gregorybmowery Reviews

Billy & Molly: An Otter Love Story (2024)

The Unlikely Story of a Man Who Fathers a Wild Otter in the Lower Half of the Arctic.

[10/10 · 8 May 2024]

BILLY & MOLLY is an enthralling documentary about the unlike relationship between a retired older man who is living in retirement the lower half of the Arctic of the Shetland Islands, who is out in his boat one day and comes across a young orphaned river otter. Within days, Billy finds the hungry, out-of-her depth river otter who is out of her depth in the larger Shetland Islands and the rough sea water nearby. He begins to feed her and a bond ensues. Narrated by Billy & his wife, we see the Molly as she comes of age and learn to depend on Billy. Molly has tapped into a source of profound emotional attachment for this enchanting creature. He eventually builds Molly a house. Then one day, a male Otter comes calling and Molly disappears. Somewhat dismayed Billy learns to accept her disappearance, until one day she returns and in need of some fatherly support. There is never a false step in this emotionally involving documentary, which shows three distinct species interacting, all of them emotionally stirring. Molly is a compellingly sweet-natured creature, playful, charming, and Billy becomes the father he never quite managed to be in life. This is story shows how we connect deeply with the creatures that we encounter in life. Molly is pure joy and you can see the profound affect she has on Billy's life. But Billy's generosity is compelling, as is his wife's. You will not soon forget this lovely film. Kudos to National Geographic and their partners for creating something so pure and and heart-expanding.

The Idea of You (2024)

Good Chemistry Cannot Save this Slow-Moving May-December Rom-Com

[5/10 · 6 May 2024]

I love a good rom-com movie and Anne Hathaway has been a really lovely star in several. But this May-Dec rom-com is not sustainable and is a bit slow-moving. THE IDEA OF YOU should have been better than it is. She has excellent chemistry with her her co-star, Nicholas Galitzine, but I had trouble relating to their issues. Lots of reviews here disagree, but where is the terrific and comic supporting cast that keeps us entertained while the lovers ineptly find their way to a happy ending. A good rom-com has comic elements with the supporting players that give the film interest. Having the lovers part quickly because of social media is just absurd. Then the happy ending five years later when she's 45 and he's 29 isn't believeable. But that's the movies for you. I hear it's based on a book. I haven't read it.

The Good Fight (2017–2022)

Perfectly Captures the Insanity of the Trump Years

[8/10 · 9 January 2023]

I'm kinda appalled that people are so up in arms over the political tone of this show. Lawyers represent for the most part both sides of the political spectrum in this country and since Trump came to the White House and left it in predictable disgrace, THE GOOD FIGHT perfectly showcases the highs and lows of both sides (well, admittedly, Republicans are in for a shellacking on this series). The writing, acting and direction of THE GOOD FIGHT is outstanding. The cast is perfect. Christine Baranksi is a cool center presence, which leaves Delroy Lindo and the radiant Audra McDonald to make sure the plots keep churning at a level that keeps the viewer watching. Cush Jumbo, Sarah Steele, Nyambi Nyambi are the kids in the series with their own compelling storylines. The absurdities of the judicial system often mirror a 20-car freeway pile-up. Every once in a while you get the feeling that the wheels of the bus are coming undone, but the show always puts its characters at the service of good writing, which brings the stories to a fresh and often strangely satisfying conclusion. Or they spin off into a paranoid direction that is not out of place in our crazy world. I loved The Good Wife, and this intriguing spinoff like its predecessor never disappoints.

Beauty and the Beast: A 30th Celebration (2022 TV Special)

Bloated and Under-Sung 30th Anniversary Edition is Disappointing

[3/10 · 16 December 2022]

I loved the animated BEAUTY AND THE BEAST 30 years ago, so I was looking forward to seeing this anniversary tribute. Sadly it was an over-produced and stuffed with performers who were not up to film and staged versions of this classic. The show had energy and point whenever Rita Moreno (the charming host), and Josh Groban (as the Beast) were around for the live, sung numbers. They were interspersed with the original animated film. H. E. R was a vocally wan Belle. Shania Twain as Mrs. Potts was the worst vocal casting as Mrs. Potts with nothing to compare to the transcendent Angela Lansbury in the film. Already well into her late 60s, Lansbury imbued the character with warmth and sang this character part with theatrical flair. Ms. Twain sounded mature and not in a good way. She's not known as an actress and it showed. Vocal energy arrived with the casting of Josh Groban as the Beast, and he was wonderful. H. E. R is probably a fine R&B artist vocally, but out of her depth in a musical. Martin Short as Lumiere and David Alan Grier as Cogsworth, showed theatrical flair. "Be Our Guest" is meant to be a showstopper, and it is a highlight of the original film. Here it was amplified so far beyond its charm as to be annoying. Simply put, this was an over-produced mess. No doubt, mine will be a minority opinion. But this is a rare instance of Disney throwing a fortune at a beloved animated movie classic. I just wish it had been better cast and produced with a little more restraint.

He's Just Not That Into You (2009)

A Mean Little Movie

[3/10 · 27 July 2022]

I hope the author of the self-help book that launched this dumb movie made enough money to retire forever. Here is an attractive cast wasted in this witless and insulting-to-women film. Here's a bunch of guys who won't commit, can't make up their minds, and are focused more on avoiding women than exploring the possibility of a) a relationship, or b) once they are in a relationship, their eyes are wandering. It just seems to be a little lopsided. No wonder women are angry.

