Time for Double Decimals?

It seems I have seen and rated most of the good movies on my lists and avoided the bad ones, so now the movies I have been watching and rating here are in the marginal 2.9 to 2.7 range (60% of the last 100 movies rated here). Adding a decimal to my ratings has allowed more accurate measurement than the Netflix five star system, but sometimes it seems hard to decide whether, for example, a movie is a 2.8 or a 2.7. Going to double decimals would allow a 2.75 in that case.

One problem with making such a change would be backward incompatibility whenever a combined list of all rated movies is published; a movie rated 2.8 before the change might have only been a 2.75 after, so it is not necessarily better, even though it has a higher rating. Supposedly that issue could be addressed by rating all movies after the change in double decimals, such as 2.80. Then on publication of a combined list it could be explained that the double decimal was a later adoption and should be considered more accurate. For that reason, 2.80 movies would be listed before 2.8 movies. I doubt if I will make such a change though, because it seems like too much work and confusion to differentiate one marginal movie from another; and with such a fine degree of separation, the vagaries of mood at the time of viewing could be a bigger factor.

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:

Bramwell (Season Two) [Stream availability expired 8/15/2013]

House of Cards

Raw Faith

Hitler’s Children

Sing Your Song

The Hedgehog

Bramwell (Season Two) – 1996 (3.2). The British series about a young female doctor running a charitable medical clinic in 1890s London continues with the same central cast as the doctor encounters various social issues behind the medical conditions she treats. A new character is introduced, a young up and coming male doctor at the local hospital, with whom our heroine clashes; but then a mutual attraction draws them together, even as we join her father in wanting her to drop him. More developments occur in the lives and families of others at the clinic. Excellent acting and good scripts more than make up for second tier video quality.

House of Cards – 2013 (3.0). This Netflix original American version of the BBC series from the 1990s is an impressive production and quite well acted. The writing is sharp and the story arc stays on track, though in mid-season as the sex and drugs become more prevalent it gets a little precarious. The spurned and power driven House Majority Whip and his wife are ruthlessly focused on their usually mutual goals, which are not entirely clear at first but then become more apparent as the season progresses. Cynical about any actual policy or even ideology, the scripts focus on power plays, back stabbing, alliances and exploitation – all the things that make me keep watching Survivor. The symbiosis of politicians and journalists plays a significant role and having the key reporter be a female neophyte willing to use sex to get ahead, which at first seems a titillation, turns out to be more significant. This is good enough to justify watching in expectation of the inevitable collapse.

Raw Faith – 2010 (3.0). This documentary closely follows Marilyn Sewell, Minister of a Unitarian church in Portland, Oregon, as she openly and honestly shares through the movie her struggles with a retirement age transition in her life. She loves her work ministering to her congregation and they obviously love and are quite touched by her, but as she examines her unhappy childhood, failed marriage and lack of closeness to her two sons, she begins to realize what is missing in her life and what she wants to do next.

Lincoln – 2012 (2.9). Spielberg gives his Hollywood treatment to the man on the penny. From a Doris Kearns Goodwin book, the original script was of miniseries length, but Spielberg chose to concentrate on the last four months of Lincoln’s life, centering on the political maneuvering to get the 13^th Amendment passed to abolish slavery and the negotiating attempts to try to bring the Civil War to its inevitable conclusion. Daniel Day-Lewis does his expected super job as Abe and Sally Fields matches him as Mary, though her part in a story about politics and war negotiations is necessarily more peripheral. To those not schooled in the details of this phase of history, much of the political maneuvering may have been a bit confusing. The African-American characters in the script had no depth and were way too 21^st Century, especially the soldier from Massachusetts who challenged the President in the opening scene. Some of the Hollywood touches are falsely iconic, such as the scene near the end where Lincoln slowly rides his horse through a body strewn battlefield right by a pristine rebel flag still flying proudly in the breeze.

Hitler’s Children – 2011 (2.9). The descendants of members of Hitler’s inner circle have to figure out how to deal with the guilt and shame of carrying on such infamous names. This thought provoking documentary uses interviews with the descendants, some archival footage and film of their interactions with young German students, holocaust survivors and their descendants (which is quite moving) to show how they are handling the matter in various ways. While watching and thinking about the aftermath of what the Nazis in twelve years did to Jewish people, I could not help but think about what many of our American ancestors over almost two and a half centuries did to African people.

Sing Your Song – 2011 (2.9). Harry Belafonte has been a pioneer in race relations and an icon of the struggle for social justice for so many decades that we may have taken his involvement for granted or even forgotten most of it. This documentary is a good reminder, proceeding chronologically through the decades, using interviews with Harry and others who joined in the struggle, archival footage and narration. Some of his personal life is shown, including interviews with his second wife and his children, but the focus is primarily on the causes with which he has been involved.

