Eclectic Tastes

This list includes a half dozen streams from Netflix, a new PBS show and several old movies of which the library has only one DVD left. Genres and vintages are another mixed bag, due to eclectic tastes.

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. Clicking on a movie title will open a new browser tab with the IMDb page for the movie.

Bridegroom – 2013 (3.5). [Spoiler Alert - if you click this title link to go to IMDb, the immediate information there includes something which spoils part of the impact of this movie; so it is best not to go to IMDb until after seeing the movie]. This is a documentary about love, families and friends. Love is the strongest message this movie delivers, as it captures the deep love a couple has for each other and how they live it so completely. How family and friends can embrace who a person is, or how they can fail to do so, is a related message. The two messages combine in a third, how family and friends either embrace or reject the person their loved one loves. Using archival footage and photos, together with interviews of one member of the couple and with family and friends who embraced both members of the couple, Linda Bloodworth-Thomason has made a very powerful and moving film. The couple is Shane and Tom, two wonderful young men from small towns in Montana and Indiana. This movie should be part of high school programs on human sexuality and relationships. In an ideal democracy it should be required viewing for anyone voting on banning gay marriage.

The Scarlet and the Black – 1983 (2.9). Based on a true story, this well-done TV movie uses real Rome and Vatican settings to dramatize the cat and mouse game between an Irish Monsignor (Gregory Peck) who is a Vatican official and the Gestapo Colonel (Christopher Plummer) who is put in charge of policing Rome during the German occupation in WWII. After the initially flawed Allied invasion of Italy, many Allied prisoners were able to escape and seek refuge in the neutral Vatican, but the numbers were overwhelming and the Vatican was nervous about endangering its neutrality. As the escapees and Jewish refugees continued to come, the Monsignor fell into the job of heading an underground operation to place them in safe houses in and around Rome. Perhaps to gain access to the Vatican for filming, the movie goes a bit easy on Pope Pius XII, showing him as primarily interested in preserving the historic heritage of the Church but willing to allow the Monsignor to continue his rescue efforts at his own peril in spite of strong threats from the Colonel. This film gets better as it progresses and has a powerful ending personally involving the Monsignor and the Colonel.

The Mark of Zorro – 1939 (2.9). Dashing masked he-man heroes who are alter egos of milk toasts and weaklings have great appeal to a certain type of male [present company included – Zorro was a favorite on TV in my high school days]. This first sound movie version put Tyrone Power in the role of the son of a beloved California Governor who has been deposed by a corrupt regime while the son was away in Spain learning to be a dashing horseman and swordsman. On his return to California the son learns what has happened in his absence and understands that armed rebellion would be too costly in lives, so he cleverly plots the reinstatement of his father without all-out war. The son pretends to be a dandy as cover for his clandestine adventures as Zorro. An efficient script is stylishly directed by Mamoulian and competently acted. This may be hard to find; Netflix does not have it and I was only able to find one copy at the Library, a colorized version that is not garish.

Only Angels HaveWings – 1939 (2.9). Cary Grant runs a marginal air mail and freight line serving an Andes Mountain region and Jean Arthur passes through and falls for him in this Howard Hawks directed adventure. The script is tightly entertaining and the pilots and mechanics who risk their lives are tough with underlying tenderness. The scenes of planes flying are well done and it is not always easy to determine what is a real airplane and what is a model. After 75 years, this is still enjoyable.

Salinger [AmericanMasters] – 2013 (2.8). Ten years in the making, this documentary of the reclusive writer uses numerous interviews of other writers, critics, editors, publishers, celebrities and people whose lives were involved with Salinger, including one former girlfriend who wrote a kiss and tell memoir and Salinger’s daughter. Some archival footage and reenactments are also employed. What emerges does not seem worth the ten year investment if the goal was to find and understand the man. We learn from the start that Salinger was born into wealth and had some major adjustment issues as a child. His combat experience in Europe in WWII was admirable and obviously impacted his psyche as it did all who served there, but in his case it was impacting someone who was already troubled. His giant ambition and ego seemed to be validated by the success of Catcher in the Rye but then became questionably eccentric with his later work and his perverse retreat from the public eye. Ironically he managed to maintain himself in the public consciousness by hiding from the public. Forty years of unpublished work may start to trickle out from the Trust he created in his Will, and time will tell whether it was worth the wait.

Frances Ha – 2012 (2.8). Bouncing around the NYC area hoping to make it as a dancer, a 27 year old from Sacramento, graduate of an upstate New York college, is at times funny, pathetic, flakey and sympathetic in this black and white independent movie co-written by the featured actress, Greta Gerwig, who was nominated for a best actress Golden Globe. The film feels like it accurately captures this stage in the life of its heroine, warts and all.

Brighton BeachMemoirs – 1986 (2.8). Neil Simon wrote this story about coming of age in Brooklyn on the edge of the start of WWII. The family includes the overworked father, his wife, their sons age 18 and 15, the widowed sister of the wife and the two daughters of the widow, one in high school and a younger sickly one. Holds its age well and captures the feel of the time and place with smart dialogue and appropriate troubles being encountered.