Escape to the Chateau (2016–2022)

A Fantastic Story of a Dream Home and A Resourceful Couple Who Did It

[10/10 · 6 January 2022]

Honestly, some of the reviews for this stupendous reality series, seem not only surly, but jealous too. British couple, Dick and Angel Strawbridge have been looking for a French B&B to restore in France. Dick is an a retired engineer. Angel is a designer. When they hear of a French chateau near Nantes, they eagerly decide to see it. Their first view of the decrepid chateau is pure love at first sight. They determine to buy and restore it and create a series of businesses to support the high cost of maintaining an enormous house. Dick Strawbridge was in the British military. He's a an engineer, which comes in very handy in the restoration of a neglected chateau that hadn't been inhabited in more than forty years. The property is on twelve acres, includes nine outbuildings. There is no modern. The slate roof, with a hair-raisingly steep pitch, needs repairing. Dick, who has found a new career as a producer and presenter of reality TV programming has to go to work in-between restoration projects. The couple plan to create a wedding site/catering/hotel business. While Dick concentrates on modernizing the skeleton of the chateau and reviving the gardens and outhouses, Angel works on the interiors. She has a delightfully original and whimsical nature, creating rooms that are original, enchanting the eye, while creating plush comfort. Mindful of the chateau's history, she adds special touches that make viewers, visitors and family smile. The Strawbridges are an ambiable, resourceful and loving couple who have taken on an insanely ambitious program. Uniting their enormous talents and capacity for hard work, ESCAPE TO THE CHATEAU is highly entertaining television.

I somehow missed seeing this series when it originally aired on PBS in the United States. I found the first two seasons in reruns, but was frustrated that there were more shows that I couldn't find. Then my sister-in-law told me the entire series and then a DIY spinoff were being offered on the Peacock streaming service and I'm nearly finished. If you like really good home-oriented reality TV series, ESCAPE TO THE CHATEAU should very well be your cup of tea.

Room for One More (1952)

The Best of Cary Grants Late 40s to Mid-50s Films

[8/10 · 8 December 2021]

When Cary Grant made ROOM FOR ONE MORE, he was 48 and in a kind of film funk. The 40s saw him hit a peak of stardom and made him a legend. But by the early 50s, he was in a career funk that would end in 1955 when he re-teamed with Alfred Hitchcock in TO CATCH A THIEF. But that doesn't mean ROOM FOR ONE MORE should be ignored. It's quite a nice film. Grant stars as the father of three children, married to Betsy Drake, his real life third wife. It is she who is wanting to add two more children to her family, and the movie is about how these two troubled kids are blended into their family. Some reviews here have suggested that Cary Grant looks uncomfortable in his role and I say that it is impossible. Grant is effortlessly charming as a father who deeply loves his children and his wife and he is his usually effortless self here. He is far more demonstrative than Betsy Blake is, but they are a good team. He often has the best comic moments and makes the most of them. The thing is, Cary Grant always delivers. He has been a big star for all of my life, and even if I have seen some of his less popular films five or six times, there's always something new to discover about his work as an actor. I hadn't seen ROOM FOR ONE MORE and I'm glad I've finally had the chance.

Coming Out Colton (2021)

An Important Series About a Famous Athlete Coming Out

[8/10 · 5 December 2021]

I only know about Colton Underwood as a handsome pro-athlete who was on The Batchelor. Now this five-part series is about his often painful and protracted time coming out as a gay man. That's a good thing because the often homophobic world of professional sports needs to come to terms with it's closeted gay members, and stop the mindless name-calling, and locker room talk that made and continue to make other gay athletes cringe. There is a level of self-involvement that makes me want to say, "Oh come on, Colton. It's not all about you." When he goes to his school to tell his beloved football coach that the kind of locker room jargon that he allowed to happen made him, made him sad. But he left it there. He should have said, there are young men coming out that he will have to coach, and he hoped that from their conversation, he would be sensitive enough to discourage this ind of behavior. It might have been less awkward for the coach to hear and respond to. Colton is often uncomfortable.

Contagion (2011)

A Strange Viewing Experience During a Real-Life Pandemic

[9/10 · 2 August 2021]

Perhaps it's not the right time to view this riveting film. Soderberg directed this film a decade ago, but some aspects of it seem as real as the Coronavirus Pandemic that began in American in February 2020 and is still going strong due to the unvaccinated being the most vulnerable to a powerful variant that threatens us for at least another year. A big cast of A-list actors, some who die in the first few minutes of the film, make it even more compelling. The cast is excellent. The screenplay is avoid stagey drama and lets the horror of the unfolding story speak for itself. Always one of my very favorite directors, Soderberg anticipates the current Coronavirus by more than a decade. The CDC is exposed as a government organization not above playing politics. Here we see people behaving heroically, and hysterically. This is a film that need to be seen. You won't forget the experience.

Collateral Beauty (2016)

A Beautifully Cathartic Film

[9/10 · 2 June 2021]

I didn't know they made movies like this before. And how good of Will Smith to appear leading a superb cast in this sad, life-affirming film. Smith leads a phenomenal cast in a story of a man who is completely lost following the death of his young daughter. Will Smith has been in so many commercial successes that he's more than earned the right to do something like COLLATERAL BEAUTY. And look at the cast that was drawn to the film--Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, Kiera Knightly, the astonishing Helen Mirren, Michael Pena, Naomie Harris, Jacob Lattimore are all wonderful. The film is confidently under the guidance of director David Frankel (Band of Brothers, The Devil Wears Prada). Allen Loeb's script avoids the pitfall of bathos with wit and a deep humanity. It's especially cathartic during this long Pandemic, which we can all use a good cry and not feel embarrassed by it.

Travels with My Aunt (1972)

MAGGIE SMITH'S GREAT TALENTS WASTED ON A BLOATED OVER-DRAWN MOVIE

[4/10 · 11 May 2021]

I first saw TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT when I was 22. Maggie Smith had already conquered me with THE VIPS, and THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODY. But this absurd film is so filled with stuff and nonsense that not even the great Maggie could disguise its problems. Seeing it nearly 50 years, I found it full of all the excesses that I hate in George Cukor films, or least bad George Cukor films. This is a lavish production with a fine cast who give their all. Thank goodness Maggie would go on to make lots and lots more finer films. This is a curiosity from my youth that was probably best left unexplored.

