December 2023 Movies & More Plus 2023 Favorites

In the last month of the year, I managed to squeeze in two dozen movies and more, ending this year just one show short of last year's 180 total. Following this compilation, take a look at the movies and shows that I thought were the best of 2023. Numbering picks up from previous months and titles with an asterisk were new to me. The ratings are based on a scale of 1-5 cans of tuna fish, with 5 being the best. Happy viewing!

156.  Having Our Say* (2023, George Street Playhouse) – This two-person play packs in the warmth, humor and pathos as the aging Delany sisters – Sadie, 103, and Bessie, 101 – recall the story of their lives. The history of their family mirrors that of the United States as Black women who were overlooked, undervalued and yet so accomplished; one of them was an educator and the other a dentist. I had read their book (yes, this is based on a true story) many years ago and couldn’t put it down. To see it come alive on the stage of the beautiful George Street Playhouse was a real treat. By the time you read this, the show will have closed, but make sure you check out the offerings of this gem of a theater right in New Brunswick. There’s not a bad seat in the house, there is a wide range of plays and even a few musicals, all imaginatively produced and staged. Support the arts! 4 cans.
157.  Ladies of the ‘80s* (2023, Lifetime) – I was a faithful watcher of the nighttime soaps on TV 40 years ago where the actresses starring here – Linda Gray (Dallas), Morgan Fairchild (“Falcon Crest”), Nicolette Sheridan (“Dynasty” and later “Desperate Housewives”), Loni Anderson (I loved her in her comedic role on “WKRP in Cincinnati”), and the diva of divas, Donna Mills (“Knots Landing”) – are back!  (How did they not include Joan Van Ark?) Amid a plethora of plastic surgery, coiffed in big wigs and way too much make-up, they play stars of the 80s who have reunited for a live Christmas special. It’s OK to be campy if you’re in on the joke, and that’s the case here. The ladies still harbor jealousies, grudges and a few have Emmy bragging rights. They clash and threaten to walk out, but you just know they will hang around for one more big, dramatic show (besides, they can’t walk out in the first 10 minutes or we have no show!). So buckle up, divas and diva lovers, because this will be a bumpy ride. 2 cans
158.  May-December* (2023, Netflix) – This movie is based on the true story of teacher Mary Kay Letourneaux, a 30-something wife and mother who had an affair with a 6th grade student. Here, 20 years later, Gracie (Julianne Moore) is married to Joey (Charles Melton), who was a friend of her son and only 13 when the affair began. Celebrated actress Elizabeth (Natalie Portman) visits the family to prepare for her role as Gracie in a new movie. There is just something so awkward and smarmy here since everyone in the movie and most viewers recall the sordid episode, which saw the real Mary Kay serve time in prison as a sex offender even as she had several children by her teenaged lover. Joey in this movie is still submissive to whatever Gracie says or wants, and her children endure insults by their mother. As Elizabeth watches Gracie, she begins to fall under her spell. 3½ cans.
159.  Bad Surgeon* (2023, Netflix) – I remember this true story about a superstar cardiac-thoracic surgeon who pioneered organ transplants by using plastic windpipes and supposedly stem cells to save his patients. He became rich and famous and got involved with a producer for a TV news show. But his research was suspect and his engagement to the producer did not result in a wedding. This is another “truth is stranger than fiction” tale about a man who is not nearly what he seems. Ask the families of the patients who died or the producer whose heart he broke. 3 parts, 3½ cans.
160.  A Good Person* (2023, Netflix) – Allie (Florence Pugh) starts out as a good person with a very happy life. She is performing music and engaged to a man she really loves. But then there is a tragic car accident and a year later, Allie is addicted to pain killers, living at home with her mother with no prospects and no plans – other than scoring her next fix. Along comes Daniel (Morgan Freeman), a bitter man whose daughter died in that car crash and who is rearing his feisty and resentful 16-year-old granddaughter. The paths of Daniel and Allie cross, but can he accept Allie? Can he care for his rebellious granddaughter? This is not a fun movie to watch, but it has its moments and excellent performances. 3½ cans.
161.  Bob & Don, A Love Story* (2023, You Tube – This adorable 20-minute movie chronicles the long-standing friendship between comedians Bob Newhart and Don Rickles. Their comedic styles could not be more different. Newhart is droll, quiet and observational while Rickles’ manic style of insult humor was pointed and sharp. But the two men and their wives formed a lasting bond. They vacationed together and did all of the things that friends do. The film features clips from their work and their travels together and is worth seeing if you are a fan. 3 cans.
162.  Quiz Lady* (2023, Netflix) – Sandra Oh and Akwafina play mismatched sisters thrown together to pay the large gambling debt belonging to their mother, who has fled her nursing home and is banned from returning. The bookies go after the sisters, even kidnapping their dog, so coming up with the money has an added air of importance. Akwafina’s Anne is hooked on watching a nightly game show (hosted by Will Farrell), and when her irresponsible sister Jenny realizes that Anne knows all of the answers, she figures a scheme to get her on the show to pick up enough money to pay off the debt and ransom the dog. Oh’s character is wacky, funny, frustrating and perfectly played. 3½ cans.
163.  Under Pressure: The US Women’s World Cup Team* (2023, Netflix) – I don’t routinely follow soccer, but sign me up for the World Cup coverage. This 4-part documentary traces the formation of the 2023 squad that consisted of such famous names as Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Julie Ertz while blending in newcomers such as 17-year-old Alyssa Thompson, Sofia Smith and Trinity Rodman. The pressure just to make the team is enormous, and that’s before they face an opponent on the pitch. The National team feels a responsibility to continue the winning legacy that began with the 1999 World Cup Champs, and anything less than winning is unacceptable. This is an emotional experience for players and fans, and the 4 parts went by very quickly. To me, it scored! 3½ cans.
164. The Gilded Age, Season 2* (2023, HBO) – This is a series that needs multiple seasons for at least two reasons: First, it unfolds very slowly, and second, the investment in the sets and costumes needs to be amortized over time because it must be enormous. The series takes place in New York, where the wealthy old guard are being challenged for control of high society by newcomers who have made their money more recently. I like anything starring Christine Baranski, and in this series she is wealthy widow Mrs. Van Rhyn, fiercely protective of the old ways and not at all interested in the nouveaux rich represented by her neighbors, the Russells. This season centers around Mrs. Russell’s attempt to crack the inner circle by starting the new Metropolitan Opera when she cannot get a box at the existing Academy. Aside from Opera Wars, there’s also a love story between spinster sister Ada (Cynthia Nixon) and a new pastor and a few other flirtations among the other characters, which sometimes cross the lines. If you’re looking for action, skip this one, but I still like it. Season 3? We will have to see about that. 4 cans.
165.  44 Pages* (2016, Prime Video) – As a kid, I considered the best part of going to the doctor’s office was the chance to do the “Hidden Pictures” in Highlights Magazine, where you would look at a black and white drawing and find a carefully hidden elephant in a tree. The magazine was started by a man and wife in 1946 and has faithfully published since that time, with its focus squarely on children between 5-12. The magazine is still family run and still accepts no advertising. This documentary carefully explains the company commitment to children that is reflected in its motto: “Fun with Purpose,” and explains the approach to the articles, puzzles, features and games that appear in each 44-page issue. I could not help but notice that the editorial staff – heavily featured in this film – is almost exclusively white women (there are several men but no people of color). And I wondered what their training was that would qualify them to determine the appropriate kinds of articles to include. The magazine receives thousands of letters from children each year on topics such as sibling rivalries and friendship, and each one is answered by staff members. I didn’t see anything to indicate their training for offering advice and comfort to their young, impressionable readers. Still, the magazine remains popular, has branched out to an online presence and is still in business after 70+ years. 3½ cans.
166.  The Morning Show – Season 3 (2023, Apple TV+) – I started my Apple TV+ subscription several years ago just to see this show, which airs so rarely that I should have dumped the app long ago. This series features Jennifer Anniston and Reese Witherspoon as the media stars of the fictional UBN Network, an overblown operation headed by the loathsome Cory Ellison (Billy Crudup) and where everyone thinks that what they do is the most important job ever. This year, with UBN’s future in doubt, a white knight comes in to rescue the ailing network in the form of tech giant Paul Marks (Jon Hamm), who launches rockets into space and still has enough money to buy UBN and try to turn it around. Maybe. The beautiful sets and inside feeling of a new operation are great, but there is so much here that has no relation to reality that it is hard sometimes to accept the content. There’s plenty of animosity to go around, with potshots at online media that is happy to put out nasty stories – that have probably been leaked by the “legit” media. The performances here are all excellent and this year had pretty of twists. I don’t love the show, but I can’t stop watching. Never mind, it probably won’t be back for at least another year. 3½ cans.
167. Virgin River Season 5 Holiday Special* (2023, Netflix) – Our fictional friends at the cheery town of Virgin River are back with a holiday special filled with Christmas spirit and a side of schmaltz. No town since Stars Hollow in “The Gilmore Girls” has ever looked so ready for the holiday. This is a two-parter that is intended to hold us over until the next block of shows airs. I won’t get into the plot, but the usual cast of characters is back and there are a few hints of what is to come. Plus, we finally find out who is the father of Charmaine’s twins (we already knew it wasn’t Jack). This Christmas diversion doesn’t measure up to the rest of the season but will have to do until they are back for real. 3 cans.
168.  The Holdovers* (2023, Montgomery Cinema) – Actor Paul Giamatti teams with director Alexander Payne in this heartwarming comedy about a cranky teacher at a boys prep school who gets stuck supervising “the holdovers,” a handful of students who cannot go home during Christmas break and must remain on campus. He doesn’t get along with the leader of the pack, who constantly challenges him, but ultimately (as if you couldn’t see this coming) begins a grudging friendship with the lost and lonely teenager. He also bonds with the school cook who is stuck preparing meals for the “holdovers.” This movie is about parent-child relationships and expectations, about kids relating with and fighting with other kids, and about loneliness and loss. 3½ cans.
169.  Sleepless in Seattle* (1993, Amazon Prime) – Who wouldn’t love this lovely movie about Sam (Tom Hanks), a forlorn widower, and his adorable son Jonah (Ross Malinger) whose mission in life is to see his father once again in love and married? So he takes his story to the radio, where women across the country swoon over his tale of sorrow. One of them is Annie (Meg Ryan, queen of rom-coms), already engaged but captivated by the story. If you have ever seen the classic “An Affair to Remember,” you know there is more to the story. I hadn’t seen this movie in years, but today was the right time to relish it again. 4 cans.
170. Filling in the Blanks* (2023, Prime Video) – Growing up with two older brothers, Jon Baime had a happy life and loving parents. But he always felt there was some sort of wall blocking a deeper connection with this father. When he takes a DNA test in his 50s, he is shocked to learn the man he grew up thinking was his father is not related to him. Jon made this documentary about his discovery, as he peeled back the layers of this family history to find what he thought he knew was very little of the truth. Very interesting true story. 3½ cans.
171.  Lessons in Chemistry* (2023, Apple TV+) – Elizabeth Zott is determined to be a chemist, but, as a woman, she is in continually overlooked and passed over, referred to as a mere “lab tech” and expected to make the coffee – until she meets Calvin Evans, a chemistry wiz with the Nobel Prize just waiting for him. These two independent souls somehow end up together, although Elizabeth’s career takes a different path when she is hired to host a cooking show that she treats like a lab project. This was a satisfying limited series, with a terrific performance by Brie Larson as Zott. As usual, the book was better. 4 cans.
172.  Maestro* (2023, Netflix) – Actor Bradley Cooper plays Leonard Bernstein in this ambitious depiction of the loves and lives of the legendary conductor and composer. As immense as Bernstein’s talent, so is Cooper’s as the star, co-writer and director of this opus. Much of the story is occupied by Bernstein’s self-proclaimed love of people – which he doesn’t limit to the wife he adores, Felicia (Carey Mulligan), as he drifts to attractive men that he cannot resist. He is clearly a man of many passions, whether he is pouring himself exhaustively into writing such works as the score of “West Side Story” or conducting a symphony with such flair that I was exhausted just watching him! Outwardly, he seems happy and in love with Felicia, but you can see that he is never fully satisfied by the people or world in which he lives. Cooper brings incredible physicality to the role, adapting to the image of Bernstein smoking incessantly and coaxing the best performances out of an orchestra with hair and sweat flying that leave him spent. Kudos to Bradley Cooper for a portray of an immensely talented but conflicted man. Intense! 4 cans.
173.  Fisk, Season 2* (2023, Netflix) – This sardonic and amusing Australian comedy is back for another (short) season of action in the law offices of The Gruber group. Helen Fisk is stuck among a collection of quirky characters that can make you laugh or want to leave town. Nothing is easy for poor Helen, whether it is getting her morning coffee from a shop that no longer sells coffee to getting a key to the restroom. The six episodes run just 30 minutes each, so tune in for a few good chuckles. 3½ cans.
174.  David McCullough, Painting with Words* (2008, HBO) – I first remember seeing historian David McCullough when he became the resident voice of several Ken Burns documentaries. An accomplished author, McCullough here tells his own story about how he began writing books (on the same, old, manual typewriter in a “shed” without a phone or any other amenities). His work is deeply detailed and makes the reader feel they know such historical figures as John Adams and Harry Truman; his books on each man earned him a Pulitzer Prize. McCullough spends so much time researching them, reading their diaries and letters, that he feels he knows them, too. He does his own narration in this documentary and even sings a few songs. This is the story of a man doing what he loves and enjoying every minute. 4 cans.
175.  Gypsy (1994, Cable TV) – Bette Midler is a manic Mama Rose in this TV version of the musical about the life of entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee. Rose is desperate for her “girls,” her daughters Baby June and Louise, to have the career in show business that she never had, and she pushes them into acts on the vaudeville circuit despite their reservations or, in Louise’s case, lack of talent. This show is based on the real Gypsy Rose Lee, who became a stripper when Mama sells her out to keep the show biz dream alive. I’m a big Bette Midler fan, but here she is such a presence on the small screen that you can practically hear her chewing the scenery. Let’s just say that she plays Mama Rose to the hilt, and when she does her final number, “Rose’s Turn,” you realize it was all about Mama all along. This is a show whose songs you can come out of the theater humming (or out of the living room, since it was made for TV), such as “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Let Me Entertain You,” and “Some People,” which Midler handles with enthusiasm and aplomb. A little over the top, but worth seeing. 4 cans.
176. The Holiday (2006) – Two women with unhappy love lives decide to swap homes to get away from it all for a few days. Cameron Diaz is Los Angeles-based movie trailer editor Amanda and Kate Winslett is Iris, living in England and in unrequited love with a British cad who has just gotten engaged. The women don’t know each other but find each other’s homes online and decide to swap, with Amanda seeking refuge in a lovely English cottage while Iris lands in Amanda’s modern LA home. Do I have to tell you that they almost immediately meet men who are much better for them than the men they had been seeing? Jude Law is particularly fetching as Iris’ brother, who stops by her cottage and encounters Amanda and finds an immediate mutual attraction. For Iris, a movie music composer played by Jack Black is also coming off a bad relationship. No one here is looking for love and planning NOT to go home, but it is a movie, after all, and a very pleasant one at that, so, as Shakespeare said, all’s well that ends well. 4 cans.
177. Murphy’s Romance (1985, On Demand) – In my opinion, James Garner is underappreciated for his body of work. In this movie he plays Murphy Jones, local pharmacist and friend to all in a small Arizona town. When divorced single mother Emma (Sally Field) moves to town, they strike up a friendship; she needs help and he is a helpful kind of guy. Murphy won’t disclose his age but he is clearly much older than 30-something Emma. When her ne-er-do-well ex-husband shows up to win her back, Murphy sees right through the loser; it takes Emma a little longer. Garner is charming in a low-key way and this is another gritty version of Sally Field, full of determination and purpose. I might have to see “Norma Rae” next. 4 cans.
178.  The Iron Claw* (2023, Manville Reading Cinema) – Zac Efron is larger than life (Literally; wait until you see his physique!) in this story about a family of professional wrestlers. The father (Holt McCallany) has trained his 4 sons to dominate in the ring, even as he establishes a pecking order for who he wants to be the National Champion. Efron is Kevin, the oldest and most responsible brother, but all are extremely close. However, tragedy seems to follow them, which scares Kevin. With a bad haircut or bad wig (reflective of the time period), Efron bears no resemblance to this “High School Musical” character. All of the actors playing the brothers (Jeremy Allen White from “The Bear,” Harrison Dickinson and Stanley Simons) give outstanding performances. The women – Lily James as Kevin’s eventual wife and Maura Tierney as his mother) – have more subtle roles to play but are equally good. The movie is based on the actual Von Erich family, which makes the story sadder and realistic. 4 cans.
179. Love Actually (2003, Netflix – but leaving on December 31!) – What can I say about this movie that I haven’t said before? I’ll just say this – I love to find special little moments in a movie, and this one is full of them. Emma Thompson’s disappointment when she realizes the necklace was not for her. The BFF of the groom who is in love with the bride and she has no idea until she sees his video of the wedding and realizes it is all about her. The little boy in love with the American girl who races through the airport to say goodbye. Hugh Grant as the Prime Minister of England dancing by himself to “Jump.” This movie is an all-time favorite and a great way to end my year of entertainment. 5 cans.

