Month: June 2023
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A Small Light: The Anne Frank Story You Didn’t Know
A Small Light is an excellent series about an overlooked part of the story of Anne Frank and the two years she and her family spent hiding in an attic in Amsterdam during World War II.
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A Thousand and One, the struggle to find family
A Thousand and One is about a mother who steals her son away from a foster home. It spans about 10 years from the 1990s to the early 2000s in Harlem. Teyana Taylor as Inez, the mom, gives an outstanding performance that dominates the film.
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Flamin’ Hot, it’s okay to simply enjoy it
Flamin’ Hot has mixed reviews. It’s great or it’s terrible. It’s the truth or it’s a lie. Honestly, I had mixed feelings about it, too. But as the first film directed by Eva Longoria, I thought it was important to take a look for myself.
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Food and Romance (Tisdagsklubben), love in Sweden
Food and Romance (Tisdagsklubben), from Sweden, provides a charming #EldersRock story about love, marriage, children, and food. The Swedish title translates to The Tuesday Club, and in some locales the film uses that title.
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To Leslie, as real as it gets
To Leslie takes a painfully realistic look at an alcoholic mother who makes a big mess of her life after winning the lottery. Andrea Riseborough plays Leslie in a brilliantly convincing performance as the ruined mother.
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American Born Chinese, find yourself and save the world(s)
American Born Chinese brings an excellent adaptation of the graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang to the small screen. A majority Asian cast builds this tale of heroism, finding your place, Chinese mythology, and magic into an exciting teen coming of age story. It’s perfectly suited to its Disney+ streaming home.
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Jury Duty, funny fake mockumentary
Jury Duty takes one real juror, Ronald Gladden, and throws him in with a bunch of actors staging a fake trial to see how Ronald reacts. Everything from the judge to the dinner orders is carefully planned and totally fake. James Marsden stars as an overblown egomaniacal version of himself relegated to being an alternate…
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Rain Dogs, when love alone isn’t enough
Rain Dogs from the BBC is a series about toxic love. It’s about people facing hard times and the struggle to survive. It’s about hating the person you love. It’s billed as both a comedy and a drama, but I didn’t find much to laugh about in this intense series.
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Little Pink House, true story about property rights
Little Pink House is a disheartening true story about how the city, state, and finally federal courts decided it was okay to use eminent domain to take a person’s home and give it to a private company.
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With Love, season 2: big family, big love
With Love, season 2, from creator Gloria Calderón Kellett, continues the saga of the Diaz family. Brother and sister Jorge Diaz Jr. (Mark Indelicato) and Lily Diaz (Emeraude Toubia) continue to search for solid relationships. Season 2 premiered on Prime Video at the beginning of Pride month, which is fitting. The family and love stories…