Au Revoir Netflix

The increase in Netflix streaming price prompted a look at what I have streamed in the last six months and the realization that for now it is not cost effective. So I have cancelled Netflix streaming effective this coming week. The same movies of marginal interest have been in my queue for quite a while. In fact what prompts me to stream most movies in my queue is the impending expiration of streaming rights. I have likely pretty well tapped out the old Netflix movies of interest. There are probably some good documentaries and foreign films left to glean, but they are almost always available through the library. This current list of movies watched includes a final flurry of Netflix streams.

DVDs in the mail seems old fashioned since stopping them from Netflix when they jacked the price up a few years ago. Their star rating algorithm no longer works for me and the filmographies are not complete unless you subscribe to DVD service. The IMDB provides free information and Red Box kiosks are quicker (though I still have not used one). The library and PBS TV will work fine for now.

So my eleven year relationship with Netflix has come to an end. Netflix as a business has been going through some ups and downs with its stock currently rated two stars out of five by Morningstar.

O.J.: Made in America - 2016 (3.0). An extended production of ESPN 30 for 30, this five part documentary puts the OJ murder case and later trial in Nevada in historical context, particularly regarding the oppressive treatment of African-Americans by the LAPD and how that affected the jurors in the murder trial. Archival footage is expertly mingled with recent interviews of many of the people involved in the trials and surrounding events. Though we are familiar with the case, this movie not only refreshes our memory but sharpens it and keeps us riveted to the screen.

Tab Hunter Confidential – 2015 (3.0). A young heartthrob with no talent turned into a box office phenom by Warner Brothers in the 1950s and a candidate for some third rate "whatever happened to" movie over 50 years later might be what was expected of this documentary. But we are quickly corrected as an eighty something Tab looking handsome and healthy proceeds to tell us his life story, about being almost unnaturally handsome, seeking escape in the Coast Guard, having a lifetime love of horses, falling into a movie career, being overhyped, working hard to learn to act, supporting his single mother who was afflicted with mental health issues, dealing with his homosexuality while keeping it from destroying his career, and about his family, friendships, business relationships and loves. This is a very enjoyable visit with a really nice man and it is not surprising that so many notable people chose to offer their filmed comments to supplement the archival and contemporary footage.

The Last Man on theMoon – 2014 (3.0). Twelve humans have walked on the surface of the moon. In 1972, the last one was Gene Cernan and he tells his story in this effective documentary. We get his personal and professional biography as he takes us with him to revisit the sites and mementoes of his life journey. Of course he cannot take us back to the moon in person, but with archival footage and computer simulations we can come close to realizing what he experienced. The production values are high and Cernan is engaging as he gently explains how he feels today about this remarkable thrill from his past.

Paradise Lost 3:Purgatory – 2011 (3.0). After almost 18 years of incarceration, the story of the West Memphis Three gets another documentary update. This time new evidence and expert testimony are developed and presented to a new judge. All the new interviews are put in context with footage from the earlier movies and we see how prison has changed the three convicts, how many other people, including especially one surprising member of a victim family, have changed in their lives and attitudes, but how Arkansas criminal law prosecutors fight tooth and nail to prevent the men from getting new trials. As the prospect for new trials gains strength, we get a new suspect and a sudden resolution.

If I Were You – 2012 (2.9). A pleasant surprise, this romantic comedy from write and director Joan Carr-Wiggin has a nicely paced script with some clever lines, modest laughs and sincerity in presenting the issue of marital infidelity from three points of view, the husband, but primarily the wife and the other woman. Good acting by the two women, especially Marcia Gay Harding.

Paradise Lost 2: Revelations – 2000 (2.9). The makers of the original documentary about the West Memphis Three, teenagers in Arkansas convicted of supposedly satanic murders of three eight year old boys revisited the story several years later as a movement has arisen to free them as wrongfully convicted. New evidence and expert re-examination of the evidence is argued as a basis for new trials. The original trial judge handles the new proceedings and this time decides to exclude cameras, but there are plenty of ongoing interviews with the prisoners, their families, families of the victims, witnesses, police and attorneys and others. The likelihood of the boys being exonerated seems to be growing and a very likely candidate for the true killer comes into view.

Trapped – 2016 (2.8). Southern legislators have passed many laws in recent years purportedly to make abortion safer, when in fact their purpose is to make it impossible for medical practitioners to comply with the myriad of regulations so that abortion will effectively be outlawed. This documentary follows the efforts by the few remaining clinics and their doctors to stay open to serve women seeking an abortion. Roe vs Wade recognized the right to abortion, but a later case allowed states to regulate the practice so long as the laws do not place an undue burden on women. The Texas law has been challenged in the US Supreme Court with a decision due in June 2016.

Spotlight – 2015 (2.8). Somewhat in the mode of All The President's Men, this drama follows a team at the Boston Globe as they work up the story of the Boston priest sexual abuse scandal and ongoing coverup by Cardinal Law. This scandal in the Catholic Church worldwide has become quite well known and been covered in many documentaries and other media, so this movie does not break new ground other than touching on the failure of the Globe to investigate the story much earlier. What could have made the film more informative would be showing more about the other institutions and individuals who facilitated the coverup.

Taxi Teheran – 2015 (2.8). Iranian director Jafar Panahi came up with this clever movie to comment on artistic repression in his country. The premise is that he is posing as a taxi driver in Teheran and using a disguised dashboard camera to film a succession of passengers who dialogue about various aspects of their lives as affected by the policies of the regime. After first thinking this is a sort of candid camera stunt, we realize it is a smart drama blending humore with probably about as sharp criticism as could be allowed without getting the film totally banned. The movie is also titled Taxi and Jafar Panahi's Taxi.

Fruitvale Station – 2013 (2.8). Based on a true story of a shooting of a young black man by an Oakland transit policeman, this drama gives the background on the man by showing some of his past history and then going into detail by following him in his interactions the day of the shooting with family, friends, enemies, strangers and the police. Michael B. Jordan plays the role quite effectively, presenting a nuanced performance of a young man trying to figure out where his life might be headed.

The Keys of theKingdom – 1944 (2.8). Gregory Peck plays a sincere young Catholic priest from Scotland who is sent to Imperial China as a missionary in this WWII production from the A. J. Cronin novel. Good production values, fine acting by Peck and the use of Chinese actors for the subordinate roles help this movie hold up fairly well after 70 years. The loudly annoying Oscar nominated music by Alfred Newman is something that movies thankfully left behind.

