Prime Time

After watching Amazon Prime shows via computer hooked up to the living room TV, I finally figured out how to link Prime with the Comcast Cable, so now can handle it all through the TV. Several movies from the Seattle International Film Festival are available on Prime, so I added those to my Prime watch list along with some of the Prime TV series that looked worth a try. I am not expecting much, but at least if I bail out I can just take it off the watch list and do not have to bother to return a DVD to the library. Speaking of the library, I have put many of the award nominees for this year on hold and expect them to start coming through in a few months.

One Mississippi (Season One) – 2015 (3.2). Surprisingly interesting in several ways, this dramedy series finds comedian and radio talk show host Tig Novato returning to her Mississippi coastal roots following the death of her mother and renewing her connections to places and family she left when she moved to LA. All the characters are interesting, there is some plot and drama and lots of soft commentary on sex, gender, race, politics, business, entertainment and relationships. Season one ends with the return to LA.

One Mississippi (Season Two) – 2015 (3.2). Season two of this series maintains the accomplishments of the first season while developing the various story lines and characters and introducing some new ones as Tig finds herself once again back in Mississippi. Unfortunately, Amazon, the producer decided the series was not popular enough for a third season.

Won't You Be My Neighbor – 2018 (2.9). The PBS children's TV icon Fred Rogers gets deservedly appreciative treatment in this biographical documentary. Many archival clips from his shows are combined with old interviews of Fred and new interviews with family, friends and colleagues. Most moving is footage of his appearance before the ornery Senator Pastore whose Senate committee was in charge of the Nixon budget which was going to cut funding to PBS. When Fred recited the lyrics of a song he wrote for a young boy who asked him what do you do with the hate you have inside, the Senator melted in a way that even Frank Capra would have thought too corny.

Angels Wear White -2017 (2.8). This Chinese drama tells the story of the sexual exploitation of two young schoolgirls by an important politician and the ensuing investigation by the police. We meet the two girls and their parents and also two young women who work at the motel where the girls were exploited and a female lawyer who advocates for the children. In the course of the movie we also meet the police, medical personnel, motel operator and low life criminal types, all of whom are mostly male and misogynists. The female director draws out impressive performances from the young actresses.

Bee Nation – 2017 (2.8). For the first time the Canadian Spelling Bee includes First Nation kids from the Saskatchewan tribal Reserve, and w get to follow several of them in this documentary, meeting their families and hearing from the kids and families about life where they live. Though they know they have disadvantages, mainly economic, they also know they have advantages, like a strong tribal community.

Cultureshock: Freaks and Geeks – 2018 (2.8). A reviewer likened this documentary to a special feature on a DVD. Some of those features were best watched after seeing the movie while others were helpful to watch first. In this case, the movie is actually the one year of episodes of the TV series and watching this documentary first is a good recommendation for watching the series. [Update March 2019: I ordered the series on DVD from the library and then realized I had ordered it about eight years ago and only watched the first two episodes before bailing out and giving it a 2.4 rating. This time the DVD from the library only includes a disk with the first three episodes and the library does not have the other disks with fifteen more episodes. I watched the three and thought they were a little better than 2.4, but will let my original rating stand and not try to find the other episodes somewhere else].

Eighth Grade – 2018 (2.8). The young actress (award nominee Elsie Fisher) who plays the middle school student does a great job of portraying the turmoil of struggling with that stage of life, with the updated inclusion of video blogging and the ubiquity of smartphones. There is an understanding single father, left in charge by a mother who apparently walked away very early, and there is no other adult female role of consequence.

Fahrenheit 11/9– 2018 (2.8). Michael Moore responded to the 2016 election and the first year of the Trump chaos with this documentary covering some of the political, economic and social issues that played into the outcome and what some of the ensuing chaos looked like. Notably absent was any treatment of Russian interference with the process. Pretty standard Moore fare.

Leave No Trace – 2017 (2.8). A PTSD veteran and his teenage daughter live in the forest near Portland, Oregon, because he prefers the hermit life to interfacing with people any more than absolutely necessary. The daughter is loving and faithful but once the two are arrested for illegal camping and are monitored by social workers who try to place them in a better situation, dad cannot stand it and runs away with the daughter. Ultimately she starts to feel like it is time to settle in one place and be involved with other people. Both roles are played well, with another young actress(Thomasin McKenzie from NZ) to watch in the future. Once again, the absence of the mother is not explained.

This Is Home: A Refugee Story – 2018 (2.8). Three Syrian refugee families arrive in Baltimore where a refugee assistance program helps them for eight months after which they are basically own their own. This documentary follows them during that time. The families are appealingly sympathetic, but most of the assistance workers are not impressive in the way they interface with the refugees. A church lady takes one refugee mother under her wing and her help is deservedly appreciated.

The King – 2017 (2.7). If driving the 1963 pink Rolls Royce that once belonged to Elvis Presley around various sites in the US that were associated with Elvis and interviewing people who knew him and encountering people on the streets and talking about him, having musicians and others sit in the back of the car and talk, and having some celebrities ride along, all while telling the life story of Elvis and making commentary on the social and political history of the US sounds interesting but confusing, then that pretty well characterizes this documentary.

Ava– 2017 (2.6). Hormonal Iranian teenager Ava fights with her parents, teachers and classmates, all of whom (with the sometimes exception of her father)are as unsympathetic to the audience as she is as they are overbearing and repressive. The female director was born in Iran but lives in Canada, which must explain how she is able to make a seemingly realistic movie about the bitter life in the country of her birth.

McQueen – 2018 (2.6). A young Brit fashion designer brimming with self-confidence and, in the minds of many in that business, talent, rises and falls and his story is told in an episodic manner in this documentary, using archival home movies and fashion show footage and historic interviews and new ones. Fashionistas might devour this while others will wonder why all the fuss.

Summer 1993 – 2017 (2.6). In this Spanish film a city girl of about seven has lost her parents to Aids and is taken in by her uncle who lives in the countryside. The movie follows the girl and her girl cousin of about three or four as they go through different adventures. Though the concentration on such young actresses is quite an accomplishment, the film does not seem to have any particular point of view, drama or character development.

What Will People Say – 2017 (2.6). Here is another drama about teenage girls dealing with strict parents as part of an immigrant subculture, this time Pakistanis in Norway. The girl goes through a sneaky wild stage in Oslo, but is caught and taken to Pakistan to be watched over by her strict aunt, but that does not exactly work out either. This Pakistani movie covers all the acting up of the girl but never goes into any depth in helping us learn about her feelings or those of her family members beyond that she wants to do what she wants and they want her to do what they want.

First Reformed – 2017 (2.5). From approving critics it seems one has to understand internal Calvinistic religious struggle and austere cinematic styling to adequately appreciate this movie. For we who do neither, this supposed thriller sucks. A mentally and physically sick minister is assigned to a historic church in upstate NY which has no actual congregation. He tries ineptly to counsel a despairing environmental activist and when the man dies the minister gets involved with the widow and in the process spurns a church lady who has been chasing him. The minister is being overseen by the pastor of a successful mega church financially supported by a leading polluter. There were possible plot lines for a decent drama or thriller, but what resulted instead is a disappointing waste of time.