Ryan & Tatum: The O'Neals (2011)

Surprisingly Touching Story of a Father and Daughter Trying to Fix their Relationship

[8/10 · 17 April 2021]

Ryan O'Neal was a big star when I was a teenager and young man. But I didn't think he was a good actor save for WHAT'S UP DOC?--an ensemble comedy, and PAPER MOON, co-starring his daughter, Tatum O'Neal, both directed by Peter Bogdanovich. PAPER MOON made Tatum, who was about ten years old at the time, a big star. As a result of her startling good performance, she became the youngest actor to ever win an Academy Award in competition as best supporting actor. She had a hit and miss career, but she grew into adulthood with many problems, plus a marriage to tennis pro, John McEnroe. Eventually, her marriage, career and life unravelled because of her excessive dependence on drugs and alcohol. Her mother, Joanna Moore, a once promising actress, suffered a long slide into drugs and alcohol abuse, and with accompanying health problems, to die of cancer with her daughter at her side. Her son, Griffin O'Neal, would also experience years of drug and alcohol abuse and troubles with the law. RYAN & TATUM: The O'Neals, is a multi-part series that charts the long road to acceptance and forgiveness between a father and daughter.

At the beginning of the series, Tatum O'Neal is trying desperately to fix her life, and find a way back to her father after a twenty-five year estrangement from her famous father. Her relationship with her father is extremely complicated. Ryan O'Neal took custody of Tatum and Griffin when their mother was in no shape to raise them. Father and daughter became inseparable pals, and then stardom hit Tatum at age eight with PAPER MOON. Now famous, she continued to be the apple of her father's eye until he met Farrah Fawcett, who became the love of his life. Abandoning his children, O'Neal moved in with Farrah, which put additional stress on a family in free-fall. As Tatum entered the peak of her teenage years, drugs and alcohol, and the fast life of a famous actress took over. She married tennis superstar, John McEnroe, together they had two sons and a daughter.

Again, alcohol and drugs scuttled her marriage to McEnroe and led to a lolng custody battle between Tatum and McEnroe. She lost legal custody of her children, and then a few years later published, a memoir (A PAPER LIFE, 2004), in which she details her long slide and particularly the pain abandonment of her dad, who was a hero in her eyes, to another woman.

Tatum is a bundle of pain, neurosis, fragile, full of tears, and angry at her father's neglect when the series starts. Ryan, his career as a leading man is long gone. He's also suffering from various cancers. He living in his house in Malibu mostly alone. He also hasn't seen his son, Griffin, in a number of years. He an angry father, feeling betrayed by both kids, especially Tatum. Tatum has written a new volume, of her memoirs. So when we see them, there is an angry father who is scared to death that his daughter has written more unflattering things about him. Yet Ryan seems to want to find a way back to his daughter, and she has provided the vehicle for reconciliation by asking him to go into therapy .

The series is often painful to watch. Ryan is staggeringly clueless at times. At one point he dismisses his daughter feelings of betrayal. He's the movie star here. He's used to being the blameless golden boy, though he rarely stops his charming banter to consider that he's so disconnected from his feelings to consider the damage he is causing. He never lets anyone forget that Farrah was the love of his life and he has no remorse about abandoning his children to co-habit with her. Fawcett doesn't seem to be the villain here. Ryan always seem to think that it was okay to dump his kids because he's be right back to them. It never happened. So they are angry, deeply wounded, and self-destructive in the process. A movie star for his entire life, Ryan seems to think he's the victim here. You can see his occasional feelings of remorse, but it is fleeting and it doesn't seem to be genuine enough. That doesn't stop Tatum for exacting pain on her father, and he deserves most of the lashings she serves him. But she genuinely wants to reconnect. Her sobriety has been hard-earned. It's much more difficult for Ryan to forgive his daughter. He's got a temper and an insistence on being obeyed and it backfires on him all the time. This series shows this tug of war between father and daughter, and it's touching to see them as they slowly break through their walls of pain and disappointment, and his overweening ego to arrive at a place of acceptance. I liked this series. And I hope they are doing well.

Honeymoon Hotel (1964)

Empty-Headed Sex Comedy From the 60s

[2/10 · 11 January 2021]

Honeymoon Hotel came on my TCM channel today via Hulu. I was answering email when I looked up. My jaw dropped. The apartment swinging bachelors, Robert Goulet and Robert Morse, are sharing is the exact same set used in an MGM movie a few years earlier: Sunday in New York (a far better film). The efficiency kitchen is a step-down from the living room, and the spiral stair case leading to the bedroom. Check. There's even a brief moment with a look inside the living room closet where Jane Fonda hung her mother's bathrobe to ward off amorous suitors. Only a year separates the two films. I purposely went to the "Did You Know?" section of Honeymoon Hotel page to see if anyone else noticed, and indeed they have. Only one year separates these two movies--Sunday in New was released in 1963. MGM must have really felt a budget crunch by then.

Anyway, this film just gets more tired and predictable as it goes along. Poor Robert Goulet--this was his film debut. Robert Morse had already made one prior film to this. I'll bet both wish they hadn't landed in this picture. I love Jill St. John. She's gorgeous, and can play the dumb redhead in her sleep. (she has a fantastically high IQ). But this movie doesn't ask anything more than to wear tight dresses and act like a really dumb readhead. The wink-wink gay subtext is offensively applied with a trowel here.

Every Girl Should Be Married (1948)

Doesn't Compare to Grant's Best Romantic Movies

[2/10 · 11 January 2021]

In this Pandemic, I've watched move old moves (some that I've seen many, many times), but today was the first time I've ever seen Every Girl Should be Married. Many of the reviews here castigate the few who think it is a dated and silly movie. Yes the late 40s was a different era, but no wonder Cary Grant suffered a slump as the 50s dawned. With the exception of 1949's I Was A Male War Bride, six of those seven movies were a creative lull for him. Some of them probably even made some money, but they lacked the quality of his best-known films. The master of romantic suspense (Notorious, Charade, etc.) as well as romantic comedies (My Favorite Wife, The Philadelphia Story, That Touch of Mink), Grant solidified his legendary status as a major movie star for over three decades. Every Girl Should Be Married is beneath his talents. He's surrounded by a good cast. Betsy Drake doesn't betray her lack of experience but she is asked to play a stalker here and it's pretty creepy. Diana Lynn rounds out the stars and does a good job of pointing out that her best friend is out of her mind, yet still enables her. I don't have an issue with trapping a man into marriage as a plot device from the late 50s. But this one will not do.

