What’s Up, Doc

After deciding to power watch Doc Martin on Netflix Instant Play and getting a few episodes into season two, the series, except for season one, abruptly disappeared without the usual week or two warning, causing lots of angry comments to be posted. So, I’ve added it to my library queue and have started watching Foyle’s War on Instant Play. The rest of what I have been watching is about half documentaries, and that’s the better half of a pretty unremarkable group.

I have finished entering all my Netflix movie ratings to my account at the IMDb and also added a few hundred more of the older Netflix ratings to my own movie database. At the end of the year, or maybe sooner, I plan to update the movie lists linked in the sidebar of this blog. When that happens, there will be a posting about the update. Going through the ratings and seeing all the old movies that I really liked, I am tempted to start watching some of them again to see if they still seem that great. They sure should be a lot better than most of the movies I have been watching over the last couple years.

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].

  

Doc Martin (Season One) – 2004 (3.2). After watching bits of episodes of this BBC series the last few years, I decided to start from the beginning. The Doc (Martin Clunes) leaves a London surgical practice to become GP for a scenic fishing village in Cornwall, where he finds a close knit community of somewhat eccentric locals. His aunt still lives there, but he has not seen her since childhood. There is an attractive school teacher for a possible love interest. He takes over the neglected office of the last GP, who died a while back, and is unfortunately saddled with his defiantly incompetent receptionist. Episodes move forward the story of his personal life as he engages with the locals and treats some illnesses which often turn out to be different from what they first seemed.

Woody Allen: A Documentary – 2011 (2.9). The American Masters TV version that I watched is twice as long as the theatrical version. The first part deals with Woody’s childhood and start in show business, phasing into movie making. The last part covers his movies through the years and some of his personal life. Lots of film clips, interviews with Woody and his sister and actors and film critics provide plenty of information on Woody, but nothing particularly new, though he does come across as much less eccentric than the media sometimes has portrayed him.

Guilty Pleasures – 2010 (2.9). Three women who read romance novels, a young Japanese wife and mother who is a ballroom dance competitor, an older remarried woman in England, and a young woman in India who is estranged from her romantic partner are followed in this documentary, as are two American men, a model who poses for pictures used on the covers of these books, an an older man who writes these novels under a pseudonym. I don’t know that I learned much about anything in particular from this movie, but I did enjoy the gentle approach of the young woman filmmaker and found the cutting back and forth between stories of the people to be excellent, whereas such editing is too often disruptive and confusing.

The President’s Photographer - 2010 (2.9). This National Geographic hour long documentary follows the official photographer for President Obama as he captures images of the President for posterity, offering an inside look at Presidential endeavors. The movie also interviews some past Presidents and their photographers. LBJ started this photographic practice and all Presidents since have embraced it, except Nixon who restricted it during his time in office. The thousands of photos these photographers take all become part of the National Archives.

Up Heartbreak Hill – 2011 (2.8). This documentary about the college aspirations of two high school senior track athletes (a boy and a girl) on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico was straightforward in covering the kids, their families and some of the school teachers, coaches and administrators, but it did not explore issues in much depth. We don’t see many movies about young people like these, so while the choice of subject adds to the rating, it could have been better covered.

Crude – 2009 (2.8). For decades, Chevron/Texaco drilled oil from the Ecuadorian Amazon region and then when the government of Ecuador refused to extend the right to drill, an Ecuadorian government sponsored company took over and Texaco conducted a superficial cleanup as part of a deal to hand over its facilities and get a complete release from any liability. Thousands of indigenous people have been involved for almost 20 years in class action litigation against the American company for the environmental, cultural and health calamity it created. This documentary follows a few years of the litigation, led by a young Ecuadorian lawyer aided by an American and funded by an American law firm. The movie includes some denial interviews with Chevron spokespeople, and scenes of the lawyers coming to the US for meetings seeking publicity and support, but most of the footage is of the jungle and village areas and people showing the damage that persists. The film does not explain any of the laws and rules involved in the dispute, nor is the litigation decided by the time the film ends.

Breaking the Maya Code – 2008 (2.8). This documentary is produced and directed very well and tells a fascinating story of the centuries long effort to decipher the abundant Mayan glyphs sculpted into the numerous structures which have been reclaimed from the Central American jungles. Narration, archival footage and some reconstructions combine with numerous interviews with experts to tell how scholars of all levels have contributed through the years to finally being able to understand the writings and learn the written history of the Mayan world. The Maya had significant libraries which were totally destroyed by the Spanish conquerors, except for three or four books that survived. This movie is so thorough in explaining the intricacies of the Mayan glyphs and the details of each step in the scientific quest that it comes across as a little too scholarly for general audiences.

