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Reviews
Our Little Secret (2024)
Can old close friends reunite after 10 years?
We watched this movie at home, streaming. It is set and was shot in the Atlanta, Georgia areas. Also it is pretty clean, avoiding the filthy language of so many movies of recent years.
We like Lindsay Lohan, now in her late 30s, as Avery. She is ambitious and turns down a marriage proposal from her long-time friend and neighbor Logan so she can go off to a career in London.
This movie uses a unique, and very interesting, way to show the passage of 10 years. Instead of just captioning "10 years later" they show each year and a few flashes of real newsworthy events that defined that year. Aside from just enjoying the story it was nice to see those 10 years encapsulated in a short amount of screen time.
Ian Harding is Logan and during those 10 years has stayed near home and established his own successful career in real estate development. There is a Christmas gathering that Avery travels back for and both she and Logan are totally surprised when each shows up at the same party and each with serious dates.
Kristin Chenoweth is the mother of Logan's girlfriend and the party is at her house. We love Chenoweth, especially her singing, but my wife and I both cringe at her speaking voice, it sounds like she is always on Helium.
The characters are an odd assortment, we can see right away that both Avery and Logan are with partners that they probably shouldn't be with. So that sets the stage to see if the two of them can get back together after all those years.
Linsay's younger sister, Aliana Lohan, is a talented singer and songwriter and contributed to the soundtrack for this movie.
Not a novel concept but we found it entertaining, which is all we were looking for after our weekly steak dinner with wine, and of course chocolate cake.
Manson: The Women (2019)
War is not murder, and Manson convinced them the war was starting.
I managed to find this on Peacock, streaming. I was a young adult in graduate school in the late 1960s yet, while I clearly remember Charlie Manson and his followers being in the news, most of what is contained in this documentary was new to me, and very captivating.
The movie "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" is of course focused on Manson's "family" living at the Spaun Ranch and in that movie many of the characters, like Tex Watson, represent real people. But in Tarantino's imagination the Sharon Tate murder on August 8, 1969 turns out quite differently.
This documentary, as suggested by its title, focuses on the young women, some still teenagers, who became Manson's followers. In his 30s he had already been in prison a number of times and he had developed an approach to get these followers to trust him and when he told them a social war was beginning and they had to kill, and that guilt was a nonproductive emotion, they believed everything he told them.
The documentary uses interviews old and new, from 1969 and 1970, plus with many of the women now in their 70s. They range from those who came to grips with the Manson deceptions to those who today still believe in him. As one, "Blue", says, "You can be a murderer and still be a good person."
All in all one of the better documentaries I have watched.
The Piano Lesson (2024)
The 1930s, a family of former slaves and what to do with the old family piano.
My wife and I watched this at home, streaming. While it is a well-made movie and covers an interesting topic, we didn't find it very enjoyable. It is a movie adaptation of a stage play and it comes across that way, with loud dialog and broad gestures, with limited settings.
It is a Washington family project, Denzel is a producer, one of his sons is the director, another son stars as Boy Willie, and his wife also has a small role.
Samuel L. Jackson is in it but his role as uncle Doaker could have been played by anyone. John David Washington is Boy Willie, he is brash and angry all the way through and after a while I found him hard to watch. Danielle Deadwyler is really good as his sister Berniece. But she is unhappy the whole time because of the bombardment by her brother.
The gist is this, as we see in an opening scene from 1911 in Mississippi when the main characters are children there is a late-night theft of an old upright piano during a celebration event. The piano has sentimental value to the family because of their connection to some wood carvings that adorn the piano. In fact they didn't consider it a theft, they figured they were the rightful owners.
Bernice, now a single mother living in Pittsburgh in 1936, has the piano. However her brother, needing to raise money to try to buy some land back in Mississippi wants to take the piano and sell it. He doesn't make a request, he drives to Pittsburgh with a truckload of watermelons to sell along the way and expects to just take the piano. This creates the discord between the siblings.
The title may lead us to believe it involves piano lessons in the usual way, music instruction, but it isn't. It refers to the lessons a family learns with the piano as a central figure.
Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)
The summer of 1881, New Mexico Territory.
I suppose everyone in the US and most in other countries know the name "Billy the Kid." That wasn't his birth name, it was Henry McCarty. So popular he has been there are over 50 movies and additional TV shows devoted to him and his legacy.