The Hedgehog – 2009 (2.9).  Young French filmmaker Mona Achache shows promise in this gentle story of an artistic and intelligently introspective eleven year old girl who is bored with her life and family in their luxury apartment in Paris. She decides to commit suicide before her next birthday and uses her home movie camera and drawing talent to explore and address her feelings. The hedgehog is the grumpy and frumpy female superintendent of the apartment building, who is actually a highly literate and avid reader behind her closed door. The girl, the hedgehog and a new apartment resident, an elegant widowed Japanese man, are kindred spirits who begin to develop friendships, as the birthday of the girl draws near. Interesting camera techniques involving the home movie camera are effectively utilized as are close ups of the art work being drawn by the girl and animations of her drawings. There is something said in this movie, with a typical French closing, but it is the style of the telling that is most impressive.

Bramwell (Season Three) – 1997 (2.9). The disapproved pending marriage of the heroine was the cliffhanger ending of season two continues into season three but quickly takes a dramatic change which lingers through the season, perhaps a bit too much. The work of the clinic continues as before and the senior Doctor Bramwell finds a love interest of his own, culminating in his marriage and relocation, which impacts the operation of the clinic. Drama continues in the lives of the clinic staff and young Doctor Bramwell and her clinic colleague are drawn together as this season ends. The script quality tapers off a little this season as the love life issues become more melodramatic.

Rust and Bone – 2012 (2.7). He is a virile, brutish wanderer with a sometimes sensitive side, showing up on the doorstep of his sister with his five year old son after a three year absence. The woman he meets as a bouncer at a club has been roughed up and he takes her home and offers his phone number if she needs further help. She is happy in her work as an Orca trainer in marine shows, but unhappy in her personal life. After a few months, an accident at work leaves her even unhappier and she calls him. Their resulting relationship is atypical and confusing to her, though he does not give it much thought, until an accident also happens in his life. This is an interesting exploration, but falls a bit short because we never get to know much about the background of these two people in order to better understand who they are and to make us care more for them.

Bully – 2011 (2.7). The subject of bullying in schools deserves a better movie than this amateurish documentary which disjointedly follows parts of the stories of several victimized middle school students who live in small town locations from Iowa to Georgia. School authorities are mostly shown to be clueless about the problem while parents are understandably upset, particularly in the cases with the most egregious results. Noticeably absent are interviews with the bullies themselves or peer discussions of the topic. Finally near the end the film shows some parents taking action to arouse community attention to the problem, but otherwise there is no indication of what can and should be done by our communities and schools to address the subject.

Quartet – 2012 (2.4). Not a comedy or a drama, this poorly written script wastes a wonderful cast in a muddled and bare story of a retirement home for old singers and musicians, three of whom want to reunite in a singing quartet performance while the fourth does not. The movie gives no indication whatsoever that Dustin Hoffman has any particular talent as a film director. Billy Connolly provides a little comic relief. Maggie Smith being persuaded to deliver the “f” word for the first time was a shameful idea that fittingly fell flat.

Bramwell (Season Four) – 1998 (2.2). What happened here? Two long episodes comprise the fourth season, in which the senior Doctor Bramwell and his new wife are barely mentioned, other supporting cast members disappear without explanation, a new love interest for the heroine is plopped in, her clinic doctor colleague is painted in an inconsistently different light, the heroine turns into an hysterical twit and the whole disjointed mess ends with an implausibly lousy supposedly happy scene. There was a Season Five of at least one episode in 2000, which nobody seems to have cared about, which is quite understandable.

Better Luck with Documentaries

As the list of newer dramas is getting used up (there are about six more to come), I’m infilling with some documentaries streamed from Netflix. The documentaries have definitely been more worthwhile. Several foreign films in my Flix streaming queue probably deserve a view. The NationalFilm Registry, the subject of one of the documentaries listed below, also deserves to be gleaned for viewing possibilities.

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:

56 Up

These Amazing Shadows

Park Avenue

A Royal Affair

Small Voices: The Story of Cambodia's Children

Metropolis

56 Up – 2012 (3.0). Another seven years have gone by and director Michael Apted again visits the people he has been filming every seven years since 1964, when they were seven year old school children coming from different backgrounds in Britain. Watching the development of these people and their families over now such a long period of time, getting together with them is like attending a reunion. Granted the interviews are edited and the people do not always agree with the editing process, but the result seems fair to the viewers. This series of documentaries has always presented each child in full in sequence, making it simple to know about whom we are talking; whereas so many other documentaries present their subject people in back and forth segments skipping between the various people, making it much harder to keep track of who is being talked about at any given time.

