When our kids were little we encouraged them to watch
children's shows on PBS. Though they liked most of them, there were times when the
kids would grow tired of always watching PBS and disparage a particular show
with a pejorative, "It's educational." To this day the content on PBS
is stellar. With no little ones in the household, there is plenty worthwhile
for adults to watch in the evenings. One PBS genre that is quite educational
and very well done is science, particularly shows like Nova. Most of these can
be watched on line without cable TV or over the air with an aerial. Technically
these are movies that could be rated on this blog, but my sense is to not
include them. Suffice it to say, every one of them is educational and also very
entertaining. As for the usually excellent PBS historical and biographical
shows, they seem a little less like classroom fare, so while they are also
quite educational, I am inclined to rate them here.
Home Fires (SeasonOne) – 2015 (3.3). As Britain enters WWII, the women in a rural community
ramp up the efforts of the Women's Institute in support of the war in this
well-crafted series. The characters are diverse and all afford opportunities to
explore various aspects of the effect of the war on women and their families.
There is a lot going on but it seems to fit together realistically and with
good intertwining story arcs which hold attention and make one look forward to
several more seasons.
The Theory of Everything – 2014 (3.2). Eddie Redmayne won an Oscar and other awards for
his portrayal of Steven Hawking; Felicity Jones as wife Jane was nominated for
an Oscar and other awards but won none. This somewhat mirrors the lives of the
real people portrayed in this moving biopic of the challenging love
relationship of a brilliant and healthy woman and a genius man with ALS, based
on her book later updated with him. A nicely paced script, quite effective
cinematography and competent directing complement the excellent acting.
Game of Thrones (Season Five) – 2015 (3.0). With this season the series has now caught up
with the books and is ready to enter new ground with a sixth season o be based
on author notes of where the books are expected to go. HBO is making tons of
money on this lavish production with an enormous fan base and good critical
reception. While it is still hard to follow everything going on, this fifth
season seemed to stay on the track of the story arc a bit better. The excessive
blood, gore and nudity continue even as sometimes the show gets a little too
talky. Maybe it is the effect of the looming US Presidential election and
tumult in international affairs, but the applicability of the series to
contemporary politics and battles for power seems to be getting more apparent.
Indian Summers (Season One) – 2015 (2.9). It is 1932 and the colonial upper crust in India
has moved to the cooler foothills for the summer in this Brit series. Colonialism
is winding down but the country is in political turmoil. The Secretary to the
Viceroy is central to the series. He is mentored by an older female family
friend who runs the social club and his sister returns from a long stay in
England bringing her child and a story of being widowed. An Indian family
headed by a war veteran includes an upwardly mobile son who make it to the
staff of the Secretary and a daughter who is a law student working with
progressive reformists. Mystery and personal romantic tension seems to surround
everyone, perhaps a bit too much, taking away from time that could have been
spent delving into the evolving politics of the time and place. Maybe that will
come more with the second season of this stylish production.
India's Daughter
– 2015 (2.8). The brutal gang rape and murder of a medical student in India,
the underlying cultural attitudes toward women and the galvanizing effect this
crime had on university students throughout India to demand changes in the
cultural attitudes and the judicial system are documented in this film. The
parents of the victim present an enlightened counter to the backward perversion
of the assailants which their attorneys attempt to justify. The police official
seems oblivious to reality but the popular uprising of revulsion did lead to a
blue ribbon commission recommending sweeping changes in Indian law. But the
Indian government is not as open as it could be as the movie has reportedly been
banned in the country.
Copenhagen – 2014
(2.8). A jerky American 28 year old man travels with a buddy and the buddy's
girl to Copenhagen where the jerk is going to look for his paternal grandfather
to deliver a letter from the jerk's dad who died a year ago in this indie
drama. After breaking with the buddy the jerk struggles to find his way around
town and cannot read the letter because it is written in Danish. His father
walked out on the family when the jerk was 14 and before that the man was just
a grump. A 14 year old girl starts helping the jerk with his mission, partly
because she herself had a no show father. What the man finds out about the
paternal roots and what he learns from the girl about relationships with women
is the substance of this promising first feature.
Mimi and Dona –
2014 (2.8). Autistic Dona is in her sixties and has always lived with her
mother Mimi in Texas, but the time has come to move Dona into a group home
living arrangement. A niece of Dona made this touching documentary about the
painful process of separating mother and daughter. The movie concentrates on
the two women and close family members through the time of discussing the move
and then making it and monitoring the effect over the next couple years. The
family seems to have an unusual number of autistic members, but the film does
not explore analysis of data or seek expert opinions. The story is kept very
personal.
My Week with Marilyn
– 2011 (2.8). When Marilyn Monroe went to England to film the Prince and the
Showgirl, she drove Laurence Olivier nuts. A young upper crust man got his
first job in the movie business as a flunky for Olivier and provided a much
needed buffer between the two stars. This stylishly produced though somewhat
superficial film is based on the young man's memoir. Typically good Brit
acting, including Eddie Redmayne as the young man, and a very good Monroe by
American Michelle Williams make up some for script deficiencies.
American Comandante
– 2015 (2.7). Archival footage, home
movies, newspaper articles and an interview with his widow are the bricks of
this documentary about an American boy from Ohio who wanted to be a soldier but
was dishonorably discharged from the US Army, drifted into life as a gangster
and then abandoned his wife and child to go to Cuba in the 1950s to fight in
the revolution. Taken lightly at first the man soon earned fame as a fighter
but was disillusioned when Castro embraced Russia and communist ways. His
participation in the counter revolution turned out about as well as the Bay of
Pigs invasion.
The One I Love –
2014 (2.7). The script for this indie drama about a couple whose marriage
counselor sends them to a secluded getaway is clever. As we expect to learn
more about their problems and watch them work on the issues, we quickly learn
there is something quirky about the guest house on the property and the
doppelgangers that are staying there. Revealing they are alter egos of a sort,
the script then gets a little muddled between solving the mystery and saving
the marriage. At the end, it is not clear enough what the couple actually
learned and whether both members of the original couple in fact returned
home. The doppelganger technology works
well and the two actors, who we realizer at the end carried the entire movie,
give good performances.
Second Best ExoticMarigold Hotel – 2015 (2.6). Proof again that sequels are usually not as
good as the original, this remake suffers from a muddled script bouncing around
between story lines and never congealing. There are the acting greats and some
funny lines, but it is a quite forgettable movie.
Swingers – 1996
(2.5). Sometimes it is hard to know whether we are laughing with this indie
movie or laughing at it. Young guys trying to make it in the movies and related
arts in LA are hopping around to parties and bars with a concentration on
trying to find a hookup for the guy who has been spending six months moping
over the breakup of a six year relationship. This is the kind of film that gets
made by the kind of guys who are the characters.
Three Kings –
1999 (2.3). In the aftermath of the Gulf
War, four American soldiers discover a map leading to gold Saddam stole from
the Kuwaitis and they set out to get some for themselves in this predictably
formulaic action caper movie. In the course of dealing with remnants of
Saddam's repressive forces, the soldiers become involved with rescuing innocent
civilians.
The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were (though
some of the streaming rights may now have expired):
Copenhagen
The One I Love
Swingers
Three Kings