Category: Film

Posted on

First ObamaFlick Scores

If American Factory is any indication of Barack & Michelle’s talent for choosing great content, then they could have their own Network.

This first choice is a documentary about a Chinese glass company that takes over a moth-balled auto factory in Dayton, Ohio. The stories of both Americans who want to welcome the company for its jobs and the Chinese management and workers who come with it is astoundingly intimate. Access is based on trust of the local filmmakers through the ups and downs of a foreign entity taking over a community workplace.

A willingness to bond with each other’s cultures turns to a clash. Resolution is never complete nor easy. This is a must-see brilliant view of life in middle America and working-class China. Global realities. Bravo.

Posted on

Qué Será Será

Mom’s favorite song. Dad’s favorite actress. Bye Doris Day.

Over at the Red Keep things got pretty hot. Cersei & Jaime together forever. The witch was right. Only 3 children. And. My sources tell me that the pale horse Arya rode off on is Death. Theories blown.

Sansa did marry a Jonas brother. So. She & Tyrion will likely rule. After the women fight it out. Dany v. Sansa v. Greyjoy Sister. Last Game of Thrones next Sunday. Gonna miss it. Whatever will be. Will be.

Will not miss VEEP. Bye Felicia.

Posted on

Mamas & Dragons

Blustery day for moms. Glad we celebrated on a gorgeous uncrowded Saturday. Any time with mAdBen is a perfect day.

Amy Poehler’s Wine Country movie. Ten minutes in. Unwatchable. Emma Thompson on SNL. Watchable. Keenan Thompson. Neither.

Memo to Kamala and other candidates. Ban these phrases:
We are better than this
This is not who we are

GOT theory expressed by our waiter. The dragons’ real mama is still out there. And. Tyrion is a Targaryen. That could be interesting.

Posted on

Queens Rule

Queens ruled at the Oscars of 2019. Bohemian Rhapsody. Rami Malek walked like an Egyptian. Olivia Coleman in The Favourite. Adam Lambert my favorite of all Queens. Mad World. Lady Gaga reigned supreme.

Angela Bassett wins best everything in her stunning pink gown. Stupidest dress Kacey Musgraves’ pink mess. So yes. Another year. Another show.

Posted on

Like Water for Roma

Roma should have been called Agua. Rain water. Hose water. Drain water. Water dripping from laundry. From awnings. Standing water. Muddy water. Swamp water. Tea water. Sea water. Water breaking. Okay. We get it. Water is the metaphor. For what? Life? Men running through women’s lives and leaving them alone?

The movie did achieve an intimate portrayal. Exquisite filmmaking. Beautiful period art piece. It will probably earn an Oscar for Cuarón.

Posted on

Psychic Picnic

Memorial Day Weekend is traditionally the gateway to summer. Picnics, cookouts, barbecues. In search of a psychic picnic, Amazon’s mini-series The Picnic at Hanging Rock kept us up late and bleary-eyed. Based on a 50-year old book by Joan Lindsay, it’s set in a remote Australian mansion turned girls’ boarding school with a sociopath headmistress played by GOT’s Margery aka Natalie Dormer. On Valentine’s Day 1900 the girls go on a picnic to Hanging Rock. Clocks stop. Never sure why. Stray plot strands abound.

The picnic ends up with 2 girls and a teacher disappearing into thin air. Never found. Through a pink cloud? What this wasn’t was a rich story. More a titillating soft-porn Victorian lesbian-like but not thing. Need a real picnic in the fresh air to dispel this stale still-life.

Posted on

And the Winner Is …

for taste, class, fashion… Eiza González
for poise and acuity at 93… Eva Marie Saint
for stellar longevity… Rita Moreno
for calm under pressure… Ryan Seacrest
for graciousness and talent… Allison Janney
for my favorite absentee… James Franco
for tenor and tone… Guillermo del Toro
for immortal beauty… Jane Fonda
for redemption… Warren & Faye
for younger choices next year…

Posted on

Clown Alert!

The new horror movie IT is tapping into people’s deepest fears. With all-clown screenings being planned. Terrifying. Chilling. Creepy. Dangerous. Sinister.

Since Trump. Coulrophobia has become rampant.

Posted on

Eclipped

Solar Eclipse 2017. Truncated at 70% in NYC. It was basically a sunny turned gray day non-event. But lots of people were wearing weird glasses in Central Park.

Movie filmed on our block on election day last November. Just released. Not doing so good. The Only Living Boy in New York. Callum Turner. Cynthia Nixon. Probably left on the cutting room floor.

Meanwhile, we are saved! Mike Bloomberg is assuming the helm. Snatching the tiller from Hillary & Co.

Posted on

Gold is the New Black

Oscars 2017 ended in a shocking screw-up. Timberlake set an upbeat tone. Jimmy Kimmel hit perfect balance of topical and funny. Gold to Black in a big way. Ali. O.J. Academy Prez. Viola. Legend. Moonlight. Screenplay. Gay, too. Woo hoo.

White on rice. Ah. The irony. Meryl Streep the victim of “fake news”. Charlize Theron wins couture class. Emma Stone in Givenchy. Then. Best Picture. Not crazy. Faye said La La. What? Not. Moonlight. What? Accountant tweeting error. Yup. The new abnormal.