Searching for Sugar Man – 2012 (2.9). Rodriguez was a folk singer who wrote and performed meaningful songs and got a chance to record in the late sixties and early seventies, but for whatever reasons his albums bombed. But somehow in South Africa his recordings caught on and inspired numerous local musicians and he became perhaps the most beloved folksinger of his generation and the worshipped hero of younger ones. In this documentary, some South Africans realize nobody seems to know who Rodriguez really was and whatever happened to him, and whether any one of the various stories about his death are true, The resulting search for information is fairly well documented and leads to a worthwhile story, though it is not so much  biographical as it is philosophical. I would have preferred more of both.

These Amazing Shadows – 2011 (2.9).  Established by Congress in 1988, the National Film Registry, which is part of the Library of Congress, grows by 25 films a year. This well-paced documentary includes interview segments with film scholars, film makers and people involved in the selection of films for the Registry, interspersed with clips from diverse movies throughout the history of American cinema, all of which are now part of the Registry.

The Newsroon (Season One) – 2012 (2.8). This HBO series started strong in speaking to the important role journalism plays as the fourth branch of the American government, particularly in these times of political gridlock and partisan grandstanding. However it quickly became evident we would also be following the romantic entanglements of several of the characters and witnessing other hijinks of a lower level. The pressure to chase ratings rather than worthwhile news stories is an effective element and the tie in to breaking news stories of the recent past is effective. Learning about the news people on a personal level could be relevant, but too much time was spent on some fairly trivial dating and relationship problems.

Lost in La Mancha – 2002 (2.8). There is nothing special about the style or technique of this documentary, but the subject matter lifts its appeal to a movie buff. You just don’t see many stories about movies not getting made. Terry Gilliam, the writer of Monty Python fame, had a ten year vision of the Don Quixote movie he wanted to make and eventually was able to raise the considerable funding from individual investors in Europe. He cast his perfect European actor to play the lead and secured Johnny Depp also, but once filming began in Spain, it was clear that this production would be a fiasco. The importance of pre-production planning and coordination to the successful completion of a film is amply demonstrated by this failure and the usually obscure role of investors, insurers and guarantors is brought forward. Writing talent does not necessarily constitute movie making talent.

Herman’s House – 2012 (2.7). Shown on Point of View on PBS, this documentary tells of a young woman artist in NYC who hears of a man in prison in Louisiana who has been in solitary confinement for almost 40 years. She decides to write to the man and the result is a developing friendship leading to a project from which the artist recreates the tiny prison cell in wood and displays it in art galleries. She then asks the prisoner to imagine his dream house, which he eventually does, and they decide to try to actually build it. Shown from the point of view of the artist, with recordings of her phone conversations with the prisoner, the movie is a very personal journey with her, and a corollary one with the prisoner, but it fails to provide much actual information or commentary about the legal efforts being made on his behalf.

Park Avenue: Money, Power and the American Dream – 2012 (2.7). Concentrating attention on the mega rich occupants of the richest residential building in NYC, this documentary spends most of its time covering how the super-rich have used their money to build political power to achieve their agenda of significantly reducing the amount of taxes they pay while demonizing those of lower income as lazy leeches. Less time is spent showing the contrasting life of the impoverished people on Park Avenue in the Bronx. The progressive slant of the movie is obvious, but it does not suggest any way to counter what these powerful people have done.

A Royal Affair – 2012 (2.7). Based on true events surrounding the Danish royal court near the end of the 18^th century, this Danish drama spends considerable time following personal interactions between the mentally ill King, his young English Queen, the enlightened German personal physician to the King, and various other players in the power games at court, but we never get the feeling we have made a personal connection with any of them. As the influence of the doctor on the King grows and he gains political power which he uses to get enlightenment type laws passed, he also enters into an affair with the Queen which can only come to a bad end. Some back story on the principals could have made them more deeply understandable, as could spending more of the interacting time on expressions of personal aspirations beyond sex and power. A letter from the Queen to her two children to tell them the story is the framework for the film, yet we never see any meaningful interaction between her and them in the course of the film. This is an interesting story and a fairly watchable film, but it should have been much better.