6 Underground (2019)

Maybe the Dumbest Action Move Ever

[1/10 · 15 December 2019]

Ryan Reynold is a gorgeous male movie star with some flair for comedy. Deadpool and The Body Guard's Hitman were wonderful showcases for his talent, effortlessly combining mindless violence and smart-alecky diaglogue into nearly flawless box-office popcorn. So here comes witless, Micael Bay loaded with his thirteen-year-old sensibility for narrative that makes no sense, and an alarming propensity for sustained violence, that translates into whole cities being blown up and what has he done? Reynolds here is a screaming $billionaire out to set the world to right again who is also on the verge of a nervous breakdown in this ridiculous, non-stop action movie. Six attractive, ripped, and psychologically damaged people go on a revenge rampage to bring down a deranged dictator of a fictions Middle Eastern country (how original). The absurdities pile up as the film opens with an insanely wild car chase through Florence, Italy. Like the Italians would tolerate anyone driving for twenty minutes in the historic center of their city smashing up cultural monuments, and littering their city with the bodies of dead would-be assassins and the mangled body parts of a year's assemblyline of cars. And this stupid, witless, unfunny, and noisy scene goes on for twenty minutes. It's all downhill afterwards. Granted this is not my genre, but I've seen plenty of action movies with more originality, creativity, and sheerly good storyline than this awful mess. Even a third-promised sequel to Deadpool will be better than this.

S.O.B. (1981)

BLAKE EDWARDS TURNS THE TABLES ON THE MOVIE FOLK HE MADE $MILLIONS FOR

[9/10 · 4 November 2019]

It's pretty impossible to resist Blakes Edwards films. I've been in love with his work since BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. And his career was chock-full of wonderful films that showed his range and his immaculate command whether in comedy (THE PINK PANTHER and VICTOR/VICORIA) or drama (DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES). But it is the comedies we remember most because they made us laugh. THE PINK PANTHER franchise was beloved. He also directed 10, which made both Dudley Moore and Bo Derek major stars of their era. And he continued to to develop, write and direct films. Some of them were hits and some were rather embarrassing flops that were very good films (I'm thinking of DARLING LILI). Edwards concocted this brilliant film, which is one of the best send-ups of Hollywood ever. The story of a successful director who finally delivers an expensive flop to his studio, is a way of life in Hollywood. Few actors and director are ever able to string together more than three hits in a row. All careers in Hollywood goes through their ups an downs. DARLING LILI had been a massive failure for both Blake Edwards and his wife, Julie Andrews. After that film, both Edwards and Andrews were keeping very low profiles because the studios had moved on. But with S.O.B. Edwards not only produced one of the best Hollywood satires of all time, but he did so brilliantly. He assembled one of the finest casts of any film of any era. Julie Andrews, William Holden, Robert Preston, Robert Webber, Richard Mulligan, Robert Loggia, Shelly Winters, Robert Vaughan, Loretta Swit, Larry Hagman, Craig Stevens, Marisa Berenson, and Rosanna Arquette (at the beginning of her career). I'm not going to give away any plot details here. The satire is hilarious, and shows you how egos clash and go to war in a creative field like the movies. Edwards gleefully skewers these awful personalities and the casting of this wonderful ensemble pays huge dividends. This was Holden's last film, and as the only one in this insane group of grasping characters, he is the soul of a great guy who you want on your side, no matter what. Robert Preston, who plays the doctor with the right combination of drugs for every situation is hilarious. Robert Loggia and Robert Webber were equally adept at playing heavies and fools. Shelly Winters, playing a Sue Mengers-type agent, is pitch perfect. Robert Mulligan has always been able to play crazy, but Edwards has given him the role of a lifetime as the wronged director and he rises to its craziness with drugged-induced insanity that makes you laugh over and over again. Some here think that he was over the top. Yes he was, but it works. Julie Andrews is terrific as the movie star wife, trapped in her goody-two-shoe roles. When their latest film flops, her husband finally comes out of his drug-induced stupor with the idea of recutting it into an X-rated adult film, upping the crazy even more. Andrews knew this character perfectly, and delivers it superbly. Loretta Switt is hilarious as the obnoxious, accident-prone Hollywood gossip columnist. The ensemble here is whip-sharp and Edward's commanding direction sets them all off to dazzling effect. S.O.B. is laugh-out funny a lot of the time and shows us a master auteur at the top of his game. There would be a number of collaborations between Edwards and Andrews over two decades. This is one of their very best.

A Very English Scandal (2018)

Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw Shine in British Mini-Series About a Scandal that Rocked British Political Circles in the 1960s

[9/10 · 29 June 2018]

The John Profumo scandal that brought down Harold MacMillan's Conservative party in the 60s, it was time for a Liberal Party Leader to launch an equally juicy tabloid-crazy trial nearly 20 years later. Jeremy Thorpe, one of the brightest lights of the Liberal party, was tried for conspiracy for hiring a team to kill a man with whom he had had a clandestine affair with, during the early 60s--years when "buggery" was considered a crime in England. Stephen Frears (Dangerous Liaisons, The Queen) is the stylish director of this three-part series which is headed by Hugh Grant and Ben Whishaw, as Thorpe and his lover, Norman Scott. The series is a heady brew of a political scandal, a troubled young man whose homosexuality was an affront to the era in general and of the upper British class represented by Thorpe, as well as the judge who presided over the trial.

