Nonnas

A historical fiction telling of a middle aged Italian American New Yorker (Vince Vaughn) who is grieving the passing of his mother. With the passing, he is realizing how much of his life centered around the food prepared by mom and Nonna for the family. So he goes to Staten Island and opens a restaurant - with local Nonnas as his chefs. It is a cute film, with the predictable barriers (money, city inspectors, fighting/grouchy Nonnas) and a predictable last minute success at the end. If it wasn't historical fiction, it would be too sappy to be considered watchable. But the characters are all well played and the script doesn't dwell on one aspect too long so that the movie is good as a whole. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Astrid (serial)

Season 5

In this season, the running theme is centered around a series of Astrid's epileptic seizures. They seem to be triggered by something and so she begins to investigate her own history / memory.  Tetsu loses his funding (and therefore visa), a childhood aquaintance comes back into her life, and Raphaelle is pregnant. All traumatic events that could contribute. This season thread is woven through the individual cases of each episode and we are even treated to young Astrid in flashback. Great storylines and I love the 8-10 episode seasons that is the new norm for seasons. Not so long that I lose interest -- good addictive encouragement, keep them wanting more :)

5 stars (out of 5)

Song Sung Blue

Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson play Lightning and Thunder, two members of a Neil Diamond cover band based in Milwaukee. Their meeting is a chance encounter at a cover band fest at the local fairgrounds, and the chemistry is instant. But life is not easy for these two. The film tells the story of their rise to local fame over the course of a couple of years. While showing the difficulties they encounter, the film definitely lives in the clouds just above the grit and grime of tragedy, showing the silver lining result after crushing storm after storm. Which is appropriate -- as these two seem to exude positivity and resilience. If you are a Neil Diamond fan, you will love this movie. If not, it is a pretty good Hallmark Christmas movie. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Jay Kelly

George Clooney plays Jay Kelly, a 60 something movie star who is, perhaps for the first time, forced to confront his true self, and not the self he has been playing as a character for the past 35 years. A meandering drive amongst family drama, relationships born of business necessity, and legacy formation. Kelly confronts the true value of his life, which is particularly sensitive in an industry that is meant to value not what is true, but what is pristine. There are many levels to the explorations here, but none of them are "dramatic reveals". You really have to journey with the actors and dig a bit into yourself to gain from any of the levels. Director Noah Baumbach doesn't do the work of reflection or thinking for you, but instead sets the stage that invites you do to the work yourself. 

4 stars (out of 5) 

Maigret (serial)

Set in Paris, Inspector Maigret is a rising-star detective in charge of the major crimes division. Interestingly, this French setting has everyone speaking english... Maigret is a lone wolf detective who likes to play his cards close. He has people on his team he trusts, but others he doesn't. But he is politically astute and can navigate the halls of power. He also has a personal history which comes into play over the course of the season. In many ways, this is a prototypical dark, English police procedural. And it is good. 

4 stars (out of 5)

The Ballad of Wallis Island

A now broken up folk duo has been brought to a remote island under the guise of a concert with a big payday. From the beginning it is clear that this is an ultra-remote and oddly eccentric situation. And it turns out that the concert is a private showing for a super-fan who happens to be a lotto winner. Ultimately, this is an exploration of loss and renewal. It is charming, weird, heart-felt and engaging. Excellent small film. 

5 stars (out of 5)

Mom (serial)

8 seasons

Allison Janey headlines this sitcom about recovery and relationship. She is the alcoholic mom with an alcoholic daughter, along with a group of alcoholic friends who are all simultaneously antagonistic to each other, self-absorbed and deeply caring and supportive. Over the course of the series, we see a progression of increasing wellness. Probably a full 1/3 of the setting is in AA meetings, and many times the jokes are "inside", and seem inappropriate for me as an outsider, or maybe just appropriation at best. But aside from that, there is something real about the struggle and healing that we are seeing. 

4 stars (out of 5)

The Intern

A re-watch of the Robert DeNiro film from a decade ago. That man can fully act with just his face. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Moxie

An Amy Poehler produced vehicle that is a bit too much "on the nose" to be authentic. Vivian is a teen girl entering her Junior year, basically a wall cat. As she is paying attention in a new way to discrimination, to new peoples ideas, and to her mom's (Poehler) activist past, she starts a feminist zine that spurs action for change in her high school. Even though this is formulaic at best, I do appreciate the formula. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Man on the Inside (serial)

Ted Danson is the lead in this amateur detective comedy. He has recently lost his wife, is retired and is looking for a new thing. He connects with a PI who needs an undercover senior in a retirement home to uncover a chain of burglaries. While this plot provides a through story, the real joy in this series is the "coming of age" for Danson's character Charles. The friends and relationships he develops and re-energizes even with his family are touching and meaningful and fun to watch. It surprised me, but really worth watching. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Last Christmas