Small Voices: The Story of Cambodia's Children – 2008 (2.7). This earnest documentary about extremely poor children who pick garbage and beg for a living features several very appealing youngsters who genuinely desire to go to school and are fortunate enough to be accepted into a private school run by a Scottish-Australian film executive turned philanthropist. The movie concentrates on interviews with the children and they are shown at their work and with whatever family they have. What is missing from the film is personal interviews with the school founder and his staff and any helpful explanation of the attitude of the Cambodian government and the apparent absence of UN agencies or other international relief organizations.

Les Miserables – 2012 (2.4). The French classic tale has been filmed numerous times. This version is based on the musical theatrical version from the 1980s. The sets and direction are not stage bound, but the singing is of mixed quality and most disappointing is the overwhelming number of forgettable songs crammed into a very long movie. The Wikipedia article on the musical lists fifty songs performed during the show, only two of which are significant enough to have their own Wikipedia article. For a quicker and more moving musical experience, watch the You Tube video of Susan Boyle’s performance of I Dreamed A Dream at the 2009 Britain’s Got Talent show; it has been viewed over 128 million times. Jean Valjean would have loved it.

Robot & Frank – 2012 (2.4). Supposedly a comedy, this awkwardly paced movie is not funny, has no drama or story of much interest and has no characters worth caring about except possibly the robot, who knows he is not human yet exhibits more humane characteristics than anyone else. The Robot should get a TV series in which he is hired to work in the households of different guest stars every week.

Metropolis (Restored version) – 1927 (2.4). This classic German sci-fi was a wonder in its time, but the acting is as stylized as the futuristic sets and the story of a young rich playboy being attracted to a female evangelist to the oppressed workers and then joining in a revolt against his powerful capitalist father fails to arouse emotion today when wrapped in such antiquated stylization. The restored version includes some footage thought lost forever, but only makes an already lengthy film even longer.

The Words – 2003 (2.3). Purposely convoluted scripts run the risk of confusing the audience to the point where they tune out, which is what happened with this drama about plagiarism. An unsuccessful young novelist finding an old briefcase in which there is an aged manuscript of a wonderfully written story and then getting it published under his own name is an interesting premise. Having the actual writer turn up in his senior years as a failed writer adds an element. But then piling on some other writer who is telling us the story and interweaving flashbacks of the story of the old man with seemingly irrelevant scenes involving the man telling us the story, all paced inconsistently and with characters popping up and disappearing, just doesn’t gel.

Disappointing Oscar Nominees

This list includes more of the films most recently nominated for Oscars. None of which were impressive. I find better options with streaming documentaries from Netflix. Basketball playoffs have finally ended and the house painting is done, so now maybe there will be more time for movie watching, working on my Netflix queue.

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:

Somewhere Between

Time of Fear

I Do

The Man Who Loved Women

Somewhere Between – 2011 (3.1). We know many baby girls are abandoned by their families in China, end up in orphanages and get adopted by American families, but we are not very informed about how life is for them growing up in their adoptive family and country. This moving documentary introduces us to four of these adoptees in their teenage years in different parts of America and we find them to be very appealing young women who are sensitive and honest about their feelings, which understandably include some ambivalence about how to deal with the realities of their biological roots. The absence of input from learned professionals or commentary from experts on Chinese policy is not a negative, since this movie is about the girls and they are quite good at informing us what their lives are like. We do get to see some travel to China, including one of the girls championing the adoption prospects of a young orphan with cerebral palsy who has a smile that could light up the world. I sure would like to see a documentary following her.

Time of Fear – 2005 (2.9). This short documentary was co-funded by the State of Arkansas and tells a less known aspect of the WWII internment of Americans of Japanese ancestry. Two of the camps were located in southeast Arkansas in two tiny towns which were very poor. The movie includes archival footage and comments by a few historians as expected, but when it gets to the interviews of individuals who were involved in the story, we hear some new stories. Black and white Arkansans tell of their fear of being overwhelmed by the influx of these prisoners. Internees of varying ages tell of their diverse experiences in the camps, most finding it painful, but a few saying they made lots of friends and had some good times. There is even a new angle of the famous fighters of the 442^nd, when Senator Inouye tells how his fellow residents of Hawaii who were of Japanese descent considered US mainland Japanese to be inferior, but after a training mission to one of the Arkansas camps and seeing what those prisoners had been enduring, the Hawaiians had new respect for the mainlanders and 442^nd became brothers.

The Impossible – 2012 (2.8).  Based on a true story of a Spanish tourist family in Thailand caught in the 2004 tsunami, this dramatic movie was made by Spaniards, but the family was changed to British. With minimal computer enhancements, the film created realistic tsunami scenes using real water in a huge tank. This is an exciting tale of catastrophe, separation and search in the face of great confusion and devastating disruption.

