May 2022 Movies & More

May was a month of movies & more, with 16 programs in the can. Two were about Julia Child, the perfect companion to Stanley Tucci's return to "Searching for Italy" CNN series. There are a bunch of documentaries and docu-dramas, a musical and two trips to an actual movie theater. Numbering picks up from previous months and programs marked with an asterisk are ones I had not seen previously. The rankings go from 0-5 cans of tuna, with 5 cans the top score.

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

 

May Days 2022

If you go to Target and walk around and don’t buy anything, is that considered “Target practice?”

As I drove down the Garden State Parkway recently, I passed the recently renamed rest stops that now honor Jon Bon Jovi, Judy Blume and Celia Cruz. That’s an ignominious kind of fame, isn’t it? Would I want to have a place full of fast food and bathrooms named after me? Not that there is a chance of that, but still…

I should really work for the Weather Service. I can accurately predict the weather; any day that I have to get my eyes dilated will be bright and sunny and every day after my sprinklers are turned on for the season there will be plenty of rain.

I find that too many movies & TV shows use images of text messages or phone calls on screen to advance the plot. The problem is that these images are small and hard to read. Or is it just me?

My secret desire is to sneak into all of the houses in my neighborhood to see how my neighbors arrange their refrigerators. Not that I have much food, but there has to be a better way to utilize the space.

Here’s a first for me: I had to retrieve my magnifying glass to read the ever-so-tiny instructions on the little-bitty turkey breast I was making for a solo dinner. I don’t know what I would have done without it (the magnifying glass, not the turkey).

All sock companies should include their brand name somewhere on the socks. I favor certain ones and then don’t know what brand they are so I can’t buy them again. Sock it to me, guys!

Don’t you hate it when you are doing a load of laundry and the washing machine starts making those terrifyingly loud noises, like it is about to blast off? I know it is all about an unbalanced load, but it still scares the daylights out of me when that happens.

Any drawer referred to as a “junk drawer” must have a combination of the majority of the following items: Scotch tape, pens and scratch pads, batteries, a flashlight, twist ties, string, scissors and mystery keys. 

If you live in NJ, you must either bring your own bag when shopping in the supermarket (and practically everywhere else) or buy one because a ban on providing them is now in effect. A friend reported seeing a man with a cart full of groceries and no bags who refused to purchase one at the checkout. I’m picturing his fruits and vegetables rolling around his trunk, with gunk from the meat packages staining the carpet there. Get with the program, bro. I saved the supermarket plastic bags for two years and then started bringing my own reusable bags just to get used to it. My trunk is littered now with canvas, plastic, nylon and every other kind of bag to tote my order home. Remember the good old days when supermarkets would give you a few cents off your order if you brought and used your own? Those days are gone for good!

The only thing tougher than getting injections in my eyes is deciphering the bills for those injections. I had to call the billing department, where they told me that the bills go into a “HOLD” when they bill the insurance company (at $5000 an injection, I’m lucky to be covered) and then they are supposed to bill me for the co-pay. I called to say I haven’t received a bill for any service this year, and they told me I am responsible for letting them know they have not billed me. Huh? What kind of system makes it necessary for the patient to request a bill? I actually had inquired the last two times I was at the office. I told them I don’t want a statement – I want a bill that I can pay online. After our call, they finally sent me a bill for this whole year, which totaled nearly $2,000! From now on, they can expect to hear from me once a month.

I can say for certain that I won’t see a movie described as “creepy” or one with a trailer that uses this phrase spoken in an ominous tone: “In a world…”

Every Friday I go to an Aqua Zumba class at the same place I attend Aqua Aerobics. The enthusiastic instructor assures us that she cannot see our legs underwater, but I suspect when everyone is going left and I am going right that she can’t miss my lack of coordination. Some of her moves (she instructs from the pool deck) are tougher to do since the water gets in my way, but it really doesn’t matter if I take two steps instead of three. I rarely understand a word of the relentless, driving Zumba music – unless we are “rolling on the river” with my idol, Tina Turner – but none of that is important. We just spend 45 minutes grooving to the beat and getting in some fun exercise.

As someone who is the volunteer recording secretary for an organization, I find it ironic that taking the “minutes” actually takes hours! First, I have to frantically write down everything discussed (which I do on my computer) then go back and correct it, check the spelling of the names and make sure I captured the discussion accurately. New respect for those who do this job!

As I sit in my home office and watch the mail truck stop at my box, I can’t help but wonder if I could ever drive a vehicle with the steering wheel on the right side, stay on the right side of the road and stick my arm out of the window far enough to get the mail into the mailbox. And we will never know…

CVS recently began putting childproof caps on my prescriptions after not doing that previously. So, instead of going to the drive-up window to pick one up, I went inside the store and asked the tech to check the bottle before I would take it. Sure enough, there was a childproof cap (they ought to be called “old people proof” because I’m sure kids can open them more easily that we can). The tech replaced it and gave me an extra one, but when I asked her to correct my profile, she first said that I could go online and do that. “But I’m here now. Can’t you do that for me?” I asked. It took her maybe 10 seconds to make that note in my online profile. So much for customer care, right?