I read previous reviews of this mini-series and I was appalled at the condescension handed to Hugh Grant. Perhaps it is because of his great success in the romantic comedy genre, which he has practically kept alive for the past 25 years. His mastery there shouldn't be in doubt--his outstanding work speaks for itself. But like many other fine British actors, Hugh Grant excelled in a wide variety of films. While Meryl Streep was over the top as Florence Foster Jenkins, Grant delivered a finely nuanced performance as her protective "husband", St. Clair Bayfield. All the way back to the beginning of his career, there was Maurice, which I think signaled the arrival of a really good film actor. He's hilarious as the neurasthenic Chopin in the little-seen Impromptu. He can be annoyingly reticent, as his Mr.Darcy proves in Sense & Sensibility. But his iis a singular talent that has lasted for decades. Grant brings an upper-class glamor to the part of Jeremy Thorpe, which the original didn't much possess. His power as a politician is to intimidate and Grant gives us this preening and arrogant man who abuses his power, and show that when he's thwarted, he can turn very dangerous. You believe he wants to eradicate all traces of his homosexual past. He is icy cold in his determination and refusal to buckle under the pressure he's facing. Now past his rom-com heyday, Grant is deepening his skills as a first-rate character actor, and this is good news because as a British actor, he will be given more and more parts to show us his superb capabilities.

Ben Whishaw is fantastic as Norman Scott, a young man who can't seem to figure out what to do with his life. But Scott is not the loser here. He gets his day in court and Whishaw really delivers. The rest of the cast is first-rate. There is a lot of dark humor here, and Frears finds it in a cracking script by Russel T Davies (Dr. Who, Torchwood, Queer as Folk) and John Preston, who wrote the book on which this series is based.

The court scenes are handled extremely well. Thorpe's lawyer decides not to put him on the stand, fearing he wouldn't come off very well. The judge who presided over the case was clearly against Norman Scott, whom he described as a "fraud, a sponger, a whiner and a parasite." Betraying his class affiliations in his outrageous summation, the judge concluded by saying, "but of course, he could still be telling the truth."

This is a winning mini-series that hold attention throughout. In a period when TV is easily outstripping anything you can see at the multiplex, A VERY ENGLISH SCANDAL holds it own.

The Fosters (2013–2018)

If These Were My Children I Would Run Away

[5/10 · 1 August 2017]

Don't get me wrong. This show is very entertaining, but it also crowded to insanity with way too much teenage angst into it's four seasons and that is also its weakness. A top-notch cast led by Terri Polo (Stef) and Sheri Saum (Lena) as lesbian parents of five kids--one of them, Brandon) is from Polo's earlier marriage before she came out and they have adopted two twin Latino kids, Mariana (Cierra Ramirez) and Jesus (Jake T. Austin and later Noah Centineo), who have been through the system of foster homes following the abandonment of their parents to drugs and other issues. The show opens just as they come to care for a sister, Callie (Maia Mitchell) and brother, Jude (Hayden Byerly) who have been in numerous foster homes and been rejected for adoption numerous times. Stef is a cop--competent, almost swaggering him her zeal to be right, while Lena is a teacher for a Charter school. The family lives in one of the most gorgeous Arts & Crafts houses in San Diego you've ever seen. There's no way in hell they could afford this and five kids. Stef and Lena try to instill parental control but it's a losing battle from the get-go as these kids do the dumbest things over and over again. They are in constant peril whether through the foster parenting system that sucks, assumes the kids are screwed up, and doesn't protect them to the constant shifting of their own personal stories. So Jude is gay and has all those attendant issues. Callie can't help her attraction to her older foster brother, Brandon, and the two of them nearly wreck their chances at a solid family life through the first two seasons. Mariana is an insecure, if smart and talented young lady, but she's also a bitch and a troublemaker and can't ever keep a secret, which leads to insane plot lines that cause the family no end of troubles. Jesus is sweet and sexy to the girls but dumb as a post. And if that isn't absurd enough consider:

Callie, whose mother died when she was fourteen has a rich father who never knew of her existence. He comes on the scene to imperil her adoption.

Mariana and Jesus have birth parents too, The mother is a neglectful drug addict and their father is a man who has been false accused of being a sexual offender by the twins' mother and her parents.

These young teens--ages 14 to 16 couple, split up, change partners, and do some really dumb stuff. Typical of teenagers, you say? If I were the parent of any of these kids, I'd like them up. They are a danger to them selves and need to be protected--FROM THEMSELVES. This kids experience it all--car accidents, confrontations with the police, show their lack of respect for anyone older than they are, and still the mothers here, though stressed out all the time by the antics of their kids, forgive them. Encourage them. Love them. And wait for the next wave of disasters that are sure to come.

I grew up a very sophisticated teenager with a lot of freedom from the age of 12. It was the 60s and I never managed to get into the kind of trouble these siblings are enforced to do by the writers of this show. Marianna is a particularly annoying, but oh, I said that earlier. This lady needs to be locked into her room, her phone taken away, and her outrageous send of entitlement frozen until she's at least 25. Callie can't take on too little causes to justify her need to fix kids lost of the foster system. Brandon needs to be kept away from needy girls. He cannot help but run to their rescue, often with disastrous results. Jesus is just a dumb teenager who never seems to have had a reflective moment in his life. That leaves Justin, the quietest of the quintet.

Everybody's ex's show up in this show and the end up living together. It's so weird. THE FOSTERS is good about exploring all subjects: teen pregnancy, gay sex, teen self absorption, the pathetic stage of the foster care system. We see a an attractive, committed lesbian couple taking care of their kids and believe me, these kids are not nearly grateful enough for the little that is asked of them. The show tackles very adult themes. And that's good for teenagers.

Strike a Pose (2016)

Madonna's Dancers Are Forced to Grow Up

[8/10 · 7 May 2017]

I'm actually shocked at the number of insensitive reviews of this excellent documentary about a group of talented, young dancers who got lucky enough to enter the surreal performing world of Madonna at the top of her stardom during her 1990 "Truth or Dare" tour, and what happened in ensuing twenty five years.