I Do: How to Get Married and Stay Single – 2006 (2.8). This French comedy about a happy bachelor who is being pressured by his widowed mother and his sisters to get married enters familiar territory when he hires the young sister of a friend to pose as his bride to be. His plan to fool his family runs into complications, as expected, but the twists are double the norm while pleasantly entertaining without being farcical, and the whole movie comes in at just under 90 minutes.

Django Unchained – 2012 (2.7). Tarnatino starts with a spaghetti western spoof and then rambles all over the place for nearly three hours in this comic book style tale of a German immigrant bounty hunter hooking up with a slave on a freedom mission. Once in a while the story takes a turn for the serious, as when his mentor has Django kill a wanted man plowing a field with his son, or when Django has to watch placidly as dogs are allowed to eat a slave alive. The enormous explosions of blood as scores of people are killed are actually funny at first, but then seem to grow insensitive as it goes on for too long. Mixing the actual horrors of slavery so casually with the caricature style depiction of most of those involved in the atrocities does injustice to an enormously serious subject. The eclectic soundtrack and spoofing homage to earlier films are standard Tarantino.

Hitchcock – 2012 (2.7). Covering the time during which he made Psycho, this drama features Anthony Hopkins playing the director at a time of insecurities in his career and marriage. Concentrating the story of this film-making icon to the time of making only one of his movies might have been more worthwhile if the script had delved deeper into the character of the man himself. If it was not going to be a full biopic, some relevant flashbacks might have enhanced the film. Though his wife was apparently an important creative asset to him, giving her personal life significant time in the movie seemed a little off, as if the film maybe should have been titled Mr. and Mrs. Hitchcock.

Veep (Season One) – 2012 (2.7). Julia Louis-Dreyfuss won an Emmy for her portrayal of the Vice President of the United States in this comedy series about a former Senator whose failed run for President resulted in settling for the number two spot under a President who avoids talking to her. Striving to appear important and manage her political career in the face of continuous political turmoil, she has to rely on her eclectic staff of quirky people. Being on HBO, everyone is obliged to speak in excessively vulgar language, which seems totally out of line. The cynicism, nastiness and malfunctioning of government is frenetically displayed, without any quiet time to get into the characters on a more personal level – the one exception being the college age daughter of the Veep who seems to see it all as the terrible mess that it is, but who only appeared in one episode. The second season has just started, but I doubt I will watch it, because the humor is mostly limited to mutual put downs, and if the high status of the Veep office is going to be the basis of a comedy, it should be more sophisticated.

Zero Dark Thirty – 2012 (2.7). This drama about the hunt for Usama bin Laden is based on what is known, what is speculated and what makes for a good movie. Following the young female CIA agent as she eventually figures out that by tracking his trusted courier that UBL is hiding in a compound in Pakistan, we see “enhanced interrogation techniques” which are indicated to be effective, when combined with clever fooling of the detainee into thinking that he has already given up information. The heroine runs into the expected bureaucratic impediments, becomes a target of assassins and perseveres in the face of all adversities, until the decision is finally made to act on her lead and raid the compound. By this point we are beyond the time when a movie should be comfortably concluded, but only now are we shifting to the second part of the movie, the actual raid. Abruptly we are interfacing with the Navy Seals, without time to meet them, see how they prepare for the mission and get any sense of who they are as men rather than stereotypes. A replica of the compound was meticulously constructed in Jordan and the choreography of the nighttime raid was followed as closely as the details are known. The Seals had night vision goggles to see what they were doing, but the entire raid was filmed with extremely low lighting so that we could barely tell what was going on; As long as we were allowed to see the laser targeting by the guns (which is actually visible only through the googles), we should have been shown the entire raid as if we were also wearing the goggles. Unfortunately the last part of the story is not shown, the confirmation process that the body is that of UBL and the decision for its burial at sea followed by the actual deep sixing. This fascinating story deserved a more balanced and shorter script.

Soundtrack for a Revolution – 2009 (2.7). The role music played in the 1960s civil rights struggle in America is the subject of this documentary, but much of the movie is about the struggle itself, told through interviews of participants and archival footage, while the music seems more incidental to the film. Granted the story of what was accomplished through non-violence and the sit-ins, the Montgomery bus boycott, the freedom riders, voter registration drives and attempts to end school desegregation are very important, but this film was supposed to be more about the music. There are performances of the songs by current recording artists and some archival clips show performances by artists back at the time, but it would have been better to include more complete coverage of the archival music.