Speaking of CVS, one of my idols, Rutgers’ Hall of Fame Women’s Basketball Coach, C. Vivian Stringer – fondly referred to as “CVS” – announced her retirement earlier this month after 50 years as a head coach. 50 years! She started at tiny Cheney State in Pennsylvania, moved on to the much larger University of Iowa and then arrived at Rutgers in 1995. She led all three of those schools to the Final Four, the first Black woman to achieve that feat. In 2018, she won her 1000th game, the first Black coach (and one of only a few coaches, male or female) to achieve that milestone. Her players have gone on to great success on and off the court, with 21 of them having played in the WNBA, others continuing their basketball careers by playing internationally, and yet others spending their careers as basketball coaches. Under her guidance, her student-athletes have been inspired to become lawyers and teachers, executives and authors and to succeed in their chosen fields. 

Vivian Stringer has been outspoken about racism, gaining a national platform after the insulting and racist comments made by shock-jock Don Imus in 2007 when he called her team that had just lost in the National Championship game a bunch of “nappy-headed hos.” Her team handled the crisis with class and dignity, characteristics that were lacking by Imus himself. In 2009, C. Vivian Stringer was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Also in her “class” that year were Michael Jordan, David Robinson, John Stockton – some pretty good company. 

I started following Rutgers Women’s basketball in 2001-2002, the year after Coach Stringer led Rutgers to a Final Four Appearance. In my first year as a fan, the team won all of 9 games and lost 20 – but I was hooked. These women played HARD, defended fiercely and gave it their best effort. The next year the team turned it around. In 2005, they knocked off three top teams in one week, culminating with an overtime win against number-one ranked LSU at the RAC in one of the loudest and most exciting games I have ever seen. The team made an unlikely return to the Final Four in 2007, despite having lost a home game to powerhouse Duke by 40 points in December. Fans left the RAC long before the game ended, and Coach Stringer made the team watch as they left so they would understand their failure. That same team went on to defeat Duke in March in the Sweet 16. And I went to Cleveland to watch them in the Final Four, where they lost in the Championship Game to rival Tennessee.

There have been countless highlights during the course of Coach Stringer’s tenure, but the things I remember – aside from being there to see her 700th, 800th and 1000th win – are the stories of the young women whose lives she affected. One of them is Erica Wheeler, who came from a tough part of Miami, a competitive, undersized guard with leadership qualities. When her mother passed away from cancer after her junior year, Erica was ready to quit and go home. But Coach Stringer reminded her that she had promised Erica’s mother to watch out for her and make sure she graduated, so she returned. Undrafted by the WNBA, Erica played basketball internationally before getting a few chances with the WNBA. Her persistence never wavered, and in 2019, as a member of the Indiana Fever, she was named to the All-Star team. She was the first undrafted player ever to be named All-Star MVP at that game. She is the kind of player nurtured by C. Vivian Stringer.

Over the past 50 years, the Rutgers women’s program has had only two coaches – Theresa Grentz, whose 1982 team captured the last AIAW Championship (and who will be inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame later this year), and C. Vivian Stringer. No pressure for the next person to lead Rutgers Women’s Basketball, right? Good luck to Athletic Director Pat Hobbs in finding the right coach for this storied team.

A new coach will arrive on the Banks with new ideas and new energy and will work hard to rebuild the program following Vivian’s retirement. He or she will have big shoes to fill and big challenges to face. 

Those of us who love the sport and the program will be back in our seats, cheering for the new regime, hoping for plenty of wins. We will see those games being played at Jersey Mike’s Arena on the “C. Vivian Stringer Court,” which, appropriately, will be dedicated to Coach Stringer this season. What a privilege it has been to watch history being made by C. Vivian Stringer.

April 2022 Movies & More

April was not the cruelest month when it came to movies & more. I recommend a few miniseries ("The Dropout,""Bad Vegan," and "Selling Sunset") a Ken Burns gem on Benjamin Franklin and the last season of "Grace & Frankie." Numbering picks up from previous months and programs marked with an asterisk are ones I had not seen previously. The ranking go from 0-5, with 5 cans of tuna the top score.