Seven young, attractive and blazingly talented dancers were plucked out of an audition process by Madonna and her team to support of her TRUTH OR DARE tour. Six are gay and mostly closeted to the outside world and have significant ballet and dance training. The seventh performer both straight and fro the hip-hop world. For many months these kids performed with the most famous pop singer in the world with audiences for each concert ranging from 20 to 80 thousand fans. It was a heady experience where they concentrated on supporting their their star and with all their needs being taken care of by the backstage tour personnel. Everything was first class. In this heady time, the dancers wore designer clothing, were photographed everywhere with Madonna. A bit older than her charges, she became their big sister, tour mother, their shining star. She took care of them, loved them, coddled them.

Arguably, the biggest star in the world at the time, Madonna was fearless in her pronouncements. At the height of the world-wide AIDS crisis, Madonna was outspoken in her support of friends who were dying, and in the process, insisted that those brave enough to come out were deserving of the world's respect and compassion. It was a naive assumption and it compelled her to out some of her dancers who were not emotionally ready to share that information. One of the dancers she publicly outed, died of AIDS. Once the tour was over, there was creeping reality that there lives would go back to being ordinary again, and some of the dancers sued her for breach of privacy. Hurt and angry, Madonna withdrew from them all completely.

At least two more members of the group contracted HIV and had to learn how to cope with their fear. The straight hip-hop kid headed straight for Las Vegas after the tour where he attached himself to the club scene, and drowned himself in booze for a long time. There was only one really successful member and that was Kevin Alexander Stea (so much for those who have written none of them were a success after the tour), who worked with Michael Jackson, Gloria Estefan, Prince and Beyonce, among others. Carlton Wilburn, another dancer, has had success as an actor and writer.

Here you have seven young dancers who got swept up in Madonna's orbit and then they were left to figure out the rest of their lives. Most of them were ill-equipped to make that transition. And that's both the inspiration and the heartbreak of this documentary. Madonna was generous in giving the filmmakers access to the music and images of the tour. But she is completely absent here and that's too bad. All the dancers professed to having no bitterness, or feelings that they're owed something from her and that's a good reality check. They were not exploited by having worked with her, except perhaps in her over-zealousness in outing some of them. All of them express a deep love, respect and gratefulness to Madonna for touching their lives.

Too many here are critical of the tears shed in this film, and are very dismissive of this team's emotional ties and that's too bad. They were naive kids, barely out of their teens, and not at all sophisticated to the dangers of the world out there. They were beautiful, and because they were dancers had beautiful bodies and were admired for their looks as well as their talent. This period in their lives could not have been an easy one to traverse without some emotional fallout.

I felt terrible for the man whose mother shares her disappointment that her son should have continued dancing with Madonna in order to buy her a house she always wanted. I'm surprised he's even speaking to her. How selfish. Her son is vulnerable and trying to carve out a life for himself. He admits to crippling self-doubt and it can't be easy to in the place he is now in--living in a room in his mother's apartment.

Yes the final reunion dinner seems a tad stagy--how could it not be? Six guys--a brilliant team--were getting together who had not seen each other in years. Their joy at being in each other's company is palpable. They get to share war stories from their youth, and measure their own sense of self-worth at this stage.

I was never a Madonna fan--I didn't dislike her--but her music didn't touch me and her outlandish PR machine seemed more silly. I also was put off by her failure to become a successful working actor, further distancing her from interesting me. But there is no question of her mark on the culture of her time. Some of the videos are still magical to watch. She was a massive star and it was virtually impossible to ignore her. For me, STRIKE A POSE, humanizes her in a way that was surprising. I hope her dancers from that tour stay in touch. They have a lot of emotional investment in each other. And they will always have the memories of that astonishing period in their lives to draw on.

Once Upon a Time (2011–2018)

The Fairy Tales Go on Way Too Long

[7/10 · 8 August 2016]

This often excellent show is consistently undermined by padded plotting with story lines that go on way too long. The Peter Pan story arch is a perfect example. Not only was it a mistake to rewrite Peter Pan as a villain but it also turned Captain Hook into a good guy. Then I sat through nearly a season of shows focusing on this rather uninteresting idea. Kudos to Ginnifer Goodwin's excellent Snow White and especially to Robert Carlyle's excellent magician, Gold. Lana's Parillla as Regina, the Evil Queen has evolved. She is the catalyst for all the misery this cast is put, through week after week. And just when you're ready to write her off as a joke, she keeps holding the small screen with increasing authority and less reliance on "diva" hauteur. Maybe it was better to watch this show one episode at a time per week. A friend, who has followed the series since it began to air, said the show sagged badly in the middle year. Once Upon a Time is now about to start its sixth or seventh season. I'll stick it out through season four and make up my mind if I want to keep after it for the rest of the series.

Rumor Has It... (2005)

Blame the Scrip and Direction, Not the Actors

[7/10 · 14 July 2016]

This is the second time I've seen this interesting and flawed movie. Its assets are a game and first-rate cast, all taking a fascinating premise and trying to run with it. The production is plush, with ritzy settings in Pasadena, San Francisco, etc. Everyone is groomed perfectly and dressed beautifully. And finally the premise itself should be its own best recommendation--a story that may have inspired the book and film version of THE GRADUATE, one of the most iconic films of the late 60s.

So here is the bad news. Rob Reiner's pacing is very sluggish and the script really never seems to recover from it's admittedly unique story. A good ensemble cast is left stranded with the lack of directorial and written purpose. This affects Jennifer Anniston the most. There is intelligence at work here as she tries very hard to make this character make sense. We're asked to believe that she's never fit in with her family and she's very nervous coming home for her sister's wedding with her fiancé (Mark Ruffalo). Her discomfort is a little vague. Then after a talk with her saucy grandmother (Shirley MacLaine) and a further conversation with her aunt (the woefully underused (Kathy Bates, acting a little dotty--probably wondering how she got herself into such a meaningless gig), and we're off to races as Anniston pursues the man who slept with both her mother (deceased) and grandmother (Kevin Costner) for answers. Okay, enough with the spoilers.