My 2023 Favorites:

It Ain't Over

Maestro

Ted Lasso

The Bear

Barbie

Oppenheimer

All the Queen's Horses

Beckham

A Man Called Otto

Nyad
 

Last Random Thoughts of the Year

I’m perplexed by this whole false eyelash thing. I see so many women wearing false eyelashes that I am used to that by now. What gets me is the size and length of some of them. The nurse in my doctor’s office had a set of huge, thick eyelashes, so large that I wondered how she could either blink or see. She looked like she had caterpillars on each eye. I was so distracted that if she had taken a quart of blood out of my arm instead of just a few vials, I probably would not have noticed. This trend is extremely prevalent in women’s basketball, where I cannot figure out how a player can see the basket with those hairy awnings over her eyes!

You always hear people say that they “don’t know so-and-so from Adam,” so who is Adam and how do people know him? 

I'm so far behind on watching "The Crown" that Claire Foy is still the (young) Queen Elizabeth.

Just when you think you have seen it all, there is a news report that a bull is running down the railroad tracks at Newark Penn Station. Imagine coming home late from work and trying to get your family to buy that excuse. Attention Newark Passengers: Is there a matador in the house?

I was shopping in Home Goods recently and observed a young couple there with their toddler daughter, who was walking around the store performing “Let Her Go” with considerable flair while her embarrassed parents tried to pretend they didn’t know her. I say, let her go! She was having the time of her life!

Whenever I type the word “crockpot,” it is autocorrected to “crackpot.” I’m not sure how to take that.

Bagels have gotten out of hand. Today’s bagels are extra large, doughy concoctions that can barely fit into the toaster – even those with an extra-wide slot for bagels. When I was a kid, we would go to visit my great-aunt and great-uncle down the shore once a year, and we would always stop at a bagel shop on the way home. This was the only bagel shop around. The hot, freshly-baked bagels were the highlight of the trip (sorry, Aunt Bea and Uncle Billy), probably because you couldn’t find anything like them anywhere else. And they were not oversized versions of the Pillsbury Dough Boy!

I am so tired of being this short, having to climb store shelves to get something on top or searching the aisle to recruit someone tall enough to help me. I’m tired of asking my tall friends, Debbie and Joan, to reach the second shelf in the kitchen cabinets (that’s right, I can’t even reach the second shelf; that’s how short I am) to retrieve the gravy boat or some Tupperware – or to change a bulb. I am the owner of three, count them, three of those small, foldable step stools. And the bad news is that I am likely to get shorter as I get older. 

What’s worse than biting your inner cheek or lip accidentally? Doing it repeatedly since it now draws your teeth like a magnet.

I’m at the age where I think ALL toilets, including those in public restrooms, should be “comfort height.” 

In my opinion, we need hooks on all doors. OK, maybe not the front door (unless you like to hang wreaths), but the back of the bathroom door (in private homes and hotel bathrooms) at least so I have a place to hang my pajamas and robe. 

Normally the TV in the waiting room at the doctor’s office is set to dreadful Channel 12, NJ News. But last time, the sound emanating from the TV was the dulcet tones of Bob Ross, the late host of “The Joy of Painting.” “You can put a happy little tree right here, or anywhere, because this is your painting,” he tells you. I tend to fall asleep watching his program; in fact, I have two episodes recorded on my DVR to induce night sleeping on those bad nights. I’m glad I wasn’t in the waiting room for long or they might have had to wake me for my appointment!

I thought my eyesight had improved after my cataract surgery. But recently I was walking toward the pool for my aqua class and waved to my friend who is usually in the water before I am. It turns out that it not only was NOT my female friend, but the person I waved at was an old man with a big white beard. I hope he thought I was just being friendly. 

If you can lose weight by exercising, does jumping to conclusions count? Because I know a few people who would definitely knock off some pounds.

I have a friend who takes his pre-teen daughter to ballet lessons several times a week, during which he retreats to the local library for respite. And while he faithfully attends her dance recitals, he admits that it they consist of several hours of sitting and about 45 seconds when your kid is actually on stage dancing, although that might happen several times. I recall attending a recital with my BFF many years ago and asking her, “Which one is Krissy?” because with their hair slicked back in a bun, how could I tell? The tiny dancers all looked alike!