The Man Who Loved Women – 1977 (2.7). Francois Truffaut directed this story of a middle aged man obsessed with women and quite successful in hooking up with them for short periods of time. He remembers his mother as promiscuous and cold toward him and he struggles with figuring out what he really wants from a woman beyond certain physical attributes. He is not particularly good looking, but women are still attracted to something about him, perhaps the fact that he obviously loves women, is honest about not committing, does not expect anything of them and in general makes the time they do spend with him enjoyable. The film holds it age quite well, there is no pandering to prurient interest, the women are beautiful and the French cars are as ugly as can be. Ultimately we realize the man’s life is hollow, even though he is fondly remembered by so many women.

Moonrise Kingdom -2012 (2.4). I have avoided the movies of Wes Anderson because I don’t like comic book style caricatures of people in quirky situations. Giving this one a try was a mistake. He may do a good job of making the kind of films he makes, like this one about young teenage lovers running away from home, but his eccentric style does nothing for me. The fact that it was nominated for a best writing Oscar indicates the sad state of writing for movies nowadays.

The Master – 2012 (1.5). Turn the M in the title upside down and you get a better name for this movie which wastes some good acting talent on an overlong and boring script that does not tell us any more about the characters at the end of the movie than we knew when we first met them. A mental case WWII Navy vet crosses paths with a cultish guru who makes it up as he goes along and his enigmatic wife who enables his quirks and produces his babies. The full frontal nudity scenes must have been intended as a commentary or satire, because they are some of the least exciting I have ever seen.

Three Streamers

For any readers who stream movies from Netflix, I am now going to mention which movies in a new list were streamed on Flix [thanks Reiko for the suggestion]; but remember if you are reading a list later in time, the streaming rights may have expired. This list of 17 only includes 3 streamers; 13 came from the library and one (the top rated) was watched on TV.

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 streamed via Netflix were:

Which Way Home

My Dog: An Unconditional Love Story

Kumare

Mr. Selfridge – 2013 (3.3). Shown on PBS Masterpiece, written by Andrew Davies, centered on a beautiful set of the famous London department store, and acted by a typically fine English cast with a few Americans thrown in, this dramatic series about the American founder of the famous store is another winner. Season one is set in 1909, as Selfridge comes to London with bold plans to employ American entrepreneurial skills and braggadocio to make all London take notice of his new store modeled after his Chicago success. Self-made from a deprived childhood, but with the constant love of his mother who is still with him, Selfridge has a wife and four young children. He also has a mistress, a gambling instinct and deep seated but hidden insecurities. We follow the man and his wife and the mistress, a music hall star, and those whose circle they enter in London, but we also follow the personal stories of some of the store managerial and working staff. The sumptuous store set is said to have been built for five years of use. Season two will jump ahead five years to the start of WWI, and further five year jumps would take us to 1919, the end of the war and aftermath of the flu epidemic, 1924, the roaring twenties, and 1929, the crash. These should be well worth the wait.

Hot Coffee – 2011 (3.2). Everyone knows about the woman who got rich suing McDonald’s because she spilled hot coffee on herself. This documentary grabs attention from the start by showing the true story of what actually happened to the woman, which is totally different from the impression we all were given by the media. The movie then goes on to show how making sure we were misinformed about the case is part of a wide ranging program led by the Chamber of Commerce on behalf of the largest corporations to limit the rights of individuals injured by wrongful actions of the corporations. In addition to using the media to stigmatize legitimate claimants, the corporate operation includes lobbying for laws to put limits on corporate liability, bankrolling the electoral campaigns of judges who favor the corporate agenda and inserting mandatory arbitration clauses in every contract they can in order to keep individuals from seeking redress by a civil jury and instead having to submit their case to an arbitrator inclined in favor of corporations. Individuals who have not been able to get fair redress for injuries suffered are shown telling their stories and consumer advocates and experts also contribute helpful interviews. This well-made film will be an eye opener for most viewers, especially when they realize that if the corporate takeover of our legal system is not stopped, they could be the next victim.

Which Way Home – 2009 (3.0). This Oscar nominated documentary follows several children from Central America as they ride on freight trains attempting to travel thousands of miles to the US border in hopes of crossing over. We are more familiar with the dangers of the actual border crossing, including double crossing coyotes, human predators and the oppressive heat of the desert, but this movie shows us the equally dangerous journey to try to get to the border. The children range in age from 9 to 17 and travel without adults. Many are trying with parental consent to get to a parent or other family member in the US, some are running away from home because of poverty or stepfamily conflict and a few are orphans who have been living on the streets and want to try for a new life up north. The film mostly shows the children talking about how and why they are traveling, with some interviews and footage of the homes and families they have left and some scenes of volunteers who try to keep the kids safe on their journey and some shots of the involvement with various immigration authorities. Sparse on screen writing gives supplemental information about the children, but there is no political, religious or sociological commentary. The children speak for themselves and they are quite sympathetic.