Daughter of the Dawn – 1920 (2.8). A movie made in 1920 outdoors in Oklahoma with a cast composed entirely of Kiowa and Comanche Indians is so unique that it is worth watching even though it is a quite hokey drama. Thanks to film preservers and Oklahoma historians for keeping this film in being and thanks to Netflix for making it available.

Beasts of No Nation – 2015 (2.7). This Netflix drama based on the novel of the same name tells a story of a boy in West Africa whose village is caught between government forces and rebels in a civil war. His faily is killed and he is taken captive by a warlord running a battalion of boy fighters. He is quickly converted to a soldier and partakes in violence at first by being forced and then gradually of his own volition. The movie has good production values and acting but the accents make the dialogue hard to decipher at times and the fictional story is totally lacking on any bigger picture of what the war is about and who the parties are. As a first personal account of the young boy who does not understand the political issues the film is limited in what it can accomplish.

The Big Short – 2015 (2.7). Trying to explain to the general public the financial instrument machinations that led to the housing bubble and 2008 financial crash is hard enough to do in a book but even harder in a movie made from that book. The resulting screenplay won the Oscar but did not make this esoteric subject generally interesting, and the jumping around between so many characters who predicted the bubble or otherwise tried to warn others and then decided to turn the prediction into personal profits is about as confusing as this sentence. Blurring the line between documentary and drama is tricky work.

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

Tab Hunter Confidential

Last Man on the Moon

If I Were You

Spotlight

Taxi Teheran

Fruitvale Station

The Keys of the Kingdom

Daughter of the Dawn

Beasts of No Nation

Spring Transition

Well into spring, the PBS shows wind down their seasons providing more time the glean Netflix and to resurrect check outs from the library. This is probably a good time to go over all my waiting lists and build up queues for summer watching.

Call the Midwife (Season Five) – 2016 (3.2). The series enters 1961 and encounters the impact of new drugs on pregnancy, from Thalidomide to birth control pills. Changing times and evolving characters are nicely interwoven and portrayed with typically high British TV standards. By now we have become emotionally involved in our relationship with all the cast, but usually with personal favorites. A sixth season is on its way and if the series stays true to itself there is no reason it cannot go on for many more.

The Galapagos Affair:Satan Came to Eden – 2013 (3.0). In 1929 a German couple left their respective spouses and settled on a small Galapagos Island. Over the next few years a few others followed. Typical of such back to nature adventures, paradise did not ensue. This pleasantly engaging documentary uses a surprising amount of archival footage from the settlers, along with dramatic readings from their writings and interviews with living descendants and a few historians of the history of humans on those islands. The resulting story is told in a well edited chronology with conflicting points of view on what were thee relations between the various inhabitants and what ultimately happened to them.

Tangerines -2013 (3.0). A grandfatherly Estonian living in a Russian Georgia village of tangerine orchards is caught in the crossfire of the early 1990s civil war and takes in two wounded combatants hostile to each other, A Georgian and a Chechnya mercenary. His even handed treatment of the men gains their respect and provides pause for reflection on territorial disputes and the resulting wars. A neighbor with a tangerine crop in need of harvest pickers rounds out the small cast. Good acting, particularly by the grandfather, evocative cinematography and economical writing and direction led the movie to nominations for best foreign film at both the Golden Globes and the Oscars.

Journey of Hope – 1990 (3.0). This German Oscar winning drama about a poor Turkish farmer and his wife paying traffickers to get them to Switzerland in the hopes of earning money to bring back home will probably always be a timely subject. The actors appear to be real people and the filming of their journey has a documentary feel of authenticity. Three kinds of people are encountered on the journey: good ones who try sympathetically to help; bad ones who seek to cheat; and the authorities who try to humanely apply the immigration laws. American viewers may be inclined to feel the journey is too risky, but if our ancestors had not ventured out, we would not be Americans.

The Return – 2016 (2.9). In 1994 California passed a "Three Strikes" law mandating life imprisonment terms. By 2012 such laws were acknowledged to be overkill in many cases and voters then passed by 70% a measure to allow such sentences to be reviewed by judges to determine if the prisoner should be released as posing no threat to public safety. This sensitive documentary follows two released men as they cope with making the adjustment to life after prison. The technique used is quiet observation of the men, their families and the attorneys and other volunteers who work with them. Periodic titles provide information on the status at various points in the months the men were observed. There is no preaching or expert commentary, other than what is said by the attorneys in the course of their work.

Brothers In War – 2014 (2.9). In 1967 the last company of drafted American combat soldiers who had trained together was sent to Vietnam for one year. After that, units in Vietnam were supplemented with individual replacements as casualties were incurred. Surviving members of the original company, including the commander and some unit leaders, were interviewed for this documentary. Some home movies and a few audio tapes were also incorporated. The chronicling of the one year tour using memories of the men and footage from the time and place begin to give a feeling of the fear and resilience of these men who survived patrols in the Mekong Delta in which 26 of the original men were killed and over 100 were wounded.

Mr. Selfridge (SeasonFour) – 2016 (2.8). The series concludes at the time of the 20^th anniversary of the store, and this final season emphasizes how Harry's gambling and womanizing bring him down, ultimately being broke and squeezed out of the store he founded. It all feels a bit rushed, as if the writers knew the plots needed to build and conclude swiftly. Some of the supporting characters have more nuanced dramas in their lives but Harry and his made up love interest Mae are the main presentation. Viewers probably feel like the Board of Directors – it was time for Harry to go.

My Nazi Legacy – 2015 (2.8). Two men born in 1939 whose fathers were Nazi commanders in occupied Poland in WWII have a different view on the culpability of their father in this documentary. One has bad memories of his early childhood and agrees his father deserved the execution he received at Nuremburg. The other has good childhood memories and cannot be convinced to believe his father, who died a refugee in the Vatican where he fled to avoid prosecution, was in any way to blame for the atrocities committed under his command. A Jewish international activist attorney whose family was almost entirely annihilated under the command of the two fathers joins with the man who accepts the truth of the villainy of his father in trying to convince the other son. But the effort fails and the truth accepter concludes the truth denier is in fact a modern day Nazi. He frustrated attorney is not quite sure of that.

