February 2025 Movies & More

I was supposed to be watching the Oscar movies this month, but unless they were streaming for free, I skipped most. I tried Emelia Perez but bailed out after I understood the premise, which I did not find entertaining. Here are the movies I did watch, rated on a scale of 0-5 cans of tuna fish and numbered starting with last month.

13. Goodrich * (2024, Netflix) – Poor Andy Goodrich (Michael Keaton) doesn’t know what hit him. The father of young twins, Andy is an art dealer whose gallery is losing business, causing him long hours spent working and ignoring his family. One night he gets a call from his young wife informing him that she has checked into a rehab center and will not be home for three months and telling him that he is in charge. Having already failed at fatherhood with his adult daughter (Mila Kunis), who is pregnant herself, Andy wants to do better but barely has a clue. Keaton is very good at playing hapless, and his Andy really wants to succeed because he is basically a good guy. And you can’t help but root for him as he tries to save the family and the business. 3 cans.
14. Kobe: The Making of a Legend (2025, CNN) – I couldn’t help but think that this 3-part documentary should have fallen somewhere between the Michael Jordan opus, “The Last Dance,” and the Derek Jeter bio, “The Captain.” This one starts with Kobe’s childhood, where he is a phenom who wants to skip college and play in the NBA for the Lakers. There is extensive coverage of the case when Kobe is sued for sexual assault but virtually nothing about his estrangement from his father, NBA and European pro Joe “Jellybean” Bryant. Then all of a sudden he seems to have taken on the role of “Girl Dad” to his three little daughters, and then boom, he is lost in a tragic helicopter crash that took the lives of Kobe, his daughter GiGi and her teammates. There is a great, tragic story here, but I felt it didn’t get a chance to play out completely. 3 cans.
15. The Gloria Gaynor Story: I Will Survive* and 16. Robin Roberts Presents: Gloria Gaynor (2025, Lifetime) – There are two separate movies here, one a documentary (much preferred) and another a docu-drama where nothing seems real.  This is not a review of the movie as much as it is of the life of this immensely talented woman who was called “The Queen of Disco” (Donna Summer might well take issue with that claim). Her “I Will Survive” anthem helped to define the power and assertiveness that Gaynor herself needed to survive in the face of the decline of the disco genre, the unfaithfulness of her husband, countless serious medical issues and the power of an industry which wanted to dictate Gloria’s career. But she did survive, and make sure you stay to see the closing credits, because they made me admire her even more! 4 cans.
17. 9/11: Minute by Minute* (2021, Prime Video) – Just in case anyone could possibly forget the events of Sept. 11, 2000, this engrossing documentary covers it all – from the four separate flights commandeered by terrorists targeting Americans and their most cherished institutions, to the police, firefighters, the people running through the streets of Manhattan and the media covering the events of the day. The most profound part to me was the transmission of the actual voices as the events unfolded in real time, how confused the flight operations staffs were as they tried to track the planes and the passengers and who desperately tried to alert their counterparts about the disaster taking place on their tiny screens. This exceptional work reminds us of the infliction of real terrorism. 4 cans.
18. You Are What You Eat* (2025, Netflix) – After watching this show, you may just lose your appetite. This three-part series focuses on a study done with identical twins who are put on either a Mediterranean diet or an “omnivore” diet where the participants are carefully monitored to identity health issues and improvements they experience on their respective diets. The show also traces the food chain to see not only how food we eat gets to the table but also the negative impact it has on the environment (you won’t believe how much deadly gas pigs emit). That part was hard to watch. I think the series would have been better if the focus had not been spread over several major issues. Just the study of twins merited its own look while I found the reality of our system of catching, caging and growing food to be worthy of its own series. 3 cans.
19. 50,000 First Dates* (2025, Netflix) – Poor Nesh. She has suffered a series of concussions that have resulted in a traumatic brain injury that affects every aspect of her life. There is so much she simply cannot recall. Sometimes she has to retreat to her “brain room,” a quiet space where she can escape from the world and allow her brain to rest. She is fortunate to have a committed partner in JJ, whose love and devotion to his girlfriend brings her strength. This documentary reminds us of the old Drew Barrymore/Adam Sandler movie but it is real. It gave me plenty to think about even as Nesh could not. 3 cans.
20. Scamanda* (2025, ABC) – When my mother would find shows or movies so different from traditional entertainment, her first comment would always be, “Bring back Mickey Rooney!” Well, Mom, we have come a long way since Mickey and Judy looked for a barn to perform in. This mini-series profiles Amanda Riley, social media mom and alleged cancer victim, whose sad story was told amid moving pictures of the young mother undergoing chemotherapy, with IV poles and medications not too prominently displayed. That’s because she did not actually have cancer. Who comes up with an idea to scam well-intentioned and generous people by playing on their sympathy for a young woman who just might succumb to the disease? Amanda handled her illness on social media, constantly blogging and keeping her followers falsely updated. How the scam fell apart and the role of journalists, friends and one-time believers is fascinating. Mom was right. We could use a good, wholesome Mickey Rooney movie! 3½ cans.
21. American Murder: Gabby Petito* (2025, Netflix) – When young adults Gabby Petito and her fiancé, Brian Laundrie, bought a white van and outfitted it so they could tour the country, life looked idyllic. They were young and in love, enjoyed blogging about their “Van Life” as they visited national parks and saw the sights of America. But troubling signs began to emerge, as this documentary shows. They were confronted by police after someone saw them fighting on the road, and Gabby tried to take the blame for their confrontation. Not long after that incident, Gabby fell out of contact with her parents, step-parents and friends, while Brian was found at his parents’ home, the white van parked in their driveway. I don’t have to tell you that this situation did not end well (in case you missed the big clue in the title). When things seem either too good to be true or are glossed over, almost inevitably there are unresolved issues that often come to a tragic end, as this one did. 3½ cans and lots of sympathy for the devastated families of Gabby (and not even a sole tear for Brian’s family).
22. No Way Out (1987, Tubi TV) – A young Kevin Costner is Navy Commander Tom Farrell, assigned to the Secretary of Defense, David Brice (Gene Hackman) and charged with investigating the murder of Susan Atwood (Sean Young). The complicating factor is that both Farrell and Brice were engaged in affairs with Susan, and Brice is her actual killer. The walls are closing in on Commander Farrell, as the now-antiquated computer programs spit out information which will lead either to Brice or Tom (dot matrix printers, anyone?). This is a twisty and stylish movie, made better by Hackman, who plays a man of power who is secretly weak and vulnerable. They throw in a Russian spy angle, which I never quite understood but which cannot take away from the main story and the first rate performances of Costner and Hackman. 4 cans.
23. La Dolce Villa* (2025, Netflix) – You would have to be blind to miss the inevitable romance between Scott Foley as Eric, an American father with a daughter living in Italy, and Francesca, the town mayor who is helping Eric handle his daughter’s purchase of a local house. Everything is beautiful and predictable in this lightweight rom-com. Will Eric stay in Italy? Will his daughter get an internship? Will the contractor restore the house? Not exactly burning questions, but with great scenery and yummy-looking food, the movie is a treat for the senses. 2½ cans.
24. Becoming Katharine Graham* (2025, Prime Video) – The legendary publisher of The Washington Post is chronicled in this documentary. She began her interest in journalism when her father purchased the paper and she cut her teeth there as a reporter. It was her husband, Philip Graham, who became the publisher of the Post, and he expanded the operation into TV and radio in addition to merging with other papers. When Philip committed suicide, Kay Graham took on the publisher’s role, rising to notoriety when the Post went head-to-head with President Nixon over Watergate. We know how that ended. This is an interesting biopic that pays homage to a woman who broke glass ceilings and stood up to Nixon and his cronies. 4 cans.
 