The Intouchables – 2012 (2.9).  A quadriplegic Parisian nobleman hires a black ex-con from the projects as his caregiver in this Oscar nominated French drama based on a true life story. Their opening hijinks are a bit of a turn off, but as the movie goes back to the beginning of the story, we find the caregiver is more endearing than expected, even though he retains his rough edges, and the patient has insecurities masked by his witty sense of humor. There are no cheap laughs or slapstick here, nor is there any overdone melodrama, just genuine joie de vivre mixed with the hard realities of life. Though the film is about the relationship between the men, it could have told us more about who they are outside the relationship, in order for us to more fully appreciate them.

Kumare – 2011 (2.9). Raised in America in a Hindu family, this young film maker wanted to know why so many people turn to a guru to find answers to their spiritual questions, so he went to India to check out some gurus there and then he came back to America and decided to pose as a guru to see if people would become his disciples. This documentary shows the man letting his hair and beard grow and inventing his own chants and yoga. He even adopted the voice of his Indian grandmother. This is not a satire or ridicule of people who look for answers about how to live their lives, though there are some people shown who are easy targets. It is instead one man’s attempt to validate and share his own sense that the real guru is the one inside us.

Loving Walter – 1983 (2.9). Stephen Frears directed Ian McKellan in two British TV dramas about a man with a mental developmental handicap making him incapable of living totally independent but who functioned well enough to hold a menial job and to relate well to other people. The first movie covered his teenage transition from living with his parents to being sent to an institution. The second took up 20 years later as he embarked on a time free of the institution living in a relationship with a woman. Using real settings and developmental patients, the movie has a semi-documentary feel. Realistically disturbing, the movies called attention to the need for reforms in rendering assistance and treatment to people with such conditions. The first film was called “Walter” and the second “Walter and June”. Combined on a 20th year anniversary DVD as “Loving Walter”, the disk also includes interviews with the writer, director and Sir Ian. [From memory, perhaps faulty, I had rated this movie as a did not like, but on this current viewing (2013), I have rated it much higher].

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold – 2011 (2.8). Morgan Spurlock of Super-Size Me fame is at it again in this fun documentary. He decides to make a movie solely with corporate funding in return for product placement in the film, and the movie in fact is about the effort to get the funding and make the movie to the satisfaction of the funders. The idea seems to be too oddball and Spurlock is continually rejected at first. But after getting advice from several people in the film and marketing business, he gets his first contributor and then carries on with growing confidence. A branding expert shown in the film says Spurlock is a balance of playful and mindful. This movie is definitely playful. It is mindful to the extent it makes us aware of the extent of product marketing through movies and raises the question of commercialism in art. Indeed it raises the bigger question of the proper role of advertising. But in spite of all the experts consulted, we never get much help in deciding whether product placement is good or bad.

My Dog: An Unconditional Love Story – 2010 (2.8). Short and simple, this documentary shows some famous New Yorkers interrelating with their dogs and talking about the benefits of dogs in general and their dogs in particular. If you like dogs, you will like the movie. If you are not a dog person but like loving relationships, you should like the movie and you might get tempted to get a dog, perhaps even to rescue one. If you have major problems with what happens to dogs when they get old and sick, then you probably should not get a dog and you may not want to watch this movie.

They Came To Play – 2008 (2.8). Amateur pianists over age 35 are invited to compete in an international competition hosted by the Van Cliburn Foundation in Texas, and this documentary follows many of them as they prepare themselves and tell their stories of being drawn to the piano as very young children and always having a passion for it, though many had to put their playing on hold while they completed their education and started their careers. Some had formal training and some are self-taught, but all are intent on performing their best. Maybe the movie tries to cover too many competitors, though they are all interesting people. It would have been nice to see more of the interaction between the various contestants.

Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America – 2006 (2.8). The History Channel produced this miniseries of ten documentaries by independent filmmakers. The days chosen were not rated or considered the most noteworthy; in fact they were actually days on which events happened that are not well remembered or the significance of which is not always fully appreciated. In chronological order, the days documented are: the colonists slaughtering the Pequot Indians in 1637, Shays Rebellion showing the inadequacy of the Articles of Confederation in 1787, the discovery of gold in California in 1848, the Civil War Battle of Antietam in 1862, Andrew Carnegie and the Pinkertons breaking the Homestead Steel strike in 1892, the McKinley Assasination and succession of Teddy Roosevelt to the Presidency in 1901, the Scopes trial over teaching evolution in public schools in 1925, Einstein’s letter urging FDR to authorize development of the atomic bomb in 1939, Elvis on the Ed Sullivan show as part of the changes in the younger generation in 1956, and the murder of the three civil rights workers in Mississippi in 1964. The movies use a variety of techniques including animation, reenactment, archival photographs and film footage and interviews of historians. Shays, using animation was the least interesting, while the Gold Rush, Antietam and Scopes trial offered the least new material to me. The two newest ones were of interest to me because I remember them happening. The Pequots massacre, Homestead Strike, McKinley Assassination and Einstein letter films offered lots of new information for me.