Winter on Fire – 2015 (2.8). When Ukrainians elected a leader who told them he was going to take the country into the EU, the people were delighted. But when he reneged and acted like a Russian puppet, they took to the streets, especially the young people. The protests were met with violent response by the government and when young people were injured the elders and ecumenical church leaders joined them in support. The violence continued until finally the leader fled into exile in Russia. This story is told in a documentary using interviews with protestors and lots of footage shot during the months of protest. There is no historical analysis or expert opinion, just film of what happened on the ground combined with protestor viewpoints.

You've Been Trumped – 2011 (2.7). Watching this documentary about the scoundrel Donald Trump scamming the Scottish powers into letting him ruin a wondrous sand dune treasure to build a golf course for the rich and then bullying local Scot farmers in an attempt to get their homes removed as eyesores is like seeing a preview of his disgusting 2016 US Presidential run. The journalist who made the film lives only 40 miles from the dunes and he could not believe the favorable press Trump was receiving so he went to see for himself and tells the story from the point of view of the little people Trump scornfully wants to trample. The movie does not have extra content that would have made it better, because potential sources of financing for the cost of including such material were afraid of being sued by Trump. Funds were raised by the filmmaker mortgaging his own home.

Los Angeles Plays Itself – 2003 (2.7). This documentary is essentially a three hour lecture class about how Los Angeles has been used in numerous movies. The narration includes comments on movie making in general but most of the attention is put on specific locations in the city that have been part of many movies through the years. The editor has compiled great clips to illustrate the somewhat professorial narration, all of which would certainly be of much greater interest to a Los Angelino.

Time Out – 2001 (2.7). A Frenchman fired from his job wanders around trying to look and act like the executive he imagines himself to be, but keeps his unemployment a secret. Soon he starts bilking family and friends to raise money which leads him down a dangerous path. This French movie is slow and overlong, though well-acted and with some saving cinematography.

The Man Whose Mind Exploded – 2012 (2.4). Watched at Netflix on a bored whim, this documentary was poorly made and was about an eccentric and unappealing man, so it ended up being excluded by oversight from the previous blog list. My two stars rating at Netflix with a benefit of the doubt produces a 2.4 here. Don't bother watching it.

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

The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came to Eden

Journey of Hope

Band of Brothers

Winter on Fire

Los Angeles Plays Itself

Time Out

The Man Whose Mind Exploded

No Mockingbird

There is something I should have learned better before now. My first chance was over fifty years ago when I took a literature class from a professor who had written a book entitled Novels into Film. Most recently the same lesson was taught in comments on this blog (back when there were some) by John from Phoenix. Now I finally get the lesson and I want to explain why.

My reading through the years has been overwhelmingly non-fiction with only very few novels. On the death of Harper Lee, I decided to finally read To Kill a Mockingbird. At the same time I read a book (Scout, Atticus and Boo) with memories by various people about when they first read Mockingbird. I was in law school when the movie came out and I thought it was great; I particularly admired Atticus of course. The screen play won the Oscar for best adaptation. So after reading these books I watched the movie again, the first time I can recall since my first viewing. I was shocked how totally disappointingly different the movie was from the book.

I know I have seen at least a couple movies based on books I had read previously, but I do not remember being bothered by differences on the screen from the pages of the book. But in the case of Mockingbird I disliked the movie adaptation so much because it oversimplified the book and left so much of importance totally out of the script that I am not even including it in this list. I will let my ancient five star rating stay in place as a respectful memory, but I have now finally learned that a novel and a movie based on a novel are two separate and wholly autonomous works of art.

Downton Abbey (SeasonSix) – 2015 (3.2). Enjoyable house guests sometimes engender mixed feeling after they leave; while we will really miss them, we are also glad they are gone. So with the final season of Downton, it is time to part company with the people who have been visiting us and we wish them well. The scripts were written to grant our wish and they did so, with everyone taking a positive step forward in life, even as we are realistic enough to know they cannot all live happily ever after. Perhaps a sequel will be made in ten or twenty years.

Matt Shepard Is aFriend of Mine – 2014 (3.2). Matt wanted to be famous, but not by dying at a young age as a victim of a homophobic beating. Using archival home movies, evocative scenes of the filmmaker traveling around the area where Matt lived, and extensive interviews with his family and friends and those involved in investigating his murder, one friend made this documentary to let us learn who Matt was and why so many people loved him. There is not much issue preaching here, but there is the encouraging example set by the parents of Matt in starting a foundation to address the need for greater respect for individual differences. There is also a provocatively thoughtful conversation between the filmmaker and a priest who ministered to the murderers.

Call the Midwife(Season Four) – 2015 (3.1). As time moves forward, some of the cast turns over though some of the old stay on, and the medical and social issues keep evolving. A few story lines keep progressing even as new angles develop in the lives of some characters. There is a valid feel to the way things move along, but it does seem a little peculiar that the narrator from old age continues her voice over role even though her character is no longer appearing in the series. There are still many calendar years for the stories to run forward and as long as the quality holds up there is good reason to continue filming.

Jackie Robinson – 2016 (2.9). With this documentary Ken Burns attempts to fill in more of the personal side of the baseball great and his attitude toward racial relations in America from his young days through his integration of major league baseball and into his political activity after leaving baseball. The task is fairly well accomplished with lots of archival footage, interviews and dramatic voiceovers.

Doc Martin (SeasonSeven) – 2015 (2.9). Louisa returns from Spain and she and Martin begin couples therapy. We know about the problems Martin has, but bow we get to find out whether Louisa has problems of which we have been unaware. Meanwhile the characters and events in the town continue to provide drama around the central couple. Unfortunately, after setting the counselling up to be not only quite helpful to the couple but also to provide a deeper personal emotional drama for the series, this story line sort of fizzles in the last episode.

PlantPure Nation – 2015 (2.9). The son of one of the doctors whose life work on the health benefits of plant based eating was featured in the film Knives Over Forks is the maker of this newer documentary. Kentucky is the state with the least healthy population and this movie follows the efforts of the film maker to get the Kentucky legislature to approve a modest study of  plant based eating. Surprised by the defeat of the proposal, a self-funded study is done in North Carolina with impressive results and the Kentucky Legislature approached again. The truth of the value of this way of eating seems quite obvious but efforts to get government involved in promoting it run into vested animal based food interests and their control of the political process.