Visiting Las Vegas recently, my friends and I had our first encounter with a driverless Uber car. We ordered an Uber and a car pulled up with two people in the front seat. One was a “driver” and the other a trainee. We tried to get into the backseat, but there are no accessible door handles: You can only open the door using the Uber app. I guess both “non-drivers” were trying to get their customers accustomed to not getting any form of assistance, because neither of them budged to help us. We piled into the car, the three of us completely filling the backseat. As one noted, we might need the jaws of life to extricate us. But the car will not move unless all passengers fasten their seatbelts. We couldn’t even find the seatbelts, no less get them around us and buckle them. We somehow managed to get out of the car and were informed that there would be no charge “for the ride.” Ride? What ride? We barely shut the doors! If this experiment is the way of the future, a lot of us will be staying home.

I have to admit that writing tributes for people I have lost is getting tougher. These are all people who are/were important in my life and the loss of each of them is heartbreaking. But I couldn’t let the month pass without a tribute to my dear friend, Janie Paluzzi, who passed away in November. I cannot do her justice, but…here goes: 

I thought she was going to live forever.

When Janie Paluzzi was diagnosed with leukemia 20-something years ago, the doctor explained her life expectancy. Her reply? “We’ll see about that.” After her initial dire diagnosis she went on a vacation to Italy with her entire family, deciding to stick with her plans and deal with the disease when she returned. She defied the prognosis just as she defied the odds.

She fought with fierce determination and, despite having to deal with more cancer diagnoses, when she finally succumbed to the cruel hand she was dealt, she had far surpassed any expectations by reaching 69 years old. 

Janie did extensive genealogy research to try to locate any family member who might be a bone marrow match. She researched the disease, its treatments and the best place to go, eventually moving to Baltimore with her sister to be close to her chosen site, Johns Hopkins. And she beat it, with the help of every possible drug and her persistence and strength.

Despite the debilitating treatments and more heart-wrenching diagnoses, Janie continued to work, take care of her immediate family, and demonstrate her customary random acts of kindness.

She married her wonderful Joey very young and stayed loyal to her large family as she built her own.  When their daughter Lauren came along, she showed her love and care as a wonderful mother and ultimately as a grandmother, even though she drew the line at massaging baby Lauren with Gammy’s “wotion.”

I remember when Janie started at J&J, joining our Public Relations Department and working down the hall from me. She was always smartly decked out in a suit, her hair in a bun, looking like the ultimate professional woman. As she rose in the ranks working for our top execs, she kept her first friends and made many more. 

 Janie Paluzzi was beloved throughout J&J. Despite the hand she was dealt, she never complained. She always had a smile on her face and she managed to make each person feel special, like you were the most important person in her life when you were with her. I never knew when she would show up in my office with a bag of eggplants from Joey’s garden or – better yet – with a tray of delicious eggplant parm she had made for me to enjoy. 

Janie knew that I had been a Yankee fan since 1959, but that I had never been to an Old Timer’s Day, so one year Janie, Joey and Lauren took me to Yankee Stadium for that special day that only the Yankees can pull off. It was an experience I think of each year as I watch the ceremony on TV and cry. I’m sure I will be crying a little harder this year.

We all have our Janie Paluzzi stories. How lucky we all are to have had Janie in our lives. I grieve for her family and for her legions of friends, including me. No one will ever take the place of our dear Janie; no one could. She was irrepressible and she is irreplaceable. I wish she were here to read this and I hope she knew how I -- and everyone else who knew her and loved her  -- felt about her. She will live in our hearts forever.

Tina's November 2023 Movies & More

All programs are rated on a scale of 1-5 cans of tuna, with 5 at the top of the ratings. Numbering picks up from previous months and asterisks mark the things I haven't previously watched.

145.  Selling Sunset* (2023, Netflix) – This addicting documentary soap opera about stunning California real estate agents returns for another season (11 episodes) of selling, infighting, gossip, 5-inch heels and arguments. There’s no point in providing a plot summary; just assume that someone is mad at someone else in every episode. It gets tiresome, yet I cannot resist; I binged the entire season in one day. I’m not proud, I’m just addicted. 3½ cans.
146.  Sly* (2023, Netflix) – A revealing documentary about Sylvester Stallone by Sylvester Stallone explains how “Rocky” came into the American zeitgeist – primarily because Stallone could not get parts as an actor. So, he wrote the script in a couple of days and then, like the character, had to fight to get himself cast in the lead. The men in suits who were in charge wanted practically anyone else, but Stallone wisely turned down tons of money to bet on himself. He continued writing, playing and eventually producing the endless sequels, becoming very wealthy and popular as an actor. He also created the Rambo franchise. Watch the movie to better understand how almost everything he did was an outgrowth of his relationship with his father. Good stuff. 4 cans.
147. Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber* (2023, Netflix) – This ride could have ended a little sooner for me rather than stretch over 7 episodes. Joseph Gordon-Levitt puts on a show as power-hungry Uber creator Travis Kalanick. Creating the popular ride-sharing service – an idea he took from a “friend” – was not enough for TK. He only wanted to outdo all of the big tech gods and change the world. He namedrops “Steve” and “Bill,” and “Larry and Sergei” as if he is on a par with Jobs, Gates and the like. There’s lots of talk about venture capital and investments, Board seats and who really runs things (in this case, Travis flies by the seat of his pants way too often). The unhappy women in the ”bro” environment are neither valued or heard. Travis is obnoxious, driven and smart and will not take advice or no for an answer, just the kind of guy you don’t want to work for – except for the promise that someday you WILL be rich. With fewer episodes, this one may have merited 4 cans, but it dragged on. 3½ cans.
148.  What Happens Later* (2023, Manville Cinema) – This movie is so forgettable that I had to look up the title just to review it. Meg Ryan gamely tries to resurrect her rep as the "Queen of Rom Coms" by writing, directing and starring in this story of two divorced people who run into each other in a small regional airport 25 years later. A giant storm has shut down the airport, which is strangely devoid of other passengers, so Bill (David Duchovny) and Willa are stuck with each other. And though decades have passed since they last met, the old stories and arguments pick right up from where they left off. There is minimal rom or com in this film. I wish Meg had been stuck in the airport with her old screen partner Tom Hanks, as in his wonderful “The Terminal.” In this case, the movie was terminal. I so wanted to like it. 2 cans.
149.  JFK: One Day in America* (2023, National Geographic Channel, now on Hulu) – This year marks 60 years since the November 22, 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy. For those of us alive in that memorable time (I was 13, in Miss McBath’s home ec class in 8th grade that day) it was the equivalent of September 11, 2001. This three-part documentary features interviews with the last remaining witnesses of that horrific event, including two members of the Secret Service detail assigned to protect the President and the First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy. One, Clint Hill, can be seen scrambling onto the back of the President’s car in the motorcade in Dallas after the bullet struck his head. The poor man continues to feel guilty to this day. This show includes archival footage that I have never before seen and provides a comprehensive timeline of the assassination, the arrest of Lee Harvey Oswald, his murder by Jack Ruby right in Dallas police station and the iconic scenes from the funeral that remain etched in my mind 60 years later. If you are old enough to remember this seminal event in US history you may want to see it again from a more mature viewpoint. People born after 1963 may want to see it to better understand what happened at that time. 4½ cans.
150.  Albert Brooks: Defending My Life* (2023, HBO, also Max) – This is not the movie “Defending My Life” BY comedian and actor Albert Brooks. It is the documentary ABOUT Albert Brooks by his high school friend and buddy, actor/director Rob Reiner. Brooks was never a traditional comedian. His stand-up material was unconventional and clever, not topical. In this movie, Brooks and Reiner review his life and career and provide plenty of clips of his work while they converse at a table in a restaurant. I never found Brooks laugh-out-loud funny, but I have always appreciated his off-beat sense of humor and the way he zings society. Several of his movies are among my favorites: “Lost in America,” “Mother” and “Broadcast News,” which he did not write but for which he received an Oscar nomination (who can forget the scene with the “flop sweat,” which is neatly reviewed here?). There are plenty of recognizable faces on hand to compliment Brooks and lend credence to his brilliance. 3½ cans.
151. Pain Hustlers* (2023, Netflix) – I seem to be immersed in a sub-genre of movies about dangerous pharmaceutical companies and their irresponsible and pushy reps (see “Dopesick,” “Painkillers” and a few documentaries). Liza Drake (Emily Blunt) is down on her luck, fired from her job as a pole dancer and the mother of a teenager who has been kicked out of school for arson, which she negotiates down to a suspension instead of an expulsion. So, you can see she has some smarts, and that makes her succeed when Pete Brenner (Chris Evans), a man she meets in a bar, offers her a job at his failing drug company. No degree, no experience? No problem! Liza is good at working with doctors to get them to prescribe the company’s latest drug to alleviate pain for cancer sufferers. It’s not addicting, according to one study, so why not find sneaky ways to appeal to the docs to get their patients on it? The drug turns out to be fentanyl, the company turns out to have huge success, and the patients turn out better – all for a while. The cast here is a good one and the story, which we have heard before, holds your interest. 3½ cans
152.  Vanishing Act* (2023, Hulu) – Melissa Caddick was an Australian woman who sold herself as an investment genius. She got her hands on the life savings (in many cases) of her family and friends, promising to make them plenty of money. Instead, she spent plenty of money on herself, squandering $40 million and providing phony statements to make everyone think their investment was growing in her wise and safe hands. This 3-part drama is based on a true story of a high roller with a Ponzi scheme. I don’t understand why people intelligent enough to pull this stuff off don’t take the money and actually invest it. She might have hit on a few winners instead of embezzling the money given to her my family, friends, friends of friends, doctors – the list goes on. When the Australian regulatory agency that handles these bogus transactions came calling, Melissa went running. There are some interesting twists and turns, but by the end of the second part, everybody was demanding that she “show me the money.” 3½ cans.
153. The Lady Bird Diaries* (2023, Hulu) – I watched this documentary about Lady Bird Johnson, wife of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, on the day that we learned of the death of former First Lady Rosalynn Carter. Although Claudia “Lady Bird” Johnson was the wife of a career politician, she had a very fast transition to the role of First Lady when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 and her husband took over as President. Her press secretary, Liz Carpenter, suggested Lady Bird keep a diary. Instead, she made many hours of audio recordings that serve as the narrative here along with wonderful archival footage. The President was a blustery type but he pushed for the passage of groundbreaking bills for civil rights and Lady Bird took up the cause of the environment and the beautification of America, issues we continue to face. Her work was important and should be remembered in a positive light. 3½ cans.
154.  The Jagged Edge (1985, Cable TV) – Jagged-edged knives, a violent murder, a handsome suspect and a “smoking gun” combine in this courtroom drama/mystery/suspense movie starring Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges. Bridges, a wealthy and charismatic publisher, hires Close, a former prosecutor who hasn’t been in a courtroom for 4 years, to defend him against charges he murdered his wife. There are plenty of red herrings here, and plenty of predictable scenarios. If you pay close attention, you can probably figure out whodunit. 3½ cans.
155.  The Intern (2015, HBO) – Robert DeNiro is in a rare comedic but subtle role as Ben, a widower who gets a position as a “senior intern” for a rising on-line clothing company. Anne Hathaway is Jules, the driven head of “About the Fit,” a company she conceived and runs. The role of top exec, creator and inspiration, combined with being a wife and mother, is overwhelming. Although she doesn’t feel she needs help, her partner does. So, enter DeNiro as Ben Whittaker, long-retired with a successful business background who is overqualified to be an intern but with the gentility to not force his opinions and will on the young executive. He graciously stands in the background and assists as needed. Before long, Jules and her family become dependent on him. Ben is old school, wearing a suit to work every day, carrying a classic briefcase and a handkerchief, and mentoring the young people in the office – including Jules. The movie overall is quite charming, but it makes Jules seem at times incapable of doing everything successfully even though she is clearly a highly capable woman (as Ben points out to her). 3½ cans.
 