February Funnies

“They” say you can catch more flies with honey than you can with vinegar. I say, “Why are you trying to catch more flies?”

My tube of toothpaste and my tube of lidocaine for my balky knee are the same size and shape. I figure it is just a matter of time before I make a mistake and end up with a minty fresh knee and a mouth that is numb.

I made a vow NOT to watch the news for the next four years because it upsets me too much. If some really big news hits, I will not see it unless it is carried on ESPN, HGTV or Netflix. I'm counting on the rest of you to let me know if the world ends.

I had to have major service done on my 12-year old Mercedes recently so the dealer was kind enough to arrange for a loaner car. I hate to drive cars that I don’t own. My car is so old that it still has a key, so I made sure to ask how to turn this one on and off. I just about fell into the car upon entry since the seat was so low! I was able to raise it up so I could get in a little more gracefully, but I can’t say the same for the heated seats, which were cooking my tush by the time I got home. Or the heated steering wheel, which I never did figure out. The day I picked up the car was icy and rainy, so I had to figure out which tiny icon was supposed to show the wipers. I managed to turn on the radio, but the media screen was larger than my iPad, and I never did figure out how to change the radio station, adjust the volume or turn the whole thing off. I guess the thinking is that we humans can interpret tiny symbols – which could be located on the large screen, near the window controls or anywhere else – but I was stumped. I remember picking up my car from the dealer back in the fall of 2013. He took great pleasure in showing me how to adjust the color of the interior lights, which he bragged could turn up in white, blue and many other colors. I told him to set the lights at white and not to worry about teaching me how to change them because they would never be changed – and they never have been since the day I left the showroom. Why is life so complicated?

