reallaplaine

No doubt, The Messiah, will strike a chord with many, resonate with many more, or be objectional to those who find its message or depiction of religion in disparity with their own beliefs. Taken from the perspective of the quintessential purpose of religion, with no other agenda, that of spiritual enlightenment, a oneness with God, and the spreading of peace and tolerance, The Messiah is filled with a message of hope. It is not about religion, or ideology, it is about commonality, that which is shared by everyone, not their ethnicity, beliefs, color or political orientation - but PEOPLE. It brings home the message that the only important thing in the world is not borders or class distinction, or whose god is the true god, but that people all share the same Universal cognizance. We are only divided because we divide ourselves, not because we are born divided and certainly not because some God has divined it so. The classification and thus, the division between people, was not the will of some Almighty - it is perpetuated by people - and certainly not those with the best interests of all concerned. The series ends on a cliff hanger, no spoilers, but it certainly demands a sequel so that we can see if in fact, the alleged "most powerful man in the world", which Americans believe is the case, their President, goes ahead with the admonishment of The Messiah, a strategic move which would result in world peace. Bring it on Netflix, this show is important - let us have a collective win.

Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, is an excellent sequel to the original Mamma Mia. It started out a bit slow, but then as the original cast of Mamma Mia started showing up, or not, the rhythm picked up and the humor kicked in, there were a lot laughs and enjoyable scenes as old flames and the back story of "Donna" (Meryl Streep) was brought to life. It's hard to make a good sequel because as always, it is being measured against the original and any slightest defect starts to erode the presentation; but in the case of this sequel, the empathy, the character build up, the emotional tone, didn't decrease, it just got bigger. And I gotta tell you, throwing Cher into this film as the grandmother was a brilliant touch, because her role towards the end (no spoilers) was a real blast from the past to any of us who grew up with Cher. This is a fun film, a happy film, one that gets you tapping your feet, and, might even get you to tear-up at the end.

Bosch is quite possibly one of the best crime series ever made. Titus Welliver, who plays the role of Detective Bosch is a hard-assed veteran cop and detective. Bosch has a proclivity for stepping in piles of trouble and his reputation as a man without any social veneer whatsoever doesn't exactly endear him to others, but in all respects, it makes him much more believable as a person. In the world of LAPD, with its miasma of dutiful loyalty to the corps, ego trips, dick versus dick, and female cops trying to compete in a highly structured man's world, Bosch makes CIS and other cop shows look like candy, Hollywood staged shows with their perfect models and perfect Colgate smiles and completely unrealistic investigations which are done in hours using the magic of technology. Bosch is diametrically opposed to the stereotypes that have invaded our televisions. The cops and detectives are fat, ugly, pretty and normal - like us. They use their brains and good old cop skills to find the bad guys, not DNA data bases and digital yahoo. It's gritty, bad-ass and always with a thread, the backstory that haunts Bosch throughout - who murdered his mother? Having lived in Los Angeles for 25 years, in the heart of Hollywood, I'd say they nailed it pretty well, because the City of Angels is anything but that if you've lived there.