Blackfish – 2012 (2.7). Tilikum is an orca responsible for the deaths of three people while he has been in captivity. This earnest documentary uses interviews with former Sea World trainers and other experts to engender sympathy for the plight of these highly intelligent and sensitive prisoners and outrage over how Sea World treats the orcas and misleads their trainers. But the movie does not go enough into the scientific knowledge about these majestic animals nor does it effectively cover efforts being made by activists and regulators to bring about needed changes.

Dumbstruck – 2010 (2.7). There is something delightful about seeing scores of people walking around with ventriloquist dummies. This documentary includes such scenes at a ventriloquist convention and proceeds to follow five people as they work with their dummies and hone their skills, with varying degrees of family support, in pursuit of employment as entertainers. One makes the big time, one has a cruise ship gig that strains his marriage, one is a teenager possibly with potential and the other two are questionable in their prospects. More showing of full acts with the dummies would have enhanced this movie.

Mephisto – 1981 (2.7). A Hungarian production in German language, this drama tells of a moderately celebrated but insecure stage actor during the rise to power of the Nazis. As many of his friends decide to leave the country, he tries to ignore what is happening and then allows himself to become an accommodator moving into collaboration. Intensely concentrated on this one man, the film is much longer than it needed to be and fairly devoid of political discussion.

El Dorado – 1966 (2.7). This next to last movie directed by Howard Hawks, is a marginal vehicle for John Wayne to continue his iconic role of a footloose highly respected gunfighter for hire who always manages to work for the guys in the white hats. He is joined by Robert Mitchum as a drunken sheriff, a crusty old deputy and a young greenhorn played by James Caan. Two young women serve as eye candy.

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance – 1962 (2.7). John Ford directs John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart in this story of a US senator returning to the frontier town where he made his reputation by shooting a notorious outlaw. Iconic characters and familiar situations culminate in a not too surprising twist ending. A bit long, but one of the last hurrahs for the two Johns.

Behind the Candelabra – 2013 (2.4). Liberace was an over the top performer, flaming on stage at a time when gays were still in the closet. Based on a book by one of his lovers, who claims to have been the love of Lee’s life even though he was discarded and paid off after just a few years, this movie was intended to be a story of their love. If true, the film did not capture any kind of love, gay or not, that had any audience appeal. Instead, the sight of Michael Douglas and Matt Damon all gussied up played like a comedy and it was next to impossible to see the actors as the characters they were portraying, which was not much of a loss since the characters were so unappealing.

Meek’s Cutoff – 2010 (2.2). In the early days of the Oregon Trail, a mountain man named Meek claimed to know a shortcut through Oregon that bypassed the Columbia River upstream from The Dalles and avoided supposedly troublesome Indians along that stretch of the river. If he did know a shortcut, he had forgotten it by the time in 1845 he persuaded some pioneers to follow him with their wagons as he fumbled his way through the high desert of eastern Oregon. They suffered mightily with bad terrain and lack of water. A recent book chronicles the modern day search for the route they followed, based on diaries kept on the trip by some of the pioneers. Even after recently reading the book, it is hard to find the story in this movie drama. The script which is loosely based on the true story barely explains anything, but instead just shows the fumbling Meek and the anxious pioneers squeaking their wagons through the terrain and finally encountering an Indian, whom Meek wants to shoot but whom the pioneers hope can help them find water. On the positive side, the film was shot in the real locations (though curiously filmed in narrow screen to evoke old western movies rather than using wide screen to show the awesome vastness of the land) and the wagons and costumes looked appropriate.

The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were (though some of the streaming rights may now have expired):

Bridegroom

Salinger [watched on PBS but also available on Netflix streaming]
Frances Ha
Brighton Beach Memoirs
Blackfish
Dumbstruck
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

 

Starting the Year with Netflix Streaming

If you like documentaries and foreign films, it is easy to fill the winter months with streams from Netflix, as this list shows. Several were gleaned from the new arrivals list at Netflix.

 

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. Clicking on a movie title will open a new browser tab with the IMDb page for the movie.

 

 

The Gatekeepers – 2012 (3.0). All six living former heads of the Israeli Shin Bet, the government security agency tasked with protecting Israel from terrorism, are interviewed in this thoughtful Israeli documentary. Their statements about their time in charge and how their attitudes have changed over the years are stylishly blended with archival footage and CGI enhanced photographs of the events about which they speak. The main focus is on the problems involving dealing with the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. Though they all agree on what the path should be to solving the problems, they also are one in their lack of confidence in the politicians to take that path.

 

Stuck – 2013 (2.9). Ten million children are languishing in poor conditions in orphanages around the world and there are many qualified Americans who want to adopt some of them, but are encountering significant problems and delays in the process. Following prospective American adopters (three couple and a single woman) of children in Vietnam, Cambodia, Haiti and Ethiopia, and including interviews with attorneys, child development experts, teenage adoptees and various government officials, this documentary illuminates some of the political problems involved but most movingly shows the wonderfully appealing children and the unconditionally loving people who want to become their parents. Doubts about the wisdom of international interracial adoptions are seriously challenged by this movie, and the fact that the single mother who wants to lovingly parent a beautiful Ethiopian girl is African American is refreshing. This film shows how hard it is for deeply loving parents to adopt, and by implied contrast, how easy it is for some biological parents to bring a child into the world and abandon it.