In this version James Coburn is Pat Garrett and Kris Kristofferson is Billy the Kid. They were friends of sorts but then Garrett is hired as a lawman and his main task was to get the Kid.
The movie appears to follow the real story faithfully, the Kid only made it to the age of 21.
A curious role is played by poet-singer Bob Dylan, early 30s at the time, as Alias. It isn't entirely clear what role Alias played in the whole thing but he had more than a short cameo. Plus he is responsible for some of the music and singing in the movie's sound track.
I watched it at home, a restored edition, on Blu-Ray from my public library.
Sleeping Dogs (2024)
Appropriately entertaining whodunnit.
Russell Crowe is ex-cop Roy Freeman. As the movie begins we see notes tapes around the rooms in the house. Some are written on pieces of duct tape attached to an appropriate place. Reminders of things to do, like "Take your medicines", and also things not to do, like "No alcohol."
We quickly learn that Roy has a memory problem, and he has volunteered for a new medical procedure which seeks to arrest, or perhaps reverse, the memory loss. He has two prominent scars on either side of the top of his skull, each running front to back. He wears a white gauze cap under his stocking cap.
Now, ten years after a murder and conviction of a man now nearing his execution date, Roy is asked to re-enter the fray, the convicted man continues to claim his innocence and maybe Roy can help. But he has no recollection of the case or the people involved so he has lots of reviewing to do. If the man is really innocent he wants to help save him.
Now, just trying to process all that it seems like an impossible task. But things develop and by the time the movie is ending it all comes together and makes sense.
In a real sense the most important story here is not the actual crime itself but instead the management of Roy's condition and the impact that the treatment is having on him. I like Crowe as an actor, he has starred in several movies that I regard very highly and he is very good here.
My wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library. It is suitably entertaining and as it is ending some new revelations come to light.
A Man on the Inside (2024)
Entertaining and meaningful 8-episode miniseries.
Ted Danson, about 76, stars as Charles, about 76, a retired Professor of Engineering and living in San Francisco. He also is Producer of this series which sets itself apart from most by avoiding the all-too-common filthy language dialog. This in fact is very clean and more pleasant as a result.
In the story his wife had died perhaps a year ago from the effects of Alzheimer's. He is healthy but perhaps bored with his daily routine. He has a habit of reading periodicals and newspapers and often cuts an interesting one out to send to his married daughter in Sacramento. One day, through a cut-out hole he glimpses a small, short ad. Looking for someone in the 75 to 85 years age range for a specific job.
This takes him to a private investigator hired by a man whose mother is in a type of upscale old folks home in San Francisco, some meaningful jewelry was stolen and the son wants the thief to be caught. Charles will be the key.
So he is hired to check into the place and observe and report as the person to expose what is going on.
Ted Danson is just perfect in this role which he plays with lots of humor. Quickly it becomes less about who the thief was and more about the relationships. The cast of characters are played by a group of fine actors, many of them old favorites we have come to know from the past 50 years or so.
My wife and I enjoyed it, streaming. After watching the first three episodes on one evening we watched the last five episodes at one sitting after our usual Saturday evening steak and wine dinner.
The ending sets itself up for a sequel, I hope they make it.
One of the more enjoyable that we haver watched.
The Fly (1986)
"Do you take coffee with your sugar?"
This may be considered a remake of the 1958 movie of the same name but in reality the characters are different and the story arc is quite different, both leading up to the "experiment gone bad" and its aftermath. I enjoyed each one for the ideas and their places in cinematic history.
Jeff Goldblum is Scientist Seth Brundle. He has been working pretty much in secret on a project that he says "will change the world." Specifically, he says it will make traditional forms of transportation - cars, boats, trains, airplanes - obsolete. Easy, just disassemble anything at the atomic level and reassemble it at a different location traveling to there at light speed.
At a big gathering of Scientists he meets Geena Davis as reporter Veronica Quaife. They make small talk and he eventually invites her to his home, which is actually his lab. She is intrigued but has doubts, until he teleports her stocking to the receiver booth across the room.
We all know what happens, why the movie is titled "the fly." It wasn't in the ointment; it was in the booth! After Brundle has the incident he begins to change, seemingly in good ways but then in bad ways. Over coffee one day he keeps putting more and more sugar into his cup and Veronica asks, jokingly, "Do you take coffee with your sugar?" Flies are attracted to sugar.
The movie gradually takes a darker and darker turn.
