DamNation – 2014
(3.1). Two hundred years of building dams on American rivers has resulted in
over 75,000 such edifices, but now the pendulum has started back in the other
direction as some dams are being removed to allow the rivers to run free. Using
archival footage, interviews of people with diverse views on the subject, some
imaginative animation and highly effective time lapse cinematography of rivers
coming back to life after dams are removed, this documentary is emotionally
appealing, rationally informative and reasonably encouraging. Dam removal is
not just an environmental issue; there are also economic, safety, health,
cultural and other factors that come into play in evaluating whether a dam
should remain in place.
Last Days in Vietnam
– 2014 (3.1). This documentary covers
the fall of Saigon in 1975 in a forthright manner, using lots of historical
footage put in context by current interviews with Americans and Vietnamese who
were involved in the chaotic exit of American forces. With Americans having
long before lost their taste for the war in Vietnam, and after indicating in
the 1968 Presidential campaign he had a secret plan to honorably end the war,
Nixon took five years to come up with a complicated peace accord in 1973. The
next year he resigned in disgrace and while successor Ford was struggling with
his new role of commander-in-chief, Ho Chi Minh invaded South Vietnam. The
accord required the US to come to the aid of the South Vietnamese government,
but Congress refused a request from Ford for funds. Original exit protocol set
by the US Ambassador to South Vietnam said leave all Vietnamese behind, but
individual American officials disobeyed the protocol and thousands of
Vietnamese made it out one way or another, despite the American government not
living up to its commitment and not having any organized plan to evacuate
Vietnamese.
Darius Goes West
– 2007 (3.1). Darius Weems is a young African American man in Georgia who has a
kind of muscular dystrophy that causes death usually in the late teens or early
twenties. His older brother died of the same disease. Darius is an upbeat kid
who is extremely heavy and loves to write and perform rap songs. A group of
young white men who met Darius and his brother from working at camps for kids
with disabilities took a special liking to the engaging Darius and together
they came up with the idea to rent a motor home and all travel across the
country to raise awareness of MD and wheelchair access problems and in LA to
ask the MTV show "Pimp My Ride" to trick out Darius's aging
wheelchair. They filmed the tour and though it is sad to think about what
Darius has to endure, he is so inspiring and these young people all have so
much fun and love together that the result is uplifting.
Mr. Selfridge (SeasonThree) – 2015 (3.0). With another five year jump through WWI and the Flu
epidemic, this biopic series finds Selfridge widowed and his family, store
staff and the nation in general weary and worn. Returning soldiers resent the
women who took the jobs of the men during the war and many soldiers bear
emotional scars affecting relationships. The Selfridge children find love, one
with the son of an exiled Russian Princess, one with a former waiter in the
store restaurant who now runs his own club and one with a girl who works in the
store. Store employees also find romance and renew relationships hindered by
wartime separation. Ups and downs in business, with the nemesis evil Lord
weaseling his way onto the Selfridge board of directors, are matched by ups and
down in relationships. Mr. Selfridge himself begins to make mistakes in both
business and personal matters and seems in danger of spiraling downward heading
into the roaring twenties.
Black in LatinAmerica - 2011 (2.9). In four stylish documentary episodes Professor Gates
of Harvard gives a brief history of African slaves brought to Santa Domingo
(Haiti and Dominican Republic), Cuba, Brazil, and Mexico/Peru, and the lives of
their descendants. Playing like a travelogue, the professor visits each country
and is shown historic sites and contemporary activities as he interrelates with
academic experts on each culture and with local citizens. Though Africans
brought to each country had unique experiences, the common thread is oppression
under slavery and discrimination after abolition.
Wolf Hall – 2015
(2.8). For this adaptation of the novel about Henry VIII, the Brits used the
typical sterling cast and authentic locations, combined with a darkened candle
lighting effect and lots of hand held camera work following the principal
character, Thomas Cromwell, as he became an insider to the King and helped
Henry break the marriage to wife number one by establishing his own church and
then convict wife number two of adultery and execute her. With many more wives
left to be dispatched, this six part series quit at the first execution. The
slowly nuanced acting of Mark Rylance as Cromwell is slow but convincing and
the darkly depressing décor gives a claustrophobic context.
I Am Divine –
2013 (2.8). Independent film maker John Waters included in his early endeavors
a bullied fat boy from the neighborhood who had a burning desire to be an actor
and indulged it by playing an over the top outsized drag queen. He was so good
at it that Waters named him Divine and the man had a good run at the role,
becoming a cult celebrity in independent films and disco performances. To make
this biographical documentary, lots of archival footage was joined with past
interviews of Divine and current interviews of his mother, Waters and other people
involved in various stages of his life. He lived life with gusto but was
actually a gentle giant.
What Maisie Knew –
2012 (2.8). The main reason to watch this adaptation of the Henry James novel
is the performance by the six year old actress playing the title character, the
daughter of an aging female rock singer and a Brit businessman both of whom are
often on the road and more interested in their careers than in their daughter.
After the couple splits, each marries and the two step-parents make the time
for the little girl who they both love in a healthy way, unlike the birth
parents who each love her in a self-centered way. The story revolves around the
girl and what she sees and hears of the adults, so the young actress is
essentially in every scene. She actually seems more adult than her parents and
perhaps an equal to her step-parents. The novel apparently had a bleak ending,
but the movie goes for Hollywood upbeat. However, since the young actress is so
beguiling, you have to feel she deserves a happier fate.
Ali Zaoua: Prince ofthe Streets – 2000 (2.8). There is no doubting the authenticity of the
scenes of pre-teen boys living on the streets of Casablanca in this Moroccan
movie. Ali has dreams of leaving his bleak life and becoming a sailor headed
for a magical island with a beautiful young woman with whom he will live
happily ever after. But reality has other plans as his three friends learn.
Menaced by the gang from which they have split, the boys set about doing
something honorable for Ali. A few imaginative animations are incorporated in
this otherwise quite realistic story, but a bit more conventional plot and
drama could have given it broader appeal.
Ferris Bueller's DayOff – 1986 (2.8). Thirty years after its making, this comedy is like a
technology time capsule, with phone booths in high school and square computer
monitors with yellow text. But the anti-authoritarian style still holds up and
there is timeless sincerity enough in this John Hughes movie to overcome the
inherent youthful naiveté. The Twist and Shout number still rocks.
Boardwalk Empire
(Season Five) – 2014 (2.6). The series concludes with muddled scripts bouncing
around between subplots and back and forth in time to tell yet again some of
the back story of Nucky. Slow pacing in many scenes enables fast forwarding and
a viewer checklist would seem in order to verify the many characters who meet
their maker. One has to wonder why producers keep making shows about the lives
of gangsters, supposedly because they are so interesting, yet they have to
change the actual facts and create many fictional characters and apocryphal
story lines to hold viewer interest. The best gangster series, The Wire, was
entirely fiction but captured the truth of the matter by looking at gang crime
from five different perspectives each of which was given its own season.
Hot Fuzz – 2007
(2.6). There is an impressive cast and top production values in this Brit spoof
of Hollywood police action movies, but the script sometimes veers a bit toward
the serious and the comedy is not really up to the usual Brit level. It is also
too long at two hours.
The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were (though
some of the streaming rights may now have expired):
DamNationDarius Goes West
Black in Latin America
I Am Divine
Ali Zaoua: Prince of the Streets
What Maisie Knew
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Hot Fuzz
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