 

Protektor – 2009 (2.9). He is a popular radio announcer on the radio. She is an up and coming young movie actress with platinum hair. They live in Prague and it is right after the Nazis have invaded. At home she removes her wig to reveal her dark hair and we begin to see the good and bad parts of their marriage as they each deal with the Nazis in their own way, complicated by the fact she is a Jew. This Czech movie has a smart script, good acting and efficient direction and editing as we move between what seems like black and white dramas and then bright colored realities. The movie is about how they each handle the Germans differently, as she flirts with dangers and he tries to protect her by not rocking the boat, and about how their marriage suffers in the process.

 

1964: AmericanExperience – 2013 (2.8). Shown on PBS fifty years later, using archival footage and narration, this documentary captures the events of 1964 that signified the many pivotal changes occurring in America as the country continued to mourn its recently slain President and the new President LBJ pushed his broadly progressive political agenda on a country that was openly beginning to tear itself apart.

 

Good Ol’ Freda – 2013 (2.8). Freda Kelly was a 17 year old girl in a Liverpool typing pool in 1962 when some friends took her to a local basement pub to watch a new bank perform. She immediately became a regular and an intense fan of the group and soon fell into the job of heading their fan club. When they got a recording contract, she was chosen to become their secretary, a job she held for ten years as the Beatles rocketed to stardom and then broke up, right around the time she got married and started a family and decided it was time to quit her job. In this documentary Freda takes us back on a memory trip, aided by interviews with people who had been involved back then and with her grown daughter, and we see the qualities that made her the perfect person for the job, a fan who was not fanatic, a secretary with devoted integrity and loyalty in her work. Still working in the secretarial field fifty years later, Freda characteristically has never cashed in on her pivotal connection with the iconic group. Bad on Sir Paul for not even contributing a nod to his former faithful employee and good for Ringo for doing so.

 

Birders: The CentralPark Effect – 2012 (2.8). Central Park in NYC is one of the greatest accomplishments of city planning, a wonderful mass of nature in the midst of urbanity, enjoyed by millions of people, a couple hundred different species of birds and a few score people who delight in going to the park to watch the avian wonders. Interviewing the bird watchers and showing them delight in watching the birds and spotting and counting the colorful varieties is what this documentary does, with efficiency and appeal.

 

Booker’s Place: AMississippi Story – 2012 (2.8). In 1965, following the murder of three civil rights workers in the area, Greenwood Mississippi was visited by an NBC news documentary crew wanting to see what people were like there. The only African American interviewed was a waiter in the best white restaurant. He was famous for his memorized recitation of the extensive menu, but when he was filmed reciting, he added comments about how he was treated by the white patrons and how that made him feel inside. After warning Booker about possible consequences if his comments were aired, he said he wanted them included. This new movie was made by the original documentarian’s son who had put the footage on the Internet to archive it. Meanwhile the granddaughter of Booker had been looking for a copy of the scene which she had never seen. Matched up, the two descendants went back to Greenwood to fill in the story and bring it to date. Well done with a few surprises, even if the attitudes don’t seem to have changed much in fifty years.

 

5 Broken Cameras – 2011 (2.8). This Arabic language documentary was filmed by a resident of Palestine, starting with the birth of his youngest son in their small village in Palestine. Around that time the Israelis were building new settlement apartment houses encroaching into the area the villagers had been using for their olive growing. The Israelis installed security fencing which was policed by their army. The villagers began continuous protests and encounters with the settlers and army and this movie documents these protests through the fifth birthday of the young son. In the course of these five years, five cameras used in the filming were broken by the Israelis. Definitely a home movie, but from an unusual enough perspective to have earned an Oscar nod.

 

The Kid with a Bike – 2011 (2.8).  Practically no back story is provided in this French movie about a young motherless boy age about ten whose father dumps him at a boarding home and then tries to ditch him. The boy naively chases after the father and in the process encounters a young woman who has her own hairdressing shop where she lives in the back and where he starts to visit her on weekends. Roaming the streets on his bike, he is soon being targeted for recruitment by the local gang leader. Fine acting by the young boy and the hairdresser carry this movie, which makes one think about abandoned children and appreciate loving people who are willing to be surrogate parents. There is no preaching here, just concentration on the two people and their relationship.

 

Lost Angels: Skid Row Is My Home – 2010 (2.8). Under pressure from gentrification, Skid Row in Los Angeles is the only surviving community for low cost housing for poor people. Denizens are diverse, though their hard luck stories share elements of mental illness, drug addiction, bad luck and bad choices. This documentary follows several residents as they discuss their personal stories and what the community means to them. People who at first glance make one want to turn away are shown to have some admirable aspects midst their eccentricities. Personal touch is the basis of this film, not political proselytizing.

 

Citizen Cohn – 1992 (2.8). Sleazy lawyer Roy Cohn is the subject of this biopic drama, which concentrates on his time as counsel to the McCarthy committee communist witch hunts and touches on aspects of his personal life and post McCarthy years as well as his start as one of the Rosenberg prosecutors. The delusional egotism of the man is intensely portrayed by James Woods but the movie is so focused on his personality and unscrupulous tactics that the larger issues involved are only barely touched.