44.  Title IX: 37 Words That Changed America* (2022, TBS) – To mark the 50th anniversary of the passage of the landmark legislation Title IX, star basketball player/analyst/Olympian/WNBA Champion Candace Parker produced an informative and interesting documentary on the law that made women’s sports viable in the US. Before Title IX, women athletes were treated like second-class citizens; remarkably, in many ways, despite the legislation, they still are. The 37 words in this bill made it illegal to discriminate against women engaged in any sport or activity sponsored by an institution receiving funding from the government. Parker traces her own story as the daughter of a woman who would have loved to play basketball, but whose high school did not field a girls basketball team. Thanks to the new rules, Candace played in high school, became the nation’s top recruit, played for legendary Pat Summitt at the University of Tennessee, won Gold Medals in the Olympics and championships in the now 26-year-old, WNBA. Interviews with key female figures in the sports world explain the significance of this change but all included here acknowledge that much remains to be done. 3 hoops.
45.  Benjamin Franklin* (PBS, 2022) – Founding Father Benjamin Franklin gets the Ken Burns treatment in this two-part look at the man who “invented” electricity and helped write the US Constitution. If that’s all you know about Franklin, you are in for a treat, because Burns trots out a parade of historians who flesh out the character and the accomplishments of Franklin. Rather than read about his career as a printer, a diplomat, a man who started a college and invented bifocals, just watch this thoughtful and informative program. Ken Burns’ programs, from the Civil War to Jazz to Baseball and the Brooklyn Bridge, will enrich your understanding of history and culture, and he has something for everyone, including this video biography of Benjamin Franklin. 4½ cans.
46.  The Dropout* (Hulu, 2022) – Elizabeth Holmes, the steely-eyed founder of Theranos, had a dream. A dropout after one year at Stanford, she envisioned creating a proprietary device that required only a single drop of blood to conduct hundreds of diagnostic tests. Adopting her version of Steve Jobs in looks and determination, she persuaded Silicon Vally investors and an all-star line-up of notable men (mostly older, powerful White guys) to back her company to the tune of $9 billion, making her the darling of Wall Street and science. But this is a tale of “fake it til you make it,” and the science could not support the Theranos claims. She stalled, insisting her machines worked, refusing to accept that the inaccurate data they collected led to the wrong results for patients. Amanda Seyfried plays Holmes brilliantly, emulating her adopted deep voice and sporting her Jobs-inspired black wardrobe. I have read a book about this case and have seen several documentaries about it, so this mini-series serves – I hope – as my last chapter of this endlessly fascinating story. I don’t think Holmes set out to defraud anyone; her device didn’t do what it was supposed to do and instead of admitting that, she put patients at risk for their health and investors at risk for their money. 4 drops of blood.
47. Under Suspicion* (2000, Netflix) – I don’t know how it is that I never heard of this movie with Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman. It is an intense triller, with high powered lawyer Henry Hearst (Hackman) hauled away from a charity fundraiser in San Juan to answer just a few questions by Police Captain Victor Benezet (Freeman) about the murders of two teenagers. What could the respected attorney have to do with these crimes, and why do his stories about them keep changing? Clearly, the wealthy attorney with his attractive much younger wife have something to hide, but is it related to these heinous crimes? Benezet keeps the pressure on and something’s got to give. 3½ cans.  
48.  Night Moves* (1975, Prime Video) – I wasn’t trying to watch a Gene Hackman film festival when I found this old gem of his, but I’m glad I did. Hackman is a seasoned private investigator named Harry Moseby who is hired by a fading actress to track down her runaway teenaged daughter Delly (Melanie Griffith in her movie debut). He follows the trail to Florida, where Delly is living with her stepfather and his current girlfriend. I would try to tell you the rest of the plot, which includes a crazy mechanic, boats, planes, shootings, the Coast Guard and lots of macho men. I felt better when I realized that Harry also didn’t know what was going on. Still, the tense mood and suspense make this drama worth trying to figure out. Hackman is so good here in a movie that he made in the prime of his storied career. 3½ cans.
49.  The Thing About Pam* (2022, NBC) – An unrecognizable Renee Zellweger (who also produced) is soda-swilling Pamela Haupp, friend to many, killer of some, in this fact-based limited series. As the best friend to dying Betsy Faria, Pam helps the process along when she stabs and kills Betsy in her home, leaving her for dead and building a credible case against Betsy’s husband Russ, who is convicted of the murder (it’s always the spouse, right?) despite his verifiable alibi. Since Pam is such a great friend, it makes sense that Betsy would have made her the beneficiary of her life insurance policy, bypassing her husband and two daughters, right? And Pam is going to set up a trust for the two girls, she insists. Do not believe everything you hear, especially out of Pam. But Betsy’s demise turns out to be only one of the crimes committed by the elusive Pam, who befriends the cops and DA on the cases until she kills off her own credibility. OK, that’s the summary, but watching this is tough because it plunges into campiness that distorts the reality of the crimes. Zellweger, a slight, spry actress, here appears in a fat suit, walking with a lumbering gait, her face distorted by prosthetics that make her look like a balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. She is the face of evil, destroying everyone and everything in her wake as she goes for money from everyone. What a disgusting human being and what an odd portrayal. Still, once you start watching, it’s hard not to finish the story. 4 cans.
50.  Woman in Gold (2015, HBO) – Helen Mirren and Ryan Reynolds excel in this drama about the real-life Maria Altmann, whose family fled Austria in the wake of the German invasion in WWII. Before the Jews there could escape, the Nazis came into their house and stole the priceless artwork on their walls, including a portrait of Maria’s treasured Aunt Adele called “The Lady in Gold.” Years after the war, the painting wound up in Austria’s Belvedere Museum, where Adele had intended it to go, but Maria and her young California lawyer, Randy, contended that it was taken from the family illegally and should rightfully belong to Maria. Austria in more modern times became one of the countries engaged in restitution, but this painting by Gustav Klimt was considered the Mona Lisa of Austria and the museum officials refused to return it. The story of how Maria and Randy took on the seemingly impossible task is very well told, and Maria’s memories of living through that traumatic time, trying to flee Austria and remain alive demonstrate the resolve of the Jews in the face of Nazi terrorism. Kudos to Mirren, who is always good, and Reynolds, who is more known for light, comedic parts, for forming a perfect team. 4 cans.
51.  Bad Vegan* (2022, Netflix) – In yet another story of a real-life schemer, Netflix presents Sarma Melngailis, a successful New York restauranteur and cookbook author, the proprietor of Pure Food & Wine, an upscale, hot vegan restaurant. An Ivy League grad and with a degree in culinary arts, she established her restaurant, assembled a loyal staff and introduced New Yorkers like Alec Baldwin to healthy eating. Then she met Shane, an online friend of Baldwin’s, who won her over before they even met in person. And it was all downhill from there, as he convinced her that he had some magic power that would allow her and her beloved dog Leon to live forever. All she had to do was prove her trust in him – and keep wiring him large amounts of money (which she did). So maybe she was brainwashed or suffered emotional abuse by Shane, or Anthony, his other name, but at some point, she knew that large amounts of money were being siphoned off from the still successful restaurant and that employees and investors were not getting paid what they were owed. You cannot make this stuff up. I found myself yelling at the TV to get her attention. Shane/Anthony stole her passwords, set up fake personas and even swindled Sarma’s mother out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. You either like these stories or you don’t. I find them addictive and I can’t stop watching. In the ultimate irony, the couple, on the lam from authorities, are captured because he charged a pizza from a Dominos in Tennessee. Bad vegan, very bad vegan! 4 cans.