Witness for the Prosecution – 1957 (2.8). Based on an Agatha Christie play, this movie directed by Billy Wilder has a clever script and crisp direction, but the acting and staging is too theatrical. This one is all about the story, which is clever enough to justify the “request from the theater management” during the closing credits not to reveal the outcome of the movie.

My Darling Clementine – 1946 (2.8). Director John Ford returned from the War and turned to his favorite genre for this film, the second time Wyatt Earp appears in the movies. Like most Earp stories, this one is about half true and it has all the classic hallmarks of Ford’s style, plus it mingles a romantic triangle with the expected OK Corral shootout. Henry Fonda is appropriately subtle as Wyatt and Walter Brennan is an effective villain as Old Man Clanton.

Warrior – 2011 (2.7). This movie about two brothers who became estranged when they each went with a different parent when the family split, shows the attention that was paid to getting the details right for the mixed martial arts fight scenes as the two men compete in an elite MMA tournament, with the alcoholic father training one son while desperately trying to make emotional connection with both of them. More attention should have been paid to the script though, which wanders a little aimlessly at first and never goes too far from the tension between wallowing in the past and stepping into the future. The contrast between the viciousness of MMA and the humanity of the fighters is shown, but not adequately explored.

The First Grader – 2010 (2.7). This BBC movie from National Geographic Entertainment about an 84 year old former Mau Mau freedom fighter in Kenya who wants to go to school to learn to read should have been better than it is. The script is the problem, starting slow and using too many flashbacks to tell of the tortures and abuse the man and his family endured in the fight against British colonial rule. The locations and children are authentic as is the story, but the conflict between the people from the different tribes and the fact that some fought for freedom while others served as British lackeys, and which differences were supposed to have been left behind after independence are not developed in a satisfactory way by the script even though they underlie the entire story.

Throw Down Your Heart – 2008 (2.7). The American banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck takes the instrument back to its native Africa in this documentary, travelling to a handful of nations to meet and play music with African musicians. The musical groups offer an interesting variety of sounds and characters, while the charming Fleck manages to blend in quite well, but overall the movie comes across as unorganized and not particularly informative.

The Cutting Edge – 1992 (2.7). A female figure skater is too temperamental to be satisfied with the various skating partners she has tried through the years, and then is matched up with a star college hockey player whose eye injury has ended his hockey career. Predictably, they clash and then develop togetherness. Formulaic, but good chemistry between Moira Kelly and D. B. Sweeney make it worth watching.

Nibbling at the Queue

Three unspectacularly rated [2.9, 2.8 and 2.6] movies from the library are on this list, along with eleven from my Netflix instant queue, so returning to the library has prompted me to also make inroads on my queue. Whatever works to try to find some enjoyable movies.

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].

Together – 2000 (3.2). This refreshingly watchable Swedish movie about a commune in the 1970s is not a comedy, but rather a drama with humor and heart. People openly explore their sexuality, argue politics and try to mend old relationships and start new ones, and as we watch them we are touched, with a couple exceptions, by their honest humanity. Community overcomes loneliness.

Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 – 2008 (2.9). Even for a football fan, a documentary about a 1968 game interspersed with current interviews of the players sounds like a bit of a stretch, but this movie is quite watchable. Both teams were undefeated as they came into this last game of the year and Yale was dominating as expected as the game wound down, but then the game changed and it was a very exciting finish. The interview excerpts are well integrated into the game and it is interesting to see how the men have aged, how their memories have fared and how the game affected their lives at the time and in subsequent years.

Trumbo – 2007 (2.9). The blacklisted writer was an interesting man who was wonderful with words, and this documentary, based on work by his son, captures the man quite well with documentary footage and interviews with his children and some others who knew him and with readings by actors from a variety of his letters. Particularly revealing is the information given on the economic toll Trumbo paid for refusing to co-operate with the 1950s witch hunt; though he did manage to make some money by using other writers as fronts, the ostracism was financially devastating.