Speaking of which, why do we have to have multiple names for the meds we take? You’re at the doctor’s office and the PA asks you what you are taking. I show up with a typed list, but even with that, I’m asked: Do you take such and such for your blood pressure? That name isn’t familiar to me. Do I take something different or is it just a different name? CVS texts me to say that drug XYZ is ready for pick-up, but that name is not the name of the drug I have been told to take. Is this drug different or it this just “the name game?”

And while I am on this rant, these portals have just gotten out of hand. I don’t want to have to go to the portal, remember my sign-on and password, only to find that the new message waiting for me simply thanks me for showing up at the appointment I just had. There’s no new information. And I don’t want to download an app for one medication that was just added to my list, either.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest!

If I am not inept, does that mean I am ept? English is a funny language.

I don’t understand how people can walk around with sweaters draped casually over their shoulders. I can barely keep stuff on that requires two sleeves. And speaking of sleeves, if it is cold enough for you to wear a vest to keep your torso warm, isn’t it cold enough to wear a full sweater? Your arms are going to be cold without sleeves!

I have developed full-fledged FOBU as I hit my mid-70s. I have a Fear of Backing Up. I check once, twice, three times to make sure there are no ladies behind me before I make a move. And forget the back-up camera – that’s just an accessory to my head-on-a-swivel to make sure I’m driving safely. The opposite of FOBU is JOPT – the Joy of Pulling Through. I’ll cruise the parking lot looking for a space where I can pull though and enjoy not having to deal with FOBU!

I’m tired of being hacked or cloned on Facebook. Does anybody really want to be me? I have changed my PW twice already this year and I kind of liked the first one! Maybe I should just give up all social media and read more books.

When it comes to math, I feel confident that I can handle the most rudimentary level with no problem. I’m especially good at figuring out the tip in a restaurant. I had to deal with “new math” in sixth grade and at least I understood the principles, even though I knew then that it wouldn’t last. But I think I’d need a PhD to figure out the pricing at Applebee’s. There’s three of these for X amount, and two of these other dishes for Y amount, and no substitutions…Just give me the regular menu and I don’t care if it costs more. I just want to eat, not to do math!

When you reach a certain age, your body has messages for you that require interpretation. I have analyzed these messages and have come to the conclusion that they say one or more of three things: Nothing works; everything hurts; and don’t even bother to try it!

I am going nowhere and seeing no one today, so naturally my hair looks great! I think my hair has a mind of its own.

My collection of perfume is so old that everything now smells the same, except for my mother’s bottle of Estee Lauder Youth Dew, which retained its distinctive scent. My mother died in 1989, and the bottle probably goes back a few years prior to that. But I will never get rid of it because every once in a while, I need that olfactory reminder of the presence of Mom, and that would have to include the scent of that perfume.

Any time there is snow in the forecast, I can predict a flurry of activity by the “Google Group,” the email group that residents of my “active adult community” use to exchange information – and complaints. There are 1200 houses here, and not everyone can be first on the snow removal list. Or even when there isn’t much snow, the neighbors like to grouse that THEIR driveway hasn’t been cleared yet. Chill out, folks; the poor workers who do the plowing and shoveling till all hours of the night will eventually get to you! And at least you don’t have to do it. Gross generalization: Many of us have nowhere special we have to be. Unless you are still working, which is the case for some people, or if you have medical people delivering service to you or if you have an appointment with your doctor, you can either wait in your house and watch the pretty snow falling, or, if it is two inches deep, just drive over it to get to ShopRite. Not everyone has to go all Peter Finch and yell from the social media window, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore!”

Legit question: How do parents of multiples tell them apart? If they are a boy and a girl, that would make it easy. But if you have four little boys, do you color code their toenails to distinguish between them? I have always wondered.

Why are sweet potato fries always an upcharge? Are sweet potatoes in short supply? You can get regular fries with your meal, but upgrade and it’s going to cost you!

Just how many red rubber stress balls does a 74-year old woman need? I found two in my drawer today. I guess I have a lot of stress!

Any location in the vicinity of Princeton, NJ, will bill itself as “Princeton.” Any venue in NYC within walking distance of Time Square will bill itself as Times Square. I guess these locations are considered more prestigious than where the towns are actually located.