Random Thoughts: Pre-Holiday Edition

One of my woolen dryer balls has escaped. The other two won’t give him up, but I figure he’s hiding in the sleeve of something I washed and dried. Let me know if you see him on the street. He is off-white and fuzzy. Thanks.

It is so annoying when you wash your hands in the ladies room and the counter around the sink is full of water. I always end up getting something wet besides my hands.

When I was a kid, our choice of sneakers was limited to PF Flyers and Keds. My father, a shoe salesman who specialized in children’s and ladies' shoes, always bought us Keds. Now, sneakers have become items of fashion – and very expensive. But in addition to the cache of fashion, there is a new niche: Slip-ons. You’ve seen those ads for Sketchers that you step into and the back by the heal pops up? No more tying and untying your shoes, no more bending over to put them on. I own a pair of blue Kiziks and red and black (for Rutgers) Zebas, both of which I love for the benefits listed here. We have come a long way from the “Run Faster, Jump Higher” PF Flyers, the first athletic performance shoes (PF stands for “Posture Foundation”). And who wants to bend over anyway?

No one I know sleeps well anymore. Sure, we may enjoy an epic nap every now and then, but staying asleep ALL NIGHT? People I know are up at 3-4-5 AM and cannot get back to sleep. If I go to bed early, that just means I’ll get my “core four” hours and then wake up earlier that usual. I think we all suffer from lack of sleep.

Why is it that Kohl’s can put my items in a nice, strong paper bag with handles and supermarkets can’t even give out plastic bags for the 28 items we buy at one time? If Kohl’s carried food, I’d do all my shopping there (with Kohl’s cash, of course).

Someone needs to explain to me the advantage of changing the clocks back from Daylight Savings time. Sure, I get that we have one extra hour in the fall, but most of it is spent resetting the clocks or trying to figure out what time it is on the clock vs. on our bodies. I was ready for dinner at 4:30 on the day when Eastern Standard time started. One time I was in Chicago when we had the time change, which gave me two extra hours since Chicago is in a different time zone than New Jersey. That was a treat, but normally, the move from EDT to EST is just confusing for everyone.

When the seasons change and I start looking for my sweaters and sweatshirts, I’m always surprised to find something I didn’t remember I had. Today it was a pair of Adidas sweatpants that I don’t remember buying last year (I’m guessing). The fun of growing old! New clothes every season!

Is it just me or does anyone else think about what to wear to a doctor’s appointment? If I know I will be getting blood work done or my blood pressure taken, I’ll wear a short-sleeved top and layer if necessary. If it is the dentist, I’ll wear a top that won’t show anything if I dribble on it while I am rinsing. If I’m at the eye doctor, I need comfortable pants because I have to lean forward and put my forehead against a bar for the doctor to test my eyes. Do you think I think too much? Do you think they notice what I wear?

I now have received three text reminders and several emails about my upcoming doctor’s appointment. Normally, I would be annoyed, but this time it helped because I had it marked down for the wrong day AND time. Oops!

These streaming services are driving me crazy! You never know what show or series is on what service or broadcast station. And then you have to subscribe. But you can “bundle” and get Showtime with your subscription to Hulu or watch Peacock in some other way. If I am looking for a basketball game or movie to watch, I don’t want to have to research the streaming services or guide. Shouldn't there be a better way?

This is something like season 241 of HGTV’s “House Hunters,” which means that if these were annual seasons, the show started around 1752!  Have I seen all of them? Not quite – but many. This is also season 45 of CBS’ “Survivor,” and I am sure I HAVE seen ALL of them! Yes, this is how I spend my time when there are no basketball games to watch at Rutgers!

Speaking of HGTV, it seems like the stars of “Home Town,” Ben and Erin, must have renovated every house in their home town of Laurel, Mississippi. How big could Laurel be? I know that the perspective homeowners have their choice of two houses, so maybe Ben and Erin have only done half the homes in their home town. But soon they will be able to point out the few homes that they haven’t renovated, because the supply must be dwindling.

After months of construction on the streets of Manville, NJ (the town next to mine), a notice just went out to people in the area that indicates there will be construction. Seriously? It has been like driving through a war zone there for months, and NOW they tell us there is construction? The crews have put pavers down on the sidewalks and bumped them out to place trees. From a practical standpoint, that means it will be tougher to plow the streets after a snowstorm and there will be less parking in a town that has one municipal lot accessible from the main street. You’re making the streets look nicer but giving people no place to park? Yeah, that will attract visitors. 

Most of you know by now that I came down with Covid in October, just before my 55th high school reunion was scheduled, so, after working on the Committee all year, I could not attend. It looked and sounded like a great weekend of activities, but after fending off Covid for all of this time, I finally succumbed. I started with symptoms on a Tuesday, right after getting my Covid and flu shots, which I scheduled for that time thinking that any aftereffects would be gone by the time Reunion started. Instead, I gave myself a test on Wednesday and the line that is supposed to be very faint and hard to identify was big, bold and immediately identifiable. I lost my sense of taste and smell for a couple of days and had lots of body aches, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. My timing really stinks, though.

I was just getting over Covid when my brother-in-law Hank unexpectedly passed away after a long battle with kidney disease. For four years he went to dialysis three times a week without fail; even on trips to Chicago to see his son Brandon he had to schedule a dialysis session. That really took a toll on him, and eventually, his body just gave out. The poor man was on the kidney transplant list for a long time but had to pause when he was hospitalized earlier this year and underwent a quadruple bypass for previously undetected significant blockages. He never really recovered, though he gave it his best effort. He leaves behind my sister Nancy, his wife of 41 years and his devoted caregiver, and his beloved son, Brandon, who is getting married next October in Chicago. I know how much he was looking forward to that wedding, how much he adored Brandon’s fiancée Julia and her family, and how devastated Brandon is at having lost his father, who loved him so much and told him that all of the time. Brandon delivered a magnificent eulogy at the funeral service that was equal parts humor and love, straight from his heart. My heart breaks for him, even as he made me so proud of his words. Rest easy, Hank, and may your beloved Orioles finally make it to the World Series next season in your honor.

Sadly, I have attended several funerals and memorial services recently. The eulogies and comments from friends and family were so warm and so complimentary to the loved ones they have lost. It made me wonder: Did the people who died know how much their families and friends thought of them? I hope so, but that inspired me to be kinder and more expressive to the people I love. They should feel the love now, hear it directly from us and not leave this earth without knowing that they were special and loved.

October 2023 Movies & More

All programs are rated on a scale of 1-5 cans of tuna, with 5 the highest ranking. Asterisks mark movies I had not seen previously and numbering picks up from previous months.