The Longest Day – 1962 (2.9). D-Day is shown from the point of view of the Allies, the French underground and the Nazis in this classic epic drama, with the proverbial all-star cast. A few of the characters are iconic to the point of being hokey, but the overall magnitude of the invasion, the anticipation of the excitement and danger by the allies and underground and the confusion of the Nazis are dramatically captured. The movie holds its age well, particularly when we remember this was made long before the CGI enhancements so common in movies today.

Meet John Doe – 1941 (2.9). Frank Capra again celebrates the common man in this movie about a fabricated newspaper story of a desperate out of work man who plans to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. The cynicism behind the story is overwhelmed by public support for the man hired to pretend to be the man, but then there are complications, all with a begging to be realized romance. Very watchable “Capracorn” which holds its age, but this does not rise to the upper tier of his films.

Chosin – 2010 (2.8). In December 1950, 15,000 Marines  at the Chosin Reservoir in Korea were surrounded by 120,000 Chinese troops. Fighting for days in the bitter cold, the Marines managed to extricate themselves, but with great numbers of dead, wounded and frostbite victims losing portions of hands and feet. This documentary uses interviews with several survivors, some personal photos and footage from a Hollywood movie to relate the horror of the experience and how it still is with the men 60 years later, even as they relate the pride they feel for saving South Korea from the Communists.

The Music Never Stopped – 2010 (2.8). Based on a true story, this independent drama tells the story of a young man who became estranged from his parents in the mid-1960s as he moved away to pursue his rock music career, and then came back into their lives 20 years later, suffering from a brain tumor which left him with a memory limited only to the early years of the separation, grounded largely in the music of the time. Working with a professor who uses music as a memory bridge, they try to make connection, especially between the father and son. After an efficient start, the script slows down a little while the musical bridge theories are being employed, but then delivers some emotional connection as we sympathize with the limits the young man must live under and the loss those who love him will experience for the rest of their lives. The father works diligently to make connection with the music his son loves and thereby is able to share in his son’s feelings and understand better what led to the estrangement.

Afghan Star – 2009 (2.8). Pop TV in Afghanistan has an American Idol type competition which grabs the attention of the nation and is the subject of this documentary which follows two men and two women contestants. It is encouraging to see the people joyously embrace the program and celebrate the competitors, but very discouraging to see the backwards male chauvinism and religious chastising theat one of the women is subjected to when she pops a few simple dance moves on camera.

Private Fears in Public Places – 2006 (2.8) Even in his eighties, Alain Resnais still directs a stylish film, this French movie being interweaving vignettes of people struggling with relationships and loneliness. Very watchable with interesting characters, it ultimately ends a little flat with nothing new having been said, but leaving one feeling like it was still worth the time.

The Courage to Love – 2000 (2.8). This made for TV Canadian bio-pic about Henriette DeLille, the educated Creole woman who devoted her life to taking care of the poor and sick in ante-bellum New Orleans was better than I expected. Vanessa Williams did a pretty good job of portraying, without any attempt at an accent, this venerated (officially on the way to possible Sainthood) founder of a small order of nuns still active today. I know there are people who dedicate their lives to serving causes, often based on a belief they are called to do so by God, and this movie managed to credibly portray how Henriette  maintained her dedication even while dealing with the prejudices and politics of the time, family troubles and romantic proposals.

Love in the Afternoon – 1972 (2.8). This French movie is Rohmer’s sixth moral tale, about a happily married man with young children who plays along with a free spirited woman who tries to take their friendship to the next level. He resists even as he enjoys the afternoons he spends with her, and he tries to understand just what it is that he feels and what he will or will not do about it. Typically talkative Rohmer that you either can relate to and appreciate or else be bored stiff.

Top Hat – 1935 (2.6). This Astaire and Rogers vehicle was way too heavy on the lame mistaken identity plot and too short on the dance numbers for my taste, bBut that was the formula the audiences wanted at the time. Fred was the choreographer and primary star, so Ginger did not get her frirst dance number until well into the movie. The DVD has some an interesting documentary film about the movie, as well as good commentary by Fred’s daughter and a film historian.

The Englishman Who Went Up A Hill, etc. – 1995 (2.2). A one trick script, weak acting and clumsy direction make this movie about a Welsh village in 1917, in danger of the local mountain being demoted to hill status by English cartographers, a loser. The only reason to watch is for the picturesque countryside.