 

First Movies & More of 2025

Welcome to the first movies and more of the year, which includes a dozen TV series, documentaries movies and more that I watched in January. As always, everything is rated on a scale of 1-5 cans of tuna fish, with 5 being the top score. Anything marked with a asterisk was something I had not seen before. 

1. Luther: Never Too Much* (2025, CNN) – I began this year by seeing this wonderful documentary on Luther Vandross, singer, songwriter, arranger, and all-around musical phenomenon. Luther had those velvet tones and could squeeze tragedy out of just a few notes. This documentary looks back on his life and career and reminds me of how many songs he performed that I loved. 4 cans.
2. A Little White Lie* (2003, Netflix) – Shriver (Michael Shannon) receives an invitation to a college literary fair where the acclaimed author will be the honored guest. But Shriver is a janitor, and the invitation is intended for the reclusive author of a very popular book. He goes anyway and accepts the adoration afforded him despite his lack of credentials. This movie reminded me of “Being There,” an old movie where Peter Sellars as Chauncey the Gardener is hailed as a genius but is decidedly less so. Is this a satire? A comedy? And who IS the real Shriver, a Salingeresque-type figure who has never been photographed or seen since his bestseller was published. The college staff (Kate Hudson, Don Johnson and others) is counting on THIS Shriver to save their literary fair, but will the real Shriver please stand up? 3 cans.
3. The Curious Case of Natalia Grace: The Final Season* (2025, Investigation Discovery Channel) – The only reason I tolerated this 2-part documentary was that I wanted to see the FINAL chapter after watching the original series with my jaw dropped in its debut season last year. Natalia was a Russian orphan with extreme dwarfism. Last year’s episodes detailed her strange adoptive parents, accusations that she attempted to kill her adoptive mother, her abandonment by her parents and her eventual adoption by another family, which ended on a twisty cliffhanger. This year picks up that theme. Way too much drama here, where I didn’t know whom to believe and, frankly, didn’t really care. If they come back with a FINAL, FINAL season, I won’t be watching. 2 cans and an immense waste of my time. Pull the plug, Tina.
4. Selling the City* (2025, Netflix) – Netflix has cornered the market on real estate shows with beautiful realtors selling multi-million-dollar properties in between cat fights. Instead of enjoying the vistas from Beverly Hills or Hollywood, here we have New York City apartments with views of the Empire State Building. This is high heels in high rises. The drama seems so phony, but the apartments are to die for. For that, mostly, this 10-part series rates 3½ cans.
5. Norman Harris Rare Guitars* (2024, Netflix) – Anyone who ever picked up a guitar in the LA area eventually visited Norman Harris Rare Guitars. Tom Petty, Richie Sambora, Dylan, Melissa Etheridge, Robbie Robertson and a host of regular folks, actors and miscellaneous guitar enthusiasts appreciated going to Norm’s store, experiencing his immense collection of guitars and learning their stories and noodling away on one of the thousands of guitars in stock. I don’t play guitar, but you can see in this documentary the joy people experienced there, hanging out with musicians and trying out the instruments. Someday Norm is going to be too old to maintain his store and his inventory, but until that day comes, imagine the memories that will continue to be made in his musical cathedral. 3½ guitar picks.
6. The Replacements* (2000, AMC Cable) – How did I miss this movie over the past 25 years?  It has sports AND humor, so it is right up my alley. When the professional football players of the fictional Washington Sentinels go on strike, management hires a veteran coach (Gene Hackman, not quite the same as Norman Dale, the coach he played in “Hoosiers”), who says he will take over if he is allowed to assemble the team without interference from the owner. He brings in a ragtag squad of stereotypical players, including one straight out of jail and others who might end up there. He insists on taking QB Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves), a former star college quarterback who choked years earlier in the big Sugar Bowl game and hasn’t played since. Will the team come through to win? Will Shane score with the head cheerleader? Burning cliches abound here, but the overall tone is fun and entertaining. There is a great scene with the team all singing and dancing to Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” – in the local jail. If you want to see a really great sports comedy, I recommend “Slap Shot,” the hockey movie starring Paul Newman and featuring the fictional but legendary Hansen brothers. That one is a total winner! This one earns 3 cans.
7. September 5* (2024, Manville Cinema) – This enthralling drama takes us behind the scenes to witness the terrorist attack on the 1972 Israeli Olympic Team in Munich. The ABC Sports team is on hand when gunshots are reported at the Olympic Village and soon the staffers find themselves trying to gather facts and tell the story of hostages and terrorists in an unprecedented situation. There’s a tussle between ABC Sports head Roone Arledge and the Network’s news division over who should take the lead. Anchor Jim McKay’s footage is from the actual event, and his calm demeanor helped to quell panic in the control room. This movie is intense and doesn’t need machines blowing up and all the other visual effects typically seen in films like this. 4 cans.