131.  Telemarketers* (2023, HBO) – For every one of us who despises those dinner-time cold calls from telemarketers trying to extract money for us for what sounds like a good cause, this documentary series shows that the practice is even worse than you thought. It makes no sense that one young telemarketer would decide to record the questionable activities at Civic Development Group, a key player in the telemarketing field, but he did, documenting bad practices, bad behavior and fraud. CDG was hired by various police and other groups to do telemarketing on their behalf, but if they received 10% of what gullible people sent to CDG, the organizations were lucky. CDC was scamming people with good intentions out of money and the practice went on for more than 20 years. Beware when you get one of those calls. Your suspicions are well-founded. 3½ cans.
132.  Made You Look* (2020, Netflix) – I don’t know much about art. I know what I like when I see it. And so do much more sophisticated art connoisseurs, wealthy people and prestigious galleries who were duped into believing that some of the artworks they purchased were real when they were actually magnificently done fakes. There is a precise and arduous process of establishing “provenance” to document the origin and life of a painting or sculpture. There are various art experts, color and paint experts and others who examine a work to authenticate its origin. Even with these practices, a good forger with the right connections can fool the pros. This is a fascinating documentary about art and artisans, collectors and con men (and women). Worth watching even if you are not an expert. 3½ cans.
133.  Sour Grapes* (2016, Peacock) – And speaking of fraud, this documentary examines the passion for wine that drives up the price of vintage bottles and stimulates the passion of collectors and connoisseurs. But like the art in the film above, is it all genuine? Rudy Kuriawan was a wine savant, describing the characteristics of many wines with knowledge and flair and sharing or selling his collection with many collectors and investors. But since Rudy was unknown to the collector community, some people, including European vintners, began to question the authenticity of the bottles he was selling en masse for millions of dollars. What was the source of his funding? What was his personal background? I know less about wine than I do about art, but I found this movie very interesting. But I think the filmmakers did a disservice to the viewers and the topic by not exploring the mystery in more depth. It seems unlikely that one man could figure out exactly how to replicate the taste, bottles, labels, seals, etc., of many different types of wine without extensive help. This topic deserves a more in-depth look. I’ll drink to that. 3 bottles.
134.  Crazy About Tiffany’s* (2016, Prime Video) – Those ubiquitous blue boxes are the trademark of the world’s most famous jewelry store, Tiffany’s. This documentary follows the development of the landmark brand with interviews with everyone from actresses readying for the red carpet to jewelry designers, stylists, color experts, Tiffany executives and purchasers of the acclaimed jewelry. Tiffany’s may well be considered the face of luxury in our society, from Queens and Presidents, Hollywood stars to the rich and famous. I have a new appreciation for their work after watching this movie. 4 cans.
135.  Beckham* (2023, Netflix) – This 4-part documentary series chronicles the life of David Beckham, English football player and internationally famous man. He is a superb footballer, making remarkable shots and dedicating himself from an early age to not only be the best he can be but to willing his team to win. After he marries Victoria, the famous Posh from the Spice Girls, his media coverage is constant. He markets himself well; while Victoria is about to give birth, David is posing with Beyonce and JLo. He seems like a really nice guy who just by making one mistake or losing a game or changing teams can conjure up hatred of monumental proportions. I know little about soccer outside the US but I now understand the level of fervor it creates for fans and whole countries. All I know is that David Beckham was outstanding as a player and is certainly easy on the eyes.  4 cans.
136.  Dumb Money* (2023, Manville Cinema) – Keith (Paul Dano) is a bit of a nerd, someone who enjoys broadcasting over social media from his basement. What he especially likes is to tout one particular stock that he has invested in and that he feels is undervalued by the stock market – Game Stop. Based on a true story, this movie shows David (Keith and his social media followers) taking on Goliath – the hedge funds and institutional investors who have no faith in the stock and have shorted it. Lots of Wall Street nomenclature here, but the important thing to know is that one person with a broad outreach can drive up the price of a relatively unknown stock. Keith’s followers include ordinary people who are nurses, college students, even one guy who works in a retail Game Stop store. Their investments are considered “dumb money” by Wall Street, but once they get hooked on investing in Game Stop, they suddenly find they have a positive and growing net worth. Should they sell, hold or buy? That is the question, even as the US Government gets involved in the game. 4 cans.
137.  Book Club: The Next Chapter* (2023, Peacock) – Why is it that Robert DeNiro, Morgan Freeman, Clint Eastwood and other older actors still get offered good parts in movies of substance, while Jane Fonda, Mary Steenbergen, Candace Bergen and Diane Keaton are left to perform in this kind of fluff? The ladies are part of a book club – though there is no mention of any books here – who decide to take a trip to Italy to celebrate the upcoming nuptials of never-married Vivian (Fonda, who has had so much cosmetic surgery that cracking a smile takes on whole new meaning). They have predictable adventures – their luggage is stolen, yet they always look well-dressed – but you know it will all work out in the end. There were a few times I managed a smile, mostly over snarky comments made by Bergen’s character Sharon. I relish movies that celebrate true friendship between women, and this one was marginally better than “*80 for Brady,” another senior ladies’ road trip. But do not pay to see this. Wait until you can watch for free, as I did. If there is yet another sequel, I won’t be checking it out of the library. 2½ cans.
138.  Fair Play* (2023, Netflix) – There’s nothing fair in this movie. It is a dark and demented story of man vs. woman, with the smarter female devalued and demeaned by the men in her life, particularly by her fiancée. Emily and Luke work in the same investment office, and when someone is unceremoniously dumped, she thinks he’s moving up into that job. She is shocked and amazed that the promotion is hers, even though it requires late night meetings with an enigmatic boss. Of course, Luke is thrilled for her, his intended – but is he? I would say see for yourself, but I can’t recommend this movie. In addition to the cringeworthy story and abundance of sex scenes, it is one of those movies where nothing on set is appropriately lit, so you have a tough time following the action. In one scene that takes place in the office afterhours, the lights are off but the cleaning crew is cleaning the office. I worked late plenty of times, and when the cleaning staff was working, every single light was on. We want them to see and clean the dirt, right? Not in this movie – literally or metaphorically. 2½ cans.
139.  The Burial* (2023, Prime Video) – When is a deal not a deal? The honor of the handshake between two businesspeople goes unrecognized when the operator of a chain of funeral homes does not live up to the bargain. Financially-troubled funeral home owner Gerry O’Keefe (Tommy Lee Jones), decides to sue. His regular lawyer doesn’t seem quite up to the task, so he hires Willie E. Gary (Jamie Foxx), a tough, Johnnie Cochran-type attorney, to represent him in court. Willie is more than ready and able to face off with an equally prominent lawyer (Journee Smollett) in a big and nasty courtroom brawl between formidable foes. This entertaining movie is based on a true story of two stubborn men refusing to give in. 4 cans.
140.  No Accident* (2023, HBO) – The violent, racist, antisemitic incident in Charlottesville, VA, in 2017 is documented in this film about a lawsuit brought against the leaders of the protest. The alleged purpose of this violent march was to “unite the right,” in which white nationalist leaders encouraged a mob shouting antisemitic chants, “Jews will not replace us.” Many people were injured and one killed when the protestors drove a car directly into the counter-protestors. Two attorneys sued the leaders and organizers of the protest on behalf of those people harmed in the incident. It was very interesting to hear the accused, some of whom represented themselves, downplay the events and their roles. The whole demonstration turned my stomach, but this movie made me feel that there was justice served. 3½ cans.
141.  Nyad* (2023, Montgomery Cinema) – Distance swimmer Diana Nyad was determined to swim from Cuba to Key West, a distance of 110 miles, with no shark cage and no physical contact with her team. And she was 60 years old. In her 20s, Nyad had the same goal and failed to achieve it. After 30 years of not swimming (she became a commentator for ABC Sports), she decided to once again try to live her dream. Annette Bening gives a remarkable performance as the determined Diana, clad mostly in a bathing suit while in her 60s, a brave feat of its own. This is not a glamour role; her face and lips are swollen, her eyes puffy and she spends the majority of her time swimming. This feat could not even be attempted without the loyal support of her best friend Bonnie (Jodie Foster) and the professional navigator with the boat (Rhys Ifan) and others who teamed up to help over an extended time. Diana is determined and prickly, pushing herself and her team with equal fervor. I’m glad I saw this one in the movies instead of on TV. It was something to be experienced on a large screen. Bening and Foster deserve Oscar nominations. 4 cans.
142.  Milli Vanilli* (2023, Paramount +) – The infamous lip-synching musical duo get a touching tribute in this documentary about their rise and fall. Rob Pilatus and Fab Morven were talented dancers and performers when they signed a “recording” contract with German producer Frank Farian in 1988. Had they read it, they might have realized that they were just the front men, expected to dance and exploit their good looks, braided hair and generally cool vibe. More talented singers actually recorded their hits, such as “Blame It on The Rain.” The scandal about the non-singing duo broke after they received a Grammy as Best New Artist, and it launched them into the realm of the obscure. This documentary explains how this situation could possibly have happened, how the duo was exploited and ultimately ruined. I got my money’s worth out of my Paramount+ subscription this month. 3½ cans.
143.  Painkiller* (2023, Paramount+) – This 5-part documentary on the TYLENOL crisis of 1982 really hits home for me since I was part of the J&J PR Department at that time. There were 7 deaths that took place when someone tampered with bottles of TYLENOL (a product made by J&J’s McNeil subsidiary), removing the contents of the capsules and relacing them with deadly cyanide, where they were ingested by innocent people in the Chicago area. Three of the victims were from a single family, causing the first nurse on the case to immediately recognize that the TYLENOL each of them ingested was to blame. This series focuses on the victims and the attempts by a huge task force to investigate and identify the culprit. No one was ever charged. One man, James Lewis, was arrested and convicted of extortion for sending J&J a letter demanding one million dollars to stop the deaths, but he was never convicted of the crime (he did serve 12 years for extortion). If you like police procedurals, you might appreciate this true-life story. I found it too long and somewhat repetitive. Four parts would have been better than 5. But a fascinating story even at that length. And I remember it well. It was the seminal event of my 34-year career. 4 cans.
144.  Race to the Summit* (2023, Netflix) – I guess it is true that men climb mountains because they are there. But here, the star climbers sprint up mountains in record-setting pace to reach the summit. The visuals of a tiny figure running up a snow-covered mountain or inching along a completely vertical rock wall with no ropes or safety apparatus is stunning. Ueli Steck and Dani Arnold travel to the Alps and beyond in their rivalry to get to the top. Only one thing will prevent them from reaching their goals and besting each other. Amazing cinematography and bravery. 3 cans.

Random Thoughts: Fall 2023 Edition

As I write this, I am – hopefully – recovering from my first bout of Covid. I managed to dodge that bullet for more than 3 years, but it hit me the week of my 55th high school reunion. I worked on the planning committee all year, so not being able to join the festivities and see people I specifically invited was a huge disappointment. I tested positive several days earlier in the week and then again on the morning of, so going, even while wearing a mask, was out of the question. My symptoms were like a very nasty cold – congestion, coughing, sneezing – accompanied by fatigue, body aches and loss of taste and smell. It is weird eating and having no taste sensation, so I have cut down on my intake and might lose a few pounds. This virus is no joke: A member of my community died of Covid last week and his wife remains in the hospital. So, let’s stay vigilant. And although I have now had Covid and I am also boosted (on the day before I tested positive), I’ll be wearing a mask for YOUR protection when I finally emerge from my personal quarantine.

Ah, autumn, when the days get shorter, the leaves fall and there is pumpkin everything. The other thing that marks the season in an election year is the arrival of those candidate promo pieces, touting what they did or what they plan to do to make your life better. You can’t even tell the party they represent, because it most often isn’t included on the giant postcard. These mailings are so big that they rival those lamented Bed, Bath & Beyond coupons. Some of them measure 8 x 10! In any case, they spend a lot of money on design, printing and mailing. I’d rather see that money spent on food for the hungry, homes for the homeless, better education and benefits for our veterans. And I miss BB&B!

It's fall, and that means football every weekend on TV. It also means that “60 Minutes” will be delayed nearly every Sunday. That used to drive my mother crazy. She would put on CBS promptly at 7 PM and find a football game airing instead. Inevitably, she would say, with a tone like Beatrice Arthur, “Again with the football?” If you knew my mother, you can just hear this in your head, can’t you?

Speaking of football, in a game and broadcast overflowing with technology that enables viewers to see replays from every possible angle, why do they still rely on two middle-aged guys carrying a 10-foot chain onto the field to measure for first downs? Shouldn’t there be a more accurate and less antiquated system? Perhaps something using lasers? Anything but a chain, which may or may not have been precisely placed and transported to the spot where the ball is marked! I’m throwing the penalty flag!

Pet peeve #412: Baggers in the supermarket who cram everything into two bags when I have plenty of extras. I sort my stuff on the belt, keeping the cold stuff together so it can go into the insolated bag. Today that bag was completely empty, and I could hardly lift the other two – even after I showed the bagger the cold bag and told him to put the cold stuff into it. Just let me do it myself! I stood there and repacked, putting the fish and lettuce and fruits and vegetables in their rightful bag. This should not be so hard!

Did I miss an earthquake in my house? What other explanation could there be for pictures on the wall that are suddenly crooked? How does that happen?

You know you are getting old when you start buying sympathy cards in bulk.

This year I started my Yom Kippur fast at 6:00 PM and by 7:30 I had to restrain myself from foraging for snacks – even though there is nothing here that qualifies. By the next morning I wasn’t hungry – yet. I looked in the mirror and thought I looked gaunt. I weighed myself to check on progress, since I always think of Yom Kippur as a good time to start the latest weight loss effort. I weighed exactly the same as the day before. Then the next day I will eat a TikTac and gain 5 pounds. The title of my book would be, “It’s a Losing Battle.”

Highlight of my day: I was stopped at a light on Route 206 when I saw someone make a left turn at that light. I was shocked, because there is a sign that says NO TURNS and that’s why I was in the jughandle, waiting for the light to change. But I wasn’t the only one who saw that – a police car came up behind him, lights flashing, and practically nabbed him in the drive-through lane at Burger King, to give him a ticket. It made my day!

I’m not a fan of fortune cookies per se, but I like reading the fortune inside. I just can’t figure out how that tiny strip of paper gets into that cookie.

I’ll never really understand cheesecake: Not really cake and not really cheese. I’ll save my calories for something chocolate!

