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.
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