52. The Grand Seduction* (2013, Prime Video) – Relax, it’s not what you think. Tickle Head, a small harbor community in Newfoundland, needs a doctor. Not that there is an abundance of sick people, but the town is a dying fishing village and the only way to get work is to lure a plastics company into building their business in the sleepy hamlet. But the company that is considering locating there requires that a local doctor be available. So, when a young doctor (Taylor Kitch) gets into a “situation” at the nearby airport and is required to stay for a month, the townspeople, led by Murray (Brendan Gleeson) are out to win him over (hence the seduction in the title). They pretend to be fans of cricket because young Dr. Lewis loves the sport. They go to great lengths to endear themselves to the doc in hopes of getting him – and then the plastics company – to sign a deal. This is a quirky little movie with considerable appeal that reminded me of the TV shows “Men in Trees” and “Northern Exposure.” If you like odd people with a lot of heart, this one’s for you. 3 cans.
53.  White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch* (2022, Netflix) – I know so little about this brand and its retail stores that I didn’t realize they had a rise and fall. Sure, I passed their very hip-looking stores in the mall, but I never thought the preppy brand that outfitted the coolest of the cool White teenagers and college kids was for me. It turns out, it wasn’t. Using good-looking “All-American” types (as in “no people of color wanted here”) as models and staff, the brand targeted the space somewhere in between the racier Calvin Klein and the ultimate preppy Ralph Lauren with clothing that was clean, cool and not quite as expensive. CEO Mike Jeffries was crystal clear in defining the brand and restricting it to those people who fit the image. The company was taken to task for its outrageously insulting anti-Asian T-shirts that perpetuated stereotypes and later for its failure to hire Black and other minorities for positions of substance. This documentary also portrays the how homoerotic photography by renowned photographer Bruce Weber, pictures of partially clad, beautiful men that graced the walls of their stores and those huge shopping bags, helped market the clothes to heterosexual men. You can’t help cheering at the “fall” part of the story, where A&F makes token changes but never really gets the message about its racism. 3½ cans.
54.  Anatomy of a Scandal* (2022, Netflix) – I’m getting my money’s worth out of Netflix this month. I sat down and watched the entire 6 episodes of this juicy melodrama in one day. James Whitehouse (Rupert Friend) is a member of the British Parliament, a strikingly handsome man with a loving wife Sophie (Sienna Miller), young children and a charmed and privileged life. His best mate is British Prime Minister Tom Southern (Geoffrey Streatfeild), with whom he shared Brett Kavanaugh-type adventures while studying at uni. When Olivia Lytton (Naomi Scott), a member of his House staff, first reveals they had an affair and then accuses him of raping her in the “lift,” his wife doesn’t know whom to believe since she also observed some questionable behavior when they were students. Michelle Dockery plays Kate Woodcroft, the prosecuting attorney (complete with wig), who lays out a compelling case against James, but his attorney Angela (Josette Simon) is confident he can beat the rap. The layers of the onion just keep unpeeling in this intriguing tale of lust and trust. Sienna Miller is perfection as the loyal but troubled wife. 4 cans.
55.  Have You Seen this Man?* (2022, Hulu) – Chances are that you haven’t. But neither have the US Marshals or the FBI. John Ruffo looks like a man who would blend into any background, not quite the picture of a conniving thief who pulled off a heist of $350 million. Without going into the details (see the movie for that), Ruffo’s computer business and partnership with a man who purported to be a Philip Morris executive (a client of the computer company) perpetrated the swindle and, just as Ruffo was about to be jailed, he disappeared. I have got to start watching Hallmark movies or something different than these mini-series I am addicted to about con men (and women). By the way, Ruffo’s abandoned wife, who lost her home, would also like to know if you have seen him. He has been on the FBI’s Most Wanted List since he vanished in 1998. Talk about a cold case! 3 cans.
56.  Selling Sunset, Season 5* (2022, Netflix) – With episode titles like “Bad Bitches Don’t Cry” and “Sabotage in Stilettos,” this Netflix reality series is not exactly PBS fare, but it is MY guilty pleasure. I scarfed down all 10 episodes of Season 5 in a single day and now look forward to the upcoming Reunion episode on May 6. The series is about a luxury real estate agency in California, owned by twin brothers and staffed by mini-skirt-clad women in impossibly high heels who dish more dirt about each other than you will find on the manicured lawns of the properties they sell. No need for details here; and as off-putting as it is to watch women fight with each other, there’s a fair degree of sisterly support here, too. I’m not proud of this viewing choice, but I’m hooked. 4½ pairs of stilettos.
57.  The Rose Maker* (2022, movie theater) – Eve runs a failing rose business in this lovely French film. It was a family business, and though she is running out of money, she is desperate not to sell it to a competitor who thinks of the roses as only a way to make money. The blossoms are her passion. Her faithful assistant finds three people living in a shelter who Eve trains to work with her to hybridize the roses and even to do a few things that aren’t quite legal. Prepare to read the movie unless you are fluent in French (four years of high school French did me no good here). The roses are beautiful; the movie is slow but sweet. 3 roses.
58. WeCrashed* (2022, Apple TV+) – I seem to have a penchant lately for series about failing businesses (see “The Dropout,” “The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch” and even the movie listed above, “The Rose Maker”). Jared Leto looks completely different here than he looked in “The House of Gucci” as he plays egotistical Adam Neumann, who founded the fast-growing and fast-failing WeWork. The business started as a company providing shared workspace, but that was not exactly what Neumann envisioned. It grew into the largest holder of rented real estate in New York City in the last decade. Neuman wanted “We” essentially to take over people’s lives, first by offering them a shared office space, then encouraging socialization and fun – when did anyone actually do any work there? – and eventually funding the passion project of his wife, Rebekah (Anne Hathaway), who headed WeGrow, a holistic, artsy-craftsy elementary school (that lasted less than two years). Neuman could not accept any limits on the company’s growth, snapping up properties and expanding so much that huge loans from banks and investors were the only way to sustain the business. Somehow people like Neumann and Elizabeth Holmes from “The Dropout” manage to entice otherwise conservative banks to fund them, but hubris and arrogance don’t always yield profits. Like so many series I have seen lately, this story could have been told in fewer episodes. I knew the story from having watched a documentary on WeWork but it was worth seeing Leto and Hathaway in action. 3½ cans.
59.  Grace & Frankie, Season 7* (2022, Netflix) – It was bittersweet watching the last 16 episodes of this series about friendship and love among eccentric characters. Grace (Jane Fonda) and Frankie (the incomparable Lily Tomlin) start out as wives dumped by their husbands (Martin Sheen and Sam Waterston) – who have been cheating on them with each other. The women end up sharing a beach house, lots of adventures, plenty of martinis and pot, and a deep and genuine friendship. There are tangents that go off into the absurd and characters who aren’t always likeable but almost always rich in texture and experience. Season 7 is the final one of the series, but no spoilers here. I’ll just say that I would welcome these people back on the screen any time. 4 cans.