Sometimes I just feel like having a box of Stove Top Stuffing. So far, I haven’t given in to the urge. 

When figuring out how best to organize my kitchen when I moved into this house in 2015, I never took into account the amount of space I would need to devote to water bottles! Who knew?

I haven’t been in NYC much in recent years, but when I went in to see a Broadway show recently, I was shocked at how the whole city seemed to smell of weed. That sweet, smoky smell is unmistakable (hey, I went to college in the 60s-70s, so I know the smell of pot) and it is EVERYWHERE! It’s legal now and the cannabis dealers must be doing a LOT of business because it is all over the city!

What’s with the women in my development who carry a handbag while taking a walk? There aren’t any places inside my community to spend money, so what are they carrying in those bags? I can understand they want to take a phone on a walk but stick that in your pocket or wear a jacket with pockets if your pants don’t have any. I’m just mystified by this practice.

A baseball fan recently tried to bring his emotional support animal to a Phillies game. It was an alligator. You can’t make this stuff up!

I will never be able to keep up with the volume of emails (on 4 accounts!), text messages, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram posts, etc. I’m spending way too much time online just trying. I could watch more movies and read more books if I spent less time reading posts asking where to get a dog groomed and watching videos on how to use a wrench. Sometimes I feel like Lucy in the chocolate factory, with more and more stuff coming at me faster and faster. And I know I’m not alone. You just took time to read this when you could have been doing something else!

A colleague of mine from J&J announced her retirement many years ago and I asked her what she planned to do with her free time. “Clean my house,” she replied. It has to be about 25 years now and I wonder if she finished. We all have plans to clean our houses – although that was NOT at the top of my retirement list – yet it is SO HARD to part with things we have held onto for years (damn you, Marie Kondo). Recently I made an old recipe I got from a friend probably 40 years ago, using my nearly-new looking giant Farberware electric frying pan from the 80s. I even used a stainless steel bowl from probably 50 years ago to mix the sauce. I don’t use these things often but when I need them, it’s nice to know they are there. That’s my justification for not weeding out more stuff, and I’m sticking with it.

Speaking of cleaning out, I have moved twice since I retired at the end of 2006, so I have been through everything I own more than once, tossing photo albums full of fall pictures, getting rid of my stereo system and all of my records (why I still have my CD collection I can’t explain), and yet, things still pile up. There are the clothes I can’t wear because they are too small – but they might fit again – and the clothes that are too big that God forbid I should fit into again. But despite any purging of possessions, I still occasionally find a bunch of cancelled checks from banks that no longer exist. I still have a few old paycheck stubs in my files to remind me how little I was paid when I started in 1972 (try $125 a week; my first raise was $8). My TV Guide Fall Preview Issue collection is safely tucked away, and somewhere I have a picture of my first couch in an ad for Macy’s. Like the rest of you, I’ll never get rid of all of this stuff and I don’t even want to try. I have a feeling that Goodwill and 1-800-JUNK will have a field day when I’m gone!

September 2023 Movies & More

All programs are rated on a scale of 1-5 cans of tuna, with 5 the highest. Asterisks mark movies I had not seen previously and numbering picks up from previous months. 

115.  Virgin River, Season 5* (2023, Netflix) – Watching this series is like visiting with old friends. The new season has 10 episodes filled with drama and warmth, a few new characters and even more heroics from Jack (who knew he could fly a plane?), who spends less and less time at his bar. His relationship with Mel (Amanda Breckinridge) grows deeper, and the usual cast of folks in the picturesque California town face new crises. I love the characters and the sense of community the show conveys even as I have to admit that it is only a few steps up from a Hallmark movie. I won’t spoil the plot, but you can see this season is set up for more VR. There was even a sneak preview of two more episodes of the season coming up in November. 3½ cans.
116.  Selling the OC, Season 2* (2023, Netflix) – The six-inch heels, revealing dresses, zillion-dollar houses and tenuous friendships are on full display as this 8-part series about the gorgeous real estate agents at the Gossipheimer Group – I mean Oppenheimer Group – returns for a new season with the same old infighting. The theme song of this series should be Bonnie Raitt’s “Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About,” as the ladies of the office (the few men actually get along but promote the bad behavior) hash and rehash what they said or didn’t say about each other. I don’t know how they have time to show and sell properties with all of the confrontations and accusations. There is a party about every 10 minutes – unlike any office YOU have ever worked in – and that’s always a good place to pick a fight. So many of the women are named Alexandra that they have to go by last names – Jarvis, Rose, Hall – so it is no surprise when Miss Tennessee, who goes by Ali – shows up and gets offered a job despite having no real estate license, no experience and no contacts in the Orange County selling area. Makes sense, right? If this is so bad, why do I keep watching? I’ll let you know if I ever figure that out. 3½ cans of guilty pleasure.
117.  Sitting in Bars With Cake* (2023, Prime Video) – Think “Beaches” with cake. And Bette Midler. Jane and Corinne (Yara Shahidi and Odessa A’zion) are besties but opposites. Jane is introverted, detail-oriented and organized. Corinne is a messy roommate who would be fun but tough to live with. Jane, studying to get into law school, bakes cakes for relaxation. The girls and their friends decide to take one of Jane’s delicious cakes to a different bar around LA each week in hopes of meeting guys. And then the “Beaches” part kicks in. Bette Midler, who starred in “Beaches,” has a small part as a formidable boss running the agency where both young women work. Bring tissues. 3½ cans.
118.  Call Me Kate* (2022, Netflix) – Katharine Hepburn wasn’t always the biggest star in the movie. She started in Broadway shows, bombed out in a few movies, and ultimately became a force in Hollywood. She wasn’t a traditional female star, gowned and coiffed. She mostly wore pants, smoked and did what she wanted to do, including producing (with a credit or not) many of her most important movies. It isn’t a revelation to hear that Spencer Tracy was the love of her life, although he remained married throughout their 30-year relationship. What I like about Hepburn is her tenacity and drive, her unwillingness to follow the norms of the time but rather take charge, bossing around men and using a few, like Howard Hughes, who was rich enough to bankroll some of her projects. She was a force of nature. 3½ cans.
119.  Mark Cavendish* (2023, Netflix) – The only reference I have to professional cycling is watching Lance Armstrong go from the apex of the sport to a crash landing after FINALLY admitting his extensive use of performance enhancing drugs. This documentary about cyclist Mark Cavendish never mentions illicit substances but follows the traditional sports story trajectory – on top, successful, then something happens and he has to fight his way back. He went from breaking records to breaking bones and had to overcome chronic fatigue, depression and Guillain Barr Syndrome. Unless you are a cycling fan, don’t bother to watch. I commend Cavendish for his skill and dedication, but this is a story I could have skipped. 2½ cans.
120.  Come Away Home* (2005, Prime Video) – Twelve-year-old city-girl Annie (Jordan-Claire Greene) is justifiably angry with her parents when they decide she will have to leave her friends in New York City and spend the summer in South Carolina, where she is forced to stay with the grandfather she barely knows (Paul Dooley) in his old and messy house. She’s miserable and wants to find a way to go home, but, as these heartwarming movies usually go, things have a way of working out for the best. You just know she will make friends and bond with grandpa. One note that interested me is that Director Doug McKeon played the grandson in one of my favorite movies, “On Golden Pond,” where his character had a bumpy time with his grandpa, played by Henry Fonda, until they became besties. This film isn’t anywhere near that good, but it is a relaxing way to pass the time. 2½ cans.
121.  Kelce* (2023, Prime Video) – Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce must be prescient. Before the 2022 NFL season, he agreed to allow production of this documentary about this life and career as a football player. The Eagles started the season by winning 8 straight games and ended it by losing in the Super Bowl, where Jason’s team played his brother Travis’ Kansas City Chiefs. This fascinating look at the life of a football player shows Jason reading to his young daughters, taking out the trash and showing X-rays of all the bones he’s broken. Soon after the Super Bowl loss, his lovely wife Kylie has another baby girl and Jason must decide whether he wants to give it a go for one more year as an older pro player. Watch it yourself to see how it ends. 4 cans.
122.  A Million Miles Away* (2023, Prime Video) – If you are a young child picking vegetables in the fields of California before going to school in the morning, space must seem like a million miles away. But for Jose Hernandez, a Mexican-American, the odds of becoming an astronaut were, well, astronomical. The young boy helped his close-knit family, who encouraged him to dream big. An engineering degree, a graduate degree and success in his field aside, his application to become an astronaut was rejected many times. Michael Pena plays Jose, the first Mexican-American and, no doubt, the first migrant worker to be launched into space. I would call this movie an uplifting story. 3½ cans.
123.  Little Richard: I Am Everything* (2023, Hulu) – Richard Penniman: Gospel singer, man of God, rock & roll pioneer – Little Richard WAS everything. The Rolling Stones, the Beatles and other superstars acknowledged his profound influence on their music and performances. I picture him pounding the keyboards, wearing either a smartly tailored suit or a bright and garish outfit that reflected the stage lights. From “Good Golly Miss Molly” to “Lucille,” that man could set the stage on fire. In addition to being a creative musician, he was a queer icon, wearing makeup, high pompadour hair and flamboyant costumes. He was proud, loud and happy about the person he really was. Like many pioneering artists, he never really got either his due or his earned share of the profits and royalties from his work, which lives on for the rest of us to enjoy. 3½ cans.
124.  Reggie* (2023, Prime Video) – He was the “straw that stirs the drink.” He was the man who walloped three first-pitch home runs against the Dodgers in the 1977 World Series and earned his name “Mr. October.” However you remember Reggie Jackson – before and after his brief but incendiary Yankee career – you have to respect the man and his legacy as a baseball player extraordinaire, a vocal leader and an iconic Black player. Reggie, Thurman Munson and Billy Martin may have been an explosive baseball cocktail, but Reggie went about his business, spoke with candor to the press and succeeded in a storied career as a player and executive that spanned from Hank Aaron to Aaron Judge. This documentary tells you everything you need to know – and more – about the superstar. 3½ cans.
125.  Unfinished Business* (2022, Prime Video) – If you are a women’s basketball fan (ahem), and especially a fan of the WNBA’s New York Liberty, check out this enthusiastic and informative documentary about the formation of the league in 1997. One of the original franchises, the Liberty have yet to win a WNBA Championship (maybe this is their year), but they have provided plenty of thrills to NYL fans. This film shows the dynamics and difficulties of playing in the league, highlighting accomplished players and leaders. I especially like the references to former Rutgers great Betnijah Laney, about whom one teammate said (I’m paraphrasing): When she walked into the locker room, we knew immediately that she was the leader of this club. The documentary also focuses on the league’s legends, like Sue Wicks (another former Rutgers star) and Teresa Weatherspoon (T-Spoon), a player and leader still beloved. Some of this was new ground for me and it was inspiring. Let’s go Libs! 3½ basketballs.
126.  Tom Hanks: The Nomad* (2023, Prime Video) – Who doesn’t love Tom Hanks? He played “Forrest Gump,” romanced Meg Ryan in “Sleepless in Seattle,” survived a plane crash in both “Cast Away” and “Sully” and an almost space crash in “Apollo 11,” voiced Woody in “Toy Story,” and has a treasure trove of awards honoring his work. He helped us explore space and World War II. So how the makers of this documentary could screw it up so badly is beyond me. Some of the things covered, such as his divorce from his first wife and her subsequent death years later, are immaterial to the story of his life and achievements. The script is dismal and the narration worse. I wondered if both were the products of Artificial Intelligence that wasn’t so smart. And more than once the screen shots did not match the narrative (there was a shot of Buzz Lightyear from “Toy Story” when the script mentioned Hanks’ work as Woody). Did anyone look at this thing when it was ready for release? It is a shame because the quality of the documentary doesn’t come close to the outstanding work of its subject. Even the title is irrelevant and seems based on the fact that Hanks and his family moved around a lot when he was a schoolkid. IF you can get by the shortcomings of the production, a dive into Hanks’ work is worth it. 3 cans.
127.  The Miracle Season* (2018, Prime Video) – Any movie with a title like “The Miracle Season” is bound to be a sports story where things go terribly wrong and then get righted. Inspired by a true story, the film is about a high school volleyball team in Iowa which rises above tragedy to win for one of their own. The corny script wastes the acting chops of Oscar winners William Hurt and Helen Hunt, who play their parts well but deserve better material. 2 cans.
128.  Love at First Sight* (2023, Netflix) – There sure don’t make rom-coms like “When Harry Met Sally” anymore. This meet-cute movie starts when Hadley (Haley Lu Richardson) misses her fight to London by 4 minutes. She meets Oliver (Ben Hardy) and borrows his charger and they flirt and converse while they wait for their flight together. Lots of other stuff happens, much of it contrived but cute (as are the principals) and when they part, they somehow keep finding each other again. It’s no “Sleepless in Seattle,” but there are plenty of twists of fate. How come I only run into nose breathers and obnoxious folks when I fly? 3 cans
129.  Flora and Son* (2023, Apple TV+) – Flora (Eve Hewson) is the single mom of a sullen teenaged boy. They don’t relate well to each other and the son, Max, keeps getting himself into trouble at school and elsewhere. Flora is poor and aimless. Then, she finds a beat-up old guitar in the trash, has it patched up and finds peace in music as she takes remote guitar lessons from a musician in Los Angeles, far from her Dublin home. Her son is interested in music, too, and the spell it casts brings them together. Sweet and lovely but not earthshaking. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is the guitar teacher. 3 cans.
130.  Untold Stories: Hoop Schemes* (2021, Netflix) – This is another episode in the fascinating Netflix documentary series on sports. In 1994, Arizona State Men’s Basketball had an outstanding team, led by hopeful NBA draft pick Stevin “Hedake” Smith, a talented point guard. In the age way before NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals started making college athletes rich, Hedake was looking for some income. He paired up with another student who was working his way through ASU by gambling. That led to another young, rich trader from Chicago who figured out a way to bet on games and win, even if ASU lost, because they beat the spread. There is more info on point shaving here than I could ever need to know, but the story just keeps getting better. You can bet that it won’t end well for anyone. 3½ cans.