The Golden Bowl – 2000 (DNF). Merchant and Ivory have made some wonderful movies, but this rendering of the Henry James novel is not one of them. Predictions of low mediocrity proved more than accurate and after 20 minutes of a muddled script of miscast actors in boring roles, rejection was the only reasonable option.

Back to the Library Again

The frustrations of being a Netflix instant view only member have now driven me back to getting some DVDs from the King County Library. Lots of movies in my instant queue are available from the library, but instant viewing is more convenient. I’ll use the library for movies that are not available on instant view. I have added several movies that were nominated for various awards at the last Oscars, and I expect it will take a fair while to get them. But I don’t think Netflix is setting any speed record getting these newer movies to their mail customers either.

I previously figured out how to suspend library holds so that I keep moving up towards the top but the movie is not actually sent until I re-activate the hold, which keeps me from getting too many movies too close together. Now I have set up a movie list at my library account to quickly link me to my next dozen or so movies of interest, so I can more efficiently decide when to put holds on them. When I notice the library only has one or two copies of a good movie (like Boyfriends and Girlfriends), I will add it to my holds before the last copy disappears. On the downside, I am a little wary of the pressure of trying to watch a full season of a series like Rome in the one week the library allows when other patrons are waiting.

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].

Boyfriends and Girlfriends – 1987 (3.0). Another French film from Eric Rohmer, this one deals with young singles in a Parisian suburb and their efforts to form romantic relationships, concentrating on two very different women and their involvement with two very different men. Rohmer was one of the founders of the New Wave, but his films are quite different than those of the other founders, and they hold up better over time, because they concentrate on the truth of our feelings and the problems that can arise in dealing with them. His films are talky and character driven, without much plot, but I find them quite watchable. The IMDB has a good analysis of his style in this bio by Steve Cohn.  

 

The Wonder Years (Season Six) – 1992 (2.9). The series concludes with an eclectic mix of episodes as Kevin and his friends approach the end of their high school years and Kevin and Winnie feel the strains on their long term relationship. Wayne becomes a de facto step-dad, Norma goes back to school and Jack decides to buy a furniture manufacturing business. Things conclude rather abruptly as we are told by narration in the last episode what happened to the characters from there forward. There were lots of serious issues briefly touched on in the course of this series, but it was basically a dramedy and not destined to become more serious, so it was time for it to end.

Boogie Man: The Lee Atwater Story – 2008 (2.8). This young master of dirty campaign tactics was like Karl Rove and George W. Bush rolled into one. Interviews and archival footage show a man with no scruples relentlessly climbing from his humble roots in South Carolina all the way to White House advisor to Bush I and head of the RNC. He was knocked off the Board at Howard University by student protests and knocked out of life by an aggressively attacked brain tumor leaving him looking hideously pathetic. Whether or not he had a death bed conversion and sought forgiveness for his sins is left up in the air, due to his overwhelming dishonesty. His legacy is the nasty brand of bogus Republican attack ads that have been so detrimental to our electoral process.

In Treatment – 2008 (2.8). This rating is based on watching only the first disk of this HBO series about a psychotherapist and several of his patients. We are shown his separate sessions with each of his patients and then we see him return to his own therapist after an absence of ten years. Apparently the series continues with all these ongoing therapy sessions, including his own as a patient. The premise in interesting and the people all have dramatic problems, but we are only shown the actual sessions, with no flashbacks or scenes out of the therapy set, resulting in a sense of claustrophobia and tedium. It does make one more sympathetic to the drudgery of being a psychotherapist.

Chop Shop – 2007 (2.8). A young orphan boy sleeps in a room in the auto body shop where he works in a nest of chop shops and junk yards in Queens, NY, in this indie movie shot with an almost documentary feel. His older sister comes to stay with him and he tries to take them both up a rung on the scale of respectability with the money he has saved from his various street hustles, but the cards seem stacked against them. There is no particular drama here, just surprisingly watchable reality.

Rome -2005 (2.8).  This rating is based only on the first few episodes. The BBC and HBO co-produced this classy tale of classic Rome in the time of Caesar. Graphic violence and libidinous full nudity are a natural part of the time and place and are fully exploited. The drama is political and personal, with the stories of the plebes being more interesting than those of the nobles, though they are necessarily intertwined.