An Honest Liar – 2014 (2.9). For decades professional magician James Randi has made it his mission to discredit people who use the tricks of his trade to fool people into believing the tricksters have psychic, spiritual or other mystic powers. Lots of archival footage is combined with interviews, especially of Randi himself, to produce this documentary. Sadly, we learn there are willingly gullible people who use the charlatans as an emotional crutch and are angered when the fraud is exposed.

Supermensch: TheLegend of Shep Gordon – 2013 (2.9). Comedian Mike Meyers directed this documentary homage to a show biz agent who seems universally admired not only by his famous clients but also by no less than the Dalai Lama. Numerous interviews and clever reconstructed videos are well edited together with the precise timing of an experienced stand up comic. The result is a fun movie that moves right along.

Welcome to Leith – 2015 (2.8). A peripatetic white supremacist provocateur bought a rundown house in a very small town in North Dakota with the intention of attracting others of his ilk and taking over the town politically, though only one other couple actually came. These invaders were so obnoxious that the townspeople rose in opposition and ultimately persuaded the prosecutor to file charges against the men for terrorizing the townspeople. This documentary uses interviews with the townspeople, invaders and the prosecutor and a spokesperson for the Southern Poverty Law Center along with some archival footage of events that happened in the town to follow the case in a very personal way, without going into an academic analysis or criticism of the white supremacist views.

The Look of Silence – 2014 (2.8). In this sequel to an earlier documentary, The Act of Killing, the film maker follows the efforts of the brother of one of the victims of the Indonesian political genocide of the 1960s to confront the aging murderers and see if they have remorse or feelings of guilt. The brother was born after the killing as a replacement for son who was killed. The mother still lives and is kept informed as the son pursues his mission. The audacious sadism of the killers shown in the earlier film is fodder for the new journey and the people he confronts are still despicable and unremorseful. New to this film are the children of the murderers who profess varying degrees of ignorance about what happened, understandable because the murderers have been in charge of the Indonesian government since the slaughter and have tried to bury the past in silence.

How to Survive aPlague – 2012 (2.8). Archival footage and current interviews are used in this documentary to tell the story of the Act Up protestors whose persistent activism over many years finally got enough serious attention from the government and the pharma industry on the need for effective treatment AIDS victims. The film is more of a testament to the work of the individuals involved than a political history of how and why they had to work so long and so hard to get our country to properly address the problem.

Forks Over Knives – 2011 (2.8). Decades of lab research and working with patients have convinced two American doctors that a plant based diet is optimal for health. They present their findings in this documentary which also includes input from other doctors and patients who swear by the wonderful health gains of excluding animal products from what we eat. The presentation is easy to follow, though one is left with many questions about specifics, which means visiting the website and reading the book are the next steps for consideration.

Reel Injun – 2009 (2.8). A documentary film maker from the far north of Canada takes a road trip in a "res car" to visit Hollywood, the creator of American Indian mythology. Along the way he visits some historic Indian sites and talks with various Indians including some famous actors and activists. Archival footage of Indians being played by whites and cast as stereotypes provide humor tinged with resentment. But there is some good news in the more recent movies, some made by Indians, showing indigenous people in a more accurate light.

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

Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine

Call the Midwife (Season Four)

PlantPure Nation

Supermensch: The Legend of Shep Gordon

The Look of Silence

How to Survive a Plague

Forks Over Knives

Reel Injun

Winter Watching

PBS TV documentaries and a couple seasons of Call the Midwife plus three singles from Netflix have provided the bulk of recent viewing.

Call the Midwife (SeasonThree) – 2014 (3.1). It is 1959 and there is a lot happening as the series continues and holds its quality. A new sister and new midwife join the cast in their new home and a young chaplain comes on the scene and provides a love interest. Sadly another male love interest leaves the cast causing a midwife to require a time away for a rest. The new mother midwife returns to work and her cold mother returns from India, impoverished and in poor health. The doctor and his wife want to increase their family. Social aspects of the stories include cystic fibrosis, Down's, spousal and parental abuse, women in prison, babies from adultery, alcoholism, and post partem psychosis. At season end, one midwife decides to try a career change and work with the terminally ill.

Call the Midwife (SeasonTwo) – 2013 (3.1). Social issues confronted include spousal abuse, infant death, child exploitation, birth defects, abortion and the expectation of new birth control pills. On the personal front one midwife and her husband go on a six month mission to Africa and come back pregnant, a painfully shy female orderly enters the cast, a friend loves one person but marries another, a younger nun questions her vocation as she is attracted to a widowed doctor, the central midwife gets a potential new love interest and the building housing the midwives faces demolition.

The Mine Wars – 2015 (3.0). Mine owners in the south of West Virginia were the fiercest opponents of union organizing in the early 20^th Century. Using archival footage and interviews with historians and former miners, this powerful documentary tells the bloody story of the battle between the mine owners and the miners which culminated in a mass armed march of thousands of men. Ultimately it took the depression and the progressive labor legislation of the FDR administration to bring a semblance of dignity and justice to these workers. Unfortunately the progress made for worker rights has been steadily eroded for the last fifty years.

The Black Panthers:Vanguard of a Revolution – 2015 (2.9). Following the passage of Civil Rights laws in the 1960s, young black Americans realized lots of whites did not get the memo, especially local police forces. Some of the more militant activists formed the Black Panther Party to arm themselves in self-defense and to engage in social service work to uplift the black community. The FBI of Hoover quickly built a huge enterprise in conjunction with local police to counter and ultimately eliminate the Panthers. This documentary uses archival footage, declassified FBI materials and factual interviews with former Panthers, police, informants and FBI agents to tell the story in a balanced and effective way. By coincidence, a few weeks after the airing of the film on PBS a Black Panther was released from prison in Louisiana where he had spent forty years in solitary confinement.

Chasing Heroin – 2016 (2.8). Following four addict stories in the Seattle area, this documentary puts a personal face on the heroin problem and shows how difficult it is for addicts to overcome their problem. There is a little science and some mention of the role big pharma and doctors played in getting people hooked, but the emphasis is on the addicts and on the enlightened approach being taken in Seattle by co-operation between the police, prosecutors and public defenders.