What's In a Name and Much More

I admire anyone who buys Halloween candy NOW with the confidence that it will still be around to hand out to trick-or-treaters. As a resident of a senior community where the old folks don't go out to trick-or-treat (except with grandchildren, and then only to homes which display a sign in their windows inviting them to stop by), I don’t have an excuse to buy candy at all, so I don’t. Usually.

I would like to make it known that yes, I accept all cookies. I’m guessing that doesn’t mean what I want it to mean when I click the box online, does it?

Why do I have to prove that I am a human to some technical entity by looking at out-of-focus pictures of traffic lights? I guess a fake person wouldn’t have the judgment to make the right selections, but the pictures are generally so bad that neither do I!

I always buy striped sheets because the stripes let me know which way they go on my bed. In theory, striped sheets should be easier to fold, but I think everyone knows I am hopeless in that department!

If I put out the trash the night before pick-up day, the garbage truck won’t stop by until 2 pm. But if I DON’T put it out the night before or early the day of the pick-up, the truck will stop while my garbage is still in the garage. Always.

And don’t you hate it when the garbage is out and gone and THEN you spot that chicken from 4 days ago in your refrigerator that you wouldn’t dare eat now – would you? – that you should have put out with the trash?

You know that old song, “You’ll Never Walk Alone?” Between LinkedIn telling me I have invitations to see and the reunion website Classmates asking me if I remember Joe Dokes and want to say something nice about him (I don’t and I don’t), I can never be alone. I’m definitely cancelling the latter right after my 55th high school reunion in October and LinkedIn may not be long for this world, either. I don’t need a job, don’t want to belong to a group and find this service taxing on my brain. Watch me walk alone!

I admire waiters who can reel off today’s specials with barely a look at their cheat sheet. By the time they get to the 4th item, I have already forgotten the first 3. They tell us not only what is supplementing the menu that day, but also how the food is prepared. They really know their stuff, but how would I know if what they told us was wrong?

Word to the wise – if you are a PSEG customer, you should contact them for a FREE energy audit. A nice young man came to my house, replaced 67 light bulbs with more energy efficient, less costly, longer-lasting ones, installed a new shower head and checked everything here that uses energy. I can’t even guess how much 67 light bulbs would have cost, and I can’t even change many of them myself. I hauled the compact fluorescent bulbs off to Lowes for recycling. This is a great service – and did I mention it was FREE?

I am mystified at how and why graffiti artists create art on highway overpasses and bridges. Do they hang upside down while they are painting? Who holds them in place? How can they tell what their art looks like from a precarious position? And why that particular spot to adorn?

My doctor told me I needed to lose weight and exercise more (for this he went to years of medical school?). I told him I go to aqua aerobics 3-4 times a week, and he was pleased, citing the benefits to my joints and cardiovascular system, but he also pointed out that that kind of exercise won’t help me lose weight. “Sure it does,” I replied. “I can’t eat when I am in the pool.” I’ve been going to him for years, and I never heard him laugh before that!

Of course you walk into a room and wonder why you went there, right? Now I find myself opening the refrigerator or a kitchen cabinet and wondering what I am looking for. Please tell me I’m not the only one.

My father used to stand in front of the open refrigerator door and gaze inside for such a long time, obviously looking for something, that my mother used to say, “What are you doing in there, Lester? Watching a movie?” (She said this with much more colorful language than I can write here.) And one of the things he might have found in the fridge were his damp, rolled up dress shirts, waiting to be ironed. Come on, you had that Coke bottle with the cap with holes in it to sprinkle the shirts in your house, too, right?

My friend in NJ adopted a rescue dog who had been abandoned on a street in Puerto Rico. She speaks to the dog entirely in its native tongue, Spanish (it helps that she is a retired Spanish teacher). But when a neighbor heard her tell the dog “basta,” which means “enough,” the neighbor started calling the dog “Pasta.” Just don’t boil the pasta, OK?

You have to admire Jets fans. The team has not even sniffed the Super Bowl since Joe Willie Namath was the toast of Broadway and won SB III in 1969 – my freshman year in college. Countless quarterbacks and coaches later, the Jets finally seemed to have a shot this year by trading for future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers from Green Bay. Then, four plays into game one of the Jets’ season, Rodgers went down with an Achilles injury and has played his last game of the season – and possibly his Jets career – since Achilles injuries generally take a year to heal and rehab. And Rodgers is 39. I’m a Giants fan, but even I feel bad for the Jets.

Speaking of sports, I was at Yankee Stadium for the first time in a long time recently and watched the Yankees go hitless through 10 innings before pulling out a victory in 13. It was a long ride in the rain to get there, the seats were wet (we dried them with napkins) and a bird shit on my shoulder, but I guess that was a sign of good luck since the Yankees won.

Today, September 14 as I write this, the distinctive and distinguished Johnson & Johnson logo that defined the company’s public face for more than 130 years has been replaced in a move that to me is the worst decision since Coca-Cola introduced New Coke. Gone is the iconic, globally-recognized signature, which was based on the actual signature of one of the founders, replaced by a more modern, sans serif font that you can probably find on your keyboard. Why, you ask? The company split out its consumer business into a new, separate, publicly-traded company called Kenvue (again, you might ask, why that name?). Apparently, they wanted to cut all ties with the past. And cursive writing isn’t commonly taught in schools anymore. There are a raft of excuses – I mean reasons – why the company says they made this choice. But as someone whose responsibilities included handling the approved use of the J&J logo, I am broken-hearted. I know life will go on, but I’m not alone in this disappointment. Plenty of long-time J&J employees expressed their views on Facebook and they were not pleased. This is not a decision made lightly, and I’m sure they paid an exorbitant amount of money for the new look, but I don’t like the design or the reasoning. I know a lot of former J&J leaders who are spinning in their graves today.

August 2023 Movies & More

All programs are rated on a scale of 1-5 cans of tuna, with 5 the highest. Asterisks mark movies I had not seen previously and numbering picks up from previous months. 