The Children’s Hour – 1961 (2.8). This movie illustrates a part of the ongoing process of America struggling to get real about homosexuality. Lillian Hellman wrote the play in 1934, telling about two women who run a boarding school for girls and how a lie about their sexuality by a malicious student causes the ruin of their school, devastates their lives and destroys their relationships. William Wyler’s direction at first seems heavy handed but gets better by the end. Young Shirley MacLaine gives a very good performance in the final scenes. That it took 27 years to bring this play to the screen and even then the movie was so timid about the subject shows how slow progress can be. Fifty years later, we can imagine how the story would unfold today and see that though much progress has been made, there is still a way to go.

Carmen & Geoffrey – 2009 (2.7).  This couple, Carmen De Lavalade and Geoffrey Holder, are attractively shown in this movie which follows them as they work and play and includes interviews and archival footage of their past endeavors, she as a celebrated dancer and he as a dancer, choreographer, painter, costumer and director. Somehow, in spite of closely following this couple, the film does not seem to have brought out enough of what they are like on the inside.

The Street Stops Here – 2010 (2.7).Hard-nosed legendary high school basketball coach Bob Hurley uses profane tough love to goad his inner city Catholic school players in Jersey City to excel in the sport and in life and this movie celebrates his accomplishments while touching on the economic plight of keeping the school funded and very briefly touching on the personal lives of the players. If you want the whole enchilada, watch the excellent Hoop Dreams.

Run Away Home – 2004 (2.7). An artist moves every year to have new places to paint, in this Canadian movie, and his wife and children go with him, the wife willingly but the children reluctantly. The latest move is in 1954 from Georgia to rural Ontario. The oldest child is a smart, attractive girl turning 15, who starts a romance with a neighbor boy, explores the church going her atheist parents avoid and questions who is to blame when her mother contracts TB. Her younger siblings are not as central to the story.The script is a bit clumsy, especially at first, and the directing is uninspired, but the acting is not bad and the overall story finally delivers its modest message in an acceptable way.

Partition – 2007 (2.4). This movie about the love between a Sikh man and a Muslim woman in India at the time of the 1947 partition did have an interesting story to tell, but unfortunately the script failed to deliver it. The first half of the movie was spent in plot progress, with a few flashbacks, but there was no drama or character development. The second half finally brought some drama and eventually a little more understanding of the man, but poor writing, clumsy direction and marginal acting continued to the end.

Netflix Power Tools

Almost three weeks of May went by before I watched something to add to the list. The last movie we streamed before the lull, the depressing The Stoning of Soraya M., might be partly to blame, but the NBA playoffs and yard work usually grab a bunch of my attention this time of year. I got back into viewing with some documentaries, a foreign film and one more from Susan’s list of romances to try.

PC World magazine has an interesting list of web sites which feature tools to make Netflix more useful. Since I am only using instant play right now, I have been trying out two tools that specialize in movies available for streaming, Instant Watcher and Netflix Pivot. Instant Watcher has lots of lists of movies recommended by various criteria, including a useful list of movies on which the streaming rights are about to expire. Netflix Pivot is the most fun, because it presents a colorful interactive wall of DVD boxes that can be filtered by a great variety of criteria to instantly present you with boxes of movies. [Update March 2014: Netflix Pivot is no longer available]. All these tools are linked to the Netflix general customer rating for the movie and to the movie page at Netflix. If you don’t have time to check these out now, bookmark the page for checking out later, or come back here to find it again.

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].

Let’s Talk About Sex – 2009 (3.2). Only an hour long, this documentary about adolescents and sex does a very good job of realistically presenting the variety of attitudes among teens and parents around the US towards sex and sex education. Interviews with church leaders of varying attitudes shows how unrealistic they can be. Moving to Holland, a quite different attitude is shown and the comparison statistics on teen pregnancy and STD/STIs are startlingly different. Produced by Advocates for Youth, the movie tour is led by Australian director James Houston with unobtrusive interviews. Archival footage from sex ed documentaries and from TV shows provides appropriate humor. 

Angels in the Dust – 2007 (2.9). Marion Cloete and her husband are white South African progressives who have dedicated their lives to running a school and orphanage for South African children who are victims of the AIDS epidemic, either personally through forced sex with adults or through the loss of their parents, or both. This documentary follows Marion closely as she goes about her work in the village area where she has located her school. Her dedication and the warmth of the children are encouraging, but the victimization of the children and the pain they endure are heartbreaking. Though we also see her husband and two adult daughters who are involved in the school, we don’t learn much about their lives before the school or about how the school is run and funded, nor are we informed about other initiatives by the government and NGOs to deal with this problem.