8.  SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night* (2024, Peacock) – As Saturday Night Live celebrates 50 years on the air, the comedy/sketch show is examined in this 4-part documentary. Frankly, I was disappointed. There is a treasure trove of comedic classics available that were not included. Instead, we have an inordinate amount of time spent on the “More Cowbell” sketch with Will Farrell. The first and best episode, “Five Minutes,” shows auditions where prospective cast members were allotted five minutes to demonstrate their talent in hopes of being selected for the cast of the show. How some people got cast after their auditions is puzzling – in some cases, even to them. The second part is all about the writers, some of whom auditioned to join the cast but instead were hired to write. Then there is the cowbell episode and, finally, a hard look at the return of show creator and executive producer Lorne Michaels after a few years. Along with him was an entirely new cast for Season 11, which turned out to be a dark time for the celebrated show, as the actors were either too young, badly cast or lacked chemistry with their cohorts. This was not a highpoint of the 50 years of SNL, so why bother to cover it in such detail? After all, Season 11 is now nearly 40 years old and the show DID survive. The documentary failed to include some of the classic sketches (think Dan Ackroyd as Julia Child) and skips over the original Prime Time Players who made the show such a hit in its early years. There are 50 years of clips from which to draw. I was not impressed with at least half of the series. 2½ cans.
9. The Breakthrough* (2025, Netflix) – Twenty years ago a middle-aged woman and a young boy were randomly murdered in Sweden. The senseless crime seemed to have no motive and no apparent suspects despite the diligent efforts of the police to solve the case. It wasn’t until they teamed up with a genealogist that they were able to find new leads and solve the crime. This 4-part series is based on that true crime story. It shows the anguish of the families who anxiously awaited results and on the dedication of the police officer in charge of investigating the crime. The dialog is dubbed in British English from its original Swedish. Just as the investigation dragged on, so did some of the series. 3 cans.
10. Unstoppable* (2024, Prime Video) – Most sports movies are full of cliches: The hero is determined to succeed in the face of adversity and, in the end, triumphs on or off the field of play. But this drama, despite the cliches, stands out a bit. Anthony Robles was born with one leg to a 16-year-old single mother. She eventually marries and has a bunch of other kids, with the family always living at or beneath the poverty line. Her husband is abusive and arrogant and not Anthony’s birth father. But when he wrestles, Anthony doesn’t think about what he doesn’t have – a stable home, a real father, or two legs. He does everything he can to prepare himself mentally and physically to be a champion. This is a true story, and it is impressive. Champions aren’t necessarily the biggest and strongest or born to be champions. Some champions get there with the unending support of a mother (Jennifer Lopez in a fine performance) or other mentor and sheer will. This isn’t exactly Rocky or Rudy, but it is Robles. 3½ cans.
11. Gypsy* (Broadway) – Everything’s coming up roses in this wonderful revival of the classic Broadway musical starring Broadway veteran Audra McDonald. She dominates the stage as overwrought Rose, the ultimate stage mother, determined to make stars out of her vivacious daughter June and her shy, reluctant daughter Louise. This show harkens back to the days when musicals were teeming with memorable numbers, unlike today’s “jukebox” musicals that take existing songs and cobble together a plot around them. I had chills from the opening number, and each time Audra opened her mouth, I was mesmerized. Her Rose is a desperate woman and requires a certain amount of grittiness, which McDonald handled very well. I was waiting for the big finish with the show’s classic song, “Rose’s Turn,” and it did not disappoint. I went to a matinee, and I cannot imagine how the cast could perform the show again that evening! I’m just thrilled I caught it with Audra McDonald in the lead, because she definitely entertained me. 4½ cans.
12. You’re Cordially Invited* (2025, Prime Video) – I urge you to turn down the invitation to watch this alleged rom-com, despite the presence of such veteran actors as Reese Witherspoon and Will Ferrell. Reese plays Margot, whose sister is getting married. Ferrell is Jim, a widower whose daughter is also getting married, and the venue has inadvertently booked both parties for the same weekend. Although the families don’t know each other, they agree to share the facility, and chaos ensues. Predictable chaos. Who couldn’t figure out that the wedding ceremony on the dock would end with the wedding party in the water or that the crazy dancing would end with the cake toppling over? Come on! But an alligator in a bed? That’s one of the more ridiculous and stupid parts of this movie. I could spend time pointing out the insipid scenes in this movie or the cliched views of Southerners portrayed here, but I spent enough time just watching this movie so you won’t have to. Giving it 1 can is being kind.