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Hocus Pocus 2: more witchy fun
Hocus Pocus 2 is a delight. The key cast are back ready to chant their magic spells over the town of Salem and have some fun. The story is full of humor, music, and a new generation of witches. It’s an antidote to the condition of modern life.
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Blonde, a never ending nightmare
Blonde, the Marilyn Monroe movie, is a horror story. Not the scary kind of horror story. This horror story is the misery, mistreatment, trauma, and horror that was Norma Jean Baker’s personal life. It’s painful to watch this nearly three hours of surreal, nightmarish explorations into Marilyn Monroe’s (Ana de Armas) tortured psyche.
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Lucky Grandma: a granny, a heist, and luck
Lucky Grandma stars Tsai Chin as a chain smoking, cash hauling, beleaguered grandma. She lives in New York’s Chinatown and cycles through a series of lucky/unlucky events that almost get her murdered.
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A Jazzman’s Blues, Tyler Perry finds his groove
Tyler Perry is not my favorite. But A Jazzman’s Blues looked different from his usual fare. I thought I’d take a look. If I didn’t like it, I’d just switch off and move on. It was different. And that difference resulted in a very good story about love and tragedy in the Jim Crow era.
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Reaching for the Moon, a love story based on truth
Reaching for the Moon is the story of the 15 year romance of American poet Elizabeth Bishop and Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares. It’s a Brazilian production, released in 2013.
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Lou: Allison Janney surprises in this nail biter
Lou is a tense thriller, almost a two-hander, with Allison Janney and Jurnee Smollett. It’s a suspense filled chase for a kidnapped child across rugged terrain.
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Review: Britt-Marie Was Here (Britt-Marie var här)
Britt-Marie was Here (Britt-Marie var här) is a character study based on a novel by Fredrik Backman. Like all Backman’s characters, Britt-Marie is unique, a bit odd, and has a big growth arc during the time we get to know her.
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7 Days, an early COVID lockdown story
7 Days from the Duplass Brothers is about two people on a first date who get stuck together when the first COVID lockdown hits. It was funny and charming and often realistic feeling. It had all the quirkiness you associate with the Duplass brothers.
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Do Revenge, karma’s a bitch
Do Revenge is a high school mean girls story about a duo who help each other get even. It stars an excellent team with Maya Hawke and Camila Mendes as the girls out for revenge.
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Where the Crawdads Sing, a good book became a good movie
Where the Crawdads Sing was an excellent novel by Delia Owens. It was adapted for the screen by Lucy Alibar, who managed to retain the essence of the book in a long and gorgeous movie. Olivia Newman directed this ode to nature and human resilience, which was filmed in the marshes of Louisiana.
Reviews of movies and TV focused on women