Good Friday Bits & Pieces

I wish “skinny jeans” lived up to the promise of their name.

I have succumbed to the current Wordle craze where you have to guess a daily 5-letter word. You get 6 shots at it, and the game tracks how successful you are. I think of it as a brain exercise – the same reason I watch “Jeopardy” and shout out the answers (some right, others so completely wrong). One thing I refuse to do is to bore the rest of the world by posting my score. Why do people think the rest of us care? At this stage, I need to keep my brain sharp. I know the info is in there somewhere, but with layers of useless information clogging the file cabinet of my mind (all of the lyrics for “Along Comes Mary,” for one), it is harder to pop the right answers to the forefront. Maybe this helps?

I get periodic emails from Consumer Reports telling me that I am “eligible” to subscribe. “Eligible?” As in “send us the money and we send you the magazine?” Who would NOT be eligible? Do they think I feel privileged to get this offer? No, thanks.

You know you’re getting old when, following the mandatory medical discussion that takes place every time my friends and I gather, one of the women whips out a blood oxygen-pulse meter from her purse. BTW, I have a great oxygen score. All those years of not smoking was the right choice.

How can the voicemail box at my doctor’s office be full? I called to make an appointment, was bumped to voicemail without any options and could not leave a message. This is unacceptable. I don’t like it when a friend’s voicemail box is full, but not being able to reach my doctor is dangerous.

I no sooner got home from a medical exam when the survey about my visit arrived as a text on my phone. I don’t want to do a survey on my phone, if at all. Send it to my email, where I can deal with it on a full-sized keyboard. 