I enjoyed it at home on DVD from my public library. Goldblum is really perfect for this role.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024)
A worthy continuation of the 1968 "Planet of the Apes" movie.
I suspect that younger viewers, who weren't around in 1968, react differently to the modern movies like this one. I was a young professional in 1968, I recall seeing Charleton Heston in the original, and I recall what a novel sci-fi concept it was. In the far future humans were hunted and apes were the intelligent species.
In this newer "Apes" movie the civilization of the Chimps is running rather smoothly. We see their high structures of living quarters are built in the remnants of old electrical transmission lines. We see the overgrown remnants of the recognizable LAX Theme Building with its135-foot-high parabolic arches. We see dilapidated sections of freeway overpasses.
All this establishes that it has been a long time since the world was normal as we know it. In one conversation later it is explained that a lab-made virus got out and the result was smarter primates evolving while most humans were impacted in the opposite manner. A young human woman does show up, the Chimps and Orangutan are greatly surprised when she speaks.
The story gradually becomes one of survival, the benevolent Chimps and Orangutans are threatened by the rogue Gorillas, while the young human is searching for a device in an old defense silo that may enable the human race to revive itself.
Overall a very well-made movie of an interesting concept, a worthy continuation of the "Apes" movies begun in 1968. The DVD we watched it on had no extras, so I don't know if the characters were in prosthetics and makeup or if they were computer-generated, however they were very realistic.
Good movie, my wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library.
(As an aside, it puzzles me why so many reviewers want to rate the various "Apes" movies against each other, i.e. Is this one better or worse than the last one? That is not the point of watching movies, it is NOT a competition, why not instead just enjoy each on its own merits?)
Twisters (2024)
Storm chasers in Oklahoma.
This is a reasonably entertaining 2-hour movie. My wife and I watched it at home streaming on Peacock. It takes place in Oklahoma, generally considered "tornado alley."
Kate is a graduate student working towards a PhD. She and her friends go out hunting a tornado to try her new theory on how to dissipate tornados using a type of water-absorbing polymer. It doesn't turn out well for them, some of her friends die. She abandons her project.
Switch to 5 years alter where she is working at a weather desk job in New York, she is lured back by a surviving old friend. When they assemble to chase the next storm in Oklahoma she encounters Tyler who calls himself a "Tornado Wrangler" and with his small team live-streams his chasing exploits.
Right away Kate and Tyler are at odds with each other, she is hard-core scientific in her approach, he seems to be there more for entertainment. However as they get to know each other and work together they find they have more in common.
All fantasy but entertaining.
Kinds of Kindness (2024)
Somewhat like watching train wrecks or circus freaks.
As I watched this movie, on DVD from my public library, I was often fascinated with it but overall I can't give it a very positive rating. As I thought about this I came up with the analogy of the old circus side show attractions, the freaks. We couldn't identify with them, we were very curious that they even existed, but had no desire at all to be like any of them.
This movie is like that. We get to know the characters, none of them have desirable traits, they often do despicable things, we are rarely certain why or where things are headed, but still we watch.
The description on the DVD box calls it a triptych, which means "a set of three associated artistic, literary, or musical works intended to be appreciated together."
Here they are "associated" because the three use all the same actors for the main characters, but other than that the three stories have no connection, so they are essentially three 50-minute movies with three different sets of characters.
Again, according to the DVD box, the three are "a man without choice tries to take control of his own life", the second "a policeman that is alarmed that his missing wife returns a different person", and the third "a woman determined to find a particular person with a special ability."
How are these "kinds of kindness?" I have no idea. When I had finished watching all of it I was happy that I did but in truth this type of artistic experimentation is not what I enjoy in a movie.
On the bright side it was filmed in New Orleans and surrounding communities, places I am very familiar with from my younger adult days and that part of it was the most entertaining to me.
Despicable Me 4 (2024)
Maybe it is time to retire this franchise?
The various Gru movies have been fun, my wife and I have watched all of them, at home on DVD or Blu-Ray from our public library. Now, we just finished watching this last one, streaming on Peacock, after our weekly steak and wine dinner.
I don't know if my tastes are changing or if the makers of these movies are changing, but this one was not an entertaining experience. I really, really got tired of Steve Carell's voice as Gru. It went from entertaining to grating very quickly. Plus the antics of the Minions, arguably the most entertaining characters in these movies, were too often not funny.