Murder of a President – 2016 (2.8). James Garfield and Chester Arthur are two US Presidents most of us could not tell apart, except that one of them might have been assassinated. It was Garfield; and his story is interestingly told in this documentary, using archival photographs and extensive dramatic reconstructions. Garfield had been a respected Ohio Congressman, before becoming a surprising Republican Convention choice for President in 1880. Shot by an unbalanced disgruntled office seeker after only a short time in office, Garfield received highly questionable medical treatment in the following weeks and was succeeded by his VP, Arthur, who had been handpicked by a corrupt political machine.

Best of Enemies – 2015 (2.8). William F. Buckley of the right and Gore Vidal of the left both spoke with patrician affectation and seemed to have embodied the stereotype of "East Coast Elites". In 1968 the struggling ABC TV network came up with the idea of having this duo pontificate during the party presidential conventions. The result was a verbal blood feud which Vidal won, not by making better political arguments, but by getting Buckley to blow his cool. Archival footage of the sparring and surrounding events of the times is combined with some later interviews with the men and a few people close to them in this captivating documentary.

In Football We Trust– 2015 (2.8). Mormons have created a recruiting pipeline to bring young Polynesian men and their families to Salt Lake City to play football in high school and hopefully also in college and maybe on to a lucrative career in the NFL. The culture of these Pacific Islanders celebrates the warrior and the men have bodies built for football. This documentary, co-directed by a man who was such an athlete himself, spent four years following four such athletes from three large families living on modest means. Sometimes the line between support and pressure is so confused with regard to the cultural heritage, families, gangs, football, school and Church, that it would seem better to just let the kids alone to make their own path in life.

No More Babies – 2015 (2.8). Young Chicana mothers admitted to the hospital in California in the 1970s for Cesarean sections also had their tubes tied, allegedly without informed consent. A whistleblower doctor had trouble finding a willing ear until a young Chicana lawyer took the case and filed a Federal suit on behalf of ten of these women. The whistle blower, Chicana lawyer, several of the plaintiffs and defendants and others involved in the events at the time are interviewed in this even-handed documentary which reminds us how the times have changed in so many ways.

(T)ERROR – 2015 (2.8). The maker of this documentary had a unique opportunity to interface with an FBI informant targeting a suspected terrorist and also with the suspect. Neither man was aware the other was working with the filmmaker and the FBI also was unaware of the film being made. The movie suggests the resources being expended for such undercover operation may need to be put to better use.

TINY: A Story aboutLiving Small – 2013 (2.7). Building a new home always takes longer and costs more than anticipated even when the house is about 124 square feet and built on top of a flatbed trailer. A summer documentary ends up taking a year in this personal account documentary by a young man with no previous construction experience. Brief visits and interviews with other people who have built and live in such homes created a viewer desire for a more expansive look at why and how people go smaller.

Autism in Love – 2015 (2.6). Granted this documentary is about people with autism seeking a love relationship, but spending several years following four such people would have made a better movie if it included more background material on what their lives were like growing up and more information from experts on autism helping us understand better what these people are experiencing and what society is doing to help those with autism. One of the men is older and seems to have a more severe case, but he does have a job which he enjoys and is married, though we get very little information on that marital relationship. A younger man is unemployed and in emotional pain about his life, but though his mother is close to him and tries to help by talking to him, she seems to be winging it without any professional advice. The final two people are able to function on a higher level and are in a long term relationship that may lead to marriage. Most of the film is interviews with the individuals and some with their parents.

The Truce – 1996 (2.6). An acclaimed memoir by an Italian Jew freed when Auschwitz was liberated by the Russians should have made a better dramatic movie than this one. Films are a fitting media for highly subjective observations, but here the camera seemed to spend too much time on the observer observing rather than on the observed being observed. The broken English spoken by the multinational cast may have been accurate but is often hard to follow. The production values and acting are sufficient, but the direction is a bit clumsy at times and the script quite inadequate.

Mercy Street (SeasonOne) – 2015 (2.2). What should have been an encouraging endeavor, Ridley Scott producing an original series for PBS about a hotel in Virginia turned in to a hospital for soldiers from both sides during the first year of the Civil War, sadly is instead a major disappointment.The problem is with the scripts. The intention may be to capture the chaos of the hospital but the result is a lack of concentration on any of the many characters long enough to develop an attachment to them. The dialogue is stilted and clichéd, with a villain at one time telling his victim, "What we have here is a failure to collaborate". So now we know the historical origin of the line from Cool Hand Luke, substituting collaborate for communicate. Buffoonery is inserted between gruesome scenes of amputations in a gross failure of attempted comic relief. Too many plot lines are involved, coming and going without any sense of organization and failing mostly to effectively interweave. Early episodes included annoying moving camerawork to segue from one group of characters to another. The sets and production values indicate an apparent plan for further seasons, but mixed reviews may foil that, and if it is renewed, much better reviews for the second season are the only hope for holding or building the audience.

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

Call the Midwife (Season Three)

Call the Midwife (Season Two)

Best of Enemies

TINY: A Story about Living Small

The Truce

Last List for 2015

An average of ten new listings were added each month in 2015. Netflix streams were 71, TV shows 32 and public library DVDs 17. The relatively low number and low ratings means there is not that much I find worth watching. Netflix is best for more obscure documentaries. PBS is best for TV. The library is good for catching up on older shows.

Here are the top ratings for what I watched this year. Maybe 2016 will bring improved viewing, starting with the final season of Downton Abbey.

Home Fires (Season One)	2015	3.3
Newsroom, The (Season Three)	2014	3.3
Downton Abbey (Season Five)	2014	3.2
Still Alice	2014	3.2
Theory of Everything, The	2014	3.2
Neuland	2013	3.2
Civil War, The	1990	3.2
DamNation	2014	3.1
Hell on Wheels (Season 4)	2014	3.1
Imitation Game, The	2014	3.1
Last Days in Vietnam	2014	3.1
Last Tango in Halifax (Season Three)	2014	3.1
Belle	2013	3.1
Finding Vivian Maier	2013	3.1
Unreal Dream: The Michael Morton Story, An	2013	3.1
Dark Matter of Love, The	2012	3.1
Loving Story, The	2011	3.1
Darius Goes West	2007	3.1

Here are my last viewings of the year:

Brothers on the Line – 2012 (3.0). Walter Reuther of the United Auto Workers is a key figure in the American labor movement, a man and an aspect of our history that is not as well-known as it should be. This documentary, made by his grandnephew, helps rectify the oversight. There is too much involved in the story of the labor union movement to cover in one documentary; a miniseries would be more appropriate [Ken Burns are you reading this?]. Understandably the movie centers on Walter and his brothers Victor and Roy as they worked together to unionize the American auto industry, found the CIO, facilitate the merger of the CIO with the AFL and participate in multiple aspects of progressive politics. It is little known that Walter worked closely with Martin Luther King and gave a resounding speech before King at the 1963 March on Washington.