I wish the doctor spent as much time looking at me and checking me out as her office spends on sending me messages thanking me for making an appointment, telling me how much she is looking forward to seeing me and then, after the appointment, thanking me for showing up. I also don’t need email, text AND voicemail reminders that my appointment is coming up.

I noticed that the doctor’s office now divides pens into two categories – clean & dirty. But the clean ones are right next to the dirty ones, and I’m thinking the germs could mingle. Besides, are the pens labeled as clean actually clean? Who cleans them? How often? Or once that collection is gone, do they just move the so-called dirty ones to the clean pile?

And finally on the subject medical issues, the idea of seeing a doctor virtually when you need to be checked out in person is ridiculous. Mine had me feeling around and looking for things I could not identify. Isn’t that her job as my doctor? 

I found a container of Turkey Hill Ice Cream in ShopRite called “Mystery Flavor.” Does “Dateline” make ice cream?

I can’t believe that my 50th college reunion is coming up in June. I still feel like I am in my 50s (except for the falling apart medical stuff), so how can it be 50 years since I left the hallowed halls of Douglass? I must be having fun because time sure did fly!

I keep seeing promos for the new Kardashians show. Since I never watched one minute of the old show, this is one I’ll skip for sure. But what is the fascination with these people? Do I actually have any friends who watch their shows? Please self-identify so we can have a discussion about what is wrong with you.

Why is it that we can be overwhelmed or underwhelmed but we are never whelmed?

Why is there a South Orange, West Orange, East Orange and Orange in New Jersey but no North Orange? There is also New Brunswick, North Brunswick, East Brunswick and South Brunswick, but no Old Brunswick, West Brunswick or just plain Brunswick.

Why are there superintendents but no intendents? How can supers be better when there is nothing beneath them?

Why do suction cups that have adhered to the wall forever randomly decide they can stick no more and fall off? 

Why is the word “brain” one syllable but the name “Brian” is two syllables?

Don’t you hate biting into a hard-boiled egg and hearing that crunchy sound because you left a tiny piece of the shell on it? 

I was feeling bad that I could not think of the word “jughandle” recently, but then two friends told me that they had to Google the word “romaine” when they couldn’t recall the name of that kind of lettuce, and I felt better.

Remember when we had to check the clock before making a long-distance phone call?  It used to be that calls were cheaper on the weekend and at certain times, so we could call my uncle in California to discuss the weather and what time it is there (do the math, Mom & Dad; it’s always 3 hours earlier in California – and sunny!).

I think Alexa and I are going through a rough patch. I fell asleep watching the men’s NCAA National Championship basketball game and woke up the next morning at 4 AM with the light and TV on, not knowing who won. So, I asked Alexa, “Who won the basketball game between North Carolina and Kansas last night?” She gave me the wrong answer – twice – which I only knew because I turned on ESPN, where I was shocked see Kansas celebrating! Then I asked her the temperature, which she promptly answered. But she neglected to tell me it was raining until I asked her, “Is it raining?” and she said it was. Come on, girl!

Alexa also has a new routine, insisting on telling me not only the weather report in the morning, but also reporting on the traffic for my daily “commute.” I don’t know where she thinks I am going, but I need to break it to her that I am retired, rarely leave the house during rush hour, and don’t know where she is sending me.

I really don’t like using the self-service checkout at the supermarket. The area is too small, I don’t like looking up the code for bananas, I always have a problem in the bagging area, etc. I generally don’t mind waiting in line for a real cashier. But I always seem to be on the line when a new register opens and the people behind me flock there (I would do the same thing), so I’m still stuck waiting. And yes, this should be my biggest life problem.

I was watching a pleasant telecast of the Oscars when a boxing match broke out. Or, more accurately put, when actor Will Smith walked up on stage and smacked comedian Chris Rock in the face for his tasteless joke about Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett, who suffers from alopecia. I think Rock gets away with a lot because he exudes a boyish kind of charm, but Smith, noting that his wife took obvious umbrage, decided to storm the stage and then proceed to utter a stream of obscenities at Rock. The telecast went on while witnesses to the assault sat stunned in the audience and in their homes. Smith was not asked to leave and later he received a standing ovation when he won the Oscar for Best Actor in “King Richard” (well-deserved, but that’s not the point). Smith issued an apology to Chris Rock the next day, but the entire incident was so badly handled. He also apologized to everyone EXCEPT Rock in his acceptance speech. It would have been better to take a moment to cast light on alopecia and its effect of the people who live with this condition. He initially laughed at the joke and only rose up to defend his wife when she shot him a look. Violence is unacceptable in any form, and Smith’s explanation that “love makes people do crazy things,” sounds too close for comfort to excuses for domestic violence. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences subsequently stripped Smith of his membership and banned him from the Oscars for 10 years, so don’t look for him on next year’s telecast handing out the Oscar for Best Actor/Actress. I’m sure he’s chastened by his outburst, but we don’t need displays of toxic masculinity.

And one more Oscar thing – The “In Memorium” tribute to those people in the movie business who have passed away since last year was accompanied by singing and dancing that was totally inappropriate for the solemnity of the moment. They should just hire me to run the whole show.