Anniston isn't at fault here. She's been dull in a slew of silly and flat movies. But there's always something about her I want to root for. And when the part is right (such as HORRIBLE BOSSES, or even CAKE), she more than rises to the occasion. I've read here that this is an extension of Rachel, her famous TV role in FRIENDS. But Rachel and this character are nothing alike, and I don't see how she is perceived like this. Anniston has a natural grace and authority on screen to go with her beauty, but she is definitely an actress that needs a strong script and equally strong directing and she doesn't get it here. Mark Ruffalo, a normally fine actor is also wasted here. This performer needs a script. He's never been interested in superficial roles, but he's stuck with one here. As for MacLaine, she all but steals the movie in her patented fashion. And you want to see more of her and what she can do.

I've also read snarky remarks about Kevin Costner--totally unjustified. After the high of DANCES WITH WOLVES and other hit movies, Kevin Costner has put together a body of work that refuses to knuckle under the avalanche of negativity he received over WATERWORLD. TIN CUP, OPEN RANGE, THE UPSIDE OF ANGER, MR. BROOKS, THE COMPANY MAN, HATFIELDS & McCOYS,, 3 DAYS TO KILL, BLACK OR WHITE, AND DRAFT DAY have showcased his ability to comfortably inhabit a wide variety of roles. It's what has made him a movie star for decades. He's excellent in this, another somewhat underwritten role. But playing an aging Lothario no matter how gracefully, is uncomfortable for some people. Still I'll add this to the many movies of his that I've enjoyed watching over and over again over the years.

We're not being offered many films like this anymore. The movie business is focused on blockbusters and the audience for adult themed films with good actors has dried up. Hopefully, smaller, character-driven films with stars will come around again when viewers grow weary of nothing but bloated films with 2,3 and 4 sequel numbers attached to their titles.

Republic of Doyle (2010–2014)

A Terrific PI Series with a Charismatic Lead

[8/10 · 16 April 2016]

Canadian actor, Allan Hawco, is a likable PI in this series that ran for six years and can now be seen on Netflix. In partnership with his father, Jake (Hawco) and Malachy Doyle (Sean McGinley) investigate murder, robbery, and other crimes in picturesque St. Johns, Newfoundland. The hour-long show has plenty of action, and lots of humor, a la The Rockford Files with Hawco a younger and studlier version of James Garner. This guy is catnip to women, and skirts the edge of the law to beat the bad guys at their own game. Lots of action, involving the Doyle clan, who are the ultimate crime-solving family. One character, however, consistently strikes a false note and that is Des, a kid who has become part of the family. He's a consistent idiot as a character, highly unfunny simply in the way. Otherwise, this show makes for wonderful binge watching.

Heartland (II) (2007– )

Great Horse Show Saddled with Predictable Characters and Strange Behavior

[4/10 · 5 April 2016]

HEARTLAND is apparently Canada's premier TV drama. And when the show, which is set on a ranch in Alberta, Canada, focuses on the difficulties running a modern horse ranch, it's a lot of fun to watch. Yet all too often we're treated to ridiculous and predictable story lines that are preposterous and make the characters shallow. Let's start out with Amy (the appealing Amber Marshall), the granddaughter of the patriarch, Jack Bartlett (Shaun Johnston). Amy is a young horse-whisperer, who is something of a local legend. But every time she sees her boyfriend, Ty (Graham Wardle), she's an emotional mess. These two miss each other's signals all the time. Her sister, Lou (Michelle Morgan) is even worse. When the series opens, Amy's older sister returns to her grandfather's ranch to attend their mother's funeral. Lou is a mess of insecurities which all-too-often, she disguises by acting superior. She bosses everyone in the family, and when she finally finds the guy she loves, she does the same thing to him. When she gives birth to their daughter, she becomes a total control freak. Lou is smart and very good at business, but suffers from intense guilt as a mother. Her husband is the soul of patience, and I'm amazed at how nasty she can be. Their dad, played by Chris Potter with all the charisma he can manage, is perhaps the most unappealing of the clan. A first class womanizer, this ego-maniac always puts his own needs ahead of his two daughters. When he finds out he's the father of a young boy, he suddenly acquires a conscience. His daughters need to kick his selfish ass out of the house.

Amy's boyfriend, Ty, first appears in the series as a troubled teenager, with a no-good father, a weak mother and a bully boyfriend. On parole, Ty is taken into the family where he quickly establishes himself as the resident good guy. His hard work, impresses Jack, and Amy is drawn to this emotionally fraught young man. Over and over again, the writers create absurd dramatic hoops for these two actors to hurl themselves through.

The Fleming/Bartlett clan are very generous. Mallory Wells, a young teenager, who lives with them, is the daughter of a father who is a traveling musician and a mother who chooses to spend her time with her husband. Why they don't seem to mind that they have abandoned their daughter is beyond me. Mallory is a classic whiner and a stunning bore. Later as Mallory looks to be fading from the show, another kid, with a troubled past comes to live on the ranch. Then there's Caleb Odell (Kerry James) a talented rodeo rider and good time boy, who often works at the ranch. He takes one look at Ashley, a stuck-up classmate of Amy's and falls in love. Ashley is in a constant war of wills with her controlling mother, Val. So of course, she falls in love with him. From country clubs and being an a-list member of the horsey set, where Ashley is a champion horse athlete, she moves into Caleb's trailer, where--surprise, surprise--they are constantly at each other's throats. Val never seems to get a real comeuppance over her obvious and mean- spririted meddling.

