Seven Flix streamers, three from PBS TV and two from the
library make up the dozen on this list. Last Tango from the BBC is set in contemporary
Canada so it pulls off quality without invoking an earlier period and without getting
the aristocracy involved. The Dirt movie tops a decent batch of documentaries
from Netflix. Homeland season one from the library is good enough to prompt
putting the second season on hold. Silver Linings Playbook was a disappointment
and I should have known anything from the WWE would be a bomb.
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 movies on this list streamed via Netflix were:
Dirt! The Movie [stream availability expired 10/6/2013]
Tent City, USA
Don’t Stop Believin’
Becoming Chaz
Dad’s in Heaven with Nixon
His Secret Life [stream availability expired 10/6/2013]
WWE for All Mankind
Last Tango in Halifax
(Season One) – 2012 (3.6). Though the story of widowed people in their
seventies who had become disconnected way back in their school days hooking up
over the Internet and committing to love has some appeal, this BBC series adds
other elements which raise the show to a much higher level. They each have a
daughter who is going through her own midlife crisis. One daughter with a
philandering husband struggles with her own sexual preferences, and the other,
also widowed, struggles with guilt and her own erotic desires. The younger
women each have sons, making for even more issues of communication between the
generations. The acting is top notch and the writing is sharp. These people all
have their good points and bad, making them more real and appealing. Season two
filming is already underway.
Dirt! The Movie –
2009 (3.3). This surprisingly moving
documentary uses entertaining animation and interviews with environmental
activists combined with footage of children and adults worldwide to explain how
wonderfully intricate the soil of the earth is and how much we are
interconnected with it. The earth is alive and soil is fundamental to all life,
something which we too often seem to forget as we neglect the soil and let
multinational corporations kill it with chemically toxic monoculture. The movie
does a very effective job of imparting scientific information in an
entertaining way making it watchable by parents and young children together.
Seeing children, urbanites, convicts and people of diverse circumstances all
experiencing a profound sense of connection when they get involved with healthy
soil is inspiring.
Best Kept Secret
– 2013 (3.0). Closely following three young men with severe autism as they are
about to turn 21 and graduate from a special needs public school in Newark,
this documentary shown on PBS POV does an effective job of presenting the
challenges they face and showing their unique individuality. We also meet their
genuinely upbeat, charismatic and dedicated teacher as she spends all her time
trying to find a program to work with her students after they graduate. We also
meet some of the family members and surrogates who are struggling to do what
they can to help in the lives of these young men. There are lots of films about
autism, many with informative interviews with experts, but this movie defers on
those and instead offers a more personal and engaging experience.
Homeland (Season One)
– 2011 (3.0). A US Marine Sergeant who was captured in Iraq and thought to be
dead suddenly turns up alive after eight years. His wife has in the last year
started a serious affair with his best friend, who helped her and her children
through their ordeal. A female CIA agent in Iraq is told by a trusted Iraqi
informer that an American soldier has been “turned” by Al Qaeda, so she
suspects the Marine and on her return to the US targets him for investigation. Unable
to get official CIA sanction she goes rogue and gets too personally embroiled,
which is not unusual for this brilliant but deeply flawed agent. The continuity
of the main story arc and the plausibility of the plot twists are more than
enough to overcome some holes in the back story of the possible “turning” and
some apparent lapses in security practices in this well-acted Showtime series.
Tent City, USA –
2012 (2.9). Homeless people run their own tent city in Nashville with guidance
from a local church and this documentary follows several inhabitants as they
tell some of their personal stories and go about their lives. A flood brings
the need to relocate the camp and the homeless are met either by community
antipathy or inaction as four homeless people decide to seek a seat on the
feckless Nashville Homeless Commission. Effectively putting a personal face on
homelessness, this movie saves time by not including interviews on the subject
with so-called experts who have never been homeless themselves.
Foyle’s War (Season
Seven) -2013 (2.8). This season consists of three TV movies set right after
WWII with Foyle being recruited by the MI-5 intelligence agency to work as a
sort of ombudsman to keep the agency from getting too far of the righteous path
in its zeal to kep ahead of the Russians in the new cold war. Foyle recruits
his driver assistant Samantha, now married to a sincere young politician. Other
than the presence of Sam there is no story arc in this season beyond Foyle
taking on his new job and bumping into the MI5 mentality of the end justifying
the means and at season end leaving open the likelihood he will not remain in
this job.
