February was a short month and so this list is also short. Programs new to me are indicated by an *. Everything is rated on a scale of 1-5 cans of tuna, with 5 as the highest rating. Numbering picks up from the previous month.
12. Becoming (2020, Netflix) – If you want to see a documentary about a gracious woman who occupied the White House as First Lady with empathy, intelligence, flair and charm, this is the movie to watch. Michelle Obama was on a book tour to promote her autobiography, “Becoming,” as this movie was filmed. In the interviews that took place on the tour, she reveals much about her childhood in Chicago, her education, her career, marrying Barack Obama, raising daughters in the White House and showing how a real lady conducts herself. 4 cans.
13. Heated Rivalry* (2025, HBO Max) – It didn’t take long for me to see that this series about hockey was much less about the sport than about two macho players who fall in love. It is a secret affair, because their images might be ruined if anyone found out they are queer and because they are archrivals in the sport. There is a lot of almost full nudity and passionate scenes, if you can take that. He shoots, he scores! 3 cans.
14. Same Time, Next Year (1978) – This is a love story about a long-term relationship between a man and a woman who meet innocently at a small hotel in California. Both are married to other people, but they are instantly smitten and they meet once a year at a small resort for their private trysts. The film catches up with them every 5 years, when their lives intersect. Alan Alda and Ellen Burstyn are perfect as the loving couple in this clever and sweet comedy. I especially enjoyed seeing the black and white scenes depicting time passing before each time we revisit the couple. They clearly love their spouses and their lives, but they also relish the time they spend together. I know it’s morally wrong, but I find this film irresistible. 4½ cans.
15. Ella McCay* (2025, Netflix) – James L. Brooks, the man behind “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “Broadcast News” and other bright and sharp movies and TV shows, has slipped more than a bit with this movie. Ella (Emma Mackey) accidentally becomes governor when the current governor (Albert Brooks in a dreadful wig) gets a Cabinet post, but she cannot manage her own life, no less the responsibilities of holding office. She has a caring aunt who can be overbearing (Jamie Lee Curtis), a son with a whole host of social problems, a father who is a philanderer (Woody Harrelson, also in a bad wig), and a husband who has been loyal and loving, but who now is looking to advance himself. The movie is billed as a comedy, but I found no joy or humor in it. It is unfocused, with characters you cannot grow to love. My one bright light was seeing Julie Kavner (best known on screen as Brenda Morgenstern from "Rhoda" but also known as the voice of Marge Simpson) play Ella’s assistant, weathered and worn but loyal. Brooks has done much better than this mess. 2 cans.
16. Song Sung Blue* (2025, Peacock) – Let me start by admitting that I am not now, nor have I ever been, a fan of Neil Diamond. His ubiquitous songs generally leave me with the sense that he is trying TOO hard. But this movie is not about Neil Diamond himself. Hugh Jackman is a musician desperate to elevate above his contemporaries who are Elvis impersonators and not original artists. Somehow he feels like becoming a tribute band leader of the music of Neil Diamond will do the trick. He calls himself Lightning and is an “interpreter” of Diamond’s music, and he has very specific ideas about what songs to feature and how to structure of the show. Then he meets Claire (Kate Hudson), another experienced but not hugely successful singer, and they team up on the Diamond gig, calling themselves “Lightning and Thunder.” Both of these actors can sing, so their presentation of the music rings true. They quickly marry and go on to success, but you know nothing works out this smoothly, and it doesn’t here, either. There are tragedies to come, and resiliency on display. I thought Hudson did a great job as Claire, and she scored an Oscar nomination for her performance. This movie has its moments – good and bad. 3½ cans.
17. Black and Jewish America: An Interwoven History* (2026, PBS Documentaries) – Historian Henry Louis Gates did an exceptional job in documenting the relationship between Blacks and Jews in the US. The two groups have much in common – starting with each being expelled from their native lands and persecuted for their race or religion. As both grew in America, their plight was difficult to overcome, and they often leaned on each other for help and support. Jewish liberals supported Civil Rights and voter registration; some college students who went to the deep South were taunted, arrested and killed for their efforts. But there have been major disagreements between the two groups, too, over issues like support of Palestine. This 4-part series explains the commonalities and the differences between the two groups in presenting some of the most notable events while also including plenty of interviews and leaders of both groups. I found this series fascinating, and it helps me understand the history and significance of Blacks and Jews in America. 4 cans.