There is a school reunion for the class of 1985, the school for "pas bon" which in French translated to "the not good." Gru was one of them plus an old nemesis of his. There is an experiment, insect characteristics are put into a human, and the chaos begins. I could hardly wait for it to end.
I really do hope this one is the last of the franchise, at least for te next 20 to 30 years.
When in Venice (2021)
Strangers get to know each other in Venice.
As this story developed it reminded me of the 1995 movie "Before Sunrise" with Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy, where they meet on a train and end up spending the night in Vienna getting to know each other before he has to fly back to the States.
In this movie Max is in Italy for some sort of work-related gathering and he is at the bar one evening, alone, when Maria sits next to him and they make small talk. She wanted to see Venice and wondered if he would accompany her, just as friends. On the short train ride to Venice they even made up a few rules, like no holding hands and no kissing.
It turns out Max is fresh from a breakup that he is trying to mend, with no success. She has recently lost a family member and her desire to tour Venice is related to that.
So, much like "Before Sunrise" this story is mostly about Max and Maria getting to know each other. Which in itself is interesting, but neither exciting nor novel. However the great scenery adds a nice dimension to this movie and makes it worthwhile.
At home, streaming on Prime.
Longlegs (2024)
Making a deal with the devil.
It is hard to accept that Oz Perkins is now 50 years old. I will always picture him as "Dorky Dave" in "Legally Blonde" almost 25 years ago. Now that he has turned primarily to writing and directing his movies remind me of what Stephen King might do. In fact Perkins' movie in production is based on a King story.
I found Maika Monroe to be an excellent choice and very effective as FBI Agent Lee Harker who, because of her demonstrated abilities to be aware of things others are not, was chosen to work on a series of mysterious murder cases, spanning the 1970s to the 1990s in the Bend, Oregon area. The filmmaker uses wall portraits of sitting presidents, Nixon and Clinton, to indicate which period is being depicted.
Nicolas Cage in heavy prosthetics and makeup is
"Longlegs." He is a Satan worshiper, demonstrated in his own writings, and he is suspected to be behind all the murders, although evidence at each scene always fail to indicate he was there. They figure he must have an accomplist and the search turns in that direction.
The movie takes a surprising and very dark turn in its final scenes. This is not the type of movie I prefer to watch, I only did so out of curiosity and because it was a free DVD loan from my public library.
For the most part it is imaginative and well made but not one I'd want to see a second time. Cage, as always, is superb in his role especially since it requires craziness on his character's part.
My Old Ass (2024)
A girl named Elliott learns about life.
My wife and I watched this streaming on Prime after our usual Saturday evening steak and wine dinner, with chocolate cake of course. From the trailer it looked interesting and nicely entertaining. As the trailer shows, 18-yr-old Elliott encounters her 39-yr-old self and that sparks the rest of the storyline.
Frankly we were disappointed. Other than meeting her older self in a mushroom-fueled episode there really isn't anything novel in this movie, compared to other "coming of age" movies over the years. Elliot is unhappy with her life on the Canadian cranberry farm her family owns, she can't wait to move away. But when she finds out the farm might be sold she is very upset. The movie is about her appreciating family, friends, and her surroundings and making the best of her situations.
Maisy Stella is Elliott and Aubrey Plaza plays her older self. Is it just a hallucination? That is answered when friend Chad comes upon them and when asked if he can see the older Elliot he can. They converse and hug.
Part of what makes this a less entertaining movie is the insistence on writing a script with way too much foul language coming from the young characters, especially Elliot. She can hardly express herself in any situation without flooding it with F-words. Hey, script writers! That is not entertaining and just becomes tedious quickly.
Mothers' Instinct (2024)
Two close friends spiral into a very dark place.
I am a guy and this movie is primarily about the relationship between two women, two mothers, each with a husband and an 8-yr-old son. So I didn't know if I would enjoy it but I like both actresses, Chastain and Hathaway, so I watched it out of trust that they would not participate in a poor movie. It is actually a remake of a 2018 French movie "Duelles", with the same character names and the same basic story.
Filmed in New Jersey, the story is set in the 1960s, in one scene they are talking about whether new president JFK was too young, and one of the ladies says Jackie will run things anyway. Jessica Chastain is
Alice and Anne Hathaway is Céline. They live next door to each other in a middle class neighborhood and each has a key to the other home. Their sons are best friends.