One Day on Earth – 2012 (2.7). Edited from over 3000 hours of footage claimed to be from every country in the world, this documentary provides glimpses of life filmed by locals and submitted to the compilers (onedayonearth.org), all taken on 10-10-10 (October 10, 2010). The pace of the movie is too frenetic at first but then slows down somewhat for later portions. There is some attempt to organize the presentation by topics such as marriage and music, contrasting diversity while also showing universality. While ambitious and encompassing, better organization and pacing would have made it more digestible, though the sheer volume of material must have been an enormous challenge. Nevertheless, seeing the variety of activity by our diverse fellow humans on the same day is an interesting experience.

Cinematographer Style – 2006 (2.7). This documentary of interviews with cinematographers should have been more interesting than it was. Part of the problem is the sheer number of people interviewed; over 110 were interviewed and portions of their comments edited into the movie. The interviews start with biographical background on everyone, then proceed into the development of their careers and working relationships with other film people and some of their techniques and philosophy of their art and craft. Notably missing are any clips from movies; this whole documentary is images of the cinematographers being interviewed. A better movie on this same subject, which did include illustrative film clips, is Visions of Light from 1992.

25^th Hour – 2002 (2.7). The first feature filmed in NYC after 9/11, this Spike Lee movie tells about the last 24 hours of freedom for a minor drug dealer due to start a seven year prison term in the morning. He uses the time to say his farewells to his girlfriend, two best buddies and his father, and to examine how he got into this trouble and who ratted on him. More character study than drama, with some subtle stylistic touches by Lee, the movie seems a little slow moving and longer than needed, and the story never seems to make any particular point, unless it is that we all make mistakes in life and when they catch up to us we have to decide whether to pay the price or run for cover.

Anna Karenina – 2012 (2.6). The choice to encase this movie version of the Tolstoy classic in the stylized setting of theater is quite disturbing at first, adding further distraction to figuring out who is who as the script jaunts along apparently assuming we are all familiar with the characters from having read the novel. By the time those of us who are classically challenged have figured out how everyone fits together and have become less put off by the stylistic nature of the production, the movie is half over, and those of us who stuck around to the end got somewhat of an idea of what the book is about, love in its various manifestations, including the doomed passionate love of Anna.

The Chess Players – 1977 (2.2). Satyajit Ray made many wonderful movies about India, but this is not one of the better ones. Set in 1856, it is an allegory about the British takeover of one of the last kingdoms in northern India. Two nobles play chess all day while ignoring their wives and the political developments. Meanwhile the British, who have previously coopted the King, decide it is now time to push him to abdicate. The British tactics and strategy are like the chess games – bloodless war. Sometimes bordering on slapstick, and then verging to cultural songs and poetry, the film seems a bit uneven; and the noble class involved in the movie are not as appealing characters as the more ordinary people of the best Ray movies.

Life of Pi – 2012 (2.0). I did not like this movie. I am not interested in spending time on supposed allegories about the existence of God, so I doubt I would ever read the book either. Computer generated special effects do not fascinate me or make a movie a must see for me, but I did watch the special feature on the DVD about how the effects were created. I did not see this movie in 3D and doubt that would make it a more appealing film for me. Fantasy movies can be fun adventures but I found this one to be tedious. The only part of the film that was passable was the time spent on the ground back in India, where I wish the whole movie had taken place – preferably with a better story.

The Magnificent Ambersons – 1942 (DNF).  In this second movie by Orson Welles, he used many of the techniques he embraced in Citizen Kane, such as low key lighting, long tracking shots and camera angles revealing the ceilings. Based on the Pulitzer winning novel about the new automobile industrialists displacing the old Midwest aristocracy, the script comes across more like a radio show than a film, with copious narration and dialogue. A subject that should have been interesting never got my attention and it wasn’t long before I was asleep. Welles was not allowed to finish the film the way he wanted, and neither was I; being awake would have been preferable. The picture is as old as me and this was my first try at watching it and will likely be my only one.