Ingredients – 2009 (2.8). There’s nothing particularly new in this one hour documentary about the virtue of locally grown food versus industrial scale food from afar, but the movie has a farm fresh feel as farmers and chefs from the Pacific Northwest and New York State speak positively and enthusiastically show us how they farm and raise animals and how they work with community supported agriculture programs and inner city school programs to eliminate the middle men and educate kids about real food. By only briefly mentioning the evils and dangers of industrialized food the film saved a half hour of time and discouragement.

Selling God – 2009 (2.8). While pointing out how fundamental Christian evangelists in the US use the classic marketing techniques of hucksters, this low budget documentary also manages to include a lot of tongue in cheek put downs of religion in general, while still including a few comments from some more progressive religious scholars.

Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman – 2008 (2.8). At an early age Julius Shulman stumbled into becoming a photographer for architects and he joyfully kept working at it into his nineties. Based in Los Angeles, he became so sought after in his field that he worked with many famous architects in numerous locations. This documentary follows this enjoyable man in his twilight years as he meets with colleagues, students and owners of some of the celebrated houses he has photographed, often revisiting them years later. Not much is told about his personal life, even though his daughter is involved in several interviews in the movie. Modern architecture itself is not the star of the film; that honor goes to this happy man and his photographic accomplishments.

Intimate Stories – 2002 (2.8). Another easy to take movie from Argentina, billed as a comedy but more of a gentle drama with humor, this is about three people from wind swept Patagonia taking to the road for a purpose. One is a traveling salesman on a romantic mission, one an elderly man in search of his lost dog and the third a young mother who must go to the city to claim her right to spin the wheel for a prize on a TV show. The stories loosely intertwine in this laid back look at the kind of mild adventures that sometimes enter our lives.

Jude – 1996 (DNF). Almost a quarter of the way into this movie version of the Thomas Hardy novel, Jude the Obscure, the script delivered a young man into adulthood, a job as a stonemason, a marriage and abandonment by his wife, all while he supposedly read Greek and Latin classics and longed for a University education. The problem is that most of the film time was spent on scenes of disconnected dalliance without any connected drama or exposure of the characters as real people. The other elements of a good movie looked like they may be there, but without a decent script this movie does not seem worth watching.

Don’t Forget April

April is almost gone and I have not published an update, so here it is. Four DNF movies are bringing up the rear.

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].

Frozen Planet – 2011 (3.2). Filmed by the BBC, this Discovery Channel documentary series boasts all the same qualities the movie makers demonstrated in their Planet Earth series, this time concentrating on the polar regions. Years of work pay off in stunning camera footage capturing spectacular natural events.

One Bright Shining Moment – 2005 (3.1). George McGovern is an impressive man of integrity and empathy who managed to build a progressive political career without compromising his principles. This documentary looks back on his surprising rise to the Democrat nomination for President in 1972, and the collapse of his campaign after securing the nomination. His experience as a WWII bomber pilot informed his ten year opposition to the War in Vietnam, and his South Dakota farm upbringing led to his work with food for peace. Wrongly remembered as a big loser, this movie (with particularly interesting commentary by Gloria Steinem, Gore Vidal and Dick Gregory), shows that McGovern should be remembered as a prescient leader who kept the Democratic party open, inclusive and alive at a time when it could have disintegrated, and as  the man who would have ended the Vietnam fiasco much sooner and would have set an example of leadership based on integrity.

The Stoning of Soraya M. – 2008 (3.0). Chillingly and graphically this movie tells the story of an Iranian wife and mother whose husband wants to divorce her in order to marry a young girl. When the wife refuses to agree to a divorce, the husband plots to get her falsely convicted of the capital offense of adultery. Set in 1986, it is outrageous to realize the perverted concepts portrayed in this well-acted movie are still prevalent today in various parts of the world.

One Week – 2008 (2.9). A young Canadian teacher learns he has terminal cancer and decides to take a break from his fiancée and life and take a motorcycle trip across country to digest the bad news, in this indie. A terse script, good acting and varied scenery move it all along at a comfortable pace, striking the right balance between gravity and levity as his one week trip plays out.