Then a tragedy strikes and that changes all the friend and family dynamics. It quickly develops into a very dark story as the family losses pile up and it is hard to say which are the stable ones. The ending was a total surprise to me, and is a very dark conclusion.
While it turns out to be a not very pleasant movie I enjoyed the viewing experience. My wife skipped, somehow she thought she had already watched the movie. Did she really?
At home, on DVD from my public library.
Late Night with the Devil (2023)
Refreshingly different, October 1977 late night talk show..
This is a refreshingly different story, made into a movie. It has a medium running time, right at 90 minutes, which is appropriate to give justice to the essential themes. It was shot in 2022 in Australia. It takes place entirely within the studio of the late-night talk show.
David Dastmalchian is the lead as Jack Delroy, a Johnny Carson type of talk show host on a competing TV network. In this story he and his production crew often compare themselves to Carson's show, desperately trying to get their ratings up to challenge Carson. They started in 1971 and now it is 1977, their yearly Halloween Special.
On this night they have several special guests, a man who relishes in debunking claimed supernatural phenomena, another man who claims he can find spirits in the room, and a Parapsychologist and her young ward who claim to be able to communicate with the spirit world.
I was entertained the whole way, this is a well done movie. I will not describe any specifics but based on the movie's title we can pretty well tell what will happen. The end was especially a shocker.
All the actors are good but I want to mention one more, young Australian actress Ingrid Torelli who plays the young ward Lilly who becomes the key bridge with the spirit world. She has a great face and her acting in this is spot on.
At home, on DVD from my public library. My wife skipped, not her kind of movie.
Nova: Decoding the Universe: Quantum (2024)
What is Quantum Physics and why is it so influential?
I must say, this is my type of documentary. I am a Chemist (now retired) but in college and graduate school in the 1960s I studied Quantum Mechanics, but just scratching the surface. Of course the understanding of it has expanded quite a lot in the roughly 60 years since I studied it.
This program starts with a discussion of black holes and how quantum physics helps to understand how some energy can still escape, in the form of what is now called Hawking Radiation, named for the Physicist who proposed it.
As the program moves along there is an excellent explanation of how the quantum world works, using energy levels of electrons in atoms. It doesn't state this but a "quantum change" is the very smallest change a system can make. In popular vocabulary over the years it has come to (erroneously) mean a big change. Funny how language develops.
The last part of this program explores the many things we have today that would not be possible without the understanding of the quantum world. Perhaps the most obvious are the navigation tools based on the GPS system which can only work by use of very highly accurate clocks. Atomic clocks based on quantum changes a cesium atom experiences when excited. Automotive GPS guidance, cell phone directions, none of which would be possible without the quantum world.
And finally, a discussion of quantum computers, what they might be able to do and the kinds of things they will not be suitable for. No danger to the ubiquitous binary digital computing that is in virtually everything today.
Quite an excellent documentary.
Move Over, Darling (1963)
A different take on "My Favorite Wife."
This is a somewhat different take, but the same general story as in "My Favorite Wife." In fact, this movie itself in one scene makes reference to the "Cary Grant movie" where he had two wives.
The year 1963 was a landmark year for me, I graduated from high school, I started college, and I turned 18 ... in that order. And while I was spending the stress-free summer before college this movie was being filmed. Today I managed to watch it on the "Movies!" Channel, via antenna in my attic.
James Garner is well-off attorney Nicholas Arden with an upscale home complete with swimming pool. And two small daughters. Seems five years earlier his wife disappeared and was eventually legally declared dead so he was able to re-marry.
That new wife was 30-ish Polly Bergen as Bianca Steele Arden. She was nice enough but not a good replacement for the mother.
The missing mother is Doris Day as Ellen Arden who ha been shipwrecked on a small island for five years before rescue. Now she returns and the fun begins.
This is an example of a movie where, if all the characters would just state what is going on, there would be less confusion and a quicker resolution to all the issues that arise with her return. However they didn't make movies that way and what we are entertained with are a sequence of misunderstandings. Some are funny, some are not.
I grew up with and like all the actors, even Don Knotts and Chuck Conners in supporting roles. But frankly there is too much slapstick and sight gags. Maybe this movie played better in 1963 but viewed today, in 2024, it comes across to me as to simplistic and not that funny.
Curious Caterer: Fatal Vows (2023)
You gotta watch what you eat, or what your bride is eating.