Call the Midwife (Season One) -2012 (3.0). Under the newly adopted National Health Service four young midwives live and work with midwife nuns in the poor east end of London in the 1950s in this BBC series. The episodes, expanded from the memoirs of one of the midwives portrayed in the series, follow the personal lives of the women but mostly show them at work encountering pregnant women and sometimes nursing to older members of the neighborhood. Historic and contemporary social ills are woven into the plots and the young women learn from the older nuns and from the rough reality of their daily work.

Casting By – 2012 (2.9). Casting of movie roles is a well-known aspect of the relative success of a movie, but less known is the process by which casting is done. This documentary sheds much light on that process by interviewing various casting professionals and also actors, producers and directors about their personal experience with the process. At first the film jumps around a bit between various casting people but soon in settles in on Marion Dougherty who pioneered many techniques of the trade, first in NYC supplying stage actors for films and later in Hollywood. An underlying theme of the movie is the fight for respect for the work of movie actor casters at the Oscars.

The Way He Looks – 2014 (2.8). The relationship between a boy and his best friend girl is affected by a new boy in their high school class in this gentle Brazilian movie. The three seem to hit it off until the new one begins to meet some of the needs of the other boy, causing the girl to get her nose out of joint. All three are appealing and we care what happens to them and their relationships, which is not a bad way to measure the value of a film.

30 for 30: Four Fallsof Buffalo – 2015 (2.8). Part of the documentary series from ESPN, this movie tells the story of the Buffalo Bills NFL team which went to four Super Bowls in a row and lost them all. Though they were roundly unfairly criticized as ultimate losers, this movie shows the character of many of the players who are interviewed along with coaches, sportscasters and fans. The people of Buffalo never looked down on those teams which are now revered not only in Buffalo but throughout the sports world.

Call Me Lucky – 2015 (2.8). An acerbic comic from a small town in central New York became a standup favorite, political rally participant and mentor to other entertainers, but there was something untold that made his humor so bitter. This documentary uses performance footage and interviews with the man himself, his family, friends and other comics to first show us his rage against the government and the Catholic Church and then explain the source of his rage and what he has been doing about it since he revealed the truth about himself.

The Pilgrims – 2015 (2.8). This documentary from Ric Burns uses dramatic reconstructions and interviews with historians to tell a more accurate story of the European people who came to Massachusetts in 1620. We know them as the Pilgrims and have a developed lore of their contact with the Indian people who lived in that region and particularly a romanticized story of the first Thanksgiving. A more accurate but less known tale is told in this movie.

Meet the Fokkens – 2011 (2.7). Twin sisters with over 40 years of experience as Amsterdam prostitutes have lots of interesting stories to tell, but this Dutch documentary leaves too many questions about their personal lives through the years unanswered. They share a bittersweet happiness but must also have deep hidden pains that are barely tapped into in this movie.

East of Salinas – 2015 (2.6). This documentary followed an undocumented Mexican third grader in California schools for three years, including filming with his migrant farmworker family and following the efforts of his teacher, a former migrant child laborer who became a citizen and now devotes his life to teaching. But the effect is like being in a forest and only becoming familiar with the three trees surrounding you. We learn Jose is happy and healthy and loves his teacher and school, especially math at which he is very good. We learn his mother has two other kids and a husband (a stepparent of one or maybe all the kids), she works very hard in the lettuce fields and after at least ten years in the US does not speak one word of English. We learn the teacher is very dedicated to his students and tries to expand their learning horizons through field trips. But we learn nothing about the community in which they live, the farms on which they work, or the rules and regulations and politics that vitally affect them.

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

Brothers on the Line

Call the Midwife

Casting By

The Way He Looks

Call Me Lucky

Meet the Fokkens

It's Educational

 

When our kids were little we encouraged them to watch children's shows on PBS. Though they liked most of them, there were times when the kids would grow tired of always watching PBS and disparage a particular show with a pejorative, "It's educational." To this day the content on PBS is stellar. With no little ones in the household, there is plenty worthwhile for adults to watch in the evenings. One PBS genre that is quite educational and very well done is science, particularly shows like Nova. Most of these can be watched on line without cable TV or over the air with an aerial. Technically these are movies that could be rated on this blog, but my sense is to not include them. Suffice it to say, every one of them is educational and also very entertaining. As for the usually excellent PBS historical and biographical shows, they seem a little less like classroom fare, so while they are also quite educational, I am inclined to rate them here.

 

Home Fires (SeasonOne) – 2015 (3.3). As Britain enters WWII, the women in a rural community ramp up the efforts of the Women's Institute in support of the war in this well-crafted series. The characters are diverse and all afford opportunities to explore various aspects of the effect of the war on women and their families. There is a lot going on but it seems to fit together realistically and with good intertwining story arcs which hold attention and make one look forward to several more seasons.

 

The Theory of Everything – 2014 (3.2). Eddie Redmayne won an Oscar and other awards for his portrayal of Steven Hawking; Felicity Jones as wife Jane was nominated for an Oscar and other awards but won none. This somewhat mirrors the lives of the real people portrayed in this moving biopic of the challenging love relationship of a brilliant and healthy woman and a genius man with ALS, based on her book later updated with him. A nicely paced script, quite effective cinematography and competent directing complement the excellent acting.

 

Game of Thrones (Season Five) – 2015 (3.0). With this season the series has now caught up with the books and is ready to enter new ground with a sixth season o be based on author notes of where the books are expected to go. HBO is making tons of money on this lavish production with an enormous fan base and good critical reception. While it is still hard to follow everything going on, this fifth season seemed to stay on the track of the story arc a bit better. The excessive blood, gore and nudity continue even as sometimes the show gets a little too talky. Maybe it is the effect of the looming US Presidential election and tumult in international affairs, but the applicability of the series to contemporary politics and battles for power seems to be getting more apparent.