 

March 2022 Movies & More

March is full of Madness, but there is always time for movies (and more).  All are rated on a scale of one to five cans of tuna fish (Bumble Bee only!) and the ones marked with an asterisk are ones I had not seen previously. Numbering picks up from the last month.

31.  The Gilded Age* (2022, HBO) – This may not be Jullian Fellowes’ best work, but how could he top Downton Abbey? It is before the turn of the century in New York City, when you could still buy a parcel of land and build a magnificent mansion, beautifully decorated and staffed with uniformed footmen and a French chef – and STILL not be accepted into society. Instead of upstairs and downstairs, the conflict here is with the old moneyed society people who still look down on the nouveau rich, whose resources may be greater but their lineage inferior. Christine Baranski plays the haughty Mrs. Van Rhein, a doyenne of society whose home sits across the street from the new mansion built by railroad magnate Mr. Russell and his social-climbing wife, desperate to get into the upper crust of NYC society. The “action” takes place before the turn of the 20th century (one episode included a display by Thomas Edison, lighting up the streets of New York with his new light bulbs), with horse-drawn carriages providing transportation. This was a time when the term “coming out” referred not to declaring one’s sexual orientation but for a young woman to make her debut into society at a grand soiree. As I said, it isn’t Downtown Abbey, but with the witty repartee (Baranski is the Maggie Smith of the show), those exquisite sets and costumes, this franchise is bound to have a long run. One thing I know for sure – bustles do no one any favors. 4 cans.
32.  I Want You Back* (2022, Prime Video) – Things get complicated when two couples break up. She (Jenny Slater) loves her boyfriend and isn’t taking the breakup well. He (Charlie Day) thought that his girlfriend was “the one” and resents that she has moved on with someone else. The whole thing gets more complicated through lies and it is really not worth waiting to see who winds up with whom. By the end, I was sure I never want any of these people back. 1½ cans.
33.  Colin in Black & White* (2021, Netflix) – Long before he was excoriated as a traitor to the US for voicing his opinion of racial injustice by merely kneeling during the National Anthem, Collin Kaepernick was a talented young athlete proficient in football, baseball and basketball. He dreamed of a chance to play quarterback at the top college level and go on to the NFL. This story is told from a unique perspective, with Kaepernick himself watching the portrayal of himself and commenting on the situation. Adopted by a well-meaning white couple in California, Kaepernick, who is Black, experiences every microaggression you can imagine happen routinely to Black people. It must be exhausting. This limited series takes us up to Collin’s acceptance into the University of Nevada, setting up a second season or even more so we can see how he became an outspoken activist. Kudos to Ana DuVernay and the entire production for taking this perspective and showing the world how Black people are treated. 3½ cans.
34.  Lucy & Desi* (2022, Prime Video) – Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz made history for their classic TV comedy, “I Love Lucy,” but this story is about more than that. Lucy was a tough woman, but she had a real soft spot for Desi, who drank too much, worked too much and chased too many women. One thing that was never in doubt: They loved each other until the very end, despite divorcing and enjoying long marriages to other partners. Their success includes not just their own show – which they created and developed – but their producing many other popular shows, such as “Star Trek” and “The Untouchables,” which they helmed at their Desilu Studios. Ultimately, Lucy became the head honcho, the first woman to head a Hollywood studio. But if not for Desi, none of us would be watching “I Love Lucy” 70 years after it first aired, because he was the one who insisted it be filmed so it could be preserved. Thanks for the reruns! This touching portrait of the Arnaz family was directed with love by comic actress Amy Poehler, and you can just tell she loved Lucy, too. As Desi says at the end, “I Love Lucy was never just a title.” Pass the hankies. 3½ cans.
35.  The White Shadow (1978-80) – I happened to catch a marathon of episodes of one of my favorite TV shows when the drama series aired on the Decades channel. Ken Howard plays a former NBA player who takes over as basketball coach at an inner-city high school in Los Angeles. The players lack focus and have to deal with all kinds of outside influences, but this show is more about life lessons than basketball – without being preachy. The kids are good players with dreams and problems, not all of which are solved in an hour on screen. Several of the young stars went on to be very successful directors (Kevin Hooks, Thomas Carter and Timothy Van Pattern of “The Sopranos” among them), reflecting on the creativity and skill of this cast and production. The series had not been available on air for years, so I relished seeing many of the episodes after such a long break. Besides, it’s March Madness, when all things turn to basketball! 4 basketballs and a hoop.
36.  Windfall* (2022, Netflix) – Jason Segal (no one in the cast has a name, so I’ll just refer to the actors who appeared) breaks into the stunning vacation home of a wealthy tech CEO, not knowing whose home it is, and is unexpectedly confronted by the man and his wife (Jesse Plemmons and Lily Collins). There is plenty of tension as the inept home invader more or less holds the homeowners hostage while he waits for the money promised him by the CEO to arrive. While the couple seems solid, there are underlying issues, and by the end of this slow-paced semi-thriller, you’re not sure who is the bad guy. 3½ cans.
