An average of ten new listings were added each month in 2015. Netflix streams were 71, TV shows 32 and public library DVDs 17. The relatively low number and low ratings means there is not that much I find worth watching. Netflix is best for more obscure documentaries. PBS is best for TV. The library is good for catching up on older shows.
Here are the top ratings for what I watched this year. Maybe 2016 will bring improved viewing, starting with the final season of Downton Abbey.
| Home Fires (Season One) | 2015 | 3.3 |
| Newsroom, The (Season Three) | 2014 | 3.3 |
| Downton Abbey (Season Five) | 2014 | 3.2 |
| Still Alice | 2014 | 3.2 |
| Theory of Everything, The | 2014 | 3.2 |
| Neuland | 2013 | 3.2 |
| Civil War, The | 1990 | 3.2 |
| DamNation | 2014 | 3.1 |
| Hell on Wheels (Season 4) | 2014 | 3.1 |
| Imitation Game, The | 2014 | 3.1 |
| Last Days in Vietnam | 2014 | 3.1 |
| Last Tango in Halifax (Season Three) | 2014 | 3.1 |
| Belle | 2013 | 3.1 |
| Finding Vivian Maier | 2013 | 3.1 |
| Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story, An | 2013 | 3.1 |
| Dark Matter of Love, The | 2012 | 3.1 |
| Loving Story, The | 2011 | 3.1 |
| Darius Goes West | 2007 | 3.1 |
Here are my last viewings of the year:
Brothers on the Line
– 2012 (3.0). Walter Reuther of the United Auto Workers is a key figure in the
American labor movement, a man and an aspect of our history that is not as
well-known as it should be. This documentary, made by his grandnephew, helps
rectify the oversight. There is too much involved in the story of the labor
union movement to cover in one documentary; a miniseries would be more appropriate
[Ken Burns are you reading this?]. Understandably the movie centers on Walter
and his brothers Victor and Roy as they worked together to unionize the
American auto industry, found the CIO, facilitate the merger of the CIO with
the AFL and participate in multiple aspects of progressive politics. It is
little known that Walter worked closely with Martin Luther King and gave a
resounding speech before King at the 1963 March on Washington.
Call the Midwife (Season One) -2012 (3.0). Under the newly adopted National Health Service four young
midwives live and work with midwife nuns in the poor east end of London in the
1950s in this BBC series. The episodes, expanded from the memoirs of one of the
midwives portrayed in the series, follow the personal lives of the women but
mostly show them at work encountering pregnant women and sometimes nursing to
older members of the neighborhood. Historic and contemporary social ills are
woven into the plots and the young women learn from the older nuns and from the
rough reality of their daily work.
Casting By – 2012
(2.9). Casting of movie roles is a well-known aspect of the relative success of
a movie, but less known is the process by which casting is done. This
documentary sheds much light on that process by interviewing various casting
professionals and also actors, producers and directors about their personal
experience with the process. At first the film jumps around a bit between
various casting people but soon in settles in on Marion Dougherty who pioneered
many techniques of the trade, first in NYC supplying stage actors for films and
later in Hollywood. An underlying theme of the movie is the fight for respect
for the work of movie actor casters at the Oscars.
The Way He Looks –
2014 (2.8). The relationship between a boy and his best friend girl is affected
by a new boy in their high school class in this gentle Brazilian movie. The
three seem to hit it off until the new one begins to meet some of the needs of
the other boy, causing the girl to get her nose out of joint. All three are
appealing and we care what happens to them and their relationships, which is
not a bad way to measure the value of a film.
30 for 30: Four Fallsof Buffalo – 2015 (2.8). Part of the documentary series from ESPN, this
movie tells the story of the Buffalo Bills NFL team which went to four Super
Bowls in a row and lost them all. Though they were roundly unfairly criticized
as ultimate losers, this movie shows the character of many of the players who
are interviewed along with coaches, sportscasters and fans. The people of
Buffalo never looked down on those teams which are now revered not only in
Buffalo but throughout the sports world.
Call Me Lucky –
2015 (2.8). An acerbic comic from a small town in central New York became a
standup favorite, political rally participant and mentor to other entertainers,
but there was something untold that made his humor so bitter. This documentary
uses performance footage and interviews with the man himself, his family,
friends and other comics to first show us his rage against the government and
the Catholic Church and then explain the source of his rage and what he has
been doing about it since he revealed the truth about himself.
The Pilgrims –
2015 (2.8). This documentary from Ric Burns uses dramatic reconstructions and
interviews with historians to tell a more accurate story of the European people
who came to Massachusetts in 1620. We know them as the Pilgrims and have a
developed lore of their contact with the Indian people who lived in that region
and particularly a romanticized story of the first Thanksgiving. A more
accurate but less known tale is told in this movie.
Meet the Fokkens
– 2011 (2.7). Twin sisters with over 40 years of experience as Amsterdam
prostitutes have lots of interesting stories to tell, but this Dutch
documentary leaves too many questions about their personal lives through the
years unanswered. They share a bittersweet happiness but must also have deep
hidden pains that are barely tapped into in this movie.
East of Salinas –
2015 (2.6). This documentary followed an undocumented Mexican third grader in
California schools for three years, including filming with his migrant
farmworker family and following the efforts of his teacher, a former migrant
child laborer who became a citizen and now devotes his life to teaching. But
the effect is like being in a forest and only becoming familiar with the three
trees surrounding you. We learn Jose is happy and healthy and loves his teacher
and school, especially math at which he is very good. We learn his mother has
two other kids and a husband (a stepparent of one or maybe all the kids), she works
very hard in the lettuce fields and after at least ten years in the US does not
speak one word of English. We learn the teacher is very dedicated to his students
and tries to expand their learning horizons through field trips. But we learn
nothing about the community in which they live, the farms on which they work,
or the rules and regulations and politics that vitally affect them.
The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were (though
some of the streaming rights may now have expired):
Brothers on the Line
Call the Midwife
Casting By
The Way He Looks
Call Me Lucky
Meet the Fokkens