 

Jane Eyre – 1983 (2.8). One of nineteen TV or movie productions of this classic listed at the IMDb, this BBC miniseries suffers mostly from scenery chew acting by many of the males, though that may have been somewhat true to character. The primary blessing is the finely subtle acting of the adult Jane by Zelah Clarke, who seems to have not done any further screen acting.

 

Dark Days – 2000 (2.6). Underneath plush riverfront property in NYC is an old railroad tunnel which includes extra space intended for workmen. This documentary shows several otherwise homeless people who suffer from various addictions and other problems and who have made makeshift homes in this tunnel, some for many years. The squalor in which they live is palpable. They emerge from holes to scrounge garbage above ground hoping to find food and other items to use or sell. With only a few interviews with other people, the movie spends most all its time underground listening to these denizens expound on their lives. Though the film captures the bleak lives in the tunnel, it does nothing to address the issues that brought the people there.

 

Danton – 1983 (2.6). Made by a Polish director in France during the martial law response to the Solidarity movement, this French language film is set in Paris during the 1790s and tells of the conflict between revolutionaries Robespierre and Danton regarding whether the purges and executions of The Terror had gone too far. Revolutionaries are always worried either that counter revolutionary plots to restore the overthrown regime are afoot or that the ideals of the revolution have become perverted. This movie shows this conflict, but unfortunately does it with somewhat low production values, theatrical performances, excessive dialogue and the absence of any particular drama or character exploration. Danton was played by Depardieu, so his scenes were shot in French, but Robespierre was played by a Polish actor, so his scenes were shot in Polish and dubbed into French.

 

The Conversation – 1974 (2.4). Written, produced and directed by Coppola, this slow moving supposed thriller lacks any drama or punch as we labor through the intricacies of what was then state of the art snooping, watching a seriously paranoid private snoop who fears that, once again his work will lead to criminal violence and he will not be able to stop it. As a character study of the snoop, the script barely goes anywhere. Issues of privacy and personal responsibility were supposedly addressed, but if so, the passage of time has made the treatment mediocre. There are some interesting audio effects employed in the tape recording and listening scenes.

 

The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were (though some of the streaming rights may now have expired):

 

Stuck

Protektor

Good Ol’ Freda

Birders: The Central Park Effect

Booker’s Place: A Mississippi Story

5 Broken Cameras

The Kid with a Bike

Lost Angels: Skid Row Is My Home

Jane Eyre

The Conversation

Last Day of the Year

As written here before, don’t look for a list of best films of the year, since I won’t get around to seeing many 2013 films until next year. But I can report watching only seven shows this year that I rated 3.3 or higher. Three were new from PBS: Downton Abbey, Last Tango in Halifax and Mr.Selfridge. Three were documentaries: Dirt! The Movie; Serving Life; and StoriesWe Tell. There was only one drama, Boy A. My movie wish for 2014 is better ones to watch, which may require revisiting some older classics.

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. Clicking on a movie title will open a new browser tab with the IMDb page for the movie.

 

Stories We Tell – 2012 (3.3). The interesting story of the mother of Canadian independent film maker and actress Sarah Polley, who died when Sarah was 11, is the subject of this documentary made by Sarah. As the last born child, Sarah interviews her father and her brothers, sisters and other people who knew her mother. The interviews are interwoven with home movie footage, which often shows the very things about which the interviewees are speaking. As with all our family stories, the truth can be hard to pin down, especially given the different versions witnesses relate. This movie cleverly and subtly recreates the feeling of being at a gathering of older family and friends and knowing that the various people belong there but not being sure of just who exactly they are. As the film develops, we also begin to realize that recalled images and memories we think are highly accurate, may in fact be something our minds have recreated.

Homeland (Season Two) – 2012 (2.8). The holes in the plot get larger and the questionable portrayal of security practices continues as the second season seems to be written on the go. A few new characters come on board and many more meet their maker. Suspension of belief helps overcome logical gaps and other irregularities. The acting remains quite good, though once again acting honors are given for the portrayal of people with serious mental problems. The season finale mixes things up enough to entice viewers for the third year.

The Paradise – 2012 (3.0). Based on an Emile Zola novel, this BBC series is centered on a Victorian Era London upscale department store “The Paradise” headed by a self-made man who is being pursued for marriage by a spoiled young lady of the upper class abetted by her widowed banker father. In staffing, the store uses a philosophy of mutual loyalty, with unmarried employees living in dormitories on the premises. The heroine is a sharp and attractive country girl who comes to the city to pursue a career sometimes at the store and sometimes with her uncle whose dressmaking shop across the street is one of the many shops negatively impacted by the rise of the larger store. The heroine naturally catches the eye of the store owner both for business and romance. Peopled with a supporting cast of interesting characters, the series boasts the usual stellar British acting and production values. With many subplots and variations on the main story, a second season is already underway overseas.

Side by Side – 2012 (3.0). Asking the question whether making movies on film is on the verge of being totally replaced by digital cinematography, Keanu Reeves is the interviewer in this interesting documentary, talking to many directors and cinematographers as well as a few editors and representatives of camera and film companies. The diverse opinions of those interviewed are well expressed both in terms of subjective perception and by way of technical distinctions between the two formats. Refinements and improvements in digital equipment are discussed and there is some mention of special effects and 3D. Particularly engaging are the many illustrative clips from movies which are shown as they are being mentioned. This movie does not answer the question it raises, but gives a good feel for the direction in which movie making and viewing is headed.