 

Indian Summers (Season One) – 2015 (2.9). It is 1932 and the colonial upper crust in India has moved to the cooler foothills for the summer in this Brit series. Colonialism is winding down but the country is in political turmoil. The Secretary to the Viceroy is central to the series. He is mentored by an older female family friend who runs the social club and his sister returns from a long stay in England bringing her child and a story of being widowed. An Indian family headed by a war veteran includes an upwardly mobile son who make it to the staff of the Secretary and a daughter who is a law student working with progressive reformists. Mystery and personal romantic tension seems to surround everyone, perhaps a bit too much, taking away from time that could have been spent delving into the evolving politics of the time and place. Maybe that will come more with the second season of this stylish production.

 

India's Daughter – 2015 (2.8). The brutal gang rape and murder of a medical student in India, the underlying cultural attitudes toward women and the galvanizing effect this crime had on university students throughout India to demand changes in the cultural attitudes and the judicial system are documented in this film. The parents of the victim present an enlightened counter to the backward perversion of the assailants which their attorneys attempt to justify. The police official seems oblivious to reality but the popular uprising of revulsion did lead to a blue ribbon commission recommending sweeping changes in Indian law. But the Indian government is not as open as it could be as the movie has reportedly been banned in the country.

 

Copenhagen – 2014 (2.8). A jerky American 28 year old man travels with a buddy and the buddy's girl to Copenhagen where the jerk is going to look for his paternal grandfather to deliver a letter from the jerk's dad who died a year ago in this indie drama. After breaking with the buddy the jerk struggles to find his way around town and cannot read the letter because it is written in Danish. His father walked out on the family when the jerk was 14 and before that the man was just a grump. A 14 year old girl starts helping the jerk with his mission, partly because she herself had a no show father. What the man finds out about the paternal roots and what he learns from the girl about relationships with women is the substance of this promising first feature.

 

Mimi and Dona – 2014 (2.8). Autistic Dona is in her sixties and has always lived with her mother Mimi in Texas, but the time has come to move Dona into a group home living arrangement. A niece of Dona made this touching documentary about the painful process of separating mother and daughter. The movie concentrates on the two women and close family members through the time of discussing the move and then making it and monitoring the effect over the next couple years. The family seems to have an unusual number of autistic members, but the film does not explore analysis of data or seek expert opinions. The story is kept very personal.

 

My Week with Marilyn – 2011 (2.8). When Marilyn Monroe went to England to film the Prince and the Showgirl, she drove Laurence Olivier nuts. A young upper crust man got his first job in the movie business as a flunky for Olivier and provided a much needed buffer between the two stars. This stylishly produced though somewhat superficial film is based on the young man's memoir. Typically good Brit acting, including Eddie Redmayne as the young man, and a very good Monroe by American Michelle Williams make up some for script deficiencies.

 

American Comandante – 2015 (2.7).  Archival footage, home movies, newspaper articles and an interview with his widow are the bricks of this documentary about an American boy from Ohio who wanted to be a soldier but was dishonorably discharged from the US Army, drifted into life as a gangster and then abandoned his wife and child to go to Cuba in the 1950s to fight in the revolution. Taken lightly at first the man soon earned fame as a fighter but was disillusioned when Castro embraced Russia and communist ways. His participation in the counter revolution turned out about as well as the Bay of Pigs invasion.

 

The One I Love – 2014 (2.7). The script for this indie drama about a couple whose marriage counselor sends them to a secluded getaway is clever. As we expect to learn more about their problems and watch them work on the issues, we quickly learn there is something quirky about the guest house on the property and the doppelgangers that are staying there. Revealing they are alter egos of a sort, the script then gets a little muddled between solving the mystery and saving the marriage. At the end, it is not clear enough what the couple actually learned and whether both members of the original couple in fact returned home.  The doppelganger technology works well and the two actors, who we realizer at the end carried the entire movie, give good performances.

 

Second Best ExoticMarigold Hotel – 2015 (2.6). Proof again that sequels are usually not as good as the original, this remake suffers from a muddled script bouncing around between story lines and never congealing. There are the acting greats and some funny lines, but it is a quite forgettable movie.

 

Swingers – 1996 (2.5). Sometimes it is hard to know whether we are laughing with this indie movie or laughing at it. Young guys trying to make it in the movies and related arts in LA are hopping around to parties and bars with a concentration on trying to find a hookup for the guy who has been spending six months moping over the breakup of a six year relationship. This is the kind of film that gets made by the kind of guys who are the characters.

 

Three Kings – 1999 (2.3).  In the aftermath of the Gulf War, four American soldiers discover a map leading to gold Saddam stole from the Kuwaitis and they set out to get some for themselves in this predictably formulaic action caper movie. In the course of dealing with remnants of Saddam's repressive forces, the soldiers become involved with rescuing innocent civilians.

 

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

Copenhagen

The One I Love

Swingers

Three Kings

Hell Again

In the absence of anything better, the fourth Season of Hell on Wheels from AMC gets the alphabetical edge over a movie about computing pioneer Alan Turing.

 

Hell on Wheels (Season 4) – 2014 (3.1).  Better than the last season, in this fourth season the UP reaches Cheyenne and seeks a way over the mountains. The US government sends a corrupt provisional governor who contends with the pre=existing crime and corruption. Cullen the Reb comes from being a Mormon captive to being a supposed Mormon with a wife and child. Returning to Cheyenne he meets again with old cast members, except the freedman Elam who is missing. An evil Reb from the past also shows up and creates havoc, an Irish contender returns with reinforcements and a persistent Norwegian keeps reinventing himself. The low point of the season is when Elam has a life altering experience and how that turns out. An emotionally powerful high point is Ruth the church lady working through the marriage of Cullen and a tragedy involving her foster child and how she resolves her unfulfilled love for Cullen and her guilt over the way she responded to the tragedy. Brigham Young has a passing role also.

 

The Imitation Game – 2014 (3.1). The story of Alan Turing, one of the most important pioneers in the development of computers is inherently dramatic and the Oscar winning script for this movie presents that well with only minor changes involving peripheral characters. The Brit math genius without people skills broke the Nazi code thereby shortening WWII by an estimated two years and saving an estimated 14 million lives. But his life was also a tragedy as he became a victim of societal ignorance regarding human sexuality. Benedict Cumberbatch gives an excellent performance.