The scenery where this show is set is stunning. Rolling hills, vast fields of grazing land, mountains and drop-dead vistas constantly arrest the eye. And then there are the horses. Beautiful animals all, who do amazing things from racing to jumping to simply dancing. The writer seems to find more believable story lines for the horses than they do for the show's characters. Even Jack, the family patriarch who can find solutions to most situations, can't seem to get his romantic life sorted out.

Clearly I'm in the minority here. HEARTLAND has been on the air for nine seasons. I'm nearly at the end of the sixth season on Netflix. I like this series low-key story telling and it keeps me engaged when it stays away from soap opera and focuses on the animals and scenery.

For Grace (2015)

A Great Chef With a Stunning Ambition to be the Best in the World

[9/10 · 20 March 2016]

Curtis Duffy is the chef/co-owner of Chicago's Michelin three-starred restaurant, Grace. This is an engrossing profile of this handsome, quiet and purposeful chef. Duffy first attracted national attention working for the exacting Charlie Trotter, one of the first of Chicago's modern chefs who was at the forefront of explosive growth in America's third- largest city. Apparently working with Trotter was a brutal experience, and while he is low key about his time there, he was clearly unhappy. He left to work at Trio, where encountered Chef Grant Achatz, who is world famous as the chef of his own restaurant, Alinea (Achatz and Duffy are the only possessors of three Michelin stars in the Windy City).Their time together clearly was warm, as Achatz appears in this film (as does another popular Chicago chef, Rick Tramonto) and is praiseworthy towards his former colleague and now rival). Duffy would go on to Avenues, where he earned two Michelin stars and a large portfolio of accolades.

Avenues was a tiny space and Duffy itched for a third Michelin star. So he and his partner, Michael Muser, conceived Grace. It would take nine months and consume nearly $1 million dollars.

This is basically the movie up to the halfway point, where we are brought back to Duffy's early youth. HIs father, Bear, had married Jan, a girl from Colorado. Bear worked for her father's tire retreating business and assumed he would one day take over the business. Instead, the business was sold to someone else. This disappointment would send the family back to they Bear's small hometown in Ohio, where he had trouble earning a decent living and money became a real issue. As Bear and Jan marriage crumbled, young Curtis was experiencing his own troubles. He wasn't a gifted student and was often beating up school mates or getting into trouble. It would be a home economics teacher who kept her eye on the boy giving him encouragement when he was forced to take a home economics class, which was mandatory for all students. It was in Ruth Snider class that Curtis found his vocation--cooking. The film reaches an emotional tipping point when we learn of a horrific family tragedy that would shatter the lives of all the Curtis children.

At this point, FOR GRACE swings back from Curtis' difficult youth to the long delays in getting GRACE up and running. By now, his marriage to his wife, Kim has crumbled and he is living alone in Chicago. The long hours demanded of a professional chef have taken their toll on his marriage. We see Curtis interacting with colleagues, his friend and business partner, Michael, as well as the designer and architects who created the restaurant space--all with a camera following.

FOR GRACE is about the redemption of a young boy who becomes a world-class chef. We see in Curtis Duffy, the kind of grit, devotion and determination of a great chef who finally gets to preside over a great restaurant that is purely his vision. Duffy does this with an almost Zen-like sense of quiet. While he smiles easily, there are no tantrums in his kitchen, and the staff demonstrates their own devotion to getting the job done right. Clearly there is respect here on both sides. A highlight of the final moments, is Ruth Snider's appearance on opening night with her daughter. For both teacher and pupil, this is an emotional reunion. This film does an admirable job of showing us this man's long and often harrowing journey to that lofty state.

Priest (1994)

Twenty Years Later, and The Priest Holds Up Well

[9/10 · 14 July 2014]

I remember this film when it first came out in 1994. Much was made by the media about it, particularly because there was the feeling that this film was an attack on the Catholic Church. In the intervening two decades we have read with dismay the sexual abuse by priests of young boys, our awareness of sexual predators of young children of both sexes and other abuses (such as the scandal of young girls being incarcerated in laundries all over Great Britain and the U.S. as indentured servants throughout their teens), that the Church hierarchy swept under the rug. This film explores some of the issues that have caused the church to experience much embarrassment, but little change. This is a well-acted, film with crisp direction, a strong script and I suspect a sense of moral outrage. Tom Wilkinson and Linus Roach are both outstanding. Wilkinson's liberal views of his church are pragmatic. His young house-mate is a smug and rigidly conforming young priest named Father Greg Pilkington who has hardly been buffeted by the realities of adulthood. He's so busy being holier-than-thou, he cannot really see his own hypocrisy. He meets another young man in a gay bar and has a fling with him, but cannot face the fact that he's a young man in search of some romantic connection. And when the young man comes to take communion at his church, Father Greg humiliates him by refusing to give him communion.

His biggest challenge comes when one of his young parishioner confesses to him that her father has sexually abused her. The Church's sanctity about the privacy of confession is enough to make you condemn the Church for it's insanely strict rules. Father Greg pays for his rigidity when the girl's mother confronts him at church. He has a complete breakdown at that point. It is well deserved. The Church's authority has now exceeded its humanity.

Tom Wilkinson, well on his way to the kind of regular movie stardom that has been conferred on to other excellent character actors such as Eli Wallach, Karl Malden, and more recently, Allison Janney and John Goodman,is his usual outstanding self as the liberal Father Matthew. He's in a serious but secret relationship with his housekeeper (the excellent Cathy Tyson who is given far little to do), enjoys his drink and holds liberal views that don't always sit well with the parishioners. It sometimes feels if the deck is too stacked against the church.

Only the most devout will see the Church as innocents here, and in fact, the entire institution deserves the drubbing it receives here. There's a new Pope in Rome, whom many feel and hope will be a force of change to bring the Church to a more modern and compassionate level in our increasingly turbulent times. THE PRIEST can be enjoyed on many levels--as an entertaining film with a charismatic actor at its center, a polemic of the modern day Catholic Church or even a modern warning to the perils of our modern age. It holds up very well in this the twentieth year since its release.