Benjamin Franklin – 2002 (3.0). This PBS documentary biography of the founding father manages to be both quite entertaining and informative in following the life and accomplishments of this extraordinary genius who only received two years of formal education, yet rose to international prominence as a scientist, philosopher, businessman, politician, revolutionary and diplomat. Actors deliver monologues based on correspondence and other historical records and scholars supplement the narration with their insights. Historical re-enactments without dialogue and paintings and drawings of Franklin contribute added color and context.

King of the Hill -1993 (3.0). Set in St. Louis in 1933, this nicely dramatized memoir of a young teenage boy coming of age during the early years of the Great Depression evocatively captures the mix of good and bad in people contending with life during those hard times. As the immigrant traveling salesman father hopes for a WPA job, the tubercular mother is in and out of the sanatorium, the younger brother is sent away to live with an aunt and the young teenager is left to fend by his wits and occasional goodwill from others, all the while fabricating adventurous cover stories to hide his plight.

Jimi Hendrix: Hear MyTrain a Comin’ – 2013 (2.9). Shown on American Masters on PBS, this biographical documentary of the rock star uses archival footage of concerts and interviews together with commentaries by musicians looking back to recall the meteoric rise and unique talents of the young man from Seattle. Particularly helpful is the straightforward explanation of what led to his untimely death, which the entire movie puts in the context of how serious and dedicated a musician and man Hendrix was.

Modern Family (Season Four) – 2012 (2.9). Still fast paced and witty as the lives of the characters pass another year, some of the elements of the humor are getting a bit repetitious, but most episodes generally produce enough laughs to make the year worth watching.

The Belle of Amherst – 1976 (2.9). Detracting from the rating of this production is the fact that it is an old TV recording of a one actress stage performance by Julie Harris playing Emily Dickinson. But compensating for this is the very fact that it is the great actress Julie Harris in a Tony Award winning role, playing the intriguing poet. This is a great way to introduce viewers to Emily or to rekindle a perhaps postponed or forgotten interest.

TheAfrican-Americans: Many Rivers to Cross – 2013 (2.8). A PBS series with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. recapping the history of black people in America from the earliest times to the Obama Presidency is ambitious, but the result seems to live up to billing, given the limited amount of screen time. Even if the techniques used and the rivers crossed seem a little familiar, there are always some new people and stories that Gates manages to inject.

The Sapphires – 2012 (2.8). Inspired by the true story of a quartet of young aborigine women who went to Vietnam in 1968 to sing Motown style songs to American troops, this Australian drama about three sisters, their cousin and the white man who tries to manage them has an indigenous charm fitting for this different story. The script is not real tight, but the music and genuineness of the acting hold it together. The DVD includes a brief interview with the four Sapphires in their senior years.

The Sound of MusicLive – 2013 (2.7).  NBC and Carrie Underwood deserve credit for risk taking in putting on this live TV production of the classic musical. Underwood is not an actress and her singing pipes are not as impressive as those of some of the Broadway talent on display, but in a way, her earnest underperformance fits the somewhat naïve character she plays. The original movie is an almost impossible act to follow, but for a TV show this well mounted production is about as good as can be expected.

Treme (Season Two) – 2011 (2.7). The series seems to lag in this second year and the ongoing celebration of the music and cuisine starts to feel redundant. So many characters are being followed that the jumping around from story to story becomes a bit annoying. If having an episode concentrate on one story line would be too narrow, maybe two or three per episode would be a reasonable compromise. Or maybe having somewhat of a specific theme to an episode playing into the various characters would help, something beyond just the calendar time for the next community event. There were some character and plot developments this season, but they were slow and disjointed in coming.

The Trials of DarylHunt – 2006 (2.7). The makers of this documentary spent ten years filming the story, but Daryl Hunt spent twenty years in prison for a rape and murder he did not commit. The story is sadly all too familiar; a black man in a southern state (North Carolina this time) is targeted by lazy and unscrupulous police detectives and prosecutors. A weak case results in a conviction based on racial prejudice and dedicated members of the black community mount a long legal process to overturn the wrongful verdict. The movie uses numerous interviews from various times with people involved in the case and incorporates some archival footage but does not give enough details about the two trials and several court hearings which are at the heart of the process. Some perspective from legal academics and scholars would also have been helpful.

Before Midnight – 2013 (2.6). Eighteen years after the first movie, the director and lead actors put together this third part of a trilogy. The first was a chance romantic encounter ending with the couple agreeing to meet at a set time and place in the future if they were both still interested. There should be no spoiler alert needed before saying the second was about the meeting taking place. This third visit tells what has happened in their lives since, with the exposition coming mostly through a realistically boring and frustrating evening of argument between the couple. The only other scene is a dinner with friends earlier in the day where the conversation seems generally pretentious. This is a disappointment after the romance of the first two movies, but that actually seems to have been the intention.

David Holzman’s Diary – 1968 (2.4). A young film maker is supposedly making a documentary of his life in order to find its meaning and we get to watch him as he records his journal, tours his NYC neighborhood, exasperates his girlfriend and engages in voyeurism. Clever in some ways and maybe a decent commentary on self-indulgent introspection, but basically watching this movie is a somewhat annoying and essentially boring experience. Leonard Maltin likes it.

