Grade: A+ (Perfect - Must experience)
An unexpectedly fantastic movie set in Japan about the stories we make up to avoid hurting the people we care about. Floored me.
]]>Grade: A+ (Perfect - Must experience)
An unexpectedly fantastic movie set in Japan about the stories we make up to avoid hurting the people we care about. Floored me.
]]>Grade: A (Excellent - Worth a revisit)
Just a beautiful story of two Rubik’s Cube champions who become friends as well as each other’s biggest competitors.
]]>Grade: A (Excellent - Worth a revisit)
Absolutely loved this adaptation of the movie to a musical run in San Diego, with songs by Cyndi Lauper that were total 80s bops.
]]>Grade: C (Passable - Works in a pinch)
The only interesting thing about this series was a good overview of the history of hip hop. Otherwise it’s a revolting story of a messed-up person doing horrible things.
Tags: docu-series nyc hip-hop
]]>Grade: A (Excellent - Worth a revisit)
Perfectly-done portrait of wounded people working through their pain while running a restaurant. Most of the time they are either yelling at one another or not talking at all, and the plot moves so very slow. But the acting is superb and the vibe is on point.
]]>Grade: B (Good - Enjoyable but don't go out of your way)
Westerns aren’t usually my thing but watching Gillian Anderson opposite Lena Headey (Cersei from Game of Thrones) is very much my thing.
]]>Grade: B (Good - Enjoyable but don't go out of your way)
Old-school 80s movie that anyone who has had to commute across the river to go to work in “the city” will enjoy even today. What a great song Carly Simon’s Let the River Run is.
Tags: capitalism nyc romance
]]>Grade: A (Excellent - Worth a revisit)
Brutal and beautiful series. Episode three felt like open heart surgery.
The brief making-of video on Netflix is worthwhile—these hour-long, single-shot episodes are a feat of filmmaking.
Tags: parenthood crime emotional dark
]]>Grade: B (Good - Enjoyable but don't go out of your way)
Goofy, 20-year-old family film that my teen picked. Reminded me about Steve Martin’s comedic genius, especially physically. Hilary Duff and Ashton Kutcher are so baby-faced. After this movie my kid concluded that she’s thrilled to be an only child.
]]>Grade: B (Good - Enjoyable but don't go out of your way)
Watched this one over my teen’s shoulder and it was more engaging than I expected, if very tropey about a certain kind of game developer geek. Experienced serious nostalgia about playing Adventure on the Atari 2600.
]]>Grade: A (Excellent - Worth a revisit)
Loved getting to re-experience one of my all-time favorite musicals with this cast. The film is different than seeing this on stage: Long, tight shots held firmly on the actors’ faces were both revealing and disorienting.
On one hand, I loved seeing details you couldn’t in the theater—especially reactions from other actors in various scenes. On the other, it was strange to not get to see more of the whole stage especially during transitions, set changes, and choreo. I didn’t feel this way with the Come from Away live stage film, so the tight shots were the film director’s choice.
Without intermission this film feels long, but I still absolutely love what Radcliffe, Groff, and Mendez did in this show.
Tags: friendship money musical loss
]]>Grade: B (Good - Enjoyable but don't go out of your way)
Since her performance in the Succession episode where her character learns her father died, I’ve been convinced Sarah Snook does the best acting in traumatic situations of anyone on TV today, bar none. This show confirmed that hunch.
This series is a super-stressful watch for anyone who has loved a small child. The over-the-top plot has many twists and turns and you want to throttle some of the characters as it all unfolds, but it winds up on a satisfying conclusion. A worthy stop on any Sarah Snookathon.
]]>Grade: B (Good - Enjoyable but don't go out of your way)
Came for Sarah Snook (who is only in episode 1), stayed for the rest of the one-per-episode stories based on a single interesting premise. If in the near future you could take a scientific test that tells you who your soulmate is, would you?
]]>Grade: A+ (Perfect - Must experience)
Brief and powerful documentary about inmates in a high-security prison who sew quilts for foster kids in the area. One of the best documentaries I saw this year.
Tags: documentary prison artist-life
]]>Grade: B (Good - Enjoyable but don't go out of your way)
Very much in the spirit of the first Zootopia, kid and I loved the themes of partnership, community, working together, and standing up for the underdog. Plus a new catchy Shakira song.
]]>Grade: B (Good - Enjoyable but don't go out of your way)
More information has been made public about what the U.S. government knows about UFOs and “unidentified aerial phenomena” than ever in the past five years. This documentary is a compelling rundown of those disclosures, if you’re into that sort of thing. (But lower your expectations: the good stuff is still classified.)
Tags: documentary science government ufos
]]>Grade: A (Excellent - Worth a revisit)
Wept my way through this one, and came out the other side more appreciative I get to be 50 years old.
Tags: documentary death artist-life writing love
]]>Grade: A (Excellent - Worth a revisit)
LOVED IT despite its length and the relentless and inescapable marketing machine. Both films taken together are better than the Broadway show.
]]>Grade: B (Good - Enjoyable but don't go out of your way)
Smart, funny, entertaining series set in the 1970s with two strong queer storylines (both men and women, rare to see in one show) plus lots of bell bottoms and male full frontal.
]]>Grade: A (Excellent - Worth a revisit)
Could not look away from this fantastic two-part documentary about building the International Space Station, a feat of engineering and collaboration that gives one hope for humanity.
Tags: space science docu-series documentary
]]>