97.  Happiness for Beginners* (2023, Netflix) – I think even I could have made a better movie than this. There is just a tiny bit of plot, a few diverse characters, a journey with subtext meaning, a crisis point and a conclusion that you could see coming from miles away. Ellie Kemper is one note as Helen, a recently divorced woman who decides to enroll in a hiking program to “find herself.” There is the usual collection of people – the gung-ho leader, the shy woman, the strange woman, the gay man who doesn’t seem to want to be there – and there’s Jake (Luke Grimes from “Yellowstone”), the good-looking guy Helen already knows. The hike encounters problems, people form relationships and there’s a happy ending. This movie is sweet but bland, more of the Hallmark ilk than a movie you would pay to see. Save your time. 1 can.
98. Untold Story: Johnny Football* (2023, Netflix) – This excellent series often focuses on athletes who have made headlines and have gotten more publicity than they could handle. Johnny Manziel was a gifted quarterback whose outstanding, record-setting season at Texas A&M brought him national fame and the first Heisman Trophy ever presented to a college freshman. But “Johnny Football” liked to party, and no one – not his best friend, his parents, his girlfriend – could reign him in. He was drafted by the NFL’s Cleveland Browns in the first round after just two years in college, but he never devoted time and effort to measure up and succeed as a pro football player This documentary tells the whole story of the rise and fall of a guy who had way too much, way too soon. 3½ cans.
99.  Brian’s Song (1971) – This tear-jerker was a TV movie that remains a favorite for those of us who have watched it countless times. Brian Piccolo (James Caan) was a running back for the Chicago Bears when top draft pick Gayle Sayers (Billy Dee Williams) arrived in camp, ready to take his job. The two became friends and roommates, an unusual situation for a black man and a white man at that time. When Sayers was injured, it was Piccolo who trained with him and pushed him to recovery. Sadly, Sayers could not do the same for Piccolo when he was diagnosed with cancer. There are a couple of scenes in this movie that always make me cry, and it remains one of my favorites 50+ years after it first aired. That haunting Michel Legrand music adds to the feeling of sorrow. If you have never seen it, you should. 4½ cans.
100.  Witness (1985) – Harrison Ford stars as John Book, a Philadelphia cop trying to protect a young Amish boy who has witnessed a murder at the Philly train station. But the bad guys are hot on their trail so he retreats to the boy’s Amish country home with his mother Rachel (Kelly McGillis) to hide out. There in the Pennsylvania Amish country, there are neither modern amenities nor outsiders (except for the annoying tourists and their ever-present cameras), so Book has to wear drab Amish clothes and look “plain” --something that McGillis can’t quite pull off with movie make-up on and perfect eyebrows. This oldie is a goodie, with suspense and an underlying romantic relationship between the young widow Rachel and the cop. It was worth seeing again. 4 cans.
101.  Painkiller* (2023, Netflix) – I now know much more about the evil Sackler Family empire and its Purdue Pharma oxycontin manufacturing than I ever needed to know, thanks to this series on Netflix and the much superior one that aired on Hulu, “Dopesick.” In both cases, the company is shown pushing its sales reps to not only convince small-town doctors to prescribe the painkiller under the assurance of having only a 1% rate of addiction, but also of encouraging them to increase the frequency of prescribing and upping the dosages. This series, with Matthew Broderick as family head Richard Sackler, uses investigator Edie Flowers (Uzo Audba) as its narrator, taking us through the conversion of salespeople into cult followers and watching the most horrible parts of addiction through a blue-collar man (Taylor Kitsch) with a debilitating back injury. There are strange ethereal elements depicted in party scenes cut against Kitsch’s character fading in and out of consciousness). And then there’s that infernal beeping of a smoke detector in Sackler’s mansion (with a house that size, surely there is staff around to figure out which one is causing the beep and fix it!). The Sacklers were protective of their name and greedy for the money (you can look up recent news about a settlement). If you have never seen a series on this subject, watch “Dopesick.” If you have already seen that one, I’m not convinced you need to watch this one, too. 3 cans.
102.  Roll Red Roll* (2017, Netflix) – You have heard this one before: There’s a party, plenty of teenagers are there, including cute girls and cute football players and other boys. One girl drinks too much, the boys get her in a room and…you know this won’t end well. In Steubenville, Ohio, back in 2012, several players were accused of raping Jane Doe. The case divided the football loving town. These are good boys, they said. They would never do anything wrong. Did she agree to go off with them? What was she wearing that night? All of this victim-blaming and assault is bad enough, but some of the boys took pictures and video. And then there were the texts, thousands of texts, before, during and after the rape, exchanged by the perpetrators and their friends. This all-to-familiar behavior was just waiting to be found out, and the acceptance of the ”boys-will-be-boys” behavior will never allow girls and women to feel safe. Do better, Steubenville, do better, USA. 3½ cans.
103.  All the Queen’s Horses* (2018, Prime Video) – Wouldn’t you think a small town in Ohio might notice that $54 million was missing from their coffers? Well, Rita Crundwell ran the books for the town for more than 20 years and managed to siphon off $54 million for herself in what is the largest case of fraud in American history. The way she did it was so simple, and somehow the auditors who checked the town’s financial statements for decades never sniffed it out. It wasn’t until Rita was away at one of her many horse shows (she took off 4 months a year to show her stable of fine horses at shows around the country) that her co-worker had to find something in the town’s accounts and immediately recognized that something wasn’t right. This is a fascinating documentary about a woman who stole with what seemed like impunity and the effect her fraud had on the town. 3½ cans.
104. Rudolph Guiliani: What Happened to America’s Mayor? (2023, CNN/Max) – I think we know, but this 4-part special series reminds us as it looks back on Rudy’s success as a prosecutor in New York and through his two terms as Mayor of New York City, when he became known as “America’s Mayor” for his leadership in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy. He had his eye on the Senate and ultimately the White House, but a bout with prostate cancer stopped his Senate run, and he never gained traction in the GOP race for the presidency in 2008. But when fellow New Yorker Donald Trump ran and won, Rudy was there to serve as his belligerent ally, especially after Trump lost the 2020 election (he actually did lose, you know) and refused to accept defeat. What a mighty fall, from the beloved Mayor of New York to filing frivolous lawsuits to try to overturn the election with hair dye running down his cheek. 3½ cans.
105. Back to the Drive-In* (2022, Prime Video) – The last time I went to a drive-in movie I saw “Swiss Family Robinson,” which tells you how long ago that was. Since that time, the number of drive-ins in the US has dwindled to about 177, most owned by families who have operated them for decades. This documentary was filmed in 2022, when the theaters were trying to survive after having had a fairly good year during the height of the Covid crisis. Going to the drive-in was a safe alternative to going to an indoor theater. Like all other businesses, the owners experienced supply chain issues (such as not being able to get cups for the theater popcorn) and a shortage of labor. But for the dozen or so owners interviewed for this film, they do it as a labor of love, a dose of nostalgia and for the tradition of a small-town business. In most cases, their equipment is ancient, their snack offerings have remained uninspired and often the movies they show are oldies. But the owners appreciate the regulars who love getting out, and while they consider retiring or passing along their businesses someday, they are universally committed to this form of entertainment. 3 cans.
106.  Living with the Enemy* (2005, Prime Video) – Allison is a very attractive young woman who meets Philip, a handsome tech billionaire, at a conference and within a week they have fallen in love and gotten married. It happens so quickly that she doesn’t have time to even find out about his previous wife, no less about her death. But when she does find out, she realizes she may be next. Lots of money doesn’t make for a good marriage. Or a good movie. Try “Sleeping with the Enemy” with Julia Roberts instead. 2 cans.
107.  Antarctica: A Year On Ice* (2014, Prime Video) – Imagine living in a place so cold that when the temp is at minus 60, you think it is a nice day and try surviving without any daylight for 6 months a year. There’s no grass, no sand, and the only people who live with you all work with you too. Director Anthony Powell captures the beauty and the isolation of living in Antarctica for a year. Some of the people who work on various bases on the continent stay year-round. During winter, no planes can deliver supplies because it isn’t safe to fly. But it is the people who work there – engaged in research, or running the retail store; cooking; manning the fire station or in administrative roles – who bring the real warmth to an otherwise desolate place. They manage to get used to the dark and each other and they have their fun, too. I watched this on a day when the temps here reached 90 degrees! 3½ snowballs.
108.  New in Town* (2009, Netflix) – When Lucy Hill (Reneee Zellweger) is assigned to leave her corporate job in Miami to restructure a plant in Ulm, Minnesota (where everyone sounds like an extra from “Fargo”), she figures she can downsize the staff and parlay her triumph into a big promotion. But these people are just way too nice and welcoming, which softens her edges just a bit. And then there’s union rep Ted Mitchell (Harry Connick, Jr.), her natural enemy with whom you know she will fall in love. This movie is cute but lacks the BIG MOVIE story and content you would associate with the stars. If you are in the mood for lighter fare, this one might fit the bill. 3 cans.
109. Fatale* (2020, Netflix) – What happens in Vegas doesn’t stay in Vegas for sports agent Derrick Tyler (Michael Ely) in this suspenseful mystery. His fling with a stranger (Hilary Swank) backfires when he learns she is a police officer back in his hometown of Los Angeles and she has been assigned to solve the case of a home invasion in his house. There were a lot of dots to connect here, and my friends and I were still trying to figure it out the next day: Were there things we missed, or was some of the plot just too coincidental? This movie got better as it went on.  3½ cans, but could be more.
110. The Longest Week* (2014, Netflix) – I had never heard of this movie but seeing Jason Bateman as the star seemed reason enough to watch it. It wasn’t. Bateman plays the rich scion of the Valmont family, zillionaires and the owners of the hotel where the feckless Conrad Valmont has spent his life being a privileged white male. When his parents go to Europe on vacation, their marriage implodes and they are fighting over a settlement, leaving Conrad without a means of support or a place to stay. He moves in with his wealthy artist friend Derek (Billy Crudup), not realizing at first that they are both vying for the same woman (Olivia Wilde, with curious eye makeup that she wakes up wearing). What you have read here is enough time spent on this movie about vacuous people with no redeeming qualities. 1 can.
111.  And Just Like That, Season 2* (2023, Max) – Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) and her rich, stylish friends are back for the second season of the “Sex and the City” sequel series. They lunch, they shop, they despair about lost loves and present relationships. Carrie, still in mourning after the death of her husband Big, decides to contact old love Aidan (John Corbett), who is divorced and living in Virginia with his three sons. And just like that, Aidan is ready for a second round (actually the third since they did break up and reconcile in the original series) with Carrie. There are plenty of adventures and misadventures among her long-time friends Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) as well as her newer friends Che (Sara Ramirez), Seema (Sarita Choudhury) and Lisa (Nicole Ari Parker). Seeing Season 1 is a prerequisite for this course on living a fabulous New York life amid some bumps along the way. 3½ cans.
112.  Jury Duty* (2023, Prime Video’s Freevee) – This series is a “mockumentary” that follows a jury through the trial process. Watching the plaintiff and defendant in this civil case are a group of “jurors” that include actor James Marsden playing actor James Marsden and a diverse bunch of “normal people” trying to deliver justice. Except that only one person is actually playing this straight, the only guy who isn’t aware that this is a fake case. It is not exactly “12 Angry Men,” but this new approach is different and amusing as we all find out the joke is on us – and juror #6. 3 cans.
113.  Fisk* (2023, Netflix) – Kitty Flanagan plays Helen Tudor-Fisk, a lawyer whose bad luck takes her to a dinky little firm specializing in wills and probate – not exactly a concept for high comedy. But this 6-part Australian series is populated by quirky characters and genuinely funny stuff, as in the old series “The Office.” Helen is smarter than the rest of them but has to adapt to the new workplace and the characters she deals with there and outside of work. I hope this series offers a second season, because I’m all in. 3½ cans.
114.  Good Night, Oscar* (2023, Broadway show) – Sean Hayes delivers a Tony-Award winning performance as Oscar Levant, tortured humorist, as he prepares to appear on Jack Paar’s Tonight Show. What Paar doesn’t initially know is that Levant is on a four-hour pass from the mental institution where he is undergoing treatment. Levant, twitchy and sardonic, has no censor and relishes the chance to tackle all topics that are off-limits – politics, sex and religion. His acerbic view on everything hits close to home. And will he or won’t he agree to play the piano? Hayes delivers a virtuoso piano performance of Gershwin so good that you can’t even imagine anyone else in that part. I was lucky enough to see the final performance and witnessing Hayes contortions and skill was exhausting. Imagine how he must have felt by the time the show ended. I’m sorry I can’t tell you to go and see it, because it is too late, but wow, it was GREAT while it lasted. 4 cans.