The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were (though some of the streaming rights may now have expired):

Side by Side

King of the Hill

The Belle of Amherst

The Sapphires [watched on DVD before found on Netflix]

The Trials of Daryl Hunt

David Holzman’s Diary

God Bless You Google

[NOTE: Since originally posting this list and complaining about being unable to include a picture of the top DVD, I have figured out how to get a picture again. Either Google has restored the previous process, or I was somehow being frustrated in following the usual practice. Nevertheless, I will leave my complaint as I wrote it.]

In its continuing effort to ConGoogle our lives, Google has now screwed around with Blogger to remove the ability to simply upload a picture to a blog; they now apparently want you to upload it to Google Docs or some such thing and then load it to the blog from there. Not being inclined to submit to corporate dominance, I refuse to do it their way. So until I come up with a better idea, in lieu of posting the picture of the DVD cover for the top listed movie, I am including a link to the IMDb page for all of the movies in the list.

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. Clicking on a movie title will open the IMDb web page for that movie.

The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were:

Serving Life

Johnny Carson: King of Late Night

Political Animals

Pink Ribbons, Inc.

We Were Here

Mommo: The Bogeyman [stream availability expired 11/17/2013]
 

Serving Life – 2011 (3.6). Produced for the Oprah Winfrey Network, this powerful documentary follows four inmates at the Angola prison in Louisiana, where the average sentence being served is ninety years. The men have applied for and been accepted into an innovative program as interns to serve as hospice aides to other inmates who are dying. They interact with officials in charge of the program, learn from inmates with experience as aides in the program who mentor the interns and then are assigned to patients and begin to work with them as they are dying. Watching the movie, we only leave the prison two brief times, once as a prisoner gets medical treatment at a nearby hospital and once as an inmate is escorted to the funeral of his father. We see some scenes of the men trying to make amends with their biological families, over the phone and in one case with a rare prison visit. Wisely omitted are interviews with people who are not part of the prison inmates or staff, no outside experts or academics to distract us from the all-encompassing life of a prisoner in Angola. The film impacts emotionally on three levels, connecting us to the reality of serving a prison sentence of life with no parole, sharing with us the mental process these men have undertaken to reconcile themselves with their guilt and the responsibility for their criminal actions, and allowing us to participate with them in developing trusting relationships with their fellow inmates with whom they lovingly wait for death.

American Experience:JFK – 2013 (3.0). Archival footage and interviews with historians and surviving contemporaries fill in between the narrated story of the life of the young President in this PBS American Experience documentary produced on the 50^th anniversary of his assassination. Thankfully not dwelling on the parts we know so well, this biography gave more details on the serious medical problems Kennedy suffered, the political maneuverings involved in getting him elected President and the fumbles of his Presidency together with a few bright spots. Though his charm and charisma cannot help but shine through, this movie does glorify the man and frankly documents his failings, thankfully only acknowledging his womanizing without dwelling on it and spending more time covering his Presidential shortcomings. Nevertheless, one can see the inexperienced young President was on the right track and starting to grow into the job and accomplish important preliminary steps before his death. Even fifty years on, it is impossible for those of us who remember his assassination not to come to tears at the end of this film.

Boardwalk Empire (Season Three) – 2012 (3.0). The general story arc continues as corruption turns into escalating murders and impending gang warfare. Personal relationships ebb and flow engulfed by the expanding violence. Conniving and backstabbing increase as stakes become higher and Federal Cabinet members become involved. This is a series that concentrates on the bad guys to the point where good types are not even shown, except for a righteous Federal prosecutor in a minor role who seems mostly motivated by her career aspirations. With so many deaths in this series it is comforting to know that all the decedents are people with virtually no redeeming qualities. What keeps us coming back is the belief that they will all eventually die off and the desire to be there to see it.

The First Beautiful Thing -2010 (3.0). Though it flashes back and forth in telling its story, the changes in this Italian movie are seamless and not disturbing. The characters all have a real humanity that makes them flawed but still worthy of our caring. We first meet the central family in 1971 when the pretty but ditsy young mother wins a beauty contest, which disturbs her husband, annoys her son and delights her daughter. As we come forward in time, we see what happens to the couple, their children and their extending family circle. This is a movie that grows on the audience like life progresses, never quite clear where it is heading but always moving along to the ultimate inevitable.

Johnny Carson: King of Late Night – 2012 (2.9). Watching Johnny at bedtime was always comforting, but the man himself was never truly comfortable with his off screen life. This American Masters documentary from PBS uses archival footage of Johnny and later interviews with his family, friends and colleagues to tell the bittersweet story of a man so beloved by the public who felt that lasting love eluded him in his personal life as he encountered problems in his relationships with his mother, three sons, four wives and numerous colleagues. It is sad to realize that so much joy can be brought to others by artists and entertainers whose own lives are filled with hurt. Their pain is our gain, but we can still feel sad for them even as they bring us joy. That is what they want; if they cannot find a way to a happy personal life, at least they can obtain happiness through artistic expression.

42 – 2013 (2.8).Telling only the part of the story involving his signing with the Brooklyn Dodgers organization and playing first with Montreal and then being brought up to the majors as the first African American player, this earnest drama about Jackie Robinson presents its characters as more icon than human. It is only the power of knowing the story is true that makes the movie passable.

