A thoroughly unpleasant two hours of snark, cynicism, cigarettes and a drunken boor, with nary a witty line to be heard nor a noble man in sight. Mank’s wife and secretary, who also look alike, are the only people who exude any decency. The story is a “who-cares?,” and it goes back-and-forth with flashbacks to […]
I can’t gainsay the quality of the acting and the production, but the ten episodes of Season 4 left an uneven impression. Each episode was its own self-contained story. Those that mixed British politics with Royal Family matters–such as the superb finale–were deeply rewarding. Those that focused on the Royals’ dysfunction–such as Princess Margaret’s search […]
Plusses: Nicole Kidman looked great. So did New York: Central Park, the Frick, the UES. The supporting cast – Noah Jupe, Donald Sutherland, Lily Rabe, Noma Dumezweni, Jeremy Shamos(!) – was great fun. Best of all, the story kept us–and I mean a lot of us–guessing up to the last episode: who killed Elena Alves? […]
Kudos for telling a complex story of human and political intrigue involving two dozen characters in four packed episodes. Holding it together was a usually brilliant and compelling performance by Hugh Laurie. No matter the bad things he did or that happened to him, I never worried too much, because he, Peter Laurence, was Hugh […]
Everyone loves a good sports story, in which the underdog overcomes adversity and wins the big game. Three things distinguished this one: the hero was female, playing against men; the sport, unusually, was chess; and the men who lost to her were nice guys. The adversity was all inherent: her situation as an orphan, then […]
A brilliantly acted and mercifully short story of three young adult children coming to grips with their mother’s late-in-life affair with a suspicious widower, played with equal parts sleaze and menace by a wildly-maned Stephen Rea. Somehow in four episodes we were given relatively nuanced and complete stories of each offspring’s romantic relationship; their relationships […]
Taken for what it is–a raunchy and absurdist political comedy–this sequel to Borat (the original moviefilm) was less offensive, less remarkable, less groundbreaking but still rather astonishing. By now I am more familiar with the acting talents and intelligence of Sacha Baron Cohen (see, e.g., Trial of the Chicago 7), but I still have no idea how […]
Perfectly competent account of the ACLU’s fight against abhorrent Trump policies, with a focus on the men and women leading the charge–very similar to Liz Garbus’s series last year about the New York Times reporters. More than a nuanced movie, it came across as a solicitation for the ACLU, certainly a worthwhile cause.
Stunning photography, both above and underwater, made this a pleasure to watch, and the novelty of an octupus’s life, up-close and personal, made it fascinating. Like almost all nature docs, there was a fair amount of anthropomorphism: I submit that the title character was acting on (animal) instinct, not employing “intelligence” to teach his human […]
Pure catnip: an Aaron Sorkin drama with pithy dialogue, clearly drawn characters, a hopefully moral universe and a healthy dose of politics, past and present. Being in my personal revisit-Vietnam moment helped. Having just watched Platoon, the Ken Burns 10-part documentary, Da 5 Bloods and having read Oliver Stone’s and Randy Hobler’s memoirs, this moment of […]
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