What Would You Do If I Sang Out of Tune?

The Wonder Years series from the late 1980s uses the above titled song for its theme. I have been working my way through the episodes and now am in the third of five years. Stripped of commercials and other time waters, these TV episodes are 23 minutes, and if you speed through the opening and closing credits, there is about 20 minutes of show. Netflix instant view is a great way to watch an old series that you missed or that you want to revisit.

Interspersed with TWY I have picked movies by whim from the higher rated ones in my queue, which you can see from my ratings below are not really very high. Documentaries dominate since that genre is a personal favorite. You may also notice the prevalence of movies about different cultures.

Taking the title question literally and understanding that the question comes from a friend, my answer would be that I would sing along – probably also out of tune, which is pretty easy for me to do.

Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. [The ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on the sidebar].

The Wonder Years (Season One) – 1988 (3.5). Through the years I have seen various episodes of this series and always enjoyed the way it captured the feeling of 1968 in general and the feeling of 1968 suburbia in particular. The awkwardness of becoming a teenager in 1968 was not much different from what I experienced in the mid 1950s and what my children experienced in the 1980s, so there is another nostalgic reason to watch, both from the child and the parental point of view. The pilot season, as the kids become sixth graders and enter middle school, only had six episodes and I remember them all, as we got to meet the friends, school mates, faculty, parents and siblings. This kind of series can be timeless; made in the 80s reliving the 60s, and in the new century reliving how the 80s portrayed the 60s.

The Last Mountain – 2011 (3.2). This intelligent documentary presents the issue of the dangers of mountaintop coal mining by focusing in on a move by Massey Energy to blow the top off the last mountain in a particular part of West Virginia. Aerial footage shows the scale of destruction and activist victims of pollution of air and water and the flooding and other damage caused by such operations are followed as they struggle against the corporate behemoth and its governmental enablers. Bobby Kennedy, Jr. who is an environmental lawyer is shown offering his support and is a voice of knowledgeable understanding throughout the movie. Clean energy alternatives are offered near the end of the film and Kennedy gets the ear of President Obama who sets the ball rolling to start to hold Massey responsible for its wholesale violations of environmental protection and safety laws.

The Wonder Years (Season Two) – 1988 (3.2). The second season follows the story arc as the kids enter seventh grade and concentrates more heavily on Kevin who has always been the narrator looking back 20 years. The same techniques are continued from the pilot season. In addition to the well done narration, there are vintage songs, simulated home movies, TV news clips and some surreal dream or imagination scenes (a la Ally McBeal). Though each episode covers a new aspect of the growing up experience, the novelty appeal is slightly diminished.

Last Train Home – 2009 (3.0). The largest simultaneous migration in human history is the travel by young Chinese city workers back to their rural homes for Chinese New Year. This Chinese documentary shows one young couple who for many years have left their two children with the grandparents so that the parents can earn money to support the family and hopefully make life better for the younger generation. As the granddaughter reaches teen age, her resentment against her parents erupts and causes turmoil almost as great as the human turmoil in the overwhelmed train stations. Maybe her generation will address the issue her parents’ generation seems to be ignoring: what should be done about a government that reneged on a promise of lifetime security for everyone.

Off and Running – 2009 (3.0). An African-American high school girl in NYC, who has been raised since infancy by a white Jewish lesbian couple, decides to contact her birth mother who gave her up for adoption in this efficient and intelligent documentary,which was co-written by the girl. Unfortunately, while her adoptive mothers support the attempt at contact, the birth mother reacts with ambivalence and the girl becomes confused and her relationship with her adoptive family strained. Her adoptive family includes her Princeton bound older brother, a multi-racial African-American, who is a confidante to her but who is more interested in choosing how to go forward with his life, and a younger Korean brother to whom she is almost like a loving aunt. The girl lets the process affect how she lives her life as she becomes more and more confused. When she gets with an Asian counselor with a similar background, better understanding is bound to result, but we are only able to see just the beginning of that relationship before the movie ends. The girl says she will hold off on pursuing her birth mother until she finishes college; so maybe a sequel can cover that.

21 Up in South Africa – 2006 (2.9). Modeled after the British series, this documentary started with a disparate group of seven year olds at age 7, at the end of the apartheid era, then checked back on them at 14, and now at 21. Not as captivating as the British series, here we have a much more unsettled and desperate group of young people, giving evidence to the actual lack of economic opportunities even though the racial restrictions of apartheid have ended. The devastation of Aids and is evidenced by the fact that two of the three children who did not live to 21 died of the disease.

Don Juan DeMarco – 2004 (2.9). Johnny Depp thinks he is the legendary Don Juan. Marlon Brando is a burned out shrink who becomes captivated by his imaginative new patient. Pleasantly different and watchable to the end, even if there is nothing profound or touching.

Africa – Savannah Homecoming – 2001 (2.9). Part of a seven part National Geographic series, this episode tells about two women in East Africa who are facing a mid-life decision about whether to change their way of living. One woman is a city bred college graduate who married a man from a primitive hunting village where they live with their children. She travels back to the city to see her family for the first time in ten years and to consider whether to move back to the city. The other woman has a strong tribal identity, though she now works as a hairdresser in the big city. She is pregnant by a man from her tribe who is apparently not going to stay involved with the woman and child, but it is very important for her to travel back to the country home of her tribal roots so that her child can be born there according to tradition. This is a straightforward and respectful presentation of these culturally diverse stories.

Custer’s Last Stand – 2011 (2.8). From PBS American Experience, this documentary, using interviews of historians, archival photographs and filmed re-enactments, told the story of Custer from an unfamiliar viewpoint, offering some biography and personality exploration along with explanation of how the man came to be mythologized. Of particular novelty was the information on his marriage to the woman who as his widow strived to perpetuate the myth of Custer as a symbol of rugged American individualism bringing about manifest destiny.

Ocean of Pearls – 2008 (2.8). This movie about a top notch young Canadian surgeon who is offered a dream job in Detroit, but then realizes his Sikh turban is holding him back is watchable enough, but leaves a sense of never getting deep enough into the characters and issues. Cutting his hair and discarding the turban would be a travesty to the religious principles his immigrant father continuously preaches and it would also undermine his relationship with his Sikh girlfriend. But aren’t these religious trappings outdated and no longer necessary, particularly where they interfere with the pioneer life-saving organ transplant work he wants to do?

Africa – Mountains of Faith – 2001 (2.8). Part of a seven part National Geographic series, this episode tells about two teenage country boys in Ethiopia, one who goes to the big city to shine shoes 72 hours a week to support his family back home and one who trains to follow in the religious footsteps of his father. The mountainous geography of Ethiopia and the unique blend of its ancient religious beliefs with Christianity are the features here.

To Sir, with Love – 1966 (2.7). Sidney Poitier plays a man who worked his way to an engineering degree but then could only find a job as a high school teacher in an East London school populated by a band of undisciplined kids. Of course after an initial shock he wins the kids over and changes his life in the process. Maybe it was a new theme back then, particularly with a black teacher in a predominantly white school, but this was not well done. The cast had much new talent, none of whom ever became famous, but the script was unconvincing and the direction mediocre. Poitier was shown in a lot of facial close-ups just sort of pondering or brooding. The music and dancing was sort of hot back then but is pretty laughable now, especially Sidney doing what looks like a funky chicken.