Political Animals – 2012 (2.8). USA Network produced this miniseries about a divorced former First Lady now serving as Secretary of State after a failed run for the Democratic Presidential nomination. Parallels to the Clintons are apparent, but two grown sons are substituted for Chelsea. Indulging in the soap opera aspects of the lives of the sons detracts from the political drama. Even though their lives can be issues in any campaign of their mother, the subplots seem to have been included to appeal to a younger audience less interested in solid political stories. A young female journalist becomes central to the story as someone who rose in her career by knocking the former First Lady and then becomes an ally of sorts, but the sex life of the reporter is given as much script time as her journalism.

Pink Ribbons, Inc. – 2011 (2.8). This Canadian documentary examines the breast cancer awareness movement with a critical eye, showing footage of many fund raising walks and similar events, commercial footage and interviews with people from corporations which join in the fundraising, commentary from researchers and critics of the fund raising movement, and most touchingly, testimonials of stage four breast cancer patients facing death. Generally well done, the movie would be better organized if less time was spent showing the walks we all see so often on TV and more time spent with researchers and particularly those involved with the actual management of funds being used for research. The critics do an excellent job of showing how the foundation movement (most notably Susan G. Komen) has become a business which raises an incomplete awareness of breast cancer issues while raises enormous sums of money for research that is never adequately explained. The film obviously had a valid critical viewpoint but should have concluded with more definitive prescriptive information for what a viewer should do if they agree.

We Were Here – 2011 (2.8). Archival footage and interviews with survivors are the ways in which this documentary reminds us of the impact of AIDS on the gay community of San Francisco. The free abandon of the Castro residents gives way to a realization that a strange new disease is affecting gay men and may be sexually transmitted. As early efforts meekly try to determine more about the disease, activism finally gets greater time and money invested in finding effective medical treatment, all of which leads to a transformation in the LGBT community. The survivors produced this movie as homage to the thousands who did not live to see the onset of effective treatment and new attitudes.

 

Mommo: The Bogeyman – 2009 (2.8).Set in a contemporary Turkish village, this drama almost feels like an intimate home movie as it follows a nine year old boy and his younger sister whose mother has died and whose lame father has remarried and abandoned them to the care of their ailing grandfather. The children, apparently real life siblings, inhabit their roles with appealing integrity.

 

A Cleaner Last Tango and a Decent Dirty Movie

Seven Flix streamers, three from PBS TV and two from the library make up the dozen on this list. Last Tango from the BBC is set in contemporary Canada so it pulls off quality without invoking an earlier period and without getting the aristocracy involved. The Dirt movie tops a decent batch of documentaries from Netflix. Homeland season one from the library is good enough to prompt putting the second season on hold. Silver Linings Playbook was a disappointment and I should have known anything from the WWE would be a bomb.

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.

The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were:

Dirt! The Movie [stream availability expired 10/6/2013]

Tent City, USA

Don’t Stop Believin’

Becoming Chaz

Dad’s in Heaven with Nixon

His Secret Life [stream availability expired 10/6/2013]

WWE for All Mankind

Last Tango in Halifax (Season One) – 2012 (3.6). Though the story of widowed people in their seventies who had become disconnected way back in their school days hooking up over the Internet and committing to love has some appeal, this BBC series adds other elements which raise the show to a much higher level. They each have a daughter who is going through her own midlife crisis. One daughter with a philandering husband struggles with her own sexual preferences, and the other, also widowed, struggles with guilt and her own erotic desires. The younger women each have sons, making for even more issues of communication between the generations. The acting is top notch and the writing is sharp. These people all have their good points and bad, making them more real and appealing. Season two filming is already underway.

Dirt! The Movie – 2009 (3.3). This surprisingly moving documentary uses entertaining animation and interviews with environmental activists combined with footage of children and adults worldwide to explain how wonderfully intricate the soil of the earth is and how much we are interconnected with it. The earth is alive and soil is fundamental to all life, something which we too often seem to forget as we neglect the soil and let multinational corporations kill it with chemically toxic monoculture. The movie does a very effective job of imparting scientific information in an entertaining way making it watchable by parents and young children together. Seeing children, urbanites, convicts and people of diverse circumstances all experiencing a profound sense of connection when they get involved with healthy soil is inspiring.

Best Kept Secret – 2013 (3.0). Closely following three young men with severe autism as they are about to turn 21 and graduate from a special needs public school in Newark, this documentary shown on PBS POV does an effective job of presenting the challenges they face and showing their unique individuality. We also meet their genuinely upbeat, charismatic and dedicated teacher as she spends all her time trying to find a program to work with her students after they graduate. We also meet some of the family members and surrogates who are struggling to do what they can to help in the lives of these young men. There are lots of films about autism, many with informative interviews with experts, but this movie defers on those and instead offers a more personal and engaging experience.

Homeland (Season One) – 2011 (3.0). A US Marine Sergeant who was captured in Iraq and thought to be dead suddenly turns up alive after eight years. His wife has in the last year started a serious affair with his best friend, who helped her and her children through their ordeal. A female CIA agent in Iraq is told by a trusted Iraqi informer that an American soldier has been “turned” by Al Qaeda, so she suspects the Marine and on her return to the US targets him for investigation. Unable to get official CIA sanction she goes rogue and gets too personally embroiled, which is not unusual for this brilliant but deeply flawed agent. The continuity of the main story arc and the plausibility of the plot twists are more than enough to overcome some holes in the back story of the possible “turning” and some apparent lapses in security practices in this well-acted Showtime series.