18. Rental Family (2025, Hulu) – Brendan Fraser has perfected the lonely man (see his Oscar-winning performance in “The Whale”). Here plays Philip, a mostly unsuccessful American actor who has been living in Japan for 7 years. He doesn’t have a lot going for him; he gets small parts here and there, but he is hardly a star. When he gets offered a role by an agency that rents out actors to serve as erstwhile family members and friends, he signs up. He befriends an aging Japanese actor, is cast as the father to a young girl and takes on other assignments offered by this unusual agency. For a man who doesn’t really have connections in a strange country, he grows into the roles and finds that reality and these roles become blurred lines as he develops relationships with the people he is supposed to be helping. What is friendship and reality anyway? Can he find a better life by pretending to be someone else? The movie is described as a “comedy-drama,” but I didn’t really note any comedy, just sadness and loneliness. 3 cans.
19. Becoming Katherine Graham* (2025, Prime Video) – Seeing this personal account of the life of the former publisher of The Washington Post, Katharine Graham, only made my respect for her deeper. I had read her Pulitzer-Prize-winning autobiography, but seeing her story and hearing from people who were on hand to see her in action made it even more inspiring. Mrs. Graham took on the challenge of working at the Post from her father, the owner, and became very loyal to the paper. Her husband, Philip Graham, then ran the paper for years. Mrs. Graham took it over after his death by suicide. Often the only woman in the room, dealing with men who didn’t want to report to a woman, she nonetheless guided the Post through extremely challenging times – the publishing of the Pentagon Papers, the reporting on Watergate and its aftermath, and surviving a devastating union strike by the pressmen. The most interesting part, to me, was the use of the Watergate tapes, where conversations between President Nixon and his minions excoriated her and threatened to destroy the Post – to say nothing of the crass references to Graham herself. Under current owner, Amazon creator Jeff Bezos, and in light of the recent decimation of the editorial and sports staffs, it is hard to imagine any media organization who can survive and profit during a time of such belligerence from the White House. 4 cans.
20. How to Make a Killing* (2026, Manville Cinema) – Glen Powell brings his considerable charm to this role as Beckett, whose mother was ostracized from her immensely rich family because of giving birth to him out of wedlock. That, and the fact that seven other family members stand ahead of him on the family tree, means that he will never inherit the billions in the family coffers. Unless, that is, some unfortunate fate ends the lives of those in line ahead of him. This is a clever dark comedy and Powell sets just the right tone of seeming innocence and bravura. The story reminded me of the old classic “Kind Hearts and Coronets,” a 1949 comedy-drama with Sir Alec Guinness playing eight of the doomed relatives. Check that one out, too. 3½ cans.
21. Paul McCartney – Man on the Run*(2026, Prime Video) – One of the most popular bands of all-time, The Beatles, broke up in 1970. Paul says it wasn’t his idea. But 27-year-old McCartney wasn’t ready to abandon his storied musical career just yet. Instead, he and beloved wife Linda took up residence on his rural farm among the sheep and other animals, had kids and started another group, Wings. This documentary focuses on his work, his creativity and his life after the Beatles, as Wings soared over America, sometimes to great success – but not always. But let’s face it – once you’re a Beatle, anything else would have to come up short. To me, this movie reinforces my own opinion about Wings not being a worthy successor to The Beatles. But I doubt Sir Paul cares about that kind of comparison. 3 cans.
22. Love Affair (1994, PBS) – You probably recognize this story from having seen either the Cary Grant-Deborah Kerr version or perhaps “Sleepless in Seattle,” where the characters are fixated on that movie. Here, real-life husband and wife Warren Beatty and Annette Bening star as strangers who meet on a plane and fall for each other despite being engaged to others. He is Mike, a former NFL quarterback turned sportscaster (thanks to his influential and wealthy/fiancée, Kate Capshaw), and she is Terry McKay, musician/designer who has worked with a very rich man on several of his estates and become engaged to him (Pierce Brosnan). When their plane is disabled, they end up on a Russian cruise ship, which allows them to spend time together. Along the way home, they stop at his aunt’s house in Tahiti, where an aged but wise Katherine Hepburn subtly helps Terry understand the best qualities in Mike, convincing her that it is time to dump the fiancée and choose Mike. The couple resolve to meet in May at the top of the Empire State Building if they still feel the same way about each other. You probably know the rest. It was nice to revisit this classic story, although the handsome Beatty could never outshine the classy and elegant Grant, whose charms certainly won me over in the earlier version. 3½ cans.
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