I found this movie on a DVD at my public library, containing the first three movies in the "Curious Caterer" series. This is the third one, filmed about 6 months after the second one, so the young daughter looks a bit more grown up, almost as tall now as her mother.
Nikki Deloach (early 40s) is Goldy. She has a bakery and also takes on jobs catering special events. This story is about a wedding of Tom's former wife and Goldy is making the special, tall 7-layer wedding cake. The morning after the rehearsal dinner the groom is found dead in the lobby, partially in a large fountain. Was he murdered or did he simply drown?
As we saw in the first one Andrew Walker (early 40s) is detective Tom. In the prior two movies Goldy and Tom have come to understand and appreciate each other more, Tom is recognizing how big a help Goldy can be. As in the prior movies she is able to get some information crucial to the case.
As usual with this type of movie there are a few red herrings thrown about, clues designed to sow seeds of doubt for the viewer, and when it is nearing the conclusion lots of explanations are given regarding who and how of the crime.
Even though the overall theme, murder, is very serious the movie is done with frequent humor thrown in and that works well to keep it entertaining, and my wife and I were.
Curious Caterer: Grilling Season (2023)
Gotta watch out for those exploding grills.
I found this movie on a DVD at my public library, containing the first three movies in the "Curious Caterer" series. This is the second one, filmed about 10 months after the first one, so the young daughter looks a bit more grown up.
Nikki Deloach (early 40s) is Goldy. She has a bakery and also takes on jobs catering special events. This story has her catering for an event at the home of a real estate friend. After everyone leaves there is an explosion, at first they think the outdoor gas grill malfunctioned. Upon closer examination it seems to be an attempt to cover up for a murder. But who would do this?
As we saw in the first one Andrew Walker is detective
Tom. As he and his young partner conduct their investigation Tom is frequently frustrated at Goldy's seeming to be launching her own investigation which, it truth, is essential to crack the case.
As usual with this type of movie there are lots of red herrings thrown about, clues designed to sow seeds of doubt for the viewer, and when it is nearing the conclusion lots of explanations are given regarding who and how of the crime.
Even though the overall theme, murder, is very serious the movie is done with frequent humor thrown in and that works well to keep it entertaining, and my wife and I were.
Curious Caterer: Dying for Chocolate (2022)
Hemlock can be very dangerous.
I found this movie on a DVD at my public library, containing the first three movies in the "Curious Caterer" series. This is the first one.
Nikki Deloach (early 40s) is Goldy. She has a bakery and also takes on jobs catering special events. On this occasion she is baking her special shortbread cookies with a drizzle of chocolate icing.
After this particular event her close friend approaches her and says she wants to talk in private. So Goldy is driving to her home after the party is over.
On the way, on a small road through the woods, she is stopped by a police presence at the site of an auto accident, down over the embankment, she quickly finds out it is her friend she was going to see.
At the site she meets Andrew W. Walker (early 40s) as Tom Shultz. He is a detective assigned to the area and he has already started his investigation.
As usual with this type of movie there are lots of red herrings thrown about, clues designed to lead the viewer to believe the perpetrator of a crime is someone who later turns out to not have anything to do with it.
Per the title, the caterer, Goldy, is a very curious person and ends up helping in the investigation.
But overall it is well done and entertaining. The same two actors play Goldy and Tom in the other movies in this "Curious Caterer" series so I suppose thay will develop a love interest as is common in Hallmark movies.
A Match in Manhattan (2024)
Au pair fitting into a wealthy family.
Celeste is a young teacher in a small community. She doesn't like the rigid structure of lesson plans and teaching exactly how others do. She encourages her young students to think laterally and sometimes even has a class outing instead of staying in desks. She sees the outside world as a better classroom.
Unfortunately for her this doesn't meet the perceived requirement of her teaching position and she is told she will not be renewed, she will need to find something else.
A friend tells her about a job in Manhattan for a wealthy man who has two children, a boy about 10 and a girl about 13. They are bright and devious, especially to new au pairs who seem to be replaced quite regularly. They take delight in trying to run the new ones off.
The dad is Richard, a very wealthy Manhattan real estate magnate with his own company and building. But dad is so busy he doesn't have much time to spend with the kids. And, since his wife died, has difficulty telling them that he loves them.
So the story is about all the diverse personalities learning to fit in with each other, and to heal old family wounds. This is a Canadian movie, not Hallmark, but follows the Hallmark pattern very closely, including what my wife and I call "The Hallmark Kiss" during the last minute of the movie.