 

American Experience:Walt Disney – 2015  (2.9). With unrestricted access to the family archives the makers of this documentary were able to supplement the movie and studio footage and give a much more personal view of the great pioneer of movie animation and builder of amusement parks. The story is told as a straight chronology showing how Disney and his fortunes rose and fell with the changes in America. His fierce opposition to unionization of the industry and his attempts in HUAC testimony to smear union organizers as communists fit the temper of the time, but also the temperament of the man. The nostalgically corny movies he was making at the end of his life are no great loss, but one has to wonder where this visionary man's interest might have led had he lived another couple decades.

 

Hell on Wheels (Season 3).– 2013 (2.9). The construction of the Union Pacific is heading for Cheyenne and Cullen the ex-reb is contending with Durant the scoundrel to see who gets to be the chief of construction, a contest that is continuously evolving. Along the way, Indians as obstacles are replaced by Mormons, old characters pass in various ways, new characters are introduced and various relationships grow or wane. The violence level remains appropriately high even as some of the characters seem to be getting a little more temperate. A credible US Grant pops up for a time.

 

The Big Lebowski – 1998 (2.9). Jeff Bridges nails the role of The Dude, a slacker sucked into a mystery in this Joel Coen comedy. Well-paced with some creative cinematography in spots, the movie holds attention and does not show its age, except maybe for the current political incorrectness of the nutty Vietnam vet (tolerably played by the now over-present John Goodman).

 

This Is Spinal Tap – 1984 (2.9). Documentaries about rock and roll bands typically include scenes of band members hanging out, partying, rehearsing and arguing. They also include many statements from the musicians about their artistic ambitions and pretensions and lots of archival footage from past concerts through the years. This mockumentary either followed or created the formula, but whatever the case, it certainly captured it and remains timelessly funny.

 

Althea – 2014 (2.8). Althea Gibson was the Jackie Robinson of tennis, coming from small town South Carolina via the streets of Harlem to the pinnacle of women's tennis, winning championship trophies at Wimbledon (presented by Queen Elizabeth) and the US Open (presented by VP Nixon) and honored with a NYC ticker tape parade. This documentary uses archival footage and interviews with people who knew her through various stages of her career to chronologically present her rise to prominence and slide into oblivion.

 

Selma – 2014 (2.8). A fine performance by David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King solidifies this unevenly paced drama of the 1965 voting rights march in Alabama. There is a lot of context and many characters involved in the full story and the movie is limited in the amount that can be covered, but the script is not quite up to the challenge. The participants in the story are not very clearly identified especially for anyone not familiar with them beforehand. Sometimes the film seems to be spouting elementary historical facts while at others it seems to assume a greater knowledge in the audience. Sadly this 50^th anniversary homage to those who brought about the Voting Rights Act made it to theaters about the same time the US Supreme Court began issuing opinions undercutting the law. The discriminatory disenfranchisement tactics portrayed in the movie now go by the euphemism "voter ID law".

 

Who Is Harry Nilsson? – 2010 (2.8). This somewhat overlong documentary about yet another singer songwriter who came from nowhere to the heights and then faded and mellowed out is a quite familiar genre of documentary. If you knew who he was, then you were destined to love the movie. If you did not remember him, then you would be surprised to learn he is associated with some of your old favorites. Archival film and lots of interviews are par for the course.

 

Arthur & George – 2015 (2.7). Widowed Arthur Conan Doyle is brought out of the dumps by taking on a real life case to clear the name of a half Persian solicitor falsely convicted of ritual animal slayings, in this Brit mystery miniseries based on a true story. The process also clears the conscience of Doyle about his love for another woman during his marriage. This stylish production lacks a little in the unfolding of the mystery aspects of the script.

 

Don't Tell Anyone – 2015 (2.7). Brought here at age three by her mother from Columbia and now finishing high school in Queens area of NYC, this undocumented girl comes out of the shadows and grows into an activist and supporter of other such children in this low budget documentary. Raising more questions than it answers at first the movie follows the girl, her mother and her three younger siblings born in the US, but then her involvement in activism leads to very helpful immigration law information for the girl and her mother. This documentary is more about the benefits of speaking out in general rather than about the rights and wrongs of the US immigration laws.

 

Just About Famous – 2015 (2.7). Celebrity impersonators run the gamut of degree of doppelgangerness [did I just make a new word?], material and talent. This documentary scratched the surface of exploring the range, from an uncanny George W. Bush to a just another Elvis. An annual convention of performers before an audience of booking agents was an ideal place to film their acts, but though the documentarian did attend and probably film performances, only brief segments of a few made it into the movie. There was a little info on the man who started the convention and we saw some of the performers out of character talking about their pursuit of careers, but we never really learned much about the people or the business. Just showing their acts would have been so much better.

 

The True Cost – 2015 (2.7). A sincere though somewhat amateurish attempt to show the environmental, human labor and related detrimental costs of producing the mass market cheap and supposedly fashionable clothing that is quickly discarded for the next hot fad, this documentary jumps around too much and never supplies any numbers or expert input on what can be done to minimize the impact. A few socially conscious fashion entrepreneurs are followed a bit as they talk about and show what they are trying to do to treat the garment workers in Asia more fairly and an organic cotton grower in Texas talks about being overwhelmed by Monsanto but the film leaves us at a loss as to what we can do other than not buy more clothing.

 

Go Tigers! – 2001 (2.7). This documentary about the Massillon Ohio high school football team is no Friday Night Lights. It sort of follows three team captains as the team seeks a turnaround after going 4-6 the prior year. This town of 30,000 is definitely nuts for its team – in fact many people are so carried away as to come off just plain nuts. The movie consists of interviews, game footage and scenes around school and town. There are some students and townspeople who are not fanatics, but they are given only a minute or two of screen time. The movie was about the team, but a more balanced movie about the effect of the team on the town would have been more interesting.

 

The Town – 2012 (2.6). If the mystery plot had been left out of this Brit miniseries about a man returning to his home town after the apparent double suicide of his parents, there were the makings of a good series. The characters and small town were interesting, but the resolution of the mystery of whether and why they actually took their own lives seemed thrown together at the last minute, leaving the character dynamics as new victims.

 

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

 

Hell on Wheels

This Is Spinal Tap

The Big Lebowski

Who Is Harry Nilsson?

Just About Famous

The True Cost

Go Tigers!