37.  Rescued by Ruby* (2022, Netflix) – Rudy the rescue dog and Dan the cop have plenty in common. They are both lovable but a little goofy, underachievers but with good hearts and intentions. He wants to be on the K9 Squad, but Ruby is more interested in running through the house and ripping up pillows. A bunch of families have already returned Ruby to the animal shelter, but just when the end is near, Dan the Man shows up and takes her home so he can train her for the K9 squad. It turns out that he needs Ruby as much as Ruby needs him. This movie is a little more saccharine than most that I watch, but it is also sweet and earnest – and based on a true story. The plot is very easy to follow and guess, but sometimes I need a light movie that doesn’t challenge my mind. Easy entertainment. 3 cans.
38.  Deep Water* (2022, Hulu) – She likes to take on new lovers in spite of the fact that she’s married. He doesn’t seem to mind, but when they turn up dead, maybe he did mind after all? Ben Affleck is a very wealthy man with a hot wife. He wants to keep the family together despite her (Ana De Armas) peccadillos for the sake of the daughter they seem to largely ignore. When a friend (Tracy Letts) becomes suspicious of the coincidental deaths of “friends” of the wife, he starts on a dangerous mission. There is plenty of tension, sexual and otherwise, in getting to the bottom of this story. 4 cans.
39.  Four Good Days* (2020, Hulu) – Those four days are not so good for desperate drug addict Molly (Mila Kunis), who has been through rehab 13 times. But to get through her latest program, she cannot use drugs for four more days, after which time she will get an injection that will keep her from getting that high for a month. Her exasperated mother Deb (Glenn Close) has thrown her out of the house – repeatedly – but once again comes to her rescue to keep her clean for four good days, until she can get that shot. This is a harrowing picture, extremely well played by Kunis in particular, that dramatically illustrates the way addicts live their lives. Not exactly a charmer, but a good story. 3½ cans.
40.  Long Story Short* (2021, Netflix) – You have heard of someone having a short memory? Well, for Teddy (Rafe Spall), time is flying by and he has no memory of events from one year to the next. He wakes up the day after his wedding day and finds his wife planning to celebrate their first anniversary. He also finds that she is visibly pregnant, much to his surprise. Each day he wakes up and another huge block of time has gone by, and along with it, major changes in his life have taken place. He loves his wife and family and wants to slow things down and experience life with them. This movie is part time-travel, part fantasy and part feel-good – something like the opposite of “Groundhog Day” where every day is the same. Don’t be a procrastinator like Teddy: Go out there and enjoy every moment. 3 cans.
41.  The Great Debaters* (2007, Prime Video) – Tiny Wiley College was a predominantly Black college in Texas back in 1935 with an accomplished debate team, led by Professor Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington, who also directed the film). The professor chose the best of the best to be on his debate team and imposed his rule on each of the students. This story has the predictable challenges, the rise, fall and rise of the team that follows other movies about competition – sports or otherwise – but this one has another major component that complicates life for the debaters. Texas was riddled with racism, not by people wearing white hoods, but by the everyday citizens who opposed and abused Black people in every possible way, including lynchings. Tolson was working behind the scenes to organize the local sharecroppers into a union, something to which the local townsfolk and law enforcement objected vehemently. To see the debaters rise above the competition is thrilling, and the lessons learned here are important ones. If you rent it, stick around for the credits to see what happened to the team members after they graduated from college. 3½ cans.
42.  The Weekend Away* (2022, Netflix) – There’s nothing like a girls weekend with your best buds. Here Beth (Leighton Meister) and Kate (Christina Wolfe) finally reunite for some much-needed time together in Croatia. Kate, divorcing her husband, just wants to have fun, while new mother Beth isn’t interested in doing anything wild. It’s all fun and games until somebody ends up dead. Beth is left to figure out what happened in a strange country where the only familiar faces are those of the landlord in the place Kate rented for them and the taxi driver who drove her there from the airport and later to a bar with Kate. This is an intriguing mystery that led down some unexpected paths. There are times you want to question some of the plot, but I overlooked the parts that were hard to accept in favor of just letting the story be told. 3½ cans.
43. The Outfit* (2022, in the movie theater) – This suspense story would make a great stage play. It is tightly constructed and the action takes place in one location. Mark Rylance is Englishman Leonard, a cutter (not a tailor, he insists), a craftsman who makes bespoke suits for gentlemen in his tiny Chicago shop. He is exacting and precise in his movements as he creates beautiful clothing and minds his own business, despite some unsavory looking men who come into the shop and drop off envelopes in a box that Leonard ignores. Rylance is quietly mesmerizing as he does his work without comment or interference in whatever this gang of well-dressed criminals is doing. But when things go wrong and two of the members of “The Outfit” end up in his shop on a desperate mission, he is forced to use guile and guts to survive, along with his receptionist (Zoey Deutch). This thriller is the opposite of the murder mystery “Death on the Nile,” with no gorgeous locations, dazzling sets or stunning clothes (though the suits bespoke for themselves, so to speak). The plot is mysterious, and each action, like each stitch in the making of a suit, is carefully made and delivered. Well crafted. 4 cans.