A 20-something is wandering aimlessly through life, unsure of her purpose in her post-heart transplant world. With a crazy family, no passion for her former passion and a truly deadend job, Kate is lost. Until she meets Tom, who is relentless in his pursuit of her and fundamentally changes her world view. A real romantic comedy that is more about coming of age and realizing what is important in life. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Somebody Somewhere (serial)

Season 1, 2 & 3

A comedy-drama series set in Manhattan Kansas. Sam is the show protagonist and she is 30 something, working a dead end job, still grieving the loss of a sister to cancer, and dealing with a dysfunctional family. She connects with Joel, who she finds out was also in choir in high school, and the two become best of friends. The next 3 seasons follow this growing friendship and both the drama and the banality of daily life. And in spite of the sadness or difficulty surrounding them, Joel and Sam are the most hilarious pair you will find, able to laugh and love and support each other throughout the years. Hands down one of the best series I have seen. Loved it. 

5 stars (out of 5)

XO Kitty (serial)

Season 1 & Season 2

Based on the character Kitty in All the Boys I've Loved Before, and set 8ish years later. Kitty is accepted to go to school abroad to the same school her late mother attended in Korea. She goes to learn as much as she can about her family history. She gains friends, and makes dramatic discoveries. She basically manifests everything that she hoped to happen into being - although the outcomes were not always exactly how she envisioned them. Clearly a YA teen drama (of which I am of course the target audience), but really a pretty well done story telling and sustained freshness. Season 2 could have easily dropped into trite derivative drivel, but instead the storyline was massaged to take you just a bit deeper in exploring and thinking about your own family history. Some of the secondary characters were too stereotypically 2-dimensional, but I suppose someone had to be flat in order for others to feel bright. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Astrid (serial)

Season 4

This French PBS series follows Astrid Nielson, an autistic police officer who works in the documents archive. Astrid continues to navigate social integration and the novelty of relationship with new boyfriend Tetsu and Stepbrother Niels. Astrid continues to be the driving force in all investigative break throughs with the team. So entirely predictable. And entirely enjoyable. One of my favorite police procedurals of recent years. 

5 stars (out of 5)

The Six Triple Eight

Historical fiction telling of the WWII unit of soldiers who were sent to England to fix the army's mail problem. Mail was deprioritized by the leadership, with the result being a massive backlog of deliveries (17 million pieces) and the associated low moral that comes with being cut off from communicating with family. The 6888 delivered all of this mail, while simultaneously fighting sexism and racism since they were an all black, all women company. I am sure that this telling glorifies the work and overlooks the awfulness of war. But it is a feel good, crowd pleaser in the end. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Inside Out

Pixar animation about the emotions that are inside all of us. In this case, the emotions Joy, Anger, Disgust, Fear, Sadness are all characters in the life of a 12 year old girl who moves with her family across the country. The moral of the story, Joy can't always win in order to be a complete person. Well written and for its target audience, an important (probably revelatory in some cases) message about how to think about and manage emotions. Even so, for me it was pretty message heavy and once I got the message, the impact wore off, meaning it was an "on in the background" kind of watch. 

3 stars (out of 5)

Ted Lasso (serial)

Season 3

Finally got around to watching it and boy, it still doesn't disappoint. Every episode was emotional and meaningful. I particularly enjoyed the Amsterdam episode and the team and individual connections that were portrayed. Just good comedy and likely irreproducible (although I know they'll try -- over and over...)

5 stars (out of 5)

Unthinkable

A highly disturbing (on many levels) war thriller. The story features a radicalized U.S. Muslim man who has built and planted nuclear bombs in 3 U.S. cities. He is captured and the entirety of the film is the interrogation drama that unfolds to find where he has hidden the bombs. Seems like it is basically a window into "enhanced interrogation techniques" (i.e. torture) and the effect on all the people involved. Truly horrible from all points of view. You leave this wondering one thing: how are humans capable of being so in-human? Or is our aspirational ideal of "humanity" just naïveté and the real surprise is those who move away from in-humanity? I don't recommend this movie.

2 stars (out of 5)

My All-American

Historical fiction story of Freddy Steinmark, an undersized underdog who played safety for a couple years for Texas in the late 60's. He was the heart and soul of a national championship team and played through tremendous physical adversity. Classic feel-good sports bio. 

4 stars (out of 5)

Quizlady

Awkwafina remains one of my favorite actresses. Here she is paired with Sandra Oh. The two sisters are put in a position where they need to come up with a bunch of money to bail their mom out from some gambling debt. But this premise is really secondary to the relationship building that adult siblings do. Awkwafina is the awkward, people fearing, trivia savant who needs her sister to push her into doing something that she loves and is good at. Will Ferrell brings a nice, subtle supporting role as the quiz show host. 

4 stars (out of 5)