Tent City, USA – 2012 (2.9). Homeless people run their own tent city in Nashville with guidance from a local church and this documentary follows several inhabitants as they tell some of their personal stories and go about their lives. A flood brings the need to relocate the camp and the homeless are met either by community antipathy or inaction as four homeless people decide to seek a seat on the feckless Nashville Homeless Commission. Effectively putting a personal face on homelessness, this movie saves time by not including interviews on the subject with so-called experts who have never been homeless themselves.

Foyle’s War (Season Seven) -2013 (2.8). This season consists of three TV movies set right after WWII with Foyle being recruited by the MI-5 intelligence agency to work as a sort of ombudsman to keep the agency from getting too far of the righteous path in its zeal to kep ahead of the Russians in the new cold war. Foyle recruits his driver assistant Samantha, now married to a sincere young politician. Other than the presence of Sam there is no story arc in this season beyond Foyle taking on his new job and bumping into the MI5 mentality of the end justifying the means and at season end leaving open the likelihood he will not remain in this job.

Don’t Stop Believin’: Everyman’s Journey – 2011 (2.8). When long time rock band Journey lost its celebrated lead singer, they went to You Tube to look for a possible replacement and found a very promising candidate in Manila. This documentary shows the process of testing the man and the resulting tour to try him out. Arnel Pineda is one of those singers whose voice is surprisingly robust for his size. He also has an inspiring tale of overcoming obstacles and exudes a charismatic positive attitude. The movie is a little too long, but it does contain lots of music for fans and a hopeful message for musical aspirants.

Becoming Chaz – 2010 (2.8). Chastity Bono never felt like a girl and her mother Cher says she knew early on her daughter was a lesbian. Only four when her dad Sonny died, Chaz went through a very troubled adolescence and early adulthood. As this documentary begins, Chastity has started the process of trans-gendering into a man. She lives with her girlfriend, who has problems of her own, but who sticks with Chaz as the hormone therapy and breast removal surgery lead her to a second puberty, this time as a testosterone loaded male. Chaz has the support and many friends and family members, except for her mother who seems befuddled and too busy nursing her own celebrity to fully tune into what is going on. Chaz has a good attitude and is courageous about what she is doing, even getting involved with families who have young children who will probably be making a similar sex change.

Dad’s in Heaven with Nixon – 2010 (2.8). Using old home movies taken by his grandfather and father and interviews with his mother and siblings, the filmmaker who made this documentary tells the story of how his father was not loved by the grandfather, how the father was never able to comprehend the fact that one of his own son’s was autistic and how the life of the father took a serious downhill turn. The autistic brother, who is now a successful artist, is a central interview subject and is very likeable. His autism was helped in his early years through therapy his mother insisted he get, and he has been able to live independently as an adult.

His Secret Life – 2001 (2.8).  Fortyish Antonia was a devoted wife but when her husband was killed in a traffic accident she was challenged to examine his life and hers upon discovering that he was involved in a long term gay relationship at the time of his death. This Italian drama does not indulge in cheap comic relief but rather shows a woman struggling to understand first her husband and their life together, then her relationship with her mother and the man who loved her husband and the members of the LGBT community to which he belongs. Without blatantly spelling out the questions, this Italian movie manages to get us to think about the answers.

Silver Linings Playbook – 2012 (2.7). This is one of those movies we are supposed to like, because it is a sincere attempt to address mental illness in a newly personal way and the young leading actress won the Oscar for her performance. Unfortunately, too much time is spent at the beginning of the film showing the young bi-polar man acting out his illness, much to our discomfort. Though we see him in a mental institution, we learn nothing about his illness or how they are trying to help him, though we do see him faking taking his pill, a la Nicholson in Cuckoo’s Nest. After his release, we see the man interfacing with his parents, friends, brother, shrink, police officer, former fellow patient and most importantly, the girl with mental issues herself, who leads him on the path to recovery. Her performance was good, but not memorably Oscar worthy. The rest of the roles are written as caricatures, though the father, played by DeNiro, has a little more depth. There did not seem to be much to learn about mental illness here, other than to be sure to take your medicine and have lots of people who patiently love you, especially a very good looking person of the opposite sex who also happens to have mental issues.

WWE for All Mankind: The Life & Career of Mick Foley – 2013 (2.2). This overlong documentary about a college educated pro wrestler was made by the WWE and is largely a commercial for that business with Foley eagerly narrating his seemingly endless career of entertaining people with increasing amounts of shtick and orchestrated violence without regard to the cost to his body. Somehow the man comes across as not brain damaged, though his body otherwise seems fairly ravaged. Apparently he does some philanthropic work, which is mentioned in the film promos but barely shown in the movie. His personal life is also hardly touched on, except for a bit at the beginning about how he was an early fan of entertainment wrestling. People who actually paid to watch such entertainment may like this film, but the only thing it has to offer for the rest of us is confirmation that we are glad we did not waste our time and money.