There isn't anything novel or deep here, the actors are fine and it is a pleasant little movie, entertaining after our usual Saturday night steak and wine dinner, with chocolate cake too, of course.
Looking for Dr. Love (2024)
Single 30-somethings try to rekindle old love.
Jenny is a hairdresser and owns her business. She is recently divorced and has a young son of maybe 8 or 9. While her ex-husband is a nice guy it seems she never really loved him, she probably married him because her opinionated mother urged her to.
Liam is a radio DJ who plays mostly older music and he goes by the radio name "Dr. Love." Jenny is a fan, she listens to his program regularly but has no idea what his real identity is, and frankly doesn't care. Her son thinks he is an old fat man broadcasting from a basement somewhere.
Then one day on a whim, during a book promotional Jenny calls the station and wins, as the 7th caller. She goes to the station and there she meets Dr. Love, only to find out she knows him. She and he met in college then became sweethearts but their romance was interrupted when Liam joined the Marines. He vowed to return to her but she never heard from him again. The "why" is an important part of the whole story.
The story gets more complicated from that point, in many ways. It is not a Hallmark movie but follows the template, there is no bad language or sex, after they start to get close some big relationship wedge interferes, they have to find a way to overcome it.
This movie contains pretty much all the tropes we have seen in many similar movies, there really isn't anything new but the actors are pleasant and attractive and that makes for a pleasant viewing.
Shot mostly in and around Stillwater and Oklahoma City. The rating is skewed a bit on the high side because almost 30% of the ratings are "10" and this definitely is not a "10" movie, compared to all the others. The median rating is "6" and that is just about right for this movie. Pleasant but not outstanding.
At home, streaming on Peacock.
Sweet Charity (1969)
Shirley MacLaine shows us her acting, singing, and dancing chops.
The year 1969 was a memorable one, I finished Graduate School, started my career, watched Neil Armstrong walk on the moon, and my first daughter was born. And, of course, this movie, "Sweet Charity", came out but I only got to watch it now, in 2024.
Shirley MacLaine turned 90 earlier this year and with the associated publicity I looked to see if my public library had a movie of hers I hadn't seen. "Sweet Charity" came up.
I have always been a Shirley MacLaine fan, here she is in her mid 30s as Charity Valentine who works as a Dance Hall Hostess, spending time with lonely patrons for a bit of cash. As it states in the opening credits, this is "The adventures of a girl who wanted to be loved." Charity is a bit ditzy but always optimistic. One of Charity's friends says to her, "You run your heart like a hotel, you got men checking in and out all the time."
The movie is a comedy and in some of the sketches her character reminded me of Lucille Ball in "I Love Lucy", especially with her red hair. The title comes from a comment her boyfriend made, "You're Sweet, Charity."
The movie contains a number of dance numbers, some with little or no connection to the story, but to show off the Bob Fosse choreography.
Ricardo Montalban who a few years later would star in the TV series "Fantasy Island" is famous actor Vittorio. One night, after a spat with his girlfriend, he invites Charity to his place for innocent fun. The funny part is when the girlfriend shows up later and Charity has to hide in the closet.
A fun movie, most of the second half features her romance with a very nice man who runs a flower shop. Will they end up together, will Charity "Live hopefully every after?" The DVD has, as a bonus, the alternate ending, which is exactly opposite of the ending chosen for the movie.
I enjoyed the movie, for the actors in their prime, and also to see New York City in the 1960s, about 12 years before I first visited the city.
Autumn at Apple Hill (2024)
Hallmark, two 40-ish single people find a way to make it work.
Erin Cahill is Elise Jacobs, newly divorced, and having inherited her grandparents' property. It is a rustic inn in a smaller community. It needs saving, it has a lot of deferred maintenance, and it is not clear that Elise will be able to afford to save it.
Wes Brown is Luke Bellwether, son of a lady who is the chief of their company. Luke tends to be an overachiever, rarely taking any personal time. His mother basically orders him to get away. So he goes away to where he grew up, Apple Hill.
It turns out Luke and Elise were in school together but he being a couple of grades ahead of her, they didn't recognize each other after 20-ish years. But it is clear that she despises him at first. Then he shows that he is not so bad, therefore it is following the familiar Hallmark story arc.
My wife and I watched it, streaming, as pleasant entertainment. There isn't really anything novel but it is done well with attractive actors.
At home, streaming.