungry for more! 4 cans.
74. Wish You Well* (2013, Prime Video) – When a young sister and brother, Lou and Oz, lose their father in a car accident and their mother is disabled in a permanent state of shock, they go to live with their great grandmother, Louisa (Ellen Burstyn) on her farm in Virginia. The views are spectacular, but the climate is hostile, with overt racism toward the young Black man who works for Louisa and disrespect for the children who didn’t grow up there. When the local coal operation wants to buy Louisa’s property, she is ready to defend her land and her family from the greedy company and the nasty neighbor. Josh Lucas plays a young attorney trying to protect the feisty great grandmother. This film is sweet and sentimental, with a variety of love and loss. But the scenery in rural Virginia in the 1940s is gorgeous. 3 cans.
75. Colewell* (2019, Prime Video) – There’s not much happening in sleepy little Colewell, PA, up near Wilkes Barre, but whatever it is, people at the post office will know about it. Nora (Karen Allen) has run the local post office for years in the kind of community where people prefer to go and collect their mail rather than have it delivered. She goes about her quiet daily routine – feeding her chickens and harvesting the eggs for breakfast, putting on her drab blue post office sweater and opening the door to the post office, which is part of the lonely farmhouse where she has lived for years. Friends and neighbors come by to retrieve their mail, have a cup of coffee, knit and see each other in what is the social center of the town. But then Nora gets a letter (ironically) from the regional office informing her that her tiny post office will be closed and her job will be eliminated. Sure, she could get on a bus and go to a neighboring town and work there, but no one likes that idea. The townsfolk fight for her, but it is a losing cause. This is the opposite of an action film, but, even so, I won’t spoil the plot for you. Allen – whom I remember best as Boone’s girlfriend in the classic comedy “Animal House” – gives an affecting performance as a lonely woman who has seen her life go by without much to show for it, but she doesn’t need much. If you like a quiet character study, take a trip to Colewell. 3½ cans.
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