Don’t Stop Believin’:
Everyman’s Journey – 2011 (2.8). When long time rock band Journey lost its
celebrated lead singer, they went to You Tube to look for a possible
replacement and found a very promising candidate in Manila. This documentary
shows the process of testing the man and the resulting tour to try him out. Arnel
Pineda is one of those singers whose voice is surprisingly robust for his size.
He also has an inspiring tale of overcoming obstacles and exudes a charismatic
positive attitude. The movie is a little too long, but it does contain lots of
music for fans and a hopeful message for musical aspirants.
Becoming Chaz –
2010 (2.8). Chastity Bono never felt like a girl and her mother Cher says she
knew early on her daughter was a lesbian. Only four when her dad Sonny died,
Chaz went through a very troubled adolescence and early adulthood. As this
documentary begins, Chastity has started the process of trans-gendering into a
man. She lives with her girlfriend, who has problems of her own, but who sticks
with Chaz as the hormone therapy and breast removal surgery lead her to a
second puberty, this time as a testosterone loaded male. Chaz has the support
and many friends and family members, except for her mother who seems befuddled
and too busy nursing her own celebrity to fully tune into what is going on.
Chaz has a good attitude and is courageous about what she is doing, even
getting involved with families who have young children who will probably be
making a similar sex change.
Dad’s in Heaven with
Nixon – 2010 (2.8). Using old home movies taken by his grandfather and
father and interviews with his mother and siblings, the filmmaker who made this
documentary tells the story of how his father was not loved by the grandfather,
how the father was never able to comprehend the fact that one of his own son’s
was autistic and how the life of the father took a serious downhill turn. The
autistic brother, who is now a successful artist, is a central interview
subject and is very likeable. His autism was helped in his early years through
therapy his mother insisted he get, and he has been able to live independently
as an adult.
His Secret Life –
2001 (2.8). Fortyish Antonia was a
devoted wife but when her husband was killed in a traffic accident she was
challenged to examine his life and hers upon discovering that he was involved
in a long term gay relationship at the time of his death. This Italian drama
does not indulge in cheap comic relief but rather shows a woman struggling to
understand first her husband and their life together, then her relationship
with her mother and the man who loved her husband and the members of the LGBT
community to which he belongs. Without blatantly spelling out the questions,
this Italian movie manages to get us to think about the answers.
Silver Linings
Playbook – 2012 (2.7). This is one of those movies we are supposed to like,
because it is a sincere attempt to address mental illness in a newly personal
way and the young leading actress won the Oscar for her performance. Unfortunately,
too much time is spent at the beginning of the film showing the young bi-polar
man acting out his illness, much to our discomfort. Though we see him in a
mental institution, we learn nothing about his illness or how they are trying
to help him, though we do see him faking taking his pill, a la Nicholson in Cuckoo’s
Nest. After his release, we see the man interfacing with his parents, friends,
brother, shrink, police officer, former fellow patient and most importantly,
the girl with mental issues herself, who leads him on the path to recovery. Her
performance was good, but not memorably Oscar worthy. The rest of the roles are
written as caricatures, though the father, played by DeNiro, has a little more
depth. There did not seem to be much to learn about mental illness here, other
than to be sure to take your medicine and have lots of people who patiently
love you, especially a very good looking person of the opposite sex who also
happens to have mental issues.
WWE for All Mankind:
The Life & Career of Mick Foley – 2013 (2.2). This overlong documentary
about a college educated pro wrestler was made by the WWE and is largely a
commercial for that business with Foley eagerly narrating his seemingly endless
career of entertaining people with increasing amounts of shtick and
orchestrated violence without regard to the cost to his body. Somehow the man
comes across as not brain damaged, though his body otherwise seems fairly
ravaged. Apparently he does some philanthropic work, which is mentioned in the
film promos but barely shown in the movie. His personal life is also hardly
touched on, except for a bit at the beginning about how he was an early fan of
entertainment wrestling. People who actually paid to watch such entertainment
may like this film, but the only thing it has to offer for the rest of us is
confirmation that we are glad we did not waste our time and money.