The Wonder Years (Season Five) – 1991 (2.9). As Kevin enters high school, girls, spurts, jobs and cars become a great focus as horizons expand. But the most affecting episodes this season actually involve the rift in the relationship between Karen and Dad as she cohabits with her lover while away at college and then returns home after a lover’s quarrel. When dense Wayne decides to join the Army we remember how easy it is for naïve young men to become hoodwinked by military recruiters. Flashbacks to earlier seasons remind us how much the kids have grown in a few short years.

Bill Cunningham New York – 2010 (2.8). The subject of this documentary is an octogenarian photographer for the NYT who rides his bike on the streets of the Big Apple, taking pictures of real people on the streets wearing clothes he finds fashionable for his newspaper column. He also attends fashion related galas as part of his job, but the street action is what he loves. A happy workaholic, he is well respected in the field even as his monkish living style amuses those who know him.

Can Mr. Smith Get to Washington Anymore? – 2006 (2.8). When Dick Gephart retired from Congress after 28 years, his St Louis area House seat was up for grabs and ten Democrats ran in the primary, including Jeff Smith, a 29 year old political science teacher. The story of his grass campaign against the expected winner, a scion of the powerful Carnahan political family, is the subject of this documentary, which does a good job of showing his energy and passion and the dedication of his young campaign staff. Using mostly footage from the campaign trail and some interviews with local reporters and campaign workers, the movie captures the highs and lows of the battle and keeps us in suspense to the end.

The Waiting Room – 2007 (2.8). A somewhat typical weakness for an independent movie like this Brit drama is a slow starting script during which lots of characters interact without us learning very much about what is actually going on. This movie was almost one third gone before we began to understand the dynamics between the characters. There are three primary female characters and two males, with an affair taking place and couples becoming estranged, and everyone having to decide whether to look for greener grass or stay where they are. The brief encounter romance is actually more an enticement than a blossoming part of the plot. Professionally looking and well-acted, the film is worth staying with in spite of the slow start.

Autumn Spring – 2001 (2.8). In this Czech comedy, a 76 year old man and his sidekick engage in pranks and mischief to spice up their old age, but sometimes their cons backfire and sometimes they end up giving money to their victims. The sidekick is single but the other man has a long suffering wife who sides with their serial marrying son in his attempts to move the folks into a retirement home so he can have their apartment for his current wife. Not hilarious, there is some humor which tones down as the film gets a little more serious toward the end. This is a great vehicle for the three principals to show their acting chops.

A Dinner of Herbs – 2000 (2.4). This Brit miniseries of another Catherine Cookson melodrama is definitely marginal and it does not help that, when streaming it from Netflix, you learn half way through that they don’t have one of the middle episodes available for streaming [another example of the deterioration of Netflix service]. The plot is so predictable by midpoint that the absence of the episode does not prevent following the story. Two orphaned boys in the rural north and a girl whose mother died young are the central characters in this story of unshared love, recurring violence and long held antipathies.

The Mill on the Floss – 1997 (2.4). This surprisingly weak effort from Masterpiece starts with a limited cast of characters of limited dimension, none of whom generates much audience sympathy or concern. Lacking any real drama until well over half over, the movie then kicks in some supposed drama when it is already too late and no one really cares. I suppose this film does not do justice to the George Eliot novel, but it also does not motivate me to want to read it.

Birdsong – 2012 (1.5). PBS should have renamed its program Messterpiece Theater for this garbled tale of a young WWI English officer who has an affair with a young Englishwoman married to an older Frenchman. Disruptive time shifts, gratuitous jump cuts, mumbled dialogue, wooden actors and an unappealing attempt at a story, with some lip sucking trying to pass for eroticism and dusty uniforms with occasional intestines on display faking as graphic war violence, viewer discretion is advised – do not watch at all because it is a total waste of time.

Rango – 2011 (DNF). I can’t imagine this animated movie making any sense to a youngster, or for that matter to an oldster.  I bailed out quite early.

The Waiting City – 2009 (DNF) An Australian couple goes to India to pick up the girl they are adopting, but they have to wait around, and after 25 minutes of waiting with them and not really beginning to care about them or anyone else, it was time to leave them.

Never Again – 2001 (DNF). Supposedly a comedy about an unlikely match of a middle age couple, this started with annoying music, then proceeded with boring characters who were starting to act stupid. Appropriately titled, I told Netflix to never recommend it again.

Heaven Can Wait – 1943 (DNF). Lubitsch directed this classic, but after an initially interesting premise about a new decedent trying to get into Hell, the following story belied boring stage play roots and was not funny or interesting.